Turmoil on the outgoing president s watch as the coronavirus is raging like never before. Tonight, more than 334,000 americans are dead, more than 19. 2 million have been infected. Dr. Anthony fauci warns of a surge upon a surge of new cases after holiday gatherings and travel. Lets go to cnn Congressional Correspondent phil mattingly. Reporter thats right. 275134. That means in the democratic led house, the bill passed to expand direct payments. This is in response to President Trump himself, what he initially pretty much stopped the process of signing the large covid relief and spending bill into law. One of his demands, increasing direct payments, stimulus checks in that measure from 600 to 2,000. Democratic leaders said okay, lets do it. Tried by unanimous consent, republicans blocked that. This time did it under suspension of rules, without getting too deep into the procedure and weeds, they needed twothirds of those present to vote for it to pass. And just barely, just barely crossed that threshold. About 130 republicans voted against the measure. To put it blintuntly, it was a difficult vote for republicans. Generally dont want part of giving general payments out. However, they were facing pressure from the president himself, something over the course of the last four years as you know better than anybody they have been unceasingly loyal to. 40 republicans voted with democrats for the measure, more than 130 against, this means it will head to the senate. As it stands, President Trump says he has commitment to at least start procedural votes on the 2,000 direct payments bill. Mitch mcconnell up to this point hasnt said anything what the process would be. Jim, we expect him to lay it out tomorrow when the senate comes into session. Phil, there are two critical votes this evening. The other one being the Defense Authorization act, and republicans are in a pickle on this as well, phil, because some of the republicans that voted for the Defense Authorization bill may not be able to muster up courage to defy the president and vote to override his veto. How is that breaking down at this hour . Reporter reluctance to put too much into a single voter, couple votes on the house floor. Given everything since november 3rd, where the president has been, given where the Republican Party has been the course of the last four years, the two votes are fascinating. National Defense Authorization is a bill that passed congressional, bipartisan manner, usually with big votes for 60 years. 59 of those years signed into law. This is the first time vetoed by President Trump. Some republicans who are supportive of the measure, consider themselves National Security republicans, like Kevin Mccarthy said he would vote against it because he wants to sustain the president ee veto. How republicans come down on the issue, whether or not theyll override the president who theyre loyal to but wont be in office in weeks will be interesting how it breaks down. Jim, i will tell you one thing, matt thornberry, Top Republican on Armed Services committee, well respected by both parties made clear without mentioning the president s name in a floor speech before the vote was to take place, it was a matter of this is the same exact bill, the vast majority of republicans voted for last time around. Not a single comma has been changed. How do they vote given where the president sits . It goes a long way to telling you the Republican Party, House Republican conference is going to be doing the weeks and months ahead and where trump and the party continue to sit. There used to be a problem when you were for something before you were against it. Well talk about that in a bit. Lets go to kaitlan collins. The president got what he wanted, but the fate in the senate is not clear when it comes to stimulus checks. Reporter no, it is not. Phyllis right, mcconnell made no mention of this in a statement yesterday. We have to wait for tomorrow to see what he says. When the president agreed to sign the Coronavirus Relief bill yesterday after sitting on it for several days, one of the statements included when he signed it, he wanted the senate to consider the 2,000 stimulus check proposal that he and democrats agree on. It is not clear where the republican majority leader will go with this. What youve seen in all this effort could have been unnecessary. The president s own aides view it that way, jim. He was completely uninvolved in the negotiations, they didnt know the president would threaten to not sign the bill over the stimulus payments, wanting them to be 2,000 instead of 600. It was his own team that negotiated it. He signed it yesterday, only delaying it while ultimately not changing anything. It really is a disgrace. Reporter after blasting it for days, President Trump gave in and signed the pandemic relief bill overnight ending a drama he created while getting nothing in return for his theatrics i am asking congress to amend the bill, increase the ridiculously low 600 to 2,000. Reporter he threatened to derail the 900 billion bill in part over the size of stimulus checks, surprising his own staff that spent weeks negotiating it. He finally signed it at his Maralago Club in florida sunday night, without getting what he demanded, despite promising on the campaign trail to be a deal maker. Great deals. We only make great deals. America first. Reporter the signing gdelay caused a lapse in benefits for millions of americans. Because of trumps s shenanigans, there is a one week delay. Reporter the package provided billions for vaccine distribution, funding for schools, money for small businesses. Republicans are practically begging trump to sign it. I understand he wants to be remembered for advocating for big checks but the danger is he will be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior if he allows this to expire. Reporter not all of the president s allies were relieved he gave in, referencing efforts to contest the election, a senior white house official asked cnn why should any of his supporters fight for him when he quit trying to get them more than a midd 600. Others were fearful hits efforts could hurt the party before a critical runoff in georgia where republican candidates are already touting the bill. I am proud to bring that relief to georgia. Reporter he announced to hold a rally for them next week. Some republicans are bracing for it to be more about his election loss than their race. Were all victims. Everybody, all of the thousands of people here tonight. Reporter as he vacations in palm beach, the white house insisted trump is holding many meetings and calms, though he was spotted by cnn cameras on the golf course again today. Given all his other efforts to overturn the election have failed, sources say trump is laser focused on causing disruption january 6th when congress meets to ratify joe bidens win. The process is only procedural, but because it is overseen by mike pence, trump is looking for loyalty from his top deputy. Hinting at a possible spectacle, the president tweeted see you in washington, d. C. January 6th. Dont miss it. Information to follow. Even the president s allies are growing tired of his efforts. New york post Editorial Board which has been friendly to trump his entire presidency is now urging him to, quote, stop the insanity, writing you had every right to investigate the election, but lets be clear, those efforts have found nothing. Now, jim, on top of all that, a republican congressman has filed a lawsuit against the Vice President , mike pence, trying once again in another far fetched effort to overturn results of the election, basically arguing pence will have the ability january 6th when congress does meet. The Vice President will not have that ability to do that, basically his role in that procedure is a ceremonial one, but it is an effort again by the president and his allies to try to change the results of an election they failed to do so far in weeks since november. While the lawsuit isnt going to go anywhere, it is incredibly far fetched, what it does do is put the Vice President in an awkward position. He wants to prove his loyalty to the president , but he has political ambitions of his own. What hes actually going to do january 6th remains to be seen. Kaitlan, now to president elect joe biden and new condemnation of transition road blocks that he is blaming on trump political appointees. Mj lee has more on that. Biden says the team is not getting the National Security information it needs at this point. Reporter thats right, jim. We heard joe biden expressing real alarm after meeting with members of his Foreign Policy and National SecurityAgency Review teams. Remember, the official transition process was already delayed because gsa was slow in ascertainment process, and now we hear the president elect saying that he is seeing obstruction from some parts of the trump government. Nothing short in my view of irresponsibility. Reporter tonight, president elect joe biden slamming the Trump Administration for what he says has been far short of full cooperation during the transition process. We encountered road blocks from the Political Leadership, at the department of defense and office of management and budget. Reporter after getting briefed by members of the National Security and Foreign PolicyAgency Review teams, biden accusing Trump Officials of political obstruction. Some agencies received exemplary cooperation from career staff in those agencies. From others, most notably, department of defense, we encountered objection from Political Leadership of the department. Reporter biden laying out some of the most urgent Foreign Policy challenges his administration will confront come january, seeing major federal agencies have been handicapped under President Trump. Many of them hollowed out in personnel, capacity, and in morale. In the policy process is at trophied or side lined, in despair of alliances and disrespect of those alliances. Reporter this as the country braces for post christmas spikes in covid19 cases across the country. Dr. Anthony fauci saying he agrees with bidens earlier prediction. Our darkest days in the battle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. Reporter that the worst of the pandemic is still to come. We very well might see a post seasonal in the sense of christmas, new years surge. I share the concern of president elect biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse. Reporter a little over three weeks out from inauguration day, biden building out the rest of his administration. The most prominent cabinet position still outstanding, attorney general. The top two contenders for the role remain judge Merrick Garland and senator doug jones. Other major appointments still to come, cia director, secretary of commerce, secretary of labor, and sba administrator. Now, as biden was leading that speech earlier today, he was asked whether he supports 2,000 in direct payments for covid19 relief. He did say yes, he does support those payments. He also is going to be giving a speech in wilmington tomorrow on covid19, this of course as there are real concerns about spikes in covid19 cases across the country after the holidays. Jarring to see biden predicting before the Christmas Holidays he thinks the darkest days may be ahead of us when it comes to the virus, jim . Mj, thank you very much for that. Bring back kaitlan collins, phil mattingly, along with david gergen. David, President Trump threw a wrench into critical pieces of legislation, now some republicans are on the record voting against bigger stimulus checks. And i suppose some of the republicans will be on the record voting against a defense bill that phil mentioned earlier typically passes every year without controversy or much controversy at all. What do you make of the chaos . Amidst the chaos, we face an interesting task of Donald Trumps continuing strength among republicans, especially in the house and senate. We all thought coming into this weekend that the Defense Authorization, he would win his veto, and his signature on the bill, 80 votes in the senate, 335 in the house, nobody thought that the house or senate might override the veto, that he would lose this. So right now were in the situation of trying to figure out can donald trump sustain himself on the defense bill, on the stimulus bill, and on the 600 versus 2,000. Can he win those votes or not. If he wins them, were all going to say wow, he has more strength than we thought. If he loses them, which is still more likely, still more likely on all three that he is not going to come out well, then hes going to be seen as having suffered stinging defeats and the argument will be he checked out of the presidency way too early, let these things get past him. We have to wait and see. Minor drama as we go forward. Won have it any other way. Phil mattingly, doesnt look good for republicans to vote against the stimulus checks, this is the position the president put them in and against the defense spending bill. What is Mitch Mcconnell going to do about this . Now hes in a position where he may have to stand against the bigger checks. It is going to be fascinating to see how he plays this. I think most people work under the assumption that mcconnell will have some strategic way to thread the needle, do what he tries to do more than anything else, protect his conference and protect the members of the republican conference as it stands, 52 now that mark kelly has been sworn in in arizona. David gets a key point. Were trying to figure out what it means for the Republican Party. Are the votes serving as prosecuti prosecution sees for the republican theory when you have josh hawley on marco rubio lining up. The most important is the Georgia Senate race. Theres no other way to look at it. You have david perdue in the last several days crucial to getting donald trump to sign onto the stimulus. He and Kelly Loeffler said they would support the 2,000 stimulus checks to this point, some caveats in there. Where they stand, this is a bad vote for two members of the United States senate up for reelection in a matter of days, given the fact that giving people money, given the Economic Times were in polls pretty darn well. How Mitch Mcconnell navigates this, how procedurally he puts it on the senate floor will be very interesting to see. Jim as you know and david and kaitlan noted earlier, the president put his party in a difficult spot on this very specific issue. Frankly, it polls quite well. It is a very important set of runoff elections in a couple days. Who wants 600 checks when you can have 2,000 checks. I talked to an adviser that said what the president wanted throughout all this was just coverage. He just wanted attention. Where are things headed after the votes . What kind of sway will he have over the process in the senate, will Mitch Mcconnell listen to him . Thats the big question. Well wait to find out. The president has been lashing out against Mitch Mcconnell. One of the reasons is not the size of the stimulus checks and the proposal, it is over the fact that mcconnell did something the president doesnt want people doing, acknowledging reality, acknowledging biden won the election. You saw him lash out at mcconnell and john thune, number two. Thats what youre seeing, the president is more unpredictable than ever. People at the white house dont know his strategy if there is one. They were as surprised as the rest of us were, including people on capitol hill when the president threatened to derail the coronavirus bill that he finally signed last night. Basically where the president is is more unpredictable than theyve seen, which is unpredictable if you know this president and how the last four years have gone. Theyre not sure what he will do between now and january 20th. Thanks so much to all of you. Following breaking news on capitol hill. The house voting to increase stimulus checks, and overriding the veto of the defense bill is under way now. Reaction from a key house member, representative garamendi joins us next. ringing hey kaleb, whats up . How you doing . Hey, im good, guess what, i just had my 13th surgery. Really . I just had my 17th surgery. Well, you beat me. Well, i am a little bit older than you. Yeah its true. How are you doing . Im doing good. Im encouraged by seeing how people are coming together to help each other during times like these. Kind of like how shriners hospitals for children is there for us. Imagine if i couldnt get my surgery. Who knows what would have happened. Same for me. I know my shriners hospitals family will continue to take care kids like us who need them most all because of caring people like you. Like me . No, the people watching us right now at home. Oh, those people. Hi people. Kaleb and i know not everyone can help right now, but for those of you who can, we hope youll this special number on your screen right now. Youll be making sure our amazing doctors and nurses can keep helping kids like us, who need them now and in the days to come. Your gift will make a huge difference for