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Trump Called Georgia's GOP Governor To Pressure Him To Get State's Election Results Overturned; Southern California Region Could Face Stay-at-Home Order if ICU Capacity Stays Below 15 Percent in the Region; Sources Say White House Has Held Multiple Pardon Meetings Since Election; Democrat Officials Ignore Their Own Advice on COVID Safety Measures; How Airlines Are Preparing to Transport the Coronavirus Vaccine. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 05, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for being with me.

We begin with breaking news. A phone call between the president and Georgia's Republican governor, we have just learned that just hours before the president is set to arrive there in Georgia to rally his supporters for two critical Senate runoff elections, he had something entirely different on his mind when he spoke to Governor Brian Kemp. The president was thinking of his own election loss, the one he just can't seem to get over.

CNN has learned the president called Governor Kemp and put pressure on him to get the election results in that state, showing Joe Biden won thrown out.

Let's get right to CNN's Ryan Nobles in Valdosta, Georgia, the site of Trump's rally tonight. Ryan, what happened?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has to be a worst case scenario for Republicans, Ana, that were already nervous about this rally here tonight in Georgia. Republicans in Georgia are hoping the president focuses all on these runoff elections between David Perdue and Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler.

They want him to amplify the case for the Republican candidates here in terms of keeping the Senate majority in Republican hands and not talk about overturning the results of the election, the presidential election, that has already been settled. In fact, three recounts have confirmed that Joe Biden was the winner here in Georgia.

But we've learned that this morning, that President Trump in a phone call with Brian Kemp, the governor here, who is a Republican and a Trump supporter and someone that Trump has been openly battling with, that Trump was putting pressure on Kemp to convince members of the legislature to take steps to give the election victory in Georgia to President Trump. And both the president and the governor acknowledge that the phone call took place this morning.

This is what President Trump said in a tweet earlier. He said, I will easily and quickly win Georgia if Governor Brian Kemp or the secretary of state permit a simple signature verification. It's not been done and it will show large scale discrepancies. Why are these two Republicans, he wrote in quote, saying, no, if we win Georgia, everything else falls into place.

And Governor Kemp responded to the president's tweet by saying, as I told the president this morning, I publicly called for a signature audit three times to restore confidence in our election process and to ensure that only legal votes are counted in Georgia.

Now, the issue with the president's call here is problematic on a number of levels. First of all, the governor has no ability to call for this signature audit here in Georgia. That is the express responsibility of the secretary of state, who is also a Republican, and who has stated emphatically, the secretary of state has said, that there was a vigorous audit of the signature matches on the absentee ballots during the initial counting process. That's something that has already been done in this state. And, in fact, it's been done as carefully and as cautiously as it's ever been done in Georgia.

So there's little chance that if this audit were to take place, it would have any kind of tangible effect on the results or that it's even possible to take place because it would be very difficult to match those signatures to the ballots that have already been cast and counted.

And then furthermore, Ana, when we talk about the stakes here in Georgia, the big issue here is not whether or not President Trump is going to win a second term in office. That has essentially already been settled.

But there is an issue before Georgia voters right now and that's whether or not they're going to send back to the United States Senate their two Republican senators and Republicans in Georgia that I've talked to this week are very nervous that there are many Republicans that are very strong Trump supporters in this state that are worried that these Republican candidates aren't doing enough to talk about President Trump as opposed to that you are own interests, the interests of Georgia voters and Republicans here, and that could have an impact on the results, either people will boycott the election or they just won't be that enthusiastic to turn out.

Now, Ana, this probably isn't all Republicans. It's not the majority but everyone here expects this runoff election to be very close, as close as the presidential election and losing any significant portion of voters at all, even if it's only a couple thousand, ten thousand voters could prove to be a real problem for Republicans.

So that's the stakes here tonight for President Trump. Republicans are hopeful that he's going to come here and passionately tell his supporters to vote for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. But question is, Ana, as we've already seen take place earlier today, is he going to make it more about himself or more about this runoff election? Ana? CABRERA: And I have to ask, given your reporting off the top, about this phone call between the president and the governor, is the governor going to be at this rally tonight?

NOBLES: Great question, Ana. This is something that we've been asking the governor's office all week. They -- even as late as an hour or so ago, I was in communication with his office and they said they don't have a firm answer.

Now, we should say, in defense of Governor Kemp, there was a close friend of his family that was tragically killed this week in a car accident.

[15:05:00]

That happened on Friday. That's rocked his family and forced him to not be able to participate in the rally and the event with Vice President Pence yesterday that he was originally scheduled to take part in. So if he's not here, we may not be able to read fully into that. But as of right now, we don't know whether or not Governor Kemp will be here in Valdosta tonight.

CABRERA: Okay. And that rally just a few hours. We will be speaking with an election official there in Georgia later in our program. Thank you, Ryan Nobles. We'll check back.

And joining us now is the Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press, Julie Pace, and National Political Reporter for The New York Times, Lisa Lerer.

Julie, they have literally counted the votes there in Georgia three times, including a hand recount, and every time, it showed Trump lost. So, how brazen is this attempt now by the president?

JULIE PACE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Oh, it's quite brazen. I mean, there is one set of facts in Georgia and across the country on this election, and that is that Joe Biden won. As you've mentioned in Georgia, they have counted this vote three times and the results are still the same.

There is no evidence of any kind of widespread fraud there. This is an election in Georgia that Joe Biden won and President Trump keeps pushing and pushing, pushing for a different outcome. But that is impossible because the votes are not there for him.

CABRERA: Lisa, there have to be Republicans on edge right now with all this tension. Even before this latest news, CNN had learned that the president had called Governor Kemp a moron and a nut job. So, what do you think we're going to hear from him tonight at this rally?

LISA LERER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, that's the big question. And that's exactly what Republicans are nervous about. And what they would like the president to say is that Republicans need to unify and come out and send Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue to the Senate and let Republicans control the Senate majority. That is what's at stake here. It's control of the Senate. The stakes really couldn't be higher.

What they're worried he's going to do is come out and spend the bulk of his time complaining about the results, which, as Julie pointed out, are not going to change and that will have the effect of depressing voters on two counts.

First of all, it could prompt some conservatives, perhaps a fringe group of the party but a fringe group that could be important in a tight race, to say that they're not going to come out and vote at all because the whole election is rigged anyhow, so why bother? There's been a bit of an effort to get conservatives to boycott the runoff election or even suggesting that they write in Trump's name, which is impossible, since the ballot doesn't even provide for that option.

But Republicans are also worried about the effect of the president's rhetoric on suburban voters. They believe that they could have a strong argument to make to bring some of those suburban voters back to the Republican Party by arguing that divided government will provide a check on the Biden administration.

They think that that could be a compelling political argument for some of the suburban voters that went to Joe Biden, gave the state to the Democrats in the presidential race. It becomes harder for them to make that argument when the president is out there disparaging a Republican governor and Republican election officials.

CABRERA: And trying to say that there isn't going to be a Joe Biden presidency, so then there's that lost argument in pushing back on a Joe Biden administration.

Julie, there are concerns not only about voter turnout for this upcoming election, these runoff elections, but also about people's safety. Because we mentioned how the president has openly attacked Georgia's governor, he's also called the secretary of state an enemy of the people, again, a Republican secretary of state there in Georgia. And now, there are top election officials who are getting death threats. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABRIEL STERLING (R), GEORGIE VOTING SYSTEMS MANAGER: A 20 something tech at Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out and saying, they should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from EMS to a county computer so he could read it. It has to stop.

This is the backbone of democracy and all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That official, who I will talk to in the 5:00 Eastern hour, is Gabriel Sterling. He has police protection because of the threats he's received. And you know what the president has said about all of this? Nothing.

So what will we hear from him tonight, Julie?

PACE: Well, I think one of the concerns from, again, Republicans, as much as Democrats in Georgia and elsewhere, is that the president will continue to use this heated and inaccurate rhetoric to try to embolden his supporters and that some of those supporters could take this even further, not just in political terms but there is quite a large amount of concern about safety. And we see this in Georgia as well as elsewhere in the country.

We talked to an employee of Dominion, this voting system that has come under scrutiny, inaccurate scrutiny from the president and some his allies, who talk to us in hiding because they were so worried about the threats they were getting.

So, again, this is a political discussion that we're having but this is much broader than that, really. This is about safety, security and this country's ability to move forward and have a peaceful transition of power right now.

CABRERA: It's about the U.S. democracy for a lot of people, I think.

Lisa, the ad spending for these Georgia runoff races is bonkers. At the very least, people are engaged in this electoral process. The ad spending has topped $320 million. That is since the November election for these two runoff elections.

Just yesterday, you had former President Obama also holding a virtual rally for the Democrats, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. And I just want to play a clip of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The special election in Georgia is going to determine, ultimately, the course of the Biden presidency.

I'm hoping that everybody understands the urgency of this upcoming election. Anybody who's listening right now, you need to understand, this is not just about Georgia. This is about America and this is about the world. And it's in your power to, in fact, have an impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, Lisa, even with Biden winning Georgia, the Republican Senate candidates actually got thousands of more votes than the Democratic candidates in November. They didn't top the 50 percent threshold, hence the runoff. So what is it going to take for Democrats to pull this off?

LERER: That's part of the reason that Republicans do feel good about this race and why they feel that the president could really muck it up for them, particularly for a race that they believe that they should be able to win.

Historically, Republicans have done really well in runoff elections. Democrats tend to not turn out in the same numbers. It's unclear if that will be the case this time around. First of all, Democrats have become really well-organized in Georgia, as we saw in the presidential race.

So they have a bit of a machine that they can turn to there to get their voters out and voting on Election Day and for absentee beforehand. And also what we've seen over the past four years is that nothing energizes Democrats quite like President Trump.

So I think what a lot of Republicans worry about is the more the president is out there attacking the governor, questioning the results, dabbling in these conspiracy theories, that, as Julie points out, are not going to change the results of the 2020 presidential race in Georgia, the more Democrats will feel motivated to come out and cast their ballots to send a message.

CABRERA: All right. Lisa Lerer, Julie Pace, ladies, great to have you both here. Thank you so much.

It's a runoff election that could decide who controls the Senate. Senator Kelly Loeffler and Reverend Rafael Warnock debate each other, live here on CNN. It's debate night in Georgia, tomorrow night at 7:00 Eastern, again, here on CNN.

We have more breaking news this time on the coronavirus. And the death toll here in the United States has already topped 280,000. We will go live to California, where more than 23 million people are on the verge of a stay-at-home order because the situation there in hospitals has gotten so bad.

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CABRERA: Right now, 23 million people in Southern California are on the verge of facing a new stay-at-home order because ICU capacity in that region has now dipped below 15 percent. And it's just the latest and what has been a series of devastating headlines this week as the coronavirus shatters record after record. And it's not just California feeling the strain right now. Nationwide, more than 100,000 Americans are hospitalized.

This virus that none of us had even heard of about a year ago is now the leading cause of death here in the United States. Add to that a grim warning from state health departments around the country that the first shipments of the vaccine will fall short, far short. There just won't be enough to vaccinate everyone, and even that top priority group. So that means some tough decisions maybe just ahead.

Already, more than half of Americans know someone personally who has either been hospitalized or died from COVID-19, 54 percent to be exact, according to the latest survey from Pew Research. And it is perhaps that number more than any other that should unite us in beating this virus.

I want to go coast to coast. CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro was in New York and CNN's Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles. I want to start there with you, Paul.

You just got the latest numbers from the state and you say they are terrifying?

Paul, we're having issues with your audio. We'll work on that. Let's go to Evan in the meantime, because here in New York, numbers are also ticking up. And yet mayor is talking about opening public schools again, getting kids back into the classrooms again. What can you tell us, Evan?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana. The science in New York is guiding the public officials here. And as you can see, there are two graphics I want to show you. The first one is about hospitalizations and medical stuff going on here with this virus. You can see those numbers are going in the wrong direction.

The governor -- the mayor of New York tweeting out this morning that the seven-day rolling average in this city is back up to 5 percent infection rate, which is a very bad number and going in the wrong direction. That was a number that kept the schools closed.

But, again, with the science, they've now changed that perspective when it comes to schools. And so starting on Monday, a lot of students in New York City are going to get a chance to go back to five-day school.

Let's take a look at how that works. pre-K, K through 5 and those ages are going to go back on Monday for five-day a week school. Then on Thursday, students with disabilities will also go back to five-day a week school. They have not yet scheduled classes for middle school and high school students, mostly because science has shown that it's safer for the younger kids, they don't transmit the virus as much and also, the mayor says that those students need the education more.

But we're launching a new experiment here in New York, which is trying to keep the virus under control while also keeping kids in school, which officials say the science does allow.

[15:20:04]

So, we'll see how that goes, Ana.

CABRERA: And I have to say, in my school district where my son is in public schools where we live, we had to go into a testing out of remote learning situation because our community was in a yellow zone, a hot spot and the findings were really interesting. Our community was above five percent.

And yet, 400-plus people who were tested, only six positive tests came from that group, which proved in our community that the virus transmission wasn't really happening among the school students. And so now hybrid learning is back in action. It will be interesting to see how this goes in New York. Thank you, Evan.

Let me turn back to Paul now who, again, is in Los Angeles. Paul, we reported that there is a tremendous number of people in Southern California on the verge of a new stay at home order. What is the latest? PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is, it looks like for certain, that stay-at-home order is going to go into effect at 11:59 tomorrow night, Sunday night, for both Southern California and the San Joaquin regions, that's because both of them expected to not meet that 15 percent capacity of intensive care bed threshold.

And here is why. The latest numbers have just come and they are horrifying in California. We have 25,000 new cases of coronavirus this day. We've got 10,000 new hospitalizations, 209 new deaths.

And those hospitalizations include right here at UCLA Medical Center, they are gearing up for a huge fight here at UCLA because, one, they know a tsunami of patients is probably coming in, they're getting ready to put nurses and doctors on overtime shifts, and, two, this is where they have the capacity to store 1 million virus vaccines. We spoke to a doctor here at UCLA who is getting ready in this fight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT CHERRY, CHIEF MEDICAL AND QUALITY OFFICER, UCLA HEALTH: I think we're well-prepared to actually be able to start implementing this vaccine. Hopefully, there will be approval for emergency use authorization on December 10th for the Pfizer vaccine and December 17th for the Moderna vaccine. We would anticipate that right the day after it's approved, we can hopefully start at administering those vaccines.

We're quite prepared and capable of doing that and we have ample cold storage to be able to implement that for our health care workers, those that are in our skilled nursing facilities and, eventually, the general public as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And, again, about that cold storage, seven freezers that can hold one million vaccines. Back to you now, Ana.

CABRERA: Okay, we'll keep on top of it. Paul Vercammen, thank you, Evan, thanks again.

With us now, Dr. Celine Gander, a member of the Biden-Harris COVID advisory board and, and Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a CNN Medical Analyst and a Professor of Medicine at George Washington University.

Dr. Gounder, we have some additional new reporting that state health departments and governor's offices are now being told by the CDC how many doses of this vaccine that they will initially. And a CNN analysis of the state breakdowns for at least 45 states right now shows all of them will fall short of what they would need to fully vaccinate just the group of people the CDC recommended as the top priority to receive the vaccine, the health care workers and long-term care residents.

And I just want to give one example. In California, 2.4 million health care workers, that would be part of this group, they're only expecting to receive 327,000 doses of the vaccine from Pfizer to start with. So, that gives you some perspective. Are we being too optimistic about the timeline and the supply of this vaccine rollout?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, MEMBER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION COVID ADVISORY BOARD: Well, I think we need to be realistic about what the impact of the vaccine is going to be, at least in the next couple of months. I think it is going to be a while before we have manufactured enough doses for everyone who wants to be vaccinated before we have vaccinated our priority groups, so health care workers, nursing homes, staffing, residents and others, including essential workers and before we're able to provide vaccination to the general population.

So in the meantime, we really do need to double down on the things that we know work, the mask-wearing, the social distancing, trying to be outdoors if you're around other people instead of indoors, all of the things we've been talking about for months.

CABRERA: Dr. Reiner, a vaccine, of course, is only as effective as the number of people who get it. And right now, officials can't even get people to wear masks. President-elect Biden told our colleague, Jake Tapper, that he would get the vaccine publicly to show Americans that he has confidence in it.

We've heard from former Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton, they're all saying they would do the same. How powerful would that be, because fame has made a difference when Elvis Presley got his polio vaccine on T.V.? What do you think?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it would be a great start, Ana. I think we're already behind the curve a little bit in terms of educating the public.

[15:25:01]

There's a great deal of vaccine skepticism in the United States. In an average year, only about 48 percent of adults take the influenza vaccine and we barely get 160 million doses of that. So in order to achieve what we think is herd immunity, we need about 70 percent of the population to take this vaccine. So that's about 230 million people. And the first two vaccines that will come are two-shot vaccines. So if those are the vaccines we give, we're going to need to administer that to about 500 million times.

We need to educate the people that this is safe. I love the idea that the presidents are going to do it. I spoke to Sanjay Gupta this week. I think he's ready to roll up his sleeve on camera, as I am, and may docs that I know. But we need to get down to the community level and really get down to the communities, particularly the communities that have been hit hardest by this virus and educate them about the safety of the vaccine, and now is the time to do it.

CABRERA: And we know there's a lot of vaccine skepticism. We have a piece coming up later in the show with the African-American population, the Latino population, and, of course, those are communities that have been hit hard. And there's more skepticism within on those communities.

Dr. Gounder, we talk about herd immunity. When would you expect that enough people will have been vaccinated under a Biden administration to reach herd immunity?

GOUNDER: Well, our current estimates are that it would take about 70 percent of the population being vaccinated. But I think going back to that question of vaccine hesitancy, if you have half or more of the population that is skeptical, that is hesitant to be vaccinated, that's going to prevent us from ever getting to herd immunity. So I think this question of how do you help people understand that these vaccines are safe and effective is really going to be central to this.

And it's also part of the reason it's so important for this FDA approval to follow the normal standard procedures, processes, so that people don't feel like corners are being cut, so that people feel comfortable that these vaccines have been vetted just like they normally would be.

CABRERA: Dr. Reiner, this week, COVID-19 has become the leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming nearly 12,000 lives in one week. Just to put that into perspective for our viewers, more lives were lost to COVID-19 this week than heart disease, cancer, strokes, among others. You're a cardiologist. I saw your tweet that you worked toward moving heart disease out of the top spot. What was your reaction when you saw it happen?

REINER: It broke my heart. Every year in the United States, about 650,000 people die of heart disease. So, on a daily basis, that's about 1,800 people, which is much better than it was 25 years ago when I started a practice. But now, we're seeing 2,500 people die per day of COVID-19.

Now, I think in this country, sometimes we get the hard things right and get the easy things wrong. So in this pandemic, we were able to construct a vaccine, a blueprint for a vaccine five days after the Chinese posted its genetic code, a spectacular achievement. And to get a vaccine just out to the public in ten months, something really hard we did. But what should have been really easy, getting the population to mask up, to protect one another, we have failed.

So I'm hoping going forward maybe we can come together and get the easy but crucial thing right and protect each other until we get the vaccine rolled out broadly over the next three to four or five months.

CABRERA: And I just want our viewers to know the CDC latest projections are looking like things are going to get worse, not better in the next few weeks. But they're projecting the week of Christmas, we could be seeing 20,000 Americans die that week of coronavirus.

Dr. Celine Gounder, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, always great to have you here. Thank you for all your hard work and all the information you provide us.

REINER: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Coming up, 'tis the season for a presidential pardon. With just 47 days left in office, who President Trump could be looking at?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:33:30]

CABRERA: CNN has learned the White House has been holding multiple meetings on a flurry of pardons expected before President Trump leaves office.

Now, some names floated for preemptive pardons include family members. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, both of whom worked with the president on his campaigns and are in the White House.

The president's sons Don Jr. and Eric, who ran his business and his now-defunct charity, in addition to campaign work.

And Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani who famously sought dirt on Joe Biden from foreign governments.

Joining us now is assistant special prosecutor during Watergate, Nick Ackerman. He's also a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Nick, it's so great to have you here.

What do you think is going on behind the closed doors right now at the Southern District of New York as these possible pardons are being discussed?

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SPECIAL WATERGATE PROSECUTOR & FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: I don't think anything is being done any differently. The Southern District is a very serious prosecutor's office. I'm sure they're continuing their investigations.

If they're looking at anybody connected with Donald Trump, that's moving ahead.

We know that the Department of Justice, William Barr, the attorney general, basically tried to undermine that investigation by firing the U.S. Attorney Berman.

But fortunately, Mr. Berman was able to get the better of Mr. Barr and arranged for his deputy, Audrey Strauss, to take over that office.

I don't think they'll act any differently with all of this talk, other than what they've been doing up to this point.

[15:35:04]

CABRERA: We do know there are a number of ongoing investigations at the state level looking into the Trump Organization.

Can the president pardon someone if he himself is a possible co- conspirator in whatever the alleged crime is?

AKERMAN: Two questions in there. First of all, anything that the state does, any kind of indictment brought by the state against Donald Trump, his children, anybody else, he has no authority to pardon anybody on a state crime. His pardon power is limited strictly to federal crimes. So on the

state side, no, there's nothing he can do about that.

On the federal side -- I think what you're asking is, can he pardon himself? I don't think he can, under the Constitution.

The Constitution provides that the president must take care to execute the laws faithfully. It certainly wouldn't be executing the laws faithfully to pardon yourself. That would be a direct conflict of interest.

And moreover, the word "pardon" in the Constitution really appears there as we know as a transitive verb, the object of which is a third party.

So it doesn't imply even that somebody can pardon themselves. It means pardoning a third party.

So based on kind of the simple construction of the Constitution and the underlying purpose that he can't do something that doesn't comport with carrying out faithfully the laws of the United States, I don't believe the president can pardon himself.

CABRERA: Can he issue just a blanket pardon for his family members that would cover everything up until such and such date?

AKERMAN: Well, he can. It can't go beyond the date of the pardon, but it can go behind it.

I mean, we saw that happen when President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. Basically, the pardon -- the language in the pardon was extremely broad. It covered any kind of activity, essentially, that occurred after the time Nixon took office in 1969 up until he left on August 15th, 1974.

So it ca be fairly broad. It just can't be prospective. It can cover what has occurred before.

But keep in mind, one of the major areas where the Trump family is really open to possible prosecution has to do with their taxes.

And one of the major investigations that's been going on has been with the Manhattan D.A.'s office.

And there's no way that Trump can do anything to stop that. He has zero power to grant a pardon that would any way nullify that.

Now, keep in mind also, with the federal pardon, the only way that issue is ever going to come up is if any member of the family gets indicted, Donald Trump gets indicted for federal crimes.

It then is raised as a defense to that criminal activity in the course of that trial.

CABRERA: OK, all of that so interesting.

I really appreciate your expertise. Thank you so much for joining us. Nick Akerman, good to have you here.

AKERMAN: Thank you.

CABRERA: You heard the phrase, "Do as I say, not as I do." Several prominent officials giving COVID advice but not applying it to themselves. That's next, live, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[15:42:34]

CABRERA: Despite the awful coronavirus numbers and the repeated warnings from medical experts, some high-ranking officials are ignoring their own advice for keeping safe.

CNN's Brian Todd is keeping track of who's been caught.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, and in a video posted on Facebook, Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin, Texas, begged residents to take precautions.

MAYOR STEVE ADLER (D), AUSTIN: We need to, you know, stay home, if you can. Do everything we can to try to keep the numbers down. This is not the time to -- to relax.

TODD: But Adler posted that video while he was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, a trip that, according to the "American Statesman" newspaper, Adler took with seven other people on a private jet following his daughter's wedding.

Now Adler says, while he followed safety guidelines, he regrets that trip.

ADLER: Now, I fear that the travel that I did, which took place during a safer period, followed the color-coded rules, could lead to some taking riskier behavior now.

TODD: But Adler is not alone. Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom, among the local leaders who have recently urged state residents to be extra vigilant, stay at home, make sacrifices, went to an upscale restaurant in Napa Valley called the French Laundry.

Photos obtained by KTTV showed Newsom sitting with several others at an outdoor table. None of them wearing masks.

Newsom calls it a mistake.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): The spirit of what I'm preaching all the time was contradicted, and I've got to own that. And so I want to apologize to you, because I need to preach and practice, not just preach.

TODD: The day after Newsom was there, San Francisco Mayor London Breed went to a birthday party at the same restaurant, with seven others at her table.

CNN affiliate, KGO, reported the statement from Breed's office said she didn't violate COVID protocols for that location. But at the time, gatherings like that were discouraged by state guidelines.

ERIC DEZENHALL, CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXPERT: There are two things Americans hate, and that is hypocrisy and the sense of superiority. And so when you have leaders telling you one thing, but doing another, it -- there's a lot of outrage.

TODD: The pattern is almost dizzying. After voting to close outdoor dining recently, L.A. County supervisor, Sheila Kuehl, was seen eating at a restaurant just before the order took effect.

[15:45:00]

Kuehl's office says she felt bad for the struggling restaurant industry but won't dine out again until the county allows it.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo ignored state restrictions during Thanksgiving when he went to a family gathering with his elderly parents that included people from five different households.

Before that, Liccardo had tweeted, quote, "Cancel the big gatherings this year." Liccardo has since apologized.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: All we have left are local leaders. And so we really need our local, city, county leaders to step up and really provide an example. And when they don't do that, it just makes things all the more dangerous for most Americans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Our thanks to Brian Todd for that report.

Coming up, how cold is cold enough? We will tell you what it's going to take to keep the coronavirus vaccine fresh and ready to be administered. That report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:19]

CABRERA: We're back with a look at how airlines are preparing to ship doses of the coronavirus vaccine that have to be kept at way below freezing temperatures.

CNN's Pete Muntean takes us inside a key facility at Philadelphia International Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: This is American Airlines' cargo cold-storage facility in Philadelphia. Pharmaceuticals only.

And essentially, what it is, is one big refrigerator, 25,000 square feet. You can see the fans back there blowing cold air into here.

You know, it is about 50 degrees in here right now, according to this thermometer. Although, I have to say, it feels a lot colder.

The idea is to keep these specialized containers for vaccines that need to be super cold extra preserved.

The Moderna vaccine, negative 4 degrees Fahrenheit. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

They would probably sit on the shelves in here. But the idea is to not keep them here for very long.

This is only a pit stop, albeit, a very critical one, that airlines say in the quest of getting the vaccine from manufacturer to you to be administered.

I just want to show you one more way that airlines are helping keep the vaccine cold while it is in transit.

This is a portable battery-powered refrigerated shipping container. You can set the temperature on the side of the container here. It's 32.8 degrees right now.

If the temperature is off by only a quarter of a degree, alarms go off in this.

It is the infrastructure like this that airlines say makes them ready for a mission of a lifetime.

American Airlines says it has a plan in place that, as soon as the FDA approves the vaccine, it can begin shipping it within 24 hours.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Philadelphia International Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Fascinating report.

Thanks, Pete.

Now this year's "CNN Heroes" is focusing on the fight against the coronavirus as well as the battle for racial equity and social justice.

And we are making it easy for you to help by highlighting eight organizations doing important work to help on both fronts and to make the world a better place.

Anderson Cooper tells us more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): The Center for Disaster Philanthropy provides strategies to help donors increase the impact of their contributions during global crises like COVID-19. Chef Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen feed the needy in times

of crisis, using the power of food to heal and strengthen communities.

JOSE ANDRES, CHEF & FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHENS: We need to be part of the solution.

COOPER: Adopt a Classroom advances equity in education by giving teachers and schools access to the resources they need.

GLENN CLOSE, ACTRESS & CO-FOUNDER, BRING CHANGE TO MIND: I challenge every American family to no longer whisper about mental illness behind closed doors.

COOPER: Co-founded by Glenn Close, Bring Change to Mind is working to end the stigma surrounding mental illness and encouraging dialogue and raising awareness, understanding and empathy.

(LAUGHTER)

COOPER: The Make-A-Wish Foundation provides life-changing experiences for children battling critical illness, restoring in them --

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Thank you.

COOPER: -- a sense of childhood and bringing normalcy to their families.

(CHEERING)

COOPER: The Equal Justice Initiative fights to end mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States by challenging racial and economic inequity and protecting basic human rights in the prison system.

(SHOUTING)

COOPER: Water.org has helped change the lives of millions of people with access to safe water and sanitation in 17 countries around the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You did a good job.

COOPER: And finally, Issue Voter is increasing civic engagement beyond the voting booth --

(CHEERING)

COOPER: -- helping people share their views on new bills with their elected officials with just one click.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can create the world that we want to live in through representative democracy by making all of our voices heard on the issues.

COOPER: Want to learn more? Go to CNNheroes.com and click "donate" beneath any of this year's organizations to make a direct contribution to their GoFundMe charity campaign.

You'll receive an email confirming your donation, which is tax deductible in the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:54:41]

CABRERA: Don't forget to tune into the 14th annual CNN HEROES: AN ALL- STAR TRIBUTE. That's Sunday, December 13th.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

[16:00:00]

Our breaking news right now on CNN, President Trump getting personally involved in efforts to rewrite history to overturn his historic loss to Joe Biden in the state of Georgia.