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CNN Projects Biden Wins Georgia; In First Public Remarks Since Defeat, Trump Refuses to Acknowledge Loss, says "I Guess Time Will Tell"; Biden Aides Say He'll Spend Weekend Considering Cabinet Picks. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 13, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:15]

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. We are following breaking news.

The president was just speaking in the White House Rose Garden, giving a coronavirus update in his first public comments since his election loss. And he once again refused to acknowledge Joe Biden as the winner saying, and I'm quoting the president now, "I guess time will tell."

CNN has just projected President-elect Biden the winner in Georgia and President Trump the winner in North Carolina. That gives Biden a total of 306 -- 306 electoral votes to Mr. Trump's 232. 306 by the way is the same number of electoral votes President Trump won back in 2016 against Hillary Clinton. And he called that, at the time, repeatedly called that a landslide.

In the meantime, Biden's transition team is pressing ahead. Eight say he'll spend the weekend considering potential cabinet nominees. And one adviser says the Biden team isn't interested in having, I'm quoting now, "a food fight" with the GSA which is delaying the transition by refusing to sign off on the election.

We are also following breaking pandemic news. The U.S. coronavirus death toll has now topped 243,000 people and more than 10.6 million Americans have been infected by the virus. And the country by the way has set another single day record for new cases, more than 150,000.

Let's start our coverage this hour with CNN's David Chalian with the final projections including Georgia for Biden. David, Biden has done what no other Democratic candidate has not been able to do in some 28 years, turn Georgia blue. Take us through these final projections.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, most of those Democratic candidates over these 28 years didn't even try to turn Georgia blue. But that's a huge success.

Here is your final tally in the electoral college. This is for the history books, Wolf. 306 electoral votes for Joe Biden, 232 electoral votes for Donald Trump. As you noted, that is an exact reversal of what it was four years ago when Donald Trump had 306 electoral votes on election night. And of course, don't forget the popular vote which you can see Joe Biden is 5.3 million votes ahead of Trump now nationally.

Take a look at Georgia specifically. You noted, no Democrat has won this since 1992 when Bill Clinton won. It has been a tenured project for the Democrats trying to work to see if indeed this state can be pushed blue due to what has been going on to these expanding Atlanta suburbs and keeping African American turnout high.

But I will tell you. in Georgia, independent voters were critical for Joe Biden's success. There was a 20-point swing. You know that Donald Trump won independent voters by some 11 points. Joe Biden won them this time by nine points. We saw 20-point swing in Joe Biden's direction with independents in Georgia.

The other thing I would note, Donald Trump support with white college educated men -- again, thinking about those suburbs, Wolf, 21 percentage points lower in 2020 in Georgia than it was four years ago in 2016.

Now let me just show you in Arizona which we projected last night for Joe Biden. He has a 10,096-vote lead there, 49.4 percent to Donald Trump's 49.1 percent. This has been projected. This also is an expansion state for Democrats. Part of that project in the sunbelt where Democrats were trying to take traditionally red states turn to blue. This one has not been blue since 1996 when Bill Clinton did it.

And here, not only with independents, they swung big to Joe Biden also. But I would just note also, that among younger votes, 18 to 29- year-old, Joe Biden basically doubled what was Hillary Clinton's advantage in that state four years ago among young voters and he completely erased a 13-point advantage Donald Trump had among seniors in Arizona four years ago to an even split 50-50 this time around. That is how Joe Biden turned Arizona blue.

And as you noted, the final state that we called was North Carolina. Donald Trump keeping that in the Republican column. 73,700 votes ahead of Joe Biden. The counties across North Carolina started certifying their votes today. That is when we were able to see these final tabulations and able to project that Donald Trump hangs on to North Carolina.

But, again, this national popular vote, Wolf, is just astounding. 5.3 million votes Joe Biden is ahead of Donald Trump. 50.8 percent with some 78 million votes to 47.4 percent, that is not how we elect presidents. You noted the electoral college count.

[17:05:02]

But this is what matters to get elected but that national popular vote is unbelievably impressive. And this Joe Biden victory is quite, quite impressive.

BLITZER: Yes. Very impressive in the electoral college and extremely impressive in the national popular vote. David Chalian, thank you very much.

Let's go to the White House right now. Our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is standing by. Jim, update our viewers on what we just heard from the president of the United States in the Rose Garden.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. President Trump is pretending he still has a chance to win the 2020 election but that's not true. Just a short while ago in the Rose Garden, the president took no questions and appeared to come out in front of the cameras to soothe his damaged ego. He suggested there was a way he could somehow remain in office after January when that's not the case.

And even officials in the Trump administration say Mr. Trump's bogus conspiracy theories are simple full of lies. And while the president is full of bluster in front of the cameras his close allies are telling a different story that he is starting to come around to a reality that he has lost.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Welcome to the White House Twilight Zone, where President Trump is still publicly clinging to an alternate reality, the one where he can still win the 2020 election.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully, the -- whatever happens in the future -- who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell.

ACOSTA (voice-over): But in the real world, it's a different story, as CNN projects Joe Biden has won Arizona and Georgia, with Mr. Trump clinching North Carolina.

That gives Biden a big 306-electoral vote victory, as the popular vote margin shows the president-elect to head by more than 5 million ballots.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS HOST: I got no impression that he was you know plotting the overthrow of the elected government.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Still, some of the president's friends like Fox's Geraldo Rivera are sounding like hostage negotiators, trying to talk Mr. Trump into surrendering to defeat.

RIVERA: Every impression he gave me, Harris, was that, if the process went against him, and he was satisfied that every vote, legitimate vote, had been counted, and every illegitimate vote had been thrown out, that he would follow the edict of the Constitution and surrender the office.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The problem is the president still has a team of dead enders enabling him.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who is doubling as a campaign adviser, is spinning the fantasy that Mr. Trump is marching toward a second term.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the president will attend his own inauguration. He would have to be there, in fact.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president's top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, sounds stuck in an upside-down world too.

PETER NAVARRO, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISER: We're moving forward here at the White House new assumption that there will be a second Trump term. We think he won that election. And any speculation about what Joe Biden might do, I think, is moot at this point.

ACOSTA (voice-over): They're taking their cues from Mr. Trump, who's tying himself into a pretzel claiming he's been cheated, tweeting: "Now they're saying what a wonderful job the Trump administration did in making 2020 the most secure election ever. Actually, this is true, except for what the Democrats did. Rigged election!"

Not so, according to the president's own Cybersecurity Agency, which stated: "The November 3 election was the most secure in American history. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised."

And while McEnany insists Mr. Trump will fight it out in the courts...

MCENANY: Read through some of these affidavits. I now have three binders.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Wait. Hold that up. Let me see it. Hold that up. Can I see it?

MCENANY: Well, I have three binders. These are court filings and affidavits. But they're startling, Sean.

ACOSTA (voice-over): His campaign has dropped a legal challenge in Arizona and his lawyers have bailed on a case in Pennsylvania. Despite those developments, advisers say the president may never can see the race, a contest he once said he couldn't handle losing.

TRUMP: He is the worst candidate ever to run in the history of a presidential election, really. At least, if you lost, you could say, hey, you lost to a good candidate. How the hell do you lose to a guy like this?

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: I'm asked about the president's upcoming plans. One Trump adviser compared the president to the 1990s era, Detroit Pistons who famously refused to shake hands with the Chicago Bulls who won the NBA championship in that era. The adviser went on to say, the president could do the same when it come to this election. Leave the stage without conceding defeat, calling Mr. Trump, this is in the words of this Trump adviser I spoke with, quote, "a bad boy for life." Wolf? BLITZER: All right. Jim, stand by. We're going to get back to you in a moment. I want to check in on the Biden team what is going on with the transition.

Our national correspondent Jason Carroll is covering the president- elect for us in Rehoboth, Delaware. Jason, Biden is the first Democrat to win Georgia in 28 years. How is the campaign, first of all, reacting?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Wolf, the campaign is confident about a Georgia recount. And they say this is once again just another example of what happened in Georgia, what happened in Arizona. Again, another example of why the Trump administration, their president, himself, should acknowledge that Joe Biden is, in fact, the president-elect.

[17:10:08]

Again, at this point, the Biden team still has not received the necessary signed paperwork that they need to get from the General Services Administration. Biden still is not receiving intelligence briefings. And in fact, earlier today on a press call, team Biden basically explained where they stand in terms of the standoff between themselves, the Trump administration, and the GSA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, SENIOR ADVISER, PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN TRANSITION TEAM: Instead of having a food fight with the GSA administrator or anyone really, we just want to get access to intelligence information to threat assessments to the ongoing work on COVID so that we can prepare to govern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: And Wolf, when it comes to the transition team, we can also tell you that the transition team is actually been working back channels, working behind the scenes with state governors, with local officials in terms of trying to coordinate their COVID-19 response going forward. Wolf?

BLITZER: You know, Jason, CNN has learned as you know that the president-elect will spend this weekend considering potential picks for his cabinet, for other senior positions in the White House. What are you hearing? What is the latest?

CARROLL: That's correct. Wolf, he has met with his advisers today, will be meeting with his advisers again over the weekend. And we're already hearing that he has gotten names in mind for all of those key cabinet positions including Health, Defense, and Treasury, in addition to that.

Also, in addition to that, the president-elect we are told is taking really a deliberate approach to choosing all of these people. He knows that whoever he chooses is going to be under intense scrutiny from the GOP-controlled Senate. And in fact, Biden's incoming chief of staff Ron Klain basically described and talked about the conversations, some of the conversations that Joe Biden has already been having with some GOP leaders, except Mitch McConnell.

BLITZER: All right. Jason, thank you very much. We will certainly get back to you as well.

Lots of breaking news that is unfolding right now. We are going to talk about all of this and more. Our political commentator Van Jones is standing by, our senior commentator, Republican former Governor John Kasich of Ohio is with us. Jim Acosta will be back in a moment. There's lots to discuss. We are following it. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:16:39]

BLITZER: We are following breaking news. President Trump just speaking in the White House Rose Garden giving a coronavirus update in his first public comments since his election loss. He once again refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden is the winner saying, and I'm quoting the president right now, "I guess time will tell." He did not take any questions from reporters who were there in the Rose Garden.

Our political commentator Van Jones is with us. Our senior commentator, Republican -- former Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio is joining us and our chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta is back with us as well.

Van, let's listen to the president in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Ideally, we won't go to a lockdown. I will not go. This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully, the -- whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, he is obviously, still refusing to concede, did not take, as I said, any questions from reporters. What is your response to what we just heard because there was a nuance there, it was a bit different than what he has been tweeting, rigged election, fraud, all of that kind of stuff, saying he would be in the White House for another four years, he stopped short this time.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He almost caught himself. You know the next thing he just said, the new administration, the next administration, he caught himself. He did Trumpisms and tried to move on.

It seems like he is finally beginning to move through the stages of grief. He got stuck in denial for a very, very long time. Maybe he is coming to end of that and is going to move to the other stages. He's embarrassing himself. He's embarrassing the country. You know, if I were a Republican, I would be frustrated with this behavior because he is risking the health and safety of the American people. You got to prepare for a transition. It is very - every soldier, sailor, air force person, marine person - marine around the world is in danger because our government is not prepared for literally January.

BLITZER: Because, Governor Kasich, the results of the election are abundantly clear to everyone who is looking. How stunning is it to see the president standing there in the Rose Garden so many days after Election Day refusing to acknowledge reality?

JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's like Alice in Wonderland, Wolf. And even people who are very strong Trump supporters are just shaking their head and say let's get on with it. And I very much appreciate what Van just said about the national security issue.

You know, I will tell you. I talked to Senator Lankford from Oklahoma yesterday and complimented him because he is one of the first who come out and say they need to be able to get the national security briefing. And at the same time of course, the inability for him to speed up the transition means it hinders economic recovery. It also probably hinders, doesn't probably, I bet it also hinders the distribution of the vaccine.

So, it's just crazy. I wonder how many people around him are saying, you won? Because there is no place for this. It's unacceptable and it's embarrassing for our country. But he's getting over it. I think Van is right, you know, and he has got to remember denial is not a river in Egypt, you know?

BLITZER: That is correct. You know, Jim, give us a little bit of a sense of what is going on behind the scenes over at the White House? Are his top advisers actually pushing the president to accept the results of this election, be gracious about it, do the right thing?

[17:20:07]

Welcome the incoming president of the United States to the White House, start all of those transition briefings, whichever the other incumbent president who lost an election quickly emerged to do?

ACOSTA: Wolf, there are some advisers who are urging him to do that. There are also some friends of the president. You saw Geraldo Rivera making those comments earlier today. Geraldo is almost sounding like hostage negotiator. He is playing the role of Denzel Washington or something in this hostage drama it seems with him talking to the president and trying to talk him out of you know hanging in there beyond where constitutionally he can hang in there.

But will tell you talking to advisers close to the president, I talked to one just recently today who said he is never going to concede defeat. Now that is different from you know leaving office and exiting the Oval Office. I have not talked to too many Trump advisers or aides who believe he will just like cling to the resolute desk in the Oval Office and he'll have to be carried out. But he is going to make this difficult for everybody and try to exercise all of these challenges and these various courts, even though his lawyers are bailing on him in certain states and so on.

But no question about it, Wolf. There is a hard-core staff around the president. People like the White House press secretary. You heard Peter Navarro in our piece just a few moments ago. They are enabling the president at this point and allowing him to continue to live in this twilight zone where he somehow thinks he can pull this out and remain president come January.

BLITZER: All this comes, Governor Kasich, as CNN is you know, is now projecting that Joe Biden will win the state of Georgia which means he will emerge with 306 electoral votes to President Trump's 232. By the way, that is the same margin that Trump beat Hillary Clinton back in 2016. The big difference is Hillary Clinton had some 2.9 million more popular votes than Trump in this particular case, Biden now has more than 5.3 million more popular votes than Trump currently has.

I want you to listen to the president who framed the results then. This is in the aftermath of his victory in 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We had a tremendous landslide electoral college victory like people haven't seen in a long time. Not only did we win the election. We had an electoral college landside. OK? It was a landslide.

We had an electoral college, as you know, Congressman, we had a landslide 306 to 223. We had a landslide.

They lost an election and they lost it big. It was really a landslide from the electoral college standpoint.

He only got upset about it after the results were very conclusive, 306 to 223.

And then it got bigger and bigger and wilder and wilder and then we won by a lot. Don't forget, it was 306 to 223. That is a lot.

We had a massive landslide victory as you know in the electoral college.

This was an excuse for the Democrats who lost an election who actually got their ass kicked. 306 to 223. That is a pretty good shellacking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He kept saying 223. Hillary Clinton wound up with 232 just as he's going to wind up with right now. Governor Kasich, why can't he accept reality right now?

KASICH: I think it's his nature and, you know, I can't explain the guy. Maybe people are beginning to understand why I've never supported him either when he was the nominee running the first time or why I went to the Democratic convention and supported Joe Biden. And you know, the fact of the matter is that I'm happy about this because it begins to make clear, they are saying, you know, he had about 15,000- vote win in Georgia. Probably approaching 100,000 in Pennsylvania. Probably 150 in Michigan. And Arizona has now been called.

So, you know, it's going to be very, very hard for people out there to say this was stolen. And I don't think they have many legal challenges left. And it's pretty clear. And I will say this. I will say nobody should be dancing and thinking they got it all figured out. I think both parties challenge is this -- who can lay out a vision for the country and frankly a centrist vision for the country that can create stability so that each time we turn around, there's not so many ticket splitters and we go back and forth. We got to see which party is capable of connecting with the vast majority of the American people. That is the challenge for both the Democrats and the Republicans.

BLITZER: All right. Governor Kasich, thank you. Van Jones, thanks to you. Jim Acosta, you'll be back.

Coming up, we'll be joined by the New York Governor Andrew Como. He is getting ready to respond to President Trump's attack on him just moments ago over at the White House Rose Garden.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:49]

BLITZER: The breaking pandemic news this hour. The U.S. coronavirus death toll has now topped 243,000 people and more than 10.6 million Americans have been infected by the virus. And the country sadly has set yet another single day record for new cases.

CNN's Nick Watt in Los Angeles has the latest.

[17:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Open schools in New York City were a sign of great progress. Those doors might close again, as early as Monday, as positivity rates rise towards 3 percent.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: And we are making preparations as a result. In case that number does exceed 3 percent, and in the event that we do have to temporarily close our schools.

WATT: Hell is back on the horizon. When there could be hope.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECIOUS DISEASES: We can turn this around. It is not futile.

WATT: But turning this around will require discipline. And right now COVID fatigue is winning.

FAUCI: It's understandable. I don't want to be critical of that. But we want to just plead with them to understand the dynamics of this outbreak if you do that will continue to soar.

WATT: Election Day for the first time, the U.S. logged more than 100,000 new cases in 24 hours ever since. It's been 100,000 plus every day, 10 days straight. Thursday, topped 150,000 a new record. And Thursday, all of these dates, 14 of them posted all time high case camps. In Utah, Lindsey Wooten lost her mum and grandfather to COVID- 19.

LINDSAY WOOTTON, LOST MOTHER, GRANDFATHER TO COVID-19: He said, kiddo, I'm not doing good. And she said, Dad, I'm not either. And he said, Trey, I'm dying and she said, Dad, I am too. And he said, then I'll look for you and heaven.

WATT: More than 438,000 will be dead in this country by March 1 killed by COVID-19 according to one well known model, and if states relaxed restrictions say those modelers the toll could easily top half a million.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unfortunately, right now we're starting to enter this period where it is truly widespread throughout the country.

WATT: Look at South Dakota, a staggering 56 percent of tests are now coming back positive. Analysts say that's rampant spread. But Sioux Falls City Council just voted on a masked mandate. And --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So my official vote and this is a no. And that item fails five to four.

WATT: A vote against science.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real peak of this pandemic has yet to come.

WATT: In Missouri doctors now begging for a statewide mask mandate and a plan for when beds run out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our healthcare heroes have fought valiantly, day after day. But we have no reserves.

WATT: This virus might soon force some very tough decisions. Illinois just crushed its daily new case record.

GOV. JB 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 we'll be left.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Now the governor of Colorado today said that if you have a big Thanksgiving gathering, you're basically playing Russian roulette with the lives of your vulnerable friends and relatives on Dr. Fauci said, if you have people over Thanksgiving, try and keep your mask on. Even indoors, he acknowledges you need to take it off to eat and drink and he says nothing is perfect but keep that mask on as much as you can. Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, if you can't do it outside if it's too cold, or at least try to open the windows a little bit. But that mask is so critical. Nick Watt, thank you very much.

Let's get some more in all of this. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us. Sanjay, in that statement that we got just a little while ago, the President said the Pfizer vaccine will get emergency use authorization in his words extremely soon and that we may hear again his words very good information on the Moderna vaccine probably next week, walk us through this timeline.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So what we know so far about the Pfizer vaccine is that they were given some interim results. Those -- That was -- what made all the news earlier this week, Wolf, basically saying it's showing to be 90 percent effective against COVID.

The Moderna vaccine, which is a similar sort of vaccine in terms of how it's made, they're saying that they probably will hear some results within the next couple of weeks. Now with the Pfizer vaccine, it's probably going to be the end of the month where they actually apply for Emergency Use Authorization when they get some of the final safety data in. And we hear that a couple weeks, 10 days, 14 days after that is when if any UA, Emergency Use Authorization is going to be authorized. That's when it would likely come out sort of mid- December.

Now, Wolf, there's lots of shots a lot of manufacturing that have already it's already happened. So that's standing by, so it is possible then by the end of the year.

[17:35:00]

Before the end of the year, that people start receiving this vaccine, at least to the Pfizer one. And again, if all those things all those boxes are checked with Moderna, maybe a couple weeks behind Pfizer for the maternal vaccine.

BLITZER: You just heard, we all just heard the President in the Rose Garden over the White House, suggesting he may not actually prioritize giving New York State the vaccine since Governor Cuomo, he says wants to review any vaccine approved by the government that may be an empty threat on the part of the President. But there are still some questions about how the vaccine rollout will work, aren't there?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, I heard that. And I mean, you know, what's happening here is the federal government has bought a lot of these doses already. So with Pfizer, for example, I think they spent about close to $2 billion, buying 100 million doses, so they have those doses, and then they're going to deploy them to the states. I hope that doesn't happen. There's obviously people in New York state who would need this vaccine.

And there's two issues, I think, one is that this is going to be a difficult vaccine to distribute. You've heard this a lot with a lot of people have talked about the incredible cold temperatures, the vaccine needs to be kept at Elizabeth Cohen, my colleague wrote a pretty detailed sort of analysis of that. The other issue is that it's, you know, there's only probably 20 million people or so I say only it's a lot, but still not nearly enough. But 20 million people or so who would get the vaccine immediately. And those are most likely going to be healthcare workers, Wolf, healthcare workers who are at greatest risk, in part because as we talked about hospital systems getting stretched, you can't have a bunch of healthcare workers suddenly get sick and the systems right that would stretch these, the hospital care even further.

They'll be first in line people who are elderly, people who have pre existing conditions. What I heard from (INAUDIBLE) is that 20, 25 million doses or so a month, will sort of be rolled out after that January, February, March, getting close to 100 million doses by the end of March.

BLITZER: Yes, they got an ambitious project. And let's hope it works. Because the lives of so many millions of Americans are on the line right now. Dr. Gupta, thank you very, very much.

Coming up, we'll be joined live by the New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo. There you see him, He'll respond to the President's really extraordinary attack on him just moments ago, over at the White House Rose Garden, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:51]

BLITZER: Just a little while ago, President Trump wrapped up his first public remarks since his election defeat with a coronavirus update in which he attacked the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by name. Governor Cuomo is joining us now. His new book, by the way is entitled "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID 19 Pandemic".

Governor Cuomo, thanks so much for joining us. It was pretty extraordinary. The President took direct aim at you in his remarks in the Rose Garden. I want our viewers to watch. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Soon as April the vaccine will be available to the entire general population, with the exception of places like New York state where for political reasons the governor decided to say and I don't think it's good politically, I think it's very bad from a health standpoint, but he wants to take his time on the vaccine. He doesn't trust where the vaccines coming from, as soon as April the vaccine will be available to the entire--

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So how do you respond to that? A personal attack going against you threatening the people of New York State. They might not be able to get the vaccine because of comments you've made.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Yes, well, first of all, luckily, he won't be here, right. But look, what the President says is just untrue. At one time, a statement like that would almost be incredible. But with this president, it's common. Here's -- Here are the facts.

The we trust the drug companies, Pfizer is a great New York company actually, Regeneron is a great New York company. What the American people don't trust is President Trump. And every poll has shown, Wolf, yours included that over half the American people are afraid that they politicize the approval process of the vaccine to for political reasons during the campaign.

So we're in a situation now where half the people in the country are saying I don't know if I should trust the vaccine. A number of states, New York included, but a number of states set up a separate scientific panel that will review the FDA approval to give people confidence in the approval process. Ours is headed by a Nobel Prize Laureate to establish the credibility that they don't have in President Trump because they believe he politicize the health process.

We -- That will actually help build confidence in the vaccine. And that's what we're going to do. We will run simultaneous with his process. So as soon as the FDA approves it, we'll have our panel approve -- prove it. Seven other states will review it. And then I can say to the people of New York, I know you were dubious, but we had a separate panel, review it, it's safe. Take it because if we have a vaccine that people don't trust, it doesn't accomplish anything anyway, Wolf,

BLITZER: Well, how much longer do you think it would take, let's say the FDA or the federal government approves a new vaccine and it's immediately available, especially to older people. You know, how healthcare professionals, people with underlying health conditions and it's immediately available, let's say in New Jersey, but not available in New York.

[17:45:07]

How much longer would it take for your review to allow it to go forward to the millions of people in New York?

CUOMO: There will be no delay. Our review will be simultaneous with their delivering. And again, there are seven states that are doing this. And by the way, it has to be done because you have half the American people saying they don't trust the approval process, who's going to put a needle in their arm if you don't trust the approval process of the vaccine, but it will be simultaneous.

We're not going to redo the tests that the FDA did. But we do have a scientific panel that will review the protocol that the FDA went through. So they can say to me, it was the proper protocol that was not politicized. I can say that to New Yorkers. And they'll have the confidence to do it. But there will be no delay. As soon as they get us the drug, we will -- we are ready to distribute it.

Their only problem could be if a scientific panel from my state or one of the other states reviewed the FDA approval process and said something was wrong. But I think to the -- if -- to the extent the President was politicizing the process, he lost the election. I think everybody knows that. I don't think the FDA is going to play games at this point. So I don't anticipate any real issue.

BLITZER: Why do you think he singled you for attack?

CUOMO: Well, he, first of all, I've probably been his greatest critic for four years, right? There been many policies that he's put in place that I've I fought the policy at the border, putting children in cages, taking children from their mothers, and New York has issues with him. He just lost this state by a huge margin, as he would say. You have New York prosecutors who are suing him for tax fraud, and he has a possible criminal exposure there.

So, there are a lot of reasons and, you know, with me, he tries to bully people. He tries to bully governors. He uses government as a retaliatory tool. And as you know, Wolf, New Yorkers are not going to get bullied. And I stand up for New Yorkers. And I'm not going to let a bully push New Yorkers around, period.

BLITZER: He's no longer in New Yorker, by the way. He's now a Floridian as moved his residents down to Palm Beach. This was the first-time governor that we heard from the President on camera since election night. Well, actually, a few days after the election in more than a week right now. I think it's eight days since we heard from the President on camera.

He still didn't concede that he has lost the election. He didn't seem to catch himself a little bit before acknowledging that maybe potentially there could be a bind administration. He said, who knows which administration it will be, time will tell. What did you make of that?

CUOMO: No, that's his delusion. That is just his dislocation from reality. And it's shameful what he has done, Wolf. This transition was probably one of the most important transitions ever, right. We're dealing with coronavirus. The numbers are going up. We have to have the Biden team hit the -- hit the road running, there should be no gap in the baton pass. And for him not to have the Biden people in a -- in an orderly transition is just the height of irresponsibility and narcissism.

I've been working with the Biden transition team on the chairman of the National Governors Association this year, the states really did all the work as you know on COVID or the President did was point to the states and said you are in charge.

So, we're working with the Biden administration, but it's shameful that he is still in denial. The numbers couldn't be any clearer. And that he's not doing a transition. I mean, it's just inexcusable, and then to try to cast doubt on our democracy and our electoral process with no evidence whatsoever. It's just more division, more negativity that has corroded this country for four years.

BLITZER: Before I let you go. I'll ask you the same question I asked every prominent Democrat who joins me here in the Situation Room. Governor, have you had any conversations yet about potentially joining the Biden administration? [17:50:01]

CUOMO: I'd recommend that you Wolf to join the Biden administration Other than that, no.

BLITZER: So what's the answer? Have you? Is it a possibility? I know you served in the cabinet once before during the presidency of Bill Clinton, would you like to come back and serve in the cabinet or another senior position in the federal government now?

CUOMO: You know, I said to the people of New York when COVID first began, I wanted to take politics off the table. So they know that I have no agenda, but their agenda. I wasn't interested in running for president and vice president, I wasn't interested in going to Washington. I have my hands full as governor of New York, we have to deal with this COVID and then we have to rebuild our economy. We have a lot of work to do. So I'm staying right here.

BLITZER: Well, good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in New York. You know, I'm from New York State, a place called Buffalo, New York. I don't know if you ever get there, but it's a great city very close to my heart as you probably know. Thanks so much, governor for joining us.

CUOMO: Thanks. And the Bills are doing great by the way.

BLITZER: Bills, we love the Bills. Sir, thank you very, very much.

Meanwhile, CNN is learning that the U.S. Secret Service is being impacted by the coronavirus outbreak that's plaguing the Trump White House right now. CNN's Brian Todd is working the story for us. I understand, Brian, you're getting some new information from your sources. What are you learning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, if we have new information tonight on the Secret Service personnel who were infected and on where they may have gotten infected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): In those final weeks of the campaign, President Trump aggressively canvass several states including coronavirus cauldrons like Wisconsin.

TRUMP: Hello, Wisconsin. Big day tomorrow. Big, big day.

TODD: Tonight, CNN has learned several dozen Secret Service officers have either tested positive for coronavirus or self-isolating after having contact with someone who tested positive. That's according to a source familiar with the matter.

DR. ABESH ADALJA, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: What I think it signifies is the fact that the White House basically became a hot zone that the protective actions that they had put in place there. The measures with testing and whatever limited use of masks was not enough to protect some of the people that are charged with protecting the president.

TODD: A source with knowledge of the situation tell CNN many of the officers sick or in quarantine, we're at Trump's out of town rallies. This isn't the first time that multiple Secret Service personnel at a time have been exposed to the virus.

In July, several agents had to holed up in a hotel in Phoenix after coming down with the virus while preparing for a visit from Vice President Pence according to sources.

And in June, dozens of agents had to quarantine as a precaution following a Trump campaign rally in Tulsa.

PHILIP MUDD, FORMER FBI, CIA SENIOR OFFICER: I understand why he's doing them politically. But as the leader of the executive branch of government, he's doing exactly what we've been told as citizens not to do. I don't understand the rallies. I don't get it.

TODD: Then there was the incident in early October at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The president at the time being treated there for coronavirus took a short ride in a government vehicle to wave to supporters, the president wore a mask and the White House insisted all safety precautions have been taken. But many fear he was taking unnecessary risks.

ADALJA: When he did that not only did he risk his own health because he might not have been completely recovered at that time. He risked the health of those individuals that were driving him.

TODD: Secret Service officers who were infected in this case are in uniform, and are separate from the plain clothes Secret Service agents who provide close security to the President. But the officers still perform crucial protective duties around the White House complex and on the President's trips. And they often touch the same surfaces or enter the same rooms as top White House personnel.

MUDD: They've got to do the kinds of things that we are not supposed to do. And that lead to infection and that is going to places where you're with working partners. Obviously this is a job that you can't do remotely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: An official with knowledge of the matter tells CNN that the Secret Service is taking all necessary safety precautions, and that these cases have had zero impact on the agency's security mission. The White House is not commenting on the matter. Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Brian Todd, good report. Thank you very, very much. There's more breaking news we're following. CNN now projecting the Joe Biden wins the state of Georgia giving them 306 electoral votes. That's the same number President Trump won back in 2016. Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:59:30]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the Situation Room. We just heard from President Trump for the first time since his election defeat during a coronavirus update over the White House Rose Garden. The President once again refused to acknowledge Joe Biden's victory instead saying quote, I guess time will tell.

To be clear this election is over. CNN has got projected that President Elect Biden will win the state of Georgia while President Trump will hold on to North Carolina. The final tally 306 electoral votes for Biden, 232 electoral votes for Trump. Those 306 electoral votes for Biden.