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Georgia's Republican Senate Candidates Backing Trump's Effort To Overturn Election With Debunked Fraud Claims; CNN Speaks To UAE Minister Of State For Foreign Affairs; Strict Lockdown Imposed In England As Cases Surges; Doctor: It's Time To Consider Delaying Second Dose Of Vaccine; GOP Not Dismissing Their Wins On Same Ballots They Claim Are Rigged; Trump's Fortnight Farce Is Running Out Of Clock. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 05, 2021 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Hello and welcome to what is a condensed version of "CONNECT THE WORLD" this evening from our Middle East Programming Hub here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson for you, and we've got a major story to tell you about in this region.

The year's long dispute between Qatar and several of its Arab neighbors has just ended. We're going to look at how that could reshape Middle East politics, and this hour there are more grim COVID numbers coming today from Israel and from England which is now in full lockdown mode.

We are also keeping a close eye for you this hour on those crucial runoff elections in the State of Georgia in America that will decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. Voting there started several hours ago. Polls show a tight race with turnout today considered a key factor after more than 3 million Georgians cast their ballots early.

Both Republican candidates say they are fully on board with the outgoing president's continued efforts to overturn the U.S. election. They announced they are backing Donald Trump's false, debunked claims of widespread voter fraud and will support a dozen Republican Senators and up to 140 House Republicans who will cast objections when congress meets tomorrow to certify Joe Biden's victory in the November election.

Well, many of President Trump's supporters in Georgia believe his full selection claims. Most of them figure he will figure out a way to stay in office. As CNN's Donie O'Sullivan found that they are refusing to accept the reality that Joe Biden will be the next U.S. President. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Are Trump and his supporters just sore losers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. We haven't lost.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): So he'll be president for two more weeks?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. He will be president until 2024.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Obviously Trump is saying that the election was stolen from here in Georgia and doesn't trust the Republican election officials here. Does that cause a problem or an issue for trust in this week's Senate election?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I think it has for several people. People have been demoralized and have actually told me that they do not want to vote because they feel like their vote isn't going to count.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): And what do you say to people?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tell them, well, if the Democrats are going to steal the election, we're not going to - we're going to do the right thing and we're going to vote.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Will you accept Joe Biden as President?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he'll never be my president.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): But you accept that he's going to be inaugurated?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't.

O'SULLIVAN: I mean, how could that change at this point?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there could be a civil war, you never know.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): You don't actually want a civil war, do you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't. Show us the voting machines, show us the ballots, and show us that this was a fair election or we'll never accept another vote again, ever!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Donald Trump's supporters. All eyes then on Georgia today and we will return to our extensive coverage of these crucial runoff elections there and what the results may mean for America's future a little later this hour?

I want to though turn to some breaking news out of this region. The years long feud between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates and indeed Egypt now officially over. It's gone almost as quickly as it came.

Just a few short hours ago the world witnessed this warm embrace almost unthinkable weeks ago. A moment that before today was even hard to imagine. That is, the Emir of Qatar arriving in Saudi Arabia for the first time since ties was cut between the two countries in 2017. He was greeted on the ground by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman who says the time to unite is now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, CROWN PRINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA: Today we are in dire need to unite our efforts to advance our region and face the challenges that surround us, especially with the threats posed by the Iranian regime's nuclear program, its ballistic missile program and its destructive sabotage products that are adopted by Iran terrorists and their sectarian proxies and their aim is instability in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: While the Gulf nations signing a formal agreement at the summit in Saudi Arabia today to open airspace and maritime borders to another deal paves way to the end of an embargo on the tiny gas rich country and the long running dispute that has divided this region for years.

[11:05:00]

ANDERSON: Here is where it all happened, this stuffing old mirage building right in the desert in the Saudi Arabian City of Al-Ula the long awaited olive branch between Qatar and its' Gulf Arab neighbors prompting this tweet from the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs who was there in that building.

It reads and I quote from - in Al-Ula a new bright page is beginning. Well here to talk more about that new beginning and what it means for this wider region. Is the author of that tweet, his Excellency Dr. Anwar Gargash and its good to have you? I know you're just back from that signing ceremony in what was a remarkable setting. Dr. Gargash it has to be said what does this mean practically, sir?

DR. ANWAR GARGASH, UAE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Well Becky, thank you for hosting me. I think first of all I have to say that we're very optimistic. I think the first practical things that it means politically and geo-strategically that the rift that has, you know, consumed the GCC over the last three, three and a half years, has been resolved.

Beginning a process of healing so I think it means a lot in terms of the ability of the GCC to function fully in the coming period. Function fully means that politically it will re-emerge as the geo- strategic bloc of countries that it has always so I would say that's the first thing in terms of political and geopolitical.

The deal basically addresses a lot of the concerns of the various states with regards of how their relationships should be and should be conducted? I think on other planes it is a deal that will end a lot of the measures that were taken during this period, measures that have affected business, that have affected investment and have affected also movement of people within these countries and, of course, Egypt, airlines, over flights and so on.

So the deal has important political ramifications in a really healing rift within the GCC house, and I think this will sort of translate itself into more active and unified GCC geo-strategically and as I said also in other areas to do with business and to do with people. Others will see, you know, a return to normal.

ANDERSON: Right. Dr. Gargash, Qatar was accused by the quartet of course of which the UAE was a member, amongst other things of provocative and hostile behavior, of sponsoring or supporting terrorism and of interfering in the affairs of neighboring countries. Are you then confident that these key issues have been resolved?

DR. GARGASH: Well, again, you know, we have placed our confidence in the Saudis in leading this process of negotiations, and I think that our confidence is justified and clearly also the idea basically is to try and set the rules of non-interference of agreeing on issues that affect all of us, including extremism and terrorism which are part and parcel of the deal.

We are confident that we are looking forward enthusiastically but as you always know the proof is in the pudding, and we hope that we will work together moving forward, sure that such a disruptive rift, one that we've all gone through, should not reoccur through transparency and through working together to address these issues.

ANDERSON: What happened to the list of 13 demands agreed on by the quartet, including, for example, shutting down Al Jazeera, and closing Turkish military base and scaling back Doha's cooperation with Iran? Have those demands now been dropped, sir?

DR. GARGASH: Well, again, you know, my - my view and this is something that we have always said that the 13 demands at the time were considered what I would call a maximalist negotiating team.

[11:10:00]

DR. GARGASH: I think what we end up to deal with is general outlines that basically govern relations between states that are party to the same organization, the GCC and in the case of Egypt also a member of the Arab League.

So these are what I would call general outlines of how this relationship will move on? And I think we're very satisfied with this and we want to build on it, and we want to look to the future building on this and ensuring that in this very turbulent region that the GCC is more solid--

ANDERSON: Right.

DR. GARGASH: --more unified and looking towards the future in unison.

ANDERSON: You - you started on a very optimistic note, and I hear that. Would it though, sir, be fair to say that while the diplomatic crisis is resolved, tensions with Qatar, at least from the UAE's perspective do remain. You say the proof is in the pudding, as it were. I mean, this is something that you will want to see improve over a period of time, is it? DR. GARGASH: Well, I hope not, but I think I have to be realistic following such, you know, a long rift. It is I think only natural that, you know, we are able to build confidence among the four states and Qatar as we move forward. I think we have a good agreement.

We have a good framework, and I think also we're already working as we speak now on implementation, and I think that we'll see implementation quite quickly in many of the measures that we're taking. I have to be, you know - I have to be quite honest.

I'm very optimistic but, of course, you always know that following a rift such as the one that we have had, you know, the issue of rebuilding confidence is one that takes time, takes some energy and takes a lot of transparency, and the UAE is willing to put all of that in order to build these bridges again and to maintain them because we think that this is good for the UAE. This is good for the GCC and indeed good for Qatar.

ANDERSON: Donald Trump's son-in-law and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner were present at the ceremony today having negotiated this agreement as we understand it. There is no doubt that this dispute has complicated Washington's policy on containing Iran, and it is clear, when you listen to the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman today that a United Gulf front would certainly help with regard Iran. What is your message to Tehran today, sir?

DR. GARGASH: Well, I think the first thing is - is to acknowledge the role that was played by Kuwait and indeed the role that was played by Washington in arriving at this point. It has not been an easy process but indeed successful.

But I think the important thing that the GCC today from Al-Ula is sending is a message of unity and it's a message where the GCC seeks, you know, what I would say is peaceful, you know, orientation with all of its neighbors but at the same time refute any sort of interference in its affairs.

This is also a clause that was in the GCC statement today that came out of Al-Ula. So clearly I think we are quite honest about what we want to see. We want to see a region that is more stable. We want to stay away from threatening language, threatening action.

And I think that this is the sort of message that we are sending today. I think the main thing that emerges actually out of Al-Ula is, number one, capable Saudi leadership and at the same time I would say a united GCC trying to - you know, to sort of, you know, orient itself as one geostrategic grouping as it should.

ANDERSON: I just want to - I just want to reiterate or repeat what the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said today. He said we're in dire need to unite efforts to advance our region and face the challenges that surround us.

[11:15:00]

ANDERSON: He went on to say especially with the threats posed by the Iranian regime's nuclear program, its ballistic missile program and its destructive sabotage projects that are adopted by Iran's terrorist and sectarian proxies. This is a view that you share, sir, correct?

DR. GARGASH: Well, again, I think this is, you know, a long stated position of all countries of the GCC. There is a real concern with the nuclear program. There's a real concern with the missile program and there is real concern with the Iranian regional policy.

I think that this is a stated view, but, you know, at the same time I think that the GCC is mature in calling for political solutions to these issues, and I think this is something where we as a group emerge stronger today following the declaration in Al-Ula.

ANDERSON: Sir, do you expect to have a seat at the table in any negotiations that it the incoming Biden Administration will have with Tehran on any future nuclear deal at this point?

DR. GARGASH: Well again, Becky, I think it's premature because we really don't have a very clear idea on how things will develop? But I think a regional voice at any sort of conquer with regard to the nuclear deal or beyond has always been a stated position for the region.

But I think for us we are following many of the various statements from Tehran, from Washington, from the European capitals and especially really from the Biden Administration to sort of see the lay of the land as we move - as we move forward.

Having said that, I think the absence of a regional voice, and the Arab regional voice in the original JCPOA is something that needs to be amended, and I think time has shown that it's very much on point.

ANDERSON: There will be those, sir, who will suggest that today's agreement, brokered as it was by Jared Kushner, is a cosmetic fix by Riyadh and others ahead of this new Biden Administration which to be frank has made it quite clear that it is looking both to reassess its relationship with Saudi Arabia and to have a better relationship with Iran going forward.

What - what do you say to though who suggest this is a cosmetic fix, a fig leaf, as it were, by the kingdom?

DR. GARGASH: I think the first thing to say is that the priority and the Al-Ula declaration is us, the GCC, and I think the first thing is to try and heal a rift within the same organization, within the same group of countries that share history share a lot of familial relationships and so on and so forth, economies and so on and so forth.

So I would say that the main focus of healing this threat is an internal GCC focus, but I - and it has taken long, and I would come and say that the current Saudi effort in reaching out to arrive at this arrangement, you know, representing us and other countries has not been something that was done in weeks.

It's really taken long period of time in order for us to arrive at this point. So my argument would be that any other external concentrations are secondary, but I think the major, major concentration for the optimism that we see today is very much a GCC reading of where we should be?

What we should cops trait on? How different the region is? And how do we deal it? Now the issue of is this cosmetic or not, we have to work at making this deal, you know, quite waterproof in many ways?

[11:20:00]

DR. GARGASH: And speaking on behalf of the UAE, we have every intention of ensuring that the Al-Ula declaration is a success because we feel that it is in the interest of UAE and we feel that it is in the interest of the region.

ANDERSON: With that we'll leave it there. We thank you very much indeed for joining us out of the flight from Saudi Arabia, and as we discussed at the beginning of this interview from a quite remarkable setting for what is - a big move and as you have described hopefully a new beginning at the end of a - let's describe this as the worst diplomatic crisis that is this region has seen in years. Dr. Anwar Gargash, the Foreign Minister of State for Foreign Affairs thank you very much indeed for joining us.

Right now, we're waiting to hear from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson as England has entered a strict national lockdown. Mr. Johnson expected to speak next hour along with the Chief Scientific Adviser to the government there and the Chief Medical Officer for England.

The Prime Minister announced this new lockdown the same day that he visited a hospital on Monday on what was the first day of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine rollout. It comes as a wide spread vaccination effort begins and after a new variant of COVID-19 was discovered in the UK.

Now, Wales, Northern Ireland already in lockdown and Scotland started a lockdown of its own a few hours ago. We will get you more on that, of course, as we hear from the Prime Minister. He will be speaking at the top of the hour in about 40 minute's time.

I've got Phil Black with me. He's outside 10 Downing Street. What is this? As we await more details and perhaps some answers to many questions that will be posed to the Prime Minister, what does this new lockdown mean for daily life for those living in England?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Becky, people were already living across much of England with pretty strict restrictions on their lives, but this new stay-at-home message, this renewed message, is being delivered again with a familiar urgency, a familiar somberness I think, and it comes along with some pretty tough new restrictions in addition to what people have been living with here already.

People will now have fewer reasons for being legally allowed to leave their homes and crucially one of the big changes I think is that schools are going to close. There's been a lot of confusion here over the message in terms of keeping schools open. It has been a priority for the government to do so, but it has now accepted an undeniable reality and that is that although children may be better off at school, maybe relatively safe at school because they don't get COVID-19 seriously, they still get the virus and they still take that home to their families and they still drive transmission.

And in an environment where this new more highly transmissible variant of the virus is essentially running out of control, when case numbers are soaring, where hospital admissions are approaching incredibly dangerous levels in terms of the viability of the country's health system, the government has had no choice it seems but to take this tough action as regrettable as it may be. It believes that this is all necessary because of this new variant.

The Prime Minister has stressed this repeatedly. He believes that the system up until now, the rules, the tools, these tiered system of locally targeting areas with the relevant level of restrictions, he thinks that would have kept working if not for this new strain of the virus.

And so the UK now finds itself in a situation where it looks like it's going to be entering the darkest period of the pandemic yet because all the numbers are still heading dramatically in the wrong direction but the hope is that this lockdown will buy some time, will drive down transmissions eventually enough to a point where the roll out of the vaccine or the vaccination program.

The two available vaccines here where that begins to make a difference at a community level and really slowdown transmission there as well and once you get to that point then you can start talking with lifting these restrictions, but that's not going to be quick or easy. We're talking months. It looks like this is going to be the way of life here for the duration of winter at least, Becky.

ANDERSON: And very briefly, then, Phil, what's public sentiment like about these new lockdowns? Are people willing to cooperate?

BLACK: No one is happy about this and obviously but anecdotally I'm yet to meet anyone who doesn't accept the need for it and the reason why I guess is because of that impact the virus is clearly having on the health system.

[11:25:00]

BLACK: Every day anecdotally we're hearing stories about the pressures faced by doctors, nurses, ambulance crews and so forth. There is every reason to believe that the health system is at a real crisis point and for that reason people seem willing to accept this and go along with it.

ANDERSON: Phil Black is outside 10 Downing Street and I'll be with you in about 30 minutes time at the top of the next hour for live coverage of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's news conference after a very short break now. We'll join my colleagues Brianna Keilar who is in Washington more on these extremely important elections out of Georgia today. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You say that a Wisconsin pharmacist accused of sabotaging vaccines is a self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist. Steven Brandenburg was arrested for deliberately removing dozens of vials of the Moderna vaccines from the hospital's refrigerator. CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard is following this story closely. Jacqueline?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Brianna, this incident involves 57 vials of vaccines, so that's more than 500 doses that police say were left out of cold storage and sabotaged. Police say pharmacist Steven Brandenburg is a conspiracy theorist allegedly telling them that he believes the vaccines would change people's DNA. Brandenburg has appeared virtually in court. Here are the criminal charges that he's facing.

[11:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MALLOY, CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE: The charges of criminal damage to property in excess of $1,500 and endangering safety.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: Now this is under investigation. Neither Brandenburg nor his attorney are commenting on this case but overall, Brianna, this is just one case of vaccine sabotage, and remember it's happening against a much larger backdrop of the nation facing a slow vaccine rollout and facing some concerns about having enough doses to go around. Brianna?

KEILAR: Jacqueline Howard, thank you for that. And in Los Angeles one of the biggest fears surrounding this surge in COVID cases is now becoming a reality that health care will have to be rationed. With ICU capacity at zero, L.A.'s Emergency Medical Services Agency has told crews not to transport patients who have little chance of survival.

EMS defines this as no pulse or signs of breathing after at least 20 minutes of resuscitation. Ambulance teams are also being told to conserve oxygen supply. I want to bring in Dr. Robert Wachter, who is the Chair of UC San Francisco's Department of Medicine.

I mean, Dr. Wachter, this is scary, right? This is a scary lore for the pandemic. These are tough decisions that no health care system would want to make, so explain why hospitals have to make these kinds of decisions?

DR. ROBERT WACHTER, CHAIR, UCSF DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE: Because they are packed and they are packed with COVID patients and, of course, the other patients haven't gone away and - and so when a hospital is filled, it's not only do you have enough beds, but you have enough ventilators, ICU beds, nurses and doctors and you have to start making some tough choices?

I'm just as worried hearing about that ambulance story is just terrible, but I'm just as worried about what it feels like in a hospital that's being overrun with patients. You start having nurses and doctors taking care of more patients than they should and they are rushed. They are stressed and you start to see mistakes.

And so the improvements in mortality rates that we're seeing with COVID, there's no guarantee that they will continue under those kinds of conditions.

KEILAR: Because you're talking about people who are, you know, exhausted, right, and they have been at this for months?

DR. WACHTER: Exhausted, overwhelmed, frustrated, because it didn't really have to be this way, and they are doing the best they can. They are working their tails off and they have been doing it now for ten months but at some point the system begins to break.

You have too many patients. They keep coming and people start - they have to start taking shortcuts. They are not able to do the job the way they know how to do it and they want to do it, and so bad things start happening so the situation is just terrible.

KEILAR: There's a study that's been published just this hour by the "Journal of the American Medical Association" and it says that the virus is underreported, that the real number of infections may be four times higher and that just over half of the infections were symptomatic so when we're thinking of half of them being asymptomatic. That's pretty startling. Are those statistics that surprise you at all?

DR. WACHTER: No, we've known that from the beginning. Testing has not been as robust as it should have been so there's a lot of infection out there that we don't see, and that's always been COVID's superpower. In the very beginning of this we thought if you screen people for a fever and if they felt bed then they got tested and you are all good.

We know that's just not true. There are a lot of cases go asymptomatic and that means that people can spread the virus when they feel perfectly well, but what we're also seeing is the people that are coming into hospitals, they are getting diagnosed with COVID, and we're just seeing a huge number of cases can all over the country and it really is, as we're seeing in L.A., it's really overwhelming the system.

KEILAR: And we were just hearing from our reporter Jacqueline who was describing this larger backdrop of a slow vaccine rollout. You just wrote a piece. You wrote an opinion piece for "The Washington Post" saying that it's time to consider delaying that second vaccine dose. Tell us why?

DR. WACHTER: Well, it's a complex argument. I didn't think that two weeks ago I felt like the vaccine is going to roll out. We'll get it out to people quickly and smoothly and the doses that were used in the clinical trials were the ones where you gave two doses, are first and then a second one about a month later. But the evidence from the trials says that after a few weeks after the first dose it delivers pretty good protection, 80 percent to 90 percent protect. You get up to 95 percent with the second dose. But given the slow rollout and this new variant that now we know is in the United States and is more infect out, we're in a little more of a race.

We're slated to that 50,000 to 100,000 Americans die this month of COVID, so it struck me and my co-author that if you could give that first dose to twice as many people quickly and defer the second dose for maybe a couple of months, that the benefits of that might very well outweigh the risks. We hope to generate a national discussion about that.

[11:35:00]

DR. WACHTER: It clearly has happened. I still think it's a good idea because right now it really is - things are out of control and the vaccine is not getting into people's arms as quickly as it needs to.

KEILAR: Look and it speaks to these choices that I think no one really wants to be making but here's where we are so it's certainly generate that had discussion. Dr. Wachter thanks for being with us.

DR. WACHTER: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: Next we're going to roll the tape on why Republicans on the same ballot as the president acknowledged their own wins but not Joe Biden's? Plus who was the Trump lawyer heard on that infamous call with Georgia officials? A look at how she's one of the first to embrace election conspiracies? And we'll take you back to Georgia where voting is under way in these races that will decide the balance of power in the Senate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

KEILAR: Voting in Georgia's Senate runoff race is well under way. More than 3 million Georgians cast early ballots to determine control of the U.S. Senate. But eyes are trained on today's turnout which could ultimately decide this outcome between Senator David Perdue and Jon Ossoff and Senator Kelly Loeffler and Reverend Raphael Warnock. So let's check in now with our reporters who are in some crucial counties.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Martin Savidge in Savannah, Georgia. It's another one of those Democrat strongholds in the state, and when the polls opened this morning there was a line of about ten people. Now though it's pretty quiet.

In fact, it's been pretty quiet for several hours, and this is supposed to be one of the peaks voting periods of the day. That said they did set records for early voting in this county when it came to a runoff election. They have about doubled the turnout they normally would anticipate. So it's estimated that roughly 30 percent of registered voters in Chatham County here have already cast their ballots. What will the rest of the day be like? We'll be here watching.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ryan Young in Cobb County, Georgia. And we saw all morning long people who are energized about this vote in fact this morning before 6:00 am there was someone actually sitting here, ready, already in line.

There was a line of more than 45 people when the polls finally did opened. Talking to voters they tell us health care was one of the things they were concerned about. They also have been upset about all this talk about whether or not the election has been valid?

That's been going on here in the State of Georgia since the election so they were finally happy to see this come to an end. They are hoping this election finally closes this chapter.

KEILAR: Ryan Young and Martin Savidge thank you for those reports. Aside from the lies, the conspiracy theories, the delusional nonsense and the desperate begging one sure-fire sign that the efforts of President Trump and Republicans to challenge the presidential election are a scam is the lack of logic.

If the election was rigged and the actual results are suspect, why are Trump and his allies only questioning the results in close races where he lost? Not a peep about North Carolina. The president isn't going all good fellows on Tar Heel Republicans.

Remember, the Republicans made a solid 13-seat gain in the House, and if the ballots are rigged and that's why the president and Republicans say they refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden won, why are they accepting the results of their wins, the Republican victories in the House and state races that were on the very same ballots as the president's race?

If the ballots were rigged and render the presidential results illegitimate, wouldn't all the races on those ballots be illegitimate? Yes, they would. But don't try to try explaining that to QAnon supporter and newly sworn in Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I think our Secretary of State has failed Georgia and I believe that our election should be decertified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But when Greene was asked if decertifying the election would impact her and other Georgia Republicans who were on the same ballot as the presidential race?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREENE: We're talking about the president's race. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Actually, no, we aren't just talking about the president's race because, again, she was on the same exact ballot as the president. Decertify his race, decertify hers and then just hours after a top Republican official, election official in Georgia debunked the president's conspiracy theories one by one pleading with voters in Georgia to show up, that the process is not rigged, the Republican Senator fighting for her seat made this declaration to Georgia voters with President Trump beside her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): I have an announcement, Georgia. On January 6th I will object to the Electoral College vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Kelly Loeffler has said that she thinks the vote should be investigated, but she's repeatedly dodged questions on the fraud issue, so the votes of Georgians that put the Senator Loeffler in this runoff election that she has not specifically questioned the legitimacy of should not count?

Republicans are trying themselves into knots trying to back President Trump and why, because they are scared of him? They are scared that he'll make pariahs of them to his base. And he may use all that money that he's been raising to support candidates to run against them.

He sure doesn't seem to care much about these Republican Senate candidates. Loeffler and Perdue were supposed to be the stars of the show last night and he robbed them of their best appeal to voters that they will preserve his legacy by keeping the balance of power tilted towards Republicans in the Senate. Instead this was trump's pitch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Kelly fights for me, David fights for me, that I can tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:45:00]

KEILAR: Does he really fight for them because for months he's been making Republican voters in Georgia wonder if there's any point to voting in this election process that he claims wrongly is rigged. The president's campaign play list last night blaring songs like good-bye, yellow brick road and my heart will go on, that theme song of the movie "Titanic," and the Senate candidates there skipped along with the president on his winding journey through oz.

Now the only question is will Republicans stay afloat in Georgia or will they go down with the president's sinking ship? She's one of the key figures in the president's fight to overturn the election, but who exactly is Cleta Mitchell? What we're learning about the attorney who surprised even her own law firm when she turned up on Trump's troublesome phone call?

Plus, the National Guard is being deployed to Washington tomorrow as Trump supporters get ready to gather for the Electoral College challenge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATRIN JAKOBSDOTTIR, ICELANDIC PRIME MINISTER: Those are pretty resilient people here in Iceland, but we're also human and obviously, obviously we all feel a sense of fatigue because of this pandemic, but I also sense a very strong understanding here of the general public in Iceland.

Everybody understands what's happening and people, you know, they know that we need to use those methods to be able to contain the virus. I think we have managed to be pretty unified. I would have wished for more international cooperation.

It has been growing, growing cooperation between countries, and I think when we're faced with the pandemic like this, this really shows us the importance of international cooperation.

ANNOUNCER: This is the look at the 100 club, our look at companies that are 100 years old or older.

KAREN KELLY, CRAYOLA HISTORIAN: When I talk to anybody and tell them I work at Crayola they always have a story to share about their first box, their first 64-count box or the 24-count box that they use for school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crayola, the name synonymous with crayons, actually began 116 years ago under a different name Benny & Smith, the company's Founders.

[11:50:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1903 the Crayola brand was born with the first box of crayons in eight colors.

KELLY: They were selling Crayola chalk in school and we noticed that the kids didn't have any colored wax sticks to color with so our Founders Benny & Smith wanted to create a wax crayon that would be affordable for kids to use in the classroom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: It's unclear if President Trump will face legal repercussions following that threatening phone call to Georgia's Secretary of State in which Trump pushed him to "Find votes" but others on that call are already enduring consequences.

Republican lawyer Cleta Mitchell participated in the call on the president's behalf and the law firm where she is a partner Foley & Lardner is now distancing itself from her over this call. CNN White House Correspondent John Harwood is here with us now to talk about this. Tell us more about this lawyer Cleta Mitchell, John?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, Cleta Mitchell comes from Oklahoma where she began her political career as a Democrat serving in the state legislature, and then like many conservative Democrats, especially in southern and western states, she gravitated towards the Republican Party, more conservative party.

I first came to know her in the early 19990s when she came to Washington and became an advocate for term limits. That, of course, what is a time when Republicans were attempting to retake the congress, especially the House that the Democrats had held for four decades.

Over time she's gotten more and more deeply embedded in conservative ideological causes and politics, so been involved on behalf of the tea party against the IRS, the National Rifle Association, working in conjunction with CPAC and now as the president's circle of advisers has narrowed and more and more of the establishment mainstream figures have declined to participate in his attempt to overturn the election.

He's drawn people like Rudy Giuliani and now Cleta Mitchell into that circle so she was on that call that the president participated in with Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State, and notably White House Counsel Pat Cipollone was not. He was keeping his distance and fact say that he was not even aware of the call.

KEILAR: And now this law firm, her law firm is distancing it from her?

HARWOOD: That's right. This is a very old law firm founded in the middle of the 19th century. Large international practice, prominent conservative members of both parties have been associated with it, including Former Democratic Governor of Wisconsin Jim Doyle, for example.

And the firm even acquired a firm that Barack Obama served as a Summer Associate and so this is a firm that is not eager to plunge itself into this particular cause, and that's why they have indicated their distance from Cleta Mitchell.

KEILAR: Thank you so much for explaining all of that to us, John Harwood. We appreciate it. And President Trump's pattern of promising things in two weeks just notch another example as the clock is running out. We're going to roll the tape.

Plus an election that will impact just how much President Biden will be able to accomplish? We're live as Georgians head to the polls.

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[11:55:00]

KEILAR: As we approach the series finale of the Trump Presidency he's still not letting a good tease go to waste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And you watch what happens over the next couple of weeks? You watch what's going to come out? Watch what's going to be revealed?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He's literally had two months to reveal something, anything proving their baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and he and his allies have not, but just ask the courts that reject their cases over and over. There's a pattern of President Trump promising something big in a fortnight. Roll the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (voice over): We're signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan.

We're going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure.

We've got the plan largely completed, and we'll be filing it over the next two or three weeks, maybe sooner.

I'll be making a big decision on the Paris Accord over the next two weeks.

I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.

So we're doing very well in the fight against ISIS as General Mattis has just explained and we're going to have a news conference in about two weeks to let everybody know how well we're doing.

I'm putting out a tax policy paper over the next two weeks so we're putting them out one by one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He rarely follows through on these timetables. In fact, we're still waiting for the health care plan that he promised but never delivered so he's saying now watch the next couple of weeks but this tired line is officially out of time in. And two weeks and less than a day we will watch Joe Biden be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Hello, it's the top of the hour I'm Brianna Keilar and this is CNN's special live coverage of a pivotal 48 hours in American history when Georgia voters will determine whether Democrats control all of the levers of powers in Washington and when Republican lawmakers will take the extraordinary step of trying to overturn the will of the voters.

We do begin in Georgia where voters are hitting the polls in two runoff races that will decide who will controls the Senate? If Democrats Jon Ossoff and Reverend Rafael Warnock win both of these races, they pick up two seats and they will gain control of the Senate for Democrats. They then have 50 Senators matching the balance of power with Republicans and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris would be able to break any tie.