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Putin Says CNN-Bellingcat Investigation into Navalny Poisoning a "Trick"; French President Tests Positive for COVID-19; U.S. Reaches Another Grim Milestone for Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths; China Accused of Trying to Silence Uyghurs Abroad; E.U. Parliament: Deal Must Be Struck by Sunday Night; Ecuador Approves Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired December 17, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): If they wanted to, they probably would have followed it through.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): This hour, President Putin puts his spin on CNN's Alexei Navalny investigation, saying, if Russia wanted to
kill him, they would have done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Then --
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We have two people dying roughly a minute of coronavirus.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The cold, hard COVID facts, more Americans are losing their lives every day than ever before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Plus --
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: CNN has just learned that French president Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Another world leader infected, sending numerous E.U. leaders into quarantine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, it's 4:00 in the afternoon in Paris, it's 6:00 in the evening in Moscow, 7:00 pm here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson, hello and
welcome and welcome to the program.
We begin with an extraordinary moment, the president of Russia acknowledging a CNN report, essentially confirming much of it and pretty
bluntly saying, Russia knows how to kill people.
Let me map this out for you.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): You are looking at President Putin at his yearly press conference, taking hours and hours of questions from reporters.
Ostensibly, at least this year, this session comes after a recent investigative report by Bellingcat and CNN uncovered evidence that Russia's
federal security service trailed Alexei Navalny for years.
Mr. Putin called that report itself "a trick," made up by Western intelligence to hurt Russian leaders. He didn't deny the main substance of
the report, that Russian agents trailed Navalny.
That is an incredible thing for a man of Mr. Putin's stature to concede. Now you will Navalny, who openly and flagrantly opposes the Russian
president, was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in August, nearly dying. Mr. Putin disputed that in an extraordinary way, that if Russia
wanted to kill Navalny they would have been able to finish the job. Russia knows how to kill people, effectively, is what he said.
The Kremlin repeatedly denies any involvement. Clarissa Ward was the CNN correspondent who worked on this investigation and she joins me from
Moscow.
You had to believe that there would be some sort of response in the end.
What do you make of what we heard from the Russian leader?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's sort of extraordinary, Becky, because, even though it took a couple of
hours to get to it, in that long press conference, it does essentially amount to a partial confession.
Here you have president Vladimir Putin, saying that Alexei Navalny is essentially a stooge of U.S. intelligence agencies and, as a result of
that, it would be natural that he would be followed. But that doesn't mean that he was poisoned.
So not denying the sort of nub of our reporting in terms of detailing the movements of this elite team of operatives, who trailed across the country
following Navalny on more than 30 trips over a period of three years.
He is basically saying that that's justified because it appears that Navalny works with the United States intelligence forces. Take a listen.
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PUTIN (through translator): There is actually nothing surprising about the fact that these implanted (ph) stories are taking place. They have always
been and will always be. This kind of informational confrontation is taking place. They were before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARD: And he went on to say, in another part of that answer, talking about Navalny, that doesn't mean he needs to be poisoned.
Who needs him anyway?
If they -- talking about the FSB operatives -- wanted to, they would have probably finished it. As you said, Becky, as you paraphrased it, if they
wanted to kill him they would have done it.
So kind of an astonishing answer really there from President Putin, not quibbling at all with the basic facts of this investigation that Bellingcat
and CNN have worked on.
Now, I guess, just leaving himself the possibility that it wasn't possible to prove that these agents were, in fact, the ones who actually poisoned
Alexei Navalny. I should add one more thing, Becky, that I found extraordinary.
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WARD: President Putin never mentions Navalny by name, never says his name. He had two questions, where he had to talk about Navalny. The first time he
referred to him as "the patient in the Berlin clinic," the second time he would only call him "the blogger."
I think that really gives you a sense of just how much of a threat he does view Navalny as being.
ANDERSON: He does have a name, of course; his name is Alexei Navalny. The Russian president alleging that Navalny works for U.S. intelligence in that
press conference.
Has Navalny responded to these comments?
WARD: Yes, he has. He put out a sort of, you know -- his thoughts on his Facebook page, essentially saying that he also read this as a partial
confession and he believes that the final vindication will come soon, that there will be proof that will emerge, that these operatives were the very
same people who poisoned Alexei Navalny.
And he feels almost, it seems, that the president is walking into a trap by admitting that this team of FSB operatives were trailing him for so many
years.
What Navalny also points out, which is very interesting, that Putin does not address, OK, it's all well and good to admit that the FSB was following
him.
But why were these FSB operatives, who were chemists, toxicologists, doctors who had access to poisons, the expertise to use them and who were
in regular contact with the Signal Institute (ph) here in Moscow, that CNN and Bellingcat have determined has been researching and developing
Novichok, that part of our investigation he did not answer to at all.
ANDERSON: Clarissa Ward is in Moscow.
Clarissa, thank you.
In that same press conference today, Mr. Putin also accusing the U.S. government of staging a massive computer attack against itself, which
Washington blames Moscow for. This data breach, targeting several agencies in the U.S. federal government and possibly more, scoping out to be one of
the largest cyberattacks on the American government in years.
As the dust settles, we are learning more. Now Washington blaming Moscow for the attack and under pressure to respond. Let's hear what the Russian
president said about that.
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PUTIN (through translator): Look at what is written at the beginning. An unknown, anonymous person pursues goals we do not understand. And then it
becomes apparent who was behind this anonymous person.
What do I mean?
It is written that this is about the same as happened in 2016, at the time when criminal Russian hackers, associated with Russian military
intelligence, hacked the Muslim (ph) members of the U.S. Democratic Party.
Well, here you are. This anonymous person seems clear to me, who called these hackers criminals associated with Russian military intelligence. It's
the Department of State and the U.S. intelligence services. They are the authors, in fact. In any case, it was done on their instructions. This is
quite obvious.
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ANDERSON: Well, the U.S. is trying to understand the scope of the damage from this breach and figure out vulnerabilities that have allowed it to
happen.
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ANDERSON: There was a lot of news in that press conference because Mr. Putin also said he hasn't yet taken Russia's Sputnik V vaccine but that he
will, as soon as it's possible to do. That's this hour.
As this hour, French president Emmanuel Macron just joining a club no one wants to be in. He has just tested positive with COVID-19. His office
saying he has symptoms but the extent of those symptoms unclear this hour. He is isolating right now and will be for the next seven days.
You couldn't make this up. Mr. Macron had lunch with the Spanish and Portuguese prime ministers and the European Council president this week.
They are all in quarantine, too.
Connecting you in Paris is CNN's Melissa Bell.
Let's start off with President Macron himself.
What do we know about the president's condition at this point?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the time being, Becky, only that he had symptoms. And that was why he had a test that turned out to be
positive. So we should get a better idea of at least how he looks, if not how he feels later today, since there will be a government meeting that he
is due to attend remotely by videoconference.
And some of those pictures should be released. It's the first time we will see him, knowing that he has COVID-19. But, yes, as per French regulations,
for the next seven days, he will be isolating, as will his wife, Brigitte, though she does not have symptoms, we're told.
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ANDERSON: The European Commission president said today that COVID-19 vaccinations will start across the European Union on the 27th, 28th and
29th, despite the fact that a vaccine hasn't yet been approved.
This, of course, will be music to the ears of so many of these leaders, who are, of course, now in quarantine and, indeed, citizens across Europe.
What do we know, though, about this rollout at this point?
BELL: Well, for the time being, we've heard from Ursula van der Leyen, the European Commission president, who said, this is Europe's moment. That's
what she tweeted, Becky, because you can imagine the frustration of European leaders, watching the British, the Americans begin to get their
vaccinations and being held up by the length of the process.
The European Medicines Agency hadn't been due to pronounce itself on the Pfizer vaccine until December 29th. Now we're told from that tweet that, in
fact, the rollout will be from the 27th, 28th and 29th. They've managed to speed it up. That's when European citizens will get to start their jabs.
As you said, not a moment too soon. Not only are European leader, Emmanuel Macron, some of those he came into contact with now having to isolate. But
it is Europeans across the continent that have been seeing these stubbornly high infection rates.
We were expecting to see an easing of some of the restrictions across the E.U. In fact, it's going the other way. We tend to be seeing a further
tightening.
ANDERSON: Yes. Melissa Bell is in Paris, where it's looking pretty cold. Thank you.
While Europe still figures this all out, Saudi Arabia kicking off its mass vaccination drive, becoming the first Arab country to roll out the Pfizer
BioNTech vaccine.
Now the kingdom's health minister among the first people to get a shot in the arm. The vaccine will be free, as we understand it, for everyone, as
ministers have said it would be on this show many times.
It's going to be given out in three stages, starting with at-risk groups and front-line workers and more than 150,000 people have already signed up.
You will remember, if you are a regular viewer, that the kingdom has put enormous resources into their pandemic response from the get-go, making it
easy and freely available to everyone.
Even as vaccines, of course, offer hope, we are still a long way off from them actually getting into people's arms in many parts of the world. In the
meantime, cases are rising significantly. So I will just take a moment to say, wear a mask, please.
That, along with social distancing and good hygiene, are still the best ways to keep all of us safe. Otherwise, right now, countries still plagued
by tough choices. And so once again, they are bringing hard, new restrictions. CNN's reporters, spread across the world, now capture that
dilemma for us.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Fred Pleitgen in Berlin and Germany has just gone through its first day of a
hard national lockdown. You can see here in Berlin, it still looks somewhat like Christmas, with lights still up and lights still on. But it certainly
feels like a hard national lockdown.
This is one of the biggest business and shopping districts in the German capital and it's absolutely empty. There's very few people who are on the
streets and, of course, all the shops are closed as well. All this as Germany continues to see very high numbers of new coronavirus infections,
very high death tolls as well.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Paula Hancocks in Seoul. Seoul city has recorded its first case of a coronavirus patient dying while waiting
for a hospital bed. Health officials say that the man, in his 60s, tested positive on Saturday and passed away in the early hours of Tuesday.
They say that 79 out of 80 ICU beds dedicated for coronavirus are currently occupied, leaving just one available in the entire city. Wednesday was also
the deadliest day since the pandemic began, 22 people losing their lives.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. As the number of COVID-19 infections continues to surge in Japan, the country's prime
minister has disregarded his nation's own coronavirus guidelines.
Prime minister Yoshihide Suga dined in a group of eight at a high-end Tokyo steak house at a time when the government is advising people dining in
restaurants to limit the number to five, especially for older citizens.
The 72-year old expressed remorse for attending the group dinner. There has been a great deal of public anger directed at the prime minister for this
incident and his mishandling of the pandemic. In Tokyo, 822 COVID cases were reported Thursday, making it the highest number of daily infections so
far.
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ANDERSON: The United States remains the worst affected place in the world when it comes to the pandemic. On Wednesday, another 3,656 people died of
COVID-19, a horrifying number, one that should give every person in the United States pause.
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ANDERSON: That's another 3,656 empty seats at Christmas celebrations. That number has never been higher and it is climbing. In fact, it's America's
deadliest day caused by a single factor in the last 100 years.
Worse still, more Americans are hospitalized due to the virus than ever before. And more than 247,000 new cases were reported on Wednesday, which
is also a new high.
So what of the glimmer of hope promised by coronavirus vaccines?
Well, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration are meeting at this hour to discuss authorizing Moderna's vaccine, the second one to reach this
stage. Despite that, it will be months before either vaccine will make a dent in these horrific numbers.
Within the United States, California among the hardest hit, it reported a record number of deaths on Wednesday and parts of the state are now under
stay-at-home orders. Dan Simon has the details.
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DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in California, a shot of hope as nurses, doctors and other essential health care workers receive the
first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
DR. MEDELL BRIGGS-MALONSON, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN, UCLA HEALTH: I'm very proud to stand here and get the first vaccine here at UCLA health, to also
make sure to spread the message that this vaccine is important for everyone but especially for those who are Black, Latino and other people of color.
SIMON (voice-over): But alongside the arrival of a vaccine, a dangerous surge, with new cases, hospitalizations and coronavirus-related deaths in
the state setting records, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
CHRISTINA GHALY, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES: I want to be very clear. Our hospitals are under siege and our model shows no end
in sight. The worst is still before us.
SIMON (voice-over): The entire San Francisco Bay Area will be under the state's stay-at-home order for the next three weeks beginning tomorrow.
This after the region's intensive care bed availability plunged to just below 13 percent Wednesday.
Across the country, many hospitals are on the brink, with over 113,000 coronavirus-related hospitalizations across the United States, a record.
And as new cases continue to rise, vaccine distribution could, with time, help change the course of the crisis. In just hours, an FDA panel is
expected to discuss emergency use authorization for Moderna's candidate. If cleared, federal officials say around 6 million initial doses will be
shipped.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If Moderna gets the EUA, which I hope they will, that, by the time you get
to the end of December, you will have 40 million doses for 20 million people to be able to administer.
SIMON (voice-over): While there have been few reported issues with vaccines administered so far, Alaska health officials reported one health
care worker had an allergic reaction to Pfizer's vaccine Tuesday, despite having no history of vaccine allergies.
DR. LINDY JONES, BARTLETT REGIONAL HOSPITAL: I was concerned about an anaphylactic reaction so gave her the standard treatment of a dose of
intramuscular epinephrine. And she responded immediately.
SIMON (voice-over): Health experts say the occasional allergic reaction is to be expected and urge Americans with allergies to check the vaccine's
product label.
DR. PAUL OFFIT, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: What we need to find out is what specifically seems to be inducing this allergic reaction. But
remember, even for this patient or person, who has never had an allergic reaction before, she would have been instructed to hang around for about 15
minutes, during which time usually, if you are going to have a severe allergic reaction, you have one.
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ANDERSON: Dan Simon reporting. He is in San Francisco, where the stay-at- home orders go into effect within hours.
I have to say, Dan, I was just looking at the numbers; California has 1.7 million cases as a state. It's a big state but that number almost beggars
belief until you read it a couple of times.
What's the reality where you are?
SIMON: Well, yesterday, California set, once again, another record, clocking in with more than 53,000 cases. I mean, it's just an astounding
number. That factors in a couple of days' of backlog.
But that gives you a sense in terms of the sheer volume of testing that is still going on. It's really quite a frightening situation because the ICU
bed availability has shrunk. It's now below 15 percent.
You have the entire San Francisco Bay Region that is now under these new stay-at-home orders. And, Becky, I just want to point out to you where I
am, that's the UCSF Medical Center behind me. It's one of seven hospitals in California that now has the Pfizer vaccine.
They began administering that vaccine yesterday to front line health care workers. They got about 1,000 doses into doctors, nurses and custodial
workers. And because the Moderna vaccine could come online as early as next week, they're hoping to get, obviously, more doses here at the hospital.
ANDERSON: Dan Simon, with the cold hard facts.
Let's just pause for a moment because we seem to learn more about COVID-19 and the new vaccines, don't we, every day.
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ANDERSON: Even for adults, it's hard to keep up as we've just been discussing. So you might want to tune in to the following with your kids,
if you've got them. CNN and "Sesame Street," teaming up for a new town hall to help us understand all of this. Do join Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Erica Hill and
Big Bird for "The ABC's of COVID-19," only on CNN.
Millions of unemployed Americans desperately in need of jobs and money. Congress says it is closing in on a new COVID relief package.
But will it meet a fast-approaching deadline?
We will get a live report from Capitol Hill for you just ahead.
And --
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NYROLA ELIMA, MAYILA'S COUSIN: We printed out the Chinese version and took it to my mom.
It said, look, your daughter, she's making Chinese government look very, very bad. You need to tell your daughter, stop it.
ANDERSON (voice-over): That woman is an ethnic Uyghur who left China but she says Beijing still found a way to try to intimidate her family. We have
an exclusive report coming up for you.
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ANDERSON: We are bringing you an exclusive report now about a story that CNN has been following very closely because it is one of the most important
of our time. It's about the crackdown against the ethnic Uyghurs in China's northwestern Xinjiang province.
China accused of running a massive system of internment camps there. According to the U.S. State Department, more than 1 million Uyghurs and
members of other ethnic minority groups have been detained in these camps over the years.
We are now hearing accusations that Beijing is not only cracking down on Uyghurs at home but also trying to silence those who live abroad. Ivan
Watson spoke with some ethnic Uyghurs overseas, who say they experienced that pressure first-hand. Here is his report.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was one brief moment of freedom for Mayila Yakufu, a video call in September
from Mayila, after being released from detention for just one day.
She spoke from China's northwestern region of Xinxiang to her cousin, who lives in Sweden.
ELIMA: I didn't recognize her at the very beginning because she looked so pale and she looked so weak and she has short hair. They cut her hair in
the detention facility.
WATSON (voice-over): This was Mayila in happier times. A single mother of three and a member of China's Uyghur Muslim minority, who taught Mandarin
language classes and sold insurance, until Chinese authorities took her away to an internment camp in March 2018.
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WATSON (voice-over): She has spent most of the last 2.5 years in and out of detention, cut off from her children in Xinjiang and her parents and
sister in Australia.
ELIMA: The Chinese government accused my sister was financially support terrorism, which is she send money to my parent and me to buy a house here.
WATSON (voice-over): Mayila's sister and her parents run this Uyghur restaurant in Adelaide, Australia. Mayila helped these immigrants start
their life here by sending them money to buy a house. Her father says the Chinese government is punishing the family for that generosity.
YAKEFU SHABIER, MAYILA'S FATHER (through translator): I feel pain every day, as if I am stepping on nails, because the cost of this house is my
daughter's suffering.
WATSON (voice-over): Mayila's family agonized over whether going public would hurt or help their missing daughter. In the end, they launched a
campaign to push for her release. From Sweden, Nyrola Elima tells me, when she tweeted about her cousin, three times Chinese police showed up at the
door of her parents' home in Xinxiang.
ELIMA: We printed out the Chinese version and took it to my mom.
It said, look, your daughter, she's making Chinese government look very, very bad. You need to tell your daughter, stop it.
WATSON (voice-over): The second time she tweeted about Mayila, just hours later, Chinese officials took Mayila away and her family has been told she
is now back in detention. Her cousin fears it was because she spoke out.
In a statement to CNN, China's mission to the European Union accused Mayila's family of being members of the Eastern Turkistan Liberation
Organization, which Beijing has labeled a terrorist group.
But the family denies any connection to the group and points out that Chinese authorities issued travel visas to Mayila's mother, allowing her to
travel unimpeded to and from China as recently as August of 2016.
Beijing routinely denies allegations by human rights groups and the U.S. government that accuse China of a massive detention campaign in Xinjiang,
rounding up close to 2 million Uyghurs and members of other minorities into internment camps.
Chinese officials insist these are actually vocational training centers, aimed at stopping Islamist extremism. They publish glossy videos from so-
called graduates of the camps.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
WATSON (voice-over): Mayila's cousin calls this propaganda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELIMA: It's exactly like during the Second World War, how Hitler made propaganda about a happy Jew.
If it's real, then why are there so many Uyghurs outside, looking for their family members?
WATSON (voice-over): CNN has interviewed many Uyghurs in exile. Like Mayila's family, they talk of hopelessness and guilt for their missing
loved ones, lost in Xinjiang's giant system of arbitrary detention.
WATSON: What has the last three years been like for you?
ELIMA: Extremely pain -- extremely painful. I feel there is a gun behind my head. Every time when I move, I may well face very serious consequences
and my family member will pay for that.
WATSON (voice-over): Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: We will be right back with CONNECT THE WORLD after this.
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ANDERSON: There is a positive cottage industry around one new export in Europe: deadlines. They are just pumping them out nowadays. But Brexit
deals, well, they seem to be fresh out of those.
Talks are still ongoing again, now European Parliament leaders issuing what sounds like an ultimatum to the U.K., telling Downing Street, get a Brexit
deal done by this Sunday night or else, no dice.
Well, forgive me for saying this but perhaps, in fact, I know that we have heard this once, twice, thrice ad infinitum, it seems, all before. Our Nic
Robertson has been connecting us to the sometimes toxic talks between the U.K. and Brussels.
I'm looking at the sterling exchange rate today. Currency markets certainly showing some confidence that the U.K. will avoid crashing out. This number
is just as high, around about as high as it was on Referendum Day. There had been a big fall.
But this is the sort of -- you know, the U.K. gets a deal; this is about where sterling should be. This is all going down to the wire. I mean, this
word "deadline" has lost a fair bit of meaning in these talks.
What of this threat of no deal, no dice, by Sunday?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I mean, look, this is an internal European thing as well. This is why Ursula van der Leyen, the
European Commission president, who has the chief negotiator negotiating with the British side, went to the European Parliament yesterday to update
them on what's happening in the talks, not just to say this is what's happening in the talks but to say, look, bear with us, we've been at this a
long time. There is a narrow pathway ahead, we can make it.
But just give us a little bit of time. They've responded in a way saying, look, yes, but don't just use this as a rubber stamp. We have a need and
sort of democratic internal E.U. process here. This is an important part of what we do, so don't just treat us with, here is a deal on Friday and could
you just get it out by Friday evening, sort of thing. So that's internal.
But yes, it's also a message to the British, we have just heard Michael Gove, who takes a leading role in some parts of the Brexit negotiations
within the cabinet with European Union officials, saying that, look, a deal is still less than 50 percent likely to happen.
He's playing that down. But we also heard him say, look, the British Parliament can also meet on its side to ratify this. He says not Christmas
Day but every other day up until the 31st of January.
So both sides are with this narrative. You're right, we should be skeptical that this is a real hard deadline. But you know, when you hear the European
Parliament giving this message to Britain but to the European Commission as well, you understand that the British side, for their last-minute tactics
and pressure and saying it's not really a deal yet, that, you know, we see the pressure on the European side as well today.
Ursula van der Leyen, you know, just yesterday, they were saying that progress has been made on a level playing field. The fisheries are the big
sticking issue. It remains like that. But the British are still, despite her saying yesterday there was progress, today, the British are saying,
less than 50 percent chance still.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson on these talks.
When is a deadline not a deadline?
When it comes to these Brexit talks, it seems.
Eighty percent of the road traffic --
Thank you, Nic.
-- between Europe and the U.K. crosses at the French border. Much of that through the port of Calais. Our colleague Melissa Bell traveled to Calais
earlier this week. Listen to what the CEO there told her.
[10:35:00]
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JEAN-MARC PUISSESSEAU, CEO, PORT BOULOGNE, CALAIS: Port of Calais 2020, we have two virus. One is corona, the other one is Brexit. We at least know
what will be the consequences of the Brexit. So, yes, 2022 will be a wonderful year for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: That's the reality on the ground.
And tomorrow on CONNECT THE WORLD, I will speak with David McAllister. He has one of the hardest jobs in Europe right now, steering more than 700
members of the European Parliament through Brexit talks with the United Kingdom.
Speaking of stalled talks, the U.S. Congress has been bickering for months over a coronavirus relief package. Lawmakers now say they are closing in on
a $900 billion stimulus deal but they face a Friday deadline that could shut the government down.
Many Americans really need those checks. Just-released figures show more than 880,000 filed for unemployment benefits just last week. That is an
increase over the previous week. Sunlen Serfaty joins us from Capitol Hill.
Just how close are they to a deal at this point?
And what are the main sticking points?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, negotiators say that they are very close and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, just a
moment ago, said they made good progress this morning. But yet they still do not have a final deal.
On Capitol Hill, essentially nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. They, of course, need to come out and actually produce
legislative text, put these proposals to paper. That can actually start the procedure to avoid a government shutdown.
The negotiators are trying to tie the stimulus package, this relief package, to the government funding deal that needs to pass by midnight
Eastern time on Friday evening.
If they don't, the government could see a shutdown. So there is all this talk right now, given the fact that they have not produced legislative
text, that Capitol Hill is in essence in a waiting pattern, that they might need to pass some sort of short-term resolution, a stopgap funding measure,
to buy them a few more days to negotiate.
We are learning some of the details, the contours of the deal, as it's coming together. Likely a $900 billion package includes another round of
stimulus checks for individual Americans, $600. In addition it has jobless benefits, $300 a week, that's less than it was last time, and money for
vaccine distribution.
Both sides have made concessions so far. But there does seem to be some hurdles here, specifically Democrats are pushing for $90 billion in state
aid that would be distributed by FEMA.
Now Republicans are arguing that that's something that they do not want to see go forward. They think that this is just disguising state and local
aid, something that they have been not been for. So a lot still needs to be worked out.
There's a feeling on the Hill, Becky, that we are on the precipice of something that might be announced soon. But the clock certainly is ticking
and so many Americans are in need.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Sunlen.
The eyes of history are on this appointment, the words of Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay person to be nominated to a U.S. cabinet role.
President-Elect Joe Biden this week announced him as his pick for Transportation Secretary.
Now in his acceptance speech, Biden's former rival for the Democratic nomination talked about watching bigotry play out on Capitol Hill when he
was a teenager.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION NOMINEE: I can remember watching the news, 17 years old in Indiana, seeing a story about an
appointee of President Clinton named to be an ambassador, attacked and denied a vote in the Senate because he was gay, ultimately able to serve
only by recess appointment at the time.
I had no aspirations of being appointed by a president to anything. At that age, I was hoping to be an airline pilot and I was a long way from coming
out, even to myself.
But still I watched that story. And I learned something about some of the limits that exists in this country when it comes to who is allowed to
belong. But just as important, I saw how those limits could be challenged.
So two decades later, I can't help but think of a 17-year old somewhere, who might be watching us right now, somebody who wonders whether and where
they belong in the world or even in their own family. And I'm thinking about the message that today's announcement is sending to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The nominee for U.S. Transportation Secretary.
Well, this just into CNN, Ecuador approving Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine just a short time ago. The country's health ministry says it will
be given to 60 percent of the country's 17 million people through a public- private alliance. Like the U.S., they will be starting with front line health care workers and senior living center staff.
[10:40:00]
ANDERSON: They are expecting the first doses to arrive around January. Ecuador has been very hard-hit, certainly early in the pandemic. But cases
have since leveled off.
It's already a top contender for Premier League Goal of the Season. Next up in "WORLD SPORT," a close look at an incredible acrobatic kick into the
back of the net. You don't see that every day. It is worth having a look at again.
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(WORLD SPORT)
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