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Erin Burnett Outfront
In Major Blow to Trump, A.G. Barr Says There's No Evidence Of Fraud That Would Change Election Outcome; DOJ Investigating Potential Presidential Pardon Bribery Scheme; Source: Trump Associates Appealing To Trump For Pardons; U.S. Reports More Than 2,300 Coronavirus Deaths So Far Today; First Shipments Of Pfizer Vaccines To Be Delivered In Two Weeks; Biden Unveils Economic Team; Georgia's GOP Election Chief: Trump Inciting Potential Violence. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 01, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @WOLFBLITZER. Tweet the show @CNNSITROOM.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, Barr breaks with Trump now saying there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud. One person though standing strong by the President, Rudy Giuliani, who's asked the President for a preemptive pardon.
Plus breaking news, the CDC Advisory Board voting tonight on who should get the coronavirus vaccine first. One of the doctors who just cast his vote is OUTFRONT.
And Joe Biden says help is on the way. The President-elect introducing his new economic team tonight, his advisors though already facing some tough pushback. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, Bill Barr bails, deserting Trump on voter fraud. The Attorney General tonight says the Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of any fraud that would change the outcome of the election.
Now, Bill Barr has been beyond loyal to Trump, beyond loyal. So this is a major and public shaming of his boss, who tonight continues to peddle his baseless conspiracy theories. Barr bailing now telling The Associated Press, "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election." So now, even Bill Barr says there's no evidence of mass voter fraud.
When Trump has lost Barr, it's over. I mean, remember, this is the same Bill Barr, the same Attorney General who has done Trump's personal bidding at nearly every turn since he was confirmed in February of 2019. He actually even opened the door to Trump's conspiracy theory on mail-in voting before the election and he has been lockstep with Trump on everything from lockdowns to the deep state to spying on Trump's campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You can't do the mail-in ballots because you're going to have tremendous fraud.
BILL BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: I do think it increases the opportunity for fraud.
TRUMP: Under Biden's lockdown, you'll be living in a prison state.
BARR: Putting a national lockdown, stay-at-home orders is like house arrest.
TRUMP: They spied on me. They spied on our campaign.
BARR: I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. I think that spying did occur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: By the way, tonight he's still pushing that angle. But it's clear Barr has no trouble parroting Trump, you just saw that for yourself. So for him to publicly call foul on Trump's fraud conspiracy is a major abandonment of Trump on what is right now the single most important thing in his presidency, his desire to hold on to power.
And it leaves Trump on an island of only his most diehard sycophant on this issue, the only people left people like Rudy Giuliani. In a statement along with Trump campaign Attorney Jenna Ellis, Giuliani defending Trump against Barr writing, "With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn't been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation." Giuliani adding, "His opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud."
Giuliani continuing to peddle a dangerous lie and he knows it's a lie. The truth is that Barr has no knowledge of systemic fraud, because there has been absolutely no evidence of systemic fraud, which we've seen in state after state, Republican and Democratic-led. Giuliani continues to lose in court again and again and again on these issues, because judges appointed by members of both political parties have said he simply has produced no proof to back up any of his allegations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: I know crooks really well. You give them an inch and they take a mile, and you give them a mile and they take your whole country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So that's what he's saying, crooks running the election. Why is Giuliani ruining any sense of professional credibility or dignity that he even has left at this point, peddling these kinds of lies for Trump, talking about Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and George Soros? I mean, this is crazy stuff. Well, one possible reason is what we're learning tonight that Giuliani
has been speaking to Trump hoping to obtain a pardon before he leaves office, hoping to get a pardon. And we're also learning Giuliani is not the only one from Trump's inner circle who wants a pardon, a preemptive pardon.
And as for Trump, sources tell CNN he knows the writings on the wall, but undermining our democracy has been very good for lining his pockets. The President has raised $170 million since Election Day. A lot of this from small donors and he's done this by lying to them about fraud that didn't exist. The President should listen to his Attorney General.
This dangerous effort to undermine the election is destroying his supporters' trust in free and fair elections. It is deeply unpatriotic. He is hurting them and he's hurting the country, because just listen to what they have told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole election is a farce.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe the election results?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there was large scale cheating. I think there was large-scale voter fraud and it has to be brought out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:05:00]
BURNETT: He is the one who is responsible for those very serious misunderstandings. Trump's baseless claims are also putting lives at risk now. Here's Gabriel Sterling, one of Georgia's top election officials, a lifelong Republican. You've seen him on the show many times.
He called out one of the President's campaign lawyers for saying a top DHS official who said that was no voter fraud should be quote drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA'S VOTING SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: It all gone too far, all of it. Joe diGenova today asked for Chris Krebs, a patriot who ran CISA to be shut. A 20 something tech in Gwinnett County today has death threats and a noose put out saying he should be hung for treason, because he was transferring a report on batches from EMS to a county computer so he could read it. It has to stop.
Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Incredibly powerful words and it is true. Mr. President, you have not condemned any of it. You have encouraged it.
Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT live outside the White House. Kaitlan, a major rebuke of Trump tonight from the man that he handpicked to be Attorney General, who was one of his closest allies in his entire administration. By the way, still standing by him on the whole spying on his administration thing, but turning on him on this most crucial thing.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right and you are completely correct to point out just how notable this is, compared to what Barr was telling Wolf Blitzer before the election when he was giving air to this idea that something like this could happen, that a foreign government could print tens of thousands of ballots when election experts were saying that just wasn't possible or likely.
And now, Bill Barr is one of the highest ranking people we've seen break with the President by simply coming out and telling the truth saying that they've looked into these allegations coming out of the Trump campaign and from the President's legal team and he says neither the Justice Department nor the Department of Homeland Security has been able to find anything to back up these claims.
Especially that one coming from the President that he's been repeating several times about those voting machines changing votes from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. Bill Barr says they looked into that they haven't seen any evidence of that. And so, of course, immediately after Barr made these comments, you saw the President's legal team come out and rebuke him, criticize him, say there's been no real semblance of a DOJ investigation.
But we have not heard from the President himself yet and it's not clear whether we will, because we've seen Bill Barr rebuke the President in the past like when he was tweeting about investigations, tweeting about Roger Stone and the President did not respond. So we will be waiting to see if the President does respond to this very public rebuke of him by the Attorney General.
BURNETT: And so important when they keep saying these voting machines. There's been no evidence the Department of Justice now says that. In Georgia, they said, look, when you mean not only is there no evidence, they've looked through it.
They have a paper ballot backup for every single vote cast in the State of Georgia. They've never had that before they've called the most secure election they've ever had. These are the facts that people need to understand. And yet Giuliani, Kaitlan, is out there peddling things that he knows to be complete lies and we are now learning that Giuliani and others, I suppose, other Trump allies you've been reporting on, are now pushing him to pardon them, to preemptively pardon them, right?
COLLINS: Yes. And it's not just pardon them, it's also pardon some of their clients that we've heard of attorneys approaching the White House about this. Sean Hannity last night was encouraging the President to pardon himself or his family for fear that people are going to come after them. So that certainly is a conversation that's being had inside the White House that there could be many more pardons to come not just Mike Flynn, like you saw, of course, last week.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan Collins. I appreciate that.
Let's get down to Constitutional Law Professor Harvard, Laurence Tribe, also was a member of Al Gore's legal team in 2000 for Bush versus Gore. Let me just ask you, Professor Tribe, you've not held back your criticism of Attorney General Barr. You've called him a pathetic poor signed puppet for the President in a great example of alliteration. Your reaction to Barr tonight saying there's no evidence of widespread fraud in this election to actually standing up to the President clearly on this.
LAURENCE TRIBE, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: It seems to me that he finally decided that he's got at least some reason to protect his own reputation and he will not go any further on behalf of the President. When Rudy Giuliani says that Barr doesn't know what he's talking about, he hasn't investigated, that's really rich. I mean, what the hell does Rudy Giuliani know?
Barr has basically nailed the lid on the coffin of this absolute myth that the election was stolen.
[19:09:58]
But when a guy like Joe diGenova representing the President says without being rebuked that Chris Krebs who was in charge of the President's team that Homeland Security ought to be drawn and quartered and beheaded because he dares to question the existence of fraud, we are entering a really dangerous universe.
And the President in saying nothing to discourage it is guilty of inciting, essentially murder.
BURNETT: Yes. So I want to talk about Rudy Giuliani and also in the context of some reporting, some breaking news that we're getting. So Rudy Giuliani we know is among the Trump allies asking for a pardon, a preemptive pardon.
TRIBE: Right.
BURNETT: And we're also getting breaking news about the DOJ now. Tonight, Professor investigating a potential bribery scheme for a presidential pardon. Now, we understand this investigation was launched back in August. So do you connect these dots? Yes.
TRIBE: It seems to me - it's very important, everybody agree that you can't partner with someone ahead of the time that they actually commit a crime. That kind of preemptive pardon is impossible. And yet, when you are engaged in bargaining with somebody about a possible pardon at a time when they are still engaged in all kinds of shenanigans, you are essentially saying, go ahead commit crimes if you want and retrospectively, I'll give you the kind of sweeping pardon that I have now given Michael Flynn.
It's an extreme abuse of the pardon power, almost as extreme as the self-pardon that Hannity has now urged Trump to grant himself. It's all an absolute violation of fundamental constitutional principles.
BURNETT: So do you think there could be a quid pro quo here? You use the word bribery, but that Giuliani is out there now talking about these bizarre conspiracy theories, there's no facts behind any of it. It's made up stuff, right about Venezuela and Hugo Chavez running a voting - I mean, is this possible that that's what this is all about? This is a quid pro quo and knows these pardons coming?
TRIBE: It could well be but the point is we will know only if whatever blanket partners are granted are ultimately scraped back by the courts when investigations and indictments are brought by a future Justice Department. Otherwise, the idea that there is a rule of law in this country that no one is above the law will simply be an empty slogan. We have to give meaning to it.
And the only way we can give meaning to it is to limit the abuse of the pardon power. We've never seen anything remotely like it. The President wielding the pardon power, not as of instrument of mercy, but as a form of cover up of continuation of an ongoing obstruction of justice.
BURNETT: So you mentioned Sean Hannity and trying to advocate this Trump to pardon himself.
TRIBE: Right.
BURNETT: You've been clear in conversations with me that you don't think this is possible. But he is not alone, Matt Gaetz, a congressional ally of the Presidents. There are others who are pushing him to do this. Let me just play Hannity quickly here for a second, Professor, and give you a chance to respond.
TRIBE: Sure, go ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX NEWS: The President out the door needs to pardon his whole family and himself, because they want this witch-hunt to go on in perpetuity.
I told Trump, pardon yourself and pardon your family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Again, you're saying the facts show this cannot be done.
TRIBE: Well, it's never been tried. But the fact is if you read the Constitution and most of these people claim to have at least glanced at it, it makes very clear and I'm going to quote the language of Article One, Section three, clause seven, says that even a president impeached, convicted and removed 'shall nevertheless be subject and liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment according to law'.
Now, that couldn't possibly work if a president could just pardon himself. The whole constitution presupposes that granting pardons involves pardoning somebody other than yourself. So this whole myth that a president can pardon himself, which flies in the face of hundreds of years of history, even the pope can't pardon himself.
Recently, Pope Francis confessed to, I forgot which cardinal (ph) it was, but he can't pardon himself. The idea of a self-pardon is a contradiction in terms. But the only way we can test that is for a future Justice Department to investigate and if there is evidence of crime and it looks like there's plenty of evidence of crime prosecute Donald Trump.
[19:15:03]
That way, when he pleads pardon in defense of his prosecution, that will be tested in the courts all the way up to the Supreme Court. I'm not about to predict what a Trump-inflected Supreme Court would do. But he is basically daring the next Justice Department to prosecute him by saying, I'm going to pardon myself.
Thus that invite exactly the accountability that I think we may well need. And even though President-elect Biden has said, he's going to leave it to the Justice Department, I can't imagine an independent Attorney General saying, oh, well, you've pardoned yourself, I'm not going to even ask the courts whether that pardon is valid.
BURNETT: All right. Professor Tribe, Thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight.
TRIBE: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. And I want to go straight now to Al Schmidt. He has a Philadelphia City Commissioner, a Republican. One of the Republicans who has stood up to President Trump on these baseless claims of election fraud.
The President attacked you for your comments and you and your family, I know, have received multiple death threats. I am really sorry. You're out there trying to do your job and count the votes and handle this appropriately, so it's horrible to hear this. Let me just give you a chance to explain where you are and I know you heard Gabe Sterling a moment ago out of Georgia.
You've been saying all along that you saw no evidence of widespread election fraud. Now, Bill Barr has come out today and said, well, you're right. He looked and he hasn't seen any either. Your reaction?
AL SCHMIDT, (R) PHILADELPHIA CITY COMMISSIONER: Well, it's big news but it's really just a reality check. I mean, there have been all these allegations of massive or widespread voter fraud. And if that's the case, then they should at least be able to cite a single case of it in any of these state and federal lawsuits filed in Pennsylvania. And as of yet, there have been none. BURNETT: So Commissioner, Gabriel Sterling, I mentioned him. He's a
Republican. He's the voting manager in Georgia, so he's been out with his Excel spreadsheets counting these votes. He voted for Trump. He says Biden won his state. Those are the facts and the numbers.
So he just came out a moment ago with this message for President Trump, after election workers there have been receiving death threats. I'm sure like the ones you've received. Here's what Mr. Sterling just said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERLING: You need to step up and say this - is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed and it's not right. It's not right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: He calls the President out directly for his silence. You've received death threats for doing your job, for defending the integrity of the election. How concerned are you about what we're hearing right now and about the President's - well, it's more than silence, because he's putting all these baseless things out there, but what he's doing?
SCHMIDT: Well, it's especially concerning since what we're doing should be very not controversial. We are counting votes cast by eligible voters on or before Election Day and yet the response is one of threats of violence and is one that even more disturbingly is trying to undermine confidence in the electoral process in the United States.
BURNETT: So it comes as the Trump campaign Attorney Joe diGenova, you obviously heard this but he called yesterday for Chris Krebs who was the cybersecurity official who was fired by Trump. But he was the guy who was in charge of keeping the election safe. He came out and defended the integrity of the election. He said that it was an election of integrity and here is what Joe diGenova said he said. He should be shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE DIGENOVA, TRUMP CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: Anybody who thinks that this election went well, like that idiot Krebs, who used to be the head of cybersecurity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the guys that was on 60 Minutes last night.
DIGENOVA: That guy is a Class-A moron. He should be drawn and quartered, taken out at dawn and shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So he came out with a statement now saying in part, "It was obvious my remarks were sarcastic and made in jest. I, of course, wish Mr. Krebs no harm." What do you say to that? I mean, how much damage is being done here by people going out and feeling like they can say stuff like this?
He says it's in jest. First of all, it didn't sound that way at all. And secondly, you're getting real death threats.
SCHMIDT: I think and I wish people would be mindful of what they're saying and how it is that people are receiving what they're saying. Like a lot of these people that they're listening to are liars. They are lying to them. They know they're lying to them. That's a very important thing, I think.
[19:20:00]
It's just do the people listening to all this know they're being lied to. Do they want to be lied to? I don't know why anyone would ever want that. But a lot of people are upset about the outcome of this election and that's a totally different matter from whether we're talking about legitimate votes that are cast by eligible voters on or before Election Day.
Being upset about the outcome doesn't justify any of this. The allegations that these people are making are completely unsupported. Every single one of these cases filed in federal court in Pennsylvania has been thrown out 'without any merit' at all and I just don't get it. I don't get the hunger to be lied to like this.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Commissioner Schmidt, I appreciate your time. Thank you for coming on and making sure people understand and having the courage to do that, especially given what you're going through. Thank you.
And next, we have breaking news out of the CDC, an advisory board has just voted on who should receive the coronavirus vaccines first. What you need to know from a doctor who just cast his vote on that board, he's OUTFRONT next.
Plus, a potential breakthrough on a coronavirus relief bill, a bipartisan group of senators now with a framework. The thing is will it go anywhere?
And now record money pouring into that runoff in Georgia. But when outsiders get involved, is that the kiss of death for Democrats?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:25:14]
BURNETT: Breaking news, 2,324 people died of coronavirus so far in the United States today reported in the U.S. today, 725 tonight. This is the 22nd day ever that the United States has added more than 2,000 new deaths. And it comes as vaccine advisors at the CDC just issued their recommendations for who should receive the coronavirus vaccine first; health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities are at the top of the list.
There are about 21 million health care workers in this country, 3 million people living in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. As of right now it is expected there will be 40 million vaccine doses by the end of the year and it's a two-dose though for each person about a month apart to even get the full vaccination. So obviously, you need to double those numbers and that obviously is a big part of what is there.
OUTFRONT now a member of the committee which voted today on who will receive the vaccine first, Dr. Robert Atmar. He's a member of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, also Professor of Infectious Diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. Doctor, I really appreciate your time.
I know these are really tough things to have to do, because decisions have to be made. Why did you decide that health care workers and long- term care facility residents should indeed be formally prioritized first?
DR. ROBERT ATMAR, CDC ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBER, VOTED ON WHO GETS VACCINE FIRST: So thank you for having me tonight. The decision for health care personnel to be in the first group to receive the vaccine I think was a relatively easy decision for me and the rest of the members of the committee. Health care personnel are on the frontlines taking care of patients and protecting them in this time of pandemic is particularly important.
And so almost every group that has weighed in on who should receive the vaccine first has identified healthcare personnel at the top of the list. What was a little bit more difficult for me was the decision on residents of long-term care facilities.
Certainly, this is a group that suffers the greatest burden of disease. Forty percent of the deaths in the U.S. have been among persons in long-term care facilities. And I think that information persuaded me to add them to the list of the initial group to receive the vaccine.
BURNETT: And I know even though, obviously, there hasn't been a lot of testing on them. So I know that there are questions about that, but obviously you came to the conclusion that that was the right thing to do. So who then is in the next group? Because obviously, when you look through this, you do see that people who are older or people with pre existing conditions aren't on either one of those first two lists.
ATMAR: Right. So we had to prioritize which persons we would start with and vaccinating. We've had discussions up to this point about which groups will be next, although we have not formally made recommendations. And part of that, I think, will be guided by the information we hear about each vaccines that are being considered for emergency use authorization.
In our meeting last week, groups 1B and 1C, so today we talked about 1A. But 1B were essential workers that would include teachers, people in law enforcement, firefighters and a variety of other groups. And then 1C would be persons with underlying conditions who are at higher risk of developing complications or dying should they get COVID-19 and that would include persons over the age of 65. BURNETT: So all of this, though, adds up to time. I mean, you have all
these, I know, not just the logistical issues of distributing a vaccine and one of the vaccines obviously has to be kept it incredibly cold temperatures. You have to have people agree to take it, it's a month apart, and you have this staggered. This does sound like it - as you organize it and it is going to take time.
ATMAR: That's right and that's important for your viewers to understand that what we're doing is making recommendations about how to allocate and prioritize the vaccine use, so that the various health jurisdictions can plan for that.
[19:30:03]
And initially, they'll plan for vaccinating health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
And then as we consider each of the vaccines that in turn, there will be additional recommendations coming forward about how to prioritize those groups and it will be a list of rolling recommendations over time as we get more vaccine that can be distributed to the public.
BURNETT: All right. Dr. Atmar, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
ATMAR: It's been a pleasure. Thank you.
BURNETT: And also breaking this hour, the first shipment of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine will be delivered to the states in just two weeks. That is according to an Operation Warp Speed document that we have obtained tonight.
We have an exclusive first look, though, inside a facility that's going to be crucial to transporting this vaccine across the country. This is the one to be kept at those incredibly cold temperatures.
Pete Muntean is OUTFRONT at Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C.
So, Pete, tell me what you're seeing there.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erin, this is something you typically would not see. This is essentially one big refrigerator that United Airlines will use to keep the vaccine cold. What it is, indeed, time to distribute the vaccine.
You know, airlines will be a critical part of the distribution, maybe take the vaccine the furthest in the supply chain to get it delivered to you. The really challenging part is keeping the vaccine cold enough. It is 40 degrees Fahrenheit in here, but the Moderna vaccine requires that it be negative 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Pfizer's vaccine about negative 100 degrees Fahrenheit and require a special freezer.
This is a key link from getting the vaccine from where it's made to getting it to you. Airlines and air cargo companies are already using special refrigerated containers like this to carry pharmaceuticals. No actual vaccine in here, although earlier at Dulles International Airport, we did see a United flight off loaded some of these refrigerated containers.
United is absolutely flying the vaccine for Pfizer on charter flights. It's in a task force for months. American Airlines is starting vaccine distribution trial flights. UBS, DHL, FedEx will all get in on this when the vaccine is ready to be distributed.
The FAA is even giving special waivers so that airlines and air cargo companies can carry extra dry ice on board in order to keep the vaccine cold enough on the airplane.
You know, airlines have been struggling in a big way in this pandemic. Air travel is still down about 60 percent compared to a year ago. They cannot wait for a vaccine, and now airlines could be central to getting it to you -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Pete, thank you very much.
Everyone has so many questions about that, especially that cold part.
All right. Next, President-elect Joe Biden with words tonight for Americans fighting to make ends meet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our message to everybody struggling right now is this, help is on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And one of Georgia's top election officials takes on the president after growing threats to election and poll workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:37:14]
BURNETT: Tonight, President-elect Joe Biden formally introducing the economic team that will help him, he says, rebuild the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: From the most unequal economic and job crisis in modern history. We can build a new American economy that works for all Americans, not just some, all. Our message to everybody struggling right now is this: help is on the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Biden nominated former Fed Chair Janet Yellen for treasury secretary. Neera Tanden, the head of liberal think tank, Center for American Progress, to lead the office of management and budget, and Cecilia Rouse, an economist at Princeton, to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
One thing his team made clear in the announcement is that they will be focusing on workers, they say, not corporations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: I have spent my career trying to make sure people can work and achieve the dignity and self- worth that comes with it.
ADEWALE "WALLY" ADEYENO, DEPUTY TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: I believe that's what public service is all about at its best, making sure that our economy works not just for the wealthy but for the hard working people who make it run.
HEATHER BOUSHEY, SELECTED FOR COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Excited to get to work, helping build an economy, rooted in the values that we share, equality, opportunity and the dignity of work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: However, "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board is criticizing the team, writing, quote: They're Obama veterans who believe in more spending, more regulation, higher taxes and easier money.
OUTFRONT now, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who served as CBO director and chief economist of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, and Austan Goolsbee, former chair of economic advisers for President Obama.
Austan, what do you say to "The Wall Street Journal"?
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER CHAIR OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I mean, their complaint is that these were the Obama people? I mean, the -- President Trump took over --
BURNETT: And this is more spending, more regulation, higher taxes and easier money, that's their quote.
GOOLSBEE: Yeah, what I would say is Donald Trump came in with a philosophy, which was let's cut taxes for high income people, big corporations by $2 trillion, promise that that would pay for it, itself, promise that it would lead to manna from heaven, massive increase in investment, massive increase in growth. None of those things happened, and we're -- it took them two and a half years to end the longest boom in the history of the U.S. economy.
So I think when you got double digit millions of people unemployed, you've had a massive downturn of GDP and a president was just defeated and will be replaced by a president-elect who campaigned on let's stop the K-shaped recovery. Let's help working people, and let's not orient our policy around billionaires, I think there's going to be a change. The sheriff is changing. For sure, they're going to do something
different, and I think that's what they should do?
[19:40:02]
BURNETT: Doug?
DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: I have a lot of sympathy for "The Wall Street Journal's" critique of what went on in the Obama administration. I have had some of the same comments myself but I think they're missing a big point, which is this is a seasoned group of economists, policy makers and they're going to be smart enough to recognize that this isn't like the financial crisis recession, this is a recession unlike any other in U.S. history.
It's going to require a different approach to get the economy recovering again, to take care of the long-term unemployed, which are a pressing issue right now, and in the end they shouldn't be judged on who they are, they should be judged on what they do. And that's what we have to look for.
BURNETT: So, one thing they said they're going to do, or at least the Biden tax plan, Austan, says that it will do, right, that he's put out there, is to increase taxes on big corporations. Trump slashed them more than they thought they would get. But he slashed it to 21 percent.
So, Biden's plan would call that to go up by a full third, 33 percent, OK? So that raises a lot of money, but there are some who say a 33 percent increase in taxes on corporations is going to cause a lot of problems for wages and hiring.
What do you say to them?
GOOLSBEE: Well, let me -- the 33 percent, that's not -- the rate would go to 28 percent. That's right in the middle of the largest economies in the world. That's a totally reasonable rate. It's the kind of rates that we've had in the United States throughout history.
All I will say is that you've got something like 20 percent of the Fortune 500 paying no taxes and you have seen none of the promised benefits from the massive $2 trillion tax cut that were promised by Donald Trump. So I guess I don't see the argument that if we have a system where the president himself can be a billionaire and pay $700 in taxes, that we should not change the system, we should leave it how it is because to not do so would screw everything up.
BURNETT: All right. Doug, so what is the right way to look at it? That it's a 33 percent increase that they're putting out, which is one way, it's accurate, or Austan's way, which is also accurate which is to say it's 28 percent, right in the middle of the average out there, and therefore not an issue? Which is the right way to see it?
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, the math isn't the problem. It's the economic logic. I mean, one of the big issues that we face year after year, prior to 2017 was the mass exodus of U.S. headquartered firms, and this solved it. We don't see that anymore. It stopped overnight.
To move from 21 percent to 28 percent puts us more toward the back of the pack in our developed competitors, we run the risk of sending the firms overseas, and the reality is workers work in firms and, we can't be losing them. It's also unwise to do this now.
One of the most potent impacts you can have on the economy is a discretionary tax increase or cut. It makes no sense as a matter of discretion raise taxes when you're trying to dig out of a hole this deep. I think it's very unwise, and I hope his team advises him not to do this right now.
BURNETT: All right. We'll hit pause. Thank you both as always.
HOLTZ-EAKIN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, a top Republican official in Georgia calling out the president for inciting acts of violence against election workers. Trump campaign now responding.
And Dr. Anthony Fauci with a warning about the dangers Americans will be facing in just the next few weeks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:18]
BURNETT: Breaking news, the Trump campaign just responding to an emotional plea from a top Republican official in Georgia, a plea directly to President Trump. That official Gabriel Sterling calling out Trump for doing nothing as his allies incite violence against election workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And the president hasn't. The Trump campaign tonight saying, quote: No one should engage in threats or violence, and if that has happened, we condemn that fully.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AD ANNOUNCER: Kelly Loeffler knows she's lying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raphael Warnock is a radical.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raphael Warnock even hates puppies.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the hyper-partisan battle for the Georgia Senate seats, there is uniform agreement about this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're on, I would think, 75 percent of the time. Every commercial is an ad, a campaign ad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's too much. It is too much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God, it's -- I'm tired of it.
LAH: We can't even get through our interview.
There's another one.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's too redundant, if you will. I mean, I get tired of seeing people bashing people.
LAH: They should all prepare for more.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jon Ossoff has dedicated his career to fighting injustice.
LAH: Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff just released this new ad and listing the help of one of his party's most potent political forces.
OBAMA: Every vote like our lives depend on it, because they do, we will elect Jon Ossoff to the United States Senate.
LAH: It is the latest in a flurry of new ads on Georgia's airways. Ossoff's opponent is Republican Senator David Perdue.
AD ANNOUNCER: If Jon Ossoff wins, they control Washington but Georgia can stop them.
The other Republican incumbent, Kelly Loeffler is fiercely attacking her opponent.
AD ANNOUNCER: Reverend Warnock, and Alvin the Beagle responded.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I think Georgians will see your ads for what they are, don't you?
LAH: Total ad spending, including reservations through the January 5th runoff crossed $300 million. Spending by the incumbents and Republican backers topped the Democrats by $50 million. The Georgia runoffs are far and away the most expensive Senate races of the 2020 cycle.
BRENDAN FISCHER, CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER: Money absolutely matters.
LAH: But the Campaign Legal Center's Brendan Fisher offers this warning with Georgia's ad war.
FISCHER: Voters are exhausted. They have just been through a hotly contested presidential race. They just voted in November. And they may not be motivated to vote again in January.
[19:50:03]
LAH: Especially says waitress Kayleigh Waters when she's just trying to survive financially during COVID.
KAYLEIGH WATERS, GEORGIA RESIDENT: It doesn't make sense. We're in the middle of a pandemic, like to come home from work and watch TV and see that -- is kind of like even more depressing. It's so polarizing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Yeah, pretty powerful words there. How exhausted they are, how can these emotional comments that we have now heard from gave Sterling, and they were poignant and emotional, how will they affect these hotly contested Senate races?
LAH: Well, you certainly can see all the emotions, especially in what that election officials said here out of Georgia. What he was trying to say is, come on, give me something. He is asking the candidates here to even say something.
We are now hearing from Senators Loeffler and David Perdue and they both released statements saying, look, of course, we condemn violence. But in that same statement, they said they would continue to call for review of the election process here in Georgia. We should stress, Erin, once again there has been no evidence of any sort of wrongdoing here in the election process -- Erin.
BURNETT: Kyung, thank you very much.
I'll just mention to all of you, to make it clear, as Gabe Sterling told me, they have a paper ballot record for every single person who cast a vote in the state of Georgia. They never have that before. He called it the most secure election Georgia has ever had. Just to be clear on the facts.
I want to bring in now, Lauren Groh-Wargo. She is a former campaign manager for Stacey Abrams's Georgia governor's race. And she is the CEO of Fair Fight Action, a group central in the effort to get out the vote for Democrats in the Senate races.
So, let me just begin by asking you about what we heard from Gabriel Sterling.
As I said, very poignant and powerful words. It was a remarkable press conference today. He directly said, Mr. President, you have said nothing. You are not try -- have not tried to stop this. And yet, you know, and calling out other Republicans, saying that someone could get hurt, saying that someone could possibly even be killed because of what is happening.
When you heard Gabe Sterling's words, what was your reaction?
LAUREN GROH-WARGO, CEO, FAIR FIGHT ACTION: Thank you for having me, Erin. Unfortunately, this is not new. It's sort of extreme radical militia groups in Georgia have been threatening the lives of public servants and candidates for some time. And as a campaign manager for Stacey Abrams, we had many issues during the campaign that we took very seriously.
And we agree with Gabe Sterling that nobody should be threatening violence to elections workers. There is a 20-year-old elections worker that's gotten doxed, Erin. He and his family are being threatened. This is despicable.
The challenge I have with this whole discussion, to be honest, though, is that it's the Republican Party by design has set up a disinformation plan and narrative. You look back to Justin Clark in September of 2019. He laid out and audio that American bridge captured and made public that they were going to elevate small issues and mistakes that elections administrators and voters made and use the presidents megaphone to circumvent the mainstream immediate, to blow these issues up as evidence of voter fraud. He lays that out cleanly in September of 2019.
This was not an ancillary part of the Republican effort in 2020. It was core. And many members of the Republican Party, including the current secretary of state, said that narrative by launching voter fraud task forces and threatening with Republican prosecutors to go after voters.
So we stand firmly against all calls of violence, especially against workers and local elections officials who are just trying to do their jobs. But we also called the Republican Party to shut down this disinformation narrative and move ahead with truth to their supporters. And my last comment on this, just this morning, Erick Erickson, a fellow Georgian with whom I don't agree on much had a Twitter rant that is worth reading.
It talks about the lies that this party and president have infected the American populist with, and they are just evolving into this dysfunction and dystopia and disinformation that has real world consequences. And, sadly, this is something we've had a lot of experience with, Stacy and, I dealing with direct and violent threats. I'm very sorry that so many other Georgians are also going through this.
BURNETT: And I will say, of course, Erick Erickson really has been a truth teller through all of this. Let me just ask you, though, Lauren, you heard some of those fellow Georgians in Kyung's piece saying they're exhausted and they just don't want to hear these ads anymore. It comes as we heard about record amounts of money being spent in the runoff elections.
When you look, though, at money, money did not help Democrats in those other key 2020 Senate races, right? You saw what happened in South Carolina and North Carolina, right? In your neighborhood, it did not work.
[19:55:00]
The Democrats lost.
Are you worried this could happen in Georgia? GROH-WARGO: Look, money in politics is complicated. You need enough to
be competitive, but we're the only battleground state where Biden won where Trump outspent us, the Biden team put on a forceful campaign. But we are one of the few states that Donald Trump outspent us, but the campaign and organizations like Fair Fight and so many local organizations ran really excellent programs.
And so, look, all the TV advertising and that sort of noise, that's one part of the campaign. What I am looking at is what Democrats are doing right now.
Republicans are in a massive battle. They are fighting amongst themselves. They are not even agreeing with their own officials on the fact that the general election is over. And they're sniping and fighting amongst themselves, making this all about fearmongering with no actual agenda. What Democrats are doing, Erin, they are voting.
There are more Democrats who have requested mail ballots today, 39 days out, than Republicans have requested, 39 days out from the general election. Voters are voting. Democrats are voting. And Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are out on the trail and you can get involved at GASenate.com and be a part of our efforts.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time, Lauren.
GROH-WARGO: Thanks, Erin.
And I want to get some more breaking news right now, the United States now hitting a new record high for coronavirus hospitalizations at this hour. More than 98,000 people currently in the hospital according to the COVID tracking project, as Dr. Anthony Fauci says, avoid holiday gatherings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: That seems to be, unfortunately, Martin, the antithesis of the Christmas, the New Year, the Hanukkah season, because you really want to bring friends, the warmth, the fireplace, the people sitting down together. Unfortunately, that's the perfect setup for people who might have no symptoms and innocently and inadvertently come into the home and infect someone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That warning as First Lady Melania Trump hosted an indoor thank you party last night for dozens of volunteers who helped decorate the White House. This is just the first of more than a dozen planned gatherings by the White House.
OUTFRONT now, former White House medical adviser, Dr. Jonathan Reiner.
So, Dr. Reiner, how dangerous is it to be having these events at the White House? The virus is spreading across the country, record hospitalizations, deaths surging, more than 2,000 people have died today, more than one American every single minute. And yet they are going to go ahead and have indoor parties.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We are in a crisis. In case the White House hasn't heard that, we're in a crisis. Almost 2,500 Americans died today. That's the highest number since the end of April. And as you said, almost 99,000 Americans are hospitalized. Every day the number goes up by 2,000.
We can't have business as usual. You know, every year, the department of medicine at GW, where I work, has a big holiday party. Everyone looks forward to it. It's canceled this year because we're in a pandemic.
You can't have pardons. You can't bring people together and feed them food and drink and have people mingling without masks, because the virus will spread. The White House has already had super spreader events. They should have no more.
BURNETT: So, this also is coming as the president and the vice president are actually saying they will head to Georgia this weekend. I wonder what will happen now in light of what Gabe Sterling has said. But they say they are going to Georgia to campaign for the Republican senatorial candidates in those runoffs.
And a source familiar with Trump's plan said they are considering two large events including one in Dalton, where there's been a huge spike in COVID cases, statewide hospitalizations in Georgia, highest level in four months. You were critical of Trump holding these rallies when things were much better with the virus.
So what do you say now?
REINER: First of all, it violates Georgia law. Governor Kemp of Georgia limits outdoor events to a maximum of 50 people, if you can social distance. There are no Trump events where people social distance.
Look, remember, a Stanford study from a couple months ago looked at 18 rallies held between July and September and found that about 30,000 cases of coronavirus were probably generated by those rallies, and perhaps up to about 700 deaths.
So these events have consequences. One wonders what the real reason for the president traveling to Georgia. Is it really to campaign, or is it to do some first aid on his critically injured ego? Either way, bringing the circus to town is a bad idea right now. The virus is raging, and you should really stay put.
BURNETT: Dr. Reiner, thank you very much, of course, in this tragic day, more than 2,000 Americans have died from coronavirus.
Thanks very much to all of you for joining us. Our coverage continues now with Anderson Cooper and AC360.
REINER: Have a good night, Paul.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Hey, good evening. Two stories dominate the news tonight. One concerns something that exists, and thank goodness for it, at least two effective vaccines against coronavirus. Federal officials met today to work and who gets vaccinated first, and all the other important details surrounding nearly deployment. And we'll have more on that tonight.
