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House Conservatives Strategizes to Overturn the Election; Congress Passes Economic Relief Package; Mexico Factory Workers Make PPE for U.S.; Steelers Stunned by Bengals. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 22, 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]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Mike Pence speaking those words out loud on January 6th. He was at this meeting at the White House yesterday with these House members who were going to try to object to the counting of the votes there. Mike Pence is legally required to read it out loud, yet he is now involved with this conspiracy to try to delay or stop it. So I'm just curious what you think is going to happen when the law --

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There are only a couple of different things that can happen.

BERMAN: Yes.

LOUIS: Really, three. One is that they follow the regular custom that you just showed some clips of, and they go ahead and finish the process of naming the next president of the United States.

The other, though, is that House members can, in fact, object. And if they get a senator to go along with them, then there'll be a two-hour debate on each sort of state that is objected to. In other words, they're going to object to the return from individual states. And for each state, there will be a two-hour debate. And that will go on. The vice president will oversee that debate, after which they will probably come in and vote the way that the voters wanted them to in the first place.

But it's -- it's going to kind of break democracy just a little bit more, to even have some kind of a debate over an election that was not close, over results that have gone to court dozens of times and always came out the same way. Over three recounts in Georgia and on and on and on. It's been to the Supreme Court twice now already. And it all points in the same direction, which is that a new president will be sworn in on January 20th.

If they want to make a spectacle with the likes of Mo Brooks and Louie Gohmert and kind of ask people to pretend that there was some widespread fraud, I guess they're entitled to. But it will be a really unfortunate day if that should happen on January 6th.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Unfortunate, but it looks like that's where we're headed, right? And what's also interesting is, we know Mitch McConnell has said Joe Biden won. The president very unhappy with that. And, in fact, President Trump's assistants sending out to, as we understand it, a dozen or more GOP congressional offices this slide, which I guess is trying to show that it's the president's support that helped Mitch McConnell, right, in his most recent race. It's clearly a message which also says, sadly, Mitch forgot he was the first one off the ship.

The president, Margaret, continuing to warn Republicans it is his way or the highway. The question is, how much impact will this have moving forward?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's going to have no impact on Mitch McConnell because guess who just got re-elected?

HILL: Right.

TALEV: Mitch McConnell. But, like, look, a third of the Senate's going to be up in 2022. Many of these are Republicans, some of whom are going to be in really tough races. This is a combination of a few things. It is an exercise of the president's ego. It is a warning shot in an effort to bring a couple more senators who may be in tight races in two years and the clock is ticking onboard with this effort on January 6th. But it is also implicitly a threat to depress turnout in Georgia and cost McConnell his leadership. But I think that's the one thing that President Trump could try to take away. But he's also been going to Georgia and sending Mike Pence to Georgia and wants to claim credit for keeping control of the Senate.

So it's -- the messaging here is very confusing. And the people with whom he's making the messaging include one of the newly elected QAnon backers, Marjory Taylor Greene, who is showing this slide. So, like, there are a lot of strands going on here. But, increasingly, the president is inviting people to the White House who are kind of pushing the conspiracy theories and the kind of agitation method and take the fight, you know, to everybody.

And the reason why Mitch McConnell said that Joe Biden is the president-elect is because Joe Biden is the president-elect.

HILL: He is.

TALEV: And (INAUDIBLE) election. Like that's -- that's why this is happening. That's why you're seeing the attorney general, Bill Barr, now start to try to, you know, put down some kind of red lines in the final 24 hours of his service as the attorney general. Like, the election is over and this is messaging and it's fundraising but it's confusing for some members of the public who are supporters of the president, who believe what he's saying, just take it as a matter of course. And for many of those people, some of whom I hear from on e- mail every day, they really are concerned that the election results weren't legitimate. And a bunch of things like that, that aren't true. And so the president will leave a mess for the incoming administration.

BERMAN: Right.

TALEV: No matter how any of this works out on January 6th.

BERMAN: This is my dramatic enactment of how Mitch McConnell responded to that e-mail. That's Mitch McConnell right there.

Errol, it does seem that for some people the president has crossed the Rubicon. And by the Rubicon I mean Pat Robertson. So, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAT ROBERTSON, TELEVANGELIST: He is very erratic and he -- he's fired people, he's fought people, and he's insulted people, and keeps going down the line.

[06:35:05]

So it's -- it's a mixed bag. And I think it would be well to say, you've had your day and it's time to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, finish this sentence, Errol, if you've lost Pat Robertson, you've lost, dot, dot, dot.

LOUIS: You've lost the election one more time. And you've lost one faction of right-wing conservative extremists.

But there are others that are out there, unfortunately, and that's what the -- the fight is going to be over. There are those who want to clearly build a career around slavishly licking the shoes of Donald Trump rather than obeying their oaths of office and upholding the Constitution and the will of the voters. If that's what they choose to do, that is always their choice. If they think they can get re-elected that way, then so be it. But there are a number of people, for whom there's a lot more on the line. And I get -- think that gets back to your question about the military.

The martial law kind of scary talk that we've heard reporting about is only supposed to be discussed under the gravest of circumstances involving insurrection, rebellion, civil disorder, homeland defense. None of that is at stake here. This is just a politician who can't face the fact that he lost an election. And he lost it badly.

If -- if -- if they want to throw their careers on that fire, and, you know, they said Mitch McConnell was the first off the ship, the ship is going straight to the bottom of the Potomac River. Anybody who wants to get onboard, I guess will have a chance to do so on January 6th.

HILL: Errol Louis --

BERMAN: Errol Louis, winning the metaphors this morning.

Errol, Margaret, thanks so much for being with us.

TALEV: Thanks, guys. HILL: Well, now that Congress has finally passed an economic relief bill, just when could you expect to receive a check? When will they go out? How much will those checks be for? We are answering some of the biggest, outstanding questions, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:15]

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, Congress finally passed this $900 billion emergency relief bill. President Trump is expected to sign it within days. This huge bill includes direct payments of up to $600 per adult and child, a $300 a week increase to unemployment benefits, $284 billion for small businesses, money for vaccines, and an extension of the eviction moratorium. It does not include money for state and local governments.

Joining us now, Rana Foroohar, CNN global economic analyst and associate editor at "The Financial Times."

Rana, thanks so much for being with us.

We just put up on the screen the highlights of what's in this.

Let's do glass half full first.

What do you think the best parts of this $900 billion bill are?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMICS ANALYST: Well, you know, John, I've got to say the best part is that we got a bill, you know? I mean I was very concerned about how a lot of Americans were going to get through the winter, frankly, if they didn't get more relief.

The parts that I like in particular, obviously, the fact that, you know, you're going to see those $600 checks going out. You're going to get enhanced unemployment benefits for 11 weeks, which is, you know, that's going to get you through a good chunk of this next wave of the pandemic, the coldest months in which restaurants and a lot of service work is going to take another hit.

I like the fact that you're seeing food security, no-surprise healthcare bill provisions, you know, enhanced broadband, educational provisions. This is all part of, you know, adapting to a new world in which everyone is online. There's a huge divide between those that can still work online and those that can't. You know, you're seeing kids in different school systems with more, or less in many cases, resources and they need to have those enhanced, you know, provisions for schools to cope with the pandemic. So that's -- you know that's a lot of what I think is good about this bill.

SMEs are also getting some relief, which is really important.

BERMAN: All right, the biggest miss. What do you think is the most glaring feature not in it?

FOROOHAR: Well, you know, I have to say, I -- I -- I think that -- it's not so much of what's not in it, but, you know, the fact that you're seeing airlines getting another big bailout. Yes, it is tied to keeping people in employment. But I think that that's going to raise the question of, you know, are there big industries with big lobbyists in Washington that still get relief, that, you know, perhaps shouldn't be or should be going to the back of the line? You know, you see some sneaky provisions being worked in. You know, food and beverage exemptions for big businesses. I guess you could argue that that's going to keep certain restaurants afloat. But, you know, these are the sorts of things that could raise eyebrows.

But I've got to say, overall, to get this passed before Christmas and to really see the center of each party being able to move forward and the extremes being pushed aside, that's a good thing at this moment.

BERMAN: So the extended unemployment benefits would get people until March.

FOROOHAR: Yes.

BERMAN: And I'm just bringing that up as a date because is that a timeframe where you think we might be starting to see the economy, I don't want to use the word "recover," because this has been so hard to gage in terms of dips and booms and recoveries and whatnot, but stabilizing? And that -- is that when we'll be putting the pandemic in the rearview mirror?

FOROOHAR: I think that that would be the earliest time you could hope for that. I mean we are starting to see vaccine rollout and also this -- this bill has more provisions for the rollout of vaccines and paying for that.

I think that by March, in certain states, you're going to see the weather warming up, you're going to see certain service businesses starting to reopen. So, yes, that's the very first date that you might start to see an uptick.

I think by late spring and early summer is when you might really be starting to see things looking a little bit brighter.

BERMAN: Our friend Christine Romans has drummed into my head that one of the things we learned after 2008 and 2009 is that you really need to go big. If everything falls apart, the best way to get the economy back on track is to go huge with stimulus and relief.

FOROOHAR: Yes.

BERMAN: And a lot of people have regrets. If there is a regret over 2009, it's that they didn't go even bigger with the recovery. Are we going to look back on this -- I guess these two -- sort of two and a half bills and laws that have been passed since March and wish there had been even more?

FOROOHAR: You know, that is such a great question. I have to agree with Christine. Certainly we need more stimulus in the wake of the great financial crisis. I think you have to look at it in terms of what we wish for, and what is politically possible. And, frankly, I am just happy that both sides didn't really hunker down and, you know, and you have -- might have had Democrats, you know, particularly from the far left saying we're not going to sign anything unless it's far bigger.

Well, that's not good enough right now. We are in the midst of an emergency. And if we've gotten to the holidays and Congress hadn't passed a bill, I mean, I think that would have been seen as just a major failure of government at a time when the trust in government is at record lows.

[06:45:08]

BERMAN: Yes, we'll see. We'll see if this is a model for how things can start to happen after January 20th. I wouldn't hold your breath, but it does show that things are possible sometimes.

Rana Foroohar, thanks so much for being with us. Have a wonderful holiday.

FOROOHAR: And you.

BERMAN: All right, the coronavirus pandemic driving demand for critical, medical supplies, but the production of those supplies coming at a deadly cost. We'll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: This morning, hospitalizations in the United States at a record high again. The demand for essential medical supplies is likely to grow over the coming weeks. And while Americans know that there is a need for these supplies, where those supplies come from is something that's rarely discussed.

CNN's Matt Rivers spoke with workers at factories in northern Mexico, who are putting their lives on the line to make sure Americans have the supplies they need.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Medical supplies, now more than ever, essential products, though some are not made in the U.S. but here, just south of the border wall in Tijuana, Mexico. There, a sprawling landscape of factories, called maquiladora, employ hundreds of thousands of Mexicans in low-wage jobs.

[06:50:04]

They make billions of dollars' worth of U.S.-bound exports each year, including medical supplies.

Maria Elena has a job making oxygen-level readers in a factory she doesn't want to name publicly. She got sick in early November.

My son was crying outside the clinic waiting for news, she says, tearing up as she remembers the post-diagnosis moment. It was horrible. Maria Elena recovered from COVID-19. She thinks she got it at the

factory, though she is adamant that the factory follows COVID-safety protocols. Some of her colleagues were not so lucky.

She says they just gave us some stats and told us 12 people have died of COVID.

Multiple co-workers confirmed that number to CNN, though the company didn't respond to our questions. For decades, workers have said poor labor conditions in the maquiladoras are rampant, and some workers say a pandemic has only made things worse.

The next day we hide this worker's identity because what she has to say about her employer, another factory making U.S.-bound medical supplies, could get her fired.

We asked, do you think the bosses care more about health or production? Definitely the production, no doubt, she says. We're nothing but pawns.

She says her work environment is cramped, no social distancing, limited mask wearing, bosses indifferent to employee health. She says we were all in close contact with some colleagues who just got COVID and were still working. Now, the janitor is sick, coughing, and the bosses know it, but she's still working, too.

To start, base annual salaries are often less than $4,000 a year here. And sick or not, if workers don't go to work, many don't get paid, and might even get fired.

At Ollin Calli, a local advocacy group, Mago Avalos Salas interviews workers all the time with similar stories. She says Americans should know some of their essential products come at a cost.

RIVERS (on camera): So what she's saying is that there were conditions, bad conditions, before, here in Mexico. But the COVID pandemic has only made them worse, made them more intense than they were before.

RIVERS (voice over): Tijuana is in Baja, California, the Mexican state where 17 of every 100 patients diagnosed with COVID have died. The government says it doesn't specifically track the deaths of maquiladora workers from COVID-19, but activists tell us they've counted at least 500.

Some of them are now buried in this nearby cemetery. This COVID victim's coffin is wrapped in protective plastic, laid to rest in a swiftly-dug grave. His family joins a growing list, recently, of those saying final good-byes.

RIVERS (on camera): What he's saying is, since Halloween he's seen the number of bodies with COVID here in the cemetery go up.

Nearly all of these graves have been dug in just the last month, in large part due to COVID-19. And as another funeral goes on to our left, the truly depressing thing is that all of this land behind me has been newly designated and plowed to receive more graves because officials think that many more bodies are still to come.

RIVERS (voice over): And yet despite the severity of Mexico's pandemic, so many have to keep working, making critical products for other countries.

It bothers me a lot, says Maria Elena. Some Americans don't think about anything but themselves, but we are the ones running the risk, and that bothers me.

Every night, thousands of workers like these stream out of local factories, some having spent their shifts making products for the U.S. Who knows how many of them are sick.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Excellent piece.

Well, the NBA is coming out of the bubble, starting its new season tonight, but there are some serious challenges the commissioner is expecting. We'll take a closer look in the "Bleacher Report," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:56:26]

BERMAN: All right, so this wasn't supposed to happen. I mean not at all and probably not ever. The Bengals beat the Steelers last night. The Steelers are good. The Bengals are not.

Carolyn Manno has more in the "Bleacher Report."

What happened there?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It's the season of giving, John. So, the Steelers basically giftwrapped this one to Cincinnati is what happened. You would think that the Bengals, with only two wins, would be the prime candidate for Pittsburg to come in and go ahead and clinch the AFC North, but turnovers was the story of the game. Steelers turned the ball over three times in the first half. Ben Roethlisberger fumbling an exchange from center and then throwing one right to Mackensie Alexander in the middle of the field shortly after that. The trio of costly errors leading to 17 points for the Bengals.

Cincinnati's third string quarterback, Ryan Finley with a game to remember, though, just five days shy of his 26th birthday, bursting (ph) around the end, a 23-yard touchdown run. The Bengals win by 10, snapping an 11 game losing streak to their division rivals.

And the NBA opens up its new season tonight, 72 days after crowning the Lakers champs in the Orlando bubble. No bubble this time around. Teams are going to crisscross the country through a 72-game regular season. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expects COVID-19 issues to come up during the season. He's prepared to adjust accordingly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISSIONER: I think we wouldn't be acting responsibly, and I wouldn't be acting responsibly, if I said it's just full steam ahead, no matter what.

Having said that, based on our experience in the bubble, we have a fair degree of confidence in -- in our approach. The safety and health of our players and all the participants are our number one priority. And if any time we feel that's been jeopardized, we will stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: You can watch the opening night games on our sister network TNT. Kevin Durant making his highly anticipated Nets debut against his former team the Warriors. Then, LeBron James and the Lakers open their title defense against their hallway rival, the Clippers.

John, the commissioner also emphasizing that his players will not be given priority as it relates to taking the vaccine. He says he's going to work with governmental efforts as well, like a public messaging campaign, about the benefits of taking the virus.

BERMAN: It's going to take a lot of care and a lot of patience. I mean if there's one thing we've learned watching all these sports get back on the court, beyond the bubble, a lot can happen, a lot does go wrong. So, we'll see.

Carolyn Manno, thanks very much.

NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Concerns are growing about a new variant of COVID-19 in the U.K. that reportedly spreads faster than others.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does mean that we have to work a little bit harder about preventing the spread.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The crisis throwing travel and trade into a nightmare before Christmas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After months of partisan haggling, stalemate, gridlock, finally, the two sides have come together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The final stage (ph) here is to get it on President Donald Trump's desk. That is the final signature.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All indications are that Donald Trump has decided to walk away from his day job of running the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are other things that he should be doing, and, instead, he is entertaining conspiracy theories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

And breaking overnight, Congress actually did something. They passed the $900 billion emergency relief bill. President Trump is expected to sign it within days. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says that stimulus checks to millions of Americans could be sent out by next week.

Also breaking this morning, the CEO of BioNTech says that he is confident that the Pfizer vaccine will protect against the new coronavirus variant.

This comes as the White House is now discussing requiring travelers from the United Kingdom to present proof of a negative coronavirus test before arriving in the United States.

[07:00:03]

But as of now, no travel ban from the U.K.

This morning, hospitals across the United States.