Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

U.S. Defense Officials Split on Potential for Iranian Attack; Biden: "We Just Aren't Getting All the Information That We Need from the Outgoing Administration in Key National Security Areas"; Times Square Preparing for Celebration Like No Other. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired December 31, 2020 - 16:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:16]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In our world lead today, the U.S. threat level is on high alert in the days before the anniversary of the Trump administration's assassination of Iranian leader, General Qassem Soleimani, who is responsible for a lot of terrorism against the U.S. and others. The U.S. flew nuclear capable B52 bombers to the Middle East Wednesday, in a show of force, just the latest one to deter Iran.

Pentagon officials say the military muscle flexing is meant to warn Tehran off attacking any American interests. But defense officials are split on the specific risk from the Iranian regime.

CNN's Oren Lieberman joins us now from the Pentagon with more.

Oren, tell us what you're hearing.

OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, much of the focus now is on Iraq, and what Iran or Iranian proxies in Iraq might try to carry out there. Senior military officials tell us at CNN that they're seeing evidence that Iran has moved short-range ballistic missiles into the region and that there's coordination between the militias there and Iran. They also they're seeing evidence of plans that are advanced enough and complicated enough that they would require Iranian support.

One senior defense official says the current threat level coming from Iran is the highest they've seen in a year since the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani on January 3rd, one year ago. But it's not a universally held belief at this point. Another senior official says there's no current intelligence or corroborating intelligence that there was an attack imminent from Iran.

So, as of right now, the posture and position of the U.S. military is one of deterrence. That is where that B-52 flight came in around the region. There was a similar flight just like that earlier this month, as well as a fairly rare statement from the Navy that a U.S. nuclear sub transited with two guided missile cruisers into the Persian Gulf, all part of that deterrence.

Meanwhile, Iran has dismissed this. Their foreign minister saying these accusations as he sees it, coming from the United States, are an American pretext for war.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, keeping a very close eye on the situation.

TAPPER: All right. Oren Lieberman at the Pentagon, thank you so much and congratulations on the new beat.

With just three weeks to go before taking office, any actions that the Trump administration takes with Iran will undoubtedly fall on the lap of President-elect Biden.

Joining us now is CNN's Joe Johns, who's covering the Biden transition for us.

Joe, the Biden camp has been understandably upset by what they claim is a lack of access to intelligence from the Pentagon, something normally provided to presidential transition teams. How might this be playing out when it comes to developments with Iran?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: First thing, Jake, I did talk to senior Biden official today who said that the Department of Defense still is not cooperating and has not given a briefing to the transition team in almost two weeks. Nonetheless, this senior Biden official said they are getting some information from other sources, including other departments.

And that's also, obviously, an issue with Biden and his intelligence briefings, which he is getting as well. So, some information is getting shared. Just not from the defense department, which could be a national security issue when you're talking about Iran.

Also, there was some more pushback today from the Office of Management and Budget. The director sent out a harshly worded letter, telling the transition that their statements that they're not cooperating are false, that they are sharing information with the transition, but they also said they're just not going to help the Biden people put together a budget that, in their view, would contradict the priorities of the Trump administration -- Jake.

TAPPER: Joe, President-elect Biden's inaugural committee announced today that they're going to host a national memorial to remember and honor the hundreds of thousands of lives lost to COVID-19 in the U.S. have you heard any other details on that or anything else being planned for Biden's inauguration on January 20th?

JOHNS: Just a bit. So, here in Washington, D.C., apparently a lighting ceremony that's supposed to occur on January 19th, the day before the inauguration, and this is essentially to be a moment of unity, also a remembrance of the victims of COVID-19. As well, they're asking people all around the country to light up buildings and for church bells to ring -- again, a sign of unity, solidarity and remembrance of the victims in the pandemic.

TAPPER: All right. Joe Johns, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

If the ball drops in Times Square and there's no one there to hear it, is it still New Year's Eve?

We're going to go live to New York City with a look at how different the New Year's Eve celebrations will be this year.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:49]

TAPPER: In our national lead, time may be a flat circle but the United States is just hours away from ringing in the New Year.

It's all right 2021 in much of the world. Moscow among the many cities celebrating the start of the New Year at the top of the hour.

And in New York City, the famous drop will happen, but this will be a celebration like no other, no lines, no massive crowds, no cheering fans, no holding it in for hours.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live for us in Times Square.

Brynn, walk us through what are expecting to happen tonight, and what it's going to look like?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jake, you know, I have covered the ball drop before in my career. And usually, this is a time of the night where the crowd is still staying revved up, sometimes for hours, wearing diapers. And you know what? It's eerily quiet now. We're just a few feet away from the lockdown section, frozen zone of Times Square where the NYPD has basically barred anyone from going inside unless they have taken a COVID test. It's only performers from tonight and crew.

Later on in the evening, only those frontline workers, heroes of 2020 will be escorted into smaller pens that had been set up, about 40 of them and their families, in socially distanced pens.

[16:40:02]

So, that's really all that will be in Times Square when that ball drops when we welcome in 2021.

And, of course, that is on purpose because of the pandemic. The NYPD giving out a harsh warning: don't even try to come to this area and circle around the streets around Times Square because you will be pushed back and we've actually seen that happen. People will be told don't take a picture. Just leave.

So, that is really what's going to happen throughout the evening, even when that ball drops. So we will see the excitement, maybe hear it from the streets and homes of people in Manhattan, but it certainly won't be happening in large form like we've seen in the past.

This is going to be happening with the NYPD always, of course, protecting this area but with 80 percent fewer than in the past. And again, a part of their job tonight, Jake, is just keeping people away, keeping people safe as we finally, finally ring in 2021.

TAPPER: All right. Brynn Gingras, happy New Year to you.

And a reminder, our live New Year's Eve coverage hosted by Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen kicks off at 8:00 in Times Square. Don't miss it.

As we put 2020 in the rearview mirror, we're going to look at things to remember at the start of the New Year.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:52]

TAPPER: In our health lead today, you might be eager to ring in the New Year tonight, but Dr. Anthony Fauci is predicting things might not change for a while. He says if the U.S. is able to, quote, diligently vaccinate people in the next year, the nation could return to normal life by early fall.

Dr. Andrea Bonior is the clinical psychologist and psychology professor. She's also the author of the book "Detox Your Thoughts".

Dr. Bonior, thanks for joining us. You and I have been talking regularly since the pandemic began. It's been an awful year and nobody should think everything is going to magically change at midnight.

But how can we try to get a fresh start when we know that the end is not happening, you know, at midnight tonight, we still have several more months before it's anything close to back to normal?

ANDREA BONIOR, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Right. Just because the ending isn't going to be immediate, it doesn't mean that we're not actually closer than we've ever been before. I think there's so much hope in that, there's so much hope in how far we've come when we think about all of the efforts to bring the vaccine, all of the frontline medical workers and all of the people who have chosen to stay home and stay masked and stay protecting other people. We really have a lot of hope that the human spirit has actually made a lot of progress here.

TAPPER: Some of us have been able to find silver linings in the midst of all this. I was talking with my family this morning. We talked about how much closer we all are, all the things that the kids were able to achieve this year.

But do we risk offending people who are grieving by trying to look for silver linings?

BONIOR: I think the two can coexist, just like the underside of grief is love, we can also be grateful and also mourn losses at the same time. I think that's truly engaging with life, right? That's the ability to say there are bright spots here, but there's also darkness. We're going to choose to show up and be there for each other and embrace all of it. And I think there are some bright spots. Maybe we have figured out what's important to prioritize in our lives that we can carry forward with us and grow stronger because of it.

TAPPER: What do you say to people out there? Look, we all had bad 2020s. Some people had really bad 2020s. They got sick. They lost loved ones.

What's your message to them?

BONIOR: My message is that we all are in this together. And if you have experienced severe loss, please reach out. There are people who care. There are people who love you. I know a lot of people are alone today, in ways that they don't want to be.

But the truth is, we're all part of something greater here. No matter the size of your loss, it's really important, that social support, that you seek it out. That you talk about how you're feeling, that you don't have shame in saying I'm really hurting and maybe my loss isn't as big as someone else's, but I'm really having a hard time.

And for all of those that are grieving, I really -- I want to say that my heart goes out to you and that moving forward from grief is not about the grief and loss totally going away, but it's about us growing bigger and wrapping ourselves around it and just letting it become part of us as we move forward.

TAPPER: There are a lot of people who are spending, right now, an entire holiday season by themselves. A lot of people are going to be spending New Year's Eve alone. What do you say to them?

BONIOR: Yeah, I say thank you, first of all. If you're doing it for reasons to keep other people protected, thank you. And think about how years from now, you can be looking back and knowing that that small action, or maybe it felt like a big action, actually may have saved lives and looking back with pride on the fact that you were part of this larger effort in trying to mitigate the spread, in trying to get to the end of this and get to other side. So, thank you.

It hurts. There's no substitute for being away from family when you don't want to be. And yet, hopefully, when we're all out of this, you'll be able to have some pride in the fact that you really did your part to help the effort and keep other people from dying.

TAPPER: And you and I always talk about this -- our kids, a horrible, horrible, traumatic year, a year that's going to leave scars.

As parents, what can we say or do to encourage them in the New Year, that things will get better, that this is not the new normal?

[16:50:01]

BONIOR: Yeah, I think the first step is to listen.

We want to say the perfect thing. There is no perfect thing. The perfect thing is connecting and hearing what their concerns are,

and validating their feelings and trying to help them understand that we can take baby steps in moving forward. And that pain does not automatically mean that life is ruined, that life is not worth living, that we can get through this if we lean on each other with support.

And just making it okay to talk about difficult stuff and to respect each other's feelings, and to make our relationship one where we can actually listen to each other.

TAPPER: Dr. Andrea Bonior, you've been a blessing to me and to my viewers. Thank you so much. Happy New Year. I will see you again in 2021.

BONIOR: Thanks so much, Jake.

TAPPER: We would like to remember one of the youngest Americans who lost his life to the coronavirus pandemic at this time. Xavier Harris of Utica, New York, he was only 4 years old when he died. He died the morning after Christmas. Little Xavier or Xavi Harris, he'd been hospitalized for COVID, he had been improving, his mom told CNN.

Xavier was a fighter from start to finish. We love and miss him terribly, but I want people, especially parents, to take this virus more seriously. We followed the guidelines and we still lost Xavi. I just hope my baby is a constant reminder to take COVID seriously because it most certainly has an affect on children, unquote.

Xavier was laid to rest yesterday by his parents and his two brothers. May Xavier's memory, Xavi's memory, and the memories of all those whom we've lost way too early in this pandemic, may they be a blessing.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:56:25]

TAPPER: Turning to our pop culture lead and new CNN film that will air Sunday evening which focuses on music and politics, often intertwined especially by our 39th president, Jimmy Carter, who really brought rock 'n' roll to the White House in a way no president has before or really ever since him.

Bill Weir now takes a look at how Jimmy Carter and other presidents used music to try to connect to voters in "Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is popular music downstream of politics?

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT: This is all big Bob Dylan's records before I was governor.

WEIR: Or is it the other way around?

BOB DYLAN, SINGER/SONGWRITER: When I first met Jimmy, the first thing he did was quote my songs back to me. It was the first time that I realized my songs had reached into -- basically into the establishment.

WEIR: Or maybe music is just a soul detector for any leader of the moment.

Friends of Lincoln say he held equal love for "The Blue Tail Fly" and opera, that certain songs would mist his eyes and throw him into melancholy.

In the modern era, Nixon played classical piano and Kennedy played along with Frank Sinatra.

But it wasn't until Jimmy Carter that the White House held a true fan of country, rock, blues and soul.

CARTER: There were some people who didn't like my being deeply involved with Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan and disreputable, you know, rock 'n' rollers but I didn't care about that, because I was doing what I really believed and the response I think, from the followers of those musicians was much more influential.

WEIR: Since then, Bill Clinton blew some Elvis sax and reunited Fleetwood Mac, briefly.

George Bush filled his iPod with George Jones and John Fogerty.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: I'm pretty sure I'm the only president to listen to Jay-Z's music in the Oval Office.

WEIR: And Barack Obama showed his cool dad range from Jay-Z to James Taylor.

JAMES TAYLOR, SINGER: This is my favorite president, bar none.

WEIR: As for the latest, well --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Front man Steven Tyler is now asking President Trump to stop using the band's songs at political rallies.

WEIR: The Trump years brought more cease-and-desist letters from musicians than memorable White House performances.

But as Bob says --

DYLAN (singing): For the time they are a-changin'

WEIR: Bill Weir, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Be sure to tune in this Sunday for the CNN film "Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President". It premieres at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on CNN.

You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @JakeTapper. You can tweet the show @TheLeadCNN.

Be sure to tune in to CNN tonight to say good-bye, perhaps good riddance to 2020. Our live New Year's Eve coverage hosted by Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen kicks off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern in Times Square.

Special guests include Mariah Carey and Patti Labelle, John Mayer, Snoop Dogg, Carol Baskin of "Tiger King" fame, not to mention JBJ himself, Jon Bon Jovi. Don't miss it.

And don't miss the first "STATE OF THE UNION" of 2021. My guests include Democratic Georgia Senate candidate Jon Ossoff, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, Democrat Stacey Abrams, and the Trump administration's surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams. That's 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern on Sunday.

See you in 2021. God, I hope it's a better year for you.

Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

[17:00:00]