Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Surpasses 12 Million COVID Cases Ahead Of Thanksgiving; Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) Says It Is Time For Trump To End Election Lawsuits; Interview With Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI). Aired 3-4p ET

Aired November 22, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:37]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

The record surge of coronavirus cases in the U.S. on the verge of exponential growth. The leading infectious expert says innocent family gatherings this Thanksgiving holiday in defiance of C.D.C. warnings may contribute to the escalation.

Right now, across America, there are more than 12 million COVID cases. Three million cases in November alone, putting a record high strain on medical care facilities and healthcare workers, more than 83,000 hospitalizations.

But hope is on the horizon. The F.D.A. has granted emergency authorization of the same antibody cocktail given to President Trump shortly after his COVID-19 diagnosis. The biotech company, Regeneron says the treatment reduces medical visits for some patients who get treatment in the early stages of the disease.

Meanwhile, the President of the United States skipping global talks as part of the virtual G-20 today. Instead going golfing for the second straight day, and stepping up his fight to overturn U.S. election results despite more defeats in the courtroom.

But first, we are seeing growing cracks in President Trump's Republican wall of support as he continues to claim massive voter fraud without offering any proof.

Today, a staunch ally of President Trump says it is time for him to end his attempts to overturn the results of the election. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says Trump has failed to provide any evidence of fraud and should drop his lawsuits.

Christie says, it is time for the President to put the country first as he blasted the President's legal team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: His legal team has been a national embarrassment. Sidney Powell accusing Governor Brian Kemp of a crime on television, yet being unwilling to go on TV and defend and lay out the evidence that she supposedly has.

This is outrageous conduct by any lawyer and notice, George, they won't do it inside the courtroom. They allege fraud outside of the courtroom, but when they go inside the courtroom, they don't plead fraud and they don't argue fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from the White House. So Jeremy, Chris Christie is one among a growing number of Republicans who are finally starting to speak out against the President. Who are they?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, first of all, let's be clear that most Republican lawmakers here in Washington are not speaking out against the President. Most of them are still hanging by the President's side as he refuses to concede more than two weeks after Joe Biden was projected to be the winner of this presidential race.

But, you are starting to see as time goes on a splintering in the Republican Party and some Republicans beginning to exert some pressure on the President.

That kind of pressure ranges. You can see some of the Republican Members of Congress who have begun to talk about the President's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, and the reactions range.

You have Congresswoman Liz Cheney who is a member of House Republican leadership. She isn't calling Joe Biden the President-elect. She isn't calling on the President to concede yet, but she is saying, Mr. President, if you don't present this evidence in court, it's time to move on and start to respect the sanctity of our electoral process.

Then you have others like Senator Mitt Romney, Senator Ben Sasse, both of them have acknowledged that Joe Biden is the President-elect and they have called very clearly for President Trump to move on and concede and not to continue to engage in his refusal to acknowledge reality.

And then you have also some Republican governors who are also beginning to speak out against the President. I think we can put some of those on the screen as well.

You see Governor Larry Hogan, he has been among the fiercest critics of the President during his four years in office, but especially at this moment right now.

Governor Mike DeWine, he was recently criticized by the President after he acknowledged reality and said Joe Biden is the President- elect of the United States.

Now, all of this is mainly being driven, Fred, by the fact that the President has been losing in the courts. He has tried unsuccessfully to present this evidence of widespread voter fraud to present this conspiracy theory laden case about why he should be President and not Joe Biden and the courts have rebuffed him time and again.

Yesterday in Pennsylvania was the 29th case that President Trump or his allies have either had to withdraw or seen dismissed from Federal and state courts.

WHITFIELD: And you mentioned, Jeremy, Governor Hogan of Maryland has been perhaps one of the most outspoken. Has the President or anyone in the White House responded to what he has had to say?

[15:05:12]

WHITFIELD: Well, President Trump is making very clear that if you are a Republican and you come out and you criticize him or say that Joe Biden is the President-elect, he is going to hit back at you and that is why you are seeing so many Republicans refusing to acknowledge reality thus far and playing this very delicate dance.

But Governor Hogan has been outspoken on this. He spoke out this morning on CNN. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MD): Frankly, I mean, you know, we used to go supervise elections around the world and we were the most respected country with respect to elections and now we're beginning to look like we're a banana republic.

It's time for them to stop the nonsense. It just gets more bizarre every single day and frankly I'm embarrassed that more people in the party aren't speaking up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: The President hit back at Governor Hogan this morning, calling him a RINO Republican in name only in a tweet. Governor Hogan responding though once again telling the President, "If you had done your job, America's governors wouldn't have been forced to fend for themselves to find tests in the middle of a pandemic as we successfully did in Maryland. Stop golfing and concede."

The President, Fredricka, today is indeed once again on his golf course, his 304th day in office doing so -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jeremy Diamond at the White House. Thanks so much.

So the U.S. has recorded nearly a quarter of the nation's 12 million coronavirus cases in November alone. There have been more than three million new infections in that timeframe and over 25,000 Americans have died.

Let's get right to CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro who joins me now from a testing site in New York, and we've been seeing across the country, Evan, very long lines whether they are standing in line or whether they are in their cars in line trying to get COVID tests. EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. Behind

me here in Lower Manhattan is a five-hour line to get a COVID test. People have been lined up for five hours to get a COVID test.

It is just one of the many signs of this unprecedented surge in the pandemic, which is not a New York story, it's a national story.

Let's look at a map of the United States where you can see 37 states right now with rising cases and some with very, very bad news when it comes to the pandemic.

In Arizona, 194 percent increase in COVID cases just in the last five weeks, and in California, a record number 15,000 new cases reported in California on Saturday.

So very, very tough numbers all over the country including here in New York, and those new cases, Fred, they mean more hospitalizations, and you could see those figures on another graphic we have here. You see those figures rising, people going to a hospital to deal with coronavirus.

On TV this morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci put those hospitalization numbers in a scary context.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It's not just elderly individuals, we are starting to see there's a substantial proportion of people who are hospitalized between 40 and 59.

So these are people who are predominantly dominated by the elderly and underlying conditions, but not completely. These numbers really speak for themselves, Margaret, we're in a very, very difficult situation at all levels.

So, I think I would hope that the people who are pushing back on the recommendations for mitigation measures just look at the numbers. Look at the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Just very scary numbers, and as I mentioned here in New York, we are seeing a five-hour line for tests. People are nervous about the pandemic, and I talked to people on the line about why they are standing in line for so long and what they think about the current situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm definitely nervous about numbers going up. I think that's why the line is so long because everyone is trying to take precautions. Hopefully, everyone will be safe during the Holidays because I know numbers are probably going to spike because of the Holidays. So, you know, it's definitely a fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Now, as that smart New Yorker mentioned, the Holiday Season is right around the corner and that has experts really, really worried because they are saying there is no amount of travel that's safe during this Holiday Season. There's no gathering size that's safe during this Holiday Season.

They are hoping that with those numbers spiking, Americans will make the hard choice to stay home and keep apart this Holiday Season -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Extraordinary, Evan. I mean, five hours. You know, a lot of people -- I know they have been telling you this -- are taking the test so that they can get a pass so to speak to go visit with family, but then you hear from some experts who say you'll need to take a test again, you know, even after you get some results closer to when you're actually traveling to know for sure that you didn't, you know, come into contact sometime in between all of that.

So, you know, people are looking for certainty, but that's what's difficult here. You can't get certainty.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Well, that's right, Fred. I mean, if you think about it, pretty much the worst case scenario for a pandemic is people going from one place to another place mingling with other people and returning to the first place. That's what Thanksgiving is.

It's a lovely time. I enjoy it. It's my favorite Holiday actually, but this year is just not the year to be doing it according to the experts.

[15:10:16]

WHITFIELD: All right, Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you so much. Appreciate that.

So first responders, high-risk individuals are among those expected to be vaccinated first within just 48 hours of the F.D.A. granting Emergency Use Authorization.

Dr. Fauci says the vaccine could then be widely available for average Americans by April, but children may have to wait a bit longer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: The lowest age to which the vaccines have been given -- this is the Pfizer vaccine -- was 12 to 14 years of age. I don't know whether the F.D.A. will approve the vaccine for use down to that age, maybe they will stop at 18 years of age and above.

We are planning to run clinical trials into younger adolescents, then toddlers and then infants on an expedited basis over the last few months. I would expect that we can start immunizing them somewhere in the second quarter of this year, at least the toddlers. Probably, the infants is going to take longer. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me now, Dr. Ashish Jha, the Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. So, Doctor, before I ask you about that, I would love to hear from you what your point of view is for so many people who are standing in line trying to get tested, hoping that that will give them the green light to visit friends and family, but then, some experts say even once you get those results, you need to go back again and get another test because lots can happen in between that time. Where are you on that?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Yes, Fred, thank you for having me on. It's a very hard situation. Unfortunately, a negative test does not give you a pass. You think of it this way.

Let's say yesterday I was exposed. If I go get tested today, I won't be positive. But in two or three days, I might turn positive and I will start being infectious and spreading it even before I have symptoms.

So this is why a single negative test just isn't enough, and you have to really be careful. That's why this Holiday Season, we've decided as a family not to do anything and just stay in our household which I think is really unfortunately the only safe thing to do over this Thanksgiving.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and I'm taking your advice, that of Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Fauci all saying the same thing. You know, this is just a different Thanksgiving season and we've got to refrain so that perhaps next year we might be able to all get together. That's the approach that my family is taking as well.

All right, so let's talk about the promise of this vaccine and who would get it most immediately and then how it would be distributed to those to follow.

Can we zero in on children for now? You know, when might children -- we know first responders and those on the frontline would be the first to get it, but about children? The comment being made by the member of Operation Warp Speed.

JHA: Yes, so that timeline you laid out is exactly right. Healthcare workers, first responders, then high-risk individuals, and pushing for essential workers, teachers to get vaccinated.

But on the issue of kids, it's complicated. They have young kids especially who have not been in clinical trials. We have two choices, we could just assume that if it's safe in adults, it's going to be safe in kids. I don't love that. The American Academy of Pediatrics has said we should test it in kids, which I strongly believe we should.

Once it's been tested in children, then we will feel much more comfortable giving it to kids, but that really probably puts kids many months down the road in terms of when they would be eligible for the vaccination. WHITFIELD: Okay. There is a lot that have to happen before that point,

even before the initial distribution to frontline workers.

The Trump administration still withholding information from President- elect Biden's transition team. Just listen to what a senior adviser for Biden-Harris transition team had to say about the potential cost of that delay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYMONE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION TEAM: A vaccine distribution will fall in the hands of a Biden administration and with every single moment that there's a delay of ascertainment, every single moment our folks are not able to get into and work with current government officials, puts the effective distribution of that vaccine in danger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And what do you think about what Symone Sanders is saying?

JHA: I think this is a travesty. I mean, look, we are in the worst phase of the pandemic. Nearly 2,000 Americans are dying every single day. Making sure the vaccine is out as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible is critical. It just happens to come during this transition time.

The transition has to go super smoothly. The Biden team has got to be ready on day one. If they get delayed by several weeks, that will literally lead to thousands of people dying unnecessarily.

Look, I understand there is a time for politics. There's also a time for putting people's lives first. This is that moment.

[15:15:16]

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you for being with us and the best to you and the family for this Thanksgiving Holiday and beyond.

JHA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, President Trump facing new obstacles in his fight to overturn the presidential election.

A second ballot recount in Georgia and a Federal Judge issues a scathing rebuke of a lawsuit in Pennsylvania. Plus, Michigan is expected to certify votes tomorrow after Republicans requested a delay. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell joining me live to discuss that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Georgia will conduct yet another recount of its presidential ballots following a request from the Trump Campaign. This one will be by machine. A hand audit already confirmed President-elect Joe Biden won the state by more than 12,000 votes. Georgia is one of three key states where the Trump Campaign is challenging the vote.

Tomorrow Pennsylvania counties are expected to certify an election victory for Biden. This, after a Federal Judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Trump Campaign that sought to invalidate millions of Pennsylvania votes.

[15:20:26]

WHITFIELD: While Michigan is also expected to certify an election win for Joe Biden tomorrow. We just learned that one Michigan G.O.P. canvassing board member now plans to vote against certifying the results.

For more on these developments, let's bring in Kristen Holmes. Kristen, let's start with Georgia. When will we know the results potentially of this hand recount -- machine recount?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, we are expected -- yes, a machine recount, it used to be a hand recount. Now, we are going to machine -- back and forth, back and forth.

So five to nine days is what we are told in terms of a timeline for that Georgia recount. But we really should note here that there is not expected to be any sort of change in the outcome, and the reason being what you just said, we have already seen a hand audit of the Georgia election.

That means that groups of people went through every single ballot by hand, five million ballots to certify this election. That is what we already saw.

Now, this is a much less strenuous process. This is putting those ballots once again through a machine. It's not done by hand. So, the likelihood of any sort of change in outcome here is really slim to none.

Now, I do want to also touch on what you talked about in Pennsylvania. We are expecting that state to certify the election tomorrow. It's done county by county.

And you mentioned this dismissal of the lawsuit brought by the Trump Campaign. It was really a blistering decision written by a Republican conservative judge. I want to read you part of it here. He says, "One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption such that this court would have no option but to regrettably grant the proposed injunctive relief despite impact it would have on a large group of citizens. That has not happened."

So this is really, as you said, a scathing rebuke here of the case that was brought by the Trump Campaign by Rudy Giuliani.

WHITFIELD: And then, key G.O.P. Michigan canvassing board, we now understand that one member is expected to vote against certifying the results. What more are we learning about that? HOLMES: That's right, so just to break down exactly what is supposed

to happen tomorrow, is that there are four members of the Board of Canvassers. Two are Democrats and two are Republicans and they all come to the table and they vote on whether or not to certify the election.

And usually, this is just a check mark, but as we have seen this election, there seems to be no such thing as just the regular clerical work.

So now, we are learning that one of those Republicans is expected to possibly vote against certifying this election. I want to give you these details because they just came out.

Representative Paul Mitchell, a Republican told CNN that he had spoken a few days ago to one of the Board of Canvassers, the other, one of the Republicans who told him that he was thinking about voting against the certification, waiting for an audit.

Now, there is nothing in the law of Michigan that prepares them for something like this. It's very confusing times. But I do want to note here, if there is some kind of split, if the other Republican decides against certifying the election, the Speaker of the House in Michigan earlier today said that this could be potentially chaotic and even lead to a constitutional crisis.

Now, this is all following the fact that Michigan Republicans and the R.N.C. sent a letter last night to the Board of Canvassers asking them to delay the certification 14 days waiting for an audit of Wayne County in Detroit.

The big question now is what exactly is going to happen? We have seen this going back and forth particularly with Michigan, this ongoing saga really now, it has been escalating for the last week.

So the big question is what is that other Republican canvasser going to do and is there potential for this to lead to, as the Speaker of the House said, a constitutional crisis.

WHITFIELD: All right. It gets more interesting by the day, doesn't it? Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. With me now is Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, she is Democrat from Michigan and a Senior Whip for the Democrats in the House.

Congresswoman, good to see you.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right, so your response on all of this that possibly one Republican Board Member of this Canvassing Board may not certify. What would happen if that is indeed the case?

DINGELL: So, I'm not surprised by any of this. I have been expecting every trick in the book to be perfectly frank that could happen. First of all, there won't be a constitutional crisis in the country. I do want people to pay attention to the fact that the Speaker of the Michigan House met with President Trump on Friday night said that.

But the fact of the matter is, you just talked about what is happening in Pennsylvania, what's happening in Georgia. The electoral votes are there in the other states.

What is being done now is directly aimed at undermining people's confidence in the election process, the integrity of the elections.

[15:25:24]

DINGELL: These certification tomorrow is simple math. They look at the certification that's been done by 83 counties, they certify that it's done. Then you can do audits.

You are not allowed to do audits until that certification takes place. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. It's one thing I have told everybody to be prepared for, you don't know what is going to happen, but do be prepared for it if the vote is three to one, the vote will be certified.

We have got lawyers looking at things. I'm not part of that legal strategy because I don't want to be part of the legal strategy. I'm trying to build people's confidence in the election worked.

WHITFIELD: So based on that reporting, if it's the case that this Board member says, you know, he believes that there ought to be an audit and won't certify until there's an audit, you're saying the order is in reverse. You certify in order to, you know, grant an opening for any kind of audit, so it just doesn't make sense in your view, that sequence of events.

Now, is it the case that the Governor would appoint a replacement if for some reason this Board member were not to certify, were not to involve him or herself in the certification?

DINGELL: You need a vote of three to one. At least you need a majority of the canvassers. It is not clear -- we're all doing a lot of speculating. I'm not surprised by this report today because we've been reading what Norm Shinkle has been saying for the last few days, he has been laying the groundwork to show people why he might not do it.

His job isn't to do that. His job is a math job: certify what the other counties did.

And I want to be clear, people are using a lot of statistics that aren't correct. The fact of the matter is in Wayne County which is where the City of Detroit is, there were out cities like Livonia, with is called balancing, when you look at precinct numbers that the balance was more off. There were more precincts than Detroit.

So someone sends an absentee ballot in. You register it in. You have gotten the envelope, but you opened it and they forgot to put the ballot in.

None of those precincts that are off, I am told are off by more than one, two, or three. It's not the significant problem they are trying to cast.

And we all need to be careful. Every vote needs to be counted. I said we need to be slow, deliberate and count these votes, but we cannot undermine people's confidence of people in the voice of the people and the people have voted and we need to count every vote.

WHITFIELD: And this presidential election saw the largest voter turnout, and we already heard from so many agencies that this was also, you know, problematic free. This was the safest U.S. presidential election.

You're concerned now about the sowing of mistrust that even this continuous challenging, the President has a right to challenge, but it is not bearing any fruit. If anything, it's sowing more confusion.

What are your concerns about the sowing of mistrust in the U.S. elections by virtue of what's happening right now?

DINGELL: We have seen this country divided by fear and hatred for four years.

You know, I want to say this. When Donald Trump got elected four years ago, I had said I'd listen to the people and said it could happen. I was one of the very first people to say he was elected President. He is our President. We need to stand and support him.

That is something. The smooth transition of government that has happened from the beginning of this country. People need to know that their vote matters, their vote counted and it's accurate.

And this sowing of confusion, trying to undermine the integrity, it's attacking the fundamental pillars of our Constitution and our democracy and it's not okay.

WHITFIELD: One of your fellow Michigan Representatives Republican Fred Upton was on CNN this morning, discussing the Michigan election results and this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. FRED UPTON (R-MI): The voters have spoken, and here in Michigan, the 154,000-vote margin by President-elect Biden. No one has come up with evidence of fraud or abuse. All 83 counties now have certified their own election results. Those will be officially tabulated or they should be tomorrow.

We expect that that process move forward and let the voters, not the politicians speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What are your thoughts?

[15:30:10]

DINGELL: I think Fred just said it eloquently. Fred and I are a Democrat and Republican work together frequently because we know that we are the United States of America.

And I even want to tell you, "The Detroit News" which is traditionally a conservative paper today said they need to just certify the votes tomorrow.

There's a group called the Michigan Freedom Fund which, quite frankly, is a significantly funded conservative group by the DeVos that has acknowledged and said in an op-ed piece this weekend Donald Trump lost Michigan.

They are encouraging an audit. They are encouraging the Secretary of State to look at things, but they said there are not enough votes, even if there were mistakes to make up the wide margin that Joe Biden won Michigan.

Look, we need to move on. We need to look to the future.

We have a COVID crisis that we're watching on the show. We've got everybody who knows somebody at this point. We need to be working together in this country to attack all COVID and make our country strong. That's what we need to be focused on, not attacking the roots of our democracy.

WHITFIELD: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you so much. Always good to see you. Appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:52]

WHITFIELD: President-elect Joe Biden will announce his first Cabinet picks this week moving ahead with plans for his administration even as President Trump continues to deny the legitimacy of Biden's win.

Despite several roadblocks being thrown up by the outgoing Trump administration, President-elect Biden's incoming Chief of Staff says he is satisfied with the pace of choosing a new Cabinet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON KLAIN, PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN'S CHIEF OF STAFF: You're going to see the first of the President-elect's Cabinet appointments on Tuesday of this week meeting the pace -- meeting in fact, the pace that was set by the Obama-Biden transition, meeting the pace by the Trump transition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Biden has already said, he has decided who he wants for the key Treasury Secretary position. CNN's Arlette Saenz joins me now from Wilmington, Delaware.

So Arlette, we understand that there might be more than one name announced as part of a Biden Cabinet this Tuesday. ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. As you

heard incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain say that there could be picks -- that is plural-- but this is just the latest move from Biden and his transition team to show that they are unfazed by President Trump's refusal to concede the election.

We've heard Biden talk about how he has already settled on a name for a Treasury Secretary. We know that one of the top contenders for that job has been Lael Brainard of the Federal Reserve. Biden could also name his Secretary of State as soon as this week.

So those are some of the posts that we will be watching in the coming days. But even as Biden is preparing to name his first Cabinet picks, his transition team is acknowledging that there is one element of these nominations that is complicated by the fact that the G.S.A. has not ascertained Biden as the winner.

And that is the F.B.I. background checks that must be conducted on some of these nominees in order for the Senate confirmation process to move forward.

Take a listen to what one of Biden's transition advisers had to say on that topic earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, SENIOR ADVISER TO BIDEN TRANSITION TEAM: A key part of getting that group of individuals confirmed is F.B.I. background checks. F.B.I. background checks cannot happen unless there's ascertainment, and I expect not just Democrats but Republicans in the Senate to be outraged that they won't have access to that information.

It could takes weeks for that to happen, so that's another pressure point we'll see in the coming days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: So, that's just one of several issues that the Biden transition team is currently limited with due to the lack of that G.S.A. ascertainment. We have also heard Biden's advisers talk about the fact they don't have access to the Trump administration's distribution plan for a vaccine and how that could ultimately also complicate things for Biden once he is in office.

But for the time being, Biden's advisers simply say that they are plowing ahead with their work, but they have not ruled out the possibility of legal action to try to get this G.S.A. ascertainment to take place.

WHITFIELD: All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you so much, in Wilmington.

All right, still ahead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a message to President-elect Joe Biden about the Iran Nuclear Deal. We will go live to Jerusalem, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:43:11]

WHITFIELD: In a message apparently aimed at President-elect Joe Biden, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned against returning to the previous Nuclear Agreement with Iran. Netanyahu said today, I am quoting now, "There can be no going back to the previous nuclear agreement. We must stick to an uncompromising policy of ensuring that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons." End quote.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem.

So, Netanyahu was a very close ally of President Trump. What are we to make of these comments?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, so often we saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to an audience of one when it came to the Iranian Nuclear Deal and policies against Iran and that audience was President Donald Trump.

Netanyahu was perhaps the most vocal critic of the Iranian Nuclear Deal and the biggest supporter of what is commonly known as the maximum pressure campaign against Iran with sanctions.

Well now that Netanyahu has finally acknowledged that Joe Biden is President-elect, that audience of one appears to have now changed to Joe Biden, and that's where this message is -- Netanyahu is putting forward his priority list or perhaps his wish list when it comes to Iran and sending a message to Joe Biden and his transition team and his foreign policy team that the previous Iranian Nuclear Deal was bad and that, at least now that Trump's maximum pressure campaign is working.

Netanyahu has supported it from the beginning and he continues to support it to try to lay out his policy when it comes to what the future President will do when it comes to Iran.

Netanyahu also said it is this opposition to Iran that brought these Sunni Gulf States closer to Israel, so taking quite a bit of credit there for the change in the Gulf States' attitude towards the changing Middle East.

What's interesting here is that it was assessment of the I.D.F., Israeli Military, is that regardless of who won the election, Donald Trump or Joe Biden there was going to be another nuclear agreement.

Biden and Trump had made it clear they wanted one, Iran according to I.D.F. was simply waiting to see who they would be negotiating against.

So that's a point worth remembering as you listen to Netanyahu's words.

It's also interesting that there's an ongoing debate within the Intelligence Community about whether withdrawing from the deal and putting this maximum pressure campaign against Iran was the right move especially Fredricka because of a report from the I.A.E.A. last week saying Iran had moved centrifuges in the tons and was enriching uranium there in excess of the limits in the JCPOA.

WHITFIELD: All right. Oren Liebermann, thank you so much, in Jerusalem.

All right, straight ahead, food banks across the U.S. stretching to the limits as families get ready to celebrate the Holidays. So, how bad is the situation? The CEO of Feeding America joins me live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:23]

WHITFIELD: For all too many Americans, especially now, putting food on the table is a daily struggle.

Here in Atlanta, food drives like this one put on by Tyler Perry are giving out thousands of meals ahead of Thanksgiving.

But food banks throughout the country are being stretched to the limit, and all the while, stimulus talks are going nowhere in Washington.

Claire Babineaux-Fontenot is the CEO of Feeding America. She joins us now from Dallas, Texas. Good to see you, Claire. So, food insecurity is bigger now than ever before. How is this pandemic affecting, you know, the psyche of so many families long term?

CLAIRE BABINEAUX-FONTENOT, CEO, FEEDING AMERICA: Yes. Well, one of the issues is just that we won't be able to quantify what the psychological impact of not knowing how you're going to feed your family is on so many people out there.

We know that there are significant health impacts of food insecurity to be sure, educational impacts of food insecurity. So every time I hear, I hope your audience and you, when we all hear about businesses closing down or about schools closing down, that all of us understand that that also means that there are people out there who are missing meals.

WHITFIELD: What does this say to you? When you look at these images, whether it be there in Dallas, there are images that we see here in Atlanta. You know, filmmaker Tyler Perry opening his studio for food giveaways in New York City, and you see the -- I mean, miles long lines of people in their cars, blocks long, people standing, waiting, also trying to respect social distancing.

What goes through your mind when you see this unbelievable amount of need, you know, measured in so many different ways just to put food on the table on a daily basis right now?

FONTENOT: Yes. I actually see two things when I look at those images. On the one hand, it just serves us all to understand that right now this country is right in the middle of a food crisis that goes along with the health pandemic.

We're looking at about 50 million people who are food insecure during the pandemic. That's one out of every six people, that's one out of every four children. So, I can certainly see the need.

But the other thing that I see is all of the people who are out there trying to help. Think about Tyler Perry, think about our 200 member food banks, our 60,000 agency partners, two million volunteers.

There's been unprecedented need and there's also been unprecedented giving during this time and generosity. So, I see both of those things.

And more than anything, I recognize that we can do something about this, and I hope that we will.

WHITFIELD: Do you worry that the resources are going to run out because, still, you know, no promise of any kind of stimulus relief that will help many families get by at least temporarily. So are you worried that your organization, Tyler Perry's organization or the organization of getting people together and inputting his own money into it and other organizations are going to run out of resources, run out of money, run out of food to give out.

FONTENOT: I am concerned. There are real needs out there and there's no way that as remarkable as our food bank network is, this network can't do it alone. The public can't do it alone.

It's going to require public-private, government changes in policies. All of us have to come to the table, recognize this is an all-in fight so we can do something that's truly sustainable.

Now, we've made some progress over the course of this pandemic. For instance, our network from March 1st to October -- the end of October -- we've already provided over four billion meals to people in need.

The challenge is that people will need a meal after the ones that they have already received. So we need to continue to ask your audience to go to feedingamerica.org.

I ask that they start by finding the food bank that serves their local communities and figuring out what they need. And I also ask that if they want to be a part of a national movement that they also consider the national work that we do at Feeding America as well.

And then as for Congress, we've done this before. During this pandemic, in a bipartisan way, Congress has actually provided $1.2 billion worth of resources in terms of food insecurity.

They've got to get back to the table. They've got to put the needs of people in this country above all else.

People are in crisis. We can do something about this.

WHITFIELD: Well, I hope that your organization and others like yours continue to get the kind of resources, donations, food supplies that you need in order to continue to meet the growing need of so many Americans.

[19:55:20] WHITFIELD: Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, thank you so much. Appreciate

it. All the best to you. And all the best particularly this Holiday Season.

FONTENOT: Thank you so much for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, we are following this breaking news. A Republican member of the Michigan Board of Canvassers is expected to vote against certifying the state's election results. Details on that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:00:00]