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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Biden Outlines Plan To Turn The Page On Trump And Pandemic; Healthcare Workers Across U.S. Get First Vaccine Doses; London Prepares For New Lockdown As Cases Surge. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 15, 2020 - 05:30   ET

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


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[05:30:26]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett, about 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.

And we begin this half-hour with rays of hope during one of the bleakest times in modern American history.

Vaccinations to end the pandemic that has now killed more than 300,000 Americans are now underway across the country. And a new leader whose victory has now been made official by the Electoral College offering a vision for unifying the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT: Getting this pandemic under control and getting the nation vaccinated against this virus. Delivering immediate economic help so badly needed by so many Americans who are hurting today. And then, building our economy back better than it ever was.

In doing so, we need to work together to give each other a chance to lower the temperature. And most of all, we need to stand in solidarity as fellow Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: CNN's MJ Lee has more now from Wilmington, Delaware.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MJ LEE, CNN NATIONAL 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 democracy -- democratic system, rather, 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.

BIDEN: In 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've 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)

ROMANS: All right, MJ. Thank you so much for that.

So, 36 days now until Joe Biden's inauguration. Time for three questions in three minutes. And that means it's time to bring in CNN senior political analyst, John Avlon. Good Tuesday morning, John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, guys.

JARRETT: Hi, John.

ROMANS: Biden, last night, with his most forceful condemnation yet of President Trump's assault on American democracy. Listen to a bit of it.

AVLON: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's a position so extreme we've never seen it before. A position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law, and refused to honor our Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: It strikes me, John, he's got quite a balancing act to do here because he's got to condemn the behavior of this president, but also acknowledge that 70 million supported this president and, I guess, you know, his degradation of American democracy.

AVLON: Yes, and look, and both things are -- can be possible. It's incredibly important to reach out to Trump supporters -- the reasonable edge of the opposition. People who love this country and had a different political opinion. And it's incumbent upon a president to try to unite the nation. We just haven't seen that in a few years.

It's equally important to call out the leadership of the party that has backed this attempt to overturn an election. I mean, there are 126 members of Congress, 17 attorneys general who put their names to a paper to try to overturn this election -- you know, the autocrat caucus. And those folks -- he should strong with because guess what? Bullies only respect strength.

ROMANS: Yes.

AVLON: But the 70 who refused to sign on to it, he should reach out to them. He should reach out to them every day. And it's impossible -- it's possible to condemn extreme leadership while reaching out to their supporters to try to heal the nation. That's the line he's got to walk. It's possible to do. Leadership matters.

JARRETT: It's possible to do but still a huge challenge for sure.

AVLON: Sure.

[05:35:00]

JARRETT: So, John, barely 10 minutes had passed with the Electoral College formally certifying Biden's win last night before the president tweets out that his attorney general -- surprise -- has resigned. Now we knew their relationship had deteriorated --

AVLON: Yes.

JARRETT: -- for a number of reasons, but if you're Bill Barr, what do you get out of quitting with barely a month left on the job after you had so forcefully defended this president on any number of issues?

AVLON: I mean, I think we can get all cut up in questions of whether he jumped or whether he was pushed. But, I mean, let's be clear, Barr had indicated he'd rather stay on. Any attorney general would stay on. Any sane president would try to keep an attorney general on with only 36 days left in his administration.

So, you know, there's an ornate letter of resignation that smacks of -- you know, has all the heraldry of a hostage video.

And so, you don't get anything. This was not free and willing. The only question is whether he was being asked to do something that he could not stomach, but we don't know that.

All we know is this has been deteriorating because he refused to lie for the president. After all the defense he ran for this president, he would not manufacture evidence and that, apparently, is a firing offense when a president's -- Donald Trump's in a delusional state. ROMANS: You know, I've got to ask you about D.C. Sometimes the sausage-making just makes me crazy. But right now, I mean, it's clear the constituents of the people who are in Washington deciding on stimulus are really hurting. They have to know that. They'd have to know that.

Why can't they get to something here? I mean, the House passed something way back in May. The Republicans left it alone for the summer to see -- the stimulus that was already in the system -- how well it was working. Then there was something on the table for $1.8 trillion.

Who is to blame here? Why can't they get money -- why can't Congress get money into the hands of suffering businesses and people again?

AVLON: Because apparently, the suffering is not sufficiently real to them. I mean, I think at the end of the day, as you said, the House passed something months ago. And look, there's always room for improvement, there's always room to learn and study, but you know what? The folks who thought this was going to get better on its own, it's not.

These folks are having their benefits dry up after Christmas. You've got small businesses on the verge of bankruptcy. At the end of the day, it's on Mitch McConnell. He has failed to lead here.

Now, Democrats are sparring over whether you're going to split a bill. And, in general, I favor bipartisan solutions because that's what -- that's how you solve problems in America and you can't make the perfect the enemy of the good here.

But it is ironic to see Republicans opposing state and local aid when in the past they've tried to devalue money to the states, saying they learned how to spend it more wisely than the federal government. Well, that was then and this is now.

The reality is we're heading into the holiday season. We have just hit 300,000 dead. Do your jobs. Do your jobs and help someone other than yourself.

ROMANS: It's like congressional malpractice, you know?

AVLON: Yes, it is.

ROMANS: And there's a few times I've seen it, you know. There's never -- there's always a cliff. If there's a cliff -- a benefits cliff, a fiscal cliff, Congress will go right to the edge of it.

AVLON: Yes.

ROMANS: But I feel like American families have already gone over that cliff. I mean, it's just -- it's awful -- just awful.

AVLON: Yes.

JARRETT: Who gets hurt in this one is the small guy. AVLON: Absolutely.

JARRETT: It's not those on Capitol Hill.

AVLON: Absolutely.

JARRETT: All right, John Avlon, always appreciate your thoughts, sir.

AVLON: Take care, guys.

JARRETT: Thank you.

All right.

The first doses of a coronavirus vaccine have now been delivered to all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Yet, thousands of Americans are still dying from COVID every day. The national death toll now surpassed 300,000 people and hospitalizations hit another record high overnight.

Healthcare workers on the front lines of this pandemic were among the first to get their vaccination shots yesterday but it will be several months before most Americans can get one.

CNN's Sara Sidner has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This moment could not come soon enough. ICU nurse Sandra Lindsay is one of the first people in the United States to get the COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial.

So was emergency medicine doctor, Yves Duroseau.

DR. YVES DUROSEAU, CHAIR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, LENOX HILL HOSPITAL: It feels great. It didn't feel any different than receiving any other vaccination that I have received in the past.

SIDNER (voice-over): Workers loaded boxes of Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine onto trucks by forklifts for shipping to medical facilities and hospitals around the country -- a historic day that arrived in record time.

CNN was there the moment University of Michigan Medical Center staff got the vaccine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like the best Christmas ever.

SIDNER (voice-over): A box filled with dry ice and 390 vials. Each vial has five doses inside. Once thawed and mixed with saline, it was administered to healthcare workers who have exhausted themselves taking care of coronavirus patients while putting themselves in danger.

MARK SCHLISSEL, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: The really important thing is that we can now see the horizon. We can see how this is going to end.

SIDNER (voice-over): From Michigan medicine to Tampa General Hospital in Florida, something to cheer about finally, after a year of devastating loss -- more than 300,000 COVID deaths in America -- to medical staff at Ohio State University.

[05:40:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one, vaccinate.

DR. THOMAS POWELL, EMERGENCY MEDICINE, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY: It's momentous. I feel honored to receive it, humbled to receive it. It's a really wonderful day.

SIDNER (voice-over): The complex task of figuring up how to store and ship the vaccine has been underway for months. The vaccine needs to be kept at ultra-cold temperatures. UPS and FedEx are helping to deliver the vaccine nationwide using a complex package designed by Pfizer called a thermal shipper.

Now, after so many months of uncertainty, there is renewed hope this vaccine can start us down what's to be a long road to recovery.

DR. LENA NAPOLITANO, DIRECTOR OF SURGICAL INTENSIVE CAE, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: We are exposed to it every minute of every day, so I can't tell you how much this means to me. I feel like I won a million-dollar lottery getting this vaccine.

SIDNER (on camera): You could hear in Dr. Napolitano's voice the exhaustion that she is experiencing but also the immense gratitude and even joy for being able to be one of the first to get this vaccine. At the end of the day, she and the other healthcare workers who got this -- all five of them -- are saying look, we can help save patients, as we always have, but this will also help us save ourselves and our families.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Thank you so much for that, Sara.

It reminds me of those stories of your -- of your grandparents talking about getting vaccinated for polio, lining up outside of their schools. A national effort to get people well.

With these vaccinations just getting started across the country, 71 percent of Americans now say they will get in line and get that COVID- 19 vaccine, according to a poll just released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, and that is up from 63 percent in September. The groups most likely to be hesitant, Republicans, people in their 30s and 40s, folks in rural areas, and black Americans.

JARRETT: Well, as we've been discussing all morning, congressional leaders on Capitol Hill now scrambling to get a COVID relief bill passed with time running out. The stimulus money is part of the huge government spending package that has to be finalized by Friday to keep the government open. And there are clear signs now that Democrats may have to abandon aid to cash-strapped states to get the deal done.

CNN's Manu Raju has the latest from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning, Christine and Laura.

Now, so many people are waiting to see what happens in Congress with a rescue package. They've been waiting for months. They've watched partisan bickering essentially stall anything from happening.

But we are now headed into the crucial few days where Hill leaders have to make a deal to get something through. And their goal is to tie relief provisions onto a must-pass funding bill to keep the government open past Friday.

Now, there are differences between the two sides -- significant ones -- but they appear to be narrowing, which is good news for so many people awaiting action from Washington where it appears the signs are showing that two provisions which have been pushed by both sides are unlikely to make it into a final package.

Liability protections that have -- that Republicans had sought for some time, not likely to be part of the package. State and local aid that Democrats have been demanding for months unlikely to get -- become part of the package.

But what will be part of the package, if there's an ultimate agreement, likely will be some extension of jobless benefits, money for small businesses, money for schools, money to help with vaccine distribution. For others, to extend the eviction moratorium until at least the beginning of next year. Those things are still expected. At least there's a lot of consensus on both sides of the aisle for that.

Now, they'll also push for other provisions as well, including more stimulus checks. Whether that gets into the ultimate package remains to be seen. But, President Trump has been demanding that and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has been lobbying senators and House members to include that in a final packet.

All of these decisions must be made almost immediately if they want to get this done by Friday in order to run the traps through the House and the Senate and get it through and avoid a government shutdown by midnight on Friday.

Uncertain if we can get to that point, but it's possible if all sides agree and the stars align, they can get to there because so many people are waiting for action and hope that a deal can be reached. Both sides recognize this needs to be done. Can they finally do it remains a big question in the final days of the 116th Congress -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: Manu, thank you for that.

And while they dawdle, the restaurant industry is in freefall. New York City shut down indoor dining for at least two weeks as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations rise. And some restaurants worry they just won't survive.

Some 10,000 of America's restaurants have closed in the past three months alone. Look at that -- 110,000 have permanently closed this year. Imagine all those workers.

In New York, the numbers have been dismal. Last week, even before the new ban was put in place, dining in restaurants was done about 70 percent compared to this time last year. With or without a ban, people just are not going to eat out.

[05:45:09]

The alternatives to indoor dining fall short for many restaurants. Delivery services often take a cut from each order. Outdoor dining can be expensive to set up and as the weather gets colder, fewer people want to eat outdoors. Plus, restaurants may have to take down their outdoor setups ahead of winter storms like the one coming this week in the northeast.

Now, the National Restaurant Industry says -- has urged Congress to pass new stimulus to help the industry. On Monday, the Independent Restaurant Coalition called on lawmakers to reject any package that doesn't include direct assistance for independent restaurants and bars.

Laura, DEFCON 1. I've just said -- it's just a broken record here and this is really urgent.

JARRETT: Really urgent, and it's not just in the states. People in London now bracing for a strict new coronavirus lockdown. We have that for you, next.

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[05:50:12]

JARRETT: With cases of COVID-19 spiking and hospitals nearing capacity, London is about to impose a new strict lockdown. All pubs, cafes, and restaurants will close and travel is also being limited.

Salma Abdelaziz is live in London. Salma, nice to see you this morning. What's the latest this morning?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, Laura, after a worrying spike in coronavirus cases and an increase in hospitalizations here in the city and in the surrounding areas, the government now says this city has to go into England's highest level coronavirus restrictions.

Starting Wednesday morning, London will be under tier three rules and there will be new measures to curb people's social behavior. So, pubs, restaurants, nightlife -- all of that will be closed down. Households are basically banned from mixing together.

But here's the catch. Of course, right now, Central London streets are packed because of Christmas shopping. And even under these new rules, that is not going to change. All non-essential shops can still remain open and crucially, schools as well, where there's also been a spike in coronavirus cases.

But I think what raised the most eyebrows yesterday during the House secretary's announcement was the detail of new variant of coronavirus, which he said may be to blame for a spread in the southeast of England.

Now I know this sounds very scary -- a new variant of coronavirus -- but health experts and scientists all agree this is nothing to worry about. It's entirely normal for the vaccine to mutate and change. It's no different here. And there's no evidence that this new variant is more deadly, that it spreads faster, or that it is immune to the vaccine.

So a lot of allaying fears here in London as we head into tougher new restrictions -- Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, certainly important to clear that up. Thank you so much for your reporting, as usual.

ROMANS: All right, 51 minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on CNN Business this morning.

Looking at markets around the world, you can see a mixed performance, really. Asian shares closing slightly lower. Europe has opened a little bit higher. And on Wall Street, checking this Tuesday morning mood, up a little bit.

Look, stocks finished mixed Monday amid stimulus negotiations on Capitol Hill and these first COVID-19 vaccinations in the country. The Dow fell 186 points, the S&P 500 closed lower, and the Nasdaq finished slightly higher.

So, Donald Trump rode to office on a promise to punish China and reverse the trade deficit that he viewed as evidence the U.S. was losing and China was the winner. As he gets ready to leave office, new evidence his tariffs and protectionism have not worked.

Demand for Chinese goods has soared amid pandemic lockdowns. Last month, China's exports jumped to a record $75.4 billion led by exports to the U.S. Those rose nearly 46 percent.

Strong demand for Chinese goods with shoppers out of stores and shopping online, especially for the holidays. That surge in online orders, by the way, has caused a backlog at shipping ports, delaying gifts by weeks.

China is the only major economy expected to grow this year. Investors expect the global economy to roar back to life by the middle of 2021.

JARRETT: We want to give the final word this morning to one of the first people to get vaccinated in the U.S. Sandra Lindsay is the director of critical care nursing at a hospital on Long Island in New York. And here's what she told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDRA LINDSAY, ONE OF THE FIRST U.S. HEALTHCARE WORKERS TO RECEIVER PFIZER VACCINE: I lead by example. I don't ask people to do anything that I would not do myself.

And so I was happy to volunteer to be among the first. I did not know that I would make history and that's not why I did it. I wanted to do it to inspire people who may be skeptical about taking the vaccine and trusting the science.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Trusting the science. Addressing that hesitancy about the vaccine is so critical right now.

And, Christine, I thought it was so poignant. Lindsay told "The New York Times" that she wanted to 'inspire people who look like me.' And having an African-American doctor administer that vaccine --

ROMANS: Yes.

JARRETT: -- to an African-American nurse when this virus has just ravaged the African-American community disproportionately, I thought was so poignant.

JARRETT: I think so, too.

And, you know, Bill Gates, earlier this week, told Jake Tapper that the inequity in the virus is so just severe and damaging for the American public that we really need to make sure that everyone's getting vaccinated. We are highlighting these stories so that we know the hesitancy among some segments of society -- we can get over that, right? Everybody needs to get vaccinated.

JARRETT: Yes, and educating people on the safety is so important.

ROMANS: Yes.

All right, thanks for joining us this morning. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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[05:59:11]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Electoral College here in the United States officially voting on Monday to declare Joe Biden the president-elect.

BIDEN: Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frivolous lawsuits have played out all across this country. The courts have ruled. This election is over.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: All across the country, doctors and nurses are rolling up their sleeves to get the first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.

NAPOLITANO: I feel like I won a million-dollar lottery getting this vaccine.

DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: The development of a COVID-19 vaccine is nothing short of revolutionary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, December 15th. It's 6:00 here in New York.

And this morning, Joe Biden is the President-elect of the United States. Last week at this time, Joe Biden was President-elect of the United States. Two weeks ago, Joe Biden was President-elect of the United States.