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Black Women Helped Propel Biden To Victory In Georgia; IL Experiences Surge In Hospitalization After Case Spike; Biden: I Need Warren And Sanders In The Senate. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 25, 2020 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

LATOSHA BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, BLACK VOTERS MATTER: What I think is going to be important is that what we're seeing with black women a lot of times the conversation has been talking about black women as voters and not necessarily black women as strategist, black women as leaders, as organizers. And what we're seeing in Georgia, you know, as a result of that, that over time that we've been doing work, but there are women who are in positions of leadership when we look at who leads the Democratic Party right now. So Nikema Williams, Congress -- newly Congressman -- Congresswoman Nikema Williams, who leads the Democratic Party, when we look at people like Stacey Abrams, who has been very diligent about building an infrastructure in the state, when you look at who's leading groups on the ground, from the new Georgia project to Georgia STAND-UP, the Peoples' Agenda.

The point is that what we're seeing is that black women have been stepping up in the leadership in various roles throughout the campaign on the party side, the nonpartisan side, civic engagement, and political strategy and leadership. And so I think that that is going to make a difference. What we've been seeing and talking to folks is that it hasn't been centered just around the candidates. But this is an election that is much broader than the candidates. And while Trump is out on a ticket, what we do know is on the ticket is healthcare is on the ticket, that this is a mistake that has had poor leadership when it comes to COVID-19. And we have been impacted. Our community has been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN HOST: And I want you to listen to some of the black women on the ground. These are folks just like you in the state of Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH SCOTT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGIA STAND-UP: I was surprised it took so long, but I wasn't surprised that it happened. And I won't be surprised in what happens in January.

HELEN BUTLER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE PEOPLE'S AGENDA: These women that are really driving this ground game.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So do you think that black women are the ones who flipped the state of Georgia? BUTLER: We are the highest demographic in turnout of any other besides, are white, so I would say, yes, we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: And so how do you transfer, LaTosha, all of that excitement that black voters had on Election Day to turn out this president, President Trump to vote for Biden. How do you transfer that to a Senate race in a January election, not a presidential election? How do you do that? And also, how do you make sure it's not just black women who are voting, but there is this multiracial coalition, which pushed Biden to win those electoral votes?

BROWN: No, I think, there's a couple of things. One, I want to note too, from 2017 to remind people, it was December 2017, when we saw that amazing victory happened in Georgia. I mean, Alabama, our state next door, our sister state, that was even a deeper red state that was led by black women. I do think that black women are serving themselves and places leadership right now, our voices and our work, is really rising to the top and making a difference.

And there is a new south rising, a multigenerational, multiracial coalition that's been put together, have been working together. I think the difference in this election is that we recognize that it's not just about one election. I think that has been one of the critical part -- problems in the political party. So think I that is just about one election. But this is really a larger issue around building power. And many of the organizations that are being led by black women have been in the long game around how do we build power.

And so I think part of the way that we take some of that, whenever you have momentum, we have a wind beneath our wings right now. And so there's been 27 years since Georgia has actually flipped blue. I think that gives us a running start with a lot of momentum. We've got two strong candidates, and we've got women organizers and women leaders and a multiracial new coalition that's developed. So there's a lot of things that I think are working in our favor that can actually help take this moment that is not transactional, but that it becomes a transformative moment that what we're saying fundamentally, is that the South is changing. And we're changing it.

HENDERSON: LaTosha Brown, thank you so much, happy belated birthday to you and also have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow.

BROWN: Thank you so much.

HENDERSON: And as we go to break, former President Barack Obama was on The Breakfast Club this morning defending his record on helping black Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:34:09]

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Black poverty drop faster than everybody else. Black incomes went up more than a lot of other folks. So, you know, the issue is sometimes we just didn't go around advertising that because once again, the goal here is to build coalitions, where everybody is getting something so that they all feel like they've got a stake in it. There is no way in eight years to make up for 200 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDERSON: Americans are facing devastating economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, another 778,000 people filed for first time unemployment claims last week, the second straight weekly increase. And thousands across the country are lining up at food banks this Thanksgiving Eve. I want to bring in CNN's Adrienne Broaddus who joins me now from a food bank in Chicago. Adrienne, I have to say one of my earliest memories of the pandemic is seen hundreds and hundreds of women and their children mainly lining up in a food line right as the pandemic was hitting. What are you seeing there on the ground in Chicago?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nia, the lines we've seen around the country and the line we see here in Chicago really tell more about a story we already knew existed, food insecurity. I spoke with the CEO of Lakeview Pantry earlier today, and she told me they're expecting 5,000 people to walk through the doors this week.

[12:40:09]

And you see, it's raining here in Chicago, and normally rain keeps people away. But that is not the case here, people are showing up. And inside of those boxes, they're walking away with food that will help their family survive. Now the brown boxes you see here have nonperishable items inside. They're also getting fresh produce and dairy. But that's not all. This Thanksgiving, every family who shows up here walks away with a turkey.

Meanwhile, here's something else I want to point out to help drive the message home. Before the pandemic, we heard a lot about saving for a rainy day. But so many families before the pandemic were living paycheck to paycheck. And now some of those families are working reduced hours or they may have lost their job because of the virus and all that it has dealt us. Those families are some of the people showing up in lines here and quite frankly, across the country.

The CEO Kellie O'Connell told me, some people walking through the doors here at Lakeview are showing up for the first time. And Nia, you talked about children showing up, at least 17 million children have been struggling to find food. Think about it. Before the pandemic, a lot of those kids were receiving meals at school. And now we don't have that. Back to you.

HENDERSON: Adrienne Broaddus. Thank you so much for that report from Chicago.

Illinois is seeing a surge in hospitalizations after a spike in coronavirus cases. Governor J.B. Pritzker warns Thanksgiving gatherings may drive case numbers up again and urges people to make safe choices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): It appears it may just be a matter of months, not years before it's safe for all of us to gather with extended family and friends again. Let's keep each other safe until then. It's not too late to change your plans if you haven't already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: The director of the Illinois Department of Health, Dr. Ngozi Ezike joins me now. Dr. Ezike, thanks so much for your time. And you see Governor Pritzker there offered some good news in his briefing yesterday saying it's likely a matter of months before individuals can gather with family and friends due to the positive developments have we seen with these vaccines. And you said last week that you expect to see roughly 400,000 doses when the first vaccine is distributed. But yesterday, you also said that no, that might no longer be the case that Illinois might actually receive fewer doses than that. Why is that the case?

DR. NGOZI EZIKE, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: So we have had a readjustment of the numbers that were quoted to us and I have talked to other state health officials, all of them have had the proportional decrease in their accounts. We're still waiting to see answers or understand maybe why that is. But it seems that the initial allotment that we thought would be ready to be -- to go out, that number has decreased. And so as a result, all the states are going to get a smaller amount.

HENDERSON: In 27 states are reporting over 1,000 hospitalizations and that's including your state. Are you seeing a strain on hospitals across Illinois?

EZIKE: Yes, unfortunately, we are. We've had hospitals reaching out, saying that they had a large number of staff that are either infected themselves or on quarantine. There are numbers of individuals that are in the emergency room that they're waiting to get a bed to be transferred for the continuation of their care. So we are starting to see that and we really need to stop the number of infections on the front end so that we can give a break to our amazing hospital workers who have, who did this in the first wave and are starting this again.

HENDERSON: And based off of coronavirus tracing that they are doing there in the state, the Chicago Tribune noted today that hotspot exposure locations are the top 30 or the top in the last 30 days in the November 13th was schools followed by hospitals and clinics, business and retail locations, restaurants and bars, and other which includes travel and vacations based off of these locations. What do you expect in terms of cases as we head into this holiday season? And what is your advice to folks who are navigating this holiday season wanting to see family but also with the reality of living with this pandemic?

EZIKE: Yes. No, I'm still making the urgent plea imploring people to reconsider their plans if they were planning a larger gathering if they're planning on mixing households, mixing extended family, people who are not already within your home. We don't want to infect the ones we love. We want to protect the ones we love. And we can do that by sacrificing the way we do Thanksgiving. We're not canceling Thanksgiving but we do need to transform it into something that respects what COVID can do and has done and not make this Thanksgiving holiday one that we will regret in years to come because of what happened at this day of Thanksgiving.

[12:45:36]

HENDERSON: And likely need to rethink what people's plans are for the holidays ahead Christmas and New Year's as well. Dr. Ngozi Ezike, we thank you so much for joining us, happy Thanksgiving to you.

EZIKE: Thank you so much, happy Thanksgiving.

HENDERSON: And up next, Joe Biden lays out his plan to govern while the current president is still disputing the election results.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:40]

HENDERSON: There are 56 days until the inauguration, 56 days for President Trump to assault the 2020 election outcome with the official power of the office behind him. The constant distraction complicates an already tricky transition for President-elect Joe Biden. And Biden says that his first hundred days priorities include immigration reform, an issue where political capital often goes to die, and undoing some of the Trump rollbacks on climate regulations. The President-elect's early Cabinet picks worry some Republicans and Democrats that the Biden administration will be another Obama term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: This is not a third Obama term because there's -- we face a totally different world than we faced in the Obama-Biden administration. The President, this President Trump has changed the landscape. It's become America First, we spend America alone. We find ourselves in a position where our alliances are being frayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: Joining me now we got Michael Shear of the New York Times. Michael, we're already hearing complaints from progressives about two conspicuous absences in the Biden Cabinet pick so far. Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren, this is what the President-elect had to say about this last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We already have significant representation among progressives in our administration, but there's nothing really off the table. But one thing is really critical. Taking someone out of the Senate, taking someone out of the House, particularly a person of consequence is really a difficult decision would have to be made. I have a very ambitious, very progressive agenda. And it's going to take really strong leaders in the House and Senate to get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: It sounds like there isn't going to be a Warren or Sanders in the Biden Cabinet?

MICHAEL SHEAR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, probably not. I mean, I think that was always a long shot. And I think look, you know, what defines Joe Biden, what is defined him for the past, you know, 30 or 40 years as -- in his life and public services, pragmatism. He understands that, as he said, that taking folks out of the Senate is, you know, when the Senate might be in Republican control by just one, you know, one member, that's a potential problem. And that's a good excuse for him to push back a little bit against, you know, maybe a wing of the party that would, you know, if he did bring them into the Cabinet would push him in ways that he doesn't want to be pushed.

And so it's sort of a win-win for him if he can make the argument that they're, you know, he needs them on Capitol Hill and at the same time, you know, prevents his Cabinet from drifting too far to the left.

HENDERSON: Yes. So I you know, I think this is going to be a battle we're going to keep seeing, progressive trying to push him, progressive upset with him for some of his picks. Michael Shear, thank you so much, happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

SHEAR: You too.

[12:53:39]

HENDERSON: Still ahead, college basketball starts today. But the season already looks very different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDERSON: It is here opening day of the NCAA college basketball season. But as with so many things during 2020, not all teams will be playing due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sadly my beloved Duke is on the list of high profile college basketball teams that won't be starting its season as planned due to COVID-19. We've got CNN sports Andy Scholes with the latest.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Nia, for the first time since March, college basketball teams are taking the floor across the country but already many teams having to cancel or postpone games before their season even gets started. Forty-four games that were supposed to happen today have already been called off. Now that may sound like a lot but there are still 212 games today between the men and the women.

Now among the teams not able to play right now are Tennessee and Baylor. The Vols announced Monday they were pausing team activities due to positive test results including one from Head Coach Rick Barnes. Tennessee has already canceled its first three games, second ranked Baylor meanwhile in the same boat, their head coach Scott Drew tested positive on Sunday. They've canceled their first three games as well.

The UConn women, meanwhile, are halting all team activities for 14 days after a positive test within their program. That means four games for them will need to be pushed back. Now the majority of games today will be taking place without fans but there are some that will be having fans in the stands. And, Nia, that means today marks the first time that we will have basketball games with fans in an arena since the pandemic started back in March.

[13:00:00]

HENDERSON: Thanks for that report, Andy Scholes. And thanks for joining us. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now.