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Pope Francis Holds Scaled-Back Christmas Eve Mass; U.S. Sets Another Hospitalization Record Ahead of Christmas; Trump in Florida Golfing Today After Upending COVID Relief Bill; Dem Leader: We Are Not Going to Let Government Shut Down; Trump Upends COVID Deal, Golfs in Florida as Americans Suffer; Trump Issues Second Round of Pardons to Allies, Family Member; CDC: U.S. Tops 1 Million Vaccinations So Far; Biden Whittles Down Shortlist for Attorney General, CIA Director; With Fate of COVID Relief in Tailspin, Airlines Face Funding Threat; California Surpasses 2 Million Confirmed Cases of COVID-19; Biden Narrows Down Shortlist for Commerce & Labor Secretaries; United to Require Passengers From London's Heathrow Flying into Chicago, Newark, DC & San Francisco to Show Negative COVID Test; Sara Nelson Among Final Contenders to Lead Biden's Labor Dept; UK and European Union Reach Post-Brexit Trade Deal. Aired 2-2:30p ET.

Aired December 24, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: The Pontiff presiding over today's mass at Saint Peter's Basilica, according to the Vatican, Pope Francis is delivering his Christmas Eve message two hours earlier than usual to allow the limited number of people attending today's event to return home by Italy's 10 PM curfew.

[14:00:05]

Hello everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Brianna Keilar. Welcome to a special edition of CNN Newsroom. The day before Christmas and the U.S. is already reporting today at least 370 people have died from coronavirus.

More confirmation of how this holiday will be unlike any other as so many Americans will be missing a loved one at the dinner table. Wednesday alone the nation reported 3,359 lives lost. And right now nearly 120,000 Americans are spending Christmas Eve in the hospital.

And yet the TSA says that 1.2 million people boarded a plane just yesterday. They risk intensifying the spread as top health officials have warned. But one development to celebrate this holiday. Well, the event (ph) of vaccines, 9.4 million doses have been delivered as of today.

Still nothing could inoculate millions of Americans right now from anxiety and uncertainty. That's because the president seen golfing today in Florida, completely upended the newly passed coronavirus relief package. It also included the government spending bill. Trump refused to sign it before heading to Mar-a-Logo. Well, now Congress must start over again after Republicans rejected today a Democratic proposal to increase relief checks to $2,000 as the president had demanded.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MAJORITY LEADER: On Monday we -- I will be talking to the Speaker, to the members of the Democratic caucus to determine exactly how we want to move forward. But we're not going to let the government shutdown, nor are we going to let the American people down from our perspective.

(END VIDEO)

GOLODRYGA: Let me turn now to CNN White House correspondent, Jeremy Diamond. He's following the president in Florida. Jeremy, you know, quite an image to see the president on the golf course. What has he been doing today to help Americans get relief from the pandemic?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House, in its schedule for the president today; last night suggested that the president was going to be working tirelessly for the American people as he is spending his time here at his Mar-a-Lago resort, insisting that he's going to be on the phone and in meetings.

And instead today the images that we have of the president of the United States is him on the golf course just days after threatening to blow up his $9 billion in desperately needed coronavirus relief. The president not seen on the phone talking to congressional leadership, talking to members of congress to try and get his demands for this coronavirus relieve legislation put into action.

Instead we saw him hitting the links with friends and allies as he typically does when he comes here at Mar-a-Lago. And it is just remarkable given the state of play of the economy and the extent to which Americans are hurting on Christmas Eve.

We have 20 million plus Americans unemployed, more than 8 million Americans have fallen into poverty since this past summer. And Americans are hurting as we head into this holiday season and the president's not helping to relieve that economic stress but instead putting the relief that they were expecting to receive into question.

A few key deadlines that could be blown up by the president's seeming refusal to sign this legislation, perhaps even threatening to veto it. This week --- at the end of this week, those enhanced unemployment benefits; they will expire unless the president signs this legislation by the end of the week.

December 31, you have the paid family leave. That provision will also expire. And then on January 1, the eviction protections that Americans have been able to get, thanks to congressional legislation, that will also go away unless the president signs this legislation.

And to top it all off Bianna, a government shutdown could also be looming. Congressional negotiators had included a seven day stop gap to insure the government funding remains.

That expires on Tuesday. So if the president does not sign this legislation, we could see a government shutdown at a time of economic crisis and amid one of the worst chapters of this coronavirus pandemic. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: And just to give our viewers a sense of how consequential the president's actions are, one estimate says that the ending of two expanded unemployment programs, just as you were discussing, the day after Christmas could push nearly 5 million people into poverty overnight.

It's unbelievable and of course you see the image of him on the golf course. Jeremy Diamond, thank you. We appreciate it.

Well, the president is also flexing his pardon power in his final weeks in office. The list of people bailed out extends to big supporters convicted of financial crimes, Blackwater guards convicted of murdering civilians in a war zone and allies who didn't crack under giant pressure from the Russia Special Council.

The big names announced last night; Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, the president's in-law.

[14:05:04]

Well, joining me now is former U.S. attorney Harry Litman. Harry, great to have you on; a lot to talk about.

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thanks, ma'am.

GOLODRYGA: I know you were surprised by this. You called this a frontal assault on the criminal justice system. Why is this such an affront?

LITMAN: Yes, I mean those are broad words but, Bianna, this goes so much farther than simply cleaning up the business or following through on the White water probe. He has, as you've mentioned, pardoned dirty congressman; the biggest healthcare fraud case of all time, Philip Esformes for over $1 billion; Blackwater guards who murdered unarmed minor civilians.

These are the Hallmark cases that the Department of Justice stakes its reputation on and years and years of work and they're wiped out in a fell swoop. There's a feeling of kind of drunken buffoonery on Trump's part but it's much, much more grave and serious than that when you look at its impact overall on what the Department of Justice's work is supposed to be.

GOLODRYGA: And yet, we've grown numb to so many of these presidents' actions but we shouldn't be surprised by these pardons. In notes of an FBI interview with former Trump deputy campaign manager and Paul Manafort sidekick, Rick Gates; agents recounted the following. Let me read this to you. "Manafort told Gates that it was stupid to plead and that he would get a better deal down the road. Manafort said that he had been in touch with Dowd," the attorney, "and repeated that they should sit tight and we'll be taken care of."

So does that statement potentially impact the legality of this pardon, Harry?

LITMAN: Yes, it certainly does. And by the way, can you imagine we saw both Manafort and Flynn do these bizarre turns where they were acting like jokers in front of the court but they were making what turns out to have been smart cynical bets that Trump would come through.

If it was a quid pro quo, Bianna, it's absolutely a crime. It's a bribe. But you have to ask yourself how will we find out. There's now a kind of hermetically sealed conspiracy of silence and the Department of Justice has to think long and hard before it tries to open up that circle and prosecute people. It will lead to turmoil, it will get in the way of other things Biden wants to do and it could be a constitutional issue about challenging pardons.

So it stinks but it may in fact be something that the Department and the country are not able actually to remediate.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, we may have 26 more days of unsavory pardons potentially. Harry Litman --

LITMAN: Right, more to come. Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Thank you so much. Happy Holidays to you.

LITMAN: Thanks, Bianna. You -- same to you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, states are seeing a dangerous surge in coronavirus cases. This as the CDC says just 1 million of the 9 million vaccine doses shipped have been administered. So what's behind the lag.

Plus President-Elect Joe Biden has yet to name who he'll nominate to fill two of his highest profile cabinet vacancies. Who are the top contenders. And after President Trump throws the coronavirus relief bill in doubt, cash strapped industries wonder what's next for them and the millions of people depending on that aid.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:10:00]

GOLODRYGA: California is now the first state in the nation to surpass 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases. Hospitals are absolutely overwhelmed but more than 1.2 million doses have been delivered to the state.

With me to discuss is Dr. Seema Yasmin, she's a former CDC disease detective and a CNN medical analyst. She's also the author of the forthcoming book, "Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall for Them." Doctor, thank you so much for joining us this holiday week. I just want to start with your home state. Did you ever think that it could get this bad and will vaccines be able to dramatically reverse things there?

DR. SEEMA YASMIN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think the heartbreaking things is that we saw this coming, right. All the signs were there, cases kept going up. We had some months were it looked like things were going down.

But even in one area, even if it's in one state, one community; if things look like they're going in the right direction but there are hotspots all around you, then it's almost inevitable that you end up in this situation.

We really hope that vaccines are going to be our way out of this as soon as possible but of course there are all the logistical challenges and the point that so far we've only vaccinated about 1 million people, which is way shy of that 20 million target that we've been told we would achieve by the end of December.

So still many more months to go and I worry about COVID fatigue, worry about people not hunkering down enough over the Christmas holidays and I think January could be an even more difficult month.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it seems like a deadly game of whack-a-mole for this past month trying to put out fires all over the state. And the White House coronavirus task force has informed states that it will now no longer proactively send its weekly state reports with tailored recommendations that states have to essentially request this information.

Do you this being detrimental? What kind of impact will this have?

YASMIN: So I'm trying to keep an open mind about this, right, but at the same time I'm thinking we're at the worst point that we've been in this pandemic and any impediment to the free flow of information, the free transfer of data in my mind is a bad thing and I can tell you from having investigated epidemics, you need transparency, you need to make sure every agency, every local and state health authority is on the same page.

So to my mind, at least from the facts I'm looking at now, asking states to do some extra work, asking them to reach out for their state --

[14:15:00]

So to my mind, at least from the facts I'm looking at now, asking states to do some extra work, asking them to reach out for their state-specific data and those tailored recommendations is not a great idea.

And I feel like it just plays into this trend we've seen between this administration and states over the last year where states have really been left in the lurch without the right amount of support that they really need to handle this crisis.

GOLODRYGA: And we know how it could be done properly, right? You have Korea, you have Taiwan that showed us the proper way and yet we continue to be in this situation and the numbers continue to go up.

A new IHME model suggests that the U.S. will report 567,000 deaths in the next four months. Let's not get used to that number. That's an incredible number and that's after taking vaccines into consideration. What do you think of that projection, is it too high?

YASMIN: So there are different kinds of projections and actually in their worst-case scenario, these modelers at the University of Washington are saying that on Inauguration Day on January 20th, we could be looking at 1 million Americans infected every single day. Now that's a gut punch, it's really hard to get your head around, but at the same time we've already seen some worst-case scenarios pan out over the last few months.

So we have to take these models seriously. They are saying that that's the worst-case scenario that could occur if states do not implement mandates around social distancing. They say that if states were to take that seriously and mandate that, that that number of Americans infected per day could drop to about half a million, still really high.

On that point about vaccines that you mentioned, yes, they are factoring in 3 million Americans being vaccinated each day, which is a lot more than we're doing right now, but the thing to bear in mind is that at least with the vaccines that we have available to us at the moment, you need to get two doses, you need to get two shots spaced out by three or four weeks.

And even then, it's only one to two weeks after that second dose that you get your full level of protection, which is why we're saying to people yes, vaccines are here, but they're not here for everyone just yet and it is still going to take us a few months to build up herd immunity. It's going to take us way into 2021 to do that.

GOLODRYGA: And we have the tools, right? We have the tools in terms of masks and social distancing and yet we continue to see these numbers climb because so many people aren't adhering to them. Dr. Seema Yasmin, great to see you. Happy holidays to you. We appreciate your insight.

YASMIN: Thank you so much. Take care.

GOLODRYGA: President-elect Biden has almost filled out his cabinet. The two high-profile positions remain unfilled. The top contenders for Attorney General and CIA Director coming up next.

Plus the airline industry, which was already reeling from the pandemic, now facing new uncertainty after President Trump signals that he could veto the coronavirus relief bill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:20:00]

GOLODRYGA: Well, with less than a month until he's officially on the job, President-elect Joe Biden has almost filled out who he wants to make up his cabinet. The two of the most high-profile positions in his administration have yet to be settled on, Attorney General and Director of the CIA. CNN's Jessica Dean is in Wilmington for us there and Jessica, there are still a lot of names being floated. Who are we watching right now?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Good afternoon to you, Bianna. President-elect Joe Biden saying earlier this week that there could be more announcements coming in the next several weeks. We're told to expect them to be complete by early January. He's still got five slots to fill. And as you pointed out, the two biggest ones right there, AG and Director of the CIA.

Let's start first with Attorney General. Biden saying that there's no obvious choice to him, that politics will not be involved. This will be its own independent justice department and there are four top contenders.

Judge Merrick Garland, Alabama Senator Doug Jones, we're told those are the top two contenders but it's not out of the question for Biden to take a second look at Sally Yates, the former Deputy Attorney General and Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts Governor.

But again, this will be a very key role in Biden's cabinet. And we also know that he is keen to roll out, along with the naming of the Attorney General, other major names that will be named to the justice department. So that's really kind of slowing him down just a little bit in that there are other moving parts combined with this.

And then also when you take a look at the Director of the CIA, we know there are three top contenders that our reporting indicates President- elect Joe Biden is looking at. Those include David Cohen, a former CIA Deputy Director, Lisa Monaco, a Homeland Security Advisor under president -- former President Obama and also an adviser to Joe Biden as well, and Darrell Blocker, a former CIA Deputy Director of Counterterrorism.

So Bianna, as you mentioned, still quite a number of names. It is clear, based on when he said earlier this week, these decisions have not yet been made Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: And we know former CIA Director Mike Morell just took his name out of consideration as well, so he's no longer on that potential list for CIA Director. But it's not just AG and CIA, there are other department heads still being deliberated. Who are they?

DEAN: That's exactly right. So it's commerce, labor and SBA, all agencies that are going to be so critical when it comes to getting the economy back on track and what President-elect Biden wants to do once he gets into office.

At commerce, we're told there are a handle of top contenders that Biden continues to look at, including a former presidential candidate himself, Tom Steyer, Meg Whitman, Indra Nooyi and Mellody Hobson as well.

At SBA, a couple of names that we have heard floated around include Diana Taylor and Stacie Olivares. And then at Labor, Bianna, of course another very, very important place as they look to really fire up this economy again and get people off of unemployment.

[14:25:00]

We know that the top contenders here are Julie Su, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, Senator Bernie Sanders, of course a very familiar name to a lot of people, and Sara Nelson also named as one of the contenders there Bianna and I think you'll be speaking with her soon.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, perfect timing as far as booking goes. Jessica Dean, thank you. Five slots--

DEAN: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: --still remain to be filled. Happy Holidays to you, we appreciate it.

DEAN: That's right. You too.

GOLODRYGA: Well, just in to CNN, United Airlines has announced that it will now require anyone flying from London's Heathrow into Chicago, Newark, D.C. or San Francisco to show proof of a negative COVID test taken within three days of departure.

The move comes as a new highly contagious variant of COVID has run rampant through the UK capital. Sara Nelson, as we just mentioned, is the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants.

Sara, thanks so much for joining us. Your ears may be burning from us just talking about you a few moments ago, but first let me get your reaction to this move by United?

SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: Well, I think -- listen, we've got to have a fulsome plan and we've been asking for that since last January. And so while I think everyone is trying to do everything they can to contain the coronavirus -- contain the spread and we have a really unique job in transportation with the work we do around that.

We've got to have a coordinated effort because otherwise, it's like putting a drop of penicillin into the ocean. So this is -- this is something that we would support, of course, but this is something that has to be coordinated with the rest of the government and a fulsome plan to contain the virus.

GOLODRYGA: And of course so many people now assume that the virus -- that variant may already be here in the states as well. But let me turn to the COVID relief bill that now hangs in the balance, the bill that Congress did put forward initially includes $15 billion directly allocated for airlines.

That $15 billion centers around the extension of the industry's payroll support program, which would bring back more than 32,000 employees who've been furloughed. Your reaction to this chaos and how it's potentially threatening your industry?

NELSON: Bianna, we have working on this and this is actually our plan. A lot of people are not aware of what we did. We put in place a workers first program here that is -- that requires that all the money has to go to payroll and benefits of the workers and the airlines, in return, have to keep everyone on the job, so not on the unemployment lines but continuing to get their paychecks connected to their health care and continuing to serve all of our communities.

The other thing that we did with this was we capped executive compensation and banned stock buybacks, and that's well after the relief ends. So that will be extended when the payroll support is extended as well.

This is a template that the Biden administration would like to use for other industries and it is the best template historically in our country to put forward relief that is actually the best use of the public's money.

So this is $15 billion that would get people back on the payroll. You mentioned the people who are currently furloughed, they would be recalled. And it would also restore paychecks to people who have gone on no-pay status as well.

So over 100,000 people who currently are not getting paid are afraid of losing their health care insurance completely because the corporations because of our contracts have continued to cover that COVID coverage up till now, but at the end of this month they'll lose that without putting this in place.

And that joins the 17 million children who are going hungry, the 30 to 40 million who are at risk of losing their homes at the end of this month, and on Saturday, the 12 million who will fall off of unemployment completely.

This bill is about containing the virus, getting emergency aid to people as a bridge so that we can fight for more, and it's putting all of that in jeopardy right now. And if you think about the 17 million children, around Christmas, you think about their parents, too, who are--

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

NELSON: --who are having to deal with this, and this is heartbreaking and it's got to change and the president's got to sign the bill.

GOLODRYGA: It's heartbreaking and unacceptable, frankly, in the richest country in the world. No doubt your industry has been one of the hardest hit throughout this pandemic, but I do want to end by asking you about the vacancies the President-elect is working to fill, as you heard, and I'm sure you're aware.

Your name has been floated for possible Labor Secretary consideration. What can you tell us about that? Has the Biden team reached out to you and would you take the job if offered?

NELSON: Well look, I've been talking with the Biden team and talk with them all the time. I was on the Biden standards economy task force, and I really focused on getting this program extended because, as I said, this is a great template for the rest of the country and every other industry.

And so that's where my focus is. I'll continue to talk with the Biden admin -- transition team about getting this relief in place and getting more in place in the New Year. And that's really my focus and if I were to get a call from the President-elect, that would be an incredible honor. But we have to take care of the people who have tremendous needs right now and keep our focus on that.

GOLODRYGA: No doubt, a lot of work that you have to do. Sara Nelson, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

NELSON: Thank you. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, after four years of uncertainty, Brexit is finally a done deal. What today's announcement means for the UK economy as it struggles under this crippling pandemic.