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U.S. Sets Record Monday With 110,000-Plus COVID-19 Hospitalizations; FDA: "No Specific Safety Concerns" With Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine; Lawmakers Scramble To Strike A Stimulus Deal; Bipartisan Group Splits COVID-19 Relief Package Into Two Proposals; Mitt Romney: Trump's Attacks On Election Are "Simply Dangerous". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 15, 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]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am Dana Bash in Washington. John King is off today. New hope in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic felt across America today.

That was in New Jersey this morning as the first vaccinations in that state were administered at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School but this shot of hope is coming at a grim time. On Monday, the U.S. passed the tragic milestone, 300,000 people have died now from Coronavirus, and the average of new daily deaths remains above 2,000 a day.

Hospitalizations in this country set another record Monday with more than 110,000 people hospitalized with Coronavirus. It's the 13th consecutive day that the U.S. has reported more than 100,000 hospitalizations but this week there could soon be a second COVID vaccine authorized. This morning, the FDA confirmed the Moderna COVID- 19 vaccine candidate has 94.5 percent efficacy with no specific safety concerns.

The agency will consider whether to issue emergency use authorization for that vaccine this week. Today on Capitol Hill senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell also finally acknowledged the reality that Joe Biden won the election.

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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The Electoral College has spoken. So today, I want to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden.

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BASH: We're going to have more on that in a bit. But we want to go back to the big story that continues to play out and that is the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci stays that the vaccine rollout amid the current dire Coronavirus situation in the U.S. is bittersweet.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We are still in a terrible situation, with the numbers that you mentioned, the deaths, the hospitalizations, the number of cases and yes, we're really now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is going to ultimately get us through this.

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BASH: With me now is, CNN's Sara Murray, who has been covering the vaccine rollout. Sara, what's the latest today?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, today is really the biggest distribution day that we have seen so far. And I think, Dana, as you point out and Dr. Fauci points out, it can't come soon enough. I mean, these health care workers are still grateful to be getting this vaccine. It's going to go to more than 400 sites today yesterday was around 150.

But at this point, all 50 states already have Pfizer's vaccine and we're starting this kind of track to begin to get the American public vaccinated. So the goal is by the end of December to have about 40 million doses out there by January and February, 50 to 80 million doses, and then by the end of March, hopefully to have 100 million people immunized.

Now of course, these are different numbers that could change based on how quickly additional vaccine candidates are authorized, and frankly how quickly the companies can pump out more doses of these vaccines.

We know, Dana, this is going to be in short supply for a long time. We are starting with health care workers, and nursing home residents. It's still going to be months before most of the American public gets this.

BASH: That's right but there is new hope on that on the horizon. An FDA advisory panel released a briefing document about the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. What does that say?

MURRAY: It's really good news, Dana. I mean, first of all, we know we need more than one Coronavirus vaccine to get out of this mess. We are going to need multiples so this document from the FDA scientists on the Moderna vaccine, shares essentially that it has a favorable safety rating, also has very high effectiveness numbers.

You're looking at 94.5 percent effectiveness, which is similar to what we're getting from the Pfizer vaccines, a very high number. It's a really good sign; it should give Americans a lot of confidence. Reminder that the FDA scientists look at this data independently, this is not just what the company is reporting, and this is what the FDA has found.

It also shows it needs to be stored between negative 25 to negative 15 degree Celsius. That's still obviously a very cold temperature, but it's not as cold as that Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored which could make it a little bit easier to distribute to some trickier parts of the country and some rural areas, some other areas that can't necessarily afford to buy those really ultra cold deep freezers.

And the last thing is there's going to be a little bit of a different age range potentially for this Moderna vaccine. When you look at it, they're looking at it for folks 18 and older; the Pfizer vaccine was for 16 and older. These are the kinds of things we're going to have to grapple with as we get these different vaccine candidates.

And Dana, that's why it's so important when people do go to get the vaccines and in the general public that they're talking to their doctors about which vaccine am I receiving, and they're making sure to go get that second dose of the same vaccine that's what health care workers are going to be watching closely.

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BASH: They sure will. Sara, thank you so much for that. And with me now is a health care worker, a doctor to be precise Valerie Briones- Pryor, who is the Medical Director at the University of Louisville Health. Thank you so much for joining me. Doctor, you received your first dose of the vaccine yesterday. What was that process like?

DR. VALERIE BRIONES-PRYOR, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE HEALTH: It was really exciting and bittersweet. So as I was walking to go get my vaccine, I actually had just heard that my 27th patient died, so it was very emotional for me to get that vaccine yesterday.

And even just thinking about it now, I kind of tear up, because I have been waiting for this for a long time. I have been on the COVID unit since March, so I have been doing it pretty much every day, except for a day off here and there. So I have been looking forward to yesterday for a long time.

BASH: So, just to kind of put a point to what you were just saying, which is remarkable, you were on your way to get a vaccine when you heard your 27th patient had died. I mean, there's so many things to ask about first of all, 27 patients?

And people understand now that when you are talking about a patient who is sick and dies from COVID, it is the doctor, it is you, who is there, not their family. You were the one who was there with them, not just as a physician but as a human to be there. I mean, that is intense.

DR. BRIONES-PRYOR: Yes. As I said, as I was putting my jacket on, I was leaving the floor that I work on and we had heard a code overhead. I had just transferred that patient the day before to the ICU and the nurse who I was talking to said, I hope it's not her. And so, called down to the unit as I was about to walk off the floor and they told me, they said Dr. Vale, it's our patient.

And so, as I was walking, they texted me, and told me that she didn't make it. So again, it was bittersweet because I was, you know, I have been waiting for this vaccine. I know we still have a hard fight ahead of us, it's not over, but at least for me this is hope.

BASH: Much needed hope, particularly given the heroic efforts that you and all of your colleagues there are going through. What message do you want Americans to hear from you, a front line worker; somebody who's lost 27 patients, I am sure helped countless others, and now a recipient of the vaccine. What do you want them to hear?

DR. BRIONES-PRYOR: That I wouldn't have gotten it if I didn't think that it was safe, that it was going to be our way to fight this virus. That we need to all do our part it's not just about me, it's not just about my team on the units. We are doing our parts every day that's what we signed up for when we went into health care.

But to really beat this virus, we have to work together which means we all have to do the right thing. It means to continually to wear a mask, to social distance, to wash our hands, and to get the vaccine. So we have to take care of each other if we want to get back to some sense of normalcy that's what I look forward to but we can't get there alone. We need your help.

BASH: Well said and before I let you go, any side effects from getting the vaccine yesterday?

DR. BRIONES-PRYOR: No, my arm is a little - where they gave it to me. Other than that, I went to work today. I feel good. I'm going to go back to work after this. So, I feel pretty good.

BASH: Well, Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor, thank you so much for joining me, for sharing your story, and for everything that you do every day. I appreciate it.

DR. BRIONES-PRYOR: Thank you.

BASH: And up next, the country is struggling as COVID-19 takes its toll not just on the health of this country but on the economic situation. I'm going to speak with Senator Mitt Romney on a bipartisan effort he's been involved with to finally get Americans relief. Stay with me.

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BASH: A short time ago on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognized Joe Biden as President-Elect for the first time and congratulated him for his win after the Electoral College reaffirmed that victory yesterday. Listen.

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MCCONNELL: Many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20th. The Electoral College has spoken. So today, I want to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Meanwhile, there's a lot of scrambling happening right now on Capitol Hill, a trillion-dollar spending bill has to get passed before the government funding expires that is this Friday, and on a long delayed relief bill for millions of Americans suffering the economic effects of COVID-19.

A bipartisan group of Senators trying once again to break the log jam released a $908 billion package yesterday which they divided into two separate proposals. One is $748 billion bill including money for small business loans, jobless benefits and vaccine distribution. Another is $160 billion package which includes the flash points for parties, state and local aid, as well as liability protections for businesses.

Joining me now is a Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a member of that bipartisan group that put together that package. Senator, thank you so much for joining me. First question is where do things stand? Will Americans get relief before congress breaks for the holidays?

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SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Well, I am convinced that the Majority Leader will actually bring legislation to the floor that will either take up our $748 billion bill or the total of 908 billion, or perhaps he will pick and choose from what we put together in a bill of his own and attach it to the Omnibus spending bill.

But one way or the other, I think it's essential that congress take action to help people that are unemployed. We'll have people lose unemployment the day after Christmas that's really unthinkable. And so unemployment, loans to small businesses, grants to small businesses, critical.

Vaccine cost in terms of the distribution of the vaccine at the state level, critical education funding all these things really are of an emergency nature, and I think you're going to see something happen before we leave for the holidays.

BASH: Will you guarantee that meaning you as Senator? Every Senator has the power to gum things up, and make sure that you stay there until that happens for the American people. Will you make that pledge?

ROMNEY: Well, we have the power to stop things. What we don't have as individual Senators is the power to actually get things done and of course that's one of the difficulties. Any one of 100 could stop things, but really only the Majority Leader can decide what comes to the floor. He sets the calendar.

And I am convinced that the Leader McConnell will bring to the floor a COVID relief package and we'll get a chance to vote on it. I only know that by listening to what he has to say, and how he responded to our proposal already?

BASH: I want to ask you about as I mentioned there two separate packages which you I think cleverly did so that you could take the controversy out and perhaps that won't be on the floor. But I want to ask you about the controversial parts one is liability protections. Why do businesses need protections from COVID related lawsuits? There hasn't been a discernable flood of lawsuits or even close.

ROMNEY: Well, I think what you're going to see is that, whether it's universities who've been writing to us and calling us saying look, we need some help. We don't want to get sued by faculty members, by students who say how come we didn't have more masks? How come we didn't know that we should have cancelled classes?

We're going to bring a lawsuit against the university because of a sickness we got or perhaps even a death, likewise doctors, hospitals, schools, small businesses. If a small business, a small restaurant, not a big chain, but a small independent restaurant gets sued by a patron who had a meal there and they say, you should have given us better protection than you did, who knows what kind of awards the jury may give?

And so, we're saying look, if someone has been reckless, if a business or school, university has been wanton reckless, or exhibited gross negligence, then they ought to be liable. But people, who did their best, acting in good faith, shouldn't have to face off all sorts of lawsuits from people who come and go after them. So that's what the liability protection is designed to do.

BASH: Because people, some people are reading it and they're looking at it as something that's broader than what you just described that really hurts workers, right, hurts workers who wouldn't have as many rights as they want and protects businesses in an overarching way that's not specific to COVID? What do you make of that?

ROMNEY: It's all COVID related. These are only COVID injuries. This doesn't apply to any other kind of injury or worker or a customer or a student might have relative to their employer or their institutions that they're dealing with, not only is COVID related injuries.

And look, as you look at where we are even today, but look back in February, March, April, people didn't know what to do. There weren't guidelines put out by the CDC as to whether we should wear a mask or not wear a mask. And the idea of suing enterprises and potentially putting them out of business when people didn't know how to act just doesn't make sense?

And by the way, if businesses and universities and schools and hospitals think they're going to get sued, a lot of them are not going to want to open. So let's get this portion behind us. We did the same sort of thing following 9/11, we said look, we're not going to bring lawsuits associated with 9/11 to recognize a very unusual circumstance such as this.

BASH: I want to ask you this from kind of more of a process point of view going forward. You and other members of this bipartisan group really came together to work on this stimulus bill. Do you see this as a template going forward on getting things done in the Biden Administration?

Things are going to be really close in the House and in the Senate and if you work together, you can have a lot of power. Are you even talking across the aisle about using that power? ROMNEY: Well, there have been I think a number of people who've looked

at the group of us that came together, and said gosh, that seems to be a pattern that tends to work. Without people in the center coming together and looking for common ground between the two parties, you end up seeing both parties if you will running to the wings, running to the most vocal individuals in the respective caucuses.

[12:20:00]

ROMNEY: And I think there's recognition that maybe some of us towards the center ought to see if we can't find some common ground. In the bill that we put together, the $748 billion bill, there are things in there I am not wild about, there are things in there Democrats aren't wild about, but we came together.

We didn't violate principle on either side, but we came together in a way that allowed us to fashion a piece of legislation which is designed to help the American people. That's the way it ought to work all the time and hopefully we'll see more of it.

BASH: It is the way it used to work. We haven't seen it until recently. But you're absolutely right. I want to ask about vaccines that are rolling out across the country today starting yesterday. Dr. Anthony Fauci said this morning that President Trump, Vice President Pence, President-Elect Biden, Vice President-Elect Harris should get vaccinated as soon as possible for security reasons.

You and other members of congress are on planes, you're with constituents, it's a part of your job. Do you think that you and your colleagues should be among the first to get the vaccine?

ROMNEY: Well, I think people who are essential to the continuity of government need to be vaccinated as soon as possible, and that's of course the leaders of the executive branch. The current leaders and the new leaders about to come in.

For the rest of us, the congress people and the Senators, I think the country would get along just fine if we happened to get ill. We're not needed for the preservation of our country. So, I'm going to get in line when my particular age group turns up and get my shot at that point.

BASH: OK. I want to ask about your leader McConnell this morning finally recognizing what you did a long time ago which is that Joe Biden is the President-Elect. Will more of your fellow Republicans finally follow suit now?

ROMNEY: I think you'll see more and more people indicate that Joe Biden is the President-Elect. I think a different question and important question is, how many Republicans will say that what the president is saying is simply wrong and dangerous, that the continued attack on our election system and the calls that suggest that it has been fraudulent or stolen, that these things are not accurate, they're not true.

There's been no evidence of substantial fraud of the nature that'd be necessary to overturn an election. Even the attorney general said that and so, we need to have people who are strong Trump supporters come out and say that as well, or you're going to continue to have this country divided which is pretty dangerous.

BASH: That was notably absent from Mitch McConnell's speech this morning. Does he need to say that? He needs to go further? That's what I hear you saying.

ROMNEY: Well, no, I think Mitch McConnell did exactly what he needs to do. But some of those that are really identified as being strong Trump supporters, they'd make a real difference if they came out and spoke and said you know what, we got to get behind this new president-elect. He was legitimately elected. Let's move on.

BASH: You are one of the few people on the planet who knows what it's like to run for president and to lose that run. So can you talk to, are you talking quietly to those Republicans you were just referring to about the need to do this when it comes to the basic democratic principles of this country?

ROMNEY: The answer is yes. I made it very clear what I think individuals might do in order to bring our country together. Look, we're in a real challenging time as a nation. One, because of COVID. Two, because of an economy that's trying to reboot. Three, because China is trying to take over the world.

We've got some things going on. We need to come together and work together, and work with the new president, work with Republicans and Democrats, and this bickering over things that frankly are untrue is not productive. It's actually an impediment to us being able to help the American people the way they deserve.

BASH: But their part of - and before I let you go, I have to ask you, they're part of a larger issue, which is that Donald Trump has a very firm grip on the Republican Party. I don't need to tell you that.

We saw retiring Republican Congressman Paul Mitchell, he told Jake Tapper yesterday he is on his way out the door that he is leaving the Republican Party all together because of how much it has changed. Are you as a lifelong Republican, prominent Republican, worried that you're not going to be able to overcome Trumpism in the near future?

ROMNEY: Well, I think President Trump will continue to have substantial influence on the party. And I think if you look at the people who are rumored to be thinking of running in 2024, besides the president, those are people who are trying to appeal to kind of a populist approach.

So I don't think Trumpism is going away, but I hope that we can have disagreements over policy and a vision of our respective parties without continuing to promote a narrative which puts democracy itself in jeopardy.

[12:25:00]

ROMNEY: And when you tell people that voting doesn't work and that democracy can't work because we don't have legitimate elections that are a very dangerous thing to be saying.

BASH: Real quick, Ron Johnson is going to have a hearing tomorrow on that very notion on what he calls election irregularities, saying a large percentage of the American population don't view it as legitimate for a host of reasons. You are on that committee. Are you going to go, are you going to protest? What will you do?

ROMNEY: I'm not going to go to that. I don't think it's productive at this stage. If at some point down the road we want to look at whatever election irregularities occurred in 2020 as well as 2016 and 2012, sure. But those are marginal irregularities, meaning they're not substantial and across the board, they're not substantial enough to change the outcome of the election.

It's always appropriate to find ways to make elections more secure. But our systems have worked pretty well and they have over the years and they will continue to in the future.

BASH: Senator Mitt Romney, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it.

ROMNEY: Thanks, Dana. Good to be with you.

BASH: Thank you too. And up next, the hope of the vaccine comes as Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are soaring.

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