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Georgia Gubernatorial Race Heats Up; Justice Department Sues Texas Over Voting Rights; Biden to Hold Virtual Call With Putin; New COVID Restrictions. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 06, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: So, what she said: I apologize to anyone who was offended by what I -- by what I have said.

So, I don't know -- I don't know where it ends. And I think it's kind of sad, when you consider -- and I know we all spent a great portion of our Sunday yesterday thinking about Bob Dole and his leadership in the Republican -- in the Senate as Republican leader.

And that was a different day, and we don't have that anymore.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Gloria Borger, thank you so much.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Thanks, Gloria.

BORGER: Thanks a lot, guys.

BLACKWELL: Top of a brand-new hour. Thanks for staying with us. I'm Victor Blackwell.

CAMEROTA: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Stricter testing requirements for air travelers in the U.S. are now in effect. Regardless of nationality or vaccination status, everyone must show proof of a negative COVID test within one day of entering the country. The tightened regulations came after the discovery of the Omicron variant in South Africa.

BLACKWELL: Now, there is some good news. Early findings show that while the new area may be more transmissible, the cases could be less severe.

Still, the travel ban for non U.S.-citizens from eight South African countries, that's in effect. Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Biden administration is considering lifting that controversial ban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Hopefully, we will be able to lift that ban within a quite reasonable period of time.

I mean, we all feel very badly about the hardship that that might have put upon not only South Africa, but the other African countries. And for that reason, in real time, literally on a daily basis, we're reevaluation that -- we're reevaluating that policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is at Dulles International Airport for us.

Pete, how is this rollout of these new requirements going?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, passengers tell us so far, so smooth.

These new restrictions went into place at 12:01 a.m., so about 15 hours ago, and passengers coming into the U.S. now have to get tested one day before their departure. The CDC puts the example like this. If your flight is on a Monday, you have to get tested anytime on Sunday. So it's a one-day rule, not a 24-hour rule.

You will have to show proof of that negative coronavirus test to your airline, not just foreign nationals, also U.S. citizens, regardless of your vaccination status. And the CDC says it wanted this, tightening this timeline, from what was a three-day requirement down to a one-day requirement, because of these new concerns over the Omicron variant.

Airlines have been pushing back against new travel restrictions, saying they're not really all that effective when it comes to containing the virus. But passengers tell us, so far, here at Dulles, this has not been all that big of a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BERNSTEIN, TRAVELER: Oh, I think it's that they have got all these variants that are coming out, and we don't know what they do. And that's why it's -- that's why it's spreading because it's had an opportunity to do this. So they're just being careful.

BEVERLY SHUGART, TRAVELER: It doesn't matter to me, honestly. I just -- I'm like, all right, cool, if that's what you need me to do, I will do it. I will do what I need to do to travel.

WOLFGANG PFEIFFER, TRAVELER: It's less than it's -- it's one-day testing, because people, they may have contact with people who are infected with COVID. And then you reduce the risk. And it's one-day testing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Another huge change when it comes to the federal transportation-wide mask mandate, was set to expire January 18, in only a few weeks. Now it's been given a two-month extension, the new expiration date, March 18, 2022.

That applies on all forms of public transportation, planes, trains, buses, boats, also here in terminals, especially when the numbers are so big. About two million people passed through security at America's airports just yesterday, Victor and Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Pete Muntean for us at Dulles, thank you very much.

Let's bring in now CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen, former health commissioner for the city of Baltimore, and a contributing columnist for "The Washington Post."

Dr. Wen, good to see you again.

Pete's there at the airport. I have got a question about cruises.

CAMEROTA: Oh, go ahead.

BLACKWELL: Because we now know that there were 17 confirmed cases on a Norwegian cruise ship, people who have COVID-19. When they left New Orleans a week ago, they all tested negative, stopped in Belize and Brazil, now back in New Orleans. Explain how that can happen.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, and I should also say that this particular cruise line has one of the strictest requirements, because everyone is required to be vaccinated. And they also have to be tested prior to being on the cruise.

So you can imagine, if this happened with this particular cruise line, what about the others that don't require vaccination, as an example? In this case, it's possible that people may have picked up COVID sometime during their trip. And then because, they're in such close quarters on the cruise line, they are able to transmit to one another.

But I am glad that they were able to catch these positive cases prior to docking. And, that way, at least those individuals can be isolated and prevented from infecting others.

[15:05:06]

CAMEROTA: But, basically, Dr. Wen, what you're saying is that, if they all tested negative a day before, I don't know if there are requirements of three days beforehand getting on this cruise or a day beforehand, but, clearly, something was a false negative, getting on, and the infection was either so transitory or it was just starting. And they didn't realize they were positive.

So, I mean, there are holes in this process.

WEN: Well, the issue is that the test shows what's going on with you at that one very specific point in time.

And so it may not actually have been a false negative, as then maybe at the time that someone got a test they actually didn't have COVID. But then in two days' time, they picked up COVID some time along their cruise, and now they're testing positive.

It's also possible that the test was so early that it didn't pick up -- maybe somebody was already brewing the virus, but it wasn't enough that it was able to be picked up. So there always going to be these holes. And this is the reason why regular testing, not just one set of tests, but ongoing, regular testing, is so important.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we were having some conversations off-camera about this research that 65 people, a small study, that shows that the J&J booster for people who have the mRNA, the Pfizer vaccine, showed that the slower, but more sustained antibody response.

And those of us who have Pfizer and then got the Pfizer booster wondered, well, why didn't we know this before we got shot? At what point do these research -- these studies become advice? At what point are we supposed to act on these, Dr. Wen?

WEN: Yes, it actually may not be too far in the future. This particular study is a really small study. And it's preprint, so it hasn't been published yet.

But the NIH is actually doing these mix-and-match studies. There are already some preliminary data looking at antibody levels, but pretty soon we might actually have effectiveness data. For now, what people should know about boosters is that if you got the Pfizer and Moderna two-dose the first time, get your booster now. It really doesn't matter as to which booster you get.

J&J is fine, but also there's no reason to not stick with the same thing that you have got before. On the other hand, if you have got the one-dose J&J vaccine, as I did initially, and you are a woman of reproductive age under the age of 50, you might consider getting a Pfizer or Moderna booster, instead of a second J&J.

CAMEROTA: OK, Dr. Leana Wen, thank you.

WEN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, President Biden is confronting two major international issues this week.

BLACKWELL: Sources tell CNN that U.S. officials are considering a wide set of sanctions on Russia, including on members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

The goal is to deter Putin from launching an invasion of Ukraine.

CAMEROTA: So President Biden has a video call scheduled with Putin tomorrow. The Biden administration is also just announcing a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. No U.S. government officials will attend now. But us athletes will still be able to compete.

CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny is at the White House for us. CNN's David Culver is in Shanghai. And CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is in Berlin.

Jeff, let's start with you.

Obviously, there are a lot of high-stakes issues right now for President Biden this week.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Without question, Alisyn.

And the conversation Tuesday morning here in Washington, 10:30 at the White House, U.S. time, that will be the virtual meeting with President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Again, it's going to be a frank discussion, talking about economic sanctions.

Right now, we are told that President Biden has spent some time today and will be in the coming hours talking with some European allies, really trying to get on the same page to coordinate some of these economic sanctions that the president will be preparing to speak with Vladimir Putin tomorrow about this.

But, of course, it's all aimed at the troops that are amassing on the Ukraine-Russian border. So there simply is no talk of a red line here. President Biden is likely to not accept President Putin's call to halt the expansion of NATO. That is, of course, what he wants from this phone call.

But, certainly, they're saying, look, they're going to try and use diplomatic actions, rather than military ones, but a high-stakes phone call without question. And then, separately, the U.S. Olympics, of course, the diplomatic boycott, that just means that U.S. officials, the president and the first lady, perhaps the vice president or the second gentleman, they are not going to be going.

Athletes will still be competing. So it's certainly significant, but largely symbolic, not like the 1980 boycott, of course, of the Olympics in Moscow, which was very controversial at the time in the Carter administration.

BLACKWELL: Well, let's take that to David now.

How is China responding to this boycott?

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, it is mostly symbolic, as Jeff points out, but, at the same time, it could be incredibly damaging to China.

The U.S. has essentially kind of followed this middle line here, where they're not boycotting altogether. They still support Team USA. So the athletes will come here to the mainland to compete. But, in doing so, they're going to be here and potentially have the opportunity to speak on a range of the very sensitive issues that have bothered Beijing, in particular, talking about the human rights abuses that have been taking place in Xinjiang.

[15:10:11]

The State Department has called this genocide. More than a million Uyghur Muslims have been detained for sterilizations. We have covered family separations. I was there earlier this year to cover that with my team.

And so this is an extremely sensitive issue. It's one that China says is domestic affairs, keep out of our business, this has nothing to do with the U.S. And yet the U.S. is making a very clear point that it has something to do with the global community and China's role in that.

So if China hopes to just host the world and put on a show, which no doubt they will, if you look at 2008 -- it'll have a lot of pageantry. It'll be an incredible performance. But at the same time, there's a lot of underlying issues. And it goes beyond Xinjiang even. You have got pro-democracy protests crackdown in Hong Kong.

You have got concerns in Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that is facing increased pressure from China. You have got COVID-19 origins and the mystery surrounding that and the cover-ups that happened early on. There are so many issues that have continued to plague these Olympics, that China is struggling to move forward and just focus on the sport.

It's not going to end up that way, Alisyn and Victor.

CAMEROTA: Fred, let's talk about what's going on with Russia.

So President Biden has this video call coming up with Putin. And what are the possibilities? I mean, what -- we understand there could be economic sanctions, including of Putin's own circle. So what does it look like there?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think that it could be massive economic sanctions.

And I think that that's certainly something that the Russians understand, very much understand, is in the cards. And it was interesting to hear President Biden say that he's going to make clear to Putin that any sort of invasion of Ukraine would have serious -- carry serious consequences with it.

And I think the interesting thing about it is that the Russians have now really come out and essentially said exactly what they want, right? They have come out and they said, yes, they were -- they have been amassing their troops at that -- near the border area. And they say they want no more NATO expansion, but, specifically, they have said that they don't ever want Ukraine to become a member of NATO.

That is certainly something that they call a red line to them. Now, the Biden administration has said that all this talk of red lines is certainly something that they don't think is helpful. The NATO secretary-general has come out and certainly said that the Russians will not dictate the terms as to who becomes a NATO member and who doesn't, that this is up to the aspiring nation, which in this case would be Ukraine, and then NATO itself.

And, quite frankly, I was also in Ukraine very recently, and they said, if the Russians do try to invade, that there would be very, very fierce resistance from the Ukrainians, the Ukrainians, of course, much more capable now than they were, for instance, in 2014, when the Russians annexed Crimea, and they say that they are ready for a fight.

In fact, the president, Zelensky, of Ukraine, he came out today and he said that, if the Russians do attack, that he believes that his forces would be ready. But, essentially, what the Russians are saying is that they believe that the Ukrainians have recently been belligerent. They say that they want assurances that there's not going to be NATO expansion and that certainly Ukraine will not become a member of NATO.

The Ukrainians obviously saying, none of that is true, they have not been belligerent, and they point to these buildups of the Russian forces there near the border with Ukraine, and they say that that is the real problem, and also, of course, something that is very dangerous as well -- Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: I will take it. A lot on the line.

Fred Pleitgen for us there in Berlin, David Culver in Shanghai, Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thank you all.

All right, new questions about why school officials did not search an alleged gunman's backpack or locker at that school in Michigan. We will have the latest on the shooting and talk live with a lawyer who represented the victims' families of the Parkland school shooting.

CAMEROTA: Also, Attorney General Merrick Garland files a lawsuit against Texas over redistricting, saying it violates voter rights. We have that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:37]

BLACKWELL: We have got some breaking news in from the Justice Department.

It is now suing Texas over its newly drawn legislative map.

CAMEROTA: Attorney General Merrick Garland just filed a lawsuit alleging the Texas redistricting plan violates the Voting Rights Act.

CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez joins us now from the Justice Department.

So, Evan, what's the basis of this lawsuit?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the basis is that the legislative maps, the maps for both House and the legislative elections, violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

The attorney general says that, based on the population growth in the last 10 years in Texas, the new maps do not reflect the increase -- what should be the increased voting power of Latino residents in Texas.

Take a listen to what he said at the press conference just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: The complaint we filed today alleges that Texas has violated Section 2 by creating redistricting plans that deny or abridge the rights of Latino and black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, according to the lawsuit, Texas added about four million people in the last 10 years, according to the census; 95 percent of that population growth came from Latino voters or Latinos in Texas.

[15:20:00]

Texas got two congressional districts as a result of that. And both of those districts were drawn with majority white voters, according to the Justice Department. And that's reason why this is now the second lawsuit that has been brought against Texas for voting rights issues -- Alisyn, Victor.

CAMEROTA: OK, Evan Perez, thank you for the breaking news.

Well, there's a Republican-on-Republican showdown. It's shaping up in Georgia, former GOP Senator David Perdue just announcing today that he is running for governor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID PERDUE, (R), GEORGIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Unfortunately, today, we're divided.

And Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger are to blame. Look, I like Brian. This isn't personal. It's simple. He has failed all of us and cannot win in November. Let me be very clear. Over my dead body will we ever give Stacey Abrams control of our elections again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: OK, Donald Trump has been encouraging Perdue to challenge Georgia -- I didn't expect him to invoke his dead body -- sitting Governor Brian Kemp.

And this not only sets up a primary battle royal between Perdue and Kemp. It also sets the stage for what will be a nationally watched race against the likely Democratic contender, Stacey Abrams.

Let's bring in Patricia Murphy, political reporter for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution."

What a time to be a political reporter in Georgia.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: You're welcome.

PATRICIA MURPHY, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION": Thank you. What a time to be alive.

BLACKWELL: Yes, indeed. Let's start here with the latest development, the statement from

former President Trump where he says good things about David Perdue, does not go as far as endorsing him, because there are other Trumpy candidates in the primary.

Why do you think he stopped short?

MURPHY: You know, we don't know why Donald Trump does the things he does. But we certainly do look for signals from Donald Trump about anything he's doing that affects politics in Georgia because he such a gigantic force in Republican politics in the state, even though he's not here.

So we are expecting an endorsement from Donald Trump. There is another Trump Republican in the primary race, but he's not nearly as strong as David Perdue. And Donald Trump made it very well-known, including to David Perdue, that he wanted a stronger candidate in this race than Vernon Jones, who was already in this, a former state representative, a former Democrat, by the way.

And so David Perdue got into this race, at the request and suggestion of Donald Trump. And we expect him to have that support. And that is going to be crucial in this race going forward.

CAMEROTA: So do you have a sense of how Republicans in Georgia are feeling? Do they still like Brian Kemp? Do they believe, as Donald Trump is trying to shirk responsibility for his role in losing the Senate seats there, do they hold Brian Kemp responsible? Do they like David Perdue?

MURPHY: Well, I think you're going to get different answers from different Republicans.

Republican voters here are very much aligned with Donald Trump. The energy in the Republican base is with Donald Trump. And so, as a result, you have a majority of Republican voters here who don't believe that the last election was fair and square. They're looking for somebody to blame.

And many of them do blame Brian Kemp for that, instead of Donald Trump or David Perdue, who were both on the ballot. So the energy is with that argument and the race. And so we're going to have to see where those voters end up. For Republicans in power, elected Republicans, they do not want to have this conversation.

They don't want to pick between the sitting governor and President Trump. That is a really difficult position for them to be in. But it's where they find themselves today.

BLACKWELL: So, Steve Bannon has weighed in, for what that's worth. He says that David Perdue is or should be the last person who is challenging Brian Kemp for governor. He says there's no difference between the two.

Bannon called Perdue a classic country club-type Republican. Perdue won his primary in 2014 against Jack Kingston by fewer than two points. I think was like 1.8 percent. So Perdue clearly has some people to convince in the Republican Party.

MURPHY: Well, I think all the convincing he needs is going to be from Donald Trump. The primary that he ran in the first time, he had never been elected in the state of Georgia. He had lived out of the state for a long time, even though he grew up here and was born here.

So I think it would be a really different primary this time around. He did not get a strong challenger when he was running for Senate because he was perceived as being really strong among the Republican base. And so the challenge that he ran into, of course, was in the general election.

And then he could easily have that exact same problem if he were to get through primary with Brian Kemp. He'd still have the same problem that he had in 2020 with the general electorate here in Georgia, which is changing very quickly. It's becoming much more diverse. A lot of younger voters have registered since the last time he was on the ballot even 10 months ago.

And so it's just a -- it's a race that has no center of gravity right now. It sort of feels like it's all up in the air and we're going to have to start to see some polling, talk to some voters and see where they're going to end up on that.

[15:25:08]

CAMEROTA: And then that leads us to the Stacey Abrams factor.

I, like Victor, was surprised to hear David Perdue say, over my dead body.

BLACKWELL: Over my dead body.

CAMEROTA: I mean, what's that language? It just -- I feel like we're bracing for something to get very ugly.

MURPHY: Well, I think it will immediately get very ugly.

I wasn't surprised to hear him say that at all, actually, because Republicans want to be running against Stacey Abrams. While she is beloved by Democrats here in the state, she's a very polarizing figure for Republicans. So Republicans find her to be a real unifying force.

If they had one thing to unify them, it would be running against Stacey Abrams, but they're not unified right now because we have got this primary battle that's happening. So we're going to hear all of the Republicans, even people not running for governor, anyone running for lieutenant governor, state senator, sheriff, everyone's going to be running against Stacey Abrams on the Republican side.

But she's just as galvanizing on the Democratic side. And she has registered literally 1.3 million voters since the last time she was up on the ballot. Her group Fair Fight Action, The New Georgia Project, all of these groups have done an enormous amount of registration based on the model that she put in place, along with a lot of other black activists here in the state. So it's a very different electorate. It's going to be a very different

race. And already we have a totally different dynamic than the last time Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp faced each other.

BLACKWELL: What a time to be alive.

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: Patricia Murphy with "The Atlanta Journal Constitution," thank you so much.

MURPHY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, this is just into CNN. The late Senator Bob Dole will lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda this Thursday.

Dole died Sunday at the age of 98. He had announced in February that he was being treated for advanced lung cancer.

BLACKWELL: Flags at the White House are at half-staff today. And we're expecting to learn more about funeral plans. And we will bring those to you as soon as we get them.

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