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Trump Administration to Buy 100 Million More Pfizer Vaccine Doses; Holiday Travelers Crowd Airports Despite Rising U.S. COVID Cases; Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Assures Americans Relief Checks Would Go Out to Americans in Time for the Holidays. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 23, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Hi, there, you are watching CNN on this Wednesday afternoon, I'm Brooke Baldwin, thank you so much for being with me. A new Trump administration deal today to secure 100 million more doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

The vaccines are rolling, more than 1 million shots to the Pfizer vaccine have been administered already according to the latest tally by the CDC. But if that gives you a sense of security, that this might all be over, rethink that because 195,000 new cases of coronavirus have been reported on Tuesday. Nearly, 118,000 Americans are currently in the hospitals, and 3,400 Americans died yesterday.

It was the single second highest day since the pandemic began. Now, the incoming CDC director nominee today really laid down a marker, essentially saying we need to be limiting our mobility, period.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROCHELLE WALENSKY, INCOMING CDC DIRECTOR: I think we all need to acknowledge that on January 21st, things are going to be bad, it's going to be dark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: One-point-five million cases over the past week, the daily death average clocks in at 2,700 every day, and our current reality is already pretty bleak. But early evidence shows warning after warning is not getting through because look at these picture, nearly 1 million passengers are passing through our nation's airports.

This was just on Tuesday. American patience is wearing thin, both with the new pandemic normal and the financial fallout that comes along with it. Pandemic assistance money runs out the day after Christmas, adding all kinds of anxiety for the millions of Americans who depend on it just to stay in their homes and put food on their tables.

Congress passed a deal to give Americans a reprieve, but now, the president is injecting himself into those negotiations, and he says the bill that Congress sent to his desk is no longer good enough. So, let's start there with CNN's Phil Mattingly, he is live in Washington. And Phil, why did this president who seemed pretty disinterested right in this whole process being running the country, negotiating this COVID Relief Bill, why did he decide to blow it all up?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, it's a question that I know a lot of senior Republicans would like to answer, too. Right now, as they try and figure out what happens next.

I think that's the fascinating part of this moment, and really kind of the unsettling part of this moment, Brooke, is that nobody knows what happens next. Now, the president's stated objections to the bill, are that the direct payments included in the COVID relief piece of it, which are set at $600 are not high enough. That they should move up to $2,000. I think the issue there, the irony there is, it was his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that proposed this $600 level.

And while the president had been talking about higher checks at various points internally, I'm told he did not explicitly object to this $600 level when the deal was actually struck. And the other issue that he raised point-by-point-point in that video last night was the fact that there's money for foreign aid in this package. Here's the reality here, this is important to note. This is two different pieces of legislation that were melded together. This is the COVID relief package, $900 billion, and this is $1.4 trillion spending package that includes all 12 appropriations bills.

The issues that the president brought up that he had problems with, they came directly from his budget. He has signed them into law in the past, and he's conflating them with COVID relief. And I think the point here, Brooke is this, while this wasn't everything that everybody wanted in terms of the COVID relief package, the key pieces of it are exceedingly crucial at this moment in time. You have two federal unemployment programs that are about to expire on December 26th, about 12 million, 13 million people -- you have an eviction moratorium that's about to expire as well.

Obviously, you had the direct payments that were in this, you had a $300 additional unemployment benefit that was in this as well. So, at a moment in time where a lot of Americans are really struggling, this was something, and right now, it's very much in question.

BALDWIN: No, and watching all these Democrats saying, all right, sure, Mr. President, let's give out, you know, the$2,000 checks, and the Republicans are like --

MATTINGLY: Yes --

BALDWIN: And to get into the weeds a little bit here, which I know you love in terms of, you know, congressional language. I know the president does have another option to tank the bill. Explain what a pocket veto is.

MATTINGLY: Yes, so, one thing to keep in mind, the president has not explicitly stated he is going to veto this bill. And so the hope on Capitol Hill is that if you give him some time and let him run it out a little bit, that he will eventually sign it if enough people get into his ear.

[14:05:00]

I think the question right now is who is left in his ear, right? Nobody is really sure. And so, also, I think problem is, the president doesn't technically have to do anything, depending on when he gets the bill that Congress passed, which has not reached the White House yet.

If ten days passed between that time and the president doing anything, the bill becomes law. However, if Congress adjourns at some point during those ten days, and the next session of Congress is ready to start, the bill essential dies, and we're at that stage right now depending on when the bill gets to the White House.

Now, the president may not have to do anything at all, and the bill may fall. Obviously, everybody involved with the bill is trying to prevent that. Again, you noted, Speaker Pelosi will be going to the floor tomorrow morning and trying to get unanimous consent on $2,000 for direct payments like the president wants. As you noted, the Republicans very likely to object. But I think the big picture right now, the reality is, there are multiple ways the president can end up sinking this package. I think everybody is just hoping he decides otherwise.

BALDWIN: Not a dull moment, not even around the holidays. Phil Mattingly, thank you so much. Good to see you. How about this quote, "so dumb". That is how one administration official describes to "The Washington Post" the president's decision here to add giant doubt to this coronavirus relief deal. The president's vlog of complaints last night went live after aides including the White House chief of staff left town for the holiday, and the content of that video confirms two truths about this White House. The president has no grip on the facts, and no one in the White House truly speaks for the president.

The White House told Senate Republicans they supported packaging this COVID Relief Bill with other giant spending bills into this one single package as Phil was outlining. And the long list of items the president says he dislikes like foreign aid are not actually in the COVID relief package, but plucked from other spending bills. CNN political analyst Josh Dawsey joins me now, he is the White House reporter for "The Washington Post". And Josh, just to underscore like how bananas this really is, the Treasury Secretary was already talking about sending money out the door.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

STEVEN MNUCHIN, SECRETARY OF TREASURY: I expect we'll get the money out by the beginning of next week, $2,400 for a family of four, so much-needed relief just in time for the holidays.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Josh, my question is, how did the rest of his administration end up on such a totally different page from the president?

JOSH DAWSEY, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, the president has not been intrinsically involved in the details of the discussions as Treasury Secretary, other officials were telling Republicans that the president supported that. But the president had actually been griping behind the scenes about the bill.

And after everyone left town yesterday, the president, without the knowledge of most of his aides, around noon made the video that was released last night on his Twitter account, decrying the bill. He did not specifically say that he would veto it, but what he said in that video was a laundry list of complaints about the bill that his other top officials had not described to Republicans.

Republicans were packing up, ready to leave town, they feel like this was a wrapped up deal, but this was done. And the president, as he's done many times, Brooke, over the last four years, at the end jumped in with a dramatic twist.

BALDWIN: One way to put it, basically saying everyone wants still president, right? Also 28 days left in office, the president is now pardoning his friends and his supporters and undoing convictions related to the Mueller investigation, and this is what you report in "The Post" -- let me read this. "The White House has been flooded with requests from dozens of members of Congress, one senior administration official said, as well as lawyers, lobbyists, allies and other supporters of the president.

You know, Josh, the big name not on the pardon list yesterday was Paul Manafort. Do your sources expect that, that is coming? Do they expect pardons for his own children as well?

DAWSEY: Well, our sources expect that Trump would consider a pardon for Paul Manafort and many others. The president has told others that he wants to be liberal in the pardon power between now and January 20th. And last night, you saw he pardoned four of the Blackwater contractors, you know, accused of killing civilians in Iraq. He pardoned corrupt congressman, he pardoned folks of the Mueller probe, and he pardoned a whole host of others that were recommended by Alice Johnson, the friend of, you know, Kim Kardashian, who has gotten to know the president.

And the president wants to keep doing this. The president likes the pardons, it's a unilateral executive power. It doesn't require wrangling -- like with Congress, it doesn't require fighting with others. He can just sign the paper, and he likes doing it.

BALDWIN: Josh Dawsey, great reporting, thank you so much. Happy holidays to you.

DAWSEY: Happy holidays to you.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Still ahead this hour here on CNN, another 100 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been ordered. What that actually means in terms of protecting you, Americans. That's next. And we speak with the miracle lady this afternoon after spending nearly two months at death's door, doctors had exhausted every single treatment. We have the incredible recovery story of this one woman in Atlanta. [14:10:00]

And President Trump goes on a rampage with pardons and veto threats, but, well, if you want to question what the president is doing, don't forget --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm the president of the United States. Don't ever talk to the president that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are back here watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin, thank you for being here. The U.S. is beefing up its vaccine supply. The Trump administration announcing just this morning that it's reached this deal to purchase additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but it could be wild before we didn't see then. CNN national correspondent Kristen Holmes is with me now. And Kristen, tell me about the deal and how soon could this help us?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in terms of timing, we'll get to that in a second. But it's certainly not right away. Now, the deal itself, the administration announcing that it had purchased a 100 million additional doses of that Pfizer vaccine.

[14:15:00]

And of course, the big question became how exactly would Pfizer produce this vaccine. Remember, those materials are critical materials and they're very hard to come by. So, we have learned from Health and Human Services that they are initiating the Defense Production Act to make sure that Pfizer has access to those critical materials, and not just Pfizer, but Pfizer and the five other Operation Warp Speed- related vaccines. So, that's how they're going to get it done. Now, in terms of the timeline, they say that Pfizer will deliver at least 70 million of those doses by June 30th of this year, and then the full additional 100 million doses will be by the end of July.

So, here's what that means for you, for anyone sitting at home who is not an essential worker, it means that, one, is there going to be a big shortage of vaccines, no. This is likely going to help at least partly offset that, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen any sooner than it was expected. We are actually at a place now where we were learning that there was going to be a shortage of the vaccine. Remember that original deal was only for 150 million doses of the vaccine, and there are about 260 million Americans who are eligible to get the vaccine.

And so, this is just going to offset that in part, but not speed up the process in any way. But I do want to tell you this, Brooke, we heard from Secretary Azar who said this about the vaccine. He said that "this new federal purchase can give Americans even more confidence that we will have enough supply to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021. And the reason I point --

BALDWIN: OK --

HOLMES: This out is because I think there's something very interesting. This sounds very similar to what we heard from the administration, from President Trump, from Secretary Azar back in March, that any person who wanted a test could get a test, which of course at that point wasn't true. So, it's not clear if this is another sort of setup. We'll have to wait and see what the results are there.

BALDWIN: Thank you for the reality check for all of us, we'll be here -- a hundred additional, we think, you know, a 100 million additional we think, awesome, but I hear you loud and clear. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for the update there on all of that.

We just learned moments ago that more than 9 million vaccine doses have been delivered, and more than a million doses of the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine have been administered here in the U.S. in its first week and a half since authorization. So let me bring in former Baltimore Health Commissioner, Dr. Leana Wen; she's a CNN medical analyst. So, Dr. Wen, welcome.

LEANA WEN, FORMER BALTIMORE HEALTH COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Just talking to Kristen about this -- you know, this deal that the U.S. has reached by this 100 million additional doses of the Pfizer vaccine enough to vaccinate 50 million people considering each person needs two doses, 70 million of those will be delivered not later than June 30th. All 100 million not later than July 1st. Here's my question. How close will this get us to the goal of getting back to normal, to getting herd immunity?

WEN: So, I think that the deal that was struck is a step in the right direction because we know that vaccine production and vaccine availability is the limiting factor here. And so, the more that we have guaranteed to come to Americans, the better. The problem though is June 30th or July 1st, is a long time in the future. That's six more months for us to get through. And we know that the sooner we can vaccinate everyone, the sooner we can put an end to the pandemic and to get back to life as normal and have our kids back to school in the Fall and just be normal again.

And in order to reach that kind of immunity throughout, we really need these other vaccines to come online as well. Pfizer and Moderna, the data looks excellent, but alone, the production is not going to be enough.

BALDWIN: OK, I want to ask you about the COVID variant out of the U.K. You know, both Pfizer and Moderna are testing to make sure their vaccines are effective against this virus mutation. They are both hopeful that it is. Any reason for any of us to think any differently?

WEN: No, there's no reason for us to believe at this point that, for some reason this vaccine is not going to be effective against this variant. Mutations do occur. Vaccines are designed with that in mind. It may be that over time, there may be mutations that are significant enough that vaccines need to be reconfigured.

But there's no reason for us to believe that the vaccine, especially because coronavirus, unlike influenza, don't mutate that quickly. So, there's no reason for us to believe that for some reason, the vaccine is not going to work now. I will say though that, the fact that this variant looks like it's even more transmissible is concerning, because this is already a highly contagious virus.

And so, I hope what people will take away from that is the need to really double down on the precautions that we know already. Masking, physical distancing, but also coming into the holidays, really critically avoiding those crowded indoor gatherings.

BALDWIN: Thank you for the reminder as always. Dr. Wen, good to have you on.

WEN: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, President Trump flexes his pardon power. We will look at the message these overnight pardons are sending and who could be next?

[14:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: With less than a month in office, President Trump is unleashing this pre-Christmas wave of pardons. Watch for more to come. But here's who's among those Trump chose to pardon within just the last 24 hours.

Three Republican congressmen convicted of corruption, two people who pleaded guilty in the Mueller-Russia probe, and four Blackwater guards convicted in the massacre of Iraqi civilians. So, let's go straight to former federal prosecutor and CNN's legal analyst Elie Honig who was literally writing the book on Bill Barr which we'll get to as all of this is semi-related in a second.

But you know, In terms of this president and all these pardons, A, your reaction to them, and B, are there more to come?

[14:25:00]

ELIE HONIG, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes, Brooke, completely predictable, completely disgraceful. I want to say this about the pardon power. It's not inherently bad or evil. The pardon power is designed to be a tool for justice, for mercy, for compassion.

Instead, we have seen this president time and again use the pardon power to settle political scores, like you said, with pardoning anyone who has been convicted by Robert Mueller, to reward his cronies, straight-up crooks like Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, people whose only credential for a pardon is that they've been loyal Republican supporters of the president.

And then I think most disturbingly, these contractors convicted of murdering civilians who he pardoned, I believe solely because they've become this sort of right-wing media-cause celeb. That is not what the pardon power is about. That is not justice, will there be more? You bet. This is only going to get worse, I'm looking at Paul Manafort, I'm looking at other political cronies, I'm looking at Rudy Giuliani, I'm looking at his family members, maybe the president will even try to pardon himself, that would be a new low.

BALDWIN: We had -- we've talked about it before, to be continued on that. I've got a guy coming up next hour who, you know, these Blackwater pardons are quite personal for. To the man about which you're writing this book, when Bill Barr was first announced as nominee for attorney general to replace Matthew Whitaker who was acting AG after Trump fired Jeff Sessions, you sir, gave Barr the benefit of the doubt. We dug out the tape, this is from December 6th, 2018. Roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HONIG: Well, he'll certainly be an upgrade on Matthew Whitaker. I think that's clear. I served under attorneys general for both Republican and Democratic administrations. And what --

BALDWIN: Yes --

HONIG: You want is somebody who is qualified, who is serious and who is respected. And by all accounts, William Barr is all of those things. I also think it is important that he has a previous working relationship with Robert Mueller. Look, that's the biggest question that's going to be in front of any attorney general. And presumably, they have some sort of chemistry between them so they'll be able to work together, moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And what do you think of him now?

HONIG: Well, Brooke, look how young we were back then. A lot has gone down since then.

BALDWIN: So much.

HONIG: Look, I'm glad that we pulled that tape. I asked your producers to pull it because it shows that when Bill Barr was nominated by Donald Trump, even though, I had been a critic of DOJ under Donald Trump for the first two years, I was more than willing to give Bill Barr the benefit of the doubt to assume the best, to hope for the best for him. He then spent the next two years completely trashing that, most fundamentally throughout the last two years, Bill Barr has used the Justice Department as a tool to exercise political power.

He has lied, he has twisted the law, he has stooped to new lows in order to use the power of prosecution to protect Donald Trump, to protect Donald Trump's cronies, and I think in so doing, he's done real deep institutional damage to the Justice Department where I grew up. BALDWIN: Yes, well, it's interesting this -- right around this time

yesterday, we were listening to the president-elect, and rightly, he was being asked by our own Jeff Zeleny about who his AG will be, and he was saying, you know, I don't know yet, but I can tell you, roughly paraphrasing it, you know, he's not going to be the personal attorney of the president of the United States. Last question, what do you see as Barr's most memorable decisions or actions these last two years?

HONIG: Boy, where to start? He's got quite a rap sheet. Look, first and foremost, he lied to the American public about the Mueller report. I believe that in so doing, he actually saved Trump's presidency because if we had seen the truth, if Bill Barr had not lied about it, I think there would have been a very different outcome for Donald Trump back in 2018. He intervened in politically-charged cases to rescue Michael Flynn, Roger Stone. He tried to keep the Ukraine whistleblower complaint from going to Congress, he fired the head of the SDNY where I used to work and lied to the public about that.

He used tear gas on protesters outside the White House to clear the way for a photo-op where President Trump held up the Bible, and then in the months leading up to the election, he lied to the American public about the threat for massive voter fraud. Now, he made a little bit of turn here at the end when he showed a little bit of independence when he realized that it was over, he realized they're heading out of office -- but my answer to that is good, you did the right thing, but way too little, way too late. It certainly does not undo two years worth of deep damage that he's done to DOJ.

BALDWIN: I feel like we're getting a little preview to the conclusion of this Bill Barr book. I will see you hopefully at the book party next Summer in person. Elie Honig, thank you so much.

HONIG: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: This just in to CNN, senior administration officials tell CNN that Trump's National Security adviser Robert O'Brien held a call Tuesday with his counterparts in the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand about the suspected Russian hack, and proposed a joint statement condemning the cyber attack. The countries make up the so- called Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, and one of the Five Eyes sources tell CNN the statements O'Brien proposes is being considered, but if issued, it's unclear whether Russia will be named.

Still ahead here on CNN, her family had signed a do not resuscitate order. Doctors had exhausted every option for two months, but that would not be the end of her story. Coming up next, our guest, known as the "miracle lady", her recovery and the story of her twin sister who never stopped calling or praying, we have a little surprise for them, too. Stay tuned.