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Trump Stonewalls Transition To Biden Amid Pandemic; U.S. Surpasses 11 Million Cases Of COVID-19; Obama Says, Election Results Show Nation Remains Deeply Divided; NASA SpaceX Rocket A Go For Launch. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 15, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for being with us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

We have breaking news on CNN, and it is another horrific line crossed by the so far unstoppable and deadly coronavirus pandemic. Eleven million people so far infected by COVID just in the United States, 11 million people, a million new cases in the last six days alone, more than any other country in the world by far. And the rate of infection in the U.S. since this pandemic struck so many months ago is going up right now, straight up.

And what are we hearing about this horrific development from the president, on a weekend with record-breaking hospitalizations and another 1,200 Americans dead from COVID in just one day? We hear nothing from him about that. The president, again, played golf and typed out baseless claims, lies on Twitter about how he was cheated out of an election win and how much the media doesn't like him. We'll have more from the White House in just a moment.

But we have some other breaking news we are following. We are just learning NASA says weather is a go for today's launch to send a crew to the International Space Station. We'll head back for a live report from Kennedy Space Center in just a moment.

But, first, to the White House and CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, the breaking news today, more than 11 million people in the U.S. now confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus, president today so far silent on the pandemic but certainly not silent about other things.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDNET: That's right. And it is remarkable also, as I think about this, just the number of times where we have seen situations like this, where we are breaking records with the coronavirus pandemic, and yet the president is focused entirely elsewhere.

It is all the more stark now as you look at the last six days with more than a million cases and breaking new records for daily coronavirus cases every single day this week it seems. And yet what the president is focused on is continuing to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which saw Joe Biden become the president-elect of the United States.

That is a fact the president briefly acknowledged this morning, as he said he won in reference to Joe Biden. But then what followed was a sea of misinformation we have seen from the president over the last eight days since Joe Biden was projected the winner of this presidential election. The president claiming that Biden only won because this election was rigged, in his view, and he continued to spout off a series of conspiracy theories and lies and baseless allegations about voter fraud and 2020 election.

After that tweet, the president went on to say that he concedes nothing as it relates to this 2020 election. And the president certainly does appear to be digging in his heels, particularly after yesterday he saw those thousands of Trump supporters come down here to Washington, D.C., to support his baseless allegations.

The president certainly seems to have gotten a shot in the arm from that, and we are seeing him make these claims with new energy, it seems, the president putting Rudy Giuliani in charge of his legal efforts. And even though all of the cases so far, nearly all of the cases that the president or his allies have put forward to try and overturn the results of the election in several key battleground states, they have nearly all been either dismissed or dropped by those legal teams.

And yet the president now saying on Twitter this evening that he will move forward with this legal effort and that his attorneys, his legal time will be putting forward new cases, new allegations in the days to come. Ana?

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond for us, thanks.

Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden pushes ahead with his transition. CNN's Jessica Dean joins us from Delaware, where the president-elect is staying right now.

Jessica, what are the plans for the Biden transition team this week?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as we look ahead to the next week, Ana, we know that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President- elect Kamala Harris will be giving remarks tomorrow on the economy. That's been one of their top issues.

And, of course, their number one priority, the coronavirus and the response to the coronavirus, we've heard in a statement from President-elect Biden on Friday he met with his advisory board. He called for urgent action right now acknowledging he's not going to be president until January 20th but there are surging cases and things need to be done right now.

Now, on a grander scale, let's remember, the General Services Administration, which is the federal office that's responsible for validating Joe Biden as president-elect and triggering the official transition process has yet to do that. So that means that the transition team is not allowed to contacting federal agencies. These federal agencies, like the Department of Health and Human Services, are responsible for putting together plans for vaccine distribution.

The Biden transition team wants a seamless transition, they want to be able to collaborate with all of these federal officials about this as they plan for what's going to come in January and beyond.

[18:05:01]

But right now, they are up against this wall because they can't officially talk to them.

Now, newly named Chief of Staff Ron Klain talked a little bit about this in an interview earlier today. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON KLAIN, CHIEF OF STAFF, PRESIDNET-ELECT BIDEN: We're going to have meetings between our top scientific advisers and the officials of these drug companies, not just Pfizer but the other promising vaccines as well. We're going to start those consultations this week.

It's great to have a vaccine but vaccines don't save lives. Vaccinations save lives. And that means you've got to get the vaccine into people's arms all over this country. It's a giant logistical project.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And that project is going to take the work of everyone coming together and being on the same page. You also heard claim they are talking about how they are working around this, which is they are reaching out to companies like Pfizer, reaching out to the medical community themselves trying again to get everyone's buy-in.

Another area where this slowdown of the transition process on the official side is really having an impact, Ana, is in intelligence. Right now, President-elect Biden not getting those daily intelligence briefings that a president-elect typically would by this point in the process. And that means they are not up to date on the day-to-day of what exactly is going on.

A lot of people coming out, especially Republicans, even John Kelly, the former chief of staff for President Trump, saying he needs to be getting these briefings. National security is on the line. But, again, the Biden transition team doing everything they can on their end but they are waiting for the GSA to make this process official before they can go in and really coordinate with these agencies. Ana?

CABRERA: Okay. Jessica Dean for us in Wilmington, Delaware, thank you.

Joining us now is former adviser to Nixon, Reagan, Ford and Clinton, David Gergen, and Staff Writer for the New Yorker, CNN Global Affairs Analyst Susan Glasser. Thank you both for being with me tonight.

David, if Trump leaves the White House kicking and screaming and he never backs off of his claims of a rigged election, will his 73 million voters ever accept Joe Biden as president? Can the country heal?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's an excellent question, Ana, because I think it points to the fact that, increasingly, it appears that the intentions and the goals of the Trump team go well beyond a shortened transition period, as important as that is. Their real goal, their ultimate goal is to sabotage the Trump presidency. I hate to say that but I think that's what we're seeing. They're trying to -- the longer this process plays out with Trump more and more and more expecting always fictitious votes to change, and that sort of thing, the longer this goes on, the deeper the feeling sinks in among Trump voters that this was not a fair and free election.

Strikingly there was a survey taken by Politico morning consult before the elections, 35 percent of Republicans thought the elections were not going to be fair. After the elections, a second survey, more recent, that number has doubled. We're now at 70 percent of Republicans think this election has not been free and fair. What does that mean? They think Biden is illegitimate.

This is exactly the show we saw for a long time with Trump on birtherism. It is a way to smear people to undermine their legitimacy and then conquer, if they can.

CABRERA: Susan, what does it say that even communist China is congratulating President-elect Biden on his win but people in the White House as well as Congress won't?

SUSAN GLASSER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I think it is important to note right now that actually more foreign leaders and more countries have had contact with and recognize vice president -- former Vice President Biden as the president-elect of the United States than Republican Party officials.

And that tells you everything you need to know about the incredible dysfunction of this moment. And I do think that internationally, of course, they are not bound by the sort of increasingly bizarre politics that are happening here in Washington.

What's so cynical about this, Ana, is that you have Republican officials saying on background or off the record to journalists like me, don't worry, we're just giving Trump time to come to terms with this. But I think David just pointed out why that's so damaging, because Trump has millions of followers out there who aren't playing this insider game of Republican politics here in Washington.

And Trump is getting them to believe essentially a very -- the big lie that is being constructed about the election in a way that I do think will really make it much harder for future President Biden to govern the country.

CABRERA: David, a number of GOP lawmakers who still aren't acknowledging Biden as president-elect have said, let's wait for the legal process to lay out in states where the Trump campaign has tried to sue as well as his allies. Almost all of those lawsuits to date have gone nowhere. [18:10:01]

On Friday alone, nine lawsuits were either rejected or dropped from Pennsylvania, to Michigan, to Arizona. The judges in these cases really picked apart the claims calling out a lack of evidence, inaccurate information, allegations that just are not credible.

So what are Republican lawmakers trying to accomplish at this point by either defending or just staying silent as Trump continues with these lies about the election being rigged?

GERGEN: Well, I think some of them are buying into what Susan talked about, and that is the cynicism that surrounds all of this. Increasingly, I believe a number of these Republicans are seeing this as part of the long-term strategy to take back the White House. They think that Biden came out of the election more vulnerable than they expected and there were more down ballot races that went to Republican candidates than they ever expected.

And their view is if you can have a bum first couple of years for Biden, if the first couple of years go badly, then in the off year elections two years from now, that the Republicans can take back the House, take back the Senate, and set themselves up to taking back the White House in four years, that depends on sabotaging Biden.

We've always seen this before too with Mitch McConnell. He tried to sabotage Obama, making it his number one goal. I think a lot of Republicans are making that their number one goal. They think Biden may be vulnerable and they would like to take him down before we even have a chance to start healing.

CABRERA: Susan, since the election, at least four officials from the Pentagon have been fired or resigned, including defense secretary. Trump has replaced them with loyalists. At least two DHS officials were forced to resign as well. How do you view these firings and resignations in the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security? Is this Trump blowing off some steam or is this more strategic?

GLASSER: Well, it could be a combination of both. Clearly, there was an element of vengeance on Trump's part. He had grown very angry with the defense secretary, Mark Esper, for breaking with him over that famous, or perhaps infamous is the right term, photo-op in Lafayette Square, in which violent force was used to clear protesters so that Donald Trump could stage a photo-op. Esper and the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff happened to be at the White House and were co- opted into that. They both later regretted it.

Esper also is disagreeing with the White House and was working with Congress to rename U.S. military installations that were named for confederate generals. Donald Trump had refused that.

So there was an element of personal vengeance. But by removing other key officials, there seems to be a policy dispute as well. There seems to be there was a public fight, in fact, before the election between Trump's national security adviser and Pentagon officials over troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, which the Pentagon was resisting doing further withdrawals on Trump's timetable.

And so you could see some actual national security decisions being made as a result of this. In general, obviously, the Pentagon is a pretty hard ship to turn around. It moves slowly. And so it's hard to conceive that major radical changes in policy can be made. But it does look like sort of a last gasp of sort of a dying administration.

It's something, frankly, that we're more used to seeing in other parts of the world. All of this behavior is so extraordinarily without precedent in modern American history. I think it's important to underscore that again and again. This is not like a normal legal processes playing out. The only modern example was the 2000 election in Florida. That was a vote ultimately that came down to one state and there were only 100 votes that separated the two candidates, nothing like today.

CABRERA: Right, just 537 vote difference there.

Meantime, we have the Biden transition team still being blocked from intelligence briefings, from communication with key officials and agencies involved with this pandemic and pandemic response. General John Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, says this could be catastrophic for the American people.

David, what do you think it will take for the Trump administration to do the right thing?

GERGEN: Well, an enormous amount of public pressure, especially on this pandemic. It's just unbelievable the president has checked out and his people have checked out. He hasn't met with his current coronavirus team for five months -- five months. And we have this explosion in cases that's overwhelming our hospitals again. It's just -- the inhumanity and the callousness, and you can go through -- it's hard you can exhaust Roget's Thesaurus on this, all of the things that Trump was -- why he's upsetting to people, why it's so distressing and why people are getting fearful again.

Fear went out of this -- much of the fear went out of the system just after the election.

[18:15:02]

Everybody thought, we'll settle down now, we'll get together and so forth. Fear is skyrocketing up partly because of what we're seeing. They have to get this vaccine distribution straightened out, and that has to be a joint effort between the two administrations.

January 20th is going to come smack in the middle of the effort to distribute these vaccines. That has to be a seamless handover in order to preserve thousands and thousands of lives. It's just so simple. I'm sure Susan can express it much more articulately than I can. But it's just unbelievable what we're going through right now on this pandemic.

CABRERA: No doubt about it. David Gergen, thank you, you're back with me in a minute. And, Susan Glasser, thank you very much for being with us. I appreciate both of your insights. Meantime, President Obama getting candid on the 72 million votes that were cast for Donald Trump this election, now about 73 million, as it turns out. That's next.

Plus, breaking news from the Kennedy Space Center, weather is a go for launch of the SpaceX rocket, which will carry four astronauts to the International Space Station. We also have an update on what was an air leak that we were telling you about earlier. We'll bring that to you here in the CNN NEWSROOM. You can see one hour and 11 minutes until launch time.

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CABRERA: Former President Barack Obama says the 2020 election results show a nation still deeply divided. And that's just some of what he told Gayle King in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GAYLE KING, CBS NEWS HOST: 72 million people voted for Donald Trump. What does that say to you about the state of this country?

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, what it says is that we are still deeply divided. The power of that alternative world view that's presented in the media that those voters consume, it carries a lot of weight.

KING: Are you worried about that?

OBAMA: Yes. It's very hard for our democracy to function if we are operating on just completely different sets of facts.

KING: But it's clear as we sit here today, we're not going to have a peaceful transition. I think about John McCain calling, George and Laura Bush welcoming you and Michelle Obama to the White House.

OBAMA: Could not have been more gracious.

KING: I remember you inviting Donald Trump to the White House.

OBAMA: Well, if he succeeds, then the country succeeds.

KING: I wish that you succeed because we want the country to succeed. He does not seem to have taken a page out of any of those playbooks?

OBAMA: No.

KING: So, what is at stake here?

OBAMA: Well, look, Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States. Kamala Harris will be the next vice president. There is no legal basis. There is no --

KING: But he's getting support from members of the Republican Party that are not challenging him.

OBAMA: And that has been disappointing but it's been sort of par for the course during these four years. 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. Because what happens is the peaceful transfer of power, the notion that any of us who attain an elected office, whether it's a dog catcher or a president, are servants of the people, it's temporary job. We're not above the rules, we're not above the law. That's the essence of our democracy.

KING: Donald Trump often raises eyebrows when he says he's done more for black America and people of color.

OBAMA: It does raise eyebrows, you are correct.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I have done more for the African- American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln.

KING: What do you think when you hear that? Do you take that as an insult to you or the work that you've done?

OBAMA: I think it's fair to say that there are many things he says that I do not take personally or seriously, although I think they can often be destructive and harmful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Back with us now, CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen, who, again, I just want to remind our viewers, has served as a White House adviser to four presidents, both Democrat and Republican.

David, what stood out to you? What caught your ear in those comments from Barack Obama?

GERGEN: Well, first of all, it was a pleasure to hear a political leader who can put more than three sentences together consecutively. And -- but I do he harkens back to the traditions that have surrounded the White House for over 200 years, this peaceful transition of power. What we're looking at now may ultimately be peaceful but every effort to balk the transfer of power coming out.

And I think that what -- and thinking about Biden, I don't necessarily think about John McCain with the same breathe. I think more of Teddy Kennedy and Tip O'Neill. They were the kind of political leaders that he cut his teeth with in the Senate and did so in a very, very good way. And I think he wants to restore those kinds of days.

And it's a very different politics that we have right now and it's not clear that there are a lot more voters than I thought in this country who are not really interested in healing. They (INAUDIBLE). But I thought that's what the country was saying in the election.

And I think Obama continues to be, in some ways, an even more important character out of office than he was in it in the sense that he can say things as he did in the campaign. I think it was enormously helpful to Biden. But he can say things and help us see things with more clarity than

almost any political figure, I think, today, because he's just like a very strong constitutional scholar. He takes little pieces of the onion off, he unwraps that onion very slowly. But each time you do so, you see something you didn't see before. And that's the way he thinks.

And I just think he's -- we need more Obamas. Our country needs more people coming and building a civic culture. You can't do this alone from the White House.

[18:25:01]

Joe Biden is going to find that out, of course. But people like Barack Obama, when you think about who else could be helpful, what about Mitt Romney? I think he can step into this breach. There are others that you could do that.

Jamie Dimon's name is circulating as potentially treasury secretary. The progressive wing of the party would be proud (ph), if Jamie were there. But, nonetheless, Jamie Dimon has been a leader of the business roundtable and trying to refocus how business conducts capitalism in a much more humane way with more stakeholders that the -- they can move beyond the idea that the only thing a corporation is about is shareholders. And they've got a notion it's about stakeholders. Not only about the profits but it's also about the people who work for you, it's about the communities.

CABRERA: David, I do want to ask you about, you know, this tradition for former presidents to enthusiastically welcome one another regardless of party into the world's most exclusive club and they usually rise above their political differences. But do you see any scenario where President Trump is welcomed into this club of former presidents in the future?

GERGEN: I think they would invite him in if he looked like he would join. It's just the fact that he doesn't -- he's so resistant to do anything, which smacks of working with the so-called establishment.

I do think -- and I'm really glad you're talking about the way former presidents have greeted their successors. If people would just take time to find on Google the statements that they made to each other, the private notes, George W. Bush, for example, I just read this again the other day. He wrote a lovely statement, a really nice statement to Barack Obama that was very heartwarming and I think quite intentionally so.

And we've had -- I went back and looked at the time Jerry Ford turned over responsibility after he lost, he turned it over to Carter, and it was a really lovely statement. It's very low key but heartfelt. And the point was, congratulations, this is a tough job. I will do whatever I can to help you. Let me know because I want you to succeed. That's the essence of these letters.

CABRERA: Yes, we've heard about that as well George H.W. Bush handing over the reins to Bill Clinton as well. David Gergen, it's always good to with you. Thank you, as always. GERGEN: It's great to see you. Take care.

CABRERA: You too, be well.

Coming up, as the U.S. sees a record surge in coronavirus cases, what's the reality inside hospitals right now? We'll talk to an emergency room physician next.

But, first, here is Christine Romans with a look at how the latest coronavirus headlines are impacting Wall Street. Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. Wall Street looking past President Trump's refusal to concede the election to Joe Biden, instead, it's the coronavirus driving the action on Wall Street. Vaccine optimism sparked an early rally last week as investors cheered positive results from Pfizer, but as the week wore on, reality set in with surging cases and hospitalizations renewing lockdown fears.

This week, we will get insight into the help of the consumer. Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Macy's and TJX are among the companies reporting quarterly results.

The Commerce Department will also release October retail sales. Retail sales have been up five months in a row after cratering when the pandemic first hit. Now, economists are concerned spending could slow down, especially with no stimulus in sight.

In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

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[18:30:00]

CABRERA: Tonight the U.S. surpassing 11 million coronavirus cases. The surging case load now putting enormous strain on hospitals in the U.S. Wyoming's Republican Governor Mark Gordon saying on Friday hospitals across his state are at capacity. Some are even using medical tents outside because their emergency rooms are so full.

Medical tents also popping up outside two hospitals in Lubbock, Texas, a state which now has more than one million cases alone. And the state of Utah on the verge of running out of ICU beds. The president of Utah's Hospital Associations saying on Thursday 13 patients have already been transferred from hospitals at capacity.

I want to bring in CNN Medical Analyst, Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency room physician at Brown University.

Dr. Ranney, this sounds horrific. Can you take us inside your hospital right now?

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Ana, it is horrific. You know, we as health care providers do this job because we want to help. We show up day after day in the ER or the intensive care unit or clinic despite inadequate personal protective equipment like masks and gowns, despite the personal risk of getting sick because we want to heal people. But right now our hospitals and our ERs are at the breaking point.

And we are on the edge of what is the worst possible thing for a health care provider, which is to not be able to help. We are literally running out of beds in the hospital. We are running out of intensive care unit beds, dialysis machines. We are exhausted. We are seeing our colleagues get sick.

And here's the thing, Ana. When someone is really sick from COVID, it's not like watching an episode of ER where it's all excitement and drama. It is a quiet and sad death. We are looking at patients who can't see their families so say good-bye, it's just the beeping of a machine, the sound of a ventilator, and those last-ditch efforts that we make to try to save them knowing that there's so little that we can do.

[18:35:11]

It is an absolutely heartbreaking moment for all of us in health care, not just doctors and nurses but all of our support staff, our techs, our respiratory therapists, and the housekeeping staff. They are just worn out and tired and scared of what's coming next.

CABRERA: My heart is so heavy for you right now. How are you doing?

RANNEY: I mean, I personally, I'm doing OK, you know. Here in Rhode Island, we're seeing our numbers skyrocket. Every shift that I go back to the ER I'm seeing more and more patients show up with severe COVID.

And, Ana, it's not just the COVID, it's also all the other staff. It's the people with cancer and heart attacks and strokes. All the people that put off care in the spring, they are now coming back sicker than ever. But I have my family who I'm thankful for. I try to get time outside. And for me one of the biggest things that gives me energy is my work to try to change stuff. It's work with groups like GetUsPPE, that are working to get personal protective equipment for health care workers across the country who are running out.

But honestly, I'm so worried about my colleagues. I'm hearing from doctors and nurses that they are tired, that they are worried that they can't go on. I have friends that are leaving medicine, friends that are struggling with severe depression. It is a tough moment and we're, you know, only at the beginning of this wait. So --

CABRERA: Stay strong. Hang in there. We need you. We all need you. But I'm sure it feels like a thankless job sometimes. And right now it's got to be very difficult.

President-elect Joe Biden's team has talked about really trying to ramp up testing. How much more testing is needed just for America to really get its arms around this virus?

RANNEY: You know, it's so sad we still don't have enough testing. We've had months and months to prepare for this. We knew that this fall surge was coming. But we need millions and millions more tests per day. When you look at those positivity rates, it's somewhere between 10 percent and 40 percent in so many states across the country, that tells you that we need to be doing 10 to 40 times the number of tests per day that we're currently doing.

And we need not just tests for people that have symptoms but we also need that surveillance testing of schools and workplaces so that we can get ahead of this pandemic, so that we can stop it before it spreads.

CABRERA: We have the good news about a promising vaccine this past week. If people start getting vaccinated as soon as December, how quick will that have an impact then on the spread of the infection?

RANNEY: So realistically, even if a vaccine gets approved at the end of December, it's going to take time to distribute it. We're going to see it go first to health care workers and first responders, then to the elderly, to people with multiple chronic conditions. I don't really anticipate that it's going to be widely distributed until we get towards the end of next spring or even next summer. And remember that first vaccine we're expecting will be approved is a complex vaccine that requires cold, cold, cold storage and two doses.

So I think we'll start to see some impact around the middle of next spring but it's not really going to be until next summer or even next fall that we get to all take a breath and try to go back to normal.

CABRERA: Dr. Megan Ranney, you are amazing. You and your colleagues are all just incredible people. We're so, so very lucky to have you at the helm and fighting this virus. Thank you very much for all you do and thanks for being with us.

RANNEY: Thank you.

CABRERA: It's not just a health crisis. The pandemic has created a economic crisis. So many families are struggling just to put food on their table. Take a look at this video out of Dallas, Texas, this weekend. Long lines of cars. Look at that. They are waiting for food, from a food bank.

The North Texas Food Bank says it distributed more than 600,000 pounds of food for about 25,000 people in need just yesterday alone. And with less than two weeks until Thanksgiving, the food bank says it also gave out more than 7,000 turkeys to families.

Some breaking news. We are a go for launch. Four astronauts set to blast off to the International Space Station carried by a SpaceX rocket. We'll take you live to the Kennedy Space Center next.

[18:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: We are less than an hour away now from the historic NASA SpaceX launch and CNN's Rachel Crane is back with us now from the Kennedy Space Center. Rachel, when we last left you, you were waiting to see whether they

had resolved an air leak that had caused the hatch to reopen. What more have you learned?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana. Well, luckily, that air leak, they were able to troubleshoot it. They are now systems go. And we are just waiting on the launch director to verify go for propellant load.

So, Ana, this is about the time when I start to get those launch butterflies because that means that they -- those four astronauts are strapped into the crew capsule there. Oh, and we just got the word, my producer saying they have given the go for propellant. So that means that a million -- over a million pounds of propellant, that's liquid oxygen which referred to as LOX, and RP1 which is essentially rocket grade kerosene, will start to be loaded into the Falcon 9 to get these four astronauts to the International Space Station at 7:27 p.m. if all is nominal and all goes to plan.

And momentarily after that go for propellant has been given, they'll start to retract the crew access arm. So what -- I don't know if you can see it just yet. But that should happen any minute now. Now that is the bridge that the astronauts cross over into the capsule. And once they start retracting that, that arms the launch escape system.

[18:45:02]

Now the launch escape system is something that's very unique to Crew Dragon. It's what NASA says makes Crew Dragon potentially the safest spacecraft they've ever felony. That means that the spacecraft has an end to end abort system. So in the unlikely event of an emergency, whether they're on the pad while they're fueling or they're in that -- during ascend, they can propel themselves away from the Falcon 9 rocket due to the eight SuperDraco thrusters that are on board Crew Dragon.

So it's a really, really incredible safety feature, this end to end abort system that Crew Dragon has that no other spacecraft in NASA's history has ever had. There's always been blind spots through that ascend profile. So really unique capability here but as I said, this is a really exciting moment. Once that Falcon 9 is ignited, it will have the thrust of five 747s. As I said, over a million pounds of propellant will be transporting Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi to the International Space Station.

And as I was telling you earlier, Ana, before the air leak came up, there will be seven astronauts on board the International Space Station and there's only six sleeping quarters. So actually Mike Hopkins, the commander of Crew Dragon, he drew the short straw, per se, and he will actually be sleeping in Crew Dragon for the six-month stay on board station -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK. Rachel Crane, this is so exciting. Again, 7:27 is the launch time. And Rachel is going to be there. She's going to continue to walk us through detail by detail, every step of the process as we gear up. We know the astronauts have been strapped into their seats now for well over an hour as they are preparing for this historic launch.

Rachel Crane, thank you. And again, we'll bring that launch to our viewers live. We'll be right back as we count down to this historic launch. Stay with us.

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[18:51:50]

CABRERA: And liftoff in just about a half an hour. A little over a half an hour from now. Let's get back to CNN's Rachel Crane at the Kennedy Space Center.

And Rachel, we are counting down these final moments until the launch of this SpaceX rocket with a crew of four astronauts on board.

CRANE: That's right, Ana. As I said, this is the point in time when I start to get those launch butterflies in my stomach because it actually feels like this is within reach, that these astronauts may very well soon be blasting off from planet earth headed to the International Space Station.

Now we know that the propellant loading is happening right now. And what you may start to see on your screen is some -- what looks like steam coming off of the rocket. Now that will be the vaporization of the liquid oxygen propellant that they are putting onto the Falcon 9 rocket. Over a million pounds of propellent will be loaded onto this Falcon 9. But there's a lot of fun tidbits that I just want to tell you a little bit today, Ana, in regards to the astronauts.

You know, they get to choose their lunch. And there's a lot of interests into what do astronauts eat right before they make this epic journey. You know, there's a lot of jolting that happens around in the space capsule. So we know that actually Mike Hopkins, the commander, he actually went heavy, he had a New York steak with fries. But we also know Shannon Walker, she had a burger.

So the astronauts on board, they didn't go light with their lunches. Also when they make that 20-minute journey over to launch pad 39-A, historic launch pad 39-A, we're watching them suited up in Crew Dragon right now. Of course also where astronauts first blasted off to the moon, they have that 20-minute drive. So they have music to listen to. They get to choose their playlist. We know that they chose to listen to Alicia Keys, Phil Collins, Eminem, Lenny Kravitz, Van Halen, Bruno Mars.

So a very eclectic mix of music that brought them over to launchpad 39-A getting them hyped up for this very historic and exciting journey that they are about to make to the International Space Station. And I want to point out also those very sleek-looking space suits that they're wearing. They're very different than what we used to see with shuttles. You know, they look quite futuristic. SpaceX designed them.

And they are equipped with actually touch screen compatible gloves. That's because what you don't see in Crew Dragon is the thousands of switches and knobs and buttons that you had inside of the shuttle. It's replaced by touch screens. So they have to have touch screen compatible gloves, of course, to be able to operate this.

Now if all goes to plan, Ana, this mission, today's launch will actually be a bit more boring than the launch we saw back in May. The inaugural crewed launch of Crew Dragon with Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. That's because they had a few opportunities to test out the manual flight demonstration capabilities on Crew Dragon. At this journey, the astronauts, they'll be more in a monitoring mode.

So they'll actually, you know, be completely autonomous, their flight profile, so they will not be taking over control and they will not be piloting the crew capsule manually if all goes to plan, but still a lot of exciting firsts here happening today, Ana.

CABRERA: Yes, and this would be the first fully operational mission for the crew of the Dragon spacecraft.

[18:55:06]

Rachel Crane, it is now so close, obviously. At 7:27 Eastern is the launch.

CRANE: Fingers crossed.

CABRERA: Thank you so much. We'll keep our fingers crossed. We'll hold our breath, even just a little bit to send it to them, good will.

And that's going to do it for us right now. I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, picks up our breaking news coverage of tonight's historic SpaceX launch coming up in a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wishing you all the very best in the week ahead. Good night.

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