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Erin Burnett Outfront
Biden: Transition Tension Rises: Pentagon Says Meeting on "Holiday Pause," Biden Team Says "No Mutually Agreed Upon" Break; Pentagon Puts Transition Meeting on "Holiday Pause" as Trump Now Obsessed with Overturning Election During Jan. 6 Tally; CNN: U.S. Agencies Became Aware Several Months Ago of Suspicious Activity That Has Now Been Linked to Massive Hack; FDA Issues Emergency Use Authorization for Moderna Vaccine. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 18, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, tensions boiling over between Biden and the Pentagon. The Trump administration pausing crucial transition talks with the President-elect's team, why?
Plus, top government officials now getting vaccinated as frustration is growing across this country. Why are some states getting fewer coronavirus doses, a lot fewer, than originally promised? What's going on?
And we're going to go inside a California hospital, which is now at a breaking point. Doctors are overwhelmed. There are no ICU beds. Patients now being treated inside tents. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, Trump's defense department calling off critical transfer of power discussions with Biden's transition team. Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, claiming that both sides agreed to a quote holiday pause. Biden's team very clear though that they never agreed to any such thing and they desperately want these crucial meetings to continue, especially given that this country is now reeling from a massive attack. An attack suspected to be from Putin's Russia, an attack that according to one congressman rivals, one of the worst attacks ever carried out on American soil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): I don't think we can overstate how dangerous this is for our country right now. Breathtaking is a word that has certainly comes to mind for me and that's why I referred to this earlier today as our modern-day cyber Pearl Harbor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Pearl Harbor. That is a serious charge from United States Congressman. Now the White House says that our Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, is up to speed on the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: I will say you know, he's up to speed and his team is working very hard on it. If he wants to speak directly, as opposed to, through his team of course, that's the President's prerogative, but I won't get ahead of him at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So we have no idea if he's up to speed, because he's choosing not to speak about the attack. Just like he said nothing about the more than 2,200 deaths from coronavirus so far today. And we don't know if he's up to speed because he is busy doing something and that something is tweeting lies about election fraud.
And today urging the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to 'get tougher, or you won't have a Republican Party anymore. We won the Presidential Election, by a lot. FIGHT FOR IT. Don't let them take it away?'
OK. This is a categorical lie. It's completely untrue. What Trump is trying to get McConnell to do is to challenge the electoral results when they're tallied on January 6th in Congress. So just to be very clear here, McConnell is not going to do that. He clearly has called Joe Biden the President-elect. The election is over. It was fair. It was free. It was democratic. It was the most secure in history, according to Trump's own Department of Homeland Security and Biden won by a lot, both electorally and the popular vote.
But Trump is refusing to accept it and instead of Republicans just basically walking away from him right now, one incoming senator is actually egging him on, cheering him on. Republican Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville of Alabama says he is not ruling out joining a House member to object to the election results from Congress meets next month. Another one, QAnon supporter and Congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene. Again, I have to say it, it's not going to happen.
On January 6th, there is not going to be a disruption to the peaceful transfer of power. Joe Biden won fair and square, the Electoral College certified that and he will be inaugurated in January. But the problem is that Republican leaders aren't saying anything about this publicly. Privately, McConnell urged GOP senators not to join House Republicans who are leading this effort. That was behind closed doors though.
And here's the House Minority Leader, again, the emphasis is on leader, leaders of the pack. People take their cue from you Kevin McCarthy and yet he's sidestepping the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you join the effort to object on the election results on January 6th?
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): We'll watch and see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It's not funny. It's not funny comes from McCarthy, because there are people around the country who believe all of this complete, you know what it is, I won't say it because it's not appropriate on cable. It's time that Republicans in Washington, more of them, shut this nonsense down, because there really are important issues to be dealing with; coronavirus more than 300,000 people now dead and now the suspected Russian attack on the U.S. government a modern day cyber Pearl Harbor.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT covering President-elect Joe Biden in Wilmington. Kaitlan Collins is near the White House.
So, Jeff, let me start with you. This is not the time when you want to have a transition that's having trouble and certainly not with the Pentagon with what we're dealing with right now. What is the Biden team saying about these tensions with the Pentagon?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORREPONDENT: Erin, look, quite simply the Biden team said they did not agree to a holiday break in these meetings. These critical meetings that are happening between really all across the government.
[19:05:06]
They said, look, they already are behind because the GSA did not ascertain the election four weeks after Election Day. So, they were fully intending to go ahead with these meetings. And what these meetings are, are interviews with officials and sort of talking about where things stand across the Pentagon, they're happening across the government.
But the acting defense secretary, as you said, decided abruptly to cancel these meetings saying we will hold off on them until January.
Well, the Biden team was expecting them. They certainly have a right to them, so essentially said today that we did not agree to this holiday pause. They want these meetings to resume. So, they describe it as pockets of recalcitrants and they said they are in other parts of the government as well, but certainly DoD.
We're not talking about the career officials. They say they are being very helpful. But the political appointees of this president are trying to block some of these meetings. Now, it doesn't matter in the long run unclear but time is running out to have all of these transfer of power discussion, so that was just one example of a flashpoint that happened today that we learned about and there are others happening again, across the government where political appointees are standing in the way or making it more difficult for the Biden transition team to get information for continuity of government. That is why it matters.
And again, we heard President-elect Biden this week talk about the cybersecurity attack. We've not heard anything from the White House, Erin.
BURNETT: I mean, it is just incredible, and people don't realize - I can assume some of them maybe don't realize what they're doing when they try to block this sort of thing that they're doing harm to the country.
I want to go to Kaitlan Collins at the White House. So Kaitlan, this boiling over to the point that we've learned about it, tensions between the Biden transition team and Trump's defense department, which is a huge problem. And President Trump when it comes to the attack on this country has said nothing publicly. The only thing that publicly he's doing is now trying to say, well, let's rise up on January 6th since we failed on Electoral College day.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erin. I think it'd be a little bit easier for the Pentagon to argue there's nothing nefarious with the postponement of these meetings if the President wasn't openly tweeting about contesting the election results and how calling Biden illegitimate president and talking about this rigged election. Those claims that he's been making that, of course, are unfounded, but ones he's been making for six weeks now.
And so I think that is what stirs up some concern among the transition and the incoming Biden team is because they know what the President is arguing. So the question is what the President is saying having influence over the Pentagon and the decision to postpone these meetings and not be going at them full speed.
And so you are seeing the President encouraged the likes of someone like Tommy Tuberville. Of course, that newly elected Alabama senator from my home state who is now openly flirting with the idea of objecting to these results when Congress meets to ratify them on January the sixth. And that comes, of course, after the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told his caucus earlier this week, he doesn't want anyone doing that, not anyone participating in any funny business, not because they think it could be successful, because it is all but certain to fail, but because it would basically turn the Senate into this clown show.
And McConnell has tried to keep his caucus in line and avoid that and you saw the President lashing out at Mitch McConnell again today, something what he did earlier this week now saying that if he doesn't get tough, they're going to lose the Republican Party. And you're just seeing the power and the influence of the President is wielding over even the newest members on Capitol Hill.
BURNETT: That's really incredible. Kaitlan, Caitlin, thank you very much.
I want to go now to Michael Smerconish, Host of SMERCONISH, Nia Malika Henderson, our Senior Political Reporter and John Avlon, Senior Political Analyst.
So Michael, let's just start with these tensions. The Biden team says they wanted no holiday pause. One would think there would be no window for a pause, given the attack that just happened on this country. What do you make of what's happening? They're not giving any explanation as to why all of these briefings paused either.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, SMERCONISH: It's so sad and it's potentially dangerous. I mean, partisanship used to stop at the water's edge. We could have our differences as Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, but we'd be united against a common foe.
Not only is the nation right now subject to a cyberattack, but the Department of Defense is playing a very lead role with regard to vaccine distribution. There should be no such thing as a holiday. Holiday and National Security are incompatible with one another. We're not running a gift shop here.
BURNETT: Right. Right. Incompatible in any situation and I think it's so important that you raise the defense department's role in the vaccine rollout because it is crucial.
Nia, that context is - you can't take it away from this, but how unprecedented is it in any case to see this sort of a thing happens so publicly during a presidential transition?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. If you look back at the most recent transitions, they've been obviously peaceful transitions of power, cooperative transitions of power. You remember the meeting that Obama had in the White House with Donald Trump even though obviously he did not want Donald Trump to win.
[19:10:04]
He didn't like Donald Trump very much, but there he was in the White House. And that was a symbol to the entire administration to cooperate with the incoming Trump administration. And so, you see now Trump's sending a very different message. There has been no White House meeting. There has been no acknowledgement that there is a president- elect and that President-elect is Joe Biden.
Instead, you see this president lying on Twitter, encouraging his followers to rise up encouraging other Republicans to try to overturn the results of this democratically held election. And so that is the message that folks in his administration are taking up. So, you can't separate what's happening at the Pentagon at this crucial time from what the message they're getting from the top, from Donald Trump.
BURNETT: And of course, John, this massive hack, the greatest, the most consequential hack ever, and it goes across the board, U.S. government, top companies, nuclear facility, you name it, modern day Pearl Harbor from that Congressman. You heard that. And yet this president, of course, they believe it came from Russia, that's what they're saying at this point. And Trump hasn't said one word, even though he's on Twitter all day long saying he won the election.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Not an accident, complete dereliction of duty. He's talking about Mitch McConnell needs to get tough on the Democrats. He's terrified of being tough on Vladimir Putin. He won't say boo about the Kremlin even when it comes to our national security. But we've seen this movie before. He still hasn't condemned Russia for putting bounties on U.S. troops. He still hasn't condemned the Kremlin for poisoning Alexei Navalny, while the world did that, so it's consistent.
But this is a huge deal for America's national security, our economic security, our privacy and the President is MIA. It is an outrage.
BURNETT: Michael, President Trump today, obviously, talking about the election and celebrating the effort by some House Republicans to try to overturn the election during this joint session of Congress on January 6th. Now, as I've made clear, that's not going to happen, but the President is trying to take on Mitch McConnell on this, trying to get him to do it right, Republican senators have to get tougher, or you won't have a Republican Party. We won the Presidential Election, by a lot.
Now, as I said, Michael, the effort isn't going to work. What I'm curious though is you see people like Tommy Tuberville, incoming senator-elect getting on board with it. And Mitch McConnell has privately told Republican senators not to do that. So, does Mitch McConnell control this situation or not?
SMERCONISH: I don't think so. Not with regard to Tommy Tuberville. And what Mitch McConnell is trying to prevent is a very awkward vote where Republicans in the Senate if just one senator signs onto this would have to cast a ballot that would put them at odds with the President and his base. He's trying to avoid that.
Erin, this is a cash grab. The goalposts keep moving. First, it was Election Day, November 3rd. Then it was the Electoral College December 14. Now, it's the 6th of January, because the President wants to continue to raise money all the way to the end, so that he's got a pot for 2024 if he chooses to go forward.
BURNETT: And that, I mean, that does seem to be what it's about, Nia, because the money does keep flowing in and he has an incredible amount of discretion over what he uses it for and when, which the donors may not realize. It says legal funds for the election, and it can be a lot more than that.
I want to ask you, though, about what Kevin McCarthy said today. The House Minority Leader, when he was asked about it. Obviously sort of a laugh and an eye roll, you guys laughing, here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you join the effort to object on the election results on January 6th?
MCCARTHY: We'll watch and see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So does he not get how serious this is for millions of people, Nia?
HENDERSON: Who knows what Kevin McCarthy understands. I think we do know that he is a full on Trumper. He hasn't been one to stand up to this president, even as he lies about this election. And so you have what looks like a pretty good number of people in the House, people like Mo Brooks, possibly somebody like Jim Jordan as well who want to take a stand what they see as a stand against essentially democracy.
They wouldn't call it that, but that is what it is if they object to seeding the electors into electing Joe Biden. But listen, they are still the party of Donald Trump, even though Donald Trump lost this election and he is holding on to them with an iron grip and they're happy to be in his embrace.
BURNETT: John?
AVLON: What spineless cowardice. I mean, you know what, Mitch McConnell is trying to corral his folks and what McCarthy is doing is the opposite of leadership, because he's afraid of the autocrat caucus, even though he knows what the stakes are, even know he knows what's right. And if folks don't eat more - you can't pretend to be a patriot if you try to actively undermine our democracy.
[19:15:04]
And the point about the congressman made about a digital Pearl Harbor. Imagine if FDR had been silent for almost a week. It's unimaginable. And that's the kind of cowardice they're defending while this president tries to undermine our democracy and leaders in Congress are too afraid to stand up for our traditions.
BURNETT: Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.
And next, Trump silent on the virus too, as a growing number of governors are demanding answers as to why they are getting fewer vaccines and a lot fewer vaccines than the Trump administration told them they'd get.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D) MICHIGAN: I still cannot get a straight answer.
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R) MASSACHUSETTS: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're certainly frustrated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, top Republican say Washington must hold the country that hacked the U.S. accountable. So if that country is Russia, as they're saying, will that happen? And tonight, we're going to take you inside a California hospital completely overwhelmed right now with COVID.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're getting crushed. I'm not going to sugarcoat this. We are getting crushed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:19:43]
BURNETT: Tonight, frustration growing over the Trump administration's rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Governors across the country questioning why they're now getting fewer doses than they were told they were going to get.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITMER: I still cannot get a straight answer out of the Trump administration about why Michigan, like many other states, is receiving a fraction of the vaccines that we're slated to receive.
[19:20:09]
BAKER: At this time it's not clear to us why the shipment amounts have been adjusted. We're certainly frustrated that we won't be receiving the amount that we expected in the first wave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: A fraction. I mean, these aren't just a few doses here and there. These are massive cuts. And the Governor of Colorado had this message to the President after Pfizer said it's waiting for the Trump administration to tell them where to ship millions of doses. They've got them sitting in warehouses and the Feds won't tell them where to send them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): We say send them to Colorado, but we encourage the federal government to get those distributed out. They're not doing any good in a Pfizer warehouse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So what is President Trump doing about it? Well, nothing that we're aware of, because he's been silent. His only comments on the vaccine rollout are coming in tweets. There were a couple one saying of the Moderna vaccine distribution to start immediately. Of course, that vaccine has not yet been authorized for distribution. As for the Pfizer rollout, which is the focus of everything right now, because those are the doses everyone is counting on. The President last tweeted yesterday, "The Vaccine and the Vaccine rollout are getting the best of reviews."
Now, that was a reference to the Pfizer vaccine. What about the millions of doses sitting in the warehouses with nowhere to go and all those governors, the hospitals, the frontline workers who are waiting for vaccines were told they were going to get and now are not?
OUTFRONT now, one of those people frustrated by the delays, Brian Peters. He is the CEO of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. So that represents 134 hospitals in the state of Michigan. Obviously, we heard your Governor speaking there. How concerned are you about these delays?
BRIAN PETERS, CEO, MICHIGAN HEALTH & HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: Well, good evening, Erin. Thanks for having me. And we are extremely concerned. I've been on the phone over the last 48 hours with a numerous hospital and health system CEOs who are ready, willing and able to accept this vaccine and administer it to the frontline caregivers who as you know are the heroes. And we certainly started this week on a positive note on Monday, those initial shipments from Pfizer began to arrive at our hospitals throughout the state of Michigan.
In fact, those frontline caregivers who have been dealing with unimaginable stress from month after month after month, I actually welcomed those shipments with standing ovations and tears of joy and so it was very encouraging. And then to learn just yesterday that the shipment to Michigan would actually be reduced by some 30 percent.
We were expecting 84,000 additional Pfizer vaccines next week. That number has been reduced by 30 percent. And look, we understand that at this point in the process demand is going to outpace supply.
BURNETT: Of course.
PETERS: But our hospitals are simply looking for consistent, accurate information coming from the federal government.
BURNETT: OK. So have you been able to get any answer as to what the issue is? Your told 84,000 and then a few days later, you're told actually it's 30 percent less than that. Any reason why?
PETERS: We have not heard any communication about that rationale at all and as you heard from Governor Whitmer, who has been doing a fantastic job, attempting to protect the health and well-being of all Michiganders, you heard her frustration and we would mirror that frustration. We have not heard the rationale at this point.
BURNETT: Yes, Brian, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. A very sobering to hear to have such dramatic changes and something so crucial with no reason.
I want to go to Dr. Jonathan Reiner. So Dr. Reiner, you heard Brian just say how frustrating this is and that they're not being given a reason. They went from 84,000 shipments and now they said, hey, it's going to be 30 percent less than that. Those are individual people, frontline workers, people who are treating COVID patients right now, who were told they were getting the vaccine next week who now are not going to.
What impact does this have on the people who are counting on this?
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes. Hi, Erin. Well think about what it's like to be on the front line and then to have hospitals all over the country have to triage who gets the vaccine first. It's impossible to vaccinate, with the amount of vaccine currently distributed everyone who needs it and everyone needs it. So the reason why this is so frustrating for states is that the need
is great. Look, there are going to be hiccups. We knew there were going to be hiccups, but we need transparency. We've had, I think, one taskforce meeting where the public and the press could ask questions in the last six months. So why not have a taskforce meeting, let the questions be asked and have the people who know explain why the shipments are lower, let's have some transparency.
BURNETT: Right. Lay out the issue here of what's really happening.
REINER: Right.
BURNETT: So we saw the Senate and House leaders Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi get their shots today. Vice President Pence got his.
[19:25:03]
So that's all good. There are those some that are behaving terribly. There's one person in Congress saying you won't get it. Here's Republican Congressman Ken Buck today, what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEN BUCK (R-CO): I'm an American. I have the freedom to decide if I'm going to take a vaccine or not. And in this case, I am not going to take the vaccine. I'm more concerned about the safety of the vaccine than I am the side effects of the disease.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What do you even say to that? I mean that the data and science are there, so he's just saying that he doesn't believe it.
REINER: This is just ignorant, anti-vax, science denialism, masquerading as libertarianism. Look, the reason for a congressman to be vaccinated now is not simply to protect him from disease. It's hopefully to protect his community from transmission. When you vaccinate someone, hopefully you're blocking the transmission of the virus and maybe most importantly now for a member of Congress is to model the kind of behavior we want their constituents to adopt, right?
We've seen what happens when a leader does not adopt a consistent message for masks. How well did that turned out? So to see a congressman basically parrot just blatant anti-vax nonsense is just despicable.
BURNETT: Well, it is and it's despicable because so many are hiding behind the libertarianism on this and you're right to call it out for what it is. So now in terms of President-elect Biden, he's going to get his first shot on Monday, Vice President-elect Harris is going to get hers the following week. Why do you think that is? I mean, obviously, they could get them anytime they wanted them. They're spacing them apart a week. Why do you think?
REINER: I don't know. I think maybe there's concern about not having them both have some of the common side effects? I think that's a little bit overblown. The first vaccine, the first dose of this vaccine is really well tolerated. Maybe they want to just increase the amount of exposure in terms of the benefit for promoting vaccines over the course of a couple of weeks. That's probably more like it is. I wouldn't really anything else to that.
BURNETT: All right. Dr. Reiner, I appreciate your time.
REINER: My pleasure.
BURNETT: And to everyone watching, when you think about the vaccines don't miss a new color of COVID town hall tonight about the vaccines with Don Lemon and Sanjay Gupta. They'll be joined by Dr. Fauci and the Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who by the way has gotten his first shot. That's tonight at 10.
And OUTFRONT next breaking news, we are learning when federal agencies first became aware of suspicious activity that's been linked to the suspected Russian massive hack against America.
Plus, I'll talk to an incoming Republican Congresswoman, she tested positive for coronavirus and tonight she has a message for anyone not taking this seriously.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:51]
BURNETT: Breaking news. We are learning tonight that it was several months ago, the federal agencies that monitor cyber threats to critical infrastructure first started become aware something was wrong, of suspicious activity that has now been linked to one of the largest attacks on America's infrastructure in history. This according to three sources familiar with the situation.
OUTFRONT now is Jim Sciutto, our chief national security correspondent.
So, Jim, you know, they had a warning but weren't able to figure out the scope of it. I mean, what more can you tell us?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is based on reporting along with my colleagues, Zachary Cohen, Brian Fung (ph), Kaitlan Collins, Jeremy Hurd (ph), this is what we're told. U.S. officials became aware several months ago of suspicious activity at least, now linked to what is known to be one of the largest cyberattacks in U.S. history.
To be clear, the scope, the sophistication of this attack didn't become clear until recently. In the last week when the cybersecurity firm FireEye, which does a lot of work with the U.S. government, disclosed a breach of its own system. But while the government's early detection has not been previously reported did not indicate the true scope of this, what we do know, Erin, is it was enough at least to raise concern among cybersecurity officials about potential vulnerabilities in the system. So you can call this an early detection and early warning. It only
became clear later at this point how big this was. But they did have fears, they did have suspicions going back several months.
BURNETT: So, do they know how broad this attack is?
SCIUTTO: The short answer to that question is, no. They're still trying to figure that out. They're still doing their forensic examination, in effect.
This is what we know so far. Several agencies were compromised, they include the Department of Homeland Security cyber arm, of course, essential, but also the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, State.
Now, I'm told the question is, being targeted, access does not determine exactly how much data was stolen. It's not clear that all those agencies that were targeted had an enormous amount of information taken away. It's possible that they're still doing the forensic examination. What is absolutely clear at this point is the vulnerabilities, the access and the question mark as to how deep this goes.
I should note, Erin, that the NSA, the National Security Agency, did not respond to CNN's request for comment, nor did U.S. Cyber Command.
BURNETT: All right. Jim, thank you very much.
So I want to go now to John Sipher. He spent nearly 30 years inside the CIA, ran the CIA's Russia operation. Of course, Russia is suspected to be behind this.
So, John, you know, it's incredible they had a warning sign but couldn't figure out how big it was. That's actually deeply disturbing in its own way here.
But, you know, we know the Department of Homeland Security, Energy, Treasury Department, "New York Times" has reported nuclear facilities, all targets. Fortune 500 companies, all telecom companies.
So, what damage could be done here? What could really happen as a result of this attack?
JOHN SIPHER, FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF RUSSIAN OPERATIONS, CIA: Well, it's really interesting, because we got used to, after 2016, seeing a lot of the Russian assaults and attacks being weaponized and publicized.
[19:35:08]
So, the GRU, their military intelligence, in 2016, as you saw, they hacked into the DNC and published those emails and that information.
This is very different. This is the Russian external SVR, external intelligence agency, almost like the CIA of Russia. This is a much more elegant attack, which means that we, frankly, we don't know the extent of what's happened here. It's been almost six months before we even found out what happened. It's going to take us literally years and sort of going through these networks and rebuilding these networks to find out how much stuff was left behind.
They may have just been looking to get inside and steal information, basic espionage, or putting behind land mines and the ability to alter and change data.
BURNETT: It's incredible.
SIPHER: Yeah. So, it can take us a while to figure out.
BURNETT: So the president has been silent thus far. They said he's been briefed but haven't said anything.
Republican Senator Mitt Romney weighed in on that today. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): This is an attack on America, which puts us at extreme vulnerability. And it's important to send a clear message, that this is not something we will tolerate.
(END VIDEO CLPI)
BURNETT: So why do you think the president has been silent?
SIPHER: Frankly, the president has been silent for four years on Russian malign activity. As you know, they did things -- there's been reports of bounties on our troops in Afghanistan. They've attacked our 2016 elections. We've seen recent reporting about using directed energies weapons against our diplomats and intelligence officers overseas.
Even today, there was reports about, you know, their intelligence services doping their Olympic and Paralympic athletes such that they can't participate in the next Olympics. There's been constant disinformation attacks against the United States. This has been ongoing.
And, frankly, we have not pushed back. And this is a form of asymmetric warfare, almost sort of terrorism, the tools of the weak against the strong, and be able to continue to push until they get pushback.
BURNETT: And yet, you know, what's interesting is, when this happens, it's on the same week of the CNN Bellingcat investigation, which, as you know, found that in an elite group of agents followed the opposition leader, the main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, for more than 30 trips to and from Moscow since 2017. Literally like, you know, placing their cellphones, the seat next to an airplane.
They found evidence that those agents were in the city where Navalny was poisoned, the night he was poisoned, the morning he gets to a plane. They were there. And our Clarissa Ward spoke to Navalny about these agents. Let me play that clip for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I want to show you some photographs here. And ask you if you recognize, if you've ever seen, any of the men in those photographs?
ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: No.
WARD: You don't recognize them?
NAVALNY: I don't recognize any of them.
WARD: Would it surprise you to learn that some of these men went on more than 30 trips with you over the course of three years?
NAVALNY: That is absolutely terrifying. I don't know if terrifying is a good word.
WARD: I think it's a pretty good word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: This whole thing has to be really embarrassing for Putin, right? Maybe he thought people were moving on past this because the U.S. government never condemned it. But it's damning.
How does this influence his thinking? What is going to do right now?
SIPHER: Well, first of all, this is nothing. You know, the Kremlin has been murdering opposition leaders, people they see as a threat for decades and decades. You know, remember, just a couple years ago, they attacked England, Sergei Skripal, a defector from Russia. In this case, I think Bellingcat and CNN, others, did an excellent job of using open databases and open source research to really understand what happened here, the connection with these people following Alexei Navalny with a secret chemical weapons and poison facilities, been traveling with him around Russia and these types of things. And so, this is nothing new, and they've been doing it for a long time.
So, does it embarrass Putin? I think it does in the sense that he's a proud KGB officer. To see how easy, it is for his secret service people to be uncovered exactly who they are, what cover names they're using, who are traveling with, where do they live, these types of things are quite embarrassing.
On the other hand, one of the reasons they use poisons, different ways of killing opposition is to send a signal to their people. They want to send a signal to Russia what is acceptable, and what's not acceptable. So, on one hand, when some of it is publicize, it benefits him because it makes it clear what are the rules. But on the other hand, you know, it does show their vaunted security services can be uncovered. I think Bellingcat and CNN and others did a great job.
BURNETT: It's interesting, as you pointed out, the double-edged sword.
[19:40:00]
All right. John, I'm really glad to have you on. Thank you so much.
SIPHER: My pleasure. Great to talk to you, Erin. Thanks.
BURNETT: And next, we're going to take you inside a hospital that is overwhelmed with coronavirus patients right now. There are no ICU beds available. The number of dead is taking a serious toll on the doctors right there fighting to save lives.
Plus, it's a race against time as Congress tries to nail down an agreement to provide desperately needed aid to struggling Americans that they have failed to do so thus far. Can they do it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, the FDA has just issued an emergency use authorization for Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, which means the second approved vaccine will begin shipping to states. In the meantime, states like California, hitting frightening new milestones tonight. People are dying, and a lot more are going to die. States overall death toll, nearing 22,000, more than 300 deaths reported for the second straight day.
[19:45:00]
And the health system is overwhelmed.
Lucy Kafanov takes us inside.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Southern California, hospitals are at their breaking point, too many coronavirus patients. As of Thursday, no ICU beds left.
Just outside of Los Angeles, the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, in San Bernardino, so overwhelmed, they have to treat COVID-19 patients inside this surge tents.
DR. STEPHEN DUMONTIER, EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN: Look around, this is -- this is not ideal.
KAFANOV: All 48 ICU beds, full. The majority, COVID patients. The relentless pace, the deaths, the suffering, taking a toll.
RUTH BENZOR, ICU NURSE: It's probably the hardest year of ever had as a nurse. As nurses, we still have our families, and our loved ones to worry about.
KAFANOV: Dr. Rodney Borger, who oversees emergency department, says this is the worst crisis he has faced in his 25-year career.
DR. RODNEY BORGER, ARROWHEAD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: The thing that keeps me up is when there is a time where we have to decide when someone gets something, and who does not.
KAFANOV: So, if things don't change, you are concerned?
BORGER: If things don't change, we are probably going to be rationing care. That is something that is incredibly concerning.
KAFANOV: That's a decision no doctor wants to make.
BORGER: That's a decision nobody wants to make.
KAFANOV: The state reporting 147,000 new coronavirus cases in just 3 days. Activating its a mass fatality plan, ordering 5000 body bags, 60 refrigerated trailers, on standby as makeshift morgues.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: That means we expect to have more dead bodies, then we have spaces in morgues for them. That frightens me. It should frighten you.
KAFANOV: In Los Angeles, where the mayor is in quarantine after his 9- year-old tested positive, officials say an average of two people are dying every hour. The number of patients hospitalized across L.A. county, tripling over the past month, to more than 5000.
DR. BRAD SPELLBERG, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, LAUSC: We are getting crushed. I'm not going to sugarcoat this. We are getting crushed.
KAFANOV: In some areas, emergency rooms are so crowded, ambulances need to wait hours to off-load patients. Some on gurneys outdoors, waiting. The entire San Francisco Bay Area is now effectively locked down. 98 percent of the state's population ordered to stay at home.
Colleen Cirrillo is a traveling nurse who arrived to California in May. She is exhausted from all of the deaths and wants people to take the virus seriously.
COLLEEN CIRRILLO, REGISTERED NURSE: It's really frustrating. Today, I lost a patient. And it's just like this -- so, that was someone's family member. For people to still believe this isn't real. It's just like -- I don't know -- I take offense to it. I would take greater offensive as my family member.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAFANOV (on camera): And, Erin, the doctors, the nurses here tell us they've never seen anything like this before. Yes, vaccines are being distributed, there is hope on the horizon, but they're still the holidays coming up. If people let their guard down now, during this critical time, the doctors here say that the next few months will absolutely be bleak. We have not yet turned the corner on this pandemic -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Lucy, thank you so much.
I want to go now to Republican Congresswoman-elect Nancy Mace of South Carolina. She had coronavirus. She's now an advocate of wearing masks to stop the spread. And, Congresswoman, I really appreciate your time.
You have been dealing, I know, with long term symptoms. You said, at one, point you struggle to catch your breath and your little boy said, mommy, you sound like Darth Vader when you breath.
NANCY MACE (R), SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT: Right.
BURNETT: I mean, first, just tell me, what have you been dealing with? I mean, technically, you recovered, right? But it has been a long haul.
MACE: Right, no, absolutely. And, you know, back in the summer, I had no idea that the symptoms could remain for that long. It literally took me three months to recover when I had COVID-19, and it is a very serious illness.
I am 43 years old, I'm a cyclist, or I was a cyclist. I haven't been on a bike since the summertime. And it took me a long time to recover. The chronic fatigue, chest pain, swollen ankles were very debilitating in my recovery.
And I had to go on to Google to do research on COVID-19 to see if this was normal. What I found out is that there were many patients out there where it takes weeks and months, six to nine months in some cases now for people to recover. And they call us long haulers.
And so, it's really incumbent upon all of us, elected leaders, business leaders, leaders in our churches, our communities, our neighbors, to set a good example. We should be wearing masks. Our body, our choice.
And I choose to wear a mask because I want to protect myself, my children, my family.
There's so much we just don't know about it, and as we just said in your report before, there are areas that are just being massively impacted right now.
BURNETT: Yeah, and we talked about how many of these people, and there are going to be a lot more who are going to die aren't even sick yet, right?
MACE: Right.
BURNETT: And that's what's really so tragic.
So, you know, we see members of, you know, let's be honest, Republican Party. Not all, but a lot of them, right? Rand Paul, certainly, I'm showing him here, has made it clear how he feels about this. They're walking around the Capitol without wearing a mask.
[19:50:00]
The president today retweeted a conservative talk radio host who questions whether masks work. What is your message to those who just continue to fight wearing the
mask? Who act as if it's -- it's sort of a libertarian thing?
MACE: Right, and I love freedom, and I am a Republican who values freedom.
BURNETT: Yes.
MACE: And everyone has that choice.
But for me, since I had it, I had tried to take the last couple of months to explain to people who haven't had it yet, or haven't been exposed, just how serious and debilitating it is, because pre-COVID, I was healthy. I was working out.
I haven't been to a gym since that time. And I have tried to do my best as a Republican lawmaker to set a good example. And in the community where I live, we are having hotspots in South Carolina, but we've done a really great job of protecting each other, because we wear masks, we distance ourselves six feet apart, we take our masks off when we eat and drink, and really, that's about it.
And so, it's just important --
BURNETT: Yeah.
MACE: -- for all of us, not just elected leaders and business leaders, but everyone in our community, as individuals, as families, as parents, as coworkers, and colleagues, to set a good example. And if you are in a vulnerable population, 60 or over, or have an underlying condition, and as you know, Erin, there -- the African American community is disproportionately affected by COVID-19, but we're going to do our best to protect the most vulnerable communities.
And I am hopeful that our frontline workers, and those who are most affected by COVID-19 will get those vaccinations --
BURNETT: Yes.
MACE: -- before a healthy and younger communities do.
BURNETT: Well, Congressman-elect, thank you very much for sharing your story. I know you are dealing with a lot right now. Your kids are home from school and everything and dealing with this.
MACE: Right.
BURNETT: Wish you the best and thank you very much.
MACE: Thank you. Thank you, Erin.
BURENTT: All right. And next, time is running out for Congress to actually do what it needs to do -- pass a COVID stimulus and help people who desperately need it right now. So, what's the hang-up tonight?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:55:39]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Congress avoiding a shut down by agreeing to a stopgap bill. Well, it will keep the government open until Sunday, Sunday night.
Leadership in the House and Senate continue a furious round of negotiations to pass coronavirus relief, to keep the government funded.
OUTFRONT now, Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana. And he's also out with a new book called "Grounded: A Senator's Lesson on Winning Back Rural America".
So, Senator, let me just say, you know, that people keep hearing about these negotiations going on, and we understand there's complexities with coronavirus liability, state and local assistance checks. I get it.
But ultimately, there's a certain level where there's so many Americans, this is embarrassing. I mean, this is needed, and everyone knows it. And it's just -- it's almost impossible to get, you know, 48 hours extensions here, to keep talking.
Why is it so difficult?
SEN. JON TESTER (D-MT): Well, it shouldn't be difficult, Erin. As far as money for the government, it should have been on September. Then we extended to the December 11th, couldn't make it, extend it, and then extend it again to Sunday night.
I think the work is all but done on the omnibus to fund the government. We just need to get it on the floor, and vote on it. And I would say the same thing for the COVID package. There are families out there that hurt, and there are small businesses out there that are going to be closing their doors if we don't hurry up.
And there needs to be some urgency here in Washington, D.C. Let's get these bills on the floor, let's vote on it, vote them up or vote them down.
BURNETT: Yes, there will be more shutdowns coming too. You know, certainly, here in New York, there is more people who have been hit, more people are going to be hurt again.
Bernie Sanders, though, as you know, the senator said he won't allow the package to pass if it doesn't have substantial stimulus checks. Now, he didn't specifically said what that is, but he's been pushing for $1,200 for each individual. In the current deal, my understanding is, only has half of that, $600 for individuals.
Do you think he will block it?
TESTER: Well, I mean, any single senator can block it, but how you get around those blocks is you take it to the floor, and have the entire Senate vote on it. And I think that's what needs to happen.
This is important. This is really important. And this $900 billion, $908 billion package, has been talked about, in a bipartisan way, for about a month now. And so, it's really ridiculous that we can't give businesses and working families the kind of certainty they need to be able to be successful, especially in this holiday season.
It is really important that we tend the business and get it done. Negotiations are going on, Erin, but the bottom line is -- let's get a bill, let's bring into the floor, amend it if we have to, and vote.
BURNETT: So, I mentioned your book, and you've been critical of your party's, you know, frankly, failure to connect with rural America, right? Hillbilly elegy now show everyone is watching. We all know what happened there.
That vote was seated to a Republican Party. You think that is a mistake, that they don't support policies that actually help those voters.
And yet, we see Republicans now, in the Senate, Iowa, North Carolina, your own state of Montana, seats that if Democrats had one, those rural seats, you would have the majority next year. Instead, it's coming down to this hall imbroglio down in Georgia.
So, what do you think are the most important -- what Democrats need to do to turn this around? Because, obviously, they just failed again.
TESTER: Well, I think, number one, you got to show up. I think that's a basic rule of politics. Number two, that means you need to show up in rural America. Number two, you got two ears, one mouth, act accordingly, listen first.
Don't go in and start telling people what they need to believe in. Listen to what their challenges are, because those are real, and real to those people. You need to listen to what they are saying, and then react to that.
And the other thing is, where we are failing, as we need to get a message out. We need to get the message out. I mean, we support infrastructure, we support public education, we support small businesses, working families, but nobody in rural America knows that.
So, Erin, we need to get that message out. It has to be a group effort.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Senator Tester, I appreciate your time very much. Thank you so much.
TESTER: Thank you, Erin. I appreciate it. Good to talk to you.
BURNETT: All right.
And thanks very much to all of you for watching. I appreciate your time. I hope you have a safe, peaceful, holiday.
It's time now for "AC360" tonight, with John Berman.
