Enough for these kinds of drawdowns. The order would also complicate the transition process of his successor, joe biden, who is moving ahead with the transition plans despite the president s refusal to actually concede the race. Youre looking at live pictures there. The podium is in wilmington, delaware where we will see the president elect momentarily and we will listen in and take him live. But i want to jump straight to the white house, to cnns kaitlan collins, and kaitlan, this troop withdrawal, we know this is something he wanted to do, its something he said he was going to do in his time in the white house, and until now it hasnt happened. Here we are 65 days until the change in administration. Whats he doing here . Reporter thats right, now were seeing the president doing something he promised to do for a long time, brooke, and that has alluded him. Even if he gets to the numbers by sending out this formal order we are now expecting to draw down these troops, it would decrease the number of troops in afghanistan and iraq, but it would not bring the number to zero which, of course, is something the president promised would happen at the end of his first term in office. The pentagon has sent this warning to commanders, basically telling them to prepare for a troop drawdown in afghanistan and iraq. Right now youve got about 4,500 troops in afghanistan. 3,000 iraq troops would bring it down to a lower number. This would have the president doing what he promised, which was to bring troops home from the middle east. Of course, that gets complicated when you see that troops were sent to places like saudi arabia, but the question is what is the pentagon saying about this . Weve heard from the chairman joint chiefs of staff, chairman milley, saying it should be commissions based. You heard Robert Obrien who pushed for a more conservative call. And the president fired the defense secretary mark esper. We saw others either being fired or resigning in the wake of that, and so weve seen theyve been on two different pages about how quickly this should happen and what conditions it should be based on given those agreements with the taliban. So this is what were expecting so far. We know the president is supposed to have a meeting on this at the white house this afternoon. Whether or not they bring reporters in and take questions, brooke, still remains to be seen, because he hasnt taken questions from reporters since election day, we should note. Im glad you noted that, and also, you know, this is precisely what people were wondering could happen after, to your point, those folks at d. O. D. Were replaced with loyalists, and voila, you have this news about the withdrawals. Kaitlan, thank you so much. I want to get deeper into this with chief analyst Gloria Borger and cnns diplomatic analyst and rear admiral john kirby. Welcome to both of you. Gloria, again, just reminding people. You look at the calendar, 65 days. That will be here in a blink, right, until we have a new president , and this is the kind of move that this current commander in chief decides to do. Why . Because its on his bucket list and he sees it as something that he promised he would do, and he wants to put a check mark next to it. I dont think it has much to do with National Security strategy. Jake tapper reported that that could be the reason why former defense secretary esper and his likeminded colleagues were pushed, because they didnt agree with this strategy, but this is something the president has decided he wants to do, so he will do it. It does complicate things for joe biden, as we all know. Those of us who have known joe biden for years know he is not someone who has been for robust military intervention, but this could be something he decides he needs to reverse in midstream, so it complicates life for him. I want to come back to the conflicting things point on biden. And admiral kirby, to you, let me preface this question by saying, we all want to see our men and women in uniform out of harms way and home, of course. But when you look at the numbers, drawing down troops from 4500 to 2500 in afghanistan and 3,000 to 2500 in iraq, you know this more than anyone. Given the taliban violence, is this the right move right now . Im very concerned about it. Its fine to want to end wars, and this war has been going on for 20 years, but how you end wars, brooke, matters a lot. You have to end it in such a way, particularly in afghanis n afghanistan, so you dont have to go back in. The purpose of that war under two administrations has been to get afghanistan safe from ter r terrorists again. If you withdraw too many in different places, you could create a situation where, unfortunately, its that much more stable and you might have to send troops back in again. It really depends on where the numbers are going to be, where theyre going to be stationed, these 2,500 troops, and what missions theyre going to be doing. I do agree it certainly puts a kink in whatever plans president elect biden might have to come in with. And it certainly makes it harder for him to plan. It also no doubt will put in a much harder place the afghan government, these negotiations with the taliban certainly one of the leverage pieces we have against the taliban in afghanistan is our troop Level Presence there. You pull that out precipitously, youre basically giving them a major concession with nothing in return, and you have nato allies that also have troops on the ground that are depending on us for support and guidance and leadership, so where does this leave them . What about glorias point, what if president elect biden comes into office and suddenly has to reverse this . A, thats a lot of troops that youre reversing, and how does that how quickly can you do Something Like this even if you are commander in chief, sand number two, what message does this send the world . It further, i think, convinces the world that the United States cannot be counted on for Global Leadership around the world, certainly in hot spots, and our National Security standing will be hit heavily on this. Back to glorias excellent point, we get caught up in numbers, brooke. We have to think about what do those numbers comprise . What kind of troops are they, what missions are they performing . We have no idea about what hes thinking in that regard right now. So thats a whole other thing that has to be considered here Going Forward. I remember i was in the pentagon when the Bush Administration transferred over to the obama administration, and president bush very specifically refused to make major troop decisions in iraq and afghanistan after the election of president elect obama so that he didnt hamstring, he didnt make it more difficult for president obama coming in. This is part of the normal smooth transition you want to see. So, then, gloria, back to your point. How does this complicate things . In every way. I think it complicates it in every way. First of all, lets just say that intelligence is not being shared at this point the way it should. Correct. So that the incoming biden administration, under normal circumstances, a, would have been given a heads up, or b, this wouldnt have been done, as general kirby says. This wouldnt have been done admiral kirby says, sorry this wouldnt have been done. It complicates things in every which way, and if youre the incoming president , you just have to shake your head and say, okay, this is what were dealing with now, and were going to have to take a look at it once we have all of the intelligence information, which they dont have. Right. Right. They dont have. And we dont know yet whether or not this was, to kaitlans point a second ago, the secretary of defense being fired, was he pushed . Did he know this was coming . Because, admiral kirby, doing this, this goes against the recommendation of military commanders who have argued that any additional withdrawals should be conditionsbased. We heard from chairman of joint chiefs, mark milley, who said that, and this situation does not currently merit any additional drawdowns. Is the president taking the best advice from his top you know, military brass, the commanders, or is this just merely politics . Well, as commander in chief, its certainly his right and responsibility to give these kinds of orders, and if that was his strategy going in, well, were just going to end the war, were going to pull out, thats fine, but brooke, the problem is National Security strategy which his white house wrote and the National Defense strategy all talks about continuing to build coalitions in afghanistan so that afghanistan can become a safe haven again. If thats the mission that the military has been signed and its the mission they believe this goes against that. Then this goes against that and makes it that much harder. Drug maker moderna reporting its vaccine is nearly 95 effective. Plus the great news here is its much easier to distribute than the other promising vaccines. We have details on that ahead today. And more than 1 million kids in the United States have now contracted covid, and many others are suffering. Mental Health Problems as the pandemic rages. Well talk to a doctor. Again, live pictures, wilmington, delaware, we are watching and waiting for the president elect. So stay tuned. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Ney is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. At aspen dental, its easyr to gift yourself the smile you deserve. New patients, get started with a comprehensive exam and full set of xrays with no obligation. And if you dont have insurance, its free. Plus, get 20 off your treatment plan. Enjoy flexible Payment Options and savings when it matters most. Were here to make your smile shine bright so you can start the new year feelin alright. Call 1800aspendental 7 days a week or book today at aspendental. Com at university of phoenix, students with relevant Life Experience and eligible transfer credits save on average 11k and 1 year off their undergrad degree. See how much you can save. Why . ahhhh incoming ahhhahh im saved water tastes like, water. So we fixed it. Mio. Ythey customize yours lcar insurance. So you only pay for what you need. Wow. That will save me lots of money. This games boring. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Good afternoon. President elect biden and i just met with some of our business and union leaders. Together they represent millions of workers across our country, and some of americas leading technology, auto and retail companies. We had an important conversation about the impact that this pandemic has had on workers, especially essential workers, front line workers, who have risked their own health and the health of their families, and many who have given their own lives to keep us safe and keep our economy running. And we all know that this pandemic and this recession have hit communities of color particularly hard. Africanamericans and latinos are more likely to contract covid and possibly die. Africanamericans are four times more likely to be hospitalized than others. And last month the Unemployment Rate for black americans was almost twice the rate of others. And we have also had a conversation about the impact this pandemic has had on us as a whole, from individuals to Small Businesses that so many rely on. Over the past month on the campaign trail, the president elect and i saw that impact firsthand. In state after state, we met with workers who shared their struggles and told us about their pain. Essential workers, who have had to stay on the job, even as they worry about their families wellbeing and their own. Small Business Owners who are dipping into their own savings to make payroll and keep their doors open. And many others who have had to close their doors and fear never reopening at all. Their stories have stayed with us. And the president elect and i are focused on building our country back better for them and all americans. And as i said the night we won this election, now is when the real work begins, the necessary work, the good work of getting this virus under control, saving lives and beating this pandemic and opening our economy responsibly while rebuilding it so that it works for working people. And we will do it by protecting the health and safety of our workers and creating millions of goodpaying union jobs from auto and construction jobs to Domestic Workers and caregiving jobs, to service and hospitality jobs. The road ahead, it will not be easy. But the president elect and i are hitting the ground running because we all know the challenges facing America Today are great. The American People deserve no less, and we dont have a moment to waste. And now it is my incredible and great honor to introduce our president elect, joe biden. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Vice president harris and i just met with a group of americas top Business Leaders and labor leaders. And i must tell you, it reinforced what i thought from the beginning. Were ready to come together. The unity was astounding. I want to go back and talk about the people who actually participated in that. Im going to list all the people just so you know who we spoke with. Number one, there was mary barrett, ceo of general motors. Brian cornell, ceo of target. Mr. Nadell, ceo of microsoft. Murray gamble, president of the uaw. Mary henry, president of sciu. President malone, president of uscw. Lou saunders, president of acsbe and president of the afccio. It was comforting to get leaders of business and labor together on our way to move forward, which im convinced the American People will want to do when they hear what i have in mind. Im very pleased they all came together around the same table to advance certain areas of common ground, and we agreed we will continue these conversations. They represent very different perspectives, but im convinced we can all come together around the same table to advance areas of common ground, which are really i wish you could have all heard the conversation. It was really encouraging. And thats what we were ready to discuss today. We all agreed were ready to get the economy back on track, we need the workers to get back on the job by getting the virus under control. Were going into a very dark winter. Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier. That requires sparing no effort to fight covid so we can open our businesses safely, resume our lives and put this pandemic behind us. Its going to be difficult, but it can be done. And they all agreed that means rallying the country behind a National Strategy with Robust Public Health measures like mandatory masking, widely available testing with rapid results, scaledup production of lifesaving treatments and therapeutics and safe, equitable and free distribution of the vaccine. Its great news that moderna and pfizer each come up with vaccines that are in excess of 95 effectiveness. Getting the vaccine and a vaccination, though, are two different things. Everyone on our call today, in our zoom today, agreed that the sooner we have access to the administrations distribution plan, the sooner this transition would smoothly move forward. As we battle covid, we also need to make sure the businesses, the workers, have the tools, the resources, the National Guidance and health and Safety Standards to operate safely. And we can do that. We can bring democrats and republicans together, work with business and labor to deliver those necessary resources. And for millions of americans who have lost hours in wages or have lost their jobs, we all agreed on our call that we can deliver immediate relief and it need be done quickly. Affordable health care for millions of people who have lost it or are in danger of losing it. Child care, sick leave, family leave so workers dont have to choose between work and family. Corporate america agreed on this tod today, the folks on the call. We need to support Small Businesses and entrepreneurs that are the backbone of our communities but are teetering on the edge. And we all agreed on the urgent need for funding for states and localities to keep front line workers and essential workers on the job. Vital Public Services running Law Enforcement offices, educators, First Responders like we did in the recovery act of 2009, saving literally millions of jobs. There is a reason why the federal government is able to run a deficit, because the states must, must balance their budgets. And theyre in real trouble. Youre going to see hundreds of thousands of police officers, firefighters, First Responders, Mental Health clinics, youre going to see them go out of business. Right now congress should come together and pass a covid relief package like the heroes act that the house passed six months ago. Once we shut down the virus and deliver Economic Relief to workers and businesses, then we can start to build back better than before. We talked about how we have an opportunity to come out of this stronger, more resilient than we were when we went in. I wish you could have heard Corporate Leaders and major labor leaders singing from the same hymnal here. Throughout the campaign i laid out my build back better plan. We laid out our plan, that an independent analysis put out by moodys, a wellrespected wall street firm, projected it would create 18. 6 million jobs. We can also we talked about the need to own the electric vehicle market. We talked about climate a lot. Building 550,000 charging stations, creating over a million goodpaying union jobs here at home. The need for federal government to invest more in clean energy research. You know, its based on a simple premise. Its time to rewa