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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Dismisses Another Election Case; L.A. County Issues New Stay-At-Home Order Amid COVID Surge; CDC Advisers Vote Next Week On Who Gets COVID Vaccine First; All Three Eligible Broncos Quarterbacks Play Sunday; Trump To Campaign In Georgia For Republicans In Senate Runoff; Thousands Protests France's Proposed Global Security Law; Sarah Fuller Makes History In College Football. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 28, 2020 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:04]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST (voice over): You can catch back-to-back episodes of "This is Life with Lisa Ling" tomorrow night at 9:00 and 10:00 right here on CNN.

Good evening to you. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington.

It's now been 25 days since the election and more than 30 court losses for the Trump legal team and their allies and their efforts to overturn the results. Just a short time ago, the latest defeat came from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court which unanimously ruled to toss the GOP lawsuit aiming to invalidate absentee votes.

But as President Trump digs in his heels and tweets out yet more baseless allegations about voter fraud, Republicans are worried these wild claims might backfire. In Georgia, where two runoffs will determine control of the Senate, the GOP is now in the awkward position of having to convince Republicans to still have faith in the system and turn out and vote even as President Trump repeatedly and baselessly insists the system is rigged.

And with the president focusing on a futile election battle, Americans are desperate for national leadership as the coronavirus pandemic reaches staggering new levels. Today, the country reach a grim new peak, the U.S. reported a record of more than 91,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Today also marks the 26th straight day the U.S. has reported at least 100,000 new COVID cases.

We start tonight in Washington with CNN White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond. And, Jeremy, President Trump seems to have moved on from the coronavirus pandemic even as these cases and hospitalizations are surging and his only focus right now seems to be this dubious legal battle to overturn the election.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It has been his single-minded focus over the last three weeks and CNN and every other news organization called this election for President-elect Joe Biden. We certainly haven't heard anything from the president as the United States enters the worst phase, a dark chapter of this coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, the president is continuing to make baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud, insisting that this election was stolen from him, even though all evidence points us in the other direction, that this election was not fraudulent and that Joe Biden was legitimately elected as the next president of the United States and not a small margin, either.

The backdrop -- the president's claim are coming against his backdrop of case after case brought forth by the president and his allies being thrown out of courts, the latest defeats coming in the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling against the president's allies this evening. And just yesterday we saw the latest blow coming directly against the president's campaign attempts to delegitimize the election in Pennsylvania to have millions of votes thrown out essentially, happened by a Trump appointed judge.

This is Judge Stephanos Bibas, who ruled against the president's case, writing for the third circuit. He wrote this about the president's attempt to legitimize the election in that city. He said 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.

And the president's campaign is also coming up short as it relates to recounts. The president's campaign paid $3 million to have a recount conducted until two key counties in the state of Wisconsin. Milwaukee County, one of those two, certified the results of its election just yesterday after conducting a recount. And guess what, it's Joe Biden who came up ahead with a net gain of a 132 votes in a county that he had already overwhelmingly won in the 2020 election.

So the question is, where does this go now? How long does the president keep up this attempt to overturn the election, this attempt to say face and delegitimized President-elect Joe Biden victory in the 2020 election?

Well, it could go all the way to the United States Supreme Court in that federal case in the state of Pennsylvania, and the president and his campaign face the very real prospect that a conservative majority Supreme Court with three justices appointed by the president of the United States could add to all of this evidence that this election was not fraudulent and push back once again on the president's meritless claims about voter fraud.

One day to keep in mind that the president's allies have told me about, and that they are focus on, December 14th. That is when the Electoral College is expected to vote formally on the next president of the United States, locking in President-elect Joe Biden's victory. And that, I'm told, is going to be the point of no return. Jessica?

DEAN: All right, we shall see, Jeremy Diamond at the White House for us, thanks so much.

As noted it seems as though the Trump campaign just cannot win. On Friday, they suffered a devastating legal blow in a Pennsylvania courtroom.

[20:05:01]

A federal appeals court didn't just deny them the chance to re-file a lawsuit in Pennsylvania, the court actually bashed them. You heard Jeremy talk about it. Judge Stephanos Bibas, a judge appointed by the president, didn't mince words saying, quote, charges of unfairness are serious, but calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.

Then earlier tonight, another loss in the push to overturn the results of the election, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissing a lawsuit from Congressman Mike Kelly and other Republicans.

For more, I'm joined now by Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, John Fetterman. Lieutenant Governor thanks so much for being with us. I'm guessing you're not surprised by these court decisions.

LT. GOV. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): No, not at all. I mean, if the Trump campaign doesn't stop losing, the Cleveland Browns are going to sue him for trademark infringement pretty soon here.

DEAN: Are you worried at all though about the Trump saying they're going to appeal this case to the Supreme Court?

FETTERMAN: I hope they do. I hope they do, and they're going to get their clock cleaned there the way they did, you know here in Pennsylvania. I mean, you know, all of the snake-handling at the Ramada that they had the other day here in Pennsylvania didn't change this outcome.

And no matter what they do, it's not going to change the outcomes. Because there was two documented cases of voter fraud here in Pennsylvania and they both involved voters trying to vote for the president. So, no matter what they try and what they do, we all know how this movie is going to end.

DEAN: And some Republicans in your state want the vote certification withdrawn and vacated. What do you say to that?

FETTERMAN: Oh, no. Yes, the resolution, yes, the one that has like five or six, seven senators and 25 House members, that's not going anywhere either, you know? Like I said, we should stick to the snake- handling at the Ramada because this isn't going to work and none of it is going to work.

Joe Biden is going to -- we in Pennsylvania -- he's going to be the next president. And these lies that are only meant to destroy and damage the American franchise have been rejected time and time again. And no matter what they try and pull, it's not going to end any different.

DEAN: And you've tweeted a number of times saying that if the votes aren't certified by Monday, then there will also be no members of the state house, half the state senate won't be in office.

FETTERMAN: Sure.

DEAN: Explain a little bit about the point you're making there.

FETTERMAN: The legislative term expires on November 30th. So they were actually in a bind where they were trying to have this resolution that would allow them to pick their own electors and then they also had this lawsuit that got dismissed last night by the Supreme Court that wouldn't allow them to certify their results.

So the terms, expires on November 30th, we don't have a Pennsylvania House of Representatives and half our Senate is gone too. So they literally don't know which end to come at it. And it just -- it is consistently falling apart. And all that's left is this sad carnival barking in an Amway Convention Hotel ballroom that tries to gin up this kind of interest in a conservative echo chamber on Parler. And it just doesn't go anywhere outside that.

DEAN: Have you talked to any of your Republican colleagues there in Pennsylvania who maybe, in part, of the lawsuits or any of this just to get their thinking? Do you have any idea what --

FETTERMAN: Sure. I've talked to Republican friends, and a guy -- and the guys. Again, they have to pander to the lunatic fringe snake- handler faction of that party. You know, I understand that. And this president is going to be active -- he is actively punishing members of his own party publicly that don't tow that line.

So I can appreciate the fact that they kind to have, you know, walk in narrow line. But when they're in court, they don't allege that any fraud occurred. That's what so funny, is that when they're actually forced to produce evidence, they side step that and then they talk about how they have a sworn affidavit from someone who heard cousin's girlfriend's at work read something on Facebook kind of argument, which, of course, gets shredded in every courtroom that they're dumb enough to step into.

DEAN: Well, I have to ask you this before I let you go. On another note, the election is behind us. And here we go looking forward to Election Day in 2022, 710 days away. Pat Toomey is not running for re- election. Are you considering running for that open Senate seat?

FETTERMAN: You know, there's a couple of lanes open in 22 and now I'm considering them. But right now, we just want to bring Pennsylvania home for Joe Biden and put this behind us and I welcome the continued interventions of my GOP colleagues because it just -- you know, we've got to follow it until it ends.

[20:10:03]

I know how this movie is going to end, they know how this movie is going to end, and you know I just up --

DEAN: Yes. So considering -- considering that Senate seat, anything that's going to push you over the edge?

FETTERMAN: No. I -- it's wherever I can be the most -- make the most impact, the most contribution. And, you know, it's been a real crazy mad season here and the truth is prevail. The guardrails held. And there's a lot to encourage about in that. You know Pennsylvania resound at me (ph), elected Joe Biden, and I'm looking forward to attacking this coronavirus, quite frankly, because that's the real enemy.

You know, during this season and with the president for the last four years, this idea that the other side is the enemy when this virus that's taken over a quarter million of our fellow citizens' lives is the real enemy. I mean, that's a quarter of a million empty chairs this past Thanksgiving and what things being at a national level for it. And we need that change in leadership. And this spectacle that they're trying have in my state and elsewhere, it's not going to change the outcome.

DEAN: All right. Well, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, we surely appreciate your spending Saturday night with us. Thanks so much.

FETTERMAN: Thank you for having me.

DEAN: Yes. More than 10 million residents of Los Angeles will soon be under strict stay-at-home orders as new cases, hospitalizations and deaths surge there. And now a massive re-testing campaign is under way. You're going to hear from the leaders of that. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:15:00]

DEAN: The more than 10 million people in Los Angeles County are in for severe new coronavirus restrictions that began Monday. With cases soaring all across California, all public and private gatherings are banned for those who don't live in the same household in L.A. County until just a few days before Christmas. There are only a few exceptions to that rule, like religious services and protests.

The county health director said this afternoon COVID is surging among health care workers, especially nurses.

Paul Vercammen is at a massive free testing site in L.A. where an Oscar-winner is helping in this battle against COVID-19. Paul, what can you tell us?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sean Penn, he won best actor on Oscar for Mystic River, as well as Milk, where he played the activist then slaying politician Harvey Milk. He has launch fully into his new role as running Core along with his partner, that's Ann Lee, and they have tested more than three million people across the country, much of it done here in Los Angeles.

We saw earlier today, this is the best administration campus. About 4,000 cars came through here. Dodger Stadium gets a lot of attention but this is another very vibrant and active test site. And Sean Penn wants to remind everybody, he says, that testing and contact tracing works.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN PENN, CO-FOUNDER, CORE: The testing and the contact tracing, it is a misnomer that contact tracing isn't working, because where it is working, for example, in the Navajo Nation or in Fulton County, in Georgia, where we have a direct hands-on, not door-knock team doing it.

It is -- President-elect Biden knows what to do. I've heard him speak to it. What I would say to President Biden is that CORE stands by. We're ready to do all we can to help him do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And another thing that Sean Penn is talking about is perhaps when we go into the future here in terms of testing at schools, he wants to sort of enlist the role model of the NBA to have constant testing before students go into schools, teachers coming out, very aggressive grassroots organization here. CORE has now exploded with volunteers and employees spread out across the country, Jessica.

DEAN: Wow, making quite a difference. Paul Vercammen for us in Los Angeles, thanks so much.

When a vaccine for the coronavirus is finally available, the question you're probably asking is when will you and your family be able to get it. Next week, advisers of the CDC will vote on who should get access first. A doctor who has advised that board joins me live. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:20:00]

DEAN: A meeting on Tuesday could decide when you get the vaccine that could end this pandemic. The CDC has called an emergency meeting of its advisory committee for immunization practices. That committee will vote on who should get a potential coronavirus vaccine first.

Dr. William Schaffner is a Professor with the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He's also a liaison representative of that advisory committee. Dr. Schaffner, thanks for being with us.

Tell us a little bit about how you make a decision like that, who is going to get the vaccine first with obviously so much depending on it?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, DIV. OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Well, Jessica, it's been a very long discussion. It's gone back several months, the committee meeting weekly, it's done at awful a lot of focus groups with people around the country, consultations with professionals, and we also have medical ethicists on the meeting.

And so I think that they will decide, as have other groups, that health care providers who are out there taking care of patients with COVID, or who might have COVID, ought to be first in line. And that includes people who work in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, along with the residents of those nursing homes. That's my prediction about what they'll decide who should be there first.

DEAN: Right, and let's -- we'll make sure everyone knows you are liaison, so you're able to advice but you're not technically making a vote on this, right?

SCHAFFNER: I participate fully in the discussion along with my colleagues, but only the formal members of the advisory committee vote.

DEAN: Got it. All right, now, everyone knows, as you said, that public health care workers, our frontline healthcare workers are priorities. You just explained. What about teachers, what do you say? Aside for the need for students, of course, to be in school, a lot of parents are in a bind with their children at home. Maybe they can't get to work, what do you think about teachers and school?

SCHAFFNER: Well, the next group are what are called essential workers. I think that that's what they'll decide. They talked about that last week. And among those essential workers are, of course, everyone who works in schools. That would be a very savvy move, I think, because, first of all, it would relieve a lot of patients, and second of all, it would permit those parents to go to work, and it would be good for the kids, also.

[20:25:03]

So I suspect that everybody who works in the school, whether you're a teacher or administrator, janitorial staff, coach, folks who work in the cafeteria, I think they will come close after that.

DEAN: And President-elect Joe Biden, when he is inaugurated, will be the oldest president in our history, 78 years old. Should he be one of the first to get the vaccine? Would you advice him to do that?

SCHAFFNER: He might be an exception to the rule, because people age 65 and older would come later. But he's the president of the United States. We certainly wouldn't want him to get sick, seriously sick. So I'm happy to have him vaccinated just as quickly as possible along with other senior governmental officials. We need stability in our government.

DEAN: And a lot of people out there watching tonight maybe don't fall into any of these buckets you've been talking about but of course they're still concerned when they'll be able to get the vaccine, maybe when their children will be able to get the vaccine. What's your advised to them? What do they need to know as this process moves forward?

SCHAFFNER: Well, Jessica, two things about that. You know, we're trying to vaccinate 330 million people. We can't do that in a week- and-a-half. Those folks, the other folks who don't have underlying illnesses, they'll be later in line. That will probably be in the spring. And, you know, trials are just now starting in children. So the first wave of vaccinations will be in people age 18 and older, adults. DEAN: Got it. And do you have any reservations about taking a vaccine that hasn't been fully approved by the FDA with the emergency use authorization? Do you think there's any reason for pause there?

SCHAFFNER: Well, I think we'll see all the data on December 10th when the advisory group to the FDA meets. And at that time, we'll see all the information. I am going to be very confident that that's going to be very solid and I think we can be confident in telling people this is safe and effective and we can give them reassurance, as well as information that they can be vaccinated.

And we particularly want to reach people of a minority persuasion, shall we say, because those populations have been disproportionately struck by COVID. We want to make sure that everybody has the information and the reassurance so they can make good decisions.

DEAN: All right. Dr. William Schaffner, thanks so much for being with us, have a great night.

Up next here on CNN, breaking news, an NFL team facing the prospect of playing a game with no quarterbacks? That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:51]

DEAN: Some breaking news now into CNN. CNN has learned that the Denver Broncos could play the New Orleans Saints tomorrow with no available quarterbacks for that game. The NFL decided the QBs are ineligible due to COVID-19 contact tracing. This is leaving the team and the entire league looking for some answers, and ESPN analyst, Mike Golic, joins us now.

Mike, thanks for being with us. What are you hearing from around the league? This is crazy not having the quarterback to play a football game.

MIKE GOLIC, FOOTBALL ANALYST, ESPN: Well, yes, it definitely is. I mean, we're in a very weird year as it is and we knew we were going to have to adjust to situations when they came up. And this is one of those situations where a quarterback and Jeff Driskel tested positive. The other quarterbacks around him, at some point, had no masks on.

So with the contact tracing, they had to be put aside. You have a running back in Royce Freeman who's an emergency quarterback. On the practice squad, you have a wide receiver, Kendall Hinton, who was a quarterback at Wake Forest, but certainly not the situation you're looking for. But they're -- they have no more buys.

There's no more breaks in the schedule to try and reschedule it, so -- and they said they're not going to forfeit guys want to play, especially the other guys on the team. So, you're left with a very weird situation.

DEAN: Yes, you certainly are. And this is basically the scenario the NFL has been dreading, right? Where a game, where a team faces this impossible kind of situation.

GOLIC: Oh, absolutely, yes. And they're trying to be ready in case there are scenarios if teams can't play like Denver didn't want to forfeit this game. But other teams may be and not be able to play games. And if they get to that point, they may have to go by winning percentage over record, once they get to the playoffs.

They may have the ability to push the season some, if this gets even more intrusive on the season. But at this point, like I said, no more breaks for the Denver Broncos. So it's forfeit or go on the field and play, which they're trying to do.

DEAN: Right, try to do their best. We've also learned because of new restrictions in Santa Clara County in California, the 49ers may not have a place to play for the next three weeks. Did the NFL prepare for a situation like that?

GOLIC: Well, I mean, you just wonder, when you were making all your plans, you try and prepare for every scenario. And we know early on, there were places around the country that were close. So teams were thought that they will have to be ready to go practice somewhere else. So, I'm sure that's what they're going to work on, have them practice at a facility somewhere else.

I'm sure out of state where they can practice and be able to go to their games and play. What they do with the games, I don't know because they have two home games, December 7th and December 13th, those obviously have to be moved. But that if they need to, they'll be able to find another facility to go to the workout upstate, I'm sure.

DEAN: Yes. Do you think, at some point, the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, pulls the plug on this? Does it get tougher to justify the season going on? I mean, we had record hospitalizations announced today, cases are surging. What do you think -- moving forward?

GOLIC: There's no doubt it gets tougher. Look, in college football, they had their 100th postponement or cancellation, 100 games. And we've seen some disruption obviously in the NFL as well and it's only growing. There has to be a pull the plug point. I don't think they're there yet and they want to try and stay away from that as far as they can.

Like I said, they can push for weeks in the playoffs and even the Super Bowl even a couple of weeks if they have to. So, it would really be a last ditch effort to say, all right, we're pulling the plug on the season. I think they have a little bit of ways before they're going to do that.

[20:35:25]

DEAN: Yes, they just reinforces COVID and touches everything, doesn't it?

GOLIC: Yes.

DEAN: Mike Golic, thanks so much for being with us tonight. We appreciate it.

GOLIC: You got it.

DEAN: Well, let's talk more about this with CNN contributor, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. He's an epidemiologist and former Detroit Health Commissioner, Dr. El-Sayed, is this proving that football games maybe won't work in a pandemic do you think?

DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Jessica, let's zoom out here for a second. Football's a great sport. It's an amazing pastime, people really enjoy it, and it's one small semblance of normalcy that that people can have in their day to day lives, we just experienced the Thanksgiving, physically distanced.

But at the same time, let's remember that there are schools and colleges closing all over the place, there are nurses and doctors and hospital professionals trying to care for patients in overflowing hospitals with minimal PPE. And so we've got to put this in context. And it does remind us that as a society in a difficult time like this, we have to make decisions about what is critical to us, in what may not be, and so that's number one.

The second part here is that no matter who you are, if you're a quarterback for the Denver Broncos, or you're just going to buy a gallon of milk, you've got to wear a mask. And the important thing here is that had those quarterbacks chosen to wear a mask, they might actually be able to play on Sunday. And so we've got to remind ourselves that COVID does touch everything. And this is a critical moment where all of us have to come together, do the things that we need to do to keep ourselves and our communities healthy and safe.

DEAN: If you were advising the NFL right now, what would you be telling them?

EL-SAYED: I'd say, look, you absolutely need to decide what your cutoff point is. What is the circumstance, where you're going to say, you know, it's no longer worth potentially putting coaches and players and players, families and other folks who support the game at risk. When is it that we call it quits? What are the ways that we can make sure that we are keeping everyone safe in the interim, and making sure that all of our players and all of our personnel know how critical it is to wear masks?

And then the last thing I'd say is that, look, you know, this is something that in the pastime of American culture, football is important and sports are important. But at the same time, it does matter that you're setting an important example for small children and families everywhere. People look up to football players, they look up to athletes. And so the NFL has a lot of responsibility in being able to, you know, walk the walk when it comes to keeping people safe.

I'd also say, you know, this might be a time to sign Colin Kaepernick. I know that he's looking for a team and the Denver seemed to need a quarterback.

DEAN: Do you think there should be a difference between how college and pro-football is handled? Because that's the thing in all of this. I mean, across the board with the coronavirus pandemic, there's not been streamlined guidelines in a lot of places. This just being one of them. But college students aren't being paid to play, of course, you know, these athletes are.

Do you think that there should be more streamlined guidance for these sporting events?

EL-SAYED: Well, I'll tell you, I'm a huge college football fan. I'm literally coming to you from Ann Arbor, home of the big house, the University of Michigan Wolverines. But I will say that it's really important that we think about some of the bigger ethical and moral questions that arise from college football where players aren't being paid to put themselves in harm's way, whether it's the usual wear and tear of a football game, or it's in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic.

And so I do think that there is an added responsibility on the part of the NCAA and all of the constituent conferences to think a little bit about what those risks are, and be a lot more careful.

But I will say that, again, all of these institutions have a responsibility in the broader social fabric in a moment where we, as a society, are suffering a pandemic that has taken over 260,000 lives in a moment where hospitals are filled up in a moment where all of us are recognizing the impact of this in our day to day lives.

And so, you know, if you are the kind of institution that small children and families look up to for guidance, who take their cues from, I do think it's important to really think about the example that you're setting in what you're implicitly telling folks about what is safe and what is not safe.

DEAN: And we just had Thanksgiving, so much guidance about staying apart, even though people went together, but we know that a lot of people traveled, that there is an expected surge that's going to come between now and the Christmas holiday. Do you think as things potentially get worse than they are now in terms of COVID cases, will they be able to get through a season? Will there be a Super Bowl or does it get to the point where the cases spike so much that it's nearly impossible?

GOLIC: You know, it really is. It's too hard to say right now. I do think that there's a lot that they can do and need to do to keep this safe considering the skyrocketing in the surge in cases. So, I don't know and I can't venture to guess.

[20:40:00]

But I will say that right now, we are in a really challenging moment when it comes to this pandemic, when they write about the history of this pandemic. It won't have been the spring surge March, April, May, that they'll write about. It'll be this surge right now. And we have a choice as a society, whether give the NFL or whether, again, you're just a family.

To keep ourselves and each other safe, we've got to do the basic things of wearing a mask, washing our hands, staying physically distant, because those are the things that save lives right now.

DEAN: Yes, this is the moment. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, thank you so much for being with us.

EL-SAYED: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: All eyes on Georgia where two runoff races will decide which party controls the Senate. And now, President Trump says he's headed to the state to campaign for the Republican candidates. But how is this false narrative of widespread electoral fraud impacting the race?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:16]

DEAN: President Trump's repeated false claims of election fraud are creating a new and growing crisis for the GOP. One of the head of the RNC is personally trying to stop. Ryan Nobles is in Atlanta showing us how the president and his party are scrambling to convince Georgia voters who will soon decide control of the Senate and a pair of runoff elections that their vote is still worth something, Ryan?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. It was certainly an awkward morning for the GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. She came here with the goal of encouraging Republicans to get out and vote for Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. But after she gave her remarks, she spent about 20 minutes getting peppered by Trump supporters demanding to know why she wasn't doing more to help President Trump overturn the results of the election, particularly the election here in Georgia. Take a listen to a bit of that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are we going to use money and work when it's already decided?

RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It's not decided. This is the key. It's not decided. If you lose your faith and you don't vote and people walk away, that's -- that will decide it. So, we have to work hard. Trust us. We're fighting. We're looking at every legal Avenue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get that word out, because people are losing here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: Now, this is crucial for Republicans. They need Trump supporters to remain engaged in this runoff. It is really their only opportunity to control at least one bastion of power in Washington. If they win just one of these races, the Republicans will retain majority of the United States Senate. But as you can tell, there is just a lot of angst among these Trump supporters about the results of the election. And they're even blaming the Republicans that run the show here in Georgia. At one point during this event this morning, someone in the crowd yelled out that Kemp is a crook. That's Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of the state and someone who is a passionate supporter of President Trump.

Now, Republicans believe that at the end of the day, these supporters will come around, they'll come home and cast their ballots for the Republican candidates on January 5th. Now, runoffs traditionally have tended to lean Republican, but the demographics here in Georgia had changed quite a bit. The margins are expected to be close.

And losing even a percentage of those Trump supporters could mean that the Republicans aren't able to pull off these victories they desperately need. Jessica?

DEAN: All right. Ryan Nobles for us in Georgia this Saturday night.

I'd like to bring in our senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein, who's also a senior editor at the Atlantic. Ron, good evening to you. Thanks for being with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Jessica.

DEAN: The Democrats -- we just heard from Ryan talking about the GOP. The Democrats don't have anything to relax about here really either. Jon Ossoff, one of the two Democrats in this runoff had about 100,000 fewer votes than Joe Biden. So he underperformed Joe Biden in the general election. His rival, Senator Perdue, had about the same showing as President Trump, so running about even.

Is it possible that President Trump who's headed to Georgia next Saturday could deliver a win that saves the Senate for Republicans?

BROWNSTEIN: Well -- and, look, Georgia is an embodiment of the problem Democrats faced in the Senate. I mean, they have not elected a senator in Georgia since 2000. And it was a very former -- a very conservative former governor named Zell Miller, who went on to endorse George W. Bush in 2004. To give you an idea kind of an uphill.

I mean, the fact is that even though Democrats have won the presidential vote, the popular vote and seven out of eight elections, more states over that period, have voted Republican and Democratic and it's hard -- it's become harder and harder for either side to elect senators in states that usually vote the other way for president.

In the 25 states that voted for Trump both times, Republicans now have 47 of the 50 Senate seats. In the 20 states have voted against him both time, Democrats have 39 out of the 40. This, of course, is neither fish nor fowl. Georgia was a strong state for Trump in 2016. It moved away from him this time. There's no doubt that he would be valuable to them and energizing the Republican base. But there is also the risk of a polarizing those suburbs that voted against him in November.

DEAN: Sure. And GOP senator, Kelly Loeffler, is taking on Reverend Raphael Warnock in that runoff in the other race. When you add up the votes, Loeffler and her Republican rival got this month compared to Warnock and the other top two Democrats. The GOP holds an advantage there as well.

BROWNSTEIN: Exactly.

DEAN: So -- right. Go ahead.

BROWNSTEIN: It's challenging for Democrats, right? I mean, there's no question that Ossoff, particular, ran behind Biden in the key Atlanta Metro, Fulton Cobb, and Gwinnett, the two giant suburbs, that have moved so dramatically since even 2012 and 2014. Ossoff ran 50,000 votes behind Biden.

And so clearly, there were some voters as in North Carolina, who voted against Trump at the top of the ticket, but we're more comfortable with Republicans down ballot. That is the challenge Democrats face in Georgia and their best chance probably is to narrow this as much as they can. They don't really want a broad debate on whether you want the democratic agenda broadly defined, advanced. I think they really have shown that they want to focus on COVID, COVID relief, and the idea that Washington is not going to be able to respond to both the health and economic needs, if you have a Mitch McConnell Senate.

[20:50:29]

DEAN: And so, you've outlined the messaging that you think Democrats need to adhere to if they want to be successful. In terms of sending down Barack Obama or President-elect Joe Biden, sending in those big names. Does something like that make a difference? Do you think for them like President Trump going in for the Republicans?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, it's a closer call, right? Because on the one hand, you -- Democrats, I think, don't want to nationalize this in the sense of having it become a referendum on the broad democratic agenda. It's not clear that's still a win. There's a winning majority for that in Georgia.

But on balance, Joe Biden has already said at one of his press conferences, he will go down, certainly Barack Obama would be an asset in the past. The big problem Democrats have had in the other runoffs in Georgia, have been that African-American turnout really plummeted between November and the runoff, whether it was Wyche Fowler, or the cover or the races with Saxby Chambliss. And so having Obama in there would keep that up.

Obviously, Warnock is a huge asset on that as well. This is likely going to be very close. But it's a reflection of the underlying geographic problem that Democrats have that even though they win the most votes consistently now, at the presidential level, there are probably still more states that lean slightly Republican. And as the Senate elections become more parliamentary, they are threading the needle to get to a majority.

DEAN: And it's interesting, Paul Ryan said that if the Republicans win both seats in the Senate that that has actually going to be, in his view, better for bipartisanship, it's going to force Biden to work across the aisle, something that Biden has said he really wants to do anyway. Do you think that's right? And do you think that this -- if that's the case, this Republican Senate treats a President Biden different than they did differently than they did President Obama when they really just didn't allow anything to go through?

BROWNSTEIN: As Mitch McConnell stepped down between November and January -- I mean, it's -- you know, in an ideal world, what he's saying would have some, you know, a residence, but the fact is that I think a McConnell Senate would systematically block what Biden is trying to do.

And, you know, you can look at what's happening in the post-election period, how few Republican senators and how and conspicuous the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell himself, have stepped in to push back against Trump's baseless claims of fraud, which if you read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today, are leading to a proliferation of vile death threats against the Republican Secretary of State and his wife, and they are all standing aside and letting that happen.

Both because they fear Trump and also they because McConnell believes it will hurt Biden, it will weaken his ability to get a second look on Republican voters. Even less leverage of Republican senators, and they are perfectly willing --

DEAN: Yes. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much. He laid it all out there for us. We sure do appreciate it. Have a great Saturday night.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

DEAN: Yes. Thousands of protesters clashed with police on the streets of France today outraged at a proposed new security law that's reignited a debate over police brutality in that nation. CNN's Melissa Bell joins us from Paris with more on this controversial bill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a protest against the global security bill that's currently before the French Parliament already it had attracted a great deal of controversy as it went before the National Assembly, because essentially, one of its provisions would make it a punishable offence to publish pictures of policemen with the intent to cause them harm.

That was already the subject of a great deal of controversy. Then this week, two separate investigations open into allegations of police brutality have further said the anger that led to the crowds here today. The bills, so far, has passed the National Assembly. It should be before the Senate in December.

Melissa Bell, CNN Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Thank you, Melissa.

And up ahead taking the field and changing the game, today, history was made as the first woman in college football played in a Power 5 game, and that story is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:55:58]

DEAN: Finally tonight, an incredible moment for sports and what has been an unforgettable year in so many ways. Vanderbilt University's Sarah Fuller making history as the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game. The Power 5 is a collection of the strongest conferences in college football and Fuller made history today when she entered the Commodores game against the Missouri Tigers and kicked off to open the second half.

She had a message for the girls and women who may follow in her footsteps with a sticker on the back of her helmet that read, "Play like a Girl."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH FULLER, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY KICKER: Honestly, it's just so exciting and the fact that I can represent like the little girls out there who wanted to do this or, you know, thought about playing football or any sport really and it encourages them to be able to step up and do something big like this, so it's awesome.

I just want to tell like all the girls out there that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. Like you really can and if you have that mentality all the way through, like you can do big things.

DEAN: Yes, she can. Fuller is also a goalkeeper for Vanderbilt's conference champion women's soccer team. She got her shot at football after several players were ruled out due to COVID-19 contact racing.

I'm Jessica Dean in Washington. I'll be back tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.