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A Deal Between The United Kingdon And The European Union Has Finally Been Reached; Growing Tension Between The President-Elect's Transition Team And The Defense Department; Millions Of Americans Are Counting On This COVID Relief Deal; More Than 9 Million Doses Of The Coronavirus Vaccine Have Been Delivered Across The U.S.; The USPS Is Experiencing A Backlog With Christmas Packages. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired December 24, 2020 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well right now, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer held -- is holding a press conference as lawmakers grapple with next steps on this COVID relief deal. Millions of Americans are counting on this, but the president signal he may veto it is changing everything. Let's get back to Suzanne Malveaux on Capitol Hill. So Suzanne, what's going on there?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Pam, the House just recessed for the holiday and they'll be back on Monday, essentially Monday at 2:00, but it happened all very quickly as we expected. You had Steny Hoyer who was there who was introducing this idea of increasing the $600 direct payment to $2,000, something that the president had called for, had asked for and in a unanimous consent.

It only required one person to object. That's exactly what happened, that's what they expected. We are hearing from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is squarely putting the blame on Republicans, her statement here in part saying "Today, on Christmas Eve morning, House Republicans cruelly deprived the American people of the $2,000 that the president agreed to support. If the president is serious about the $2,000 direct payments he must call on House Republicans to end their obstruction."

Now Pam, as you know, this has really put a number of GOP lawmakers into a bind. They signed off on this agreement for the $600, many of them holding their noses doing so, and now the president insisting that this be bumped up a bit. And so House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's going to make sure that there is a full House vote on the floor on Monday to make sure everybody gets on the record with this.

We have also heard from -- from Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, who says he had a conversation with the president over the weekend and told the GOP caucus that the president is not committed to vetoing this legislation and so everything is still up in the air while people are watching and waiting for some of their benefits to expire in the days ahead, Pam.

BROWN: Basically at this point it's still anyone's guess about which way this will go is what I'm hearing from you. All right Suzanne Malveaux, thank you. Keep us posted.

Meantime, there is growing tension this morning between the president- elect's transition team and the Defense Department. Biden's team is doubling down on the assertion that the Defense Department is refusing to brief them on a massive cyber attack on government agencies. CNN's Kristen Holmes joins me now for this. So what's Biden team saying now, Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, they are not mincing words in this escalation that that's really spilling over into the public view. Earlier this week, the President-elect Biden talking about that cyber attack, saying that the Department of Defense wasn't briefing them. And then a response in a statement from an unnamed senior defense official, essentially calling the president-elect a liar.

Now, this is what we hear from the Biden transition team, this is an on the record statement, here's what they say "As the President-elect noted yesterday, the Department of Defense has continued to refuse to meet with our Agency Review Team members.

There has been no substantial progress since transition officials spoke to the intransigence of the Department's political leadership late last week. As we said then, no Department is more pivotal to our national security than the Department of Defense, and an unwillingness to work together could have consequences well beyond January 20."

Now, something we are watching very closely is that the Pentagon, Department of Defense, they say they're going to resume these briefings after the holidays, keeping a close eye to see if that actually happens, Pamela.

BROWN: Absolutely. And we also know about Biden's short list for CIA director. What can you tell us?

HOLMES: Well, that's right, and that's something else we are expecting after the holidays, for Biden to actually announce who he will nominate to that position. Now sources say there are three top contenders right now, let's take a look at them.

One is David Cohen, who is the Former CIA Deputy Director. Another Lisa Monaco, Counterterrorism Adviser under President Obama and third Darrell Blocker, who served as the Deputy Director of the Agency's Counterterrorism Center and he also led the CIA's training facility.

So we are told by sources that Biden is still mulling this decision. They are planning on having some sort of an announcement, again, after the holidays. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Kristen Holmes. Thank you very much.

And as we wait for the coronavirus vaccine to become widely available to the general public, some communities of color are already worrying it will not be as accessible to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EMMA WASHINGTON, RESIDENT ON CHICAGO'S SOUTH SIDE: I would like to take that vaccine because I'm afraid. I don't know if I get it in time or if it will work, but it gives me a little hope, you know, because otherwise we don't have hope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[09:35:00]

BROWN: While more than 9 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been delivered across the U.S., experts are concerned that access to those doses will be limited in minority communities. CNN's Omar Jimenez joins me now from Chicago on -- for more on this. So Omar, how are city leaders responding to these concerns?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Pamela, for one they're saying that these concerns have been around for a long time and that these issues aren't ones that are going to be fixed overnight. They say it's going to come over a matter of years. And as you mentioned coming to me, the real concern here is that these are communities hardest hit by COVID-19 and they're facing higher hurdles for the solution of a vaccine to come.

And this dynamic is wrapped within a number of health factors all connected and ones that existed long before this pandemic began.

[09:40:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

How long have you lived in this neighborhood?

UNKNOWN FEMALE: All my life, 55 years. It's changed a whole lot.

ROCHELLE SYKES, RESIDENT ON CHICAGO'S WEST SIDE: If they're going to roll out a vaccine and they're going to grocery stores and pharmacies, I see a problem.

JIMENEZ: You feel just because the vaccine is available, it's not necessarily going to be accessible?

SYKES: That is correct.

JIMENEZ: Rochelle Sykes lives in the predominantly black west side Chicago neighborhood of Austin and is in a zip code that has among the highest COVID-19 death rates in the city, and the barriers to getting a vaccine are already taking shape, ranging anywhere from distance to pharmacies, confidence in health care, and even personal safety, as Austin is also among the city's most violent neighborhoods.

SYKES: Is it even worth the time, okay? You hear gunshots, you know, you got to get out and get in your car, they're doing carjackings. And if you don't feel safe, then you just don't do it. JIMENEZ: Just down the street, Loretto Hospital was host to the

city's first COVID-19 vaccination and the first to set up a west side community testing site back in April, one they plan to soon turn into a community vaccination site.

DR. AFYA KHAN, DIRECTOR OF INFECTION CONTROL, LORETTO HOSPITAL: In order to stop this virus eventually we all have to do our part and we want to make sure we involve everybody. We're experiencing three types of pandemics, and that's violence, racism as well as COVID-19.

JIMENEZ: It's an issue leadership continues to wrestle with.

DR. ALLISON ARWADY, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Where any part of the city is not supported enough, it indirectly impacts the entire city. Not just that this is a let's make sure that we treat COVID, it's about what are the root causes that have made these neighborhoods, these subgroups, in Chicago more vulnerable.

JIMENEZ: Parts of the downtown Chicago area have a life expectancy of up to 90 years old according to an analysis out of NYU. Then just about ten miles down the road near here on Chicago's south side, the life expectancy goes down to 59.9. That's a difference of about 30 years, which that same NYU analysis says is the largest gap in the country.

WASHINGTON: All of a sudden this virus came and took my sister away.

JIMENEZ: Emma Washington is almost 80 years old. She lost her sister to COVID-19 in September and her brother to COVID the day before Christmas Eve. And now, she's considering what getting a vaccine is going to look like, with her pharmacy over a mile away and no car to get her there.

WASHINGTON: I have to take one bus and then I have to take another bus because there was only one place around, Walgreens, around my area.

JIMENEZ: Now, she mostly has her medication delivered, but this isn't a new phenomenon. One study, based on data from 2000 and 2012, found over 50% of the city's black communities were so-called pharmacy deserts, low-income neighborhoods where pharmacies are far from the population and people don't have regular access to vehicles, compared with just 5% in white communities.

ARWADY: This is not something that's going to get solved in a year or in five years, but how do we take the COVID conversation and turn it into the conversation that links to chronic disease and homicide and infant mortality and HIV and opioid overdose? Those are the five main drivers of our, you know, disparate life expectancies in Chicago and COVID has indirectly impacted all of those.

JIMENEZ: But when it comes to COVID for Sykes, along with those in Washington's community, the vaccine shot is about more than medicine. It's about getting a fair shot, without it being a long shot.

SYKES: We are in a life boat, they are on a cruiser. If you can come up with a vaccine within a year, why are we sitting in a community where there is no grocery store with fresh fruits and vegetables?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So Omar, tell us, is this happening in other cities and what is the role that pharmacies and grocery stores will have in distribution?

JIMENEZ: Yes, for starters, it's not just Chicago. We see these issues and these barriers pop up in places all across the country. I mean, when you take just grocery stores, for example, our recent analysis done for CNN showed that 18% of black neighborhoods had low access to grocery stores compared to just 7.6% of white neighborhoods.

That disparity, you find out, makes a huge difference when it comes to underlying health conditions which goes into that cycle of why some of these communities, or part of why, are more affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and then here we go swinging around to when a solution comes having higher hurdles to overcome when deploying that solution.

Even Walgreens, for example, here in Chicago that's led a number of community initiatives, even they, along with others, have a lower location density on the south and west sides compared to the more affluent north sides here in Chicago. Pamela?

[09:45:00]

BROWN: Omar Jimenez, important story. Thank you very much.

Well, this Christmas is like no other in Bethlehem, the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ. The pandemic is forcing scaled-back celebrations this year. Elliott Gotkine joins me now from Bethlehem. So tell us what the atmosphere is like there today, Elliott.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Pam, let's just say that the Muslim cult of prayer just started a moment ago so excuse the noise there. Undoubtedly the highlight today was the patriarch procession. Now this is the Latin patriarch who arrives in Bethlehem, he comes here from Jerusalem, and he's welcomed by scout bands, marching bands, who bring him into the city.

Now this -- at that time, there were probably about 200 people down in Manger Square. That was the limit of capacity that they allowed for today. Usually the square is absolutely heaving, and there are far fewer marching bands as well. But before that happened and afterwards, there's been nothing.

There were no carol concerts, there were no performances and anyone seeking solace and prayer later on this evening at midnight mass will also be disappointed because it's only open to clergy, again, due to restrictions relating to COVID. I should also point out that the patriarch himself almost didn't make it; he only recovered from COVID earlier this week, so a very different Christmas here.

And at the same time, you know, the people we speak to, you know, they're not as happy obviously as they otherwise would be but they're still actually hopeful that next year will be better and that perhaps we can get beyond COVID so that in Christmas -- on Christmas Eve, 2021, things will be more or less back to normal.

But certainly, as I say, you know, usually it would be standing room only here, it would be absolutely heaving down below, but Palestinian visitors from other West Bank towns can't come because they're under lockdown, foreign visitors can't come because the skies are closed as well.

So a much lower key and perhaps a much more somber Christmas than usual, but the people we speak to say they're at least hopeful that things will be better this time next year.

BROWN: Hanging on to hope. Elliott Gotkine, thank you.

The holidays are upon us but many gifts will not make it to their destinations on time, a perfect storm at the post office causing major delays. Details up next.

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[09:50:00]

BROWN: Well, it is Christmas Eve and there is a good chance that that gift you ordered may not make it in time for Christmas, all because of a huge backlog at the U.S. Postal Service. You can blame the historic amount of packages Americans have ordered during this pandemic plus a rising number of postal workers that are out with COVID-19. CNN's Cristina Alesci takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN SMITH, PRESIDENT, NEW YORK METRO AREA POSTAL UNION: We just don't have enough rooms in the stations to deal with all the mail.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT FOR POLITICS AND BUSINESS: New York Metro Area Postal Union President Jonathan Smith says the Post Office is handling more mail than ever before. This year 3 billion parcels will be delivered during the peak season by all major carriers. That's 800 million more than last year.

SMITH: That's an impossible task to keep up.

ALESCI: And impacting Christmas mornings around the country.

UNKNOWN FEMALE: Things I ordered never came on time. They're not going to come on time. I ended up canceling or they said they would deliver it and they weren't.

ALESCI: The backlog also affecting small business owners like Alicia Christensen in Michigan. She refunded $800 in sales of her hand painted aluminum wreaths because of postal delays. She's getting messages like this one from customers "This wreath is not here yet!!! Can you please find out where it is?"

ALICIA CHRISTENSEN, OWNER, "BENDABLE BLOOMS" ETSY SHOP: I'm not counting on them because I had to shut my shop down because I can't rely on the flowers to get there before Christmas. ALESCI: Alicia is not alone. These photos show thousands of packages

piling up at a postal processing center in Philadelphia, a lot of anger directed at Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, appointed by Trump earlier this year. He faced criticism over the summer for removing large mail orders and implementing cuts to overtime and Post Office hours, leading to concerns that election ballots would not arrive on time. He reversed course before the election

LOUIS DEJOY,U.S. POSTMASTER GENERAL: So, I think the American people can feel comfortable that the postal service will deliver on this election.

ALESCI: DeJoy was even questioned about Christmas during a congressional hearing this summer.

UNKNOWN MALE: Do you have capacity now for Christmas and Mother's Day?

DEJOY: Yes, we have capacity for Christmas and Mother's Day.

ALESCI: But some postal workers feel like DeJoy made promises without supporting the monumental challenges they're facing now.

SMITH: All of the decisions that DeJoy made is affecting the way that we are able to do our job.

ALESCI: In a statement, a postal service spokeswoman told CNN "...unlike last year, we are managing through a historic record of holiday volume this season compounded by temporary employee shortages due to the pandemic." Private carriers like FedEx and UPS are also feeling the heat.

Both have issued their own warnings about delays. UPS even placing shipping limits on some of its largest retailers, including Nike and the GAP, a luxury the United States Postal Service does not have. It does not impose limits and the agency often has to absorb the packages these private carriers turn down.

What kind of stress have the UPS and FedEx restrictions put on the postal service?

[09:55:00]

SATISH JINDEL, PRESIDENT, SHIP MATRIX: In last few days, we're receiving 6 million packages a day more than what they would have otherwise had handled if it was not for those restrictions.

ALESCI: On top of the crush for demand, the impact of the coronavirus, as nearly 19,000 postal workers are in quarantine. That's more than double the 8,000 workers before Thanksgiving.

SMITH: I understand the frustration of the American public. We're doing the best we can. Don't confuse a comma for a period because we will get you your packages.

ALESCI: Cristina Alesci, CNN, New York. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And this just in to CNN, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that a long awaited post Brexit trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union has been reached. This comes just days ahead of the end of the transition period on December 31st. The U.K. formerly left the European Union in January of this year. We'll be right back.

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