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Biden Set to Receive First Presidential Daily Intel Briefing; Contact Sports Ban Leaves 49ers, Bay Area Teams in Limbo; Georgia Senate Elections Could Determine Balance of Power in Washington. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 30, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: They often see these numbers. Well, hear these numbers that we report, and you put out as well, and they need to understand that it's not someone else that's being hospitalized.

When a hospital has filled up, you can't get care if you're in an emergency at your nearest hospital, potentially. You're just telling us you're having to send patients who are in critical need of care, who, otherwise, you would never turn away from your hospital, and you're having to send them away. How far away are you having to send them?

DR. ALEXANDER GARZA, INCIDENT COMMANDER, ST. LOUIS METRO PANDEMIC TASK FORCE: Yes, so that is an important message. We'll always take care of everybody, but the timeliness and, you know, whenever you're distracting people with such a huge volume of patients, you're never going to get as good of care as you deserve.

And so, from the last couple of days that I was at this hospital, we were flying patients to Quincy, Illinois and up to Hannibal, Missouri, which seems really bizarre that you would send patients from a major metropolitan area in the United States into an outlying area, but that is where we could find the critical care bed. There was absolutely no critical care beds in St. Louis.

BOLDUAN: The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has said they -- just as one example, has said that they started bringing in staff, nurses and other hospital staff, because of just -- to help backstop staffing shortages, from Arizona and even Florida. Are you having to do the same?

GARZA: So, yes, although it's a bit of a different tax. We're doing the best that we can to bring in contract nursing, which I think most of the systems are in the same boat, so trying to get nurses that are on contract to come in from out of town to staff some of our needs.

Now, we're just staying afloat, I would say, by getting all this contract nursing into place. So it's not that we're able to scale up for any surge in patients. This is really just keeping up with the volume that we have right now.

And the thing to note about that is, I'm sorry, but it's super expensive to bring those nurses in.

BOLDUAN: Yes. And I was just going to say, if it doesn't get better, if it doesn't let up, I mean, you're seeing this and we haven't even seen what comes after Thanksgiving, what is it going to mean for the system where you are?

GARZA: Well, we're going to try and create capacity wherever we can. So whether that is downramping other services that we provide, whether that is increasing our nurse to patient ratios or whether that is being -- you know, doing different levels of care. So we will create capacity as much as we can.

But what I tell everybody is that health care is a finite resource. We can't just create critical care nurses overnight. And at some point, we will be at our capacity. We'll keep managing, but it is extremely difficult.

BOLDUAN: But things will suffer. And not by your doing, but things will suffer because of it. The system cannot bear the brunt of this pressure over and over again. Dr. Garza, thank you for your time.

GARZA: Yes, any time. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, they're assuming to get their first presidential daily briefing. What will they be seeing and learning? We're going to ask a man who knows. He's briefed multiple presidents, prepped more than a thousand of these same intelligence briefings.

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[11:35:00]

BOLDUAN: Today, an important and necessary step in the presidential transition. For the first time since winning the election, President- elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will receive the presidential daily briefing, the top secret document that's produced by the intelligence community for the president laying out the latest threat assessment around the world to U.S. national security.

Every president-elect receives the PDB, as it's known, but the Trump White House has slow walked every aspect of the transition, including this, for weeks as President Trump continues to deny the reality that he lost the election.

Joining me right now is Robert Cardillo, he's the former director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He's also briefed Presidents Obama and Trump himself. He managed, edited and delivered more than 1,400 presidential daily briefings in his time. But who's counting, Robert, at this point?

How important when you look at this being the day that Biden gets his first daily briefing as president-elect? How important is it that Biden is getting this now?

ROBERT CARDILLO, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: I think it's critical, Kate, because, really, for two reasons. One, he needs to get back up to speed. He was clearly well versed in what the intelligence community could do during his time for senator and then vice president. But that changes over time, so he needs to be refreshed on that. And then, secondly, probably more importantly, he needs to have the most up-to-date intelligence assessments on the most critical challenges that we currently face.

BOLDUAN: And it is no secret that President Trump is known for not reading the PDB, not really interested in the assessments laid out in these briefings. We've heard it from many people. You have said something along those lines yourself.

[11:40:00]

You wrote a piece in September, and just to remind folks, I'll read just a sentence from it, you wrote, I have briefed him up close and I have seen and felt the effects of his faults on our nation's security. He has little patience for facts or data that do not comport with his personal world view.

And I'm curious knowing that and looking at how different Biden will approach this, what kind of damage do you think that Trump has done to that critical relationship between the intelligence community and the Oval Office?

CARDILLO: Well, to be clear, it's been real. You know, if nothing else, there's been a hit on the morale of the community when the person that you're singularly supposed to serve either dismisses or discounts, in some cases, actually counters, you know, your assessments. But that said, Kate, I'm optimistic that that community really is in a service mindset and they are looking to quickly pivot to an administration that will actively consume and leverage their intelligence in the interest of our country.

BOLDUAN: And I want to ask you, because it's one thing that Biden is clearly going to have to deal with coming in and something you could maybe assume would be in part of the briefing today, is the assassination of Iran's top nuclear scientist.

The details coming out are really wild. I mean, this is according to Iran's state-run media, but they're reporting that this top scientist that he was assassinated, he was shot by a remote-controlled machine gun set up in another car. I believe I saw in one report that was some 100 yards away.

When you see these details coming out, Robert, what would you be telling the president right now?

CARDILLO: Well, suffice to say, if I was editing the book for the vice president's -- or the president-elect's PDB today, Iran would be the first topic. And I would do it for two reasons. One, again, he and his incoming vice president need to get up to speed on the current state of Iranian capabilities. Much has changed over the past four years that he won't be -- he won't have the details on. And as he considers, perhaps, rejoining the joint agreement, he needs to know the current status.

But to your point and more timely, there is this issue of the assassination and now what the intelligence community would be looking for, indications of potential retaliatory strikes coming from Iran or their proxies and obviously thinking through what the cascading effects of such a retaliation could occur. All of those scenarios should be laid out in today's book, in my mind.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Robert, thanks for coming on. I really appreciate it.

CARDILLO: Absolutely. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Still ahead, the San Francisco 49ers were told they're banned from playing in their home stadium for three weeks to try and help slow the spread of COVID in that county. All contact sports are on hold there as well. What is Santa Clara County seeing that has them making such big moves? We'll take you there.

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[11:45:00]

BOLDUAN: Starting today, stringent new safety protocols are going into place in Northern California, Santa Clara County announcing over the weekend a ban on all contact sports from youth to professional for at least the next three weeks, throwing a major wrench into the already upended seasons of some major sports teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Stanford University Football, now banned from playing or practicing at their home stadiums.

Joining me right now is James Williams, he is County Counsel for Santa Clara County. Thank you for being here. I really appreciate it.

You announced this ban. Tell me why does the county think that contact sports need to be shutdown right now? How bad is it getting in your county?

JAMES WILLIAMS, SANTA CLARA COUNTY COUNSEL: The situation with COVID- 19 is getting really bad here in Santa Clara County, just as it is across the United States. When we made this announcement just two days ago, we had a record number of cases, 760, more than shattering our prior records in the 500s. Today, we have 801 cases. Our hospitalizations have doubled in just the last 14 days.

And so, this is really about preserving hospital capacity. We're extremely concerned about what's happening and so we're taking the steps that we can take locally. But that's not enough. And it's not a substitute for federal and state action that is needed.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. I mean, the statistics and data that you're laying out are really terrifying of what's happening and kind of the trajectory of where this is headed if something doesn't turn around, hence why you put in place these restrictions. Why contact sports? WILLIAMS: Well, we put in place a wide range of measures on top of many measures that the state has put in place, because we need to slow this train down right now. The growth rate in cases and hospitalizations is exponential. And we know that every single facet that can contribute to that count is going to contribute to harm in our hospitals, that's going to fill up beds. And so we are taking as many steps as we can take locally.

So this is one piece of those efforts. And we will continue to do what we can locally. But, you know, it's not sufficient.

[11:50:03]

And, of course, it's hard for the entire community. The 49ers are, I think, the most nationally obvious example. But there is no family in our community that is untouched by this pandemic.

BOLDUAN: Well, that's an excellent point. I mean, just as you speak about the 49ers, they put out a statement about this ban, and only to really say that they are working with the NFL and partners on operation plans, and will share details as they are confirmed.

I mean, what is the team telling you about what they are going to do?

WILLIAMS: Well, we have been in touch with the team, both before and after, and we will continue to try to support them, just as we are trying to support local businesses, small businesses, other families, impacted communities. Like I said, there's no business in Santa Clara County or elsewhere in the country that's untouched by the pandemic, retailers during this holiday shopping season, we're well aware of that. And, obviously, for the families that are effected, 476 deaths in our county alone, and that's irreversible for those families.

So we understand that our own families are affected as well. And I think one thing we can all agree on is that this virus has absolutely upended all of our lives, all of our operations, all of our communities, and we need to do everything we can to rein in the surge, to bring down cases, to avoid hospitalizations, to avoid the deaths so that all of us, collectively, are in a better place.

BOLDUAN: Look, that is the most important. That has to be top priority. But when you're looking at kind of the ripple effects of these decisions, and specifically on the sports front, just because you have the 49ers in your county, what do you say to someone who would be concerned like if this would mean the end of the NFL season, which, let's be honest, is already teetering on the brink with this decision of being banned for three weeks, what would you say about that?

WILLIAMS: We have to put the first priority on our hospitals, ensuring that whether it is because of COVID or because you have a stroke or a heart attack or some other trauma, an accident, serious condition, that there's a bed available for you. Our ICU beds are filling up, are hospitals are filling up. And so we are trying to take every possible measure locally to rein that in. Now, we know it's not enough to just act locally. We are not an island. We are well aware of that. And that's why we desperately need bold, aggressive and fast federal and state action.

BOLDUAN: Well, Mr. Williams, thank you for coming on. We'll check back in. A three-week ban in place, we'll see what happens in these three weeks.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Turning to politics right now, all eyes on Georgia as the balance of power in Washington is at stake. Both Senate seats in Georgia are up for grabs, Republican incumbents battling for their political lives. What happens in this Georgia runoff set for January will determine the balance of power in the Senate.

President Trump is headed there this weekend to campaign. Ahead of that trip, he is still focused on his loss in the state, railing against the Republican governor there for his handling of the presidential election. And RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, she faced tough questions from Republican voters when she was on the ground this past weekend, not about the runoff but about Trump's baseless claims that the presidential election was stolen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Machines are switching the votes, and we should go there in crazy numbers and they should have won but then they still --

RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIRWOMAN, 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: At this very same time, happening now, one of the Democratic candidates, Jon Ossoff, he has just wrapped up a press conference.

Let's get over to CNN's Manu Raju. He's been tracking all of this, what's going on in Georgia. So, Manu, where do things stand in Georgia?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, a staggering amount of money is being spent in Georgia along the airwaves. Almost $300 million from mid-November until January 5th has already been reserved on air. Republicans are holding a narrow advantage in that air war in terms of dollars spent because so much is on the line in these races.

And one of the lines of attacks that Jon Ossoff, he's waging against his opponent, the Republican incumbent, David Perdue, that he -- Ossoff alleging that Perdue used his position of power to make financial trades that benefitted him financially. And Perdue has faced a lot of questions and criticism of late in the wake of reports showing that he sold roughly $1 million in stocks back in March of the financial company, Cardlytics, and then later purchased those firms back when the stocks bottomed out.

Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate, just had a press conference in which he accused David Perdue of lying to voters and profiting off this crisis.

[11:55:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: Senator Perdue has repeatedly claimed that he doesn't control his day-to-day stock trades, but federal agents secured banking records which revealed that Senator Perdue did in fact personally instruct stock trading.

The truth is, Senator Perdue did direct his investments personally. So every time he has said he is not personally responsible for profiting from this pandemic, he's been lying to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, what Ossoff is referring to is the reference, New York Times report from late last week, in which it said that David Perdue actually instructed his wealth and financial adviser to make those trades, roughly $1 million in trades.

Now, Perdue's campaign has responded but they have not said why they gave a different story earlier about Perdue's involvement. They said that he has been cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee, by the Justice Department, there was no wrongdoing, whatsoever, and he has been cleared by of any charges, whatsoever, but, again, the question about Perdue's involvement now becoming a central focus in the Democrat's campaign ad. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Manu, thank you so much.

Much more to come with CNN Newsroom after this.

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