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Trump Blocks Biden Transition; Trump's North Korea Legacy; U.K.'s COVID-19 Death Toll Passes 50,000; U.S. Could Pay Citizens during New Lockdown; Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Lawmakers Resign in Protest; Tropical Storm Eta Nears Florida; Golfers Prepare for Augusta. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 12, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Ahead this hour, Joe Biden announces his administration's first key appointment while Donald Trump does what no other president has ever done, prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
World leaders recognizing Joe Biden as President-Elect, moving on from the Trump era.
With COVID cases rising to record levels every day, Dr. Anthony Fauci says help is on the way.
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VAUSE: Well, despite what the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue may tweet, regardless of the actions and misleading statements of his enablers, one fact: on January 20 next year, Joe Biden will be sworn as the 46th President of the United States.
But the only unanswered question between now and then will be how decisive his victory will be over Donald. Trump on Wednesday, Arizona's Republican attorney general said Joe Biden will win the once ruby red state and dismissed claims of voter fraud.
And as counting continued, the President-Elect has extended his lead in the popular vote by more than 5 million. And while Trump clings to a fantasy of overturning the result, Biden is moving forward with a one-sided transition, announcing Ron Klain as his chief of staff, a crucial role in every White House.
Klain is a political veteran who led the Obama administration's response to the Ebola pandemic in 2014.
On Wednesday, attending a Veterans Day ceremony Trump was soon back to the White House, rage tweeting about the election, falsely claiming he won Pennsylvania and Michigan.
He did not.
But the current president, apparently crippled by his inability to concede defeat and mostly absent from his daily job, President-Elect Joe Biden seems to be filling the role, at least in public. And behind the scenes sources tell CNN, within weeks, Biden could announce who will fill his cabinet. We have more details now from CNN's Arlette Saenz.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Philadelphia, President-Elect Joe Biden and the future first lady laid a wreath, paying respects to the nation's veterans, as President Trump refuses to respect the results of the election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To our President-Elect and first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, if there's anybody that understands what veterans go through, it's this family.
SAENZ: The President-Elect says his commitment to veterans his personal, pointing to his late son Beau's service in Iraq. Biden is promising to "be a commander in chief who respects your sacrifice, understands your service and who will never betray the values you fought so bravely to defend."
While President Trump remains defiant about his loss, Biden is defending his position as President-Elect, even without a concession.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just think it's an embarrassment, quite frankly.
The only thing that -- how can I say this tactfully?
I think it will not help the president's legacy.
SAENZ: Biden has turned to tones of calm and patience, while Trump tries to create turmoil by blocking access to key transition resources and mounting legal challenges.
Biden's top attorneys are dismissing those lawsuits and accusations of fraud as political theater.
With 70 days until his inauguration, Biden is pressing ahead, with top staffing announcements for his West Wing likely coming later this week.
Cabinet picks aren't expected until later in the month, aides tells CNN, but the lobbying for positions has already started, including from Bernie Sanders, who is reaching out to union leaders as he's eying the job of labor secretary.
On the world stage, leaders already are eager to work with the President-Elect, including on climate change. BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I had and have a good
relationship with the previous president. But I'm delighted to find the many areas in which the Biden, incoming Biden-Harris administration is able to make common cause with us.
SAENZ: Even though more foreign leaders have congratulated Biden than Senate Republicans, some Republicans are starting to acknowledge the transition should get under way.
SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): We're on a path it looks likely that Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. It's not 100 percent certain, but it is quite likely. And so I think a transition process ought to begin.
SAENZ: And Biden is moving forward with his transition planning, naming his incoming chief of staff. Biden has tapped Ron Klain, a longtime adviser, to lead his West Wing operation -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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VAUSE: Well, those close to Donald Trump saying at best he may accept the results. But it's unlikely he will ever concede he lost. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With just 70 days until inauguration, President Trump is continuing to deny reality, refusing to admit defeat, even as his advisers privately acknowledge he cannot reverse the election results.
After attending a Veterans Day ceremony, Trump huddling with advisers again today to discuss a path forward to contest the election, offering no signs he plans to concede. Instead, he has told aides to continue pursuing lawsuits and recounts in key battleground states. Publicly, his advisers are on the same page.
RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It's been rigged from the beginning, rigged from the laws that were being passed in the name of COVID to create a porous election.
DIAMOND: But, privately, sources telling CNN the president's allies see almost no chance their legal challenges will succeed and they expect those legal avenues will be exhausted by next week.
While Trump focuses on dead end legal fights, the coronavirus pandemic is worsening across the U.S. and continuing to spread inside the White House. The White House political director joining the list of a half- dozen Trump aides who have tested positive in the last week.
Powerless against the will of the voters and unwilling to tackle the pandemic, Trump is imposing his will at the Pentagon, firing the secretary of defense and replacing three other senior defense officials with loyalists. A defense official calling the purge "scary and unsettling," telling CNN, "These are dictator moves."
Sources telling CNN that FBI Director Chris Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel could be next. Meanwhile, election officials across the country say they have found no evidence of fraud or irregularities that could swing the presidential race, including Philadelphia's Republican city commissioner, Al Schmidt.
AL SCHMIDT (R), PHILADELPHIA CITY COMMISSIONER: I have seen the most fantastical things on social media, making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all and see them spread. One thing I can't comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies.
DIAMOND: Minutes later, the president taking aim, calling Schmidt a "so-called Republican who refuses to look at a mountain of corruption and dishonesty."
The reality, a resounding victory for Biden, who is ahead by more than 5 million votes nationally and winning the three states that handed Trump the presidency in 2016 by a margin of victory nearly three times greater.
And while the president continues to deny that he has lost the election, he's also ignoring another reality. Wednesday was the 9th consecutive day that the U.S. has seen more than 100,000 coronavirus cases in a single day.
And by any metric, whether you're looking at increasing hospitalization, increasing cases or a continued rise in deaths, it is very clear that this coronavirus pandemic is worsening.
And yet, we are seeing nothing from the White House, no leadership, no action either from the president from the United States or his team -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN the, White House.
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VAUSE: Australia's prime minister Scott Morrison is one of the latest world leaders to offer his congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden. Morrison spoke to Biden by phone on Wednesday saying he looks forward to strengthen the deep and enduring alliance. And celebrating next year's 75th anniversary of ANZUS, the Australia-New Zealand- United States security treaty next year.
South Korean president Moon says he and Biden spoke about the relationship between the 2 countries and enduring peace on the Korean Peninsula. CNN's Paula Hancocks standing by in Seoul.
After the last 4 years, this relationship between Moon Jae-in and Joe Biden looks like the kind of relationship we're used to seeing between these two countries.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John, yes. The U.S.- South Korean alliances have had its up and down. It has been fraught at times between president Moon Jae-in and president Donald Trump. Although they have been good times as well but certainly what we're expecting now and what we heard from this phone call earlier this morning or evening time Washington, was that President-Elect Biden was talking about how South Korea is a linchpin.
Talking about the alliance in the way we used to hear about this alliance, showing that President-Elect Biden really feels alliances do matter and we are going to go back to this more conventional diplomatic approach that we are used to.
Biden also said to president Moon that he was impressed with the with the way South Korea has dealt with the coronavirus, pointing out that the U.S. is a long way behind.
VAUSE: Paula, the other thing that is interesting to your north, nothing but silence from the North Koreans.
HANCOCKS: That's right. They're not always very fast to react but certainly this silence speaks volumes.
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HANCOCKS: The fact is we do widely assume that North Korea would have preferred a second term of President Trump.
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HANCOCKS (voice-over): This is the legacy of President Trump's North Korean policy, historic meetings with leader Kim Jong-un, countless letters described by the U.S. president as love letters, a statement signed in Singapore. But little tangible progress on denuclearization.
CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA: It's not really in a better place. It's not at all in a better place as a result of this reality TV diplomacy we saw from President Trump.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The thugs like in North Korea --
HANCOCKS (voice-over): President-Elect Biden is very unlikely to have been North Korea's preference.
Until today there's been no reaction from Pyongyang. Even after Biden called Kim Jong-un a thug in the last presidential debate. North Korea has often welcomed a new U.S. administration with a provocation. Pyongyang launched a missile just three weeks after President Trump's inauguration in 2017.
But opinion is split on whether a test is planned for the early days of Biden's presidency.
JOHN DELURY, YONSEI UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The premise of a test is Kim Jong-un is desperate for attention and he needs it. And that's not what I'm seeing. Kim Jong-un looks very focused on just getting through COVID. North Korea has had a really bad year economically.
BIDEN: I know from my discussions --
HANCOCKS (voice-over): President-Elect Biden has not mentioned North Korea as a pressing national security priority as outgoing President Obama considered it four years ago; coronavirus, climate change, racial inequality dominating his attention.
He's also not necessarily expected to return to the policy of strategic patience, waiting for Pyongyang to come to the negotiating table, a feature of Obama's time in office.
JOSEPH YUN, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: He has emphasized denuclearization but, at the same time, he's emphasized what he called principal diplomacy. So I would hope that the engagement door would be more open now.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Ambassador Yun also cautions against ignoring what Trump did achieve by talking to Kim Jong-un.
YUN: We need to see what we can, preserve what we can and build from that.
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HANCOCKS: There may be a split opinion at this point, John, as to whether North Korea may launch some kind of missile, either before or after the inauguration. But what they agree on is that any diplomacy between the U.S. and North Korea would be far more conventional, working level talks and diplomacy.
And the days of this personality led theater and top down leadership and diplomacy is coming to an end -- John.
VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks live in Seoul.
Well, still to come here, why is President Trump replacing senior Pentagon officials with loyalists with just two months left in office?
And the pandemic now spreading faster in the U.S. than ever before.
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VAUSE: The U.S. has once again shattered its daily record for new cases of the coronavirus. On Wednesday, more than 144,000 cases were recorded nationwide and claimed almost 2,000 lives.
For 9 days now, new infections have exceeded 100,000. The White House Coronavirus Task Force says community spread has accelerated because people are spending more time indoors with the colder weather. Hospitalization hitting record highs. More than 65,000 COVID patients in the country.
Texas is the first U.S. state to top 1 million COVID-19 infections, a 10th of the more than 10 million cases reported across the U.S. Here's CNN's Nick Watt.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He went to work. That was the last time we saw him. That's the last time his children saw him.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daniel Morales, a 39-year-old nurse, among El Paso's COVID dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He never recovered.
WATT: This city is in trouble; nearly 30,000 active cases, more than some entire states have had all year. Another local nurse who helped out in New York in the spring says this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a little bit more rough for me here than it's been for me in New York. I have done compressions on more people in the last three weeks than I have in a year.
WATT: Meanwhile, the president appears to have lost whatever interest he had in the pandemic and the president-elect doesn't take power for another couple of months.
DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: We have a vacuum of leadership and I think the vacuum of leadership is the biggest problem we have right now in our country in confronting this pandemic.
WATT: That promising vaccine, its impact also still months away and the holidays are on the horizon. United now adding 1,400 flights to its Thanksgiving week schedule, anticipating high demand. Some governors are worried.
GOV. STEVE SISOLAK (D-NV): Do not have people outside of your household over for dinners, parties or other gatherings.
GOV. TONY EVERS (D-WI): It's not safe to go out. It's not safe to have others over. It's just not safe. Our economy cannot bounce back until we contain this virus.
WATT (on camera): Now President Trump might not listen to his own coronavirus task force much but they put out a report every week and distribute it to the states.
Last week they warned of significant deterioration across the Sun Belt. That's in the South. That continues. This week, they warn of continued accelerating spread across the top half of the country. It's bad all over -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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VAUSE: Italy, the hardest hit country in Europe when the coronavirus started spread, has now reached 1 million confirmed cases. They reported 33,000 new cases just on Wednesday.
The second wave of COVID-19 is so bad in Europe right now that Johns Hopkins University has four E.U. countries in its global top 10 of cases. Italy is also reporting its highest number of deaths in a single day with intensive care units at their highest capacity since mid April.
New infections in the U.K. have been rising sharply since mid September. The death toll there now tops 50,000. England is in lockdown until December 2nd. And with the holidays approaching, the British government has developed a plan for university students to safely get home. CNN Salma Abdelaziz reports from London.
Salma, what are the details of this plan?
What do we know?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Well, John. It's important first of all to mark this milestone, 50,000 deaths, 50,000 people who have lost their lives due to coronavirus across this country.
That is much worse than the worst-case scenario that the government had laid out in March when this pandemic began, which was 20,000 deaths. So this is a very grim day. Especially when the international lockdown when people are really trying to get control of this virus.
The optimistic outlook is, well, this is a lot. We've only been one week into national lockdown, the way the virus works is there's generally a 2-week lag between getting sick and ending up in the hospital.
But the prime minister did of course, have to address this milestone. Here's what he said.
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BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I do think that we've got now to a different phase in the way that we treat it. But I've got to stress that we're not out of the woods yet. It does still require everybody to follow the guidance, do the right thing, to suppress the disease in a way that we all understand.
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ABDELAZIZ: Now when he says we are in a different phase, what the prime minister means when he says we're in a different phase, is he's talking about what he calls his two fold strategy. That's what he told reporters yesterday. The first part of that strategy is mass testing.
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ABDELAZIZ: Essentially, the prime minister's idea is to make testing of coronavirus for anybody, free and available to all. Regardless of whether or not they have symptoms. They are saying if people can get tested regularly, check whether you're positive or negative, then you could resume normal life.
That strategy has started. The first kind of program started in Liverpool in the north of the country. But we have yet to see the results of that.
And as you said, John we're heading into the depths of winter. We're heading into the holidays. So there's a lot of questions, a lot of pressure right now on getting a grip on the virus. John.
VAUSE: Salma Abdelaziz, live in London, appreciate it.
Dr. Esther Choo is a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. She is live from Portland.
Doctor, good to see you again. It's been a while.
DR. ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good to see you, thanks for having me. On
VAUSE: Right now, in the U.S. confirmed cases could potentially double before Joe Biden is sworn into office.
So with that in mind, how long will it be before what we're seeing play out in El Paso, that health crisis in Texas, becomes the norm nationwide?
CHOO: Well, what I can tell you is that we're all very apprehensive heading into winter. Just the statistics every single day over the past couple of weeks, we keep on breaking records and hoping we won't break another one. And then we break another. One and today we broke another one.
With over 140,000 new cases, we have 65,000 people hospitalized. That's up about 15,000 just over just about 2 weeks, over 1,400 deaths just today. Those are all really stunning numbers for us.
Talking to physicians around the country, hospitals are being overwhelmed; people are reaching into single and double backup. We're seeing our colleagues get ill. It really feels like we're back in the spring and we're just heading into winter and into a series of winter holidays, where there are really going to be circumstances that are ripe for spreading disease.
So this is a really tough time. There's just not a lot of good news when we look at projections. And we're just likely to have an incredibly tough next couple of months.
VAUSE: Those next couple of months have been described as COVID hell. But waiting on the other side, though, is a potential promise of a vaccine. Here's Dr. Anthony Fauci, listen to what he says.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: And I hope that the fact that people realize that help is on the way in the form of a vaccine and soon, that that would get them to be even more motivated to do the public health measures.
Because when you know help is on the way, don't give up. There is a real thing called COVID-19 fatigue. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So it's a very good point. Help is on the way. But the other side is that people could see the word vaccine and say everything is going to be fine, throw caution into the wind, which could result in disaster.
So which scenario do you think is more likely?
CHOO: I think you've captured it exactly right. People could either say, phew, we've, got a promising vaccine we can relax and do whatever. Or they can say, the vaccine is coming; we just need to hang in a little bit longer. And of course, we're hoping for the latter and hoping that people will see that it's not going to be indefinite.
We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. But until we have that vaccine, we really need to hang tight, straight through the winter, and do the best that we can do. And it is very hard to ask people to do this.
We've been asking people to do these things, to wear masks to, stay away from their loved ones, to eschew holidays. And all the gatherings that we love to do for a long time now. And to ask more of people feels so hard. But from the hospital, that is what we are asking and begging people to do and just get us to the other end of this winter.
VAUSE: In the meantime, we also had this new coronavirus advisory board, Joe Biden's incoming administration. And already one of the members of that board is floating the idea of a national lockdown. Here he is listen to this.
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MIKE OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY INSTITUTE: For a package, right now, to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers, for our losses to small to medium-sized companies, city, states, county governments, we could do all that.
If we did that, then we could lock down for 4 to 6 weeks. And if we did that, we could drive the numbers down, like they've done in Asia, like they did in New Zealand and Australia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It just seems to be something which is almost ultimately going to happen.
But can you see it taking place?
Clearly not under this transition period.
But maybe once Biden is in office?
CHOO: Yes, I mean hopefully -- you hope that we won't get to that point. But I think the Biden administration, guided by really smart and experienced scientists, is laying everything on the table. And there are a lot of different ways this could go, depending on how much people take public health measures.
[02:25:00]
CHOO: And I think they're signaling a willingness to do what it takes to end this pandemic so that we can go back to our economic prosperity. But I think that is the right thing. It's not a dogmatic insistence on one way no matter what because that's what you decided. It's let's really continue looking at the data and continuing listening to our scientists and really being able to flex to what the right decision is for that moment.
But unfortunately, it will really will be their call until the new administration starts.
VAUSE: And we've seen governments around the world clamoring to secure the Pfizer candidate but there remains one common problem. This is in France.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I think right now is too premature. Personally I won't be vaccinated. If I have to die, I'll die my way and not suffer by being tested with a vaccine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: How significant is this problem, people not willing to get this shot and putting everyone else's health at risk?
CHOO: It is a huge issue. And this is where we really need to lean on public health specialists who understand what it is to not only disseminate a vaccine and do the technical things to get the vaccine out to communities. But really do the public health messaging and trust building.
We've lost a lot of trust over the course of this pandemic, particularly in the way that we've neglected populations that are vulnerable and racial and ethnic minorities. How -- how do we -- and we've done a lot of unfortunate health messaging around the idea of pushing medications and pushing vaccines out before they go through the rigorous scientific process.
And all those things have eroded trust. If you look at national surveys, every time we measure people's willingness to receive a COVID vaccine, it has gone down a little bit. So we have a lot of mileage that we need to go in terms of building trust again, in terms of really making the safety and efficacy data readily available and understood and working very hard with people in the communities and community leaders who can participate in the best strategies to disseminate vaccine.
To work with public health officials and government agencies to get the vaccine to where it needs to go. So it is wonderful news for Pfizer. But having the vaccine at hand is only half the battle. Getting it to people and getting high levels of uptake is an entirely different thing. And that is exactly the work we need to do in the new year.
VAUSE: Another one to the list for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Dr. Esther Choo, thanks so much. We appreciate you being with us.
CHOO: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, first, they targeted protesters on the streets, now they're climbing down on politicians in office. How Beijing is trying to silence the opposition in Hong Kong.
Also, with just two months left in office, why is Donald Trump replacing senior Pentagon officials with Trump loyalists?
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody, I'm John Vause.
While Beijing's latest move to wind back Hong Kong's democratic freedoms has been denounced by both the United States and the U.K. On Wednesday the Communist government passed a resolution allowing Hong Kong legislator to expel officials who promote independence.
Already four lawmakers have been sacked; 15 others say they will quit in solidarity. Beijing says the move protects national security. Critics say it's an effort to crack down on freedom and dissent.
The White House national security adviser says the Chinese Communist Party has flagrantly violated its international commitments under the Sino-British Joint Declaration it promises the people of Hong Kong, including those under the basic law.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong.
This is Beijing's hand one step removed.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: And that's why we are seeing this protest by the last remaining opposition lawmakers. One by one they are handing in their resignation letters in protest to the result of that Beijing resolution that allowed the government of Carrie Lam to dismiss, to immediately disqualify 4 of their colleagues because they were deemed a danger to national security.
In fact, in the last hour, we witnessed one of those remaining opposition lawmakers, Claudia Mo, make quite a statement inside the legislative council building here in Hong Kong. She was wearing all black. That's the color of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, the pro- democracy and anti-government protests.
She was holding a yellow umbrella, as you can see there on your screen, of course, a symbol of the 2014 Umbrella Movement for universal suffrage. She was holding her resignation letter in her hand. She spoke to the media who had gathered there about the magnitude of this moment. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAUDIA MO, HONG KONG LEGISLATOR: Well, I'm tired (ph) naturally but also fairly relative. This council is so full of fakeness (ph), so full of false sincerity, fake sincerity. They just want to pass anything, the authority, to be called (ph) and there's just no point.
And you might ask what's the point of taking part in any more legislative (ph)?
(INAUDIBLE) what happens in a year. And we will have our number, our majority number, to seriously work for Hong Kong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: There are 15 opposition lawmakers left in the legislature here in Hong Kong. So far we've counted 8 resignation letters have been submitted. When all the letters have been submitted and accepted, that would effectively be the end of dissent in Hong Kong's parliament. That would be the end of one of the last remaining venues for opposition here in Hong Kong.
Overnight, there has been widespread criticism from Western governments to what led to this. We heard condemnation from Australia, from the U.K., also from the United States, who is threatening more sanctions in the last remaining weeks of the Trump presidency.
China's response to all this is unwavering, saying that Hong Kong is China's internal affairs -- John.
VAUSE: Very quickly though, Kristie. What are the everyday, practical implications of what this actually means?
Because it's a slow creep, what we're seeing, freedom of speech, that is the opposition members of the parliament, the freedom to assemble.
Where does this end and what does it look like at the end?
STOUT: We don't know what is going to look like at the end. But you're right, it has been this slow creep, this ever chilling effect. Here in Hong Kong, ever since the national security law was put into force on July the 1st. We're nearing, half a year, 6 months of the law. And already we've seen dozens of arrests under the new national security law.
The arrest of the media tycoon Jimmy Lai, the arrest of a 19 year old activist facing some serious charges of secession. He could face life in prison.
We saw the announcement last week and the start of a police hotline, encouraging members of the public to call in when they see other people violating the national security of China. Within hours of that opening, they receive thousands of calls. And
now, we've seen the immediate disqualification of 4 opposition lawmakers. Their fellow opposition lawmakers, they have -- they resigned in protest, the end of opposition there in the legislative council.
[02:35:00]
STOUT: There's the end of opposition in the streets of Hong Kong as people are too afraid to protest because of the national security law. The opposition spirit does exist in Hong Kong. But it's not being seen or heard. Back to you.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout live in Hong Kong.
More now on our top stories this hour. Joe Biden moving ahead with what appears to be a one-sided transition. While the incumbent loser, Donald Trump, crying foul on Twitter that the election was stolen.
It wasn't.
Officials are more concerned with the way Trump is trying to prevent a peaceful transition of power. Sources telling CNN the Trump administration is preventing Biden's team from accessing messages from foreign leaders at the State Department.
They're also replacing a number of senior officials at the Defense Department with Trump loyalists. CNN's Barbara Starr has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: President Trump paid a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark Veterans Day as questions swirled about how his relationship with the Pentagon could change over the next 70 days.
Since Joe Biden was projected to win the presidency on Saturday, President Trump has installed his own loyalists at the top levels of the Defense Department. The move leading to rising anxiety at the Pentagon about what's still may come next after years of the military trying to stay out of Trump world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC EDELMAN, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY AIDE: The president, you know, has consistently referred to my generals and treated the military as if it was an institution that was personally loyal to him and his political needs as opposed to loyal to the Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: The former director of national intelligence says, it's all a security risk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: When you have the turnover and the purging and then the installation of a network of essentially political commissars. This is a real distraction from what the nerve center of our national defense. (END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Some Pentagon officials privately worry that Trump could even be thinking about replacing top military officers.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs is confirmed by the Senate to a term that ends in 2023, which keeps him in office as President-Elect Biden's military adviser. Even before the election, Milley was adamant that the military would continue to stay out of politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MILLEY, U.S. CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Thank you, Mr. President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: As chairman, Milley serves at the pleasure of the president, but the two men have clashed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm not saying the military is in love with me. The soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and makes the planes and make everything else stay happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Milley was furious even at the suggestion of warmongering and called chief of staff Mark Meadows. And when Trump had Milley joined the political theater of the June walk outside the White House during protests, the chairman publicly apologized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILLEY: I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved into domestic politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Clashes between the president and the Pentagon include opposing Trump's threat to put active duty forces on the streets against protesters last June. Trump forcing the retirement of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman after he testified before Congress in Trump's impeachment inquiry.
Multiple sources telling "The Atlantic" magazine President Trump called the Americans who lost their lives in battle, quote, "losers and suckers."
And still unresolved, the Pentagon's determination to rename military bases now named after confederate commanders. And another Trump loyalist has been installed at the Pentagon retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor. He will work here as a senior adviser.
He advocates rapidly pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, something the president wants to do, something the president's military advisers say is a bad idea -- Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With us now is Juliette Kayyem.
Juliette, thank you for being with us.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Of course, thank you for having me.
VAUSE: It's been a long time, it's good to see you. Former CIA director John Brennan, he's had many sleepless nights over the last 4 years, fearing what President Trump might do. Here he is on what he is worried about or feeling over the next few days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BRENNAN, MSNBC SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I'm more worried now than I have been over the course of his administration because he's prone to these types of actions. And putting these people in at the senior ranks of the Department of Defense, people who are inexperienced and unqualified -- and some of them are just partisan hacks -- really sends a disturbing signal to our troops, to the military as well as to nations around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So beyond the replacement of the 4 senior officials at the Pentagon, do you see more concerns here? And in particular what is your worst-case scenario in a transition period?
[02:40:00]
KAYYEM: It's definitely disconcerting but it's oddly predictable.
After 4 years of living with Donald Trump, trying to figure him out, living with the increased threats under his administration, did we actually think that he would leave quietly?
So in some ways the predictability is actually something that can't be managed. The concerns that I have about someone making a mistake or the president saying something that gets another country angry, those will exist for the next days during transition.
But our allies are not stupid. They see what's going on and they are moving forward. Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Israel and other nations have moved on. And that gives me a lot of reassurances, that they know it's going to be madness for the next 70 or 80 days.
These random sycophants are being put into these positions. And I think they are going to ignore us, hopefully, until we -- until President-Elect Biden is in the office.
VAUSE: Arizona's attorney general made it clear on Wednesday that Joe Biden had won the election there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does appear that Joe Biden will win Arizona. There are no facts that will lead anyone to believe that the election results was changed. What it really came down to, people split their ticket. People voted for Republicans down ballot, they didn't vote for President Trump or Martha McSally. So that's the reality. Just because that happened doesn't mean it's fraud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He said that on FOX and that's the good news. But fresh off Pompeo's remarks about preparing for a second Trump term, the secretary of state continued to play up Trump's bogus claims of an election in doubt. Here's Pompeo, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We'll have a smooth transition and we will see what the people ultimately decide when all the votes have been cast. We have a process (INAUDIBLE) the Constitution lays out how electors vote. It's a very detailed process, laid out.
We need to comply with all of that. And then I am very confident that we will have a good transition, that we will make sure that whoever is in office on noon on January 28th has all the tools readily available so we don't skip a beat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Whoever is in office?
I mean, seriously?
What can be gained here by Pompeo knowingly lying and trying to mislead the audience?
KAYYEM: This I think is the long term damage. But in the short term, I do think the Republican Party is essentially anti-Democratic, we do not talk about that enough. But they are talking about minority and military votes at this stage. They are talking about the people that either fight for this nation, whose votes they don't want counted, or people of color, communities of color, whose votes they don't want counted.
So let's just say that clearly. Pompeo sort of hides behind saying the detailed plan. The detailed plan is to disenfranchise those communities. Pompeo is in a corner as well. He looks at a future which is so,
essentially sucked up to the president. There is no future for him without the president.
VAUSE: Keep in mind that this country already has a problem with right-wing militia looking at some kind of civil war. A Republican state lawmaker from Mississippi tweeted this, "We need to succeed (sic) from the union and form our own country."
Well, he did not succeed in spelling secede correctly. He later apologized and said it was an inappropriate remark. But there is one person who could lower the temperature of all of this with just a few words. And that's Donald Trump.
KAYYEM: He won't and I think. In a weird way it is so really calming. I don't know how to describe it. So you are just seeing the last desperate attempts of someone who never really managed this country very well, never really lived up to his role or his responsibilities as president.
So I'm not expecting a change. And I do worry, as you know, over the weekend, I was on there about how the domestic side -- concerns about right-wing militia. I think a lot of oxygen falls out of their support and capability to organize because they don't have someone in the White House.
There will be random violence. But I do think, I think that with the president out of the White House, animating these lies or amplifying these lies and the potential for violence, we -- that the temperature in this country will lower. Most Americans welcome it and most of the world welcomes it. And so we just hold on until January 20th.
VAUSE: Yes, we wait for Joe Biden to, I guess, his success as president.
KAYYEM: Yes. And let it be calm and let it be boring. Right?
VAUSE: That would be nice. Juliette, thank you.
[02:45:00]
KAYYEM: Thank you.
VAUSE: Tropical storm Eta about to make landfall for the fourth time. This time heading for the northwest coast of Florida. We'll check on the forecasts. Will be right back.
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VAUSE: Just 10 days after super typhoon Goni left widespread destruction, the Philippines has been hammered by another powerful typhoon. Vamco is bringing powerful rains and heavy winds. Government offices have been closed and so have the financial markets. Airports and trains as well.
In the last 3 weeks, the Philippines has now been hit by 5 major storms. In the U.S., northern Florida bracing for tropical storm Eta. Heavy rains and strong winds being felt as it comes up from the Gulf of Mexico. It's the latest threat from the most active hurricane season ever recorded in the Atlantic.
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[02:50:00]
VAUSE: Well, still to come, so long clucking fans, bright green grass, hello empty crowds and leafless trees. How COVID-19 is changing the face of the Masters tournament and how one of the world's top ranked golfers is preparing.
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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. The Masters tournament tees off in just a few hours from now with a very different look. Because of the pandemic there will be no spectators on the course. Players will face different conditions than they're used to seeing in April, when the tournament is usually held.
CNN's Patrick Snell talked with Justin Thomas, one of the top ranked golfers in the world on how he's preparing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JUSTIN THOMAS, PRO GOLFER: I think different is an understatement. Not having fans on the course. I can't put it into words how weird it is going to be. Not having that bars and that buzz in the air. When you kind of cross over from the practice field to the first tee, you are into the entire golf course and you can feel all the people there.
Not having that is going to be unfortunate. But it's going to be one winner at the end of the week. You still have to play better than everybody else and that's what I'm going to try to do, prepare the best I can so I can be that one person.
But I know that there will be a lot of people watching from home and hopefully I'll be able to produce some more fireworks at that tournament.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How will the course, do you feel, specifically the conditions there at Augusta National -- how will they be different?
What are you expecting?
And how might it favor you, your approach and your stance to it all? THOMAS: I think it will play longer. Being that time of year, there has a chance to be pretty chilly. A little cold. So our T-shirts won't go as far as the past. We could get another firm fast Augusta kind of cold like when we saw Zach Johnson on one of his courses.
In terms of the conditions of the golf course, if Augusta gets the weather that they like, they're going to have the course is this firm or fast or solid or slow as they want. They might do a better job that anybody in the world in terms of flipping a golf course overnight or getting the course exactly where they like.
SNELL: I do want to talk big picture about the game itself. Bryson DeChambeau is a really much talked about golfer right now.
What's your take on what he's been doing this year?
He won the U.S. Open recently of course.
[02:55:00]
THOMAS: It's unbelievable. I'll be the first to admit I didn't think it was going to work that well. I didn't necessarily agree with what he was doing. But he's proven -- he just won a major on one of the hardest golf courses in the world.
At the end of the day, as far as he hits it. As strong as he's gotten. As much weight as he's put on. He putts the crap out of it to be honest. He putts it really well. And that's why he won that U.S. Open.
He's a complete golfer. And I think that's starting to show. It's definitely an advantage how far he hits it. It's pretty cool. At the end of the day he's worked hard and tried to get stronger. Ad that's what, I'm doing trying to get stronger. But most importantly, I'm trying to stay injury free.
SNELL: Brooks a person you know well as a player?
How resilient is he?
He's never short of confidence.
THOMAS: Brooks he's always been very independent. He's always been his own person. He has very, very small tight knit group. Strictly business when it comes down to it. When he's away from the game, he's away. But when it comes down to getting ready for a tournament, he takes it very seriously.
He might not show that he cares or that it matters to him but deep down it does. He's one of my closest friends in college golf. He's a fighter, he's a competitor.
SNELL: You already has a major title to your name.
What is it going to take to win that coveted green jacket?
THOMAS: I need to beat everybody else. I know that for sure. But I really like the golf course. I get so excited every time I play it. It's just such a fun place to play. I really feel confident that I know how to play it. It's just about execution.
Just get my golf game, my body, everything in shape and ready for the tournament. Tee it up on Thursday. And it's going to be here before I know it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Hope to see right back here tomorrow. In the meantime CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber with the latest from CNN at the top of the hour. Stay with us.
[03:00:00]
