Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Republican Lawmakers Encourage Trump to Seek Legal Election Challenges; Pfizer Says Vaccine Over 90 Percent Effective; President- Elect Biden Announces Coronavirus Task Force Members; Trump Fires Defense Secretary. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 09, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Researchers found that patients who were readmitted were more likely to be 65 or older, have a chronic health condition, have been discharged to a nursing home, or needed home health care, or they had been hospitalized before their initial COVID-19 hospitalization.

[15:00:11]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, Jacqueline, thank you.

And our special coverage continues now with Brooke Baldwin.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Hi there. You are watching CNN on this Monday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Great to be here.

Major developments today, with several major headlines we're following for you this hour, so let me bring you up to speed.

First and foremost, President Trump has announced on Twitter this afternoon that he is firing his defense secretary, Mark Esper, effective immediately. Esper will be replaced by acting Secretary Christopher Miller, who currently serves as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

Meantime, president-elect Joe Biden is hitting the ground running on his transition to the White House, delivering a speech today on his plans for battling the coronavirus pandemic.

And speaking of, just this afternoon, the United States has now crossed the grim milestone of 10 million COVID cases. This is just 10 days after surpassing nine million.

But, in a potentially major breakthrough today here in the race for a vaccine, drug giant Pfizer has announced that its vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective.

So, we have got you covered on all of that.

I want to start with Kaitlan Collins over at the White House.

And so, Kaitlan, what happened? Like, what can you tell us about Trump's firing of Secretary Esper?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that he had about a five-minute heads-up, Brooke, that that tweet was coming from President Trump announcing that he was terminating him.

And that warning came from chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who called Esper to let him know that that was going to happen.

And, of course, this came pretty suddenly today, Brooke, but we knew that this was months in the making, because the president and Defense Secretary Esper had been clashing for months. A lot of that had to do with what we saw over the summer during those protests, when the president wanted to send troops out into American streets.

And we saw, I believe it was the last time that Mark Esper held a press conference. He came out and said he did not support invoking the Insurrection Act, putting American troops on American streets to deal with American citizens just because they were protesting police brutality.

And so that was something that president was furious over. He referred to him as "Yesper," implying that he was a yes-man over the summer. And he came very close to firing him over the summer. And people had to step in and intervene and tell the president he would hurt his reelection chances, and that he should wait until after the election was over, which he has now done, in his first major act since losing to Joe Biden, by firing him.

But I wouldn't just put out Meadows calling Esper to tell him that this was coming is very reminiscent of what John Kelly, the former chief of staff, did for Rex Tillerson, the former secretary of state, when he called him to give him a heads-up while he was overseas on a diplomatic trip that he was about to get fired via tweet as well.

So this is something that has been a mainstay of the Trump administration. This is how the president started his time in office, and now he is bringing his time in office to a close with something very similar to what he's done before.

BALDWIN: Yesper. OK.

Kaitlan, talk to me about this warning. We're getting new reporting about this warning from Trump's personnel chief to any White House staffers looking for new jobs. What's the word?

COLLINS: Yes, this is Johnny McEntee. He runs the Presidential Personnel Office. We have heard about him before because he has basically gone on a loyalty hunt throughout all the departments in the administration, telling people that if they saw someone they didn't think was loyal to the president or his agenda that they should let him know, and they would be fired.

He also recently replaced all the liaisons to the agencies. And now he is basically saying that anyone who is looking for a job or that anyone hears of their colleagues looking for a job, they need to let him and the Presidential Personnel Office know, because, according to him, he says they will be fired immediately if so, though, of course, naturally, people are looking for jobs, Brooke.

That's what happens when a president loses an election. Typically, it's not an incumbent, of course, but people have to look for jobs. They only have these jobs for two more months, at most. And if it's people like Esper or Esper's deputies, they don't even have that much time.

BALDWIN: Nature of the game. They know they're leaving anyway.

Lastly, what about this? Another Trump adviser has now tested for coronavirus? What do you know about that?

COLLINS: This is a growing circle of people in the president's orbit who have tested positive for coronavirus recently. We not only this morning saw the HUD secretary, Dr. Ben Carson, tested positive, but now Dave Bossie, who worked on the president's 2016 campaign as an adviser to him now, but here's the news here, that he was recently tapped to oversee all of the campaign's legal challenges when it comes to the election.

He was supposed to be coordinating that and overseeing that. And now we have found out that he has also contracted coronavirus. He did not respond to a request for comment. But, Brooke, I'm told that he has been inside the campaign headquarters multiple times in the last week. He's been traveling extensively.

And we saw him in Arizona. And now we have learned that Dave Bossie does have coronavirus.

BALDWIN: Kaitlan Collins, thank you for all of that there at the White House.

The post-Trump era is really coming into focus today, as president- elect Joe Biden and his transition team move quickly to battle the biggest challenge facing the country, as we were just discussing, the coronavirus pandemic.

[15:05:10]

Just this morning, Biden announced the members of his coronavirus advisory board, including Dr. Rick Bright. And if his name's not familiar, let me just remind you, he's the whistle-blower from the Trump administration who alleged that his early warnings about the pandemic were ignored and ultimately led to his removal.

So, CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live in Wilmington, Delaware.

And, Jeff, what was Biden's message this afternoon?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, there is no question that president-elect Joe Biden is setting a new tone on coronavirus, really making it one of his first official acts here, as his campaign becomes the transition to power, and holding a briefing here and naming members of this Coronavirus Task Force, making clear that that is his central priority as he begins to govern.

Now, he is not commenting on the president's refusal to acknowledge the reality of the election, or most Republicans as well. The Biden transition is moving forward on this.

And listen to what Joe Biden said earlier here today in Wilmington, trying to set that new tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: This election is over. It's time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that is designed to demonize one another.

Please, I implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself. Do it for your neighbor. A mask is not a political statement, but it is a good way to start pulling the country together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, of course, that is one of the central challenges facing his organization, his transition, and certainly the vice president- elect as well, pulling this country together after a divisive election, which many Republicans are still not acknowledging the outcome of.

But you heard the former vice president there talking extensively about wearing a mask. He pulled out a mask at one point. So, that is what he is focusing on.

And, Brooke, his advisers tell me that they are heartened by some results of the exit polls from last week that said more than two- thirds of Americans say they believe wearing a mask is a public health responsibility, not a political statement.

So he's trying to reach some of those Trump voters here on this issue he hopes some of them can agree on -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Great, as he should.

Jeff, thank you very much, Jeff Zeleny in Delaware.

And speaking of coronavirus, let's get to today's major announcement from Pfizer. The company says early data shows its vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective in preventing the virus among trial volunteers.

And the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, tells CNN this is -- quote, unquote -- "extraordinarily good news."

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is standing by with the details.

And so, Elizabeth, first, when I when I read more than 90 percent effective, can you just put that in context for us? And just tell us more about the results.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, that is incredibly effective.

Most of the vaccines that we get are not that effective. There are some, but most are not. And I will tell you, Brooke, that, for months, doctors have been talking about wouldn't it be great if we got 60 percent or even 70 percent? They were hoping for 70 percent. And this turned out to be greater than 90 percent.

So let's take a listen to what the CEO of Pfizer told our colleague Dr. Sanjay Gupta this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT BOURLA, CEO, PFIZER: I think that likely, based on impact, that will be the greatest medical advance in the last hundred years, if you think about it, right?

And it is extraordinary, but it's coming at a time that the world needs it the most. Right now, only the U.S., we have 100,000 victims of COVID every day, 1,000 deaths every day. I can't count how many people are losing their jobs every day.

So it's a very important day for humanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, we heard a lot of enthusiasm there, Brooke, but let's break it down and get to the numbers that have made him so enthusiastic.

What Pfizer did is, they enrolled more than 43,000 people in their study. Half of those people got the vaccine and half of them got the placebo. And no one knew who got which. And then they let a couple of months pass by. They saw who got a vaccine and who got -- I'm sorry -- they saw who got sick.

And 94 people became sick with COVID. Then they did an unblinding. They unblinded those 94 people. And they said, wow, look at this. Only 10 percent of those 94 people got the vaccine; 90 percent of them got the placebo. That means that the vaccine did something, gives 90 percent protection, meaning, if you have a run -- if you get the vaccine and you have a run-in with the coronavirus, that there is a 90 percent chance that you will not become sick with COVID.

Now, there are lots of caveats to put in here. One of them is, the study isn't done. These are interim results. The full results won't be known for a while. But, certainly, this is very encouraging and enough for the FDA to look at.

[15:10:00]

BALDWIN: So, then, beyond, I guess, the immediate, what then happens next? For everyone watching, OK, this is really great potentially for me. Then what? COHEN: Right.

So, the next steps are is that it won't be until next week that Pfizer finds out some really important safety data. So, once they get through that data, assuming there are no red flags -- and we don't have any reason to think there will be red flags -- but if there are no red flags, then it can go in front of the FDA to get authorization.

But, Brooke, that might actually end up being the easy part. Let's take a look at this. If -- this is a very, very tough vaccine to distribute. That's because it has to be kept at minus 103-degrees Fahrenheit. That is way colder than any other vaccine that's on the market.

Doctor's offices, pharmacies, they don't have the kind of freezers that you need to keep something at minus-103 degrees. So it gets very, very complex.

Also, it could be a yearly shot, or we should really say shots. This is a two-dose vaccine, which makes it even more complicated. So you might have to get it every year. And whenever you get it, you have to get two shots based -- placed about three weeks apart.

And then, Brooke, comes the really tough part. You have to convince the public to get it. A lot of people are very skeptical about coronavirus vaccines -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Sure.

Elizabeth, thank you for the encouraging news out of Pfizer today. Good to see you. Appreciate it.

Coming up: Some Republicans are still refusing to recognize president-elect Joe Biden and his historic win. What are they waiting for? Let's talk about it.

And the lawsuits from the Trump campaign just keep on coming. But do any of them have merit? We will discuss with one of the nation's leading election lawyers.

And all eyes on my home state of Georgia, where two run-off elections could decide who controls the Senate.

Our special coverage continues after this quick break. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:58]

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

President-elect Joe Biden is moving ahead with his transition into the White House, even though President Trump is still refusing to concede defeat. An administration official tells CNN that, until he does, there will not be any steps to accommodate Biden's team. Still, the president-elect is pushing forward with his agenda,

including outlining executive orders to undo a number of Trump's policies starting on day one.

But there is this crucial roadblock. The government agency that controls the resources Biden's team will need for this transition has yet to recognize the election results, effectively limiting what his transition team can really do.

Let's talk about that with CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger.

Gloria, well done all of last week.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Good to talk to you.

BORGER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: That government agency, it's the General Services Administration, the GSA.

It's crucial in the transition. It's led by Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee. How long can she refuse to acknowledge Biden won the election?

BORGER: Well, that's really hard to know.

It seems to me--

(PHONE RINGING)

BORGER: Oops, my phone for some reason.

It seems to me that she can -- she can do it until December 14, when the electors decide who is the next president of the United States. We have 70-plus days until inauguration. So, as long as the president decides that he's not going to say, you know what, Joe Biden was elected president of the United States, she can do it that way.

And seems to me she's inclined to listen to him. And, honestly, it's very dangerous for the next administration. You have to set up offices.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BORGER: This cost millions of dollars. You have appointees. You have to send their applications to the Government Ethics Office. And this just slows up government.

BALDWIN: As it's dangerous, and the president refuses to concede here, let's talk about the Republican Party, because they are very much divided.

You have Senator Lindsey Graham, who has voiced that he wants to continue the fight. You have Senator Susan Collins. She's now only the fourth Republican senator to actually acknowledge Joe Biden's victory. She released this statement.

I just want to read part of this for everyone. She said: "First, I would offer my congratulations to president-elect Biden on his apparent victory. He loves this country, and I wish him every success."

She went on to say that she understands election results are still being challenged. And then, of course, the former president, the only former living Republican president, George W. Bush, issued a statement offering the president-elect much success.

The question is, when are Republicans as a whole going to push past the president's baseless claims and acknowledge the president-elect?

BORGER: When the president tells them to.

I don't know why we'd expect anything different. I think the former president acknowledging the results of this election is very important for the country. But for the president's supporters in the Senate, particularly those who want his support coming up in their next election, I think they're going to do whatever the president tells them to do.

And--

BALDWIN: So, if the president doesn't tell them anything in the next however many weeks, then?

BORGER: Then they will keep saying, count every legal vote. That's what they're going to keep doing, until, until it becomes very clear from the states that there's nothing there.

But not one of them wants to lead what they would consider to be an insurrection, which is, of course, ridiculous, but not one of them wants to do it, because they don't want to cross the president.

BALDWIN: Well, there's also still a huge cliffhanger here. That is, the U.S. Senate remains on the balance.

BORGER: Yes.

BALDWIN: That will be decided in early January, two run-off elections in Georgia.

Joe Biden's M.O. is reaching across the aisle. You just think back to his days in the Obama White House and his meetings, right? It wasn't with President Obama. It was his meetings with Mitch McConnell just to get some things done.

Do you think, depending on what happens in the next couple of weeks here, with what President Trump says or doesn't say to his Republicans, will we see more of that working together, crossing the aisle, you think, in the next four years?

BORGER: It wouldn't surprise me if Joe Biden started reaching out to people across the aisle. And it wouldn't surprise me if he continued to do that.

[15:20:01]

But I don't know what's going to happen from the other end. We will see. Mitch McConnell hasn't stated that Joe Biden is the president- elect.

They have worked together well in the past. But it's not -- that isn't necessarily indicative how it's going to work in the future. It depends on what the numbers are. If those two Georgia Senate races that you point out turn in the Democrats' way, maybe Joe Biden doesn't have to reach out so much to Mitch McConnell. We will see.

I think it's his instinct to do it. But he is not naive. Biden understands the political realities here. In many ways, though, I think, privately, Mitch McConnell won't mind dealing with Joe Biden. They have done it in the past.

BALDWIN: They can do it again.

BORGER: He has said publicly -- he has said publicly that Joe Biden is a man of his word. And I think he likes that.

BALDWIN: Gloria, thank you.

BORGER: Good to see you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you, thank you.

Coming up here on CNN: Coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket across the country, passing 10 million cases today. Now local leaders are taking new steps to stop the spread.

Plus, the Trump campaign is now considering holding rallies across the country to draw attention to these election challenges. Let's talk about that.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, we're going to go straight to Capitol Hill to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): In the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted. Any illegal ballots must not be counted. The process should be transparent or observable by all sides, and the courts are here to work through concerns.

Our institutions are actually built for this. We have the system in place to consider concerns. And President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options. Let's go back 20 years ago. Twenty years ago, when Florida came down

to a very thin margin, we saw Vice President Gore exhaust the legal system and wait to concede until December.

[15:25:01]

More recently, weeks after the media had called President Bush's reelection in 2004, Democrats baselessly disputed Ohio's elections -- electors and delayed the process here in Congress.

In 2016, election law saw recounts or legal challenges in several states. If any major irregularities occurred this time of a magnitude that would affect the outcome, then every single American should want them to be brought to light.

And if the Democrats feel confident they have not occurred, they should have no reason to fear any extra scrutiny. We have the tools and institutions we need to address any concerns.

The president has every right to look into allegations and to request recounts under the law. And, notably, the Constitution gives no role in this process to wealthy media corporations.

The projections and commentary of the press do not get veto power over the legal rights of any citizen, including the president of the United States.

Now, more broadly, Mr. President, let's not have any lectures, no lectures about how the president should immediately cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election, and who insinuated that this one would be illegitimate coup if they lost again, only if they lost.

So, let's have no lectures on this subject from that contingent. In late August, Secretary Hillary Clinton said -- quote -- "Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances. I think this is going to drag out and he will win it, if we don't give an inch."

That same month, Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leader both stated -- quote -- "President Trump needs to cheat to win."

In October, when Speaker Pelosi was shopping some conspiracy theory about the Postal Service, she recklessly said -- quote -- listen to this -- "I have no doubt that the president will lie, cheat and steal to win the election."

Now, does this sound like a chorus that has any credibility whatsoever to say a few legal challenges from President Trump represent some kind of crisis?

At this time last week, small business owners in cities across America were boarding up their windows in case President Trump appeared to win and far left mobs decided to reprise their summer rioting. Suffice it to say, a few legal inquiries from the president do not exactly spell the end of the republic. Here's two professors from Fordham Law School and New York Law School.

This is how they put it -- quote -- "For centuries, we have asked people who are unhappy with their fellow citizens or government agencies and institutions, bring their claims to court."

President Trump is -- quote -- "a traditional response that affirms, rather than undermines, American institutions" -- end quote.

This process will reach its resolution. Our system will resolve any recounts or litigation. In January, the winner of this election will place his hand on a Bible, just like it happened every four years since 1793.

What we know for sure is that the outcome is guaranteed to delight tens of millions of Americans and disappoint tens of millions of Americans.

But we also know that we will wake up on January 21 still blessed to live in the greatest nation the world has ever seen. And in no small part, that is because we respect the rule of law, we trust our institutions. And neither of those things is outweighed by pronouncements from partisans or the press.

Now, on an entirely different matter, Mr. President--

BALDWIN: All right, so that was -- are we staying on it, or are we leaving?

OK.

So, that was the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell.