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Growing Tension Between Biden Team & Defense Dept Over Halted Briefings; 3,359 Americans Died Yesterday, nearly 120 Thousand Hospitalized; Race to Build as Many Miles as Possible of Border Wall. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired December 24, 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: Here as someone who covers every nook and cranny and corner of Capitol Hill, just the uncertainty in your voice and in your projection. So we don't know if the government is going to shut down in a few days, it might in the middle of Christmas. We don't know if people are going to get their unemployment checks. They might not at this point, right in the holiday season.
We don't know if military service members will get a pay raise, they might not. It may all come crashing down. And Errol, Jake Tapper's reporting yesterday dovetails right with what Anna is saying here, this isn't about like Provision 230 in the Defense Authorization Bill. This isn't about getting extra money for a stimulus check. This is because the President is really, really upset with Mitch McConnell and John Thune for acknowledging that Joe Biden won the election.
ERROL LOUIS, PODCAST, "YOU DECIDE": Well, that's right. And look, and it's because the curtain is coming down. In 27 days, a new president will be sworn in. This President is bitterly resentful of that, cannot accept that he's going to step off stage And like the entertainer that he is, he's managed to figure out a way to put himself in the middle of the drama, in the center of the stage and have all of us asking, including members of Congress, including hundreds of millions of Americans what does Donald Trump won, what's going to happen next; is he going to pocket veto the bill, is the government going to shut down.
Well, we see those depressing stories go online of visitors being turned away from the Statue of Liberty and other federal sites. Are the federal parts going to have to start shutting down? We're all going to wonder what Donald Trump is all about and what he wants and that is really the whole point here, is that up until the last hour, up until that noon hour on January 20th, when he is president, he's going to make sure everybody knows that he is president and that he's going to use every bit of discretion and power that's been entrusted to him, using it very irresponsibly in this case.
BERMAN: Yes, 27 more days as I've mentioned last night. This is the worst advent calendar ever, opening up each window to find out what piece of lunacy is behind it is going to be a trying, trying stretch here. Errol Louis, Anna Palmer, thanks to both of you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year as well. LOUIS: Same to you.
BERMAN: This morning we're learning new details about who President- elect Biden is considering for CIA Director as tensions grow between his transition team and the Defense Department. CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us now from Washington with the details on this. Good morning, Kristen.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Yes, this is today's advent calendar opening up and we're seeing these tensions that had been simmering between the Biden team and the Pentagon beneath the surface now really spill into the public eye. And this is all over those briefings with the Pentagon last week.
Trump officials saying that the Biden team had agreed to a two-week holiday pause. The Biden team said they never agreed to such a thing. Now, we are starting to see an escalation. President-elect Biden, when asked about the cyberattack, talked about how the Pentagon wouldn't brief his team on so many things. Then, the Pentagon essentially calling the President-elect a liar through an unnamed senior defense official who said that his comments were patently false.
Now, here's where it gets even more public. Now, we have a transition official on the record saying that the Pentagon, the Defense Department's intransigence is still continuing. So, we're watching to see what happens next.
Now, it is notable, the Pentagon says that these briefings will return after the holiday. But that's something we're going to watch closely. Now, the other thing we're expecting after the holiday is for Biden to finally name his nominee to lead the CIA. And I want to show you who is still in the running, now this is what we're told by sources, we've got three people here, David Cohen, who was a former CIA Deputy Director, Lisa Monaco, the Counterterrorism Adviser under President Obama and Darrell Blocker who served as the Deputy Director of the agency's Counterterrorism Center and also led the CIA's training facility.
Now, notably no longer on this list, we are told is Mike Morell. He was the acting CIA Director under Obama. In that administration, we are told, he's no longer in the mix after he came into fire for his role in drone strikes, as well as torture.
BERMAN: All right. Kristen Holmes, thanks so much. Please keep us posted on that front. So, the CDC now predicts that in the next month, nearly 100,000 more Americans could die of coronavirus. What can be done at this point to curb the skyrocketing death toll? Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:36:02]
BERMAN: This morning, nearly 120,000 Americans spending Christmas Eve in the hospital, 3,359 Americans reported dead from coronavirus overnight. Despite these figures, the TSA says millions of Americans still traveling for the holiday ignoring pleas from health officials to stay home.
Joining us now Dr. Ali Khan. He is the Dean of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Public Health. Dr. Khan, thank you very much for being with us this morning. That hospitalization figure as it hits new records every day, almost now at 120,000, why is it still going up? How is it that it continues to go up?
New cases, there is some sign that it's leveling off a bit, but the fact that we keep filling up our hospitals at new and unprecedented levels, it just keeps happening.
ALI KHAN, DEAN, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER'S COLLEGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Good morning, John. And yes, it's very disturbing and I'll contrast your numbers with the fact that about 1.7 billion people are going to wake up on Christmas morning with near zero cases in Australia, New Zealand, China, Thailand, et cetera, et cetera, so it's actually quite disturbing.
The new cases are predictable, maybe about 20 percent of Americans have currently been infected, which leaves about 80 percent of Americans left to be infected. So, it's not surprising given how many people are susceptible to infection and the lack of appropriate public health measures to protect them and to prevent the deaths.
I have two thoughts about the traveling. So, the first is actually to those who did travel for whatever reason and they didn't quarantine themselves seven days beforehand and didn't take my advice about never go to high risk areas. If you did travel, please don't compound your risk now by going out to bars and restaurants or houses of worship. Remember that people can be infected and still look fine.
[06:40:01]
So, you may even want to consider wearing a mask within the house and limit your gatherings, please, if you did travel. Second thought about this great advice from public health officials to not travel. Guidance is not public health policy, so where is the policy about interstate travel, ensuring that there's quarantine and testing before that happens? Why have we no longer heard about test trace and isolate, which is the primary strategy? Why is there no national tracing app? Why is there no national stipend?
I mean, there's all sorts of policy things we can do that can still get these cases down. And mask mandate is a good example. More people would be saved, more lives would be saved in January, if every state did a mass mandate, then we'll be saved by vaccine in January.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: All the things measures that you mentioned, that can have such an impact, another thing that makes a really big impact is information. And these reports that states were getting from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which were becoming increasingly dire but really putting into perspective, here's what's happening in your state and here's what you need to do.
They're no longer being automatically sent to states, we've learned. An email one out saying you're going to have to request this. And in fact, some state officials learned about the change through immediate inquiry. This, to me, is baffling. Why at this point you would actually pull back on the information and the help to states?
KHAN: So, Erica, that's an excellent question and I can't help you with the baffling part, my apologies. This has been constant throughout the beginning of this outbreak in the U.S.' poor information, sharing information that isn't timely and there's numerous such examples.
In this case, these state reports actually show how dire the situation is. But we know that there are states that were getting these reports where there's the most cases or the most positivity or the most deaths, Tennessee, for example, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, that have not yet done a mask mandate for the whole state. So, what the White House was saying was out of step with what states were actually doing based on these reports.
BERMAN: So one of the things we've learned, Dr. Khan, is that there is a gap between vaccines that have been allocated, in other words sent out vaccines that have been administered, put in people's arms, more than a million people have received a vaccine in the U.S. so far, which is good. I mean, it's in some ways miraculous that anyone's received a vaccine this year at all. But it doesn't sound like we're going anywhere near the 20 million that had been predicted by January 1st, so why?
KHAN: So, there's a couple of different issues here and some of it goes back to Erica's earlier question about lack of data and transparency, so some of this is just data gaps. We don't have good timely systems that are actually reporting how many doses are being administered, as opposed to how many are delivered. So some of it is just the data gaps, many states are not reporting and CDC, I don't think, is even doing daily reporting until sometime next year to let us know what's going on.
The second piece is actual true delays that are in that gap, because it takes a while to unpack the vaccine, inventory the vaccine, thawed and put it in people's arms and it takes a while for clinics to get their logistics down. But I can tell you from my personal experience here in Nebraska and what I'm hearing from across the U.S., there is no place in the U.S. where there's vaccine sitting in a clinic or hospital and it's not being used. So every dose that these hospitals and clinics have is going into people's arms.
HILL: Dr. Ali Khan, always good to see you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Happy holidays.
KHAN: Always a pleasure. And remember, America, mask on for the holidays.
BERMAN: There we go. Dr. Khan, that's why you're on the nice list. Thanks so much (inaudible) ...
HILL: Every year.
Well, this morning, the United Kingdom and the European Union are nearing a post Brexit trade deal after months of bitter negotiation. CNN's Nic Robertson is live at 10 Downing Street in London. What's the latest at this hour, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure, Erica, look it feels like a historic day here today, but it's sort of been on again, off again this morning. We're expecting some kind of statement at some point. It's been almost sort of anticipated late last night and then the talks went on, pizzas were seen going into the negotiation rooms at EU headquarters in Brussels.
We understand that overnight they were talking into sort of really, really sort of small details over the fishing rights of the EU fishermen in U.K. waters after the deal is done. And they were talking about with the EU fishermen be able to get the fish only at the bottom of the sea or would they be able to get some of those in the middle of the sea, the herring and the mackerel and the tuna and things like that. So those are some of the sort of very fine details that we understand is still being hammered out.
But the anticipation at the moment is that there will be a deal and it's coming in just a week shy of the deadline, which is the end of the year.
[06:45:05]
The next steps are going to be ratification lately, British parliament will be called back sometime next week to take a vote on it. European Parliament would be voting sometime after the deadline in the new year. What's in this deal? We just don't know yet and there's going to be a lot of details in there, where we'll be able to see who's made the concessions to actually allow this to happen, but it will be for this country and for the European Union, but particularly here, a really historic day once done, Erica.
HILL: That's for sure. Nic Robertson, thank you.
With 27 days left in office, the Trump administration is now racing to finish some 450 miles of border wall. But how did the people who live on the border feel about that push? Up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:49:33]
HILL: This morning, the race is on within the Trump administration to finish as much border wall as possible before President Trump leaves office. CNN's Ed Lavandera traveled to the border to see where things stand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you want a taste of life on the Arizona Mexico border, ride shotgun (ph) and Kelly Kimbro's 1992 Desert Beaton (ph) Ford pickup truck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KELLY KIMBRO, ARIZONA RANCHER: We're not big-time ranchers. We have a
couple of cattle ranches. We make a living. We love the lifestyle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:50:03]
LAVANDERA (voice-over): It's hard to tell where the United States ends, and Mexico begins on Kimbro's 800 acres in southeast Arizona. This year that changed. The Trump administration is carving a 19-mile wall right through this wide-open valley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: What's it like to see this massive construction project on your property?
KIMBRO: We did not think it was necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Construction crews moved in about a year ago. This is what the wall looked like across the San Bernardino Valley in February. This is what it looks like today. Some see it as a long scar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIMBRO: And the American taxpayer doesn't see they hear build that wall, it's going to secure this country. I promise you it's never going to secure the country. Not any better than it's already secured.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: In the final weeks of the Trump presidency. The rush is on to finish building at least 450 miles of the border wall. Customs and Border Protection official say at least 438 miles of that are now complete. As the coronavirus pandemic raged this year, border wall construction never stopped.
For months, anti-wall activists have documented what they described as an environmental catastrophe unfolding along the southern border. Crews blasting and bulldozing through rugged mountainous terrain. Border patrol officials say the new walls are vital to patrolling these remote regions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL HARNANDEZ, BORDER PATROL AGENT: Good infrastructure buys us more time and gives us the critical seconds and minutes that we need to get to an area. But as of now, a lot has been erected and we're hoping in the future it pays off dividends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The Army Corps of Engineers says eight border wall projects have been finished with crews actively working around the clock on 37 other projects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good at my fellow Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The question is what happens when President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Biden has pledged he would not build another foot of border wall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRANDON JUDD, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL: There's construction that's taking place that's going to go up this mountain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Brandon Judd leads the National Border Patrol Council. The Union has been a vocal ally of President Trump. Judd says it would be foolish for Biden to stop the construction now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDD: You can see that trench that goes straight up that line, those are the footers. What, you're just going to throw that away? That just doesn't make any sense because now you're just throwing money down the toilet.
KATE SCOTT, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST: You can't flat walk in anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Halting construction isn't enough for some anti-wall activists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: Take the wall down in the areas that we need it to be taken down right away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: We hiked to this border wall gates stretching the San Pedro river bed in Arizona with environmentalist, Kate Scott. She says this construction is a deadly threat to wildlife that migrates through this area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: I can tell you, we wake up, we cry, we study ourselves and we get to work because it's been so painful for me to witness this monstrosity.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LAVANDERA: But the wall also isn't being built fast enough for Jim
Chilton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CHILTON, ARIZONA RANCHER: ... the international boundary.
LAVANDERA (on camera): This is border. All right. This isn't the kind of wall you want.
CHILTON: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): His ranch fans out across 50,000 acres in Arizona, Chilton is lobbying for a wall on this spot. He says it's a low priority area because it's so remote, but he does have the ear of the border wall's biggest cheerleader. President Trump put Chilton in the spotlight during a rally last year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHILTON: Mr. President, we need a wall.
I offered the federal government 10 acres of land over here, my private property to have a forward operation base. I offered it for $1 a year and I even told them, I'll give you the dollar if you can't find one.
LAVANDERA (on camera): You've made the Border Patrol, the federal government an offer that you thought they couldn't refuse.
CHILTON: They said they would study it. That was four years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Chilton's ranch sits between a 25-mile gap and existing border wall and he says it's prime terrain for drug smugglers. He's deployed hidden cameras to capture what he says are more than a thousand images of camouflaged smugglers marching across his ranch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHILTON: My Ranch is a no man's land. It's actually controlled by the cartel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Laiken Jordahl has spent the year sounding the alarm about border wall construction in Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAIKEN JORDAHL, CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY: This wall is purely political theater. It does nothing to actually stop people or drugs from crossing the border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Jordahl drove us around Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a breathtaking National Park in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. The tranquility of the landscape is broken by the sounds of crews building more than 60 miles of wall, part of it through this national park. He calls himself a disaster tour guide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAHL: They're pulling out all the stops to rush this project through. This is all trash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Jordahl used to work as a U.S. National Park Ranger at the Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona. He says he resigned after President Trump took office.
[06:55:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAHL: It's really an insult to those of us who live down here. We're seeing our communities ripped apart. We're seeing these ecosystems be destroyed. We don't care what you call it. This thing is a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN along the Arizona-Mexico border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HILL: The NBA forced to postpone the season opener between the Rockets and Thunder because of coronavirus. Details in the Bleacher Report next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:57:40]
BERMAN: So, the NBA postpones its first game in the new season due to coronavirus concerns and frankly knucklehead moves from star players. Coy Wire with more in this morning's Bleacher Report. Hey, Coy.
(SPORTS)
[07:00:04]
BERMAN: Oh, I am. I am. Thank you so much, buddy.
HILL: Like an early Christmas gift for John Berman.
BERMAN: Merry Christmas, Coy. COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: There you go. You too.
