Summary
Supreme Court rejects bid to rescind Biden's PA win. President Donald Trump has falsely claimed 2020 victory for 31 days. Biden unveils health team, plans on COVID and vaccines. He sets pandemic goals for first 100 days. Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who has been leading the Trump campaign's legal efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 presidential election, has contracted the coronavirus. Governor Jared Polis and his partner, Marlon Reis, tested positive for COVID-19. Biden vows to distribute 100 million vaccine doses in first 100 days. DA says Pfizer COVID vaccine is highly effective, even after first dose. White House fires Pentagon advisory board members, installs loyalists.
Transcript
REBEKAH JONES, GEOGRAPHER: I recently had an article that came out, of an academic article looking at this and it was very public. And it just so happened to be last week when this work was signed by a judge that was appointed by and sworn in by DeSantis less than a month ago.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: We're going to have to leave it there for tonight, Rebekah. And I just wanted to note that Attorney Ron Philip Koski, who served in the DeSantis administration resigned today over this raid saying he found the actions unconscionable, I no longer wants to serve in this government in Florida.
Rebekah Jones, thank you very much for joining us. I'm very, very sorry that you and your family were put through what we all witnessed on that video yesterday morning. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.
JONES: Thank you.
O'DONNELL: Rebekah Jones gets tonight's LAST WORD. "THE 11TH HOUR" with Brian Williams starts now.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC HOST: Well, good evening once again. Day 1,419 of the Trump administration, 31 days since the election was called for Joe Biden, 43 days until the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Tonight the Supreme Court appears to have dealt a near fatal blow to Trump's effort to overturn the results of the election and election he lost. The justices rejected a last minute attempt by Trump's allies to overturn the election results.
In Pennsylvania, it came in a single sentence. "The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the court is denied." It came without any recorded dissent, no explanation as to the decision, more on that in a moment. But it was released shortly after Trump again made the false claim that he had defeated Joe Biden and pleaded for help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: We won and those swing states and there was terrible things that went on. All of the things we've done. And we were rewarded with a victory. Now let's see whether or not somebody has the courage. Whether it's a legislator or legislatures, or whether it's a Justice of the Supreme Court or a number of Justices of the Supreme Court. Let's see if they have the courage to do what everybody in this country knows is right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: The court action came on this day that is known in election circles as the Safe Harbor deadline, the day on which every state is expected to have made official its election results awarding 306 electoral votes to Biden, 232 to Trump.
However, the Trump campaign has vowed to keep fighting issuing a statement that reads in part, "The Safe Harbor Deadline is a statutory timeline that generally denotes the last day for states to certify election results. However, it is not unprecedented for election contests to last well beyond December 8. Despite the media trying desperately to proclaim that the fight is over. We will continue to champion election integrity until every legal vote is counted fairly and accurately."
So far a reminder here the Trump campaign has filed 55 cases, 38 have been thrown out or withdrawn, 16 still open, no case has revealed any evidence of election fraud.
Trump's now getting an assist from the Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton. He is asking the Supreme Court to block Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania from casting, "unlawfully and constitutionally tainted votes." In the Electoral College claiming pandemic era changes to election procedures in those states violated federal law. It's an interesting argument. Attorneys General in the aforementioned states didn't look too kindly on it. However, the Michigan AG called it, "a publicity stunt." The Supreme Court has given those states a deadline of Thursday, December 10, 3 p.m., to respond to the lawsuit.
Amid all of this we remain, of course in the midst in the grip of an uncontrolled pandemic setting new records the bad kind every day. Forbes notes that Monday closed out the deadliest week since the pandemic started.
Earlier today the U.S. surpassed 15 million known cases, the virus has killed over 286,000 people in our country. Today, the first COVID vaccinations were given to people in the U.K., a step many hope will be the beginning of the end of this pandemic. The Brits are getting the Pfizer vaccine full report from the U.K. later in this hour.
Here in the states, the FDA said Pfizer's data show it's highly effective and provide some protection after the first dose. This afternoon Trump and Biden spoke to the nation at virtually the same time about the same subject, the coronavirus. Trump made his remarks eager for some sort of victory lap at a White House Summit on the vaccines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It was a pipe dream. But we did something that nobody thought was possible. People that aren't necessarily big fans of Donald Trump are saying whether you like them or not, this is one of the greatest miracles in the history of modern day medicine or any other medicine, any other age.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm wondering, though, what your message is to the American people, given all the increasing cases right now about what they should do over Christmas, and the hardship that they're all facing as this virus does get worse?
TRUMP: Yeah. Well, CDC puts out their guidelines in the very important guidelines. But I think this, I think that the vaccine was our goal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not include members of the Biden transition team as part of this summit that you're hosting today?
TRUMP: Well, we're going to have to see who the next administration is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Please note, not a word about those suffering today, the rising death toll, the rising hospitalizations at the same time in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden introduced the team that will run the Health Department under his watch and who will be charged with trying to contain the virus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: COVID-19 is a mass casualty. This team will help get the latest at the last 100 million COVID-19 vaccine, at least 100 million COVID vaccine shots, into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days.
My first 100 days will end the COVID-19 virus. I can't promise that. But, but we did not get into this mess quickly. We're not going to get out of it quickly. It's going to take some time. But I'm absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Meanwhile, we also learned today that Jenna Ellis the attorney has been traveling the country at Rudy side trying to overturn the results of the election. She has now tested positive for the coronavirus. Masks were usually absent during her many appearances with Rudy. Ellis also reportedly attended a White House senior staff holiday party on Friday.
Today, Rudy, who's under treatment for the coronavirus, confirmed Ellis' diagnosis and took the opportunity to comment on mask wearing and to talk about how early treatment was a big help for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP'S PERSONAL ATTORNEY: You can overdo the mask. You can overdo almost anything. Everything done in moderation makes much more sense. My advice to people is get early treatment. The earlier you get treated for this, number one, you totally eliminate the chance of dying. And number two, probably eliminate the chance of getting it, you know, a more complicated illness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: A lot of folks would love the option of getting early treatment. With that let's bring in our leadoff guests on this Tuesday night, Philip Rucker, Pulitzer Prize-winning White House Bureau Chief for The Washington Post, co-author, of course, of the longtime best seller, A Very Stable Genius and this week, we learn that Phil and his post colleague, Carol Leonnig are teaming up again for a forthcoming book about Trump's final year in office.
Also with us, Kimberly Atkins, previously both WBUR, the Boston Herald, now a member of the Boston Globe Editorial Board, and Neal Katyal, Veteran of the Justice Department under President Obama, former acting Solicitor General, he has argued dozens of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Good evening, and welcome to you all. And Counselor, because of the late news tonight, I'd like to begin with you what in layman's terms, mind you what happened and didn't happen at the Supreme Court? And what should we read into or not read into the brevity of a one sentence unanimous ruling?
NEAL KATYAL, FORMER ACTING U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: Well, first of all, Brian, the big picture is that never has a legal team lost so much so fast. I mean, I've never seen another team lose 50 plus losses in this period of time. At every level, there's losses, there's losses at the federal court, the state court, the trial court, the appellate court, the Supreme Court. I mean, it's really remarkable. I mean, you know, Trump's ability to lose is like, unmatched, it's basically like the Georgia Tech, Cumberland football game in 1916 of 222 to zero.
And as you say, it's only going to get worse because we're at the Safe Harbor date today. So that means that basically, these other state challenges are going nowhere. So with respect to what happened in the Supreme Court today, you called it a near fatal blow. And that's exactly right. The Trump Allies had filed a case in Pennsylvania trying to throw out the election results because of mail-in voting. They said that was impermissible, and that obviously lost in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. So they tried to bring it up on an emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court.
And I think there was some concern among liberal quarters that Justice Alito where the court was going to monkey with this in some way. I think most Supreme Court observers said, this is going nowhere, and today, that's exactly what happened. In one sentence order, which is fitting, because that's about all it deserved, saying, go away, this application is denied.
Now, Ms. Jenna Ellis, and you know, my heart goes out to her today, and I'm sure all your viewers are and hope she gets better. But she tweeted, saying, well, this isn't the end of it, because the Supreme Court didn't deny the search or wherever I petition, they just denied an emergency application and assertion where I petition is the legal document you file that says, hey, Supreme Court here my case, the Supreme Court gets about 10,000 of those requests a year, and here's about 65. Unfortunately, of the 10,000 requests for Ms. Ellis, this case was never one of them. They never bothered to file that search for a petition. So she's I think celebrating something that never happened. This is, as you say, a near death blow to this whole litigation.
WILLIAMS: As one journalist called them this week, the gang that couldn't sue straight up.
Hey, Phil Rucker, over to your beat, where on the President's journey is he and is he any closer to the acceptance phase?
PHILIP RUCKER, THE WASHINGTON POST WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF: No, Brian, he does not seem to be any closer to the acceptance space. And that was clear at the operation work speed vaccine summit that he held at the White House this afternoon. This was an event aimed at trying to instill public confidence in the distribution of the vaccine. But Trump got fixated on the election results on protesting them, on claiming that he won swing states that he actually, actually lost.
And I'm saying that he wasn't sure whether the Biden administration would be the incoming administration, that it might be the incoming Trump administration. You know, we don't know what's really going on inside the President's head. But if what he said publicly this afternoon, and what he's been saying on social media, now for several weeks straight hour after hour after hour, if that's a reflection of his mindset, and his psyche, then he's nowhere near accepting the results of the selection and the reality that he's going to be out of office on January 20.
WILLIAMS: Hey, Kim, it was an Arizona and Barry Goldwater who famously said extremism and pursuit of liberty is no vice. But let's talk about extremism in the name of Donald Trump, and I'm talking here about the Twitter traffic today from the Republican Party of the State of Arizona and the various comments and retweets it garnered. One such exchange, read, this is what we do who we are live for nothing or die for something. He is, are you, meaning he is willing to die on the bottom part of your screen. I'm willing to give my life for this fight, and the like. And it goes on and on from there.
Question Kim is, are we as journalists guilty of normalizing this kind of extremism on the part of some of the kind of weaponized Trump followers? It's been said over and over publicly for the past couple of days? People are fearful somebody is going to get killed here?
KIMBERLY ATKINS, THE BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER: Yes, I mean, it's one way. Look, we are used to talking about whether it is a political death knell to follow the president with his lying conduct and his refusal to accept facts. But it's something else entirely when you are using violent imagery, and really buying into what some folks have been doing for a while which is essentially calling for a civil war between those who support President Trump and those who are supporting reality the fact that he did not win this election and supporting the things that he says that aren't true.
And certainly when a state party gets in on that kind of rhetoric, it is extremely dangerous, especially at a time where we've already seen death threats, public officials facing death threats, Democrats and Republican officials facing death threats. Based on the rhetoric, the political rhetoric, we are seeing, you know, militiamen armed at protests throughout the year. It's a dangerous time. And I think, not just members of the media, but members of state and national parties need to be held responsible for the rhetoric that they use, and how they talk about it. It's one thing to have a different set of ideas. And it's even one thing to refuse to accept reality, but it's something entirely different to weaponize those words literally and put people in danger.
WILLIAMS: Hey, Neal Katyal, let's talk about what will be a big name to emerge from the Biden camp. And that is when the President-elect names his nominee for attorney general, I've made a short list of the names floating around, including but not limited to, Sally Yates, Senator Doug Jones, Merrick Garland, Deval Patrick, other than the big change the American public is in for, the idea of an attorney general who is not the President's Personal lawyer. What qualities were you, Joe Biden, would you be looking forward to fill this office?
KATYAL: I think someone who believes fundamentally in the rule of law and the independence of the Justice Department who's going to restore its traditions, because the great thing about the Justice Department in normal administrations is it meets out justice even handedly whether you're Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, or the like. And this Justice Department has been frankly a disgrace, Brian, and beyond a disgrace. It's despicable. What they have done to our precious Justice Department.
Any of those names you mentioned would be extraordinary. It'd be like a matter, anti-matter explosion happening at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue when any of those folks walk in.
WILLIAMS: Our lawyer guest is not given to hyperbole, so we should take those words to the bank. Phil Rucker, back over to your beat. And today's kind of parallel universe moment, these two men talking about the same coronavirus, Joe Biden, laying out a plan starting day one, Donald Trump, who still doesn't have a plan, but wanted to brag on the vaccine, who's going to tell him that that he actually could have been doing all these weeks, claiming credit for Operation Warp Speed, getting it to market instead of the airing of grievances?
RUCKER: Exactly right, Brian, and there's more that the President could have been doing that he's not been doing. He's not been issuing clear guidance from the president, from the presidential bully pulpit, to the American people about what to do in this crisis, right now.
Coronavirus, is exploding in communities all across this country, the holidays are coming. People are getting mixed messages. On the one hand, they're hearing public health officials and medical professionals saying wear masks, don't gather in small groups, keep to your household, be very, very careful about interacting with others.
And on the other hand, you have a president who's defending his decision to hold holiday parties at the White House where not everybody's wearing a mask, where, you know, large numbers of people are gathering almost every night in that residence as if it were the before times.
And so there's a really -- there's a real dichotomy here between the guidance from health officials and what Trump is doing. And meanwhile, he's wants to claim credit for that Operation Warps Speed for the vaccine deployment. But the reality is that it's going to be those Biden folks, that people that were being introduced to the public in Wilmington, Delaware, who are going to largely be responsible for the distribution next year of this vaccine and trying to make sure that the shots get into everybody's arms, who need it in this country.
And the other thing is, you know, it is a miracle. It's wonderful that this vaccine is developed as quickly as it has been. But that's not because of, you know, President Trump's scientific expertise. It's because there have been, there have been doctors and scientists and medical professionals working their butts off for the last nine or 10 months in labs all around this country to try to race to develop that vaccine, and get it tested and safe and out into the public.
WILLIAMS: Kim, you'll get the last word and this is about Lloyd Austin, Retired Four Star U.S. Army General, Joe Biden has put them up to run the Pentagon, Joe Biden noting that it's a controversial choice that you have to be retired for seven years out of the military before you can be the civilian commander at the Pentagon, the belief is the Pentagon is by now so broken, you need a guy who looks like that and is comfortable with four stars on his shoulders to run it. So Biden took the unusual step of writing his explanation.
In an article for Atlantic Magazine, what are we to make of this? And is it going to be a true fight that Biden faces over this?
ATKINS: Well we'll have to see about that. This is an actual policy dispute. I know we spend so much time talking about just bare knuckle politics. But this is a principle about civilian control of the military, that you want someone at the helm of the military that is not himself or herself within the rank and feeling just compelled to follow the orders of the commander in chief being the president of the United States.
You want someone who's a little removed so that they can make more dispassionate and objective decision making but we saw in the past and throughout the Trump administration that he put former generals in those top roles. And now we're seeing Joe Biden do that again, and you're seeing some people like Senator Elizabeth Warren, for example, saying she will not support that because she doesn't believe that such waivers that will be required should be granted.
You see other people, Senator Jack Reed, changing his mind saying that he may support this nominee after opposing the nomination of Secretary Madison, the Trump administration. So it's in a way refreshing to see elected officials debating an actual policy issue rather than going at each other for partisan reasons. But that's what you're seeing as this Biden administration is coming together when it comes to a number of appointments, not just at the Pentagon.
WILLIAMS: Almost passes for quaint in this year. We're having three terrific friends of the broadcast to start us off tonight, Phil Rucker, Kim Atkins, Neal Katyal greatly appreciate the three of you helping us out.
Coming up for us, the governor of Colorado, talks to us about his very personal fight against the coronavirus.
And later a member of a Pentagon Advisory Board has sent out a warning shot why he says Trump's Pentagon purge is putting our country at risk and why he chose to step down. We'll talk about it with him as THE 11TH HOUR is just getting underway this Tuesday evening.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I believe as you do that, in the fight against this pandemic, we must lead with science. And that a key piece of our ongoing work is communicating consistently with the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Dr. Fauci today at that Biden event part of the rollout of the health care team. And think of this, starting in just 43 days that man's advice as the preeminent infectious disease specialist in the known world will be welcome once again.
Indeed, his advice will be sought out once again by a sitting president of the United States. The State of Colorado has been averaging about 4500 cases a day over the past week last week. Health officials there said roughly one out of every 40 people in the state was now contagious.
On November the 28th, Colorado Governor Jared Polis said he and his partner of 18 years had both tested positive for the virus. Colorado's first gentleman was indeed hospitalized over the weekend for symptoms. Thankfully, he was released from the hospital today. It's why we are so fortunate to be joined tonight by Colorado's Democratic Governor Jared Polis.
Governor, let's start on the personal note. How are you and the first gentleman doing? And are you any closer? Are you sure of where you might have picked this up?
GOV. JARED POLIS (D), COLORADO: So I'm nearing the end of when I need to quarantine, thank goodness, I didn't really develop any significant symptoms. My Partner Marlon, however, did have some breathing trouble really after seven or eight days after he got it. And the advice of our doctor, he went to the hospital and we're very grateful for that. He almost spent two nights there. He's on steroids, and that's helping with the inflammation. And we're all doing fine, Brian, thanks for checking in. And that means that hopefully, well Marlon is not out of the woods entirely yet. Hopefully we're among the lucky ones.
WILLIAMS: Did contact tracing work in your case? Were you able to piece it back together?
POLIS: Well, I think it worked in the sense that I don't believe that we exposed anybody else because we knew that we had potentially been exposed. Whether we got, how we got it, whether it was from that or something else. Obviously no one no one will know. But we, it was around Thanksgiving, so at least in a couple days where we were contagious there's no one else in that direct chain of exposure.
So, you know, we're grateful. But what's really important is everybody's taking the right precautions. And that's why it's important to wear masks around others and avoid social gatherings and keep your distance.
WILLIAMS: Even though it's bad now, is there a sensation like a wave is about to crash on the beach of the Rocky Mountains if such a thing existed because of Thanksgiving exposures? Are you expecting another bump? In cases, hospitalizations, God forbid deaths just kind of in time for Christmas perversely?
POLIS: Well, you know, people come for our world class ski, not so much our beaches. We have a few of different reservoirs. But, you know, so far we were very careful and really being able to talk about Thanksgiving. In fact, we had Dr. Beth Fauci (ph), join us for a video for Coloradans. I hope that many Coloradans were safe made the right decision. We've seen some of that in the mobility trends. So you know that the numbers will be out and they'll be what they are. But I'm really proud of the way Coloradans are wearing masks and being careful and hopefully, we can prevent it from becoming worse by being cautious and thoughtful about what we do.
WILLIAMS: It's good to see you, good to hear from you, nothing but our best wishes for you and your partner. Continued recovery, continued good health and we're thinking good thoughts for your state as well. The Governor of the State of Colorado, Jared Polis, our guest tonight, thank you so much.
Coming up for us, the early word out of the FDA on the vaccine has one physician gleeful. We'll talk to that very physician right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), U.S. PRESIDENT ELECT: Mask up for 100 days once we take office. 100 days to make a difference. It's not a political statement. It's a patriotic act. This team will help get at the latest at the last 100 million COVID-19 vaccine at least 100 million COVID vaccine shots into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: It's estimated 100 days of masking could save upwards of 60,000 lives today as Joe Biden spoke laying out his plan upon taking office. The outgoing president was using a White House event to sign a so called America first executive order to prioritize U.S. vaccine distribution as to what exactly this executive order is meant to accomplish. Here is how Trump's own Operation Warp Speed Chief Science Advisor responded when asked what it does.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONCEF SLAOUI, OPERATION WARP SPEED CHIEF SCIENCE ADVISOR: Frankly, I don't know. And frankly, I'm saying out of this comment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: So we got that going for us and with us for more Dr. Kavita Patel, clinical physician, former senior aide in the Obama administration. She is these days a non resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and is among our medical contributors.
Doctor, there you have the science advisor enough of that let me ask you about this vaccine. Are you confident that Joe Biden can deliver 100 million doses in the first 100 days and join me in educating our viewers that when we hear 100 million doses, that means 50 million Americans? Because it's a two dose shot? Correct?
DR. KAVITA PATEL, FORMER SENIOR AIDE IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Yes, that's correct, Brian, and you're absolutely right, that I actually do have a lot of confidence that the Biden elect administration will come in. But the Trump administration is not helping. They're not delivering critical elements of data that the incoming administration absolutely needs. Despite all that, you saw from the caliber of the team, he's assembling to tackle COVID that they are thinking about all of these issues, and they're going to be ready.
And quite frankly, Brian, reviewing that data from the FDA today from Pfizer, and what we'll see soon see from Moderna, I'm incredibly confident that America will have a solution. We're just going to have to still face some grim statistics as you as you pointed out to get there.
WILLIAMS: Do you think we're going to walk around with vaccination cards, the schedule of our second dose and proof that we've had both at some point and to that end, the news about the Pfizer vaccine was so good today about the efficacy of the first of two shots. Are you fearful that the combination of that and anti-vaccine fears people aren't going to do the regimen? The way it's prescribed?
PATEL: It's certainly a fear, Brian, and you're pointing out that in that data today, we learned that there is some immunity that's, that takes hold after the first shot. But really, you do need the two doses. And I think that we are, the government is already planning on having at least kind of paper cards that people can carry, where you know which manufacturer because we expect to have several, when you received your first dose, when you're recommended to have your second dose.
But Brian, as you well know, as Americans, we are faced with a lot of conflicting data. So we're going to need as many people, doctors, such as myself, family members, people can remind others to make sure they get their vaccinations.
And I think that as we watch the first tens of millions of Americans, health care workers, long-term care facility, residents and workers getting their vaccinations, you're going to see what you saw out of Britain today, where you had people absolutely ecstatic to be a part of this.
And part of the reason I'm so gleeful, Brian, I really did use that word, which I don't do often. I was so gleeful to see that we had black and brown community members participate in these trials in ways we have not done in the United States.
I mean, that is not just a record for science. It's a record for Americans to be proud of. And, but make no mistake, Brian, even with a vaccine that has a 95 percent chance of reduction of your risk, it is incredibly important to remember that still means we are going to have tens of millions of cases of COVID and the deaths that go with it unless we take dramatic actions today. So that's something that we have to temper, my glee, the joy that we are seeing around the world with that reality.
WILLIAMS: Well, after the dark days we've been through and no one's kidding ourselves. We have a bunch more. It is good to see and hear your gleeful reaction to today's news. We could use more of that kind of thing. Dr. Kavita Patel, thank you as always, for coming on and taking our questions on this topic.
Coming up for us, Donald Trump has installed straight up lackeys into some skilled positions at the Pentagon. It proved too much for our next guest who resigned in protest our conversation with him right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: Tonight as the president elect announces his pick to run the Pentagon, the current president has been busy packing our nation's defense department with loyalists. In its latest shake up the White House fired nine members of the Pentagon's Defense Business Advisory Board in their place, the President put in allies, including former campaign officials, Corey Lewandowski, and David Bossie.
The move lead our next guest, one of the few surviving board members to turn is his resignation. In his resignation letter he wrote, quote, in exchange for ideological purity, the abrupt termination and more than half of the Defense Business Board and their replacement with political partisans, has now put the nation safety and security at risk. My service to the Department of Defense was a service to the country, not to a party.
And so we are pleased to welcome to the broadcast tonight, Steve Blank. He's a military veteran himself. He's one of the pioneers of Silicon Valley, a startup specialist who's launched many adventure. He teaches at Stanford and Berkeley and Columbia in New York in his spare time, and he was a member of the Defense Business Board, before he resigned in protest.
Thank you very much for coming on, please begin by telling our audience there are a slew of these boards in various disciplines, what their role is, and then transition into your personal decision to resign whether rather than trying to stick it out.
STEVE BLANK, RESIGNED IN PROTEST FROM THE DEFENSE BUSINESS BOARD: Great. Thanks for having me, Brian, you know, the defense business boards are essentially advisory boards, they're civilians who volunteered their time to help the Secretary of Defense and their staff kind of tackle some tough problems that they might need the extra thinking not. And there are boards for innovation, there's Defense Science Board, Defense Policy Board, Defense Business Board, the board on sexual assault, boards for women in service.
And, you know, these were kind of nice to have the 10-20 years ago, what the country is now facing a set of challenges that we've never faced before, for the first time ever, the United States might actually lose the war. You know, what we were tackling ISIS and Al-Qaeda, China and Russia have kind of rearmed and some areas have passed us by or obsoleted, our most important systems.
And so the role of these boards are not to design weapons or whatever, but to give the Department of Defense kind of an outsider view of what's going on in the commercial world. Because the other thing that happens is that it used to be all the smartest technologies with what's inside the Department of Defense or the best commercial technologies.
But the facts are true. All the innovations are most of them are happening outside. And so to keep the department abreast that's what - that was their role. And it worked well for quite a while.
WILLIAMS: And talk about your personal decision, the president clearly decided to cheapen the roles, the people who used to fill the seats alongside you around the conference table, like tossing out doubloons at Mardi Gras from a parade float. They've now been cheapened with the likes of Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, so you chose it was of enough value to you to leave them to stay?
BLANK: Well, yes, that's a colorful characterization of what happened. But for me, Brian, I grew up in the 20th century remembering, you know, ideological purchase and political commissar in the Soviet Union, where there was only one party and one set of thoughts. And if you didn't think that way, if life wasn't good for you. You certainly didn't get to advise the government.
And from the United States point of view, we realized that's why the Soviet Union or all authoritarian governments were weak because they didn't encourage diversity of thought. We, on the other hand acted as a single nation then it would no one asked. And even in order not because no one, what party or from, I still couldn't tell you what party any of my board members were from.
The idea was to give the country the best advice, period. And all of a sudden, when I saw this change, you know, I asked some friends in Washington, what's the best way to kind of approach this and the advice I just got in general was, you know, just stick it out. And it'll be over in 40, some odd days.
And I thought that for about that overnight, and then I realized two things. One is I kind of look myself in the mirror in the morning. And two is I kind of look my kids in the eye for the next 43 days. Because we've preached and I've taught my students this in all my schools, is that you have an opportunity in life to serve, to serve your God, your country, your community, your family, in whatever order you want, but you want to serve.
And here was choosing to serve my country and didn't think I was going to be able to do it well, under these circumstances. So I stepped out and, you know, I think we'll have a change and in six weeks and, you know, God bless the country and the new president.
WILLIAMS: Final question, the historian, Michael Beschloss said on this broadcast that he viewed this election, as a really close call for democracy. He believes we've come out the other side. Are you as convinced that the close call is over and Sunday, Your days are ahead?
BLANK: You know, I think, at least for me, prove to them how fragile democracy is, and how destructive social media is. And it also made me think about history a bit, Brian, is that, you know, nations fail for a couple of reasons. They fail because they lose wars, or they fail, because they decline in economic power, or they missed the, you know, military innovations or doctrine. But they also fail because of internal wars or dissension.
And there's only been one country that's come back from the climb in 500 years. And that's China. And, you know, I fear for our country. And I think a lot of people ought to be thinking about standing up for what they believe in and focus on country, not party. This American experiments probably been the best thing that's happened to the world since modern civilization, and we all ought to support it. So I guess that's my answer.
WILLIAMS: We're the lucky recipients of your brainpower on this broadcast. Mr. Blank, you have led an extraordinary life proving once again, that a small town kid from New York City can make it big on the world stage. Steve Blank has been our guest tonight, having just resigned from the Pentagon Advisory Board, who knows perhaps, ready to serve again someday. Thank you very much for your time and sharing your opinions with us.
Coming up for us, we'd like to introduce you to the first two recipients of the coronavirus vaccine in the Western world. This was a big day indeed toward ending the pandemic someday.
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WILLIAMS: If you know your World War II history then you know that Coventry in England was pulverized by German bombs. There was a horrific loss of life during the Blitz and the town symbolized the suffering that the Brits had to endure.
Well today Coventry became a symbol of recovery and renewal because Coventry received the first vaccine doses in the Western world. A 90-year-old grandmother named Margaret Keenan was patient A, the first person in the world to receive a clinically tested coronavirus vaccine.
The second recipient, it gets better at one year old William Shakespeare, he insists no relation to the other guy with that name. We get our report on the vaccine rollout effort from our chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel.
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RICHARD ENGEL, NBC NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Brian, undoubtedly today was a hopeful day. This hospital here in Coventry went into the history books. At this hospital early this morning the first patient, patient A was given a tested proven coronavirus vaccine, the one from Pfizer. And then there was a rollout that continued throughout the day.
I spoke to a nurse who had been sheltering. She has a severe asthma, therefore, for pretty much the entire extent of this pandemic. She's been confined to her home or to her small backyard. She got the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Reminder, it is a two-dose vaccine. And she hopes that this is going to give her, her life back not only allow her to return to work. She she's a nurse here, but allow her to interact with her friends and her family and go outside of the confines of her home which has become a prison.
Did you have any hesitation? Did you have any thoughts? Well, I don't maybe I don't want to be the first person to get this vaccine as its rolled out. Let some others get it first?
SARAH HARTLEY, UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL COVENTRY NURSE: No especially. And I think for me, it's because it's a way forward. And I have the flu vaccination of the year. So what's -- the alternative to worse. And so I didn't have (INAUDIBLE) about vaccination.
ENGEL: Do you have any message for people out there who might be skeptical or nervous or watching this whole process today and wondering what it's all about?
HARTLEY: I think go ahead and have it. It's about safety of yourself that also if you lift ones and your family and the rest of the world, it's a way forward.
ENGEL: So Brian, this was historic, but I can tell you what it also was not. This was not a mass immunization. We didn't see lines of people here stretching for blocks, pulling up their sleeves getting injections. They only did 100 here today, and we spoke to the NHS, the National Health Service. They would only say that thousands of vaccines were given out today.
The Pfizer vaccine is very difficult to handle. And you get the impression or I got the impression speaking to local officials here that they are looking forward to other vaccines, particularly the one from Oxford AstraZeneca, which could be available within weeks, according to British reports tonight for their truly massive immunization campaign. Brian.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WILLIAMS: Fascinating stuff. Our thanks to Richard angle, perhaps a preview of what we're in for here.
Coming up, we'll take you to a community where it took just a few good hardened people to make up for the bad.
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WILLIAMS: Last thing before we go tonight, unaccustomed as we are to good news these days this is that rare good news story comes to us from Arkansas. It's about a community coming together to help a neighborhood family that needed lifting up as you'll see the story tonight from NBC News correspondent Rehema Ellis.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
REHEMA ELLIS, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the third year in a row, Chris Kennedy decorated his front yard to make kids smile, especially his four year old.
CHRIS KENNEDY, NORTH LITTE ROCK, ARKANSAS RESIDENT: Our original thing with even putting out like Stan is so that our daughter sees herself represented in just about every way possible.
ELLIS: But the holiday joy was shattered when an anonymous letter arrived objecting to his inflatable black Santa horrified. Chris read the letter on his Facebook page.
KENNEDY: Please remove your Negro Santa Claus yard decoration. You should not try to deceive children into believing that I am a negro.
ELLIS (on camera): What went through you?
KENNEDY: It was anger and honestly sadness.
ELLIS (voice-over): The family worried North Little Rock Arkansas might be the wrong place for them. Then this happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, yes, get the biggest one you can find.
ELLIS: Black Santa started popping up everywhere.
As neighbors quickly denounced the letter.
CHIP WELCH, NEIGHBOR: It was hateful and it was at nothing to do with Christmas or the kind of America I want to live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't stand for what our community is about.
KENNEDY: It was heartwarming and a bit overwhelming.
ELLIS: And that's the true spirit of Christmas. Rehema Ellis, NBC News.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WILLIAMS: How about that to end our broadcast on this Tuesday evening, it comes with our thanks for joining us on behalf of the men and women at the network's of NBC News. Good night.
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