Massive attempt to blur the lines. Not by putin but by our own president. The tweet that puts him miles apart from the truth and his own secretary of state. Also, tonight. A second vaccine is approved and about to roll out, across this country. The president wants to take credit for it. As new reporting reveals why this administration wanted to leave school kids out of the process. And who counts . What the Supreme Court did this week, when faced with trumps quest to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census. It is a temporary win that is bound for defeat. Welcome to a a nnew hour of american voices. Topping the news, tonight. President trump, doing what he does best. Contradicting the truth and his own intelligence officials in the process. We first told you, last weekend, about the russian cyberattack, targeting a dizzying number of private, u. S. Companies and government agencies. But, it was not until today that we heard the sitting president address it. Not only did he downplay it, but he shifted blame to china, without a shred of evidence to back up the claim. And he added another wild theory into the mix that, maybe, Voting Machines were hacked, too. That was the president , today. Here was his secretary of state, yesterday. This was a very significant effort and i think its the case that now we can say, pretty clearly, that it was the russians that engaged in this activity. In a shock to no one, russian president Vladimir Putin denies being involved. And we all know donald trump wont call putin on the carpet for it. So, here we are. Chris krebs, the former director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, who we should note, was fired by President Trump for defending the results of the election, is pushing back against the president s claims. Tweeting, do not conflate votingsystem security and solar winds. The proof is in the paper. You can audit or recount again to confirm the outcome, like they did in georgia and michigan and wisconsin and arizona. Cant hack paper. So, for a moment, lets put aside the sideshow, and focus on the facts before us. This cyberhack was huge. So far, we know at least 40 entities have been infiltrated with malware dating back as far as march. According to microsoft, those entities include the office of the treasury, and the departm t departments of defense and energy. And in case you arent scared enough, they also hacked the National Nuclear security administration, which maintains our countrys Nuclear Weapon stockpile. This Hack Campaign is most likely an effort to spy on us. Formersenior counsel to the House Intelligence Committee tells nbc news, quote, we have no evidence, yet, that any information has been deleted, destroyed, manipulated, or modified. In short, russia isnt listening, russia is watching. Giving us a ton to navigate through, tonight. Starting us off, editor at large for newsweek and the author of how to catch a russian spy, the true story of an american turned double agent. Even pompeo is linking the cyberattack to russia. So, why cant the president do the same . Well, i mean, this has been going on for four years. And if i take off my journalism hat, just for a brief moment, you know, i worked undercover against the gru for three years. And what i can tell you, alicia, and this has been frustrating me the last four years. Russia, whether its cyber, whether its ukraine, whatever it might be, russia will keep pushing until they hit that obstacle, until they hit that wall. And today, with President Trump, he has yet to condemn them. He has yet to push back. So this is the natural progression. They are going to keep going. They are going to keep expanding. That that aggressive posture is going to be keep increasing. And at some point, its going to go to a bridge too far. So, his inability to confront them, his inability to call them out is, again, just putting this country at danger, in the fact that it just emboldens them by telling them theres no consequence. So, they are just going to keep not only doing this but upping the ante. Natasha, how was this able to go undetected for so long . And whats it going to take to root out all of the systems that were potentially infected . Its a great question. We dont know why the u. S. Government didnt catch this. The russians were very, very good at this particular operation. It was a very sophisticated operation. It was something that was carried out allegedly by an arm of russian intelligence that tepi tends to just burrow into places. This is a separate entity. And their entire goal is just to spy. It was a massive spying operation. That being said, it can be spying and can also be exfiltration of data. Thats one of the things investigators are examining. In these agencies, was it just that the russians were trying to burrow around and see what they could find out about what the u. S. Government was doing . Or were they actually trying to steal data, manipulate things, and perhaps try to sow chaos in the future, by changing things that could be critical to our critical infrastructure, for example. We just dont know, yet. When i spoke to officials, who were briefed on the department of energy situation, they said that it could be weeks before they have any idea whether or not this was just something that was a backdoor kind of thing, where the russians kind of walked in the back door, looked around. Werent able to get any further. Or whether they were actually attacked, in the sense that there was information stolen, there were things manipulated. We just dont know yet and i think thats worrying officials most. Instead, they are calling it an act of espionage. How does viewing this breach as an attack open the way for retaliation . So, i want to be clear because ive, also, spoken to officials. And technically, u. S. Cybercom is calling this an incident. So its important to understand, sort of what natasha said. The reason that this wasnt detected is simply because they focus on the supply chain, right . Cybersecurity, just like any security, is focused on keeping a bad guy from the outside, out. In this case, they exploited a private company, solarwinds. They exploited their product. They changed code. They did it through an update server. They actually changed code. That, in a definition, is cyberattack. However, it was not a u. S. Government system that started this off. It was a private company. So, the question here, and what i have asked experts is should we allow that criticalinfrastructure umbrella, the idea that because they attacked a private company that, in effect, was used to launch a much largerscale operation against government systems, the answer, frankly, i think is yes. I mean, look, today, what happens if, tomorrow, its boeing . I mean, this is a really important extension. And a lot of people i am talking to, on the expert side, are saying this warrants an actual response. Natasha, you specifically reported on the hack at the department of energy and the National Nuclear security administration, which again, maintains the nations Nuclear Weapon supply. What information was compromised . And how might that information then be used by russia . Yeah. So there were five different semiautonomous agencies, including National Security administration, within that administration. There were also certain aspects that were that were breached in the sense that the russians were able to get into the networks. But they still dont know, again, how far they were able to get. Whether they were able to actually get any information. And the department of energy has put together what are called hunt teams to try to get a sense of basically following the russians tracks here. Basically, trying to rummage around. See what they have been able to access. And then, if possible, try to kick them out. But again, it could take weeks and weeks. And part of the reason why this happened is because we had such a weak link in the supply chain, as navid was talking about. This is going to, obviously, change a lot of peoples minds about how we approach using these software, these these critical these supply Chain Management software, in the sense that its so broad that the so many of the so many agencies in the u. S. Government have been using this one software that, if compromised, could take down the whole thing. So, thats obviously going to be reexamined. And obviously, its particular scary the department of energy was compromised, in that sense. Naveed, i am struck by how many questions you and natasha are laying out. And it would seem to me, this is a critical moment for the president elect to be receiving nationalsecurity briefings. Instead, there has been a pause on those. What does that mean for the Incoming Administration . What does that mean, even more importantly, for our National Security . Well, you know, i think this is it is important for the president elect to know whats going on, to get those intelligence brief. But its also important for him to start formulating policy how to deal with this, right . This is this is uncharted territory. What the russians did here by compromising u. S. Systems, as natasha is pointing out, we dont know what they have done. In fact, just because we have closed this exploit, if theyve taken over another server thats not solarwinds server, we might not even know about that. This could be an ongoing threat. So, having the president elect briefed on this, having him be able to start formulating policy. Having him be able to start formulating what his response is going to be day one what he sets foot in the office, i think its incredibly important. And again, if President Trump is saying we should look at china, not russia. I mean, my goodness, whats the messaging . On top of the fact that there is some sort of level of obstruction, by design or by default, with briefing the Incoming Administration. How is this helping our National Security . It isnt. All right. Natasha, thank you so much. Naveed, i will see you a little bit later in the program. Zblchlgts sti still ahead for us. We will talk about modernas new weapon against covid19 with a doctor who took part until tin trials. Zblchlg plus, fresh lockdowns in the uk just before christmas. A new form of coronavirus is spreading fast. But first, richard lui standing by with other big stories. Richard. Some of the stories we are watching. The u. S. Has now recorded more than 250,000 new covid cases. Total cases are approaching 18 million, with over 315,000 deaths. Now, in congress, still no deal on covid relief. The senate called it a night, just a short time ago. A vote on a relief package is not expected, until tomorrow. Friday, Congress Passed a twodtwo twoday funding extension. Next deadline, that is sunday at midnight. Join the army, you are a soldier. Join the navy, you are a sailor. Join the space force, you are a guardian. Vice president pence announced the new label, yesterday. It was the oneyear anniversary of the creation of the space force. More american voices right after this short break. Right after this short break man 1 vo proof of less joint pain woman 1 oc this is my body of proof. And clearer skin. Man 2 vo proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis. Woman 2 vo . With humira. Woman 3 vo humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. 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Ed ive never heard snoring. Exactly. No problem. And done. Save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, 0 interest for 48 months on all smart beds. Ends monday. Today, the cdc voted to recommend modernas covid19 vaccine for emergency use, for persons 18 years of age and older. The fda approved it, last night. Doses are set to be shipped starting tomorrow. Putting actual shots in arms, by as early as monday. The second tool against this pandemic. Giving Health Officials confidence that millions of americans will get vaccinated, over the next couple of weeks. We remain on track to allocate 20 around 20 million doses of vaccine to all jurisdictions, by the end of december. With distribution of those doses pushing into the first week of january. With me now, nbcs shaquille brewster, who is in olive branch, mississippi, outside of the mckesson distribution plant, where the Moderna Vaccine will be distributed. Shaq, a lot of optimism here for the distribution of the Moderna Vaccine. What more do we know about this process . And how soon the vaccine can be administered . Well, were really getting the sense that we are just now hours away from the first trucks rolling out of this Distribution Center. You mentioned the Distribution Center is named mckesson. Its the facility that moderna is relying on to help turn its stock of vaccine into individual shipments. We learned, today, from the general of operation warp speed, the chiefoperating officer, that they are expecting to send these shipments out to some 3,000 locations across the country. We know that moderna is promising more than 20 million doses of this vaccine to be delivered, by the end of the year. Thats just a small timeframe that we are dealing with, at this point. You know, as we talk about the numbers, its also important to note that there was some confusion about the timeline of the vaccine when we saw with pfizer. Many states, and you heard complaints from many governors, saying they didnt get that initial allocation that they were expecting of pfizers vaccine. Well, in the briefing, this morning, we heard the chief operating officer of operation warp speed really take ownership over that. Listen to a little bit of his comments during the Media Briefing this morning. I am the one that approved the forecast sheets. I am the one that approved the allocations. Right . There is no problem with the process. There is no problem with the Pfizer Vaccine. There is no problem with the Moderna Vaccine. So would the governors to the governors staffs, please, accept my personal apology if this was disruptive in your decisionmaking and in your conversations with the people of your great state. I will work hard to correct this. This is really a new process for everyone, and he said that, really, it came down to miscommunication. Not understanding how many doses were ready to be shipped based on the doses that were produced. But really, the difference between this vaccine and the Pfizer Vaccine is that temperature that the vaccine can be frozen. We know the Moderna Vaccine does not require that special, subarctic freezer, that many Hospital Systems have. But pharmacies dont have, for example. So, thats the difference this vaccine will really make, especially, when you dig into the different plans from the states. This vaccine is really going to help rural hospitals, the rural communities. Because they are used to holding and containing items, at this temperature. So, you are really going to expect to see this vaccine go out to things like pharmacies, doctors offices, and nursing homes. Those critical areas, to really help get this first phase of vaccine out to the people. All right. Shaquille brewster, going to be exciting to watch that vaccine rollout, tomorrow. Thank you so much for covering it for us. Over in the united kingdom, a new variant of the coronavirus has started to spread so quickly that Prime MinisterBoris Johnson announced, today, he is enforcing the strictest lockdown, yet, across london and parts of england. He says, the threat is so real that residents need to rethink their christmas plans. Let me, first of all, just say to everybody whos made plans for christmas. As i said earlier on, everybody whos thought about it, all the care and love thats gone into plans for christmas. We, of course, bitterly regret the changes that are that are necessary. But alas, when the facts change, you have to change your approach. Nbcs matt bradley has more from london. Reporter yeah, well, britains Boris Johnson, who lives right behind me here at 10 downing street, he has just become the Prime Minister who stole christmas. He is clapping back a lot of the restrictions that had already been lifted here in britain, and that he had promised would be lifted for christmas and new years. He went back on his word. He got some scathing criticism among reporters at the press conference, this afternoon. Basically, this is another lockdown, without that name. There is going to be closing of all nonessential businesses, and that includes restaurants and gyms. Everybody is going to be encouraged to work from home. Its going to be a lot like the previous lockdowns that have been here, throughout europe. And why . Well, its because of a troubling, new variant of the coronavirus thats emerged here in london, and in southeast england. Now, this is something. It spreads about 70 faster than the regular coronavirus. And here, in london, Authorities Say 60 of the c