A key gop senator breaks from the president over transition briefings, vowing to intervene on behalf of president elect joe biden. Theres nothing wrong with Vice President biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself and so that he can be ready. Just ahead, whats next in the transition, as the president elect forges ahead and names the man who will lead his white house staff. Braking overnight, eta arrives again. The powerful storm makes its second landfall in florida another round of damaging wind and heavy rain, causing new damage and more flooding well have a live report on the flood alerts now posted up and down the east coast. One and done the very First Caribbean cruise since the pandemic began halted after a passenger tests positive what it could mean for the already hardhit industry moving forward. Those stories, plus, together again wild child the stars of Country Music step out for the cmas the industrys biggest night of the year. It is going to be music that brings us out of this. That is the one thing that is going to save the entire world the best moments and biggest performances from the socially distanced celebration. When you done somebody wrong today, thursday, november 12th, 2020 announcer from nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb, from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza welcome to today. So happy that you are joining us it is a very, very busy thursday morning. Seems like we say that every day, because you know what, its true every day theres so much news to cover. We have a lot happening today, including a hand recount of ballots just ordered in georgia. A state where joe biden leads by some 14,000 votes. One thats set to hold two runoffs that will determine the future of the u. S. Senate. Well have the very latest there. We have a live interview ahead with new jerseys governor, phil murray, on a morning where new restrictions are imposed across his state and the state of new york. Lets start with the recordshattering surge in coronavirus cases nationwide. The numbers are stunning. More than 144,000 were reported yesterday. Thats a new daily record, and that pushes the total since election day to nearly 1 million. Over time, take a look at this, the nation has seen more than 9,000 deaths due to the virus. Nbcs Stephanie Gosk joins us now with the very latest steph, good morning. Reporter good morning, hoda. You know, new york state was hit the hardest at the start of this pandemic, recently, its been able to keep case numbers and hospitalizations at bay, until now. A new set of dramatic guidelines have been announced that show just how concerned state Health Officials are becoming new york, the center of the outbreak this spring, is now teetering on another deadly explosion of the virus, with cases rising, as weather and holidays are about to begin. Governor cuomo announced new covid rules wednesday aimed at stopping the spread. Indoor gatherings, even in private homes, must be capped at ten people a new 10 00 p. M. Curfew for bars, restaurants, and gyms, which are already operating at reduced capacity losing money hurts, but money can be replaced. Losing a loved one hurts forever. Right . Reporter as Winter Weather is set to force more people indoors, state officials are trying to prevent a second wave of infections and a return to the dark days of march and april, with a possible vaccine on the horizon in neighboring new jersey, where the Positivity Rate is double that of new york, similar restrictions go into effect today. Even if they used to stay open until 11 00 or 12 00, the extra hour sometimes is critical, especially on the weekends. Reporter across the country, new signs of the growing coronavirus problem on university campuses. Syracuse university suspending all inperson activities, other than attending classes Maryland University is now the latest school to suspend its football activities. With eight studentathletes testing positive within the last week their game this saturday is just one of seven College Football games to be canceled this weekend. While some states in the country are passing grim milestones, texas is the first state to have more than 1 million confirmed cases of covid19. El paso was forced to use outdoor morgues in tractor trailers to house the surging number of patients who have died the death toll in the state, nearly 20,000. We have seen, also, pulmonary complications, scarring, and decreased pulmonary capacity. Reporter in massachusetts, governor baker announced makeshift field hospitals are needed for the second time this year, as regular hospitals there reach capacity with the typically brutal new england winter just about to begin. Here in new york city, there are roughly 1,000 cases a day. Those are numbers they havent seen since may as the Positivity Rate inches up close to 3 , thats a level that mayor bill de blasio has said, if the city reaches, he will close down schools for inperson learning savannah stephanie, thank you so much. Were joined by new jerseys governor, phil murphy. Good morning to you. Good morning. Thanks for having me. As you well know, new jersey was one of the hardest hit states early in the outbreak how concerned are you that your state, this region, is at a Tipping Point right now . I would say very concerned, savannah our numbers have gone up dramatically whether its new cases, hospitalizations, our Positivity Rate, everything is going in the wrong direction. As you well know, we paid an enormous toll. Our folks came together and did an extraordinary job, but this second wave is, without question, upon us, which is why were taking the steps were taking today. What do you attribute this uptick to . Is it simply the cooler temperatures, or do you think people are, for lack of a better way of looking at it, kind of suffering from covid fatigue, kind of letting down their guard a little bit yeah, i think its both clearly, the Colder Weather means were doing more of our lives inside the virus wants us to do that, unfortunately. But theres no question, this fatigue. Theres also no question the vaccine news is real, so this is not a forever and for always weve got sort of four to six months, it seems to us, to sprint through this, to push back on that fatigue, and thats what we have to plead with people to do right now dont let your hair down, even when youre in your own home, even when youre celebrating holidays with your loved ones. Youve ordered those new restrictions we just talked about in the piece, including the closing of Indoor Dining starting at 10 00. Can you explain the rational for that restriction what we were seeing happen, not in every case, savannah, but in too many cases, restaurants were morphing as the night went on, not in name but substance into clubs, lounges. People were letting their guard down, particularly in and around bars we had a lot of bartenders come back testing covid19. We said, you cant have Indoor Seating after 10 00. Takeout and delivery, no problem. Inside as the night wears on, there was a particular trend of folks just letting their guard down, which we cannot allow. Youve said this is not a lockdown, youre just tweaking at the edges, the parameters here nobody wants a lockdown. Nobody wants to go back to that place, but if we are at a Tipping Point, as you say, is it enough should more be done to kind of hold off what might be coming . We will see i mean, as i mentioned at the outset, a lot of the transmission is in private settings so where we can enforce compliance, in restaurants, in bars, intersport interstate sports, which is another area that were prohibiting, we will take those steps as it relates to your private setting, we just have to plead with people to not let their guard down, to keep their gatherings as small as possible, and to keep fighting this. Disturbingly, the Positivity Rate of tests coming back from Energy Energy new jersey is on the rise, and so it is on the rise. It is not just more testing, but more people getting sick what is your red line, the number or metric youre using to determine whether more serious steps need to be taken youre absolutely right in terms of your premise. We are testing among the highest per capita of any state, but our Positivity Rates are up dramatically it is both Community Spread and more testing i would say theres not one single red line, savannah. But the numbers are going in a direction you know, we have 3,000 to 3,800 cases a day our peak was 4,300 in the spring we have 1,500 people in the hospital peak was 8,300 sadly, with the heaviest of hearts, we keep losing people. Id say theres no one red line, but were getting into a neighborhood that is extremely concerning. And in the few seconds i have left, there were rumors flying around new jersey yesterday that schools were closing down and going to go all virtual. Can you clear that up . Yeah, thats not the case at least one of our kids was happy to see that, but thats not the case thats something that could happen, but at the moment, back to school two months in has worked quite well. So far, so good. New jerseys governor, phil murphy, thanks for your time this morning, sir. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Now to the latest on the president ial race. A number of republicans are starting to sound the alarm on the Trump Administrations refusal to give president elect Joe Biden National security briefings. We have two reports. Were going to start with Nbcs Kristen Welker kristen, republicans publicly seem to be in lock step with the president , but are we starting to see a few cracks in that . Reporter we are, hoda. Were starting to see a growing number of republicans, cracks if you will, break with president trump, and making it clear they believe the results of this election are final the latest, karl rove, writing in a wall street journal oped about the president s claims of fraud, quote, the president s efforts are unlikely to move a single state from mr. Bidens column, and certainly, theyre not enough to change the final outcome. Now, the other flash point, the fact that the Trump Administration is withholding key transition funds from president elect biden and also Intelligence Briefings overnight, the republican senator from oklahoma, james langford, saying hell intervene if necessary take a listen. There is nothing wrong with Vice President biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself, and so that he can be ready. If thats not occurring by friday, i will step in, as well, to be able to push and say, this needs to occur. Reporter weve also learned that even though president elect biden has spoken to eight foreign leaders, including three overnight, the state department is withholding some messages from foreign officials from the president elect and that is getting a lot of attention. But biden is moving forward with his transition in fact, late yesterday, naming his chief of staff, tapping a longtime aide and ally, ron klain. Someone who actually served as his chief of staff when he was in the obama administration. Hoda kristen, do you know what the Trump Administrations next move may be or what their best path is forward reporter hoda, i can tell you about some of the conversations going on behind the scenes we know that some of the president s own advisers believe that this situation is not tenable and its not sustainable. So they are urging him to find an offramp. What is that going to look like . Well, they believe it is unlikely he will ever concede, but you may see the president come out at some point and say, look, while we cant trust these final results, were also not going to try to contest them. I think youre going to see pressure mounting on him to make that statement sooner rather than later, because you have a lot of republicans inside and outside of the white house who worry that the president is hurting his own legacy, and also hurting the Republican Party at a critical moment. Remember, there are those two runoff races in georgia, hoda. Kristen welker for us, thank you. And speaking of georgia, where nine days after the election, a full recount of ballots by hand has been ordered, lets go to blayne alexander, in atlanta for us good morning. Reporter good morning to you. Election day is well behind us, but here in georgia, it could be days before we know who won this state. Thats because we are headed for a full hand recount. Now, with the results on the president ial race still too close to call, president elect joe biden is in the lead here in georgia. Nbc news has projected that even without the state of georgia, the president elect has already secured enough electoral votes to win the election. Still, the states top election official says that this recount is necessary to ensure confidence in the results. This morning, in georgia, election day is stretching well into election month. Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger announcing a recount of all 5 million ballots by hand to verify the results of the president ial race, where president elect joe biden is ahead by 14,000 votes. The recount not likely to change the lead, Officials Say, but rather bring confidence in the results. We have all worked hard to bring fair and accurate counts to ensure the will of the voters is reflected in the final count. Reporter while raffensperger repeatedly said hes seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud, he is coming under pressure from some in his own party. The Trump Campaign demanding a recount. Is this a response from the demands of the Trump Campaign . No, it is a response to state law that requires us to do a statewide audit. So thats what were doing. Reporter also piling on, georgias two republican senators, Kelly Loeffler and david perdue in a scathing statement demanding the secretary of state resign, accusing him, without evidence, of failing to deliver honest and transparent elections. Raffensperger made it clear he is going nowhere, instead, firing back, as a republican, i am concerned about republicans keeping the u. S. Senate, he wrote. A clear jab at the two lawmakers, both facing critical january runoffs in two separate races that will determine whether Party Controls the u. S. Senate for republicans, its all hands on deck. This is literally, you know, the showdown of all showdowns in terms of politics and what it means. We dont want to win one of them we want to win both of them. We need to win both of them. Reporter democrats, ossoff and warnock, banking on momentum from biden winning the election and the changing tide in georgia. This is hard work weve been on the ground for years, registering hundreds of thousands of new voters in this state, trying to give people a voice. Reporter now, earlier there, you saw senator marco rubio in town, campaigning for his two republican colleagues. Next week, pence will also be in georgia to do the same thing on the democratic side, we understand the group fair fight, founded by stacey abrams, raised more than 10 million for the two Democratic Senate candidates as for the recount and when that will be completed, the secretary tells me that he is confident it will be wrapped up by november 20th savannah blayne, thank you very much. Another major story this morning, Tropical Storm eta. Right now, it is lashing florida with heavy rain and strong winds. Flood alerts posted up and down the east coast we have dylan standing by with the very latest. First, let us check in with nbcs sam brock. He is in st. Pete for us hey, sam good morning reporter hoda, good morning. Were still seeing some sideways rain under normal circumstances, youd be looking at beach behind me right now, where there is currently waves. You might be wondering, isnt Tropical Storm eta what just hit the florida keys the answer is yes. We are now in day 13 of this storm that hit florida for a second time. This is just the sixth time in recorded history, guys, were seeing a november storm in the gulf this morning, waves thrashing floridas coastline in a season that has seen hurricane after hurricane. Overnight, heavy rainfall and storm surge smacking yet another gulf coast state didnt really hear much about it until it was here. Reporter in a tampa community, an effort to distribute sandbags to keep etas waters at bay. Do everything we can to prepare the family its florida normal for us. Reporter this father and son soaking up the calm before the storm along the swelling seawall in st. Petersburg. Came out to play this afternoon. Reporter Tropical Storm etas extended life made four landfalls, forming last month and first striking as a category 4 in nicaragua hopscotching through cuba, the florida keys, and now its final return north of tampa. Police in sarasota wading through drenched streets, in a region that, amazingly, hadnt been touched yet by historic storms. We are in the city doing everything we can to keep all our residents informed and ensure everyone is safe. Reporter from tampa south and along the coast, a rocky reminder of what wind and storm surge can do eta is not done. Moisture associated with this storm is actually going to be affecting states like georgia, virginia, and the carolinas. Theres going to be dangerous flood risk for the rest of the day. Between texas and maine, theres 3,600 miles of coastline almost all of it had been touched by storm activity this year, except for a 200 mile stretch in florida much of that gap is closed with eta. Back to you. Sam brock in st. Petersburg, thank you. Lets bring dylan into this, in for al. What a hurricane season, and it isnt done. It isnt. Were going to be watching this storm, as sam mentioned