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Interview with COVID-19 Vaccine Recipient; Congress Commits to Pass COVID-19 Stimulus Before Christmas; U.S. Government Agencies Hacked by Russian-Linked Groups. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 15, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:31:52]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this news just in, New York City has just administered 73 first-dose vaccines already, and they expect nearly 41,000 more to be available by the end of today. So let's talk with someone who was among the first to get the vaccine in the country, Dr. Yves Duroseau, chair of Emergency Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital right here in New York.

He was the second in line in the entire country, you see him there, getting the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday on live television, he joins me now.

Great to see, great to have you. How are you feeling, what was it like?

YVES DUROSEAU, CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, LENOX HILL HOSPITAL: Thank you, Poppy. I'm feeling great, and that's exactly what I -- I wanted to do it, I wanted to be able to test, as a physician, that really there's nothing to fear. And truly, it's almost been 24 hours and I feel great.

HARLOW: I know you also did it on live television to send a message. Who were you talking to mostly there, just by being on TV, and what is your message to them?

DUROSEAU: I was speaking to several people. I can speak as a leader, that I think it was very important to be a role model. As a physician that's been in the frontlines, taking care of patients and seeing the suffering, the mortality, the morbidity, I think that was a very important message.

And also to communities who are maybe reluctant to take the vaccination. There are certain communities that have suffered disproportionately, and it's very important that they also realized the need to take the vaccination.

HARLOW: Right. Among those communities, black Americans, we know from the new numbers out from Kaiser this morning that 35 percent of black adults in America still say that they will not take the vaccine at this point in time, and you can't -- I mean, you have to take that number and understand the mistrust, given the history of this country, Tuskegee and many more examples.

What is incumbent on leaders like you to do to help them understand this is different, this is safe?

DUROSEAU: I think that's the key thing, right? So we're looking for some silver linings, and I think, Poppy, we have to acknowledge the history, we have to be cognizant of it. But I think this is the first time we're actually having meaningful open dialogue about -- about these issues.

And I think with the rollout of the vaccination, there has been, quite frankly, message that we have to be ethical about this, we have to be fair, we have to protect the vulnerable and we have to reach out to, you know, not just minorities but rural areas, we have to make sure that everyone's included. And we're talking about health care disparities in ways that we've never spoken about them, so that's a silver lining for me in this whole situation.

HARLOW: I was very sorry to read that you lost your own uncle to COVID -- someone you were very close to -- and that you, I believe, currently have a family member in the hospital with COVID. So I mean, for you this just goes so far beyond being a medical professional and setting an example for others.

What was that moment like for you personally yesterday, sitting in that chair, getting the vaccine, knowing, you know, what you had lost from this pandemic?

[10:35:05]

DUROSEAU: Yes, I have lost -- and uncountable (ph) amount of people have lost. And it's unfortunate that someone or some folks will not benefit from this vaccination. So looking forward and trying to look forward to a bright future, that's what I was thinking about, that we could get ourselves away from this horrible situation that we've been facing -- and still currently face.

It shouldn't be lost on us that we're still seeing almost 3,000 people die a day. And so, moving forward, while there's hope, we still have to remain vigilant in terms of the masking, the washing our hands, social distancing and refrain from gathering because otherwise we won't get this under control.

HARLOW: Right, right. Why give up now? We're just -- we're so close to so many having vaccination.

Well, thank you very much, Dr. Duroseau, for being here with us. We're excited and happy for you.

DUROSEAU: Thank you, thank you for this opportunity, Poppy, and stay safe.

HARLOW: Of course -- Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: So good to see doctors getting vaccinated.

Well, time is critical if lawmakers are going to reach a deal for another stimulus before leaving for the holidays. Joe Manchin said on this broadcast last hour, they won't leave without signing.

Plus, the government is just days away from running out of money. We're live on Capitol Hill with all these new developments.

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[10:40:44]

SCIUTTO: All right, we can forgive you for being skeptical here, but the latest is that a stimulus deal could now be within reach on Capitol Hill. Of course, the question is can lawmakers bring it to the finish line, and with government funding running out on Friday night, lawmakers could release a massive $1.4 trillion package as soon as today. But, Poppy, as we always say, we'll see.

HARLOW: Yes, we will see. House and Senate leaders still want to tie COVID relief provisions to the proposal. It's unclear, though, what is actually going to end up being included here.

Here's what West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin told us last hour about the prospects of getting at least part of their COVID relief deal done before the holiday.

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SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): There's been very positive messages coming from both of them, both Speaker Pelosi and both Majority Leader McConnell, they've been very positive about this. I will say this, we're not going home until it's done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Let's go back to our colleague Manu Raju. He's back on Capitol Hill with us this morning. Manu, right there, he's talking about the $748 billion package with, like, small business loans, money for vaccine distribution, et cetera.

He -- I asked him, OK, you're not going to go home also until you get the $160 billion bill, which is liability protection, state and local aid passed? And he said, well, I'm in support of both of them. So it didn't seem clear to me at all that they've got leadership support in both chambers for both of these.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it's unlikely at this moment that they're going to be able to get that $160 billion package for state and local funding and liability protection, just because there's so much disagreement about that specific proposal.

Democrats essentially will almost certainly be forced to abandon that amount of money for state and local aid, Republicans already are saying they're willing to put aside their demands for liability protections in order to get a narrower deal. The question is, can the leadership on both sides ultimately agree on a compromise that is clearly within reach?

You mentioned a number of the proposals that was outlined in that bipartisan proposal, that includes money for small businesses, that includes vaccine distribution money, that includes extension of jobless benefits as well as rental assistance, deferring student loan payments, things that both sides believe is absolutely essential to getting done.

Can they agree to that and put aside the things that they disagree on, and punt that until the new year? Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, has already proposed going that far. Democrats -- initially the Democratic leaders rejected what McConnell was talking about, but it appears that is the only path forward at the moment.

And why today is so critical is because they do want to tie those provisions onto a must-pass government funding bill. You mentioned $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill to keep all federal agencies funded past this Friday, when the government would shut down. They want to include those provisions, those COVID relief provisions, onto that -- in that spending package.

So we should -- we'll essentially have to see the text of that language today --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

RAJU: -- if they want to get it done by the end of the week, which is why we'll finally know whether they can finally get a deal here -- guys.

SCIUTTO: Manu, it strikes me, I mean, to your point, that this is in effect what the Senate majority leader was holding for for weeks now, right? Is just a trimmed-down deal and state and local protections left out. It was my understanding that Democrats were holding on liability relief to ensure that they could get that state and local money.

But without that, I just want to -- you've covered this Congress for a long time. Is that where we end up, just with a trimmed-down package that McConnell wanted and the other stuff punted?

RAJU: It feels that way. And ultimately, Nancy Pelosi has not quite said -- gone that far. I asked her yesterday, is the state and local money -- which she has been demanding for some time -- is that a red line? She would not say. She just simply said it is in the negotiations right now, another sign that they may have to put that aside.

But as you know, there was a much bigger deal that they were talking about before the elections, but both sides could not agree to a bigger deal. The Republicans pushed back, the administration couldn't get a deal with Pelosi. At the end of the day, we're left where we are now, where there's

probably going to be a much smaller deal. And then they'll have to come back next year in the Biden administration to see if they can get more of that done.

[10:45:00]

HARLOW: I just wonder, Manu, is there any recognition from members of both parties of the pain that their four months of bickering over this has caused? I mean seriously, like, they're doing their job now, but they literally haven't been doing it for four months.

RAJU: Yes, absolutely. And -- but the thing is, as you know, no one takes the blame here. The blame is always passed onto the other side. A few people might take the blame, but for the most part they are saying it's the other side's fault.

But at the end of the day, this is a divided Congress, this is a Republican-controlled Senate, a Democratic-controlled House, a Republican in the White House. There needs to be some sort of consensus about what can get through and there just has not been some. So at this point, people realize there is absolutely no way they can go home without getting something passed, which is why there's a sense that finally something will get accomplished here.

HARLOW: Finally. Manu, thank you very much.

Well, the government agency tasked with protecting the nation from cyber-attacks -- this is a big deal -- itself was hacked. Who the government believes is behind it, next.

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[10:50:28]

HARLOW: Well, this is a big, big story. CNN has learned the Homeland Security Department's cyber arm, which is designed to protect the nation from malicious foreign attacks, is among at least three --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: -- U.S. government agencies hit by hackers linked to Russia.

SCIUTTO: This is a stunningly broad attack here, cannot understate the significance. It is one of the most significant security breaches of the federal government in years. We have heard nothing from President Trump about this cyber-attack, blamed on Russia.

TEXT: Donald J. Trump: Putin and I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, and many other negative things, will be guarded.

SCIUTTO: In the past, though, not only has he downplayed the dangers of Russian cyberespionage, he even famously -- as in this tweet here -- discussed forming a joint group with Russia to prevent hacking. Remarkable. CNN's Vivian Salama has been covering the story. Vivian, timing

notable here because this hack took place as or after the president fired the person in charge of the agency to look out for this kind of thing.

VIVIAN SALAMA, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. A lot of unknowns so far, as far as the timing and the circumstances surrounding this attack.

But definitely we have confirmed that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which was headed by a guy named Chris Krebs, who the president fired a few weeks ago, that was one of the agencies that's been attacked here. And so obviously raises a lot of questions about sort of the integrity of some of these agencies, when there's all this shuffling going on.

But still, federal and private investigators are trying to determine the scope to which the military, the intelligence community and even critical U.S. infrastructure was impacted by this breach.

Now, what happened was over the weekend, cyber-security firm called FireEye alerted U.S. intelligence to the fact that several layers of defenses in the software that protects the government were breached.

And since then, we've managed to discover that the Commerce Department, the Agriculture Department, and CISA -- as it's known, the cybersecurity agency -- were among the agencies that have been breached. The government is also looking into possible breaches at the Treasury Department, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Postal Service.

Now, many of these agencies in the government rely on one software company called SolarWinds. And SolarWinds came out a few days ago and said that it believes that 18,000 private and government users downloaded a Russian-tainted software that essentially gave the hackers a foothold into these systems.

And so obviously, a lot of fingers pointing at Russia. U.S. government officials privately telling us that Russia is possibly -- or Russian- linked actors possible responsible. But publicly, the government has yet to point fingers or even make any statements to comfort people out there.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, remarkable that it didn't know, right? The U.S. government did not know, apparently, this was happening, it had to be pointed out to them by FireEye, a private service. Vivian Salama, thanks so much for being on top of this important story.

Well, this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he will meet with the man picked by President-elect Biden to replace him at the State Department.

HARLOW: Our Kylie Atwood joins us now. Good morning to you, Kylie. This is an important milestone, the first meeting between a member of Trump's cabinet and a Biden nominee, not to mention what Pompeo said about a second Trump term. KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, guys. This

is big news, it demonstrates that there is some momentum behind this transition here. On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to meet with President-elect Joe Biden's selected secretary of state, Tony Blinken. This will be the first meeting between these two officials.

it's noteworthy because, as you said, Poppy, just after the election, Secretary Pompeo refused to acknowledge Biden's victory, he also made comments about there being a successful, smooth transition to a second Trump administration.

And we have seen, just this morning, Senate majority leader recognizing and congratulating Biden's victory. But what is really significant about this meeting on Thursday is the fact that Pompeo is a member of President Trump's cabinet, and he is going to be officially recognizing that he will have a successor who will pick up the reins on American foreign policy for the Biden administration.

Now, I want to note, guys, that Tony Blinken has not been waiting with bated breath for this meeting. He has been preparing for a nomination hearing, there's a tremendous amount of work being done here at the State Department. Just last week, 25 briefings every day took place between the transition team and the career folks here at the State Department.

[10:55:02]

HARLOW: It's big, it's significant and it's progress forward --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: -- Kylie, we appreciate your reporting at the State Department. Thank you so much.

And thanks to all of you for joining us today, we'll see you back here tomorrow morning. I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: Yes, quite a morning of news. I'm Jim Sciutto. NEWSROOM with Kate Bolduan will start right after a short break.

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[11:00:05]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone, I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you so much for joining us this hour.