Military. Inside the president s decision to drawdown troops in the middle east. And what about iran . Did President Trump ask for options to attack its Nuclear Facilities . Protecting our Service Members part one tonight of our year and a halflong investigation into the failure to fight Sexual Assault in the armed services. Tonight, we hear from the parents of a victim. I still cry every day. Odonnell hurricane iota tears through central america, the strongest storm to hit this late in the year. Dolly to the rescue tonight, why the world is singing the Country Music legends praises. And together again married 71 years, but separated by the pandemic. How they ended up back in each others arms. This is the cbs evening news with norah odonnell, reporting from the nations capital. Odonnell good evening to our viewers in the west, and thank you for joining us. We are going to begin with breaking news. Tonight, the White House CoronavirusTask Force Says the spread of the virus is aggressive, unrelenting, and expanding nationwide. In a series of private reports obtained by cbs news, the president s advisers warn not enough is being done to stop it. As we come on the air tonight, one out of every 10 americans now being tested for covid19 has it, and in many cities, just getting a test takes hours. Hospitals say they are now on the brink, treating 73,000 coronavirus patients tonight. That is a another sobering new record. And with the situation now at a breaking point, more states and cities are cracking down, issuing new restrictions as new infections skyrocket. Ohios governor has just issued a threeweek, statewide curfew. Iowa and north dakota are mandating masks. And in new orleans, the famed mardi gras parades are already being canceled tonight, three months before theyre set to start. Still, the nations top Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fauci, now says that the u. S. Needs a nationwide strategy to beat the virus and can no longer rely on a statebystate approach. We have our team of correspondents standing by to cover it all. Cbs carter evans is going to start off our coverage. Reporter good evening, norah, those windows behind me are part of the intensive care unit, they are at 140 capacity. That means theyre using regular hospital beds as makeshift i. C. U. Beds as states around the country clamp down to slow the spread. We are in a war right now and the virus is winning. Reporter one by one, leaders in cities and states are sounding the alarm. In ohio were issuing a curfew, thursday at 10 00 p. M. Reporter the northeast a second wave is trying to assault new york city. Reporter the midwest it is spreading right now every chance it gets in chicago. Reporter anything to get the public to take warnings from Health Experts seriously. It is the real, real thing, and it is eating us alive. Reporter iowas governor, who once said mask mandates are just feelgood measures is now making masks mandatory, starting today. If iowans dont buy into this, we lose. Businesses will close once again. Reporter as lines to get tested stretch for hours at l. A. Dodgers stadium, and outside a massachusetts hospital. Home test kits are being delivered in hardhit el paso by drone. If you have in your family vulnerable individuals, ask yourself, for this particular holiday season, do you really want to take the risk . Reporter new orleans is not taking chances, canceling mardi gras parades for the first time in 42 years. In new jersey at least four hospitals are turning away patients. Theres just no room. Call bells are not being answered. Theres a human being behind that call bell with a need, okay. And i have heard call bells ring for a half hour. Reporter this chart shows how fast hospitalizations are rising in utah, a nightmare, not just for those infected with coonavirus. I want her back. I miss her terribly. Reporter when stephanie deers sister had a heart attack last month, she needed Critical Care at a trauma center. The first thing the doctor told me is, were trying to find a way to transport your sister, and we cant find a room because of covid. Reporter lorri pranteary was just 47 years old when she passed away. She shared a lifetime of memories with her sister and leaves behind her husband, and nineyearold son, griffith, seen here at her funeral. If they had been able to get her to the hospital faster, would she be here today . Yes, she would be here. I know what happened to her was survivable. Reporter there are people who still believe this is a hoax. Whether they believe it or not is irrelevant, and the chances of them not being able to be treated is high right now, very high. And i dont want that for anybody. Covid is the reason my sister died and she didnt have the virus. Reporter the need for medical professionals is also a big concern. New data from health and Human Services suggests that more than a fifth of hospitals in the nation that can take Covid Patients are expecting Staff Shortages this week. Norah. Odonnell scary to hear all those details. Carter evans, thank you. Odonnell tonight President Trump fired chris krebs, the Administration Top security official. Krebs has been vocal disputing the president s claims of voting fraud. Its the latest in a purge of top officials as the president refuses to the request for we get more now from cbs nikole killion. Reporter with President Trump blocking president elect biden from intelligence briefings, he got his own today from former officials who served in republican and democratic administrations. Reporter mr. Biden added that a lot of damage had been done in the last four years. Today, the administration announcing a drawdown of troops in afghanistan and iraq, a senioron some senior military officials privately warned against. And just last thursday, President Trump had to be talked out of a potential attack on iran to stop its nuclear program. Americas back, and its no longer america alone. Reporter the lack of coordination is also hampering the pandemic response. As cases spike, the American Medical Association and other major Health Organizations urge the administration to share all critical information related to covid19. Leaders of bidens Covid Task Force said they wont be able to access key data about vaccines, therapeutics or supplies, nor therapeutics or can they contact the current White House Coronavirus task force which met today. Dr. Anthony fauci, offering this advice to the biden team we need a uniform approach for this outbreak. We need some fundamental Public Health measures that everyone should be adhering to, not a disjointed one state says one thing, the other state says another thing. Reporter even as some republicans have yet to acknowledge or speak with the president elect. Theres a way to deal with these disputes. Its called the courts. Reporter . A brief thaw on the senate floor as Vice President elect Kamala Harris got fist bumps from g. O. P. Colleagues, returning to capitol hill for the First Time Since the election. Late today, iowa senator Chuck Grassley announced he has tested positive for coronavirus. The senates oldest republican, at 87, says hes feeling fine, but will follow his Doctors Orders and remain in quarantine. He missed his first vote today in 27 years. Norah. Odonnell nikole killion, thank you. Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that republican observers in philadelphia were given proper access under state law to view vote counting. Its the latest in a string of legal defeats for President Trump, and his lastditch effort to challenge results in states that hes lost. Heres cbs Major Garrett. Reporter in the three times hes spoken publicly since election day. There has been a lot of shenanigans. Its a corrupt system. Reporter . President trump has offered a string of falsehoods. This is a major fraud on our nation. If you count the legal votes, i easily win. Frankly, we did win this election. Reporter his more than 400 tweets over the last two weeks are mostly false claims of fraud or that he won an election he clearly lost. More than a dozen lawsuits brought by President Trumps campaign or sympathetic republicans, alleging election irregularities or worse, have been unsuccessful. Every single legal vote that has been cast and reported has been upheld by the courts in every single piece of litigation nationwide so far. Reporter the Pennsylvania Supreme Court handed the Trump Campaign another loss today, and when the president s legal team withdrew from another pending case in the state, Rudy Giuliani stepped in, reportedly asking for 20,000 a day, though giuliani denies this. One trump attorney, marc scaringi, said this about the president s prospects days before being hired by the campaign at the end of the day, in my view, the litigation will not work. It will not reverse this election. Reporter in georgia, a hand recount is nearly finished with no significant irregularities found, this after Senate RepublicanLindsey Graham asked the states top election official about the legitimacy of some ballots. Odonnell and Major Garrett joins us now. So more than a dozen of these lawsuits unsuccessful. So are there any bright spots out there for the trump team . Reporter norah, there are no dim spots. In court you have to argue a point of law and then produce evidence that it was violated. In an election, that means something was so bad that votes have to be invalidated. In no litigation filed so far has that basic standard been met. Now, politically, this may all sort itself out for the president. We cant rule that out. But legally speaking, the president who talks often about winning, winning, winning, is doing nothing but losing, ngsing, losing. Odonnell Major Garrett, thank you. Tonight, were learning more about the decisionmaking behind the drawdown of american troops from afghanistan and iraq. Cbs david martin reports top military officials were not in favor of doing it. Reporter chris miller was a soldier in afghanistan two decades ago, and today, as acting secretary of defense, that seemed to be on his mind acting sec when he announced a drawdown from 4,500 to 2,500 troops. By january 15, 2001 excuse me, i clearly am thinking of where this started in 2001. Reporter senior military commanders were opposed to any decrease, but faced with President Trumps determination to bring troops home, they responded, in the words of one military officer, if you want to drawdown, we recommend you go to 2,500. President trump also decided to go from 3,000 down to 2,500 troops in iraq where u. S. Personnel remain under the threat of attack by iranian backed militias. Acting secretary miller had barely finished announcing the drawdown when these launch pads lit up with rockets fired near rhe u. S. Embassy in baghdad. The u. S. Embassy i david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. Odonnell we turn now to our exclusive cbs news investigation into Sexual Assault in the military. November is veterans month, when te honor the men and women who protect this country, but who is protecting them . Tonight, as part of our year andahalflong investigation, we speak to the parents of a soldier who say military leaders failed their daughter, that those failures ultimately led to her death. I still cry every day. My minds always on nicole. I turn one corner, there she is. Is. Rn another corner, there she is. Reporter steve and Stacy Burnham say their daughter, Army Private Second class nicole burnham, was sexually assaulted in june, 2017, within two months of arriving at camp casey in south korea. There was an incident involving multiple male soldiers. We know that she was held down against her will. We know that there were pictures taken. Odonnell two months later, she was sexually assaulted a second time. Nicole requested an expedited transfer back to the united states, far away from her assailants. It took them 82 days to get her out of south korea. I dont know what part of expedited is 82 days. And i would say who is there to help you . There has to be somebody you can go to. No, theres nobody here, mom, please stop asking. Reporter while nicole was waiting in south korea for nearly three months to transfer, she faced harassment for reporting her assaults. Official witness statements say for reporting her ass nicole was called a whore, slut, official witness statements and deserving of rape and the verbal harassment led to feelings of ostracism and self isolation. The army can deploy thousands and thousands of troops during a war situation within 24 hours, and they cant expedite our daughter off a base after two Sexual Assaults . Odonnell unable to leave south korea, nicole became suicidal. Her direct supervisor knew, but failed to report her Suicidal Ideation up the chain of command, even though it was a mandatory reporting requirement. How do you think she felt about how the military responded to her when she reported these assaults . Im sure she was scared to death. Im assuming, like, this is not what i expected. I signed on the dotted line to serve and protect my country, and who is here to help me and protect me . Odonnell a few weeks before christmas, steve and stacy welcomed their daughter home. Even at home, when she came home, in her bedroom, she locked the door and pushed a dresser up against it. And it was like, nicole, youre home. Shes like, you dont rderstand. Odonnell two weeks later, nicole had to report to her new assignment in colorado. When nicole got to fort carson, did her command know that she had been a victim of Sexual Assault . No. That was that was not communicated to them. Odonnell and it was supposed to have been communicated. Yes. Again, just another complete failure of the army. Odonnell a month after nicole arrived at her new base, she got a call from camp casey. She had gotten that call like you may have to go back to korea and testify. I dont think she she could do it. I dont think she wanted to do it. taps odonnell the next morning, nicole was found dead in her barracks room. She died by suicide. We have a report from the military, and the very last paragraph says that they didnt think she was mentally sound at the time of her death due to multiple Sexual Assaults and systemic harassment over a systemic harassment ove substantial period of time. Odonnell according to the military. According to the military. They knew this. And they did nothing. Until they sent us home a flag draped coffin. Odonnell we are all thinking about the burnhams and thank them for sharing nicoles story. The army declined our request for an interview, but they said in a statement that their thoughts and prayers go out to the burnham family. They say the armys criminal investigation command conducted a full investigation into nicole burnhams case and took appropriate action against the purported perpetrator. Our fourpart investigative series on Sexual Assault in the military will continue tomorrow on cbs this morning at 7 00 a. M. Tomorrow night, on the evening news, youll hear from survivors in their own words. There is still much more ahead adght here on tonights edition right here on of the cbs evening news. The most powerful storm of the year crashes ashore just miles from where another hurricane hit this month. Amazon takes aim at a new industry. What we know about its latest venture. 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