Transcripts For CNNW Early Start With Christine Romans And L

Could start being sent out as early as next week. The stimulus deal includes the following, 600 checks for people below a certain income level, an extension of extra weekly unemployment benefits. 284 billion in Small Business loans, and billions for vaccines and rental assistance. President trump is expected to sign the bill and did sign a stopgap measure last night to keep the government open for seven days to get the stimulus bill and spending bill done. And now as a new variant of the pandemic worsens the situation in the u. K. , two officials tell cnn, the white house is thinking of requiring a negative covid test before entering the u. S. 40 countries are banning travel from the u. K. Over the new coronavirus variant that Officials Say may spread up to 70 faster, although theres no sign so far that its anymore lethal. Pfizer and moderna testing their vaccines against this covid variant in the u. K. The ceo of biontech which helped develop pfizers vaccine just spoke about the situation. Cnns Fred Pleitgen is live in moscow with more on this. What is the company saying about this new variant . Reporter hi, laura. Really some fascinating details we just got from that press conference from biontech, and this is the ceo speaking at that press conference. Hes of course one of the main scientists behind developing that Pfizer Biontech vaccine. And he says they are currently indeed testing that new variant to see whether or not the vaccine will be effective against it. He says that he is scientifical scientifically confident that it will be effective against it. He says that the vaccine essentially attacks the virus in so many different ways, and with so many different amino acids that he believes that the effectiveness will still be there. He also said, by the way, that there have been mutations of the coronavirus in the past. They have also tested the vaccine against those in the past, and so far, the vaccine has always been effective. One of the other really interesting things that he did say, however, is that he believes or he thinks that perhaps, if the virus becomes more effective at infecting people that it could actually take longer to achieve herd immunity. Of course one of the things that folks in the u. S. Are talking about as well, that it could take around 60 to 70 of the population to be vaccinated for herd immunity to set in. He said that number could be higher if in fact, there are variants of the coronavirus that are more effective. But he does say, he does believe and scientifically founded belief that the vaccine will still continue to work, and will still continue to be effective, laura. Fred, Important News there. Thanks for breaking it all down for us. U. S. Health Officials Say that at this point, they do not believe the situation in the u. K. Warrants suspending travel from britain, though that could soon change. Given the travel throughout the world, i would not be surprised if its already here. When we start to look for it, were going to find it. I think we should seriously consider the possibility of requiring testing of people before they come from the u. K. Here, but i dont think that theres enough evidence right now to essentially lock down any travel from the u. K. Some airlines, though, are already taking action. Virgin atlantic is requiring proof of a negative test for all passengers traveling from london to the u. S. British airways and delta meantime will test all passengers before they enter new york state. All this as a big spike in air travel is already increasing the risk of spreading covid here in the united states. More than 1 million americans passed through tsa check points for three consecutive days over the weekend, the biggest surge since the start of the pandemic, despite pleas from the cdc for folks to stay home, a plea echoed by the president elect as he received the pfizer covid19 shot if you dont have to travel, dont. Were still in the thick of this. Its one thing to have the vaccine show up at a hospital. Its another thing to get the vaccine from that vile into a needle, into an arm. The u. S. Is now hitting 18 million cases in total, but more alarming than that overall number is the pace, the rate of these new infections. It makes the spread of disease we had in the spring look tame by comparison. The first 9 million cases took 283 days to reach and the last million only 52 days. That of course is before the inevitable surge that were expecting after christmas and new years. Well, the growing fear over what the president will do with his final days in office now stretches from the white house all the way to the pentagon. Cnn has learned there is increasing anxiety over what the next 29 days could bring, whether its launching a foreign conflict or trying to draw the military into President Trumps effort to overthrow the Election Results. Some senior military officers are trying to steer clear of the white house remaining out of trumps orbit. The president s focus apparently still is focused on staying in power. And last night he proved that once again, anyone who states the obvious, that he lost, will only be seen as disloyal. The president now targeting Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell who recently acknowledged joe bidens victory after it was certified by the Electoral College. Trumps office sending this slide to a dozen or more gop congressional officers to claim how mcconnells success is tied to public support for trump. The message is not subtle. In big red letters at the top you can read it there. Sadly mitch forgot he was the first one off the ship yet the effort to keep President Trump in office hinges on the fringes. For the third time in four days, conspiracy theorist and Attorney Sidney Powell was spotted at the white house. We have also learned that President Trump and Vice President mike pence met with house conservatives over this push to challenge bidens win on january 6th. Pence presides over the joint session of congress that will count the Electoral College votes that day. Now, heres the thing, any bid to overturn the vote is certain to fail, even the Number Two Senate republican john thune saying quote it will go down like a shot dog. Jeremy diamond reports from the white house. Were going to hear from jeremy in just a little bit. Boris. We have some news from the incoming Biden Administration. President elect joe biden planning to nominate connecticut education commissioner miguel k cordona as his education secretary, tasked with meeting bidens goal to reopen schools within 100 days of his administration. That goal has touched off come controversial with teachers union. He will have to restore morale after betsy devoss fouryear reign. He started a decade ago as an elementary teacher, a principal, and the states top education official in august of 2019. Also notable the roles that mr. Biden has not filled yet, that includes attorney general, complicated by federal prosecutors investigation of Hunter Bidens business dealings for china, and picks for cia director, labor secretary, commerce secretary, all jobs that will be vital in the Pandemic Recovery effort. The top democrat on the Senate Finance Committee Says Russian Hackers broke into mail system used by the leadership of the treasury department. Democratic ron wyden says the intrusion started in july, and it full extent remains unknown. But its part of that massive cyber attack on u. S. Government agencies that was revealed earlier this month. Though President Trump still refuses to admit that russians were behind the hacks, even as officials across his Administration Made clear it was russia. Heres the attorney general bill barr on his way out the door agreeing with trumps own secretary of state mike pompeo. I agree with secretary pompeos assessment. It certainly appears to be the russians but im not going to discuss it beyond that. Notably, an aide to ron wyden said treasury secretarys Steven Mnuchins email was not breached. Mnuchin said there was no break into the departments classified systems but he conceded, quote, our unclassified systems did have some access. The attorney general recognizing russias suspected role in that hack. Just one of the ways that barr broke with his soon to be former boss by simply acknowledging reality. President trump has been railing about election fraud, voting machines, hunter biden and more. But barr seemed to be done playing along. I see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government, you know, wholesale seizure of machines. We had looked at suggestions or allegations of systemic or broadbased fraud that would affect the outcome of the election, and i already spoke to that, and i stand by that statement. If i thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, i would name one, but i havent and im not going to. Boy have times changed. Barr was one of the president s most avid defenders in his cabinet. He helped push back against special counsel Robert Muellers findings in the russia investigation and appointed a u. S. Attorney to investigate the origins of the fbis work on the russia probe, and boris, its so interesting, i think many were speculating about why you see the attorney general breaking from the president on all of these issues. The question is whether hes trying to signal to the acting attorney general about what he should do on some of these issues as he faces increasing pressure from the president and his allies. A lot of questions for Jeffrey Rosen at this point. Its fascinating to watch as an observer of trump world and the folks that they lend their support behind. Its the cycle that goes on and on. We saw it with john kelly and james mattis, and all of these figures. At one point, theyre lauded, embraced and as soon as they put forth a reality the president s supporters do not acknowledge, whether something with the election or something about his intelligence or anything else, they turn on him, and now were watching it unfold with bill barr. It will be interesting to see what happens with mike pence on january 6th when Congress Validates the election result. Looking overseas, the u. K. And france working overtime to resolve border closures over coronavirus. Could testing be the key for Truck Drivers stuck on the border . Cnn will take you there live after a quick break. Always go for 100. Bring out the bold™ for members like martin. An air force veteran made of doing whats right, not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa were made for. May your holidays glow bright and all your dreams take flight. 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If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. If you cant afford your medicine, this is the new iphone 12 pro with 5g and its on at t, the fastest nationwide 5g network. Now, new and existing customers can get our best deal. Really . mom at t has the deal for new and existing customers i will. So whatd she say . Wrong person. Its a guy named carl. But hes very excited and on his way. Wordofmouth advertising. Its what they did before commercials. Its not complicated. Everyone gets our best deal, like the amazing iphone 12 mini on us. Border with britain remains closed because of the coronavirus variant discovered in the u. K. Take a look at the port of dover overnight. Trucks backed up there with drivers sleeping inside their vehicles, hoping the border reopens in time for them to make it home for christmas. Lets go live with salma about abdelaziz. Reporter the french government, the British Government say they want this fixed as soon as possible. I want to show you what it looks like in practical terms. Take a look just behind me here. Were going to pan a little bit for you to see. This street is lined with trucks. This is just one street, and these drivers arent supposed to be here. Some have been spending two or three nights in their vehicles. This is one street. This town has drivers parked all over it. The highway that connects to this port city also 900 trucks there with their drivers as well. The next town oever, kent, dozes more drivers. How is this going to be resolved. I want you to speak to one of these drivers, adrian, who we have been talking to today. You have been sleeping in your car for three nights. Tell me what the situation is like for you . Its not so good. A lot of us have families at home, kids at home, and they have to spend all the holidays outside. You dont think youll make it home for christmas . No, not really. Have you called your family and said im stuck in england . They know, they have seen it on the tv and everything, and they know about the situation, and they are not so happy. Reporter tell me, do you have access to food, to water . We are cooking the food. We have a small gas with us, and we are cooking for us. Reporter youre cooking on a little gas cooker in the back of your van. Yes, yes. Reporter and this is the only way . Yes. Reporter have you gotten help from any officials . Nobody. Reporter do you have any information . No. Reporter so you are stuck here for christmas . Yes. Reporter i hope you make it home to your family. This is just one story. Hundreds of people experiencing this. We understand that part of what theyre talking about is coronavirus testing, not just for these drivers but for anyone so that the flow between these two nations can resume again. I want you to for a moment to imagine the logistical nightmare if you wanted to test each and every one of these drivers, spread out over highways and testing them in a safe and effective way. Whos going to pay for the testing, if a driver tests positive, where are they going to selfisolate, and whats going to happen with these goods, if they dont make it into the country, if they arent in the u. K. In time, if this border remains closed, youre looking potentially at food cho shortages, medicine shortages, all at christmas time. An unsustainable situation. Thank you so much for grabbing the drivers so we could hear his story directly. Appreciate it. Facing a dire shortage of icu space, south korea is telling people to stay home for the holidays. Cnn has reporters around the world offering the latest. Im Paula Hancocks in seoul. South korea is announcing a special quarantine period from december 24th to january 3rd. Within these new restrictions. Officials say that all ski slopes will be shut. All parks and Tourist Attractions could be closed and also all rneligious services hae to be held online 100 , on top of that, from tomorrow, any gatherings of five or more people in the greater seoul area are banned. The Prime Minister has said that the message is clear, cancel your plans and stay home. Im steven jiang in beijing. Tie juan report taiwan report add locally transmitted case on tuesday, the first case in eight months. The case was a woman in her 30s who has close contact with a recent imported case, a pilot from new zealand who flew to the u. S. In november. That pilot is facing a potential fine of over 10,000 u. S. Dollars because Authorities Say he failed to reveal his activities during the Contact Tracing investigation. Im paula newton in ottawa where this city and toronto, in fact, the entire province of orient, nearly two in every five canadians will be in yet another lock down, the day after christmas. And the reason is that the hospitals can no longer shoulder the burden of the increasing case count here in ontario. You might remember , toronto an suburbs have been in lock down, and the lockdown has failed to bring down the cases. Now, this next lock down will be a little bit more strict, all retail will be closed and it includes an extended school break. The vatican monday gave its blessing to the covid19 vaccine indicating that taking the shot is morally acceptable. The statement came after a couple of catholic bishops in the united states, utilized stem cell lines, derived from aborted fetuses, the vatican said for the person getting the shot, the level of complicity is low, and the benefit high, it overrides any concern. No official word on when pope francis himself will be getting the shot. Thanks to all of our correspondents for those updates. They started the season undefeated, 110, the hottest team in the leagueme. Now the Pittsburgh Steelers are suddenly struggling. Your Bleacher Report is next. Upgrading over a thousand towers a month with ultra capacity 5g. To bring speeds as fast as wifi to cities and towns across america. And were adding