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Trump Stumps For Georgia Run-Offs But Mostly Talks Up His Stolen Election; New Variant Locks England Down, Level Five; Los Angeles County Begins Rationing Medical Care; India Embarks On Colossal Vaccination Program, Experts Fear Too Quickly; Post-Holiday Surge - An American Dies Of COVID Every 33 Seconds; Trump Repeats False Fraud Claims at Campaign Rally; Trump Phone Call Could Impact Critical Races; Tehran Resumes 20 percent Uranium Enrichment, Breaching Pact; Iran Seizes South Korean Flagged Tanker; Where is Jack Ma?; Mexico's COVID Czar Takes Beach Trip amid Infection Spree. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 05, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. Good to have your company, I'm John Vause.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.
The president went down to Georgia in a bind and out of time and looking to find thousands of votes he says were stolen. He also made fleeting mention of the two Republicans in a crucial run-off senate election.
A third national lockdown for England. Will the same measures be as effective in containing the faster spreading variant of the coronavirus?
And ambulance crews in Los Angeles now making life and death decisions with directions to stop transferring COVID-19 patients who have the least chance of survival.
Well, control of the U.S. congress could be decided in the coming hours with the state of Georgia heading back to the polls to vote in two senate runoff elections.
President Donald Trump held a campaign rally in the northwest town of Dalton on Monday. He made fleeting mention of the two Republicans on the ticket, Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
But for the most part, it was just another venue for tilting at windmills. The 45th president repeated the old, tired, baseless, fact-free conspiracy theories about stolen votes -- there weren't any -- and how the election was rigged -- it wasn't -- and he'd won overwhelmingly -- he hadn't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no way we lost Georgia, there's no way.
CROWD: (Applause)
TRUMP: The rigged -- that was a rigged election but we're still fighting it and you'll see what's going to happen and we'll talk about it. And I just want to thank you, this is some crowd. You know Biden was here today also, they had 14 people in three cars.
CROWD: (Boos)
TRUMP: No, there was no way. And I just want to thank you. I've had two elections, I won both of them. It's amazing.
CROWD: (Applause)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And now Trump wants revenge. He says he will campaign against Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger because those Republicans refused to help in his efforts to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state of Georgia.
He also issued a challenge, of sorts, to his own vice president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you. I hope that our great vice president, our great vice president comes through for us, he's a great guy.
Of course, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him quite as much. No, Mike is a great guy, he's a wonderful man and a smart man and a man that I like a lot.
But he's going to have a lot to say about it and he -- one thing with him you're going to get straight shots, he's going to call it straight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The outcome of the senate runoff could hinge on voters' reaction to Trump's weekend phone call.
A phone call where he pressured Georgia's secretary of state to find 11,000 votes and overturn Joe Biden's victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Trump (Voice Over, Captioned): Look, Brad, I got to get -- I have to find 12,000 votes and I have them times a lot. And therefore, I won the state.
I only need 11,000 votes -- fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. You know, we have that in spades already. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The manager of Georgia's election systems spent his Monday afternoon refuting each and every false allegation of election fraud. He had spoken truth to power before, he did it again. Almost until he was out of breath.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: Again, this is all easily, provably false. Yet, the president persists.
And, by doing so, undermines Georgians' faith in the election system, especially Republican Georgians in this case which is important because we have a big election coming up tomorrow and everybody deserves to have their vote counted if they want it to be, Republican and Democrat alike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ron Brownstein is CNN's senior political analyst and the senior editor for "The Atlantic." He is with us this hour from Los Angeles.
It's always good to have you with us, Ron, so let's get to it.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SNR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. You're in the center of the political world, John.
VAUSE: It feels like it, it's like everyone's here, including Donald Trump. And it seems like his last act in office is not only to overturn the democratic election result but also try to destroy the Republican Party.
He's putting those who support the rule of law and democracy against those who want to back this certain to fail bid to overturn the electoral college vote on Wednesday.
The latest to take sides in this GOP Civil War, Georgia senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. Here's Loeffler from tonight.
[01:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY LOEFFLER, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: I have an announcement, Georgia. On January 6th, I will object to the electoral college vote. That's right, that's right. Thank you. We're going to get this done.
CROWD: (Applause)
VAUSE: That crowd, the cheering, the clapping, the enthusiasm. Is it that simple, it's do whatever it takes to win, don't worry about the consequences? BROWNSTEIN: Well, a big chunk of the Republican base is moving in
that direction. And Kelly Loeffler is closing her campaign -- and David Perdue -- ended up in the same place tonight as well.
Basically, by saying elect me and I will disenfranchise you. They are calling to throw out the votes from their own state. Which is quite a position to be taking.
Look, there is a division in the Republican Party at this point but they have only themselves to blame for getting into this situation. You don't get to the place we are in now overnight and you don't get there alone.
The only way that Donald Trump could undertake a campaign as extended as this -- an anti-democratic campaign to subvert an election as we have seen -- is because week after week, month after month, year after year Republicans in congress have abetted and defended him as he has barreled through the rule of law.
On everything from trying to weaponize the postal service to trying to tilt the census to the advantage of one party for the first time in our history to, of course, the phone call trying to extort the government of Ukraine to manufacture dirt on his opponent.
Susan Collins famously said that he learned a lesson and I think we can all agree with that lesson was based on these last two months. That no matter how far he goes, there will be a core of Republicans that are willing to defend him.
And so we are in this unprecedented, ominous and pretty dangerous situation that we find ourselves in now.
VAUSE: Yes. And much like that phone call with the president of Ukraine, this phone call with the Georgia secretary of state, Donald Trump seems to want to try and bully or threaten or try and sweet talk -- whatever word -- at different moments during this hour-long telephone call, it was everything.
Have a listen to this segment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: (Voice Over, Captioned): You're not reporting it. That's the thing. You know that's a criminal, that's a criminal offense. And you know, you can't let that happen. That's a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That's a big risk and you can't let it happen.
And you are letting it happen. You know, I mean, I'm notifying you that you're letting it happen.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (Inaudible).
TRUMP: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: And David Perdue says he has an issue with that call, not what the president said but the fact that it was recorded and then leaked?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, look we've heard differing views from various attorneys today and legal experts on whether this is criminal behavior.
But listening in particular to that excerpt, you have to say if that's not criminal behavior, if that's not an attempt to solicit election fraud, to extort election fraud, what is?
And the fact that so few Republicans are condemning this call is really an indication, as I said, of a larger movement we have seen.
I think you can go back a decade now, starting with all of the state voter suppression laws that were passed after 2010 to make it harder to vote in red states, the decision by the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act in 2013.
All of the things that have happened in the Trump Presidency; Ukraine, census, USPS, the effort to subvert the election since election day, the two-thirds of house Republicans who signed on to that litigation to invalidate the votes in four states, two-thirds of Republican state attorneys general -- in all of these ways, the Republican Party is morphing out of the Western small 'd' democratic tradition into something else.
We don't really have a language for it in American politics. It seems more akin to what you would see in Turkey or Hungary where a political party achieves power and then tries to use the instruments of the state to prevent the other side from ever dislodging them.
We don't really have a vocabulary in America or precedent in America, maybe the Antebellum South in the 1850s. But this is an ominous moment, not only because of what Donald Trump is doing, but because of how many Republicans have been willing to be part of it.
VAUSE: And one of those Republicans is the house minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who did go on the "Fox" news channel to explain what's in the president's heart, what his motivation is.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN MCCARTHY, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER: The president's always been concerned about the integrity of the election. And the president believes that there are things that happened in Georgia and he wants to see the accountability for it.
But look, does anybody in America think the last election was done well?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I would think at least 80 million Americans are OK with it. [01:10:00]
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. No, look, the charges that the president has brought and his allies have brought have been looked at in courts over the country and the quote/unquote evidence had been laughed out of the courtroom.
Today, we saw again a senior election official in Georgia just kind of methodically deconstruct and dismantle these spurious arguments, these fantasies, the president was again peddling tonight as if none of that happened.
And, John, overturning Georgia does the president no good, right? It will still leave him way short of the electoral college votes he needs to win.
You have to ask yourself, what is happening in the other states that he would need? Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, what is he doing there?
And if the evidence in those states is as flimsy as it is in Georgia -- and I think that everything you are seeing from Raffensperger and the other officials in Georgia really just underscores how egregious it is that this many Republicans are signing on to reject the certification of the electoral college based on -- you can't even put the word 'evidence' to it. Just outright fantasies and distortions.
VAUSE: Yes. Ron, obviously an interesting day for everyone coming up as we'll watch this.
And thank you for being with us. Ron Brownstein in Los Angeles.
BROWNSTEIN: Big day in Georgia tomorrow.
VAUSE: Big one. Thank you very much.
And CNN is covering this all important election in Georgia all day on Tuesday. Tune in for our special coverage right here on CNN where it is ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA.
What was warned of weeks ago is now a reality in the U.S. A post- holiday coronavirus surge with more than 200,000 new cases on average each day and with the passing of 33 seconds another death in the U.S. from COVID.
In Los Angeles County, roughly 20 percent of COVID tests are returning positive. Ambulance crews have been told not to transport patients to hospitals if they have little chance of survival.
New York, meantime, has confirmed a case of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the U.K.
All of this while the vaccine rollout in the U.S. is moving much slower than officials had first hoped.
We have details now from CNN's Nick Watt. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A nurse in New Jersey among the first people in America fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That's her dose number two.
Such a big deal, the governor came to watch, applaud, elbow bump.
MARITZA BENIQUEZ, EMERGENCY ROOM NURSE, UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: I now have body armor.
WATT: But the overwhelming majority of Americans still awaiting dose one.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We're senior citizen. All we want is get the vaccine, please give us the vaccine.
DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: Nothing has gone wrong. What we have committed to was to have 20 million doses of vaccine available for the American people to be immunized.
CNN ANCHOR: No, no, Mr. Slaoui --
SLAOUI: We have worked --
CNN ANCHOR: No. It was that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated --
WATT: -- by New Year's. Now he says 20 million vaccinated was a hope, not a commitment.
Bottom line is it's January 4th. More than 15 million doses have been shipped, only around 5 million actually injected into arms.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: No excuses. We're not where we want to be but hopefully we'll pick up some momentum.
WATT: Meantime, the virus remains rampant.
ERIC GARNETTI, MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: We're seeing a person every six seconds contract COVID-19 here in Los Angeles County.
WATT: California in crisis, hospitals are running out of beds and equipment.
SCOTT BYINGTON, CRITICAL CARE NURSE, ST. FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER: We needed high-flow oxygen and we were able to obtain it because a patient recently died in the ER. So we were able to get the equipment because somebody else had died.
And that sounds gruesome and horrific but that's where we are today.
WATT: Nationwide, record numbers in the hospital; 100,000 plus for 34 days straight. And over the past week, one person has died from COVID-19 every 33 seconds.
No words of sympathy from the president, just a tweet brushing off the death toll as "fake news."
His own surgeon general disagrees.
JEROME ADAMS, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: I have no reason to doubt those numbers.
WATT: The president's lie compounds the pain of the bereaved.
ROSA CERNA, LOST FATHER AND UNCLE TO COVID-19: 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.
WATT: Now a case of the U.K. variant confirmed in New York State for the first time, a few more here in California bringing this state's total to six now.
It is still unclear if vaccines will work against this new variant, most experts believe they will. But it's still being studied and until we know for certain, there is, of course, some understandable anxiety.
WATT (On Camera): Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider is an internal medicines physician at California Pacific Medical Center and she is with us from San Francisco.
Thanks for taking the time to be with us. We appreciate it.
DR. SHOSHANA UNGERLEIDER, INTERNAL MEDICINE PHYSICIAN, CROSSOVER HEALTH, SAN FRANCISCO: Thank you, John. And Happy New Year.
VAUSE: Yes. And to you, thank you.
[01:15:00]
Well, Southern California right now, not a very Happy New Year. The region has maxed out its ICU capacity, there are concerns about a shortage of oxygen supplies.
Then CNN is reporting that the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency has directed ambulance crews not to transport patients with little chance of survival to hospitals and to conserve the use of oxygen.
So what's the criteria here for little chance of survival, is it age, is it pre-existing conditions, is it severity of COVID symptoms, is it all combined? How does this decision actually get made?
UNGERLEIDER: John, our in-patient medical facilities no longer have capacity to care for patients. So if your heart stops outside the hospital from a heart attack or a
traumatic accent and paramedics aren't able to revive you through CPR -- they will, of course, make an attempt at that -- but if they are not successful, you won't be taken to the hospital which is the standard of care, your death will be declared at the scene.
My understanding is this is regardless of your age or underlying medical conditions. They're having to prioritize care for patients who have the greatest chances of survival in an effort to conserve resources like oxygen, which we know is running low right now.
Keep in mind, we've yet to see the increase in new COVID cases and hospitalizations related to Christmas gatherings. This is going to lag up two to three weeks. This spike may not emerge clearly until the second week of January. So this month will be the darkest yet in California.
BIDEN: And this issue with oxygen supplies. The WHO warned of a global shortage back in June, I think. In Pakistan, the shortages have left, I think at least six people dead. How critical is the oxygen supply right now in Southern California?
UNGERLEIDER: Well, John, as you know this virus impacts the respiratory system. So to run low on such an essential tool to treat patients is devastating. Exactly how much they have currently, I am not sure myself but we do know is that people can only receive high quality medical care if we have enough hands and supplies and beds to go around.
The situation on the ground there is dire. And because the new variants of the virus do spread much more quickly and more people in the coming months will very likely require medical care, we're going to see a crisis unlike anything anyone can imagine.
The good news is that we know how to stop the virus. And we all need to double down on efforts of wearing masks, refraining from gathering with others that we don't live with, especially indoors. And washing our hands is a big one.
VAUSE: Yes, we just have to do it. That's the problem. And the strain on the health care system is exactly what officials warned in the early stages of the pandemic. Remember that flatten the curve or we'll be overwhelmed, the hospital -- the health care systems can't take it.
I want you to listen to California Governor Gavin Newsom on the situation in the state. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CALIF.): On hospitalizations, we've seen a sevenfold increase in just two months. On ICU admissions, we've seen a six-fold increase in just two months. So it shows what can happen in a very short period of time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Clearly, that exponential drain on resources with the number of patients cannot continue.
So is the system now, essentially, at a breaking point and so when it does get worse, what does it look like?
UNGERLEIDER: You know, John, things really are so bad in Southern California that they are rationing medical care, something that I never thought I would see in the 21st century in America.
Our emergency medical staff, as we talked about, our paramedics, our physicians, are having to decide who lives and who dies. This is only going to get worse.
And this is a truly devastating but not at all surprising situation that we're in. A number of reasons occurred such that we ended up with these circumstances.
We entered the holidays in the midst of a surge upon a surge -- I think California's especially had a false sense of security leading up to Thanksgiving because the numbers weren't terrible here, people started to let their guard down, many traveled and gathered for the holidays.
And all of this in the setting of what we now know, one maybe two highly contagious variants of the virus that are spreading through our communities.
So the rest of the country needs to take heed here. The situation on the ground is truly frightening and it's going to get worse before it gets better.
VAUSE: And very quickly, we're almost out of time. But is what's happening in California right now a preview of what the rest of the country can expect unless there's some kind of drastic change in behavior?
UNGERLEIDER: I sure hope not but science is very predictable. And so what we do need to do is what works and that is stay home if you can, wash your hands, refrain from gathering with others that you don't live with, especially indoors.
[01:20:00]
And we all need to step up and do what we can until this vaccine is available to everyone.
VAUSE: Yes. And for the love of God, wear a mask, wear a face mask.
Dr. Ungerleider, so good to see you. Thank you.
UNGERLEIDER: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, the highest ever number of daily coronavirus cases across the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a third lockdown for all of England.
The prime minister blames the surge on the new COVID variant. He says tough restrictions for England will be in place until mid-February. And that means staying at home with the exceptions only if working from home is not possible.
Schools for most students, non-essential shops and services, gyms, sports venues all closed. The hospitality sector is open for take away and deliveries only but churches and playgrounds will remain open.
Details now from CNN's Phil Black reporting from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris Johnson focused on one issue in particular for much of his address, education.
Because some three-quarters of England are already in restrictions that very much resemble lockdown, the one key difference going forward for all of England is that schools will stay closed and students will learn remotely.
This was something that Boris Johnson said he desperately did not want to do but scientists including those advising him had been saying it was been necessary for some weeks.
Because, although it may be true these students are at very little risk of seriously developing COVID-19, they still catch the virus they still take it home to their families, they still drive its transmission.
It's likely Johnson's critics will say he has accepted this fact far too late at a point where the nation's health system is at risk of being overrun.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And because we now have to do everything we possibly can to stop the spread of the disease, primary schools, secondary schools and colleges across England must move to remote provision from tomorrow except for vulnerable children and the children of key workers.
BLACK: Boris Johnson says the existing measures would have worked if not for the new, more highly transmissible variant of the virus which has been detected here and is thought to have spread widely. Hospital admissions he says are now 40 percent higher than they were back in April during the first wave.
For much of England, however, the message effectively stays the same, stay at home.
And through this new enforced lockdown across the nation, it is going to stay that way it seems for the better part of winter. Until transmission is driven down and the U.K.'s vaccination program is rolled out more widely.
BLACK (On Camera): Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: India has approved emergency use of two COVID-19 vaccines. When we come back, how to immunize more than 1.3 billion people, more than 2 billion injections.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:25:00]
BIDEN: Japan's top ranked sumo wrestler is among more than 3,300 new cases reported nationally in Japan on Monday. Wrestlers who have been in close contact with him are now also being tested.
Well, a big logistical challenge now facing India's government. On Sunday, regulators approved two vaccines.
Officials say 300 million frontline workers, the elderly, the vulnerable, will receive the vaccine by August but there are still one billion or so people to go.
Live now from New Delhi, CNN's Vedika Sud is standing by with the details.
There is some concern though that maybe this approval, the emergency approval or authorization, was a bit rushed.
VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what a lot of experts are saying here in India, John.
Because the second vaccine that has got emergency use approval, though a restricted one, is the Bharat Biotech vaccine which is a indigenous vaccine.
Now medical experts, after they heard of the approval being granted to Bharat Biotech asked a very simple question; where is the data on efficacy as far as this vaccine is concerned?
This is an indigenous vaccine being produced in India, the first of its kind for COVID-19.
So what they're saying is that when there is not enough data that has been made public as of now and this vaccine is in the third phase of human clinical trials, how has the drug control authority of India come out and given it the permission for restricted emergency use?
Now we've spoken to some medical experts and what we also know from others that we've spoken to who are medical experts say that the government may be seeing this as a backup vaccine.
There, again, the question arises how can an indigenous vaccine that has not made most of its data from phase three public and we don't know anything about the efficacy of it be a backup vaccine?
So we're looking at two vaccines, Oxford AstraZeneca in India known as Covishield and the Bharat Biotech vaccine known as Covaxin.
So from what I understand, it seems that the government probably will go ahead with the Covishield vaccine which is the Astra Oxford Zeneca (ph) vaccine being produced by the Serum Institute of India here in the country before taking on the Bharat Biotech vaccine.
And it's a massive drive we're talking about, 300 million people as you correctly pointed out. And that's going to be phase one.
There have been dry runs also taking place here in India over the last week. They're trying to make sure that the training of personnel is up to the mark as well as the distribution as well as vaccine centers are coming up within hospitals and outside to ensure that this happens at a great pace and is as successful as possible.
Remember, India is also known for its immunization programs which is one of the biggest across the world.
Also, what the government will be following is the democratic election process that India sees every time it goes into general elections. That will be the basis of ensuring that there's a smooth turnout of people for the vaccines and it's done at the right pace, at the right time.
All eyes will be on phase one, 300 million people; health care workers and frontline workers and people above the age of 50 and that will be the real test for this government and a population of 1.3 billion people here in India, John.
VAUSE: Vedika, thank you. We appreciate the insights into what's happening.
SUD: Thank you.
VAUSE: What is it, India makes 60 percent of the world's vaccines so what happens there affects so many others.
Thank you. Vedika Sud live for us in New Delhi.
Well, Donald Trump's weekend phone call could tilt the balance in Georgia's senate runoff race. And it could also put him in some serious legal jeopardy. That's up next on CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:05]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for staying with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
Well, Donald Trump did not have a lot to say on Monday about that weekend phone call, you know the call where he pressured election officials in Georgia to find 11,000 votes and overturn Joe Biden's victory. Trump traveled to Georgia on Monday night to campaign for two Republicans who are locked in a tight runoff race which will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. And Mr. President for 15 more days, as expected, made the event all about him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This could be the most important vote you will ever cast for the rest of your life. It really could be. This is so important.
If you don't go and vote the socialists, the Marxists will be in charge of our country. If you don't fight to save your country with everything you have, you're not going to have a country left.
The crime that was committed in this state is immeasurable. An immediate forensic audit of an appropriate sampling of Dominion's voting machines and related equipment is critical to determine the level of illegal fraudulent ballots improperly counted in Georgia during the 2020 general election and during tomorrow's race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More now from CNN's Kaitlan Collins traveling with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, WHITE HOUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It did not take long for President Trump to get on stage and to start talking about his election loss and denying that he had lost the election, later saying he would never concede that election, and of course, it is something that closely (INAUDIBLE) how much he was talking about why he's actually here, which is of course to campaign on behalf of those two Republicans that are going to be locked in a heated runoff happening today.
And so the president was up here, he was going after the Georgia secretary of state and the Georgia governor who, we should know, were Republicans who voted for the president. But now he is promising to come to the state next year and primary that campaign on behalf of whoever is running against them, really giving an indication as to just how upset the president is on what's happening here and how they refused to do his bidding and he does not like that.
And it was notable at one point, he was echoing a phrase that we heard a lot last year, which is "it was a perfect call". Of course, this time he's referring to the call he had with the Georgia's secretary of state and not the leader of Ukraine like when he was impeached.
But the president said he will be unveiling more evidence on election fraud on Wednesday in Washington D.C. Of course so far, they've come up entirely short in every single election case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to Kaitlan Collins for that.
Now, how voters react to the presidents attempts to gangster election officials in Georgia might just impact the state runoff election race for the senate.
But as CNN's Kyung Lah reports, so far it doesn't seem that Republicans actually care that much.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On this final full day of the Georgia senate runoff campaign the two Democratic challengers are on the attack using President Trump against his own party.
JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: The president of the United States on the phone trying to intimidate Georgia's election officials to throw out your votes. Let's send a message.
REV. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: He is being aided and abetted by two United States senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
LAH: On the Republican side, Senator Loeffler dodged direct questions about Trump's recorded phone call while Senator David Perdue turned his fire on the recipient of Trump's phone call, Georgia's Republican secretary of state.
SENATOR DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): To have a statewide elected official, regardless of party, taped unknowing -- to tape without disclosing a private conversation with the president of the United States and then leaking it to the press now is disgusting.
[01:34:58]
LAH: Even as Senator Perdue defends a sitting president attempting to undermine an election, there is little sign it matters to the GOP faithful, at least among those who came to see Vice President Mike Pence in Milner, Georgia. They claimed they haven't heard anything about this call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I have not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I have not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know there was election fraud. Have a good day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's rock and roll again. It is Groundhog Day again.
LAH: Georgia is split into two worlds, claim versus facts, say exasperated Georgia state election officials. The secretary of state office displayed this poster sized message at its first press conference since Saturday's controversial phone call.
TRUMP: A lot of people are not going out to vote. And a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president. Ok? They hate it. They're going to vote.
And if you would be respected, really respected if this thing could be straightened out before the election.
LAH: Democratic voters who say they all heard the Trump phone call --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes I have heard them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I've read about the tapes, most certainly.
LAH: -- admit they don't know if it will change Tuesday's election.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's incredibly disappointing. And I hope it galvanizes people to turn up for Democratic candidates, but I'm not optimistic it will make that much of a difference.
LAH (on camera): Well Senator Loeffler tweeted that she is going to object to President-Elect Joe Biden's electoral college win on January 6th, Senator Perdue also indicated he supports the effort although he can't officially vote because his term ended on January 3rd.
Kyung Lah, CNN -- Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With us this hour from Washington is Norm Eisen, former ethics czar for the Obama administration. And is cofounder and outside counsel to the non-partisan voter protection program. Much needed program that we've seen these days.
Norm, good to see you.
NORMAN EISEN, FORMER OBAMA ETHICS CZAR: John, thanks for having me back.
VAUSE: ok. Well, under Georgia's state law, I've been reading up because I knew you were coming on. It's a crime. If anyone solicits, requests, commands importunate or otherwise attempt to cause the other person to engage in election fraud.
Under federal law, anyone who knowingly and willfully deprive, defraud or attempts to deprive or defraud, the residents of the state of the fair and partially conducted election process is breaking the law.
In that context, here's Donald Trump on the phone with Georgia's secretary of state. Listen to this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Look, Brad, I've got to get -- I have to find 12,000 votes and I have them times a lot. And therefore I won the state. I only need 11,000 votes.
Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break. You know, we have that in the spades already.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, proving intent is never easy but it but is there at least enough evidence in that entire hour-long conversation to bring credible charges?
EISEN: John, I do think that there is a credible case that could be made out either on the federal level or on the state level in Georgia brought by the Fulton County district attorney, because this is not one or even two statements. It is an hour full of statements.
And at one point the president says I just need 11,780 votes. One more vote than he needs to win. These votes are not kept in bushels under the desk. We are talking about a state electoral count that has been repeated three times. The outcome is clear.
So I think there is ample evidence of intent here. The greatest danger in my view is from the state that is the district attorney of Fulton County Miss Willis.
Remember, the single criminal case that is already the most advanced against Donald Trump, John, is another state case, the one brought by the D.A. of Manhattan, Cy Vance, for Trump's financial shenanigans. Guess what? He just earned himself a book end in Georgia.
VAUSE: And there are no pardons to state crimes as we all know. There is a pattern of behavior here when it comes to this president. We've seen this before.
Remember the call with the president of Ukraine. That led to impeachment, but then the Republicans saved him in the Senate. There was no removal from office. There was a not guilty verdict at the end of the day.
If nothing else, Trump is consistent. Would you expect, you know, a similar outcome here? That essentially yes, there are charges, there's case to be made, but at the end of the day nothing comes of it.
EISEN: No, I do not expect that Trump is going to be able to evade this I think he is in hot water already in the New York state case. Now he's going to have Georgia exposure.
[01:39:53]
EISEN: In a rule of law system, you have to have accountability. And John, it is better that it be done by the states because then Trump cannot say oh, it is just President Biden getting back at me.
No, there is independence. There is remove. There is distance if it's done in the states. So I can't predict that he will be charged in either or both of those cases but I can tell you he has very profound criminal exposure in New York and now in Georgia.
VAUSE: Well, more congressional Republicans though, joining this Trump train of delusion. They're being led by Senator Ted Cruz. There's this plan now to formally oppose the results from the electoral college during a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
Here's Ted Cruz on why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TX): Dismissing these claims, I think does real violence to our democratic system. We ought to have a serious fair process and tribunal to consider these claims, consider them quickly, consider them expeditiously, we can do it in 10 days before the inauguration. I think that would take major steps towards reestablishing trust in our democratic process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Everything he is demanding there has already happened, right? There's been 60 filed legal challenges often heard by judges appointed by Trump.
You know what else might just reestablish trust? I don't know, if Republicans like Ted Cruz stopped lying, maybe stop enabling this president, would that help reestablish trust? Just asking.
EISEN: John, what Ted Cruz just said in its own way is just as bad as the Donald Trump recording with the Georgia secretary of state. We have a constitution and laws, the Electoral Count Act, my organization the Voter Protection Program just put out a report today detailing all of the steps that are going to be taken on Wednesday January 6th in the joint session of Congress.
There is no 10-day period to rehash 60 times disproved claims in the constitution of the laws. It says if you have an objection, if one senator and one representative join in the objection, you have a two- hour debate and you resolve it, that is the law of the land.
So Ted Cruz knows better. He is a highly trained distinguished attorney and he knows better. He is showing utter disrespect. What he's proposing is illegal, John.
So in its own way, just as bad and just as offensive to democracy as the Trump tape.
VAUSE: Ok. That's a good point to finish on. Norm, thank you. As always good to see you. Thank you for being with us.
EISEN: Great to see you, John. Thanks for having me back.
VAUSE: Well, he dared police to arrest him and police in Washington D.C. obliged. In an online post leader of the far right group, "The Proud Boys", Henry Enrique Tarrio admitted to burning a Black Lives Matter sign which had been taken from a black church last month.
He then added these gems, "Come get me if you feel like what I did was wrong." Police did come and get him. And when they did, they found two capacity gun magazines. Which he was charged for as well, also charged with destruction of property. The Pentagon has approved deployment of the National Guard for crowd control ahead of pro Trump demonstrations planned for this week. The mayor is urging protesters to refrain from violence and residents to avoid downtown. Donald Trump expected to address the supporters at that rally near the White House on Wednesday.
Well, still to come, Iran is stepping up its nuclear defiance looking for leverage to ease economic sanctions and along the way, seizing a South Korean tanker.
Details when we come back.
[01:43:37]
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VAUSE: Well, Iran is now openly breaching the 2015 nuclear agreement with a public declaration of a resumption of uranium enrichment to 20 percent. That's far above the cap imposed by that nuclear deal.
Iran's parliament, passed (ph) last month which called for boosting enrichment, that was in response to the killing of the country's top nuclear scientist.
This announcement also comes one year after the top Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. Strike.
Iran has also seized a South Korean-flagged chemical tanker off Oman and detained the crew claiming the ship was polluting gulf waters. South Korea has sent a destroyer to the Strait of Hormuz and is working to get the tanker and the crew released.
CNN's Paula Hancocks followed developments from Seoul, she's live with the very latest.
You know, it's just such a dubious claim that was polluting the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. So obviously there's a lot more here that, you know, is going behind the scenes?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well this is the line John that the Iranian side is sticking to. We've just heard from the Iranian ambassador based here in South Korea, this according to the South Korean foreign ministry, saying that there was a meeting clearly the ambassador had been summoned.
But he had said that all of the sailors were safe. But also pointing out it was quote, "a simple technical issue", clearly sticking to that line that this particular tanker was allegedly polluting the waters, with environmental pollution.
Now we also heard that the South Korean foreign ministry believes that this tanker is now in the Banda Abbas (ph) port in Iran. We heard from the DM shipping which is the owner of that particular ship saying that they lost all communication as soon as the ship was detained on Monday afternoon by Iranian authorities. They say that those on board had about 10 to 20 minutes warning through the VHS radio, warning before armed soldiers boarded the particular vessel. . Now, according to officials, there are about 20 sailors on board, five of them Korean citizens and as I say the South Korean foreign ministry insisting that from their point of view, the Iranians are saying that all sailors are safe.
But clearly they are pushing for the early release of this vessel. And as you say, there is also a South Korean destroyer. This is part of an anti-piracy naval unit which has been in the region for many months now. Trying to facilitate the movement of South Korean vessels in that region, that is in the vicinity of where this happened.
But the military -- ministry of defense saying clearly they can't give any more details than that on the actions that they'll take, John.
VAUSE: What's the endgame here for Iran? How do they -- if the theory is they've done this in other recent moves to get leverage, to try and get their sanctions those economic sanctions ease, because it's crippling the economy. How does this end well for Iran? How does that get to -- how does, you know, seizing the tanker get to the easing of sanctions?
HANCOCKS: Well what it does is it certainly puts more pressure on both the U.S. and the South Korean side. When it comes to South Korean itself, there is an estimated $7 billion in Iranian funds, that's currently frozen in South Korean banks.
Now, while Iran says that this is purely a technical issue, every expert will point you to those $7 billion dollars that are frozen. And South Korea in some respects has really found itself in the midst of this bitter relationship between the U.S. and Iran.
The fact that the U.S. increased sanctions against Iran in 2019. The South Koreans were importing a fair amount of Iranian oil, before those sanctions were put in place. They had a way had a waver from the U.S. for a certain amount of time.
That expired in September 29 and that's when these funds were then frozen and since that point, the relationship between Iran and South Korea has always found itself between a rock and a hard place, the U.S. is a strong ally of but they do have a strong trading and commercial ally in Iran. So certainly what we're hearing now is the deputy foreign minister will be heading to Tehran to try and help negotiate this.
[01:49:58]
HANCOCKS: It will be a few days' meetings starting from Sunday. The foreign ministry says this was preplanned. Now whether or not that's the case they certainly have a lot more to talk about now, John.
VAUSE: Yes. Paula, thank you. CNN's Paula Hancocks with the very latest there from Seoul. Appreciate it.
Still to come, where is Jack Ma? The Chinese tech tycoon has not been seen publicly in months. He may be laying low but what does this mean to his business empire.
And as Mexico endures its worst wave of the pandemic, the country's coronavirus czar, the deputy health secretary seen relaxing on a beach. He says he did nothing wrong. More on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, there are growing questions about the whereabouts of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. The co-founder of China's most successful tech empire has not been heard from in months. No public appearances, no social posts since October.
That was just before the highly anticipated stock market listing of Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Group which Chinese regulars pulled the plug on at the last minute.
Live now to Selina Wang. She's in Tokyo for all this. So, what do we actually know about where in the world is Jack Ma?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John, that's correct. Since the Ant Group IPO was halted at the last minute, Jack Ma has seemingly disappeared from public view. He was even absent from the finale of this African talent show that he himself created.
The company told me that he was not there because of quote, "scheduling conflicts". But sources tell me that Jack Ma is likely being told to keep a low profile. And that Beijing wants its narrative of the regulatory crackdown on his empire to be the one that dominates the public conversation.
And Even though Jack Ma has kept a somewhat lower profile in more recent times, this silence is still remarkable. He is seen as this charismatic, outspoken tycoon frequently meeting with global leaders, rubbing shoulders with celebrities, even starring as a kung fu master in a movie.
But his international renown and his use of his status to criticize the party is exactly what has put himself and his empire now at risk. It all started when he publicly criticized Chinese regulators for stifling innovation and calling out Chinese state-owned (INAUDIBLE) for a quote, "pawnshop mentality".
The rebuke after that was swift. Beijing halted what would be a blockbuster IPO of Ant Group. A week later regulators released draft rules to curb monopolistic behavior from Internet giants. And on top of all of that authorities then launched an investigation into Alibaba.
And now Ant Group is going to have to rehaul, overhaul massive swaths of its business to comply, John.
VAUSE: I guess the question here is, why did Beijing, I guess if you like turn against Jack Ma and his business empire? You know, what message is this sort of clampdown trying to send to the wider tech community, in the business community I guess? WANG: Well, John I think the broader context here is Beijing losing
patience with what they see as the outsize power of its technology giants. Companies like Ant Group, Alibaba and Tencent are indispensable to nearly every aspect of people's daily lives in China. Whether we're talking about communication, making purchases online, investing in money markets, buying insurance and much, much more.
[01:54:51]
WANG: And increasingly these firms are seen as a risk to the economic and political stability in China especially when it comes to Ant Financial. There have been long standing concerns about the financial risks that they pose to the system.
For instance, they are able to collect fees from extending loans without taking on the risks and being regulated like a traditional bank.
And again, this backdrop here is also that Xi Jinping has been reining in more and more parts of Chinese society, whether we're talking about technology, or free speech.
And I want to bring up this quote from a professor of Oxford University who put it to me this way. Quote, "I think there's one overall message that the party is really sending. That is that tech entrepreneurs may be the most glamorous, the most publicly favorable face that China shows to the world, but there is no one individual, no one company bigger than the Chinese Communist Party, John.
VAUSE: That's quite the message to send. Selina, thank you. Selina Wang there live in Tokyo.
Well, the man leading Mexico's COVID response has been pleading for months to follow the safety guidelines, to socially distance, to wear a mask. But then that may have all been undone after he was seen at a beach ignoring those very same safety guidelines.
CNN's Matt Rivers report has come as Mexico sees it's worst wave of the pandemic so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): So imagine for a moment if Dr. Anthony Fauci of the United States went to the beach in Miami, maybe sat outside in an ocean front restaurant. Critics here in Mexico are saying that the basic equivalent of that happened over this past weekend because of what we saw from Dr. Hugo Lopez-Gatel.
Now Lopez-Gatel is the deputy health secretary that is leading the Mexican government's response to the coronavirus but he was seen in the beach town of Zipolite in Mexico. He was photographed there, those photos subsequently, quickly went viral and many people shouted "hypocrisy". Because what we heard from Lopez-Gatel for months now is that people to avoid spreading this disease should stay in their homes, when at all possible and only leave when it is essential to do so. Now, Lopez-Gatel addressed the controversy, the press conference Monday night basically admitting that he went on this trip. He said he went to visit friends, close relatives that live there. He said he had nothing to hide.
But based on what he said it would seem that that trip would be nonessential and that would mean that he is not following his own advice which is only to leave your house for essential activities.
And he also took this trip at a particularly fraught time here in Mexico during this pandemic. Cases have been on the rise, deaths have been on the rise since the beginning of October and here in Mexico City, for example, the occupancy levels of hospitals is a huge issue. Nearly 30 public hospitals here in Mexico City are reporting capacity levels at 100 percent and more hospitals could soon be to come.
Matt Rivers, CNN -- Mexico city.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you Matt.
And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. I'll be back after a short break with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Stay with us please.
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