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More People Died from COVID-19 in U.S. Yesterday Than Ever Before; Trump Ignores Pandemic, Releases Infomercial; Democratic Leaders Back Bipartisan $908 Billion Stimulus Plan. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:59:21]

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 Thursday, December 3, 6 a.m. here in New York. And we begin with breaking news, because more people died from coronavirus in the United States yesterday than ever before: 3,157 American deaths reported. That's the most in a single day since the start of the pandemic.

More than 100,000 American people are hospitalized this morning, also an all-time high. And more than 200,000 new cases were reported yesterday, meaning this wave is about to get much worse. How much worse? Well, the director of the CDC warns that the next three months will be, quote, "the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation."

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So to be clear, the United States reported more deaths yesterday, more than 3,000, than Japan has suffered the entire pandemic. Look at that. We did it in one day.

So faced with the worth health crisis in the history of the nation, what is the president doing? He's trying to overturn the election in public, literally trying to undermine democracy, in public.

A 46-minute word salad of lies about the election, the election he lost, he is completely detached from both reality and liberty and still in control of the nuclear codes for another 50-plus days.

On top of that, he's doing it largely for money: to raise cash for a fund that he can use to fly around the country and throw parties at Mar-a-Lago.

His former national security adviser, the one the president just pardoned, is now publicizing calls for martial law to force a revote. The president has considered firing the attorney general of the United States, William Barr, according to "The Washington Post." Why? Because Barr said he sees no evidence of the absurd claims that the president and his allies are making. That is how the president is handling this urgent moment in the pandemic.

Oh, that and holding holiday parties that flout CDC guidelines, as we record record deaths. Some party.

CNN's Adrienne Broaddus live in Chicago with the breaking news on the pandemic. This horrible milestone, Adrienne.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, indeed, another grim milestone for the U.S.: the most deaths and hospitalizations yesterday since the start of the pandemic.

Even though the prospect of a vaccine is right around the corner, experts warn the worst is still yet to come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROADDUS (voice-over): Across the United States, the coronavirus pandemic passing devastating milestones this morning.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): No way to sugarcoat it. It is the deadliest day that we have had.

BROADDUS: The country recording the most deaths in one day since the pandemic began; and more than 100,000 people are in the hospital with the disease. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that number will only increase, saying there could be close to 450,000 deaths by February.

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CDC DIRECTOR: I actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation. Largely because of the stress that it's going to put on our healthcare system.

BROADDUS: Los Angeles County this week reporting its highest number of people in the hospital with the virus. And with new cases on the rise, the city's mayor enforcing a stricter, safer at-home order.

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: It's time to hunker down. It's time to cancel everything. And if it isn't essential, don't do it.

BROADDUS: Health experts are bracing for an even higher number of new cases and hospitalizations in the upcoming weeks, when infections stemming from Thanksgiving gatherings surge. This pushing the CDC to again call for people to cancel travel plans for the winter holidays.

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It's likely that, unless really major efforts are to push harder with the public health measures, we could be facing the kind of circumstances that we really hoped not to, where many hospitals just run out of capabilities to take care of all the sick patients.

BROADDUS: According to Operation Warp Speed, the first shipments of Pfizer's vaccine will be delivered on December 15, and Moderna's one week later on the 22. Both still need FDA approval.

Federal officials say 40 million doses should be available by the end of December, enough for 20 million people to be vaccinated.

DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: Between December and end of February, we will have potentially immunized 100 million people, which is really more or less the size of the significant at-risk population. The elderly, the healthcare workers, the first-line workers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROADDUS: And once the vaccine is approved, it will still be months before Americans can receive that critical shot in the arm. So experts are warning and saying it is crucial for Americans to continue practicing the three "W's": wash your hands, wear a mask, and watch your distance, even months after the vaccine rolls out -- John.

BERMAN: Adrienne Broaddus in Chicago, thanks so much.

Just to state this one more time. The United States just recorded more deaths in one day than Japan has the entire pandemic. In total. That is literally unbelievable to me when you look at those numbers. What we did in just one day compared to ten months in Japan.

How's the president marking the occasion? He's giving a medal to a football coach in an event closed to the press. That and giving speeches about overthrowing the election.

CNN's Joe Johns live at the White House this morning with more -- Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

So we have this deadly mark of the most coronavirus deaths in the United States in a single day. The president remains silent on that.

Nonetheless, the president has tried to take credit for vaccine successes, even though pharmaceutical companies have done all the work.

What the president did do yesterday is he released that 46-minute infomercial of a speech in which he detailed all of his lies and conspiracy theories about the election. We're not going to show you that.

What is going on here at the White House, also at the State Department just down the street is planning for the holiday parties in the midst of a pandemic, obviously. The White House press secretary, asked about that yesterday at the briefing, came back with a surreal response. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wonder, does the White House, is it setting a good example for the public, for the White House, you know, in-person holiday parties at a time when the CDC and other organizations are asking Americans to forego those kinds of celebrations for their own safety?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yes, so, you know, if you can loot businesses, burn down buildings, engage in protest, you can also go to a Christmas party. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Sources tell CNN the president is frustrated with his attorney general, because the attorney general essentially said there is no evidence of fraud that would overturn the election.

But we are told by sources that the president is being advised here not to fire anyone this late in his term.

And then there's that issue of pardons. We are also being told by a source to be prepared for a flurry of them. So we'll watch for that.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe, thank you very much.

Also developing this morning, Democratic lawmakers are backing a bipartisan $908 billion stimulus bill in an effort to restart negotiations. The move is a significant concession to Republicans, as President-elect Joe Biden pressures legislators to take action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I promise you, hang on. We're going to get through this. You're going to get through this. It's going to be hard as hell for the next 50 to 70 days, unless the House acts in some way, the Senate acts, and passes some of this material.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: CNN's Jessica Dean is live for us in Wilmington, Delaware, with more.

What have you learned, Jessica?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Alisyn.

You saw President-elect Joe Biden yesterday meeting virtually with small business owners, with workers who have either lost their jobs, are about to lose their businesses, like so many Americans all across our country who are really suffering under this pandemic.

Biden making the point that getting coronavirus under control is No. 1. That has to happen for anything else to happen.

But No. 2, he also reiterated his call for Congress to pass a stimulus package, to pass a COVID relief bill that will help states and Americans who are struggling amidst this pandemic.

Now, over on Capitol Hill, negotiations are stalled, as they have been for months. This as you mentioned, a bipartisan group of senators is trying to put together a plan. It's not going much of anywhere, though, because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is cooking up his own plan with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. It's one that Mnuchin says that President Trump would back.

Now, that plan doesn't have in it any direct payments to Americans, which is something the Democrats have called for. It also doesn't have any money going to states. A lot of states are facing dire financial straits over the coronavirus pandemic, trying to keep their states and governments open, paying essential workers. And they're having trouble doing that because of the pandemic. That bill does not have any money in it for that, either.

Now, if there's no compromise, then we could go into the end of the year with millions more people slipping into poverty. Alisyn, you all have shown, day after day, these incredible lines of people who need help just feeding their families. There are millions of people struggling out there. They're looking to the government. They're looking to Congress to pass something.

CAMEROTA: The situation is desperate. And it gets more so every single day. Jessica, thank you very much for explaining all of that.

More Americans were reported dead on Wednesday from COVID than ever before. Hospitals are at a breaking point, and Los Angeles's mayor is telling residents, quote, "It's time to hunker down and cancel everything." That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:37]

CAMEROTA: Breaking news overnight. More people died from coronavirus in the United States yesterday than ever before: 3,157 Americans lost their lives. That's more than on 9/11, in one day.

This morning, more than 100,000 people are waking up in the hospital with the virus. The strain on the healthcare system is worse than ever before. And of course, this means, because there are so many cases, that the wave is about to get worse. More than 200,000 new cases were reported just yesterday.

Joining us now, Dr. Ali Khan, Dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Public Health. Also with with us, CNN senior political analyst John Avlon.

Dr. Khan, what can we say today? What can we say this morning that we find ourselves -- and this is the beginning of the wave, as we understand it.

DR. ALI KHAN, DEAN, COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning, Alisyn.

It was that grim day yesterday, with record hospitalizations and record deaths. And Dr. Redfield was spot-on when he predicted the potential collapse of the healthcare system. So about one in ten beds in America is now occupied by somebody who's infected with coronavirus. And predicting 450,000 preventable deaths, potentially, by February.

And when you're racking up deaths at a clip of approximately 1,500 to 2,500 a day, it doesn't take very long to get to 450,000 deaths.

[06:15:00]

And this is no surprise. This should be expected. The dynamics driving this outbreak have not changed, which is people coming together. It's winter. More people are inside. And the lack of public health action.

So unlike the spring, there's still many states -- there are states now that have abandoned contact tracing, which is the primary strategy. Thirteen states don't have a mask mandate. There's only seven states where businesses are mostly closed. And there's only two states that have considered curfews or shelter in place: California and Ohio. So we shouldn't expect something different when we're doing the same thing over and over again.

And if -- and it's even worse than that, because we're actually doing less.

But you know me, optimistic public health person, we can still turn this around with public health. This morning, all over the world, 1.7 billion people will wake up with near-zero cases and zero deaths. And that can still be us.

BERMAN: That's the point of comparing the United States to Japan, which I've done a few times here, Dr. Khan. The United States reported more deaths yesterday, more than 3,000 in one day, than Japan has the entire pandemic combined.

And then you add to that the knowledge that it's going to get worse. If you look at the graphics, you can overlay -- Dr. Aratopl (ph) did this, and I think it's really telling. You overlay the hospitalization, the growth in hospitalizations, and the growth in deaths, you can see the shape of these graphs are exactly the same. So that blue line is hospitalizations. The top line there at the end is hospitalizations. And you can tell by the shape, the deaths are only going to go up by a lot over the next few weeks.

I'll let you be optimistic for a second. Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, last night said "cancel everything" and issued stay-at- home restrictions, even though they're not really enforceable. But what will that change? What would that do if it was done around the country? Doctor?

KHAN: Oh, that's me. I thought that was Eric. OK, it will make all the difference, OK? So this is about the key strategies have not changed, the secret sauce for these 1.7 billion people. We know what it is, it's leadership. It's dropping community transmission, and it's community engagement.

And so until we get our cases down with contact tracing, which is our primary strategy -- we still don't have enough contact tracers in America. We don't have a national contact tracing app in America. We don't pay people for prevention with the quarantine and isolation pay.

So until we do that, we're going to have to get people to not come together. And that's going to require some temporary sacrifices and closing bars, restaurants, houses of worship, and gyms, where we know most of this transmission occurs. And it worked -- it's worked in Europe.

CAMEROTA: John, you know what the White House is doing instead of all of those things that Dr. Khan just laid out?

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The opposite.

CAMEROTA: They're having another super-spreader event, or many. They're actually planning their holiday parties.

And just so that you have a sense of the scope of the holiday parties, I just want to quickly read what the State Department --

AVLON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- what Mike Pompeo is planning, according to the "Washington Post." A copy of one invitation obtained by "the Washington Post" welcomes guests to a December 15 event entitled "Diplomacy at Home for the Holidays," in the Benjamin Franklin room, the department's flagship reception space. Invitations have gone up to 900 people. OK? That's what the State Department is doing.

The White House is having its Christmas parties. And when asked about it, the press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, had confusing logic. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wonder, does the White House -- is it setting a good example for the public, for the White House to have in-person holiday parties at a time when the CDC and other organizations are asking Americans to forego those kind of celebrations for their own safety?

MCENANY: Yes, you know, so you can if you can loot businesses, burn down buildings, engage in protests, you can also go to a Christmas party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So I guess she's inviting the looters and the rioters to the Christmas party? I'm so confused by the logic.

AVLON: Yes. Some surreal equivalence between burning down buildings and holiday parties.

Look, what it reflects is, is this administration's impulse to make the coronavirus pandemic a culture war issue. And that has killed people.

You heard the doctor just say, although things that could be done to mitigate this, that the president has not led by -- that the governors who've listened to him have not led by. That's why we're here, to some extent. Because we have a failure of presidential leadership, because they've tried to politicize a pandemic. And that has been deadly, not only dumb.

But that's -- and that's the difference that maybe we can look forward to right now. But we are one week away from Thanksgiving. The trend lines are awful, and it's an historic failure of leadership across the board. These holiday parties are just the extra insult, as more Americans are dying or hospitalized.

BERMAN: It really is. Doesn't seem like a time to throw a party. On many levels, all at once there. It speaks volumes about where their head is in this.

[06:20:06]

Dr. Khan, Michael Osterholm, who we're going to have later on the show, who is part of the transition team for President-elect Joe Biden, says we are at a case cliff. He talks about a case cliff. That the number of cases and the number of hospitalizations are reaching this critical breaking point. What do you think he means?

KHAN: I think he's referring to what we can all see, which is increased -- daily increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. And correct, so deaths lag about -- cases about seven days. So these 200,000 cases we're seeing a day, in seven days from now, we're going to see the deaths associated with those 200,000 cases. So there's no doubt that deaths are going to continue to get worse.

And unless restrictions are put in place, unless we adopt good public health science, we are going to continue to see additional cases.

Probably 20 to 25 percent of Americans may well have been infected at this point. So there's still, you know, over 70 percent of Americans still ready to get infected and die from this disease until a vaccine is eventually available.

BERMAN: All right. Dr. Khan, we do appreciate you being with us. We appreciate the work you're doing and your adherence to mask wearing. Mask on.

CAMEROTA: And we appreciate the presents that you sent John and me, the beautiful masks.

BERMAN: He sent us masks. Which is super nice.

CAMEROTA: I know. For Christmas.

BERMAN: Thanks, Doc.

John, our thanks to you, as well. Appreciate it.

KHAN: Mask on, everybody.

BERMAN: We want to remember some of the nearly now 274,000 Americans lost to coronavirus.

Pablo Paul Castillo was a U.S. Navy veteran, an employee for General Motors in Ohio for more than 25 years. He enjoyed being a football coach and spending time with his family. Pablo is survived by his wife, three daughters, and two granddaughters. He was just 54.

Marilyn Denivan (ph) married the love of her life, Jim Denivan (ph), in June 1959, one year after she graduated school in Rutland, South Dakota. The couple shared three children and 61 years together. Marilyn passed away peacefully, surrounded by her children. She was 81.

Donald Clayman was mayor of South Palm Beach, Florida, from 2010 to 2015. He's known for guiding the town through one of its most difficult periods with an upbeat attitude and common-sense approach. His daughter says he'll be remembered as cheerful and generous. He had a smile on his face, no matter what. You can see it right there. He was 85.

Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:44]

BERMAN: More than 3,000 deaths reported in the United States in just one day. That is more than Japan has suffered the entire pandemic. Just think about that.

And the president is spending his time polluting Facebook with lies about the election he lost. His former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who was just pardoned by the president, is actually publicizing calls for martial law to force a revote.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst Margaret Talev. She's a politics and White House editor for Axios. Also with us, CNN political commentator, former Republican congressman, Charlie Dent.

Charlie, I want to start with you. Honestly, it's beyond belief. Literally, I cannot believe the former national security adviser of the United States is pushing out a call for martial law and a revote on the election.

At the same time, the president is honestly ranting, detached from both reality and liberty, for 46 minutes about the election he lost. And it's going on while Americans are dying.

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: John, the outrage doesn't begin to describe what's going on. I mean, to discuss martial law, which I don't think has been declared by a president since Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, is simply insane.

And what's happening is, it seems that Donald Trump, you know, is trying to conscript people to help him overturn or steal an election where he didn't like the outcome. That's what this is all about.

And so now he's attacking allies, or former allies, who are simply, you know, carrying out the oaths of their office and doing their job. They're taking a wrecking ball -- the president and his allies are taking a wrecking ball to democratic institutions and values, and none more sacred than the electoral process itself. I mean, I don't think we've ever seen anything like this. You're

right. Detachment from reality is about right. This increasingly erratic behavior hopefully will end come inauguration day.

CAMEROTA: Margaret, I don't know what's happening in Georgia. I don't understand the Sidney Powell strategy, I guess, is the word for it. Lin Wood. I mean, listen to what they were telling voters yesterday in Georgia. The video is a little bit wonky, but listen to the message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNEY POWELL, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: I think I would encourage all Georgians to make it known that you will not vote at all until your vote is secure.

LIN WOOD, ATTORNEY: They have not earned your vote! Don't you give it to them! Why would you go back and vote in another rigged election? For God's sakes!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Have they lost their minds? And I don't use that as just a figure of speech. What's happening there?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Alisyn, good morning.

I think Sidney Powell has out-Trumped Trump. There was, early on, real concern that what the president was doing, his own mixed messaging, would depress the Republican turnout in these two runoffs, right? The idea that he's saying you can't trust the results of the presidential election, but go vote in the Georgia Senate runoffs.

But this is obviously one step further. And there are real concerns. Now we know that the president is going to Georgia this weekend to try to ramp up motivation to turn out. Vice President Pence is going there. Don Jr. has got a PAC that's running ads to try to get people to turn out.

So now you're seeing the ire of the White House really turn against Sidney Powell and say, this is going too far. It's going to be Sidney.