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Trumps Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Tests Positive for COVID-19; U.S. Senate Candidates in Georgia Debate Ahead of Critical Vote; Biden Picks Becerra to Lead Health and Human Service; Millions in California Now Under New Restrictions; Parts of U.K. Prepare to Roll Out Vaccine This Week; German State of Bavaria Faces Major New Restrictions; Dire Situations in Gaza, 30 Percent Surge in Positive Tests. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 07, 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, after days of public events, President Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is now in the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. The latest on his condition.

This as sweeping new restrictions hit California. Most of the state's residents are now under stay-at-home orders as many hospitals rapidly approach capacity.

And the U.K. prepares to launch the country's biggest ever vaccination program to fight the coronavirus. A live report from London coming up.

Good to have you with us. Well, across the U.S., the coronavirus is raging as cases spike and hospitalizations reach record highs. On Sunday, the U.S. reported more than 175,000 new cases. That's according to Johns Hopkins University. And in just the first five days of this month, it reported more than 1 million cases. It took 100 days to reach that same milestone when the pandemic first began, and as cases rise, so do hospitalizations. That figure rose to a record more than 101,000 on Sunday. That's according to the COVID Tracking Project. All of this has so many anxiously awaiting the authorization of a vaccine. The U.S. health secretary says that could come very soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I'm very clear I'm going to defer to the FDA career scientists on this. I'm going to protect the independence and integrity of that decision making. I don't know of any reason why the system is in any way off track. If things are on track, the advisory committee goes well, I believe we could see FDA authorization within days, but it's going to go according to FDA's gold standard processes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: California is now battling a record number of new infections and hospitalizations. More than 30,000 new cases were reported on Sunday. Now, new restrictions are in effect for tens of millions of people in an attempt to curb the virus's spread.

Among those now hospitalized with COVID-19 is President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. The 76-year-old was admitted on Sunday after the President announced he had tested positive. In a tweet, Giuliani said this, I'm getting great care and feeling good, recovering quickly and keeping up with everything.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more on his condition.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the coronavirus has struck once again inside President Trump's inner circle. This time, the former New York City mayor and the president's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, testing positive for the virus. The President announced the news in a tweet on Sunday.

Now, he didn't provide many details about Giuliani's condition, but a source familiar with the matter told me a few hours after the President's tweet that Mayor Giuliani was indeed admitted to the hospital, admitted to Georgetown University Hospital here in Washington, D.C., a sign that clearly his condition was serious enough to at least warrant hospitalization.

Giuliani, of course, is 76 years old and in that higher risk category. But over the last week, what we have seen from Mayor Giuliani is him engaging in a kind of behavior that he certainly shouldn't engage in during this coronavirus pandemic, especially when you're in high risk category.

Giuliani was crisscrossing the country, vising three key states in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. You can see him here on Thursday. He was in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia state capital, shaking hands, hugging people, taking pictures with folks in very close quarters, all of this not wearing a mask.

This is the kind of reckless behavior again that not only puts Mayor Giuliani at risk but that puts other folks at risk. Now that he has tested positive, a lot of those people could potentially have been infected with the virus. So that is obviously a concern.

Now, Mayor Giuliani, we don't have any updates on his condition, but his son did take to Twitter on Sunday to say, quote, my dad Rudy Giuliani is resting, getting great care, and feeling well. Thank you to all the friends who have reached out concerned about his well- being.

And Giuliani is just the latest person in the president's inner circle to test positive for the virus. We have seen dozens of people close to the President testing positive.

[04:05:00]

And while you certainly can't contract this virus when you're trying to be as careful as possible, many of those around the President are folks who have disregarded those public health guidelines, rejecting the wearing of masks as an important preventative measure. And of course none other than the President himself has continued to disregard those public health guidelines and hasn't done anything amidst this deadly surge of the pandemic to encourage Americans to take those steps.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHURCH: Well, voters in the U.S. state of Georgia are holding some powerful political cards right now. In less than a month, two runoff elections will decide whether Republicans keep control of the U.S. Senate. And Sunday was debate night for Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and her Democratic opponent, Raphael Warnock. Ryan Nobles tells us how it went.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a very important contest in Atlanta on Sunday night. Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler, two of the candidates running in the runoff in Georgia in their first one-on- one debate of the election cycle. And it played out much of the way we expected it to.

Raphael Warnock attacking Loeffler for some convenient stock trades that took place shortly after she became a United States Senator and at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. While Loeffler consistently and often called Warnock a radical liberal over and over again throughout the course of this debate.

But it was Loeffler who found herself in a bit of an awkward position. That's when the moderators pressed her on whether or not she agreed with President Trump's unfounded claims about the way the election was conducted. She was asked directly whether or not she agrees with the President that it was rigged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, did you believe that the election was rigged?

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Look, Greg, it's very clear that there were issues in this election. There are 250 investigations open, including an investigation into one of my opponent's organizations, you know, for voter fraud. And we have to make sure that Georgians trust this process because of what's at stake in this election. You know, the promise that Chuck Schumer made was to fundamentally change America. And I making sure that we don't go down the road of socialism.

NOBLES: We still got that Loeffler is in a tight spot here. Trump supporters who are going to be an important part of the base of the Republican vote here, desperately want her to embrace the President's claims. But there are independent voters and certainly Democrats that might be turned off by all of that.

But of course, there are two runoffs here in Georgia but there was only one debate. That's because in the other contest between David Perdue and Jon Ossoff, the Republican David Perdue chose not to even show up. So as a result, the debate organizers, the Atlanta Press Club and the Georgia Public Broadcasting, instead just put an empty lector up on the stage, and Ossoff took questions for 30 minutes.

Ryan Nobles, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.S. Attorney General is considering quitting his post before President Trump leaves office. That is according to a source who says William Barr is unhappy with the how the President is handling things. There's been tension between the two after Barr said the Justice Department found no evidence of widespread election fraud. Two White House officials tell CNN that Mr. Trump has considered firing Barr but was advised against it.

Well, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate California's Attorney General to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed by the Senate, Xavier Becerra would serve a critical role in the response to the pandemic. CNN's Arlette Saenz reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: President-elect Joe Biden is rolling out members of his health team at the start of this week, and that is expected to include his choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Sources tell CNN that the president-elect is expected to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead HHS.

This will be a very important role as the Biden administration starts planning out their response to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, Becerra has served at the Attorney General of California, and led the legal efforts to try to protect the Affordable Care Act. He is also a Latino, and if confirmed would the second Latino appointed to Biden's cabinet so far. The fifth person of color appointed to the cabinet, and that is welcome news to people -- groups like the Congressional Hispanic Congress, which has been lobbying for more Latino representation within the highest ranks of the administration.

Now Biden is also expected to announce other members of his health team during this week. We have learned that Jeffrey Zients, one of the co-chairs of his transitions, is expected to be named as the COVID coordinator for the White House. And the president-elect is making it clear that tackling this pandemic is the top priority, and that includes rolling out the members of his team.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:10:00] CHURCH: In California, officials hope the new restrictions now in place will help curb the spread of COVID-19, but those measures will also be putting new pressure on some businesses forced to close their doors. CNN's Paul Vercammen has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In all of these stay-at-home orders now being enacted in California, one of the rules is no more outdoor dining in the Southern California region, in the San Joaquin region, and much of the Bay Area.

Now, for these restaurant owners, it has just been awful and worse for these employees right behind me. The closed down Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill in Sherman Oaks. The owner went viral with one of her messages. I talked to her. She says one thing that is just absolutely crushing for her is telling employees that they do not have a job for the holidays.

ANGELA MARSDEN, RESTAURANT OWNER: It's unbearable. I mean, you try to put on a good face. You try to say don't worry, we're going to reopen, I'm going to make it happen. But to look at my staff, give them their last paycheck right before Christmas, and some of them are newer staff that have been shut down over and over, and unemployment is running out, and they have kids and children. It's the most excruciating feeling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no option. There's no option for our entire industry. And it is not because of we are trying to stay on unemployment and just, you know, sit on that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yours is almost out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mine is almost out and I have no idea. I have no idea what I'm going to do.

VERCAMMEN: And the owner here at the Saloon and Grill telling me she has explored the possibility of take out, is still trying to work it out, but the numbers just don't add up in terms of trying to make some kind of profit by staying open for takeout and delivery only.

I'm reporting from Sherman Oaks. I'm Paul Vercammen.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHURCH: And joining me now from Los Angeles is Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is also the former director of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention at the Los Angeles County Public Health Department. Thank you, doctor, for joining us and for all you do.

ROBERT KIM-FARLEY, PROFESSOR AT UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION AT LOS ANGELES COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Rosemary, it's always good to be with you. Thank you. CHURCH: Thank you. So, most of California now is under stay-at-home orders in an effort to control this virus. It is, of course, a delicate balancing act, trying to protect citizens while not damaging the economy too drastically. Would this strict enforcement of mask wearing better serve the state or is this lockdown absolutely necessary at this time?

KIM-FARLEY: At this time with the amount of surge -- in fact I am now calling it a viral tsunami that is hitting us -- we really need to pull out all the stops to be able to stop this tsunami and begin to flatten the curve and ideally get going back down again with the number of cases.

We are experiencing a situation such that for example, here in Southern California, only something like 10.3 percent of our ICU beds are now available.

CHURCH: Yes, the numbers are absolutely shocking. Of course, on a national stage, President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani has been admitted to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. He certainly sounds like he is feeling well at this point. He has ignored health guidelines and after coming into close contact with many people in Atlanta last Thursday and in the days that followed, many others have now been exposed to the virus, as well.

What do those people need to do and how bad could this prove to be for Giuliani given he is 76 years old with some very serious underlying health issues?

KIM-FARLEY: Certainly, as we all wish for anyone a speedy health, the situation, of course, for him, he is an elderly, 76. In a sense, that is a higher risk group. I hope that mainly your viewership takes away the message that look, masking is important, and that this disease can affect anyone no matter what level you are at. So we only need to be playing our part here to wear masks, to practice physical distancing. That is the only way we really can stop this from being a catastrophe for us, as we see round the country, everywhere is going up at the same time now.

And I think that we need to double down on our efforts, hang in there because as an earlier speaker mentioned, we do have a light at the end of the tunnel with vaccines on their way. So, we all need to just step up one more time here and turn this around again.

CHURCH: And our thanks to Dr. Robert Kim-Farley joining us there from Los Angeles.

And still ahead, preparing to rollout the vaccine. We head to the United Kingdom where an important new week in the battle against COVID-19 has just begun.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, it is the start of a very busy week in the United Kingdom, which is preparing to roll out COVID vaccinations from Tuesday in some parts of the country. Cyril Vanier joins us now live from 10 Downing Street. Good Morning, Cyril. This is very exciting, of course, and much anticipation as the U.K. prepares to vaccinate. How is this going to work exactly as the rest of the world watches on?

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rosemary. In some sense, the immunization program here has already begun. Because it's all about logistics and those logistics are well under way. Yesterday and today, the doses of the vaccine that have been in country three or four days now have been dispatched across the country. 50 hospital centers are receiving them here in England. There are going to be more hospitals also in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales who will be getting them. And they expect that by tomorrow they'll be able to start delivering the very first jabs.

Now, Rosemary, we've discussed this. There is a major logistical challenge here involved.

[04:20:00]

Because the vaccine that has been approved and is being dispatched across the U.K. is the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine that must be kept and stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius at all times. According to the NHS here in England, it can only be moved within that temperature four times, and then if you keep it at a higher temperature, say in a fridge, a regular fridge, it only survives for four to five days. So that makes it hard to actually transport around the country.

Now the hospitals that get those doses will be vaccinating patients that are already in the hospitals as a matter of priority. 80-year- olds who are outpatients or inpatients in those hospitals will be offered the vaccine first. The plan -- that was not the plan, Rosemary -- the plan had been to vaccinate care home residents as a matter of priority. But because of the logistical challenges involved in getting the doses to the care homes that we just described, that's not going to be happening.

Then the immunization campaign is rapidly going to expand, and the staff of care homes are going to be invited. At risk health care workers are also going to be invited to get the vaccination, and from there, it will keep expanding and move from the hospitals to include primary care facilities and local doctors who will also start as of next week, delivering the vaccine -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Absolutely, and some incredible challenges there, but we'll be watching on very closely to see how it goes. And many any other countries wanting to follow suit very soon. Cyril Vanier joining us there from 10 Downing Street, many thanks.

And German says it could spend $7 billion on its vaccination program. This as a major German state is facing new lockdown restrictions. Fred Pleitgen is in Berlin and joins us now, live. Fred, what's the latest on all of this?

PLEITGEN: Hi there, Rosemary. Well, the governor of that state, the state of Bavaria was actually just on TV a couple of minutes ago. And what he said was, look, so far, the lockdown measures that have been in place, the partial lockdown in all of Germany simply hasn't been good enough. And now that state of Bavaria is putting some tough new lockdown measures that essentially don't allow for people to just go out of their houses. They have to have good reasons to leave their houses at all. For instance, going to work, going grocery shopping or for instance going for sports outside.

This comes as the whole of the country still faces somewhat of a difficult situation. Essentially the German government is acknowledging the partial lock down measures that have been in place so far and are going to be in place until at least January 5th. They've managed to flatten the curb of new infections somewhat, but the new infections aren't going down. I've been looking at the numbers. It's about 12,300 new infections that the German Center for Disease Control has recorded for today. That's about 1,200 more than on Monday of last week.

So you can see the numbers certainly aren't going down. So there are some who believe that other German states could follow suit, could also tighten those restrictions. Of course, Germany really looking toward Christmas. They wanted to have easing toward Christmas. That's looking more and more difficult for this country.

One of the things though that they are preparing full scale for, and we have been reporting about this over the course of all of last week, is the beginning of those vaccinations, already putting vaccination centers in place throughout this entire country to hit the ground running when the vaccine becomes available.

Late last night, the chief of staff of Angela Merkel was on a show of Germany's largest newspaper, the "Bild" newspaper, and there he says he believes the very beginning of next year is when you'll start seeing that mass vaccination campaign really kick off here in this country -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Those vaccination centers are very impressive, and it really helps in the problem of keeping it at the temperatures that are required and bringing the people to the vaccinations. Many thanks to you Fred Pleitgen bringing us up to date on that situation.

Well, The Israeli Prime Minister is warning of a third coronavirus wave there. This as Gaza is seeing a worrying surge in cases. Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem. He joins us now live. So, Oren, what's behind this latest surge in cases and how are authorities responding?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a warning saying that the country is at the beginning of a third wave of infections. This as the country, the economy and schools are trying to and continuing to reopen. Although it's not clear yet what's driving this latest wave of infections as more and more cities here are declared red cities with limitations.

About 1,200 new cases yesterday, according to the ministry of health and the data they put out. And there have been more than a thousand cases a day, most days over the course of the past week. Along with that the positivity rate of testing is steadily on the rise from about 1.9 a week ago to 3.9 percent other the weekend.

Those are troubling numbers coupled with the fact that the number of severe cases in the country is also steadily on the rise. The coronavirus czar that the high holidays here Hanukkah and Christmas would have to be only with nuclear family and not in large gatherings.

[04:25:00]

Netanyahu also saying that he may have to reimpose restrictions because of the rising numbers. He did say there's a light at the end of that tunnel as the vaccines are on their way, with Israel signing contracts with vaccine companies to bring them here. That light, however, at the moment seems a bit far away as the possibility of a third lockdown looks more and more real.

Meanwhile, this is not only an Israeli problem here. Cases are surging in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health data from Gaza. Positivity rate for tests over most of the last week has been around 30 percent, and a spokesperson for Hamas says the central coronavirus testing lab there has run out of materials for more tests. All of this is very troubling here as it heads toward the end of the year -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: That is a very high positivity rate there. Oren Liebermann bringing us up to date. Appreciate it.

And just ahead on CNN, highlights from a televised debate between U.S. Senate candidates in Georgia where control of the U.S. Senate is the big prize. We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Well, a staggering surge in COVID-19 cases across the U.S. is stretching hospitals thin. On Sunday, the U.S. reported its highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations ever, more than 101,000. And more than 175,000 cases were reported, including more than 30,000 in California alone. New restrictions have just gone into effect for tens of millions of people in that state. They will be required to stay at home the next few weeks.

President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for COVID-19. A source says the 76-year-old was admitted to a hospital in Washington on Sunday.