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Twelve G.O.P. Senators Now Plan To Oppose Certification Of Biden Win; California Sets Daily Record For Coronavirus Deaths; More States Reporting Cases Of New COVID-19 Variant; Georgia Voters To Decide Senate Balance Of Power In Three Days; Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) Discusses About Trump Casting Doubt On The Senate Runoff In Georgia; Broadcasting Legend Larry King Hospitalized With COVID-19. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 02, 2021 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for being with me.

Breaking today, a routine congressional ritual threatens to blow up into a major political spectacle on Wednesday. That's when a dozen sitting and incoming senators say they will object to the certification of Electoral College votes that confirmed Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.

To be clear, this will not prevent Biden's inauguration on January 20th. There have been no credible allegations of any voting issues that would impact the election results.

Now votes have been counted and recounted. In dozens of states, Federal Courts have affirmed the results of the election and dismissed lawsuits claiming voter fraud or alleging irregularities because of lack of evidence.

Governors, state election officials, Departments of Homeland Security and Justice Department have all said the election was secure and the results are accurate.

CNN's Boris Sanchez joins us now from the White House. Boris, we're starting to see some pushback from some rank and file Republicans who do not support these efforts by their G.O.P. colleagues. What more can you tell us?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Ana. We are at a fork in the road for the Republican Party moving forward with these dozen senators going against the wishes of the Republican leadership.

For weeks, Mitch McConnell had lobbied senators -- Republican senators to avoid getting into this scenario. These dozen Republicans not opting for that largely for their own political expediency. I very quickly wanted to point out, the President actually just

tweeted about them, saying, quote, "After they see the facts, plenty more to come. Our country will love them for objecting to the Electoral College certification on January 6." So the President finally weighing in today.

Of course, the facts that he is talking about, we haven't seen them. We're now almost two months after Election Day and the Trump campaign has nothing to show for widespread electoral fraud except for a staggering number of losses in court.

Very quickly, I wanted to point to two Republican senators who today are coming forward and standing against this objection from Ted Cruz and company. One of them is Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of these states where conspiracy theorists are spinning the idea of Electoral College fraud.

He writes, quote, "I voted for President Trump and endorsed him for re-election. But on Wednesday, I intend to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others."

Another Republican coming forward against this objection is Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a frequent critic of President Trump's. She writes, quote, "I will vote to affirm the 2020 presidential election. The courts and state legislatures have all honored their duty to hear legal allegations, and have found nothing to warrant overturning the results."

Those two points from Murkowski and Toomey, so vital. They have found nothing to warrant overturning the election results, and Toomey's point about the disenfranchisement of millions of voters. While this is being done for political expediency by these Republican senators, let us not forget that they are ignoring the will of millions of voters who cast their ballots on November 3rd for Joe Biden.

And we should point out, many of these lawmakers that are going to object to the electoral college results, they were on the same ballots counted in the same way, the same systems electorally that ended up putting them in office, also put Joe Biden in office. There is no evidence for the claims that they are making today -- Ana.

CABRERA: Right, and they're just perpetuating this conspiracy theory. They are amplifying it and that of course, is harmful. It's harmful to society, and especially the American democracy.

Boris Sanchez at the White House for us, thank you.

For much more on this, let's bring in CNN senior political analyst and columnist at "U.S.A. Today," Kirsten Powers; White House correspondent for Yahoo News, Brittany Shepherd, and CNN legal analyst, Elie Honig.

Kirsten, let me start with you. This, you know, isn't one or two fringe Republicans clinging to this conspiracy that Trump was cheated out of a second term. This is the vast majority now of elected Republicans in the House and a sizable number, a dozen or so Senate Republicans keeping this conspiracy alive. Have we ever seen anything like this?

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No. I mean, certainly not in my lifetime. And it's -- you know, the idea of having two political parties is that there is supposed to be a tension between them and they're supposed to be, you know, a healthy democracy would have two healthy political parties.

But the Republican Party is not behaving like a healthy political party. They are, like you just said, these are conspiracy theories. I mean, their allegations have been disproven over and over. They haven't been able to convince Republican judges to go along with it.

They haven't been able to convince a Republican Supreme Court -- a mostly Republican Supreme Court to go along with it. And so you know, they are continuing to tear up down our democracy, all in furtherance of their own political goals, which they have their futures, which they have tied to Donald Trump. I mean, that is what is going on here.

The only people that are doing this are the people who believe that their fortunes are tied to Donald Trump and that there is nothing more important in this role, apparently than maintaining power.

[18:05:22]

CABRERA: Brittany, is there any sense of how much these lawmakers are in touch with the White House about all of this? Are they coordinating with Trump or his legal team?

BRITTANY SHEPHERD, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, YAHOO NEWS: Well, clearly, Ana, any doubt that Trump's influence has waned during this lame duck period on the Senate that we've been hearing about in D.C. should be dissolved.

Clearly, the gang of crews and more in the House believe that Donald Trump has a kingmaker influence even if he is not going to have the throne after January 20th, and it is a coalition, I believe, that will probably build as the week goes on.

Of course, it's a very busy week. There is going to be this little special election happening on Tuesday and what's happening here in D.C. sets up this dangerous precedent of what's happening in Atlanta and the rest of Georgia and that is a little bit of what Republicans want to get at because if any Democrat skirts a win on Tuesday that this precedent then sets up that that result can be thrown away even though it's the same exact election where two Republicans have a very strong chance of winning, too.

And it creates and perpetuates the cycle of what we've been dealing with for the past two months that Democrats and especially the Biden Campaign, believe would finally be over in the New Year.

It's definitely vaccine Democrats and especially Biden, who is promising to be a bipartisan lawmaker. But you know, a friendship with Mitch McConnell on the back end is one thing.

But entering the White House with the Congress that legitimately wants to strip you of your title before you even have it is something completely different and so is about some chaos in the democratic process and this transition process has already been gummed up by the G.S.A., and so much more that is just really, really vexing people here.

CABRERA: Elie, the 11 senators who are joining Josh Hawley's objection released a statement, I just want to read part of it. "The election of 2020, like the election of 2016 they write was hard fought and in many swing states narrowly decided. The 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud violations, of lax enforcement of election law and other voting irregularities."

They go on to say, "Allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes." They say, you know, it's not just, you know, one candidate who is making these allegations or who believes these allegations, it's --you know, much more of the population. But it comes down to allegations -- allegations that the President was spreading throughout the year leading up to the election.

And of course, after the election as well, all these allegations that the Trump legal team and his allies have failed to prove that there's any evidence to back them.

So what is the legal strategy behind any of this? Is there a legal strategy here?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, there's no reasonable legal strategy, Ana. I mean, I want to be clear for our viewers. This is 100 percent political circus, zero percent legitimate legal or constitutional movement that we're seeing here.

And what you said is exactly right. This use by this group of Senate Republicans of the term "allegations" is mighty generous to themselves. One of the great things about our legal system is you have to have facts, you have to have proof.

And there has to be such thing as objective truth and reality. And I think the President's tweet that Boris just read us when he said after they see the facts, I mean, what are we waiting for? It's January. Where are these facts? It's too late anyway. They've been firmly rejected, as you said before, by everyone from D.O.J. to D.H.S. to courts across this country. So it is political showmanship. It's a dead letter legally.

CABRERA: Kirsten, on December 14th, Senator Mike Braun, he released a statement accepting Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, saying, quote, "We must put aside politics and respect the constitutional process that determines the winner of our presidential election."

The next day, Senator Ron Johnson echoed that calling the Electoral College result legitimate, but today, they both flipped. They both have signed on to this effort. So what changed in the last couple of weeks?

POWERS: They must have thought that people were going to be reasonable and sane and recognize what they were saying was true. Maybe they didn't gamble on the fact that President Trump was willing to drag this out to the extremes that he has taken it to.

And so now, they are, like I said, apparently because they feel tied to him and they feel that he has -- they have to have his voters behind them that they have to be behind this.

But let's remember the Republican Party can barely say a sentence without talking about the Constitution. They always love to talk about constitutional conservatives and they care about the Constitution, and then look at what's going on here.

You know that -- and it's not just that, it's the people who do it the most. It's the Ron Johnson, it's the Ted Cruz -- the people who are talking about this the most, who are now, you know, causing real damage and we cannot drive that home -- that point home enough of the fact that democracies are not a foregone conclusion. You know, they are fragile and they have to be protected and what they're doing has long term consequences for the future of this country.

[18:10:32]

CABRERA: Brittany, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Republicans to vote their conscience on January 6th, apparently for 12 of them that means voting to reject Joe Biden's victory.

McConnell is famous for keeping Senate Republicans united. Does this episode suggest his influence is waning?

SHEPHERD: Certainly. So, if it's a battle against Mitch McConnell versus Trump, it's clear that McConnell does not have his ducks in a row in the way that he thought. I mean, so much so for 12 senators to make this accusation based on nothing in reality, in that letter, even that they forwarded saying they were doing it because the American sentiment is on their side.

Truly, that's not the case. You look at any poll shows that over 60 percent Americans believe that the election is free and fair. Mitch McConnell can't sit them down and have very basic conversation that they can begin to legislate on COVID relief for the hundreds of thousands of people who are out of a job. Clearly, he might not be well suited for his job as the head of the Republican Party.

CABRERA: Elie, McConnell wouldn't say if he was considering sanctions or punishment for senators who object to the election results. But when it's all said and done, could they face any blowback, particularly those who are lawyers? Could they face punishment from the Bar Association?

HONIG: Sure, it could be in play. I mean, if you're a lawyer, you have a basic duty to fair play and to be truthful in the courts, and I would argue in Congress as well.

Mitch McConnell, by the way, gets no credit here in my book, saying vote your conscience. That's nonsense. This is not a vote of conscience, of what you feel or what your vague feelings are. This is a vote that needs to be based on the facts, on the law and the Constitution.

This conscience stuff is nonsense. He needs to come out more strongly and just say this is something that is against our Constitution. I will not stand for it. Until he does that, I don't give him any credit.

CABRERA: Elie Honig, Kirsten Powers and Brittany Shepherd, thank you all.

Meanwhile, right now in California, hospitals are being pushed to their breaking point. And the state just yesterday, set a new record for daily deaths from COVID-19, more than 500 in just one day. We'll go there live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:12]

CABRERA: Welcome back. New numbers out of California today showing just how grim the coronavirus pandemic is getting. More than 53,000 new cases reported in that state and so far, 386 deaths in one day today.

Right now, hospitals are at or near capacity in much of the state. More than 20,000 people are currently hospitalized and a sobering statistic here from health officials in Los Angeles County.' They say a life is being lost every 10 minutes because of COVID.

CNN's Paul Vercammen joins us now from LA. Paul, the reality is the situation is getting more dire by the day.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is getting more dire by the second. Here at White Memorial in Boyle Heights, they have 180 COVID 19 patients. The ER head just telling me, the sound of the alarms going off in the room because of oxygen issues are tremendous.

And here's what's going on now. The Army Corps of Engineers has just sent in an elite team into this hospital and it is looking at six others and they are trying to figure out ways to get more oxygen, improve the pipeline, if you will, to these gasping, desperate patients who are fighting for each breath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. JULIE BALTEN, U.S. ARMY CORPS: We went to one hospital, and they had two tents outside and one of the tents -- one of the tents they were seeing COVID patients and it is just -- they were tied into their mechanical systems, and so that's just an additional strain.

So we're trying to assess how we can reduce the strain on their facilities and their mechanical spaces and O2 oxygen distribution as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And so after the Army Corps could finish this up on these surveys, they will go ahead and make recommendations. They will see improvements to these hospitals throughout the Los Angeles area.

The system is just being stressed beyond belief because not only are all of these COVID-19 patients walking in, so are people who have fallen off ladders, suffered a gunshot, a heart attack, been in a car accident and the doctors telling everyone they need people to stay at home and take the heat off them and keep people out of these hospitals, especially the emergency rooms and the ICU units -- Ana.

CABRERA: Let's hope people are listening and taking that message to heart. Paul Vercammen, thank you.

The Centers for Disease Control updating the country's coronavirus vaccine numbers just a short time ago. So here's where we're at. As of today, about 4.2 million people have received the first dose of one of the authorized vaccines even though the C.D.C. says more than 13 million vaccine doses have been distributed throughout the country.

CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Lake County, Florida, and it's good that you're covering Florida today, Dianne, because you have some details about that mysterious variant of this coronavirus that was just detected in Florida. What do health officials now know about it?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana, you know, we've heard about this variant of COVID-19 that was first discovered in the United Kingdom and we've heard about cases here and there in the United States. But this one in Florida may have been the earliest detected case now.

A 23 year old man in Martin County, Florida that's in South Florida. Now, according to the Health Department, he is not showing any symptoms at this point of COVID-19, but he does have that variant. And here's the key, he has no travel history.

So that likely means it's somewhere here in Florida, they are busy doing contact tracing right now, a state representative from the area talked about why this is so frightening to them, and why it really hones in on the vaccine program and why it's so important.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOBY OBERDORF, FLORIDA STATE HOUSE: All research has shown that the current vaccination processes do not have any negative effect on this. In other words, the vaccine itself does work very well against this particular strain.

So again, we need to get this vaccine distributed and get it out there faster and faster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: And it's a distribution that we're talking about the struggles here. In the State of Florida, every county is kind of doing something different. Some of these counties are distributing the vaccine on a first come first served basis.

Others are doing appointments and we've seen their phone line, their websites crash because there's so much interest because the State of Florida isn't necessarily going with the C.D.C. recommendations on the next wave, Ana. The Governor of Florida instead of going with the recommended 75-years-old and above, as well as frontline, essential workers for this next phase, well, Governor Ron DeSantis says instead Florida is going to do everybody over the age of 65.

Just based on residents alone, that's 20 percent of Florida's population. The vaccine is very much in demand here. We have seen elderly people literally camping out overnight, trying to get that vaccine because it is in some counties being given on a first come first serve basis.

[18:20:32]

GALLAGHER: Here in Lake County, they ran out of the vaccine. They have given it to as many people as they can. They are waiting for their next shipment where they will then be distributing it on a first come first serve basis.

All day today, Ana, people have been coming in this parking lot, looking to see where the vaccine is going to be saying that I guess I'll be the first person here when it comes back to lineup.

CABRERA: Okay, Dianne Gallagher, thank you for setting the stage there, what's happening in Florida. Joining us now to discuss more broadly CNN medical analysts, Dr. Esther Choo and Dr. Seema Yasmin.

Dr. Yasmin is also the author of the new book "Viral BS." And let me ask you Dr. Yasmin, excuse me, there are now new concerns about the spread of this fast moving variant that was first detected in the U.K., but now found in multiple states. How can the U.S. get its arms around how widespread this new strain is?

DR. SEEMA YASMIN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So I think that's the bad news that now we're detecting it in Americans who have no travel history to the U.K. where this variant was first detected. That's our sign, Ana. That's the signal that this variant has been here. It's been spreading possibly for weeks, if not even months.

And the fact that the U.S. is doing such a tiny share of the world's coronavirus genome sequencing means it's here. We haven't found it because we have not been looking for it.

Now a lot of countries have reacted to this news of the new variant of the coronavirus with travel restrictions and closing borders. I don't think that's effective often because it's too late by that point anyway.

So really our best measures against stopping the spread of the coronavirus in general, including the new variant goes back to what we've been saying nearly all of 2020 and now we're going to be repeating for many months in 2021, that we need to slow the spread of this virus.

To do that, please wear a mask, continue physical distancing, don't travel and limit gathering. That's what it comes down to. Until of course, we've vaccinated the 260 million Americans that it will require for us to achieve herd immunity and really end this pandemic.

CABRERA: Dr. Choo, we have now learned that this Florida case of the new U.K. variant was collected, I think it was back in December 19th, earlier than originally thought. So what does this mean for just, you know, how prevalent it may be in the U.S., and also, I guess help explain why it's important to really get our arms around where it is and how much it's infiltrated all places in the U.S.?

DR. ESTHER CHOO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes, I would echo a lot of what Dr. Yasmin just said. I mean, the thing about this new variant is that it's a lot stickier than the old one, it appears to be, which means it just the spread is -- it's more efficient in spreading.

And it doesn't look fortunately like this makes you sicker or leads to more severe disease, but it's even better at what it was good at to begin with, which is being easily transmitted from person to person.

So I think now it looks like we're going to be doing more genomic surveillance. We will likely detect it in many other states. And I think the message here is, if we were ever concerned about how much this virus can travel from person to person, if we were ever inclined to do things like face mask wearing or social distancing, we should be more inclined to do it now because taking a break from these measures is not going to go over well with a virus that's even better at spreading than it was before.

CABRERA: In the U.K., health officials are now saying that you can wait up to 12 weeks to get the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Dr. Fauci says the U.S. won't follow their lead because this vaccine was only tested with a three-week interval between doses, but the U.K. is defending its plan today saying this. "It is clear looking at the data that the protection from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after one dose, after 14 days is 90 percent."

Dr. Yasmin, what's the right answer here is? Is there data to suggest that it could be effective if you wait longer than the three weeks that were tested during the trial?

YASMIN: Nope. In one word, Ana, that data does not exist as you just said, 14 days, yes. But at 21 days, yes. But then on that 21st day, in most Phase 3 clinical trials, people who are receiving that Pfizer- BioNTech vaccine were getting their second goes on the 21st day.

So for the U.K. government to now be saying, hey to tens of thousands of vulnerable older Brits, we know we gave you a fair shot three weeks ago, we even know you have an appointment for your second dose three weeks after that. But hold off, we're going to cancel tens of thousands of appointments, we're going to call you back not in three weeks, but in three months.

[18:25:22]

YASMIN: The data does not exist to actually support that policy change when it comes to that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and that's why, Ana, there has been massive uproar in the U.K. GPs, in particular, primary care doctors absolutely furious that they're having to cancel appointments, because that's just a lot of work on already overburdened healthcare systems.

But then they're now on the phone with folks having to explain to them that we don't know what this means for you walking around four weeks, five weeks, six weeks after your first dose without a second follow up dose. We don't know how protected those vulnerable folks are, because we just don't have the data to tell them.

CABRERA: Dr. Choo, we know there are millions of doses of these new vaccines that have shipped out. We are now over 13 million doses that have been distributed, four million shots have gone into arms, and a lot of people who need these vaccinations most still aren't getting them, why?

CHOO: It's really frustrating, particularly because we have seen this issue coming. I mean, the states that -- the people in the states who need to do vaccine distribution are the people who are also in charge of testing and contact tracing and public messaging and just a whole heap of responsibilities that they didn't have at this time last year.

And then on top of that, they have to educate and mobilize a whole healthcare workforce, create space, manage distribution, manage policies around vaccine distribution, figure out how to track vaccine.

I mean, this is a huge lift, and we've given states very little money or resources or central guidance to do this enormous job.

I will say, everybody I know is trying night and day. You can see vaccine distribution and administration accelerating over the course of the past week. So I think we're going to get there, but we're asking exhausted people to do an almost impossible job at breakneck speed.

So there's a very understandable roadblock that we've come to.

CABRERA: What you are doing Doctors, is heroic. Thank you so much for all that you do. Dr. Esther Choo, Dr. Seema Yasmin, thanks for being with us.

YASMIN: Thank you, Ana.

CHOO: Thank you.

CABRERA: We are just three days before the Senate runoff now, election in Georgia, President Trump and some Republican lawmakers are casting doubt on the state's voting process.

I'll talk with Georgia as Lieutenant Governor, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:18]

CABRERA: In Georgia, things are building to a fever pitch with the Tuesday election that will determine the Senate balance of power. Today, Texas Senator Ted Cruz campaign for Sen. Kelly Loeffler and refer to a bogus claim pushed by President Trump that Democrats stole the November election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): But look, are they going to try to steal? 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 in the State of Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Meanwhile, Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who's been on the receiving end of the President's wrath since November is trying to make it clear that there's been no voter fraud in his state.

(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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

RAFFENSPERGER: And that's what we fight for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: More than 3 million early votes have already been cast in Georgia and Monday brings out the big political guns. President-elect Joe Biden will be turning out to support Democrats, Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. Meantime, President Trump and Vice President Pence will stump for Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. By the way, Sen. Perdue has been off the campaign trail after he was exposed to someone with the coronavirus. And it's unclear if he'll return to public campaigning before Tuesday's election.

Joining us now is Georgia's Lieutenant Governor, Geoff Duncan. Thank you for being here and Happy New Year to you. President Trump is headed to your state on Monday after calling for the Governor of your state, Brian Kemp to resign. He's taken some shots at you. He's been launching these baseless attacks on Georgia's voting system. And in fact, just a short time ago, the President cast doubt again on the election results in Georgia via tweet. So based on all of that, how concerned are you about what he might say to a crowd on Monday?

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): Well, unfortunately, the President has continued to choose to be negative and continue to fan the flames on misinformation and election fraud. I'm concerned that it continues to be a distraction for the ever so important election on January 5th for Republicans here in Georgia, but also Republicans all over the country.

I'm concerned that Republicans continue to use the illusion of election fraud as an excuse and certainly it's not. We need to take some time to evaluate where things went wrong and we've only got four years to figure it out and certainly I'd like to be a part of that process along with millions of other Republicans.

CABRERA: Well, and yet there are still many other Republicans, including those in the highest places of power for our country who are holding on tight. And in fact are planning to essentially reject the election results. We learned that a dozen senators will join more than 140 congressmen in rejecting Joe Biden's electoral victory when they have the responsibility to certify those electoral votes from all the states in one place. What's your reaction to this?

DUNCAN: Yes. I think personally, it's a sideshow. I think it's a distraction. It keeps us away from short-term helping Kelly and David win the election on January 5th. I think long-term it hurts the brand of the Republican Party. It slows down the process of figuring out what GOP 2.0 looks like and where we're headed. But it is what it is and we've got to just continue to go to work and hope enough Republicans show up on January 5th.

Look, I choose to support law enforcement. I choose to believe facts, and figures, and real information. Here in Georgia, we've had every courtroom from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. rule in favor of our election here in the validity of it. We've had law enforcement officers, post certified investigators, the GBI, you name it, they've been on the scene to make sure that we had a fair legal election here in Georgia and that's where I choose to hang my hat and base my information and decisions.

[18:35:07]

CABRERA: Is it irresponsible what they're doing? Is it dangerous what they're doing?

DUNCAN: Yes. I do think it is irresponsible to fan the flames of misinformation that is actually factually not true. It's a distraction. But look, I'm focused on Kelly and David. I'm focused on getting them across the finish line on January 5th and making sure that we have a firewall protection against the Biden the administration that has promised to raise taxes on small business owners and do some other things that we don't agree as Republicans.

But on January 20th, we have that constitutional right to fight hard and I'm going to be a part of that process.

CABRERA: We know more than 3 million Georgia voters have already cast their ballots in these runoff elections. The latest early voting numbers out of your state show that voting is higher in the Democratic strongholds in Republican areas. And now we have the President who's called this system a fraud. He has to convince supporters to still vote. Is it too little too late do you think?

DUNCAN: Look, I don't think there's any way to model this election and what turnout is going to look like. I've never seen a marketing campaign like this in my life. I mean, there's over $500 million have been spent in an eight or nine weeks; TV, radio, billboards, everything in the world. Your mailbox is stuffed, full.

But look, all I know is here in Georgia millions of Georgians support conservative leadership. All eight statewide constitution officers, including the Gov. Kemp and myself are Republicans. We've got Republican majorities in the State House and State Senate.

Our job is to remind folks here in Georgia that conservative leadership has gotten us to where we're at here today. And we need to make sure that it continues to represent us at the U.S. Senate.

CABRERA: Why do you think then the Democratic turnout appears to be stronger at least in those traditionally Democratic areas than in Republican areas right now?

DUNCAN: I have no way to explain that other than to know that we're working hard. I know that Sen. Loeffler and Sen. Perdue even in a quarantined environment is out working hard to remind folks here in Georgia to make sure they show up and vote on Tuesday, and make sure their voice is heard, and certainly going to be proud of this election just like we were the last one despite the fact the guy I voted for didn't win the Presidential election.

I do remind folks that 53.7 percent of Georgians voted for a Republican State Senator and as the President of Senate, I'm proud to get to go to work with those folks on January 11th in our next session.

CABRERA: Are you still getting threats or do you know if others in the government, the Governor, the Secretary of State, are they still getting threats?

DUNCAN: It continues to be a very tense situation here. I'd prefer not to talk specifically about security threats. But it's continued to be an intense period of time and it is troubling to know that folks on the other end of a phone or an email or a message in your mailbox are sending it because you're just following the law and you're doing your job. But it is what it is. I signed up to follow the letter of the law and if that requires me haven't have extra security in my family then so be it, I'm going to continue to follow the letter of the law.

CABRERA: I know that safety of Georgians and, of course, your family but more broadly is very important to you, the coronavirus is raging across the country. And also there in Georgia, Gov. Kemp saying your state is at a critical point that you've opened an emergency field hospital at the Georgia World Congress center. Give us a sense of how desperate it's gotten.

DUNCAN: Yes. Certainly Gov. Kemp has just been so solid for us and a great cornerstone in helping us through this coronavirus. Look, we're like every other state working through an increased infection rate. We're also working through a distribution plan for our vaccine.

At the end of the day, the most important thing we can do is make sure that there's enough healthcare facilities and workers available for our patients and our folks that are infected and need critical care. Gov. Kemp has done a great job making sure that that continues to be the case. We're going to continue to monitor the situation.

But certainly, these are some tough times and we've got to get through this and get ourselves into the early summer so that vaccine can truly change the trajectory of this virus.

CABRERA: Real quick, if you will, more than 445,000 doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, we have learned, have been shipped there to Georgia. But just over 75,000 doses have been administered, why is that and what do you need to help make this process more efficient?

DUNCAN: Well, we continue to work closely with our private sector partners in the distribution plan also with our government agencies, continue to focus on long-term care facilities and health care workers to start with. I know that process is spooling up and certainly we're going to look for every opportunity to create more efficiencies and be even quicker at distributing that.

Certainly, it's a learning process and Gov. Kemp has continued to work hard to make sure that we get as many folks vaccinated as quickly as possible and in a safe format.

CABRERA: Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan of Georgia, thank you very much.

DUNCAN: Absolutely. Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:51]

CABRERA: More breaking news this time out of Michigan where CNN has learned that three people are dead after a plane crashed into this home in Lyon Township, that's just outside of Detroit. Local law enforcement saying the pilot and two passengers are believed to be dead. However, officials say everyone inside the home is reported to be out. We'll continue to update you as we learn more on that.

Even more breaking news now, CNN host and talk show legend Larry King is in a Los Angeles hospital with coronavirus. The details emerging just a short time ago. Let's bring back CNN's Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter. What have you learned, Brian?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Larry King helped to define CNN as one of the prime time hosts here from 1985 all the way to 2010. He has continued to be active in the media world ever since. But in recent weeks, he has been sidelined by the coronavirus and we know now that he's been hospitalized due to the virus and he has been in the hospital for more than a week now.

This is a reporting from CNN Brad Parks citing a source close to the family saying that he has been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center there in L.A. for more than a week. Of course, Cedars-Sinai are one of the best medical centers in the region, world class treatment there in West Hollywood near Beverly Hills, the kind of place that many people seek out for treatment.

We know that King has been there for more than a week and according to this source, due to the protocols of the hospital, King's children, his sons have not been able to visit with King. That, of course, makes sense sadly, given all that we've learned about this virus in the last nine months.

When you think about high profile people that have come down with coronavirus and had to been hospitalized, you think of President Trump but also Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, there have been a number of household names who have had to head to the hospital as a result of this virus. And of course, Christie, Giuliani, Trump all able to go home after a matter of days.

Larry King is 87. He's had a number of health struggles in recent years, including a very severe stroke back in 2019, which he was able to recuperate from in 2020.

[18:45:04]

I mentioned, Ana, he has been active, he's been working, hosting shows for Ora TV, covering the recent presidential election. But I think most CNN viewers remember Larry King Live at 9 pm Eastern Time as a signature program here on this network helping to define the network.

I always loved King's short, sharp questions. He was able to get people to reveal so much through his questioning of celebrities and politicians. And hopefully in a few days or weeks, he'll be able to reveal what his COVID-19 experience was like in the hospital.

CABRERA: Oh, we certainly wish him the very best and pulling for him, we're sending him all of our strength and best wishes. Brian Stelter, thank you.

From peanut farmer to rocking the White House, we'll take a look at how Jimmy Carter used his passion for music to win the 1976 election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:49:35]

CABRERA: If it hadn't been for a bottle of scotch and visit from a rock star, Jimmy Carter might never have been elected. A new CNN film charts the mostly forgotten story about how a Georgia peanut farmer, short on money and name recognition, forged a bond with some of the biggest names in music and use their support to become the 39th President of the United States. Here's a preview of Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President.

[18:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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. 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.

[MUSIC]

DYLAN: 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)

CABRERA: Joining us now, CNN Political Analyst, Historian and Author of Jimmy Carter, Julian Zelizer. So Julian, it's nice to see you. Happy New Year to you. At first glance, Jimmy Carter doesn't really strike anyone as a rock and roll type of guy, but he really bonded with some of the biggest musicians at the time. The Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Dylan, why? Why were these icons so drawn to a peanut farmer from Georgia?

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you have to remember in the aftermath of Watergate and Vietnam, many Americans didn't trust the presidency anymore. And Carter promised to be humble, he promised to be honest, he was pretty counterculture in 1976.

And so a lot of these musicians really saw something very appealing about a candidate and then president who promised to strip down the presidency and to listen to what Americans actually wanted, rather than trying to impose their own agenda.

CABRERA: Carter wasn't only personal friends with them, but these musicians, they campaign for him, they did fundraisers for him, how much did that actually help Carter in pursuit of the White House?

ZELIZER: It mattered. Look, many things mattered in terms of his victory in 1976, but The Allman Brothers, for example, helped him to raise money. They performed concerts, which was a big attraction and then just by associating himself with people like the Allman Brothers or Jimmy Buffett or some of the other singers, he gave off the impression of voters that this wasn't your ordinary Democratic candidate.

And so I think it was important. Again, it didn't caused him to win, but it certainly helped.

CABRERA: What are some of the ways you saw music influence Carter's politics?

ZELIZER: Well, I mean, Carter was someone who didn't always listen to what he should do politically, but what was important. And this was kind of a big message of singer-songwriters in the 1970s to try to get new ideas into the mix, not just to follow the status quo and I think in many ways that's who Jimmy Carter was. He focused on conservation and energy policy, when people weren't thinking about that or human rights in Camp David.

And so I think he was very rock and roll in many ways, even though again, we don't think of him that way.

CABRERA: Carter obviously saw music as a big unifier and, of course, now we're experiencing such a politically divisive time. What role do you think music could play in bringing the country back together?

ZELIZER: I don't know. It's a great moment in the film where he talks about why he likes music and he believes this is something music, popular culture that has the potential to unify us. But we're in a different age where it was so fragmented right now that even the music becomes very polarized when it enters into politics.

But I'm a believer that culture and popular culture has immense power and there are certain singers and movie stars we all love. Whether we're living in red or blue America, there is a role for popular culture to do exactly what Carter said.

CABRERA: What relationship might be like most striking or most memorable between Jimmy Carter and, I don't know, whichever rock star stands out to you.

[18:55:04]

ZELIZER: Well, I love that interview with Bob Dylan that you just played a little bit of. Dylan was distrustful in many ways of anyone who is in the establishment. And the film talks about this great meeting that he has and you hear Dylan say he didn't really trust Carter, but once they spoke, Carter was someone who listened, Carter was someone who was actually interested in the world around him and I think that relationship is great.

And the one with Willie Nelson, I think many viewers are going to love, including a famous story with President Carter's son and Willie Nelson in the White House, where they smoke some marijuana upstairs and in some ways that captured the craziness of the decade and a little bit of how Carter was just outside the box in 1970s America.

CABRERA: Julian Zelizer, it sounds like a really, really interesting film. Thank you for shedding some light for us, giving us a little preview. Be sure to tune in the all new CNN FILM JIMMY CARTER ROCK & ROLL PRESIDENT premieres tomorrow night at 9 only on CNN.

That does it for me tonight. I'm Ana Cabrera and I'll see you back here tomorrow at 5 pm Eastern in the CNN NEWSROOM. Up next, the CNN special report how a virus changed the world in 1980. Have a great night.