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Trump Uses Pardon Power To Reward Loyal Allies; Trump And Iranian Foreign Minister Spar Over Attack On Baghdad Embassy; U.S. Reaches Out To Allies On Suspected Russian Hack. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired December 24, 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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[05:30:48]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Laura. I'm Boris Sanchez in for Christine Romans. We are just about half past the hour.

JARRETT: And no question, this Christmas Eve will be different -- fewer big family dinners, fewer stores open for last-minute shopping. What would typically be a joyous time, saddled this year with so much loss. The country grieving from another day of over 3,000 deaths from COVID-19.

It's a time that cries out for national leadership of any kind. But instead, in the words of CNN's Kevin Liptak, there are no silent nights in the Trump era. It's one lump of coal after another creating completely unnecessary and avoidable uncertainty for millions of Americans as the president wakes up this morning at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

SANCHEZ: Not a word about the pandemic in the last 24 hours. But Trump did veto a defense bill that would pay American troops, all because he's unhappy about the way Twitter handles the misinformation and lies that he frequently tweets.

The president also leaving millions of already struggling Americans in limbo this Christmas with eviction protection and expanded unemployment benefits set to expire within days. Trump also threatening Iran on his way out the door and we'll have more on that in a moment.

The president just seemingly unable to cope with the idea that he is about to lose his power. And yesterday, Trump filling the stockings of several convicted felons that he is personally connected to with pardons. Among more than 25 pardons, this group, that Republican Sen. Ben Sasse calls rotten to the core.

CNN's Pamela Brown has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The president continues his revenge against the Russia investigation rewarding two former advisers indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller -- issuing these full pardons to his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort who was convicted for a slew of financial crimes, and to Roger Stone after commuting his sentence earlier this year. Also on this list is Jared Kushner's father, Charles Kushner.

Now, let's tick through these.

You have Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. They were indicted by special counsel Mueller, went to trial, and convicted by juries of multiple crimes. Investigators say Manafort broke the cooperation agreement by lying to them. Roger Stone never cooperated after lying to Congress to protect the president and has never shown remorse.

So now, both men are being rewarded by the president for their loyalty. The president has been long aggrieved by the Russia probe and has said he thinks his advisers were treated unfairly.

But it's worth noting here the Mueller report detailed in the obstruction of justice part how Trump's team dangled pardons as a way to protect the president. How Trump himself did that. And now we're seeing the president's plan play out with these pardons.

Also, Charles Kushner, the father of the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner. He was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax invasion, and witness tampering, and served a 24-month sentence.

Now, White House officials say Jared did not advocate for his father to get the pardon because it was the unspoken word between him and Trump that this would happen. This is what sources have told me and colleague, Gloria Borger.

But overall, the story emerging from these pardons is that the president is using his pardon power to reward those close to him, some of whom would likely not meet the DOJ criteria for pardoning.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Pamela Brown, thank you so much for all of your reporting.

Now to the president's sudden reversal on a $900 billion COVID relief bill. House Democrats have seized on Trump's demand for fatter stimulus checks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to move today to pass legislation for $2,000 payments by what's called unanimous consent. But it's a safe bet that move will be dead on arrival. It only takes one lawmaker to block a request.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy also going that route to tackle another of the president's complaints about the bill.

SANCHEZ: Yes. McCarthy telling Republicans he's going to seek unanimous consent to revisit parts of the broader spending bill, including foreign aid. He's following the president's lead on this. But a point of fact. Almost every line of foreign aid in the spending bill that Congress passed matches exactly what the White House asked for nearly dollar-for-dollar. Trump is just complaining about getting exactly what he asked for here.

[05:35:03]

Remember, COVID relief was tied to the larger spending bill. So unless Trump changes course and signs the bill, the entire government could shut down early next week.

JARRETT: Also this morning, a dangerous deja vu between President Trump and Iran. The president and Iran's foreign minister baiting each other on Twitter days after a rocket attack near the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

CNN's Arwa Damon is live in Istanbul. Arwa, nice to see you this morning. Do you think that this is just all bluster and talk or do you actually see things ratcheting up here?

All right, I think we may have some technical difficulties with Arwa there. We'll try to get her back later.

But meantime, states that need vital data on coronavirus will have to work much harder to get it. The White House task force has told states it will no longer proactively send reports with tailored recommendations every week.

States are already trying to fill in the gaps where this administration and Congress have thus far failed. The governors of New York, North Carolina, and Washington all extending eviction moratoriums. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker also announced almost $700 million to help small businesses. And in Missouri, 40 mayors sent letters to St. Louis County asking for more help for endangered restaurants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE BLANTON, OWNER, BJ'S BAR AND RESTAURANT, CLAYTON, MISSOURI: I'm just praying for the phone to ring so that somebody can come. It's been heartbreaking. I'm supposed to pay my taxes on time but I don't have any money coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Remember, just about a month ago the mantra was stay home for Thanksgiving, stay out of the hospital for Christmas. Folks didn't listen and it shows. A record 119,000 Americans are hospitalized right now, a number that has doubled in the last two months, and projections show that the future holds more of the same.

CNN's Alexandra Field has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Laura, Boris, the United States is set to hit a devastating milestone this Christmas week. By the end of the week, it is likely that 330,000 Americans will have been killed by COVID. That's roughly one in every 1,000 Americans. Let that number sink in.

This, as the U.S. strikes a deal with Pfizer to buy another 100 million vaccines. That rollout of vaccines started more than a week ago but administration of the doses is actually moving slower than expected. According to the CDC's Web site, just over a million people have been vaccinated.

Health officials had expected to vaccinate some 20 million people by the end of the year. They have now revised their estimates, saying it is likely that 20 million doses of the vaccine will have been delivered around the country by the first week of January.

Here at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, they're saying they will continue to work every day and through the holidays to get those doses to frontline workers who so badly need it and who very much want it -- Laura, Boris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Alexandra, thank you so much.

Back now to CNN's Arwa Damon who is live in Istanbul with more on this escalating exchange between the president and Iran. Arwa, nice to see you. Break down for our viewers what exactly is happening here.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's quite disturbing and very frightening, especially if ironically, you're Iraq because Iraq does invariably end up being the proxy battlefield between the United States and Iran. And senior Iraqi officials have actually been concerned for quite some time now over these escalating tensions.

There was a meeting at the White House yesterday where options for responses where discussed. No military options approved just yet. But there is quite some concern, especially at the Pentagon, that some sort of military response to Iran could be unfolding. Although, again, no guarantee of that at this point.

But this is all going back to these repeated tensions between both countries and these ongoing rocket attacks that we see happening in Baghdad. Rockets that land inside the green zone and at times inside the U.S. Embassy compound itself, such as what we saw happening on Sunday. Now there were no casualties in that attack although there was some damage that was done to the U.S. Embassy compound itself.

But this has led to President Trump effectively warning Iran, saying that if one American was killed he would be holding Iran responsible. Now, in response to that, Iran's foreign minister tweeted that Trump should not be putting Americans abroad at risk to try to detract from his catastrophic failures at home.

There have also been a series of other incidents that have taken place that are causing everyone on all sides, effectively, to be greatly concerned.

[05:40:00]

Of course, everyone remembers what was happening around this time last year where over the new year there was an Iranian-backed militia group -- which is effectively the same group that the U.S. often holds responsible for these rocket attacks -- that attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy. And then a few days afterwards at the very beginning of January, President Trump authorized those airstrikes that killed that senior Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani, inside Iraq.

So suffice to say, a lot of tension in the region right now and a lot of concern over president -- over what President Trump might do as he's on his way out.

JARRETT: All right, Arwa. Thank you so much for all of your reporting, as usual.

SANCHEZ: While President Trump tries to downplay the scope and significance of a suspected Russian cyber hack against the U.S. government, his own administration is trying to rally America's allies to fight back.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in Moscow. Fred, it's got to be such an awkward situation for so many of these allies of the United States essentially being asked --

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

SANCHEZ: -- by Trump's administration to fill the void that he's created with his lack of leadership on this issue.

PLEITGEN: Yes, probably an awkward situation Boris for some of the allies. Probably an awkward situation for some of the folks in the administration as well --

SANCHEZ: Right.

PLEITGEN: -- who have already said they believe that it's likely that it was Russia that was behind this hacking attack. As you absolutely correctly said, the president still seems to be downplaying that.

In this case, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien -- he held a phone call, CNN has learned, with allies of that intelligence alliance called the Five Eyes -- the Five Eyes alliance, which consists of Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and of course, the United States as well.

And what he essentially wanted to achieve was a common statement to condemn this attack. And some of the reasoning behind that Boris is that while the U.S. was the main country that was hit by this attack, there's also people and entities in some of those countries as well that were also hit. Of course, this was apparently and is an ongoing global operation.

One of the interesting things is that apparently -- we've learned that possibly, it was uncovered due to an unforced error by the hackers. Apparently, they tried to gain extra access into some of these computer networks and that caused them to be discovered.

But once again, the Russians still claiming they weren't behind this attack and they aren't behind this attack. It seems as though right now, one of the few people that still believes that seems to be President Trump, who is still downplaying it and still saying the media is making more of it than it actually is. Of course, two folks who disagree with him on that are some of his closest allies, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the attorney general as well, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Just a point of fact, the national security adviser, the secretary of state, and the attorney general, all handpicked by Trump, not hesitating to point the finger at Putin -- something that Trump still refuses to do.

Fred Pleitgen reporting from Moscow. Thanks so much.

Hey, stay with EARLY START. We'll be right back.

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[05:46:36]

SANCHEZ: President Trump turning up the pressure on Vice President Mike Pence in his increasingly desperate scramble to subvert the will of the American people. The president retweeting a supporter pushing the vice president to refuse to accept the electoral votes from six states when he chairs a special joint session of Congress next month.

To be clear, Pence's job is not to weigh in on whether the votes presented to him are valid. It's literally just to open and tally the votes of the Electoral College. Biden, himself, finalized that vote, confirming Trump's win back in January of 2017.

JARRETT: And a further sign of the president's denial about his departure in just 27 days. An e-mail viewed by CNN that was sent to White House staff Wednesday, informs them to disregard a previous message they received about the exit process at the White House. You know, like where to turn in your badge and when your health care is going to run out.

The White House management office said updated information will be shared in the coming days even though nothing will change in the coming days.

And after months of difficult talks, Britain and the E.U. are on the verge of a trade deal that would allow cooperation to continue post- Brexit. It's a critical -- it's critical to a European economy already devastated by COVID.

Nic Robertson is at 10 Downing Street in London for us. Nic, if this trade deal actually comes to fruition, who comes out ahead and who loses here? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think the real sense is by many people that the U.K. loses. It's expected to cut four percent of its GDP as a result of this trade deal and leaving the European Union.

Of course, that's not the way it's argued politically here at all. It's a case of the U.K. gets its sovereignty. The U.K. can now act in a different way to the European Union and go after different markets around the world. But the way it's being analyzed by the financial sector, this will be an economic hit for the U.K.

The deal is expected to be announced fairly soon. This has taken literally 4 1/2 years to the day from the vote. It was on this street at about 2:30 in the morning, the 24th of June 2016, when the votes were being counted and it became clear that Britain was leaving the European Union. That was a momentous moment that did feel like the country had shifted since then -- 4 1/2 years later and 11 months of talks this year to get to the point we're at now.

And it is an historic moment for this country. Certainly, it does seem that minds -- political minds have been focused by the disruptions crossing the channel because of this new COVID-19 variant. The fact that backing up the trucks has really focused people's minds on what a no-deal would potentially look like.

But there are still many things that haven't been worked out as well. Data sharing between the E.U. and the U.K. The financial services sector of massive financial important to the U.K. -- what continued access it will have in the European Union.

And overnight, last night, they were still talking about what types of fish would actually be able to be caught by European fishermen. Just the fish at the bottom of the sea or the fish in the middle, like herrings and mackerel?

So the detail has been where the difficulty is and until we see the deal we won't really know the big compromises that have been made.

JARRETT: All right, Nic Robertson. Thank you so much for staying on top of this for us.

SANCHEZ: One of the biggest challenges to eradicating COVID in the United States is getting vaccines to vulnerable communities. They're called healthcare deserts -- areas hit hard by the virus that may not have equal access to medical help. Places like the South Side of Chicago.

[05:50:07]

CNN's Omar Jimenez has more.

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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): How long have you lived in this neighborhood? ROCHELLE SYKES, LIVES IN CHICAGO'S AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOOD: All my life, 55 years. It's changed a whole lot. If they're going to roll out a vaccine and they're going to roll it out to grocery stores and pharmacies, I see a problem.

JIMENEZ (on camera): You feel just because the vaccine is available, it's not necessarily going to be accessible.

SYKES: That is correct.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Rochelle Sykes lives in the predominantly black West Side Chicago neighborhood of Austin and is in a zip code that has among the highest COVID-19 death rates in the city. And the barriers to getting a vaccine are already taking shape ranging anywhere from distance to pharmacies, confidence in health care, and even personal safety, as Austin is also among the city's most violent neighborhoods.

SYKES: Is it even worth the time, OK? You hear gunshots. You know, you've got to get out and get in your car -- they're doing carjackings. And if you don't feel safe then you just don't do it.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Just down the street, Loretto Hospital was host of the city's first COVID-19 vaccination and the first to set up a West Side community testing site back in April, one they plan to soon turn into a community vaccination site.

DR. AFYA KHAN, DIRECTOR OF INFECTION CONTROL, LORETTO HOSPITAL: In order to stop this virus eventually, we all have to do our part and we want to make sure we involve everybody. We're experiencing three types of pandemics and that's violence, racism, as well as COVID-19.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): It's an issue leadership continues to wrestle with.

DR. ALLISON ARWADY, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Where any part of the city is not supported enough, it indirectly impacts the entire city. Not just that this is a let's make sure that we treat COVID, it's about what are the root causes that have made these neighborhoods, these subgroups in Chicago more vulnerable.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Parts of the downtown Chicago area have a life expectancy of up to 90 years old, according to an analysis out of NYU. Then, just about 10 miles down the road near here on Chicago's South Side, the life expectancy goes down to 59.9. That's a difference of about 30 years, which that same NYU analysis says is the largest gap in the country.

EMMA WASHINGTON, LIVES ON CHICAGO'S SOUTH SIDE: All of a sudden, this virus came and took my sister away.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Emma Washington is almost 80 years old. She lost her sister to COVID-19 in September and her brother to COVID the day before Christmas Eve. And now, she's considering what getting a vaccine is going to look like with her pharmacy over a mile away and no car to get her there. WASHINGTON: I have to take one bus and then I have to take another

bus because there was only one place around -- Walgreens -- around my area.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Now, she mostly has her medication delivered.

But this isn't a new phenomenon. One study based on data from 2000 and 2012 found over 50 percent of the city's black communities were so- called pharmacy deserts -- low-income neighborhoods where pharmacies are far from the population and people don't have regular access to vehicles -- compared with just five percent in white communities.

ARWADY: This is not something that's going to get solved in a year or in five years. But how do we take the COVID conversation and turn it into the conversation that links to chronic disease, and homicide, and infant mortality, and HIV, and opioid overdose? Those are the five main drivers of our disparate life expectancies in Chicago and COVID has indirectly impacted all of those.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): But when it comes to COVID, for Sykes, along with those in Washington's community, the vaccine shot is about more than medicine. It's about getting a fair shot without it being a longshot.

SYKES: We're in a lifeboat, they are on a cruiser. If you can come up with a vaccine within a year, why are we sitting in a community where there is no grocery store with fresh fruits and vegetables?

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Omar Jimenez, CNN, Chicago.

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JARRETT: Omar, thank you so much. Such great reporting.

Well, Christmas in Bethlehem is not canceled but it is not the same this year because of coronavirus. Elliott Gotkine is live in Bethlehem. Elliott, I have to imagine far fewer tourists this year and maybe more of a solemn religious experience.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: That's right, Laura. I mean, you can probably see behind me quite a noisy procession. These are the marching bands run by scouts who welcome in the Latin patriarch who travels here to Bethlehem each year from Jerusalem. I should say that the patriarch, himself, was a doubt for today. He's only just recovered from COVID, himself.

But this is the only part of Christmas in Bethlehem that is more or less happening as normal. But even then, there are far fewer marching bands. And although you can see a number of people in the square who have come out to see the procession, the number of people allowed in here are capped at 200 and only locals are allowed here because the rest of the West Bank is in lockdown. So, Palestinians can't come here to try to soak up some of the festivities.

[05:55:07] And anyway, these other festivities aren't really happening. There are no carol (ph) concerts and no other performances happening. And if the locals wanted to seek solace in prayer, they can't do that at midnight mass either because midnight mass is reserved only for clergy this -- again, due to coronavirus restrictions.

So Christmas hasn't been canceled. It is taking place but it's a much more somber and much lower-key Christmas than it would ordinarily be.

JARRETT: All right, Elliott Gotkine live in Bethlehem for us this morning. Thank you so much.

And finally this morning, one man not under lockdown, and with good reason, is Santa. NORAD is about to activate its jolly old elf tracking device so that children can keep tabs on the sleigh's whereabouts. Dr. Anthony Fauci says he gave Santa the coronavirus vaccine himself at the North Pole. Santa is, of course, an essential worker.

And the toddler in my household, I cannot keep away from the presents under the tree this year, so Santa cannot come soon enough.

SANCHEZ: Yes, good luck socially distancing him from the Christmas presents, Laura. Merry Christmas to you. Thanks so much for having me this week. And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez.

JARRETT: Always great to have you in the chair --

SANCHEZ: Thank you.

JARRETT: -- filling in, Boris.

I'm Laura Jarrett. Merry Christmas. Everyone stay safe. "NEW DAY" is next.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, December 24th, 6:00 here in New York.

Alisyn is off. Erica Hill with me for another day of major breaking news.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Just trying to make these three hours fly for you, Berman.

BERMAN: I mean, it's Christmas Eve but that doesn't even begin to tell the story.

HILL: No.

BERMAN: So if you are unemployed this morning, we can't tell you if you're going to get that next relief check. If you're a service member, that pay raise may be.