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Trump Signs COVID-19 Relief and Government Funding Bill; Democrats Warnock and Ossoff Raise $100 Million+ Each for Runoffs in Georgia; Authorities Identify Nashville Bomber as Anthony Warner; Fauci Says U.S. Could See Post-Holiday Surge in Cases; Chines Journalist Sentenced to 4 Years in Jail; Israel Ramps Up Vaccinations as Third Lockdown Begins. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 28, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. President Donald Trump finally signs the coronavirus stimulus bill after millions of Americans were due to lose their unemployment aid.

Authorities identify the men they say blew up an RV in Nashville on Christmas day after finding his DNA at the scene.

And 19 million U.S. coronavirus cases and rising. Now, Dr. Anthony Fauci warns a post-holiday surge could be on its way.

Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.

After nearly a week of drama and uncertainty, U.S. President Donald Trump has finally signed the massive coronavirus relief and government funding bill into law. This comes after Mr. Trump initially refused to sign the deal, throwing many into financial limbo and sparking fears of a government shutdown. Now the $900 billion relief package is set to deliver desperately needed funds to small businesses and millions of struggling Americans.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has been traveling with the president and has the details from West Palm Beach, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, five days after President Trump threw billions of dollars of desperately needed coronavirus relief into limbo by suggesting he might not sign a massive piece of legislation passed by Congress, the president has now signed that legislation. The president signing that 2.3 trillion dollar spending bill that includes 900 billion dollars in coronavirus relief on Sunday night here in South Florida.

The president, though, only signing this legislation after unemployment benefits for more than 12 million Americans lapsed on Saturday night after the president didn't sign the legislation then. And the president's signature also comes after he threw millions of Americans into financial uncertainty by delaying signing this piece of legislation. Those Americans who were counting on their 600 dollar stimulus checks to soon be arriving, they will now have to wait longer for those stimulus checks.

And then, of course, there are the millions of businesses that were counting on additional PPP funds to come through. Now, they will be coming through but only after a period of five days of uncertainty here.

The president, in explaining why he finally signed this legislation, he says this in a statement released by the White House.

Quote -- I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, and money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work, add substantially more money for vaccine distribution and much more.

The senate, he says -- will start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeals section 230 and starts an investigation into voter fraud.

Now those last two items, it's really not clear what the president is talking about because there isn't stand-alone specific legislation to accomplish those goals.

But there is a piece of legislation being advanced by House Democrats on Monday that would increase those $600 stimulus checks to $2,000 in accordance with the president's demand. And it appears that the president has now secured a commitment from the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, to bring that legislation to the floor.

Whether it actually passes, though, is another matter given that a number of Republicans remain opposed to $2,000 stimulus checks. But, regardless, this only comes because the president had checked out of governing after the election, for weeks after the election, as these negotiations were underway. And it was only after congress passed this legislation with overwhelming bipartisan majorities. And we should say, with the endorsement of the Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who was negotiating on the president's behalf -- it was only after that legislation passed that the president began to raise his objections.

And so all the president accomplished was sinking more Americans into financial uncertainty at a time when we have 20 plus million Americans unemployed. And all of this, of course, during the holiday season.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Congressional leaders celebrated the fact that the legislation was signed. Republican Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a tweet that read in part -- I applaud the president's decision to get billions of dollars in crucial relief into the hands of American families.

[04:05:00]

And while applauding the signature, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for quote, further action to help Americans struggling to stay afloat. She says the House will again consider legislation upping direct payments to $2,000. Meanwhile Representative Adam Smith says this is all standard Trump behavior.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): The president has finally decided to do that is good news. And it points out that his limitations as president. He really doesn't pay much attention of the details of the legislation that he's working on or to the impact that it has on people or he would have signed this in the first place. Because as you noted, this is the deal that his White House negotiated. So I'm glad he's signing it because it's going to help a lot of people. But it does point out the frustration that his approach to the presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

All right, joining us now to help break down all the details is our John Defterios. So John, tell us a bit more about what's in the bill and more importantly what can folks expect to get the money?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Yes, you asked a key point there, Kim, but let's cover the anxiety everybody had to go through over the last, what, seven days since this bill was passed by the Senate Republicans and the House Democrats and also keeping global markets on edge. There's some relief. And we can get to that in just a moment.

It is surprising because it was Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that was sitting at the bargaining table since they started the last round of negotiations over the last four months. It was really a tumultuous period of time of course that made it very difficult.

What's in the packages is key here. 12 to 14 million Americans that needed to have their jobless benefits extended will have them through March 20th. This also avoids a shutdown of the government which is crucial and often overlooked. That was going to start on Tuesday. And there's also a moratorium to block evictions on renters who cannot make the rent payments. That's only extended to January. You also talked about additional support to small business.

When will people get the payments, Kim, you were asking, $600. The U.S. Treasury Department suggesting we could see that within the next couple of weeks. That was the case in March as well. Nearly half of the working population did get their paychecks in the first two months. They're trying to speed that along. If you're registered with the Internal Revenue Service. That is a caveat. Of course many of those getting the checks are homeless. They don't have a permanent address. Some don't even have to pay taxes because they don't meet the threshold. Trying to find them and have a snail mail check set out for them will cause some delay. I've talk about the global markets here. We have some relief with the

markets pressing records before the Christmas holiday. They're up about a half percent or just below that. But that's pretty positive. Most of that was priced into the market.

The wild card here of course is what the House Democrats do if they do pass the legislation, to boost the stimulus checks from 600 to $2,000. That will put pressure on the Senate Republicans. It's something that the president does support as well. And one would say he's even trying to punish Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans because they didn't support, Kim, as you know, an investigation into voter fraud. Pretty nasty politics from the president even though he's outside of Washington as we speak.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's the theory. All right, thank you so much, John Defterios, appreciate it.

All right. To discuss this, I want to bring in Thomas Gift, the director of the UCL Center on U.S. politics. Thanks for coming in. Nice to see you again.

I just want to get your reaction to the chain of events that ended last night. What, if anything, has the president accomplished in all of this beyond sowing chaos?

THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, UCL CENTRE ON U.S. POLITICS: Well, Kim, President Trump's likes to sow confusion and he does thrive on chaos. So, taking the country to the brink with the spending bill is very consistent with how he has governed throughout his administration. It's possible that the president had every intention of signing the bill, but he just wanted the satisfaction of forcing congressional Democrats and Republicans to peer over the precipice for a while.

I think this was all about Trump not wanting to lose the spotlight, about political retribution, and about proving his continued relevance. Basically, Trump waited until the 11th hour to sign this bill because he could, and the fact that the benefits that many Americans needed hung in the balance and that the government shutdown was looming didn't much matter to Trump so long as he could capture the news cycle.

BRUNHUBER: So then back to what Nancy Pelosi was saying there, on Monday the House will vote on the expansion of the direct payments and presumably pass it since Democrats control the House. But how big of a nightmare is this for Senate Republicans?

GIFT: Well, I really think that this proposal is going to be dead on arrival. Trump does continue to push for separate legislation that would increase the size of the direct checks to Americans from $600 to $2,000 as you suggest that Democrats in the House want to support that.

[04:10:00]

But Republicans in the Senate have shown no interest in capitulating to that demand, so I think it's largely political theater at this point. It might look, Republicans look obstructionist but, you know, they have been saying from the very outset that they're not willing to go over that $1 trillion mark and they're not willing to entertain any proposals that would see direct checks to Americans over this $600 figure.

BRUNHUBER: And so, they are willing to further cross the president and all of that, you know, puts Georgia Republicans Senators Loeffler and Purdue in a tough spot having supported the bill which the president then turned around and called a disgrace. You know, presumably all is well with them now because the president says he's going to come here to Georgia for a rally on the eve of that vital dual runoff which will determine control of the Senate.

And I want to talk about the amount of money here. One of the candidates Democrat Jon Ossoff has become the best funded Senate candidate of all time. In total they're setting fundraising records. So, what role do you think money will play in determining these races here?

GIFT: Well I think it's natural that so much money is flowing into this race on both sides, partly because it's becoming a national contest. There's just so much at stake here. Now if you look at what the research says on money and politics there's a lot of disagreement as to whether funding money actually helps candidates win or those candidates that are already looking like they are going to win are more likely to attract funding.

So, I think ultimately, the money helps on the margins. Certainly, it's good to have a robust fundraising base because I think it does reflect the fact that there is lot of enthusiasm. But at the same time, I think ultimately this will just be about galvanizing the base ensuring that core supporters both on the political left for Democrats and on the political right for Republicans show out -- show up.

Certainly, what we know is that this is going to be lower turnout than the November 3rd presidential election, that means that on the Democratic side the voting bloc is going to be more progressive and more conservative on the Republican side. So ultimately, I think this is just about getting the key demographics out.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. We don't have much time left but I did want to ask you about President Trump's decision to pardon those four Blackwater private security contractors convicted of a massacre in Baghdad. In 2019, you co-wrote a piece following the pardons of soldiers around this time last year. So, it's a long and interesting piece, we don't have time to get into it now, but if you can just explain quickly sort of what these types of pardons might have on the military and the military culture.

GIFT: That's a really good question. As you suggested, back in 2019, right around November 15th, Donald Trump pardoned or granted clemency to several U.S. service members who were either convicted or accused of committing war crimes.

There is big concern within the military that these decisions essentially granting reprieves for individuals who have committed these atrocities in war could ultimately lead to a situation where it's more difficult to enforce the norms of civilian protectionism. It makes it more difficult that the United States military is going to abide by international humanitarian law.

So, it's a big issue. And certainly, the fact that Donald Trump has pardoned these Blackwater operatives could potentially even pardon additional U.S. service members before he leaves office, I think is a big worry for many both within and outside the military.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's an interesting piece of people in the issue I suggest you look it up. Thomas Gift, thank you very much for joining us. I appreciate it.

GIFT: I appreciate it, Kim, thanks.

BRUNHUBER: Authorities investigating the Christmas day bombing in Nashville, Tennessee, have released new images of the explosion and named a culprit but have yet to determine a motive. Using DNA evidence and the RV registration number, authorities have identified the bomber as 63-year-old Anthony Warner. They believe he carried out the crime alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD COCHRAN, U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE: Based on the evidence that we have gathered at this point, we've come to the conclusion that an individual named Anthony Warner is the bomber. That he was present when the bomb went off and that he perished in the bombing. We based this conclusion on forensic evidence including DNA evidence that you'll hear about as well as evidence that was gathered at the scene of the bombing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Police released this video on Sunday. It shows the street just before and after the RV bomb went off, along with the blast that injured three and damaged dozens of buildings. Authorities say the song "Downtown" blared from the RV just before the detonation. An officer who worked to evacuate residents described those terrifying moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:15:00]

OFC. JAMES WELLS, METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: As I turned around, for me it felt like I only took three steps, and then the music stopped and as I'm walking back toward what's happening now, I just see orange, and then I hear a loud boom, and as I'm stumbling -- because it rocked me that hard -- I started stumbling, I just told myself to stay on your feet, stay alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Investigators are still pouring over Warner's home in Antioch, just outside Nashville. They're still trying to work out why he did it and haven't connected the bombing to terrorism. A longtime neighbor of Warner's called him a hermit. Adding an RV had been seen his property for years.

It only took less than a week for the U.S. to add another million new coronavirus cases. Now more than 19 million Americans are known to have been infected and Dr. Anthony Fauci warns the darkest days may still be ahead.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. surpassed 19 million known cases of the coronavirus over the weekend. That's according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has the most cases in the world by far, almost double that of the country with the second most, which is India. Vaccinations are entering their third week.

[04:20:00]

The latest figures show nearly 2 million Americans have already received their first dose, and while there are lags in reporting, it looks like the U.S. will fall short of its original goal to inoculate 20 million people by the end of the year.

Hospitalizations at near record levels, more than 118,000 people spent Sunday in the hospital with the virus according to the COVID Tracking Project. It's the 26th straight day with over 100,000 patients currently hospitalized.

Vaccines are offering some hope of a light at the end of the tunnel, but experts are warning the worst may still be to come. In large part due to behavior during the holidays. Here's how the country's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci puts it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We're really at a very critical point. If you put more pressure on the system by what might be a post-seasonal surge because of the traveling and the likely congregating of people for, you know, the good warm purposes of being together for the holidays, it's very tough for people to not do that. And yet even though we advise not to, it's going to happen. So, I share the concern of President-elect Biden, that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Dr. Anthony Fauci said he expects the vaccine rollout to gain momentum in the coming weeks. But it will be several months until they're available to most people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: Once you get there, what I call open season, namely when anybody who's anybody, you don't have to be a priority person should get vaccinated. I think we're going to get there end of March, beginning of April. So if we start vaccinating the general population in April, from a pure logistics standpoint, it's probably going to take several months to get those people vaccinated that would get us to the 70 to 85 percent group. I think that's going to probably be by the middle to the end of the summer so that I hope, I hope that by the time we get to the fall, we will reach that critical percentage of people that we could really start thinking about a return to some form of normality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Chinese authorities have quickly tested millions of people in the port city of Dalian. That's after a new cluster of COVID-19 cases were reported mid-December. The city's officials say they've finished mass testing of nearly 6.4 million residents.

An independent Chinese journalist has been sentenced to four years in jail over her reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Zhang Zhan traveled there in February to report on the pandemic and efforts to contain it just as authorities began reigning in state run and private media from reporting on it. Our Selina Wang joins me now live. Selina, what's the latest?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, this independent Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan was found guilty of, quote, picking quarrels and provoking trouble. This is a broad offense that's commonly used to target both journalists and human rights activists in China. We have video here that you can see a heavy police presence outside of the Shanghai court where she was sentenced to four years in prison.

She is a former lawyer who had traveled to Wuhan in February to report on the coronavirus. She had for months been documenting what life was like there, what it was like under lock down for residents under harsh conditions. She had video footage of overflowing hospitals, of shops completely empty. And according to her lawyers, she began a hunger strike in June, and she is now being force fed via a nasal tube amid growing concerns about her health.

Now Zhang Zhan is the first citizen journalist that we know of to be sentenced for her role in reporting on the pandemic, but we do know of a number of citizen journalists who have disappeared and who had been detained for their reporting in Wuhan. This also comes in tandem as China has been clamping down on reporting on the pandemic and as state media has also been aggressively pushing the narrative that Beijing was both timely and effective in its COVID-19 response.

Kim, I do want to bring up this quote from a Hong Kong based group called Chinese Human Rights Defenders that puts the situation this way, quote, under the guise of fighting the novel coronavirus, authorities in China have escalated suppression online by blocking independent reporting, information sharing, and critical comments on government responses.

Now, according to Reporters Without Borders, China is the biggest jailer of journalists around the world. It tightly controls information at home, and most foreign media is blocked via the great fire wall -- Kim. BRUNHUBER: All right, thank you so much, Selina Wang, in Tokyo.

Israel is ramping up vaccinations as the country enters its third national lock down. Officials say they hope the third lock down will be the last. Israel's Prime Minister wants to double the rate of vaccinations by next week.

[04:25:00]

So for more on this, let's bring in Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv. Elliot those new restrictions, are they a little easier to bear knowing that the vaccine is being rolled out as we speak?

ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Kim, I think it depends on your perspective. If you're a small business owner, for example, being forced to close once more and potentially due to run out of money in the next few weeks, then knowing that things will get back to normal over the next few week or months, maybe a scant consolation.

But certainly, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the government has been trying to drum up a large dose of optimism regarding the vaccine and the vaccine campaign. Another 100,000 Israelis were vaccinated yesterday, bringing the total to almost 400,000. And according to one report, Israel now leads the world in terms of vaccinations per capita, something Prime Minister Netanyahu was of course quite happy to tweet out from his account on Sunday.

In practical terms, you know, we were here yesterday, you would have seen lots of people around here. They were getting their last minute shopping in before shops were forced to close due to the lockdown. Well, the shops are closed now, and it's pretty much deserted. Although one of the exemptions for straying further than one kilometer from your home, is if you're doing exercise. There are plenty of people running through here or walking their dogs, which is also allowed or biking through here.

So there is a lockdown. It's not as onerous as previous lockdowns. And one particularly interesting thing that happened after we spoke yesterday, Kim, was that the education committee in Parliament overturned the government decision regarding the education system that grades 5 to 10 would have to go back to home schooling. They overturned that. So now the schools are open for everyone. That decision was called retched by the health minister who says it will inevitably prolong the lockdown -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Very interesting and that's a debate we're having in this country and many countries as well. Thank you so much, Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv, appreciate it.

Coronavirus cases are spiraling out of control in California. How hospitals there are stretched so thin, they may have to ration patient care. Stay with us.

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