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Expert: Upcoming Case Surge Will Be "Destabilizing" For The U.S.; L.A. County Issues New Stay-At-Home Order, Banning All Gatherings; Groundbreaking Technology Behind Pfizer And Moderna Vaccines; South Korea's Spy Agency: North Korea Orders Diplomates Not To Antagonize U.S.; Holiday Shopping Season Critical To Struggling Small Business Owners; Trump Urges Supporters Not To Boycott Georgia Senate Runoffs; Vulnerable Senior Citizens Spend Holidays Without Their Families. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired November 28, 2020 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:59:59]
AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST (on camera): I mean, how likely is she to take to the field?
CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, this is a great story. I would say, likely, in theory, you know, she's the only kicker that traveled with the team. But it really depends on what Vanderbilt's offense is going to do. I mean, they need to help her out just a little bit.
They weren't able to score in the first quarter, scoreless early in the second quarter as well. She did warm up on the field before the game. So, if she does enter the game, she'll become the first woman to play for a power five school.
You know, she's a goalkeeper on Vanderbilt's SEC championship soccer team. She tried out, she was added to the football roster this week after several other specialists on the team had to go into quarantine due to COVID-19 testing.
Before the game, she posted a message on Twitter, saying, "Let's make history. #playlikeagirl. #anchordown. And she's wearing that #playlikeagirl on her helmet, as well, Amara, dedicated to a non- profit that really seeks to help girls enter and stay in sports and provide them with career opportunities.
So, fingers crossed as she gets in the game, still a little bit of time to play.
WALKER: Playing like a girl is a good thing. Thank you, Carolyn Manno. Appreciate it.
Hello, everyone. And thank you for joining me. I'm Amara Walker, in for Fredricka Whitfield.
The U.S. marking a grim milestone this holiday weekend. The country now surpassing 13 million coronavirus cases. This following a Thanksgiving Day that saw more than 100,000 new infections and over 1,200 deaths, despite 20 states not reporting any data on the holiday.
One of our nation's top infectious disease experts now warning that the post-holiday case surge will be destabilizing for the U.S. health care system, economy, and homeland security. Nearly 90,000 people are spending this holiday in the hospital.
And where is the president? On a golf course for the 307th-time during his presidency, while still focusing on the election that he lost. Today marks three weeks since the race was called for Joe Biden, but President Trump has yet to formally concede defeat.
Meanwhile, a member of Biden's coronavirus advisory board says the president-elect will stick to the science to let health experts decide who gets the vaccine first. This as the CDC's independent vaccine advisory committee schedules an emergency meeting and vote for this Tuesday to discuss who will get the vaccine first.
Let's go straight now to CNN's Polo Sandoval in New York. And Polo, how dire do experts expect the situation to get over the coming weeks following the Thanksgiving holiday?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, I'll tell you this, Amara, we, CNN speaking to an E.R. doctor just yesterday who put it very blunt here. Saying, we are rounding the corner but towards calamity when you look at these numbers.
And as you point out, another 200,000 new cases yesterday, Amara, that now brings us beyond the 13 million mark in terms of confirmed COVID cases across the country. And as you may imagine, that is certainly going to be putting a strain on some of the nation's hospitals.
We have heard time and time again, especially in recent days from doctors and nurses who say that certainly ICU space is quite limited, especially in some of the more rural hospitals.
But when you look at the numbers right now and the potential for them to really explode in the coming days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention out with some fresh advice here, recommending especially after the Thanksgiving holiday that people use extreme caution, get tested, and potentially quarantine for two weeks if they possibly shared the Thanksgiving table with people outside of their household, which would have gone against their guidance from last week. Or potentially also, were around people who were not taking those precautions.
And when you look at the map, when you look at the numbers, and when you see that slow and steady increase, you can imagine why multiple health officials including one expert in Texas, Dr. Peter Hotez, is sounding the alarm about the death rate because that's also a number that is slowly climbing up. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE: We're going to be regularly hitting 2,000 deaths per day, but then going up to 3,000 deaths and 4,000 deaths. More lives than the U.S. lost in terms of G.I.s in World War II.
These are the kinds of numbers we're talking about. Numbers that are approaching, what we experienced in the 1918 flu pandemic, except it's happening over a much shorter period of time.
So, this is -- this is going to be very destabilizing for the country, not only in terms of health but also our economy, as well as our homeland security is under threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: Dr. Peter Hotez, as well as other officials and healthcare officials are really recommending that people use extreme caution, especially right now. Now, when it comes to other medical facilities across the country, there are still several that are able to keep their head above water right now.
Many of them here in New York. Yes, we have experience according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a sharp increase in hospitalizations, but multiple facilities, Dr. Craig Smith who was really well known in March for being quite candid in his update, saying that, at this point, the numbers that they're seeing at his medical facility nowhere close to what we saw in March.
[13:05:05]
SANDOVAL: His colleagues over at Mount Sinai, also saying they're seeing an increase as well. But certainly nothing that their -- that their doctors and nurses aren't able to take care of right now, and to care for some of those patients.
Because remember, Amara, back in March, the numbers were so great there, so high, that they had to set up a field hospital here in New York City just to accommodate the flow.
And then, of course, once you have that large rate of admission at some of these hospitals, then that's when you can potentially see that death rate to increase. So, that's really the big recommendation right now coming from officials especially as we get through thanks -- the Thanksgiving holiday and ahead of the Christmas holiday.
WALKER: Yes, hopefully we don't see a repeat of what we saw in March and in April. Polo, appreciate you joining us. Thank you.
SANDOVAL: Thank you.
WALKER: More than 10 million Californians will be banned from all gatherings beginning on Monday. Health officials in Los Angeles County, the nation's most populated county, issuing a new stay-at-home order as cases continue to surge.
CNN's Paul Vercammen, joining me now from a coronavirus testing site in L.A. Hi there, Paul. So, what sort of lines are you seeing ahead of these restrictions taking effect?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (on camera): Well, Amara, people are just flooding into this site. This is in west Los Angeles at the Veterans Administration Campus. You can see behind me the lines are about four cars wide. Right here, there's another part of this campus where they're also testing.
In all, 219,000 people tested yesterday in California. That's a record. They're just trying to get ahead of this surge. And you alluded to these new rules or sort of old rules going back into effect on Monday. They will be in effect for three weeks and they basically want people to gather only with people in their own household. So, they have forbidden any public or private gathering of people between households.
Now, the sheriff has said that he is going to enforce this more so through education and voluntary compliance. You're not going to see sheriff's deputies going out there, and let's say, arresting people, unless, it's at a last resort.
We also have a tremendous roll back on the number of people they want on essential businesses. Let's say 35 percent for those essential businesses. And then the testing, it is going on at a vigorous clip. They want to get as many people tested and traced as possible throughout -- so, throughout Los Angeles, you're seeing this form of testing.
This is the swab, the oral swab test, and basically people are doing it in their cars, getting in and out of here quickly. All part of the effort to get ahead of this. And this is going to last for three weeks, by the way, with these new rules in place. So, they hope to get everybody sort of back to a little measure of normalcy here in L.A. County right before Christmas, Amara.
WALKER: Tough times, especially with the holidays here. Paul Vercammen, thank you.
And on the vaccine front, drug makers Pfizer and Moderna both have vaccines waiting for FDA emergency use authorization. The vaccines use a new technology based on our own genetic code.
CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us the groundbreaking research behind the promising vaccines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERT BOURLA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PFIZER: This is a historic day, a historic day for science and for all of us.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Albert Bourla is CEO of Pfizer, and he's talking about their vaccine for COVID-19. 248 days from an idea to now, applying for the vaccine to be authorized. That's just eight months. For context, eight years would have been considered speedy.
But the truth is, the story I'm about to tell you actually began more than two decades ago. And to really understand it, you first have to understand how most vaccines work. Since the first vaccine for smallpox back in 1796, they've all relied on the same basic concept. Give a little piece of the virus also known as antigen to someone not enough to make them sick, and their body will then be taught to make antibodies to it.
Those are the proteins that neutralize the virus if it ever tried to invade again. That's what makes you immune. But what if the body could be taught to do the whole thing? Not just make antibodies, but also to make the antigens as well, to essentially become its own vaccine making machine.
It's why in the 2000s, Dr. Drew Weissman started focusing on this tiny strand of genetic material that our cells make all of the time. It's known as mRNA.
DR. DREW WEISSMAN, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PERELMAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Back then we were thinking of using it for vaccines, for therapeutic proteins, for gene editing, for lots of different applications.
GUPTA: MRNA stands for messenger RNA. It carries the instructions for making whatever protein you want.
[13:10:05]
WEISSMAN: Once you've got the sequence, it's a one-step reaction to make RNA, and that reaction is identical for every vaccine that we make.
GUPTA: If this sounds more like code in a computer rather than medicine from a lab, that means you're getting it. This is an entirely new way of thinking about vaccines. It's also the basic technology behind Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Vaccines are close by. They are coming. You know, I said help is on the way.
GUPTA: It's truly bio meets tech. The vaccine is not the virus at all. It's essentially just a genetic code or a portion of the virus. This portion, the spike protein. Why the spike protein? Because it's the key the virus uses to enter the human cell. But if you create antibodies to the spike protein, it's then blocked.
So, putting it all together, once the vaccine, made up of genetic code is administered through a shot in the arm, our own cells then start making the spike protein over and over again.
Now, remember, you're just making a part of the virus, so you can't get infected from this vaccine. And within days after that, the body reacts and starts churning out the antibodies. Plug and play.
WEISSMAN: With RNA, all you need is the sequence of the protein of interest. Within weeks, you can have a new vaccine.
GUPTA: It's a technology that could help lead us out of this pandemic. FAUCI: We're going to get a heck of a lot of help from a very efficacious vaccine. Two vaccines that just two weeks ago and this past week were shown to be extremely effective. I mean, efficacious. In 95 percent and 94.5 percent.
GUPTA: If true, remarkable results for an entirely new type of vaccine. And also, a new way of thinking about medicines going forward. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Fascinating report. Thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Next, North Korean hackers accused of targeting vaccine maker AstraZeneca in a widespread cyberattack. The potential threat to the vaccine coming up.
Plus, breaking news. Iran promising to retaliate after one of the country's top nuclear scientists is killed in an apparent assassination. Why the U.S. is remaining silent.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:16:39]
WALKER: Iran is promising swift retaliation after a key scientist in its nuclear program was killed in an apparent assassination plot. Iran's defense ministry confirming he died Friday, when his car was attacked outside Tehran. Top Iranian officials are pointing the finger at Israel.
The U.S. says it is closely monitoring the developments. It is actually sending an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, though the Pentagon says it's unrelated to escalating tensions with Iran.
Oren Liebermann has more now from Jerusalem.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office will not comment on reports of the killing of Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and that's not a surprise. Certainly, of -- on something of this magnitude, Israel prefers to generally stay quiet. And all the actions Israel reportedly takes against Iran and that Israel is accused of taking against Iran, whether it's in the country itself, or whether it's in Syria, Israel tends to stay quiet.
But it's also not hard to see why Iran would pretty quickly blame Israel for this, even if it doesn't seem like Iranian officials have yet put out any evidence of Israel being behind this assassination. Why is that? Because Israel has a history of being accused of targeting Iran's senior nuclear scientists.
Now, it's been some time since that happened nearly a decade. But it was Israel that was blamed for the assassination of a number of Iranian nuclear scientists. And even if that program appears to have gone quiet, this would fit quite neatly into that category. Furthermore, Israel has shown an ability to operate within Iran, most notably a couple of years ago when Israel stole Iran's nuclear archives. So, the capability is there, the animosity is there, especially for an assassination of this magnitude.
It's certainly not the first time Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has heard the name, Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. That's because in April of 2018, when Netanyahu gave a presentation about Iran's nuclear program based on that secret archive, he mentioned Fakhrizadeh by name, and said he was in charge of an Iranian program called Project Amad to try to develop, design, and test five nuclear warheads, 10 kilotons each to be placed on missiles.
When that was disbanded in about 2003, Netanyahu said it simply switched to a department within the ministry of defense, once again, led by Fakhrizadeh. He said during that speech, remember that name, Fakhrizadeh.
And here we are two years later, Iran blames Israel for carrying out the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, just east of Tehran, and pretty much in the afternoon on Friday here.
Where does this go from here? Iran has vowed to retaliate. There are reports that Hezbollah in Lebanon has said that retaliation is purely up to Iran. So, at this point, it looks like there's a potential that it would be a response coming from Syria towards Israel.
That being said at this moment, the IDF, the Israeli military is not on high alert in the north and there has not been any call up of troops or reinforcements, but that doesn't mean this is over.
Israel has long believed that when Iran chooses to take an action, it's well thought out, it's planned. It is not impetuous. It's not a knee-jerk reaction. So, certainly, waiting to see how this develops here. Again, officially, it is a no comment from Israel.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
[13:19:54]
WALKER: Up next, North Korea reportedly attempting a major hack on a coronavirus vaccine maker. The details ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: North Korean hackers are suspected of carrying out a cyber- attack against British coronavirus vaccine maker, AstraZeneca, in recent weeks, and that's according to Reuters.
The hackers apparently posed as job recruiters to access company employees, but the hacks were ultimately unsuccessful. There are also reports that North Korea attempted to hack South Korea -- South Korean, I should say, coronavirus vaccine makers.
With me is Balbina Hwang, she is a former senior advisor at the U.S. State Department and a visiting professor at Georgetown University. Balbina, great to see you again.
[13:25:01]
WALKER: What are your thoughts on these hacking attempts? We know that North Korea has a very large army of hackers, and this is really how they make millions of money. But this wasn't an attempt at, you know, stealing money, this was about stealing scientific data.
BALBINA HWANG, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER, UNITED STATES STATE DEPARTMENT: Oh, yes, it should not be surprising at all. Look, obviously, this COVID which has struck every single country in the world, including this extremely isolated country is extremely a threat to North Korea.
If you think about it, North Korea is smack dab in the middle between -- well, it's frankly, right next to the country from where it started, at China. And then, right in between South Korea.
And we know that South Korea was one of the countries that was hit most hard in the very beginning, of the early part of this crisis back in early 20 -- of this year.
WALKER: Right.
HWANG: And so, for North Korea, this is frankly the biggest nightmare because it has one of the poorest health systems, it has a population that's already very malnourished, and it simply cannot tolerate any kind of -- any kind of illness that spreads throughout the country.
WALKER: So, let me ask you this because North Korea has been claiming that it doesn't have any cases of coronavirus in the country, which I guess in theory could be possible, since it's such an isolated country.
But the fact that you have North Korean hackers trying to steal vaccine information, doesn't that show that there probably are cases inside this reclusive regime?
HWANG: Well, it certainly is a paradox. Now, you know, we certainly cannot believe that North Korea could not have a single case.
WALKER: Right.
HWANG: But, for a moment, let's just presume that it doesn't. And if there were any place in the world that doesn't have it, it might possibly be North Korea. Now, it would frankly be more -- it would be more believable if it were actually a physically, geographically an island.
Given that it shares borders with three countries, it seems unlikely. On the other hand, it simply just has more restrictions than every other country. Now, the point about the vaccine though is that even if it has not touched anybody yet, the problem is what about the future?
And so, it desperately needs a vaccine to prevent it coming in, in the future. And we know that North Korea has taken extreme measures. Along with frankly, every other country, I mean, I've been stuck at home now for the last seven, eight months.
So, you know, North Korea, already a regime that is, is, is under extreme measures has gone even beyond that. And it desperately needs a vaccine.
WALKER: Sure.
HWANG: But then against the rest of the world.
WALKER: Right, exactly, we all do.
And now, pivoting now to politics, because, you know, North Korea has been largely silent since the U.S. election. We've learned that diplomats have been told not to be antagonistic for the time being. What do you think North Korea is thinking right now in terms of its relationship with the Biden administration?
We know that Joe Biden is likely not going to have three summits with Kim Jong-un without any preconditions.
HWANG: That's right. But you know North Korea is -- it does one thing very well. It knows its history. And it studies its history, and it knows very, very well its relationship with the United States that goes back a very long time. And it has a very long memory. And frankly, it understands U.S. politics, or it thinks it does maybe perhaps better than we do.
Now, you know, President-elect Biden is not a new person for North Korea, the North Korean regime.
WALKER: Right.
HWANG: And they know very well, and they think they know Biden very well because not only was he vice president to President Obama for eight years, but he was a very important figure in the Senate for a good -- what, 20. 30 years.
WALKER: Right.
HWANG: And so, they think they know what President-elect Biden's going to be all about. And remember, ironically, it was actually President Obama that for the North Koreans was actually the toughest on North Korea. And it was really President Obama that implemented former President Bush's really tough policies.
Because remember, President Bush was the one that started the Six- party talks. And even though, President Obama came in, saying, I'm going to extend the velvet glove, remember that? And everybody thought that he real -- I mean, and, in fact, I think President Obama really did want to negotiate with North Korea. but things did not turn out well.
[13:30:00]
And for eight years under President Obama, there was not really any high-level meeting that concluded in anything that was substantive. (CROSSTALK)
WALKER: We know Kim Jong-Un likes to test the waters with incoming presidents, as he did with President Trump in 2017 with the missile test. Perhaps he won't do that since Joe Biden is known entity. Who knows?
We'll leave it there.
HWANG: Thanks.
WALKER: Balbina Hwang, it was a pleasure to see you. Thank you very much.
HWANG: Thank you.
WALKER: Ahead, small business owners being hit especially hard by the surging pandemic. I'll talk to two owners who are counting on holiday shopping to get through the tumultuous months ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Small businesses continue to be hit especially hard as the pandemic surges across the country.
On this Small Business Saturday, 10 years after the phrase was first coined by American Express, struggling business owners are banking on a much-needed boost from holiday shoppers as they fight to pay employees and stay open.
[13:34:59]
With me now to talk more about the importance of Small Business Saturday are a pair of small business owners.
Ali Rose VanOverbeke is the founder and owner of Genusee Eyewear in Flint, Michigan. Her company makes its frames from recycled plastic bottles. Very interesting.
Also with me is Michael Salvatore, the owner of Heritage Bicycle and Coffee in Chicago.
My old stomping grounds. Love that city.
Thanks to you both for joining me.
Ali, let me start with you.
Your company was a relatively new start-up when the pandemic hit. How has your business been coping?
ALI ROSE VANOVERBEKE, FOUNDER & CEO, GENUSEE EYEWEAR: So in March, when the pandemic hit, we were so early on in this journey, I honestly was not sure we were going to make it.
I had left a career in New York City in fashion to move to flint to start this business. And was really terrified to be completely honest about what the future was going to hold.
And we've been really lucky that we've been staying afloat throughout this as well as being able to grow and be able to create jobs here in the community for our employees.
That's been the major importance is just being able to continue to not just have our business survive but making sure that the individuals and families that we support are able to continue to have employment as well.
WALKER: And, Michael, to you as well.
Tell us about how the pandemic has hurt your business and how important small business Saturday is for you. Are people coming in and saying, look, I'm here because I want to support coffee shops like yours.
MICHAEL SALVATORE, OWNER, HERITAGE BICYCLE AND COFFEE: You can definitely tell the mood and the environment in Chicago at least has been a lot of support, a lot of love for a lot of industries, small business and restaurants.
I, myself, own Heritage Bikes and Coffee. We have 78 locations and a cocktail bar and opened up a new shop during the pandemic.
WALKER: Wow.
SALVATORE: Yes. It's been a crazy year. And it's, I guess, the word is pivot. I think that's going to be the Webster's word of the year.
I feel like everyone has to pivot in order to make this work, whether it's personally or for business.
Small businesses --
WALKER: How have you pivoted? I would imagine you had to be a bit more innovative.
SALVATORE: Yes. You have to think outside of the box. I've never been scared to throw stuff at the wall. So it's been really important to kind of test everything out and share that with our audience and our customers.
For example, in March and April, when we were in the thick of things and I'm flying blind, we started Heritage Initiative, which we let our customers purchase coffee and pastries for frontline workers and I'd go out and deliver.
That would keep our employees employed and fed and paid and it was just -- it made a difference.
WALKER: Yes.
SALVATORE: Our customers have been very generous.
WALKER: That's great to hear. I do want to say, my family had to definitely make it a point to visit
the small businesses as opposed to the really big chains.
Ali, it's interesting that, you know, your company, the frames of these sunglasses are from recycled plastic bottles.
Tell us more about that. And how have you had to pivot, so to speak, or, I guess, change the way you operate to make it in this pandemic times?
VANOVERBEKE: Absolutely. So our business was really founded in response to the Flint water crisis. We launched in 2018.
All of our frames are made from recycled water bottles collected here in Flint that were used during the water crisis.
And then we're able to create jobs here in the community for the structurally unemployable, people coming out of incarceration, those with disability disabilities.
And we had, going into this year, we're really planning on expanding our wholesale business. And when the pandemic hit, it was a signal for us to really double down on our e-Commerce.
So we've been fully focused on our Web site and launching things like virtual try-on.
A lot of optical patients are not comfortable right now going in store and trying on glasses. So being able to give them an experience virtually from the safety of their home has been really important.
And we've also recently launched fog-free lenses. If you are an eyeglass wearer and you are also wearing a mask, you know how --
(CROSSTALK)
WALKER: Yes! Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
VANOVERBEKE: I did it as much for myself as for everyone else. It was such a struggle even just being at the office and trying to wear a mask and glasses.
So that's really been our response to a new style -- lifestyle that we're all experiencing.
WALKER: Yes.
VANOVERBEKE: And trying to make it better and being able to encourage people to wear their masks because a lot of eyeglass wearers are having to pick and choose. And it shouldn't be that way.
But it's really been, as Michael said, the year of the pivot and just staying flexible to the changes that are really happening every day with the restrictions. [13:40:04]
And making sure putting employees' health first and foremost has really been something that we've been focused on.
We also, even for our hourly employees, have given paid sick days for the last quarter to not encourage people to feel like they have to show up for work if they are feeling ill.
We want to just keep everyone safe and healthy through all of this.
WALKER: Well, look, kudos to both of you and to all the small business owners who have so much courage, first off, to open your own business and the grit to make it through and being so flexible.
And also sacrificial, doing the best you can to keep your employees employed and feeding their families.
Ali Rose VanOverbeke, Michael Salvatore, thank you so much for joining us.
Let's all support small businesses.
VANOVERBEKE: Thank you.
WALKER: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:45:13]
WALKER: All eyes on Georgia. The Republican Senate majority hangs on two runoff races in early January.
President Trump is trying to get out the vote. But in order to do that, he has to get his supporters to buy into an election process that he's told them is rigged.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel heard from voters considering a boycott earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- switching the votes and we should go there in crazy numbers and they should have won but then there's still --
RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Yes, we have to -- we didn't see that in the audit. So we've got to just -- that evidence I haven't seen. So we'll wait and see on that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are we going to -- (INAUDIBLE) -- when it's already decided?
MCDANIEL: It's not decided. This is the key.
(CROSSTALK) MCDANIEL: It's not decided.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: All right. Joining us now, Patrick Healy, politics editor for "The New York Times," and Asawin Suebsaeng, White House reporter for "The Daily Beast" and co-author of "Sinking in the Swamp."
Welcome to both of you.
Patrick, let's start with you.
You heard Trump supporters there right here in Georgia asking the RNC chair why they should even bother voting.
President Trump's false claims of widespread voter fraud, are they going to backfire? It seems it's going to depress the Republican turnout.
PATRICK HEALY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right, Amara. This is a real problem that President Trump has created for himself and for his party.
His message about a rigged election, about a fraudulent election, while all of these are false claims, his voters still, many of his voters are buying it.
And you have to wonder -- and you were getting worried from the Georgia Republican Party here -- why Republican voters, who believe that the election is already rigged somehow against Republicans, are going to bother to participate to begin with in the Georgia Senate runoff.
It's a real problem that he has created. And that Republicans privately are telling him, this is not helpful in Georgia.
These are the two most important elections for the control of the Senate that we're still going to have. And it's going to backfire.
WALKER: Stakes, as you say, are very high in the runoff race come January. It will determine the balance of power in the Senate.
And to you, Asawin, Trump says he's going to be campaigning in Georgia next Saturday.
What are both sides doing? Republicans and Democrats, to get voters enthused about turning out and voting, especially when President Trump is not going to be on the ballot?
ASAWIN SUEBSAENG, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, "THE DAILY BEAST" & AUTHOR: When it comes to the Republican side, as Patrick was getting into earlier, one of the hardest things about it is the problem about Donald J. Trump.
He is not so much a party man in the general conservative or GOP sense of the term as we know it in a modern American presidency. He's someone who feels as if the Republican Party should be
subordinated and subsumed into his brand name and into Trumpism, whatever that means at this point.
And it's getting to the point where, yes, he is going to Georgia to campaign. Yes, he is telling his voters to get out there.
But on the other hand, there are individuals, including his former member of his legal team, Sidney Powell, an attorney that he and his campaign had to disavow.
Because she went out there spreading pro-Trump conspiracy theories, that the president and Rudy Giuliani and numerous other prominent Republicans were all about.
But then she ensnared the Republican governor of the state in her wild conspiracy theorizing in support of Trump.
Which then got a good amount of Republican voters to ask themselves, is it even worth doing this if even the Republican chief executive of the state is rigged against Trumpism and, therefore, us?
So this is kind of a game that Republicans have to play where they have to subordinate themselves to President Trump's ego.
Also looking out for their best interest when they know that Trump is not going to be in the Oval Office come 2021.
When it comes to the Democratic side, you had, since the beginning of the aftermath of Election Day 2020, a pretty big money gap that was opening up between Republican money and Democratic money that was pouring into the runoff election in that state.
So right now, when you ask what are Democrats doing to get people enthused, obviously, they are dangling out there the possibility of, if we don't win these two races, then you are going to have more obstruction for Republicans in the Senate.
And more of Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who is obviously a major liberal bogeyman now.
But also they need to move to close that cash gap if they're going to have a fighting chance of being competitive.
[13:50:00]
WALKER: Patrick, what kind of hold will President Trump have on the Republican Party post 2020?
HEALY: It's significant, Amara. President Trump really does have more influence over the Republican base, far more than any GOP elected official.
Mitch McConnell controls very much the agenda in the Senate if Republicans retain control. He will as well. You're seeing Republican 2024 candidates, like Marco Rubio, Josh
Hawley, Tom Cotton, going down to Georgia to campaign as well as Vice President Mike Pence.
But no one has the influence still over the GOP base like President Trump. And you're already hearing certainly talk in his circles he may well run again in 2024.
At the very least, he wants Ronna McDaniel re-elected as chair of the RNC, a close ally, so he can continue to have influence over the machinery of the Republican Party.
But he really is setting himself up I think in 2021 to still wield influence.
And if the Republicans win both seats in Georgia, to claim the victory is partly his.
WALKER: Well, we're going to leave it there.
Patrick Healy and Asawin Suebsaeng, thank you both. Thank you.
HEALY: Thank you.
WALKER: And head, separated from loved ones for months, nursing home residents face even lonelier holidays during the pandemic. We'll have their stories next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:56:16]
WALKER: For vulnerable senior citizens in nursing homes, this year meant giving up holiday traditions they hold dear.
Here's CNN's Brynn Gingras.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CATHY COREY, RESIDENT, BEECHWOOD LONG-TERM CARE: That's Egmore Island (ph) at my sister-in-law's house.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Since the pandemic began, it's the physical connection with family Cathy Corey and other residents at this Connecticut nursing home ache for.
COREY: It's like my heart get ripped out sometimes.
GRACE BARNUM, LIVED AT BEECHWOOD LONG-TERM CARE: I'm just waiting.
GINGRAS (on camera): Waiting for what?
BARNUM: Yes, to be able to hug again.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Especially this time a year. COREY: The holidays are all about memories with our family. It's hard enough not being with your family but when they can't even come up and eat a meal with you or anything or visit, it's hard.
GINGRAS: In the spring, the coronavirus ravaged the northeast. Nursing homes may have paid the heftiest price. To date, residents in long- term care facilities make up 8 percent of all cases in the U.S. but nearly half of the country's total deaths.
BILL WHITE, OWNER, BEECHWOOD LONG-TERM CARE: It's like being in a battle. It's the same -- it's the same mentality.
GINGRAS: Bill White is the owner of Beechwood Long-Term Care in Connecticut.
WHITE: What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
GINGRAS: To keep residents safe, White put in place a strict, multi- layer system of checks to prevent COVID-19 from infiltrating these walls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you been through a hotspot state in the last 14 days?
GINGRAS: A health questionnaire and testing requirement for visitors. Beechwood has gone through periods of denying visitations outright to allowing them with restrictions.
WHITE: You don't know what works. And at the end, no one's going to care if you keep it out.
GINGRAS: So far, Beechwood's had just 14 cases since March. Three of them residents, the rest staff. A success by all accounts.
BARNUM: We were really lucky to have such precautions taken. We didn't see that everywhere and the people really paid the price.
GINGRAS: In the last week alone, Connecticut saw 306 confirmed coronavirus cases of nursing home residents. And 39 people have died.
A sign of where the state may be headed, last week, this once- abandoned nursing home became fully operational again. It's reserved for COVID-19 positive long-term care residents.
They're moved here to mitigate the virus spreading like a brushfire inside their home facilities.
NICOLE SHEEHEY, DIRECTOR OF NURSING, WESTFIELD CARE AND REHAB CENTER: The amount of referrals that we're getting and, you know, people calling asking can we take patients, you know, it's been very consistent since the day that we opened. I mean, we haven't really had a slow moment.
GINGRAS: With help from the National Guard, the state first opened this facility in April. It was one of four like it needed in the spring to get control of cases. It closed in the summer when the numbers went down.
For now, the state is relying on just this building. But it hasn't ruled out the possibility of needing more space as cases surge.
On this day, eight sick elderly patients were expected to arrive.
We talked to Charles Miller, who was one of the first patients admitted. He's Beechwood resident who tested COVID positive while recovering from a stroke at the hospital.
CHARLES MILLER, RESIDENT, BEECHWOOD LONG-TERM CARE: It's tough on the elderly, but I think it's tough on everybody.
GINGRAS: Miller tries to keep a good spirit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You look good.
MILLER: I feel great.
GINGRAS: Because this Thanksgiving will be the first away from his wife and family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have next year.
MILLER: Yes, we sure do.
SHEEHEY: Seeing their loved one's face, even if it's just via a FaceTime visit, is sometimes a critical piece in their care.
GINGRAS: Miller's goal is to fight the virus.
MILLER: We're all going to do our part.
GINGRAS: Get back to Beechwood, and join the family these residents have become as they stick together and stay healthy, all anxiously waiting for that one thing.
(on camera): You'll give them a hug after this is all over?
COREY: I will, indeed. A lot of hugs.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Brynn Gingras, CNN, New London, Connecticut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[14:00:02]
WALKER: It has been a lonely time for so many of us.
That is our time. Thanks for joining me. I'm Amara Walker.
We have much more just ahead in the NEWSROOM with Boris Sanchez.
