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hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" and i'm rosemary church. ahead this hour, you're fired by tweet. donald trump takes his revenge on a senior official who had declared the 2020 vote free, fair and without fraud. and covid rages across the united states. now the states which placed personal freedoms ahead of restrictions are getting hit hard. we have a report from iowa. plus, the good news, the vaccines are on their way. the next question, do we have the logistics to deliver them around the world?

good to have you with us. u.s. president donald trump is ramping up a purge as he refuses to concede defeat in the presidential election. he announced the firing of senior homeland security official chris krebs on wednesday. krebs had rejected the claims of widespread voter fraud. his deputy director is leaving. he

>> chris krebs might not be a name most people know. in terms of making sure americans can go to the polls and cast their votes safely and securely. as the head of the department of homeland security security arm, krebs has been pushing back more and more aggressively against claims, lies, conspiracy theories by the president and his allies that votes changed and were fraudulent and that voting machines were manipulated. on that last count on tuesday krebs tweeted part of a letter from some top election security officials saying these claims have been you be substantiated or are technically incoherent. perhaps the biggest tweet in the president's eyes that led to krebs getting fired on tuesday

night by tweet was a statement that his agency known as cesa put out with other federal, state and private election officials in which they said the 2020 election in the united states was the most secure in the american history. they went on to say there was no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised. after krebs was fired we learned that his number two, matt travis, also resigned after learning that he would not be taking over cesa after krebs' termination. krebs for his part on his personal twitter now responded to his firing, which was not entirely unexpected because of the push back that he had been giving the president since the election. krebs writing, honored to serve. we it it right. defend today, secure tomorrow was krebs' motto in the leadup to the 2020 election.

from new york to california tougher coronavirus restrictions are being ramped up in an attempt to contain a surge of infections. over the past week the u.s. has averaged 155,000 new cases per day, by far the worst stretch since the pandemic began. the crisis has been particularly severe in places that initially resisted containment measures, including iowa and north dakota, but now they are tightening restrictions. >> no one wants to do this. i don't want to do this. if iowans don't buy into this, we lose. businesses will close once again. more schools will be forced to go online and our health care system will fail. >> iowa has also implemented a mask mandate after initially resisting calls for tougher restrictions. hospitalizations have more than doubled across the state rising to the fourth highest rate in the country. cnn's miguel marquez reports

health care workers are now being pushed past their limits. >> reporter: butch hanson, 84 years old, diagnosed with covid-19. >> going to get a cat scan of your chest. you've got some junk in your chest. you probably have a little pneumonia. i want to make sure you don't have a blood clot in your lung. >> reporter: today he's in the emergency room. >> i had a rough time with that phlegm last night. i get coughing. it's either the covid or something else. have to find out what it is. >> reporter: hanson, a retired farmer, says he's been careful but may have picked it up from a family member. >> going to chart here. >> reporter: regional county services, the hospital, the ambulance service, the public

health department and hospice care for the entire county. 19 bed facility moves most of its sickest patients to larger hospitals with iowa, the midwest and the country all seeing a sharp increase in cases and patients. finding an available bed in a larger facility, not so easy these days. >> the biggest concern in the last week is when you call and ask for them to help take care of our patients who are maybe sicker than we're used to taking care of, they don't have beds for us. and so that's where the strain really comes on. >> reporter: over the last month hospitalizations across iowa have skyrocketed. under 500 covid patients hospitalized in mid october, now nearly 1400 iowans hospitalized with covid-19. and if there's a surge with nowhere to send critically ill patients -- >> this is the in case of emergency, open this. >> pretty much.

>> pretty much. >> reporter: how many more people could you surge up with everything in here? >> we have the ability to have 50 beds. my hope is to never have to open this trailer. >> reporter: today the entire health care system pushed to its limits. >> what is covid doing to places like howard county? >> it's starting to stress us out. we have limited resources. >> reporter: in the first month of the pandemic here howard county saw 13 coronavirus cases. over the last month there were 411. holidays around the corner, the fear, it's going to get a lot worse. >> with thanksgiving coming up, how concerned are you with what you're going to see around christmas? >> i have a feeling it's going to be out of control. i really worry about health care in general around christmas because if everybody gets together at thanksgiving, has all of their big gatherings,

within two weeks we'll start to see the outbreak start. >> reporter: this is the problem with towns, big and small across iowa, the midwest. the system is essentially filling up. there are fewer and fewer places that hospitals can send patients to. they're facing the real possibility that at some point people may be dying in their homes, in the parking lots waiting for health care. one good note in all of this, the gentleman that was in the story off the top, mr. henson, he went home. i think he will be a okay. make them tough in iowa. back to you. well, u.s. senator chuck grassley is the latest member of congress to test positive for the coronavirus. the 87-year-old chairman of the senate finance committee announced the test result on his twitter tuesday. grassley is the most senior republican in the senate. he spoke on the senate floor monday and attended a meeting. he is the second republican

senator in a week to self-isolate after possible exposure to the virus. three members of the house of representatives have tested positive or are self-isolating. meanwhile, a covid relief bill is stalled in congress even as cases soar nationwide. and unemployment programs are set to expire at the end of december, which could affect more than 13 million americans. well, the u.s. has just issued an emergency use authorization for the first covid-19 self-testing kit that can provide rapid results at home. the kit is produced by lucera and requires a prescription. the test allows users to swab themselves, to collect a nasal sample. that sample is then placed in a vile that plugs into a device that ultimately interprets the results. meanwhile, the u.s. food & drug administration has scheduled

meetings for its vaccine advisory committee in three weeks setting the vaccine review process in motion. two companies, pfizer and moderna, will soon apply to the fda for authorization of their covid-19 vaccines. joining me is professor william had e hazeltine. he is an author. an absolute pleasure to have you with us, professor. >> thank you. it's a pleasure to be here. >> so let's start with pfizer's vaccine news of reaching its safety milestone and preparing to apply for emergency use authorization. how long will the fda approval take? and what might this mean in terms of when the general public will get vaccinated? >> in answer to your first question, how long will it pret.

there is a great need for this vaccine and other vaccines for covid. i suspect the fda will handle it expeditiously. they've had a chance to see the data. unfortunately we haven't yet seen the data but the fda promised us if they do give any kind of approval, they will. they filed for emergency use authorization. i'm not sure that's what they're going to get. they may get expanded access which is a far wiser thing to get. this was an interim analysis for a small group of people, all young and healthy. i think we need a lot more data before we really rare to complete trials. people want a vaccine, they don't want to participate in a trial. >> yeah, understood. we know a cdc panel will meet

next week to decide who should get that first. >> let me answer your first question i department get to, which is when will it be available? to some people it could be by the beginning of the year or the very end of this year. but for most people it won't be probably until late spring, early summer at the earliest. it will take a long time to scale up the amount of doses. hopefully we'll have a lot more data often safen safety, on eff. we'll have data on how it is used in different populations. there will also be a lot of other vaccines that have reached this milestone by that time. and it's going to be a lot of news in who's going where. in answering how do they

determine who gets the vaccine? very difficult question. the people who need it most in the united states are poor, disenfranchised people who are the highest rate of covid and of covid-related deaths and getting it to the population, the black population, the working poor population is going to be a lot harder. it's not going to be easy. >> you feel it will be free to everyone? >> that is a determination of whether the government's going to buy it and make it free. let's hope they are. certainly is not going to be free to the government. whether it will be free to the individuals? they say so. let's see. >> if it's free you're going to encourage more people to take it and that takes us to my next question which involves a gallup poll asking americans if they are willing to get the covid-19

vaccine. it said 58% is up. that is up from 50% back in september. that means around 4 in 10 americans are not willing to take the vaccine for whatever reason. what needs to be done to earn the trust of those americans and convince them that getting the vaccine is the smart thing to do? because unless most people take this, it's going to be sort of a useless exercise in the end, isn't it? >> well, it's not useless if it works in the people who take it. you know, some vaccines work by creating herd immunity, that is that if enough people take it, the virus has no real place to go. 2 may not prevent infection and it may not prevent transmission, may be like a flu vaccine. it may protect you from getting sic but it doesn't protect you from getting it. it may protect you from getting sick. in that case if half the people don't get sick, that's a good

thing. >> professor william haseltine, thank you so much for talking with us. we appreciate t. >> my pleasure, thank you. still ahead, despite opposition to the plan, the trump administration is withdrawing thousands of troops from iraq and afghanistan. we will have details on this controversial move. that's next. robinhood believes now is the time to do money.

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the trump administration has announced that thousands of u.s. troops will be withdrawn from iraq and afghanistan, a change that will take effect just days before joe biden is sworn in as president. withdrawal will leave about 2500 troops in both afghanistan and iraq. acting defense secretary christopher miller says the plans don't equate to a u.s. policy change but the position was strongly opposed by former defense secretary mark esper. he was fired by president trump last week. joining us now is cnn politics white house reporter. good to have you with us. >> hi. >> so, steven, you just wrote about what you called trump's transition sabotage threatening the vaccine rollout.

you talk about the likely fallout from trump's order to draw down u.s. troops in iraq and afghanistan and chatter about a possible strike in iran. how much of this is proof donald trump is actively working to sabotage president-elect joe biden? >> well, rosemary, i think that's become increasingly clearer in the past couple of days. you have a bunch of spirits and baseless court cases by the trump campaign alleging there is massive fraud. so far they've struck out almost every single one of those cases and they aren't really bringing forward conclusive evidence or any evidence really of fraud and that strategy is in the courts but it's having an effect on public opinion. it's convincing trump voters that the presidency will be on hold in january of next year that it's illegitimate.

then you have the draw down of troops announced from afghanistan and iraq which will reshape the world that biden will inherent as president. there are various steps they can take. two separate tracks. the ultimate goal, i think, for them was the recognition that trump probably can't overturn the result of the election, he can make life much more difficult for president joe biden when he takes office. >> if donald trump is doing all of this to sabotage his successor, could it backfire in the end to joe biden hitting the ground running despite his transition being blocked with trump, meeting with relevant health experts and now pfizer

poised to get emergency use authorization for the vaccine that could have a plan in place by the time biden takes office january 20th. >> biden is doing everything he can short of having an official transition take place and to show the american people right now that there really is only one person who's actually doing the job of president. donald trump has basically given up trying to fight the pandemic even as it gets much, much worse. what a transition is it's millions of dollars of government money that a president-elect can use. it's access to government departments to get information about what exactly is going on in the government. as you say, hit the ground running. the big concern though is that if the biden team doesn't soon get access to the data and the officials that are handling the

vaccine rollout, even these very encouraging news stories about how effective the vaccine will be, you know, will take a little while for them to get up to speed and that could delay the time it takes to roll out the vaccine in the first quarter of next year and, of course, that could cost lives and further damage the economy. >> what are the potential ramifications of the troop rollout. just days before biden is inaugurated that mitch mcconnell is not happy about. >> it was very interesting to watch the reaction to that announcement which basically goes some way to fulfilling president trump's vow to get all of the troops home from afghanistan and iraq by the end of his presidency. there are those on capitol hill who are not happy about this.

they worry that there is no consultation with u.s. allies who still have troops in both those theaters. they also are concerned this could lead to -- in afghanistan, resurgence from the taliban. could threaten the u.s.-backed government in kabul. in iraq there are also worries on capitol hill as the draw down will not just imperil the u.s. embassy in iraq, one of the biggest u.s. embassies in the world, it could give a signal to iran that the united states is handing over iraq to iranian influence. >> great to talk with you again. appreciate it. well, secretary of state mike pompeo might face some tough questions about those troop draw downs today. he is set to travel to israel this hour. earlier pompeo met with the george began president as part of a tour of europe in the middle east. pompeo arrives in israel just

one day after prime minister benjamin netanyahu spoke with president-elect joe biden. let's bring in cnn's oren lieberman. he joins us live. good to see you, oren. what is prime minister netanyahu likely to say to pompeo about this order for u.s. troop drawdown in a year? >> reporter: i don't think he will mention that at all. anything that will reflect negatively on the administration or on secretary of state mike pompeo and he certainly isn't about to mention that phone call he had with president-elect joe biden. he took his time in recognizing he was the president-elect. a statement he made only congratulated joe biden and kamala harris. what's he trying to do? build on the regional normalization deals. there will be a try lateral

meeting a little later on this afternoon visiting settlements. that's the first for a u.s. official, certainly the first for a u.s. secretary of state. unprecedented for any secretary of state and pompeo ruled that settlements in the west bank and the golan heights were not de facto a violation of internags 23458 law. it's not clear which one yet. he could visit trump heights. where is he off to after this? qatar and saudi arabia. those are significant because it's those two that they're pushing for normalization with israel. meanwhile, there will be no

meetings with the palestinians. they are furious about pompeo's visits to settlements. >> many thanks to oren lieberman joining us live. south australia is taking extreme measures after a new covid outbreak there. we will go live to sydney to get the latest. picking your health insurance coverage isn't something you want to play games with. hope you got dental. and that's why i love healthmarkets, your insurance marketplace. they guarantee you won't find a lower price anywhere for the plans they offer, so you're not just picking by chance. no copay?... sweet. with health insurance plans constantly changing, having the wrong fit could mean missing benefits or costing you thousands. healthmarkets' fitscore instantly ranks plans both on and off the government exchange to find one that best fits your insurance needs. in minutes, you can find out if your current plan is the right fit, or if there's another one that can get you more coverage or help save you money.

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welcome back, everyone. france is the first european country to surpass 2 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus. government officials say the second wave of the virus is massive and deadly placing the health care system under pressure. while france is in the midst of

a four-week lockdown, there are signs the rate of infection is slowing. >> translator: our collective efforts are starting to bear fruit. in recent days the number of cases is dropping. let's redouble our efforts to gain control of the epidemic. all collective efforts, the respective curfews, national containment explain this positive trend. it is by maintaining high level of vigilance we will be able to spend the winter months in the best possible safety conditions. >> german lawmakers have delayed new lockdown measures until next week leading angela merkel to urge the country to work together to get the virus under control. >> translator: infection numbers aren't growing exponentially anymore but are still far too high so we have to reduce

contacts, reduce contacts, reduce contacts. i am fully aware that the measures to restrict all contacts are and remain a burden, a democratic burden, and they are among the toughest decisions i have made in office. >> and sweden appears to be scrapping its herd immunity approach. it is banning gatherings of more than eight people. the country has reported more than 15,000 new infections since friday. well, south australia says it is shutting down for six days starting at midnight thursday local time after an outbreak in a suburb of adelaide. only supermarkets and medical facilities will remain open. angus walton is tracking developments from his vantage point there in sydney. good to see you, angus. this will shut down the whole state of south australia, and there are only a small number of

cases. >> reporter: i know, rosemary. it's quite remarkable to think that this is the extent to which the south australian government is willing to go to to clamp down on just a 22 case cluster of covid-19, but they're concerned because there hadn't been an outbreak of the coronavirus locally in south australia for months. so it's moved swiftly and it's moved decisively to lock down the entire state. nobody's allowed to leave their house except for one person per day to get food. weddings and funerals have to be canceled if they've been planned over the next six weeks and only essential businesses are going to be open. the government there hopes this will be a circuit breaker. it hopes it will allow the health authorities to get on top of the cluster which they have 22 diagnosed cases for but they just don't know how many they will get in the coming days. they've asked the people of south australia to ban together

and get through a short, sharp lockdown. here's what the premier had to say. >> this is about south australia pausing so we stay ahead of the virus. our concern is if we don't have the circuit breaker, we will not stay ahead of this. there is no second chance to stop a second wave. we are the a a critical point but we will get through this. >> reporter: what he just mentioned there, saying a second wave, that's really what they're concerned about there in south australia because they look across at their neighbors, victoria, where there was a brutal second wave of covid-19 this winter and melvin, the capitol there, had to enter a 112 day lockdown to get on top of that virus. that second wave killed 819 people. the government of south australia wants it to be a deeper, much swifter lockdown to try to get on top of this quickly, rosemary. >> angus watson, thank you so

much for joining us live from sidney. appreciate it. angela merkel is concerned about the spread of covid-19. while there are promising signs from several vaccine candidates, they come with a formidable transportation hurdle. frederick pleitgen joins us live. fred, you looked into that. what did you find? >> reporter: we certainly did, rosemary. we went to the largest pharma hub belonging to lufthansa. what we learned is lufthansa cargo, other logistics companies as well, say they are prepared for delivering a lot of doses of covid-19 vaccine once a candidate is approved, but they also say that there are some major logistical challenges, especially with vaccines that need to be stored in a very, very cold way. here's what we learned.

while the world's passenger airlines face an uncertain future with covid-19, lufthansa cargo is hoping to end the pandemic. they faced a daunting challenge of having to transport billions of doses of vaccine around the world. the rule of thumb they say, the colder a vaccine needs to be stored, the more difficult it is to ship it. several vaccine makers believe they'll be able to apply for emergency use authorization for their candidates soon. but pfizer's vaccine, for instance, needs to be stored at minus 100 degrees fahrenheit. lufthansa says its pharma logistics hubs uses special containers like these packed with dry ice. still, keeping them cold enough

is not easy the head of the farm ma hub says. >> the temperature minus 70 degrees is a challenge. we have to do dry ice. we need dry ice within the come partments. we need more dry ice. we have another dry ice concentration aboard the aircraft so these are all the things we have to consider. >> reporter: another issue, the dry ice emits a lot of co2 gas. that can be dangerous for flight crews inside the plane so each cargo flight can only carry a limited amount of containers holding dry ice. the challenges are immense, but the airline said it's been building capacities and consulting with vaccine makers and thinks it's ready to deliver viles as soon as a candidate gets regulatory approval. >> this is a special situation, but given what we have done during the last month with all of the flexibility, all of the

things we have to produce and to perform in a very, very short notice, our team, i believe, is ready for this challenge. >> reporter: a massive logist logistical challenge as the world waits for a vaccine to be certified but also to be delivered fast and in large amounts. as you can see there, rosemary, it is quite a complicated operation that is going to begin once vaccine candidates are approved for distribution. you look at lufthansa cargo, there's one thing they told us yesterday. they said they were going to retire part of their aircraft fleet, older planes by the end be of this year. they've postponed that now. also in anticipation, they're going to be adding a lot of work to do once the vaccine comes on the market, rosemary. >> good to see the airlines getting ready for this. we're in a good place right now. frederick pleitgen, many thanks for that. the head of the world health

organization says the surge in covid cases across many parts of the globe is extremely worrying. earlier i spoke with the agency's chief scientist about what needs to be done to stop the spread. >> we know so much more about the virus now and how it spreads than we did when this pandemic began. we have those tools in our hands and it's a question of following through with those measures and having the discipline and the rigor to continue to do the things we know work. and we talk about pandemic fatigue and getting tired of these measures, but things can get really bad, and they are. the numbers are going up. and after many months of stable death rates, we're seeing sharp increase as well. it's not like it's just the infection that's in the population and it's not taking at all, people are dying and we're also now learning that infections, even if they are mildly symptomatic, for

relatively young people can lead to organ damage. can lead to a lot of long-term consequences on the deliver, on heart, on brain, on the nervous system. it's not an infection we should take lightly. and still ahead, president trump's personal attorney took his fight over the election to a federal court. but while rudy giuliani's legal arguments seemed high on drama, they were low on evidence. the details next. neuriva has cy proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. robinwithout the commission fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

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in a major reversal, a bipartisan panel in michigan's largest county has certified election results there. that came after republicans had temporarily blocked certification over dubious claims of voter irregularities in detroit. president-elect joe biden won michigan by a margin of more than 148,000 votes and had

strong support in wayne county. michigan's secretary of state reacted to the certification news live on cnn. >> the truth won in this scenario. basically the evidence is clear, there were no irregularities. there was no evidence of widespread fraud and there were minor clerical errors than we were discussing, less than in past elections, and that really isn't a valid reason in my view and apparently ultimately the board to validate and silence the votes in the county. they did the right thing, they certified the election for the voters in wayne county. >> the u.s. president is pinning his hopes of overturning his loss to joe biden on the u.s. state of pennsylvania and his personal attorney rudy giuliani. giuliani's appearance was long on theatrics, short on substance. it's not clear whether it will

get the president what he wants as a yet elusive legal victory. here's cnn's tom foreman. >> reporter: disgraceful. living in some fantasy world. that is how an attorney for election officials characterized the president's lawyer in a pennsylvania court as rudy giuliani claimed election irregularities. >> wow! >> reporter: he argued some of the same arguments. >> i know this city has a sad history of voter fraud. >> reporter: but when a judge asked giuliani how he could possibly justify throwing out millions of votes, former new york mayor dodged and just kept pushing his story and that is pretty much how it's going in trump's quest for a legal solution to his lost election. >> tremendous litigation going on and this is the case where they're trying to steal an election. >> reporter: in hotly contested arizona, team trump has

abandoned legal action now that it's clear it can't help him win there. in wisconsin, a recount would cost almost $8 million up front. in michigan they said there was lack of proof. ever since the votes trump has howeled that the election was rigged, ballots were altered, signatures not checked and voting machines full of glitches but he has produced no evidence for any of that. his department of homeland security says this election was the most secure in american history and long-time lawyer for republican election interests ben ginsburg says looking over the cases, the utter lack of proof is just part of the problem. >> whether or not there are any valid charges in what the trump team has filed, what is clear from the pleadings is that there are not enough votes in question to change the outcome of the election in any of the states they're trying to contest. >> reporter: what happened to

giuliani was by some accounts humiliating and to many a sure sign that the president's desperate legal bid for victory is coming to a painful conclusion, with joe biden still the winner. the once powerful hurricane iota has caused devastation in central america. the deadly storm is weakening but still poses a threat to the region. we are surveying the damage and tracking the latest developments. that's next. diabetes complicated. meet omnipod - it delivers insulin through a tubeless pod. just one small pod replaces up to 14 injections! and today - you can get started with a free 30-day omnipod dash trial at omnipod.com. no more daily injections. it's game-changing! get started with a free 30-day omnipod dash trial today. go to omnipod.com for risk information, instructions for use and free trial terms and conditions. consult your healthcare provider before starting on omnipod. simplify diabetes.

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pro-democracy protesters in thailand are vowing to take to the streets of bangkok again after the most violent clashes since the youth-led demonstrations began in july. dozens of people were hurt. demonstrators converged on parliament to pressure lawmakers as they consider changes to the constitution. hurricane iota was deadly as well as destructive in nicaragua, the country's vice president said the storm killed six people there. iota has been downgraded but is still causing catastrophic flash floods as it moves through

honduras. expected to weaken and dissipate near el salvador. patrick ottman has more on the impact to central america. >> reporter: most powerful storm in 2020. iota made landfall in nicaragua as a devastating hurricane. with the ground already soaked from eta's heavy rains, emergency officials warned that hurricane iota could cause dangerous mudslides and flash flooding. colombia's navy sent supplies where one storm survivor said iota devastated the island. >> translator: this area is destroyed. there is not a single home left in good condition. all the homes are destroyed.

all the vegetation is destroyed. >> reporter: tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes in nicaragua and honduras because of the two unusually powerful late season hurricanes. the president of honduras says climate change is reeking havoc on central america. >> translator: it has been scientifically verified. we have had a problem. >> reporter: a problem that could have far-reaching impacts. hurricane mitch in 1998 leveled whole areas of honduras and nicaragua killing thousands of people and leaving millions more homeless. tens of thousands migrated to the united states. failing crops blamed on the effects of climate change have caused thousands to leave central america and head north. they will likely add desperation

and fuel migration but it could take days or weeks to fully assess the destruction. >> this is one of the most poorest and vulnerable areas in the country. to have an idea, to get to biwi, it will take you more than 13 hours by car or to take a flight, which right now is not possible. >> reporter: there is less than two weeks until the end of the hurricane season, but the hurt inflict the by first hurricane eta and hurricane iota will likely endure for years to come. >> thank you so much for your company. i'm rosemary church. "early start" is coming up next. you're watching cnn. have yourselves a great day. when we started our business

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welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm laura jarrett. christine romans is off today. it's wednesday, november 18th. 5 a.m. here in new york. nine weeks until joe biden's inauguration as the 46th president in the united states. this morning signs of a stress test for american democracy are on multiple fronts. in an active revenge, president trump fired his administration's most senior cyber security official who declared the election the most secure in u.s. history. that official, chris krebs, had been aggressively pushing back against president trump's false claims of voter fr