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The Situation Room

Interview With Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE); Trump Refuses To Acknowledge Election Defeat; Pfizer Says Vaccine Over 90 Percent Effective; Trump Fires Defense Secretary; Biden Outlines Plan To Fight Coronavirus, Names Advisory Board; Georgia Secretary Of State Refuses To Step Down, Indicates Trump May Not Win Georgia Electoral Votes; How Harris May Fill Her Historic Role In Biden Administration; Trump Adviser: President Beginning To See "Path To Losing". Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 09, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:04]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

President-elect Biden is looking to fill out key roles in his transition team, announcing today a new coronavirus advisory board. With the rise -- with the virus on the rise once again, the former vice president is urging all Americans to put the election behind them and unite behind his plan to fight the pandemic.

But President Trump is still refusing to concede and is now lashing out big time at his own administration, firing the defense secretary, Mark Esper, simply with a tweet.

Meanwhile, the surging coronavirus pandemic has pushed the total number of cases in the United States to over 10 million, with more than 237,000 American deaths. But there is very promising news tonight on a potential vaccine. Pfizer says early data shows its vaccine candidate is more than 90 percent effective, a figure Dr. Anthony Fauci just called extraordinary.

Pfizer could apply for emergency authorization as soon as next week.

Let's begin our coverage this hour with CNN's Arlette Saenz joining us from Wilmington, Delaware right now.

Arlette, president-elect Biden is already moving ahead with plans to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Tell us what else is going on. Update our viewers.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Wolf, president-elect Joe Biden wasted no time in his transition, getting right to work with some major action when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, the global health crisis really shaping the opening days of his transition period, including coming up in a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The president-elect making it clear that he hopes to take a markedly different approach to the virus compared to President Trump. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everyone.

SAENZ (voice-over): On his first workday as president-elect, Joe Biden turned his attention straight to his top priority, tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

BIDEN: I will spare no effort to turn this pandemic around once we're sworn in on January 20.

SAENZ: With vice president-elect Kamala Harris at his side, Biden warned of the pandemic's severity, after the U.S. saw a record- breaking weekend in coronavirus cases.

BIDEN: The challenge before us right now is still immense and growing. We're still facing a very dark winter.

SAENZ: Biden welcomed progress on a vaccine, while urging Americans to embrace masks to curb the growing spread of the virus.

BIDEN: Please, I implore you, wear a mask. Do it for yourself. Do it for your neighbor. A mask is not a political statement, but it is a good way to start pulling the country together.

SAENZ: The president-elect stressed his response will be guided by science, unveiling a new Coronavirus Task Force led by a former U.S. surgeon general, former FDA Commissioner and Yale University professor.

Also on the team, Rick Bright, the whistle-blower who alleged his early warnings about the pandemic went ignored by the Trump administration.

DR. RICK BRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR, BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: More people are going to die because scientists are being pushed back, scientists are not being heard.

SAENZ: with his transition under way, Biden is planning executive orders to undo some of President Trump's policies on his first day in office, including rejoining the Paris climate agreement and reinstating protections for dreamers.

Biden's transition still faces one technical hurdle, as it waits for a Trump appointee at a government agency to sign a letter recognizing his victory and releasing funds for his operation.

In the days since his win, Biden has seen a wave of messages from world leaders, today speaking by phone with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and congratulatory statements from the king of Saudi Arabia and Israel's prime minister, two men seen as allies of President Trump.

While the current president has not acknowledged Biden's win, one former Republican president has. George W. Bush called Biden to extend his well-wishes, saying: "Though we have political differences, I Know Joe Biden to be a good man who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country."

The president-elect already looking ahead to the next chapter.

BIDEN: This election is over. It's time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that's designed to demonize one another.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAENZ: While president-elect Joe Biden has received well-wishes from abroad, back here at home, only four Republican senators have congratulated him on his victory, Senator Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Ben Sasse.

That is quite the contrast to the majority of Senate Republicans, who have yet to fully acknowledge his win.

Now, here in Wilmington, Delaware, Joe Biden also met with his transition advisers this afternoon. There's a potential that future senior staff decisions could be coming later this week -- Wolf.

[18:05:10]

BLITZER: Yes, they should acknowledge reality and move on.

Arlette Saenz, thank you very much.

So, let's go to our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, right now.

Jim, the president seems to be flailing after his election loss, and he's taking it out on his own administration.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

We could be in for a rocky transition period. A source close to the president said Mr. Trump and his top aides did have discussions prior to the election about firing FBI Director Christopher Wray. Wray was not seen as sufficiently loyal to the president.

These discussions, I'm told, hinged at the time on the president winning reelection, as firing Wray could be dicey right before a new Biden administration coming into power. But the moment feared by many of the president's critics appears to have arrived, as Mr. Trump is throwing his weight around, unable to accept the results of last week's election.

The secretary of defense was fired earlier today, but that may be just the beginning of the president's lame-duck temper tantrum.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Seventy-two days left in power, President Trump is lashing out from his social media bunker, appearing desperate to show the world he's still in charge, tweeting that he's fired the secretary of defense. "Mark Esper has been terminated. I would like to thank him for his service."

For months, the president has been stewing over what he sees as a lack of loyalty from Esper, who joined Mr. Trump for a church photo-op back in June, after federal forces gassed and pummeled protesters near the White House. Esper had made it clear he wasn't on board with what went down.

MARK ESPER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: What I was not aware of was exactly where we were going when we arrived at the church and what the plans were once we got there.

ACOSTA: In an exit interview with "The Military Times," Esper said he was no yes-man for Mr. Trump, adding: "Have you seen me on a stage saying, under the exceptional leadership of blah, blah, blah, we have blah, blah, blah?"

Esper's firing could be the beginning of what may become a dangerous lame-duck period, as the president refuses to accept defeat. As to what Mr. Trump could do during his remaining days in office, one White House adviser told CNN: "God. Who knows."

Unlike former President Barack Obama's gracious decision to welcome Mr. Trump to the White House:

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-Elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because, if you succeed, then the country succeeds.

ACOSTA: The Trump administration may be digging in, with Vice President Mike Pence tweeting: "It ain't over 'til it's over. And this ain't over."

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.

ACOSTA: The General Services Administration is declining to provide federal funds to president-elect Joe Biden's transition team, saying: "An ascertainment has not been made that the election is over."

That's despite some Republican officials in states like Georgia telling reporters they haven't found any signs of substantial voter fraud.

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): We have not had any sort of credible incidents raise to our level yet. And so we will continue to make sure that the opportunity to make sure every legal ballot is counted is there. But, at this point, we have not seen any sort of credible examples.

ACOSTA: Even as the president is tweeting about the news that a coronavirus vaccine is showing promise, more administration officials are testing positive for the virus, the latest, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, as well as campaign adviser David Bossie, just days after White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows contracted COVID-19, more signs that Mr. Trump's election night party could have been a super- spreader.

Top Trump officials who are left appear to be split on what to do next, with senior aide John McEntee warning staffers they will be fired if they look for other jobs, as some in the president's own family are accepting the reality that Biden has won.

The president and some of his allies are already talking about 2024.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Grover Cleveland came back. Donald Trump should think about it if he falls short.

ACOSTA: A sign Mr. Trump maybe starting to accept his immediate fate, a contrast with his comments so far.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's been a lot of shenanigans. And we can't stand for that in our country. Thank you very much.

ACOSTA (on camera): Are you being a sore loser?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, even as some in the president's family believe Mr. Trump has lost the election, sources tell CNN he still has plenty of advisers around telling him to fight on.

And, Wolf, I talked to a Trump adviser earlier today who said the president is starting to come to grip with reality that he may lose this election. This adviser said the president is starting to see a pathway not to victory, but to defeat -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jim Acosta, thanks very, very much.

Let's continue this discussion with Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, who's joining us right now.

Senator Coons, thanks so much for joining us.

So, your good friend, the president-elect, Biden, he got to work today in Delaware, your home state, as he said he would, on plans to fight the coronavirus pandemic, which is getting worse and worse, as you know.

What will these next two months during this transition look like as the president-elect lays out his agenda?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, Wolf, in a normal transition, the next 72 days would be very busy.

[18:10:04]

There would be landing teams that would go to every federal agency and department and begin talking about the issues that need to be addressed. There would be personnel vetting teams, and there would be significant -- excuse me -- decisions made quickly about who could fill not just Cabinet positions, but literally hundreds of positions for each of the many agencies and departments that make up the federal government.

But, as your reporting just covered, the General Services Administration hasn't released the funding for this process to begin. The president hasn't accepted the inevitability of the transition. And so president-elect Biden and vice president-elect Harris are going forward with being presidential, with leading in terms of preparing plans for the COVID response, but they are not getting the cooperation they would normally get from an outgoing administration.

That needs to change. President Trump needs to accept that he's lost the election. His allies and colleagues here in the Senate need to speak up about this matter. And we need to move forward.

BLITZER: Biden put forward a very detailed plan on dealing with the coronavirus today. He's got a task force helping him on that.

Is he also going to name an economic task force, in addition to the Coronavirus Task Force, to deal with the enormous economic issues facing the American people right now?

There's still millions and millions of Americans, as you know, Senator, who are simply unemployed.

COONS: Wolf, my hope is that, during this lame-duck period, we will be able to come together and pass a COVID relief package.

But if president-elect Biden becomes the president early next year, and we have done nothing more to provide relief, then we are likely to both have a significant challenge with a pandemic currently raging out of control and with an economy that continues to head south. I expect fully developed, robust plans and advisory committees of good choices for leadership from the transition team and the president-elect.

But, frankly, outgoing President Trump has a choice here to make in the next 72 days, whether to help the American people, help make this transition work, or whether to dig in and fight and simply hurt the very people who voted for him by 70 million or so, rather than graciously accepting defeat.

BLITZER: Can we expect, Senator Coons -- and you're really plugged in over there -- can we expect the president-elect to start naming his West Wing staff as early as this week?

COONS: Wolf, I can't speak to that timing, but I know he's done some great work. He has a very strong transition team. He's got wonderful options to choose from.

And I expect you will see fairly swift movement.

BLITZER: Yes, I suspect we will as well, knowing how these things work. And I know some of the people who were involved in leading this transition.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, says President Trump's decision to fire the defense secretary, Esper, by tweet, no less, shows his intention to sow chaos right now. How much harder does Biden's job become on January 20 if the current president uses these next couple of months to destabilize, if you will, the government?

COONS: Well, frankly, he can do a lot of damage by destabilizing every major agency, by firing a whole series of senior leaders.

The secretary of defense has one of the most important roles in the entire federal government. And we have troops in harm's way in places around the world. The destabilizing impact of having a whole series of firings of senior leaders just because of President Trump's grievances would be one parting gift that would not be a positive thing at all for the American people.

BLITZER: We got to go, but do you want to be secretary of state?

(LAUGHTER)

COONS: I look forward to serving in the Senate and to contributing to bipartisanship here.

I know that the president-elect has some wonderful close advisers among whom he could pick. If he were to reach out to me and offer that opportunity. I'd be honored to accept it.

But, Wolf, I frankly look forward to working here in the Senate.

BLITZER: Very diplomatic, indeed.

All right, Senator Coons.

And if you're going to be secretary of state, you got to be diplomatic. So, that sort of makes sense.

Appreciate it very much.

COONS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Good luck to you.

Just ahead, I will speak with a newly appointed adviser to president- elect Joe Biden's Coronavirus Task Force.

Plus, we will have the latest on the vote counting going on right now in Georgia and Arizona, two key battleground states that are still hanging in the balance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:37]

BLITZER: We're following new developments on president-elect Joe Biden's transition to the White House.

I want to bring in our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel, and CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers. He's the author of the new book "My Vanishing Country: A Memoir."

And there you see the book cover.

Dana, the president-elect wasted no time at all getting to work announcing his coronavirus advisory board today. Can he maintain a focus on these critically important issues in the face of this political tension that is being promoted from the White House?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He's not going to have a choice, because it doesn't seem as though this tension, as you very diplomatically call it, is going to go away anytime soon.

It is really hard to see, after talking to people around the Trump orbit, that he is going to give up. He's going to exhaust all of these legal avenues that he believes that he has. And that is not going to end until these states begin to certify the election results.

And that could be several weeks. The deadlines for those vary in various states. But it could be a while. And so, look, Joe Biden kind of proved during the campaign that he could put blinders on and try to tune out the noise when he needs to.

I mean, he responded to President Trump a fair amount, but he tried to avoid it when it didn't benefit him. And so, if he maintains that, which people close to Joe Biden says that that is his plan, then it certainly will benefit him, because he's not going to have much of a choice.

[18:20:13]

BLITZER: Yes.

Bakari, Biden is reiterating his campaign message, as he calls for unity in the country. You see just how deeply divided our nation is right now in the wake of the -- of this election. Is unity anytime soon at all possible?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, to be completely honest, probably not.

And the reason being is because you still have this looming divisive figure in Donald Trump. You see some Republicans around him having the fortitude to come out and at least even call Joe Biden president- elect.

I'm reminded of, in the middle of the night, when the race was a lot closer than it is now, many states had not even been called, and Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump in a painful conversation to concede.

You don't even see that type of courage right now. And so I think that there are some things that have to be done. And the first thing that has to be done, if we're talking about unifying, is Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, has to at least extend the hand of democracy to Joe Biden.

Until that happens, Joe Biden can be the pope himself, but we won't have unity by himself.

BLITZER: You know, Jamie, the -- while the -- while Biden was actually working on trying to tackle this pandemic, President Trump was firing his defense secretary. He did it on Twitter.

How insulting is that? What are you learning about what led to this firing?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, if nothing else, he is consistent, firing by Twitter.

So I spoke to a senior Republican official, who said to me -- quote -- "This was not a surprise," which I think we all knew. This was in the news for weeks. And then the official went on -- quote -- "Now we have to see who is next. Could it be FBI Director Chris Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel?" And then the person ended by saying, "There are no limits to his anger and vengeance."

What we're seeing him -- and Jim Acosta said this is -- we're seeing a temper tantrum. Losing for Donald Trump is an existential threat. And he is going to be angry and fight, which is his default position, straight through this, Wolf.

BLITZER: I don't remember a time when I have seen any president during a transition, who's leaving office, whether or not reelected or just serving two terms, start firing Cabinet members during this lame-duck two-month transition period.

I don't remember a time when that's happened.

Dana, what does the removal, the potential removal of other senior officials, members of the Cabinet, tell you about these final two months of the Trump presidency?

BASH: He's going to end them the way that he conducted himself for four years.

I mean, if nothing else, what has defined the Trump presidency is tumult and self-created chaos. And that is exactly the way he appears to want to end it.

And what Chris Coons said to you before we came on was very stark. He said that the president has the ability to create serious problems and serious waves in the U.S. government between now and Inauguration Day. And that should concern not just Democrats, but Republicans, who are not saying that Joe Biden is the president-elect, not saying that the president should accept the results.

And I have to say, listening to Mitch McConnell today blame the media, say it's -- the media doesn't get the right to call results, I didn't hear him complaining when we called his race on election night or the day after.

BLITZER: Yes, they like it when they're winning. They love it when the news media reports that they're winning. When the news media reports somebody else's winning, maybe not so much. All, all the major news organizations have projected that Biden is the winner, all of them.

Just ahead: very promising news on the vaccine front. Dr. Anthony Fauci says help is on the way, after Pfizer claimed its vaccine candidate is at least 90, 90 percent effective. I will talk about that and much more with a key member of the new Biden Coronavirus Task Force, Michael Osterholm.

There you see him.

We have got lots to discuss when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:24]

BLITZER: Despite President Trump's refusal to concede, president-elect Biden says that this election is over.

In a message to the nation today, Biden urged Americans to put aside partisanship and turn their focus to the dangerous pandemic that's surging across the nation right now.

Let's discuss with Michael Osterholm. He's the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. And he's a new member of the Biden coronavirus advisory board.

Professor Osterholm, thanks so much for joining us.

DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASE RESEARCH: Thank you.

BLITZER: You and other experts on this advisory board -- and it's an impressive group -- I know several of them -- you had a chance to meet with the president-elect ahead of his speech today.

[18:30:02]

I know you can't get into specifics. This is a lot of confidential information. But what can you tell us about this meeting. And the president-elect's top priorities in combating this virus?

MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD: Well, I think the president-elect and the vice president-elect, clearly understand the severity of what we're encountering and how much worse it's going to get before we do get to successful vaccines.

I'm very impressed with the comprehensive nature which they're looking at all aspects of how to try to reduce the number of cases, how to treat those cases that are already in the pipeline or coming into our hospitals and then what we need to do in long term to really improve the public health system.

So I think it's a really very positive development. BLITZER: The Biden Advisory Board Co-chair Dr. Vivek Murthy who was the Surgeon General of the United States during the Obama Administration. Is actually been invited to brief Senate Democrats tomorrow. So how much do you think the board can influence public health or potentially shape policy even before the president-elect takes office on January 20th?

OSTERHOLM: Well, you know, if somebody who's out in the states out here where so much of what happens actually is determined by the states, I think, again, providing a national leadership framework, for what can we all do together. What kind of work can we do right now before he even becomes officially the president, I think, is really very significant.

And so I think it's telling a story. It's basically what is it that we need to do in the upcoming months to try to deal with this pandemic. That's something that he doesn't have to be president for to actually make it happen.

BLITZER: We can have a positive influence in a whole bunch of areas. In the last hour, I had a chance to speak to Dr. Anthony Fauci and he says help is on the way with a vaccine. And now that we've learned Pfizer's vaccine is 90 percent effective, according to Pfizer, he said if things go smoothly, they could be vaccinating people maybe even before the end of this year in major numbers. How encouraging are these developments?

OSTERHOLM: Well, I think it's very encouraging that we have a vaccine that shows it works. I'm a bit more cautious than others maybe because what we heard is that the vaccine is 90 percent effective or efficacious but we don't know 90 percent for what, for a common cough and fever? Is it for severe disease or hospitalizations and deaths? And we really need those kinds of net information to be able to determine just what impact these vaccine will have. We know, for example, with influenza vaccines the people who are most likely to have severe disease are also the same ones who are at least likely to respond well to the vaccine.

So until we get that kind of data, I'm not sure how to interpret the 90 percent other than is surely a positive development.

BLITZER: Yes. As he says we still need to look at all the data before these decisions go forward.

Dr. Fauci also told me in the last hour he has no intention of leaving his current role at NIH. How important is it for him to stay on in the incoming Biden administration?

OSTERHOLM: Well, I guess my answer to that can be summed up in one word, amen. You know, Tony brings such incredible expertise and steady hand to the process. And so I, among many, welcome his involvement in any way, shape or form. And so I hope that that's what happens for the future.

And knowing Tony, as I do, I'm certain that he is up for the task of continuing this incredible effort that he's put forward already. BLITZER: I could agree more and I hope he stays on, because he is so, so important in dealing with this issue. Michael Osterholm, thanks so much for joining us.

OSTERHOLF: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're following more breaking news. Georgia's Republican secretary of state is refusing calls to resign from the state's two GOP senators. In a joint statement, they allege that Tuesday's election wasn't honest in Georgia, but they failed to provide any evidence at all.

I want to bring on our CNN Political Director, David Chalian. David, this race maybe decided but votes are still coming in. So walk us through the latest information.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: They are still coming in. Take a look here in Georgia, a state we haven't called yet and a state that looks likely to go to a recount, Wolf, because it's 49.5 percent Biden, 49.3 percent Trump. Within that 0.5 percent, where somebody can request a recount, and the Trump campaign has indicated it likely well, I guess.

Joe Biden has 11,419 vote lead. We got about 3,500 additional votes today. Joe Biden won 2/3 of them. So he continues to grow his lead in Georgia, Wolf.

In Arizona, it's a different story. It's Donald Trump who continues to grow his lead. He has diminished Joe Biden's lead or his deficit, I should say. He's diminished Joe Biden's lead, now the 15,432. Again, we saw about 5,000 votes come into Arizona. Donald Trump won 2/3 of them so we'll continue to watch that.

And, in Pennsylvania we got about 10,000 votes today.

[18:35:01]

Joe Biden won a majority of them. You see now he's got a 45,313 vote lead, 49.7 percent to 49.0. This is outside the 0.5 percent automatic recount in Pennsylvania. I also want to note, that's a slightly bigger margin than Donald Trump had over Hillary Clinton when he won Pennsylvania four years ago, Wolf.

BLITZER: One thing that is remarkable, and I'm sure you agree, David, is that there was a record number of Americans who actually voted in this election even though there's a global pandemic underway. Where does the popular vote currently stand between these two candidates?

CHALIAN: Take a look at this, 75 million-plus for Joe Biden, 71 million-plus for Donald Trump. Joe Biden's got a 4.4 million advantage in the popular vote. Now, of course, we don't elect presidents according to the popular vote. It's the Electoral College in getting to 270, which Joe Biden has. But that is the popular vote.

I just want to compare, of course, to four years ago, look, Joe Biden has 10 million more votes than Hillary Clinton had four years ago. Donald Trump has 8 million plus more votes than he had four years ago. So that explosive turnout actually worked to both of their advantages. But, clearly, Joe Biden is going to emerge with a bigger popular vote lead than did Hillary Clinton four years ago.

BLITZER: I'm sure that's not going to make President Trump happy at all that Biden has almost 4.5 million more votes nationally than he has.

All right, thanks very much, David Chalian.

Just ahead, we'll take a closer look at the role of the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, what role she may have in the Biden administration and how she'll be able to influence the president- elect. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: Just as every presidency is different, so is every vice presidency. And those who know Vice President-elect Kamala Harris say she's uniquely positioned to fill her role in the Biden administration.

CNN's Brian Todd is joining us right now. Brian, we can expect the vice president-elect to play a very significant role in the years to come.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. As CNN has reported, Joe Biden he said he wants a partner as vice president like he was to Barack Obama. Kamala Harris seems ready for that role and she may be depended upon to such an extent that she may not have enough time to revel in the history she's making.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Kamala Harris making history and a confident declaration.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.

TODD: Harris will be the first woman, first black woman and first person of Indian decent to be elected to the vice presidency. A lifelong friend tells CNN that Harris' life journey led her to this point.

STACEY JOHNSON-BATISTE, LIFELONG FRIEND OF KAMALA HARRIS: Kamala is representing young girls, women across this country, across the world. She's representing immigrants. She is representing black women. And I'm going to get emotional, but I don't think we have been recognized for being the backbone of this country going all the way back to slavery. So she represents all of that.

TODD: And while she's doing that, analysts say, Kamala Harris will very likely be taking on significant responsibilities. Joe Biden himself has said he wants someone next to him to fill the kind of role he had for Barack Obama.

JOE BIDEN (D), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: You have to be willing to have someone with you who will tell you the truth that they think you're wrong.

TODD: That means Kamala Harris could be the last voice in the room when the biggest decisions are made, a role Biden had demanded that he be given with Obama, and that could start during the transition.

Given her experience as California's attorney general and as a high profile U.S. Senator, analysts believe she could have a strong voice in the selections of the U.S. attorney general and cabinet positions.

BRITTANY SHEPHERD, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: I definitely think that Harris will be the one in Biden's ear, letting him know who she thinks will be perfect for those roles. I mean, Harris was going to be working with all of these cabinet members in tandem along with Biden.

TODD: Harris' experience on the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, observers say, could be something Joe Biden leans on.

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Maybe helping pick a future Supreme Court nominee if Democrats win control of the Senate and there is a Supreme Court vacancy. Maybe she will be, in some ways, like Vice President Biden was in the Obama administration, sort of almost the second secretary of state going abroad.

TODD: But analysts believe Kamala Harris could also be a uniquely positioned leader for this extraordinary period, that she is the person in the next administration who can take the point on issues of racial justice and helping Joe Biden navigate through the next potentially devastating months of the coronavirus surge.

SHEPHERD: That means coronavirus pandemic mitigation efforts. Perhaps she'd be using that to communicate to black and brown communities, to places that she has focused heavily on as senator.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Now analyst tell us that in addition to being Joe Biden's bridge to those minority communities in America, that he's also likely to count on Kamala Harris at age 56 to be his bridge to younger Americans. And that will also help position her for whatever office she might seek after the Biden administration. Wolf?

BLITZER: Good reporting, Brian. Thank you very much. Just ahead, as president-elect Biden moves forward despite President Trump's refusal to concede, I'll ask presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin how the contentious election and the transition maybe remembered.

[18:45:09]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: President-elect Joe Biden's transition is moving full steam ahead even as President Trump refuses to concede the election.

Let's discuss with presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

[18:50:02]

She's the author of the best-selling book, there you see the cover, we should show the cover, "Leadership in Turbulent Times." there's the cover right there.

Doris, thanks so much for joining us.

Our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is reporting that maybe the president right now, according to one senior adviser, is beginning to see a path to conceding. Do you see that at all anytime soon?

DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I hope so. I mean, I think it's really important in this time of crisis as we're facing the upward climb of the virus to have that national leadership that can come when a concession allows you to start thinking about the next president that's coming along.

You know, I just imagine what history books are going to say about this period in time. The only two equivalents in some way are imagine what it was like if you lived through 1860s transition. And in those days, it would be from November until March. Imagine if we had to wait until March for this one, or if you lived through the transition of FDR and Hoover.

And, in fact, it was the terrible nature of that transition that made them change the amendment, the 20th Amendment, to make sure it was a shorter period of time.

But the concession is at least the first step toward allowing the transition to take place, to think about the future, to have the future on our mind instead of the past.

BLITZER: In some ways the president-elect represents a return to what we would call traditional American politics, certainly heard that in his speech today. But the world has changed dramatically since he left the White House four years ago as vice president.

What lessons can he take, let's say, from other presidents over the years who led the nation through times of great, great challenge?

GOODWIN: You know, I think his words about the importance of bringing the country together and unifying the country are the first step. But the second step is taking actions. And that's what Abraham Lincoln did.

When he became president, he realized that even the North was divided. There were different factions in the North. So he wanted each one of those factions. So when he was making decisions, he would have their point of view.

And that may suggest that what President-elect Biden could do is to bring different parts of the Democratic Party, some part of the Republican Party together. When you have those factions right there and you're making a decision like Lincoln had to make the Emancipation Proclamation decision and he had listened to all the different factions for so long, then when he finally went to them and said, I'm making this decision and I hope you'll come with me, they eventually came with him as part of an administration family because he'd respected them. He'd listened to them.

He had treated them with dignity. He had shared credit. He had shouldered blame. They felt they were part of a family.

And if the president elect can do that with the different factions in the country and make hard decisions and they can come together, then maybe they can reflect back to the country at large, which still will remain deeply divided.

BLITZER: So far, of course, President Trump has refused to concede the election. One of his political appointees has yet to sign a key document to begin the formal transition. Today, the president actually fired the defense secretary, did so by tweet.

Will this go down, Doris, as perhaps the most contentious transition in American history?

GOODWIN: Well, that's where I think as I say history can give hope. Just imagine, as I said, if you were in 1860 from November until March. Seven states have seceded from the Union during that period of time. A Confederate government has been formed. The president, Buchanan, considered the worst president in history, did nothing to stop that secession.

Or even think of it in 1932, from the time that Roosevelt is elected until the time he's inaugurated, the depression is spiraling down, down, down. The banking crisis has meant that you can't even get your deposits out of the banks. And yet Hoover would not take the kind of action, national responsibility that was necessary.

So contention, difficulty, strain, we lived through those other ones. That's what makes me think that we know those end-of-the-story. We don't know it now but my sense is somehow we're going to get through this. That's my believe in what history shows us. It provides hope.

BLITZER: I don't know if you heard Brian Todd's report just now on the role of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris potentially down the role.

How might the role of the vice president actually evolve under her, the first woman, first woman of color ever elected to that position?

GOODWIN: You know, it could well be that she'll be the most powerful vice president in history. The role of the vice presidency has been growing exponentially. I mean, from the days when Theodore Roosevelt was so bored he thought he was going to go back to law school or even LBJ said it was the most miserable time of his life, it's become more powerful. Biden has made it more powerful in part. I suspect he will, because he was powerful in his term.

And now, she will be the first woman and the first woman of color. And all those little girls as she said in her statement will be imagining that maybe there's a world of possibilities for them. And I think that's a really important thing that may happen. She's going to represent a whole group -- she's going to represent women.

When Hillary Clinton gave her acceptance speech and when it seemed from all the polls we'd have the first woman president, I was so excited. I remember I was on Colbert show that night.

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And I predicted well maybe now that she's president, we'll have 44 more presidents which will be female.

Why not? You had 44 men until you had the 44 -- you'll have 44 women. And then there will be some little boy there saying, mama, can I ever be president?

So I was wrong then. But I think there's a ceiling being broken now. And maybe she's right. She'll be the first but she may not be the last.

Women are coming into power. And I'm glad that I'm old enough now that I'm able to see it more because it's been a long road. And you think about that 100th anniversary of the suffrage ratification today, and she was wearing white in honor of that parade. It's a great moment, I think, for women.

BLITZER: Certainly is. And let's hope there are many more women down the road.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, thank you so much for that.

We're going to have much more news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer. Thanks for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.