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Erin Burnett Outfront

Sources: At Least 140 House GOP and a "Handful" of GOP Senators Expected to Object to Electoral College Vote Count; Source: Trump "Unsettled" During Florida Trip; Discussed Congressional Election Challenges as Way to Cling to Power; Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) Discusses About His on Some Republicans Planning to Vote Against the Electoral College Next Week; U.S. Reports Record Hospitalizations for 4th Straight Day. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 31, 2020 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: He was a World War II veteran and a retired hook-and-ladder driver for the New York Fire Department.

Josephine Josie Kolar of Wisconsin was 94. Her daughter Patti (ph) describes her as a beautiful soul whose dedication of family was the main focus of her life. And may they rest in peace.

I'm Jim Acosta. Have a happy and healthy new year and have a healthier 2021.

Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next breaking news, at least 140 House Republicans and a handful of GOP senators are planning to object to the Electoral College vote tally next week. This as President Trump cut short his vacation hoping this stunt can help him cling to the presidency.

Plus, just days before the high stakes, Georgia Senate runoffs Republican David Perdue is sidelined and in quarantine. Could this plus the early voting numbers spell big trouble for the GOP?

And New Year's Eve like you've never seen it before. We're live in Times Square counting down to 2021. Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening, everyone. I'm Bianna Golodryga in for Erin Burnett. Welcome to a special edition of OUTFRONT.

Tonight, 140 Republicans that is the number of House Republicans at a minimum who are planning to answer Trump's call to try to overturn the election. That according to two House Republicans who tell our Jake Tapper that more than half of the Republicans in the House plan to vote against counting the electoral votes on Wednesday, when Congress certifies Joe Biden's victory. An unprecedented effort to undo America's fair and free election.

CNN is also learning a handful of senators are planning to join Sen. Josh Hawley in contesting the vote certification. The President who is now back in the White House after cutting his Mar-A-Lago holiday vacation short, getting more help on his last-ditch effort to overturn the will of the people.

A source tells CNN the President who appeared 'unsettled' while in Florida, still believes next week's challenge will somehow hand him a second term. But this stunt is not going over well with some Republicans. Sen. Ben Sasse is slamming the effort writing, "The President and his allies are playing with fire. If you make big claims you had better have the evidence. But the President doesn't and neither do the institutional arsonist members of Congress who will object to the Electoral College vote."

Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT live at the White House. Phil Mattingly is live in Washington covering Capitol Hill. But I do want to begin with Kaitlan.

Kaitlan, President Trump clearly still ignoring the facts that he lost this election, no matter the damage he is doing by pressuring Republicans to try to overturn the will of the people.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. He's not the only one ignoring it. He wants to bring Republicans into this fold with him and he's paying attention closely to who is coming and who is not. And so that's why, I think, we're hearing from so many Republicans that you're going to see so many House members expected to join onto this effort and more than one Republican senator who has already come forward, of course, that's Josh Hawley.

And now they are expecting others to come forward as well in this effort, because basically they think it's a little bit safer to move forward once someone else has already made that first move. But we are told that as the President has come back early, it's incredibly unusual for him to do something like this and miss his New Year's Eve party.

And so, while he was supposed to come back tomorrow, he cut that short. He's back at the White House right now and has spent most of the afternoon in the West Wing. And Bianna, this comes after he basically spent his time in Florida, almost completely consumed by this election loss and talking about what's going to happen next week when Congress does meet to certify Biden's win.

And so, while he is plotting along with his Republican allies to cause a disruption, have this spectacle go forward. It's not actually going to change what the outcome is. They will still affirm Biden's win at the end of the day.

So, the question that even some White House aides are asking themselves is what the President is going to do after that and it remains uncertain. We are told the President has still been asking people if he should attend Biden's inauguration at the end of January, though it does not appear clear cut in any way shape or form that he's made a final decision on that.

GOLODRYGA: And what we're not hearing from the President is the coronavirus and the thousands of people that died just today. Kaitlan Collins, thank you so much.

Now, let's go to CNN Congressional Correspondent, Phil Mattingly. Phil, 140 Republicans is a stunning number and quite frankly 140 too many. But how many of them truly believe that these challenges will go anywhere?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Don't even take my reporting on this, Bianna. Take the words of Senator Ben Sasse whom you already quoted. But in a lengthy, lengthy Facebook post laid out why he had concerns, serious concerns about what's going to happen.

And in that post, he said explicitly, he has not spoken to a single Congressional Republican that does not know that Joe Biden is the President-elect of the United States. Now, I can't speak for all, probably what, 230, 243 Republicans on Capitol Hill in the House and the Senate in terms of what they actually think.

[19:05:03]

But the vast majority of them that I've spoken to acknowledge the reality at least privately and that is what's caused so many problems right now inside the Senate Republican conference. Bianna, this morning there was a conference call, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell held a call with Senate Republicans where he asked Josh Hawley to lay out his rationale for why he was planning to object, what was his decision making process and what was he actually going to put forth.

One problem, Josh Hawley was not on that phone call and you've had several members that I've spoken to, Republicans who are very frustrated that Josh Hawley has decided to move forward and join House Republicans in objecting to this. One, because they all know that Joe Biden is the President-elect of the United States. The other is because it puts a lot of Josh Hawley's colleagues in a very difficult position of having to vote against either President Trump who is still widely supported inside the Republican Party, widely supported amongst the base, which could create problems for Republicans who have re- elections in 2022 or 2024.

But also, just the reality of the moment, do you want to vote against somebody that everybody knows one, whether or not you're willing to admit it publicly or not. One interesting element, Bianna, from that call, one source told me that when Josh Hawley did not respond, because he was not on the call, one of the people who did speak up Sen. Pat Toomey.

A Pennsylvania Republican who I'm told basically did a walkthrough as to why the Republican concerns from the President to Josh Hawley and several others about the results from Pennsylvania were unfounded. Saying that he disagreed with where they were. That's the Senator from Pennsylvania. The Republican senator from Pennsylvania taking out one of the core arguments that are being made at this point in time.

So Bianna, you've got all of this playing out. Obviously, we know January 6 is going to be a huge day, a bit of a circus, kind of a mess even though we know how it's all going to end. The bigger question right now almost seems to be how is the Republican Party going to make its way through this over the course of the next couple of days because we're seeing some of the frustrations spill out as so many people get on board with what the President wants?

GOLODRYGA: Well, it sure is an embarrassment for the Republican Party and a dangerous one at that. Phil Mattingly, thank you.

And OUTFRONT now, Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman from Virginia. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us tonight. Two House Republicans telling our Jake Tapper that as many as 140 GOP representatives plan to vote against the Electoral College results next week. What do you say to them?

REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN (R-VA): I say it's not much of a surprise as far as that number and actually, Bianna, I think it might be a little higher. I'm also going to tell all of the delegations, I was just listening about the Pennsylvania Senator, when you're talking about Sen. Toomey, he's going to be in direct conflict with the Pennsylvania delegation, the congressional delegation, who it looks like just put out a statement where all of them are going to vote against the electors.

So, it's going to be really interesting, Bianna, to see this. And what do I say to them, I say stop. Enough of this. I think I understand why they're doing it. I understand they have to appeal to their base. I understand that fundraising is a big issue, I understand the 2022 they could get primaried.

But I think there's a time where you have to pick facts over fantasy, and I don't know what they're going to do on January 6th. Is there going to be cracking balloons and people wearing Mike Flynn T-shirts from the QAnon merch store. I just don't understand why this is what we're doing. I think it's unprecedented to have this type of votes on things that just aren't true.

GOLODRYGA: But you say you don't, or you do understand why they're doing it, do you really? I mean, does any of this makes sense aside from fearful of a presidential tweet? Are they not concerned about democracy and what they're doing to our electoral system here in this country? By the way, the entire world is going to be watching and is currently watching what's taking place.

RIGGLEMAN: Right. And like I said, I understand politically just from my point of view and maybe it's because I wasn't brought up politically, I sort of came as an outsider into this and left as an outsider. I don't understand why facts is not your guiding principle when it comes to defending the Constitution. And a lot of these people are my friends and I've talked to many of them and you know I have, Bianna.

I mean, I get to phone calls, I talk to them and I'm just sort of flummoxed on why we can't just say, listen, we've done this transition many times in the United States. This is nothing new. And when you look at what Ben Sasse is saying, you look at what I'm saying, you look at Adam Kinzinger, Paul Mitchell, you're looking at so many people saying enough of this. Let's move on. Let's run on reality and facts. Let's make sure that we protect the integrity of our Republic but being able to have dialogue that's not based in fantasy and conspiracy theories.

Again, maybe it's my intelligence background, I just can't for the life of me looking at some of what they're saying and think that anybody can think this is reality at this point.

GOLODRYGA: It's crazy at this point and it's dangerous. You look at Speaker McConnell and today telling his caucus to vote their conscience. Clearly, he wanted to avoid this scenario. But by telling them to vote their conscience, you think about the last time a Republican senator said that publicly and that was Ted Cruz at the 2016 Republican convention.

He said vote your conscience. Fast forward now, he's one of those enablers alongside Sen. Hawley. What damage has this done to the party itself and to the country?

RIGGLEMAN: I think long-term it does tremendous damage. I think in the short-term people think they might win an election, but long-term it does this. Here's the thing, Bianna, why aren't we going to then - every election, why isn't it contested based on some fantastical theories that are sort of just made up?

[19:10:09]

Now, if you think about a lot of this is just troll-like activity that's now bubbled to the top to the President, to other people who tweet nonsense and rubbish and attack other people if they don't believe that rubbish. And that's what I'm worried about is that we just have a decline of dialogue and inability to keep this republic going, because we're just sort of traipsing through these meadows of crap of just theories that make no sense.

And I got to tell you, I've talked to a few and, again, Ben Sasse was correct. I just want to tell you this right now, most of the people, they know it's not going to win. They know they're not going to win and they're doing this because they're worried about getting primaried, it's that simple.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, short-term gain. Last question quickly, do you think Vice President Pence will do the right thing and certify the votes next week?

RIGGLEMAN: I think he will. I think he's going to verify the vote. I've been with Mike Pence. I think he's going to do his duty. I just can't imagine he wouldn't. That would be the one thing that surprised me and, Bianna, it really hasn't surprised me to see that maybe 140 or more and I'm going to make a prediction right now, I think it's going to be more that are going to do this.

But I do believe that Vice President Pence will certify this vote and I do believe that we will have a new president, President-elect Biden sworn in on January 20th.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Vice President Pence is clearly under a lot of pressure from his own party and the President himself. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. Happy New Year to you.

RIGGLEMAN: Thank you, ma'am. Happy New Year to you.

GOLODRYGA: And OUTFRONT now, Franita Tolson, the Vice Dean of USC's law school and CNN Election Law Analyst and Senior Editor of the Atlantic Ronald Brownstein. Welcome both of you.

What a busy night, Franita. You just heard what the Congressman said, let's talk about Republican Senator, Josh Hawley. He isn't just vowing to make one objection. He's refusing to rule out challenging the election perhaps of multiple states. Each challenge means a two-hour debate how much of a Hail Mary is this?

FRANITA TOLSON, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: To call it a Hail Mary is very generous, I think. They need to just stop, because honestly, he's just prolonging the process. Let's say he objects to, let's say, four states; Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and so on. So, the contested states, Pennsylvania. If he objects to those, he can add 10 hours to this process.

But at the end of the day, by either late at night or early the next morning, Joe Biden will still be president. So, all he's doing is prolonging a process where the outcome is inevitable.

GOLODRYGA: And doing damage to the country while they're at it.

TOLSON: And doing damage.

GOLODRYGA: Right. Ron, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had a call with his caucus today, we know, and he asked Sen. Hawley to lay out his plan. Hawley did not respond to multiple questions from McConnell, because he apparently wasn't even on the call. But he did have time to launch a small dollar fundraiser pushing out his plan, what does this tell you?

RONALD BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I mean, it tells you that he sees this kind of fantastical claims as a way to establish himself as an inheritor for President Trump's base in 2024. I think you really have to look at the big picture here, though. I mean, this is one step in a continuum. It's another escalation of a long pattern.

And I think the big picture is that we are seeing fear of demographic eclipse is eroding the commitment to small D democracy in the Republican Party both among voters and among leaders. I mean, there are long roots of this going back to all of the voter suppression measures have been passed in Republican states since 2010, the Shelby County decision in 2013 eviscerating the Voting Rights Act. But certainly, under Trump, we have just seen an enormous escalation.

I mean, one Republican in both chambers thought it was worthy of sanctions when he tried to extort the government of Ukraine to manufacture dirt in his opponent. There's been essentially no complaints about his effort to weaponize the postal service or tilt the Census Bureau or the pardons that he's delivered since the election to confederates who withheld information relevant to an investigation on him.

I mean, the party and, of course, the fact that two-thirds of Republicans in the House already have endorsed that lawsuit attempting to disenfranchise 20 million voters as well as two-thirds of the Republican attorneys general. I mean, there is a pattern here, Bianna, of the party moving toward a position where they are arguing that the consequences of Democratic victory are so apocalyptic that any means necessary is justified to resist that.

And I think there's a direct connection between the kinds of things we're seeing from Hawley and the House Republicans and these closing arguments from Perdue and Loeffler in Georgia that basically says if Democrats win the America we know will cease to exist. If that's the stakes in every election, dispensing with democracy might seem a small price.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. We're seeing the breakup of checks on this president from his own party as well.

Franita, Vice President Pence as President of the Senate will preside over this joint session of Congress next week. Harry Litman, a former Deputy Assistant Attorney General and now constitutional law professor tweeted, "Pence's constitutional role is to 'open' the certificates. That's it. Not to certify even technically to count. He has no way even to purport to change the count. It'd be like saying that the Oscar presenters get to decide who wins Best Picture."

[19:15:08]

There was a mishap at the Oscars a few years ago, but that aside, is he right?

TOLSON: Yes, I agree with that completely. So, I think what happens next week will depend on, as Ron points out, is this just a matter of pure politics? Is this a power play or will the process play out like it has normally played out? The Vice President and his role as President of the Senate is supposed to be a rubber stamp of sorts.

So, the Twelfth Amendment says that his job is to open the certificates. The Electoral Count Act allows him to feel objections to those certificates, but it is a far cry from being able to substantively determine the validity of any slates. His job is very limited.

So even if, for example, I know one nightmare scenario is that people are afraid that the bogus Trump elector slates or those slates that were developed in states where Biden clearly won that Pence might open those slates and under the Electoral Count Act, they're supposed to be certificates purporting to be elector slates.

And so even if that happens, Pence does not have the power to determine the validity of those slates. Instead, there will definitely be an objection to those slates and Congress will still get to decide their validity. So Pence is (inaudible) one of oversight. He is not supposed to make substantive determinations.

GOLODRYGA: Well, never a dull moment. Ron, Franita, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

BROWNSTEIN: Happy New Year.

GOLODRYGA: Happy New Year to you.

And OUTFRONT next, a Wisconsin hospital employee is fired and arrested after allegedly intentionally spoiling 500 doses of the COVID vaccine.

Plus, is Trump standing in the way of Biden preparing a budget? A war of words tonight between the two administrations.

And we are less than five hours until midnight on the East Coast, good riddance 2020. We'll take you live to Times Square where Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen are standing by to bring in the new year.

And they're already celebrating in Greece with fireworks in Athens. Take a look at that. Happy New Year.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:55]

GOLODRYGA: Breaking news, for the fourth straight day, the United States hitting a record high for coronavirus hospitalizations, more than 125,000 people in the hospital tonight fighting for their lives. It's also the 30th day in a row that number has been over 100,000. This as Dr. Fauci admits that he's not pleased that about 2.8 million Americans have gotten the first dose of the vaccine so far. That's far short of what the Trump administration had promised.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We would have liked to have seen it run smoothly and have 20 million doses into people today by the end of the 2020, which was the projection. Obviously, it didn't happen and that's disappointing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: OUTFRONT now, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, former Medical Adviser to the George W. Bush White House and Dr. Daniela Lamas. She is a Critical Care Doctor at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. Welcome both of you.

Dr. Reiner, the goal as we know was 20 million vaccinations by the end of this year, so that's by today. The results with less than five hours left in 2020, about 2.8 million. As you heard Dr. Fauci says that he's disappointed, how disappointed are you by these numbers?

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Really disappointed. I mean, this is not a small missed. We didn't just shoot for 20 million and actually injected 17 million. We injected maybe 3 million folks with this vaccine and 17 million haven't gotten it.

It's really frustrating, because every one of those citizens, residents of this country who have been vaccinated, every single one of those people is protected from dying. This is what this vaccine does, it protects you from dying. It's excellent at preventing you from acquiring the virus, but it's almost completely effective at preventing you from dying from it.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

REINER: So I feel an urgency to get this into everyone's arm and we have to completely rethink what we're doing because it's not going to work in anywhere, early enough to really put an end to this pandemic in the next year.

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

REINER: We need to really rethink what we're doing.

GOLODRYGA: An overshoot, Dr. Lamas, of some 18 million is quite a disappointment. We know both vaccines approved for use here in the United States require that second dose. And today Dr. Fauci was asked about calls to spread those out so that more Americans could at least get that first dose. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: I mean, that's under consideration. I still think if done properly, you can do a single dose, reserve doses for the second dose and still get the job done. But there's a lot of discussion about whether or not you want to spread out the initial vaccination by getting more people vaccinated on the first round. You could debate either way on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: So, Dr. Lamas, in your opinion is that a good or bad idea? We know that the efficacy of a vaccine obviously improves when you have two of those doses.

DANIELA LAMAS, CRITICAL CARE DOCTOR, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: So, I think this is an interesting hypothesis. But the truth of the matter is that I think it is sort of a red herring. And the bottleneck here is not getting the second dose into people, it is getting that first dose into somebody's arm. It's not a lack of doses. It's a lack of infrastructure to give people the vaccine.

Throughout this pandemic, we have not had very good science and here we actually have excellent science. We have six months getting a vaccine with fantastic science behind it and I think to try to sort of go off the science to extrapolate data to say maybe this is good enough, that's not what we need to do now. What we need to say is exactly as Dr. Reiner said, this vaccine in its two doses, we know based on data, it can prevent people from dying.

People need to get both those vaccine shots just as the data say that they should and we need to ramp up the infrastructure to get that into people's arms with urgency and haste, rather than trying to go around the edges. GOLODRYGA: Which clearly means working with the states as opposed to

what this administration's president doing saying it's not on me anymore.

[19:25:05]

Dr. Reiner, given the scarcity, there were some disturbing news tonight. We learned that police have arrested a hospital pharmacist in Wisconsin. Now, they say he intentionally removed what equals more than 500 vaccine doses from a refrigerator to make them ineffective and that there were 57 vaccinations given that are now believed to be less effective or completely ineffective. How disturbing and troubling is that? And are you worried that there'll be more cases like this throughout the country?

REINER: Well, there are crazy people everywhere and this is, I'm sure, a one-off event. What's worse than simply wasting the vaccine, which is like wasting donated blood is that it was administered to people who believe that the vaccine was effective. So basically, it placed them at greater risk, because at some point their behavior will change based on an assumption that they are largely protected.

So, it is really a heinous crime, but no I'm not worried about that on any kind of wide scale in the United States, no.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Like you said, there are crazy people everywhere.

Dr. Lamas, you wrote a very powerful and emotional op-ed after you received the first dose of the vaccine, which made you reflect on the patients that you have cared for. I want to read it to our viewers you write in part, "There is a grandmother whose family took false comfort in a negative test. A father who welcomed a dozen people into his home for the holidays. Each casualty is made even more poignant by the celebratory vaccine selfies on my phone and the knowledge that had they waited. My patients might have lived."

We sometimes forget that you too are human, and you do God's work every day, especially throughout this pandemic. What was that moment like for you? And what were you trying to convey to those people who were going to read what you wrote?

LAMAS: I think that moment was intensely powerful, knowing that just a couple floors away in the hospital there were people who I cared for whose faces and families I knew who were suffering, who might not make it, who might make it and who might face long-term complications from coronavirus and an infinite number of people I will never meet, who will get sick while waiting for the vaccine.

I wrote the piece and still believe that these photos, that the very existence of this vaccine that the miraculous science that brought this to us so quickly has caused for hope. And I think now, our administration, our federal government needs to make sure that this hope that I'm asking people to have, this reason to not have a new year celebration tonight that that's not in vain. That this promise that they will get the vaccine and that people will be working to give it to them as fast as humanly possible to keep them from dying, that that's not a false promise and that this hope is real, so that's sort of what I'm thinking as we go into 2021 and as I think about the vaccine.

GOLODRYGA: And, of course, we should be thinking about the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are in the hospital tonight and that is where they will be ringing in the New Year as they struggle with this virus as well. Thank you both for everything that you've done. We appreciate it. Happy New Year to you both, Dr. Lamas and Dr. Reiner.

LAMAS: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And out OUTFRONT next, Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue now quarantining just days before the high stakes Georgia runoff election.

Plus, Joe Biden's transition says there's a 'indefensible lack of cooperation' from the Trump administration. The war of words that is erupting between team Biden and team Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:31]

GOLODRYGA: Breaking news. Just five days before Georgia's critical Senate runoff elections that will determine the balance of power in Washington, the Republican candidate, Senator David Perdue, forced to quarantine after coming in close contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. Now, it comes as Republicans grow increasingly concerned that Democrats are outperforming in early voting.

Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT in Georgia, on the ground there.

And, Kyung, Senator Purdue getting sidelined at a really critical time, yet we saw a largely mask less crowd at what was to be a joint event just this afternoon with Perdue and Senator Loeffler.

What more do we know about this new development?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR N ATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was supposed to be a joint event and it was supposed to be here. They're breaking down the stage but there was no David Perdue. We learned about what was happening with the senator right as he was about to take stage, right as he was supposed to take stage and he just didn't show up.

The campaign released that statement saying he came into contact with someone who was COVID-positive and so he was going to follow doctor's order, follow CDC guidelines, he and his wife were going to quarantine. They did get tested and currently negative but depending on the timing of when they had contact with this person, it's very likely they're going to have to be tested again.

So, what happened here, Bianna, this rally was a little surreal. He simply didn't show up. Everything rolled forward as if he was never supposed to be here in the first place. Senator Loeffler spoke to the crowd and as people were leaving, they were never informed. They were actually asking us, what happened to the senator?

GOLODRYGA: As if people wouldn't have noticed that he wasn't there. And I can count on my hand how many people were wearing masks. I really hope those people are okay.

But we also know that nearly 3 million ballots have already been cast, and we're seeing people waiting in long lines to vote early. Is that giving Democrats a lot of hope right now?

LAH: Well, I'll tell you what my colleague Ryan Nobles found out in talking to his Republican sources. He spoke with two of them looking at GOP data of turnout and this is what they are telling Ryan.

What they are saying is that Democrats are currently outperforming where they were in the 2020 general election. And that has Republicans concerned here in Georgia. What it means is essentially the there's more Democrats already voting, they have to figure out how to get more Republicans to the booth on Election Day.

[19:35:05]

It is something they are confident they can do, Bianna, but certainly it gets tougher as those Democratic numbers climb in early vote.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, we have the president and the president-elect both coming down there next week as well ahead of that big crucial vote Tuesday.

Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

And for more on these races, I want to bring in Harry Enten, senior writer and analyst for CNN Politics.

Harry, we had so much fun earlier this week, we decided to do it all over again.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST FOR POLITICS: Why not?

GOLODRYGA: You make statistics so fun. So, let's get right to it.

Senator Perdue pulled off the campaign trail in the final days of a very close race, how much could this hurt him?

ENTEN: It can't help him, part of the reason it can help them is when you think about the coronavirus, right? If you take a look at this general election exit poll of a really gives you a good understanding of what's cooking, which is that if you believe that the efforts to contain the coronavirus are going well, David Perdue won those voters by 75 points. If you thought the efforts to contain the coronavirus were going badly, you voted for Jon Ossoff, his opponent, by 71 points. So, the more that the coronavirus gets on the news in these final days, the more I have to think it helps us off in this very close race matchup.

GOLODRYGA: And now that Perdue has it in its own backyard with somebody close to him having been diagnosed, this just makes it all the more obvious to his supporters that this is something that is impacting him in his state. But this comes as Republicans likely need a heavy election day vote, given the early voting data right?

ENTEN: That's exactly right. You know, as Ryan Nobles was reporting, you can take it a look at the hard data itself. It's publicly available. And what do you see?

You see that in the early -- in the areas in which the Democrats did well back in November, you see the ones that Biden won by 30 points more than the congressional district, they right now -- the relative turnout in the November elections, 66 percent in those areas, versus in the areas that Trump won by 30 percentage points or more, it's only 51 percent.

So what you do in fact see in these final few days especially on election day is you need to see heavy Republican turnout and obviously if produce sidelined, that could hurt those efforts.

GOLODRYGA: Yeah, and we're also seeing unusually high turnout already, for a runoff election aren't we? Have you ever seen anything like this?

ENTEN: No, no I have not. And you know all I do spend every day just looking at the data. Look, the last time that we had a Senate runoff, which was historically high turnout back in 2008, what we saw was I believe only about 2.1 million voters. That was the previous overall record.

And, look at, this already through this point, just through Wednesday, 2.8 million ballots and we know that number is going to climb ever higher. So, this is truly unusual election. Voters in Georgia are very, very pumped up. They're going out and they're voting. A lot of ballots already cast.

GOLODRYGA: So, could it the possible that Democrats are benefitting more from having two candidates running at once than Republicans are?

ENTEN: I think it's very quite possible, because what Democrats want to do are two things. First, they want to try and persuade voters to come over to their, and you can see that very, very well on the 6th congressional district in Georgia, right? This is an area where Joe Biden won by 11 percentage points in the presidential level, but the Senate Democratic candidates struggled there.

But guess who ran in a special House election there back in 2017? Jon Ossoff, so perhaps Ossoff could help change the minds of some of those Republicans down-ballot voters, who are anti Trump and bringing over to the Democrats.

But here's the other thing the Democrats want to do right? They want to try to burn buildup to turn up. They especially want to go after African Americans, make sure they turn out. Raphael Warnock, obviously an African American, and look at what we're seeing so far? The black chair of the Georgia electorate so far in early voting 31 percent, in November at this point, it was only 28 percent. It seems to be working out for Democrats so far. GOLODRYGA: And Stacey Abrams deserves a lot of credit for, that --

ENTEN: Absolutely.

GOLODRYGA: Harry, I know you said all you do is look at charts. I am getting a reprieve. Tonight, is New Year's Eve. Stay safe, stay inside, but you can celebrate a little bit as well.

ENTEN: I'm going to try.

GOLODRYGA: Happy New Year to you. Thank you.

ENTEN: You too.

GOLODRYGA: And tonight, a 25-year-old incoming Republican House member, the youngest person elected to Congress in modern history is trying to boost the youth vote in the all-important Georgia runoffs.

Dianne Gallagher is OUTFRONT with the report on this compelling and at times controversial figure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You wish you could take it back?

REP.-ELECT MADISON CAWTHORNE (R-NC): Oh absolutely.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Meet North Carolina Republican Madison Cawthorn, the youngest person elected to Congress in modern history. Of the night he won, Hawthorne celebrated on Twitter with three words, which some thought was a dig at his Democratic opponent.

GALLAGHER: You tweeted?

CAWTHORN: Oh, not the most congressional thing I've ever done.

GALLAGHER: Cry more, lib. Why did you do that?

CAWTHORN: You know, it was definitely not targeted at my opponent, Mo Davis, who ran a very tough campaign. It was targeted more at this cancel culture in the extremes on both ends.

GALLAGHER: The first member of Congress born in the 1990s, Cawthorn has taken his party by storm.

CAWTHORN: I represent young Republicans. I represent this new phase of this Republican Party.

GALLAGHER: With a very conservative platform wrapped in a message of youth, faith and overcoming adversity.

[19:40:03]

The now-25-year-old has used a wheelchair since a car accident in 2014, left him partially paralyzed. CAWTHORN: I know what it is to feel significant amounts of pain and to

feel left behind by society. I think that is an interesting perspective to come into as a conservative, a more empathetic message with these conservative values.

GALLAGHER: Cawthorn actually credits that Democrat, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with inspiring him to run for Congress.

CAWTHORN: Although I disagree with her on a lot of policy possibility, he did set an example that she could get involved make a difference in your country.

GALLAGHER: After her shocking win over a Trump-backed candidate in crowed 11th district in the primary, the party and the president quickly started showcasing the western North Carolina native.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Where is Madison? Where is Madison? Is he here?

Madison Cawthorn, a real star, you're going to be a star of the party.

GALLAGHER: The prime speaking spot at the convention.

CAWTHORN: The radical, for our republic, for which I stand.

GALLAGHER: Stumping for GOP Senate candidates in Georgia.

But it was a series of scandals that helped propel the relatively unknown candidate in national stage.

CAWTHORN: I'm definitely not a Nazi. I'm deathly not a white supremacist.

GALLAGHER: This 2017 Instagram post from a visit to Adolf Hitler's vacation home in Germany, the Eagle's Nest, where Cawthorn refers to Hitler as the Fuhrer.

CAWTHORN: I do believe I made a mistake. I was unaware that using a certain tern describing an evil man Hitler was offensive to people in the Jewish community.

GALLAGHER: Cawthorn says he went there for the history, pointing out that he also called Hitler a supreme evil in the post.

CAWTHORN: I hate racism. My fiance -- she's a biracial young woman. I'm going to have biracial children.

GALLAGHER: When he arrives in Washington, Cawthorn says the term limits our top priority in his conservative agenda. But he does see potential for compromise, with Democrats on broadband expansion, opioids and even the environment.

CAWTHORN: I believe that as a Republican, you can love God, you can love guns and you can hate greenhouse gases. GALLAGHER: In our interview just before Christmas, Cawthorn told CNN

that he suspected fraud in the presidential election but did acknowledge that Trump's legal team has yet to prove it.

CAWTHORN: If Joe Biden is our president, if I was a betting man, I probably he will be.

GALLAGHER: But just two days later at a gathering of young conservatives.

CAWTHORN: I will be contesting the election --

GALLAGHER: Not ready to completely accept reality, but open to what's next.

CAWTHORN: I look forward to working with him and I think that we can modernize our country together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GALLAGHER (on camera): Now, none of that really scratches the surface on the controversy that surrounds Cawthorn. He's been accused of racism, sexual misconduct and making misleading statements, all of which he's either denied or explained away. But none of which, has hurt his popularity in the Republican Party.

Bianna, Cawthorn tells me that he feels a great weight on his shoulders for representing Gen-Z Republicans. Knowing that his success and of course his scandals, could impact a generation.

GOLODRYGA: And he clearly caught the president's eye, calling him a star. Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much.

OUTFRONT next, the Trump administration responding to team Biden's claim that officials are not giving them enough amid information about the nation's finances.

Plus, will take you live to Times Square whereas you about see tonight's New Year's eve festivities, will be unlike any in the past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:27]

GOLODRYGA: Breaking news, the Biden transition alleging a, quote, indefensible lack of cooperation from President Trump's budget chief who himself is accusing the Biden team of, quote, false statements.

It's just the latest feud in this turbulent transition.

MJ Lee is OUTFRONT for us tonight.

MJ, what more do you know about this?

MJ LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, we are seeing a serious disconnect between what the Biden transition world is saying is happening versus what the Trump administration is happening during this transition process. You recall that Biden himself, earlier this week said there has been obstruction and roadblocks coming from particularly the DOD, and the OMB, and the latest iteration, the latest back and forth in this whole saga is that the OMB director has written a letter to the Biden transition and what he said was that he basically into that they have been fully cooperative and offering the information that they should be giving, but the one thing that we are not going to do is help the Biden transition with their legislative priorities. And we don't want to help them dismantle this administration's work, those are his words.

And then that prompted the Biden team to strike back with the statement of their own, saying that all of this basically amounts to partisanship and that all of this is hurting their ability to do important work, and I tried to get a plan for a budget set up for next week. Now, you'll recall that earlier this week we did a lot of reporting on the drama between the DOD and the Biden transition. Essentially, a lot of concerns being raised in the Biden world about information that they are not getting, that could have national security implications.

And now, I should note, just this evening the pentagon said there are some 30 interviews that are set to take place next week, between the Biden agency review teams and the DOD. So we'll see what comes of those meetings, but I will say obviously the Biden transition work is continuing including on an operation day. They just announced that they will put out a memo to halt or freeze all Trump administration regulations that have not yet gone into effect.

So, busy work for the Biden transition team, continuing, Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: And it bears repeating though how not normal these transition roadblocks are.

MJ Lee, thank you so much.

Now, I want to bring in Doug Brinkley, CNN presidential historian and professor of history at Rice University.

Doug, good to see you again.

Have you ever seen transition unfold like this one?

DOUG BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: No, nothing like this. This is Donald Trump trying to sabotage the American democratic system. I mean, it was -- you know, you had times where Andrew Johnson didn't go to Ulysses S. Grant's inaugural, or Eisenhower and Truman were very frosty with each other.

[19:50:06]

But this is a form of sabotage that the Trump team is doing, keeping Biden folks blinded by the intelligence information that they need to get prepared for January 20th and beyond.

GOLODRYGA: And potentially dangerous. This is why we have this period for the transition teams to be helping each other as they move into another administration.

You've written about many presidents, one of them is Jimmy Carter. CNN is premiering a new film Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, called "Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President". Let's take a clip.

BRINKLEY: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT: When Willie Nelson wrote his autobiography, he confessed that he smoked pot in the White House, when he was spending the night with me. And he says that his companionate that shared the pot with him was in the service at the White House. That is not exactly true. It was actually one of my sons which he didn't want to categorize as a pot smoker like him.

There are some people who didn't like my being deeply involved with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, this reputable rock and rollers. But I didn't care about that, because I was doing what I really believed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Incredible video there. Carter's connection with the biggest rock and roll musicians of his day was really instrumental in helping him get elected, wasn't it?

BRINKLEY: There's no question about it. When gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson did the cover endorsement on "Rolling Stone" of Jimmy Carter, it was a big deal because Carter was a born again Christian who didn't drink, didn't smoke. And so, the fact the rock and roll community rallied behind Carter was huge.

And it was mainly the Allman Brothers band. Their record label Capricorn was out of Macon, Georgia. And Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts would go to barbecues and alike with Jimmy Carter, play softball with them, and they really developed an incredible close friendship. And Jimmy Carter just loved the music of Bob Dylan. He put Dylan quotes in his autobiography, why not the best, and in fact, at the inauguration in 1977, Jimmy Carter quoted Bob Dylan. He not be busy being born is busy dying.

GOLODRYGA: I mean, look, Willie Nelson can do nobody wrong, from Jimmy Carter, he was campaigning for Beto O'Rourke just the past couple of years ago. This is fascinating.

Doug Brinkley, always great to have you on. Thank you.

BRINKLEY: Happy New Year to you.

GOLODRYGA: You too.

And don't miss "Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President," Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

And OUTFRONT next, we'll take you live to Times Square for a New Year's celebration unlike any this city has ever seen. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:12]

GOLODRYGA: And you are looking at live pictures of Times Square in New York City right now, where the famous ball is dropping tonight. That's where the tradition ends. Tonight, no lines, no massive crowds, no cheering fans.

Richard Quest is in Times Square now.

And, Richard, you are usually there when there are a million people in Times Square. You've covered the celebration for more than 22 years tonight, a very different scene from years past. What are you expecting?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS AT LARGE: You know, Bianna, it really is extraordinary. It's quite upsetting for someone like myself we've been here every year, doing this, with, you know, 1 million people.

Let me show you. This is Times Square 2020 style. You have nobody from here really to the end of the square. There is the ball, that will still drop at midnight, and these are going to be filled in with a variety of honorees.

So, if you come back up here, we have the honorees from the military. We have honorees who have raised money for charity. Bianna, it's very different. It's extraordinarily different, but it's still Times Square, and it's still New Year's Eve, and we are still going to get on with it.

GOLODRYGA: And those frontline workers who deserve to be there are there, as are you my friend, a strong jacket, strong mask, I'm loving it. Tell me why this has been such an important moment for you as, well it's been a hard year, you suffered with COVID, and you had a very difficult recovery.

Tell me about the emotions you are feeling right now.

QUEST: I'm feeling huge emotions, because a year ago, I stood in the square, and I looked up, and I thought, go, 2020, come on, 2020, and I was getting married in 2020.

And, by the way, this is who I got married to.

GOLODRYGA: Congratulations!

QUEST: We failed to get married when we are expecting to, we didn't later on. I've been in the square, every year for 25 years or so, midnight. I did millennium midnight in the square. The mood, it's still -- let's have a bit of festivity. I mean, you do the one thing we have learned. Anyone who wears glasses and spectacles wonder why I've taken this off, it's very difficult to speak and do that. They fog up.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, well, look, Richard -- they fog up, but listen, you survived, you are thriving. 2021 will be a better year for you. Wishing you all the best.

QUEST: Yes, yes.

GOLODRYGA: With the love of your life there, have a wonderful new year. Be safe, thank you so much for covering this for us.

And happy New Year's to everybody at home. Thank you so much for watching.

QUEST: Happy New Year.

GOLODRYGA: Happy New Year!

Thank you for watching our special New Year's Eve show live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen starts right now.