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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Key Cabinet Members Absent from Meeting with Trump; Trump Pushing for Appointment of Special Counsels to Probe Hunter Biden And 2020 Election; House Minority Leader McCarthy Won't Say If Biden Is President-Elect; Town's Rules May Prevent Trump from Legally Living at Mar-A-Lago; COVID Nurse Practitioner One of First to Be Vaccinated in Iowa. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 16, 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]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: None of them were there, and typically if the cabinet secretary can't make it, if they're traveling or maybe if they're quarantining like Secretary of State Pompeo is, given he came in contact with someone with coronavirus, they would send a deputy instead.

But none of those agencies sent deputies there, Jake, and so we've asked the agencies why no one was at this meeting, given that it is a cabinet meeting with the president, even though, of course, they still have only five weeks left to go. So it's not really clear what they would accomplish, but those agencies have not gotten back to us on a reason why they weren't there yet -- Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Maybe they had job interviews. Kaitlan, stick around, I want to bring in former Congresswoman Mia Love, Republican of Utah, to talk about all of this.

So let me start with you, Congresswoman Love, Hunter Biden is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney of Delaware for potentially violating tax and money laundering laws. It might make sense for justice reasons to appoint a special counsel because, A, otherwise how can the American people have faith that Biden administration can handle this all fairly. But also, I have to say, this does solve a potential conflict for whomever Biden picks as attorney general. They won't have to decide what to do. What do you think of it all?

MIA LOVE, FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSWOMAN, UTAH: Well, I think that, and no one is above the law. So, yes, it does make sense. It might be able to help the Biden administration. But I want to be very clear that the time for us to continue to have special counsels to investigate political opponents, really, we have to get away from that.

These are not the tools that should be used by the taxpayer dollars. And so If there's something wrong, absolutely, look into it. We don't want anybody to feel like they're above the law, and we don't want anybody abusing their position. However, we also don't want to set this precedent that you can use special counsels to investigate your opponents. It's not good for the American public. Tt's not good for us as Americans.

TAPPER: Yes, which is certainly how outgoing President Trump intends to use the special counsel. Kaitlan, there's also this idea of President Trump wanting to appoint a special counsel to investigate the 2020 election and alleged voter fraud, but there have already been at least three recounts, lots of investigations, lots of court hearings, at least four dozen of them. There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

What is there to investigate for a special counsel? It's already been looked into by a ton of officials and judges and other people, Republicans and Democrats and nonpartisan people?

COLLINS: And also the Justice Department which the president wants to appoint the special counsel to look into this. We heard from Bill Barr when he said they actually did look into some of the specific claims that the president and his allies were making. He said the Department of Homeland Security also looked into it, and they did not find any evidence of this widespread coordinated fraud, these allegations you've heard from the president and other Republicans.

So it's not clear why they would do that. But what is clear is that the president wants it, and he's even talked about people who could be the special counsels, mulled over some appointees who could potentially take that role.

So whether or not it comes to fruition is still a question. But we know, you know, Trump has five weeks left in office. He's made pretty clear he's got a few things that he wants to get done before he leaves and this is something that I'm told by sources he has talked extensively about in recent days.

TAPPER: And Congresswoman Love, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who recognized that Joe Biden won yesterday. He's also now warning his caucus, Republican Senators, do not challenge the election results on the floor on January 6th.

But today, Republican Senator Josh Hawley said he has not ruled out such a move. Now last night CNN asked House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican from California, to acknowledge that Joe Biden won in the electoral college. What you hear is crickets. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now that Joe Biden has won the election, and he's President-elect --

(REP. KEN MCCARTHY WALKING AWAY)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Kevin McCarthy just completely ignoring the question, completely ignoring more than 80 million American voters. At what point are your former colleagues, House Republicans, going to acknowledge reality here?

LOVE: I understand waiting for the electoral college to make their decisions, I understand waiting for these results. But at this point I think there's a lot of work to do. People have got to move on, understand the situation the same way I said that there was an election held in 2016 and Donald Trump was the president. There was an election held in 2020, which Joe Biden became the president-elect. So we need to move on.

There are a lot of things that people need to do. People need to -- they're concerned about coronavirus, they're concerned about how the economy is going, they're concerned about making sure that they put food on the table. I mean, we've got to move on.

[15:35:00]

This is the reality, and I think that elections have consequences.

TAPPER: And Kaitlan, it's really remarkable how much President Trump has not been talking to the likes of you, to reporters. He's done a couple interviews on his favorite channel, but beyond that, he's really hiding almost the way he used to make fun of Joe Biden hiding in his basement. I mean he's really inaccessible. What do you make of it all?

COLLINS: It's incredibly rare for us to not hear from the president the way that he has been acting over the last several weeks, and not opening up the cabinet meeting today really said it all because that is something typically the president always asked for reporters to come in. I can only think of one cabinet meeting that happened last year where reporters were not brought into the room.

He brought us in in May when they had one. And so it really is indicative of this larger sense that you're seeing from the president where he just doesn't want to speak to reporters.

And it also seems to be filtering over into his personal life and what he typically does during the holidays. Because remember during Thanksgiving he canceled a trip to Mar-a-Lago. I was told that was because he wanted to get a lot of things done. Right now there's a lot of internal confusion about whether or not he's going to be going at all over for the Christmas break. Some people, senior staffers have said they don't think he is going to be making that trip.

And so, you know, that is often an opportunity where the president goes golfing. He, you know, walks around and bumps elbows with guests in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago. It's one of his favorite activities.

And so you're just not seeing the normal behavior that you see from Donald Trump, and I think all of that has to do with the fact that he has been entirely consumed by this election loss.

TAPPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Congresswoman Love, great to see you again, Merry Christmas. Thanks for being with us today, we appreciate it.

LOVE: Merry Christmas.

TAPPER: After leaving the White House, President Trump may not be able to live full-time at his own club, at Mar-a-Lago. Why his own deal might make it legally impossible for him to move there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00]

TAPPER: In the POLITICS LEAD, President Trump may face a new legal challenge with any plans to turn his winter White House at Mar-a-Lago into a permanent residence.

A source telling CNN that the renovations are already in the works, and first lady Melania Trump plans to head to Palm Beach this Friday to check up on the changes. But her travel comes as neighbors are warning in a letter to Palm Beach that Trump's move could also bring more chaos to the neighborhood.

Let's bring in CNN's Kate Bennett. Kate, neighbors there have their complaints about the noise and the traffic, but actually Trump might have a bigger issue. Is this move even legal? I mean Mar-a-Lago is a business, right, it's not a private residence.

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right, so this is the question and it's a longstanding one back in 1993 when Trump wanted to, you know, make money from this purchase of Mar-a-Lago, he never intended to have it necessarily be own private residence, he turned it into a club.

Now the town had to approve that, and part of the approval process included Trump agreeing in documents that CNN has seen to not make it his private residence. He has to abide by the rules of the other club members in the agreement, which is he cannot stay there longer than 21 consecutive days.

So that clearly creates a problem for the Trump family who are planning ostensibly to move there after the White House. So certainly there is now this back and forth. A Trump organization spokesperson says there is no such agreement, the letter from the lawyer representing the neighbor says there is an agreement, so this could become a very complex situation. But based on an agreement signed many years ago.

TAPPER: But I guess the big question is, and this is always the challenge with this individual, Mr. Trump. Is he actively trying to change these provisions he agreed to when he made Mar-a-Lago a club, or is he just ignoring the rules right now?

BENNETT: Well, that's hard to say. The White House didn't comment. The family as I mentioned is going forth with this. There are renovations are happening. There's an expansion of the private quarters into some other rooms including the Secret Service down rooms, so they lose some of their office space. Mrs. Trump has been looking at schools for Baron Trump. So all systems

go that they're moving there and plus, they made themselves Florida residents. Remember, they moved officially from New York to Florida, so that means they have to stay down there at least six months of the year.

So if this provision, this agreement from 1993 about turning the club private holds, there's quite a discrepancy between six-months having to stay, and not being able to stay longer than 21 days. Now as we know, as you just said, the president likes a legal fight and likes to gear up for them. This could be headed that way. We'll just have to wait and see.

TAPPER: He's also not a big fan of laws and rules. Kate Bennett, thanks so much, appreciate it.

BENNETT: Thank you.

TAPPER: She's an ICU nurse taking care of COVID patients every day, and she just got the coronavirus vaccine. We're going to talk to her about her experience, next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:00]

TAPPER: Back to our HEALTH LEAD. All across the nation shipments of Pfizer's COVID vaccines continue to arrive. Millions more doses are on the way we're told according to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, those most at risk are people in long-term care facilities and, of course, front line health care workers. They are receiving vaccinations right now. Such as Allison Wynes, an ICU nurse practitioner at the University of Iowa Hospitals who was fifth person at her hospital to get vaccinated this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLISON WYNES, CRITICAL CARE NURSE PRACTITIONER, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HOSPITALS AND CLINICS: So I'm all done. I got my shot. You can see my band-aid right there. Hey, everyone!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And Allison joins me now. Allison, you've been on the frontlines in your hospital's COVID ward since the very beginning. I know that the state of Iowa has been hit hard. Tell us first what it was like to get the vaccine Monday?

WYNES: It was such a moment of pure joy and happiness, and a moment of hope. I haven't felt that light or that happy in months. And I was so excited that I got the call and was able to be nearly first in line to get the vaccine. I just kind of hopped my way up there and floated all the way and was just so excited and honored to be able to get my vaccine as one of the first in Iowa.

TAPPER: So have you had any vaccines? [15:50:00]

We're told maybe 10 percent of people who get the vaccine have some fatigue or muscle ache, nothing major. But have you had any side effects yet?

WYNES: No, the next morning I woke up and my arm was fairly sore. The shot itself did not hurt bad at all, it was even less painful than a flu shot. The next morning again, my arm was sore. But as soon as I moved around and got out of bed I felt just fine. I've been a little tired but I think that's just because I've been working 12-hour shifts in our COVID unit but nothing to report or nothing out of the ordinarily at all.

TAPPER: Are you seeing any hesitancy among anybody where you are to take the vaccines?

WYNES: No, my coworkers are all very excited. I think, you know, a couple of months ago or even this summer we maybe all had a little bit of hesitancy. It seemed like things were rolling out very fast. But the more we learned it, the more we learned about the safety and the fact that we're building on science that already exists, and now everyone just can't wait. But we're all happy to join this club as the first people who are getting vaccinated in the state and I haven't met one coworker who isn't willing to get it.

You know, there may be some hesitancy here and there but everyone is ready and, you know, they said I'll come in at 2:00 A.M., I'll come in at 4:00 A.M., whatever it takes, I'm ready to get my vaccination. So --

TAPPER: Yes, I feel that way too, although I'm a lot farther back in line, I think like 250 million or something like that. You recorded a video diary showing the world just how difficult it is to work in a COVID ward. You also have a 9-year-old daughter. How are you feeling today, how are your spirits today with the situation on the ground in Iowa?

WYNES: You know, I'm still feeling that element of excitement and hope from Monday. My daughter was very excited for me to be vaccinated as well, and so was my son. So we are all still kind of riding this high. But there is this reality that as soon as I was done getting my vaccination, I went right back into the COVID unit and took care of a bunch of very ill COVID patients.

So the reality of what we are living in now is that we're still seeing quite a few sick patients and there's still such a long way to go. So we're still, you know, dealing with that heavy feeling, but it's just nice to have that little piece of hope or something to look forward to that this pandemic will end but it's not ending today, that's for sure.

TAPPER: One of the difficulties for people like you and also for people like me to convey just how serious this is to the public right now, you know, 157,211 cases just today and 2,470 deaths just today, total deaths 306,243 in the United States, those are numbers. But people aren't seeing the reality of this, the people who are intubated, the people who are dying, the people who are struggling. Tell us what you're seeing there on the frontlines.

WYNES: That is exactly it, Jake. We are seeing people who are getting incredibly sick from this virus. It seems like this second wave has hit people harder than the first. I don't know if that's just because the numbers are so much bigger this time around so we're seeing more and more ill people.

But people are getting incredibly sick and it's affecting, you know, not just their lungs but their hearts, their brains, their kidneys. It affects every aspect of their life. And even if they do survive, they continue to have problems, especially those who develop a critical illness for months and months afterwards. It takes quite some time to survive.

And, you know, that's one of the reasons we've been making -- or I've been making these COVID diaries, is because you hear numbers over and over and over on the news, and it just sounds like numbers after a while. And I really wanted to put a voice and a picture and a thought behind what's happening.

There's machines everywhere. It takes an incredible amount of care, extra nurses, extra staff, extra RT, all to give these people what they need.

TAPPER: I know that you're not a politician and you're not a pundit so maybe you don't want to wade into this. But I've seen your governor really criticized for not taking the virus as seriously as she should have early -- not even early, until just a few months ago. Was that frustrating for you to see so many people from the president to your governor to others not taking this deadly pandemic as seriously as you knew as a frontline worker, it needed to be taken.

WYNES: Right. So it broke my heart to see this type of event politicized at all. There's nothing political about a pandemic. It's a virus. It's a very real thing and people are getting seriously ill. And I still, to this day, don't understand why we are listening to anyone but experts in the health care field, and in the science field.

[15:55:00]

And we're taking recommendations on what should or shouldn't do. It's as simple as that to me. It is frustrating not to have people listen to experts, whether it's a neighbor or a friend or a family member or a politician. It just -- it still doesn't make sense to me that this has gone that way.

TAPPER: Yes, it doesn't make sense to me either. Allison Wynes, thank you so much for your time and thanks for what you do, which is so important

WYNES: Yes, thank you.

TAPPER: Really appreciate it. A health care in Alaska also got the vaccine but is now suffering from a severe allergic reaction. How big of a concern is this? Is this a concern. We're going to talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)