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Health Care Providers Likely To Get Vaccine First; White House Meets With FDA Chief As Trump Pressure For Vaccine Approvals; Dr. Scott Atlas Resigns From White House COVID-19 Task Force; CNN: Team Trump Has Sent 400 Fundraising E-mails And 125 Fundraising Text Messages Since Election Night; Soon: Biden, Harris Introduce Economic Team. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 01, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am Dana Bash in Washington. It is December 1st and we just finished the worst pandemic month so far.

And November saw the U.S. grow its case count by more than 4.4 million, 47 states failed to push down the Coronavirus curves, and this hour the Biden transition team will hold a big event to debut its economic team. They face a desperate task of guiding America out of this deep pandemic recession.

How long the U.S. stay stuck in the pandemic depends on science and whether Americans listen to it. Millions of Americans traveled last week and the week after, cases are starting to head back up and experts say the COVID surge will likely climb even higher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You don't see any difference per day, two, three, five days. You see the difference two or three weeks from now, which would put it right at the time that people would be traveling for Christmas. So all things considered, we're not in a good place.

BASH (voice over): A CDC vaccine panel meets today to decide who gets vaccine first, front line workers and hospitals are of course at the top of the list.

DR. JOSE ROMERO, CHAIR, CDC ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON IMMUNIZATION PRACTICES: It seems pretty clear that the top group of individuals will be health care providers. We understand that there isn't enough vaccine to go around at this time. And so, each individual institution will need to decide how they're going to prioritize that vaccine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH (on camera): And when the vaccine is ready for everyone else depends on the FDA and if it grants Emergency Use Authorization. The scientists who make recommendations on whether to approve vaccines meet later this month. Now despite the record-breaking speed of all of this, the president is frustrated by the wait.

And this morning, the White House Chief of Staff summoned the Head of the FDA to the White House. A vaccine decision will be made on data, but listen to the White House suggesting the FDA should hurry up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the FDA is working around the clock as well, this is a partnership here. Everyone wants to see American lives saved from Dr. Steven Hahn to this president. But this president will never apologize for putting the fire under these agencies to say yes, we want a safe vaccine, absolutely. We also want a fast one because lives are at stake and a vaccine by the end of the year is key and paramount.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Let's go straight to CNN's Kaitlan Collins who is at the White House. Rather, Kaitlan, what are you hearing from your sources about the meeting with the FDA Chief and the White House Chief of Staff?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well Dana, we know that this meeting has ended. We saw Steven Hahn going into the West Wing earlier today, earlier this morning around 9.30 when this meeting was supposed to start.

And the expectations were pretty high that this could be a tense get together between the Chief of Staff and the FDA Commissioner given that he was summoned over the weekend where we were told that the FDA Commissioner wanted it to just be over a phone call, and that Mark Meadows insisted he come in person.

And really what we heard was this amounting to a progress report on what's going on, why these emergency authorizations haven't been approved yet? You can't ignore that it comes amid this backdrop of a president who has been demanding to know why any vaccines Pfizer notably since they have already applied for their emergency use have not gotten emergency approval yet.

And we knew when they applied on November 20th it was going to take some time, because as you noted that advisory panel that outside advisory panel that's going to review the data is not set to meet for another nine days or so. But however, the president was getting impatient and he's been making pretty clear that he has pressured the FDA to move faster on things like this.

It's notable because just a few months ago when we were reporting things like this out, the White House denied the president was pressuring the FDA and now he blatantly and proudly admits that he is pressuring the FDA. And so, clearly the FDA believed this is going to be a tense meeting.

You saw Steven Hahn giving out a statement to Axios saying that it is not he who makes this decision it's going to be the career scientists that make the decision about whether or not to grant this vaccine emergency approval, and that's not full approval, of course. And so, that appears to still be the case.

So it's not really clear what the White House could do here. They can't really fire the FDA Commissioner six weeks left in the administration as they're waiting on this vaccine to come out. It would be very difficult I think for them to change the date of when that advisory panel was supposed to meet on December 10th without being accused of playing politics here.

So really it seems like right now the White House is going to have to sit back and wait on the FDA and career scientists to do their thing, to review this data, and to make this decision. But of course, that does not mean that President Trump is going to be happy while that is happening.

BASH: And Dr. Hahn as you know Kaitlan has said that he would resign first before allowing political pressure to Trump, no pun intended, the science that is behind this incredibly fast-moving vaccine effort. Thank you so much for that reporting, Kaitlan.

[12:05:00]

BASH: And now let's go to CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And Sanjay, good to see you. First on this meeting that Kaitlan was just talking about, how unusual is it for the president to apply this kind of pressure on science, especially the Head of the FDA?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it would be unusual in any other administration, I mean, but we've seen this kind of pressure being applied by President Trump. I mean, he also you remember at one point said, he didn't necessarily want to wait for the two months of safety data to be collected and he sort of said that he might not allow that to happen.

So this doesn't surprise me. Obviously, there's this desire for things to move as quickly as possible. We are in the middle of a pandemic, but the context and you know well Kaitlan were just describing is that, it has been a very speedy process. 243 days between the times Pfizer actually developed their vaccine to the time they're applying for authorization. Eight months. Eight years would be considered fast.

I think part of what's happening here as well Dana is that, you look around the world, the UK, they may authorize this vaccine. They have a similar sort of authorization process. So I think people are looking and saying is that country going to do it quicker than we are.

So Steven Hahn has his data scientists, he is not the one ultimately that's actually looking at all that data. The scientists then report back up to him. So it's not really entirely his decision.

BASH: No. Exactly. And by people looking at the UK, wondering if they're going to be first, I think you might mean a person in the White House. But let's talk about the CDC Advisory Committee. They'll vote on the first group to get vaccinated. Who will likely be in that group and what is the time line for distribution? GUPTA: Yes. I talked to lots of people about this, Dana and it's not

clear cut. This isn't just a totally easy decision. We can show you the list of people in terms of what we understand are going to be at the front of a line. Phase 1-A, they say is health care workers, 21 million health care workers in this country.

But as you dig into that, it's a little bit more knew nuanced. I am a health care worker, but I don't take care of COVID patients directly. There are my colleagues who are in the COVID units every day taking care of those patients that are at higher risk, they're probably going to be the ones that are first in line for that.

And hospitals and states will probably have to figure out that triage. But after that, the essential workers, people at high risk because of age or pre-existing conditions, it's a large list. It's well over 200 million people and that means, as you know, 400 million doses. We're probably not even going to get to those more vulnerable populations until sort of middle of the spring next year.

BASH: And Sanjay, talk to me about the study that's now out that says the Coronavirus may have been circulating in the U.S. way earlier than we thought.

GUPTA: Yes, this is fascinating, Dana. We've gotten glimpses of this sort of thing in the past. January 21st was when the first patient was officially diagnosed. But even at that point, I think people sort of said, how likely is that we actually caught the very first patient. Unlikely.

What we're now starting to realize is that there was evidence of community spread of this virus in China earlier than we thought. Nick Paton Walsh's reporting really underscores that. And also as soon as there's community spread anywhere in the world, it can be an outbreak anywhere else in the world because of global travel.

So if there was community spread of this virus in China earlier than we thought, it's very likely people were getting on planes, and traveling around the world, including to the United States. So it's not surprising and I think it's a really good study.

They found evidence of antibodies specific to this Coronavirus, not other Coronavirus specific to this Coronavirus going back to mid December in the Unites States. My guess is the time line is going to shift even earlier than that.

BASH: Yes, I am sure you know people I do who now looking back, had this weird flu, but it wasn't flu, and I didn't feel well.

GUPTA: That's right.

BASH: Entirely possible. Before I let you go, I have to ask about Dr. Scott Atlas who stepped down from the White House Task Force. You had looked into his views that had been widely denounced by public health experts. What does it mean now that he's left the administration?

GUPTA: Well, you know, he clearly had the president's ear. Deborah Birx who I interviewed last week, two weeks ago, she said that she basically wouldn't sit in meetings with him anymore, because what he was saying was so non-science based.

What I found frustrating besides the fact that he was advocating really harmful strategies is that, he would say it, he would advocate these harmful strategies and then quickly say he didn't advocate these harmful strategies, it's really frustrating. Listen really close if you have a second, Dana, to someone who said he never advocated for herd immunity. Listen to what he said shortly before that.

[12:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SCOTT ATLAS, THEN-WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS ADVISER: We should be fine with letting them get infected, generating immunity on their own, and the more immunity in the community, the better we can eradicate the threat of the virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: That is herd immunity, Dana. That's a terrible strategy. That is exactly what he is describing; it just let people get infected. I mean, he was advocating for that, and 268,000 people have died in this country because of terrible ideas and strategies like that.

BASH: Yes. I mean, he is sacrificing people who are Immuno suppressed and have other issues for a theory that as you have said so many times completely faulty. Sanjay, so good to see you. Always great to learn from you. I appreciate it. And a marquee transition event today, the president-elect announces his economic team this hour.

I want to go straight to CNN's Jeff Zeleny in Wilmington, Delaware. Jeff, millions of jobs have been lost during this pandemic. What are you hearing from your sources inside the Biden team about their plans to dig out of the recession?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, there's no question that the economy really is at the center of the successes or failures that will be to come of the Biden Administration. He knows that better than anyone.

So that is why this afternoon here in Wilmington he is going to introduce the first part of this economic team here, it's going to be led by Janet Yellen as we've been talking about for so many days. She will be the first woman to be nominated as Treasury Secretary and she of course comes from a history of the Federal Reserve.

She has a history. We've seen what she has done before and her economic views are to jump start the economy by focusing on workers, by focusing on how to gainful employment, to focusing on raising the minimum wage. So we are going to see a much more labor oriented economic team here with the Biden Administration.

And you saw the rest of the team right there. Neera Tanden, the Director of the OMB already controversial begins announced as well as the Head of the Council of Economic Advisors. So this is the first part of the president-elect's economic team.

But Dana, it is going to be a stark contrast to what we have seen over the last four years from the Trump Administration and it is going to be imperative to sort of watch what they do. But as you know very well, what they can do, what Janet Yellen can do in this new role if confirmed will be dependent upon what congress allows her to do? But this certainly is a dramatic change from the Trump years, Dana.

BASH: Let's quickly dig into that. You and our colleagues have been, MJ Lee, also have been reporting on the first 100 day agenda. Briefly, what are the highlights from that, aside from the obvious, which is the pandemic and the economy?

ZELENY: Sure, and that is the obvious. It's economy, economy, economy, and distributing those COVID vaccines. That is something that is at the heart of the agenda. Of course, there are other matters as well dealing with racial inequality, immigration of course is at the head of this list, and climate change.

That is something that we do expect on the first day of this administration, mark it on your calendar, Dana, perhaps in the afternoon of January 20th to rescind some of those Trump climate change orders, particularly rejoining the Paris Accord. But to sum it all up, it is the economy that is going to drive everything, Dana.

BASH: Which is completely understandable? Jeff Zeleny, thanks. We're going to be getting back to as we watch for the formal announcement of the president-elect's economic team. And up next, President Trump is raising millions asking donors for contributions to his election defense fund but where is that money really going? Stay with us.

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[12:15:00]

BASH: The president's unfounded claims of voter fraud and misinformation surrounding the 2020 election are proving to be lucrative for team Trump and his allies. A source tells CNN the president and his political operation have raised more than $170 million since Election Day.

Now the fundraising pleas claim that the money is needed for the president's legal fight. But as CNN's Fredreka Schouten reported back in mid-November rather that money could easily become a political slush fund for Trump and his allies.

And now "The Washington Post" reports "Much of the money raised since the election is likely to go into an account for the president to use on political activities after he leaves office, while some of the contributions will go toward what's left of the legal fight."

I want to bring in "The Washington Post" Josh Dawsey who co-wrote that piece. And Josh, the cash surge is mostly from small dollar donors who probably think that this money is going to fight the legal fight that he says he's waged in. But if you look at the fine print as my colleague Fredericka did last month, you can see that a growing percentage of that money is going to his Pac which he can use for anything.

JOSH DAWSEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. According to the campaign Dana, this has been the most lucrative month of fundraising since the election. Most campaigns ramp down after Election Day. This campaign has ramped up. They've sent 500 emails or so, and they raked in as you said $170 million or more.

And most of that money is going to - and outside of political group, the president can support other candidates, he can use it on a whole wide range of personal expenses. The money is coming as you said from small dollar donors who feel the president is under siege and they want to support him and they are sending in checks.

BASH: And they're getting bombarded by the president on email and on text. I'm on some of those emails. It's just nonstop. 400 fundraising emails in fact according to a CNN team who have looked into it. I just want to read a couple of quotes from some of these solicitations.

November 24th "We cannot let the Democrats steal this Election from your all-time favorite president. We need to bolster our critical Election Defense Fund if we're going to keep going."

[12:20:00]

BASH: And this one from just last night Josh I emailed you. My sons Don and Eric, both emailed you, Lara emailed you, now I am emailing you. Again our deadline is at midnight tonight. They will do whatever it takes to try to steal the White House. We must stop them on and on and on and on. Not exactly subtle, but definitely not entirely honest at all.

DAWSEY: Well, it's - emails Dana, I mean, it's15 to 20 emails a day, and there's different messages based on how frequently you've given. Like the ones that you have there, obviously you have not donated, and you have given, you need to give more, you need to give more.

But some of these folks who are frequent givers get different language. And the goal is more quantity than anything. They believe if they email a whole field of people, millions and millions of people, they'll get more money in. And so far they have been proven right.

BASH: I want to talk about how some statewide Republican officials are dealing with what the president is doing. And in Arizona, the Governor there, Governor Ducey who is of course a Republican, he defended his state's election process.

Last night he released a series of tweets. And he said this is all clear in Arizona law that if anyone has challenges, now is the time to bring them. Will we see more Republicans challenging the president in this way? That is my question for you, Josh, because here in Washington, the answer is no.

DAWSEY: Right, but across the country the answer is different. You've seen in Georgia, in Michigan, in Arizona, the president has put pressure on elected officials, elected Republicans and they have certified ballots, they've defended their processes. They've said even though we supported you, sir, these election results are accurate.

The president had more luck twisting Republicans in Washington to his will than Republicans outside of Washington since Election Day. Most of the Republicans here have mainly stayed silent. Some have defended him; some have caught by the president-elect but most have just stayed silent, but across the country, these officials and key battleground states Dana for the most part have not done what the president wanted them to do.

BASH: Yes, you're exactly right and they're bound by something that's really simple, it's called the law and reality that has to do with the law. Josh, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your reporting with us. I appreciate it.

DAWSEY: Thank you.

BASH: And coming up, we're just moments away from the president- elect's announcement of his economic team. Up next, the complex fiscal challenges that they face with the worsening pandemic.

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[12:25:00]

BASH: The president-elect's economic team will inherit a complex economic crisis in a new piece for foreign affairs. Our next guest writes that Biden can, "Go beyond merely addressing today's crisis and establishing an enduring legacy that helps the United States better respond to future crises".

Jason Furman is our next guest. He was the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama and joins me now. Jason, thank you so much for coming on. I want to show our viewers another bit of your piece, because you go on to argue the following.

You argue, "Biden must go beyond merely seeking to address the pandemic's immediate economic fallout. After all, his slogan "Build Back Better" suggests fixing structural problems that predate the COVID-19 shock and shoring up systemic weaknesses that the crisis has highlighted."

So when you look at the names and the people we're going to see momentarily introduced by the president-elect on his economic team, are you optimistic that the signals he will tackle long lasting agenda that you argue is needed?

JASON FURMAN, FORMER CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Yes Dana, I think his economic picks are just terrific. In one respect, they're the most diverse economic team we've ever seen in this country, in another respect, they're the most focused economic team.

Four of the economists on the team specialize in labor economics, understanding what you need to do to get people jobs, to get people jobs at better wages and that clearly is the focus he is signaling with these appointments.

BASH: Well, I was going to ask you about that. "The New York Times" has a piece this morning on just that, that he is stocking the economic team with people who are champions of organized labor, champions of marginalized workers which does signal a desire to really focus on economic inequality, which of course we heard from all of the Democrats during the primary process, and then of course Joe Biden during the general election. How do you see that playing out in real terms?

FURMAN: Yes, I mean, there's so many different aspects that we need to improve labor markets. CC Rouse, the women he's appointing to be CEA Chair has focused on education, that's a key part of it. Heather Boushey has focused on working families balancing work and family paid leave, that's an important part.

Jared Bernstein has focused on manufacturing and trade. Those are important parts of it as well. And then of course, the Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen is one of the towering economic policy figures of the last decades and will help put all of it together for the team.