Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Experts Fear Post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 Surge; U.S. Holiday Travelers Urged to Get Tested for COVID-19; California Sees Record Hospitalizations Sunday; CDC Committee to Decide on Tuesday Who Gets Vaccine First; President-Elect Biden Names All-Female Communications Team; Trump Spouts False Claims in First Interview Since Election. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 30, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, the United States is smashing coronavirus records but there are warnings post-Thanksgiving, the worst is yet to come.

President-elect Joe Biden makes history with his staffing picks while Donald Trump goes on a new rant about the election he refuses to concede.

And morning mixes with rage in Iran and at the funeral for its top nuclear scientist.

Good to have you with us. Well, top health officials are calling on Americans to get tested for coronavirus after millions of people traveled over the Thanksgiving holiday despite warnings not to. It is a situation that's urgent and here is why. Right now more Americans are hospitalized with the virus than at any other point in the pandemic. The number is now at more than 93,000. That's according to the COVID Tracking Project, and data tracked by Johns Hopkins University show over 138,000 new cases and over 800 deaths reported on Sunday. Health experts are warning that cases will spike in the next two weeks just ahead of Christmas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: What we expect, unfortunately, as we go for the next couple of weeks into December, that we might see a surge super posed upon that surge that we're already in. And you know, and when I give that message, I don't want to frighten people except to say it is not too late at all for us to do something about this.

DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE COORDINATOR: We know people may have made mistakes over the Thanksgiving time period. So if you're young and you gathered, you need to be tested about five to ten days later, but you need to assume you're infected and not go near your grandparents and aunts and others without a mask. We're really asking families to even mask indoors if they chose to gather during Thanksgiving and others went across the country or even into the next state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Natasha Chen has more from the world's busiest airport on what's typically the busiest travel day of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: I talked to some people arriving home to Atlanta after traveling for the holidays and their experiences varied depending on which airports they came from around the county. Sunday was the busiest travel day of the entire Thanksgiving week at the Atlantic airport, that officials here estimated 190,000 people coming through on Sunday. That's still about a third of the travelers they saw at this time last year. I talked to someone who was traveling for the very first time since the pandemic began.

JULIE SAKAE, TRAVELER: I was a little nervous. Because it was my first time going out and out of the state, but Charleston was really, really like empty this morning, the airport, and Atlanta is always busy. So you know, it was just very different for us to just have this -- and them all, we're very crowded but the airport itself, everything is really nice and safe, and everybody is keeping their distances. I felt like it's safe.

CHEN (voice-over): People did describe how tough it was to make the decision with their family on whether to travel for the holiday. Those who did travel tell me that they do plan on getting tested after they get home. In one case, someone said they would self-quarantine for 14 days.

(on camera): The TSA said they screened more than a million passengers on at least three separate days during the Thanksgiving week starting from the Friday before the holiday. That's a sharp increase in passenger traffic because that record was only hit one other time since the pandemic began. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thanks for that report.

And Los Angeles is imposing new restrictions this week as coronavirus cases surge across California. The state reported more than 15,000 new cases and 32 deaths Sunday. And they're seeing record numbers of hospitalizations. Paul Vercammen looks at how officials are trying to fight back against the pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The numbers just alarming in California, now almost 7,500 people hospitalized here. The Los Angeles County numbers are terrible. 5,000 new cases while the deaths are lagging behind. That's a number that often goes behind those total cases.

[04:05:00]

We now see that there's more than 2,000 hospitalizations in Los Angeles County, alone.

And speaking of Los Angeles County, it is on the precipice of some very new serious restrictions. Basically a stay at home order that says you can only congregate with people in your household. They are forbidding people from gathering outside and indoors. This is going to last for three weeks.

Now if you can look behind me, I'm in Pasadena, California, an island in Los Angeles County. Its own city with its own health department. They are allowing for dining outside but only with very strict guidelines with the restaurants, the servers must wear a mask and a face shield. They have been actively enforcing this. Customers must stay 6 feet away from each other, not just the tables. They've close restaurants. A few of them here only we can reopen some. But the health director here says what concerns her it that as we go into the worst part of the winter, the pandemic, people are just getting the sort of COVID-19 fatigue.

DR. YING-YING GOH, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA: We know that this pandemic has dragged on for months. It's the holidays, people are feeling the desire to get together with friends and family, and yet here we are in the middle of a surge with COVID cases climbing and hospital hospitalizations climbing. We're in an alarming situation. So we're asking people to take steps they may not be inclined to do.

VERCAMMEN (on camera): And some excruciating choices for that health director. Dr. Goh had to cancel the Rose Parade which annually draws somewhere between a million and a million and a half people to Pasadena. But she said that would have been the ultimate in super spreader event with so many people shoulder to shoulder. Tough times here in the greater Los Angeles area.

Reporting from Pasadena, I'm Paul Vercammen, now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez joins me now. Thank you, doctor for being with us and for all that you do.

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRUS SPECIALIST: My pleasure. Thank you.

CHURCH: So, let's start with the positive news. Too safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are waiting approval poised to offer relief in the midst of this pandemic. And on Tuesday, the CDC will hold an emergency meeting to vote on who should get the vaccine first. So, who do you think should be lined up initially to take these vaccines once they're approved?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, I think, you know, it's almost like being on an airplane. If you're the adult, you need to put your mask on first. So, we need to provide that vaccine to people that are on the front lines. Physicians and emergency rooms, nurses, radiology technicians, people that are in grocery stores that we don't realize really our first line people, you know, in this country, policemen, firemen.

I think those people need to get it first, along with the people that are at highest risk, meaning people over a certain age, people that have secondary medical conditions that put them at risk. Once we inoculate, vaccinate those people, then I think we can go into the general population. But we need to prevent those people from getting sick first.

CHURCH: Right, absolutely, I understand that. And doctor when this vaccine is available to the public -- and of course, we don't really have a firm timeline on that -- how do you make sure the second dose is available and ready to go when people turned up three weeks or four weeks after the first dose? And how do you convince people that they can trust these vaccines, because the polls show that that is a little bit of a rocky area.

RODRIGUEZ: It is. Well, let me answer the first part of the question. I'm assuming that when they give someone a vaccine, that they have already safeguarded and have allotted their second dose. So, I don't think that would give anybody a first dose -- I would hope not -- without assuring that they are going to have that second dose ready, because otherwise it's for naught. It won't do any good. So, I am trusting that the first dose will come with a reserved second dose.

And how do you get people to trust vaccines? You know, that's a good one. And all we can do is continue to tell the truth here. When you hear how many people are dying per day in this country, how many millions of people have been affected throughout the world. Hopefully, that will be enough of an impetus for people to take it.

But what I really would like people to know is that there is very little chance, very little chance for us to go back to a normal way of living without a vaccination. And not just a vaccine, because a vaccine is no good unless it becomes a vaccination.

CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. And of course, the efficacy of these two COVID-19 vaccines, so much higher than the flu shot which has only been able to get about what, 45 percent of American --

RODRIGUEZ: Correct.

[04:10:00]

CHURCH: -- adults to take it. So hopefully that will change. But on average, one American life is lost every minute to COVID-19. But we just saw millions of Americans traveled for Thanksgiving and now Christmas is just around the corner. How concerned are you about the consequences of these super spreader holidays and the behavior of some people during this risky time?

RODRIGUEZ: I'm very concerned. I go, I oscillate between just being mad and really bitter about it and being terribly worried. I don't know why people just don't understand the facts, which are without a doubt -- if you go to the health.org web site, covid19.health, I think, .org, it will show you all the charts that have been right on the money.

If we don't right now, today, everybody start wearing masks, there will be approximately 3 to 4,000 people dying in this country every day. Double what is occurring today, which is double what was occurring a month ago, which was double was occurring the month before that. And it is just increasing.

So, you know, we can't grab everybody and shake them to realize this. And appealing to people's humanity doesn't seem to be working either, so I'm at a loss. I'm at a loss. I just hope that people realize that this is not a joke, you know. This is not a drill and it just keep getting worse.

CHURCH: Yes, I am at an absolute loss as well. I just cannot get my head around it. Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, thank you so much --

RODRIGUEZ: Thank you.

CHURCH: -- and again thank you for everything you do.

RODRIGUEZ: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, the U.S. President-elect could soon be wearing a walking boot after suffering hairline fractures to his foot while playing with his dog. We will have the details ahead.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will receive his first presidential briefing later today as his cabinet and inner circle come further into focus. His economic team is set to be the latest announcement in the hours ahead. This will come one day after he unveiled an all-female senior White House communications team. That includes Jen Psaki, the former Obama White House communications director is now set to serve as press secretary in the Biden administration.

And over the weekend, Biden visited a doctor who found the President- elect has hairline infrastructures in his foot after a slip and will likely require a walking boot. CNN's MJ Lee has the details on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: President-elect Joe Biden paying a visit to the doctor's office on Sunday. The transition office announcing on Sunday that on Saturday he had an incident where he was playing with is dog Major, flipped with his ankle so he visited an orthopedic and the doctors read out after that visit said that the X- ray showed that he had a sprain in his right foot.

The Biden transition team also making a slew of announcements on Sunday as well including some key women who will be serving in his White House communications team. Some names worth mentioning include Kate Bedingfield who is being named the White House communications director, Jen Psaki who will be standing behind the podium as press secretary.

We also have Symone Sanders who will be the chief spokesperson for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. And also, Karine Jean-Pierre who is being named the principal deputy press secretary.

Now looking ahead to what else to expect on Monday, the Biden transition team is expected to formally announce some key members of Biden's future economic team, including Janet Yellen who is expected to be named his treasury secretary. He would be the first -- she would be the first woman to serve in that role if she is confirmed.

Two other names worth mentioning, Neera Tanden who is currently the head of the Center for American Progress. She is going to be named Biden's head of the Office of Management and Budget. And we also have Cecilia Rouse who will be named a head of Council of Economic Advisers.

Of course, it's worth noting that this is a group of women who will have their work cut out for them, because they will be spearheading the economic recovery effort in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

MJ Lee, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And while President-elect Biden is pushing forward with his transition, it seems President Trump is still fixated on the outcome of the election. On Sunday he gave his first one on one interview since losing his bid for a second term. And Mr. Trump received virtually no push back from the Fox News host as he repeated his false claims of voter fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via phone): This is total fraud and how the FBI and Department of Justice, I don't know, maybe they're involved. But how people are allowed to get away from this stuff -- with this stuff is unbelievable. This election was rigged. This is the essence of our country. This is the whole ball game, and they cheated. Joe Biden did not get 80 million votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: He did get those votes. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more details now on that interview from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a stunning 45 minutes of lies, delusion, and disbelief from the President of the United States on Sunday as he phoned in to a Fox News program for something that really didn't resemble any interview but more of a conversation with the host of the show, Maria Bartiromo, even encouraging the president as he made these false claims and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

The President is continuing to make these baseless claims even in the face of the mounting evidence against his case. Thirty plus lawsuits brought forward by the president's campaign and their allies have been dismissed or withdrawn by those legal teams in state and federal courts in key battleground states across the country.

[04:20:00]

One of the latest blows to the president's attempts to claim voter fraud coming in a series of federal cases in the state of Pennsylvania with one particularly stronger view from a Trump-appointed judge, Stephanos Bibas.

He wrote this, 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 so that goes to push back against all of the claims of thrown out ballots that the President was making, election observers not being allowed in the room, all of that debunked by these legal cases.

The President also continued to make this conspiracy theory, shared this conspiracy theory about voting systems deleting or switching votes that were intended for him to president-elect Joe Biden.

That was somewhere that even Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican Party, she even wasn't willing to go that far this weekend as she campaigned in Georgia. Listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Machines are switching the votes, and we got there in crazy numbers, and they should have won, but then there's still --

RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIRWOMAN OF REPUBLICAN PARTY: Yeah, we have to -- we didn't see that in the audit, so we got to just -- that evidence I haven't seen, so we will wait and see on that.

DIAMOND (voice-over): And the president's efforts to call this election rigged also running into roadblocks as it relates to recounts and audits in key states like the audit in the state of Georgia that confirmed the results of that victory for Joe Biden, where the two recounts in two key counties in the state of Wisconsin, paid for by Donald Trump's campaign, $3 million recounts, that sends more votes, minimal number to Joe Biden, confirming the results of Joe Biden's victory over there.

Now, the President on Sunday did make clear this. Even as he said earlier this week that he would leave the White House on January 20th if the Electoral College does indeed confirm Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election, he also said that he is not going to abandon this notion that this election was rigged.

(on camera): As false and as baseless as it may be, the President is saying that even six months from now, he will still maintain that this election was stolen from him.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHURCH: Jessica Levinson joins me now. She is a professor at Loyola Law School and the host of the podcast "Passing Judgment." Good to have you with us.

JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Thanks for having me back.

CHURCH: So, in his first TV interview since his election loss, Donald Trump went on a rant Sunday morning on Fox News, completely unchallenged by the interview. He again falsely claimed the election was rigged, even going so far as to accuse his own Justice Department and the FBI of being involved. He has no evidence to prove any of this and yet so many Republicans believe him.

How dangerous are all these baseless claims and what impact could they potentially have on this democracy and Joe Biden's future leadership?

LEVINSON: Yes, so I mean, I think the short answer is not that dangerous right now, in the sense that our guardrails are holding in America, so the judiciary has held.

Donald Trump has won one fairly insignificant case. He's lost 39 cases, varying in degrees from not that big to really big. So the judiciary has stood as a guardrail. They have rejected President Trump's baseless claims.

Now, in terms of how much damage this will do, we have to see if Trump is an aberration or if he is a pattern. We have to see what happens to the Trump voters. How many of them will stay with him no matter what? We have to see what President Trump does when he is former President Trump. How much he tries to keep the spotlight?

CHURCH: Yes, we'll keep an eye on that, of course. And while Fox News failed to challenge the President, a Trump-appointed federal judge wasn't afraid to do so, saying in his response to Trump's Pennsylvania lawsuit.

Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. And he added that we have neither here. The campaign's claims have no merit.

So Jessica, Trump knows the courts reject his false claims outright, and he is now using Fox News to spread his conspiracy theories. Why would the Republican Party go along with this, especially given it could backfire in the two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5th, and it looks like that is happening right now?

LEVINSON: Absolutely, and I think that is why we see this division in Georgia with the secretary of state and the governor saying essentially, don't worry that much about the election. Actually, it was OK. And look at what President Trump's own administration said. This was the safest election that we have ever held. And we see this division between Republicans in Georgia who have to convince voters that they should come back and vote in the runoff and trust the system.

And then the Republicans will stay with President Trump no matter what.

[04:25:00]

And I think that second group is dwindling, and in part because of what you said in the question, which is a Trump-appointed judge had a tour de force opinion where he said in no uncertain terms, this is baseless. And he wrote an opinion where there's nothing to be appealed to the Supreme Court. There is no legal question or issue there.

CHURCH: Yes, it speaks volumes, doesn't it? And meantime, President- elect Joe Biden made and announced an all-female senior White House communications team. And he's set to announce his top economic team in the hours ahead. How significant is that in terms of his polar opposite administration in waiting?

LEVINSON: Well, I think that is exactly what it is. So, I think that President-elect Biden is really going to try to swing the pendulum back and say I'm going to right the ship. We are going back to the status quo but then also push it a little farther into a place where he wants it to be.

Where we look at senior communications staff and it is not news that they're all women, where we look at the vice president of the United States, and it's normal that there is a woman and a woman of color who is in a position of power. It's normal that you walk into any room where the levers of power of government are being pulled and you should see women there.

So I think that that will continue to be part of what he's doing. But notice he is picking people based on expertise and experience. He did this with his COVID relief team. He's doing this with the communications team, with the national security team. This is a list with resumes, you know, longer than you have paper to print on.

CHURCH: Jessica Levinson, many thanks for your analysis. We appreciate it.

LEVINSON: Thank you.

CHURCH: Iran has been holding a funeral for a top nuclear scientist. How Iran is likely to respond to his killing. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, South Australia.