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First Vaccine Brings Americans Hope; Snow Storm Takes Aim at Northeast; Russians Exposed Targeted Navalny; Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 15, 2020 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Science it's a miracle. However, now what? Now what are you looking for now that people have started receiving these vaccines?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, you know, as soon as I saw that, I thought of a story my friend and colleague Paul Offutt (ph) fold me once, and I -- I know you've -- you've spoken to him multiple times as well. And we were both very committed to mentoring a Maurice Hillman (ph), who -- who was at Merck and Company, probably made more vaccines than any other person on the planet, and he used to say that he never really fully rested until around 2 million, 3 million people were vaccinated. So as large as those phase three clinical trials are, 44,000 people in the case of the Pfizer vaccine, if there's going to be a rare safety event, that's when you'll know it after 2 million, 3 million people get vaccinated.

And so -- and we'll know that pretty soon because we'll have that over the next few weeks. So I think that's going to be a really important milestone as well.

So, you know, John, if you remember Red Auerbach, Red Auerbach would never light up his cigar at the Boston Garden until he knew he had the game in hand. And so that's what I'm waiting to light up the cigar.

BERMAN: Let's hope that this vaccine is successful as Auerbach's Celtics were because 16 championships, you know, I'd take that in terms of the vaccine, Dr. Hotez.

HOTEZ: Absolutely. Absolutely.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about where we are with vaccine hesitancy, because I think these numbers are going to change. Right now there are some demographics that are quite reluctant to take the vaccine. Kaiser has a new poll out and I'll show you whose most reluctant. Forty-nine percent of Republicans say they would probably or definitely not get it. That seems really high. And then in terms of age, people who are aged 30 to 49, 36 percent of them say probably or definitely not get it. Rural residents, 35 percent. Black adults, 35 percent.

But, you know, these are early days, Dr. Hotez. I mean am I -- am I wrong? With each day, with each passing day that we see video of more Americans getting it successfully, of not having an allergic reaction, won't those numbers go down?

HOTEZ: Yes, they're actually going to go down, then up, then down again and up again. They're -- this is going to reflect a lot, the 24- hour news cycle. So if you hear about an allergic event, you know, there's -- with -- with the heavy media attention and we have a very aggressive anti-vaccine movement that likes to exploit any issue that arises with a vaccine, that -- those numbers, those polling numbers would probably vary quite a bit on -- on a particular day. So I think that's one thing to keep in mind.

Second, that it was a really concerning number. I saw that from the Kaiser survey around Republicans. Round 40 -- 40 to 50 percent say they're not going to take it. And one of the reasons, Alisyn, is because they -- they have the belief that COVID-19 is exaggerated, or that it's a hoax. And where did that come from? That came right out of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, out of Scott Atlas, who consistently downplayed the severity of the epidemic, contributed COVID-19 deaths to other causes, the fake herd immunity, the masks. This is part of the White House disinformation campaign that led to the deaths of so many Americans, and that's reflected in that poll. And, hopefully -- hopefully that will go away.

And then among the African-American community, where the -- the level of vaccine hesitancy is high, it's for a different reason. It's because they're worried about side effects and -- and also, you know, we've got this terrible legacy of medical research with the African- American community and the Tuskegee experiment. Another piece to this, the anti-vaccine lobby has specifically targeted African-American populations. They hold rallies. They organize rallies in Harlem and at the end of 2019 beginning of 2020. So we've got to counter the anti- vaccine movement.

So this is not going to be a smooth road. We're going to -- there's going to be lots of bumps and we're going to need an unprecedented level of communication, which isn't right -- isn't there right now. And Operation Warp Speed has done a wonderful job in terms of, you know, scientific rigor and integrity of the clinical trials, but they never put up a communication strategy. They had -- that's left a big vacuum.

CAMEROTA: OK. Dr. Hotez, thank you for all that information. And we look forward to seeing pictures and video of you being vaccinated later today.

HOTEZ: Thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: OK, now to some weather news. And this one sounds important, John. Listen up.

BERMAN: It's only important because it's going to fall on you.

CAMEROTA: Exactly. The biggest snowstorm in years, John, could dump more than a foot of snow on me.

BERMAN: On you.

CAMEROTA: Chad Myers is tracking it for me, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:29]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, new details about the most significant hack of the U.S. government in years. CNN has learned the attackers not only hit the Agriculture and Commerce Department, they also penetrated the Department of Homeland Security's cyber arm, which helps safeguard the nation from malicious foreign actors.

This morning, "The Washington Post" reports the State Department and the National Institutes of Health were also breached. U.S. officials believe that a Russia-linked entity or Russian individuals are responsible for the attacks that had been running since the spring.

CAMEROTA: OK, now to some weather news. The biggest snowstorm in years is taking aim at me and the rest of the Northeast. More than 45 million Americans and I are waking up to a winter storm watches, more than a foot of snow is expected.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has my, I mean our -- our forecast.

BERMAN: Fantastic.

CAMEROTA: Chad, what's happening? John and I need to know.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The good news is we're only going to see about 12 hours of snow. The bad news is, some spots in those 12 hours will get 12 to 18 inches of snowfall. That's an inch or two per hour.

Now, I do believe that it probably starts around dark for New York City, but it starts earlier than that for Philadelphia. Winter storm watches and warnings all the way up and down the East Coast. And as you said, 45 million people are in the way of this system.

So let's get right to the graphics here. We'll show you what's going on.

This storm right now is still over Amarillo. We're still looking at a storm system that has a long way to go. I mean, honestly, another 1,000 miles to actually get up to the Northeast.

[06:40:03]

So it's going to developing in the Plains. It's going to gathers moisture. It's going to build another lower pressure system off the East Coast. A true nor'easter setting up here. And then, here, somewhere in the ballpark of midnight the heaviest snow gets to New York City. The heaviest snow in Boston around 3:00 a.m. Thursday morning. But by the time it starts to snow, tomorrow afternoon, and it will stops by Thursday, 7:00 a.m., just flurries by 7:00 a.m., this storm will put down a foot of snow in some spots. Now, this is going to be a tough storm. No question about it, this is

going to be a storm where Gloucester Township, New Jersey, just across the river from Philadelphia, gets two inches of rain-snow muck. And then if you get back out toward Bucks County, or to the west of Philadelphia, that's where the snow will be the entire time. Twelve inches of snow there.

A little bit farther to the south, into D.C., it's rain-snow mix. But Rockville, Gaithersburg, you're going to get the foot of snow. So that I-95 is the cutoff again. And isn't it always that way where we see the cutoff along I-95.

Boston, you're going to probably see eight to 12 inches of snow before it's done. The biggest bang for your buck is going to be Poconos, Lehigh Valley, all the way up into the Catskills. That's where the heaviest snow will fall. That's where the purple area is, all the way back towards State College and likely there.

The reason why it's not going to fall that much along the coast is because the temperature will be 33. Now, it's going to be 33 and snow, but it's going to be 33 and not sticking at much. So the problem is that you're going to go home tomorrow night, somewhere between maybe 4:00 or 5:00, and by the time you look outside your window in New York City tomorrow afternoon, your -- and even -- even I would say midnight, you're going to see almost a foot of snow. It's going to come down very hard and very quick, but then it's going to be gone. So the issue is, what can you do, where do you want to be Wednesday night, because you could be stuck there all day Thursday.

Guys.

CAMEROTA: Very helpful, Chad. That tells us what we are going to do.

BERMAN: Sleep in the office!

CAMEROTA: Yes. For the next 48 hours. Very helpful.

BERMAN: Good thing I got (INAUDIBLE) in the office fridge.

CAMEROTA: That's right.

BERMAN: So, as they say.

CAMEROTA: Well, that will sustain us.

BERMAN: All right, Chad, thank you very much.

So we have a CNN exclusive investigation into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. CNN's Clarissa Ward confronts one of the agents at the heart of the operation and she speaks exclusively to Navalny in a secret location in Germany.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:28]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, an investigation by the investigative group Bellingcat and CNN has uncovered evidence that Russia's security service, the FSB, formed and elite team specializing in nerve agents that trailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny for years. Navalny, you'll remember, was poisoned with the toxin Novichok in August and nearly died.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, and her team, have been working this story for months and have spoken with Navalny himself as he continues his recovery in Germany.

And Clarissa Ward joins us live now from Moscow with this incredible story.

This is an incredible exclusive that you have, Clarissa, so tell us how this came to pass.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you so much, Alisyn.

You know, there's been a team of us working very hard on this for quite some time, poring over cell phone records, travel, flight manifests, trying to learn more about this elite team of secret operatives who were following Navalny's every move.

It's no secret that Navalny would be followed, Alisyn. He's a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin. He's the leading opposition here in Russia. But what is so shocking about this is that this team of experts had access to poisons and the expertise to know how to use them.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice over): August 20th, on a flight to Moscow, a passenger captures the awful wails of Alexey Navalny, the Russian opposition leader has suddenly fallen ill and he knows exactly why.

ALEXEY NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I get out of this bathroom, shown (ph) over to the flight attendant and said, I was poisoned, I'm going to die. And then -- then I laid down under his feet and to -- to die.

WARD (on camera): You knew in that moment that you'd been poisoned.

NAVALNY: Yes. Yes.

WARD (voice over): Quick thinking from the pilot saves his life. Instead of flying on to Moscow, still three hours away, the plane diverts to Omsk. Two days later, Navalny is flow to Berlin, where the German government announces he has been poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok.

Now an exclusive investigation can reveal a top secret mission tracking Navalny, involving experts in chemical weapons who work for the FSB, the Russian successor to the Soviet KGB.

This non-descript building on the outskirts of Moscow was the headquarters of the operation.

WARD (on camera): We're staying in the car because we don't want to attract any attention, but this compound is part of the institute of criminalistics of the FSB, Russia's security service. And beyond that fence, an elite team of operatives has been tracking Navalny's every move for more than three years.

WARD (voice over): CNN has examined hundreds of pages of phone records and flight manifests that reveal the backgrounds, communications, and travel of the group. The documents were obtained by online investigative outlet Bellingcat, which two years ago identified the Russian military intelligence agents allegedly sent to England to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

The FSB toxins team was activated in 2017, just days after Navalny announced he would run for president in the election the next year. The team's leader, Stanislas Makshakov, an expert in chemical weapons. Several of the team are doctors, but they weren't recruited to save lives.

WARD (on camera): I just wanted to show you some photographs here, and ask you if you -- if you recognize -- if you've ever seen any of the men in those photographs.

NAVALNY: No.

WARD: You don't recognize them?

NAVALNY: I don't recognize any of them.

WARD: Would it surprise you to learn that some of these men went on more than 30 trips with you over the course of three years.

NAVALNY: This is absolutely terrifying. I don't know if terrifying is a good word.

WARD: I think it's a pretty good word.

NAVALNY: Yes, but the -- well, I understand how system work in Russia. I understand that the -- that Putin hates me. And I understand that these people who are sitting in the Kremlin, they are ready to kill.

WARD: Is it your contention that Vladimir Putin must have been aware of this?

NAVALNY: Of course. One hundred percent. It could have not been happened without direct order of Putin, because it's -- well, it's big scale.

WARD (voice over): In the weeks before he was poisoned, Navalny and his wife, Yulia, took a short vacation to a resort in Kaliningrad. Our investigation has uncovered that the FSB team followed. According to Bellingcat, the security cameras inside the hotel were mysteriously turned off while they were there.

Navalny says Yulia felt uncomfortable. She took videos and photos of men she believed were following them. This man I also don't recognize, she says. Hours after the FSB's toxin team left Kaliningrad, Yulia suddenly felt sick.

NAVALNY: She said, well, I feel really, really bad. Do we need ambulance? No. Do we have time (ph)? Is it heart? No. Is it stomach? No. Is it head? No. Could you describe it? No. And then we approach restaurant and she said, well, I feel like worse in my life. I never felt it before, but, unfortunately -- and, of course, I couldn't connect these dots. Now I -- now I realize how bad she was.

WARD: Yulia recovered, but the FSB unit was apparently not done with the Navalny's.

WARD (on camera): In the days after Kaliningrad, cell phone data shows that several senior FSB officials were in regular contact with a lab in this compound. It's called The Signal Institute and CNN and Bellingcat have established that it has been involved with researching and developing Novichok.

WARD (voice over): In mid-August, Navalny and his team travelled to Siberia. At least five members of the FSB unit make the same journey on different flights. In Tomsk, Navalny and his colleagues stay at the Xander Hotel.

We traveled to the Siberian city to retrace his steps on the night he was poisoned.

WARD (on camera): So this is the room that Alexey Navalny was staying in, and it looks like my room here is right next door.

WARD (voice over): According to Navalny, he went to bed at around midnight after drinking a cocktail with his team. The FSB's toxins unit was not far away.

WARD (on camera): Using a ping from a cell phone, we've been able to place one of the FSB operatives in this area, just blocks from the Xander Hotel on the night of August 19th, the night that the nerve agent Novichok made its way into room 239.

WARD (voice over): Navalny left the hotel early the next morning. He boarded the Moscow flight feeling fine. Three hours later, he was close to death.

Back in Tomsk, Navalny's team frantically collect any evidence they can from his hotel room, including water and shampoo bottles, a toothbrush and a towel. As they did, there was a surge in communications among the FSB unit and their bosses. If it was expected that Navalny would die on the flight, they were now scrambling to deal with a very different situation.

After much back and forth, Russian authorities allow Navalny to be transported to Berlin. What they don't know is that the items recovered from his Tomsk hotel room were also on board. Some later tested positive for Novichok.

Back in Moscow, we went in search of the FSB's toxin team.

WARD (on camera): So we're here now at the home of one of the FSB team and we're going to go see if he has anything to say to us.

WARD (voice over): We enter a rundown apartment building on the outskirts of Moscow, where operatives Oleg Tayakin lives.

[06:55:05]

WARD (on camera): (speaking in foreign language). My name's Clarissa Ward. I work for CNN. Can I ask you a couple of questions? (speaking in foreign language). Was it your team that poisoned Navalny, please?

Do you have any comment?

He doesn't seem to want to talk to us.

WARD (voice over): Toxicologists tell CNN that Navalny is incredibly lucky to be alive and that the intention was undoubtedly to kill him.

WARD (on camera): So you've said that you want to go back to Russia.

NAVALNY: And I will do.

WARD: You're aware of the risks of going back?

NAVALNY: Yes, but I'm Russian politician. And even when I was not just in hospital, I was in intense therapy (ph) and I said publicly I will go back and I will go back because I'm Russian politician and I belong to this country. And -- and. Definitely, which I -- I -- especially now when these actual crime is cracked open, revealed. I understand the whole operation. I would never give Putin such a gift.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, Clarissa, what a report, what an investigation that helps connect the dots on every level. And so what's the reaction from Russian authorities?

WARD: Well, Alisyn, I have to say, it's stunning silence. It's been nearly 24 hours now since the first digital write of this investigation came out. We usually hear on a daily basis from Dmitry Peskov, he is one of the -- the most prominent spokesperson for President Vladimir Putin. He abruptly announced today that the phone call that he holds daily with journalists is canceled today and tomorrow, allegedly because of President Putin's (INAUDIBLE) to hear some kind of response in nine days, if you can believe that.

We also reached out to members of the team. Nothing.

And Russian media has basically ignored this story, which considering the magnitude of this is just extraordinary.

BERMAN: Yes, it feels like very deliberate silence, Clarissa. So what does Navalny want to see from the U.S. now?

WARD: So this is interesting. You know, the E.U., the European Union, and the U.K., they have been very clear about this. They've called it an assassination attempt. They have levied sanctions against the leadership of the FSB and also individuals in the Kremlin. And the U.S., under President Donald Trump, has basically done nothing. And so Navalny told me essentially what he wants to see if for the U.S. to come out on the right side of history here, to take a strong stand against the use of chemical weapons. He would also like to see, he says, sanctions, not just against individuals in positions of power, but also against some of the wealthy elites around Putin who allow for the flow of money in and out of here.

CAMEROTA: Clarissa, it seems obvious that the goal here was to kill Navalny, but how do toxicologists confirm that?

WARD: So this is interesting and this is something our team has spent weeks talking to so many different chemists and toxicologists and experts. And, essentially, Alisyn, you can't dose Novichok outside of a laboratory. So you could never try to guarantee that you would give just enough to incapacitate without killing. If you're using Novichok, quite simply, outside of a laboratory, the only possible intention is to kill. And it is important as well for our viewers to remember how close it came to killing him. If that plane had not been diverted to Omsk, if those medics on the tarmac had not had lifesaving atropine, Alexey Navalny would not be alive.

BERMAN: Clarissa, I have to say, I can't believe you were able to piece together what you did. And during that whole report, I couldn't believe I was seeing you where you were. That is some remarkable journalism. Congratulations to you and the entire team that put this together.

WARD: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, Clarissa.

All right, NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Electoral College voting and confirming Joe Biden as the next president of the United States.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT FOR THE UNITED STATES: Now it's time to turn the page as we've done throughout our history, to unite, to heal.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a process that President Trump has tried to subvert every step of the way.

SARA SANDERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ICU nurse Sandra Lindsay (ph) is one of the first people in the United States to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

SANDRA LINDSAY, ICU NURSE: I wanted to do it to inspire people who may be skeptical. [07:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the darkest days in this pandemic, we finally have a ray of hope towards the way out of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota.