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Trump Tells Georgia Officials to 'Find' Votes to Sway Election; Trump's Call Comes Before Pivotal Senate Election; Some members of Congress Plan to Object to Election Results; California Reports 45,300+ New Cases of COVID-19; Trump's Actions Might Hurt Republicans in Crucial Election; India Approves Two Vaccines for Emergency Use. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired January 04, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
[00:00:23]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. And we begin with breaking news.
Plenty of reaction and condemnation pouring in from Washington over the stunning phone call between U.S. Donald Trump and Georgia's Republican secretary of state. Trump is caught on tape telling Brad Raffensperger that he wants him to change the outcome of the presidential election in Georgia and tilt it in his favor. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (via phone): So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. And flipping the state is a great testament to our country. Because you know, this -- it's a testament that they can admit to a mistake. Or, whatever you want to call it. If it was a mistake, I don't know. A lot of people think it wasn't a mistake. It was much more criminal than that. But it's a big problem in Georgia, and it's not a problem that's going away. I mean, you know, it's not a problem that's going away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: In a long-winded, sometimes incoherent and meandering phone call. The president repeats debunked conspiracy theories and insists he won the state of Georgia. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP (via phone): I won this election by hundreds of thousands of votes. There's no way I lost Georgia. There's no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes. I'm just going by small numbers. When you add them up, they're many times the 11,000. But -- but I won that state by hundreds of thousands of votes. Now, 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. Do you know anything about that? Because that's illegal.
RYAN GERMANY, GENERAL COUNSEL TO GEORGIA'S SECRETARY OF STATE (via phone): Ryan Germany. No, Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County. We're having --
TRUMP: But have they moved -- have they -- have they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts?
GERMANY: No.
TRUMP: You sure, Ryan?
GERMANY: I'm sure. I'm sure, Mr. President.
TRUMP: What about the -- what about the ballots, the shredding of the ballots? Have they been training ballots?
GERMANY: No. The only investigation we have into that, they've not been shredding any ballots. There was an issue in Cobb County, where they were doing normal, you know, office shredding, getting rid of old stuff. And we investigated that, but this is stuff from past elections.
TRUMP: Oh, I don't know. That doesn't -- it doesn't pass the smell test, though. Because we hear they're shredding thousands and thousands of ballots. And now what they're saying, Oh, we're just cleaning up the office. You know? I don't think they're --
BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE (via phone): Mr. President, the problem that we have a social media, people can say anything.
TRUMP: Now this isn't social. This is Trump media. It's not social media. It's really not. It's not social media. I don't care about social, but -- I couldn't care less. Social media is big tech. Big tech is on your side, you know? I don't even know why you have a side, because you should want to have an accurate election. And you're a Republican.
RAFFENSPERGER: We believe that we do have an accurate election.
TRUMP: No. No, you don't. No. No, you don't. You don't have. You don't have. Not even close. You guys -- you're off by hundreds of thousands of votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Again, there is no evidence of widespread election fraud. This phone call comes just ahead of a vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden's win, where several Republican senators and House members plan to join with Donald Trump to object. Now, the phone call is just the latest attempt by President Trump to
overturn the results of the election that took place nearly nine weeks ago, and it comes just before Georgia's pivotable Senate runoff election Tuesday. John Harwood has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With just a little over two weeks left in Donald Trump's presidency, the bombshells just keep dropping. On Sunday was the "Washington Post" revelation of the audiotape of a phone call in which President Trump pressures the Republican secretary of state of Georgia to find extra votes to overturn Joe Biden's victory there.
Never mind that the Electoral College tally has been certified in all 50 states. Never mind that Joe Biden does not need Georgia's 16 electoral votes to win. He's got 306, which is well over the 270 you need. And never mind that there is no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularity in Georgia voting or vote counting.
The president was repeating fantasies about shredded ballots and altered voting machines. Brad Raffensperger resisted, even though President Trump appealed to him to act as a fellow Republican.
Now the White House is not commenting on this tape. Hard to know what they would say, considering that the president is on the tape, as well as White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
But the Biden campaign was quick to say the tape affirms President Trump's assault on democracy since the election. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said that this was a bald-faced abuse of power.
The irony is that this could end up strengthening Joe Biden's presidency if it tilts at all the very close races for two Georgia Senate seats that take place on Tuesday. If Democrats win both, Democrats will control the Senate, and that would give Joe Biden a lot freer hand in terms of legislation.
John Harwood, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And there is bipartisan condemnation of the president's phone call to Raffensperger. Vice President-elect Kamala -- Kamala Harris was in Georgia on Sunday campaigning for the Democrats in the Senate runoff race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Have you all heard about that recorded conversation? Well, it was, yes, certainly the voice of desperation. Most certainly that. And it was a bald -- bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And Republicans are already divided over the president's relentless challenge of the election results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): You see, you know, threats made, threatening, in essence, a crime to the secretary of state. You see the repeating of conspiracy theories. 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. It's probably not even the way to describe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And Senate Democrat Dick Durbin called the president unhinged and said Trump's effort to intimidate an elected official merits a criminal investigation.
Now, before the release of that phone call, some House and Senate Republicans had planned to disrupt Wednesday's joint session of Congress by disrupting the certification of Joe Biden's victory. Now the question is, will these latest developments change any of that?
CNN's Phil Mattingly breaks down what to expect.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A number of Republicans, more than 140 in the House, at least 12 in the United States Senate, have made clear they are going to object in some form or fashion, to a slate of electors or perhaps more.
Now, they say it is just to raise -- raise concerns, raise awareness for what they believe are irregularities in the vote count. There's no evidence of any irregularities up to this point, at least not in a widespread manner that might change the election.
But they're saying they're just raising issues.
And then, the president's phone call to the Georgia secretary of state became public, making clear that these lawmakers are not just raising issues. They are lining up with a president who, under no uncertain terms, trying to overthrow or overturn a legitimately, democratically- elected president of the United States, soon to be president of the United States, in the case of Joe Biden.
Which raises the question of what's actually going to happen next. Here's one thing to stipulate up front. Joe Biden will be the president-elect and certified as president-elect once again when Congress meets to count the electors on January 6. He will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on January 20. That is not up for debate. It's not in dispute. It's not a maybe or a possibly. It's going to happen.
What happens between now and then, that remains the open question, as there has been a rupture inside the Republican Party. I already talked about the Republicans who plan to inject at the president's, at the president's behest.
Now there are a number of Republicans coming out on the opposite side of things. It's been a frustration that I've been told has been growing behind the scenes for several days. And it's spilling out into public view.
On Sunday morning, Liz Cheney, a congresswoman from Wyoming and member of House Republican leadership, circulating a 21-page memo to her colleagues, talking about how dangerous a precedent those objections may set.
We had Adam Kinzinger, congressman from Illinois. He's been vocal about his opposition to those who plan to object, saying even more so now after the leaked phone call of President Trump coming out.
You had Paul Ryan, speaker of the House -- former speaker of the House, who has said, basically, nothing since he left Congress at the start of the 116th Congress, putting out a full statement, saying in part, "It is difficult to conceive a more anti-democratic and anti- conservative act then a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans. The fact this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy."
[00:10:21]
And it's that rupture, that split inside the Republican Party, that I think everybody is paying attention to now. Obviously, President Trump commands respect and loyalty of the Republican base, so obviously, Republican members. He has for the last four years.
But the divergence inside the party right now as they try and figure out how to handle something that is just historically unprecedented from inside the Oval Office. Well, that's going to be something to watch over the next couple of days.
Again, Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20. What the Republican Party does between now and then, well, history is going to judge. No question about it.
Phil Mattingly, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, the president's shocking phone call stole some of Nancy Pelosi's spotlight on Sunday. Despite the Democrats' smallest House majority in decades, Pelosi was reelected speaker by a razor-thin margin, with just two Democrats supporting someone else. It will be Pelosi's fourth and possibly final term to lead the House.
Well, joining me now from Los Angeles, Ron Brownstein is CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic."
Good to have you with us. Happy new year. RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Rosemary, happy new
year.
CHURCH: So by now, of course, we've all heard portions of the stunning recording of President Trump's telephone conversation with Georgia's secretary of state, demanding he finds, specifically, 11,780 more votes to tilt Georgia -- Georgia's election results in his favor.
What was your response to this? And how significant could it be, with some comparisons already being made to Watergate?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I think, if you take everything that has happened in the last few months since the election, we are witnessing the most sustained and broadscale assault on American democracy, probably, since the South seceded after Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860.
The idea that, you know, some Republicans said immediately after the election, well, just Humor him. How -- how -- you know, how much damage could be done -- has really been exposed. And we have seen an ongoing effort by the president to subvert the result of a democratic election. Unquestionably. In many spheres -- through the courts, through pressuring state legislators, now this kind of direct mob-like intimidation of the Republican secretary of state in Georgia.
And I disagree a little bit with Phill. You know, the fact that there is divergence in the Republican Party at a time when the divergence means are you going to stand with American democracy, or are you going to stand with an effort to overturn it, it is striking how many Republicans are going along with this. From the litigation: two-thirds of the Republican attorney generals, two-thirds of the Republicans in the House. Now, probably as many as 140 or 150 House Republicans and maybe a quarter of the Senate Republicans willing to overturn the election to try to install President Trump in his second term, against the will of the voters.
This is a very ominous moment for American democracy and one whose magnitude, I think, cannot be understated.
CHURCH: Do you think, at this point, that we need to hear more from those Republicans who are willing to put country before political expediency? Because are we hearing enough from them?
BROWNSTEIN: No. I mean, I think, you know, all the way throughout, you know, again there was this view in the Republican Party you don't want to anger the base. We want to ensure a big turnout in Georgia.
And they have allowed Trump to seed this fantasy that the election was stolen from the Republicans in big, diverse cities, with large African-American populations.
Seventy percent of Republicans or so now believe, Republican voters believe the election was stolen. And this has created a kind of snowballing effect that has made it harder for Republican elected officials to stand in the way of this. I would go further, Rosemary, and say we need to hear more from
Democrats. I mean, Joe Biden has made a very calculated decision to largely shrug this off and to basically be above the fray, to act as though this is all noise, and he is going to unify the country when he comes in.
And I think that decision, while understandable from some angles, has allowed -- has allowed this to spread among Republicans and has inhibited the extent to which Americans understand the gravity of what we are living through at this moment.
CHURCH: And Ron, some analysts have suggested Trump's actions in this call are criminal, corrupt, amount to an abuse of power, a bloodless coup. What do you say to those descriptions? And what will be the likely ramifications of this recorded conversation going public, do you think?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, this is one of those things where, if this conversation is not a crime, what is? And I know that there are legal experts who have said, well, the way he phrased that, you know, here or there might make it hard to prosecute it.
[00:15:04]
But unequivocally, the president was threatening the Republican secretary of state in Georgia with possible criminal or other sanctions if he did not, quote, "find him" enough votes to overturn the result.
And of course, Rosemary, as you know, overturning Georgia would do him no good, because it would leave him still, leave Biden with, what, 290 or so Electoral College votes?
So if he was threatening this to the Republican in Georgia, what else is he doing simultaneously? Because turning over Georgia by itself would not solve his problem.
The big question is, what does this do to that run-off on Tuesday in Georgia, where the two Senate seats will be up for grabs? Democrats have not elected a senator in Georgia since the year 2000. Now they have to elect two in one day in order to reach a 50/50 Senate split, which Vice President Harris could tilt in their direction.
And I do think, if nothing else, this will be a powerful tool for Democratic turnout on election day. Because you see the magnitude, not only of what Trump is doing, but what the Republicans are enabling him -- enabling him are allowing to progress.
CHURCH: All right. Incredible. It will be interesting to see what happens with that on Tuesday, the response, of course.
Ron Brownstein, always a pleasure to get your analysis. Many thanks.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: America's COVID vaccine rollout has been slower than expected. So what can the country do to speed up the process? A health expert weighs in on that, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: We're seeing a person every six seconds contract COVID-19 here in Los Angeles County. The nation's largest county, 10 million people. My message to everybody is this is not only going to come for somebody that you love. This is going to possibly come for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And that was the mayor of Los Angeles, pointing out just how quickly COVID-19 is spreading across L.A. County.
This hour, there are more than 125,000 people hospitalized with COVID- 19 in the U.S., a new daily record. The country's death toll is also soaring.
But President Trump claims, without proof, that those numbers are exaggerated. He says, it's fake news and calls Americas counting method ridiculous.
On Sunday the nation's top infectious disease expert pushed back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The deaths are real deaths. I mean, all you need to do is to go out into the trenches, go to the hospitals, see what the healthcare workers are dealing with. They are under very stressed situations. In many areas of the country, the hospital beds are stretched. People are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel, who are exhausted right now. That's real. That's not fake. That's real.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:20:00]
CHURCH: Dr. Anthony Fauci also says the U.S. must do a better job with its vaccine rollout.
Earlier, a top health official said the government is looking for ways to stretch its vaccine supply, including possibly giving half doses to some people.
Well, those who have lost a loved one to COVID know the virus is not a hoax or fake news. And rising cases are a reminder of lives lost too soon.
CNN's Paul Vercammen reports from the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just no easing up of
the desperate COVID-19 situation in California. More than 45,000 new cases; more than 20,000 people in the hospital, 181 new deaths.
President Trump tweeted that the cases are being exaggerated, calling COVID-19 fake news. That did not sit well with Rosa Cerna. She was at a cemetery, mourning the loss of her father and her uncle due to COVID-19.
ROSA CERNA, FATHER AND UNCLE DIED FROM COVID-19: How could it be fake news? It took my dad; it took my uncle. It has taken so many lives. I don't think it could be fake.
It's horrible. It's an insult to me. It's an insult to every family. Because there's absolutely no way for somebody to say that it was fake, because my dad is not fake dead. My dad is not going to resurrect from here and say, Oh, just kidding. It was fake. Ha, ha, ha, it's funny.
It isn't. It is not fake.
VERCAMMEN: Rosa's father, Rogelio (ph), would have turned 73 New Year's Day, and his brother, a year older, would have turned 74.
Rosa likes to point out they were hardworking. They became U.S. citizens. Instead of birthday cake, funeral flowers.
Reporting from Los Angeles, I'm Paul Vercammen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Dr. Ashish Jha is the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. He joins me now.
Thank you, Doctor, for talking with us and for all that you do.
DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Thank you so much for having me on.
CHURCH: So over the weekend, Donald Trump called the U.S. COVID death toll of 350,000 plus fake news. This despite so many families mourning their loved ones and hospitals at full capacity.
What do you say to a U.S. president who calls the official death toll fake news and refuses to take responsibility for his own mishandling of this pandemic?
JHA: It's so deeply disturbing. I mean, first of all, it's not fake news. It's real news. It's probably an underestimate of the number of people who have died because of this pandemic in the United States.
But his -- his comments are so deeply disrespectful towards the families of those loved ones. Their losses are not fake news. It is just shocking to me that this is where our president is right now in the last days of his -- his last days in office. Refusing not only to take responsibility but really trying to erase the losses that we have suffered in the last year.
CHURCH: Meantime, Doctor, this country is running far behind its own goal of 20 million people being vaccinated by December 31, having only administered about four million doses so far. What needs to be done to increase this number, and why have they fallen so far behind?
JHA: Yes, you know, this has been a pretty standard pattern in this entire pandemic. The federal government sees its job as essentially ending at the state border. They think that their job is to get things to the state and let the state figure it out.
And that strategy has not worked for testing, didn't work with protective equipment, and it's largely not working for vaccines. States need resources. They need help. And the federal government has been lacking in its efforts there.
And so that's why we are where we are. I do think we're going to see a ramp-up in the upcoming days and weeks as states make progress, but of course, all of this should have been planned weeks and months ago.
CHURCH: So how hopeful are you that a better, more efficient vaccination plan can be put in place in the coming days and weeks? And do you think the federal government will give the states the necessary funds to do that? Or will it take President-elect Joe Biden coming into office?
JHA: Well, Congress has finally passed a bill that does provide some of those funds to states. So I'm hopeful about that.
I've been talking to states. They're making good progress. Again, it would have been helpful to do all of this several months ago.
And I do think that it's very, very clear at this point that the Biden team has signaled that they really do want to be partners with the states and help states make progress.
So I expect a little bit of progress in the next couple of weeks and then a lot more progress once the Biden team is in-house.
CHURCH: And Doctor, despite the vaccine being available, until people actually get vaccinated, we're still in a very dark place with cases, hospitalizations, and deaths at record levels right now.
How worried are you about where those numbers will likely be two to three weeks after the holidays and all the air travel that we just witnessed, despite advice from health experts to stay home?
[00:25:06]
JHA: Yes, I'm very worried. And there's one other factor, of course, as well, which is this variant that was initially identified in the U.K., is now in the United States and likely spreading quickly. And, so put that on top of everything else you mentioned, Rosemary, and it's -- the next few weeks are going to be awful.
I expect the number of cases to continue to climb, and I certainly expect many thousands of Americans, two to three thousand Americans dying every day for the foreseeable future.
So that's a situation that President-elect Biden is going to inherent. And there's going to be a lot of work to bring that under control. Vaccines are one part of it, but of course, we need to do a lot more than just vaccines.
CHURCH: Thank you for your wise words, as always, Dr. Ashish Jha. Many thanks.
JHA: Thank you.
CHURCH: Threatening, pleading, repeating conspiracy theories. More details on how U.S. President Donald Trump asked a top state official to change the official election result in his favor. That is next.
Plus, India has the second highest coronavirus case count in the world. The country is hoping two newly-approved vaccines will make the difference. More on that when we return.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church.
More on our top story this hour. President Donald Trump urging a Georgia Republican official to change the state's election results and sway them in his favor.
In a shocking hour-long phone call, the president is heard pressuring Brad Raffensperger to find a 11,780 votes to help him win, despite the Georgia official telling the president his data is wrong. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF (via phone): Mr. Secretary, one of -- obviously, there is -- there are allegations where we believe that not every vote or fair vote and legal vote was -- was counted. That's at odds with the representation from the secretary of state's office.
What I'm hopeful for is, is there some way that we can -- we can find some kind of an agreement to -- to look at this a little bit more fully? You know, the president mentioned Fulton County. But in some of these areas where there seems to be a difference of where the facts seem to lead.
And so Mr. Secretary, I was hopeful that, you know, in the spirit of cooperation and compromise, is there -- there something that we can at least have a discussion to look at some of these allegations, to find a path forward that's less litigious.
[00:30:17]
RAFFENSPERGER (via phone): Well, I was listening to what the president has just said. President Trump, we've had several lawsuits, and we've had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. We don't agree that you have one. We don't -- I didn't agree about the 200,000 number that you mentioned. I go through that point by point.
What we had done is we gave our state Senate about one and a half hours of -- of our time, going through the election issue by issue. And then on the state House, the Government Affairs Committee, we gave about two and a half hours of our time, going back point by point on all the issues of contention.
And then, just a few days ago, we met with, you know, our U.S. congressman, Republican congressman, and we gave him about two hours of our time, talking about this past election.
Going back, primarily, what you're -- what you've talked about here focused in on, primarily, I believe, at the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ballot process, I don't believe that you're really questioning the -- the Dominion machines. Because we did a hand retally, 100 percent retally of all the ballots and compared that to what the machine said and came up with virtually the same result. Then we did the recount. We got virtually the same results. So I guess we could probably take that off the table. I don't think there's an issue about that. I think what you --
TRUMP: Well, Brad -- Brad, not that there's not an issue, but -- because we have a big issue with Dominion in other states and perhaps in yours, but we -- we haven't felt we needed to go there and just to, you know, maybe put a little different spin on what Mark is saying, Mark Meadows. Yes, we'd like to go further, but we don't really need to. We have all the votes we need. You know, we won the state.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Officials in Raffensperger's office recorded the call, but Raffensperger said he did not want it released unless the president attacked him or misrepresented what was said, according to a source who was on that call.
President Trump later attacked Raffensperger in a tweet Sunday morning.
All 10 living former U.S. defense secretaries, including two who served under President Trump, said the election is over. In an opinion letter published in "The Washington Post," they emphasize the importance of a smooth transition of power.
They said, "The time for questioning the results has passed. The time for the formal counting of the Electoral College votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived."
And they had a warning for the acting defense secretary: "Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory."
All of this is happening in the lead-up to that high-stakes Senate runoff on Tuesday here in Georgia. The Democrats are hoping to sweep the races and take control of the Senate from the Republicans.
As Kyung Lah explains, the president's antics might be hurting his own party.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Democrats are seizing on that call between President Trump and Georgia's secretary of state, calling it undemocratic.
We heard from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who's here in Savannah, stumping for the two Democratic challengers, hoping to flip those two Senate seats on Tuesday.
HARRIS: Have you all heard about that recorded conversation? Well, it was, yes, certainly the voice of desperation, most certainly that. And it was a bald -- bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States.
JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: The president of the United States calls up Georgia's election officials and tries to intimidate them, to change the result of the election, to disenfranchise Georgia voters, to disenfranchise black voters in Georgia, who delivered this state for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
That is a direct attack on our democracy. And if David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler had one piece of steel in their spines, one shred of integrity, they would be out here defending Georgia voters from that kind of assault.
[00:35:13]
LAH: It's hard to miss what this image means. If Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff flip those two Senate seats, Kamala Harris becomes a tie- breaker. Democrats then control the Senate. That is what is at stake on Tuesday.
We did reach out to Senators Loeffler and Purdue for comment on the call. Neither of them returned our calls.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Savannah, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.K. is about to deploy a second vaccine against the coronavirus. Why the government says this is a pivotal moment in the fight against the pandemic.
Plus, India is getting ready to implement its own vaccine strategy. We will have a live report on where that's heading.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Well, the U.K. is rolling out the new Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine Monday. The British health secretary says more than half a million doses are ready to be administered. That is adding to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that's already distributed in the U.K.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson says it's possible that tougher restrictions will be imposed in the next few weeks. And health workers are preparing to reactivate seven so-called nightingale emergency field hospitals as cases rise.
Well, India's drug regulator has approved emergency use of both the Oxford/AstraZeneca and the Covaxin vaccine. The country has more than 10 million cases, second only to the United States.
Covaxin was developed by an Indian company and a government institute. And some critics are worried the approval was rushed through without enough data.
Vedika Sud is in New Delhi. She joins us now live. Good to see you, Vedika. So what more can you tell us about this?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Good to be with you, Rosemary.
So this is a shot in the arm for India. It's not one but two vaccines that have been approved for emergency use authorization by the drug control authority of India.
I have spoken to the CEO of Serum Institute of India. They're the biggest -- one of the biggest manufacturers of vaccines across the world. And Mr. Poonawalla, who is the CEO, spoke with me Sunday evening. And he said that about 50 million doses would be ready by the end of January for inoculation of 300 million people who would be a part of the first phase of the entire vaccination program.
Now this essentially contained people from healthcare facilities, as well as frontline workers. We're talking about a population, Rosemary, that's as big as America, when you talk about 300 million people to be inoculated in phase one.
[00:40:07]
Also, these vaccines, which are also AstraZeneca vaccines and produced by the Serum Institute of India here in India, are relatively cheaper than most of the vaccines across the world that we've been talking about.
A report on these two vaccines and how this is a huge advantage for India, because both of them are being produced in the country itself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUD (voice-over): Full speed ahead in India's fight against the coronavirus. The country's drug regulator gave prior emergency use approval to not one but two COVID-19 vaccines.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And permission is being granted.
SUD: One developer, AstraZeneca and Oxford University, the other by a local company, Bharat Biotech.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calls the announcement "a decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight."
But vaccinating this population of 1.3 billion will be no easy task. India says it will begin what will likely be one of the world's biggest inoculation drives within weeks, with a goal of reaching 300 million people in the next 6 to eight months.
One advantage for India: it is home to one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers, which says it will have 50 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine ready by month end.
The head of the Serum Institute of India says he expects to only be able to supply a vaccine manufactured in India, to India right now but hopes that will change soon.
ADAR POONAWALLA, CEO, SERUM INSTITUTE OF INDIA: The only condition is that we can only supply to the government of India. We can't sell it to the private market, and we can't export it. And in a month or two, as I said, those restrictions should ease and I hope they do, because then we can give it to everybody else.
SUD: With the second highest number of confirmed cases in the world and an economy devastated by the virus, some people say relief can't come fast enough.
RAJESH KUMAR MISHRA, SHOP OWNER: When the vaccine comes, then definitely I'm ready. I'm ready to take the shot.
SUD: But there are many skeptics. The Bharat Biotech vaccine is still in clinical trials. But so far, little efficacy data has been made available to the public.
DR. RANDEEP GULERIA, DIRECTOR, ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES: The first phase focused predominately on the Serum Institute of India, the AstraZeneca vaccine. And the Bharat Biotech vaccine is only as a standby or a backup, in case there is a surge in the number of cases, and we need to have another vaccine available.
SUD: But with both vaccines requiring two doses and a vast country to cover, waiting won't be just a choice.
KHUSHBWU GOYL, NEW DELHI RESIDENT: I'm not sure how soon people like us, who are healthy and normal people of (UNINTELLIGIBLE), how soon will we be able to get it?
SUD: The coming rollout fueled by hope, which will be needed to meet the massive logistical challenges ahead.
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SUD: Dry runs have been taking place across India in the last week or so by the government, and they have been quite successful. But we have to see in the coming days, Rosemary. We're expecting these vaccines to roll out in the next seven to 10 days, according to Adar Poonawalla.
Also, what we're being told at this point is that these vaccines will be -- the government will be focusing on the Serum Institute of India, Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine first up, before even trying to implement the BioNTech vaccine.
Back to you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Absolutely. There's a massive task there in India. And some countries are doing this well. Others not so much.
Vedika Sud joining us live from New Delhi. Many thanks.
And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. WORLD SPORT is up next. See you at the top of the hour.
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