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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Georgia Audit Confirms Biden Beat Trump by 12,284 Votes; Biden: Trump "One of the Most Irresponsible Presidents" in History; CDC Urges Americans Not to Travel for Thanksgiving; 16 College Football Games Called Off Due to COVID-19. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 20, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:20]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

And Christine Romans is back.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm back, I'm back. It's Christine Romans. It's Friday, November 20th. It's 5:00 a.m. in New York.

I come back for the Friday edition, Laura.

Breaking overnight, the state of Georgia wrapping up its audit in the presidential election, and confirming Biden defeated President Trump, Biden won over 12,000 votes. No findings of widespread fraud or irregularities as alleged by the president, his loyalists and the disinformation campaign they are waging.

The Georgia secretary of state is required under law to certify the results today. Republican Governor Brian Kemp has until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Saturday to sign the paperwork that officially gives Georgia's 16 electors to Biden.

JARRETT: Now, despite all that, the president is not giving up on his desperate bid to overturn the results of the election he lost, if not overturn, at least cause a crisis of confidence in the process. He's invited Republican lawmakers from Michigan to the White House today. The president and his allies have hatched a scheme to pressure state officials to ignore Biden's win and at least try to delay certification of the vote in these key battleground states like Michigan.

Now, sources say the president has invited state Senate majority leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, and they agreed to come to the White House. Yet, both men have also indicated they will not try to overturn Biden's win.

To be clear, the legislature has no role in certification of the votes. So, this entire charade will not alter the ultimate outcome of the election, but at least one sitting U.S. senator is willing to call out the president's behavior for what it is, undemocratic. Utah Senator Mitt Romney writing in a tweet, having failed to make

even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the president has now resorted to over pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election. It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president.

ROMANS: Undemocratic.

We're also hearing the strongest comments yet from President-elect Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT: What president is doing now is really -- it's going to be another incident where he will go down in history as being one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history. It's -- it's just not even within the norm at all. There's questions whether it's even legal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Let's get more this morning from CNN's Jessica Dean. She is live for us in Wilmington, Delaware. She's covering the Biden transition.

Good morning, Jessica.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you.

Yeah, I was in the room yesterday during that press conference, you guys. And it was interesting to President-elect Biden's demeanor shift a little bit when he was asked about his thoughts on the delay in this transition about President Trump refusing to concede. You saw him really choose his words carefully, and really take this very thoughtful moment to really collect his thoughts to give his opinion of what's going on.

His team is forging ahead best they can without formal access to these federal agencies, to coronavirus data, et cetera, et cetera, without the presidential briefings. But the fact remains, the transition process has simply not begun in the way it typically has, and he talked a little bit about how all options remain on the table but he was pretty firm in that he does not want to take the legal route.

He doesn't want to take legal action. That's not his first choice that he believes he can bring people together. He can bring Republicans to his side like you heard from Mitt Romney, from Ben Sasse yesterday.

Here's more from Biden yesterday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Let me choose any words. I think they're witnessing incredible irresponsibility, incredibly damaging messages being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions, and I think it is -- well, I don't know his motive but I just think it's totally irresponsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: His comments came yesterday after he had a briefing with a bipartisan group of governors joined by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. They talked a lot about the coronavirus pandemic, and Biden reiterated his pledge, there will be no national shut down.

[05:05:02]

They want to do targeted things that they believe can curb this virus, but he doesn't want to shut down the country. He wants to shut down the virus. That is something we have heard him say before. But he doubled down on that yesterday.

Later today, Christine and Laura, we know that he will be meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer here in Wilmington. This is the first meeting for that trio since Biden has been elected -- Christine and Laura.

ROMANS: Now, Jessica, what can you tell us about how they're planning, how the Biden team is planning in terms of cabinet positions? Are they -- are they showing their cards at all yet?

DEAN: Well, again, yesterday Biden kind of dropping this surprise news on everyone. We had been told cabinet positions may be delayed a little bit until after Thanksgiving. He wanted to get it done around Thanksgiving, and then he said he had chosen a treasury secretary, so he says he has chosen a treasury secretary. One of the front runners whose name keeps bubbling up is Lyle Brainard, who sits on the board of governors for the Federal Reserve. She would be the first woman to serve as treasury secretary if selected.

But, again, let's emphasize, we don't know for sure who he has selected but it is possible that we will hear that as early as next week before Thanksgivings, that we might hear more about secretary of state and other nominations that he wants to make.

Again, Christine, the point here is they want to show they're up, they're running, they're governing. They want to show that to the American people. They want to show that to the Trump administration, and President Trump himself.

So that's what they're really trying to put forward optically, in addition to making these decisions -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Jessica Dean for us, thank you so much, in Wilmington.

And, Laura, it's so unfortunate. It's not a surprise that I guess, Laura, that the president takes a wrecking ball to presidential norms. He has been doing that for four years now. But the fact that people are dying in a pandemic, and he's not cooperating with the transition for the incoming Joe Biden administration, it's just -- it's more than just obliterating presidential norms, it's a real tragedy. JARRETT: Well, and you can see the Biden administration moving more

towards that type of messaging, saying more people will die, the vaccine rollout will be affected by this. So, it's about more than just norms, as you say. This is actually tangible about people's lives.

All right. Now to more failed election lawsuits for Republicans in the Trump campaign, as a state judge in Pennsylvania, rejecting an attempt to throw out more than 2,000 absentee ballots. The Trump campaign also dropped the federal lawsuit in Michigan that had alleged voting irregularities.

In Arizona, a state judge tossed a suit seeking a wider audit of votes cast on Election Day. And in Georgia, a federal judge threw out a case that alleged constitutional violations, and fraud.

ROMANS: So, that string of court losses or setbacks did not stop Rudy Giuliani and the rest of President Trump's legal team from holding this news conference that was doomed from the start.

Reporters listened to a series of wild, baseless voter fraud allegations as Giuliani's hair dye dripped down the side of his face.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S PERSONAL ATTORNEY: I know crimes. I can smell them.

Did you all watch "My Cousin Vinny," do you know the movie. It's one of my favorite law movies because he comes from Brooklyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your question is fundamentally flawed when you're asking, where is the evidence?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I mean, George Soros, Venezuela, I mean, this was just a freewheeling set of non-sequiturs here.

Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse telling his constituents in a statement to look at what the Trump lawyers are arguing in court, not what they are saying in public. Sasses writes, when Trump campaign lawyers have stood before courts under oath, they have repeatedly refused to actually allege grand fraud because there are legal consequences for lying to judges. We are a nation of laws, not tweets.

JARRETT: So, what's motivating all of this, what's this really all about for the president? Well, a source with close ties to President Trump tells CNN that he knows he lost the election, and what's happening now is about getting back at Democrats for all of their investigations into his connections with Russia, and what the president views as their questioning of his legitimacy, the legitimacy of his win four years ago.

The president has heard from various friends and business associates who have been urging with him, pleading with him to let the transition begin, even if he doesn't want to formally concede. Sources say the president's response has been a solid no.

ROMANS: The president appears consumed by political revenge, what America is desperate for leadership, to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Overnight, 2,015 more American deaths reported, the most since April, 2,015, and nearly 188,000 new cases. That's the most ever in the U.S.

And today, the CDC is urging Americans to avoid travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. They say stay home.

CNN's Erica Hill has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As testing lines grow ahead of Thanksgiving, this stark new advisory.

DR. HENRY WALKE, CDC: CDC is recommending against travel during the Thanksgiving period. What's at stake is basically the increased chance of one of your loved ones becoming sick and then being hospitalized and dying.

[05:10:06]

HILL: The White House coronavirus task force holding it first briefing in more than four months, echoing that concern as the numbers get worse.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: Every American needs to be vigilant in this moment.

HILL: More than half a million new cases in just the last four days. Nearly 80,000 Americans now hospitalized, yet another record high.

DR. NATHAN HATTON, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HOSPITAL PULMONARY SPECIALIST: We are on 250 days of having a COVID patient in our ICU right now.

HILL: Deaths are also climbing, nearing daily numbers not seen since early May.

Nationwide more than 250,000 lives lost -- mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, INFECTIOUS DISEASES MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL CHIEF: I think we should all just pause at that extraordinary number. We need to grieve. We need to mourn. We need to remember, and then we need to double down and make sure that all of those lives were not lost in vain.

HILL: Arkansas businesses that allow alcohol consumption on site must close by 11:00 p.m. Minnesota pausing in-person dining, sports and social activities for the next four weeks. A new curfew for nonessential businesses in Los Angeles County begins Friday. Wisconsin's public health emergency and mask mandate extended through January. GOV. TONY EVERS (D), WISCONSIN: Call it what you want -- flattening

the curve, stopping the spread, staying safer at home. I'm going to call it what it is. It's about saving lives.

HILL: Public schools in Denver at all K through 12 schools in the state of Kentucky shifting to fully remote learning. New York City's move to do the same for its public schools prompting immediate backlash.

MARK LEVINE, NEW YORK CITY HEALTH COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: These priorities are totally backwards. Today in New York City, a kid cannot learn in their classroom but they can have a meal at indoor dining.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: For everyone who honestly might feel somehow a little better if they knew that indoor dining was going to close or gyms were going to be closed, it's just a matter of time.

HILL: There is some encouraging news. AstraZeneca says its vaccine appears to generate a strong immune response in those over 70 as it does in younger people. But while we wait, the fallout from coronavirus is getting worse. New jobless claims rising for the first time in a month and still no stimulus in sight.

KARIN SMITH, WILL LOSE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS DEC. 26, 2020: We wait until the election. I can't believe they're just not going to do anything again.

HILL: Food lines growing, as families struggle to provide.

MELONY SAMUELS, THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST HUNGER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Seventy-five percent of those we're seeing are unemployed because of COVID-19.

HILL: Need and stress reaching dangerous levels and fears of a breaking point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL (on camera): California's governor just adding a new curfew, which takes effect Saturday night, starting at 10:00 p.m., runs until 5:00 a.m. for the next month. Some of the hardest hit areas, it will impact about 94 percent of that state's population.

In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.

JARRETT: Erica Hill, thank you so much for that.

Well, prosecutors in New York now expanding their look at the Trump Organization's taxes. We have the details for you on all of that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The Trump administration pulling the plug on funding for emergency Federal Reserve programs, just as coronavirus cases spike across the country. The Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sent a letter to the Fed Chief Jerome Powell. He asked the Central Bank to return some $450 million in unused funding for programs set to expire at the end of the year.

Now, Mnuchin said Congress would then be able to re-appropriate the money for other purposes. But that money is earmarked meant to help businesses struggling right now because of the pandemic. The Chamber of Commerce blasted this move from the administration saying it unnecessarily ties the hands of the incoming administration. The Fed, the Central Bank, quickly responded to Mnuchin's letter saying it would rather keep that funding in place. It would rather have the full suite of emergency funding continue to serve their important role as a backstop for our still strained and vulnerable economy.

Meanwhile, it's becoming even less likely any stimulus deal can be reached during the lame duck session. Republicans and Democrats very far apart on how much money to spend and how to spend it.

JARRETT: Well, new this morning, authorities in New York are expanding their investigation of the Trump organization to now include tax write offs, involving millions of dollars in consulting fees. Sources say the Manhattan district attorney's office and the New York attorney general's office have now issued subpoenas for records related to those consulting fees. These subpoenas were issued after a "New York Times" investigation recently revealed the president took $26 million in write-offs for fees he paid to consultants, including a $747,000 fee that was apparently paid to his daughter Ivanka.

ROMANS: All right. Eighteen minutes past the hour. More than 1/4 of all college football games this weekend cancelled because of the coronavirus.

Coy Wire with the details until the "Bleacher Report" next.

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[05:23:25]

ROMANS: All right. This week's slate of college football games is the hardest hit yet by the pandemic.

Coy Wire has this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine.

Sixteen games have either been cancelled or postponed this week as the number of coronavirus cases around the country continues to rise. That's more than a 1/4 of the games scheduled. That surpasses last week's total of 15. That's the highest number so far this season. Every conference has at least one game called off.

Conference USA and the Mountain West hit the hardest with three games each. One of the biggest to be cancelled is Maryland's game against Michigan, Maryland calling off the second game in a row, with 15 players testing positive. And the Pac-12 looking to fill voids caused by missed games by

allowing nonconference football games to be played. Half of the teams only played one game (AUDIO GAP). In Utah, still waiting to make its debut (AUDIO GAP). The conference is missing out on almost $5 million in TV revenue for every game forced to cancel.

Game action now, wild finish in last night's game between number 25 Tulsa and Tulane. Tulsa down 7, time running out. Down to their third string quarterback, Davis, who throws up a prayer, and it's answered.

Juan Carlos Santana, catching the Hail Maria Maria, sending it to over overtime. Somehow, that wasn't the wildest play of the night. Second overtime is Tulsa's Zaven Collins intercepting the pass and getting on his horse. Giddy up, big fella.

Tulsa down 14-zip at one, but keeps fighting.

[05:25:01]

Collins goes 96 yards, down the field to complete the comeback, a game winning pick 6 for the Golden Hurricane, 30-24.

Thursday night football now, Russell Wilson and the Seahawks, back on track after losing two straight games. Russ almost flawless against Arizona last night, hitting DK Metcalf of one of two touchdowns through the air. But Seattle's defense finally coming to life. Constantly pressuring Kyler Murray, all game, shaking him up, and stepping up when it mattered most.

Final seconds, Murray with one last chance, sacked, Carlos Dunlap, Seattle's third of the game sealing it. Seahawks win, 28-21. They now have the easiest schedule from here on out, Laura, in terms of opponents, schedules and records.

It should be interesting to see what Seattle can continue to do the rest of the season.

JARRETT: All right, Coy. Thanks so much. Have a good weekend.

All right. Still ahead for you, time is running out for millions of people who depend on government help to get through this pandemic. We have the details for you on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)