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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Sources: Biden To Name Antony Blinken As Secretary of State; Michigan GOP Canvassing Board Member Expected To Oppose Certifying; Trump's Election Attacks Continue As Legal Losses Pile Up. Aired 5:30- 6a ET

Aired November 23, 2020 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:31:17]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Always great to see you, Laura. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Christine Romans. We're about 31 minutes past the hour.

And we start this half-hour with breaking news overnight. CNN has learned President-elect Joe Biden is set to name his nominee for Secretary of State. Sources say longtime foreign policy adviser Tony Blinken will get the nomination when Biden starts announcing his cabinet picks on Tuesday.

CNN's Arlette Saenz starts us off this morning live in Wilmington, Delaware. And, Arlette, this pick of Tony Blinken signals the approach for Joe Biden at the State Department. It kind of hints at his agenda.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right, Boris, it certainly does. And it shows that President-elect Joe Biden wants to turn to some seasoned foreign policy hands to lead his Department of State and his administration's diplomatic approach.

Now, Tony Blinken previously served as a deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration, and he also has longtime ties to Joe Biden, having worked with him dating back to Biden's time in the Senate. He was also Biden's national security adviser for some time. And, Blinken's nomination -- or expected nomination, I should say, is already receiving some praise from foreign diplomats as well as here at home.

Now, in addition to Biden announcing his secretary of state tomorrow, he is also expected to announce his national security adviser and his ambassador to the United Nations. Both of those positions have leading contenders.

For the national security adviser, the leading contender is Jake Sullivan, someone who served as Biden's national security adviser while he was vice president and also was a top aide to Hillary Clinton during her tenure at the State Department. And for the position of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, one of the leading contenders for that position is Linda Thomas- Greenfield. She is a longtime former State Department official, she served as the assistant secretary for the Bureau for African Affairs, and she is also a woman of color. So nominating Thomas-Greenfield would lend some diversity to Biden's cabinet as he has vowed to have a diverse cabinet that looks like America.

But each of these contenders for those top diplomatic and national security jobs also just have decades of experience to lean on. And Biden has made it clear that one of his top priorities in office will be repairing those relationships with foreign allies and trying to restore America's standing in the world, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, certainly. We'll also closely be watching how Republican senators respond to these nominations once they become official. Of course, the open question is whether we'll see confirmation fights in the months to come.

Arlette Saenz reporting from Delaware. Thanks so much.

JARRETT: Well, Pennsylvania and Michigan, two key battleground states won by President-elect Biden, are supposed to certify their election results later today but the Trump campaign keeps pushing for delays, delaying the inevitable.

The campaign suffered an embarrassing setback in Pennsylvania on Saturday. That, after a federal judge shot down its bid to throw out millions of absentee ballots, essentially calling the lawsuit "Frankenstein's monster." But certification of results there could be held up because of another court case still pending.

And meanwhile in Michigan, at least one of the two Republicans on the state canvassing board is expected to vote against certifying results today. That's all raising a host of questions about what happens next there.

We get more on all of this from CNN's Kristen Holmes.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning, Laura and Boris.

Yes, all eyes right now are on Michigan and what's going to happen today. The state was set to certify today but we learned yesterday that there might be some complications with that.

[05:35:07]

So what exactly do we know? Well, we know the Board of Canvassers is four people and it's two Democrats and two Republicans, and they vote to certify the election.

This is typically just a check box. It is not something that stops anything. They just take the will of the people -- that vote count -- and certify the election formally. This year, no surprise. Based on what we've seen for this election it is a little bit different.

Now, yesterday, we learned that a Republican congressman had spoken to one of the Republican members of the Board of Canvassers who told him as of last week, that he was expected not to certify the election -- not to vote to certify the election, waiting for an audit of Wayne County. So that means right now, that we are in a position that Michigan can only be certified today if that other Republican votes to certify with the two Democrats which, of course, we expect to vote to certify.

Here's what's going on. Late on Saturday night, Michigan Republicans as well as the Republican National Committee, asked the Board of Canvassers to delay certifying the election until an audit of Wayne County, Michigan's largest county and home of Detroit, was completed. There appears to be no state law that allows this to happen.

And, in fact, we heard from Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat, yesterday, who said that they were supposed to certify first and then later do an audit. But, of course, everything here is messed up.

So the big question is whether or not this one Republican is going to vote to certify the election or create a deadlock, meaning two to two. Now if that happens, the state Speaker of the House, Republican, said that this could lead to chaos or even a constitutional crisis.

Now, another big thing I want to point out there, also supposed to see a certification in Pennsylvania. That's done a little bit differently. It is not a statewide certification, it's done county-by-county.

Well, last night, we saw that the Trump campaign was appealing a brutal ruling by a conservative judge in Pennsylvania. The question now is how that will affect that state's -- Pennsylvania's certification -- Laura and Boris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: All right, Kristen. Thank you for that.

More cracks are showing in President Trump's wall of GOP support. Some high-profile Republicans are losing patience with all of the baseless nonsensical claims the president's legal team is making about election fraud.

Here's former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, someone who is usually a staunch ally of the president.

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CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: His legal team has been a national embarrassment. Sidney Powell accusing Gov. Brian Kemp of a crime on television, yet being unwilling to go on T.V. and defend and lay out the evidence that she supposedly has. This is outrageous conduct by any lawyer.

And notice, George, they won't do it inside the courtroom. They allege fraud outside the courtroom but when they go inside the courtroom they don't plead fraud and they don't argue fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And now there's infighting on the Trump legal team, too. Two of his attorneys are trying to distance themselves from a third attorney.

We get more now from CNN's White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, just over a week after President Trump named attorney Sidney Powell to this legal team in his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the president's legal team now says that Sidney Powell is not a member of his legal team.

Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, two of the attorneys for the president's effort, saying in a statement, quote, "Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump legal team. She is also not a lawyer for the president in his personal capacity."

Now, this notion that Sidney Powell never was a member of the legal team is absurd. Not only did the president name Sidney Powell in a tweet as he was announcing the members of his legal team, but just a few days ago Sidney Powell appeared right alongside Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis at Republican National Committee headquarters to talk about their legal effort. Giuliani, in fact, saying that he was in charge of this investigation alongside Sidney, referring to the attorney, Sidney Powell.

Now, Sidney Powell has been trafficking in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election over the last week during which she's been a member of that legal team. She has alleged that the CIA was somehow involved in rigging the election. She's alleged that the late leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, was also involved. And she's even accused the Republican governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, of also rigging the election in that state in favor of Joe Biden.

None of these claims, of course, have any basis in fact or reality. But nonetheless, she's been trafficking these claims as a member of the legal team and they're not all that far from what the president and his lawyers have also been saying.

The president has alleged this conspiracy theory about the Dominion voting software, saying that it somehow deleted votes in his favor. No basis in reality. It's something that's been repeatedly debunked by state and federal officials across the country over these last several days.

[05:40:08]

Now as this is happening though, the president is losing in the courts one case after the next. More than two dozen cases have been either dismissed or withdrawn by the Trump legal team. And, Republicans are beginning to increase the pressure on the

president, saying that it is time for him to either show the evidence that he has in court or to move on and allow this transition process to happen. Pressure coming in on Sunday from Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski saying that the transition needs to happen right now. Others beginning to raise the alarm as well, saying that the delay in the transition could cost American lives amid this pandemic.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: All right, Jeremy. Thank you for that.

With 58 days until Joe Biden's inauguration as president, it's time for three questions in three minutes. Let's bring in CNN political analyst Toluse Olorunnipa, also a White House reporter at "The Washington Post".

SANCHEZ: Good morning, Toluse.

JARRETT: Toluse, it's great to have you.

So it feels like almost every morning we talk about when Republicans in Washington, and mostly Republican senators, are finally going to stand up to this president and say enough is enough. But you've been doing some great reporting at the "Post" on what you call the quiet resistance among election officials at the state and local level who are really refusing to go along with the president's gambit here. What did you find?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST (via Cisco Webex): Yes, we found that a number of the state and local lawmakers that the president is putting pressure on, they're not buckling under that pressure, at least not yet. They are not moving forward with the president's attempted power grab by saying they're going to appoint electors for Trump even though their states voted for Biden.

They're, you know, giving lip service to the idea that there may have been fraud, they are holding press conferences. But they are not actually moving forward with this really unprecedented attempt to steal the election by having electors from the state level appoint electors that are focusing on supporting Trump even though their states voted for Biden.

So it's been very interesting to see a lot of these states move forward with certification even though the Trump legal team wants to delay certification or wants to have the votes certified for Trump even though he lost in many of these states. So it's very interesting that there's a little bit of a pushback going on at the state level even as they're silent at the national level.

JARRETT: Well, in some cases, states have laws explicitly against doing what the president is trying to do.

SANCHEZ: Right.

JARRETT: In other cases, the state laws are silent, and so the Trump campaign seems to be trying to take advantage of that silence. But as you say, the officials aren't going along with this plan.

OLORUNNIPA: Yes, that's exactly right. There are a number of states where it's blatantly illegal to try to do this and there are other states where it's a little bit more murky. But there have not been many state lawmakers that have actually said let's move forward.

JARRETT: Right.

OLORUNNIPA: Let's take -- let's earn the will of our voters and appoint these electors for Trump.

SANCHEZ: And, Toluse, you alluded to some of the many failures of this Trump legal team and there's now infighting among some of these attorneys. They are now distancing themselves from Sidney Powell. She sort of played conspiracy mad libs talking about Cuba and Hugo Chavez, and at some point, Elvis and Big Foot, I expect.

Despite her incendiary and ridiculous claims, they're not that different from what we've heard from Rudy Giuliani, who is supposedly the leader of this legal team. So why are they now putting distance between themselves and her?

OLORUNNIPA: Yes, my colleagues have reported that Sidney Powell's performance last week was even too much for Trump and Trump said that OK, we have to distance ourselves from this person. There are people in the campaign who believe that she has been an embarrassment for the Trump legal team because she's put forward all of these conspiracy theories.

I don't know why they think that of her and not Rudy Giuliani, who also has put forward this conspiracy theory of a nationally coordinated CIA intelligence plot to take down this president and to steal the election. But they are drawing the line with Sidney Powell, saying that they need to distance themselves from her.

And the president seems to want to at least have only Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, these other two conspiracy theorists, as his legal representation and separate himself from Sidney Powell.

JARRETT: Toluse, before we let you go we want to talk about some of these cabinet picks. The president-elect is supposed to nominate Tony Blinken, we're learning, as secretary of state.

Does it signal anything to you that he's doing the secretary of state, these national security-type picks we're also learning about -- does it signal anything to you that he's doing those first?

OLORUNNIPA: Yes, these are two of the most important picks that we're hearing -- these national security picks. The national security adviser is going to be an importantly -- incredibly important in his administration. He's trying to show that he's going to be commander in chief and that

he's going to be able to lead on the world stage and he wants to send a signal to global leaders that this is the type of administration that he's going to have.

So it does appear that even though we don't know what the Senate is going to be in terms of the make-up until January fifth, he wants to show the world that he's moving forward and that he's not following the president's lead in terms of saying that this election is disputed. That he's going to have his own team in place and he's going to be on the global stage with other world leaders very soon and he's picking his team to follow him in that regard.

[05:45:15]

SANCHEZ: Yes.

All right, Toluse Olorunnipa. Thanks so much for getting up early for us.

JARRETT: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: CNN political analyst -- we appreciate the time.

JARRETT: All right, we'll be right back.

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JARRETT: Welcome back.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his family are quarantined this morning after being exposed to a highway patrol officer who tested positive for coronavirus. Newsom says he, his wife, and their three children tested negative on Sunday but the family plans to remain in quarantine for 14 days.

Meanwhile, tough new restrictions are now in place in California.

CNN has the latest on the pandemic from coast-to-coast.

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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN REPORTER (on camera): I'm Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles.

[05:50:00]

In California, the number of new COVID-19 cases has tripled since the first of November. This has led to a new round of serious restrictions. Among them, in Los Angeles County, starting on Wednesday, restaurants will be open only for pick-up or delivery. The business has already been devastated with many restaurants closing or cutting employees' hours.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. A mayor in neighboring New Jersey asking his residents to take drastic steps to slow COVID-19 spread in their community. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka made the request to his residents over the weekend in which he pleads with them to, quote, "shelter in place for 10 days starting Wednesday through December fourth."

The mayor pointing to an alarming 21 percent test positivity rate in his city. That's twice that of the entire state of New Jersey. In fact, in at least one Newark neighborhood, the rate is as high as 41 percent.

The mayor wants to be clear that this is not an order but instead, simply a request that people not go out unless they absolutely have to, saying that people's lives depend on it.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Evan McMorris-Santoro outside an urgent care facility in Lower Manhattan.

Take a look at this line behind me -- 5 1/2 hours to get a COVID test. And this line is not rare. There are lines like this all over New York City.

Many New Yorkers are lining up to get a test in advance of the holidays, hoping to travel and see loved ones, even though medical experts are telling them that's exactly the wrong thing to do.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): I'm Natasha Chen in Atlanta, Georgia.

There have been several Thanksgiving food drives across the Metro Atlanta area over the weekend -- more than 1,000 people being served at this one. A lot of them lining up for hours in advance to get a donated box of food.

Some people told us that they had never come to a food drive before 2020 but difficulties with the pandemic and changes to their job status have brought them here. As difficult as it is, they are also telling us that they are trying to keep their Thanksgiving gathering small in order to stop the spread of the virus.

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SANCHEZ: Thanks to all of our reporters for those updates.

Turning now to the pandemic in Europe. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a new COVID winter plan today. He's expected to outline how the U.K. is going to emerge from a strict lockdown next week.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz joins us now live from London. Salma, what do we know about this plan?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, will go to Parliament today to lay all of this out, but what is expected is two things. First, England is in a nationwide lockdown currently. That's set to

expire on December second and it will be replaced with a three-tier regional restriction system. That's what was in place before this lockdown and it was very controversial, and it looks like it will be very controversial this time as well because it's supposed to be even tougher. So we've already heard lawmakers opposing this.

The second part that the prime minister is set to lay out is the plans for Christmas. And what's expected is that there will be several days around Christmastime where social restrictions will be eased about how households can mix together in a safe way and celebrate at least a little bit. That's also been controversial with scientists who say this might cause another spike in the virus. This might cause gains to be lost during this lockdown.

And all of this has to happen with the four nations -- all of the United Kingdom in coordination. That hasn't happened in months. So a lot of work for the prime minister to do there.

SANCHEZ: Now a little bit for him to celebrate though. He did tweet out in celebration this morning of the promising news of that Oxford- AstraZeneca vaccine, so at least there is something to be happy about in the U.K.

Salma Abdelaziz from London, thanks so much.

JARRETT: All right. Well, Black Friday is traditionally the start of the holiday shopping season but don't expect to see long lines and crowded stores this year. Like so many other things, the pandemic has changed the way Americans shop. And now, retailers are growing worried about what the latest uptick in cases will mean for keeping their doors open this holiday season.

Some in the industry are pushing state and local officials to now eliminate the quote "essential and non-essential divide among businesses." They say it's unfair and it could affect sales in the event of future shutdowns across the states.

Generally, forced closures have hurt clothing stores in malls, while grocery stores and home improvement stores have managed to stay afloat so far. For now, new restrictions across the country have focused on capacity limits instead of temporary closures.

This is an interesting debate, Boris, between this essential-non- essential. Because, for instance, Macy's was required to close but Target could stay open because they obviously sell groceries and other essential items.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's a difficult position for business owners and for employees, too. A lot of folks get temporary work at this time of year.

JARRETT: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: I'm not sure that's actually going to happen.

Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm Boris Sanchez.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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[05:59:16]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, SENIOR BIDEN TRANSITION OFFICIAL: The cabinet will look like America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The position of secretary of state, the leading contender for that job is Tony Blinken.

DIAMOND: The president's legal team now says that Sidney Powell is not a member. Sidney Powell has been trafficking in conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

CHRISTIE: The conduct of the president's legal team has been a national embarrassment.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: When you see people traveling, those are the things we've got realize are going to get us into even more trouble.

DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: I would expect day two after approval, hopefully, the first people will be immunized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need about 225 million people vaccinated. It's going to take a long time to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Monday, November 23rd, 6:00 here in New York.

And breaking overnight, CNN has learned that President-elect.