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Some Top Republicans Rejecting Biden's Win; Texas Surpasses 1 Million Infections; E.U. Buying 300 Million Doses of Pfizer Vaccine; Top U.S. Allies Congratulate Biden; Vatican Report on Sex Abuse Warnings. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 11, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Transition turmoil: whether or not Donald Trump admits he lost, President-Elect Joe Biden is pushing ahead with his plans.
The U.S. is shattering new coronavirus records, with hope for a vaccine on the horizon.
And Hong Kong disqualifies four opposition lawmakers following a new ruling out of Beijing.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers in United States. I'm Kim Brunhuber and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: It's been one week since Election Day here in the United States but Donald Trump is no closer to accepting a simple truth: he lost. Come January 20th, after all his baseless claims of election fraud, Mr. Trump will leave the White House and Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next president.
For now, Team Trump continues blocking the transition at every turn, advising agencies to draw up next year's budgets as if nothing is changing.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): And in case you've forgotten, this is what a normal transfer of power looks like.
Then Vice President Biden, just days after the 2016 election, meeting with his successor, Mike Pence. Four years later, Trump world is steeped in denial and delusion.
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MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.
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BRUNHUBER: That's secretary of state Mike Pompeo, refusing to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election. His comments sparked fury from diplomats and Democrats, who called them baseless and dangerous.
Joe Biden, meanwhile, who got more votes than any presidential candidate in U.S. history, is pressing ahead with his transition plans. A source says the sense of calm he is projecting right now is genuine but his team could get more aggressive if things don't change in the next few weeks.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are already beginning the transition, we are well underway. And the ability for the administration, in any way by a failure to recognize this -- our win, does not change the dynamic at all in what we're able to do.
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BRUNHUBER: Attorneys for the president-elect are considering their next legal steps. Biden says he doesn't need to see the need for legal action yet.
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QUESTION: How do you expect to work with Republicans, if they won't even acknowledge you as president-elect?
BIDEN: They will. They will.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, some key Republican lawmakers are still backing Trump's claims of election irregularities. Jim Acosta has the details.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump and his GOP allies are steering the 2020 election into something out of the dystopian world of 1984. Ignoring last week's results and pretending somehow they won.
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration. All right. We're ready.
The world is watching what's taking place.
ACOSTA: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo snapped at reporters who asked about the message being sent to the world as the GOP refuses to accept reality.
POMPEO: That's ridiculous. And you know it's ridiculous when you ask that because it's ridiculous. ACOSTA: President-elect Joe Biden tried to laugh it off.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no evidence of any of the assertions made by the president or Secretary State Pompeo.
ACOSTA: Vice President Mike Pence met behind closed doors with GOP senators as the president sent out a message of defiance from his social media bunker tweeting, "We will win," though Mr. Trump has yet to face reporters since last Thursday.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
ACOSTA: President has dug in with the outright support of GOP senators.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator, have you congratulated Vice President Biden yet?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing to congratulate him about.
ACOSTA: Who are backing Mr. Trump's legal Odyssey in search of some kind of voter fraud case capable of appending the elections outcome, even as the president's campaign has yet to prove anything's amiss.
SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): The president wasn't defeated by huge numbers. In fact, he may not have been defeated at all.
ACOSTA: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there's nothing wrong with that.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Until the Electoral College votes, anyone who's running for office can exhaust concerns about counting in any court of appropriate jurisdiction. That's not unusual. It should not be alarming.
ACOSTA: A key sideshow in the transition turmoil Georgia's Republican senators have called on their State Secretary of State to resign after Biden's potential victory there. But here's the deal, those two senators are still fighting for reelection and alienating the president could upset his base of supporters.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Two Republican members of this chamber have called on their own Secretary of State, a fellow Republican to resign for no other apparent reason than the fact that President Trump did not win their state.
ACOSTA: Despite the GOP his antics, the rest of the world appears to be moving on. Leaders from us allies Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Turkey congratulating Biden. Some administration officials are refusing to go along with the president's Fars. Attorney General William Barr is calling on prosecutors to investigate voter fraud prompted one senior Justice Department official to resign.
Saying in a statement, "Having familiarize myself with the new policy and its ramifications, I must regretfully resign from my role as director of the election crimes branch."
The president's son, Don Jr., and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, have another hostile takeover on their minds. As GOP sources tell CNN, they may have their sights on leadership roles at the Republican National Committee, something Don Jr. denied, but it's a scenario that has some of the party cringing.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Ladies and gentlemen, leaders and fighters of freedom and liberty and the American dream, the best is yet to come.
ACOSTA: Privately Trump advisors are wincing at the idea pursuing the president's legal challenges to last week's election results. As one advisor told me, quote, "Not sure why the president wants a recount. It's like he wants to lose twice" -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: For more, let's bring in Amy Pope, an associate fellow at Chatham House in London. She also served as a deputy Homeland Security adviser to former U.S. president Barack Obama.
Thank you for coming on. We seem to be heading towards a precipice here. A variety of Republicans behind the scenes only tell CNN that denying the results of the election is just a move to mollify the president. There will be an orderly transition of power after all these theatrics are done.
Are you convinced?
AMY POPE, CHATHAM HOUSE: I'm convinced there will be an orderly transition, that doesn't mean there is not a price to the antics ongoing. We are in the middle of responding to one of the most significant challenges of my generation. The pandemic is in the U.S. out of control and a lot needs to be done.
Giving the president and his team the opportunity to get in there and understand the facts is absolutely essential.
BRUNHUBER: The question here is, if this is all a Republican pantomime, what is the ending here?
Particularly since they are doubling down on the stolen vote, election fraud, conspiracy talk that is coming out of the White House.
How could they accept any results, if it were fraud in their minds, regardless of what any number of Republican election officials or courts say? POPE: At some point, every state is effectively going to certify the results of their election. Those electoral votes will initially be transferred. Then it is really difficult to ignore the election.
A key piece here is that there is a (INAUDIBLE) bureaucracy (INAUDIBLE) has to ascertain the outcome of this election. That person is (INAUDIBLE). So far she's refusing to act. Until that happens and if he doesn't go willingly, there will have to be (INAUDIBLE).
Until that happens, the (INAUDIBLE) begin and begin the official transition process. So there will be a way forward that might just take longer than it really should.
BRUNHUBER: You referred to that person there. Most people before this election were unaware of the General Services Administration, before this election, headed by a Trump appointee, who so far has refused to start that process of handing over the proverbial keys to the Biden team now.
Biden was talking about that and how he is planning to proceed despite that. Let's listen.
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BIDEN: We can get through without the funding. We are in a position that we feel very good about.
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BIDEN: Our -- there is nothing that slows up our efforts to put things together. Obviously, the PDB would be useful but it's not necessary. I'm not the sitting president now. And so we don't see anything that's slowing us down, quite frankly.
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BRUNHUBER: So Biden there saying he doesn't need the transition planning money, the presidential briefing is not strictly necessary, and so on.
How much of that is just bravado?
How important is this transition time, particularly when it comes to national security?
POPE: It is critical. So the transition team can do, as the vice president or the President-Elect has suggested, they can build where they think the United States government is right now. They will have plenty of former officials who are part of that team, who understand how government should work.
But the key issue is that they will not be able to talk to people who are currently working for the government, to understand what resources they have, what is being used and what personnel looks like. They cannot do any of that exchange of information.
And that's a problem, because they need to have communication in order to most effectively make this transition run smoothly.
BRUNHUBER: All right, we will have to leave it there. The audio was a bit in and out there. But thank you so much for coming, on Amy Pope in London. We appreciate it.
POPE: Thanks very much.
BRUNHUBER: We are following breaking news out of Hong Kong, where four opposition members of the legislative council have been suspended. Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam is speaking to reporters now.
The suspensions follow a decision from Beijing that lets Hong Kong's government strip elected lawmakers of their credentials without going through the courts.
Legislators can be unseated if they support Hong Kong independence or refuse to acknowledge China's sovereignty over the territory. We are live in Hong Kong later this hour with further details.
Despite coronavirus cases and hospitalizations skyrocketing in the U.S. this week, there is a sign of hope. A vaccine could be rolled out sooner rather than later. We will have more on that next.
Also ahead, the head of a German company partnering with Pfizer on the coronavirus vaccine speaks out. What the BioNTech CEO says about the potential breakthrough. We will bring you that. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is quickly approaching a pandemic death toll of more than 240,000. Right now, more Americans are being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals than ever before. But health experts are confident a vaccine could be ready to go within months, if not weeks. Details from CNN's Nick Watt.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to ask you a few questions.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While the virus runs rampant across the country, some promising news out of the lab. Pfizer's vaccine might even start rolling out within weeks.
ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: We have anticipated that we will have enough vaccine by end of December to have vaccinated our most vulnerable citizens.
WATT: And the rest of us? DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I think you're going to get vaccinated within the first four months. I would say, by April you'll be able to be vaccinated.
WATT: And an antibody treatment from Eli Lilly just landed FDA emergency use authorization. Limited rollout begins this week.
DAVID RICKS, CEO, ELI LILLY: Potentially, in nursing homes, in outpatient centers, or even popup facilities.
WATT: This drug, similar to one used to treat the president, mimics the body's immune response, reducing the severity of symptoms in sufferers.
RICKS: This will help reduce hospitalizations.
WATT: And in just a week, COVID hospitalizations nationwide have climbed, nearly a quarter, now at record highs in 17 states, Idaho among them.
DR. JOSHUA KERN, VICE PRESIDENT OF MEDICAL AFFAIRS, ST. LUKE'S MAGIC VALLEY, JEROME AND WOOD RIVER: We have gotten to the point where we haven't turned patients away, but then required to transfer them to a sister hospital in Boise where they do still have some capacity. WATT: And in just one week, nationwide, the average daily case count has soared 42 percent, stands at nearly 120,000, never been higher. In South Dakota, more than half of tests are come back positive, ten times where states aim to be.
DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: You don't have a mask mandate here, but what I would say to the people of South Dakota is you really shouldn't need a mandate to do the right thing.
WATT: In Nebraska, a brand-new partial mask mandate kicks in tomorrow, if you're playing pool in a bar, for example, you now have got to wear one.
GOV. PETE RICKETTS (R-NE): Folks, this is serious. September 23rd, we have about 200 people in the hospital, now we've got nearly 800 in the hospital.
WATT: The governor himself quarantining after dining outdoors with someone Sunday who tested positive Monday. Texas, about to become the first state to pass one million confirmed cases.
In El Paso, one in 30 people has the virus right now. Six more trucks already deployed in the city, four more requested.
GOV. MARK MCCLELLAN, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: We've got some hard work to do before vaccines make a difference in the next few months.
WATT: Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) To discuss, this let's bring in Dr. Murtaza Akhter, who is an emergency physician with Valleywise Health Medical Center in Arizona. He joins me now live from Phoenix.
Doctor, thank you for taking the time to join us. OK, we have you up there. Thanks for doing this. So, as we heard there, hospitalizations have reached an all-time high here in the U.S. You are there on the frontlines, in the E.R. What are you seeing?
DR. MURTAZA AKHTER, VALLEYWISE HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER: Yes, you know, I hate to use anecdotal evidence. I was hearing about the numbers going up in the country and I was originally thinking well, maybe, you know, maybe it won't get so bad over here, but it is looking rough in the E.R.
And the problem is a lot of these patients sometimes we even didn't think they have COVID. But we test them before we admit them and voila, they do have COVID. And so, the real concern there is just a couple of weeks ago, COVID tests for me were coming back negative if I was testing people. Now I'm getting a lot of people who have the cough, the shortness of breath, the elderly were coming in with just diarrhea and a lot of COVID tests were coming back positive.
So much so that we're, you know, I'm wondering if I'm being exposed without knowing it. So, it is really even on the front lines, looking quite a bit worse.
BRUNHUBER: Wow. All right. Are there any commonalities there? Any threads that you can pull together in terms of how people are being infected? Is it just that people are gathering more endures these days? Are they not taking it seriously? Do you have any idea?
AKHTER: Yes, I wish that I knew because I thought people kind of figured out spreading it. I will say a lot of people that I see have family members who are sick. Obviously, somebody in the household gets sick, it would be very easy to spread it to somebody else in the household. But a part of me thinks that people have just gotten tired of, you know, quarantining and isolating, et cetera. And they are just, how long could this possibly going to last?
And they are just getting lacks, unfortunately, that is probably what is happening. And remember, you know, even if there are different states in the country, the virus doesn't know any borders. So if a neighboring state gets bad, it will spread over to the state you are in as well. I think that's a lot of what we are seeing.
BRUNHUBER: Now, there is good news, a potential vaccine looks much more effective than we thought it might be. But then, you know, to pour cold water on that, it probably won't be widely available, according to Dr. Fauci, until the spring. So what are your thoughts on those preliminary results? The timeline and some of the limitations?
AKHTER: Yes. I mean, I could talk at least about the Pfizer vaccine. I mean, that's really exciting if it is really 90 percent effective. Now, again, it's a bit early to tell, that's what they are saying. I don't have peer study showing that. But remember, we are being optimistic with even like 70 percent effective.
So, to get to 90 it's almost shocking. And so that would be really awesome if it really do have that level of effectiveness. Obviously, we need more data. But boy, when people talk about immunity, this is the way to get to it. Not by getting people sick, but by having a very effective vaccine. And of course, we'll take time to get people vaccinated, it's not just
the vaccine that save lives, but actually vaccinating people that saved lives. And so that probably will need to happen as well. But if it really is this effective, boy, that will be a huge game-changer.
BRUNHUBER: Now, unfortunately, it won't be here at least for most of us for a while. So, until then, we'll have to keep using other methods like masks. So now, the CDC is now coming out with new guidance saying, wearing a mask it doesn't just protect others. It protects you as well.
So, another reason to wear them, we saw Utah issuing a mask mandate, so some states are taking action. But, you know, from a federal standpoint, with the election and its aftermath, dealing with the COVID, you know, pandemic, it seems to have gone from a low priority, to basically no priority at all. So, is it going to have to be upped the states to act if we want to get a handle on this?
AKHTER: Well, it goes back to what I was said earlier. Just because we have different states in the country, it doesn't mean the coronavirus cares. It will easily cross state borders because it knows no borders. And so, I think if every state did what it wanted, you have the issue we have in this country.
When you have a federation of states, the virus goes wild. So, I really do think every state needs to have a mandate and whether that's from a federal decree, or from every governor working together, that could be determined.
I'm not a politician. But I do know this. The virus doesn't care. It will spread, it will find a host. And so, everybody really needs to do their part to wear masks when they're gathering. And ideally, just not been gathering at all if possible.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's exactly it. I mean, over the holidays, Thanksgiving here in the U.S. coming up, experts are worried about, you know, given the huge rise in cases. You know, I was talking to mayor of Sacramento, Darrell Steinberg, came right to the point with a tweet yesterday. So, I want to read it here.
He said, I cannot say clearly enough. For God's sake, stop gathering. We are doing pretty well with masks and social distancing. It's not enough. Does he have it right?
AKHTER: Yes. He nailed it. You know, whether it's for God's sake, or for our sake, the ones who are actually susceptible to getting the disease. Gatherings are a bad idea. There are some cases where, you know, maybe there is no choice. But by and large, gatherings don't need to happen. It's one Thanksgiving, out of hundreds of years of them that would have them. If one Thanksgiving doesn't happen, you will survive. But if you get COVID, you may not. So just this one time, maybe this one year, especially if the vaccine really does pan out, just skipping one year of holidays. I know it sucks, but it's better than getting sick and it's better than infecting others. I think -- I think the mayor nailed it. And I wish everybody would view it that way.
BRUNHUBER: Well said, good advice, thank you so much, Dr. Murtaza Akhter, we appreciate it.
AKHTER: Thanks for having me. Stay safe.
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BRUNHUBER: The European Union is hoping to strike a deal with Pfizer for up to 300 million doses of its promising vaccine. For more on that, let's bring in Salma Abdelaziz live in London.
Talk to us about the plan to roll this out. You would imagine that all these member countries jockeying to get this first, so how will this happen?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: As everywhere else, this is very big news. Europe has been dealing with a terrible second wave across the region. We are seeing 280,000 cases a day. That's up from last week. That's half of the global total of cases.
We've seen restrictions rolled out in the U.K., Germany, France while these case numbers continue to rise. Paris hospitals were overwhelmed last week, over 90 percent capacity. Last week, I was in the north of England, the coronavirus hot spot here in the U.K.
I was told by the mayor of Liverpool that their ICU capacity was also at over 90 percent. All eyes on the vaccine and whether or not they can change matters here. Take a listen to what the E.U. commissioner had to say on this.
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URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: In the past months, the European Commission has been working tirelessly to secure doses of potential vaccines. We authorize a contract for up to 300 million doses of the vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer.
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VON DER LEYEN: This is the most promising vaccine so far. Once this vaccine becomes available, our plan is to deploy it quickly, everywhere in Europe.
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ABDELAZIZ: Of course, this vaccine is widely accepted that it will not be available to the public until next year. That means, in the meanwhile, Europe has to deal with this wave. BRUNHUBER: Many countries are implementing much tougher measures
across the board.
Have they had any impact?
ABDELAZIZ: Here is the issue with this, Kim. There was weeks of rising coronavirus infection rates across Europe, before these restrictions went into effect. There is a serious lag (ph). As we know how the infection rates work, people get sick and there is a 2 week window before we start to see those people showing up in hospitals.
As of right now, they still have not reaped the rewards of lockdowns. We are still seeing ICU capacities being overwhelmed across Europe. We are seeing very high numbers of current infection rates and very high numbers of deaths.
In the U.K., they may exceed the worst-case scenario of 88,000 deaths. The real vision here is ongoing.
Are we going to have holidays?
Or will this be a time to continue these lockdowns to bring infection rates down?
BRUNHUBER: Salma Abdelaziz, we appreciate it.
It was Pfizer's CEO who made the big announcement this week, raising hope around the world. He said the company's coronavirus vaccine was 90 percent effective in trials. Pfizer has been partnering with a German firm on the development and the CEO of BioNTech says he's confident the vaccine will be approved. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more from Berlin.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A day after announcing that a joint vaccine candidate of American firm Pfizer and German company BioNTech had shown an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent in late stage trials, the head of the German company in that cooperation, BioNTech, says he believes that this vaccine will not be the only one that will be successful.
In a call with journalists, he said the good news for mankind is that vaccines can prevent people from getting COVID-19. He believes that their vaccine will not be the only one that will be successful.
He also says he firmly believes that Pfizer and BioNTech are going to be in a position, potentially, as early as next week, to apply for an emergency use authorization for their vaccine candidate with the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.
Meanwhile, the European Union has announced that, on Wednesday, they will authorize a contract with Pfizer and BioNTech to supply as many as 300 million doses of the vaccine, once that vaccine receives authorization -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
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BRUNHUBER: Up next on CNN NEWSROOM, calls of congratulations from around the world for Joe Biden as Donald Trump stays hidden in the White House. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to you, our viewers from around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
President-Elect Joe Biden is moving forward with his vision for the country, despite the Trump administration's refusal to accept the election results. Biden talked about his plans to expand the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, on Tuesday.
He says he is not worried about the president blocking a transfer of power. Mr. Trump has not been seen in public since he spent the weekend golfing. White House officials say no one should even imply he lost the election and any cooperation with Biden's team is forbidden.
Trump maybe in denial over his loss to Biden in the presidential election but top U.S. allies are not. The leaders of the U.K., Ireland, France and Germany all called the president-elect on Tuesday. CNN's Brian Todd has the details.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many of America's top allies around the world extending a hand to Joe Biden tonight.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The reception and welcome we've gotten around the world from our allies and our friends has been real.
TODD (voice-over): British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who've been a political soul mate of President Trump's calling Biden and telling him he wants to strengthen the special relationship. Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who had himself bonded with Trump also reached out to Biden.
MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I imagine those are all cruel blows to Trump because he is losing support, not only from American voters, but from some of the overseas leaders that he has counted on and done the most for over the past four years.
TODD (voice-over): Other American allies like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canada's Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have all reached out to the president-elect and his team. According to the official readouts of their calls, many of them told
Biden they're looking forward to working with him to strengthen NATO and fight the coronavirus pandemic.
BIDEN: I'm letting him know that America is back. We're going to be back in the game. It's not America alone.
TODD (voice-over): But so far, there's silence from the former KGB colonel in the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin has not yet called or sent a note to President-Elect Biden. Putin's mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov, saying it's because of President Trump's legal challenges to the election results.
DMITRY PESKOV, PUTIN SPOKESPERSON: We think it is appropriate to wait for the official results of the election.
TODD (voice-over): Trump's prolonged contesting of the election results has Putin and his acolytes reveling in the turmoil, analysts say. And a remark by secretary of state Mike Pompeo this afternoon only fuels that.
MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.
TODD (voice-over): What's Putin's biggest worry about Biden?
MATTHEW ROJANSKY, THE WOODROW WILSON CENTER: They're going to really push on democracy promotion. It's a nightmare from Moscow's perspective, because it essentially translates in the way that the Russians see it to attempts at regime change.
TODD (voice-over): But Putin's not alone in not reaching out to Biden. Other leaders who Trump has engaged with have not yet acknowledged Biden's win, like Chinese president Xi Jinping, Kim Jong- un and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. Xi and Kim, analysts say, have similar motives to Putin's.
BOOT: Their only concern is that America will have a successful and peaceful transition. That's the last thing they want to see, they want to make trouble for us. They want to undermine our democracy.
TODD (voice-over): Experts say America's traditional allies will likely be thrilled that the Biden administration will probably get America back into the Paris Climate Change accord, may not cut off the World Health Organization as Trump's threatened that Biden may try to revive the Iran nuclear deal and that he'll stand up to dictators.
But analysts say that America's allies are also probably worried that Trump, as Max Boot put it, might, quote, "burn the house down" on his way out, that he might not share critical intelligence with the Biden team.
They note that he's already leaked some sensitive intelligence operations while he's been in office. And they're worried that overall that he might undermine the Biden team before it even gets started -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Let's get the latest with Nic Robertson in London.
With Biden heading to the White House, what does that mean for that so-called special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.?
Some members of Johnson's government had openly endorsed President Trump's reelection.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There is a shift underway here in the way that Boris Johnson is now looking at the White House. He was expecting, like many people, that it would be a President Trump second term.
That's not the case. And it's interesting. The diplomacy that is now going on between Number 10 and Joe Biden's, president-elect's team, we heard readouts from both camps, both Number 10 and Biden's camp on the phone call that Boris Johnson had with Joe Biden.
They both talk about working together to combat the global pandemic, on climate change, to work together on that. In particular, the U.K.'s hosting the COP26 next year, the next global climate change summit. Boris Johnson invited Joe Biden to attend that. The U.K. is hosting the G7. There was talk about strengthening NATO, the transatlantic alliance, rebuilding the economy in a post pandemic world.
Where the two narratives deferred, Boris Johnson's Number 10 readout did not referenced the thorniest issues between the pair at the moment, which is the future U.K.-U.S. trade deal, which is where Boris Johnson thought his close connections with the Trump administration would help out.
In fact, Joe Biden has said, if, as a matter of your Brexit negotiations and talks with the European Union, that you damage the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland, then you are not going to get an easy trade deal with the United States.
It's a very clear warning for Boris Johnson. And in the readouts from the phone calls, Boris Johnson's office at Number 10 did not mention any discussion between the pair about the Good Friday agreement. However, the Biden camp did.
I think when you look as well about the phone call that was made between the Biden camp and the taoiseach, the prime minister's office in Dublin, the readout from that phone call was that there was a lot of discussion by both sides about the importance of the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland, the importance of the Irish economy, the importance of those strong, deep, historic bonds between Biden and Ireland.
So you have here Boris Johnson, caught between his old position and trying to maneuver to a new one and being called out by the Biden administration. But I think it's also very telling was that Number 10, Boris Johnson's office, really took hard that they got a phone call from Biden ahead of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, ahead of a Emmanuel Macron, the French president.
But there seems to be a lack of clarity. If the Irish prime minister got a call before Boris Johnson's office, his office tweeted that they got a call at 3:30 in the afternoon from Biden, Boris Johnson got a call at 4:00. The Irish later deleted that tweet, said it a mistake.
And the Biden, camp when asked about this, has not actually cleared up that confusion. He is known to have very strong relations with the Irish and that will be tough for Boris Johnson.
BRUNHUBER: Much has been made about that. Thank you so much for that in-depth analysis, Nic Robertson in London. We appreciate it.
Let's get the view from Beijing now. Steven Jiang is standing by live.
China is one of the nations that still has not acknowledged Biden's win.
What are we to make of this?
Is that just a sign that the Communist Party is calculating that there is more risk than reward in crossing, Trump because he is still president for a couple more months?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: Very much so but also notice that China is the notable exception in the region. You've seen leaders from many major Asian countries, Japan, South Korea, as well as the prime minister of India quickly reacting to the U.S. election, sending congratulations to Joe Biden and saying they're looking forward to working with the new U.S. government to strengthen alliances to ensure peace and prosperity.
In India, Prime Minister Modi even sent a separate message to Kamala Harris to highlight her Indian heritage and express his immense pride in her historic election.
China and its leader have remained quiet since the race was called on Saturday by U.S. media for Joe Biden. It's not surprising, though, given the state of relations between the two sides reaching, the lowest point in decades.
So I think the Chinese leadership has made a calculated decision that they see no upside in congratulating Biden right now, versus a few weeks down the road.
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JIANG: They probably have calculated that Mr. Trump is going to be president for another 70 days. And during this time period, he could still take a lot of actions to do further damage to this already frayed relationship.
We are already seeing evidence of. That the U.S. State Department has announced they are sending a senior official to Taiwan for an official visit, the third in recent months. Taiwan, the reddest of all the red lines set by China because they consider this self governing democracy as a breakaway province.
There's also the looming deadline for the Chinese technology firm Byte Dance to sell TikTok social media platform in the U.S.
With all these things on the horizon, I think it seems that China's leadership has decided they will be better to lay low and not get ahead of Mr. Trump in affirming the election outcome.
All of this is also an added bonus for the propaganda authorities here with the state media really highlighting the reluctance or unwillingness of Mr. Trump to concede this election in breathless fashion, which in turn, at least the way Beijing sees it, with the chaos and alleged corruption in the U.S. political and election system, they see it as a contrast to the superiority of the political system here, led by the Communist Party and its strongman leader, Xi Jinping.
BRUNHUBER: Not surprising. Thank you so much, Steven Jiang in Beijing.
We are following new developments out of Hong Kong, where four members of the legislative council have been disqualified after new rules announced by Beijing. Kristie Lu Stout is in Hong Kong with details.
What can you tell us about this shocking development here?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: Shocking and very significant political development here in Hong Kong. We have learned that four opposition lawmakers have been immediately disqualified after the top legislative body in Beijing, the National Peoples Congress standing committee, passed a resolution saying that the Hong Kong government, the government under chief executive Carrie Lam, can bypass the courts and be able to disqualify lawmakers if they are deemed to have endangered national security.
The four lawmakers, Alvin Yeung, Kwok Ka-ki, Dennis Kwok and Kenneth Leung. Kwok Ka-ki took to Twitter to offer his response and also his farewell. We have his tweets and will bring it up for you.
He said, "It's been an honor to have served the people of Hong Kong in the LegCo. I would like to thank my family for their unwavering support and my team for their hard work. History will hold those in power to account for as long as we hold our core values dear. A new hope will emerge."
We just heard a press conference with Hong Kong's top leader, Carrie Lam, defending this decision. She didn't give a clear reason why that these lawmakers are disqualified for endangering national security.
Instead, she said, that the lawmakers who do not respect China's sovereignty, quote, "cannot genuinely enact the basic law," the mini constitution here in Hong Kong. "So they cannot genuinely perform their duties as legislators," unquote. Because these four opposition lawmakers have been immediately
disqualified, there are now only 15 pro democracy legislators left in the legislative council, the parliament here in Hong Kong. Among those 14 left include the pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo.
I spoke to her a few moments ago for her reaction. She said the move is intended to end Hong Kong's fight for democracy. I want you to listen to this clip, her reaction to what just happened today.
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CLAUDIA MO, HONG KONG LEGISLATOR: The whole thing is not unexpected. Once again, it's part of the attrition tactic. And this time in particular, they think they have practically announced or sounded the death knell for Hong Kong's democracy fight, because, from now on, anyone deemed to be politically incorrect, seen to be unpatriotic, will not be allowed to even run in the election, let alone taking any public office.
So that's the whole point. We are all slightly shaken but we remain undeterred.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Claudia Mo also confirmed that she and the other remaining members of the pro-democracy bloc in Hong Kong will resign later today, once they can access the legislative chamber. And when that happens, the last remaining forum for opposition in Hong Kong, arguably, will be over -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: A chilling development for democracy there. Thank you so much, Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.
Last week, it was a super typhoon. Now another powerful storm is taking aim at the Philippines. We are tracking Typhoon Vamco next.
Plus a confession from the Vatican. A new report admits multiple failures in the sex abuse scandal of a former U.S. cardinal. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: At any moment, we could see the funeral procession for chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who will be laid to rest in the West Bank with full military honors.
Erekat died from multiple organ failure caused by the coronavirus. His funeral is expected to get underway next hour.
For more than three decades, Erekat was a fixture on the on again/off again peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis, playing a major role in every deal from Madrid, to Oslo, to Annapolis.
For the English speaking world, he was the face of Palestinian diplomacy. In recent years, he seemed to be the last man standing, the last one believing a two-state solution was possible. We will bring live pictures as they happen.
A powerful storm is headed for the Philippines. Vamco is now a typhoon and gaining strength, passing through areas already battered by a super typhoon last week.
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BRUNHUBER: The Vatican report admits multiple failures at the top in the sex abuse case of former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick. It says Pope John Paul II was warned about McCarrick and promoted him anyway. The next pope, Benedict XVI, also failed to, act. Delia Gallagher has details.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is the one who has saved us.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: He was once a prince of the church and a friend of presidents. Former Washington, D.C., cardinal Theodore McCarrick enjoyed a spectacular career at the heart of power in Washington and in Rome.
When the U.S. cardinals were summoned to the Vatican by John Paul II in 2002 at the beginning of the sexual abuse scandal, McCarrick was the reassuring face of that crisis, advocating zero tolerance for abusers, even as there were unrevealed allegations against him.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't say how anyone in the United States today would cover up something like that.
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GALLAGHER: Theodore McCarrick was created a cardinal in 2001 by John Paul II. Around that time an American priest wrote to the Vatican to warn them of rumors that the cardinal was sexually abusing seminarians.
But no action was taken for years until, according to the Vatican, under Benedict XVI, McCarrick was quietly advised not to travel or to be seen in public and live a discreet life of prayers and penance to avoid further rumors of his sexual misconduct with seminarians, a recommendation which the cardinal seemed to ignore as he continued traveling and appearing in public, even at the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis.
But then in June 2018 accusations that McCarrick had abused a minor were found credible by an internal church investigation in New York. Although McCarrick maintained his innocence, he resigned as cardinal, something that has rarely happened in the history of the Catholic Church.
In 2019, Pope Francis defrocked the former cardinal, officially removing him from the priesthood after a church trial found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adults.
The pope promised a Vatican investigation into how McCarrick rose through the ranks of the Catholic Church, despite years of allegations of sexual abuse against him -- Delia Gallagher, CNN, Rome.
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BRUNHUBER: Still ahead, another clear sign China's economy is bouncing back. The shopping bonanza known as Singles Day is underway. Shaking off the pandemic, it is set to shatter sale records again. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The world's biggest online shopping event is underway in China. Singles Day, the shopping bonanza is an informal anti- Valentine's Day tradition.
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BRUNHUBER: Last, year it raked in more than $38 billion, billion with a B.
Despite the economic turmoil from the pandemic, China's economy is bouncing back and sales are on pace to break records again. CNN's Selena Wang is live in Tokyo.
It seems incredible that it would be doing that in a coronavirus year.
How big will it be this year?
SELENA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's actually already broken those records from last year. The $38 billion last year now surpassed in just the first 30 minutes this year. In addition to a new three-day sales window in order to boost post pandemic sales, in fact, sales are surpassing $56 billion already. These are massive numbers.
Every, year consumers in China will wait and delay their purchases for this day, getting big discounts on everything from vacations, groceries, cosmetics, electronics, you can even buy a house.
It's more than just a barometer for consumer spending. It's a barometer for that post pandemic recovery in China, where you are seeing the V-shaped bounce-back.
BRUNHUBER: I am wondering, what impact has COVID had generally on consumption habits in China?
It is interesting, because it's not just China. It's a global trend of consumers shifting spending online. That's expected to stay even after the pandemic. When it comes to this Singles Day period, live streaming is expected to be a big growth driver. It was a big trend even before the pandemic but it's really been accelerated by the lockdown.
Core insight research expects live streaming in China to reach $125 billion this year. Analysts are also expecting luxury goods to be a big hit since Chinese consumers have not been able to travel abroad and spend internationally like they normally do.
The question is, how sustainable is this?
Is it a one-off when people are stocking up and still staying cautious?
BRUNHUBER: Selina Wang in Tokyo, thanks.
With that, that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be back in just a moment with more news. Please do stay with us.
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