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Trump Touts Arizona Vote Count while Dismissing other Results; Vote Counting Nearing an End in Close Battleground States; President- Elect Biden Names Ron Klain as his White House Chief of Staff; U.S. Breaks Record for New Daily Cases, Hospitalizations. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 12, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:13]

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you so much for sharing your day with us.

President-elect Biden building his White House team. Tapping a long- time aide with deep West Wing experience to be his chief of staff. Now, Ron Klain, may not be a household name, but the chief of staff job is critical especially when you have to build a new White House team without any cooperation from the existing White House team. It is sadly Groundhog Day on that front.

President Trump again this morning tweeting and retweeting fantasies about his prospects of overturning the election results. Vote counts in Pennsylvania and Georgia continue today. And Biden's lead is bigger in both states now compared to when the race was called back on Saturday.

The count is moving a bit in the president's direction in Arizona and the president is taking note. Tweeting this, "From 200,000 votes to less than 10,000 votes. If we can audit the total votes cast, we will easily win Arizona also."

President's numbers are a bit off, but we will know the final Arizona tally soon. But that tweet is just more evidence of the president's folly. Even if he did come back and win Arizona, it's not enough. Joe Biden is still the president-elect. Period.

There are a few more Republicans today saying it is past time for the president to end this tantrum. But most GOP leaders won't stand up to the president because they fear him and because they need him. Mixed in with those ridiculous tweets alleging widespread voter fraud are tweets supporting the two Republican senators now facing runoff elections in Georgia. Democrats long past being amused.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The election is over. It wasn't close. President Trump lost. Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. Kamala Harris will be the next vice president of the United States. Senate Republicans, stop denying reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The transition challenges could not be more clear. More than 700,000 Americans filed for unemployment claims last week. That's one of too many sober coronavirus-related numbers. More than 144,000 new infections reported Wednesday. That breaks the previous record for most cases in one day. That record set Tuesday.

Also, another record high number of hospitalizations and the highest daily death count since back in May. The president still won't let his coronavirus team talk to president-elect Biden's coronavirus team. But Dr. Anthony Fauci insisting this morning, the important work on vaccines and new treatments will not be impacted.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Certainly, it's having no impact negatively on our ability as well as our activity in developing vaccines and developing countermeasures. Help is really on the way. You know if you think about it metaphorically. You know the cavalry is coming here. Vaccines are going to have a major positive impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We'll take a deeper look at the troubling coronavirus numbers in just a moment. First though, these numbers. The numbers that make crystal clear. Joe Biden won, period. This is the national election map here. You see the red and the blue. 51 percent for Joe Biden. 5 million -- 5.2 million vote lead right now in the popular vote.

Now, that's not how we pick a president. We do that state by state, but that in and of itself is a powerful number. Now, let's go through some of the big states. Pennsylvania is the state to put Joe Biden over the top. There's his lead right now.

Let's go back in time. The president says this is going to change in his favor. We called the race a little before noon on Saturday. This is noon on Saturday. Joe Biden up 34,414 votes. This is right now, Joe Biden up 53,898 votes. Get it? The trend is going against the president as they count more legally cast ballots.

Georgia. Let's go back in time. Again, we called the race a little before this. This is noon on Saturday. 7 ,248 votes with Joe Biden's lead then. They continue to count legally cast ballots, and let's bring it up to now, 14,057. Almost double the lead he had on Saturday.

Let's move west. Yes, the president can claim some progress in Arizona. If we go back to noon on Saturday. In the east, when we called the race, Joe Biden was up 20,000 votes. Not the 200,000 the president talks about. But on Saturday, it was 20,000 votes. 20,000 plus.

And here's where we are at this moment, 11,635. Possible. Most experts think probably not, but it's possible as they keep counting votes here. The president could catch up. But here's the math that matters most, even if he does, 270 electoral votes to win the White House, here's where we are right now, right?

Here is where we are right now. Even if - even if -- let's assume Biden holds onto Georgia. Even if President Trump somehow had a comeback in Arizona, and we haven't called North Carolina yet. Let me get the red. We haven't called North Carolina but that's going his way and we'll give him this one here. It's not enough. Joe Biden still has 295. You would have to overturn Pennsylvania, overturn Georgia and still overturn another state to do that.

[11:05:03]

There are some adult voices in the Republican Party. The Ohio governor among them, who says Mr. President, accept the math. The country needs that.

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GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Look, I think that we need to consider the former vice president as the president-elect. Joe Biden is the president-elect. The White House has every -- the president and his campaign has every right to go into court. Our courts are open. Our courts are the best place, frankly, to adjudicate facts. We just all need to take a deep breath. There's a process for all of this. We need to follow the process, and we need to move this country forward.

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KING: With us to share their reporting and their insights this hour, CNN's John Harwood watching from the White House and our MJ Lee is with the Biden transition in Wilmington, Delaware.

John, I want to start with you. You do see you know Governor DeWine as a grownup play a little bit sound later from Senator Lankford who's a grownup saying at least the president should start the transition. Press your case in court if you want. Even though most Republicans roll their eyes at the prospects. Is there any indication at all the person who matters most, the incumbent but defeated president of the United States is going to listen?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think over time, John, the pressure is going to increase on him. Even today, look at his Twitter feed, he's doing more and more bashing of Fox News on his Twitter feed and talking about alternative media outlets. One of the speculations that we've had about his post presidential life would be that he would be involved in conservative media. That does nothing to disabuse that notion. He was a retweeting something that suggested the Democrats had to be stopped in Georgia otherwise Kamala Harris would be the deciding vote in the Senate. Well, she's only deciding vote in the Senate if Joe Biden is president.

So, I think President Trump understands he's lost the election. He's playing it out the charades to cover his embarrassment and also to try to position himself for post presidential life. But these statements by people like Governor DeWine, by Jim Lankford, the senator from Oklahoma. We've had that repeated by Chuck Grassley, the veteran senator from Iowa this morning.

More and more of that pressure is going to come on, especially as we get to next week. The Georgia recount gets done, more and more lawsuits are frivolous are going to be thrown out of court. So, I think the ball started rolling downhill. The only question is whether the -- when the president calls an end to the game that he's playing.

KING: It's an important win MJ Lee. Age is for the normal transition of power. One of the things that forgive me Mr. President makes America great. But also, because we're in the middle of this pandemic, and the Biden team should have every right to have full access to the Trump team for data and for insights and for advice from the experts who actually care about the pandemic.

But the first steps out of the Biden team have been interesting. Ron Klain, a veteran Biden adviser, worked for him in the Senate years ago. Then worked in the Clinton/Gore White House, came back in the Obama/Biden White House. The first pick was Ron Klain who is a throwback, if you will, and progressives have been saying we need new faces. And yet, I thought it was striking, you had immediate progressive embrace of the president-elect's big choice. Why does that matter?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it matters, John, because the last thing that the Biden team would want right now is any kind of sort of political distractions and that includes noise coming from the progressive wing of the party saying that you know they're unhappy with a kind of personnel announcement or decision or some kind of policy decision that might be coming in the weeks ahead. Everything that the Biden transition team is doing right now is trying to show that they are focused, that they are undeterred in moving forward with this transition process despite all the noise that we're getting from the Trump team and despite the reality that the president himself has not officially conceded yet.

And I think it's really important to point out to viewers that there is a reason that this transition process is in place in the way that it is. You know, typically these things happen, and unfold in the way that they do because it is helpful to the president-elect as they are preparing to enter the White House to get prepared, to get briefs so they can be as ready as possible on day one, and these are not ordinary circumstances right now.

We have a pandemic. We have an economic crisis that a president Biden is going to have to deal with, so I think you're absolutely right that the more information that the Biden team can get their hands on, the more briefings including the classified briefings that he is technically due right now, but is simply not getting, those would all be helpful for him to have.

So I think this is a part of the big reason why we are starting to see a trickle of Republican voices and public figures starting to say look, maybe they're not ready to say Biden has won this thing, but they are at least starting to make the sound and the noise that for the sake of national security, it is important for Biden to start getting these briefings so that he can be prepared on day one. [11:10:05]

KING: And to that point, John Harwood, back to you, you heard the Governor DeWine at the top of the program. He served here in Washington and the Congress for some time. He knows how things work and he's an adult in the Republican Party who's trying to deal with the coronavirus surge and saying he would like a smooth transition of power to help him get through a crisis facing the people of Ohio, the people of the country.

James Lankford, Republican senator from Oklahoma, another reasonable voice. He says Mr. President, pressure case but in his view, it is his reprehensible that you don't allow Joe Biden to start getting the president's intelligence briefings because on January 20th, Joe Biden is going to become president and who knows what the world will bring. Listen to Senator Lankford.

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SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): There's nothing wrong with Vice President Biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself in so that he can be ready. There's no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that. And if that's not occurring by Friday, I'll step in as well to be able to push him and say this needs to occur. So regardless of the outcome in the election, in whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for the actual task.

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KING: It's interesting not only for him to make the commonsense case that Joe Biden should get his briefings. But the idea he says I will step in. I will push. That is interesting.

HARWOOD: No, there's no question about it. And I think the senators who are not running for president in 2024, senators who are less in hawk to the Republican base at this particular moment, people who are not in Republican leadership which is another place where they feel a lot of the pressure are going to step up in their areas of expertise and assert themselves.

Remember, John, this is a multifaceted national security situation, because in addition to the things Jim Lankford was talking about, threats from other countries, we've got this surging pandemic in the United States, and we're about to go over a cliff of suffering in the United States given the expiration of protections against evictions which affect large numbers of Americans.

The looming expiration of unemployment benefits for people. The looming layoffs of more than a million state and local government workers which is going to be a big drag on the economy. All of these things are issues, that Republican and Democratic senators and governors alike feel in their own states they understand that a new administration is coming, and they need to have some action whether it occurs in a lame duck session or early next year. We've got major crises right in our face right now. KING: And to that point, John Harwood, thank you. MJ Lee as well because we have got some news just in to CNN, very important news, more evidence of some cracks if you will in the Republican Party. One of the Senate's top Republicans now backing the idea that the president-elect, Joe Biden, should get access to classified briefings asap. Let's get straight to Capitol Hill with CNN's Manu Raju. Manu, fill us in.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chuck Grassley, who is the most senior Republican in the Senate. He's a present pro temp of the Senate. I just talked to him on his way into the Senate chamber. I asked him whether or not Joe Biden should have access to those classified briefings.

And he said I would think especially on classified briefings, the answer is yes. Now, he becomes the most senior Republican to make that case. Most Republicans are not answering that question. Or they say the president's legal challenges should play out first before the transition can take place.

Even Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, was just asked by a colleague if he believes the president should have access to those briefings. McConnell would not answer any questions as he was entering and leaving the Senate chamber.

But Chuck Grassley made it clear he believes that the President-elect Joe Biden should get the briefings. I said it specifically, should President-elect Joe Biden get those briefings. He said I think especially on classified briefings, the answer is yes. And most Republicans won't even acknowledge that Joe Biden is president-elect.

Now, I did ask Chuck Grassley whether or not the administration should sign off on the requisite paperwork to ease a transition process, something the administration has refused to do so far. He said that he thinks a precedent that occurred in 2000 with the Gore/Bush Florida dispute that shortened the transition period, he said they should follow the same precedent that occurred in 2000.

Now, of course, John the concerns raised by the 9/11 report was that shortened transition period led to unpreparedness in the United States ahead of 9/11. I reminded him about that. He still said follow what happened in 2000. But nevertheless, he's another Republican who says at least Joe Biden should get those classified briefings. John?

In today's Washington, that's a modest step forward. Sad that that's all we get but it's another step forward for Senator Grassley. Manu Raju live on Capitol Hill. Appreciate it very much.

Up next for us, several states adding new restrictions that because of course record spikes not only in coronavirus cases but in hospitalizations as well.

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[11:24:14] KING: Several states deciding to add new coronavirus restrictions. This is the case count around the country as the case counts are surging. Let's walk through the numbers and they are not positive.

Let's just start with the case count, and you see the red line. 143,231 new infections reported yesterday. That's a new record, breaking the record set the previous day. That's the problem we're in right now. You see the surge. You see the spike going straight up the hill.

We started back in the spring. The summer surge that we thought was horrific. We are way, way above that now. 140,000 cases plus. And if you walk through it with those cases comes hospitalizations. Hospitalizations also now at a record. 65,386 yesterday.

And again, you see back in the spring when it was new, hospitals were overwhelmed. Summer surge, more cases, hospitalizations around 60,000.

[11:20:01]

Now way more cases and the line is going up. The state by state trend orange and red on this map are bad. You see a lot of it. 44 states. 18 of them, 50 percent more new infections this week than last week. 18 of them 26 other states 44 total reporting more COVID new infections this week compared to the data last week.

And this is why. This is why. Look at this positivity rates. Look at all the dark on this map is bad. 55 percent positivity in South Dakota. 50 percent in Iowa. 43 percent in Kansas. 40 percent in Wyoming. 40 percent, 50 percent, five in 10 people get a coronavirus test come back positive.

They're infected. The y spread the infections. That is the problem all around the country. It's 22 percent in Alabama. Back up to 18 percent in Pennsylvania. Even 10 percent in Ohio and Michigan. Double digits is bad and it's going up across the country.

So, you have several states now deciding. These are mix of the options to say let's put new restrictions in place. New York limiting private gatherings and some vicious curfews. New Jersey adding new indoor dining restrictions. Connecticut limiting private gatherings. Massachusetts more mask rules and also limiting indoor gatherings. A stay at home advisory in the state of Rhode Island. As states deal with this, there's debates especially during the presidential transition. Should there be more federal mandates. Well, one member of the president-elect, excuse me. One member of the president-elect's team says maybe Dr. Anthony Fauci says I don't think so.

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MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, EPIDEMIOLOGIST ON BIDEN'S CORONAVIRUS ADVISORY BOARD: We could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers for a loss to a small company to medium sized companies. You where city states county government, we could do all that. If we did that, then we could lockdown for 4 to 6 weeks. If we did that, we could drive the numbers down. FAUCI: There's no appetite for locking down in the American public but I believe that we can do it without a lockdown.

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KING: Joining us now is Dr. Megan Ranney. She's an emergency room physician and researcher at Brown University. She says in her hospital they've never seen as many COVID-19 patients as this week. Walk us through that, Dr. Annie.

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: John, I can't begin to explain to you what it's like right now to work in emergency departments in hospitals across the country. I admitted more patients with COVID-19 on my last shift than I ever have, even during the height of the surge this spring. Our hospitals across the country are literally being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

You know the data that you presented, there's approximately one person dying every minute across the United States from COVID-19 right now. But it's not just about those deaths. It's the hospital beds, too. It's the fact that we have nurses out sick. We're doubling up staffing. We have many hospitals that are sending adult patients to pediatric hospitals, to pediatric intensive care units. We're asking pediatric nurses to take care of adult sick patients because there's simply is not enough staff.

And the thing that scares me most, John, is this is still beginning of the wave. The infections that we're seeing today, the hospitalizations that we're seeing today, those are infections that were transmitted two or three weeks ago. What we're going to see two or three weeks from now has already been set in motion, and it's really up to us as individuals right now to make the right choices so that we are not completely overwhelmed so the dam does not completely break in early and mid-December.

KING: So, this for some time has been a state by state calculation because the president of the United States simply checked out months ago. It's a fact. It's sad but it's a fact. This has been a state by state calculation. You just heard Dr. Michael Osterholm in the lead in there saying that if you could pass a big package that would give people wage protection, give them money, that you could have a lockdown for four or six weeks. He's a member of the president-elect's transition team. We're checking with the Biden transition to see if that's his opinion or if that's the opinion of the new administration. But do you think something that dramatic might be necessary?

RANNEY: So, I hope that it's not. I hope that we can do things like wear masks, stay away from indoor dining, stay away from gyms, stay away from Thanksgiving gatherings with people that aren't in our household, and that we can slow the transmission of this virus. I'm hearing from my patients, from my nurses, from my colleagues, that we're all scared of another lockdown.

The thought of having my kids home from school again. That alone terrifies me, but I know there's a lot of small businesses and a lot of individuals who are terrified about what's going to happen? They'll be out of work. They're going to lose what they worked for, for their whole life.

A large stimulus package like Dr. Osterholm outlined could help bridge that gap until we get a new administration in, until we get a vaccine. But I'd like to think that we can do this without another full lockdown. It's really, again, it's up to us. Can we really all wear masks when we're out of the house? So far, we haven't. If we did that, we could potentially avoid a lockdown which is Dr. Fauci says we don't have an appetite for, but it may be necessary.

[11:25:02]

KING: Up to us means people have to listen. If you look at a Gallop poll, are you likely to stay at home for a month if public officials recommended it. Now only half, 49 percent say that. Back in late March, early April, two-thirds said that, 67 percent. So, there is a what would you want to call that, coronavirus fatigue, restriction fatigue, not paying attention, that's a problem.

RANNEY: It is a problem. We're exhausted. I mean, I see it among my staff. Wearing a mask constantly, it's tiring. It fogs up your glasses. It's not what you're used to. We all want to go back to seeing our family, being able to travel, being able to have parties to celebrate big occasions.

But the thing is that if we don't make the right choices now, we may not be able to have those parties, because we may see our loved ones get sick and die. And we need to communicate that to the public that this is a short-term thing. A vaccine is on the horizon. We just have to hold out for a couple of more months and do the right thing.

I will also say, John, we need to make it easy and we need to be consistent. You mention the Trump administration. The CDC came out yesterday for the first time saying universal cloth mask wearing is essential in stopping the traps mission of this virus. It is time for the Trump administration to say the same thing and to model the same thing. If they won't, it's up to the Republican House and Senate and our celebrity influencers to get that message across to the public. Because that's the only way we're going to make it through this fall and winter.

KING: Amen. Doctor Ranney, I appreciate your insights on this day. And we wish you a happy birthday.

RANNEY: Thank you very much. Not the birthday I wanted to spend -- with you is a joy, but COVID makes it different from usual.

KING: Yes, it does. It absolutely does. But you should find a moment to celebrate anyway. Grateful for your insights.

Coming up for us, the president-elect picks his White House chief of staff. There's a lot of jockeying for other places in the Biden cabinet.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: If he asks you to join the cabinet as labor secretary, would you say yes?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): If I had a portfolio that allowed me to stand up and fight for working families, would I do it? Yes, I would.

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