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President Trump Signs Economic Relief Bill Passed by Congress; President Trump Continues to Tweet Claims that Presidential Election Stolen; Officials Name Suspect in Christmas Morning Bombing in Nashville, Tennessee; Authorities Have Identified The Suicide Bomber Who Died In The Nashville Bombing; President Trump Has Now Signed A Coronavirus Relief Stimulus. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 28, 2020 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Happened so quickly, and we've never seen it before. But I can't believe we fit all of that into one year. You were telling me right before this that President Trump was impeached in 2020. I thought it was 2018.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No.

CAMEROTA: I can't believe that was the beginning of this year.

SCIUTTO: That's how the year began. And we lost RBG this year.

CAMEROTA: I remember that vividly. That feels like that this year. But the idea that all of that was packed into one year, it has been a truly remarkable year on every level.

SCIUTTO: It is no question, and we're going to bring more of it to you.

CAMEROTA: Yes, we will.

SCIUTTO: NEW DAY continues right now.

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

CAMEROTA: And good morning, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. John Berman is off. Jim Sciutto is here with me. Great to have you here.

SCIUTTO: Stuck with me all week.

CAMEROTA: I'm happy to hear that, because it's going to be a very busy week.

SCIUTTO: It will, indeed.

CAMEROTA: And it's a busy morning. We have breaking news right now. President Trump finally signed a coronavirus relief package and government spending bill into law. But this came after days of dragging his feet for nearly a week, and a lot of playing golf. President Trump did not sign this bill until after 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, and that means that millions of unemployed Americans had their benefits or will have their benefits lapse. If he had signed it by midnight on Saturday, those benefits would not have any break. The president is still demanding an increase in direct payments, and Democrats say they will try to pass that today. It is not clear what President Trump got out of this delay.

This morning, the "New York Post" is blasting the president's efforts to overturn the election results with this scathing front page editorial calling on the president to, quote, "Stop the insanity," and declaring, quote, "You lost."

SCIUTTO: Will he listen?

We're also learning new detail this is morning about the suicide bombing in Nashville, Tennessee. Police releasing this video. Look at that moment, the very moment of that blast from surveillance video. Of course, it took place on Christmas morning. Officials have now identified the man who they say detonated the bomb, an American suicide bomber in his RV parked in downtown. They are now focusing on the question of why he did this.

CAMEROTA: We begin with the breaking political news, and joining us now our CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston and CNN White House correspondent John Harwood. Let's start at the White House there, John, though that's not where President Trump is. He's in Florida, as we know. We've seen him on the golf course, there's lots of pictures. So something like 12 million Americans are going to see their benefits lapse. Retroactively they'll get paid, but if you're unemployed, you need grocery right money now. You can't go a week without grocery money. And so I just don't understand, what did President Trump get out of this delay? He could have signed it by midnight on Saturday night, the benefits wouldn't have lapsed. He signed it around 7:00 p.m. last night. Why? What did he get out of this?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What he got, Alisyn, was some gratification and some affirmation for his wounded ego. Even in the best of times, presidents are often powerless over events. The job comes with a lot of trapping, but you don't have a tremendous amount of power. When you're a lame duck president, you feel the power draining away hour by hour. He knows Joe Biden is going to be president in a couple of weeks, so he is desperately reaching on for things that make him feel powerful.

And there are a couple of areas where even a lame duck president who is almost out of office still has the strength of Hercules. One of them is signing pardons. That is an absolute power that he can wield. And in this case, if he did not sign that legislation, it was not going to happen because of what they call a pocket veto, which would allow the legislation to expire before the next Congress. So he had the spectacle of people in his party, across the political system, begging him to sign this bill and not let it lapse. And that was what he got. He got no policy concessions. He doesn't care about policy concessions. This is a president who is about his tending to his own ego, his own psyche, and he got a little gratification playing golf in Mar-a-Lago that he counts for at least a few more days still.

SCIUTTO: So the politics shifted against the president on COVID relief. He got pushed even by his closest allies to do this. What are the politics shifting enough, right, on the president's continuing false claims of fraud in this election, Maeve Reston? You see, as we noted, the "New York Post" which has been in lockstep with the president, breaking with him, telling him to stop the insanity. There is the cover again there. This is of course Rupert Murdoch owned. That is significant. Is there a significant enough political shift to drive the president away from trying to challenge this on January 6th when Congress takes up the Electoral College votes?

[08:05:04]

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I think, Jim, that we're seeing a low percolation within the Republican Party of knowing that this is going to be a disaster if the president tries to, as he's suggesting now, summon huge crowds of supporters to Washington as he continues to try to overthrow the election results. That would be a disaster for Republicans, and he also would be forcing them, as Mitch McConnell pointed out, into making a really difficult vote that would hurt them in the future. They can stand with the Constitution or they can stand with an outgoing president who has been an embarrassment to this country in terms of taking care of the people who really matter.

And as we continue to see the president talk about this on Twitter and be obsessed with it and think about what his next chess move is, it's just infuriating for the rest of America to watch his delaying on this COVID relief bill. Here in Los Angeles, where we've been under a three-week lockdown, the food lines are huge and growing. The pain that you see out in the streets, the increasing number of tents, the increasing number of people who are being forced to sleep in their cars because of what Alisyn talked about, not having money for rent, not having money for groceries. You're talking about children who are still trying to go to school and do school on Zoom now living in their cars.

And the fact that the president was not able to see that pain and suffering and get engaged in the negotiations sooner if he wanted these $2,000 checks, and, instead, just completely focus on his own narcissistic endeavors to stay in power, it's just infuriating and it will be a very sad, final chapter in his legacy, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Real people, real suffering as a consequence.

CAMEROTA: Yes. The optics, John, of the president playing golf, it just is so symbolic. And so President-elect Joe Biden has his hands full, I think that's an understatement of what he is going to have to confront when he comes into office, after President Trump has basically abdicated a lot from COVID to the economic relief, all of this stuff. And so today, President-elect Joe Biden is going to be talking about national security. Of course, there's also been this massive breach on government networks that we don't know that much about.

HARWOOD: That's right, and which Joe Biden pointed out last week, the Trump Defense Department has not given adequate briefings on. Remember, this is all part of a pattern. Donald Trump, and we've been through this before but it's worth going through again. Russia was Donald Trump's financial benefactor before he ran for president. They helped him get elected president. He lied about the help that he got. He fired the FBI director who was investigating the help that he got.

He has helped Russia as president, weakening NATO, weakening the western alliance, calling into question America's commitment under Article Five to defend other NATO countries. And now his presidency is ending on a massive hack of the U.S. government and U.S. business that, when his own secretary of state pointed the finger at Russia, Donald Trump said, oh, well, maybe it's China.

There is no question that at some level, psychologically or materially, this is a president who is compromised by Russia, and it's going to fall to Joe Biden to repair the damage from that compromise.

SCIUTTO: Maeve Reston, another test this week, today, in fact, of the president's sway over his party, that on the National Defense Authorization Act, basically funds the Defense Department, soldiers' salaries, et cetera. Is there significant Republican reluctance to override the presidential veto here? It's clearly not a vote that many Republicans want to cast, override the president's veto, but will they, given all that depends on this bill?

RESTON: We expect them to override this veto because there is absolutely no reason to hold this up, to hold up this critical funding for our national security and the troops just because the president is angry with an obscure provision of the bill. And we have heard from Republicans over the last week that they will not stand for this, and they will actually take a stand against the president in this case. It would be nice to see them take a stand on lots of other issues that he is sowing chaos over in these final weeks.

[08:10:01]

And I really hope that that goes off smoothly today without more interference from him, because clearly there's overwhelming bipartisan support for this, and the president is just meddling where he doesn't belong.

CAMEROTA: John, the conventional wisdom has been that all of these Republican, you can call them enablers, you can call them friends, sycophants, allies, whatever, that they didn't want to alienate President Trump's base, because it's such a powerful base and it's so dedicated and they need those votes, OK.

But now, we have 23 days left. The "New York Post" is writing, and I mean, the most, as Jim has pointed out, strongest language, like it's over, stop the insanity, likening him to King Lear at Mar-a-Lago saying you are the anarchist holding the match. So are Republicans still that invested?

HARWOOD: Yes, because for most of them -- first of all, they've benefitted in some ways from Donald Trump's presidency. To take one obvious example, they've gotten the conservative judges that the party values over a lot of other things. They got tax cuts, which the party values over most other things. But still, these Republicans going forward with a president who has got more than 80 million Twitter followers, they're scared that he could wreck their careers. So that is a real problem for them.

But the people, the further you get away from those who are most directly affected by the president, the more difficult it is to sustain the illusion that this makes any sense. And I think "Stop the insanity" is a telling headline. This president, who knows what his clinical diagnosis is, but he's not by any conventional meaning of the word acting in a sane fashion right now. We're hearing these descriptions of people flattering and cajoling and trying to manipulate this 74-year-old man as if he were a small child, to prevent him from causing misery and harm to millions and millions and millions of the people that he was elected to lead. It is a sad, as Maeve said, a very sad situation, and I guess the only solace for the United States is it's going to be over in a little more than 20 days.

SCIUTTO: There is president-elect, Joe Biden, he's going to be speaking on national security later today, and certainly comments we're going to be covering. John Harwood, Maeve Reston, thanks so much to both of you.

RESTON: Thanks, guys.

SCIUTTO: Developing this morning, federal authorities have now identified the man they say detonated a powerful bomb in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning, an American suicide bomber, the focus now on why he did this. Police have released -- look at this video. That's the very moment of the blast, surveillance video of the bomb. The blast injured three people, damaged dozens of buildings, and in fact remarkable that more weren't injured, possibly killed. It knocked out service for AT&T in the area.

CNN's Natasha Chen, she is live on the scene in Nashville, with the very latest. The key question now is why, motivation. When do we expect to learn?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. So investigators are looking into Anthony Quinn Warner's history, talking to people who might have come into contact with him, who knew him, because that is the major question right now. His name was brought up by investigators as the suspect yesterday. On Saturday we watched federal agents go in and out of a home in Antioch, Tennessee, a neighborhood about 10 miles southeast of where we are, gathering evidence. That's a home that was his until November 25th, when he signed a quitclaim deed giving the property over to a woman.

So there are a lot of questions left to be answered. As you mentioned, there is this new video police shared late last night of this bright orange glow when the blast happened. That's exactly how responding officers described the harrowing situation to us. Here's Officer Breanna Hosey talking to us about those moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREANNA HOSEY, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: I ran to the intersection to check on Miller (ph) and make sure they were OK, saw both running toward the intersection as well. Sorry, that's when I got on the radio make sure Wallace (ph) was OK, couldn't get a response from him. But from the blast, he had some hearing loss, so that's when Amanda (ph) got on, said that he was OK. So I was just trying to make sewer all of our people were OK and going from there trying to figure out what was the best course of action to keep everyone that was either in the immediate blast area that we weren't able to evacuate or anyone that was coming in and how to best keep them safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: They evacuated so many people. They told us about how they evacuated families with children. Still more than 40 businesses destroyed in this, three people injured with non-life-threatening injuries. And all those investigative questions that we mentioned still have to be answered. The type of explosives are still being investigated.

Meanwhile, Governor Bill Lee has asked for federal aid related to this disaster, but we have not yet heard from President Trump about that, Jim.

[08:15:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Not a single comment from the president yet about that bombing. Natasha Chen, thanks so very much.

Well, we are going to get the latest on the investigation from the Mayor of Nashville. He joins us right after this.

[08:15:10]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:15]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Police have released new surveillance video that captures a Nashville police officer walking out of frame right before a bomb detonated in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning.

Authorities have now identified the suicide bomber who died in the blast but his motive remains a mystery. Three people were injured in this bombing and dozens of buildings are damaged in downtown.

Joining us now is Nashville Mayor John Cooper. Mayor Cooper, thanks so much for being here. Tell us what went through your head when you saw that surveillance video.

MAYOR JOHN COOPER (D), NASHVILLE: Well, we're celebrating this the year of first responders in Nashville. How brave are out police officers, our -- all our first responders?

But you had six yesterday who rushed to danger, who saved a lot of lives and injuries in a highly fluid situation. I'm not sure they were trained exactly for this but they were heroic and the silly -- city really celebrates them.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, they were so heroic and it was really heart rending to listening to their emotional reactions afterwards and how much they cared about their colleagues, you know?

COOPER: Yes. Well, and it's fantastic there they were the night shift on Christmas Even, you know, not the most senior people in the police department. Six individuals randomly brought together working as a team, helping each other. It's an inspiring Christmas story, not one we expected to see, but it is an inspiring Christmas story.

CAMEROTA: And also when -- now that we see that video, how close one of them came to either being terribly injured or loosing his life.

COOPER: Yes. Oh, it's a -- it's a small miracle that our injuries were not more due to their heroism. But it was -- you know -- I think part of the national interest in this story is Christmas morning, a time of peace on earth that you have a delivered bombing. It -- the contrast is so great and so horrible, but we -- we have some angels here and they're -- were wearing blue on -- on Friday morning.

CAMEROTA: And so, we believe it was -- obviously it was a deliberate bombing. Obviously, you have to work on this and the timing and getting the ingredients. And so, what is the latest thinking in Nashville about the bomber's motive?

COOPER: Well, I think it's the authorities who were saying yesterday it's going to be some time before a motive can be established. I don't think anybody has a deep insight into that.

We're grateful that they feel that they've solved this crime, that the bomber was perished in the event itself. And they'll do a good job, but you're in the realm of human motivation and that's going to be complex and take some time.

CAMEROTA: But do you, I mean from your experience, do you believe this was domestic terrorism related?

[08:20:00]

COOPER: Well, I think everybody, the U.S. Attorney, the FBI has been very careful not to use the T word here, because there -- it's not consistent with T word actions. There's no manifesto or political statement that anybody has brought to light at this point.

And so, in furtherance of an etiology, we -- there's no clue what that etiology is at this point. So, I think everybody is just taking a break and accessing the crime and not projecting more into it than -- that is there right now.

CAMEROTA: And Mayor, what about the location? The fact that it was near an AT&T facility. That -- that -- it seems like you think that that was a deliberate choice.

COOPER: Well, I think if you live in Nashville you have to -- you have to think there has to be some connection. Why would drive to Antioch, to 2nd Avenue and park next to an AT&T facility? It is a very old AT&T facility, not that the equipment inside isn't, but it's for 100 years it's been the AT&T facility in Nashville. So, those of us here would certainly draw a connection that you wouldn't drive all the way into Nashville.

The playing of the Petula Clark song though just begins to make it a little surreal. I don't know that you would even try to write it as a movie script. But again, that's why the questions of motivation will clearly take a long time to --

CAMEROTA: I mean the whole thing is eerie, but you're right, the Petula Clark "Downtown" song that was sort of interspersed.

COOPER: Yes, and those sad words with a tragic and sad even, you know, you wouldn't believe it if you saw it in the movies, but here it seems to have happened in real life.

CAMEROTA: And then we had reports that there was another truck that was playing similar audio outside of the city yesterday. What happened with that?

COOPER: Well, I -- I don't think -- I know the authorities have not been that alarmed by that. I think really kids replaying the -- the audio, the YouTube audio on loud speakers. You know, I think more importantly is it shows this is a certain amount of tension that exists in the area and that's what was being responded to as far as I know at this time.

CAMEROTA: And how are Nashville residents feeling this morning?

COOPER: Oh, well I mean it's quite a weekend, but people are back to work on Monday and going to enjoy the next couple of days before New Years. I mean, there was relief and now there is resolve and determination to rebuild this historic part of our city.

There are 40 affected business, I'm grateful to the governor and our delegations help and trying to get us some federal assistance, which will be needed, because at the end -- at the end phase of COVID what they've suffered for nine months in terms of business and now to be -- have it be interrupted by a bomb is completely unfair.

And like the tornado that we had in March, there's a lot of devastation in a concentrated area. It would seem appropriate to have some federal help in getting these businesses back on their feet.

CAMEROTA: And on that note, have you -- have you --

COOPER: And make them whole.

CAMEROTA: -- you heard from President Trump.

COOPER: No, I haven't. When our senior senator I know talked to him -- now our senior senator talked to him yesterday she said. And he apparently had been following the news very closely and was committing help from the federal government aspect for which it -- we're grateful and we will need that.

Again, you've got a lot of businesses -- the business interruption on 2nd Avenue itself, historic part of Nashville, it's going to be months of rebuilding. You've got facades that are in danger, windows shattered. People are going to have to expect it's going to be months before it's back to normal.

CAMEROTA: We're thinking of you and all of the folks in Nashville. Mayor John Cooper, thank you very much for taking time.

COOPER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: President Trump's initial refusal to sign the Coronavirus Relief Package put the two Republican senators in runoff races in Georgia next week in an awkward spot. Stacey Abrams is going to join us to talk about all this next.

[08:24:25]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:27:55]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back, President Trump has now signed a coronavirus relief and government spending bill into law. One negotiated by his own Treasury Secretary, averting a shutdown and now finally extending aid to millions of Americans who desperately need it, though it's going to take some time. The president's refusal to sign it last Tuesday has complicated the campaigns of two Republican senators who are facing runoff races in Georgia next week.

Joining me now is Stacey Abrams. She is the former Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee in Georgia and founder and chair of Fair Fight.

Miss Abrams, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

STACEY ABRAMS (D), FORMER DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE IN GA: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So -- so first let's talk about the significance of this stimulus bill in the midst of those runoff races, because the Democratic challengers have used the president's refusal to sign as cudgel against the Republican opponents and have certainly put Loeffler and Perdue in tough positions here. Now, that it has finally been signed, though belatedly, does that remove that ammunition in affect from the Democratic challengers?

ABRAMS: Not at all. Not only is this a belated investment, it is also a very poor investment, $600 will not help most families survive and we need two U.S. senators who are willing to go to Washington and be in partnership with the new president to deliver real COVID relief to the state of Georgia. That means we have to have support for those 161,000 families that

were facing evictions who's lives aren't going to suddenly get better because of the extended moratorium. They need real relief.

We have 4.1 million job loss claims in this state. A quarter of small businesses that were in operation in 2019 have shutdown permanently in 2020 and Mitch McConnell has declared that he intends not to do more.

He has shown his expressionism many times before and unfortunately both Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have been his strongest supporters, making certain that no progress happens and no relief comes to Georgia.

We need real relief and that means we need Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock who will go to D.C. not to enrich themselves as Perdue and Loeffler have, but who will do their best to ensure that Georgia families get the real relief they need, the $2,000 checks, the actual delivery of PPE and the support.

[08:30:00]