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Trump Legal Team Criticizes Justice Dept. After Barr Says No Evidence Of Widespread Fraud In Presidential Election; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) Is Interviewed About A.G. Bill Barr, COVID Economic Relief; Congress Returns Under Pressure To Pass Economic Relief Bill; CDC Panel Votes To Recommend Health Care Staff, Long-Term Care Facility Residents Get COVID-19 Vaccine First. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired December 01, 2020 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And you can see a portion of that Thursday here on THE LEAD. Then join me for a one-hour special Thursday night at 9:00 Eastern only on CNN. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.

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

We're following breaking news. President Trump's own Attorney General William Barr telling the Associated Press there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the election, as President Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly claimed without offering any evidence, only offering various conspiracy theories.

Meanwhile, President-Elect Joe Biden is moving ahead with 50 days to go before he's inaugurated. Today he introduced his economic team, which he tasked with helping the economy recover from the pandemic fall out.

Also tonight, we're learning more about his plans for his first 100 days in office, including an economic stimulus push and various executive action.

We're also following breaking pandemic news. We're awaiting a vote any moment now by a CDC advisory panel that will recommend which groups should be the first to get one of the coronavirus vaccines now in the pipeline, and the need for them is growing more urgently by the day. More than 269,000 Americans have now lost their lives to COVID-19. The country is facing more than 13.6 million cases and almost 100,000 people are hospitalized in the U.S. right now and that's a new record.

Let's get straight to the White House. Our Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us right now.

Jim, the Attorney General Bill Barr has been one of the most loyal members of the Trump administration. But now he's publicly breaking with the President on the President's baseless claims that the election was stolen from him.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. This may be the most significant official contradiction of President Trump's cries that he was cheated out of a second term so far. As you said his loyal Attorney General Bill Barr said federal prosecutors have not uncovered any voter fraud. That's extensive enough to up end the elections results.

Barr was seen entering the White House earlier this afternoon, officials say for a previously scheduled meeting. He's been here about two hours now. But it's hard to imagine Barr's comments won't come up with the President, as Mr. Trump cannot be happy with what his own attorney general just told the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Throwing a bucket of cold water on President Trump's bogus claims of election fraud, Attorney General William Barr says the Justice Department has found no evidence that would change the results of the 2020 race for the White House.

Before entering the West Wing earlier in the day Barr told The Associated Press, his prosecutors investigated a number of claims. But "to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome and the election."

Barr even dismissed accusations that voting machines were tampered with, saying, "There's been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results. And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that and so far, we haven't seen anything to substantiate that."

Over the weekend, the President sounded frustrated the Justice Department hadn't found any widespread fraud.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Why isn't the FBI all over the place? They're not. They're not. It's an incredible thing. They're not. And it's an embarrassment to our country.

ACOSTA: In a strange twist, the Trump legal team is now slamming Barr saying in a statement, "With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn't been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation."

Still, the President continues to tee off on Republican governors who are refusing to join his quest to claim the power. Mr. Trump pleaded to Georgia's GOP governor Brian Kemp, "Do something you allowed your state to be scammed. We must check signatures and count signed envelopes against ballots."

The President then said about the upcoming Georgia Senate run offs, "call off election. It won't be needed. We will all win."

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): I would urge the president I would urge Republicans to redirect their post-election approach here.

ACOSTA: In Arizona Governor Doug Ducey was spotted appearing to not answer a phone call with a Hail to the Chief ringtone, the same ringtone Ducey said he dedicated to calls from the President. Mr. Trump is slamming Ducey who just went along with a state certification of its results.

TRUMP: Arizona will not forget what Ducey just did. We're not going to forget the people of Arizona.

ACOSTA: But here's the deal, the President realizes his challenges are going nowhere, with one advisor telling CNN Mr. Trump knows he's lost. Adding, "Yes he does. The writing is on the wall."

The President's team has been busy raising money during Mr. Trump's cries of foul play to the tune of more than $170 million. One Trump attorney, Joe diGenova is doing damage control after saying the former head of the administration cyber security agency Chris Krebs should be shot after he said the election was secure.

JOE DIGENOVA, TRUMP CAMPAIGN LAWYER: Anybody who thinks that this election went well like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of Cyber Security --

[17:05:01]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that was on 60 Minutes last night.

DIGENOVA: That guy is a class a moron. He should be drawn and quartered taken out of dawn and shot.

ACOSTA: diGenova later said in a statement, "It was obvious that my remarks were sarcastic and made in jest. I of course wish Mr. Krebs no harm. This was hyperbole in a political discourse." That came after Krebs since that legal action.

CHRIS KREBS, FORMER CISA DIRECTOR: I've got a exceptional team of lawyers that win in court, and I think they're probably going to be busy.

ACOSTA: There was one other notable visitor at the White House, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, who was summoned to explain to Mr. Trump why coronavirus vaccine is taking so long.

Up on Capitol Hill some movement on a COVID relief bill and an acknowledgement a new administration is coming soon.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: After the first of the year, there's likely to be a discussion about additional -- some additional package of some size next year depending upon what the new administration wants to pursue.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, as for the Attorney General's assessment that there was no widespread fraud in the election, some top GOP lawmakers like Senator Lindsey Graham are expressing confidence in William Barr but it's not their confidence in Barr that counts, it's the President's.

And Wolf, we're keeping an eye on our fence cam right now. That's the cam -- camera that is overlooking a western executive drive in between the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Right now, we do believe Barr's motorcade is still parked outside the West Wing. He has not left this area yet. As far as we know that would mean that this meeting that Barr is having over here at the White House has been going on for about two hours, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. As you point out, finally, Mitch McConnell, the majority leader in the Senate is acknowledging there will be a new, new administration in January.

Standby, Jim. I also want to bring in our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and our CNN Political Correspondent Abby, Phillip.

Gloria, we now see the Attorney General of the United States, William Barr, who has proven he's willing to fight President Trump's battles say there's no evidence of fraud that would change the outcome of the presidential election. Why do you think -- why is Barr sending this message now? And he's not only basing it on the Department of Justice investigation, but he's also citing the Department of Homeland Security, which is similarly investigated these allegations.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, Wolf, maybe at the end of his tenure as attorney general, he is taking a look at what has occurred and taking a look at how the President has been degrading his very own Justice Department and the FBI, and other people who are public servants. And maybe he took a look at what they presented to him and said to himself, I can no longer do this.

I don't know if that's his motive. I don't know Barr very well.

But in the end, you know, this is the person who's been the President's wingman. This is the person who intervened in the Roger Stone sentencing, who put his thumb on the scale when the Mueller investigation came out and mischaracterize what was in the Mueller investigation. This is the man that said that federal authorities had spied on the Trump campaign. And now after all of that he is seeing a president who is trying to undermine democracy and cheat and steal an election. And perhaps, perhaps at the very end, he is now saying I cannot go along with this any longer.

BLITZER: You know it's interesting, Abby, because the President's legal team, which continues to strike out in court time after time after time, as it fails to produce serious evidence of its various conspiracy claims now says the Department of Justice hasn't thoroughly investigated this. You saw that statement from Giuliani that just was released. Is there any truth to that as all?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill Barr said that they have looked into these outlandish claims, and they found no evidence to support it.

The other thing that people should keep in mind is that the Justice Department and their field offices across the country have been on the lookout for, "voter fraud" since the summer, since President Trump began talking about mail-in ballots and how much he dislikes them. And it's been one of the curious things to see whether the Justice Department has been able to find any evidence of fraud. And they found very little over the summer when they were really very much on the lookout. There was one case in West Virginia, in which a mail carrier changed some ballots from Democrat to Republican in what he called a prank. He was prosecuted. In that case, these are minor things.

So, it's not as if the Justice Department has just been sitting on their hands. And they know that this is a priority for the President. And they have come up with nothing. And I think Bill Barr is recognizing what is happening in the courts.

He is a law enforcement officer. He's an attorney. He understands that all of these cases that have gone before various courts at the state and at the federal level, have found absolutely no evidence of fraud. They've been thrown out.

And he is not in a position to try to substantiate something from a legal perspective that just does not exist.

[17:10:03]

BORGER: And you know, Wolf, this is why this is the unkindest cut from Barr. I think Jim was alluding to that before. Because he has been such a loyalist.

This is a man that the President's supporters have adored and listened to and like, and now they're going to see him as a turncoat. Or maybe they will actually start listening to what he's telling them as perhaps the truth. We haven't heard from the President yet on this.

BLITZER: Yes. We did hear from the President's lawyers, obviously.

BORGER: Yes. Yes.

BLITZER: You know, Jim, just before the election on September 2, the Attorney General William Barr was here in THE SITUATION ROOM with me. And I asked him about his fears that mail-in voting potentially could lead to widespread fraud, I want you to listen to what he told me then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Wolf, this is playing with fire. This is playing with fire. We're very closely divided country here.

And if people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government, and people trying to change the rules to this methodology, which as a matter of logic is very open to fraud and coercion is reckless and dangerous, and people are playing with fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, Jim, that's what he said then. Now, we're what, four weeks, exactly four weeks today, since the election. He's obviously speaking very differently right now. What does that tell you?

ACOSTA: That's right. I mean, in that interview that you had with Bill Barr, he was obviously speaking to that audience of one during that interview, telling the President exactly what he wants to hear that that President is right to view mail-in balloting with some suspicion. And to hear Bill Barr now say that they've done this investigation, they haven't found any kind of fraud that's extensive enough to overturn the results of the election. I mean, you have to take it from Bill Barr, if you're a Trump supporter over just about anybody else.

But I will tell you, Wolf, you know, talking to the President's advisors in my sources over the last several days. The President knows he has lost this election. The President knows these election challenges are going nowhere, as this one advisor told me, he sees the writing on the wall. And so what we're left with at this point is a fundraising ploy.

President every time he tweets, every time he says these things on Fox, he's making more money to the tune of $170 million. It's almost like, we're going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it. This time it's, I got cheated out of reelection, please send me some money. That's essentially all we're seeing right now, Wolf, as the President trying to make more money for his future plans.

BLITZER: Yes. They've raised a lot of money over this past month.

The Attorney General, Gloria, has just left we're told the White House. We have some video of him walking out of the driveway over there getting into the -- his little motorcade heading, I assume, back to the Department of Justice.

But I quickly want to point out, once again, what he told the Associated Press, Gloria. He said, and I'm quoting now, this is the attorney general, "The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice have looked into that. And so far, we haven't seen anything to substantiate that referring to widespread fraud.

So, you know, this is a very serious statement he's making, curious how the President is going to react?

BORGER: Well, you know, he's not going to like it. And it's an unequivocal statement. Also, what was curious to me was that he did the interview with the AP, before he went over to the White House. Whether he gave the White House a heads up on that, that he was going to say that and make it public, I have no idea. But he clearly choreographed this in a way so that the news would be out there.

Whether he offers his resignation, whether he stays on, I mean, we have absolutely no idea how the person in the Oval Office is going to react.

PHILLIP: I think the other thing to keep in mind also is that Bill Barr knows that his time is almost up.

BORGER: Yes. PHILLIP: This is not -- this is an administration that is 51 days away from being done. And that's why he has a lot more freedom now to do things like this because the consequences are just limited in nature.

BLITZER: Fifty days until inauguration, but who's counting, 50 days until January 20 and the inauguration.

Guys, standby we're going to continue to follow the breaking news. We're going to have more on the Attorney General's break, very public break with President Trump on false claims of election fraud, and more on the Biden transition.

We'll also talk about it with the Senate -- the Senate Minority Whip. There you see him, Democrat Dick Durbin. He's standing by live. He's got some serious thoughts on what's going on right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:44]

BLITZER: Major breaking news this hour, the Attorney General of the United States William Barr breaking publicly with President Trump. Telling the Associated Press there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential election. We'll have more on that in just a moment.

But first, there's new developments unfolding in the Biden transition as CNN Political Correspondent M.J. Lee reports the President-Elect introduced his economic team today.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I want you to know that help is on the way.

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Fifty days from his inauguration, President-Elect Joe Biden formally introducing the team that he hopes will start leading the nation out of an economic recession next year.

BIDEN: First raid team that's going to get us through this ongoing economic crisis and help us build the economy back, not just build it back but build it back better than it was before. A team that's tested and experienced and includes groundbreaking Americans who come from different backgrounds --

LEE: Alongside Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, Biden touting a set of historic nominees, including Janet Yellen to lead the Treasury Department. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to serve in that role.

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: To the American people, we will be an institution that wakes up every morning thinking about you, your jobs, your paychecks, your struggles, your hopes, your dignity and your limitless potential.

[17:20:10]

LEE: Also nominated for top positions, Cecilia Rouse, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, Wally Adeyemo to be Deputy Treasury Secretary and Neera Tanden to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

NEERA TANDEN, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET DIRECTOR NOMINEE: I believe so strongly that our government is meant to serve all the American people, Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike.

LEE: Biden's new economic team confronting the daunting task of getting the economy back on track while the COVID-19 pandemic ravages the nation. The appointees pledging to direct urgent aid to underrepresented communities hit hardest by the virus.

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: The pandemic and economic fallout together, have caused so much damage for so many and have had a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable among us. It's a convergence of tragedies.

LEE: Already, Tanden's nomination which require Senate confirmation drawing widespread and fierce opposition from Republicans.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN, (R) TEXAS: It's pretty crazy to me to think that she can go back and, you know, eliminate all the tweets that she sent out over the last whatever, months years. And I think it's a really messed up by the administration. I just think she's going to be radioactive.

LEE: The flurry of personnel announcements coming as the former vice president and his transition team prepared to hit the ground running on January 20.

At the top of their agenda an ambitious and expansive stimulus bill to pump new funding into the economy containing the COVID-19 pandemic and tackling racial inequality, particularly as the coronavirus has disproportionately hurt communities of color.

BIDEN: My transition team is already working on what I'll put forward in the next Congress to address the multiple crises we're facing, especially our economic and COVID crisis.

LEE: Sources also telling CNN that Biden is ready to take executive action in his first days in office, including rolling back Trump era executive orders seen as harmful to the environment.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEE: Now Biden also called on Congress today to quickly pass a stimulus bill, though he did say that anything that gets done during the lame duck session will only be the beginning. Interestingly, he also told reporters that he has still not spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Of course, Wolf, so much of what he can get done next year legislatively will come down to the two Senate runoff races in Georgia next month. Wolf. BLITZER: Early in January. All right, M.J., thank you very much.

We're joined now by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. He's the Minority Whip, the number two Democrat in the U.S. Senate leadership.

We're going to get to the Biden transition, Senator, in a moment, but how significant is it that we hear the Attorney General of the United States Bill Barr, one of the President's closest allies over these years, publicly rebuked President Trump on his phony election fraud claims?

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL), HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: Isn't it interesting that it's a news story when the Attorney General is caught red handed telling the truth? I can't understand, Wolf, why this has become such a novelty in Washington out of the Trump administration, but it has. This Attorney General time and again, has been willing to say whatever this President wanted him to say. Today, he spoke the truth and it made the news.

BLITZER: And why do you think he did so?

DURBIN: Maybe he's trying to rehabilitate his resume. I don't know his motive. But it's refreshing to hear it. Well, it's not just refreshing, it's startling to hear it.

BLITZER: Yes, it was a very significant development, very huge development, indeed.

The President has been tweeting that he quote one Michigan, that the Nevada results are, "fake," that the error is Arizona results are fraudulent. So how far do these words from the Attorney General go in convincing the President to accept reality?

DURBIN: The President's reality is $170 million that he's raised since the election by these baseless foundationless charges that he's made over and over again. And been proven wrong time and again, even by Republican elected officials, who have told us the election was fair and square.

BLITZER: Let's turn while I have you, Senator, to these revived desperately needed COVID economic relief talks that are underway right now. The Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he has his own plan, the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to the White House, to Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary once again today about her plan.

There's a different bipartisan group of senators putting out their proposal. Where does this leave the millions and millions of Americans who are desperately struggling right now and need help?

DURBIN: Well, unfortunately, Mitch McConnell is ignoring some stalwarts in his own caucus, who have been working. And I've been sitting at the table with him for weeks to find a plan that was reasonable, a bipartisan approach to give some help to people who are saying for you this economy, the unemployed, the people in businesses that are struggling to survive, they've come up with a $908 billion plan. It's a good one. [17:25:09]

There are some aspects of it that causes some questions in my mind about liability. But beyond that, I can tell you the dollars are well spent in this plan. But senator, Mitch McConnell will not accept this. He wants something else.

It's unfortunate, but the day of reckoning is coming. You know, when the day is, it's the day after Christmas. Because the day after Christmas, if we do nothing, 12 million Americans will fall off unemployment insurance, 12 million out of the 20 million currently on that period. So it's important for us if we want to go home and celebrate with a families with a clear conscience to do something.

BLITZER: Are you ready to work out a compromise from your perspective and accept some sort of middle of the road deal at least to help some of these people get through Christmas and beyond?

DURBIN: Well, that's exactly what we did. You know, here is Mitch McConnell with his 500 billion, here are the democrats with 1.5 or $2.2 trillion.

And we came in with a plan for $908 billion, and it was crafted by Democrats and Republicans after a long, long weeks and hours and hours of deliberation. This is a middle ground. This is a compromise. It's a good bill.

BLITZER: Senator Durbin, good luck. Thanks so much for joining us.

DURBIN: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're following more breaking news in the coronavirus crisis right now. Coming up, the latest on the CDC advisory panels' debate on who should get priority access to the upcoming coronavirus vaccine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:21]

BLITZER: We're following breaking up pandemic news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now. A CDC advisory panel just moments ago voted on which groups should be first in line to get a coronavirus vaccine. CNN's Nick Watt has a following all these late breaking developments for us from Los Angeles. So Nick, what's the answer? What are you finding out?

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that panel just voted 13 to 1 on this. The first group phase 1a, the first people to get a vaccine are going to be health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities. As I mentioned, it was 13 to 1, pretty one-sided. There were a couple of members who expressed some initial hesitation about including those health care residents, but they came around. But as I say, there was one vote against.

Now, we know that there is going to be a shortage of the vaccine when it comes out. That is why this decision was necessary. Interesting that, you know, certain groups were not included in that like essential workers, we're going to have to wait and see how that plays out and who gets the vaccine next after. As I said, health care, health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities, they will be first. Wolf?

BLITZER: So what happens next? They got to make some more major decisions, obviously.

WATT: Yes, absolutely. I mean, listen, first of all, the FDA has got to authorize these vaccines, and they're going to meet December 10th to talk about the Pfizer vaccine. They're going to meet December 17th to talk about the Moderna vaccine. Now, the authorization could come within just days or perhaps weeks of that. Federal officials are saying that they expect some people will be getting this vaccine before Christmas.

And right now, Wolf, a lot of people are preparing for this next phase of the pandemic. We're seeing refrigerated units at airports and hospitals to store this vaccine. States are getting ready. Everybody getting ready so that as soon as the FDA gives that green light, if they do, it is expected that they probably will. As soon as that green light comes, we, as a nation, can start vaccinating people. Wolf?

BLITZER: That would probably start within a few days after that green light is provided.

WATT: Yes.

BLITZER: Nick Watt there reporting for us. Thanks for the breaking news.

Let's discuss all these developments with our own expert, our Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So what do you think about this initial CDC recommendation about who should get priority for a coronavirus vaccine?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it makes sense, Wolf. I mean, you know, I think this is clearly a recommendation that's coming based on who is most at risk here. And, you know, you look at nursing homes. You remember initially in this pandemic, how much we heard about long-term care facilities. That's 2 million to 3 million residents in this country. They made up 6 percent, roughly of all the coronavirus cases in this country, 40 percent of the deaths.

So, you know, that's obviously a very vulnerable population, health care workers who are taking care of COVID patients also vulnerable. There's also a pragmatic thing, Wolf. They -- both groups work in institutions or living institutions.

It's easier to vaccinate people who are in these institutions as opposed to having people come to a separate location. So, that seems like a good decision. But obviously, there's still not enough vaccine, as you pointed out with Nick, to be able to vaccinate everyone that needs it even within that first group. BLITZER: Yes, that's why they're going to start off with the highest, highest priority. I'm just reading from the advisory committee's statement that they say long-term care facility residents are defined as adults who reside in facilities that provide a variety of services including medical and personal care to persons who are unable to live independently, and they say the healthcare personnel who will be first in line are defined as paid and unpaid persons serving in healthcare settings who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure or infectious material.

[17:35:18]

So, clearly, they're being very, very specific who's first in line.

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, I think they're trying to make it as specific as possible. But -- and I think what the long-term care facility residents, it's going to be clear. With health care workers, you know, I mean, health care workers who are directly taking care of COVID patients on a regular basis, or people who are helping staff those rooms, you know, providing resources, they're going to be the highest risk.

And I'm a health care worker, but I'm a neurosurgeon. I don't directly take care of COVID patients, so I may be lower in line. My point is that even within the health care workers, there may be different levels of priority as sort of determined either by states or even individual hospitals.

BLITZER: The head of the CDC committee, Dr. Jose Romero, who I'll be speaking with in the next hour here in THE SITUATION ROOM is warning there won't be enough coronavirus vaccine at first. So how quickly can we expect supply to meet the demand which is going to be obviously huge?

GUPTA: Yes. Well, it's going to take some time off. And I think there's a couple of sort of nuanced points here. We can show you the number of doses that will be available at different times. But I, you know, we were speaking to the folks at Pfizer, for example, last night, that it's important to keep in mind at that point, they may start vaccinating, and that could happen, you know, just after the December 10th meeting.

At that point, there's just under 7 million doses of Pfizer vaccine at that point, then they're continuing to manufacture it about 3 million doses a week after that. They think that Moderna may come online, because they may get authorized as well. And they will also be producing 3 million doses per week. So it's a rollout.

Typically, Wolf, you would have like a stock supply of this and you'd be able to, you know, be able to meet surge demand quickly. But they're going to basically be manufacturing and distributing almost immediately. If there's no problems with manufacturing, it can happen.

You could have a bad batch, and that could slow things down. But, overall, you know, you think about next June, roughly, is what Operation Warp Speed says is that, you know, 60 percent of the country should be able to be vaccinated.

BLITZER: Yes, that would be amazing and that would be terrific if that happens. All right, Sanjay, thank you very, very much. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, helping us as he always does.

Coming up, as coronavirus cases are soaring nationwide, we'll ask the Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, about the possibility of new restrictions, she's standing by. As you can see, she's standing by live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:08]

BLITZER: This hour's breaking news, an advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just now voting to recommend who should have priority when coronavirus vaccines actually become available. Joining us now, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser. Mayor Bowser, thank you so much for joining us. The CDC advisory board --

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: -- just voted 13 to 1, the health care workers and long-term care residents should be first in line to get vaccines. So, you're the Mayor of Washington, D.C., I assume you're going to follow that recommendation, is that right?

BOWSER: Well, we're certainly going to work with our health department. We've impaneled our own Advisory Committee. We're working closely with the CDC. And I think what's really important right now, Wolf, as my agencies are working with the federal government to make sure that D.C. has its fair share in the first round.

And we have some concerns about making sure the vaccine is apportioned according to our work population. We swell to cover a lot of federal workers, people work in the White House, people who work for the Congress and we have to make sure we have the appropriate first phase vaccine numbers.

BLITZER: Because it's clear these are CDC recommendations guidelines. It's going to be up to the governors and you the Mayor of Washington, D.C. to decide if you accept, not accept these recommendations. D.C., I'm told, is only slated, correct me if I'm wrong, Mayor, to receive about 8,000 doses of this vaccine to start off. So how will this work?

BOWSER: Well, we are going to work on getting that number up. We think metro areas like ours that have very porous borders and have workers that come in from the entire region have to be treated differently. And the number as I understand it now is going to be based only on population, and that the size of the workforce.

One key thing, health care workers are being prioritized in the first round, and we agree with that recommendation. But over 70 percent of our health care workers don't live within our borders. So, technically, they would not be a part of our 8,000 doses. But that's not going to keep D.C. residents safe.

We want the people who work in D.C., who serve D.C. residents to also be protected by our vaccine. That's the same strategy that we have followed for our testing strategy. And as of today, my health director tells me we're the -- we test the most per capita of any jurisdiction in the United States, and that's what's going to help us contain this virus until we can fully deploy the vaccine.

BLITZER: Unfortunately, Mayor, the vaccines clearly aren't here yet. They could be here in the next several weeks, but the COVID cases, they are awfully -- awful right now. They're on the rise, not only in D.C. but around Hear yet they could be here in the next several weeks.

[17:45:03]

But the COVID cases, they are awfully -- awful right now, they're on the rise, not only in D.C., but around the country. We still don't know the full impact of the Thanksgiving gatherings, all the travel around Thanksgiving, we'll know that maybe in a week or two. At what point, Mayor, will you consider implementing more health restrictions?

BOWSER: Well, we have been very conservative in our approach, Wolf, to how we reopen from our stay at home order back in June. And we've slowly reopened, we never made it to phase 3 of reopening. We've stayed on an a very conservative phase 2.

Last week, I instituted some more. I've dialed down our level of allowable activity in the district. And we will continue to watch our health metrics. It's not only important though. What we do here is important what happens around our region and around our country. And that's why we continue to look for a national mask mandate, and other things that are done across the United States that will help us manage this virus until we can fully deploy the vaccine.

BLITZER: We got 50 days to go until the inauguration. We'll see what happens in the next 50 days. But right now, it seems that it feels very, very ugly. Mayor Muriel Bowser, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck.

BOWSER: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And stay safe out there.

Coming up, we'll have answers to your questions about getting a coronavirus vaccine. Plus breaking news, new details emerging right now. The Attorney General William Barr is very public break with the President when it comes to allegations of election fraud.

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[17:51:42]

BLITZER: With the first coronavirus vaccinations now believed to be only weeks away, attention is turning to questions of safety and access. CNN's Brian Todd is working that part of the story for us. Brian, we're starting to get a clearer picture of how this massive vaccine program will actually unfold here in the United States.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are, Wolf, and that's one of the most highly anticipated rollout since the Ford Mustang. Americans have a lot of questions about the safety, the effectiveness about when they can get the vaccine. And tonight, we have some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Tonight, the anticipation and anxiety surrounding the coronavirus vaccines are unmistakable as Pfizer and Moderna prepared to roll out the first doses.

DR. RUTH KARRON, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR IMMUNIZATION RESEARCH: I think there is both anxiety and I think there's great hope because I think people do recognize even if they're hesitant that vaccines are the way out of the pandemic.

TODD (voice-over): Among the key questions people are asking, given that they were rushed into production, are the vaccines safe?

DR. BARTON HAYNES, DIRECTOR, DUKE HUMAN VACCINE INSTITUTE: Yes, we think the vaccines are going to be safe. And here are the caveats. These are new vaccines, but they have been rigorously tested in clinical trials. And these are not trivial clinical trials, there are 30,000 to 60,000 people.

TODD (voice-over): But Dr. Barton Haynes says it's important for the public to know there will be long-term monitoring for safety for months and years after we've been immunized. Another important question, what side effects can we expect when we get the vaccine? One volunteer in the Moderna trial talked about his side effects.

MICHAEL ROUSE, MODERNA VACCINE TRIAL VOLUNTEER: The side effects were nausea, body aches, muscle aches, headaches, fatigue, chills, it's like diarrhea.

TODD (voice-over): The chief scientific adviser for Operation Warp Speed says most people who get the vaccine will have much less noticeable side effects and they won't last long.

MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: I would classify them as maybe 10 percent, 15 percent of the subjects immunized have quite noticeable side effects that usually lasts no more than 24 hours, 36 hours and resolve.

TODD (voice-over): And when can most of us who are not healthcare professionals or frontline workers who will likely take priority expect to be able to get vaccinated. Those projections vary.

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: I'm hopeful by Q2 of 2021. So, early spring, that would be our aspirational goal.

HAYNES: I think we're talking about late summer fall for when the general public will have access to these vaccines. Perhaps sooner. TODD (voice-over): How much will it cost the average person to get vaccinated? In the U.S., likely nothing. The federal government has promised the vaccine will be free of charge. How many doses of the vaccine will you need? Experts say, for at least the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, you'll need two doses, three to four weeks apart.

HAYNES: As far as whether -- we're going to have to come back and be vaccinated a year later, those -- that's a question that we don't know yet.

TODD (voice-over): Which vaccines should you choose? Experts say the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are so similar in efficacy that either are fine. And depending on how your state distributes the vaccine, you may not have a choice. Another crucial question, if you've already had coronavirus, do you need to get vaccinated?

KARRON: At this point, we would say, yes you do. We don't know very much about the durability of immunity to coronavirus. We do know that these vaccines can induce antibodies which are important in protection against coronavirus that sometimes are many fold higher.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[17:55:12]

TODD: And what about after we get vaccinated? How long will we have to wear masks and practice social distancing? We posed that question to vaccine experts. They said that even though these vaccines are believed to be safe and highly effective, we'll probably have to wear masks and distance, at least through the fall of next year. Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd, excellent report. Thank you very, very much.

Coming up, there's more breaking news. The Attorney General William Barr says there's no evidence, repeat, no evidence of widespread election fraud, dealing a very serious blow to President Trump's efforts to try to overturn the vote.

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