united states officially voting on monday to declare joe biden the president-elect. >> faith in our institutions held, the integrity of our elections remains in tact. >> frivolous lawsuits have played out across the country. the courts have ruled. this election is over. >> all across the country, doctors and nurses are rolling up their sleeves to get the first dose of pfizer's covid-19 vaccine. >> i feel like i won a million dollar lottery getting this vaccine. >> the development of a covid-19 vaccine is nothing short of revolutionary. >> this is "new day" with alisyn camerota and john

alisyn camerota and john berman. welcome to "new day." this morning joe biden is president of the united states. two weeks ago joe biden was president-elect of the united states. i could keep going here. what's different this morning is that the electoral college met and officially gave its votes to joe biden. what is different this morning is that the president-elect spoke to the american people and said it's time to move on, and after giving the petulant, defeated president space to rant for weeks, biden had enough and called out donald trump by name for his sixth week assault on democracy and what is different this smormorning is that a numbf republicans are starting to come forward to acknowledge reality and stop lying about the election results. this morning we're awaiting to see if senate leader mitch mcconnell joins that list. and attorney general william barr, what brought this loyal

soldier so willing to break so many norms and precedents to finally split from the president. what was the final straw? >> as for the status of the vaccination, u.p.s. and fedex say the bulk of the first behalf of pfizer's vaccines will be delivered today. m moderna's reviewed this week. still months before the majority if americans get vaccinated and dr. anthony fauci says americans won't be able to get rid of their masks until late fall or early winter's next year. why? the vaccine rollout, sadly, comes too late for a record 110,000 americans who are hospitalized with the virus this morning, and, of course, the more than 300,000 americans now who have died. but let's start with the president-elect's big night and cnn's jessica dean is live in wilmington, delaware with our top story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, alisyn. it feels like president-elect

joe biden has won this election now multiple times, but with yesterday's meeting of the electoral college, he is now formally certified as president-elect. and because of that, he took an opportunity to offer his most strongest rebuke yet of president donald trump, directly criticizing him and calling him out for his repeated attempts to overturn and delegitimize this election. >> the integrity of our elections remains intact. and now it's time to turn the page. >> reporter: president-elect joe biden speaking directly to the american people after the electoral college affirmed his decisive win. delivering his most direct criticism of president donald trump's postelection legal challenges. >> in america politicians don't take power. people grant power to them. and we now know nothing, not even a pandemic, or an abuse of

power, can extinguish that flame. >> reporter: ought states where trump challengealed the vote count casting their electoral votes for biden, despite unprecedented efforts from the president and his allies. >> the people have spoken. it was a safe, fair and secure election. >> reporter: addressing trump directly, biden called the legal tactics extreme, accusing the president and his legal team of trying to subvert the will of the people. >> the presidency, a candidate, lost the electoral college, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse. it's a position so extreme we never have seen it before. >> reporter: still, some republicans on capitol hill refusing to acknowledge biden's victory. asked by cnn whether biden is the president-elect, senator jim inhofe responding, "i'm not going to comment on that."

senator john kennedy also dodging saying "i don't have anything for you on that." senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house minority leader mccarthy have yet to recognize biden's win as well. one retiring congressional republican is changing his party affiliation in the last weeks of his term. >> it became clear to me that i could no longer be associated with the republican party that leadership does not stand up and say the process, the election, is over. it's over today. >> reporter: the president-elect also calling out republican lawmakers and state attorneys general after a failed last-ditch effort last week to get the supreme court to overturn the results in four swing states. >> this legal maneuver was annest by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the supreme court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million americans in the states. the court sent a clear signal to president trump that they would be no part of an unprecedented

assault on our democracy. >> reporter: and biden says he has spoke ton a handful of republican senators who have reached out to him, but as you see, that's a very narrow group. senator lindsey graham, one of president trump's most ardent supporters maintains that trump's path forward is narrow and said he had a very pleasant conversation with biden. again, just a very small group of congressional republicans willing to call biden president-elect or acknowledge his victory. alisyn, the thing to watch today and moving forward is, will more of them now come forward and acknowledge what he is. the president-elect. >> we'll see. jessica, thank you very much. so moments after the electoral college reaffirmed president-elect joe biden's victory, president trump announced the resignation of his attorney general bill barr. timing being called transparent. cnn's joe johns live at the white house with more. so what happened, john? >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. right about the time the

president, joe biden, i should say, went over the top in the electoral college, president trump repeating his habit that we've seen again and again here's at the white house, trying to change the subject by finding another headline to distract. this time it was the resignation of his attorney general bill barr. he made that announcement on twitter. also posting a bizarre letter that sounded like it was written by the president himself. gushing about how great trump is even though we all knew that over the last several weeks the relationship between the two men was on the rocks. especially because barr had refused to get onboard with the president's attacks on american democracy, especially when he said there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election. the legacy of bill barr will be as much about what he did to the united states department of justice as what he did at doj.

especially because he was such a staunch defender of the president as the chief executive through thick and thin, almost no matter what. back to you guys. >> talk much more about this, joe, as the show goes on. what was the final straw here? barr willing to do so much but not something and now he's out. to the bulk of the first round of the pfizer coronavirus vaccine delivered today, live outside rutgers medical school in newark, where new jersey's first vaccines will be administered in just a couple hours, miguel? >> reporter: yeah. going to get 76,000 total doses of the vaccine in new jersey. they're going to have six different locations like this one across the state, and this one will be for those frontline workers, those health care workers and those in long-term care facilities and their caregivers as well. to give you an idea how difficult it's going to be to roll this out, this facility can do 600 knock lation inoculatio.

takes several days before you get tsecond and are fully inoculated. three different phases. it is going to take a very long time to get that vaccine to everybody who wants it or needs it. speaking of those who want it, the kaiser family foundation has a recent survey out showing a little good news. 8.4% americans are willing to get the vaccine. that number goes down for republicans and younger african-americans. more are willing to accept the vaccine. the other thing we are waiting for here is the governor will be here when they do those first vaccines, but this, you have to remember, new jersey has had a very tough time with covid-19.

nearly 19,000 people have died in this state alone. across the u.s., in december alone, just so far in december, some 32,000 people that have died. so it is a very, very rough time and it's goings to be a long time before the vaccine is fully rolled out. another little bit of good news is moderna, the fda gets one step closer in the next day or two to approving a second vaccine in the country. so hopefully we'll start moving towards full vaccination in the months ahead. back to you guys. >> miguel, the vaccines certainly are good news. what else is good news? you went and got married! congratulations. we are so happy. >> reporter: thank you very much. >> so happy for you. so happy for you. >> that's your bright spot. >> reporter: 2020 couldn't just be sucky all around. thank you. >> single-handedly. congratulations to the both of you. >> reporter: thank you. >> when did he have time?

>> i know, seriously! we sent him all over the country. >> give him a couple hours over the weekend. >> he goes and gets married. >> exactly. all right, we heard a different joe biden last night than we have yet. after the electoral college voted he gave this speech. who was the target of the speech that joe biden gave last night? more importantly this morning, mitch mcconnell, senate majority leader. he will speak, we expect, at some point today before the senate. what's he going to say? stand by for that. we're carvana, the company

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joe biden received 306 electoral votes and then addressed the nation using language he really hadn't. listen. >> this legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the supreme court to wipe out the votes of more than 20

million americans of member states and hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the electoral college, lost the popular vote and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse. it's a position so extreme we have never seen it before. a position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law and refused to honor our constitution. >> by joining us now, cnn political analyst, a politics and white house reporter for ax yos and for taxios and the "washington post." different audiences. this was a very short speech but the president-elect did a lot including using donald trump's name all over are the place which he really hasn't done much to date? >> john, that's right. if you analyze the speech, very interesting. clearly trying to reach several distinct audiences. one, the voters, those who still

believe president trump won. no majority of americans but a sizable sliver. not a sliver, it's a chalk. two, american whose know biden won the election but not confident with the media and three, this is really important, the republicans in congress who know that biden won the election but haven't said it yet. and there is this one last group, and i think this is important, too. it's democrats who voted for biden but don't, are not sold on the idea of reaching across the aisle or the idea that his kind of -- you know, ideas about a meeting in the middle or trying to find compromise can actually work. he's trying to show them that this approach can. he's balancing criticisms of president trump, direct criticisms of president trump with overall, if you analyze the words, what was a very positive speech filled with words about america and americans and voting and the future. it's a complicated needle to thread. this is what he's trying to do

with this speech. hammer mcconnell and these guys saying, come on, guys, i'm acting in good faith. time to meet me in the middle and a message to progressives, trying to tug him left, this way can work. >> i heard something else in this speech, too. my ear almost couldn't recognize it at first. that was an adult who is in politics who is not afraid of donald trump. he wasn't doing the usual verbal gymnastics that we hear, even from democrats. i mean, democratic governors throughout this pandemic have had to also do these verbal gymnastics not to alienate president trump and not to wound his fragile ego, making sure the money or the vaccines or the ppe or whatever keeps flowing to their states. he was just sort of saying, this is extreme. here's reality. let me spell it out for al of you. i mean, it was -- it was just so refreshing, and i guess what i

take away is that joe biden is not afraid of donald trump in these it next 36 days. >> the speech was certainly clear, it was direct, it was methodical. i thought interesting, too, adding on to all of margaret's great points. one by one he took apart all of the ways the president had to fruit alex smilestt alex smitles fruit alex smilesly battle the . through governors, through the states, all the legal challenges through the courts and showing the american public ho each one of them failed and how the president really has no, no options left. not only showing president donald trump that which we know he is not the type to gracefully concede and we're not expecting a concession speech from him anytime soon but to show trump supporterers and republicans in congress, we saw the dampering a little last night. i thought interesting how some of the ardent trump allies such

as mike broad in indiana and to a certain ex-tense, senator lindsey graham acknowledge joe biden as the president-elect. saying he would not weigh in on any of the cabinet picks until december 14th. once the electoral college did its job, very quickly lindsey graham made a statement. and senate majority mitch mcconnell did not say anything. he will address reporters today. i don't expect him to say anything of substance either and he may not say anything until january 6th. not only the day the congress meets to certify the results from the electoral college, also the day after of the critical georgia runoff. >> incidentally, a word in arabic, in hebrew, joe biden says, halas.

it's enough. more than enough, actually. that's done, i'm spiking the football in your face. >> really interesting. a word in italian also for what he did last night, which is -- >> what it was. as if to say, that's it. that's it. no more. follow-up on the mitch mcconnell thing. john thune, in the republican senator leadership is out there saying it's over. he says, in the end at some point you have to face the music. once the electoral college settles the issue today it's time for everyone to move on. mitch mcconnell dropped hints over the last few weeks that he's working with a transition but hasn't officially said it. you still think he's not going to as it were show more like it today, sunlen. why? >> reporter: it's hard to see it. the closest we got from mitch mcconnell to hinting that biden is the president-elect is that he referred to "a new administration." kind of offhand remarks about another topic in a news conference a couple beaks ago,

which kind of made all of our ears perk up, but mcconnell knows that at a minimum you need a united republican party to win these critical senate races in georgia. he doesn't want to get crosswise with the president and seeing no political up side for him to confront the president as he's still kind of, you know, waging these challenges fruitlessly. so if, you know -- if president trump backs down, then maybe mcconnell speaks out, but i have a hard time seeing -- right now, maybe use those words later, but i have a hard time mitch mcconnell saying that later today. >> and mike pompeo secretary of state now scheduled to meet with designated secretary of state tony blinken. biden's nominee. maybe he'sal crosswise with the president soon. like you say. sunlen, thank you so much. the pictures we saw were just amazing. what a moment in history.

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this morning another round of coronavirus vaxenations are about to get on the road. u.p.s. and fedex say the bulk of the first batch of pfizer's vaccines will be delivered today, but, of course it will be months before majority of americans can get vaccinated. the long-awaited rollout comes as a record 110,000 americans are hospitalized this morning with the virus. more than 300,000 americans have now died. joining us now is dr. peter hotez, dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor college of medicine in

houston. dr. hotez what a day yesterday. it was historic. obviously each day will be promising as we see -- put up the numbers for you what we expect in terms of the vaccine rollout and deliveries. so yesterday the vaccine arrived in all 50 states, but not much of it. okay? by december 31st, 40 million doses we expect will be available to be administeadmini. by january and february, 50 million to 80 million doses and by end of march, the hope is to have immunized 100 million people. that's why i didn't quite understand dr. fauci's math yesterday. maybe you can help us understand it, where he was saying that the timeline for healthy adult americans to be vaccinated is sooner than i thought. here's what dr. fauci said yesterday. >> i had been saying by my calculation sometime by end of march, beginning of april, that the normal, healthy man and woman in the street who ra no

underlying conditions would likely get it. >> end of march? john berman and i might be able to get it? >> well, you know, a lot of stars are going to have to align, alisyn, for all of this to happen. remember, the pfizer vaccine's the first one, the moderna vaccine is second. both mrna vaccines. the technology is still relatively new. so how quickly we'll be able to scale that up is still a bit of an unknown. an important milestone to look for is the introduction of two other vaccines in the early part of next year, maybe in january-february. the two adeno vaccines from astrazeneca oxford and j & j, requiring refrigeration. when those come online that's really important and a particle vaccine from novavax. we'll be looking at a portfolio,

a pipeline of five, six, seven vaccines and that's going to really help the american people get fully vaccinated and that's what we look for. each passing week we'll see improvement in terms of the number of american whose can get vaccinated. >> the moderna vaccine, gets a hearing this week, if approved, twice as much of that available early on than was available with the pfizer vaccine. that to look forward to. doctor, when do you get the vaccine? >> i'm hoping this evening. that's what i'm told. i'm really excited about that. that's been a long, hard road, and i'm looking forward to it along with my colleagues at texas children's and baylor college of medicine. so this is an important time for us. >> we think it's great. i think it's great. >> take pictures. >> you need it. take pictures. you're an example to all of us. what are you watching, now that people are starting to receive the vaccine, including you as of

tonight, and the pictures was remarkable. i don't want to take it for granted. it's anything but. a triumph for science to a miracle. however, now what? what are you looking for now that people started receiving these vaccines? >> well, soon as i saw that i thought of a story my friend and colleague paul offutt fold me once. you've spoken to him multiple times as well. we were both very committed to mentoring maurice hillman, a marketing company probably made more vaccines than any other person on the planet and used to say he never fully resteding in around 2 million, 3 million people were vaccinated. large as those phase three clinical trials are, 44,000 people in the case of the pfizer vaccine, if there's going to be a rare safety event, that's when you know it after 2 million, 3 million people get vaccinated. we'll know that soon because we'll have that over the next few weeks. that's going to be a really

important milestone as well. john if you remember red auerbach. he would never light up a cigar at the boston garden until he knew he had the cane in hand. i'm waiting to light up the cigar until then. >> open this is as successful at the celtics were. 16 championships, i take that in terms of the vaccine. >> absolutely. >> let's talk about where we are with vaccine hesitancy. i think the numberless change. right now some demographics that are quite reluctant to take the vaccine, kaiser has out a new poll. most reluctant, 49% of republicans say they would probably or definitely not get it. seems really high. in terms of people aged 30 to 49, 36% say probably or definitely not get it. rural residents, 35%. black adults 35%. these are early days, doctor. am i wrong? with each day, with each passing

day we see video of more americans getting it successfully, of not having an elettering allergic reaction, won't numbers go down? >> they'll go down, then up again, down and up again. this is going to reflect a lot of the 24-hour news cycle. if you hear about an allergic event, with the heavy media attention and the anti-vaccine movement that likes to exploit any issue that arises with a vaccine. those polling numbers will probably vary quite a bit on a particular day. one thing to keep in mind. second. that it was a really concerning number. saw it from the kaiser survey around republicans. 40%, 50% say they're not going to take it. one. reasons, alisyn, is because they have the belief that covid-19 is exaggerated. that it's a hoax. where did that come from? right out of the white house coronavirus task force out of scott atlas, who consistently downplayed the severity of the

epidemic, contributed covid-19 deaths to other causes, fake herd immunity. the masks. part of the white house disinformation campaign that led to the deaths of so many americans and that's reflected in that poll, and hopefully that will go away, and then among the african-american community, where the level of vaccine hesitancy is high for a different reason. because they're worried about side effects and also we've got this terrible legacy of medical research with the african-american community and the tuskegee experiment and another piece to that is the anti-vaccine lobby that's specifically targeted african-american populations. they hold rallies, organize rallies in harlem and end of 2019 beginning of 2020. so we've got to counter the anti-vaccine movement. this is not going to be a smoobsmooth road. lots of bump and we need an unprecedented level of communication, which isn't there right now. "operation warp speed" has done

a wonderful job in terms of scientific rigor, integrity of the clinical trials but never put up a communication strategy. that's a big vacuum. >> thank you for that information. look forward to seeing pictures and video of you being vaccinated with the -- >> thanks so much. >> okay. now to some weather news. this one sounds important, john. listen up. really important because it will fall on you. >> exactly. the biggest snowstorm in years, john, could dump more than a foot of snow on -- >> on you. >> -- me. chad myers is tracking it for me, next. [♪] every time you touch a surface, bacteria is left behind. now, consider how many times your family touches the surfaces in your home in 24 hours.

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russia-linked entity or russian individuals are responsible for the attacks that had been running since the spring. >> okay. now to weather news. the biggest snowstorm in years is taking aim at me and the rest of the northeast. more than 45 million americans and i are waking up to a winter storm watch that's more than a foot of snow is expected. cnn meteorologist chad myers has my, i mean, our, our forecast. chad, what's happening that job and i need to know? >> good news is, only going to see about 12 hours of snow. the bad news is, some spots in those 12 hours will get 12 to 18 inches of snowfall. an inch or two per hour. now, i do believe probably it starts around dark for new york city, but starts earlier than that for philadelphia. winter storm watches and warnings up and down the east coast. as you said, 45 million people are in the way of this system. so let's get right to the graphics here and show you what's going on. the storm right now is over

amarillo, looking at a storm system with a long way to go. honestly, another 1,000 miles to actually get up to the northeast. developing in the plains. gathers moisture. build another true nor'easter setting up here and somewhere in the ballpark of midnight the heaviest snow gets to new york city. in boston around 3:00 a.m. thursday morning. by the time it starts to snow tomorrow afternoon and stops by thursday, 7:00 a.m., just flurries by 7:00 a.m., this storm will put down a foot of snow in some spots. a tough storm. no question about it pap storm gloucester township, new jersey, just across the river from philadelphia, two inches of rain-snow muck. to the west of philadelphia, where the snow will be the entire time. 12 inches of snow there. a little farther to the south, into d.c., rain-snow mix.

gathersberg, you get a foot of snow. i-95, the cutoff and isn't it always that way where we see the cutoff along i-95. boston probably see 8 to 12 inches of snow before it's done. biggest bang for your buck is poconos, lee high value up to catskills where the heavy nest snow will fall and where the purple area is. all the way back towards state college and likely there. the reason why it's not going to fall that much along the coast is because the temperature wills 33. 33 and snow, but going to be 33 and not sticking at much. the problem is that you're going to go home tomorrow night, somewhere between maybe 4:00, 5:00, and by the time you look outside your window in new york city tomorrow afternoon, and even -- even i would say midnight, you're going to see almost a foot of snow. going to come down very hard and quick and then be gone. the issue is, what can you do, where do you want to be wednesday night? because you could be stuck there all day thursday.

guys? >> very helpful, chad. that tells us what we are going to do. >> sleep in the office! >> yes. for the next 48 hours. very helpful. g. thing i got stuff in the office fridge. >> that will sustain us. >> all right, chad, thank very much. we have a cnn exclusive investigation into the poisoning of russian opposition leader alexey navalny. confronting one of the agents at the heart of the operation and speaks exclusively in a separate location in germany. that's next. was laid off... ...it was absolutely terrifying. i felt like i was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. as a little kid i knew that i wanted to work with computers. ♪ so when i heard about the applied digital skills courses, that definitely appealed to me. you're learning how to create spreadsheets, documents, forms and surveys.

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developing this morning, an investigation by the investigative group bellingcat and cnn has uncovered evidence that russia's security service the fsb, formed and elite team specializing in nerve agents that trailed opposition leader alexey navalny for years. you remember he was poisoned with the toxin novichok in august and nearly died.

cnn chief correspondent working this story for months and have spoken with navalny himself as he continues his recovery in germany and clarissa joins us with an incredible story. exclusive for us, how did it come to pass? >> reporter: thank you so much, alisyn. you know, there's been a team of us working very hard on this for quite some time. poring over cell phone records, travel, flight manifests, trying to learn more about this elite team of secret operatives who were following navalny's every move. it's no secret navalny would be followed, alisyn. he's a prominent critic of president vladimir putin. he's the leading opposition here in russia, but what is so shocking about this is that this team of experts had access to poisons and the expertise to know how to use them. take a look. >> ah -- >> reporter: august 20th on a

flight to moscow, a passenger captures the awful wales of alexey navalny. the russian opposition leader suddenly has fallen ill and knows exactly why. >> i get out of the bathroom, over to the flight attendant and said, i was poisoned. i'm going to die, and then i laid down on to his feet, and to die. >> reporter: you knew in that moment that you'd been poisoned. >> yes. >> reporter: quick thinking from the pilot saves his life. instead of flying on to moscow, still three hours away, the plane diverts, and two days later he is flown to berlin where the german government announces he has been poisoned with a nerve agent naovichoknov. tracking navalny, involving experts and chemical weapons who work for the fsb, the russian

successor to the soviet kgb. this non-distribute building on the outskirts of moscow was the headquarters of the operation. we're staying in the car, because we don't want to attract any attention, but this compound is part of the institute of criminalistics of the fsb. russian security service and beyond that fence an elite team of operatives has been tracking navalny's every mofor more than three years. cnn examined hundreds of pages of reports and flight manifests revealing the backgrounds communications and travel of the group. the documents were obtained by online investigative outlet bellingcat, which two years ago identified the russian military intelligence agents allegedly sent to england to poison former russian spy sergei skripal. the fsb toxin the team was

activated in 2017, just days after knnavalny announceds he would run for president in the election the next year. and the team's leader, an expert in chemical weapons. several of the team are doctors, but they were recruited to save lives. i just want to show you some photographs here and ask you if you recognize, if you've ever seen any of the men in those photographs? >> no. >> you don't recognize them? >> i don't recognize any of them. >> would it surprise you to learn that some of these men went on more than 30 trips with you over the course of three years? >> that is absolutely terrifying. i don't know. it's terrifying. is a good word. >> i think it's a pretty good word. >> yes, but -- well, i understand how systems work in russia. i understand that putin hates me, and i understand that these people who are sitting in the kremlin, they are ready to kill.

>> is it your contention that vladimir putin must have been aware of this? >> of course. 100%. it could have not been happened without direct order of putin, because it's -- well, it's big scale. >> reporter: in the weeks before he was poisoned, navalny and his wife yulia took a short vacation to a resort in kaliningrad. our investigation revealed the fsb team followed. security cameras inside the hotel were mysteriously turned off while they were there. navalny said yulia felt uncomfortable. took videos and photos of men she believed were following them. this man i also don't recognize, she says. hours after the fsb's toxin team left, yulia suddenly felt sick. >> said, well, i feel really,

really bad. do we need ambulance? no. is it heart? no. is it stomach? no. is it head? no. could you describe it? no. and -- then we approach restaurant and she said, well, i feel like -- worse in my life. i never felt it before, but -- unfortunately, and, of course, i couldn't connect these dots. now, now i realize how bad she was. >> reporter: yulia recovered but the fsb the unit was apparently not done with the no valnys. in the days after ka len grad cell phone data shows several fsb official was in regular contact with a lab in this compound. it's called the signal institute, and cnn and bellingcat have established it has been involve with researching and developing

novichok. in mid-august the team traveled to siberia. at least five members of the fsb unit make the same journey on different flights. in this area, colleagues stay at the alexandr hotel. we traveled to the siberian city to retrace his steps on the night he was poisoned. >> so this is the room that alexey navalny was staying in, and it looks like my room here is right next door. >> reporter: according to navalny, he went to bed around midnight after drinking a cocktail with his team. the fsb's toxin unit was not far away. using a ping from a cell phone we've been able to place one of the fsb operatives in this area, just blocks from the hotel on the night of august 19th. the night that the nerve agent novichok made its way into room 239. no valny left the hotel early the next morning. he boarded the moscow flight

feeling fine. three hours later, he was close to death. back in tunsk, they collect evidence from his hotel room including water, toothbrush and a towel, as they did a surge in communications among the fsb unit and their bosses. if it was expected no valny would die on the flight, they were scrambling to deal with a very different situation. after much back and forth, russian authorities allowed navalny to be transported to berlin what they don't know is that the items recovered from his hotel room were also onboard. some later tested positive for novichok. back in moscow we went in certainly of the fsb's toxin team. >> we're here now at the home of one of the fsb team and we're

going to go see if he has anything to say to us. >> reporter: we enter a run-down apartment building on the outskirts of moscow where the operative lives. >> reporter: [ speaking in foreign language ]. my name's clarissa ward. i work for cnn. can i ask you a couple of questions? [ speaking in foreign language ] was it your team in navalny that poisoned navalny, please? do you have any comment? he doesn't seem to want to talk to us. >> reporter: toxicologists tell cnn that navalny is incredibly lucky to be alive and that the intention was undoubtedly to kill him. >> so you said that you want to go back to russia? >> yes. and i will do. >> you're aware of the risks are going back? >> yes, but i'm russian politician, and even when i was

not just in hospital i was in intense therapy, and i said publicly i will go back and i will go back because i'm russian politician. i belong to that country, and definitely, which i -- i -- especially now when these actually crime is correct open, revealed, i understand the whole operation. i would never give putin such a gift. >> oh, my gosh. c clarissa, what a report and investigation helps connect the dots on every level. so what's the reaction from russian authorities? >> reporter: well, alisyn, i have to say stunning silence. it's been nearly 24 hours now since the first digital write of this investigation came out. we usually hear on a daily basis from dmitry peskov, the most prominent spokesperson for president vladimir bruptly anno

call is canceled toned and tomorrow allegedly because of president putin's press conference on thursday, but certainly seems an unlikely coincidence. wre we've reached out to the fsb and might hear a response in nine days, if you can believe that. also we reached out to members of the team. nothing. russian media has basically ignored this story, which considering the magnitude of this is just extraordinary. >> yeah. feels like very deliberate silence, clarissa. what does navalny want to see from the u.s. now? >> this is interesting. eu, uk, very clear. called it assassination attempt. levied sanctions against the leadership of the fsb and those in the kremlin. the u.s. and donald trump basically has done nothing. navalny essentially he wants to see the u.s. to come out on the

right side of history. take a strong stand against the use of chemical weapons and would like to see sanctions not just individuals in positions of power, also against some of the wealthy elites around putin who allow for the flow of money in and out of here. >> clarissa, seems obvious that the goal was to kill navalny. ho do toxicologists confirm that? >> reporter: this is interesting and something our team has spent weeks talking to so many different chemists and toxicologists and experts. essentially, alisyn, you can't dose novichok outside a la poorer to apoo laboratory. never enough incapacitate. the only intention is to kill. important for viewers to remember how close it came to killing him.

if that plane had not been divert eed onsk and hadn't had medicine, navalny would not be alive. >> i can't believe i had seen you where you were. remarkable journalism. congratulations to you and the entire team that put this together. >> reporter: thank you so much. >> thank you, clarissa. all right. "new day" continues right now. the electoral college voting and confirming joe biden as the next president of the united states. >> now it's time to turn the page as we've done throughout our history. to unite, to heal. >> this is a process that president trump has tried to subvert every step of the way. icu nurse sandra lindsay, one of the first people in the united states to get the covid-19 vaccine.

>> i wanted to do it to inspire people. who may be skeptical. >> one of the darkest days in this pnd. we finally have a ray of hope towards a way out of this. >> announcer: this is "new day" with with alisyn camerota and john berman. welcome to viewser around the united states and the world, this is "new day." apparently biting his tongue for weeks, president-elect joe biden is speaking out condemning president trump's efforts to overturn the election. >> this legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the supreme court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million americans and other states. and to hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the electoral college, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse. it's a position so extreme we've ne