Is Joe Biden entitled to high-level national security briefings?

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Is Joe Biden entitled to high-level national security briefings?

Former Department of Homeland Security official Javed Ali provides insight on 'Your World'

Nov. 12, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “Your World with Neil Cavuto” November 12, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, we're going to tell you a little bit more about that sell-off, the spike in cases that's doing it that led to a spike in sell orders.

But, for now, the count goes on in at least four crucial battleground states. And if that goes on as intended here, we should have some results within, we're told, another week that could confirm one way or the other whether Joe Biden is indeed the president-elect of the United States.

Already having crossed the 270 electoral vote threshold, it seems a foregone conclusion, but the president and his team of lawyers battling one by one.

We're going to be going state by state, city by city on where that count is going on, and how it's bedeviled not only Democrats going after Republicans, but in a couple of key precincts Republicans going after Republicans.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto, and this is "Your World."

First want to go to John Roberts at the White House right now on the legal strategy the president's employing to get the count going and maybe see some signs that it could be going his way. That might be a leap, but we will get the latest now from John -- John.

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they had a small victory in court today in Pennsylvania. We will get to that in just a second.

But, first of all, just to let where we are right now, this hour, the president will be meeting with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin. The president is still doing some presidential business.

And what is some big news, the president signing an executive order which will prohibit Americans from investing in some 31 Chinese companies that support, supply and help modernize the People's Liberation Army. The president is saying American money will not be used to modernize the Chinese army, so that executive order brand-new this afternoon.

Also, probably topics of conversation in that meeting today will be new restrictions on H-1B visas that the president is expected to announce it in executive order soon, and the possibility for parents who are sending their kids to either private or parochial school because of coronavirus lockdowns and public schools may be able to get some money for that.

Now, to the lawsuits, Pennsylvania, a bit of a moral victory more than anything for the Trump campaign, symbolic victory, at least, as a judge rules that Kathy Boockvar, the secretary of state of the state of Pennsylvania, did not have the authority to say that people who needed to show identification in order for their ballots to count would have until the 9th of November to do it, the judge saying that she had no authority to do that.

So, those votes, which have all been sequestered and not counted, will likely be tossed out. But the Trump campaign is looking at this as potentially a harbinger of what may happen when it comes to the Supreme Court, because there is a case before the Supreme Court that is going to decide, if they take it up, whether or not the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania had the authority to order an extension past 8:00 p.m. on election night to receive mail-in votes.

Another big thing that's going to be happening very soon in the next day or two is the beginning of the recount in Georgia. Congressman Doug Collins of Georgia is the point person for the Trump campaign on that. Here's what he said about it today:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): In Georgia, we're seeing a very close election,

14,000 votes. We're seeing irregularities.

But we're also having the first of its kind. And that is a hand recount that will actually take these ballots and also put to rest and to safe going forward that we're actually checking these ballots against the machine count. This is the first time it's happened in Georgia. So let's see what happens

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Of course, the other big thing that's happening in Georgia will be the run-off at the end of the year for the Senate races. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are trying to hang on to their seats.

The vice president will be going down there on the 20th. It's being suggested that President Trump should as well, though no determination has yet been made whether the president will campaign in Georgia.

And one thing I have got to say, Neil, is that it's now been almost eight days. It was a week ago today that we last saw the president come out and speak with us. I have never seen him be silent for so long. Obviously, he is prolific on Twitter, but no public statements that we have seen, so highly unusual.

There is a chance he might open up this meeting that he's got with the two secretaries, though I doubt it.

CAVUTO: Is his schedule the same, John? In other words, he's obviously still doing his job and all. Do we know whether that's going minute by minute as it normally would, minus meeting the press or guys like you?

ROBERTS: Well, we don't get a look at his private schedule, but the public schedule has been very sparse.

Today, he had lunch with the vice president. He's got that meeting with the secretary of state and Treasury. Other than that, there's been no public -- well, yesterday he went to Arlington. Other than that, no public events on the president's schedule.

So, I'm just I'm told that what he's mostly doing is working the phones, in terms of talking to members of Congress, people out there in the field who are trying to get these votes, meeting with his campaign staff. He's also got a briefing on the run-offs in Georgia today.

So, it's just -- it's so strange to not see him out every day. It's weird.

CAVUTO: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

Thank you, my friend, John Roberts at the White House.

Now, as for that count that's going on, particularly in Pennsylvania and those 20 electoral votes up for grabs, they have already been decided in Joe Biden's favor. But, in this count, the administration is hoping to reverse that.

Eric Shawn in Philadelphia, where the battle isn't just between Republicans and Democrats, but sometimes between Republicans and, I guess, Eric, Republicans.

ERIC SHAWN, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That it is, Neil.

The top Republican election official here in Philadelphia, City Commissioner Al Schmidt, says that the president's claims about voter fraud are wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN: Are any illegal votes being counted? Are Democrats stealing the election here?

AL SCHMIDT (R), PHILADELPHIA CITY COMMISSIONER: No. The only votes being counted by the Board of Elections at the Pennsylvania Convention Center are votes cast by eligible voters on or before Election Day.

SHAWN: The president says there's -- quote -- "a mountain of corruption and dishonesty here."

Is that true?

SCHMIDT: No, it's not true.

SHAWN: The president says observers were not allowed in the counting rooms.

Is that true?

SCHMIDT: That's totally untrue.

SHAWN: The president says -- quote -- "Bad things happened that our observers were not allowed to see."

Is that true?

SCHMIDT: Absolutely not. We have seen observers from the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, from the Trump campaign and from the Biden campaign, more than we have seen our own families, I assure you, over the last couple of weeks.

SHAWN: Now, the critics would say the observers can't really see anything, because the place is so big. What would you say about that? I mean, it's like a football field length and some have binoculars.

SCHMIDT: Well, it is a big operation inside. And we have arranged it in a way that observers have access to see what's going on. We have it set up completely in accordance with the law. And a federal judge agreed with us on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHAWN: Well, Schmidt fears that the greatest danger to our republic the future of our country are these unfounded claims of voter fraud, that people will then not have confidence in the election system and the very tenets of our democracy.

By the way, he does say that voters can have every confidence when the election here is finally certified. That's coming in 11 days. Neil, he also doesn't even get bothered by the president's tweet against him yesterday.

He says they have a lot of work to do here to finally get the vote finished and certify the election -- back to you.

CAVUTO: So, to be clear, I just want to make sure I heard you and he correctly.

Even if there is cases of fraud or something unusual with some of these ballots, not in the number that it would take to change what's a substantial gap right now between the two men?

SHAWN: Yes.

Well, he says, first of all, that they don't have any reports at all of any evidence of voter fraud here. And in terms of those ballots that arrived after Election Day, up until 5:00 last Friday, there are about 10,000 of those ballots statewide.

And, according to the figures now, they would not affect the final outcome, since Mr. Biden is much further ahead of the president in that final -- in those numbers.

CAVUTO: All right. Thank you, Eric Shawn.

Great reporting, as always, my friend, on that, Eric Shawn counting things in Philadelphia.

Before I get to Jacqui Heinrich on how the Biden camp is responding to all of this, I want to bring you up to date on what really the focus seems to be now narrowed to three states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona.

Together, they encompass about 47 electoral votes, in Pennsylvania, where Eric was, of course, 50,000-vote gap, amounting to about three-quarters of

1 percent. In Michigan, already called for Joe Biden -- all these states were -- 146,000-vote gap, amounting to a little bit more than 2.5 percent, and finally, in Arizona, 13,000-vote gap, about four-tenths of a percent.

The president and his people are hoping that, with the count and some of these improprieties they charge are going on and the fraudulence going on, that all of those will be reversed and they will gain those 47 electoral votes, and that's it.

There's a separate case with Georgia we will be getting into. But suffice it to say, that tends to be the big focus right now.

Again to Jacqui Heinrich right now in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with the vice president, who's already busy looking at possible Cabinet picks.

And, boy, oh, boy, is he getting a lot of very, very strong advice, I guess, Jacqui, huh?

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: You could say that again, Neil.

As you mentioned, the legal cases that we were just talking about have been dismissed by Biden's legal team as political theater. The focus now is on picking his Cabinet posts, his administration.

The jockeying sure has begun. And some people are being a little more subtle than others. Delaware Senator Chris Coons, who's a close ally of the president-elect, who is said to be vying for secretary of state, today, his office announced he will be participating in a virtual summit on American global leadership in the time of COVID-19 alongside Cindy McCain, who is on the Biden transition advisory board.

Coons just also penned an op-ed in Foreign Affairs titled "A Bipartisan Foreign Policy Is Still Possible."

Senator Elizabeth Warren, reportedly vying for Treasury secretary, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post yesterday. She wrote: "We know that Washington insiders and their establishment allies are ready to declare that unity and consensus mean turning over the keys to giant corporations and their lobbyists, the exact opposite of what voters want. Democrats must resist this pressure."

But Congresswoman Marcia Fudge laid it all on the table, not mincing words about wanting to head up the Agriculture Department, telling Politico: "I do know there are many people who are lobbying. My name was mentioned even before the election. I have been very, very loyal to the ticket and I will remain loyal to the ticket."

There are a lot of folks, though, who want to see Bernie Sanders running the Labor Department. But with the balance of the Senate still a question, Senator Sanders knows he might have to fight hard on the floor for the promises made to get Biden progressive backing.

And that includes raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and also moving away from the fossil fuel industry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): I want to do everything I can to protect the working families of this country, who are under tremendous duress right now. Whether that's in the Senate, whether that's in the Biden administration, who knows? Well, let's see how that unfolds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: Now, one thing that's really interesting about this process that's unfolding, typically, during a transition, you would see people coming in and out of the transition office in Washington, D.C., for these meetings.

But it's a pandemic. A lot of this is happening virtually, just as a lot of Biden's campaign was going virtual in the last several months of this homestretch -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Jacqui, thank you very, very much, Jacqui Heinrich on all of that.

In the meantime, we're enough along right now where Joe Biden is seen as the president-elect of the United States, again, unless something changes, but, regardless, he is entitled to security briefings at this point just to make sure all bases are covered, if he is set to become the next president, as it looks like he will, as things stand right now, on January 20.

But there are a number of forces at play stopping that from happening, including a Trump-appointed head of the General Services Administration, who for the time being is not writing off on election results or putting a stamp on getting the briefings started.

And that has caused some consternation among, well, a lot of Republicans as well.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): We should be in the same posture that we're in throughout the whole campaign, with both of them receiving briefings, as they're both trying to be able to prepare, and then allow the process to be able to go through right now.

SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): I do think that both the president and his -- and his competition here, the -- Vice President Biden, should have access to those classified reports.

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): Two years ago, Chuck Schumer wouldn't let me come to orientation, do anything until I went through the recount, two recounts, actually. I think -- I think ought to finish the -- let's finish counting the votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, my next guest was a number -- among a number of very prominent former national security officials who wrote the General Services Administration, saying that it should recognize Joe Biden as president- elect and that not to do so or delay in doing so will be a serious risk to national security.

Javed Ali was among them, the former Department of Homeland Security official, I believe dating back to a number of administrations, but yours goes back to Gerald Ford and many presidents since.

So, your view of, Javed, is important here, because it wasn't a party view.

It was a view about just safety. Could you explain?

JAVED ALI, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yes, thanks, Neil, for having me.

Just to clarify, my time in government was from the Bush administration through the Trump administration, but I also, before I entered government service in the early 2000s, had a small role with a private company that helped with the transition from Clinton to Bush.

So, I have seen this now through almost 20 years.

CAVUTO: Got it.

ALI: And I do think, like several of the other people who signed that letter, think that ensuring a smooth national security transition for -- from the outgoing team to the incoming team,that is a key function that helps keep the country safe, and it should be removed from any sort of political calculation that is going on at the time.

CAVUTO: All right, I apologize for screwing up your background there, Javed. That was not intentional on my part. Looking at the wrong notes here.

ALI: No, no worries here.

CAVUTO: But -- no, no.

But I did want to get your take on -- I didn't know this process involved the General Services Administration and whether they have yea or nay on the process going forward.

Is it because it does not recognize yet that Joe Biden is the president- elect? Are there some details we might not be appreciating? What?

ALI: Yes, that's a great question, Neil.

And it does revolve around the authority that the administrator of GSA has in the Presidential Transition Act. I'm not a lawyer. And when I was dealing with these transition-related issues...

CAVUTO: Right.

ALI: ... I was dealing more from on the execution side of things.

But, still, part of the language revolves around, in this Presidential Transition Act, who is considered the apparent successful candidate. And so it doesn't mean that, like, what the situation we're dealing now, that all the votes have to be formally counted and the Electoral College results are complete and in.

It just means that, based on the way the voting is going at a specific time, that there should be some indication of who that apparent successful candidate is. And, as you and your colleagues have mentioned, that does seem to be president-elect Biden.

So, if that is the case, then why can't we get this process started for intelligence briefings, for president-elect Biden and his team, for the folks who are on these different transition teams, certainly in the national security realm, to show up to the General Services Administration building, and get clearances, get the right access to different departments and agencies that they will need to go to?

Or it might be virtual this time. But there's still a lot of sort of issues of mechanics and process that have to be worked out for any of this to start. And until it does start, then the Biden elect team is sort of waiting in the wings.

And, again, I think this is -- has the potential to cause harm to our national security, both at home and abroad.

CAVUTO: Well, this Emily Murphy, who is the head of the GSA, she was picked by President Trump, right?

ALI: Correct.

She was a political appointee under President Trump. But she still has the authority under...

CAVUTO: So, is this her call or this a call coming from the president?

ALI: That's a great question.

(CROSSTALK)

ALI: And looking from the outside, she certainly has the authority, as the administrator, to make all this happen.

But an open question is, how much political pressure is she getting from the White House to sort of pump the brakes a little bit and make things more difficult? Again, I have been out of government for a while, so it's hard for me to answer that. But it could go either way.

CAVUTO: Well, this is kind of scary. I don't want to belabor the point. I know my producers are going nuts, and rightly so.

But does she then single-handedly have the power to put the yea or nay on getting these security briefings on? Because, if this goes on indefinitely, and Joe Biden, assuming he is the next president of the United States, isn't getting these briefings, that could really handicap him once he does take office.

Some have said very similar to the long count with Gore and George Bush, and how that might have compromised national security and caught us flat- footed eight, nine months later on 9/11.

Are you worried about something like that?

ALI: Yes, absolutely.

And, again, she has the authority to make it happen. Whether she has, though, the final thumbs-up from inside the West Wing or the White House, that is something we don't know.

But, again, if she wanted to make this happen, she could. Whether she will or how much longer there will be a delay is something we will just have to wait back and see. But, in the meantime, again, as I have tried to emphasize, the longer this goes on, the more potential for harm that causes to national security.

And that's not a good thing for anybody, regardless of what your politics are.

CAVUTO: I hear you.

And regardless of your politics is right.

Javed Ali, thank you very, very much.

We will see where this -- where this goes. It doesn't seem like there's a great deal of risk in affording a former vice president of the United States, who had exposure to this type of intelligence in the past, to go ahead and share it with him now.

Both sides are still arguing on this point. We will see how soon or even if it's resolved.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: You know, there's not only a hand recount going on in Georgia.

That's better than five million ballots.

But the scrutiny includes what's happening in those two Senate battles, two run-off elections. We might only see one, by the way. In the case of Senator David Perdue, in a count that could bring him over 50 percent, that run-off might not be necessary, be that as it may, a very closely watched state, in the case of Lindsey Graham, forking over a million dollars in funds from his campaign unused to help out in these Republican Senate campaigns that could go a long way to deciding the shape of the United States Senate.

Democrats would have to take both races to get a Senate majority here. That could be an uphill climb.

Steve Harrigan following it all very closely from Atlanta, Georgia.

Hey, Steve.

STEVE HARRIGAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Neil, a whole lot of work about to begin with the presidential election here in Georgia.

They are about to begin counting across the entire state about five million paper ballots in that presidential election. They have to start by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow across the state. They have to finish by Wednesday. Those votes have to be certified by November 20.

There's going to be basically a simple operation, two election workers at each table, a pile of paper ballots for Trump, a pile of paper ballots for Biden. And then count up those piles, day and night, until they have a number.

Right now, Biden is leading in the toll by about 14,000 votes. We will see if that changes.

And you mentioned those two Senate run-off races January 5. They are already really heating up. We will give you a taste of what it looks like between Republican Kelly Loeffler and her Democratic opponent, Raphael Warnock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: ... sympathizes with Marxists and socialists and wants to make your neighborhoods less safe. Don't let him fool you with pizza and puppies. Raphael Warnock is too extreme for Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIGAN: Now, the man in charge of the elections for this entire process, this enormous recount just announced a short time ago, the Georgia secretary of state, his wife tested positive for COVID. And he is now in quarantine -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Steve Harrigan, thank you very, very much.

Meanwhile, the pressure is on the president-elect about the picking and choosing his Cabinet. A number of people are making it known that they'd love to be considered for that or have some great names for him to consider, among them Bernie Sanders, who would easily and happily take a labor secretary position in a Biden administration.

And then there's all the talk around whether -- whether, again, Elizabeth Warren could be recruited to become Treasury secretary in her own way. That kind of stuff generally panics the markets. She's no fan of theirs, and they of her.

But, of course, that might be a bit of a dicey proposition. We will get into that, having nothing to do with Elizabeth Warren, but the fact that she's a senator and the governor of her state is a Republican. I think you know how that goes.

We have got Adam Lashinsky with us, FOX News contributor, Business Insider contributor writing, much, much more, David Asman, of course, a star on FOX Business, which, if you don't get, you should demand. But then again, you're watching us, so I'm sure you get it. So, Stef Kight with us as well, Axios reporter.

Stef, end it with you and begin with you on this pushing for a post in a Biden administration. The Bernie Sanders one struck me as a little odd and the labor secretary post. I could see that. And the interests of a lot of people in the progressive party would love that, as they would in Elizabeth Warren at Treasury.

The trouble with Elizabeth Warren at Treasury is that the Republican governor of Massachusetts would appoint her replacement. And, most likely, it would not be a Democrat, right?

STEF KIGHT, AXIOS: Right. Exactly.

If you're looking at the two of them, Bernie Sanders is really the big main progressive who is safest to move out of the Senate for Democrats at this point. And, in many ways, it makes sense that it would be at the Labor Department, given that Bernie Sanders has for the past two presidential campaigns and throughout his career always focused on economic issues, always focused on economic inequalities.

And we know that that's going to be a primary focus of a Biden administration next year coming out of coronavirus and after the summer of racial unrest we have had. We know that's going to be front and center. And it would be a huge win for progressives and make it easier on the transition team, for Biden's transition team, to fill other positions with other people, if they gave Bernie Sanders a position like this.

CAVUTO: You know, David, when you talk to a lot of folks in the market, of course, they love split government, whether they're Democrat or Republican.

They think that works out best. I guess it depends on the history and how you read it. It does seem to be the case.

But, having said that, this Florida -- I'm sorry -- this Georgia race, twin races, if they both flip Democrat -- it seems like an uphill climb -- what do you think the Street's reaction would be, because that would give them a Senate majority?

DAVIS ASMAN, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Oh, I think the Street would react very badly to that.

I think that they're hoping on many fronts that Biden is forced to govern from a position of moderation. And we were just talking about Bernie Sanders as secretary of labor. I mean, whatever happens in this election, it was not a mandate to reject capitalism.

And that's precisely what Bernie Sanders wants to do. And he's been very open about it. And he comes out with a position paper called corporate accountability and democracy, in which he outlines the various things he would likely do as either president or secretary of labor.

And to a large degree, workers, in his view of the new America, would replace both management and shareholders as -- in decision-making and profits. I mean, he would mandate, for example, that all publicly traded companies should provide at least 2 percent of the stocks to workers every year until the company's 20 percent owned by employees.

He would mandate that 45 percent of board directors in any large corporation be directly elected by the firm's workers. So, essentially, he's creating the socialist ideal of a workers' marketplace.

And what that would do is essentially eliminate markets as a determination of the value of the company. And the value would be entirely determined by workers. It's a socialist vision. And is America ready for a socialism ideal to replace capitalism?

CAVUTO: All right.

ASMAN: I don't think so. It's certainly not a mandate that we saw in this election.

CAVUTO: Adam, again, much depends on the makeup of the Senate in the end.

If it stays Republican, I think a lot of people maybe have false comfort that some of those tax increases and some of the Biden measures he's been calling for -- and David alluded to a couple -- they're going to go through.

I just wonder if this view that everything is stopped in the Senate would hold. What do you think?

ADAM LASHINSKY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You're asking me if it's the view that Biden will be able to get those taxes through, no matter what, Neil?

CAVUTO: Well, I'm not saying all of them. I'm not saying all of them.

But a lot of what he wants to do -- leave aside executive orders -- but some of the things he could have with the wheeling and dealing that good invariably return to the Senate. It might not be dead on arrival. I'm just wondering what your thoughts are on that.

(LAUGHTER)

LASHINSKY: Well, the way Mitch McConnell is behaving in the last week and in the coming weeks in the lead-up to the Georgia run-offs would suggest that he doesn't plan to work with a with a President Biden.

But -- so I also think, Neil, contrary to the way that David just explained this, I think we're leaving out that Biden himself intends to be a moderating force, and not to usher in socialism.

CAVUTO: Yes, he would probably welcome a divided Senate, right? I mean, that might give him some cover, right?

LASHINSKY: I mean, I have heard that political argument.

CAVUTO: Yes.

LASHINSKY: I'm sure President Biden would welcome a Democratic-controlled Senate to move his policy objectives along.

CAVUTO: Yes, David told me that. That was David.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: David tells me that. I have no idea.

LASHINSKY: I understand.

ASMAN: Neil, you're bad. You're bad.

CAVUTO: Guys, I'm sorry. We have got tight time here.

And that was just a joke.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: But we will follow this very, very closely.

Real quick, on the corner of Wall and Broad here, you saw the sell-off in the Dow. That had nothing really to do with all these political machinations back and forth, had everything to do with a spike in coronavirus cases and some new lockdown measures that are going to be in effect as soon as tonight -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: For now, Mitch McConnell looks like he's going to be running the United States Senate. Georgia could decide some things.

But he is now setting his sights on some Democratic governors he says, when it comes to the virus, are over the top -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, the virus and the spike in cases scaring the markets, and the language on Capitol Hill, well, scaring both parties.

Chad Pergram now on Capitol Hill on what's going on.

Hey, Chad.

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good afternoon, Neil.

Well, there was a rather extraordinary moment on the Senate floor this morning, where Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, he called out the governors of California and New York state, Andrew Cuomo and Gavin Newsom. He basically accused them of politicizing a potential coronavirus vaccine.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Just a few weeks ago, the Democratic governors of both New York and California both began openly second-guessing the Food and Drug Administration and doubting its ability to assess the safety of a vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERGRAM: McConnell said Democrats -- quote -- "do not need to dabble in anti-vax conspiracy theories."

Meantime, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are doubling down on wanting a massive COVID bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): McConnell is sticking to his emaciated bill.

So, yes, we think there has been change. It should move things in our direction. We're willing to sit down and talk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERGRAM: Now, a lot of people think that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have missed an opportunity to do a coronavirus bill before the election.

And the chances of doing a coronavirus bill during the lame-duck Congress, which is ongoing right now, frankly, are pretty dim -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Chad Pergram, thank you very, very much.

Well, let's just say, when it came to Disney earnings announced after the bell, it's not such a stinky world after all.

The surprise numbers that have a lot of people saying maybe the company isn't Mickey Mousing around anymore. See what I did there, Mickey Mousing around?

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: We will have more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, so Disneyland remains closed in California, Disney World working under limited capacity in Florida, yet Disney reported much better- than-expected numbers in its quarterly report out just minutes ago.

Jackie DeAngelis, what were we missing on this?

JACKIE DEANGELIS, FOX BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Neil.

Well, you can see a green arrow there on Disney stock in the after-hours, because the numbers were better than expected. Revenue was close to $15 billion. Earnings per share, it was a loss of 20 cents, but it was a smaller loss than Wall Street was expecting.

When you dig in, what this really means for investors out there and all of us that are watching, you look at parks, experiences and products, that revenue was down 61 percent year over year. You think about the theme parks. It's a global operation. You have got parks in Europe. You have got parks in Asia.

Here in the United States, closed in California, but opened with restrictions in Orlando, as we're talking about a spike in coronavirus cases, you could potentially see more shutdowns, president-elect Biden's health person, his COVID adviser, certainly suggesting that.

And we could see a change here when it comes to a company like Disney. Now,

Disney+ was the key, right, because people stayed home during the

Disney+ pandemic

and they streamed more services. Those numbers were good, 73.7 million subscribers.

But studio and entertainment revenues, they were $1.6 billion, down 52 percent year on year, because a lot less people are going for those theatrical releases in the movies. And they're watching at home. And part of the concern right now is, can a company like Disney continue with the content that it's serving audiences with the streaming service, Neil, if we all end up under more lockdowns?

CAVUTO: Yes, it could be short-lived.

Thank you very, very much on that, Jackie.

In the meantime, want to go to a concert? Well, better test negative for the virus. It could be that black and white and that simple.

Kristina Partsinevelos outside Madison Square Garden with what could go down, and sooner than you think.

Hey, Kristina.

KRISTINA PARTSINEVELOS, FOX NEWS BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly.

You're heading to your maybe favorite band. For you, Neil, maybe it's Adele. And all of a sudden, you get stopped by an employee. They ask for you to prove that you took the vaccine or you tested negatively for COVID just within a 72-hour period.

This could be the near future. Ticketmaster is exploring this as an option.

They said that they're not going through with it just yet. But they said the onus of enforcing such a rule would be on the event organizer, like in Madison Square Garden. Keep in mind, Ticketmaster is owned by Live Nation.

They have got venues all across the country. If they were to move through with this, it's a three-pronged approach. You got the first thing you need, the app, the Ticketmaster app. Then you would need -- they would be working with third-party health providers, and then, lastly, vaccine providers and distributors.

They said too they wouldn't be keeping any of your personal information.

That would be put on a third-party independent member, though Madison Square Garden, all of these artists in general, it's a huge revenue stream, bringing in more than $5 billion in gross revenue last year.

So they want to get fans back into those concert halls. They're just working through the process. No timeline just yet -- back to you.

CAVUTO: All right, great story, Kristina. Thank you.

Mike Gunzelman, we know him as Gunz, Internet radio host, entertainment reporter, just sensation.

Would you do this? Would you go through these kind of hoops to go see a concert?

MIKE GUNZELMAN, INTERNET RADIO HOST: I mean, it is sort of asking for a lot.

I mean, say, Neil, you and I, we want to go see Billy Joel. We love Billy Joel. "Piano Man," I mean, it's a classic. But then we find out that we now have to give a laboratory permission to give a third-party app our health results and more?

There's been a lot of mixed reaction out there, especially online, from parents saying, hey, maybe I don't want to give my kids' health info to a third-party app if they just want to go see the Jonas Brothers.

So, I understand it. I want concerts back. We all want some sort of normalcy. But is this too far of a line to go from, hey, mandating just face masks to now having to prove that you have gotten the vaccine?

So, there's definitely a little bit of a gray area.

CAVUTO: Yes.

 GUNZELMAN: Also, Neil, time and time again, these tech companies tell us, oh, we won't do anything with the information. Then we find out that the information is getting leaked online.

So there's definitely that tech, big tech aspect to it of where this private information is going. So...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: No, I hear you on that.

I would do it, buddy, for Adele. I don't know if I would do it for anyone else.

But I am curious about this. You do this sort of stuff in business all the time. At our own company, right, you got to make sure with the test they give us, that we're still testing negative. If we're not, they haul us out.

Actually, they bring you to the roof, and they just...

(LAUGHTER)

GUNZELMAN: Right.

CAVUTO: But, anyway, the fact is, that is standard operating procedure for corporate America. So these are different times. This is a way to make sure everything's safe. What do you think?

GUNZELMAN: Well, we're going from live events.

And people will argue, well, listen, it's not your right to go to a private concert. OK, that's fine. But are we going to see it go from live events to maybe airplanes next, that you have to prove some sort of negative test or that you have the vaccine to get on an airplane?

Or what happens if that does go to an employee and trying to get to work?

Is there some sort of legal right there?

CAVUTO: Well, what is the difference between that and the airline requiring a mask or what have you? It's just one other leap forward to demanding that you're testing negative.

GUNZELMAN: It's just another thing, right?

CAVUTO: You just don't like the intrusion, right?

What do you -- it seems like you have something to hide. I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

GUNZELMAN: Who, me? Never. Never me.

But it is interesting...

CAVUTO: All right.

GUNZELMAN: ... because I feel like this is the way we're going, for sure.

But, Neil, I will see you at Billy Joel, my man. Let's go.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Yes. No, he's great. But I would do that for him. I would do that for him and Adele. That's about it. I might -- that's about it.

GUNZELMAN: Justin Bieber?

CAVUTO: Thank you.

GUNZELMAN: What about Bieber?

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: Yes.

You. I would do it for you. I mean, you're very entertaining. But I don't know.

GUNZELMAN: Oh.

CAVUTO: I would stop it there.

Thank you, my friend.

GUNZELMAN: Take care.

CAVUTO: Be healthy. Be well. Be safe, Gunz, great sense of humor.

All right, we have a lot more coming up. We're going to be talking to Debbie Dingell, the Democratic congresswoman, what she makes of this back- and-forth over the security issue and whether we're going to allow Joe Biden to have these security briefings.

It's got a lot of Democrats upset. It's got a lot of Republicans upset.

Her thoughts -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: Boy, so many of these voter lawsuits, so little time.

Interesting one in Maricopa County, Arizona, of course, a state that the president still insists and his people insist he won, yet Joe Biden has gotten picked as the winner.

Alicia Acuna in Phoenix with how this particular battle is still raging -- Alicia.

ALICIA ACUNA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.

In his opening statement, Trump campaign attorney Kory Langhofer said that this case is not about fraud. He said -- quote -- "The allegation here is that, in what appears to be a limited number of cases, there were good- faith errors in the operating machine that should result in further review of ballots. It is not a fraud case. It is not a stealing the election case."

What this is about in person voting on Election Day. The Trump campaign claims poll workers incorrectly told voters whose ballots were rejected by the machine as over-votes to override the system by hitting a green button, rather than letting them fix it.

In openings, the defense pointed out -- quote -- "Out of 166,875 ballots that were cast on Election Day in Maricopa County on the presidential line for electors, the Electoral College, either for defendant Donald J. Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden or the Libertarian candidate, only 191 of those Election Day ballots turned out to be reported as over-votes."

Neil, on the latest count, Biden now leads the president by 11,537, the number of ballots remaining, while the count is still under way, 24,603 -- Neil.

CAVUTO: And they're convinced, if memory serves me right, Alicia, that those ballots from areas where Republicans might have filed them late, not in all cases, but that they could be disproportionately Republican.

But to make up that gap, what does it look like?

ACUNA: If you look at the numbers, it's really not going to make up much of a difference. It will be minuscule.

And from all of the analysis that we have seen, with the numbers that remain in the state of Arizona, the president would need to win 70 percent of what is left. And we're still waiting for numbers from Pima County, which also includes a very liberal part of the state, Tucson -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Alicia, thank you. That's very, very interesting here.

In the meantime, there doesn't seem to be much so far to disrupt the notion that Joe Biden is indeed the president-elect of the United States.

That could change in some of these counts. But, again, the Trump folks would have to run the table in the remaining races, which is why a lot of people are already calling Joe Biden about Cabinet positions and other jobs in the administration, Bernie Sanders the latest to say, yes, labor secretary, I'd be interested in that.

Talk that a number of other groups, the more progressive in nature, are saying Elizabeth Warren would make a perfect Treasury secretary. So, the battle is on.

I wonder what Debbie Dingell makes of it, the Democratic Michigan congresswoman.

Congresswoman, very good to have you back.

Is there a little bit of infighting going on among Democrats? You always see that. But between progressives, who definitely want a seat at the table and not to be forgotten, and others, more traditional, saying, Joe, don't go too far left with that Cabinet.

Where are you on this?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Neil, I think what you're going to see is a very diverse Cabinet made up of every kind of background, every philosophy.

And I think people will be happy when they see the Cabinet that has been picked. I don't know who's going to be there. I have heard from lots people, like everybody else is.

But I think Joe Biden is going to try to set a table that has every voice at it, listen to people, and try to find common ground, which I think we're going to get rid of some of the drama we have seen the last four years.

CAVUTO: All right.

Well, there's been some drama between parts of -- in your party, Congresswoman, on this. But that's to be expected, everyone angling for jobs.

I would be curious what your thoughts -- I know you're in the House, but this battle in Georgia for these two remaining seats up. If they stay Republican, do you think that's going to hurt Joe Biden's agenda? Do you think it's going to make it much more difficult for him to raise taxes or do some of the other things if he's got to answer to and deal with Mitch McConnell?

DINGELL: You know, first of all, I think, obviously, if it's a Republican- controlled Senate, there are challenges, but I also think it's going to be what the issue -- which the issue is, which one we're talking about.

I will tell you something. Right now, I can't -- there are so many people desperate, as these numbers are starting to go up on COVID, that people are getting worried about their jobs. People aren't going into businesses.

We need to do a COVID relief bill, period. And I think the senators...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: Do you think one could be done, Congresswoman, in the lame-duck session? You think one could be crafted in that session?

Nancy Pelosi seemed to allude to that possibility.

DINGELL: I'm going to tell you, Neil, we need one.

I kept saying we couldn't not do one for months. And I kept promising my people, the state and locals, government, that they needed help. We had to do one.

And I gave up predicting this. But I think Senator McConnell has said he would like to do something. Does that translate to action? What will the president do? I don't know.

But we need one. And I will tell you something. I don't -- you're not in a red or blue state. Every state is suffering right now from increases in surges of COVID. And people need help and support.

CAVUTO: Let me ask you a little bit of talk -- you about a blue wave. There was less of one certainly than thought, minus the White House, and certainly in the House.

It's looking like -- and it could change, Congresswoman. It's a 218-202 margin in favor of Democrats in the newly constituted House. But that's down from 232 Democrats and 197 Republicans. And there are some other races to go.

Are you worried that whatever happened on the national level in the White House didn't extend to where you work in the House and didn't extend to the Senate?

DINGELL: You know, this is what I'm going to say, Neil. And I'm very blunt about this. None of us can be judgmental.

We need to look at the number of people that voted for President Trump and why. I am someone who thinks that we have, A, let Republicans define who we are. And I use this -- you have seen all this -- everybody using different phrases to brand them.

My father-in-law was one of the authors of Social Security. He got called a socialist. He got called a communist. He had crosses burnt on his lawn.

You tell me who in America is going to call Social Security a socialist idea right now. Democrats have got to own what they're doing. There are people at the dinner tables every night that are talking about issues that they are worried about, from whether their job is going to be safe, having trade deals, whether there's a level playing field, access to broadband in urban and rural areas, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, making sure people with preexisting coverage have -- we have got a lot of common ground.

And we have got to do a better job of talking about...

CAVUTO: So, there's areas, areas where you -- areas where you could work. I get it.

In the limited time we have, Congresswoman, a lot of Democrats are criticizing the president's team for just wanting to look at these states, count the ballots. Of course, you can remember, four years ago, there was the same criticism Republicans had of Democrats, wanted to count the ballots, not so sure, 20 years ago, in Bush-Gore, when the party's roles were reversed.

Wouldn't it be the same if the roles were reversed?

DINGELL: I'm going to tell you something. By now, President Trump had access to intelligence briefings. People were unhappy, but they believed in a smooth and orderly transition.

I think every vote has got to be counted. And we got to make sure that people know that every vote counted. But I'm very concerned...

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: So, you're OK with that. You just don't want to call fraudulent or rigged. I get that.

DINGELL: Correct.

CAVUTO: But the vote counting itself, that's not a problem for you?

DINGELL: Yes, but I think these lawsuits are...

CAVUTO: OK.

DINGELL: ... aren't even designated-to-win lawsuits.

I think they're trying to undermine people's confidence in election outcomes and to attack the integrity.

CAVUTO: All right.

DINGELL: And I think that's wrong.

CAVUTO: All right, let's see what the president does after of all this is said and done.

Congresswoman Dingell, great seeing you again. Thank you very, very much.

The hope on both sides, cooler heads prevail. It could happen.

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