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Trump Tells Georgia Officials to "Find" Votes to Sway Election; Bipartisan Condemnation for Trump Phone Call; Pelosi Says Defeating COVID-19 is Most Urgent Priority; Concern New Variants Could Impact Vaccine Efficacy; ICU Nurse Receives Threats for COVID Warning; WikiLeaks Founder Faces Ruling on Extradition to U.S. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 04, 2021 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also tried to highlight debunked claims of election fraud during the call.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF (via phone): Mr. Secretary, obviously there is -- there are allegations where we believe that not every vote or fair vote and legal vote was counted, and that's at odds with the representation from the secretary of state's office.

What I'm hopeful for, is there some way that we can find some kind of an agreement to look at this a little bit more fully, as 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 a spirit of cooperation and compromise, is 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?

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA'S SECRETARY OF STATE (via phone): Well, I listened 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 won. And we don't -- I didn't agree about the 200,000 number that you'd mentioned. I'll go through that point by point.

What we have done is we gave our state Senate about one and a half hours of our time going through the election issue by issue and then on the state House, the government affairs committee, we gave them 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 our U.S. congressmen, Republican congressmen, and we gave them about two hours of our time talking about this past election.

Going back, primarily what you've talked about here focused in on primarily, I believe, is the absentee ballot process. I don't believe that you're really questioning the Dominion machines. Because we did a hand re-tally, a 100 percent re-tally of all the ballots, and compared them to what the machines said and came up with virtually the same result. Then we did the recount, and we got virtually the same result. So I guess we can probably take that off the table. I don't think there's an issue about that. I think what you --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, 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 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, yeah, 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.

If you took -- these are the most minimal numbers, the numbers that I gave you, those are numbers that are certified, your absentee ballots sent to vacant addresses, your out-of-state voters, 4,925. You know when you add them up, it's many more times, it's many times the 11,779 number.

So we could go through -- we have not gone through your Dominion. So we can't give them blessing. I mean, in other states, we think we found tremendous corruption with Dominion machines, but we'll have to see.

But we only lost the state by 11 -- by that number, 11,000 votes, and 779. So with that being said, with just what we have, and, you know, with just what we have, we're giving you minimal, minimal numbers. We're doing the most conservative numbers possible. We're many times, many, many times above the margin. And so we don't really have to, Mark, I don't think we have to go through --

MEADOWS: Right

TRUMP: -- because what's the difference between winning the election by two votes and winning it by half a million.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Now there is no evidence of widespread election fraud in Georgia or anywhere else, but clearly President Trump isn't giving up on his effort to look for it. Officials in Raffensperger's office, by the way, legally recorded the call. It was legal to do what they did. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are also slamming the president for the false claims and requests made during that call.

We know that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spoke about it at a drive-in Democratic campaign rally on Sunday in Savannah, Georgia, and this is what she had to say. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:00]

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: Have you all heard about that recorded conversation? (CARS HONKING)

HARRIS: Well, it was yes, certainly the voice of desperation. Most certainly that. And it was a bald, bald face bold abuse of power by the President of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: And Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who is a Republican, weighed in on a call earlier with CNN. He condemned the president in the strongest terms. Take a listen to that.

(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 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 so obviously beyond the pale is probably not the way even to describe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Well, CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein is one of the reporters who broke the Nixon Watergate story about 50 years ago. He was highly critical of President Trump's actions on that phone call. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: What we have just heard is in any other conceivable moment in our history, this tape would result in the leadership of both parties calling for the resignation of the president of the United States immediately. There would be a run in the Republican and Democratic parties to call for his resignation. What we're listening to here is the president proposing a conspiracy to steal the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: We'll continue to monitor the story of course here on CNN in the coming hours.

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi is now starting her fourth term as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Now she kept the post as the new U.S. Congress was officially sworn in on Sunday. Pelosi and Democrats now have a slim margin of control, after Republicans actually gained seats in November's election. In her remarks Pelosi said the most urgent priority is to defeat the coronavirus pandemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We accept a responsibility as daunting and demanding as any previous generation of leadership has ever faced. We begin this new Congress during a time of extraordinary difficulty. Each of our communities has been drastically, drastically affected by the pandemic, and its economic crisis. 350,000 tragic deaths. We sadly carry them in our hearts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Well, this new Congress is now the most diverse in history. There are a record number of women, black and Latina members, as well as lawmakers who identify as LGBTQ.

So coming up, health care workers across the U.S. are treating more COVID patients now than at any other point in the pandemic. They are exhausted, and tired, and angry. I'll talk with one ICU nurse at the frontlines of the crisis, and hear her story, next.

[04:40:00]

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CURNOW: Welcome back. I'm Robyn Curnow. And as countries around the world roll out coronavirus vaccines, scientists are now looking to see whether a variant found in South Africa could affect how well some vaccines work.

David McKenzie is in Johannesburg. He's tracking this story. David, hi, good to see you. So we know that it's normal for viruses to mutate. What do we know about the so-called South African variant?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well it's called the South African variant because it was discovered here, Robyn, and the lead scientist who has been part of the team that initially sequenced the new genome of this variant extremely concerned. Just a short -- a few days ago he said that they are getting more worried the more they study of this variant.

Now one of the reasons for that, is it seemed to dominant new infections here in South Africa. As you came into the end of 2020 in one region the vast majority, more than 90 percent of people who they tested for the virus positive were in fact of this variant. So It's kind of taken over in the South African context.

Of course, we don't know where this variant originated but it was certainly first identified here in South Africa. It's different from the U.K. variant, but there are some similarities, and one is they believe that this could be more infectious. It could spread quicker.

But authorities here are really trying to stress that also the opening up of the country and traveling during the holiday period had a very significant if not more significant role in the spike of cases we are seeing here in South Africa for the second wave. Of course, the most worrying thing they say is whether this variant will impact the efficacy of a vaccine that has been rolled out around the world -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Yes, you mentioned the spike, the surge that's been the Christmas holidays, there were a lot of metric waves after the end of the school year, pushing up the number of people who were infected. So this coinciding with the surge and this variant. What does that mean then for the health systems and for the impact on the population?

MCKENZIE: Well, I've spoken to several doctors and administrators over the last few days, Robyn, and they're very much feeling the strain. You've seen record numbers of new infections equally disturbing. About a third of the people who test for COVID-19 are positive which indicates there are a great number of people who aren't getting tested, who are slipping through the cracks and we are very much in South Africa in the second wave. Which is proving more significant peak than the first one at around July.

The vaccine issue though with this new strain, given that at least seven countries have already identified the so-called South African strain in people in their localities, could mean that they need to find out of course if these at least three vaccines that have seen some level of authorization around the world are effective against it. Now, initially, the South Africans say they believe that it should still be effective, but they are studying that.

Now, the head of the U.K., one of the heads of the U.K. vaccine development team of that Oxford vaccine said even if it doesn't show efficacy t could be a relatively short period to adjust the vaccine to then combat this virus, but it isn't clear.

[04:45:00]

It means yet again that they need to find this out very quickly and also that it's a critical time in combating the virus here in South Africa -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Yes, it certainly is dangerous times indeed. David McKenzie, good to see you, thanks so much, live there from Johannesburg.

So the coronavirus pandemic is certainly pushing the health care systems in many countries to the brink especially here also in the United States. Take a look at images. On Sunday, the U.S. reported a record high number of hospitalizations and cases have skyrocketed since the holidays and the impact is still unfolding.

California is certainly seeing the worst of it, more than 45,000 new cases of the virus there were reported on Sunday. Making matters worse, the vaccine rollout is going much, much slower than expected, just slightly more than 4 million doses have been administered nationwide so far.

I want to talk now with Kelsey Vandersteen, an ICU nurse who sent a tweet a few days ago that provoked a lot of reaction and not all of it good. Kelsey, hi, lovely to see you, thanks for being on the show.

KELSEY VANDERSTEEN, ICU REGISTERED NURSE: Thanks.

CURNOW: I would like to read out that tweet that you wrote. You said you were taking a COVID patient off a ventilator and then allowing them to pass away. And you say, we pull up the iPad and the family appears. Thirty plus people had gathered together, no masks, squished together in one screen. If they didn't get the severity and consequences of COVID, you write, no one will. Talk us through that moment.

VANDERSTEEN: It's hard to kind of understand how they can see someone that they love so much, who clearly, they want to be with, we wish that they could be with their loved one, and still take the risks that increase your likelihood of catching COVID or sharing it among more of their loved ones.

We have these end-of-life conversations, these iPad end-of-life situations with patients not infrequently. And oftentimes, it's many different screens from many different places. And this was the first I had seen so many people together all in one room and without any masks on.

CURNOW: But the reaction to your tweet, you've got death threats.

VANDERSTEEN: Yes, there were a number of people who said some pretty cruel things. Some recommending, you know, they said that they were going to meet me in a parking garage of the hospital, that, you know, that I was being cruel and heartless, and it's not my job to shame anyone. And I didn't feel like that tweet conveyed shame. It more conveyed sadness that people keep saying, a lot of Americans say, if more people could see what we see, they would change their behavior. They do see what we see and yet there continues to be, you know, not adherence to mask wearing and not keeping social distance.

CURNOW: How many people have you had to help die or watch die or help say goodbye to loved ones in the past few months?

VANDERSTEEN: Many. Twenty plus, I would say.

CURNOW: And how difficult has that been?

VANDERSTEEN: It's extremely difficult. And it's difficult for many reasons, but especially because there isn't family there with them. I've been a nurse for 13 years and have seen many patients and helped many patients as they passed away. And there is always family. There are always their loved ones there to talk to us about them and who they were. And we don't get that this time.

Everywhere along when they first come in until they pass away, they don't see anyone they love except through a screen and often they are too sick to even be conscious to see the screen. So, it's very heartbreaking.

CURNOW: Kelsey Vandersteen, thank you for your work.

VANDERSTEEN: Thank you.

CURNOW: You are watching CNN. Still to come, after evading the U.S. justice system for more than a decade, the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be determined in the next hour. We'll go live to the scene, coming up.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: Live pictures here from London. It is decision time for Julian Assange. A U.K. judge is due to announce a decision if he is to be extradited to the U.S. or not to face charges under the Espionage Act. That is going to be happening immediately. As you can see, there's certainly a lot of activity outside the court there in London as Assange awaits hits fate. And so I want to go to Nina dos Santos. She is live on the scene as well and can talk us through what is to be expected. Nina, hi, good to see you. Chilly day, though.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Yes, but as you can see many of Julian Assange's supporters have been braving these frigid temperatures for many an hour here, gathering outside the court. Not a huge amount of social distancing I have to say but hey.

We're expecting this decision to come quite quickly. It's going to take place probably within the next hour. The hearing is set to start within about five to ten minutes' time. And already in the last 15 minutes we've seen various members of Julian Assange's family, also Stella Morris, his partner with whom he has two young sons arrived to lend their support here as the decision is awaited, also the CEO of WikiLeaks.

They didn't say much as they entered the court, but we already know the what the closing arguments of his legal team have been. Because they filed them at the end of last year. And largely they have consistently tried to argue that Julian Assange is facing a politically motivated case against himself. But he really just acted as a journalist when he encouraged Chelsea Manning to share information, classified information with him and disseminated reams of very sensitive defense information over the last ten years or so. Back in 2010 a leak that covered Afghanistan and then later also ones that covered military missions in Iraq.

Now the defense team has also argued that Julian Assange faces some health issues, that he is clinically depressed, and they say that he could run the risk of committing suicide. They also say that extraditing him to the United States would infringe his human rights because he now has a family in the United Kingdom.

[04:55:00]

However, the lawyers representing the U.S. Department of Justice say that Julian Assange has to answer to a number of counts, 18 counts in total, that as you pointed out, include elements of the espionage essentially that he has disseminated classified national defense information. In fact, this put people's lives at risk, including U.S. citizens and their informants at risk.

We're expecting this decision, as I said, to come within the next hour. Assange's team can appeal thereafter. That could take some time. It's also possible that the U.K. home secretary may make a statement on the matter. She will also have a final decision on that -- Robyn. CURNOW: OK, thanks for that update, no doubt we will be coming back to

you throughout the coming hours as this story develops. Nina dos Santos, good to see you, life there in London.

And finally, a professional surfer in Hawaii is being labeled a hero after a woman from the ocean. Australian Mikey Wright was filming the wave in Hawaii on New Year's Eve when he saw the woman get swept off the rocks and into the ocean. As you can see from these images, Wright jumped into action, grabbing onto the woman and pulling her through the waves until they were safely back onshore. He says the ocean can be unpredictable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKEY WRIGHT, PROFESSIONAL SURFER: It was good having my sister on the beach kind of directing us which way to go. She actually warned us there was a double-up coming, which a double-up is where two waves meet on each other, and instead of the force of one wave, it's actually two waves hitting us at once.

Her son even came running down the beach and just, you know, latched a hold of me and just started fully crying and, you know, was just, you know, a very emotional and just kept saying, thank you. You saved my mother. I thought she was gone. So it was a very special moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Special indeed. We all need a little bit of that.

And thanks for joining me. I'm Robyn Curnow. Appreciate you being me with the last two hours. I'll hand you over to the team at "EARLY START."

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