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Congress Reaches Deal On $900 Billion COVID Relief Package; France-U.K. Border To Close For 48 Hours Due To COVID-19 Variant; Countries Banning U.K. Flights As Officials Warn Of New COVID Variant; Nancy Pelosi And Chuck Schumer To Speak On $900 Billion Relief Deal; Cyberattack On Several U.S. Federal Agencies. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 20, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): For small business owners who are providing businesses the opportunity to take another draw of the popular Paycheck Protection Program.

[18:00:13]

Crucially, this bill will provide $12 billion for minority-owned and very small businesses who struggled to access financing during the earlier rounds of PPP.

Local newspapers and local broadcasters will have access to this assistance, non-profits. I worked very hard to see that that happened. And our non-profit religious institutions, our churches and our synagogues and our mosques, no collection plate, no income, but so vital to social services and so needed during a time of crisis, will once again get the help they need, something that I authored in the CARES bill.

I'm especially pleased that this bill will provide money for bars and restaurants and $15 billion in SBA grants for theater operators and small venue owners through the Save Our Stages Act. These venues are so important to my state and many states across the country. They are the lifeblood of our communities. They were first to close and will be the last to open. The bill gives them a fighting chance.

And, of course, today's agreement will give a major boost to our battle against the disease itself. There will be more than $30 billion to support the procurement and distribution of the coronavirus vaccine, ensuring it is free and rapidly distributed to everyone.

Today's agreement includes this and all more, support for childcare, food assistance, agricultural relief, the Postal Service, and funding to help families gain access to broadband.

So the American people have a great deal to celebrate in this legislation but, of course, the agreement we reached is far from perfect. It leaves out state and local assistance, direct state and local assistance. Despite desperate pleas from governors, mayors, economists across the spectrum, Republicans stubbornly refused to provide direct aid to state and local governments. Over a million employees, public employees, have already lost their jobs. It doesn't matter if you're working for a small business and get laid off or if you're working for a government and laid off, you still need to feed your family. So why is there such a difference on this side of the aisle between these same people, flesh and blood? Because one works for a government, they don't get help, because one works for a small business, they do. Both should get help.

State revenues, of course, are significantly down across the country, in states red and blue. The continued opposition to state and local funding from Republicans remains deeply irresponsible. It will force states to make painful decisions to cut jobs, potentially raise taxes on working families, and it will hurt the economy of the entire country as millions more of government workers are laid off at a time when we're struggling to recover, hurting us all.

Still, Democrats refuse to let state and local governments be completely left behind. Today's agreement does include aid for specific state level expenses, $82 billion for education funding, $27 billion in payments for testing and state health care programs, $45 billion for transit systems. I'm very proud of the fact that New York's MTA will receive the money it needs to keep going. It is so vital to our city's economy and something I worked very hard for.

Make no mistake, these funding sources are not a replacement for direct aid.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: And you have been listening to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer making the announcement that millions of Americans have been so desperately waiting for, Congressional leaders reaching a deal on a $900 billion stimulus package.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying help is finally on the way. Senate Minority Leader Schumer saying that it's far from perfect but also acknowledges it is the second largest stimulus bill in U.S. history, only after the CARES Act that was passed back in the spring.

Let's get right to CNN's Manu Raju on the Hill. So, Manu, what finally brought these two sides together?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they realized they had no other choice. So many people are about to see their jobless benefits expire in just a matter of days. More and more Americans are filing for unemployment benefits. Schools need money to reopen. People are seeing other tax breaks and the like expire.

There are concerns about people being evicted as the federal eviction moratorium is about to expire as well as student loans, people having to defer those loans for some time, those payments.

[18:05:00]

That is also set to expire. And we expect this proposal to address that issue as well.

There are just so many issues in which Americans are hurting, whether it's farmers helping with food -- dealing with food supply, with the vaccine distribution, that states and cities need money to help roll out and ensure that the American public is inoculated. There are too many issues in which both sides realize they can no longer be at a stalemate over.

That is why over the last several days, we have intense negotiations even though the two sides have not had real serious negotiations for quite some time, the last several days they've realized with this Congress, time running out, and with these deadlines coming up, they needed to come together and, eventually, they did.

So this $900 billion relief bill will help people who are about to see those unemployment benefits dry up, provide an additional $300 a week for people starting on December 27th, also will provide a one-time payment directly for individuals of $600 for those under the income level of $75,000, would provide more than $300 billion for small businesses, then loans, emergency loans that will be needed for so many companies that are shutting down during this pandemic. We're hearing it will also help live venues who have also been hurt by the pandemic, restaurants and the like.

So, so many people, Bianna, have been struggling in this economy for months. The two sides have been in gridlock. There had been talk for a long time, but at the end of the day, they realized they had to do something, so, finally, the leaders have come together.

Now, the question is timing. We are hearing votes in the House will occur tomorrow and that we expect the vote in the Senate could happen tomorrow too. That will require the support of all hundred senators to agree to a quick vote. We don't know if that is going to happen yet.

So, expect today the House is going to -- and the Senate will approve a one-day stop-gap measure to avoid a government shutdown at midnight and then tomorrow they'll come back in, give final approval on this COVID relief plan in the House. We'll see if the Senate can schedule a vote as well. This will be tied to a larger $1.4 trillion package to keep the government open from now up until through next September, a massive, massive deal.

We haven't even seen the details of it. They haven't released the details yet but they probably will do that sometime soon. Members have a little bit of time not much to review these proposals before they presume it will become law. And then the question, Bianna, will the president sign it? We'll have to see.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. We'll wait and hear from the president. Also important to note, not included in this law is liability provisions that Republicans had been asking for and, obviously, state and local funding that Democrats had been pleading for as well. That can get passed at a later time.

But, for now, we have breaking news that so many millions of Americans have been waiting for. We expect a 6:30 press conference from Speaker McConnell and Senator Schumer -- I mean, from Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer as well later on tonight. Manu Raju, thank you.

RAJU: Thank you. GOLODRYGA: Well, now to more breaking news into CNN. The United Kingdom is becoming increasingly cut off from the world due to a new variant of the coronavirus that spreads very fast. Multiple countries are halting flights from the U.K. for now and the border between France and the U.K. is now closed for 48 hours.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold an emergency Cobra meeting Monday. CNN's Richard Quest is with me now.

And, Richard, what more are you learning about this rapidly developing crisis happening in the U.K.?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: There was an element of inevitability about it, Bianna. Once the British prime minister had declared this new Tier 4 essentially locking down 17 million people in Britain, including London and the southeast, once he said one of the major reasons was because of this new variant of COVID, which is much more transferrable, much easier to catch, it is not worse, it is not more efficacious, it is not the rate of morbidity is not higher.

But what they in London was a doubling of the number of people who are catching COVID within a very short period of time, within a matter of a week or so. And that's led them to assume it is because of this new variant. As a result, they've shut things down.

Now, it is not surprising then that Britain's partners across the channel are saying, well, hang on, if you are not around, we're not having anything over here. So, Belgium has shut down to Britain, the Netherlands has banned Britain, Germany has, France is closing down and refusing to accept trucks for the next two days. You've got Spain and Italy.

One thing that is worth noting is that the U.S. surgeon general, when asked about this new variant and whether we should be worried, has said that it is not worse in terms of effect and they don't know but they have no reason to believe, Bianna, that the vaccine, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines aren't also good against this new variant.

GOLODRYGA: And, Richard, any word on whether or not we will hear from the United States as to whether they will ban travel from the U.K. as well?

[18:10:02]

QUEST: They don't really have to at the moment because there is so little of it. Now, remember, the U.K. is part of the U.S. current COVID travel ban. So, you know, I mean, I've gotten in the flight a few times, there's barely two dozen, three dozen people on the plane. Whether they choose to now ban that completely and say, no more, it's over, we've not heard yet. I wouldn't be surprised.

Bearing in mind what we've heard from the other European countries. Britain or this part of Britain is on lockdown for the next ten days, well, if they decide until the end of the year, and then they will review what to do next. GOLODRYGA: And this obviously just ahead of the holiday travel season that so many people in Britain had been making plans for. Can I just ask you politically the dynamics that are taking place inside the U.K.? I see the Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeting and pointing the finger directly at Boris Johnson, saying that a lot of this could have been prevented. Talk about the political dynamics there.

QUEST: Yes. This is a case of too little too late, a day late and a pound short as they might say. The opposition leader, So Keir Starmer, for labor, has agreed with the measures that are being taken but basically said if you hadn't been so incompetent and messed it up so far, you wouldn't be in this position now.

And the reason for this, Bianna, is only three, four, five days ago the prime minister was saying only last Wednesday, the P.M. said it won't be necessary to cancel Christmas. We can go along with this plan of easing lockdown. A matter of days later, he does a massive U-turn. The opposition, the political opposition says this was inevitable. It's your incompetence that's led to it.

GOLODRYGA: Well, a major crisis developing in the U.K. I know you'll be covering it for us. Richard Quest, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

QUEST: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, also breaking, a CDC subcommittee just voted on who will receive the next wave of vaccinations in the United States. Last week's vaccine rollout saw frontline health care workers and those at long-term care facilities receive their first doses.

Natasha Chen joins us from Atlanta. And, Natasha, what more are we learning from the CDC?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Bianna, this group voted today on the next two groups of people who should be prioritized for the vaccine. As you said already, we're seeing people who are health care workers, folks in long-term care facilities starting to be vaccinated.

So, today's vote was about the next two phases, 1b and 1c. So who do those include? The next phase 1b, they say, should be people 75 and older as well as frontline essential workers. There really was no disagreement about that among the committee members.

There was more debate though about the next after that phase 1c, which includes now 65 and up as well as younger people with high risk medical conditions and other essential workers. The debate really was around that list of what is considered a high risk condition.

Right now the committee is going with a list that's on the CDC website. There is sufficient data with these conditions that show association with severe COVID-19 and that includes things like obesity, diabetes, cancer, but the committee says that is by no means an exhaustive list and that will continue to be updated on that CDC website. Now, to break down who were the essential workers? In the phase 1b, the next group, the frontline essential workers include first responders, like police and firefighters, teachers, grocery store workers, and then other essential workers will be after that in phase 1c.

Now, the committee members in their tone of their voices today in that meeting really showed that this was a difficult decision to have to prioritize some Americans over others, and that's really because of the limited amount of vaccine that is initially going to be out there. The chairman, Dr. Jose Romero, discussed that decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOSE ROMERO, ACIP CHAIR, CDC: This is without doubt the hardest vote that I have taken in my six and a half years on the committee. I am confident that we have arrived at this by examining the data thoroughly and that what we are providing as has been stated before the ultimate decision will be at a local level. But what we are providing governors, health officials with a framework which is supported by evidence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: More than half a million people have already received the Pfizer vaccine in the U.S. and now the Moderna vaccine is being shipped out as we speak with the first shots expected to happen tomorrow. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Look, this is an unprecedented situation. We had expected that this would be complex as it began to roll out but it is fascinating to see this list continue to expand and get to those first responders as quickly as possible and essential workers.

[18:15:01]

Natasha Chen, thank you so much.

Well, earlier today, trucks carrying the recently authorized Moderna vaccine began shipping out all over the country. A top Operation Warp Speed official tells CNN the first shots will most likely be in the arms of Americans tomorrow morning. Amazing.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now from a FedEx facility in Memphis, Tennessee. Pete, I know there is a lot of activity behind you but there's no time to waste right now. How is distribution going so far?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: So true, Bianna. The Moderna vaccine arrived here not that long ago. In fact, two truck-fulls came straight here from the McKesson distribution facility just over the state line in Mississippi. Now this vaccine is going out to 3,000 locations across the country. Those are places like hospitals, pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens.

The deliveries begin tomorrow. You know, this rollout is about four times larger than the initial Pfizer rollout of last week. This vaccine has a bit of an advantage over the Pfizer vaccine though. It does not need to be stored at super cold temperatures. In fact, a regular refrigerator will do this just fine. And that opens up more rural communities to get this vaccine. FedEx is handling a lot of the packages and it says that change does not mean it will do anything differently when it comes to delivering these vaccines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE STEPHENS, SVP GLOBAL ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS TRANFORMATION, FEDEX: It doesn't matter whether you have to be ultra cold or you have to be -- whether you're minus 90 or minus 20, it doesn't matter. Our job is to get the package from point A to point B as expeditiously and safely as we possibly can and to deliver it to those going to administer it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: 6 million Moderna doses are going out right now. You have to remember what an achievement. It's just been only a week and we have seen the rollout of two new coronavirus vaccines, pretty incredible.

GOLODRYGA: Science at its best in record time. Thank you so much for noting that, Pete Muntean, we appreciate it.

Well, coming up, I'll speak to a member of Biden's COVID-19 advisory board about all of these breaking news tonight and concerns about a new COVID variant overseas, as well as the distribution of more vaccines around the country.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

GOLODRYGA: And we are watching the U.K. become increasingly cut off from the rest of the world tonight. Country after country closing borders to the U.K. after a new variant of the coronavirus, one that spreads more easily, was detected there.

With me now is Dr. Gounder, who is a member of the Biden/Harris COVID- 19 advisory board. Dr. Gounder, thank you so much for being with us on this busy Sunday night.

How concerning is this new variant and could it impact the effectiveness of a vaccine? I know these variants tend to happen. Is this a surprise?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, MEMBER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD: Bianna, this is not a surprise. This is what viruses do. They mutate and they spread. And that's actually how we -- one of the tools we use to track and map how viruses spread is by tracking those mutations. So this is not at all a surprise.

So far, there is some evidence that perhaps this particular variant is more contagious, more transmissible, but there is no evidence that this variant is more deadly, would cause more severe illness. And we know that this variant has been circulating in the U.K. for at least a couple months now. So if there were some signs that this was a more dangerous variant, we should have seen them by now.

GOLODRYGA: So is this push then to cut off travel in Europe an overreaction? We've seen what's happened before when there have been travel bans. People rush to the airports and we see major jams at airports and passengers as well.

GOUNDER: Right. And, you know, we have to be very careful in considering a travel ban because that can actually backfire, as you're pointing out. And so we have to be sure that that is the right decision to be making here.

However, I do think it's important to remind everybody we know how to prevent transmission of this virus even without vaccines. And that goes back to the basics in terms of public health guidance, so wearing masks, social distancing, if you're going to be around other people to be outside. All of those things will protect you against this variant as well as other variants of the coronavirus.

GOLODRYGA: And, look, this is happening at the busiest travel season of the year just days before Christmas. Let me ask you about what's happening here at home tomorrow. President-elect Biden is scheduled to receive his COVID vaccine. Which vaccine is he receiving, the Pfizer/BioNTech or the Moderna vaccine?

GOUNDER: I'm not going to steal President-elect Biden's thunder by announcing that for him. But I can tell you --

GOLODRYGA: I understood.

GOUNDER: -- it is one of the two. It's one of the two.

GOLODRYGA: Are you concerned about any possible side effects? I know that he had been recovering reportedly from a mild cold. Does that have any implications perhaps not just for him but for anyone else who is taking a vaccine if they are recovering from a cold as well?

GOUNDER: Not especially so. We do not have evidence at least so far with respect to giving another vaccination around the same time. So with respect to being vaccinated for COVID and, say, the flu or shingles, you do want to space those vaccinations apart by at least 14 days.

And that is just so we can do a very close job of monitoring for side effects because this is still a new vaccine and we do know that some of the side effects can include fever, headache, muscle achiness and fatigue. And so we just want to separate those vaccinations out.

GOLODRYGA: And for the general public, the healthy public in the United States, I know that Dr. Fauci and others had suggested that possibly vaccines could take place in early spring, maybe March, April. And the surgeon general nominee for the Biden/Harris administration, Vivek Murthy, today said that, in a more realistic sense, that may not be until later summer or fall. So which one is right? GOUNDER: Yes, I would agree with Dr. Murthy's timeline.

[18:25:02]

You know, if you think about just this last week, if we continued vaccinating at that pace, it would take us literally decades to vaccinate the entire U.S. population. And to be fair, that first week, you're going to have more hiccups and issues as you figure out systems. But what the president-elect has promised and what we're targeting is a hundred million vaccinations, so doses administered in the first hundred days, and that means 1 million vaccinations per day.

But if you remember, we have about 330 million people in this country. Even if you're doing a million vaccinations a day and you have to do two doses per vaccine, it is going to take you over a year to get to everybody. So I think general population, late summer, early fall, it sounds about right to me.

GOLODRYGA: Got it, an unprecedented endeavor indeed. Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

And up next, we'll take you inside an Oval Office meeting where President Trump's allies discussed extreme measures to subvert the reality that he, in fact, did lose the election.

But, first, Wall Street expecting a big day tomorrow because of Tesla. Here is Christine Romans with your Before the Bell report.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bianna. The S&P 500, one of the broadest measures of the stock market, gets a new component this week. Tesla, the world's most valuable automaker, joins the index tomorrow. Its shares have been on fire this year climbing more than 600 percent. The big question is whether that momentum can continue.

A tech stocks overall have led 2020's gains but some analysts think the market has run up so much this year, it may be harder for stocks to keep up the pace in 2021.

It is a fairly light week for economic data but new and existing home sales for November are due. Like stocks, the housing market has experienced a robust recovery from the spring collapse. Home sales hit a 14-year high in October and the median price for a home hit a record high $313,000.

Keep in mind, it's a short week on Wall Street. The markets closed early on Christmas Eve and are closed Friday for Christmas day.

In New York, I'm Christine Romans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:52]

GOLODRYGA: And at any moment House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold a joint press conference after Congress reached a deal on a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. House leaders saying a vote will come tomorrow. We will bring you that presser when they come out but first let's bring in CNN's political analyst and former adviser to four presidents, David Gergen, and Julie Pace, Washington bureau chief for the Associated Press.

David, Julie, welcome.

Let me begin with you, David. The big wild card is how the president will now react to this deal. As someone who has been in the White House before working on stimulus packages waiting for the president's signature, what are the president's advisers telling him right now?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think most advisers I imagine unanimously how important it's to sign this bill. You've been silently watching this all happen. You can't now come in and wreck this effort. You know, so I think that's an easy one. The real question right now is, can you keep Donald Trump from doing any more serious damage to the country in the next 30 days? Like those Oval Office discussions are crucial.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And we will get to some of the potential damage that can come that was hinted at just on Friday in a moment. But, Julie, let me bring you in on this stimulus deal as well. Neither side got what they wanted but it does appear that some of the thorniest issues were at least resolved or put to the side for now.

What are you hearing that finally brought these two sides together?

JULIE PACE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I think frankly it was the reality of what it would be like for these lawmakers to go home for the holidays and not have done anything for months. You know, the dichotomy that we've seen here between the situation with the virus in the country and the lack of action that we have seen from Capitol Hill just became impossible for them to rationalize.

Neither side did get what they wanted and I think that this does set up President-elect Joe Biden to come into office next year and go back to Congress and say, hey, we need to do more. It will depend on whether he's got a Republican Senate or a Democratic Senate based on those elections in Georgia on how much he might be able to get done here, but I certainly expect that he will try to go back to the well with lawmakers in the next couple of months.

GOLODRYGA: Look, I think you're right. And I understand the continuity of government. But seeing some of these images of lawmakers getting their vaccines while not able to work to help millions of Americans get food on the table and the money that they desperately need sent a bad image, and so I think one of the reasons they finally came up with a deal was just for that like you said. There is a lot of pressure on them.

David, let's go back to the story that we were referencing earlier, these reports that the president discussed using martial law to overturn the election. We know Republican Senator Mitt Romney weighed in on this and the president's attempts to sow doubt in the election results. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): It's really sad in a lot of respects and embarrassing because the president could right now be writing the last chapter of this administration with a victory lap with regard to the vaccine. Instead, he's leaving Washington with a whole series of conspiracy theories and things that are so nutty and loopy that people are shaking their heads wondering, what in the world has gotten into this man?

[18:05:07]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: Republican leaders have either remained silent or actively supported the president's deranged claims about the election. Do you still recognize the Republican Party?

ROMNEY: Well, the party has taken a different course than obviously the one that I knew as a younger person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So, David, why don't you pick up on that as well. You've been in the Oval Office with four different presidents, multiple administrations. You were listening to people screaming about many issues, I can imagine, but I'm assuming martial law and talking about seizing voting machines and making baseless claims of fraud weren't some of those issues.

GERGEN: Never. Martial law? Never. Seizing voting machines, never. Appointing Miss Powell, coming into the White House after you leave and be a counsel investigating what had happened in the election, never. I think the martial law is the most serious and John Bolton was here last night, said, if you're in the Oval Office as a senior adviser and you just have to push back.

Well, with all due respect to John Bolton, I think you have to do a lot more than that if you're in the White House, in the Oval Office, and martial law is under discussion.

GOLODRYGA: So what needs --

GERGEN: You have to do everything you can to stop it. What's that?

GOLODRYGA: And what does that include?

GERGEN: That includes alerting the secretary of Defense, alerting the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, alerting others who are going to have responsibility. You want the Justice Department clued in. When you become senior adviser at the White House you are not -- you don't get there with Senate confirmation but you do take an oath of office and that is to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. And when that is being violated you have a responsibility to raise hell about it.

Let me just say one last thing about it. I was in the Nixon White House in the final days. He was drinking heavily. He became very erratic. We had lots of concerns about what might happen. But the inconceivable happened, and we have a conflict growing out of that. And so what happened?

The Secretary of Defense, Jim Schlesinger, a wonderful man. Jim Schlesinger took it upon himself working with others like Henry Kissinger to go to the commanders in the field to say that if you get a call from the White House about using force, you must not use force even though it comes from the commander-in-chief.

You must not use force until you call and get my personal clearance. It was totally in violation of the chain of command but it was so important to the country that we would know that things were under control. We weren't going to have an erratic president start pushing buttons.

GOLODRYGA: Giving us some great historical context there, David Gergen, we appreciate it.

GERGEN: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: David and Julie, please sit tight. We will take a quick break and come back to you in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:41:59]

GOLODRYGA: Welcome back. And as we await to hear from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the deal reached for the $900 billion stimulus package, I want to continue the conversation about this crazy reporting out of the White House with the president and his aides including Michael Flynn actually talking about martial law.

Back with me are David Gergen and Julie Pace.

And Julie, I want to pick up on what David mentioned prior to the break and that is that more people need to speak out. We have heard an awful lot from Mitt Romney. Yesterday I spoke with a Republican congressman on this very issue. To his credit he has said that President-elect Biden will be president-elect and he has accepted that. He has also been vaccinated and wants to spread the word on the need to vaccinate Americans.

But when I asked him about this breaking news out of this Oval Office fight and discussions over martial law, he said he's not going to be riled up over a conversation that, hey, they're not taking part in a revolution yet. It's just a conversation. So I'm not going to get upset about it. If we're going to have more Republicans thinking along those lines what more can be done?

PACE: It's really extraordinary. I mean, you have heard people say about Republicans for so long, you know, at a certain point there will be a moment where they will break with Trump, where they will take seriously some of the more erratic things that he says. And yet we don't see that happening. You know, beyond Mitt Romney you don't see many Republican officials

who are proactively stepping forward and saying, hey, this is dangerous for democracy, for the president to do that. And, you know, there are several reasons why. One is that they think that the president will remain a major factor in their own politics and in their own states and in their own districts going forward. But they still continue to feel like they don't have to take this seriously and I think that sends a really dangerous message that you can have this happening, that you can have these types of conversations happening and we can brush them aside.

When I think the reality is the president has tried through the courts and through some of these lawsuits that he's filed to really take un- democratic steps. So I think that there is a lot of concern that he could focus that energy elsewhere and not just the courts in these last couple of weeks that he's in office.

GOLODRYGA: And completely avoiding dealing with the fact that we've got a crisis on our hand here, 3,000 Americans a day are dying, COVID continues to savage this country.

David, let me ask you about this because a new FOX News poll finds that 42 percent of voters say that history will remember Trump as the worst presidents ever. You know, you can put the pieces together here. But how much damage has he done to his legacy just in these last few days? We still have, you know, 30 something days left.

GERGEN: It's a really interesting question. I think that he was -- his legacy was already threatened before the elections. I had a conversation with a major presidential power in this country about three weeks ago, four weeks ago, I don't know, a few weeks ago, and he said the night before he had been at a restaurant or at least had dinner with another historian, and they had a debate who was the worst president in American history.

[18:45:06]

Was it Donald Trump or Andrew Johnson? (INAUDIBLE) who in their mind. And since then I think this erratic behavior, this obsessive behavior, that has gone through (INAUDIBLE) election and the poor loser image I think is doing far more damage to him than he imagines. It is such a -- so violative of the kind of values we have, of what -- how you're supposed to handle defeat gracefully and honor the traditions of the country and that is a peaceful transfer of power. It's one of the most important traditions we've had and to move the world.

GOLODRYGA: And it's really telling. You mentioned historians. I remember early in this administration historians were sort of calming nerves saying that no, we've been in worse situations before and now they're some of the most alarmist out there.

GERGEN: Right.

GOLODRYGA: David and Julie, we are going to get another quick break in right now but we will come back to you in just a few moments. Sit tight, please. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:28]

GOLODRYGA: And once again you are looking at live pictures as we await to hear from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on that deal that was just reached tonight with Republicans. A $900 billion stimulus relief deal for millions of Americans who have been waiting for months, and we will bring you this presser as soon as they come out. They're about 20 minutes late. But we are going to monitor that.

In the meantime, back with me now, CNN senior political analyst and former adviser to four presidents, David Gergen, and Julie Pace, Washington bureau chief for the Associated Press.

David, the sort of an embarrassment of riches in terms of crises to talk about tonight. Let's talk about the largest attack, cyberattack against the United States in U.S. history committed by all eyes and all evidence seems to be against Russia perpetrating this act, and the SVR. We saw the president finally respond to this via tweet saying it may not be Russia and that it could perhaps be China. This after Secretary of State Pompeo said that it was indeed Russia in his view as well.

You know, President Putin today commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the SVR and he said, quote, "Keep up the good work." What message does this send to Vladimir Putin and to adversaries around the world when you have a president of the United States send a tweet like he did?

GERGEN: Well, I think what you said so startled me. Are you saying that Trump said to Putin in effect, (INAUDIBLE), keep up the good work?

GOLODRYGA: No, no, no. Vladimir Putin today in Russia was commemorating the 100-year creation of the SVR, and in a speech, he told them, keep up the good work. But, of course, this happens just days after it is announced here that we have been victim to the largest cyberattack in U.S. history.

GERGEN: Well, you're right, there are so many of these crises that are coming along and they're just being chucked into the future for Joe Biden to solve. You know. We know from all sorts of reporting that's been done and, you know, what came out of Pompeo, secretary of State, that the Russians are behind this huge invasion of our data systems. And everybody who knows anything about this is saying how dangerous it is and yet the president has come out and openly disagreed with that.

I think one thing is certain, we will never see a Trump Tower and complex arise in Beijing. But there's a chance of having a Trump Tower and complex in Moscow are pretty darn high. There's something so strange about this relationship. I don't know exactly what it is. Nobody really knows. But I can guarantee you, part of this is about having a place in the world where he's going to display his power to everyone. GOLODRYGA: And I couldn't agree with you more. And, Julie, meantime,

in terms of how we remedy this and respond, so many, both Republicans, Democrats, cyber experts, say the first step would be signing the defense bill that the president has threatened to veto that is sitting on his desk. How important is that? Because obviously that includes cyber -- billions of dollars for cyber protection.

PACE: It's incredibly crucial. You know, and the president has hung this veto threat over it for several weeks, kind of changing his story a little bit about why he's going to veto it. It appears as though there could be enough votes on the hill to override that veto because lawmakers, as you say, from both parties recognize how sweeping this bill it is and how crucial it is to America's defenses and not just through military hardware but also cyber defenses.

You know, this is sort of the new way that nation states attack each other is not with, you know, tanks going across borders, it is with cyberattacks and with hacking. And we've seen consistently since, you know, the 2016 election that Russia is extremely aggressive on this front.

And to David's point, this president is ending his presidency the way he started, with this big question about why he can't seem to condemn Russia's actions. And I think that what is very clear from this latest attack is that Russia has definitely been emboldened through the last four years. And this becomes a challenge for Joe Biden. You know, he will have to take over this relationship and make a decision on how aggressive he wants to be in showing Russia that he's going to take a different tact than President Trump has for four years.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Vladimir Putin already calls the United States relationship with Russia a spoiled relationship. So it's a big uphill battle for the Biden administration.

[18:55:04]

We're going to have to leave it there with our panel. David Gergen and Julie Pace, thank you so much.

And that does it for me. I'm Bianna Golodryga. Wolf Blitzer picks up our coverage of this breaking news of Congress reaching a $900 billion stimulus deal up next after a quick break.

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