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President Trump's Term Come to an End; No to Briefings and No to Another Term in Office; California Tops COVID Cases in U.S.; CDC Projects Half Million Deaths by Mid-February; Britain Breaks Two Records in Europe; Tough Restrictions Works; Sweden Just Started Implementing Mandatory Guidelines; Navalny Arrested, Kremlin Critic To Remain In Custody For 30 Days; Ugandan Opposition Says Troops Raided Its Offices; Unrest In Tunisia's Growing Economic Crisis; WHO Urges Nation To Share Vaccine Distribution Equally; Brazil Begins National Vaccination Campaign; UAE Pick Up Pace With COVID-19 Vaccinations; Joe Biden's Pipeline Plans; Extremist Emboldened Online. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 19, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN Newsroom. And I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, the U.S. Capitol on edge and on lockdown as the pomp and circumstance of a presidential inauguration takes a backseat to securing a peaceful transfer of power.
With President Trump's turbulent term coming to an end, what he might be up to on his final day, and a political legacy he leaves behind.
And later, he has gone back to Moscow and now he is in jail. Opposition leader Alexei Navalny's message for Russians.
Good to have you with us.
Well in a little more than one day Joe Biden will be sworn in as U.S. president amidst some of the toughest security Washington has seen in years. The assault on the capitol has forced much of the area into lockdown. Bracing for an unprecedented transfer of power, roads sidewalks and bridges are closed and barricades and fencing are in place to prevent another attack.
More than 25,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to watch over Washington in the days to come. The FBI is vetting all of these troops as an extra precaution. There is no intelligence indicating an insider threat, but officials are leaving no stone unturned.
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WILLIAM WALKER, COMMANDING GENERAL, D.C. NATIONAL GUARD: So, they are screened and they are repeatedly screened. A grant -- a background check is enhanced. There will be more screening more details, so the FBI is part of it. The Secret Service is part of it.
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CHURCH (on camera): Now this vetting comes as details emerge linking some capitol rioters to the U.S. military, among those charged is an army reservist who federal investigators say has a security clearance. Others charged include this Pennsylvania woman. She is accused of stealing a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.
And because of the capitol riot and the COVID-19 pandemic, spectators will not be allowed on the National Mall for inauguration day. That is a major break with tradition, of course, but these flags, nearly 200,000 of them now stand inside the wall. They represent Americans unable to travel to Washington for this historic day.
Well, as we have reported, Donald Trump will be the first U.S. president in modern history not to attend his successor's inauguration, he is spending his final hours as president hold up in the White House planning his last-minute pardons and meeting with advisers.
CNN's Jim Acosta has more on that from Washington.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Less than 48 hours left in office, this is President Trump's view from the White House. Signs for the Biden Harris inauguration are now visible on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Refusing to attend his successor's inaugural, Trump is expected to exit the scene early Wednesday morning with the departure ceremony at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington. According to the invite to the event, the ceremonies attendees are allowed to bring up to five guests each, as one White House adviser put, it he wants a big turnout. Though the crowd won't be anywhere near the size of the gathering the White House lied about four years ago.
SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration. Period. Both in person and around the globe.
ACOSTA: Trump has avoided the cameras for six days, instead he is meeting with attorneys behind closed doors as he's expected to issue more than 100 pardons before stepping aside. At the moment, pardons for himself and his adult children are not expected. Though as one adviser quip, 'he could write it on a napkin before leaving the Oval Office.'
One lawyer who may no longer serve on Trump's legal team, Rudy Giuliani as he still faces questions for his role in inciting the crowd that's stormed the capitol on January 6th.
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: If we're wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we are right, a lot of them will go to jail.
(CROWD CHEERING)
GIULIANI: So, let's have trial by combat!
ACOSTA: Trump allies are urging the president to steer clear of pardoning any riders.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): You interrupted a joint session of Congress, you tried to intimidate us all, you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and to seek a pardon of these people would be wrong. It would be, I think it would destroy President Trump and I hope we don't go down that road.
[03:05:09]
ACOSTA: Those Trump loyalists are warning of a post impeachment trial will only further divide the country. The Democrats aren't buying it.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): This was the most serious presidential crime in the history of United States of America, the most dangerous crime by a president ever committed against the United States. There are Republicans who are recognizing it as well as Democrats.
ACOSTA: Other members of Congress, want to cut off Trump's access to intelligence information after he's gone.
SEN. ANGUS KING (I): There is a grave danger of him inadvertently or willfully, revealing classified information that would compromise sources and methods, and there is no -- there is no upside, there's no reason that he needs to have this information.
ACOSTA: Some Republicans, would like to see an investigation into GOP lawmakers, who are accused of egging on the insurrectionist including Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): I do, I think that any person of any party, in any chamber should be held accountable. They should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law.
ACOSTA: Trump will leave office with the lowest approval rating of his presidency, at just 34 percent which explains why the outgoing vice president called for national healing.
MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have faith that the day will come when we put these challenging times in the past and emerge stronger and better than ever. We will heal our land. We will renew our strength and the best days for the greatest nation on earth are yet to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA (on camera): Even after the events of the last 2 weeks, Trump is leaving office still lying to himself and others that the election was stolen from him. A White House adviser said aides to the president have explained to him on numerous occasions that there is no evidence that he was cheated out of a second term, but as this advisor put it, he still thinks it was stolen and that he won. Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and joins me now from Charlottesville. Always a pleasure to talk with you.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you so much, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, President Trump leaves office in disgrace Wednesday with the lowest approval rating for a first term president since polling began and, in the hours ahead, he plans to announce more than 100 pardons and commutations after many wealthy felons paid large sums to Trump allies to gain access to a pardon. What impact will his final act of exerting presidential power have on the legacy of Donald Trump?
SABATO: When you are the worst president ever, and history is going to judge you that way. And you are already in the polling basement or maybe the basement of the basement, I don't think you can't go any lower. So, pardon away, mister president.
CHURCH: What do you expect thing when he announces these 100 plus pardons and commutations?
SABATO: I'll put it this way. What are the odds that Donald Trump is going to pardon 100 people and there won't be lots of embarrassments in there? Big zero. That's what the odds are.
CHURCH: Yes.
SABATO: Zero.
CHURCH: Exactly. So, of course as Trump focuses his final hours on pardons and his sendoff, because he wants that to be spectacular, he leaves office as a twice impeached president and with a pandemic out of control that has triggered numerous other crisis left for Joe Biden to deal with, of course, should Trump received post presidency intelligence briefings and other courtesy's offered to previous presidents, do you think?
SABATO: Absolutely not. And I've been arguing this for some time. He should be completely cut off in terms of briefings, certainly intelligence briefings but also all briefings. He doesn't deserve the courtesy that other former presidents have received. He doesn't deserve the perks. He certainly should be banned from running again.
But I'm talking about the pension, the travel expenses, the office expenses, any help with, if it's hard to imagine, a presidential library built around Donald Trump, it will simply become a MAGA destination and so I don't think we want that.
CHURCH: And will impeachment -- an impeachment conviction will do that? Wil it put an end to all of that?
SABATO: Well, it should. Usually, the follow-up to an impeachment conviction in the Senate is a statement that's very clear passed by the Senate indicating that that individual having been convicted on an impeachment charge shall never hold any office of public trust again. And the other perks can be taken away quite easily.
[03:09:52]
In fact, simple majority of both Houses can take away all the perks I just mentioned. Now, the briefings are a matter for the president to determine the new president. And I can't imagine that Joe Biden would permit Donald Trump to learn one single thing about American policy abroad or a single piece of intelligence that could benefit him in his private business dealings, which he would have no hesitation about using it if he could.
CHURCH: So, Larry, what happens to the election lie that Trump leaves behind, the one that ignited the assault on the capitol. If Trump never admits that Joe Biden won a free and fair election, what are the consequences and what of the Republican Congressmen Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and others who continue to perpetuate that lie?
SABATO: At the very least, the members of Congress should be censured. And the leaders should really receive penalties beyond that. But we'll be lucky to get a censure. But they certainly should be censured. Of course, many of us, if we had our brothers -- would love to see them expelled from either the House of Representatives or the Senate. Because they know it's a lie. They knew it was a lie and they promoted it anyway. And that is really damning.
It's one thing to be misled and to make a bad decision by believing the big lie, but it's quite another to be intelligent enough and well informed enough to realize the president is lying, lying, lying and his people around him are lying, lying, lying, and you go along with the lie and reinforce it, resulting in 70 percent or more of your party believing that the new incoming president is illegitimate. It's absolutely outrageous. It's against the national interest. And I could argue it is treasonous.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato, many thanks for your analysis. We appreciate it.
SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: The United States is approaching 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. And California is now the first state to record more than three million cases. That is according to the Johns Hopkins University. At least a million of those cases are in Los Angeles County, which began a massive vaccination rollout over the weekend.
CNN's Nick Watt has more.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Today, Moderna will follow Pfizer, second doses of COVID-19 vaccines should begin. The pace needs to pick up. As of Friday, more than a month into this haphazard rollout only 1.6 million Americans have received both doses, less than 0.5 percent of the population. JONATHAN REINER, CARDIOLOGIST, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL:
We have 20 million doses and have not gone into arms yet.
ROCHELLE WALENSKY, INCOMING CDC DIRECTOR: Where there are any bottlenecks in that supply, we will, you know, address those bottlenecks.
WATT: In L.A. the Dodgers Stadium parking lot is now a massive mass vaccination site.
DAVID ORTIZ, FIREFIGHTER, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: It's surreal. It's surreal. It feels like you are waking up to a nightmare every different -- every day. We are trying to make a dent.
WATT: Sixty percent of all confirmed COVID-19 cases logged since election day, a dramatic spike. But look at this map. That's two weeks ago. States in red and orange, average case counts climbing and today, states in green, that's average case counts falling. Hope right there, if it holds, big if. Some places are already easing restrictions.
GOV. DOUG BURGUM (R-ND): We are utilizing that flexibility and authority we have to allow the state wide mass mandate to expire.
WATT: And a more contagious variant might derail progress.
SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER COMMISSIONER, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION: The only backstop against this new variance is the fact that we will have a lot of infection by then, so there will have a lot of immunity in the population and we will be vaccinating more people, but this really changes the equation.
WALENSKY: I think we still have some dark weeks ahead.
WATT: One model project a U.S. COVID-19 death toll of half a million in mid-February.
LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: If only we had a national plan the last 10 months, what a big difference that would have made.
WATT: President-elect Biden has won. His first full day in office will be exactly one year since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT (on camera): More than 24 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 now in the United States, that's about a quarter of all the cases on earth. The U.S. leading the way in a bad way.
Nick watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
CHURCH: Joining me now is Dr. Murtaza Akhter. He is an emergency physician. He is also an assistant professor at the University of Arizona's College of Medicine in Phoenix. Thank you, doctor, for being with us and for all that you do.
MURTAZA AKHTER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Thank you for having me, Rosemary.
[03:15:02]
CHURCH: So, the incoming CDC director predicts we could reach 500,000 U.S. COVID deaths by mid-February. A daunting and shocking number. I did want to ask you with your experience, what you are seeing in your hospital right now.
AKHTER: Yes. Honestly, I think, I think we will get 500,000 based on the numbers and the hospitals who are having a sort of similar situation too like we did in the last summer in Arizona and in Florida, where we are getting a lot of patients coming in with COVID like symptoms.
A lot of them test positive, almost all of them, honestly, for some of them it's their third time testing positive, and as you know it's a significant amount of them coming quite sick a couple of weeks after they're positive. They come in short of breath. Struggling to breath.
And as you know, these people can often have a bad outcome. And we can't even get an ICU bed for so many of them like until there's a long, long delay. As you can imagine, sitting in the E.R. waiting for a long time to get to the ICU and a lot of them just do not make it. It's the same story we have heard before but at much higher numbers now.
CHURCH: That is a horrendous story, but I do want to ask you, how does someone test positive three times? What are they doing wrong here? How are they being exposed to that extent?
AKHTER: Some of them could be that they just remained positive and they had a negative test in between. They thought they were negative and we contracted it. Some of it may be reactivation, but some of it probably is indeed reinfection.
They got it early in the pandemic, they got it a couple of months ago, and they got it again now. It's a very obvious, to a lot of us in healthcare, there are plenty of people who are clearly not distancing, obviously not wearing masks. And there are plenty of people who are just saying whatever, it's just COVID. And yet, as we know, lots of people die of COVID. A very young teenager basically just recently contracted COVID for a second time and this time died from it.
CHURCH: That is a real concern. And doctor, of course nearly 400,000 Americans have already died from COVID-19 and vaccinations are lagging. How optimistic are you that once Joe Biden takes office, he could meet his goal of 100 million doses in 100 days?
AKHTER: That is an optimistic goal, but I think it's doable if done the right way. And not to get too political, but it's hard to do worse in the current administration, honestly. What the president-elect does have a rollout plan and he is planning on utilizing multiple resources. It doesn't always go perfectly, but if there is a national coordinated effort, we know from other countries that that was much more smoothly than if we rely from federalism and every state can do its own thing. So, I think there's a good chance that at the very least, as much as
can be done will be done. But remember, the biggest, the biggest roadblock with people themselves. People who refuse to get vaccinated. That will be their biggest roadblock.
CHURCH: Yes. And of course, at the current time it's difficult to get a vaccination for those people who really do want to get it. We are seeing computer systems crash when they try to make appointments. Where do you -- where do things stand do you think in terms of vaccine supplies, and can Americans be sure they'll get the first and second those? What are you seeing at the forefront there?
AKHTER: Yes. I mean honestly, even for us those servers were crashing. We were trying to make appointments as frontline healthcare workers and oftentimes we couldn't. Fortunately, because we are in the healthcare setting people were able to find ways around and to make appointments for us.
That being said, we've done much harder before. If it is a matter of being able to schedule appointments and coordinate that we should be able to figure out. This is one of the most technically advanced countries in the whole world. A lot of tech industries basically started here. But it does bring to point that it's not just a matter of producing the vaccine, but it's also a matter of getting the vaccine to people.
So, there's both a matter of having the product and distributing it. And that I think takes a whole team effort of scientists, policy workers, physicians, nurses, and really everybody on the front lines to get their vaccine out to people.
CHURCH: Let's hope we can get this right in the next few days. We cross our fingers, doctor. Dr. Murtaza Akhter, many thanks as always.
AKHTER: Thank you, Rosemary. Stay safe.
CHURCH: Well Britain's contrasting coronavirus issues vaccines are on the up, but death rates are the highest in the world. We are live in London with the latest on that.
Plus, an admission of failure. How Sweden's government is backtracking on its approach to fighting the coronavirus.
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CHURCH (on camera): Welcome back, everyone.
Well there is good news and bad news for Britain today on the coronavirus. The good news, more than four million people have received their first dose of a COVID vaccine. That is a far higher rate than other European countries according to the government. The bad news? The virus continues to rage. The U.K. has recorded the highest COVID-19 death rate in the world over the last seven days. And Salma Abdelaziz joins us now live from London with more on this.
So, Salma, vaccinations are on track, that is great, but the U.K. is now recording the highest death rate in the world. How are authorities explaining that?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Rosemary, this is yet another terrible consequence of this variant, this U.K. variant that is more transmissible. That spreads more easily between people and that's exactly what it's been doing. It's been spreading extremely quickly causing record-breaking infection rates, record-breaking hospitalizations, more pressure on the country's national health services than at any point in this pandemic.
And yes, of course, there are critiques of how this government has handled this crisis, there are critiques of certain measures that some might say never came into place like contact tracing or mass testing. There are critiques of how quickly they act when medical authorities ask for tougher restrictions, but all of that is a foregone conclusion, Rosemary.
Right now, we are in a nationwide lockdown here in England. The toughest restrictions that we've seen are in place and yet those numbers are stubborn. We are still seeing those very high death tolls and those very high infection rates and all weapons essentially have been used against this variant except one. There is --
CHURCH: All right. We appear to have lost Salma there. We will attempt to reconnect with her. But let's move on for now. Because overall in Europe, things actually seem to be looking a little brighter. Much of the continent is trending in the right direction. And officials are doing their best to keep it that way, of course.
Melissa Bell has the latest in Paris, she joins us now live. Good to see you, Melissa. So COVID trends are looking a little bit better in parts of Europe. How will officials ensure it stays that way?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what small improvement there's been, Rosemary, is more really about stabilization than anything else. And that's why authorities are looking very closely at the restrictions they have in place. We've seen several of those E.U. countries either extend or expand the restrictions currently in place. And it's likely to happen again to try and keep those numbers in the right place.
In France, for instance, the figures have stabilized but as the health minister has been saying on French, French media this morning that they've stabilized at high levels. And so, they need to be kept an eye on. Similar story in Italy. We've seen those daily increase stabilizes but still remain high.
Same story in Germany. We've been hearing from the German government spokesman who said that the restrictions are beginning to bear their fruit, and yet this afternoon, Angela Merkel will meet with state premiers to look at what further tightening could be needed, because there are these fears of the new variant that Salma was just talking about. Let me give you the example of France. What we are talking about here
in France over the course of the last couple of weeks has been a daily average of new cases of around 18,000 to 20,000.
[03:25:01]
What the French health minister said today was that there were about 2 to 300 cases every day now in France that involved that new variant. And when you consider how fast it spreads, how much faster it spreads, that's what authorities are extremely worried about.
So here in France they believe that they can stay to the curfew system from 6 p.m. that they have in place although the authorities have left in -- that left ahead of them the possibility that they could announce a third partial lockdown.
In Germany, we'll hear what those further restrictions are. And they are likely to be aimed at things like FFP2 masks in public places, public transport and in shops, a greater emphasis on working at home. Essentially what authorities are trying to do is still to find new ways of avoiding contacts between people because of this new variant that's likely to cause as much trouble here on the continent as it has been causing in the United Kingdom in these last few weeks. Rosemary?
CHURCH: So critical. Melissa Bell, many thanks for that update. We appreciate it.
Well, despite a fairly hands-off approach last year, Sweden's government is now mandating new restrictions. Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in recent weeks and with that of course more deaths are following. Now the government is implementing a new social distancing requirement and travel bans, and that may be just the start.
CNN's Max Foster explains.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Government's mandated limits on the number of people allowed into a store, that might not sound extraordinary, but it is for Sweden. Health authorities have long relied on voluntary guidelines throughout the crisis.
But it wasn't enough, and with an act of parliament Sweden's government was granted the power to enforce COVID-19 restrictions which is seen as normal around much of the world, such as closing restaurants.
UNKNOWN: It's about time.
UNKNOWN: There's people who really didn't care, they would stand close to each other, stand close to the personnel and not keep their distance generally.
FOSTER: After an initial spike in deaths, the Swedish numbers fell and by the end of the summer, they look like the country's more relaxed approach to lockdown might work out. Authorities were so confident, that in September they lifted a ban on visiting care homes.
Just a few months later, contagion spike. Hospitals were overrun and the death rate surged. The Swedish pandemic model had apparently failed. Sweden now far outpaces its neighbors, in per capita deaths. The prime minister has admitted the death toll revealed a failure.
"In retrospect" he said, "things should have been done differently."
FREDRIK ELGH, SENIOR CONSULTANT & PROFESSOR OF VIROLOGY: Just only having epidemic law is not enough, and the measures taken through this law now is, in my eyes, not enough at all.
FOSTER: Scientists outside government are calling for the closures of schools, shops, gyms and restaurants to shock the virus into submission.
ELGH: You have to push this down to be able to save healthcare and save lives. And since there is such a short time now until we will have the vaccines, for many of our citizens, especially the vulnerable. I think it's very worthwhile that we get our acts together.
FOSTER: So, will anti-lockdown campaigners at home and abroad, continue to lionize Sweden's anti-lockdown approach.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): In contrast, Sweden had a relatively softer approach.
FOSTER: Well, the mastermind behind the Swedish strategy state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell still doesn't believe in blanket mandatory lockdowns.
ANDERS TEGNELL, SWEDISH CHIEF EPIDEMIOLOGIST: I'm not sure that legal astringent (Ph) measures are so much more effective than voluntary measures. I don't really believe in introducing more measures. What we need to do is to see to it that those measures are used fully.
FOSTER: The lockdown debate still not lockdown in Sweden despite all the evidence that their more relaxed approach hasn't worked.
Max Foster, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Russia is defending jailing a prominent Kremlin critic, but Alexei Navalny is not going quietly, calling on his supporters to protest. And we will have a live report from Moscow. That's next.
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[03:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Russia is defending its detention of Alexei Navalny, a court ordered the Kremlin critic to remain in custody for 30 days during an impromptu hearing at a police station on Monday.
Governments around the world are slamming the Navalny's arrest, but Russia's foreign ministry says the criticism is an attempt to distract from problems in those countries. Well, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joins us live from Moscow. Good to see you, Fred. So what is the latest you're hearing about Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and his message?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, he's going to remain in detention for at least another 30 days. It was really more remarkable, some of the things that we saw here yesterday in Moscow.
Alexei Navalny essentially said yesterday morning folks came into his jail cell and said look, there's going to be a hearing against you today. And he said OK, when does it start? It started one minute later. And that hearing took place in a makeshift courtroom, essentially, they turned it into a courtroom inside the detention facility that he was in.
And Alexei Navalny called that a mockery of justice, even by Russian standards, he said are some of the things that he had seen here in the past, obviously during his time with being in the opposition.
What he's doing now is he is calling for nationwide protests that happened here in Russia this coming Saturday on January 23rd. He told people, and this was during a break in that hearing. Some of the video that we are seeing on the screen right now.
He said do not go out for his sake but, people should go out for their own sake. Obviously, he believes that justice is not being served here after being detained at the airport upon arrival here in Moscow. But as you mentioned, Rosemary, Russian authorities are defending all of this.
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, he came out yesterday, all the while you have this international condemnation, at the same time of course, a lot of folks internationally also looking at this case now. What the incoming Biden administration is going to do when they take office. Rosemary?
CHURCH: And Fred, where is all this potentially going, and what impact might international pressure have on Navalny's future?
PLEITGEN: Yes. Well, it's very difficult to see that international pressure is going to have much of an impact on Alexei Navalny's future. So far the Russian authorities have pretty much showed themselves to be immune from any sort of international pressure.
And I think that you saw some of that from the comments that's Sergei Lavrov, the Foreign Minister made yesterday when he said look, he believes that western media for instance is just trying to distract from some of the issues that are going on in western countries right now. However, this is something that could very well linger for the
Kremlin, for the Russian authorities as well with Alexei Navalny, obviously calling for those protests to take that place for that nationwide action to happen. Of course also, this is something internationally is not going to go away. You have a lot of European countries that are being very critical. You have the United Nations that is being very critical as well.
So, the Russian government is certainly going to continue to hear about this. And at the same time, Alexei Navalny at some point in time is going to go on trial in other places as well. He's going to remain in detention for 30 days, but he's got some other cases against him as well where he faces significant jail time.
So, all this is going to remain in the discussion under international pressure so far from what we are seeing from the Putin administration, from the Russian government, not sure that that is really going to have very much of an impact on how they treat this entire situation. Rosemary?
[03:35:11]
CHURCH (on camera): We will of course stay on this story. Fred Pleitgen, bringing us the very latest there. Many thanks.
Well, Uganda's main opposition leader says troops have raided his party's officers. Bobi Wine says it happened as staffs were preparing a legal challenge to President Yoweri Museveni declared victory in last week's election. Uganda's electoral commission declared Museveni the winner, but Wine has rejected the election results, describing them as rigged. He has been under house arrest since Friday when military surrounded his home.
As growing anger in Tunisia where many young protesters are fed up with the country's economic crisis, have been clashing with police. Demonstrators are throwing stones and gasoline bombs at officers who have responded with tear gas and water cannon. More than 600 protesters were arrested on Sunday alone. High unemployment and poor government services are among their biggest concerns.
Ahead of the WHO says the world is on the brink of a quote, catastrophic moral failure. The Director General is criticizing the lack of access to vaccines in lower income countries. He says the May 1st approach is leaving the poorest and most vulnerable at risk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR: The first vaccines to be deployed -- the promise of equitable access is at serious risk. More than 39 million doses of vaccines have now been administered in at least 49 higher income countries. Just 25 doses have been given in one lowest income country. Not 25 million. Not 25,000. Just 25.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH (on camera): Well, the WHO chief is also urging wealthier
nations and manufacturers to share vaccines fairly around the world. And Brazil's vaccine rollout is now underway. President Jair Bolsonaro says his government will buy more doses for the country.
Brazil has approved emergency use authorization of the CoronaVac and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines. But it is only 6 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine for a country of nearly 211 million people. And the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, they have yet to arrive.
Well, for more on this let's turn to CNN's Isa Soares. She joins us live from London. Good to see you, Isa. So, Brazil begins its vaccination campaign with just a fraction of the doses needed for the whole country. Exactly the problem the WHO Chief highlights. How will Brazil get the job done with so few doses?
ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning, Rosie. That is a very important question. And like you pointed out clearly just before coming to me, you really don't have to be a math wizard to see that those doses are simply not enough. So for CoronaVac you have 6 million doses for a population of just 210 million, just over 210 million people. Now we do know with CoronaVac that they will be produced in Brazil, produced in a lab in Sao Paulo. So, although they have 6 million, the contract is for just over 100 million vaccines, but this 6 million, bear in mind, these are two doses.
So really, you are looking at half that amount. So, three million. On top of that, you also have the Brazilian government approving the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, you quite rightly pointed out that has not begun, although vaccination has started across the country, it is not with AstraZeneca vaccine, there have been logistical delays with that, although we have heard from the government of Jair Bolsonaro that the vaccine, the Oxford AstraZeneca is due to arrive at the end of January.
They have been logistical problems there as well as well as problems with the contracts. So, at the moment you've seen vaccinations roll out across the country of course in a country that has been plagued quite crippling by coronavirus. But also a country that you've seen a president denying the fact that there has been a virus, calling it a flu, and it has also become highly political.
On the question though Rosemary of the vaccination, there is not a very detailed vaccination plan as of yet, we know that several -- the big cities have received it. We are talking about Sao Paulo. That started on Friday, (inaudible), I think we have images of people being vaccinated amid Christ the redeemer.
[03:40:10]
But across the 26 states they have yet to have all received them. We know the city of Manaus, which has been so overwhelmed by COVID 19, not just in the first wave back in last year in 2020, but this time with a lack of shortage of bed, but also an acute shortage of oxygen as well. We've been told that they are expected to start vaccinations as of today. We shall see whether they stick to that, Rosy, but for now, a very thin plan when it comes to the government, in terms Rosy, of who gets vaccinated. How long that is.
We know that the first person was a nurse. Just (inaudible) is a nurse, 54-year-old nurse in Sao Paulo. And she had been looking after an ICU since April of last year. ICU that was at 90 percent capacity. So, you can imagine how overjoyed and how emotional she was when she received that vaccine. Rosy?
CHURCH (on camera): Absolutely. Isa Soares. Great to see you. Thank you for the update. I appreciate it.
Well, the United Arab Emirates is ramping up its COVID vaccine rollout over the weekend. The Gulf country reported its highest new infection numbers yet. Now health officials are sitting ambitious goals to get people vaccinated.
CNN's Becky Anderson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): More than 80,000 people a day in the UAE are now vexed getting vaccinated amidst centers like this that are spearheading that campaign. Two million doses of the vaccine have now been delivered. That is one in five of the population, and by mid-March, authorities tell us they hope to have vaccinated more than half of the adult population in the country.
And the process is pretty simple. Like for 18-year-old American Onyap, (ph) who is a resident here in the UAE, after booking an appointment and waiting a day or two, you get a ticket, wait a few minutes, fill in some paperwork and within a couple of minutes, you will be inside one of these rooms.
Hello. Hi, guys.
UNKNOWN: Hi.
UNKNOWN: Hi.
ANDERSON: If you are in the states you would be waiting months for this.
UNKNOWN: Yes, definitely.
ANDERSON: How do you feel?
UNKNOWN: Good.
ANDERSON: Nervous?
UNKNOWN: Kind of.
ANDERSON: Why? UNKNOWN: It is a new vaccine. It's nerve wracking.
ANDERSON: How are you feeling?
UNKNOWN: Good.
UNKNOWN: Congratulations. You SUTTER: finished the second vaccine.
ANDERSON: Fantastic. That's two doses. You are done. It's a similar message from everyone we spoke to.
How are you feeling?
UNKNOWN: I am feeling quite excited to have this vaccine.
ANDERSON: Any reservations?
UNKNOWN: Not at all. I trust in the decisions taken by the government. It is for everyone's safety. So, no reservations.
UNKNOWN: Take a deep breath, sir. Deep breath. Deep breath. Finished, sir.
UNKNOWN: That was sweet. You cannot even really feel it, to be honest with you. It's literally seconds.
UNKNOWN: Take a deep breath.
UNKNOWN: Is it in? I don't feel anything.
UNKNOWN: It's in already.
UNKNOWN: I didn't feel it. It's very easy when it is in.
I honestly did not feel anything.
ANDERSON: After watching shot after shot going into people's arms, I went to meet this Center's general manager. This is the Sinopharm vaccine. Let me just show you what we've got here. How many of these are you administering every day?
UNKNOWN: There are average of the vaccination is in 3,000 and we vaccinate the people after 21 days.
ANDERSON: There are others who have reservations about taking the vaccine. To those people you say what?
UNKNOWN: It is always less risky to take the vaccine then actually have the actual disease.
ANDERSON: And particularly with COVID numbers ticking up here in the UAE, it is a message the government is pushing harder than ever. Inside, more avert pressure it's putting up billboards encouraging people to get the vaccine right away. On this wall really says it all. Thank you, it says from our frontline heroes. A world leading immunization program here in the UAE that will help not just the Emirates, but the rest of the world get back on its feet to which I say, we salute you. Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:45:14]
CHURCH (on camera): An impressive plan, there. And still ahead, it is a multibillion dollar project championed by President Trump. So, why is Joe Biden thinking about pulling the plug on the keystone pipeline? We will take a closer look. That is next.
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CHURCH: We are just one day away from the end of the Trump administration and the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States. And CNN will bring you all the events around the transition of power live over the next couple of days.
And one thing we will be covering of course, is the start of Joe Biden's term in the White House. The president elect chief of staff says Mr. Biden will sign about a dozen executive orders on his first day in office.
Among his day one priority is rejoining the Paris climate change agreement, ending the travel ban on arrivals from predominantly Muslim countries. Rolling out his immigration plan, including an 8-year path to citizenship for some. And requiring the wearing of face mask on all federal property.
What we are also hearing reports that Biden may terminate the keystone pipeline project. A major energy project between the U.S. and Canada. So, let's bring in CNN's John Defterios, who joins us live from Dubai. Good to see you, John. So, the keystone pipeline has been controversial of course, since its inception about a dozen years ago. So what is the premier of Alberta doing right now to try to keep this project alive?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR (on camera): We have to give Jason Kenney, as the premier of Alberta, an A for effort here, Rosemary. That's for sure. It is an 11th hour plea. He called it that to try to keep this keystone XL alive.
As you suggested here, it has been in the crosshairs of controversy since 2009, and if you think about this puts pressure on Justin Trudeau, the premier or Prime Minister of Canada as well as try to save this national project and the jobs and the relations between the U.S. and Canada, when it comes to energy.
This was blocked by President Barack Obama on two different occasions, even though they rework the pipeline path and then President Trump came in in 2017 and cleared it. The U.S. refineries said they need this heavy crude from the (inaudible) of Canada to use in industry in America and for export as well.
The environmentalist suggests if we are making these energy transition to renewables like wind and solar power, it's something that Joe Biden supports in this energy transition. May even setup a two trillion dollar fund. What is the signal we sent using this mega project? Let's take a listen to the Premier of Alberta and his case here even on the politics of it all.
[03:50:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON KENNEY, ALBERTA PREMIER: The United States government owes Canada the respect to at least sit down with us and talk about this vital project in the broader context of our shared challenge in addressing climate change, continental energy security and broader issues. Surely, the relationship between Canada and the United States is worth at least having that discussion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS (on camera): Jason Kenney, once again the Premier of Alberta, and excuse the pun here, he says that U.S./Canada relations should Trump the other suppliers of oil into the United States. Most notably Venezuela under Nicholas Maduro and even say, Saudi Arabia. They say they don't have the Democratic values that we have north of the border in alignment with the United States that we have in the partner of Canada.
CHURCH: All right, many thanks to our John Defterios. Joining us live there from Dubai. I appreciate it. And still ahead, adding fuel to the fire. How social media brings extremist groups from the fringes and right out into the open. A fascinating report from CNN Sara Sidner, just ahead.
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CHURCH (on camera): It has been nearly two weeks since the storming of the U.S. Capitol, nearly two weeks for social media companies to crack down on posts promoting violence and conspiracy theories. But many extremists are still finding ways to use online platforms to promote their views and openly call for unrest. Sara Sidner has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The conspiracy fueled deadly Capitol attack on January 6th maybe just the beginning of an explosion of far-right violence.
OREN SEGAL, VICE PRESIDENT, CENTER ON EXTREMISM, ANTI-DEFAMTION LEAGUE: The plots of tomorrow, the activities of tomorrow, the efforts for them to maintain this movement and create threats in the future are literally being planted in.
SIDNER: Far-right radicalization has been building in America for years. Evidence of it all over the largest social media platforms on earth. And even after mega sites like Facebook said they were cracking down, the tech transparency project, a nonprofit watchdog group found it is still easy to find extremist content calling for violence on the site. Three days after the attack, this post. We need to organize our militia. Wars are won with guns and when they silence your commander in chief, you are in a war. Another post of January 14th, patriots, January 20th, 2021 is your Tiananmen Square moment.
SEGAL: Social media to extremism is like oxygen for fire. It is required. It has shown itself to be one of the organizing factors for extremists.
SIDNER: Facebook removed the post from the site and the public group calling itself the Patriot Party, but the poison has already set in.
In Michigan after an armed rally at the Capitol against the Governor last year, federal and state authorities thwarted an alleged violent plot to kidnap the Governor. A few of the same men who said they stood by some of those alleged plotters returned yesterday. And as with the Capitol Hill terrorists, these guys are out in the open sharing their extreme views.
And tell me about your patch?
UNKNOWN: Patch, this one, this is a Boogaloo.
UNKNOWN: We do not want a civil war or anything. We want to exercise every possible way before that comes an option.
[03:55:07]
SIDNER: Is that an option? In your mind? A civil war?
UNKNOWN: I will not fire the first shot, but if it comes to that, I will fight.
SIDNER: The Boogaloo Boys are burgeoning antigovernment groups which started online. Some of its members are pushing for civil war. At least one Michigan Boogaloo boy was arrested this fall in the plot to kidnap the Governor. A plan for violence that law enforcement thankfully prevented, and yet those who support the plan are all right out in the open.
Would you have supported them if they had kidnapped the Governor?
UNKNOWN: I would have supported a citizen's arrest on a felony, because that is with the law states. If a felony is committed, a citizen can arrest another citizen.
SIDNER: The Governor has not committed a crime, but instead was a potential victim of the violent crime. And yet, the lie persists among extremists, threatening Michigan legislator's safety. They brought their weapons. They do have the right to open carry, but some say their firearms says clear threats. This guy said he does not support violence and would only use his AR-15 to save an innocent life.
That the weapon you hear this a lot of times that are used in attacks that are not to save innocent people.
UNKNOWN: Yeah.
SIDNER: Why carry it? I mean, have you been in the armed forces?
UNKNOWN: I was a National Guard, yes.
This right here is not dangerous unless a person behind it is dangerous. I would say that this is not any different then with the muskets, the men carried back in the revolution.
SIDNER: While he stood outside the Capitol, current national guardsman stood nearby at the ready to protect Michigan seat of government, much like guardsmen are doing across the country in case the next wave of violence erupts.
SIDNER (on camera): We should point out that a musket back then can shoot about two rounds per minute. An AR-15, 45 rounds per minute. We should also mention that this kind of mentality has spread much farther and wider because of social media sites, and experts say they have some responsibility in what happened on January 6th. Sara Sidner, CNN, Lansing, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): And you are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more news in just a moment. Do stay with us.
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