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Dems, Cities Across U.S. Report Rise In Violence Amid Pandemic; Central Texas Food Bank Fed 380k Families This Holiday Season; 11 GOP Senators Plan To Back Hawley's Objection To Certification Of Biden's Win; US Tops 20 Million COVID-19 Cases As New Year Begins; California Starts New Year With Record COVID-19 Death Toll; COVID-19 Variant First Seen in UK detected in CO, CA & FL; Source: A Dozen GOP Senators Might Object to Biden Win Despite No Credible Evidence Suggesting Election Fraud; Georgia Voters to Decide Balance of Power in 3 Days. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired January 02, 2021 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of uncertainty and also a lot of hospitalizations as well, Fred. Close to 125,000 people starting their year in the hospital, fighting their COVID infections, so that's certainly underscoring the need to add some more momentum to vaccination efforts across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Friday brought a new year, and with it, another tragic milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic, with the US surpassing 20 million total confirmed infections. It's a reminder that the virus will keep ravaging parts of the country until ongoing vaccine efforts help to slow or stop the spread.
And there lies the challenge, health officials in several states report difficulties in planning a vaccine rollout with no federal mandate in place dictating how to administer the vaccine. The result has been a flawed distribution, leaving vaccination figures far below the Trump administration's goal.
Utah Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican critic of the president, called that inexcusable. Texas reports the state has only distributed a third of the vaccine it's received as of Friday and some hospitals are trying to overcome the logistical challenges of administering the shots, says Michigan ER Dr. Rob Davidson.
DR. ROB DAVIDSON, WEST MICHIGAN ER PHYSICIAN: Well, there have been a few hiccups. They're trying to get as many frontline workers, frontline healthcare workers, vaccinated as possible. We're doing a little bit of a change up in how they're doing the scheduling, so we can get more people, and now reaching out to clinics outside the hospital to get those folks vaccinated and then working with local health departments, on the next level, the people over 75.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Data from the CDC shows New York is over- performing on the vaccination front. Friday figures showed 32 percent of New York's allotted vaccine doses have already been given. That is well above the national average of 23 percent shots administered.
But the real crisis point remains out west in California, which set a new daily record for COVID-19 deaths on Friday. As one state official warned that California is on the brink of catastrophe, this New Year's Eve crowd gathered in LA County, protesting masks and limits on religious gatherings.
DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, INTERNAL MEDICINE AND VIRAL SPECIALIST: It's so disheartening to see some of these people that feel over-privileged, having parties when so many people are struggling.
I just want to take a moment though to thank who I consider the unsung heroes of this pandemic, and these are the average Americans who have sacrificed their family time and their jobs by doing the right thing day in and day out by wearing masks and distancing.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Dr. George Rodriguez tells CNN some medical facilities in his region are using hospital gift shops and their chapels to care for their patients. This weekend, health officials will be watching for more reported cases of a fast moving COVID-19 variant.
KRISTIAN G. ANDERSEN, SCRIPPS RESEARCH, DEPARTMENT OF IMMUNOLOGY AND MICROBIOLOGY: It's still the same virus. It's not different in that it's just that this new lineage here may be transmitting a little better.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Early research suggests the new variant spreads the same way, meaning social distancing and masks offer the best protection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL (on camera): (inaudible) pointed out that Florida also seems to be outperforming (ph) when you compare their vaccine efforts to other states, but still you get that consensus across multiple states here that more needs to be done to try to get these vaccines to as many people as possible. Here in New York, by the way, Fred, the Mayor hoping that up to a million people will receive their vaccination by the end of the month.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And then Polo, Dr. Rodriguez giving thanks to people who have made the ultimate sacrifice by showing some restraint, despite all of these bans on large gatherings, there still continue to be some for New Year's Eve celebrations, people who didn't make those kind of sacrifices that he was talking about. New York City Police, they had to break up a few big celebrations. Tell us more about that.
SANDOVAL: Yes, at least two parties to tell you about, Fred, local authorities raiding two different locations here in New York City not long after midnight. One of them an underground club that was hosting about 145 partygoers in Lower Manhattan or at least downtown, and another not so low key establishment that was busted by authorities after that was hosting close to 300 partygoers.
And we should mention people at both those locations, they were charged with various health code violations, because obviously authorities are pointing to that as a prime example of what people should not be doing.
And remember, New York State, the executive order that was issued by the Governor is limiting any kind of group gatherings to less than 10 people; indoor dining also off limits. So yes, there were definitely - there weren't any crowds in Times Square, or at least no large crowds in Times Square this year, but that didn't keep people - some people from gathering in private.
WHITFIELD: All right. Polo Sandoval, thank you so much for that.
Alright, now let's go to Florida, where a plan to vaccinate its elderly population on a first come first serve basis has led to a lot of long lines, chaos and even frustration. The approach created a scramble for a limited number of doses, hours long wait times at vaccination sites and overwhelmed County hotlines and websites. For more on this, let's bring in Dianne Gallagher at a vaccination center in Florida. So Diane, what are you seeing and hearing today?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so Fred, this is one of the few vaccination centers opened in this part of the state. I'm in Lake County, and well, it's closing up now. They have finished all of the vaccines that people had appointments for today. And that's really been the theme here, there's a lot of confusion in addition to that congestion.
[12:05:00]
When it comes to getting really anybody over the age of 65 now in Florida, a vaccine, Governor DeSantis here is doing things different than the CDC recommendations, which said that frontline essential workers and anyone over the age of 75 should get this next phase of vaccine.
Instead, in Florida, it's anyone over the age of 65, the Governor said essentially, "We don't want to vaccinate young healthy workers, instead of our older, vulnerable population."
Now, the problem is every county is doing it differently. Some are doing it on a first come first served basis and that's where we're seeing those extreme lines of people waiting, older people who are literally camping out overnight just to get a shot at getting a shot.
And then you have the counties that were using appointments, their hotlines were busy, no one could get through, their websites crashed; all of it really just descend into a lot of chaos. And we talked to one woman who showed up here today in Lake County, because well, two days ago, they said it was first come first served, then they switched it back to appointment only. But she and many others didn't get the message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LINDA HEDDEN, FLORIDA RESIDENT: The first thing is to make it darn
clear, you know, don't have the right hand doing something the left hand doesn't know what they're doing, because that's causing a lot of confusion. We're all here in the same boat, we're all anxious about this COVID, and it just needs to be - if the officials have to get together forever, everybody get on the same page.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Now, this particular location will become a first come first served location on Monday. That woman I spoke to there said that if they don't get things straight that they may be looking at, in her words, an elder riot.
And Fred, just to give you an idea of how many people we are talking about 65 and above in the state of Florida, that is 20 percent of the state's entire population that is now eligible for the vaccine.
WHITFIELD: Wow, that's a significant number. All right, Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much, we'll check back with you.
Federal officials had pledged to administer 20 million doses across the country by year's end. But the latest CDC data shows that less than 3 million Americans have actually been vaccinated so far.
Joining me right now is Dr. Megan Ranney, a CNN Medical Analyst and Emergency Physician at Brown University. Doctor, so good to see you. So you call this delay a result of the federal government's failure to invest in distribution plans. What do you see a recovery looking like?
DR. MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: A recovery looks like approaching this like the disaster situation that it actually is, it looks like investing in logistics, it looks like supporting state public health departments and health care workers who are already overextended and are now being asked to do even more.
It looks like getting those 10 million doses that are sitting out there not being used into arms, and doing so quickly and equitably, not forcing people to sit in lines overnight, but creating systems that people can show up, get vaccinated, and know that they're going to get a next dose in three or four weeks.
WHITFIELD: But this really is a consequence of states being empowered, if you want to call it that, to make do with the best they can. But there are many states who don't even have the proper refrigeration, so they can't actually have put a plan in place.
Without some federal assistance or without federal guidance or that leadership, do you see that these states will be able to execute fully any kind of plan?
RANNEY: Fred, you absolutely hit the nail on the head. The federal government funded the development of these vaccines. Starting back in the early days of the pandemic, they could have appropriately funded and helped states create unified plans for distributions of the vaccine at the same time. To think that you can create a vaccine and it's just magically going to get into people's arms is as silly as imagining that states are going to figure out testing or distribution of PPE on their own. That's just not realistic. That's not the way that public health works.
It was an abdication of responsibility on the part of the federal government. The trouble is, we can't wait until Biden gets in place to start to figure it out. So I hope that the federal government will step up in the next three weeks and help support the states.
Otherwise, we're going to be waiting until January 20, until we have a good plan and that funding and support for the states to be able to get vaccines in arms.
WHITFIELD: And if no change in the next three weeks, what kind of potential damage do you see that it will be a continuation of the same?
RANNEY: I mean, it's horrifying, right? We have an end in sight, and yet we can't manage to close the deal. We've got the vaccine sitting out there, where risk of them is they've already been defrosted going bad, which would be just horrific.
[12:10:00]
We also now have this UK variant. And so, getting vaccines in arms quickly is important for stopping the spread of this new variant that may be more transmissible. We're looking at more hospitalizations and deaths that have already been set in motion by the holidays. We're looking at that expanding exponentially.
And of course, health care workers and other essential workers who are getting sick in record numbers. I've seen stories of grocery stores having to close in the LA area, because so many of their workers got sick. I know that I personally have many colleagues who are out right now. We've gotten our first vaccines, but not our second, right, and so people are still getting sick.
It is an exponential cycle of badness. If we don't get these vaccines into people's arms across the country quickly.
WHITFIELD: And already in terms of that variant out of the UK, we're seeing a handful of cases in California and Colorado. How concerned are you that this vaccine will be equipped to be able to address this new variant?
RANNEY: So the first thing is that I'm quite concerned that, although we've identified a handful of cases, that there are probably hundreds if not thousands of cases out there that we just haven't identified.
We do such a poor job in this country of doing genomic surveillance, we didn't really even start looking for this variant until it had been revealed by the UK surveillance that it can become dominant in their country. But - and I am not worried about the vaccine not working for this new
variant. Right now, it looks like our existing vaccines will be successful. But the trouble is, if a variant spreads, it's going to increase the strain on the healthcare system, it's going to increase the number of deaths, and mutations will continue to happen. So although this mutation seems like it responds to the vaccine, the next mutation might not.
WHITFIELD: You already had your first dose of the vaccine. And when you hear that in the UK, there is a push to delay the administering of a second dose, which is very different from how some of these vaccines were tested in their trials, are you concerned that that same kind of method might be adopted in the US, and that instead of what you've marked on your calendar in terms of when you're going to get your second dose that that might move?
RANNEY: Yes, there has been a hot debate on medical and public health Twitter over the last few days about those UK decisions. Listen, Fred, we approved a two dose sequence of both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines based on the data. It is possible that delaying the second dose might be OK.
But you know what, it was also possible that hydroxychloroquine might have worked as a preventive measure. We in science believe in trials for a reason, because you don't know until you do it, and it's not fair to subject the population to something that hasn't been tested.
If all of the factories exploded and we had no more doses, sure, give first doses and don't give second. But based on what we know, based on the fact that we currently have more doses in the US than we've been able to administer, it seems irresponsible to only give one dose and to delay that second, it may result in partial protection, further spread of mutations and further spread of disease.
And I'll tell you, I am looking forward to getting my second dose one week from today. I'll be getting it next Saturday at noon.
WHITFIELD: OK, all right. Look forward to that for you. Give us a follow up on how that second dose feels, because isn't that the case after the trials? Many of those volunteers say it was after the second dose when they felt more adverse effects, but still they felt very comfortable in the long term.
RANNEY: That's exactly right. It is - I actually scheduled my second dose for a Saturday on purpose so that I could have a good 48 hours off before my next ER shift, because we did see a higher rate of kind of body aches, fatigue, low grade fevers after that second dose.
WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Megan Ranney--
RANNEY: But I'm still excited.
WHITFIELD: Yes, I'm excited for you. We want you to be protected. All right, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
RANNEY: Thank you. WHITFIELD: All right, coming up a double defeat for President Trump on
New Year's Day, the Senate deals him a legislative blow after a federal judge dismisses an election lawsuit. Plus, a showdown in Georgia just days before the US Senate runoff elections. We're live on the campaign trail as more than 3 million voters cast their ballots early.
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[12:15:00]
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WHITFIELD: Alright, two major defeats for President Trump this week as his presidency winds down. Now on Friday, a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit from Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert asking Pence the Vice President to interfere in the Electoral College count.
And also on Friday, the Senate voted to override Trump's veto of the Defense Authorization Act. CNN's Sarah Westwood joining me now from the White House. There's a lot on the plate here, but Sarah, first I want to talk to you about this information just in. A GOP source telling our Jake Tapper that now about a dozen Senators might object to Biden's win. What more do we know about this?
SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Fred, a source told Jake that, as you mentioned, roughly a dozen GOP Senators are considering joining Senator Josh Hawley, who is the first and so far only Senator to come out and confirm he will object, in the efforts to overturn the election results on Wednesday, when a joint session of Congress will occur and Vice President Pence will preside over the certification of those Electoral College results.
Now some of the names on the list of those considering joining this effort are fierce defenders of the president like Senator Marsha Blackburn, like Senator Ted Cruz, but it would show just how sharply divided the President has made the party as he pushes during the final days of his presidency for some extreme or some outlandish legislative demands.
And for of course, overturning the election results, even though we just can't stress enough there's no evidence and no basis for doing so. And dozens of courts from the state to the federal level all the way to the Supreme Court have determined as well that there is no evidence on which to overturn the election results.
Now because Hawley, a Republican Senator, had joined with dozens of GOP House members who plan to object, this could be a lengthy and convoluted process on Wednesday. But a judge has also rejected a case by Congressman Louie Gohmert, who brought a lawsuit forward with a handful of other Arizona Republicans challenging Pence's role in counting the votes. That court case has been rejected.
And after days of silence from Pence, even though he was at the center of that lawsuit, Pence finally weighed in in a filing also asking that court to throw out the lawsuit, acknowledging that he does not have the authority to discard Electoral College votes.
Pence has privately told the president the same, but President Trump not showing any signs of letting up on his efforts to get the election results thrown out, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, more contention, but so far no disruption; inauguration still just about three weeks away. Sarah Westwood, thank you so much. Appreciate that.
Alright, since his loss in November, much of Trump's ire has been directed at Georgia, in particular its Republican officials; Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger among them. The Secretary told Fox News earlier today that it's time for Republicans to move on from the last election and focus on winning Tuesday's US Senate run-off races.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER (R), GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: We just have to accept the facts of what happened in the November election. I'm not happy with it and many conservatives aren't either. But at the end of the day, we want to make sure that we have a fair honest election coming up Tuesday, and that's what we fight for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And a big fight it is. More than 3 million ballots have already been cast in the early voting for those runoffs, and those voters tend to lean Democratic, which has Republicans rather worried about the turnout that they will need to win on Tuesday.
Three of the candidates are crisscrossing the state in the final weekend before the election, except Senator David Perdue, who was quarantining after coming into close contact with someone with coronavirus.
Ryan Nobles joins us now live from Jefferson, Georgia, where Kelly Loeffler is in her last weekend on the campaign trail. And so Ryan, what is the level of concern among these GOP campaigns right now?
RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Fred, the situation here with President Trump continuing to kind of sow doubt in this presidential election. And then as an extension, claiming fraud and malfeasance in the Georgia electoral system in particular does seem to become a problem for these GOP candidates, because they are essentially begging President Trump supporters to come out and vote on January 5. And it's a pretty hard argument to make, when at the same time you have the president continuing to say that there were serious problems in the election.
Now, Senator Ted Cruz was among the GOP surrogates that are in Georgia this weekend helping to stump for these Republican candidates. He was with Kelly Loeffler earlier this morning. This is the argument that he is trying to make to Republican voters here trying to have it both ways, saying yes perhaps Trump's claims are true, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't come out and vote. Take a listen.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): But look, they are going to try to steal it, yes, but I'll tell you what we're going to do, we're going to win by a big enough margin; ain't nobody stealing the state of Georgia.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBLES: So that's the argument that they're trying to make. It's still not an easy one, Fred. Already this morning, President Trump has been on Twitter attacking Georgia's electoral system. And it's important to keep in mind that anyone involved in the election system here directly, including the Republicans who ran the system, all say that there's just simply no evidence of fraud.
And that's after three recounts, many of them hand recounts. They recently did a signature match audit of Cobb County, one of the biggest democratic counties and found that it was 99 percent accurate. So there's simply no evidence of it.
But yet the president continues to cause this problem for the Republicans. They'd much rather be talking about control of the United States Senate, but instead, Fred, they're forced to make this very difficult argument.
WHITFIELD: Yes, it's counterintuitive and the president plans to make an appearance on Monday, unclear what kind of message he's going to send on that day just hours ahead of the vote.
Alright, so now let's talk about Senator David Perdue, because he's quarantining right now. But he says he will be present kind of on the campaign trail virtually, whatever it takes, and he's doing this out of an abundance of caution?
NOBLES: Yes, I mean it really is unfortunate timing for Senator Perdue. He is said to have come in close contact with someone who tested positive for Coronavirus. So he and his wife went into quarantine a couple of days ago. He said that he's going to be in quarantine through the rest of the election.
What's interesting, though, is that we've been around covering Senator Perdue's campaign. They've held a number of events inside venues where people are maskless. This event that just happened a few minutes ago behind me inside this restaurant in Jefferson, Georgia was in a very small room.
Many of the people there were not wearing masks and this was the event that Kelly Loeffler just held. So Senator Perdue now forced into quarantine because of this Coronavirus threat. He's done cable news hits, he's tried to make himself available to voters in that respect, but certainly doesn't make his life easy, when they are trying to win every possible vote in the closing hours of this campaign. WHITFIELD: Right, Loeffler is planning to be with the president when
he campaigns there on Monday, still unclear whether Perdue will as well. Brian Nobles, thank you so much.
All right, still ahead, hospitals in California preparing for crisis care as coronavirus cases there explode. The Army Corps of Engineers sent a team there to Los Angeles to help solve a critical problem. Plus, 2020 was a deadly year and it's not just because of coronavirus; major cities reporting a dramatic increase in homicides.
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WHITFIELD: California began the new year by setting a new record for Coronavirus deaths in a single day. State health officials reporting 585 COVID deaths on New Year's Day, that's 153 more than the previous daily high set just a day before.
Hospitalizations and ICU admissions continue to reach new heights across the state, pushing hospitals to the brink of catastrophe. CNNs Paul Vercammen joining me now from a hospital in Los Angeles that will be visited today by a team from the Army Corps of Engineers.
So Paul, what will happen?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they're going to do is the Army Corps is sending this elite group into these hospitals, six of them in the LA area, to check the oxygen supply line with these unprecedented amounts of patients going into these hospitals, such as Whites Memorial. This is being compromised as some of these hospitals or older.
So the Army Corps team of about a dozen members, including engineers and people who are experts at medical design, they're going to go through, assess all the hospitals and then they will go and work on them later, improving everything from plastic tubing to oxygen canisters that in this fight against the virus in California.
And as you pointed out, the numbers are just gruesome. We're also seeing extreme pressure being put on the hospitals in terms of expert staffing. Not everyone is equipped to be that excellent intensive care unit nurse or doctor.
And we spoke with the chief medical officer at County+USC Medical Center, one of the biggest in the country. Right now, they have something like 250 COVID-19 patients.
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DR. BRAD SPELLBERG, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, LA COUNTY USC MEDICAL CENTER: You can't just snap your fingers and make an ICU doctor and an ICU nurse appear. It takes years of training. They are running towards the danger. They are putting on the mask, the face shield, the gown.
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[12:30:00]
DR. BRAD SPELLBERG, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, LA COUNTY USC MEDICAL CENTER: You can't just snap your fingers and make an ICU doctor and ICU nurse appear. It takes years of training. They are running towards the danger. They are putting on the mask, the face shield, the gown. They're going into the contagious patient's room to deliver critical care. How disrespectful is it? Well, frontline workers are putting their lives on the line to go to the mall to shop.
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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And how many are hospitalized in California, somewhere around 21,400. That's how much pressure is being put on this buckling system right now. Fred?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Wow. And Paul Vercammen, I mean, bravo to you for bringing to us every weekend just these very candid thoughts from these doctors and nurses, everyone on the front line, what they're dealing with. And I mean, not holding back and describing the intricacies of how life is being made very hard, you know, on so many levels, but particularly among them and what they're facing on a day to day basis. Thank you so much Paul Vercammen to you and your team for bringing us their voices regularly.
All right, despite the pandemic and recent stay at home orders, homicides in the U.S. are on the rise in major cities, including Los Angeles. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus has that part of the story.
ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the pandemic rages, we've seen crime spike across the country, including here in Chicago. Devastating, that's how one top law enforcement official describes the latest number of homicides, as well as a former gang member.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I normally don't talk about it.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Sometimes, talking about a painful past leads to healing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been shot 10 times at one time, multiple times, and left for dead.
ROBERT WHITE, FORMER GANG LEADER You got to do something with this second chance. BROADDUS (voice-over): Mentoring from the bed of a pickup truck is Robert White, a former gang leader with the Black P. Stone Rangers in Chicago.
WHITE: The average shooter who really get down in this city, ages from 14 to 19.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Fifty-year-old White now works with Chicago CRED, an anti-gun violence organization.
White said the latest homicide numbers are troubling. Of the country's largest cities, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Phoenix, all saw homicide increases of greater than 30 percent compared to the same time last year. But Chicago had an increase of 55 percent, from 491 to 762 homicides through December 27th.
JOHN R. LAUSCH, JR., U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS: 2020 has been a really tough year, nationwide, for violent crime. In particular, in Chicago, we've seen homicides and shootings get really at a staggering number.
BROADDUS (voice-over): John Lausch is the United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
LAUSCH: The shootings and the homicides are up significantly. And if we look, just anecdotally, at what we are seeing, the offenders just seem to be emboldened.
BROADDUS (voice-over): Jens Ludwig runs the University of Chicago's Crime Lab. He helps people understand what the data doesn't show.
JENS LUDWIG, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO'S CRIME LAB: If you look at the gun violence problem, that's usually concentrated among young people, say, 18 to 24. And if you look at the CDC data on mental health, something like 70 percent to 75 percent of people 18 to 24 are showing signs of anxiety, depression, increase in substance use in response to the pandemic.
And I think one of the things that people haven't maybe fully appreciated is how much the social service sector does to help control crime as well. And everything that the social service sector does has also been turned upside down by the pandemic as well, starting with the public schools as well as after-school programs, weekend programs, job training, mental health services, everything.
LAUSCH: And this has been a challenging year, in that regard. So, I think, for a lot of reasons. You know, one, people are walking around wearing masks. You know, that -- that -- that has an impact.
BROADDUS (voice-over): As White and his mentee, John, pledge to help, tears fall faster than both can wipe away.
WHITE: It's not tears of sadness. These are good tears. I want to be able to, like, help other folks get through the pain and suffering because it's -- you know, life is too short.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROADDUS: And remember, some people shot in 2020 will die in 2021 or later. And those numbers aren't captured in this most recent data.
Adrienne Broaddus, CNN, Chicago.
WHITFIELD: Unbelievable efforts there.
[12:34:36]
All right, coming up next, a show of support for President Trump, at least 140 Republicans in the House are expected to defy election results. But is it just a waste of time.
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WHITFIELD: All right, just three days out and it's an all-out blitz across Georgia in the lead up to the Senate runoff vote. Live pictures right now Senator Kelly Loeffler making a campaign stop in Jefferson, Georgia, wrapping up and spending a little close time, FaceTime with her constituents and supporters there.
All right, Feeding America reports some 54 million Americans are going hungry today. That's roughly one out of every six people in this country. And it's a reminder of just how many people are struggling under the weight of this pandemic and the economic crisis that it's brought. So I want to talk about this hunger crisis with Derrick Chubbs right now. He is the President and CEO of the Central Texas Food Bank. Good to see you Mr. Chubbs.
DERRICK CHUBBS, PRESIDENT & CEO, CENTRAL TEXAS FOOD BANK: Thank you, Fredricka, and Happy New Year.
WHITFIELD: Happy New Year to you. Boy, this is a tough start for so many families and individuals, your organization feeding what 380,000 families and that's a milestone for you. How are you keeping up with the demand?
CHUBBS: Well, during the month of November, and that was November alone, we saw the highest number of individuals that we've seen in the 30 year history of our food bank here. And basically what we've been doing is just trying to add more mobile distributions and direct distributions.
We distribute food, like many food banks across the Feeding American network through not only directly but also through around 250 partner agencies that help us distribute the food as well. So we've simply just tried to do more, Fredricka, that's essentially what we've done.
WHITFIELD: Wow, four months now we have seen in some cases miles long, you know, trails of vehicles, people in line in order to get food and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. So I mean, how in the world do you, you know, meet that need? And are you worried that you're simply going to run out of sustenance in which to distribute.
[12:40:02] CHUBBS: Well, I think in the back of every food banks mind is the concern about being able to continue to scale to meet this new demand that we're seeing. And this isn't just us in Central Texas. This is across the Feeding America network. I think you mentioned in your, you know, in your intro that we're across the country in excess of 50 million, that are potentially food insecure, that's up from 38 to 40 million pre pandemic, that 54 million also includes 17 million children.
And this is a demand that we expect to continue throughout the, throughout this new calendar year 2021 because what we've seen is the economic recovery associated with this also impacts our hunger numbers as well. Our friends and neighbors, it will take them a while to recover from this. So we don't expect the demand to decline very much this year. And we expect it or we are planning here for it to flow into 2022 as well.
WHITFIELD: And obviously, there are a lot of families and individuals who are in these lines for the first times ever in their lives. We've heard that sentiment from so many people. What is in these packages? What do you make sure, you know, is in these boxes, these containers of food because of course, everybody's needs are different. But then the bottom line is, so many people have such great needs.
CHUBBS: Well, what we do here in Central Texas is we try and treat it like a trip to the grocery store. We distribute around 30 pounds of food. And we try to ensure that there's protein that there is produce, fruits and vegetables for balance. And we also try to ensure that there are some shelf stable items in there as well. Shelf stable by I mean things that you would normally see if you open up your pantry at home.
And we hope that that will last them for about a week or so depending on the size of the family. But we try and, you know, we try and create some balance and to ensure that everyone no matter how many we have in line for that particular day or that particular distribution gets the same thing.
WHITFIELD: As a food bank in your, you know, business model is about preparing for the worse. But could you have ever prepared for this need for as long of time that you've had to prepare for?
CHUBBS: No, we, you know, none of us and when I talked to my peers from across the country, we didn't expect this. And not only did we have to scale to meet the demand, we also had to take under consideration those steps that we would take to keep our staff and our volunteers as safe as we possibly could.
So we're all balancing both of those priorities, you know, minimizing risks and meeting the demand. And that in and of itself is especially challenging. And then you know, the demand for the food and continuing to purchase more food than we've ever had before. Here in Central Texas, we would normally spend about $100,000 a month for, you know, for purchasing food.
Now we're spending around a million dollars a month to scale to meet that demand. And we're all concerned about how long we will be able to do that.
WHITFIELD: Wow, 10 times more. That's huge. So you talked about --
CHUBBS: Yes, Ma'am.
WHITFIELD: -- your staff, you know, preparing and trying to keep your staff safe. But then organizations like yours are also driven by a lot of volunteers. And I mean, what about people who are just within your ranks, who are -- who have signed up to help distribute and help each other. But then they have found themselves in a situation where they have needs too and they're needing, you know, to get food from you?
CHUBBS: Well, it's interesting that the first thing we had to do was to address social distancing, which means that we could not accommodate as many volunteers as we ordinarily would be able to. For example, for packaging those boxes of groceries that I mentioned earlier, typically in our building we could handle around 100 volunteers at a time. We've had to drop that to about 30.
WHITFIELD: Wow.
CHUBBS: And so that was a challenge. And also the number of first timers that we're seeing, we're seeing individuals who have been donors before, who are now in our lines for the first time saying I never thought that I would have to be here and ask for food for you.
[12:44:59]
So I think what we want to do overall is to try and continue to provide the hope that we've been able to do. And I want to thank everyone across the country who has volunteered for a food bank who has made a donation for food bank, to I want to thank them for what they've done up to this point. But also add in the reminder that this isn't going away anytime soon. We will be looking at these numbers throughout 2021.
WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, I know your thanks goes a long way because there are a lot of people such as yourself who have dedicated so much for good for each other. Thank you so much, Derrick, good to see.
CHUBBS: Yes. Well, thank you very much. And if I could add one last thing, if feedingamerica.org is the website, feel free to go to feedingamerica.org and identify where your local food bank is. And if you cannot donate please volunteer.
WHITFIELD: All right, Mr. Derrick Chubbs, thank you so much CEO of the Central Food Bank. I appreciate your time.
CHUBBS: Thank you very much.
WHITFIELD: All right, more on this breaking news, now a GOP source telling our Jake Tapper that about a dozen senators might object to Joe Biden's win. We'll have the latest from Capitol Hill next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right back to this breaking news from Capitol Hill and a possible objection to Joe Biden's certification. CNN's Lauren Fox joins me now on the phone with more on this. Lauren, what are you hearing?
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well essentially this statement is going to cast doubt on the election results of a fair and free election. We should note that of course this will not change the ultimate outcome. Joe Biden will still be the next president of the United State. But essentially this is a group of conservative senators saying that when an objection is brought, they plan to not approve of the Electoral College results.
[12:50:19]
What this statement does not say is whether or not the senators are going to bring their own objections like Senator Josh Hawley is doing or whether or not the senators are simply just going to vote for Josh Hawley's objection.
Just a quick reminder for our viewers at home, on Wednesday, in a joint session of Congress, Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate will gather for this joint session, and they will essentially go state by state to certify the election results. If there are objections to specific states, they have to be brought by both a House member and a senator.
Now, Josh Hawley has said he plans to join with several House members who want to object to at least one state. He's noted that Pennsylvania might be that state. Once that happens, then both the House and the Senate have to break from their joint session go into their respective chambers, debate for two hours and then hold a vote on each individual objection.
What these senators are saying is that they will vote for Hawley's objection when that vote occurs. Now they're not saying necessarily they're going to bring their own objection. Each additional state objection takes another two hours, Fredricka, so this could be quite the circus on Wednesday. This could be quite the long event.
But I want to read briefly from their statement, they're essentially saying that what they want is Congress to immediately appoint a Electoral Commission with full fact finding authority can -- to conduct this emergency 10-day audit. Now, we don't expect that that's going to happen, especially given the fact that Democrats control the House.
But they go on to say, quote, accordingly, we attend to vote on January 6th to reject the electors from disputed faith as not, quote, regularly given and lawfully certified unless and until the emergency 10-day audit is completed. Again, Fredricka, I don't expect that that's going to happen. But the big picture here is that you essentially have a lot of Republicans nearly a dozen willing to vote with Josh Hawley on this objection. That's significant. Because it essentially cast doubt on our electoral system, which again, time after time, has proven to be something that Americans can trust. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: But Lauren significant because it takes up a lot of time, potentially, but it will not, could not impair the process moving forward that Joe Biden would be inaugurated come January 20th.
FOX: Exactly, exactly. And we should note, Fredricka, that, you know, Majority Leader McConnell has been very clear with his members, that he really had hoped no one would object to any particular states. You know, there's been a lot of drama over the last couple of days, there was a conference call, where McConnell repeatedly called on Hawley to sort of explain to members why he was going down this path.
Now McConnell has made it very clear to his members that this is a vote of conscience. But it's also a very, very important vote. McConnell made it clear, it's one of the most consequential of his more than three decades career in the Senate. And I think that that's just an important reminder here that yes, McConnell is going to give his members some breathing room to vote how they think they need to vote on these objections, in part because they've got a lot of seats to defend in 2022.
But this is a very dangerous path that Republicans are going down. And I think that a lot of members of leadership are very cognizant of the potential damage this could do to not just a Republican Party, but the country at large, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, it is heated. It is volatile. All right, Lauren Fox, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
And all this -- with this just in now to CNN, speaking of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, what now we're understanding that his Louisville home was vandalized overnight hours after a similar crime at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home. Photos taken by a CNN affiliate WDRB shows the words. Where's my money, painted on a McConnell's Kentucky front door.
The graffiti is presumably a reference to McConnell's decision to kill a measure to issue $2,000 in direct stimulus checks. And McConnell did release a statement defending peaceful protests adding, this is different, vandalism and the politics of fear have no place in our society. And then contrast that with what has taken place with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home in San Francisco, it was vandalized with angry messages about the stimulus payments as well. And you can see the tarp has covered up, the graffiti, there on her garage door.
All right, we'll have more news in a moment. But first, from peanut farmer to rocking the White House, see how President Jimmy Carter used his passion for music to win the 1976 election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:55:10]
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Bob Dylan, his band performed in Atlanta and I was governor, so I invited Bob Dylan and the band to the governor's mansion. And my son were very eager to be with a band and I was honored because Bob Dylan asked me to go out in the garden as a matter of fact and have a private conversation with him. And the only questions he asked me were questions about my Christian faith and what it meant to me and basic principles of it.
BOB DYLAN, SINGER-SONGWRITER: When I first met Jimmy, first thing he did was quote my songs back to me. And it was the first time that I realized my songs had reached into, basically, into the establishment world. And I had no experience in that realm never seen that side, so it made me a little uneasy.
He put my mind at ease by not talking down to me and showing me that he had a sincere appreciation of the songs I had written.
He's a kindred spirit to me, very kind, a kind of man don't meet every day and that you're lucky to meet if you ever do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, nothing better than Bob Dylan's voice. All right, you can watch the CNN film Jimmy Carter, Rock & Roll President tomorrow night at 9:00 right here on CNN.
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