Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

First Americans to get Vaccinated Today; NYC Creates Vaccine Command Center; U.S. to Surpass 300,000 COVID Deaths; Biden Probe Complicates AG Selection. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 14, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:50]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Developing overnight, the Commerce Department confirming to CNN that they are the victim of a data breach, believed to be linked to Russia. "The Washington Post" reports Russian government hackers also targeted the Treasury Department and other government agencies. The FBI is investigating. And "The Post" also reports the same Russia-linked group also breached the elite cybersecurity firm FireEye, which says in a statement, the actors behind this campaign gained access to numerous public and private organizations around the world. This campaign may have been begun as early as spring 2020 and is currently ongoing.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, such an historic day in the course of this pandemic. The first Americans will be vaccinated today. Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, you can see pictures there of them going out from the distribution plant, they arrive in all 50 states today.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live at University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor with more. They're going to get their vaccines, we expect, at some point today, I'm sure.

Sara, what will we see?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And, in fact, we've just learned that they are expected to get the Pfizer vaccine here at 8:45 in the morning. So just two hours and change from now, John. And it really is an important and historic and exciting day.

Most of us don't think of excitement when it comes to vaccines, but this country and across the world we have gone through so much and lost so many people that this is so important, especially to those frontline workers who we expect that at some point they will be the first to get the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer.

I can tell you that this hospital system is -- is really heavily awaiting this. And they've already treated and released about 1,200 plus patients here who had COVID, that they were able to release from the hospital, but they are still, in this hospital system, 89 patients that are dealing with COVID and that are being treated with COVID. And those frontline workers are exposing themselves every single day. And so to be able to give them this vaccine, you, obviously with Pfizer, you take one dose and then three weeks later you take the second dose.

There's also some logistics that we should talk about because I've been talking to doctors and nurses in hospitals across the country. And they have to stagger this because you can't give it to your entire team just in case there are some, you know, people getting a little bit sick. We've been hearing that people sometimes they're getting fevers, that only last a couple of days, and it shows you the vaccine is working, but they want to make sure that they stagger this across the country. But right now it is all about the vaccine and getting it into the arms of those frontline workers and then we will go from there.

Alisyn. John.

CAMEROTA: Sara, that's really interesting. I didn't know about those logistics of how exactly to stagger all of this for frontline workers.

Thank you very much for reporting on the ground for us.

SIDNER: Sure.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, in New York City, they are launching a vaccine command center today to handle logistics like those and to try to win the public's trust through community outreach.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is live at that command center with more.

So how's it going to work there, Shimon?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that is one of the biggest things, Alisyn, is getting the public behind this vaccine and building the trust.

[06:35:04]

And that's exactly what is going to be -- take on as part of this command center that's being set up here in New York City. The mayor announcing this command center that's going to oversee the distribution of the vaccine across the city. Of course, today, some of the first doses being distributed.

And then in the days to come, and the weeks to come, half a million doses to be distributed all across the city, by January. And so this command center behind me is going to be targeting specific communities. Of course, communities of -- the minority communities across the city, which the city is putting at a special, big effort behind that because the equity and the fair distribution of this vaccine is key to fighting the pandemic here in New York City, which saw many members of the black and brown community affected most by this pandemic. And so that is what the command center is going to be doing. It's going to be working real time to see where the vaccine is going, trouble shooting any problems as it's distributed across nursing homes and pharmacies and hospitals all across the city in the weeks to come.

CAMEROTA: Shimon, do we know what time or who will be the first person?

PROKUPECZ: So, we don't know. It's expected, like in other places across the country, it's going to be health care workers. Those doctors and nurses on the frontline, in the hospitals that are dealing with COVID patients. So we do expect some of that this morning. We don't know exactly when or where, but we do expect that some of the first vaccine -- some of the first shots to be -- to occur this morning, we don't know yet where or exactly how that's going to take place, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, we have Mayor Bill de Blasio coming up soon in the program, so we will ask him those questions also.

Shimon, thank you very much for the reporting.

So indoor dining is now banned in New York City, but contact tracers find that restaurants are not the biggest source of spread. So what's the strategy? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:07]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, states across the country will begin vaccinating health care workers and the elderly. A record 109,000 Americans are hospitalized this morning with the virus. And this comes as New York City has halted indoor dining, starting today, for at least the next two weeks to try to cut down on the spread.

Joining us now is William Haseltine, he's the chair and president of Access Health International and a former professor of -- at Harvard Medical School.

Professor, great to see you this morning. Let me just -- this is such an historic day and it's such an encouraging day that the vaccinations are coming, but at the same time there's 109,000 Americans waking up in the hospital this morning. And that, you know, spike, as you can see on your screen, is just going up exponentially. And so all sorts of leaders are trying to figure out how to keep the hospitals from reaching capacity and from being overwhelmed.

And so let's just look at New York. I mean they're trying -- they're -- they're banning indoor dining, but, you know, contact tracers have found that that's not the source of the biggest spread. The source of the biggest spread are small family gatherings and gatherings with friends. And so what's the answer?

WILLIAM HASELTINE, CHAIR AND PRESIDENT, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL: Well, I'll give you a voice from doctors in California. We can't save everyone from themselves. And another doctor in California, in the Central Valley, where the infection rate is extremely high, we can save many people, but we can't save everyone at once. That's a voice that I think everybody should hear.

When you look at a place like California, you think of it as high- tech, movie stars, but California is like the United States. It's quite diverse. North can be very rural, and there there are some rates that are truly extraordinary. We call a zone red when they're 15 per 100,000 per day. They're over 300 per 1,000 -- 100,000 per day in some parts of northern California. And others, 200, and others 100. That is way above what anybody thought could happen in the United States. Thank God there's a vaccine on the way.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I understand. I mean I hear you and we can't save people from themselves. And, of course, elected leaders are loathe to try to police indoor gatherings of families. I mean how would they even do that?

And so they're doing something, at least here in New York, and -- and I know other places, cities and states are considering this, that they can control, and that's the indoor dining of restaurants -- at restaurants.

HASELTINE: Right.

CAMEROTA: But do you support that? Do you think that that will make a dent?

HASELTINE: It will make a small difference, for sure. Bars and restaurants are places where people gather and they do get infected. But as you say, most of the infections can be stopped by people who are willing to take the effort to protect themselves and their family.

You know, we know it works extremely well. I've seen numbers in Europe, for example, France, through very strict lockdown measures, has dropped their infection rate by 20 times -- 20 times, and they thought they were going to release it over the Christmas holidays and they're not. They're protecting their people. Some of their people don't like it. That's understandable. But they enforce those rules and the result is control of the infection just before we get the vaccine.

I just hope, like many people hope, that we can hold on and change our behavior until the vaccines are available to most people. It shouldn't be many months now, but it's really important because we're not doing anything. We're the worst in the world by far in control of this pandemic. The worst in the world.

CAMEROTA: I know, it's such a horrible thing to be noted for, that the U.S. is doing this so poorly.

[06:45:04]

And so some governors are considering stay-at-home orders now.

HASELTINE: That's right.

CAMEROTA: And, again, I mean, you know, they're very reluctant to do that. The public really doesn't want that to happen. Do you think it's time?

HASELTINE: You know, I think it probably is time, but I know, as you know, that there's tremendous resistance. Part of that resistance is political. But part of it isn't. Part of it is people who need to get to work, people who will -- don't have the adequate safety net in order to survive during this time, people we call essential workers. It's certainly essential for them to live because they don't have any other support. And the needed support from our government isn't forthcoming. So it's a -- it's a pretty complicated issue for many people. What can they do to protect themselves when they're not receiving the kind of protection they need from the government that's duty is to protect our people?

CAMEROTA: Professor Haseltine, thank you very much for helping us see where we are today. Appreciate talking to you.

HASELTINE: Thank you.

And let's all pray for the vaccine soon.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely! I mean I think your prayers are being answered this morning. And hopefully we will see vaccinations going into arms, even on our show this morning, perhaps. Thank you very much.

HASELTINE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, whoever President-elect Joe Biden selects as attorney general will be tasked with overseeing a federal investigation of Joe Biden's son. So how much does that complicate the choice and the nomination? We discuss that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:32]

BERMAN: So while 2020 may go down in history as a year many people would like to forget, last night CNN Heroes revealed the most inspiring moment our viewers chose this year. And, first of all, the heroes event last night was fantastic. I hope everyone had a chance to see it.

This is the moment that people chose as the most inspiring. Patrick Hutchison carrying a white counter protester to safety at a Black Lives Matter protest in London.

CAMEROTA: Also, Meghan Markle, duchess of Sussex, made a surprise appearance to honor everyday heroes who stepped up to ensure the basic needs of communities were met during this pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MARKLE, THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: They made sure that those around them did not have to suffer in isolation. They nourished their neighbors in more ways than one. And they showed us, all of us, that even in the darkest times, when we come together, we have the power to remind someone else that there is hope and that we will be OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: This is the first time we've heard from Markle since she wrote an op-ed revealing she'd had a miscarriage earlier this year. It was a great, inspiring program. And I'm sure people can find it

online.

BERMAN: I'm sure. It was really wonderful. It was great to see Meghan Markle doing that. I think she is using her voice in such a constructive way. And, again, we're lucky to have her here in the United States.

CAMEROTA: You are a fan!

BERMAN: I think she's terrific! Honestly, I think she's terrific.

CAMEROTA: I do too.

BERMAN: And the message she's sending is one of global empathy.

CAMEROTA: I just rarely hear your enthusiasm for other people in the way that you reserve it for Meghan Markle.

BERMAN: America wins. America wins.

CAMEROTA: OK.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:56:08]

BERMAN: President-elect Joe Biden could announce his pick to be the next attorney general as soon as next week, and that selection takes on even greater significance after Hunter Biden, the president-elect's son, confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating his business dealings. Whoever Joe Biden does pick as the next attorney general will be tasked with overseeing his own son's investigation.

Joining me now is Katie Benner, she's the Justice Department reporter at "The New York Times."

Katie, thanks so much for being with us.

You've got a terrific article that really focuses on two separate things here. Number one, people within the Justice Department, or who have recently left, talking to you about what they want to see in the next attorney general and changes they want to see in the Justice Department. And that as distinct from the Hunter Biden issue.

Let's start with the former. What do people at Justice want to see in the next attorney general?

KATIE BENNER, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORTER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Sure. I think that people within the Justice Department, people who have recently left, mostly I spoke with people who worked under the Trump administration, they all talked about the fact that the last four years have made the department extraordinarily politicized. You had a president who has talked about the department, talked about the department's work in ways never before done and ways also that implied that the department was there to serve the personal pleasure of the president, not just to enact political policies, but to really go after his own political enemies and to save his friends. And that feeling, that perception really hurts the work of the department overall. It makes it difficult for them to do things like prosecute somebody who's high-profile, especially if that person is connected to the president, and have the public believe that the prosecution is fair and that it was really the rule of law that determined whether or not to prosecute the person.

So they want that changed. They want no more politicization. And they want a leader who can credibly come in and say, hey, listen, this is not what we're going to do anymore. And then, on top of that, they say, look at this landscape. We have huge national security issues. We just saw the breach that happened at the Treasury by Russian hackers and, on top of that, big civil rights issues brewing in this country. They said, we need somebody who can hit the ground running and work very, very quickly from day one.

BERMAN: So the idea of getting politics out of it. Everything they saw with Roger Stone and Michael Flynn and Bill Barr overturning Robert Mueller in a way, the Barr letter.

BENNER: Absolutely. Yes.

BERMAN: How does the Hunter Biden investigation now, which came to light only last week, how does that complicate what they're looking for?

BENNER: Well, it's interesting, because it is in some ways related to what they were talking about in that it does risk making the department a very, very political hot potato once again, right, because it is the president's own son being investigated by the Justice Department. And so that makes the pick of attorney general extremely important and extremely fraught. You had a race that really included three people for the longest time. Sally Yates, the former deputy attorney general, you have Doug Jones, a former senator from Alabama, you have Merrick Garland, who served in the D.C. Circuit right here, who was also seen as somebody who's very reliable and somebody who's very fair.

Now, Doug Jones was being talked about as a front-runner in large part because he's such good personal friends with Joe Biden. That's something -- that was something that was extraordinarily important and really seen as an advantage. But now people are wondering inside, is that a disadvantage? Is it bad to have one of the president's closest friends, the attorney general who's investigating his son? Sally Yates was a clear preference for the people I spoke with, and it was in large part because so many of them had worked with her, not just when she was deputy attorney general, but also when she was a prosecutor, when she was working her way up through the department and they liked the fact that she was -- is really just fresh out of the department and she is extremely familiar with every issue that they are going to face in the next few years. She's worked on these issues and they are a little worried that the confirmation hearing and the prospect of a tough confirmation will scare the Biden transition team off from her. What they are saying is, we should not be focusing on two days, we should be focusing on two or even four years.

BERMAN: Katie Benner, as I said, it's a terrific article. Thanks so much for sharing your reporting with us this morning.

[07:00:01]

Nice to see you.

BENNER: Thank you.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn