Starts right now. Hi, nicole. Welcome to the beat. Donald trump is getting a preview what it will be like to be an ex president because hes watching from the sidelines while new Decision Makers do what they do and make important decisions. President elect biden making news here adding put buttigieg to his cabinet and lawmakers working to reach a covid relief deal treating this lame duck president as an after thought and leader Mitch Mcconnells acre knowledgement of a joe Biden Victory while helping move washington forward an inch is so tardy after so much coddling of Donald Trumps denial, the whole thing is ripe for late night treatment. With yesterdays Electoral College results, some republicans have been forced to face their biggest fear, reality. Mcconnell said as of this morning, our country officially has a president elect. As if we hadnt had one for the 40 mornings before that. No hurry, mitch, what else does you formally recognize . Alaskan statehood . Meanwhile, President Trumps schedule has been famously quite lean since losing the election but hes finding some time were seeing reports of this to focus on items of personal and political interest to himself and his future trying to potentially super size the legal probe into president elect bidens son which could try to lengthen it during the next administration. Also clashing with his own lawyers over talk of potentially firing another fbi director. Mixed reports. There could be significant terminations before trump leaves. The focus on Law Enforcement comes as trumps legal issues mount after losing every major election challenge this year, trump is facing separate legal set backs in cases for example regarding his business a federal judge siting with prosecutors who will pry new evidence. So with these 35 days left until inauguration and a changing of the guard, donald trump showing no signs of the formal concession that is long over due while it seems washington has treated his concession as a silent plea. Were joined now by former barack obama pollster Cornell Belcher and caddy kay. Good to see both of you. Cornell, its a big contrast. We discussed and reported on the grave problems around the nation, actual attempts to get covid relief bill done while trump is mia or focussing on things that are essentially personal in nature. Yeah, im reminded this past weekend in washington d. C. We had a lot of Trump Supporters marching and rioting in the streets to keep this man in office who is actually paying almost little to no attention to them and their needs right now. It is bizarre to say the least at a moment where you have, you know, millions of people plunging into poverty and the Holiday Season upon us, you would think and quite frankly some of his supporters are in fact the most economically vulnerable. You would think if he really cared about his job or really cared about holding onto the presidency, he would be trying to do his job and try to move something for the millions of americans who are suffering right now but instead, hes trying to settle scores and pick beef quite frankly. Yeah. Yeah. And hunter biden interest being an example of that. Caddy, i dont know who would be the british version of geraldo. I dont know if you guys have one there but he occupies a special place in american life. Ill say that on the record. And he has been an ally of donald trump who now is doing a little more of the breaking if you want to call acre nol lekni there is reality, he is speaking out. Take a look. It is over. I want the president , my friend, the current president , the 45th president to understand it is over. The Electoral College voted. The longer we drag this out, the more we damage the fabric of our democracy. Caddy . Yeah, in a way it doesnt surprise me that were getting these reports at the moment that the president wants to have some kind of a special counsel investigation into hunter biden and his associates because the president is increasingly losing people who had been star warts around him. He had bill barr and Mitch Mcconnell and geraldo even come out and say look, this is over and the president appears to be so exercised by his loss in the election and feeling that people did not stand with him firmly enough whether its Christopher Wray at the fbi or bill barr in the Justice Department to try to get him the election. He suggesting things like a special counsel doing anything he can to mitigate his loss in his own mind perhaps but i think its not surprising that people are drifting away from him and so he is going to reach for increasingly desperate or difficult measures. Yeah, that goes to some of this reporting i mentioned. Cornell, he came in firing james comey as fbi director sparking a Mueller Probe that donald trump resented and that bill barr was still obsessing over in his goodbye letter. They cant get over it even though it over and were seeing reports about whole sale terminations, ousting the pentagon chief, the president has that lawful right. Ousting another fbi director, which ironically would give biden more room if trump did it because we have a reason to put in a new person if there was an interm hole wrathirather than l a trump director in place. What does that say hes talked into things that are probably against his interest . You know, it says that this is a man in an administration who is about him and his own interest more so than the interest of the American People and certainly has run rough shot over the rule of law and played it, you know, quick and fast with the rules and regulations but i got to say, you know, him going after the president elect bidens son, you know, it really is a new low in an administration that seen a lot of new lows but to be going after the biden son in such a personal way to try to undermine biden and try to sort of hurt biden, you know, its so unbecoming of the office. I know weve said that before 1,000 times about things trump has done but i got to say, this is just a new low where hes going after another mans son in such a personal way just to hurt biden. Yeah. And the over hang of this caddy is something that were still going to have to follow. You know, there is a lot of prediction about post trump if he loses what this would feel like and some of that hasnt come to fruition yet. There is certainly a lot going on, a lot of interest in the news and evolution on the republican side, some Holding Steadfast to trump even though he lost that kind of blows up some of those predictions and senator peters out of michigan was out there today. I want to show people this if they havent seen it yet, a lot going on. Concerned about the other over hang, which is this sustained and long term attack on the election system itself. Take a look. Whether intended or not, this hearing gives a platform to conspiracy theories and lies. Its a destructive exercise that has no place in the United States senate. Despite the title of todays hearing, there were no wide spread election irregularities that affected the final outcome. These claims are false. And giving them more oxygen is a grave threat to the future of our democracy. The idea that well after the election and after all legal challenges have been exhausted, the upper house, the cooler saucer to the hot teacup, if you want to go back to george washington, a rapper i know cornell likes is not being very responsible according to the facts but is actually as senator peters and other pointed out is fanning only a trump market. We didnt have the same attacks on democracy before trump took over the party. Yeah. Look, i think everybody is concerned about the fact there are tens of millions of americans who still do not believe that this was a free and Fair Election despite all of the evidence that has been produced so far and what impact does that have on joe biden as a president . Thats the kind of pessimistic take on this. They did survive. The institutions of democracy did survive this on slot and we are going to have joe biden sworn into the presidency on january the 20th and more over, you had state officials around the country, much less so from washington officials and particularly republicans who still seem to be absolutely terrified of donald trump but around the country you had state officials in arizona and in georgia and in michigan standing up and doing the job whether they were democrats or republicans that they were elected to do. I look at this process and yes, it was, you know, remarkable to see this election being litigated far beyond the sell by date of when it should have been l litigated but it was impressive to see individuals stand up like gabrielle sterling saying this has to stop. We have to protect the institutions of democracy even though hes a republican and y say democracy comes first. I wont say a half full glass given everything thats gone wrong. Im trying to do a little bit of Holiday Cheer here. Its not empty. Well take it. Eggnog and growing. Before i lose you, cornell, why dont you tell us whats in your break ground . Im noticing that. Well take it in full and give us a room tour. Its a painting of, of course, the famous king photo from when he was arrested. It a little art but a little art with meaning and ari, as i have this moment, i got to say im a little disappointed you didnt pick up on my beef reference to the notorious b. I. G. Whats beef . When you start your jeep. Beef is when you need two gases to go to sleep, beef is guaranteed to be an icu. Youll call me out. I heard it, it was so high in the program that i didnt take it. Had it been a little later in the hour but since youre calling me out, man. Tough crowd. Cornell yeah, tough crowd, indeed. Were smarter for it. Cornell and caddy, two expert guests. Thanks both of you. I got to tell the audience, im excited about the rest of tonights show. We have a special lineup. The one and only Rachel Maddow. Georgia Senate Candidate john ossoff and busta rhymes. Three figures on the news and in the news. Senator harris will join us live tonight. Thank you, rachel. For your next United States senator. Like a busta rhymes. Come on. Well start with the candidate that can turn the balance of power when were back in 30 seconds. E balance of power when were back in 30 seconds. Tonight. Ill be eating chicken tikka masala with garlic naan. [doorbell chimes] cheers. I win again, patrick. Thats siiir patrick. Oooooow. Sir. Here is a riddle in washington. If a democrat wins the white house, but Mitch Mcconnell still runs the senate, is there really a Democratic Administration . Both parties see the issue here. Democrats see Mitch Mcconnell as a Supreme Court stealing obama blocking menace. Republicans see mcconnell as a Supreme Court protecting obama blocking grim reaper. His words. If you think about how much of the biden era may come down giving obama a hard time, will he be able to give biden the same time . A lot of democrats say it comes down to demoting mitch. They dont have to worry about this. A strategy that depends on part on this candidate john osoff running for one of the two seats the democrats need to win the senate along with rafael. Osoff hitting hard in recent debat debates. Perhaps senator purdue would have been able to respond properly to the covid19 pandemic if you hadnt been fending off multiple federal investigations for federal trading. It is not idle chatter, senator, its 220,000 americans killed by a virus. It not just that youre a crook, senator, its that youre attacking the health of the people that you represent. Are you done, senator . Purdue refusing to do any more debates leading osoff to go on stage next to one empty elector. John osoff joins us now. Busy and pivotal time in the campaign. Thanks for being here. Ari, you like the bus . The bus behind you . Were on the road. This is the health jobs and justice tour across georgia. Affordable health care for every georgia family, infrastructure and clean energy and jobs and a new Civil Rights Act. Were on the road now. Thanks for having me. Looks crisp. You jumped off the bus to talk to us, which i appreciate. There is so much going on. For someone that lives in georgia g who may be less interested than we are in the press about mcconnell, what changes for their lives if you win . I think georgia voters recognize the stakes and that the Senate Majority hangs in the balance and remember hes going to try to do the same thing to joe and kamala if he maintains grip on power. That means establishing healthcare as a human right for every georgia family and investing in infrastructure, jobs, clean energy, rural broadband, transit and transportation and passing criminal justice reform, a new Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights act, that will be stopped in its tracks unless we win these two races in georgia. The stakes are very clear. The contrast between the candidates couldnt be clearer. We have two incumbent United States senators in georgia when they learned about the threat covid19 posed to their constituents, they called their brokers instead of tending to the needs of the citizens here yeah, lets so we can get things done. Lets get into that. You hit hard on that. We just saw that is a way a lot of people have been asking democrats to go harder when they have the arguments on their side there. What does it tell you that there was this type of personal profit against the humanitarian crisis . Well, there are reveals that the corruption in washington is totally out of control. I mean, look, you got United States senators who while they have access to privileged and classified intelligence about a Global Pandemic are buying stock in manufacturers of medical equipment and vaccines, dumping their assets to protect their portfolios. But its deeper than that. The reason that we cant make the investments in clean energy that we need, the reason that the private prison industry continues to lobby for mass incarceration, the reason that insurance and Drug Companies are allowed to rip off citizens of this state is because of corruption in the political system. The Citizens United decision. My ocpponent david purdue who i too much of a coward to debate me literally sells meetings. We have to Pass Campaign finance reform to return government to the business of the people. Weve seen a lot of people focussing on georgia given everything thats at stake including a lot of artists, big figures, you can go to actor and celebrity instagram accounts and they are all talking about georgia because it matters to them. We got a little two chainz urging people to register to get registered. This is 2 chainz. I want to see everybody vote. I want to know that everybody vote. What im doing is teaming up with head count and im giving away a free tesla. All you have to do is go to heat count. Org 2 chainz for your chance to win. Thats it. Let do it. Do you have any indication of whether all the new interest eyes on georgia in the special run off is helping turnout where weve seen early turnout surge or specifically helping your campaign and democrats or do you just not know . Were seeing recordbreaking turnout and were seeing huge turnout among young voters and getting voices from the culture involved is so important because the reality is most people are not watching cable news. No decembisrespect, ari. Most people arent schooling twitter for political content. Most see the circus for what it is. When people from a different part of the culture can enter the conversation and encourage people to participate, it makes a big difference. By the way, i had a huge day two months ago when barack obama came to campaign in atlanta. Not only did i met him but i met 2 chainz. Thank you for getting involved. There you go. Youre talking about the culture. Before i let you go, i can tell you a terrible joke, which we do on this show. I know youre new to the beat. Go for it. Youre starting out for the culture but if this works and you win, youll be doing it for the cloture. There you go. We can talk about senate rules changes next time i come on but for now, let the message stand this is about health, jobs and justice for the people. Health, jobs and justice. Help us get out the vote. Elect john. Thank you for the opportunity to come on the show. You got it, sir. And well be keeping an eye on whether youre casting cloture votes. The jokes do well in every state. John ossoff thanks for being here, sir. Thank you so much. Take care. Appreciate it. Coming up, we have a lot more on the program. Its a special episode. We have fast track news about the second Covid Vaccine and lame duck trump talk and pardons with major legal exposure that may rival nixons. Well get into that and more with Rachel Maddow live on the beat next. Rachel maddow live beat next find a stock basedtech. On your interests or whats trending. Get realtime insights in your customized view of the market. Its smarter Trading Technology for smarter trading decisions. Fidelity. Dcoughings not new. This woman coughs. And that guy does, too. People cough in the country, at sea, and downtown. But dont worry, julie. Robitussin shuts coughs down. 35 days. Thats how long donald trump has left as president. Nobody knows what comes next on this lame duck president or january 26th. We know like nixon, donald Trump Leaves Office with many legal headaches talking about pardons for himself, family and others. With attorney general barr leaving next week, the final pardons if they come would come with less internal supervision though its not like trump was r