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Possible Human Remains Found at Blast Site of Van that Exploded in Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Day; Authorities Exploring Possibility Van Explosion in Nashville Linked to Terrorism; Travel Restrictions Increased as New Variant of Coronavirus Found in U.K.; President Trump Still Not Signed Economic Relief Bill Passed by Congress; President Trump Issues Numerous Pardons which Draw Controversy; ICU Bed Capacity in Parts of Southern California Reaches Zero Percent Due to Coronavirus Case Surge; Europe to Begin Distribution of Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 26, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:13]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Saturday, December 26th. I'm John Avlon, and you're in the CNN Newsroom. Victor and Christi have the morning off. The clock is ticking now, though, as President Trump needs to sign a desperately needed COVID relief bill. After today, more than 12 million Americans will lose their extended unemployment insurance, adding to uncertainty for millions of Americans. The threat of another surge of COVID-19 infections as well, nationwide there are already more than 100,000 people in the hospital right now, and it could get worse.

But first, investigators in Nashville have found what might be human remains near the site of a Christmas Day explosion. CNN's Natasha Chen joins us live from Nashville. Natasha, what's the latest you're hearing from investigators?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You mentioned those human remains. That's being looked at right now by the medical examiner's office. When we asked that last night at a press conference, the police chief did confirm that tissue was found, believed to be human remains. He wouldn't tell us exactly where in the blast site those were found, whether it had anything to do with potentially someone inside the RV. He said they're still looking into all of that, and to keep in mind that the debris was really scattered across a large distance, and so it's still difficult as they're parsing through a lot of that.

And we also have heard now of, of course, about the three people who were hospitalized. Those are three civilians, luckily with nonlife- threatening injuries. The city also really lauded the efforts of the six police officers who came to the scene when people first started calling 911 because of gunshots they heard. So these six officers came to the scene, they heard that ominous recorded message coming from the RV telling people they had 15 minutes before a bomb would go off, and those officers really worked hard to evacuate people from that area. Now, we did hear from one of the terrified residents who lives right

by the blast site about what she heard, about how she had to leave the house. Here's what she told Anderson Cooper yesterday about that experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETSY WILLIAMS, NASHVILLE EXPLOSION EYEWITNESS: The bomb exploded while we were on our way back down there. We saw that thing, the fireball went all the way up past the AT&T, above the AT&T building. Everything just, everything shook. It was quite the blast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And it damaged at least 41 businesses, according to the mayor of Nashville. He also said that one building has collapsed on itself, and there's some issues with, of course, structural integrity all around because of the effect of this blast.

Of course, another effect has been the outage of cell service and Internet service for a large part of this region. There were issues yesterday with people getting calls through. That's being worked on as we speak. But of course, the investigators continue to work here, and they ask people not only to give tips to law enforcement, to the FBI, if they know anything at all, but also to stay away from this area. We are under curfew here. People are supposed to stay away from the investigation site, at least until Sunday afternoon, John.

AVLON: Natasha Chen live in Nashville, thank you very much.

Joining us now is country music artist Buck McCoy whose apartment was destroyed in the explosion. Buck, it's good to see you. I want to ask what happened yesterday. But first, this is a Saturday morning unlike any other. How are you feeling?

BUCK MCCOY, APARTMENT DESTROYED IN EXPLOSION: Actually, today I'm not feeling good. I was just right outside where the blast occurred, and today I'm actually feeling a little bit more of a headache and I'm having some hearing problems because of the intense explosion. It was something that maybe yesterday I was a little bit more in shock and not feeling my senses, but today I feel like I've been beat up a little bit. I have some scrapes, some bruises, and some cuts on my feet. But I think I'm going to be all right.

AVLON: Well, it makes sense you would have shock in the immediate aftermath. But tell me, have you talked to your neighbors? Are they suffering similar symptoms the morning after?

MCCOY: Yes, we've started to get together and organize a little group of people that are -- today we're starting to look for our animals. I was not able to get my cat out. I barely made it out myself. There was glass everywhere, there was large objects, there wood, there stuff to climb over, and I was unable to get my cat. So today we got a little organization together of people that are going to be going to take a walkthrough, and we're going to see what is left and if they're OK.

[10:05:08]

AVLON: So, the authorities are going to let you all --

MCCOY: They've been calling, and they've been very supportive. I'm staying with some friends right now just down the street from ground zero.

AVLON: This is a time for friends to circle the wagons. The authorities are going to let you all back into your buildings today to try to find pets and pick up personal effects, that's right?

MCCOY: Yes, that's the plan. They're putting together a small group of agents that will take us in, and we'll try and find what's left in there. Some of the buildings are very insecure. These older buildings have just taken such a lick that I don't think some of them will be able to survive and they'll have to probably be taken down and rebuilt.

AVLON: Yes, the images are just shocking and terrifying. And I'm so grateful that you and your neighbors are beginning to rebound today, but no question it's going to be a long road for the neighborhood and for yourselves, and we wish you all the best on the road ahead, and especially I know how much those pets can matter to folks. I hope they all will found as well. Buck McCoy, thank you very much for joining us this morning on CNN.

Let's bring in former supervisory special agent for the FBI Peter Licata. He's a CNN law enforcement analyst and former lead bomb tech for the FBI in New York City. Peter, the crime scene covers several blocks and the destruction is massive. So what are the kind of things you'd be looking for as an investigator to gain some clues from the nature of this explosive device?

PETER LICATA, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, John.

To answer your question, generally what will happen is the things you're looking for are components of the device, and you'll start what we call as the point of origin of the bombing or the seat, or the crater. So that being said is, where that vehicle was located, that will be sifted through very intensely. The componentry survives. Most people don't understand, they think everything just disintegrates on a device or explosion that large. It doesn't. It's there. It will be found.

And then what the investigators will do, they'll look at what we call patterns or paths of flight. In general, heavier items tend to fly further than lighter items. So they will use that narrow street where the explosion took place, and they will comb that very methodically in a grid-style format, starting from the seat and then moving from the origin and moving all the way down in both directions up and down the street.

And these blast crime scenes they are really a 360. They're a 365- crime scene, so not only are they going to be looking to their left and right, and up and down the street, but they have to look up, they have to look on top of buildings. Buildings will be rooftops will be scoured and treated as crime scenes just like where the actual device or the explosion occurred. They'll go inside windows of apartment buildings or parts of buildings where windows are cracked because that's where patterns of flight, that's where fragmentation or componentry from that device can be located.

AVLON: Authorities have yet to announce a suspect or a person of interest, but should the public be concerned that someone was able to assemble this much explosive material, all while flying under the radar?

LICATA: Absolutely, and that's a good way to determine it. We use the term, when I used to teach classes in the FBI to first responders, about responding to situations just like this, we used the term fly underneath the radar. Commercial and military explosives are very hard to get in the United States. They're very well-regulated. I'm not saying it can't happen, but they're well-regulated and they're hard to acquire. I can't walk down to my hardware store and buy a box of TNT or a box of dynamite. But what I can go is I can go to my hardware store or online to suppliers and buy precursor chemicals. These are precursor chemicals that can be synthesized, that can be manufactured to make improvised explosives, or homemade explosives. That's always a concern of law enforcement is individuals can go out there underneath the radar, as you said, buy things in small batches and build devices that will have as much power as you've seen during these crime scene photos.

AVLON: There's still so much we don't know at this stage from this, frankly, bizarre but intentional bombing. But what do you infer from the fact that a message was played warning people to evacuate the area?

LICATA: There's been a lot of talk about that, and yes, some people are saying that the bomber's intent was to minimize damage to human life. But what I will tell you is all that in the bombing investigations that I have worked, and I've assisted U.S. attorneys in prosecuting, all that does is prove their resolve. That means that they were willing to set off a device. This wasn't an accident. They knew what the totality of the circumstances that this device would cause when it functioned properly as it did.

[10:10:00]

Everyone has heard about the gunshots going out, were those pyrotechnics. Were they gunshots or pyrotechnics to wake people up? That all will be determined later when subjects are interviewed properly. But I don't take lightly the fact that they were warning the citizens down that part of Nashville to get out of the area. All it does is show me the bombers, the criminals involved in this, they had resolve and they knew exactly what was going to happen, regardless of human life.

AVLON: Given all of that, and we want to emphasize that investigators have not implied terror, whether foreign or domestic, but is there anything revealed so far that you as an investigator might point you in that direction? Because that's really the key question. LICATA: Yes, it is. So, every bombing in the United States is treated

by law enforcement and then joined by the FBI as an act of terrorism. There aren't too many devices or bombings that occur in the United States that necessarily aren't, none of this magnitude. This is not a small pipe bomb in the back of somebody's yard or farm, its young kids messing around with that type of device. This was a formal, deliberate act. Whether it was meant or intended for that location where it detonated, that will be determined later. But this was a definitely deliberate act, and these things are treated as an act of terrorism until they're proved not.

AVLON: Peter Licata, thank you very much for joining us.

LICATA: You're welcome.

AVLON: Despite repeated warnings, millions of Americans did travel over the holidays, raising concerns that the nation is weeks away from yet another devastating new spike in COVID-19 cases. CNN's Alison Kosik joins us now. Alison, three weeks after Thanksgiving, we saw that surge across the country. Now it looks like we could be in for another round of new infections. What can you tell us?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the worry. We are coming off of a holiday. It is a holiday weekend, but clearly the coronavirus not taking a holiday. Case numbers continue to spike between New York and California. Now there's this new travel restriction in place to try to keep this more infectious variant of the virus from coming to the U.S., but the reality is even Dr. Anthony Fauci believes that that new variant could already be here.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KOSIK: Starting Monday in the U.K., all passengers must have a negative COVID-19 test within three days of boarding a flight to the U.S. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo praised the decision by the CDC for passengers to be tested who are flying from the U.K. "Testing people for COVID-19 before they get on planes is common sense. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past, and we must continue to do everything we can to keep New Yorkers and Americans safe," Cuomo said in a statement Friday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the new testing requirements for travelers. But research by the agency's own scientists shows the role may only have a small impact on the spread of the new U.K. strain of the coronavirus. According to researchers on the CDC's COVID-19 response team, testing three days before a flight might reduce the risk of spreading the virus by just five to nine percent. Pfizer and Moderna are testing to see whether their vaccines work against the new variant, which thus far has not been detected in the U.S.

Southern California is grappling with surging COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths as the state passes another grim milestone, reporting more than 300 new COVID deaths for a third straight day. In Los Angeles county, a person dies every 10 minutes from COVID-19, county's public health director says. 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 public health measures that we have been preaching from the mountaintops.

KOSIK: As Christmas comes to an end and we head into the new year, experts say the safest way to celebrate is at home with the people you live with or online with friends and family. For those that host a New Year's celebration, the CDC suggests staying outside, limiting the number of guests, wearing and making extra masks available, and keeping background music low to avoid shouting.

ERIN BROMAGE, PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS: What we've just seen, these amplification events, and that's happened at the end of this year in the U.S. We had Thanksgiving, we had Labor Day, we had Halloween, and each one of these events brought lots of people together and just gave the virus more fuel to move through the population. So, Christmas is going to do a similar thing.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KOSIK (ON CAMERA): In the days leading up to Christmas, TSA says that more than 1 million people moved through security checkpoints at airports across the country. It's stoking worries from health care experts that we could see another spike in coronavirus cases on top of the spike that we're seeing right now. John?

[10:15:10]

AVLON: Let's hope not. Stay smart and safe, guys. Alison Kosik, thank you very much.

Up next, millions of Americans lose their jobless benefits today as the president refuses to sign a multitrillion dollar aid package.

Also, ahead, after pardoning a string of criminal loyalists, we'll look at who else the president might absolve before his term ends.

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[10:18:40]

AVLON: A day after Christmas, there is a new nightmare for millions of Americans already struggling in the pandemic. Unemployment benefits have run out, and there is no relief in sight. President Trump says a bill negotiated by his own treasury secretary is no longer good enough, and his demand for bigger direct payments failed in a Christmas Eve vote.

So, let's get right to CNN's Sarah Westwood in West Palm Beach, Florida. Sarah, Senator Lindsey Graham spent Christmas golfing with the president, and now he's signaling he supports those $2,000 checks. But what's the likelihood that more Republicans get in line?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, John, Graham's reversal here is sure to put pressure on some more Republicans allies of the president to consider backing his effort to upend the relief talks that took weeks, because the president really didn't give any advance warning to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that, although he sat on the sidelines for all of the talks about what the relief bill would look like, he was going to try to wedge this last-minute opposition in there. And there was no plan B for Republicans, because they voted for the bill under the impression that the president supported the $600 amount for individual checks. That's what his own treasury secretary brought to congressional leaders as the White House's proposal.

[10:20:00]

But I want to read you what Graham tweeted after he stepped off the golf course with the president yesterday. He wrote "After spending time with President Trump today, I am convinced he is more determined than ever to increase stimulus payments to $2,000 per person and challenge Section 230 big tech liability protection."

That Section 230 provision is the reason why the president vetoed the defense authorization bill, that defense spending bill, passed Congress with a veto proof majority despite the president's pleas to have a repeal of Section 230 in there. And the spending and relief package also passed Congress with a veto proof majority this week.

But nonetheless, the president is back on Twitter this morning railing against one of its key provisions, writing, "I simply want to get our great people $2,000 rather than the measly $600 that is now in the bill. Also, stop the billions of dollars in pork."

Just to be clear, the billions of dollars in pork that the president is talking about is not in the relief bill. It's in the spending bill that was the legislative vehicle for that. The spending bill very closely reflected what was in the president's own budget proposal and what has been in previous spending bills that he has signed, so it's unclear where his last-minute opposition to things that his own budget office proposed is coming from as well.

And, John, as if this wasn't complicated enough, if the president doesn't sign this package by Monday, we're looking at a potential government shutdown because the government will run out of money. So a lot of pressure on whether the president puts his signature on this legislation. We've asked the White House whether he plans to sign it, whether he plans to veto it, and just have received no clarity about what the president's plans are here John.

AVLON: Sarah Westwood, such an important point. The president is in effect negotiating against his own administration's position at the 11th hour, with people's benefits and a shutdown looming in the next couple of days. Sarah Westwood, thanks so much for joining us from Palm Beach.

The president entering coronavirus negotiations at the 11th hour was a surprise. The president's pardon spree was perhaps less surprising, but equally stunning. Along the list of recipients, Trump supporters convicted of financial crimes, Blackwater mercenaries convicted of murdering Iraqi civilians, and longtime allies who kept quiet during the Russia investigation. Joining with me now to discuss is CNN presidential historian Doug

Brinkley, and CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams. It's great to have you both. Doug, let's dig in. Just put this in perspective. There have been ethically dodgy pardons before, but has any president rewarded law breaking in this way before?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: No, we've never seen anything like this. Donald Trump is simply emptying the jails of all of his corrupt cronies. And he's willing to do it in a willy-nilly fashion. I think there will be many more to come because he hasn't come to grips with the fact that he's lost power. Over the holiday here he has been fired by the American people while he's golfing with Lindsey Graham. So he's kind of simply, John, pardon anybody that he knows or he possibly can, or destroy any legislation. He's just in a steamroller of destruction mode right now. But I suspect you'll see 50, 100, and who knows, maybe even thousands of pardons of people because he likes that he has the power to do that.

AVLON: A steamroller of destruction home. Elliot, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy suggested doing away with presidential pardon power altogether. Do you think that's remotely realistic, or what is your preferred prescription on this?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Senator Murphy is a great senator, but like many Americans, he just needs to calm down about this issue. Here's the thing. The pardon power is a very important power written into the Constitution as a check on our criminal justice system. And to the extent we have a problem today, it's not the pardon power. It's Donald Trump. It's a president who has chosen to exercise power in a manner that is quite objectionable to the American people and some might say unlawful, but he's not violating a rule.

It's a power that -- by way of example, think of it this way. If someone gets into a car accident every time, they drive their car, you don't ban cars for all people. What you would do is make it harder for that person to have access to a vehicle or make cars safer or take their license away or whatever. And there are other remedies other than take away the pardon power. Congress could, number one, restrict the pardon power. Congress could take a look at sentences and provide a mechanism for making some of these nonviolent drug offenses that are often what people are pardoned for, make those more possible. Congress, and frankly the American people can just elect presidents who aren't going to abuse their powers.

But this rush to take away a very important power that exists in our Constitution for an important purpose, even if some presidents have misused it, is a little bit misguided and premature.

[10:25:05]

AVLON: But Doug, let's dig into the history of this, because the founders did create a fairly broad pardon power, but the debate in the Constitutional Convention, they were warning against a lot of things that this president is trying to do. So, let me give you one specific. Do you think it is constitutional to have a president pardon himself preemptively? BRINKLEY: I do not. I find this to be abuse of power going on now. I

think it's going to have to be addressed. When the FBI did abuses in the J. Edgar Hoover area, we had the Church Committee, this is not -- we will lose our face of democracy around the world. The idea that we can have a president who then just empties the jail of any political crony, meaning you can do any crimes for the president and know you're going to get a get out of jail free card goes smack against democracy.

So I agree, Donald Trump is the problem, but the founders probably couldn't have imagined somebody quite this scandalous type of person as Donald Trump that would be willing to do this at the same time the pandemic is going on, at the same time the Pope yesterday, John, said take care of the poor during this COVID crisis, and you see Trump refusing to do it. He is playing out his malignant self-love on a national stage now, and this pardoning has got to be addressed once he leaves the White House because we can't keep doing something like these every four years.

AVLON: To that point, even Nixon didn't go this far. But Elliot, do you buy that open question, there is an OLC opinion, that says the president, of course he can't pardon himself. To what extent do the founders' intent matters when they warn, for example, that the dangers of president pardoning some people who he ordered to commit crimes?

WILLIAMS: Number one, I think any serious attorney who has looked at this knows that the president cannot pardon himself, because just think about it in the law. One person would be essentially the judge and jury of their own crime and he could preemptively immunize himself for everything for the rest of his life. So that's out of the question, and the idea that there's a debate about that is nonsense.

Now, look, another really important thing, not to get lost here, is there's a process that exists in the federal government for checking pardons that Donald Trump simply isn't doing. What the "Washington Post" reported is that the president is basically hearing from his friends at FOX News and reading things in the paper and then deciding to pardon people on that basis. There's an entire Office of the Pardon Attorney that recommends pardons on the basis of how recently it's been since the crime was committed, what was the severity of the crime, has the person accepted responsibility, are famous people pushing for this, which would cut against issuing the pardon.

The president is just disregarding all of that. And so what we need are more death -- this is exactly what Doug was getting at -- more teeth behind that checks that get put on the president. But I think the framers could not have -- like you said, could not have anticipated Donald Trump because they just assumed people would -- yes.

AVLON: But let me push you on actually the prescription here, because the president has, of course, disregarded that entire democratic norm of the Justice Department recommending people for pardons. So, it goes back to that question of how do we strengthen the guardrails so that future presidents can't just disregard them entirely? And can anything be done retrospectively to review a president's pardons? WILLIAMS: Sure. So, Congress can put more teeth around anything. The

only way to get rid of the power would be to amend the Constitution. But Congress can certainly put guardrails on when the president can issue one, who he can issue one to, as long as it doesn't violate the equal -- doesn't say that all black people can't be pardoned or something that that would break the law. Congress can look at sentences and so on.

So, think of it this way. The Obama administration issued clemency to about 2,000 individuals, many of whom were nonviolent drug offenders and so on. This is an important remedy that we need to protect. And I think Congress -- what we need to do is ensure that Congress is providing the check on the president that the framers intended, that the branches of government would make sure that no one -- and I don't want to give Donald Trump a pass. This is wackadoo crazy behavior that we should not tolerate, but a lot of this needs to fall to other branches of government to ensure that particularly bad leaders aren't allowed to run wild with the laws and the powers that were kind of rational when they were crafted 200 or 300 years ago.

AVLON: Doug, final question to you before we go. We're at the tail end of a presidency. There have been presidents who had lower approval ratings than this one -- Nixon, Truman, Carter. But how do you think Donald Trump will look in the eyes of history? How do you think he'll be ranked among the other presidents?

[10:30:01]

BRINKLEY: There's no question he's going to be on the bottom of the barrel. He carries the "I" of impeachment with him like Andrew Johnson. The fact of the matter is that he lost by a significant margin to Joe Biden. He bungled the big crisis of his presidency, COVID-19. He's most synonymous with the xenophobia, racism, disuniting of America, not uniting it. So, you're looking at him being ranked the worst or in that area of a James Buchanan, Warren Harding, the last bottom rung of them.

The question is, will Trump come back, can he stage a comeback and say it wasn't about my one-term presidency, it's about a revolution that I was running, and I reclaim the White House in 2024? And then history would have to reassess him in a different way. Right now, he's a flaky one-termer.

AVLON: I will recall --

WILLIAMS: James Buchanan or Warren G. Harding, that's cold.

(LAUGHTER)

AVLON: Add Andrew Johnson and then you've got really a bunch. Doug and Elliot, I want to thank you very much for joining us.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

BRINKLEY: Thank you. AVLON: Next, CNN is inside a California hospital that is near its

breaking point as the state recorded nearly 40,000 cases in a single day.

Plus, Europe is set to start COVID-19 vaccinations this weekend. We're going to take you live to Paris where the first doses are arriving right now.

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[10:34:56]

AVLON: The state of California is in crisis. Four out of five regions in the state are under stay-at-home orders that will likely be extended due to rising cases of COVID-19. Yesterday California added more than 39,000 new cases, a two percent increase from the previous day. The state recorded over 300 new deaths for the third consecutive day. In Los Angeles county, a person dies every 10 minutes from COVID- 19, according to health officials.

In southern California, ICU bed capacity is at zero percent. That means they have no more room for COVID-19 patients. Officials are urging residents to stay home as the increase in cases and hospitalizations continue to strain the system to its breaking point.

Sara Sidner has been on the frontline witness to the crisis that hits California, and here are some of the terrifying and heartbreaking stories she's been seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nurse Cliff Resurreccion is preparing for battle against the insidious invisible enemy he and his colleagues have been fighting for months. COVID-19 is now sending so many people to the hospital in California, there are no more intensive care unit beds open here at Harbor UCLA Medical Center, so they've moved coronavirus cases into the emergency room. Some are so sick, they're hooked up to no less than eight IVs, pumping in vital medicines to save or soothe them.

CLIFF RESURRECCION, REGISTERED NURSE IN COVID-19 UNIT: Very exhausting. It's really like a never-ending struggle. It's really tough right now.

SIDNER: Before his shift started, Nurse Resurreccion learned one of his COVID-19 patients had died. The patient had no family visits and no breath left to say goodbye.

RESURRECCION: Unfortunately, he has no family. This patient had no family that were able to come and see him. And it's very sad around the holiday season for everyone involved.

SIDNER: Everyone here has been exposed to the trauma of loss over and over again, but the patients just keep coming.

What's it like right now for yourself? NANCY BLAKE, CHIEF NURSING OFFICER, HARBOR UCLA MEDICAL CENTER: It's a

disaster right now for our staff. The patients are extremely sick. This is a horrible disease. I hope I won't cry because it's been 10 months of this. And we are inundated.

SIDNER: They can't send patients out to other hospitals in Los Angeles County because in the most populated county in America, there is not a single licensed ICU bed open. All 2,500 are full. At last count, all of southern California had zero ICU capacity, zero.

BLAKE: And there's no break. There's absolutely no break. And even during July it wasn't so bad, but this time we're seeing large numbers.

SIDNER: Nancy Blake says this is so much worse than the first two surges of the virus because now they're getting their normal amount of emergency patients, plus a large number of coronavirus cases.

In the past two weeks, California has seen a 63 percent increase in hospitalizations and in just one day, around 40,000 new infections were reported. This as 98 percent of the state is under a stay-at-home order. That is clearly not what is happening.

What effect does that have on your staff?

BLAKE: They're angry, because at the very beginning it was people were saying nurses are heroes and great job. And now they're not listening to us. They're not wearing their masks. They're saying it's a hoax. And I have to say I'm a glass half full kind of person. My glass is empty right now.

SIDNER: You'll remember New York at the beginning of the pandemic when they had refrigerated trucks because they needed space for bodies. Now at this hospital they have the same thing, and this one has just been turned on.

But amidst the signs of suffering, there were signs of hope. Health care workers lining up to get their first dose of the vaccine, each sending a message as to why they're getting inoculated. The first day it arrived, the mood soared, but soured by the afternoon as more patients crushed into the emergency room.

Are you OK?

BLAKE: No. It's the worst I've ever seen. I've been a nurse for 40 years, and it's the worst I've ever seen. And some of the things these nurses are seeing where their patients are dying, there's no family members so they're holding that patient's hand, or they're on the other side of an iPad where the family is crying.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

AVLON: Our thanks to Sara Sidner for that.

COVID vaccinations are set to begin across several European nations beginning tomorrow as a new, faster spreading variant of the coronavirus virus continues to pop up around the world.

So let's go live to CNN's Cyril Vanier, who is in Paris this morning. Cyril, France is one of several countries preparing to distribute vaccines tomorrow, so give us a sense of what you're hearing from people on the ground there.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, there's still a lot of vaccine hesitancy, and not just in France, but really across the continent. So, this trust issue is going to be major for all European governments and they're going to have to handle this.

[10:40:01]

In France earlier this month, it was estimated that about half the population was willing to get the vaccine, right, give or take, which means that the other half is either unwilling or unsure. Now, these attitudes may change as the vaccine starts to be rolled out, the E.U. begins its vaccination program on Sunday. And by the way, John, that is an absolutely huge undertaking. We're talking about almost half a billion people across the continent, 450 million across 27 member states.

As this begins, if the news continues to be good, as it has been by and large from the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, which is the one that's approved here, then it's possible that people will start being a little more trusting of this vaccine. But that's where we stand for now, still a lot of hesitation as we go into this.

AVLON: But to your point, this extraordinary operational achievement, but a lack of trust can be deadly, and that's what we're dealing with here and around the world. Tell me a little bit more of what we know about this positive case of the new variant that we found in France.

VANIER: That's worrying news. It's worrying news for France, and it's been found in several other European countries. That person actually traveled from the U.K. to France a week ago, the same day that I did. And this was -- the timing was important, and that's why I'm particularly attuned to it, because I had the same timing. We traveled -- this was before the U.K. pressed the panic button because of this variant and put large sections of its population under the strictest tier four restrictions, right. So, at the time that we traveled, there was no hindrance to that travel.

And that person then arrived in France city of Tour and got tested positive for COVID-19. And because that person was coming from the U.K., that positive test then got sent for DNA sequencing, and that's how we found out on Christmas Day that that person actually did have the new variant of the vaccine. The person, by the way, is asymptomatic. The person by all accounts feels fine and is back in isolation, and now all his contacts, there's contact tracing going on, all his contacts being contacted, as it were, to make sure this doesn't spread any further, John.

AVLON: That contact tracing is key and it's something we're going to keep an eagle eye on. Cyril Vanier from Paris, thank you very much. Up next, Democrats are massively outraising their Republican rivals in

Georgia as they vie to take control of the Senate on January 5th. We'll have more.

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[10:45:05]

AVLON: Georgia's two Senate runoff elections are already in the frenzy with the candidates spending, get this, nearly half a billion dollars since Election Day on radio and TV ads. The contests are on track to be the most expensive Senate races in U.S. history, and its Democratic candidates and Raphael Warnock who are raising the most money.

So, CNN's Ryan Nobles has more on this. Ryan, half-a-billion dollars is an unbelievable amount of money, but does it really make a difference in the race that we're seeing on the ground, or is it primarily the media buyers who are benefiting?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's no doubt it's good to be the owner of the local television station in the state of Georgia right now, no doubt about that, John, because so much money is being spent on television ads. I can tell you, having spent a lot of time in Georgia right now, you can't turn on the TV without seeing an ad from one of these four candidates.

But it is really hard to quantify right now the impact that all this money being spent is having on the race itself. There really isn't a lot of available public polling, in part because it's so difficult to poll this type of a race. We've never seen two runoffs happening at the same time with also the balance of the United States Senate hanging out there as a possibility at the end of all of this. So, we really don't know, and we probably won't know until January 5th.

But just take a look at these numbers. Right now, it is the Democratic candidates who are raising more money. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock both over the $100 million mark. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler have both raised more than $60 million. But this doesn't tell us the whole story because there are hundreds of millions of dollars being poured into Georgia from outside groups across the country. Mitch McConnell and his leadership PAC spending hundreds of millions of dollars. Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic candidate for governor in the state of Georgia, she has also raised tens of millions of dollars, much of which is going into this Senate race.

And the other part of this that is really important, John, is that candidates are already encouraging people in Georgia to get out and vote. Early voting has already been in the works. It's now going on two weeks where voters have been able to cast their ballots. We're heading up to January 5th. That is Election Day. This is expected to be a very tight election. And, John, as we mentioned, the balance of the United States Senate is what is going to finally be determined. John?

AVLON: Stakes don't get any higher than that. Ryan Nobles, thank you very much. Now, for some, today would be a good day to stay inside and sit by the

fireplace because freezing temperatures are making their way across the northeast this morning. Windchills are near, if not below zero. And a new record in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which had the snowiest Christmas in 85 years. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has the forecast. Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, John. And Pittsburgh was one of the few places that had a lot of snow on Christmas Day. Look at this, multiple states actually reporting over a foot of snow on Christmas Day, again, including Indiana, Michigan, as well as New York. We still have more snow in the forecast for today, that's mainly going to be focused across portions of the state of Maine, as well as the Great Lakes region, especially update New York, portions of Pennsylvania, as well, where we could end up picking up as much of a foot of extra snowfall.

But again, the temperatures, this is the more widespread concern, really, for this weekend. You are looking at current windchills. It feels like it is one degree right now in Pittsburgh. That's taking into consideration not only the temperature, but also the wind gusts there. Take a look, Columbus, four, Buffalo also looking at only four degrees. Chicago, it feels like it's only 12 degrees right now. Again, it's that cold air that's not only been across portions of the Great Lakes but look at how far south. That was spreading down into the Carolinas.

And John, even to note this morning, we had freeze warnings as far south as the Gulf Coast. Those have now been lifted, temperatures will start to warm back up over the next couple of days, not only along the Gulf Coast, but also the Midwest and the northeast as well.

AVLON: Unbelievable. Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Still ahead, the Nashville police identified the six officers who helped save lives by evacuating the area targeted by an explosion. CNN is on the ground with the latest on the investigation. Latest on the investigation.

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[10:52:37]

AVLON: And now a note from our CNN extended family. We are sad to report that Francesca Kaczynski, daughter to CNN's Andrew Kaczynski and his wife Rachel Louise Ensign has passed away after a months-long battle with brain cancer. She was just nine months. And I want to share with you what Andrew and his wife wrote to remember her. Francesca Kaczynski, also known Bean, Beanie, or Beans, died December 24th of complications from cancer. In her short live, Francesca she was an outgoing, bold, and curious baby. She had huge, deep brown eyes that followed whatever her parents were doing. She loved eating and being held close, particularly in the evenings. A Brooklyn-based Sesame Street fan, Francesca enjoyed taking long walks around New York City and Boston, playing with her toys and balloons, attending speech therapy, and "petting," (i.e. grabbing) her cat Ryland. One of her favorite activities was to practice rolling in her crib from side to side.

She loved seeing her parents, Andrew Kaczynski and Rachel Ensign, and greeting them with the world's biggest smile, and an excited kick when she woke up from a nap. Her many smiles sent a thrill through the world. She was so generous with them, even when most of the smiles back were covered by masks. And even when she faced challenges that would scare an adult, like a cancer diagnosis or being born with hearing loss, in her first six months of live in New York Francesca visited Prospect Park at least once a day where she often napped while her dad carrying her.

She wore a big red bow on her red as a virtual fan for a Brooklyn Nets game.

Her mom excitedly got to dip her feet in the Atlantic Ocean this summer, an experience that Francesca was very indifferent about. During her time in Boston, Beans was able to experience joy even while in treatment. She met the silly geese and ducks that loiter in the parks near the hospital. and visited the Make Way for Ducklings statue in the Boston Public Garden, and read the book many, many times. On one recent walk along the Charles River, she experienced her first ride on a swing, something that she was also completely indifferent to.

Everyone at Boston Children's Hospital treating Francesca with remarkable love and kindness. Doctors and nurses would gasp will joy with they saw her smile as they entered the room. She adored music therapy and had some of her first big laughs playing with the balloon of Elmo, her famous Sesame Street character she got from the hospital gift shop during occupational therapy.

On Halloween she dressed up with her nurses in a homemade pasta fagioli costume. Francesca showed her parents such a kind of love that they had never knew before and will never forget it.

[10:55:07]

Beanie is survived by her parents, her Bubbe, her grandparents, her aunt and uncle and cousins. And the family has asked that any donations be made in honor of Francesca to the PMC winter cycle charity event which happens next month. One hundred percent of every rider raised dollar goes directly to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Throughout this whole ordeal, the entire CNN family has been pulling for Francesca and keeping her family close in our thoughts and prayers, and this is heartbreaking news for all of us. But now we ask you to join us in sending our love as we try to lift them up in the difficult days and weeks and months ahead. You can honor baby Francesca's memory through a donation to their charity, but also through a recommitment to simple kindness and compassion, while remembering to hold your loved ones extra tight tonight, appreciate every moment, and take nothing for granted.

Andrew and Rachel, stay strong. We love you. And know that Francesca's memory will always be a blessing.

Thanks for watching. CNN Newsroom continues after the break.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Christmas Day destruction, the city of Nashville on edge as new details emerge, possible human remains found at the explosion site, and an eerie audio recording from moments before the blast. We're live from downtown Nashville in minutes.

Plus, California in crisis, a desperate situation is unfolding in southern California as ICU beds run out.