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New COVID Restrictions Imposed on U.K. Travelers; Explosion Rocks Nashville. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 25, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was clearly a pretty strong posture that they showed there, but, again, Navalny saying that he obviously believes that this is related to her trying to go up to that apartment, clearly showing that the authorities here are quite nervous, after a lot of that reporting that CNN has done, that Bellingcat has done as well.

And despite all the things that you just said, the Russians continuing to say they were not behind the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, he's actually come out with another investigation today, a smaller one. He says that that very agent, Konstantin Kudryavtsev, he claims he bought an apartment shortly after that poisoning took place and didn't even take out a loan to do that.

Navalny says he believes that this agent may have received compensation for taking part in that operation to poison Navalny. CNN can't verify that claim. And, again, of course, we hear from the Russians. We have heard from them in the past couple of weeks. They continue to deny having any sort of part in that, Bianna.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Yes, a lot of Russians end up with expensive cars, expensive homes that they can't afford.

And, of course, we know a lot of them end up dead and falling out of windows if they don't comply with authorities as well.

Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for this developing story, appreciate it.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

GOLODRYGA: And you're watching a special edition of NEWSROOM on this Christmas afternoon. I'm Bianna Golodryga.

And we begin this hour with breaking news out of Nashville, an enormous explosion rocking that city's downtown early this morning. Take a look at these incredible pictures. Authorities say they responded to a shots-fired call, when they stumbled upon an R.V. parked outside of the AT&T transmission building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DRAKE, METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, POLICE CHIEF: They encountered an R.V. that had a recording saying that a potential bomb would detonate within 15 minutes.

Officers, upon hearing that, decided to evacuate the buildings nearby. So, they began knocking on doors, making announcements, having emergency communications communicate with everyone to get people safe.

Shortly after that, the R.V. exploded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: This explosion has impacted 911 communications, as has some cell phone service as well.

This is bystander video of what the street looked like soon after that last, but, amazingly, no fatalities. Three people suffered minor injuries. The FBI has set up a tip line for anyone who may know anything about this morning's explosion.

CNN's Natasha Chen joins me live in Nashville. And CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez has been following this story all morning.

Natasha, let's begin with you. I know you are a few blocks away from the scene. What are you seeing there on the ground?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Bianna, this is where media is allowed to be staged right now.

Law enforcement is keeping us way back from the perimeter, for good reason. This is about four blocks away from the edge of their perimeter. And I can have us kind of push in to show you what we can see from our angle here.

You see the police car with flashing lights, the taped-off area there. And then, far in the distance, there is this tall, maroon rusty- colored building. That is approximately the location that we're talking about, where this R.V. was parked and that exploded.

CNN has spoken to witnesses who lived in a nearby building. They're -- they had video of their own homes with a lot of damage inside their home as well, so a very frightening experience for the people who were woken up very early this morning, trying to figure out what was going on.

As far as the downtown Nashville area, a lot of the streets are blocked off. The police have really tried to seal this off here, a lot of freeway ramps going into downtown also closed, so not a lot of people now in this immediate area. You're just seeing maybe a few pedestrians here and there.

Also to mention that, because this was an AT&T transmission building that the R.V. was parked in front of, there is an outage problem right now. There is no cell service, no Internet service for quite a radius around here.

And that is also affecting 911 call service. And so there was a message to the public that, if you're having trouble with that, please continue to try dialing 911 and that people are working on solutions as fast as they can, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, thankfully no loss of life and, as authorities there said, no concern right now about additional devices.

CHEN: That's right.

GOLODRYGA: But, Evan, we know that the FBI and the ATF is involved. What are they specifically looking for?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things that they have -- they're bringing in resources from around the country. The FBI office in -- field office in Memphis is now in charge of this investigation.

But the ATF is bringing in their -- the national response team. Now, these are some of the best bomb techs in the business. They are going to be looking, going through some of this evidence. They're going to be examining parts of the R.V. that was the center of this explosion.

[15:05:05]

They have got chemists who are going to try to figure out what kind of accelerant or what was the explosive here that caused this explosion. You can see just how devastating this was.

And, look, one of the clues that people are already -- the investigators are already homing in on is the fact of the timing of this. This happened at 6:00 in the morning on Christmas morning. At any other time perhaps, on a Saturday night, this part of Nashville -- this is a -- the entertainment area of Nashville, downtown Nashville -- would be teeming with people.

And so, clearly, the fact that the police in their press conference last hour told us about this message that was being broadcast seemingly from the R.V. saying something to the effect of, if you can hear this message, please evacuate now, it seems to indicate that whoever was behind this was not trying to cause a mass casualty incident.

So, then the clues are, what exactly was the target here? What was the motive here? I mean, obviously, the fact that the buildings here were damaged, that's where the investigators are going to be focused on. The AT&T transmission building is the one that appears to be the most damaged, again, an unoccupied building.

But, again, these are the clues that investigators are working on. And, as I mentioned, they're bringing in people from around the country to help with this investigation.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, as many resources as possible, and that coming from the acting attorney general just two days in on the job.

And we know he's been briefed. And he ordered all DOJ resources made available. The president, as well, has been briefed, but what do specifically about the resources that now will be coming to help this investigation? PEREZ: Well, the U.S. attorney there you heard address in the press

conference in the last hour, it gives you one indication here that they're treating this as a national incident, as an incident of national importance.

And so they're going to be bringing in resources, the terrorism experts. Again, no indication yet of what exactly this is, no known motive, certainly at this point. But you have to start at all the places that usually where -- how these investigations begin, which is, you try to look to see whether or not there's any possibility of a domestic terrorism angle, for instance.

One thing that Josh Campbell reported in the past hour was that the FBI went back through their information that they have been collecting over the last few weeks. There was no indication of a threat. There was no indication of any kind of threat in this area or anywhere in the country for Christmas Day.

So, again, that's something that investigators go back and see, is there something that they might have missed? At this stage, Bianna, they don't see anything. So, again, the hard work now begins to try to analyze the crime scene, look at video to see whether or not you can -- whether you can see when somebody dropped off this or parked this R.V. at this location.

Is there something there that is picked up in all of those surveillance cameras that are all over downtown Nashville.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

And we should note our hats off to the first responders, those police that cleared residents out of the way.

PEREZ: Right.

GOLODRYGA: Now the FBI agents coming in, ATF as well, on this Christmas Day, of all days, working hard to get to the bottom of this and make sure that folks around that area remain safe. Our thanks to them as well.

And our thanks to you, Evan Perez. We appreciate it.

PEREZ: Sure.

GOLODRYGA: Well, with me now is Jim Maxwell. He's a retired FBI special agent bomb tech.

Thank you for coming on.

I have been wanting to talk to you, because, when you look at the magnitude of this explosion, I can imagine, from a forensic standpoint, investigators are going to be piecing together the components of this bomb.

What are they going to be looking for?

JIM MAXWELL, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT BOMB TECH: Well, this type of crime scene is going to take days, if not weeks, to sort out.

And it's an unusual problem, in that, after the blast, the local authorities, the fire department, have to come in with some structural engineers and to determine whether or not the structures are safe to go into to start with.

But there are things, there are hints here that can help the investigators as they go along. The color of the smoke of the explosion is indicative of a certain type of explosive, and it helps narrow that down.

The sound of the explosion also helps narrow it down. Was it a distinct crack or was it a low rumble? That indicates what type of explosive was used. The smell of the explosive. This is a very sophisticated device. I have never heard of a device that had a pre- recorded warning attached to it.

[15:10:04]

The only time I have ever seen this is when the IRA was very active. They used to call the British authorities and warn them that a bomb was in place. But that's the closest thing I have ever heard of -- heard to actually warning anyone ahead of time.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, it gives you a level...

MAXWELL: The other factor involved -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

GOLODRYGA: Go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, you go ahead.

MAXWELL: The other factor to consider here is that the 911 call said there were shots fired. That tells me that they were trying to lure the police and first responders into the scene.

And if I was going to pick a target initially, it would have to be the police responding, because, at a time of day -- I was in that area less than a month ago with my son. And it's a very active area during the day and during the evening.

And this particular time of day, if the timing was right, it was meant to go off when the fewest amount of people were around.

GOLODRYGA: Thankfully, this happened early in the morning. And there were not many people in the area.

MAXWELL: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: But I'm curious.

When you mentioned the color and the smell of the smoke, what does the color of the smoke indicate to you?

MAXWELL: Well, to give you an example, in the -- in the Oklahoma City bombing, it was a whitish or yellowish cloud. That's indicative of an ammonium nitrate-type device. There are other devices. And I won't get more specific for you,

because I don't think it's fair to the investigators to guess right now. But dark smoke means something to them, the dark black smoke.

GOLODRYGA: We're seeing dark smoke right now. Is that the dark smoke? I don't know if you can see, but we are seeing dark smoke right there.

I know you don't want to get in front of investigators. But this clearly...

MAXWELL: Right.

GOLODRYGA: ... from your standpoint, from experts' standpoint, that is a clue, in and of itself?

MAXWELL: Yes, that's a preliminary indicator to me, as an investigator, the -- and also the sound of the explosion and the smell.

Some explosives have a very distinct smell, or give -- give a distinct smell. But until they get in there and start taking samples and determine the type of device, was there -- were there any projectiles? Was this an anti-personnel device, or was this a device aimed at destroying a building? And there is some significant structural damage on one side of the street.

The other factor you have to take into consideration here is that the placement of the bomb in between two tall buildings enhances the explosion. In other words, the -- most normal explosions happen in a 360-degree circle.

GOLODRYGA: Right.

MAXWELL: When that 360-degree circle hits a wall, it travels up the wall and then back down on the explosion. And it would enhance the explosion in that -- in that particular position.

GOLODRYGA: Well, really interesting analysis. Thank you so much for your expertise. It's really telling that you say the last time you saw something like this, you compare it to IRA bombs, to give you a sense of the sophistication that we're seeing on the ground.

We will be learning more throughout the coming hours and days. Hopefully, we will have you back on to discuss all of that.

In the meantime, merry Christmas to you, Jim Maxwell. Thank you for coming on.

MAXWELL: Merry Christmas. Bye-bye.

GOLODRYGA: Bye.

And now more on our breaking news, windows blown out and debris littering the streets of Nashville after an explosion. And we just learned that there were no credible threats before the blast. We have new information from law enforcement sources. Plus: testing travelers from the United Kingdom. The United States is rolling out new restrictions, but do they go far enough?

And a doctor who handled some of the first U.S. cases of coronavirus joins me live to talk about what he is seeing a year later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:09]

GOLODRYGA: The first Christmas Day under the pandemic, and already we know today at least another 769 people have died just today from COVID.

December has become the deadliest month of the pandemic, exceeding April's total. December has also recorded the most infections of any month, more than 4.8 million new cases so far. And Christmas travel is expected to intensify the spread, even though the TSA says that it is drastically down from pre-pandemic levels.

Let me turn to CNN Alexandra Field in New York.

Alex, let's start with the new mandate the U.S. just imposed on U.K. travelers. It's a response to the more infectious variant of the virus found in Britain. What is the new rule? And when does it start?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's an effort to keep it from spreading in this country.

So, as of Monday, if you're traveling to the U.S. from the U.K., you will have to test negative several days before boarding your flight. You will also have to show proof of that negative test, all this as the U.S. is struggling with wild infection across the country and bracing for things to get worse in the coming days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): This Christmas, the one we never imagined.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: It was January 1 of this year when most of us heard about the COVID-19 pandemic starting out of Hubei province in China. I just never believed that we would get to 330,000 American lives lost by Christmas Day and still accelerating at 3,000 deaths a day.

FIELD: Almost one in every 1,000 Americans killed by COVID this year. In L.A. county, a person dies from COVID every 10 minutes. There are no ICU beds left in Southern California or the San Joaquin Valley.

HOTEZ: when our ICUs get overwhelmed, we saw this back in March and April in Southern Europe and New York City. That's how the mortality numbers skyrocketed. And so this is happening now all across the country. We're reproducing that Manhattan and New York City epidemic from March and April now times dozens of times.

[15:20:03] FIELD: Despite a clear warning from the CDC that travel can increase your chance of getting and spreading COVID-19, more than seven million people passed through America's airports in the last week.

DR. CHRIS PERNELL, PUBLIC HEALTH PHYSICIAN: I think people don't think coronavirus will happen to them. They think coronavirus will happen to another family. But there is no safety, other than those public health measures that we have been preaching from the mountaintops.

FIELD: New travel restrictions go into effect Monday. Passengers coming from the U.K. will need a negative COVID test within 72 hours of boarding a flight and documentation of the results, that as concerns grow that a variant of the virus discovered there could be more transmissible.

DR. ALBERT BOURLA, CEO, PFIZER: We are testing to see if this new strain is equally sensitive to our vaccine and also will be neutralized by our vaccine.

FIELD: Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, says he's cautiously optimistic the vaccine will prove as effective against the variant.

Dr. Anthony Fauci now estimates 70 to 85 percent of the country will need to get the vaccine to get to herd immunity.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It will take maybe half-a-year or more for us to get to herd immunity in this country, so that everybody is able to be protected from coronavirus. And in that meantime, we still have to really double down and do the masking, physical distancing, avoiding indoor gatherings.

FIELD: The suffering this holiday season unprecedented. For most Americans, even the first dose of a vaccine is still months away, but another surge may be just days out.

ERIN BROMAGE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We're just seeing daily cases just amplify and amplify and amplify. So, Christmas today is going to do a similar thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: So, these concerns about what we're going to see in the coming days and weeks, Bianna, are, of course, fueled by the fact that, after virtually every major holiday this year, we have seen this acceleration in cases.

It should then also come as absolutely no surprise that, at this point, the CDC is urging people who want to celebrate the new year to do it at home or do it online, just like most every other thing this year -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, no surprise that the surge is coming, yet it's still going to be so hard to follow and see these numbers continue to rise.

Alexandra Field, thank you so much. And let me turn now to Dr. Francis Riedo. He is the medical director

of infection control and prevention for EvergreenHealth in the Seattle area. His hospital detected the first cases of community spread of the coronavirus in the country.

Doctor, welcome. Happy holidays to you.

This first case was February 28. What made you suspect that it could be coronavirus to test for at the time?

DR. FRANCIS RIEDO, EVERGREENHEALTH: At the time, we had received new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control to allow testing of individuals who were critically ill, had not been diagnosed with any other cause of that illness.

And we acted on those recommendations and selected two individuals in our critical care unit who had been there and had full evaluation. They were both critically ill with severe pneumonias. And we discussed this with public health of Seattle, King County, Dr. Meagan Kay and Dr. Jeff Duchin, and opted to select these two individuals for testing.

We found...

(CROSSTALK)

GOLODRYGA: Go ahead.

RIEDO: We found out the following, A, that both of those individuals were positive.

GOLODRYGA: And, of course, that made news nationwide. And we know, unfortunately, what followed thereafter and in New York state as well.

But you say preparation was key in being able to handle this coronavirus case. What did your hospital have in place at the time that others didn't?

RIEDO: We had designed our new facility back in 2002-2003, when SARS one had come up, to have an entire wing that could be turned into a negative flow room.

We had also participated actively in the drills and preparation for the 2014-2015 Ebola response, and so had stockpiles of some of the masks and PPE that were still available at that time. And, as recently as last October, we had participated in a conference and drills preparing for the next pandemic, whether that was an Ebola-type hemorrhagic fever or, more likely, a respiratory infection.

I mean, we'd already seen SARS one in 2002-2003, pandemic flu in 2009, and then MERS-CoV-2 in 2012, along with Zika and chikungunya. So there was a drumbeat of these pathogens emerging across the time spectrum.

GOLODRYGA: Of course, nothing like the coronavirus.

You mentioned PPE. And, of course, we go back to the early parts and early months of this year, where PPE was in such short supply for hospitals across the country.

We haven't been spending much time talking about logistics now, but do you currently have all of the PPE and testing supplies at adequate levels, in your opinion?

[15:25:08]

RIEDO: I think we do.

We have managed to acquire enough PPE, particularly N95s, and as well as face shields for the CAPRs and PAPRs. That gives us a great leg up. And we have been able to adopt the new CDC criteria for using appropriate PPE in the contingency phase.

So, we're pretty satisfied that we're taking the precautions that we can. We're wearing masks all the time now in the hospital and physically distancing all of our break rooms and lunch rooms to try and minimize transmission.

GOLODRYGA: That is reassuring to hear.

It has been quite a year for you, Dr. Riedo. Thank you for everything that you have done for your patients and community. We appreciate it.

RIEDO: Thank you very much.

GOLODRYGA: Happy holidays.

RIEDO: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, we are following breaking news out of Nashville, a downtown district rocked by an explosion. Investigators are calling it an intentional act -- what we're hearing from the president's team straight ahead.

Plus, some unemployment benefits could expire tomorrow, and a government shutdown could begin on Monday. Is President Trump any closer to signing the coronavirus relief package passed by Congress?

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