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FDA Authorization Expected Quickly for Moderna Vaccine; CDC: Tens of Thousands More Deaths by Early January; U.S. Lawmakers Scramble to Secure Stimulus Deal; U.S. President Silent on Pandemic, Stimulus, Massive Cyberattack; Freed Nigerian Schoolboys Reach Home State; U.S. Warns Suspected Russian Hack Wider than Thought. Aired 4- 4:30a ET

Aired December 18, 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]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: A sign of hope amid a grim holiday season. An FDA panel recommends authorizing Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, but it may come too late for the record numbers of Americans now in the hospital.

Plus, Congressional leaders scramble to get a stimulus deal finalized before tonight's midnight deadline. But it's what the deal leaves out that has some state officials fuming.

And President Trump remains silent on a massive cyberattack against the U.S. Why national security experts say his silence is dangerous.

Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

New this hour, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it will move quickly to give Emergency Use Authorization to the vaccine developed by Moderna. An FDA advisory panel overwhelmingly recommended the authorization on Thursday, its second vaccine recommendation in a week. If all goes as expected, about 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine could be on delivery trucks as early as Monday. And that could be critical in the days ahead.

Some states have been told to expect smaller than promised deliveries of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine beginning next week. Now the tragic truth is that no matter how quickly the entire country is vaccinated it's already too late for many. More than 114,000 Americans are now filling COVID wards all across the country. It's the 12th day in a row that hospitalizations have broken a record and some facilities say they have run out of empty beds. It underscores the urgent need for vaccines as CNN's Alexandra Field explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Moderna's vaccine could be now just days away from reaching Americans. An FDA advisory panel is recommending authorization of what would be the nation's second COVID vaccine. The panel heard accounts from scientists, doctors, and people who survived COVID.

DOUGLAS DIETERICH, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR LIVER MEDICINE, MOUNT SINAI: There is a lot of long-term effects of COVID. After I was at home for a few months, I developed some severe atrial arrhythmias. When they subsided, I developed superior hypertension, which I'm still battling.

FIELD: It comes just a day after one of the darkest in our history. The pandemic at its all-time worst.

DANIEL TREVINO, SIBLINGS DIED FROM COVID-19: One minute, they are OK, you are talking to them, you know, on FaceTime, then all of a sudden, you try to face time again and they talk to you and are hooked up to like six different machines. You know, with tubes going down their bodies and, you know, that's the last image you are going to have of their loved one.

CARLOS DEL RIO, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: We're just not seeing people doing the implementation necessary to stem the tide of this virus right now.

FIELD: A new CDC forecast adds tens of thousands more deaths to predictions for the next few weeks, as many as 391,000 by January 9th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, these patients when they are dying, they are alone.

FIELD: Nevada and five other states hitting a record high for deaths reported in a single day. The White House COVID task Force says the fall's surges merging with the post-Thanksgiving surge to create a winter surge with the most rapid increase in cases yet. Tennessee now among the states with the fastest spread of the virus.

GOV. BILL LEE (R-TN): One thing that this vaccine will not solve, one thing that it will not cure, is selfishness, or indifference to what's happening to our neighbors around us.

FIELD: The rollout of Pfizer's vaccine, the first hit the market, continues across the country. A shipping error forced New Mexico to throw out 75 doses that shipped at the wrong temperature, but pharmacists also say they are finding some vials of the Pfizer vaccines have extra doses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I'm ready for the vaccine.

FIELD: A bit of a boost as certain states learn they are getting less for now than what they expected. Iowa says it's working with federal partners to figure out why they are receiving as much as 30 percent less than what they planned for.

FIELD (on camera): The states will be learning on a weekly basis about how large the next week shipments will be. Which means that they will have to plan, and perhaps, adjust their plans in some cases. We're also now learning that if the Moderna vaccine gets its Emergency Use Authorization it could start sending out its shipments of the vaccine almost right away. [04:05:00]

That means the federal government would plan to send out about 7.9 million doses of vaccine next week, 5.9 million from Moderna, and another 2 million from Pfizer.

In New York, Alexandra Field, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And Alexandra, as she just mentioned, a number of U.S. states have been informed that future deliveries of vaccine will be scaled down from what had been promised. The governor of Washington state tweeted his frustration over a 40 percent cut in the state's vaccine shipment next week. Saying he's received no explanation.

Pfizer quickly shot down any suggestion it was having production problems. No shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed. We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse. But as of now we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses.

An administration official offered this explanation for why some shipments of vaccine will be smaller than before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The Pfizer vaccine goes out in two shipments. So half of the vaccines, so 2.9 million going out this week, another 2.9 million will be held back for the second dose for those patients to receive in 21 to 28 days. There's another small amount being held back just in the event that there's any kind of, you know, mishaps on the shipping or spillage or, you know, just things we can't foresee.

But things are going as planned, and the states are getting the vaccines out to where they are telling the government to ship them. It's just a matter of things are going as planned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. Congressional leaders are working to get a stimulus deal finalized with the government shutdown looming. Funding for operations run out at midnight Friday. Lawmakers may have to extend the deadline to avoid a shutdown while stimulus negotiations continue.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that he hopes any extension is short. He also said Congress may work through the weekend to finalize a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): They've waited and suffered, and some have died, while needless political games have played out. Struggling Americans don't just need action. They need action fast. Fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: McConnell focused on direct stimulus payments in a recent conference call.

There are major issues in the Georgia Senate runoff races which will determine the next Senate majority. So to understand what's at stake, let's turn to CNN's Eleni Giokos in Johannesburg. Eleni, since we spoke yesterday, they kind of inched towards a deal. What's the latest?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, look, this is the closest we've ever been, but the pressure is on. We know the government shuts down midnight Friday. So there's just a few hours left. There is, however, a sense of urgency from both Republicans and Democrats to get this deal done and they have said that they're willing to work over the weekend. So a potential extension of the deadline.

But let's look at where we stand right now, and the overall package we know is just over $900 billion. It's a bipartisan deal and the sticking points have been separated into a separate bill. But this is where they really do agree. But at the same time, it's the language.

So lots of money, billions of dollars for vaccines and schools. $300 a week in enhanced jobless benefits. But the question is, just how long will that last. The other big question about the $600 stimulus check. People that receive that money, will they then be eligible for the enhanced jobless benefits as well. Republicans are saying no.

And then of course, the other thing that has come to the fore is the limits that the Republicans want to place on federal emergency lending, that could hamper the Biden administration into next year. So again, we've got a lot of sticking points but at least you have consensus from both sides that a relief bill needs to be put into place.

In the meantime, initial jobless claims numbers showing that the jobs market is deteriorating. 20.6 million Americans are currently on some kind of benefits and around 15 million Americans are going to be falling out of benefits the day after Christmas. This is going to be a tough few months if they don't put this into place and absolutely, Kim, time is running out.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely, you've just underscored what's at stake here. Thank you so much, Eleni Giokos in Johannesburg.

Well you think the U.S. president would be speaking out about stalled stimulus talks. But Donald Trump hasn't said anything about it recently or any of the other major challenges the country is facing right now. Kaitlan Collins has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's President Trump?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Trump's been hard at work on COVID behind the scenes.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a question many in Washington are asking. Where is President Trump?

With only five weeks left in office, he stayed behind closed doors again today and hasn't made a public appearance since Saturday, when he took no questions from the White House press corps.

[04:10:00]

In the middle of a devastating public health crisis, where 3,000 Americans are dying per day, with a presidential transition underway, and national security officials still scrambling to understand the magnitude of a Russian cyberattack, Trump is nowhere to be found. And the few events he does hold are often closed to the press.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, hello, Georgia.

COLLINS: While Vice President Mike Pence, who campaigned in Georgia today, is scheduled to get the coronavirus vaccine on camera tomorrow, the White House hasn't said when Trump will, and neither his he.

Trump's also said little about the coronavirus relief negotiations happening on Capitol Hill as hundreds of thousands of Americans filed for unemployment again this week.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): We have a responsibility to get this right. People's lives depend upon it.

COLLINS: And as the scope of a hack by a Russian-linked group on the U.S. government and corporations becomes clearer, the president hasn't said a word or posted a single tweet.

The White House declined to say whether Trump's been briefed by his top intelligence officials, who were all absent from his cabinet meeting yesterday.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): This is virtually a declaration of war by Russia on the United States, and we should take it that seriously.

COLLINS: Trump's own former officials are calling for his attention. In an op-ed published in "The New York Times," his first homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, wrote that Trump is, quote, on the verge of leaving behind a federal government compromised by the Russian government. President Trump must get past his grievances about the election and govern for the remainder of his term.

The president doesn't appear to be listening. Instead, his Twitter feed today was filled with disinformation about the election, threats to veto the defense spending bill, and denials of his involvement in the investigation into Hunter Biden.

(on camera): And of course, one of the biggest parts of the president's disinformation campaign about the election has been about Dominion voting systems, where the president has made this claim that people voted for him, and they change the votes in the machines to Joe Biden. That's something that has also been pushed by the pro-Trump attorney Sydney Powell. And this week, Dominion sent Sydney Powell a letter asking, actually, demanding -- really, that's a step before taking a legal step here -- a public apology of her statements and a retraction of the claims she's made about their company, including that one that the software was developed in Venezuela to benefit Hugo Chavez, who of course, died several years ago.

And in their letter, they say they have no connection to Venezuela, certainly not one to Mr. Chavez, as well. And they joke even they have about as much of a connection to them as they do to Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster.

Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who's been one of Mr. Trump's biggest allies said it's time for the president to accept his election defeat. Here's what he told CNN's Chris Cuomo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Whenever anybody loses an election, party, an individual, there's great disappointment, but elections have consequences, and this one was clearly won by President-elect Biden. By the same margin in the electoral college that President Trump won four years ago, and by even more, nearly double the popular vote.

This election, there's been no evidence put forward that's shown me as a former prosecutor that there was any fraud that would change the result of the election. And so it's time for us to accept that defeat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: John Fetterman is the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, and joins me now from Braddock, Pennsylvania, via Skype. Thank you so much for joining me. So if a deal is finally reached, it seems a huge element will still be missing, funding for states and cities. Governor Cuomo from New York called it madness. How would you characterize it?

JOHN FETTERMAN, PENNSYLVANIA LT. GOVERNOR (via Skype): Oh, I think that the underlying truth is that the states, individual states make up the United States, and if the federal government of the United States does care of the individual states, I think that's going to present a serious challenge.

I mean ultimately, I would think the goal would be to have all of the states collectively bounce back as quickly as we can. The great news is that vaccine is being rolled out. And you know, can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, in terms of achieving herd immunity through the vaccine. But if you don't provide the necessary resources for the state to do that, I think you're going to just draw this out any longer than it needs to be already.

BRUNHUBER: So even though the concept of moneys for cities and states has had some bipartisan support, it's been only Democrats pushing it. Does the Republican leadership's refusal to budge on this just come down to partisan politics?

FETTERMAN: I don't know what else it could be. I mean, it's undeniable, this idea that these states and these cities don't need these resources. Everyone knows what this pandemic has done. I don't care if you're in a red city or you are in a blue county in Pennsylvania. It doesn't matter.

[04:15:00]

The fact is we're all Americans. And my hope is that we can acknowledge that we need these resources to more quickly bounce back once herd immunity is achieved through the vaccine and we can get back to normal. Because that's what we all want, whether you're a Republican or Democrat. It's an undeniable fact.

BRUNHUBER: But some Republicans at federal, even at state level are saying, well you know, you can't expect the federal government to bail you out. You should be able to cover the short fall with budget cuts if you have your, you know, fiscal house in order.

FETTERMAN: Yes, well a lot of these same members of the party are pretending that Donald Trump won the election or won't call Joe Biden president-elect. I mean, who are you going to believe, one who wants to believe in fairy tales that the president actually won the election or Joe Biden did. So of course it's partisanship at a very fundamental level, and I would hope that we could finally just put that to bed and just realize that this pandemic has affected us all. We need the resources to stabilize and to hit the ground running once we put the virus under control.

BRUNHUBER: You have brought up the vaccine. I wanted to ask you about that. Last I saw, there were some, you know, 1,500 shots given in your state, you're expecting thousands more doses by the end of the week. But I understand many states are being told that the next week's shipment is being cut back. What can you tell us about that?

FETTERMAN: I'm not exactly sure if that's specifically true to Pennsylvania. What I do know is the governor and our secretary of health have a multistep plan to roll out the vaccine where the most vulnerable and frontline workers are going to get it. And then suddenly -- excuse me -- we're going to step down to the point where it's available on a general level across Pennsylvania.

And I certainly would plan to get the vaccine when it becomes generally available across Pennsylvania. I believe in it. I think everybody should and I'm certainly going to project that to the people of Pennsylvania that this vaccine is a way that we can all kind of put this virus behind us.

BRUNHUBER: Before we go, I wanted to ask you, your state was at the center of a lot of the fake stolen election controversy. Now there's been a lot of speculation about what you might do in 2022. Run for governor, Senate. I don't expect you to announce your campaign here and now. So I want to ask you this, given that so many Republicans, including many in your state, falsely believe the election was stolen. How might that affect the dynamics of a potential campaign in the future if you were to run?

FETTERMAN: Well, I would always run on the truth, I mean, that's what the Republicans just can't seem to get their heads around, that the truth is that Joe Biden won. And they can't comprehend any other reality that they have to sue for the president right now. Because they're either, one, worried about the ramifications from their base or the wrath of the president.

But the truth of the matter is we already certified our results. The electoral college weighed in. Joe Biden is going to be the next president, and we need to just get on with it. And you're going to see more and more Republicans acknowledging that, but here in Pennsylvania, we still have members of the Republican Party that refuse to.

But, you know, I have always been able to join and use our platform to put forward the idea that truth and the math made Joe Biden president, not any kind of fraud or conspiracy or any other kind of crazy ideas they tried to advance over these last six weeks.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you so much for coming on lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, appreciate your time.

FETTERMAN: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: U.S. officials are pointing the finger at Russian hackers following a massive security breach. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll talk about the cyber hack with an expert and find out where we go from here. Stay with us.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: All right, some breaking news coming into CNN this hour. More than 300 Nigerian schoolboys who were freed after being abducted from their boarding school have just arrived in their home state. Camera crews report the boys were taken to the Katsina state government house. Authorities say bandits posing as Boko Haram terrorists abducted them from their school last week. They say Nigerian soldiers recued them.

Many are blaming the government for the lawlessness that has swept across northwestern Nigeria for the past several years. And the good news of the boys freedom is tempered by the fears of people across the region that the wave of criminality is far from over.

A top U.S. cyber security agency is warning that a suspected Russian hack is more widespread than previously thought. The growing list of targets includes the U.S. Energy Department, which oversees the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. The cyber security agency says the hack poses a grave risk to networks across the public and private sectors. Microsoft has identified more than 40 of its customers around the

world who are affected and says it has isolated and removed a vulnerability in its systems that facilitated the hacking.

CNN national security analyst, Sam Vinograd joins me now from New York. So I want to start with your reaction to the size and scope of the attacks. As we learn more about them it really seems as if the Russians -- if it's confirmed to be them -- are tapping into a gold mine or several of them.

SAM VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right and the operative point tonight, Kim, is we don't know the full scale and scope of the damage. And for that reason, the U.S. government and its partners around the world cannot yet start to do accurate damage control.

Everyday we're learning more about U.S. government entities that have been compromised. We learned a few hours ago from Microsoft that its customers in several countries were also attacked by the alleged Russian hackers.

[04:25:00]

And for this reason, one of the key focuses for the U.S. government right now is just to neutralize the threat. That involves agencies like the FBI and DHS trying to scope U.S. government entities to identify what has been breached and when, and to contain the threat. That must be the immediate focus for the U.S. government at this juncture.

BRUNHUBER: The other focus is on President Trump. He's been widely criticized for his silence on this. Democrats, you know, accuse him of being in Russia's pockets. You've written that a key part of emergency response is public messaging. So why does his silence matter.

VINOGRAD: Well, I'm not holding my breath for President Trump to come out and condemn Russia. Based on his track record, his silence is more likely than not. But the failure of a U.S. president to comment on a widespread hack of the U.S. government or to attribute the attack to Russia -- all signs are pointing to this being a Russian attack -- sends a message of disorganization within the U.S. government or paint a picture of the U.S. president who's timid in the face of Russian attacks.

All It is critical that someone in the U.S. government very soon calls out the attackers based on my experience. It is near to impossible that the intelligence community does not have declassified intelligence about the perpetrators of this attack. Again, alleged to be the cozy bear group, which is affiliated with Russian intelligence. And the failure to publicly attribute this attack sends a message about U.S. weakness.

The U.S. government can multitask. They need to implement a public messaging campaign that in the, first, incidents attributes to the attack. And second, lays out real costs for the perpetrators. The other issue here, Kim, of course is this is a lame duck presidency. So anything that this administration does say frankly doesn't hold as much water in light of the fact that they will be out of office very soon. Instead I think we need to look to the comments and statements from the incoming administration including what President-elect Biden said earlier today.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, well let me ask you about that. Because you know, how should the U.S. respond? And I'm assuming it will be up to the next president. Should there be sanctions, cyberattacks of our own. You know, Joe Biden has been left a bit of a mess to clean up here.

VINOGRAD: Trump is certainly leaving Biden with a mess, but the most important thing in a situation like this is to have a well-informed strategic response. Trump approving some kind of retaliatory offensive cyberattack, for example, without a strategy could lead to an escalatory tit for tat cycle with Russia. What we need is a president to sit down with his intelligence community, his policy makers and to consult with international partners about how to punish Russia and how to send a credible message that the costs will increase if Russia continues this behavior.

BRUNHUBER: The French president has tested positive for coronavirus. Now other top European leaders are at risk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)