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Bush Congratulates Biden On Victory As Trump Refuses To Concede; U.S. Hits Highest Daily New Case Count Since Pandemic Began; Biden To Name 12-Member Coronavirus Task Force Monday; No Plans By Trump To Invite Biden To The White House; Balance Of Power In Senate Hinges On Two Likely Runoffs In Georgia; "Jeopardy!" Host Alex Trebek Dies At The Age Of 80. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 08, 2020 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[18:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And we have some breaking news this hour right now on CNN. Any second now, news from the state of Arizona where votes today are still being counted, and even though we know the broad stroke winner and loser from the presidential election, the final vote count in every state is still very important. So we are looking today for an update now from Maricopa County. That's the most populous county in Arizona, a state that has still not been called.

So, stay right there. We have reporters standing by. We'll go to them any moment they have the news, which should be very soon.

Meantime, while we watch Arizona, let's go to Wilmington, Delaware, headquarters of President-elect Joe Biden, and CNN's Arlette Saenz is there for us.

Arlette, we've been told to expect details about Biden's coronavirus task force tomorrow, but tell us about today and a very key phone call from a former U.S. president.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana. President-elect Joe Biden today heard from former Republican President George W. Bush. The former president releasing a statement earlier today saying that he spoke with both Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. And this is significant because there has only been a handful of major Republican figures who have publicly congratulated Biden as he has won the presidency.

And I want to read to you a little bit of what President Bush had to say. He said, I extended my warm congratulations and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night. I also called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency. Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country. Then the former president added, the American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair. Its integrity will be upheld and its outcome is clear. That last passage is very significant, as you have the current president of the United States, Donald Trump, who has not acknowledged the results of this election. And as he and his allies have continued to cast doubt about the integrity of the election.

But President Bush, who has undergone through peaceful transitions of power when he entered the White House and when he left, he issued that call for unity and to give Joe Biden the opportunity to lead this country going forward.

Now, Biden has spent the day here in Wilmington. He attended mass this morning and also visited the grave of his late son, Beau. But tomorrow he is getting right to work. Biden will be announcing a 12-person coronavirus task force that will get to work to start tackling the pandemic before he even reaches office.

Biden in the past has also said he wants to start reaching out to Democratic and Republican governors to gauge the needs that they have related to the coronavirus pandemic, that the pandemic was really a center point of his campaign, and he has made clear that he doesn't want to wait until he's in the White House to get to work. He is starting that work along with his vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, this very week. Ana?

CABRERA: Okay. Arlette Saenz, you've been working so hard for weeks, for months, for years even. Thank you for all your hard work. I appreciate your reporting tonight.

At the White House now, a source telling CNN that even First Lady Melania Trump has advised the president to accept the fact that he has lost this election.

CNN White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond is with us now. And, Jeremy, Trump's inner circle beginning to split over his ongoing refusal to accept the election outcome. What more can you tell us?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: yes, that's what appears to be happening. The first lady, Melania Trump, according to a source familiar with her thinking, she has told the president that it is time for him to accept a loss in this election, similarly, two sources telling CNN that Jared Kushner has approached the president about conceding the election.

Now, we should note that a campaign adviser, Jason Miller, disputed that notion about Jared Kushner, said that Jared Kushner has instead advised the president to pursue all legal avenues. And as for the first lady, soon after that reporter by our own Kate Bennett, the first lady took to Twitter and said, quote, the American people deserve fair elections. Every legal, not illegal, vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.

And that is a line that has been echoed by many of the president's Republican allies who may have not been willing to go as far as the president himself in terms of falsely claiming that he has won this election, that there is widespread voter fraud, but kind of getting a little bit of time for the president to process this and make his next decisions.

But there is a split, as you mentioned, Ana, in the president's camp. And that's because we know that there are several advisers to the president, including the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who have been encouraging this legal fight.

[18:05:01]

And I've also learned, Ana, that the president's sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, they have been key voices in encouraging the president to continue to contest this election. I've been told that Eric Trump, in private conversations with Republicans in the last few days, that he has said that he believes this election was stolen from his father.

Ultimately, regardless of the split, regardless of what the advisers are saying, the president is driving this process. And what the president is doing is remarkable. He is refusing to concede this election. He is continuing to make these false and unverified claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election. And he's made very clear that he does plan to pursue these legal challenges.

The question is what does he do once those legal avenues are exhausted. Lawyers, election experts, including Republican lawyers, have made pretty clear that they don't expect these legal challenges to go anywhere. So the question is what does the president do after all that is said and done. Ana?

CABRERA: You will be on it. You'll let us know. Jeremy Diamond at the White House, thank you.

We are getting brand-new numbers now from Arizona, a state that for now has been too close to call for either candidate. Let's go live to Kyung Lah joining us in Scottsdale. Kyung, what do you know?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're just getting this latest update from Maricopa County. This is the county that is including where I am, Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as Phoenix, is the most populous county, and they're slowly working their way through the remaining ballots. So they just updated their ballot tally by going through 7,000 additional more ballots.

And essentially the numbers here in Arizona haven't changed all that much. If you put it into what the state numbers are, basically, it's the same because the numbers for both the candidates rose at about the same rate. There are some slight variations, but at about the same rate. So, here in Arizona, you know, Ana, they're still working through the remaining ballots.

We're hearing from Maricopa County that part of this that's taking a bit more time is that they need to go through these duplicating military and overseas ballots, Braille (ph) ballots, large print ballots, and damaged ballots. So this type of process takes a bit longer. This is normal. This is what we see every election. But as far as the story here out of Arizona statewide, both candidates, that spread that we've been reporting out of Arizona, is virtually unchanged.

CABRERA: OK. And at last check, it was around 18,500-vote difference. Do you have a sense, Kyung, on when Arizona will be done counting those votes? You talked about the provisional ballots, the military ballots taking a little bit longer.

LAH: Yes. You know, they're working their way. And, again, the emphasis here is just to do it right. But because we're talking about the end of the process, again, a very normal process, it does take a little bit longer.

So we are anticipating another update from Maricopa County. And the reason why we're focusing on Maricopa so much is because it's the most populous county. You got to win it here if you're going to win the state of Arizona. And so they anticipate having another update sometime tomorrow. There are 18,000 ballots left to count here according to the Maricopa County Elections Department.

CABRERA: OK. Kyung Lah, thank you for that update.

Let bring in CNN's Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston. Now, Mark, help us understand what these new numbers mean for the state of the race in Arizona and why CNN still hasn't called this state when other networks have.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, let me first say, and you have said this as well, Ana, the reason why we're counting these votes, even though we know that Joe Biden is the president- elect, is because these are not data points. These are people's votes.

You know, going into the election, we talk a lot about the integrity of a person's vote, and that's why we continue to update these numbers right now. Because think about it, if you lived in one of these states and people just wrote off your vote, you would think to yourself, what am I doing?

But let's get right into Arizona. Good news for Joe Biden in that his lead has not decreased. We have seen that over the past couple of days. That's why we haven't called the race at this point. With the number of ballots that are still out, we saw Joe Biden's lead getting it away a little bit, enough so that it was just better for us to hold off.

Now, the big question is what happens when this becomes finalized, when we see the certification. Well, could it go to a recount? Very unlikely because the way to go to a recount, Ana, you need to have 200 votes or less or one-tenth of 1 percent of votes cast to trigger a recount in Arizona. So it's unlikely for that happen. Votes are still being counted, as we see in Maricopa, in Pinal County.

Let's go over to the eastern seaboard where there are some certain one hotly contested race out there with the state of North Carolina. Let's go to North Carolina, if we can. The state board of elections are telling us that don't expect that the numbers in North Carolina to change very much until November 12th. The reason being is that there were 116,000 people who requested ballots, absentee ballot requests. They're now trying to resolve and find out where these 116,000 ballots are.

[18:10:02]

Now, they have until the 12th in order for them to arrive, to be counted at that point, but still, nothing nefarious going on right here. What they're trying to do is go back and forth on the voter rolls to see that -- make sure nobody really doesn't vote twice.

Good news though probably for Donald Trump. This is probably a state that he is going to win. But this is the big state that we're talking about as well just south of North Carolina down in Georgia. Right now, you have a battle going on about what will happen with the results of our Georgia contest. Well, the margin is so tight right now and we're still seeing ballots coming in, that we can't call the state of Georgia. It would be irresponsible for us to do so.

But we can tell you this, that if the margin is less than one-half percent, then the campaign, this will be the Trump campaign, can request an automatic recount.

Now, the votes have to be certified for that to happen. That's why we will Georgia play out. And we should also note that regardless of what happens to any of these contests, Joe Biden is the president-elect. But people deserve to get their votes counted. And as we watch Georgia, this is something that we're going to follow into January, Ana, because what happens in Georgia is very likely two Senate runoffs, control of the United States Senate on the line.

CABRERA: Yes, every vote counts. And like you said, this is an ongoing process. Mark Preston, thank you so much.

Still to come, more insight from those closest to the president on his plans or lack thereof to concede.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay right there.

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[18:15:00]

CABRERA: Calls are growing within President Trump's inner circle to accept his loss. But, so far, the president is only digging in, refusing to concede, even claiming without evidence that he won by a lot, and he's calling it a stolen election.

Now, Trump's friend and the founder and CEO of Conservative news channel Newsmax, tells CNN the president has no plans to change his tune.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER RUDDY, CEO, NEWSMAX MEDIA: So I did speak to him this week, and I can tell you that he is not interested in conceding at this time.

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CABRERA: Joining us now, CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen, he's also a former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, and Kirsten Powers, CNN Senior Political Analyst and Columnist for USA Today. Great to have both of you, I know you've been working hard over the last several days, so thanks so much for taking the extra time tonight.

David, the gravity of this moment, a U.S. president refusing to concede while the country and seemingly the rest of the world are moving on, this is unprecedented, is it not?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. One more thing in the Trump years that is unprecedented and sadly so. The person getting hurt the most by this is Trump. He's ruining his reputation. He could go out as a classy guy and he said, I've lost this, I'm going to support Biden, and I want to make sure that the country moves forward. Instead, he's got this childish response.

And he's obviously like a blowtorch in the White House. And you get anywhere near him and suggest to him that he might want to concede, you know, you just get really burned like it. Look at Melania, you know, who has reportedly told him, you really ought to concede this. Then she had to back it up and put out a tweet showing, you know, fidelity to her husband, support for her husband. Jared Kushner, we understand, you know, he approached him, and he's gotten knocked back. He had to walk it back.

We're in strange times. I do think the moment is coming, and maybe tomorrow, when the president's lawyers have to start filing lawsuits that have evidence in them, and that's going to be a real test. So far, we've seen no evidence. And what little we've heard that might be out there, even if it were true, it would not change the outcome of the election.

So it's really put up or shut up time tomorrow or when he starts filing these lawsuits.

CABRERA: And, Kirsten, we learned former two-term Republican President George W. Bush has called Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to offer his congratulations, calling the election fundamentally fair and the outcome clear. And yet some high-ranking Republicans in Congress continue to say this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Trump has not lost. Do not concede, Mr. President. Fight hard.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): At this point we do not know who has prevailed in the election. The media is desperately trying to get everyone to coronate Joe Biden as the next president, but that's not how it works.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: I just think about how this could have been an exit ramp for so many Republicans who maybe, you know, in private have disagreed with this president but in public have felt like they have to, you know, go along with the shenanigans that we've witnessed over the years. But why do you think Republicans are reacting the way they are?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Because I think that Trumpism exists now whether Trump is the president or not and that's what they're doing. That's the game that they're playing right now, which is they don't want to upset the voters who are listening to Trump, who's telling them that the election has been stolen.

You know, it's interesting to hear the Republicans, people like Ted Cruz, arguing that the media, you know, is behind all this when, of course, Fox News called the race for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. So are we really supposed to believe that Fox News is part of this conspiracy against Donald Trump after what we have watched go on over there for the last four years? I mean, it's not really -- it's not really believable. So, it's so irresponsible.

And, you know, I think that the thing is you have people who love Donald Trump, who voted for him, who support him and who believe him. And what he's telling them is just not true. And we know that he has obviously a long history of saying things that are not true.

[18:20:03]

But this is -- this is one of the most damaging things that he's done to really undermine the election and to -- you know, I do wonder if in the end, if he'll ever admit that he legitimately lost or if he'll insist that he's being pushed out, you know, by the establishment but that he really won.

CABRERA: That's so interesting to think, like will he ever admit it because we know so often he doesn't. That's just not in his nature to ever admit he was wrong or to apologize or anything along those lines.

David, I want to come back to what you were discussing regarding this, you know, split in the family, the fact that our reporting is Melania Trump has had conversations with her husband privately, telling him it's time to acknowledge his loss. And we're also learning that son- in-law Jared Kushner, senior adviser, as well has approached Trump about conceding. But his sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump, are digging in, telling their father not to back down.

What does it tell you, David, that the two people who are inside the White House are the ones telling him it's time to leave?

GERGEN: Well, it does underscore the fact that there are grave splits within the White House. And, you know, Eric and Donald -- listen, I think this is part of a larger plan by the president. He has in mind to have these grievances get out there, plant them in the public mind, knowing that he's not going to succeed, that he is going to be forced out of office, but that he will leave office with some 70 million people who voted for him. A lot of them are going to back him up when he goes back into civilian life. And he will build a foundation to potentially run again. Certainly he's building a foundation to be a shadow president. He does not want to leave the stage. And, you know, he's too addicted to it, and I think this is all part of a larger scheme.

You know, he's got some possibility of -- 0.001 percent of winning this, but I think he does leave -- I think he could leave the White House being the most powerful in the Republican Party. We won't be giving him the kind of coverage we've given him, but he still will have a following of immense size.

CABRERA: And there are already rumblings about him perhaps trying to mount a comeback in 2024.

But let's just focus on the immediate future here, Kirsten. Kamala Harris will be the first female V.P., first woman of color V.P. She replaces a man who won't dine alone with women. So now between, you know, Kamala Harris, Jill Biden, Nancy Pelosi, the female influence in this next administration will be historic.

POWERS: Yes. I mean, there was so much excitement. I mean, it's interesting because, you know, Joe Biden wasn't the most exciting of the candidates, right? And he -- but by choosing Kamala Harris, you know -- I mean, I think Democrats would have been really excited obviously to get Donald Trump out of the White House either way. But by having Kamala Harris as the vice president has created such excitement among Democrats. Like it's hard to even quantify.

And I would assume, you know, there have to be lots of people even who aren't Democrats who are looking at this and recognizing the historic nature of it. I mean, it is still pretty incredible, you know, when you think about it that this is the first, right? I mean, you're thinking how is that possible, we haven't had a woman president? We finally have a woman vice president. But, you know, she is very different in so many ways than every other vice president who has come before her.

CABRERA: It will be fun to watch, and we'll be reporting on every move. Kirsten Powers, David Gergen, as always, thank you.

GERGEN: Thanks, Ana.

POWERS: Thank you.

CABRERA: The U.S. is now regularly surpassing more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus a day, the worst numbers yet. And the former FDA director warns President-elect Biden will be taking office at the apex of this pandemic. We'll discuss, next.

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[18:25:00]

CABRERA: The coronavirus emergency in this country suddenly and very quietly got much worse this week, quietly because it happened while much of the country was closely watching and focusing on the U.S. election. According to Johns Hopkins University yesterday saw the highest single day of new COVID cases since the pandemic began. Look at that, 126,742 new cases. It was also the third straight day of new cases topping 120,000.

CNN Medical Analyst, Dr. Esther Choo is joining us now. Doctor, what's your reaction to these record-setting numbers, and just tell us why, why are new cases soaring like this right now?

DR. ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes, it's important to understand those numbers in context because testing is still insufficient and has kind of tapered off in terms of the increase in testing. So when we say there are record numbers of increasing cases, those are measured cases. So we know the actual count of new cases is three or four times that in all likelihood.

And a lot of this, we believe, is because we relaxed. You know, we had some successes in late summer going into early fall. We all got tired of some of these measures, like social distancing and mask-wearing. People went back to school. Businesses started to open again, and it's very hard to turn things off once we turn them on. So I think there was just kind of this burst of very understandable energy and social energy that came out in people wanting to gather again.

[18:30:08]

But those kind of things have consequences and we're seeing them now. Even as the cold weather is driving us indoors, where most of the transmission occurs, and of course we're headed into all of these holidays.

CABRERA: So it could get worse before it gets better. We know President-elect Joe Biden is set to announce his coronavirus task force tomorrow, but the former FDA commissioner is warning that Biden will be taking office at the apex of this pandemic. That's still 73 days away. What is it going to take to get this under control?

CHOO: I think the pivot on some level has to happen immediately. I mean, we have new leadership coming in. They have a plan that they've put out. It is science-based. They've said some wonderful things including the fact that public health decisions should be made in concert with public health officials.

And I think we need to start pivoting our brain space to looking at that leadership coming in and looking for their messaging and guidance going forward so that we can start turning the corner in the most genuine of senses, turning the corner to better on this pandemic. But we cannot wait for action. I think that change needs to happen as soon as possible.

CABRERA: This image caught my attention last night as we saw President-elect Joe Biden run on to the stage in a mask to speak to the nation. I mean, just that image of the next president setting this example is striking because it's in such contrast to what we've seen with the current president. What kind of impact could that have? CHOO: That image was really -- it represents hope and better sleep for

health professionals across the country because we know that the president of the United States is one of the most influential messengers when it comes to uptake of behaviors like that, not only in the United States but around the world. So just seeing that lets us all know that this is a president who is going to listen to scientists.

He's going to surround himself with scientists and pandemic experts, and he is going to set the best possible example, which makes all of our jobs a lot easier. When we don't have to spend time and oxygen correcting misinformation, we can all move forward and put all that energy into just getting it right and putting an end to this pandemic.

CABRERA: And yet given the trajectory of this virus and the partisan nature of how to defeat it, the fact that, you know, masks have become political, that President Trump has attacked the science surrounding this virus and the doctors even who are working to fight it, is this what we are seeing now, do you think, perhaps the status quo until we get a vaccine?

CHOO: I really hope not. I mean I appreciate that that is what has happened to the discourse, but recognize that we've had, you know, a task force and a coronavirus effort out of our administration that has been led by politicians and not by scientists. We had very few scientists, and they were often underutilized. I think in a new administration where there's not just a single or, you know, a couple of scientists but really that they are leading this task force, we have three tremendous leaders already co-chairing this task force, we will hear tomorrow about the broader group of people they'll bring in.

I think the discourse will start to be very scientifically focused, very much focused on public health, and in language and framing that really is about what's best for everybody. And I think we can -- I think really we can reshape the way that this conversation has gone so that everybody feels that they are heard and they are part of it.

CABRERA: Well, Dr. Esther Choo, we hear you. We appreciate your voice on our show and appreciate all you do. Thank you so much for being here.

CHOO: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: President Trump's campaign says it will begin prosecuting its case claiming election fraud tomorrow. But does the president have a chance? We'll ask an attorney next.

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[18:38:05]

CABRERA: President Trump is digging in. He's refusing to concede the 2020 race while pushing his attorneys to pursue legal challenges in key battleground states. Sources telling CNN First Lady Melania Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, are urging the president to accept his election loss. But the president's sons, Don Junior and Eric Trump, they're pushing

Republicans and Trump supporters to reject the election results, which brings us to tonight's "Cross-Exam" with CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, former U.S. assistant attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Elie, one viewer asks how realistic is it that President Trump can succeed on a strategy of challenging state election results in court?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Ana, here is my free, unsolicited advice for President Trump. It's over. It is over. This legal strategy has almost no chance of changing the outcome of the election. The biggest problem is they simply do not have reliable evidence of widespread voter fraud. And we are seeing courts around the country dismiss these lawsuits from the Trump campaign almost as quickly as they're filed. We've seen dismissals now in Georgia, in Michigan, in Nevada, in Arizona.

The only case with any realistic chance so far is the one out of Pennsylvania involving the extension of deadline from November 3rd to November 6th. The Supreme Court has shown some potential willingness to take that case and perhaps to throw out some of the ballots. But here's the practical problem. Margins matter. You were talking earlier in the show about Arizona. People may be wondering why does Arizona matter? He's already -- Joe Biden's already over 270.

Because if Joe Biden holds on to Arizona or Georgia, then he doesn't even need Pennsylvania in order to stay over 270. And even within Pennsylvania, it looks like Biden's margin of victory is way larger than even the number of ballots that are in dispute. So President Trump has said that tomorrow we're going to see this grand litigation strategy rolled out. They better come up with something new because so far they've got nothing.

[18:40:01]

CABRERA: You know, the latest numbers of Arizona today, about 20,000 vote difference. Georgia, about 10,000 vote difference, and much more in Pennsylvania still.

Here's another question from a viewer, Elie. Can President Trump take a case to the Supreme Court and have them decide who won the election as he said he would do?

HONIG: No. That is not the way it works. I really want to make sure people understand this. First of all, nobody gets to take a case to the Supreme Court. They decide if they'll hear your case. It's called certiorari. They only grant certiorari, take your case in under 5 percent of all cases presented to them.

Second of all, in a case like this, you cannot go directly to the Supreme Court. Procedurally you first have to go through the lower federal courts or through a state Supreme Court. Also the Supreme Court only considers what we call actual cases or controversies. They do not issue a decree, you win the election, you lose the election. There has to be an actual legal dispute. Now people may be wondering, how about "Bush v. Gore"? But please

understand the Supreme Court in "Bush v. Gore" did not say, George W. Bush, you win, Al Gore, you lose. They were ruling on a very narrow, very specific issue of law because the whole election happened to come down to one state, Florida, and because the margin was razor thin, not even a thousand votes. We had this very unusual situation. That is not the scenario here. Do not expect another "Bush versus Gore."

CABRERA: So this question from another viewer may be on a number of people's minds given how close the race is in a few of these states. Under what circumstances can the losing candidate request a recount?

HONIG: Yes, Ana. Like so many things you and I have discussed over the past few months, the rules here vary state by state. And you can see a list here of some of the key states, Arizona on down through Wisconsin. Generally speaking, recounts are triggered only in very close elections. The numbers vary from a 1 percent margin to a 0.5 percent margin, in some cases just a small number of votes, 2,000 votes. In some states, it's automatic if the margin's that close. In other states, it's by request of a party. But there are states where if you request a recount and then you lose, you have to foot the bill.

Here's what viewers really need to know about recounts. They almost never change anything in a major way. In 2016, there actually was a recount in the presidential race in Wisconsin, and that resulted in a net change of 131 votes. That is nowhere near enough to swing a state, and it looks increasing like President Trump is going to have to swing multiple states in order to make any impact here.

CABRERA: Elie Honig, good to have you here. Thanks so much for your expertise.

HONIG: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: And thanks to our viewers for their ongoing great questions.

HONIG: Yes.

CABRERA: The former presidential candidate says he's moving to Georgia to help Democrats win the two crucial Senate runoffs there. At least what appear to be runoffs as the state continues to tally votes. We'll tell you who right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:11]

CABRERA: Democrats in the state of Georgia have reason to celebrate today. The last time this state voted blue in a presidential election was 1992. And while the state is still too close to call, President- elect Joe Biden is hanging on to a slim lead, a little over 10,000 votes in Georgia. And on top of that, both of the state's Senate seats now appear to be headed for runoffs, and Natasha Chen is standing by in Atlanta.

What is the mood there right now, Natasha? NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, in the city of Atlanta

and even the suburbs surrounding it, the mood is very celebratory. I'm sure you've seen images of people partying in the streets. We were at another rally today in Smyrna in the suburbs where people were very excited to celebrate the Biden-Harris victory. That's been happening even as Georgia continues to count the votes as you just said.

Joe Biden currently leading by about 10,000 votes. But the focus is already turning to these runoffs for the two critical Senate seats, and the reason they're headed to runoffs is because none of these candidates reached 50 percent of the vote, which is required here in the state. And so what you've got in January is Jon Ossoff, the Democrat, running against Senator David Perdue. That will be a rematch.

And then you've got Reverend Raphael Warnock, the Democrat, against Republican Kelly Loeffler. They were in a special election, so there were a lot of candidates in that race, and they were the top two candidates that will be moving forward.

So what we saw at these parties throughout the weekend were Democrats already registering volunteers to work for the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns. And a lot of people also talking about crediting Stacey Abrams, the gubernatorial candidate from two years ago, Democrat, who with her campaign and the work that followed in the last two years, people say that's really what drove the turnout for Democrats this time around.

Here's what Abrams said today about Democrats' chances for these two Senate seats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STACEY ABRAMS (D), FORMER GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: This is the first time that we will have three things happen. One, we've got Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock at the top of these tickets working together to make certain that voters come back. Number two, we will have the investment and the resources that have never followed our runoffs in Georgia for Democrats.

And, number three, this is going to be the determining factor of whether we have access to health care and access to justice in the United States. Those are two issues that will make certain that people turn out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And former presidential candidate, Democrat, Andrew Yang, also said this weekend that he's moving to Atlanta to help canvass for the Democrats in the coming weeks. There is about to be a lot of national attention and a lot of money like the state has never seen pouring here into these campaigns. And of course it's really difficult to change people's minds at this point, and they are exhausted from a very hard-fought presidential election.

[18:50:07] So it's all going to be about the turnout. Which side can get their voters to the polls especially right after the holidays? So they're all working toward January 5th -- Ana.

CABRERA: It's all about the balance of power in power in the Senate now. Natasha Chen, thank you.

Television legend and longtime "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Trebek passing away peacefully at his home with his wife of 30 years, Jean, and his family by his side this weekend. Trebek hosted more than 8,000 episodes of "Jeopardy!" over 37 seasons.

Earlier this evening, I spoke to the show's executive producer Mike Richards about the impact of Trebek's death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE RICHARDS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "JEOPARDY!": I sent him a note late yesterday. I think this will explain kind of who the man was. He was the most professional person that I've ever worked with in any capacity. Here he was battling cancer, pain, chemo, exhaustion. But you couldn't tell when the cameras rolled. So as a professional, the fact that he kept pushing and that he recorded what would now be his final episodes less than two weeks ago, it gives you an idea of just how much he believed in the show, how much he cared for it.

But then as a man, you know, he was an amazing dad and he loved Jean so much that it was inspirational. So what I told him was, I wanted to thank him for showing me how to be a better man at work and even more importantly a better man with my family and my wife. He was really that great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN's Stephanie Elam has more on the passing of Alex Trebek, a television industry titan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX TREBEK, HOST, "JEOPARDY!": This band's "Monster" album included "Crush with Eyeliner." REM.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (VOICE-OVER): "Jeopardy!'s" Alex Trebek had all the answers on the popular gameshow. The revamped version of "Jeopardy!" was an instant hit when it debuted in 1984. With its distinctive answer and question format, the syndicated game show made the Canadian-born Trebek a star.

TREBEK: Luck plays a very important part in success in television. If you're lucky enough to wind up on a show that the people take to heart, then you're set.

ELAM: The long-running game show earned him five Daytime Emmy Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Game Show Host from the Television Academy. TREBEK: Being nominated is nice. You don't get too excited about it,

but I'll tell you something, if I were not nominated I think I'd be disappointed, I'd be sad. Because you work hard, you do your best, you think you're doing quality work, and you want to know that people recognize you for that.

ELAM: "Jeopardy!" wasn't his only gig. The husband and father of three also hosted the National Geography Bee for 25 years.

TREBEK: A city that is divided by a river of the same name.

ELAM: The talented host became a U.S. citizen in 1998 and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the following year.

TREBEK: I am truly honored, I don't feel I deserve it, but there are a lot of other things in my life that I've had that I didn't deserve and I've enjoyed, and suffered with.

ELAM: In the middle of "Jeopardy!'s" 18th season, Trebek made headlines when he shaved his signature mustache. He told Larry King it was all on a whim.

TREBEK: I just walked into the makeup room and I said, give me the hair clippers. And I just went, zip, turned it right off, just to see what it would look like on camera. The audience reacted pretty favorably. When I went home however, my wife and my two kids did not even notice.

ELAM: Family and fans both took notice when Trebek suffered through some health scares. There were two mild heart attacks. One in 2007 and another five years later. In 2017, surgeons removed blood clots from his brain, and then in 2019, this announcement to fans.

TREBEK: This week I was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer. Now normally the prognosis for this is not very encouraging, but I'm going to fight this.

ELAM: Trebek often gave back to his community and was a strong supporter for charity such as World Vision, the USO and the National Geographic Education Foundation. The affable host was grateful for his rich television career and kept it all in perspective.

TREBEK: When I leave, somebody younger will be doing the show and it'll carry on. Shows have a life that is independent of their hosts. That doesn't mean that they won't miss the host, but they'll develop an allegiance to the new guy. And that's the way it should be because it's a quality program.

ELAM: And even though the show must go on, Alex Trebek will be forever remembered as the irreplaceable host of "Jeopardy!"

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:55:05]

CABRERA: That was Stephanie Elam reporting. And he will be missed. Thank you so much for being with me this evening. I'm Ana Cabrera in

New York. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, picks up CNN's special coverage with a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" right after a quick break. That guy never stops.

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