moore for the seat held by jeff sessions before he became attorney general of the united states. moore was an extremely controversial figure, even before he was hit with multiple allegations of past sexual abuse and assault involving teen-aged girls. after initially staying quiet, president trump cast his lot with moore, stressing the need for a republican win and suggesting he believes moore's denials. many senate republicans, though, are deeply worried that a moore victory will taint the republican party and sharpen its divisions with the 2018 battle for the control of the house and senate just around the corner. the big question tonight, will that controversy be enough for alabama voters to elect a democrat to the u.s. senate for the first time in 25 years? doug jones and his supporters certainly hope so. whatever the outcome, this is promising to be a his toring night that will help shape the second year of donald trump's presidency. let's bring in jake tapper. jake. >> wolf, obviously, we don't know what's going to happen tonight, but with the fact that alabama is so deep r

name it's expected to be a make moore senator. moore has been accused of abuse and assault he defies it. the rally is taking place on the border with alabama in a tv market shared with mobile. thousands of alabamaens could see it live and on the local news. if there were doubt about why it's happening four days before the election in blam. before leaving washington the president poet add tweet end wg vote for roy moore. and it began with silence on moore when the sex abuse and assault allegations hit. silence because there was concern by endeersing the more the sexual assault claims against the president would resurface. but that caution was abandoned because the president began defending moore's denials. soon after that mr. trump reportedly expressing doubt to confidantes about the accusers of moore. in the midst of this the president's daughter by the way said there was a quote special place in hell for people who prey on children. that clearly didn't stop the president from landing where he did today full throated acceptance. vote roy moore he tweeted. tonight the rally also ahead

election like no other in our history. the republican candidate roy moore an accused child molester. the democratic doug jones running in a state where under other circumstances he wouldn't even have a chance. both candidates making their final appeals to voters tonight. but if president trump's support for moore puts him over the top, will the leaders of the republican party be forced to accept him, whether they like it or not? i want to bring in now mark preston. polls open just hours from now. either alabama will elect an accused child molester or the first democrat to the senate since 1992. this is an unpredictable race no matter what the outcome is. >> it just kind of fits into the whole narrative of what we've seen over the past 12 months or so basically since donald trump decided to run for president and quite frankly when he was sworn in january. everything is quite unpredictable. but these are the odds right now against doug jones, the democrat. as you said you're talking about a state according to gallop 15% of the people describe themselves as republican. 43% describe themselv

an interim senator and call for a special election and roy moore could run once again. jake? >> all right. tom foreman, thank you so much. be sure to follow me on facebook and twitter @jaketapper. you can tweet the show @theleadcnn. that's it for "the lead." cnn's special coverage of the alabama senate race starts right now and i will see you later in the broadcast. >>> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. this is a special edition of "the situation room." i'm wolf blitzer with live coverage of the u.s. senate special election in alabama. and we're counting down until the first results. in a very high-profile race that's been dominated by sexual abuse allegations and has stoked division within the republican party. the outcome will be a game-changer no matter who wins. democrat doug jones or republican roy moore. moore, who rode to the polls on horseback today is hoping to keep a crucial senate seat in republican hands, but his candidacy has been clouded by multiple allegations of past sexual abuse and assault involving teenage girls, including one

>>> this is "nightline." >> tonight, moore controversy. >> get out and vote for roy moore. >> president trump stumping from embattled alabama candidate roy moore days before the election, moore still denying allegations of sexual misconduct, his supporters calling one of his accusers a liar which she told our reporter today. >>> plus state of emergency. >> whoa, look at this structure just completely going up in flames, embers being carried by this wind! >> hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes across southern california. ferocious wildfiresum mountain to mountain. dozens of race horses killed. others stampeding to escape the flames. now san diego the latest county to feel the heat. >>> and christmas made in china. inside a mega factory in china's christmas village. reported to be the source for roughly two-thirds of all christmas decorations worldwide. but first the "nightline 5." >> every morning i thought i had to make a choice. do i use a toothpaste that whitens my teeth or one that's good for my teeth? i don't have to choose. my dentist told me about new crest whi

. >> this guy's screaming we want roy moore. he's right. >> days before the special election, the president throwing his full support behind the controversial alabama senate candidate. >> i think they're afraid that i'm going to take alabama values to washington. i can't wait. >> as more republicans walk back their earlier rejections. >> it's a numbers game. i want republicans to maintain control. >> the race is tight. what happens if moore is elected? will he face an ethics investigation? and possible expulsion? or will republicans stand by him for the sake of passing their agenda? we're one on one with moore's chief political strategist. >>> on capitol hill, lawmakers already taking action on sexual misconduct accusations. >> we need to draw a line in the sand. say none of it is okay. none of it is acceptable. >> now, three days. three resignations. is this just the beginning? and can this momentum translate into lasting change? >>> plus, violence after trump's decision on jerusalem. president trump fulfilling a campaign promise and upending decades of u.s. foreign policy. so, how does th

now in alabama. the doug jones campaign and the roy moore campaign, they will start getting the votes, all of us will start getting the votes very, very soon. right now, based on what we know, clearly too early to call. anderson? >> yeah, wolf, thanks very much. you're watching a special edition of "a" c 360. now that the polls have closed, there is new information we can bring you. i want to go to david chalian. what are you seeing? >> anderson, the first thing we're looking at is how the partisans are breaking down. it won't surprise you overwhelmingly democrats are with jones. take a look. among democratic voters in alabama today, 98% go with jones, 2% go with moore. what's key here is that jones number is higher than barack obama was getting among democrats in the last two presidential elections he was in in alabama. take a look at how republicans are splitting. you again see obviously moore wins the lion share of them, 91%, but that is slightly underperforming by a few points of what romney did, what mccain did in presidential elections. moore underperforming the republicans. whi

are. 7% of the vote in. we have 48,464 for roy moore. it just went up. 54% of the vote for roy moore, 44% for doug jones. just 8% of the vote now in. still a long way to go. polls closed just one hour ago. we're still trying to learn more about turnout numbers. we've been looking at exit polling, but we won't get the full picture until later. >> we don't know at this point what the turnout s. we know both sides are pretty passionate on this, and we know historically, recently democrats have been very motivated. we saw that in the state of virginia, for example. so they have that on their side. but roy moore excites passions on both sides here, and so we just don't know what that's going to be. >> one of the voting blocks here that will be interesting to see and determinetive, especially for roy moore if he wins is white evangelicals. they're about 44% of the vote. and that is in many ways the demographic that was so key to donald trump winning the primary and then winning the presidency. we talk about whose fortunes will rise and fall if roy moore wins, bannon being one, maybe

. president trump for republican roy moore and recording a robo call for moore's campaign despite child molestation allegations. foor responding saying he does not know the women making the accusations. >> i do not know any of the women who have charged me with sexual allegations of molestation and i did not know any of the women. when i saw these pictures on the advertisements of my opponent i did not recognize any of those people. i did not know them. i have written cards, graduation cards, i have known families and known a lot of people throughout my life. these allegations are completely false. i did not date under aged women. i did not molest anyone. and so these allegations are false. >> right now in alabama moore's democratic challenger doug jones urging his staff to get out the vote. we have a team of correspondents covering this critical race. let's begin with alex who is with doug jones supporters in birmingham. >> where is doug jones? >> in this final weekend before the election this can be boiled down to four words, get out the vote. that is the focus for this weekend and in

like idiots to the nation. >> would a roy moore win be an even bigger headache for republicans? can the democrat doug jones shock the world? >> get out and vote for roy moore! >> and the president pours gasoline on his own "me too" moment. >> it was a sexist smear attempting to silence my voice. >> the first results from election night in alabama when "all in" starts right now. >> one of our attorneys is a s7m >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes and it is a very big night. the polls have just at this moment closed in the special senate election in alabama at this hour, nbc news characterizing the race there as too early to call. with polls closed we can now begin tow8u returns. we don't really have any of those yet because they have literally polled -- polls closed 41 seconds ago. there's a lot to keep an eye on as the returns come in and we begin tonight with our first fresh exclusive look at the actual exit polls for the day. joining me to breakdown the latest batch of exit poll data hot off the presses, msnbc national political correspondent steve kornacki. as this happens

liars and escapes accountability. most other republicans worry a moore win will cause severe damage to the national gop brand. >> i would rather see the republican win, but i hope that within would be a write in. i couldn't vote for roy moore. i didn't vote for roy moore. >> right now we begin the hour with developing news in new york city. authorities trying to learn everything they can about a man who tried to attack the new york city transit system this morning. it was around 7:20 and an improvised device went off in a bus terminal near time square causing minor injuries to three people near the perpetrator. he had the explosives attached to his and he survived the blast. >> this was an attempted terrorist attack. thank god the perpetrator did not achieve his ultimate goals. thank god our first responders were there so quickly to address the situation to make sure people were safe. >> police have identified the suspect. he is being treated for burps and lacerations. what more do we know this hour? >> reporter: let's start with the suspect. he is 27 years old and has been identified

points of whether doug jones or roy moore comes top capitol hill. they hope to get the tax bill signed before horch will sit. hillary vaughn is at the roy morehead quarters:the mood there and feeling there. what do you see, hillary? reporter: a senior adviceors tells me they expect a record-breaking turnout in the polls. i asked if they see that as a bad thing? he said no, he thinks it will befight tight but thinks they will win by 5 percentage points. they did receive a security threat to their campaign this morning. there is bumped up security. there are s.w.a.t. teams walking around. they did a sweep before all of us got inside here. we are getting details on how roy moore is spending his day after he rode his horse to vote. he spent time in prayer. we did confirm the senate is going to -- if roy moore wins tonight, mitch mcconnell will gather republican senators tomorrow to discuss details and strategy moving forward, what to do with roy moore if he is winning the senate seat here tonight. that's all to be determined. neil: polls have closed across the state. let's get the read fro

allegations against roy moore dating back decades in some cases surfaced and voters we saw were conflicted over whether or not they believe those allegations. we had a big number of voters tell us in our voter analysis that they stayed home because of the allegations. they chose not to vote at all and you would think tonight that had to have helped democrat doug jones. he is going through thinking his supporters and vowing to take washington by storm. >> it is the volunteers who made 1.2 million phone calls around the state. it's those volunteers to make sure we knew it was every community. i keep hearing about the different communities in the states. the african-american community, thank youu. [cheers and applause] my friends in the latino community, thank you. [cheers and applause] to all my jewish friends, happy hanukkah. [cheers and applause] we have built this everywhere we have gone. we have had that same energy. we've had the same excitement. at the end of the day, this r entire race has been about dignity and respect. this campaign has been about the rule of law. this campaign... t

alabama's special ewill exto the u.s. senate between democrat doug jones and republican roy moore. in a few minutes, we will get our first look at the early exit polls. what is the mood and the makeup of tonight's electorate. why are they voting? whoqo( showed up? what do they think of president trump? we're going to start to get some of those answers in just a few minutes. and seemingly, no matter what they say, or who wins tonight, you are going to see a political earthquake the only question is the magnitude. some republicans worry a more victory will throw the 2018 mid-terms into chaos byj the party's brand, a more loss can throw them into the chaos, too. republicans would have 51 seats and democrats would have the win at their backs and a plausible pass to get that senate majority. what does that mean in the short term? it means the president's agenda, the congressional investigations, you name it. all of it is line tonight. but we're not done. zoutcome is also going to be seen as a referendum on steve ban nonon's nuance, a win for moore means bannon will be able to recruit

election everyone is talking about right now. will embattled senate candidate roy moore defeat doug jones. you're going to find out how the people of bama vote. our special coverage starts tomorrow 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room. that's it for me, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett out front starts right now. >>> out front next, breaking news, roy moore versus doug jones. all eyes on bam mark as president's trump and bama are now in the game. this historic election literally hours away. trump abusers banding together asking for congress to investigate the president. is this trump's #metoo moment. >>> good evening, i'm erin burnett out front tonight. breaking news, down to the wire, it's the final hours of the stunning senate campaign which has exploded on to the national stage. roy moore, doug jones. it's incredibly close. for jeff sessions old senate seat tomorrow in alabama. there are dualing rallies. you can see everyone's already gathered there. people just starting to gather there. electing either moore. this is going to

moore up over doug jones, but you add in the existing counties that are still out and the analysis, the fox news motor analysis that we have looking at the questions that we ask voters today and over the past couple of days. and right now doug jones, the democrat is leading in this alabama race. it's too close to call as you just mentioned, but we are seeing kind of a shift that way in the past hour or so. >> martha: we watched it shift back and forth over the course of the night. and as brett says, we have a raw vote in there, but literally it is a toss-up. and if you look at all the different parameters that we are covering, it's close to toss-up territory or leaning slightly towards jones and a lot of the feedback we are getting, but our numbers show that roy moore is up by a slight amount as we wait for these totals to come in from some of these outstanding counties. >> bret: i will say there are a few companies were moore underperformed where donald trump performed. he won mike alabama by 28 points over hillary clinton and there are a few key counties where moore significantly

. ? republicans switching sides in the face of roy moore's sexual misconduct allegations. >> i hold my party to higher standards than roy moore. >> others just don't believe it. >> everyone is innocent until proven guilty. >> the political battle for the heart of dixie. >>> plus, terror in new york. the chilling attack in one of the largest commuter hubs in manhattan during rush hour. an alleged isis sympathizer inspired by online propaganda partially detonating a home-made bomb but failing to cause major damage. what we now know about the suspect and the brave first responders who raced to the scene. but first, the nightline 5. scene. but first, the nightline 5. >>> number one in just 60 seconds. ♪ >>> good evening. thanks for joining us. the political world is on pins and needles tonight on the eve of the crucial alabama senate election, with deep red state voters having to choose between a man accused of sexual misconduct and a democrat whose positions are far less popular. president trump has already thrown his support behind embattled gop candidate roy moore. but some republican

stumping for republican roy moore and even recorded a robo call for moore's campaign des pate molestation allegations facing moore today. he claims he doesn't even know the women making the accusations. >> i do not know any of the women who charged me with sexual allegations. molestation. i did not know any of the women. when i saw these pictures on the advertisements of my opponent, i did not recognize any of those women. i did not know them. i have written cards, graduation cards and have known families and a lot of people throughout my life, but these allegations are completely false. i did not date underage women. i did not molest anyone. these allegations are false. >> that coming up also. moore's challenger doug jones courting the african-american vote. cory booker campaigning for jones. . we have team coverage of this critical race. the president is in west palm beach. covering the doug jones campaign, we will start with kaylee hartung covering roy moore who has no events scheduled today. nothing since tuesday. kaylie, what is moore's campaign doing in the final stretch

as make america great valley but roy moore senator rally. roy moore is accused of assault by several women that he denies. hundreds of how santhousands of alabamans could see this live or on tv tonight. before leaving washington president posted a long tweet that said vote for roy moore. and tonight for the president caps a journey with moore for silence, in part because according to cnn reporting there was concern by endorsing roy moore the sexual assault claims against the president would be surfaced. but that was a banned because the president defended roy moore denials. and doubts to confidents for the accusers. in the mid of this the president's daughter said there is a special place in held that prey on children. full throat at the accept ns vote roy moore. tonight the rally also ahead in interview you'll only see here a new voice coming forward, confirming one of the central accusers account against roy moore. and later new reporting tonight that the fbi warned close trump campaign adviser hope hicks about emails from russian operatives of the we begin tonight with cai

deeply red state. >> jones defeating gop candidate, roy moore. president trump claims he knew moore would lose but he did post a rare tweet congratulating doug jones. still roy moore refuses to concede even though jones is clearly the winner. >> how clear is it? let's bring in alabama secretary of state, john merrill. thank you for joining us, sir. we know you had a long night. is it over? >> chris, i know a lot of people would say it's never over until it's over but the margin of victory for doug jones at this time looks like a difficult amount of votes to overcome as the remaining votes out there to be counted next week begin to be considered at the local level. >> what is the actual rule? i know that the state has standards for automatic recount verses an optional recount. what are the rules? >> yes, sir. chris, the recount cannot occur until after the certification occurs and that will occur sometime between the 26th of december but no later than the 3rd of january. if the margin between the two candidates is less than half of 1% an automatic kick-in provision -- an automatic pr

allegations against roy moore dating back decades in some cases surfaced and voters we saw today were really conflicted over whether or not they believed those allegations. we had a big number of voters actually tell us in our voter analysis that they stayed home because of the allegations, they chose not to vote at all, and you would think tonight that had to have helped democrat doug jones. he is going through, thinking his supporters, and vowing to take washington by storm. let's listen in. >> it's the volunteers who made 1.2 million phone calls around the state! it's those volunteers who make sure that we knew it was every community. you know, i keep hearing about the different communities in this state, the african-american communities. thank you! [cheers and applause] my friends in the latino community, thank you! [cheers and applause] to all of my jewish friends, happy hanukkah! we have built this everywhere we have gone. we have had that same energy, we have had that same excitement. at the end of the day, this entire race has been about dignity and respect. [cheers and a

cast their ballots, the roy moore campaign shooting down efforts of a purported ethics investigation should he win the election on tuesday. >> mitch mcconnell and his crew have been threatening judge moore from the get-go. they spent $30 million trying to beat him in the primary, and then all this fake news from "the washington post" surfaced. just moore is going to go to washington. judge moore is going to win, and i highly doubt there's going to be a senate investigation. but if there is, judge moore is going to be found telling the truth, just like he always has. and he will win. >> a new poll today showing roy moore with a four-point lead. let's go to vaughn hillyard in birmingham, alabama, where doug jones is expected to arrive at any moment. it appears he's running about 15 minutes late or so to head to that church. we have heard from roy moore's campaign chair there. we have not seen much of him. what has he been doing to snag votes as the clock winds down? >> reporter: we're 48 hours away, alex, from election day. and roy moore is nowhere to be seen this weekend. he hasn't be

-- www.vitac.com >>> this is president donald trump, and i need alabama to go vote for roy moore. >> i want to make sure he sends a message of who we are. >> the allegations are false. i did not mow left anyone. >> i did not vote for roy moore. the state of alabama deserves better. >> any woman who has felt violated or mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up. >> this fire has been very rapidly moving. do what you want now to prepare. >> i'm heartbroken but we're thankful we're alive. >> it is more intense, more widespread. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is your "new day". sit monday, december 11th, 6:00 here in new york. here's our starting line. the national spotlight is on alabama's hotly contested special election for a senate seat. president trump is all in with roy moore, totally embracing him, all but ignoring the allegations against him. the president recording a phone call, rallying over the weekend for a man accused of child molestation. richard shelby bucking sayi

contested race between roy moore and doug jones. moore speaking out repeating his denial of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. >> i did not know them. i had no encounter with them. i never molested anyone. and for them to say that, i don't know why they're saying it, but it's not true. >>> when you look at the ground, what's happening there, getting a big assist in the final stretch. on one side, president trump just recording a robocall for the embattled judge while cory booker is hoping to bring voters to the polls on tuesday. >>> then the republicans trying to undermine the russia investigation by discrediting the team who would take the president to task. one top detective in congress says yes. we'll dive into that later. >>> but we'll start this hour for you in alabama, as alex and i were just talking about, less than two days before voters were going to make that walk and pull that lever. they are going to make their decision to elect the next senator. what seemed um possible two months ago will win a state in a seat that has not gone blue in more than two decades. this

. >>> too close to call. the countdown begins. less than 48 hours until polls open in alabama. roy moore finally speaks out today. what he's saying about the allegations as the president goes all in. >>> and the reckoning. franken out, farnhrenthold stil in. and should the president answer his accusers? >>> and prosecuting the prosecutors, the push to discredit bob mueller and his investigation. can they withstand the onslaught? >> are you comfortable that the leader of your party is all out for roy moore? >> within the party, there will be disagreements. obviously we're seeing one now. >> how should people assess the accusers of the president? >> the same thing, is women who accuse anyone should be heard. >> so, you are calling leigh corfman a liar? >> i'm saying leigh corfman's not telling the truth. >> when it got to the 14-year-old story, that was enough for me. >> we have a president who is embracing a candidate in alabama who has ban accused of child molestation, right? >> i couldn't vote for roy moore. i didn't vote for roy moore. >> when roy moore, if he should win, goes to washi

>>> this guy is screaming we want roy moore. >> we have a president that's down there telling people to vote for someone where there is, to me, irrefutable evidence, written evidence that he was preying on underage girls. >> we need a republican in the house. we need a republican in the senate. so get out and vote for roy moore. do it. do it. >> it will be alabama that decides whether they want roy moore to be one of the two who are the voice for alabama in the senate. we'll see what happens next week. >>> good saturday morning, everyone. i'm in for christie paul. >> good morning to you. next hour president trump will leave for jackson, mississippi for the opening of a new civil rights museum there, but he will likely be greeted by many protesters. this is coming after john lewis says he will skip the opening because the president will be there and calls the president's visit a mockery of the civil rights movement. >> trump's visit to mississippi comes just hours supporting roy moore who is an accused child molester. but roy also raised more eyebrows this week in a clip where

republican judge roy moore and democrat doug jones who president trump is calling a puppet of chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. here's how the race stands right now and you can see it, roy moore is up. the "new york times" actually is predicting a 55% chance at this hour that roy moore would win this race. but it looks very close. here is the very latest from roy moore election headquarters in montgomery, alabama is peter doocy, sir. what's going on? how are they feeling in that room? >> sean, they just put that "new york times" projection up on that screen behind where the speakers are for the first time tonight while now it looks like they took it off. but, when they did, this place absolutely erupted with cheers and applause for the first time tonight. it was really shaking. it was the most energy we felt since the door opened when the polls closed. the biggest rise out of hq crowd sticking it to the establishment which of course has been a theme throughout the entire campaign. judge moore still not in the house yet at the rsa activity center in downtown montgomery. we do expect to

right now it's too close to call. roy moore with a slim lead over doug jones. a little bit less than 23,000 votes between them. a 51-48 split right now with just under 3/4 of a vote. in again, doug jones and his campaign, his supporters right now really keep a close eye on the big most populated counties in the state, including birmingham and montgomery and mobile and huntsville. we do not have complete results from the counties where any of those cities are located. and that's supposed to be the real stronghold. not just in terms of the proportion by which doug jones is expected to win there, but the sheer number of votes he is expected to get out of those places. so still very exciting that does it for us tonight. we will see you again tomorrow. now time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. anyone who is wondering what the age of trump has done to the republican party, the last time, the last time this senate seat was up for election was just 2014, just three years ago. and the republican won with 97% of the vote. the de

special elections in history. some republicans switching sides in the face of roy moore's sexual misconduct allegations. >> i hold my party to higher standards than roy moore. >> others just don't believe it. >> everyone is innocent until proven guilty. >> the political battle for the heart of dixie. plus, terror in new york. the chilling attack in one of the largest commuter hubs in manhattan during rush hour. an alled inspired by online propaganda partially detonating a home-made bomb but failing to cause major damage. what we now know about the suspect and the brave first responders who raced to the scene. but first, the nightline 5. >>> number one in just 60 seconds. what do you think? hey, think ben will like it? yeah, was i the only one hearing the angelic music? i'm serious, i never know what to get him. sigh. mrs. layne, fios is a 100% fiber-optic network. that, plus this sick console, he'll be like whaaaaaattt. your new tech is best on the 100% fiber optic network. so get fios. now just $79.99 per month with a 2-year price guarantee