'Squad' members pressure Joe Biden to deliver on progressive agenda

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'Squad' members pressure Joe Biden to deliver on progressive agenda

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, joins 'The Story' to discuss what influence the left may have on the president-elect

Nov. 19, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “The Story with Martha MacCallum” November 19, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, there John. Thank you very much. And good evening everybody. I am Martha MacCallum in New York and this is "The Story". Breaking tonight, Michigan state legislators are purportedly set to head to the White House to meet with the President and his team about the tortured certification process that has been going on in their state. It's a big story is what we are going to watch tonight. And tomorrow as that meeting gets underway. Now the President's Attorney Rudy Giuliani spoke about Michigan today and made these claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: One of the reasons why the two Republicans did not certify in Wayne County, Michigan, is because the over vote was so high. In fact, we have precincts in which two times the number of people who live there including children voted. That's absurd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So those claims are being investigated. Now when you think of election fraud, many think of boxes of ballots that arrive out of nowhere or cemetery logs that turn into the dead of night tiebreakers but the more we are learning about what happened on November 3rd, the more it looks like something more subtle, some manipulation that would favor in this case Democrats.

Through a series of state rule changes that kicked in the weeks prior to the election, these changes made it easier to open up the spigot on what is an acceptable ballot. It got easier in the closing weeks in other words to have a ballot to make it through, than it had in the past. That's what we are exploring tonight primarily in Michigan and also in Georgia.

Now "The New York Times" back in September raised concerns about the mail- in ballots that were coming in enormous numbers for the first time ever, setting analysis that found that "in 24 primary elections this year more than 500,000 mail-in ballots were rejected or 2 percent of those returned by voters, there's a growing concern they wrote, that the number of ballots rejected could surpass 1 million in November. So, then the Democrat lawyer Marc Elias went to work. He spent a good part of the past year working on these election law changes.

Proudly tweeting images of the lawsuits throughout the months for his side, he did a very good job on all of this. And remember this, when Stacey Abrams lost her gubernatorial election back in 2018, there was outcry. Even though there was a record turnout in that election year, her side said there was voter suppression and claimed that she was the rightful Governor of Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS (D), FORMER REPRESENTATIVE OF GEORGIA: This is not a speech of concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stacey Abrams ought to be the Governor of Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stacey Abrams election has been stolen from her using what I think are on serious measures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, her side worked hard to change the rules so that that wouldn't happen again, here is a Senator Lindsey Graham today talking about how in the president election this year, the bar was lower. Between the elections, between the primary and presidential on how to figure out what makes ballot acceptable and which ones are not acceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had a 3.5 percent rejection rate in the last election you know what the ballot rejection rate for signatures was in the selection? 0.3 percent, the secretary of state did with Stacy Abrams that's really polluted the database that you would compare a signature too. They failed to take people off the roles that are not eligible to vote. He got conned in to signing a consent decree that's bad for George's election system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Congressman Jeff Collins Represents the State of Georgia and is leading the president's recount effort in that state, Congressman good to have you here tonight.

REP. JEFF COLLINS (R-GA): Hey, Martha. It's good to see you.

MACCALLUM: So here is - some of these rule changes they were put through, right. They were accepted by the legislature in the State of Georgia, so is this just, sort of, politics that you have to be really good at this stuff in order to figure out how to fine-tune it to help your side? And I just want to remind everybody that Marc Elias who was working on all this lawsuits is the same lawyer who was in connection to the Steele dossier in terms of getting that rolling and he's been hard at work on this project but is there anything illegal about what he did?

COLLINS: Well, let's count - if we want to talk about the Steele dossier, that's a whole different issue that we can talk about.

MACCALLUM: No, no we don't want to get into that tonight. I'm just reminding people why they know that name, that's all.

COLLINS: I understand Martha. Well, look - let's be honest, this didn't go through the legislature number one. There's a consent decree were signed by the sectors, state did not go through the legislature, it was based on lawsuits from Stacy Abrams Democratic Party in Georgia. It did in our opinion weaken the standard on which signature verification is made on absentee ballots.

Now remember in Georgia if you vote on day or early in person voting, you have to actually show a physical ballot photo ID. But with these signature ballots, you did not. And in the way the consent decree now is worried, it was signed in March of this year, is they can compare it to any signature.

So in essence there were some places did not go back to the registered voter card, they went back to just comparing it to the application for the voter - for the absentee ballot with the ballot itself which opens itself up for fraud.

But also you might have something without Marc and then coming down here in Georgia and issue a (inaudible), let me just be real clear. There is not voter suppression. The only voter suppression is coming from Stacey Abrams complaining about this when she got beat. Let me let you have the list, from 2014 to 2020 - to 2018, the issue of minority participation voting in Georgia has doubled we've had 10 to 12 to a 15 percent increase, is high as

20 percent increases in African-American and Hispanic male and female voting.

So the only issue of voter suppression here is the Democrat Party suppressing the vote and then trying to make work the system where they can have signatures not in check. The issue is very plain, you don't go from 3 percent rejection rate to less than 0.03 percent in an election which you have substantial amount of absentee ballots over what you had in 2018, it's just wrong.

MACCALLUM: Yes. I think we made that point that the turnout was actually higher in Stacey Abrams election even though she claimed that there was voter suppression in that election. So I guess, the question becomes when you look at the variance there, so the ballots that we are able to get through and we know in some cases and you tell me if this was the case in Georgia, did they change the sensitivity level on what it matches on a signature so that some of these machines - you can turn it up or turn it down I guess to some extent in terms of how close, what percentage close that signature needs to be?

COLLINS: That if I use it that would change - the voter match here and especially in the county's here we deal with this, was actually physically looking at to hit the ballots and so. So I think, this is an issue of, are supposed to be checking when they are actually are not and I think that's has become the issue that we are trying to deal with the Secretary of State who refuses to say that there are problems.

You might have meet her earlier, I want to go back to this, you talked about fraud being found, ballots being found, if we had not asked for this recount then in Georgia, and recount, Martha you realize that there would've been over 3,000 votes for the President about 8,000, 10,000 votes in total that were never counted down here. Did two weeks after the fact in the last 48 hours, they found these ballots that were never counted.

This is the problem we are finding in Georgia. Is in addition to these procedural issues and in addition to thank the enroll court (ph) we are actually finding places that were not even counted and then on top of that, talking about this legal issues with Secretary of State, we are finding out with the local election boards, we're talking about the scanning machines for the votes and sales they were never given instructions on what to set those machines to, to look for extraneous marks, over votes, under votes, preferred riding candidates or non-riding candidate, they never got instructions from the Secretary of State on what to set it at. You had 159 counties left to their own decision on how to actually set their machines.

MACCALLUM: Yes. And I mean, all of this is so eye-opening in kind of a gut wrenching way for Americans all across the country when you learn how willy-nilly some of this processes are across the country, they are different in every single state. There isn't a federal standard by which we vote in this country. And no matter what happens, I think it's a huge eye- opener in terms of how all of this works behind the scenes. You said back on November 9th, we are confident that we will find evidence of improperly harvested ballots and other irregularities that will prove that President Trump won Georgia. Do you still stand by that today on November 19th? Are you going to prove that?

COLLINS: I stand by the fact we have found votes the president didn't get, we are still looking for those votes as they are finishing up in Georgia.

But what we have found is what you just talked about. We have found issues that we can't get into as far as the absentee ballot signature issue, the issues of asking the Secretary of State to open this up so what we know exactly where these ballots came from.

If we continue this process, there should be enough interest here in Georgia and across the country to say what actually happened and I can't feel confident knowing that the processes were followed in Georgia, knowing that we just found these, all of these ballots that were never counted and they are still trying to work to get through the issues of matching verification that we have not had an answer to it.

MACCALLUM: So I think a lot of people across this country are tired of being told that they are not allowed to ask questions about how all this worked. And being shut down, we see Twitter and Facebook canceling people for bringing up this issue and wanting to know more about it. This is an interesting exchange between Jack Dorsey at Twitter and Senator Cruz. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Mr. Dorsey, with the following statement violates Twitter's policies, "absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.

JACK DORSEY, TWITTER CEO: We would label it so that people can have more contexts.

CRUZ: You would label them because you have taken the political position right now that voter fraud doesn't exist, I would note both of those quotes come from the Carter Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform that is Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Former Secretary of State James Baker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: What would you say to that?

COLLINS: Well, as one who is regularly has been censored by Twitter, it doesn't surprise me. Look, they have - though we have seen this coming up to - we have seen them trying to move the election - everything that remotely resembles a question, a legitimate question about this election is being tagged with some kind of a statement at the bottom, look they don't like the president, they never like the president, they did not want him to be reelected. We had proof of that from Google and Facebook and others all throughout that we been trying to expose it and most media never would touch.

And so it doesn't surprise me that they are going to try and spin a narrative that everything was fine, it's just like the Secretary State in Georgia everything was find we were told, until all of a sudden we started finding ballots and then it becomes a problem. So we've got to continue this fight, Martha, you've been asking the right questions, we've just got to continue to make sure that this is open and transparent so that Americans can have trust in their voting system, because down here in Georgia, we have got another election on January 5th.

MACCALLUM: Yes. That's what I'm going to ask you about it. So what's going to change between now and then in these rules and how can both sides make sure that, there isn't any discrepancies or irregularities here?

COLLINS: Well, my hope is that by shining the light on this it lights - sunlight is a great disinfectant and what we got to have is put pressure on these counties to make sure that they are actually taking the proper precautions with their absentee ballots, there are other issues we have, but we've also frankly, we've got to have people turn out. They've got to actually be a part of this process. And our Secretary of State has got to give clear instructions to these counties on how they are to count the votes either to accept their machine. So that people can trust that their vote is being counted.

MACCALLUM: Well you've got to make sure you get observers on both sides who can report back to their side. I watched everything. This is the way it went down. What about President Trump in Georgia? Do you believe that he's going to come down to a campaign for these candidates? And if he doesn't, do you think that they have a shot?

COLLINS: I think he gets through with making sure his election was taken care of. I think you will see the president do everything he can. He's always been supportive of the party. He's always been a supporter of these candidates. And he also understands the real nature of what is at stake here. This is a chamber majority in the senate, if these Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are not reelected. I support them. They need to be reelected because look, we've got a real choice down here.

You got David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler who represent a conservative majority in Georgia and this country, or you've got Ossoff and Warnock.

Warnock who actually said that you couldn't start guarding the military, there's a problem in this election down here. People have got to see through it. And unfortunately right now, we're having to deal with the mechanics of the election instead of what's going to happen on January 5th.

MACCALLUM: We got 8 out of 10 donors for the Democrat candidates coming from out of state, so money flowing in from everywhere for those races.

Congressman Collins, thank you very much. Thanks for being here tonight.

COLLINS: Thanks, Martha. Take care.

MACCALLUM: So President Trump reportedly summoning two Republican legislators from Michigan to the White House in what could be an attempt to use the state law to try to overturn the Michigan election results. As you can imagine, this has got a lot of people up in arms and interested in what could happen there tomorrow at the White House. Guy Benson and with his analysis, is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Fox News alert tonight. In what would be a long shot move to change the Michigan electors, we've learned that President Trump has reportedly summoned Michigan Senate majority leader Mike Sharkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield to the White House for an extraordinary meeting. Just hours before the news broke, the Trump campaign dropped its federal lawsuit in Michigan challenging the states vote tallies, now it seems that they are headed in a different direction here.

So joining me now is Guy Benson, Host of "The Guy Benson Show" and Fox News Contributor. Guy, good to have you with us this evening.

GUY BENSON, HOST, "THE GUY BENSON SHOW": Hi, Martha.

MACCALLUM: So I mean, all of this is confusing, there are - the Wayne canvassing board are the two Republicans and Democrats who have been fighting that we've been watching on zoom lately and they've gone back and forth on their decision. Now they say they don't want to certify - tonight, I just want to get everybody up to speed on some news that just broke a few moments ago which is that one of the two Republican members of the four member Michigan canvassing board, the state canvassing board, Norman Shinkle says that he is leaning towards asking for a delay in certification and calling for an audit of the state. He says there are concerns to people have across the state, then we're going to delay the certification pass Monday. Your thoughts on what's going on there?

BENSON: Well, the Trump campaign in that press conference today claimed that they dropped their Michigan suit because they got their desired remedy which was a delay in the certification in Wayne County which isn't what happened. They did certify in Wayne County, now you're asking for like take back's from the Republicans but I'm not really sure that's - how that works legally speaking.

What you just described would be a significant update should the other Republican go along with it and there are some sort of, stalemate in the State of Michigan on the deadline for certification whether there is some sort of a follow-up investigation or whatever word they want to use to describe it for that to take place. We're still talking about a pretty limited timeline here to have an audit. So I think the story that we lead with here in the segment about these lawmakers, these leaders from Michigan, the Republican Party who will lead the state legislature being summoned to Washington by the president.

I don't think it's totally out-of-bounds by any stretch for people to wonder OK, you look at the context. You look at the timing, why is this happening. Why is the president asking these lawmakers to come to Washington and is he going to try to apply some pressure on them. To perhaps - I don't know, put in a different slate of electors through the state legislature, doing an end run around the voters of Michigan. That is at least part of the speculation. I think we should wait and keep our powder dry and see what actually happens. But I think people asking those questions and may be drawing those conclusions. It is not completely baseless, right. You can connect a few dots here, it is possible.

MACCALLUM: It is possible. And we have seen in 2016, there were a few electors whose states voted for President Trump who became what is called a faithless elector and then they did not put their electors towards President Trump in the end. Now we're just going through what Michigan law is, it says Michigan law does not include a provision for the legislature to directly select electors or to award electors to anyone other than the person who received the most votes. And we know that Joe Biden is ahead by

150,000 votes in Michigan. So this route does seem like a long shot.

BENSON: It's an extreme long shot and both of the Republican leaders that are coming to Washington for this meeting tomorrow are on the record saying "We're not going to do anything like that". And I think that's the right thing for them to say. And I know the tensions are high and frustration is high and suspicion is high among many people in this country, particularly Trump supporters.

But I think just in a counterfactual or a hypothetical, if four years ago we saw exactly this type of machination from Democrats where President Trump had won a state or two and then Hillary Clinton and her campaign said "Well, the people have spoken but we're not really sure because Russia, maybe have - maybe they were involved in a lot of Democrats believed that, still believe that even though there is no basis that they changed any votes, that's a popular belief on the left.

If the Clinton campaign said we don't think this is fair or legitimate, let's wait or let's maybe see with what the legislators might be able to do to put different electors in there and maybe put us in the White House and Barack Obama is going to summon some Democrats from this states to say, "Hey guys what are you doing in your states", let's see what we might be able to do here.

I think conservatives would rightly have been in the streets screaming their heads off and I would have right there with them because that's not what we do in this country. That would be a shocking departure from our system of governance and the transfer of power in this country. And so I think this is a very dangerous path to even consider let alone go down. I am very suspicious or skeptical I should say that we're going to get even close to it, but the fact that we are talking about it frankly is unsettling.

MACCALLUM: Yes. There are some that say that the seeds of distrust in the election are sort of, paving the way for the president to say that it was illegitimate over the course of the next few years if he decides he wants to run again. And we know that on Hillary Clinton side, she told Joe Biden not to concede under any circumstances in this election, so it's been fraught on both sides from day one. And who knows what we would be seeing on their side if the outcome had been different. Guy, thank you, always great to have you with us. Thanks for being here tonight.

BENSON: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So the two GOP members of the Wayne County, Board of Canvassers Monica Palmer and William Hartmann will speak exclusively to Laura Ingraham at 10:00 p.m. tonight, so stay tune for that, you remember some of what was spewed at them, we showed you those horrible videos, they were threaten, their families were threaten. She's going to talk to them tonight. And up next on "The Story", President-Elect Joe Biden told the country that it was time to unify to come together, but today some on one his side are saying no thanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): And I don't want anybody here to think that we are not winning. But let me tell you something, we are winning. It's working. It's happening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So big reaction from another member of congress to that from his colleagues, Congressman Dan Crenshaw, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Welcome back. Couple of weeks since the election, a consistent message coming out of the Biden campaign has been that it's time to come together to unite behind common interests. But today we didn't heard a much different version from some of the more progressive members of the Democratic Party who held a press conference outside DNC Headquarters demanding immediate action on their proposals for economic reform and for climate change. Here's what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-MI): That's what our next move is, to make sure that the Biden administration keeps its promise. We know that we don't just make that demand and walk away, we have to organize for it. We have to bring the heat for it.

We're going to different timeline and we're going to make sure that the Biden administration sticks to our timeline, is moving towards our timeline. And so I ask all of you, do not move from the needle, do not. We are more than them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: That at Democratic National Headquarters in Washington, joining me now is Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas, Congressman, good to have you with us tonight.

REP. DAN CRENSHAW (R-TX): Great to be back.

MACCALLUM: So what is your reaction when you hear those members of congress, colleagues of yours, what they are pushing for it, at this point?

CRENSHAW: Yes. Well, I've got to ask the American people - listen to them, are they who you want in charge? I don't think so and I think that message was largely rejected at the ballot box, to be honest. But Joe Biden has to deal with simple fact, he invited all the socialists to his little dinner party and made Kamala Harris, that she's the most liberal senator in the senate, made her his VP pick. She is a Signatory of Medicare for all, takes away your private insurance, Signatory of Green New Deal, Green New Deal is consider a crucial framework for climate change policy according to Joe Biden's campaign web site.

So, he invited all of these socialists to this little party and he can't be surprised when they got a little drunk on power and now they have a very loud voice which is exactly what's happening.

They are not incorrect when they say that they're winning within the Democratic Party. Now I don't think they're winning over America, because we need to remember something, Republicans took back almost a dozen seats in the House and we should be pretty happy about that. I think Democratic platform and policy was largely rejected this time and this is what you get when you put socialism on the agenda.

MACCALLUM: So, you know, Joe Biden is going to have to fight against that, he has said he doesn't want to take your private insurance. Obviously, he's going to have forces playing against him but he's going to say look, I got elected, so go home and be quiet.

CRENSHAW: Yes, well, I wish he would fight against it but I do not view him as this principled leader. All we've seen from Joe Biden over the years is really moving with the political winds, just to be popular and be his party's nominee.

So, yes, he'll say that he's going to protect your private insurance but let's not forget he was part of the Obama administration who lied to us about keeping your doctor, you think they are telling the truth about keeping your private insurance?

The public option is simply a slow roll to Medicare for all, if you look at the economics of it, there's really no other way out of it. It does eventually get rid of your private insurance by undercutting all private insurance.

They named the Green New Deal in their campaign web site and they can attack our energy industry and they want to transition away from oil and gas and fossil fuels, that's what makes us energy independent. It's actually what is -- our fracking is what has decreased U.S. emissions back to 1990 levels. So, these people, for one thing, don't know what they're talking about, and a second, I think they are lying when they say they are so-called moderates.

MACCALLUM: This is Jamaal Bowman, representative-elect Democrat from New York, as well, this is what he had to say about it being time for payback.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-NY), REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT: Black and brown communities organize across the country to make sure Joe Biden won the White House and he did that. But now it's time for payback. And now it's time to make sure that we invest the resources necessary to rebuild our nation in a way that is representative of all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Your reaction to that, Congressman.

CRENSHAW: It's such interesting terminology, what they say rebuild, what they really mean is to destroy. Right? I think AOC tweeted today how she wants to keep people locked in their homes and then spend taxpayer money paying them to be unproductive and to lose their jobs.

This is not rebuilding anything. This is destroying our way of life. And for what? I mean, now we are getting into a different subject, but for what? Right? What's the benefit of these lockdowns that they want so badly, there is no benefit -- I mean, scientifically speaking, the data is out at this point. The benefits are basically nil -- at best unproven but the costs are enormous and they are hurting people.

This is what they are advocating for. And it's radicalism to the extreme.

Let's not forget the Democrats gained more to their squad and lost the so- called moderates, this is not a good scene for the Democrats.

MACCALLUM: Well, as you point out, there's a lot of Republican pickup in the House and we spoke with Nicole Malliotakis of New York, who she is the sole GOP representative from New York, and she said she's putting together a squad of her own of those members in the House. So, it's going to be interesting to see that battles of ideas.

Representative, thank you very much. Good to see you tonight.

CRENSHAW: Always good to be with you, Martha. Thanks.

MACCALLUM (on camera): Thank you.

So, President Trump's COVID-19 task force says that once the vaccine is approved by the FDA, the turnaround for Americans to receive it could be a matter of days. Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant HHS secretary and overseeing all that is going to join us next. We'll find out if that's true.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: And now Pfizer's partner, BioNTech, has announced that tomorrow they intend to file for emergency use authorization at the FDA. We would expect to see Moderna filing soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM (on camera): As breaking moments ago, a Georgia -- a top Georgia election official has just confirmed that -- to the Associated Press -- that the hand recount of the presidential race is now complete and the results affirmed Joe Biden's lead over the Republican President Donald Trump, that coming from the A.P.

This despite the addition of several thousand ballots which we just talked about that were found in three separate counties that have not been counted on election night but were added to the totals for both candidates.

And the White House coronavirus task force held its first briefing in months after the United States surpassed 250,000 deaths. The CDC is now encouraging more than 15 million Americans who are projected to travel this Thanksgiving to stay home, to rethink those plans, as officials stand at the ready to deliver a vaccine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The moment the FDA concludes that that vaccine is safe and effective, and we have a system in place to begin within 24 hours shipping that vaccine to hospitals, healthcare facilities, and 24 hours after that, literally injecting that vaccine into Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM (on camera): It's really remarkable, Operation Warp Speed. So, joining me now, Admiral Brett Giroir, White House Coronavirus Task Force testing czar and assistant HHS Secretary. Admiral, thank you so much for being here.

BRETT GIROIR, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Great to be here.

MACCALLUM: So, this is what Joe Biden said about the vaccine today and the distribution process which we just heard about from the vice president.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: One statistic that was raised by the governors, it took eight months to provide 100 million COVID test -- eight months to provide COVID test -- just imagine how much more difficult it will be they pointed out if we don't find a more efficient and effective way to provide 330 million vaccinations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM (on camera): So how would you respond to that, Admiral?

GIROIR: I would say that's sort of two non sequiturs interrupted by nonsense, comparing testing to vaccination doesn't make any scientific sense. And Operation Warp Speed has -- it's really incredible. We have two vaccines that are 95 percent efficacious that are safe, and that appeared to work in elderly.

We are going to have tens of millions of doses by the end of the year and the distribution process is sound. General Perna, the top logistician in the U.S. military with dozens of people working every day, it is timed not to the hour, but to the minute.

This is going to be effectively distributed, there is a tiered plan, healthcare workers, elderly, vulnerable, this is going to be done and President -- President Trump has assembled this team, the vice president has worked on it, we've all worked on it and this is really the light at the end of the tunnel, it will be done, it will be done effectively.

If we do need to transition, the first thing I would tell the Biden administration is this plan is sound, it's going to work and you need to let it work.

MACCALLUM: So, you know, we got the two tracks going on right now, this very exciting tracks with the vaccines, the treatments also that are becoming more widely distributed as well and then on the other side of the equation you got these charts that are very difficult. And you got hospitalizations increasing, you got the case numbers at the highest levels that we've seen.

So, would you say, I mean, how would you characterize the virus right now in the United States? Is it under control?

GIROIR: So, this is the exact right message, Martha. The light at the end of the tunnel is here with the vaccine. It's only weeks away, but we are at the most dangerous and critical time of the pandemic that we've been in through the entire year that we've been battling this.

The cases are rising, hospitalizations are going up. Your chances of living are far greater than they were a few months ago, but the deaths are going up because of the numbers of cases and this is why we are so concerned and really urge Americans across the country as Dr. Birx did today to please physically distance, to wear a mask when you can't.

Unfortunately, we are going to have to avoid indoor crowded spaces like bars and restaurants and you are going to have to be very careful even with the family gatherings and that's what Dr. Redfield was talking about today.

MACCALLUM: What do you say to people who feel like, you know, they've listened to the CDC guidance this whole time, you know, we've seen much more mask wearing than we have ever seen through this whole process and they feel like they follow the guidelines but it's just getting worse, what do you tell them?

GIROIR: So, the guidelines really worked. The United Kingdom and France has turned it around with these simple measures and keeping schools and businesses open, not a lock down -- we've done it in Arizona, Florida, Texas, across the deep south.

Really, this is what we need to do, this will turn it around. We only have a few more weeks to do this, if we do this, we will flatten it, the vaccine will be here and we will protect the vulnerable. So, I urge Americans to follow these.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: People have been patient for so long. So, you tell them to stay home for Thanksgiving, these 50 million who are likely to travel.

GIROIR: So, I don't -- I don't think the CDC said that. They recommended that the safest thing to do is to stay -- is to stay home because there are risks in traveling, in buses, trains, in airports.

MACCALLUM: Sure.

GIROIR: But if you're going to travel, there are some really good suggestions on how to be safer within your home, distancing, masking, hygiene, et cetera. Please look at the web site. Very reasonable, vary things.

MACCALLUM: OK.

GIROIR: Make better choices.

MACCALLUM: Admiral Giroir, thank you. Good to see you again, sir. Thanks for being here.

GIROIR: Absolutely. Yes, ma'am.

MACCALLUM (on camera): So, for months, parents across the country have pleaded for an end to remote learning which by all counts has been a disaster. Children are struggling academically. They're struggling emotionally but now the mayor and the teachers union say that the kids have to go back home. Randi Weingarten joins me next.

Plus, what happens when Governor Cuomo who wrote the book on his leadership during COVID and he's trying to sell that book right now runs into some tough questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): What are you talking about? You're now going to override. We did it already, that's the law in Arizona in a red zone.

Follow the facts.

UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) confused.

CUOMO: Well then, you're confused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM (on camera): New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says the science is what led them to close the schools again, shocking parents across New York. But what the science really say about COVID-19 infections in children?

Now according to The New York Times here's what it says about out of 16,348 staff members and students tested randomly by the school system in the first week of the testing regiment. The city has gotten back results for 16,298. There were only 28 positives, 20 staff members and eight students.

And according to the city's own data, the positivity rate in the schools is around 2 percent.

One headline today raise the question if New York City schools is closing its schools but not its restaurants or its gyms, should the parents drop their kids off at a bar?

Joining me now, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers representing 1.3 million educators and school staff -- school staff across the country.

Randi, thank you very much for coming back tonight. I know this is obviously --

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: You're welcome.

MACCALLUM: -- a very sensitive issue and I think one of the reasons is that we've heard to follow the science, to listen to the scientists. There's been a very strong study out of Brown University, also another study by the Atlantic which says that essentially the infection rate is point -- is .013 among the students and .24 among the staff.

The CDC has recommended that kids stay in school and what we've seen happen in Europe and in the U.K. is that what has worked is to keep the schools open. So why the decision --

WEINGARTEN: Right.

MACCALLUM: -- to close the schools in New York at this 3 percent level?

WEINGARTEN: So, by the way, the CDC has actually just taken that recommendation you just had off their web site, and let's see where the CDC

--

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: That was today.

WEINGARTEN: -- ends where they are.

MACCALLUM: Redfield said that today. Let's play that.

WEINGARTEN: Yes.

MACCALLUM: That was today. Let's play it.

WEINGARTEN: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: K through 12 schools can operate with face-to-face learning and they can do it safely and they can do it responsibly. The infections that we've identified in schools when they've been evaluated were not acquired in schools, the truth is for kids K through 12, one of the safest places they can be from our perspective is to remain in school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM (on camera): That was earlier today, Randi.

WEINGARTEN: Yes. No, no, what I'm saying. But look, I think that Dr.

Redfield is right and I think you'd be surprised that I agree with you, I think that we need to be focused on what's going on in terms of communities and like in Europe, we should be closing bars and restaurants and doing a COVID stimulus to make sure they stay in business and trying to keep schools open.

What we've learned and frankly the New York City experience is really important -- what we've learned is that when you actually do the testing and when you have the safeguards that New York City put in place -- I remember you and I kind of riffed about this, you know, when it first started and I kept pushing for those safeguards -- but when you put them in place, you see that schools are not super spreading events and that's really, really good.

The problem is that schools are not impervious to all that is going on in the outside and what the mayor sought today or the last couple of days is that in Staten Island and other regions in the city, you were seeing -- you were seeing a trajectory that was going way up.

And so, what Mike Mulgrew and the UFT and others are saying to the city, begging the city, wear your mask, get the infection rate down because we want schools to be reopened safely.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Yes, but what we're hearing, you know, the schools need to be open is the point. The kids need to be in the schools because what's been decided by the CDC --

WEINGARTEN: The schools --

MACCALLUM: -- it's the -- I mean, it sounds like the unions doesn't want the teachers in the classroom and the mayor doesn't want the teachers in the classroom, the parents clearly wants --

WEINGARTEN: Martha, Martha, your --

MACCALLUM: -- the teachers in the classroom and the CDC wants them in the classroom.

WEINGARTEN: You're actually not listening to me. What has happened here is that New York City was the only major school district in the nation to actually reopen schools safely.

MACCALLUM: But they're closing now, Randi. And why are they closing now?

WEINGARTEN: And because -- Martha, they're closing now because what the city said and frankly what lots of other places are also seeing is a huge skyrocketing increase.

MACCALLUM: OK. Now you're not listening to me.

WEINGARTEN: And the virus surge. We need to actually --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: You're not listening to the science here, Randi. Because the science says, yes, everyone agrees -- we see a spike, we are in a second wave. You and I totally agree on that. What they are not --

WEINGARTEN: Right.

MACCALLUM: -- what they are not telling us though is that the wisest scientific move is to have the children in school because what we are seeing is a tremendous loss of learning, we are seeing kids who are emotionally unstable because they're not in the classroom, because they're not seeing their friends and we know from the studies -- this isn't me saying this, this is Brown University and other studies, that the transmission late is very, very low, it's a great news story.

WEINGARTEN: Martha?

MACCALLUM: It's a great news story what happened when you open the schools.

WEINGARTEN: It is a -- it is a --

MACCALLUM: The kids made out very, very well, that's wonderful news, they should stay there.

WEINGARTEN: Martha, I agree -- I agree with you. I, you know, and what --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: So why is not happening?

WEINGARTEN: -- Mike Mulgrew and the UFT are trying to do is that they are trying to figure out a regional, a regional way of opening and closing like they did after the Jewish holidays --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: They don't need to close, that's the point, they don't need to close.

WEINGARTEN: -- in the middle of --

MACCALLUM: It's the point.

WEINGARTEN: Martha, there is a -- there is a number -- I know Dr. Redfield didn't opine directly on New York City and I'm telling you that they took off the --

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Well, that's the biggest story going on when you said it.

WEINGARTEN: -- web site a couple of days ago that schools -- that schools -

- I was surprised that they took that off the web site about schools opening or closing.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: I don't know why they took it off the web site but you just heard it from the director's mouth --

WEINGARTEN: Yes.

MACCALLUM: -- and they said that today.

WEINGARTEN: No, no, no, I was glad --

MACCALLUM: And no doubt he said it in reaction --

WEINGARTEN: I was glad to hear that.

MACCALLUM: -- to what happened to New York because that's been the huge focus lately. But the teachers union --

WEINGARTEN: But we are --

MACCALLUM: -- you guys set the 3 percent threshold, right? That when you hit that --

WEINGARTEN: No. The mayor set --

MACCALLUM: -- it says the measurement is established by the teachers union over the summer in order to reach an agreement to reopen in the first place was a 3 percent threshold.

WEINGARTEN: That was -- that was actually not true. The mayor set the 3 percent threshold, what the teachers union did in New York City afterwards was to say these are the safeguards that we need and this is the testing we need. And the good news story here which you and I agree on is that when you have that testing and when you have those safeguards, we saw that in New York City --

MACCALLUM: Exactly.

WEINGARTEN: -- the schools were basically safe. The issue now is --

MACCALLUM: Which is --

WEINGARTEN: -- how to make sure the rest of this -- that the issue in New York City was the rate of increase that was happening from .5 to about 3 percent.

MACCALLUM: I hear you. I hear you, Randi. I hear you.

WEINGARTEN: That's the issue there.

MACCALLUM: But the point is that even given that --

(CROSSTALK)

WEINGARTEN: And that's what we have to drive down.

MACCALLUM: -- even given that all of these experts and scientists say that children are safer in school, it's worked across Europe. It's worked across the U.K., they never close their schools during their second spike and now they are in recovery, they are down 10 percent and the kids are not missing out on their education.

WEINGARTEN: And what they did -- and what they did in Europe and what they did in New Zealand is that they had national leadership that close that did mask, that actually close the bars that did some of those things including the stimulus.

MACCALLUM: Two separate things. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

WEINGARTEN: That's what we need to do.

MACCALLUM: Given all that, they still say the kids are safer in school.

WEINGARTEN: No, they're connected, Martha.

MACCALLUM: The numbers are rising. The kids are safer in school.

WEINGARTEN: They're connected.

MACCALLUM: Those are the two realities from what we're hearing from all the scientists.

WEINGARTEN: Listen, I agree -- I agree with you, we've been trying to get kids back into school throughout the country and we work with New York City to do it.

MACCALLUM: Right.

WEINGARTEN: But we have to get community spread down now.

MACCALLUM: OK. I've got to leave it there.

WEINGARTEN: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Randi, thank you very much.

WEINGARTEN: You're welcome.

MACCALLUM (on camera): Randi Weingarten, head of the UFT teachers unions.

So, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo melting down at a press briefing this week when a Wall Street Journal reporter asked to clarify confusion over who holds the authority to shut down our city's schools and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: First of all, let's try not to be obnoxious and defensive in your tone. Because you're 100 percent wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM (on camera): So that was just the beginning. Howie Kurtz, host of Media Buzz joins me on what folded between -- unfolded between the reporters and the governor of New York after that. Hi, Howie.

HOWARD KURTZ, FOX NEWS HOST: Hi, Martha. Well, it did start with that simple and straightforward question from the Wall Street Journal reporter, basically asking the governor would the New York City schools shut down the next day. The governor snapped at the reporter and proceeded to give him a bit of a televised lecture. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: OK. So, don't you, so what are you talking about, what are you talking about? You're now going to override -- we did it already. That's the law in Arizona in a red zone, follow the facts.

UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) confuse.

CUOMO: Well then, you're confused.

UNKNOWN: I think Jimmy's correct in asking that question. I don't think it's obnoxious at all.

CUOMO: I don't really care what you think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ (on camera): As it turned out a New York Times reporter told the governor later in the briefing that Mayor Bill de Blasio had decided to close the nation's largest school system, as you've been discussing, that happened today because of rise of COVID-19 infection rates.

But Cuomo became a media darling in the first weeks of the pandemic for his blunt, straightforward, and often and witty daily briefings, he did a lot of interviews, he went on The View, he did stick with his brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo and there was some chatter that he should be Joe Biden's running mate.

He also just published a book on the pandemic and has defended himself against criticism that his policies helped lead to a tragic number of nursing home deaths. The governor is also known in Albany as calculating tough as nails politician, I've known him for three decades since he was running campaigns for his father, Mario Cuomo, and he can be aggressive -- we all just saw kind of the bare-knuckle side of Andrew Cuomo.

Now, Governors in both parties are struggling to deal with this surge, this fall surge in COVID-19. Denver and Kentucky have also shut down their schools, Republican governors in Utah and North Dakota have issued mask mandates, Ohio's GOP governor has also imposed nightly curfews.

And you know, one of the reasons Cuomo got so much attention early on besides fighting with President Trump was that New York was the epicenter of COVID-19, but now the virus is rocking red states, blue states, big cities --

MACCALLUM: That's for sure.

KURTZ: -- rural areas, governors are on the front lines. And some of them are pushing back.

MACCALLUM: Under some heat. Absolutely. Howie, thank you so much. Great to have you here tonight.

KURTZ: Good to see you.

MACCALLUM: So that's The Story of Thursday, November 19, 2020. But the Story continues. So, we'll see you right back here tomorrow tonight at seven. Tucker Carlson is up next. Have a good night, everybody.

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