Announcer major funding for the newshour has been provided by when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through your mind. With fidelity wealth management, a dedicated advisor can tailor advice and recommendations to your life. That is fidelity wealth management. Announcer consumer cellular. Johnson johnson. Financial Services Firm raymond james. Bnsf railway. The william and flora hewlett foundation. For more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett. Org. The chanzuckerberg initiative, working to build a more healthy, just, and inclusive future for everyone at czi. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Judy a newlyelected joe biden is moving tonight to set up his presidency. A defeated President Donald Trump is disputing the election results, refusing to concede and moving to oust senior officials he deems disloyal. Looming over it all, covid19 and potentially hopeful news. Lisa desjardins begins our coverage. Lisa the first weekday since former Vice President joe biden was declared the election winner, and the new president elect made it clear he is full steam ahead. Establishing and holding a teleconference with his Coronavirus Task force made up of wellknown doctors and disease scientists. This group will advise on detailed plans built on a bedrock of science and to keep compassion and empathy and care for every american at its core. Lisa mr. Biden outlined a specific plan he and Vice President elect, california senator Kamala Harris, have for fighting the pandemic when they take over in january. Make Rapid Testing available. Deploy more contact tracing. Give clear guidelines to businesses and schools, and address communities including minority communities hardest hit. This comes as drug maker pfizer announced a seeming breakthrough that its vaccine trial was more than 90 effective in preventing the disease. Mr. Biden pointed to the sign of hope but urged that in the months before any vaccine is widely available, americans must protect themselves. Please, i implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself. Do it for your neighbor, a mask is not a political statement but it is a good way to start pulling the country together. Lisa today there was news that , the u. S. Has now had more than 10 million covid19 infections with nearly 240,000 deaths. Meanwhile, secretary of housing and urban Development Ben carson tested positive for the disease as did the Trump Campaigns newlyappointed lawyer david bossie. They along with white house chief of staff mark meadows who is also coronavirus positive, had attended last weeks Election Night watch party at the white house. As for President Trump, he has given no indication of conceding to biden and, he has had no public appearances since thursday. Instead, he announced a major decision on twitter that defense secretary mark esper will be replaced by Christopher Miller , director of the National Counterterrorism center. The president tweeted chris will do a great job mark esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service. During a Trump Campaign press conference today, White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany and rnc chairwoman Ronna Mcdaniel discussed unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. In michigan, a court of appeals rejected a trump attempt to challenge the vote count there as defective. Meanwhile, republicans in congress have largely declined to endorse the election results, at least publicly. At the capitol, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell welcomed four new republican senators, even as the larger fate of the chamber is still unknown. In the president ial race, he called for the process to continue. We have the system in place to consider concerns and President Trump is 100 within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options. Lisa but fellow republican senator Susan Collins fresh off her own victoryast week in maine released a definitive statement openly congratulating president elect biden. And then there are some like senator lindsey graham. On fox yesterday, he urged a continued fight. If republicans dont challenge and change the us election system, therell never be another republican president elected again. President trump should not concede. Lisa and emily murphy, administrator of the General Services administration and a trump appointee, has yet to ascertain that mr. Biden has won the president ial election potentially delaying the president ial transition. Some World Leaders were quick to congratulate mr. Biden and senator harris. Chancellor Angela Merkel of germany. I congratulate joe biden from the bottom of my heart on his election to the 46th president of the United States of america. Reporter some countries like russia and china say they are waiting for all of the votes to be counted. We noticed that mr. Biden has declared election victory. We understand that the u. S. President ial election result will be determined following u. S. Law and procedures. Reporter and, as the Trump Campaign lawsuits play out, the counting of remaining ballots continues with voter turnout already hitting a 50year high. The Associated Press has yet to announce a winner in alaska, north carolina, and georgia. The peach state is so close that its heading to a recount. Before the for the newshour i am lisa desjardins. Judy so far, the fact that President Trump will not concede, underscores his campaigns allout legal effort to challenge the results. But those efforts have had little traction in the courts so far. We turn to benjamin ginsberg. His work as a republican election lawyer spans decades, and includes work on the landmark bush v. Gore dispute after the 2000 election. Thank you for joining us. The president and people around him are saying there was widespread fraud, that the election was stolen. Is there election evidence you see to back that up . There is not a evidence so far to back that up. It is worth remembering those were allegations made before the selection based on past elections with absolutely no proof of that so the credibility of these statements now are called into question by courts. Judy im hearing some of the people around the president say we gave al gore 37 days to contest the election result back in 2000, you can at least do the same for us. Biz an appropriate comparison . I think a candidate taking his or her time to pursue recount and contest remedies is allowed under state law as appropriate. Remember the Hillary Clinton campaign interviewed in three jewels stein very long shot recounts on december 26 of 2016. So the president does have the ability to pursue those remedies. The difference here is he is alleging fraudulent elections and rigged results that there is no evidence for. Judy so we are seeing lawsuits in at least five states i can think of. Pennsylvania, michigan, arizona, georgia, nevada, if not lawsuits, the beginning of some sort of legal challenge. Pennsylvania seems to be the main focus because of the number of electoral votes it could give the president if overturned. Do you see anything making a legitimate complaint . The case before the u. S. Supreme court that has to do with the absentee ballot deadline extended for three days by the state Supreme Court rather than the legislature is a real legitimate issue, but there arent enough votes involved to change the outcome of the election. The question of the legislatures role opposed to state Supreme Courts role does not have to be answered for the 2020 election. What judy about some of these other allegations . In michigan they are alleging backdating of ballots. In georgia, they were talking about late arriving ballots. Do any of these add up to something that could materially change the result . Certainly not so far. Ive been involved in trying to put together challenges to elections. The truth is you really need same day, election day affidavits attesting to individual ballots being mishandled or fraudulent or somehow improper. Trying to create a case after an election is very difficult. They are allowed some time to try and get that together. In reality, these cases tend to dissipate over time and not be successful. Judy so what is your best estimation at this point about what could happen . I think the margins to make up into many states are two great in too many states are too great, and the reality is this will require ballot by ballot, precinct by precinct, statebystate findings of a gal balance and fraud. So far with whatever evidence from the Trump Campaign, there is not close to enough to overturn the results of the election. Judy not for lack of trying. But ben ginsberg, we thank you very much. Thank you, judy. Nice to be with you. Judy judy we turn now to lisa desjardins, Yamiche Alcindor and nick schifrin. Lisa, how is the Biden Campaign reacting to everything including legal pursuits by the trump people for refusing to concede . Lisa first of all, they are very busy. I think the word you hear from all sources around the Biden Campaign is they are focused, they know theres a lot of work to be done. Lets take apart these issues with the gsa administrator. The Biden Campaign says a statement that they look forward to the gsa administrator ascertaining mr. Biden at Kamala Harris won the election. Behind the scenes talking to multiple sources, they are not too worried about the gsa failing to release the money for the transition. They say they have raised money for months and they are planning for months. They have their transition teams ready to go and they are deploying them. One reason for that is the law that describes and projects how this transition should work was written by ted kaufman, who is one of the key advisors for now president elect biden. They know how the transition is supposed to work and have been ready for it. To add to reporting in the past, the Biden Campaign says they will have transition offices in wilmington, but also in washington, d. C. And that the president elect will work in both places. One more thing, the president elect is talking about the agenda and focused on the coronavirus and sources say he does plan a National Mask mandate. He can only directly affects federal areas Like National parks but they say he will be reaching out to governors asking them to also mandate masks around the country. Judy interesting. Yamiche, tell us about the thinking inside the white house and the Trump Campaign as they continue to insist the election is not over. Yamiche the president is refusing to face the thing he has feared the most in his life and during this campaign. That is tt he has lost, he is the loser of this campaign. He instead is not wanting to at all say former Vice President joe is the president elect. Sources tell me the president is angry, blaming people around the white house, hes isolated. Hes overseeing a white house that is paralyzed by his inaction and refusal to sig this form with the gsa administrator. I should note the Trump Campaign is filing lawsuit after lawsuit. When they had a press conference at the Republican National committee trying to explain their different lawsuits, fox news, the president s favorite tv network, cut away saying that in good conscience, they could not air those false claims. Another thing to notice the president is really feeling backed against the corner, not wanting to at all acknowledge whats going on here. There is some worry the president not wanting to do this might slow things down, including the distribution and operation of the coronavirus vaccine. That might feel bureaucrati but if he does not sign this over and biden does not get the different people in place that he needs, that vaccine could possibly get to not all the people it needs to in time. Judy and what does the president for food refusal to concede so far actually mean for the government transition Going Forward . Yamiche typically, 24 hours after a race is called and the winner is clear, the transition starts. In this case, President Trump is not doing this. Some people are worried. Theres a question of, can he actually says succeed . Also, in charge of the lawsuits, he has the coronavirus right now. Another thing to note is Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell threw his support behind President Trump today. A lot of people say hes key to possibly getting President Trump to back off and admit he has lost but hes concerned about holding onto Republican Voters as well as winning the senate race in georgia. A lot of people think Mitch Mcconnell will stick to this because he is handcuffed by politics handcuffed by politics. Judy lisa, back to you on that. What about the fact that you cover the hill and the vast majority of republicans are not congratulating joe biden, they are going along with the president , challenging, questioning the results . What do they see as the way forward here . Lisa i can handle this quickly, judy. Republican senators, their words today, was there fraud . Not my role to decide. Senator john thune said they will get a result at some point. Some limbo, Senate Republicans not yet willing to go against the president. Judy we are watching them all very closely. And finally to you nick, all of this taking place as the president fired his secretary of defense mark esper. Whats going on there . Nick mark esper was the president s Number One National security target ever since he resisted the president s desire to invoke the insurrection act this summer. If his firing was not that much of a surprise, chris millers appointment as acting secretary of defense was a surprise to many. The republican chairman of the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee Said he did not know. Miller is a former green beret and former assistant secretary of defense who joined the Intelligence Committee community recently during a purge by the president of senior officials. He is seen as an ally of the president and he was chosen above the deputy secretary of defense and senior officials who have more experience. But a senior official in the Defense Department says miller will represent continuity over the 72 days he will have in office. His guidance will not offer changes. Some people believe he will have one impact, he could go along with some kind of adventures decision for the military perhaps against iran. We asked former secretary of defense leon panetta about that, and he said military officers would push back with the help of congressional aides. He gave an Expert Interview with the military not times before he knew that miller was good to replace him. He rejected the derisive nickname he had of yesper. He said you have to pick your fights. Esper said he would hold his tongue because who will come in behind me . It will be a real yesman. Then he concluded, god help us. Judy well, that certainly gets our attention. Nick schifrin covering that part of todays fastmoving events. Nick schifrin, Yamiche Alcindor, lisa desjardins, thank you all three. As we reported, this is a transition of power unlike any we have ever seen. To help us understand whats happening, im joined by David Marchick. Hes the director of the center for president ial transition. Its a Nonpartisan Group that helps president s and candidates prepare for the next administration. David marchick, thank you very much for joining us. How unusual is what is going on right now in terms of compared with other transitions . David thank you for having me. There have been peaceful transitions of power for 223 years. This is very unusual. This is not like the year 2000 11 state, 500 37 votes determined the outcome of 270 electoral votes. Here, there a very wide margin. The outcome is clear as president george w. Bush said and the transition should be moved forward. Judy thats exactly what i wanted to ask you and i posed this question to ben ginsberg. You hear republicans saying we gave al gore 37 days and 2000, why cant we do the same thing . You are saying they are just different situations. David the factual circumstances are entirely different. The law that governs with the gsa administrator does requires her to make a decision when the outcome is clear. This year, there are four states that president e