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U.S. Electoral College Affirms Biden Victory; Trump Won't Concede Despite Electoral College Vote; U.S. Attorney General William Barr Resigns; First Doses of Vaccine Given as U.S. Tops 300,000 Deaths; Health Workers Among First to Receive Vaccine in U.S.; U.K. Says New Variant of COVID-19 has been identified; European Countries Issue New COVID Restrictions; Canada Rolls Out Its First COVID-19 Vaccine; Parts of East Asia Seeing New Wave of Infections. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired December 15, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Joe Biden takes another step towards the oval office. But even after the Electoral College makes his win official, President Trump is not conceding.

And U.S. starts vaccinating American's against COVID as the death toll passes 300,000 people.

But Europe's pandemic battle, Germany, the Netherlands parts of England all facing tougher restrictions while the U.K. says it's found a new variant of the virus.

To our viewer here in the United States and all around the world, hello and welcome to CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.

CURNOW: It's more than a month after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, the Electoral College has officially confirmed the results of that race. On Monday they cast their own ballots giving him enough electoral votes to take the White House. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, a Democrat, yeas 55, noes 0.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Biden's victory was sealed on Monday when California's 55 electors put him over the top. Afterwards, the president-elect said the will of the people had prevailed. Here's MJ Lee.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Electoral College here in the United States officially voting on Monday to declare Joe Biden the president-elect, and Biden really seizing that moment to deliver what was really a remarkable speech, talking about how American democracy had been tested this year in ways that we had never seen before.

But he also said that even despite the pandemic, even despite some abuses of power that we have seen in this country, that the American democratic system could not be extinguished. And it was very clear that the former vice president wanted to send a clear message to the sitting president, President Trump, essentially saying it is time for us to turn the page and move on. Here's what he said.

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: This battle, for the soul of America, democracy prevailed. We, the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And now it's time to turn the page as we have done throughout our history, to unite, to heal.

LEE (on camera): Now, of course, so much of turning the page will have to do with how the president-elect deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, something that he talked about in this speech, as well, and getting the economy back on track, dealing with the vaccine distribution, and also a big part of the challenge for him going forward will simply be about politics.

And this is why we are going to see him travel on Tuesday to Atlanta, Georgia where he is going to be campaigning for the two Democratic candidates who are going to be in Senate runoff races. The outcome of those races will determine so much of what he can do politically and legislatively with members of Congress come next year. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: MJ for that.

So despite the results from Monday's electoral vote, sitting President Donald Trump is still refusing to concede. Kaitlin Collins has more on that

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a process that President Trump has tried to subvert every step of the way since he lost this election to Joe Biden, but you saw yesterday as the Electoral College did affirm Biden's win, he gave a short speech afterward talking about it, and talking about what has gone on with the president and his Republican allies desperate effort to try to overturn the results of this election by taking matters like what you saw last week like the Supreme Court and that swift rejection of the lawsuit that the attorney general of Texas was trying to bring.

But despite the fact that you've seen this Electoral College affirmed Biden's win, we are still told by sources that the president does not expect to concede this election, at least certainly not anytime soon, and he has said publicly as well that he plans to continue to fight it and claims there are more legal steps his team can take. Even though if you speak with people close to the president's campaign, and close to the legal team, they just believe they're running out of options after that Supreme Court rejection, and they're not sure where they're going to go next.

One tactic, the president may try to pursue over the next few weeks, as we wait for the end of his presidency, and for Joe Biden to be inaugurated is a distraction technique.

[04:05:00]

And that was in part what you saw yesterday as the last states were certifying their votes. That's when the President chose to announce on Twitter that the Attorney General Bill Barr is resigning in the next few days. His last day at the White House will be December 23rd. He said in a resignation that he gave to the president.

And if you looked at the tweet from the president announcing this and look at Bill Barr's letter, you would think it's an amicable departure between these two individuals. But it is certainly anything but that. And sources that we spoke to in recent weeks said the relationship between president and once one of his favorite cabinet members had deteriorated so greatly after Bill Barr undercut the president's claims about voter fraud and then even more so over the weekend after it was revealed that Barr did work to follow DOJ protocol by stopping that Biden investigation from becoming public. Something the president criticized him over and said he should have done the opposite.

But that is not what the president mentioned in his tweet, announcing that Bill Barr will be stepping down and his deputy, Jeffrey Rosen, will be taking over as the attorney general just for a few more weeks.

Kaitlin Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Joining me now is Lisa Lerer, a CNN political analyst and national political reporter for "The New York Times." Lisa, hi, lovely to have you on the show. So let's talk about Mr. Trump and what does he get by showing Bill Barr the door now? What's the strategy, do you think?

LISA LERER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think part of the strategy is to distract. Of course, today was the day that the Electoral College here in the United States officially affirmed Joe Biden as the winner of the election, which most people have known since November, but the president has tested again and again in the weeks that have followed.

And I don't think it was coincidence that the president announced Bill Barr's firing on Twitter within half an hour of California officially putting Joe Biden over the top and making him the Electoral College winner and the president-elect.

CURNOW: So, it's distraction, but at the same time, we also heard the president-elect Joe Biden's comments. And it seems like a parallel universe, doesn't it? They were optimistic. They spoke about trust in institutions and democracy. What do those comments tell you about the presidency to come, and more importantly, can he put those words into actions, especially during a pandemic?

LERER: I think Joe Biden is someone who's been in Washington a long time, more than 30 decades. He's someone who sees himself as a politician who can work across the aisle. But the Washington that he was a Senator in for all these decades is no longer the Washington that we have now.

So, even if Joe Biden wants to cast himself as someone who can heal the soul of America, which he does, that was his campaign slogan, he's really going to have his work cut out for him.

The Senate majority leader has still not acknowledged that he is the president-elect, not even today after the Electoral College voted him in. So restoring faith in these institutions is going to be a heavy lift for Joe Biden. And a lot of it will depend on how President Trump conducts himself in his post-presidential period after leaving office.

CURNOW: Yes, I want to talk about that because in many ways it's still pretty shocking that the U.S. president has not conceded an election he's lost, and obviously many Republicans, as well. So, what happens if he never does and creates a sort of a theater or a parallel presidency, false as it is, at Mar-a-Lago? How disruptive does that become for Mr. Biden? How does Mr. Biden manage that?

LERER: Well, I think the biggest risk for Biden is that the Republican Party will still see themselves unable to shake President Trump, because the president has such a hold on the Republican base. If he is able to maintain that connection with promises that he's going to run again in 2024, which is something he has been floating, it will be really hard for Republicans, even if they want, to cut a deal on things that the country desperately needs. Like economic relief from the pandemic or help with vaccine distribution if President Trump does not see those align with his personal ambitions.

So I think that political dynamic will really be the one to watch as Biden navigates the contours of the first months of his time in office.

CURNOW: Lisa Lerer, great to speak to you. Thanks so much for your expertise. We appreciate it.

LERER: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Well, the first doses of the vaccine are now going out across the U.S., and the arrival of a vaccine comes at a critical, critical time. If you take a look at the map, the U.S. has lost more than 300,000 lives to the virus. The U.S. also recorded its highest number of new cases in a single day ever on Monday. And there are more people hospitalized than any point in the pandemic.

One encouraging sign though, a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation says a large majority of Americans, 71 percent in fact, said they will definitely or probably get a vaccine for the virus. This vaccine of course was developed in rapid time in the nationwide rollout is an extraordinary undertaking. Martin Savidge has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

[04:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one. Vaccinate.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All across the country, doctors and nurses are rolling up their sleeves --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doing great.

SAVIDGE: -- to get the first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. STELLA OGAKE, PULMONARY AND CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN: I feel great. I just got the vaccine. It was not painful at the. I don't know how I'm going to feel in the next few hours, but I feel really good.

SAVIDGE: As part of the highest risk group, health care workers like these at Ohio State University's Medical Center, are giving the first injections to their colleagues.

DR. STEVEN LOBOREC, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY, OHIO SATE UNIVERSITY: I spent a large portion of my day in here yesterday by myself practicing what I needed to do before the vaccine arrived.

SAVIDGE: So far, the rollout has largely been a success.

ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: This week, everyone's work starts to pay off. This weekend's shipment of vaccines is 2.9 million doses. Each Friday from here on out, we will announce new weekly allocations of vaccine.

SAVIDGE: The logistics require to gets to this point are impressive. This weekend, shipments of the Pfizer vaccine were loaded on to trucks and planes from Michigan to all 50 states and Puerto Rico, 145 sites should get their deliveries by the end of the day. More than 400 will receive shipments tomorrow.

Doctors have just three minutes from once the packages are open, check the expiration dates to unpack, and get the vials back into the freezer. It's a monumental moment for state leaders.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: There's some justice in the fact that we were the epicenter. We are the first wave dealt with the brunt of this crisis. And now, we are going to be in the first wave of fighting back.

SAVIDGE: But New York, like other states, will need to prioritize their recipients until more companies get their vaccines into production. The Moderna vaccine is expected to get Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA later this week. GEN. GUSTAVE PERNA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: We know that we're going to ship just a little bit short of six million doses out to the American people. We're shipping it to 3,285 locations across the country.

SAVIDGE: It's good news, but health experts warn it's not an overnight fix.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't believe we're going to be able to throw the masks away and forget about physical separation and congregate settings for a while, probably likely until we get into the late fall and early next winter.

SAVIDGE: And the numbers are evidence as more than 300,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus.

RITZ JACKSON, EMT PARAMEDIC: I am hopeful that the majority of people are going to feel comfortable enough to come out and get the vaccine. This has been a very long year.

SAVIDGE: Martin Savidge, CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CURNOW: Dr. Jorge Salinas is an epidemiologist at the University of Iowa Health Care and was one of the first people in the U.S. to get the vaccine. Doctor, wonderful to have you on the show. When did you get the shot, and how are you feeling?

DR. JORGE SALINAS, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HEALTH CARE: I'm very glad to be here. I got my shot 12 hours ago, early today, and I'm feeling pretty good. Other than a mild soreness on my shoulder, which is expected after a shot, I feel pretty good.

CURNOW: And we've got pictures of you taking it. Why did you feel the need to show your support for this vaccine publicly?

SALINAS: Well, I think that this vaccine is one of the greatest medical breakthroughs in recent history. This is one safe and effective strategy to end this terrible pandemic.

CURNOW: So you're throwing your support behind it?

SALINAS: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. This vaccine has not only been proven to be efficacious but also quite safe, and it is one of the best strategies we have in hand to stop this pandemic.

CURNOW: You're going to have a second dose in the next few weeks. As a doctor, are you worried that some people might not follow through with the booster shot, especially if they have side effects?

SALINAS: I think that, yes, a regimen, vaccine regimen that requires more than one dose has that possibility. But I think that everybody is so cognizant that these two doses are needed that I think that the update will be quite high. CURNOW: You mention this has been a historical moment, how do you feel

about being part of the one of the first people to get the vaccine in the U.S. in such record time and being part of such a scientific feat. As a doctor, what is it about this particular vaccine that has you excited?

SALINAS: Today was one of the happiest and saddest days for us.

[04:15:00]

One of the happiest because, again, because of work in vaccine development over the last couple of decades, we are now able to produce a safe and efficacious vaccine in record time to respond to a pandemic that are becoming more frequent.

At the same time it's a very sad moment, especially in the United States, where nearly 200,000 new infections every day. More than 100,000 Americans being hospitalized and more than a thousand Americans dying every day. So we're happy, and we're sad, we're sad what about the current state of the pandemic, and happy that this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic. We do see very clearly, light at the end of the tunnel.

CURNOW: We do indeed. And thanks for the part that you're playing in it. Doctor appreciate you joining us.

SALINAS: Absolutely.

CURNOW: So you're watching CNN. Still to come, a new variant of COVID may have been discovered in the U.K. just as London heads toward a harsh new lockdown. We're live with the latest. That's next.

And it's shaping up to be a very subdued holiday season in Europe, thanks to some of the toughest restrictions since the pandemic began. We have the details on that as well. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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CURNOW: Thanks for joining us, it's 19 minutes past the hour.

[04:20:00]

So, London is heading for harsher restrictions as cases in the city and surrounding areas saw so far. So the tier 3 restrictions begin on Wednesday and come as the government says a new variant of COVID has been identified in the southeast of England. So Salma Abdelaziz has the latest in London. What can you tell us about the latest set of restrictions? Hi, Salma, what can you tell us?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Robyn, after a worrying spike in coronavirus cases and an increase in hospitalizations, officials say this city now has to move into tier 3 restrictions. That's England's highest level of coronavirus measures in their three tier regional restrictions. This system comes with new rules to curb social life. That means pubs and restaurants, all night live has to shut down. And households are basically banned from mixing with together.

But here's the important thing to remember. Right now Central London, the streets are packed, the stores are packed, because of course it's Christmas time and that is not going to change even under this country's highest level of restrictions. All nonessential shops are allowed to remain open. Also and critically here, schools are allowed to remain open. And this is important because the fastest rise in infections has been among the age group of between 11 to 18.

That's why the government is rolling out testing -- coronavirus testing for students in some of the most affected neighborhoods in London. But I think the part of the statement that probably raised the most eyebrows was when the health secretary said there's a variant of coronavirus. Take a listen to what he said in Parliament.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: Over the last few days, thanks to our world-class genomic capability in the U.K., we have identified a new variant of coronavirus. Which may be associated with the fastest spread in the southeast of England. Initial analysis suggests that this variant is growing faster than the existing variant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ (on camera): Now, you hear him describing the new variant and I know it sounds scary. But it's important to remember and scientists and experts agree on this, it is entirely normal for the virus to change, to mutate. These variants are nothing to worry about and nothing new, and there is no evidence that this specific variant is more deadly or that it's immune to the vaccine -- Robyn.

CURNOW: OK, thanks for that. Selma Abdelaziz there live in London.

So meanwhile, Europe's mainland countries are certainly also issuing tough new COVID restrictions. France has implemented a new curfew that will last until at least January 20th. In the Netherlands, schools and universities will largely close, along with nonessential retail shops and all public gathering places.

And after a record number of deaths, Germany will now impose a nationwide hard lockdown on Wednesday. Fred Pleitgen has more from Berlin -- Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Germany remains in a dire situation with high numbers of new coronavirus infections, pretty much every day. And so the German government has now decided that this country is going to go into what's called a hard lockdown come Wednesday.

Angela Merkel and state governors have decided that all nonessential shops are going to have to close and also schools are going to shut down and go to distance learning. Now of course, all of this comes only about a week before Christmas, and for a lot of these shop owners, that will be one of the main times for their business. So a lot of them are extremely concerned about their financial situation, and the German government has said it will pay compensation. But of course there is still a lot of worry for a lot of these especially small business owners in this time of what would normally be very busy times for Christmas shopping.

But the big thing Angela Merkel says, is to at least try to give people some semblance of Christmas when that time comes around. They say that no more than five people are going to be allowed to come together, also for Christmas. And they're only allowed to be from two households.

Also Christmas church services are only going to be allowed if they are registered beforehand and approved by authorities, and the people who go to those services are not allowed to sing, and they all have to wear masks.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: And Canada has begun distributing its first round of the coronavirus vaccine. Officials expect to receive more than 200,000 doses by the end of the year with millions more to follow. Paula Newton now reports from Ottawa -- Paula.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was Canada's turn to roll out the vaccines and even some political leaders here said that they were teary eyed, emotional because they said it was the first time that they could actually see an end to this pandemic.

Now it was health care workers along with residents of long term care facilities in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City that were among the first to get vaccinated. They were all prioritized, because four out of every five deaths here in Canada have occurred among residents of either nursing homes or retirement homes in Canada. They have been so severely hit.

Now, at issue is how quickly Canada will continue to receive those doses. There have only been about 30,000 doses so far in country for a population of about 38 million.

[04:25:00]

And that is a problem, Canada says. They say they are in fierce international competition to get those doses in country much more quickly. They say that they are under contract for about 20 million, but at this point in time they have no idea how quickly they can take in those doses, saying that Pfizer/BioNTech is making no promises. And for that reason, they're kind of concerned about the impact that any kind of vaccine program will actually have on what is turning out to be a very severe second wave here in Canada.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: A somber milestone for Japan which now has its highest number of COVID patients in the ICU since the pandemic began. Japan's military of health said a record 588 people are in critical condition from the coronavirus and have been admitted to the intensive care units. It also announced more than 1,600 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Monday.

I'm going straight to Paula Hancocks. Paula is live in Seoul with more on all of this. What can you tell us? Seems like Paula can't hear us. Paula can you hear me?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There have been some concerns. An apology here. We're having some technical issues there.

But certainly in Japan, they have been having some concerns about the high number of coronavirus cases being reported. And they did, in fact, mention that there was a record number of patients now in intensive care, 588. So that is obviously of great concern to officials certainly worried about running out of intensive care beds. As well but certainly a situation they're concerned about here in South Korea as well and elsewhere around the world.

Now, this week we also heard from Prime Minister Suga temporarily cancelling a fairly controversial scheme, a travel scheme that he had put in place to try and convince Japanese people to travel around the country. He wanted to try and boost internal domestic tourism and then of course boost the economy. But he has come under pressure to put that on hold and he's temporarily cancelling that because of these higher numbers -- Robyn.

CURNOW: For that update, glad we got ahold of you. Paula Hancocks there in Seoul.

So coming up on CNN, many Republicans are still refusing to acknowledge Joe Biden's election win. Now one member of the party says their denial could hurt democracy. What he plans to do about it. That's next.

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