Trump orders troop drawdown during final days in office; Biden meets with top intelligence & defense experts in lieu of security briefing being blocked by Trump; GA Secy of State says Sen. Lindsey Graham asked him to “look hard” for ballots to throw out; States announce new restrictions amid surging pandemic;
The Lead with Jake Tapper
CNN
3.5 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 17 November 2020
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Acting Defense Secy announces troop drawdown in Afghanistan, Iraq; Biden: Top job as President is “protecting the American people”; Biden announces senior White House staff; Biden: U.S. “been through a lot of damage in the last 4 years; President Trump shares praise of campaign lawyer who pushes deranged conspiracy theories; Sources: President Trump in “dark mood”; Trump’s 10th day since election without any public events; Advisers split on strategy as Trump legal challenges fail; Another loss: PA Supreme Court rules against Trump administration; New poll: More Americans now willing to get COVID-19 vaccine; Pfizer reaches safety milestone for vaccine, prepares to file for emergency use authorization; Hospitalizations climb to all-time high of 73,000+; GOP governors in IA, UT, OH, WV & ND issue mask mandates; Ohio Gov imposes three-week curfew as Covid cases rise; FDA sets meeting for vaccine advisory committee, sets review process into motion; Graham claims call with GA election official was about toughening voter ID laws, not tossing out legal ballots; Dems slam Sen Graham over claims he encouraged GA election official to throw out legal votes; GOP Senators appear to congratulate VP-Elect Harris; Election official: Georgia on track to finish recount tomorrow and affirm Biden’s win; Iowa Governor: Covid hospitalizations doubled since November 1st;
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CNN Breaking News. |
| 0:04.0 | And welcome to the lead. I'm Jake Tapper. |
| 0:05.9 | We begin with Breaking News in our world lead today. |
| 0:08.4 | While President-elect Joe Biden met earlier today |
| 0:11.2 | with national security officials to try to prepare to hit the |
| 0:14.3 | ground running when he takes office on January 20th, former national security officials, we should say. |
| 0:20.4 | Outgoing President Trump's administration is announcing major national security decisions, |
| 0:24.4 | ones that could have lasting implications long after Mr. Trump leaves office. |
| 0:29.7 | This afternoon, Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller announced a reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan |
| 0:34.7 | and Iraq by January 15th, five days before President-elect Joe Biden becomes President |
| 0:40.4 | Joe Biden, Miller called the reduction part of outgoing President Trump's plan to break President will be reduced to 2,500 each. Currently there are about 4,500 U.S. troops in |
| 0:55.3 | Afghanistan and about 3,000 troops in Iraq. Acting Defense Secretary Miller |
| 0:59.9 | announced this move just over a week after President Trump fired Defense Secretary, Mark |
| 1:05.5 | Esper. |
| 1:06.5 | Now I'm told by sources that Esper had warned against a withdrawal from Afghanistan at this point |
| 1:11.8 | in a classified memo, |
| 1:14.3 | As per sources told me, |
| 1:16.1 | told the White House that it was the unanimous recommendation |
| 1:18.6 | of the chain of command, meaning him, |
| 1:20.8 | plus the commander of Scentcom and the commander of troops in Afghanistan |
| 1:24.3 | that the US should not draw down US troop presence any further until conditions |
| 1:28.7 | were met in Afghanistan conditions such as a reduction in violence and progress in diplomatic |
... |
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