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Vladimir Putin Prepares for Annual News Conference; E.U. to Discuss Migration and Open Borders; Angry but Peaceful Protests in Baltimore Over Mistrial; China to Impose Sanctions on Ship, Missile Sales to Taiwan; Federal Reserve Raises Key Interest Rate; GOP Debate Tuesday Focused on National Security; Australians Cleaning Up After Severe Storm. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 17, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:01]

(HEADLINES)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome. I am Rosemary Church. Thanks for joining us as we begin our second hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

In about an hour from now, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold his big annual news conference. It's typically several hours long, and Mr. Putin is expected to talk about important domestic and foreign issues, including Russia's involvement in the fight against ISIS and its support for Syria's President. Oil drilling and the newly announced suspension of the free trade zone with Ukraine are also believed to be on the agenda. President Putin will go into this marathon news conference with an 85 percent approval rating, which is slightly down from October.

Well, our Nic Robertson will have more on Mr. Putin's news conference in just a moment. But first, I want to take you to Syria where CNN was given an inside look at Russia's military operation there. Warplanes take off from an air base in Lattakia in western Syria. CNN International Correspondent Matthew Chance has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is how the Kremlin supports its Syrian allies and battles its enemies. We gained rare access to the Syrian base at Lattakia, now the military hub of Russia's air war. This really does feel like the center of a massive Russian military operation. The air is filled with the smell of jet fuel, and the ground shudders with the roar of those warplanes returning from their bombing missions. Russia's defense ministry says more than 200 targets have been struck in just 24 hours, 320 militants killed, it says, from ISIS and other rebel groups fighting the Syrian government and its President, Bashar Al Assad.

So I am joined by General Igor Konashenkov. He's the Chief Military Spokesman for the Russian government, the Russian defense ministry. Thank you for the trip. He's escorting us here on this trip to the Lattakia Military Base. Let me ask you that question. That question about who you are targeting. Is it ISIS or are you supporting Assad?

IGOR KONASHENKOV, CHIEF MILITARY SPOKESMAN FOR THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT: I can answer that question with our actions. Every day we show you how Russian aviation is fighting international terrorism, destroying their infrastructure in Syria.

CHANCE: On our tour of the base we were shown how Russia carefully arms its bombers, with high-tech precision weaponry. We also saw unguided or dumb bombs being loaded. Human rights groups accuse Russia of killing civilians from the air. A charge the Kremlin strenuously denies. Well, there's another plane coming in now just touching down. It's a SU-24 that's going to be very noisy. But it's just carried out an air strike somewhere in Syria against rebel targets, either ISIS or some other opposition group. Russia says it's stopping ISIS in its tracks, striking their assets and shrinking the territory they and other rebel group's control.

And after more than 4,000 sorties over Syria, this Kremlin air war shows no sign of winding down, Matthew Chance, CNN, at the Lattakia Air Base in western Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:01]

CHURCH: All right, let's go to London now and CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson for more on Vladimir Putin's huge news conference. And Nic, these do go on for hours and hours. But what can be expected out of this? What would be the headlines?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure. Well, the headlines are very likely to be the economy, the fight against ISIS, the fight obviously in Syria as we just saw, Ukraine will likely feature. But this can be a very wide-ranging press conference. Last year, the President was asked about his love life. He was asked about a type of Russian-made fermented bread alcohol. So it really is sort of all-encompassing. He comes into this -- President Vladimir Putin comes into this with a relatively high approval rating. The economy is going to be the key thing to keep his approval rating going up in the years ahead.

This is his 11th annual press conference like this. Last year, he said the country could expect to come out of its economic crisis after about two years. So that's another year from now. The reasons that he put forward for the trouble with the economy were the illegal and illicit international sanctions, as he called them, put on Russia as a result of its perceived actions in Ukraine. So that will likely be part of his discussion and part of the questions this go-round. But I think we can expect to see questions about the downing of the Russian passenger aircraft, the Metrojet, where 224 people were killed on the 31st of August as they flew back from Sharm El-Sheikh.

Potentially, questions that will ask Vladimir Putin are the fight against ISIS causing deaths to Russian civilians? And what he is likely to say on the fight against ISIS is that Russia is leading the world, playing a major role on the international stage, and that of course, is part of how he wants to position Russia and how he wants Russia to be perceived at home and abroad as well, Rosemary?

CHURCH: And Nic, obviously there is a lot to cover, as you've said. But these are so long, aren't they, hours and hours of this. How carefully choreographed are these? How carefully do the President and his aides make sure that they select particular questions that they want from the media there?

ROBERTSON: Well, it's an opportunity for Vladimir Putin and his aides to portray him the way that they want to portray him. The media in Russia is very carefully orchestrated and controlled. There's very little independent media, as you and I at least would understand it. So this event will follow the same sort of track. There are over 1,000 journalists there, but we can understand that a lot of them will have had a chance to -- have had their questions vetted in advance. There will be some oddball questions. That's par for the course with these events.

But the way that Vladimir Putin will answer these questions, particularly we've seen him in the past answering questions about regional officials who aren't doing the right thing in their region, very sort of local issue issues, to the person who's asking those questions he'll come across as the big tough leader who says he'll be calling those particular regional leaders to account. This is stage managed. It is an opportunity for him and for the Kremlin to really set the stage of how he wants to be perceived at home and abroad, Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, Nic Robertson, we'll be watching this very carefully and very closely. Thanks so much for joining us live there from London.

All right, let's check some other news now. An embattled FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, is set to testify before investigators on Thursday. In a letter to the football world governing body, Blatter again proclaims his innocence and slams the ethics committee. Blatter is one of several officials suspected of bribery and corruption within FIFA.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says he made a mistake by occasionally using his personal e-mail for government business. Carter says he did not send classified material and has stopped using his personal account for business. The New York Times reports Carter continued the practice for at least two months after it was revealed that Hillary Clinton had done the same thing.

Canada's Prime Minister says his concern for the fate of a Canadian pastor sentenced to life in prison in North Korea. The country's state news agency says Hyeon Soo Lim was found guilty of subversion. His family says he traveled to the country in January on a routine humanitarian trip.

[03:10:01]

CHURCH: European Union leaders are gearing up for their final summit of the year, and there are some major issues on the agenda. Over the next two days, they will discuss controversial reform demands from British Prime Minister David Cameron. They will also examine the long-standing policy allowing passport-free travel through much of Europe. And consider tighter border management.

Well, CNN's Isa Soares is following the workings of the European Union. She joins me now from London. Isa, let's talk about the thought of -- they've had open borders there across the European continent. It would be very difficult for people to come to terms with the fact that they'd be going back to those years when you cross the border and show your passport. How likely is that that decision would be made?

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rosie. I think it's very unlikely at this stage, but you have seen the last couple of months, country after country, mostly eastern European countries you remember, Rosie, setting up borders and fences and wires right across their borders, because of the numbers, the record numbers of refugees we have seen coming into Europe from the likes of Syria, but also because of fears of what will happen in Paris. Worth remembering what in Paris we saw those terrorists there, they made their way into France through those migrant routes, so many concerns for many leaders meeting today.

But today, like you said, a variety of topics. Migration's one of them. Terrorism's another. Chancellor Merkel, the German Chancellor, has selected a group of European leaders to meet with the Turkish Prime Minister. And what they're talking about here is trying to propose resettlement quotas, Rosie. What that would involve is bringing people, refugees directly from captain, Turkey to the European countries. But as you know, this is a very divisive issue. And on top of that, you've got borders and the protection of Schengen, the free open border controls. Many countries say we are not going to be dictated to. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Europe is at loggerheads over how to strengthen its borders. This after these individuals' unleashed panic and death on the streets of Paris, the revelation that some of the terrorists move between countries completely unchecked has many questioning Europe's open borders policy, their needs most palpable on the streets of Paris.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's simply a catastrophe. It's the ease of people traveling with no controls whatsoever.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have some friends who came out from other countries and they told me they just passed like without anything, they weren't checked.

SOARES: Europe's borders changed 20 years ago, when the historic agreement was signed. But with the evolving threats from terrorists and with nearly 900,000 migrants entering the continent to date this year, Europe's borders are changing again. The Schengen area covers 4 million square kilometers and has a population of 400 million people stretching from Norway to Spain, Portugal to Poland. Let me break it down for you. Macedonia has erected a new fence with Greece. Austria is planning one on its border with Slovenia. Hungary has also built a barrier with Serbia and then closed its border with Croatia.

But it's not just physical borders that are going up. Psychological and metaphorical barriers are also being raised politically.

VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER: In light of this terror attack, Brussels cannot challenge the right of member states to defend themselves.

SOARES: European leaders say they are listening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, the Schengen is partly comatose. But those who believe in Europe, those who believe in its values and its principles and its freedoms must try, and they will do so to breathe new life into the spirit behind Schengen.

SOARES: So Europe is promising to reinforce the continent's external borders. This will involve the creation of a 2,000-strong border guard force that will be deployed anywhere, anytime, without any country's approval. In addition, Europe will also broaden what information is shared about passengers traveling around the block, measure that is expected to be highly divisive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be hard. There will be delays. There will be changes to the proposal. But if there is one lesson one must take from how things happen in Europe, is that eventually something will emerge.

SOARES: It's a fine balancing act between keeping Europe safer from terrorism without dismantling what Europeans value the most, freedom of travel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And Rosie, you know we heard there from one of the guests saying basically this will take some time. As you know, there's a lot of red tape when it comes to a matter of European changes in law. But important to note that sharing of passenger information, the majority of E.U. countries will say yes, we are pro, we are for that, we need that.

[03:15:01]

What they're very much anti is really this border force because at the moment we have Frontex, the border force that controls the Aegean as well as the Mediterranean, mostly sea. But now what Europe wants is that to expand to land. Let's say Germany and France want to board a force to go to Macedonia or to Poland. Then Poland will have no say over that. And that's the concern over sovereignty. Expect there to be less unity in Europe once more.

CHURCH: So many issues to cover for the summit. Isa Soares joining us live from London. Let's take a short break here. But just ahead, people flood the streets of Baltimore, marching in protest of a mistrial in the Freddie Gray death case. What Gray's family wants from demonstrators, plus, China is angry about a Taiwan-U.S. arms deal. What the country plans to do to punish the United States. We'll have that when we come back. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

(HEADLINES)

Well, in Baltimore, angry yet peaceful demonstrations in the streets after a judge declares a mistrial in the first court case following the death of Freddie Gray. A jury couldn't agree on a verdict for Officer William Porter. He's one of six officers facing charges in this case. Well, now Gray's family is asking protesters to remain calm as they await justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD SHIPLEY, FREDDIE GRAY'S STEPFATHER: We are hopeful that Ms. Mosby will retry Officer Porter as soon as possible and that his next jury will reach a verdict. Once again, we ask the public to remain calm and patient because we are confident there will be another trial with a different jury. We are calm, you should be calm too. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Jean Casarez gives us a look at the details of this case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For prosecutors, it was all about what Baltimore City Police Officer William Porter didn't do when it came to Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old died from wounds suffered while in police custody on April 12th. Prosecutors say it was callous indifference when Porter didn't call a medic after hearing Gray in the back of a police van say help, I can't breathe. Help me up, and yes, when Porter asked if he needed a medic. The case made national headlines after Gray's arrest was captured on camera. After his death, the city of Baltimore was under siege with protests taking over the streets. Porter is the first of six officers to go on trial in connection with Gray's death.

Prosecutors told the jury Gray's injuries were sustained after officers failed to secure him with a seat belt while transporting him to a police station. Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Carol Allen testified that Gray broke his neck, describing his horrific injuries to the jury saying nothing held arteries to the brain in place. Gray wouldn't have been able to breathe, she testified. Allen also telling the jury if Gray had gotten medical care at that point when Porter spoke to him, she wouldn't have determined the death to be a homicide. Forensic pathologist for the defense testified that Gray's injuries happened after Porter questioned him, and that his injuries were likely the result of an accident and accidents happen. Porter took the stand in his own defense, telling the jury he knew

Gray from patrolling the streets of west Baltimore. They had a mutual respect, but every time Gray was arrested it was a big scene, and he thought this was like all the other times, Gray having a bit of jail- itis, trying to avoid a trip to central booking. Porter testified he never saw any external injuries, and after three days of deliberations the jury was unable to decide if he was guilty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, China is taking action after the U.S. signed off on a huge arms deal with Taiwan. The almost $2 billion deal contains navy- guided missile frigates, amphibious assault vehicles, as well as anti- aircraft and anti-ship systems. Matt Rivers is in Beijing right now, and he joins us live. So Matt, talk to us about what exactly is happening here, the anger on China's side and what they're planning to do in terms of the sanctions that they're threatening.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, anytime the U.S. is involved with an arms shipment to Taiwan, China is very vocal in its opposition to such deals. You'll remember that China views Taiwan as what it terms a renegade province, meaning it views arms shipments from the United States to Taiwan as a national security issue. So it claims that the United States is violating international law by engaging in these types of shipments and it has let the U.S. know that. That said this is certainly not the first time we've seen this kind of an issue. The U.S. has sold arms to Taiwan for decades now.

[03:25:01]

And there are always protests that come out of China. So even though relationships have been -- the relationship between China and the U.S. has been relatively strained as of yet, given issues surrounding cyber security as well as China building artificial islands in the South China Sea, I don't think that we can expect things to escalate between the U.S. and China just because of this latest arms shipment.

CHURCH: So what sort of sanctions, then, will be applied to these U.S. companies? Will -- is it just a threat? Will they actually apply these sanctions? And if they do, what sort of sanctions are we talking about?

RIVERS: Well, that is the big question right now. The Chinese government not being very specific when mentioning those sanctions yesterday, or early this morning here local time, saying that it would levy sanctions against companies as Reuters reported, the two companies involved in this deal would be U.S. defense contractors Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. China said it is willing to levy sanctions against those companies. That said, neither company really has that big of an imprint here in China. So exactly the impact of those sanctions is really unknown at this point, and there is also the option here that China doesn't even go forward with these sanctions, still quite a bit of uncertainty in Beijing over the legitimacy and impact of these sanctions.

CHURCH: All right, we know you'll stay on top of that. Matt Rivers reporting live from Beijing. Many thanks.

Meanwhile, China is searching space for signs of the mysterious substance called dark matter. According to state-run media, China launched its first space telescope on Thursday to aid in that hunt. Scientists say dark matter is invisible material that makes up most of the mass of the universe.

The U.S. Republican Presidential candidates are facing criticism for not exactly getting some of their facts straight during Tuesday's debate. We will check the record for you.

Plus, as Asian markets jump after the U.S. Central Bank raises interest rates, we will tell you how European investors are reacting. We'll be back in a moment.

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[03:33:01]

CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I am Rosemary Church. I want to update you on the main stories we've been watching this hour.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to give his annual domestic and policy address in about a half hour. This news conference usually lasts for several hours, and he takes questions from reporters. The Kremlin says around 1,400 journalists could be in attendance.

The migration crisis and border security are expected to dominate the final European Union summit of the year. E.U. leaders meeting for the next two days in Brussels will assess the risks of passport-free travel on the continent. They will consider a plan to protect the policy while better managing its borders.

China says it will impose sanctions on any company involved in the sale by the U.S. of almost $2billion in ships, missiles, and guns to Taiwan. China considers Taiwan a province and opposes the deal. It also summoned a top U.S. diplomat to complain. The U.S. says the deal is for defensive purposes.

Well, trading is just getting under way in Europe after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced it is raising its key interest rate. Stocks in the Asia pacific region surged after the news. It's a small rate hike, a quarter of one percentage point, but we will see impacts. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen announced the highly anticipated move on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: This action marks the end of an extraordinary seven-year period during which the federal funds rate has held near zero to support the recovery of the economy from the worst financial crisis in recession since the great depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Well, Yellen went on to say that future increases will be

gradual. This is the first hike in nearly a decade, and it's considered to be a sign of improvement in the U.S. Economy. Richard Quest, host of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS", explains why the Fed chose to do it now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": It was the smallest of moves, but of course, it's what it says about the U.S. economy and the future direction of the country's interest rates. Janet Yellen made it clear, the committee felt the time was now right, even though inflation is still well below the two percent target, unemployment has come down, growth is moderate, and even at elevated levels, well, and interest rates are still historically low. So to put this into perspective, the last time the Fed raised rates was nine years ago.

They reduced them down to zero. And they have been there for seven years. Not surprisingly, as soon as the rate rise came out, even though it had been widely expected and telegraphed by the Fed, the market was somewhat perturbed. Here you have the start of the day. Here you have the moment when the announcement was made. And you get a sell-off initially. The market still remains positive. But as the day goes on toward the close the markets, the DOW Jones closes up 224 points, a gain of nearly 1.3 percent. Why such a strong result? Simple, because the Fed made it clear that the future increases in interest rates would be gradual.

Nobody's expecting a repeat of 2004 to 2006 when there were 17 interest rate rises in consecutive meetings. Instead, the best people are expecting maybe two or three interest rate rises next year. Make no bones about it. Times have changed when it comes to increasing interest rates the Fed's making it clear it will be slow and possibly not even steady, Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ok. So here's how markets in the Asia pacific region ended the day following the Fed's decision. You can see there all the arrows in positive territory. Some healthy gains there for sure.

[03:38:01]

Ok, so let's go to the European markets, see how they're reacting now. We want to bring in those numbers, if I can see them, the FTSE up 1.43 percent. And across the board there you see the CAC40 2.18 percent, nearly 2 percent there in Europe, and then Germany more than two percent gain, so pretty healthy looking for sure. Let's go to Michael Hewson, he is the Chief Market Analyst with CMC Markets, and he joins me now from London. All right, we're seeing this pattern. We saw it in the United States, although the initial announcement it dipped and then it gained 1.3 percent. We've seen in Asia, very healthy response there and now across Europe.

So when you initially look at it, it seems like this was a good decision. What's your view of that? MICHAEL HEWSON, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST WITH CMC MARKETS: It's been --

this decision has been -- it's mildly positive. But I think you also need to put this rally that we're seeing in the context of where we were at the beginning of December, and we're still well below the December highs and the December open. So I think a rebound in stock markets was well overdue. I think the good thing about this rate rise is it's removed the uncertainty around the actual decision. It's done, it's finished, and now we can start focusing on when the Fed looks to raise rates next.

I think that's going to be the next real key decision. I think what was also rather telling was there was actually no dissent on the FOMC Committee, which I actually found rather surprising. But given Mrs. Yellen talks about gradual quite a lot in her press conference, I think the market thinks that any further rate hikes the bar is going to be that much higher. And even though the chart suggests we could see three or four rate hikes next year, I think in reality that remains a very unlikely.

CHURCH: Yeah, we just don't know at this stage, do we? But presumably, with this sort of reaction they would wait sometime because even though it is a very small increase there will be an impact on people in terms of -- well, certainly the United States in terms of mortgages and car payments and things like that. But the global response here has certainly been positive. And investors seem very happy. But what impact will this have economically across the globe?

HEWSON: I think in terms of the impact across the globe I think it should be fairly minimal, simply because the expectation has been that the Fed will move this month. Now the uncertainty has gone away I think the main focus of attention now I think will be on what happens next. And Mrs. Yellen did make it very clear that any further rate hikes were going to be gradual. And I think really now the market is going to be focusing on inflation expectations. Mrs. Yellen specifically suggested inflation still remains well below target, and I think that does remain a key concern for most people.

I think the Fed boxed themselves into a little bit of a corner here, and I think the fact they raised rates wasn't a surprise, so going forward I think the next rate rise will very much largely depend on what inflation does over the next few months, and given the response of the dollar against the commodities space all commodity prices are lower. That's going to have a significant drag on inflation. And as such, I think that as long as the Fed gives no indications that it's going to raise rates at its next meeting in -- or its next press conference meeting in March, then I think the likely fallout from this particular rate rise should be fairly muted.

CHURCH: All right, we'll be watching the analysis throughout the day. Michael Hewson thanks so much for joining us. Let's take a very short break here.

True or false, some of the Republican Presidential candidates didn't pass the foreign policy test on Tuesday's debate. We'll set the record straight on that. Plus, he's nothing if not expressive, the many faces of Donald Trump

during the U.S. Republican Presidential debate, back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:46:01]

CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the National Counterterrorism Center on Thursday. He will discuss what the government is doing to prevent attacks on U.S. soil. On Friday, he heads to San Bernardino, California to meet with families of the terror attack there earlier this month.

Well, CNN's Republican Presidential debate on Tuesday had a strong focus on foreign policy and national security. But now some of the top Republicans are struggling to explain their answers, Chief U.S. Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have people across this country who is scared to death.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: In the wake of the largest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, the Republican Presidential candidates delivered tough talk on national security.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This President hasn't kept us safe.

SCIUTTO: Still, their command of some of the defense topics was, well, up for debate. Senator Ted Cruz said he would launch an indiscriminate bombing campaign against ISIS, a tactic known as carpet bombing. As opposed to the surgical strikes the U.S. currently uses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you carpet-bomb Raqqa, the ISIS capital where there are a lot of civilians? Yes or no?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You would carpet-bomb where ISIS is, not a city but the location of the troops. You use air power directed and you have embedded Special Forces to direct the air power.

SCIUTTO: But directed strikes, as he called them, are the opposite of carpet bombing.

CRUZ: We need a President...

SCIUTTO: The Senator also blamed the Obama administration for not identifying social media posts made by San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik before being granted a visa to the U.S.

CRUZ: We didn't monitor the Facebook posting of the female San Bernardino terrorist because the Obama DHS thought it would be inappropriate. She made a public call to Jihad, and they didn't target it. SCIUTTO: While it's true that Malik's social media trail was not

reviewed during the visa process, her views on Jihad would not have been found without a warrant because they were expressed in private direct messages, not in public social media postings.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should be able to penetrate the internet...

SCIUTTO: Donald Trump advocates shutting down parts of the internet to cut off ISIS' access to the web.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you open to closing parts of the internet?

TRUMP: I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don't want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our internet. Yes, sir, I am.

SCIUTTO: Trump seemed stumped on a question about the nation's nuclear triad, the capability to launch nuclear bombs from the air, land, and sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of the three legs of the triad do you have a priority -- I want to go to Senator Rubio...

TRUMP: I think to me nuclear is just the power, the devastation is very important to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Rubio, do you have a response?

RUBIO: I do. Well, first let's explain to people at home what the triad is. Maybe a lot of people haven't heard that terminology before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Jim Sciutto reporting there.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is in Los Angeles where he's declaring victory in Tuesday's debate. He stopped in Mesa, Arizona for a campaign rally Wednesday, and the Republican front-runner didn't miss his chance to take a shot at his rival Jeb bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Last night, I had Jeb come at me. You know low energy. I am standing there and all of a sudden I hear this Donald Trump did -- you know, it's just like -- he said it just the way his pollster told him to say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, Trump says the TV networks are making a fortune off the Republican debates and he wants them to donate advertising profits to wounded war veterans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I think next time I won't do it. I want to maybe not do the next debate just to see it tank. There's a movement going on, folks. This isn't just like let's go and have a good time. Somebody said oh, Trump's a great entertainer. That's a lot of bull (AUDIO GAP). I'll tell you. We have a message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: There you go. And Trump made a guest appearance on the late- night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. He says he made a concerted effort to be nicer during Tuesday's debate. Kimmel asked about Trump's plan to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a real problem. There's a tremendous hatred out there and what I want to do is find out you can't solve a problem until you find out what's the root cause. I want to find out what's the problem, what's going on. I've had so many people call me and say thank you, now, if you remember, when I did that a week ago it was like bedlam.

[03:51:01]

All of a sudden -- and you watch last night and you see people talking, they say well, Trump has a point, we have to get down to the problem. The people who are friends of mine that called, they said Donald, you've done us a tremendous service because we do have a problem and we have to find out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those may have been prank calls.

TRUMP: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, British Prime Minister David Cameron is making his feelings on Donald Trump clear. Listen as he answers a question in parliament about Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is right that we exclude people when they are going to radicalize or encourage extremism. I happen to disagree with Donald Trump. I think his remarks are divisive, stupid, and wrong. And I think if he came to visit our country, I think he'd unite us all against him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And next on CNN NEWSROOM, stoic he is not. On the debate stage, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's face says it all and then some. We're back in a moment with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [03:56:01]

CHURCH: People in Australia are cleaning up after unusual and devastating weather left a mess in the Sydney area. A severe thunderstorm swept through bringing a tornado, hail, and powerful winds, and 213-kilometer per-hour winds were recorded in one suburb. For more on that storm and some record heat baking the region, I want to turn to our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri and the International Weather Center. Of course, we were talking about this last hour, Pedram, just extraordinary for Sydney to experience tornadoes like this.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Not just any tornado, too, Rosemary. We talked touched on that 213-kilometer per-hour wind. We talked about winds that would be equivalent to a category four hurricane. A very, very menacing storm rolled on in here into the late morning hours actually. You see these thunderstorms blossom in the afternoon hours. Trees down. Hundreds of homes being damaged significantly when it comes to rooftops being ripped apart. And 500 emergency calls made inside a 50-minute period in the late morning Wednesday with the 200-kilometer per-hour winds culminating the storm.

That was the strongest single wind gust ever observed in the Sydney area across New South Wales in particular. You ask about this, how often do we see tornadoes, it happens 15 to 20 times per year across the continent, but it is a country that's roughly about 6 1/2 million square kilometers of land. Very small number when you space out the entire area. And about nine have observed so far in 2015. It wasn't just a tornado, hailstones as big as golf balls, you kind of compare to different sizes. Some report coming in hailstones as big as cricket balls, which would be slightly smaller than the grapefruit you saw there.

Again, it shows you the severity of this storm system. There's a heat element to this to the south. In Adelaide should be in the mid 20s, 42 degrees and then it cools off and goes right back up to unseasonably mild temperatures and in Melbourne as well, the first December or November really temperatures to exceed 40 degrees inside the last five years, pretty incredible warmth for this time of year across this region. Quick glance I want to show you what's happening a bit farther to the north, tropical storm and typhoon in recent days. Parts of the Philippines watching another disturbance form just to the west there, to the east of Mindanao, watching this carefully. Right now tropical depression, don't believe this is going to be anything significant but a heavy rainmaker this weekend for southern portions of the Philippines and something worth watching with what's happened in recent days.

CHURCH: All right, thanks for that detailed report, Pedram. Appreciate it.

Well, the final U.S. Republican Presidential debate of the year had a lot of political talk and in the case of one brazen candidate some messages that were unspoken but still crystal clear, Jeanne Moos reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just two months ago...

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I swore I wouldn't do another faces of Trump story. But here it is. The sequel because who could resist this?

BUSH: He gets his foreign policy experience from the shows.

MOOS: Cartoonists can't resist. Nor can an expert on facial expressions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just blown away with how comfortable he was dismissing his rivals.

BUSH: But he's a chaos candidate.

MOOS: The New Yorker had already dubbed this one the stretched cheerio. Saying Trump makes the kind of faces that would have gotten me sent to my room as a kid. He even faced down the audience when booed.

TRUMP: Who would be -- I just can't imagine somebody booing. These are people that want to kill us, folks.

MOOS: The Daily Show tweeted Trump using debate to prove he hasn't had botox, to which someone replied, he clearly thinks with his lips, but are Trump's faces premeditated?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Undercut his rivals. I think there's a sense in which yes, it's premeditated. He's certainly camera savvy. On the other hand, what he's giving away in the face is very spontaneous, very pronounced...

MOOS: So you're saying it's a premeditated but spontaneous expression?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Only the Donald could pull that off.

MOOS: One critic tweeted Trump should get it over with and stick out your tongue and get moose antlers. Well, guess what? The Donald sort did, the tongue, not the moose antlers.

As Trump gave Jeb Bush a playful slap post debate, photographers caught him sticking out his tongue without apparent malice. Here's a fun little quiz. See if you can pick out the guy who wasn't actually on the debate stage.

BUSH: ISIS was not a...

TRUMP: Am I talking or are you talking, Jeb?

BUSH: I am talk right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You talking to me?

BUSH: I am talking.

TRUMP: You can go back. You're not talking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who the (AUDIO GAP) do you think you're talking to?

MOOS: You're talking to the guy who talks with his face, Jeanne Moos, CNN.

BUSH: But he's a chaos candidate.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Thanks for your company. I am Rosemary Church. I'll see you in a week, happy holidays.

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