hour-long phone call between the sitting president and republican secretary of state from georgia. a clear ask to ignore the november outcome and to find votes to overturn this election. >> we have won this election in georgia, based on all of this, and there's nothing wrong with saying that, brad. you know? i mean, having a correct -- the people are georgia are angry. and these numbers are going to be repeated on monday night. along with others that we're going to have by that time, which are much more substantial, but -- and the people of georgia are angry. the people of the country are angry, and there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know -- that you've recalculated. >> well, mr. president, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong. >> now, do you think it's possible that they shredded

ballots in fulton county? that's what the rumor is, and also that dominion took out machines. that dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their -- machinery? do you know anything about that? because that's illegal. >> no. dominion has none moved machinery out of fulton county. >> no, but, have they mooved -- moved inner parts of the machines replaced them with other parts? >> no. >> are you sure, ryan? >> i'm sure. >> you should want to van accurate election. and you're a republican. >> we believe we do have san accurate election. >> no. no, you don't. no, no you don't. you don't have -- you don't have, not even close. you got, your off by hundreds of thousands of votes. you know what they did, and you're not reporting it. that's -- you know, that's a

criminal, a criminal offense. and you know, you can't let that happen. that's -- that's a big risk to you and to ryan. your lawyer. that's a big risk, but they are -- shredding ballots in my opinion, based on what i've heard and they are rear momovin machinery as fast as they can. both of which are criminal finds and you can't let it happen and you are letting it happen. >> all right. talk about these extraordinary reportings now. legal analyst mike's zeldin with us. from savannah, georgia, where democrats are stumping in the runoff senate race here in georgia. and from the white house and mark preston good to see you all. and how damning, how potentially consequential is this for the president? >> well, a couple things. one is, i mean, i think we're starting to see a formation of whether or not he broke the law by pressuring these state officials and i'll leave that up

to the legal experts to go down that road. even if he did in many ways i don't think he could be prosecuted given the division in the country. we're seeing the absolute crumbling of trump's hold on the republican party, and i say that because of this -- i know a lot of folks saying he's got 12 senators supporting him. got all of these house members that are supporting him. they also didn't realize that this recording was going to come out today. he is now effectively embarrassed 12 republican senators. he won't acknowledge it, but he has embarrassed them. >> will they change their tune two, three days after? >> difficult for them. the reason they decided to do this fred, for their own politics. secondly, should have been a day we're talking nancy pelosi barely won the speakership. we're not talking about that. donald trump has take thatten that away from them and look what's going on in georgia.

even in the telephone call, brad, you don't do this a lot of republicans will be angry basically saying they're not going to vote for the republican senators. if you're a republican now you need to take a step back and not only look what's go for the country but for your party. >> the president's actually saying to the secretary of state you ph , too, if you don't do something the same outcome from the runoff on tuesday that you had in november meaning democrats would win. john harwood, still radio silence coming from the white house? >> yes. the white house is not going to comment on this videotape, or audiotape and doesn't matter. we have words of the president, chief of staff on the call. this call makes crystal clear that the president of the united states who's going to be in that building behind me for another two and a half weeks, because he is either crazy or simply corrupt or both was openly

pressuring the republican secretary of state on the basis of fact that he was a republican to reverse the vote count in georgia that showed that joe biden won the state. and he -- he embroidered with with nonsense about shredded ballots and inner workings of machines and none of which is true and we all know it's not true, which is why multiple recounts and re-examinations of the georgia result have shown that joe biden won the state. on mark preston the point, if, in fact, that some of those republican senators and house members are capable of embarrassment and capable of altering their behavior because they are embarrassed about this, that would be a hopeful sign of health with the republican party. but nothing that we have seen for months and months have suggested to me at least that

that is likely to be the case. >> hmm. okay. attorney michael zeldin, a lot of legal questions. if chief of staff mark meadows was there, a., protected against prosecuti prosecution? heard all kinds of words, every p xe xemp pl exemplifies extortion or overthrowing -- >> i'm not sure i'll go down conspiracy to extort. if it's in fact a crime, for any person to interfere with a state election to procure votes inappropriately. seems to me that statute 52 u.s. code 2511 would be that, the appropriate one this case referred to the justice

department, were it referred to the justice department. anyone who participated in that call to procure an outcome in a state election that was inappropriate would theoretic willy have legal liability, fred. >> hmm. michael, what do you think about the notion? former u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york tweeting out this saying, that the odds are that trump might declare a self-pardon. that just went up a bunch. what do you think about that idea? >> well, he's been floating it for a long time, the president. it's on very mooshy constitutional grounds that he can do that himself. were he to try, the way it would work out is he says, i self-pardon. then a prosecutor or congress would come and say we want to either prosecute you or want your testimony. he says i don't have to participate in the congressional, or i'm not subject to indictment in the legal, because i self-pardoned.

it gets challenged, and ultimately the supreme court reviews whether that pardon was appropriate. >> okay. pardoning self, isn't that admission of guilt? >> well, actually it is, because in order to accept a pardon you have to acknowledge criminal activity. in this case, though, it would depend how the pardon is structured. in nixon's case, for example, ford said i pardon you for any possible crimes from period a. to period b. trump does the same for himself, not that there's a specific admission of a crime. just insulation from a possible future investigation of him criminally or congressional testimony from him. >> and what about chief of staff mark meadows? apparently there while the call was being made, complicit. if the president is essentially admitting he comitted a crime pardoning himself, what about protection for chief of staff mark meadows? >> i'm not sure that the president is admitting to

committing a crime were he to self-pardon. i think meadows is -- his contact more criminal liability from the point of view of he participated in the call. the georgia official said we only found evidence of two people who were dead who tried to vote, and meadows said, oh, no, no, more than that. if one says that's part of a scheme or a cause of contact to pressure the state to change its results, then he has got the same liability on that statute i referred to 52 u.s. code 2511. >> and democrats stumping two days ahead of this run jooff election. vice president-elect there. what is said about this audiotape? >> reporter: may have noticed i was looking down at my phone. the reason why, i am just now getting a response from the campaign.

this is the warnock campaign. first out of the gate with a response. the campaign here in georgia. remember the senate runoff campaigns, the election is just two days away. reverend raphael warnock put to a statement saying kelly loeffler made clear she does not respect georgia voters. it is, in fact, that georgia's elected joe biden and kamala harris to be our next president and vice president. a fact kelly loeffler still refuses to admit. what he is trying to do there is trying to connect the senator to donald trump as tightly as possible, and it's something that we've seen democrats try to do. to try to show that whatever donald trump believes, these republican senators believe. but, remember, fredricka, this has been very much a campaign both on the democratic side and the republican side, to get out the faithful. to get out the base. this is going to affect

anything. i have spoke thav have spoken t voters, and have yet to interview anyone who doesn't think that the president isn't correct n correct. that he's the person who won the state of georgia. that's incorrect. that's a lie. after a hand count, after recounts here, it has been proven now that joe biden still did win the state of georgia, and so what this president has been saying has filtered down here to this election, and it really will be a matter of which side, the republican side or the democratic side, will be able to get out the base. we are anticipating the two democratic challengers, raphael warnock and jon ossoff to take the stage behind me in a few minutes and then senator kamala harris -- vice president-elect kamala harris, still getting used to that, expected to be a moatant force to get out the

base. the all-critical black vote here in savannah to get them to polls on election day. >> and following democrats there, ken, crisscrossing the state in the last month or so ahead of this yrunoff election. the president of the united states expected to be in georgia tomorrow, monday, stumping for the republicans. one has to wonder if he's still on par with doing that, and if so, what might that moment be like? >> yeah. the question's going to be, is he going to read the words on the teleprompter. that is what the discussion is here in republican circles. will he follow the script? will he be able to talk to republican voters and to stop focusing on january 6th but focus instead on january 5th. because what is at stake here and happens tuesday is control of the senate. now, if the democrats flip these two seats and then the vice

president-elect is a tiebreaker, essentially democrats have control of both chambers of congress. it is something vital for democrats to have in order to put out the legislative agenda for joe biden, and what the message has been from republicans is they want to be the fire wall here in georgia. but are republicans going to hear that message from the president? >> right. still with you, kyung, you mentioned kelly loeffler. she boasts of voting with president trump 100% of the time. and it had been scheduled that she would be appearing alongside president trump when he is to come to georgia tomorrow. might that be a little difficult for her now, given these tapes, the president talking about undermining the election? and if the election, georgia election is illegal and invalid for the president, why not for the down ballot races as well? >> reporter: exactly.

and that's really what we're talking about here. what the republican senators need are for the voters to trust the system enough to go out and use that very system that the president is talking about as being invalid or being illegal, and vote. now, republicans are behind the eight ball slightly, because what we've seen from data analysis of who has voted so far in early voting, are that democrats are outperforming how they have done in november. in november 2020. democrats are pleased with their turnout so far. republicans believe it is achievable that they will win these two seats, that they will be able to defend these republican-held seats in the state of georgia for the senate as long as their voters come out's if their voters come out they will be able to keep these seats, but if those voters believe that this election is illegitimate, that, you know,

they're angry what the president is saying and decide they're discouraged. some way that that turnout is suppressed tuesday, then republicans and not only they are behind on early votes, they may not be able to get to the finish line. that's really the concern among republicans. >> john, is the president still scheduled to go to georgia tomorrow, monday, to stump for these republicans in the runoff? >> yes. and i -- i find it hard to believe he wouldn't go. this is not someone who is -- capable of much shame, and the fact that this recording has surfaced of him talking to brad raffensperger in this way, i would expect him to offer the same public justifications that he offered on the call to brad raffensperger, even though, they're, of course, not rooted in reality or the truth. >> mark, how is the republican

party now irreparably being harmed here? >> they are, certainly are harmed in the near term, who know what's will happen 10, 20 years from now to the party, but the party certain has taken a shift and has gone in a trump direction in a way that i, many of us didn't think it could come back again, or at least come back more towards what the republican party used to be which is, you know, a more establishment, business-friendly in many ways compassionate, depending who the leadership is. however, though, i do think that trump -- this recording and his field lawsuits and the silliness we've seen over the past couple months, i think that's going to loosen his grip on the republican party as a whole going forward. now, when trump leaves office in january, he leaves power. okay? so people are not going to flock

around him just because he has that center gravity of power. he will still have a lot of supporters. he still will have the real trump faithful, but i do wonder, even what we've seen, you know, fallout over the past couple of weeks and really past couple months, do mainstream republicans then take a step back and once he's gone, out of sight, out of mind. who's our next? i think that may happen. not right away, but i do think that trump has really hurt himself in controlling the republican party for generations. >> yeah. i wonder of those who were believers that he might make another run in 2024, this phone call, seems like it would dash the hopes of many of those people who were in his corner thinking now, how could that possibly even happen? >> no question. i mean, look, donald trump doesn't want to leave the spotlight. his family doesn't want to leave the spotlight. they will continue to be in the spotlight, just not as bright

and he's not going to be in position of power that we see right now. in many ways, thank god, he won't be in that position, but he won't be in that position. that's where it will be interesting to see if the republican party tries to reconstitute in a different way as trump gets further away from being in office. >> leave it there for now. thank you all. appreciate it. take short break. coming up, president trump's phone call is getting huge reaction on capitol hill. democratic congresswoman sheila jackson-lee joining me live, next. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa

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welcoming back to breaking news we're following's stunning new audio just into cnn. president donald j. trump threatening georgia officials to find votes to sway the election in that state. >> so, look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. so -- so, tell me, brad, what are we going to do? we won the election and it's not fair to take it away from us like this. and it's going to be very costly in many ways. >> on that call you heard the president of the united states, his voice, and the georgia

secretary of state brad raffensperger and his attorney ryan germany. joining me to discuss, democratic congresswoman sheila jackson-lee of texas. congresswoman good to see you. we would have been talking primarily about the swearing in today of the 117th congress, perhaps even nancy pelosi's return to house speaker but instead all of that upstaged by this audiotape. what's your reaction? >> well, fred, first of all it is a happy new year, because we've come into a new year and i wish you that and all of your colleagues. want point responding to that. i'm talking to constituents calling in between hospital breaths in hospitals that are trying to stay alive from covid-19, yet the president of the united states in the midst of this pandemic and the swearing in of a new congress to begin work on behalf of the american people made a call yesterday that is not only daunting but frightening.

it is frightening, because the one thing we have to hold on to as americans is that we have this precious set of principles in the constitution called democracy. that's what we have based our survival, our leadership, our presence in this world. and what the president did yesterday was to badger, to intimidate, a state elected official to do something wrong. it could be illegal. it could be criminal, because he asked him saying that he had won the election, meaning the president, and that he asked him to find 11,870 votes, one more vote, to indicate that the gentleman he was speaking to was a republican. that he should not want this to happen. and that he, the president, sitting president, won this election, not his opponent. in this instance, mr. biden, who has wong 306 electoral votes.

this is stunning. it's stunning in the backdrop of the crisis in america dealing with the covid-19 pandemic. it is more stunning, because of the great love and affection americans, no matter what their party affiliation is, has for a nation that has been the longest standing democracy in the world. what next for the president of the united states? i don't know, but i do think this has to be addressed. >> so he has 17 days left in office before this swearing in. when you say it has to be addressed, do you go as far as to say this president could be removed from office because of that recording? because of what you call a badgering of an elected georgia official, the secretary of state? or could he even, you know, face any charges, in your view, whether it be while still in office or even afterwards? >> fred, we're not yet even sworn in. that's the striking thing of what happened. the senators are not sworn in, house members not sworn in as of yet. i will say to you, there's

enough horror in the halls of congress about these actions that i do believe we will turn our minds very quickly in the next 24 hours into this week, as you well know, we face another daunting day on january 6th when we understand that this president has encouraged proud boys and others to be here with my fearful prospects of violence. so in the midst of trying to uphold the constitution and the duties that we have on january 6th, we're concerned about making sure the safety and security of this city and of the process and now we have to deal with a con conspicuous action to turn the election finding 11,870 votes towards the individual that has been determined to have lost on the basis of electoral votes.

i just want to say one thing. the electoral votes were cast on december 14th. and at that time many steps could have been made. the states had already certified, no one pressured the states to submit the certified votes they did and in those certified votes totaled 306 for president-elect biden. that should be very well stated, and historically, the senators represent the 1877 -- that's a long time ago, election, or 1876, as an example. they know full well that the southern states that they're speaking of at that time incl e including florida and south carolina sent in it duel elec r elector electoral. none of that happened in this election. >> it's expected to be a formality now to certify those

certifications come wednesday. so there have been very few republican, you know, sitting members of congress who have said anything about this audiotape. now republican congressman adam kinzinger tweeted saying this is absolutely appalling to every member of congress considering objections to the election results. you cannot in light of this do so with a clean conscious. is it your feeling, however, that so many, whether it be 140 members of the house, 12 members in the senate, republicans who have said they are not going to certify the election, it's too difficult to backtrack now? >> well, i think i have to ask the question to them. is it more important to them to be a patriot, believing in and upholding the constitution? or is it more important to be a follower? the follower of an individual who seems to be wrapping himself

in misdeeds? i would much rather be called a patriot. first of all, the grounds upon which they are joining in this false allegation of fraud is wrong in the first place, because two major leaders of the trump administration, first director krebs of cybersecurity, the agency inside the department homeland security, indicated that he had established there was no fraud and i know that, because we worked with director krebs three years preceding to ensure that as related to elected security, it would be in place and not as the 2016 election with russian breaching of that. secondari secondarily, the attorney general recently made the pronouncement his investigators and the fbi determined no credible fraud in the election and none that would warrant him to bring any further investigation, or any charges. those are two leaders of the trump administration. why, then, would members of congress choose to suggest that they had inside information,

when the states, governors and others are asserting that these are the rights are representing we'll and no records of fraud. so in addition to today, anyone with any sensibilities would be shocked -- i'm sure viewers are listening trying to clarify what we are actually saying. they are not believing that the president called, badgered and asked for 11,870 votes to be found and that he said that he won georgia by hundreds of thousands of votes. i'm sure most people are viewing this as incredible. >> yes. it is hard to believe. which is why we have played it several times so that people can reassure themselves they just heard what they heard, which is pretty stunning. even most recently leading up to this phone call, the georgia secretary of state following an audit once again said there was

absolutely no fault found in the election process and the outcome of the november general election and feels very comfortable that the upcoming runoff election will be sound as well. congressman adam schiff has also responded to all of this tweeting, trump's contempt for democracy is laid bare once again on tape pressuring an election official to find the votes so he can win is potentially criminal and another flagrant abuse of power, if we allowed him -- we will not. would would be a despot. what are the options? it doesn't appear to be a man a president who will step down willingly. so what are the options with his 17 days left in office? >> you know, fred, i'm not going yield to that potential, because all of the years that we can

remember, we have had a peaceful transition of power. there is no doubt that this president will do anything and everything within his immediate power to destroy the sanctity of democracy and to undermine duly elected persons. i would say to my colleagues who are still pursuing this, this should be the actual nail in the coffin, if you will. this should actually be the stick that has broke the camel's back. if i was any of them i would quietly draw back on any efforts as misrepresenting to the american people that this election is based on fraud. after that, there are powers. we are an independent body of government. three equal branches of government including the judiciary. i assure you, too many patriots sworn in, into the united congress including congressman from illinois that indicates that this is unacceptable, and

there will be enough immediate committee hearings and reactions to ensure that on the 19th of january, he is beginning to move out of the white house and on the 20th the new president will be sworn in and the vice president, and they will take the helms of government and take their rightful place. i have no doubt that the faith and the investment of the american people in centuries of democracy will not be lost in 2021. we will do our job, whatever is necessary. i don't want to predict or project. i do know that several members of said that this seems criminal, and that obviously is left to the state law enforcement officer, u.s. attorney, state attorney general in this instance of georgia. that may happen or it may not happen, but we will not allow

the undermining of the peaceful transfer of government, and we have many tools in our tool house and will utilize those. i don't want to project but we will certainly utilize what is necessary for the legal and the proper ascending to the presidency, or of president-elect biden. there is nothing in the law that keeps him from being the next president of the united states. >> happy new year to you, congresswoman sheila jackson-lee. you have a lot on your plate, you and your fellow members of congress this year, and beyond. let alone this recording. vaccine relief and covid relief. all right. thank you so much. >> thank you. the colleagues sworn in today to serve the american people. thank you so much. >> i'm sure they hear you. thank you very much. staunning audio from

president trump. asking georgia to find votes. and 117th congress sworn thtoday and nancy pelosi remaining poised to be speaker of the house. more on that, in a moment. + is our most holistic weight loss program ever. the app helps you take the foods you have and gives you creative ideas for meals. you can choose any workout you want to fit within your time frame. there are a ton of zero point foods that i love. i never feel restricted. the new tools boost my mood and help keep me hydrated. more holistic. more personalized. more weight loss. the new program from ww, weight watchers reimagined. lose weight on us this winter! get three months free! ends january fourth!

getting back to breaking news now. stunning reporting of a phone call between president donald j. trump and the georgia secretary of state and his attorney. the president can be heard demanding that the secretary of state find, as in fabricate, enough votes to flip the state to him. just listen. >> so, look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find -- 11,780

votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. so -- so tell me, brad, what are we going to do? we won the election and it's not fair to take it away from us like this. and it's going to be very cos y costly, in many ways. >> all right. bring in now phil mattingly on capitol hill. already we've seen tweets from some including adam kinzinger and adam schiff, but what is being said there on capitol hill about what should, could be done as a result of hearing the president's recording? >> yeah, look. i think there's, kind of two camps here. democrats making clear this is what we told you was going on the entire time and then you have kind of the split republican side of things. people like adam kinzinger two

tweeted, appalling to every member of congress objecting to election results. you cannot do so with a clean conscious. there is a reality there are a number of those fully planning on objecting wednesday, on january 6th. they made those plans public before this recording came out, but i think in talking to republican sources now over the course of the last couple hours since the "washington post" broke this story, a recognition people that have already pledged to object probably aren't going anywhere. will stoic their guns. whether or not they have regrets, a number of republicans opposed to this idea basically pointing to the tape saying you knew this was a bad path to go down before you started. you're in it now and should have been warned it was coming. a one cher within the republican party the most fascinating to watch in the last several days but especially today. so many republicans particularly in the house and 12 republicans in the senate willing to side with the president, willing to object on january 6th yet say they're doing if to raise the

issue, the possibility of voter fraud, raise the issue because their constituents don't believe the election was straight up or that it was rigged. not to mention the fact it's the president, the reason why they believe the election was rigged. what we've seen over the course of the last 4 hours is opposite side of the republican party. 24 hours. adam kissinger, not quiet. liz cheney, circulating a 21-page memo, talking how bad a precedent this would be if they objected. paul ryan, former speaker of the house put out a lengthy statement. six or seven conservative republicans like for donald trump to remain in office but this isn't our role. watching the lighter fluid put on this, fred, you cannot overt your eyes what's going on. no matter what we expected, if this is -- everybody will have

eyes on for sure, fred. >> remarkably lots it change in the next three days. many republicans say, okay. still object to the vote. i mean, there's going to be significant pressure for them to really examine what's the gain? what's the gain for supporting the president who just got caught red-handed demonstrating that he's a cheater? >> look, i think that's the question a lot of veteran republicans i've talked to over the course of the last four, five days made this point. of what it's your end game here? right? part of the reason why so many republicans were willing to jump onboard with this, one member told me, opposed to it said a couple days ago. this isn't live ammo. they know this election is what it is. joe biden will be inaugurated and feel politically perhaps can make the vote. not overturn anything. maybe help them politically but not hurt the country long term. when you listen to the recording from the president of the united states making very clear this isn't about raising issues.

this is about overturning and election, the votes of 81 million people essentially, it undercuts all of the kind of thesis, if you will, what republicans put out. how this transpires over the next couple days, interesting to watch how republicans who have already come out and will object january 6th if they retrench, how they rye to refocus things. you can't avoid what the president was saying on that tape. >> right. phil mattingly, thanks, from capitol hill. we'll be right back. - neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. new projects means you need to hire.gers. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

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back to breaking news this hour pap damning recording of president donald j. trump flatly demanding election officials in georgia overturn the results of his defeat in november. listen. >> so, look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we

have, because we won the state. so -- so tell me, brad, what are we going to do? we won the election and it's not fair to take it away from us like this, and it's going to costly in many ways. >> again, on that phone call, sitting president donald trump and the georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger and his attorney ryan germany. with me right now, charles besse, atlanta staff writer for "the new yorker." remarkable, a., the secretary of state would have this phone conversation and say i need to have my attorney present and i'm recording it and now this is the result of that. why do you think he did that? >> really is. trump talks about perfect phone calls he had. this one with secretary of state raffensperger as about as imperfect. even as a president, just lost

an election and pretending otherwise for weeks. i can't speak of legal jeopardy but politically only hurt the gop momentum going into tuesday. >> you do? even though -- even though the president himself was the one who's been undermining the position of the republicans going into the georgia runoff. i mean, he came down here not long ago saying, this is invalid, illegal election and don't even bother voting? he said that while you've got these two candidates who are saying, wait a minute. year spouse e you're supposed to be stumping for us? >> put them in difficult positions. we heard from high gop commentator commentators, erick erickson, concerned. and over the last hour, where trump is rallying tomorrow, one told me trump's performance was despicable. another said i'm not sure anything can help our hurt perdue and loeffler at this point, the third told me actually cost republicans the

election. a lot obviously depends on whtrp says tomorrow. a pretty conservative area that did not turn out in high numbers during the early voting period and really have to show up tuesday to help perdue and loeffler win. >> loeffler was scheduled to be there alongside president trump tomorrow, when he visits here. david perdue has been off the campaign trail because he's self-quarantining because he says he was near someone who tested positive for covid. do you see that loeffler would continue with that date and be alongside the president? i mean, she has boasted of voting with the president 100% of the time, but when you have a recording like this, do you want to be a party to this? >> i wouldn't, but i think she's in too deep at this point. his narrative is her narrative and perdue's narrative. they have to have trump supporters show up and vote for them. i think she has basically no

choice. >> what about spot supporters? if you're hearing from republicans who are dismayed, disappointed, disgusted, is the president going to be met at this rally with few people in the crowd because we know he feeds off the energy of a large crowd. >> no. i think we're going to still see huge, huge crowds show up. i was at a rally a few weeks back. massive crowds. plenty of concerning things that come out of trump's mouth prior to that. i don't see this raef moving the dial too much. in terms of trump's, like, hard core base. on the margins it could have impact. i don't think it's going to show up in terms of crowd size tomorrow. >> always good to see you. happy new year. >> thank you so much. coming up, president trump claims coronavirus deaths are "exaggerated." reaction from dr. anthony fauci, next. special guest flo challenges the hand models to show off the ease of comparing rates with progressive's home quote explorer.

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enrollment ends january 31st. top u.s. health officials rejecting the suggestion death totals are fake news. president trump claiming numbers are far exaggerated, his words, despite more than 350,000 families mourning the real losses of people they love. >> from a public health perspective i have month reason to doubt the numbers and think people need to be very aware it's not just about the deaths a e were talked earlier. it's about the hospitalizations, capacity. these cases are having an impact in an array of ways. there's a finish line in sight but we have to keep running towards it. >> the deaths are real deaths.

all you need to do is go out into the trenches, go to the hospitals, see what the health care workers are dealing with. they are under very stressed situations. in many areas of the country the hospital beds are stretched. people are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel who are exhausted right now. that real. that's not fake. that's real. >> just to put this into context, the more than 351,000 u.s. coronavirus deaths is equal to 117 straight days of the u.s. losing the in number of people that died in the 9/11 attacks. a woman grieving the loss of her father and uncle calls the president's comments insulting. >> how could be it fake news? it took my dad, took my uncle. taken so many lives. i don't think it could be fake. it's horrible. it's an insult. insult to every family.

there's absolutely know way to say it is fake because my dad is not fake dead. my dad is not going to resurrect from here and say just kidding. it was fake. ha, ha, ha, it's funny. when it isn't. this is fought fanot fake. >> it's very real, as real at the voice heard or the president's recording released today. more than 20 million people contracted the virus and more than 351,000 people died. the staggering numbers are not just anonymous figures and sticks. they represent countless families left behind in this pandemic. thank you so much for being with us today and on an extraordinary breaking news. reverberation still being felt. the cnn news continue in just a moment with ana cabrera.

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>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello. i'm ana kbrcabrera in new york. it stunning news out of the white house. president trump in a phone call ordering georgia's republican

secretary of state to "find enough votes " to magically han trump victory in that state. the hour-long phone call between president trump and georgia's secretary of state took place yesterday. here's one shocking part of their conversation, and this was audio first obtained by the "washington post" that cnn now obtained as well. >> we have won this election in georgia based on all of this, and there's -- there's nothing wrong with saying that, brad. you know? i mean, having the -- having the correct -- the people of georgia are angry, and these numbers are going to be repeated on monday night along with others that we're going to have by that time, which are much more substantial, but -- and the people of georgia are angry. the people of country are angry and there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know -- that you've recalculated. >> well, mr. president, the challenge that you have, it's the data you have is