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The Situation Room

Interview With Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Will Senate Republicans Block $2,000 Stimulus Checks?; Biden Promises To Speed Up Vaccine Rollout; California Extends Stay-At-Home Orders As State Prepares For Crisis Care; Interview With Former National Security Adviser John Bolton; Russia Launches Criminal Probe Of Putin Opponent Whose Poisoning Was Detailed In CNN Investigation. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 29, 2020 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Also breaking, president-elect Joe Biden a short time ago slamming the Trump administration for lagging vaccine distribution.

The Health and Human Services Department just revealed it's allocated some 20 million vaccine doses to states, with just over 11 million distributed, but -- get this -- only 2.1 million administered. That means going into people's arms.

We begin this hour with CNN White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan, the president is stepping up pressure on fellow Republicans to make his personal wish list a reality.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, he's saying it's going to be a death wish if they don't meet his demands and have those stimulus checks for $2,000, something that he did not request as his own Treasury secretary was negotiating with lawmakers, but now says something he wants and has continuously tweeted about it.

But, of course, the question is whether or not his ally typically on Capitol Hill, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is actually going to bring that up for a vote, because, today, we heard from him. He addressed what the president wants, but he did not elaborate further on when we're going to actually see that go into action, though we are told it's going to be all of the president's demands put together with that request for those $2,000 checks.

And that's something that Democrats simply do not want to see. So, whether or not this is going to actually go anywhere or just simply hang in limbo for the next few days is really the ultimate question right now, Jim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): Tonight, Republican senators are feeling the heat from the very top.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): We didn't expect to be in session this week. But we are.

COLLINS: President Trump now says, "Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do they must approve $2,000 payments ASAP; $600 is not enough."

That tweet is forcing Senate Republicans to decide between defying the president or getting behind bigger stimulus checks, which many in the GOP initially resisted, but a growing number are now supporting.

That includes David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, two Republicans just days away from a heated Senate run-off in Georgia who both sided with the president today.

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): I have said absolutely we need to get relief to Americans now, and I will support that.

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): I fully support what the president is doing right now.

COLLINS: The fate of the stimulus checks is now in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's hands, who offered no clarity today, but blocked an effort by Democrats to vote on it immediately.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): This week, the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus.

COLLINS: Democrats are eager to take advantage of the Republican family feud.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): There's one question left today. Do Senate Republicans join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks? Now some of my Republican colleagues have said they support the checks. But there's a major difference in saying you support $2,000 checks and fighting to put them into law.

COLLINS: Senator Bernie Sanders is vowing to hold up a vote to override Trump's veto of the massive military bill unless they vote on the $2,000 checks. And his frustration spilled out on the Senate floor today.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Do we turn our backs on struggling working families, or do we respond to their pain?

COLLINS: McConnell said the Senate will vote on whether to override Trump's veto of the defense bill tomorrow, potentially setting the GOP up for its first major rebuke of the president during his last days in office.

MCCONNELL: Failure is simply not an option. I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation one more time when we vote tomorrow.

COLLINS: The House passed an override of Trump's veto on Monday, causing him to lash out on Twitter today, saying: "Weak and tired Republican leadership will allow the bad defense bill to pass, a disgraceful act of cowardice and total submission by weak people to big tech." With the stakes in Washington higher than ever and the financial stability of millions of Americans on the line, the president spent today like he has many others in Palm Beach, on the golf course.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Now, Jim, after the president sat on that coronavirus relief bill that he did finally sign on Sunday night, that's the one that has those $600 stimulus payments that Americans are going to get.

But there was some concern that they could be delayed when they were going to actually go out, given that the president had waited so long to sign the bill. But the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, just tweeted a few minutes ago, saying that some of those payments could start to go into bank accounts of American starting as early as tonight and going into next week.

So, we should still see that going on that initial timeline that he had offered to reporters, despite the president's holdup in signing that bill.

ACOSTA: OK, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much for that.

Joining us now, independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to comment on all of this.

Senator Sanders, thanks for joining us.

As you know, the Senate majority leader is now combining the $2,000 stimulus checks with two of President Trump's other demands, a repeal of Internet regulations and a voter fraud investigation, even though there wasn't any widespread voter fraud in this presidential election we just had.

What does that mean for millions of struggling Americans hoping for these bigger checks?

[18:05:02]

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Well, look, Jim, there is a level of economic desperation in this country right now that we have not seen in our lifetimes.

And that's just the simple, painful truth. And that means that there are people by the millions who are worried about being evicted, thrown out onto the streets, in the midst of this terrible, horrific pandemic. People don't have the money to go to a doctor. And we're seeing a record level of hunger in America now, where families are unable to feed their kids. That's the reality.

Now, the House last night did the right thing. And what they did do is, we fought hard to get a direct payment in the original bill, the $600 payment. That's not enough. We wanted more. And what the House did is, they raised that to $2,000.

What must happen now in the Senate, what I'm fighting for is to make sure that that clean bill, the bill that was passed in the House, comes to the Senate, we vote it up with down. And, frankly, between you and me, I think we have the votes to pass it. That's what the American people want.

ACOSTA: And, Senator Sanders, President Trump tweeted today that unless Republicans -- quote -- "have a death wish," they should approve the $2,000 payments ASAP," although, of course, he's attached these other demands to that.

Do you fear that these repeated attacks coming from the president could torpedo his own push, a push that you support?

SANDERS: Well, as somebody who disagrees with Trump on everything, I got to say he's right on the need for this $2,000 check. And I hope the Republican leadership listens to him.

And the other issues that are out there, do you think, Jim, that, all over America, people are saying, my God, we have to repeal Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act; my God, that is a major national priority?

Nobody even knows what that is. And the other thing about voter fraud, Trump keeps talking about how he won the election. Nobody in their right mind believes that. He lost the election. We can separate those issues. Do we want to take a look at Section 230? It's an important issue. Yes, we should. There's a way to do that. Not now.

How do we create elections, so that everybody can find it more easily, can more easily vote, we do away with voter suppression? There are issues out there. We can discuss it.

But right now, the issue on everybody's mind is, how do I survive? How do I feed my kids? How do I not get evicted? So, what we have got to do is just demand that McConnell bring forth a clean House bill. The House did it. By the way, they did it in a bipartisan way.

I think there were 46 Republicans who voted for it. Bring it to the floor. I can't guarantee that it's going to win in the Senate. We need 60 votes. I think we got a damn good shot to win it. Bring it to the floor for a vote, Mitch. That's what democracy is about. That's what our job is, to vote these things up or down. Let's get that vote.

ACOSTA: And I know you're trying to put some pressure on the situation. I just want to mention this to you.

In the last hour, the number two Senate Democrat, your colleague Dick Durbin, told me he disagrees with your plan to block the vote to override the president's defense bill veto until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell allows a vote on these stimulus checks.

That's what you're pushing for. How do you respond to Senator Durbin?

SANDERS: Well...

ACOSTA: He doesn't agree with you on this.

SANDERS: Well, Dick and I are old friends. And we will have our disagreements.

And if Dick has a better way, a better approach to put pressure on the Republican leadership to pass legislation which provides $2,000 for every working-class adult in this country, I'm all ears. I have not heard that from Dick or from anybody else.

ACOSTA: Do you have other Senate Democrats who are supporting you?

SANDERS: Oh, of course we do. Ed Markey was on the floor with me. We have a number of them.

The overwhelming majority of the American people -- well, of Democrats certainly want to get the opportunity to vote for this $2,000 check. That's where the Democrats are, including Durbin. And I think waiting a few more days to pass the defense bill, which eventually we will -- there will be an override of Trump's veto, we can do that.

But, right now, the focus has got to be on getting those absolutely emergency survival checks out to people.

ACOSTA: And even if the Senate majority leader allowed a straight vote, Democrats would need some 12 Republicans to join them.

SANDERS: Yes.

ACOSTA: Do you think you can even get there?

SANDERS: I think there's a chance. I mean, I can't -- I wouldn't bet the whole farm on it.

Right now. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, there are at least five Republicans who have indicated support for a $2,000 check. Others are -- making -- are indicating that they would be interested in doing it.

So I think there is a shot that we can win this thing.

ACOSTA: And, Senator, watch how Senator Republican Pat Toomey explained his opposition to increasing those stimulus checks. Take a listen.

[18:10:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): We do not have a global macroeconomic depression under way at all. So, it makes no sense to be sending this out to everybody who has a pulse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What do you make of that argument?

SANDERS: Well, I don't know. Pat talking about a global macroeconomic crisis, maybe he should talk to the people in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and learn about the difficulties that they are having feeding their kids or paying the rent or going to the doctor, the kind of debt that they are accumulating and paying off 20 percent interest rates on their credit cards by accumulating this debt.

Here's the simple truth. No one can deny it. People are hurting in an unprecedented way. The working class today is in more desperation than at any time since the Great Depression. And we have got to provide help. And we have got to do it right now.

ACOSTA: Well, there's no question that people are hurting, and they're looking to Washington for help.

Senator Bernie Sanders, thanks for coming on and explaining your point of view on this. We appreciate it.

And there's more breaking news we're following tonight, sharp criticism of the Trump administration's vaccine rollout by president- elect Joe Biden.

Let's go to CNN political correspondent M.J. Lee in Wilmington, Delaware.

M.J., these are some strong words from the president-elect, accusing the Trump administration of being far behind where it should be right now when it comes to rolling out these shots and getting them in people's arms.

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim.

Joe Biden making clear that he thinks the Trump administration is simply not getting the job done when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine. And he said, look at the numbers. They speak for themselves. Many, many more Americans should be already vaccinated at this point.

And he said, at the current pace that we're going, it could be years, not months, before the whole country is vaccinated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Things are going to get worse before they get better.

LEE (voice-over): As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the nation, Joe Biden slamming the vaccine distribution currently under way on President Trump's watch.

BIDEN: The Trump administration's plan to distribute vaccines is falling behind, far behind. A few weeks ago, the Trump administration suggested that 20 million Americans could be vaccinated by the end of December. With only a few days left in December, we have only vaccinated a few million so far.

If it continues to move as is now, it's going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.

LEE: The president-elect laying out his own plan for administering 100 million vaccine shots by the end of his first 100 days in office.

BIDEN: I've directed my team to prepare a much more aggressive effort with more federal involvement and leadership to get things back on track.

And we're going to work to set up vaccination sites and send mobile units to hard-to-reach communities.

LEE: Biden has also proposed a nationwide mask mandate.

BIDEN: I'm going to be asking the American people to wear a mask for the first 100 days my administration.

LEE: And Dr. Anthony Fauci now endorsing that plan.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: Everybody, every single person, put aside this nonsense of making masks be a political statement or not. We know it works.

LEE: This as the Biden transition team and the Department of Defense continue to clash over the transition process, Biden accusing the DOD this week of obstruction.

BIDEN: We just aren't getting all the information that we need for the ongoing, outgoing and -- from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It's nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.

LEE: A DOD spokesperson insisting that there have been plenty of meetings with the Biden transition in recent weeks, but a source familiar telling CNN that, as of Monday, no formal transition meetings have taken place between the two sides since December 18.

BIDEN: And all of it makes it harder for our government to protect the American people, to defend our vital interests in a world where threats are constantly evolving and our adversaries are constantly adapting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: Now, what Biden advisers are telling us is that the lack of cooperation from the Trump administration now could have serious national security implications that extend into the Biden presidency.

And, Jim, as for those transition meetings between the DOD and the Biden transition team, what we're learning is that there are now three of those meetings scheduled for sometime this week. Two of them will be about COVID-19, we're told. One of them will be about cybersecurity, though. Jim, I have to say it's hard to believe that the Biden transition team thinks that this is nearly enough -- Jim.

ACOSTA: I doubt it.

All right, CNN's M.J. Lee, Stand by.

We want to get more on all of the breaking news next with our panel. That's coming up in just a few moments.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:11]

ACOSTA: And we're following breaking stories, multiple breaking stories at this hour, including president-elect Joe Biden slamming the Trump administration's vaccine rollout, warning that, at the current rate, it could take years, not months, to get everyone vaccinated.

We're joined once again by CNN correspondents M.J. Lee and Kaitlan Collins. And we have brought in CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers. He's the author of the book "My Vanishing Country."

Bakari, great to see you.

We saw issues with the pandemic response from the start, from COVID testing and so on. And now president-elect Biden is pointing to the same issues with the vaccine rollout. What do you make of these comments we heard from President Joe Biden earlier today that it could take years, not months, at the current rate to get everybody vaccinated in this country?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first and foremost, thank you for having me. Happy holidays. It's good to see you.

ACOSTA: You too.

SELLERS: But let me just say this.

We had these -- we had an awful rollout of COVID testing. And this is very reminiscent of that. And as much as I want to lay the blame at the feet of Donald Trump, as the president-elect did today. I must also say that some of this blame actually lays at the feet of the United States Congress.

While Joe Biden was hitting every note, and he hit them forcefully, the fact is that there was no funding in this most recent CARES bill passed for state and local governments. And so what, no matter what state you're in, there's no funding for a vaccination rollout plan.

And, yes, that leadership comes from a failure -- or the failure of leadership comes from the top, but it also rests on the shoulders of our United States Congress, who can't seem to get their act together.

And so, hopefully, on January 20, I think what the president-elect is saying is that that will change. But until we get some leadership from the top, and also until we get a United States Congress that actually passes a stimulus bill that has state and local funding in it, so you can actually implement a vaccination rollout plan, none of this matters and all of this is moot.

[18:20:02]

And this will continue to look eerily reminiscent of the fact that we did not test appropriately or vastly enough to be the United States of America.

ACOSTA: Well, we can't have a repeat of that, for certain.

Kaitlan, in the previous hour, I spoke with a member of Joe Biden's COVID advisory committee. And she says part of the issue is how much was left up to the states. And President Trump seems to be tweeting exactly that.

He's being defensive about this and saying: "It is up to the states to distribute the vaccines once brought to the designated areas by the federal government. We have not only developed the vaccines, including putting up money to move the process along quickly, but gotten them to the states."

Kaitlan, this Operation Warp Speed has become operation flat tire, in terms of getting vaccines into people's arms. Was this by design? And what do you make of the president pushing this off on the states again?

COLLINS: Well, it's a pattern that we saw that the president pursued when it came to testing. And there were questions over why there wasn't sufficient testing in the U.S. after the president said everyone who wanted one could get one several months ago, of course, which wasn't true.

We saw a similar issue with the PPE. And these are both things that the White House took at that time, and then tried to turn around onto states, saying, well, they're the ones who has to be in charge of distributing this.

And so now what we have heard from local departments of health that are going to be in charge of really mainstreaming a lot of this is that they feel like they're overwhelmed right now. And so having contact tracing and testing and social distancing measures that are happening in their local areas, on top of now also being in charge of distributing the vaccine, without a lot of funding for that, is going to be, of course, a predicament that they're being put in.

And so the question, though, here that we're facing now is, it is Operation Warp Speed and it is those who are in charge of the logistics of this, because Operation Warp Speed wasn't just about developing the vaccine, which, of course, they did in record time. It was also about getting it out and making sure you could logistically do that.

And that's why General Gus Perna was put in charge of that. And so the question is, why are they not going to meet the standard that the secretary -- the HHS secretary, Alex Azar, set forth, that Gus Perna set forth, that several others have these figures who are playing the leading roles in this said, that a certain number of Americans would be vaccinated by the end of December?

And, of course, Jim, we are now just a few days away from that. And we haven't met that goal. And so I think it demands a lot of answers out of the White House right now that we have not gotten sufficient explanation for, beyond moving the goalposts from what we have been hearing from them just a matter of weeks ago.

ACOSTA: And, M.J., Joe Biden says he will use the Defense Production Act. He's just named more officials to work on this effort.

Is this response going to be enough, do you think?

LEE: Well, I think what was interesting about hearing Joe Biden talk about COVID-19 today is that there's clearly not another issue more front of mind.

I mean, he has made that pretty clear over the last couple of months, talking about the lives that have already been taken and talking about how there's not really any aspect of society that is untouched by the virus, and, of course, just how closely linked this is to the economic recovery.

There is no economic recovery if there's no recovery from this virus. But, in addition to using this speech in large part to lay out his own plan for turning things around when it comes to COVID-19, what was interesting was that he almost was sort of framing this as a reminder to the American people who are listening that so much of the task ahead and the challenge ahead for him is going to be doing damage control after the Trump years.

So, whether he is talking about the vaccine distribution having gone too slowly, whether it is the lack of a federal plan that he has talked about, whether it is about Donald Trump's own personal conduct that he thinks has not been helpful at all in trying to contain this virus, even just simply coming out and saying the words to the American people, wear a mask, I think this was a reminder that Biden knows that he has a very, very daunting situation that he's inheriting.

But he also wants to remind people there is an alternate scenario where I could have been inheriting something a little bit more manageable, but, because of the Trump administration's actions and because of the president's own actions, I'm inheriting something, unfortunately, that is going to be very, very difficult to manage.

ACOSTA: Right.

Joe Biden seems to be in a position where he wants to project presidential leadership, while reminding Americans at the same time he's not president yet.

Bakari, incredible that we have achieved this milestone with two vaccines authorized within a year of this virus emerging, but it's painful to see how many vaccines are available and not being administered at this point. This graphic -- put it up on screen -- once again, 19.88 million doses allocated by the federal government.

That's not a confirmed shipment. The federal government is confirming that 11 million doses were distributed, but get this, only 2.1 million administered, that is shots in arms, so far. That is a fraction of what what's been distributed and a small fraction of what's been allocated.

[18:25:04]

That's just outrageous, isn't it?

SELLERS: I mean, it is outrageous, and it absolutely makes no sense.

I'm one who probably said that we should have let Chick-fil-A be in charge of administering the vaccinations. It probably would have got out better than the federal government.

My daughter, as you know, Jim, is immunosuppressed, right? And I believe that there should be a plan in place so that as many people as possible, including myself and my wife, including teachers -- we want to get people back in the classroom. I mean, there's no reason that we have not been able to roll out these vaccinations in a much more efficient, faster process.

But, again, I mean, we want to lay this blame at the feet of the president of the United States. And I come on the show enough and lay enough blame at his feet. But Kaitlan was correct. You have these departments of health that are overwhelmed.

They're in charge of contact tracing. They're in charge of -- they're also in charge of testing. They're doing everything possible. And then you just throw these vaccinations at their feet, and you don't give them any money.

The problem with this is that we have Mitch McConnell, who is just running this country into the ground, who passed a $900 billion bill, which should have been about $2 trillion to $3 trillion, which didn't include any state and local funding.

That is why you do not have a foundation in place where you can distribute these vaccinations properly. We have to get these vaccinations out, because, without that, more people are going to die. And it's not going to rest at the feet of 1600 Pennsylvania. It should rest at the feet of the United States Capitol.

They have to get their act together, and they haven't proven they are able to do that just yet.

ACOSTA: Well, more and more, Bakari, the name Operation Warp Speed sounds like more Trump branding that just doesn't live up to expectations.

All right, Bakari, M.J., Kaitlan, thanks so much for that. We appreciate it.

Stay with us.

The U.S. extends its string of record hospitalizations for the coronavirus, as the national death toll surpasses 337,000. We have all today's headlines of the coronavirus crisis.

That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:34] ACOSTA: Breaking news tonight in the pandemic, California extending stay-at-home orders covering most of the state as some hospitals prepare for crisis case which may include health care rationing.

CNN's Nick Watt is in Los Angeles with the latest.

Nick, a very dire situation there in California tonight.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Jim. Dire in December, looks like it's going to be dire in January as well. We've just been told that projections show that for the next few weeks at least, ICU demand will continue to outstrip capacity. And that's in much of the state. And that's why Angelino's and millions of others have been told we're going to have to stay home a little longer, maybe a lot longer, because, let's not forget, widespread vaccination is still a ways away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I'm ready.

WATT (voice-over): There's a reason the VP-elect just got vaccinated live on TV -- to reassure black Americans, all Americans, that it's safe.

HARRIS: It's about saving your life, the life of your family members, and the lives of your community.

WATT: The outgoing VP did it, the president-elect did it, lame-duck Donald Trump has not. His administration projected 20 million doses in arms by New Year's. We're two days away? A little over two million shots logged. Not even close.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Even if you undercount, two million as an undercount, how much undercount could it be? So we are below where we want to be.

WATT: The federal government ships the doses but leaves the logistics from there to others. Here's the optimistic take.

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, CDC ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON IMMUNIZATION PRACTICES: Think of it like a locomotive getting started. Those first few wheel turns are slow and difficult, and then things move faster.

WATT: Meantime more than 2,000 Americans on average are killed by COVID-19 every day.

FAUCI: I think we just have to assume that it's going to get worse.

WATT: Within the past hour the stay-home order for much of California was extended.

DR. BARBARA FERRER, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH, L.A. COUNTY: On average nine to 10 people in L.A. County test positive for COVID-19 every minute.

WATT: And ICU capacity across the region is at zero percent.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: What's going to happen in California when you run out of capacity, physicians and bioethicists in these hospitals will need to decide which patients are salvageable, potentially salvageable, and which patients aren't.

WATT: Nationwide more Americans are hospitalized with this virus now than ever before and December is already the deadliest month of the pandemic. Then came Christmas, the travel, the gatherings.

FAUCI: In addition to the surge, we're going to have an increase superimposed upon that surge, which could make January even worse than December. I hope not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Now, this just in from Colorado, Jim, the first confirmed case on U.S. soil of this new variant of the virus from the U.K. Now the Brits say there is no evidence it's more deadly, no evidence it's more likely to land you in the hospital, but it does appear to be more transmissible -- Jim.

ACOSTA: We certainly do not need that right now. All right, CNN's Nick Watt, thank you so much for that.

Let's get expert analysis on the pandemic with Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

[18:35:03]

Dr. Hotez, great to see you. President-elect Biden is warning that at this current pace, it would take years to vaccinate the American people. People are just not going to tolerate that. We've had months to prepare for this rollout. What is going wrong here?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, NATIONAL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, what's going wrong, Jim, is this is going by the same playbook of coming up small every time at the national level. You know, this is why we missed the entry of the virus into the U.S., into New York, back in late January, early February. It's why we failed to get diagnostic testing up to speed, that's why we failed to -- you know, that we never launched a national control program to stop the surge in the summer, and then the other one, big one in the fall, despite a number of us putting forward plans.

It's why we're missing all the genomic virus surveillance, so that we've probably got the U.K., the South African and other variants here already. It's this insistence on leaving everything to the states, and the states never had the epidemiologic horsepower and the public health horsepower to do this kind of massive undertaking against such an aggressive virus. And the good news is the Vice President Biden came up today, the president-elect, and said, look, we're going to put in a national strategy, and my response was finally. You know, this is what we're going to need if we're really going to

accelerate vaccinations. It's the only thing we have right now. We've punted on every other attempt. We've not tried to launch a national program. This is our last hope, is vaccinating our way out of it now. We shouldn't have to be in this situation but that is the reality, and now we've got to aggressively ramp up.

ACOSTA: You know, we just heard from a public health expert who compared this to a choo-choo train. It sounds like the little engine that could. But let me move on to some other troubling breaking news today. Colorado has reported the country's first confirmed case of the U.K. variant of the coronavirus. Experts have been telling us, as you know, this variant has probably already been here. But does this mean we could see even more transmission?

If it is that much more contagious, I suppose it stands to reason that this is going to be spreading around a lot more than we had hoped for.

HOTEZ: Yes. I mean, that variant from the U.K. was noted in the U.K. back in September and it's probably been in the U.S. since September. But here's the thing, we never did virus genomic surveillance to look at it. We've only done 50,000 virus genome sequences. By comparison, the U.K. which is a much smaller country has done almost 200,000. Around 7 percent of their isolates. Australia has done 50 percent of their isolates genome. We've done 0.3 percent of our isolates. Practically nothing.

And to no surprise we're missing all of these variants. And so we finally picked up the U.K. one. I'm sure if we -- as we expand our virus genomic surveillance, and I hope the Biden administration will make that a priority, we'll see a lot more of the U.K. one, we'll see the South African one, and guess what, we're going to see homegrown variants that are similar in character in terms of transmissibility. I can almost promise you that.

ACOSTA: All right. Disturbing news indeed. All right. Dr. Peter Hotez, thanks so much for that expertise. We appreciate it as always.

Just ahead, is the Pentagon cooperating with the transition or ignoring dozens of request for information from the Biden transition team? We'll talk about that and more with the former National Security adviser, John Bolton. He is standing by to join us live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:20]

ACOSTA: And we have breaking news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. Jake Sullivan, who will be the National Security adviser when Joe Biden takes office, just told NPR the Trump administration's acting Defense secretary is wrong to say the Pentagon is cooperating with the transition.

We're joined by President Trump's former National Security adviser, John Bolton. He's the author of the best-selling book "The Room Where It Happened." Ambassador Bolton, thanks for joining us. Let me get right to this

what Jake Sullivan is saying. He not only says the acting Defense secretary is wrong, he also says the transition has dozens of requests for information still outstanding.

You of course held the role that Jake Sullivan will assume on Jan 20th. What's your reaction to all of this? We know the president doesn't like the fact that he lost this election but what do you make of this?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, it's very hard to understand. I mean, I think the president did say he wanted a professional transition, at least that's what some of his people have been saying and this doesn't sound like it's going that way. Very hard to know what the Department of Defense objections are to legitimate requests for information. But I don't know any more from sitting here than you do.

ACOSTA: But obviously they should be cooperating.

BOLTON: No, of course, there's no reason not to. So if they have an explanation, they certainly haven't given it yet.

ACOSTA: The president-elect said that there were roadblocks. Is that acceptable to you, somebody who has served in this National Security role in the past? I mean, do you think that this could compromise national security as the president-elect's team is saying at this point?

BOLTON: Well, what's been discussed publicly is that they cancelled a bunch of meetings and said that that had been mutually agreed to.

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I find it hard to believe that the Biden transition team would sort of stop working for two weeks, notwithstanding the holidays. I've been on transitions going in and coming out, and I don't recall anybody stopping for the holidays.

ACOSTA: All right. And, as you know, President Donald Trump meanwhile is warning Senate Republicans that they should approve these $2,000 stimulus checks ASAP unless they have a, quote, death wish. He's called Republican leadership pathetic.

Four years into his presidency, has he learned anything about working with Congress as far as you could tell?

BOLTON: It doesn't look that way. I wish he had spoken in those terms to Vladimir Putin. It might have gotten more of his attention.

Look, I think Trump's support of this $2,000 individual payment is just more campaigning. I mean, Senator Toomey of Pennsylvania and others had explained that the vast bulk of this additional payment will go to people who have suffered no financial loss. I mean, I just think it's a case of throwing money at a problem and not really studying it. The lesson for Republicans is you can never outbid the Democrats in

throwing away other people's money. So it's not even worth trying.

ACOSTA: So, it sounds like you are siding with some of these Republican senators who are not in favor of increasing those payments.

BOLTON: Well, you know, people like to talk about the splits within the Republican Party, how about the split within the Democratic Party? Their premiere economic guru, Larry Summers, former secretary of the treasury under President Clinton, former director of the National Economic Council at the White House under Barack Obama, said a couple days ago he's against the $2,000 per person payment and he's very skeptical of the $600 per person payment.

So, I think -- I think this is -- on the merits of this, I think it's exactly the right position to oppose it, and I hope the Senate Republicans hold firm.

SCIUTTO: And a senior Republican tells CNN that the president's tweets are, quote, the ravings of a deposed king. Are you seeing signs that some Republicans feel emboldened to break with President Trump? And what do you make of his tweets? Do they seem any more rational than they have been in the past?

BOLTON: No. I mean, as I say, it just another day at the office as far as I can tell. But I think the more Republicans who break with the president as a matter of principle on this particular issue or on the question of voting to override his veto of the National Defense Authorization Act, I think it's good and healthy for the party. He is going to be an ex-president in about three weeks and people need to realize that.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you this. "The New York post" says that by calling on Republicans to overturn the election, I'm sure you saw this op-ed in "The New York Post", the president is, quote, cheering for an undemocratic coup.

Do you agree that when Republicans, some Republicans join forces in January 6th, and attempt to overturn the election, whether or not it is ultimately successful, that they're cheering on a coup attempt? Is this like a coup attempt do you think?

BOLTON: Well, I think that states it pretty dramatically. Look, there's no evidence of systemic fraud that benefited Joe Biden in this election. People can talk about it all they want. They have failed in courts. They have failed in administrative proceedings. They have failed under state law.

So you've either got to say there was no systematic fraud or Donald Trump had the worst legal team in the history of Western civilization. This is a complete sham. And I think anybody who tries to stop the count of the electoral votes or try and disrupt it on January the 6th will embarrass themselves in history.

ACOSTA: All right. John Bolton, thank you very much for that. We appreciate it. Good talking to you, sir, and happy holidays. Just ahead, Russia launches a criminal probe of a Putin opponent who

survived a nerve agent poisoning attack. It comes after new details were revealed in a CNN investigation. That story and more, next.

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[18:53:46]

ACOSTA: And we're following troubling developments in Russia where authorities appear to be targeting a high profile opponent of President Vladimir Putin. Alexei Navalny survived an attempted poisoning over the summer in an exclusive CNN investigation and Bellingcat revealed how an elite Russian unit with expertise in poisons trailed him.

Let's go to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.

Frederik, what's the latest?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Jim.

Well, the Russians are playing hardball here with Alexei Navalny, the Russian investigative committee coming out pretty late tonight, and now accusing Alexei Navalny of what they call large-scale fraud. They said the anti-corruption foundation that he's the head of collected millions of dollars in donation and a lot of money was used to buy personal things like private property and also private trips, as well. And if Alexei Navalny is convicted, he faces up to 10 years in jail.

And, Jim, it comes on the same day the Russians also ordered Navalny to appear at a hearing of the Russian penitentiary service that early this morning, a hearing that he physically could not attend because he's, of course, still recovering from that Novichok poisoning in Germany now.

And with that, he's under threat of being arrested if and when he tries to come back to this country. Now, of course, there are those who believe that the Russian authorities are doing this to try to prevent him from coming back to this country.

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And we actually asked the Kremlin that earlier today, and the spokesman for Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, he said, look, Navalny can come back to Russia whenever he wants because he's a Russian citizens, but then Peskov also said that he believes that the authorities are simply doing their job.

So the threat is certainly there. Navalny for his part, having done all that, he believes that the Russian authorities are embarrassed because of that CNN and Bellingcat investigation that, of course, uncovered large parts of the plot at the FSB to poison and try and kill Navalny. In fact, our Clarissa Ward managed to get to one of the houses of the alleged FSB agents who was part of it and knock on the door there. Alexei Navalny coming out earlier today. He reacted to all the news,

and says it looks Putin is becoming hysterical -- Jim.

ACOSTA: A very disturbing story. Our Frederik Pleitgen, thanks so much for that.

And we'll have more news just ahead.

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ACOSTA: Finally, we share more stories of people who died from the coronavirus.

Married couple Mel Keddy and Joan Essig of Arizona were 87 and 86 respectively. Mel was an army veteran and machinist. He loved the outdoors and was an avid hunter and fisherman. Joan had an immense adoration for art. She liked to travel and play bridge with her girlfriends.

They both worked in the aviation industry for many years and enjoyed spending time with their friends and family, including 20 grandchildren and 32 great grandchildren. They died just eight days apart.

Beautiful picture there of that family, so many families going through that sort of thing this time of year. May they rest in peace. May their memories be a blessing.

I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks very much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.

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