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Trump Triggers More Chaos In Administration's Final Weeks; Biden's Cabinet Picks Gear Up For Confirmation Hearings; Awaiting News Conference On Nashville Bombing; COVID-19 Has Killed One In 1,000 Americans; Harris Set To Make History As First Female Vice President. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired December 27, 2020 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Christmas week chaos in Trump's Washington.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's called the COVID relief bill. But it has almost nothing to do with COVID. It really is a disgrace.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): And then the president doesn't give a damn about people.

HENDERSON: Plus, the vaccine rollout offers hope for 2021 but only after a dark winter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all bracing for an inevitable spike post- Christmas and post-New Year's.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We could be looking at 1 million Americans infected every single day.

HENDERSON: And the latest details on the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I said, why do we have to evacuate? What's going on? And right then, the bomb went off.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENDERSON (on camera): Welcome back to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm Nia-Malika Henderson, in today for John King. And thank you for spending part of your holiday weekend here with us.

In just 24 days, the Trump presidency will be over, but these final weeks have turned out to be just as chaotic as any observers of the past four years would expect.

President Trump spent the days leading up to Christmas lashing out at Democrats and Republicans alike, anyone he thinks isn't doing enough to help him overturn an election that he divisively lost.

He tweeted: I saved at least eight Republican senators including Mitch from losing in the last rigged election. Now they almost all sit back and watch me fight against a crooked and vicious foe, the radical left Democrats. I will never forget.

In another tweet, he said: The Justice Department has done nothing about the 2020 presidential election voter fraud, the biggest scam in our nation's history, despite overwhelming evidence. That, of course, is a lie. A reality check here, not only is the evidence not overwhelming, it doesn't exist at all.

He also issued pardons to several dozen friends and friends of friends, including former Republican congressman who pled guilty to corruption, former advisers who wouldn't turn against him in the Mueller probe and four military contractors convicted of murdering civilians in Iraq. And he shocked both parties when he attacked an economic relief bills that Republicans supported and his treasury secretary actually negotiated.

So, now, he's demanding Congress triple the size of the stimulus checks being sent to most Americans, an idea that's not in the bill because he didn't ask for it to be in the bill, and Republicans, they didn't want it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it. It wasn't their fault. It was China's fault. Not their fault. I'm asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: President Trump hasn't vetoed this rescue package but he also hasn't signed it either. As a result, there are 12 million Americans, they just lost their unemployment insurance benefits and millions more could be kicked out of their homes when the eviction moratorium expires on Friday. And the government will shut down tomorrow night.

So, joining me now with the reporting and their insights, two of the best reporters on the Trump beat, CNN's Kaitlan Collins and "The Washington Post" Josh Dawsey.

Thank you both for being here. Happy holidays.

Josh, I'm going to start with you.

Between the pardons, you've got the torpedoing of this economic rescue package as well as efforts to overturn an election that he lost, he lost in a landslide, this president, he seems unhinged and there doesn't seem to be anyone around to tell him what he should or shouldn't do. I feel like, you know, this is a question you could have asked at any point in the president's term. But now, it's critical for millions of Americans around the country.

JOSH DAWSEY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, as you said, the president does not align with the party right now. He's frustrated that McConnell and others will not back him up on trying to overturn the election and therefore he's lashing out with the pardons, with, you know, torpedoing bill last minute by secretly filming a video in the White House that his team did not know existed.

[08:05:11]

His key adviser Jared Kushner is nowhere to be seen, we haven't seen Ronna McDaniel, the RNC chairwoman, we haven't seen Bill Stepien, the campaign manager. The White House is nearly cleared out.

You have a president who is angry, feels like the election has been stolen. Obviously, that's not the case. But that's the way he sees it and he's trying to do whatever he can to change his fortunes with 24 days to do. It's not the time that he took to anyone who worked in the White House, let's say, he's particularly happy for anyone.

HENDERSON: And, of course, he can't change his fortunes losing the election.

And, Kaitlan, I want to quote to you a Republican official who told CNN's Jake Tapper this. This is about McConnell and Thune acknowledging the inevitable when it comes to venting rage and seeking revenge versus millions losing unemployment the day after Christmas and millions losing apartments and millions of small businesses going under. There is no contest. His ego always comes first.

And, Kaitlan, it does strike me that this is a president that wants to wake up this morning and see himself as the center of attention and that's certainly what happened and what will happen I think throughout the day, because everybody is trying to figure out what he's going to do. Is he going to sign this bill or is he going to veto it. Is that what this is about for this president?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think that's right. I think the president views everything through the lens of himself. While you're hearing Republicans and Democrats alike talk about what's happening with these benefits expiring, these benefits that over 12 million people are relying on and many more affected to the other things that are not going to happen because the president has not signed this bill yet, that is not something that is of high priority for him.

I think the president is framing that way by saying he wants these $2,000 stimulus checks over the $600 ones. But the president was completely uninvolved in these negotiations. It was his treasury secretary who proposed the $600 and now, of course, they're the ones going back on it, which has baffled Capitol Hill, even though you've seen the president do this before.

The president isn't registering the effect this is going to have on people. He's viewing every single thing that happens right now in the news cycle through the lens of himself and, of course, he's incredibly aggrieved and when Republicans do just acknowledge the truth, like Mitch McConnell and John Thune did, the president is going after them, and lashing out at them and threatening to primary John Thune. So, you can see what happens when a lawmaker takes a simple step as just saying what's actually going on.

HENDERSON: And so, Josh, so far the president hasn't said that he will veto this relief package. The bill has been flown down to him in Florida to sign it or veto and this is about more than this relief money that millions of Americans will waiting on. If he doesn't sign this bill, the government shuts down on Tuesday morning. Does anybody have any idea what he might do? Is this just sort of last-minute bluster and he'll end up signing it or is there going to be a veto?

DAWSEY: We don't know, Nia. I mean, the will he or won't he sign the bill that his administration says he supports has been a four-year running game in Washington. Think about all of the shutdowns that we've almost averted and almost happened at least because the president was very unclear what he was going to do until the last minute, as he's lambasted the bill.

I mean, this time what's different, there's only a few weeks left and there's not a lot of incentive for him to cooperate and place nice with others. You know, there's Republican effort. Lindsay Graham was down this weekend playing golf with the president, Republican allies who are trying to get him to sign the bill saying it's not perfect and we understand you have concerns about the bill, but it's better than nothing. And right now, it's what your team negotiated, as Kaitlan said.

But the president so far has not said that he will sign the bill. He's left it very unclear. Now, several of his people the other night when he posted that scorching video excoriating the bill that his own team negotiated, several of the folks noted to me, I think to others he did not say he would veto it, it's a bit of a cliffhanger.

So, as we will see, the next couple of days, I guess we'll know, but it's hard to do what he'll do until then.

HENDERSON: Of course, cliffhanger, that's exactly what this president likes. And, Kaitlan, I want to play an ad that started running in Georgia for Senator David Perdue hours and this was just before the president attacked this relief bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD ANNOUNCER: Senator Perdue never gave up. Purdue again delivered real meaningful help for Georgians. $900 billion in new COVID relief, direct checks to Georgians, critical funding for vaccine distribution, small businesses, public schools and help for folks out of work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: And so, Kaitlan, this was one of the arguments that Mitch McConnell was making to Republicans about the need for a relief package, the need for these senators to be able to argue that they're delivering for their constituents.

[08:10:08]

Does Trump care about that, though? That's one of the things that has struck me, maybe he doesn't care if David Perdue or Kelly Loeffler actually win those races in Georgia particularly because he lost his race.

COLLINS: It doesn't seem that he does. And he does understand the power he wields here. But he's only been to Georgia once as all of this is going on. We're days away from the election there.

This is something that Republicans said could help them maintain control of the Senate. Of course, that's something that is critical that could really affect the way Joe Biden's presidency is going to go and yet the president has not seemed to have that high on his priority list.

And instead, we reported he's been privately trashing a lot of the officials in Georgia and that includes Loeffler as well. The president has been talking about her complaining that she couldn't win and that she's in this race to begin with. And this runoff to begin with.

And so, that hasn't seem like a high priority for the president, and you can see it right there where this is something that could actually help them get this over the line. Clearly, David Perdue feels that way and the president is openly being the only person standing in the way of this getting signed and David Perdue having this to run on and it could make a difference in the race. We just don't know yet.

HENDERSON: And so, Josh, I want to get back to some of the claims of electoral fraud that the president has been distracted by. The president, he's talking to his advisers still about ways he could stay in office and I want you to answer this quickly.

What does the president think he'll actually be doing three weeks from now on January 20th?

DAWSEY: That's a great question. I mean, he's certainly trying to put together and orchestrate an effort to stay in. He met with the House Freedom Caucus guys at the White House recently to stage, you know, a protest, to stage a move against a certification of the Electoral College votes on January 6th.

He's been calling Republican senators trying to get him on his team. You've seen the vicious tweet campaign from Mar-a-Lago against Republican senators, a president who is not giving up yet. Privately if you talk to him or his advisers, you'll hear that some people think he knows that it's not going to work out in his favor.

But he sees an advantage in continuing to fight. But publicly, he's doing everything he can to keep us going. There's very little chance that it would work. I mean, Mitch McConnell has told his conference and the House conference knows that there will not be the votes to overturn this. But he's going to continue to do all of the machinations until January 6th.

And we'll see, of course, Vice President Pence, a big role on January 6th. I'm sure, the president won't like what he sees on this day. But this is inevitable. The president a loss and something he's going to have to deal with. Coming up next, we thank you both for that reporting. And coming up

next, a warning from Joe Biden to the progressive wing of his party, and as we go to break, one of the many big political moments of 2020, the primary night win that powered Biden's rise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: For all of those who have been knocked down, counted out, left behind, this is your campaign!

Folks, I'm a proud Democrat. But I will govern as an American president. I'll work as hard for those who didn't vote for me as those who did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:19]

HENDERSON: President-elect Biden will be sworn in as president in three weeks and he's hoping that the Senate will be ready to quickly confirm his key appointees. He still has a few slots left to fill, still outstanding -- there's labor secretary, commerce secretary, as well as the much anticipated attorney general pick.

And meanwhile, Biden, he remains clear-eyed about the challenges that await him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I don't think it's a honeymoon at all. I think it's a nightmare that everybody is going through and they all say it's got to end. It's not a honeymoon.

You have a different team in town. You have a different team in town. I'm not going to villainize the opposition, but I'm going to stand and say this is what we got to do because they know it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: Joining me now to share the reporting as well as their insights, we've got Michael Shear of "The New York Times", and Natasha Korecki of "Politico".

Happy holidays. Thanks to you both for being here.

Michael, I'm going to start with you. President-elect Biden, who you, of course, covered as vice president, he's going to inherit several crisis when he takes office next month. Does he think this transition has been successful?

It's been an odd transition because of the outgoing president's refusal to accept the results but are Biden and his team pleased with how it's going? MICHAEL SHEAR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think mostly. There's been

some bumps in the road, some frustration inside the Biden transition leadership at some of the recalcitrance among Trump officials -- outgoing Trump officials, particularly, there's some been talk about the Pentagon not being as helpful as maybe they could have been.

But, look, this transition didn't start, you know, in November. This transition started in the summer for the Biden folks. They've been meeting since July at least to try to put together an administration in the event that they won. And they're going full steam ahead.

I talked to somebody just the other day who said the kind of sort of out of the gate policy actions that the then President Biden will be putting into effect will be faster and more aggressive than we've ever seen given the challenges -- the immediate challenges, the economic dislocation, the pandemic and the other issues that are on his plate which are as big and difficult as any president -- sort of incoming president has faced before.

So, I think they think it's going okay. Obviously, a little shorter than maybe they would have had hoped. But they've been working on it a long time.

HENDERSON: And, Natasha, you wrote this week about what's happening behind the scenes around the cabinet confirmation push.

Can you walk us through that?

NATASHA KORECKI, POLITICO NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: Sure. There's an intense lobbying effort happening right now for a lot of Biden nominees that they expect to have some push back on and even those they might expect some hiccups along the road.

The lobbying efforts happening in two parts. One is a very overt lobbying effort. There's these shiny, highly produced videos they're putting on the nominees, that are heavy on biography and really sort of -- on their public facing, social media, trying to introduce to people here's why this person is qualified in our view.

And then there's this behind the scenes and this is very intense. You have the nominees themselves reaching out to people on the Hill. You have other previous cabinet secretaries who are lobbying on the behalf of Biden's nominees one of which is Kathleen Sebelius.

[08:20:00]

And we spoke to her a little bit. She's the former HHS secretary under Obama. We spoke to her about the situation she walked into. She was not confirmed until April of 2009 and at that point the H1N1 flu was raging across the country.

Now, of course, we have Xavier Becerra who is HHS secretary for Biden, and she's been talking to Becerra and she's also been talking to the transition team and sort of advising them on here's some of the things that you -- some of the impasses that can happen along the way. And you need to get past it. Certainly, you know, COVID is exponentially more deadly than H1N1 was.

And with Sebelius, that sort of -- they rushed her in after Tom Daschle's nomination and he had to withdraw because of tax issues. It delayed the whole process.

HENDERSON: And, Michael, you reported this week on Biden's call with newspaper columnists where he said he believes he can usher in a new era of bipartisan in Washington.

Here's what he had to say: My leverage is every senior Republican knows I never once misled them, I'll never publicly embarrass them.

So, in this incoming Congress, there will only be 13 Republicans left in the Senate from when Biden was last a member in the 2007.

Why does he think he can lower the partisan rancor? And I ask this to you. You covered Obama and Biden. Obama often thought that he could lower the partisan rancor as well.

I remember him saying the sizzle would break after he would -- you know, was reelected in 2012. That didn't happen.

Why does Biden think he's different?

SHEAR: Well, look, that's been sort of part of the Biden promise from the beginning is that he draws on this long history of being part of the Washington governing establishment and having been in Congress for more than three decades -- in the Senate for more than three decades.

And I think that there is a lot of skepticism, you know, both outside of the incoming administration but also inside a little bit, that the folks around the vice president are hopeful that he's right, hopeful that there will be some kind of willingness on the part of some Republicans to work with him on some of the confirmation battles that Natasha just talked about, but also on the policy debates that are sure to come over everything from taxes to COVID relief to foreign policy questions and the like.

And I think there's some hope that that will happen, but there's some understanding of the reality in Washington. And if anything, the -- you know, the gridlock and the division that Barack Obama faced when he came in at the beginning of 2009 has only deepened and become more, you know, bitter and, you know, mirroring the company, mirroring the divisions in the country after the last four years of Donald Trump.

I think there's deep skepticism even as President Biden thinks that those relationships that he was able to build for -- with folks that he knew in the past, but also that he'll be able to build in the future will help him move his agenda through.

HENDERSON: And so, Natasha, Michael -- they're talking about some of the divisions among Republicans and Democrats. But we also saw early signs of a split within Biden's own party, the progressive wing of the party this weekend and that was on immigration and student loan debt.

How will Biden navigate those intraparty feuds and rifts and splits that he is sure to face?

KORECKI: He's first of all trying to do things like he's done ahead of time which is, make inroads with people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Warren, of course, came out -- one of the nominees, Neera Tanden, who has had the most push back. Warren came out in support of her.

So he's trying to do things ahead of time including making overtures with Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders has said that he would give Tanden a fair hearing. But, certainly, it's true -- there -- throughout Biden's campaign, he's been hit from the left again, again, and again. He had made it clear from the beginning that he believes that the Democratic Party is far more moderate than, you know, the chattering class, the Twitter verse and so forth.

On the other hand, once he did win the nomination, he has been more receptive and he has been bringing in, you know, more advisers and we have been told that when we see the second wave of those who he's nominating for -- or appointing to the administration, the deputy secretaries and so forth, that there's going to be a lot -- there's going to be a nod to progressives there, and that could do some, you now, some -- make really in-roads with progressives --

(CROSSTALK)

[08:25:02]

HENDERSON: That's right.

Natasha and Michael, thank you so much for that great analysis and your great reporting.

KORECKI: Thank you.

HENDERSON: And next, fears of a post-holiday COVID surge as America hits another milestone.

And as we go to break, two more of the biggest political moments of 2020, President Trump's early comments about the COVID-19 spread.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done.

I would like you to speak to the medical doctors to see if there's any way you can apply light and heat to cure, you know, if you could? Maybe you can, maybe you can't. I'm not a doctor. I'm like a person that has a good you know what.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:37] HENDERSON: We'll get back to politics in a few minutes, but first,

we've got some breaking news.

Any moment now, authorities down in Nashville will be starting a news conference on that Christmas Day bombing. Police believe that the RV explosion on an empty downtown street was a suicide bombing. It caused extensive damage but thankfully no other deaths or serious injuries.

Yesterday afternoon authorities searched a home in Antioch, Tennessee that they believe is tied to that RV.

And joining us now, we've got CNN law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. He's the former police commissioner in Philadelphia and police chief in Washington, D.C. Mr. Ramsey, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's quite all right.

HENDERSON: So authorities, they zeroed in on a person of interest and they also searched a home connected to this person outside of Nashville. Can you tell us what kind of evidence the investigators are looking for?

RAMSEY: Well, they're looking for anything that maybe written. They're looking for digital evidence, if he had a computer, laptop, anything like that. obviously they'll seize that, go through the hard drive. What Web sites has he been visiting? Has he written anything? Are there other people that may have known of his plans.

I mean this is still early stage in the investigation even though they've kind of narrowed it down now to an individual person of interest. They still have to get the DNA back. I don't know if that's happened yet or not so they can confirm the identify.

But clearly they have a lot of information if they were executing the search warrant, those Google photos from last year that showed the RV right there in the lot.

You know, I think they've zeroed in on the right guy. The question now is motive.

HENDERSON: And we've got Natasha Chen down in Nashville. What are you learning there, Natasha?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So where we're standing is on Second Avenue where the blast happened but it's several blocks away because of the wide perimeter that's been set up.

As you probably mentioned, you know, investigators now believe this to be the result of a likely suicide bombing, that's according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

And what they're doing right now is trying to work from the outside of the perimeter in. So this is going to be very methodical. It's going to take a lot of time. The city expects to lift the curfew around this region of downtown area later this afternoon. And, of course, yesterday we were standing in a neighborhood in Antioch, Tennessee for many hours. It's about ten miles southeast of where we are right now. We were watching for hours as ATF, FBI agents were going in and out of a house there. The FBI told me they were executing court-authorized activity.

We saw first a bomb technician team go in and clear the property so that it would be safe to go in and then an evidence team showed up. We understand they were carefully going through, documenting, photographing things inside the house. And then taking things out in bags that we saw.

And in talking to some of the neighbors who were around there, you know, we showed them Google Street View images of that property going back years where it seems an RV was parked at that property. I showed them those Google street images. They recognized the RV, said they had seen it as recently as -- in the last few weeks.

And that's an RV that has similar markings to the one that was shown in a police surveillance photo when police were asking for tips, showing the photo of an RV that came through Second Avenue before the Christmas morning explosion.

A law enforcement source says that they believe it to be the same RV but can't be entirely sure because, of course, the one down here is completely destroyed in the explosion.

HENDERSON: Massive, massive bombing down there. Thankfully, no injuries.

Chief Ramsey, this is such a strange case. An apparent car bomb that went off after a recorded message warned people to evacuate. It's still early in this investigation. But based on your experience, what are the motives that police may be looking into?

RAMSEY: Well, I don't know if they've got any direction in particular that they're going in. In fact, you try not to because you want to have an open mind because what you don't want is to get tunnel vision. And, you know, you see whatever it is you're looking for. So if you think you know the answer, then that's kind of like, you kind of narrow your own perspective.

So right now I think they're probably pretty open. They don't know. But they'll start to collect evidence. And remember, they may never know. Las Vegas -- the shooter in Las Vegas, they never really determined a real motive for that.

I mean this guy may or may not have been connected with AT&T or another business. He could have just been a loner that just, you know, for whatever reason decided to do what he did and chose that location because of the isolation on Christmas morning and he didn't want to cause mass casualties.

So we don't know the answers to any of those things. But that will start to unravel a little at a time as more and more evidence is collected. [08:34:54]

HENDERSON: Charles Ramsey, thanks so much for that insight as well as Natasha Chen from Nashville.

We'll look for a press conference later today from Nashville.

And up next, more on COVID.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HENDERSON: A shocking statistic this morning. One in every thousand Americans have died from COVID-19. December is the deadliest month so far for the pandemic in the United States. Nearly 120,000 Americans are in the hospital right now fighting the virus.

The good news, of course, vaccines are here. Nine million doses have already been distributed. About two million have been administered so far and nearly five million more will be shipped out this week.

So while we wait for more, the latest forecast published by the CDC projects up to 419,000 deaths by January 16th. That would mean up to 4,000 deaths a day over the next three weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to lose tens of thousands of more lives in the months to come. And a vaccine won't be able to stop that.

And here's the simple truth, our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us. So we need to prepare ourselves to steel our spines, as frustrating as it is to hear. It's going to take patience, persistence and determination to beat this virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: Dr. Ngozi Ezike is the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health and joins us now. Dr. Ezike, happy holidays and thanks so much for being with us this morning.

So things across the country look very dire. You heard President-Elect Biden there talking about the dark days ahead. You especially look at a state like California.

But it also appears to be different in your state of Illinois. You said that your state avoided a post-Thanksgiving surge and if you look at the cases as well as the hospitalizations as well as the daily deaths, the numbers, they're trending in the right direction in Illinois.

What did you do right in Illinois that a state like California can maybe learn from?

[08:39:46] DR. NGOZI EZIKE, DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I think, you know, thanks to the great leadership -- again good morning and happy holidays to you -- under the great leadership of Governor Pritzker, we have intensified mitigations already now for five weeks. And so that's -- those measures absolutely helped Illinoisans to make the better decisions, the safer decisions to avoid the congregating.

And I really have to give big thanks to the people of Illinois that have really been trying to mask up and defer some of these larger gatherings in their private homes so that we could avoid yet another surge and keep going on our downward trend in terms of fewer hospitalizations and fewer cases.

HENDERSON: And what about holiday travel. The TSA is saying that there are more than seven million people that have been traveling by air this week. O'Hare, of course, is one of the busiest airports in the country. Are you worried about a post-Christmas and post-New Year's surge in Illinois?

DR. EZIKE: That's very concerning. That's one of the things that would keep me up at nights. You know, Thanksgiving is a much shorter holiday. So even if people did move around, less opportunity for spread. As opposed to the Christmas and the New Year's we're talking about days and weeks of potential congregating.

So we will be watching closely the numbers. But, you know, if people have already traveled, they have made that choice. I still think there's opportunities to decrease transmission by wearing masks wherever you are and continuing those safety precautions and then testing as soon as you return so if, unfortunately, someone got infected, at least we can identify it very quickly and do the appropriate isolation and notify people who may be at risk as soon as possible.

HENDERSON: And, Dr. Ezike, let's move on to the vaccine rollout. And you said last week that Illinois, it was the first state to vaccinate 100,000 people. That's very good news.

And so what do you think the biggest challenge going forward will be with getting that vaccine to the people who need it?

DR. EZIKE: It's just a logistical challenge which we're ready to take on. But trying to identify the right people and not being so strict that we, you know, waste any vaccine, I think what was so helpful with the first two weeks of vaccinations was that with the ultra cold requirements, there was a time clock. People had to get this vaccine into the arms of people within five days. And so they did that.

With Moderna where there's a little bit more time, again, we don't want any of that vaccine to sit in the refrigerator, we want it in arms. So we hope that we'll still have that urgency to get all of those doses moved every week, understanding that the federal government is going to continue to give us more doses going forward each week.

HENDERSON: And the federal government also issuing some guidelines as to what the next phase of folks who should get it. The CDC recommending that the next phase should include anyone over the age of 75 and a large population of those essential and frontline workers. And that's first responders, folks like teachers, factory workers, bus drivers, subway drivers.

But the ultimate decision is going to be left up to the states. You've got a state like Ohio, for instance. They say they're going to focus on schools and anyone over 65.

What do you imagine is going to happen in Illinois for this phase of folks who should be vaccinated next?

DR. EZIKE: Yes, so we've engaged a lot of partners to talk about this very important matter. You know, we're looking at our data. You know, we've also tried to be guided by the data.

And when we look at the data in terms of people who have succumbed to COVID, there's a stark contrast even across race and ethnicity. And so when we look at the average age of death in blacks versus Latinos, versus whites, versus Asians we see that 75 may be too late in terms of when many populations have already succumbed to this virus.

So we're looking closely at that to see if there are more equitable adjustments that we can make to make sure that everyone will benefit from this important countermeasure.

HENDERSON: Dr. Ngozi Ezike, we thank you so much for your hard work in Illinois. We hope that the downward trend continues there and other states can learn from what you've done. Thanks so much for being here and happy holidays.

DR. EZIKE: Thanks so much for having me.

HENDERSON: Up next -- the record number of women headed to Washington.

But before we go to another break, another political moment of the year, the race protest that shook America and a message to Washington from George Floyd's brother.

[08:44:45]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: I'm tired, I'm tired of pain. Pain you feel when you watch something like this. When you watch your big brother, who you looked up to for your whole life die, die begging for his mom, I'm here to ask you to make it stop.

Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired. George called for help and he was ignored. Please listen to the call I'm making to you now.

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HENDERSON: So 2021 will be an historic year for women in Washington. We're going to start here with Congress and look at some of the numbers here. You see 126 women in the last Congress are going to be about 147 women in this upcoming Congress. Some races still to be determined.

And GOP women, they are the group that made the most gains here. From 21 the last congress and 37 now -- this has been an historic high for GOP women in Congress.

But listen, if you compare the United States to other countries not doing so well. We are 84th out of countries, the percentage of women in national legislatures. You see it's at 24 percent. 56 percent in Rwanda, Cuba is higher, Bolivia, U.A.E., Mexico as well.

The Biden administration on set to likely make some history of their own. Not only with VP-elect but as many as ten women serving in this cabinet, the Biden cabinet. If they are all confirmed, that would be the most ever, of course, the most historic being VP-elect.

And here she was on the night it was projected she would hold that office.

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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: So while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.

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[08:49:46]

HENDERSON: And joining us now with their reporting and their insights Michael Shear of "The New York Times" and CNN's Jasmine Wright. So great to have you both here.

Jasmine, I want to start with you. You have covered Kamala Harris for many, many, many, many months -- maybe longer than any reporter in Washington at this point.

So come January 20th, Kamala Harris, she will be the most powerful woman and person of color in Washington. Her swearing in -- all eyes will be on her. This will be a truly historic moment for the country. How do you think she is approaching this moment?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN PRODUCER: Well, thanks so much for having me on, Nia. And good morning.

When asked this question, vice President-Elect Kamala Harris has said that the moment the gravity of what she will face come January 20th has not exactly hit her yet. In the meantime, sources have told us that she has really been putting her head down. She's been studying these issues that the incoming administration is going to have to face in terms of the pandemic and all the issues attached to it.

But to your point, yes, she is going to be the most powerful woman in the country. She is really going nowhere -- going somewhere where women of color haven't been before. Very man on the moon. But it is not her first time being a first in an elected office. She has held that title in other offices that she has held during her prosecutorial record. So this is not necessarily a first for her.

But it is the most powerful. And I think it will be really interesting to see within that new realm that she holds and those new people that she represents in office and how she expands who is represented with lived experience in the White House how she does respond to the pressure from black women, from Asian American women and from women in general who want to see some changes in the White House.

HENDERSON: And Michael, you of course, covered the Obama administration, Vice President Biden. And so in this new role, President-Elect Biden, he has emphasized that he and his Vice President Harris will work closely together. Take a listen.

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HARRIS: I will tell you that the President-Elect has been, since the first day he asked me to join him on the ticket, been very clear with me that he wants me to be the first and the last in the room.

BIDEN: Whatever the most urgent need is that I'm not able to attend to, I have confidence to turning to her, just as it wasn't that Barack said, well, you know Joe, we're going to have a stimulus and I want you to handle it. It was, you've got to get the stimulus passed, I'm working on this. Look Joe, you take it, ok.

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HENDERSON: That's the big question, Michael. What will her portfolio be? And also what do you think she brings to the White House, brings to governing that Joe Biden doesn't have?

MICHAEL SHEAR, "NEW YORK TIMES": Well, I think those are all the right questions. We don't really know what her portfolio will be yet. As you just saw the President-Elect has said he will consult with her and she will be one of the last advisers in the room to give that final piece of advice before he makes a decision.

But we don't know yest, exactly what her portfolio will be. He hasn't been as specific as President Obama was with him yet about what she will do.

But look, she brings a couple of things. First of all, you know, she obviously brings the experience that she had in California. The sort of law and order and managerial perspective that she brought to those jobs. But she really brings some star power and some youth and some energy to an administration that is filled with a lot of folks from -- who have been in Washington, been in the Obama administration.

And she is a fresh set of eyes, you know? And somebody who has a real political future, you know, depending how things go, but you know, I think there's a real question about how much does she keep her eye carefully on the future even as she, obviously, needs to focus on what is right in front of her during the next four years. HENDERSON: And Jasmine, that is a big question. And you've reported

this. Those close to Harris know that almost anything she does over the next four years will be viewed as possible positioning for another presidential bid. A fact that could test her relationship with long time Biden aides if they perceive she is putting her future aspirations ahead of the current administration. How will she manage that very tricky balancing act, Jasmine?

WRIGHT: And it is a balancing act. There is certainly an air from folks on her side of trying to avoid the discussion that happened over the summer about ambitious women and whether any type of posturing is going to signal that her ambitions are going beyond her role as Vice President-Elect.

[08:54:51]

JASMINE: But really in this position right now, she has done something that is preparing herself for the role in that she is learning from President-Elect Joe Biden, learning about his relationship with former president Barack Obama, learning about how he was a VP and really growing the trust between them.

Sources told us that they talk on the phone nearly every day and are spending a considerable amount of time together when they are talking through cabinet picks, something that Biden has said himself that they do it over Zoom, right.

So she is laying the seeds to show Biden and those around him that she is really there for him, that what she determines as her own success is his success. And in that way, making sure that Biden knows that she will be there for him and his really loyal lieutenant and any consideration for 2024 is far beyond.

They are really focused on those first 100 days and responding to the pandemic and making sure that they have some type of successful legislation and administration.

(CROSSTALK)

HENDERSON: Jasmine Wright -- thank you so much for that fantastic reporting and analysis, Michael Shear.

And that is it for INSIDE POLITICS.

Up next "STATE OF THE UNION" with Dana Bash. Her guests includes Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning here with us. Happy holidays and best wishes for a safe and healthy new year.

[08:56:27]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST: End in sight, the coronavirus vaccines are here.