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Incoming and Outgoing Presidents Campaign in Georgia; House Republicans Expected to Continue Wednesday's Objection; Interview with New Jersey Nurse Maritza Beniquez. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 04, 2021 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President-elect Biden and President Trump are both campaigning in Georgia tonight, underscoring the importance of tomorrow's two crucial Senate runoff elections.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: But Georgia Republicans fear the president's event tonight will be more about airing his grievances than rallying Republican voters for the two senators. Nick Valencia and Gary Tuchman are live for us.

Good morning, gentlemen. Obviously a huge day in that state ahead, a consequential moment for Georgia, for the nation. Where will Biden be, where will Trump be today, Gary?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy and Jim, I want to tell you, first of all, there are 50 states in this great country but this one particular state is the epicenter of American political drama.

What's notable, interesting, fascinating is today, on one day, you have an incoming president and an outgoing president in the same state, the same day, having rallies: Donald Trump tonight, Dalton, Georgia, that's the northwestern portion of the state, they call it the Carpet Capital of the World. If you've driven through there from north to south, from south to north, you see a big billboard telling you that. It is Republican country, that's where Donald Trump will be holding a rally tonight.

Vice President Mike Pence, the outgoing vice president, also holding a rally at a megachurch in the town of Milner, which is south of Atlanta and north of Macon. So they will both be here.

On the Democratic side, Joe Biden, the incoming president of the United States, holding a rally this afternoon here in the city of Atlanta; and Kamala Harris, the incoming vice president, she was here yesterday just outside of Savannah, Georgia, in the southeastern portion of the state.

Kelly Loeffler, one of the Republicans will be at the Trump rally; the other Republican? Well, David Perdue will not be there because he is in quarantine. He came in contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, so he will not be there. The two Democrats, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, will be at the Joe Biden rally.

So the big guns have arrived here in Georgia or will be arriving or have arrived yesterday. Either way, all four, two presidents, two vice presidents, in Georgia for this huge election that will shape the nation -- Poppy and Jim, back to you.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Nick, we're already seeing record turnout for our runoff election, and some of those numbers, at least in the early voting, favoring Democrats, African-Americans, younger voting -- younger voters. What are we seeing in the broader numbers?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Welcome to Georgia here, Jim and Poppy, where it seems that 2020 has ended everywhere else in the world except for here. Georgia's been the head of the -- or the center of the political universe since the November elections, and that's a fact that's not lost on Georgia residents.

Already, we're seeing historic turnout in early voting, more than 3 million Georgians casting their votes early. That's just over 2 million in person and about 977,000 by mail.

And we are seeing some optimism among Democrats because in traditionally held congressional Democratic districts, we're seeing high turnout, like places here in DeKalb County, neighboring Fulton County. Those counties might familiar if you're watching in other parts of the United States because Joe Biden, the final results in these two counties helped give him the victory here in Georgia.

But the Atlanta metro suburbs are a complicated place, and conservatives I've been talking to here say that the results in November were less of an embrace of Democratic policies and more of a rejection of Trump.

Trump will continue to be a variable here in Georgia as, over the weekend, he was caught on tape demanding that Georgia's secretary of state find 11,780 votes, or just enough votes to give President Trump a victory here.

it's something we talked to the Georgia governor about, he called the call a distraction, saying that conservatives need to focus on the Senate runoffs. Also the lieutenant governor addressing the same controversy earlier this morning on "NEW DAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R), GEORGIA: I was disappointed. You know, I was disappointed at the tone, at the intent, at the questioning. I've continued to encourage everybody including the president to stay focused on tomorrow. That phone call did absolutely nothing to help, you know, drive turnout for Republicans here in Georgia for Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Big day tomorrow, Jim and Poppy, polls open at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

HARLOW: Nick, thank you very much. Gary Tuchman, so glad you're both there.

[10:34:21]

Also, be sure to watch our live special coverage of the Georgia runoff elections, this all starts tomorrow, 4:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. Quick break, we're back on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): It's disgusting, and quite honestly it's going to be interesting, you know, all these members of Congress that have now come out and said they're going to object to the election, I don't know how you can do that right now with a clear conscience because this is -- this is so obviously -- beyond the pale is probably not even the way to describe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That's Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of the few in his party to condemn the call President Trump made to the Georgia secretary of state in which he demanded Secretary Raffensperger find enough votes plus one to overturn the certified results of that state's election.

Joining me now, CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju and CNN political commentator as well as political columnist for "The Bulwark," Amanda Carpenter, used to work with Senator Ted Cruz. Thanks to both of you.

Amanda, in nearly a day since this recording of the president was released, only one Republican has really changed their position here. We don't know if it was tied to this tape, but news with Senator Tom Cotton saying he will not challenge the votes on January 6th. Is that all we're going to hear from the Republican Party, is that the only change or do you expect more?

[10:40:18]

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would hope there would be more. Because in that phone call, which everyone can hear, President Donald Trump asked Fred Raffensperger to cheat, he asked him to lie, he asked him to commit crimes.

And the people who are objecting, what I see? I see our (ph) Republicans who said yes to that kind of phone call, who said yes to asking -- to helping the president cheat and lie and overturn an election.

And so I think we need to frame what's happening in that way because there is a major Republican divide on this issue -- as there should be, there really shouldn't be, this is an open-and-shut case. But it needs to be framed that way.

SCIUTTO: Manu Raju, so you have 11 senators now who publicly said they will object to the certification. It's CNN's reporting from a couple days ago, more than 100 perhaps even more than 150 members of the House -- Republican members of the House -- will object. You spend a lot of time on the Hill, you talk to a lot of Republicans. Any sense that those numbers are pared down at all?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) expect still a sizeable amount of Republicans in the House side to voice their objections to this process. They've been discussing behind the scenes, for days on multiple conference calls, their strategy.

So once one House Republican raises an objection on Wednesday and a Senate Republican joins him -- him or her -- then there would be up to two hours of debate in each chamber. And then after that two hours of debate, there would actually be a vote in the full House and the Senate about whether to uphold that objection.

Now, those votes are certain to fail -- expect bipartisan opposition on both sides. But there could be up to close to a majority of the House Republican Conference still siding with this effort. I just talked to one of them, Congressman Jeff Van Drew, he was a Democrat, he became a Republican after he opposed the Democrats' effort to impeach this president, and he said that he's still supportive of this effort to challenge the elections.

And I tried to ask Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, whether he has any concerns with the phone call the president made to the Georgia secretary of state, he did not respond to multiple questions. He also would not say if he supported this effort on Wednesday.

However, I'm told behind the scenes he has greenlighted this effort by conservatives to move ahead, he's told the president he's on board with this even though his number three in the Republican leadership in the House, Liz Cheney, opposes this, as does Mitch McConnell. But a clear divide here among the parties (ph) as (ph) they (ph) move to Wednesday -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: This is an election irregularity. The president is claiming to be the victim of fraud, they want to investigate irregularities. You have the irregularity caught on tape, the president on the other side trying to force a secretary of state to find votes.

I want to play sound from Senator Susan Collins because this has echoes of what the president did on that quote-unquote "perfect phone call" with the Ukrainian president, pushing him for a political favor in effect. Here's Senator Susan Collins from February of last year following impeachment, have a listen, I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I believe that the president has learned from this case.

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: What do you believe the president has learned?

COLLINS: The president has been impeached, that's a pretty big lesson. There has been criticism by both Republican and Democratic senators of his call. I believe that he will be much more cautious in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, that turned out to be BS, Amanda. I mean, it's -- he seemed emboldened, not -- certainly not to have learned a lesson.

CARPENTER: Yes. Look where we are today. Right now there's actually a legitimate debate over whether the president should be impeached again or maybe indicted.

This is not a time for anyone to stand on the sidelines. There is this false notion among many mealy-mouthed fence-sitters in Washington where there's no downside in just letting Donald Trump play this out, there's no downside in objecting because it won't work.

There's plenty of downside because now we're at the point -- because Republicans let him go on with this for the last month and half, that tons of Republican base voters feel like the election was stolen, and now everyone is playing to the base to engage in this big whopping lie that is based on nothing but conspiracies.

SCIUTTO: Manu Raju, so Cotton joins a handful, a small handful of other Republican senators who have already said they will vote to certify this result including Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski. Do you have a sense of what that vote will look like, how close it'll be in the end? I mean, are these 11 with Josh Hawley, are they going to be the outliers here?

[10:45:03]

RAJU: I think that in the Senate, they will be. I think that you'll probably have a vast majority of senators on both sides voting to certify this election. I would be surprised if, on the Senate side, there are more than 20 Republicans who join this effort, so I expect a vote 70, potentially 80 senators on both sides voting to certify the election.

And the House, that's a different story. This is a conference that has filled with Trump loyalists, that's made it very difficult for the House Republican leaders to break from the president in any serious way. And I think you're seeing those large numbers of House Republicans ultimately join with the president's effort here, even though without any evidence of any irregularities that could change the outcome of the election.

Nevertheless, there just is still belief -- I talked to one of those members who are leading this effort, Mo Brooks, he is leading this charge on the House floor. I asked him, should the president concede once he loses this vote on Wednesday, which we know he will lose?

He said absolutely not. He says this election is stolen. Of course, Jim, we know this election was not stolen, but that is the

view among a lot of these Trump loyalists in the House in particular as they push this on Wednesday.

SCIUTTO: We spend billions as a country to inform the president, and the president still pushing false information on this. Amanda Carpenter, Manu Raju, thanks very much to both of you.

RAJU: Thank you.

HARLOW: Such an important conversation.

All right, so the second round of COVID vaccines, being administered right now across the country. Up next, we're going to be joined by the New Jersey nurse who got her second COVID vaccine today. It makes her the first person in the entire state to have completed vaccination. A good news story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:08]

HARLOW: How about some good news this morning? Maritza Beniquez became the first person to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the state of New Jersey. She is an E.R. nurse in Newark, she got the second dose last hour. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready (ph)?

MARITZA BENIQUEZ, EMERGENCY ROOM NURSE: Yes, thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes! Well done.

(APPLAUSE)

BENIQUEZ: I now have body armor.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, she joins me now. Good morning. How does it feel --

BENIQUEZ: Good morning. Hi, Poppy.

HARLOW: Hi.

BENIQUEZ: Oh, thank you so much for having me on. Let me tell you, I feel fabulous. I am so happy, so happy that I know that by the end of this month, my chances of catching COVID are, like, this much. I'll be 95 percent immune, and that to me is like the greatest gift I could have ever, you know, started this year off with. HARLOW: I mean, of course, we can feel your joy, it is palpable

through the television screen. We saw you elbow-bumping, I think that was Governor Phil Murphy, right?

BENIQUEZ: Yes, yes.

HARLOW: Oh, we're so glad. I mean, you deserve this, right? You and all your frontline health care workers, you've been our, you know, guardian angels, our heroes through this.

I wonder what your message is to other folks, because I was so surprised to see that Kaiser study just a few weeks ago that said that 29 percent of health care workers are still hesitant to get the vaccine.

BENIQUEZ: Yes. You know what, all I can say is that, you know, what I feel right now, this excitement and this joy, healing is coming, a healing is coming to this nation, right? And it's coming in the form of a vaccine.

And you know, we can -- and I -- again, I don't discount anyone's fears, right? Because everyone, you know -- everyone has their own fears. But this -- the vaccine is safe, it has been proven to prevent up to 95 percent of -- I have a 95 percent chance of not becoming infected. So for me, it's like I said earlier, you wouldn't send a police officer into a gunfight without a vest. And as a health care workers, this is my vest, this is my shield now.

And so I am very happy. We need this, we need this to fight back and I just cannot wait, I can't -- I just honestly I can't stress it enough, I cannot wait until the general public is inoculated so that, you know, things can go back to normal on every level, right? And that --

HARLOW: Yes.

BENIQUEZ: -- people are protected and no one will ever have to know the pain of having lost a loved one or having to suffer the long-term side effects of COVID-19. So --

HARLOW: Yes. We can't wait either, I'll tell you that. I think I'm pretty low on that list -- rightly so -- but I think all of us --

BENIQUEZ: It's coming.

HARLOW: -- we can't wait either.

Let me just end on this, Maritza: How has this changed your life, what you have witnessed on the frontlines?

BENIQUEZ: You know, I will say that as a nurse -- right? Because -- no, as a human, you look at that level of pain and destruction, so it has made it -- I'm much more grateful, right? Because sometimes we get so busy and we get so caught up in our everyday lives that we don't stop to take a look around us. And it has made me so very grateful for the tiniest of things as well as the big --

[10:55:02]

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Yes, yes.

BENIQUEZ: -- right? So -- and I think I've always been a grateful person, but I just -- I'm just much more attuned to, you know, the air that I breathe, you know the flowers --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Yes.

BENIQUEZ: -- the people, the kids playing, the -- it just -- yes. It's (ph) --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: No question, no question, it's -- you know, to have that gratitude is a blessing. Maritza, thank you for being here, we loved having you on the first time, we loved having you on today. Enjoy that body armor, thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

And thanks to all of you for joining us today, we're so glad to be back with you. We hope you had a nice, safe holiday, we'll see you tomorrow morning, I'm Poppy Harlow.

SCIUTTO: it's so good to hear some happy news.

HARLOW: I know.

SCIUTTO: I'm Jim Sciutto, NEWSROOM with Kate Bolduan still start right after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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