Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Interview with Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI); COVID-19 Relief Bill Negotiations Drag On; Trump Continues Attacks on Election; FDA Set to Authorize Moderna Vaccine; White House Claims Trump Working Very Hard on Russia Cyber Attack, Despite Public Silence; FDA Authorization of Moderna Vaccine Could Come at Any Time; Shutdown Looms Tonight As Congress Struggles to Reach Relief Deal. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 18, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:11]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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.

A new milestone in the coronavirus pandemic could happen any time. We're standing by for the FDA to officially authorize a second vaccine in the United States, this one from Moderna.

Also, tonight, multiple officials have received their first vaccinations of the already approved Pfizer vaccine, including the vice president, the surgeon general, the House speaker, and the Senate majority leader.

The race to vaccinate couldn't be more urgent right now, as the pandemic explodes, taking a staggering toll on this country and shattering records for new deaths, cases and hospitalizations.

The U.S. economy also in crisis right now, as Congress is still struggling to finalize a COVID-19 relief bill, while staring down a potential government shutdown at midnight tonight. The House just passed a stopgap bill aimed at keeping the government open two more days, but its fate in the U.S. Senate is unclear.

Let's check in with CNN's Randi Kaye. She's down in Florida for us.

Randi, all eyes are on the FDA right now and the push to vaccinate Americans. What's the latest?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf.

As you said, we are still waiting for word from the FDA. Will they or won't they green-light that second vaccine, the Moderna vaccine? If they do green-light it, Wolf, as you know millions of more Americans could be vaccinated. And with the situation going from bad to worse, the time is now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KAYE (voice-over): The United States seeing its darkest days since the pandemic began, though more help is likely on the way. The FDA could recommend emergency use authorization of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine at any time now. The CDC is expected to discuss distribution plans for Moderna's vaccine over the weekend.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We likely will see shots in the arm by the early part of next week, I would hope Monday or Tuesday.

KAYE: Those shots in the arm can't come soon enough, deaths reported Thursday, 3,270. And the IHME is predicting roughly 560,000 U.S. deaths by April, a significant increase since their last projection, hospitalizations also mounting nationwide. And all eyes around California, which is in a gruesome predicament. L.A. County's Health Department says, on average, two people are dying from COVID-19 every hour and there are now zero ICU beds left in Southern California.

The director of the L.A. County Health Department says their hospitals are under siege. The vaccines are in high demand. Today, Vice President Mike Pence and Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams got their first dose for all the public to see.

The surgeon general is doing his part to encourage people of color to get vaccinated.

DR. JEROME ADAMS, SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: And, as the U.S. surgeon general and a black man, I am equally aware of the symbolic significance of my vaccination today.

KAYE: The vaccine rollout also getting some help from pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS. They are expected to help vaccinate millions of residents in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

But what about Pfizer's vaccine distribution? Health officials across the country are confused, after multiple states were told by the federal government to expect fewer doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine than initially promised.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not clear to us why the shipment amounts have been adjusted. We're certainly frustrated that we won't be receiving the amount that we expected in the first wave.

KAYE: A reason for the delay wasn't given, though Pfizer released a statement Thursday saying they have millions of doses in their warehouses, but no shipment instructions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And we are just getting word, Wolf, of a developing situation in Alaska, a third case of an anaphylactic reaction after the vaccine was administered, this time to a clinician in Fairbanks.

The woman apparently had some tongue swelling, a hoarse voice and trouble breathing. She was taken to a hospital. She was released six hours later. These are very typical symptoms of an anaphylactic reaction to a vaccine, although this woman who did not want to be identified, Wolf, has said that she still is happy that she took the vaccine, she would still recommend this vaccine, Wolf, which is very important considering the reaction that she had.

BLITZER: Very interesting, indeed.

All right, Randi Kaye on the scene for us, thank you very much.

Let's go to the White House, where the outgoing president remains out of sight, while privately staying fixated on his false claims about the presidential election.

Our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, is joining us.

Jim, what are you learning about the president's maneuvering right now behind the scenes?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, President Trump is back to playing games with this election and the coronavirus pandemic.

The president is sending more signals that he supports a GOP effort to keep Mr. Trump in power by sabotaging the congressional ratification of the election results next month.

[18:05:05]

Trump supporters are scratching their heads, though, over this one, with one source close to the White House calling this effort a -- quote -- "exercise in futility."

And as for the virus, the president was tweeting out anti-science information earlier today just as Vice President Mike Pence was receiving his own COVID-19 vaccine. The White House, though, is not offering any new information about when Mr. Trump will be vaccinated himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Still scheming for a way to stay in power, President Trump is throwing his weight behind Senate Republicans willing to defy the will of the voters. Mr. Trump is tweeting his support for incoming Alabama GOP Senator Tommy Tuberville, who's hinting he may join a Republican effort in the House to block congressional ratification of the election results on January 6.

TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R), ALABAMA SENATOR-ELECT: You see what's coming. You have been reading it in the House. We're going to have to do it in the Senate.

ACOSTA: The plot, which is doomed to fail, as Democrats control the House, could become another embarrassing spectacle. Still, the president is pushing other senators to dive right in, falsely tweeting: "Republican senators have to get tougher, or you won't have a Republican Party anymore. We won the presidential election by a lot. Fight for it. Don't let them take it away." But even a source close to the White House said it's an exercise in futility and fealty to Trump.

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: So, it's time for us to accept that defeat, also, by the way, accept the many victories we had that night. We had a great night, except at the top of the ticket. And so we need to accept that and we need to move on.

ACOSTA: But other White House allies want to keep fighting, including former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was recently pardoned by the president and told Newsmax Mr. Trump should consider declaring martial law and a new election. But Flynn was careful to add he's not specifically calling for that to happen.

MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He could order the -- within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and he could place him in those states and basically rerun an election in each of those states. I mean, it's not unprecedented.

I mean, these people out there talking about martial law like it's something that we have never done. We have done -- martial law has been instituted 64, 64 times.

ACOSTA: The president is also playing games with the pandemic. Just as Vice President Mike Pence was receiving his vaccine...

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't feel a thing. Well done. And we appreciate your service to the country.

ACOSTA: ... the president was retweeting conservatives who question the effectiveness of wearing masks. Contrast that with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who both got the vaccine themselves.

The White House isn't saying much about when Mr. Trump will be vaccinated. Earlier this year, the president said he was ready to do his part.

(on camera): If there's a coronavirus vaccine, will you get it? Will you take it?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Will I take it?

ACOSTA: Yes.

TRUMP: I would absolutely, Jim. If there's a vaccine, and if they wanted me to be first on line, that'd be first on line, or I'd be last on line, or I wouldn't take it at all, whatever's best for the country.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is also laying low on the suspected Russian cyberattack on the U.S. government that lawmakers are still trying to understand.

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): What if this attack was on the gas pipeline system or on the electrical grid or on the air traffic control system? This just underlines how critically important the issue of cyber is and how we really aren't there yet in terms of preparation,

ACOSTA: White House officials insisted Mr. Trump is working hard on the issue.

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: At this point, the administration continues to work very hard behind the scenes. And to the extent we have to speak publicly, we do that. But the work is being done, whether or not he's coming in front of cameras.

ACOSTA: But sources tell CNN Mr. Trump is on the verge of granting new pardons. One potential pardon recipient, longtime personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, paid a visit to the West Wing in the afternoon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, as for talks aimed at reaching a deal on a coronavirus stimulus package, White House officials say they're hopeful that Congress can make some kind of deal happen by the end of this weekend.

But, Wolf, this is another situation where the president's leadership appears to be missing an action that front as well, with so many millions of Americans in agony across the country, waiting for some kind of help from Washington to try to get through this pandemic -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jim, thank you.

Jim Acosta is over at the White House.

I know you're working your sources. We will get back to you.

Let's break all this down with our CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, and CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers. He's the author of the new book "My Vanishing Country."

Gloria, on every crisis facing the country right now, where is the president of the United States? I just looked at his tweets from today. He's still tweeting about the election. He's attacking the Republican governor of Georgia, the Republican secretary of state of Georgia. Where is he?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: He's AWOL.

I don't know. he's fighting for a job that he doesn't really seem to want to have.

(LAUGHTER)

BORGER: It's kind of remarkable to me that this is a president who actually could have taken credit for the vaccine and should get some credit for it.

Instead, Mike Pence was out there today. Even if the president's doctors said you shouldn't take it yet because you had COVID or whatever, he could have been there with Mike Pence.

[18:10:04]

Now, maybe, if Pence has taken it, the president may decide to, because Pence may get some credit for. But he doesn't seem to want to be doing his job. We don't know where he is on the Russian hack. He's not talking to the American public about the over 3,000 deaths yesterday.

He's just AWOL, Wolf. And it's because he is obsessing about this election, which he lost. But he can't admit it. And it's very clear he doesn't want to do the job.

BLITZER: Yes, he can't accept the fact that he did lose.

Bakari, did you expect this kind of behavior from President Trump as a lame-duck president?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

SELLERS: I think we all did.

(LAUGHTER)

SELLERS: I mean, that's an easy question, Wolf. I would thought you would throwing something, a heater down the middle there.

Yes, we expected this from the president of the United States. No one watching the last four years thought that this president would do anything other than exactly what he's doing after he lost this election.

The same reason that Gloria brought up he's not on TV is probably because he's afraid of a pick. He's afraid of that needle going into his arm because, if he flinches, for him, that may be a display of weakness.

But, even more importantly, I'm more concerned about the grift that is happening since November 3 through January 20. I think that, to be kind to this White House, the lines have been blurred and they live in a gray area when it comes to ethics. And I think now is a complete run on the shop, run on the Treasury, run on the Department of Justice. Wherever they can make a buck, they will.

And so that is my concern. And we have had reports even here on CNN about him not leaving January 20. I'm not that concerned about that. I'm more concerned about Jared Kushner. I'm more concerned about Ivanka Trump. I'm more concerned about Eric and Donald Jr. actually pillaging the American government -- the federal government and the American people -- excuse me -- especially those people who contribute to his efforts, for every dollar they have.

That's my largest concern. And for those who want to know, would he do this, the answer to the question is yes. BLITZER: Well, he is raising a lot of money right now over the --

since November 3, maybe more than $200 million for his various political campaigns, and probably going to raise another $100 million before January 20.

Gloria, the clock is ticking, what, 33 days until Inauguration Day, but the president is only ramping up his efforts to fight the election results. What do you anticipate over these next 33 days? How do you expect this all to unfold?

BORGER: Well, I think there's going to be a lot of sound and fury about this. And I think there's going to be a shameful display on the floor of the House.

Remember, there are 126 members of the House Republicans all who supported the absurd case that went to the Supreme Court. And I think that they are going to try and show how loyal they are to Donald Trump by challenging the election. There may be a couple of people in the Senate who have indicated that perhaps they would do that too, and the president has already tweeted his applause to them.

And so it's going to amount to nothing, though, Wolf, absolutely nothing. So, these people will pay homage to Donald Trump. They think they need his voters. He did have 74 million voters. They don't want to get on his bad side. And they're going to stick with him.

But, in the end, Joe Biden's going to put his hand on the Bible on January 20, and Donald Trump will be back at Mar-a-Lago or wherever they let him live.

BLITZER: Yes, he did have, let's say, 74 million votes.

BORGER: He did.

BLITZER: But Biden had 81 million votes. He won by more than seven million votes in the national popular vote, and he crushed him in the Electoral College as well.

Bakari, while the president may be losing interest in some parts of his job, he is eying right now, we are told, pardons for some key allies. What message would more pardons send right now during these final days?

SELLERS: I mean, it would send a message of corruption. It would send a message of unethical behavior.

But the question is, haven't we known this about this administration for a long period of time? How will we cover it? I mean, how will the news media cover these pardons? I mean, it should -- it should rise to the level of outrage.

I mean, if the president of the United States begins to pardon Jared Kushner, if he begins to pardon Eric and Donald Trump Jr., if he tries to pardon himself, those are the -- I mean, you can't pardon someone who does not commit a crime. You can't pardon someone for the belief that they may commit a crime in the future. You have to pardon someone for a crime that has already been

committed. They have to readily admit that. And so the question is, will they admit that? Is he going to do that? It rises to the level of an unethical president that we haven't seen since Nixon.

[18:15:02]

And my father was born in 1944, Wolf. And my father says the difference between Nixon and Trump is that Nixon had shame and Trump doesn't.

I mean, that's where we are in this scenario. But you have people like Gloria talked about. You have the Tommy Tuberville of the world in Alabama, who won't be the brightest senator in the United States of America, but who's coming to the stage and who will stand beside this president for anything and with everything and put up with absolutely anything they possibly can.

That's a problem. And so Republicans, evangelicals and the like will begin to stand up to this president. We will continue to tread lightly on this issue of democracy, which, unfortunately, to many, doesn't mean as much.

BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by, because there's more breaking news we're following on efforts to avert a government shutdown at midnight tonight, as COVID-19 relief talks are dragging on.

And we will assess the damage from an ongoing cyberattack on U.S. government agencies. One lawmaker is likening the suspected Russian hack to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:22]

BLITZER: We're following breaking news on efforts to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight, as Congress struggles to reach a new deal on COVID-19 economic relief. That deal is desperately needed right now.

The House just passed a stopgap bill to keep the government open two more days, as negotiations continue. It now goes to the Senate, where its fate is unclear as we speak.

We're joined now by Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, a key member of the Armed Services Committee, as well as the Judiciary Committee.

Senator Hirono, thank you so much for joining us.

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): Good evening.

BLITZER: How great is the risk right now that the government shuts down without a deal, and it's a desperately needed deal, on a COVID relief package?

HIRONO: As you mentioned, the House just passed a two-day C.R. to keep government running.

And, as of right now, I am told that no one -- no senator will object to that C.R. So that is good news, because, earlier, there might have been an objection raised. But, as of right this moment, there will not be an objection. So we can continue to negotiate on this emergency relief bill, which is so, so needed by all of our people.

BLITZER: Yes.

Well, that's encouraging to hear that the government's not going to shut down right now. The government needs to work and get the job done.

As you know, Senator, Congress has had months and months to reach an agreement. There are millions of Americans who are now in poverty who weren't in poverty. There are long lines simply to get food. It's hard to believe what's going on in the United States right now.

Why did it take so long to get to this point?

HIRONO: Very simply, but tragically, it's Mitch McConnell, who has sat on the HEROES Act that was passed by the House, some $3 trillion for emergency for this kind of relief for our people. He sat on it for six months.

And he didn't even negotiate on it at all. And it's only in the last several weeks that members of the Republican and Democratic Party senators got together. And that is why we now have a bipartisan bill as a basis.

But, up to that point, he refused. In fact, he said, well let the states and counties declare bankruptcy. That's one of the first things he said when we were confronted with the House-passed bill. And then he -- then he said, well, unless liability reform is in there, I'm not going to do anything.

And then he came up with a $500 billion bill that had absolutely no input from the Democrats.

So, finally, we're at the point...

BLITZER: What needs to happen, Senator Hirono -- excuse me for interrupting.

HIRONO: Yes.

BLITZER: But what needs to happen right now? It doesn't look like there's going to be any aid, direct aid, to state and local governments. The Republicans are giving up on their proposal to get some sort of immunity for corporations who are -- who are struggling right now. A lot of businesses are struggling right now.

What needs to happen right now in order to get a deal?

HIRONO: When we set aside the two major bones of contention, as you mentioned, the help for state and local governments and liability, then we added -- what was added was direct payments to people.

So that is a huge help, $600 of direct payments, similar to the $1,200 that have been in a previous bill.

And then -- well, I think that is one of the major new things that are being -- that's being added to, in my view, to take the place of the fact that there is no assistance for the state and local governments, that already over one million state and federal workers across our country have been furloughed, because state and local governments are in such deep financial trouble as a result of this pandemic.

But we need to move ahead. And the bill will have, I hope, these direct payments. It will have additional unemployment insurance benefits. It'll have additional support for small businesses, education, rent relief, et cetera.

So, I am very hopeful that, within the next day or two, we will come to an agreement, minus the two major bones of contention. We will deal with those at a later time.

BLITZER: I know you guys are close, and let's help you get a deal. At least something is better than, obviously, nothing.

Senator Hirono, thank you so much.

HIRONO: Yes. Well, the Biden administration will have a lot to do with economic reform.

And we didn't get to the cyberattack. But I tell you that the president's silence on this is deafening.

BLITZER: Yes.

HIRONO: I'm glad that Joe Biden is saying that we are going to get to the bottom of this cyberattack and there will be consequences for whoever the player is or the actors in it.

[18:25:00]

So, it looks like Russia.

BLITZER: It's certainly a crisis in that area as well, that cyberattack.

HIRONO: Thank you.

BLITZER: Senator Hirono, thank you so much for joining us. Always important to hear what you have to say. Appreciate it very much.

HIRONO: Thank you. Aloha. Stay safe.

BLITZER: Aloha to you as well.

As we await final authorization of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, more high-profile Americans are getting their first doses.

I will talk to CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his vaccination earlier today on live TV and why he's confident the shots are safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

BLITZER: The White House claims President Trump is working very hard despite his public silence on the still ongoing suspected Russian cyberattack that's affected multiple government agencies and businesses.

Let's discuss with the former CIA director, John Brennan. He's the author of the best-selling book Undaunted, My Fight Against America's Enemies at Home and Abroad. Director Brennan, thank you so much for joining us.

I don't know if you heard, but Congressman Jason Crow says these cyberattacks, in his words, could be our modern-day cyber equivalent of Pearl Harbor. Do you agree with that assessment?

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Well, Wolf, I think we still have a lot to learn about what the Russian, if they were behind this cyber intrusion, have done and what the damage is and try to ensure that we're able to mitigate that damage, first and foremost, and then understand how the Russians were able to penetrate these systems and then take the appropriate actions in response. That was not like it was a physical attack that led to thousands of deaths but this is the Russian collection activities that are ongoing on a regular basis, and the United States government networks are the primary target, particularly of the Russian SPR, which is the rough equivalent of the CIA.

BLITZER: Well, if the Russians did do this, would they do it through some sort of very sophisticated hacking mechanic, if you will, or would they have an insider who could help them at a federal agency or at a private enterprise that deals with cyberattacks.

BRENNAN: Well, at least according to the media reports that we've seen, it apparently was done as a result of an automatic update of commercial software that exists throughout U.S. government networks as well as in the private sector. And so it's unclear whether or not the malware that the Russian were able to put into these update was done through technical means and a technical intrusion of that company, or whether or not they had a human source that facilitated that type of activity.

And so this is the thing that I'm sure the FBI and the cyber security experts now are doing, they have to do the forensic analysis to again understand what the initial -- how the initial penetration was done, what the Russians have done in terms of collection, extraction of information, accessing very sensitive networks in systems, and then whether or not the Russians have left behind any malicious malware that could be activated at some point, possibly to include disabling systems.

BLITZER: Yes, if they had a suspicious -- if they had a real source inside, that would obviously be very, very worrisome as far as this hacking was concerned.

But once a hacker, in this case, a suspected Russian hacking organization, gains access to these federal agencies, Director Brennan, what are they able to access? How much damage potentially could they do?

BRENNAN: Well they could do a lot of damage. And these are not classified U.S. government networks. These are unclassified systems and networks that are used by departments and agencies across the government to keep their daily activities running.

And so there is just a lot of information that the Russians could have access in terms of the correspondence, communication between people, understanding how different systems operate and work, what are the potential as a vulnerabilities there, important and sensitive information including about U.S. persons that they could have extracted.

And so, this was a very sophisticated and unfortunately a successful attack in terms of a cyber intrusion that I think also led to a lot of hemorrhaging of U.S. information -- U.S. government information back to Moscow.

BLITZER: The president, President Trump, has yet to say anything really publicly about this cyberattack. How should the U.S. be responding?

BRENNAN: Well, I think it's yet another dereliction of presidential duty by Donald Trump not address this at all, he hasn't said not a single word about it. We need to, first of all, again, mitigate the damage, try to understand what happened and then take appropriate actions to try to protect our system and networks, number one.

Number two, even if this was a part of an espionage action at the part of the Russians, and a lot of intelligence services do that, including U.S. Intelligence Services, the Russian got caught and we need to take actions against them. So that should include sanctions against government -- Russian government officials.

It could also -- could also include the PNG (ph), the pushing of Russian diplomats and known intelligence officers out of this country. We did that at the end of the Obama Administration as a response to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

So, I think there are host of options that the current administration can look to. And I know that the Biden administration will, in fact, try to ensure that there is a very strong signal sent to Russia that this type of activity will generate an immediate response from at least the Biden team.

[18:35:00]

BLITZER: Before I let you go, Director Brennan, I want to report on what the departing attorney general of the United Stated, Bill Barr, he leaves office next week, he's resigned, as you know. He spoke and gave a lengthy interview to The Wall Street Journal just now. Let me read from that interview that he gave to the Wall Street Journal. He said this, even after privately naming Mr. Durham special counsel, Mr. Barr had come to the conclusion that he didn't see, quote, any sign of improper CIA activity or foreign government activity before July 2016.

He says, the CIA stayed in its lane. What's your reaction to hearing the departing attorney general effectively, for all practical purposes, clear you of any wrongdoing after all you've been through over this past few years, the accusation level from the president and so many of the supporters on down?

BRENNAN: Really, it's courageous of Bill Barr to say this, after he has already announced that he is going to be departing office. But if there was no basis for this, why was I interviewed by Mr. Durham for eight hours? You know, Bill Barr used to complain about he didn't see the predication or the FBI investigation into Trump engagements with the Russians.

What was the predication of this Durham investigation? Was it just a trolling exercise? I think that's what it was. And they look at a lot of documents. They talk to a lot of people and, again, interviewed me, and, clearly, they couldn't find anything that had any type of wrongdoing associated with it.

So, again, this is something that I was very confident in because CIA and other department in this investigation did everything possible, according to our authorities, to try to understand what the Russians were doing and then try to uncover it.

BLITZER: And I'm sure President Trump won't be happy with his departing attorney general, Bill Barr, clearing you after all of these years. I'm sure that President Trump is not going to be happy about that. Director Brennan, thank you so much for joining us.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Just ahead, I'll speak to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his experience getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: We're back with breaking news. As we await FDA final authorization of a second COVID-19 vaccine here in the United States, health care workers are already receiving the first vaccine approved for emergency use, including CNN's own Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He got his first dose earlier today at a hospital in Atlanta.

Sanjay is joins us right now. We were watching, it was live on CNN on New Day this morning. We watched the video. You got the coronavirus vaccine. Explain why you're confident in this vaccine and how you're feeling right now.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes. Well, first of all, I'm feeling great. I mean, maybe a little bit of soreness in the arm, not even as bad as what I've typically hoped, like a flu shot or something, so I feel fine. It was 7:00 or so this morning and, really, no leftover symptoms at all.

You know, Wolf, in terms of confidence, it's an interesting collision in my world. I was getting the vaccine because I'm a health care worker, so they're vaccinating some 8,000, I was told, health care workers at the hospital over the next few weeks, and you know, they're trying to do it as quickly as they can.

But I've also obviously been a journalist past here covering the story, and, really, you know since the beginning, looking at the original vaccine development, watching the trials progress, interviewing people like the FDA commissioner about this, seeing the trial results come in and feeling like I could make a very informed decision that this vaccine is safe and effective.

We decided to do it live on air to sort of demonstrate that confidence. I don't know how much of an impact that it will have on people. It's tough to say with these things, Wolf. But I think the idea that we've really cast a scientific eye toward this for the last year and reach this conclusion, I went ahead and did it and would recommend it to my family, and my parents. I think -- hopefully, I just wanted people to know that, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. Well, it's so encouraging. I was watching. And even before you got it, I'm ready to get the vaccine when my turn comes up.

We did learn though, Sanjay, about a third person in Alaska who experienced what appeared to be an allergic reaction after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. All three of these incidents have occurred in Alaska. That's a little strange. But what can you tell us about this?

BLITZER: Well, we're learning more details about this third patient now, another health care worker. We can show you some of the symptoms from all these three people now that had these allergic reactions. The first and third were sounded like true sort of anaphylactic reactions. The second patient may have been anaphylactic but certainly a serious allergic reaction.

They have all recovered. They got epinephrine, which works well to take care of the symptoms that people have in the middle of an anaphylactic reaction. The first patient who was kept overnight in the hospital on epinephrine drip, the third patient who received two doses of epinephrine and was release from the hospital a few hours later.

I give you all these details, Wolf, to make sure people know that, you know, I think it's very important to be as transparent as possible about any kind of adverse effects like this, especially as this new vaccine is rolling out.

Significant allergic reactions are not unusual with vaccines. In fact, with other vaccines, maybe one in a million people do have serious allergic reactions.

[18:45:01] So, in this country, you would expect hundreds of these types of reactions over time. It is curious, as you point out, Wolf, that all three were in Alaska. Not all in the same hospital, but I'm sure it will be an area the investigators are looking into.

BLITZER: I'm sure it will be.

Sanjay, thank you very much.

An important note to our viewers, be sure to join Sanjay and CNN's Don Lemon for a special, "The Color of COVID", featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci, surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, later tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

And tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, CNN teams up with Sesame Street once again to bring you "The ABCs of COVID: A Town Hall for Families."

Just ahead, Georgia's Senate races are hitting up. More than 1 million votes have already been cast in the contest that will determine the battle for control in the U.S. Senate.

I'll ask the recently elected Georgia Congresswoman-elect Nikema Williams about that, and more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:40]

BLITZER: All right. We're following major breaking stories. I want to get up to Capitol Hill. Manu Raju is joining us.

Manu, millions of Americans are in desperate need of help right now, what's the latest on this coronavirus relief package?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, talks are still ongoing and it's going to go through the weekend. The House and the Senate -- the House has actually passed a bill to keep the government open for two more days to allow these talks to continue to play out over the next couple of days. The Senate is still -- needs to vote here in just a matter of minutes.

We expect to try to keep the government open. These two issues are tied together because what the leadership is trying to do is tie a $900 billion COVID relief package to a must pass spending bill to keep the government open up until next year, Wolf.

So, at the moment, the leadership, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, still do not have an agreement yet. They keep saying they're close. There are still sticking points. Negotiations will continue through the weekend.

We will see if they ultimately are able to get there, Wolf.

BLITZER: We're going to stay very close touch with you. Manu, thank you very much. There's more breaking news we're following right now. Let's discuss

with an incoming member of Georgia's congressional delegation, Congresswoman-elect Nikema Williams.

Congresswoman-elect, thank you so much for joining us.

So, what's going on in Georgia right now is so potentially significant to the rest of the country. It could determine who is in control of the U.S. Senate.

More than a million people I understand have already voted. Is this turnout going to be make-or-break for Democrats in these two Senate contests?

NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D), REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT OF GEORGIA: This is definitely a turnout race. I am so glad to be here talking about this tonight because Georgia continues to be the center of the political universe. We're turning out our voters. We had a great first week of early voting for Georgia Democrats and we're going to continue to push through the holidays.

BLITZER: You won the race to fill a Congress -- Congressman John Lewis' seat. Is his legacy on the line, do you believe, in these two Senate runoffs on January 5th?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. When we think about what's at stake in this election and we think about getting the national response to this pandemic, getting our children back to school safely, getting our economy back on track, we also have the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that is lying in the balance.

Right now, we can't even get the John Lewis Voting Rights Act through the United States Senate with Republicans in charge. So, his legacy is definitely on the ballot. Voters are turning out in his honor, and I cannot wait to get to Congress to work with my new Democratic colleagues Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock to get this legislation passed and enacted into law.

BLITZER: The president, President Trump, he's still holding out hope that Georgia's Republican governor will flip the state for him and Republican Senator Loeffler is refusing to admit that Joe Biden is the president-elect.

Does that make any sense to you at all?

WILLIAMS: Zero sense. She is living in this alternate reality where she does not understand that the voters have spoken.

Actually, she does understand, Wolf, she's just going along with this president, thinking that it's going to get her some brownie points and I guess some extra attention. But what we know here on the ground is voters have spoken, votes have been counted not once, not twice, but three times and Joe Biden continues to come up the victor and we even delivered our ballots 16 electoral college votes just this past Monday for Joe Biden and my sorer Kamala Harris. And so, I know that our next president and vice president will be Joe

Biden and Kamala Harris come January 20th and I don't need Kelly Loeffler to affirm that.

I just need her to continue the failing campaign that she's running so that I can get my friends elected to the United States Senate and really look out for Georgia people and voters on the ground because that's exactly the opposite of what she's doing since she's been in office.

BLITZER: Yeah, this is going to be a really, really important election on January 5th. We will of course have extensive live coverage. I want to bring you back. We will discuss you're going to be sworn in as a U.S. congresswoman fairly soon as well.

Congresswoman-elect Nikema Williams, thanks so much for joining us.

WILLIAMS: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: And we're going to have more news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:59:08]

BLITZER: Finally, tonight, we share more stories of wonderful people who died from the coronavirus.

Jesse Hampton Sr. of Alabama was 81-year-old. His granddaughter Danielle (ph) says her beloved pop-pop was gentle and caring. One of her favorite memories was seeing him enter his 80th birthday party wearing a white tux and top hat and then dancing and singing through the night.

Eric Johnson of Texas was 37. He worked as a correctional officer for 18 years. His friend Cyrus says he will be remembered for his positivity and commitment to serving and protecting others, including the wife and four children he leaves behind.

May they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.

Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

I'll be back tomorrow 6:00 p.m. Eastern, for another special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

You can always follow me on Twitter and Instagram @WolfBlitzer, tweet the show @CNNSitRoom.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.