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ISIS Hides Explosives in Residential Areas; Aleppo Doctors Face Shortage of Supplies; Controversy over Trump's Bannon Pick. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired November 15, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


JOHN VAUSE, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, backlash as Trump picks his inner circle. Why so many are outraged that his Campaign Chief has been rewarded with a senior role in the new administration.

Plus, a few doctors left in war-torn Aleppo overwhelmed with the injured and dying. And grim lessons for students in Mosul, how to avoid land mines, just sometimes, booby trapped with toys.

Hello, thanks for joining us again. I'm John Vause. We're now into the second hour of NEWSROOM L.A.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has begun staffing his incoming administration but already there is backlash to some of his choices of deep concern for many, the appointment of Steve Bannon as White House Chief Strategist. We have details from CNN's Jim Acosta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: In selecting Steven Bannon as a Chief Strategist, Donald Trump has invited into the Oval Office, one of the leaders of the so-called Alt-Right Movement, a combination of conservatives, populist, white supremacists and anti- Semites. Trump's campaign says, Bannon will act as, quote, "Equal partners with RNC Chair Reince Priebus," who will serve as White House Chief of Staff. And while top Trump advisors are praising the Bannon pick ...

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I (INAUDIBLE) Steve Bannon, he's been the general of this campaign.

ACOSTA: Bannon has already coming under fire over his time as Chairman of Breitbart News, which "The Times" has featured anti- Semitic and white supremacist material.

REINCE PRIEBUS, INCOMING CHIEF OF STAFF: The guy I know is a guy that isn't any of those things. He is a guy who is pretty -- he's very, very smart, very temperate.

ACOSTA: The Bannon pick could inflame anti-Trump protesters, and rattle a nation that's witnessing a rise in hateful rhetoric, like the reports of churches vandalized with Neo-Nazi messaging, and attacks on minorities, which Trump told "60 Minutes," "Must come to an end."

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am so saddened to hear that, and I say stop it. If it -- if it helps, I will say this, and I'll say it right to the camera, stop it.

ACOSTA: On the issues, Trump so far, signaling a potential softening on sensitive topics, suggesting he won't work to outlaw same-sex marriage.

TRUMP: These cases have gone to the Supreme Court, they've been settled and I think - and I'm - I'm fine with that.

ACOSTA: But on another front, Roe versus Wade, Trump's said he'd appoint anti-abortion judges, and if it's overturned, it would be up to the states to decide.

TRUMP: Well, perhaps they have to go to -- they have to go to another state.

ACOSTA: As for Trump's signature campaign issue ...

TRUMP: Don't worry about it, we're going to build the wall, folks. Don't worry.

ACOSTA: The President-elect sounds open to something less than a wall along the Mexican border.

STAHL: So, part wall, part fence?

TRUMP: A fence will be - yeah, it could be, you know, it could be some fencing.

ACOSTA: But the transition team is far from unified on Bannon, as one key transition source put it, he's simply being given too much power. Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now, CNN Political Commentator and Trump's supporter, John Philips, Mitchell Schwartz, a Democratic Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles, and CNN's Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron, first to you, do we know how much power Steve Bannon will actually have in the new administration?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the release, you know (INAUDIBLE) first and described him as an "equal partner." Look, this is the classic kind of situation of kind of a team of rivals that presidents often establish in the White House where you have someone, Reince Priebus, who is clearly the emissary to the republican establishment and Steve Bannon is the emissary to, you know, what we'll call loosely the Alt-Right or the kind of the populist conservative elements of the - of the Trump coalition.

The difference of course is that Steve Bannon is not quite like anyone we have seen this close to the Oval Office before. Yes, there have been presidents who brought in their political strategists, whether it's called Rove or David Axelrod, and put them in a position like this, but no one has come to the job with a pedigree of Steve Bannon and the kinds of issues that have been raised by his stewardship at Breitbart.

So, it is a moment in which Donald Trump, I think, is signaling very clearly to the republican leadership, as well as to his critics that he is not simply going to be tamed or kind of domesticated into pursuing the agenda that overlaps entirely with what republicans in Capitol Hill have long advocated. There's a whole other side of Donald Trump, and Steve Bannon is there to make sure he gets to stay in the sun.

VAUSE: John?

JOHN PHILIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Steve Bannon is abrasive, he's aggressive, he's also the guy that helped win this election for Donald Trump. And not only did he help win the election for Donald Trump, but in the final days of the campaign, when he was shifting resources to places like Minnesota, when he was sending people to Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania, people weren't just questioning his judgment, they were questioning his sanity, and he was the guy that was right. He's the guy that pegged this election correctly, he knows what he's doing, and that's why he's there.

VAUSE: So, he's been rewarded.

MITCHELL SCHWARTZ, LOS ANGELES DEMOCRATIC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: That's what usually happens on campaigns. It's going to be tough for Bannon, though, once he gets in the White House because what direct authority does he have? So, his power will rely on his closeness to Donald Trump, and what Donald Trump showed from the campaign is he has a kind of a quick trigger, he went through a bunch of different campaign managers, so, we'll see what influence Bannon has, but institutionally, the power goes to the Chief of Staff, because they have the power of the schedule of appointments and all this other perks of the power, but again, the adviser could be more powerful, it depends if he has the president's ear.

VAUSE: And Ron, I just want to give - this is sort of classic "art of the deal" stuff. You know, there was almost a relief out there from democrats and many, many republicans that Reince Priebus was announced as White House Chief of Staff.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, no, there was an hour there where this looked very different. Look, I said before I think Donald Trump was - functionally an independent candidate, who ran under the republican banner. There's about half of his agenda that overlaps with what republicans on congress have long wanted to do, cut taxes, cut regulation, increase domestic energy production, repeal Obamacare, and when Reince Priebus was announced as Chief of Staff, you could almost hear the sighs of relief on Capitol Hill that yes, Donald Trump is going to kind of come in harness, come in line, and that's what Reince Priebus is there to do. An hour later, you get Steve Bannon, and you get a reminder that many of the elements of the Trump agenda that are less congenial to traditional republican thought, rethinking our alliances, walking away from trade deals, radically accelerating deportation or radically reducing legal immigration, expanding infrastructure spending.

There's a whole series of things that Trump has put forward that most republicans on Capitol Hill will have trouble with. I think that the Bannon appointment was a reminder that he is not simply going to be pushed away or walk away from all of those, and they are getting the full package of what they saw on the campaign trail, they are going to have to deal with and negotiate around as president as well.

PHILIPS: You look at the failures of past republican presidents, go back to the George W. Bush shoes, what's the criticism that we've seen from that administration from the people back home, from the people back in the states? It's you come and you campaign here and you say one thing, and then you go to Washington and you become a creature of the district, and you do another.

What Bannon's role of this administration is to keep him connected with the voters, to keep him connected with the people, because it's going to be very easy for Donald Trump to say, "You know what, that wall that I promised you, let's go ahead -- I heard it's going to be difficult to put up and this group over here doesn't want it, and that group over there doesn't want it, the Chamber of Commerce is giving me push back, Bannon is going to hold this feet to the fire and force him to do things like that.

VAUSE: OK. Well, Steve Bannon in the White House - sorry, go on, Ron?

BROWNSTEIN: OK. Real quick, John, the complication is that, that is absolutely true for a big portion of the Trump coalition, but not for all of it. I mean, if you think about those last few points, particularly among suburban, white collar, college-educated white voters, in many ways they voted for him because they didn't believe he was going to do some of those things, you know, only a minority of voters supported, for example, deportation, and if you look at college whites they don't support a ban on Muslim immigration or building the wall. They supported Trump, I think, because they questioned Hillary Clinton and they wanted change, I believe the political system wasn't working, and the challenge, I think, he will face is if he goes forward and actually implements all of the edgiest elements of the agenda, can he hold together that last bit pieces of the coalition that ultimately got him over the top beyond that core, who undoubtedly did respond to those arguments.

VAUSE: And that's why Reince Priebus is there to talk to those people. OK, well, Bannon's appointment is raising concern not just in the United States, I want you - this is from Israel's Haaretz Newspaper, "Less than a week after Election Day, a clear moral dilemma is presenting itself to the American Jewish community. To work with or against the most powerful leader in the world, one who has placed a white supremacist and anti-Semite at his side." We also have this from a council on American-Islamic relations telling New York Times that "Bannon's appointment sends the disturbing message that anti- Muslim conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology will be welcome in the White House." So, John, at least he's bringing the Israelis and the Arabs together. PHILIPS: Well, right now, the leading contender to be the Ambassador to the United Nations is Rick Grenell, who is a favorite among the Netanyahu administration in Israel. You look at John Bolton as being a guy who's on the short list of being Secretary of State, who's been a huge friend to Israel throughout his entire 10-year. This is not going to be an administration that is hostile to Israel, this is not going to be an administration that's hostile to Jews.

VAUSE: OK.

SCHWARTZ: By the way, on the - Haaretz saying that the American-Jews have a decision to make about whether we support, I say this as an American-Jew, that's - that they shouldn't be saying that. Because of course, we're going to support the president, that doesn't mean that when we disagree with him, that we won't argue with him and stuff, but of course, we're loyal Americans. I don't like the way that sounded. It sounded as if right from the getgo, that Jews might not work with him, and that's not true. Even though they voted overwhelmingly for Hillary, but of course, we support the president.

VAUSE: OK. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, who's dealing with Brexit, their own Trump-like event, if you want. She's linked both of this events together. This is how she put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: If we take a step back and look at the world around us, one of the most important drivers becomes clear. The forces of liberalism and globalization, which have held sway in Britain, America, and across the western world for years, have left too many people behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ron, does she have a point?

BROWNSTEIN: No, undoubtedly, and you know, globals -- the impact of globalization has been very uneven, right? I mean, it certainly in many develop -- most of the developing world, it has accelerated the movement of people into the middle class, but it is widened inequality in most of the developed countries. I think politically, the choice that democrats here face is Hillary Clinton kind of fell betwixt and between, she was not as anti-globalization, as anti-trade as Donald Trump, and is could not talk to those places that felt as though they were losing, they were on a losing end of globalization, but neither did she embrace the idea that the U.S. benefits from engagement with the world on all fronts, from ideas and people and trade and alliance.

And thus she didn't maximize her advantage in the places that kind of the centers of the new economy, that feel as though they are benefitting from globalization, and ultimately, I think that is more the future of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party, I think inexorably has to be the party of kind of openness to the world, and the idea that you would be that way on alliance and immigration but not trade, doesn't make a lot of sense. And I think this election showed the danger of trying to kind of find that and waffling. You know, I felt like, John, in the debate, she was kind of saying, well, you know, Trump would say NAFTA is the worst trade deal in history. And she'd be - her answer will be like, "Oh, it isn't that bad." I mean, as opposed to kind of we do benefit from kind of reaching out to the world.

SCHWARTZ: What I wonder is what the Prime Minister says at liberalism and globalization, is left people behind than - what's the answer? So, what is Trump going to try to do? Is it go back to the kind of orthodoxy of less government and less taxes, we know that, but what is he going to do for those people? Does he really think that by slapping a 35 percent tax on Chinese goods, getting in a trade war, that's going to help those workers? Does he really think that those factory jobs that he talks about so nostalgically, are they really coming back? And I fear and I think and -- I really hope I'm wrong, I don't know that those jobs are ever coming back. I think they're not from what people say, and I think he's led these working class folks down a path that he won't be able to grant them what they think they voted for.

VAUSE: I do want to think about the issue with the tariffs with China, because there have been these conversations with world leaders, with, you know, there was one tonight with Vladimir Putin, a very warm conversation. There was also the conversation with China Xi Jinping, also describes on a mutual respect. But also, in state media in China, "The Global Times" they had this warning for Donald Trump, if he does plan to slap those tariffs on Chinese imports, "China will take a tit-for-tat approach there. A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. US auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback, and US soybean and maize imports will be halted. China can also limit the number of Chinese students studying in the US." This goes on and on. John, clearly, the Chinese are ready for a trade war. Is that the road ahead for President Trump?

PHILIPS: Look, they're a competitor and they're posturing right now, and Donald Trump is a negotiator, so them, coming out and saying this is not going the cause Donald Trump to wilt. Donald Trump would, I think, love the idea of going and sitting across the table and hammering something out with them.

VAUSE: So, Ron, do you think that this is sort of the opening gambit in some kind of a trade negotiation with China or is this sort of hanging down towards trade war stuff?

BROWNSTEIN: No, look, I think - I think if you go down this road, you are going to a trade war, but the question is - again, this is -- these are the parts of the Donald Trump agenda that really depart from where most republicans in congress are. You know, the last week of the campaign, he was talking not only about a 35 percent tariff on China, he was talking about a 35 percent tax on companies that shut down production in the U.S., move it overseas and then import back into the U.S..

I mean, you know, how is that going to fly on Capitol Hill or with the Chamber of Commerce, or with the business round table or in fact, walking away from NAFTA in a year, if he cannot substantially renegotiate it? These are the unchartered waters that we are heading into, and by the way, you know, most Americans at this point still do believe that trade is a net benefit. Open to the global -- openness to the global economy has improved their own personal standard of living, even while they acknowledge that it has created employment insecurity for many workers. I mean, the question really is, can you find a way to create opportunity for those who have been left behind by globalization without denying the very real benefits that selling to the world creates for the most dynamic aspects of the American economy.

VAUSE: OK. Time for break, a good point to take a break right here. Ron, we'll say goodnight to you. Thank you for being with us, but John and Mitchell, you'll be back after the break. And when we do come back, we'll have more on Barack Obama, who gets candid about the man who'll be taking his place in the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The people have spoken. Donald Trump will be the next president, the 45th President of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT HEADLINES ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Alex Thomas with your CNN "World Sport Headline." Andy Murray opened up his campaign at the ATP World Tour Finals against Marin Cilic. This was the first time since computerized rankings began. More than four decades ago, that a British singles player has been in action as world' number one. And the Scot did not let the title daunt him. He took the opening set against the former U.S. Open champ 6-3, and then seal the winning start of the tournament by losing just two games in the second set. Murray's 20th's successive singles victory on tour. Also, in action on Monday, World number three, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori of Japan. Nishikori making quick work of the Swiss, beating him in 67 minutes, while losing just 11 service points. 6-2, 6-3, the final score, Nishikori competing in the ATP Finals for the third straight year.

It didn't look as if they need the divine intervention when they became the first European country to lift the World Cup in South America two years ago, but that didn't stop Germany's football team, visiting the Pope this week. The (INAUDIBLE) staff given a private audience at the Vatican, before heading off to Milan to face Italy, in a friendly international on Tuesday evening, Germany presenting Pope Francis with a signed team shirt. That's a look at your sports headlines, I'm Alex Thomas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: U.S. President Barack Obama is on his way to Greece, the first stop on his final overseas trip in office. Before departing, he had some advice for Donald Trump. Campaigning is very different from governing. Details from Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: President Obama tonight, walking a tight rope, speaking out about the candidate he lambasted. And the President-elect, to whom he must now past of the baton.

OBAMA: The people have spoken. Donald Trump will be the next resident, the 54th President of the United States.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: In his first news conference since the election, Mr. Obama talked about his 90-minute meeting with Donald Trump, saying he spoke to the president-elect about the weight of the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: This office has a way of waking you up. And those aspects of his positions or predispositions that don't match up with reality, he will find shaken up pretty quick.

ZELENY: The president said he would work with Mr. Trump to make the handoff as smooth as possible suggesting some of the biting language during the campaign was done for effect.

OBAMA: I don't think he is ideological. I think ultimately he is pragmatic in that way.

ZELENY: But the president was candid about some of the weaknesses he sees in Trump including his temperament.

OBAMA: I think what'll happen with the president-elect is there's going to be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognizes them and corrects them.

ZELENY: The president pointing out that Mr. Trump often made false statements and relied on misleading headlines on the campaign trail.

OBAMA: When you're a candidate and you say something that is inaccurate or controversial, it has less impact than it does when you're President of the United States.

ZELENY: The president has seen defeat before after the 2010 and 2014 mid-term elections.

OBAMA: I'm not recommending for every future president that they take a shellacking like I - like I did last night. You know, I'm sure there are easier ways to learn these lessons.

ZELENY: But no laughter today as the cornerstones of his legacy, from Obamacare to climate change policy are at risk in a Trump administration. Asked about those questioning Trumps right to rule, the president said simply, "Trump won."

OBAMA: Hopefully it's a reminder that elections matter and voting counts. And so, you know, I don't know how many times we have to re- learn this lesson, because we ended up having 43 percent of the country not voting who were eligible to vote, but it makes a difference.

ZELENY: A week after Election Day, the condemnations towards Donald Trump have turned into a far more measured assessment by President Obama as he heads out on the final foreign trip of his presidency, he wants to urge foreign leaders, too, to have an open mind about the man who will be the 45th President of the United States. Jeff Zeleny, CNN New York.

VAUSE: Joining us once again, CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, John Philips, and Mitchell Schwartz, a democratic candidate for mayor of Los Angeles.

OK. So, Mitchell, to you, it's striking how carefully President Obama was choosing his words.

MITCHELL SCHWARTZ, DEMOCRATIC MAYORIAL CANDIDATE OF LOS ANGELES: Yeah, you know, he -- the most important thing that President Obama can do right now is to do a successful transition to the Trump presidency. And I think that President Obama is a patriot, but also, I think he realizes that Donald Trump probably didn't expect to be president, hasn't really thought a ton about staffing the government, about all the decisions that have to be made by the White House staff.

And so, I think the president gently is trying to help him along while also calming down a lot of the democrats who are so upset and they're protesting (INAUDIBLE) So, he's trying to walk a fine line, but I think he's doing, I think he's taking the right tact. We have to be supportive of the president, and that's what he said -

VAUSE: That we'd have to be a hard president - hard moment for President Obama today, John.

JOHN PHILIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I love the picture of him sitting in the chair next to Donald Trump at the White House. He looks like the most shocked person in the world to be sitting next to Donald Trump at the White House. It almost looked like that Bob Kardashian picture when the O.J. verdict was read.

This just wasn't any run of the mill normal president that is being termed out of office that was just kind of cruising to the end. He was an aggressive campaigner on behalf of Hillary Clinton. And so, to go from campaigning so aggressively for your Secretary of State to losing an election that you thought you were going to win, to the handoff of power to Donald Trump has got to be quite the whirlwind that he's been on the last few weeks.

SCHWARTZ: And I - and I would also say that for Obama, he's looking at it, like, "Wow, what's going to happen to my legacy and not so much for the legacy, but what's going to happen to my policies?"

VAUSE: And people are affected by all of these.

SCHWARTZ: And a lot of - a lot of his policies are executive orders, which can be rescinded very easily without congress ever having to be involved. VAUSE: OK. We still have protesters on the street, especially here, you know, in Los Angeles, are out just a few hours ago. We also had the situation in Ohio State University where there was an anti-Trump protest underway, and then this happened. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Hit, one more time. So obviously -- you know, and Mitchell, to you, there is still obviously a lot of anger, a lot of division out there. Could President Obama have taken this moment to speak out more forcefully to try and end the divisions which are out there? Did he do enough today or could he have done more?

SCHWARTZ: I'm not sure that he can. I think it's now the new president-elect that has to set the - has to say those kinds of things. If President Obama said it, yeah, he would have some effect and he probably should say something, but ultimately, the protests are about the new president, and so, he is the one that has to tamp them down and he has to accept that responsibility because his words were so incendiary during the campaign that he has elicited that kind of response from these folks. So, I don't think that Donald Trump is a terrible man. I really hope he's not a bigot or all of that stuff, but it's on him to kind of calm these protests down a little bit with the kind of words that would make people feel that they're not under threat.

VAUSE: And this is the point all of you'll make, he, you know, sort of let the genie out of the Bottle if you like when it comes to a lot of those anger. It's now up

to the president-elect to put it back, John.

PHILIPS: That guy in the video is an idiot and a thug and what you saw was assault. We have a first amendment right to voice our political opinions. And you should be able to do that without the threat of being physically assaulted like we just saw. Now, that's not the only act of violence that we've seen since the election. We saw someone get shot and killed at an anti-Trump rally in Portland, Oregon. We saw a man dragged out of his car -

VAUSE: In Chicago.

PHILIPS: -- in Chicago and beaten brutally. We saw a child who was kicked out of their house because they voted for Donald Trump, an eight-year-old, I believe in a school election, and the mother literally flipped out and kicked the kid out of the house. The temperature in the room was very high during this campaign. It was a nasty primary on both sides. It was a very nasty general election. And I think it's going to take a long time. Maybe it'll take all the way through the holidays after the temperature to decrease.

VAUSE: One last thing that Obama did talk about today was a need for reflection among the democrats, that they now have to go back and essentially look at themselves because, yes, they have won the popular vote in, what, the last six out of the seven but they have lost senate seats, they have lost seats in the house, they have lost governorships around the country. You know, this is a party which, you know, they were expecting to win the White House, and now they're not.

SCHWARTZ: You know, look, the Democratic Party is in bad shape right now. We're decimated. We don't have the house, they don't have the senate, you don't have the presidency, going to lose the Supreme Court. The state houses are going against us. And we have to take stock of what we've become and what we stand for, because we've obviously lost too many people, too many working class people and others. So, yes, this is a time for the Democratic Party to first and foremost look at themselves before we get about arguing with the -- being the loyal opposition. We really need to figure out what we stand for and how we can address the needs of the people because they are certainly rejecting us in many places across the country.

VAUSE: Or as you would call it Christmas.

PHILIPS: That's right. And in the wake of this, the democrats are thinking about nominating Keith Ellison who is an extremely left-wing congressman from the State of Minnesota as chairman of the party.

VAUSE: Yeah, of the DNC, yeah.

PHILIPS: Look at the senate seats that they're defending next cycle. They're defending seats in places like North Dakota, Montana, West Virginia.

VAUSE: All red states coming up in two years time, which makes the next two years very interesting when Donald Trump tries to get his agenda through. Mitchell and John, thanks so much.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you. Great to be here.

PHILIPS: Thank you.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, Iraqi families who fled two years ago are finally returning home, but they're facing a deadly reminder of the terror group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:03] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines.

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: Iraqi forces are facing fierce resistance from ISIS in their push towards the center of Mosul. The terror group sent waves of suicide bombers, snipers and ambushers against government forces. 54,000 people have been displaced since the offensive began a month ago.

Witnesses say ISIS has been hiding explosives in residential areas and the land mines could be anywhere, even in children's toys.

Our Michel Holmes reports on the teams trying to defuse the bombs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SALAM MOHAMMAD (ph), MINE ADVISORY GROUP MEMBER: This is an example of an item in the ground.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRSEPONDENT: Right here.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: OK. So, this one has been defused?

MOHAMMAD (ph): No, it's not yet, no.

HOLMES (voice-over): It's a village tour like no other.

MOHAMMAD (ph): This is where one of the villagers got killed, the fourth one.

HOLMES (voice-over): Our guide, Salam Mohammad (ph) is with the Mine Advisory Group, or MAG. For 29 years, his life has been clearing mines and booby traps around the world. But he has never seen more than in his home region in northern Iraq.

MOHAMMAD (ph): In the last three, four days, we found 30 mines.

HOLMES (on camera): In this area?

MOHAMMAD (ph): In this area.

HOLMES (voice-over): We're in the village of Tal al Alaban (ph). When ISIS fled the group's ability to kill remained.

MOHAMMAD (ph): There had like 11 deaths in this village. People died in this village. Five injured. And in the neighboring villages since we arrived in the last three weeks, six people have died and four injured.

HOLMES (on camera): So this is urgent work.

MOHAMMAD (ph): Yes, it is.

HOLMES (voice-over): Most in the villages fled when ISIS arrived. Salam (ph) and his team wants them to wait but many can no longer afford to pay rent elsewhere and are coming home, 65 families so far.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: "We had no choice but to come back," this man tells us. But doing so cost his son his life, killed when he triggered a booby trap at a village mosque.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Elsewhere, in a safer part of the village, potentially, life- saving lessons for children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: What to look out for, what not to touch, not even toys on the ground, sometimes booby trapped by an enemy without a conscious. It's all about of the Mine Advisory Group's humanitarian mission.

(EXPLOSION)

HOLMES: Here Salam (ph) wears a camera to show us a house that he knows is booby trapped. He won't let us come but wanted to show up one of these weapons, a shell hidden under a sink.

Later our tour interrupted, a villager found something in his House that needs checking. This happens daily, sometimes several times. Salam (ph) tells him he will come by and have a look.

[01:35:13] MOHAMMAD (ph): All of it came down in one go.

HOLMES: At this house, three people died simply going home. ISIS rigged it with explosives and it collapsed on top of them.

MOHAMMAD (ph): When they went into the home.

HOLMES (on camera): And it was booby trapped?

MOHAMMAD (ph): It was booby trapped.

HOLMES: And what we're looking at down there is the roof?

MOHAMMAD (ph): It's roof.

HOLMES (voice-over): Making this village safe and the farmland that supports its people will take months of painstaking, sometimes centimeter by centimeter work, and then it's to the next area.

MOHAMMAD (ph): Because at the end of the day, 100 percent should be cleared and then we hand it back for to the communities. So, yeah, 100 percent. That's why we are responsible for that.

HOLMES (on camera): You can't miss anything?

MOHAMMAD (ph): No. I can't. There is no room for that.

HOLMES (voice-over): And here, a village full of people grateful for that promise.

Michael Holmes, near Mosul, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: In the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, there is no difference from the front line and the front door. Only a handful of doctors are left to treat more than 250,000 people in the firing line. For those doctors, there is short supplies of everything, except for the wounded.

Here's Will Ripley. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(EXPLOSION)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRSPONDENT (voice-over): Doctors in eastern Aleppo risk their lives just by going to work. Their city, under siege for nearly five years. Eight hospitals still stand. The ninth destroyed in a bombing earlier this year.

HAMZA AL-KHALIB, DOCTOR IN ALEPPO: When we are at home it will be the rockets that will hit our home. But at the hospital, we know that we mind be attacked at any moment.

RIPLEY: Dr. Hamza al-Khalib says he is one of 31 doctors in the battle-scarred city -- 31 -- for more than a quarter million people.

AL-KHALIB: I guess each doctor at the moment in Aleppo see between 100 to 150 patients each day.

RIPLEY (on camera): A day?

AL-KHALIB: Yeah.

RIPLEY (voice-over): On normal days, he treats the sick. But when the bombs fall, the sick must be turned away as trauma patients, often children, flood the emergency room.

AL-KHALIB: A girl 12 years old lost her right leg. So, that was a shock.

RIPLEY: He treated a 4-month-old baby for a small cut, shrapnel from a rocket attack. They sent her home.

AL-KHALIB: We were told later that her home was also attacked again, the same night, and she lost her life.

RIPLEY: During the most recent month of heavy bombardment, some 500 people died in eastern Aleppo, including one week when 96 children were killed, which makes him hug his own baby a little tighter.

(on camera): She's beautiful.

(voice-over): Doctor Hamza lives at the hospital with his wife and 11-month-old daughter.

(on camera): Have you ever thought you should try to leave Aleppo?

AL-KHALIB: Being with her in a safer place is very selfish. So, I'd rather to be here with my family to take the chance.

RIPLEY: When you tuck her in at night, what do you pray for?

AL-KHALIB: I pray for everything to end. I hope for the siege to be break. I hope for hearing good news in the morning.

RIPLEY (voice-over): But each morning seems to bring more bad news. Winter is coming, food and medicine is running low and in the battle

for eastern Aleppo, the worst may be yet to come.

Will Ripley, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:42:05] VAUSE: More now on President-elect Donald Trump's pick for chief White House strategist, Steve Bannon, and more on his work on running the Alt-Right website, "Breitbart." He leaves a legacy in the form of incendiary copy and especially headlines.

Details and a little history from CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For those who are concerned about this new administration, two names worry them a great deal, "Breitbart" and Bannon.

(SHOUTING)

ANDREW BREITBART, FOUNDER, BRIETBART: Behave yourself.

(SHOUTING)

BREITBART: Behave yourself.

(SHOUTING)

BREITBART: You are freaks and animals. You're freaks and animals.

FOREMAN (voice-over): From the beginning, "Breitbart" has been all about confronting liberals, media, activists, the political establishment, anyone believed to be is shouting down or shutting down conservative voices.

BREITBART: Do you even know what you're protesting? How much are you getting paid?

FOREMAN: That is the late Andrew Breitbart, a blogger brought up in the Jewish faith who built the hugely influential right-wing media empire before his unexpected death in 2012.

And these are the kind of headlines "Breitbart" churns out these days, "Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy," "Gay rights have made us dumber." The site called a conservative columnist a "renegade Jews," and asked "Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer?"

At the helm of "Breitbart News" until recently, Steve Bannon.

STEVE BANNON, TRUMP CHIEF STRATEGIST & COUNSELER & FORMER BREITBART CEO: We need to have a fight in the Republican Party for the soul of the conservative -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree with you.

FOREMAN: He is a former Navy officer and investment banker, according to "Bloomberg," the most dangerous political operate in America, and now the adviser to the president.

BANNON: Look, the media is the Praetorian Guard of the permanent political class, all the consultants that come after you. The political class and consultants, they are all in bed together.

FOREMAN: How did he get there? Early investment in the Seinfeld TV series led him to cash and experience in media, which he transformed into political battering rams --

UNIDENTIFIED ACDTOR: H.Q. is -

FOREMAN: -- producing films to promote the political right, uncovering Anthony Weiner's sexting habit, exploiting the Birther controversy around President Obama, bedeviling Democratic contender Hillary Clinton.

BANNON: You have to understand how the Clintons, who proclaim that they support all your values, essentially have sold you out for money.

FOREMAN: But Bannon's aggressive use of the "Breitbart" brand is under scrutiny. Civil rights groups point to those incendiary headline as evidence that Bannon was pushing a white supremacist, extreme right-wing agenda while his allies brushed the complaints aside.

NEWT GINGRICH, (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: And then they want to come back and say that anything anybody ever published in "Breitbart" is Steve Bannon. That's baloney.

FOREMAN (on camera): With his role in the White House loosely defined it's hard to guess at his impact but is it a heady time for Bannon. After years of sniping from the government from the outside, he is now as inside as anyone can be.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:45:10] VAUSE: Brian Stelter is CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources." He joins us live from New York.

Hey, Brian, there were two announcements this weekend. One was Steve Bannon and the other one was Reince Priebus, as White House chief of staff. Priebus did the rounds of morning talk shows in the U.S. But it seemed he was mostly left to defend Bannon. Here is one example from ABC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REINCE PRIEBUS, TRUMP'S CHIEF OF STAFF: Do you have to look at the person? You have to get to know the person and if people understood we have a naval officer, a Harvard Business School, London School of Economics, this is a very, very smart person who is serving as a senior counsel to the president. I mean, I think there will be a lot of announcements of a lot of people. But I find him not to be the way that he is being accused. I find him to be the opposite. And I think people need to give people time and give people an opportunity and not make judgments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And to that last point, is Bannon getting a rough deal here? Should critics reserve judgment at least for a time?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: There has been a lot of criticism and, partly, it feels one sided. Bannon has not said much at all. He very rarely gives interviews. He was somewhat mysterious during the Trump campaign. He came on board in August and made some improvements to the campaign but he never talked or was visible in public. There is a lot of curiosity and concern about him. Today, he did speak with "The New York Times." He rejected the comments about him being a white nationalist and he defended the voters who supported Trump, saying they are not racists. They are loyalists to the country and patriots who want a better country.

VAUSE: High-profile jobs in the White House, they're tough enough. How difficult will it be for Steve Bannon now that he is the story and how much of a problem is it for the in-coming administration?

STELTER: I think Donald Trump knew what he was getting into with Steve Bannon. If he didn't, that would be eye opening. Steve Bannon was covered rigorously in August when he was appointed to the Trump campaign. His connections to "Breitbart" and the Alt-Right were well known. It should not be a surprise that the Anti-Defamation League or the Southern Poverty Law Center or top Democrats like Harry Reid are expressing severe concern with his appointment.

It will be interesting to see how Bannon and Priebus work together. We're talking about two different sides and, in some ways, the two versions of Donald Trump that we saw during the campaign. Bannon clearly tapping into Trump's base. The one time I did speak with him during his interview-shy months running the campaign, he talked about the populous movement fueling Donald Trump. He said, Brian, you have to go to the rallies to experience what this is like. And he made connections to similar movements in movements in Europe, in France, for example. So, he is a student of these populist movements. He says it is not about white nationalism but it is about populism. And he's bringing that to the White House.

VAUSE: He left "Breitbart" back in August. Do we know if he has a financial stake in the website?

STELTER: We do not. But one thing is pretty clear, "Breitbart" is going to be the media wing of the Trump administration. Whether Bannon is in touch with "Breitbart," whether he has a financial tie to "Breitbart" or not, Breitbart.com, "Breitbart News," this Alt-Right website, is going to be a top place for Trump news. That's what the editors say it will be. But it's going to be pro Trump news. Some critics of "Breitbart," including a former spokesman for the site, say this is the closest that the world has seen to being state-run media.

VAUSE: Wow. That, of course, used to be FOX News when it came to Republicans. With that in mind, Sean Hannity, a host on FOX News, also a vocal backer of Donald Trump, wants press access pulled for major news organizations on Twitter. He replied, "Amen," to a suggestion that CNN, "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" and others should not get White House credentials. Is this a possible here?

STELTER: He was retweeting it, saying "Amen" to this. It seems like he is trying to have it both ways. Hannity has tapped into something that is prevalent among conservatives, which is a deep, deep distrust of the media, but more than that, it's a rejection of journalism altogether. It's a claim that there are no real journalists. There are only Democratic operatives. John, you and I know that is not true but a lot of conservatives believe it, especially hard-core conservatives who listen to Hannity's show, watch his show, and follow him on Twitter. So, Hannity was tapping into that feeling and emotion among a subset of viewers and listeners in the U.S.

Is it possible? Could it happen? Media law experts say they have to prepare for the worst but hope for best when it comes to a Trump administration. At the Trump campaign events, the campaign chose to exclude some reporters by revoking press credentials for outlets like "The Washington Post" and "Politico." It would be much more difficult to do that in the White House press briefing room. But there are media law experts who say it is possible and they are girding for that possibility next year.

[01:50:17] VAUSE: And we are in uncharted territory in so many ways.

STELTER: Yeah.

VAUSE: Brian, thanks for being with us.

STELTER: Thank you.

VAUSE: Next here on NEWSROOM L.A., what are these two saying to each other? The hilarious possibilities which are making the vice president a star once again on Twitter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: What mischievous thoughts lurk in the mind of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden? What does he really think about President-elect Donald Trump? The Internet has the answer.

Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was as if President Obama was trying to wrap his lips around the name.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President-elect Trump.

Mr. President-elect.

President-elect Trump.

MOOS: Some on Twitter elected to imagine pranks that the mischievous Joe Biden might play on the incoming Trump. Thus, was born a meme of imaginary conversations between Joe and President Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I ordered yuge replacement doorknobs, yuge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe, we can't --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Tiny Hands.

MOOS: From the size of Trump's hands to President Obama's birth certificate --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, you have to print a fake birth certificate, put it in an envelope labeled "secret," and leave it in the Oval Office desk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe.

MOOS: Obama's birth place gave birth to a lot of jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I left a Kenyan passport in your desk just to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) with them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, and a prayer rug in your bedroom.

[01:55:14] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's going to lose it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Damn it, Joe.

MOOS: That tweet was written by left-leaning Josh Billingson.

JOSH BILLINGSON, WROTE JOKES: Just trying to be funny at a time when it is hard to know if it's OK to be funny.

MOOS: Josh loves Joe Biden and has offered at least 10 of these memes.

(on camera): And then there's the one based on a dirty trick that was played in real life when the White House transitioned from Bill Clinton to George W. Bush.

(voice-over): An investigation confirmed missing "W"s in the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary said they took the "W"s off the keyboard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe, put -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I took the "T"s. They can only type "Rump."

MOOS: Josh, who also wrote the "T"s tweet, got an inquiry from an agent.

(on camera): They wanted to know if you were interested in a book deal.

BILLINGSON: I told them I'm interested in anything at this point.

MOOS (voice-over): If the election has been pushing your buttons, maybe a tweet will provide relief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I took a Staples red button and wrote "nukes" on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It speaks to him in Russian when pressed.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was easy.

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: You're watching NEWSROOM, L.A. I'm John Vause. Stay with us. I'll be back with more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:11] VAUSE: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.