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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Supports Texas Lawsuit to Invalidate Millions of Votes; Pennsylvania AG Blasts Texas Election Suit as Seditious Abuse; Biden Adds Three More Obama Staffers to His Team; Pastor Preaches Pandemic Is Fake. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 10, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Ellis, the president's attorney, wanted the president to attack now Vice President-elect Kamala Harris using this deranged birther nonsense. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much.

Let's bring in our panel to discuss. Ron Brownstein, there are 18, 18 states attorneys general who support this insane garbage Texas lawsuit from the attorney general there. In at least one case, you saw the attorney general did not even consult the governor of Utah. Why are they doing this? They can't actually believe in the merits of this nonsense legal brief.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: And not only can they not believe in the merits of it. They cannot be comfortable with the precedent that it would establish if they were somehow successful that, you know, blue states could then sue red states over their voter I.D. laws.

I mean the entire concept here, is as you say, just kind of without merit and somewhat deranged but it is reflective of what is happening. The fact that Trump has been losing so consistently in the courts I think has obscured the extent to which he is succeeding at bringing in more and more of the Republican Party at every level, enlisting them in this effort to overturn an American election.

I mean when the Pennsylvania A.G. talked about this in terms of sedition, he's using the right word. I mean you have, you know, the two Republicans running for Senate in Georgia, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, endorsing this lawsuit which would disenfranchise their own voters. A majority of the Republicans in the State Senate their have endorsed this lawsuit which would disenfranchise their own voters.

Over 60 Republicans and the state legislature in Pennsylvania. You know, endorsing an effort to disenfranchise their own voters. All of this -- I think when you add all of this up, Jake, it is raising serious questions about the commitment of the Republican Party. The moderate Republican Party under Donald Trump to small "d" democracy. TAPPER: And Gloria Borger I mean we should note that the Texas

Attorney General Ken Paxton he's been under indictment for securities fraud charges for years. Republican Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska, he told the "Washington Examiner" reporter, quote, it looks like a fellow begging for a pardon filed a PR stunt, rather than a lawsuit, unquote. What do you think?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it sure does. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. And I think he is looking for a pardon. And I think all of these attorneys general who are ambitious are going along with this, because they see their future in the Republican Party that is led by the Donald Trumps of the world and the Donald Trump wannabes of the world.

So, to follow what Ron is saying, it's not so much about the Constitution. It's about Donald Trump against the Constitution. And in this particular case, Donald Trump may be losing legally, and I think he's going to lose legally. And I doubt the court's going to take this up. But politically here, what he is going after is a split in the Republican Party that will forever remain the Donald Trump wing of the party.

So he can either use it to run again in 2024. Or he can monetize it, whichever way he wants to. But that's what he's all about. So he doesn't care about the Constitution. He doesn't care about federalism. He cares about himself. And these attorneys general are willing to follow him off a cliff here.

TAPPER: Ron, you have a new column in "The Atlantic" today, former White House Communications Director under the Obama, Dan Pfeiffer tells you in this column, quote, in the elections going forward, not trying to steal the election will be seen as RINO -- Republican in name only -- behavior. And that's the danger of this.

In other words, Trump Republicans are going to attack normal Republicans if they just abide by state and local election laws. Really? Do you think Dan's right?

BROWNSTEIN: I do. I think, you know, you don't get here in a day, Jake. I mean we have watched the Republican Party follow Trump step- by-step, over four years into deeper and more undemocratic, small "d" waters. I mean weaponizing the Postal Service. Trying to tilt the census, extorting the government of Ukraine.

And at each point along the way, you know, people have been saying, well OK, the adults are going to kind of draw the line here and say no further in terms of underlying basic democratic protections and norms. And certainly, I think people thought that after the election.

But what we are seeing is an extraordinary willingness of Republicans either to tacitly tolerate and abet what he is doing or actively, like these as these attorneys general sign on to it. And the cumulative effect -- I mean I talked to a number of students of democracy -- that you have a Republican Party that is now moving along this continuum that you know people talk about a democratic backsliding and being willing to openly try to undermine an election and as we said disenfranchise their own voters in a state.

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Perdue and Loeffler are running on a platform of disenfranchising their own voters in service to Donald Trump. So I think that the thought of this is going to end with when he leaves office is wrong. And this is an ongoing challenge, both for the country and within the Republican Party, to reestablish a commitment to basic democratic norms.

TAPPER: And what's also stunning about it is, that so much of this is not only based in coddling President Trump's brittle spirit, his fragile ego. And in Texas Attorney General Paxton's obvious desire for a pardon. But, Gloria, the Trump campaign continues to send these fundraising emails and texts to supporters each day. The campaign has raised more than $200 million since election day. 75 percent of that money President Trump, outgoing President Trump can use however he wants. He doesn't have to use it for legal challenges. This is a grift.

BORGER: Yes, it's a scam. Let me say this again, 75 cents of every dollar you send in, if you're contributing to this, goes to Donald Trump and not to this legal defense. And people ought to really understand what the president is doing here. This is about his future. It's not about your future. It's about his future.

And, you know, I keep wondering, Jake -- and I'm not a legal scholar, but as we watch all of this unfold, I wonder, in the end, you know, the president has gotten his Supreme Court nominees that he wants. The question that I have is, in the end, is he going to start challenging the Supreme Court? Is he going to say that the Court, which is now very conservative, is he going to say, you can't trust the Supreme Court? I mean, this could still unravel that way. I don't know the answer to the question I've just asked, but I worry about it.

TAPPER: I mean, if the court -- yes, if the court rules against taking up this crap lawsuit, I think there's no question about it. But to be continued. Gloria Borger and Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.

It's beginning to look a lot like the Obama White House. The very familiar additions to the incoming Biden administration, next.

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TAPPER: In our 2020 LEAD today, President-elect Joe Biden today announced plans to bring back two key figures from the Obama administration into the Biden administration. He tapped Susan Rice to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, Rice was President Obama's National Security Adviser and the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in the Obama administration.

Biden also wants to bring back Denis McDonough, Obama's Chief of Staff at the White House, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. I want to bring in CNN's Jeff Zeleny, he's covering the Biden

transition in Wilmington, Delaware. And Jeff, both Dr. Rice and Denis McDonough are experienced Washington hands. But certainly, these nominations or inclusions make it more difficult for Biden to push back on the idea that this feels like an Obama third term.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the faces and the names absolutely do. And yes, they are in different positions, in many cases working in different buildings, but they are a lot of the same folks that you and I both covered during the Obama administration.

And when Joe Biden's been asked about this, he says the biggest difference are the circumstances under which he's governing. That is what differentiates his new administration from the Obama administration.

But there is now question when you look at this return of Obama officials here, just across the board from Susan Rice to Denis McDonough, to Tom Vilsack,

his Ag Secretary, Tony Blinken, Avril Haines, John Kerry, of course, on and on, Janet Yellen, these really are many of the same faces from that administration.

And of course, tomorrow here in Wilmington we're going to see the announcement in person of five more officials, Tom Vilsack, again, as Secretary of Agriculture. Marcia Fudge, the Ohio Congresswoman as the head of Housing and Urban Development.

Ambassador Susan Rice, she may be the most interesting one, Jake, because she of course had long sought after the secretary of state role, but she did face a difficult confirmation. So this, of course, does not require confirmation.

So when you talk to Biden advisers about really what is going on here, they say this, that the President-elect is looking for competence, people who know how to do the jobs in these various agencies. They believe that the government over the last four years has been so badly damaged there's not much time for, you know, learning how the buildings work, learning how this bureaucracy works. So they believe it's a repair mission if you will. But, yes, there's some criticism from the outside. There certainly is not much new blood here in this team.

TAPPER: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

CNN is looking at anti-vaccine attitudes in Trump country and an influential pastor who tweeted my vaccine is my immune system. Why building trust in the vaccine is as important as what's in the needle. That's next.

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TAPPER: For months, we've seen President Trump turn wearing a mask into a political issue. But now as the United States nears the first coronavirus vaccinations, the question, will that resistance to wearing masks among Trump supporters translate to a reluctance to be vaccinated?

CNN's Elle Reeve visited a largely conservative county in Tennessee for this story.

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ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): News of imminent vaccines comes just as COVID-19 surges through rural parts of the country. And the political debate is as heated as ever.

PASTOR GREG LOCKE, GLOBAL VISION BIBLE CHURCH: And I don't want to wear a mask when I go in either.

REEVE: We wanted to know if the same resistance to masks would happen to the vaccine. So we reached out to Greg Locke, a pastor in conservative Wilson County Tennessee. Who says he's grown his congregation by protesting COVID control measures.

LOCKE: We're not going to close our church, ladies and gentlemen because of COVID-19.

There's a lot of sincere people that are doing their best to put out a vaccine. But that doesn't mean I'm going to take it. I don't believe the government can tell me, you know, when or how I can stick a needle in my arm or my kids' arms. Super government overreach.

REEVE: Locke says he's moved his services outdoors not to limit the spread of COVID but to handle all of the new people who've come.

LOCKE: They fell for fear. I'm ain't worried about some fake pandemic.

I'm saying the sickness is real. I'm saying the pandemic is not.

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REEVE (on camera): I don't understand what you mean when you say pandemic's not real.

LOCKE: Pandemic is not real.

REEVE: But what do you think a pandemic is?

LOCKE: Not COVID-19.

REEVE: But what do you think --

LOCKE: There is no pandemic.

PUBLICIST: I think we're stuck on this pandemic question (INAUDIBLE).

REEVE: Then why can't you answer it?

LOCKE: I did. There's no pandemic. COVID-19 is not a pandemic. REEVE: But what is a pandemic then?

LOCKE: Not what we're experiencing. I'm 44 years old, we've not had one in my lifetime. So I don't know. And this is not it.

REEVE (voice-over): To be clear a pandemic is a disease that spreads across many countries and affects many people. The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March and experts say about 70 percent of people need to get the vaccine to control COVID spread.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not been tested enough. We don't know what's going to happen with it. Later on it may help you now, but in the future, it could cause more harm to your body if you get it heat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not, you know, this anti-vaccination, you know, ah, it's the devil, it's like, personally, it's a choice.

REEVE: Some people at this service told us they'd seen Locke on Facebook and liked his message.

LOCKE: Donald Trump won the election by a landslide and he will be reelected as the President of the United States.

REEVE: We wanted to know how widespread his views are, so we drove deeper into Wilson County where there's a COVID testing site at the fairgrounds.

We met Quintin Smith, a cattle farmer who runs the agricultural center there. And takes extra care to keep things sanitized during COVID.

QUINTIN SMITH, DIRECTOR, JAMES E. WARD AGRICULTURAL CENTER: You all will never go to a fairground whether anybody is proud of their bathrooms as I am. Come on in.

I'm cautious about running out and doing anything. You know, I think everybody's excited about there being a vaccine, but I think it's going to be kind of everybody waiting around and watching the first responders and nursing home folks and you know if there's any reaction to it.

Everything here is completely clean.

Let me tell you what my daddy always taught me. Son don't never believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: I think it's entirely human to be a little skeptical and little hesitant. After all, this is a new virus in the human population. This vaccine uses new technology. It's been developed very rapidly, that makes people cautious.

REEVE: Based our recent interviews and recent polling the Pastor Locke represents an outspoken minority. Surveys by the Pew Research Center found that Republicans are less likely than Democrats to see COVID as a major threat to public health. But also that there's a growing acceptance of the vaccine nationwide including among Republicans. 60 percent of Americans say they'd take it, and nearly half of those who are reluctant say it's possible they'd get it after others do so. Dr. William Schaffner who's been working on infectious disease at Vanderbilt University since the '60s says that in order to overcome vaccine hesitancy public health officials have to build trust.

SCHAFFNER: You have to respect people, you have to respect where they're coming from, hear what they say and then try to respond to their concerns.

SMITH: You know, we give shots to cows all the time, and you do get reactions to shots. So, you know, we have given a slot to the animal, then it walks out there 20 feet out of the chute and drop dead. Everybody's going to respond differently.

REEVE (on camera): After the first responders take it, when it's your turn, will you take the vaccine?

SMITH: I probably will go on and take the vaccine.

REEVE: How do you feel about the vaccine?

GWEN SCOTT, FIDDLER'S GROVE COORDINATOR, WILSON COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS: Anything new that's not been proven I'm not sure I want to be the guinea pig, you know. And I really wish there was time for more testing, but there's not. And we're losing too many people too fast so we have got to do what we can. I know it's become a political issue at times, but it shouldn't be. This is a health issue.

SCHAFFNER: The approach to COVID has had substantial political overtones. People have attitudes about this, and it will not be easy to change those attitudes.

REEVE: Are you going to tell the members of your congregation not to get the vaccine?

LOCKE: The members of my congregation can do what they want to, but they'll watch my videos and know I'm not getting it.

REEVE: So you expect them to model your behavior?

LOCKE: I expect them to use their Bible and use their brain.

REEVE (voice-over): Ellie Reeve, CNN, Wilson County, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And our thanks to Elle Reeve for that report.

We have some breaking news. We just learned how many House Republicans are supporting President Trump's insane legal push to discredit and overturn the election results. The number may shock you or maybe not.

Plus in just moments an FDA panel could give the green light for the first vaccine in America outside of clinical trials to start being administered. Stay with us.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper and we start with breaking news in our HEALTH LEAD today. What could be a massive step forward for America's first coronavirus vaccine.

Right now an FDA panel is discussing whether Pfizer's vaccine should be authorized for emergency use. The FDA could give the official green light as soon as this meeting ends, and the first Americans could theoretically get vaccinated by this weekend. It is a glimmer of hope in what has been a terrible and tragic week.

Right now the U.S. has a record number -- record number of COVID hospitalizations. More than 106,000. Yesterday was the deadliest day of the pandemic so far in the United States.