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Erin Burnett Outfront
Sources: Biden Allies Realizing They Will Have To Fight More As Trump Admin Blocks Transition; Interview With Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM); Sources Say Trump & His Allies Frustrated With CIA Chief Gina Haspel; Interview With Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL); Attorney General Barr Authorizes Prosecutors To Pursue Allegations Of Voter Fraud Despite No Evidence; Republican Senators Call For Georgia's Republican Secretary Of State To Resign As All Eyes Are On Two Senate Runoffs; Pfizer: Vaccine May Be More Than 90 Percent Effective. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 09, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[19:00:09]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer. Thanks for watching.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, President-elect Joe Biden forging ahead zeroing in on the pandemic as his first priority despite President Trump and an obscure Trump political appointee blocking Biden's transition team from actually doing what they're supposed to do. The co-chair of Biden's transition team is OUTFRONT.
Plus, after the President announces the firing of his Defense Secretary on Twitter, all eyes now on the FBI Director and the CIA Director. Are they next? Are we about to have a gaping hole in this country?
And results from the election still coming in tonight from three battleground states. We are live at the magic wall. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the President-elect charging ahead, today meeting with his newly appointed coronavirus advisory panel. Making it clear that we are in a bad place right now and that the best tool at hand is a mask.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're still facing a very dark winter. There are now nearly 10 million COVID cases in the United States. Infection rates are going up, hospitalizations are going up, deaths are going up.
This crisis claimed nearly a thousand American lives a day. The selection is over. It's time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that designed to demonize one another. We know the single most effective thing we can do to stop the spread of COVID is wear a mask.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: This comes on a day that Pfizer announced a major development. Hopeful news that its vaccine is more than 90 percent effective in trials. By the way, it only has to be 50 to get approved, so this was huge news. And Biden says Pfizer informed him last night about the vaccine news. But there's only so much that President-elect Biden can actually do.
He's not the president yet and he needs to transition to the highest office in America and there's only so much he can do but this President Trump is literally blocking Biden tonight. Emily Murphy, a little known Trump political appointee, she oversees the General Services Administration. She is the one who has to formally give OK to start the transition process, which is a core tenet of presidential power in our democracy.
Her role is crucial, because she will sign a letter that gives Biden's team crucial things, access to National Security tools, background checks, federal funds, all of the things needed for a president-elect to become a president. It is an official acknowledgement, a crucial step to the reality that Biden won the election.
But Trump says no, not letting her do it. Why? Well, his GSA appointee is comparing the election to Bush versus Gore, where the outcome was in doubt. They specifically reference the year 2000 in their refusal to allow a transition to start. I need to be direct here though, this is not 2000.
Biden's margin over Trump in Pennsylvania, which is the state that put Biden over the top is outside the range for an automatic recount. It is actually on a percentage basis, the same margin by which Trump won the State in 2016. Clinton did not contest it. Trump won Pennsylvania then and Biden has won Pennsylvania now.
Even a Fox News anchor today cut away from Trump's Press Secretary when she was talking about false voter fraud claims. He said they couldn't even air her claims, they cut out of it. The precedent is clear here on a transition.
Chris Lu, a former Obama official tweeting the letter that he got in 2008 from the Bush administration's GSA that came hours after the race was called. And a source tells CNN the Obama administration's GSA acknowledged Trump's victory the day after the election. And, of course, they were bitterly disappointed by that. Hillary Clinton was their candidate. Within a day they did it.
It has been 55 hours now and counting since CNN called the election for Biden. Obviously, this is not happening here yet and it is because of one person, Trump, refusing to accept reality. He's instead been sitting in the White House tweeting baseless accusations about the vote in all caps trying to distract in any way he can, today by tweet firing his Defense Secretary, creating a void in a crucial position just when the nation needs calm, calm, considered thoughtful, respectful leadership on the transition.
And yet Republicans for the most part, still not calling him out. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today still casting doubt on the election. So far, only four Republican senators have officially acknowledged the President-elect. Well, Trump said on Election Day that losing is never easy. It is hard for anyone to lose and only a few people know how terribly hard it is to lose something like the presidency.
The late Sen. John McCain knew. He knew how it felt and yet in 2008 he was able to do what America needs Trump to do now.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, FORMER UNITED STATES SENATOR: I had the honor of calling Sen. Barack Obama to congratulate him, please, to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love. Sen. Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country. I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Dignity and respect, that is what is lacking right now. Jeff Zeleny is with the President-elect in Wilmington, Delaware. Kaitlan Collins is at the White House where, as I said, Trump is ensconced.
I want to start with you, Jeff. You have new reporting on how the Biden team is handling all this, because being blocked to start transitioning is a significant thing.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORREPONDENT: And the President- elect Joe Biden sent a message directly to allies and longtime supporters to give Republicans a bit of time, give the President a bit of time to accept this. Of course, the election went into overtime. So he was urging a bit of patience throughout the weekend.
Well, now we are, as you said, more than 48 hours after the fact. And what the Biden transition team is seeing is actually more resistance. So I am being told that friends and allies and supporters of the President-elect are going to start speaking out more aggressively and starting to fight more aggressively for the right for the funds that they would get from the government to start this transitioning. This is something that was inscribed by law back in 2015 and signed that whoever is elected president must get funds to go forward with the government.
Of course, there's always a question after 9/11, the Bush campaign, the Bush transition was not set up in time and the 9/11 Commission actually said this was one of the reasons. So because of all that, that's why this transition is important. But I'm told by supporters and friends of the President-elect that they are going to start fighting more for this, so look for that in the coming hours or the coming days here.
He still is sounding out calls for unity, but the question is, is the other side listening. Only four Senate Republicans, of course, as you said, have signed on and congratulated him. He's heard from world leaders, but not a peep for most Republicans, Erin.
BURNETT: I mean, it's pretty incredible. I laid out Pennsylvania, but you could look at Michigan, states where Trump won by razor thin margins. The margin there 15 times greater for Biden than it was for Trump.
ZELENY: And Hillary Clinton called him overnight.
BURNETT: Right.
ZELENY: Hillary Clinton called him overnight four years ago about three o'clock in the morning and she, of course, conceded to him directly.
BURNETT: Right. She did and we should note even though she won the popular vote, but she lost in those crucial states by those razor thin margins and she accepted it. The President is now failing to do that.
Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT at the White House where the President is. So Kaitlan, what is behind this refusal? The GSA is not an acronym that we all talk about all the time, but the GSA here is merely a reflection of the President of the United States who is sitting behind you, refusing to accept reality.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. And you can see how this puts Emily Murphy, the GSA administrator in an incredibly tenuous position because she's the one who has to make this call and no one wants to make this call until the President himself has made it. And that's why you've seen that effect that it's had on people like Vice President Mike Pence, who has not phoned Sen. Kamala Harris to congratulate her on becoming the vice president-elect because his boss has not done that either.
So now Emily Murphy is in the headlines as the administrator of GSA, because she's the one who has to ID the Biden campaign as the winners of the election so they can move forward. And Jeff is right, it's about all of this money, but it's not even just that it's also office space, contact with office agency heads, its email addresses, it's all of this information that typically is something that they jumpstart, so there is a seamless transition of power, so it doesn't have devastating effects and some kind of if there was a hurricane, if there was a National Security issue, anything like that, it helps to provide a seamless transition of power.
And they are being denied that simply because the President himself is not recognizing what's going on. And Erin, it can have effects big and small. It's not just whether or not they can start their financial disclosure forms that employees had to fill out, but also what we're learning tonight from our colleagues is that the President, Vice President or, excuse me, President-elect Joe Biden is not able to get those presidential daily briefings that the President gets from the Director of National Intelligence and their office, because they have not been given the go ahead by the GSA to start that.
And since it's a National Security thing, they said they have to wait for that before they would move forward with contacting the Biden team. And so it's something as big as that National Security and so that's a question that's going to be dealt with in the coming days. But as what we've seen from the President and the Vice President and the Senate Majority Leader today, they're continuing to fight this.
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So it's not clear that in the immediate future that's going to change anytime soon.
BURNETT: All right. Kaitlan, thank you very much.
So let's go now to the co-chair of the Biden transition team, the Democratic Governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham. And, Governor, I appreciate your time. So, you heard Jeff Zeleny reporting that in fact what you're all experiencing is more resistance here as the hours have passed and this outcome is now clear. How difficult are you expecting this to get?
GOV. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM (D-NM): Well, I will tell you that this is a team with incredible expertise, both in the co-chairs and in the advisory team members who certainly didn't want this but expected it. So I think that they are, as a group we all are, productively prepared, but it does really speak to a void in leadership, which is the result of the election.
We want to leader in the White House. We want a federal government that can respond to any number of opportunities and catastrophes, including this pandemic. And as a Governor, if I didn't have access to the transition budget and to get into each of these departments to deal with just things like contracts and making sure the budgets work, it's a disaster. And that is really is again, it's more evidence of malpractice at the federal government level.
BURNETT: Governor, are you concerned about Trump's personal role here? This is this is him, right? He is not accepting this. He is now impacting the transition of power.
GRISHAM: Yes, absolutely. I mean, look, on day one we've got the Vice President-elect and the President-elect announcing a COVID task force. You got 13 physicians who are both the researchers and academicians are also on the ground working with each of their states, so that you can see this national framework to deal with the pandemic.
And right before the election, we had the guy in the White House who was super spreading, you can't manage the infections in the White House, who was telling I can tell you that members in New Mexico constituents and citizens here don't worry about mask, don't participate in any of the public health orders. He can really make an impact both negative and positive.
What the President says what the President-elect says it matters and to have him continue to defy the end results of the election means that he is giving up on every single opportunity and addressing every single challenge that every single voter said they want attention. We want that resolved, so you bet it matters.
BURNETT: So Jeff Zeleny was laying out that George W. Bush said that issues in the transition, I'm sorry, he didn't say it, the 9/11 commission said issues in the transition, right, impacted what happened on 9/11. I mean, the implications of this are not just the logistical or administrative, that this is very significant. So what recourse do you have as the days go on here?
GRISHAM: Well, I will tell you, I think that one of the strategies that I'm hearing about certainly isn't a strategy I've participated in. But to make sure that we've got our assets on the ground and in Congress to really get the President, he needs to hear from his colleagues and his supporters that they expect him to do the right thing on behalf of this country.
He has an obligation to do that and we can't be doing that by ourselves in a vacuum. The entire country needs to weigh in.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I appreciate your time, Governor. Thank you very much.
GRISHAM: Thank you, Erin. It's pleasure as always.
BURNETT: And as the Governor talked about Republican colleagues - thank you - of the President's, I want to go now to the former Republican Governor of Utah and the Health and Human Services Secretary under President George W. Bush, Mike Leavitt, who also led Mitt Romney's transition efforts in 2012.
So Governor, you obviously have a sense of this from every single angle. You're on the nonpartisan center for the Presidential transition for their advisory board. And there's a statement now from the board, urging the Trump administration to immediately start this transition process. Is there any reason you see for this delay, other than the President of the United States won't allow it to go forward?
MIKE LEAVITT (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF UTAH: Well, Erin, this is obviously not just about the legal nature of this. There's a lot of human nature that's going on here. Obviously, it's hard to lose and I understand that, I've been on that end of things. This would be a valuable thing.
I might add there's no reason that this does not imply that the President is giving up. It doesn't mean that his pursuit of the presidency (inaudible) you can do both transition and pursue all of the appeals, all of the litigation and then you recount simultaneously.
BURNETT: (Inaudible), yes.
LEAVITT: And so the thought is that those who were signers of the letter, it's time for us to move forward with both.
[19:15:07] BURNETT: OK. So let me ask you about this the situation though and
certainly any legal avenues that the President has, it's his right fully to pursue them. When you look at the situation, obviously, whether it's Pennsylvania or Michigan or any of these other states, Hillary Clinton did accept margins at the levels we see now were significantly more narrow and move on and concede. Yet so far, only four Republican senators have congratulated Joe Biden, only four.
IN fact, some of them, big name Republicans are egging Trump on in how he is handling this like these three.
LEAVITT: Well, my purpose tonight isn't to in any way defend that, I'm just suggesting that for the best interest of our country. It is important that we have the ability to recount and do all the things that are part of that, but it's also important that we begin to transition. There are some important things that happen in the 75 days and every day is precious and for the good of good government, we need to be able to pursue both.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I appreciate your time, Gov. Leavitt. Thank you. I appreciate it.
LEAVITT: Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. And next, President Trump not just contesting but firing his Defense Secretary and now a senior administration official and three former administration officials tell CNN they expect CIA Director Gina Haspel is next.
And the Trump campaign just filing a lawsuit to block the results from Pennsylvania's election as more votes are coming in from that state, the margin getting wider. What does it mean for the possibility of a recount? We're going to show you exactly the math at the magic wall.
And the number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus after attending Trump's election night party, well, guess what people have it and the number has grown.
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BURNETT: Breaking news, who's next? A senior administration official and three former officials tell CNN that President Trump may be ready to fire CIA Director Gina Haspel. Sources also telling CNN that there are growing concerns about the fate of the FBI Director, Chris Wray. Both of them of course have stood up to Trump at various times and one official saying Trump before the election discussed firing Wray.
These warnings coming just hours after Trump actually fired his Defense Secretary by tweet. After losing the election, he goes on Twitter to fire his Defense Secretary adding to the uncertainty. Alex Marquardt is OUTFRONT.
So Alex, Esper fired by tweet. What are you hearing about Gina Haspel and Chris Wray? Obviously, the highly respected chiefs of the CIA and the FBI.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You're right, Erin, both highly respected. And now it appears that both directors Haspel and FBI Director Wray may as you say be on the chopping block. Both have been sources of significant frustration for President Trump.
Let's talk about CIA Director Gina Haspel first. She is perceived by Trump and his allies to not have done enough at the CIA to release documents revealing what they feel our deep state plots against President Trump's campaign and transition back in 2016. Now, multiple sources tell us that Haspel has pushed back on declassifying documents related to the FBI's investigation because doing that could reveal critical sources and methods as they're known in the intelligence community.
Now, according to one former senior administration official and three - sorry, one current senior administration official and three formers they do expect Trump to remove Gina Haspel like Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was today. Now, Haspel, she's kept her head down. She's had very few public appearances.
BURNETT: Yes.
MARQUARDT: She's made very few public statements in her time as director. And that might be part of the problem that she's not visibly supportive enough of the President instead trying to balance doing her job with protecting her agency, which is fiercely apolitical.
And then, Erin, on when it comes to FBI Director Wray, a source close to the President tells our Jim Acosta discussions had been underway about firing Wray before the election and that it would have been more likely had Trump beaten Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Now, Wray has been much more visible than Haspel and very recently he did anger the President when he told Congress that Russia was very actively working against Joe Biden's campaign in favor of Donald Trump.
Now, getting rid of either of them, Wray or Haspel in addition to Esper today could really make for a dangerous situation. The senior most security officials in the country potentially gone during a time of transition which, of course, enemies could exploit if they think that we're distracted or weakened, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Alex, thank you very much. So I want to go now to the Democratic Senator from Illinois, Tammy Duckworth, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Also, she is an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient.
Senator, thank you for your time. So a senior administration official, three former officials telling us tonight that CIA Director Gina Haspel could be next to be fired by the President during this transition, your reaction?
SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): I'm in disbelief. I'm not surprised anymore, but disbelieved that this President will continue to put his own ego and personal feelings over the well being of this country. This is a very dangerous time for our country. Transition already is not an easy process and to be firing all the people who are at the heads of our National Security agencies is really, really - it's irresponsible at best.
BURNETT: So tell me, I mean, the significance of this. You're on the Armed Services Committee, so Esper gets fired today by tweet. So in the midst of the President contesting the election, refusing to accept the results, he fires his Defense Secretary on Twitter, how disruptive is this?
DUCKWORTH: This is incredibly disruptive. If I were our adversaries, if I were our enemies, this is when I would launch an attack. This is classic military strategy. When people on the other side are actually in disarray, this is when you attack and you seize this. And it may not be conventional kinetic attack, it might be a cyber attack, but right now we don't have a secretary of defense and potentially we might not have a CIA director.
This is a very, very crucial time for our nation and it is irresponsible. I've said many, many times this President is not fit to be commander in chief and this decision that he made today to first fire Esper and now to not come out and just quash any rumors about firing the CIA Director and other members of the National Security team shows the irresponsibility of this man.
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BURNETT: So Senator, Admiral James Stavridis, I know obviously you know him well, the former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, he came out and tweeted, "If Trump moves on to fire the head of the CIA and the head of the FBI, both true professionals and patriots, we are going to be in uncharted waters for the next 90 days. It all has terrible 'burn it down' on the way out feeling. It is playing with fire with our nation's security."
It sounds like similar sentiment to what you are saying, but I mean is this really sort of the three-alarm fire?
DUCKWORTH: And the President is the one who's setting the fires. I mean, he is actually the one that is setting the fires and it's undermining National Security. This man says that he is about America first, that he is for our nation and yet every action that he's taken, whether it is his failure to COVID-19 or now this destabilizes the security around nation.
He has already shown contempt for our military men and women, but to put them in harm's way - and by the way, we have men and women in harm's way right now who are facing all sorts of enemies out there and yet they can't have security here at home. And they don't have real leadership at home at this point, because our commander in chief is out setting fires and they don't even have a secretary of defense to look to.
BURNETT: So the Chair of the Armed Services Committee, your colleague, Republican Senator Inhofe, Manu Raju asked him tonight, do you support what Trump did to Esper, he refused to say that he supported it. Senator, do you feel that your Republican colleagues are on the same page as you and trying to figure out what they should say publicly or are they not on the same page and OK with what he's doing, because certainly they have not said anything.
DUCKWORTH: I have to believe that somebody as senior as the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee knows exactly the danger that we're in right now. And I would hope that he's having conversations with President Trump. But frankly, for him to not come out and say anything is irresponsible. It's a dereliction of duty on his part as well.
We have to send a clear message that we are united for the security of this nation and that we will not stand for the President to destabilize this nation by firing these three leaders of our National Security. And frankly, I'm very disappointed with my Republican colleagues because they know better and I know they know better.
BURNETT: Sen. Duckworth, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
DUCKWORTH: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next breaking news, Attorney General Bill Barr giving the OK for federal prosecutors to investigate voter fraud. There is, of course, no evidence of any widespread voter fraud of any kind.
And all eyes on Georgia. This is where the balance of power in Washington is going to be decided, two Senate runoff races that are now the center of the political world. Tonight calls from Republicans for the Republican Secretary of State to resign in Georgia.
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BURNETT: Breaking news: Attorney General Bill Barr authorizing federal prosecutors to investigate voter fraud before certifying the election results.
Okay. So there's a new memo, we just have it just out here from the attorney general. Let me quote. He says: Such inquiries and reviews may be conducted if there are clear and apparently credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual state.
OK. Well, just to be very clear, there is no evidence of, quote, clear and apparently credible allegations of irregularities. And Bill Barr knows it. So with all these kind of if and -- if true and if possible, potentially, he knows it's not there.
Phil Mattingly is OUTFRONT at the magic wall.
So, Phil, this memo just coming from Bill Barr, comes as the Trump campaign is filing yet another lawsuit in Pennsylvania. But there are new results showing Biden maintaining a sizable lead.
So, why don't you please show us where are these latest results? What is the margin here? PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDNET: Yeah, let's tick
through the states because the margins are important. In the state of Pennsylvania which CNN has already called for Joe Biden, it's what put him over the top, 270 electoral votes, you'll notice Joe Biden's lead has only served to expand over the course of the last couple of days, currently at 45,000, 45,000-vote lead.
And the reality is this, Erin. There's about 50,000 votes outstanding in Pennsylvania right now and 20,000-plus of them come from Democratic strongholds, Philadelphia and Allegheny County. So the expectation right now in the state of Pennsylvania, despite the lawsuits, despite anything else, is that Joe Biden's lead is going to grow.
I want to flick down to Georgia real quick too because it's a similar story. Right now, Biden's up by 11,414 vote. That's an expanding lead over the course of the last several days. And the reality when you look at Georgia, when you look at what's outstanding, which is not very much at all, this will go to a recount. But Joe Biden is going into a recount with a pretty significant cushion. Recounts don't flip 10,000 votes or more. They might flip 100 here or 100 there. Joe Biden is in good shape in the state of Georgia.
Flip over to Arizona too. It's the last one we're really keeping a close eye on because it's tightened. In this case, Donald Trump has closed the gap significantly over the course of the last couple weeks. Currently down by about 15,000 votes. What we're all watching in this state, Erin, is Maricopa County.
It's the largest county in the state by far. It should have more votes dropping later tonight, probably about an hour and a half. Right now, Donald Trump will need to win north of 60 percent of the remaining votes in the state in order to have a chance to overtake Joe Biden. That's a pretty, pretty tall order, but we're paying attention to it, we're watching closely.
As you noted no real allegations we've heard about that are legitimate of voter fraud in any of these states right now. Mostly just people counting votes as they continue to come in.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Phil Mattingly.
And, you know, just to state the obvious here, right, the Trump campaign and the president are fine with the narrowing margin in Arizona. No allegations of fraud there. Only in the state that he's losing. Because, of course, Pennsylvania's what put Joe Biden over the top. So, you know, Arizona is not going to change the electoral outcome here.
Michael Smerconish is our political commentator, host of "SMERCONISH", Franita Tolson is our election law analyst.
So, Michael, let me just start here with the Attorney General Bill Barr, right, this memo comes out authorizing federal prosecutors to look into substantial allegations of voting irregularities if there is clear and apparently credible, you know, allegations of irregularities. [19:35:09]
There's a lot of kind of talking around in circles here. There is no evidence at this point of any widespread fraud. So what do you make of Barr doing this right now?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I'm sure it's going to be widely criticized. He does say in the latter portion of that brief memo that nothing within that memo should be interpreted as him thinking that there are or him saying that there are credible complaints thus far, but rather he wants to clarify what the role should be.
He says normally -- and item putting this in lay terms, Erin. Normally, it's the states' responsibility but he wants it made clear that with regard to a federal election, if there are clear and credible complaints, they've got authorization to look into them. That's what he wanted to allow people to do.
BURNETT: Okay. So, Michael, and I also just want to be clear to put an exclamation point on what I said here as I introduced you and Franita. The Trump campaign is only kind of pointing at? Places, the places where they're behind to say that they think there's some kind of fraud. Not saying anything about Arizona, right? Where it's getting narrower and narrower and narrower in the president's favor. They don't think those late counting votes are any problem.
SMERCONISH: Well, further evidence to your point, take a look at the federal action that you referred to a moment ago that was filed this afternoon in Pennsylvania's middle district. That's the federal court that sits in Harrisburg. I've just spent time digesting the 85-page complaint.
And it is the Trump campaign against the secretary of state, Kathy Boockvar, who viewers have seen on CNN routinely regularly --
BURNETT: Sure.
SMERCONISH: -- and select boards of election, right?
In other words, it's Allegheny County, it's Philadelphia County, and it's a handful of other counties but not all 67 counties in the commonwealth.
So it's the Trump campaign saying we're concerned about what went on in these particular counties. But to your point, not everywhere.
BURNETT: Right. And, Franita, let's talk about that case. And, you know, obviously, that lawsuit right there saying a violation of equal access only in Democrat-controlled counties, right? Trying to block the state from certifying Biden's win, which I've got to keep just laying these things out here, is looking like it's on track to be double the size in terms of raw votes as Trump's over Hillary Clinton, well outside the margin for a recount. Clinton accepted all of this without any of this brouhaha. So, Franita, when you look at this lawsuit challenging that result in
Pennsylvania and in other states where Biden is leading, you've looked at all of these cases. Do any of them right now hold water when it comes to two things? Are they legitimate, and would they affect the outcome?
FRANITA TOLSON, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: So, no and no. But I do have some thoughts about the concerted action here today. And not that it was explicitly concerted. I'm not making an allegation here.
But the fact that Bill Barr came out with allegations of voter fraud and sort of investigating voter fraud, let me be clear about that, that might necessitate delaying the certification deadline. The fact that this lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania today also requesting that the certification deadline be delayed because of election irregularities.
It seems to me that -- oh, and don't let me forget the Pennsylvania Republicans who've also said the certification deadline should be delayed so that they could conduct an independent audit of the election results, right?
So, it seems like all of this is about messaging as opposed to the legitimacy of any of these complaints. Because if you read the complaints, both the one in Michigan and also the case filed in -- I'm sorry, the case in Michigan and also the one filed in Pennsylvania, you see many of the same claims that we've dealt with in the last six days, right? So you have claims about ballots being -- not being processed correctly, the observers not being close enough to observant vote count and so on.
So, it's all the same claims that have been largely unsuccessful in court. But notable today is the fact that you have this concerted message about delaying the certification deadline in Pennsylvania.
BURNETT: All right. So, Franita, let me ask you about one other point here, because you bring about that talking about certification deadlines gets you to the electoral college and what it actually is slated to do in mid-December.
Some of Trump's allies seem to be pointing to another option if Trump fails in all of these legal avenues, which it appears from your analysis and others of your colleagues, right? You all are coming to the same conclusion, that it does not -- these don't add up, which is to blow up the Electoral College.
So basically, state officials have the power to appoint their electors, and they always do so in favor of whoever won the state. But if they don't, then -- and they go ahead and go rogue and a Republican legislature in Pennsylvania decides to go the other way, they could do that. There are some who are afraid of that.
Do you think that could actually happen?
TOLSON: Erin, so much would have to go wrong. Let's be clear about that. So, under federal law, if there's a failure to elect on Election Day,
the state legislature can then select their own slate of electors. There's no evidence that that'll happen in this case, right?
[19:40:02]
There's no evidence that there will be irregularities such that the certification deadline isn't met at the end of the month.
But let's just say that it is, right? So the state legislature decides that the election is flawed, they want to appoint their own slate, both slates get sent to Congress after the electors meet and vote on the 14th.
Okay. Let's say 14th of December. Let's say that that happens. Well, Congress can then decide on whether or not -- which slate is the legitimate slate. If the House and the Senate split on that, then the executive of the state makes the decision. That is the tiebreaker.
In Pennsylvania, the executive is a Democrat. It's a Democratic governor. In Michigan, it's a Democratic governor. So even then we're still in a situation where this is a Hail Mary pass.
BURNETT: Right, at the very least. Thank you for laying that out.
Thank you so much both of you, Franita and Michael, as always.
And next, Republicans turning on each other in Georgia. It is becoming a brutal world down there. The state's GOP secretary of state refusing to step down. Fellow Republicans are demanding he get out of there.
Tonight, CNN confronts one of those calling for the secretary of state's resignation.
And Pfizer says an early look at data shows its vaccine is more than 90 percent effective. It is a stunning number. It only needed to be 50 percent to get approval. So if this turns out to be true, when can you get the vaccine?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:14]
BURNETT: Breaking news: Top Republicans in Georgia calling for the Republican secretary of state to resign. All eyes now are on Georgia as two of its Senate races are going to runoff elections.
So everything here, they're going to determine the balance of power in the Senate.
Manu Raju is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, welcome to the battleground south. Georgia is the tip of the spear. MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
President-elect Joe Biden's agenda, now shaped by the outcome of two Senate races in Georgia. If Democrats take both seats in the January runoff, there will likely be a 50-50 Senate, with the incoming Vice President Kamala Harris casting tie-breaking votes.
But if the GOP wins one or both seats, Republicans will control a narrow majority. With GOP leader Mitch McConnell setting the chamber's agenda no matter what Biden wants to do.
In one race, 33-year-old Democrat Jon Ossoff mounting an intense battle against the 70-year-old Republican incumbent David Perdue.
JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIE SENATE CANDIDATE: The bottom line is that this is the strongest Democratic turnout ever in the history of this state.
RAJU: With Biden on track to carry Georgia, Democrats are emboldened by the surge of new voters and growth of the Atlanta suburbs, with about 5 million of the state's record 7.6 million registered voters casting ballots this election.
But Georgia has not elected a Democratic senator in 20 years. And in the January 5th runoff, neither President Trump nor Biden will be on the ticket. So it's uncertain how many voters will show up.
Republicans are trying to drive out their base by warning about the prospects of an all-Democratic Washington, saying the Senate needs to be a check on Biden's agenda.
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): The problem is, guys, we already know that it doesn't work. You only have to look at Cuba and Venezuela and Russia and other places in the world where it's been tried.
RAJU: The other Senate seat is occupied by appointed GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler whose Democratic foe Raphael Warnock has been largely unscathed. That's because Loeffler had to first fend off a challenge from GOP Congressman Doug Collins in order to make the runoff. To do that, Loeffler argued she was more conservative than Attila the Hun, stumped with a candidate who promoted the fringe QAnon conspiracy, and argued she was 100 percent pro Trump and did not disagree with him on anything.
(on camera): Are you making yourself unelectable among moderate voters in a runoff?
SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): Look, I have all the momentum in this campaign because Georgians know I'm looking (ph) and fighting for them in Washington.
RAJU (voice-over): Warnock says he's ready for the GOP attacks painting him as the extremist.
AD ANNOUCNER: Raphael Warnock even hates puppies.
WARNOCK: Get ready, Georgia. The negative ads are coming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: And just today, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler sent out a joint statement demanding that the Republican secretary of state in Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, resign in light of what's happening in the Georgia elections. But Raffensperger pushed back, sent -- issued his own statement that he would not resign, criticized the two Republican senators.
And I asked Loeffler about that response. She didn't respond herself, walked in silence, didn't comment -- Erin.
BURNETT: Wow. It is -- it is a brutal world down there right now.
Okay. Thank you very much, Manu.
So I want to go to Van Johnson. He is the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, which was pivotal to Biden's current vote margin and potential victory in the state.
Mayor Johnson, I appreciate your time again.
So Biden's potential win in Georgia was driven by record voter turnout, right? And the last time Georgia had a statewide runoff for the U.S. Senate was in 2008, right? That was a huge year of Democratic enthusiasm with the election of Barack Obama. But when you got to the special election, turnout went down by 54 percent and the Republican won by double digits.
What are you going to do to make sure that does not happen this time?
MAYOR VAN JOHNSON (D), SAVANNAH, GEORGIA: Well, I think -- thank you for the opportunity. Georgia's on everyone's mind right now. We've had some things to happen here, particularly in the person of Stacey Abrams and the X-factor she's brought.
We have people here that are engaged. They are ready. They recognize they made a difference in the national elections. And Georgia's ready to make the difference as relates to a balance of power in the United States Senate.
BURNETT: So let's just talk about the margins here because this is really going to matter, right? You're trying to motivate people, get them out in the beginning of January for these runoffs.
JOHNSON: Sure.
BURNETT: The Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, who, of course, ran in the three-way race with Senator Loeffler and Congressman Collins, got 33 percent of the vote in his race, right? The two Republicans got 46 percent. But he got 33 percent, which when you look at it versus Joe Biden is a significant underperformance, right? Sixteen percentage points below Joe Biden.
Is that a warning sign for the Democrats?
JOHNSON: Well, I think we take the numbers as what they are. [19:50:00]
This is also a jungle primary in which we had 21 people running for this one Senate seat.
Again, I think that Georgians understand the moment of history that they are in. We understand that the name of the game now is turnout. And I believe again, I think what we have been able to pull in Georgia as it relates to the presidential race, we are ready for two Democratic senators here.
And if you look, your prior story just talked about the manic cannibalism that's going on even within the Republican, with two Republican senators calling for the resignation of a Republican secretary of state. I mean, obviously, they clearly worried that Georgia is roaring at this point.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, cannibalism is a good word, right. I mean, it's within their -- within their own party.
JOHNSON: Yeah.
BURNETT: So, the Republican candidates, though, are making a case, that a vote for them is a check on Biden's power in Washington, right? Senator Perdue, you heard him in there, but tweeting, quote: We win these two races, we save the Senate, we save the Senate and save the country. This is what is at stake.
How do Democrats counter that message which, Mayor, of course, was successful in other races in other states, right, where you had people vote Biden at the top of the ticket and vote for Republican Senator -- you know, Susan Collins being an example lower down? Is that message compelling in Georgia?
JOHNSON: No, I don't think it makes sense. I think when you look at 340,000 cases of coronavirus and 8,200 confirmed cases in Georgia, and right here in my community, we almost had 10,000 cases, almost 200 deaths, it is a clear that we need a pathway to help businesses, help people who are suffering from coronavirus.
Obviously, the senators we've had had not worked for us and it's time for us to find some new folks that are going to represent us in D.C.
BURNETT: Mayor Johnson, I appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on again. I appreciate it, sir.
JOHNSON: Thank you so much.
All right. And next, the U.S. is reaching a grim milestone. More than 10 million coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are surging.
And among the infected now, two of Trump's trusted advisers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:56] BURNETT: And we end tonight where we began, the U.S. reaching a grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic with more than 10 million confirmed cases of rising hospitalizations and deaths. Among the new cases, two more members of President Trump's inner circle, the man leading Trump's legal challenges, David Bossie, and HUD Secretary Ben Carson.
Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Did the light at the end of this tunnel just get closer?
Pfizer says its potential vaccine might be more than 90 percent effective, well beyond expectations.
ALBERT BOURLA, PFIZER CEO: I think that likely based on impact, that would be the greatest medical advance in the last 100 years. It's very important day for humanity.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASEDS: We may have doses that we are able to give to people by the end of November, the beginning of December. We would be giving vaccine to people very likely before the end of this year. That is good news.
WATT: But challenges remain.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Just to put it in focus, we did 120million COVID tests in this nation over seven months, scrambling, doing everything we can. We now have to do 330 million vaccinations, maybe twice.
WATT: Meantime in the U.S., this virus is spreading at record rates, for the first time averaging over 100,000 new infections everyday, and nearly 1,000 deaths, rising but not as fast and --
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: We are going to have a record number of hospitalizations this week. Now, 56,000 people are hospitalized, 11,000 are in the ICU, these are big numbers nationally and it's accelerating very quickly.
WATT: While attention was understandably elsewhere --
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: As "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA" continues --
WATT: During what became election week in America, at least three quarters of a million caught this virus and it killed 6,571 people.
The administration will now change, but one thing might stay the same.
FAUCI: I have no intention of leaving. This is an important job. I have been doing it for a long time. I have been doing it under six presidents. It's an important job.
And my goal is to serve the American public no matter what the administration is.
WATT: Meanwhile, Utah now finally has a mask mandate.
GOV. GARY HERBERT (R), UTAH: Masks do not negatively affect our economy. And wearing them is the easiest way to slow the spread of the virus. We cannot afford to debate this issue any longer.
WATT: In Minnesota, more than 10,000 cases confirmed just over the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These rates of growth are truly chilling.
WATT: In New York City, they are nervous again.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: Now, unfortunately, we are seeing a real growth in the positivity rate in the city and that is dangerous. So, we have one last chance to stop a second wave.
WATT: If you look at nationwide spread, these last five days were the worst five days of the pandemic. The next five might be even worse.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much for joining us.
Don't forget, you can watch OUTFRONT anytime, anywhere. As always, just go to CNN.com.
And as always, "AC360" with Anderson starts now.
