Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Biden Not Getting Briefings; Second Landfall in Florida; American's Holiday Travel Plans. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 12, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:31]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Developing overnight, State Department officials tell CNN that the Trump administration is preventing President-elect Biden from accessing messages from foreign leaders. They're calling the State Department. They're not giving the president-elect these messages. Biden is still not receiving the highest level national security briefings, prompting this response from Republican Senator James Lankford.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): There's nothing wrong with Vice President Biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself and so that he can be ready. There is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that. And if that's not occurring by Friday, I will step in as well and to be able to push them to say, this needs to occur, so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Senator Lankford says by tomorrow he'll step in. I suppose that's not nothing.

Joining us now, CNN national security commentator Mike Rogers, former Republican congressman, former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, former FBI agent. Also with us, CNN counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd. He's a former CIA counterterrorism official.

Gentlemen, thank you very much.

Phil, let me start with you.

You've done these briefings. You have prepared these briefings.

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: You've been in the middle of these briefings.

So what is being lost now in the fact that President-elect Biden is not giving them? What's the impact of this? What should be happening?

MUDD: I think people are viewing this too narrowly over the past couple of days, John. You think of this in the public domain as an intelligence briefing. It's not. It's a conversation about issues like, how are we doing against the Taliban in Afghanistan? What's going on with the Iran nuclear program? So if you're in the room, the president-elect is there, his national security team is there. When you give a briefing about the level of violence in Afghanistan, which is a big issue in Washington right now, when you give that briefing, the president-elect can turn to his team and says, this looks pretty ugly, do we have a plan to deal with this? What's the status of U.S. negotiation with the Taliban\? How confident are we that the Pakistanis and the Afghan government are going to play with us?

This is about a president getting his national security team together with the best information and using that information, John, to springboard into a conversation. That's what we're missing.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And he's back, folks! We've missed you, Phil Mudd. It's great to see you.

MUDD: I -- I wish I could say that I missed you, but I, you know, I want to enter an era of truthfulness, so I apologize.

BERMAN: This is why we've missed you.

CAMEROTA: Oh, yes, it's just -- it warms the heart, really, to hear you and see you, as always.

Congressman, I thought that Republicans were the party that prided themselves on national security. And now they're willing to leave us vulnerable in these 69 days, leave us hanging out to dry with the president-elect not getting these important daily briefings?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: Oh, I love you, Alisyn, but it's not the Republican Party. Listen, this is a Trump- driven event. This is pouting at its worst. You know, one of the things that this does, it sends a horrific message to our allies and adversaries about who we are. And our adversaries will take advantage of this. So in all of the propaganda machines of Russia and China with either RT television or Chinese global television, which are state- sponsored, state-run, state messages, they use this around the world to kind of nick at the United States.

And I, you know, again, this is -- it's time. This is really important. This is probably the most dangerous time in national security we have every four or eight years, when there is a transfer, whose -- our adversaries will look for cracks that they can take advantage of. I want all of those folks going through this process.

CAMEROTA: But then, Congressman, where are the other Republicans?

ROGERS: I'm sorry, go ahead?

CAMEROTA: I mean but -- but then other than Senator Lankford, where are the other Republicans?

ROGERS: Well, I hope they're in the White House, you know, grabbing people by the collar. I mean this notion that -- I mean it's small and it's petty, and I have to tell you, Alisyn, this is exactly why I think the president lost. People are tired of the small and pettiness of it. You know what, even if he wanted to continue to challenge certain irregularities, fine, go do that, but you let the process go forward.

First of all, he's a former vice president. He should have access to the State Department. Why? Because we want all of our former presidents and vice presidents as emissaries for the United States. And so this notion that he becomes more important than this national security (INAUDIBLE) --

BERMAN: Oh, well, the administration stepped in and cut off his transmission here, Phil.

[06:35:01]

Obviously, not likely what the chairman is saying here.

If you're willing to pass judgment on us, Phil Mudd, what do you make of the president's move? What do you make of the fact -- what's your opinion of the president's decision not to provide this information to the president-elect?

MUDD: I agree with the congressman, this is petty. Look, this is like opening the door for a woman on a date, it doesn't mean you're going to marry her. If you're going to give the intelligence briefings, it doesn't mean you have to acknowledge that the president-elect won the election.

This is a common courtesy. It's been happening for decades. As you mentioned, I participated in this years ago. All it is, is saying, in the event the president-elect, the person we view as the president- elect, President-elect Biden, moves in, you do not want him on day one saying, what's going on with the North Korean nuclear program? What's going on with Chinese moves in the South China Sea? You don't want that to happen. And because of pettiness, that's what's happening right now.

The vice president, the president-elect, has been very courteous about this, but he needs access to this stuff because otherwise he comes in on day one and says, wow, the information we're seeing today is different than what we knew a week ago. What do we do about that, John?

BERMAN: I will say, when Alisyn opened the door for me, we did get married. But that -- that's neither here nor there.

CAMEROTA: Oh, do we have to go? Is that what (INAUDIBLE) --

BERMAN: No, no, we have one more.

CAMEROTA: Oh, we have one more.

MUDD: No!

CAMEROTA: No, we're still doing this. Here's what -- Congressman, here's what "The Washington Post" says is

happening with Biden. The Biden transition team members are instead making contact with recently departed government officials and other experts to help them prepare for the new administration. And they're relying on a team led by a former senior State Department official to handle an influx of calls from foreign leaders, all without the benefit of a secure government line or language interpretation services provided by the current State Department.

This is ridiculous, Congressman. I mean this is just Keystone Cop stuff that the Trump administration thinks is OK for the incoming transition.

ROGERS: Yes, I think history is going to be very unkind to them, just like it's going to be for the marriage that you all had apparently in -- I guess that was Las Vegas when you guys went through all that?

CAMEROTA: We're still married. Work spouses.

ROGERS: A little it -- a little bit work (ph) for me.

But I think, listen, it's -- this isn't good. It's not healthy. It's the very fact. But we saw this, you know, in the (INAUDIBLE) --

CAMEROTA: I think he's made his point.

ROGERS: Thought they were going to do it themselves. And if you recall, they got themselves in some trouble there, too. I just -- listen, the longer this goes, the more petty it looks. It's not good for -- it's not even good for Trump and whatever he does next. It certainly isn't good for the country. And my argument is, all of the players around the president ought to put pressure on him right now, like, listen, this is important, let the transition move forward. And if something happens that changes the outcome, you look like the winner, right?

I mean this is so crazy. It's -- and it's dangerous, honestly, because you want -- you want these transitions to be as close to what's happening in real time. So on January 21st, there isn't this, you know, the screen does not go blank. We can't afford it. It's this peaceful transfer of power is the cornerstone of who we are in the United States. It -- that's it. That's the one thing that separates us from every other -- even democracy. There's no tanks on the front lawn when this happens. The more you dust up, the more you try to make it difficult, the more you say it's about me and not the country, I think, is not healthy for our long-term democracy.

BERMAN: Well, that's the way it was. The way it used to be.

Mr. Chairman, thanks for being with us.

Phil Mudd, great to see you. Thanks so much for waking up.

CAMEROTA: Great to see both of you. Thank you, guys.

MUDD: Sure. BERMAN: All right, developing this morning, a tropical storm making a second landfall in Florida. We have the forecast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:41]

CAMEROTA: Developing right now, torrential rain leading to flooding in the Tampa Bay area as a tropical storm made landfall in Florida this morning for a second time. You can see the damage that strong winds are causing there.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam is live in Clearwater Beach with more.

What's the situation, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, good morning, Alisyn.

We are seeing first light here across the Gulf of Mexico. Pier 60, Clearwater, directly behind me. Pretty much unscathed, as you can see. No damage there. But what has been a very drawn-out, very fickle and notoriously challenging storm to actually forecast, it strengthened to a hurricane, then weak to a tropical storm as it made landfall for its fourth time. Remember, Sunday, it made landfall in the Florida Keys. So this is the second time it's impacted this state.

The reason being is the water temperatures, in order to sustain a tropical storm or hurricane to strengthen has to be above 80 degrees. Water temperatures here have cooled off.

It's the middle of November. And as a meteorologist, I can't believe I'm actually chasing a storm this time of the year.

But we talk about the threats with a long-duration storm. That being storm surge. And that was materialized across much of Tampa Bay, 2 to 3 feet. In fact, check out this footage coming out of Madeira, near Tampa Bay. Some vehicles were submerged, had to be taken out of the floodwaters there. Still 1 to 3 inches of rain with some of the feeder bands coming onshore. But for the most part, resident here cleaning up, starting to get rid of the nuisance damage left behind from Tropical Storm Eta. And we'll be back to business as usual, ready to look forward to the day to come.

So, back to you, John.

BERMAN: All right, Derek, wet feet, good luck with that.

All right, where is the storm headed now? Chad Myers with the forecast.

Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John, came onshore very close to Cedar Key, now very close to Gainesville, Georgia. And it will eventually get over Jacksonville in just a couple of hours. The winds that I find now are around 35 miles per hour. So this thing

has truly, truly calmed down. As soon as it made landfall, it lost a lot of power, crossing the I-75 corridor right there, eventually over I-95 and out to sea.

One more thing we're watching, though. A cold front appeared north. That's going to catch some of this tropical moisture and put down tremendous amounts of rainfall. Right now a flash flood emergency for Hickory and Conover, North Carolina. Flooding is happening. People are being rescued.

And here is what the radar is going to look like at 9:00.

[06:45:00]

Raining right there. Here's what it looks like at 5:00, still raining. And by 8:00 tonight, the rain isn't over. It is still going to be raining. 10:00 tonight, still raining, as well. This is the area that we're worried about for the flash flooding. Four to 6 inches of rainfall, easily.

And just to finish off with 2020, now 12 named storms have hit the U.S. this year.

John.

BERMAN: That's just ridiculous. That map behind you, Chad, is just ridiculous.

MYERS: (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: And who knows if we're done yet. Thanks so much for being with us.

MYERS: Sure.

BERMAN: The U.S. shattering records in the coronavirus pandemic, but you will be shocked to learn what Americans are doing about travel plans for Thanksgiving. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning the United States reporting more than 144,000 new coronavirus cases. That's a record. More than 65,000 people hospitalized. That's a record. With two weeks to go before Thanksgiving, Dr. Anthony Fauci urging Americans to consider canceling holiday trips, but are they listening?

[06:50:00]

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean live at Washington's Reagan National Airport.

And, Pete, I think the answer to this is really surprising. What are people doing in regards to their travel plans? PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, we're in the

middle of this serious surge. New travel restrictions popping up each and every day. But what's so interesting is that major airlines think they're about to be the busiest they have been since March and they're laying the groundwork right now.

Here are the new numbers from Airlines. American Airlines says it's about to increase its flight schedule by about 15 percent for the week of Thanksgiving. It's by flying about 3,500 flights a day. That number about to go up to 4,000 flights a day. United Airlines says it's adding 1,400 flights to its schedule. That's about an increase of about 10 percent.

This is a bit of a gamble, though, for struggling airlines. The industry trend is for passengers to book their tickets at the very last minute.

Even still, airlines are insisting it is safe to fly. New research shows the risk of virus transmission onboard an airplane is actually relatively low, but the CDC cautions you need to consider the entirety of your trip, door-to-door. Even that can be a high risk. And researchers say there's still not much data on virus transmission in airports and terminals and in security lines. You know about a million people pass through security at America's airports back on October 18th. That's the record of the pandemic. A number we almost saw again this past Sunday.

So we will see if passengers remain undaunted and set a new pandemic air travel record.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, might be time to reconsider. And by that I mean it is time to reconsider.

Pete Muntean, thanks so much for being with us. I hope people are careful.

All right, there's really very little question at this point about what people should do for Thanksgiving, they should not gather in large groups. More on this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:58]

CAMEROTA: The coronavirus pandemic is getting worse, if you can imagine that. This morning we learned that at least five outbreaks in New Jersey are linked to Halloween parties. Dr. Anthony Fauci says it might be time to bite the bullet on Thanksgiving.

Joining us now is CNN contributor Erin Bromage. He's a biology professor at UMass Dartmouth and a researcher of infectious diseases.

Professor, great to see you, as always.

Before we go through your safety tips, would you prefer that everyone just cancel their Thanksgiving plans right now?

ERIN BROMAGE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean it's really not looking good right around the country. And I -- right now. We are just on fire everywhere with infections. So, absolutely, if -- we really should be thinking about canceling Thanksgiving and just keeping it to our household.

CAMEROTA: If you're in a place that has not seen -- that at the moment does not have huge positivity rates, and let's say that you still have, you know, an elderly relative who you don't want to leave alone, here are your safety tips.

Smallest number of households gathered together as possible. Fewest number of people. Keep it outdoors. If inside, keep all the windows open. Keep it short. Duration is important. How short, Professor?

BROMAGE: If you can keep it to half an hour, it's better than an hour, which is better than two. So we -- what we don't want to have is a two, three-hour meal across a table from a different family member -- different households because duration and exposure, we know, leads to infection. So keep it short.

CAMEROTA: Keep it -- yes. Yes, that is really helpful. I mean here's what ends up happening. I mean I'll just go through a couple more of your tips. Keep it distant. Family units together, meaning the immediate family together. And space it out, obviously, with somebody who's not in your household, meaning, like, if I have my mom, OK, over, she has to sit in a different room. And so at some point it becomes -- what's the point?

BROMAGE: Yes, I mean, when you start thinking about it, so, I'm in the same situation. I've got a family members, an elderly family member, that would like to come along, come to Thanksgiving. And we really have to think about, is it safe? Is it a smart move to what we do?

So we are taking some of these strategies. We are going to do it because we're in a low-risk area. She's very sequestered away. But our planning for Thanksgiving starts today. So from today we start sequestering ourself away from high-risk interactions or interactions that could lead to infections in our family in order to get that 14- day buffer before she arrives.

My wife and I are both arranging for testing in the days leading up to her arriving, to give us that extra layer of defense. And then we're going to set up those type of protective measures inside our home. Distance, duration, we've bought extra HEPA filters for inside the house. We're going to have windows cracked open. So we're just layering one defense upon the next upon the next to ensure that we can make it as safe as we possibly can.

CAMEROTA: I really appreciate what you're saying because not everybody can quarantine for two weeks beforehand. And if, you know, in other words, you're taking all of these precautions that your family can do --

BROMAGE: Yes. CAMEROTA: But at some point it does become so onerous that it's hard to see the value in it. I mean one last thing, the CDC has been keeping an eye on what's happened in Canada. Canada had done a good job, obviously, of flattening the curve. Much better than the United States. However, their Thanksgiving was on October 12th. And, sure enough, they've seen outbreaks now in Canada.

And so -- but the CDC, having seen that as a harbinger of what is to come, I mean the things that they're saying that we should do, don't share any condiments or serving spoons. Bring your own plates and utensils. Everybody -- only take -- wear your mask the whole time. Only take it off when you're chewing. Don't go into the kitchen.

I mean every single thing they're saying sort of defeats the whole purpose of Thanksgiving. So I've got to go. We're out of time.

BROMAGE: Look --

CAMEROTA: Professor Bromage, thank you -- thank you very much for expanding all of this.

BROMAGE: No worries.

[07:00:01]

CAMEROTA: We'll talk again soon.

BROMAGE: All right.

CAMEROTA: And NEW DAY continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota.