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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Quizzes Georgia's Secretary of State to Find Missing Votes; Georgia Senate Runoff Election Set to Begin Tomorrow; Up to 12 GOP Senators Plan to Oppose Certifying Election Results. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 04, 2021 - 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, this is EARLY START, I'm Christine Romans --

LAURA JARRETT, CO-ANCHOR, EARLY START: Happy new year, Christine.

ROMANS: You, too.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett, it's Monday, January 4th, it's 5:00 a.m. in New York, and we begin this morning with the big breaking news. The president of the United States caught on tape pressuring Georgia Secretary of State to find votes to help him steal an election that he lost two months ago.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, look, all I want to do is this, I just want to find 11,780 votes which is one more that we have because we won the state, and flipping the state is a great testament to our country because you know, they're just -- it's a testament that they can admit to a mistake or whatever you want to call it if it was a mistake. I don't know. A lot of people think it wasn't a mistake. It was much more criminal than that. But it's a big problem in Georgia, and it's not a problem that's going away -- I mean, you know, it's not a problem that's going away.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JARRETT: It wasn't a mistake. Finding more votes isn't how elections work in this country. The American people voted this man out of office and the president has been unable to come to grips with the reality of his defeat. For weeks now, he's been making his calls. He's invited election officials to the White House. He even went to the courts. He even went to the Supreme Court. But it, too, turned him away. And now, he's turned to threats because he's not getting his way.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: The ballots are corrupt. And you're going to find that they are, and which is totally illegal. It's more illegal for you than it is for them! Because you know what they did and you're not reporting it. That's a -- you know, that's a criminal -- that's a criminal offense. And, you know, you can't let that happen. That's a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That's a big risk.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JARRETT: Another string of lies wrapped in a hollow menacing warning to state election officials who were forced to tell the president of the United States over and over again on this call that his information -- this is the president, that his information was dead- wrong. CNN's John Harwood has more from the White House now.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With just a little more than two weeks left in Donald Trump's presidency, the bombshells just keep dropping. On Sunday, it was "The Washington Post's" revelation of an audio tape in which President Trump pressures the Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the state. Never mind that all 50 states have already certified their electoral college tallies, that tally shows Joe Biden with 306 votes, more than enough needed to win. Never mind that he doesn't need Georgia's 16 electoral votes or that there's been no finding of widespread fraud or irregularity in the Georgia election.

President Trump on that tape is repeating fantasies about shredded ballots and altered voting machines. He is resisted by the Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, even though the president appealed to him to act as a fellow partisan. Now, the White House is not commenting on this audio tape. It's hard to know what they would say, considering that President Trump is on the tape, and so is White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The Biden campaign was quick to come out. Attorney Bob Bowers said that this was an affirmation of President Trump's assault on democracy since the election. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said this was a bald face abuse of power.

The irony, of course, is that if this phone call and the news stories about this phone call tilt at all the Georgia Senate runoff which occur on Tuesday, two of them, it could end up strengthening Joe Biden's presidency. If Democrats win both of those races, that would make it a lot easier for Joe Biden to push his election forward. Laura and Christine?

ROMANS: All right, John Harwood, unbelievable. Georgia right there at the center of the political power game right now. Now, throughout this remarkable telephone call, the president pulls numbers out of thin air. He floats one conspiracy theory after another. And after pressing Georgia Secretary of State to find -- his word, find more votes, the president finally begs him for quote, "a break".

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: Look, Brad, I've got to get -- I have to find 12,000 votes. And I have them times a lot. And therefore, I won the state. That's before we go to the next step which is in the process of right now. You know? [05:05:00]

And I watched you this morning. And you said, well, there was no criminality. But, I mean, all of this stuff is very dangerous stuff when you talk about no criminality, I think it's very dangerous for you to say that. I just -- I just don't know why you don't want to have the votes counted as they are. Like even you, when you went and did that check -- and I was surprised because you know, I didn't consider -- the check, and we found a few thousand votes that were against me. I was actually surprised because the way that check was done, all you are doing is, you know, recertifying existing votes. And, you know, you were given votes and you just counted them up, and you still found 3,000 that were bad. That was sort of surprising that came down, three or five -- I don't know.

A lot -- either still a lot of votes. But you have to go back to check from past years with respect to signatures. And if you check with Fulton County, you'll have hundreds of thousands because they dumped ballots into Fulton County and the other county next to it. So, what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellows, I need 11,000 votes -- give me a break.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JARRETT: In yet, another part of this hour-long call, and we're playing so much of it because we want you to hear the president in his own words. He suggests that Georgia Secretary of State recalculate the vote. Brad Raffensperger then pushes back doing his job, rejecting the president's claims. Listen to this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TRUMP: The people of Georgia are angry. And these numbers are going to be repeated on Monday night along with others that we're going to have by that time which are much more substantial even. And the people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry, and there is nothing wrong with saying that, you know -- that you've recalculated. Because the 2,236 in absentee ballots, I mean, they're all exact numbers that were done by accounting firms, law firms, et cetera. And even if you cut them in half, cut them in half and cut them in half again, it's more votes than we need.

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have, is the data you have is wrong. We've talked to the congressmen and they were surprised. But they -- I guess there was a person named Mr. Braynard that came through these meetings and presented data. And he said that there was dead people, I believe it was upward of 5,000. The actual number were two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted. And so, that's wrong. That was two.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: When his pressure campaign and cajoling didn't work, well then the president turned back to thinly-veiled threats.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) TRUMP: Well, under law, you're not allowed to give faulty election

results, OK? You're not allowed to do that, and that's what you've done. This is a faulty election result. And honestly, this should go very fast. You should meet tomorrow because you have a big election coming up, and because of what you've done to the president, you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam. And because of what you've done to the president, a lot of people aren't going out to vote. And a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president, OK? They hate it. And they're going to vote. And you would be respected if -- really respected if this thing could be straightened out before the election. You have a big election coming up on Tuesday.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

ROMANS: President Trump and President-elect Joe Biden will both campaign in Georgia ahead of that big election of tomorrow's crucial runoff. It will determine the balance of power in the Senate. CNN's Kyung Lah is in Atlanta for us with more.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine and Laura, Democrats are seizing on that call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State. Here at this rally for the two Democratic Senate challengers, they were headlined by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and they jumped on the call, calling it an attack on democracy. Here's a little of what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: Have you all heard about that recorded conversation? Well, it was yes, certainly the voice of desperation. Most certainly that. And it was a bald, bald- faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States.

JON OSSOFF, GEORGIA DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE: The president of the United States calls up Georgia's election officials and tries to intimidate them to change the results of the election. To disenfranchise Georgia voters. To disenfranchise black voters in Georgia who delivered this state for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

[05:10:00]

(CARS HONKING)

That is a direct attack on our democracy, and if David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler had one piece of steel in their spines, one shred of integrity, they would be out here defending Georgia voters from that kind of assault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: It's hard to miss what this image means. If Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff flip those two Senate seats, Kamala Harris will be the tie-breaker as vice president. That effectively gives Democrats control of the U.S. Senate. We did reach out to the Senators Loeffler and Perdue, neither of them returned our calls. Christine, Laura? ROMANS: All right, Kyung, thank you so much for that. All eyes on

that critical Georgia Senate runoff election. Georgians are voting in two races that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA" continues with special coverage starting tomorrow, 4:00 p.m. on CNN.

JARRETT: Even before the president's phone call became public, this week was already shaping up to be a critical task for American democracy. On Wednesday, congressional Republicans planned to vote against counting the electoral votes for President-elect Biden. Their gamut has virtually no chance of succeeding. It's a PR stunt. But the havoc it wreaks on the country's faith in the election system remains to be seen. CNN's Manu Raju has more now from Capitol Hill.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Laura. Now, the news of the phone call the president made to the Georgia Secretary of State comes amid this effort by house conservatives to try to overturn the results of the November elections. The electoral college votes that affirm Joe Biden's victory, that's coming to Capitol Hill on Wednesday in which a joint session of Congress will formally hear each state's electoral votes, and at that point, members of Congress, one house member and one senator, if they object to those votes, then there will be up to two hours of debate in each chamber. And then if a majority were to support such a move to object these results, potentially these could be thrown out.

Now, that is not going to happen because Democrats control the house and a lot of Republicans, particularly on the Senate side, are flatly opposed and appalled, some of them are, to this effort by the conservatives to try to undermine the will of voters. Now, we are seeing some of these divisions play out in the house, including among the top house Republicans. The house Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, I'm told, is essentially given a green light to these house conservatives to move forward. One of the congressmen who was leading the effort, Mo Brooks, told me that McCarthy even told the president that he was on the president's side on this. But not everyone of the Republican leadership is on the same side, including Liz Cheney, who is the number three Republican leader.

She sent a memo yesterday to house Republicans raising concerns about what she considers a dangerous precedent here to try to overcome what voters had decided in the November elections. She also raised concerns on a private conference call, I'm told last week about all this as well. On the Senate side, she has some like-minded allies including the Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell who does not want to go down this route as well, as his top deputies on his leadership team and as well as some influential members within the Senate Republican Conference, that includes the 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney. But there are a fair amount of conservatives who plan to disregard the push by McConnell to essentially stay quiet, come Wednesday.

Instead, those Republicans, about a dozen of them do plan to oppose these -- the election results and potentially object -- at least, one of them, plans to object formally on the house floor, that's Josh Hawley of Missouri. So, expect a long day on Wednesday. Expect the fight over what we have heard the president say a debate over what he said to the Georgia Secretary of State to come out on the house floor. It's not going to change the outcome, it may affect the debate, but as we're seeing a debate play out, between the two sides, there's also a pretty significant debate playing out among the Republican Party and the Republican leadership on both sides. Guys?

ROMANS: All right, Manu Raju. And Laura, you know, it strikes me that some of these people have been elected in election now that they will not certify for Joe Biden. I mean, it's remarkable, you know, doesn't that undermine their own credibility for sitting in that seat if they're saying that the -- they're not going to certify the electoral results?

JARRETT: Of course, it does. But this isn't being done in good faith. And the real question is, who is going to stand up and do the right thing on Wednesday? Who is going to deny the will of the people and who is going to recognize reality?

ROMANS: Yes, and I think some of this is not really for President Trump. It's for -- politically, they want to keep alive the hopes and aspirations of the 74 million people who voted for President Trump. So, this is about this excited voter base that he has and keeping it.

[05:15:00]

JARRETT: But why not try to win it back with facts --

ROMANS: I know --

JARRETT: With persuasion --

ROMANS: I know --

JARRETT: Instead of lies?

ROMANS: I know. I'm with you. Fourteen minutes past the hour, President Trump gets fact-checked on TV by two of the top doctors in his own government. What they say he got wrong, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Top U.S. health officials refuting claims by President Trump the coronavirus death tolls are fake news. The president tweeted Sunday that the number of COVID cases and deaths is quote, "far exaggerated" because of the CDC's quote "ridiculous method of determination" when -- which he summarized as when in doubt, call it COVID. Within hours, Dr. Anthony Fauci and the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, were both on Sunday talk shows fact-checking the president's claim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The deaths are real deaths. I mean, all you need to do is to go out into the trenches, go to the hospital, see what the healthcare workers are dealing with. They are under very stressed situations in many areas of the country, the hospital beds are stretched, people are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel who are exhausted right now. That's real. That's not fake. That's real.

JEROME ADAMS, SURGEON GENERAL, UNITED STATES: From a public health perspective, I have no reason to doubt those numbers. And I think people need to be very aware that it's not just about the deaths as we talked about earlier, it's about the hospitalizations, the capacity. These cases are having an impact in an array of ways. And people need to understand that there is a finish line in sight but we've got to keep running towards it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Getting to that vaccination finish line more urgent than ever now, as Dr. Adams pointed out, the hospitalization rate and the stress that it puts on the medical system in this country is crucial, and it is in dire straits. Nationwide, coronavirus hospitalizations have now soared to over 125,000 people. No state harder hit than California, and that's where CNN's Polo Sandoval begins for us.

[05:20:00]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine and Laura, good morning to you. Over the weekend, California really continuing to experience crisis like situations there with more than 45,000 COVID-19 cases just on Sunday alone. That brings the state's total of confirmed infections to nearly 2.4 million, with over 26,000 deaths according to the health department. The mayor in hard-hit Los Angeles over the weekend saying one person contracts the virus every six seconds in hard-hit L.A. County, and he believes the region's dense population is likely one of the key factors here. And as deaths, infections and hospitalizations continue to rise across the country, also the United States continues to fall behind on administering those COVID-19 vaccines.

Yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci speaking on air, saying that he hopes to increase momentum when it comes to those vaccinations efforts across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: I had a conversation a couple of days ago with General Perna who was explaining that they had allocated 20 million. That's good. They've shipped about 14 million and have distributed namely to the individual clinics and hospitals and places who are going to be -- who are going to be putting it in people's arms to about 13 million. They had promised it was going to be 20. I asked why we're not at 20? And there was certainly a bit of a glitch which he explained. But as we get into the first couple of days and first week of January, very likely we're going to hit that 20. So we're going to be somewhat behind by a few days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And there really is no shortage of demand for this vaccine, especially if you look at these pictures from St. John's County, Florida. A line of cars stretching for more than 3 miles, some even waiting for more than 13 hours in line just to be among those to be able to get that vaccine and, remember, for those who are lucky enough to actually get that vaccine, they'll have to come back in a couple of weeks for their second dose, Christine and Laura. This certainly creates another potential logistical challenge down the road as well.

ROMANS: All right, Polo, thank you so much for that. So, you heard it there. We begin a new year with a health crisis and a jobs crisis. But it's a different story on Wall Street after a brief bear market in the Spring, stocks bounced back to record highs. Investors rode a wave of unprecedented fiscal stimulus and vaccine announcements. The Dow and S&P 500 entered the year records, the S&P up 16.3 percent for the year. You can see how that stacks up. It's a total return of about 18 percent, including dividends in the middle of a pandemic. The Nasdaq logged its best performance since 2009 as investors fled to tech stocks. It was really this split-screen we've been telling you about throughout the year, winning on Wall Street and misery on main street.

Every business and industry has been touched by the pandemic in some way. But some key sectors have done better than others. The housing market, streaming services, big-box retailers and big tech all had phenomenal years. The economy grew more dependent on the technology sector as millions of people stayed at home. America's five most valuable companies are now worth more than $7.5 trillion combined. But industries like travel and hospitality, manufacturing, malls and movie theaters have suffered. The economy is nowhere near back to pre- pandemic strength, millions are still unemployed and hiring has likely flat-lined as the virus slows the economy, again, Laura.

JARRETT: All right, well, still ahead for you, pro-football fans just saw something they haven't seen in almost two decades. We've got the "BLEACHER REPORT" coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:00]

ROMANS: All right. Good Monday morning. The NFL play-off field is now set after a thrilling final day of games. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "BLEACHER REPORT", happy new year, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Happy new year to you, too, Christine. And what a great day of football we had yesterday of action, and the longest active post-season drought in the NFL coming to an end yesterday. The Cleveland Browns finally back in the playoffs for the first time since 2002. But it was not easy. The Steelers, they already won the division. So, they were playing a lot of their backups, still gave the Browns a game. Pittsburgh needed a two-point conversion to tie it late in this one, but Mason Rudolph, his pass would go incomplete right here in the end zone. So Cleveland holds on to win 24-22. Their reward, a rematch next Sunday night in Pittsburgh.

All right, the Miami Dolphins needed a win over the Bills to ensure that they would make the Playoffs. But they didn't even show up in Buffalo. Josh Allen just putting on a show, and check him out here on the sidelines, after Antonio Williams' touchdown, Allen gets left hanging for a high five, but he was determined -- he chases him down, he finally gets that high five. Bills crushing the Dolphins now on 56-26. Titans start there, Henry, meanwhile, running into the record book yesterday. Against the Texans, Henry becoming the eighth player ever to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. He had 250 yards rushing and two touchdowns leading the Titans to a 41-38 win over Houston. First time since 2008, the Titans are AFC South champions.

All right, the Washington football team needed a victory over the Eagles last night to win the NFC east and make the Playoffs. Quarterback Alex Smith, a touchdown to Logan Thomas in the second quarter to give them the lead. The Eagles then pulled quarterback Jalen Hurts in the fourth quarter which certainly raised some eyebrows. Doug Pederson saying after the game, he was coaching to win. Now, Washington though would hold on for the 20-14 victory. They are heading to the Playoffs despite a losing record. All right, with the expanded Playoffs, the first-time ever, we have back-to-back Wild Card triple headers coming your way next weekend, Saturday. We've got Bills-Colts, Rams-Seahawks and then Washington hosting Tom Brady and the Bucs.

Then Sunday, Titans-Ravens, Bears-Saints and the Browns at the Steelers. And today, well, regular season is over. So today is known as Black Monday in the NFL. The day coaches on the hot seat, many of them are let go and no surprise, the Jets firing head coach Adam Gase just hours after losing their season finale to the Patriots. The Jets, 2-14 this season, Gase won just nine games in his two seasons there in New York. All right, finally, some NBA action. Steph Curry putting on a show last night against the Blazers. Curry scoring a career high 62 points. He had 21 in the first quarter as the Warriors beat the Blazers 137-122.

Curry kind of struggled early in the season. But reminding everyone last night, he can still dominate when he wants to. And you know, Laura, you know, back to that Washington-Philadelphia game, you know, the Giants fans were rooting for the Eagles. They don't do that very often, but they needed the Eagles to win that game so the Giants would make the Playoffs. Many of them not happy this morning that the Eagles decided to bench Jalen Hurts there in the fourth quarter and really hurt their chances. I'm sure that, that rivalry just.