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New Cases Top 100,000 Despite 20 States Not Reporting on Thanksgiving; Trump Signals White House Exit, Then Says Biden Must Prove Votes; Texas Faces Surge of New Coronavirus Cases, Hospitalizations. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 27, 2020 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining me on this Friday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching with CNN.

We begin with the 17th day the U.S. has broken the record for COVID hospitalizations, more than 90,000 Americans. But despite the worsening pandemic, people potentially flocking to stores and malls on what is typically the biggest shopping day of the year.

In the presidential transition, President-elect Joe Biden is staying home with family today while President Trump is golfing, and then traveling to Camp David this afternoon, where his adult children spent Thanksgiving.

But yesterday evening, he took questions for the very first time since he lost the election, and just a quick reminder of that night, here is how it all started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Frankly, we did win this election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, 24 days later, here is how it is going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: So if the Electoral College does elect President-elect Joe Biden, are you not going to leave this building?

TRUMP: Just so you -- certainly I will. Certainly I will. And you know that.

Stop talking to me that way. You're just a lightweight. Don't talk to me that way. I am the president of the United States. Don't ever talk to the president that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Still on the hamster wheel of infantile narcissistic flagrancy, refusing to concede an election that he lost by millions of votes.

But since that tantrum, we have been on a roller coaster with this president. You heard him vow he will indeed leave the White House. Well, today he had something else to say, tweeting that Joe Biden can enter the White House if he can prove his 80 million votes were legit.

Last night, he also questioned the integrity of Georgia's voter system. But today, he is tweeting to get out the vote for two Senate runoffs in Georgia. But wait, there's more. The president then flippantly told the American people on Thanksgiving that a COVID vaccine would be delivered next week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are rounding the curve, the vaccines are being delivered literally, will start next week and the week after. And it will hit the frontline workers and seniors and doctors, nurses, a lot of people, going to start, and we're going very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But hang on, the FDA has not yet given emergency use authorization to any vaccine candidate. And if there's anything the American people need right now, it is honesty and transparency about one substance that can pull us all out of this pandemic.

Let's go now to one of those cities where health care workers are so desperately waiting for a vaccine. CNN's Rosa Flores is live in Miami. And, Rosa, what are the trends in Florida today?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: BROOKE, what we're seeing here in the state of Florida and Miami-Dade where I am is what we're seeing around the country, and that is an increase in the number of hospitalizations because that's the big news today, is the U.S. shattering its COVID-19 hospitalization record with more than 90,000 Americans waking up this morning in a hospital room with COVID-19. That is a 35 percent increase in the number of hospitalizations in just two weeks.

Now, when you look at the numbers, the number of cases, you go all the way to mid-November and every day, every single day, the number of cases has been above 135,000. Yesterday, it dipped to 110,000. Why? Well, about 20 states didn't report numbers on Thanksgiving. That's why we are seeing that dip. Same thing happened in the number of deaths yesterday. More than 1,200 deaths were reported, but, again, it is because some states did not report their numbers.

On top of that, we are expecting for the dip this in numbers to continue for the next few days, so be aware of this, also because during Thanksgiving, some testing sites around the country were closed. Now, after that, we are expecting a spike, but that is just normalization of numbers. And then, according to experts, it is going to that surge that they're expecting after Thanksgiving. Here in the state of Florida, one of the states that did not report their numbers yesterday, but Miami-Dade County did report its number of hospitalizations, and it is exactly what other locations are seeing around the country, an increase. There was a 26 percent increase in the number of hospitalizations in the past two weeks here in Miami- Dade County. When you look at ICUs, there's an increase of 37 percent, ventilator use, 48 percent.

And, Brooke, I will leave you with this, because there's a lot of frustration right now in Miami-Dade County and in other parts of the state because local leaders are asking Governor Ron DeSantis to do more, to help them curb the spread of the virus. What they want him to do is to give them the power that they had before he reopened the state in one swoop in late September. They want to be able to impose some restrictions so they can stop the spread and also be able to reinstate the fining of people that don't wear masks out in public.

[13:05:02]

Of course, the governor not only is not allowing that, this week he extended the executive order that clips the powers from these local leaders from being able to add mitigating measures. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Right. These local leaders want to say, hey, we want to keep you, our community safe, we want to issue this mask mandate, and the governor is not allowing for that. Rosa Flores, thank you so much for the update there in Florida.

Dr. Celine Gounder is an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist, and she is a member of the Biden-Harris transition COVID advisory board. So, Dr. Gounder, thank you for being with me.

I want to start with the president's comments on the vaccine. Before shots are administered, the FDA will need to discuss Pfizer's emergency use application, that doesn't happen until December 10th. And you heard the president last night saying people are going to get them next week. What's your understanding of how this will proceed?

DR. CELINE GOUDER, MEMBER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION COVID ADVISORY BOARD: Yes, the date for that review to start at the FDA is not until December 10th. And people might ask, well, why isn't it happening sooner. I mean, what happens is you have all of this data that gets distributed to the various members of the team that will be doing the review. And so that's thousands of pages of data that they have to review between now and then in advance of that meeting.

So this is really quite a tedious, long process that's starting to get under way. And while they will be trying to do that as efficiently as possible, mid to late December is really the earliest that this could get done by.

BALDWIN: And you talk about all of the data that they have to go through. Tell me, what is the single biggest risk that would emerge from rushing a vaccine through before it is ready?

GOUNDER: Honestly, I think the single biggest risk of rushing an approval would be that the American people do not trust the vaccine. And it is essential that people feel that this is a safe and effective vaccine.

We have already seen that the numbers, percentage of Americans who feel nervous about it, who are reluctant to line up and get it has been going down and down, more and more Americans feeling nervous over the last several months. So it is really important that this process be done as normally as possible, as you know, by the regulations as possible.

BALDWIN: Going back to the president speaking last night, not only did he give his version of the timeline, but then he also emphasized that it is important for him to get the credit for the vaccine. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Don't let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they have ever been pushed before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You are on the Biden advisory board. What do you make of that?

GOUNDER: Well, look, politicians of either political party are not the ones that develop vaccines. Vaccines are developed by scientists and doctors and public health workers, so this is really not a win for either political party or either President Trump or President-elect Biden. This is really a testament to the really hard work that scientists and others have been doing over the last several months.

BALDWIN: Last question for you. It is the day after Thanksgiving, it is Black Friday. I know shopping this year is totally different than any year we had before, certainly though a lot of brick and mortar stores are open, some stores limiting how many people are able enter at any given time. What's your advice to people who want to shop, who want to put more money back into the economy, support their local business but also want to stay safe?

GOUNDER: Yes. I mean, I think this is where online shopping is a great option. In general, our advice continues to be that you should, as much as possible, avoid crowds. If you are outside of your household bubble, wear a mask. Remain at least six feet apart from other people. And if you are going to be around other people, try to really do that outdoors, not indoors. And, unfortunately, whether it is a restaurant or the mall or a place of worship, there are so many places right now that are not safe because they're crowded and they're not well ventilated.

BALDWIN: Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you so much. Great to see you today. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. Thank you.

GOUNDER: You too. BALDWIN: President Trump is also finally breaking his silence on whether he has accepted his election loss. Now, he appears to be walking back comments that he is ready to face reality.

And President-elect Biden is expected to announce more cabinet picks, but he is already facing some backlash over a top contender to lead the CIA. We'll need to talk about that.

And some hospitals in Texas are now running out of beds, as coronavirus cases explode in the state. We'll talk to the mayor of Houston live, coming up.

You're watching CNN. I am Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:10:00]

BALDWIN: We are back on this Friday after Thanksgiving. You're watching CNN. I am Brooke Baldwin.

The president today is trying to walk back a commitment to American democracy. This morning, he says it is Joe Biden's job to prove his 80 million votes were not fraudulent if he wants to take office come January. Big unsolvable problem, the president calls it. That statement is pure nonsense, just like the president's repeated claims of nonexistent voter fraud. It also serves as an attempt to get out of a corner the president put himself in with his answer to reporters. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: So if the Electoral College does elect President-elect Joe Biden, are you not going to leave this building?

TRUMP: Just so you -- certainly I will. Certainly I will. And you know that. But I think that there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of January, a lot of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go straight to Margaret Talev, CNN Political Analyst and Politics and White House Editor with Axios.

[13:15:04]

Margaret, awesome to have you on.

The president tells reporters on Thanksgiving he will leave office and now this big caveat, why?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is messaging, Brooke. He is signaled now very publicly what his advisers have been signaling for weeks now, which is that he does, in fact, intend to leave at the end of his presidency, which is in a number of weeks, but I think we will not see him concede. And that, I think, is the needle that he is trying to thread. He is going to say right up until the end that the results aren't legitimate, that they shouldn't be seen as legitimate.

But in the end, he is not going to have any choice but to accept the normal transfer of power, and some of these kind of last ditch efforts that we see in which shocked a number of Republicans as well as Democrats, the efforts to try to test whether there was support in state legislatures to change electors, as well as the lawsuits. These have all not succeeded. And so he doesn't really have levers left to pull.

And I think when we saw the GSA do the ascertainment a numbers ago that actually triggered the official transition process, that was officially the end of that effort to test the waters to see whether there was any way to remain president beyond January the 20th. So now the question is what does the exit look like.

BALDWIN: Well, on the exit, I mean, speaking of how few levers he has to pull now, he wouldn't say if he would attend a Biden inauguration. Do you take that as confirmation that he is not going?

TALEV: Yes, probably. Although President Trump, as we all know, kind of -- he is a showman and he likes to control the messaging and he likes for the narrative to be able to send the signals that he wants to send.

So, in the past, we have seen him do counterprogramming for some events. I think the question is would he try to counterprogram Joe Biden's inauguration.

But what you think of as the traditional handoff, where the new president comes to the White House and is greeted by the outgoing president, the outgoing first lady, and the gifts are exchanged, and there's a conversation and like the letter in the desk and all that stuff. I don't think anyone is expecting that. And I also think in a pandemic year, the optics aren't going to be on it anyway.

So much of the inauguration is going to look different than if President Trump doesn't want to do that, and if President-elect Biden doesn't really want to do that with him either, I think they're both going to be off the hook. The question is what messaging will he go for and what we will be watching.

BALDWIN: It's an interesting thought, just because it will look so differently because of COVID. It's almost like that could be part of the scapegoat.

The president says he will rally supporters soon in Georgia for Senate races there. He says there was massive election fraud in that state. And so here is his message to voters about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think you're dealing in a very fraudulent system. I think -- I am very worried about that. They are tremendous people, Kelly Loeffler, David Perdue, tremendous people. They should be in the United States Senate. They are desperately needed. But I told them today, I said, listen, you have a fraudulent system. You have a system where the flick of a switch or the putting in of a new chip can change the course of history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, the president then tried to course-correct a little bit this morning, tweeting, we must get out and help David and Kelly. Margaret, do these Republican campaigns view the president's presence and message as a plus or a minus?

TALEV: Yes. I think the messaging right now, this messaging that votes are fraudulent, can't be trusted, Republicans in Georgia view it as a real minus as well as Republicans in the Senate. And the concern is obvious, right? The concern is if to justify your own loss you have to say the election was rigged, you're telling people in this crucial state from your own party you might not as well bother turning up to vote because you can't trust the results, right?

Georgia was won by Biden by around 12,000 votes. And so you can see in a state with millions of voters how narrow a margin this can turn on and how crucial it is for both parties to try to have fulsome turnout. But then if you say -- you tell everyone to turnout, what you're saying is you can trust the result. So it is a real pickle because in order for the president to bolster his argument about his loss, he has to diminish incentives to turnout.

And so I think you're going to see him messaging for both. But despite all of that, I think there's no doubt that Republicans in Georgia, these two candidates, Perdue and Loeffler, see the president's turnout as a real way to boost turnout for them. He still has tremendous amount of support inside the state of Georgia. And in something like a special election in January, when everyone else has kind of moved on, how do you bring people back to the polls, that could be a big one.

So there was some doubt whether he would show up at all for a state that did not elect him. Now, he is signaling his will that he will, and that next weekend, December 5th, next weekend, would be definitely one to watch.

[13:20:01]

BALDWIN: Margaret Talev, thank you so much.

TALEV: Thanks.

BALDWIN: You got it.

The Biden administration plans to announce more cabinet picks next week. And there are already objections to potential choice to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.

Let's go to CNN Senior National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt. And, Alex, President-elect does not intend to keep the current CIA director, Gina Haspel, and a key Democrat warns a potential replacement as a, quote, torture apologist. Tell me more. ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Brooke. There's strong language from Senator Ron Wyden about one of the president-elect's potential choices for the director of the CIA, Mike Morell.

Let's start with Gina Haspel. She is, obviously, currently the director of the CIA. She has had a fraught relationship of late with President Trump. There's an expectation that if she is not fired between now and inauguration day, that she would certainly resign her position and pave the way for President-elect Biden to name one of his -- to name his own director.

The director of the CIA position along with secretary of defense are the two main remaining major national security positions that the president-elect and his transition team have yet to name. The emerging frontrunners for the director of CIA, according to multiple sources, are Tom Donilon and Michael Morell. Donilon with the national security adviser under President Obama, he is not a career intelligence professional, but he would not be the first to not be a careerist to lead the CIA.

Mike Morell is very much a career intelligence professional. He is well respected by the rank and file by those out at Langley, at CIA headquarters. He had a three decades' long career there. He was twice the acting director. He was the deputy director. But, as you point out, he is having -- there is a bit of a push back from Ron Wyden, who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee. And that is the committee that, of course, will have to vote on whoever is named by Biden as the director of the CIA.

Morell was a senior official at the CIA when they were using those so- called enhanced interrogation techniques, which Morell later admitted could be considered torture, like water boarding. He has also talked about their effectiveness and how it did work on Al Qaeda detainees.

So, Morell, if he is named by Biden, could potentially have a bumpy ride in terms of his Senate confirmation. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Thank you, Alex Marquardt in Washington, good to see you.

Texas is shattering its daily coronavirus case record. And now the mayor of Houston says he is not rolling out a curfew for the city. So we'll talk to the mayor live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:00]

BALDWIN: Texas is facing both a surge of new coronavirus cases and a steady increase in hospitalizations just one day before Thanksgiving. The state set a new daily record of cases. And in an effort to curb the spread, the El Paso and San Antonio areas imposed curfews over the weekend.

And with me now from Houston, the Houston mayor, Sylvester Turner. Mayor Turner, a pleasure. Happy day after Thanksgiving. Welcome, welcome.

MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER (D-HOUSTON, TX): Thank you.

BALDWIN: You have not put in a curfew just yet in Houston, but you are warning folks this could be coming. How will you decide?

TURNER: Well, basically, we're going to look at people's behavior. We're going to look at the degree of community spread, whether or not the positivity rate continues to go up, and then impact on our health care delivery system. If the numbers continue to rise, and it seems as though we're going to turn to where we were in the summer, then (INAUDIBLE).

So, Brooke, I don't take anything off the table but we want people to be aware of behavior because that directly impacts the community spread.

BALDWIN: I understand. I know that you were out and about yesterday volunteering, you told me on commercial break, you all handed out 20,000 meals to those in need. There's video of a long line yesterday.

And I just want to point out some reporting from The Washington Post today specifically on food insecurity issue in this country, they reported more than one in five adults in Houston reported going hungry recently, including three in ten adults in households with children. The growth and hunger rate has hit the Hispanic and black households harder than white ones, devastating consequence of a weak economy that has left so many people trying to secure food, even during dangerous conditions.

And, Mr. Mayor, would you just tell me a story or two about folks you met yesterday in those lines who are in need?

TURNER: Brooke, I saw people in lines who have never been in lines before. And they expressed that. This was the first time we are seeing intersection between COVID-19, health care disparities, food insecurities. So there were literally thousands of people who that came in their vehicles and in their trucks and then there were thousands that walked up.

[13:30:00]

But let me tell you what got to me most. We were handing out turkeys and hams and food supplies that people could take home.