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THE SITUATION ROOM

Virginia Man Arrested In D.C. With Loaded Handgun, Ammunition And Fake Inauguration Credentials; President-Elect Rounds Out Science Team As Pandemic Rages; Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D-PA) Discusses Pennsylvania's Preparations For Expected Unrest After Threats From Far-Right Groups At State Capitols; States Vary Widely In Ability To Administer COVID-19 Vaccines; Reserve Vaccines No Longer Exist. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 16, 2021 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:01]

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And those who know her, I think, have seen her as a rising start, and believe that's the case as well.

FREDRICK WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: It's all so exciting. And I remember her rollout when she said she was running for president, and it was during our show, that too was really exciting and there were smiles everywhere, including from her. So, Abby Phillip, we look forward to this. This is so exciting.

A reminder that CNN -- congratulations too, CNN special report, "Kamala Harris: Making History," airs tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern Time.

All right, thank you so much for being with me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer starts right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

And we begin with breaking news. An arrest underscoring just how dangerous the threat to this week's inauguration here in Washington has now become, that inauguration just four days away. 25,000 U.S. military personnel, troops from the National Guard, have descended on Washington, D.C., to try to keep it safe. But even that number, we're told, may not necessarily be enough.

Let's get right to the nation's Capitol. Shimon Prokupecz is on the scene for us. Jeremy Diamond is over at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House.

Shimon, there is very disturbing breaking news unfolding right now about a serious arrest here in the nation's Capitol. Tell us what we know.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So that arrest, Wolf, happening by the Capitol police where it happened on the north Capitol side. And what we've learned is that a man driving a pickup truck came up to a checkpoint. Many, many checkpoints set up all across Washington, D.C. He drove up to this checkpoint and he displayed what appeared to be a fake inauguration pass, some kind of inaugural credential that the officials, the police there, realized were fake.

They then also saw some indications that perhaps he had some weapons in the vehicle. They questioned this man. His name is Wesley Allen Beeler. He is from Virginia. And when they questioned the man, he said he had weapons in the car. And so they found a 9 millimeter glock.

Most concerning, they also found over 500 rounds of ammunition, some of it belonging to that weapon, others having to do with a rifle or something like that. Obviously,

what's very concerning for authorities here, Wolf, is that he had this fake inaugural credential, and that is something that, of course, investigators are still trying to determine what was going on here.

But we just have this basic information that he had this fake inaugural credential and he had a weapon on him, and police arrested him. We don't know what he was doing in the area. We don't know why he came here. The fact that he tried to drive through this checkpoint is certainly concerning for authorities. And, thankfully, they have had these checkpoints set up. Whether or not he posed a threat, we still have yet to hear from authorities.

The Capitol police arrested him and that investigation is still under way, Wolf.

BLITZER: Set the scene for us, Shimon. What's going on here in Washington, not just around the U.S. Capitol, but the Washington Mall is shut down, Lincoln Memorial, all the way over to the White House, all the bridges basically from Virginia into Washington have been shut down. But just give our viewers here in the United States and around the world a sense of the tense situation that has already developed and certainly this arrest is going to make it even more tense.

PROKUPECZ: Yes, it is a tense situation. And it is a very strong military presence, 25,000 troops on the grounds of Washington, D.C., military vehicles everywhere. As you know, driving into the office, driving into the bureau, every block you go, you will see a military vehicle. You will see heavily armed National Guard troops.

So we're on the roof now here, Wolf, outside the Capitol. I wanted to show you just some of what is going on inside the Capitol. This is probably the most secure area in Washington, D.C., right now. The inaugural stage is just here in front of us. And around us is all this extra fencing with the razor wires. This is the most secure area. This is where a lot of the dignitaries will be gathered on inauguration day. So you can see why they've set up this extra fencing all around.

This is the first time that we have gotten such a close look inside at the Capitol here. There are National Guards all over here surrounding the Capitol from the east side to the west side, across every street.

[15:05:01] And there are also these trucks. We've been seeing these military trucks all over Washington, D.C. And today, I have seen even more troops arriving by the bus-load coming here just a short time ago. We saw dozens of troops walking in towards the Capitol. But they are keeping this place so secure.

And the perimeter, most important right now for authorities, that is the priority. The priority for authorities is to keep the perimeter secure. And that is why we're seeing all the vehicles, the military personnel outside of this area.

There's a lot of concern about vehicles, whether or not people can use vehicles and place them on streets and then store equipment, whether it's weapons or even bombs. There are concerns, obviously, as we've been reporting, for IEDs, and the concern is warranted. Because, remember, on the day of this attack, of the insurrection, police found 11 Molotov cocktails inside a car, there were two pipe bombs as well that were set to explode, for whatever reason, it did not. There's also concern that some of the bats and sledgehammers and some of the equipment that the mob used to break into the Capitol was being stored in vehicles.

So what authorities are doing is they're surrounding this entire area with trucks and barriers to keep vehicles away. You can walk through this area. The Secret Service actually, Wolf, set up magnetometer screening areas, so that if you want to get close to this area, you can. You just have to go through magnetometers. That's what we did to get over here, so that we could show you this view. It is the most secure area.

Certainly, I've covered many events. I was in New York after 9/11. I have never ever seen anything like this. It is, in some ways, anxiety- inducing, because you're driving what does not feel like a street in the United States. It really feels like perhaps you're somewhere, like in the Middle East or something. To see this many military personnel on the streets of a U.S. city is certainly striking.

And the concern, Wolf, is warranted. There are threats. There are major threats. And, of course, the key thing for authorities here is to make sure there's a peaceful transfer of power. And that's what this is all about. And with the threats that keep on coming in and you're hearing this from the FBI, you're hearing from the Secret Service, that the chatter is nonstop, they have not seen a level of chatter concerning domestic terrorism like this. It's unprecedented. So, that is why, Wolf, we are seeing this level of security all over Washington, D.C.

BLITZER: All right. Shimon, I want you to stand by. I want to head over to the other end of Pennsylvania where Jeremy Diamond is over at the White House. All these major streets, Jeremy, as you know, Shimon knows, whether Pennsylvania Avenue or Independence our Constitution, all those areas have been totally shut down, blocked off. You can't drive around any of those areas right now out of deep security concerns.

Tell us what's going on where you are. We clearly, Jeremy, haven't seen President Trump since Tuesday. What is he doing this weekend with four days left in his presidency?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, Wolf, I can tell there's an equally lined perimeter, security perimeter around the White House as well, very similar to what Shimon was just describing.

As for the president himself, he has no events on his public schedule for what will be the final weekend of his presidency. But what we do know is that the president has been consumed with the unraveling of his presidency.

We have seen several senior White House officials, including Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller, both arriving at the west wing this morning, which is unusually for a quiet Saturday like today. We don't know exactly what they are doing here, but preparations are being made for the final days of the president's time in office, and in particular, for his sendoff. The president is now expected to leave Washington for his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach on Wednesday morning. So on the very same inauguration day, President Trump expected to leave early in the morning.

And what he is demanding, according to our sources, is a fairly large sendoff, a military-style sendoff with all of the pomp and circumstance of a state visit, perhaps for a visiting foreign dignitary, and also a large crowd of supporters.

Now, whether or not that happens at the White House or at Joint Base Andrews, where the president will hop on Air Force One for the last time, remains to be seen. But, clearly, that is something that the president is looking for.

What remains unclear is whether the president will deliver any kind of farewell remarks. That is very typical for a departing president to deliver some kind of speech, touting their accomplishments, trying to cement their legacy or frame at least in the way that they would like the public to see it.

So far, the president has seemed disinterested by aides' pleads with him to do something like that.

[15:10:00]

Whether he ultimately decides to do that in the next couple of days remains to be seen. But, certainly, Wolf, the president is looking to leave Washington in style and making a big, big exit. Whether anything else around that happens as well, we'll have to wait and see.

BLITZER: All right. Jeremy, I know you're working your sources over at the White House. Shimon is working his sources in law enforcement. We're going to get back to both of you.

Right now, I'm joined by President Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton. His bestselling new book is entitled, The Room Where it Happened, a White House Memoir. Ambassador Bolton, thank you so much for joining us.

As you just heard, we're learning these very disturbing details about this Virginia man stopped with a gun, fake inauguration credentials, lots of rounds of ammunition. What does that tell you about the severity of the potential threats just ahead of this inauguration?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think it certainly demonstrates the need for the security that's out there, and that, in this case, the good news is that it worked.

Obviously, this has to be investigated further, but the levels of security we're seeing are obviously a reaction to the catastrophic failures of security on January the 6th, underestimating the threat, not paying adequate attention to the intelligence, clearly not being ready in terms of resources or communications.

And so I think both on the military and the law enforcement side, nobody wants to make that mistake in connection with the inauguration. We'll have to see what this means.

I mean, I think the weaponry obviously is of concern, but, really, the fact somebody is wandering around with fake credentials is definitely troubling because I don't think this guy made them up on his own and they need to find out where he got them, who he's associated with, and all the implications for that.

BLITZER: Yes. If it was just him, that's one thing. But if there are plenty of others with weapons and ammunition, obviously, a very disturbing development indeed.

We know, Ambassador, that some of these alleged Capitol rioters who have been arrested have very strong ties to white supremacy. You served as President Trump's national security adviser. Do you believe he has actually emboldened these groups?

BOLTON: I don't think there's any question about it. I think when you have a president who, for two straight months, and, really, even before the election lies about what happened and promotes this complete fantasy that the election was stolen, it's entirely predictable that extremists will seize on it. There are extremists on both sides of the spectrum. And I think the way we saw Donald Trump behave on January the 6th shows he understood exactly what he intended and it resulted in the mayhem in the Capitol and five dead.

So I do put this squarely at Trump's feet. I think he is responsible. And I think it's because of his conduct and his words, consciously forwarding a narrative that he knew could not be true.

BLITZER: So do you believe he has blood on his hands?

BOLTON: I think the effect is clear, yes. And I think if there's trouble on inauguration day, that will be a second order effect of it.

Trump is a person without scruples and without character. It's one of the reasons that I thought he was unfit to be president. And one of the things that I think all Americans should focus on in their evaluation going forward, both what people believe, and also the critical question, do they have civic virtue? Do they have character? BLITZER: I know that they are looking at individuals who may have incited the deadly violence that erupted up on Capitol Hill last week, but do you think the president of the United States, soon to be the former president of the United States, should actually be potentially criminally charged, whether by the attorney general of the District of Columbia or the federal government for that matter, the Justice Department?

BOLTON: Well, I think people ought to be serious and completely nonpolitical in evaluating that question. I think the worst thing that could happen would be to overhype Trump's criminal liability and turn him into a martyr. That just makes things worse. I think an objective evaluation by law enforcement, the standards for the Department of Justice to indict are very high here, what they have to prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt. And I think that's the way to look at it.

I think Trump needs to worry as much about potential civil liability coming out of the events of January 6th because of potential wrongful death actions and other civil penalties that could be very severe.

BLITZER: Ambassador Bolton, thanks so much for joining us.

[15:15:00]

BOLTON: Glad to be with you.

BLITZER: As President-elect Biden prepares to take office in just four days, we're also going to take a closer look at the war on white supremacy that awaits the incoming president of the United States.

And we'll have much more on the breaking news, the arrest of a Virginia man just moments ago with lots of ammunition, a loaded weapon, and fake inaugural credentials.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: With just four days until he officially takes office, President-elect Joe Biden just named more key members of his incoming administration.

Let's go to our Political Correspondent, Arlette Saenz, joining us from Wilmington, Delaware, right now. Arlette, Biden has now filled out basically his science team. It's particularly important now, as we all know, we have to fight this continuing and worsening coronavirus pandemic.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Wolf, you'll remember that during the campaign, one of Joe Biden's mantras was that Americans should choose science over fiction.

[15:20:06]

And that is something that he, again, stressed today as he rolled out these members, these people who will serve as key science advisers to him in the White House.

And chief among those people announced today were Dr. Eric Lander, who will be leading the office of science and technology policy. The president-elect is actually elevating that position to a cabinet-level position as he is trying to place this emphasis that science will play in his administration.

Now, he didn't mention President Trump by name once, but it was a contrast the way that the current administration has approached science and medical issues over the course of this pandemic.

Now, both the president-elect and vice president-elect, Kamala Harris were on hand for that event in Delaware, one of the final times we'll see them here in this state before their inauguration in just four days. And we are learning some new details of what part of that inauguration will look like.

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris has chosen Justice Sonia Sotomayor to swear her in as vice president on Wednesday. She is also planning on using two bibles for her inauguration, one belonging to a woman who is very close to her as well as another one belonging to the late justice, Thurgood Marshall.

Now, the president has said that he believes that the inauguration will be safe on Wednesday despite these rising security concerns that we've been hearing about. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Arlette, thank you very, very much. During the four years of his presidency, experts of extremist groups say President Trump not only downplayed the risk of white supremacist groups, the risk that they pose to the United States, but he actually emboldened them, helped to normalize their extremism and actually give them a voice. So that was certainly on full display when the U.S. Capitol was under siege some ten days ago.

Now 25,000 U.S. National Guard troops are here in the nation's Capitol to try to help secure the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden in just four days.

In a new article in The Atlantic, the magazine senior editor, Ron Brownstein, writes this. By demonstrating both the danger of white nationalism and the bias in policing, last week's assault has not only elevated those issues even further but also exposed their common roots.

Ron Brownstein is also a CNN Senior Political Analyst, he is joining us now. Ron, thanks very for joining us.

Let's talk about this and it comes -- we're talking as a Virginia man has just been arrested with fake inaugural credentials, a loaded weapon, 500 rounds of ammunition. How urgent is the need right now to deal with all these potential threats, especially the threat of white supremacy?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I think you talked to the experts in the field. I mean, January 6th was a moment where the iceberg surfaced and you saw just how much this threat has grown and spread during the Trump years.

You know, there's disagreement about how seriously law enforcement took it under Trump, whether they were focused enough on this problem relative to focusing on infiltrating groups agitating for racial justice.

But there's no question on the other front, there's no question that Trump himself, through his words, through his comments, through his signaling, normalized this and made it more people comfortable expressing these kind of views in public, which, of course, enables them to spread recruitment.

So there is quite a challenge ahead of the Biden administration in getting a handle on this because many experts have said to me that if they don't, this could become a steady drumbeat of disruption and violence over the coming years.

BLITZER: You know, Ron, given that these groups gained traction under Trump's presidency, how much responsibility, let's say, does the Republican Party bear for this?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I mean, the Republican Party has chosen to allow Trump to raze the barriers, R-A-Z-E, not raise them, destroy, pummel the barriers between their coalition and the far-right extreme. I mean, Kevin McCarthy has welcomed a QAnon adherent to the Republican caucus who says that she's going to file impeachment against Joe Biden on day one.

I mean, Republicans, I think, in some ways, are in the same position again now that they were in the early 1960s with the John Birch society and other far-right extremists, where they want the enormous energy that's in those kind of movements, that kind of sense of back against the wall, any means necessary but they have not fully faced the consequences. And I think --of encouraging and abetting that. And I think the events of January 6th and the extraordinary preparation that's required now for the inaugural really does show that. So it is kind of a time for choosing, as you would say, in the Republican Party.

BLITZER: Usually, that Washington mall, as you and I well know, is loaded with hundreds of thousands of visitors who just want to be part, want to see what's going on.

[15:25:00]

Now, they've shut down the whole Washington Mall. You're not going to be able to -- you'll have to watch it on television.

Can the Republican Party rebrand itself after what has happened over these past few years?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I think what's really important here is not that only Donald Trump but essentially almost all Republicans running for office have adopted the apocalyptic rhetoric that provides oxygen to these movements. I mean, all the focus on Trump's speech on Wednesday and immediately before the riot, I look at the speech he gave on Monday in Georgia, Monday night, his last campaign appearance for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, multimillionaire, former business executives who, in an earlier generation, would have been kind of standard issue country club Republicans.

And Donald Trump went down to Georgia and said, if the Democrats win those races and take control of the Senate, America, as we know it, will cease to exist, and you will never get it back. And, of course, that was hold the line was the argument from Perdue and Loeffler. If Democrats win, the country as we know it, i.e., a white Christian America, will cease to exist.

If you are telling your voters that day after day, week after week, month after month, Fox News, you know, constantly telling voters that, is it any surprise that some of them will turn to any means necessary? So I think obviously only a sliver of the Republican coalition is open to this kind of violence, but they are all being fed a message that is so apocalyptic that it does provide energy here.

And, again, Republicans have to decide whether they are comfortable with this kind of extremism being a routine part of their coalition. Certainly, there are a few who are not, but in the end, almost every House Republican still voted not to impeach Trump and a clear majority voted to overturn the election despite no evidence of fraud even after the riot.

BLITZER: Absolutely no evidence of widespread fraud and all. Ron Brownstein, excellent work, thank you so, so much.

Not just here in Washington, D.C., the nation's Capitol, state capitols around the country are preparing for unrest after threats from far-right groups. Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor is standing by live. We'll discuss what's going on, how his state is preparing.

Stay with us. This is a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:46]

BLITZER: Returning now to our top story, an ominous arrest in Washington, D.C. A Virginia man stopped at a checkpoint with a gun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and very, very disturbingly, fake inaugural credentials.

At the same time, state capitols are also on very high alert against threats, including in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of the states where the Trump campaign contested the election results.

Let's discuss Pennsylvania's response to what's going on right now. I'm joined by the state's lieutenant governor, John Fetterman.

Lieutenant Governor, thank you so much for joining us. First of all, what do you make of this heightened security that's

going on, not just here in Washington, D.C., but in 50 state capitols, including in your state capitol as well?

How much of a threat do you see happening in the United States in these four days leading up to the inauguration?

LT. GOV. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I think it's necessary, quite frankly. And a very large part of me grieves, as an American, that peaceful transfer of power is not something that we are able to take for granted, at least at this inauguration.

That's never happened certainly in my lifetime. And I hope this is the only time this ever happens in our history.

That being said, you know, Harrisburg, there's a protest tomorrow, which, let's hope it will be peaceful. I expect it will be peaceful.

And extraordinary measures have been taken. Travel restrictions have been implemented, National Guardsmen, and other appropriate measures, including sealing off and closing down the capitol complex. So appropriate steps have been taken.

And also those that are really at the forefront of the protest here in Pennsylvania, like Doug Mastriano, our state Senator, he has also told his followers not to participate in counterprotests and simply just pray for the country.

BLITZER: Who do you blame for this extraordinary security threat that's under way right now, the pro-Trump mob that stormed Capitol Hill nine or 10 days ago? And what's going on right now?

FETTERMAN: I just -- I just don't understand the time that we live in right now.

We had three -- three instances of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, all of which, of course, went for the president. But out of seven million ballots -- but voter fraud is a serious threat and the election was rigged.

Meanwhile, we will have lost 400,000 of our fellow Americans by the end of this month -- but the COVID virus is fake and I'm not afraid of it.

I don't understand how things got inverted to the way they did. But it has to come from the lying and the heated rhetoric and the targeted agenda of essentially creating it.

But for the rhetoric of Stop the Steal, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to let them steal our country, et cetera?

No one can be surprised when it works because it was essentially designed to do just that.

BLITZER: So do you blame the president of the United States?

FETTERMAN: I blame also the enablers, too, the individuals who know -- who absolutely know there was no voter fraud.

You know, in Pennsylvania everyone, save for one, voted to sign this letter and indicate there was voter fraud.

[15:35:07]

Concurrently, at the same time, acknowledging that there was no fraud in my race. The voters love me, but we threw the state for Joe Biden. There's just so many illogical and dishonest and it's dishonorable. It's just profoundly un-American.

And all of this, everyone owns a piece of this loss of a peaceful transfer of power that we are experiencing. Anyone that has ever, you know, made -- debasing our election results.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Are you concerned -- I know other governors and lieutenant governors for that matter, not just Democrats, some Republicans as well, are you concerned for your own safety in the wake of these threats?

FETTERMAN: I'm not afraid for my own safety, if something happens to me. My only safety concerns would be just for my family.

And again, I have no reason to expect that anything like that would happen.

I hope and expect that they're going to exercise their constitutionally protected rights to protest, and I support that, and as long as it stays peaceful.

But again, part of me just can't help but grieve the loss of the peaceful transfer of power, you know, in this election, and especially given that we're now a mere four days away from Joe Biden's inauguration.

BLITZER: Yes, I keep saying it's hard to believe this is happening here in the United States of America. So hard to believe what's going on.

Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, be careful over there. We'll stay in touch with you. Thank you so much for joining us.

FETTERMAN: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: We're going to have much more on the breaking news. A very ominous development in the nation's Capitol, an arrest in Washington, D.C., of a Virginia man with a loaded gun, ammunition, and fake inaugural credentials. We're getting more information.

We're also following other critically important developments involving the coronavirus pandemic. It is raging across the United States right now, getting worse than ever.

The massive issues with the vaccine rollout across so many states. There are so many problems right now. We're going to look at what needs to be done.

Much more on all the breaking news when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:25]

BLITZER: We're going to have much more on the disturbing breaking news unfolding right now, the arrest of a Virginia man here in Washington, D.C., carrying a loaded gun, ammunition, lots of ammunition, 500 rounds, and fake inauguration credentials. We're getting new information. We'll share that with you.

Right now, I want to touch on the other major, major crisis facing our nation right now, the coronavirus pandemic.

It's been a month since the first COVID vaccine was given here in the United States.

Since then, the CDC says more than 31 million doses have actually been delivered to the states around the country, but only 12.2 million doses have been administered, actually, given to individuals. That's only 39 percent.

Here's the very interesting development. Some states are clearly better at this process than others.

California, for example, got more than 8,900 doses and has administered about 2,700, meaning only about 30 percent of the doses have actually gotten into arms.

But look at West Virginia, a little more than 11,000 doses delivered and nearly 7,000 have been given, a 65 percent success rate.

CNN medical analyst, Dr. Leana Wen, is joining us now. She's a former Baltimore health commissioner, a contributing columnist for "The Washington Post" as well.

Dr. Wen, thank you so much for joining us.

We knew the vaccine rollout wouldn't necessarily be easy, but why do you think some states, for example, are much better at getting these shots into people's arms than others are?

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Wolf, you mentioned West Virginia. So let's look at what they did in order to get all 214 of their nursing homes vaccinated within two weeks.

And all their doses actually now are distributed or at least allocated, which is something that the other states have not done.

They enlisted community pharmacies that already have the deep trust of people across the state and are in various parts of the state, including in some rural areas.

They also brought on the National Guard very early to do the vaccinations for the public.

And critically, they had urgency. They didn't let bureaucracy or red tape burden the process and, instead, got the shots out. And I think that emphasis on speed is really important.

And I actually hope the federal government, moving forward, will reallocate the next doses of vaccines based on which states that are particularly efficient.

Why have doses sitting in freezers when states are ready to administer them to the people?

BLITZER: Do you believe, Dr. Wen, as opposed to leaving the distribution of these vaccines to the states?

WEN: This is a partnership. This has to be a partnership between federal, state, and local governments.

And I think what should happen is that the federal government should set targets and say this is what we expect each region to be able to do, and then ask each locale, what is it that you need.

Maybe some places need resources from the federal government. They know what to do but just need the funding to scale up.

Maybe other places are saying we cannot run both testing and contact tracing and vaccinations, so we need the National Guard to come in and help us with testing. We can set up vaccination programs.

Maybe other places need these mass vaccination sites to be set up. Other places still may not need vaccinators but need project managers and logistics experts.

So it's a partnership. And the federal government needs to lead the way.

BLITZER: Some of these vaccines a simply sitting in refrigerators or freezers and they could spoil if they're not distributed and they're not administered immediately. They got to do this and they've got to do it right.

[15:44:59]

We've learned, as you know, Dr. Wen, that the so-called reserve shots, that many hoped would be released to boost the vaccination rate, those reserve shots no longer exist. What happened here?

WEN: I have no idea. And I think that's the problem, that no one knows.

I honestly don't understand how we got to this point because this is right now in the world the most precious commodity, the COVID-19 vaccine.

Why is it that there were millions of shots that we all thought was in reserve but now, when we look in the reserves, it sounds like they're not in there at all?

These are doses that were promised to the states. How are state health departments and local health departments supposed plan vaccination campaigns when they don't know what's coming their way or if there's additional supply?

What about individuals who got their first dose? We need to be guaranteeing that they have the second dose. So where is it?

We need answers from the federal government. We need honesty and transparency also. There should be a public tracking dashboard that's available so everyone can see where these vaccines are at all times.

BLITZER: I totally agree.

Dr. Leana Wen, thank you for all that you're doing. We appreciate it very, very much.

WEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, CNN's Abby Phillip will be giving us an exclusive look at Kamala Harris and her ground-breaking path to the vice presidency.

Stand by. There's more news right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:47]

BLITZER: When Kamala Harris is sworn in as the nation's vice president on January 20th by Sonya Sotomayor, it will mark multiple barriers broken for women, for women of color, and for black and Indian- Americans women across the country.

For all the excitement with Harris' rise to this moment, her path has not always been a smooth one.

Here's a clip from the CNN special report airing tomorrow night, "KAMALA HARRIS, MAKING HISTORY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA) & VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I got the call that a police officer had been killed in the line of duty.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: 29-year-old Isaac Espinoza was gunned down in the gang-ridden neighborhood of Bayview.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isaac was an amazing cop. He is the type of person that you would hope would be out there protecting your community.

PHILLIP: An arrest was made the next day but the sting of Espinoza's death got worse when Harris made an unexpected announcement three days after the shooting.

HARRIS: In San Francisco, it is the will, I believe, of the majority of people that the most severe crimes be met with the most severe consequences. And that life without possibility of the parole is a severe consequence.

PHILLIP: In an op-ed published a week after the funeral, Harris said, in part:

"The district attorney is charged with seeking justice, not vengeance. I am bound by oath and law to make decisions about what charges to bring, not based on emotion, anger, or politics within 48 hours of a suspect's arrest."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Abby Phillip is joining us now.

Abby, the Espinoza case was a huge controversy for Kamala Harris. Some Democrats worry it could sink her if she got the nomination.

So what do you think she learned from that experience? You're doing a lot of reporting and you're going to be hosting this special report tomorrow night.

PHILLIP: Yes, Wolf, this was a major, major case that she dealt with very early in her career as district attorney in San Francisco.

And it's something that, even since that time, she doesn't talk a whole lot about.

But we sat down with her and talked to her about that case and the decision that she made.

One of the things about it is that it really was a case of her standing her ground on the issue of the death penalty. But really what she believed the law required for her in a very politically charged case.

And it's something that followed her in her career as she ran for attorney general.

Look, this was someone who was very new to politics at the time. She had just run for her first race as district attorney, but clearly made a decision that would have political ramifications for the rest of her career.

And I think that when people look back at that case, they see someone who really stood her ground on a major issue.

A lot of progressives might support her decision ultimately. But clearly, it was one that was controversial at the time even among some Democrats in the state of California.

And it does show some metal and some willingness to push back against, really, a high tide pushing her in the opposite direction of the decision that she ultimately made.

BLITZER: As you were working on this documentary, Abby, what did you learn about Kamala Harris that surprised you the most?

PHILLIP: One of the most, I think, fun parts of the documentary that people might enjoy is just learning a little bit about her family, her marriage with the soon-to-be second gentleman, Doug Imhoff, and watching two of them together in a joint setting.

You really see a different side of her. This is someone who has been on some of the toughest cases. She was a prosecutor for sex- trafficking cases early in her career. She's a tough woman.

But when you see her in the context of her family, you see a very different side of her.

And something that I think will be illuminating to a lot of people, you also get to know a lot of the very unconventional upbringing she had as the daughter of a single mother.

Someone who grew up in Berkeley, in a very community-driven environment.

And all of the different influences that she had in her life that led her to the point where, even as a biracial woman growing up with South-Asian descent and Jamaican descent, choosing the path that she did, to go to a historically black college, Howard University.

[15:55:08]

That story I think a lot of people will find interesting and really reveal about her personality and how she grew up as a child.

BLITZER: I love Howard University here in the nation's capital. Great, great school. They gave me an honorary degree a few years ago. So proud of that.

All right, Abby, I want you to stand by.

We have more politics we're going to discuss in the next hour.

And to our viewers, make sure you join Abby as she talks with the soon-to-be vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, and her family. The CNN special report, "KAMALA HARRIS, MAKING HISTORY," airs tomorrow night, tomorrow night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

As over 25,000 military personnel, U.S. troops are on the ground here in the nation's capitol, we have very new and very disturbing details emerging right now about the arrest of a Virginia man here in Washington with a loaded gun, ammunition, a lot of ammunition, more than 500 rounds and, according to a source, fake inauguration credentials.

We'll be right back.

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