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U.S. Reports More than 3,000 Deaths in Deadliest Day of Pandemic; Biden Transition Team to Meet with Operation Warp Speed Officials Today; Trump Asks Supreme Court to Invalidate Millions of Votes. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 10, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:59:27]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Thursday, December 10, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And breaking news, Wednesday was the deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic in America. A staggering 3,124 deaths reported in the U.S. That single-day total is more than the number of people killed on 9/11. It's more than the number killed in Hurricane Maria and Katrina, and the Pearl Harbor attack.

The U.S. also set new record for people hospitalized with coronavirus. Another 2,000-person increase in just one day, meaning 107,000 people are waking up in the hospital this morning.

The FDA panel meets this morning to decide on that emergency use authorization of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. If approved today, the first doses could be administered within days.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That is good news for the republic, even as the president tries to undermine democracy and seems to identify with insurrection.

The president has joined a lawsuit from the attorney general of Texas, himself under federal investigation, to try to overturn the results of the election he lost. The president's filing with the Supreme Court states, quote, "Our country is deeply divided in ways that it arguably has not been since the election of 1860."

So leave aside the circular logic of decrying division when he is the one stoking it. But that reference to the election of 1860. You know why the country was divided by that election? Because Abraham Lincoln won, barely. Enslaved states were pissed about that, and they seceded; and there was a civil war.

So by the reasoning of the president's crack legal team, Joe Biden is Abraham Lincoln here, the guy who won, barely; and the president is the slave states, the ones who seceded and then the Civil War. That's who Donald Trump is relating to this morning, as 3,000 new coronavirus deaths were reported overnight.

He might stand at 6'3", but this is the act of a small president.

We learned that the Texas attorney general, the guy under federal investigation who launched this lawsuit, he will be at the White House today. Much more on that coming up.

But first, the pandemic that is killing at a rate we have not yet seen. CNN's Alexandra Field live in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with the latest -- Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning, John.

Look, every day is a record-setting day. That is the course we are on. Yesterday was no exception. Near-record cases, record hospitalizations. That stunning and horrific new death toll. The strain on hospitals and healthcare workers across the country, only becoming more unbearable.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (voice-over): Intensive care units in some hospitals running out of space this morning, the result of an alarming surge in new coronavirus cases in many states. For the first time, the United States reported over 3,100 coronavirus-related deaths in one day.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It's going to get worse. You know, our case counts are continuing to rise.

FIELD: More than 106,000 people are hospitalized with the disease, a record.

In California, there are only around 1,500 ICU beds available within the nation's most populous state. The Los Angeles County Health Department says there are around 500 new hospitalizations daily, and that will only increase.

BARBARA FERRER, LOS ANGELES COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR: This is the most dangerous time for L.A. County. And I do ask everyone to please be extremely careful and diligent in protecting yourself and everyone else.

FIELD: This as the U.S. recorded over 221,000 new infections Wednesday. Some state and local leaders tightening stay-at-home restrictions.

GOV. KAY IVEY (R-AL): The facts are indisputable. Our cases continue to rise.

MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT (D), BALTIMORE: COVID doesn't care how you want to go back to normal. It is actively looking to infect us all.

FIELD: In just hours, the first vaccine could clear a hurdle for distribution in the United States. An FDA panel is scheduled to meet today to discuss whether to recommend Pfizer's candidate for emergency use authorization. They're also investigating why two healthcare workers in the U.K. had allergic reactions to that vaccine.

DR. JAMES HILDRETH, FDA ADVISORY BOARD: Pfizer and the U.K. health officials are going to pinpoint exactly what it is in the vaccine formulation that caused that allergic reaction. This is not a major concern. They're going to sort out what it is and make sure that folks who are allergic to that thing do not get the vaccine.

FIELD: At this critical point of the crisis, health experts emphasizing it will take many months to make a vaccine available to the general public.

RICK BRIGHT, BIDEN COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: So we want to make sure that everyone is doing everything they can to wear their face mask and reduce the spread of the virus.

FIELD: And for those hesitant to take it, Dr. Anthony Fauci stressing there are no corners being cut in the approval process.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If the United States Food and Drug Administration says that a vaccine is safe and effective, I can promise you that I will take that vaccine myself; and I will recommend that my family does that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: This morning, we're at a site in New Jersey where they've actually already set up to be able to distribute the vaccine once it does become available to the general public.

But before that happens, health officials do have a herculean task in front of them, and that is convincing people that the vaccine is safe to take.

A recent Quinnipiac survey says that 61 percent of Americans are willing right now to take it. But Dr. Fauci says that we'll need 75 to 80 percent of the population to take it by the second quarter of 2021 in order to get back to that place that we call normal -- John.

[06:05:08]

BERMAN: Yes, it's a logistics operation, a public relations operation, a medical operation, all rolled up into one, here. Alexandra Field, thank you so much.

President-elect Biden's transition team will meet with officials from Operation Warp Speed. That's the group within the Trump administration overseeing the coronavirus vaccine.

CNN's Jessica Dean live in Wilmington, Delaware, with the latest on that. This is important today, Jessica.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It absolutely is, John. And good morning to you.

Yes, we know from transition officials they'll be meeting today and tomorrow. And the key issue here is the vaccine distribution plan.

You'll remember last Friday, President-elect Biden himself said so far, he has not seen a detailed vaccine distribution plan. He said there's a lot to be done, and he has not seen yet how they're going to get the vaccine from the bottle into people's arms.

Now, the chief scientist for Operation Warp Speed said over the weekend that there is a detailed plan. That they've thought it all through and that they're looking forward to briefing the team on that.

So the question today is, will they brief the Biden team on this detailed plan? And what does the Biden team think of the plan? Does it match up with what they want to do?

Remember, Biden has promised 100 million vaccines in the first 100 days. And to do that, they're going to need quite an elaborate plan and funding from Congress.

So they're going to want to look at this plan over the next couple of days and assess where it is.

All of this as we're also learning this morning that President-elect Joe Biden will be traveling next week to Atlanta, Georgia. He's going to go down south to campaign for John Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the run-off election there that's scheduled for January 5.

This is his first big trip outside of Delaware, really, since he's been president-elect, traveling to do any sort of campaign rallying or anything like that. So he will be traveling down to Atlanta on Tuesday.

And again, Alisyn, remember, we've been talking about it. The Senate hangs in the balance. And as much as Joe Biden knows, what he can get done, really falls with if the Democrats can get a slim majority there in the Senate. This runoff will determine that -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes, the stakes are very high. Jessica, thank you so much for that.

So the Texas attorney general will be at the White House today. That's the attorney general who is leading the charge to try to get the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate millions of valid legal votes in battleground states.

CNN's Joe Johns is live at the White House.

So what do we expect, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: So let's see. Fifty states, Alisyn, have now certified this election, along with the District of Columbia, but here at the White House, it's another assault on democracy and common sense.

The president seeking to throw his weight behind the latest effort to stop the electoral process in four states that were critical in Joe Biden's victory. That's Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The guy leading that effort is the Texas attorney general. His name is Ken Paxton. He's perhaps best known for being both under investigation and under indictment in that state.

Legal observers do not give this latest effort much of a chance, in part because it's one state telling several other states how to run their elections. Two, it comes so late in the process, after all the votes have already been cast.

Speaking of attorney general, 17 attorney generals from various states have thrown their weight behind this latest effort. There are going to be a number of attorney generals from the states here at the White House today for a luncheon, which we are told was previously scheduled. Ken Paxton is expected to be among them.

John, Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK. That will be interesting, Joe. Please keep us posted. Thank you very much.

So after the deadliest day of the pandemic, a coronavirus vaccine could be approved in the U.S. today. How quickly could Americans be immunized? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:09]

CAMEROTA: Breaking news, the deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic in America: 3,124 American deaths were reported yesterday. And a new record of nearly 107,000 Americans are in the hospital right now with coronavirus. In just a couple of hours, an FDA panel will meet to discuss emergency use authorization of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.

Joining us now to discuss all of this, we have Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean at at Emory University School of Medicine and a contributor to the NIH Moderna vaccine trial. Also with us, Dr. Onyema Ogbuagu-- hope I said that right. He's an infectious disease specialist and the principal investigator of the Pfizer vaccine trial at Yale University School of Medicine.

Great to have you both here. Dr. Del Rio, I'm going to start with you with the deadliest day. Are we now officially seeing the Thanksgiving spike that was predicted?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: As far as hospitalizations are, we're seeing the spike. As far as deaths, may be a little early. Usually deaths happen about, you know, about three weeks after you see a spike in cases, an increase in cases. So deaths trail about two to three weeks after cases go up.

I think deaths may actually continue to go up. And I'm really, really, you know, just fearing what's going to happen over the next several weeks. Hospitals are overwhelmed, people are tired, and quite frankly, people are dying.

BERMAN: That's really terrifying. Because as hospitalizations go up, there is every reason to believe that deaths will, too. And if we're at 3,000 deaths today, you get a sense of where we might be, come the middle of January or later.

And Dr. Ogbuagu, I talked to Dr. Fauci, Anthony Fauci the other day, and I was asking him, for all the good news about vaccines, which you've been deeply involved with, Dr. Fauci says, we're not going to see any effect on the mortality rate from these vaccines for months. You know, March, April, at the earliest. What do you see?

[06:15:08]

DR. ONYEMA OGBUAGU, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: Yes, that's totally accurate. You know, as you're aware, even with the approvals that I expected, hopefully this week, for the Pfizer vaccine and a week later for the Moderna vaccine, there still will be insufficient doses for the U.S. population.

And so, you know, the rollout, obviously, would include healthcare workers and residents of healthcare facilities. We barely have enough vaccines for those individuals.

And we also know that it does take a while after receiving the dose of vaccine to have protection, about 28 days after the first vaccine that you achieve the maximum efficacy of the vaccine.

So the rollout of the vaccine, it's a wide-scale availability to reap the benefits and delay in the development of the immunity against the virus means that we really would not start to reap benefits until much later in 2021.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Ogbuagu, one more question for you, because you are one of the principal investigators on the Pfizer trial. Is there any reason, anything that you saw happen in the U.K., any reason that today that emergency use authorization wouldn't happen, in your mind?

OGBUAGU: No. I think there's no reason to think that we wouldn't get a positive vote from -- from the committee that sits today. We know that Canada and the U.K. have already done so.

I know probably what you're alluding to would be the reports of the anaphylactic reactions that two individuals had in the U.K. Remember that these were individuals, actually, who had known histories of anaphylaxis. These were individuals who carried around EpiPens. People who usually carry that around are people who typically have reaction to a broad range of things.

So I do hope at some point we can figure out which components of the vaccine led to that, but I really am very optimistic that we'll have positive news after the meeting today.

BERMAN: Dr. Del Rio, the FDA panel is meeting today. We can put up on the screen so people can see the course of events that will take place over the next few days. That panel will meet. We expect that they will approve emergency use authorization for the vaccine.

And if you look at the days here, it means by Tuesday -- Alisyn tells me reliably, that December 15 is Tuesday.

CAMEROTA: I'm pretty sure.

BERMAN: The first shipments of vaccine will be delivered. And that means people will start getting shots. That is -- it is really quite an accomplishment, Dr. Del Rio.

DEL RIO: It is an amazing accomplishment. I mean, the fact that we went from finding a new virus, to sequencing a virus in January, to beginning to get shots into humans in March, to starting Phase 3 trials in July, to having an FDA give a use -- an emergency use authorization in December is just simply mind-boggling. And I think it makes -- it shows that research happened, and research was effective in getting us to a vaccine.

But I want to emphasize that the vaccine is not going to have immediate benefits. What Dr. Fauci was referring to is the Institute for Healthcare Metrics and Evaluation model that predicts about 600,000 Americans dead by April 1. And says that if we use -- 95 percent of Americans use masks, we will save 66,000 lives. But the rollout of the vaccine by April 1 will only save 11,000 mask [SIC] -- lives.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Del Rio, one more question about the speed with which this has happened. Because it is a proud moment. It could be a proud moment for the United States, that we've been able to do this so quickly.

But -- but I read that your point is, it's because of all the research that had been done for years prior to this on other vaccines and coronaviruses and all of the infrastructure that exists sort of in the science community.

You know, for people who think like, well, it was just rushed in these eight months, not true. I mean, it's all -- we're standing on the shoulders of all of the scientists who had already done all of this work.

DEL RIO: That's absolutely correct. The work leading to the mRNA technology and the adrenal spectra (ph) technology is basic research that had been going on for years to get us to this point.

The clinical science infrastructure, the research infrastructure of both the HIV clinical trials network and all the other networks that the NIH basically said, you need to stop what you're doing and just, you know, pivot to do vaccine research, all those things allowed us to get us to where we are right now.

I would say without the investments in research that this country has done for years, we would be nowhere close to where we are right now.

BERMAN: Look, and as hopeful as that is, and as much of a reason as that is to rejoice, we are where we are today, with record deaths and record hospitalizations.

And Dr. Ogbuagu, I want to talk about the hospitalizations right now and the strain being put on the hospital system around the country. What are the pressures that medical workers are facing? What are the pressures facing logisticians in these states?

OGBUAGU: Yes, so you know, frankly, you know, as the number of hospitalizations have continued sustained at very high levels recently, as it has been stated, in many jurisdictions, healthcare workers are fatigued with sustaining level of care for many, many months now.

[06:20:08]

And, you know, we're starting to hear of even shortages of sufficient healthcare workers in many states to meet the healthcare needs following the increase in hospitalizations.

So -- and unfortunately, I think there's really no good news for the future, because those numbers are expected to remain high over a period of time. So it's all, you know, a very concerning, the current state of affairs.

CAMEROTA: Dr. Ogbuagu, Dr. Del Rio, thank you very much both very much. We appreciate all of your expertise.

So as the death toll from the pandemic soars, President Trump continues to pursue the baseless legal battles to overturn the election. That's what he's most focused on. How are Republicans responding this morning? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:04]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, President Trump will have lunch today with several state attorneys general at the White House as he tries to overturn the results of the election he lost.

The president asked to join a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who by the way, is under federal investigation. That suit is asking the Supreme Court to invalidate millions of votes in four battleground states.

Now, these attorneys general from 17 other states have now come out in support of that Texas lawsuit.

Joining us now, CNN political commentator Errol Louis and Anna Palmer. She's a senior Washington correspondent for "Politico."

And Errol, this lawsuit filed by Ken Paxton, who is under federal investigation, might he be seeking a pardon? I don't know. That and aside, going to the Supreme Court, trying to overturn the election. The president doing it in public right now, with this lawsuit, which honestly -- and you will hear from many lawyers over the next several hours -- it's absurd. This is absurd. But that is where we are this morning. And I will also note, that is

where people like Mitch McConnell have let us get to this morning. Your thoughts?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right. I read through the -- the filing. It is extraordinary. Absurd is a pretty good word to use.

This is the president desperately trying to get into the Supreme Court. And they have kind of ginned up this notion that the state of Texas and 17 other non-involved states can invalidate millions of votes that have already been cast in four critical states.

And the pleading just lays it all out there and says that the entire point of the litigation and the remedy that they're seeking from the Supreme Court is to have the votes tossed out only in those four states, in order to deprive either candidate, Joe Biden or Donald Trump, of the 270 electoral votes that are necessary to declare victory. And then have it thrown to the House of Representatives.

It's exactly what was suspected. It's exactly what was reported. It's purely political. There's no legal basis, really, for any of it. And the filing itself is riddled with some embarrassing political falsehoods.

And this is -- this is where we are. This is the last ditch of the last ditch. This is the last five yards of the "hail Mary" pass. The ball is about to hit the ground, and then it will all be over.

CAMEROTA: From your lips to the lawmakers' ears, Errol.

Anna, it's hard to understand the logic of any of it, other than to gum up the works, and just slow-roll this whole thing, but Senator Ted Cruz has agreed to argue this case in front of the Supreme Court and for -- as to why he would do that, perhaps if we look back to 2016 and something he said about Donald Trump, perhaps it gives us a window into why he would want to take this on. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I'll tell you what I really think of Donald Trump. This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.

The man cannot tell the truth, but he combines it with being a narcissist. A narcissist at a level I don't think this country has ever seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Ted Cruz for the defense.

CAMEROTA: Yes -- that -- what could go wrong with that kind of defense for the president, Anna? ANNA PALMER, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "POLITICO": I mean, I

think what you see there is the kind of political gymnastics that a lot of Republicans have done over the last four years who were opposed to Donald Trump, very briskly, as you point out in that comment, by Senator Ted Cruz, who's now really become one of the president's top allies and defenders. We've seen that with Senator Lindsey Graham, as well.

I think the question is really going to be, to your point, when does, you know, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and some of these other, you know, federal leaders in the Republican Party say enough is enough? So far, they have refused to do that. I think that is a lot to do with fear of Donald Trump's base. The fact that this Senate Georgia runoff is happening.

But it's clear that this is just a last-ditch attempt by Donald Trump to stop what is going to be a Joe Biden administration and try to potentially hamper, you know, the next administration to try to get if job done and move forward, where everybody else in America has moved on from this election.

BERMAN: I want to read you a smattering of the beginnings of Republican pushback on this notion, some from familiar characters, others from others.

I mean, this is from the Utah governor and the governor-elect. The state attorney general joined the lawsuit, but the governor and governor-elect don't like it one bit. They write, "Just as we would not like other states challenging Utah's election results, we do not think we should intervene in other states' elections. This is an unwise use of taxpayer money."

John Cornyn, senator from Texas, says, "I frankly struggle to understand the legal theory of it." That's because there is none. "No. 1, why would a state, even such a great state such as Texas, have a say-so on how other states administer the elections?" he says.

Then there's Mitt Romney who says it all a little bit more succinctly: "It's just simply madness. This effort to subvert the vote of the people is dangerous and destructive of the cause of democracy."