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Trump Supporters Rally In D.C. As Biden's Win Nears Certainty; NYT: Rudy Giuliani In Charge Of Trump's Election Lawsuits After Series Of Losses; Obama Slams GOP For Backing Trump's Baseless Voter Fraud Claims; Trump Threatens To Deny New York COVID-19 Vaccine; GOP, Dems Can't Make Deal As Millions Of Americans Struggle; COVID-19 Cases Rise Aboard Cruise Ship Despite Rigorous Testing. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired November 14, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Hi there. Thanks for joining us on this Saturday. I'm Erica Hill in for Fredricka Whitfield. Right now the U.S. is facing a growing coronavirus crisis, a threat that has only been complicated by the fact that the White House is refusing to cooperate with the President-elect's transition.

On Friday, the coronavirus marking another grim milestone in this country. More than 184,000 new cases reported. It's the fifth straight day of record breaking case count. Hospitals also being stretched thin. More than 60,000 hospitalizations reported on Friday.

That too a new high and the rapid rise is now forcing some states to crack down again. In New Mexico, the governor ordering a state-wide closure for all non-essential activities. Oregon announcing new restrictions for the next two weeks including limits on gathering something we're seeing in a number of states. Idaho's governor is now mobilizing the National Guard to help in the pandemic response.

All of this as the Biden transition team is calling the pandemic a national security threat, noting a recent spike in cases and hospitalizations, calling this a grim day for the country. Yet despite that very real threat and the numbers that don't lie, the current White House is refusing to cooperate, refusing to concede the election, refusing to allow the Biden transition team access to daily security briefings and classified information.

Information that could be vital in helping to stop the spread of this disease and at this hour thousands of President Trump's supporters are gathering in Washington. They're blasting the election, falsely claiming it was stolen. CNN has a team of reporters around the country monitoring the latest developments on both the coronavirus and the Biden transition.

We want to begin in Delaware where Biden's team is meeting today. CNN's Jason Carroll there for us this morning so Jason, the president- elect has some big decisions as we know to make in the coming weeks. How much of that could be a topic of discussion at those meetings today?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it definitely will be and in fact early this morning, cameras caught up with the president- elect and his wife as they were out doing some exercising and someone shouted out, are you any closer to making any cabinet decisions and Biden shouted back yes.

He did not elaborate beyond that but we can tell you that over the weekend there will be continued conversations about cabinet choices. We're hearing that he's basically got names for all of the key positions including treasury, health as well as defense. We're told that Biden is taking a very deliberate approach to how he's going at naming these folks and finding people for these positions.

He knows that everyone is going to come under intense scrutiny from Republican senators. When it comes to transition, yesterday during a press briefing call with the Biden transition team, you know they were asked you know how are you managing with all of these road blocks that are being thrown up by the Trump administration as you say, the president-elect not getting those intelligence briefings, the general services administration still holding up on that paperwork, not signing off on that paperwork.

So the Biden team still not getting access to our resources, not getting access to funds and so a senior adviser was asked so how are you proceeding when you've got the standoff between yourself and the GSA?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, BIDEN SENIOR TRANSITION ADVISER: We're not interested in having a food fight with the GSA administrator or anyone really. We just want to get access to intelligence information, to threat assessments, to the ongoing work on COVID so that we can prepare to govern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So clearly Erica, the roadblocks are there but there are some things that the Biden team, that they're doing to get around some of - those road blocks for example, with our COVID-19 response.

They're working directly with state governors, with local officials on the ground and in terms of coordinating that response and in another example is when it comes to the Pentagon, what basically what they're doing is they've been reaching out to former officials from the Pentagon who worked under former secretary Jim Mattis just to try to get a better sense of the inner workings of that department.

So again the roadblocks are clearly there but the Biden team clearly doing what it can to work around those roadblocks. Erica.

HILL: Jason Carroll with the latest for us from Delaware this morning. Thank you. It's now been one week since the election was called for Joe Biden. President Trump though still not admitting that he lost the election but we did break his silence in yesterday to discuss the pandemic and a possible vaccine.

Again though did not acknowledge his defeat. For the very latest, let's bring in Sarah Westwood who joins us now from the White House. So Sarah, the president is not conceding, in many ways not surprising, I think at this point. But the fact that his administration is not yet helping the Biden team with the transition.

We've heard what the Biden team has to say about, we just heard from Jason but that's really a significant development or a lack of a development on its own.

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And I'm sorry Erica, that's a process that ordinarily would be well under way in a normal election year.

[12:05:00]

There's office space here in Washington DC that's been set aside for the Biden transition team, that's just sitting empty at the moment and federal agencies across the government are effectively twiddling their thumbs right now, they're being put in an awkward position because they haven't yet received the sign off from this White House to begin making contact with their counterparts on the Biden transition team and there are simply no signs that this situation is changing anytime soon.

President Trump today is at the golf course, there's no concession speech of any kind on the horizon for him now and multiple cabinet members in Trump's administration have also suggested that there might not even be a Biden transition and that as the campaign is still pursuing legal challenges in states that Biden won, that are not going to overturn the results of this election.

But yesterday appearing in the Rose Garden, the president made just for a fleeting moment, an acknowledgement of the possibility that he might not be getting a second term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the - the - whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration will be. I guess time will tell but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now pressure is mounting on the president from Republicans to concede in some fashion. Erica, that is likely to grow in the coming days.

HILL: And Sarah, we also have heard from a former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. He actually criticized his former boss yesterday. What did he say specifically?

WESTWOOD: Yes Erica, former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is one of those Republicans who was starting to put pressure on the Trump White House to initiate this transition process and to concede defeat in this election. I want to read you these strong words from Kelly last night.

"The delay in transitioning is an increasing national security and health crisis. Across the current administration nothing to start to brief Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, the new Chief of Staff and all identified cabinet members and senior staff as they are identified over the days and weeks ahead."

And then it goes on to say, "That said the downside to not doing so could be catastrophic to our people, regardless of who they voted for." Now some Republicans are also starting to push the White House to take steps toward the transition. Senator James Lankford for example, a Republican is pushing the White House to allow President- elect Biden the access to the same classified information the President Trump receives in his briefing every day, Erica.

HILL: Sarah Westwood with the latest for us from the White House. Thank you. Also joining us now Dr. James Phillips. He is the Chief of Disaster Medicine at George Washington University Hospital.

Good to see you this morning. So as we look at these records, they really are mind boggling. Another record set on Friday, more than 184,000 COVID cases, new COVID cases reported yesterday.

That's a jump of more than 30,000 from Thursday's numbers. As you look at what is coming down the pike, I know you've said that we are likely to see more of these restrictions and even perhaps shutdowns in certain areas. Put that in perspective for us. What could that really mean? How long could we be looking at?

DR. JAMES PHILLIPS, CHIEF OF DISASTER MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Thanks for having me on. You know unfortunately, I think we're - we're almost right back to where we were in the spring. It's different than what it was whenever we saw cases spike simply in specific areas like New York. We watched as New York suffered and nearly had their health care system overwhelmed.

But now we're not dealing with just a single night of surge infection where it was a big spike. It's every single major urban area in the country and it's every state and the question is what are we going to do about it and what do we have the collective courage to do. You know the restrictions that are coming and they are coming, everybody should be prepared for that.

They started sort of in Chicago with Mayor Lightfoot enacting some restrictions, some stay home orders, we've now seen Oregon and the Governor of Mexico do similar things, hoping that it's only for two weeks but it's the first domino and the first domino is to fall and I think that Americans need to be prepared that this is what's coming over the next few weeks.

HILL: When you talk about Americans needing to be prepared, I agree with you in a lot of ways and I said this to my husband last night, a lot of this feels like April because we're seeing these new restrictions being announced one after another. There were a flurry of them yesterday afternoon. That being said, you know as the people - I think the American people are in a much different place than they were in April.

So how do you prepare people for that when we are talking a lot about this spread being triggered in some cases by an understandable COVID fatigue?

PHILLIPS: Yes the fatigue is real. It's real for all Americans, it's real for the half that has been abiding by the appropriate restrictions and wearing masks and socially distancing and for the other half of the country who have - seem to have taken a more political viewpoint of the science, it's the same and what we're seeing is that, that fatigue is leading to people taking chances.

I'm just terrified about what's going to happen with Thanksgiving and the holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah. People are going to travel, people that would normally travel because they don't believe in the science and then those that are just fatigued, who are willing to take some chances.

[12:10:00]

And we're going to see an unprecedented surge of cases, following Thanksgiving this year and if people don't learn from Thanksgiving, we're going to see it after Christmas as well leading us to what I hope will be a spike near the end of January, based on the sort of delay times that we see with incubation periods and then the 10 days it takes for people to get sick enough to be hospitalized.

From a preparation's standpoint, people need to remember. We have to flatten the curve, we're not talking about that anymore. But we're seeing a spike that is really deadly and we need to remember the basic things that are going to help fix this problem.

HILL: You know when we look at hospitalizations, the fact that they have jumped significantly day to day in the past week as well, we're hearing from folks at hospitals around the country. We know that Midwest is especially concerning for experts who are looking at that area but it's not just about having the beds to take care of people who are sick enough that they need to be hospitalized, it's also about having the staff.

That is a major concern today.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. You know as a disaster medicine specialist, you know those of us who work in the emergency management area, we worry about surge capacity and we plan for it. We think of it in three terms space, staff and stuff. Now we've been working for 10 months to increase our stuff but when I go to work tomorrow, I'm still going to be using one mask for the whole day.

When it comes to space, we're starting to run out and that's nationwide and that space is important, not simply because you may not have a place to be admitted if you get COVID but what about the people that have the normal routine illnesses and injuries? Heart attacks, strokes, trauma, infections. We're going to be losing

out on beds for them and those people are going to be - are going to get sick and potentially die and they will also be victims of COVID, despite having never contracted the disease and at some point, if we get really overwhelmed, we're going to be talking about crises' standards of care where we may have to be rationing materials and medicines for patients and those are the decisions that no doctors want to make.

HILL: Yes again, things we are talking about now, that we discussed in the spring as we know Dr. James Phillip, really appreciate your insight and your expertise. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you.

HILL: A programming note for you. Dr. Anthony Fauci will be on CNN State of the Union tomorrow morning 9 AM. Jake Tapper will also be joined by Senator Bernie Sanders, Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio and Rev. Raphael Warnock who of course is engaged in one of those Senate run-off races in Georgia.

Pro-Trump groups hitting the streets in the nation's capital one week after the election was called for Joe Biden. White supremacists among those calling for change plus a new report says Rudy Giuliani is now in charge of President Trump's election lawsuits. So what's his strategy after a series of legal defeats?

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HILL: Pro-Trump groups are gathering in the nation's capital today to protest the results of the election. CNN's Sara Sidner is out there watching these rallies and joins us now. So Sara, what are you seeing so far?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There was a convergence of three different rallies. They had three different names but everybody is sort of here together with a similar message. There's a lot of folks here that believe the election was stolen, they believe that obviously incorrectly because even Donald Trump's appointed senior election security official has said that this is baseless.

The fact that the election has been done and it's been done properly but I want to give you a look at the scene here and we're at Freedom Plaza. There are probably somewhere between 8000 to 10000 people that have now gathered. It started with a couple of hundred this morning and has grown and grown and grown.

We're expecting to march to the Supreme Court at some point. That was supposed to start a few minutes ago but they are getting the crowd going here in Washington DC. There are folks from all over the place. You know from a far away as Florida and Texas and California. We've seen a lot of different groups here including the far right

proud boys including the militant groups like the Three Percenters and the Oathkeepers are here as well. There are members of all sorts of different groups and some mainstream Republicans who are expected to speak here including members of Congress. Let me see if a couple of these folks will talk to me. Let's go through the crowd a bit here and just to give you a - give you a scene setter here and there's folks all the way that way, this way and all the way down, Pennsylvania Avenue.

This young lady is on the phone. Can we ask you a couple of questions about your sign?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

SIDNER: Tell me what your sign says.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop the steal.

SIDNER: And what does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It means that we want all of the votes audited and recounted in all of the swing states that stopped counting at midnight and mysteriously miraculously came up with thousands of new votes, votes for Biden the next day and some of them are still counting.

And we're saying we want an honest and fair elections.

SIDNER: Do you want same places that Donald Trump won to also continue to count the votes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure.

SIDNER: All of it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If they're not done, yes.

SIDNER: So the states have said, they continued counting to when they were supposed to - their laws are in place to stop counting at a certain point but anybody that got their votes in before November 3 or on November 3 are counted according to all of the different states.

Do you think that all of the states that Donald Trump won were actually legitimate?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

SIDNER: And all of the states that Biden won, do you think those are legitimate as well?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that all of them that he won are illegitimate. I think the ones that stopped counting mysteriously at midnight where Trump had a very significant lead and there was what, water pipes burst in Atlanta.

SIDNER: Nobody stopped counting mysteriously at midnight just so you know I mean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes they did. We're watching the news all week. We followed elections for years.

SIDNER: Now let me ask you something else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, by the law, by the law - the media may say by the law, that's not what our constitution says.

SIDNER: It's what the state's constitution say though. There are state laws that are in place right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The legislators are the ones that are going to step in now because the courts, as we know--

SIDNER: Some of the legislators have stepped in and said this is a free and fair election including one of the people that Donald Trump put in place who is one of the federal security electorate election officials.

[12:20:00]

Who has come out and said that all of his claims are baseless, that this was a free and fair election. What do you say to that? This is someone Donald Trump actually - actually appointed to a position to be looking over for the security of the people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that the people are not fooled. We've been to the rallies, we've watched the numbers. We've watched the media who continues to lie to us and hide information. We don't get our information from you all anymore.

SIDNER: Where do you get it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We get our information directly from the people online from their accounts. We're able to follow our representatives, follow our senators, follow the people that tell the truth and report honestly.

SIDNER: Some of the senators that are Republican are saying, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure, some of them are because some of them are part of the swamp and that's why they need to be cleaned out.

SIDNER: You don't believe anyone that says this is a free and fair election?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.

SIDNER: Was 2016 a free and fair election?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was probably fraud then too. This swamp has--

SIDNER: You think that Donald Trump won legitimately?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that the swamp is so deep that there's probably been fraud and cheating that have gone on for decades now.

SIDNER: So why weren't you out here in 2016? Why weren't you out here in 2016 if you thought there was fraud when Donald Trump won?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that there's been some fraud in all of the elections and I'm not just talking about federal elections. I'm talking about state and local elections. We now have this Dominion software that we have found a whole lot about which mysterious has glitches and they all go for Biden.

SIDNER: I'm sorry, that's not true but thank you so much. I appreciate it. So you hear what the sentiment of people are. She doesn't believe that the election was fair and free. There's a lot of people who are here that feel the same way but by all accounts, even Trump's own appointed election security official has said that all these claims are baseless and this was a free and fair election.

And the Biden team is preparing to take over the office in January. Erica.

HILL: Sara Sidner live for us in Washington, live with the real time fact check my friend. Thank you. The New York Times meantime now reporting President Trump has put his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in charge of his campaign's election lawsuits. The former New York City Mayor now overseeing multiple lawsuits contesting the 2020 election results, following a series of key legal defeats for the president.

And joining us now to discuss, Franita Tolson who is a CNN election law analyst, Vice Dean at the U.S. state law school, as we look at this, the president actually had nine cases, denied or dropped in key states on Friday alone. So I mean putting Rudy Giuliani in charge here, I mean if you're just switching up some of the players, does that change the president's fortunes at all?

FRANITA TOLSON, CNN ELECTION ANALYST: Absolutely not. It doesn't matter who leads the effort, the effort doesn't have any credibility as courts are recognizing by dismissing many of these claims. He's just made the same claims over and over that courts have found to be evidence free, alleging ballot irregularities, challenging ballot received at lines, poll worker errors and so on in a number of states where he's behind.

In fact let's just say, states that have been called, right Erica? And it doesn't matter if Rudy Giuliani leads the effort, the cases speak for themselves.

HILL: They certainly do. As we look at this so we have heard some key Republican lawmakers actually echo some of the president's baseless claims of voter fraud and former President Obama actually weighed in. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is at stake here?

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well look, Joe Biden will be the next President of United States. Kamala Harris will be the next Vice President. There is no legal basis--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But he's getting support from members of the Republican Party who are not challenging him.

OBAMA: And that has been disappointing. They obviously didn't think there was any fraud going on because they didn't say anything about it for the first two days but there is damage to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The damage, I mean that's something we've been talking a lot about. I think it's important that we keep that as part of the conversation, the overall damage. What do you see that being at this point?

TOLSON: I agree completely. This has to be part of the conversation because it's different to make claims in a court of law versus litigating something in a court of public opinion so while judges have been very proactive about rejecting any fraud claims and in fact Donald Trump's campaign have been very reluctant to back up any of these fraud claims in court, it is different when these claims are made in a court of public opinion, right?

Where you have a substantial portion of the electorate who believes that the election was stolen and that there's substantial fraud and so the damages to the legitimacy of our system and this is something that president-elect Joe Biden will have to deal with as he starts his new administration.

HILL: We're going to be looking at this week so the Trump campaign and others are set to appear in a federal court room in Pennsylvania. This is in effort to block the state from certifying the election, just put that in perspective for us here. What could - what could that do?

TOLSON: So - so the goal in trying to block certification is to call into question the legitimacy of the election. To some extent, I think the Trump campaign hopes the Republican state legislation - legislators will step in and appoint their own slate and the way that federal law permits them to do that is by saying that there was a failure to elect on Election day and so delaying the certification deadline and potentially calling into question the election results from November 3 could sort of bleed into this narrative state legislators having the power to appoint their own slate.

[12:25:00]

Erica, let me just point out, this is unlikely to happen though, that's important.

HILL: That is important to point out and always important to also have you on to help put things in perspective and also to give everybody a healthy and much needed dose of reality in terms of where we stand and what matters this morning. Franita Tolson, great to see you this morning, thank you.

TOLSON: Thank you. HILL: Still ahead, President Trump attacking New York governor Andrew

Cuomo. The shocking threat that launched in the middle of a pandemic plus bars and restaurants increasingly worried about their survival as new restrictions take effect across the country. Top Chef Tom Colicchio is joining me to discuss what he is doing to help. Looking forward to that conversation on the other side of this break. Stay with us.

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[12:30:33]

HILL: President Trump has said little publicly since losing the election when he did appear yesterday, though to announce White House efforts to get a vaccine to the public. He took a swipe at New York Democratic governor saying the entire country will get the vaccine except New York, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We won't be delivering it to New York until we have authorization to do so. And that pains me to say that this is a very successful amazing vaccine at 90 percent and more. But so the governor, Governor Cuomo, will have to let us know when he's ready for it otherwise, we can't be delivering it to a state that won't be giving it to its people immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: New York officials are taking it President Trump's proclamation as a threat, warning the state is ready to sue the President if a vaccine is not delivered to New York on time. CNN's Polo Sandoval is following this for us, right here in New York. So Polo, what's actually going on here?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, the President just a few moments ago tweeted his love for New York, but it's certainly no big secret that there isn't a really the best relationship or at least the best terms between the President and the governor of this state, of course, talking about Andrew Cuomo here.

The President yesterday, during that those remarks in the White House Rose Garden, making it very clear that he would potentially leave New York State out of the distribution of a potential COVID-19 vaccine saying that his problem here is that the governor, according to him, would delay the distribution of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine.

But here's the thing though, you have to look back into September to really understand what's at play here. Governor Cuomo announced that he would be creating an independent task force made up of health and medical experts that would review any kind of COVID-19, any kind of COVID-19 vaccine that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It isn't until he goes through that process, that it would finally be distributed.

So because of that the President certainly using that as an opportunity to continue that sort of that bickering here between himself and the governor of the state of New York but of course, this does now have some potential implications for millions of New Yorkers. So it's certainly going to be important here to get a bit more clarity not just from the governor's office, but also from the President of the United States here.

Now as for the governor, and as for the state's top cop, the attorney general here, not only as you point out are they threatening legal action, if that happens, but also, but really firing back at the President. In fact, the governor saying that this is simply being used, this vaccine, simply be used as a retaliatory tool, as this continues.

But here's the big thing. The big question here, Erica, one, if a COVID-19 vaccine is finally approved, will the President still be the president of the United States.

HILL: He won't be. There's a good chance, of course, we could be on to a new administration at that point. It could come after the inauguration. Polo, I'm looking specifically at New York and some of the restrictions that we saw going into effect yesterday there. We're also hearing now the mayor talking about the need to possibly close schools. He said it could happen as soon as Monday. Where does that stand?

SANDOVAL: It's all about the actual infection rate that we've been seeing, that seven-day running average. The big concern here is they could potentially exceed 3 percent. Now, earlier this year when schools here in New York were reopened, Erica, you remember that the city of New York said if that number makes it above 3 percent, then that would trigger the reclosure, at least a temporary reclosure of schools here in New York City.

That number well below that. But the concern here is that through the weekend, it could potentially reach that number. And that's why not only our states and city officials, but also parents and teachers closely watching it this weekend because even though there was a significant improvement, that's about 2.8 percent today, that concern down to 2.4 percent today, the concern is that it will go up again.

So that obviously if that happens would be a significant step back if schools close but the mayor saying it and making it very clear if they have to go there, it would only be temporary in order to dry to bring that number back down.

HILL: Yes. Interesting to be heard the mayor sort of say the schools themselves are extraordinarily safe in his words. And yet we could be nearing that point. Polo, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

We have some live pictures for you here from Capitol Hill. Democrats and Republicans have of course failed to reach a deal on a COVID stimulus package. President Trump this morning though tweeting Congress should pass a COVID Relief Bill saying it should be in his words, big and focused. Get it done. Well few business have been hit as hard and are in as much need of a stimulus deal as restaurants around the country. [12:35:07]

According to the National Restaurant Association, at least 100,000 restaurants have closed in the past six months because of the coronavirus. Tom Colicchio is a founding member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition. He is a chef and restaurateur. You likely recognize him as well, from his time as a judge on Top Chef.

It's great to see this morning Chef. I mean, just give a sense, you know, I talk to different people, restaurants, local restaurants in my town, my brother-in-law owns a restaurant in Indianapolis to say this is tough is an understatement. What are you hearing directly from both owners and employees right now?

TOM COLICCHIO, HEAD JUDGE & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, TOP CHEF: Thanks for having me on Erica. Right now we're hearing that most restaurants are hanging on by a thread. Every day I'm on a Zoom call talking to restaurateurs across the country. And it's getting tougher and tougher out there. You know, we did the hard work. We actually got a bill that actually was written in both Houses of Congress -- both chambers of Congress, 203 cosigners in House Bill, 48 cosigners in the Senate Bill, including John Cornyn and Elizabeth Warren.

So we have bipartisan support for our bill. We just need it passed. Our bill will provide $120 billion for independent restaurants. And that is the lifeline that we need. Anything short of that we are looking at an extinction event for independent restaurants across this country.

HILL: You say you just need it passed. What do you think the chances are of that happening?

COLICCHIO: Well, it's time for politics be put aside. I mean, these are people's lives and livelihood that we're talking about. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of people. Already, I think 2.1 million people have lost their jobs.

If we don't pass this act, these restaurants will not reopen, they will close. And it'll be years before these jobs start coming back. And it's time to put politics aside. It's time to, you know, put aside who's going to get credit for passing this act or passing this bill, passing the stimulus act and just get it done. The American people need this done.

And so many people are just waiting for this. We've been waiting for months. And we need something. Especially, we need unemployment passed as well, plus of an unemployment. So many people are hurting right now. And I think Congress just needs to, again, put politics aside, put bickering aside, get this job done to the American people.

HILL: To that point, I believe, you know, part of that bipartisan support that you noted in the senate, Senator Kamala Harris, now Vice President-elect Kamala Harris among those, showing support for this. Have you reached out to the transition team?

Have there been any conversations with the Biden-Harris transition team, to raise support, to raise this issue for them and remind them how important it is that there are millions of Americans who are at this point, not just the restaurants, but those people employed by them who are hanging on by a thread.

COLICCHIO: Yes. Erica, Kamala Harris was an early cosigner of the bill. I did an IG live with her and discuss the goal before she was the nominee. And so, yes, we have reached out to the Biden team. And I'm pretty sure they know the dire straits that that restaurants are in right now. But we have reached out to them.

HILL: What do you think the biggest roadblock then is at this point? Is it simply, and I'm, you know, reading between the not so subtle lines here, is it simply we are stuck in this place because politicians refuse to listen to their constituents and are more focused on their own standing at this point? And if that's where we're at, I mean, how does that end?

COLICCHIO: That's exactly right. I think it happens when people, you know, start demanding and rising up and demanding. Listen, the elections are over and with the exception of the Georgia race. And so, you know, we heard in the middle of the election that there was some concern that Democrats would get, you know, credit for it because it was part of the HEROES Act. Again, we need to put that aside right now.

I think people just need to realize that the constituents everywhere across this country, in every single state, restaurants are hurting, restaurant workers are hurting. And you need -- again, I agree, we just need to put some aside. And if that means putting the stimulus package aside for a second, meaning the HEROES Act and vote on a bill, the Restaurants Act, again, that has bipartisan support, and you support.

If you put this act on the floor right now, the Restaurant Act as it is, it will pass easily. And so, again, putting politics aside, we just need to get this done, but I agree. This is -- this log jam somehow we've got to get through it.

HILL: Yes, we do. Chef Tom Colicchio, great to have you with us this morning, appreciate your time, appreciate all of your efforts and your very important voice as you push for this. Thank you.

COLICCHIO: Thank you.

[12:39:36]

HILL: Just ahead, coronavirus cases increasing on one of the first cruises since the pandemic. We've got an update, next.

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HILL: For decades the Masters has been called a tradition unlike any other. And in this year, unlike any other, perhaps it's fitting that the world famous spring golf tournament is now being played in the middle of November because 2020. Andy Scholes joining us now live from Augusta. Still though even in November, not a bad assignment my friend ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Not about assignment at all, Erica. And I'll tell you what, it is a beautiful day here in Augusta. I mean it feels like it's April right now, just an awesome day. And we are in for some drama in round number three. I mean just moments ago, we had nine players tied at nine under par at the top of that leaderboard just incredible. But then world number one Dustin Johnson eagled hole number two to take the outright lead.

D.J. looking to win his first green jacket after finishing tied for second place last year. No world number one has won the Masters since Tiger did it back in 2002. And Tiger meanwhile, he's in the hunt, Tiger playing a nine hole or eight holes already this morning finishing up his second round.

He ended that second round four shots back and, you know, Tigers made that kind of comeback before. He's been down four more after 36 holes twice at the Masters came back to win those tournaments in 2002 and 2005. We'll wait and see if he can do it again.

[12:45:10]

Right now, he's sitting at six shots off the lead. He's out on the course right now in his third round. Now the favorite heading into this tournament was raining U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau but really disappointed, shooting even par through the first two rounds barely made the cut. But Bryson revealing earlier this morning after he finished that second round, hasn't been feeling well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYSON DECHAMBEAU, 2020 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: And as I kept going through the round, I started getting a little dizzy. I don't know what was going on little something weird. So I got checked for COVID last night and I was fine, nothing.

But I had to do the right thing and make sure that there was nothing more serious than that. But I don't know what it what it is or what happened. But, you know, these past couple days I felt really, really odd and just not 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: We'll wait and see if Bryson can feel better and maybe make a move up that leaderboard, Erica. But I tell you what, you know, it's just a beautiful day here in Augusta, again. And we should be in for one exciting finish here at the Masters with so many big names and players tied or within a shot of that lead right now.

HILL: Andy Scholes, live for us there at Augusta National. Thank you my friend. We'll be right back.

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[12:50:57]

HILL: At least seven people aboard a cruise ship docked in Barbados have now tested positive for coronavirus. The cruise was the first to return to the Caribbean after pandemics shut down operations, cruise operations in March. And it was hoping of course that this would demonstrate increased safety protocols could allow for safe voyages. CNNs Patrick Oppmann explains how those measures made one passenger feel overconfident.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Months after the pandemic halted the operations of cruise lines around the globe. The sealing of the SeaDream 1 was meant to show the cruises were again open for business in the Caribbean. Passengers were promised luxury.

(on camera): And we were greeted on board with champagne, cold towels, hors d'oeuvres, and big smiles.

(voice-over): And safety. Passengers say they were supposed to self- isolate and have two negative COVID tests before setting sail.

BEN HEWITT, PASSENGER: We had to have two tests before we left. One, 72 hours before which was a full PCR test and then at the port again, we had oxygen level test temperature checks a few times as well as another PCR rapid test by the ship's doctor. And so we were in full hope that this was going to be a really safe cruise.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Passengers initially were not required to wear masks, as they say they were told by the crew that the ship was a COVID free bubble. Then a few days into the sailing, guests were told to wear masks, but not what prompted that change. Several of the guests were cruise industry journalists and bloggers there to cover this new reimagined way of cruising during the pandemic.

With only 53 passengers and 66 crew, passengers said they felt safe.

HEWITT: So here we have the main lounge and there is so much seating so people can stay far apart and keep social distanced.

OPPMANN (voice-over): But that illusion of safety burst on Wednesday, when the ship's captain announced there was one positive case of COVID aboard the ship and that all passengers had isolated in their cabins.

GENE SLOAN, PASSENGER: I was probably overconfident. I did not expect this to happen. I looked at what we had planned, you know, the -- I looked at the testing and the social distancing, everything they were going to say, you know this, nobody is going to get sick on the ship.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Soon the number of cases had grown to seven people who tested positive. Passengers were still enjoying the fine dining, but said the food now had to be served under the room doors.

On Friday, passengers said the captain told them everyone who had had two recent negative tests would be able to disembark the ship in Barbados, and fly home.

HEWITT: So it's just so disappointing that this has happened because everybody had their hopes up high. And we can't see anything more that they could have done. It's just such a horrible virus. It just gets everywhere even with the constant testing.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Not only was this meeting crews cut short, but the future of the industry now more than ever, is in doubt.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: And our thanks to Patrick Oppmann for that report.

This year's CNN Heroes and all-star tribute will be a special celebration of the heroic efforts of the many women, men, and children from around the globe who, when faced with the two simultaneous crises of COVID-19 and racial injustice, stood up to do more to help others. Here is one of this year's most inspiring moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before we never noticed the shift change. We didn't see the nurses, the doctors, and hospital workers had home. We didn't notice the first responders leaving their stations after a long day. But now we do.

At 7:00 p.m. in New York, at 8:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, in France, in Italy, and all around the world, the deafening applause and both solutes, we stopped to say thank you from sidewalks, windows, and balconies, massed and alone in homes, people join together to give thanks to those incredible heroes who spent their days attending to the sick, helping families say goodbye and holding back their own pain to keep saving countless lives.

[12:55:14]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's so nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have any words or output to everybody, and thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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