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Biden Says Recent Hack on U.S. Agencies by Russia a Grave Risk to Our Security; Biden Says Not an Obvious Choice for AG Pick; Biden Says, I Have Absolute Confidence in The COVID Vaccine; Biden Says It Is Time to Unite and Rebuild; Pence Attends Rally with Screaming Fans and No Social Distancing; Baltimore Mayor Launches New Food Program for Those in Need. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 22, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Not being fully briefed is obviously something that they take great exception to.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Yes, as he clarified in the end when he was being asked the question, it's Trump's failure is what he is inheriting in his Biden administration. Josh, thank you.

Jeff Zeleny has been all over this transition, you were in the room, you asked in my opinion -- you got the best answer, right, on your honeymoon question. Jeff, you know, I was just talking with Lisa Lerer, just saying the word I kept hearing over and over from the president-elect is bipartisanship and applauding Democrats and Republicans working together both on, you know, COVID relief and then, you know, what's happening with the cyberattack. What did you make of his response to you?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, it was a pretty clear-eyed response that, look, they're not doing this for me. They're not doing this because, you know, they like Joe Biden or want Joe Biden to succeed.

You know, looking ahead, and you know, assuming that both sides do come together on something. They're doing it for their own interests and their own -- the reality is if you're a Republican Senator or Democratic House member, you are hearing loud and clear from your constituents, you are hearing, you know, that you need action.

You're hearing from business owners. So there is enough anger to go around at both sides, both houses, both parties. So that is what the president-elect I think, was saying there. Look, I'm not going to get a honeymoon just because I've been elected. Yes, I won more votes than any other president in American history. Yes, I'm, you know, coming in. I'm here for my shot at the presidency.

It was just the, you know, the dire nature of what is going on in the country. So he is pretty clear-eyed and sometimes you get the question or you wonder, is Joe Biden naive? Is he naive about the Washington that he is walking into?

But, Brooke, I think over the last 45 days since he stood here in Wilmington and, you know, accepted his victory, what he's seen play out, he certainly got a preview of what the Republican Party has in store for him and what some Democrats have in store for him. Brooke, I'm struck by one of the thing that he sees in the very parking lot where he delivered that acceptance speech. This week alone here in Wilmington, there were COVID lines there yesterday, hundreds and hundreds of cars today, food lines, hundreds and hundreds of cars on the very spot where he accepted his victory speech, where he gave that speech.

So that is the America that he is inheriting and those are the challenges here. So honeymoon? That's a quaint thought. The challenges are real and they're his in 29 days -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I appreciate that. And then also, Jeff, you got him to make a bit of news when you were saying essentially, Mr. President-elect, you know, what's taking you so long in selecting your attorney general? What did you make of his response there?

ZELENY: Well, look, that has been one of the things that has been certainly slower than most other cabinet members and it's such a critical cabinet position. So I was just trying to refresh my memory earlier when he and President Obama selected Eric Holder for their first attorney general. That was December 1st.

And in recent transitions it has always been, with the exception of one or so was done on Christmas Eve, it's always been now. So I was asking him about in a post-Trump era, is he looking for something different? And it did certainly seem to me that he is looking for someone beyond politics, someone not steeped in politics necessarily for this pro-Trump era.

Also complicated of course by his own son's federal investigation. He said he is not going to view the attorney general as the president's lawyer. Of course, he's the people's lawyer, heads the Department of Justice. So the answer there certainly seemed to me to think that he was leaning toward Judge Merrick Garland. You know, he's one of two finalists. Outgoing Alabama Senator Doug Jones is as well.

He could always choose someone else, certainly he's taken this long, so we have to leave open any possibility here, but it seemed to me that he was looking for a, you know, a cleanup act, if you will, someone above the reproach of politics. So we'll see when he makes that announcement though but now, we're not expecting it, Brooke, until after the holidays.

BALDWIN: Yes. He said to you, quote, not an obvious choice in my mind. Jeff Zeleny, great, back and forth with the president-elect, thank you so much.

I want to bring in Dr. William Moss. He is the Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University. So Dr. Moss, welcome, sir. DR. WILLIAM MOSS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL VACCINE

ACCESS CENTER, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Thank you, Brooke. Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: We listened to the president-elect talking about, you know, not having large Christmas gatherings this year, he's not doing that with his large family, urging others not to do that as well. How important it is to get the vaccine for as many Americans as possible. Do you think these officials getting the vaccine in public has an impact on the rest of us, you know, making us all more comfortable getting the shot?

[15:35:00]

MOSS: Brooke, I think it's part of the answer. I think it is important for some of the high-level officials to get the vaccine, but it's also going to be very critical for other community leaders and influencers to get the vaccine in public and show people that it's safe and that they're willing to take it.

I think, you know, particularly in some of the communities, the black and Latinx communities that have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, and who have some hesitancy around the vaccine. I think it's going to be very important for other community leaders to also get the vaccine and do so in public to convince people about the safety and the efficacy of these vaccines.

BALDWIN: Dr. Moss, the other question I have for you, this story that's really reverberating here in the U.S. is about this coronavirus variant in the U.K. And we heard Dr. Fauci say, yes, it may already be here in the United States. And for people thinking, well, gee, I really want to get this vaccine, but if the virus is mutating, which sounds very frightening, you know, will this virus protect me from getting sick? What's your answer?

DR. MOSS: Yes, so first of all, there's still a lot unknown about this new variant. What we do know is there is this SARS-coronavirus-2 that has substantial mutations that make it somewhat different from the other viruses that have been circulating. And we know that it's transmitted, you know, throughout southeastern England and is probably in other countries. So we know that it's different genetically. We know it's transmitting widely.

What we don't know yet is, one, whether it's really more transmissible, whether it's more contagious. That looks like the likely explanation. But this could happen by some super-spreader events. We don't have whether or not it causes more severe disease. We don't have evidence that it does, but we're going to need to learn about that. And we're also going to need to learn about whether the current Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are effective against it.

My sense people should still get vaccinated, if there is any impact on vaccine efficacy, it's going to be a reduction. It's not going to be complete absence of efficacy. But I think that's unlikely. I think we -- our vaccines are still going to be protective and there's no doubt that the public health message should be that people continue to get the vaccine.

BALDWIN: I appreciate you saying that. I appreciate your expertise. Dr. William Moss, thank you, and thank you for all your work in the space there at Johns Hopkins.

DR. MOSS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, more on how President-elect Joe Biden says he would protect the U.S. from serious cyberattacks, and what he will do when it comes to Russia's threat.

Plus, as President Trump continues strategizing his fight against the election, Vice President Mike Pence finds himself in an odd position.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00]

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Moments ago we heard from President-elect Joe Biden and he called out President Trump for his failure to respond or even assign blame to this massive cyberattack on the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE REPORTER: It happened under President Donald Trump's watch, but of course in January 21, it will then, of course, land on your doorstep. My question is, what are the --

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's get something straight, will land on my doorstep. His failure will land on my doorstep.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: His failure will land on my doorstep. Russia is suspected of the breach that involves infiltrating non-classified data of at least four departments. Multiple private companies were also targeted. Let's go to straight to CNN global affairs analyst Max Boot, who is the Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations.

So Max, the fact that the president-elect brought up Russia as part of his likely final message before Christmas, what does that tell you?

MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it tells me, Brooke, that we have a normal president once again we will soon have a normal president once again, who will truly look out after America's interests rather than his own interests and his own petty grievances and grudges.

And it was just very refreshing to me, just the whole news conference, frankly, just to see such a normal leader who was talking about the interests of the nation in a sane rationale, sober way without conspiracy theories, without fraudulent claims of various kinds.

But on the subject of Russia, just the fact that Biden is willing to call out Russia, he's willing to say that this was a very serious attack represents a huge change from President Trump who began his administration by ignoring a Russian cyberattack and ends it in the same way right now.

BALDWIN: As he was condemning the current administration, he specifically applauded Senate Republicans, you know, giving credit to Senate Republicans for trying to condemn Russia, obviously in the face of what their party's leader has said. What did you think of that?

BOOT: I think that was smart to do. I think that's part of Biden's pitch which is bipartisanship, trying to bring the country together. That may not be possible because after all you're dealing with a Republican Party that has been radicalized by Trump. Many of them refused to acknowledge, in fact, most of them refused to acknowledge publicly the outcome of the election.

But nevertheless, I think what Biden is doing is smart, especially if Republicans keep control of the Senate. He has to be able to work with Republicans and he's trying to drive a little bit of a wedge between Republican lawmakers and Trump because there are almost no Republicans on Capitol Hill who share Donald Trump's bizarre affection for Vladimir Putin.

BALDWIN: Did you hear Jeff Zeleny's question? I'm just going back to this because I thought it was so great. You know, there were questions about whether Joe Biden is a little naive about the goings-on in Washington and maybe a bit kumbaya over Republicans and Democrats working together.

You know, he mentioned bipartisanship a number of times. And so Jeff said, you know, Mr. president-elect, will you have a honeymoon with Congress? And he said, you know, absolutely I won't have a honeymoon. You know, this has been a nightmare for Democrats, their families, their constituents being, you know, COVID and also of course both Democrats and Republicans.

[15:45:00]

And he says, I'm not going to villainize the opposition -- a dig at obviously, the current president. What do you think a Biden presidency looks like in terms of actual compromise and actual bipartisanship?

BOOT: Well, of course, A lot of it will depend on the outcome of those two special elections in Georgia which will determine if the Republicans keep their Senate majority or not.

But in either case, the Senate is going to be very closely divided between Republicans and Democrats, and to get anything done, Biden is going to have to peel off at least a handful of Republicans and I think that should be possible with Republicans like Mitt Romney and Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. I think there is a possibility of doing deals.

So he is being very smart -- I think he understands that most Republicans will do anything possible to oppose him and have the interest of their party first and foremost, not the interests of their country.

He understands that, but he also understands that there are a handful who are more pragmatic and more centrist, and that, you know, by not demonizing Republicans as a party, I think he's leaving open the possibility of being able to strike some very important deals with a handful of Republican Senators.

BALDWIN: Max Boot, great to see you. Thank you so much.

BOOT: Thank you very much, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, what we've learned about Vice President Mike Pence and his role in a White House meeting on how to help Trump overturn the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to the strategy meeting to try and unseat the next president took place at the White House Monday.

[15:50:00]

President Trump and Vice President Pence met with these House conservatives to strategize how to challenge Joe Biden's win when this joint session of Congress meets January 6th to formally count the electoral college votes.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live at the White House. And Jeremy, this is actually the first time we're hearing the vice president took part in any planning. And, you know, talk about an awkward spot. Because Mike Pence has a significant role to play that day.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, it's very interesting to see that the vice president was part of this strategy session, which was being led by these pro-Trump Republicans, some of the most staunchly pro-Trump Republican members of the House of Representatives who were plotting with the president about this futile effort to object to the certification of the electoral college votes on January 6th.

Mike Pence will preside over that session in his role as the president of the Senate. And we are told the vice president was walking in and out of this meeting. It's not clear what his participation was exactly. But the mere fact that he was there is of course interesting.

And we know that today we heard the vice president continuing to indulge President Trump's fantasies about trying to contest and perhaps overturn the results of the election. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As our election contest continues. I'll make you a promise. We're going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted. We're going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out. We're going win Georgia. We're going to save America. (END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND (on camera): And so you can also hear there the crowd in the background. The vice president was actually attending this Turning Point conference of conservative activists, no mask wearing, no social distancing.

It is just remarkable at this point in December of 2020 that the vice president of the United States was the leader of the Coronavirus Task Force and recently got vaccinated that he is endorsing this kind of behavior by Americans who are clearly not following these coronavirus guidelines despite the fact that we are at one of the worst points in this pandemic -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Their own health officials telling, giving the guidance. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much for that update.

Coming up next the relief bill making its way to the president's desk definitely provides some help to the those hurting most but it's not everything. Our next guest, the Baltimore Mayor is doing his part to help those within his own community. More on his plan next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:00]

BALDWIN: The long overdue $900 billion coronavirus relief package just passed by both houses of Congress now waits for the president's signature and it includes $26 billion in food aid, my next guest is the Mayor of Baltimore. He's trying to help many people in his city who need food on their table now.

Mayor Brandon Scott is with me now. So welcome Mr. Mayor. Pleasure sir.

MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT (D-BALTIMORE, MD): Thank you Brooke. Thank you for having me.

BALDWIN: You -- let's talk about this program that you announced. You know, these 20,000 boxes of food help people in your city. I mean help us understand, you know, obviously we know why, why the need. But why did you want to do this asap and is it 20,000 enough?

SCOTT: Well, Brooke we know that COVID-19 had exacerbated inequities across the country and Baltimore is no different. Especially in our black and brown communities.

We estimate that food insecurity has risen from 18 percent to 21 percent in Baltimore and child food insecurity is at 33 percent. We could not wait.

There was a pending federal clip, food clip as we were calling, which is why we decided to commit $5 million to provide for those 20,000 food boxes per week to nearly 100, also 100 sites of home delivery through families that were impacted by COVID. We are grateful for the package being put forth but we could not wait

because we know people need help now and we could not put aside all the great work that is happening with our community partners here in Baltimore to make sure that our families are getting the food they need across our city. Especially those who have been hit hardest by the pandemic.

BALDWIN: And Mr. Mayor, it's my understanding that the program run through March 31st. So will you have the, you know, pennies, nickels and dollars needed to extend it if you need?

SCOTT: Well, listen. we're going to work through March 31st, we are going to be working with our federal partners knowing that we're now going to have a functional presidential administration that understands. We're appreciative of the increase in SNAP.

We also know that that plays a key part in food insecurity and we'll work with our folks. We will do what we have to do to make sure that this program continues. But we're hopeful that we now have a federal government that wants to help its citizens and cities and places across the country who have been hurt by this pandemic as opposed to the president administration of Donald Trump who just ignored this virus all together.

BALDWIN: I'm still back on the number 33 percent. 33 percent child food insecurity. That is stunning. Mayor Brandon Scott. Good on you sir. Thank you very much there in the city of Baltimore, Maryland.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me. THE LEAD starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Pamela Brown in for Jake Tapper today.