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Trump Continues Meetings with Cabinet Contenders; Pope Francis Announces Priests Can Forgive Abortion; Park Guen-hye Officially Named Suspect. 8:00a-9:00a ET
Aired November 21, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:12] ANDREW STEVENS, HOST: I'm Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream. South Korea's political crisis. The president now
a suspect in a corruption probe as more voters demand she quit.
Who will make the cut for Team Trump, the president-elect continues to meet top contenders to join his administration. We've got the latest.
And a significant announcement from Pope Francis, who's allowing Catholic priests to forgive those who've had an abortion.
And we begin in South Korea, where the president stands accused of what some call the Korean disease: government corruption. Prosecutors have
officially named President Park Geun-hye as a suspect in a corruption probe. She's accused of conspiring with three people close to her.
Well, for weeks now an angry public has demanded her resignation, but analysts say it's unlikely that she'll step down.
Well, CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments from this growing political scandal. She joins us now from Seoul. And, Paula, this is
nothing less now than a full blown crisis for the South Korean leader.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Andrew. It's been a really bad start of the week for the president. As you say,
she has now been designated a suspect by prosecutors. They say they want to investigate her as such. She'd be the first sitting president to be
investigated as a suspect.
Now, we did know she was going to be questioned as a witness and she had effectively agreed
to that, but since suspects have said this, Park's attorney had said that they don't think that they will be cooperating with this investigation
anymore. They say they don't believe it's politically neutral. They say the fact that prosecutors are suggesting that President Park has committed
a crime, a serious crime, is simply not true.
So this is an ongoing process at this point, but certainly President Park Geun-hye is not the first president of this country to be embroiled in a
corruption scandal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Elected on an anti-corruption ticket, Park Guen- hye's pledge to clean up South Korean politics has gone disastrously wrong. Hundreds of thousands are calling for her resignation in loud protests.
Park has become yet another presidential face of what one of her predecessors called the Korean disease.
Park is accused of sharing classified documents with a confidant who was not part of government, but who was part of a cult-like religion.
Choi Soon-sil is in custody, charged with fraud and abuse of power, accused of coercing millions of dollars from big conglomerates like Samsung
for her foundations for personal use. She has apologized and denied the charges against her.
JOHN DELURY, YONSEI UNIVERSITY: One problem with corruption in South Korea is that it does have its roots in the very same reasons why it's such an
economic miracle. That is the cooperation, which is also collusion between the government and big business.
HANCOCKS: Not including Park, there have been six presidents since South Korea officially became a democracy in 1987. Every single one of them has
been linked to corruption either directly or through immediate family. Two spent time behind bars, one, Roh Moo-Hyun, committed suicide in the
middle of an investigation into corruption.
PROFESSOR HASUNG JANG, KOREA UNIVERSITY: Politics and the business groups linked and created all the corruption and also shaken the entire country
from the fundamentals.
So, we are very ashamed, and we are very much worried about.
HANCOCKS: Park's father, Park Chung-hee ruled South Korea with an iron fist in
the '60s and '70s. Some saw him as an economic savior, others saw him as a dictator who trampled on human rights.
Residents who once supported the daughter now fear they have voted in a ghost of the father.
This protester tells me this sort of thing happened with her father 40 years ago, but times have changed. The public will not put up with this
any more.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: Now, President Park has given two public apologies to the people. She's also effectively offered to give up some of her power to
parliament, but it's simply not enough for protesters at this point.
They say that the only speech they are interested in hearing from President Park is her resignation speech -- Andrew.
STEVENS: Well, just on that point of protesters, Paula, the numbers, the crowds, are growing. Is there a sense that they are going to continue to
grow, that this now has a real momentum?
[08:05:10] HANCOCKS: Absolutely. We're seeing hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets of Seoul, and not just Seoul, not just the
capital, around the country. In particular, Saturdays are the times when people come out en masse and they are real family affairs. It's people of
all ages, from young children, to high school students, university students, all the way
up to the elderly.
So it's across the board there's all ages, but just one message, calling for President Park to step down. The protesters say that they believe
she's lost their trust, she's lost the trust of the people, and she should step down.
This Saturday, for example, organizers are hoping for the biggest crowds yet following the fact that Park's attorney said they will no longer
cooperate with the prosecutors' investigation, because they simply don't think it's politically neutral.
So this, of course, is enflaming the anger of the people. They want her to step down. It doesn't look like she has any intention of stepping down, at
least at this point, so I think we are going to see these crowds on the streets for some time -- Andrew.
STEVENS: And as you say, she has immunity while she is president of South Korea. Paula, thanks very much for that. Paula Hancocks in Seoul.
Now, in the United States, Donald Trump faces another busy day as he chooses who will serve in his administration. The president-elect held a
series of interviews over the weekend and more are expected in the coming hours.
Just a short while ago, we heard from Kellyanne Conway, the senior adviser now to Trump, former campaign manager.
Well, she spoke to Chris Cuomo about the selection process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: There's a long short list for each of these positions. I mean, he's also met with Senator Bob Corker
from Tennessee, who's rumored to be on the list for secretary of state. There are others, obviously, who are qualified.
But again, let's go back to my previous comment, which is not everyone who consults with the president-elect and comes to meet with him, Chris, is
going to be in his cabinet or in his federal government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: Kellyanne Conway there.
Now a member of Trump's transition team has said he could announce some of the picks by the end of this day.
Jason Carroll now has a closer look at who's in contention.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-elect Donald Trump interviewing potential cabinet picks but has not yet made a decision on who
will be Secretary of State.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, we made a couple of deals, but we'll let you know soon.
CARROLL (voice-over): Meeting with one of his top adversaries, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, about possibly joining his administration.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was not only a cordial meeting but also is a very substantive meeting. Governor Romney is
under active and serious consideration to serve as Secretary of State of the United States.
CARROLL (voice-over): The two men frequently sparring during Trump's campaign.
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump is a phony.
TRUMP: Romney choked like a dog. He choked.
CARROLL (voice-over): A steady stream of possible cabinet picks in front of the cameras throughout the weekend, including loyalists like former New
York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Trump repeatedly praising retired Marine Corps General James Mattis, the leading candidate for Secretary of Defense.
TRUMP: All I can say is he is the real deal.
CARROLL (voice-over): Mattis, widely respected throughout the military, could be the first former ranking general to become Defense Secretary in
nearly 70 years. Trump also considering billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for Commerce Secretary.
TRUMP: That's what we're looking for.
CARROLL (voice-over): Ross, the type of administration official Trump pledged to appoint throughout his campaign, a businessman with a history of
resurrecting dying companies who has billions in the bank. But in the middle of assembling his new team, Trump making his grievances to Twitter.
This time, criticizing the cast of the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" for this message delivered to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Friday night, at
the end of their performance.
BRANDON VICTOR DIXON, ACTOR: We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us. All of
us.
(APPLAUSE)
CARROLL (voice-over): In a series of tweets, Trump says Mike Pence was harassed and that the cast was very rude. Trump insisting they should
apologize for their, quote, "terrible behavior."
PENCE: I wasn't offended by what was said. I'll leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it.
CARROLL (voice-over): But Trump would not let it go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Trump, are you still upset about "Hamilton"?
TRUMP: They were very inappropriate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS: That was Jason Carroll reporting.
As you heard there in Jason's report, Trump is still airing grievances on Twitter. Critics say it's just another distraction, perhaps drawing
attention away from his decision to settle those lawsuits which alleged fraud at his own Trump University for real estate seminars.
OK, let's talk now to CNN Money senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. He joins us from New York.
I just want to pick up on that point, Brian, is this as some suggests, or does it look like a tactic by Donald Trump to divert attention away from
the fact that he did make that multi-million payment to settle those fraud fraud charges.
[05:10:13] BRIAN STELTER, CNN MONEY MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It may be calculated, but I think some of the people around Trump have said this is
not always strategic, it's more impulsive. When we talk to his biographers or reporters who cover him every day, the sense they get is that Trump
wakes up, he reads the papers, he watches TV, he gets angry about something and he reaches for his phone he and expresses that on Twitter. That's why
a lot of his most controversial tweets come first thing in the morning, as his comments about Hamilton and SNL did this weekend.
But I think there is an important point to make here about the overarching conflicts of interest and controversies that are enveloping Donald Trump.
They existed before he was elected, and they definitely exist today.
For example, USA Today has found that Trump has at least 75 lawsuits against him that are still open. There's a wide variety of them. We can
show a few on screen, I think. There are lawsuits from ex-investors, lawsuits from celebrity chefs who backed out of his Washington hotel.
There's a number of these different pending cases where he is a defendant. Some of these may be resolved in the future, some may not.
The USA Today had said this is an unprecedented situation to have a president-elect with so many legal issues in front of him. So, yes, he
settled that $25 million case involving Trump University, paying out that money to the people who were plaintiffs, but there are many other cases he
faces. And those are going to be front and center, and the media has an obligation to help keep those cases front and center.
STEVENS: It's certainly unprecedented to have to sort of be to be facing this sort of action, but I just wonder, I mean, given the fact that so many
newspapers editorialized in favor of Hillary Clinton in the election campaign and he has been so critical of the mainstream media, obviously,
he's not going to get a honeymoon with the media, but by the same token, is he going to be held to a different level of accountability than previous presidents
because of this mutual hostility?
STELTER: Yeah, there's definitely two different dynamics at play at the same time. On the one hand, an adversarial press. Certainly, the
editorial boards that you mentioned that were essentially universally opposed to him. You see a lot of investigative journalists focusing on
Trump and focusing on his businesses right now.
On the other hand, we're in this media age where sources can go direct, whether that's a company, a nonprofit, or a politician like Donald Trump.
Sources going direct, meaning he's got Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and these other ways to reach voters and reach Americans and
reach the world directly, going around the media.
So you have these two different dynamics, which are essentially in conflict. Trump feeling he doesn't need the media, doesn't need to give
interviews or hold press conferences, while at the same time journalists trying to hold him accountable, trying to use investigative journalism
tools in order to pursue all these different threads.
So a really interesting mix, because we have not seen this interaction before, this idea of sources going direct at the same time journalists are
trying to hold him accountable.
STEVENS: And we saw with the interview -- the meeting with the Japanese President (sic) Shinzo Abe, that the press pool was not invited to be a
part of that. The Japanese government sent out photos, which many media outlets, including CNN, chose not to run because the press pool hadn't been
invited.
Is this a rift that can easily be healed, do you think? Or is this the start of what's going to be a very, very contentious relationship?
STELTER: I'm expecting a lot more contentious situations, and this is just the beginning.
What you're describing is one of the first skirmishes. The Japanese prime minister comes for a meeting, photographers are brought in, but only
government photographers or Japanese press photographers, the American press was not invited into the meeting. So news outlets chose not to show
the photos.
Over the weekend, the White House Correspondents' Association said it was encouraged by a little bit of progress getting a little bit access to
Trump's resort in New Jersey. Reporters were allowed to stand outside and take pictures.
However, there is not a protective press pool traveling with Trump at all times, so when
he went to church Sunday, reporters were not brought with him. There was not the same kind of access we currently have with President Obama. We're
going continue to see these skirmishes in the months and probably the years ahead as journalists seek to have the same amount of access that we had to
the Bush administration, to the Obama administration, and others, and Donald Trump resisting that.
It does seem there's a number of different times in the last two weeks where it seems Donald
Trump has not come fully to grips with what it means to be president. What I mean by that is the
constant scrutiny and constant presence of journalists, that's something Bush and Obama and other presidents accepted. And so far we have not seen
President-elect Trump accept that reality.
STEVENS: Yeah, they didn't like it, but they accepted it as opposed to Donald Trump.
Brian, thank you very much.
STELTER: Thanks.
STEVENS: Brian Stelter there.
Now, the current U.S. president is telling Washington's allies to withhold judgment on the incoming administration. President Obama made those
comments in Peru where he's been attending the Asia Pacific Economic cooperation Summit, the APEC summit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:15:06] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The president- elect now has to put together a team and put forward specifics about how he intends to govern, and he hasn't
had the full opportunity to do that yet, and so people should take a wait and see approach in how much his policy proposals, once in the White House,
once he is sworn in, matches up with some of the rhetoric of his campaign.
My simple point is, is that you can't assume that the language of campaigning matches up with the specifics of governing, legislation,
regulations, and foreign policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: Well, it's not only Donald Trump's victory that's causing political shocks in France.
former president Nicolas Sarkozy is out of the race for president. He came in third behind Alain Jupe and Francois Fillon in the Republican Party
primary.
Now, they face off in a runoff for the November 27th vote. Now, the party's nominee is expected to run against the National Front leader Marine
Le Pen. The right-wing politician she that says she's optimistic about her chances after the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's election.
Still ahead here on News Stream, a revolutionary move for the Catholic church as Pope
Francis permits priests to pardon abortion. We're off to Rome ahead.
Also we're going to be live in Iraq, where forces have uncovered evidence of an ISIS atrocity on the outskirts of Mosul. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEVENS: That's the view of Victoria Harbor this evening. Welcome back.
Now to a groundbreaking move by the Catholic church. Pope Francis has given Catholic priests the power to forgive abortion. In an open letter he
reaffirms the belief that abortion is, quote, a grave sin, but writes there is no sin that god's mercy cannot reach.
And he grants to all priests the ability to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion.
Let's bring in Delia Gallagher now for more on this approach from the church. He joins us live from Rome. And Delia, the long held position in
the church is that abortion is a moral evil. What's changed?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Andrew. And there's not a change on that stance as far as the pope's concerned, but
he has made a significant change on this rule on abortion in the Catholic church because previously, Andrew, a woman who had had an abortion could
only be forgiven by a bishop. This is because abortion carries with it the punishment of what they call automatic excommunication from the Catholic
church.
It was considered a very grave sin that could only be lifted by a bishop.
So what Pope Francis has done today is say that you no longer need the permission of a bishop, any Catholic priest now now has the power to
forgive an abortion. This is significant because he has already made an exception to this rule last year, Andrew, when he was emphasizing this
special year of mercy. And he wanted people to come back to the Catholic church to realize that they could be forgiven no matter what the sin was.
Well, this year of mercy ended yesterday and that's why we have this announcement today from the Vatican that the pope is now extending
indefinitely the exception to this rule that a woman no longer needs to have special permission from her bishop in order to be forgiven for an
abortion, now any Catholic priest can do it.
The pope has said, Andrew, that he has met women who bear the scars, he said, of this agonizing and painful decision, and so it is part of his
priority to bring women who have had abortions, to bring divorced and remarried Catholics, anybody who has felt excluded from the Catholic church
because of these difficult rules to try and make it a little bit easier for them to come back in.
So he's not changing it on the fact that he considers it an evil, he called it an horrendous crime, it's certainly a sin for him, but he wants people
to realize that god can forgive anything -- Andrew.
[08:21:27] STEVENS: Some parts of the Catholic church, notably in the States, for example, it is much sort of easier, I guess, if that's the
right word, for the priest to forgive someone who has had an abortion, but are there parts of the church, are there countries in which
this ruling, this edict, going to be difficult to enforce because the local priests will react against it?
GALLAGHER: Well, that's a good point, Andrew. You know, de facto this has already been happening in the Catholic church in the United States and in
Great Britain, for example. Many of their bishops already allow priests to forgive abortions.
However, the pope has to think about the rest of the world. And in the rest of the world, you know, this is part of canon law of the Catholic
church. So it's written in the books that only a bishop can do this. So actually it can seem like a small incremental change from here, but down on
the ground where there are people who are really operating according to what the canon law of the Catholic church
said, this is an important announcement for the pope to say, no, we need to relax those laws as far as we can. And we need to allow people not to feel
inhibited, you know, I think that's the point for the pope -- he doesn't want people anywhere in the world to feel like they have to go -- a bishop
is a big, big figure for some people in the Catholic church, and they may be afraid to go to him.
So this is part of the pope's hope that people will feel comfortable going to their priest, and that the priest will bring them into the church and
make them feel welcome -- Andrew.
STEVENS: All right. Delia, thank you so much. Delia Gallagher joining us live from Rome.
Now a Taliban spokesman says the group is not behind a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Kabul in Afghanistan. This is video from outside a
hospital where some of the victims were taken. At least 27 people have now been confirmed dead, 35 others were injured. That's according to a police
spokesman who says women and children are among the victims.
The attack happened as worshipers gathered to observe an important Shia ceremony.
Going to Iraq now, and we warn you that this video is very graphic. CNN has obtained it from the ministry of the interior, and it shows evidence of
a mass grave. Iraqi forces discovered the site two weeks ago. Forensic specialists are now examining the site and the bodies. A witness describes
hearing the executions and victims screaming over a period of several nights.
The executions were carried out just before the start of the Mosul offensive. And we're told that there are another three or perhaps four
mass grave sites in the area.
Let's go to Phil Black now. He is in Irbil in Iraq. And Phil, we're starting to learn more about this first mass grave. Do we know who is in
that grave and how they were killed?
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Witness accounts, people who live around the area, and also forensic investigation taking place at this
site. We're beginning to learn the extent of the horrors that did, in fact, took place there. You're right, the pictures taht we have to show
you on this a graphic, that they give a very powerful sense of the atrocities that were committed.
One locals say is that over a series of nights of people were trucked in. Now, these are believed to have been former Iraqi security services who
have lived in this ISIS controlled territory for the two years or so that ISIS ruled here. But then as that Iraqi operation to clear ISIS from northern Iraq really started to get going and gather
momentum and ISIS's control of this territory began to look shaky, well that was when it's understood they began rounding up these men who either
worked in the federal police or perhaps the other branches of the Iraqi security force, trucked them to this location at this town Hamam al-Alil
(ph), it is on the Tigris River, about 30 kilometers south of Mosul., and there they were executed.
Forensic examination, we are told, indicates that the victims were largely shot in the head, that they were bound and blindfolded. They were mostly
men, although they say there are also the remains of women and some young boys there, as well.
And some of the bodies are in various states of decomposition, indicating that most of the executions are believed to have taken place in that period
immediately leading up to the Iraqi offensive on this region, but some of them may have also taken place much sooner, perhaps ISIS was using this
place as an execution and body disposal site for some time before.
But we are only starting to learn and will no doubt take a significant degree of time to really piece together to determine precisely whose bodies
are there and what the total number may be, Andrew?
STEVENS: All right, Phil, thank you very much for that update. Phil Black in Irbil in Iraq.
Now, a week ago residents in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Syria, received a message: leave
or die. Now, six straight days of heavy bombing have killed at least 300 people. All of this since Tuesday when the Syrian government launched a
new wave of air strikes.
After meeting with Syrian foreign minister, the UN's envoy to Syria indicated the UN and Syrian regime have very different positions on what is
actually happening in Aleppo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAFFAN DE MISTURA, UN SPECIAL ENVOY TO SYRIA: Since we do have a difference of opinion between the minister saying that there is a total
denial of any aerial bombing of hospitals in eastern Aleppo, and our point of view that indicates that there have been tragic bombing of hospital in
eastern Aleppo and elsewhere, frankly, then perhaps we should be allowed to send a verification
team on the UN side and made by UN. and other partners to verify the damage of the hospitals in both east and west Aleppo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: You're watching News Stream. Still ahead, horrific accounts of Sunday's deadly train crash in India are starting to emerge. The latest on
the investigation into what caused the train to go off the rails and leave more than 140 people dead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[08:31:22] STEVENS: Now, we're following the heartbreaking developments of a deadly train derailment in northern India. Sunday's crash killed more
than 140 people. We've learned that a wedding party was among the passengers and some of the members of that family, including a mother and a
little girl are still missing.
Dozens of other people on the train suffered injuries. This was the deadliest train disaster in India for six years.
Well, CNN's Mallika Kapur has followed the story for us now and she joins us now with the latest. Mallika, is there any indication yet of what
caused this derailment?
MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do have some indication. We heard from the junior railway minister in India a few
hours ago who said that on preliminary investigation it looks like it was caused by a fracture on the tracks.
He has ordered a formal investigation, report will come in a few days, but as of now on first glance it seems it was caused by a fracture on the
tracks.
STEVENS: OK, so that's what we know at this stage. A fracture on the tracks suggests that perhaps there's a bigger problem with the whole
infrastructure, or is this just what looked like an isolated case?
KAPUR: No, it certainly does not look like an isolated case, it is rather indicative of the problems that the entire railway system faces, and that
really is a problem for modernization, the Indian railway system is in urgent need of an upgrade.
And to better understand this, let's talk about the size of the Indian railway system. It is absolutely massive. If you line up all the tracks
in the Indian railway system, there's enough for it to go around the circumference of the Earth one and a half times. So you can
imagine how massive it is. It's also very old.
Now let's look at the burden on it, the entire system carries 23 million passengers every single
day, that's equivalent to the entire population of Australia. Imagine the entire population of Australia on the move every single day.
Now a system like this needs to be modernized, it needs to be upgraded, it needs to be maintained. For that, of course, you need a lot of money and
that's, again, where the problem lies because for years the Indian railway system has been heavily subsidized. Tickets for passengers are heavily,
heavily subsidized and what that means is there's very little money coming in, there's very little extra money left over.
Whatever revenue comes in is used for operational costs. There's very little extra cash that's available to modernize the system.
So, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been well aware of this problem. He has been talking about upgrading the system. In the last budget we had in
February this year he did earmark money to upgrade the system, but a lot of people are saying even that talk came, you know, too late. But the hope is
that he will start dipping into the private sector and hopefully using the money that he can get from partnerships with the private sector to
modernize the Indian railway system so we don't see such accidents again -- Andrew.
STEVENS: OK. Mallika, thank you very much for that. Mallika Kapur joining us with the very latest on that Indian train crash.
Now to a crisis on a global scale: our transforming environment. In the Arctic and the Antarctic, sea ice is reaching record lows. It's a
continuation of a steep decline of sea ice in the Arctic, but it's a devastating surprise for the Antarctic, which has seen sea ice levels
increase between 2012 and 2014.
The drop is seen as an indicator of climate change.
Still ahead on the program, it seems that life starts at 80 for some people, including this
octogenarian heartthrob, or at least a modeling career does. CNN speaks to the man known as
China's hottest grandpa just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:36:58] STEVENS: Welcome back.
Now there's growing old gracefully and the there's 80-year-old Wang Dai Shun who is proving age is nothing but a number with his first cat walk at
this year's China fashion week. Let's take a look now at the man known as China's hottest grandpa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFEID MALE (through translator): My (inaudible) lots of attention. People are suprprised that an old man like me can be in such good shape. I
first started (inaudible) cut when I was 50.
I always do whatever comes into my mind. ge is never an obstacle for me.
Your age is determined by god, if you are 80 you are 80. But if you dare to do things you've never done before, then you are still young at heart.
(inaudible) is aging.
How do we live our lives as we get older? However you want.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEVENS: That story is worth watching more than once.
OK, let's get back to one of our top stories: the changing political landscape in the United States. It seems you can't go anywhere these days
without some commentary on the outcome of the presidential election. Fans of Kanye West in California were sorely disappointed this weekend after the
rapper came out 90 minutes late, did two songs, and then went on a rant about politics and the media, that included his explanation as to why
Hillary Clinton lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KANYE WEST, RAPPER: A lot of people here tonight feel like they lost. You know why? Because y'all been lied to. Google lied to you. Facebook, lied
to you. Radio lied to you!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:40:01] STEVENS: A lot of lies there.
Now more than a week after the election, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly is revealing some of the threats she says she received from President-elect
Donald Trump this year. Kelly says it started when she aired a segment Trump didn't like. This is what she told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You say in the book that he threatened you.
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: He did. So he was very angry that I'd aired that segment. And, you know, I said, look, I did you a favor. Nobody was
even telling the other side of that. They were just accepting this as a relevant story. 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, oh, I almost unleashed my beautiful Twitter account
against you and I still may.
Michael Cohen, who is Trump's top lawyer and an executive vice president with the Trump
organization had retweeted "let's gut her" about me at a time when the threat level was very high, which he knew, and Bill Shine (ph), an
executive vice president of Fox, called him up to say, you've got to stop this. We understand you're angry, but this is -- you know, she's got
three little kids. She's walking around New York. Really. And he didn't much care.
And what Bill Shine (ph) said to Michael Cohen was let me put it to you in terms you can understand: if Megyn Kelly gets killed, it's not going to
help your candidate.
COOPER: I don't think it made a difference, but some in reading the book have criticized you for not revealing all of this, that conversation you
had with Trump before where he talked about unleashing his beautiful Twitter on you, kind of holding on to that until the book came out. Do you
think it would have made any difference?
KELLY: No.
I mean, do you think if the Access Hollywood tape didn't make a difference and the 12 female accusers didn't make a difference and the Khan family,
and Judge Curiel, none of that mattered, that my -- he mentioned his beautiful Twitter account was going to be a game changer?
You know, my approach in this was I wanted to be honest, so I had revealed that I had received some death threats and that I had a guard and the level
was getting a little dangerous, but I didn't want to make it anymore about me.
Trump kept trying to make the story about me, and the story was about him and ultimately Hillary Clinton, but in the early days him and the other
Republicans. I didn't -- I write in the book in "Settle for More" that I felt like a human being who had been dropped
into a shark tank and there were passersby looking in slightly horrified at what was going on, and all I wanted to do last year was get myself out of
the shark tank.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEVENS: Megyn Kelly there talking to Anderson Cooper.
And that is News Stream. Thanks for joining us. I'm Andrew Stevens. Don't go anywhere, World Sport with Alex Thomas is just ahead.
END
