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Japan's Shinzo Abe Meets Trump; Another Bombing in Aleppo; Illegal Immigrants To Be Deported; More Picks For Trump's Transition; Barack Obama's Final Overseas Trip; Sanctuary Cities Fears Trump; EPA's New Regulation Under Trump. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 17, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: New York bound. Shinzo Abe leaves for a meeting with Donald Trump, the future president's first meeting with a world leader since his election.
And air strikes pound eastern Aleppo for a second day. Flattening a children's hospital and killing dozens.
And the Mayor of New York tells U.S. president-elect that immigrants across the city are fearful of a Trump administration.
Hello, everyone. And welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Zain Asher. And this is CNN NEWSROOM.
All right. Let's start off by talking politics for you.
Donald Trump is getting ready to meet with his first foreign leader since becoming president elect just one week ago. That meeting will be with this man, that is Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He is going to be visiting Trump Tower in New York on Thursday.
Japanese officials say they don't necessarily have a clear idea about the agenda, about the structure for the meeting, and there are signs that this could actually be a pattern for team Trump.
Here's our Jim Sciutto with more.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF 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 Trump. A diplomatic source tell 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: We stand ready to support him and his team with any information that they might require, even in the advance or in the back in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Today, President-elect Trump himself touted his first foreign contacts on Twitter, quote, "I've 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JASON MILLER, TRUMP SPOKESMAN: He is going to have strong relations and he is going to be able to work with other foreign leaders and show that he is able to reach out and step outside of the political norms to do different things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: But different also means uncertain for foreign leaders eager to see where Donald Trump stands on foreign policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIP CROWLEY, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMOHIKO TANIGUCHI, SHINZO ABE'S SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE CABINET: There's 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 to know who Shinzo Abe is. So this is going to be very much a classic ice-breaking opportunity for both of these people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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.
ASHER: And let's get you caught up now and a little bit more about Donald Trump's schedule. What's on his calendar? He is going to be meeting on Thursday with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
And in fact, a source tells CNN that Trump is actually considering her for the role of secretary of state. America's most important diplomat or possibly another cabinet post. For national security adviser Trump is apparently thinking retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn.
And sources say that Trump is trying to keep lobbyists out of his administration so-called draining the swamp. That's what Trump talked about a lot during his campaign and there have been rumors though, of drama and chaos in the Trump transition team but those on the inside say that when it comes to filling these positions they just want to get it right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: You don't form a government overnight. And these are very serious issues very serious appointments, and very serious consideration. From his perspective he's been presented with any number of choices within each of the agencies and department.
[03:05:02] And he is making those tough decisions and if anything he has obviously more choices than one to fill each position. So we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to many of those different positions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Kellyanne Conway speaking there. Now one of the most talked about names on the Trump transition team, we speak of him a lot here on CNN NEWSROOM is someone who has technically no official role in the administration. He is said to have Trump's ear and he's apparently pulling strings behind the scenes. We are talking about Trump's son- in-law, Jared Kushner.
Here's Brian Todd with more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump his transition is going.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the center of what sources have called infighting and confusion in the Trump transition is a 35-year- old with a rich and tortured blood line and no government experience. Jared kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law is said by sources to be rubbing Trump allies the wrong way with a hand in purging the transition team of people connected to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
One of those is former Congressman Mike Rogers who advised the transition team on national security. Now Rogers is out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MIKE ROGERS, FORMER TRUMP TRANSITION TEAM ADVISER: I think they just weren't comfortable with those folks that had been brought on by Mr. Christie and wanted to go in a different direction. So they did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Now the Trump team is pushing back hard on the reporting that Kushner is in the middle of a so-called knife fight inside the transition. Campaign officials telling CNN Kushner is well-liked, an asset to the team that he is helping to put the administration together but ultimately Donald Trump has the final say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGERS: I think we're going to be OK. This is just the choppy waters getting in -- getting into the -- getting into the bay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: One source familiar with the transition tells CNN the idea that Kushner single handedly pushed all of the Christie people out is overblown but the source admits the fact the Christie people are gone pleases Kushner.
Back in 2004, Christie, then a U.S. Attorney in New Jersey prosecuted Kushner's father, Charles, a billionaire real estate developer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Federal criminal tax violations
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Charles Kushner was accused of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and other violations. It became a Shakespearean drama with Charles Kushner's own relatives, including a sister turning against him in a sordid revenge plot, Charles Kushner hired a prostitute to lure his sister's husband into having sex in a hotel room. The encounter was taped.
And Charles Kushner sent the tape to his sister. It didn't worked. Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to multiple counts and was sentenced to two years in prison. Now there's speculation that Trump, as president might help out the elder Kushner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL SHERMAN, NEW YORK MAGAZINE NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR: Perhaps he might pardon Jared Kushner's father Charles who has a felony record and that prevents him from doing some sorts business deals that he wants to be doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: A Trump spokeswoman said that has never been discussed. One source close to the Trump transition team tell CNN Jared Kushner had nothing to do with pushing out Chris Christie's allies. Kushner himself did not comment for our story.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
ASHER: All right. Let's go from the president-elect to the current president now. In just a few hours, U.S. President Barack Obama is going to be starting a very busy day in Berlin.
On schedule is a one-on-one meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel and there is a good chance of course, that the U.S. election and the results of the U.S. election will be a big topic of conversation.
This is, by the way, Mr. Obama's final, very last overseas trip as president before Donald Trump officially takes the reins in January.
CNN's senior international correspondent Atika Shubert joins us live now from Berlin. So, Atika, before you get to sort of Donald Trump and talking about him taking over in January, Angela Merkel has been described as President Obama's closest international ally. Just talk to us about their common values and the common views they share.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Just to show you how close they are. After President Obama arrived here last night, he had a private dinner with Angela Merkel at his hotel. They had a one-on-one meeting and then another dinner tonight before they meet with E.U. leaders tomorrow.
That's a lot of time to be spending with one leader foreign leaders. And she is the one he has worked the most closely with over his term as president.
What they are doing now is, as you say, talking about that election, what's going to come with President-elect Donald Trump. And you talk about those shared values. Well, you know, they share the values of basically looking forward to globalization. And this is something they put together in a joint editorial here in a local paper saying "There is no turning back on globalization. It is a globalized economy and a globalized world."
They do need to address the inequalities those left behind by globalization, but they maintain their commitment to the trade agreements and the security agreements that have really been the bedrock of the Trans-Atlantic alliance.
The reason they are emphasizing this together is because President- elect Donald Trump has really threatened to sort of up end all of those agreements. He's talked about the United States taking a backseat in NATO, the security alliance that has really bound Europe together since the end of the Cold War.
[03:10:06] And then throwing out things like the Trans-Pacific partnership, the trade agreement that President Obama and Chancellor Merkel and other European leaders have worked years to put together and were hoping to sign very soon.
Donald Trump now saying he wants to tear that up and throw it out. And then of course there is the issue of nationalist, populous movements throughout Europe that have gotten really a boost in the arm after seeing the election of Donald Trump.
Marine Le Pen in France, for example, the National Front says that her odds have increased in her favor for the elections next year, and of course Chancellor Merkel herself here is facing a far-right alternative for Germany party seeing a resurgence.
So these are all things they will be discussing and talking about how they can ensure that their legacies somehow remain intact despite what appears to be a desire by Donald Trump to sort of put that -- put it all on his head.
ASHER: Atika Shubert, live for us there. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Activists say at least 87 people were killed in a Syrian regime attack on rebel-held areas of eastern Aleppo on Wednesday. Take a look at this video. The Al-Shaar neighborhood, this is the video that you're looking at. This appears to be the neighborhood that is worst hit.
You see people here, of course, running, sort of walking with their children through an area that has been literally decimated by an attack.
Barrel bombs struck hospitals, a blood bank and targets near schools, as well.
In that video you actually saw a person appearing to be walking with his children. And the fact is that many children in Aleppo simply do not know a world without bombings or without bloodshed. For them, war is simply a part of everyday life. It's normal there.
CNN's Will Ripley spoke to some of the people caught in a battle they simply cannot escape.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, Aleppo has suffered a very bloody day.
RIPLEY: Mohammad Adel (Ph) is a teacher about to become a father. His wife is 7 months pregnant. It's a boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to be a daddy. I'm going to have a baby. So, I'm afraid that my wife die under -- when she's giving birth.
RIPLEY: Like most expecting moms in east Aleppo, she suffers from malnutrition. Her doctor has no prenatal vitamins to prescribe. The pharmacies, like the markets, are nearly empty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 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. Twenty times the daily income of some families.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby girl died because of -- because there's no healthy food for her.
RIPLEY: Monther Etaky (Ph) 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you are looking to your son and just pray to not get sick because if she gets sick, never find medicine for him.
RIPLEY: Are you more worried about your son getting hit with a bomb or you're worried about him running out of food or getting sick?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not getting him 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.
ASHER: It is absolutely imaginable -- unimaginable, I should say, what those kids have seen at such a young age.
In the meantime, Russia is trying to distance itself from the latest blitz on eastern Aleppo.
CNN's Matthew Chance joins us live now from Moscow. SO, Matthew, you just heard in that really moving report by our Will Ripley what children are going through in Aleppo.
[03:15:04] Russia is saying that they are not responsible for the latest bombings. A lot of people who hear that, Matthew are going to be skeptical. What is the evidence point to right now?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think -- I think it's pretty clear that Russia aren't engaged at the moment in the current air campaign in eastern Aleppo. They've been engaged in fighting that city for many months now but they've taken a decision to stay away from the fighting in Aleppo at this point.
They are focusing their bombing at the moment on other areas of Syria, in western Syria, in Idlib and areas around there and in Homs, as well. That where they say they are attacking Jihadist groups. So undoubtedly there's widespread suffering being caused by those attacks, as well. But in terms of Aleppo, the Russians appeared to be holding back from
unleashing their considerable air power in that city in the moment. And allowing their allies, the Syrian government, to take the lead or to carry out their air strikes in the city which is what the city is experiencing at the moment.
But in a more general sense, of course, you are right. Yes, Russia is behind this ability of the Syrian government to sustain itself. It's been its most important ally in its Civil War inside of Syria and basically without Russian support and the support of others like Iranians and Hezbollah. The Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad just is most likely not still to be fighting. And so, yes, Russia is standing behind the Syrian government in that sense.
ASHER: And Matthew, I want to talk about sort of how politics plays a role in all of this. We know that Putin and Donald Trump spoke by phone just yesterday.
I'm just curious, given the sort of warming, I guess, of relations between the U.S. and Russia in the wake of these new elections here in the United States, what would that mean, do you think, for the war in Syria?
CHANCE: Well, I mean, it could have quite profound consequences for the war in Syria. I think one of the reasons that Russia hasn't unleashed the fullness of its fire power on eastern Aleppo and why it stood back from that at this point is because it's waiting to see what kind of relationship it can forge with the new Trump administration when it takes over in January.
Look, it's potentially a pivotal moment in the relationship. Up until now the Russians and the U.S. have been on opposite sides of the conflict in Syria. Russia has been supporting its long-time ally Bashar al-Assad, the U.S. along with other western countries and Gulf States have been supporting elements of the rebel opposition.
But Donald Trump throughout his presidential campaign said that that needs to change. It one of his most clear policy pronouncements that he wanted to work toward joining forces with Syria to attack groups like Islamic states and other Jihadist elements inside the country. That he said was the real enemy.
That theme was built upon during the phone conversation that you mentioned between Putin and Trump a few days ago, in which the Kremlin said they discussed common enemy number one, international terrorism.
So, there's this possibility now that the Russians and the Americans could join together and combat Islamic state and fight against Islamic state together. And that would obviously shift the dynamics very radically in the Syrian conflict.
ASHER: All right. Matthew Chance, live for us there in Moscow. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
All right. Time for a quick break here on CNN NEWSROOM. President Obama counts Angela Merkel as one of his closest
international partners. We were just talking about this with our Atika Shubert a few minutes ago. A look ahead at how her position on the world stage could change after he leaves office.
And with the future of U.S-Paris relationship in the climate change agreement in doubt, the secretary of state makes an emotional plea. That's next.
[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Alex Thomas with your CNN World Sport headlines.
If Andy Murray is to hold on to his new world number one ranking and finish the season at the top of men's tennis then he will need to dig deep after a marathon match against Kei Nishikori. It took the pair three hours and 20 minutes to get through just three sets of tennis of the ATP World Tour finals here in London.
Murray eventually winning 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 to extend his current streak to 21 matches.
It's been a tough day for the World Anti-Doping Agency. At the meeting of the Associations of National Olympic Committees in Doha. After surviving the fallout of the Russian doping scandal, that emitted aftermath with the Rio Olympics.
While the presidents Sir Craig Reedie is under attack again. This time from the president of the Olympic Council of Asia, and powerful IOC committee member Sheikh Ahmad. He's called for a change of leadership of the global anti-doping body and a relocation to Switzerland.
Pressure is mounting on manager Jurgen Klinsmann after the USA suffered their worst football qualifying defeat for 36 years. They were beaten 4-nil by Costa Rica. But Klinsmann admitting the loss hurts more than any other in his five years in charge. The loss puts the U.S. dead last in the so-called hex qualifying amid the top three guaranteed spots of Russia 2018 with fourth place going to play.
That's a look at your sports headlines. I'm Alex Thomas.
ASHER: OK. So, this video you are looking at right here is basically a peaceful demonstration. You got university students in New York staging a semi protest against President-elect Donald Trump's immigration plans, his immigration plan specifically.
Those students, right there, are some of the thousands of students across the U.S. who are walking out of their schools, out of their classes to protest. And now you have mayors from the country's biggest cities also speaking out against Donald Trump's proposals.
Here's our Nick Valencia with more.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For millions of undocumented immigrants across the United States a Donald Trump presidency is a new reality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will enforce all of our immigration laws.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: And the fear of mass deportations has mayors from Seattle to Chicago, Los Angeles to New York taking a stand against Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: New York believes in liberty. We stand behind Lady Liberty with open arms to welcome immigrants and refugees. We always have and we always will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: There are hundreds of so-called sanctuary cities in the U.S. that choose not to enforce national immigration laws to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAHM EMANUEL, CHICAGO MAYOR: You are safe in Chicago. You are secure in Chicago.
ED MURRAY, SEATTLE MAYOR: These are our neighbors and we will continue to support our neighbors. That's what community is about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: But Trump making it clear on the campaign trail what he plans to do when he is in the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: At a rally at east L.A. College this school's president says many protestors feel that they are fighting for their future.
[03:24:58] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a little bit over 30,000 students on the campus about 5,000 of them are undocumented. So, many of them they do fear as to what could happen to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: Some are even encouraging university presidents to make their colleges sanctuary campuses. This open letter to the president of the University of Southern California was circulated in a petition this week to USC alumni and students. Thousands have already signed. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There is going to be a tension between the federal government and the federal law enforcement and the local law enforcement.
VALENCIA: Attorney and Emory University Law Professor Randy Kessler says legally, sanctuary cities can't stop potential deportations.
KESSLER: The local state municipalities don't have to do anything over and above enforcing their own laws. And if they are not interested and motivated to go and collect the immigrants and deport them, then they're not going to make it easy on Donald Trump or the federal investigators that are law enforcement who want to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: Attorney Kessler went on to say that he foresees this fight going all the way to the Supreme Court with the Supreme Court deciding whether or not the sanctuary cities should enforce national immigration law or continue to do more the same. The more immediate concern however, is what President-elect Donald Trump is threatening and that's to take away federal funding from sanctuary cities.
Places like San Francisco get more than a billion dollars in federal aid. In New York City the hit could be devastating with the $6 billion loss if President-elect Trump follows through with his plans.
Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.
ASHER: Now Los Angeles is actually one of the first cities to shield or protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.
Earlier, the mayor of Los Angeles spoke with CNN about Trump's threat to punish cities that don't abide by immigration laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC GARCETTI, LOS ANGELES MAYOR: Nobody has ever define even in drafts of old legislation of what, quote, unquote, "sanctuary city" is. LAPD officers just like in New York, in Chicago, in any small town shouldn't be immigration officials, that's the responsibility of the federal government.
Just because we're not pulling people over by the way they look and asking for their papers doesn't mean that we're not participating with federal immigration authorities. We do that in a lawful way when a court gives us a warrant.
We're not going to spread fear, we're not going to divide families. It's un-American. And we won't stand for it here and we shouldn't stand for it in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The mayor of Los Angeles there. Now Texas has historically been one of the most die-hard, most red states in the United States, and in one Texas County almost everybody, almost everybody this year voted for Donald Trump.
Our Gary Tuchman visited that county to talk to Donald Trump supporters and he actually managed to find one woman to rebel and went democratic blue.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in the Texas Panhandle in Roberts County, Donald Trump is very popular.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He stands for the working Americans. And that's middle class. And that's a lot of us.
TUCHMAN: Very, very popular.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he is just a true, a true honest man.
TUCHMAN: As a matter of fact, this could be considered the most pro- Trump county in America; 95.3 percent of voters here cast their ballots for Donald Trump, his highest percentage of any county in the nation. Only 20 people in this tiny county voted for Hillary Clinton. This is the county seat, it's pronounced Miami.
And in the Rafter B Cafe we meet customer and Trump voter Janet Anderson and ask about Trump demonstration around the country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I respect their right to protest if they keep it peaceful way.
TUCHMAN: But others aren't so diplomatic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It really just breaks your heart to think that there's people out there that, you know, this is what they have to do to get attention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's ridiculous. That's little kids throwing a temper tantrum because they didn't get their way.
TUCHMAN: The loyalty to Trump is deep here in Miami. Many want to cut Trump a break if campaign promises fall to the side such as a border wall. Jim Holloway is the local high school athletic director.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think he probably thinks he can get Mexico to do that now to pay for it or help pay for it, but I don't see how you are going to get another sovereign nation to pay for a wall that you are wanting to build.
TUCHMAN: Does that bother you about the candidate you chose that he kept saying that over and over again when you never thought it could happen in the first place?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now. Because to him I think he thought, and I still think, you know, he's still saying he's going to do it.
TUCHMAN: When Trump says I'm going to bomb the hell out of ISIS, do you expect him to keep that promise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I expect him to tighten the situation up. I think he was probably just talking out to his ass, so to speak. It doesn't to me. Just keep them off our soil.
TUCHMAN: But not all of here are ready to forgive broken promises. The publisher and editor of the Miami chief says Trump need to keep his pledge to investigate Hillary Clinton. So you would feel differently about Trump if he didn't pursue that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would be very disappointed, yes.
TUCHMAN: He has promised during the campaign to repeal Obamacare. Is that important?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that is extremely important.
TUCHMAN: SO, I don't know if you know but the other day he said maybe he would be open to keeping parts of it. Will that bother you if he goes back on his past...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he goes back on his promises, yes, that will be very disturbing for a lot of people.
[03:29:59] TUCHMAN: Before the day is over in this reddest of counties we talked to this registered republican. Tell me who you voted for on Election Day?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary.
TUCHMAN: Well, you voted for Hillary.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. It's first time we voted democrat in a million years.
TUCHMAN: Shirley Williams is one of the 20. She said she liked that Clinton has political experienced.
How hard is it to vote for Hillary Clinton in Roberts County, Texas?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really hard.
TUCHMAN: Does anyone giving you a hard time about it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody knows, now they will.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Miami, Texas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Nobody knows, got to love that.
Well, coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, he is a climate change denier and he's in charge of Donald Trump's transition team. We will introduce you to this man coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I should say in United States and all around the world. I'm Zain Asher. Let's get you caught up on your top stories at this hour.
Japanese officials are in New York preparing for a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. One official said there's is no set schedule for the meeting which is rare but that's because Trump is not yet in office.
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 near schools, as well.
Barack Obama is expected to have a one-on-one meeting and news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the coming hours. The U.S. president is in Berlin on the second leg of his final planned overseas trip as U.S. president. A few leader shared dinner on Wednesday night.
[03:35:09] Donald Trump campaigned on promises to pull the plug on environmental regulations. He has called climate change a hoax and there's absolutely no indication he is going to back away from those positions anytime soon.
Here's our Jake Tapper with more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to cancel billions and billions of dollars in payment to the United Nations climate change programs and use the money to fix America's environmental infrastructure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, STATE OF THE UNION SHOW HOST: Suffice it to say Donald Trump is not a big believer in manmade climate change contrary to the views and data of the vast majority of scientists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our plan will end the EPA, which is a -- look, it's all wonderful but it's a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: That's why the former EPA administrators under Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush hammered Trump during the election for pledging to yank the U.S. from the Paris accords, an international agreement to fight climate change, a movement they said, quote, "would set the world back decades."
Leading the Trump transition team on environmental matters is an avid climate change denier, a man who was once funded by the tobacco industry to fight those seeking to further regulate cigarettes.
Myron Ebell is the director of the Center for Energy and Environment, part of a liberal think-tank that quote, "questions global warming alarmism," partly funded by some of the same industries, such as coal that are being heard by regulations of the fossil fuel energy.
Ebell has long fought against environmental regulations arguing they are an extension of government power. As he told PBS in 2012, he rejects the reams of data and evidence suggesting that manmade climate change is real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MYRON EBELL, CENTER FOR ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT DIRECTOR We believed that the so-called global warming consensus was not based on science but a political consensus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: That's rejecting evidence accepted by most scientists, as well as a growing number of republicans including South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB INGLIS, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSMAN: It's really quite -- quite comical really to have one of the merchants of doubt as the head of EPA. That really would be a continuing joke on America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: As founder of Environmental Group Republic, and Inglis says there must be a way everyone can move forward together. A balanced way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
This is for real. And it's happening to us now. We want to take care of the problem. It may be, just maybe, that somebody like Donald Trump could show that there's a free enterprise answer to climate change, but he won't show if he's got Myron Ebell as the director -- as the administrator of the EPA, however.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Trump's appointee will also have the power to affect how we work with the international community to combat a changing environment that has proven deadly time and again.
Ebell tops Trump's list less than a year after protesters publicly named him a climate criminal during an annual U.N. conference in Paris.
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EBELL: I'm used to that from the far left. So I did go out and get my photo taken with my poster just so I have it as a memento.
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TAPPER: When the on-line channel climate home caught up with Ebell he made his priorities clear.
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EBELL: I hope whoever is elected in 2017, of whatever party will undo the EPA power plant regs and some of the other regs that are very harmful to our economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Our Jake Tapper reporting there. Now Trump's anti-climate view and his beliefs that climate change is a hoax have cast a shadow over the latest climate meeting in Morocco.
CNN's Isa Soares is in Marrakesh for us.
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Trump is not a name leader want to discuss here. But among the diplomacy and the smiles they are quietly sweating over his skepticism on climate change and there's no avoiding it.
Your comment on the election of President-elect Trump in the United States.
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BAN KI-MOON, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: I'm sure that he will understand this and he will listen and he will evaluate his campaign remarks.
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SOARES: The fear here is the president-elect could undo the historic climate change agreement signed by nearly 200 countries last year in Paris.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are a little bit worried, but we acknowledge the fact to that the system of legislation may not allow him to undo all the gains from this successful Paris agreement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's momentum here, with or without the U.S.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: They have reason to worry. The president-elect has called climate change a hoax created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. He's even hinted at cancelling the Paris agreement and reviving the U.S. coal and gas industry.
[03:40:04] In it will turn U.S. President-elect Donald Trump cannot pull out of the Paris agreement. He would have to trigger article 28. That's a provision within the actual agreement. And that could take as many as four years by which point his term will have ended.
But there's a much quicker, and faster way if he wants out and that's simply to ignore the commitments set in place by U.S. President Barack Obama. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wants to avoid this at all costs.
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JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: No one has a right to make decisions that affect billions of people based on solely ideology or without proper input.
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SOARES: Europe is pushing for this ties sounding alarm bells and calling on Trump to stick to the accord.
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MIGUEL ARIAS CANETE, CLIMATE ACTION AND ENERGY E.U. COMMISSIONER: We need him to have to stick on board. And we will do any effort to have them on board and to convince them that this is a win-win policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOARES: But what's many of this conference are optimistic the president-elect will change his mind. Some of his supporters here are hoping he doesn't budge.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We stand in solidarity with President-elect Trump and this will be the first step toward doing it. This is our shredding of the document.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: That is our Isa Soares reporting there. Coming up after the break, we often take our keyboards for granted, I know I certainly do. But why is the alphabet on our computers laid out the way it is? We'll explain after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: You may have noticed the next American president and I could not be more different.
(APPLAUSE)
We are -- we have very different points of view but American democracy is bigger than any one person. And that's why we have...
(APPLAUSE)
[03:45:00] ... that's why we have a tradition of the outgoing president welcoming the new one in, as I did last week. And why in the coming weeks my administration will do everything we can to support the smoothest transition possible. Because that's how democracy has to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: U.S. President Barack Obama certainly in an awkward position of having to answer a lot of questions about President-elect Trump's values and his vision for the U.S.
But what does the future president of the United States mean for Germany? The U.S.'s strongest international ally.
Let's talk about more about that with Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of Bild newspaper. He joins me live now from Berlin. So, Julian, let's start off with what the Germans are actually expecting from President- elect Donald Trump next year and onwards.
JULIAN REICHELT, BILD NEWSPAPER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, one can start off with saying that the Germans are expecting pretty much nothing from President-elect Donald Trump. So, it will be very, very easy for him to exceed expectations.
People here were disturbed about many of the things he said in his election campaign and are actually fearful of some of the policies he said he would go for.
And so, there's a weird sentiment now that people actually hope that, you know, we will see the same that we see after, you know, so many election campaigns that politicians just will not follow through with the promises they make in an election campaign.
ASHER: I'm curious, though, about what Donald Trump's election means for Angela Merkel. She's running for a fourth term as Chancellor of Germany. Just how does she navigate this new world order where nationalism, as President Obama mentioned appears to be rising?
REICHELT: Well, that will be the main challenge for Angela Merkel in the coming year when she most likely will be running for a fourth term. When it comes to Donald Trump, the biggest challenge is, you know, finding out what he really wants.
The German administration so far is struggling basically with getting in touch with Donald Trump's team. No one really has had any contacts with his inner circle, no one really knows what, you know, what's his foreign policy goals will be, what his attitude towards Germany, and towards NATO.
So the German administration, the Merkel administration right now are scrambling to desperately find out who to talk to. Basically what's his - what's the (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY) when it comes to -- when it comes to Donald Trump. When it comes to Merkel's own election next year, obviously the Trump election is a warning sign that, you know, there is a certain sentiment on the rise that people do not want this kind of elitism in their camps anymore.
You have very similar sentiments here in Germany, you have right wing populous AFD, you have the left wing populous to think of those combined basically are what Donald Trump is for the United States.
And both of them are seeing great results and from what I'm hearing from the Merkel administration that the Trump election definitely has been a wakeup call to address these issues to address that populous sentiment that people sometimes have the feeling that their problems are not being addressed anymore and that's why they turn to populous movements or persons.
ASHER: So Julian, some might say and I've heard what some people say this that with President Obama sort of on his way out that Angela Merkel is left as the last defender of liberal values in the west. Would you say that was true?
REICHELT: Well, we will see that. I mean, a lot depends on what kind of advisers Donald Trump is going to pick and how he is going to shape his policies. If he goes through with many things that he said during his election campaign there will be huge gap between values of the Trump administration and values of the Angela Merkel administration which one could call liberal western values.
And we are seeing one liberal western government after the other falling here in Europe to more populous governments and administrations. So, yes, if Donald Trump really goes through with all of the policies that -- partly radical and divisive policies that he announced during the -- during his election campaign, then I would agree with that statement that Angela Merkel basically is the last pillar for liberal western democracies.
But there's a big but, before she, you know, it can remain the last pillar she has to win an election here in Germany, and you know, with the whole political landscape being quite similar to what is going on in the U.S. here, that is -- that is far from certain that she will win that election if she runs.
[03:50:01] ASHER: All right. Julian Reichelt, thank you so much for being with us and sharing your views. I appreciate that.
REICHELT: Thank you for having me. Thank you.
ASHER: All right. Time for a quick break here on CNN NEWSROOM. When we come back, ever wondered why your keyboard is laid out just the way it is. The alphabet was actually not reorganized at random. That story next.
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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good Thursday to you. I'm meteorologist Pedram Javaheri looking at pattern around the United States.
Another high and dry day across much of the southern U.S. Pretty mild temperatures for this time of the year are locked in place while mild temps also for parts of the northeast for now. But the transition certainly going to be begin to felt here.
As you notice a big winter weather event taking place around portions of the intermountain west onto the Rockies. In fact, a significant accumulations of more than two feet when you get into some of the highest elevations. And northern areas of the State of Minnesota also picking up their first heavy bout of snowfall for the season.
So the temperatures are going to cool off as we go in to Denver, with some snow showers possible. Generally light for the city itself. But Chicago at 21 degrees, afternoon shaping up. Temperatures could be close to freezing over the next couple of days around the Midwest as the transition takes place.
And I take you to the south, still watching an area of disturbed weather across this region just of north of Panama. Eighty percent chance for this to become tropical storm Otto in the next five days. And the models at this point, a lot of discrepancies about what it's going to do but the general consensus is it want to migrate back out towards Nicaragua potentially end up in the Pacific Ocean.
You notice some outliers want to take this farther to the north, so still worth monitoring that over the next couple of days. But in the Caribbean this is what it looks like in Belize City. Showers in the morning about 28 degrees there. Chihuahua making it up to 27, afternoon sunshine in the forecast.
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ASHER: Bob Dylan said he won't be in Sweden next month to pick up his Nobel Prize because he is too busy. He is the first songwriter ever to win a Nobel Prize. But some say he doesn't exactly seem to be busting with excitement about it.
When his win was first announce in October he didn't acknowledge the win right away and initially he didn't take calls from academy members. Now, the Swedish Academy says as long as he gives a Nobel lecture within six months he can still collect his prize.
So, as I have been saying over the past 10 minutes we do take our keyboards for granted but why is the letter a next to the letter s and not next to the letter b.
Our CNN Money team explains why the alphabet on your keyboard is organized just the way it is.
[03:54:57] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever wonder why your keyboard looks like this and not this? The answer has a lot to do with this. Qwerty creators never typed out exactly what they were thinking. And although not everyone agrees, this is why most experts believe the keyboard is laid out the way it is. The first typewriters had keyboards of all shapes and sizes but
inventors soon learned they needed to stagger the keys to stop them from getting stuck together.
In 1867, newspaper editor Christopher Lathe Shoals was working on one early version. His first keyboard had the second half of the alphabet on top and the first half on the bottom. But the keys were still getting jammed.
Letters often used consecutively would get stuck together if they were next to each other on the keyboard, so he devise a new layout, separating the most common pairings of letters.
Early typewriters left out the one and zero keys. People used lowercase l's and capital o's instead. A few years later E. Remington and Sons, a weapons manufacturer was looking for a new way to rake in some cash after the end of the Civil War.
So, they turned from rifles to typewriters, Remington entered in to an agreement with Shoals and switched up the layout just a bit. They swapped the r and period leaving QWERTY. Slowly keyboard manufacturers began adding the one and zero keys, but it didn't become standardized until roughly 100 years later in the 1970s.
Today's keyboards have that same staggered layout, even though the technical limitations of the typewriter are long behind us. Clearly we're no longer concerned with getting keys stuck together but qwerty stuck around.
ASHER: All right. That does it for us here. I'm Zain Asher. Stick around. We have much more news after this break with my colleague Hannah Vaughan Jones in London.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
