Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

90-Year-Old Woman First to Receive Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine; Iranian Scientist's Assassination is an Unsolved Mystery; Iran Threatens to Increase Uranium Enrichment; U.S. Lawmakers to Vote on Stopgap Funding as Coronavirus Aid Negotiations Continue; Trump Repeats False Claims U.S. Vote Was Rigged; Trump to Sign Executive Order to Prioritize Vaccine for U.S.; Mystery Illness in India; Remembering Young Mother Who Lost COVID-19 Battle; U.K. Kicks Off Vaccination Program; Ninety-Year-Old Gets the First COVID Vaccine; Hospitals in Caracas in Dire Situation; U.S. to Prioritize Americans First; Not the Time to Let the Guard Down; Boris Johnson Hammers Out Brexit Barrier. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 08, 2020 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Ahead on CNN Newsroom a light at the end of the tunnel. Health care workers in the U.K. administer coronavirus vaccines. We're live in London and Scotland. Plus, this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Even in the morgue, death comes with shortages. There's no pathologist here. And with limited electricity, the stench is unbearable. Now imagine having to face a pandemic in these conditions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): A CNN exclusive report from inside Venezuelan hospitals. We will look at the grim reality many COVID-19 patients face there.

And a relentless Donald Trump focuses on the election he lost, calling for vote recounts while millions of Americans grapple with the impact of the pandemic.

And we begin with breaking news this hour out of the U.K. where the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are now being administered to the most vulnerable citizens. This less than a week after the U.K. became the first western nation to approve a vaccine.

Just moments ago, this 90-year-old grandmother became the first person to get a jab. Her name is Maggie Keenan. And she says she feels privilege to be vaccinated because it means she will soon be able to spend time with her family.

All this comes as many parts of the world are seeing record infection rates, and soaring hospitalizations. Health officials say these vaccinations could provide some hope to countries in desperate need of relief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT HANCOCK, BRITISH HEALTH SECRETARY: It's the beginning of the end of this pandemic. We are not there yet. It's so important that people keep doing the things we know we need to do, following the rules, and the basics to make sure we keep this under control. But we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): And right now, the vaccine is only being offered to people over the age of 80. Those who work in care homes and health care workers at high risk. After that officials say the vaccine will become more widely available. Each recipient will get two shots administered three weeks apart. And to keep track of when they receive their doses, they will also get these vaccination cards.

CNN is covering the story across the U.K. And for the latest, CNN's Cyril Vanier is in London and Phil Black joins us from Edinburgh in Scotland. Good to see you both.

So, Cyril, let's go to you first. Already seeing these people lining up, getting a shot in the arm. How is this roll out as progressing and how much confidence do people have across the country in this?

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, first of all, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge what happened at 6.31 am local time this morning in Coventry in England. And that is Maggie Keenan, you said her name earlier, the very first patient to receive the first of those two doses that she'll be needing to be immunize against the coronavirus.

It is I think the happiest news that I've been privilege to report since the beginning of the pandemic. She is said to be an early riser, Margaret Keenan. She has two children, four grandchildren. And she says she spent most of the year alone. And that she looks forward to being immunized so that she can finally see her friends and family next year.

Sadly, she won't be immunized by Christmas. Because first jab today, 21 days before she gets the next jab. And then 7 to 10 days before she actually her body develop to full immunity or close to full immunity so that takes us into early next year. Still she says if I'm 90 years old and I can do this, you can, too.

And she recommends that everybody who is offered this vaccine should get it. And people are being offered the vaccine in 50 hospital centers such as this one, Guy's Hospital in central London.

Fifty hospital centers across England, there are others obviously across the U.K., and what's happening is that patients 80 years old and above, who had been booked into the hospital for another appointment for today for another appointment, or patients who were in the hospital and were going to be discharge, those patients will be offered the vaccine as a matter of priority.

So, the British health secretary, Matt Hancock, saying he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of excitement. The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson tweeting this a long time ago. Thank you to our NHS, to all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine, to all the volunteers, and to everyone who has been following the rules to protect others. We will beat this together.

[03:05:05]

That is where we stand at this stage, Rosemary. And a word of caution here is needed. This is best look at as a trickle of vaccines. Just the very beginning of what is going to be a massive campaign. Still, it's day one, it is worth, I think celebrating, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Absolutely, agree, and wonderful to see Maggie Keenan, 90 years old take the shot. She is the best advertisement for this right throughout the globe. Great to hear from you, Cyril. Let's go to you, Phil in Scotland, in Edinburgh there, most specifically. What is the situation with vaccinations there?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, if you zero-in on Scotland, the numbers certainly in a global sense are relatively small. But they are so powerful in the hope they represent.

So, to begin with, Scotland is going to get 65,000 doses of this particular vaccine. To be distributed from 23 vaccination centers. This is one of them. Edinburgh's Western General Hospital. And then from next week the idea is it will be moved out to care homes.

And as for the rest of the U.K., the focus is getting it to those most at risk, most venerable. So, frontline medical and care staff. The over 80s and care home residents. And the idea is that in the very short term, by getting it to those people who most need the protection, they are going to save lives quickly.

And then in the longer term a little bit further over the horizon, as the vaccine is rolled up more widely lies the possibility, the hope, of people, families, communities, entire cities getting back to living something close to their normal lives.

The government here is keen to stress that is the promise of a mass vaccination program, it is not yet the reality. This is a truly a significant day, historic, a turning point, perhaps the beginning of the end but it is not yet the end.

So, the government's message is very much one that says, by all means, feel the hope and the optimism and the significance of this day. But use it to inspire further discipline and vigilance, not complacency. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Absolutely, people trusting in science, we like to see that. Cyril Vanier and Phil Black, many thanks to both of you. It is a great good news day.

And in the U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order today on coronavirus vaccines. Officials say it will prioritize vaccine shipments to Americans before other countries. But it's not clear how exactly it will do it.

Meanwhile, a New York Times report says that around six months ago, the Trump administration turned down an offer from Pfizer for additional doses of its vaccine. The administration denies the Times report. It says there will be enough doses to vaccinate all Americans who want to be vaccinated by the end of June. This comes as the U.S. keeps seeing all-time highs for COVID hospitalizations.

CNN's Lucy Kafanov more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Across America, the coronavirus is spreading faster than ever. A whopping one million new cases of COVID-19 reported in just the first five days of December.

ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is a four-alarm fire. And we cannot pretend that it's not blazing simply because it's been blazing for the past eight months.

KAFANOV: Sunday capping off the deadliest weekend since mid-April with more than 3,300 new deaths reported. Many hospitals stretched to capacity, yesterday hitting another record high.

JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: This surge is different than early surges. Because it's not about PPE, it's not about testing, it's really about health care capacity. And certain places are just being overwhelmed.

KAFANOV: Ten thousand COVID patients are in hospital beds in California alone where severe new restrictions are now back in place. Restaurants in many California counties are limited to takeout and delivery service only.

CROWD: Reopen.

KAFANOV: Some pushing back. One restaurant open frustrated her outdoor dining patio has been forced to close even though she says a video production company set up an outdoor eating area for its employees right next to her own parking lot.

ANGELA MARSDEN, RESTAURANT OWNER: Tell me that this is dangerous but right next to me is a slap in my face. That's safe.

KAFANOV: New York also considering closing indoor dining in five days if hospitalization rates don't stabilize.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY): I think it's as simple as this, if these numbers don't level off soon, then all options have to be on the table.

KAFANOV: As for schools in the big apple? Some of those reopened today. For elementary and special needs students.

DE BLASIO: The parents were so happy and so relieved.

KAFANOV: Colorado Governor Jared Polis recovering from COVID. His husband also sick and rushed to the hospital. Posting on Facebook, I experienced a worsening cough, and shortness of breath. My doctor suggested as a precaution I go to the hospital. This as experts warn it's about to get worse.

[03:10:07]

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We're in the situation is that as we enter now from the Thanksgiving holiday season, into the Christmas holiday season, it's going to be challenging.

KAFANOV: Some hope seemingly around the corner. Pfizer's vaccine expected to get emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which meets Thursday. But according to a CNN analysis, the first shipment will fall short of what 27 states need to vaccinate their priority groups. Frontline health care workers and the elderly. According to the surgeon general, nearly half of all COVID deaths are among those in long-term care facilities or are older.

ADAMS: We want to make sure we're giving it to the people who are most likely to die from this virus. We also want our health care workers who were on the front lines to be able to get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV (on camera): Now another worrying factor, Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday warned that even after someone is vaccinated, they could still spread the virus. He also said there won't be an immediate improvement to the mortality spread once vaccines start getting distributed. And that means things might get a lot worse before they get any better.

Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.

CHURCH: All right. Let's return to our breaking news now. The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines in the United Kingdom. And Sterghios Moschos is an associate professor of molecular virology at Northumbria University, he joins me now live from England. Thank you so much for talking with us.

STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN CELLULAR & MOLECULAR SCIENCES, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

CHURCH: Of course, the whole world is watching on as the U.K. starts these vaccinations of health care professionals and nursing home residents and care today, and we already saw a 90-year-old, she was the first one to get the vaccination in the morning. So how is that rollout likely to go and when will the vaccines start protecting recipients?

MOSCHOS: I think the rollout is going to go slow and steady. I think it's something we need to bear in mind. Even the people who will receive the vaccine will not be able to go and see family for Christmas. They will be able to see their families a month from now and that's how long it takes for the vaccine to kick in properly and protect the vaccines from getting infected or getting the disease at least.

We don't know if they get fully get protection from protection. They suddenly don't get the disease if they've received the vaccine. It's going to take months and months to get to the point where more people will receive the vaccine to then restart reopening society at least, at least until April.

CHURCH: Right. And as you're speaking to us, we're looking at those pictures of the very first recipient in London there, she well, actual in Coventry and she is 90 years old. She is probably the best advertisement there is for this. She's very eager to get it because she wants to spend time with their family.

So, there is a lot of misinformation right now on various social media platforms and a considerable number of people who say they don't want to take the vaccine. As a virologist, what would you say to those people to convince them that this vaccine is safe and effective?

MOSCHOS: OK. I spent my entire career basically researching genetic life and genetic therapies themselves. I put -- I've helped to put genetic therapies into clinical trials. I've studied these things very deeply.

The technology behind the Pfizer vaccine is about 30 years old. There's 30 years of data on how to make it, what it does do, what it doesn't do. Now we've done studies in cells, in animals, in humans, now we've got data from this specific vaccine in tens of thousands of people across the age groups. The only age group that we don't have from our very young. OK? And that's fine.

Because the very young actually are the ones at least risk of having acute problems. We don't know what the long-term problems and consequences of coronavirus. We're learning about COVID. But if you at least protected from the acute disease, if you get the vaccine, it's very likely you will not get long COVID either. You need to get the symptoms first before you can get the long version of the disease. That's common sense.

Now going to the vaccine itself, yes, the total number of people that have received this brand-new vaccine technology is more. But it's very important that in tens of thousands of people we did not observe any kind of severe adverse events that will go us go, dear, there's something that we haven't thought about that might be happening here.

In fact, it's really, really simple how this vaccine works. It's just like taking another ticket and putting it to the desk at any restaurant and say, can you please make this. That's all we're giving to the cells.

[03:14:55] There's some conspiracy theory things about the immune system recognizing this as an internal thing and then tried to hit your own body. That's entirely scientifically unfounded. That many, many people have reviewed this question. A lot of technical detail.

You know, I'm prepared to put my hand in fire to say that this is not going to happen. And that's how certain I am. I would give it to my three-and-a-half-year-old, I would give it to my wife, I would give it to myself. If my parents were alive, they would be in their 80s and 90s, I would definitely give it to them right now.

CHURCH: Yes. There are some crazy conspiracy theories out there. We really ask people to read the science here and take your advice. Listening to virologists, listening to doctors. Because you guys, you've done all these years of study. You know what you're talking about.

Sterghios Moschos, thank you so much for joining us. We do appreciate it.

MOSCHOS: You're very welcome.

CHURCH: Thank you.

Well, with time running out, Britain's prime minister is packing a bag for Brussels to try to unlock a trade deal with the European Union. Our live report from London, that's next.

Plus, the coronavirus has pushed parts of the Venezuelan health care system to the brink of collapse. We will get an exclusive look at how hospitals there are coping.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): Time is short and good news is hard to come by for both sides trying to hammer out a Brexit trade deal. For the first time in months the British prime minister will make the trip from London to Brussels this week to see if he can break the deadlock.

Boris Johnson will meet face to face with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. She has been tweeting that, quote, "the conditions for an agreement are not there. That is because of three sticking points, fishing rights, a level playing field for businesses, and deal enforcements."

There has been plenty of noise on both sides of the do or die talks. CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has been listening to all of it. And you -- he joins me now live from London. Good to see you, Nic. So, both sides appear too far apart for any deal at this juncture? Can it be done?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, what Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson agreed to yesterday on that phone call which we think lasted about an hour and lead to a joint statement Ursula von der Leyen tweeting it. But we had the same statement from Boris Johnson is they are going to set their negotiators over the next couple of days to take an overview of the all the different points where there are disagreements. And the idea is that Boris Johnson gets to Brussels and then he gets to hammer out these disagreements with Ursula von der Leyen.

What we are hearing from British government sources here or senior source said look, the talks over the past couple of days have made no tangible progress whatsoever. We believe that it's time to go political. So, this is what's happening. Boris Johnson meeting with Ursula von der Leyen.

Then the other line that we are hearing from the sources we are not ruling out getting a deal, but actually we are in a very tricky -- very tricky situation right now.

[03:20:06]

And it is quite possible there won't be an agreement. And we heard in essence that from a senior government minister yesterday speaking in parliament, Penny Mordaunt, this is how she laid out the view at the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENNY MORDAUNT, MEMBER, U.U. PARLIAMENT: While an agreement is preferable, we are prepared to leave on so-called Australian-style terms if we cannot find compromises. As the prime minister has made clear, people and businesses must prepare for the changes that are coming on the 31st of December. Most of which are related to our departure from the E.U. single market and customs union and not the outcome of these talks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON (on camera): So when you get briefings that we have had there from the senior government official and you hear comments like that from a senior minister, you can look at this and say this is sort of posturing and positioning for a last push at the negotiating table, or even the sort of super negotiating table, because Boris Johnson is jumping above that in a way by meeting directly with Ursula von der Leyen, you could look at that is positioning.

But you know, listening earlier today to a senior French government minister, and one for European affairs who said look, when we talk about the level playing field, there has to be a reality here. Britain as a trading block is smaller than the European as a trading block. So if Britain wants the access that it wants to the E.U., then it's going to have to essentially buckle down to some of the conditions that the E.U. is laying out, i.e., the European Union is bigger and stronger than the U.K., and the U.K. is going to have to recognize that.

So, Boris Johnson has got a lot of hard-liners behind him at the moment saying don't come back to London from Brussels with anything but the deal that gives us the control that was one of the watchwords of the Brexit, whole Brexit campaign and negotiations so far.

So, it's very clear, the stage is being said. We've heard 50/50. It could go either way. The stage is being set on both sides here for the potential failure.

CHURCH: Now you are watching very carefully and very closely. Nic Robertson, joining us live from London. Many thanks.

Well, in Venezuela, allies of embattled President Nicolas Maduro say they have won parliamentary elections, but opposition leaders are refusing to back down. They called for a boycott and now they are urging people to vote in a referendum to reject Sunday's vote.

More than 60 countries have recognized Maduro opponent, Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, but that support hasn't driven Mr. Maduro from power or help relief a dire economic crisis.

And in Venezuela, years of government mismanagement have crippled the health care system. The government says fewer than 1,000 people have died from COVID-19, but doctors tell CNN the situation is much worse than the official account.

CNN's Isa Soares got an exclusive access to two of Venezuela's largest hospitals. Her report reveals the nation's shocking state of health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: In Los Magallanes the public hospital in Caracas, remnants of this once wealthy nation lies true from the death floor. It shackles wards hiding what the Venezuelan government doesn't want us to see. Here, COVID-19 has unmasked Venezuela's open wounds. And practically every floor this hospital is empty tells me this hospital worker who prefers to remain anonymous.

UNKNOWN (on screen translation): It's empty because there's nothing here, there are no supplies, the baths are clogged, and there's no water. If patients don't die of their disease, they die of contamination.

SOARES: It's a risk only a few dare to take. This is the COVID-19 ward. Only this part of it is functional. The rest is completely rundown after years of mismanagement. So, it's no surprise many would rather face the pandemic outside these walls. Choosing instead their homes of these decrepit rooms where darkness has literally taken over.

SOARES (on camera): This is the intensive neonatal ward. And the reason I'm holding up this light right here is because there is no electricity in this hospital. Have a look around. Bare bones. And what I've been told by doctors around Caracas and outside of Caracas, is that this is the situation day in and day out.

Even in the morgue, death comes with shortages. There is no pathologist. And with intermittent electricity, the stench is unbearable.

[03:25:01]

Now imagine having to face a pandemic in these conditions. It's why doctors like Gustavo Villasmil are no longer afraid to speak out. "I have friends of mine who have been criminally charged," he says.

"Why? For protesting the conditions in which they have been forced to practice. So, he doesn't hold back. In Venezuela, he tells me, there are only as many recognize COVID cases as the regime wants. We are testing limited to three government-controlled labs."

Villasmil says it's impossible to paint an accurate picture. "With regards to COVID," he says, we don't know where we are."

The government however claims the pandemic is under control. Saying its strategy has worked. A government minder shows us inside a hotel where suspected infected patients are kept in quarantine for up to 21 days. It's a lockdown strategy employed by China, which the government of Nicolas Maduro has been keen to extoll.

Dr. Rodriguez shares a similar pride. "Venezuelans have showed an immunity to the virus," he says. The families of those who have died on the front lines may see it differently. Two hundred seventy-two health care workers have lost their lives in Venezuela as of November the 30th.

At hospital Vargas in Caracas you can see why. They are overworked and unprotected. So, it's one nurse for this whole area here.

UNKNOWN: We don't have masks. We don't have gloves. They turn on the water one hour in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. There's nothing. There's no broom, no mop, no cloth.

SOARES: This is evident all around. And as I walk this ward, I stopped to speak to a patient's daughter. She tells me her frail 69- year-old father is here because of malnourishment. The same state in post-malady that we've seen across Venezuela. His immune system is compromised, yet he shares this ward with a COVID patient.

His daughter tells me he needs iron supplements that the hospital simply doesn't have. Have a look at this. I mean, this is what, this is what they have to work with here. Nurses and doctors. Syringes. It's astounding. They've got nothing.

There's a vast emptiness all around. And a sense of disillusionment and surrender. Painful no doubt for those who saw this once oil-rich country as one of the wealthiest in Latin America now teethering on the brink of survival.

Isa Soares, CNN, Caracas, Venezuela.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): And CNN reached out to the Venezuelan government for comment on the conditions seen in these hospitals in Caracas. And also, on the criticism by health care professionals shown in this piece. To date, we have yet to receive a response.

Iran's top nuclear scientist had a target on his back for years, but whoever pulled the trigger is not talking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: There is still so many different versions of the events of what happened here. But one witness we've spoken to says at first, they heard an explosion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (voice over): We report from the scene of an assassination. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGARET KEENAN, RECEIVED COVID-19 VACCINE: I thought it was a joke. To tell you the truth, it's hard to believe. I can't believe it. You know, but -- I'm happy it has happened. And hopefully we should have other people coming around and do as I did. You know, we try to do the best to get rid of this terrible thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): She has made history. That was Maggie Keenan, a 90 year-old grandmother who just became the first person in the U.K. to get vaccinated for COVID-19. A few hours ago, the U.K. launched what it calls its biggest vaccination program ever, hospitals across the country are giving shots to the most vulnerable including people over the age of 80. Those who work in care homes and health care workers at high risk.

Well, it has been nearly two weeks since Iran's top nuclear scientist was assassinated, and the mystery only deepens. As mourners visit his grave, Iran claims it was a high tech operation that sounds-like something out of a sci-fi movie with artificial intelligence, facial recognition and a robot machine gun. Our Nick Paton Walsh got rare access to the site of the killing and he joins me now from Tehran. So, Nick, what all did you learn about this assassination?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Little, I have to say. And as you said, the explanations we are hearing in state media from Iranian security officials are increasingly complex to explain how this assassination of their most prominent nuclear scientist occurred last Friday. But here's what we saw at the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATON WALSH (voice over): Amid Tehran's holiday homes, by the snowy road side is where the man whose work Iran said must go on was fatally shot, reportedly in front of his wife. Nuclear scientist Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was Iran's repository of nuclear bomb knowledge Israel has claimed while not saying they were behind the assassination.

A lot of the debris is being cleared away here, but you can still see the soot from the explosion on the curve and the damage done to the road below me. There is still so many different versions of the events of what happened here, but one witness we have spoken to says at first they heard an explosion, a wood truck they said that detonated here and then there was an exchange of gunfire that lasted about eight and 10 minutes. You can see over here, the damage still done to the side by the bullets.

From the orchard nearby, possible vantage point for a low tech ambush, even though Iranian security officials are telling state media this was a high tech plot involving an AI powered facial recognition satellite controlled robot machine gun into his bullets Fakhrizadeh step when he got out of his bullet proof car. One of the many reasons offered for a laps in security in this neat backwater.

Fakhrizadeh's son told state media his father ignored warnings from his security detail the day before. My father said he had a class, his son says, while he could not teach virtually and an important meeting. So they could not persuade him to turn back.

Deep inside the defense ministry, Sunday, they remembered him again at the highest levels. Among Iran's critics louder and louder, the question, does this, another laps in security make a race towards a possible nuclear weapon a good idea or a worse one? Officially, Iran says it does not want the bomb, but its parliament last week demanded Iran enrich uranium to 20 percent in the first weeks, the Biden administration.

That could make a weapon a lot closer. There remain two versions of Iran. Both a bit visible here. It's hard hit by sanctions and wants to talk, or has resisted and will hit back.

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We know our campaign is working, because now the Iranians are desperately signaling their willingness to return to the negotiating table to get sanctions relief.

SAYEED MOHAMMED MARANDI, PROFESSOR, UNIVERISTY OF TEHRAN: Israeli regime, if it feels that it can continue carrying out acts of terror, Iranians will pay and unnecessary price.

[03:35:00]

The only way to stop these acts of terror is for them to pay a price. It makes it not worthy. I have no doubt that the Iranians are going to respond.

PATON WALSH: Iran has been here before a lot. As this museum of blown up cars are test all Peugeot models going back in the ages, all nuclear scientists assassinated in Iran's pursuit of what it says, it's peaceful nuclear technology that it needs alongside its huge oil reserves.

We may never know what knowledge perished with Dr. Fakhrizadeh or with an impact that will have on Iran's critics, the Hawks, who claim that it could be as little as four months away from a possible nuclear weapon. Deals, scientists, assassins, all have come and gone, but the mounting

tension with Joe Biden has a huge diplomatic task to ease in a matter of months, has about 40 days left to build.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PATON WALSH (on camera): Another wrinkle in the quilt of diplomacy, if you like. The French, Germans and British have in the last 48 hours expressed their quote, deep concern at what they say is Iran moving new centrifuges into their (inaudible) nuclear enrichment facilities. Now that is of course all part of a broader sense of bluster and measuring countermeasure ahead of any possible talks, but the broader concern there is that we are seeing now from the western signatories, the Europeans, the German Foreign Minister recently and also President-Elect Joe Biden of the United States.

A suggestion that something called the nuclear plus agreement should be reached. Joe Biden's suggesting maybe the missile issues to use his words, could be part of that Iran increasing conventional arsenal in the region and their posturing within it too, added on to those things to the signatories to the original 2015 deal would like to see in some new out, longer agreements.

Iran though says we signed the JCPOA, the nuclear deal in 2015. That is what we will go back to. And that is what the United States must go back to as well. As I say, all of this bluster possibly ahead of diplomacy, but you saw in that report the capacity, the violence for outside possible motivations or even retaliation in the weeks ahead to derail those talks.

Although it is fairly obvious here that sanctions relief is something Iran wants very fast and needs, given the damage the pandemic is doing here and the diplomacy could bring. A timetable for that though by the Biden administration incoming is so tight. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Absolutely, we will watch to see what happens there. Nick Paton Walsh with that report from Tehran. Many thanks.

Well, still to come, Donald Trump is hitting the phone lines calling election official since Wednesday, as he continues to falsely claim he won. But some in his inner circle realize time is running out. We will have more on that on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: U.S. lawmakers still haven't delivered on a COVID relief bill. The clock is ticking for them to provide a lifeline for Americans in urgent need of aid, but first they've got to pass a spending resolution to keep the government from running out of money this Friday.

[03:40:10]

Once that is done, Congress can tackle its gridlock on a plan to extend the Paycheck Protection Program and the ban on evictions in the richest nation on the planet, 54 million Americans are worried about their next meal. And still, no aid from Capitol Hill.

COVID-19 has thrown millions of Americans out of work and the government systems that track unemployment are overwhelmed due to quote, backlogs in processing an historic volume of claims.

John Defterios is live in Abu Dhabi and he joins us now with more details on this. Good to see you, John. So, it has to be difficult for the average American to see both sides in Congress holding unto entrenched positions while those hurting the most wait for the politicians to figure this out. How long can this take?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: I tell you, Rosemary, we have been at it for four months and they have not broken the deadlock. And we've seen the script before right, in the previous cycles in Congress and different election cycles at the same time. Where they wait for the final day, even the final hour to fund the government, so they need to do a stop gap resolution that you are talking about.

But this is alarming, because we have the cases spiking in states like California, which are going down to a lockdown and five major programs that will expire by the end of the year. You talked about a couple of them, but there is renter's protection, there's jobless benefits, of course, and even loans to small businesses and both sides are blaming the other at this stage.

Let's listen to the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell who has been holding this position of just funding a half a trillion dollars past the temporary measures for funding the government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: Republicans and Democrats do not need to resolve every one of our differences to get badly needed relief out the door. We just need both sides to finally do what members of Congress do when they are serious. When they are serious about wanting an outcome. Drop the all or nothing tactics. Drop the hostage taking. And make law in the many places where we have common ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEFTERIOS: Common ground is in short supply though, Rosemary, let's look at the different positions. He was kind of aiming at Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker and the $2.2 trillion bill. That's not even talked about anymore. McConnell is holding on to the half a trillion dollars and then there's compromising between the better than $900 billion. That seems to be the path forward.

Everybody keeps on saying we are making progress, but we do not see a final deal. And if you look at the figures, Rosemary, you are talking about the unemployment? This is the hardest on those making $27,000 or less per year for the employment rates have dropped 20 percent since the start of the pandemic. And we have another 12 million Americans that will lose the benefits if they cannot get the measures out of Congress by the end of the year. CHURCH: Yes. So frustrating. It's like a game of chess and then so

many people are hurting while they play out all of the moves there. John Defterios, joining us live from Abu Dhabi. Many thanks.

Well, President Trump is still insisting he won the U.S. Election and falsely claiming the vote was rigged. CNN has now confirmed that Mr. Trump has held multiple calls with Pennsylvania's House speaker about the states electoral process similar to calls he made to officials in Michigan and in Georgia, all the states he lost. But the president is now running out of legal challenges and time. Jim Acosta has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Today, the president required more than a fact check, he needed a math check. As Mr. Trump was pointing to the 2020 scoreboard and claiming he came out on top.

TRUMP: Well, you know, in politics, I won two, so I am two and 0, and that is pretty good too. But we will see how that turns out.

ACOSTA: But that is not true and neither are his false cries of a rigged election, no matter how many times he looks at the numbers.

TRUMP: Well, I think the cases has already been made. If you look at the polls. It was a rigged election. If you look at the difference states, the election was totally rigged. It is a disgrace to our country. It is like a third world country, these ballots pouring in from everywhere.

ACOSTA: On the same day Georgia election officials recertified there results announcing once again that the states electoral votes will be awarded to Joe Biden, Mr. Trump was putting more pressure on the Republican Governor of Georgia tweeting he refuses to do signature verification, which would give us an easy win. What is wrong with this guy? What is he hiding?

But the president is engaging in some lame duck doublespeak as he is insisting he defeated Biden, Mr. Trump is telling voters in Georgia to elect Republicans in the upcoming Senate runoffs races down there. Warning that control of the Senate is at stake. And yet, that is only possible with Kamala Harris is about to become vice president to break ties in the Senate.

[03:45:01]

TRUMP: Because at stake in this election is the control of the U.S. Senate. And that really means control of this country. The voters of Georgia will determine which party runs every committee, writes every piece of legislation. Controls every single taxpayer dollar.

ACOSTA: Most GOP lawmakers are going along with Mr. Trump's charade, including Georgia's Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler. UNKNOWN: My question is actually pretty simple. Yes or no, Senator

Loeffler? Did Donald Trump lose the election?

KELLY LOEFFLER, U.S. REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE: President Trump has every right to use every legal recourse available.

ACOSTA: But the president and his lawyers are running out of state challenges, a sign that his legal team's work is winding down, not to mention the man leading that for his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani now has the coronavirus.

TRUMP: Rudy is doing well. I just spoke to him. He's doing very well. Low temperature and he actually called me early this morning. He was the first call I got. He's doing very well.

ACOSTA: Another pressure point. The prospect that Attorney General William Barr could step down or be fired before Mr. Trump leaves office. Barr pushed back on the president's election claims last week.

UNKNOWN: Do you still have confidence in Bill Barr?

TRUMP: Ask me that in a number of weeks from now.

ACOSTA: The president is expected to return to his resort in Florida for the holidays with aides discussing whether that trip will become more of an extended stay into January. Before that happens, Congressional leaders are sounding more determined to hammer out a coronavirus relief bill that will reach the president's desk.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): This is a compromise. Neither side is going to get the full amount or the component parts that they wanted.

ACOSTA: And the president is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday aimed at prioritizing the shipment of the coronavirus vaccine to Americans first before other countries. The president is planning on signing that order at a vaccine summit at the White House. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Los Angeles is Michael Genovese. He is a political analyst and author of How Trump governs, and assessment and a prognosis. Always great to have you with us.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, PUBLIC ANALYST: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, Donald Trump is still falsely claiming he won the election, but with Rudy Giuliani now hospitalized with COVID-19, and Trump running out of legal avenues with his baseless claims of a rigged election, what is the likely next step for the outgoing president with some of his aides speculating that once he goes to Florida for the holidays he may never return to the White House?

GENOVESE: You know, I think Donald Trump is going to be more of the same, he won't be able to admit if he cannot see himself as a loser, and so rather than be the loser he will be the fighter. He will keep fighting. He will keep fighting a hopeless battle. A losing battle. It is kind of a soap opera right now in Washington with the president.

It's like a bad (inaudible) movie. Nit the early movies of the (inaudible), but the (inaudible) there was this chaos and madness. And that's what Trump usually thrives on. But now when he is on the losing end, he is coming up short and it is embarrassing. It should be embarrassing to him.

But he is standing there all alone saying I won, I won. When everyone around him knows he did not. I mean, it's like me saying that I just want one of the George Clooney lookalike contest. And the president is just embarrassing himself, and one by one, day by day people are just falling along the roadside and losing faith in the president.

CHURCH: But at the same time in just a few hours the vaccines skeptics would testified before a Senate committee, and now we learned that some House GOP allies are telling Trump not to conceive, but to press for a flaw fight even after the Electoral College affirms Biden's win.

This as most Republicans refused to acknowledge Biden's win. How big a threat is this to a peaceful transfer of power for this very fragile democracy, given we are already seeing armed protests at the homes of public officials and death threats being sent to election officials?

GENOVESE: Fragile democracy. I've never heard that in my lifetime until Donald Trump. But I think it is true. I think that we've proved that when someone does not accept the norms, the rules of the game. When the guardrails start to collapse, it is a fragile democracy. You have to keep supporting it. And we can't take that for granted.

But there are a number now of tinfoil hat wearing Republicans, let's call them for what they are who for some reason want to wait until December 14th when the Electoral College votes -- and they'll go for Joe Biden and then they want to take it to the floor of the House to contest it. And what can they do? They can cause some trouble for the sake of trouble.

They can sell chaos and confusion and doubt. They can cast shadow on the incoming legitimacy of Joe Biden, which is probably one of their main goals, but they are not going to be able to get this turned around. And so this is what happened when Donald Trump pollutes the bloodstream of our political system, and the Republican Party has just accepted it.

[03:50:03]

They bought it hook line and sinker. Very few Republicans are willing to admit Joe Biden has won. And so the Republican Party is no longer acting like a party, they are acting like a circus.

CHURCH: It is a real concern, of course, Trump has already tried to pressure Georgia's Governor to help overturn the election results in that state. Now CNN has learned that he also called Pennsylvania's House speaker multiple times about the election results there, and there are efforts underway in other swing states to change the election outcome. When is enough-enough and how is any of this acceptable behavior?

GENOVESE: Well, it's not acceptable behavior for the president, but I think the good news is that in these states, most of them Republican states with Republican officials, they are standing up to the president. Because there's nothing they could literally do. The law is the law. The votes are the votes. The votes have been counted and recounted and recounted. And so there is virtually nothing they can do. And rather than cave into the president, you've got some Republicans with a little bit of backbone saying, can't do it. Not going to happen.

CHURCH: So, how concerned are you that someone is going to get hurt in the midst of this?

GENOVESE: That is really the scary part. Again, it's something I never thought about. We have always taken for granted the peaceful changeover of power. And that transfer went without a hitch. Now it's in doubt. And so what you see and the most frightening thing is the number of people who are armed, who are going to the Secretary of State's office in Michigan and threatening them. Georgia, the Republicans are threatening the Republicans. This is absolutely frightening.

Presidential leadership demands that the president stand up and say stop this right now. Do not do this in my name, you will not do this, you will not get away with this. Stop it. But our president is too concerned with him, him, him. It's all about him.

CHURCH: In the meantime people are dying from this pandemic. Michael Genovese, thank you so much for your analysis. We appreciate it.

GENOVESE: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And if COVID weren't bad enough, another illness is making a lot of people in India very sick. And authorities don't know what it is. We will have a live report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: In Southeastern India, and mystery illness has hospitalized hundreds of people and killed at least one. Patients have been suffering seizures and nausea and losing consciousness. Authorities there are now testing food, water and blood. Vedika Sud is following this for us live from New Delhi. She joins us now. Good to see you Vedika. So, what more are you learning about this mystery illness and what do authorities think it might be?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): Good to be with you, Rosemary. Well, what we heard the leaders say the culture tests that were conducted yesterday, the reports should be in anytime now, but like -- you rightly pointed out. (Inaudible) which is southern state in India is one of the worst affected state when it comes to COVID-19. It has over 800,000 cases already of COVID-19.

And at a time like this, there is this mystery illness that has emerged from a city in the state where over 500 people have been hospitalized over the last three to four days, of which over 300 are now being discharged, but the medical officers we have been speaking to are still wondering what this mystery illness is all about. It leads to convulsions, it makes people lose consciousness. So, it is really something that has stumped the entire state and its authorities.

[03:55:03]

Now what we do know is that in the last few days, the state government has been trying to figure out what this is all about. They have actually conducted door-to-door surveys in over 55,000 households in the last 24 hours. That was yesterday. One of the authorities also telling us that they are waiting some more results. They are testing food, water and milk, like you pointed out, because the source of water for most of these people have who had been reported sick and have been admitted to hospitals is the same.

So that is the worry as of now. We are waiting for those reports. They have no idea as of now what this could be, but the hope is that not more than the 500 plus people that are infected as of now, we don't see an increase in those numbers, because this is a very worrying trend coming in from South India at a time when they are facing high numbers with COVID-19 cases. Back to you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Let's hope they figure this out quickly. Vedika Sud, joining us live from New Delhi. Many thanks.

Well, more than 280,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus. Each death representing a family's heartbreak. We want to take a look now at one painful story. Erica Becerra, was a 33 year old wife and mother. She was pregnant with her second child when she contracted COVID-19 last month. Her family says that after she gave birth to a healthy baby boy she was put on a ventilator and never recovered. Her brother spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL AVILEZ, LOST SISTER TO COVID-19: Even though she did take care of herself. She would not go out. Always wore her mask. Anything she would touch or anything that she was about to touch, you know, she would clean. Just like you know, they say. Yes, she, you know, she followed every rule in the book, and you know, she still ended up catching it. And it's sad.

You know, like, you got a lot of people that don't understand what is going on. They all think it's a joke. They all think it's a joke until you know it happens to them or one of their family members. And that's what, you know, my sister would want for me to, you know, tell people, just like she did. And you know, unfortunately, this happened to her and you know, I'm going to keep her name alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Every lost, a heartbreak there. And thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more news in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)