Biden: “I’m gonna tell it to you straight” on COVID crisis; Fauci gets Moderna vaccine on tv as vote of confidence; Anxiety at pentagon over Trump’s unpredictable next move; First Latino senator to represent California as Gov. Newsom picks Alex Padilla to fill Harris’ seat;
The Lead with Jake Tapper
CNN
3.5 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2020
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Biden: recent cyberattack is “grave risk”, no evidence situation is under control; Biden: Trump’s failure on Russia “will land on my doorstep”; Biden: $900B COVID bill on a “down payment” on what’s needed; Biden: Congress must , there will be no “honeymoon”; WH officials: “it’s scary,” “no one is sure where this is heading”; Televangelist Pat Robertson: Trump is erratic, in an “alternate reality” and should “move on”;
Fauci: it’s possible new COVID strain is already in U.S.; Pfizer, Moderna testing their vaccines against COVID strain; Record high pandemic travel numbers despite CDC’s warning; Dr. Deborah Birx announces she plans to retire; 44 countries ban or restrict travel from U.K. over new strain; WH considering proof of negative COVID test for U.K. travelers; CDC: U.K. COVID variant not identified in U.S., but may be undetected; U.S. COVID hospitalizations at record 115K ahead of Christmas;
Military officer to CNN: “we don’t know what he might do” as anxiety over Trump grows inside Pentagon; Sources: senior military officials steering clear of WH as Trump makes baseless claims of rigged election;
1.6M ballots cast in Georgia senate runoff races, rivaling state’s voter turnout for presidential race; $900B stimulus bill becomes line of attack in GA senate race; Dem senate candidate Ossoff: I would’ve voted for stimulus bill, “but $600 is a joke”; Ad spending in Georgia runoffs soars to $482 million; Dem senate candidate Ossoff pressures GOP Purdue to weigh in on possible electoral college challenge;
NY nurse who had COVID, lost father to virus among first in nation to get Moderna vaccine; 614,00+ COVID vaccines administered in U.S. so far; Pandemic of 20 years dies after month-long battle with COVID;
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CNN Breaking News. |
| 0:03.8 | And welcome to the lead. |
| 0:04.8 | I'm Pamela Brown and for Jake Tapper today. |
| 0:06.8 | And we begin with Breaking News and the politics lead. |
| 0:10.0 | Just minutes ago, President-elect Joe Biden delivered remarks as we approach the end of what he calls |
| 0:15.7 | one of the toughest years the nation has faced. |
| 0:19.9 | One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis, I'm going to tell it to you straight. |
| 0:26.0 | I'm going to tell you the truth. |
| 0:28.0 | And here's the simple truth. |
| 0:30.0 | Our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us. |
| 0:37.0 | Darkest days are ahead of us. That coming from President |
| 0:40.1 | elect Biden who is zeroing in on President Trump slamming the Trump administration's |
| 0:44.7 | response to the Russian cyber attack saying it happened on President Trump's watch |
| 0:49.6 | while he wasn't watching. |
| 0:51.3 | So I know of nothing that suggests it's under control. |
| 0:57.3 | This president hasn't even identified who is responsible yet. |
| 1:01.1 | They can be assured that we will respond and probably respond in kind. |
| 1:07.0 | Let's bring in CNN, Jessica Dean and Wilmington, Delaware. |
| 1:10.0 | So Jessica, the President-elect was asked directly if this cyber attack was an act of war. |
| 1:15.4 | What did he say? |
| 1:16.4 | Well, Pamela, he said that it's a grave risk and you heard him there. |
| 1:21.5 | He believes it's nowhere under control that the threat |
... |
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