What the outcome will be. And as i said earlier, and i probably shouldnt repeat it, but i find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started. President trump is out of sight again today, the second straight workday without any Public Events on his schedule, as the president elect is getting a National Security briefing, not from intelligence officials but from outside Foreign Policy experts. Joining me now, nbc White House Correspondents Kristen Welker and peter alexander, cohosts of weekend today, of course. Kristen in wilmington, peter at the white house. Kristen, first of all, the president elect, his team, are looking forward to this transition planning, not waiting for the white house, going ahead with a National Security briefing, not based on intelligence or official intelligence. Reporter andrea, thats right, and part of what youre going to see today, we expect to see biden in a spray, is really aimed at underscoring that point that you are making, andrea, the fact that president elect biden is having this briefing with diplomatic, with National Security experts, but not with government officials. And its really in a sense aimed at turning up the pressure yet again and making the case to President Trump and his administration that the transition will move forward but that theyre lacking Key Resources and key briefings. So i think youre going to see that on display today, andrea. And it does come as biden is making some new announcements about who is going to be on his team. We expected there would be some staff announcements today. Some of the top ones, mike donilon who served as a chief strategist for the campaign. Jen Omalley Dillon will be the deputy chief of staff. She served as the first woman to run a successful campaign. Of course that winning campaign. Dana remus will be counsel to the president. Cedric richmond, a congressman from louisiana, announced today he is going to be leaving his position. And then steve richetti, a long time aide. I think what youre seeing here, andrea, is biden trying to fulfill the promise he laid out which is that he is going to have a diverse staff and diverse cabinet. Another big batch of announcements today. And we anticipate well start getting cabinet announcements within the next several weeks or so, andrea. And of course jen Omalley Dillon, the first woman to run a democratic president ial campaign successfully, of course we had Kellyanne Conway running President Trumps campaign when she took over in august of 2016. Peter alexander, the president has been making his presence felt on twitter even though we havent seen any formal remarks from him, not since that operation warp speed update last friday. Reporter yeah, andrea, youre exactly right. Notably at this time yesterday the president had already posted 36 tweets or retweets. Today, silence from the president , not just publicly but also on social media here, which is striking for obvious reasons. The president , we have now just learned or we should say in wisconsin, one of the states the president has been campaigning about, the vote count in, there had been conversations about them potentially calling for a recount there, im told in the last few minutes that all of the counties in that state have now submit their certified results to the state of wisconsin. The reason that matters, it means their first count is completed, it means if the Trump Campaign wants a recount in that state where joe biden leads by 20,000 votes, they would have to submit that request by 5 00 p. M. Central time, 6 00 p. M. Eastern, tomorrow. And its not cheap, its not free, it would cost them 8 million to do so. Thats four times more than it cost four years ago, as a function of the pandemic. Speaking of the pandemic, we know that the Vice President , mike pence, is scheduled at 3 00 today to host a White House Coronavirus task force meeting. As weve reported, President Trump has not participated in one of those meetings dating back to last spring for a series of months. And just within the last couple of hours weve obtained a letter from some of the top hospital and nurses and doctors associations calling on the Trump Administration to work with the biden transition team, to help provide the information they need as it relates to the pandemic, to help with this transition process. Its notable, theres been a lot of criticism on all sides, even the president s former chief of staff, andrea, Mick Mulvaney saying among other things as it relates to National Security and intelligence briefings, that theres no reason that joe biden shouldnt now have access to those. And kathleen sebelius, former hhs secretary to president obama, said that effectively the Biden Administration would be operating in the dark and that its very dangerous, andrea. And kristen, what is the level of frustration among the biden team . Reporter i think youre seeing it increase by the day. And i think you saw that on display yesterday when president elect biden spoke and he said that the lack of communication could cost lives, in response to a question from our own Geoff Bennett. And so the president elect is really trying to turn up the pressure on President Trump to, if not concede this race, at least allow his gsa to ascertain the Election Results so that he can start to get National Security briefings and briefings on covid as well. And andrea, one more thing overnight, its worth noting, the team is reporting, carol lee, mike memoli and myself, that biden, despite pressure from democrats to do so, is not inclined to have his presidency overshadowed by investigations into President Trump, his predecessor, so a little window into the president elect as he prepares to take office, andrea. Thats a really important window indeed. You this so much, Kristen Welker and peter alexander, thanks to both of you. Theres new reporting from the New York Times on one critical meeting inside the white house last week. Four current and former u. S. Officials telling the times that the president on thursday asked advisers whether he had options to take action against irans military action against irans main nuclear site in the coming weeks. The white house has declined to comment. Nbc news has yet to verify the reporting. The meeting followed the International AtomicEnergy Agency report that irans uranium stockpile is now 12 times larger than permitted under the nuclear accord. Iran had complied with that accord even after the u. S. Withdrew but then recently started rebuilding its stockpiles in response to tightening u. S. Sanctions. Joining me now, New York Times chief White House Correspondent peter baker and Harvard KennedySchool Professor nick burns, former u. S. Ambassador to nato. Peter, let me ask you about the times reporting. According to the times, mike pompeo joined the military in pushing back, saying this was not the time to take on irans very substantial military in the closing weeks of this administration barring some precipitating action from iran. Thats right, exactly, secretary pompeo, Vice President pence, general milley, all said this had a risk of escalating into a wider reflect in the final days of the Trump Administration, one that would ultimately be turned over to a new administration. Thats not an ideal way to leave office, of course. The president seemed for the moment to be convinced to stand down. But well see, nobody is convinced thats the end of the discussion. We could still see 60 days of conversation about this before the president leaves office. The shakeup at the pentagon in recent days, putting in a new defense secretary literally days before trump leaves office, is leaving people wondering why hes doing that, and precipitating action against iran is one thing he could have had in mind for all this. And nick burns, explain to people the downside of taking military action against irans main Nuclear Reactor at this time, as the president has been defeated and is leaving office. Andrea, the downside is the risk of a wider war. If we launched a military attack on any target in iran, what we know about the iranians is they do hit back. Where could they hit back . At American Military forces in iraq and American Naval and air assets in the gulf. They could try to kidnap or kill american citizens anywhere in the world. Theyve done that in the past. So if youre going to argue for the use of military force, youve got to look at the downside. Youve got to do the risk reward ratio. Right now there is an alternative, its called diplomacy. Why would you risk a war when the iranians seem to be willing, perhaps, to come back to the negotiating table . And i think this is a problem of President Trumps own making. He left the iran nuclear deal. It was working. Now of course the iranians are closer to a nuclear weapon. They have 5,385 pounds of low enriched uranium, enough for two nuclear weapons. They would have to convert that over a couple of months into highly enriched uranium. But were far worse off than we were the day barack obama and joe biden left the white house four years ago. And this is just one of the problems thats going to confront a new administration. Another precipitous action could be the withdrawal from afghanistan. This is something the military also opposes, but the president seems determined. Peter, what is the latest youre hearing about withdrawing all troops or most troops from afghanistan . This has been a source of tension now for months between the President Trump and his National Security adviser on one side and general milley, chairman of the joint chiefs, on the other side. The military believes even a small footprint of troops is necessary there to maintain a foothold in the country and provide stability for the government, even following that peace deal that the president negotiated with the taliban. If all american troops were pulled out, their reasoning is, it would open the door to the taliban basically taking over altogether which would create the kind of rogue state that provided a haven for al qaeda back in 2001. Thats the argument, anyway. President trump has made very clear from the beginning that he is not interested in keeping troops overseas, that he came to office in part rejecting the bush era wars in afghanistan and iraq and that he would like to leave office having, you know, on his legacy the end of the afghan war. So this is a big, big push and pull in these final months. Were talking about a small number of troops but a big, big impact and big consequence. And the nato allies are against the withdrawal as well as Mitch Mcconnell and others on the hill. But some democrats are very much in favor of it. So it crosses party lines. Nick, i want to also ask you about mike pompeo. He is going to seven countries. In france he was rebuffed. He did meet with officials but not publicly. They wouldnt see him publicly because he has not conceded publicly that joe biden has won the election. And its awkward, to say the least, with french and German Foreign ministers having an oped the day he was there, talking about how they look forward to working with biden and reestablishing the relationship going forward. Then he went to turkey and erdogan wouldnt meet with him, so they had a meeting with the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church, they went sightseeing at a historic mosque, the pompeo, mrs. Pompeo with mike pompeo. Then he went to georgia and then on to the middle east. This trip is not only by a lame duck administration but he has not acknowledged that joe biden has won. Andrea, i cant remember a situation like this over many decades. In in a normal transition, the existing secretary of state would be working closely with the Incoming Administration, the transition team. And sometimes that secretary of state would travel, but wouldnt undertake any major initiatives without checking with the Incoming Administration because you want a peaceful transfer of power and you want the new team to succeed. We dont have any of that right now. Theres hostility from the Trump Administration. And as you say, this extraordinary remark from mike pompeo last week, were transitioning to a trump second term. His aides said he was kidding. You cant kid about Something Like this. This is the root of american democracy, can we transition peacefully. So its not surprising to me that some of these World Leaders will not see him because they clearly understand, around the world, that joe biden won the election and donald trump lost the election. Theyve got to get ready to work with the biden team. Thats why the Trump Administration and the president personally admitting his defeat, conceding and working with the biden transition team, is so important. Nick burns, thank you so much. Ambassador nick burns. Peter baker from the New York Times, thanks to both. Ahead, moving on. Signs that some Senate Republicans are finally ready to turn the page on the Trump Administration. But first, deep impact. President elect joe biden saying that Donald Trumps refusal to concede the election could cost thousands more lives in the battle against covid19. The Trump Administration vaccine expert turned whistleblower dr. Rick bright now advising the Biden Incoming team, joining me next. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Im kalvin, and theres more to me than hiv. Im a peer educator,. A fitness buff,. And a champion for my own health. I talked with my doctor. And switched to. Fewer medicines with. Dovato. Prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv1 treatment or replacing their current hiv1 regimen. With. Just 2 medicines. In 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3drug regimen to help you reach and stay undetectable. 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In answer to a question from nbcs Geoff Bennett reporter what do you see as the biggest threat to the transition right now given President Trumps unprecedented attempt to obstruct and delay a smooth transfer of power . More people may die if we dont coordinate. If we have to wait until january 20 to start that planning, it pulse us behind, over a month, month and a half. And so its important that it be done, that there be coordination, now. Joining me now is dr. Rick bright, a member of president elects coronavirus Advisory Board. Hes the former he had of the agen