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President Trump Heading Back To Washington To Focus On The Pandemic; Senator Bob Casey Is Interviewed About Election Laws And The Election Results; The U.S. Hits Another Grave Milestone In Deaths Due To The COVID-19 Pandemic; Fireworks Taking Place All Over The Word To Ring In The New Year. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired December 31, 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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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Well President Trump is heading back to Washington this hour cutting his Florida trip short, to focus on the pandemic, the slow vaccine rollout, the expanding Russia hack? No. To focus once again on his attempt to overturn the election based on baseless claims about widespread election fraud.

As lawmakers appear headed for a debate on electoral votes and are still fighting over increasing stimulus checks for Americans. The Labor Department reported today that another 787,000 Americans filed for first time jobless benefits during the Christmas holiday week. Another record compared to, well, anything you saw during the Financial Crisis of 2008.

Joining me now Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Senator, thanks so much for taking the time this morning.

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Thanks Jim. Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: So the president needed one Senator to join the handful of representatives that are going to try to challenge this count on January 6, which is -- should be a ceremonial certification of the electoral vote.

He's Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, and I just wonder what your reaction is, because specifically cited, Pennsylvania, your state, not following election laws, thereby contradicting not only you buy your Republican colleague Pat Toomey and, by the way, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

How do you respond to a Missouri Senator claiming Pennsylvania got it wrong?

CASEY: Well Jim, first and foremost it's a lot of B.S., and I won't fill in the blank. It's -- it's the big lie, the lie that the president's been perpetuating for months now, at least for weeks now, even months preparing for the big lie. And it's hard to comprehend a United States Senator attaching their name to that big lie.

So, I call it a cheap political move, that's probably an understatement, but as you said, it's a direct attack on Pennsylvania, our voters, our courts, all those election officials.

By the way, election officials in counties that Donald Trump won and he won a lot of counties, as you know in a state like ours, even though Joe Biden won the state overall, so it's -- and we don't need any United States Senator or member of Congress from another state telling us what to do. We know how to run elections, we do it well, we do it fairly and we do it in accordance with the law. It's a big lie.

SCIUTTO: Senator, Ben Sasse, another Republican, of course, from Nebraska, he's called it dangerous like you. And I'm quoting from a Facebook post that he put up last night, a long one on all of this.

He said that when we talk in private, he's talking about speaking to his Republican colleagues, I haven't heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the election results were fraudulent, not one.

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He goes on to say that's basically fear of Trump's base here. You have relationships with your Senate Republicans colleagues. Do you hear similar things?

CASEY: No question about it. I think fear drives it. Now, I think there's some in Congress on the Republican side that it's -- it's more than fear. They seem to have -- it's kind of an idolatry of this guy, which is really disturbing.

But I think in -- at least on the Republican side in the Senate I think it's fear and I hope that no one else would join Senator Hawley in this big fraud. But, there's -- there's a lot of fear and that's -- there's just no question about it.

They've got to choose here, it's real simple. There's only two choices, you choose democracy of the Constitution or you choose the big lie and Trump, it's as simple as that. I think Ben Sasse said it well.

SCIUTTO: There are, you mentioned, others joining. The fact is, that -- that others have at least left that possibility open, Tommy Tuberville Senator-elect, Tom Cotton, Rand Paul, do you expect to see others join? And regardless, you already have enough, right, because you just needed one senator? What does January 6, look like then?

CASEY: Well I hope not, but what will happen if he goes through with it is he will object and then we'll go to the Senate and have a debate and a vote on that one challenge. It may go to -- it's likely to go state by state, so he's -- and maybe he'd start with Pennsylvania, but I hope that he's the only one, because this is -- this is a -- this is going to be a mark on the record of that individual for the rest of their life.

And especially someone, in this case Senator Hawley, who is a lawyer, who is the attorney general of his home state. It's hard to comprehend that he wants to attach his name to one of the biggest lies in -- in American history.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this finally, because there's a theatrical element to this. It's not going to work. It does damage, right? And it feeds the sense among many Americans there -- in fact most Republicans don't believe the election was free and fair, but in terms of actual legislation, Congress is actually defying the president.

They're about to override the president's veto on the NDAA, the Pentagon funding bill basically. They're defying they're president on not only his desire for $2,000 stimulus checks, which I know you support, but also an electoral fraud commission and other things that he has sought.

Does that give you a sense that his hold over the party is actually fading when it comes to the stuff that really matters?

CASEY: Well we'll see, but Jim, when you -- when you think about what's happened in just the last couple of weeks and even up unit today, whether it's the -- the big lie about the election, whether it's vetoing -- the first president in, what, 60 years to veto a defense bill, all of the -- all the chaos, even -- even the $2,000 he wasn't pushing for that, he wasn't negotiating for that or advocating for that, he jumped in at the last minute and -- and wasn't -- wasn't able to persuade the leader of his party in the Senate, who's blocking the $2,000.

All of this though was both enabled -- enabled by Republicans because they've been genuflecting all these -- all these years and they made -- they created this problem that we're seeing play out now. We'll see if they're going to choose the country over Trump, we'll see.

SCIUTTO: We'll be watching. Senator Bob Casey, thanks so much. Happy New Year to your and your family.

CASEY: Thanks Jim. Same to you.

SCIUTTO: Coming up, a major show of force, the U.S. has flown nuclear capable B-52 bombers to the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran, but has taken other steps to deescalate how Iran is responding. What it all means next.

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SCIUTTO: Iran's Foreign Minister is accusing the U.S. of trying to make up a reason to go to war, tweeting this morning, Trump and cohorts waste billions to fly B-52s and send armadas to our region. Intelligence from Iraq indicates plot to fabricate pretext for war. Now, we should always take what he says with a grain of salt.

He is responding apparently to U.S. dispatching several nuclear capable B-52 bombers to the Mid East in show of force and deterrence yesterday, along with the Pentagon warning that there will be consequences for any attacks on U.S. interest in the region.

There is speculation Iran could be planning something to coincide with next week's anniversary of the U.S. drone strike that killed General Qasem Soleimani. That said, it's CNN's reporting that senior Pentagon officials are divided over exactly how real that threat is.

CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr is with. Barbara, of course, with intelligence there are always questions, there are always debates, but tell us the meaning of this flyover and what else you're hearing.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right Jim. The flyover is a show of force, a force of deterrence against Iran, to try and convince them not to take any attack against U.S. troops across the way in Iraq and the carrier Nimitz has been sent home as an advertised de-escalatory move by the Department of Defense.

But the intelligence right now, according to officials we're talking to, shows that Iran has been planning and is in -- has completed planning essentially to use its militias inside Iraq to attack U.S. troops. Is the intelligence perfect? Absolutely not. Do they know if Iran would carry out an attack? They don't know. You never know until it happens.

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So, there's lots of interpretation about the intelligence. But what officials -- what worries some military officials the most they say is that it's essentially zero time between making the decision to attack and then launching an attack. That much planning, that much weaponry, that much effort is already in place. So, a lot of worry right now and not a very clear way ahead, the Pentagon obviously keeping close watch. Jim.

SCIUTTO: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks very much.

Coming up this hour, the U.S. hits another devastating milestone as 2020 comes to a close. Why haven't more people been vaccinated? Why as the Administration reached only a fraction of its goals by today? And will officials change their strategy?

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SCIUTTO: All right, this may surprise about the nation's 39th president. If not for his strong ties to rock music and the artists who created it, Jimmy Carter may never have won the White House. The all new CNN film, "Jimmy Carter, Rock and Roll President," you heard that right, looks at his close connection with music and musicians of all styles.

Listen to this preview.

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JIMMY CARTER, 39TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography, he confessed that he smoked pot in the White House one -- one night when he was spending the night with me.

And he says that his companion that shared the pot with him was one of the servants in the White House. That is not exactly true, it's actually -- was one of my sons, which he didn't want to -- you know -- categorize as a -- as a pot smoker like him.

There was some people who didn't like being deeply involved with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and disreputable, you know, rock and rollers. But, I didn't care about that, because I was doing what I really believed and the response, I think, from the followers of those musicians was much more influential than a few people who thought that being associated with rock and roll and radical people was inappropriate for a president.

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SCIUTTO: Well joining us now is Julian Zeilizer , he's CNN Political Analyst and author of "Jimmy Carter." You know, looking at those photos I almost feel like Jimmy Carter was photo shopped into them. I mean, he's -- he's hanging out with the Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, he's telling a story about Willie Nelson smoking pot in the White House with his son. I mean, is this Jimmy Carter we didn't know about?

JULIAN ZEILIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we forget in 1976 Carter was an anti-establishment Democrat. He's come in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate and he promises to make the presidency more human and more responsive. And rock and rollers loved that and the Allman Brothers played concerts to raise money. And I think we forget what Carter was and what his promise was when he started.

SCIUTTO: You talk about them playing political events for him. I -- I -- I mean, there are some who say he might not have won that election without that support. I mean, is that true? Is that an overstatement?

ZEILIZER: Well, I -- it's -- there was much more to it. I think he was the right man at the right time and his message of being able to trust him really mattered to Americans who were disillusioned with American politics and with presidential power.

But rock and roll was part of the mix. It helped him raise money, it helped shape his persona and it even helped him in some primaries.

SCIUTTO: You know, in this documentary and these stories, you see the -- see how Carter viewed music as a great unifier. You know, it strikes that -- that like so many things it's the opposite now, right?

I mean, you -- you have these kinds of campaign songs that -- that are kind of jingoistic, all about the team, the tribe, I mean, you even have battles, right. I mean the Trump Campaign using songs that artists didn't want them to use, legal challenges, et cetera. I mean, as music lost that role, right, you now, as our politics have become even more divisive.

ZEILIZER: Well, it's like everything else in American society, it's currently defined by fault lines, whether you're talking about music or whether you're talking about the parties. And we're going back to a period where Carter could see commonality in someone like Willie Nelson or a singer like Jimmy Buffett or Aretha Franklin, where today you're right, even our music, even our popular culture has become polarized.

SCIUTTO: Well goodness, maybe in 12 hours -- after 12 hours when 2020 leaves we'll find a better way in the New Year. Julian Zeilizer thanks so much, appreciate having you on, on this.

ZEILIZER: Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: And be sure to tune in, the al-new CNN film, "Jimmy Carter, Rock and Roll President." A title you wouldn't expect, premiers Sunday 9:00 pm only on CNN.

And before we go this hour, at the clock ticks down here in the U.S., countries around the world are already ringing in the New Year, I'm jealous. This is what it looks like in Hong Kong, celebrations there taking place just a short time ago. They know how to do fireworks there.

And check out these pictures from Australia, fireworks light up the sky over Sidney Harbor. What a sight.

We'll be right back.

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SCIUTTO: Hello everyone, welcome to special edition of CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Sciutto. If ever there was a year to celebrate ending it might be just this one. And here's one more reminder why.

Today's celebrations at Time Square, now just one more normally --

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