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U.K. and European Union Reach Post-Brexit Trade Agreement; Stranded U.K. Trucks Slowly Moving Across French Border; Despite Warnings, U.S. Holiday Travel Breaks Pandemic Record; COVID Relief and Government Funding Bill in Limbo. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired December 25, 2020 - 00:00   ET

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

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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read. And here it is. Tidings, glad tidings of great joy.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Boris Johnson delivering a Christmas gift to the U.K., a Brexit deal.

Plus, another U.S. airline requiring negative COVID tests from passengers traveling from the U.K.

And Donald Trump spending Christmas in Florida, golfing, and battling with Republican lawmakers in Washington while desperate Americans wait for much-needed help.

A warm welcome, everyone, and happy Christmas if you're celebrating around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

And Christmas looks a lot happier for many in the U.K. this year, thanks to a last-minute trade deal with the European Union, with the agreement laying out a broad vision for the post-Brexit world beginning January the 1st.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeting a late video message on Thursday praising the deal. He says it brings certainty to businesses, travelers and investors in the U.K.

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JOHNSON: You remember the oven-ready deal by which we came out on January the 31st. That oven-ready deal was just the start, and this is the feast. Full of fish, by the way. And I believe it will be the basis of a happy and successful and stable partnership with our friends in the E.U. for years to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: But the holiday not so happy for long lines of truckers stuck at the British border, Dover. They're being tested for coronavirus as they wait for access across the English Channel. We'll have more on that story in a moment.

But first, the 2,000-page trade agreement will be translated and then reviewed by all 27 E.U. member states, the British and European Parliaments are expected to approve it.

CNN's Nic Robertson has more on how we got here.

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DAVID CAMERON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I will go to Parliament and propose that British people decide our future in Europe through a referendum on Thursday, the 23rd of June.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): February 2016, Prime Minister David Cameron triggers Brexit. It was and remains the most divisive issue in the U.K.

Campaigning was bitter, families and political parties split. The U.K. has been a member of the European project since 1973, Cameron campaigned against Brexit.

CAMERON: I believe Britain will be stronger in a reformed Europe, because we can play a leading role in one of the world's largest organizations from within. He was a remainer, wanted to stay part of the 500-million-person trading bloc, the largest in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want our country back.

CAMERON: English nationalists who never liked the E.U. were gaining popularity, whipping up fears about migrants fleeing wars in Syria and beyond. Populist former London mayor Boris Johnson wavered over which side to support.

Then plunged for "vote leave," campaigning in a bus emblazoned with a claim that was later dispelled as a lie.

JOHNSON: Yes, we can. We can take back control of 350 million pounds per week over which we have no control at the moment.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Britain is ending its 43-year-long relationship with the European Union.

ROBERTSON: When the Brexit vote came, 51.9 percent of the U.K. voted to leave the E.U. Cameron quit.

CAMERON: I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.

THERESA MAY, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF THE U.K.: I have just been to Buckingham Palace, where her majesty, the queen, has asked me to form a new government. ROBERTSON: Theresa May took over. She was a remainer at heart, too.

Her party, the country deeply divided. Sixty-two percent of people in Scotland voted remain.

Brexit was in two parts, the divorce or withdrawal agreement, deadline initially, 29th of March 2019, a trade deal to follow.

[00:05:04]

MAY: I am confident that a deal and a new strategic partnership between the U.K. and the E.U. can be achieved.

ROBERTSON: May struggled, called a snap election. It cut her majority and left her weakened.

JOHN BERCOW, FORMER SPEAKER, U.K. HOUSE OF COMMONS: The ayes to the right, 202. The noes to the left, 432.

ROBERTSON: Historic Parliamentary defeats followed. The Brexit deadline passed. May quit, an emotional farewell.

MAY: With enormous and enduring gratitude, to have the opportunity to serve the country I love.

JOHNSON: So, for those who say we cannot be ready, I say do not underestimate this country.

ROBERTSON: Boris Johnson took over, oozing optimism but lacking Parliamentary votes.

Desperate for a breakthrough, Johnson held secretive talks with his Irish counterpart a week after meeting the Irish p.m., Johnson at the E.U. H.Q. Brussels agreed to the Brexit divorce.

Johnson then calls a snap election and wins a massive 80-seat majority.

JOHNSON: Thank you for the trust you have placed in us and in me.

ROBERTSON: The 31st of January 2020, the U.K. finally leaves the E.U. but Brexit not fully done. Now the clock ticking to negotiate a new trade deal by December 31, the negotiators struggle.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This does break international law in a very specific and limited way.

ROBERTSON: Trust is in short supply. After 10 months, talks still faltering on fishing rights in U.K. waters and how much the U.K. should follow E.U. regulations, the so-called level playing field. Three weeks to the deadline, Johnson warns no deal likely.

JOHNSON: I do think it's vital that everybody now gets ready for that Australian option.

ROBERTSON: Pressure mounts on negotiators. The U.K. wants zero quota, zero tariff access to E.U. markets. The E.U. says that comes at a price.

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: I had a constructive and useful phone call with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

ROBERTSON: Brinksmanship in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are nearing a crucial moment.

ROBERTSON: The E.U. chief negotiator warning European politicians a deal possible, but more time needed. Finally, on the eve of Christmas, after 11 months of tough talks, a deal done, likely slashing 4 percent from U.K. GDP.

VON DER LEYEN: So, to all Europeans, I say it is time to leave Brexit behind. Our future is made in Europe.

JOHNSON: It is up to us all together, as a newly and truly independent nation, to realize the immensity of this moment and to make the most of it.

ROBERTSON: Much left unresolved, financial services and data sharing.

(on camera): A deal, nonetheless. Thin, maybe, but it will allow trading between the U.K. and the European Union to continue more or less smoothly. The full cost of leaving, however, may not be known for years.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

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HOLMES: Now Christmas isn't looking good for everyone, though, of course, when it comes to this deal. Even though the U.K. and E.U. finally agree, many are still suffering from months of Brexit gridlock in the real world, on top, of course, of coronavirus regulations.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz shows us the chaos in the British port of Dover.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of truck drivers remain stranded here along the port city of Dover. Many of them have been living in their vehicles and on the streets for days now, most with little access to food, water or sanitation in the middle of the pandemic.

Each of these drivers have to get a negative coronavirus test to be able to cross into mainland Europe and testing has begun, but it's slow and steady. Police here tell us that they can only test about 30 drivers every 30 minutes. And we've done the math. That's about 1,400 coronavirus tests per day at best.

So, U.K. authorities say it will take days to clear the backlog, because this is not the only site. There's another sight, Manston Airport, where thousands more drivers are waiting for their coronavirus test. And another site, a highway where hundreds more drivers also waiting

for their coronavirus tests.

Over the last few days, we've seen terrible scenes play out here. Drivers angry, frustrated at closed borders.

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For years now, we have talked about the worst-case scenario on Brexit. Well, that worst-case scenario played out here when the planes stopped, the ferries stopped, the train stopped. And we saw fears of food shortages, queues at grocery stores.

And one wonders if that was a reminder to decision-makers in Brussels and in London of what happens when there is no partnership, when there is no agreement. Did it motivate them to make that deal?

One can only hope that the scenes that played out here won't have to happen again, but for many of these drivers, it's simply too late. They'll be having their Christmas dinner in their camps.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Dover.

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HOLMES: And breaking news coming to us here at CNN. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just announced it will require a negative COVID test for all passengers traveling to the U.S. from the U.K.

Now, this goes into effect on Monday. Tests must be conducted within 72 hours before boarding flights. This coming, of course, amid concern over a new variant that spreads more easily.

Meanwhile, a record of more than 120,000 people spent their Christmas Eve in hospitals due to the coronavirus. That's according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. This coming as an influential model predicts the deaths will climb even with ongoing vaccinations underway. The University of Washington predicts the death toll will surpass half a million in the U.S. by April.

Meanwhile, Japan is seeing a sharp rise in infections, the country reporting more than 3,700 new cases on Thursday, setting a new daily record for the second day in a row.

And a similar situation in South Korea. It is reporting more than 1,200 cases were added on Thursday. That is its highest daily case count since the pandemic began.

And despite the warnings, millions of Americans rushed home for the holidays all around the country, packing airports and breaking pandemic travel records, all while December is on track to become the deadliest month of the pandemic.

CNN's Alexandra Field with more.

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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even on this COVID Christmas, America's airports are packed full of people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From Florida, from Orlando.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just came in from Denver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mom really wants to see us, you know. You can only say no so long.

FIELD: On Wednesday a new pandemic travel records set, nearly 1.2 million passing through airports, according to the TSA, which has counted around a million flyers on each of the last six days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got lots of masks and lots of hand sanitizer and headrest covers and gloves and disposable everything. So feeling good.

FIELD: Dr. Anthony Fauci, who turns 80 today, is staying home for the holidays and planning a family Zoom in hopes others will still decide to follow.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I really feel strongly that I need to practice what I preach to the country.

FIELD: But images of so many air travelers are fueling fears we will, in fact, see another surge superimposed on a surge and dark January days ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are very scared about what we're about to see.

FIELD: Hotspots are now spread out over the country, from Maine to Alabama to California, which has passed the eye-popping threshold of 2 million COVID cases, a first for any state in the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A few months ago, we had five COVID patients in the hospital, and now we're up to nearly 100. So that shows you that within just a couple months, how much it's accelerated.

FIELD: Hospitalizations are at a record high. December will soon become the deadliest month of the pandemic and here, careening toward a total of 330,000 American deaths. That's one in 1,000 Americans killed by COVID.

PAUL RUIZ, (D-CA): We need to tell everybody that this is not the time to have large indoor maskless parties, holiday parties. This is the time to hunker down.

FIELD: The CDC now projects as many as 419,000 deaths by January 16. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation upping its projections again after just one week, predicting as many as 567,000 deaths by April. Their model suggests more than 33,000 lives will be saved from now until then by vaccination.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE; Are you ready?

FIELD: Nine point five million doses of them have now been delivered. Just over a million doses of Pfizer's vaccines have been administered, according to the CDC, much less than expected.

(on camera): Here at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Hospital in New York City, frontline workers are continuing to be vaccinated. That job will continue through the holidays.

In another sign that this Christmas will be unlike any other along with letters to Santa, Pfizer, the maker of one of the vaccines, says they have also received letters from children, asking not only for an enough vaccines for everyone but also for a vaccine for Santa.

In New York, Alexandra Field, CNN.

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HOLMES: We'll take a quick break here on the program. When we come back, chaos for Christmas. President Donald Trump leaving a cloud of uncertainty in Washington as he heads home for the holidays, much needed COVID relief and funding to keep the government running in limbo.

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HOLMES: Welcome back, it is looking like the demand U.S. President, Donald Trump has made for the latest COVID relief bill will not be met. Now, the big question: will he sign it anyway?

And as CNN's Phil Mattingly reports, it is not just aid for millions of Americans at stake, but also funding for the very government.

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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the urgently- needed coronavirus relief package, the government funding bill it's tied to, it has physically departed Washington, D.C., on a journey to Florida, where the president will now have to decide what to do with it.

We know it's going to arrive in Florida. What the president's going to do, that is still very much an open question with Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, saying they have no sense, right now, not from allies in the White House, not from anything the president has said or done, if the president is actually going to sign the bill.

Democrats imploring the president to sign the bill. Democrats also challenging congressional Republicans to join with them in addressing one of the president's concerns. And that is expanding those direct payments that are in the stimulus package, from $600 to $2,000.

Republicans, however, rejecting that idea, likely to vote against it, in large part, on Monday when it comes to the floor for an up or down vote in the House.

So where does that actually leave things? Nobody actually knows. It's in the hands of one individual, an individual who is without question, angry about election results, without question frustrated about whatever the deal was that came together.

But multiple people I've spoken to make one point clear. This is not a policy issue at this point in time. This is a personal issue with the president. So, there's nothing lawmakers feel like they can do on Capitol Hill to address the president's concerns.

They basically just have to wait and see. Or, as one congressional staffer told me, it's hope and pray time. Because this is also a crucial point. There's no fallback here. There's no Plan B. There's no secret backup plan if the president decides to reject this legislation.

This is the deal, a deal that took almost nine months to reach on the coronavirus relief piece, a deal that lawmakers are saying has to stand.

Plan A is the president signs the bill. One Republican told me. Plan B is hope Plan A works at this point in time. Keep in mind: This is aid for millions of Americans, both on the unemployment side, on the direct payment side, eviction moratoriums.

But it's also a government funding bill. And if the president does not sign the bill by Monday night, well, not only is he rejecting a coronavirus relief package, he's also shutting down the federal government. We'll see.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Washington.

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HOLMES: Jessica Levinson is a law professor at Loyola Law School and hosts the podcast, "Passing Judgment." She joins me now from Los Angeles.

[00:20:07]

Good to see you, as always, Professor. Appreciate the time.

I'm really interested in your assessment of Donald Trump's sort of mentality, his state of mind in these final weeks. You have a lame duck president who's not governing, he's lashing out, even at allies.

Giving favors, and of course, holding up crucial assistance to Americans. How do you view how he's behaving?

JESSICA LEVINSON, LAW PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: I mean, when you put it that way, not particularly well, right? And you didn't put it that way. Those are, in fact, just the facts.

So, you know, I used to say in the beginning of his term that I was actually very happy when he was on the golf course, because then, at least, he was doing no harm.

The problem now is, of course, is that we're in the middle of a pandemic. And in America, we're going into a dark winter. So to have a president who's just completely abdicated responsibility, seems to be spending all of his time peddling conspiracy theories, handing out pardons that just, essentially, thank his loyalists and may even rise to a level of obstruction of justice themselves, really, is just a horrible dereliction of duty.

And, you know -- and then, of course, this is on top of the course that we're hearing that he is becoming more irrational, that he is becoming more irrational, that he feels like he's in a corner, that he doesn't want to say he lost.

And those are scary things to have said about any president, particularly in the middle of a national emergency.

HOLMES: Yes, and lashing out on Twitter at Republicans, as well, including Mitch McConnell, who has defended him all along the way.

You mentioned pardons, and it's worth -- worth talking about those, because it really has been a who's who of convicted liars, felons, and war criminals, when you're talking about the Blackwater guys and, you know, corrupt loyalists.

The common thread, for many of them, is their connection to Donald Trump. How extraordinary is what we're witnessing?

LEVINSON: Very, very, very. I mean, this, really, is an absolute abuse of the pardon power. I'm not saying that it's not Constitutional. Under the Constitution, I absolutely think he does have the power he should for these pardons.

I'm saying, it's terribly subversive and corrosive. And this is, in no way, what the founders of our Constitution envisioned when they decided to give this pardon power. What they decided is that the president should, essentially, be able to give mercy. That if the criminal justice system, for some reason, breaks down, the president can be there as a safeguard.

For instance, think about a low-level drug offender who really probably shouldn't be sitting in federal prison for years, if not decades.

What President Trump is doing here, in small numbers, is not that much different from what we've seen. For instance, think about President Clinton, who pardoned his brother-in-law and then a big campaign donor, Marc Rich.

But it's different in the sheer number, and it's different in the quality, in the sense that what he's really doing is saying to people, who, for instance, undermined the Russia election, Here's your reward. Excuse me, Russia investigations. You know, here's your reward.

And again, to pardon war criminals. To pardon people who engage in public corruption. Almost every president has one or two pardons out the door, where you think they're just saying thank you for a friend. But this is just breathtaking in its scope.

HOLMES: Especially, as you say, there are thousands of people deserving, perhaps, of pardons and clemency, who are not getting it.

I've only have one minute left, Professor, but I just want to get you, just briefly, to speak to the deafening silence about all of this from the vast majority of Republicans, enabling him, as they have, on so many other outrageous things.

LEVINSON: I mean, this is something that we have to grapple with in America, in the next year, and years, and perhaps, decades. Which is, you know, you and I have talked about this, but the idea that the Republican Party, which stood for just different policy ideas, for small government, as opposed to the Democrats, who believe that the government really did have a larger role.

The Republican Party has become the party of Trump. They said this when it came to the national convention, that their platform was just to reelect him.

And the idea that they would be supporting lies and conspiracy theories and, really, just outright fabrications that undermine their very faith in our system of government. I don't think we can pretend on January 20 that this didn't happen.

And a big question will be the future of the Republican Party, and whether or not, it will split off between Trump supporters, and the kind of old-fashioned policy Republicans.

HOLMES: Yes. A lot of people wondering about that and perhaps whether progressives on the left might do the same. It could be interesting, couldn't it?

Professor Jessica Levinson, great to see you, as always, there in Los Angeles.

LEVINSON: Happy holidays.

HOLMES: You, too.

[00:25:00]

Well, Dr. Anthony Fauci fans now have one more reason to like him. The U.S. coronavirus expert says he will practice what he preaches this holiday season as he celebrates a major birthday. We'll be right back.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Dr. Fauci. Happy birthday to you!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Dr. Fauci. Happy birthday to you!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, Dr. Fauci. Happy birthday to you!

FAUCI: Thank you!

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HOLMES: The top infectious disease expert in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci, turning 80 years young. And the members of one rescue squad in Maryland surprised him with a socially distant birthday wish, as he left work.

Dr. Fauci is sticking to his own advice. He told CNN he will not have an in-person family celebration.

I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. Stick around for music that makes a difference. That's coming up next. I'll see you in about 90 minutes with more.

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