>> let's go to jeff zeleny who covers the biden transition for us in wilmington, delaware. jeff, what are you learning? what are the biden people seeing when they look at this? we have not called either race, who knows what is going to happen, could go either way but looks like things are trending democratic, and this is a state obviously that joe biden won in november. >> it is, jake. and they are watching these numbers come in very carefully and their silence is calculated. they're not saying anything this evening i'm told. president-elect biden is watching tonight, not expected to make a statement until the races have been called. but two months from tomorrow is the date at which he accepted victory right here in wilmington. this will be as dramatic of a moment for him in terms of how it will affect his presidency if democrats win those seats. but we're not there yet. one thing they believe is the biden map can form a direction for the democratic party. for all of internal fights going on inside the democratic party we've seen happen in races across the country last year

let's begin with jeff zeleny in brussels. the biden administration really attempting to undo what they see as the damage of the trump administration in terms of undermining that alliance. what's the message but also what are the concrete changes that biden is proposing here? >> reporter: well, jim, there is no question that president biden has been trying to strengthen that alliance and reaffirm the commitment of the u.s. to the military alliance here. all these meetings are going on behind me here in nato headquarters here in brussels. and president biden made very clear from the opening moment he arrived here earlier this morning. he said, "i want europe to know that the u.s. will be there." that was his message to european leaders here, some 30 nations or so, leaders of which are meeting. they only get about five minutes to have a presentation. but it's the even more important are the conversations going on between leaders. and i can tell you that summit on wednesday with russian president vladimir putin front and center i

jeff zeleny, thank you so much. joining us from brussels. >>> one of the major points of contention between the u.s. and russia is the recent ransomware attacks targeting important u.s. infrastructure. well, today putin said russia is prepared to extradite cybercriminals to the u.s. on a reciprocal basis. president biden replying with us. >> yes, i'm open to -- if there's crimes committed against russia, that, in fact, are -- the people committing those crimes being harbored in the united states, i'm committed to holding them accountable. and i'm -- i heard that, i was told as i was flying here, that he said that, i think that's potentially a good sign of progress. >> joining me right now california democrat congressman berra who sits on the foreign affairs committee. what do you think about that, the two seemingly in agreement ahead of their meeting on wednesday, do you believe that's promising? >> you know, at least it's a starting point. i certainly don't fully expect vladimir putin to hold some of these cybercri

jeff zeleny. six months into joe biden's presidency. he's going to be taking questions from americans at the town hall tomorrow but you have the covid cases going up, the delta variant is out there and the republicans are poised to block this vote on infrastructure. he's up against a lot. >> he is. he's only at the sixth month mark of his presidency which sounds early but it's actually not that early. talking to white house officials throughout the day and this evening, one says the clock is running, we know it and the president certainly knows it. so the reality is, on a variety of fronts, there is a sense of urgency on covid-19 first and foremost large by because of the economic impact of this. it effects people on both sides of these divide and the infrastructure bill you mentioned. if republicans block it tomorrow, look for the white house and the president to hold democrats together potentially as a plan "b," putting it all in the reconciliation bill to keep that alive. so a variety of fronts. here at home, never mind the foreign c

jeff zeleny is traveling with president biden. he's been meeting with the british prime minister as well as their wives. they took a trip down to the waterfront. the newly married boris johnson with his kwife carrie. what are they planning to do? >> these are the first moment here's. of we're seeing president biden meeting with prime minister boris johnson and their wives, walking maskless here at the the opening full day of president b biden's first trip abroad. after the pleasantries were xpafrpg exchanged, they reviewed the atlantic charter. it was signed by fdr and winston churchill. and they're going to be making revisions to that, bringing it into the more modern day threats if you will. and agreements and values. but we'll see that full document a little later after their meeting. but we heard president biden saying, look, this is gorgeous here pt i would like to stay. he noted it was the first time he's been here as president. not the first time he's visited this part of england overall. so we're going to get a better sens

let's bring in jeff zeleny. thank you so much. i want to give -- self-correct. 74.2 million people, i got my math a little bit wrong with chris. when i make a mistake, i correct it, unlike the former administration, or the one on the way out. good evening jeff. how are you? >> good evening. >> on the eve of joe biden's inauguration, he honored the 400,000 americans who died from covid. it was an emotional moment. talk to me about what we're going to see tomorrow. >> it absolutely was. you see the lights lining the reflecting pool, they will be on for a little bit longer tonight. and it was a poignant moment, but really something that will frame the presidency of joe biden. no question. this is, there's somewhat of an air of muted celebration, and of the challenges ahead. he will begin his day tomorrow morning, he will go to mass at the cathedral in downtown washington. but he will be joined by nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, mitch mcconnell, and kevin mccarthy. interestingly, he wants to be seen with these four, beginning that relati

chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny is up bright and early traveling with the president in brussels. the white house is laying out expectations for the nato summit. what are you hearing behind the scenes? >> reporter: well, good morning. president biden is going to be arriving here to nato. as you said, it's his first time here as commander in chief but not to nato overall. he's carrying the message he's been delivering throughout his european tour of america is back. of course, no place like here at nato is that america first agenda from the former trump era still echoing. of course, it was some three years ago right here where president trump threatened to withdrawal from the military alliance. that's ancient history, at least for now. there are questions about the commitment of the u.s. but president biden made a brief reference to this yesterday as he traveled here to brussels. >> we do not view nato as a sort of protection bracket. we believe that nato is vital to our ability to maintain american security for the next century. >> reporter: so there have been so many

but first, jeff zeleny o

jeff zeleny. jeff, good evening to you. what are you hearing? >> john, this is -- don, excuse me. this is a big win in cleveland for shontel brown. the democratic establishment candidate in in special election to fill the seat of former congresswoman marsha fudge, who of course joined the biden cabinet. you can see right there, shontel brown, member of the cuyahoga county council, local democratic chairwoman, defeating nina turner. this is a big win for shontel brown for this reason. the entire establishment party, leaders and apparatus, came behind shontel brown in the final weeks of this race to push her over the top of nina turner. of course a long-time progressive leader. she was backed by bernie sanders and many others who were campaigning hard for her over the weekend. but don, significantly this is the latest in a string of establishment moderate victories in these primaries across the country. we saw it in the new york mayor's race. we saw it in the virginia governor's race. so certainly this will take the wind out sails of the progressive movement that is trying to be mor

and administration officials tell cnn's jeff zeleny, quote, as we have with others, we offered a call with nikki minaj one of our doctors to answer questions she has about safety, the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. and that's a lesson in how to reach people. with facts. not with social media fights. not with name calling. like i said, facts first. in this environment, we need people to step up, right? why are you doing this story about nikki minaj? nikki minaj has a fuj following. everyone with a platform has a responsibility now. we are in the middle of a pandemic, right? this is, you know, emergency situation. that's why i want to use this platform to make this point, okay? so listen. there is a group of people out there who have been hesitant. even some in my own family. and nikki minaj has a big influence. she might be able to make a difference. i am not here to talk about name calling or fights on twitter. i am here to talk about meeting people where they are. that's the only way we are only going to get through to people so i hope that nikki minaj does talk to those do

jeff zeleny, cnn. >> sir, good evening. thank you. in a weekend interview, vladimir putin laughed at the suggestion that you had called him a killer. is that still your belief, sir, that he is a killer? and i'll continue the trend, if you don't mind, of asking a second question. do you believe if he does agree to cooperate, then what kind of a challenge do you find yourself in? how would you ever trust him? and if ronald reagan said, trust but verify, what do you say to vladimir putin? >> answer the first question, i'm laughing, too. well, look, i mean, he has made clear that -- the answer is, i believe he has in the past essentially acknowledged that he has -- there are certain things he would do or did do. but, look, when i was asked that question on air, i answered it honestly, but it's not much -- i don't think it matters a whole lot in terms of the next meeting we're about to have. the second question was -- [ inaudible ] >> i verify first and then trust. in other words, everything would have to be shown to be actually occurring.

our colleague, jeff zeleny, asked president biden about that today. he essentially doubled down, though he didn't use the word killer. how fraught is the relationship between our two countries? especially, compared to, you know, how it was under the former president? >> i think, in some ways, what we have now is a more-adult relationship. which is to say, we have real differences with russia. as i said, russia is the principal kind of spoiler, rogue power on the world stage. if you look at ukraine, if you look at syria, if you look at cyberspace. we need to have a -- i wouldn't say a confrontational -- but a tough relationship with russia that makes clear that these -- these behaviors, at all levels, are unacceptable. i think under trump, we had a bizarre relationship. where the government of the united states, for example, in providing arms to ukraine. was being fairly tough on -- on russia. the president of the united states, meanwhile, was literally siding with the -- the successor to the kgb and its intelligence analysis, versus america's own-inte

want to get to jeff zeleny. jeff is at terry mcauliffe headquarters. terry said he did not concede, but they know what's happening. >> they do know what is happening. look at the empty ballroom behind me. that's a pretty good metaphor, when we just saw eva in chantilly, right after the glenn youngkin, is processing now. terry mcauliffe is not declared or admitting defeat. the defeat is settling in to the democratic party. what a split-screen it was, president biden landing on air force one from a week abroad, at the same time glenn youngkin was walking on the stage. this is a major defeat for the democratic party and a referendum on biden and so much more. a lot of fathers to this blame here. dysfunction in washington is part of that. underestimating glenn youngkin is part of that. for now, terry mcauliffe was trying to win a second term of governor of virginia. virginia, allowing its governors to run for one term at a time. he was trying to run for his old job back it's a close race. the votes coming in from the suburbs of washington. but the reality

. >> i want to bring in jeff zeleny. he joins us as well. jeff, it's interesting. this is the president's first road trip out to talk to people. we had politicians like barack obama, joe biden is among them showing sympathy out on the campaign trail and also connecting with voters. almost every answer was a personal aside before answering to voters in the crowd. >> don, it was. and that is classic joe biden. i just stepped out of the room just as the town hall was ending. and really to awe e person, to individual questioner, he drew a connection. he told an old story about something his mother said or how, you know -- a lot of us have heard these before. but this is the first time this president, he is doing this. so, he is relatable in every measure of the word. yes, he rambles from time to time. but he's absolutely relatable. and i think that is something that americans like to see from their president. but, don, it was that moment that kaitlan was just referring to with the second grader that he offered reassurance. he said, don't be scared, honey. he said, you

our chief national affairs correspondent is jeff zeleny. he joins us live. jeff, good evening to you. this voting rights battle is heated. president biden is calling the push by republican state legislatures to restrict voting rights, and i quote here, sick and unamerican. but is it his number one priority given what we saw happen in georgia? >> it is not his number one priority but he explained. why during that news conference earlier today. he did say that presidents must select the timing of issues for a reason. he did talk, he was certainly more animated about voting rights than anything else he talked about. he did call it un-american, as you said. he also called it pernicious and used the example that it would be criminal behavior to give an older voter a glass of water as she waited in line to cast a ballot. so he said it was his plan to really explain these laws happening in georgia and many states across the country. he said he does not believe rank and file republicans actually support them. republican officials and elected officials, he said, do.

more tonight from cnn's jeff zeleny. >> i'm historically an independent voter. i have voted every which way you could vote. >> reporter: amy dodson is not defined by political labels. >> i was not a fan of president trump. i didn't vote for him, and i didn't vote for biden, but i did vote. >> reporter: that makes her an important wild card in virginia, where she cast her vote early this week for one reason above all. >> what led me to vote for glenn youngkin this time around was education. >> reporter: education is a central issue in the final stretch of the closely watched virginia governor's race where the power of the parents movement is suddenly front and center. >> you work for us. >> reporter: in dueling tv ads -- >> terry mcauliffe, putting politics over parents. >> glenn youngkin would bring donald trump and betsy devos' education policy to virginia. >> reporter: terry mcauliffe, the state's former democratic governor, and glenn youngkin, a republican businessman, are locked in a bitter fight over the role of government in schools. >> my name is amy dods

let's begin with jeff zeleny in

jeff zeleny at the white house tonight. jeff, good evening to you. so good to have you here this evening. so, this was a very tough day for the president -- for president biden. let's be honest. you know, the fda vote on widespread boosters. the crisis of migrants at the border that i just talked about. infrastructure hitting roadblocks. take us through what's gone wrong if -- i mean, that's -- i don't know. it may take you the entire newscast with what happened today. >> well, don, it is a long list but it reminds us that there are limits to a president's power, limits to what a white house can do. let's talk about the fda. i mean, the white house announced just a couple weeks that starting september 20th, next week, they thought that boosters could be allowed for every person who had received a vaccine. the fda said today, no. only 65 plus -- 65-year-olds and over can receive the vaccine. so that is a big shot to what the biden administration was, indeed, hoping for. but again, it shows the limitations of simply what this administration, what this

certainly the era of trumpism was rejected tonight, anderson. >> jeff zeleny, thanks. let's go to our panel. what do you think is the message for republicans? >> the message is trumpism is not the future if you want to win. it's a losing formula. it's on display here in california -- >> there's not a lot of republicans, though, who seemed to believe that in d.c. >> there aren't -- well, the problem is not enough republican voters believe it. so hopefully there are still lessons taken away from this. hopefully they see that perpetuating the big lie of rigged elections is absurd on a night like tonight when the margin's going to be in the millions. there's no type of fraud going on here. we have to keep -- from my perspective as a republican that wants to move beyond trump we're going to have to keep confronting this, battling it and knocking it down. it's going to probably take more time than we want. but it is a losing, losing, losing formula. >> but donald trump is not going anywhere. people i talk to, is a couple of republicans this past week, believe he's more like

let's go right to cnn's jeff zeleny who's there. jeff, what are we expecting? >> reporter: well,we are expecting president biden to begin his first nato summit as president here momentarily. he'll be meeting with several leaders before. and, of course, the family photo we see at every one of these gatherings that show the camaraderie and dynamic of the partnerships. we'll see that. but president biden is trying to carry through his message that he's been talking about. the transatlantic alliance is back, but it resonates at nato. this is a place where former president donald trump in his first term in office came here and poked his finger in the eye of nato. the next year he threatened to withdraw from the military alliance. president biden continuing his pledge and pitch that america is back and talking about the stronger alines. but there are some key items on the agenda when some 30 leaders sit down. they actually have five minutes each to speak because there are so many of them, and it's an a three-hour summit. they're going to be talking about russia, chin

jeff zeleny. jeff, good evening to you. what are you hearing? >> don, this is a big win in cleveland for shontell brown, the democratic establishment candidate in this special election to fill the seat of former congresswoman marsha fudge who of course joined the biden cabinet. you can see right there, shontel brown defeating nina turner. this is a big win for shontel brown for this reason. the entire establishment apparatus came behind her in the final weeks of this race to push her over the top of nina turner, of course a long time progressive leader. she was back by bernie sanders and many others campaigning hard for her over the weekend. this is the latest of establishment moderate primary victories across the country. so certainly this will take the wind out of the sails of the progressive movement that is trying to be more ascendant here. but president biden still the leader of his party, and i can tell you he was front and center in this race because his agenda was. james clyburn was there over the weekend saying elect shontel brown to ge

the latest from cnn's jeff zeleny. >> reporter: one final push for votes in virginia. >> do not sleep for 24 hours. let's bring this baby home! >> reporter: democrat terry mcauliffe is seeking a second act as virginia's governor but on election eve, he is locked in a bitter duel with republican businessman glenn youngkin. >> the entire nation is watching this. all eyes are on virginia. >> reporter: a year after president biden won the commonwealth by ten points, republicans are riding a wave of energy. they hope to spark a party resurgence as democrats scramble to keep their party together, and avoid an embarrassing defeat. >> there is not going to be a democrat in any seat anywhere in this nation who is going to think that his or her seat is safe. >> reporter: virginia elects its governors the year after the presidential race. since 1970, the party out of power in the white house has won every time, except once in 2013 when mcauliffe narrowly carried the state after president obama's re-election. >> we can't get this done unless we keep this positive momentum going. >> reporter: this

i want to bring in kaitlan collins and jeff zeleny. president donald trump is about to leave washington as a twice-impeached president, one-term president, who incited an insurrection. he's hold up in the white house and has now recorded a video message. what do you know? >> reporter: it's kind of unbelievable that this is how the last few days of donald trump's presidency looked like, where he is completely walled off from the media, has not interacted with us in almost a week now. he has now recorded this video. as jeff noted earlier, he recorded it in the white house and basically list his accomplishments. given the wachl he responded and the fallout from that attack on the u.s. capitol. but the president is not enjoying these last few days in office. we're told he's been in a pretty foul mood and it's notable given this is someone who relished the pom many and circumstance of being president and now it's about to go away for him, he's about to be an ex-president and instead of being out in front of the media like you typically woul

administration officials tell cnn's jeff zeleny, as we have with others, we offered a call with nicky minaj and one of our doctors to answer questions that she has about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. that's a lesson in how to reach people. with facts. not with social media fights. not with name calling. facts first. in this environment, we need people to step up, right? why are you doing this story about nicky minaj? she has a huge following. everybody with a platform has a huge responsibility. we're in the middle of a pandemic. this is an emergency situation. that's why i want to use this platform. there's a group of people out there who have been hesitant. even some in my own family. and she has a big influence. she might be able to make a difference. i'm not here to talk about name calling or fight on twitter. i'm here to talk about meeting people where they are. that's the only way we'll get through people. so i home she talks on doctors and she gets educated and through this, her fans get educated as well. that is the best outcome for everyone. so the well of the a

jeff zeleny, thank you so much. >> reporter: sure. >> let's bring in the dean of the brown university of public health and codirector of the texas children's hospital center for vaccine development. both great experts. we are so happy to have you both on. let's start with a couple of maps we want to show folks. it is becoming increasingly clear this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. look at these maps, everybody. the darkest green areas you see right now across the northeast and midwest have the highest vaccination rates. again, the highest vaccination rates. now on this second map, the lighter yellow sections show where cases are not rising as much. it appears to be as simple as that. if you are vaccinated, you are less likely to catch covid and you are obviously less -- far less likely to go to the hospital or get seriously ill. why can't -- why are people not getting that? >> yeah. so first of all, thanks for having me back. it is as simple as that. the bottom line is if you are vaccinated, you are much less likely to be infected. by the way, if you live in a community of fully va

jeff zeleny is covering the white house for us. it appears president biden is fired up over this. >> reporter: he absolutely is. he said this is an attack on the constitution and good conscience. it's likely this is going to end up as a legal challenge. for now it's a political challenge for the white house. president biden said even if he wanted to, he does not have the votes to change the filibuster rules in the senate. there's no question, all of this big lie over the last three months has come full circle and these new voting laws are being enacted. president biden saying tonight the justice department is looking into a new georgia law restricting voting rights, part of the still-simmering republican backlash from his defeat of donald trump. >> it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency. they passed a law saying you can't provide water to people standing in line while they're waiting to vote. >> reporter: tonight it's the latest real world fallout from the so-called big lie, the unsubstantiated lies about vo

. >> jeff zeleny, we'll be waiting for word. thank you very much. >> sure. >> we expected a rollout of booster shots for all adults but today's announcement dialled that back. pfizer boosters only for people 65 and over or people who are high risk. so what about younger people? and anybody who got the moderna or j&j shot? and how all of this is going -- how is this all going to sound to people who were already vaccine hesitant? >> the only thing that i have in my arsenal that will make this get better is for you to get vaccinated. that's all i've got. [sfx: radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. ♪ [band plays] ♪ a place where everyone lives life well-protected. ♪ and even when things go a bit wrong, we've got your back. here, things work the way you wish they would. and better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. today let's paint with new behr dynasty™... so that you can be proud of your walls. where's your furniture? oh we thought it distract

jeff zeleny asked president biden about that today and doubled down but didn't use the word killer. how fraught is the relationship between our two countries, especially compared to how it was under the former president? >> i think in someways we have a more adult relationship is to say we have real differences with russia. russia is the principle kind of spoiler rogue great power on the world stage if you look at ukraine, syria, if you look at cyberspace, we need to have a -- i wouldn't say confrontational but tough relationship with russia that makes clear these behaviors at all levels are unacceptable. i think under trump we had a bizarre relationship where they were being tough on russia. the president of the united states meanwhile was literally siding with the success to the kgb and intelligence analysis versus america. yo u you have to look at that and say what is going on? we don't have a weird disdense in dealing with russia. we have a tough, firm, determined relationship. i wish we didn't get into the name calling with putin as a killer and such but biden is trying to conv

all right jeff zeleny, thanks so much, appreciate that. >>> so biden also indicated today that he is open to exkmanging cybercriminals with russia amid recent ransomware attacks. >> yes, i'm open to, if there's crimes committed against russia, that, in fact, are -- the people committing those crimes being harbored in the united states, i'm committed to holding them accountable. and i'm -- i heard that, i was told as i was flying here that he said that. i think that's potentially a good sign of progress. >> with me now is fareed zakaria, host of "fareed zakaria gps," gps," good to see you. let's get the reaction you might have between the exchange of words between putin and biden. neither of them were critical of one another. both of them are setting a tone that they're willing to have an exchange of ideas and thoughts when they meet. >> i think it's all very encouraging because, look, as the administration has said, ideally you want a stable and predictable relationship with the -- with russia, between russia and the united states. the russia is a rogue actor on the world stage right