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Erin Burnett Outfront

Appeals Court Rejects Trump Challenge in PA, Says "Claims have No Merit" and "Voters, Not Lawyers, Choose the President"; Appeals Court Rejects Trump Challenge in PA: "Charges Require Specific Allegations and then Proof. We have Neither"; U.S. Reports 190,000+ New Coronavirus Cases Today; Second Highest Day Since Start of Pandemic; Woman Says Her Father Died of COVID Just Days Before Thanksgiving; Trump Tells Supporters Not to Boycott Georgia Runoffs. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired November 27, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Stay safe, follow those guidelines, wear your mask, stay healthy, so we can see you next year.

I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks very much for watching us. Happy holidays.

Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the President's claims about the election have no merit that from a Trump appointed judge tonight as the President suffers another devastating setback in his efforts to overturn the election.

Plus, breaking news tonight, the U.S. surpassing 13 million coronavirus cases as the CDC is now set to hold an emergency meeting to determine who should receive the vaccine first.

And a woman who just lost her father and aunt to coronavirus joins me, what she wants every American to know about the virus that is infecting record numbers of people tonight. Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. Welcome to a special edition of OUTFRONT. I'm Pamela Brown in for Erin Burnett on this Friday.

And tonight, a blistering takedown. A federal appeals court flat out rejecting Trump's efforts to challenge the election results. A Trump- appointed judge writing in the opinion, "The Campaign's claims have no merit. The number of ballots it specifically challenges is far smaller than the roughly 81,000-vote margin of victory. And it never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters calling an election unfair does not make it so."

That is the truth. Those are the facts, but the President does not want to hear that because accepting that reality would mean that the President becomes what he fears the most, a loser and a sore loser at that. In a statement, Biden's campaign writes, "This election is over and Donald Trump lost, both in Pennsylvania and nationally." Again, those are the facts, but Trump is not living in that reality.

Instead, he is spouting off more dangerous and baseless claims and even backtracking after saying he'd leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Biden tweeting today.

"Biden can only enter the White House as president if he can prove that his ridiculous '80 million votes' were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he's got a big unsolvable problem." Claims he also made before cameras last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The numbers are false. The numbers are corrupt. It was a rigged election, 100 percent. This election was a fraud. It was a rigged election. I mean, I hate to say it, but this was a rigged at the highest level, it was a rigged election. This election was a rigged election. Thank you very much, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So again, just to quote the federal appeals court, a judge that was appointed by Trump, quote, "Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here."

Kaitlan Collins is live right outside of the White House and MJ Lee is with President-elect Biden in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. But I want to start with you, Kaitlan. Kaitlan, another strong rebuke of the President's voter fraud claims today. The President continues to say that there was voter fraud, but his arguments are really undercut by his lawsuits.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pam. And so many of these rejections or dismissals of these lawsuits that the President and his allies have brought, you've seen this blunt language used by judges to really dismiss the case that they are trying to make, saying that they do not have the evidence to make it. But this might be the most blunt that we've seen since the day of the election, writing in here that it is ballots, not briefs, that decides the outcome of the election.

And of course, voters, not attorneys that are going to make that determination, because basically what this judge who was appointed by the President, we should remind people is making in this argument and in this opinion was that there is no case here at all for the Trump campaign. It's not like they could come back, this judge wrote, basically, they were saying that there's nothing here at all.

And of course, that is now what you're hearing from the President and his allies. They said they were going to try to appeal this to the Supreme Court. That seems unlikely that it's actually going to change anything, but that still remains to be seen.

But if you're looking at what the President told us last night here at the White House, his first time taking questions in three weeks, he has intent on keeping this up. Because one thing he was saying when he was asked, well, would you physically leave the White House come January as some people have wondered whether or not he would do that, the President said of course I will.

But he said January 20, which of course, is when Joe Biden was supposed to be inaugurated is a long ways away. Basically saying they have weeks to continue trying to make their case, trying to overturn the results of this election. Yet we are seeing failure after failure in court. They are not gaining any traction. This isn't actually going anywhere so far and now they've lost or had dismissed or withdrawn, excuse me, about 31 cases since the day of the election.

[19:05:03]

So it continues to build Pam, as their legal arguments are just falling apart. And so I think the question is does the President continue to push this publicly as we've seen him do for the last three weeks when it's very clear, they have very little, if any at all, legal merit that they're standing on right now. And instead, they're talking about what they're saying publicly, but not what they're actually proving in court which, judging by rejections, like the one we saw today is not much.

BROWN: Right. And I mean, the judge said, point blank, you're not alleging fraud here. This is not a fraud case. Even the President's own lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said that in court and one of the cases.

All right. Kaitlan, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. Appreciate it.

Now let's go to MJ Lee. And MJ, President-elect Biden is still pushing ahead with his transition efforts, including what looks to be a historic week with who he may announce as part of his cabinet.

MJ LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Pam. Joe Biden has been spending Thanksgiving weekend here in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. And while things have been relatively quiet today, we do expect a busy week next week.

For one, remember on Monday, he is going to receive the Presidential daily briefing for the first time since he became the President-elect. There has been a bit of a delay as the Biden team waited for the GSA to officially ascertain that he was the winner of this election now that that has happened, those briefings are now going to regularly take place.

And he is also going to be announcing some members of his economic team. Now, we don't know exactly which positions are going to be announced next week. But we do know that Janet Yellen, this is the former Federal Reserve Chairwoman, is expected to be named Joe Biden's Treasury Secretary.

And now earlier this week, you'll remember that he did announced some members of his National Security team, but there were two important omissions. We still don't know who he is going to name as CIA Director. We also don't know who his Defense Secretary is going to be. But our reporting is that some of the names that are being floated right now include Michele Flournoy, this is of course, a veteran Pentagon official. There's also the name of Jeh Johnson. He is the former Secretary of Homeland Security under President Obama. And also Sen. Tammy Duckworth.

Now, it is worth noting that as for this federal appeals court decision about Pennsylvania in trying to revive the lawsuit and then rejecting it, the Biden campaign making it clear Donald Trump has lost this election no matter what he says. This is clearly a reality that Donald Trump himself is not publicly acknowledging, Pam.

BROWN: Right. It's interesting too though the Biden can't believe in a lot of that messaging to lawyers and spokespeople, not a lot from Biden himself. We'll see if that changes. All right. Thanks so much, MJ Lee. We do appreciate it.

And OUTFRONT now, David Gergen, who advised Four Presidents, including Nixon and Clinton, Ben Ginsberg, a Republican election lawyer for four decades and former National Counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaigns in 2000 and 2004. And longtime Republican donor, Dan Aberhart. Thank you, gentlemen, for coming on this Friday, post Thanksgiving, I really appreciate it.

And Ben, let's start with you. Let's just dive right into the Trump campaign losing yet another legal challenge to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania. A federal appeals court saying bluntly the campaign's claims have no merit. But Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis now says on to SCOTUS, as you see in this tweet right here.

Is there any chance, Ben, the Supreme Court could side with team Trump here or is this simply prolonging the inevitable?

BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: It would be hard to imagine that they could. You've got Trump appointee writing the opinion in the Third Circuit. You had a conservative Republican judge writing the District Court opinion, neither of them found anything to do with it.

As you know, Pamela, one of the first things they teach in law school is that if you don't have the facts, pound the law. If you don't have the law, pound the facts. If you don't have the facts or the law, pound the table and we're in the table pounding stage.

BROWN: That's a really good way to put it, table-pounding stage.

All right. So David, President-elect Biden is refusing to dignify the President's baseless claims of election fraud. As I pointed out earlier, letting his campaign and lawyers do much of the talking. Three weeks later, do you think that that is still the right move? Should he come out and be more outspoken about this?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that Joe Biden, so far, Pamela, has been running a very wise and good campaign. I think he's off to one of the best starts I've seen in years and the transition despite the delays. And I think part of that he has been his tone that he is at, he's a calming voice, he's a comforting voice to so many. There are many Americans who were scared, who were getting frightened by what was going on. I think he's gotten everybody to sit back and say thank goodness, he's there, he's the adult in the room.

So I would move away from that. He does probably need a couple of other people, not him, but a couple of other people who can occasionally make a point. Maybe that's going to be Kamala Harris that's when a role of vice president often plays. But I think there's 1905 [00:05:01] have an outstanding attorney who could argue this.

[19:10:05]

Ben would understand the importance of that. There are various ways you can do it without him leaving these high perch. Now, if he gets into a brawl with Mitch McConnell and others, and that could come, we won't know that probably until the Georgia vote, but if he gets into a brawl and they get really nasty, then he's going to have to hit back.

BROWN: All right. So you talked about him maybe getting others to speak out. There's also the question about Republicans. I mean, if you really want to get through to Trump supporters who believe the President, Republican speaking out against it, particularly those who are presidential allies, might have an influence. President Trump, Dan, is still doing and saying all he can to try to undermine an election that he lost three weeks ago, look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The numbers are corrupt. We caught them cheating. We caught them stealing. The only way he got 80 million votes is through a massive fraud. This should never take place in this country. We're like a third world country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So he's comparing a U.S. presidential election to an election in a third world country. Millions of people believe what the President is saying. They hear that, they believe it. And Republicans are largely silent today, how is this possible?

DAN ABERHART, GOP DONOR: Well, first of all, I think that Republican members of the Senate, Republican members of the Congress really need to step up or step out right now. What we need is leadership from below in the Republican Party, so people that are elected officials but below the President to really come out and say, look, Mr. President, unfortunately, you lost, Biden won and the country needs to move on, the Republican party needs to move on.

I think that Trump is really creating a stain on his legacy right now. If he wants to be remembered for the Supreme Court shift or the tax cuts or one of his other America first policies, he needs to keep quiet and show a little bit of grace right now. Instead, he's doing the opposite and tripling down. And I think it's damaging the Republican brand.

BROWN: Well, but the Republicans, I mean, you're saying it's damaging the Republican brand, then why aren't they saying more? Why aren't they speaking out more, Dan? I mean, you're a Republican, how does it make you feel?

ABERHART: Well, it makes me feel frustrated, because I think the party and the Republicans need to be focused on making Mitch McConnell stronger right now, which is winning these two seats in Georgia and then we need to be focused on winning the next election and taking the house back in 2022. And we can't do that, Trump has frozen everything.

These Republican senators, Republican Congressman, Republican governors, they're afraid of the Trump tweet and I think we need to get over that as a part of the Republican Party and we need to figure out how to move forward. And Trump is trying to freeze the field to increase his leverage on 2022 and potentially another run in 2024.

BROWN: Okay. So Ben, I'm going to get to you in a second, but I want to just get David Gergen's perspective here, given his longtime experience. As Dan just laid out, Republicans are scared, they're worried about the Trump tweet.

But overall, when it comes to this country, why, in your view, why is this concerning for this country what's happening right now with millions of people believing this president that election was stolen from him? How could that be a threat to democracy as a whole?

GERGEN: It's a very serious threat to democracy. Trust in the government and trust in national institutions have been declining now for a long time for decades. It's accelerated under Donald Trump and what we know from other western nations which had been democracies that have turned to strong men in times of stress, it could happen here in America and Donald Trump is certainly encouraging that outcome.

He's had over 400 tweets since the election saying this was fraudulent. He's now got three quarters of Republicans in various polls say that Trump is going to be an illegitimate fraudulent president. And what that means, Pamela, is that negotiations start stimulus for other things, there are a lot of Republicans. I'm sad to say we're going to be feeling a lot of pressure from their base, not to negotiate, not to deal with this fraudulent process, to drive him out, to close him down and see if you can bring him down.

I've never seen a presidency begin on that kind of tone and I think it's very dangerous. It's certainly going to make it more difficult for Joe Biden to negotiate successfully to have a great start to his hundred days. (Inaudible) he has a character to be president, he's shown he has the empathy to be president. Let's not spoil it before he even gets out of the gate.

BROWN: And you have the ...

ABERHART: I agree, if I could ...

BROWN: ... oh, go ahead, Dan, I want to make sure I get Ben in here, but go ahead quickly.

ABERHART: Yes. I was just going to say that this idea of weaponizing the loss of further foaming your base I think is dangerous to democracy and it's really going to create a systemic problem if this becomes a pattern in the future. What we really need from President Trump right now is grace.

BROWN: The longer that Republicans though stay silent, it seems like the more this is going to get baked in with the base is what this appears - that's what appears to be happening.

[19:15:02]

And then on top of that, Ben, you had President Trump yesterday saying that he would leave the White House on January 20th. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If the Electoral College does elect President- elect Joe Biden, are you not going to leave this building?

TRUMP: Just so you - certainly I will. Certainly, I will and you know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: But as we know, Ben, now he's walking that back, tweeting, "Biden can only enter the White House as president, if he can prove that his ridiculous '80 million votes' were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. I'm just curious, as you hear the President and you see tweets like this and then you compare that to what's playing out in courts, it seems like his legal battle is actually undercutting any fraud case he's trying to sell to the public. But does that even matter?

I mean, it seems as though his followers are going to listen to him even though you have judges like today, appointed by Trump saying this has no merit.

GINSBERG: Absolutely right. But what is 100 percent true is the Constitution says his term ends at noon on January 20th, so he will be gone and he is mounting up a longer and longer string of losses. We should only hope he takes this case in Pennsylvania up to the Supreme Court, because that will explode the other myth that judges are just going to lay down for him and do his bidding, because they're Republican judges.

So the more the President goes along in this fashion, it really is counterproductive to what he apparently wants to do. But the process is going to work just like around the country, any number of Republican officials and poll watchers and volunteers did the right thing so that the President's comments now appear all the more ridiculous.

And what his followers will see once he is out of office is that there were a lengthy string of losses, losses, losses, and that in effect is going to be part of his legacy when we look back at this.

BROWN: And so basically, you're saying even if they appeal like this Pennsylvania case to the Supreme Court, assuming the Supreme Court does not hand the Trump camp a win, that would only validate Biden's victory as president and invalidate the President's argument.

GINSBERG: Yes. The legitimacy of the Biden victory is even stronger if the President does take this case to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court rejects it, which I'm confident they will.

BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, gentlemen; Ben Ginsberg, Dan Aberhart and David Gergen. A really interesting discussion. I appreciate you coming on and sharing your time with us.

ABERHART: Thank you.

GERGEN: Thanks, Pamela.

GINSBERG: Thanks.

BROWN: And OUTFRONT up next, we have some breaking news for you as cases and hospitalizations hit new records. The CDC is preparing to hold an emergency meeting about who gets the vaccine first.

Plus, I'll speak to a woman whose father was infected with coronavirus and died just a few days before Thanksgiving. Tonight she has a message that every American needs to hear.

And why the President is having to shift his message after claiming Georgia's elections are riddled with fraud. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:21:51]

BROWN: More breaking news tonight, the U.S. is reporting nearly 190,000 new coronavirus cases already tonight. That is the second highest number since the start of this pandemic. The total number of cases surpassing 13 million and the surge in cases is leading to a major crackdown in Los Angeles announced just moments ago.

Let's bring in Nick Watt. He is OUTFRONT from Los Angeles tonight. So what can you tell us, Nick, about this new order?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, authorities are saying that case numbers remain at alarming levels. So from Monday and for nearly three weeks, Angelenos are being advised to stay home as much as possible and basically we will not be allowed to mix with anyone outside our immediate household.

You can go to church. You can go to protests. They say that's constitutionally protected, but basically what they are trying to do here is keep a lid on this virus in this stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATT(voice over): Americans were urged not to travel for the holiday. Millions did anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. LEANA WEN, FORMER BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH COMMISSIONER: I am so

worried about everything that's happening over Thanksgiving, because we have a massive surge on top of another massive surge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT(voice over): That massive surge in numbers more than 100,000 new cases logged every day for 25 days straight. Thanksgiving Day more than 90,000 Americans in the hospital with COVID-19, yet another all time high.

On average, more than 1,500 deaths are now reported every day. Some experts say that could double in the coming weeks. But take Florida, the Governor just extended his ban on local government enforcing mask mandates with fines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important job of an elected official, whether you're president, you're governor or you're mayor is public safety and health. If we all do these things, we will reduce our numbers, less people will get sick and less people will go to the hospital and unfortunately die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT(voice over): National daily case counts and death tolls will dip the next few days, don't be fooled. Some states aren't reporting over the holiday, the world this country not in a good place as we wait for a vaccine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The vaccines are being delivered literally. It'll start next week and the week after.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT(voice over): Very unlikely. The FDA hasn't even authorized a vaccine yet. Their advisory committee meets December 10th, a decision could take days even weeks. So likely late December best case for first shots in arms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Don't let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT(voice over): The President is playing politics still even in defeat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYRA MADAD, SENIOR DIRECTOR, SPECIAL PATHOGENS, NYC HEALTH AND HOSPITALS: The political theater absolutely has to stop. People are much more reluctant and hesitant, even healthcare workers. I'm in a health care setting and health care workers are also hesitant even though they're going to be the first priority group because of all of this politicalization of everything that's been going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT(on camera): So the FDA authorizes the vaccine but the CDC decides who gets it first and they've just scheduled a meeting for Tuesday for their advisory committee.

[19:25:02]

They're going to talk and vote on that very issue. They're doing it so states can get their distribution plan in place. They're doing it so everyone can get their ducks in a row. So as soon as the FDA gives a green light, they are ready to move, Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Nick Watt, thank you so much in Santa Monica, California for us.

And OUTFRONT now, Dr. Celine Gounder. She is an infectious disease specialist and member of President-elect Joe Biden's Coronavirus Advisory Board. Great to see you, Dr. Gounder.

We just heard Nick talk about this emergency meeting on Tuesday to vote on who will receive this vaccine first. I'm just curious about Biden's involvement in this, your involvement, the other doctors' involvement in this. We know Biden has said he thinks healthcare workers should be among the first to get it, what more do you know about this?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, BIDEN COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: Well, other than health care workers, others who will be first in line to get it will be people who do have chronic underlying medical conditions who are older as well as communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic.

Now, among those groups is where it starts to get a little bit more contentious. How do you prioritize between the 85-year-old woman in a nursing home versus the 65-year-old African American, especially when that 65-year-old maybe is just as high risk of some significant disease. So that's where it gets a bit more political and frankly this is where the President-elect is leaving it to the public health experts and scientists to figure out how best to allocate the limited supply first.

BROWN: So the U.S. is reporting 17 straight days of record hospitalizations more than 90,000 Americans in hospitals with coronavirus. You have said this is your biggest concern right now, health care workers are overwhelmed and it's only expected to get worse as cases surge after the holidays. What can Joe Biden do to address this that the Trump administration is not doing right now?

GOUNDER: Well, unfortunately, Pamela, the surge is really going to hit before President-elect Biden takes office. We are going to see additional transmission as Dr. Wen said in the previous segment, a surge on top of a surge. You're going to see that from the Thanksgiving holiday and people getting together over the last couple days.

So in about one to two weeks, you'll start to see people getting sick, another week or two after that, you'll see hospitalizations, and then deaths. And so people who don't even realize they're infected today will be in the hospital or in ICUs over Christmas and New Year's. And unfortunately, that's also a time of year when hospitals are often operating on skeleton crews, because doctors and nurses and other health care workers want to take time off to be with their families themselves.

BROWN: And it's the flu season, COVID, I'm recovering myself from a cold and I didn't know do I have COVID and scramble to get tested, I mean, it's a time where resource are already strained and they're just going to be more strained.

I mean, just to think Dr. Gounder, we're talking right now and so many people from right now through the end of the year are going to find out they have COVID, then they're going to be hospitalized and then they're going to die essentially, that's what you're saying, right?

GOUNDER: That is what I'm saying. So unfortunately, this is already in the works because of transmission that has been happening this week. All I can say is I really do hope people will take this seriously with the other holidays that are coming up in December, that people will wear masks, stick to their household bubbles, socially distance and if they're going to be around other people do it outside.

BROWN: So I'm just wondering, the U.S. is reporting more than 1,300 deaths a day already, bringing that death toll to more than 264,000 lives lost to this virus. When you advise President-elect Joe Biden and you lay out these numbers, how bad are you warning this could get for him when he takes off? As you alluded to, it's going to get worse before he takes office and then beyond, how are you advising him about this?

GOUNDER: Well, we do have to be prepared for that. So that means really trying to be prepared in terms of surge capacity. And unfortunately, our weakest link in that is the health care workers. It's not possible to manufacture health care workers in a month or two. It takes years of training to get people ready to take the take on those roles. Where we have a bit more flexibility is standing up field hospitals, perhaps tapping into some of the resources within the military, some of their hospitals and personnel. So that is certainly something that we may well have to look at least until we can get this current surge of transmission under control.

BROWN: All right. Dr. Celine Gounder, as always, thank you for coming on and sharing your important perspective as someone who has insight into what's going on behind the scenes to fight this pandemic.

And OUTFRONT up next, a woman says her mother, father, brother all came down with COVID. [19:30:03]

Her father eventually lost his life to the virus. Tonight, her message on what could save your life or the life of your loved ones.

Plus, President Trump traveling to Georgia to campaign for the Republican senators and their runoff election. How will that impact the race?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Tonight, an emotional plea from a woman whose father just died from coronavirus.

Hina Patel lost her father earlier this week. She says he started feeling flu-like symptoms after attending a family funeral out of state, and then tested positive after returning home last month. Earlier this week, he passed away.

OUTFRONT now, Hina Patel joins us.

Hina, thank you for having the courage to come on after just losing your dad to share your story.

You wrote a long, heartbreaking Twitter thread about your family's experience with COVID. It only took a month from the time your father experienced flu-like symptoms to passing away. Tell us what happened.

HINA PATEL, LOST DAD AND AUNT TO COVID: Yeah, again, just a very quick, just with everything happening.

[19:35:03]

As you mentioned, it started off with a funeral unfortunately for my dad's brother-in-law, when it was a non-COVID death. And him being him and just wanting to be near family, wanted to support my aunt. And unfortunately, I think there were family members, it was a larger funeral, and then people coming through my aunt's household. Who knows how it came through?

But from there, it just spread, took a life on its own. Once my dad came back and my mom came back from Florida, it just took over the household. So about 3 1/2 weeks ago is when my dad was first hospitalized.

And, you know, we were very hopeful. We spoke to the physician last -- this evening who came by just to pay his condolences and said we were hopeful your dad would do well, because when he was in the E.R., he was doing pretty good.

But just very quickly, 3 1/2 weeks, we had his funeral on Wednesday. It was family members only. Broadcast by zoom. We didn't want to put others at risk. I think we have learned our lesson. Even with my mom, there were three people in my household, we had three different outcomes.

My brother was hospitalized. He came home within six days. It's just been all around.

And then, unfortunately, my aunt succumbed to COVID, as well in this time period. And my dad never knew his sister passed away. So it's just -- both families are still reeling from all of this.

BROWN: And what really stuck out to me, maybe because I had to go through this with my mom this year was the fact that you couldn't really communicate with him over FaceTime. I mean, you couldn't be there by his bedside, reassuring him, holding his hand. I know I was on FaceTime with my mom this year when he was in a coma trying to tell her how much I love her. So, she passed away not from COVID.

But it's just so unbearable to see our loved one over FaceTime, like you put out on this Twitter thread, saying I'm scared to you, to his daughter. And there's really nothing you could do to console him in person. What was that like for you?

PATEL: I mean, it broke my heart when he said that. He said it to my siblings as well. And to control yourself in that situation and to be strong for my dad, to say it's going to be okay, it's going to be okay.

There are things I didn't even put on the thread that was just so emotional for me. Just for example, when I was home, while he was in the hospital, I noticed because his iPad is connected with his phone, he had taken a bunch of selfies of himself. I saw his progression of when he was on just a nasal flow, then the CPAP machines. He has pictures of himself.

Seeing that and unexpectedly seeing that, I didn't know he had done that, he had taken pictures of his room. You could see the isolation. He was by himself. And to me, I mean, even seeing those pictures, I had a breakdown.

BROWN: Understandably, this is your father by himself. And, I mean, like you said, he had to be alone, as doctors one day say things are going to be better and the next day, he's being intubated.

And you had to give -- you had to give the okay for that over the phone from your Twitter, from what I read. And before this happened, I'm just curious. I'm sure you saw and read stories about other families hit hard by COVID. How did going through this impact your perspective?

And what is the -- what do you want to tell people? Like those people out there right now who are still downplaying COVID, what do you want to say to them?

PATEL: Absolutely. I mean, this is why I'm here today, is how do I make this tragedy into something positive? As I put on my Twitter thread, my sorrow should be your lesson. I don't want anybody to have to go through this, what we had to go through as a family.

And what I want to say is, take precautions. You know, my dad, all year long, he's diabetic, had some heart disease, so he knew what to do when he was home all year long, and support the family. He wanted to go see his sister, and it was just maybe somebody we don't know that came in and not thinking about it and a just started the whole system.

But to your point earlier when you were discussing, social distancing. I came home knowing the risk that my brother and my mom was positive at the same time, because I needed to make sure they were okay.

My sister-in-law and I both were masked, we were face shielded. We were constantly washing our hands, disinfecting. So we were taking the proper precautions.

And, you know, one thing I want to point out, I'm a participant in one of the vaccine trails, and because I felt like I'm pretty sure I got an active vaccine, I felt a little more comfortable. But that still didn't stop me from going through all the proper precautions of the personal protective equipment.

[19:40:07]

And again, just double masking, washing hands and wearing a face shield. And both she and I never got sick.

So, I think again, people need to think hard if they're thinking masks don't do anything. It does do something. It protects you, but it can protect somebody else, as well. So, this is my mission.

BROWN: Well, exactly. And you saw -- I mean, you have the perspective of, you know, what you were going through, seeing your dad suffer. Also as a health care professional, you're a pharmacist, and going through the trial, the vaccine trial, just remarkable.

I want to just end on talking about your dad and I want to give you this opportunity to tell the world about your dad. What do you want them to know about him?

PATEL: Oh, gosh. Bear with me, because my father, as I said to him, when they did let us in the room that I couldn't have asked for a better father, just an amazing man who raised four amazing children, was a wonderful husband. My parents were married for 52 years.

And they -- just hearing stories from his friends of the impact that my dad had on them, and just -- my dad was one of those who helped everybody. That's where I feel like I get it from. How can I make somebody better? What can I do to help somebody who doesn't have the same fortunate life that I do?

I want to continue that legacy. I really can't explain what a wonderful man he was. It's hard for me, and I think the devastation from this, my heart is completely broken. It will never heal from this.

BROWN: I'm getting a little emotional. Because saying those goodbyes is the hardest thing in the world and you just had to do it. And you're so brave and courageous to come on the air. So thank you.

PATEL: Thank you. And your mother passed away, so my condolences to you as well, so you know how this feels.

BROWN: It's very hard time, it's a very hard time for everyone. And it's important that you share these stories, because people need to know how real and serious it is. So thank you so much, Hina.

PATEL: Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

BROWN: I want to go to Dr. Jonathan Reiner. And he advised the White House medical unit under President George W. Bush.

Doctor, excuse me for being emotional, but, you know, just hearing stories like that, it's just heart wrenching. I obviously have gone through a lot as well, losing my mom this year during the pandemic, and not because of COVID, she had something else. But it's just -- it is such a difficult time. And I'm curious, as you hear stories like Hina's, how representative is it of what the average American has to go through when a loved one succumbs to COVID?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It really resonated with me, Pamela. You know, I read her really very evocative thread on Twitter, and I had tears in my eyes.

It also filled me with anger. Anger that it didn't need to be this bad in this country. An intense sadness as to how much we have lost. And not just how much we have lost, but how much we have suffered in this country.

You know, the chyron on the screen gives us sort of a quantitative number of deaths, which I'm afraid we're becoming numb to. But what Ms. Patel so eloquently and sadly described is the suffering. You know, her dad didn't just suddenly die. He struggled for a month in the hospital like so many people are doing.

And then I was really proud that she also mentioned the health care team that cared for her father, and how cognizant she was of their struggle.

BROWN: Uh-huh.

REINER: You know, what I would say to people in this country is, as we move into the holiday season, if you see someone, you know, in a supermarket or somewhere wearing a scrubs, maybe a nurse, maybe a respiratory tech --

BROWN: I think it just froze. We just lost him.

But I think he was saying, look, share your thanks with these health care workers on the front lines fighting this pandemic. They are exhausted.

We thank you to Dr. Jonathan Reiner for coming on and sharing his thoughts.

And OUTFRONT next, Trump backtracking a bit after claiming Georgia's election had been rife with fraud. But have his repeated attacks hurt Republicans' chances in the state's special election? And a federal appeals court delivering a major blow to Trump's efforts

to overturn the results of the 2020 election. So, what is the president's next move? We're going to discuss this next.

Stay with us.

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[19:48:51]

BROWN: Well, tonight, President Trump is urging Republicans not to boycott the Georgia runoff election. Some of his supporters have said now they're not going to vote because of widespread fraud in Georgia, repeating a baseless claim made by the president. And it comes with a lot of risk, as these races determine who controls the Senate.

Ryan Nobles is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For decades, Georgia was a reliably red state. But no more.

ANDRA GILLESPIE, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Georgia is not accustomed to being a swing state.

NOBLES: President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state is the first for a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992. Four years ago, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton here by five points, more than 200,000 votes. In 2018, Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly lost her bid for governor by 55,000 votes, less than two points.

That trend gave Democrats confidence Georgia could be competitive in 2020.

Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University believes the state's political transformation has been many years in the making.

GILLESPIE: Democrats have been calling Georgia on the cusp of being a swing state for a number of years, but this was the first year that they actually realized it.

CROWD: Let's vote blue!

[19:50:01]

NOBLES: The question now is whether Democrats can realize it again in six weeks.

With two Senate seats up for grabs and a pair of historic runoffs, the results will decide which party will control the chamber.

Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are making Senate control a key part of their appeal to voters, arguing that a Democratic Senate would pull the country too far to the left. SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): What Chuck Schumer is saying publicly, this

isn't in hiding or in secret meetings, he's telling us. He wants to change the voting rules in the Senate so he can do anything he wants with 50 votes.

So, if they get our two seats, it would be 50/50. And what it means is that the tie breaker would be the vice president. And so, they don't have a majority.

NOBLES: And they're counting on a boost from President Trump, who has promised to campaign in Georgia next weekend.

TRUMP: Speaking of Georgia, I will be going there. I spoke with the two great senators, they're great senators, Kelly and David. We're going to have a tremendous turnout, because we seem to always have a good turnout.

NOBLES: Georgia Republicans hope that's a message that resonates with the party's voters.

It has with GOP voter George Hollender, a loyal supporter of the president.

GEORGE HOLLENDER, REPUBLICAN SUPPORTER: It's extremely important that everybody in the state of Georgia who Republicans get out and vote and it's extremely important that they get that message out.

2020 turnout passed 2016 by more than 9,000 votes. Michael hill to turn out and up end the historic GOP dominant in the election.

NOBLES: But Democrats believe the pool of voters in Georgia is bigger than ever before, with 2020 turnout surpassing 2016 by more than 900,000 votes. The party is hoping that Biden surprise win will inspire Democratic voters like Michael Hill, to turn out, and upend the historic GOP dominance in runoff elections.

MICHAEL HILL, DEMOCRATIC SUPPORTER: This election is very important for the Senate, so get, out and vote. Do it just like you did for Joe Biden, you got to get out, same thing for Jon Ossoff, and Raphael Warnock.

NOBLES: Ossoff and Warnock are aiming to not only draw from a bigger pool of Democrats, but also, tap into independents, and Republicans, who have soured on the president.

JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA SENATE CANDIDATE: We are reaching out to voters of all backgrounds, with all views, reaching out, humbly to ask their support.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBLES: Now, in the past, runoffs have been very good to Republicans here in Georgia. But this battleground is so much different than it has been in past years. One thing, for sure, is that there are so many dynamics in play, and each of them will be important. The only prediction anyone in Georgia is making is that the outcomes will likely be very close -- Pam.

BROWN: All right. Thanks so much, Ryan Nobles, for bringing us the latest in Georgia.

And OUTFRONT now, Astead Herndon, national political reporter for "The New York Times". He was just in Georgia covering the runoff last week.

So, Astead, you actually interviewed Stacey Abrams, who's largely credited with turning Georgia blue for Biden. She told you she thinks this coalition will hold for the runoff, saying, quote, you build a muscle memory of voting for people who turned out.

What is your sense on the ground about whether Democrats can actually pull this off?

ASTEAD HERNDON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah, I mean, this is the key question here. We know the Republican base is going to be energized, particularly around the question of keeping one chamber of Congress within Republican control. The question is, can Democrats bring that same coalition we saw in November, even in a runoff election, where we usually see lower turnout?

Their argument that Stacey Abrams, and other Democrats are making, is that this isn't something that came together in the name of Donald Trump in November, that this is a growing mosaic of what Georgia looks like, that was building in 2016, built in her 2018 race, came into fruition in 2020, but will not stop.

They say that's through kind of suburban voters, out in the Atlantic regions, and a kind of base support of kind of core Democratic constituencies, younger voters, non-white voters and the rest. And as those populations grow, they see that this is going to be a consistent coalition and this will be the first test.

BROWN: So, Trump is now saying that he can go twice to Georgia before the election in Georgia. So far, there are no plans for President- elect Joe Biden to do the same. How do you think this is going to impact the race?

HERNDON: Yeah. I mean, President Trump is the driver of Republican turnout, particularly among white conservatives in rural regions. The senators have wanted that community to feel energized, and would welcome that support. They are playing to the base, they are playing to motivate Republicans, they think it is enough in the state.

What Democrats are opening instead of President Trump visit will inspire a backlash, will make this another referendum, and the same people who voted for Joe Biden in November, will come, out again. They don't necessarily need Joe Biden to come down to Georgia to make that affirmative, that is what the candidates are doing themselves.

It's a funny situation where both Democrats, and Republicans, think that they could benefit if President Trump decides to make Georgia a referendum on himself.

BROWN: It's interesting, because President Trump is sending mixed messages to Georgia voters. Today, he spoke out against calls to supporters to boycott the runoff election because of baseless claims of fraud in that state saying, quote, we must go out and help David and Kelly, two great people.

[19:55:03]

Otherwise, we are playing right into the hands of some very sick people. But this just comes one day after Trump complained without evidence that Georgia has, a quote, fraudulent system. It seems like he is grappling with how to square his election loss, which he basically blames on fraud there, with encouraging support from the Senate runoff.

HERNDON: Exactly, he is both trying to have he's trying to have this both ways -- both to say that the loss to Joe Biden in Georgia was not a real one, but at the same time, saying it is necessary to vote these two senators in, so Democrats don't have control of both congress, and the White House. That was, presumably, that Joe Biden wants the president elect, something he is refused to acknowledge.

But I think this is not a president who does things by strategy, but, basically, what survives the next 10 minutes. And so, what some of conservative media outlets in regions that support him, have been saying that this election was fraudulent, he also wants to say what Republicans are saying, which is to vote for the senators, to keep control in conservative hands.

BROWN: All right. Thank you so much, Astead Herndon.

HERNDON: Thank you so much.

BROWN: And OUTFRONT up next, breaking news, the former top official Trump fired after he called this election the most secure in American history is speaking out. What he said tonight about Trump's claims of fraud.

And, Iran confirms at one of the masterminds behind its nuclear program has been assassinated. Who could have carried out this attack?

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