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Biden Accuses Trump Appointees of Obstructing Transition; Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) Support Trump's Push for $2,000 Stimulus Checks; Documents Show Columbus Officer Who Fatally Shot Andrew Hill Shouted About Gun before Firing. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired December 29, 2020 - 11:30   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEWSROOM: Joe Biden is slamming Trump political appointees for obstructing the transition of power as the president- elect prepares to begin his administration in just over three weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We have encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget. Right now, we just aren't getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, BIDEN went on to say that one of his concerns is the need for a clear picture of the U.S. defense posture around the world as he is preparing to become commander in chief.

Joining me is CNN Pentagon Reporter Ryan Browne. We also have CNN National Security Analyst Samantha Vinograd with us.

I mean, this seems, as the vice president-elect, Ryan, is describing it, a reasonable posture he would like to enter the White House as having. S what is the DOD saying about this right now?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: Well, the Pentagon is pushing back strongly on President-elect Biden's criticism, saying they have presented a lot of briefing material to the incoming transition team, saying that they have conducted some 164 interviews, provided 5,000 pages of documents. But the Pentagon does acknowledge it has taken a break from some of those interviews, something it referred to as a holiday pause, initially saying the Biden team had agreed to such a pause, but the Biden team pushing back, saying they never agreed to that.

Pentagon is saying additional interviews are scheduled to begin on January 4th and that they're scheduling those now, and that other transition work and communications between the two sides continue. But, clearly, the Biden camp not happy with how the transition is playing out with regards to the Department of Defense so far.

KEILAR: I mean, Sam, help us understand this, because I do not personally understand a break this long for the holidays when you're talking about a transition into -- look, there just really aren't holidays as they normally would exist when you are transitioning to a new administration. This seems very reasonable that these things would continue. What are your concerns here?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Brianna, Christmas break is not on the transition calendar. I mean, look, it is clear that Trump has an ax to grind with Joe Biden because Biden won the election. We're seeing that play out during the transition process. And while Trump and his political appointees may think that they're hurting Joe Biden, they're actually hurting all of us.

The transition process is governed by body of legislation dating back to 1963. That legislation is grounded in the assessment that any disruption occasioned by the transferring executive power could lead to results that are detrimental to the safety and well-being of the United States and its people.

[11:35:10]

That is why there is a fulsome transition process that is required by law. Part of the transition process is ensuring that transition team personnel, known as agency review teams, are able to go into federal agencies and departments to understand the operations of that agency and learn about policy operations and budget.

We know the Biden transition got off to a late start because of the delayed ascertainment by the General Services Administration. Now, we're hearing that even with ascertainment, the federal government is not fully participating in the transition process. That creates a lot of national security risk particularly because we're in the middle of a pandemic and an ongoing cyber attack.

So Trump may think that he's hurting Joe Biden but he's hurting all of us.

KEILAR: So, to that point, Ryan, the cyber attacks. So, right now, Russia, we learned actually this happened a while ago, but it's ongoing, that Russia believed to have launched this massive cyber attack. And this is something that is going to be continuing. And a response will be necessary by the Biden -- the incoming Biden administration. I mean, this is sort of a big project to be handed off from one administration to another.

BROWNE: Well, that's absolutely correct. And I think one of the few meetings that is taking place during this kind of break, we're being told, will focus on cyber security, it's one of the few meetings occurring between the Biden side and the Pentagon team.

The Pentagon is saying, look, the cyber issue is a big issue, it's a broader issue, it's across government. There's kind of a little bit of finger pointing in terms of who is responsible for briefing the Biden team on issues like cyber security.

But it's just one of many critical issues, like you said, that the Biden team will have to inherit coming in and they feel right now at this point in time that they have not been adequately prepared with regards information. Pentagon pushing back on that, saying that they're giving the information they can.

Still unexplained is dismissed communication about taking this break, this pause, why the Biden camp seemed not to be aware this break had happened while Pentagon is saying it was happening. So they still need to kind of work that out. It's unclear why they're having such a difficult issue.

The Biden team saying that they're not encountering similar issues with other Trump administration government agencies, it's simply -- it's really the Pentagon that seems to be at the center of all this.

KEILAR: And like -- I mean, Sam, is there anything more important? And I wonder to you, I have covered a number of transitions, I have never heard of something like this happening and we're talking about the Defense Department. This is arguably the most important part where there needs to be some cooperation here.

One of the most amazing things normally about America and in transition is that you see the hand off pretty smoothly and very graciously normally, even between Democrats and Republicans. This, to me, I wonder how you are characterizing this compared to other things you've seen.

VINOGRAD: Well, President-elect Joe Biden called this irresponsible. I'll go a step further, Brianna. Trump's actions are flat out unpatriotic. This transition process was going to be historically complex because of the unprecedented number of crises we're facing and the operational constraints imposed by COVID-19. Now, what we're seeing is President Trump knowingly hamstring Biden's team.

And, look, this message is sent from the top. During the 2000 election, when there were contested results, there were delays but never have we seen an outgoing administration knowingly throw down roadblocks and knowingly endanger the American people. They should be giving the Biden team more information and not less.

KEILAR: Yes. Ryan Browne, Sam Vinograd, thank you so much to both of you and a Happy New Year. I don't think I'll see you before the end of 2020. Nice to see you both.

VINOGRAD: Happy New Year.

KEILAR: And still ahead, how the fate of the coronavirus relief package and the sweeping defense bill could have a big impact on the Georgia Senate runoff elections.

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KEILAR: Election Day in Georgia is just one week away and President Trump's 11th hour call for higher stimulus checks is putting pressure on Republican Incumbent Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue ahead of their runoff elections.

After the House voted to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 following the president's push, all eyes are now on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today to see if he brings this to the floor. Both Loeffler and Perdue weighed in this morning, voicing their support for the increased amount in the check.

Joining me now is Greg Bluestein. He is a Political Reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Greg, thank you so much for coming back on here helping us understand everything Georgia that is going on.

So, we know from your reporting that Senator Perdue has dodged question about this measure repeatedly. So what's behind his sudden support and what impact could this have on the race?

GREG BLUESTEIN, POLITICAL REPORTER, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, he has dodged questions throughout the last week even after cutting an ad that touts his support for the initial $600 stimulus checks. I think now that Senator Loeffler has also come out on the record saying she supports the increase to $2,000 increase, to $2,000 checks, and Senator Perdue had a little bit more clearance and more leeway to voice his own support. They feel like this is a winning issue for them and it deprives Democrats of a really salient attack this last week.

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KEILAR: So, I want to read this Wall Street Journal editorial headline that is out today. It says, Trump gives Schumer an assist. The president writes a $2,000 check to make Democrats the majority.

I mean, what do you think about that? How is this playing in Georgia, and might this actually affect the election?

BLUESTEIN: Yes. This has become a centerpiece of the Democratic argument in the final stretch of this -- these runoff races. And every campaign stop, Reverend Raphael Warnock and Democrat Jon Ossoff, have both been saying that if you elect -- if voters elect a Democratic- controlled Senate, voters would get $2,000 stimulus checks.

So they have been putting pressure on Republicans and really trying to drive a wedge between the two senators and Donald Trump, their most important supporter, who's coming to Georgia in about six days, putting the Republicans in a real big bind before they finally broke their silence today.

KEILAR: The House just voted to override President Trump's veto of the defense bill, this huge defense funding bill, and that also puts Senate Republicans in a tough spot. There is funding for the nine military installations that are in Georgia in this bill as well a pay bump for U.S. troops. And both Perdue and Loeffler put out statements of support for the bill initially, bragging about the fact that these funds have been secured for Georgia. So, now, if they defend the bill, they risk alienating the president.

Give us a sense of how this playing for them ahead of this election.

BLUESTEIN: Yes. On top of all of that, there's hundreds of thousands of military veterans here in Georgia who they have been trying to earn their support, to come back out and vote again on January 5th. Another bind for the Republicans, because they are wary of doing anything at all to put distance between them and President Trump, especially as he's been railing against Republican leaders who defied his call to overturn Georgia's election results.

Again, he's coming back here on Monday to rally Republican voters. Republicans still have a lot of votes out there. Democrats are more aggressive in early voting by mail and in-person, but Republicans, so far, judging by the early voting numbers, so republicans relying on a huge January 5th turnout. That's why the two Republican Senate candidates feel like they cannot alienate President Trump, whatsoever.

KEILAR: These races, these elections in Georgia are going to be so key to what a Biden presidency is going to look like. Early voting began two weeks ago, there's more than 2.3 million Georgians who have already cast their ballots. Do you have a sense of the state of the race there?

BLUESTEIN: It's so close. Polling is really tough in race like this because the electorate is so hard to define. Already, we have set runoff electorate records, 2.3 million-plus people, as you've mentioned. It's looking like 3 million will be maybe the floor, we could get closer to 3.5 million overall turnout.

Polls have shown a very, very close race. Some polls have shown Democrats with an edge. But if you talk to the campaigns and operatives around these races, they all think it's basically a coin flip right now.

KEILAR: Wow. All right, it's going to be a nail-biter here and, Greg, you are in the middle of it and we appreciate you joining us, Greg Bluestein with the AJC.

BLUESTEIN: Thank you.

KEILAR: Coming up, police reveal some new details about the final moments before an unarmed black man was shot and killed by an Ohio police officer. We're going to tell you what the officer supposedly shouted just moments before he opened fire.

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KEILAR: We are following new developments in the shooting of an unarmed black man in Columbus, Ohio, and we're getting more details from a statement that was given by the partner of the officer who shot and killed Andre Hill.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is following this for us. Brynn, tell us what's in this new statement.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna. It was a week ago that 47-year-old Andre Hill was killed by the Columbus Police Department Adam Coy. And CNN obtained interviews that happened shortly after this shooting by the Columbus Police Department. And these are all part of an internal police investigation that happened.

In those interviews, we learned from the partner of Adam Coy, the police officer, that she says he said that Hill had a gun. Hill had a gun before firing those deadly shots. We've also learned from a separate lieutenant that arrived there at the scene of that shooting that he said that officer coy was acting differently, that he was doing actions that sort raised alarms in his head.

Now, let's back up just a little bit to reiterate to viewers that this happened a week ago. Police were responding in Columbus, Ohio to a non-emergency disturbance call. Shortly after they arrived on scene, deadly shots were fired against Andre Hill. And it was determined that Hill was not carrying a gun.

Again, those interviews part of an internal investigation done by Columbus Police Department that resulted just yesterday in the firing of Adam Coy. And I want you to know that the family of Andre Hill says they want more. They want criminal charges to be filed, and that is certainly a possibility as the state is now investigating this case and those internal interviews, Brianna, are all now part of the state investigation.

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So, this, of course, is a story we will stay on top of. That's the very latest. Brianna?

KEILAR: That is an incredibly troubling detail that we're learning there.

And so what happens next? What happens next here, Brynn?

GINGRAS: Yes. So, what happens next is this internal investigation, again, this resulted in the firing. But now, we're going to what happens when the state investigates. When this goes to a grand jury, will criminal charges be filed? Of course, this family now represented by Benjamin Crump, they want more body camera footage to be released, they want more information about this case released to the public so that this case can move forward in the legal system, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, there are many questions still here. Brynn Gingras covering this for us, thank you.

Coming up, right now, all eyes are on the Senate. Will Republicans stand with the president on two critical votes, including $2,000 relief checks? We're going to take you live to Capitol Hill, next.

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