Governor mike dewine. Two daze to go until georgias critical Runoff Elections with control of the United States senate hanging in the balance. The who he will country is watching up us. Georgia voters have so much power right now. Can democrats pull off another upset in the peach state in democratic governor jon oshoff and Stacey Abrams join me to tuesday. Hello. Im jake tapper in washington. The state of our union is facing a perilous start to 2021. We are beginning the year with the pandemic at its most alarming level yet. December was the deadliest month of the pamed ndemic so far in t u. S. 4 million vaccines vr adminisha administered and not close to the goal of 20 million. With 3,000 americans dying every day what are the president and rps focused republicans focused on . Saturday, 11 republican senators said they would vote against counting electoral votes in Congress Next week calling for, quote, an emergency ten day audit of emergency returns despite there being no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The group is following the lead of senator josh holly who says he will formally object to bidens decisive win. Zero. Senator ben sasse of nebraska slammed holly and others of the caucus saying, adults dont point a loaded gun at the legitimate government. Mitt romney said on saturday i could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Ambition so eclipsed personal . We invited each of the 12 senators involved in plotting this disgraceful effort to come on the show and try to defend and explain their position. Each of them declined or failed to respond. It ruls whecalls what ulysses g wrote in 1861. There are two parties now, traitors and patriots. How would you describe the parties this morning . Joining me now, is the Surgeon General dr. Jerome adams. We are thinking of your wife. She was hospitalized this week and has complications from her cancer treatment. I know youve not been able to visit her because of coronavirus restrictions. How is she and tell us what its like for your family to go through this during the pandemic. Thank you so much for having me on, jake. My wife lacy is watching. Hi, hon. I appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that people have sent to us because it really does matter. As a matter of fact, i dont want to name drop but Oprah Winfrey called yesterday and wished her well and that just lifted her up. You cant believe how much that filled her heart with joy and to know that someone like that without their thinking about her and wishing her well. As you mentioned, i want people to understand if you dont take precautions against covid because you dont feel at risk, it can impact you, your family, your community in so many other ways. I, as the Surgeon General of the United States, had to drop 3450i wife off the front door and couldnt see her go into the hospital. Had not been able to visit her and did not know if she would have a hospital bed because of the covid precautions and because of the capability issues that are present because of the virus. If you have someone going into labor or having a heart attack or who gets into a car accident on an icy road, they may not have a bed because the icus are full. I want your viewers to know we need everybody to pull together and take these precautions even if you dont feel at risk from covid because it has implications in so many other ways. Our thoughts and prayers are going out to lacy today. Lets turn to the larger issue in the United States right now. You have said youre very concerned about the new surge of coronavirus cases. Youve said youre concerned about what is going to happen after the holidays. We have seen more than 1 Million Airline passengers a day for the last week. Based on what happened already, if we are right now experiencing 3,000 deaths a day in the United States, what should we expect two to three weeks after christmas . Well, what i want people to know is the projections are pretty scary, but they are projections. What we do now matters. If you gathered over the holidays outside of your household without a mask, there are still measures you can take right now. You still can selfquarantine. You can still get tested knowing that greater than 50 of the spread now among people asymptomatic. You can still wear a mask and wash your hands and watch your distance. If we do that we will be able to temper this surge. I want people to understand in the midst of tragedy im still optimistic. Less a year after getting this virus sequenced, we have we are going to have 20 million doses delivered within a month after actually getting the eua. I want people to understand that if we get over this current surge, then things will start to get better but it depends on the actions that we all take right now. The eua is, of course, the emergency use authorization given by the fda. Lets talk about this. Because on december 14th, you told me that those 20 million you said there would be 20 million americans vaccinated by the end of the year. Take a listen. If we can do that, then we can help protect everyone as we wait for more and more of these doses to come out. 20 Million People vaccinated in december will. Up to 50 million by january 100 million by february. That, obviously, did not happen. We are only at 4 million right now and we are into january. What went wrong . I want people to understand that the projections we were putting out were based on what we could control at the federal level. And we did deliver on 20 million doses delivered, but youre always going to have more doses allocated versus delivered. Delivered versus shots in arms. I just want to be frank. When you ask what went wrong, we have to understand that this virus also occurred in the midst of a surge and a lot of the local capacity to be able to vaccinate was being used for testing and responding to surges. We have to understand that it occurred over the holidays and people in Health Departments and in hospitals take holiday breaks too. But the good news is that we are seeing it quickly ramp up thanks to our state partners. The last 72 hours, we saw 1. 5 million first shots reported. If you extrapolate that out and many are extrapolating numbers, that is 500,000 a day. I want everyone to know that over the next week or two is when we should be paying attention closely and making sure we continue to see this ramp up and i expect that it will. Dr. Missini from the cdc has said we are seeing this ramp up and we expect to see it rapidly ramp up in the new year. I want people to have hope that the vaccines being delivered are translated more and more into it is shop what im most concerned about and you and i talked about, jake, the last time is uptake. You have governor dewine coming up. I saw an article last week that 60 of his nursing home workers refused the vaccine. That is something im terribly concerned about. We will ask about that. Just to be clear you did say 20 million americans vaccinated in december. That did not happen. There are a lot of people that was my hope. Well, you know, we have hope and everybody wants to feel optimistic. But also the Trump Administration has shown itself sometimes to have the policy position of just letting the states putting bypassing the buck to the states. Mitt romney called it inexcusably and woefully behind he said, quote, i know when something isnt working you need to acknowledge reality and develop a plan and particularly when hundreds of thousands of lives are at stadiuke. Do you acknowledge what mo romn is a saying here . Things are changing. 1 million doses in the last 72 hours is meaningful change. We are working the governors and working with everyone to improve upon the process. I dont want anyone to think im po polyannish here. It has not occurred to the way we he would like. As tony fauci said this was always going to be the most difficult rollout in history even if it wasnt superimposed on a surge in the holiday season. I want people to understand that 4 million vaccinations reported being delivered by the end of the year when many of the people who were saying it was a failure were saying we wouldnt have any vaccinations by the end of this year is something we can build upon and commit to continuing to build upon that. Ive been traveling and working w with the states and governors. If anyone has suggestions we are listening and the task force is working every single day to figure out how we can help the states 300 million delivered to the states and thank you, congress, for delivering on that. We want to make sure they have the resources, the Commission Corps which i helped lead with the admiral giroir is delivering. Not polyannish. We are going to work to improve with the states and i commit to the American People that youve got 100 of my focus, my attention and the commissions corps focus and attention to make this happen. Unfortunately, we dont have 100 of the president s focus. He is focused on trying to undo the results of the election and when he mentions covid he says things like what he just tweeted another lie with coronavirus this morning. He tweeted the number of cases and deaths of the china virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of the cdcs ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries and many of whom report, purrly very inaccurately and low. That is not true. The cdc does not have a when in doubt call it covid. That is is not the case. Can you tell the American People, including the families and friends of those who have died from coronavirus that that is the real death toll . And what is it like as a Surgeon General when the president of the United States spreads these lies about the pandemic . Jake, you and i have talked about this and one of the most challenging things about this entire pandemic from all sides has been trying to get Health Information to the American People in the midst of the politics. I dont speak for the president. I speak for the office of the Surgeon General and the Public Health service and im focused on making sure 350e78 cpeople g information they need and wash your hands and stay your distance and get the vaccine when its available. 350,000 dead americans is that a actual number or does the cdc shall a bogus way when in doubt call it bogus the the president claims . From a Health Perspective i have no reason to doubt those numbers and i think people need to be very aware its not about the deaths as we talked about earlier but the hospitalizations and the capacity. These cases are having an impact in an array of ways and people need to understand there is a finish line in sight but we have to keep running towards it. A new strain of coronavirus likely more contagious was first reported this week in colorado. Now cases have been found in california, florida. Is it safe to assume . Do you assume this new strain is already widespread across the u. S. . Well, its hard to say if its widespread or not but it is here. Its in many other countries. And the most important thing for people to note is that talking with our colleagues in the uk and talking with tony fauci, who i had a conversation with for a long time yesterday, we do not, so far, feel that this new strain or these new strains will be resistant to the vaccines or to the therapeutics that we have available. So that is good news. But if you feel that there is a strain out there that is more contagious and it looks like these new strains may be more contagious, even if they are not more deadly, it means that its even more important that we follow these basic Public Health measures and that we get people vaccinated as quickly as possible. The bottom line is we have the tools regardless of the strain to be able to defeat this virus. We just need the will to actually follow through and do the things that we know will help us. Surgeon general adams, last question for you. Have you spoken to the man who, if confirmed, will be your replacement, dr. Vifek murthy . We talk all the time. Vifek is a friend. Im in a strange limbo. I have a Senate Confirmed position that goes through september. Im just going to keep working to serve the American People. I am not trump Surgeon General and he not obama or bidens Surgeon General. We are the United StatesSurgeon General. I will work to make the u. S. The health yers place it can be and give people the facts regardless of the politics and i appreciate to have the conversation with you. Have hope. Have hope. Vaccines are coming. We need to get shots in arms and we are going to keep working with local partners to make that happen. And we need to keep following the w. Wear your mask, watch your distance and have the will to do the things we know work. Surgeon general jerome adams, please give lacy our best wishes. We are all thinking about her and praying for her today. Thank you. As covid19 hits unimaginable levels 12 Senate Republicans are planning to support President Trumps blood look coup in congress this week. We will talk to Governor Mike Dewine coming up. Stay with us. The new myww is our most Holistic Weight Loss Program ever. You can choose any workout you want dewine coming up. Stay with us. It with your time frame. There are a ton of zero point foods that i love. I never feel restricted. The new myww . Lose weight on us this winter get three months free my job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. Im having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. So were using a speakerphone in the store. Is that a good idea . One of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. Youre looking for a grout brush, this is garth, did he ask for your help . No, no. No. We all see it. We all see it. He has blue hair. Okay. Blue. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Keep it coming. You dont know him. Consequences of the republic overturning a democratic election because you dont like the result and because you believe that that election was somehow corrupted when, in fact, the evidence shows that it was not, and talking about all elections cant be trusted is an interesting approach opinion i think its crazy, frankly. Welcome back to state of the union. Im jake tapper. What a difference a year makes. That was republican senator josh hawly. Id like to introduce him who is leading no charge that the actual basis has garn 11 republicans to vote against the election of joe biden. Joining me now, is mike dewine, the republican governor of ohio. Congrats to the buckeyes. em very happy about that. Great news. One small light for you there. I have to begin by asking what is going on in your party right now in the Electoral College vote count on wednesday, including a number of House Republicans from ohio and im not sure what senator portman is going to do. Republican senator ben sasse of nebraska says this effort to vote against joe bidens legitimate win he says, quote, they are pointing a loaded gun at the heart of legitimately selfgovernment. Do you agree . Jake, i think we need to put this in kinds of a historical perspective. First of all, the framers of our constitution set up a system that has worked, has worked exceedingly well. We do this well. Second, if you go back, i was in congress in 2005 when we had some democrats who wanted to challenge and did challenge ohios election, and there was no, you know, basis for that. That did not work. So this is not the first time that this has happened. We are only, what, 17 days away from inauguration day. Are there some problems in the system as far as potential fraud or fraud that occurred . Yeah. But there is not we have not seen anything that rises to the level that would have changed the outcome of the election. I think senator portman, you mentioned senator portman. I think senator portman has a good proposal and that proposal is to get two very distinguished people in this country, democrat and republican, have a mission eastbou and take a hard look at voter security. We have a lot of people in this country who are very concerned because they have been lied to, governor. Governor, because they have been lied to by president frutrump f weeks. No, timeout. The big picture with changes in technology, potential hacking, all of these things, we need to have a commission as senator portman says that takes a long look at this. Not something you can do in ten days. But to take a look at this. Why is this important . If, for no other reason, than to there is a lot of people out there who are questioning this election, people need to have confidence in the system. If you put together a bipartisan commission, that, i think, for the long run, is something that really, really should take place. But governor, here is the thi thing. First of all, in 2004 and 2005 a handf fuful of democrats by Sen John Kerry who just lost the election. No big numbers about this. The president or the democrat in that case was not calling for an overturning of the election. Im not excusing those votes but you knts remotely compare it. You were one of the first Republican Office holders to acknowledge the reality of joe bidens win. There are republican senators forget me mitt romney, ben sasse, others. There are republican senators who say that paeople in your party are doing by fully embracing conspiracy theories. Whatever Blue Ribbon Commission you and portman want to set up, i dont care. This isnt about actual allegations of legitimate fraud. This is about lies that undermine the democracy.