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Erin Burnett Outfront

Biden: "More People May Die" If Trump Refuses To Start Cooperating With Transition Process; Moderna Says Its Coronavirus Vaccine Is 94.5 Percent Effective; GA's Republican Secretary Of State Says GOP, Including Sen. Graham, Pressuring Him To Toss Legal Ballots; Trump Sows Doubt On Georgia Recount As He Refuses To Concede; Biden: Small Businesses "Teetering On The Edge" In Pandemic, Texas Food Bank Sees Largest Distribution Ever This Weekend. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired November 16, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @WOLFBLITZER. Tweet the show @CNNSITROOM. Thanks very much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, more people may die, a stark warning from President-elect Joe Biden as he faces a worsening pandemic. Biden calling on President Trump to start the transition now.

Plus, Georgia recounting nearly 5 million ballots by hand. Republican Secretary of State says he's feeling pressure from Republicans like Lindsey Graham to find ways to toss legally cast ballots, what? We're going to talk to a top Georgia elections official.

And an incoming Congresswoman says several of her new Republican colleagues confused her with the late Breonna Taylor. Her response? Well, you'll hear, she's my guest. Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, more people may die. That is the warning tonight from Joe Biden. The President-elect using some of the strongest language yet since the election telling President Trump it is time to start to transition now or risking losing more American lives to the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: More people may die if we don't coordinate. They say they have this warp speed program that not only dealt with getting vaccines, but also how to distribute this. If we have to wait until January 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month and a half.

The idea the President is still playing golf and not doing anything about it is beyond my comprehension.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: The virus is spreading at an alarming rate, more than 100,000

cases for the 14th day running far outpacing any increases in testing. At least 14,951 Americans have died since election day. And people who were alive coming in now dead, yet the President is ignoring the urgent calls not just from Biden, but from Dr. Fauci.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Obviously, it's something that we're concerned about and I know that transitions are very important to get a smooth, essentially as I use the metaphor essentially passing a baton without stopping running.

Of course, it would be better if we could start working with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Fourteen thousand nine hundred fifty-one Americans who were alive on election eve are now dead from Coronavirus. As Biden said, the transition is also key to distributing a vaccine. A vaccine that could change our lives as we now know them. But it is a massive undertaking, one that according to Fauci could, everything lines up began in just weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: We want to get doses to people starting in December. And then we want to really get the ball rolling as we get into January, February and March.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And now there are two possible vaccines, Moderna today reporting its vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective against the virus according to initial data, 95 percent. I mean, that is an incredible thing to celebrate if it really works, if these vaccines work, they really could be transformational.

And yet, instead of trying to streamline the process, the President is spending his time tweeting about the election, "I won the election." Telling his supporters to watch a right-wing propaganda network that is filled with conspiracy theories, pro-Trump commentaries saying it's really great. That's how he's spending his time.

And the controversial doctor on the taskforce, Dr. Scott Atlas, the one that President listens to today spent his time going after Michigan's new restrictions on the virus. Atlas tweeting, "The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept." Freedom matters, step up, he hashtags.

OK. There's a couple really important things here. First of all, Michigan is seeing a surge in cases, 8,000 deaths now all-in in Michigan, positivity rate above 10 percent. And what the state's governor is proposing is not radical, it's not a full shutdown. She says it's just some things, colleges and high schools temporarily no indoor dining, elementary schools K through eight though still allowed to open, salons ditto, outdoor dining, ditto, open, open, open.

And yet Atlas telling people to rise up against the Governor, who by the way, was the target of an FBI busted attack and kidnapping plot that was formed in part due to coronavirus restrictions that she'd put in place. The approach of let it rip is playing with people's lives. According to the influential model, often cited by the White House, another 113,237 Americans will die by Inauguration Day if things don't change.

That's another 113,000 dead Americans in 65 days on top of what I just said, 14,951 just since Election Day. It does not have to be this way. If President Trump conceded the election and did his utmost to rise to one of the deadliest threats to ever face this nation in his final days in office, he could save countless lives. He could make it clear that his political loss is not what matters. What matters is his country.

[19:05:04]

He could take this advice that we found in books this weekend. Let me just read you a few really interesting quotes, this one. "Problems, setbacks, mistakes and losses are all a part of life. You have to know when to call it quits and when to keep moving forward."

And then there was this one. "I also know that sometimes you have to throw in the towel. Maybe you failed, but you probably learned something valuable. Chalk it up to experience, don't take it personally and go find your next challenge."

And then there was this one, "Unfortunately, life has its ups and downs, which means that if you want to win, you have to accept losing too." Who wrote those quotes?

Well, every single one comes from books that carry Trump's name on the cover as author. Trump, a man who should take his own advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But that's life, so deal with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right. Arlette Saenz is with Biden in Wilmington, Delaware. Kaitlan Collins is with Trump at the White House.

So Arlette, let me start with you. There was a clear change in Biden's tone today regarding the risk of the delayed transition, sharper language, more urgency, what's behind the change in tone?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Erin, President-elect Joe Biden is trying to strike this delicate balance showing that he is still prepared throughout this transition process, but also warning of what's at stake and that is what you heard him lay out today as he talks about how this delay in the Trump administration acknowledging the transition process, how that is putting Americans' lives at risk. Biden's advisors have long felt that as this ascertainment process

goes on without the ascertainment, it becomes even more and more important as they are approaching that January 20th day where he's going to be inaugurated. So you've heard both Biden and his chief of staff talking about the health risks that are involved if the transition team is unable to coordinate on things like the coronavirus pandemic. We know that the Biden transition team also can't talk with the administration on other issues as well.

So this is all really starting to boil over as the inauguration gets closer and closer. And tonight, we are also learning that Biden is starting to fill out some of the senior staff positions within his White House. We've learned that Biden's campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon is expected to have a top role within the administration as well as Congressman Cedric Richmond, who was one of the co-chairs of Biden's campaign. He also is planning to leave Congress and join the White House as the senior staffing is starting to take shape for Biden's administration.

BURNETT: All right. Moving head as much as they can.

So let's go to Kaitlan on that. Kaitlan, the President has not - he's just tweeting that he won the election. This is how he's spending his time and that is pretty much exclusively how he's spending his time. So what is everyone around him going to do?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, it's causing issues for them, because they haven't even been able to acknowledge that there will be a transition. You saw the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar struggling with that today saying if there is a transition, it will go smoothly.

He can't even say that there will be one and acknowledge that fact because, of course, the President is denying it, even though he has come close to acknowledging Biden's win. And then you're hearing from other officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is saying I've served under a lot of presidents, a transition is incredibly important, especially now that we are living through a pandemic when a transition is supposed to be happening and the President is still blocking that access.

And so the question is not only, Erin, how is that transition going to happen, is it going to be smooth, will it thwart any of these distribution plans for the vaccine, but also is the administration checked out of what's happening in the next two months as we are hitting some really challenging times with the virus surging.

And so today, there was a question about that since Vice President Mike Pence held his first Governor's call in six weeks because, of course, he was on the road a lot before the election. And Oregon Governor Kate Brown, who is on that call today said that they did not address the fact that there was going to be a transition in a matter of weeks, since we've only got about two months left and said she believed it was very disingenuous is the way she described it, given that that was not something they talked about on that call today. So, of course, the ultimate decision and question is the President

isn't just denying Joe Biden validation by ignoring his win, he's also potentially hurting this transition when it comes to the pandemic preparedness.

BURNETT: All right. Kaitlan, thank you very much.

So I want to go now to Michael Osterholm, member of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 advisory board. Also the Director of the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. And I really appreciate your time.

So, Doctor, President Trump, there's clearly concern here about the lack of a transition process that's even starting, what that could mean. We've gone through that the forecasted number of deaths almost 15,000 people have died since election day.

[19:10:01]

President-elect Biden says more people may die if we don't coordinate and we see the forecast of 115,000 more people dead between now and Inauguration Day. How worried are you right now?

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, BIDEN COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: Well, I'm extremely worried about several buckets of information or that you just described. Number one is we are entering the most dangerous period in public health since 1918. The potential we have to see these 150,000 to 180,000 cases per day turn into the 200s and even higher per day, which will overwhelm our healthcare system is an actual stark reality. We got to deal with that, we need leadership on that.

Number two, is that what is happening out here to try to prevent that transmission is that we have governors and mayors all working their very, very hardest to reduce that transmission trying to coordinate within their states and they're looking for national leadership to help guide them.

And number three, and you hit it, the one opportunity we're going to have here to get out of this COVID hell is in fact to have an effective and safe vaccine. And we're going to start seeing that transition to using the vaccine soon and we need to have it be a smooth transition now within in each of our states, but also over time between the two administration. So together, these are really challenging issues.

BURNETT: So Professor, you had said last week a four to six-week lockdown could help control the spread. And we're seeing that being done in places like Europe. Now, of course, Trump used that against Biden in the election where he tried to say he would lock down the country.

But the Governor of Michigan, which I just mentioned a moment ago, she has ordered a shut down which includes some closures, high schools and colleges, if you can work from home, you work from home, no indoor dining, no organized sports. But there is professional sports, there is pre K through eight, there is salons, gyms and pools for individual workouts. There is outdoor dining.

Do you see any situation, Professor, in which we would need to lock down more than that?

OSTERHOLM: Well, Erin, thank you for raising that, because first of all that's not actually what I said last week. What I referred to was a question in Guardian, an op-ed piece that I wrote back last August in The New York Times. And what I've laid out is I think, first of all, the term lock down is a horrible term.

If you interview 50 people and ask them what a lockdown is they'll give you 75 different answers.

BURNETT: Fair.

OSTERHOLM: What we're really talking about are what are the measures we need to take to support reducing transmission. And what I've always said is any kind of action we take has to be equally met by the financial support of our federal government. So that if we shut down bars and restaurants to keep our schools open, then those individuals who work there, that single mom waitress who has two kids trying to keep a roof over her head basically is subsidized. The same thing is true with the business owners.

So to me that's what I'm talking about is a comprehensive system. But to your point, I think we're going to have to expand substantially the number of activities are going to be curtailed. And it starts right in our own home with Thanksgiving.

So without the financial support from Washington, D.C., I don't ever see this concept working, because people are just not going to participate.

BURNETT: One final question I want to ask you, because you mentioned the vaccine.

OSTERHOLM: Sure.

BURNETT: And so many people are pinning their hopes on it. I know Dr. Fauci said even with a vaccine, it could take quite some time, plus, you would still need other measures. But what we've seen with these vaccines is incredible and the President today tweeted he deserves credit for it.

He said, "Please remember these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch." Now, he has, of course, said time and time again, Professor, that he got the process going of a vaccine done way faster than anybody thought. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The average development timeline for a vaccine, including clinical tests and manufacturing can take eight to 12 years. Through Operation Warp Speed, we're doing it in less than one year.

If this were another administration, you wouldn't have vaccines for three years.

If you had another president other than me, you wouldn't be talking vaccines for two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Does he deserve some credit?

OSTERHOLM: Yes, he absolutely does. I can't say that another administration would have done the same thing with the kinds of science leaders that are in the federal government, from year to year that also proposed this. But I think he does deserve credit and we have to give where credit's due.

But at the same time, remember, a vaccine is nothing until it becomes a vaccination. And right now we're in this critical time to figure out how to get these vaccines delivered. We have no program right now coming out of the federal government to convince the average citizen they want to vaccine. And we know that in many circles, there's a great deal of skepticism about the safety of the vaccine.

So I'll give anyone credit once that we have vaccines in people's arms for all that they did to make that happen. And until that happens, we still have an incomplete job, that's not done.

[19:15:04]

BURNETT: All right. Professor Osterholm, I appreciate your time and thank you very much.

OSTERHOLM: Thank you.

BURNETT: All right. Now, I want to go to someone who's working on the vaccine. We got news on today from Moderna, Dr. Carlos del Rio, an investigator in the vaccine trial and Executive Associate Dean at the Emory University School of Medicine.

Doctor, good to have you back on. You were always frank with us but optimistic when we spoke through the summer and spring. When do you think Americans are going to start to get what Professor Osterholm just said vaccines in their arms with the Moderna vaccine?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, INVESTIGATOR IN EMORY UNIVERSITY'S MODERNA VACCINE TRIAL: Well, Erin, I think the news today was really fantastic. And it was fantastic because last week, we had Pfizer, this week we have Moderna and they both are aligned. They both show over 90 percent efficacy in this interim analysis.

So it shows that this platform is effective. It also shows that the target of the vaccine which is the spike protein in the virus is the right target to produce neutralizing antibodies that will protect you from getting COVID as a disease. So I think the (inaudible) are very good.

Now, the issue is the vaccine production has started. There's already probably about 20 million to 30 million for each one of these vaccines produced precisely through Operation Warp Speed. Now, we need to get the companies to apply to the FDA for emergerncy use authorization, the FDA has to review the data, do the approval. If everything goes well, probably late December, early January, we'll start seeing some of the vaccines being administered to some people.

But at most right now, there's enough maybe to vaccinate 20 million, 30 million Americans, because remember, each one of these vaccines requires two doses. And that's a long way ahead from getting to 300 million Americans. So as Dr. Osterholm said, we need a plan, we need a strategy and we need that implemented. This is going to be one of the most complicated public health efforts we've ever done as a country.

BURNETT: Yes. And it is going to take a lot of time. People need to understand. So the head of the International Vaccine Institute, Dr. Jerome Kim, told us today that your vaccine early data is proof of concept.

But his overall caution was, look, we don't know everything yet. I write about efficacy. He said we don't need to know efficacy at two months, but at six months, at 12 months further out, how long does this thing work for. Do you have any concerns, Doctor, about how long this vaccine lasts?

DEL RIO: I mean, for sure, what we've seen today is an interim analysis, what we saw from Pfizer is some interim analysis and then we saw press releases. I, as a scientist, want to see the full data set. I want to see the studies completed til the end. I want to see the long-term efficacy results.

And the long-term efficacy in any of the studies we're following, participants for up to two years to know the long-term efficacy. But at the same time, we can wait for two years to start vaccinating people. So this is a little bit of building the ship as we're sailing it, right?

BURNETT: Yes.

DEL RIO: We have an emergency. We're going to start using the vaccine, but we also need to follow people for a long time and see what happens. But at this point in time, based on what I've seen, based on what I know about the vaccines, based on the absence of side effects that I've seen, I'm going to be one of the first in lines to be able to get the vaccine, because I think I believe it's going to be effective.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Dr. del Rio. I appreciate your time.

DEL RIO: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

BURNETT: OK.

And next, Trump attacking Georgia's recount calling it meaningless. The Republican who manages Georgia's voting system responds next.

Plus, Biden warning America's economy could take a hit this winter. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're going into a very dark winter. It's going to be difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: As Trump claims he has won the election, claiming it twice in the past 24 hours. What is the game he's playing here? John O'Donnell worked alongside him for years, he's OUTFRONT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:22:30]

BURNETT: The Republican Secretary of State of Georgia telling our Wolf Blitzer that he has been feeling pressure from Republicans like Lindsey Graham as his state undergoes a hand recount.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, he ask if the ballots could be matched back to the voters and then I got the sense it implied that then you can throw those out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: But to be clear, what he is saying then would be that the Senator was implying you should be throwing out legally cast ballots that match back to the signatures. Graham denies this, but it comes as the President is also sowing doubt about the Georgia recount, tweeting, "Georgia won't let us look at the all important signature match. Without that the recount is MEANINGLESS."

OK. So we got to do this again. We got to go to the longtime Republican who manages Georgia's voting system, Gabriel Sterling, Georgia's Voting System Implementation Manager.

So Gabe, here you go. You're getting attacked here again by the President. He's saying your recount should be called off. He says you aren't verifying signatures. Tell us the facts.

GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: Well, the reality is we're following our law. We're following the process. We're doing what we're supposed to do to verify the outcome of the election that was held November 3rd. We have election directors in 159 counties that are literally going through and having human beings look at every single ballot and stack them and count them.

I don't know how much more thorough we could possibly be on this front. We're doing to show that the machines counted right, because the first that attack machines were counting right, so fine we'll do this. Now the same go back to check the signature.

These signatures were all checked weeks and months ago for some of these people. So there's not like there's this big bin you can go check on and our rejection rate is tracking under the normal. In 2016 we had 580 ballots that were rejected for missing or mismatched signatures. In 2018, it's 454.

And because of the explosion, we saw in absentee voting, this time it was at 2011, so it's tracking the same thing that it has always tracked and this office actually strengthen the signature match, bringing in GBI people to help train our county elections directors on how to do this better.

BURNETT: What are GBI? Sorry. I'm not familiar the acronym.

STERLING: That's George Bureau of Investigation. The FBI is federal, G is GBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

BURNETT: All right. But the point is, these are people who are experts at this. You've done that extra level. You've given us the numbers, I get it.

STERLING: Yes.

BURNETT: OK. So this doesn't add up whatsoever, so let me ask you now about what I just played there in the introduction. I don't know if you heard it, your Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, he's also Republican. He says he's getting pressured by prominent Republicans to question the validity, I'm sorry, of legally cast ballots, the signature issue.

[19:25:04]

He told The Washington Post, Lindsey Graham asked him if he had the power to toss legally cast mail ballots in counties with higher rates of non-matching signatures. So are you getting pressure from anyone to do this sort of thing?

STERLING: Me personally no, I've gotten none of that. I know that there's been discussions about where are the legal votes, because we have said from the beginning, there are going to be illegal votes in every election in the United States every time.

BURNETT: Of course.

STERLING: It just happened. So we were investigating all the specific instances of that, but we've seen nothing widespread of a conspiracy to flood absentee ballots with people mismatching signatures. That's just - we have zero evidence of that.

But if somebody has evidence of that, this secretary will track that down. We made that very clear. But the amounts we've seen, it's in 10s, 20s, a hundred over there. We've got some double voters. We found that a big chunk of them were not actually double voters who just input errors into our voter registration system. We have potentially like 150 felons that might have voted. We're investigating those, but nothing approaching this 14,000-vote margin right now.

BURNETT: So let me ask you one other thing, six counties in Georgia finished the hand recounts, no discrepancies there. In Floyd County though, GOP stronghold, more than 2,600 uncounted ballots were found. And you've gone through those you said Trump could gain about 800 net votes, which in the scheme of a recount is actually pretty significant in the scheme of your margin, it is insignificant.

But it does raise the question, Gabe, are you worried that we could see more than that? I know, you've said that that was just an error, someone had kind of lost track of the data.

STERLING: Frankly, until the process is done, there's always a possibility something like that happening. However, the evidence we've seen so far doesn't bear that out. This is one county out of 159. It looks like they set aside one box of early votes that they simply didn't upload the original scan.

And the way it was discovered was through the audit. The audit is doing its job to verify the outcomes on these things and when you find discrepancy like that, then you fix it. That's why we have these rules and guardrails in place to protect the veracity of the vote and the integrity of the outcome.

BURNETT: One quick final question, as the President keeps attacking this voting software company that you're familiar with, Dominion, today he says Dominion is running our election rigged. You and I have talked about this. You use some Dominion software in Georgia. You told me last week, you had no evidence in any way that there was any issue with it, with the vote count, with anything like he's been alleging.

But he keeps relentlessly pushing this conspiracy theory. You've had another week. Still the same thing, no there there?

STERLING: Still the same thing. In fact, we brought in an outside vendor to go and run testing on random counties on random machines to make sure the same software was running the same way was supposed to. They've come back clean bill of health, just like we expected, just like this audit is going to show.

Listen, the President has over 73 million people right now who voted for him, I get it. You fight for those people to the very end, but we have law. We are a country who have laws, not of men. We need to follow the law and if it has real evidenxce, take it in a courtroom, vet it out there.

Talking about stuff on news programs and on Twitter is not evidence. We need evidence to do some of these things. And I understand people are upset, that's going to happen, there's always going to be a person that comes in first and a person who comes in second to these things and each side could be upset.

What we said in this state was if Biden was behind by 14,000, we will be doing the exact same thing to give people that faith and that confidence in the actual outcome from the ballots that were cast.

BURNETT: Right. And you have certainly given that and handled this with such integrity. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

STERLING: Thank you. Have a great night. BURNETT: All right. You too, sir.

And now, John O'Donnell, former President and Chief Operating Officer of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, knows the President very well and has worked with him.

So jack, you've known him for decades. He knows he's lost this election, but he won't let it go. He's out there today saying it was rigged, saying he won. Feeding very dangerous things to some of those 73 million people who may believe him. Why is he doing it, do you think?

JOHN O'DONNELL, FMR PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, TRUMP PLAZA HOTEL & CASINO: Well, first off he's very angry and he is pacifying his own ego at this point. Because as you know and we've said this many times, he just can't accept the label of loser for himself. I think he's also doing it, Erin, for two other reasons.

He's a very vengeful man and I think he is trying to make it as difficult as possible on Joe Biden, because Biden is the enemy. And along with Biden being the enemy, Donald Trump views the 78 million people who voted against him as the enemy as well. And he very much gets the angst that he is causing with that 78 million people and I think he enjoys it.

I think I told you two years ago that this man enjoys hurting people.

[19:30:03]

And I think he kind of is enjoying the pain that he's putting Biden through by delaying this as well as the angst of the people.

BURNETT: Well, look, he's putting both sides fully in angst. So, he's putting everybody through a miserable and uncertain time.

So, you know, at the top of the show I read through some of the quotes we found in Trump's books over the weekend. You know, he always had someone writing with him and I guess now we know who wrote the quotes. All very, you know, full of dignity about how you accept a loss.

In another one he says, quote: sometimes you work as hard as you can on something and it doesn't work out. The question is how do you know when to give up? I usually tough it out longer than most people would in a similar situation, which is why I often succeed where others have failed.

I also know that sometimes you have to throw in the towel. Maybe you failed but you probably learned something valuable. Chalk it up to experience. Don't take it personally, and go find your next challenge.

Is there any way that he would act in such a way?

O'DONNELL: Well, those clearly aren't his words, even though they're in his books, because the answer to your question is no. He will never act that way, Erin. And he's done this time and time again. It doesn't matter what the situation has been. He will twist a loss, you know, into a lie or just a story that he's

been cheated. I mean, he's done it time and time again. Even the Trump University is a great example of it, quite frankly. Where you know, the guy had to pay a $25 million settlement fee. And that clearly is a loss.

But he had to turn that into no, it was a judge of Mexican descent that stole this from me. And he was never going to agree with me. He just can't -- he just can't accept, you know, losing with grace because he doesn't believe he can lose.

BURNETT: All right. Jack, I appreciate your time and your insight. Thank you.

O'DONNELL: Thank you, Erin. Pleasure to be here.

BURNETT: All right. And next, the Dow and S&P hitting records today. Yet at the same time, these are the images we saw. Lines outside a food bank in Dallas. So what is the real economy?

Plus, an incoming Democratic congresswoman wore a mass with Breonna Taylor's name on it and some Republicans came over to greet her and thought that was her name. So Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush is OUTFRONT.

(COMMERCIAL

[19:36:17]

BURNETT: Tonight, President-elect Joe Biden offering a stark warning, as states begin imposing new restrictions in response to the coronavirus case surge across this country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going into a very dark winter. Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier. That requires sparing no effort to fight COVID so that we can open our businesses safely, resume our lives and put this pandemic behind us. It's going to be difficult but it can be done. Once we shut down the virus and deliver economic relief to workers and businesses, then we can start to build that better than before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former chief economist of the president's Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, and Catherine Rampell, a "Washington Post" columnist and our economics commentator.

So, Catherine, let me start with you. You know, I was sort of struck today by the tale of two countries. The Dow and S&P hitting records because of the vaccine news, records amidst the sort of economic destruction that we've seen over the past six months. And yet over the weekend in Dallas we saw these heartbreaking images of lines and lines of cars stretching back miles, 600,000 pounds of food distributed in the largest ever distribution in Dallas.

I mean, look at these cars. I mean, I don't -- you see this and it chokes you up.

Which story is the real story about this economy? Markets at a record or that food bank line?

CATHERINE RAMPELL, CNN ECONOMICS COMMENTATOR: Right now, is sort of a tale of two economies, right? You have white-collar, more highly educated workers, people who are able to continue working from home who have largely recovered the jobs that were lost as a result of the pandemic.

Then you have everyone else -- lower wage workers, people who have service jobs where they have to show up in person, for example, small businesses doing poorly. And they will continue to do poorly and shutter and not be able to rehire until we get the virus under control.

There's also the issue of the fact that markets tend to be more forward-looking, right? They're baking in the fact that there will eventually be a recovery in their profits. We don't know when that will happen. But it likes it's going to happen maybe a little bit sooner than we had thought. But it's still a while away.

But we don't know when that will happen. We don't know how much pain will be endured between now and then and how much productive capacity could potentially be lost because people's skills are deteriorating, businesses are shuttering, and you know, kids aren't learning, aren't reaching the milestones they need.

BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, you know, Doug, you look at, it small businesses are the backbone of this country, right? In terms of employment, and therefore in terms of spending power. So how do these two economies continue?

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: Well, I want to just agree with everything Catherine just said and add that when you look at the stock market it's not pricing the whole economy. It's pricing large publicly traded companies which are probably in the best condition to survive this. It's not pricing the non-profits, the performing arts centers and the small businesses of America and the workers that are in them.

And so I don't think on a day-to-day basis looking at the stock market tells you much. I think what we have to do is make sure that we keep an eye on the problems that we know we have and that includes 11 million relatively low skilled workers who have been out of work for a long time, their UI is about to exhaust in many cases and the small businesses who are just struggling to make sure that they can stay open and keep their employees working.

And that's going to involve helping them do things to work safely, get them some PPE, get them better testing. There's some financial help as well, but they need help working in the presence of the virus. It's the top challenge until it's in the rearview mirror. BURNETT: Right. So, Catherine, Professor Osterholm, who's on the

president-elect's coronavirus committee, you know, he made it clear that there are going to be more restrictions required in states like we've seen in Michigan, right?

[19:40:04]

Several states now imposing lockdown measures that are going to cut back on economic activity.

President Trump, though, has warned again and again that he thinks this sort of a thing is a mistake, and here's how he put it last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Lockdowns cost lives and they cost a lot of problems. The cure cannot be -- you've got to remember, cannot be worse than the problem itself. And I've said it many times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Is it possible, Catherine, that these lockdowns -- and I know the word means different things to different people. But these shutdowns of large swaths of the economy are causing more harm than good?

RAMPELL: I think in the long run our economic interests and our public health interests are generally aligned. There might be an urge to try to have as much economic activity return as quickly as possible, but that could actually slow down, you know, how quickly we are able to get infections under control and ultimately the infections are in control of the economy.

I think we need to think a little bit harder as well about what kinds of activities we prioritize. There are certainly things that we want to put ahead of all others. For example, opening schools, right? We know that there is long-term damage that comes from kids not having their proper educational experiences and developmental milestones hit.

And then there are people, there are the businesses that probably we should just buy off for the time being. You know, that it's just not worth the economic trade-off to continue having people go to karaoke bars or whatever it is where we know that there's a higher rate of infection. Pay these businesses, pay these workers so that they can sustain the closure for a longer period of time so we can prioritize the reopening of the things that matter the most.

BURNETT: Doug, your response? The cure cannot be worse than the problem itself.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: It's wrong to have this be a black-and-white choice. There's a continuum of things we can do. We can start with social distancing and masks, and we can add to that aggressive efforts on testing, aggressive efforts on therapeutics, and not simply bet the ranch on the vaccines. Now, Operation Warp Speed's been a miracle and my hope is it's not

damaged in the non-transition. I mean, we are greatly positioned. But we can do more than just wait for the vaccine, and we should.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much.

And next, an incoming Democratic congresswoman says not one but several Republicans mistook her for the late Breonna Taylor. Her reaction, next.

And we'll take you to the Navajo Nation, where they're entering a new lockdown. COVID cases there are surging.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:45:29]

BURNETT: Tonight, both the House and Senate back on Capitol Hill. Several newly elected members getting settled, including Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush of Missouri.

She says many Republicans called her Breonna as she wore this Breonna Taylor mask on her first day working on the Hill, tweeting, quote, it hurts. But I'm glad they'll come to know her name and story because of my presence here.

OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congresswoman-elect Cori Bush of Missouri.

And I appreciate your time, Congresswoman-elect.

So, you're wearing this mask that has Breonna Taylor's name on it. What was your reaction when not one but I believe you said it was several Republicans called you Breonna?

CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT CORI BUSH (D-MO): You know, the very first person I just -- you know, I looked around a little bit like is there somebody next to me? You know. And then -- but then when I explained who she was, then the person just kind of gave me this blank look. So it didn't seem like they were being malicious, they just didn't know.

But then after the next and the next and the next, then you know, I really started to feel hurt because I'm like, this has been a national movement. That 15 -- somewhere between -- the reports are 15 -- so between 15 million and 26 million people protested up to July, from June into July. How do you not know?

And we claim ourselves, we asked -- we signed up to be leaders. We have to know what's happening in our communities and not only our communities but what's happening in other communities because that's how we keep our people safe.

BURNETT: I mean, I have to say, congresswoman-elect, it is saying something. I mean, they really did not even know who she was. And then what was their reaction? I mean, did you -- did you try to explain?

BUSH: Yeah. I did. To each person that called me Breonna. It was, hi, Breonna, how are you? I'm such and such. Or it was, oh, you must be Breonna Taylor.

So with each one I explained who she was and every single time it was this, oh. Oh, all right. OK. Good to meet you.

It was just like this blank look. But it gave me an opportunity to teach. And so now, you know, they know who Breonna Taylor is. Hopefully, they went to go research her and we can further this conversation.

BURNETT: You first got into politics as a community activist during the Ferguson protests. We saw you then. You've been one of the biggest advocates for defunding the police and as you said refunding our social services.

There are, though, many in your party pushing back and they're saying the slogan defund the police has led Democrats to lose a lot of races they thought they were going to win.

Here is Congressman Clyburn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Jaime Harrison started to plateau when "defund the police" showed up with a caption on TV right across his head. That stuff hurt Jaime. And that's why I spoke out against it a long time ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

CLYBURN: I've always said that these headlines can kill a political --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And your colleague Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger actually began yelling on a call with House Democrats and she said, quote, the number one concern that people brought to me in my district that I barely re-won was defunding the police.

Now, as I said, you used the words defund the police. You talk about refunding social services. But you use those words. You feel strongly they're appropriate words.

Are you worried, though, that they're hurting your party?

BUSH: You know, I think that when we have attacks, especially attacks that are -- that should not -- you know, if we don't believe what the attacks are about, then I think we have to work on our narrative and we have to work on putting the right information out. And so that's what I had to do in my own race when attacks came against me.

And the other thing is when attacks came against me I didn't go back and say oh, no, no, no. I pushed -- I leaned into it. This is who -- this is who I am and this is what I meant. I think that maybe that means a new comms director or maybe it's another consultant, you know, to make sure that your message is getting across instead of blaming us. But this is the thing. We cannot -- first of all, I respect Rep.

Clyburn. Absolutely. But we have a difference of opinion.

But the thing is instead of blaming one another for what could have happened, should have happened, instead of that we have to look inward to say hey, what could I have done differently?

Not only that, the other thing is if there was a problem that should have been inside the caucus and not in the media.

[19:50:03]

And so that is the issue that I think that we have to -- we have to deal with. But the plan is that there is still a problem with police brutality in this country. And so, I understand that people don't like the slogan. I get that.

But I don't like death. I don't like black death. I don't like to keep seeing my people die at the hands of police and nothing is happening. I don't like that.

So, I think -- I can care about people's feelings, I can care about, you know, if you like what I'm saying or not. My people are dying and that's why I have to look at.

BURNETT: I want to ask you another thing before you go, Congresswoman- elect.

BUSH: Uh-huh.

BURNETT: And that is a big response you are getting on social media after, you know, something that may seem small to some, but it's a really big deal, right? It's getting ready for your new and really important job.

You tweeted out photo, shopping at a thrift store, sharing some of the outfits you are putting together, right? Because you're now going to be congresswoman, right, for the United States of America.

And you said, quote, when a regular person like me runs, it's hard to handle everything from how much it costs to run down to the clothes I'll need to wear at work.

So, tell me about the response you've been -- you've been getting to that.

BUSH: The response has been tremendous. So many people have reached out. Women have reached out saying I feel hurt, you know, or I don't feel ashamed. You know, this is how I shop. And hopefully, it's opening up the door for people to see that especially as women, number one, there are already barriers but then on top of that you know you could see that as women, we have to -- we are expected to look a certain way.

So, not only do I -- I'm buying the suits, so I could look the way man dresses and I can put on a suit, you know? But then there are dresses and skirts, blouses, you know, all these other things, plus, makeup, and shoes and slacks. It's just all of this jewelry, you know?

BURNETT: Yeah.

BUSH: There is so much more that we need -- plus our undergarments. There's just so much more that we need. So many women reached out.

Plus, designers have reached out. Stores have reached out. Rental, you know, boutiques have reached out saying we want to help. Not only you. We want to help other women on the Hill that have this problem. We want to help other women in business that have this issue.

So, it has helped so many women. I'm hoping that it helps more coming up.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Congresswoman-elect, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

BUSH: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, we're going to take you to the Navajo nation to see the major steps they are taking to battle a surge in coronavirus.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:55:40]

BURNETT: Tonight, Navajo Nation locking down for 3 weeks amid a new, quote, uncontrolled spread of coronavirus. The reservation is home to more than 170,000 people. It spans the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. And it is the second surge for the Navajo community. More than 600 have died since the pandemic began.

Martin Savidge is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Winter-like cold has returned to the Navajo Nation, so has coronavirus. Last spring, COVID-19 devastated the sprawling 27,000 square mile Navajo reservation. That stretches across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

In May, per capita, Navajo infection rates surpassed New York and New Jersey.

Darlene Dixson's younger sister among those infected.

DARLENE DIXSON, NAVAJO NATION RESIDENT: She went in to get tested, and she said she tested positive.

SAVIDGE: Just two weeks later, Dickson listened helplessly over the phone as her sister's COVID battle ended in a distant hospital room.

DIXSON: I was telling her, you can't go. You have to come home to us. By 5:45, you just hear that tone of her heart stopping and the doctor came on the phone and she said she was gone. SAVIDGE: Now COVID is back. Navajo health officials warn of the virus

is uncontrolled spread in 34 communities and fear an outbreak as bad as spring or worse.

DR. JILL JIM, NAVAJO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The cases have been increasing. There is no plateau. There is no flattening.

SAVIDGE (on camera): How many ICU beds do you have here?

JIM: We have 14 in Navajo area. Here at this site, we have 6.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Last time, Navajo sent many other cases off reservation, to larger hospitals, in New Mexico and Arizona. Health volunteers poured in. That's not likely this time. Hospitals nationwide are struggling to find beds for their own critical cases, so the Navajo are preparing to fight alone, locking down the entire Navajo nation for three weeks, announcing the news on Navajo Radio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, I hope everybody walk up feeling good. Feeling that they want to stay home and take care of themselves.

SAVIDGE: Under the order, people can only leave their homes for emergencies or essentials. Government offices and businesses must close. Learning is online. Gas stations and grocery stores can open, but under limited hours and capacity using strict sanitizing procedures.

(on camera): Checkpoints like this one are designed to limit travel, meanwhile nonresidents and tourists can pass through, they just can't stop.

(voice-over): Face masks already mandated, now are encouraged to be worn indoors with family.

JONATHAN NEZ, PRESIDENT, NAVAJO NATION: We are like an island in the Navajo Nation. So, of course, if you have record-breaking numbers all around us, it will come in to that nation or that area. And that's what's happening today.

SAVIDGE: Aggressive screening continues. Officials say more than 50 percent of the nation's residents already have been tested in more than 250 contact tracers work to isolate transmission. Health officials have identified sites to quarantine thousands and to place hundreds of hospital beds.

Native utility groups raced to bring electricity to some of the 30 percent of Navajo who live without it, saving them searching for firewood or fuel. And running water could be about 40 percent to have none, to make handwashing and hygiene easier.

JEFFERY ETSITTY, NAVAJO ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY: With this help, it will greatly improve their lives.

SAVIDGE: So far, the strict lockdown has received little pushback. Perhaps because even those who have already enjoyed agonizing loss realize there is still so much more than Navajo could lose.

DIXSON: To keep us -- to keep us safe, to keep us alive. That's with the lockdown is for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: The positivity rate, Erin, in the Navajo Nation is running around 16 percent. Now, that's high, but it's not as high as some of the surrounding areas. And what that tells the Navajo officials is that coronavirus is coming from the outside in, hence part of the reason for the lockdown, stop the movement of people. Stop the movement of the virus.

Medically, the Navajo know they are no match for the coronavirus. They simply don't have the medical resources. So their best tools here are going to be isolation and prevention. Their best weapon is the lockdown. They just pray it works -- Erin.

BURNETT: Martin, thank you.

And thanks very much to all of you.

Anderson starts now.