educator. and to educators, caregivers, and students, help is on the way. i wish all of you a merry christmas and a happy holiday. and may god bless you all and may god protect our troops. i'm going to turn you over to the next secretary of education, dr. miguel cardona . mr. president-elect, madame vice president-elect, thank you for this opportunity to serve. i know how challenging this year has been for students, for educators, and for parents.

i've lived those challenges alongside millions of american families. not only in my role as state education commissioner, but as a public school parent. and as a former public school classroom teacher. for so many of our schools and far too many of our students, this unprecedented year has pild on crisis after crisis. it's taken some of our most painful long-standing disparities and wrenched them open even wider. it's taxed our teachers, our leaders, our school professionals and staff, who already pour so much of themselves into their work. it's taxed the families struggling to adapt to new routines as they balance the stress, pain, and loss that this year has given them. it has taxed young adults trying to chase their dreams to advance our education beyond high school

and carve out their place in the economy of tomorrow. and it has stolen time from our children. who have lost something sacred and irreplaceable this year, despite the heroic efforts of so many of our nation's educators. though we are beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel, we also know that this crisis is ongoing, that we will carry its impacts for years to come. and that the problems and inequities that have played our educational system since long before covid will still be us, even after the virus has gone. so it's our responsibility, it's our privilege to take this moment and to do the most american thing imaginable. to forge opportunity out of crisis. to draw on our resolve, our ingenuity, and our tireless optimism as a people.

and build something better than we've ever had before. that's a choice that americans make every day. it's a choice that defines us as americans. it's a choice my grandparents made. when they made their way from puerto rico for new opportunities in connecticut. i'm proud to say i was born at the yale acres housing projects. that's where my parents, hector and sarah cardona instilled early on the importance of hard work, service to community, and education. i was blessed to attend the public schools in my hometown of meriden, connecticut, where i was able to expand my horizons and become the first in my family to graduate college and become a teacher, a principal, an assistant superintendent in the same community that gave me

so much. that, that is the power of america. and i, being bilingual and bicultural, is as american as apple pie and rice and beans. for me, education was the great equalizer. but for too many students, your zip code and your skin collar remain the best predictor of the opportunities you'll. >> in your lifetime. we've allowed what the educational scholar pedro neguerrero to hold back too many children. for too long we've allowed children to graduate from high school without any idea of how t to meaningful engage in the workplace while good jobs go unfilled. for far too long, we've spent money on interventions and band-aids to address disparities, instead of lying a wide, strong foundation of

quality, early childhood child education and quality social and emotional support for all of our learners. for far too long, we've let college become inaccessible to too many americans, for reasons that have nothing to do with their aptitude or aspirations, and everything to do with cost burdens and, unfortunately, an internalized culture of low expectations for some. for far too long, we've worked in silos, failing to share our breakthroughs and successes in education. we need schools to be places of innovation, knowing that this country was built on innovation. and for far too long, the teaching profession has been kicked around and not given the respect it deserves. it should take a pandemic for us to realize how important teachers are for this country. there are no shortages of challenges ahead. no shortage of problems for us

to solve. but by the same token, there are countless opportunities for us to seize. we must embrace the opportunity to re-imagine education and build it back better. we must evolve it to meet the needs of our students. there's a saying in spanish that we say. we say -- [ speak, spanish ] we gain strength from working together. i look forward to sitting at the tables with parents, caregivers, students, advocates, state, local, and tribal leaders. there's no higher duty for a nation than to build better paths, better futures for the next generation to explore. for too many students, public education in america has been a wilted rose.

neglected, in need of care. we must be the master gardeners called to cultivate it. who work every day to preserve its beauty and its purpose. i'm grateful for the chance to take on this responsibility. and i'm grateful to my own children. miguel jr., or as recall him, angelito, and to my daughter, celine. and to my wife and best friend, marissa. herself a middle school family school liaison. and i'm grateful for the trust you've placed in me mr. president-elect and madame vice president-elect. i look forward to getting to work on behalf of america's childrens and the families and the communities and the nation they will grow up to inherit and lead.

thank you. my first grade teacher, mrs. frances wilson, god rest her soul, attended my law school graduation. she taught our first grade class with two teachers' aids and 22 teachers in the classroom. and she instilled in me a deep belief in the importance and significance of public education, that i carry with know this day. if we are going to full ill our country's promise, we must be dedicated to a strong public education system. we must value it, we must strengthen it, and we must

invest in it. because one of the most important gifts a society can give its young people is the gift of a world-class education. we also know that right now, our education system as we have discussed, from early learning centers to colleges and universities is reeling from this pandemic. parents and educators are being stretched to their limits. and so are the cafeteria workers and bus drivers and custodians and nurses who normally keep our schools running. students at colleges and technical colleges now worry about losing credits, losing financial aid, and losing income from working offn campus. and all of this disruption is taking a heavy toll on the mental health and well-being of our students of all ages, who are at risk of falling behind.

at the same time, this pandemic threatens to widen disparities between students of different races and backgrounds, making it harder for those who already were behind to keep up. so first things first. we need to get this virus under control and reopen our schools safely, as the president-elect always says. and that is why the president-elect and i are supporting funding for our education system in this recently passed covid-19 relief legislation. and we will continue to fight for additional emergency relief for our educators and our schools. and even as we do, we must also build a public education system that lifts up all americans. regardless of race, battleground, or zip code. an education system that prepares them with the knowledge and the skills to thrive in a 21st century economy. we must make sure our children

are getting the foundation that's so important for lifelong success. we must end the current status quo, where school districts with the greatest needs get the fewest resources. and we must remove barriers to opportunity for poor and rural communities and communities of color. the leader that we have announced today will help us do that. and unlock the power of an education for all americans. dr. miguel cardona is not only a seasoned public servant, he is also a former public schoolteacher and administrator, with the experience in the classroom. and he knows what our students, teachers, and schools need to be successful. he has dedicated his career to fighting for our children and dedicated his career to investing in their capacity.

and he has a deep belief in the power of a world-class education to help every child, everywhere, overcome barriers of race, gender, our income, to reach their god-given potential. dr. cardona represents the very best of our nation, and he is the kind of leader america's students, educators, and families deserve. i have always believes that government has three principle functions. public health, public safety, and public education. over the course of the past few weeks, we have announced remarkable leaders, who will help contain this pandemic and keep the american people safe and secure. under dr. cardona's leadership, we will work together to put together an outstanding education system that will be within each for everyone, breaking down barriers to

equality, opening new paths to opportunity, and helping to fulfill america's promise to all of our children. thank you, mr. president-elect. [ inaudible question ] >> all right. i'm kate balduan, everyone. you have been watching and listening to president-elect joe biden announcing his pick for education secretary, miguel cardona. let me bring in cnn's jeff zeleny. he's been standing by in wilmington, delaware, joining me once again. jeff, another historic pick added to the president-elect's cabinet. >> reporter: kate, it certainly is. miguel cardona, whose parents are from puerto rico, he said he was a product of public schools in connecticut, grew up in public housing in connecticut, described himself like this.

he said, i'm as american as apple pie and rice and beans. he, of course, has been the leader of the education system in connecticut. really a post he's only had for the last year or so, but it certainly fits the commitment and the pledge that president-elect biden made to nominate a schoolteacher for this role. of course, jill biden, the future first lady, is a community college educator. she is a teacher. she delivered her speech at the convention from a classroom. education very important to the bidens. so that, of course, front and center here. and it does continue in the series of diverse choices to the biden cabinet. so certainly an interesting choice there. and really stepping into what is a remarkable debate now, heightened even more by the pandemic. will schools reopen in the country? the president-elect says that it's his goal to reopen schools within the first one hundred days, but he needs funding from congress to do that and they need the vaccine to be in place and other ppe and other matters in terms of funding.

but that is the goal. and he has walked a line between teach the teacher's union and the need to reopen schools here. that's one of the reasons he was nominated here today, kate. >> and look, education secretary is an important post in any administration's cabinet, but especially at this moment in these unprecedented circumstances that students, teachers, parents, educators, administrators are all facing with the pandemic and shutdowns across the country. you can see that in this announcement, in the way they discussed it today. but with that, after that, you now have, i think, five cabinet-level positions left to fill. chief among them, jeff, everyone is waiting to hear more, to hear about is attorney general. what are you learning right now about why the decision, this announcement is taking longer than previously thought? >> reporter: well, that is the biggest cabinet position that remains open. who will lead the department of justice in the post-trump era. and we do know at least there are two final contenders, we're

told. that is judge merrick garland, who of course was nominated by president obama to serve on the supreme court. that was blocked. and outgoing alabama senator doug jones. those are two of the leading contenders. there may be others who are still being considered, because we heard president-elect biden say yesterday himself, there's not an obvious choice for this. so at his end-of-year news conference yesterday, we did ask the president-elect why this is taking so long. what is behind this. and he said, look, he is looking to fill a team, so it's not just the attorney general. they are also looking for the deputy attorney general, the head of the civil rights division, perhaps the solicitor general, as well. so we are expecting a package announcement, if you will, of all of these contenders. but he also says he's looking for someone who's outside the realm of politics given everything that's going on. and kate, he said, it's not influenced by this, but one thing certainly going on in this is hunter biden's investigation,

who will be an issue for whoever heads the doj. coming up for us, the president's airing of grievances threatens to upend a covid relief bill months in the making. where do things stand? basically, no one knows. the deadlines that lawmakers are now facing, that's next.

let's get to the chaos that the president has now caused for congress. lawmakers left town, because they finally did their job, approved multiple bills needed to keep the government funded and functioning and get much-needed relief to millions of americans suffered because of the pandemic. but as if the president just woke up after a months-long nap, he is just now demanding

changes. but make no mistake. while he plays this game, unemployment benefits will run out for millions of americans in just three days, and the government could shut down in just five. cnn's congressional correspondent, phil mattingly joins me now. phil, what are the facts here? do you see some chess game the president is trying to play? >> reporter: no, i don't. and one thing to keep in mind. the stunning thing about this moment is really nobody knows what's going to happen. nobody was expecting this on capitol hill. a large portion of the president's team was not raising him to raise these concerns about the bill. they had told us that he would sign this deal when it was done. his team had been in the room for the negotiations. his team had signed off on those negotiations. his team had proposed the $600 level for the direct payments. obviously, the president is his own entity and intends to go his own way. the reality is, a good portion of the video that was raised last night where his objections

were raised was driven, i'm told, by what he saw on television, by what he saw on fox, by what he saw on news max, about people getting angry that a covid relief bill included provisions that had foreign aid in them. here's the reality of it. the covid relief bill, the $900 billion package with the direct payments with the extension of the crucial unemployment insurance programs, that expired december 26th, was attached to a spending bill, to an soomnibus spending bill, and those issues the president raised on foreign aid, kate, our colleague kevin liptac went through, they almost to the dollar match up with what president trump himself requested in the budget, in his budget request. there's a lot of conflating of information going on from the president here, and the bottom line is, nobody's total sure what's going to happen or what this is trying to prove. you mentioned, crucial deadlines beyond the $600 million payments, you're talking about those two federal unemployment payments, nearly 13 million people expiring december 26th. you're talking about a potential government shutdown in just a

matter of days. it's chaos without any clear path forward and everybody is wait-and-see mode. >> yeah, unfortunately with millions of americans stuck in the middle, as you well are laying out. phil, thank you. keep us updated. on top of this, the president is flexing his presidential pardon power in a very real way, announcing a wave of pardons last night, clemency for former allies, former aides, corrupt former lawmakers, 20 of them in all. joining me now to discuss is bill kristol, founder of defending democracy together and editor in large of the bulwark. i think mark alan on axios laid out pretty succinctly what they think is behind all of this, if you put it all together. that donald trump is doing this because he can, because he wants attention, and because he wants to split the party. what do you think is driving this, bill? >> hi, kate, good to be with you. so we just saw joe biden. it was normal american politics.

the incoming president-elect and vice president president-elect nominating a secretary of education, a new face and will mark a departure in policy, obviously, from the proceeding administration, which was the opposite party. that's how american politics works. and in the split screen, we have the incumbent president, the lame-duck president who is causing chaos, out of the blue -- who cares about chaos for congress, they've got to work on that, but chaos for americans, depending on unemployment insurance, people looking forward to various provisions in the coronavirus package, the covid package, which includes money for accelerating the distribution of vaccines by the states. it includes money for testing, there's a lot of important stuff in there. we might have a government shutdown. on monday night, in the middle of a pandemic, and in the middle of a transition, and we have the pardons and we have related to that, this, i think, people haven't noticed quite enough, bill barr, seven days, nine days ago, i think, he and the president negotiated, really,

his resignation. they weren't getting along anymore. he's leaving as of tonight. yesterday, he mentioned a bunch of things. it was monday that he hadn't done that the president wanted him to do, using the power of the justice department. he's being succeeded by a deputy attorney general, who i'm told, has been much more compliant with donald trump and the trump white house and saying, yeah, let's go ahead and do all of these things using the justice department. maybe barr also wanted to get out before some pardons that were coming that would be more egregious, really, than the ones we saw yesterday. so we have a justice department turnover, very unusual three, four weeks before the end of the term. bill barr doesn't, i think, have any family business or personal business that requires him to leave on december 23rd, as opposed to january 20th, right? but he chose to get out or trump wanted him out of there, to be able to presumably do a few things that barr might have objected to. defense department, i've talked to people who just left there recently. people are pretty concerned about the trump team that was

put in there when the defense secretary was fired after the auction. not a very common thing, either. i think the agree of not just chaos, but actual damage that trump can continue to do over the next three, four weeks, shouldn't be underestimated. >> you actually -- i wanted to ask you about pardons, because you tweeted that if you think these pardons are bad that just happened, it's going to get worse. what do you mean, bill? >> i think we'll certainly get manafort and other people involved in the russia cooperation, let's put it that way from 2016, and people who didn't cooperate with mueller are going to be rewarded for not doing so by getting pardoned. there could also be pardons of figures like snowden and assange, which barr certainly would have objected to, and other trump business cronies and corrupt politicians that happened to support him, so he's pardoning them. i'm thinking about the pardons of those members of congress. what is more important in measuring than any democracy than upholding just basic laws against crooked behavior if that

behavior is indulged in by members of congress? no one's challenged the voracity of those charges. they were convicted by juris of their peers. it's straight-out just corruption, you know, embezz embezzlement of money and using campaign funds for mistresses. what's the rationale from a public policy point of view for those pardons? none. and he'll pardon various other cronies, and then we get to his family, to rudy giuliani, to people very close to the current kind of conspiracy, you know, that trump is engaged in. so i think the pardons could be quite something over the next few weeks. >> and bill, when you look at what he's doing, in the process of doing to the republican party, essentially trying to split it. he's taking on john thune, mitch mcconnell, taking on what they agreed to in the covid bill. how much of this is trump knowing that he's on the way out, do you think, but also just desperate to keep ahold of the republican party? do you think these moves make him successful if that?

>> i would have said six, eight weeks ago, despite any disappointment of the republicans, i would say, no, he can't get away with this. but money is pouring in. he's going to leave with hundreds of millions of dollars, probably, a couple hundred million in a leadership pac he will control. money is power, the ability to get the base lisriled is power. and i'm not sure they win this with trump. january 6th will be important. how many senators desert mcconnell in immuthune. in the old days, you would say none, they'll pay a price for doing it. but now with trump making an issue. will mike pence show up on january 6th to preside over the senate and do his constitutional duty and do it in a gracious

way. dan quayle presided over the senate when bill clinton and al gore won in 1993 and simpleized the peaceful transfer of power. i'm not sure pence is going to do that on january 6th. >> yet another date we must mark on the calendar. thank you. coming up next for us, the trump administration will buy another 100 million doses of the pfizer vaccine. what that means for when the general population, all of us can expect to get the vaccine. that's next.

this just in to cnn. the trump administration will be invoking the defense production act to prioritize materials and supplies needed to produce more vaccines. the administration has also now reached a deal with pfizer to purchase an additional 100 million doses of its vaccine, at least. 70 million doses will go out by june 31st. the director of nih told cnn this morning that he's amazed at how the vaccine rollout has gone so far, but that americans still need to be patient. >> i think it's pretty amazing that it's gone as fast as it has. i think the distribution effort is pretty amazing. if we don't quite get to 20 million people being vaccinated

this month, i hope people understand, this is a logistics challenge of enormous proportion. >> those doses really can't come soon enough. this country reported the second highest death toll since the pandemic has began. 3,401 americans died from covid on tuesday. and there are almost 118,000 people hospitalized right now. that's a new high and there's more evidence every day that health care systems across the country are being zbloeoverwhel. the u.s. has remained above 21,02 100,000 hospitalizations for 21 days. doctor, thank you for coming back in. the last time you were on, we were talking about the vaccine distribution effort and you said that you were concerned about how this was really going to go logistically and beyond. we now know that 5 million doses have been distributed in the first week or so, but about 600,000 have been administered.

does that concern you? >> absolutely. i was one of the people who was lucky just over a week to go to get vaccinated myself, as someone who,or on the front lines. it's being sent to hospitals who have a distribution system in place. we know who's getting it. we're not having as much as of the fighting, who's going to get it next. we know front line providers should be prioritized. so, yeah, it is important that we get it out as quickly as possible. but it's also important to remember that the vaccine will save us and it's crucial to ending this pandemic, but in the short-term, we need to double down on the things that we've opinion doing all along. 600,000 people were vaccinated in the first week of the vaccine rollout, but 1.5 million people got covid and many of those will be hospitalized and many of those will add to that covid death tally while they're waiting for a vaccine. >> that's a really troubling

kpr comparison when you put it that way. this is day after day after day. how is that bearing out in your hospital? >> just as it is all over the country. we're seeing rapid and increased up the upticks on the number of cases on a nearly daily basis. look at the hospitalization numbers now, 117,000, 118,000, that's double the peaks of april and july. we have had an increase in hospitalizations almost every single day since early october and the likelihood is that we'll continue to have an increase over the next few weeks. we see that cases, maybe they're plateauing, but we're going into a holiday season where millions of people are traveling. the likelihood is that we'll have more cases, that will contribute to more hospitalizations and contribute to more deaths. projections are that we could have 3,600, 3,700 deaths per day in just a couple of weeks if things continue as they have been. >> doctor, i was going to ask you. two days before christmas. what's your message to people who haven't gotten it yet, as it may still be planning to travel

and to get together with folks, just coming from a doctor on the front lines of this every day. >> it's really the same thing that it's been all along, except that now, we do know that there is a light t a the end of this tunnel. and the majority of americans will not be vaccinated until late spring, maybe early summer. it's great news that the vaccine is out, but the vaccine is not going to save a lot of people in the meantime who get infected at holiday dinners, over new year's, or even early in the next year, before they get vaccinated. we need to double down and do the things that we know work. masks. masks could save 55,000 lives, which is many more than the projected number of lives that could be saved in the next few months even from a vaccine rollout. so we're near the end. we just need everyone to help us, especially us on the front lines who are continuing to see a surge of patients. >> dr. spencer, thank you. >> thank you. still ahead for us, investigators say suspected russian hackers took a risk that ultimately may have led to the

discovery of that massive cyber attack targeting u.s. government agencies. we have new report coming up. so you want to make the best burger ever? then make it! that means selling everything. and eating nothing but cheese till you find the perfect slice... even if everyone asks you... another burger truck? don't listen to them! that means cooking day and night until you get... [ ding ] you got paid! that means adding people to the payroll. hi mom. that means... best burger ever. intuit quickbooks helps small businesses be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping. because i want to be a part of something amazing. - i know my gift to shriners hospitals for children makes a difference in the lives of children.

- our support gives kids a bright future. - i give because when i see a child smile, i smile. - when you support shriners hospitals for children, you're joining thousands of other caring people like you who have helped kids like me and over 1.4 million other kids do amazing things. - will you call the number on your screen right now and give $19 a month, just 63 cents a day? you'll be making a life-changing difference for a kid just like me. - your support helps us do amazing things we never thought would be possible, and this is how we say thank you. - [child] thank you! (water splashing) - thank you! (trombone honking) - thank you! (buzzer buzzing) - thank you! - [child] because of your support, we can say thank you by having the life we wouldn't have had without shriners hospitals for children. - my donation to shriners hospitals for children give kids a brighter future.

- i donate money to shriners hospitals for children so children can heal and go home. - yay, shriners! - yay, shriners! - with your monthly gift, we'll send you this adorable love to the rescue blanket as another way to say thank you. plus, it's a reminder of all the children who now have hope because of your support. - will today be the day you send your love to the rescue? - go online right now to loveshriners.org to give your monthly support so more kids like me get the care we need to be kids. - thank you. - thank you for giving. - thank you for giving. - [child] please call right now to give. if operators are busy with other caring donors, please hold patiently, or go to loveshriners.org - [child] your gift, no matter how small, shows you care.

that selling carsarvana, 100% online wouldn't work. please hold patiently, or go to loveshriners.org but we went to work. building an experience that lets you shop over 17,000 cars from home. creating a coast to coast network to deliver your car as soon as tomorrow. recruiting an army of customer advocates to make your experience incredible. and putting you in control of the whole thing with powerful technology. that's why we've become the nation's fastest growing retailer. because our customers love it. see for yourself, at carvana.com.

cnn has new reporting now on how the suspected russian cyber attack of government agencies was discovered. investigators now believe the hackers may have taken a calculated risk that led to a possible unforced error that exposed the breach. joining me with more on this is cnn security correspondent, josh

campbell, who's been digging in. josh, what was this unforced error? >> good morning, kate. when you think about the u.s. government and their cyber capabilities, they have some of the most sophisticated defensive capabilities in the world. but in this case, this massive cyber breach we've been reporting on, it was actually the actions of the hackers that likely tipped off forensic ex examiners that this hack was underway. what we're hearing is this cybersecurity firm fire eye is saying what appears to have happened is that the hackers were in one file, one set of systems, and tried to move what's call laterally over to another set of systems to gather information and it was that movement that tipped off these forensic examiners, that they had a problem on their system. it's classic espionage. when you have access to one body of information, you want to take that call indicaculated risk to more information. and it was likely that jump, that move that tipped off

investigators that something was awry here. what is interesting about this particular hack and what is leading investigators and authorities to believe this was a nation state is think about the motivation. if a hacker goes into a system and their goal is to cause destruction or mischief, that is detected quite rapidly. but nation states, especially at the behest of foreign services want to burrow in and passively gather information, collect as much information as they can, and it's that long time period that is moving this into this direction that authorities believe this was likely russians, and therefore intelligence services doing this. i talked to one forensic examiner who said that looking ahead, one thing that is interesting is that they're not just using sophisticated techniques, there are also unsophisticated te ed technique may be at play here. and that includes basic spearfishing, all of us have received e-mails from untrusted source. that's something the u.s. government is grappling with right now.

>> josh, thank you for bringing that. appreciate it. coming up next for us, a cnn exclusive interview into where viruses like the coronavirus are coming from and what can be done to stop the next pandemic at its source. priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... ♪ ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal.

i guess i look pretty... ridiculous. [ chuckles ] no one looks ridiculous, bob. progressive is always here for you with round-the-clock service. just so you know, next time, you can submit a claim with our mobile app. good. thanks again for -- for rushing over. are you kidding? this is what 24/7 protection looks like.

okay. -you smell like fish. -sorry. i was talking to jamie. -you smell like fish. -sorry. [what's this?] oh, are we kicking karly out? we live with at&t. it was a lapse in judgment. at&t, we called this house meeting because you advertise gig-speed internet, but we can't sign up for that here. yeah, but i'm just like warming up to those speeds. you've lived here two years. the personal attacks aren't helping, karly. don't you have like a hot pilates class to get to or something? [ muffled scream ] stop living with at&t. xfinity can deliver gig to the most homes.

while the world grapples with one pandemic, scientists are warning there are shulurely more to come and when they do, humans may only have themselves to blame. cnn's sam kiley traveled to the democratic republic of the congo where human actions and animal diseases forming the perfect storm. >> reporter: this pristine

wilderness is under threat. the environmental disaster here could lead to a human apocalypse. because locked up in the first are reservoirs of potentially deadly contagions, some perhaps more dangerous than we've ever seen before. ingendy, 400 upriver from congo has been struck by a recent outbreak of the killer ebola virus. it's killed 3 out of 11 patients here, but doctors fear that they've stumbled on a new virus, for which there may be neither treatment or cure. >> we have to figure out what's going on. >> reporter: the doctors just told me that one of their immediate concerns is that they are getting cases now that present symptoms that are similar to ebola, but when they test them in a laboratory here,

they're coming up negative. this patient has ebola symptoms, but she's tested negative. she's one of two victims here who may be fighting a disease never encountered before. i asked the doctor if he was worried about new diseases emerging. >> translator: yes, indeed. we should be afraid. that was how ebola came. it was unknown in a known disease and then after tests, it turned out to be a virus. >> treatments and a vaccine for ebola now mean that while it's often deadly, more patients do survive. but medicine will never keep up with new diseases emerging from the wilderness. the patients here did survive, but tests for known illnesses were all negative. so her disease remains a mystery. doctors worry that more zoonotic diseases like ebola, hiv/aids, sars, and covid-19 will emerge and make that jump from animals to humans.

ingendy, on the river ruki is deep in the congo basin. it's accessible only by vote. but that's how a virus can travel to big cities, to the country's capital, and into the global bloodstream. this has been at the epicenter of this latest fight against ebola, which killed 55 people in the province. >> here, they are battling with the fifth local outbreak of the ebola virus, which is on its 11th here in the congo. they're getting a grip on it, they believe, but they're also concerned about finding unknown viruses that have emerged from the forest. just like ebola. the scientists here have limited funds, but they know their work is essential to protect their own country and the rest of humanity. >> if we don't have all of this place, you can imagine the nightmare scenario where you just have a vast epidemic with many cases leading to a huge

mortality and morbidity. >> more than 100 new viruses have been discovered in the drc over a decade, including many coronaviruses in bats. so it's bats that get tracked. bats are linked to many zoo notc diseases like corona. >> now we're going to put it in the capture bag. you have to be really careful or they bite. >> reporter: the virologists have told us that while they haven't found the coronavirus itself inside them, they have found the antibodies. so these are in a sense a sentinel species, an early warning system for humanity. a net could prove fatal, start an epidemic, or worse. so could a cross-infection from an unknown host, from bats, to chickens, to children. about 80 bats are swabbed, tested for covid and ebola and

then the samples are sent for more investigation. most of them survive capture and are returned to the wild. the congo's population has almost doubled in two decades to around 90 million. this puts the forest under strain and closes the gap between people and the new diseases that could kill them. the scale of the destruction of the rain forest here in the congo is not yet on the scale that we've seen in the amazon. a great deal of it is a result of local farmers who clear the land and farm it for a few years. the problem is that that causes fragmentation of the rain forest, increasing the surface area between the forest and humanity. >> reporter: this professor is an expert in emerging diseases. he's been tracking them since he discovered ebola in 1976. and now he has a warning for us all. >> so it's become an outbreak.

>> are you afraid that there is going to be more emerging diseases coming out of the forest? something that is perhaps, spreads like covid but kills like ebola? >> we are now in a world where new pathogens will come out, that will constitute a threat for humanity. and as you know, most of the disease emerge from africa. >> reporter: and this in the congo is how viruses mostly travel. >> the river congo is the greater artery that gives life to the whole nation, but it's also the route by which the results of deforestuation are exported. >> reporter: like these smoked monkeys being sold for food. i film undercover, because traders here in protected species fear exposure. adams kasinga is my guide.

once subsistence food, now bush meat is an international luxury. can you arrange for shipping to europe and america? i'm told, that's no problem. a protected species, the monkey's heads and arms have to be cut off to disguise them with antelope meat. >> we have experienced an influx of expatriates who demand to eat certain types of meat, such as turtles, snakes, primates. >> the ub estimates that some 5 million tons of wild meat are harvested every year from the congo basin. but the most potent source of viruss are live animals. they carry the viruses can and infect when they're butchered or petted in private zoos. lye animals and bush meat are part of a multi-billion dollar global trade, that's a cause and

a symptom of ecological disaste disaster. combined with logging, untold potential infections could be released. and now it's as if nature has found a way to protect itself. that locked up in the armory of the forest is a weapon against the planet's most deadly threat. humankind. and if so, this abandoned palace of a long-dead dictator isn't a relic of the past, it's a vision of what the planet looks like when mother earth fights back. >> sam kiley joins me now. i have to say, sam, it's both fascinating and a bit terrifying to see your investigation. when you talk to experts, is there anything that can be done to stop the threat of these new viruses? >> well, yeah, in short, there is, kate. there is quite a lot of

interesting work that's been done actually in the amazon rain forest, particularly in brazil, before the balls bolsonaro government took over, which was having people farm in a more sympathetic way alongside the rain forest. but the rain forest is a major source of protein for people who would not otherwise have meat to eat. there's nothing dirty or unclean about hunting bush meat. the problem is that when you add that to denuding rain forests, such as commercial logging and one of the things they're very worried about coming down the lines in the future, a lot of plans are being made in the congo to perhaps cut down the rain forest and replace it with palm oil plantations. this would be catastrophic in an environmental sense, and also, open up those reservoirs of many tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands, possibly more viruses that are locked up in that

wilderness, away from contact with humans. they are inside other animals, possibly even plant species, and it's very often the cross transmission of these viruses that cause the problem. they mutate inside other animals before they get to us. but the whole issue they're making there is the scientists are saying, not if, but when, when it comes to a new contagion. >> sam, thank you very much. and thank you so much for joining me. i'm kate balduan. bianna golodryga is picking up our coverage now. hello. i'm bianna golodryga in for brianna keeler. i want to welcome viewers here in the united states and around the world. we start with president trump, once again upending the legislative process, as we see his brand of chaos escalate in the final days of his presidency. among his targets for destruction is the newly passed covid relief bill. in a recorded message, the president attacked a deal