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New Day

Barr Considers Stepping Down; Coronavirus Update from Around the World; Warm Expected Across Much of U.S. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 07, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Ryan, thank you.

Attorney General Bill Barr considering stepping down before President Trump leaves office. This after a contentious meeting about Trump's false voter fraud claims. We've got the latest on that move, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Developing this morning, Attorney General Bill Barr considering leaving his post before President Trump leaves office. That's according to a source familiar with his thinking who says Barr is not happy with the president and is, quote, not someone who takes bullying and turns the other cheek.

Well, Barr and Trump had a lengthy, contentious meeting last week after Barr told the Associated Press the Justice Department found no evidence of widespread election fraud.

Joining us now, Anna Palmer. She's a senior Washington correspondent for "Politico," author of "The Politico Playbook," and CNN political commentator Matt Lewis, senior columnist at "The Daily Beast."

Good to see both of you this morning.

So, Anna, you know, I'm curious, the fact that Bill Barr may consider leaving with, I think we just counted, what, 44 days left until the inauguration. What does that tell you about where he's at right now?

ANNA PALMER, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: I think part of it is, he's really wrapping up his business.

[06:35:01]

There's not a lot of things that he needs to accomplish before the end of the Trump term. But I -- you underscore this tense relationship that has been framed for quite a while between the attorney general and the president and really this alternate reality that Trump is living in where he is pressuring anyone and every Republican who is not onboard with him saying that the election was rigged.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a hell of a thing if Bill Barr walks out the door with just 44 days left and saying he can't stand to be around for 44 more days. And this is a guy who's been around. He knows what message it sends that he's even floating the notion of walking out the door.

What's your takeaway?

MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, if you've lost Bill Barr then -- I mean if you've gone so far that Bill Barr can't stomach being a part of this anymore, I think that says a lot.

Look, Bill Barr is somebody who came into this administration basically to do a job. And that job was to be Donald Trump's Roy Cohn because Jeff Sessions wasn't tough enough. And Barr went about, I think, misrepresenting and distorting the Mueller report and he was Donald Trump's guy. And so the fact that Donald Trump has now gone to a place where Attorney General Barr just can't go, isn't willing to go, tells you how low Donald Trump has gone.

HILL: It's also, you know, when we look at, and you're both touching on the pressure that we know President Trump for years has been putting on Republicans, one place where that is really evident was in last night's debate. And I just want to play a little bit of what Kelly Loeffler would not say.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, do you believe the -- the election was rigged?

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Look, Greg, it's very clear that there were issues in this election. There are 250 investigations open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes or no, Senator Loeffler, did Donald Trump lose the election?

LOEFFLER: You know, President Trump has every right to use every legal recourse available.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: You know there's no evidence of widespread voter fraud. That's what we do know. We know that in Georgia, that, you know, that has been tallied and re-tallied. We know what the outcome is, Anna. It's remarkable, though, we know this delicate dance that she's doing. She needs to try to convince Republicans to still come out and vote for her in Georgia, while also not upsetting the president, who wants to continue with the message that the elections are rigged there.

PALMER: I think you see her doing a really delicate dance. She's seen what the president has done going after the governor down in Georgia and kind of turning his supporters against him and some of the other state officials.

What we've really been seeing, though, that's pretty astonishing to me is the fact that you have Senate Republicans unwilling to actually tell the president, no, this was not rigged, where you have state elected officials actually saying, no, and really holding the line against the president. It's one of the biggest disconnects, I think, among the Republican Party that we're seeing right now.

BERMAN: Yes, it's not so delicate. I'm not -- not picking a fight with either of you, but -- but the president wants the Georgia legislature to meet to overthrow the election, to overthrow the will of the people, to throw out the election that took place. There was an audit. There was a recount. The president wants the legislature to come in an appoint electorates above and beyond that.

And to Anna's point, Matt, let me just play you what some Republicans are saying about this, both in the Senate and the administration.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE BRAUN (R-IN): Whether we dismiss it reflexively, whether we would find widespread fraud, there's a wide gulf in between. And I think that when you just say that there's nothing there, you're going to have half of the country uncertain about what just happened and disgruntled going into the future.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Well, these election issues, we'll see who is in what seats and whether there is a Biden administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Whether there's a Biden administration, Matt? You know, Mike Braun saying, well, I don't -- I don't know -- I don't know who won. This is no longer just dancing. This is enabling. This is pushing the president to try to overturn the outcome of the election.

LEWIS: Yes, look, I think that's right. I mean we could talk about the political ramifications. Donald Trump puts Kelly Loeffler in a very difficult spot. She has to basically come across as a phony. Her one big issue that could help her would be saying, let me be a check against the Biden Democratic administration. She can't say that. And we can talk all about the politics and how Donald Trump has put Republicans in a bind. But the truth is, he's actually trying to overturn an election and it's using the term coup has been thrown around a lot but there's something to be said for it. He is really trying to steal an election. And that's a much more serious thing.

And I just think we should thank God that our founders set up this system where there are these checks and balances, where you pit ambition against ambition.

[06:40:04]

And the fact that states are running these elections and not the federal government has really been a bulwark against a power grab. I mean we've seen that people who report to Donald Trump are by and large toeing the line, doing what he wants. But we've seen heroism, I think, from some of these Republican governors and secretaries of state. Thank God for that. But we shouldn't assume that it should always work -- that it's always going to work out this way. We've been, I think -- I think we may have dodged a bullet here. This could be a lot scarier.

Right now we're kind of, you know, maybe laughing a little bit at how pathetic it is, but it's very dangerous.

HILL: But it -- you know, and I -- I don't think there should be laughing. I mean, to your point, like, yes, it's pathetic and the fact that we are now December 7th and this is still going on. But the reality is, there were some -- you know, it feels like some close calls for democracy here in the last several weeks. And what we just saw out of Georgia, Anna, just hearing in this -- in this joint statement, right, from Governor Kemp and Lieutenant Governor Duncan, they're basically laying out in their statement, and the president's push here to overturn the election, you can't do it because it's not legal. The fact that they have to go on record with that, Anna, is remarkable and I think we can't lose sight of that.

PALMER: I think sometimes it's hard because this president has broken so many norms and we used to almost, you know, kind of the daily shock factor. It's hard to be outraged all the time.

But this is certainly one of those instances, as you point out correctly, where you really see an historic precedent happening, that you think this is something that might happen in Russia or in other countries, but this would never happen in the United States. And you have to wonder, going into not only the Georgia runoff, but into the midterm elections, you know, can Americans feel like their votes count and how important that is to the fabric of this country.

BERMAN: Hey, Anna, while we have you here, you chart this up and down every day, where are we right now on stimulus/relief? What do you think the prospects are as we sit here Monday morning?

PALMER: Yes. Yes, the government runs out of funding on Friday. I think that there's likely to be a stopgap measure probably a week while the negotiators continue to meet. I think it's still very questionable whether COVID relief will happen. What I do think you could see happen is maybe a three month funding, kind of stopgap bill, so that would really kind of tee up a Biden administration to kind of put the real pleasure on a large COVID relief package. That's where we're at right now. Again, things could change pretty quickly.

BERMAN: Anna Palmer, Matt Lewis, thanks to both of you. Great to see you this Monday morning. Appreciate it.

HILL: The first doses of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine will be administered this week in the U.K., and we've got an update for you from London, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:51] BERMAN: Developing this morning, the United Kingdom set to begin administering Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine this week. It comes as countries across Europe and Asia work to contain new outbreaks. We have reporters covering the developments all over the world. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Cyril Vanier in London.

It's go time here with the U.K. about to start vaccinating priority groups against the coronavirus. The first jabs are expected Tuesday in England, Scotland and Wales with significant logistical challenges since this Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius. In England, it's being delivered to 50 hospital centers, who will start by vaccinating the 80-year-old patients already in those hospitals. Gradually, the vaccination program will then expand to wider sections of the population. The U.K. is expecting to receive 4 million doses of the vaccine by the end of the year.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Berlin.

As Germany continues to deal with surging numbers of coronavirus infections. In fact, we look at the number of new coronavirus infections that were put out by Germany's Center for Disease Control today, it's about 1,200 more than on Monday of last week.

Now, especially some of the state authorities in this country are feeling the heat. And some of them have announced that they're actually going to unilaterally tighten some of the lockdown measures that have already been in place. In total, the German government is acknowledging that so far the measures that it has in place, the partial lockdown have managed to somewhat flatten the curve, but certainly that the numbers in this country are not going down.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel is the beginning of a third wave of coronavirus infections. Nearly every day, over the past week, the positivity rate for testing has risen from about 1.9 percent a weekend ago to 3.9 percent over the weekend. The number of serious cases in the country steadily rising as well. And it's because of those numbers that the country's coronavirus czar that warned that the holidays, Christmas and Hanukkah, should be celebrated with the nuclear family only and not in large gatherings. Netanyahu warning he may have to re-impose restrictions to avoid more infections.

Meanwhile, cases also surging in Gaza. The positivity rate of testing there over the course of the past week, about 30 percent. Now, the spokesperson for Hamas warns the central lab there is out of testing materials.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to our reporters all around the world.

So this is one of the questions a lot of people are facing now in the pandemic, how do you tell your parents you won't be coming home for Christmas? Well, "Saturday Night Live" has the answer. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:45]

HILL: Unseasonably warm weather for much of the middle of the country this week just ahead of a potential winter storm in the Midwest.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray has your forecast.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You're right, Erica, we do have warmer than normal temperatures. In fact, this morning, a lot of these areas in the Midwest and the northern plains, they're right around freezing, which is, yes, chilly, but definitely not as cool as they could be.

By the way, this weather is brought to you by O'Keefe's, guaranteed relief for extremely dry. cracked feet.

More importantly, the afternoon temperatures are the ones that's going to be on the mild side. We're going to be in the 40s and 50s across portions of the Midwest, the northern plains for today, across much of the east will be in the upper 30s to mid-40s or so.

But watch this, the temperature departure, the area shaded in brown, that's the above normal temperature, how far we are above normal and then the blue is below normal. Watch this. As the week goes on, it's just going to spread to the east, with temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal across much of the Midwest, the plains, and then that's going to spill into the eastern half of the country, as well.

So, as we go through the next couple of days, you can see that warming trend, especially in places like D.C., New York City, where temperatures are going to warm around 10 degrees or so throughout the next couple of days.

[06:55:06]

And then watch this. This is happening this morning. This is across portions of the mountains in the southeast. We're getting a little bit of a wintry mix. That's going to move out this morning. Things will clear out and you can see that next big system coming across the country by the time we get into the end of the week. And there's a look at the big snowfall totals, could see several inches of snow, and then the rainfall could see several inches, as well. So it is going to be a big week for the Midwest by the time we get into Thursday and Friday.

John.

BERMAN: It will be snowing out there, but we'll be wearing shorts in New York City!

GRAY: Yes.

BERMAN: Which is fine. I mean I'm OK with that. I don't mind so much. GRAY: Yes.

BERMAN: All right, Jennifer Gray, thanks very much.

So health officials are urging Americans to stay home, do not travel for the holidays, but, you know, telling your folks you won't be coming home, that could be tricky. "Saturday Night Live" takes on the challenge in this edition of "Late Night Laughs."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was calling because I just wanted to let you know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mama, I don't want you to get upset.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: I won't be able to come home for Christmas this year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I guess since you won't be coming, I'll just throw your stocking in the fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't think it's safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, let's talk about this later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you've changed your damn mind. (INAUDIBLE) she ain't coming home for Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't think it makes sense for me to travel right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you don't love me, Marie, just say so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, mom!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't raise a coward.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, the worst has happened. I've had a fall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom, I know you didn't fall. You laid down very gingerly. I saw the whole thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ray, aren't you going to say anything!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you unconditionally.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you conditionally? Just tell me what you want me to say, I'll say it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you seeing what you've done here? I hope you're

proud of yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You guys are insane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, honey, honey, listen, we are going to miss you, but we're always going to love you, right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We still love you, baby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I miss you, but I love you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you, too, mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would I love you more if you came home? I don't know. Who's to say. I'm kidding, I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I feel like "we love you conditionally" is the honest parenting --

HILL: It's great. Yes. Would you apply that to your own children right now?

BERMAN: Well, only because they're not watching. They're, you know, so it's like, I'd say, of course.

HILL: Yes. I do love it. And I think, in all honesty, that is such a difficult decision that so many people are having and it's the -- but we're family, we can still do this. And it's hard.

BERMAN: No, I know it. And you can hear the health professionals, and Dr. Anthony Fauci is going to be on a little bit later, they're careful. They don't want to upset people. They don't want to seem like the Grinch.

HILL: Yes.

BERMAN: But actually it's pretty clear guidance. I mean the guidance is pretty clear, they do not want you traveling long distances. They don't want you going in different people's houses.

HILL: Yes, even that. I mean, to your point, it's not even just the travel, it's just the mixing of households and bubbles. And -- and, you know, I mean you may be tired of Zoom, but it's not tired of you.

BERMAN: We love you conditionally. Merry Christmas.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help is on the way. Vaccines are imminent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our health care system is at the breaking point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe we could see FDA authorization within days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The vaccine is critical, but it's not going to save us from this current surge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This pandemic is ravaging the country. We all need to take our precautions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't see anything that would overturn the will of the people here.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They cheated and they rigged our presidential election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mountains of misinformation are not helping the process, they're only hurting it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: All right, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill with me this morning.

Great to see you here.

HILL: Always a pleasure.

BERMAN: We have some breaking news this morning. President-elect Joe Biden, moments ago, announced his health team that will lead the charge to fight the coronavirus pandemic. California's attorney general, Xavier Becerra, has been selected, will be nominated, to head the Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, Becerra would be in charge, obviously, of beating back the worst public health crisis in generations.

Also joining this team, Dr. Vivek Murthy, nominated to be surgeon general, a role he held at the end of the Obama administration. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CNN contributor, who is head of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital will be nominated to be director of the Center for Disease Control. Others on that list, as well.

This morning, new restrictions in place for tens of millions of Californians as the virus threatens to overwhelm that state's hospital systems. More than 28,000 new cases reported in California overnight. I want you to look at the overall trend around the nation.

[07:00:00]

This is new deaths reported around the country. Everywhere there in any kind of red, deaths have risen more than 10 percent week to week.