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First Doses of Moderna Vaccine Expected to be Given Today; Attorney General Bill Barr Takes Questions at News Conference; Dozens of Countries Ban Flights from UK over COVID Variant. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired December 21, 2020 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:07]

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

Right now, a major step forward in the fight against the pandemic. Today, millions more doses of coronavirus vaccine -- of a coronavirus vaccine are rolling out. Moderna got the green light for emergency use this weekend, shipments started going out on Sunday. And according to the chief of Operation Warp Speed, Americans will start getting these shots as early as this morning.

Today, we're going to see President-elect Joe Biden and Jill Biden rolling up their sleeves to get the vaccine - the first dose of the vaccine before cameras. It is yet to be announced if and when the current president, Donald Trump, will be doing the very same, though.

Also, this hour, a major breakthrough in Congress, reaching a deal on a COVID relief package. But make no mistake. This is not and should not be seen as a major success as this deal is months late and millions of Americans have been suffering while members of Congress really just pointed fingers at each other.

The deal is $900 billion. A vote is expected today in the House before it would be heading to the Senate. I'm going to go to Capitol Hill in a bit. But let's actually go to the Justice Department right now where Attorney General Bill Barr is taking questions.

QUESTION: Does the president have the legal authority to order the seizure of voting machines around the country? And you've talked about in the past the broad use that you have the presidential power. Does the president - any president have the authority to pardon themselves?

BILL BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: OK. Let's go. The first question was?

QUESTION: I'm sorry, has there been any outreach to Libyan authorities about a suspect?

BARR: I can't comment on that. The second one, I see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government. You know, wholesale seizure of machines by the federal government. And I -- you know, off the top of my head I'm not going to opine on a constitutional issue as far as the pardon power goes.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

BARR: Yes?

QUESTION: The president has continued to make the case that there was fraud in the election. You have already made your statement on that in an interview. Do you believe there is enough evidence to warrant appointing a special counsel to look into it? Something that he appears to be thinking about, perhaps Sidney Powell. Do you believe that there is any reason to do that? Have you already -- given your opinion on this to the president and the White House.

BARR: As you said, I've already commented on fraud. Let me just say that, you know, there are fraud and -- unfortunately in most elections I think we're too tolerant of it, I'm sure there was fraud in this election but I was commenting on the extent to which we had looked at suggestions or allegations of systemic or broad based fraud that would affect the outcome of the election. And I already spoke to that and I stand by that statement.

QUESTION: But the idea of appointing a special counsel, would you answer the question about whether you believe there's enough there even with what you've already said? Do you believe there's enough evidence to warrant a special counsel to investigate that? Perhaps Sidney Powell or someone else?

BARR: If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven't. And I'm not going to.

Yes, Sadie (ph)?

QUESTION: Hi there. Two questions. The first we talked a lot about your partnership with the Scots throughout this investigation. Can you explain a little bit more about why they are not prosecuting this case? And secondly, I had a question about the solar wind tag... First of all, has the Justice Department or the FBI been had. And do you agree with the conclusion so far that Russians are responsible, and what possible responses could we see from the Justice Department?

BARR: So, the Scottish have not ruled out -- the Scottish authorities have not ruled out bringing charges. Right now, they're dealing with an appeal by Megrahi, curiously enough since he's dead. But nonetheless, under their system, there is an appeal and they're dealing with that. But I think once that is been dealt with, they're going to turn their attention to whether or not they want to bring charges. But they are supportive of our action today, and we will rely on them to help us with evidence at trial.

I just want to say something about the Scottish law enforcement on this that impressed me at the time I was here 32 years ago. And you know, I have a particular affection for Scotland and spend a lot of time there since I've played the bagpipes since I was eight years old, and I visited Scotland during this and first investigation and met with Strathclyde police who were conducting it in Scotland.

[11:05:12]

And what Mike Sherwin alluded to was to me Homeric. What they did lining up police officers and literally looking at every blade of grass in that footprint was astounding. And that picture of me pointing to the little chip that was found is smaller than a fingernail... That was critical to cracking the case. And that was found out in a field.

So that painstaking work just shows the professionalism of the Scottish police, but also it shows how important international cooperation is in cracking these heinous crimes. Now, was there another part to your question?

QUESTION: Can you address the solar wind tag, and if you agree with the conclusion that the Russians were responsible and what responses we might see from DOJ or DMJ as a result.

BARR: From the information I have, you know I agree with Secretary Pompeo's assessment. It's certainly appears to be the Russians, but I'm not going to discuss it beyond that.

Excuse me?

Kat, Katherine (ph). Yes?

QUESTION: On topic, Attorney General, can you explain to us why it was important to you personally to bring the Lockerbie investigation full circle with the announcement of today's indictment? And off topic, respecting that it's an ongoing investigation. Has Special Counsel John Durham concluded that the FBI 2016 Russia probe known as Crossfire Hurricane was not properly predicated?

BARR: I think it was important to bring this case, which in some ways for me is coming full circle. From the standpoint of the country, I think it's very important that we are relentless in pursuing acts of terrorism and that terrorists have to know that eventually we will get them.

For me personally, it was because I felt it was unfinished business in that. I was the cabinet official who had to face the grief of the victims and their families and actually had the honor of dealing with the victims. But I felt that our follow-up to the attack was not sufficient and that justice was delayed and that the full measure of justice was denied.

So, I think we reacted initially with sanctions and things like that. I felt that would encourage further terrorism. So, I just felt it was unfinished business from a personal standpoint. OK.

Katie -- I'm not going to try to characterize what his conclusions are. Yes, Katie.

QUESTION: Robert Mueller was the head of the criminal division when this case was brought in 1991. Did you invite him to be here today? Did he want to? He's spoken about this case extensively and said that it still haunts him to this day that he wasn't able to bring more charges.

And then my second question is when you spoke to the Federalist Society last year, you said that it was ironic that the left talked about shredding norms. You said, "It is the left that is engaged in the systemic shredding of norms and the undermining of the rule of law." You said, "Conservatives do not do that." Do you still think these remarks hold, given the president's claims and actions in the wake of the election and his attempts to undo the results?

BARR: Yes. Bob was the head of the criminal division, and we worked closely on the case. I did not invite him to this event. And I'm just not going to get into my remarks at the Federalist Society or into recent developments.

You know, when I - I -- as you know, I was not intending to come back into government, but I knew I was signing up for a difficult assignment at this department. As I've said, there were rough times. And I came in because I felt that I could help lead the DOJ during this particular period. And I don't regret that at all. I don't regret coming in because I think it's always an honor to serve the nation and the American people. So that concludes this press conference. Thank you very much.

[11:10:00]

BOLDUAN: All right. We've been listening to the Attorney General Bill Barr, taking questions not on the topic at hand, actually, that he was going to be announcing charges related to the Lockerbie bombing. But point by point, he made a lot of news here.

Let me bring in Shimon Prokupecz on this, if he's with me, let me know guys - Shimon, great. I'm glad you can get to Shimon.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I'm here.

BOLDUAN: Point by point, Shimon, the attorney general really went at -- contradicted the president in major ways on major touch points for the president right now, especially specifically relating to election fraud. Made very clear to Evan Perez's question that he's not going to be naming a special counsel with regard to election fraud in the 2020 election.

PROKUPECZ: Yes. And specifically, in terms of the 2020 election, he said that if he felt that there was a reason for a special counsel, to appoint a special counsel, he would have done so at this -- at this juncture. At this point, he himself would have appointed one. I think that is very significant, certainly given what we've seen that's been going on at the White House over the weekend, with Sidney Powell and others there with the president somehow trying to himself appoint her possibly as a special counsel.

So, for the attorney general who, as we know, has seen a lot of the reports, has reviewed whatever investigation perhaps that may have been undertaken by the FBI, he's basically knocking it all down by coming out and saying I have not seen any reason here to, no. 1, launch some kind of investigation, and more specifically, to appoint a special counsel. And of course, the significance of that is, a special counsel could last well into a Biden administration. So, that at this point is not going to happen.

The other significant thing here, and the news here is on the Hunter Biden investigation, where he said he doesn't see any point to appoint a special counsel in that investigation. And that is very significant as well. Because you have to assume that the attorney general is consulting with career prosecutors there at the DOJ, some of them, which are going to stay well beyond the attorney general, Attorney General Barr's administration. He's set to leave there on Wednesday.

So these career prosecutors who are in that office are going to probably stay and be there when the Biden administration takes office and his attorney general takes office and to have that kind of view on that case already I think is very significant because there have been some people, including members of Congress and other people who have been saying that potentially the Biden administration would have to appoint a special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation.

BOLDUAN: And look, Shimon, looking down at my notes because he also made very clear just staying on the election question that, he says that he stands by his position that he had stated earlier in the month that he did not see any evidence of widespread election fraud that would overturn the election.

Take a look at the president's Twitter feed just this morning and he is continuing on his rant and conspiracy theories and baseless claims of election fraud and Barr said again that he stands by his statement there. And also, that -- like he does not see it.

I mean, I think that is -- there's a lot to be said about Bill Barr and his tenure as attorney general and what he did for President Trump all along the way. It's pretty noteworthy and striking that the attorney general is making such a statement as he's getting ready to walk out the door. And the president is laying into this still at this very moment.

PROKUPECZ: Right. And that is the significant thing. Look, I think we need to realize that the attorney general has been the president's - I mean, quite frankly, he's been the president's boy. He's been the president's attorney throughout the Mueller investigation, other situations that involved questionable activity by people associated with the president, by the president himself. He has stood there and has defended the president throughout.

Today, I think we are seeing a different attorney general, who perhaps knows that this is his last time that he's going to address the media. This is the last time that he's going to come before the press corps there, the DOJ, many of whom have covered the DOJ for many years like our Evan Perez and other people who have been there for years.

And this is his last opportunity to try and save whatever is left of his reputation. And no doubt he was prepared for this. This is -- I have watched this attorney general take questions. I think this is probably the first time where he has taken these many questions, certainly in recent times on off topics.

[11:15:03]

BOLDUAN: Actually -- that's exactly what I was going to ask you. This is not a man, or an attorney general, who is shy to say I'm not answering that question.

PROKUPECZ: That's right.

BOLDUAN: And simply - and quite frankly, not even take any off-topic questions in the press conference.

PROKUPECZ: Right.

BOLDUAN: We've seen this time and time again in the last - in during his tenure.

PROKUPECZ: Right.

BOLDUAN: He stood there, and he waited for a lot of questions. He knew these questions were going to come at him today, too.

PROKUPECZ: Right. And they also could have done this press conference, just to give you some inside baseball here. Kind of give you some inside play of what's going on there. They could have done this virtually, right? They could have done this press conference and not have reporters present. They have done that throughout this pandemic where they've had reporters not come into the building.

Today was very different. And I think this is what was at play here, the attorney general finally saw an opportunity to knock down some of the most ridiculous things that we are hearing from the White House, from the president as it relates to the election. Which has really put the Department of Justice at the center of this because they're calling for all kinds of crazy investigations on conspiracy theories that just don't exist. It put the FBI at the center of this. The president, you know, how many times did he go after Attorney General Barr and the FBI recently because of the election.

So, I think this was the moment for the attorney general, perhaps, I don't think a lot of people are going to give him credit for what he did today because he doesn't really deserve it in some ways because he has stood by this president. But for whatever reason, and perhaps it's because this is his last opportunity, he chose this as an opportunity to come out and finally knock down some of the crazy stuff that we're hearing from the president and his team.

BOLDUAN: Shimon, stick with me. I'm going to bring in Evan Perez. Evan, our colleague, was in that press conference asking those briefings. Evan, I just want to get your take because it was pretty striking what we heard from the attorney general.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It's striking to hear the attorney general just plainly say that you know if there were evidence that he had seen to warrant appointing a special counsel, which is what the president has been talking about with his aides. He wants to do a special counsel to investigate vote fraud, which he says is what cost him the election.

The attorney general saying plainly that if he had seen such evidence, he would have done it himself, but he has not. So that is as strong an answer as you can get from the attorney general. And I think it reflects why the attorney general is leaving a little early.

He's leaving in a couple of days, because he disagrees with what the president -- what is on the president's mind, what the president frankly is the number one thing on the president's mind. It's the president's top priority, which is to find a way to remain in office or at least that's what he seems to be trying to do. And so, the attorney general plainly saying that he doesn't see that. He doesn't support that idea. And this is why he's making his exit on Wednesday this week. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Great that you're in there to ask those questions, Evan. Thank you so much.

You also heard the attorney general contradict the president as well on this massive cyber hack that hit the country. He says that he agrees with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he thinks that it certainly looks like it was Russia behind that hack. We're going to have much more on that a little elater in the hour.

And also, coming up for us, the first vaccines from Moderna are expected to be given at any moment today. We're going to have the details on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:23:05]

BOLDUAN: Let's get back now to the major developments with the coronavirus vaccine. More help is really on the way as Moderna's vaccine got the green light for emergency use this weekend.

Joining me right for more on this is Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University School of Public Health. It's good to see you again, Dr. Jha.

So, Moderna's shipments began yesterday, we're told. Shots are expected to begin today of that vaccine. We now have two vaccines out there now. Is this a turning point?

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yes, Kate. Thanks for having me on.

It's certainly good news, isn't it? We need all the vaccines we can get. We still obviously have far fewer vaccines than the demand for it. But it'll be good to have both of these out there and I suspect by the end of this year, we'll have 20 million people potentially vaccinated. We have to of course get them vaccinated but we'll have the doses for 20 million people and that would make a difference.

BOLDUAN: I actually wanted to ask you about that because I have noticed that it does seem the language is changing or shifting a little bit from Operation Warp Speed folks about that number. That they're no longer saying that 20 million people are going to be vaccinated by the first of the year.

Now, rather they're saying 20 million vaccines will be allocated or available in that time period. The process seems to be having a harder time ramping up or starting maybe than they had hoped. Does that surprise you or concern you?

JHA: No, it doesn't surprise me. It's a little frustrating because it's not like we didn't know that vaccines were coming. There are two parts to the problem, Congress hasn't allocated the resources to states to get the vaccinations done and I don't think we have done enough planning to figure out how or when shipments arrive, how we get them into people's arms. So, I do think we'll figure this out. It's going to go a little bit more slowly. Again, better planning would have moved us faster but here we are and let's just get these vaccines out as quickly as we can to the right people.

BOLDUAN: Yes. I mean, we now know that the president-elect is set to get his first shot today.

[11:25:01]

And we also just learned over the weekend these next -- these next priority groups of who will be next in line to get the vaccine, frontline essential workers like fire -- firemen and police and transportation and grocery store workers, for example, and also adults that are 75 years old and older. What do you think of the CDC's recommendations here?

JHA: They're trying to thread a needle between two sets of things, people who are high-risk of developing complications, older people and people who are at high-risk of getting infected, those frontline essential workers. I think they got it right. They've got bits of both groups. And both groups are really important and then when they get vaccinated, we'll move to slightly younger population, 65 to 74, people who have comorbidities and other essential workers. You know there's no perfect way to do this. I think the CDC is getting it right.

BOLDUAN: Yes, when you're looking at this at a vaccination effort on such a massive scale. I think your perspective here is pretty spot on. Dr. Jha, if you could just stick around with me because -- for a second because we want to -- I want to get over to Nic Robertson. He has an update for us on what's unfolding in the UK and this new COVID variant.

Nic is in London. He's joining us now. Nic, the prime minister is imposing emergency new restrictions there, what is happening?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: 16.4 million people in the country, that's about a third of the population in England have been put under these much, much tighter restrictions until just a couple of days ago. People were being told that they could have three different households in - in their house for Christmas dinner at the end of the week. They could stay for five days.

Over the weekend, the prime minister turned that around and people are being told you cannot leave the area, the southeast of the country. Don't have anyone into your House, that's absolutely forbidden over Christmas, only your family in the House over Christmas and the reaction from countries around the world, effectively isolating Britain.

You know, countries from Chile, Argentina, Columbia, El Salvador, Canada, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan and in Europe as well. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, all putting travel restrictions for British citizens.

Most critically for the UK, that the restriction from France. That freight trucks - a company freight trucks cannot crossover the channel into France. And that's where 20 percent of goods come into the UK, including fresh food.

That is a concern for the government, how to manage a situation that is suddenly spiraled over the weekend from trying to sort of manage coronavirus with a variant that seems more infectious, although not more deadly, manifests now into difficulty getting some products into the country, as well as allowing people to come and go from the country.

So, this is now a big issue for the government. The prime minister is expected to address this in a press conference coming up within the next hour, his transport secretary and chief scientific adviser will be with him, Kate, when he gives that address.

BOLDUAN: That's important. Nic, thank you very much for that.

Let me bring back in Dr. Jha on this. As Nic was saying, it appears to be more infectious. They're saying it could be something like 70 percent more transmissible. What does that actually mean? How worried should people be about this, Dr. Jha?

JHA: So, look, I think this is a concerning situation. We have got to sort this out. The best evidence right now says that it is more transmittable. And that obviously is a source of concern.

But the good news here is nothing so far says it's any more deadly if you get infected. And nothing here says that this virus or this strain is going to be resistant to the vaccine. So, those are obviously very, very good pieces of news.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

JHA: I think we have to monitor this and watch this a bit more carefully. And ultimately, Kate, what we need to do, even if that strain taking off in the United States, what we need to do is wear masks, avoid crowds, wash your hands. All the stuff we've been talking about still remains. So, I don't think it changes our behavior. But we do have to be careful and we have to watch that strain and learn more about it. BOLDUAN: It's a great point. We know that there are scientists at Walter Reed. They're researching it. I want to play what Admiral Giroir told John Berman this morning, nearing some of what you're - some of what you just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. BRETT GIROIR, MD, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH: It is not any more lethal or any more dangerous than the normal coronavirus, no evidence to suggest that, no reason to believe that it would evade our vaccines that we have right now. Remember, our vaccines develop antibodies against multiple parts of that spike protein, not just one that's the mutated one. So, we're very encouraged about that but of course, we have a lot of work to do to understand this more fully.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: He points out this variant was first identified in September. When do you think we all collectively will know if there are any issues with this vaccine and this variant?

JHA: Yes. So, on this variant specifically, I mean there's a lot of work being done right now in the UK, in the U.S. looking at this variant. Again, I remain pretty confident that the vaccine will stand up to this variant.