Emails and tweets railing against the election result while slamming republican governors in arizona and georgia for doing their jobs and certifying that he lost. This as one of the president s personal attorneys, joe did general ova, said chris krebs should be, quote, taken out at dawn and shot for joining other agency heads including the fbi and nsa in calling the election secure from hacking. Krebs responded toe that latest death threat in a today show exclusive live interview with Savannah Guthrie on today. Its certainly more dangerous language, more dangerous behavior. And the way i look at it is that were a nation of laws. And i plan to take advantage of those laws. Ive got an Exceptional Team of lawyers that win in court. And i think theyre probably going to be busy. You feel like theres legal action that might arise from comments like that . Were taking a look at all our available opportunities. Are you worried about your safety, sir . This is not the first death threat, unfortunately. You know, im not going to give them the benefit of knowing how im reacting to this. Joining me now, nbc White House Correspondent and weekend today cohost kristen welker, nbc White House CorrespondentGeoff Bennett covering the biden transition in delaware, and Washington PostWhite House Bureau chief phil rucker. Welcome, all. Kristen, lets talk about this chris krebs interview. This is a lifelong republican who also expressed his gratitude to donald trump for nominating him and appointing him. He spent 3 1 2 years working on Election Security and creating this agency, basically, from scratch. And the outrageous comments by joe digenova are beyond the bounds of whats been said before. Thats right, andrea. And you heard chris krebs say to savannah that clearly his legal team is taking these comments very seriously, looking at the comments and signaling there could be some type of legal action. You also heard krebs really stand by and defend the work that he did at dhs and the Election Results. Of course he called the election the most secure in american history. And he really reaffirmed that and reiterated that today with savannah. When savannah pressed him, show your work, he said, look, the work is the fact that were dealing with paper ballots, thats one of the reasons why theres so much confidence in these Election Results. And he defended his tenure. Take a listen to what he had to say. Im a lifelong republican. Ive served, as you pointed out, in two republican administrations. I served with honor in the Trump Administration. And i will always be thankful to President Trump. When you enter federal service, you pledge an oath to uphold and defend the constitution from threats, foreign and domestic. Country over party. Andrea, ive reached out to the white house, the trump campaign, to joe digenova, to get their response. So far we havent heard back. But again, this is being taken very seriously, not only by chris krebs, but by other quarters here in washington, as it does come as President Trump is trying to undercut the Election Results. As you pointed out at the top of the show, taking aim at arizonas republican governor, at georgias republican governor after the Election Results were certified in those two key states. More setbacks for trump as he has unsuccessfully tried to cast a cloud and undercut these Election Results, andrea. And as this continues from the president , phil rucker, his attorney making false and dangerous statements, the president attacking the two governors, in georgia and arizona, this morning saying the important Runoff Senate elections in georgia could be called off. This is days after you and your team at the Washington Post reporting that trump has in the last days and weeks just been ranting inside the white house, telling one of his close advisers, sounding like, according to one of his close advisers, mad king george, saying i won, i won. What do you see going on right now . Thats exactly right, andrea, the president continues to insist he won this election and that it was stolen from him. Hes largely abdicated his responsibilities of being the president in these weeks as hes focused intensely on his grievances, on legal challenges led by Rudy Giuliani, and hes been especially angry, according to our reporting, with the governor of georgia, brian kemp, a republican who actually used to the secretary of state there, he has his own history of running elections in that state. He got elected very narrowly in 2018 on trumps coattails and trump has been raging at his advisers in recent days and weeks that he cant believe he endorsed brian kemp and is upset with Governor Kemp for not basically using his power as the states Top Executive to try to change the outcome of that election. That of course is not legal. Theres not really a constitutional way for the governor of the state of georgia to somehow flip the result and announce that trump has won that state because he has not won that state. But nonetheless, the president is very upset that the governor hasnt done more to try to sway this in trumps favor. And the governor, meanwhile, has defended his conduct and oversight of the election, saying that hes following his legal duties. And it will be very interesting to see later this weekend if the president follows through on his reported plans to go to georgia for rallies for those two Senate Republicans in the runoff, what this kind of dynamic is going to be like on the ground, and what if anything the president is going to say to attack Governor Kemp while hes in the state of georgia. And the republican secretary of state as well who is the Current Governor and successor secretary of state who are both endorsing the certification. The New York Times is reporting today that Rudy Giuliani has at least raised the issue of a preemptive pardon of the president , giuliani fiercing denying it. This is what he texted one of our colleagues, a lie 100 so get furious at the lying members of your profession. I despise crooked lawyers. Lets take a step back here and put this against the backdrop, andrea, of the fact that we know that President Trump has discussed potential pardons of his allies. We know that some of his allies have openly discussed that he should consider pardoning himself and should consider pardoning his family members. So we know that those two things are true. And of course hes issued a pardon most recently of general flynn. So all of those things are true. At the same time, Rudy Giuliani at this hour defiant, pushing back against the allegations or the reporting that hes directly discussed a preemptive pardon of President Trump by himself and possible of Rudy Giuliani as well. And geoff in wilmington, well see joe biden probably within the hour, with the Economic Team. They were announced yesterday. There is controversy over neera tanden, which given that its coming from a lot of republicans who have been so partisan on twitter themselves, in the course of the campaign, separate from all our policy chops, that, you know, she did what people in campaigns do. But theyre Holding Social Media against her, and youre hearing john cornyn and others using terms like radioactive, it sounds like a preemptive strike. The Incoming White House is defending her because of her broad experience for omb. Thats right, andrea, and the biden transition is keenly aware of those issues. And so what we expect to see today, perhaps in a half hours time, is another carefully choreographed rollout, like we saw last week for president elect Bidens National security and Foreign Policy team, well see that today for the Economic Team. And the desire among the transition is to have these folks introduce themselves directly to the american people. And beyond that, its so they can use their personal stories to help blunt partisan attacks. Thats particularly true for neera tanden who as you know is the daughter of indian immigrants, raised by a single mother who for a time relied on federal Housing Assistance and food stamps. The parallel there is to show that these folks know the struggles of working class americans and that they want to create an economy that works for working people. So these six people, this handful of Senior Leadership, the Senior Leadership thats going to lead bidens Economic Team who will do the hard lifting to help joe biden achieve his goal of reordering the economy to work for working people. This is of course happening at a time where were seeing more signs of success on wall street and more signs of suffering on main street. You had the dow hit record highs last week. And yet there are food lines stretching for miles or at least there were shortly before thanksgiving all around the country, andrea. And kristen, briefly, even after the cdc advisory board, importantly, this afternoon, will be announcing their recommended priorities for vaccine distribution, youve got mark meadows, white house chief of staff, calling in fda commissioner steve hahn, dr. Hahn, calling him on the carpet. What is this all about . The pfizer rollout and authorization of it . It just seems like unseemly political pressure on the scientists. We know that among the questions that mark meadows and the president have raised, why is the Pfizer Vaccine authorization not being moved more quickly along. And so i anticipate that would be at the forefront of the discussion. We know it got under way at about 9 30 this morning. You saw hahn there entering the white house. Ive reached out to multiple officials to try to get details of exactly what was discussed. So far, no response. But andrea, we wouldnt be surprised if that meeting was tense, because again, it comes against the backdrop of President Trump and his chief of staff, aiming to push that process more quickly. You would think, you would think, kristen, geoff, and phil, that they would understand that the markets go up with the vaccine production and authorization precisely because the scientists are in charge, and the scientists are delivering, and that people are suspicious and need to be reassured and dont need to see former Congress Members and white house chiefs of staff pressuring scientists who are distinguished medical doctors. Well, sorry, that was my editorial pitch. Kristen welker, Geoff Bennett, phil rucker, thank you all. And tipping point. How states across the country are dealing with the surge in covid cases, threatening to overwhelm their hospitals. And the cdc meeting today to decide who will be first to get the covid vaccine. More on what to expect from that big announcement coming today. Plus were awaiting president elect joe biden about to present that Economic Team. Well have that for you live ahead. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. [ whispering ] whats this . Oh, are we kicking karly out . We live with at t. It was a lapse in judgment. At t, we called this house meeting because you advertise gigspeed internet, but we cant sign up for that here. Yeah, but im just like warming up to those speeds. Youve lived here two years. The personal attacks arent helping, karly. Dont you have like a hot pilates class to get to or something . [ muffled scream ] stop living with at t. Xfinity can deliver gig to the most homes. Two states on opposite coasts, california and florida. Two drastically different approaches to surging coronavirus cases. Florida Governor Ron Desantis is taking a strong stand against imposing any restrictions at all. No lockdowns. No fines. No school closures. No ones losing their job because of a government dictate. Nobody is losing their livelihood or their business. That is totally off the table. Meanwhile, in California Governor Gavin Newsom warning that the states current projections show icu beds over capacity by christmas eve. If these trends continue, were going to have to take much more dramatic, arguably drastic action. Joining me now, nbc correspondent sam brock in miami, florida, and megan fits swrer Megan Fitzgerald in burbank, california. How are local leaders and mayors handling the surge, sam . Reporter its a great question, andrea, good to be with you. Local leaders have to put in their own workarounds to get people to follow the rules in spite of the governor. Where i am right now in miami beach, Police Officers are handing out masks to people who arent wearing them and then issuing citations if they refuse to put them on. But those citations have zero teeth because of the governor. Im joined by the mayor who is one of dozens calling on the governor to take more action. Thank you for joining us. Unfortunately were trying to help people without the help of the governor. Hes saying all the wrong things, following an ideology rather than reliable science. And its really hurting us down here, its killing people. Reporter what can you actually do, as you see the hospitalizations stack up, and sadly the deaths stack up as well . As you point out, we have our cops out there coming up to people, offering masks, then giving them a ticket that we dont have a fine anymore for. Aw we gave out a thousand of those tickets and then the governor decided he didnt want to have a mask mandate. The only way you can open up is with masks. Theres virus in this place. Reporter the masks are a pathway to getting people back into the businesses, not viceversa. Yes. Reporter thank you very much, mayor. Andrea, in miamidade where i am, this is the third highest count of cases in the country. Only Los Angeles County and cook county, illinois have more infections than right here in florida. Back to you. Sam, it was great to hear from you and from mayor anggelb please thank him for us, we know how much work hes got to do there. Governor newsom, megan, in california is taking a totally different approach. The pandemic is threatening to completely overwhelm the state hospitals. What are hospital workers doing, how are they coping . Reporter its a great question, andrea. Many of them say theyre doing it day by day. Across california, Health Care Workers are bracing themselves for what could be a potential crisis situation where hospitals are overrun. Take santa clara county, for instance. Youre seeing county Public Health officials comparing their hospital situation to a train derailment. Theyre seeing some of the most restrictive measures in place across california. Theyre asking people to selfquarantine if theyre coming from more than 150 miles away, selfquarantine for 14 days, and telling folks not to travel, and even further restricting capacity inside essential and nonessential businesses. Take a listen to what some nurses have to say about whats happening in the state. Many of my coworkers have left the career of nursing because its simply just too much. So we have staff leaving. Were shortstaffed. And we have staff falling ill from covid. When were gone, theres just nobody thats going to take care of you when youre in the hospital. And that should scare everyone, because someone you love and care about will be affected by this virus. Reporter Governor Newsom says as soon as tomorrow, the state of california could see even more restrictive measures being put in place. Andrea . Megan, thanks to you and thanks to sam. Joining me now is dr. Kavita patel who is a former Health Policy adviser in the obama administration. Dr. Patel, thank you very much. So we have the cdc Advisory Panel importantly meeting this afternoon to decide how they will recommend which americans will get the Coronavirus Vaccine first. And its complicated. There certainly is not enough vaccine to go around in the immediate weeks, even a month or so. So how do they balance these choices . There are real ethical questions here. Absolutely, andrea, and thanks for having that discussion, because today what we expect is basically a formal recommendation, a vote for what we call kind of the 1a population, the highest priority population. This isnt even all Health Care Workers, it will be prioritized for hospitalbased Health Care Workers and residents and workers in Long Term Care facilities, because we know those have been explosive areas of growth. And then the question that remains, andrea, to your point, theres probably not even enough for all of those people. So theres going to be a really difficult distribution plan. All the states are ready, but i just want to caveat that even the states that i work with, maryland, d. C. , virginia, they need mon