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President-Elect Joe Biden Set to Give Thanksgiving Address Today; Surge in COVID-19 Cases Expected to Follow the Holiday; Interview with Biden's Coronavirus Advisory Board Member Rick Bright. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 25, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST, NEWSROOM: I'm Brianna Keilar, and I want to welcome viewers here in the United States and around the world.

Moments from now, President-elect Joe Biden will deliver a Thanksgiving address to Americans as the nation suffers through the heartache of a pandemic and the economic pain that accompanies it. This as President Trump cancelled a Pennsylvania event with Rudy Giuliani, meant to be a bogus voter fraud stunt over an election that's clearly over. They're blaming COVID exposure for that cancellation.

Now, we begin at this critical moment in time, America, a nation of contrasts, a contrast of two presidents, the lame duck today continuing to undermine democracy, refusing to concede the election that he lost fair and square, while his successor is feverishly planning the transition, only getting the resources from the Trump administration to do so just 24 hours ago.

Biden is also taking a sober, focused tone on the coronavirus pandemic, which the president has essentially ignored for the past month except to make sure that he got credit for vaccines.

On the pandemic, also a contrast. Doctors, nurses, hospital workers, scientists, pleading with Americans to avoid large gatherings, to not travel for Thanksgiving. The U.S., seeing its deadliest day in six months. States are warning that hospitals are overwhelmed, that beds are running out yet millions fill airports. Millions of people are planning to gather indoors for the holiday with people outside of their households. One doctor calls this holiday week the mother of all super-spreader events.

It's a contrast of two economies, the Dow hitting 30,000 for the first time in history -- it's a mark (ph) the president decided to hold a rare post-election statement to take credit for. It comes as tens of millions of Americans suffer as they're facing eviction, job loss, hunger. Another 778,000 people filing for first-time jobless benefits last week, tens of thousands of Americans lining up at food banks across the country, many of which are overwhelmed by the demand.

Feeding America projects more than 50 million Americans faced hunger this year. That is up significantly since 2019. That means that one in six people -- that means one in four children don't have enough to eat. At the same time, Congress is on vacation, eight months since passing the first and only pandemic stimulus despite pleas for another one, despite the need.

Any moment now, we're going to be hearing from President-elect Joe Biden as he delivers a Thanksgiving message to the country. It's a message to millions of Americans who are spending this traditionally family-focused holiday without their loved ones, millions foregoing the usual crowded Thanksgiving table for smaller, more measured gatherings, or for virtual celebrations.

Our Arlette Saenz is in Wilmington, Delaware with the president-elect. What are you hearing about this address?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, this message from President-elect Joe Biden is expected to be a somber one, heading into the holiday weekend. The president-elect will be talking about the shared sacrifices that Americans are making right now as they are adjusting their own Thanksgiving plans due to the pandemic. Many people will have empty chairs at their tables this Thanksgiving due to the passing of loved ones. That's something that Biden has talked about quite frequently on the campaign trail before.

He is also expected to thank and express gratitude for the resilience and strength of the American people as they have come together in the middle of this crisis to help one another, and he's also going to issue a call for unity to try to overcome these crises facing the country.

Now, Biden himself has talked about how he's adjusted his own Thanksgiving plans. He normally has one of those large Biden family gatherings, but this year it'll be just three people as they are also impacted by the way that this pandemic is shaping this holiday season.

And we have also learned that Biden's transition team is clearly pushing ahead now that they have access to official resources, and part of that planning includes having briefings and talking with the administration about their response to the virus.

The Biden transition team is looking for access to things relating to Operation Warp Speed, they also want to talk about vaccine distribution plans as they are trying to plan for the weeks and months ahead in the early days of their administration and how they will be able to tackle the pandemic.

But today, the president-elect is going to talk about the shared sacrifices that so many people across the country are sharing this holiday season.

KEILAR: So many are. Arlette, thank you so much, live for us from Wilmington, Delaware. We are in a coronavirus crisis right now, the worst point of the

pandemic, just as a major holiday with millions traveling is bound to make it worse. The U.S. reported the deadliest day in the last six months on Tuesday, 2,146 people dead in this country, another 172,000 newly infected.

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Hospitalizations have broken records 15 days in a row now. There are 88,000 people, at this moment, who are in the hospital battling COVID. Test positivity is above 10 percent in more than half of the country.

If you look here on this map at the midnight blue, you will see this is indicating at least 16 percent of tests in those states are coming back positive. The most severe case is Wyoming, where more than half of the tests are showing infection.

Tomorrow of course is Thanksgiving, it's the, quote, "mother of all super-spreader events" according to one CNN medical analyst. Despite the fact that polls show the majority of Americans are heeding the CDC travel guidance -- which is to not travel -- 61 percent say they have changed their holiday plans; nearly one in 10 say they're actually not celebrating Thanksgiving at all.

Still, traffic at airports nationwide shows several million people are not staying home -- you can see the lines here -- and that has the country's leading authority on infectious diseases worried about a surge upon a surge in December.

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ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The one thing we do not want is if we get a surge now, George (ph), over Thanksgiving, we'll have that slope up, plateau, and then slope up again that we'll see in three weeks, which is the reason why we're trying so hard to get the message for people to be careful over this Thanksgiving holiday.

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KEILAR: Now, state and local leaders in California are adding new lockdown measures to stop the spread of coronavirus, and CNN correspondent Dan Simon has a look at the frightening new numbers -- Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, the enormous surge we are seeing in California is even more apparent when you see the hospitalization numbers up 81 percent in just the past two weeks, according to state health officials. And that pressure is expected to build even more after Thanksgiving with people gathering from different households.

And this figure is also startling. About 12 percent of those who get the virus in California will have to go to the hospital, according to California's health secretary. The state, also nearing its daily case record, more than 15,000 cases added on Tuesday. And that is one of the reasons why even outdoor dining is banned in L.A. County for the next three weeks -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Dan Simon, thank you.

The pandemic has crippled the U.S. economy with widespread unemployment. Families are struggling to pay the bills and to put food on the table. CNN correspondent Adrienne Broaddus is at a food pantry in Chicago that is helping those in need -- Adrienne.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, here in Chicago, this line tells a story about a problem we already knew existed: food insecurity. We are outside of the Lakeview Pantry in Chicago, Illinois. At times, the CEO says this line you see behind me has stretched around the block.

They are prepared to serve at least 5,000 families this week. Yesterday, nearly 611 people walked through the door needing food to put on the table, not only for Thanksgiving but for the weeks to come.

KEILAR: Adrienne, thank you so much.

There may be one hopeful change on the horizon, that is a shorter quarantine time. CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with the details -- Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, U.S. health officials are saying that the CDC is considering shortening the quarantine time. Right now it's 14 days, but the CDC is thinking about whether it should be maybe seven to 10 days instead.

But there is a big "if" here, and that if is, if you get tested at around that seven to 10-day mark and that test is negative, then your quarantine would be shortened. The CDC is still thinking about this. They say that it's a new virus, and new information is coming in all the time that would tell them what length of quarantine is the best -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Elizabeth, thank you so much for that.

I want to turn now to a member of the president-elect's coronavirus advisory board. Rick Bright was a top vaccine expert -- still is a top vaccine expert -- but he then turned whistleblower and resigned from the Trump administration after he said he was sidelined for criticizing their pandemic response.

Rick, thanks so much for being with us. There's a new study that could not find one instance of live virus beyond the ninth day of illness. Another study found a woman who was infectious for 70 days. So how -- you know, how do experts navigate the quarantine time on considering these data points?

RICK BRIGHT, MEMBER, BIDEN'S CORONAVIRUS ADVISORY BOARD: Brianna, thanks for having me on again today. This is really important news and new data that we're finding. As you mentioned earlier, we're learning something new about this virus every day.

[14:10:03] It's really important that when people know that they're infected with this virus, that they do everything they possibly can to not spread it to others and infect other people, so we need to really understand how long a time is necessary for them to quarantine or isolate from interactions with other people. We don't want it to be any longer than it has to be naturally, so people can get back and into their life and their schedule.

So naturally, right now we're looking at the 14-day quarantine, but we are getting more data that shows that most people are infectious or spreading that virus in the first nine days after their exposure. And so if we can learn with enough data that after a nine- or 10- or 12- day window is sufficient to no longer spread it to other people, then maybe there is an opportunity to reduce that quarantine time.

In the meantime though, I do want to repeat the message that it's critical that we follow those public health guidelines that are available today from the CDC, and wearing our face mask right now is the best way, no matter what time it is or when you're infectious, to stop from spreading that virus to other people.

KEILAR: OK, I want to talk to you about what we're in the middle of, which is Thanksgiving tomorrow and there's a lot of people, they've already traveled, they're going to be traveling, there is no CDC guidance that's going to stop them. OK, so let's talk about those people in a second.

There are people who are staying put, they're following the CDC guidance, but there's going to be a surge after Thanksgiving. So should people basically shut down following Thanksgiving as they wait to see what's happening in their communities with the virus? What should people do?

BRIGHT: You know, we're in probably the biggest peak we've seen so far of this virus and the outbreak and how many people are getting infected, breaking records every day. So the only thing that we know to do right now to stop the spread and bring down that curve is for more people to follow those public health guidelines, for more people to wear your mask and socially distance and wash your hands frequently.

For those people who stayed home and didn't travel and are following those guidelines and keeping your groups very small for the holidays, we are grateful for you for following those guidelines, and your efforts are going to save lives. And we want you to continue to do those things and wear your mask.

For those people who chose to travel anyway, it's still really critically important that you follow those public health guidelines by wearing your mask and having your events outside as much as possible and keeping as much distance as possible.

Everything we do over the next week is going to impact the trajectory of this outbreak over the next two months. So if we all can just do a little better job and inspire others to follow those guidelines, it will have a huge impact on saving lives. We can save up to 100,000 lives if we all wore our face mask between now and March.

KEILAR: No, it's so important.

OK, so you gave advice to both the folks who are following the CDC guidance and those who are not.

I want to ask you about something that a CDC advisory committee member says that when Americans begin taking the coronavirus vaccine, they should be told that it's not, quote, "going to be a walk in the park" because they may feel sick from it. You know, what do you think about that?

BRIGHT: Well, it's important for everyone to know that when you receive a vaccine, the vaccine is going to challenge your immune system, it's going to activate your immune system so you can make antibodies and build that strength and defense against the virus.

Most people, when they get a vaccine and you activate that immune response, you're going to feel a little bit. We're seeing that a lot of the vaccines and people receive the vaccines, are recording fatigue, maybe some pain at the injection site or maybe some muscle aches for a day. The important thing is the vaccine's working when you feel some of those reactions.

And the other important thing is that we're seeing most of those reactions go away after a day. So if you do get a little response and you feel it, it's good to take it easy for the day and the next day you'll probably feel a lot better. If you don't of course, they're monitoring these vaccines very, very closely and you'll be directed in how to contact your health care provider to make sure that they're following anything that you might be concerned about.

KEILAR: The head, Rick, of the U.S. vaccine effort, Operation Warp Speed, said life will become normal again in May of next year. Do you think that's an accurate assessment?

BRIGHT: You know, Brianna, I think it's really important to be truthful and transparent with the American public. And I think that's an optimistic estimation, and maybe perhaps he's defining back to normal in different ways. I think we're going to be wearing masks throughout the duration of all of next year, we're going to be really emphasizing those public health measures as the vaccine becomes available.

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I think it's going to take us probably most of the year to be able to vaccinate a large percentage of our population, depending on the availability of the vaccines once they're manufactured, and the complexities of getting those vaccines out and to getting people vaccinated, and into reaching those hard-to-reach communities.

Remember, President-elect Biden is focused on equitable distribution of the vaccine to make sure everyone gets the vaccine across our country. That's going to take some time and effort, so I think back to normal is going to be more towards the end of next year, maybe even into 2022. But that all depends on how you define normal.

KEILAR: OK, and of 2021, maybe into 2022. I know that's not what people want to hear, but that is your honest assessment, which is incredibly important to hear.

The largest public school district in Virginia, which is in Fairfax just outside of Washington, D.C. here, found there was an 83 percent increase in Fs (ph) this quarter with virtual learning compared to a year ago when students were in person.

I know anecdotally, I think a lot of people are experiencing this if they have school-age children, they're hearing this from friends who do. Will the Biden administration prioritize keeping schools open as it tries to control the spread? Is that what you are looking at right now?

BRIGHT: The Biden administration is absolutely prioritizing the ability to reopen our schools safely and to keep them open safely. We want to make sure that each school has the right resources and the right systems in place to be able to make it a safe environment for the children and the teachers and all the employees in the school system, and their families when they go back home.

That's going to require some investment in the infrastructure, the ventilation and the handling, making sure we have enough teachers to handle smaller class sizes, making sure we have sufficient testing and testing supplies to test the students and the teachers on a regular basis.

There's a lot of work in the comprehensive plan that the Biden administration is putting together, but you can bet the high priority is to making sure that we keep schools open and they're open safely and sustainably.

KEILAR: Is it a higher priority to have -- in the Biden administration, will it be a higher priority to have schools open than to have indoor dining open?

BRIGHT: Well, we want to make sure that everything that's open is safe. And of course the high priority is children and the school because we understand the critical importance of the school system on the educational process and the development process of children, and how important that is to our society.

Equally important is that we can return to society and our businesses can open and reopen safely and stay open safely. So as you start to see the comprehensive plan be optimized and ready to roll out on day one, you'll see important components of that plan for safe reopening of schools and businesses and our society, and also a plan to keep them open safely. And that's really important.

KEILAR: It certainly is. Rick Bright, thank you so much for being with us.

BRIGHT: Thank you, Brianna. KEILAR: Moments from now, President-elect Biden will be delivering a

Thanksgiving message live from this venue in Wilmington, Delaware as coronavirus rages across the country.

And a CNN exclusive, a former member of the Proud Boys explains what happens inside the ranks of the white supremacist group.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just -- I see people showing up because they want to have drinking partners and they want to join a gang so they can go fight Antifa and hurt people that they don't like, and feel justified in doing it.

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KEILAR: Any moment now, we are expecting to see President-elect Joe Biden live in Wilmington, Delaware. He's going to be delivering a Thanksgiving message of unity to the nation, and we're going to take you there as soon as it starts.

I want to bring in CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley to talk with us a little bit about the moment that we are in right now. We have -- Doug, we've got Biden who's going to be giving a Thanksgiving address, which seems -- you know, that's kind of normal. He introduced his first cabinet choices yesterday.

President Trump is mostly holed up in the White House, he cancelled an event that he was supposed to have today with Rudy Giuliani. We largely haven't seen much of him except for in small little moments here or there. These are -- I mean, these are like two entirely different scenes that we're seeing. The contrast is huge.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: It's a big contrast. President-elect Joe Biden is almost acting, it's like he's giving the Thanksgiving message to the country. It's being done during the pandemic of COVID-19, he wants people to have small Thanksgiving, he's sending a big message that I'm taking the day off tomorrow to be with my very, very close family. It should not be a travel day, we need to get the pandemic under control and not have a spike.

Meanwhile, President Trump did the pardoning of the turkeys yesterday, he seems to be trying to mull (ph) over from his White House bunkers -- people are calling it -- what his strategy is from here, will he participate in the Georgia Senate runoffs that are coming up. And remember, President Trump still has one big moment that's guaranteed, and that is his farewell address to the country, which Lord only knows what direction he'll go.

But Joe Biden is smart today by doing this on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving because it gives him a chance to talk about reconciliation for the country, unity, sacrifice and we have to pay attention to COVID.

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KEILAR: Now, the president -- yes, speaking of COVID, the president cited -- the White House cited COVID considerations, exposure issues when it came to the cancellation of the president appearing with Rudy Giuliani, who is leading this charge to baselessly allege widespread voter fraud -- it doesn't exist, he's alleging that.

The president generally hasn't been concerned about coronavirus, and certainly he does have, we would expect at this point, some immunity because of his recent infection from it. So what do you make of him cancelling that? What does that signify to you, that he decided not to stand beside Rudy Giuliani for this Pennsylvania event?

BRINKLEY: That he's disappointed in Rudy Giuliani's performance, the famous, you know, mascara or hair dye sweat down the face, which was an utter disaster; the fact that Gettysburg is sort of sacred ground in Americana. If you went to Pennsylvania to politicize it before Thanksgiving, it would look gauche.

And finally that everybody around him, it's not just that figures in the White House that have COVID, but their family, like Giuliani's son has had it. So it's just all around, it's infected the White House environment and so Donald Trump has ended up cancelling that.

Joe Biden, as we saw yesterday in his rollout of his national security foreign policy apparatus, had that very choreographed, almost like "Men in Black," standing -- you know, from the movie, standing on Xs, keeping six feet apart. These are just two very different styles, as we've known throughout 2020, of how to handle the pandemic.

And it seems like the Biden view, which is one of science, has won out but Trump still is hoping the stock market goes up and everybody wants to see stores do well. Thanksgiving used to be, Brianna, at the last of every week and it got moved up to give more people shopping time. It's, I think, the hope of both Biden and Trump is that people will shop more than ever but will do a lot of it online.

KEILAR: Yes, I think we're going to be seeing that for the people who can afford it this year. There's a lot of Americans who are struggling financially. Doug, thank you so much, really appreciate your perspective on that.

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And ahead, we have a CNN exclusive: A former member of the Proud Boys speaks out about the far-right group's rise under the Trump administration, and why he says he's had enough.

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