it's a lesson for future white houses. if you have a bad transition and you are late in creating the white house staff, then you're not going to be as successful in getting up and running quickly. >> i would think people looking back on these first 10 0 days would say he had a very ambitious agenda, knew whaet he wanted to accomplish, worked hard, pushed his staff well. >> there were pride points to be sure, but it's not a straight line. >> there were no limits on what i could ask him at that point. the hard part was always trying to get him to not just be in a campaign mode, but be in a presidential mode so he would share with us the burden of decision making, the change in his life since he became president. >> in the original special you'll see maybe we tried things that didn't work out. >> we probably had a little bit of bad luck in some of the low spots of our first 100 days came right at the end. some of the criticism was fair. we made mistakes, there's no question about that. >> he decided i'm going to take on reall

by task the white house and go to the media. it is funny hearing that now after watching trump being on the media all the time. i was a big step at that time. social media has completely changed how we work. there's no doubt about it. i do think the next president and the president after that, probably not going to be doing things the way president trump does which is announcing policy changes on twitter that his staff doesn't even know about, that is more of a president trump personality than anything else, i don't think that will happen but sure, i do think it plays a huge role both for the white house getting the message out, doing something from social media and not through a formal traditional announcement, however that is in a press release or in the briefing room for whatever that could be something but it also changes how reporters cover things. it is so incredibly competitive, always has been now your competing against people's tweets, who can tweak faster? it's not something that was anticipated before so it has change

there was a time when white house pet messed up the plans for the white house cook. this involved a dog named links. he was a setter that was on the scene. according to white house reports, on the morning of march 1934, there was 12 sets of fried eggs and ham set out for the resident staff. the white house cook made this and stepped away to do something else. when the cook returned, all of hem were gone. they realized this was because lynx had helped himself to a nice, hearty meal. the press had a lot of fun with this, they staged a photo of links eating ham and eggs off the plate. the cook was upset, so soon after, it was announced that lynx was leaving the white house to spend more time with his family. [laughter] and that paved the way for the more familiar dog, paula. one thing that was interesting about these cooks is that i find -- this plays out in the roosevelt administration -- these cooks fit into three boxes. one is they were culinary artists who are celebrated in their time. if you know anything about the food reputation of the fdr white house, it is not

it's actually the white house chef. the white house chef is the taste tester. they're the last ones to taste close before the president. >> thank you. i've enjoyed your discussion. my question is can you give us an insight to our present president? >> trump? >> does he have any likes? >> i know he doesn't drink. >> we don't get a lot of information about what president trump likes. so what i've seen in the press so far is that he does love meat loaf and he does love a well-done steak with ketchup. i'm just telling you what i saw in the news and the chronicles about fast food. it is unfair. when you're on the campaign trail, that's what you're getting a lot of times. i do know he loves meat loaf and other than that we don't get a lot of information about the trump white house kitchen. thank you. >> well, thank you so much. [ applause ] >> this is american history tv on c-span3, where each weekend we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nation's past. >> next on the presidency, herbert hoover, presidential director thomas schwartz talks about how the librar

house pet messed up the plans for the white house cook. this involves a dog named weeks. he was on the scene before fallout. according to white house report, on the morning of march 1934, there was a 12 sets of fried eggs and ham set out for the resident staff. the white house cook had made it and stepped away to do something else. the cook returned, but all of them were gone. they realized that this was because winks had helped himself to a nice, hearty meal. they had a lot of fun with this in the press. they staged a photo of him eating ham and eggs off a late. the white house cook was very upset. soon afterwards, it was announced that winks was going to spend more time with his family. that paved the way for the more familiar dog. one thing that was really interesting about these cooks is that i find that over time come in this plays out on the roosevelt administration, these cooks fit into three types of boxes. a were celebrated in their time . if you know anything about the food reputation of fdr, it was not great. people would have s

partner to the white house. our mission and our role have been consistent, working with 11 presidents and first ladies dating back to the kennedys in 1961. our non-taxpayer funding supports conservation and preservation work in the white house to maintain that beautiful museum standard that mrs. kennedy envisioned for the state rooms, the ground floor rooms, and for the nonpublic historic rooms in the white house. we have had the privilege of finding acquisitions of art and furnishings for the permanent white house collection in collaboration with every president and first lady for the past 60 years. it was also important to mrs. kennedy that we undertake an education mission. that began with the publication of the first white house visitor guide in 1961 and we are in the 24th edition of that important book. we also continue that today in the 24th addition of the guidebook, as well as our white house history quarterly magazine. these programs, in her honor over the next three days , demonstrate our robust educat

welcome to white house history live. i am a senior vice president at the white house historical association and the director of the david rubenstein center for white house history. the white house historical association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded by first lady jacqueline kennedy, dedicated to the preservation of the white house. and also educating american citizens about the white house and its diverse history. this evening, our guest is jim conroy, the author of "jefferson's white house: monticello on the potomac." jim was a lawyer in boston for 38 years before he began writing about american history. his previous book is "lincoln's white house: the people's house in wartime," which won the prestigious lincoln prize. if you would like to ask jim a question at the end of our broadcast, please type it in the comments section of the facebook feed and we will get to as many questions from our online audience as possible. jim, welcome to white house history live. james: thank you, it is a pleasure to be

this white house. >> yeah, this white house. no, i never felt fearful. i didn't have bullets flying over my head and i didn't have sharks coming at me from all directions so i had it easy compared to these two. the one thing that we were talking earlier, you have to have intuition in terms of when it's time to give the man some space. so it's more of just an intuitive sense of when it is time to sort of slowly back away. >> every three months we would go to walter reed and he would visit wounded warriors. i think it affected him emotionally. one time he went and we saw corey remsberg, the guy he was on patrol with in afghanistan was killed instantly. corey was thrown into a ravine. he was under water. somehow he survived, not drowning. he spent months in a coma and he lost half his eyesight and the ability to control half his body. he had to relearn how to walk, talk and eat. but here's the thing that really took me aback. president obama had met corey in normandy the previous june. and i had taken a picture of that encounter. and the picture, we had sen

house, like the white house personnel system. how do you hire people to work at the white house? so it's really building a large corporate headquarters with many subsidiaries in one building or three or four buildings. because the white house complex is, it includes the executive office of the president. there's a lot going on. that's what they should be focusing on right now. and they can do it. it's kind of exciting, though, but you have to keep your head in the game. and one of the challenges you have is, most people who go to work in the white house automatically find that their head grows about four sizes, and you want to remind people that, no, just do the job, be humble in how you do it, and remember that lots of people are -- remember there is lots of people watching. >> john podesta, now i know we have two very critical races in georgia right now, but trying to put that aside, because that's what the biden team is the world we are operating in right now. joe biden and his team, as they're trying to determine their cabine

, the white house pastry chef. it's a reconstruction of the white house in 1800, when president adams was the first resident. and back then it wasn't the a brownuse, it was color. constructed entirely of gingerbread, marzipan, and chalk it, the mortar that holds it all together. he had aid was reconstruction of the white house on blueprint and east piece of gingerbread was put together so that it would all come together. there is actually, if you look closely, there are some fun things, like a little taste of texas here, with an armadillo. you will see the first pets here, including willie the cat. you will also see the humor of our pastry chef with the little sign that says beware of barney, the little white house squirrel underneath. >> seasons greetings, from all >>us at american history tv up next, author james conroy talks about his book, "jefferson's white house: monticello on the potomac," which examines the physical state of the white house during jefferson's presidency and how he utilized the white house a

it to the white house for the white house to execute, sign those bills into law and execute them. but i've been saying this over and over again. it is not the job of congress to stand behind the president or any president. their job is to represent the people that have voted them into those positions. and if they can start getting that -- if everybody can remember that, then the american people would best be served. this is why we're seeing all this frustration, this back and forth. and at the 11th hour, the discord with the president saying he may veto the stimulus bill and has already decided he's going to go against defense spending. >> abby, it may seem small talking about lives and livelihoods at stake here, but what is the deal with this email back and forth at the white house over -- this is the exit plan, this is the exit process, here is the detailed information about your last days in the white house, how you'll receive your final paycheck. they received another email today saying never mind, guidance is coming. >> reporter: it's another normal, administrative process th

house -- with white house counsel? they moved from -- that they're fighting the election to they're figuring how much can they secure for themselves, whether that's pardons or, you know, in the case of the suit that we learned about today or the court case we learned about today, you know, corruption and bribery in order to secure pardons. it's, you know, when you -- and when you know that joe biden is coming in after him with a very sober, somber, experienced cabinet, the sort of shenanigans you see at the white house now seem -- it's all the more stunning for that all to set in about what's actually happening in that building now. you know, we just happened to find out about this one case, right? we just happened to find out about this. >> yes. >> imagine all the other pardons they're working on. >> but also one of the important things about today is that william barr, when he went to the white house, already knew that judge howell's memo was coming out because his federal prosecutors had cooperated with the judge in

>> that's a lot of smoke coming out of the white house. there are probably people there that are still reasonable and somewhat rational that are recognizing how alarming all of this is. so they're signaling to journalists about how alarming this is. and steve bannon, who is obviously off his rocker, talking about the slim chance of them losing. it's all part of that grift. they're trying to raise money until the last possible minute. this is bank for them if they continue this nonsense. >> and by the way, they're making a lot of money. it's not just chump change. they're getting a lot going into the coffers right now. and kirsten, you wonder about what the motivation of bannon may be, and the motivation of lawyer sidney power, and michael flynn, they're all scheming with house conservatives about how to maintain power. there's zero real governing going on in the midst of a pandemic and an economic crisis, and there's this cyber attack, too. what is going on here, kirsten? >> it looks like they're trying to curry favor with donald trump, wh

with the white house support that? brian: i would say the president has broadly been in favor of the checks. as you saw in the cares act and in subsequent rounds of talks. he has been in favor, but there is a coequal branch of government. with two houses in it. we try to give the negotiators the space they need to really make progress, but i think the position the president is probably in favor of providing this direct paymentsthe people has her main consistentdy mnuchin yesterday saying he is still optimistic something can get done. is president trump optimistic? recognizing a think we essentially have one week left, don't we? brian: yeah. the president remains and always will be a cheerleader for our country. -- ours that there economy is doing relatively well, there are parts still suffering from the pandemic. that is why he continues to support relief for those who need it. really has remained optimistic throughout. as i stated earlier, the democrats have shown really a level of cynicism that is unfortunate here, b

that story "deadline: white house" returns. ne: white house" returns this year, we learned anything's possible. even fast delivery on the perfect last minute gift from your walmart store. really fast. really perfect. let's end the year nailing it. ♪ the only thing a disasterng it. can't destroy is hope. donate now at redcross.org >>> first, he was rejected by the american people. rather decisively in november. then he was rejected by the courts. almost universally. and now as donald trump's presidency comes to an end, he faces further rejection on all sides. on january 6th mike pence will oversee the final confirmation of joe biden's victory, the final nail in the coffin if you will of those efforts to overturn the result. after that, politico reports that pence will skip town for a week embarking on a trip to the middle east and europe to reaffirm trump foreign policy but it is hard to ignore the distance physically and otherwise that he will suddenly and abruptly be putting between himself and his boss. then there is trump'

house staff do now -- do they keep going to the white house? the president's not there. maybe, should the biden white house transition people just move in early if the trump folks aren't using the space anymore? these are not the kinds of ambiguities you train for in american news and politics, but that is where we are. and actually, on the calendar, there is something important to keep in mind. as you know, the president decided to throw a wrench into a hot-running engine last night when he suddenly started paying attention to the fact that there was a covid relief bill that his own administration, his own people had been negotiating with congress on his behalf. after the white house told republicans in congress explicitly that the president was ready to sign the bill, the president got a wild hair, the wind blew his fur the wrong way or something, and he decided, no, he will not sign it! and now he's demanding changes to the bill that has already passed congress, changes to the bill that his own administration and all the republicans in congr

the president is said to have floated the idea at a white house meeting friday, with white house counsel pat cipollone, mark meadows, and recently pardoned former national security adviser, michael flynn. flynn giving his own suggestions on how to overturn the election results, just one day after saying trump could consider declaring martial law. >> he could order the -- within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each of those states. it's not unprecedented. >> reporter: house intelligence committee chairman adam schiff outraged by flynn's proposal. >> it's just dangerous and destructive to have these kind of talks. >> reporter: trump's meeting desbroofd devolved into a shouting match with meadows and cipollone rejecting the idea of giving powell that kind of power. this as the trump campaign filed a new petition with the supreme court, looking to reverse his loss in pennsylvania. >> all the public snake handling and carnival barking hasn't changed one single race, one single sta

house on the white house grounds, not in view of the press. reporters were not in the room when the president made these comments, wolf. >> all right, jim acosta, thank you very much. let's get the latest now on the biden transition. cnn political correspondent m.j. lee is in wilmington, delaware, for us. m.j., the president-elect just met virtually with workers, small business owners who have been hit so hard by the pandemic. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. not that joe biden needed another reminder of what a tough economy he is about to inherit, but at this meeting that just wrapped up with small business owners, it at times got emotional and he again called on congress to take action. this as he is facing all kinds of pressure on what kinds of people should serve in his government. >> we do have a lot of concerns, mr. biden. it's been rough. >> reporter: president-elect joe biden staying laser focused on the economy, meeting virtually with small business owners struggling amid the recession and the covid-19 pandemic. >> i know you're all e

but the mere fact that she was back at the white house, you can't just walk into the white house. you have to be allowed in. somebody let her in to talk about her ideas. >> there seem to be three ideas that are floating out there. number one, michael flynn's idea of bringing the military, declaring martial law. number two, appointing sidney powell some kind of special prosecutor. and number three, seizing the voting machines. having homeland security seizing the voting machines. ken cuccinelli says you can donate that. homeland security can't do that. the states own the voting machines. >> that's exactly right. >> one of the things you said is that people are alarmed. that people are alarmed inside the white house by what's happening. i guess i want to ask, which people and how alarmed? i mean, what are they willing to do about this? >> i think that's the question, john. look, we'll see if people -- if you see people quit, it could have some relevance to what they're hearing from the president. it also could be that there's only four week left and lots of people are looking to lea

a lot of people in the white house are apparently afraid of him. the whole situation is truly bizarre and deeply concerning. >> at least the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has congratulated joe biden, said he's president-elect. on the house side, the republican leadership, kevin mccarthy, steve scalise, they still have refused to recognize reality. they still are not doing the right thing and saying that biden has won, which he clearly has. and that is very, very disturbing. if they were to come around and all of them would go to the white house and tell the president it's over, as you correctly point out, it may or may not work. probably wouldn't, but we shall see. everybody stand by. there's more breaking news we're following, as congress gets closer and closer to finally approving more covid-19 relief, are both parties prepared to do even more in the weeks ahead? i'll speak with democratic senator mark warner. there he is. >> and new york governor andrew cuomo is slamming the feds for failing to ban travel from the united kingdom where a

we know there will be this vaccine summit here at the white house today whereof course the white house is even bluntly admitted in part this is on congratulating the president on his efforts with operation warp speed and broader efforts of the administration. this comes i want to point out as we are learning that the trump attorney, jenna ellis, who has chris crossed the country with rudy giuliani informed people she tested positive for coronavirus. that comes after we found out sunday that rudy giuliani himself, john, was hospitalized with coronavirus. and the president said yesterday that he was doing well. one thing that this raises a question about with jenna ellis, we were told she was at a christmas party at the white house with senior staff friday and was not wearing a mask. of course, it is unclear if she was contagious then. we don't know a lot of details surrounding her diagnosis. this is someone else you've often seen flouting health guidelines that now tested positive in the president's inner circle. >> dozens, dozens of members of the president's inner circle. the fact she

jeremy diamond is outfront at the white house for us. jeremy, what more are people around the president telling you about this tonight? >> reporter: kate, there's a lot of concern among the president's top advisers and other people close to the president about the way in which he is handling these final weeks in office and these increasingly unhinged and desperate efforts to overturn the results of the election. you read off that quote that a senior republican official close to the president told me, which is that they are comparing the president to a petulant child who is throwing a tantrum. there is also concern about the people who are feeding the president this misinformation, the sycophants telling him that he can overturn the results of the election when there really is no viable path to actually accomplishing that task. that a senior republican close to the president telling me that those people think they're helping the president but they're really hurting him. they are not serving him well by doing that. now, there is also growi

that's the white house counsel. these two gentlemen are going to play important roles in trying to guide both whom the president's meeting with. we know that's not going to work. and what the president endeavors to do or not do in those closing days. but the concern does stretch beyond the walls of 1600 pennsylvania. and part of the reason there is so much concern in the pentagon is because there is one area where the president actually can order something to happen, and people are supposed to follow those orders. and so, there are real concerns about, you know, engagements and military decisions. and at the white house, the concern -- this is one piece of the concerns is what's actually going to happen on january 20th? like, we've seen now, the president's been very overt about the fact that he wants to contest the legitimate election results. and wants congress to help him do that on january 6th. but beyond that, there's been a broad assumption for a long time that, of course, and the president has said this, hims

i don't understand what the white house is doing. i think the fda was going to authorize this today or tomorrow any way. maybe they have managed through political pressure to move things up by 12 hours. i think it's unnecessary. i don't think it's helpful. ed fda is acting on science. >> reporter: it makes no sense because they were going to approve it, if not today, then tomorrow and this becomes a political issue by this story. i imagine it must be incredibly frustrating for you as a physician to watch the trump white house interfere at this critical moment right now, potentially giving americans another reason to doubt the safety of this vaccine? >> absolutely. i think what most americans need to do is just ignore the bluster coming out of the white house, follow the science, follow the scientists at the fda. you know, what we saw yesterday in that hearing of the advisory committee was a great discussion about the science and the science on the pfizer vaccine is pretty clear, it's safe, it's effective, and when people are eligible

of,he white house was sort harry truman had to live in blair house part of the time. eisenhower got popular for cap david -- camp david. eisenhower had a heart attack and would go golfing and flyfishing bridge he was not really a creature of the white house culture. in the age of television, the 1950's, no one had ever seen the white house and what it was like. aw suddenly, everyone was weing and gazing as she led a guided tour. because of her children born so close together, and she was a mother, you felt this intimacy that you are seeing by the kennedys lived. this new era of 1960's ,elevision, anything kennedy they pioneered the press conference. those got high ratings rate our space with alan shepard or john glenn got bonanza ratings. cbs news was only 15 minutes. nbc was only 15 minutes of nightly news. when the kennedys took the white house, they expanded it to the 30 minute nightly newscast because the kennedys were good copy. got covered. races time where moment in the country was enjoying the fact that 15 years since world war ii had ended that the kennedys w

welcome to white house history live. i am a senior vice president at the white house historical association and the director of the david rubenstein center for white house history. the white house historical association is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded by first lady jacqueline kennedy, dedicated to the preservation of the white house. and also educating american citizens about the white house and its diverse history. this evening, our guest is jim conroy, the author of "jefferson's white house: monticello on the potomac."

white house. press secretary kayleigh mcenany. >> secretary mcenany: the president promised a safe and effective vaccine in record time, and president trump delivered. earlier this year we heard from several news outlets in so-called fact checks that president trump would be "a miracle" to be right, that was nbc news. we were told according to helpline "a vaccine will still take more than a year to develop." "usa today" warned us that "despite medical researchers progress, the vaccine was more than a year away." "national geographic" even told us that achieving a vaccine within "a year to 18 months" would be absolutely unprecedented. these reports deserve their own fact-check. president trump has not only been the optimist, hopeful to achieve a vaccine by years end, he's also been a leader. through operation warp speed, president trump the businessman and the president as the innovator has succeeded. president trump directed military logistics experts at the department of defense. partnering with

let's begin at the white house with our white house correspondent kaitlan collins and also our cnn political correspondent sara murray. kaitlan, i want to begin with you. it's my understanding that bill barr has just been skeeen at th white house? what do you know? >> reporter: a lot has happened in the last few moments because bill barr gave this interview with the associated press where he is completely knocking down the president's claims that

kaitlan collins is "outfront" live near the white house. and kaitlan, you broke the news about the president's push to get special counsels appointed. how far is he willing to go, and given that he cannot do these appointments himself, will others listen to him? will it happen? >> reporter: well, that's the big question. and of course, the only person that it matters that listened to the president about his intent to get these special counsels, which we are told he is set on getting before he does leave office in five weeks from today, is of course, attorney general. while our reporting has said the president has asked people if he can appoint a special counsel, doj rules that the attorney general must do it. and of course, we are about to see a change in leadership at the justice department, and the new person who's taking own from bill barr, when he steps down a week from today is jeffrey rosen, his deputy, and he just gave an interview to reuters where, erin, he declined to say one way or another whether he would appoint these special co

he works in a skiff in a building near the white house campus. we reported in october that he had been hospitalized in september with the coronavirus. and that's pretty much all we knew about him until recently. we were alerted to a go fufundm page that a family member of his had created to raise money for him, and we verified this gofundme page was indeed legitimate and valid, and the family friend outlined in the public documents on the gofundme page some of the consequences of what had happened to him during his three months in the hospital, and one of the consequences was he had some complications from the coronavirus, and he needed an amputation. he lost his big toe on his left foot, and on his right, he lost his right foot as well as the lower part of his leg. so he had some very severe consequences, is in a rehabilitation facility now near washington, according to this family friend. >> creed bailey who is this gentleman's name and you report on, i remember reading your piece back in october about him. i had not encountered people that i k

that was when she went back into the white house. she didn't know, how am i going to be able to go off to five different inaugural balls? she had to be a sent herself and go and, it's not too strong to say, collapse in her new home, the white house. >> i was really so tired that day. that night i was laid out in the queen's bed. i just couldn't move. >> she calls for the president's physician, dr. janet travell, who comes in with two pills. >> she had two pills, a green and an orange one, she told me to take the orange one, which i did. detecti dexa green, which i'd never had in my life. >> that's speed, which is obviously to rev up the motor of the individual, which mrs. kennedy said, it did. it allowed her to get out of bed, get dressed, and look her most beautiful. >> jackie rejoins her husband for the first inaugural ball. ♪ >> on this greatest of all days, high on dexedrine, this young queen goes forth into the night. jackie kennedy knew how to put on a show. >> there was this stunningly beautiful 31-year-old woman playing thi

let's go to the white house. jeremy, as the pandemic rages and rages on, the president and his team are focusing in on pardons? >> that is right, wolf. that is expected to just be the first in a slew of pardons that the president will issue in the final days of his presidency. cnn learned there have been multiple meetings at the white house and involving top aids like jared kushner to discuss potential pardons. what is unusual is the slate of controversial pardons that the president is considering. now, wolf, while the pardons are on the horizon, the president's single-minded focus is on overturning the results of the election and his baseless claims of voter fraud are putting him at odds with one of his most loyal cabinet members. >> do you still have confidence in bill barr? >> ask me that in a number of weeks from now. >> reporter: president trump unable to conceal his anger towards his attorney general, two days after barr undercut trump's baseless allegations that the 2020 election was rigged. >> he hasn't d

now i want to bring in boris sanchez from the white house. boris, this veto is just another move from the president in the last day or so. >> that's right, pam, with viewer than 30 days left in his presidency, donald trump is refusing to go quietly. the president not only vetoing this defense bill. he's also threatening to veto the omnibus spending bill, a huge portion of which is coronavirus relief spending. meantime the president also issuing more than a dozen pardons, many of those pardons controversial to say the least. as president trump prepares to leave for his holiday vacation in florida, he's dropping bombshells on his way out the door. first issuing more than a dozen pardons last night, with more expected today. >> thank you. >> reporter: many with personal links to the president himself, including two former republican congressmen who were early supporters of trump's presidential campaign. duncan hunter, who pled guilty to misusing campaign funds, and chris collins who pled guilty to committing securities fraud and lying to the fbi

let's go to jeremy dimon at the white house. it's hard to believe what we are learning now with only 32 days to go before the inauguration. >> that's right, wolf. what we are learning is that president trump is not just publicly continuing to contest the results of the election, that he lost to joe biden, but he is also privately grasping at straws looking for ways to overturn the results of this election and considering one outlandish idea after the next. we are told by sources familiar with the matter, the president had an oval office meeting just yesterday with key advisers, including sydney powell, the attorney who has floated those conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, including suggesting the late leader hugo chavez was behind rigging this election. michael flynn, the president's former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to counts of lying to the fbi, ultimatally pardoned by president trump, they were both in the oval office. the president, we are told, was discussion naming sydney powell as a special coun

the white house pushes back on this, they insist it's false, they say that the white house is in negotiation with multiple agreements with many different vaccine manufacturers right now. but it does raise a lot of questions even as the president today is going to sort of have a victory lap of sorts before the process is even begun here about how effective the effort has been and whether the strategy was smart from the start. >> and peter baker, the president doesn't seem to be any closer to accepting the reality that he lost the election. just today, the republican attorney general in texas is suing other states to try to stop them from choosing electors and that would go automatically to the supreme court if the supreme court decides to take it. >> yeah, and of course we had reports yesterday, obviously, that the president called the speaker of the house in pennsylvania to try to get their state legislature to overturn the will of the voters in pennsylvania and substitute its own set of electors to vote for donald trump instead. the speaker of the house apparently told him he can't do that,

white house press secretary pressed by nbc news. >> does he still have confidence in bill barr >> the president if he has any personnel announcements yo will be the first to know it. >> reporter: the white house is down playing reports the president is increasingly focused on pardons multiple sources familiar with the matter say the president discussed possible pre-emptive pardons which are legal for some of the adult children and other close associates like rudy giuliani who has denied having such discussions. >> i've heard no mention of any pardons, any conversations i have had in the white house. >> reporter: looming large, court documents showing federal investigators are looking into whether someone offered a substantia political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon. and while it is not clear who is involved since those documents are heavily redacted the justice department saying the probe has never involved any government officials the president has called the whole thing fake news and overnight at a white house christmas party looked to the future. >> this is an a

white house state department planning large-scale white house parties at the worst pinnacle of this pandemic so far. kayleigh mceneny says if you can loot businesses and burn flags, you can go to a christmas party. are they done setting an example for the country? >> many months ago. the president's own action, the rallies and people exposed at his events but the pressure this posed on republican governors at the outset, to not close things down, to open things up, despite the ravages of the pandemic, iowa, north dakota, south dakota, incredible infection rates and governors who are acting minimally or not at all. that is, in large part, because of the pressure the example the president has set. he is fundamentally awol at a moment when the country is in crisis. he has basically said to americans you are on your own even though as we're looking at death tolls that rival pearl harbor and 9/11 now on a daily basis and the president has walked away and said i'm worrying about myself, about overturning the election, and you are on your own to try to get through this winter until the vaccine come

house. >> someone asked basket white house. i wouldn't be the best to speak on that. you want to speak on that mitt? >> wish i were there. there >>> last hour senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke to reporters and responded to growing pressures to pass a new coronavirus relief deal before the end of the year. watch. >> we just don't have time to waste, we have a couple weeks left here, obviously it does require billups support to get out of the congress but it requires a presidential signature. are we actually making a law or are we just making a point? i think the way you make a law for sure is you know you got a presidential signature. >> now this follows remarks earlier from a bipartisan group of senators who presented their own coronavirus relief framework and urged their colleagues to act quickly. >> we're battling covid-19 more fiercely now than ever before, we recognize that, it is inexcusable for is to leave town and not have an agreement. >> republicans and democrats neither of us got everything we wanted, both

we also saw rudy giuliani coming to the white house. sydney powell was at the white house. so, clearly, many of the president's meetings today were focused on this issue of voter fraud. sources have told me that's been the president's single-minded focus. the only other issue is braperh considering the pardons he is going to issue in the final week fs his presidency. one thing, john, is the change we have really heard from our sources over the last week, in terms of the level of concern and alarm, from people who are very close to the president, about the lengths to which he appears to be taking this. and the concern about what the president is going to be doing with 30 days left in office. that is a lot of time. we have seen how much the president can do, with just a tweet, in a matter of moments. now, we have 30 days remaining in his term in office. >> all right, jeremy diamond, we will let you get back to reporting because, who knows, what else could happen tonight. thanks so much for being with us. joini joining us now. adam schiff. he led impeachment proceedings agains

white house, the president of the united states. what went into this? >> as you noted earlier, this was not one of those instances. i know it might seem like a shock to people watching it at home. but this was an instance where the president makes an address to the news media. reporters sometimes presumably would have a chance to ask questions afterwards. this was taped by the white house communications office. it was posted on the white house facebook page and twitter account. this was not anything the news media was involved with. it was essentially an info mercial and one of the president's last attempts to try to get his messaging out there. you know, no one is -- even his allies at this point is amplifying the message he is trying to get out there about widespread voter fraud. you are not hearing it from the senate or the house allies or the vice president, and while he maintains he's behind the president and is sticking with the company line is not out there charge thing fight. what the president has left is his social media a

they did not say who made the contact or how the white house responded. now, again, elliott broidy, who, as i said, has already pled guilty in a whole different scheme to illegally lobby the white house on behalf of foreign interests, well, broidy apparently knew this real estate guy previously. it's not clear what abbe lowell had to do with this. abbe lowell is a high-powered washington lawyer who works for jared kushner amongst other people. it's not clear how he might have become involved with this, or what, if anything, that might mean for jared kushner's potential exposure in all this. but that comes as we continue to get new reports, even tonight, that president trump, as he winds down his last few weeks in office, is considering preemptive pardons for all his adult children, including his son-in-law, jared. what a mess. more as we know it. a mess. more as we know it [ whispering ] what's 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 gig-speed internet, but

on the south lawn of the white house a painful ceremony unfolded. returning to their new home, nixon's successor reassured his wife, we can do it. soon he would reassure the nation. for gerald ford there was no transition. no time to settle into the world's most demanding job. >> when i took the oath of office and went back to the oval office, my desk was piled high with problems. we had an economic crisis and uncertainty with our allies and our adversaries. what a lack of public trust in the government. i finally came to the conclusion that i had to get rid of mr. nixon's past problems and spend 100% of my time on the problems facing the american people as a whole. the only way to do that was to pardon mr. nixon, get all his problems out of the white house so that my concentration could be on the economy, diplomatic problems, military problems, including how we could and have the conflict in vietnam. there were some in congress who said that i had made a deal with mr. nixon in order to become president and return i would grant him a pardon. that wa