Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Second U.S. Vaccine Breakthrough Hailed; Transition Team Needs Access To Government To Plan Vaccine Rollout; Nicaragua's Double Whammy Hurricanes Just 14 Days Apart; Monday: Hospital Admissions 73,000 Nationwide; Trump's Potential Troop Drawdown Ill Advised; Russia's COVID Reality Not What Kremlin Portrays; Republican Support Eroding for Trump's Election Denial. Extremely Dangerous Storm Hitting Central America; Giuliani's Relentless Drive to Challenge the Election. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 17, 2020 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (On Camera): Hello everyone, I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from studio seven at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.
VAUSE (Voice Over): Ahead this hour. Not one but two highly effective potential vaccines for the coronavirus. The latest medical breakthrough might just mark the beginning of the end to this pandemic.
But optimism over a vaccine has been met by concerns over distribution because the loser of the 2020 U.S. presidential election won't share the government's plans with the man who won.
Plus this.
At this hour, Hurricane Iota already battering Nicaragua. Officials warning the region could be left uninhabitable for weeks to come.
VAUSE (On Camera): A little more than a week after Pfizer gave the world reason to hope by announcing a potential highly effective vaccine comes word of another highly effective vaccine. This one from Moderna.
VAUSE (Voice Over): The biotech company says early results show it's almost 95 percent effective, an even better result than Pfizer which claimed 95 percent efficacy.
Both results are more than stunning. That's the good news.
But right now, the U.S. is closing in on a COVID death toll of 250,000. And for two weeks straight, more than 100,000 people have tested positive each day for the virus.
Hospital admissions are soaring. More than 73,000 on Monday, a new nationwide record that has state governors ramping up pandemic restrictions ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Meantime, the U.S. president elect is demanding cooperation between
his incoming administration and the outgoing Trump Administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES (On Camera): More people may die. The sooner we have access to the administration's distribution plan, the sooner this transition would be smoothly -- move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE (Voice Over): While that's important, the top expert on infectious diseases in the U.S. says it all comes down now to a vaccine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: When you have a pandemic outbreak like this, science is ultimately going to get us out of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE (On Camera): Dr. Anthony Fauci went on to say the public needs the vaccine development process is tried and true and transparent. And just because new vaccines have been developed quickly doesn't mean safety has been compromised.
CNN's Erica Hill has more now on Moderna's candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (Voice Over): Amidst grim new records nationwide, a bright spot.
Moderna's coronavirus vaccine more than 94 percent effective, according to early results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: Now we have two vaccines that are really quite effective. So i think this is a really strong step forward to where we want to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (Voice Over): The Moderna vaccine is also easier to store, it doesn't require the drastic cold temperatures needed for Pfizer's vaccine.
Which could make distribution easier when it's widely available sometime next year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. LEANA WEN, FORMER BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH COMMISSIONER: This is another action to all of us that help is on the way, that there is hope on the horizon. But we have to make it through this winter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (Voice Over): The numbers point to tough weeks and months ahead.
A million new cases added in just six days, the national average now nearly 150,000 a day.
Among the hardest hit, South Dakota where the governor where the governor has consistently resisted public health measures.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER (On Camera): Even after positive results come back some people just don't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (Voice Over): The seven-day average positivity rate in South Dakota almost 60 percent. The goal is under five percent.
North Dakota just added a mask mandate so did West Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R -W.V.A.) (On Camera): And I strongly urge, strongly urge, us all to wear a mask. That's all we got to go on right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (Voice Over): Michigan banning indoor dining, closing casinos and movie theaters, moving high school and college classes online.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MICH.) (On Camera): I'm not going be bullied into not following reputable scientists and medical professionals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (Voice Over): More than a million children have tested positive since the pandemic began.
Twenty-three states reported record hospitalizations over the weekend including Ohio which just added new restrictions on weddings and funerals.
And Missouri --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ALEX GARZA, CHIEF COMMUNITY HEALTH OFFICER, SSM HEALTH (On Camera): Health care is a finite resource. Health care workers are a finite resources. We just can't make those on the spur of the moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (Voice Over): With no national plan, two former FDA commissioner are urging states to work together.
[01:05:00]
Writing in the "Wall Street Journal" --
"... coordinated state and local leadership can make more manageable ... states that don't act quickly put the entire nation is put at risk."
Meantime, these pictures a stark reminder of a nation in need. More than 600,000 pounds of food distributed in Dallas over the weekend. Enough to feed 25,000 people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER (On Camera): Can't find a job, they cut off my unemployment. It's a big deal, it's a real big deal.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER (On Camera): This is a big blessing for us to be able to get this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL (On Camera): The single greatest failure in the U.S. response to this pandemic, a failure to effectively communicate.
That's the blunt assessment from the former director of the CDC, Dr. Tom Friedman.
In New York, I'm Erica Hill. CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE (On Camera): And joining us this hour is Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research Institute at Loyola in California.
So, Doctor, thank you for being with us.
DR. ERIC TOPOL, CARDIOLOGIST (On Camera): Thanks, John. Good to be with you.
VAUSE (On Camera): OK. Let's start with that announcement from Moderna about a likely vaccine.
Along with the hype the company's chief medical officer, Tal Zaks, added there are still trials and testing to be done.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. TAL ZAKS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, MODERNA (On Camera): This is an interim analysis and the trial will continue for a few weeks. As we gather the final data, we anticipate a final count to be reached of 151 cases.
And ultimately, we will also be sharing the final data. I don't think this number is going to move significantly, in fact, I am quite certain it will not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE (On Camera): So he went on to say the FDA emergency approval will be based solely on evidence, which was interesting.
But explain precisely what would the FDA be looking for here, what are the red flags?
TOPOL (On Camera): Well, the FDA threshold is only 50 percent efficacy. And what we're seeing now are two vaccine programs that are over 90 percent.
So really, this is kind of the best of times and the worst of times. We're in the worst surge of the pandemic in the United States and we've got the best news, far better than expected for how good the vaccines are going to perform.
VAUSE (On Camera): Yes. The Moderna vaccine is similar to Pfizer's. The big differences is Moderna doesn't require this deep freeze --
TOPOL (On Camera): Right.
VAUSE: -- for storage. How significant will that be when it comes to getting this vaccine, not just out to the United States but around the world?
TOPOL (On Camera): Well, that's a key point because we want to have, in this country, hundreds of millions of people vaccinated and the same worldwide. So we have many billions of people to vaccinate.
So anything that will make it more practical such as not requiring a minus 70 degrees centigrade freezer would be welcome.
I think the other thing to know here is that likely all of these vaccines are going to be highly effective, not just these first two because they all have the same shared target, the spike protein of the virus. So that makes them really ideally suited.
We're doing so far better against this virus than we had ever expected.
VAUSE (On Camera): And with that, Dr. Anthony Fauci was among those who see these vaccines -- not just these two but I think there's 47 all up which are in trials -- as possibly the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI (On Camera): The cavalry is coming, but the cavalry is not here yet.
So what we should do is that we should make the hope of a vaccine motivate us even more to be very, very stringent and very, very attentive to fundamental, simple, doable public health measures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE (On Camera): There really is two worlds right now, as you say. On the science and medical side, leaps and bounds and great reason for hope. On our own personal responsibility side, social distancing, washing hands wearing a face mask. We're playing covid roulette in so many parts of the world, especially in the United States.
TOPOL (On Camera): Yes. And we're going to be wearing masks throughout next year because, as you're pointing out, it's going to take a while to get this vaccination implementation phase really in a high proportion of people, in this country and around the world.
So we're just turning the corner that is the cusp of an exit strategy. And the fact that it's so much better than we had thought with the efficacy, much more like measles as compared to a vaccine like flu, we're going to see that timing much faster as getting to the Zacks kind of pre-COVID life that we had. Less people will have to get immunized.
So these are really good things that we didn't anticipate.
Just remember, just over a week ago, we didn't know if these vaccines would actually work. And their safety looks quite good as well.
So it really is true, as Tony Fauci pointed out. By mid-December, the implementation of vaccines to health care workers and high-risk individuals will start. And that will ramp up considerably over the weeks and months ahead.
VAUSE (On Camera): In the meantime, the head of the WHO had a warning for countries like the United States where the virus has been allowed to spread pretty much unchecked.
TOPOL (On Camera): Yes.
VAUSE (On Camera): Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:10:00]
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (On Camera): This is a dangerous virus which can attack every system in the body.
Those countries that are letting the virus run unchecked are playing with fire. VAUSE (On Camera): So with that in mind, how worried should everyone
be about the unknown long-term prognosis?
TOPOL (On Camera): Well, very. We have an unbridled virus that's got free rein over most of this country right now. It's uncontrolled.
And so a lot of people queue into the fatalities and the hospitalizations but what they're missing is the long COVID -- and I think you just touched on. There's a chronic condition at least 10 percent of people suffer from it, many are debilitated.
So the toll it's taking throughout the world is far greater than the statistics that we typically look at each day.
VAUSE (On Camera): Yes. Dr. Eric Topol, thank you for being with us. It just seems that the science side is being the stellar star here and our own personal responsibility has been kind of the letdown.
But hope (inaudible) --
TOPOL (On Camera): Yes.
VAUSE (On Camera): -- be interesting.
TOPOL (On Camera): You're right, John. Just the opposite. Public health, not good; science, extraordinary. Unparalleled achievements.
VAUSE (On Camera): Yes, absolutely. Doctor, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.
TOPOL (On Camera): Thank you.
VAUSE (On Camera): Even though Donald Trump lost the election, seems it's still business as usual. He's still ignoring the coronavirus pandemic reportedly not attending a White House task force meeting in five months.
He's also trying to ignore the incoming Biden Administration refusing to authorize the transfer the power, refusing to allow the next president access to crucial government data on everything from intelligence to national security to the government's plans for vaccine distribution.
A refusal which Joe Biden warns could have deadly consequences.
From Washington, here's CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN (On Camera): More people may die if we don't coordinate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (Voice Over): President Elect Joe Biden is raising his voice tonight saying allowing his team access to the Trump Administration's coronavirus planning is not about politics but a matter of life and death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN (On Camera): If we have to wait until January 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month, month-and-a-half.
And so it's important that it be done, that there be coordination. Now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (Voice Over): Along with rapidly rising cases of coronavirus, the nation 's economic headwinds are among the monumental challenges he and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris will inherit in 65 days.
Biden and Harris are trying to move ahead on both fronts receiving a briefing in Wilmington from top American labor leaders and CEOs of General Motors, Microsoft and other companies.
Yet their transition to power is still being complicated by the Trump Administration's refusal to acknowledge the outcome of the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN (On camera): I find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (Voice Over): Biden hinted at how he plans to work with cooperative Republican governors on the front lines of the fight with coronavirus.
But said he remained puzzled at those who've voiced concern about the wisdom of wearing masks or working with a new Biden Administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN (On camera): There's nothing macho about not wearing a mask. Do you guys understand this? Does anybody understand why a governor would turn this into a political statement?
It's about patriotism, i's about being patriotic. It's about saving life. For real.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (Voice Over): As some senate Republicans have called for Biden to receive intelligence briefings, he noted that Harris already is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN (On camera): The good news here is my colleague is still on the intelligence committee so she gets the intelligence briefings. I don't anymore.
I am hopeful that the president will be mildly more enlightened, before we get to January 20th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (Voice Over): Tonight, Biden said he and family members were discussing how to plan for Thanksgiving as the pandemic intensifies. He offered guidance to all Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN (On Camera): There should be no group more than 10 people in one room at one -- inside the homes.
Look, I just want to make sure that we're able to be together next thanksgiving, next Christmas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY (On Camera): Joe Biden clearly trying to use the mantle of the president elect, trying to talk specifically about coronavirus. Holding up a mask and trying to tell Americans and, indeed, others around the world what they need to do to fight this virus.
But he also was speaking in stark terms about the administration and how he needs their help as well.
No question, in about two months time, he owns this crisis. That's why he's trying to get his arms around it and work with the Trump Administration. As he says, to save lives.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE (On Camera): Hurricane Iota is getting Central America with powerful winds, torrential rains and life-threatening storm surge.
VAUSE (Voice Over): The storm made landfall along the coast of northeastern Nicaragua as an extremely dangerous category four. Iota is expected to weaken as it moves inland.
[01:15:00]
This is the second major storm to slam the area in the past few weeks and the full extent of the damage from that first storm, Hurricane Eta is not even clear.
VAUSE (On Camera): Joining us, Maria Lilly Delgado is live via Skype in Managua, Nicaragua. And meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, at the CNN Weather Center.
And Pedram, we'll start with you. Precisely where is Iota at the moment, did it arrive as expected?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST (On Camera): It did, certainly. And it strengthened a little bit beyond that as well, John.
And when you look at a storm system of this magnitude, 250 kilometers per hour at landfall, just about two kilometers per hour shy of what would be equivalent to a category four, a category five system.
So it really speaks to the significance, the severity of a storm of this magnitude.
And in fact, when you take a look at -- the National Hurricane Center kind of designates storms of this intensity and this magnitude -- typically, they say a storm reaching this intensity often leaves behind damage that is equivalent to among the highest you'll see on any scale.
And of, course this is the thirtieth system of the season.
Rob, if we can kind of advance this back to the top of the elements here, to show you what we're tracking with the system.
Because the storm made landfall in the past two hours. Came ashore about 20 kilometers away from where Hurricane Eta made landfall just literally two weeks ago, to the day.
So, really, very little downtime between one storm and another here.
And you kind of take a look here. The elevated terrain across this region certainly will help at least break the system apart much more rapidly over the next few hours and cause rapid weakening ahead of us.
But here's where we are as far as landfall is concerned with this particular storm system.
Again, making landfall as a strong category four. The concern with this is now the incredible amount of rainfall with the system before it moves out of this region.
Now we know the previous storm left behind an estimated five billion dollars in losses in neighboring Honduras, that's about 20 percent of the nation's GDP.
So a storm of this magnitude designated as a catastrophic impact event is certainly going to leave its mark behind as well.
In fact, you take a look at the verbiage from the National Hurricane Center indicated in red there. It says that most of the area will be uninhabitable for a period of weeks or months as a result of a storm of this magnitude.
And again -- this is really what's most impressive, John -- 24 kilometers apart from where the previous category four made landfall two weeks ago today. That was Hurricane Eta. John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE (On Camera): Pedram, thank you for the very latest there on what's happening. But let's go to Maria now in the capital of Nicaragua.
So, Maria, this is what, the second major storm to hit the region in just a couple of weeks. Has there been enough time, not just for cleaning up, but for preparation for Iota?
MARIA LILLY DELGADO, JOURNALIST(On Camera): Yes, exactly John. Good night. Yes, people -- even we're trying to recover from Eta but now it's almost impossible .
Because you have according to the Ortega government, according to authorities, you have like 40,000 people that have been evacuated again.
And this extremely dangerous hurricane, category four, but along the day was category five. Made its landfall near the town of Haulover. This is a Miskito indigenous community located 30 miles to the south from Puerto Cabezas.
Puerto Cabezas, it's in the north Caribbean coast autonomous region. And its capital, it's Bilwi where indigenous communities such as Mayan (ph) and Miskitos live. And as we reported this is one of the most poorest and vulnerable areas in the country.
To have an idea, to get to Bilwi it will take you more than 13 hours by car or to take a flight, which right now it's not possible, it would take more than one hour.
So according to authorities, Iota has been the most powerful hurricane ever impact the coast of Nicaraguan history after Joan, after Hurricane Joan, in 1988.
And the area, the impact area, it's under red alert. Which means it's extreme measures.
We talked with citizens in Bilwi and they told us that they are scared because this -- extremely (inaudible).
[01:20:00]
VAUSE (On Camera): Yes. Maria, thank you for that, for the update here. Some reports that these evacuations have had to stall because they ran out of gasoline for the boats.
But Maria Lilly Delgado there in Managua, Nicaragua. Also Pedram Javaheri at the CNN Weather Center. Thanks to you both.
VAUSE (On Camera): Well, the United States has only one president at a time. And right now, the one who has 64 days left in the Oval Office is reportedly talking to senior aides about a military strike on Iran. More on that in a moment.
Plus he could soon pull troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that alone could cause havoc in the region.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE (On Camera): Well, the U.S. president, the one who lost the election two weeks ago, reportedly asked senior advisers last week about potentially attacking Iran's main nuclear site.
VAUSE (Voice Over): According to the "New York Times," senior officials managed to talked him out of it warning a military strike could turn into a broader conflict in the final weeks of his presidency.
The move would also have created a foreign policy nightmare for his successor, Joe Biden, who's preparing to take office January 20th.
But the president-elect could still inherit a different type of different challenge in the Middle East.
According to a number of sources the U.S. military anticipates Trump will order thousands of U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of his term.
The move has been widely criticized by U.S. lawmakers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-ILL.) (On Camera): He has gutted the Pentagon at the top ranks, the people who would say no to him. And now he's carrying out a policy that he knows those leaders would not have agreed to because it actually puts our nation at greater risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE (On Camera): CNN senior international correspondent, Sam Kiley, live this hour Abu Dhabi from more.
So Sam, part of that reporting from the "New York Times" indicates some kind of military action could still be on the table . Here's a little more from the Grey Lady.
VAUSE (Voice Over): "Mr. Trump might still be looking at ways to strike Iranian assets and allies including militias in Iraq, officials said."
VAUSE (On Camera): Now they can read the "New York Times" in Teheran so how seriously will they take these threats? And given the ongoing nature of possible military action from the U.S., what are the chances Iran decides to take some preemptive action?
SAM KILEY, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (On Camera): Well, the military threat has existed, has always existed. All sensible military planners have forward planning to carry out these sorts of strikes, particularly against an adversary, which is what the Trump Administration has become very much seen as by the regime in Tehran, even more so than in the past.
So we shouldn't be surprised to know that there are plans around to do that. The timing and the questioning of this specific plan obviously has
potential domestic implications in the United States for what kind of dispensation will be left in the Middle East for Joe Biden, the president elect, to pick up, John.
But it is the case that the Iranians have been, according to the International Atomic Energy Authority significantly but not drastically increasing the amount of nuclear material that they have to over 4,400 kilograms, we understand.
[01:25:00]
And that is enough to perhaps build two bombs perhaps in the next three to four months.
So the Trump Administration's policy of pressure against Tehran has arguably -- and this has certainly been a position taken by the incoming Biden administration -- had a negative impact on the constrains that the original nuclear deal struck between the Obama Administration, Iran and the United States' allies to restrict the capabilities of the Iranians.
But it would have been a very dramatic step, had it gone ahead. According to the "New York Times" he was talked out of it by his newly appointed pentagon officials.
But I think arguably, the issue over the warning order for the draw down of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan is in many ways much more potentially problematic for Joe Biden.
Because it would -- and there's no question about this in the minds of military leadership, I've spoken to them certainly in Afghanistan -- leave them extremely vulnerable.
The talk is for them -- and CNN's reported this -- that they're essentially scaling back both countries of about four and-a-half thousand U.S. troops to about two and-a-half thousand. That would leave American allies vulnerable in those areas.
It would also undermine, to some extent, the support being given to the fight against particularly the so-called Islamic state but also Iranian-backed militias inside Iraq.
And, of course, could risk a Taliban effort to take advantage of a reduction in foreign forces there to go forward.
Although, of course, they are at least publicly keen to continue with the peace talks with the Afghan government, John.
VAUSE (On Camera): Sam, thank you. Sam Kiley in Abu Dhabi for us. Appreciate that. Thanks, Sam.
When we come back. Russia's Potemkin response to the coronavirus pandemic versus the reality . As uncovered by a CNN exclusive investigation.
Also parts of Central America face a long and difficult recovery after taking a hit from another powerful hurricane in less than two weeks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:29:41]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOOM.
I'm John Vause.
Well, the European Union is trying to secure millions of doses of the new coronavirus vaccines. The U.K. has ordered five million doses of Moderna's (INAUDIBLE) and if approved it could be available in just a few months.
All this comes as Europe continues to battle its third and so far our worst wave of COVID infections. Over the past two weeks, countries have tightened pandemic restrictions, to try and slow the spread.
France, which went into lockdown last month is now seeing a drop in daily cases. But on Monday, reporting a record number of hospital admissions, more than 33,000 nationwide.
Australia has ended it second national lockdown after reporting a higher than expected infection rate. All non-essential businesses and schools will remain closed, while people will be asked to stay home for at least two and a half weeks.
Well, officially the Kremlin claims to have the coronavirus outbreak under control, using this ice skating rink turned into a field hospital, as an example of Russia's pandemic mobilization. But then there is what the government says and there is cold harsh reality.
A CNN investigation has revealed hospitals are overcrowded and overwhelmed. In morgues, bodies are left on the floor.
CNN's Matthew Chance has the hidden story of Russia's battle with COVID. And a warning his reporting includes some disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is pandemic response Russia wants us to see. A vast state-of-the-art field hospital, set up to manage the coronavirus surge.
We're just about to head into the red zone.
It was the world championship ice skating stadium, called the Ice Palace. Now, the view from the stands, is 1,300 beds. The staff of highly protected medics, apparently, in control, of this COVID-19 crisis.
"We have all the necessary diagnostic equipment, including ultrasound, and ventilators," the chief doctor on the left tells me.
"The Russian government is taking serious anti coronavirus measures," he insists. Not just here, in Moscow, but far beyond.
But there is another side of Russia's raging pandemic. One the authorities here would prefer we ignore, with shocking evidence of an overloaded health care system buckling under the strain of COVID-19.
On social media, there are heart breaking scenes like this one of an ambulance medic trying in vain to get a 90-year-old patient admitted to an overcrowded ward.
"I won't take her home to die," the paramedic says. "Why do I have to weep and beg you to take in a patient," she cries.
Russian authorities admit hospitals in some regions are at more than 95 percent capacity.
But there's mounting evidence of a surging death toll too. In this video recorded last month and sent us by an opposition linked Russian Doctors Union, a dead woman dangles unattended from a hospital bed while other patients gasp for breath just feet away.
"We lost another two in the ward overnight," says a male voice on the video. "This is how COVID-19 is killing everyone," he says.
There are horrific scenes of inundated morgues, too. Some too graphic to show. The corpses strewn across floors and stretchers. It also merged that official Russian COVID death figures suspiciously low compared to other badly affected countries may grossly understate the real toll by excluding people who are presumed to have COVID postmortem, even those with pre-existing conditions that proved fatal due to the infection.
If they were counted as in many other countries, Russia's official death toll of over 33,000 people would be higher, much higher, according to a former government statistician who has compiled figures on excess deaths and spoke to CNN.
ALEXEY RAKSHA, FORMER RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT STATISTICIAN: I think it's 130,000 people.
CHANCE (on camera): A hundred and thirty thousand people who have died in Russia with COVID-19?
RAKSHA: Because of COVID. Because of COVID.
CHANCE: And do you believe that the Russian government is purposely hiding the real cost of the COVID death toll?
RAKSHA: Of course. They need to make people not afraid of the virus. It's very helpful for providing good picture so we are Russian, we are Russians. We are proud of our country. Everything is good with us.
CHANCE: Russian authorities haven't responded to the allegation they're downplaying the figures. But outside the highly organized and spacious field hospitals, the authorities are having to showcase, there are signs Russia's pandemic is getting worse.
Matthew Chance, CNN -- Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Continuing to track Hurricane Iota as it batters Central America. The storm came ashore in northeastern Nicaragua as a powerful category, the second major storm to hit the region in two weeks.
Thousands have already been left homeless by Hurricane Eta, landslide swiped entire communities off the map.
[01:34:56]
VAUSE: Shakira Barrera is a Nicaraguan-American-actress and dancer. And she is with us from Los Angeles.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. You're a long way from home I guess but this is all very real for you. You know the people, you know the country. So how will they cope with this storm, it's the worst they've seen in a generation.
SHAKIRA BARRERA, ACTRESS: Yes, well, this is a catastrophe. Nicaragua has not, they can't catch a break. This is one of the biggest hurricanes that has ever hit, and has ever been recorded.
And two back to back with Hurricane Eta less than two weeks ago and Hurricane Iota happening just hours ago, this is -- this is -- this is big for the country and we need humanitarian aid ASAP.
VAUSE: Here's how the National Hurricane Center describes what's Nicaragua going through. A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, or months.
That statement is blunt and is very matter of fact. What it does not say is how people will survive once the storm has passed. So fill in some of the blanks here.
BARRERA: Absolutely. Let me just give you a few numbers. The indigenous population in Nicaragua is as little -- as much as 160,000 and over 100,000 people have been affected, making that particular legion 98 percent decimated and uninhabitable.
The infrastructures that have been impacted with their immediate environments destroyed including homes, schools, hospitals, health centers need rebuilding.
So this is going to -- this is going to be for the long haul. We're going to need ongoing humanitarian aid.
VAUSE: So, you know, Hurricane Iota made landfall in the same region you mentioned as Hurricane Eta. This is a pretty big one-two punch for the region. And you say that only international humanitarian systems, because this is a country which doesn't have the resources to deal with one natural disaster, let alone two this close together, right? BARRERA: Absolutely. And the foreign aid law makes it really hard to
just be able to gather donation. I'm here in Los Angeles, a lot of people are asking me what can I do?
Well it's not that simple. We can't just send over clothes and masks and COVID gear, we can't do that.
So we're working directly with an organization called Amica which is La Associacion del Mujeres Indiginas dela Costa Atlantica -- I'll give you the English translation, it's Association of Indigenous Women from the Atlantic Coast -- which are there on the ground and we're working with them in partnership with an organization that I trust, that I can send all of you guys to.
It's (INAUDIBLE) and making sure that all of our funds are maximized, and that our donation dollars are getting to the people that need it.
VAUSE: So just explain how that actually works. Because there is concern about, you know, any country you should donate donations to the country, being siphoned off by a corrupt government. So you want to make sure that the money which is donated, everybody wants to make sure that that money goes directly to those in need.
So how does that work?
BARRERA: Absolutely. So (INAUDIBLE) makes sure that the people who are on the ground are actually going to the coast, actually taking those, what we call lanchas to the coast and evacuating those people and getting them the goods that they need.
So not only hygienics applies, but we're going to get them construction materials, with your donations. So they're able to rebuild their homes. Because like I said, the coast is 98 percent uninhabitable.
So, we're making sure that we're working with these women, and these women have been in this organization since 1991 but have been doing the work for decades.
And their mission is to strengthen the indigenous and black communities because they're living conditions are close to none. And they have little knowledge, little productive goods, and social services.
So this group AMICA is really working on the ground in Nicaragua, and we trust them. We trust that they're going to get the money to the people that need it.
VAUSE: Very quickly, we're out of time, if there IS one way of people contacting you who want to help you -- what's that? What's the best way?
BARRERA: Absolutely, go to (INAUDIBLE), or you can go on my Instagram, ShakiraBarrera please go to my LinkedIn. My link tree, I'm sorry, not LinkedIn. My link tree and you can follow there easy steps to donate. Please, these people need rebuilding. And thank you CNN for covering this really . It really matters a lot to the country.
VAUSE: Thank you for what you're doing, as well, Shakira. So hopefully some good will come of this --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: -- people need a lot of help.
Thank you.
BARRERA: Thank you so much.
VAUSE: You're welcome.
Well, the U.S. presidential election is decided, but Donald Trump continues to accept reality as, you know, maybe Rudy is to blame. More on that in a moment.
[01:39:34]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, as we all know by now Donald Trump is steadfastly refusing to accept the results of the presidential election -- he lost. But Republicans are allowing him to do legal challenges, to cling to some kind of hope that maybe that vote will be overturned. But as those lawsuits have failed one by one, and one after the other cracks are emerging in his support.
Here is Kaitlan Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is attempting to cling to power by blocking Joe Biden's transition to the White House while pushing conspiracy theories about the election that his own administration has debunked.
This weekend, he acknowledged Joe Biden's win for the first time. Tweeting that "He won," followed by a series of lies, before hours later tweeting, I can see nothing, and falsely claiming that he won the election.
President-Elect Biden's incoming team is dismissing the current president's mixed messages.
RON KLAIN, CHIEF OF STAFF TO PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN: Donald Trump's Twitter feed doesn't make Joe Biden president or not president. The American people did that.
COLLINS: But as Trump is continuing to deny reality, his national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, became one of few senior officials to move closer to publicly accepting it. ROBERT O'BRIEN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: If the Biden/Harris ticket
is determined to be the winner and, you know, obviously things look that way now, we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council.
COLLINS: Both of Trump's former national security advisers are also criticizing his refusal to accept Biden's win.
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: What I worry about, I worry about the effect on the country for delegitimizing our institutions by eroding public confidence, in the electoral process.
H.R. MCMASTER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: But the president says and this tweet is just wrong. It's regrettable. It's counterproductive.
COLLINS: Maryland's Republican governor, Larry Hogan, said Trump's baseless claims are losing any credibility they had, and it's time for him to concede.
GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): More and more Republicans every day are coming out, saying look, we're in the middle of twin crises. This COVID-19 is spreading all across the country, hospitals are overflowing, people are dying and our economy has collapsed.
And the president is tweeting all day and night about beating Joe Biden.
COLLINS: Trump is doing more damage than just denying Biden validation. He is also withholding access to intelligence briefings and pandemic information.
Today, the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar noted there has been no contact between his team and Biden's.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Why isn't it appropriate now?
ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: George GSA has to make a determination that a transition is in effect. That the termination has been made. My focus here is -- is on vaccines.
COLLINS: Azar said he is waiting on General Services Administration to sign off on the transition, while Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is concerned one hasn't started yet.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's almost like passing the baton in a race. You don't want to stop and then give it to somebody, you want to just essentially keep going. And that's what transition is. So it certainly would make things more smoothly if we could do that.
COLLINS: As Trump holds up the transition, Fauci says he has not attended a coronavirus task force meeting in months.
DR. FAUCI: The last time the president was physically at a task force meeting was several months ago.
[01:44:50]
COLLINS: And in that same interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he disagrees with Dr. Scott Atlas, another members of the coronavirus task force who is not an infectious disease expert, but is instead a radiologist after he told people in Michigan to, quote, "rise up in the wake of new restrictions".
Scott Atlas later said he was not inciting violence with his tweets. He simply meant people protesting the new restrictions put in place by the state's governor. But we should note, the Hoover Institution, where Atlas was a fellow before coming to the White House, put out a statement disavowing his comments, and said that they did not apply to their standards of precautions to take during this pandemic.
Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, he's being described as the world's greatest lawyer, as well as a human hand grenade, maybe now Rudy Giuliani might be called a chief enabler and conspiracy theorist in chief.
The only downside to this big serving of crazy is the lasting impact on trust in the democratic process. Drew Griffin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: It would be laughable if this wasn't so dangerous
RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP LAWYER: And then you start doing ballots like this.
GRIFFIN: Rudy Giuliani on Fox Sunday spinning his latest false conspiracy theory about an American voting machine company, a bizarre take involving George Soros, votes being counted in Spain and dead strong man Hugo Chavez.
GIULIANO: A company that has close, close ties with Venezuela and therefore China.
GRIFFIN: False. Truth? Facts? They don't seem to matter to Giuliani who is tweeting, posting on YouTube, showing up on far right-wing shows, spouting wildly false allegations, even from the parking lot of a landscaping company next to an adult bookstore.
GIULIANI: Wow, what a beautiful day.
GRIFFIN: His argument in Philadelphia that vote counters were purposely hiding ballots from Trump's poll watchers.
GIULIANI: Because many, many of them were fraudulent. GRIFFIN: Not true. This is the man President Trump has just put in
charge of his legal challenges to Joe Biden's presidential win. A stack of lawsuits has already been thrown out or dropped including nine in one day.
BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: All of these cases -- all of these cases are falling apart. The way he's going about (INAUDIBLE) to file cases with no basis in court just makes Donald Trump a loser MORE times.
GRIFFIN: In a Pennsylvania lawsuit a judge asked Trump's attorney, "Are you claiming that there is any fraud in connection with these disputed ballots?"
The Trump attorney admitted, "No."
Yet along with other Trump cronies, Giuliani keeps feeding the world his debunked conspiracy theories.
GIULIANI: In each state there were ineligible ballots that overwhelmed the marginal victory.
GRIFFIN: No, Mr. Giuliani. There were not. The United States Department of Homeland Security issued this joint statement from its elections infrastructure committee stating, "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in anyway compromised.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Rudy Giuliani is undermining confidence in the American election system and therefore undermining our national security.
GRIFFIN: It is a far cry from the man who was dubbed mayor of the world in the wake of 9/11.
Ever since Giuliani became a vocal supporter of the president's 2016 presidential bid, he has been Trump's chief conspiracist, even traveling to Ukraine to try to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden.
Intelligence officials told the White House Giuliani was the target of a Russian influence operation in 2019 according to "The Washington Post".
KEN MCCALLION, FORMER U.S. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It is very dangerous and extremely alarming.
GRIFFIN: Former federal prosecutor, Ken McCallion, who specializes in Russian organized crime and once worked with Giuliani believes Giuliani maybe unwittingly doing the Russians business in this election.
MCCALLION: What they are doing is completely 100 percent in the interest of Russia, which is to create as much damage and confusion to the U.S.
GRIFFIN: And it is working. The lies and false reports sending thousands into the streets for a pro Trump protest this past weekend.
And perhaps convincing millions of Americans to doubt the U.S. election system. Staunch Republican and former Trump national security adviser John Bolton says it's a damaging strategy that won't end after Trump leaves office.
BOLTON: Real distrust in the system, casting doubt on the integrity of our electoral system, the constitutional process -- the Russians and the Chinese could not ask for any more. What Trump is doing is potentially dangerous for the country.
GRIFFIN: Former colleagues of Rudy Giuliani questioned whether there has been cognitive decline. They just do not know what happened to Rudy Giuliani. One telling me that because the president does not even pay his attorney, Rudy Giuliani seems to be destroying his reputation free of charge.
[01:50:01]
GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin, CNN -- Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back we'll take you to one of the last untouched ecosystems on earth and explain what the Trump administration wants to do with it in the final days of his presidency.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: In just two months President-Elect Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, in the meantime the Trump administration is now staging an auction of some of the most pristine land left in the country.
They began taking bids on Monday from oil and gas companies that wanted to drill in parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. It's unclear if the process will be completed before the Biden administration takes over.
Bill Weir, is the host of CNN's "THE WONDER LIST". He joins me now from New York. Bill welcome to the show.
BILL WEIR, CNN HOST: Great to be with you, John.
VAUSE: Ok. First off, let's go back in time a little bit, memory lane. The year was 2018, a younger Bill Weir touches down in untouched wilderness. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEIR (voice over): This is it. We are in the heart of the Arctic country (ph).
Welcome to one of the last truly wild places on earth.
The coastal plain brims with live from musk oxen to bears -- both grisly and polar. Birds that will migrate to the backyards of all 50 states.
But as Florian Schulz has captured over the years, the most common creature is the caribou.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You have the best show in television. Just explain to us, what this reserve actually is. Why is it so special and what happens if this plan moves ahead to sell leases to oil and gas companies?
WEIR: Well, John, it is truly one of the last untouched ecosystems left on earth. Not to mention the United States. You know, 19 million acres up there that have no roads, no human contact, no landing strips.
And all of that would change, especially along the coastal plain there where those caribou calve and have their migration. And it would mean hundreds of miles of roads, and new well platforms, and they want shipping ports in there and four different landing strips.
And so it, you know, it would turn it into what we see in Trudeau Bay, Alaska which is unrecognizable, the piece of wilderness and it looks like something out of aliens or Escher, you know, hellscape of pipelines. And it's just one of those things that this is not really an energy story, as much as it is a -- oneupsmanship (ph) story.
Donald Trump didn't even know what ANWR meant until he says a friend in the oil industry told him that, Reagan tried to drill there, Bush has tried to drill there and if you could do it, it could really be a thorn on the side of the environmental lobby. And that seems to be what's happening.
VAUSE: Yes. Gas is $2 a gallon in the states, it doesn't make a lot of sense right now.
President-Elect Joe Biden has promised to protect the ANWR and his campaign spokesman told "The Washington Post" on Monday that this move by the Trump administration will not deter Biden from fulfilling his commitment to preserving America's national treasures, local economies and communities they support.
Biden is still 64 days away from being sworn in and able to do anything. So what could happen between now and then?
WEIR: Well, tomorrow, they're going to basically ask oil companies to say hey stake out what piece of land you'd want to drill on. And they are really fast-tracking this auction process.
[01:55:04]
WEIR: Now, normally you might think well the Biden administration could do an executive action, the way Trump did on a lot of environmental regulations to just stop it.
But Republicans they've been after this for a very long time, so they built-in a fail safe to hold this drilling order. They wrote it into the tax cut law of 2017 so it is law.
Like the United States must auction off some parts of ANWR by a certain time. And now he's accelerating that for it to happen, literally, hours before Joe Biden is sworn in. You could see a lease option happen then.
Then perhaps the Biden administration would be able to tie up and delay some of that through different agencies as they examine which oil companies want to drill where.
But in the end this is sort of law and so it really comes down to the Senate runoff races in Georgia. And if Democrats can somehow take the majority in the Senate, they can rewrite the law.
But if that doesn't happen, it's really -- it's going to be hard to stop drilling.
VAUSE: You, know this is a clear cut case of Trump Republicans and the oil industry on one side, everyone else on the other. Industries, and even the climate change is taking its toll. There is support for many who live there for drilling.
Again here's that younger Bill Weir guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEIR: That is the Kaktovik Airport, and they are moving it away from the coast due in part to sea level rise. We are seeing more and more freakish rainstorms in the winter then blizzards in the summer. But at the same time, all the modern creature comforts in this town from the clinic to the school were paid for with oil money.
And with the promise of fresh millions for their native corporation most of the folks here are eager to tap into the one product that is changing their land forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: We are out of time but just very quickly, you know, this is a complicated issue.
WEIR: It is, very complicated.
You've got tribes that want it for the money. You've got tribes that don't because they depend on the caribou. Alaska is a petro state. A lot of complications in there.
But again, one of the last most pristine corners of the planet. It's really up for debate right now.
VAUSE: That's a good point to finish on, Bill. Thank you so much. We really appreciate you being with us.
WEIR: Thanks for having me, John. Great talking to you. Let's do it again.
VAUSE: Pleasure. Cheers.
WEIR: All right.
VAUSE: Four more astronauts are now on board the International Space Station. The SpaceX crew Dragon docked about three hours ago. They're expected to be there for six months working on scientific experiments. There'll be a number of space walks to update and repair the station as well.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. Rosemary Church takes over for me after a short break at the top of the hour.
You're watching CNN.
[01:57:35]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
