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Trump Continues to Challenge Election Results, A Phone Call Between Trump and Georgia Officials About Fraud, Coronavirus Vaccinations Falling Short. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 04, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: And his grievances. Donie O'Sullivan, grateful for the reporting there. We will stay in touch and grateful for your time today. Stay with us, a very busy news day. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now. Stay safe.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I'm Brianna Keilar, a very happy new year to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

President Trump spending his final days in office much like he spent his entire presidency; spewing utter nonsense on Twitter, focusing entirely on himself, watching cable news, bully Republicans and trying to win at all costs.

And he's doing it as hospitals overflow and Americans die by the thousands from the coronavirus.

One year since he faced an impeachment trial for pressuring someone on a call for political purposes, the president called up election officials in Georgia, fellow Republicans; berating them, intimidating them, dangling carrots and wielding sticks as he demanded that they find votes to overturn the states election results as he ask them to commit fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry. And there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you've recalculated.

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Carl Bernstein calls it far worse than Watergate, Democrats call it criminal, impeachable. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn called it quote, not a helpful call so you know that it's super bad.

Its 60 minutes worth of tape that historians say would make Richard Nixon blush or at least try to erase something. Objectively an abuse of power, anti-democratic with a little D and as un-American as it is a mountain of delusional desperate nonsensical B.S.

And in that 60 minutes in one-hour, nearly 120 Americans died of the coronavirus and the president wasn't doing one damn thing about it. We're going to tick through the low lights methodically and fact check each one starting with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: If we could just go over some of the numbers I think it's pretty clear that we won. We won very substantially Georgia.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Now Georgia counted the ballots three times, right. Once by hand, Trump lost. His former attorney general, Bill Barr, affirming the loss saying that there was no widespread fraud.

Courts have confirmed that he lost. They rejected every challenge that would have changed the vote count. Trump's on election security team confirmed his loss. State election officials in multiple swing states, including Republicans confirmed Trump lost.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: We won very substantially Georgia. You even see it by rally size, frankly. We'd be getting 25-30,000 people a rally and the competition would get less than 100 people.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Large rallies are a soothing bomb for fragile egos but they don't decide elections, especially during a pandemic.

Joe Biden did not have large crowded rallies because they kill people.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: The other thing, dead people. So dead people voted and I think the number is in the -- close to 5,000 people. And they went to obituaries, they went to all sort of methods to come up with an accurate number and a minimum is close to about 5,000 voters.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: That's a lie. Raffensperger says they found two votes cast in the name of dead people in Georgia. Nowhere close to 5,000. CNN looked into some of the campaigns claims, including one claim that a ballot was fraudulently cast in the name of a dead woman.

We actually visited the home of that woman and it turned out that she was very much alive, though she did share the name of another woman who had passed away.

Right wing media tried to run with a number of other false claims by the campaign. They made like that kid from "The Sixth Sense" and saw dead people everywhere. But it ended up like this for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX HOST: We got some good news tonight and an apology. One of the people who voted in last week's election isn't dead. Now James Blaylock (ph) is still dead, we told you about him but it was his wife who voted. She voted as Ms. James Blaylock. It's old fashioned and we missed it.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Now he later had to admit in a written statement that there were even more not dead voters than just that one.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: We have at least two or three -- anywhere from 250 to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: No, there's no mystery here. Counties, populous ones counting their votes normally, that's how they did it. And how counting works is the number increases as you do it. So it's not mysterious. It's counting. Even my 2-1/2-year-old understands this.

Now Trump also claimed that voters moved out of Georgia but cast ballots anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: They came back in and they voted.

[13:05:00]

CLETA MITCHELL, TRUMP'S LAWYER: And voted, yes.

TRUMP: You know that was a large number though. It was ...

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: No, Georgia says it's investigated this conspiracy theory and those voters left the state and moved back to Georgia but years ago. This was not just before the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: Do you think it's possible that they shredded ballots in Fulton County? Because that's what the rumor is. And also that Dominion took out machines, that Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their machinery.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: No, the software company is not doing anything shady. In fact, this is the conspiracy theory pushed by Rudy Giuliani and right wing media that Dominion is threatening to sue over.

Another point, the Trump administrations own election security has dismissed this. Quote, there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in anyway compromised.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: We think that if you check the signature's a real check of the signatures going back in Fulton County you'll find at least a couple of 100,000 of forged signatures of people with that -- who have been forged.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Zero evidence for this. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation audited more than 15,000 signatures in one county and they found zero fraud. Trump even goes on to complain that the one county the GBI audited wasn't a county his campaign complained about, except it was.

Trump's lawyer actually interrupted him on the call to reveal that.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: People should be happy to have an accurate count. We have other states that I believe will be flipping to us very shortly.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: That's a lie. There is no indication that any states are flipping to him shortly. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by 7 million in the popular vote and beat him in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: For some reason they put it in three times each ballot and I don't know why but -- you know why -- I don't know why three times, why not five times, right.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: That's a lie. There is no evidence of this and Georgia says it did an audit proving that ballots were not scanned three times.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: I mean have you never Trumper (inaudible) ...

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Now the U.S. attorney in Atlanta is a Trump appointee. B.J. Pack is a long time Republican who served in the Georgia house for the better part of the last decade. And when announcing his nomination in 2017, the White House said the he quote, shares the president's vision for making America safe again.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

RAFFENSPERGER: Mr. President, the problem that you have with social media, they can -- people can say anything.

TRUMP: No, this isn't social -- this is Trump media.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Trump media. So he believes the media outlets that tell him what he want to hear. And who repeat what he says as fact. It is of course circular reasoning. And remember that Trump's programs of choice have contracted recently as even some Fox Host have reported that Trump lost the election.

So now he's super into one American news and news max and don't be confused by the use of news in their names because they're really just propaganda outlets that play a game of telephone with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: I mean, you know, I -- and I didn't lose the state, Brad. People have been saying that it was the highest vote ever. There was no way -- a lot of the political people said that there's no way they beat me and they beat me.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Which political people? No reputable ones, not political people who aren't eyeing a White House run in 2024 and working hard to appease Trump's base.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: And there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you've recalculated.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Unless by recalculated you actually mean committed voter fraud by pulling almost 12,000 votes out of thin air because then actually there is something very wrong, also very illegal about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

TRUMP: Why don't you want to find this, Ryan? What's wrong with you? I heard -- I heard your lawyer is very difficult actually but I'm sure you're a good lawyer; you have a nice last name.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Ryan's last name by the way is Germany. It's a fine last name but it seems like it's stretching for a bit of a compliment after insulting the General Counsel for Georgia's Secretary of State, maniacally swerving from insults and mafia like intimidation to compliments and flattery. But it could be worse, I guess. Ryan's last name could be Putin. So this was a weird call, clearly. And it started with the president ranting for 10 straight minutes, only stopping when his chief of staff interrupted him.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: So Mr. President, if I might be able to jump in and I'll give Brad a chance.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: Given that chance, here is what the secretary of state said.

(END VIDEO)

RAFFENSPERGER: Well, I listened to what the president has just said.

[13:10:00]

President Trump, we've had several lawsuits and we've had to respond in court to the law suits and the contentions. We don't agree that you have won.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: It's like that epic scene from the cult classic, "Billy Madison" where the principle swats down Billy's answer in the academic decathlon by saying quote, at no point in your rambling incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought.

Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points and may God have mercy on your soul. Except that was funny. Trump's call is just dangerous.

Joining me now to discuss this more is Harry Litman. He is a former deputy assistant -- assistant attorney general and he host the "Talking Feds" podcast. So Harry, is there anything in this -- in this call about what the president suggested here or pushed for that is illegal?

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: The short answer, Brianna, is yes. It's really a lot like the impeach called. If you pair it down to its essence, he is saying you play ball with me and change, make a false vote, or as the chief -- still the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, there could be criminal trouble for you.

But it's a long meandering call, as you say. He led himself a lot of sort of off ramps. It's not an easy case and more over, those charges, which are I think viable, don't take account of what you've just documented is this most pernicious aspect here and that is the fact that it is howling lie after howling lie.

It's the total book end of his administration, coming in lying about inauguration size and Obama's size and leaving with these. And that really is where the attack on the sort of body politic comes in.

It would still be the same crime even if he were telling the truth and there should be and can be an investigation. And one upside there as you start with questioning the other people in the room; Mark Meadows and the lawyers.

So I'd say there is a viable obstruction case here. I don't see Biden or the Department of Justice bringing it. The D.A. of Fulton County may be another matter all together. But the bigger injury has to do with the complete fantasy that he is trying to use to steal the election and that's a political injury that should be addressed politically.

KEILAR: So when you say the D.A. of Fulton County you're talking then about what, state crimes? And when you say that's another matter all together, what are the chances of that being an avenue to hold the president accountable for doing something wrong?

LITMAN: Right. Well, she's a newly elected D.A. and it's a little bit like the dynamic with Vance in New York. There is a law in Georgia that makes it a crime, both the conspiracy and the actual crime to try to promote election fraud. That's something that I have to imagine she'll open right away and the whole welter of political cross currents that now face the Department Justice, she won't have to deal with and Trump will be out of office, as you say, in a couple weeks.

That's unpredictable at this point. But the federal law there is a basis for a charge that I don't see happening but certainly for an investigation and that I think can and should happen and it could be very useful for what's super important here, even beyond criminal liability and that's establishing that -- that everything here is based on total whopping, unadulterated complete, not a cent (ph) of proof lies.

KEILAR: Harry, thank you so much. Harry Litman walking us through that.

LITMAN: Thanks, Brianna. Happy New Year.

KEILAR: We appreciate it. Happy New Year to you, Harry. I want to talk now with Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii to talk about this call that the president made to Georgia election officials.

Senator, you heard Harry there with the legal analysis that something should happen, that it could happen, that there's a basis for it and that something should happen. Do you think this was illegal and will something happen to hold the president accountable?

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO, D-HI: Well, we heard the president for one hour, Trump acting like topple tyrant, soliciting voter fraud. So as your previous speaker said, there's probably a basis for some kind of investigation obviously.

But at the same time, you know, we shouldn't lose site of the fact that we have a president who is still, in his own mind -- because the president doesn't live in a democracy, he lives in his own mind believing that he won the election and trying to get others to go along with him.

So that's the spectacle of one hour of the president ranting and being unhinged.

KEILAR: So do you -- I mean is this impeachable? Do you think that Congress needs to do something here or is this just something to be done with because the president isn't going to be president much longer?

[13:15:06]

HIRONO: Frankly, the first thing we have to do is overcome this stunt that some of the Republicans are pulling on Wednesday to challenge the -- the election results in a number of states, so that's the first thing.

And note that you have 11 or 12 Senators who are going along with the plan or the stunt to steal the election for Trump. I think that's the first thing we have to make it very plain that Joe Biden is going to be the president of the United States in 16 days, thank goodness.

As far as some other investigations, you still have the ADA of New York. There's still some states investigations that are being pursued. That is something that Trump can't pardon himself on even if he could pardon himself.

So those will be ongoing. We shall see. But the first thing is to overcome this stunt that's going to happen on Wednesday and you know all these people who will come and protest as Trump has called for.

KEILAR: The -- there doesn't seem like there's an appetite in Congress really though to do anything about this call. Is that a good read?

HIRONO: Well, we will see because any impeachment process has to start in the House. And so well, you know -- well, let's see what happens there. But frankly there's so much that we have to get on with. First and foremost is to get control the pandemic that's impacting into our country and -- and Joe Biden has a lot on his plate and so do we, the rest of us who actually want to do something to help people.

KEILAR: I want to ask you because we're looking towards Wednesday, you were talking about it, the number of your Republican colleagues, I think it's at 13 now that want to block this Electoral College count.

Should your Republican colleagues who are doing this still have a place on the judiciary committee?

HIRONO: That is a good question but as long as they control the Senate they're going to put whoever they want on the various committees regardless of what I say about it. That's what the elite Georgia elections are so important because it's going to matter who is in control of the Senate. Is it going to be Mitch McConnell and the republicans who have turned a blind eye to just about everything that this president does or is it going to be the Democrats who will get on with doing the right thing for our -- the American people.

KEILAR: I also wonder what you think about -- there's now a number of Republican senators who have come out and said that they are in opposition to the blocking of the Electoral vote count; Senators Romney, Murkowski, Lee, Portman, and others as well.

Do you -- what -- I mean what's your reaction to that. They have -- they've broken with these republicans.

HIRONO: I'm always gratified when there are Republicans who will break from this president and stand up for the right thing. It doesn't happen often enough. I'm particularly grateful for the state election officials.

The state election officials including the secretary of state of Georgia who stood up and are standing up to this president. They're the ones who are getting a lot of pressure from this president and his minions.

But as I say, you know, we've seen a Senate let the president get away with trying to shake down the president of Ukraine. They did not hold him accountable. They rarely stand up to him.

So I'm always gratified when some of them actually do. I mean that -- this is a kind of environment we're in where we're grateful when people do the right thing for Democracy.

KEILAR: Senator Hirono, thank you for being with us and a Happy New Year to you.

HIRONO: Everyone stay safe, be healthy. Happy New Year.

KEILAR: And ahead, we're going to roll the tape on the Republicans who are aiding the president's attempted coup. Plus, we will take you to Georgia where voters will determine the balance of power in the Senate hear why it may take awhile to find out the answer.

And as hospitals overflow across the U.S., there is a new debate about whether to delay the second dose of the vaccine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:20:00]

One step forward with a second shot in the arm. Today the first nurse to get the Pfizer vaccine in the U.S., Sandra Lindsey (ph) got her second dose exactly 21 days later.

Still the White House vaccine chief admits to CNN there is a lag in vaccinations across the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO) MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: And we acknowledge that we -- I wish vaccine at 20 million obviously. We worked day and night to have these vaccines available and we will continue to work days and night to have them immunize.

(END VIDEO)

KEILAR: The Centers for Disease Control reports more than 4.2 million people have been given the first dose of coronavirus vaccine as of this morning. But that falls well short of what you heard there. That federal government promise to get 20 million people vaccinated by this point.

We have CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen who is with us now. I mean why is there this delay? What's behind it, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, let's take a look at these numbers. So so far, according to the CDC, about 13 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed but only 4 million have been put in arms. So first of all, we're not even close to the 20 million that they said would be distributed and we're really not close to the 20 million that they said would be in arms.

Part of the problem is that there is huge geographic variation. In South Dakota there's been 2,000 -- about 3,000 shots per 100,000 people.

[13:25:02]

In Kansas there's been about almost 700 per 1,000 people. That's a big difference. Why would you have such a difference between those two states, that is entirely unclear. So the reasons why this has not gone very well, there are several.

One of them is when I talk to people who were talking to Operation Warp Speed during the fall and the early winter when this was being set up, they said that it felt to them like Operation Warp Speed was saying we'll get the vaccines out to the states and then you guys figure it out.

We've done our job; we got FedEx and all those people to get stuff out to you, now it's your turn. That wasn't great planning. FedEx and UPS, they do this every day. It's not that hard to get things places. That's done in this country every day.

But vaccinating, eventually what's going to be the -- hopefully the entire country, vaccinating millions of people, that is tough. We do not do that every day. It takes incredible amounts of planning to make that happen.

The other thing that's going on when you compare us to countries like the U.K. or Israel that are doing better than we are is those countries have centralized national health services. It helps a lot when you one centralized source that is trying -- that is making all this happen. Its better -- it's much easier than when you have 50 states and then within each of those 50 states you have many, many doctor's offices, hospitals, medical systems. We have an incredibly decentralized healthcare system in this country. That is not helping us in this immunization effort. Brianna.

KEILAR: No, it's just wonder that -- they -- they had some to think about this, Elizabeth, that they didn't get creative and think about a way to stream line it. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much for that update.

COHEN: Thanks.

KEILAR: Last year Republican Senator Susan Collins said that President Trump had learned his lesson after his acquittal in the Senate. But her quote is not the only one living in infamy right now. We're going to roll the tape. Plus the president lashes out at one of his top allies in the Senate for refusing to challenge Joe Biden's win. This is CNN's special live coverage.

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[13:30:00]