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Trump Issues Second Round of Pardons to Allies, Family Member; New Model Projects 567,000 COVID Deaths in U.S. by April 1; CNN Reports, Trump Meets with Pence before Tweeting that V.P. Should Reject Election Results. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 24, 2020 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They need the details now. And it could long-term consequences if they don't have those briefings right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWSROOM: All right. Kristen, thank so much. I really appreciate it.

And thank you all so much for join us for this special edition of CNN Newsroom on Christmas Eve. Bianna Golodryga picks up our coverage right now.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello and welcome to a special edition of Newsroom. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

Whether you've already begun celebrating Christmas or you will soon, please take a moment to think of the people who are directly affected by the pandemic today. Nearly 120,000 Americans are spending Christmas Eve in the hospital and another 3,359 people just died of COVID. Nevertheless, the TSA says 1.2 million people boarded a plane yesterday, ignoring pleas from health officials to stay home.

And even as 1 million have been vaccinated across the U.S., as of today, a new research model suggests we will report 567,000 deaths in the next four months. But as the virus grows deadlier and the American worker grows more desperate, the president completely upended the newly-passed coronavirus relief bill, refusing to sign it and then hopping on a plane to his golf resort in Florida.

And now Congress is back at the drawing board and a government shutdown is now looming on the other side of the holiday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So we do not have unanimous consent.

The House stands adjourned until 2:00 P.M. on Monday, December 28th, 2020. Merry Christmas. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Phil Mattingly is following developments. Merry Christmas indeed, Phil, with that lump of coal. A lot of members are not happy about this. What's happening on the floor today?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, there's a lot of frustration and, frankly, a lot of confusion. And the reality, Bianna, as it currently stands, is nobody actually knows what's going to happen next.

What you just watched on the House floor was an effort by Democrats to essentially seize on what the president had called for, expanding the direct payments in the stimulus piece of this legislative package from $600 to $2,000. However, they were very well aware Republicans are going to block that effort.

They will, on Monday, attempt to bring it up for a full House floor vote, everybody up or down, but the reality is this, members have no control over what's happening right now. Senators don't either.

Senator Roy Blunt, who is a top ally of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he is a member of Republican leadership in the Senate, he is an appropriator as well, told reporters earlier today that he has no idea what the president is thinking and suggested perhaps we should ask him.

And when asked, Roy Blunt, what the next steps were in this process, he said, the only real possible step is for the president to sign this bill that he has not committed to signing. And when asked what happens if he doesn't, he said, well, I hope option one works.

So the reality right now, Bianna, is there's no clear pathway forward. Everybody is waiting for the president to say what's next and the stakes here are just so enormous. And I think this is the frustration you hear from both Republicans and Democrats given how long it took for them to find agreement on this package. It might not be what everybody wants.

But when you have two federal unemployment programs that are set to expire on the 26th, that's two days from now, when you have direct payments that would be helpful, when you have federal unemployment benefits plus up of $300, when you have an eviction moratorium that's about to expire, when you have food aid that will be plus up as well, given the economic issues that so many Americans are facing right now, this is a crucial moment for them. Tag on to that, there's also a potential for a government shutdown on Monday as well.

So, not a lot of answers, definitely a lot of frustration. And when you talk to Republicans, Bianna, they're basically saying, this keep our heads down, just hope the president changes his mind.

GOLODRYGA: Well, that is a scary thought. He has been MIA throughout this process. His own treasury secretary said the checks could go out next week. That is not going to happen. And yet everyone is waiting on the president to act, unbelievable. Phil Mattingly, thank you so much. Merry Christmas to you.

Well, the clock is running out on the Trump administration and the president is busying himself in his final days by giving passes, pardons, really, to his friends, his allies and criminals many of them overlapping. The latest round of pardons includes longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his own in-law, Charles Kushner.

Joining me now is CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez and CNN Legal Analyst Carrie Cordero. Welcome, both of you.

Evan, let me begin with you. As bad as this may look, it really is hard to say that any of these pardons, especially last night's, are a surprise. The president himself hinted at this throughout the Mueller investigation, really don't talk and you'll be rewarded. And we're seeing that come to fruition now.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Bianna, I think I would use one of the president's own words that he often wheels on Twitter, it was rigged. All along, he has been telegraphing in public that if these people did not speak, if they did not cooperate with the special counsel investigation, if they had his back, he was going to take care of them.

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And those are the exact words that Paul Manafort, the former chairman of the campaign, he told one of the witnesses, Rick Gates, Rick Gates told this to prosecutors, to investigators. He said that one of the things that Paul Manafort told him was that he had had conversations with the president's attorneys and that they had assured him that if he did not flip, if he did not cooperate with the investigation, that they were going to be taken care of.

I'll read you just one part of the special counsel report. It says, quote, evidence concerning the president's conduct towards Manafort indicates that the president intended to encourage Manafort to not cooperate with the government. And that is exactly according to the special counsel, that's exactly what Manafort did. He pleaded guilty. And then when he was supposed to be cooperating with the investigators, he was lying.

In the case of Roger Stone, we know, publicly, he has said, you know, essentially, that he -- I'm sorry, the judge has said in his case that he was lying to protect the president. So now, the reward comes to these men for doing exactly what the president was asked them to do.

GOLODRYGA: And, Carrie, I know at the time when Trump was tweeting these sort of rewards, dangling the pardons, if you will, many legal experts like yourself were calling this obstruction of justice. Now that this has played out, is that not the definition of what's transpired?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think that's right, Bianna. I mean, the president was very open. It's not as if there were tapes that were released where he was making these promises and dangling these pardons behind the scenes or on private calls that then somehow were exposed.

Instead, what I think he realized over the course of his presidency is that if he did these things completely out on the open, in statements he made to members of the media, in tweets, that it could have the same effect, the individuals he was trying to reach and communicate with, the individuals who were the defendants who he was trying to prevent their cooperation, they heard him and they adjusted their behavior accordingly.

But he was able to then use his pardon authority, which he does have broad executive authority to be able to do, to be able to basically obstruct those investigations. They withheld their cooperation. They withheld some information presumably that they could have provided to investigators. And so what we're seeing is really the unraveling of the entire Mueller investigation.

GOLODRYGA: And it gives you a sense of, perhaps, Evan, why Bill Barr decided to leave when he did. He was the president's biggest enabler and maybe he couldn't even stomach what was to come. And, of course, we've got a few more weeks left of this. Who are the other big possibilities out there who could receive a presidential pardon?

PEREZ: Well, I think the Charles Kushner pardon happened last night is, I think, a preview. The president was kind of dipping his toe in the family pot and that's where we expect before this is all over that the president is going to go. We expect -- we know that there's been conversations with the president inside the president's circle about issuing pardons, preemptive pardons to his family members, to even himself. And so, that's where we eventually see this going.

The question is how do you structure a preemptive pardon to cover everything? And I think that's going to be the legal hurdle that they're going to have to go through. We expect obviously there's some other characters including Rudy Giuliani, who has been running around trying to do the president's bidding, to undermine the confidence in the election result.

Rudy Giuliani is obviously one of the big names. And so is Steve Bannon, who has suddenly, after being on the outs with the president, is suddenly very, very chummy with him. He's having him on his podcast. So, those are the names that I think we're going to keep watching for.

And we still have, Bianna, we still have about 27 days left before this is all over.

GOLODRYGA: 27 long days. And for anyone that doesn't know what Charles Kushner went to prison for and pled guilty to, take a moment to look that up. It is one of the ugliest crimes, as Governor Chris Christie described it, when he was then prosecuting it at the time.

Carrie, quickly, let's pick up on what Evan just said. The big question is can we expect the president to pardon himself? In an interview, Roger Stone floated a possible scenario. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, PARDONED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP (voice over): If the president does choose to pardon himself or if he decided to resign four hours early and Vice President Pence became president and pardoned the president, which I think might protect that movement -- that move legally a bit, you couldn't blame him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:10:03]

GOLODRYGA: So, Carrie, what are the chances -- I know that this is a legal gray area, as are many things with this president, but what are the chances that he can actually pardon himself?

CORDERO: Well, we really don't know because we haven't been in a situation where a president was in a position where he would be so self-serving as to test the constitutional bounds of whether or not he could issue a self-pardon. So whether or not he actually issues it, we will have to wait and see.

The only way though that it could actually be challenged if he were to do it is if a later federal prosecution actually were to proceed. So, there is a possibility that if he were to do it, it would just be sort of this anomaly that would hang out there and there would not necessarily be an avenue for it to be challenged in court. But it falls into the self-serving category, a little bit different than some of these other friends and family pardons that he might issue.

But I just want to say, Bianna, also, in terms of the pardons he's issued this week, I think perhaps the most offensive the rule of law are the pardons --

GOLODRYGA: And we lost Carrie there. Apologies for that with that tease, we'll have get back to see what the most egregious was, in her opinion. Evan Perez, thanks to you.

PEREZ: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: Well, more than 9 million doses of the coronavirus have been distributed but only about a million of those had been administered. Why the gap between getting doses out of the bottle and into people.

Plus, California surpasses 2 million confirmed cases, more than some countries. How they're working to combat the surge.

And President Trump spending the day at his golf course after causing chaos in Washington, so what will he do next? I'll speak with the man who literally wrote the book on Trump.

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[13:15:00] GOLODRYGA: A model often cited by the White House is increasing its projection for deaths from coronavirus. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation now believes that the U.S. will suffer a total of 567,000 deaths by April 1st. But the model is also forecasting as many as 33,000 lives could be saved by the projected vaccine rollout.

More than 1 million people in the U.S. have already been vaccinated. But notice vaccinations administered is falling behind the number of doses delivered. It's clear that the U.S. will not meet health officials' initial goal of 20 million shots in arms by year's end.

CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now. Elizabeth, great to see you.

So why is there this growing gap between vaccinations delivered and vaccinations that are administered?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, I think what we're just seeing is reality, that you can put the doses out there, you can put the shots out there, but it takes time to administer them. There are various logistical hurdles that need to be overcome.

This is not a bad thing. This is just the way that it is. And, unfortunately, health officials over the past month created this impression that we would have 20 million vaccinated Americans by the end of the year. Well, the chances of us vaccinating 19 million people in the next week is very small. You would have to be Santa on his sleigh to get that done. It's probably not going to happen.

As I said, it's unfortunate they created this impression because, really, Bianna, what you and I should be talking about is the fact they vaccinated a million people in ten days. I mean, that's pretty amazing. I don't know that that's ever been done in this country before.

GOLODRYGA: So they overshot the estimate, pun intended. But you get where I'm going here and I hear you. Instead of focusing on the numbers administered, obviously, they perhaps were too optimistic about how many people would be vaccinated at this point.

I know you spoke with Dr. Fauci recently. How long does he plan on staying in this fight? We need him selfishly, but, you know, as we know, today is his birthday. He needs some time off. What is next for him?

COHEN: Oh, Bianna, I think he would disagree with you. I don't know that he thinks he needs any time off. He has just been going strong. He turns 80 today. He said he has always had high energy. And he said he doesn't really see that his energy has diminished since he was a young man.

I said to him, it seems like you work 24/7, here is his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, not 24/7, but more like 18/7.

COHEN: Do you think you'll ever retire?

FAUCI: Well, I think I have to be realistic. I think that sooner or later, I'm going to have to do that.

I don't see that right now clearly in my future. The only thing I see ahead is the challenge that we are currently facing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Dr. Fauci says that this Christmas and on his birthday, he is practicing what he's been preaching. He is not traveling. He is not encouraging his family members to travel. He has three daughters who live in various places around the U.S. And they are not coming in to help him celebrate this milestone birthday. He said they will wait until next year. He hopes by then, they can all get together and then he said they will really make the most of it. Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: Look, 81 is the new 80, right? I, for one, am so thankful that he was born and God bless him. Happy birthday to him and happy holidays to him and his family. Hopefully, he'll get a few hours of downtown, you as well, Elizabeth. I appreciate it. Thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

GOLODRYGA: Well, after throwing coronavirus relief in doubt, President Trump is spending the holidays at Mar-a-Lago. More on his mindset and what might come next as his presidency winds down.

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Plus, an NBA game postponed and a player fined $50,000 as the league tries to navigate life outside of bubble.

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GOLODRYGA: New CNN reporting this hour regarding an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday. The president spent more than an hour with Vice President Pence right before the president tweeted out a plea for Pence to reject the results of the election.

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One person inside the pre-getaway meeting says the discussion was entirely unrelated to the president's fight to subvert the November results. But sources say that President Trump has complained in recent days that Pence is doing too little to fight for him as his presidency draws to a close.

Joining me now is Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio. Thanks so much for joining us. He is the author of the new book, High Crimes and Corruption, Impunity and Impeachment of Donald Trump. Michael, what do you make of this news of this Oval Office meeting? Typically, a president meeting with his vice president would be normal but these are not normal times, even the last month.

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, right. I think what we know about Mike Pence is that he's caught in a trap. So he is committed himself to this abjectly servile role that he's fulfilled for four years hoping that some of Donald Trump's magic and some of the loyalty of his followers will rub off on him because he has his own designs on the Oval Office, whether it would be in 2024 or 2028.

But he's also someone who understands the institutions of Washington. He's a creature of the legislature. He knows that his role is not to disrupt the final accounting and do something to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president. So he's in this very difficult spot. And Donald Trump knows nothing else but to threaten and pressure people to do what he wants.

GOLODRYGA: Well, let's just say that if he, and I'm sure he will, ratify the votes come January 6th, that that's not some measure of a profile of courage, right? That is what he is supposed to be doing. I can't believe we're even at this point but yet here we are.

And let's get the president's rejection of the COVID relief bill some context right now. This president is preventing millions of Americans from getting the financial aid they desperately need and, once again, throwing his own party under the bus. Try to explain why this is anything but political suicide for him if, in fact, he does want to run again in 2024.

D'ANTONIO: Well, I have a lot of doubt about whether he truly wants to run in 2024. I think he'll make noise about it for a long time, but I don't expect him to actually do it.

So what we're seeing here are two keys to understanding Donald Trump. The first is that he's surrounded by death, suffering, hunger of Americans who have been devastated by the COVID pandemic. He could go within five miles of Mar-a-Lago and find two different food pantries open today on Christmas Eve that are seeing lines out the door. But he doesn't care about that suffering. What he cares about is his own ego and his own grievance.

The other thing that we're noticing is that he's perfectly willing to pursue his own interests, and by this, I mean his own grifting interest, his interest in creating an empire that's a personal, political empire that millions of followers will donate to while throwing the GOP under the bus.

Now, the Republican establishment is saying that they will lose the Senate if Donald Trump doesn't come through with COVID aid. The Georgians, who are voting in a few weeks, are really fed up with this. And yet he doesn't care. He is bigger than the party, and I think he considers himself bigger than the country.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Michael D'Antonio, unfortunately, we'll have to end on that note. We appreciate it. Happy holidays to you. D'ANTONIO: Thank you. Happy holidays.

GOLODRYGA: Thank you.

Well, California sees its second highest death toll since the pandemic began. And officials there say their ICU capacity is near zero. So what can be done to get this surge under control? California health secretary joins me next.

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