Still be playing games after declaring that he will, quote, never concede, and continuing his rampage against bidens victory on twitter. The president , if you tuned in and you blinked, you might have missed it, because he abruptly called the White House Press corps to the Briefing Room late this morning, and in this bizarre not even 60second pat on the back to his team, he touted gains in the stock market today and said this. And i just want to congratulate all the people within the administration that worked so hard, and most importantly, i want to congratulate the people of our country because there are no people like you. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. We should note a number of experts are citing the formal start of the biden transition and a new hope for Coronavirus Vaccine as the cause for the dow topping 30,000 for the first time ever. More on the president s bizarre behavior today in just a moment, but i want to start in wilmington, delaware where the president elect just met with some of the people that will now help him run the country. Its a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure. Its a team that reflects the fact that america is back. The team meets this moment, this team behind me. They embody my core beliefs that america is strongest when it works with its allies. Collectively, this team has secured some of the most defining National Security and diplomatic achievements in recent memory made possible through decades of experience working with our partners. Lets go straight to our cnn senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny, and, jeff, listening to all of this, the bios, the personal connections to this president elect, the emphasis on service and science and facts, what stood out to you today . Reporter brooke, one thing i think that stood out was there was no mention of President Trump. President trump called that briefing, if you want to call it that it, in the Briefing Room shortly before president elect biden was to take the stage there. Looking at the changes hes making in these agencies, there is an entire rebuke of the Trump Administration and how he ran his government. From a person to person to person, these nominees said we will serve our country, not you. There was no sense of loyalty oath to the president elect. Brooke, what we saw there was a team not of rivals, it was a team of stable, competent leaders. A changing of the guard, not necessarily a new guard, but people with deep experience inside the government. So it was a big changing of the subject which, interestingly, did not mention the president s name at one point. Mr. Biden said hes grateful to finally have this gsa ascertainment so he can start uniting the country and the world. But, brooke, it was entirely looking forward, almost jumping beyond these next 57 days. Who knows what will happen in them, but certainly looking ahead to january 20th in the afternoon when he takes power as the nations 46th president , brooke. Jeff zeleny, thank you very much. Well come back to this and this monumentous day with the president elect and his cabinet. To the president , the current president , and although trump is showing no signs of stopping his twitter tirade against the election, he faced the public in the last hour for the first time in days for the annual turkey pardon. Kaitlan collins is there at the white house. Kaitlan, we mentioned at the top that sort of bizarre press conference, air quotes, touting the dow, taking credit for the dow and then the turkey pardon. Watching it all having covered this white house now for a couple years, whats your read on all of this . Reporter well, its the president trying to take credit for whats happening with the stock market. Of course, you remember before the election he often warned of what would happen to the stock market if joe biden did win the white house, and now the president is attempting to take credit for this good news which, of course, as you noted, experts are talking it up to the gsa formally moving forward with the biden transition last night, and this good vaccine news weve had the last few days, and, of course, the janet yellen news. This reporting that joe biden is expected to pick up janet yellen as the next treasury secretary. Reporters got about a two minutes headsup that the president was going to make that appearance. He does these sporadic news briefings but without taking questions from reporters. That was shortly before the president took part in this tradition in the rose garden of pardoning the turkeys before thanksgiving, something which is usually a pretty quiet ceremony before the family leaves somewhere for the holiday. We know donald trump is staying back in washington this year because he knows his time in office is coming to a close, and he has things he wants to get done, im told by sources, so even though hes not acting publicly like the transition is going to happen because hes not committing to the tradition of conceding to the election, behind the scenes, of course, he is preparing for it. Lets talk about behind the scenes. Youve got some reporting, just a little more on the tweet last night, saying he felt that the gsa should go ahead and ascertain thats the formal word, authorize the transition. What have you learned about that . Reporter yeah, the president tried to frame it as if he had recommended that to the gsa. But in that letter to the biden team, emily murphy who runs the gsa said it was a decision she came to independently and attributed it to the string of court losses the president has suffered the last few days. That is something he has talked about with his legal team, and were told he did several times yesterday as they were talking about a path forward and what the president s next steps were going to be. While youve seen moves that looks like the president could be coming closer to publicly acknowledging reality as they drop powell from the legal team in recent days, the president has given his blessing to this gsa transition. The president is also vowing to move ahead with his legal fights, and hes still pushing conspiracy theories on twitter. Its three weeks after the election, and he still has not acknowledged joe bidens win. So youve got to pair those two things with each other, and the president is still attempting to undermine democracy with those statements. Kaitlan, thank you. I want to talk about all of this with my next guest, cnn political commentator mitch andrew. He is the former democratic mayor of the great city of new orleans. Mr. Mayor, a pleasure as always. I just want to begin with, you know, on bidens appointees and the nominees today. As i watched the whole thing, i was listening to a lot of people talking about it, the fact he was really drawing a distinction with his predecessor, as jeff points out, never namechecking trump but drawing this contrast with his picks, but also in how they will change the way this country does business. What did you think when you were watching it . Well, a couple things come to mind now that things are clearer. First of all, president elect biden won this election overwhelmingly, 6 million votes, 306 electoral votes. We call that down here in the south a big whupping. Its clear and its convincing. Secondly, it doesnt matter what donald trump does. Its not up to him who the next president is and whether he concedes or not is not a requirement. Thirdly, the president has been denominating what being president looks like. Joe biden has demonstrated what its like to have a person thats balanced, thats stable, thats thoughtful, and his picks demonstrate the country as he promised. I was really happy to see people of great experience, great stability, calmness, a sense of kindness. I think the president elect has been handling a very difficult situation in a very gracious and thoughtful way, yet in a strong way. Hes very clear hes moving forward because it really doesnt matter anymore what President Trump does. It would be wonderful for the country if he would do what every other president has done, but if he doesnt, time will move on and joe biden will be sworn in on january 20th and hell be ready with a great team. Something else i noticed, unlike trump four years ago or even obama in the beginning, joe biden has a personal connection with every Single Person on that stage. Ive been listening to jeff zeleny who was covering him in the transition, and he said, these are all obama proteges. Biden said this. I want these folks to tell me what i need to hear, not what i want to hear. How will that inform u. S. National security . That is critically important. Ive served this Lieutenant Governor as mayor in the city of new orleans, and it was critical to me to be able to govern well to surround myself with people who will tell me what i need to know, not what i want to know. Its apparent that these people he appointed have great experience, but they also have the kind of relationship with him where they can tell him the truth. And secondly, their loyalty is to the Country First and not to the president , and joe biden has always understood that. Its been one of the great abuses of power to President Trump to make sure it wasnt the exact opposite way. Thats not the way its supposed to be. I thought these picks were great, they come with great experience. I feel very comfortable, its very stable and it feels very balanced and its very refreshing, to be honest with you, and on top of that, they seem to reflect the diversity of the United States of america and theyre going to prepare us well for the future. Mayor landrieu, lets talk about President Trump. We saw him pardon the turkey and we saw him with a quick appearance in the Briefing Room. There is still just over 50 days left of this administration. We are in the midst of a pandem pandemic, a critical time in our country, and as my colleague john berman has pointed out in recent weeks, the president seems to be fighting very hard to keep a job that hes not currently doing. Well, there are a couple things about this. First of all, we are in a hell of a mess in this country. We have hundreds of thousands of people who are getting sick and are dying. The transition cant happen quick enough. The covid is the first thing that we have to do. We have to beat covid, we have to kill it. That is the first order of priority. In a reasonable and sane world, this president who we have now would be handing over the transition very quickly to the president elect so that no balls are dropped and people are not hurt more than they have to be. And i think thats just unfortunate. Nothing is going to change the way President Trump acts. He is going to act the way hes always acted, and joe biden is going to make sure his team is ready to attack covid, to get the company back and active and to keep people safe. We know republicans after that trump tweet announcement, gsa ascertainment, they seem to be acknowledging that biden is the president elect. But when you have certain republicans who still cant seem to admit that joe biden won, how does he work with them . Well, i think thats unfortunate. I think that you can see the president elect has, on many occasions just in the last couple of weeks, reached out probably privately and certainly publicly to the republicans that are in washington, d. C. But theyre not the only ones who are governing this country. Yesterday the president elect had a meeting with the mayors of america, and he said, listen, there are no red cities or blue cities, were all one america. We want to seek the common good. We need to Work Together to make sure we do the business of government quickly so we can secure the future of the American People, and he said, i represent everybody. His hand is outstretched, and im very, very hopeful that in the near future republicans in washingto washington, d. C. To be distinguished from other americans that the pandemic is the most important thing. Covid does not respect the republican party, and i know joe biden is ready to do just that. Thats correct. It doesnt matter if youre left, right or center. Mitch landrieu, be safe and have a great thanksgiving. You, too. Secretary azar said they are now coordinating with the biden Transition Team. The cdc is warning people to stay home this thanksgiving. They tell you how to celebrate safely. And 10 million americans are lining up for Food Assistance this holiday. But the nonprofits trying to help them are now hurting themselves. Lets shine a light on this today. This is cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. You can do better, steve get a freshly made footlong, from subway® you can even order on the subway® app did i just get picked off by Deion Sanders . You sure did now in the app, get a free footlong when you buy two. Because its footlong season™ at university of phoenix, relevant Life Experience and eligible transfer credits can help you earn your degree faster and for less. See how much you can save at phoenix. Edu. The coronavirus isnt waiting. The economy isnt waiting. America shouldnt have to wait, either. The American People have spoken. The result is clear. Its time to move forward. And get to work. Now roomba vacuums exactly where you need it. Alexa, tell roomba to vacuum in front of the couch. And offers personalized cleaning suggestions for a clean unique to you and your home. Roomba and the irobot home app. Only from irobot. Their laundry smells moremily amazing than ever. In flings, uh, honey . Isnt that the dogs towel . Hey, me towel su towel. Theres more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze odor remover in every fling. Gain. Seriously good scent. I felt gross. It was kind of a shock after i started cosentyx. Four years clear. Real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if youve had a vaccine or plan to. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Learn more at cosentyx. Com. Try optum perks. Its a new way to save up to 80 . And everyone can do it. Its from optum, a Health Care Company thats trusted by millions of people. You dont have to sign up for anything. Just go to optumperks. Com. And get a coupon to use at your pharmacy. Thats it. I opted in. I opted in. You can, too. Opt in and save big today. Welcome back. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Even in the face of a pandemic, this is an alarming number. In the u. S. So far this month more than 3. 3 million covid infections have been confirmed. That is more in one month recorded since the pandemic began and we have more time until this month ends. 85,000 people were in u. S. Hospitals with covid19 yesterday. That is the 14th straight day of hospitalizations, setting a pandemic record. Athena jones looks at trends among health care workers. Reporter health care workers, we are sending out an s. O. S. As Coronavirus Infections surge across the country with no sign of slowing down, they are pleading with americans to do what they can to help slow the spread. I cant prevent anyone from getting covid. All i can do is try to keep covid from killing you. So we need people to step up and wear masks and distance from people and just try to keep them safe and everybody else safe. Reporter new covid cases topped 100,000 for the third week straight with hospitals setting a record worldwide for the 14th day in a row monday. Officials warning if the virus continues to spread out of control you may not be able to go in and get your heart attack treated. Ive heard hospitals not being able to provide care for pregnant women because theyre full of covid beds. So thats the reality. Reporter in fact, ohios governor says hospitals in his state are approaching capacity. And Health Officials in pennsylvania warned they could run out of icu beds in a week. In california where icu admissions have risen 55 over the past two weeks, the los angeles board of supervisors is considering more closures. In nevada, we saw its highest 7day average for new cases monday. New restrictions limiting gatherings to ten people start today. This as one new model predicts covid19 cases in the u. S. Could nearly double by Inauguration Day to 20 million cases. And another wellknown model projects another 140,000 more people could die over the next two months. This is not a time to be gathering in any numbers, and certainly if youre in an airport for a bus station or a train station or a gas station, you will be up against people with covid19. Reporter despite the warnings, millions of travelers are packing airports ahead of the thanksgiving holiday. We have some fear of covid like everybody else, but, you know, we have to keep living. Reporter meanwhile with schools in nashville moving to Remote Learning next week, new questions about priorities. There should be no community in this nation where the bars are open but the Elementary Schools are closed. This is the wrong priorities. More than anything, we want to keep our schools open. We know how important education is to our kids. We also know that you cant have a very Effective Work force if you have to stay home with your kids because they cant be in school. Reporter and now that the transition to a Biden Administration has officially begun, health and Human Services secretary alex azar says his department is in communication with bidens team. They will assure meetings with them and cooperation will be communicative and collaborative. They may be able to start regular briefings, something the Trump Administration halted at the beginning of the pandemic. Brooke . Athena jones, thank you so much. Dr. Khan is the former director of the cdcs office of Public Health preparedness