Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Trump Tweets Anger at Fox News as Coronavirus Pandemic Ranges; Graham Among Growing Number of GOP Senators Saying Biden should Get Presidential Daily Briefings; States Implementing New Restrictions As Cases Surge; Arizona Post-Election Audits Find No Fraud; Obama Opens Up About Biden, Trump And His Own Family In New Book. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 12, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room.

We're following breaking news. Republican support for President Trump's refusal to concede the election is clearly crumbling. One of the President's closest allies under Lindsey Graham is among growing numbers of GOP senators including Chuck Grassley and Susan Collins, who along with other prominent Republicans are now finally saying the President-elect Joe Biden should begin receiving presidential daily intelligence briefings.

At the same time, sources are telling CNN that President Trump's eldest children are actually split on his path forward.

Meanwhile, an official with the Biden team tells CNN the transition is, "moving full speed ahead" and nothing will change that.

We're also following breaking pathogenic news, the U.S. coronavirus death toll now topping 242,000 people and more than 10 and a half million Americans have been infected. Yesterday alone, the country saw a record 144,000 new cases and hospitalizations also now have hit an all-time high of more than 65,000 Americans are in the hospital right now because of the virus.

Let's begin over at the White House right now. Our Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us.

Jim, we're finally seeing some cracks in the wall of support that Republicans have built around the President.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. A growing number of Republicans are calling on the Trump administration to start treating Joe Biden as the President-elect and begin providing him with intelligence briefings so he can hit the ground running after the inauguration. But there is one obstacle, one big obstacle standing in the way and that's President Trump himself.

Sources tell CNN, the President does not want to give up the fight until he's exhausted of challenges at the state level. Challenges his own advisors and even some in his own family are telling him are going nowhere.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.

ACOSTA (voice-over): In hiding for much of the week since he last address the public President Trump is finding out a lame duck cannot be stubborn for very long as some in the Republican Party are making way for Joe Biden.

A growing number of GOP senators are calling on the administration to begin providing intelligence briefings to Biden of standard practice during a peaceful transfer of power.

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): There is no loss from him getting the briefings and to be able to do that. And if that's not occurring by Friday, I will step in as well and to be able to push them to say this needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task.

ACOSTA: Another influential figure in the party GOP strategist Karl Rove is urging Mr. Trump to make a graceful exit as soon as his long shot election challenges are finished. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, "Once his days in court are over, the President should do his part to unite the country by leading a peaceful transition and letting grievances go."

Ohio's Republican Governor Mike DeWine is echoing that.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): I think that we need to consider the former vice president as the President-elect. Joe Biden is the President- elect.

ACOSTA: Other Trump allies are dealing with reality.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): He's not president right now. I don't know if he'll be president, January 20. But whoever is will get the information.

ACOSTA: When White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked about Biden receiving intelligence briefings she punted the question to, get this the White House.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I haven't spoken to the President about that. That would be a question more for the White House. But I will say that all laws are being followed with regard to unexpected transition, though we expect to continue on, on as the Trump administration.

ACOSTA: Democrats say they've had enough.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): These Republicans are all auditioning for profiles and cowardice.

ACOSTA: Sources tell CNN the President is not expected to acknowledge the election results until he's exhausted his legal options later this month. Some of Mr. Trump's friends say that's the time to call it quits.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS HOST: Time coming soon to say goodbye with grace and dignity. You know, I know it's hard to hear, but that's the way I feel about this.

ACOSTA: President and his advisors may then turn to crafting an announcement that Mr. Trump is eyeing the 2024 race, with one source close to the president telling CNN "it's something he is reviewing."

Until then sources say the President still wants to settle scores and may fire more top officials in the coming days, including CIA Director Gina Haspel, Cyber Security Official Chris Krebs and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Other Homeland Security officials are already being forced out.

Mr. Trump is also lashing out at Fox News, tweeting, "Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful. What got them there, they forgot the golden goose."

The President doesn't appear to be spending much time dealing with the coronavirus as more of his close associates are contracting COVID-19 including advisor Corey Lewandowski, one of several aides and allies to catch the virus since last week's election party.

So much for Mr. Trump's promised that media coverage of the virus would vanish.

[17:05:03]

TRUMP: On November 4, you won't be hearing as much about this. It's going to be right now it's COVID, COVID, COVID.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: That's where the potential for President Trump to fire CIA Director Gina Haspel. I am told by a close advisor she has been on thin ice, "thin ice" with Mr. Trump for months and could be in jeopardy as this lame duck session grinds on.

Sources also tells CNN while the President is likely to wait until later this month to acknowledge the election results, Mr. Trump could bail on those challenges sooner as he is telling aides and advisors he does not believe these efforts in court are going to pay off in the end. Advisers to the President positioning himself for a comeback run in 2024, meaning he will remain a force inside the GOP for years to come, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Jim Acosta at the White House, thank you.

Let's get some more in the transition right now. Our Political Correspondent Arlette Saenz is covering the President-elect of the United States for us.

Arlette, so what's Joe Biden, the President-elect of the United States doing to show he is moving forward right now quickly with the transition? ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, President- elect Joe Biden is trying to make it clear that nothing will stand in the way of his transition planning. And he did that by announcing his incoming White House Chief of Staff, a longtime adviser named Ron Klain.

Klain will be responsible for building out that West Wing staff as Biden prepares to enter the White House.

Biden also has continued his phone calls with world leaders including a phone call today with Pope Francis. The two men according to a readout provided by the transition team, the two men talks about climate change as well as the need to help immigrants and refugees. Those are issues that Pope Francis has spoken often about.

And this was not just an official call for Joe Biden, but it's also a personal one. Biden will become the only the second Catholic to become president. He is a very devout Catholic. You've heard him reference Pope Francis before out on the campaign trail. So this was certainly a meaningful call for the President-elect.

Now, Biden has been holding several phone calls with world leaders. But all of that is being done without the help of the State Department, as the Trump administration still has not ascertained that Biden has won the election. In fact, there are messages that are stacking up from world leaders over at the State Department that Biden is unable to access in this moment. But Biden is insisting that his transition planning can still move forward.

Now, Biden arrived a little while ago here in the beach town of Rehoboth Delaware where he and his wife Jill Biden have a home. They will be spending some time here but he is still meeting with his transition advisors as they are planning the path forward.

BLITZER: Arlette, the President-elect has said addressing the coronavirus pandemic is a top priority. So what can he actually do on the coronavirus before he takes office?

SAENZ: Well, that's been kind of Biden's message throughout the entire week is that the coronavirus pandemic will be his top priority. We've learned that he actually spoke with congressional leaders today, he had a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

And one of the things they talked about was the coronavirus and also the possibility of passing a bipartisan package related to COVID relief during the lame duck session. So that is something that Biden could get involved with going forward.

Now Biden has also had to distance themselves from some comments made by a member of his coronavirus advisory board. But Biden still is pushing ahead when it comes to the coronavirus.

BLITZER: It would really be good if members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force like Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, Dr. Redfield and others started meeting with the Biden transition advisors on the coronavirus at risk right now the lives of thousands, if not 10s of thousands of Americans. They should start working together right away.

Arlette Saenz, reporting for us. Arlette, thank you very much.

Let's -- and I want to point out the Jen Psaki is also standing by, a senior advisor to the Biden transition team. We're going to speak to her fairly soon.

But in the meantime, I want to bring in our chief political analyst Gloria Borger, our CNN Political Commentator Bakari Sellers. His new book is called "My Vanishing Country." And Arlette is still staying with us as well.

So Gloria, we're learning the President is feeling in a word dejected over his election loss as he takes out his anger in the form of a dozen tweets alone, he was re tweeting all these strange tweets about Fox News at a time of a coronavirus pandemic, as if he's got nothing better to do. More than 1,800 Americans die just yesterday from the coronavirus.

So, what does this say about the President's priorities as our country is facing a life and death struggle right now?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, as always, the President sees himself as the victim here. He sees himself as a victim that of the election which he has convinced himself is rigged, which of course, is baseless. It is not.

[17:10:00]

And he promised, as Jim Acosta pointed out, that we would stop hearing about COVID after the election. Well, we haven't stopped hearing about COVID from Joe Biden, we have stopped hearing about COVID from Donald Trump. He is seems not to acknowledge it. As you point out, he's more concerned with Fox News and how they treated him and their ratings, and what his own future might hold in terms of perhaps becoming a T.V. star, who knows, and potential presidential contender in 2024, then he is about making sure that people do not continue to die from the virus.

BLITZER: You know, Bakari, one by one we're beginning to hear from Republican senators and others who say the transition now must move forward, at least when it comes to highly classified intelligence briefings for the President-elect. Are the floodgates are about to open as more and more Republicans come to terms with reality.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not sure the floodgates will be open, because you're going to have a lot of Republicans who see that the Trumpism is the path to the 2024 Republican nomination for president. You're talking about Matt Gates, you're talking about Tom Cotton, you're talking about Nikki Haley. And so they're going to be a lot of people who stay extremely close to Donald Trump and stay extremely close to Trumpism.

Though what we are seeing is that many United States senators, they're done with them. I mean, this is going to be a nasty breakup. They got the swell in turnout, they needed to actually save the Senate. We'll see what happens on January 5, but many of them got this well, they need it like Lindsey Graham, like a Tom Tillis so that they could preserve their own Senate seat. So yes, this they're going to break up with him and move on.

But Donald Trump right now, just as those senators will now be worrying about themselves, Donald Trump is also worrying about himself. And that's what Gloria was talking about whether or not it's Trump T.V. or whether or not it's trying to figure out how to pardon himself or whatever it may be.

Everyone right now in the Republican Party has their own self-interest at hand. And that is the problem, because no one has their eye on the ball. That ball being coronavirus outside of Joe Biden. And Joe Biden cannot even get access to the individuals in the White House who had the expertise like a Dr. Fauci, like a Dr. Birx so he can go out and do the work necessary starting on day one.

Everyone is so self-interested in the Republican Party, that it's killing us day by day.

BLITZER: Yes. Let's not forget the lead, the Joe Biden lead over President Trump in the national popular vote is growing and growing. They're still counting votes, it's now by more than 5,200,000 votes, Biden's lead has advantage over Trump nationally.

Right now, Arlette, the President-elect has appeared totally unfazed this week in his public comments, by the President's adamant refusal to concede, is that because the Biden team knew Republicans would soon potentially start to come around as they apparently are now?

SAENZ: Well, you know, Joe Biden and his team have felt that Republicans will eventually come around to accepting the results of this election. You know, he wanted his advisors to give Republicans and the President some time to come to terms with the way that these things have panned out.

And you started to see some of that, as you've heard from some Republican senators saying that he should have access to classified briefings as he prepares to potentially enter the White House, in their belief. But you've also -- this is something that Biden has talked about time and time again on the campaign trail, that once Republicans are out from under the mantle of President Trump, that they may return to acting in legislating in bipartisan ways and that is something that he has pointed to time and time again. It's certainly taking a little bit longer, I think, that many had hope for people to come to grips with the outcome of the election.

But you know, the other day Biden was asked, how are you going to work with these Republicans if they're not accepting your win? And he said that they will.

That one big question is, what is that relationship between Biden and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell going to be like. They struck many deals together, have a long working relationship together. But to this point, we haven't heard of any conversation happening between the two of them. And that relationship could be very critical, especially if Biden is confronted with a Republican Senate in January.

BLITZER: You know, Gloria, you have some new reporting about how the Trump children are actually viewing the post-election path forward. And they're clearly not on the same page, are they?

BORGER: They're not. This reporting with Dana Bash, Pamela Brown, Betsy Klein, we've spoken to a bunch of sources who tell us that the two adult sons Eric and Don Jr. are very much gung ho about fight to the finish. This election was stolen from you. It's rigged, sounding very much like their father.

And not surprisingly, I think Jared and Ivanka are very different. They're more calibrated and measured when they talk to him. And what they're thinking about is what happens next. They're reminding their father of his legacy.

[17:15:07]

And they're thinking about themselves. They're going to come out and want to go into business. Jared has his own business. How is this all going to be regarded?

And don't forget, Jared is thinking about his own legacy here, because he has some foreign policy achievements that he does not want to see on done by Joe Biden.

BLITZER: Gloria, thank you, Bakari, Arlette, guys, thanks very much.

Coming up, the Biden team says the transition is moving full speed ahead despite the obstruction by President Trump. We'll talk about it with a key senior member of the transition team, Jen Psaki, there you see her. She's standing by live.

We've got lots to discuss. We will when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:00]

BLITZER: Despite President Trump's refusal to face defeat and official with President-elect Joe Biden's team says the transition is moving full speed ahead. Let's discuss with Jen Psaki. She's a Senior Advisor to the President-elects transition team.

Jen, thanks so much for joining us. And as you've heard today --

JEN PSAKI, SENIOR ADVISER, PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN TRANSITION TEAM: Great to be here.

BLITZER: -- there are an increasing number of Republican senators slowly beginning to acknowledge the legitimacy, the reality of the President-elects victory. Is the President-elect encouraged to see at least some Republicans get on board? And does he expect more will follow in the coming days?

PSAKI: Well, we certainly hope so, Wolf, I think the crisis as you've been talking about your show that the country is facing from the pandemic and thousands of people who are continuing to lose their lives, the pandemic every day to the millions of people who are out of work, and trying to get back to work. I mean, these are serious issues, and we need to move forward. The country's elected Joe Biden, they've elected Kamala Harris.

And we're pretty busy at work on the transition trying to get them prepared to govern. So, we're ready to move to the next phase here.

BLITZER: Yes, more Americans have died from the coronavirus pandemic in the last two days alone that died on 9/11. This is an awful situation, it's getting worse by the day. When asked earlier this week if the President-elect was considering legal action to fight back against the President's transition, blockage, allowing officials to start meeting, Joe Biden said he does not see a need. Is there a point though, at which legal action from the Biden transition team will become essential?

PSAKI: Well, Wolf, no one -- no presidential transition or government ever takes any option off the table. But our preference is certainly to have this ascertainment letter signed, and to all move forward and continue to prepare to govern.

There's a lot of work that's been going on for months behind the scenes. It's a little nerdier than maybe what you see on Twitter or on television every day, but you're familiar with it. It's policy experts working to figure out how to prepare plans for Joe Biden on everything from the pandemic, to the economy, to addressing racial injustice, climate change. The issues are endless, as you know.

And we also need to hire 4000 political appointees. All that works been ongoing, and it will continue.

I think we're the places where it's going to become more and more essential with every day that passes to just get the ascertainment done is that, you know, any incoming administration needs access to real time intelligence, real time threat assessments. Yes, Joe Biden knows his way around the situation room? Not yours, of course, yours, too. But he knows his way around the situation room in the White House, he's been working on national security for 40 years.

But it's not the same as knowing what's happening day to day, what the intelligence reports are coming in today, day to day. And he and his team really need that. I was pleased to see Senator Lankford came out and essentially said that today as well.

BLITZER: Yes. They all -- the transition team needs to be ready on day one January 20 of next year when President-elect Biden is sworn in. They need to be ready, because the issues facing the U.S. right now here at home and around the world are enormous.

A transition official tells CNN that your efforts are moving full speed ahead. We saw the announcement of the new White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain last night. Can we expect to see --

PSAKI: Yes. BLITZER: -- additional cabinet and West Wing staff announcements?

PSAKI: Well, I expect we'll have some more staff announcements before Thanksgiving. But I will say on the cabinet front, you know, the campaign was pretty busy, as you know, and everybody at CNN and probably American people who are glued to their T.V. sets over the last few months know, he didn't have as much time, I think, as necessary to really make big decisions about a lot of those roles.

So, he had a little bit about that time this week. I expect to have more next week. But I think it's going to be closer to Thanksgiving or post to have more cabinet -- to have any cabinet announcements.

BLITZER: At least one prominent senators angling for a cabinet position, and I'm sure others are as well.

I want you to listen to what Senator Bernie Sanders told me here in the Situation Room last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: If he asked you to join the cabinet as Labor Secretary, would you say yes?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VERMONT: If I had a portfolio that allowed me to stand up and fight for working families, would I do it? Yes, I would.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What do you think?

PSAKI: Well, listen, I will tell you that Senator Sanders and President-elect Biden has developed a relationship and I know that President Biden has a lot of respect for everything that Senator Sanders has done to really elevate what's going on with working people.

You know, I don't want to get ahead of him, obviously, but I will say that he's looking at every cabinet position as one he wants to fill up people who are qualified. He wants a diverse cabinet that looks like the country.

So he wants people of all different backgrounds and ideologies. And I think he's going to make the choice for each post on who he thinks is the right one to kind of represent his agenda and speak for the American people about it.

[17:25:04]

BLITZER: As he should, he's got an enormous amount of experience, eight years as a vice president almost 40 years as a senator.

The President-elect named his coronavirus advisory boards, as it's called earlier in the week. So what's next, Jen, are additional advisory boards in the works. Can we anticipate that there will actually be meetings between the outgoing White House coronavirus taskforce experts like Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, Dr. Redfield and the incoming advisory board?

PSAKI: Well, Wolf, we also announced this week 500 policy experts who are members of what we're calling the agency review teams. And a lot of these people are people who have served in government previously, who are ready to roll up their sleeves, some come out of retirement, and just kind of help the Biden-Harris administration get ready to govern. So, they'll also be engaged and they're already behind the scenes doing a lot of work.

The COVID advisory board is a group of public health experts, medical doctors. Their role is not to engage directly necessarily with federal government officials, their role is to really give real time advice, advice from the background of, you know, public health medical experts, scientists on what's happening out there. And how to address some of the big issues, whether it's vaccines or distribution, that are important around addressing the pandemic and moving forward.

So, they'll be giving him -- they may not even always agree with each other, they probably won't. And that's not what he was looking for. He was looking for a group of people who have decades and decades of experience and are going to help give him the best real time advice on what we can do to bring the pandemic under control.

BLITZER: Jen, you've had a lot of success in your career. Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and serve in the next administration?

PSAKI: Well, Wolf, I'm just happy to be a part of the transition. I have no plans to go back into government. But I'm -- it's been an honor to be a part of it.

And I will tell people, just seeing some of the people who are involved. Avril Haines is someone who sticks out to me, the people know well, have seen well, who just -- they give briefings on COVID and the pandemic and they're substantive and they're real. And you know, this is a return to not just normalcy, but really rolling up your sleeves and doing the hard work on policymaking. And I think that's what people should expect to see from the Biden-Harris administration. And of course, the people involved in the transition as well.

BLITZER: Now we know why you were at the state depart. Very diplomatic answer I must say Jen Psaki. Thank you so much for joining us.

PSAKI: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up on today's breaking news on the coronavirus surge in the United States. Our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta calls it a humanitarian disaster. We'll speak with him when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:32:38]

BLITZER: Breaking news tonight, 242,000 Americans are now dead of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States has surpassed more than 10.5 million confirmed cases setting another single day record for new cases. CNN national correspondent Erica Hill has the latest from New York

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): COVID patients in hospitals hitting another all-time high, new cases surging, nearly triple the daily rate we were seeing just a few weeks ago, 44 states reporting a rise over the past week, deaths also climbing.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: This is a humanitarian tragedy. You know, in my moments of despair, I say it's a slaughter. That's why I get so emotional talking about this, because these are lives that don't have to be lost.

HILL (voice-over): Utah which declared a state of emergency earlier this week announcing its statewide positivity average above 23 percent today. ICU beds nearly maxed out. In Iowa, frontline health care workers are exhausted and overwhelmed.

KATIE WENGERT, BROADLAWNS MEDICAL CENTER, IOWA: This pandemic has had staffing on high alert since, you know, March.

HILL (voice-over): Even areas that seem to have the virus under control bringing back restrictions. New York and Connecticut limiting private gatherings to just 10 people, New Jersey forcing bars and restaurants to close indoor dining earlier starting today and coordinating with New England to ban interstate youth sports through at least the end of the year.

GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D-NJ): Our numbers have gone up dramatically. Everything is going in the wrong direction.

HILL (voice-over): A similar message in the Midwest.

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): If things don't take a turn in the coming days, we will quickly reach the point when some form of a mandatory stay at home order is all that will be left.

HILL (voice-over): Ohio's governor stepping up mask enforcement.

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): My message to Ohioans is, it's not so much what I order or what the health department orders it's really what you do and your individual life. You can control this.

HILL (voice-over): Those personal decisions increasingly important as Thanksgiving looms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This Thanksgiving is going to suck a bit.

HILL (voice-over): Yet embracing a rough holiday this year maybe the key to having one next year.

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: What we do right now across the nation, what we do in each state will determine who lives and dies this winter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Just to note, Wolf, on what's happening here in New York City, the positivity, we learned from the mayor today, some 2.6 percent and that is inching ever closer to a threshold of 3 percent. The mayor has said if the city wide positivity rate reaches 3 percent, schools will be shut down the next day system wide.

[17:35:15]

And again, the mayor saying today schools in his words are extraordinarily safe. They're actually doing very well he said at controlling the spread of the virus. But if it is raging city wide, then he's going to close schools. He said there's still time to avert that. But of course, the clock is ticking.

BLITZER: Certainly is. Erica Hill reporting for us, thank you. And by the way, we're going to get more of the situation in New York when the Mayor Bill de Blasio joins us live. That's coming up by here in the Situation Room.

Meantime, I want to discuss with our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, more people are not hospitalized with this virus than at any point in the pandemic, going back to January. And you now say this is a humanitarian disaster that's underway in the United States. It's extraordinary statement. Explain what you mean by that?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think Wolf, humanitarian disaster, an event or a series of events that have led to so many deaths at that times overwhelmed. The healthcare system, there's concerns about it overwhelming, certain hospital systems going forward. And you just look at the numbers, Wolf, I mean, you and I both been reporting on these stories for a long time. And I was reflecting, you know, on the types of disasters that I've covered over the last, you know, 19 years, the tsunami in South Asia, 227,000 people died, the Haiti earthquake 220,000, the famine in Somalia, one of the toughest stories I think ever covered 260,000 people have died.

You look at what's happening here, Wolf, I mean, this is obviously already on par with that. And we know the numbers are going to get worse. And the Doctors Without Borders, an organization, they were here earlier this year, because they're an organization that goes to humanitarian disasters. They go to some of the hottest spots on Earth. They were here in the United States over the summer, Wolf.

So, you know, I mean, these are parts of the reasons, this is part of the reason I think that, you know, we think of this as humanitarian disaster. I said it this morning. A lot of people ask me about it. I stand by it, it fits the criteria. And in some ways, I think it's very obvious that in the United States, this coronavirus has led to a humanitarian disaster.

BLITZER: Yes. More than 1,800 Americans died just yesterday, in one day. Think about that. So what should be happening right now, Sanjay, to address this humanitarian crisis? Where are we falling short? GUPTA: Well, you know, I mean, there's a few things that people have been hearing for months now, you know, in terms of the public health interventions, these non-pharmaceutical interventions. We're still not doing this as a country adequately. We have seen hyper local examples of where it worked. You can look at Delaware, for example. I find these places around the country that have been in crisis mode at one time or another.

In Delaware, we saw that the cases were going up that the hospitalizations were going up. They basically put in a period of time where they did these things, mask requirements. They had some version of stay at home orders, and basically broad contact tracing at that point. And they were able to reduce cases by 82 percent, reduce hospitalizations by 88 percent, 100 percent reduction in deaths at that point.

I mean, these strategies work. We saw similar things in Arizona and communities in Arizona, where numbers were spiking 151 percent, mask mandates, closing down bars for a period of time, stopping public gatherings. It makes a huge difference, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. I'm going to speak in the next hour, Sanjay, with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar. We'll get an update from him as well. Sanjay, thank you very much.

[17:38:47]

Coming up, there's other breaking news we're following in Arizona right now. Officials now say audits of the election results aren't coming in. And so far they have turned up no repeat, no fraud.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We have breaking news coming in from Arizona. More than half of the states' counties already have conducted post-election audits and have found no fraud at all. Let's go -- get the latest on the vote count from CNN's Phil Mattingly. He's standing by. What are you seeing, Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, that's obviously a particularly important finding generally for the integrity of the vote, but particularly in the state of Arizona where we have seen, Wolf, over the course of the last several days a narrowing race. Right now, Joe Biden up by 11,390 votes.

But here's the reality, when you look at what's outstanding, roughly 16,000 votes, Donald Trump would have to win, Wolf, about 85 percent of the outstanding vote to have any chance of coming back and surpassing Joe Biden in this state. Right now, the reality is about a third of those votes come from here and Pima County or over here another Democratic county.

And the reality when you talk to Republicans on the ground, as one told me, we all know how this is going to end. This will be a Joe Biden state, still hasn't been called yet. We'll have to see how it goes. But Arizona right now looking OK from the Biden perspective, same with the state of Georgia, we've been talking about that because of the hand recount. Right now, Joe Biden's lead still sits over 14,000 votes going into that recount.

The expectation is that will stick even if a couple hundred votes flip or change, 14,000 is a very, very heavy lift for any kind of recount or shift. And also keeping an eye on Pennsylvania, obviously this has been cold for Joe Biden. That lead, Wolf, just continues to grow, another couple thousand today. Now Joe Biden's lead in this state, 54,000, more than 10,000 than what President Trump had in 2016.

[17:45:02]

When you look at the entirety of this map with the uncalled states at this moment in time, it looks like, Wolf, Joe Biden will end up with 306 electoral votes.

BLITZER: That's what Trump had four years ago, 306 electoral votes. The President-elect, the Biden lead in the popular national vote that too keeps on growing and growing.

MATTINGLY: Every single day, Wolf. Right now sitting at 5.25 million and expected to grow over the course of the next couple days as California and New York continue to come in. But I also want you to focus right here, 50.8 percent, that is expected to grow as well, somewhere between probably 51 or 52 percent. No challenger, since Franklin Roosevelt has had a total percentage at this level that kind of underscores what we've been talking about over the course the last couple days.

You look at the electoral vote, you look at kind of the space, the gaps that he's been able to open up in some of these states and you look at the top line percentage, Joe Biden's win while narrow in some states. Overall, Wolf, when you look at the popular vote, when you look at the percentage, when you look at the electoral vote, it's decisive.

BLITZER: Yes. 5,200,000 plus, that's a significant, significant win. Phil, thank you very much.

Coming up, we've obtained a copy of former President Barack Obama's new memoir and parts of it are so intensely personal. We're going to take a closer look when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:11]

BLITZER: CNN has obtained a copy of former President Barack Obama's new memoir in which he opens up about President-elect Biden, President Trump, as well as his own family. CNN's Brian Todd is working the story for us. Brian, the former president's new book is called "A Promised Land".

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Wolf. And President Obama is often jarringly candid in this book, taking us through his most intense personal experiences during his time in office. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): In the homestretch of Joe Biden's campaign, former President Barack Obama was front and center, energizing crowds and building support for his close friend.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it felt like the old days. For eight years he was the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision.

TODD (voice-over): The former president delves into his complete confidence in Joe Biden in his new memoir, "A Promised Land" obtained by CNN. And says this about selecting Biden as his running mate in 2008, quote, my gut told me that Joe was decent, honest, and loyal. I believe that he cared about ordinary people, and that when things got tough, I could trust him. I wouldn't be disappointed.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: We never saw Joe Biden really going out and contradicting the President or undermining him or trying to attack him or even, you know, there being whispers in the media about, you know, disagreements between Joe Biden and Obama.

TODD (voice-over): Some of the most powerful sections in Obama's 768 page book deal with the struggles over racial tension in America during his time in office. Donald Trump's race baiting and his birther conspiracy theory, the false claim that Obama was not born in the U.S. were particularly frustrating.

Obama's White House team initially saw birtherism as a joke. But Trump persisted. Obama against the advice of his aides released his birth certificate in the White House briefing room. But then told young staffers, quote, we're better than this, remember that.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have great respect.

TODD (voice-over): Still, it seemed an unsettling tone had been set.

OLORUNNIPA: Especially in the second half of President Obama's time in office, he did spend a lot of time battling the very forces that brought Trump into power, the sentiment against him as the first black president, the angst within the country about the idea of a changing the demographic.

TODD (voice-over): Obama writes that his predecessor, George W. Bush, could not have been more gracious during their transition. That Bush's daughters Jenna and Barbara gave Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia their own tour of the White House, quote, President Bush would end up doing all he could to make the 11 weeks between my election and his departure go smoothly. April Ryan, who covered that transition and others laments what we're going through now with Trump refusing to accept Biden's victory.

APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is the ugliest that we've ever seen, and our founding fathers are probably turning over watching this from wherever they are. TODD (voice-over): Obama also gets intensely personal, especially about the toll his presidency took on his wife, Michelle, quote, all her previous sources of frustration became more concentrated, more vivid, whether it was my round the clock absorption with work or the way politics exposed our family to scrutiny and attacks.

RYAN: They put their lives on the line. They were vulnerable. They put their hearts on the line to be attacked, to be chastised to be made fun of.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: One of the White House reporters we interviewed, Toluse Olorunnipa, says he'll be interested to hear how former President Obama sees the upcoming Biden administration whether Obama views it as a return to normal or if that's even possible. We may learn that in the next volume of Obama's memoir which is coming later, Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd, reporting for us. Thank you.

[17:54:53]

Coming up, the crack is clearly widening between President Trump and some top Republicans when it comes to briefing President-elect Joe Biden. We have details of which top allies are actually breaking with President Trump. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room. We're following breaking news.

[17:59:48]

The Republican wall of support around President Trump's refusal to concede the election is finally, finally beginning to show some cracks. One of the President's fiercest allies, Senator Lindsey Graham is among the growing number of top Republicans like Senator Chuck Grassley.