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Millions Of Americans Face Imminent Loss Of Key Benefits If Trump Doesn't Sign COVID Relief Bill; Interview With Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI); FBI "Turning Over Every Stoner" To Find Explosion Suspects; Three Injured, Dozens Of Buildings Damaged In Nashville Explosion; Over Nine Million Doses Of Coronavirus Vaccine Have Been Delivered Across The U.S.; Vulnerable Communities Face Challenges Getting Vaccine. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired December 26, 2020 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
DR. JOSEPH VARON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, UNITED MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER: Our average patient has spent about 20 days with symptoms before they come to us. So, I mean, even if I give them holy water, after 20 days of symptoms, it's going to be difficult for them to get better.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Richard Gonzales has a wife and five kids. He works two jobs and isn't sure how he got it. He thought he could tough it out.
RICHARD GONZALES, RESISTED GOING TO HOSPITAL: I kind of like messed up from those symptoms that I got when I got it. I should have went to the ER room or the hospital right away, but I didn't. I laid in bed, thinking it was going to go away.
MARQUEZ: For how long?
GONZALES: For about a week.
MARQUEZ: Luis Martinez's father, uncle, and cousin died of COVID-19. The last thing he wanted to do was go to a hospital.
LUIS MARTINEZ, LOST THREE FAMILY MEMBERS: I didn't want to do it because you know how it is whenever they put you in a hospital, sometimes you never make it.
MARQUEZ: To listen to Juana Corona trying to breathe is to understand everything one needs to know about COVID-19.
She's pretty certain she got it from her daughter at a birthday party. Several other family members got it. Her 26-year-old niece died.
She says she's scared. Like everyone we spoke to, those who could speak, they all hope for one thing, to be home for Christmas.
Margaret Evans says ten members of her family got COVID-19, she thinks at a birthday party.
How tough is it to be away from family like this?
MARGARET EVANS-RANGE, 10 FAMILY MEMBERS GOT CORONAVIRUS: It's hard. It's very, very, very hard.
MARQUEZ: She has nine grandchildren she'd really like to see.
Miguel Marquez, CNN, Houston, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Amara Walker, in for Ana Cabrera.
We start with the round of crucial coronavirus relief benefits that is set to expire by the end of today if President Trump refuses to sign the COVID relief bill just passed by Congress. The $900 billion relief package would put $600 in the hands of many struggling Americans. It would also extend pandemic-related unemployment benefits and protect people from being evicted from their homes.
But the president insists the bill isn't good enough, demanding higher payments that his own Republican Party opposes -- $2,000 instead of the $600. And he's giving zero indication as to how he plans to proceed. Even Republicans in Congress don't know whether or not if he plans to sign the bill or veto it or just let it languish. A reminder that Trump was missing in action for the negotiation process and initially indicated he would sign the measure.
Well, he's been sequestered at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, focused instead on spreading more baseless claims about the election via Twitter, playing golf. He's made 309 visits to one of his courses since becoming president, and complaining, of all things, about fashion magazines not featuring his wife, Melania, on their covers since she became first lady.
CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond joining me now from West Palm Beach, Florida.
Jeremy, it goes without saying, there are millions of livelihoods at stake here. Are we getting any indication of what the president is going to do? And what happens if he doesn't sign?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, if the president doesn't sign this legislation today, he will be single-handedly sinking millions of Americans deeper into financial insecurity. That is just a fact, and that is because the Century Foundation estimates that 12 million Americans will lose their supplemental unemployment benefits this weekend if the president does not sign that legislation.
What is at stake here are a couple of unemployment programs provided by the federal government. There is that $300 supplemental weekly unemployment insurance benefit provided by the federal government, and then there is also a program that extends the number of weeks of federally paid unemployment benefits provided to millions of Americans. We are currently in not only this coronavirus crisis but also facing,
with millions of Americans facing financial hardship, more than 20 million Americans are currently unemployed, more than 8 million Americans have slipped into poverty since the summer.
You watch these images of these food lines happening this holiday season and it is just heartbreaking and here you have the president of the United States, who has the power to provide a little bit of financial relief to those Americans, and right now, he is refusing to do so.
The president taking to Twitter just a few hours ago to say that he is still objecting to this legislation because it doesn't provide as much financial stimulus for Americans as he would like to see, tweeting: 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.
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But if this was the president's goal, to have that -- those financial checks to Americans increase to $2,000, that is something that the president could have and should have raised with congressional negotiators before this was passed into law last Tuesday. The president only raised these objections after this legislation passed both houses of Congress and with overwhelming bipartisan majorities at that. In fact, veto-proof majorities which raises the specter that even if the president moves forward to veto this legislation, it will possibly still become law anyway.
And as the president is doing this, there's not just that issue of the unemployment benefits, but there are a series of other deadlines quickly approaching. If the president doesn't sign this into law before Tuesday, we will see a government shutdown amid a pandemic.
And then, at the end of this month, the end of the year, that eviction moratorium is scheduled to expire on December 31st. You could also see millions of Americans then at risk of eviction. So, again, there is so much at stake here.
We really cannot understate this. And the president has the power to act here, but so far, no indication from the White House or from the president as to whether he will veto this, whether he will sign it, or whether he will still wait, delaying that relief for Americans, only to see this piece of legislation eventually become law.
WALKER: Jeremy Diamond, appreciate you. Thank you very much for that.
And this just in. A video of President-elect Joe Biden arriving at his church in Wilmington, Delaware, and the president's inaction on the relief bill hasn't gone unnoticed by President-elect Joe Biden.
CNN correspondent Jessica Dean joining me now from Wilmington where Biden has been spending the holiday.
So, what is he saying about this bill? JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, he put out a statement
earlier today. Remember, he's obviously not in office, and that means that really, all he can do is implore President Trump to sign this bill and that's what he did in this statement. He called it an abdication of responsibility and said it could have what he calls devastating consequences on millions of Americans if President Trump does not sign this bill.
Let me read you a portion of exactly what he wrote this afternoon. He said, it is the day after Christmas, and millions of families don't know if they'll be able to make ends meet because of President Donald Trump's refusal to sign an economic relief bill approved by Congress with an overwhelming and bipartisan majority. President-elect Biden has called this bill a good down payment on what he hopes to achieve once he gets into office on January 20th.
Amara, we know that his number one priority is getting COVID under control, and the economy is all wrapped up in that as well. He knows that small businesses need help. He wants state and local governments to get additional funding as well. That is not in this bill. He knows that unemployment benefits need to be pumped up as well.
These are all things that President-elect Biden hopes to get through in a much bigger package once he gets into office. Of course, that's going to depend on what kind of support, what kind of bipartisan support he's going to get there on the hill.
But, Amara, again, this afternoon, President-elect Joe Biden urging President Trump to sign this bill today -- Amara.
WALKER: All right, Jessica Dean, appreciate you. Live for us there in Wilmington, Delaware.
And with me now is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell from Michigan.
Congresswoman, I first want to start with this tweet from Senator Lindsey Graham because perhaps this could give an indication as to what President Trump might do. He tweeted this on Christmas.
After spending some time with President Trump today, I'm convinced he is more determined than ever to increase stimulus payments to $2,000 per person and challenge Section 230 big tech liability protection. Both are reasonable demands, and I hope Congress is listening. The biggest winner would be the American people.
So, Congresswoman, should priority -- should the priority be to get President Trump to sign the bill with the $600 stimulus checks, or do you think you and fellow Democrats should use President Trump and Senator Graham's calls for $2,000 stimulus checks as leverage right now?
REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): We already tried to do that. On Thursday, when I was in the chair, unanimous consent agreement to give him those payments in a piece of legislation to put on that spending bill was brought up. The speaker and the majority leader agreed, but the Republican leader did not, and all three needed to agree.
We're coming back on Monday. It will come up in some form. We will vote on it in one day. I think it will pass the House.
But we need the president to agree to sign that spending bill with this -- it could be a free-standing bill if he signed it today. It all depends on him.
And he wants to help people. He wants to get them $2,000. I applaud them for that.
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But does he know the stress and the heartbreak he is causing people not knowing if anything's coming? Not knowing if they could be evicted? That's why we've got to get this bill signed.
WALKER: Yeah, there are lives in limbo right now, livelihoods as well. You know, I want to play for you, and for our viewers, actually, as you're passionate now, how passionate you were about this on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DINGELL: The president, when we finally thought that we'd be able to give people hope, that's what people need, hope, and be able to begin to continue to work on this in January, doesn't give a damn about people. He threw more fear. He threw kerosene on a terror (ph) fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: You sounded quite angry there. Why do you think now, at the 11th hour, the president is demanding $2,000 but wasn't there during the negotiations?
DINGELL: I don't know. And I'm not going to be an armchair psychologist.
You know, we tried to get this done for many months in November. We tried to get him to engage. What amount did he want? He would change the amounts.
I'm just happy he wants that $2,000 now. That's fine, but he needs to sign this bill, because people are scared. And not signing that bill has so many consequences. You've been talking about them. The government would shut down at midnight on Monday night, which would be the most irresponsible thing that could happen in the middle of a pandemic.
WALKER: Even if President Trump, let's say, Congresswoman, signs the bill this weekend, will there still be a delay or some kind of gap between when Americans will receive the unemployment benefits and stimulus checks?
DINGELL: If it expires tonight at midnight, computers are going to have to be reprogrammed throughout the country, but people would still be eligible for what is in that bill. So, there may be a delay in payments, but my understanding, because people are scared, and people are listening, that they would get the money that is authorized in that bill.
WALKER: And I have to ask you about this because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is saying that she will bring the House back in session on Monday to hold a vote on a standalone bill to increase payments to $2,000.
Do you expect more Republicans to approve that if you have President Trump and now Lindsey Graham pushing for it?
DINGELL: I've talked to many Republicans over the weekend. I know a number of them are going to support the $2,000. We'll have to see where they are by Monday. But I do believe the votes will be in the House to support that $2,000.
The next question is, Mr. President, what's Mitch McConnell going to do? Senator McConnell's very important to this.
WALKER: Let me ask you about January 6th, because that is when a joint session of Congress convenes to count, formally, the electoral votes, and it seems, according to our reporting, that President Trump is confused as to why his vice president can't overturn the results on that day.
Can you tell us a little bit about what Pence's role is supposed to be on January 6th and what you are expecting on that day?
DINGELL: That is the day that the United States Congress certifies the Electoral College vote. So, the Senate will vote and the House will vote. There could be debate on the floor if a senator objects or a Republican objects. We know that Senator McConnell has asked senators not to do that on his side. We don't know until the day occurs whether that will really be the case.
In the House, Mo Brooks has said that he will offer an objection, and we know a number of Republicans have agreed to speak for five minutes that day.
Ultimately, the votes are there. This vote will be certified. The only role Mike Pence has that day is to chair the session, the joint session, of the House and Senate and if there were to be a tie vote, which nobody expects would occur.
WALKER: So, just to be clear here, can these objections lead to any kind of delay in the incoming administration or even overturning the election results?
DINGELL: I think that it may be a very long day for those of us in the Congress on January 6th, but I do not -- having spoken to my colleagues, it is very clear the votes are there in both houses to certify the results of this election.
And it was important to allow all the votes to be counted. There's been numerous court challenges. The Supreme Court themselves turned down the cases to be heard. The people have spoken. We need to start to unite this country. We
need to come together.
That's what we did four years ago. When Donald Trump got elected president, I said in Michigan, he is president, and we've got to pull together and support him as president.
[16:15:07]
WALKER: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.
DINGELL: Thank you.
WALKER: All right, next, the latest on the Christmas morning explosion in Nashville. Investigators still piecing together the scene while police urging residents to be patient. Right after this, we'll have the latest.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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WALKER: And breaking news right now from Nashville, a city still rattled from a massive Christmas morning explosion in historic part of the city. Thankfully, nobody was killed but several people are hurt with non-life-threatening injuries in the hospital and hundreds of FBI agents and government investigators are trying to pin an identity on who is responsible.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Nashville.
And, Shimon, guess the thing most people in Nashville want to know right now is, is that area safe?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and law enforcement, the FBI here, and the police here in Nashville all saying, from everything they have done, from everything they have seen, and where their investigation stands now, that it is safe. They feel there is no threat here in downtown Nashville, and Nashville also specifically what we've learned is that they're not looking for anyone. There's no manhunt under way to try and find the person responsible for this bombing.
And law enforcement, there's over 300 federal officials here from analysts to bomb techs from the FBI to the ATF and their national response team sifting through the debris that is blocks behind me here, looking for clues, trying to put everything together.
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It is a crime scene that stretches over several blocks, and we heard the U.S. attorney here describe some of what the investigators are looking at. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD COCHRAN, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE: It's quite a challenge, having been up there and seen that scene, it's like a giant jigsaw puzzle created by a bomb that throws pieces of evidence across multiple city blocks. And they've got to gather it, they've got to catalog it, they've got to put it back together and try to find out what the picture of that puzzle looks like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PROKUPECZ: And that is supposed to go on for at least several more days, perhaps even in some cases weeks as they continue to gather that evidence. Significant in all of this, also, is that RV, the video, the photo that officials put out yesterday seeking answers, asking the public for their help in identifying that RV.
Seems to have led to some significant clues for investigators, the FBI here saying that as a result of some of those clues, they have been out searching at a home here in Nashville. They are out there, and that is as a result of some of the clues that have come in.
They say about 500 tips have come in to the FBI and the police here, and some of them are proving very helpful.
WALKER: That is good to hear. Shimon Prokupecz, hopefully to get to the bottom of that.
Stay right there. Let's get more now from Steve Moore. He is a former FBI supervisory special agent and a CNN law enforcement contributor.
Steve, so, federal investigators in Nashville sound pretty confident when they say that there's no reason to think that there's a danger of more explosions, as you just heard there from Shimon.
But help us read between the lines here. Does that confidence tell you that they likely have a good line on a suspect or even a body?
STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: What that tells me, just, you know, armchair quarterbacking here, is they think they've got this solved. Now, the reason why is, the FBI, as much as any or more than any other agency, is loath to tell people that things are safe when they can't be sure they are.
If they thought they had a mad bomber out there on the loose, unidentified, they would never say everything's safe. If they had an identified bomber that was out there that they hadn't apprehended, they certainly wouldn't tell you things are safe.
The only time is FBI is ever going to say that is, we've got it. We've figured this one out. Right now, they are doing their due diligence to make sure that all the evidence points to the same thing.
WALKER: And we just heard from that sound that Shimon played who is saying this investigation is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The officials on the ground were also saying they're going to start from the outer most perimeter of this blast and kind of move towards the middle.
Can you walk us through how they're going to start piecing this together now that they do have at least a photo of that motor home?
MOORE: Yeah, this is -- this, for the investigators, is going to be brutal. This is something that I did many times in the FBI, overseas in the U.S., and what you find is that with an explosion of this magnitude, you are going to find things a quarter mile away.
And you have to -- you can't just pick them up and say, oh, look what I found, because you have to map the type of parts you're finding and where you're finding them, because some of the parts that were closest to the bomb will be thrown the furthest and so sometimes on the outer perimeter, a quarter mile away, sometimes a half mile away, you find parts of the bomb that are crucial.
So, what you're sitting -- looking at is, think about this, you've got half mile around where you have to walk, and you'll see some pictures of them doing this, excuse me, arm to arm, foot by foot, walking as if they are just trying to, like a marching band, trying to cover every square foot, and you are reaching down and marking and tagging evidence.
And it is intricate, brutal, and it's kind of soul-crushing after a few days of this, but you continue to do it.
WALKER: It sounds like it's going to be a very, very meticulous process.
And, Shimon, to you. Are officials saying anything about a possible target or a motive, especially as we know where the RV was parked? It was right outside an AT&T transmission building.
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, that is something they're looking at, because of where the RV was parked and the damage that we saw, that we've seen on the AT&T building, they are looking to see whether or not this person was targeting the AT&T building.
But it's very early in the investigation, so they don't know yet what the motivation here is.
[16:25:04]
They're going to go back and look through this person's history and try and figure out once they feel that they've been able to learn as much as they can about this person, then perhaps they can try to put together some kind of a profile. The FBI even said they're using their analysts and agents from behavioral assistance unit to try and point -- get a picture of what kind of individual would be behind such an attack.
There are so many strange things to this bombing, you know, you have this RV and then there's this recording that's playing and warning people to evacuate, playing music, doing a countdown, basically, which ultimately brings the police there. The police were able to evacuate, thankfully, everybody to prevent my further loss of life. So, there's a lot of strange things that went on before the bombing
occurred and in the incident itself, and that is something the FBI wants to dig more into, to try and perhaps understand and learn what the motivation here was.
WALKER: Yeah, the timing and the location, all of it really interesting.
Steve, to you. Because human tissue, we are told, was found near the site of the explosion. When you couple that with officials saying there is no manhunt under way, the area is now safe, what do you make of the human tissue? Could it possibly be that of the bomber?
MOORE: Well, it certainly could. I believe they either have somebody in custody or they have proof that the person is deceased. When you get that human tissue, you're going to have DNA capabilities. You're going to put it on the fast track.
I mean, the FBI will literally take that -- take tissue samples and fly them on a jet overnight to Washington, get the results back. They're going to find out who it is. They haven't released that kind of information.
And as you said, the profilers are out there, and I think what's going to be frustrating for a lot of people is unless this guy was aligned with some kind of radical group, you may find that it was mental illness causing paranoia, causing anger, and you're going to find that somebody who would do something so horrible would do it for such small things.
So, it's so hard to figure out who he might have been mad at or whether he was mad at anybody.
WALKER: And Shimon was just mentioning this. I mean, so many peculiar details about what transpired on Christmas morning, and the fact that there was this audible warning, Steve, coming from this motor home, basically warning people to stay away, that there was going to be some kind of explosion, this happening on Christmas Day, early in the morning when virtually nobody is out and about in the streets and the businesses are mostly closed.
What do you make of that?
MOORE: Well, Shimon's absolutely right. This is one of the stranger things I've ever heard. What I make of that is that he didn't want casualties, at least civilian casualties. He made extra certain, doing it on Christmas Day means that the businesses are going to be closed. He set it to detonate before 6:00 a.m., which means he didn't expect people to be there, even if they were out jogging or something like that.
He took special pains. The behavioral sciences unit -- this could be an elaborate suicide. I mean, this to me, smacks more of the Las Vegas shooting than it does of any terrorist act. I think the FBI's going to try and figure out things right down to why he chose certain music.
This is going to, believe it or not, advance the science of behavioral science studies and aberrant behavior.
WALKER: And just quickly, before we go, Shimon, lastly to you, because we were mentioning as we were live on the air 24 hours ago, that this is a state and a city that's been through a lot of difficult times this year. I was there in Nashville in March when a tornado ripped through, it ravaged parts of downtown, and right now, Tennessee is actually seeing the highest rate of COVID-19 infections, higher than that of California, so it's the highest in the country right now.
When you talk to the people, if you had that chance, what are they telling you?
PROKUPECZ: Yeah, in many ways, the epicenter right now of COVID and it's really not getting any better here. And even in Nashville, I mean, they're seeing increases in cases that they have not seen so it's very concerning for people here, and you know, the brief interactions that I have had with people, with some of the cab drivers, it's been really tough on them.
And this specifically, I have to tell you, created an additional hardship because there's no cell service here.
[16:30:00]
Anyone who has AT&T and some of the other carriers, they don't have cell service because of the attack on the AT&T building.
And so for the cab drivers and the Uber drivers and a lot of the people who rely on mobile devices to make money, they're now hurt because of this.
So, that is an additional sort of hurt that some of these people have been feeling.
Businesses here, in many cases, clearly are not seeing the people that they would normally see in normal times.
So, a lot of people are hurting here. But the thing is, they all are resilient. And they all said they're going to come back and be better.
And that is the message here from the mayor and from police officials here is that they're going to come back and they're going to come back stronger.
WALKER: You're right. They're very resilient people as I learned when I was on the ground there after that tornado.
Steve Moore, appreciate your expertise.
And Shimon Prokupecz, for your reporting, thank you.
New numbers just in from the CDC. Nearly two million Americans have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, and nearly 10 million vaccine doses have been delivered. So, are we any close to getting back to life as normal? We'll find out after this. But first, a quick programming note. From peanut farmer to rocking the
White House, see how America's 39th president used his passion for music to win the 1976 election. CNN film "JIMMY CARTER: ROCK AND ROLL PRESIDENT" premieres Sunday, January 3rd, at 9:00 p.m., here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Breaking news this afternoon. New data from Johns Hopkins University showing that one in 1,000 Americans have died from COVID- 19, which means protection can't come soon enough for so many people.
[16:35:06]
The CDC saying nearly two million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S. so far, and nearly 10 million doses have been delivered.
Let's bring in CNN medical analyst, Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University.
Welcome to you. And good to see you again, Doctor.
So, we are in a busy holiday season. I was speaking with Atlanta International Airport and they were telling me that Sunday will be its busiest travel day. I just gave you these numbers.
What does that tell you about the pace of the COVID vaccinations in the United States?
DR. MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So every vaccine that gets in someone's arm gives us hope of getting back to normalcy, but that piece is nowhere near fast enough.
Remember, the federal government originally said that we'd have 20 million people vaccinated by the end of the year.
We've managed to get about two million vaccinated in the two weeks since we got emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine and a about a week since the Moderna vaccine was approved.
For us to reach those original projections, we'd have to vaccinate another 18 million people by the end of the year.
Our pace is nowhere near fast enough for us to stave off the wave of infections and death that are heading our way in the next month or two.
And when you think about all of this Christmas travel, that's just kind of setting fires to the kindling that was already there. I fear a far worse month ahead in January.
WALKER: The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, estimating that the U.S. needs up to, is it, 85 percent of the population to get the COVID vaccine in order to achieve that herd immunity. That's quite a high number.
I mean, what is it going to take to get that many people vaccinated, especially when we know there are a lot of anti-vaxxers out there?
RANNEY: So, there are four big things we need to do to reach that herd immunity number and that's real herd immunity, not the fake stuff that was being sold by Scott Atlas.
The first thing we need is for enough vaccines to be produced and purchased by the United States. So Pfizer and Moderna, we're counting on you.
The second thing we need is we need that vaccine to be distributed to where it's needed. It needs to be equitably distributed across the United States.
The third thing is we need the last mile logistics, to get the vaccines from those cold freezers into arms. And this is where the devil really is in the details.
We need information technology systems to track who's been vaccinated. We need those special freezers and refrigerators to store the vaccine. And of course, we need all the supplies to get those vaccines actually in arms.
Lastly, we need people to be willing to get the vaccine. Current surveys are really encouraging. They say that upwards of 70 percent of Americans are willing to get it, which is great.
And I hope it stays that way long enough for them to actually get the shot.
Because again, with only two million people having been vaccinated so far, it's going to be an awfully long time until we reach that 80 percent or 85 percent number.
WALKER: How do you think the rollout is going right now?
I ask you this because there was a "New York Times" article that interviewed nurses and doctors and other hospital workers, several hospitals in New York, and it talked about, you know, they were upset at how the vaccine was being distributed at these facilities.
That some were alleging, look, that hospital worker is less exposed or has a less risk than I do and they got the vaccine first.
Are you anecdotally hearing these kinds of frustrations as well?
RANNEY: I'm absolutely hearing that from physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists across the country.
And what that reflects, again, is that the vaccines are not being distributed as quickly as they were promised.
Physicians and nurses and other health care workers were in this for right reason, to help people. And that sort of competition is being heard because everyone wants to be protected. And everyone thought they'd have the chance to be protected sooner. I worry, as we start to distribute the vaccine to the larger public,
that if we're already seeing this type of infighting and this type of difficulties in distribution within health care, what's going to happen when we start opening it up to the general public?
(CROSSTALK)
RANNEY: We can't have this vaccine go to the people -- yes?
WALKER: Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.
But what do you think, you know, should be done? Should there be federal guidelines as to how they should be distributed? Or should it just be piecemeal as it's being done right now?
RANNEY: So, I do think there should be federal guidelines. And in fact, the CDC, ACIP, the Council on Immunization Practices, has provided guidance on who should be vaccinated first.
Unfortunately, it's then left up to the states to decide exactly how that's realized. And even within that right now, up to the individual hospitals to decide how to prioritize people.
That is rife for inequity and for the powerful to try to get ahead of the line instead of the people that actually need it.
[16:40:00]
Teachers, nurses, grocery store workers, they should be given priority over business owners or people who can easily stay home and stay protected.
We should have federal guidance, and we should have federal funding to help make that distribution happen.
WALKER: Yes, more detailed federal guidance.
Dr. Megan Ranney, I appreciate you and your expertise. Thank you very much.
Well, the U.S. continues to administer the COVID-19 vaccine, hoping to get a grip on the crippling pandemic. But the race to get Americans vaccinated may face a steeper hill in vulnerable communities. That is next.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: As of this afternoon, one in 1,000 Americans have died from coronavirus. More than 331,000 people, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, all dead less than a year after the first American died from coronavirus.
Now, with two vaccines authorized in the U.S., it is a race to administer vaccinations across the country in hopes of getting a grip on the crippling pandemic.
But that race may face a steeper hill in vulnerable communities.
CNN's Omar Jimenez takes a look at why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How long you live in this neighborhood?
ROCHELLE SYKES, LIVES IN CHICAGO'S AUSTIN NEIGHBORHOOD: All my life, 55 years. It's changed my whole life.
If they're going to roll out a vaccine and they're going to roll it out to grocery stores and pharmacies, I see a problem.
JIMENEZ: You feel just because the vaccine is available, it's not necessarily going to be accessible?
SYKES: That is correct.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Rochelle Sykes lives in the predominantly black west side Chicago neighborhood of Austin and is in a zip code that has among the highest COVID-19 death rates in the city.
And the barriers to getting a vaccine are already taking shape. Ranging anywhere from distance to pharmacies, to confidence in health care. And even personal safety, as Austin is also among the city's most violent neighborhoods.
SYKES: Is it even worth the time, OK? You hear gunshots. You know, you got to get to get in your car. They're doing carjackings. And if you don't feel safe, you don't do that.
JIMENEZ: Just down the street, Loretto Hospital was host to the city's first COVID vaccination --
(APPLAUSE)
JIMENEZ: -- and the first to set up a west side community testing site back in April, one they plan to soon turn into a community vaccination site.
DR. AFYA KHAN, DIRECTOR OF INFECTION CONTROL, LORETTO HOSPITAL: In order to stop this virus eventually, we all have to do our part and we want to make sure we involve everybody.
[16:45:01]
We are experiencing three types of pandemics and that's violence, racism, as well as COVID-19.
JIMENEZ: It's an issue leadership continues to wrestle with.
DR. ALLISON ARWADY, COMMISSIONER, CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Where any part of the city is not supported enough, it indirectly impacts the entire city. Not just that this is a -- let's make sure we treat COVID.
It's about what are the root causes that made these neighborhoods, these subgroups in Chicago, more vulnerable.
JIMENEZ (on camera): Parts of the downtown Chicago area have a life expectancy of up to 90 years old, according to an analysis out of NYU.
Then just about 10 miles down the road, near hear on Chicago's south side, the life expectancy goes down to 59.9.
That's a difference of about 30 years, which that same NYU analysis says is the largest gap in the country.
EMMA WASHINGTON, LIVES IN CHICAGO'S SOUTH SIDE: All of a sudden, this virus came and took my sister away.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Emma Washington is almost 80 years old. She lost her sister to COVID-19 in September and her brother to COVID-19 the day before Christmas Eve.
And now, she's considering what getting a vaccine is going to look like, with her pharmacy over a mile away, and no car to get her there.
WASHINGTON: I have to take one bus, and then I have to take another bus, because it was only one place around, Walgreen's, around my area.
JIMENEZ: Now, she mostly has her medication delivered.
But this isn't a new phenomenon.
One study based on data from 2000 and 2012 found over 50 percent of the city's black communities were so-called pharmacy deserts, low- income neighborhoods where pharmacies are far from the population, and people don't have regular access to vehicles, compared with just 5 percent in white communities.
ARWADY: This is not something that's going to get solved in a year, or in five years.
But how do we take the COVID conversation and turn it into the conversation that links to chronic disease and homicide and infant mortality and HIV and opioid overdose?
Those are the five main drivers of our, you know, disparate life expectancies in Chicago. And COVID has indirectly impacted all of those.
JIMENEZ: But when it comes to COVID, for Sykes, and along with those in Washington's community, the vaccine shot is about more than medicine. It's about getting a fair shot without it being a long shot.
SYKES: We are in a lifeboat and they're in a cruiser.
If you could come up with a vaccine within a year, why are we sitting in a community where there is no grocery store, with fresh fruits and vegetables? JIMENEZ: Omar Jimenez, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Millions of Americans are on the brink of facing eviction without another COVID relief deal. So, what's the president's end game as the self-proclaimed deal maker refuses to sign a bipartisan deal?
My next guest worked with the businessman-turned-president for nearly two decades. We're going to see if she has some insight into what Trump might be thinking.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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[16:51:34]
WALKER: Today, as Americans remain rattled by a Christmas day explosion in Nashville that authorities say was intentional, as the pandemic rages, and as millions of struggling Americans wonder if they'll get a stimulus check or lose their unemployment benefits or get evicted, the president's mind is elsewhere.
His electoral loss seemingly building a bigger wall between his own experience and that of the American people.
Barbara Res is joining me now. And she is the former executive vice president of the Trump Organization and author of "Tower of Lies: What My 18 Years of Working with Donald Trump Reveals about Him."
Barbara, welcome. Good to have you.
A source tells CNN --
BARBARA RES, FORMER EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, TRUMP ORGANIZATION & AUTHOR: Thank you.
WALKER: -- Trump is, quote, "very resolute" in wanting to fight the Electoral College and he still thinks it's not over.
This isn't a strategy or some long game. I mean, this is his state of mind, isn't it?
RES: You know, I'm not sure. I know that he is furious that he lost the election. There's no question about that.
So, he - he's trying to make up for that somehow.
And I'm sorry, but I -- unfortunately, there's a problem with --
WALKER: There's a problem with the audio. Yes, we're going to try to reconnect that and try to get you back. This is an important conversation, Barbara Res.
But we're going to leave it there for now and take a short break and we'll be back after this.
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[16:56:51]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
WALKER: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Amara Walker, in for Ana Cabrera.
Brand-new information, breaking news right now from the massive and urgent investigation going on in Nashville.
That is where an enormous explosion shook the city at dawn on Christmas morning. An explosion that local and federal officials are convinced was no accident.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is in Nashville right now.
And you have just learned some new information.
PROKUPECZ: That's right, Amara. And the new information is that investigators now believe that this was a suicide bombing.
They believe that the person who constructed this bomb, who blew this bomb up, died in that explosion. And so as a result, investigators now believe that this was a suicide bombing.
They have worked throughout the night, throughout the day to piece a lot of this together.
As we know, they have found some human remains or human tissues, as some have described, and they're working to get that identified through DNA.
But they have other information that they have not shared with us, with both me and my colleague, Evan Perez, who have been working this story.
And according to our sources, at this point, investigators believe that this was a suicide bombing. They're still gathering a lot of information.
Most importantly for them, at this point, because there's no threat, as we've been reporting, there's no manhunt, they're not looking for anyone in connection to this bombing.
Now what they're working on is gathering all of the evidence, figuring out what kind of explosives were used in this bombing.
And then most importantly, probably, is now the motive. What happened here? Why did this individual decide to essentially blow themselves up and cause so much damage here in downtown Nashville?
The FBI, the ATF, all working this case. And they're trying to really just now try to sort out exactly what would cause someone to do this. WALKER: That is also obviously a big part of the jigsaw puzzle the
U.S. attorney has been talking about, Shimon.
The officials, at the last news conference a few hours ago, Shimon, they talked about the -- a possible target, because this motor home was parked outside an AT&T transmission building, correct?
PROKUPECZ: Right. And that is something that they're looking at. They don't know for certain.
Certainly, there's not anything that's standing out to them, at least to the people that we've talked to that says, aha, this is the reason why, perhaps, this person did this.
They're still working through many of the details, working through this person's history to try and figure out exactly what would have prompted this incident.
So while they believe one theory perhaps could be that this person was targeting the AT&T building, which serves as a, really, a major hub here in Nashville, and other parts in surrounding cities.
[16:59:59]
Cell phone service, AT&T cell phone service and landline service has all been knocked out for more than 24 hours as a result of this. Also, 911 communications were affected.
