♪ ocean spray works with nature every day to keep you healthy good morning. i'm bianna golodryga in for jim and poppy. the suspense is over but the pain isn't. the president has signed the

massive stimulus deal after days of signaling he might not. but the delay means a lapse in benefits for many jobless americans. the president's final strategy is clear, create chaos as his time in the white house runs out. also running out, 2020. but as we close out december, a tragic fact. this has been the deadliest month in this pandemic so far. and sunday was the highest day for air travel. now health officials are bracing for case numbers to surge again. so let's start in washington, john harwood joins me now. john, the president is still pushing for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeals section 230 and start an investigation into voter fraud. is this just falling on deaf ears at this point now that the bill is signed? >> reporter: just keeping it real here, what the president is actually pushing is the go button on his golf cart in florida. what he has written down on this piece of paper and issued in his

signing statement are things he says he is pushing. what are those things? he said he's going to send back a red lined version of the spending bill identifying elements he wants cut. he said he has a commitment from congress to look at voter fraud. he said they're going to consider upping the stimulus checks from $600 per person for families under $75,000 a year to $2,000 a year. if the president were actually pushing for those things, like the $2,000 checks, he would have pushed them in the negotiations that his treasury secretary was conducting. if he actually wanted the spending for foreign aid not to take place, he wouldn't have put it in his budget, which he did. the voter fraud, of course, goes without saying. we've had it amply proven there is no voter fraud. these things he wrote on the piece of paper are the equivalent of his aides and associates acting as baby

sitters, you eat this piece of broccoli and i'll tell your parents you can have ice cream all day long. and the baby sitters are trying to get out of the situation, knowing the parents are coming back. >> it's important to put those things in perspective. to let our viewers know the president is golfing, the vice president is in vail, colorado, and you have millions of americans waiting for any federal help after months now. and the last question i have for you, john, after nearly a week of holding out, why did the president decide to give up on his temper tantrum and sign the bill now? >> reporter: it's a good question. i think in the end people probably appealed to him having succeeded in compelling the attention of a lot of people, creating the suspense as you referred to it, having people recognize i'm still president what i still do matters. they conveyed the message that what you're going to be remembered for from this moment

is impof errishing millions of the people you're serving and that's not necessarily the best thing for your reputation. so he got the attention, and then they convinced him it was going to be terrible attention so he relented and backed off. >> also throwing his own party under the bus along the way as well. not the first time he's done that. john harwood, thank you. let's go to capitol hill where lauren fox is. lauren, president trump is still hoping the house can work on getting the $2,000 stimulus checks. what's the latest on that? any chance the checks reach americans' pockets? >> the house is going to vote tonight on a bill that would essentially change the amount of money in the negotiation from $600 to $2,000 per individual. now this vote is going to happen under a suspension of the rules, which means it will require two-thirds majority in order to pass. but its future in the senate is much less certain.

we don't know if majority leader, mitch mcconnell would bring it up for a vote, notably his statement last night applauded the president in actually passing and signing the stimulus agreement but what it did not do was make any of the promises the that the alleges were made to him in this discussion with republican leaders on capitol hill to get him to actually sign the bill. i want to read part of mitch mcconnell's statement to you, quote, i applaud president trump's decision to get hundreds of billions of dollars of crucial covid-19 relief out the door and into the hands of american families as quickly as possible. the bipartisan rescue package that republicans in congress and the trump administration negotiated with the democrats will extend another major lifeline to workers, invest billions more in vaccine distribution, send cash directly to households. one thing to remember about the statement, it carefully points out the fact that steve mnuchin was in the room all along.

like john harwood said a few minutes ago, if the president wanted a $2,000 stimulus check, he would have pushed for it. he could have considered making that a sticking point in the negotiations. he never did. whether it happens in the u.s. senate is still to be determined. >> instead he humiliated his treasury secretary while doing that. thank you so much. joining me is kevin hasset. kevin, great to see you, happy holidays. >> thank you. >> let's put the $2,000 discussion aside for a second. let's talk about the reality of the bill that we now have. you can't overstate how needless president trump's delay in signing this relief bill was. millions of americans lost unemployment benefits for a week because of this. >> right. >> can you walk us through the process of what's going to happen now in terms of getting the money out to those who need it most. >> you hit it on the head. the fact is because the

unemployment insurance lapsed then instead of the extension being 11 weeks it's going to be 10 weeks. if i was talking about the $2,000 tonight, i would definitely want to add that week of unemployment insurance back in as well because the president's delay took a week of unemployment insurance benefits away from folks. in his mind, i know him pretty well, that he really, really wanted the $2,000 the whole time, he wanted big checks. i was in the white house last summer, the idea that he never asked for it is unlikely. >> where has he been? he has not asked for this publicly. >> he's been saying he wants checks for a long time. my point is he's fighting for the $2,000 checks and the irony is, by doing that he ended up creating this unemployment insurance lapse, which is a serious problem and that needs to be addressed by congress, hopefully today. >> my question is, where has he been in terms of publically advocating for $2,000, instead

of sending his treasury secretary, his representative, who met with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, who had been negotiating all of this for months who came up with a $600 deal who he said was on behalf of the president. >> in a negotiation, you don't always get everything you want. what the president has done, long before he was president, he's constantly doing real estate deals where at the closing he tries to squeeze every little last bit out of the bill or the deal, that's what he was doing here. he was basically pushing hard to get the $2,000 at the end thinking he had leverage but the leverage didn't move things much and it created this negative consequence which is that there's one week of ui benefits that have lapsed. >> do you support sending $2,000 out? >> i think the bill they passed is enough to get us to march or so. my expectation is the new

congress and president will give you the $1,400, there's going to have to be another stimulus bill because the covid cases are so high, the stimulus bill is going to do a good job creating a bridge to the other side of that. so my guess is, the first item that president-elect biden is going to have to address is expanding the checks. so the fact that president trump said he supports the $2,000, nancy pelosi supports the $2,000, that will put a lot of pressure on republicans to get president-elect biden the $2,000. >> it puts them in a bind, all eyes focused on what's going to happen in the georgia run off as well because you have two candidates pressing for $600 and now the president pressing for $2,000. i want to go back to your idea of needing a large enough stimulus to get us through march. you said those are going to be dire months. i want to stick on one issue, that's the eviction moratorium

which in this current bill would end, expire, january 31st, that gives an incoming administration just days for president biden to address this issue in particular. what's going to happen there? is this an issue the cdc can step in and extend it or are we going to see millions of americans facing eviction days into a new administration? >> i don't think that's going to happen. the way to think about it, i know we can think bad things that can happen if things lapse and so on. don't forget, president trump and the house they didn't have the best relations last year, the last couple years we had impeachment and everything else. but when the covid happened, they moved quickly on stimulus. in a national emergency, the history of american politics is people put their differences aside for a moment and do what's right. that's what i expect will happen. so i think in a day or two

people will be able to address what you said, adding the week of ui and so on. if they can happen last year with a congress that impeached the president, one can only hope things can happen next year maybe quicker. >> we're in a situation where the president doesn't seem to like his own party that much these days. i don't know the last time he's spoken with mitch mcconnell. let me ask you a question as somebody who knows the president well and advised him on economic issues. the people in this country who are victims here are the millions of americans being deprived of much needed aid. that we know. but i would say the person most humiliated is treasury secretary steve mnuchin. he's the one that proposed the $600 stimulus check. as a former adviser to the president yourself what do you say about this, the level of

respect or lack thereof he has for his most loyal aides. i know a lot of people would have resigned. >> i'm sure secretary mnuchin wanted the checks to be larger but in the end he wanted a bill. so there's a compromise and when you have a compromise that's far away from your target there's going to be dissent from the president. i know he thinks the world of secretary mnuchin. but he's got a difficult negotiation job and he didn't get everything he wanted. the president was disappointed the checks were too small. i know he wanted them to be large for as long as i've known him. i don't think it humiliates secretary mnuchin who has a strong track record of four years of accomplishment. so having to cave on a bill and give up things the president wanted is politics. >> he has a funny way of showing his appreciation and respect for

mnuchin. thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. happy new year to you. >> same to you. >> thank you. still to come, the u.s. has now administered nearly 2 million coronavirus vaccine doses. now another potential vaccine is on the horizon as novavax enters phase 3 of clinical trials. plus dr. anthony fauci warning of another wave of cases as millions of americans travel for the holidays. new details on the nashville christmas day bombing. investigators have identified the suspect involved as new surveillance video is released. we have a live report from nashville straight ahead. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsora jod

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this morning we learned that novavax has started phase 3 clinical trials of its covid-19 vaccine in the united states and mexico. medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins me now. what more do we know about this vaccine and its trial? >> you know, this vaccine it's a little bit different than moderna and pfizer, but it's very exciting to have a fifth company enter a phase 3, a large scale clinical trial. this is the last phase before the fda will review it and see if it ought to be given to people across the country. so let's take a look at what we know about novavax, about this clinical trial. it's up to 30,000 people age 18 and up, 25% of their participants they hope or plan to be aged 65 and up. that's important because those are the people who unfortunately have some of the worst reactions, responses to covid-19. 15% will be black or african-american, 10 to 20% will be latino and 1 to 2% american

indian. that's what we know so far about what's going to happen. it's going to be a phase three trial where they have two doses three weeks apart. let's look at where this falls sort of in comparison with other ones. the history of things here. pfizer and moderna have already been authorized by the fda. astrazeneca their trials started august 31st. johnson & johnson their phase three trials started september 23rd and novavax started today. and sanofi they're in phase one. they're the ones that have gotten funding from operation warp speed to do this. >> it's a historic space. how does novavax compare to moderna and pfizer that are currently available in the u.s.? >> it really is quite

differently. i'm going to get nerdy on you. >> bring it on. >> in order for these vaccines to work, essentially what has to happen is is the immune system has to see a part of the virus and say i'm under attack and then it learns how to respond. but since it's only a part of the virus it's not a big threat but it learns to respond so if you are threatened your immune system says i remember this and i know what to do. what pfizer and moderna did is their vaccine gives the instructions for how to make this part of the virus. just the instructions. what novavax does is it actually sends an actual part of the virus, a part they manufactured. so they make a fake part of the virus and send the actual part in. so phase 3 clinical trials tell us that the moderna and pfizer approach works, we'll have to see about this one. >> we'll follow it closely. thanks for bringing the nerdy to us.

we appreciate it. >> thanks. with me now is dr. sima yasmin. doctor, thank you so much for coming on. another vaccine one step closer to approval, that's good news. but there's a long way to go before that happens, 63,000 americans have died so far in just december, making this the deadliest month since the pandemic. what do you expect in terms of what january may look like? >> so good morning. i don't think it's a coincidence that december has been the deadliest month for covid-19 here in the states given it's happening -- the highest number of deaths are happening three, four weeks out of thanksgiving when we did see millions of people travel, also people having gatherings in their home and lots of intermingling happe happening. this is why we have models doing these projections for us, telling us what january and april could look like in

particular, both good case scenarios but also worst case scenarios. we are sitting up and paying attention to some of those grim numbers, the worst case scenarios. because in the past few months we've seen some of the worst case scenarios pan out. they're warning us by january 20th, inauguration day, one of the worst case scenarios is we're seeing around a million americans infected each day. by april 1st, they're also warning us we could have passed the half a million mark when it comes to americans who died from covid-19. so really we're paying attention to the fact -- i'm talking to you from the bay area here in northern california where icu bed capacity is about 11%. but talk about central california, southern california, it's 0%. so adding all these things in, the health care system being overwhelmed, people traveling again for christmas, the new year could look really bad. >> i'm just stunned by the

numbers of travelers. just yesterday alone and listening to adrienne broaddus reporting from the chicago o'hare airport talking to travelers who said they have covid fatigue, they want to go outside. they will be distanced from others, but they're traveling to different countries, different states. they're well intentioned but can you talk about the danger in doing just that? >> absolutely. i think we're paying the price for that right now, right, with the deadliest month when it comes to covid-19 a month after thanksgiving. this is the price we way for people not hunkering down and taking this seriously. honestly i find it really frustrating and surprising sometimes that people are willing to go on camera and say i'm fed up, i'm going to travel. especially in the context of new variants of the virus spreading. variants we think can be more easily transmitted and we're not understanding these newer versions of the virus. let's keep in mind we're in this

for the long run, there's good news about vaccines, elizabeth just updated us and helped us geek out about the science but we need tens of millions of people to be vaccinated with these vaccines before we can kind of let our guard down and we are months away from that. >> let's keep in mind the thousands of people spending the holiday in the hospital as they are suffering with covid right now. you mentioned the vaccines. about 2 million coronavirus vaccines have been given thus far and administered out to over 10 million have been distributed. that's about 20% in shots in two weeks. do you consider that good or bad and what needs to be done to get these vaccines into arms faster? >> so it's better than nothing, right. we're just shy of the 2 million mark. i think the cdc is reporting around 1.9 million americans have received their first dose of a vaccine but it's way shy of the 20 million doses operation warp speed were saying we'd have

seen people having accepted by the end of this month. so we're way shy of that target. the thing to remember here is we are talking about vaccines that require two doses. and those two doses are spaced out by three or four weeks depending on if you're receiving the pfizer or moderna vaccine. even then it's one or two more weeks before your body mounts an appropriate immune response to make sure you are protected against the vaccine. so that's why this is a game of time, as well as patience because it's not like you get the first dose and we have 2 million americans who are fully immunized. that's not how this works. so that's why i'm optimistic, cautiously optimistic, that people take this serious in the next few months to give us time to reach herd immunity. >> the light is at the end of the tunnel but it's still months away. thank you, happy new year to

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president-elect joe biden will speak later this afternoon after he and vice president-elect kamala harris are briefed by their national security and foreign policy teams on what they say are the challenges they'll inherit from the trump administration's america first agenda. let's go to joe johns in washington. do we have any more detail on what biden will be briefed on specifically? >> reporter: not a whole lot of detail right there right now. but i can tell you this is going to be a briefing about what the agency review teams for the incoming biden administration have learned as they fanned out, and this is specifically going to be about the issue of national security. one of the things we know is that the biden people are saying they have not been getting a lot of information from the defense department about the issue of that enormous cyber security attack that has occurred involving multiple federal agencies here in washington d.c. so there's a concern about that.

dod says they're not dragging their feet and will resume these briefings in january. nonetheless, even the president-elect himself has said there's cause for concern there, especially because underlying is the larger issue of russia. russia has been blamed for that cyber attack and russia is one of the things the incoming administration is going to have to deal with in a big way right after january 20th. bian bianna. >> biden said he would be aggressive but not being briefed hinders that approach. the biden team used the word inherit in their statement. that stood out to us. does that mean they're gearing up to put the blame on their predecessor, the trump administration? >> i think they have been doing that almost from the start. there are a few examples of things the trump administration has done that the biden

administration plans to change. for example, the paris accords. these are the climate accords. this is something that donald trump pulled out of. joe biden said he's going to go back into the accords. there's also the issue very much related of the iran nuclear accord, as well as w.h.o. these are all decisions trump has made and biden wants to reverse. >> a lot of foreign policy fires out there this administration is going to be walking in to to deal with. thank you so much. >> you bet. more information on the explosion on christmas day in nashville. officials have named the bomber but his momotive is still unkno. we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines

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nashville police releasing new surveillance video overnight showing the exact moment on christmas morning when that rv parked on a downtown street explodes, sending a giant fireball and debris flying through the air. officials now identifying the bomber as 63-year-old anthony quinn warner. what they haven't been able to pin down, a motive. natasha chen joins me now with more. >> reporter: well, the investigators are working through the blast site right now opening up some of the perimeter streets now, but still the area where the explosion happened is under strict control, nobody can go near that.

now anthony warner, it's interesting how they confirmed the identity of the suspect. a law enforcement source told cnn it was a tip about the rv that led them to his home in antioch tennessee, about 10 miles southeast of where i'm standing. that's where we watched agents on saturday going in maand out the house. we saw an rv with similar markings that could be seen there. neighbors told me they have seen that rv there before. we now know police have shared the incredible video of the explosion happening, this giant orange fireball and in that video you can see one officer actually walking away from the rv seconds before the explosion. here's officer james wells talking about that moment. >> you watch the video, you can see that moment of clarity for me when i heard god say go and

check on toppy. i was peeking around looking like this, no, turn around check on toppy. so i started walking in the opposite direction and three seconds later, boom. so i'm not going to shy away from that because that saved my life. that's what got me to see my kids and my wife on christmas. >> reporter: law enforcement say that warner was here when the bomb went off and died in the explosion. they are now looking into his motive, going into his history. talking to people who have maybe been in contact with him to figure out why this happened. the types of explosives used are also being investigated still. >> the quick thinking police officers, not only saving their lives but those residents in the area who were able to get out before the bomb went off. millions of people have

travelled over the weekend for the holidays. yesterday the tsa said was the busiest since the pandemic began. adrienne broaddus is at chicago o'hare international airport. what are the reasons for traveling? i'm stuck on what passengers told you in our last hour. >> reporter: there's one woman we talked about in the last hour who said she needs an escape so she's traveling to jamaica to meet up with friends. another family of five told me the pandemic forced them to cancel their vacation in march so they're making up for lost time. all of the travelers we spoke with today safe they are taking steps to remain safe and healthy, but you can do everything right, wear your mask, wash your hands, watch your distance but the risks are still high. and all of these people traveling is concerning, especially for top health officials as we watch the number of cases across the country

climb. more than 19 million americans have been diagnosed with covid-19 and dr. anthony fauci fears the coming days could be pretty bad. >> we very well might see a post-seasonal in the sense of christmas, new year's surge. and as i've described it, as a surge upon a surge. because if you look at the slope, the incline of cases that we've experienced as we've gone into the late fall into soon to be early winter, it is really quite troubling. >> and so many people we spoke with believe the vaccine is a way out of pandemic darkness. indeed, the vaccine is a symbol of hope, but it's important to underscore we will not see the impact of the vaccine for months to come. bianna. >> that is so true and the travelers need to be reminded of that as well.

we all have fatigue but we need to hold on a bit longer. thank you. still to come, more from the coronavirus pandemic to the presidential election. we take a look back at the major headlines of 2020. but first a quick programming note. be sure to watch my exclusive one on one interview tonight with retired lieutenant colonel alexander vindman, he was a key witness in the trump impeachment inquiry. that's tonight at 7:00 right here on cnn. new year, new bedroom save up to 15% on a cozy casper mattress wake up on the right side of the bed this year shop the new year sale with 15% off today at casper.com wake up on the right side of the bed this year nwhat it feels like to get ang of hhero's welcomeeran. on your own front lawn. at newday usa, our aim is to help every veteran family celebrate home

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subaru created the share the tlove event.n years ago,ance. where our new owners could choose a national or hometown charity. and subaru and our retailers would proudly make a donation. but now, in times like these, companies are having a hard choice to make. but subaru is more than a car company. and as charities struggle, we cannot just stand by. which is why we plan to donate over twenty four million dollars, again this year.

the subaru share the love event, going on now. from the pandemic to the unprecedented election, 2020 was a year like no other when it came to media coverage. brian stelter takes a closer look. >> in 2020, every member of the media lived the stories they covered. some of the biggest stories in generations were also intensely personal. >> i tested positive. >> from the pandemic to the

black lives matter protests to the election day that stretched into election week. >> show our viewers the celebrations going on around the country. celebrations that joe biden is now the president-elect of the united states. >> it's vindication for a lot of people who have really suffered. >> cnn and other networks registered record ratings in 2020. people around the world flocked to trusted sources. >> so now you're getting into the battleground states as we flip out -- >> showing you the value of traditional news brands in a digital age dominated by google and facebook. president trump's unreality may have been the biggest media stories of the year had it not been for the virus. david culver and his team delivered early warnings from wuhan, china. >> a lot of folks said why would you go to the epicenter? the reality is we needed to be on the ground.

>> reporter: >> then his team quarantined for two weeks, a preview of what so many others were about to do. it happened so fast. >> tom hanks announcing he and his wife, rita wilson, have both tested positive for coronavirus. >> there on march 12th, the onscreen graphic still promoted a cnn primary debate with social distancing suddenly added. >> guess we can say hi, right. >> studio audiences were scrapped. broadway shutdown, movie releases postponed, theme parks closed. almost everything closed. >> someone on my team believes they may be positive for the coronavirus so out of an abundance of caution i'm going to be broadcasting tonight from my house. >> newspapers and tv networks were suddenly produced remotely from living rooms and basements. >> we're about to go on the air in a few minutes around the world on cnn international. >> small numbers of essential staffers donned ppe to keep it

on the air. some journalists reporting on coronavirus then contracted it and shared their stories. >> this virus came at me. i've had a fever, we've had a fever, but 102, 103, 103 plus that wouldn't quit and it was like somebody was beating me like a pinata. >> the pandemic was accompanied by misinformation. >> the pandemic is a common cold. >> some right wing hosts were claiming the democrats were hyping a hoax just to hurt trump. chris regan and fox business parted ways after she said this. >> this is another attempt to impeach the president. >> but fox's biggest stars faced no consequences for mocking public health measures. >> any of these blue state control freaks, all of them, they need to keep away from our children and businesses. >> the president took his cues from the shows and downplayed the dangers.

even mocking reporters who wore masks. >> you have to take that off. >> i'll speak a lot louder. >> and if 2020 proved anything, it's that america is split into two parallel universes of information. one more trump towethered to re than the other. trump's war on truth weakened the response to the pandemic. the testimony moials from insid hospitals were undeniable. >> what an incredible look inside that hospital. overwhelmed they kept on saying we are overwhelmed. >> at times reporters were unfairly targeted for covering this truth. some were assaulted while covering racial injustice protests. and one cnn reporter was arrested live on the air. >> can you tell me why am i under arrest? why am i under arrest, sir? >> you're watching our correspondent being arrested by

state police in minnesota. we're not sure why. >> national "newsroom"s recommitted to covering race and social justice stories and activists showed their own stories. showing good outweighing the bad. so many of us used technology to feel connected during an isolating year. some, however, went down dark virtual rabbit holes embracing conspiracy theories like q anon, a cult that casts democrats as pedophiles and satanic worshippers. >> trump's rejection of reality, his denial about the pandemic and the election almost merged toward the end of the year. causing anchors and columnists to speak out more forcefully than ever before. >> history is not going to be kind to people around the

president enabling any of this. it is, frankly, immoral. >> trump's challenger, joe biden was content with letting trump be the big story. even when they faced off. >> will you shut up, man. >> mr. president can you let him finish, sir? >> he doesn't know how to do that. >> 47 years you've done nothing. >> voters also watched dueling presidential town halls and biden surprised everyone by drawing more viewers than trump. as the one-term president's lies escalated, twitter for the first time ever slapped some of his tweets with fact checks. >> twitter prompting users to get the facts about mail-in ballots because what the president tweeted wasn't true. but experts said the labels were mild, not going nearly far enough. meantime, the scoops kept coming. >> breaking news tonight, a bombshell report in "the new york times" is giving us a look at the tax returns of president trump. >> reporters revealed covid

infections in the white house. >> it's not clear if the white house would have told us if reporters hadn't first reported it, as has been the case with every other person in the west wing who tested positive. >> the main stream press held trump accountable while sycophants prompted him up lying about the results of the election. >> many are trying to steal the election from president trump. >> now with the inauguration on the horizon and trump possibly returning to some tv role, one question looms large, can america function as one country while living in two totally different universes of news? brian stelter, cnn, new york. such an important question. so hard to believe that all took place in just one year. thanks to brian for that. thank you for joining us today, i'm bianna golodryga, "newsroom" starts right after the break. s . an air force veteran made of doing what's right,

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finally getting some financial relief after president trump signed an emergency covid relief deal and headed back out to the golf course this morning. before signing the bill last night, the president held it hostage for five days, he railed against it, threatened to dismantle it and demanded changes that went nowhere. all while golfing in florida over the christmas holidays. those delays were long enough for unemployment benefits to run out for millions of americans and nearly forced a government shutdown for no reason at all. all before the president finally backed down and signed the bill he opposed but only after the damage was done and suffering was prolonged and the president back on the golf course this morning. why hold up the relief if he was going to sign the bill in the end? let's go to boris sanchez at the white house. maybe yo