He s my guest. Let s go outfront. Good evening. I m erin burnett. The breaking news, general milley wasn t alone. As calls grow from mark milley to resign over revelations he contacted a top chinese general twice in the final months of donald trump s presidency to reassure beijing the u. S. Would not attack china, we re learning mark esper also took extraordinary steps at the same time. A former senior defense official says that the chinese were so concerned about the rhetoric coming out of trump s white house last year that esper, the defense secretary had a top deputy, not milley, a top deputy back channel beijing telling them they were in no danger of being attacked. That is the exact same thing milley said and we ve learned today that milley conducted his call to the top chinese general in consultation with and with the approval of secretary esper. That call from milley was on october 30th of 2020. And there was one more call after that. This a call from milley to the same chinese
Hand it over to the covid candidate. I don t believe the science suggests that young people should be vaccinated. I don t believe the science suggests that young people should have to wear masks at school. I m not sure the science is settled on that at all. Young people are not likely to contract the coronavirus and when they do, their symptoms are likely to be mild and they re not likely to be hospitalized and certainly not likely to die. If misinformation could kill. It all helps to explain why governor gavin newsom beat the recall effort and by a lot, winning support from more than 60% of the electorate. According to exit polls, the most important issue for voters was the coronavirus. And when asked about the governor s job on covid, 65% said his policies were about right or not strict enough. So republicans, your thirst for covid is why you lost. Nobody likes your policies that threaten our safety and our kids. You, you may want covid. You may want toin gest horse dewormer and atte
For california governor newsom who easily defeated a republicanled recall that could have removed him from office. Newsom s coronavirus policies validated by democratic voters who said no to the recall by a nearly 2:1 margin. The california governor thanked his supporters and warned about the dangers of republican efforts he says to undermine democracy. We said yes to see you inside, we said yes to vaccines, we said yes to ending this pandemic. We may have defeated trump, but trumpism is not dead in this country. The big lie, january 6th insurrection, all the voting suppression efforts happening across this country, what is happening, assault on fundamental rights, constitutionally protected rights of women and girls, this is a remarkable moment in our nati nation s history. Larry elder who pledged to repeal newsom s coronavirus restrictions acknowledged his loss despite vowing to fight in the days before the vote. My opponent governor gavin newsom [ boos ] come on, let s be gracious.
Disgraced usa. Still testifying before the committee. In a few minutes we expect to hear from senators who participated and joined by the gymnasts who are survivors of nassar s abuse. When that press conference happens, we ll take you there live. Also this hour the president is scheduled to meet with leaders in the business community about the pandemic response as cases are rising nationally, again. Vaccine soft mandates for u. S. Businesses, if you will. Today s top story is a reminder of the potency of the pandemic politically after a recall defeat in california. Despite some serious concerns about voter enthusiasm, could governor newsom s strategy be a model for democrats around the country in elections this year and perhaps next year, though i would hold off on the next year given the uncertainty of covid. He did handily defeat the recall vote. Republicans did not put any dent in his level of support. He may emerge from this ordeal even stronger politically. Wait until you see the
From the expresident s play book. And a cnn investigation of trump s pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election. The calls, the texts, the voice mails and more. Plus, how his lies are still threatening the nation. We want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. I m wolf blitzer. You re in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Let s get straight to the breaking news we re following. Truly stunning new revelations of very deep concern at the highest levels inside the pentagon over former president trump and his erratic behavior during his final weeks in office. They come in a new book by journalist bob woodward and rob costa who say the general took unprecedented action to limit trump s ability to order a military strike. Cnn special correspondent is joining us now. She has details of what was going on. Jaime, the joint chiefs chairman, general millie, he was very concerned. He wanted to safe guard the nation s nuclear arsenal. He wanted to sa