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Biden And Harris Will Receive First Presidential Briefing On Monday; U.S. Surpasses 13 Million Coronavirus Cases; Trump's Legal Losses Pile Up As Court Blasts Lawsuit; Iran Accuses Israel Of Killing Top Nuclear Scientist; Biden Faces Test Over Sensitive Information On Trump's Secret Server; Pandemic Hammers U.S. Economy During Holiday Shopping Season; Trump Urges Supporters Not To Boycott Georgia Senate Runoffs. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 28, 2020 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:13]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It is the top of the hour. Thank you so much for joining us in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Boris Sanchez, in for Ana Cabrera.
The holiday season is off to a sobering start. More than 13 million Americans have been reported to have coronavirus since the pandemic began, 4 million of those cases in November alone. And for 26 straight days, the U.S. has reported 100,000-plus new cases.
The pandemic is leaving empty seats at holiday dinner tables. It is taking away jobs and forcing many who never have had to before to line up to receive meals. Experts are warning that things will only get worse from here.
But the president of the United States is focused on the golf course. Again, he's gone golfing one out of every five days he has been president, by our count. Something he frequently criticized his predecessor for.
The government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington blasting the president's excursion away from Camp David, saying, quote: While there's a golf hole and a driving range at Camp David that presidents often use when they want to get in some swings, Trump doesn't profit off of Camp David.
When he hasn't been on the golf course, the president has continued to spread baseless conspiracy theories and lies about the election, refusing to concede three weeks after CNN and other reputable networks projected Joe Biden as the winner, and after multiple efforts to overturn a fair election have failed in court.
CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond joins me now live from the White House.
Jeremy, the president not letting up on these claims of election fraud even as he's losing in court and in state recounts.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Boris. The president has suffered pretty much all defeats in the three weeks since CNN and every other major news organization has called this race for President-elect Joe Biden, and yet, it hasn't deterred the president from continuing to make his baseless claims and spreading these conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
And we are seeing the debunking continuing, though, certainly not letting up, including from the former top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security whom the president fired ten days ago for telling the truth about the 2020 election.
Here's Chris Krebs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Let me ask for your reaction to some of the vote fraud that the president and his team have been alleging. Votes tabulated in foreign countries.
CHRISTOPHER KREBS, FORMER DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: So, all votes in the United States of America are counted in the United States of America. I don't -- I don't understand this claim. All votes in the United States of America are counted in the United States of America. Period.
INTERVIEWER: Communist money from China and Cuba used to influence the election.
KREBS: Look, I think these -- we can go on and on with all the farcical claims that -- alleging interference in the 2020 election, but the proof is in the ballots. The recounts are consistent with the initial count and to me, that's further evidence, that's confirmation that the systems used in the 2020 election performed as expected and the American people should have 100 percent confidence in their vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: And, Boris, many of these conspiracy theories that you're hearing Krebs debunking there, they are not being voiced by the president's legal team in the courts. They're only being voiced in the court of public opinion, where, of course, the bar isn't quite as high. When the bar is high, what you're seeing is more than 30 cases brought forward by the president and his allies that have either been dismissed by state and federal courts or withdrawn by the legal teams representing the campaign and the president's allies.
The latest defeat came at the hands of a Trump-appointed judge, Judge Stephanos Bibas, on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Pennsylvania.
He says, quote: Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here. The campaign's claims have no merit.
That was his opinion on Friday as he dismissed the Trump campaign's latest appeal to try and prevent the state of Pennsylvania or to actually overturn the certification of votes in the state of Pennsylvania. As it relates -- so, he's losing in the courts. He's also losing in recounts. The latest was a recount in the state of Wisconsin.
The president's campaign paid $3 million to have two counties in Wisconsin that overwhelmingly favored President-elect Joe Biden conduct recounts. The results are in from one county, Milwaukee County, and Joe Biden actually gained a net total of 132 votes in that county. We're still waiting on the results of the recount in the second county, Dane County.
[16:05:02]
But clearly, this isn't going well for the president and the state of Wisconsin, Boris, is expected to now certify the results of its election by Tuesday and the president, again, running out of avenues here but still making these claims publicly. All you have to look at, though, is the results of these recounts and the debunking by election officials, experts, and, of course, these state and federal judges -- Boris.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, Jeremy, and you bring up such a good point, that the Trump legal team is making these claims publicly, but they're not actually alleging widespread fraud in court, even though they make these allegations in the fund-raising emails, the hundreds of fund- raising emails that have been sent out since Election Day, seeking money, claiming that it's for the legal team, when we know your own reporting has pointed out that in the fine print, it's actually going to a political action committee to fund Trump's life post-presidency.
DIAMOND: Yeah, 75 percent of donations going to that political action committee now. Stunning.
SANCHEZ: Exactly. Jeremy Diamond from the White House, thank you so much, sir.
Joining us now to discuss further is the former chief of staff under President George W. Bush, Andy Card.
Andy, it's really a pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for joining us.
ANDY CARD, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Thank you, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
The president's legal losses, as Jeremy pointed out, they keep piling up. Federal appeals court slammed his attempts to overturn the results in Pennsylvania, saying that there was no merit to their claims. The Trump campaign requested a recount. They paid for it in Wisconsin's largest county. That actually ended up with Biden picking up even more votes.
And yet, the president cannot acknowledge what is happening. I want you to listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no way that Biden got 80 million votes. By the way, the only way he got 80 million votes is through a massive fraud. There's no way that he got 80 million votes.
REPORTER: Can you give us a timeline of when you're going to present this evidence of voter fraud you talk about.
TRUMP: Well, it's happening now. We're in courts. We're in courts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yeah. What's your reaction to that, sir?
CARD: There is no credible path for Donald Trump to be able to claim victory. He's lost. He is not going to be the next president of the United States.
I understand he's going to be frustrated and angry and bitter, but I don't see a credible path for him to declare victory and with any credibility at all. So, I think he should plan for the transition. He's got to prepare for his own transition out of government, and he has to plan for a transition to help the transition of Joe Biden coming in.
And especially with the nature of our pandemic, he should be open book with the Biden team about what's happening in the pandemic and how best to distribute vaccines when they're available and how best to deliver PPE where it needs to be on time. That's critically important. He also has to be able to share the intelligence challenges that the United States is facing and there are many, obviously, what's going on in Iran right now is cause for great concern.
But there are other concerns around the globe, and I want Joe Biden to be fully prepared to meet those obligations on day one. I'm impressed with the team that Joe Biden has put together to deal with this national security policies, but Donald Trump has got to recognize the reality that he is not going to be serving a second term. I don't see any credible path for him to do that without destroying the nature of our democracy.
And the world is watching. He should not be tarnishing our democracy. We had an election, a record number of people voted. He got -- Donald Trump got the second most votes of anybody ever running for president. Joe Biden got the most votes of anybody that ran for president. So, they both can celebrate our democracy, polish that democracy so the world can see it. After all, if we don't look good as a democracy, other fledgling democracies around the globe will be in deep trouble.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, and extremely important point. I want to ask you about your experience during transition phase. Almost 20 years ago, during the transition from Clinton to Bush, there was a big outrage because there was some vandalism and there were pranks in the White House. There were missing "W" keys on computers. There was glue smeared on desk. Apparently, a stolen presidential seal. Considering everything that we're watching unfold right now, that sort
of seems quaint, fraternity house by comparison. What would your advice be for how the Biden team gets through this phase?
CARD: Well, first of all, I hope both sides will be very respectful. I hope the Trump team will be very respectful as they leave the White House and make sure that it's prepared for the incoming team that's going to come in.
With regard to Joe Biden, the president-elect, I think that he will be respectful. He is someone who has been there. Most of the people he's appointed to leading positions, including Ron Klain, the chief of staff, have service in government. They understand the nature of it.
I think they respect the institution of the White House, and I -- yes, I was the incoming chief of staff, and yes, the W's were missing on a number of computer keyboards and yes some telephones were glued down, and there were some glue on some desks.
[16:10:02]
I viewed it as kind of fraternity pranks and sophomoric activity. It did not disrupt us in terms of our ability to do the job, but it was a complication. But I did not find any real malice, and we kind of laughed it off and got the job done.
But the president is the president the moment he takes the oath of office. And we want to make sure that the president that follows Donald Trump is fully prepared to meet the obligations because it's a dangerous world and yes, the pandemic is raging.
SANCHEZ: Now, there are some folks out there who believe that one of the obligations of a president-elect Joe Biden is to potentially investigate the outgoing administration, and in an interview this week, Biden downplayed that prospect into investigating Trump after he leaves office. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will not do what this president does and use the Justice Department as my vehicle to insist that something happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You were in a situation where there was a lot of animus against the Clintons when you took over. How would you ultimately make that decision on whether to move on or to seek an investigation, to seek answers?
CARD: Well, first of all, I think the incoming team should respect the bureaucracy, respect the nature of the executive branch and what it has to do. I don't think their first goal should be to investigate their predecessors. Look, the new team coming in will take a look at all the executive orders that were put in place by President Trump. They have the legal right to review that and make changes in those executive orders.
Otherwise, they have to go to Congress and get new laws passed. So, I would say, respect the burden of the former president, the burden of the incoming president, and don't play gotcha -- don't -- I would not recommend turning this into an investigation of what happened before. I think that they should take what happened before, learn from it, and just proceed on a path that makes sense, and that's the way they're going to have to do it.
I have confidence that we should be polishing our democracy and that includes respecting your predecessor as well as the people that are the incoming team. So I want President-elect Biden to respect the president that preceded him in his duties and yes, it's a tough job to be president. Respect the -- that he did a tough job, and I hope that President Trump will respect his successor because he's entering a very tough job.
So, I don't think this should be investigation after investigation. Let's deal with the challenges that the American people are suffering through right now, mainly the pandemic and an economy that needs to be rebounding dramatically as well as making sure that you keep the ultimate oath of the president to make sure you protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, which means protect the country should any of our adversaries want to try to take advantage of us.
SANCHEZ: I'm glad you finished on that point about adversaries taking advantage of us. As a courtesy, former presidents are typically allowed access to classified briefings after they leave office, but considering there have been very serious concerns surrounding national security and what the president might reveal as he has, even as president, Sergei Kislyak, for example, on his Twitter feed, potentially, do you think President Biden should rescind President Trump's access to sensitive information?
CARD: First of all, former presidents do not get access to intelligence briefings without being approved by the president. So, it's not common that all former presidents get regular security briefings and national security briefings or CIA briefings. They are usually offered as a courtesy by the sitting president.
I was the liaison to former presidents when I was deputy White House chief of staff to George H.W. Bush, and as chief of staff, I oversaw when the former presidents were invited to have a briefing, and yes, it was not usual for us to call them, like every week, and say, would you like a briefing, but we did it on occasion.
Sometimes the former presidents would take the briefings. Sometimes they decided not to. But it's not that they have the right to have a briefing all the time.
You know, the intelligence community works on the need to know, and a want to know is not a reason to give people intelligence briefings. It's the need know.
And usually if it's given to a former president, it's done with the White House acknowledging that there is some value in making sure that the former president gets a briefing on something, but it's not a common practice.
SANCHEZ: All right. Andy Card, that's all the time we have, we're grateful for your time and perspective, sir. Thank you so much.
CARD: Thank you, Boris. Good to be with you.
SANCHEZ: Thank you.
CARD: A quick programming note. CNN brings you the story of Joe Biden and his long journey from Democratic nominee to now president-elect.
[16:15:02]
See his ambition, the tragedies in his life, and his dramatic fights in the race of his life.
Don't miss "FIGHT FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: JOE BIDEN'S LONG JOURNEY," tonight at 9:00 on CNN.
And up next, a dire plea directly from the front line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what your mother or your father or your children, when they get COVID disease, will see at the end of their life. This is serious.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: We'll talk to this doctor and a registered nurse who are witnessing every single day just how cruel and deadly this virus is. Hear from them after a quick break. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: So far in November, the United States has clocked more than 4 million new cases of coronavirus. That means that every week this month, 1 million Americans became infected, and as the nation's top medical experts warn of a post-Thanksgiving surge, nearly 90,000 Americans right now, right now, are in the hospital fighting for their lives.
My next guests are on the front lines of this pandemic every day. Alison Johnson is a registered nurse and she's a director of the critical care unit at Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee. And we have Dr. Ken Remy with us. He's a critical care physician scientist at Washington University medical center in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Remy, you work in the ICU. Over and over throughout this pandemic, we've put up charts and graphs showing the numbers. They're staggering, but nothing cuts through quite like personal experience. And I want you to share with our viewers what you see in a typical day.
DR. KENNETH REMY, CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN-SCIENTIST, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: So, in our -- thank you very much, first of all, for having me today.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
REMY: Since the beginning of this pandemic, we've seen lots of different people come through our intensive care unit and over the past couple weeks, as you just intimated, these numbers have surged dramatically and, you know, we're at a place where we're seeing so many people coming in that as soon as people are leaving, we've got people filling those beds right away.
And in that context, we've had just too many people die so far. And you know, that's what stirred me, making this video this past week, but myself and my colleagues just have seen too many deaths, and we'll continue to take the best care we can for everyone's loved ones. We're just hoping to find some way to alter the trajectory because this is just truly a major issue for us right now, and we're just hoping to get through this next couple weeks.
SANCHEZ: Yeah, Dr. Remy, I want to play that video now. It's very dramatic but I think it gets the point across. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REMY: This is what it looks like when you breathe 40 times a minute, have an oxygen level that's dipping well below 80. This is what it's going to look like.
I hope that the last moments of your life don't look like this. Because this is what you'll see at the end of your life if we don't start wearing masks when we're out in public, when we don't practice social distancing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It's really unsettling, but it speaks to the disconnect, right, between people on the street and people on the front lines.
Dr. Remy, what's your message to folks with this video?
REMY: Undeniably, many people that get COVID disease out in the community are going to survive and that's a wonderful thing, but once the disease progresses and you get sicker, and you require hospitalization, and unfortunately, require being placed into an intensive care unit, your survival goes way down. Your mortality goes way up.
I can't do much more than hopefully try to continue to do supportive therapies that we have right now, but there's no magic bullet right now to turn away that disease trajectory except for we could hope, hope that we could try to reduce transmission out in the community because that will help you probably more than once you get into the hospital and have this disease, especially if you receive a breathing tube. So that's really what I hope for.
SANCHEZ: Now, Alison, I'm hoping that you could please walk us through what one of your shifts look like right now, and how does it compare to a shift pre-COVID?
ALISON JOHNSON, REGISTERED NURSE: So, recently, we had, in my opinion, one of the most difficult days that we have had so far. I mean, every day seems to be a challenge, and our team rises to the occasion day after day, but we're getting tired, and the shifts are getting longer, and the acuity is higher.
And on this particular morning, we had three patients that passed away before 10:30. We had rapid responses on other patients that were deteriorating quickly. We're constantly rearranging and making higher acuity beds, and it's just hard.
We have -- that day, we had five families come in for end-of-life discussions, and so we had already had those three patients pass away and we're bringing in families to meet with the physicians and our team to talk about, you know, the next five patients that we know we're going to lose, and it really takes a toll, mentally and emotionally.
SANCHEZ: And, Alison, I'm -- I really want to dig into what you just said, because as we're watching these pandemic numbers go up, there's also the fact that there are suicide rates among health workers that are also climbing, and there is a very serious toll on mental health when you're seeing so much loss every day, and I imagine a frustration that so many people do not take this virus seriously.
For you, personally, how does that make you feel?
[16:25:00]
JOHNSON: It's really heartbreaking, because our team is working so hard every day. We've experienced more death in the past few weeks than we ever have. I've been an ICU nurse for 16 years, and the experiences over the past several months and several weeks compared to nothing I've experienced before.
But we have a very supportive team. We have chaplains that help support us. We have great teamwork, and we lift each other up as much as we can, but when we leave work, and we see people out in the community that aren't taking the virus seriously, it's so disheartening.
I had a friend who described it like being a firefighter and a firefighter that works so hard to put a fire out and you turn around and you see your friends starting more fires. It's relentless and never-ending. And so we need to people to take this seriously.
So if you have a healthcare worker in your life or you know someone or you know somebody who's been hospitalized by COVID, I would ask you to reach out to them and listen to their stories. I think, unfortunately, it takes the raw and vulnerable grief that our patients and their families are experiencing for some people to take this seriously. So, reach out to them and listen to what they have to say.
SANCHEZ: Alison Johnson, Dr. Ken Remy, you know, the United States, the country, the world owes you and frontline workers like you an enormous debt, not just for what you're doing right now in intensive care units and hospitals but for spreading this message that is so important for folks at home to hear. Thank you both, again, for spending your time with us this weekend.
REMY: Thank you.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
Iran is vowing revenge for the apparent assassination of one of its top nuclear scientists. Whom they're blaming for the assassination next.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:22]
SANCHEZ: New this afternoon, Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, accusing Israel of killing Iran's top nuclear scientist.
This is coming as protesters in Iran burn American and Israeli flags along with images of President Trump and President-Elect Joe Biden.
The scientist was considered one of the masterminds of Iran's controversial nuclear program.
Israeli officials said they had no idea who was behind the killing, but the assassination is very embarrassing, they said, for Iran.
Joining me now, CNN senior national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt.
Alex, why is Iran so certain that Israel is responsible? Do we know if they have any evidence?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Israel is the traditional scapegoat for Iran. This is something we hear time and time again.
But in this situation, it is quite likely that Israel was behind this attack on Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
He was, as you noted, one of the senior-most members, if not the senior-most member of Iran's nuclear program.
He was part of the covert military nuclear program when it started up and continued into the ongoing nuclear program, which Israel is convinced wants to develop a nuclear bomb.
Boris, the list of actors who could carry out an attack like this is very small.
You're looking at these images here. This was a brazen, very well-coordinated and planned attack that
involved both a car bombing and a team of attackers armed with guns who shot up the scientist's car.
This is -- this is not something that could be carried out by amateurs. In the words of one former official I spoke with, "It was carried out with surgical precision."
So the question now, Boris, is: How does Iran respond?
And we have to take this into the broader context. It's not just Fakhrizadeh who was killed. If you go back 11 months, their most- famous military commander, Qasem Soleimani, was also killed, that time, by the U.S. in an airstrike.
Both of these attacks on these two major figures in Iran, although Soleimani was killed in Iraq, are very embarrassing and angering for Iran.
So how will they respond? They could strike, say, at a U.S. or Israeli targets in the region. If they were to do so, that, of course, it could prompt a response from either the U.S. or Israel.
Or they could just wait. They know that there's a new U.S. president coming into office in January, someone who does want to engage with them -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: Yes. And it's such a sensitive time because these administrations share very, very different perspectives on Iran. And so in this transition phase, ultimately, the smallest decision could have enormous consequences moving forward.
Alex Marquardt, thank you for that.
Let's bring in CNN National Security Analyst, Samantha Vinograd. She's also former the senior advisor to the national security advisor in the Obama administration.
Sam, the killing of Iran's of nuclear scientist could fuel more tensions between Tehran and Washington. We're watching it unfold on the streets of Iran's capital.
That relationship has deteriorated rapidly since Trump took office, by design mostly.
Give us a sense of how significant this is and the impact that it has on national security.
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Boris, we're here because of Trump's failed Iran policy. Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal and Iran resumed banned activities.
Because diplomacy has been dead, there has been an increased reliance on covert operations. That's the back story here.
[16:35:05] And when we look at the impact in Iran, let's remember, in addition to its current role, the target of this attack also was a human library of historical information with respect to Iran's nuclear program. So his death is a loss in that regard.
And as Alex just mentioned, the string of sabotage operations and assassinations that Iran has suffered over the past several months are a black eye to the regime, security-wise.
That's why it is likely that Iran will not take this lying down.
But I anticipate that Iran may have more of a calibrated response.
President Rouhani said earlier that Iran won't be trapped into creating chaos. I think that's because President Rouhani has his eye on sanctions relief.
Sanctions relief is only possible via negotiation with the United States. And I don't think that Rouhani wants to do anything to undermine the prospects for negotiations under a Biden administration.
SANCHEZ: Now, turning to the Biden transition, on Monday, it's going to be the first day that President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President- Elect Kamala Harris are going to get their first presidential daily briefing.
From your perspective, how significant is that?
VINOGRAD: Well, the PDB refers both to a written document and an oral briefing.
The written document is provided by the director of National Intelligence to the president every day.
It's often accompanied by an oral briefing, which the president and anyone else in the room can ask questions and dig deeper.
Now, remember, when it comes to Vice President Biden, he's not going to have a steep learning curve when it comes to intelligence. He received the PDB when he was vice president and participated in that oral briefing.
And unlike President Trump, the PDB is not going to be, if I feel - an "If I feel like it" kind of activity.
In my appearance with then-Vice President Biden, the PDB was a must- do.
Based on the fact that the president-elect will be receiving the PDB several weeks before inauguration, he'll have an opportunity to get more fully informed on classified threats and opportunities as well as potentially covert capabilities.
So for all those reasons, Boris, we will have a president that's operating with more intelligence after January 20th. SANCHEZ: And Biden is also soon going to have to decide whether to
share transcripts of presidential calls with foreign leaders to a broad security clearance-holding audience or maintain a lockdown of those transcripts and other sensitive information.
It's basically a policy that was imposed by the Trump administration.
What do you think Biden is going to do?
VINOGRAD: Well, we're talking about information that's stored on a codeword server. Codeword is a term that's used to refer to a specific category of information that is classified at a certain level based on its sensitivity.
The Trump team stored information on this codeword server that was not at a codeword classification level. They did that to restrict access and arguably to avoid embarrassment to the president.
The Biden team will probably operate based on the letter of the law.
Accessing classified information is based on two things, having an appropriate security clearance and having a need to know that information.
I would expect the Biden administration to meet those two requirements when they think about sharing this information.
The key factor here is "the need to know" what is in those transcripts. And that will determine, I think, how widely this information is shared.
SANCHEZ: All right, Samantha Vinograd, thank you so much. Hope you have a good weekend.
VINOGRAD: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Of course.
We should note that, next hour, we will be talking to Trump's former national security advisor, John Bolton, specifically about the situation in Iran. You won't want to miss that.
Also coming up, how the pandemic is hammering what is usually a busy holiday shopping season.
Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:42:53]
SANCHEZ: With millions out of work and a pandemic keeping many people home, the holiday shopping season is looking a whole lot different this year.
CNN's Brian Todd reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Hilldale Shopping Center in Madison, Wisconsin, only a few shoppers were seeing heading into Macy's early on Black Friday.
As for Santa, kids had to see him virtually.
At this cavernous mall in West Nyack, New York, some shoppers turned up because it was such a ghost town.
FRED KNOX, SHOPPER AT MALL IN WEST NYACK, NY: I feel good. I feel safe. I feel comfortable. I like it. There's nobody out here. It's perfect. It's perfect for a shopper like me.
TODD: After a Thanksgiving like no other, retail experts say America headed into a Black Friday and a holiday shopping season like no other.
MATTHEW SHAY, CEO & PRESIDENT, NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION: You've seen retailers take extraordinary steps to protect their teams, their associates, their partners and, of course, the customers and the communities in which they live and work.
And we're going to continue to see that. And consumers are altering their behavior as well.
TODD: Stores are reinventing the shopping experience to guard against coronavirus spikes.
Chains like Best Buy and Home Depot offered online sales earlier.
Walmart, America's largest retailer, is spreading Black Friday sales over three weekends.
The general manager of a California mall discussed new measures to protect those who come in person.
STEVEN SAYERS, GENERAL MANAGER, GLENDALE GALLERIA: We have free masks for anyone that just forgotten one in the car. We've installed hospital upgrade filters in the property.
We will have occupancy limits for pursuant to the health department guidelines. We have free hand sanitizer.
TODD: But experts say we can count on reduced physical traffic at malls and shopping centers this year, as consumers are scared away from possible contact at brick-and-mortar stores.
MICHELLE SINGLETARY, PERSONAL FINANCE COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": There is going to be a surge online. And that means that you have to be particularly careful and also not wait to the last minute.
TODD: That's because experts say, this year, there have been problems in the supply chains of some retailers.
SIMEON SIEGEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR & SENIOR RETAIL ANALYST, BMO CAPITAL MARKETS: We've had a whole stoppage in the inventory system and there's just not that much product out there.
So you have this duality of you can't have a lot of people, you don't have a lot of product. And unfortunately, for the shoppers, what it means is you're not going to have a lot of discounts.
[16:45:05]
TODD: As for the overall economic ramifications, the signals are mixed.
The president of the National Retail Federation says he expects to see strong consumer spending this holiday season.
But a Gallup poll last month found that 28 percent of Americans plan on spending less on holiday gifts this year.
SINGLETARY: There are still millions of people who are out of work or don't have the same kind of hours a day they had in the past.
And also remember, this time of year, lots of people get second jobs at retail stores. But that's not happening either because not as many people are in the stores.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Brian Todd for his reporting.
Next, are Republican claims of election fraud backfiring? We'll take you live to Georgia where voters confronted the head of the Republican National Committee today.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:18]
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
President Trump is urging his supporters not to boycott the Georgia runoff election that will determine control of the Senate, even as he tries to convince them that the general election was fraudulent and that officials in Georgia are out to get him.
It's a huge contradiction, one of many from this White House and the Trump campaign. And Republicans may ultimately pay the price for these baseless lies.
Just take a look at the scene in Georgia today when the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee was visiting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are we going to -- (INAUDIBLE) -- when it's already decided?
RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It's not decided. This is the key.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do we know?
MCDANIEL: It's not decided.
If you lose your faith and you don't vote and people walk away, that will decide it. So, we have to work hard.
Trust us, we're fighting. We're looking at every legal avenue.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are losing here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Spoiler alert. It's pretty much decided.
Let's go to CNN's Ryan Nobles in Atlanta.
Ryan, help us understand why this Georgia race is so important and why this is Republicans' worst nightmare.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're right. I mean, there's no doubt that the election in November was already decided.
But, Boris, the election on January 5th has yet to be decided. And it is crucially important. You're talking about two Senate seats that will determine who controls the United States Senate for at least the next two years.
And Republicans have a situation here where they need the enthusiasm of Trump voters to be active and involved because it is going to be a close race.
And that is because the demographics here in Georgia have changed so much, and this state is now a swing state.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NOBLES (voice-over): For decades, Georgia was a reliably red state. But no more.
ANDRA GILLESPIE, PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Georgia's not accustomed to being a swing state.
(CHEERING)
NOBLES: President-Elect Joe Biden's victory in the state is the first for a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992.
(MUSIC)
NOBLES: Four years ago, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton here by five points, more than 200,000 votes.
In 2018, Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly lost her bid for governor by 55,000 votes, less than 2 points.
That trend gave Democrats confidence Georgia could be competitive in 2020.
Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University, believes the state's political transformation has been many years in the making.
GILLESPIE: Democrats have been calling Georgia on the cusp of being a swing state for a number of years. But this was the first year they actually realized it.
(CHANTING)
NOBLES: The question now is whether Democrats can realize it again in six weeks.
With two Senate seats up for grabs in a pair of historic runoffs, the results will decide which party will control the chamber.
(SINGING)
NOBLES: Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are making Senate control a key part of their appeal to voters, arguing that a Democratic Senate would pull the country too far to the left.
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): What Chuck Schumer's saying, publicly -- this isn't hiding or in secret meetings -- he is telling us he wants to change the voting rules in the Senate so he can do anything he wants with 50 votes.
So if they get our two seats, it will be 50-50. And what that means is that the tiebreaker will be the vice president. And so they'll have the majority.
(CHEERING)
NOBLES: And they are counting on a boost from President Trump, who has promised to campaign in Georgia next weekend.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Speaking of Georgia, I'll be going there. I spoke with the two great senators. They're great senators, Kelly and David.
We're going to have a tremendous turnout. We seem to always have a good turnout.
NOBLES: Georgia Republicans hope that's a message that resonates with the party's voters.
It has with GOP voter, George Hollander, a loyal supporter of the president.
GEORGE HOLLANDER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: It's extremely important that everybody in the state of Georgia who are Republicans get out and vote and it's extremely important that they get that message out.
NOBLES: But Democrats believe the pool of voters in Georgia is bigger than ever before, with 2020 turnout surpassing 2016 by more than 900,000 votes.
The party's hoping Biden's surprise win will inspire Democratic voters, like Michael Hill, to turn out and upend the historic GOP dominance in runoff elections.
MICHAEL HILL, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: This election is very important for the Senate to get out and vote. You know, just like you did for Joe Biden, you got to get out and -- same thing for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
(CHEERING)
NOBLES: Ossoff and Warnock are aiming to not only draw from a bigger pool of Democrats but also tap into Independents and Republicans who have soured on the president.
JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: We are reaching out to voters of all backgrounds, with all views, reaching out, humbly, to ask for support.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBLES: And Republicans here in Georgia have traditionally had the advantage when it comes to runoff elections. And they should have an advantage this time around.
[16:55:06]
But if President Trump continues to cast doubt on the process, there's always the threat that his supporters simply won't show up. And in a close election, it's going to be crucial.
To that end, Boris, we expect President Trump here next Saturday with the goal of rallying voters here in Georgia to vote for Perdue and Loeffler -- Boris?
SANCHEZ: All eyes are going to be on the Peach State until January 5th and potentially for a few days after that.
Ryan Nobles, reporting from Atlanta, thank you so much.
While the White House continues to focus on nonexistent election fraud, the U.S. has just surpassed 100,000 new daily cases of coronavirus for the 26th straight day. We're going to take you to the front lines of the fight right after a quick break.
Stay with us.
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