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Congress Passes $900 Billion Economic Relief Package; BioNTech CEO: Confident Vaccine Will Work Against U.K. Variant; Biden to Nominate Miguel Cardona as Education Secretary; Pentagon Anxiety Rising Over What Trump Will Do Next. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 22, 2020 - 06:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Concerns are growing about a new variant of COVID-19 in the U.K. It reportedly spreads faster than others.

[05:59:45]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does mean that we have to work a little bit harder about preventing the spread.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The crisis throwing travel and trade into a nightmare, before Christmas.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After months of partisan haggling, stalemate, gridlock, finally, the two sides have come together.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The final stage here is to get it on President Donald Trump's desk. That is the final signature.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): All indications are that Donald Trump has decided to walk away from his day job of running the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are other things that he should be doing, and instead, he is entertaining conspiracy theories.

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ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, December 22, 6 a.m. here in New York. Alisyn is off. Erica Hill with us again this morning.

Nice to see you.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, my friend.

BERMAN: We had three mornings in a row. This is fantastic.

HILL: I may come back tomorrow --

BERMAN: Fantastic.

HILL: -- depending on how you behave.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight. Better late than never. Four months late. Congress finally passed a $900 billion emergency-relief bill. President Trump is expected to sign it within days. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says stimulus checks to millions of Americans could start being sent out by next week. We have all the details you need to know about this, coming up.

Also, breaking moments ago. The CEO of BioNTech says he is confident that Pfizer's vaccine will protect against the new coronavirus variant. This comes as the White House is discussing requiring travels -- travelers from the United Kingdom to present proof of a negative coronavirus test before arriving in the United States.

This morning, hospitals around the U.S. simply overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. More than 115,000 now hospitalized. That's a record high.

HILL: We also have new reporting this morning about growing anxiety at the Pentagon. That anxiety is about just what President Trump will do with his remaining 29 days in office.

We know one thing he is actively doing, and that is still wishing to overturn the election.

Attorney Sidney Powell, who was, you may recall, dumped from Trump's legal team after pushing conspiracy theories, back at the White House again on Monday. This is the third time in four days.

The president's own advisers telling CNN his obsession with overturning the election is, quote, "scary."

It's not just these fringe characters, though, encouraging Trump's delusions. A group of House conservatives met privately with President Trump and Vice President Pence on Monday to strategize about their long-shot bid to overturn the results of the election.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, who's on Capitol Hill this morning with the breaking details about this stimulus bill.

Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.

It was another late night. It was just before midnight that the Senate followed the House in passing the COVID relief package. What the president signed just before 1 a.m. in the morning was a five-day extension to keep the government running until December 28 so the paperwork can go through but the White House assuring that he will sign this COVID deal.

It was a one-two punch. It included $1.4 trillion spending package to keep the government going through September of next year. And also, $900 billion in aid.

And here's how it breaks down. We are taking a look at $600 in direct payments to those who make less than $75,000. Individuals, as well as their children. Three hundred dollars a week, an increase, a boost in unemployment benefits.

Two hundred eighty-four billion for emergency small business loans. Twenty billion for purchasing vaccinations. Eight billion for distributing them.

And a one-month extension for those who were really in threat of being evicted from their homes. That extends it to about the end of January.

Big question, of course, is when are people going to see the direct aid that they need, those checks? Well, we have talked to Secretary Steven Mnuchin who says, in fact, it is not going to be two days or two months, like the last go around, but a lot faster.

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STEVEN MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY (via phone): I expect we'll get the money out by the beginning of next week: $2,400 for a family of four. So, much-needed relief and just in time for the holidays.

This is now much more targeted. I expect it's needed in -- in a short period of time. And I think this will take us through the recovery.

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MALVEAUX: So, while he believes it will take us through the recovery, there are many Democrats who say this is just the beginning and that they're going to ask for more money. And hopefully, it'll be received well under a Biden administration.

But, Erica, just to emphasize here, this took months and months of deadlock, of division, and finally, a breakthrough for the American people.

HILL: Yes. Finally, indeed. Suzanne, thank you.

Also, breaking overnight, the CEO behind Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine says he's confident it will work against this new variant spreading across the United Kingdom and already in a few other countries, as we know.

So, this comes, as sources tell CNN the White House is considering requiring travelers from the U.K. to present proof of a negative coronavirus test, before arriving in the United States.

CNN's Alexandra Field joins us now from outside a hospital in New Jersey, where more vaccinations will begin this morning. Good morning.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.

And there is some good news this morning. You did point out that the Pfizer CEO -- rather, the BioNTech CEO is confident that that Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will be effective against the new variant. He does note that it's effective against other mutations of coronavirus.

[06:05:07]

However, he's also saying that the new variant may require countries to vaccinate more of the population than they had planned in order to achieve much-needed herd immunity.

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FIELD (voice-over): A new coronavirus variant in the United Kingdom is causing fresh concern this morning as millions of Americans continue to travel for the holidays, ignoring warnings from health officials.

Many countries are already suspending flights from the U.K., but the United States has not.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Given the travel throughout the world, I would not be surprised if it's already here.

I think we should seriously consider the possibility of requiring testing of people before they come from the U.K., here. But I don't think that there's enough evidence right now to essentially lock down any travel from the U.K.

FIELD: Some state leaders taking action. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, working with British Airways, Delta and Virgin Atlantic. Their passengers will now need a negative coronavirus test, before boarding flights from the U.K. to New York.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I acted proactively, frankly, for New York. We've learned this lesson before, and that's what's frustrating.

FIELD: U.K. officials say this variant is behind the new wave of cases in parts of England and may be more transmissible. But there's no evidence it causes more severe illness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like having gold (ph). I mean, I'm serious.

FIELD: This as a new vaccine for Moderna begins injecting some hope into a relentless crisis.

ARLENE RAMIREZ, DIRECTOR OF PATIENT CARE, EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, NORTHWELL HEALTH LIJ-VALLEY STREAM: This vaccine is hope. It's hope that we will cease this pandemic. It's hope that we will live a better life.

FIELD: More than 614,000 vaccine doses have been administered across the United States so far. And Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar will join that list today.

ALEX AZAR, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: I look forward to receiving this vaccine myself in the coming days as part of our efforts to demonstrate to Americans that these vaccines are safe and incredibly effective at preventing COVID-19.

FIELD: But it may be many more months before most Americans can get vaccinated.

And in the meantime, a reminder of the realities of the pandemic, with cases climbing and coronavirus-related hospitalizations reaching a record high. Health experts say staying home is the safest option this holiday season.

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, MEMBER, BIDEN COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD: It's not just about travel bans with the U.K. It is travel within the U.S. that could be very dangerous. And if there's any time for Americans to be cancelling their Christmas plans, it is now.

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FIELD: That message to stay home is so much about protecting our frontline workers, who are putting it all on the line. Those frontline workers getting a boost right here in southern New Jersey. Later this morning, Jefferson Health will begin their vaccinations with the Moderna vaccine. About 30 employees expected to get the shot this morning.

We should see about 4,000 shipments of both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines arriving at sites across the country between yesterday and today. A much-needed shot of hope, as we keep saying -- John.

BERMAN: Yes. The way I look at it, every time we see someone getting a shot, it's a small victory. We just need several hundred million more of these victories over the next few months.

FIELD: Indeed.

BERMAN: Alexandra Field, thanks so much.

New this morning sources tell CNN that President-elect Biden is poised to nominate Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona to be secretary of education.

CNN's Jessica Dean live in Wilmington, Delaware. Not many slots left to fill, Jessica.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We're getting ever closer to a full slate of cabinet nominees, John. And we're learning more this morning about Miguel Cardona, President-elect Biden's pick to be his secretary of education.

One thing we know is Cardona is a leading proponent of getting kids back in school. And that has been one of Biden's top priorities. He said it is one of his top priorities, as he goes into office. He wants as many schools open in the first 100 days of his administration as possible. So he's hoping Cardona can certainly help him out there.

He also, Biden made the promise on the campaign trail, whomever ran his education department would be a teacher, and Cardona certainly checks that box. He's a former elementary-school teacher and principal. He's also endorsed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. So another high-profile Latino, if confirmed, in Biden's cabinet.

Now, you mentioned we're getting close to having a full slate of nominees. Biden had hoped to have that completed by Christmas, but we're told now that the completion of the cabinet nominees is going to slide till after the holidays.

He has five left. Most notably, attorney general, who's going to run his Department of Justice. So we await his decision on those key remaining nominees that he will be announcing after the holiday.

We do expect to see him later today to give remarks in what's being described as year-end holiday remarks. It's also possible he takes questions. He hasn't done that in a little bit. So we may see that later today.

[06:10:04]

And, of course, Erica, he got the vaccine yesterday, his first round of the Pfizer vaccine. He's told Americans there's nothing to worry about, encouraged them to get it. Thanked scientists. Thanked the healthcare workers. And also gave the Trump administration some credit for Operation Warp Speed.

Erica, he should be fully inoculated by the time he enters office on January 20.

HILL: Jessica Dean with the latest for us this morning. Jessica, thank you.

Also developing this morning, new reporting about the growing anxiety at the Pentagon over what President Trump will do in his final days in office. This, as some conservative members of Congress are laying out their long-shot plan to help him overturn the election.

CNN's Joe Johns is live at the White House this morning with those new for us. Joe, good morning.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Erica.

President Trump continues the pattern that he's been on for the last several weeks: essentially, not focused on the pandemic, not focused on the economy, not focused on the cyberattacks that have rocked federal agencies in this city. Instead, on the futile attempt to try to overturn the election that he lost by millions of votes.

CNN has been told that the president, along with Vice President Pence, met here at the White House with Congressman Mo Brooks, a Republican from Alabama, along with several Republican members of Congress, who apparently, are trying to overturn the election, seeking to mount a challenge to the electoral votes that are going to be tallied up on Capitol Hill on January 6.

The problem with that, though, is that it also has to go through the Senate, and it's not going to pass the Senate. CNN's Manu Raju spoke with Congressman John Thune, the Republican majority whip. He said this: "I think the thing they've got to remember is it's not going anywhere. In the Senate, it would go down like a shot dog. I just don't think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to be."

It's also worth noting that the president is now going after the Senate majority leadership, including Senator Mitch McConnell. The White House sent around a slide, essentially talking about taking credit for the rise in poll numbers of Senator McConnell in the 2020 election.

Back to you.

BERMAN: Never a dull moment. Joe Johns, thank you, my friend.

Dr. Fauci says he would not be surprised if the new coronavirus variant was already in the United States. So just what should the CB -- CDC be doing, right now, to prepare? That's next.

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[06:15:21]

BERMAN: Breaking overnight. The head of the pharmaceutical company BioNTech, which is working with Pfizer on the coronavirus vaccine, says he is confident that its vaccine will protect against the new coronavirus variant.

However, he cautions that, if this variant spreads faster, which people fear that it might be doing, more people may need to get vaccinated before life can return to normal.

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UGUR SAHIN, BIONTECH CEO: The topic of herd immunity. There are all this discussion about 60 to 70 percent. But -- but if the virus becomes more efficient in infecting people, we might need even a higher vaccination rate to ensure -- ensure that -- that normal life -- normal life can continue, without interruption.

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BERMAN: Joining us now, Dr. Peter Hotez. He is the Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital.

Dr. Hotez, thanks for being with us.

What does the CDC need to be doing now to prepare or to make arrangements for dealing with this new-ish variant of coronavirus?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, thanks, John. Good morning.

It's an important question. You know, the way the U.K. scientists found out about this, they have a surveillance project, where they're identifying and isolating virus strains all over the country and actually doing sequencing. So, it's a genomic-surveillance project; and that's how they picked it up and showed that about 50 percent of the variants in southeastern England are new this B.1.17.

The U.S. put in a similar program in July. It's called SPHERES. It's an acronym. It's a pretty complicated acronym. I think it's SARS COVI- 2 Public Health Emergency Response and Epidemiologic Surveillance Program. So we should know this. We should know by now, in the major, metropolitan areas of the U.S., what the frequency of this new variant is in our major areas in the U.S., No. 1.

No. 2, we should have it modeled of how quickly this is going to out- compete the other virus strains.

And No. 3, there should be epidemiologic models to look at the impact of travel restrictions. It's -- the -- the point is this is not an opinion. This is an evidence-based decision.

So I'm -- I'm a little puzzled, why we haven't heard from the CDC director by now. He should be -- Dr. Redfield should be holding a press conference, providing the American people with all that information. It's not a -- it's not a feeling. It's not an opinion. One -- one person says this. Another says this. This is a clear-cut, evidence-based decision. So, hopefully, by close of business today, we'll hear from the CDC director.

HILL: Admiral Giroir yesterday told John that, really, they're going to rely on the data and the science here. But he talked about that genome sequencing and the fact that it's done on a very small number of tests in this country on a daily basis.

Is it your understanding that it's being done on enough tests to have a really clear idea of, if this variant is here, just how widespread it is?

HOTEZ: Well, I hope it is. It's, you know, set up to be a robust program. I mean, this is why it was -- it was put in place with, you know, with lots of press releases and fanfare over the summer. So that -- that would be my expectation.

This is, you know, this is why we pay $11 billion a year in taxes to the CDC, just for this -- these types of moments.

BERMAN: So the governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, is instituting a 14-day quarantine for people coming from the United Kingdom. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York is asking the airlines -- and most of them have agreed -- to require a negative test for people coming from the U.K. And the White House is said to be requiring proof of a negative test for people coming from the United Kingdom.

What's your feeling on what measures are appropriate this morning?

HOTEZ: You know what, John? I don't want to hear about this from the governor of Washington. I don't want to hear about this from the governor of New York. I don't want to hear about this from the White House. I want -- I want to hear about this -- recommendations should be coming directly from the Centers for Disease Control, who should be providing advice and even directives on how to manage our public health response.

This is the problem. It's been no adult -- no adult supervision all year. It's been a free-for-all with governors making their own decisions who don't have the knowledge base or the decision-making tools available to the to make good, evidence-based decisions. And this is why we have this catastrophe all over the country of 300,000 Americans who've lost their lives.

I'm sorry, I'm sick of it. I -- I want to hear some guidance and leadership coming out of the CDC.

[06:20:05]

And by the way, you should also ask the same questions to Dr. Walensky, the incoming CDC director. She should have all of that information, by now, as a consequence of the transition. And also be able to address this in a very substantive way.

HILL: Why do you think we haven't heard anything yet from the CDC? I mean, we spent all day yesterday talking about this. And it's not like it just popped up, you know, overnight on Monday. So why are we still waiting, Dr. Hotez? What's your gut?

HOTEZ: I have -- I have no idea. I mean, this is beyond frustration. Look, the CDC missed the -- missed the entrance of this virus from southern Europe into New York City. We didn't pick up the first case in New York City until March 1. And we now know from the epidemiologic clocks that it probably entered the end of January, first week of February.

So went a whole month circulating in New York and causing that massive, devastating epidemic without anybody informing us or seemingly even aware that this had happened.

OK, that was a terrible mistake. And now, we're ten months into this epidemic, and the expectation would be that we've fixed this problem by now.

BERMAN: I will note. Dr. Fauci, Anthony Fauci, says he believes it's premature to call on a travel ban from the U.K. And presumably, he's got access to some of the CDC information. So how much weight should we put -- be putting in what Dr. Fauci says about this?

HOTEZ: Yes. It's hard to know what Tony, you know, bases that -- that statement on. Did he -- did he have detailed information? Or is he still waiting, as well?

You know, it's -- again, it's -- you know, we shouldn't be in this position. This is not -- you know, remember in the old days of the Cold War, we had something called Kremlin watching, where we are trying to read -- read the tea leaves and understand what was going on of who's walking inside/outside the Kremlin. This, we should not have to do this for a public health response to COVID-19.

BERMAN: Dr. Hotez, I appreciate this. Asking some important questions here, helping us understand what's going on. Thank you. HOTEZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: Coming up. Brand-new reporting about the growing anxiety in the Pentagon over what President Trump will do next. Why some senior military officers are now avoiding the White House entirely.

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[06:26:15]

BERMAN: Developing this morning, there is growing concern at the Pentagon and among White House staff over President Trump's obsession with overturning the election.

On Monday, a group of House conservatives met privately with President Trump and Vice President Pence, there to strategize a long-shot bid to overturn the Electoral College results next month.

Joining us now, CNN political analyst Margaret Talev. She's a politics and White House editor for "Axios." And CNN political commentator Errol Louis, political anchor at Spectrum News.

Good to see both of you this morning. Let's start with these rumblings, this excellent reporting we have from Barbara Starr about concerns, growing concern, right, at the Pentagon. Coupled with, now we're hearing, you know, more also from our CNN reporting, about how concerned White House staffers are, Margaret, that we're seeing things get to the point they're at now.

I have to say, when we look at the White House staff part of it, yes, there's something to be said for people now speaking out, even though anonymously. But this doesn't seem to be a surprise to the rest of the world, that this is where we're at.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, Erica. You know, I think that's right.

And increasingly, there's going to be two officials inside the White House who we're going to be looking to in the closing days. Mark Meadows. That's the chief of staff. And Pat Cipollone. That's the White House counsel. These two gentlemen are going to play really important roles in trying to guide both whom the president's meeting with -- We know that's not going to work -- and what the president endeavors to do or not do in those closing days.

But the concern does stretch beyond the walls of 1600 Pennsylvania. And part of the reason there's so much concern at the Pentagon is because this is one area where the president actually can order something to happen, and people are supposed to follow those orders. And so there are real concerns about, you know, engagements and military decisions.

And at the White House, the concern -- this is one piece of the concerns -- is what's actually going to happen on January 20? Like, we've seen now, the president's been very overt about the fact that he wants to contest the legitimate election results. He wants Congress to help him do that on January 6.

But beyond that, like, there's been a broad assumption for a long time that, of course -- and the president has said this, himself. Of course, he would leave on January 20, if he were found to have lost. He -- he lost the election, and now there are concerns about how those final days will actually play out.

BERMAN: You know, it's really interesting. And Barbara Starr will be on with us next hour. The reporting that she has from inside the Pentagon is they're having discussions about what to do if the president calls on them to do something borderline illegal or untoward. That's where we are. I mean, that's a bad place to be. That is deeply troubling, and there's 29 days left.

Margaret brought up what happens on January 20. Errol, there's a question of what happens on January 6, which is when the Congress counts the electoral votes. The electors already cast their votes. You know, Joe Biden has won this election nearly a half dozen times, at this point. One more time he'll win is January 6, when they actually count the votes.

I want to play for you how it goes. We've seen it historically. This is a sampling of how it goes. Listen.

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AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: George W. Bush of the state of Texas has received, for president of the United States, 271 votes. Al Gore, of the state of Tennessee, has received 266 votes.

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Barack Obama of the state of Illinois has received, for president of the United States, 365 votes.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Trump of New York has received, for president of the United States, 304 votes. Hillary Clinton, the state of New York, has received 227 votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The reason I wanted to play that, Errol, is because it will be Vice President Mike Pence speaking those words, out loud, on January 6. He was at this meeting at the White House yesterday.