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Rep. Denver Riggleman (D-VA) Discusses Blasting Republicans For Enabling Trump's Lies; Iranian Media: Nuke Scientist Killed With Remote-Controlled Gun; U.S. Sees Busiest Travel Days Of The Pandemic Amid Deadly Surge; COVID Cases Threaten NFL Season With Just A Month To Go Before Playoffs. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 30, 2020 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:53]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: While most Republican lawmakers have remained silent on the president's baseless claims that the election was stolen from him as he pushed claims of massive voter fraud without any evidence, a few brave Republicans have defended the electoral results and congratulated President-Elect Joe Biden on his win.

At least one Republican congressman is unloading on the president and his GOP enablers, saying he's, quote, "sick of it."

He's joining us now to talk about this. Denver Riggleman is a Republican congressman from Virginia.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

I do want to tell our viewers you're a former Air Force intel contractor and contract officers and a contractor for the NSA.

The president took his conspiracy theories to a new level this weekend. He claimed actually that the FBI and the Justice Department may have helped rig the election against him. Of course, there's no evidence of that.

What's your reaction to that? And also the fact that there are aren't many Republicans like you who are calling this what it is?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN (R-VA): I worked, as you know -- I was in NSA. Thank you for talking about that.

But I looked at a lot of agencies where we did counter-intelligence management. When you have a bunch of people who are disparaged by thing that just are not true, it got under my skin.

I've been trying to lower the temperature a little bit because, when I hear things like that, it upsets me in a way because of the people I served with, the oaths that we took to the Constitution.

And a lot of these conspiracy theories are just hogwash. Brianna, I'm on the board of the Network Contagion Research Institute,

the NCRI, and co-author on something that just using data and statistics that talks about the danger of conspiracy theories.

I'm going to read this. The working title is. "How Disinformation Works and Conspiracy Theories Subvert our Democracy and National Security."

We use analytics to disprove a lot of these conspiracy theories. That's where I'm going next, Brianna, trying to use my background in intelligence, whether it was a CEO of a company that supported technologies doing cyber and non-kinetic type of options.

But also my background in Air Force intelligence, trying to get ahead of this using data and analytics, rather than the hyperbolic stuff you're hearing right now.

KEILAR: That's a worthy goal. Obviously so needed, as we hear people wondering what to believe, and certainly their faith in institutions and information is being undermined.

I do want to ask you, though, your party, you're a rarity. As someone speaking out. You lost your primary toa challenger. You have -- you're a rarity.

It seems Republicans either -- a lot of them don't believe this stuff. They seem very worried about say that it is what it is, saying it's not true.

Do you still consider yourself a Republican?

RIGGLEMAN: I don't think, as far as defining myself as a constitutional Republican, but as far as the state and the GOP, especially in Virginia, it's very difficult to.

Brianna, the problem is we get caught up in tribes. We're so afraid to go away from the team. Right now, I'm tribeless.

I left that -- sort of the bizarre conspiracy theory action because I know they're untrue or impossible. Nothing is impossible in intelligence work but it is improbable.

And I refuse to join another tribe. That's the great part of being an American.

Some of those who haven't spoken up are incredible people. I think they're worried about jobs, votes, the base. But I had this freedom.

You know why I'm here. To be the first Republican to officiate a same- sex wedding, things like that, is why I got thrown out in a church parking lot. It wasn't even a primary.

I think that's how I'm wired, to be outspoken. I'm not a politician. I've been in politics all of three years. And I just love to serve.

I was military, intelligence. I got to be a congressman. My goodness, if I can't sit here and spit facts, if I'm so afraid of my own shadow or being part of a tribe that I don't have the ability to say what I feel, I don't know deserve to be sitting in the seat. That's how I feel about it.

[14:35:04]

And I know if it's anybody else's heart. I just know, for me, my own -- you know -- I've had my own friends and people close to me who have said awful things. That's why I'm trying to sort of shut the heat down a bit and come at it from a more analytic way.

I see he pain it's causing with this type of information. And it really is hurting the fabric of our democracy if we don't say something about it.

KEILAR: So what do you say to Mitch McConnell, someone who's in a position of power, where disinformation is huge?

RIGGLEMAN: It seems, in politics, there's always a compromise on language. I learned that.

I think, for Senator McConnell, I think it's we'll have a new president in, what, 50 days or so, Brianna? With that new president, we've got to make sure that our foundations and our transmission of this democracy is what we have done in the past.

We can have arguments about maybe specific cases of voters fraud.

But you can come out and say, listen, the fact we're talking about systemic fraud, from the FBI, the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, Venezuelan actors, right, we're talking about Sharpie-gate, watermarks, and white vans driving up at night and dumping ballots.

You can say a lot of this stuff is not correct. We're going to have a new president. We can look at one another if there's small cases. But right now, we need to move on with the transition of government and realize what this is, we're having a new president.

I don't know what the difficulty of that is, Brianna, to say that. I guess I'm having a tough time with that.

It seems like this is what we're doing as Americans. It doesn't seem that big of a stretch to have a peaceful transition where we're looking at things based on fact, and not on things that are fantasy.

KEILAR: Congressman Riggleman, I want to thank you for coming on. Good luck with your next endeavor. It's been great talking with you.

RIGGLEMAN: Brianna, I really appreciate you. Thank you, ma'am.

KEILAR: The balance of power in the Senate is coming down to two Senate races in Georgia. Nearly $300 million has already been spent on ads.

This Sunday night, two of the candidates will face off in person, Reverend Raphael Warnock will debate Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler, one final time. You can watch it live Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Iran is vowing retaliation today as the funeral takes place for its top nuclear scientist. And there are new details about how this brazen assassination was carried out.

Plus, COVID cases threatening the NFL season with just a month to go before the playoffs.

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[14:41:45]

KEILAR: As Iran buries its top nuclear scientist, we are learning new details about his assassination.

Iranian media reporting that one official called the operation "new and complex." That is a quote.

CNN Senior International Correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, is joining us now.

What is Iran saying about the weapons that were used in the attack?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: New and complex, Brianna. If you look at what the Iranians are saying, almost like a James Bond moving the way they tell it.

They say that the Iran scientist convoy was held up by a radio- controlled gun-mounted on a truck. They say the armored car he was in was hit by a bullet.

He apparently then got out to inspect the damage. St that point was hit in the back by several bullets. One of his bodyguards was hit and killed as well.

And further, apparently, after that happened, the truck that the radio-controlled gun was allegedly on, then self-destructed.

The Iranians, one of top officials, top security officials said today, that there was not a single perpetrator at the scene that as they inspected it afterwards.

So the Iranians obviously blaming Israel for this. They say that the debris they found had the make and the specifications of an Israeli- made. However, they so far provided no pictures or anything else to back that up -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Has Israel responded to that?

PLEITGEN: That's the big thing we've been looking for. So far, the Israelis today have given us no comment.

However, there was one Israeli official who came out a couple days ago and said Israel and he have no idea who killed Iran's top scientist. He called it an embarrassment for Iran.

However, the Iranians see that differently. They still point the finger of blame at Israel.

Right now, the big debate inside Iran is how and when to respond to this.

As usually, here are some hardliners who say there needs to be a fast and harsh response. There's other moderates, for instant, the president, Hassan Rouhani, who said Iranians should bide their time and be very careful.

Especially since all of this is taking place in the final days of the Trump administration.

And they do hope that many could be better days ahead between the U.S. and Iran with a Biden administration in the not-too-distant future -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Fred Pleitgen, from Berlin, thank you so much for that.

Next, the NFL slaps the New Orleans Saints with a half million fine and a lost draft pick for breaking COVID-19 protocol.

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And we just learned that the Patriots have been fined as well. We're going to discuss whether the league needs a change of strategy as the playoffs near.

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KEILAR: Though it wasn't as business as normal, Thanksgiving travel here in the United States still set a record. Pleas from health officials for Americans to stay home fell on deaf ears.

CNN Aviation Correspondent, Pete Muntean, has the numbers for us -- Pete?

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, Thanksgiving travelers set a new air-travel record of the pandemic.

What's so interesting is the TSA thought this would happen, people coming home from the holiday all at once, in spite of the CDC warning people to not travel during the holiday.

The TSA says about 1.2 million people passed through security at American airports on Sunday. The Sunday after Thanksgiving typically very big for air travel.

About three million people flew on the same day a year ago. This year's numbers only about 40 percent of last year's numbers.

But the TSA says even still, it shows people did not cancel their trips en masse.

The CDC issued that warning a week before Thanksgiving. Totaling up all the days since, and about nine million people flew in the middle this pandemic -- Brianna?

KEILAR: Pete, thank you.

The NFL season is right now teetering as coronavirus wreaks havoc on the league. The NFL is rescheduling games after player infections.

[14:49:59]

The Broncos had to look to a receiver to be quarterback in last night's game.

The league is also punishing teams for breaking safety protocols. Now the 49ers will have to play home games in Arizona after the country banned games in their stadium.

The Super Bowl, mind you, is just two and a half months away.

One sports columnist, Jerry Brewer, of the "Washington Post," putting the situation this way, quote, "The coronavirus is laughing at the NFL's attempt at resistance. The coronavirus is the stout defensive line that the league can't move. Every future attempt and direct attack will prove futile. It's time for some clever strategy."

Joining me now is Jonathan Jones, a senior NFL reporter for CBS Sports.

Jerry Brewer said that all is neither well nor under control in the NFL. I wonder what your assessment is of how things are going in the league.

JONATHAN JONES, SENIOR NFL REPORTER, CBS SPORTS: Yes, I mean, they're going about as well as they're going in the country right now, right? What's happening in the NFL is reflective of society at large. And that's what we're dealing with right now.

The NFL has been bracing for a post-Thanksgiving spike with its COVID numbers. They certainly thought it would happen about 10 days after Thanksgiving.

And, you know, COVID got a jump on the league. But that's why they have been refining their protocols for the last few months. That's why the protocols are certainly more stringent than they once were.

So, too, is testing with daily testing, including on game days. They're trying to get these results back as quickly as possible.

And the league has been saying for months now they want to be able to identify and isolate the virus, to prevent and control the spread of that throughout teams' facilities.

And we have seen with very few exceptions. Tennessee and Baltimore being those two, that they have, for the most part, been able to do that.

Guys are going to test positive. And if we were never going to play this season, if we believed that no one would test positive,.

But what you want to prevent is what's happening in Baltimore, where a strength coach, not reporting symptoms, is able to potentially spread that to any number of players. That puts a game in danger of not being played.

But right now, the league is hoping that they can confidently field a game between two teams understanding that no one on the field has tested positive for the virus.

The Broncos did not have a dedicated quarterback to play in yesterday's game, which I think may be a symbol for what this season in the NFL is like.

KEILAR: All four of their quarterbacks watched tape together. And they did it -- I mean, they put all of their eggs in one basket and they weren't wearing masks. They weren't social distancing.

Presumably, they were indoors. And they were sidelined by someone testing positive.

What -- what does that do to how the teams are -- they, you know, they say they're taking precautions, but then you see something like this.

JONES: Yes, it's up to all the individual teams. And this is sort of what happens if you don't follow the protocols.

The league has said this hasn't been a failure of protocols. This has been a failure of compliance.

I would tend to agree with the -- listen, everyone should operate under the assumption and belief of the NFL -- the NFL is always watching.

The first time you let your mask slip, that will be the time they catch you.

The league summoned surveillance footage from the Broncos' team facility to see those guys. One quarterback tested positive. The others tested negative. But they were saw on the film, they weren't wearing masks,

So they decided that the other quarterbacks who tested negative were high-risk close contacts that they could potentially test positive.

The league has seen that any number of times already this season where somebody tested positive and those close to them were negative up until the moment they tested positive and then potentially got others infected with the virus.

And so the NFL -- I go back to the San Francisco 49ers from a few weeks ago. They had to go out there and play with a bunch of practice squad wide receivers because COVID-19 hit that position group pretty hard.

Well, that happened to the Denver Broncos. It just so happened to occur at the most important position in all of sports.

So that was what happened with the league -- excuse me -- with the Broncos. And that's the consequences that they were dealt.

KEILAR: Yes, what protects health, protects the game is what we're seeing. We'll see if that kind of gets through after all of this.

Jonathan Jones, thank you so much.

There are millions of people who are reacting to a heartbreaking photo. It is of a frontline physician comforting an elderly patient with coronavirus.

And it's a picture that was taken on Thanksgiving Day inside a Houston hospital. You see a doctor taking a moment to hug his patient as they cry.

The doctor had worked for 256 days straight. That's more than eight months without a day off.

And he told our John Berman about how this precious moment unfolded.

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DR. JOSEPH VARON, CHIEF OF STAFF, UNITED MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER: As I'm going inside my COVID unit, I see that this elderly patient is out of his bed and trying to get out of the room and he's crying.

[14:55:00]

So I get close to him and I tell him, why are you crying? And the man says, I want to be with my wife.

So I just grabbed him, I hold him. I did not know that I was being photographed at the time.

And, you know, he was just crying. And eventually, he got -- he felt better and he stopped crying.

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KEILAR: Now, Dr. Varon said his medical unit always has someone from the media on site following team members in their effort to be transparent and to show people what is going on.

We have more on our breaking news. Arizona certifying Joe Biden's win. The state's announcement came during a meeting in the state that featured Rudy Giuliani making baseless fraud claims.

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