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China Congratulates Biden and Harris on Election Win; New Surge in COVID-19 Infections in Parts of Europe; French Prime Minister Says One in Four Deaths Now Happening Due to Virus; Examining Biden's Likely First Foreign Policy Moves; Obama's New Memoir Touts Character of Joe Biden. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 13, 2020 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
And U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has been fielding congratulatory phone calls from world leaders including Pope Francis, but China had been conspicuously silent until now. In a statement released just a short time ago, the Foreign Ministry said it's been following the election closely and respects the choice of the American people.
CNN's Ivan Watson joins us now from Hong Kong. A lot of people have been waiting for this. Tell us more about what they said?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As recently as Monday, Michael, the Chinese government was not weighing in on Vice President Biden -- President-elect Biden's electoral victory. But now the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson has come out to congratulate Biden and Vice President-elect Harris. So we have this very surreal situation where China adds itself to the growing list of nations around the world congratulating them on their victory while the acting, sitting President continues to deny this electoral victory. Take a listen to what the spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry had to say.
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WANG WENBIN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): We have been following the reactions to the U.S. Presidential election of both the United States and the international community. We respect the choice of the American people. We extend congratulations to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. Meanwhile, we understand the results of the U.S. election will be determined according to U.S. laws and procedures.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, Michael, let's be clear. U.S./Chinese relations are at the worst point that they've probably been in decades, and in that same briefing, that diplomat went on to really slam the current U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. Accusing him of fabricating lies, of having a sinister intention, when he previously in an interview talked about Taiwan not being part of the rest of China when he repeated his plan for decoupling telecommunications between the U.S. and China and U.S. allies in what he calls his clean network.
There are a whole host of areas where there is really a lot of tension between Washington and Beijing right now. One of them, for example, just this week, President Trump signed an executive order banning investment into Chinese firms that have relations to the Chinese military, and that's another area that was slammed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry today.
President-elect Biden has made clear that he is also going to be tough on China but one difference we may see is that he is calling for a multilateral approach in confronting the world's second largest economy, bringing in U.S. allies to put pressure on China to, as Biden puts it, follow international rules.
But one area that Chinese state media has indicated where they think there could at least be a temporary reprieve in the tensions is they've indicated that they want and Biden to work with professional diplomats so there could at least be some more professional communication as opposed to the very mercurial and erratic communication that we have been seeing from the Trump administration on in international forum -- Michael.
HOLMES: Yes, and almost certainly a lot less of the communication via tweet. Ivan Watson in Hong Kong appreciate it. Thanks for keeping an eye on it for us.
Now, Europe is struggling with alarming new COVID-19 numbers. Germany and the U.K. reporting record daily infections. Figures in the tens of thousands for each of those countries. Now, Portugal also reporting its daily, biggest daily increase in cases. Thursday was the country's second deadliest day. The deadliest just a day before that.
And hospitals in France filling with COVID-19 patients, the French Prime Minister says the virus is responsible now for one in every four deaths in the country right now. CNN's Melissa Bell joins me now live from Paris. Twenty-five percent of the country's deaths. You got this lock down or partial lock down in action. What are you seeing in terms of results around where you are and Europe?
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael for the time being, of course, it's been, what, just over ten days coming up to two weeks, which is why we heard from the French Prime Minister yesterday. The idea was to look at how effective this partial lock down we're under had been. So what he said was there was a slight improvement in terms of the number of new daily cases. Although you're not seeing that for the time being as you mentioned over in Germany.
[04:35:00]
But clearly with hospitalizations still massively up and rising, entries into ICUs reaching extremely worrying points, in terms of the functioning of the health care system, he said it would be irresponsible to change anything else. But for now, this partial lock down we're under will stay.
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BELL (voice-over): The first COVID-19 wave in Europe was stopped like this. Cities like Paris locked down for weeks with millions of Europeans confined to their homes. And it worked. The first wave was under control by the summer. But two weeks into the second national lockdown, cases and hospitalizations are still rising throughout France.
(on camera): Paris, under this second partial lockdown, feels very different. Take its most famous street, the Champs-Elysees. Anything that you might do for fun, visit a clothes shop, go to a restaurant, go to a cafe, well you can't do. Everything is shut. But this time around kids are in school and many more people are going out to work. An effort on the part of the government to try and keep an already battered economy as open as possible.
(voice-over): But will the partial lockdowns now in place in several European countries prove strict enough? From Belgium's beaches to the cafes of Italy to the streets of Paris, a fine line is being sought between too much and too little freedom on a continent that's been hit hard by the second wave.
This week, the United Kingdom had its highest single day death toll. ICUs in several European countries are under strain. In Naples, some hospitals so overwhelmed that they've been giving oxygen to patients inside their cars while they wait for room to admit them.
And France this week transferred dozens of patients from cities where hospitals are full to other cities, and even to Germany.
CATHERINE HILL, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I think we are heading rather fast toward a major medical catastrophe where the hospitals will not be able to cope with the patients. Whether they arrive because they have COVID-19 or because they arrive because they have another emergency, and because this lockdown is rather mellow.
BELL: This week, Italy became the 4th European country to past the million cases mark. A growing number of its regions are now in partial lockdown, although people have continued to meet in bars and cafes.
CRISTINA PANETTA, STUDENT: People today don't take this situation seriously.
MAIA AMARA, STUDENT: If we'll get another lockdown, OK, people will not die because coronavirus but will die because they don't work and they don't have money.
BELL: Patience with restrictions has been wearing thin these last couple of weeks. In Milan, protesters faced off with anti-riot police who fired tear gas. In Spain, there were protests against mask wearing. And in France, more resistance with teachers going on strike over the difficulty of enforcing social distancing in classrooms.
Parisian restauranteurs meanwhile are doing what they can to try and weather the storm. With many doing takeaway for the first time since this could be the shape of things until a vaccine is found.
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BELL: So the next update will come in a couple of weeks' time when the French government will either announce a loosening of the current set up or a further tightening of it. But just finally on those figures from Jean Castex, the French Prime Minister, absolutely alarming this second wave in France has led to a hospitalization every 30 seconds and an entry into ICU every three minutes. Those are the current figures and those are the ones that the authorities are going to be looking at to make ensure that the health care system continues to function.
HOLMES: Yes, boy what a lot of stresses. Melissa Bell, thank you, appreciate it there in Paris for us.
We'll take a quick break. When we come back on the program, moving to a new U.S. foreign policy, one priority for the President-elect, Iran. And fixing damage done to the nuclear agreement. How Joe Biden says he'll do that when we come back.
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HOLMES: President-elect Joe Biden is forging ahead with his foreign policy strategy regardless of obstruction by the Trump administration. He's already made some of his priorities clear. Take Iran and the nuclear deal that President Trump up ended. Now, during the campaign, Biden wrote in an op-ed for CNN what he would do as President. I'm going to read some of that. Quote --
First, I will make an unshakable commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Second, I will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy. If Iran returns to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the agreement as a starting point for follow on negotiations.
HOLMES: Joining me now, Trita Parsi, he is the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He is also the author of the book "Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy."
Always good to see you, Trita. It's been awhile. Now let's start with this. When it comes to what Joe Biden can do in terms of foreign policy it's important, I guess to look at what he can undo, perhaps, and near the top of the list would be the Iran Nuclear Deal.
You were writing in "Foreign Affairs" about what you see as preemptive action by the Trump administration to perhaps try to sabotage in the effort for the U.S. to reengage on that. What do you see is the possible path?
TRITA PARSI, AUTHOR, "LOSING AN ENEMY": Well, I think on to your point, you are absolutely right. A lot of the things that Biden actually is going to be doing is to undo things that the Trump administration did such as the Iran deal, as well as Paris, ICC and a whole lot of other agreements, W.H.O., as well.
When it comes to Iran what the Trump administration is trying to do right now is to impose as many sanctions as they can before inauguration day. With the calculation that this will make it next to impossible for the Biden administration to undo. And as a result, will make it impossible for the Biden administration to revive the JCPOA, the Iran Nuclear Deal.
I don't think they are going to succeed but I think it is quite telling that their intention is to sabotage it, which then tells us all of this talks that sanctions were just there in order to get the Iranians to the table. Not at all. They are doing it just to sabotage things.
[04:45:00]
HOLMES: What if Biden does move to tangibly improve relations with Iran, heaven forbid, normalizations, let's got right out there. What would be the likely fall out with nations that Trump courted so assiduously like Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Israel, and so on?
PARSI: Yes, so I think it's important to understand many of these states have their own rivalries with Iran. They have their legitimate concerns about Iran. But U.S. national interest is a separate thing. The United States and Iran have not had normalize relations for more than 40 years now. It's been to the detriment of both of those countries.
Just take the example of the JCPOA. If they were established and robust channels of communication through an embassy in both capitals, I'd find it highly unlikely that the Trump administration would have been able to do the damage that they did to the JCPOA. Because there would have been channels of communications and the Iranians would have been able to talk to the Trump administration and had an ability to impact things.
That didn't exist, and as a result it's a very, very hard-fought nuclear deal ended up being extremely fragile because one single president could come in and undo everything. So, I think both of them have an interest in this but there're going to be obstacles, both in Iran and in the U.S.
And there's going to be obstacles in Israel, in Riyadh, in Abu Dhabi because those countries prefer that the United States and Iran are at loggerheads and that the United States uses its military and political and economic power in order to keep the balance of power in the region such that Iran is contained and to the benefit of Saudi Arabia, UAE, et cetera. Whether that is an America's interest however is a different story.
HOLMES: Exactly, that is a very different question. I can talk about Iran and policy all night. But I did want to get your thoughts since we had you in the broader foreign policy arena. What do you see as the general reaction among allies and foes to the Trump defeat? And what perhaps could substantially change or substantially change under a President Biden? There is going to be a lot of fence mending done for starters.
PARSI: Certainly. And I think a very large number, a clear majority of countries are quite pleased to see that Trump is leaving, clearly and Israel and Saudi Arabia, and UAE, they had hoped for Trump, they had invested heavily in Trump. But I think also for those countries that were hoping for a Biden victory that they need to temper their expectations a bit. In the sense that some of the things that they didn't like about Trump, such as wanting to pull out of Afghanistan, wanting to pull out of NATO, and reevaluating alliances. Some of that I suspect is going to continue. Because the American public is increasingly tired of America playing a role in world policemen.
HOLMES: Now, thanks to Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft speaking to me there a little earlier.
Now, Barack Obama set to release his latest memoir about his presidency, and he discusses how President Trump exploited racial fears about the first black President to launch his own political career. We'll have those details after the break.
[04:50:00]
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HOLMES: Former U.S. President Barack Obama is speaking out about President Trump's refusal to concede the election ten days after the fact. Besides being disturbed by Mr. Trump's false, but incessant claims of election fraud, Obama says he is especially dismayed by the silence from Congressional Republicans. He spoke to CBS about how their compliance threatens democracy.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They appear to be motivated in part because the President doesn't like to lose and never admits loss.
I'm more troubled by the fact that other Republican officials who clearly know better are going along with this, are humoring him in this fashion. It is one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration but democracy generally. And that's a dangerous path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The former President has written a new memoir about his time in the White House. It is entitled "A Promised Land." It is set to be released next Tuesday, and he has a lot to say about his Vice President Joe Biden. CNN's Brian Todd with a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the home stretch of Joe Biden's campaign, former President Barack Obama was front and center, energizing crowds and building support for his close friend.
OBAMA: And it felt like the old days. For eight years, he was the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision.
TODD: The former president delves into his complete confidence in Joe Biden in his new memoir, "A Promised Land," obtained by CNN and says this about selecting Biden as his running mate in 2008. Quote --
My gut told me that Joe was decent, honest, and loyal. I believed that he cared about ordinary people, and that when things got tough, I could trust him. I wouldn't be disappointed.
TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We never saw Joe Biden really going out and contradicting the president or undermining him or trying to attack him or even, you know, there being whispers in the media about, you know, disagreements between Joe Biden and Obama.
TODD: Some of the most powerful sections in Obama's 768-page book deal with the struggles over racial tension in America during his time in office.
Donald Trump's race baiting and his birther conspiracy theory, the false claim that Obama was not born in the U.S., were particularly frustrating. Obama's White House team initially saw birtherism as a joke, but Trump persisted.
Obama, against the advice of his aides, released his birth certificate in the White House briefing room, but then told young staffers, quote, we're better than this. Remember that.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have great respect.
TODD: Still, it seemed an unsettling tone had been set.
[04:55:00]
OLORUNNIPA: Especially in the second half of President Obama's time in office, he did spend a lot of time battling the very forces that brought Trump into power. The sentiment against him as the first black president, the angst within the country about the idea of a changing demographic.
TODD: Obama writes that his predecessor, George W. Bush, could not have been more gracious during their transition. That Bush's daughters, Jenna and Barbara, gave Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia, their own tour of the White House.
Quote, President Bush would end up doing all he could to make the 11 weeks between my election and his departure go smoothly.
April Ryan, who covered that transition and others, laments what we're going through now, with Trump refusing to accept Biden's victory.
APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is the ugliest that we've ever seen. And our Founding Fathers are probably turning over watching this, from wherever they are.
TODD: Obama also gets intensely personal, especially about the toll his presidency took on his wife, Michelle. Quote -- All her previous sources of frustration became more concentrated, more vivid, whether it was my round the clock absorption with work, or the way politics exposed our family to scrutiny and attacks.
RYAN: They put their lives on the line. They were vulnerable. They put their hearts on the line to be attacked, to be chastised, to be made fun of.
TODD (on camera): One of the White House reporters we interviewed, Toluse Olorunnipa, says he'll be interested to hear how former President Obama sees the upcoming Biden administration. Whether Obama will view that as a return to normal, or whether that's even possible. We may learn it in the next volume of Obama's memoir, which is coming later.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: That will do it for CNN NEWSROOM, thanks for spending part of your day with me. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN.
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