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Trump Signs Coronavirus Relief and Government Funding Bill; Authorities in Nashville Identify Anthony Quinn Warner as Nashville Bomber; New York Health Care Provider Accused of COVID-19 Vaccine Fraud. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 28, 2020 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. We have reports this morning from Florida, Tokyo, London, California, Tel Aviv and Delaware. This is EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans.

RYAN NOBLES, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: And I'm Ryan Nobles, congratulations, it's Monday, December 28th. That means you've made it to the last week of 2020. It is 5:00 a.m. in New York.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Ryan. Nice to see you. OK, we begin this morning with the news breaking overnight, the president, President Trump has signed the coronavirus relief and government spending bill into law. Abruptly signing this, narrowly averting a shutdown in a fragile economy that would have devastated millions of people who can least afford it. The president's signature extending stimulus checks, billions of dollars and aid to millions. But not before his delay for some unemployment benefits to lapse over the weekend. The threat to torpedo the bill only to then approve it after damage was done. The latest example of his increasingly erratic behavior in the final days of his presidency.

NOBLES: And Trump was under growing pressure from Republicans to approve the bill, partly to avoid sabotaging two GOP senators from Georgia running to keep their seats. The president now says he'll campaign for them next week. So, with millions of Americans at risk of going hungry, losing jobs and homes, the president finally relented after another day on the golf course where he's now spent almost 20 percent of his presidency. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is traveling with the president, he reports from West Palm Beach, Florida.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Christine and Ryan, at long last, President Trump has signed that $2.3 trillion spending bill that includes $900 billion in desperately needed coronavirus relief. The president signing the legislation late Sunday night here in south Florida five days after he called this very same piece of legislation a disgrace and demanded that Congress amend the legislation in order for him to sign it. But now the president has signed that legislation without any of those changes to the bill actually happening. And only after the president sunk tens of millions of Americans deeper

into financial uncertainty. And more seriously, more than 12 million Americans on Saturday saw their unemployment benefits, those supplemental unemployment benefits provided by the federal government an expansion of unemployment benefits for gig workers, for example, that lapsed on Saturday night because the president didn't sign this legislation soon enough. And so, while those programs will be coming back, it comes at a cost, obviously, and a delay.

But here's what the president says in explaining why he finally signed this legislation. Quote, "I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance and money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution and much more. The Senate will start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeal section 230 and start an investigation into voter fraud."

Now, we don't know about those last two items because there's no legislation currently being considered in Congress to address that. What we do know is that house Democrats, they are advancing later today, a piece of legislation to increase those stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. And so, it appears that President Trump may have secured a commitment from the Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell to actually allow that legislation to come to the floor. But whether that actually passes in the Senate is a whole other question, given that we know that many Republicans still remain opposed to those $2,000 stimulus checks.

And of course, if the president really wanted those $2,000 stimulus checks, if that was his goal here, he could have perhaps accomplished it before this legislation was passed overwhelmingly by bipartisan majorities in both the House and the Senate. But unfortunately, the president in the weeks before that legislation passed, as those arduous negotiations were happening, he was completely checked out of the business of governing, remaining on the sidelines as his Treasury Secretary supposedly negotiated on his behalf.

It was only after that legislation passed that the president decided to check back in and make these demands. The only result, though, was throwing these millions of Americans into financial uncertainty and delaying the arrival of those stimulus checks and allowing some Americans to stop receiving unemployment benefits, all of this during the holiday season. Christine, Ryan?

ROMANS: All right, Jeremy, thank you so much for that. So the big question, of course is, when will this relief arrive?

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Now experts say it will take a couple of weeks, at least, two weeks for the Treasury to get those stimulus checks, that cash into bank accounts. As for unemployment benefits, because President Trump did not sign the bill on Saturday, people in two pandemic relief programs, they will likely not receive a payment for the final week of the year. Their benefits will lapse, and because of the delay, many jobless Americans may only get 10 weeks of payments instead of 11. Even one week without benefits is too much.

People around the country are suffering here. Data shows nearly 27 million adults say their households don't have enough food right now. That's four times as much as last year. People who once volunteered at food banks are now going to food banks to feed their own families. The U.S. poverty rate just made the biggest jump in a single year since tracking began 60 years ago. More people falling behind on their bills, more people struggling to pay rent or mortgage, more people fear losing a job. These problems are deep and real, and the help here is still temporary, now push this off until about March, Ryan.

NOBLES: And Congress is going to be back in session today. The house expected to act today to override President Trump's veto of the defense bill. He shot it down last week because it didn't include a repeal of Section 230. Of course, Jeremy just mentioned that. That part has nothing to do of course with national defense. It shields internet companies from liability for content posted on their sites. Now, the bill passed both chambers with veto proof majorities. But the house Republicans have suggested that many Republicans won't vote to override the president's veto.

ROMANS: All right, this morning, Nashville remains a city on edge after the RV bombing that ripped through downtown on Christmas Day.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can hear this message, evacuate now. If you can hear this message, evacuate now.

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ROMANS: So that blast badly damaged infrastructure in the area, left officials scrambling for answers. Miraculously, no one was killed on Sunday. A truck driver was detained just outside of Nashville after the truck was playing audio similar to what was heard before the RV blast. No explosives were found. Meantime, authorities in Nashville now know who the Christmas bomber was, but they still don't know what prompted it. We get more from CNN's Shimon Prokupecz in Nashville.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Ryan and Christine. Authorities identifying the bomber here in Nashville, Tennessee, using DNA samples. They say they found human tissue at the blast site. They then were able to take DNA from that and compare it to the man's family members, and they say they have a match. Authorities officially identifying the bomber as Anthony Quinn Warner. He is 63 years old. Authorities also here describing how they went about in the initial moments, in the hours after the bombing, in identifying Warner as a suspect, and here's what they said about that.

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MATT PERRY, LIEUTENANT COLONEL, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Our special agents with the Tennessee Highway Patrol are trained in that. We have responsibilities there, and they were able to come out starting Christmas night, and come in again once daylight, you know, came up the next day yesterday, and just helped identify owned particular vehicle parts.

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PROKUPECZ: And that VIN number, the vehicle identification number came from a part that was found at the blast site. Enough, despite the enormous explosion, there was enough that remained for officials to find that number, and then they were able to link the RV to him. As to motive, that is still unknown. Authorities continue to work through that. They say right now, they don't have a clear motive, and it could be that they may never really know exactly why this man decided to set off this bomb. Ryan, Christine?

NOBLES: Shimon, thank you. Just days after the RV explosion, Nashville police officers described the shock of the blast and narrowly escaping with their lives. They were the first on the scene, following 911 calls on Christmas morning. One officer says he did what he could to protect his comrades. He's spiritual and believes that God saved him from harm.

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JAMES WELLS, NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Walking back towards the RV, and this might not be politically correct, but this is my truth. And I really hear God tell me to turn around and go check on Topping who was by herself, down on Broadway. And as I turned around, for me, it felt like I only took three steps, and then the music stopped, and as I'm walking back toward Topping now, I just see orange and then I hear a loud boom. And as I'm stumbling, because it rocked me that hard, I started stumbling, I was just telling myself to stay on your feet, stay alive.

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NOBLES: Chilling. That officer lucky to be alive. Officials say officer Wells and five of his fellow Nashville officers went door-to- door before the explosion, getting nearby residents out of harm's way.

ROMANS: Just remarkable. All right, December has been the deadliest month in the U.S. since the coronavirus pandemic began. One in every 1,000 Americans has died from coronavirus. The number of people dying every day is surpassing the loss of life that caused so much grief early in the pandemic. About 10 million vaccine doses have been delivered, and that's behind the expected pace, only about 2 million have actually been given. So, there is a long haul to normalcy ahead. The U.S. surpassing 19 million coronavirus cases over the holiday weekend, big numbers can be numbing.

So focus here on the pace. The first 10 million cases took almost 300 days. The last 9 million cases just 49 days. And that's before the surge, Ryan, from Christmas and new year's.

NOBLES: And an alarming number of Americans are ignoring health officials and traveling. U.S. air travel numbers have been near or more than a million passengers for six straight days now. There's a major concern in California. Some areas are totally out of ICU beds. The state is outpacing all of Europe with new cases. The Los Angeles County Public Health director says that, quote, "a person now dies every ten minutes there from coronavirus." CNN's Paul Vercammen has more from Pasadena, California.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, Ryan, perhaps the most concerning number in California right now, those 20,000 or so hospitalizations, 189 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 behind me here at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. You can see that a surge tent is up where they're putting some patients who don't have COVID, obviously separating them from the COVID-19 patients, and resources are strapped. There's just only so much equipment to go around. And what they're fearing here is if we get a tidal wave after new year's eve, this hospital is going to have to carefully ration its resources and make choices as to when what patient receives what type of care.

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KIMBERLY, SHRINER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, HUNTINGTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: That's really the ultimate triage. We have a limited number of ventilators, we have a limited number of ICU beds, we have a limited number of plastic tubing for oxygen tanks. And so a lot of those decisions, if we get to that point, we're not there yet, but if we did, we're going to have to make some of those decisions. And again, that's a decision that, you know, no physician or nurse or anyone wants to ever have to make about someone.

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VERCAMMEN: Dr. Shriner here at Huntington Hospital also served in Africa. She knows all about this scarce resource policy that may come to be here at Huntington Hospital. Everyone here now all hands on deck, long shifts, long hours. They're just hoping to get through these next few weeks. Back to you now, Ryan, Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Paul for us. Thank you, Paul. New York State is investigating a healthcare provider for possible COVID-19 vaccine fraud. The State Health Commissioner says the ParCare Network of urgent care clinics might have fraudulently gotten the vaccine and given shots to people who were not yet entitled to them. The state has prioritized of course, frontline health care workers and nursing home residents and staff for the vaccine. ParCare says it's following the guidelines and will cooperate with the investigation.

NOBLES: Well, Christine, the vaccine roll out is underway in Europe. The demand is high, supply is low, but a new vaccine could be on the market soon. CNN is live in Europe.

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ROMANS: Welcome back. Starting today, the U.S. is requiring negative coronavirus tests for all passengers traveling from the U.K., that's due to this new variant of coronavirus that has been found there. Nearly 50 countries already have a travel restriction as they race to limit the spread. Another vaccine is on the horizon in the U.K., and the European Union begins an ambitious vaccination plan. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has a -- is live for us at a hospital in London. And Salma, the London Ambulance Service says it's receiving as many emergency calls as in the first wave of the pandemic. Simply, help cannot come fast enough here.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: That's absolutely right. I mean, very tragic. The London Ambulance Service says the day after Christmas was almost as busy as their busiest day during the first wave of the pandemic. They're simply waving the red flag here and they're calling for help. And it could not come soon enough as you said, in a matter of days, we're expecting the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to be approved, it could be rolled out on January 4th. And of course, the British government is very excited about this because this is the home-grown vaccine, this is the one made right here in the U.K.

Now, there's been some controversy about the efficacy of it. Trials show it's 70 percent effective in immunizing against the virus. But the researchers and scientists say, they have an idea that can make it stronger. That second dose, remember, we need two doses, that second dose, it's given as a half dose, scientists say it could raise the efficacy by 90 percent which of course would be great news. And there's other advantages to this vaccine as well, it's cheap, about the cost of your morning latte, $4, it doesn't need to be kept at those extra cold temperatures, a normal refrigerator will do.

And again, it can't come soon enough. This city, as well as several factored areas are dealing with a new variant of coronavirus that is more transmissible, and that the government is blaming first spike of cases. And it's not just here, we're also seeing this mass vaccination roll out in the EU where this new variant has also been detected. So, good news there. But the advantages and disadvantages of the EU, mass vaccination rollout are about the same, 27-member states, they all get the same amount of vaccine.

But that also means that supply is limited, but it's a start, and a very good start especially for a country like Germany which of course developed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. But how to watch all these other countries like the U.S. and the U.K. roll it out first there in Germany, they were so excited about it that it actually went out to a nursing home on Saturday a day before the rest of the country. So, a lot of good news and hope there, but balancing that against a very real surge --

ROMANS: Yes --

ABDELAZIZ: In cases, Christine.

ROMANS: It feels like we're in a new phase where we can see the vaccine stage of this, but we have so much to get through before we're done. Thank you so much Salma, for that, right?

NOBLES: A COVID scare left the Cleveland Browns shorthanded and it may have decided the fate of the number one pick in the draft -- sorry, Jets fans, the "BLEACHER REPORT" is next.

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NOBLES: And the fallout over the Baltimore Ravens COVID-19 outbreak comes with a price. Carolyn Manno has this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT". Good morning, Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Hey Ryan, good morning to you. The Ravens are being fined $250,000, a league source saying that this is coming as a result of coronavirus protocols that weren't followed in the middle of the outbreak back in November. We thought that this might be the case, the NFL's reigning MVP, Lamar Jackson, one of nearly two dozen players placed on the reserve COVID-19 list all have since returned. The Ravens confirmed in a statement that there were four unique strains of COVID-19 within the organization. The team fining one of its strength and conditioning coaches during the outbreak for failing to wear a mask, also failing to report symptoms.

In the meantime, the Cleveland Browns playing without their top four wide receivers, all out because of coronavirus complications. The Jets taking advantage early -- nice little trick play here, wide receiver Jamison Crowder hitting Braxton Berrios at the 15, he was disguised in the backfield, 43-yard touchdown. Crowder also getting it done on the receiving end as well, catching a 30-yard pass from quarterback Sam Darnold with the score. The Jets win their second game of the season, 23-16. That result of course also means that the 1-14 Jacksonville Jaguars officially have the number one overall pick in the draft, which will likely be Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Meantime, the Kansas City Chiefs locked up the top seed in the AFC yesterday, but it certainly wasn't pretty. KC doing the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" here, guys, the entire backfield here, Darrell Williams taking a snap, handed it to Patrick Mahomes, pitched it to Sammy Watkins, then threw it back to Mahomes, it gets intercepted. Kansas City securing the win on a missed field goal by the Falcons as time ran out. The Chiefs just barely getting the first round buy. So, so far, seven teams are booked for the playoffs, the Titans trying to join them last night against the Packers in snowy Green Bay, some blustery conditions, certainly no problem for Aaron Rodgers, he's used to that.

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He threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Davante Adams who had an incredible night. Green Bay wins in a blow out. So, they can secure the number one seed in the NFC next week with a win over their division rifles the Bears. And lastly, for you, this morning, Roger Federer is out of the Australian Open. The 20-time Grand Slam winner saying he's still not fully recovered from the two operations on his right knee. The tournament had already been postponed by three weeks, moved from January to early February over concerns about coronavirus. So Christine, just not quite back from injury. Looking like he's going to point toward the Summer, the Olympics very important to him, and of course the slams over the Summer as well.

ROMANS: Yes, well, wish -- certainly, we wish him well. Carolyn, nice to see you this morning, thank you. All right, after spending most of the weekend on the golf course, the president found time to sign the coronavirus relief package, but not before millions of Americans paid a big financial price.

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NOBLES: Good morning, this is EARLY START, I'm Ryan Nobles.

ROMANS: Nice to see you, Ryan, I'm Christine Romans. Just about 30 minutes past the hour this Monday morning -- a holiday week. We begin with news breaking overnight. President Trump has now signed the coronavirus relief and government spending bill into law, narrowly averting a shutdown in a fragile economy that would have devastated millions of people who can at least afford it. Now, the president's signature does extend stimulus checks, billions of dollars in aid to millions of people, but not before his delay for some unemployment benefits to lapse over the weekend.

Now, his threat to torpedo the bill only to approve it after damage was done is the latest example of his increasingly erratic behavior in the waning days of this presidency.

NOBLES: Trump was under growing pressure from Republicans to approve the bill, partly to avoid sabotaging two GOP senators from Georgia running to keep their seats. The president now says he's going to campaign for them next week. So with millions of Americans at risk of going hungry, losing.