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Trump Transition; Breaking with Protocol; Trump's Campaign Manager Broke Glass Ceiling; Donald Trump to Meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; Iraqi Forces Recaptured A Key Air Base from ISIS; 87 Killed in Airstrike in Eastern Aleppo. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 17, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:10] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, a team of bitter rivals: the Trump White House takes shape as the President-Elect says reports of disarray and infighting are a media lie.

SESAY: A second devastating day in Aleppo, Syria. Bombs pounded a children's hospital and a blood bank.

VAUSE: And later, fighting back against fake news. Did Web sites like Facebook and Google inadvertently help Donald Trump win the White House?

SESAY: Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Officials from the Trump transition team will be heading to Washington Thursday for meetings with national security agencies and other government departments. They are called "landing teams", a critical step in the transfer of power.

SESAY: But the Pentagon and the State Department said Wednesday they have yet to hear from Team Trump. CNN's Jim Acosta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Still trying to master the art of the transition, Donald Trump and his team are going on offense, fighting back against reports that planning for his presidency is in a state of disarray.

The President-Elect took to Twitter proclaiming "Very organized process taking place as I decide on cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are."

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: And all of the dishonest press they're saying -- ACOSTA: And Trump is back to blaming the media after complaints of

infighting and score settling inside the transition. "The failing 'New York Times' is so totally wrong on transition," Trump tweeted, "It is going so smoothly."

Sources told CNN that Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was pushing out officials who worked for ousted transition chair, Chris Christie who jailed Kushner's father more than a decade ago.

"Not so" say top Trump officials.

JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: This whole description of it -- the knife fight or this internal fighting -- nothing could be further from the truth. Jared is helping to put this together.

ACOSTA: But CNN has learned, Kushner who is one of Trump's closest advisers is likely to receive a top security clearance. Senior staffers argue there is nothing wrong with that.

MILLER: No paperwork has been completed or sent in or submitted to this effect. I think what lot of this is, again, it's certain folks who may be are on the outside looking in who want to go and try to cause chaos and do their bit to try to make some negative headlines.

ACOSTA: As Mike Pence met with the man he's about to replace, Vice President Joe Biden, Trump advisors cautioned forming the new administration will take time.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: You will be really dumb to accelerate this stuff, making mistakes in order to make the press happy.

ACOSTA: The transition is sorting through dozens of candidates. Case in point: former Trump rival and Texas Senator Ted Cruz who is said to be on a long shortlist for attorney general.

And the incoming administration is still learning how to handle a presidential press corps, falsely telling reporters Trump was staying in last night when he actually bolted Trump Tower for dinner at a famous New York steak House.

The White House Correspondent's Association blasted the move saying "It is unacceptable for the next president of the United States to travel without a regular pool to record his movements and inform the public about his whereabouts." The press presence has been a staple for decades through unexpected events like President Bush learning about the 9/11 attacks and President Reagan being shot outside a Washington hotel.

MILLER: Last night, probably was an example of what could have been a little bit better communication.

ACOSTA: And Democrats are still furious over Trump's hiring of Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon as chief strategist. The sentiment made clear on Trump's meeting today with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: I made my views clear and my deep concerns about Mr. Bannon and the fact that I thought many people were afraid.

ACOSTA: One Trump adviser Kris Kobach, a fierce critic of undocumented immigrants told Reuters the transition was looking at creating a registry of Muslims entering the U.S. Trump adviser, Kellyanne Conway pushed back on that.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We haven't talked about that. I think he'd be very clear on his position on that issue.

ACOSTA: But one of the unresolved questions of this transition is whether Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner will receive the kind of security clearance needed to attend the presidential daily briefing. One of the Trump's top advisers, Kellyanne Conway says that might be necessary. But that kind of talk has prompted a letter from the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee who says that sort of access to a son-in-law would be an outrage.

Jim Acosta, CNN -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now, Eric Bauman the vice chair of the California Democratic Party, and Mark Vafiades is the chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party --

SESAY: And welcome.

VAUSE: -- the big guns in here tonight.

A couple of hours ago, Hillary Clinton made her first appearance since her concession speech. This was planned before Election Day and she admitted it was not easy to turn up. This is what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I know this isn't easy. I know that over the past week a lot of people have asked themselves whether America is the country we thought it was.

[00:05:06] The divisions laid bare by this election run deep. But please listen to me when I say this, America is worth it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Eric, it seems that the challenge for the Democrats right now is on the one hand giving the President-Elect a chance but on the other hand being a voice of opposition because some have criticized President Obama, for example, of being too accommodating.

ERIC BAUMAN, VICE CHAIR CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, look, you know on the one hand, as you say, we all want to see America succeed. On the other hand, the policies of division and the seeds that make America -- that separate and divide America are not good things and we have to call those out each and every day. And policies that hurt everyday working people and benefit the wealthiest amongst us we also have to push back. So the loyal opposition has to be loud and aggressive and loyal.

SESAY: Mark -- let me ask you this. With Hillary Clinton coming out tonight, do you see a role for her in that going forward? Does she have a role on the national stage going forward?

MARK VAFIADES, CHAIR LOS ANGELES COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY: I really don't think so. I mean I think this is kind of the end of the Clintons really as head of the Democratic Party. I think really the Democratic Party is going to go in a different direction.

We'll see what direction. They are in a little bit of disarray as the Republican Party may have been had we lost. But they really have to feel their way through and decide which way they're going to go. But I don't think the Clintons will be at work there.

SESAY: Is it the end? 1

BAUMAN: You know, listen, I don't think when you've been on the stage in the way that Bill and Hillary Clinton have for 30 years that you just disappear. But to be sure there is a new energy and new element that will give voice within the Democratic Party. You saw that in Bernie Sanders being added to the leadership team in the United States Senate.

So you will see more of that progressivism and more of that populism I think in a more overt way.

VAUSE: Ok. Let's get to the transition.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz for attorney general; maybe South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for secretary of state? I mean these are Republicans who did not endorse Donald Trump. Ted Cruz wouldn't even publicly get up and endorse him at the convention. But you know, these names are being thrown out there.

So, Mark, is this all about a team of rivals or is Donald Trump just creating confusion. We see them playing this game -- will he or won't he right now.

VAFIADES: Well, I think this shows that Donald Trump wants to be successful. He wants the administration to be successful for the country and he's not going to look at old rivalries and say if he disagreed with somebody in the past I'm not going to have you if that is the best person for the job. He wants to move forward.

And also, by the same token as you mentioned, he likes to surprise people. So he's not going to go with the obvious choice. So we'll have to wait and see what happens.

BAUMAN: I think he is extraordinarily thin-skinned and he has a very long memory. I mean people within his leaking administration -- he doesn't even have an administration it's leaking already. They are talking about enemies' lists. They're talking about names of people who voted against him.

So it's very easy to float all the names you want. But we see the kind of oddities that they're moving in when you appoint a logical choice like Reince Priebus to be the chief of staff and then pair him with Steve Bannon who is antithetical to everything America stands for to be in the White House.

VAUSE: OK. On the issue of Steve Bannon --

VAFIADES: Look, they have the press.

VAUSE: There are these new recordings which have emerged between Steve Bannon, now the White House strategist and Donald Trump. This is during the campaign. It was in November last year. Bannon was still with Breitbart News. He was hosting a sort of a call-in radio show. Listen to the exchange between the two men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, DONALD TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: You got a lot of blowback the other day from saying hey, you may have to go in and shut down some mosques. Were you actually saying you need a NYPD intelligence unit to get a network of informants?

TRUMP: At a minimum. At a minimum. I want that at a minimum. We have to start that back up again in New York City and elsewhere.

BANNON: I guess, what I'm saying is, you're not prepared to allow an enemy within to try to tear down this country?

TRUMP: That's right. That's not going to happen. Let me tell you something if I'm president it's not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So what that seems to demonstrate -- and that's just sort of one example -- is that Bannon is coaxing Trump to sort of a more extreme position because about a few weeks after that with the San Bernardino shooting and then Trump came out, you know, with his temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. And a point to this is the influence that Steve Bannon has on Donald Trump.

VAFIADES: Well, again, I first met Steve Bannon about 11 years ago. He's never been like that at all. A lot of the accusations against Steve Bannon such as this ridiculous accusation that he's anti-Semitic are absolutely not true. It's something that is being perpetuated and it's just false.

You know, let --

BAUMAN: He's got a record running Breitbart. Look at the articles that have appeared on Breitbart. Look at the brilliant talent that Breitbart himself brought in who left because of what Bannon was publishing.

VAFIADES: Not written by Bannon. He is merely -- he's merely the editor.

(CROSSTALK)

[00:10:04] MAN: Come on. An editor's job is exactly keep things in control and to keep things in moderation.

SESAY: Can you really disassociate Bannon from what his Web site puts out?

VAFIADES: Absolutely. Absolutely because there is a wide range of political ideology on that Web site. He does that on purposes so that it opens up discussion. But that's not what Steve Bannon is all about. He's about putting it all out there and then opening up the discussion.

SESAY: It's not just Steve Bannon that people are concerned about. They're also concerned about a President Trump having his son-in-law, having his ear and potentially guiding policy in the Oval Office. I mean does that concern you? Do you have concerns about Jared Kushner and these reports of security clearance?

VAFIADES: Not at all. Not at all. I mean this is basically similar to Ronald Reagan's kitchen cabinet. You know, most politicians when they come to Washington they have a group of loyalists that they have been working with for a long time. And they bring those people to Washington.

Well, Donald Trump was not in the world of politics. He was in the world of business. And he is bringing in the people that he worked with the most that he most trusts. That's really what he should do.

BAUMAN: The question about his family is not a question of confidence or knowledge. It's a question of the fact that his family will have control over his assets. He's already said that his children are going to be running his business and creating that level of separation. And Kushner can't be separated from his wife who is part of that troika that will be running his business. So the conflicts of interest are extraordinary.

VAUSE: I just want to get back to Bannon because, you know, the family is one thing but Bannon seems to be a real issue. I mean there's a small protest right now in L.A., about 80 people outside city hall directed at Steve Bannon which seems incredibly specific. This is what the former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: I call upon Mr. Trump to rescind the appointment that he made of Mr. Bannon. A president of the United States should not have a racist at his side -- unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Eric, will there be much to gain right now if Trump did rescind the appointment of Bannon? BAUMAN: You know, I don't think that our calls on the left for him to

do that is a thing that's going to motivate him. In fact it's going to probably cause him to do the opposite. I agree with Senator Sanders' sentiment and having quite a fair amount of knowledge of the things that Bannon has done and promoted I think he does not reflect America, he reflects the angriest parts of America that shouldn't be in the White House.

But that said, look, at the end of the day, Trump gets to choose who he wants to choose to be in these positions. And if he puts somebody in there whose rhetoric and whose advice and whose direction takes America in a bad place, he will pay for that ultimately but all of America will pay for that. So, you know, I would hope that they would think carefully about what signal they're sending to young children of color, what signal they're sending to Muslim Americans, what signal they're sending to Jewish Americans. But at the end it's his choice. This is not a senate confirmable position.

SESAY: And to that point as you just mentioned about, you know, challenging Trump and how that might force him or encourage him to entrench his position, how much fight do the Democrats really have in them going forward in terms of challenging or being a counterbalance to Donald Trump and the GOP Congress?

BAUMAN: I would say we have to have 123 percent worth of fight. We have to have so much more than we have because, you know what, look, I'm not going to get into the argument about the fact that Hillary Clinton will end up winning this election by -- with more than two million votes more than Trump did.

VAFIADES: She won it.

BAUMAN: I'm not going to get into the fact she is the popularly elected president.

VAFIADES: We have a constitution.

VAUSE: Yes.

BAUMAN: We have a constitution. And he got elected president. But as far as where America is going and what the direction of America is, where our demographic change is going, this represents the worst possible thing that one could say.

You know, when George Bush got elected president after the Supreme Court ruling, he came in and said I'm going to be president for all America. And he started to move forward with his policies and he tried to do that and he created -- the people he brought in around him mostly were very -- were people who were designed to bring warmth into the White House. This is a move that puts -- pushes people away from the White House.

VAUSE: Ok. I want to (inaudible) because there are some concerns about how Donald Trump will deal with the media. He gave the press pool the slip last night. We heard from Fox News anchor, Megyn Kelly. She has had her own feud for some time with Donald Trump. She said though the hostility started long before that first debate. It was sparked, she says, by a report she did on her show, a segment about his first wife Ivana and claims that were later taken back that Trump had actually raped her. This is what Megyn Kelly said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You said in the book that he threatened you.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: He did. He was very angry that I'd aired that segment and I said, look, I did you a favor. You know, I said nobody was even telling the other side of that. They were just accepting this as a relevant story.

[00:15:06] He didn't see it that way. And ultimately I said, look, Mr. Trump, you don't control the editorial on "The Kelly File" and that was it. He said that's it, you're a disgrace, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. And then he said, "I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account against you and I still may."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Mark, I know everyone likes to beat up the media. There's not a lot of sympathy for us out there. But does that stuff bother you?

VAFIADES: You know, I'm not familiar with that story. I haven't heard it. So I can really comment on that.

VAUSE: But even her account of what happened and her interaction with Trump?

VAFIADES: Well, obviously if Donald Trump thinks that she is saying things that are untrue he's going to be angry at that. Anybody would.

But, you know, I want to get back to some of the other things that were mentioned. The fact that there is a lot of divisive rhetoric being thrown at a lot of Donald Trump's appointees before they even have done anything and the press is really having to dig hard to find these things.

Give Donald Trump a chance. He hasn't done anything yet. He is making appointments and already they are being protested and shot down by an organized group of protesters, by the way, many of which are paid and really don't represent the Democratic Party for the most part which you should be proud of.

BAUMAN: That may be true but the alt-right is definitely part of Steve Bannon's history.

VAFIADES: I don't know what the alt-right is. I mean --

BAUMAN: Let's be honest about that. And I want to say one thing though. You just brought up an interesting point they gave him his Twitter account back and he is using it again. And this is going to be quite interesting to see a president of the United States with a thin skin who's got his Twitter account --

VAFIADES: Wouldn't you rather see what he really thinks instead of people that are filtering everything that comes out of his mouth?

BAUMAN: I'm not sure that I would want to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: I think we will find out exactly what he thinks. Ok.

SESAY: Gentlemen -- thank you.

VAUSE: Mark and Eric -- thank you very much.

SESAY: Appreciate it.

VAUSE: Still to come here, another break with protocol for the President-Elect with his first face to face meeting with a foreign leader. On Thursday he'll hold talks with the Japanese Prime Minister.

SESAY: Plus, while there were high hopes for Hillary Clinton to shatter the glass ceiling, Donald Trump's campaign manager had already broken one of her own.

[00:17:05] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.

World leaders are waiting to see how President-Elect Donald Trump's foreign policy will unfold. A statement from his transition team says he has spoken with 29 foreign leaders so far.

SESAY: But as Jim Sciutto reports those contacts they haven't followed the traditional route.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's first contacts with foreign leaders are breaking long established practices for an important early ritual for newly elected presidents. One close U.S. ally had to reach out to multiple contacts before successfully arranging a phone call with President-Elect. A diplomatic source tells CNN this a full day after his victory. And the State Department, normally an intermediary for such key conversations has yet to be contacted by the Trump team.

JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We stand ready to support him and his team with any information that they might require either in advance of or on the back end.

SCIUTTO: Today President-Elect Trump himself touted his first foreign contacts on Twitter. Quote, "I have received and taken calls from many foreign leaders

despite what the failing 'New York Times' said. Russia, U.K., China, Saudi Arabia, Japan. And his spokesman Jason Miller told CNN that Mr. Trump has always intended to follow a different play book.

MILLER: He is going to have strong relations and he's going to be able to work with other foreign leaders and to show that he is able to reach out and step outside of the political norms to do different things.

SCIUTTO: But different also means uncertain for foreign leaders eager to see where Donald Trump stands on foreign policy.

PHILIP CROWLEY, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: I think it takes on greater urgency in this circumstance since so little is known about Mr. Trump, how he will actually govern and even who will advise him.

SCIUTTO: Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be the first world leader to meet with Trump on Thursday and again the transition team has not sought guidance or a briefing from the State Department in advance.

TOMOCHIKO TANGUCHI, SPECIAL ADVISER TO CABINET OF JAPANESE PM: There is a genuine interest even curiosity for him to get to know more of who Mr. Trump is about. And I think it's going to be vice versa. Mr. Trump may be equally interested, even curious you to know who Shinzo Abe is so this is going to be very much a classic ice breaking opportunity for both of these people.

SCIUTTO: Among close U.S. Allies, Japan arguably has one of the most pressing questions and that is was Donald Trump speaking the truth during the campaign when he said he would consider nuclearizing Asia, allowing countries including Japan and South Korea to have nuclear weapons. He has since walked back those comments. The question is, will he clarify the issue when he meets with his Japanese counterpart?

Jim Sciutto, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, in the wake of Hillary Clinton's surprising loss, a lot has been made of her failure yet again to crack that highest of glass ceilings.

SESAY: At the same time, it seems there's been almost no recognition of the achievements of Kellyanne Conway, the woman called the "Trump whisperer" and the first female campaign manager to actually win a presidential election. She took over when the campaign was in free fall, brought discipline to her candidate and has been offered a place in the next administration.

Rebecca Ruiz reports on gender inequality from Mashable. She joins us now from San Francisco. It's so good to have you with us.

Let's talk a little bit, shall we, about what some would call the bitter irony that Hillary Clinton's bid to become the first woman president was run off the tracks by another powerful woman at the helm of her male opponent's campaign.

REBECCA RUIZ, MASHABLE.COM: I think it would be accurate to call it a bitter irony but would hesitate to compare what Kellyanne Conway did to what Hillary Clinton tried to achieve this election season.

Kellyanne Conway was clearly very good at her job and she did impose as much discipline on Donald Trump as she possibly could. But you look at what the campaign Hillary Clinton put together over almost two years. And though she ultimately failed, at the end they are two completely different tasks, I think.

[00:25:10] VAUSE: They are very different tasks but they are also -- and clearly, you know becoming the first female president is -- would be, you know, considerably a greater achievement than what Conway has done.

But I'm just curious is it difficult for some women to celebrate Conway's success because of Donald Trump's policies like defunding Planned Parenthood or, you know, the promise to promote anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court -- making policies which just seem to be anti-women

RUIZ: I think the very short answer to that question is yes. I think that the feeling right now especially amongst liberals and some moderates and Independents is that to celebrate the election of Donald Trump at least in terms of a feminist victory is almost clearly impossible. I mean what he has promised to do as you mentioned with reproductive rights is a clear threat to feminist principles and policies.

So I think while we can't have an ideological litmus test to determine which victory, or I should say milestone we celebrate or acknowledge that we should clearly give Kellyanne Conway credit for what she did because it was obviously a very difficult task.

I don't think it can amount to a feminist victory in the bigger picture.

SESAY: You know, as we try and understand the victory of Donald Trump and how he did it, you know, some are looking to the influence of his daughter, Ivanka Trump that she was a moderating -- she appeared to be a moderating force in the campaign and kind of validated him in a positive way for women voters. How do you see it and her influence in all of this and what happened?

RUIZ: I think both she and Kellyanne Conway acted as character witnesses for Donald Trump. So when the headlines got really bad and he got out of control on Twitter or in a debate they came out afterwards and cleaned up the mess and basically told the American people that's not the man I know. That's not the Donald Trump I've grown up with or come to know on the campaign trail and they cast him in a completely different light.

We can argue about whether or not that was the right thing to do. It is based on their personal experience. I'm sure it carried weight with the American people.

VAUSE: You know, the exit polls, Rebecca, told a very 1interesting story. When voters were asked, only 38 percent of them actually said Trump was qualified to be president. The same question was asked about Hillary Clinton, that number is at 52 percent.

How often does this happen in the work force? A qualified, experienced woman misses out on a job to a man without the experience, without the qualification, without the preparation?

RUIZ: I can't give you an exact number but I think we can say with some certainty that according to anecdote and I think there are some studies out there looking at this, it happens with some frequency. It is really disappointing. And if you saw the sentiment coming from a lot of women and men after the election it was a deep disappointing sigh because it's something that a lot of women know well.

And to watch Hillary Clinton practically be the most qualified candidate in the race in addition to most recent presidential elections and to lose out to someone with zero experience aside from his purported business experience was devastating because it was so familiar.

SESAY: Rebecca, very quickly, how do you read the disparity in terms of the way the numbers broke down between black and white women for Hillary Clinton and seeing that, you know, something like over 90 percent of black women voted for Hillary Clinton and then she got, you know -- Donald Trump got 53 percent of white women voting for him. How do you read that?

RUIZ: I think it's a really important question for everyone to think about and it's certainly the topic of a lot of conversation right now. And I read that as there are folks who believe that the sense that white women were going to go with Donald Trump in the end and maybe were not thinking about the other groups of people who would be affected by his policies, they were with respect to what he's proposed, you think about reproductive rights, it's certainly a question. But you have people of color, African-American women, Latino women who feel much more vulnerable and at risk in Trump's America. And so I think we really should spend some time thinking about why we saw such disparities there.

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: Ok. And with that we shall leave it.

Rebecca thanks so much for being us with.

RUIZ: Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you so much Rebecca.

RUIZ: Thank you having me.

SESAY: We'll have a quick break now.

Next on NEWSROOM L.A. the youngest victims of Aleppo, children growing up in a world where all they know is war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:00] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. Time to check the headlines. Donald trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in New York on Thursday. It's Trump's first meeting with a world leader as president-elect. And sources are telling CNN South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will meet with Trump. She's being considered for Secretary of State and other cabinet positions.

SESAY: Primary forces in Iraq say, they recaptured a key air base from ISIS. It's just outside the City of Tal Afar and will now serve as a staging area for security forces in their battle with ISIS, west of Mosul.

VAUSE: Activists say, at least 87 people were killed in a Syrian regime attack on rebel held areas of Eastern Aleppo on Wednesday. The Al Shaar neighborhood appeared to be the worst hit. Barrel bombs struck hospitals, a blood bank and targets close to schools.

SESAY: Well, many of Aleppo's youngest victims don't know a life without war. For them, bombings, bloodshed and tears are a daily routine.

VAUSE: CNN's Will Ripley spoke to some of the people caught in a battle they cannot escape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The children of East Aleppo are too young to remember life, before this. Life before the planes dropping bombs on their homes, hospitals, schools. Too young to understand why anyone would do this, how anyone could do this. The girl under the red blanket was too young to die. She was just one of the children killed, Wednesday, one of dozens of people killed on day two of the Syrian regime's latest aerial assault on the rebel-held city.

MOHAMED EDEL: Today (INAUDIBLE) Aleppo has suffered a very bloody day.

[00:34:59] RIPLEY: Mohammed Edel is a teacher, about to become a father. His wife is seven months pregnant. It's a boy.

EDEL: I'm going to be a daddy. I'm going to have a baby. And so, I'm afraid that my wife die under - when she's getting birth

RIPLEY: Like most expecting moms in East Aleppo, she suffers from malnutrition. Her doctor has no pre-natal vitamins to prescribe. The pharmacies, like the markets, are nearly empty.

EDEL: And we need a few things which are available in very little amounts are super expensive. RIPLEY: Every parent wants the best for their children. But in East Aleppo, even the basics are out of reach. One can of baby formula costs $20, 20 times the daily income of some families.

MONTHER ETAKY: Our baby girl died because of - because of -- there's no healthy food for her.

RIPLEY: Monther Etaky is an activist. He sees far too many children, far too young to starve. He's grateful his 4-month-old son is still breast-feeding.

ETAKY: It's sort of when you look at your son and just pray to not get sick. Because if he gets sick, never find a medicine for him.

RIPLEY: Are you more worried about your son getting hit with a bomb? Are you worried about him running out of food or getting sick?

ETAKY: I'm not getting him out of the house at all. I'm just hiding him in the safest room.

RIPLEY: But even the safest rooms cannot withstand the most powerful bombs being dropped on East Aleppo. These children are too young to know what it really feels like to be safe. Will Ripley, CNN, Istanbul.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Facebook and Google are trying to stop the spread of fake news online. Critics say, the tech giants inadvertently helped Donald Trump win the U.S. election, by not doing enough to curb fake stories, many in which, favored Donald Trump.

SESAY: But now, the company say they are cutting off a key source of revenue, the phony website.

VAUSE: Hemu Nigam joins us now. He's an internet security analyst and the founder and CEO of the online safety firm, SSP Blue. Hemu, thanks very much for being with us.

SESAY: Always good to have you with us.

VAUSE: Explain how these moves by Facebook and Google will actually reduce the amount of fake news out there?

HEMU NIGAM, FOUNDER AND CEO OF SSP BLUE: Well, Facebook will actually be removing links that go the fake news sites. So there will be an impact on Facebook, of course. The problem is going to be, they're going to rely on the user base. Although, the positive on that is the user base has actually been extremely active saying, this is fake. This is fake. This is fake. So, if Facebook does what they are supposed to or they say they're going to, which is, review that complain and take it out, they're going to succeed. Google on the other hand, is actually attacking the revenue source. They're saying. "Hey, you're making money off of fake news. I'm not going to give you a cut of the money I make on the ad. But the reality of it is, their algorithm still picks it up, still displays it, so if I search for it, I'm going to find it.

[00:40:13] SESAY: Yeah, and that being said, if you search for it, you find it. When in the case of Facebook, I have to flag it. How far is this - how much difference is this really going to make?

NIGAM: At the end of the day, it's still going to have to be, be cautious as a consumer. When you're reading something, figure out, is it real, is it fake, is it partially fake. What part is fake? What part is real? Those are the challenges that we face, which is exactly why these companies are under attack right now.

VAUSE: OK. Well, some of the big hoax stories, Clinton sold weapons to ISIS, wrong. The pope endorsed Donald Trump, wrong. A democratic operative was murdered after agreeing to testify against Hillary Clinton, wrong. OK. So what are the telltale signs here of a fake news story?

NIGAM: Well, the fact of the matter is, the companies who are doing this, have gotten extremely good at creating stories that look and feel real. So, I think if there's anything to be said, is actually watching stories like for example, CNN, will do, let's do a fact check and you'll go through all the stories, those are the kinds of things to rely on, to get the real news, which in a strangest way, what I'm really saying is, maybe it's time to go back to traditional media and say, can we get the real news there versus online or at least, start Google searching, is this a real story? Is this not? And pay attention.

VAUSE: Don't mistake your Google search for my journalism.

SESAY: Yes, on Mondays and Tuesdays. But does this have growth implication for these companies?

NIGAM: It does now. It did in - it did in a positive way when it was first happening. Everyone was excited. These stories were really hitting everywhere. Ag revenue will go up from it, but then all of a sudden, users realize, wait a minute, this is fake and it has - it has real societal impact, which is why we're talking about the election and how it resulted in it, and given that now the counterbalance to that is, wait a minute, why do I want to go to a place that is giving me fake news, and I'm relying on it. That's a reputation issue for Google and Facebook to face. Even the reputation issue, that's a direct business --

VAUSE: If I - if I want fake news, I can go to FOX. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says, he doubts that these fake news stories actually swayed the election outcome. But Buzzfeed did an analysis. They looked at the numbers, they found fake news stories generated more engagement than the top stories of 19 major news outlets. Look at this. If there was, you know, millions of more people actually clicking on fake news stories than the - all the mainstream media combine. That alone, shows you the power that these fake news stories can have.

NIGAM: Right. There is a definite direct revenue impact with the fake news stories. The more you have, the more money you can make. The good thing right now for the public that wants real stories, is that revenue impact is also now getting counterbalanced by the reputational negative impact. And these businesses, I think, are starting to say, well, where does our moral compass really lie? Do we want to take revenue that's coming from things that are not real and true and that are impacting real societal issues or do we want to take money from things that are true and tested and verified and true source for information.

VAUSE: And we will leave it there. But thank you so much for coming in. I will catch up with you on the next hour.

SESAY: More to discuss.

VAUSE: Twitter next hour.

SESAY: And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts after the break.

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