Two vaccines to get people to be complacent. Help is on the way. But help is not here yet. Announcer this is new day with Alisyn Camerota and john berman. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is new day. And we begin with outgoing President Trump exacting revenge for his loss. Last night he fired the top Election Security official in the country because that official reported the truth, that there was no widespread voter fraud. And then republicans in wayne county, michigan, tried to block certification of the votes in that state or county. The Trump Campaigns lead county bragged that this would allow michigan to appoint protrump electors, essentially giving trump michigan. Even though he lost that state by, john homemade graphic 148,000 votes. This isnt about how far the president will go. Thats not the question, the question is how far will republicans let him go at this point. And think about when this is happening. Right . We just had the deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic in six months. 1,700, 1,707 new deaths reported overnight. Nearly 77,000 americans are waking up in the hospital this morning. The White House CoronavirusTask Force Warns that there is an aggressive unrelenting and expanding spread of the virus across the country and that the current mitigation methods are not working. Joining us now, we have David Gregory and miles taylor. Miles served in the department of Homeland Security under President Trump where he worked closely with chris krebs. He also recently revealed he was the anonymous author of an oped and book that was critical of the trump administration. Good to see both of you this morning. Miles, just because you see a train wreck coming doesnt make it any less shocking when it actually happens. And so though it was predicted that chris krebs was going to lose his job, because he deigned to speak out and say that this was the most secure election in the history of america, he predicted that he was going to be fired and last night he was. Yeah. I think thats absolutely right. I mean, look, i would even go further than that, alisyn and say in a single tweet, the president has now put our country at vastly greater risk of a cyber incident, because in addition to being the nations top Election Security official, Christopher Krebs is the nations top domestic cybersecurity official. The way that donald trump is acting when it comes to this precarious president ial transition period is like a drunk sumo wrestler in the dishware section of a bed bath and beyond. Hes knocking everything over and the damage is very, very consequential. In the case of chris, this is someone who were counting on in this president ial transition period to monitor threats from foreign adversaries like russia and china who want to exploit this period and do damage to the United States. Chris was on the front lines of trying to prevent those threats. Its a very dangerous time to remove an official like that. And chris krebs is not a hyperpartisan individual. I was there in the oval office with chris two years ago when the president signed the law creating the domestic Cybersecurity Agency he runs and he has run it very ably. But alisyn, theres also a political mistake here that the president has made. If the president continues to contest the results of this election until inauguration day, well, hes now made a new enemy, because chris krebs, i suspect, will take to the airwaves to talk consistently about how this actually was the most secure election and that there wasnt fraud in the vote. So again, the president has made a political mistake here, because now he has an enemy on the outside that once worked for him that can talk every single day about why the president is lying to the American People. Well, he has been talking. He was fired for telling the truth. Theres just no ambiguity here. He was fired for his statement the president told us as much overnight in his firing tweet. Chris krebs wrote, there is no evidence that any deleting system deleted or lost voted or changed votes. The november 3rd election was the most secure in history. He was fired for doing his job. And you were saying, you know, strike him down, hes only going to become more powerful. Im using a star wars reference and metaphor here, because kris krebs himself did that overnight. Mark hamill tweeted in praise of chris krebs overnight. So what did he do . He oneupped luke skywalk. He said, in defending democracy, do or do not, there is no try, this is the way. So quoting from both empire and mandalorian all at once. And yoda. Yoda is in Empire Strikes back. Yoda quote. He kind of mangled it a little bit. But hes taking on a guy whos standing up for democracy. Thats it thats what the president is doing here. He is fighting democracy. This is not what a leader in a democracy does, revenge firing because someone is standing up to your baseless conspiratorial corrupt claims. But weve known this and theres so much thats wrong with it. The success here is the fact that our elections came off during a pandemic thanks to tireless poll workers without any widespread irregularities or abuse and without outside interference. Those are things to be celebrated in 2020, for sure. Donald trump is not celebrating that. Hes doing the opposite. And everything hes doing, i think people understand, is not on the level. Its not on the level. This is not a real contesting of the election. This is the same argument hes used before, anytime theres a setback, then something must be rigged against him. Nobody believes it. Republicans have been notable in their silence and their fear. And weve talked about why. Theyre afraid of trump and trumpism and what hell do out of office. Theyre afraid about the georgia recount. But even that wall is shatter g shattering. Even Kevin Mccarthy is talking about the fact that its heading towards a biden voerictory. And hes been sounding like something of a dead ender in the defense of trump. Theres nothing there. The legal maneuvers are not Going Forward. But whats so worrisome is the precedent that this sets, that you could have a president of the United States sack someone who disagrees with him when hes in the middle of making baseless claims. That thats hour spopower is supposed to be wielded and somehow that will be put back in the bottle as we move forward. When joe biden takes office, hes going to have to fix some of these loopholes that have been revealed by all of this and how precarious some of these democratic norms are. I just want to point out, when a republican speaks out against something that President Trump does, it is notable, david, as you said, so i want to point out that senator burr last night did say this, miles, about chris krebs. Quote, chris krebs is a dedicated Public Servant who has done a remarkable job during a challenging time. Chris and his team have worked diligently to strengthen our election infrastructure, help to shore up zpanlts and build trusts between the state and federal governments. Their efforts were essential in protecting the 2020 u. S. President ial election against the threats of foreign interference poo interference. Im grateful for all chris has done and wish him best in his next chapter. Is that notable or is the silence notable . I know chris krebs. I worked very closely with chris krebs and he is widely respected on both sides of the aisle on capitol hill. I would urge members of congress to get out there and actually talk about his record. But the most important thing to remember here, alisyn, especially in light of senator burrs comments is that chris is really the nations most trusted Election Security official. So people every day are getting disinformation from the president on twitter. And right now if there are any viewers doubting whether their votes were counted or counted correctly, you can rest assured that someone like chris krebs knows what hes talking about. He has traveled the country to look at these voting systems. He has put in place extensive cybersecurity and infrastructure security protections to make sure that the vote was not corrupted and compromised. So when chris says this was the safest vote in modern american history, you can trust that mans words. He knows what hes talking about. Donald trump has barely spent any time in his presidency focused on Election Security. And i remember it. We couldnt get the white house to dpay attention to that issue but chris did and he spent four years of this administration focused on that question. So voters should rest assured, there wasnt widespread fraud in this country. This election tally is accurate. Joe biden is the president elect of the United States and unfortunately, chris now will have to talk about that from the outside. But that may be the Silver Lining and the bright side, because he can help perhaps advise the biden transition team. If senator burr really believes that chris krebs is so good at his job, richard burr should stand up and say that joe biden is the president elect and that the gsa should ascertain that he won the election. Im sorry, its too late to dam with faint praise from richard burr and these other republicans who are praising him. Its time. Its over at this point and theyre creating the space for the president to do these destructive things. And david, i want to show you a picture, because i think youll appreciate this as much as anybody. On the well of the senate, senator Kamala Harris, the Vice President elect was there and shes getting fist bumps from lindsey graham, whos trying to undermine the election in georgia, is basically congratulating Kamala Harris on being the Vice President elect. Its just bogus. Its this farce. Theyre playing with this fire right now. I totally agree. And you know, if youre watching that scene in the senate well, as if you couldnt become more cynical about politics. I mean, what is that . That were not in on the joke. That this is all a game. Oh, sorry, kamala, we have to do all of this crap for the president , but grapcongratulati to you. And that is whats going on, in case the American People feel shut out, thats exactly the conversations that are happening. And alisyn, i thought you brought up a good point about the whole idea of restoring democratic norms. The point is, youre never going to change the fact that the president has the ability to fire people at will. Thats embedded in executive power. But theres a larger point. You know, there were democrats who complained about voting irregularities in 2004, in ohio. And that they thought these were widely ignored. If we simply get into a system where theres no center in american politics, its just a power grab. Look whats happening with the way the Supreme Court is being treated. Its whoever has the power will make the rules. And if that just goes back and forth and back and forth, thats where democracy really suffers, because its not just what donald trump is doing today, its what hes ushering in is the only way to exercise power. David gregory and miles taylor, thank you both very much helping us appreciate this moment. We talked about chris krebs, but there was another major assault on democracy overnight, and it took place in michigan, where the wayne county, thats detroit, board of election certifiers refused to certify the election in wayne county. Republicans stood in a way for a time of certifying this election. Effectively, trying to throw out the entire election in michigan and were told by the Trump Campaign the goal was to turn it over to republican legislatures, so they could award michigans electors to donald trump even though he lost that state by 148,000 vote. The republicans on that county board relented overnight and ultimately did certify it, but i dont think its over yet. Joining us now is the secretary of state of michigan, jocelyn benison. Thank you so much for being with us. What what happened overnight . The truth won out. Two individuals on the wayne county board of canvassers who have a ministerial responsibility to certify the Election Results refusing to do so on baseless claims that were ultimately clerical errors that occur in nearly every election, in nearly every jurisdiction. And notably, the public spoke out sand identified and amplifid the truth that these elections should be certified, theres no reason they shouldnt be, and ultimately, they changed course after public comment, changed their votes, and ultimately, the board voted 40 to certify the wayne county Election Results, moving us now to a position where the state will look and certify those results as well. I want to talk about the future in just a moment, but i want to talk about what you agreed to overnight. The secretary of States Office has agreed to look into, to audit, basically the election process in wayne county. The gripe they had was over discrepancies in the books. Explain that to me. What were identified was bookkeeping errors. Incidents where voters may have shown up to a precinct, but may have ultimately decided no t to vote and leave, or perhaps ballots placed in an envelope that then should go through a machine. Just Different Things that occurred throughout the day when you have a very high turnout election that oftentimes arent fully reflected in the bookke bookkeeping. So you go through the books and explain any type of discrepancies. What the board noted yesterday werent explained really in part because the city didnt have time to get through a lot of the precincts. Its the largest jurisdiction in the state and they have a limited window. But certainly, the state has a role to play, as well. And were committed to ensuring that our elections are not only secure, but the public can have confidence that the results are, indeed, an accurate reflection of the will of the people. And i heard you say overnight, there were discrepancies in more precincts in 2016, which the republicans in wayne county did vote to certify, than this time around. Is that correct . Yes, and there were more discrepancies in august than there were this time around. And several discrepancies in other jurisdictions can in other counties. So this is quite common. It doesnt indicate theres any malfeasance, irregular tityrre certainly no widespread fraud, but its more of a bookkeeping clerical issue that oftentimes does get clean up and well moving forward look to make sure that voters can have confidence in the election. They chose to care about it in an election that donald trump lost, even though there were more examples of it in the election that donald trump won and the Detroit Free Press reported when you add up the number of discrepancies, 367 votes. That was the discrepancy in wayne county. 367 votes. Joe biden at this point leading in michigan by 148,000. So you can see the scale of the discrepancy there. I want to talk about the future, because the juan county canvassing board did certify it. And youll look into the numbers and make them right to the extent that you can. But i dont think its over now, because now it goes to the state certifying board and there are two republicans and two democrats on that. And if both republicans vote no, what happens . Well, i mean, at first, ill say that im confident that we wont get to that point, because the state board of canvassers have a ministerial role, an administrative role and the law very clearly says that they shall certify the elections once the counties do so. So they really dont have a lot of wiggle room to overturn decisions that were made at the county level. At this point, i believe every county has voted to certify the results. So they really have a formal role to play, but not a very substantiative role to play. And certainly, the cowards would get very directly involved if they deviated from their otherwise administrative responsibility to certify and finalize the results. The reason i ask, though, is because theres no ambiguity now about what the Trump Campaign is trying to do. And im going to try to read this off the screen. But jenna ellis, whos an attorney for the Trump Campaign stated explicitly what they are trying to do here. She said, breaking this evening, the county board of canvasser in wayne county, michigan, refused to certify the Election Results. If the state board follows suit, the republican state legislator i think she means legislature, but im not going to give her too much credit for being able to spell she says, will select the electors. Huge win for donald trump. Shes saying their goal is to have the Republican State Legislature choose the electors, ignoring the will of the people of michigan. Thats their goal at this point. Your reaction to their effort . Three things of note there, really. One, to throw out hundreds of thousands of votes based on a few clerical errors and ultimately was determined to be a bad course of action and, you know, potentially not in compliance or allowed under the law, certainly for the state board of canvassers would be a direct violation of state law and there would be, i assume, and anticipate a court action that would swiftly follow that would require them to do their very clear job of certifying the results under the law. And the state legislature has already said, leaders in the state legislature have already confirmed publicly that they have no desire or intent to overturn the will of the people. A lot of this is really a strategy to erode Public Confidence in what was a wellrun, secure