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A New High for U.S. COVID Deaths; New Tough Restrictions in England; U.K. Deal with E.U. Becomes Law As Deadline Day Arrives; Trump Returning Early to Washington Later Today; Nashville Bombing: 911 Calls Reveal Moments Before & After Explosion. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 31, 2020 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:39]

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: For the second day in the row, the United States is reporting the most COVID deaths in a single day. The new CDC data predicts an even more grim January.

Much of England's waking up under new tougher COVID restrictions as it looks toward the rollout of another vaccine.

And the U.S. president is cutting his Florida vacation short as some Republicans plan to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's presidential win.

Hello and a very good morning to you. Welcome to the viewers in United States and around the world. It is 8:00 am here in London. I'm Isa Soares and CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

(MUSIC)

SOARES: It's now New Year's Eve across much of the world and the United States is on the verge of closing out 2020 with the highest daily death tolls yet from the coronavirus.

Have a look at this. Wednesday was the most deaths reported in a most single day, well over 3,700 people. And U.S. health experts predict more than 80,000 more Americans will die of the disease in the next 3 weeks.

More than 12 million doses of COVID vaccine have been distributed across the United States. Yet only a fraction, less than 3 million shots in fact have been given to people. That's far, far less than the 20 million doses that they had projected by the end of the year.

A former aide to Vice President Mike Pence said the slow role that was indicative of the administration that has mishandled the health crisis right from the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER COVID TASK FORCE ADVISER TO VP PENCE: It comes down to really just a lack of a national strategy on this vaccine distribution and this has been the problem from day one on the pandemic response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, President Trump's so-called testing czar acknowledged the shortfall, but said he was confident the vaccination pace would pick up after the New Year. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. BRETT GIROIR, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH: Of course, we need to be doing a better job, but all vaccine programs start somewhat slow. I think it's more just your starting a program and that starts relatively slowly and ramps up very quickly. I know we will be distributing about 30 million more in January and potentially up to 50 million more in February.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, many U.S. hospitals have been at the breaking point for weeks, a record of 125,000 people are currently being treated in COVID wards right across the country.

And now, a new more contagious variant that have been talking about the virus has been detected in the U.S., including hard-hit California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: Just an hour or so ago, we were informed that this new variant, this new strain that we have identified obviously from the United Kingdom and some of the parts of the globe, identified in Colorado yesterday, has been identified here in this state of California, in southern California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: We'll have more on the coronavirus pandemic in the United States in just a moment.

Meanwhile, it is a bittersweet day in Britain's fight against COVID- 19. Just as the U.K. becomes the first country to approve a vaccine from Oxford University, and AstraZeneca. Much of England moved into the highest tier restrictions, three quarters of the population are now under COVID rules.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson explained why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've seen a 40 percent increase in cases in England in the last week alone, almost 15 percent more patients in hospital, more than at the peak of the first wave. So this critical moment with the prospect of freedom within reach, we've got to redouble our efforts to contain the virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SOARES: Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joins me now for more in London.

And, Matthew, these numbers we are seeing, you know, there is spiking, in many cases, they are doubling. And yet, and so many people, millions of people in fact will be waking up this New Year's Eve under further restrictions.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, look, Britain is facing an incredibly dangerous situation when it comes to these holidays, the New Year festivities.

The British authorities have warned people to not go to parties.

[03:05:02]

COVID loves crowds, they've said. They've urged people to stay home.

To reinforce that, they have put, you know, two-thirds of the country under the most severe level of, you know, restrictions. Tier four restrictions as they call them here, shutting down nonessential businesses, you know, urging people and making people work from home, because those figures that have been reported over the past 24 hours are really causing genuine alarm across the country.

Nearly 1,000 dead as you just mentioned in the course of the past 24 hours, 50,000 -- highest number since April. You got 50,000 new infections over that same period.

It really interesting figure, which is what is alarming a lot of people in the authorities in this country is there are now more than 260,000 people who have been hospitalized because of COVID-19, and obviously the pressure that that has placed on the British health service has been enormous. The government is trying to ease the pressure on the health service to prevent it from being sort of, you know, crushed.

SOARES: Yeah. And this new variant it seems, Matthew, seems to be behind the large -- the biggest part of this, the biggest surge we are seeing here. These numbers as you are breaking it down for us, Matthew, they are so sobering. And it comes at a time when the U.K. has approved this new vaccine.

Give us the sense of the distribution as well as the vaccination plan.

CHANCE: Well, I think that that plan is still emerging as I understand it, although I understand that the first of the AstraZeneca Oxford University vaccine will be rolled out in this country from the 4th of January. So, it's really -- in a few days from now.

What the authorities say is they are going to, you know, bolster the distribution infrastructure, get the vaccination centers all up and running to really step up in the number of people that they can vaccinate on a daily basis, with a view to getting the most vulnerable groups vaccinated first of all, old people, people in care homes, care workers on the front line medical staff, and people like that. But, you know, the big advantage of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University

vaccine is not just that it is cheap, and it is, and a deal has been posed by Oxford University on AstraZeneca that it has to be sold in perpetuity at cost price, which is really important, but also it is a much easier vaccine to store. It can be stored at regular refrigerator temperatures. It does not have to be stored at, you know, 70 degrees centigrade below, which is what the Pfizer vaccine has to be stored at which require special facilities.

And so, it's a game-changer in the sense that it is going to be much more widely available, and much more practical as a vaccination, not just here in Britain but also around the world as well -- Isa.

SOARES: Matthew Chance for us in London, thanks very much, Matthew.

Let's get more on this. Dr. Peter Drobac is an infectious disease and global health expert at the University of Oxford here in London.

Dr. Drobac, good morning to you. Great to see once again.

Before we talk about the vaccine that we just heard Matthew Chance talk about there that's being approved, I want to get your take first on this sobering COVID numbers out of the U.K.

How worried are you about the surge of cases as well as deaths? And in particularly the new variant that seems to be running rampant?

DR. PETER DROBAC, INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND GLOBAL HEALTH EXPERT: Well, I'm extremely concerned and the numbers that we just heard are really alarming. We have more patients and hospital now in the U.K. than at any time during this pandemic. And we haven't yet seen the effects of any Christmas household mixing that would have occurred last week.

It is clear that this variant is becoming the dominant strain because it spreads so easily, so most of the new cases we are seeing are of this new variant, and while it's not more deadly if one were to get infected with it, the fact that it is so much more infectious and spreading more quickly means it will lead to many more hospitalizations and deaths.

What's really important is if you look back over the last couple of months as this new variant has emerged, we see that actually even during the U.K.'s most recent lockdown in November and early December, those numbers of the new variant were still rising. So, even our kind of existing playbook of controlled measures have not been enough.

SOARES: Yeah. And, like you said, Doctor, we know these numbers are not taking into account the holiday period, when some families were together and obviously, New Year's happening tonight.

But, Doctor, do you believe that the measures that have been outlined yesterday by the government in terms of tiers, do you think it goes far enough, in your opinion, trying to really curb the spread of the virus or do you think we need to go to a national lockdown here?

DROBAC: Unfortunately, I don't think they go far enough. There is clear evidence if you look at tier four restrictions or the equivalent which is what the most recent so-called lockdown was in November, still allowed for increasing numbers of cases with this new variant. So, we have no evidence that tier four restrictions are enough.

[03:10:02]

In fact, some evidence suggests that it's not.

So I do think we need to go into a national lockdown. It's a blunt instrument but, unfortunately, I think there's no alternative. And there are really tough choices that we face now around things like closing down schools as well when we think about them coming back into term next week.

SOARES: Yeah, on that point actually, on the closing down schools, I'm -- you know, I'm a mother to two young boys. Their schools will be open, but to be completely honest with you, I am quite hesitant to send them to school next week, simply because of this new strain.

What do you tell parents that -- whose kids can go to school?

DROBAC: It's a really difficult one. One of the things that we're finding with the new variant it is not confirmed, but that, you know, normally, what we have been seeing is that children seem to be less likely to get infected and to pass the virus on. These are younger children, but with this new variant that does not appear to be the case, that they're represented in higher numbers and there may be actually more likely than wet other strains to actually get infected.

This is not an easy question because there are so many ripple effects to closing, physically closing down schools. There have not been investments in remote education. So it's not a question of whether they should be opened or should be closed, but we have to really think about how this can be done, how this can be done safely.

And right now, I think there haven't been investments to think about that. I think it probably makes sense to not open schools next week and to work really aggressively over the next few weeks, to think about introducing testing and other measures and schools to keep them safe.

SOARES: Yes, and, like you said, Doctor, there are so many unknowns at the stage about this variant that perhaps time would help when it comes at least to schools and preparation.

Dr. Peter Drobac, always great to see. You have a wonderful New Year's.

DROBAC: Happy New Year.

SOARES: Happy New Year.

Now, on the final day of a tragic and tumultuous year, the prime minister and parliament can check a massively daunting, contentious and high stakes task of their to-do list. That's ticked.

Coverage of the post-Brexit deal next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:16:03]

SOARES: And we return to the COVID-19 pandemic, and I want to show you this. Cases still climbing in parts of the United States with a record number of COVID deaths reported on Wednesday.

As you could see, California is red and cases there are also climbing. Look at that.

For more on this, let's bring in Dr. Nathan Kupperman. He's chair of the emergency medical department at the University of California- Davis.

Doctor, thank you very much for being with us.

Let me begin with the chilling surge, I think it's fair to say, of cases and deaths in the U.S. Give me a sense of what you're seeing and what your colleagues are seeing in your ER.

DR. NATHAN KUPPERMAN, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS (via telephone): Yeah, we are seeing over the last month an increased number of cases and an increased number of severe cases of COVID here in northern California.

SOARES: Are you at capacity? How are you managing with that? Because we've seen hospitalizations surging dramatically.

KUPPERMAN: You know, fortunately, here in Northern California, although our hospital is full, we are not above capacity. In Southern California, they are experiencing much higher capacities than we are, but we are busy and the patients that we are receiving are sick. So, our ICU is near capacity.

SOARES: Is near capacity.

And the numbers, you know, the numbers as we've just outlined, they are sobering. Yet, it's not taken into account yet, Doctor, the Christmas surge and New Year's. And we've heard Dr. Fauci saying that the darkest days are yet to come.

Do you think that will be the case? What's your worst fear here?

KUPPERMAN: Well, I would agree with Dr. Fauci that given holiday activities and airport activities that we are seeing in the United States over the last week, that I anticipate that there will be further surges in January and February. Unfortunately, where we are here at UC-Davis Medical Center in northern California, we are prepared for the surge and have the ability to expand our ICU capacity to accommodate the sick patients that I anticipate seeing.

So, I would agree, that January and February, maybe are both severe months. SOARES: And how does, you know, the pandemic now feel to you in

comparison to what we saw at the peak at the March, April stage, Doctor?

KUPPERMAN: It's a very good question. So, that early peak in March was not hack for half as big as the peak now, but back in March, we didn't know what we were dealing with. We had a new viral pandemic. We did not know how to treat patients. And we weren't sure if we were transmitting disease to our families and to our loved ones.

Now, the peak is much greater. Yet we are much more experienced in caring for the disease, so we know how to treat patients. We know how to keep ourselves safe and protected, and we are also mindful of everybody's wellness and trying not to burn our clinicians out, because that's a great risk.

SOARES: Yeah. I mean, you know how to treat patients. You are, you know, taking great care, but you must also be exhausted. I have so many friends who are doctors here in the U.K., Doctor, and they are physically and mentally trained, not to mention as one friend told me recently, they are working in constant anxiety.

KUPPERMAN: We -- so you are absolutely true that these times are exhausting both mentally and physically, and you have to be super mindful about that, because people are getting sick. Fortunately at our health system, nobody has died. That no staff has died from COVID.

But given that this is an academic medical center, we are really asking people just to care for patients, get home and take care of themselves.

[03:20:07]

Rest in between their shifts. Don't worry about anything else except for the outstanding care of patients, because this is a time unlike any we have ever experienced. So we are having to be very mindful of people's physical health and mental health as well.

SOARES: Yeah, and worth reminding people that when you're done, everybody is done with their shift, they don't have to go home and look after loved ones as well and families. They all have families.

Let me ask you, Doctor, about vaccinations, because we were told that 20 million doses would be administered by January the 1st, but we are so far off from that target, Doctor.

So, why -- what it would -- what's needed to pick up the pace, do you think?

KUPPERMAN: Well, that's an outstanding question that public health authorities need to answer. We have only administered 2 million doses I think in the United States.

You know, fortunately, the health system like ours, everybody has been immunized, and we follow the CDC recommendations of who is first tier, who is second tier, so emergency personnel, intensive personnel receive the vaccine first, and then on down the line. The administrators, only at the very end.

So, fortunately, the good news is that we feel sort of a shot of hope, and we feel better prepared to care for patients psychologically, because we -- at least the clinicians are protected. But the distribution nationally has been a problem that public health authorities need to answer.

SOARES: Dr. Nathan Kupperman of the University of California-Davis, thank you very much, sir, for all your time and all your work and all of your colleagues. We wish you a better New Year and a healthy New Year too. Thank you, sir.

Now, I want to take you to the U.K. where the post-Brexit trade deal is now ticked, a done deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARONESS ELIZABETH BARKER, NP, UK HOUSE OF LORDS: We also have to notify the house that in accordance with the Royal Estate Acts of 1967, that our Majesty the Queen has signified her royal assent to the following act, European Union brackets Future Relationships Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And there you have it. The law signed by the prime minister approved by the House of Lords has received the royal assent of the queen. It goes into effect 11:00 tonight here in the U.K.

Once again, CNN correspondents are covering all the developments across the Europe.

Salma Abdelaziz is in London for us. Cyril Vanier is standing by in Paris.

Good morning to both of you.

Salma, on any other day, if we didn't have the pandemic, Brexit would have been a top story here. You and I know this very well.

Give me a sense of the news in the country. I know this has been such a divisive issue.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: It is definitely a very depressing and dark time here with all the COVID updates, but finally sort of a sense that at least this chapter is closed. The Brexit war is over. The peace treaty has been signed, if you will, and now begins the new relationship, the new friendship with the E.U.

If you speak to the prime minister, of course, he will tout this as a victory. He says that he's been able to give people, the people of Britain something that they had hoped and wished for in their hearts but never believed it would be true. He delivered that to them. They can now regain control of their borders, of their sovereignty, their national destiny.

This is only going to make the U.K. more prosperous and the E.U. as well a better body, because it has no longer this reluctant member state. Now, it has a best friend, an ally as the prime minister has put it.

But for many, this is, of course, very sad day as well, he said. It is a day in which they have left the E.U., severing ties and lost and identity. You are no longer in some ways, British and European. You are no longer as a young person now able to pick up and moved to Spain or study in Italy or decide to just live in Greece for one year. None of those are options anymore.

And ultimately, the litmus test of this is going to be businesses, ordinary families. How do they fare under these new rules? And now, we get to see that. It's no longer in theory, Isa.

SOARES: Yeah, absolutely.

And, Cyril, for Europe, I mean, there must be breathing a sigh of relief simply because the negotiations have ended. What has been the reaction from Europe, Cyril?

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Isa, I think you are right. Relief is a good way to describe it.

There's not a lot of emotion about this today. I think any tears that we're going to be shed over Brexit, and there were, were shed a long time ago. Europeans knew this was coming for a number of years now, and it was just a matter of how messy it was going to be. Bearing in mind that most Europeans vote that the official level and population level felt that the U.K. frankly had a lot more to lose and the 27 E.U. member states in this.

So, to the extent that Europeans feel their businesses and economy is protected from unfair competition from the U.K., and they do, they are satisfied with the deal that took place.

Of course, those that are fervently pro-European and believe in the European ideal were very disappointed that this happened in the first place, because those who want to see Europe speak with a strong voice on the international stage, it is just undeniable that that voice is not as strong when the E.U. loses one of its biggest, strongest members in the U.K.

[03:25:20]

Now, so, this is -- this is a bitter and to a bitter year, Isa, most people have COVID on their mind. And to the extent that they could still travel to the U.K. for tourism, Europeans, I have to say, are going to be okay with it. You know, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and I don't want to steal your lines, I know you want to touch on this, Isa, but said the day the deal was done we have to put Brexit behind us.

And it feels here that that's what's happened.

SOARES: Yeah. Yet again, Cyril, you are stealing my thunder.

Thank you very much to you both. Great to see you and I'll speak to you in the next hour.

Cyril Vanier there and Salma Abdelaziz.

I want to bring in John Rentoul. He is the chief political commentator of "The Independent" and visiting professor at Kings College.

And, John, you and I have spoken at great length about Brexit outside the Houses of Parliament for many, many years. In fact, it's taken four and a half years for us to get here, John. So, is --

JOHN RENTOUL, CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, THE INDEPENDENT: Four and a half.

SOARES: Yes, exactly. Let's not forget that.

So, is the deal a triumph, do you think, though, for Boris Johnson? Is it a triumph for the U.K.?

RENTOUL: It's a triumph for Boris Johnson, absolutely no question about it. Huge, personal victory for him.

I mean, four and a half years ago he tended to tentatively decided to put himself at the head of the referendum campaign to leave the E.U. and now, nearly five years later, he has done it. He is prime minister and he has gotten us out of the E.U. and he signed the trade deal that a lot of people were skeptical about.

But whether it's a victory for the country depends on --

SOARES: Yeah.

RENTOUL: -- the point of view. Half the country didn't want to leave. Half the country did. So, it divides us right down the middle.

SOARES: Yeah. And I think it's fair to say, and correct me I'm wrong, John, that leaving the E.U. was never really about economic proposition, but rather such an emotionally charged political one. So, what challenges does the U.K. face going forward now that it is in control of its sovereignty?

RENTOUL: Yeah, you are absolutely right. It was not primarily an argument. It was a question of sovereignty and the fact that people did not like free movement of people because they thought that the nation state or (INAUDIBLE) decide who comes and who goes? And that was a very strong feeling.

Now the question is, how much of an economic price do we have to pay for that? And that, of course, is going to be difficult to assess in the middle of a coronavirus recession. But the -- what we don't know is what kind of disruption it will be at the border, especially the Dover Calais border on January the 2nd because -- I mean, January 1st is a bank holiday.

SOARES: Yeah, exactly, these are the things that we will all be looking at and like you said, it is harder to tell because of the coronavirus as well and the restrictions. But, you know, you're pointing on something, you touched on something

that I think really struck me throughout our conversations over the years, is this is been such an emotional issue, John, for so many. It has divided the nation for nearly five years. Like you said it split families and brought down to conservative prime ministers.

Do you think it will never cease to divide the country?

RENTOUL: It won't be a shock, the division from now on. I mean, the Labour Party yesterday had to come to terms with this deal. Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition, asked his MPs to vote for it. So, there was a huge majority for it in the House of Commons.

But it will go on being an issue. I mean, our relationships with our nearest neighbor, the largest market in the world right at our doorstep is going to be a constant issue. There's an awful lot of things that were not decided in the trade agreement that Boris Johnson signed yesterday.

So, there will be continuing negotiations, especially about things like financial services and the things that were left -- the difficult issues that were left to one side, I mean, even fishing issue --

SOARES: Yeah.

RENTOUL: -- which was really complicated. That has not been sorted out definitively. There'll be a five-year transition period.

SOARES: Yeah, and I don't like to say this, because it's such a cliche, but in this instance, it really is a question of only time will tell of how this relationship or how the impact it has on the U.K.

John Rentoul from "The Independent", thank you so much. Great to see you, John. Have a wonderful New Year.

RENTOUL: My pleasure. Thank you.

SOARES: Now, Donald Trump gears up for an early return to the White House as one Republican senator says he'll object to the certification of Joe Biden's win. What that means for you, next.

[03:30:06]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: A warm welcome back to our viewers in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isa Soares and you are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Now, in just a matter of hours, President Donald Trump is set to leave Florida where he spent the holidays and return to Washington earlier than expected. And that means he will be skipping his annual New Year's Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago and be back at the White House ahead of Republican plan to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's win.

Kaitlan Collins explains it to you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a move that will delight President Trump and rankle Republican leadership. Josh Hawley becoming the first Republican senator seeing he will object when Congress meets next week to certify Joe Biden's win, an effort that won't change the outcome, but could set up a showdown in Washington.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: There is a very clear process to handle and dispense with objections from members of Congress to the counting of the results. And that's just what will do. Dispense with them.

COLLINS: Hawley writing, at the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned his caucus against this very move. Seeing it was bound to fail and would force Republicans to defy Trump, or vote against the fair election.

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: So you've either got to say there was no systematic fraud, or Donald Trump had the worst legal team in the history of western civilization. This is a complete sham.

[03:35:02]

COLLINS: Hawley is the first Republican senator to say he'll object, but he may not be the last, as others also consider their political futures.

Meanwhile, the president argued that because the Gallup poll found he was the most admired man of 2020, it also means he won the election. As $600 stimulus checks were being deposited into bank accounts of Americans overnight, the fate of the $2,000 ones that Trump pushed for at the last-minute remained in limbo. As he tweeted: $2,000 ASAP.

McConnell made clear today the Senate won't move forward on a House- passed bill to increase checks to $2,000. And will only consider a bill that includes Trump's other demands as well, which Democrats argue will doom it.

SCHUMER: The only way, the only way, to get to the American people the 2000 dollar checks they deserve and need is to pass the House bill. And pass it now.

SEN. MITCH MCCONELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats' rich friends who don't need bailout.

COLLINS: The president is also lashing out at Republican officials in Georgia, once again, urging the GOP governor he once endorsed to resign from office, while falsely claiming the secretary of state who voted for him has a brother working for China.

President-elect Biden announced today he'll visit the state on Monday, ahead of a high stakes Senate race. The same day President Trump is scheduled to hold a rally there.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello, Georgia.

COLLINS: The focus on the 2020 race and the fate of the Senate majority comes as Trump is back to blaming states for criticism of his own coronavirus response, now saying it's on them to distribute the vaccine and telling them to get moving.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Kaitlan Collins reporting there, traveling with the president in Florida.

And as you heard Kaitlan reporting, Mr. Trump and President-elect Joe Biden are both set to hold campaign events in Georgia, ahead of that crucial Senate runoffs. So far, more than two and a half million votes have been cast in early polling in the state.

Joining me now with this perspective is Inderjeet Parmar, professor of international politics at City University and visiting professor at London School of Economics.

And, Inderjeet, thank you very much for being with us.

INDERJEET PARMAR, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, CITY UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

SOARES: So, President Trump heading back to D.C. to try to disrupt President-elect Biden's certification, which is I believe, mostly ceremonial. So, what's the strategy from the president here?

PARMAR: I think President Trump has succeeded, if you like, in creating a very toxic political environment. One in which there are divisions, particularly within the Republican Party now, which has really riled up and created a lot of confusion and many people's minds particularly with the voter base about the election result itself.

And I think this kind of construction of chaos and confusion is part of a broader strategy to overturn by any means which are available to him, the election result of November 2020. It shows really that President Trump will stop pretty much at nothing to try to overturn that election result, and people around him have been talking about a declaration of martial law, the re-running of key battleground state elections, and now, of course, Joshua Hawley, the senator, has declared he was going to challenge the result in the Senate on the 6th of January.

And I think the confusion is going to be very, very -- sort of damaging one.

SOARES: Let's talk about Josh Hawley. I find it so interesting. He has become the first senator to say he will object to the certification of Joe Biden, but as we heard Kaitlan Collins reporting there, he might not be the last. So, does it have any chance at succeeding is my first question, but also, if it -- if not, why is it exactly easy doing this? Is this a personal gain thing?

PARMAR: Well, it's very little chance of his succeeding because of the numbers in the House and in the Senate with enough Republicans who are going to certify the election, but this is much more posturing for 2024 and the presidential election run that Hawley and others are likely to join. So, there may be Ted Cruz, there maybe Rand Paul, maybe Tom Cotton and many others as well.

But I think they are basically now siding with the kind of Trump-ish line of a stolen election of an illegitimate Biden presidency and trying to stab it in the back theory which is there to kind of keep hold of that electorate. Seventy-four million that have voted for President Trump in November.

SOARES: So, really, perhaps playing to Trump's base for personal gain, looking ahead for his own personal career.

Let's talk about the high stakes race in Georgia, because it is definitely getting very heated. More than two and a half people voted early in Georgia as we said earlier.

[03:40:02]

Who does that bode well for? Because Democrats so far are standing very confident, Inderjeet.

PARMAR: Yes. I think if the pattern of the November election is followed, then Democrats are for more likely to vote early, and therefore that will give that kind of a boost, but on the other hand, you know, Republican voters vote in person and agreed to numbers, but there is an additional factor that the fact that President Trump has created this kind of confusion around the election results and the fact that election officials from the Republican Party in Georgia itself, there are a lot of extreme Trump voters who are saying, well, they are not going to turn out to vote. The vote should be boycotted.

I think that shows that the confusion that he has created could actually come back and blow back against the GOP in the Senate. It could hand the Senate over to President Biden and the Democratic Party going forward, which a major advantage in carrying out some of the mid major agenda items that the Democrats put forward in that election.

SOARES: Professor Inderjeet Parmar, thank you very much for your insight. Appreciate it. Have a wonderful New Year.

PARMAR: Thank you very much.

SOARES: 911 calls have been released from just moments after the Nashville bombing. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: Oh, my God. My entire building just fell down and it's collapsing. I live at (AUDIO DELETED) 2nd Avenue North. Please come.

DISPATCHER: The entire building just collapsed?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Just ahead, the search for motive for the Christmas Day attack and the lead that was missed. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Rescue workers and southern Norway are still searching for up to 11 missing adults and children after a landslide swept away more than one dozen buildings. These incredible images you're looking at show the destruction left behind the residential area, 30 kilometers north of Oslo. At least 10 people were injured, about 900 people were forced from their homes.

[04:45:03]

Saudi Arabia is blaming Houthi rebels backed by Iran for Wednesday's attack on an airport in Yemen. The Houthis have not claimed responsibilities.

Now, officials say at least 22 people were killed in the attack which happened soon after members of the newly formed government arrived from Saudi Arabia. They were not hurt.

An investigation into what caused the explosion is underway. Saudi Arabia had united its two allies in Yemen's civil war against the Houthis to form this new cabinet. This attack is just the latest challenge it's had to face.

Now, new information about the Nashville bomber suggests he could have been making explosives as early as August 2019. And if police had searched the property then, the Christmas day attack may have been prevented.

CNN's Martin Savidge has the latest for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

911 OPERATOR: 911, what is the address of your emergency.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, newly released 911 calls revealing the moments before and after the blast. Just before 5:30 a.m. Christmas Day, the first call comes into Nashville police reporting what sounded like gunfire in the city's tourist district.

CALLER: There have been three rounds of gunshots outside the building.

SAVIDGE: Police respond but instead of a gunman, they find an RV blaring a warning to evacuate the area.

VOICE: If you can hear this message, evacuate now. SAVIDGE: The next 911 calls come after the RV has exploded.

CALLER: Oh, my God, my entire building just fell down. It's collapsing. I live at (AUDIO DELETED) Second Avenue North. Please come.

DISPATCHER: The entire building just collapsed?

SAVIDGE: But it was another call to 911 16 months earlier some say could have prevented the entire tragedy.

DISPATCHER: 911, what is the address of your emergency?

SAVIDGE: August 21st, 2019, an attorney reports he's concerned about one of his clients.

CALLER: Maybe I can diffuse the situation.

SAVIDGE: Police show up at the home of Pamela Perry, who according to the officer's report tells them she's the girlfriend of Anthony Warner, the suspected bomber of the Christmas Day explosion in Nashville who died in the blast. She says that her boyfriend was building bombs in the RV trailer at his residence.

Police also talked to Perry's attorney who tells the officers, Warner frequently talks about the military and bomb making. He stated that he believes that Warner knows what he's doing and is capable of making a bomb.

RAYMOND THROCKMORTON, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR ANTHONY WARNER: I made a report on the spot for him to get checked out. I did all I knew that I could do.

SAVIDGE: According to the report, police go to Warner's home, knock, but get no answer. Police observe there was an RV trailer in the backyard, but the yard was fenced off and police could not see inside. They eventually leave and the report ends.

Supervisors were notified of the incident. Authorities never managed to speak to Warner or get a look inside his RV. The same RV, authorities say, detonated with such devastated force on Christmas Day.

THROCKMORTON: If somebody had checked Tony out and gotten him the help that he needed, then this would have never happened.

SAVIDGE: Late this afternoon, the chief of Nashville's metro police department defended his officers' actions in 2019.

CHIEF JOHN DRAKE, METRO NASHVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: I believe the officers did everything they could legally. Maybe we could have followed up more. Hindsight is 20/20.

SAVIDGE: Martin Savidge, CNN, Nashville.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SOARES: From Paris to New York, one photographer captures the emotional toll of the pandemic. He explains what inspired him. That's coming up next.

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[03:52:28]

SOARES: Becky Hammon makes NBA history again. Hammon made history as the first woman to be a full-time assistant coach in a top tier of U.S. pro basketball. Now she has become the first woman to assume head coaching in the NBA's regular season. She took over when the San Antonio Spur's head coach was thrown out of the game. Hammon won a spot in the history. Congratulations to her. Let there be many more.

Now, photographer Peter Turnley has spent months capturing the raw moments of the pandemic. From lockdown New York to the opening in Paris, he has documented the crisis literally as he has unfolded. And here he explains what led him on this difficult journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER TURNLEY, PHOTOGRAPHER: In the beginning, I didn't have any kind of goal. I was literally existing with my camera.

And I met an ambulance EMT named Mike Galloway. And I asked him to tell me his story. And among other things, he told me he was upset, because he did not think he and his colleagues had enough PPE. And he said, you know, I don't think I'm the only one that feels this way.

After about a month, I got a phone call one night from Mike, and he told me that a legendary New York paramedic named Anthony "Tony" Thomas had just passed away from COVID. It was going to be a ceremony at a funeral home in Brooklyn. He wanted to know if I would be willing to come to photograph this ceremony because Mike and his colleagues wanted to give Tony the send off that he deserved. And I said that would be an honor.

Every night at 7:00, many of the nurses and the doctors of Lenox Hill Hospital would come out and many, many people from the Upper East Side neighborhood would come and express their heartfelt large applause and thanks for these essential health care workers.

This particular night a car pulls up and one of the young men gets up on top of the car with a microphone. He starts to sing the song, "America the Beautiful".

And I saw the woman that is in the cover photograph of my book whose name is Erica. She happens to be from Brazil, has lived in the United States for a long time. She is a traveling nurse. She had left North Carolina to work with COVID patients at Lenox Hill Hospital.

As I looked at her, I saw her put her hand over her heart as she listened to the song. I saw tears in her eyes. What struck me after I made this photograph is they feel that Erica's tears are our tears. She cried for all of us that day. When I returned to Paris, this city that I know so well, what struck

me were two things. One was the universality of this moment, the feelings and emotions that people in Paris were feeling. A similar kind of solidarity, the appreciation that people felt for the people that were saving their lives, the essential workers, all of this was similar to what I had seen in New York.

What was different where some of the visual reference points. I would see the Parisian's that now for the first time in literally three months could come and sit outside and not be isolated at home. The roof opening for the very first day was incredibly emotional for me.

I saw a young couple that were visiting the Louvre from the Ukraine. They said to me, would you mind making us a photograph of us? Because this moment means a lot to us. I said, of course. They touched their masks through each other's lips in a kiss in front of the Mona Lisa. I thought it was so wonderfully symbolic of that moment.

As I made these photographs during these periods of time and during COVID and spoke to people and shared their stories, it has struck me has been the need that we all have worldwide to identify with each other. I believe profoundly that we are all members of our human family.

Everyone on this Earth is my brother and sister. It is with that kind of love for each other, and the recognition and the beauty of our diversity that we can go forward.

Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: There is so much pain in these photos, but also so much beauty, so much humanity there.

Peter Turnley has published his photographs in new book, as you can see on your screen, titled "New York to Paris: Visual Diary of the Human Face of COVID-19."

To learn more about his work and to get a copy, you can go to PeterTurnley.com.

And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Isa Soares. I'll be back in a few minutes for another hour. Do not go anywhere.