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Interview with Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA); Military to Deploy to California; Biden Transition Team Plans Changes. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 29, 2020 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: January will likely be worse than December, he says. A reminder, we have already lost more people this month than during any other month of the pandemic.

Dr. Fauci says a once-size-fits-all approach to this nation's kids won't work, but that his default position is to keep schools open. On the pace of vaccinations, quote, "We are below where we want to be," Fauci says, and he only hopes but cannot guarantee that the U.S. can catch up.

More on the health challenges, ahead. But first, let's get to all of the politics here, starting with CNN's congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly on Capitol Hill -- Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, the first effort by Senate Democrats to try and pass what their counterparts in the House were able to approve last night, that expansion from $600 to $2,000 for those stimulus checks. It has failed, it has been blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Now, this first effort was a long-shot effort to begin with, it was by unanimous request, every single senator would have had to sign off in order to pass the bill. But it also underscores that there are some very complicated dynamics going on in the United States Senate right now.

And McConnell made clear on the floor in his opening remarks today that those stimulus checks that increased to $2,000 was part of several issues that President Trump wanted in order to sign off on that COVID relief package. And McConnell made clear that later in the week, as he said it, the process would begin on linking those three issues together and see how the Senate can deal with them.

He did not commit to a vote, he certainly did not commit to a vote on the House-passed legislation that more than 40 Republicans voted for, and that leaves Democrats very concerned, very questionable in terms of what's actually going to happen next.

The wild card here, Brooke -- and I think this is the thing that everybody needs to pay attention to -- are the two Georgia Republican senators. Obviously they have a runoff one week from today that will likely determine the control of the United States Senate, and both of those senators -- David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler -- came out in favor of $2,000 stimulus checks today.

Where does that put the majority leader, Mitch McConnell? Where does that put his party? Where does that put the rank-and-file of the Republicans in the Senate conference? Because keep in mind, just a couple of months ago, the vast majority of the 53 Republicans in the Senate conference -- now down to 52 -- were completely opposed to any checks. Now, you've got five, five Republicans who are in full support of the United States Senate of $2,000.

However, Democrats need 12 and they need Mitch McConnell to put that on the floor. Whether that's going to happen? Well, right now, everybody's (ph) pretty suspect. We'll have to wait and see -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Phil Mattingly, thank you so much.

Let's go now to CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, she is in West Palm Beach, Florida. Kaitlan, the president making his thoughts on, well, pretty much everything rather obvious in this morning's tweetfest. What has he said?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he has. And one person he's going after without naming is Mitch McConnell, and certainly the fact that McConnell came to the Senate floor, as Phil just laid out there, and did not promise a vote on these $2,000 stimulus checks that the president is now demanding, is not going to make things any better, I don't think, for their relationship.

And so the question is whether this is actually gaining enough traction within the Republican Party that it's going to force Mitch McConnell's hand here and he's actually going to have to do something about this. Because when the president first rolled out this demand for these $2,000 checks, this is something that caught his own party by surprise, his own officials who have been negotiating this on Capitol Hill.

So it's really unclear where it's going to end up, btu the president who has not made remarks on-camera in several days, Brooke, has been lashing out at McConnell on Twitter, going after Republican leadership as weak and really attacking them just from all over.

BALDWIN: Do you have any sense on what the president might do? And you know, as we know, his target on Twitter is Mitch McConnell. Any expectation that he actually reaches out to the majority leader?

COLLINS: Sometimes he just makes his thoughts known on Twitter, Brooke, and he doesn't often reach out to them directly. But we have been told there have been conversations happening between the White House and the majority leader's office, so where that ends up is still unclear right now.

BALDWIN: OK. Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much.

Let's go now to White House reporter Kate Bennett. Because as we stay here talking about President Trump, I know you have some new reporting about what life has been like within the walls of Mar-a-Lago for the president and first lady. What have you learned? KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Brooke, apparently as

soon as they arrived down in Florida, the president saw some of the renovations that have been ongoing for the past several weeks to accommodate their -- what should be their full-time life there after the White House, and he didn't particularly care for them. According to sources, he was displeased with some of the aesthetics of these new renovations and voiced that concern.

Sources say he's been moody, he's been isolating. Obviously we've seen him playing golf, as Kaitlan has said. It's been this sort of back- and-forth up-and-down, is-he-or-isn't-he. Staff doesn't even know what exactly he's going to be doing from day to day. So certainly it's a very moody time. One source told me the vibe feels very different this year at Mar-a-Lago for Christmas.

[14:05:09]

BALDWIN: Renovations, members of his own party? Lots of targets. Kate Bennett, thank you, thank you very much.

And we will continue on after this quick commercial break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We are back, you're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin, thank you for being here.

Democrats this afternoon are painting this debate over the $2,000 stimulus checks as in moral terms, as a choice between pinching pennies and letting families go hungry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Leaders of our country, President Trump, President-elect Biden, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, are all in agreement: We have got to raise that direct payment to $2,000.

[14:10:17]

SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): Why can't we keep working families from starving even as we stand ready to approve a massive defense bill?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was Senator Ed Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts. And here is Senator Ed Markey. Senator Markey, a pleasure, sir, welcome.

MARKEY: Thank you, thanks for having me on.

BALDWIN: We were listening to you, and of course Senator Bernie Sanders, you're pushing for a vote on increasing the direct checks to Americans to, you know, $2,000. Senator Sanders saying, you know, no New Year's break for senators without a vote. So what's your plan? MARKEY: Well, our plan is to, one, just say no vote on the defense

budget. That's what the Republicans want, that's what many Democrats want. But what Senator Sanders and I are saying is, no vote on the defense bill until we have a vote on providing a $2,000 check to Americans, those who make under $70,000 a year, those most impacted by the coronavirus.

So we're just saying we need to deal with this unemployment crisis, this housing crisis, the hunger crisis, the crisis of faith in our country right now, and we need to give people the honest hope that they can actually have faith in their elected officials. Donald Trump now says he supports a $2,000 check, the House of Representatives has now voted for it with 44 Republicans supporting it.

So all we're saying is, let's have a yes-or-no vote, an up-or-down vote. Bring it out onto the floor of the Senate before new Year's Eve so that we can give real help to families who need it, who are desperate during this holiday season. Especially with Dr. Fauci saying that the worst of the pandemic is not behind us, but it is ahead of us. So let's get ahead of the problem and put this cash in the pockets of those who need it the most.

BALDWIN: When we were all sitting, watching the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, a little while ago on the floor, you know, we were waiting for some clarity or a sign on how he may go on the $2,000 checks. You know, we didn't get a whole heck of a lot of clarity.

So I'm curious if you or even, you know, your colleague Senator Sanders, have you heard from Leader McConnell at all on this?

MARKEY: No, we have not. And we have no idea when they're intending on doing. What we know right now is that they care more about funding the defense bill than they do about funding the defenseless in our nation. That's our moment in time. And thus far we have not heard from the Republican leadership.

I do know this, however, that if Mitch McConnell did allow a vote on the floor of the United States Senate, it would pass an American --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: You do think so? You -- because --

MARKEY: Yes, I do.

BALDWIN: -- I want to ask you -- we have -- you know, by our count, five have said that they will vote for it, magic number is 12. You think that you can get there?

MARKEY: I do believe that, and I believe that's what they're afraid of.

BALDWIN: Tell me why.

MARKEY: Well, I think that when Donald Trump wants something, we can see the politics in Georgia now where Senator Loeffler and Senator Perdue are now saying that they support it, Senator Rubio says that he supports it. We can see the momentum building by the hour, and I'm very confident that if we had this vote, that the American people would get the much-needed help which they need.

Yes, billionaires have had a great year, they've made almost a trillion dollars this year, the billionaires of the United States, they made a trillion dollars. Well, that's not the same story for people in families of under $70,000, they have not, they're not even in the stock market. So we need to give help to them and I think it's becoming much more clear as each moment goes by, that if Republicans vote against providing a $2,000 check, they do so at their own political peril.

BALDWIN: Senator Markey, as you and I have been speaking, the president has tweeted, so let me read this live on air for both of us. He says, "Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2,000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH." A death wish, what do you make of that?

TEXT: Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2,000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH. Also, get rid of Section 230 -- don't let Big Tech steal our Country, and don't let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough!

MARKEY: Well, look, I don't agree with Donald Trump on much, but even a broken clock has the correct time twice a day, so that's Donald Trump on this issue. As I just said, they're in enormous political peril because our country is in enormous peril, each family is right now teetering on their ability to be able to deal with this crisis that's going to last one month, two months, three months, four months, five months.

[14:15:17]

We know that the rollout of the vaccine is only at one tenth of the level which the administration said it would be by the end of December. Nothing would be, I think, a greater relief to families than to know that in addition to those who are unemployed who get an unemployment check, that families also get this $2,000 check to figure out how to pay the bills, the rent, for food, for the car payments, for whatever they might need for each member of their family.

And I think the pressure is going to build as each hour goes by for the Republicans, especially with Donald Trump weighing in, we have a moment here where we can do the right thing for the American people. We've had a moral crisis in our country under Donald Trump's leadership, this is the right moment to do the morally right thing for the American people.

BALDWIN: The American people are watching what you do, Senator Markey, oh so closely. Senator, thank you, sir, very much.

MARKEY: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Hospitals in this country collectively reported more than 121,000 hospitalizations yesterday, breaking a new record. And the worst could be far from over. This is what Dr. Anthony Fauci told Jim Sciutto this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE: That's what we're concerned about, that in addition to the surge, we're going to have an increase superimposed upon that surge, which could make January even worse than December. I hope not, I hope that doesn't happen, but it certainly is possible. We just have to assume that it's going to get worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Going to get worse, going to get worse. Joining me now, CNN medical analyst Dr. Megan Ranney, she's an emergency physician, professor at Brown University and the cofounder of GetUsPPE.org. Dr. Ranney, always great to have you on.

Going to get worse. I have that echoing, Senator Markey also echoing that, you know, as well. Just your thoughts on that and the situation at your hospital?

MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I have trouble seeing how it's not going to get worse, Brooke. My last E.R. shift, I saw patient after patient who had gotten sick from family get-togethers. You know, at this point we're a few days past Christmas, it was people who had gotten together Monday or Tuesday. They thought they were healthy, they said, I followed all the rules, but this one time I wanted to see my family. And then I would have multiple family members showing up sick enough to get hospitalized.

The weeks ahead are going to be so difficult because of this spread that's happening across the country last week and this week, as well as the existing overwhelm of the health care system.

My colleagues in Southern California are telling me that they're running out of oxygen, that they're putting beds in gift shops and cafeterias because they have nowhere else in their hospital to put patients. My own colleagues are still getting sick because we've only gotten our first shot of the vaccine so far. We are in for a very difficult January ahead.

BALDWIN: Military personnel are being deployed -- you mentioned California -- to California where the state's governor, Gavin Newsom has said that ICU capacity in some regions is now down to zero percent. How did we get here?

And then what are you hearing -- you mentioned the gurneys in the gift shop, I was talking to that hospital's CEO just yesterday, that's MLK Jr. Community Hospital, south of L.A. Tell me some other stories of what you're hearing.

RANNEY: How did we get here? We got here through a sustained failure of national leadership. It didn't have to be this way. There are multiple other countries across the world who have avoided this type of second surge.

Yes, we're not unique in having a fall and winter surge, this was predictable, but we could have rolled out testing, we could have rolled out PPE, we could have had consistent messaging, we could have sent masks to every household, which President Trump blocked, right?

There are so many things we could have done to decrease the spread of this virus between last spring and today so that we did not have to be back in this crisis situation across all 50 states.

I mean, the stories I'm hearing are heartbreaking. I'm hearing about EMS not taking people to the hospital because there's no space. I'm hearing about really ill patients sitting in the Emergency Department for hours before they can be taken care of because the staff are overwhelmed, because there are no beds and because -- there are no beds in the Emergency Department, and there are no beds upstairs.

How do we get out of this? It's unfortunately going to be hard work and it's going to be a wait. Because as Dr. Fauci has said, the vaccine is coming but it sure as heck isn't here yet.

BALDWIN: And not just talking the talk but walking the walk, as a parent like you, or as you point out in your op-ed piece for CNN.com, you know, public officials. You lambasted prominent health officials like White House coronavirus coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx for disregarding their own advice, you know, social distancing and staying at home over the holidays.

[14:20:03]

Let me read your words back to you. Quote, "These experiments in hair- splitting provide easy ammunition to the anti-expertise crown. These hypocrisies are an unnecessary and preventable distraction from the real issue at hand -- the virus itself." Explain.

RANNEY: You know, as a parent, I know that if I don't follow my own rules, my kids aren't going to. And the same thing is true for COVID. We are asking the American public to do the most difficult thing, which is to avoid traveling and seeing their family over the holidays.

We cannot expect that the average American is going to follow those rules if our own leaders don't. We've already seen a failure of messaging by the federal government, but what really disappoints me is that we have people out there saying, oh, don't travel, oh, wear a mask, don't get together with people outside of your nuclear household? And then they go and do the very thing that they're telling their constituents not to do.

That's not fair. The American public isn't stupid, and they're going to see right through that. And then they're not going to follow the rules either, and it's going to get us into an even worse situation than we're in right now.

I find it so disappointing and I think our political leaders have the chance to do good by doing the thing that they're telling their constituents to do. They also have the chance to do bad by modeling the very behavior that we're asking people to avoid.

BALDWIN: I'll end on that, letting your words echo for all of us. Dr. Megan Ranney, thank you.

RANNEY: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: As we near the end of the year, the Trump administration's goal of vaccinating 20 million people is far from reach and President- elect Joe Biden is expected to call that out in a speech next hour, we have more on that ahead.

And we are learning more about the seconds leading up to a deadly police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ohio. We have the latest for you on where that investigation stands.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:22]

BALDWIN: With just 22 days remaining until Joe Biden takes office, the president-elect is expected to speak out about the current administration's COVID-9 vaccine rollout. Today he is set to address the slower-than-expected pace at which the Trump administration has been administering these vaccines, and Biden will lay out what the administration will do to distribute enough vaccines for 50 million people in his first 100 days in office.

With me now, CNN political correspondent M.J. Lee and CNN national security correspondent Vivian Salama. And so, ladies, welcome. M.J., I want to start with you on this speech. What will you be listening for, what are you expecting to hear from the president-elect specifically on the vaccine rollout?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we certainly don't expect the president-elect to paint a rosy picture of what's going on. As you said, we expect him to call out the Trump administration for its rollout of the vaccine distribution basically going slower than people had hoped, and lay out his own plan for how he might do this in a speedier fashion once he becomes president on January 20th.

None of this should really be surprising. You know, the president- elect has been deeply critical of the president's handling of the COVID-19 crisis, has talked about this in many different fashions. And before Christmas, you'll recall, he actually said I think the darkest days, when it comes to the virus, may actually be ahead of us. And we heard Dr. Anthony Fauci unfortunately agreeing with that assessment.

I also just want to quickly note, on the topic of vaccine distributions, just emphasizing the significance of what we saw earlier today, when Vice President-elect Kamala Harris got her first dose of the vaccine in front of the cameras, we heard her saying this was relatively painless, it was quick, it was safe, and called on American people to get their vaccines as well, and really emphasized that these are vaccines that have been proven by scientists and experts. We know this is a part of the campaign coming from the incoming

administration, to try to build out public confidence about these vaccinations. This is going to be a huge challenge for the incoming administration, and a part of what challenge they are facing is making sure that people, and particularly people in communities of color, understand that these vaccines are safe and that they really should be getting them as soon as they can -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: M.J., thank you, we'll be listening in in a little bit.

Vivian, to you. I know we have some new reporting on another big issue the incoming administration will have to face, nuclear weapons and arms control. Tell me what you've learned.

VIVIAN SALAMA, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brooke, officials tell me that Biden is considering actually looking at cuts to America's nuclear modernization program. And what that means is basically trying to find areas where he can trim the fat in terms of not developing some new weapons and slowing down the pace of spending.

I mean we were seeing, today, on the Hill, just how contentious defense spending can be, that you even have Republicans trying to override the president's veto with regard to defense spending. And so any kind of cut like this is going to raise eyebrows on the Hill certainly, and going to rub a lot of Republicans especially the wrong way.

But President-elect Biden and his team assert that trimming the fat of this program is going to be essential for use in other areas. You have spending on conventional weapons, you have spending for example on stimulus checks. We're in the middle of an economic downturn right now, and so they say that we can still have a strong deterrent, still have a strong nuclear program but also trim some of that excess that's started to build up under the Trump administration's aggressive push to develop that nuclear program.

[14:29:56]

And so this is all coming within weeks of the expiration of a very critical U.S.-Russian treaty. In fact, it expires just 16 days after Biden takes office.