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Barr Contradicts Trump On Russia, Hunter Biden, Election; Kremlin Critic Dupes Spy Into Revealing How He Was Poisoned; Soon, President-Elect Biden Receives First Dose Of Vaccine; Outrage As GOP Senators Who Downplayed Virus Among First To Get Vaccine; Update On Coronavirus Responses Around The World. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired December 21, 2020 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Barr also says there's no need for a special counsel to helm an investigation into President-Elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
He doesn't see a need for a special counsel to investigate voter fraud claims either. And insists he would have appointed on if he did.
Asked if he sees merit in a White House idea to seize voting machines, Barr says there is none.
Translation: What the president says every day about fraud on Twitter and on TV is not true.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I see no basis now for seizing of machines by the federal government.
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.
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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House.
Jeremy, watching Bill Barr today, a pretty remarkable and through rejection of the president's conspiracies from his own attorney general.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt. It speaks volumes to hear Bill Barr, who has been one of the most loyal members of President Trump's cabinet, to thoroughly debunk and reject these outlandish ideas that the president is considering for overturning the results of the election.
And also continuing to make clear there's no evidence of systemic or widespread voter fraud that would change the results of the election that saw Joe Biden, the president-elect, elected as the 46th president of the United States.
There's a question of whether Bill Barr would be saying that if he wasn't leaving his post as attorney general in two days.
But it's quite clear that many of the loyalists around President Trump, not just Bill Barr, but others inside the White House, including the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who was part of this heated Oval Office meeting on Friday, they are pushing back against many of these outlandish and undemocratic ideas that you are hearing from the president of the United States.
And the fringe of the fringe that the president is increasingly relying on now for ideas to overturn the results of the election or, at a minimum, to undermine the legitimacy of Joe Biden's election.
Among the fringe the president is hearing from now is Sidney Powell, that conspiracy theorist and lawyer, who was deemed too conspiratorial for the president's legal team only a few weeks ago after she suggested that perhaps the CIA was involved in rigging the election.
And Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, who lied to federal investigators and pled guilty to it.
They were both in that Oval Office meeting suggesting ideas like imposing martial law in key battleground states to rerun the 2020 election.
And an executive order that Sidney Powell has been pushing to seize these voting machines and inspect them.
I spotted Powell last night at the White House. She was leaving the residence side of the White House. I asked if she was meeting with the president. She said no. But then when I asked her again, she said it would be none of your business either way.
Again, clearly the president increasingly relying on these fringe voices.
Even those loyalists inside the White House and his government, they are beginning to sound the alarm on the words they are hearing and the ideas of the president of the United States.
BALDWIN: Yes, just like the voices we heard from the A.G., potentially for the last time, answering all of those questions and also probably hoping to hold on to whatever reputation he has left in that town.
Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.
A Russian agent set to tail opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has accidentally revealed how he was poisoned in August. The agent, a member of an elite toxins team in an FSB security service, said the lethal nerve agent, Novichok, was planted in Navalny's underpants.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED) ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER (through translation): What item of clothing was the emphasis on?
The most-risky piece of clothing, which one is that?
UNIDENTIFIED AGENT (through translation): Underpants.
NAVALNY (through translation): Underpants. Risky in what sense?
UNIDENTIFIED AGENT (through translation): Well, in terms of what concentration would be.
NAVALNY (through translation): Well, underpants?
Was it the inside seam, the outside seam? What was it adjacent to? I have a whole block of questions on this here. I will discuss all of this (INAUDIBLE), but I will also need your information.
UNIDENTIFIED AGENT (through translation): Well, we applied to the internal one. Well, at least there was application.
NAVALNY (through translation): We, imagine under pants, and in what place?
UNIDENTIFIED AGENT (through translation): The insides, the groin.
NAVALNY (through translation): The crotch of the underpants?
UNIDENTIFIED AGENT (through translation): Well, the so-called flap. There are such seams there. So across the seams.
(END AUDIO FEED)
BALDWIN: Last week, a CNN/Bellingcat investigation revealed that the unit trailed Navalny for three years.
CNN's Clarissa Ward has been breaking the story and has all of the details.
Clarissa, just wow.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes. It's one of those stories that, like, if you wrote it in a movie, you would be wait, that's over the top, no one would believe it.
BALDWIN: Totally.
WARD: Yet, here we are. It's true and it's extraordinary.
What happened was, Alexei Navalny reportedly, when he called the operative, who had been trailing him all of this time, he pretended he was a high-ranking officer in the National Security Council.
[14:35:11]
He said he was conducting an investigation into how the poisoning operation had gone down. That was what eventually allowed or persuaded this guy to actually come out with this extraordinary essentially confession.
It's not just the underpants that he talks about, Brooke. He talks about going into the city where Navalny's plane was diverted to when he got really sick and it had to make an emergency landing.
This guy went to the city five days after that emergency landing so he could take possession of Navalny's clothing. He talks about scrubbing the clothes clean, scrubbing the underpants and also the pants because they were concern that they had contact with the underpants and might have traces of Novichok on it.
He also talks about why it is that Navalny didn't die, despite that being the apparent intention of this whole operation.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)
UNIDENTIFIED AGENT (through translation): If had he had flown a little longer and perhaps would not have landed so quickly and all, perhaps it would have gone differently.
That is, had it not been for the prompt assistance of doctors or ambulances on the landing strip and so on.
NAVALNY (through translation): The plane landed after 40 minutes. Basically this should have been taken into account while planning the operation. It wasn't that the plane landed instantly. They calculated the wrong dose, the probability. Why?
UNIDENTIFIED AGENT (through translation): Well, I can't say why. As I understand it, we added a bit extra, so --
(END AUDIO FEED)
WARD: You hear those chilling words, Brooke, we added a little bit extra. Despite that added dose, Alexi Navalny is very much looking for answers and justice -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: You're right. You wouldn't believe it as a movie plot, Clarissa.
And it's my understanding the Russian security service just responded to your reporting. What did they say?
WARD: They have just come out, they're calling this entire conversation between Navalny and this operative a fake.
They say that it's been done to discredit Russian security services, and that it could not have been done without the help of foreign special services.
Essentially, a very familiar tropes for them, trying to associate Navalny with U.S. intelligence services, trying to besmirch his name. But many in Russia are simply not going to believe that -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: Clarissa Ward, keep at it. Thank you so much.
Still ahead here on CNN, why President-Elect Joe Biden chose today to receive his coronavirus vaccine. We'll bring that to you live this afternoon.
And at least two Republican Senators received their vaccines over the weekend, and not everyone is happy about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:42:20]
BALDWIN: President-Elect Joe Biden will get the first of his two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. And future first lady, Jill Biden, is also scheduled to get the vaccination as well.
Let's go to Delaware where CNN's Jeff Zeleny is standing by for the main event.
Jeff, why did the Bidens choose today to get this shot?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, of course, this Pfizer vaccine has been approved a little over a week. So they're a little bit behind in terms of the recommendations of Dr. Anthony Fauci and others.
But frankly, it just worked into their schedule to get it today. He was traveling last week and had a couple of other events. So today is the day he'll get the vaccine, the first of the shots, as well as his wife is alongside him.
But, Brooke, really 30 days from today, he will already be in office. So that's one of the reasons his doctors have recommend that he get the shot now so he can have a second shot in about three weeks' time so he is fully vaccinated.
So we do expect to see him in the next hour here in Wilmington getting that shot -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: We'll look for it.
I have one quick question on his oncoming team.
ZELENY: Sure.
BALDWIN: Biden is still mulling his pick for A.G. Do we know who is in the running?
ZELENY: We do know that that is the biggest remaining cabinet spot, of about six empty cabinet spots yet to fill.
We are still told the top two contenders are Judge Merrick Garland, a familiar name to some. He was nominated by President Obama for that Supreme Court vacancy back in 215. Was blocked by the Senate, of course.
As well as outgoing Alabama Senator Doug Jones, has a long civil rights record, prosecuting the Ku Klux Klan for that bombing of the Baptist church in Birmingham.
Those are the two top contenders we are told. Still potentially considering a couple of others.
This question is, will he get that decision done by this week before the Christmas holidays. It's looking less likely now. It might seep over into the New Year -- Brooke?
BALDWIN: Jeff Zeleny, thank you. We'll be standing by for the Biden vaccinations soon.
Thank you.
[14:44:18]
Coming up next, outrage after Republican Senators, who had downplayed the coronavirus, are some of the first to receive the vaccine. This, while there aren't enough doses for all essential workers
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The list of frontline workers prioritized for a coronavirus vaccine includes lawmakers on Capitol Hill. And among them Senator Marco Rubio.
Rubio tweeted a photo of himself getting vaccinated with this encouragement, quote, "I'm so confident the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective that I decided to take it myself."
Setting an example there, right? Well, Rubio isn't exactly the model of science abiding citizen.
Let me show you another picture. This is Rubio, on November 11, speaking before a maskless rally for the Georgia Senate contest.
The rally was such a health risk that our own correspondent, Kyung Lah, left because she didn't want to risk the COVID exposure.
Considered that rally and every other anti-science thing that Rubio has done, and our own Ana Navarro thinks that means he shouldn't go to the front of the vaccine line.
The tweet is this: "Young, healthy Senator, who spoke at rallies packed with thousands without masks, who supports Trump, who has downplayed COVID, and mocks those who wear masks, is first to go get a vaccine while most medical workers, elderly and infirm Americans wait? Congratulations on your privilege."
[14:50:03]
And Ana Navarro is with me now.
I take it, the answer to this question of who should get the vaccine first, the people who should go first does not include Marco Rubio.
ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't think it should include the Senators, period.
There's something that gets stuck in my craw and other people's craw is people who have been enabling Donald Trump downplaying the coronavirus, calling it a hoax, who have attended, spoken at, encouraged, promoted and participated in so many of his reckless rallies where people have been packed like sardines.
And have spoken at these rallies knowing people are there maskless, who have attended super-spreader events at the White House like we've seen, you know, so many people get infected with COVID at them.
And then -- and then -- after they've been selfish, after they've been reckless, after they've been servile to Donald Trump, then they get to jump the lines and go in front of people who are at nursing homes, go in front of people who are risking their lives for 10 months to keep others safe, like medical workers?
They get to go in front of people who are on dialysis and on chemo? Give me a damned break. Give me a break. That is just so immoral.
Compare that or contrast that to Governor Larry Hogan, of Maryland, a Republican, mind you, a Republican, who said, I am not going to be getting this vaccine until the medical workers and the elderly in my state do.
That is leadership. That is leadership. And that's what I would hope for, particularly from a Senator who is 50 years old and healthy.
BALDWIN: Let me read what he tweeted over the weekend, Ana. "People are tired of being told they have to stay home and can't work or open their business by people who break their own rules and haven't missed a paycheck."
What's your response to that?
NAVARRO: Look, I'm really perplexed by the level of privilege that Congress has.
Brooke, there's millions and millions and millions of Americans who have lost their jobs. There's millions and millions more who have been furloughed or have had their salaries cut or had their hours cut.
Congress has not. They make $174,000 a year. They have not gotten a pay cut. They've not been furloughed. They've not been -- you know, their salary has not been lowered 20 percent.
They've got more privileges than most Americans. If they get sick, they get privileged health care.
And then it takes them these many months to get together on a stimulus package to give the average American, you know, making under $75,000 $600? $600? $600? That pays for like four hours of hush money for Stormy Daniels. That does not pay rent. That does not pay utilities. That does not pay for food in places like Miami, and I expect New York and most places in the United States.
I think they've lost touch with the suffering and the pain of their constituents.
Let me tell you something about that picture that Marco tweeted out. It's not just Marco. It's Marco. It's Lindsey Graham. It's so many other people in Congress who are jumping the line.
But something that really pissed me off, triggered me of that post, was, you know, he started by making a joke about how he looked away from the needle and how he needed a tan in his arm.
You've got a privilege that others don't. You are getting a precious vaccine that millions are waiting for.
There's people risking their lives on a daily basis that are not getting that vaccine yet, and you crack a joke about your pasty white arm? Really? Really?
BALDWIN: I bet a lot of people watching you are shaking their head right along with you and agree.
Ana Navarro, you always speak your mind. Good to see you, my friend.
NAVARRO: Thank you, my friend.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
Coming up next, countries around the world close their borders to the U.K. amid fears of this new coronavirus variant strain.
[14:54:18]
And in Australia, the search for patient zero, central to a Sydney cluster is ongoing. Some think there's a U.S. connection, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Just in the past 24 hours, dozens of countries have announced restrictions, and in some cases, outright bans on travelers from the United Kingdom.
The travel restrictions follow the British government's announcement that a new fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus has surfaced there.
Let's turn to our correspondents covering the pandemic all around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks in Seoul. The rush is on to build more makeshift hospital beds, like these dedicated to coronavirus patients here in South Korea as the number of daily infections and also hospitalizations remains very high in South Korea.
Seoul city officials have announced that, from this Wednesday, all gatherings of five or more people will be banned in the greater Seoul area until January 3rd to try and contain the current outbreak, which is focused around the greater Seoul area.
Meanwhile, in Japan, they have just reported close to 2,500 new daily cases. New cases particularly high there. Again, the capital city bearing the brunt of this pandemic at this point.
And in Hong Kong, stringent social-distancing measures are staying in place. They have gyms, bars, pubs all closed at this point. And restaurants have to be takeout only from 6:00 p.m.
[14:59:56]
ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER, I'm Angus Watson in Sidney, Australia, where health authorities are cautiously optimistic that they might be starting to get on top of a new mystery cluster that's broken out here, ending a run with a number of days of no community transmission in the city.
