♪ welcome to out viewers here

in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in the cnn election center. history is unfolding in america right now. we are following the electoral college live as it prepares to confirm president-elect joe biden's win. in just moments electors will vote in california and maryland. the biggest prize out there will carry president-elect biden across the 270 threshold needed to win. at this moment, president-elect biden has 229 electoral votes. president trump has 181. more votes, by the way, are coming in right now. moments ago in missouri, the electors their ten electoral votes for president trump and vice president mike pence.

ten electoral votes in missouri. in missouri, going for trump and pence. in texas, meanwhile, second biggest prize of the day, a major haul of 38 electoral votes, electors just finished voting in texas. let's watch. >> it is my honor to report to you that we have finished tallying the votes for the presidential electors of the state of texas and the vote totals are follows -- all 38 votes for president donald j. trump for president of the united states. >> they are clearly happy over there in that room over in texas. 38 electoral votes for trump and pence. take a look at that. you see the numbers up there. 229 for biden so far and 229 for trump. we are watching. we are standing by for more to come in including the biggest prize of the day, california.

jake, over to you. >> thanks, wolf. typically americans don't see the hard work of democracy playing out behind the scenes but with president trump refusing to admit defeat and accept reality, we are here following the electoral college along with our correspondents. jeff zeleny, the president-elect is going to speak tonight. what can you tell you about what is he going to see? >> reporter: president-elect joe biden will address the nation tonight after the electoral college votes come in and really a campaign that played out through the rhythms is ending on one of the best days in terms of news for the vaccine. i'm told mr. biden is going to address that this evening. he is also going to address head-on democracy and what we have been watching play out the last six weeks or so and, indeed, took today. let's look at a couple of excerpts he is planning to say tonight. he is going to say this --

he'll go on to talk about the challenges ahead saying this -- jake, clearly, we have seen president-elect biden really, you know, operate with a cool temperature, you know, allowing this to play out over the last six weeks. tonight he is going to address head on this assault on democracy that president trump and, indeed, many republicans in the congress and elsewhere, have tried to do. we do not know if he will mention president trump by name. he has not usually. but he has delivered so many speeches now. first on november 7th, the evening when he accepted victory. then that thanksgiving address where he asked, you know, the nation for a patience and he

felt their pain. tonight, i'm told that will be a combination of both. also turning the page forward. yes, there is reason for optimism because of the vaccine. but also so much work with the economy and, yet, the second stage of this covid-19 fight. tonight is a major moment for president-elect biden. he'll be delivering a speech tonight from wilmington. >> the pandemic continues to get worse. we just passed 300,000 dead americans the last few minutes. jeff, thank you. jim acosta is at the white house for us. it seems as though president trump is already looking past these electoral college results and he is trying to steal the election in a different way. >> reporter: i suppose you could say that. that's right. these efforts to sabotage the election will continue over here at the white house. i talked to a white house adviser just a short time ago who said that the president is already looking past the electoral college toward january 6th. and that is when the official

tallying of the electoral votes occurs in the house of representatives. the vice president mike pence will be presiding over that. what we typically see during that kind of ceremony, it's a ceremonial event, we are expecting to see, according to this white house adviser, is republican house members challenging those results. now, this adviser described, you know, this as a long shot opportunity for the president to have these results thrown out. i would describe it more as no shot because even though these republican house members may make noise on the house floor they need a senator to sign on to these efforts and unlikely if that is going to happen. it does happen the democrats control the house and not likely to go along with any of this, so this is doomed to go nowhere. the president is seeing rays and glimmer of hope, would this real and imagine. he is grasping what he per seces as glimmers of hope. we did not seep the president today. we did see the white house press

secretary kayleigh mcenany who was doing a live shot on a different network earlier this afternoon. she walked past the cameras. i tried to ask her if the president would accept today's electoral college result and she would not answer the question and couldn't stop and talk to us because it was raining even though one of her aides next to her was holding an umbrella over her head. you know been at the white house we do things in the rain all the time. so it's unclear why she wouldn't stop to take that question. perhaps because she didn't want to answer it. one thing we should also note, you know this, jake, as well. we don't need the president to accept the results of the electoral college. that would be nice but we are not seeing any signs he is about to do that. >> the constitution does not require that the loser be a good loser at all. >> that's right. >> jim acosta, thanks. electors in the commonwealth of massachusetts just allocated their 11 leelectoral votes. watch this. >> there are 11 votes cast for

joseph r. biden as president of the united states. there are 11 votes cast for camila d. harris as vice president of the united states. the committee is hereby discharged and thanked for their service. with the assistance of the secretary of the commonwealth's office -- >> with those 11 electoral votes in massachusetts, biden 240 and trump has 229. you need 270 to be elected president of the united states. we are standing by. that is going to happen in the next hour when california and its 55 electoral votes are recorded. jake, back to you. >> thanks, wolf. i want to go to a special exclusive interview we have this afternoon. retiring republican congressman paul mitch of michigan sent a lerp to t letter to the chair of the republican national committee as well as the house minority leader kevin mccarthy telling him he is asking the clerk of the house to change his party identification from republican to independent.

congressman mitchell said he will be withdrawing from his engagement and association with the republican party at the national level but still help candidates with whom he shares principles. joining us is congressman mitchell from michigan. thank you for joining us. you have clearly been disgusted, based on your twitter feed, for weeks with the unfounded voter fraud claims and conspiracy theories being pushed by the president. was the final straw last week when a majority of your colleagues, house republicans, signed on to that texas lawsuit that would have disenfranchised all of the voters of your home state of michigan, as well as wisconsin, pennsylvania, and georgia? >> jake, you know, i believe that any candidate has the ability to request a recount to go through the legal processes if they think there is some basis that the votes is not reasonable or some founded conspiracy concerns or concern about fraud. but we have gone through the process. as i saw that amicus brief and

through the national media it became clear to me i could no longer be associated with the republican party that the leadership does not stand up and say is the process, the election is over. it's over today. i saw the president tweet over it's not over until january 20th and somehow he will continue to combat this. the people have voted. as i said in my letter, i voted donald trump. i supported the administration policies 95, 96% of the time the last two terms. i've been actual in the national state party. but this party has to stand up for democracy first, for our constitutional first and not political considerations. it's not about a candidate. it's not simply for raw political power and what i feel is going to go on and i've had enough. >> you've been with trump 95% of the time and you voted for him in 2016 and 2020 and you're a republican in the republican study vote in the house and you

whipped votes for republicans in congress and you raised money for republican candidates and now you're going to be an independent because your letter, as i noticed, it ccs the clerk of the house. >> yes. >> tell us what it feels like in this moment and how are you going to respond to critics who attack you as -- i mean, you know they are going to call you a rhino even though you're a conservative republican. >> the definition of rhino has changed the last couple of years. rhino is now if you don't follow the president decides is the theme of the week, the day, or the month. i'm a physical conservative and i believe in small government. how will i respond? frankly i'm not. i'll stand on my principles. yes, i will take abuse from both the far left and the far right. in my opinion, the extremes of both parties are dragging their parties and this country off a cliff. the majority of americans are in the middle. the mantle of americans want solutions to problems, want us to address them and not see who

can have a political win. not see who can grab political power for all it's worth and solve a problem for the american people and frankly we haven't done enough of that and not enough the last two terms. this election confirms for me it's about power first and that, frankly, is disgusting and demoralizing. >> the texas lawsuits is nuts. anybody who reads it understands it's not based in in fact, it's not based in evidence. it's just based in ignorance and conspiracy theories. 126 of your colleagues, house republicans signed their names onto it. i'm wondering, do you think they actually believe this insanity or is there some other reason why a majority of house republicans actually support disenfranchising americans in four states for nothing other than as you put it power grab? >> one of them is my state, you

know, is michigan. i've not spoken with hardly any of them. i've spoken with one other member who believes there are concerns what some states and others have done. but i didn't believe the believe was appropriate or valid. i believe the lawsuit, i'm trying to think of a polite term for it. >> you don't have to be polite. >> it was ridiculous. what it says if texas thinks other states have administered their election laws in a manner they don't like that they can overturn those votes, that they can overturn though states. we are a republic. states and states have the ability to determine their own election recalls. in michigan a federal judge ruled a secretary of state could send out absentee ballot applications. they did not send out ballots. they sent out applications to everyone if they wanted to get a ballot given the covid-19. there is nothing in the law that precludes that. however, apparently texas didn't like it. okay. i wasn't aware that we had to

respond to texas whenever head an election in michigan or in the other states. i think it's one desperate attempt. note they chose those states whereas montana and other states did similar things to what michigan did and north carolina did and i think north carolina allowed eight or nine days late ballots and counted it but they didn't challenge north carolina but they did challenge michigan and other states. it's just blatantly an effort to say we will do whatever we can to overturn the election that we lost. in my letter, and i told you, jake. anybody who gets in politics has to accept winning or losing with some level of grace or maturity. i've done both. losing is brutal and it hurts and it's personal but you you should not be willing to accept that you should not be in political leadership. this country needs it desperately and unfortunately we haven't seen it demonstrated as much as we should. >> we have seen the local

elections including the speaker of the statehouse in michigan today putting out a letter saying if he were to challenge the electors going to joe biden that would set a horrible precedent and wreak havoc. we saw a guy on your canvassing board, evan van langerfeld showing more character than kevin mccarthy and steve scalise. are they afraid of donald trump? why? >> i haven't spoken with them so i can't tell you what rational that they have for supporting this other than trying to support the president. i could tell you that i appreciated speaker chatfield, the statehouse speaker, speaking up today. he did so in response to a state legislator that, when asked about -- they had some plans in lansing for a continuing protest. they were asked people could feel safe, correct? he said he couldn't guarantee that.

we had a statehouse member talked about the fact that violence may occur today. in fact, we had a credible violence by electors and they shut down the state official buildings around there. when you can't conduct an election without threats of violence, we become a third world nation. what are we, venezuela? it's ridiculous. and to have an elected official, in this case a statehouse member, say he wasn't sure if there would be violence or not, he should stand up and say no val violence. this country has come too far and why i'm troubled and why i ultimately decided to leave the party because our leadership needs to stand up and say, no, we have a process and we respect it and we respect the vote of the american people and when they have voted, we move on to govern the nation and not play politics. >> what is the future of the republican party, do you think?

because we have seen all of these house republicans siding with these crazy theories. there are now adherence to qanon. obviously not the value you stand for. we should note for people who don't know you criticized president frump ftrump for his e to charlottesville and when he launched that racist attack against the four congresswomen of color three born in the united states and one a u.s. naturalized citizens and when he told hem to go home you called that out. you're a republican in your heart and a conservative. if there is not a place for you in the republican party, where are people like you supposed to go? >> i'm not sure what to do next. let me make a comment about send them back and still enrages me. we adopted my youngest son from

russia eight years ago. and anybody that would tell me he's not a citizen, he doesn't have the same rights you or ahave, i have toll you i would knock them on their ass. that is not what our nation stands for. so i'm going to work with candidates who have the principles i think our country should stand for. i respect other people, be they immigrants, new citizens, born here or not, and because i think our country is better than what we have seen and, yes, i did speak out about a number of those things and it took a fair amount of heat about those. but i think that is the responsibility of anybody that is elected to leadership or is a leader. i did that. and it's why i'm ending my tenure in congress by speaking out in this case that our leadership owes us better than what we are seeing right now and until i see that, i'm going to be an independent because it's

simply unacceptable. >> one last question for you, sir. what do you think president trump, after today, what do you think president trump should do after today's vote is over, the electoral college? is it time for him to concede? is it time for the house minority leader and senate majority leader admit it's time to accept that biden won? >> i told you that i thought the president should acknowledge president-elect biden and invite him to the white house and he and the future first lady, although they have been there before, clearly. and begin their personal interaction to transition the government. that is the responsible thing to do. that stis the thing our countrys so gedependent upon. it's time. the electoral vote will vote to make, formally, finally, vice president biden as the president-elect. as i indicated, i voted for president trump. i had concerns about the

policies the democrats put forward but i can accept the reality is we will have a new president on january 20th and we will move forward in governing this nation. and i won't be in congress but i'll try to speak out as much as i can about what i believe this nation needs to be. >> thank you for your integrity, sir. we appreciate it. i know you're going to be able to look your son in the eyes and tell him about how you conducted yourself as a congressman. so we appreciate it. >> thanks, jake. take care. >> talk to you soon. >> let's chat about that. i mean, that is very conservative republican. >> yes. >> anybody who is familiar with congressman mitchell's voting record he is a very conservative republican and he has been there for president trump along the way except these moments of r n reindecency. >> that was remarkable in its normalcy. he sounded like a normal person

who goes into politics to be a public servant to fight for the philosophic philosophic philosophical ideals he believes in and the fact he is leaving congress. he is retiring on his own volition. but he also is leaving a party and he didn't say it this way, but what he described in that interview was a part of it left him, not him leaving the party. a party that had now pledged its -- to a man by the name of donald j. trump, not a party that is focused primarily on all of the things that he believes in, but also included in the philosophy, the conservative philosophy he believes in, the fundamentals of democracy. >> i mean, it's a shame you can't be a republican these days and also believe in democracy that people's vote should count

and that they shouldn't be overturned by a state legislatures or by the supreme court or what have you. but it's a reflection of the fact this has been a party several years now hasn't talked about ideology. the reality of the party. i think it is telling that he is leaving congress because he knows that there is no future for a republican who doesn't want to toe the line of donald trump. the problem with the republican party right now it's incredibly unpredictable and hard to know what else you will be asked to endorse next. one day, it is the travel ban, the so-called muslim ban. the next day, it is these election shenanigans. the next day, it is, you know,

telling these congresswomen who were american citizens to go back to where they came from. it is incredibly unpredictable because there is no principle behind it. it's all about what is in the president's gut and what he wants to do and what works best for him. and for someone like congressman mitchell, there is no room left. he has, unfortunately, it seems, no choice but to leave but it does make me wonder, wolf -- i shouldn't say it does make me wonder. we know there are other republicans in congress who are not leaving who believe the same thing and are not speaking up about it, because it's not allowed and many of them will remain silent if they want to keep their seats but the folks who are speaking up, many of those people are doing so because they no longer have to go back to the trump electorate and ask for two more years. >> only three republicans in the house i can think of who staked out this election.

congressman riggleman who was retired by his constituents and leaving congress. four by the way, presiding over a same-sex wedding and kensinger was the only one re-elected. that's it. one republican with vocals. remark. >> jake, thanks. i want to bring in our team to talk about what we have just heard and also what we have been witnessing now throughout the day. gloria, what do you make of what congressman mitchell was saying? >> i thought it was a stunning interview and i'm actually sorry that he has decided not to stay in congress because i think it would have an awful lot to contribute were he it remain there. what he was talking about is a republican party that has chosen donald trump over democracy and he couldn't take that or stand

with it any more. when he asked jamaica the questio -- question, what are we, venezuela? that is really not funny. that is a real question you have to be asking of these republicans. the next question we have to ask is what happens after donald trump? if he remains on the scene or kind of on the scene and still holds these republicans in thrall and they feel beholdent to him in some way? what will they give up and do next? how can the republican party ever return to what it was before donald trump? which i always thought was a republican party that had some sense of principles and ideas and beliefs which as abby was saying before, they have all abandoned in the age of donald trump. they don't care what they used to care about. they just care about one person and that is him. >> senator santorum, the night of the election when joe biden

won, you said that the president was going to put the country before himself and, at a certain point, would put the country before himself. when is he going to do that? because he is not doing that yet. >> yeah, i would agree with you that he hasn't come to that moment where he feels comfortable in conceding which i think is wrong. i mean, obviously, we are going to see here. i sort of disagree with the tone that the panel and gloria set. look. the republican party is somehow abandoned democracy, what is going on right now? they are counting the votes and joe biden is going to win. they are counting votes, i don't know of any republican legislature and there were several of them that could have gone forward and put forth a different slate. none of them did and they stood up to donald trump. i talked to a bunch of them from pennsylvania. a lot of pressure on them to do it. they didn't. the idea that, you know, supporting donald trump and his

effort to get to the bottom of fraud which i think a lot of republicans absolutely feel, there was a lot of bad behavior in this election but that is not the same as disrupting democracy. democracy is working. it's working today. i don't see any republican blocking that democracy from working. so i think the narrative that somehow republicans have abandoned all of their sanity and have thrown in with donald trump just doesn't fit with the facts of what we are seeing happening today. >> can i just say that there are those 126 republicans in the house at the national level who supported that texas lawsuit, which we all know -- >> and they lost! and they lost! >> i will agree with you at the local and state level, there have been some courageous republican officials. at the national level? not so much. >> supporting a lawsuit is not the same as -- you're allowed to -- there are lots of lawsuits that are filed that are privilege loess or bad and people are allowed to get on

them but that doesn't mean that you're disrupting democracy. that is actually part of democracy. >> if you know -- >> can i? >> david, if you know a lawsuit is frivolous and thee are supposedly intelligent people and if they watch any responsible coverage of this, they will be told these lawsuits are frivolous and some of the lawsuits are laughable. 50 cases have been brought and none of them have gone through. the supreme court now twice has just totally eliminated this. the idea, david, i mean, is this a normal course of erchvents? >> no. let's be clear. on saturday night the president of the united states went on national television and said his successor would be an illegitimate president based on fraudulent charges of fraud. the fact is that court after court after court have tossed out these charges for lack of evidence. a lot of the things that were tossed out of court were included in that complaint in

texas. they have no foundation. and the president of the united states is about delegitimatizing his successor and it's stunning to me that 70% to 80% of republicans now accept the fact that somehow this election was riddled with fraud. there is no e6evidence. if there were evidence the president's team would have brought it to court and they could not. i think the president is, right now, about the business of trying to delegitimatize his successor. my problem is that once you start undermining these norms, it's very hard to repair them. it's very hard to restore them. >> yeah. >> i think those 126 were a part to that. >> van, i mean, you know, rick is saying that, you know, he seems to believe that there was, you know, widespread or a lot of shenanigans going on and that needs to be uncovered. what the president is doing, van, is raising money off this. it's not just he is subverting

democracy and it's not not that he is saying things which are not true and getting people to believe it. he is also making huge amounts of money for it. >> he certainly is. i think this is a very dangerous conversation we are beginning to have. i think we need to be very clear with the public. our institutions are holding up, they are bearing up but they are bearing up under unprecedented strain, unprecedented strain. yes, we have our courts and they are functioning. but when before have you ever had to have security guards for electors in america? when has that ever happened? it's unbelievable that the president of the united states is saying things and doing things that has american citizens willing to take up arms against other americans carrying out this democracy that santorum is talking about. that can't be dodged. they can't be ducked.

this is serious stuff. and i can't tell you from my point of view when you think about the minority leader of the house kevin mccarthy, somebody who has often, frankly, done a great job, he stood up on different causes an he sometimes reaches across the aisle. kevin mccarthy would sign on to some lawsuit that was pulled out of a crackerjack box? b.s. and be proud to be a part of this? this is not what you're supposed to be doing as up with of the main leaders of our country. you can say, yeah, democracy is working but it's working under incredible strain that should not be there. >> yeah. president-elect biden and vice president-elect kamala harris will soon cross the critical threshold to confirm his and her electoral college victory. we are following that live. stay with us. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new?

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welcome back. cnn special event, the electoral college votes. moments ago electors in montana allocated their three electoral votes. listen. >> chairman cheetah, will you please visually witness from the tally sheets the fact that the 2020 montana presidential

electors have cast three votes for donald j. trump, the republican candidate for the president of the united states and mike pence for the vice president of america? >> there you see it's now 240 electoral votes for biden and 232 for trump. still two or three states left to go, including california with its 55 electoral votes. that is in the next hour and that will clearly put biden over the top. dana? >> wolf, nebraska is one of only two states that splits its electoral votes. four of nebraska's votes went to president trump. one went to president-elect biden. and that biden vote was cast by precious mcckissen who joins me now. thank you for joining me. take us inside the room. what was it like to cast this vote?

>> thank you so much for having me. it was so monumental to be in a room with so many of my close friends and family and supporters, and when i walked in the room, they start cheering and it just felt so good. so i'm just -- it was an honor to do it today. >> you, obviously, cast a vote for joe biden for president and for kamala harris for vice president. what did it mean to you to vote for the first woman and the first black vice president? >> oh, man. i became really emotional after i did my check mark and after the secretary of state announced who i voted for. it meant so much. it meant so much for many women who, every day, fight this good fight to make sure that our democracy is not taken for granted and so to be able to cast that vote for kamala harris today it just meant the world to me and i'm just so happy that i was able to do that, especially here in nebraska and we are just really excited to see what the

future holds and we can't wait until january 20th when they are sworn? >> we actually have the moment that you were talking about. we can watch it and talk to you on the other side. >> precious mckissen from the second congressional district has cast her ballot for 1y0jose r. biden. >> i'm going to turn it over to abby phillip now. >> this is abby phillip here. you are making history yourself today. you are the first woman, the first woman of color in your state to cast a electoral college vote for a democrat. how did that feel today? how did you get to this point? >> if you would have told me two years ago when i started this journey that i would be in this seat, i wouldn't have believed you. but to get here, it was a lot of hard work and dedication and not just me. it was me and my counterparts.

we worked really hard for this vote and able to be able to secure it for joe biden and kamala harris. it wasn't just me who did this but a lot of people behind the scenes and the fact that i was nominated and elected to be able to cost that vote it was even sweeter to come out and do that and then to make history. >> you talked about how it felt. we are all getting a civics lesson. a lot of people have not seen this, have not really understood or maybe not even thought much about how an elector is elected. how did that happen? i mean, you said you worked very hard for the biden/hair it's campaign. how did it come to be that you were the one elector in nebraska who could cast this vote today for joe biden and kamala harris? >> well, prior to me going to work for the biden/harris campaign, i sit as the black causeus chair and the legislative district holder.

before we do the -- before i went to work, we have the state convention and you have to go in front of your congressional district and you have to actually ask for them to nominate you and to vote for you. and so i went in front of my peers and i told them that i felt this would be the time for number one, a woman of color, and a woman to cast that vote. then they voted for me to be the one to do this. >> this is such a big moment for you. it's also coming at a time when covid-19 pandemic is, you know, raging all across the country. but you've been really careful and you've been taking a lot of precautions. you didn't want to get sick so someone else might have a chance to take your place today, right? what were some of the things that you tried to do to make sure that you could be here in that room for that moment? >> i just limited the contact that i had with a lot of people, made sure that if i did do something, it was, you know, limiting the amount of poem. a lot of drive-up and a lot of the stores got to know me

through the drive-up and making shu our girls understood we couldn't do our normal things of going into the store and being really careful and taking extra precautions and making sure they understood the significance behind it that, you know, we didn't want to go out in public as much. it was hard but we made it through and i'm j proud to be here today to be the one to cast the vote. >> congratulations to you, for the history that you made today. and for being able to cast that vote for your preferred candidate. over to you, wolf. >> thanks very much. 240-232. biden 240 electoral votes and trump has 232. 46 states and district of columbia have cast their votes. three states left al nd all to biden. biden will wind up with 306 and trump 232. that will happen in the next hour. we are following that very closely on this historic day.

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united states a little while ago marked a horrific milestone. more than 300,000 people have died from the coronavirus since is erupted in january. sara murray is over at the

george washington hospital and is joining us now. you saw some of the vaccinations unfold and happen today. walk us through what you saw. >> reporter: that's right. wolf, we have been here essentially since the vaccines were delivered this morning. they were put in that ultra cold freezer and dethawed and then put into the first five arms of health care workers here. it was a combination of folks from the emergency department, the ans therlg departmethey were front of the line because they wanted to set an example to their community and that means other health care workers and it means other people in the washington area and it means their own family and friends and it means everyone watching across the globe. i spoke to a nurse barbara ni nicewander. i think we have sounds from that

conversation. >> i was an emergency room nurse. we are here to help with the public health and to take care of the patients that present to the emergency room and they depend on us to provide good care and when a patient will ask me, well, should i get the vaccine, i'll be able to say, yes, i was there and i got it first. you know, i remained healthy. >> reporter: you didn't feel any side effects? nothing like that? no worries? >> no side effects. i was surprised. very little. you couldn't feel the medicine going into your arm. >> reporter: like a normal kind of shot? even the flu vaccine you're sore a little bit. >> no side effects at all. we did have to wait 15 minutes after we got the injection to see if there any side effects and for me there weren't any. >> reporter: what are you telling patients going forward? >> first of all, it will be great to tell patients i got the vaccine, that i'm on the road to

making sure that i'm safe and that, you know, when we all get it, we will be able to change our lifestyle. that is really going to take a long time, that we still have to wear a mask, that we still have to wash our hands and that we should be making sure that the people we care about realize that we have to limit how we interact and continue to have social distancing. >> reporter: barbara was the first health care worker here at gw to receive that vaccine. one of the things that came through as talking to them the health care workers are excited to get protection from the deadly virus for themselves and excited to get the second dose. mostly they are excited to share this with their patients in the coming months. >> sara murray, thank you. let's bring in our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. like a split-screen moment. 300 how,000 americans have died

from coronavirus over these months. at the same time, vaccines have started here in the u.s. and within the next few weeks and months, millions of americans will be able to get vaccinated. >> yeah. wolf, it's tough in that regard. it feels like whiplash. the news is good about vaccines and you certainly want to celebrate that. but also fully acknowledge that it's going to take time to roll outline the vaccines as sara murray was just talking about and take it even longer for it to have this demonstrable impact on changing the virus. it takes a while for these things to work. things that work more quickly like masks and things that are maybe more boring to talk about, you know, could make a big impact now. that is sort of the challenge, 300,000 people have died. florida just passed 20,000. now, wolf, 20 thousand in four states in the united states, florida, texas, california, and

new york all have had 20,000 or more people die in these states. more than most countries i would say around the world. so, you know, we are, by far, sadly, leading the world in terms of deaths and overall numbers of cases and hospitalizations and all of that. it is still an addressable problem even before the vaccine, you know, is distributed widely. we got to remember that, wolf. >> even if you get vaccinated, you still have to be careful. you should still continue wearing a mask. is that right, sanjay? >> yeah. so the thing about the vaccine, what we can say and what they were really studying is that does it prevent the disease, covid-19? does it present the symptoms of this disease? you know, wolf, the data is pretty remarkable with this pfizer biontech vaccine. close to 95% protection with this vaccine. but it's not clear, i should say at this point, that it actually prevents people from still

carrying the virus and potentially still transmitting the virus. think about. you could be vaccinated which is really important and be fairly confident that you're not going to get sick. but you still don't want to potentially pass this virus on to others. as you get more and more people vaccinated, that all, obviously, will become less and less of a concern. until we get to that point, it's good you got vaccinated but you still want to protect those around you. >> you certainly do. we will continue to follow this. two major historic stories that we are following right now. the vaccines which have started in the united states. also the electoral college. president-elect joe biden is closer and closer to officially reaching 270 electoral votes. we will bring you that. stand by. ♪

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♪ welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the the world. i'm wolf blitzer in the cnn election center. we are bringing you inside a historic and unprecedented live event. the electoral college votes. in minutes the electoral college will confirm president-elect joe biden's win. california electors will vote and push boyden over the three threshold of 270 electoral

votes. at this moment the electoral count stands at 240 for biden and 232 for president trump. let's walk over to the cnn's john king over at the magic call. 47 states have now cast their votes, john. no faithless electors as they sometimes say. everyone has voted according to the majority in their respective states. three states left. oregon, california, and hawaii. all of those electoral votes will go for biden. >> all of them will go for biden. election day was tuesday and took us until saturday to declare the winner on election week in america if you will. this has gone pretty smoothly today. in the hour ahead joe biden will officially pass 270 electoral votes and already the president-elect. the circumstance and pomp of today and you mentioned let's show you. isolate california one minute. in the 5:00 hour on the east coast. it's 2:00 on the west coast. california stands alone. 55 electoral votes and joe biden

at 240. california will put him over the top. oregon is voting they started last hour and its votes likely come in before california and put joe biden with more of a lead and california will put him over the top. waiting on 55 in california and 7 in oregon. joe biden won the state handily and move to california. 55 here. then the 7:00 hour so you can see the math there. a convincing biden win there. hawaii, 7:00 in the east they will gather four more in the aloha state. by the time we were done counting the votes is how it will end tonight. no doubt when with woke up this morning and no doubt now. even if you're a supporter of president trump. a contested and fichelection an election year. but it's done. we are still waiting on the last three states, oregon,