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U.S. House Votes to Increase Stimulus Checks to $2,000; U.S. House Votes to Override Trump's Veto of Defense Bill; Biden Says Defense Department Obstructing Transition Efforts; U.S. Sets New Record for Air Travel During Pandemic; Wen: Vaccine Rollout Could Take Longer Than Expected; Investigators Name Suspect, Struggle to Find Motive; Russia Threatens to Jail Opposition Leader Navalny. Aired 4- 4:30a ET
Aired December 29, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: A Capitol Hill show down is looming over stimulus checks. The House approves larger payments for struggling Americans, but will the measure pass the Republican-led Senate. Plus.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The truth is many of the agencies that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage.
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SOARES: President-elect Joe Biden slams a Trump administration saying his team is facing roadblocks from some of the president's appointees.
And there's just one week to go until a crucial Senate runoff in Georgia. We'll show you how churches could be key to getting out the vote.
Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares. CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
A very good morning to you. Now, the U.S. House of Representatives voted Monday to increase COVID stimulus checks to $2,000 for millions of Americans. The Democrat controlled House seize seized on President Donald Trump's demand for larger direct payments and that pushed Republicans to decide between their loyalty to the president or their concern over the bill's cost. Stimulus checks are expected to begin going out later this week.
The House also voted to override the president's veto of a sweeping defense spending bill. Both the stimulus and the defense bill now head to the Republican led Senate. And that's putting the party in a tough spot with the president. CNN's Phil Mattingly explains from Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, it was just two votes on the House floor, but it was also two specific demonstrations of where Donald Trump sits right now in the Republican Party. Now you don't obviously want to read too much into a vote to override his veto of a major defense policy bill or a vote to sustain his request to increase direct payments in the COVID relief package from $600 to $2,000. But it was hard not to pay attention to where Republicans in the House came down on those votes.
On the stimulus checks, 130 Republicans voted against what the president wanted. On the National Defense Authorization Act, a bill that has been signed into law 59 consecutive years, passed by Congress with wide bipartisan majority for 60 consecutive years, well, the vast majority of Republicans sticking with their original vote in favor of the bill, in other words, against President Trump.
So, what does it all mean? Well, it's not an easy question to necessarily understand, except for when it came to the defense policy bill, take a listen to what the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said.
REP. MAC THORNBERRY (R-TX): I would only ask that as members vote, they put the best interests of the country first. There is no other consideration that should matter.
MATTINGLY: But there is no question that President Trump still demands loyalty, and the House Republicans in particular are willing to give it to him in spades. Just watch what's played out in the wake of the election.
However, with some issues, whether it's defense policy, and in this case economic policy as well, they do appear more willing to split from the president than they have been in the past. Now how is that going play out in the weeks ahead? Well, we're going get a test. Both of those measures are going to head over to the United States Senate. The Senate is expected to vote to override the president's veto as well, Republicans on board with Democrats on that one.
What happens with the $2,000 stimulus checks? Well, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn't weighed in yet, hasn't said specifically what he is going to do. That will be the next interesting test where Republicans sit given where their president is on a daily basis.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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SOARES: Now the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is sharply criticizing President Trump for vetoing that crucial defense spending bill. The top Democrat is calling this Trump veto reckless, adding quote -- I'm going to read it for you.
The president must end his 11th hour campaign of chaos and stop using his final moments in office to obstruct bipartisan and bicameral action to protect our military and defend our security.
Those words from Nancy Pelosi.
Now that he House lawmakers have approved larger stimulus checks, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders said he hopes to force his Republican colleagues in the upper chamber to vote on the increased payouts. Sanders says he will delay a vote on the defense spending bill, something Republicans very much want, unless Senator majority leader Mitch McConnell brings the vote on the $2,000 checks.
Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden says the Trump administration is blocking his transition team from getting information from key agencies, including the Defense Department.
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After the election, President Trump fired his defense secretary and purged other leaders, leaving loyalists in political control of the Pentagon. MJ Lee reports on Biden's blocked response.
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BIDEN: It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.
MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-elect Joe Biden slamming the Trump administration for what he says has been far short of full cooperation during the transition process.
BIDEN: We have encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget.
LEE: After getting briefed by members of his national security and foreign policy agency review teams, Biden accusing Trump officials of political obstruction.
BIDEN: For some agencies, our teams received exemplary cooperation from the career staff in those agencies. From others, most notably, the Department of Defense, we encountered obstruction from the political leadership of that department.
LEE: Biden also laying out some of the most urgent foreign policy challenges his administration will confront come January, saying major federal agencies have been handicapped under President Trump.
BIDEN: Many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale, in the policy processes that have atrophied or have been sidelined, in the despair of our alliances and the disrepair of those alliances.
LEE: This as the country braces for post-Christmas spikes in COVID-19 cases across the country, Dr. Anthony Fauci saying he agrees with Biden's earlier prediction.
BIDEN: Our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us.
LEE: That the worst of the pandemic is still to come. DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We very well might see a post-seasonal, in the sense of Christmas, New Year's, surge. I share the concern of President-elect Biden that, as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.
LEE: Just a little over three weeks out from Inauguration Day, Biden building out the rest of his administration. The most prominent Cabinet positions still outstanding? Attorney general. The top two contenders for the role remain Judge Merrick Garland and Senator Doug Jones.
Other major appointments still to come, CIA director, secretary of commerce, secretary of labor and SBA administrator.
Now, as Biden was leaving his speech here in Wilmington, he was asked whether he supports the $2,000 in direct payments for COVID-19 relief, and he said, yes, that he does. As for Tuesday, he is going to be giving a speech about COVID-19 as experts are worried that cases are going to spike across the country after the holidays.
MJ Lee, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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SOARES: Well, joining me now with her perspective is Julie Norman, lecturer in politics at University College London. Julie, it was great to get you on the show.
If I may, let's start with the multibillion highly bipartisan defense bill. The House of Representatives, as you heard there, have made their choices heard, but now it goes to the Senate. And here I suspect that many Republicans may be forced to choose between their loyalty to the president and the legislation that sets the defense policy for the country. How do you see it playing out?
JULIE NORMAN, LECTURER IN POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, Isa, this is a bill that has passed annually for the last 60 years. It's a very important bill for raising the salaries for service members, for funding overseas operations. It really is a very key bill for the military.
So, it's one that does put Republicans in a difficult position in terms of being forced to override Trump's veto. But at the same time, this is just such a crucial issue not only for the Republican Party, but really for the country and for the military more broadly. And most Republicans will not want to be seen as voting against that measure.
SOARES: I think you're right. Because I remember hearing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy basically indicating that many Republicans will not vote against -- actually vote against the president, although they supported the bill the first time around. But with, you know, three weeks left or so of the president's time in office. What pressure is he pushing on his own party?
NORMAN: Well, we obviously see the president sowing a lot of chaos right now, putting a lot of different kinds of pressure on his own party within Congress. Partly in a way just to keep himself relevant so that he is still pulling some of the strings, still very much in the headlines.
But again, the fact that Trump is only in office for three more weeks, it's true that he will continue to have a very large sway over the party. But he will not be president after three weeks. And even House Republicans are starting to acknowledge that. And again, a bill like the military bill in particular is one that there is kind of a cross benefit analysis.
Yes, there might be some pushback from Trump for supporting it. But probably even stronger pushback in terms of rejecting a bill like that. And there's also strength in numbers on this bill as well.
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There is a critical mass of Republicans who have shown support. So it would be hard for Trump to undercut individuals, even if he can kind of point fingers at Congress more broadly.
SOARES: And to remind our viewers right around the world, why is the president so opposed to this bill?
NORMAN: Well, there is different reasons that Trump has given over the past few weeks in terms of his rejection of the bill. First it was regards to the fact that the bill includes a provision for renaming some of the U.S. military bases that were named after confederate generals and leaders with new names. And Trump opposed that provision. And that's one that will appeal to some of his base, his opposition to that.
He also opposed some of the other measures that were really more directed to him in terms of restrictions on a fast troop withdrawal from places ranging from Germany to Afghanistan, as well as some restrictions on the amount of funding that could be diverted to his border wall.
And finally, Trump was hoping to insert a repeal of section 230, the legislation that gives protection to social media companies, completely irrelevant to the military bill but one that Trump was hoping Congress would shoehorn in there for him before the end of his term.
SOARES: Let's talk about the other bill, the stimulus relief bill. Financial help desperately on the way for millions of Americans as they battle, but there is still a battle I believe between the president and congressional leaders. And that doesn't seem to be dying down as we heard from our Phil Mattingly. Still much at odds over the amount of the stimulus. Why is that Julie?
NORMAN: Well we obvious sly heard from Trump over the Christmas holiday that he wanted to push the bill back to Congress to increase the stimulus check amount from $600 for each recipient to $2,000 to each recipient. This was passed last night by the House on a floor vote that included 44 Republicans voting for this increase. And it will now go to the Senate where it will be up to Mitch McConnell to decide how to move this forward.
Again, putting Republicans in a very difficult position. This would increase the spending on the bill by about $460 million. So, this was a bill that Republicans were try for months to keep under a $1 trillion threshold, would really increase the spending. It's not a direction that McConnell and many Republicans want to go.
SOARES: Thanks to Julie Norman, a lecturer on politics at University College London.
Now the United States breaks another COVID-19 record and to make matters worse, vaccines may take longer to reach the masses than previously thought.
And police are learning more about the Nashville, Tennessee, bomber, but they're still struggling to find a motive. The latest, just ahead.
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SOARES: Now the number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals hit another record high on Monday. Last week, more Americans were admitted to hospitals than any week of the pandemic so far. And for 27 straight days, the U.S. has had more than 100,000 people in the hospital for coronavirus. Simply staggering.
Well, California's governor says a stay-at-home order for parts of the state will likely stay in place because of low ICU capacity as well as rising cases. CNN's Nick Watt looks at the state of COVID-19 in the United States.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunday was the busiest air travel day of this pandemic.
CARTER ERICKSON, TRAVELER: We've gone to Utah in the past to ski, so it was a good idea to try to get out of the house.
WATT: The search for normalcy will be fatal for some.
DR. JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: We're very concerned, and we always see a little bit of a bump after holidays and sometimes a large bump.
WATT: December is already the deadliest month of the pandemic, more than 65,000 lives lost. And --
FAUCI: As we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.
WATT: More than one in 1,000 Americans are already dead, killed by COVID-19. Up in Canada, by the way, that number is up around 1 in 2,500. Six states now with record numbers of COVID patients in the hospital. DR. KIMBERLY SHRINER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, HUNTINGTON
MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: We have a limited number of ventilators. We have a limited number of ICU beds.
WATT: And California is now suffering the highest rate of new cases per capita in the country. Now remember that Seattle area nursing home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why don't you guys cover his legs up?
WATT: The nation's first hot spot? Today residents and staff are getting vaccinated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That feels good.
WATT: Just over 2 million Americans have now had their first dose.
ADM. BRETT GIROIR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, HHS: The 2 million number is probably an underestimate.
WATT: But the goal was to vaccinate 20 million people by year's end.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: Well, the pace is slower than what was stated. That's probably unrealistic at this point.
WATT: Novavax is now starting phase 3 trials of its vaccine in the U.S. and Mexico. Oxford/AstraZeneca could receive approval for its vaccine in U.K. within days. But the current rocky vaccine rollout proves a painful point. These elixirs will take time.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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SOARES: Well, you heard Nick Watt saying that it will take time. But how much time will it take for the majority of Americans to get a COVID vaccine? CNN's medical analyst, Dr. Leana Wen says at that rate it could be much longer than expected. Listen to this.
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DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Two million in two weeks sounds really impressive, but I did some back calculations here, and at that rate, for a two-dose vaccine, for us to reach 80 percent herd immunity in the U.S. through vaccination, it will take us 10 years.
This is a scarce resource right now in vaccines, and vaccine production is certainly a limiting factor, and so I'm glad that Novavax is now starting their phrase 3 trials here in the U.S. Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are two other companies that are starting -- or have already progressed quite far in their phrase 3 trials as well.
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And so the more vaccines we have come online the better, because that means the sooner, we can reach herd immunity in this country and around the world.
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SOARES: A really important perspective there from Dr. Leana Wen.
U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will receive her first COVID- 19 vaccine today in Washington, D.C. Her husband Doug Emhoff is expected to be vaccinated separately from his wife who will take her dose on camera. It's been one week since U.S. President-elect Joe Biden received his first vaccine dose in the hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
I want to take you the Nashville, Tennessee where some residents and business owners affected by the Christmas day bombing will be allowed to inspect their property in the coming hours. But some of those buildings are damaged really beyond repair. We'll get more on the investigation now from CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Days after the explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, investigators are still trying to determine the motive of 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner. This dramatic video showing the RV exploding shattering windows, damaging more than 40 storefronts and injuring at least eight people. None of them seriously.
New CNN video from the scene shows the destruction. FBI agents and ATF agents sifting through mountains of debris in the street. Fire alarms still sounding within buildings.
DAVID RAUSCH, DIRECTOR, TENNESSEE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: He was not on our radar. He was not someone that was identified as a person of interest for the bureau and so we were not familiar with this individual.
PROKUPECZ: Warner was killed in the blast. Investigators identified him by matching DNA collected at the scene with glove and a hat found in a vehicle Warner owned. According to authorities, the RVs vehicle identification number recovered from the scene was a key piece of evidence that led them to identify Warner.
Authority search Warner's home over the weekend. Warner was a computer consultant and said he plan to retire this month, one of his clients told CNN. Neighbor described him as a hermit who sort of kept to himself.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed that Warner's mother has been cooperating with investigators. Warner's father was once employed by AT&T and the agency is looking into whether that may be relevant to the motive. AT&T is the parent company of CNN.
The RV have been parked outside of an AT&T building in the early hours of Christmas morning. Authority say when it began to play the song Downtown by Petula Clark and broadcasting an audio message that a bomb would detonate in a matter of minutes. Police initially responded to the scene because of reports of gunfire, but quickly sprang into action and evacuated residents after hearing the RV's message.
JAMES WELLS, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: I just see orange and then I hear loud boom. And as I'm stumbling because it rocked me that hard. As I start stumbling, I just told myself to stay on your feet, stay alive.
PROKUPECZ: FBI agents and ATF agents spent the day Monday sifting through the debris at the blast site looking for evidence of the bomb. They were literally on their hands and needs going through dirt and different debris throughout the blast site.
So much devastation, we can see at the blast site, buildings collapsed, cars all burned out. The FBI says they're still working on that motive, and they're also trying to figure out how Warner got his hands on the chemicals and some of the bomb making materials used in this explosion.
Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Nashville, Tennessee.
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SOARES: To Russia now, where prison authorities are threatening to jail opposition leader Alexei Navalny unless he returns from German. He fled Russia, of you remember, after he was poisoned back in August. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more for you now from Moscow.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russian authorities have told opposition politician Alexei Navalny that he needs to return to Russia by the morning of Tuesday or face being put in jail. Now all this stems from a case from 2014 in which Alexei Navalny says is politically motivated but in which he received a suspended jail sentence.
Essentially, and what the Russian authorities are now saying is that if he doesn't show up to that hearing on Tuesday morning, that he will have violated his probation and could then be arrested any time if and when he returns to Russia.
Now interesting aspect in this is that after Alexei Navalny was poisoned using the chemical nerve agent Novichok and was then on the mend after getting treated in Germany, the renowned medical publication the "Lancet" published details of how the poisoning was found out and of the recovery process as well.
And that article is now being used by the Russian authorities in part of what they say, they say, quote --
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Based on the "Lancet" publication, A.A. Navalny was discharged from the Charite clinic -- that's the hospital in Berlin where he was treated on September 20, 2020 and by October 12th all of the symptoms of his illness have passed. So, essentially, they're saying that he is well enough to come back here to Russia and face this hearing. Now the hearing is on Tuesday morning, and it's physically impossible for Alexei Navalny to get to Russia in that time frame. There's no direct flights in that time frame, and he would need a coronavirus test to even board a plane.
Alexei Navalny himself is obviously saying he believes all of this is politically motivated. He thinks Russian authorities are embarrassed after a CNN and Bellingcat investigation found out large parts of that alleged plot to kill Alexei Navalny, and of course, he was also able to contact one of the agents who was allegedly part of that plot and dupe that agent into admitting large parts of it.
Alexei Navalny on his Instagram account said, quote -
Like I said, somewhere there is Vladimir Putin in his bunker stomping and yelling why didn't he die? And if he didn't die, then he is twice guilty, and now we will jail him.
The Russian authorities of course have continued to say that they were not behind the poisoning of Alexei Navalny. Navalny for his part, have continuously said that he wants to return to Russia.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOARES: Now public health officials are raising the alarm over the high level of COVID-19 infection in England, bringing the latest from London in a live report up next.
Plus, outspent but closing in. The Democrats in Georgia are gaining on Republican ad spending. But will they need more help as they try to win two key Senate seats next week. We'll bring you both of those stories after a very short break. You are watching CNN.
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SOARES: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Isa Soares.
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