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The Situation Room

Biden: Don't Expect A Political "Honeymoon" When U.S. In The Midst Of Nightmare; Fauci & Admin Health Officials Receive Moderna Vaccine; Wolf One-On-One With Dr. Anthony Fauci; Rep. Jason Crow (D- CO) Is Interviewed About Cyberattack In U.S.; The Coming Contagion: Congo's Rainforests And Future Pandemics. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired December 22, 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]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: His coworkers say that they will miss his smile every day. But they have gained a guardian angel to watch over them.

His work family took a moment to remember him setting their station flags at half-mast at his old post. Our love and thoughts are with him and his loved ones.

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-elect Joe Biden refusing to sugarcoat the challenges ahead as he prepares to take office in less than a month. A short while ago he urged vigilance against COVID-19 warning of dark days ahead, even as he expressed confidence in new vaccine. He also slammed President Trump for not responding to the huge cyber-attack on U.S. agencies calling the hack of grave risk to America security. This as President Trump remains holed up inside the White House, turning on many of his allies as he plunges deeper and deeper into denial about his defeat, and ignores the raging pandemic.

As of this hour. More than 321,000 Americans are dead. More than 18 million have been infected. Hospitalizations right now are at an all- time high.

And Dr. Anthony Fauci says he wouldn't be surprised if an alarming new variant of coronavirus is already in the United States even though it hasn't been detected yet. This hour, I'll speak live with Dr. Fauci standby for that.

First, let's go to our Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zeleny. He's covering the Biden transition for us.

Jeff, President-elect Biden says he has no illusions at all that he will have any kind of honeymoon, let's say, after taking office on January 20. Given what America is facing right now, what's the latest? JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, certainly some stark and direct words from President-elect Joe Biden. He implored Americans to seize onto their patience and persistence as he says they need to get through what is still the worst to come in this pandemic.

Even as he made his first comments on those massive cyber-attacks, calling out President Trump for ignoring and downplaying the attack. All this is coming as he praised Congress, but said their work is just beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT-ELECT: After a year of pain and loss, it's time to unite, to heal, to rebuild.

ZELENY: President-elect Joe Biden delivering a holiday message tonight and stealing Americans for a punishing winter season of the pandemic.

BIDEN: One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis. I'm going to tell it to you straight, I'm going to tell you the truth. And here's the simple truth, our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us. So you need to prepare ourselves to steal our spines, as frustrated is to hear.

ZELENY: Biden thanking Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike for passing a $900 billion COVID relief package. But he said it was merely a down payment for the country's dire economic need.

BIDEN: But Congress did his job this week. And I can and I must ask them to do it again next year.

ZELENY (on camera): Given the narrow majorities in the House and Senate, you've watched many administrations come and go. Do you believe that you will have a honeymoon to get things accomplished?

BIDEN: I don't think it's a honeymoon at all? I think it's a nightmare that everybody's going through and they're all say it's got to end. It's not a honeymoon. They're not doing me a favor.

ZELENY (voice-over): Biden also delivering a blistering assessment of President Trump's tepid response to the massive cyber-attack, saying the burden is on Trump to publicly call out Russia for its suspected hand in the hack.

BIDEN: This assault happened on Donald Trump's watch when he wasn't watching. It's still his responsibility as president to defend American interests for the next four weeks. Rest assured that even if he does not take it seriously, I will.

ZELENY: Biden said Trump has abdicated his responsibility to keep America safe.

BIDEN: It is a grave risk and it continues. I see no evidence that it's under control. I see none. Heard of none. Defense Department even briefed us on many things. So I know of nothing that suggests it's under control. ZELENY: Tonight, Biden also shedding a glimpse of new light on a search for the Attorney General in the post Trump era.

BIDEN: We're looking for a team who will instill the greatest confidence in the professionals at DOJ to know once again, that there is no politics.

But it's not by design. There's not an obvious choice in my mind.

ZELENY: As he rounds out his cabinet, CNN has learned Biden intends to nominate Miguel Cardona as Education secretary. A former elementary school teacher and principal.

[17:05:03]

Cardona is Connecticut top education official who shares Biden's goal of reopening most schools to in person learning within 100 days of taking office.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ZELENY: Now, the President-elect was also asked today if he has spoken with any Attorney General candidates about his son Hunter Biden, who of course remains under federal investigation versed in business dealings and tax issues as well. He said he has not spoken with any prospective candidate about Hunter Biden.

But Wolf, we are learning that he is not only expected to name an attorney general. He's mentioned briefly he is looking for a team of people to move the Justice Department into the post Trump era. So that is one of the reasons this is taking a little bit longer as well. We do not expect any announcement now likely until after the holidays. Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting. All right, Jeff, standby. I'm going to get back to you in a moment.

While President-elect Biden was calling out President Trump for his inaction on multiple fronts, the outgoing commander in chief was out of sight, entertaining even more dangerous and radical ways to fight his election defeat.

Let's go to our White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond.

So you're getting some new information, Jeremy, what are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, today marks seven weeks since Election Day. And yet what we're seeing is the President's only dug in even further on his efforts to overturn the results of this election. He is surrounding himself with conspiracy theorists, and he is lashing out at those who are acknowledging reality.

And all the while more concerns from Trump allies about that behavior, as well as from senior military officers about the President's final weeks in office. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DIAMOND (voice-over): Tonight, President Trump burrowing deeper into denial. Holed up at the White House Trump is surrounding himself with sycophants selling false hope about overturning the election and lashing out at those who dare to acknowledge reality.

The conspiracy theorist attorney Sidney Powell is shuttling in and out of the White House. And yesterday, Trump huddled with pro Trump lawmakers plotting to object to Congress's certification of Electoral College results on January 6. With the House in democratic hands and Senate Republican leadership opposed, the effort is dead on arrival, but Vice President Mike Pence who attended parts of that meeting, and is expected to preside over that joint session of Congress is still indulging Trump's fantasies.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As our election contest continues, I'll make your promise. We're going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted.

We're going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out.

DIAMOND: Meanwhile, Trump lashing out at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who last week acknowledged Joe Biden's election as president.

Trump's sending this slide to Republican senators falsely claiming credit for McConnell's easy reelection and accusing him of disloyalty, writing, "Sadly, Mitch forgot he was the first one off the ship."

But McConnell isn't alone after dozens of failed court cases and the Electoral College vote. Even the televangelists' Pat Robertson is telling Trump it's time to move on.

PAT ROBERTSON, TELEVANGELIST: I think it's all over. I think the Electoral College has spoken.

With all his talent and the ability to raise money and draw large crowds, the President still lives in an alternate reality. He really does. People say, well, he lies about this. But no, he doesn't lie. To him that's the truth.

DIAMOND: Trump's delusional efforts to stay in power now alarming some top Trump advisors, as well as senior military officials.

Nearly a dozen military officers telling CNN there is growing anxiety in the ranks about what Trump might do in his last 29 days in office. Topping the list of concerns Trump's Oval Office discussions about martial law and the prospect of unexpected military action abroad.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

DIAMOND: And, Wolf, President Trump is expected to leave for his Mar- a-Lago resort tomorrow for the Christmas holiday. But before then lawmakers on Capitol Hill are hoping that the President will sign this coronavirus relief bill more than $900 billion. But a new social media post by one of his top advisors, Dan Scavino, a Deputy Chief of Staff for communications, one of the President's most loyal aides is now raising new questions about that. Scavino tweeting the COVID relief bill slash package is a total disgrace, insult and embarrassment.

This is about a bill that the White House has said the President will sign. So this again raising fresh questions, Wolf. We'll have to wait and see if the President's trying to do something unpredictable once again.

BLITZER: Yes. And Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary praised the passage of this relief bill. It's crazy what's going on, I must say.

Jeremy, stay with us. I want to also bring back Jeff Zeleny along with CNN Senior Commentator, the former Ohio Governor John Kasich.

[17:10:03]

Governor Kasich, we just watched as the President-elect addressed in detail the very serious crises facing this country right now, while the current president remains silent, out of sight. It's a stunning contrast. How do you see it?

JOHN KASICH, (R) FORMER OHIO GOVERNOR: Well, Wolf, you know, a couple days ago, on your show, I raised this issue of this cyberattack on our country. And to downplay it is a big mistake.

And think of it this way, these are people who've been able to plant inside of companies and inside of our government and ability to spy. It's like somebody walking around in your house for six months that you don't know is there. And at the end of the day, you chase them out. But they still may have some secret stuff in there, some cameras or whatever, you don't really know what the damage is.

So, Trump is obviously not going to pay much attention to this. This is actually going to put pressure on Joe Biden to figure out one, how are you going to restructure the Cyber Command? Number two, what's going to be -- what are you going to do about this?

And, you know, sanctions are not going to be enough, there has to be some understanding that you cannot do that. And that's going to create pressure, I believe, on Joe Biden.

I'm glad the stimulus package passed. I think that's very significant. I'm amazed to hear that maybe Trump won't sign it.

And other thing that I think should point out for those who are concerned about how Joe Biden was going to govern, I just heard that the head of the Department of Education will be a teacher. It isn't going to be somebody who was a political activist and the teachers union or something like that, that to me is a very, very interesting choice.

And then finally, Pat Robertson, OK. I've known Pat long time, have agreed with him and disagreed with them. And I've given them advice and all kinds of stuff. But for him to say that Donald Trump is living in an alternate reality, think about that, Wolf, Pat Robertson, saying that Donald Trump lives in an alternate reality that is like -- that's just stunning that he would have said something like that.

So that should be a message to many of those people who have clung so tight. Well, the election was ripped off and all that stuff. This is a -- I think, a blow to the solidarity of those Trump, you know, forever kind of people, I think.

BLITZER: Yes, Pat Robertson made the right point, the Electoral College has voted, what, 306, 232 in electoral votes, you need 270. The winner is Biden, the loser is Trump.

You know, Jeff, you were in the room during Biden's address that is Q&A with reporters, he made it very clear. He doesn't believe there's going to be any honeymoon or anything like that when he takes office.

He's not mincing words at all, though, when it comes to the challenges that await him. The challenges are enormous.

ZELENY: They are enormous. And this is part of what we're going to see from President-elect Biden. His leadership ability here, it'll be tested without question.

But he is not sugarcoating it. He is not diminishing it. In fact, he is doing what we don't hear many leaders do particularly now warning that the worst is yet to come, at least in the short term. Warning that, you know, the dark days of winter are going to be long and painful and difficult. There will be more deaths. There will be more cases of coronavirus.

So he is, you know, trying to, as he said, steal America, steal people's spine. So it is really quite sobering when you hear him talk about that.

But I think the bigger point here was trying to bring Congress along. I asked him specifically, what are you asking Congress specifically to do? If the $900 billion was just a down payment in your view, what are you asking? And he of course wouldn't put a price tag on it. Because he's a wise man from the Senate. He's not going to out negotiate himself.

But he did spell out several specific things. But the very end of that I thought was interesting. He said through an infrastructure program, we will create new jobs. So everything is connected.

And he has pointed about the no honeymoon, that was making the point that look, they're not going to agree to things. Republicans and Democrats aren't going to agree to things just because they like Joe Biden, they're going to agree to things because their constituents demand, Washington actually works. So that's his biggest challenge, getting Washington to actually work

BLITZER: Twenty-nine days to go.

You know, Jeremy, do we know at all how closely President Trump is actually paying attention to President-elect Biden's public appearances, including today's speech and news conference?

DIAMOND: Well, Wolf, if past is prologue, the President is often watching what all of his political opponents are doing on TV. And we certainly know that he has been bothered by the fact that Joe Biden is moving forward with this transition, announcing cabinet members, and it's certainly concerning him. But we also know that the President right now is single mindedly focused in a very delusional way, frankly, at these efforts to overturn the results of this election. And he is surrounded by folks who are feeding those instincts.

And I just spoke earlier with a senior Republican official close to the President who said they have real concerns about what the President is being fed by some of these folks saying that they are really not helping him but they are hurting him by selling him these ideas that simply are not going to work.

[17:15:04]

BLITZER: Yes. They're not going to work. Although there'll be some noise in the coming days.

Guys stick around. We'll have more on this.

But up next, COVID-19 vaccines be available to the general public this spring or later in the year. I'll speak live with Dr. Anthony Fauci about that.

I'll get his take on the new coronavirus variant in the U.K. The potential threat in this country.

There you see him. We have lots to discuss. We will when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: This morning over at the National Institutes of Health Dr. Anthony Fauci, along with the Institute's Director, Dr. Francis Collins, and the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar they received their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. And they're hoping all Americans will follow their example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I feel extreme confidence in the safety and the efficacy of this vaccine. And I want to encourage everyone who has the opportunity to get vaccinated so that we could have a veil of protection over this country that would end this pandemic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Dr. Fauci is joining us now live here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Dr. Fauci, first of all, how are you feeling now several hours after you received the coronavirus vaccine seeing? Any side effects at all?

[17:20:03]

FAUCI: None, Wolf. Actually, I feel really fine. I feel very good. I feel perfectly normal.

I expect that probably in an hour or so I start to feel a little ache in the arm. That's very common in any kind of vaccination. So I'm anticipating that. But in general, I feel fine.

BLITZER: Great. I know even after you get a flu shot, you're on might be sore a little bit. But it's totally normal. Nothing to worry about.

We just heard you reiterate your extreme confidence, Dr. Fauci, in the vaccine. And you demonstrated that obviously, by rolling up your sleeves today.

For anyone who's watching us right now might still have some doubts about whether they should get their shot. Can you explain why you're so confident in this science?

FAUCI: Well, if you look at the trial itself, and the data, and the safety as well as the efficacy data, Wolf, it is really remarkable. The vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, as well as the Pfizer vaccine is about 94 percent to 95 percent efficacious in preventing clinical disease and almost 100 percent efficacious in preventing serious disease.

So the data are rock solid. And everything has been done properly, with regard to safety, with regard to evaluating the safety and the efficacy. The approval process has been done very quickly. But the speed will did not sacrifice the integrity of the science, nor did it sacrifice safety.

The speed was a reflection of the extraordinary advances that were made in the science of the vaccine platform technology. So on the basis of all of that, I feel very confident about what we're doing.

And that's the reason why I strongly recommend it to everybody and everyone that when the vaccine becomes available to them to get vaccinated. That is how we're going to put this pandemic behind us.

BLITZER: You totally have convinced me not that I have much doubt but I see you getting that shot. I'm going to want to get that shot when it's my turn.

I understand you. The NIH Director, our friend, Dr. Francis Collins, the Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar all received the Moderna vaccine today rather than the Pfizer vaccine. I'm a journalist, so I'm curious. Is there any particular reason? Is Moderna better than Pfizer?

FAUCI: No, actually, it was not a rather than will fit was what vaccine was made available to us at our facility at the NIH. That was the vaccine that was shipped to us. It wasn't like we made a choice.

If the Pfizer had come earlier, we likely would have done the Pfizer. But what was allocated to us, finally, was the Moderna. So we did that. And, I might mention, along with several of our frontline health care workers.

BLITZER: Because I had heard, and correct me if I'm wrong, that NIH did have a more significant role in the Moderna vaccine as opposed to the Pfizer vaccine. Is that right?

FAUCI: That is -- that is correct. We add a role in the development of the Moderna vaccine, but also our scientists, particularly the scientist in our vaccine research center, Barney Graham, John Mascola, Kizzy (ph) Corbett and others played a major role in a part of the vaccine that is used on almost all of the candidate vaccine, the Pfizer and a variety of others.

So the fundamental science at the NIH impacted essentially all of the vaccines. But we had a very direct role in the development of the Moderna prior.

BLITZER: Yes, that's what I had been told a few months ago.

Let's turn to this new coronavirus strain that was detected in the United Kingdom. You say it probably is here in the U.S. already. What have you learned about this strain? How transmissible is it? How dangerous is it? How worried should we be?

FAUCI: Well, first of all, I think the important thing to point out, Wolf, so that people understand is that SARS-COVID-2 is an RNA virus. And RNA viruses mutate all the time. In fact, that's their specialty dilemma zone, they vet -- they just mutate.

Most of the mutations are not relevant in the stance of any functional changes in the virus, but some of them are. So what we've seen now in the southeastern part of the U.K., is a real expansion of cases that's associated with this mutation.

Now, that doesn't mean the mutation is causing it. But it is suspicious that in fact, it is associated with an increase in transmissibility. That's something we're going to observe and see if we can figure that out definitively.

But let's assume that it is causing an increase in the transmissibility. It does not appear at all to have any impact on making the virus more deadly or more serious. And there's no indication whatsoever, that it has any impact on interfering with the ability of the vaccine to induce an immune response to protect against the virus.

[17:25:20]

So this is something we're watching very closely, we take these things very seriously, Wolf. And we're going to be studying it very carefully to see if we can find out any other connections between the mutation and the function of the virus.

BLITZER: You've said, Dr. Fauci, and correct me if I'm wrong, that restrictions on travel from the U.K. to the United States may not necessarily be necessary right now. Yesterday, I spoke with the New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo. And he's asking, why run the risk. So what do you say? Should there be some additional restrictions now on people coming from the U.K. to the U.S.?

FAUCI: Well, Wolf, what I was referring to my concern was outright banning travel from the U.K., I thought that that might be a bit of an overreach.

What I think one can consider, and this is what Governor Cuomo was speaking about, was the possibility of saying, OK, you can come to the United States from the U.K., but you've got to have a test that's negative before you actually can come here. And that's what the governor was saying.

And that's something that I think should be seriously considered in our policy to do something like that. That hasn't been determined on a national level, but I think it should at least be considered.

BLITZER: Yes, I think you're right.

I want to clarify one other point, Admiral Brett Giroir, says there's no reason to think this strain could evade the vaccines, two vaccines, that have been developed here in the United States. When will we know though for sure whether these vaccines protect against this newly detected strain?

FAUCI: That would be relatively easy to prove, Wolf. What you do is you get an isolate of the virus, you culture it in a certain way, so you can do some measurements. And then you get antibodies from people who are vaccinated with this particular vaccine, and prove that those antibodies still neutralize this mutated virus.

So this is something that we're working on now. And we'll be able to show that reasonably soon.

BLITZER: Because I asked the question, because I get the flu shot every year. And every year, it's a little bit different. They change it, they modify it almost every year. You got to get it every year. Is that what we're anticipating as far as the COVID vaccines are concerned?

FAUCI: Not necessarily, Wolf, because flu is a bad actor when it comes to drifting from season to season, and sometimes shifting. That isn't necessarily at all. The characteristic of coronavirus is obviously, we're going to keep looking at this very carefully. But we don't anticipate that we're going to be in the same situation as we are consistently with flu.

But that remains to be seen. We're always putting everything on the table and prepared for all contingencies.

BLITZER: The President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for Surgeon General man. You know well a man, I know well Dr. Vivek Murthy, who is a frequent guest here in THE SITUATION ROOM says the realistic timeline for the general public to be vaccinated, he says if it's closer to mid-summer, maybe early fall. I know you've said the vaccine could be available, potentially to anyone who wants it by April.

Now that the vaccinations have begun, and millions of Americans are waiting in line to get those vaccines. Do you stand by that timeline, you're originally suggested?

FAUCI: Yes. There's nothing incompatible at all, Wolf, with what I said. And with the former Surgeon General and soon to be Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said.

What I said that we would begin to have what we call open season that anybody beyond the original priorities in April could start getting vaccinated. Just the logistics of getting so many people vaccinated, likely will take several months.

So what Vivek was saying that before you get to that group, that you've completely vaccinated, virtually anybody you want to vaccinate, that very likely will be well into the summer. So I agree that the end game of the vaccination might be in the summer.

The beginning of vaccinating people who have no other issue of getting vaccinated likely will start sometime in early April. But it will take a few months --

BLITZER: Yes.

FAUCI: -- to get to where we want to be. So I don't see any inconsistencies in what we said.

BLITZER: All right. That's important.

As we head into this holiday weekend, Christmas coming up, New Year's coming up. A new study actually finds mass help, as we all know, but without social distancing, they may not necessarily be enough to prevent the spread of the virus.

[17:30:06]

With that in mind, what precautions should everyone watching, should Americans be taking right now, to best protect themselves during this holiday season?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, it's the same things, Wolf, that I've been saying to you on the show and other places that uniform wearing of masks, avoiding the close contacts, keep distance, avoid congregate settings with a lot of people, particularly indoors, wash your hands as frequently as you can.

I know everyone wants to get back to the time when Christmas was a situation where you could have many, many guests indoor congregating, having fun together. The situation is different now. We don't want to cancel Christmas, Wolf. Whenever I talk about being careful, someone will say, well, he wants to cancel Christmas. I don't want to do that. I want people to be more careful. I want them to limit traveling to the extent possible. And when you congregate, try to do it with a limited number of people. Preferably people in the same household, or a few close people who you know are also being very careful, avoid the 20, 25 people at a house at a big setting. Those are the things that are quite risky. If we can do that now and get through this season, enjoy it to the extent that you can. But it's not going to be the way a normal Christmas season is.

As we get through that the light at the end of the tunnel, Wolf, is the vaccine. And as we've been discussing, over the past few minutes, as we get into February, March, April, and into the summer, we will reach a point when we are really approaching normal. And as we do, we will be able to get back to some of the treasured types of cherished customs, the things that we love, the things that we like to do with family. We will be able to get there.

Right now, however, it's a difficult and very different situation. So we're just asking people to just be prudent, and to be careful.

BLITZER: The TSA, Dr. Fauci, now says it's seeing record high pandemic travel as it screens millions of passengers leading up to the Christmas holiday. You see the numbers Monday, Sunday, Saturday, Friday, millions, 4.1 million passengers screened. Based on what we saw after Thanksgiving, how concerned are you about this dramatic increase in travel these days? And what could it lead to?

FAUCI: Well, Wolf, as you might imagine, it's quite concerning to me, because it will then get us into the difficulty that I've just been explaining that this type of travel is risky, particularly if people start congregating when they get to their destination in logic crowds, in indoor settings.

I'm afraid that if in fact we see this happen, we will have a surge that superimposed upon the difficult situation we are already in. So it could be a very difficult January coming up if these things happen.

BLITZER: You know, Dr. Fauci, I know you're going to be celebrating a very, very special birthday coming up Christmas Eve. It's got a number, it's got to zero at the end of that number. Let's talk a little bit of how you're going to celebrate. I know you got a wonderful family. Give us a little update. We of course want to wish you a happy birthday.

FAUCI: Well, thank you, Wolf. And what I'm going to do, Wolf, I'm going to practice what I'm preaching to my fellow Americans in this country. And that is that I'm going to do something that's quite modified from what I had done traditionally. I'm going to have a quiet dinner in my home with my wife. I would love to have my three daughters who are on different parts of the country, different states that would have to fly in for the most part.

We're going to do a Zoom together. We're going to be talking to each other and toasting each other. But it's going to be a very quiet, reserved different kind of Christmas.

BLITZER: Well, we want to wish you happy birthday and Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year. The great news is you're sticking around in the Biden administration. We are so grateful to you, Dr. Fauci, for everything you do. And when you do that Zoom with the family, I want you to tell them these words. I'm Tony Fauci, and you're in the Situation Zoom, you promise?

FAUCI: I promise, Wolf. I definitely will do that.

BLITZER: All right, good.

FAUCI: Thank you.

BLITZER: Dr. Fauci --

FAUCI: All the best to you and your family. Take care.

BLITZER: Stay safe out there. We need you. Thank you so, so much.

[17:34:48]

Coming up, President-elect Biden promises to respond in kind to the cyberattack on U.S. government agencies. I'll ask a key member of the House Armed Services Committee, what the U.S. should do about that. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight, President-elect Joe Biden is sounding the alarm about the danger from a huge cyberattack on U.S. agencies and slamming President Trump's efforts to downplay it. Listen to the President- elect speaking to reporters just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: It is a grave risk and it continues. I see no evidence that it's under control. I see none, heard of none, the Defense Department won't even brief us on many things. So I know of nothing that suggests it's under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's get to more on that. Congressman Jason Crow, Democrat of the Armed Services Committee is joining us right now. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

[17:40:07]

You just heard the President-elect say this hack poses a grave risk of the current President earlier in the week. He said everything is well under control. He says he was fully briefed, a major contrast right there. You suggested last week, when that the breach is the cyber equivalent in your words of Pearl Harbor. As we start to learn more and more about the scope of this hack, do you stand by your initial assessment?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Absolutely, Wolf. You can't overstate how critical and dire this is. Fortunately, in less than 30 days, we're going to have in a President-elect Biden, somebody that actually understands the issue, knows how to respond to something, while the President continues to hide his head in the sand. You know, we are undergoing the most severe cyberattack in our nation's history.

And it's ongoing, you know, same here right now. We don't even know the full extent of this. Nor do we know that whether or not it stopped. It probably has not. There are gaps or backdoors, open in some of our most critical systems and infrastructure that haven't even been identified and close yet. This is a real crisis, and we need leadership to get our arms around it.

BLITZER: The President-elect promised today to respond to this breach, saying the U.S. will probably respond in kind. So what should an in- kind response look like?

CROW: Well, first of all, you know, what's happened over the last four years with President Trump is there's been a lot of chest pounding, a lot of bluster without anything to back it up. So the situation we're facing right now is we have in Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China, they don't think there are going to be any consequences. They think they can do what they want, in particular, Vladimir Putin, that he can do whatever he wants with impunity. And that has to change.

So we have to make sure that we send a very clear message and we have the capability to do this, that if you're going to attack the United States, and make no mistake, this is an attack on the United States, there's going to be very severe consequences. And until that consequence is laid on those who are going to attack us, we're going to continue to see more and more and more severe attacks in the years ahead.

BLITZER: President-elect Biden also said today that he agrees with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General Bill Barr that Russia is behind this hack. Of course, the President Trump has yet to condemn Russia. He even suggested that China may be to blame for it. Why do you believe the President, the current president, once again is contradicting U.S. intelligence officials, the top U.S. State Department official, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, when it comes to Russia, why is he reluctant to blame Russia?

CROW: You know, I continue to ask myself that question, why, right? When you have the intelligence community, the DOD, the senior advisors, the people that he have -- he has hand-picked to guide his agencies, guide our government and give him advice that are all saying, this is Russia.

And by the way, I'm receiving many of the same briefings that they're all receiving. And this is coming from Russia. So the President obviously, has some hang up regarding Russia, whether it's a financial interest, whether there's something going on between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump that we haven't been able to figure it out yet. I don't know.

You know, I'd like to know the answer to that. I don't know whether we're going to get the answer to it. But nevertheless, none of that explains the lack of action right now. I mean we are under attack right now. And we can do all the investigation in the future on that issue and try to figure out, you know, why the President is reluctant to actually point to the facts and divert from Russia.

I'm more concerned with the next couple of days and weeks and making sure that we actually stop an going to attack. The doors are open. We have one of our nation's riskiest biggest adversaries that has access to very critical national security systems, infrastructure, and our financial institutions and it has to be stopped.

BLITZER: Yes. Congressman Jason Crow thanks so much for joining us. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

CROW: Thank you. You as well, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you.

[17:44:20]

Coming up, and now that Congress finally has passed a coronavirus relief package, when will desperate families across the country start to see the direct payments in their bank accounts. We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: As deadly and disruptive as the coronavirus pandemic has been this year, there's a very real possibility that something even worse is lurking in the remote areas of the globe. CNN's Sam Kiley traveled with doctors and disease detectives on the front lines of that fight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This pristine wilderness is under threat. The environmental disaster here could lead to a human apocalypse. Because locked up in the forest are reservoirs of potentially deadly contagions, some perhaps more dangerous than we've ever seen before.

Ingende, 400 miles up river from the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital has been struck by recent outbreak of the killer Ebola virus. It's killed three out of 11 patients here, but doctors fear that they've stumbled on a new virus for which there may be neither treatment nor cure.

DR. CHRISTIAN BOMPALANGA, MEDICAL CHIEF INGENDE ZONE (through translator): We have to do more examination to figure out what's going on.

KILEY (on camera): So the doctors just told me that one of their immediate concerns is that they are getting cases now that presents symptoms that are similar to Ebola but when they test them in the laboratory here, they're coming up negative.

(voice-over): This patient has Ebola symptoms, but she's tested negative. She's one of two victims here who may be fighting a disease never encountered before. I asked the doctor if he was worried about new diseases emerging.

DR. DADIN BONKOLE, PHYSICIAN TREATING EBOLA: Yes, indeed, we should be afraid. That was how Ebola came. It was unknown in unknown disease. And then after test, it turned out to be a virus.

KILEY (voice-over): Treatments and a vaccine for Ebola now mean that while it's often deadly more patients do survive. But medicine will never keep up with new diseases emerging from the wilderness. The patients here did survive the test of unknown illnesses were all negative, so her disease remains a mystery.

[17:50:16]

Doctors worried that more zoonotic diseases like Ebola, HIV/AIDS, SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 will emerge and make that jump from animals to humans.

Ingende, on the River Ruki is deep in the Congo Basin. It's accessible only by boat. But that's how a virus can travel to big cities like Mbandaka to the country's capital, Kinshasa, and into the global bloodstream. Mbandaka has been at the epicenter of this latest fight against Ebola, which killed 55 people in the province.

(on camera): Here in Mbandaka, they are battling with the fifth local outbreak of the Ebola virus, which is on its 11th here in the Congo. They're getting a grip on it, they believe. But they're also concerned about finding unknown viruses that have emerged from the forest just like Ebola.

(voice-over): The scientists here have limited funds, but they know their work is essential to protect their own country and the rest of humanity.

PETER FONJUNGO, CDC COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR DRC: If we don't have all this in place, you can imagine the nightmare scenario where you just have a vast epidemic with many cases leading to a huge mortality and morbidity.

KILEY (voice-over): More than 100 new viruses have been discovered in the DRC over a decade, including many coronaviruses in bats. So it's bats that get tracked. Bats are linked to many zoonotic diseases, notably COVID-19 and Ebola.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Now, we are going to put it in the capture bag. You have to be really careful or they bite.

KILEY (on camera): The biologists have told us that whilst they haven't found the Ebola virus itself inside them, they have found the antibody. So these are in a sense a sentinel species an early warning system for humanity.

(voice-over): And it can prove fatal, start an epidemic or worse. So, good across infection, from an unknown host to bats, to chickens, to children. About 80 bats are swabbed, tested for COVID and Ebola. And then the samples are sent to Kinshasa for more investigation. Most of them survived capture and then returned to the wild. The Congo's population has almost doubled in two decades to around 90 million. This puts the forest under strain and closes the gap between people and the new diseases that could kill them.

(on camera): The scale of the destruction of the rainforest here in the Congo is not yet on the scale that we've seen in the Amazon. A great deal of it is a result of local farmers who clear the land and then farm it for a few years. The problem is that that causes fragmentation of the rain forest, increasing the surface area between the forest and humanity.

PROF. JEAN-JACQUES MUYEMBE TAMFUM, DIRECTOR NATIONAL BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INRB: So does the forest.

KILEY (voice-over): Professor J.J. Muyembe is an expert in emerging diseases. He's been tracking them since he discovered Ebola in 1976. And now he has a warning for us all.

TAMFUM: So it's become an outbreak.

KILEY (on camera): Are you afraid that there is going to be more emerging diseases coming out of the forest, something that is perhaps spreads like COVID, but kills like Ebola.

TAMFUM: We are now in a world where new pathogens will come out that will constitute a threat for humanity. And as you know, most of this disease emerged from Africa.

KILEY (voice-over): And this in the Congo is how viruses mostly travel.

(on camera): The river Congo is the great artery that gives life to the whole nation but it's also the route by which the results of deforestation are exported.

(voice-over): Like these smoked monkeys being sold for food. I film undercover because traders here in protected species fear exposure. Adams Cassinga is my guide. One subsistence food, now bush meat is an international luxury commodity.

Yes, but can you arrange for shipping to Europe and America? I'm told that's no problem. There's an agency for that. The protected species, the monkey's heads and arms have to be cut off to disguise them with antelope meat.

ADAMS CASSINGA, WILDLIFE CRIME INVESTIGATOR, CONSERV CONGO: We have experienced an influx of expatriates, mainly from Southeast Eastern Asia and who demand to eat certain types of meat such as turtles, snakes, primates.

[17:55:03]

KILEY (voice-over): The U.N. estimates that some 5 million tons of wild meat are harvested every year from the Congo Basin. But the most potent source of viruses are live animals. They carry the viruses and can infect when butchered or petted in private zoos. Live animals and bush meat are part of a multibillion dollar global trade. That's a cause and a symptom of ecological disaster.

Combined with logging and industrial pressure, untold numbers of potential infections could be released. And now it's as if nature has found a way to protect itself. That locked up in the armory of the forest is a weapon against the planet's most deadly threat of humankind.

And if so, this abandoned palace of a long dead dictator isn't a relic of the past. It's a vision of what the planet looks like when Mother Earth fights back.

Sam Kylie, CNN, Kinshasa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Wow, amazing reporting from Sam Kiley. Sam, thank you. Thank you so much for that report.

Coming up, we'll have more on this afternoon's headlines from President-elect Joe Biden's news conference. Stick around, we'll be right back.

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