Build your upper body with pushups. Work your lower body with the aerosquat. The aerotrainer is tested to support over 500 pounds. It inflates and deflates in less than 30 seconds using the electric pump. Head to aerotrainer. Com now. Now its your turn to lose weight, look great, and be healthy. Get off the floor and get on the aerotrainer. Go to aerotrainer. Com, thats aerotrainer. Com. Good day everyone from msnbc headquarters here in new york. Welcome to weekends with alex witt. Breaking news to share right now. More republican senators announced they are at least in part joining the fight against the Election Results that are set to be certified by congress in just days. Go to nbcs Shannon Pettypiece in washington for us. Whos onboard now and what are the demands . Reporter right. This is ten senators, far short of the 53 republican senators who are in the senate right now. This list includes a lot of the president s longtime allies. People who have already been coming out making allegations of voter fraud, like ted cruz. Senator marsha blackburn, their reasoning is interesting here in that they say that because of allegations of voter fraud and they dont make any claims of actual voter fraud or evidence, they say because of allegations and because of widespread public mistrust, they say of these results, they want to see a Voter Commission do a tenday review, and once thats been contacted, then they would vote to certify the electoral results as stands. Those allegations and that mistrust have been fanned by these very senators. They are complaining about, using their own allegations and their own efforts to create mistrust as reasoning for not voting to certify the election. So real circular reasoning here and, of course, well see what happens with this process. There are a number of members of the house who have said theyll raise objection to the certification process in a few different states. Well see, though, what happens in the senate, because each state, the senators have to individually certify or not certify. Its unclear as these senators will be behind you know, not backing the results at any state or only one or two states. A lot we could still see happen and of course, thsis what President Trump wants to see. While this doesnt change the likelihood at all that he will succeed in having congress not certify these Election Results, it adds to the theatrics the president has been seeking around all this. Indeed it does. Pettypiece. Joining me, timely interview. Senator chris van hollen. Curious about your reaction to more of your republican colleagues joining the attempt to challenge the Election Results this coming wednesday. Let me go through their names, sir. There are seven elected officials already, senators cruz, johnson, langford, daines, kennedy blackburn, braun and four incoming elects, loomics, marshall, hagerty and marshallsville. Are you clear on the plan . How do you interpret what were just hearing today . Alex good to be with you. First of all everyone should understand they will not be successful at overturning the results of the election. Joe biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in on january 20th as president and Vice President , but they are doing a lot of damage. These are political arsonists at this point in time. They are undermining the integrity of our democracy. Many of them talk about how the United States, there needs to be a voice for freedom of democracy overseas. But what theyre doing is taking a blowtorch to that idea here at home. Reckless, feeding into the false narrative that donald trump has sought to spread from day one, even though out of 60 court cases, 59 have gone against them and the 1 for them a trivial matter. Everybody whos looked through the allegations have found them to be frivolous and false yet these are people through their own political purposes are undermining our democracy. Its a shameful day. Fas youre borrowing a phrase from axios, head line today calling President Trump the gop arsonist. Your description there. Tell me what there is to gain by this, sir . I mean what is the point of all of it . Is it only to cause chaos . If to your point, this will do nothing but allow joe biden to officially become the president of the United States, come january 20th. Well, a lot of the leaders in these efforts want to claim the trump mantle. They want the support of all the trump followers. A number thinking of running for president themselves. This is a clear case where theyre putting their personal political ambition over the interests of the country, and senator sasse, i disagree with him on many things, to his credit pointed out exactly that. That these are individuals motivated by their own political interests. Again, trying to be trump wannabes in the sense of getting his followers, but doing so at the expense of the integrity of our election process and our democracy. Senator, take a listen to freshman senator josh hawley of Missouri First one to say he will challenge the results. In fact, heres what he said wednesday. Take a listen. You got 74 million americans who feel disenfranchised, feel like their vote doesnt matter. This is my opportunity to stand up and Say Something. To stand up and point out that there were irregularities in this election. There needs to be an investigation. So to your point. Is he doing this for selfserving purposes . Is he one of those trying to grab the trump mantle, if you will . I think its very clear senator sasse pointed it out on this. Thats exactly whats happening here. There is a race to succeed trump as leader of the new warped republican party. I say warped because donald trump lifted it up and thats what were seeing here, alex. Its very unfortunate, and sad, to see individuals put in their own personal political ambition above the country on such an important issue, like this. The integrity of our democracy. But that is whats happening. And taking a day that is usually just a mundane, procedural issue. Right . How often do we talk about this particular event . Curious how long you think its going to play out . Will it be quickly remedied or might we talk about this even into next weekend . Oh think, quickly remedied. Because the process in the house and senate is limited by the statute of the government. Of this process. The big question will be, how many states where they challenge the outcome, and so theyll about discussion and vote on those. But i am absolutely confident that by the end of the day on, you know, on january 6th, we will clearly affirm the fact that joe biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in on the 20th. But the damage is still very real here. I mean, because here you have josh hawley talking about people who feel disenfranchised yet the president is elected. We have winners and we have losers. Joe biden has tried to bring the country together. Hillary clinton, who ended up losing by tighter margins in many of these states, despite her disappointment, nevertheless acknowledged reality of the vote. Yet donald trump refuses to do so and here you have republican senators going along with this you know, fraudulent narrative hes pushed out. Senator, not only does the president refuse to go along with the results, hes encouragiencourag encouraging supporters to take to the streets and protest january 6th. The Washington Post reporting there are at least four rallies expected and some led by people trump just pardoned by the way. What are your concerns about both what could happen on the streets on wednesday and the fact that the president encourages it . Well i have great concerns. Because we have worked towards a peaceful transfer of power throughout our nations history. And yet we know that the president has encouraged people not just to take to the streets but we know from his contact at rallies he often encourages people to take things into their own hands and weve seen that most roechecently. The proud boys engaging in vandalism, and really racial attacks, and tearing down a black lives matter flag, black lives matter flags in washington, d. C. So what trump is doing is encouraging this kind of contact, undermining the peaceful transfer of power. Encouraging them all to come to washington on this very important day, where we now have these republican senators also taking a blowtorch to the process. Again, they will not be successful at overturning the election but they are undermining Public Confidence in our system at a time when we need to be coming together. Yeah. Reminding viewers in wake of the last rally for donald trump in washington, there were four stabbings. Fortunately no loss of life, but talk about chaos. Right . Let me ask you, senator, about the 2,000 covid proposal blocked almost immediately after it passed in the house. Why didnt Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnell allows senate to vote on it . He was just dead set against this. As was majority of his caucus and many members of his Republican Caucus are hiding behind senator mcconnell. We have this very important election going on in georgia. On tuesday. You had the two republican senators there, perdue and loeffler, last minute come out in favor of the 2,000 payments. An 11hour conversion, but they just showed their ineffectiveness when the leader of their own party, Mitch Mcconnell, refused to even allow a vote on this issue. They were just slow walking a relief package from day one and did not want to provide this additional relief to the american people. Senator, do you think the fact, to your point, that they are behind Mitch Mcconnell on this. Is that because he now claims the gop leadership mantle in this country no longer belongs to President Trump since he has been voted out of office . Again, certified on wednesday, but is that why people are lining up behind Mitch Mcconnell for the power of Mitch Mcconnell over that of the president . Because theyre disagreeing with what the president asked for specifically in these 2,000 stimulus checks. Right. Their refusal to really challenge senator mcconnell and demand an up or down vote. Right . Senator mcconnell put the vote, the 2,000 individual payment but they did not push him through to vote on that. Really, hiding behind him in many ways. What i think is that it shows their inability to deliver for their constituents, because this was a case where the democrats in the senate were supporting the 2,000 payment. It had already passed house of representatives and, of course, President Trump was willing to sign this. So it was just those republican senators blocking this important relief. Senator, i want to ask about the Covid Vaccine rollout with about 12 million vaccines delivered. Upwards of 3 million actually injected, if you will, into americans arms. What is the situation there in maryland . Who do you think is to blame for the slow rollout . It has ban slow rollout in maryland. It is getting better. I think that there are multiple problems. I will say at the federal level, its very important that the Trump Administration release the monies, the 4. 5 billion, that was tained econtained in the cs relief bill to help states, get the vaccine into peoples arms. I dont think we had enough of a plan in our own state of maryland and i dont think we had enough of a plan at the national level. Clearly, the Trump Administration did not have a plan. Weve got to get this together. Im really pleased incoming President Joe Biden is very focused on this. Obviously theyve thrown up a lot of impediments to this new administration, but i know that theyre going to focus on it with the seriousness it rear requires, senator chris van hollen. Thank you for your time. Hope i see more of you in 2021. You just heard senator vchrs van hollen. Up next i talk with representative tim rying about it. About it. You never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today allstate iwith vicks sinex saline nasal cmist. Tion for drug free relief that works fast. Vicks sinex. Instantly clear everday congestion. So dad bought puffs plus lotion, blows. And rescued his nose. With up to 50 more lotion puffs bring soothing softness and relief. A nose in need deserves puffs indeed. Robinwithout the commission fees. So, you can start investing today wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. The coronavirus pandemic. Less than a week the u. S. Added another million cases surpassing 20 million yesterday. More than 248,000 americans died from the virus. Almost 12. 5 million doses of the Coronavirus Vaccine distributed here in the u. S. Just over 3 Million People have actually gotten the first dose. That is far fewer than the 20 million doses the government hoped would be given by this point. Republican senator mitt romney called lack of a comprehensive federal Distribution Plan inexcusable. Despite warnings from the cdc more than 7 Million People traveled through airports in the last week according to tsa. Five consecutive days more than a Million People traveled by plane in a single day and that is the most of any stretch of days during the pandemic. On the covid beat this hour for us, nbc san brock in miramar, florida, and scott cone be in san jose, florida. Begin with you, sam, at the hospital in miramar, florida. Rolling out second doses of the Covid Vaccine. Hard to believe its been close to 21 days already. Has are you seeing there . Reporter exactly. 21 days. In some cases, alex. Good afternoon. Good to be with you. A population of people that understands not only on the front lines of health care, theyre on the front lines of history. 7,500 give or take Health Care Workers within the Memorial Health care system in Broward County already vaccinated. Were seeing hundreds more coming in with the health care community. Over my shourd a corridor of people lined up. They ge registered. Total number of appointments listed 301. 300 more people vaccinated today. Of that population, though, alex, a fraction getting their second dose. Six to ten people, im told. One of them autumn, clinical section chief for this particular pod. Autumn had her first dose 21 days ago. Youre watching history being made. One of the first people in the entire country getting dose two of the pfizer vaccine. Awe inspiring to watch. Folks come in, get vaccinations, a cooling off period observed 15 minutes makie ing sure everythi goes well. An anesthesiologist talked about the momentum nature of this moment. As a Health Care Worker were tired and want things to get back to normal. Alternative of not getting the vaccine seems pretty grim. Bigger mission, take care of all americans. Were all nervous with a fairly new vaccine in a virus situation, but end of the day, i trust the science. Reporter you know, alex, minutes before this i also interviewed head of emergency medicine for Regional Hospital and asked what it melt like to come out get vaccinated. He talked about the emotion of it and setting a good example for the community. I dont Mean Community at large also the health care community. According to the Public Health director in riverside county, california, 50 of frontline workers there are rejecting taking the vaccine right now. Thats within health care. The idea, demonstrate the fact it is safe, science is provens so far almost all people i spoke with said theyve experienced minimal if any side effects at all and want that message conveyed to the public. This wont work unless nf people go out and get the vaccine. Happening on the ground level now. History being made here and throughout the country as well. Thank you. Those folks are leading by example. Equally stunned by the numbers in riverside county, california. 50 Health Care Workers saying, no, not yet. Remarkable. Speaking of california, go there now. Officials reporting new cases of the mutant covid variant. Scott cohn in northern san jose. How are officials dealing with both the new strain on top of the climbing infection rate there . Reporter its the latter point really has them concerned, alex. The new strain, they know its here. Its been detected in california. Not clear how widespread it is. To an extent, academic look at the numbers this state faces. 47,000 statewide cases added just yesterday. In a state that is already closing in on 2. 4 million cases total. Then theres the issue of the intensive care beds. Still a huge issue. Statewide, intensive care bed capacity is effectively at zero. Even in the pockets where there is some availability, its stull rough. Here in santa clara county, home of san jose and silicon valley, a county of 2 Million People all of ten beds. Here at Regional Medical certainty, serves east side of san jose a more vulnerable population, at capacity. Have been for a while. New variation of the virus, not hospitals, theyre full. Weve been 100 capacity for weeks. And, you know, the biggest strain issen 0 the icu. Our biggest challenge is yet to come. Its going to be january, i suspect. With that said, theres definitely light at the end of the tunnel. This vaccination, while it doesnt make you super human or bulletproof it offers all of us a lot of confidence. Its a step in the right direction. Reporter one of the interesting things here as well that the doctor told me is that theyve learned so much. Remember, this is one