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Biden Announces Health Team To Tackle Pandemic; U.S. Setting Records For New COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations; Source: Trump Campaign Legal Efforts May Be Coming To An End; All Eyes On Georgia Ahead Of January Senate Runoffs. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 07, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing your day with us the sobering Coronavirus reality checks today.

The numbers continue to break records and we have not yet hit the pandemic bottom. 175,663 new infections, that's the highest ever total for a Sunday. More than 196,000, that's the daily average by which the United States case count is growing right now 1,113 deaths, the deadliest Sunday since back in April.

The scope of the post-Thanksgiving spike will become clearer this week. And we already know it is pushing cases and hospitalizations to nightmare scenario levels. But this morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci warns Christmas poses a potentially bigger threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: There's a lot of community spread. It just compounds itself one after the other and the situation is that, as we enter now from the Thanksgiving holiday season into the Christmas holiday season, it's going to be challenging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Dr. Fauci also offering praise this morning for the new Biden Administration team that will take over this pandemic response six weeks from now.

The California Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, he is the pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Vivek Murthy is the president-elect's nominees for Surgeon General, and Infectious Disease Expert, Dr. Rochelle Walensky is the choice this year, the Centers for Disease Control.

Today a pair of reminders to President Trump that the election outcome is not in doubt, despite what he says and tweets. Georgia says it will recertify its vote. And a federal judge says Michigan voters have spoken and spoken clearly. Joe Biden won. This afternoon, President Trump will award a medal of freedom to an

American wrestling icon. Tomorrow, the president hosts a vaccine summit. He wants credit for one piece of the Trump Administration COVID response that is a clear success.

But President Trump remains MIA, in the daily pandemic leadership challenge. Wear a mask, stay home, words you will not hear from the president. But this morning, a plea from his Surgeon General, stick to the science, please. Just a little while longer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: My colleagues are dog tired. And we need you to hang on just a little bit longer because we've gotten vaccines coming, but we want as many people to be alive to get them as possible, and a lot of that's going to depend on your behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So let's go through some of the latest trends, and they're not positive if you look at the numbers. Number one, you look at the state by state trend map, in some ways this looks better. I will show you comparison to weeks ago but look at this, 30 states going in the wrong direction. 30 states. The orange and red means more Coronavirus infections now compared to a week ago.

14 states holding steady, some are deceptive, holding steady at very high levels and six states trending down, again that could be somewhat deceptive too, trending down from very high points. But this is where we look today. If you look at it one month ago, the map looks a lot worse, right, 41 states at that time one month ago trend up.

Again, somewhat deceptive here in that those states that are holding steady, many of them are holding steady at here where they trended up. That's what you see when you look at it this way from the new case trend. Remember how horrific we thought the summer surge was? Just look at this. Look at this.

Friday's record, 227,885. We are approaching 200,000 cases a day now or more every day. Over 1.37 million cases reported just in the last week. More than 1.37 million new infections just in the last week. If you look at the death trend it too, you see the blue line here, that's the seven day moving average.

Some of these red lines above 2500, approaching 3,000. 2,204, that's the seven day average right now Americans dying of the Coronavirus, above 2200 a day. Is that line continues to point almost straight up.

And it's handing up, because looks at this, again, the first wave back in the spring, we thought the summer surge was horrific; hospitalizations were about the same at 60,000. Now look at this. Another record yesterday. 101,487 Americans hospitalized because of the Coronavirus, and again, the trend lines keep going up and up and up. The European Union had the winter surge, the fall surge ahead of us.

You can see the European Union is starting to come down more masking, more restrictions and the like European countries getting more of a handle on this, the United States right now continuing to head up.

And one of the challenges now is the vaccine plans will start to kick in right. For most Americans, we are still months away from a vaccine, but for others front line workers, it could just be weeks. However CNN analyzed 27 states that have their vaccine data and plans available.

None of them believe they will get enough in the first shipment to vaccinate all of the first priorities. Health care, front line healthcare workers, people in nursing homes and the like, none of them do. So this will be a challenge, not only in the final days of the Trump Administration, but especially in the early days of the Biden Administration.

Do you have enough vaccines? Are you making sure you're getting them to the right places and the right people as quickly as possible? Dr. Anthony Fauci will be one of the holdovers he says, it is an enormous challenge.

[12:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FAUCI: This is an enormous challenge that we are all going to be facing throughout the country as we emerge into and from the winter months. So there's going to be a lot of activity both from the fundamental science standpoint, vaccines, therapies, understanding the disease better as well as the public health response. So I will be part of the team that the president-elect has put together to respond to this extraordinary challenge that we will be facing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: And we know more about that team today. Today we also know the Coronavirus pandemic will be its overwhelming early priority of this incoming Biden Administration health team. But the lineup also reflects the reality that Biden's first year will also include a Supreme Court decision that could reopen the Obamacare debate and it reflects the pressure the president-elect faces to deliver on promises of diversity.

Xavier Becerra will become the first Latino to run Health and Human Services. Becerra is not a public health expert. But he did support the Affordable Care Act, while in congress and then he fought for it in court is California's Attorney General.

Others in significant roles you see them there on the Biden team, include several prominent doctors and public health experts who have been sharply critical of the Trump Administration's pandemic response. Let's continue that conversation joining us, Lisa Lerer of "The New York Times."

And Lisa, it's always fascinating in a presidential transition to see, number one, who does the president-elect want in charge leading these various fights. And number two, how do you keep all your political promises when it comes to we assume Secretary Becerra, there will be a bruising confirmation battle there.

That was a surprise that he went to an attorney general, someone who thought he might bring to Washington for the Justice Department, ending up at HHS. What's the major calculation there?

LISA LERER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: For sure it was a surprise, John. His name was really being tossed around as someone who could be the next Attorney General of the United States, not leading HHS. And personally that was because he doesn't really have much deep expertise in public health that's the reason that some medical professionals object to this appointment.

He also hasn't really managed a big bureaucracy. He has been involved with coalition building in some of these lawsuits going after the Trump Administration with various other states, but HHS is a huge bureaucratic department. He hasn't done that.

Part of what impressed the Biden team and President-Elect Biden himself though was his fierce fight to protect the health care law and also his focus on using that law to expand health care access for people in the State of California.

I think there was also a desire to get more Latinos in prominent positions. Certainly there have been a number of people in that community who've been advocating for that. So I think that was the kind of political calculation that was happening inside Biden land with this appointment.

KING: And we are reminded today, look, the new president will want his team as quickly as possible, especially the health care team, because of the raging pandemic. But some of these confirmation battles will be bruising. This is from Mike Brown, Republican Senator of Indiana about Xavier Becerra.

I took on the health insurance companies to lower costs for my employees, and I have serious concerns about Xavier Becerra's ability to lead HHS, because he has accepted over 1 million in donations from the big health care industry and has 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood.

So you can see already conservatives lining up, number one, to religate some of the Obamacare fight. But number two, just to find reasons, because we're going to have maybe the Democrats if they win both seats in Georgia have a bare Senate majority, it's more likely the odds would tell you Republicans will have a narrow Senate majority, some of these confirmation battles will be bruising.

LERER: For sure and Xavier Becerra someone who really emerged as a resistance star in the Trump Administration. He was a very public face for a lot of these lawsuits, particularly on the ACA, on immigration law, going after the Trump Administration. And certainly that has not set well with a lot of Republicans in congress. You can predict right now even that they'll go after his lack of

expertise in viruses and public health that that would be a really clear line of attack for Republicans who wanted to rail this nomination.

I think working in Becerra's favor is the fact that, he is someone who spent a lot of time in congress, he understands how that body works and he has some of those relationships. So he's certainly no stranger to the dealings of congress and the strange turns that confirmation battles can take up there.

KING: Right. And you can see the right already lining up, deciding early on if you're going to pick fights, which fights you are going to pick that's one they seem very determined to pick right out of the box. One of the most fascinating things again Lisa about these transition is, so many, because you have a Biden Administration, Democrat coming in to replace a Republican, so many of these compass points are going to change and change dramatically.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who has been a CNN Contributor, she's been on our air many, many times during the pandemic. Listen here. Just incredibly from the beginning and especially of lay, just harshly critical of the Trump Administration pandemic response. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CHIEF OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: So really we need some pretty drastic measures, I would say today, so that we can start hoping to see some benefits a month from now and if we continue to double every week, we could easily be at 100,000 in the next week or two.

[12:10:00]

DR. WALENSKY: Given how critical this vaccine is going to be in our tool box of tackling this disease, I have real concerns about it becoming a political discussion and not a scientific one.

I want to be clear that herd immunity is a vaccination plan, it is not mass infection plan and so when I see footage like that, I worry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: it is striking, number one, how different they are than the people they'll replace. But also number two, how complimentary Dr. Fauci was this morning calling this a very impressive team, and talking about how much he looks forward to working with them. That might raise some eyebrows at the White House, but I guess he has few friends left there anyway.

LERER: For sure. But I think one of the challenges facing the incoming Biden Administration, that changing the course of the pandemic takes time and so, this idea that this team is going to get in there and change how Americans are feeling this virus in terms of illnesses and death rates and the economics overnight is just not realistic. So there is a sense of political and medical reality they'll have to confront.

KING: I think that's the political part, too, especially even if they can dart their eyes and cross their Ts better than the current team on the pandemic, the skepticism out there. Lisa Lerer, grateful for the reporting and the insights and let's continue that part of the conversation.

The Biden team will inherit the challenge of distributing vaccines, and answering outstanding questions about their impact. The unknowns include whether you could still be infectious after you get vaccinated?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FAUCI: It could be that even if you do have virus in your nasal pharynx, the immune system boost that you get from the vaccine might bring the level of virus in the nasal pharynx so low, that even though you may be infected, it might be much more difficult for you to transmit that infection to someone else. That's a possibility. We don't know the answer to it now, but we will find out the answer that's part of the follow-up of the vaccine trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Joining us now is, Dr. Paul Offit, he is a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee. They will meet to discuss Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday and then Moderna's vaccine next week. Dr. Offit, grateful to see you.

When will we know the answer to the question Dr. Fauci was just talking about there that, if you get a vaccine, can you still be infectious? How long does it take before you know the answer to that?

DR. PAUL OFFIT, MEMBER, FDA VACCINE ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Right. So the two trials that we're going to be looking at this week and the next week, the Pfizer and Moderna trials are not going to answer the question are you protected against infection. They are going to answer the question, are you protecting against disease?

So it's still possible you could be asymptomatically infected. But as Dr. Fauci puts out, you could still be asymptomatically infected, but shed so little virus that you're really not contagious. So that's really the question. I mean, do vaccines prevent contagiousness?

We're not going to know from these two trials there are now trials that are being planned for early next year that I think should answer that question. So I'd like to think we will know that answer in a couple months. That said you should assume that you're not protected against asymptomatic infection. So even if you've gotten the vaccine, you probably should still wear a mask and physically distance.

KING: That's important advice. And look, you have a critical role now as first Pfizer and then Moderna come before the committee and make their case that they are ready for Emergency Use Authorization. I want you to listen here; this is the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar. He says so far, so good. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX AZAR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I have not heard of any red flags, but I'll have to leave that to the career scientists at FDA who are digging through all of the data in terms of timing, assuming everything is on track and the advisory committee goes well, we could see authorization of the Pfizer vaccine within days after the advisory committee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Do you think he is right, within days of the committee meeting or do you have outstanding questions where you're not quite ready to go that far?

DR. OFFIT: Well, so we've gotten our packet. We've reviewed the packet. We will sit down on Thursday in a nine hour meeting, and go through all the questions we have about safety and efficacy.

But certainly if that vaccine meets approval for safety and efficacy on the 10th, it's certainly possible the vaccine could roll out by the 15th, and then the following week when we look at on the 17th, it could certainly - Moderna's vaccine could roll out on the 22nd. So it's probably possible that by the end of the month we're going to be vaccinating people in this country, yes.

KING: You and I have had this conversation for months. So I know you will put safety and efficacy first but there is also the urgency of the moment. I want you to listen to the Surgeon General right here who is looking right now. He sees the hospitalization numbers way up, he sees the case count way up, and he knows that the people on the frontlines, the health care workers desperately could use a vaccine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ADAMS: This surge is different than earlier surges, because it's not about PPE, it's not about testing, and it's really about health care capacity. And certain places are just being overwhelmed. So we know that we can actually help them with their health care capacity by immunizing their health care staff.

We're going to leave it up to the states, but we're going to give them guidance. And some states are going to have to immunize their health care workers first, others are going to find, they get impact by vaccinating older people and people with vulnerable conditions first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:15:00]

KING: Your committee gets to say yes or no on emergency use authorization. You don't have any role right in who gets it. But what would your advice to be? Do you think it should go for nursing homes and health care workers first and foremost?

DR. OFFIT: Right. So that's what the CDC has said. They want people who either live or work in long term care facilities or essential health workers to get it first. Those two groups - about 24 million people. Right now, we have 40 million doses, which are 20 million people.

I want to make the point that was made earlier. When the vaccine starts to roll out, the virus isn't going to magically disappear. We're really proud that you're going to need to vaccinate about two- thirds of the American population to stop spread of this virus. 40 million doses are 20 million that's less than 10 percent of the American population. So we still really need to mask and social distance.

Just let me say this. When I walk into the room of someone who has COVID-19 in our hospital and you gave me three choices, I could either physically distance, or if I don't physical distance, then I can wear a mask or get a vaccine, my number one choice would be physical distance.

If I am six feet away, it's extremely unlikely that, that droplet is going to spread far enough to infect me. If I then have to stand close to the person, my choice would be a mask that's sort of three-ply mask, it makes it very hard for those small droplets to get in.

So again I'm unlikely to be infected. If I don't wear a mask and stand close and got a vaccine, what that means is that, the virus is going to enter my nose and throat likely, and then I am counting on my immune system to defeat that virus, remembering that no vaccine is 100 percent effective.

So I just can't emphasize strongly enough how important physical distance and masking is until we really get on top of this virus.

KING: Yah, man, I appreciate that advice, so you go forward. We're hopefully getting to a better place, but still a long way before we get to a good place. Dr. Offit, grateful for your time and grateful for the work you have to put in over the several days on these important questions.

Up next for us, Rudy Giuliani, the latest big player on team Trump to be sidelined by, yes, Coronavirus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:00]

KING: Three important and fresh reminders today that Joe Biden will become President in 44 days and that the facts simply do not support the reckless and wild fraud allegations we keep hearing from President Trump. Georgia is set to recertify its results again.

Today after a third count of ballots there, the Trump Campaign requested this latest review, and Georgia Secretary of State saying this morning "The results remain unchanged." Also in Georgia today, a federal judge just dismissing two motions this morning aimed at reversing the election results in the peach state. And finally, a federal court in Michigan throwing out the latest

lawsuit trying to overturn the election results there. The judge in Michigan riding the lawsuit was full of, "Nothing but speculation and conjecture." CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins us now live from the White House. Kaitlan let me twist a phrase. Are they getting tired of losing?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think so. I think there's a culmination of things that are happening internally right now. It's not just the string of court losses that they face, and really only one victory that they can count.

But between that, Rudy Giuliani being hospitalized and now of course of COVID-19 unclear, when he is going to be back and involved in the efforts, between that and all of these rapidly approaching judicial deadlines that are coming their way.

There is a sense developing internally within the president's legal team and what's left of campaign staff that these legal efforts to overturn or delay the results of the election are coming to an end. We have seen them go to court multiple times; time and time again, lose that.

They just lost today when a federal court overturned an effort, and threw it out. What they were trying to do there in Michigan saying that, what they have been arguing was basically full of speculation and conjecture as you noted, so they're not having any success in the courts.

The PR effort is really not working either because of course what they have been doing instead of going to actual court is having Rudy Giuliani go from state to state and hold these hearings as they're calling them with the state delegates. And he is actually supposed to do that again on Thursday, John, and appear in front of the Georgia house delegates.

But whether or not he can actually do that is unclear since he is hospitalized in Washington right now with Coronavirus. So what we're basically hearing from people is that, initially right after the election they're having a ton of calls, a lot of meetings about what their next steps were going to be. The president was heavily involved.

And that of course, more campaign staffers were. And now you're seeing fewer and fewer people involved, there are fewer calls happening, hardly any meetings actually happening in person any more to discuss what the next step is going to be.

So the sense that I am hearing and picking up from people is that, all of these efforts are coming to an end, and it could come to a halt completely pretty soon here, John.

KING: Kaitlan Collins, very important live reports in the White House. Kaitlan, thank you very much. Up next for us, a feisty senate runoff debate and a big deadline today in Georgia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Radical liberal Raphael Warnock, someone that has set to reimaging police.

REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE): I do not want to defund the police, and Kelly Loeffler knows it. But she keeps saying this, because she wants to distract from her own record.

LOEFFLER: The president has the right to pursue every legal recourse to make sure that this was a free and fair election in Georgia.

WARNOCK: Here we are several weeks after the election, and Kelly Loeffler continues to cast doubt on an American democratic election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That was last night in Georgia. Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Democratic Challenger, Raphael Warnock trading debate attacks. They raise one of two senate runoffs in Georgia. GOP Senator David Perdue is the other incumbent; he declined to participate in a debate last night with Democrat, Jon Ossoff.

Jon Ossoff thereby himself as you see, the runoff vote is January 5th. And the stakes here are enormous. Democrats need to in both seats to capture control of the Senate. If Republicans hold one or both, they will keep their Senate majority, and that will give the GOP more influence over Biden cabinet confirmations and the big policy fights coming in 2021.

Today is the deadline for Georgia residents to register to vote in that runoff election, the two runoff elections. And in this morning, Julian Castro, the Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration and one of the 2020 democratic presidential hopefuls, you see them there joining Ossoff for Latino voter registration event.

Julian Castro joins us now live from Georgia. I love the elbows there that are the world we live in. You got to say hello, say hello with your elbow above. Mr. Secretary, it's good to see you.