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Joe Biden Receives COVID-19 Vaccination; Trump Listens to Flynn's Pitch for Invoking Martial Law; Barr Says No Need to Appoint Special Counsel in Over Fraud Probe; Interview with Rep. Don Beyer (D- VA), Reaction to President-Elect Getting Vaccinated. Congress Poised to Pass $900 Billion Relief Package; California Hospitals Struggle to Cope with New COVID Surge. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired December 21, 2020 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: And Jeff, back over to you, we know that obviously the president of the United States, President Trump, you know, recently has a bout of COVID. It's my understanding he still has the antibodies. Do we know if he's going to be getting a vaccine?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, that has been one of the unanswered questions hanging over all of this, why he has not gotten the vaccine or why he was not in public there in front of the camera last Friday when the Pences did and the surgeon general did, and the Coronavirus Task Force was standing by. He was nowhere to be seen.

So we have not heard him say if he's going to get the shot. When he's going to get the shot. And the reason it matters is, even if he has those antibodies, millions of his supporters. many of them have, you know, been questioning the safety of vaccines, have been questioning the severity of this virus which we see is so deadly. The numbers are going up every single hour of every single day, so that's why it matters.

But he has not yet said if he is going to get one or not, and we are told the person who is administering the shot. She's a nurse practitioner there, the head of nursing at this hospital, so this is someone we've seen with President-elect Biden. He's 78 years old, he'll be the oldest president ever to be sworn in, in his office. And regardless of his age, because he will be the president, it was recommended by doctors to get it.

But certainly because of his age that adds another layer of protection and reason as well, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Of course, and thank you for the note on nurse practitioners, thank goodness for nurse practitioners and nurses and all these folks at these hospitals. All right, Dr. Ault, thank you. Jeff Zeleny, thank you for sitting in and watching this historic moment here during this pandemic, that the president-elect getting dose 1 of the COVID vaccine.

Still ahead here on CNN, new fallout during an Oval Office discussion about martial law. The conversation so shocking, some of President Trump's most faithful advisers are pushing back.

Plus, does the coronavirus relief package do enough to help struggling Americans? Congressman Don Byer joins me live, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:35:00]

BALDWIN: An absolutely remarkable news conference today from the Attorney General of the United States. Remarkable because most of what he said was an outright rejection of his boss, the president of the United States.

Reports including, here on CNN stitched together a portrait of a president desperate to keep investigations into the Bidens and voter fraud alive by appointing special counsels. And weekend tweets made clear the president is at odds with his own cabinet officials, his own national security personnel, and the Senators from the Republican Party -- who is behind this massive hack targeting the U.S. government. Barr is just the latest to tell the president that he is wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe there should be a special counsel appointed to investigate the allegations against Hunter Biden?

BILL BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: To this point I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave. From the information I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo's assessment. It certainly appears to be the Russians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Evan Perez is with me now. Evan, you were in the room, you asked a question. What did you make of that news conference?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It was extraordinary, just as you said. Because for the last, what is it, 21 or 22 months that Attorney General Bill Barr has been in this job, he's taken pains to not really show a lot of distance between him and the president no matter how nutty and crazy the things that the president would say, he always tried to find a way to sort of make them true.

But today he did not do that. We asked him whether he believed that there was any evidence to indicate that there should be a special counsel to look into the president's claims that there was widespread fraud that cost him this election to Joe Biden. He said no, he hasn't seen such evidence.

We asked him whether there was any need to do a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, which is something the president again has been talking about. He again said no.

He also said, as you pointed out just now in that sound bite, that there was no indication of anyone other than the Russians who were behind this hack. He also said that there was no indication that the federal government had any power to seize election machines around the country, which was one of the things that we've heard from some of his lawyers, the need to seize machines in swing states because they believe that there is evidence there that could, for once, finally prove that the president won the election.

Again, no proof of that, Brooke. I will say we've not heard from the president. Bill Barr still has a couple more days on the job before he leaves. We haven't heard from the president. We heard from Jenna Ellis who not long ago was a traffic court lawyer and lately has been trafficking his claims of vote fraud. She went on Twitter saying, that essentially, sit down, Bill Barr, and that's the way, I guess, she is saying goodbye to the Attorney General who has done so much to help and support this president.

BALDWIN: The criticism of being the president's essentially personal attorney for the last two years, and here he was finally you know standing up there.

[15:40:00]

And taking all those questions and trying to hang onto whatever remains of his reputation there in Washington. Evan Perez, thank you very much.

Coming up, a more contagious variant of coronavirus triggering a travel nightmare days before Christmas. Dozens of countries are blocking flights from the United Kingdom. Should the United States follow suit?

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wish we had time to take you through the whole hospital to see how busy and incredible you all are. And we owe you big.

[15:45:03]

This is just the beginning. It's one thing to get the vaccine out, and now Moderna is going to be on the road as well, but it's going to take time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: There you go. It was the moment of the day. President-elect Joe Biden getting his COVID-19 vaccine, or at least dose number 1 of the two. With me now, Democratic Congressman Don Byer. And Congressman, welcome and good to see you, sir.

REP. DON BEYER (D-VA): Thank you, Brooke, very much. BALDWIN: Let's just start with your reaction to that moment with the

president-elect rolling up his sleeve and the message it sends to the country.

BEYER: I think it's a really important message. There's always been a small fringe anti-vaccine group, but it's gotten a lot bigger in just all the tension in the country, so it's real important for him to set that example, as I believe Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton have done also.

BALDWIN: And Congressman Beyer, I know you received your first dose of vaccine on Friday. I don't think many Americans have an issue with the president-elect or the current vice president being near the front of the line getting the vaccine.

But there has been some criticism about some members of Congress getting the dose while, you know, those in a higher risk category or essential workers who don't have the choice to work from home are still waiting in line. Do you appreciate their frustration, and what would you like to say to them?

BEYER: Well, Brooke, I do appreciate their frustration, and I do -- you know, I thought a lot about the balance. I'm 70 so I'm a little bit at risk, and we're in this big building with lots of other people who are on airplanes all the time, but I thought the more important thing was to try to set the right example. We're not going to get the herd immunity so that we can all go freely about our lives until as many of us as possible have got the vaccine.

And I worry about the 20, 25 percent, maybe 30 percent who say they're not going to get the vaccine. We need to set the right example.

BALDWIN: You mentioned airplanes. I want to ask you about the U.K., because several countries have restricted or banned travel from the U.K. because of the virus variant that's been reported over there. I want to play something really quickly for you, and then we'll talk on the other side.

This is what Admiral Giroir said about that variant today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Possible, though, that if the updates come that we might ban travel from the United Kingdom?

ADM. BRETT GIROIR, M.D., ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, HHS: I think everything needs to be on the table. We need to look at the data, we need to examine the science, understand the risks and then make a decision that will be based on evidence and data and what's best for the American people. So I think everything is possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So you heard the admiral say, you know, a decision hasn't been made yet. Governor Cuomo here in New York is frustrated the U.S. has not done it. Do you think the U.S. should be restricting travel from folks from the U.K.?

BEYER: First of all I very much respect the Admiral's emphasis on the science-based approach. I'm not a scientist, but my instinct would be, yes, to ban the travel. It's likely that it's already here just because there's so much back and forth, but anything we can do to slow down that transmission until as many Americans have gotten the vaccine already.

It looks, Brooke, like the vaccine, especially these new mRNA vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna, will be equally effective against this new mutation. But we still don't want as many people as possible to get it.

BALDWIN: Correct. Lastly, of course, stimulus, you know, Congress is now poised to pass this $900 billion relief bill. We now have a sense of, you know, what's in this. It's been months in the making. I know Bernie Sanders says it's not enough. How do you feel about it, Congressman Beyer?

BEYER: Well, it's not enough and it's way late. We passed the Heroes Act back on May 15th. But it's not too late. This $300 for people that are unemployed, the $600 check for so many Americans who can't put groceries on the table. I wish it more but I'm so glad that we're finally doing it now just before Christmas.

BALDWIN: Congressman Don Beyer, thank you so much. Happy holidays.

BEYER: Happy holidays.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

We are just two weeks away until Georgia's two Senate runoff elections and control the U.S. Senate is at stake. Huge amounts of campaign money are flowing into Georgia. Take a look at this number just spent for advertising. This is the ad dollars here it's already reached $482 million. And we still have until January 5th to go. Big political names continue to flow into Georgia. Today here she was, Vice president-elect Kamala Harris, took part in a rally in Columbus delivering this message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA) VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: What we did in November we can do again, because it comes from a very deep place inside of us. Understanding this is not about a dance, this is not about a gesture, this is about our lives. This is about the lives of our children. This is about the life of our community and the lifeblood of our nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:50:00]

BALDWIN: While the vice president-elect visiting Georgia campaigning for the Democratic candidates, President Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump attended three rallies across the state of Georgia for the Republican candidates.

Just ahead here on CNN, hospitals in California overflowing with patients and health care workers are stretched thin. CNN takes you inside an emergency room that's now a COVID unit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A startling number of COVID-19 cases in southern California, one in every 64 Los Angeles residents is now infected with the virus and, is quote, actively infecting others.

[15:55:00]

That is what the L.A. County Health Services Director Christina Ghaly told CNN today. And because of those numbers, because of those widespread infections, hospitals are full, that includes ICU beds and all of this coming in as the state's Governor, Gavin Newsom, goes back into this ten day quarantine for a second time. The Governor recently came into contact with a staffer who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center there in Torrance, California. And I know you got a tour of the emergency room earlier today. What was that like?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I did. I took my cell phone in, we're trying to keep crews very small to try to keep it safer for everyone. And we were inside Harbor UCLA Medical Center. And I got to tell you, the flurry of activity that we saw inside that emergency room is nonstop. It's exhausting to watch, never mind that folks have been doing this there, the nurses, and doctors, and technical staff, they've all been doing this for months. But now it is so incredibly intense.

This invisible enemy, called COVID-19, is surging. There is nowhere else you need to look but inside this emergency room. Every single bed in this emergency room was taken up by COVID-19 patients, every single one full, except for one.

And why is there one? Because it's the emergency room. When they have someone come in, they have to find space. Why do they have to find space? Because in Los Angeles County they can't simply send patients out anymore to other facilities, to other hospitals, other medical centers because guess what, their ICUs are full, too. Everyone is in the same boat.

So they have to try and find other places and spaces for patients to come in and a large number of the patients coming in are coronavirus positive. They simply are at their limit. But they are pushing through it, we were able to speak with a nurse who, really -- you know, he is just like everyone else, he's exhausted, he's been doing this surge after surge after surge.

And right now Los Angeles County is probably the hottest hot spot in the entire country. Cliff Resurreccion, his name, he's a registered nurse, he was in this COVID unit and talked about what it's been like and also the fact that he actually worked all day on a patient yesterday and lost that patient this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLIFF RESURRECCION, NURSE, HARBOR UCLA MEDICAL CENTER: Very exhausting, you know. It's really like a never ending struggle you know. We just actually is just (INAUDIBLE) I was working the whole day yesterday, so it's, you know, pretty tiring for everyone involved. So it's really tough now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: It's pretty tough now is an understatement. He is just trying to get through his day. And he told me that, you know, all of these patients that they see, some who they're able to send home, some who they aren't. In this case the patient of his was so sick, they were not able to say good-bye to family, the patient was too intensely sick to be able to do that nor see his family before he passed -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: I just can't even begin to imagine what it is like for these, you know, the staff and nurses, the doctors. Thank you for relaying his perspective. You know, when you look at these hospitalizations now, and also just the sheer number, Sara, because you know, you know, it is a surge in California, haven't even hit Christmas yet walk me through the numbers.

SIDNER: You know, they're really worried about this idea of a surge within a surge and they are just cautioning people, please don't do the things that you really want to do, which of course we all want to see our families. We know that hospitalizations are up 63 percent.

As these patients come in, we have to realize again they're literally inside this hospital, Brooke, looking for space for new patients. Like looking for areas where they can put new patients and it's not just, do they have the beds, it's do they have the staff, do they have the equipment?

You know, if you've ever seen, and you look at the intensive care units with COVID patients, and we saw someone that was hooked up to no fewer than eight different tubes. So it is intense work. It is intense work, not just for someone trying to survive but those that are caring for these coronavirus patients -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just looking at the pictures here, just the staff all hands on deck and then some. Sara Sidner, thank you, to you and the crew for going in for us.

Before I let all of you go, I want to pass this along. The holiday air travel rush is here and it is breaking pandemic era travel records.

The TSA says it screened more than a million people at airport security nationwide on Sunday. That is the third straight day that has happened. Meaning more than 3 million people have gone through U.S. airport security since Friday.

And a statue that stood in the U.S. Capitol for more than 100 years is gone. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam revealing on Twitter that the statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee has been removed because of its, quote, racist and divisive history.