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Trump Disavows Neo-Nazi Supporters; Battle for Mosul; Violent Clashes Erupt Over U.S. Oil Pipeline; Obama Hosts His Last Medal of Freedom Ceremony. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 23, 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.

Ahead this hour, Donald Trump reverses course on prosecuting Hillary Clinton and disavows neo-Nazi supporters.

Gaining ground in Mosul -- ISIS defense lies destroyed, troops now waiting for the word to storm the city.

Plus, designed to connect but destined to divide -- the furious fight over an oil pipeline in the U.S. Midwest.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.

NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

In a wide ranging interview with the "New York Times", U.S. President- Elect Donald Trump appears to be walking back several of his controversial positions. He is also disavowing the so-called alt- right saying he doesn't want to energize a group that often voices racist and anti-Semitic views. That comes after a weekend meeting of a white supremacist think tank that included Nazi-style salutes celebrating Trump's victory. And in the same report he is backing away from a promise to prosecute Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Hillary Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That pledge to put Hillary Clinton behind bars is no longer a top priority. Donald Trump telling the "New York Times" today he is not taking a potential investigation entirely off the table, but saying "It's just not something that I feel very strongly about" adding that such a move would be very, very divisive for the country.

One of his top advisers Kellyanne Conway is hoping other Republicans follow Trump's cue.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP ADVISER: I think when the President- Elect is also the head of your party now, Joe, tells you before he is even inaugurated he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content to the members.

MURRAY: While Trump appears poised to forgive some grudges, that doesn't appear to extend to the press. After a fiery meeting with television executives Monday, Trump spiraled into a Twitter tantrum against the "New York Times" today saying "I canceled today's meeting with the failing 'New York Times' when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice."

Then he ventured out for his meeting with the newspaper anyway, telling "New York Times" reporters he is focused on how much climate change regulations will cost American businesses, and admitting there is some link between humans and climate change, saying "I think there is some connectivity, some something. It depends on how much."

The billionaire businessman also suggesting he wants to be the one to strike a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians with the help of his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner.

And yet again Trump leapt to the defense of his chief strategist Steve Bannon, under fire for his ties to the alt-right movement which has embraced elements of white supremacy and anti-Semitism.

Trump saying of Bannon "If I thought he was racist or alt-right, I wouldn't even think about hiring him." But Bannon himself has boasted that Breitbart News is the platform of the alt-right.

That as another one of Trump's White House picks, incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is facing a new wave of scrutiny for these comments in an August speech.

LT. GEN. MICHAEL FLYNN, TRUMP'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are facing another ism, just like we faced Nazism and fascism and imperialism and communism. This is Islamism and it is a vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion people on this planet. And it has to be excised.

MURRAY: All of this as Trump continues to stoke the palace intrigue around those cabinet positions that have yet to be filled. The President-Elect confirming to the "New York Times" that General James Mattis is under serious consideration for Department of Defense. And after meeting with Dr. Ben Carson today, Trump announced that he is still in the running for a top slot, and could be tapped to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Trump tweeting "I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD. I have gotten to know him well. He is a greatly talented person who loves people."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Our Sara Murray reporting there.

Well joining me now her in L.A. are Matthew Littman, a democratic strategist and former senior adviser to Barack Obama and his campaign; and CNN political commentator Lanhee Chen, a former public policy director for Mitt Romney. Gentlemen -- welcome. Good to have you with us.

The gathering of the alt right in Washington, D.C. on Saturday still dominating headlines. Let's just remind our viewers of some of the very troubling scenes that we witnessed there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:05:09] SESAY: Nazi salutes on display from some there in the crowd. Hateful rhetoric heard during this gathering. This happened on Saturday. President-Elect Trump came out and condemned it today, oh, I should say on Tuesday.

Many wondering, Lanhee, why it took him so long to come out and condemn this hateful group.

LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Extremely troubling. And you know, not only would you want the President-Elect to condemn it in the strongest terms, but ideally to completely disassociate himself and his potential incoming administration from any such dialogue, any such rhetoric. I mean it is extremely troubling.

I think beyond that, I think the problem is that it seems to me, at least, that a lot of these folks at that meeting felt like they finally had a voice in the President-Elect. And I think it's really important for this administration. They've got a lot of policy goals they want to accomplish in their first 100 days. A lot of these things are things that conservatives have cared about for a long time.

To get these things done, he needs to be able to move past this. This he needs to be able to completely put this in the rear view mirror and to disavow it not only strongly, but forcefully and repeatedly.

SESAY: Matt, the RNC spokesman told Wolf Blitzer on Monday it is time to move on from this episode. Take a listen to what Sean Spicer had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, RNC SPOKESMAN: I don't know how many times he has to answer that question and you figuring out the way and the fashion that he should do it next. If he gets out and gives a speech should he, you know, write it in the sky in an airplane? At what point is it enough? I don't know. But I think he has been very clear, and it's time to move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Has he been very clear?

MATTHEW LITTMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, here's the problem. The problem is that Donald Trump gets very animated about "Saturday Night Live". He gets very excited about the Broadway show "Hamilton". He doesn't get as excited about the racists who support him, about the KKK folks who support him.

Remember, there was a time, I think it was on CNN when he said he didn't know about David Duke. He had never heard of David Duke. Then he said that the microphone wasn't working. But he doesn't get very animated about it. And I don't think he could really walk that back at this point.

There are a lot of those people who are his supporters. There is a reason why they support him. I don't think that Donald Trump, for example, is anti-Semitic himself. His son-in-law is Jewish. His daughter is Jewish.

However, he is ok with people using anti-Semitism in support of Donald Trump. And that's the problem. The problem is that his supporters use this, and he has not forcefully told them to stop.

SESAY: Well, in the gathering with the "New York Times" on Tuesday, he actually said, and let's put up the tweet that "New York Times" Maggie Haberman put out as they were tweeting at the meeting. He said, you know, "this is not a group I want to energize and if they are energized, I want to look into it and find out why".

CHEN: Well.

LITTMAN: Everybody is ready.

CHEN: Yes. I mean look, I think Sean Spicer raises a good point which is he has disavowed them. I think the issue, though, is he needs to keep doing it. And I don't think that he gets a pass just because he has done it once or twice. I think that we would all benefit, frankly, if he continued to do it and continued to express that this is not the kind of movement. This is not the kind of language that his administration is going to stand for.

LITTMAN: So when you say he continues to do it, and you see what Sean Spicer is saying, the problem is he doesn't really continue to do it. He says things like "I disavow", and that's supposed to be a blanket statement meaning that --

CHEN: Yes.

LITTMAN: But that's not a strong enough statement. He gets much more animated if somebody criticizes him. He gets extremely animated.

SESAY: Well, he's on Twitter immediately.

LITTMAN: Right. But about this stuff, he does not. And Sean Spicer I think actually in this case is wrong because he is not disavowing it very strongly. He is doing it when he is asked about it.

SESAY: So let's share the statement put out by the Southern Law Poverty Center that monitors hate crimes and raises them here in this country. And they actually clearly in their view can explain why the alt-right is energized.

It said, "The reason he has energized the alt-right is simple. He has been playing its tune from the day he announced his campaign and called Mexican immigrants rapists. His proposal to ban Muslim immigration, his talk of mass deportations, his attacks on political correctness -- it's all been music to the ears of a movement that envisions a white America. And that's exactly the America that the alt-right wants to see."

Here is the thing, Lanhee, I hear what you're saying. He has denounced it. He needs to keep on denouncing it. But doesn't he find himself effectively, or his words undermine, undercut by the fact that he has Steve Bannon, a man who had a Web site, Breitbart which was the platform for the alt-right -- he himself said that -- as his chief adviser.

CHEN: Yes, look, I don't know Steve Bannon. So I don't want to speak to him personally. But I do think that obviously there are things on Breitbart that have been troubling.

[00:09:56] I think beyond that, the statement that you just showed did make a good point which is that there are these policy pronouncements that do seem to support a point of view that is troubling. I think Donald Trump gets a hard time when he seems to turn away from some of these policy pronouncements.

But I actually think it's probably a good thing, frankly, that he is saying, look, maybe some of the stuff during the campaign, we're going to go a different way now that I've been elected.

And I actually think -- he is going to get attacked regardless of what he does, right? His politics. He is going to get attacked for turning his back on previous policy. He is going to get attacked for not forcefully enough denouncing some of this stuff.

But I actually think now that he is making an effort to what it would appear like is to moderate in some of these ways, I do think we have to give him some credit for that.

LITTMAN: So here's why I don't because when he talks about that he is not going go after Hillary Clinton now, that's not Donald Trump's decision to make. That's the Justice Department's decision to make, not Donald Trump's decision to make. So that's a big one where today he said I'm not going to go after Hillary Clinton anymore. Not his decision to make.

On most of the policy views like immigration and the policies about Muslims, he hasn't changed his mind. We had a quote up there about climate change. I can't decipher what he is saying about climate change from what he said there.

So I don't see Donald Trump -- actually the Steve Bannon appointment -- I don't see the divisiveness really going away. And part of the reason is because of this Twitter thing. If anybody criticizes him, he just goes after them on Twitter as opposed to doing the job of a president. CHEN: They have to figure out a way to confiscate the Twitter

account.

SESAY: Yes. He is about to be the President of the United States. You try telling him that.

Let us talk a little bit more about the Hillary Clinton decision and Donald Trump saying to the "New York Times", yes, after all the chants of lock her up, not so much.

Listen to what Kellyanne Conway said on the morning shows as she kind of rationalized this pivot, if you will.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONWAY: I think when the President-Elect, who is also the head of your party now, Joe, tells you before he is even inaugurated he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content to the members. Look, I think he is thinking of many different things as he prepares to become the President of the United States and things that sound like the campaign aren't among them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Lanhee, does it come with political risks, a cost for President-Elect Trump to pivot away from the central campaign promise?

CHEN: So this is the interesting thing. We've had some reporting at CNN where our folks have gone out and asked Trump supporters about whether they took his promises during the campaign literally. And it turns out actually that most of them don't take him literally. They actually take him quite figuratively.

So my sense is that politically there is not much of a price to be paid here. Look, I think they made the right decision. I think he made the right decision to say, we're not going to pursue this. This is not what a new presidential administration ought to do.

By the way, it is the Justice Department's prosecution. But ultimately, the President plays a big role here too. The President said well, you know, this is something I'm interested in, the Justice Department would certainly follow suit in a lot of ways. So I do think he has some measure of control over this.

LITTMAN: Well, let me say that on the Hillary Clinton thing he was clearly trying to get his audience all riled up. Now he comes in and he says forget what I just said for the last few months. Politically, I actually don't think it's going to hurt him either. I don't think it's going to make a difference. Because what he is doing is getting those angry people to vote for him.

And now what is going to matter is he going to be able the get them the jobs that he promised fast? Is he going to defeat ISIS fast? And is he going to build that wall fast? Those are things he promised that he would do quickly. You're talking before about basically the first 100 day. He has to start making progress on that within the first six months. That's where his supporters are going to be looking.

SESAY: All right. I want to move on. One of President-Elect Trump's administration picks is also in the midst of his own controversy, as you know General Michael Flynn, for comments he has made about Islam and Muslims in general.

We heard a little bit of in Sara Murray's piece earlier on at the top of the show. Let's play that clip again just to remind viewers of what General Flynn has said in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLYNN: We are facing another ism, just like we faced Nazism and fascism and imperialism and communism. This is Islamism. And it is a vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion people on this planet. And it has to be excised.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Lanhee, where do you stand on the suitability of General Flynn for the role of National Security Adviser when you hear comments like that?

CHEN: Well, let me make a couple of points. First of all, I don't think anyone doubts the fact that General Flynn has served in a distinguished fashion from a military perspective. He has had a career that is distinguished. He has background and experience that does qualify him for the job in the strict sense of the word.

I do think that those comments are troubling in the sense that he wasn't talking about radical Islamism. He was talking about the faith in general. And that I think is bothersome. I would hope that he would be able to correct the record, if indeed he meant something else, or maybe he didn't.

[00:15:01] I think it's important for him to set that straight because, again, you don't want the administration to be clouded in these discussions.

I mean really what I think they would want us to be having in terms of discussion is a discussion what do you think about the idea of using executive action the first 100 days to roll back regulations, to rollback Obamacare, not talking about comments that General Flynn made several months ago.

So I would hope that they would be able to address this issue quickly and to move on from it.

SESAY: But surely the administration is aware of the people they're choosing and the controversy surrounding them and how the messages are being read.

LITTMAN: So here, in this case with General Flynn, when we say walk it back, I think we heard how he feels. So it's very difficult to then walk it back. But I will say that I think that there are a fair amount of Americans who feel the same way that General Flynn feels. Whether or not --

SESAY: That doesn't make it right.

LITTMAN: It doesn't make it right. But I think he is speaking for a large audience -- that's Donald Trump's audience. So I don't think Donald Trump minds it when he hears General Flynn saying that.

Part of the reason, what Donald Trump has said is I'm going to defeat ISIS fast. We're not going to allow more Muslims in the United States. And I think from Donald Trump's perspective, this is part of his agenda.

SESAY: Donald Trump may not mind. Donald Trump supporters may not mind. But this country needs its Muslim allies at countries like Jordan and Saudi Arabia to stand by its side. So when you have someone like that in the position of National Security Adviser, what message should they take from it?

LITTMAN: We agreed 100 percent. But let's also remember that some of the other people he's considering -- Rudy Giuliani who said some very offensive things. I mean you're talking about some people who I don't think are the best people for these jobs or the most qualified. They fit with what Donald Trump wants, not with what the world wants.

CHEN: Yes. Although ultimately, I think the position of National Security Adviser is a lot about comfort with the President, right? I mean this is not a senate confirmable position.

LITTMAN: Right.

CHEN: This is the President's National Security Adviser. I think the other picks he has -- secretary of defense, secretary of state -- those are going to be very impactful in terms of evaluating the relationships that the United States has with some of these Muslim countries.

SESAY: As you brought up secretary of state, I've got to ask you, your old boss Mitt Romney in the running for the position as we understand it, has been confirmed by the members of the Trump administration. Could you see this happening? And could you see it being a successful working relationship?

CHEN: Well, my personal view is that Governor Romney would be great in any role in the administration. And obviously, I think the reason why he met with Mr. Trump to share his views is because at core, Mitt Romney is a patriot. He is somebody who cares deeply about the country and wants to help the President-Elect be successful. Obviously foreign policy is an area where Governor Romney has great personal interest.

So, you know, we'll have to see. Obviously, this is a dynamic process. There are a lot of folks that they're considering now apparently for these jobs. So we'll have to see what happens. But, you know, it's something that's ongoing.

SESAY: I don't know if you're wincing or smirking. I don't know what you're doing over there -- Matt.

LITTMAN: Let me just this. What I would give for Mitt Romney to be the Republican President of the United States right now.

CHEN: No disagreement on that.

LITTMAN: But also, do you want to be Mitt Romney and have to constantly apologize for what Donald Trump has said and done? I don't think so. So I'm baffled as to why Mitt Romney would want this job.

CHEN: Well look, I think first of all, there are a lot of problems that the United States is going to have to deal with over the next several years. And to have a steady hand at the helm of the State Department I think would be a great asset for this country. And I think anybody who wants to serve would realize that that's important.

SESAY: All right. Matt Littman, Lanhee Chen -- we'll have to do it again next hour. Thank you so much. Try and get the smirking under control, if you can. Gentlemen, appreciate it. Thank you.

CHEN: Thank you.

SESAY: All right.

Now Iraqi forces are pushing ahead in their fight to retake Mosul. How a controversial group is helping government troops west of the city.

A quick break.

[00:18:36] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The busiest travel day of the year upon us across the United States. It is Thanksgiving eve. And the weather pattern for parts of the southern United States remains rather tranquil. It's going to really begin to moderate a little bit.

But we do have severe weather locked in place, that's for eastern Texas, parts of say Arkansas on into the state of Oklahoma. Wintry weather around the Midwest, very cold temperatures around the northeast and more wet weather coming in around the western U.S.

Put it together travel headache spots going to be around the Chicago O'Hare area. Major delay potential there for Wednesday afternoon. Minneapolis, places like Atlanta, Houston, Texas -- all these areas could see some minor to moderate delays as we work our way into the busiest travel day of the year.

And you notice the showers will begin to migrate off to the east. Some winter variety weather locked in, in some of the northern latitudes and out towards the west. Higher elevation snow showers come in and any travel plans around the I-5 corridor certainly going to be impacted with some gusty winds and heavy rainfall at times across that region.

Here is the perspective: Vancouver, B.C. about 9 degrees with some showers; Winnipeg makes it up to around 1; Chicago has cooled off significantly now, down to 6 degrees with some scattered showers.

And look at this. We've got a hurricane out there in the Caribbean. We've got Hurricane Otto that is sitting there just east of Nicaragua. This storm system slated to make landfall as a category 1 somewhere near the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. If it moves to shore in Costa Rica it will be the first hurricane to make landfall there in history.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Welcome back, everyone.

I want to turn now to the battle for Mosul where paramilitary forces are fighting to recapture a strategic ISIS stronghold west of the city. This video purportedly shows a Shia-led unit moving through a village near the Tal-Afar air base. Iraqi air strikes killed at least ten ISIS militants in Tal-Afar on Tuesday. The city, which is majority Sunni was captured by ISIS two years ago.

Let's bring in Chase Milsap for his take on the battle for Mosul. He is a former marine officer and Green Beret. Chase -- good to have you back with us.

CHASE MILSAP, FORMER MARINE OFFICER: Isha -- thank you for having me.

SESAY: What do you make of the progress that is taking place on the ground now in this offensive to recapture Mosul? Is it moving as fast as you thought it would?

MILSAP: I don't think anybody thinks it's moving as fast as they thought it would. But the good news here is that the coalition is still together. As we've looked at this before, this is a coalition of partners between the Shia militias, the Peshmerga and the Iraqi forces that years ago wouldn't have even been at the same table. But they're still together and they're still fighting that common enemy.

The hard part here, though, is we're looking at an urban environment. This is downtown in the urbanized area of Mosul. That's going to require a significant amount of momentum and also being able to react quickly to situations on the ground.

And a big part of this is have they really surrounded the town? Have they cut everything off? Because if you don't, your enemy is just going to runaway and reemerge.

SESAY: But that's not an easy thing to do in this kind of environment -- right?

MILSAP: No. No.

SESAY: Ok. You secure, but then the next phase of that is holding it.

MILSAP: Correct. Yes. And that's what is really going to go down on the coalition, right. So once you surround these urban areas that gives you the ability to really cut off your enemy. And that's where it's so important that those advisers, those U.S. advisers that are on the ground, that are maintaining this coalition, they're helping with the communication between those forces. Because if you lose that, if you lose that cordon, then you're going to be (inaudible) -- I've been in that Iraqi desert. I've been in that desert.

SESAY: And what is it like? Especially trying to secure the battlefield from the Iraqi desert that leads you into Syria?

MILSAP: It's extremely difficult. We're talking about a completely open border. And also it's very hard to recognize who is an enemy combatant and who is a civilian. You know, the enemy has had two years at this point to set the battlefield. So there could be caches all over the place.

So it's one of those things that the Iraqi coalition is really going to have to work together there is going to be a level of trust. And in the linchpin, in between that are those advisers that are seeing it on the ground and reporting all the way back up.

[00:25:00] SESAY: Back to that point of recognizing friend from foe, is there anything they can do to prevent these ISIS fighters from just shaving their beards, changing their clothes and blending in with the civilians, looking to flee?

MILSAP: Yes. One of the things that they can do is maintain the momentum, right. Never give your enemy the opportunity to relax. And right now that they have paused. A lot of that probably is internal. It's difficult moving an army into a city. But one of the things that they can do is maintain that momentum and have the communication between the units, right.

So that as you move into these certain area you know where people are going to funnel through and you can focus your effort on that. But it's going to be a challenge.

The other aspect of this is, you know, you got to look at Mosul in the big picture, right?

SESAY: This is a strategic battle. But also, you're looking at an enemy that doesn't look at international borders as something that they really care about. So you've got to look at Raqqa and Syria and some of the other places where the enemy may flee because that has an impact on what is going on in the city, what is going on in that fight. If the enemy can come, move back and forth, you have a real problem on your hands.

SESAY: Does the fight as it's playing out in Mosul foreshadow what the fight will be like to retake Raqqa and Syria?

MILSAP: It could. But you're also looking at very different coalitions. You've got -- in Mosul you've got an Iraqi army that is a mirror image -- almost a mirror image of the American army. In Syria -- very, very different. You have local militias. You have Turks that are involved in training there. You have a myriad of international partners. Much more challenging once you get in there.

That's also in terrain that U.S. forces haven't been in, in a long time. So you've got to look at this and say very, very different but also connected.

SESAY: Yes. Many, many unknowns.

MILSAP: Correct.

SESAY: Chase Milsap, such a pleasure. Thank you so much for the insight.

MILSAP: Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

MILSAP: You too.

SESAY: Well, 15 people are dead in the Syrian city of Aleppo after another day of intense attacks on rebel-controlled areas there. Let's take a look at these pictures. As you take a look at the city now and see what the situation is like on the ground, you see the civilians there trapped.

Activists telling CNN the people were killed in air strikes and four barrel bomb attacks. They also say the bombs contained chlorine gas. CNN cannot independently verify this claim. More than 300 people have been killed, and many more wounded in eastern Aleppo since the Syrian regime resumed heavy shelling last Tuesday.

Time for a quick break now.

Protests against an oil pipeline in North Dakota turn violent. First, police used water cannons on demonstrators. Now reports of improvised weapons among the crowd.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is disavowing the white supremacist movement that's part of the so-called alt-right. Over the weekend, the leader of white nationalist group shouted Nazi-style salutes in celebration of Trump's victory. Critics say Trump took too long to condemn the racist speech.

Perhaps nobody is happier with Donald Trump than investors. The Dow Jones Industrial average reached a record high Tuesday closing above 19,000 for the first time. The U.S. stock market rally is based partly on hopes that Trump will enact business-friendly policies.

Japan and South Korea have signed their first direct military related agreement since South Korea's liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945. The deal allows for sharing confidential or secret military intelligence, but it excludes top secret information.

The Colombian government will sign a new peace deal on Thursday with the Marxist rebel group FARC. President Juan Manuel Santos made the announcement in a televised address. The agreement will be sent to Congress for approval. Voters rejected the last peace deal in a referendum in October.

Well, there is no relief in sight for passengers grounded by canceled Lufthansa flights. The airline's pilot are on strike and will not go back to work Thursday. The pilot says they haven't gotten pay raises in five years. Lufthansa cancelled 900 flights, Wednesday, stranding tens of thousands of people.

Well, what had been a quiet corner of the U.S. Midwest is now the epicenter of an ecological fight, prompting demonstrations across the nation. Protesters and police remain locked in a tense standoff over the Dakota Access Pipeline. It's a proposed means of transporting crude oil across the states, but also a major concern for the people who live along its path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY (voice-over): On the freezing plains of North Dakota, a bitter battle that shows little sign of abating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nothing more than ecological racism.

SESAY: One side calls it essential infrastructure.

PROTESTORS: Water is life!

SESAY: The other calls it a danger to health and entire communities. This is the Dakota Access Pipeline. A $3.7 billion project intended to connect and a project destined to divide.

Here is the plan, to pump crude oil from the rural and energy-rich north central U.S. to Illinois, more than 1200 miles to the east. From there, it can be transported to refineries on the eastern seaboard and the Gulf Coast. The pipeline is slated to run under the Missouri River, and the standing rock Sioux tribe, whose land borders the route said it would affect its drinking water supply while putting communities further downstream at risk from oil spills and contamination.

Protests have gone on for months, but have recently turned violent. 400 protesters facing off against well-armed police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were met by brutal force with water cannons, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets and in an unbelievable amount. It was horrific. It was a horrific scene.

SESAY: But police say they are facing an ongoing riot. These images published by the North Dakota Joint information Center purport to show improvised weapons used by the protesters. Construction of the pipeline had been delayed while the army corps of engineers engages in further talks with the Native American community. And as anger bubbles nationwide, this saga clearly has many miles yet to run.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, Michael Knudsen is a coordinator for the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council. He has attended recent protests and calls the resulting violence a man-made police perpetuated disaster. He joins us now via Skype from North Dakota.

Michael, thank you so much for joining us. Help our viewers understand why it is that event escalated the way they did at the weekend. What did you personally see?

[00:35:00] MICHAEL KNUDSEN, MEDIC COORDINATOR, STAND ROCK MEDIC AND HEALER COUNCIL: First of all, thank you for having me. Very honored to be here.

You know, in this action, I can't say exactly what started, you know, the escalation. What we know is that demonstrators, water protectors were intending to pull a truck off of the bridge to unblock the road, as this roadblock was preventing people from traveling freely on a public highway and also preventing people from being evacuated in an emergency, with emergency services up that road.

So that was kind of the beginning. And then police showed up. And what I saw was the escalation from there. Water cannons for eight hours straight on Sunday night, as well as rubber bullets, flash bang and concussion grenades shot directly at protesters.

SESAY: So you're saying that you saw the police firing these concussion grenades, something that the police has rejected, has denied as having happened. You saw that?

KNUDSEN: Yes, yes. Over the course of eight hours, every couple of hours periodically I would see them fire these flash-bang grenades out of cannons, as well as the tear gas canisters out of cannons.

Some -- we were on the south side of the bridge in a triage area. I'm the logistics coordinator for the medic council. And what I saw was many being fired into the crowd on the north side of the bridge on the police line, and then some even being fired across the river, probably 150 feet across the river.

SESAY: There were injuries after this clash, this confrontation that started late on Sunday night. One young woman was seriously hurt, a 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky. Many questions being asked about how she came to being injured in the way she did, almost losing her arm.

Take a listen to what we're hearing from her family and from the police. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE WILANSKY, FATHER OF THE INJURED PERSON: A police officer threw a grenade that hit her right in her forearm and exploded right as it hit her forearm. There are many witnesses and they have shrapnel. They said -- the sheriff's office said that they did it to themselves. They blew up their own bombs or something, that's ridiculous.

LT. TOM IVERSON, NORTH DAKOTA HIGHWAY PATROL: There is no merit to that. But I assure the citizens of North Dakota, the citizens of Bismarck/Mandan area that law enforcement is investigating this. And all the facts will be out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Michael, what do you make of that? Police saying that there is no merit to that, and that they're looking into how this all played out?

KNUDSEN: So first of all, I just want to express our deepest sympathy to Sophia and her family. It's a horrific event. You know, the Martin County sheriff has never reported the truth for the most part. We constantly have to fact check them and publish videos that media and, you know, other media is covering here.

I personally interviewed the public information officer in a different action about some of the reports that they had been reporting on. And he said that they had never, ever seen a police report. Nobody had ever filed a police report about these things that they were publishing on their Facebook page and their media.

So as far as we're concerned, we can only talk, speak to what we see. And what I saw was the flash-bang grenades and everything.

SESAY: And, Michael, very quickly, before I let you go, because we're almost out of time, we know that the Army Corps of Engineers is supposedly having talks with the standing Sioux Tribe.

Can you tell us what -- where those conversations are right now? What is happening? Is there any room for compromise here?

KNUDSEN: So to be honest, I don't really know. Last we heard, they were on waiting to give the permit until there was consultation with the tribe. I can't confirm what the talks are right now. But what I can say from the medical perspective and health perspective is that police are consistently escalating. With every action, there is a new escalation. And in this action we saw -- we treated 300 people, total 26 were evacuated to three different hospitals, four different hospital, including Hennepin County.

And this is an example of police violence unprecedented in my state that I remember. And where they are using force that could be potentially lethal especially given the weather conditions with the water cannon in 22 degrees Fahrenheit. So that's what I can speak to.

SESAY: Well, Michael, we appreciate you joining us and speaking to what you've seen. Of course police saying that they were dealing with -- they're calling the group, the protesters as basically a riot effectively and posing problems to safety, but we very much appreciate you sharing your perspective.

Thank you so much for joining, Michael.

KNUDSEN: Thank you so much for having me. Good night.

SESAY: Good night.

Time for a quick break now. It was an emotional day at the White House for comedian Ellen Degeneres. The honor she is sharing with Bill Gates, Tom Hanks, Michael Jordan and others next on NEWSROOM L.A.

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SESAY: Some world famous Americans have been awarded the nation's top civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom. Recipients came from such areas of entertainment, sports, music and technology. Among them singers Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen, actor tom hanks, Bill and Melinda Gates and basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Tom Hanks there on your screen. This was the last time for U.S. President Barack Obama to host the ceremony. He praised the recipients and cracked a few jokes about them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. There is a reason you call somebody the Michael Jordan of neurosurgery or the Michael Jordan of rabbis.

(LAUGHTER)

The Michael Jordan of outrigger canoeing.

(LAUGHTER)

They know what you're talking about, because Michael Jordan is the Michael Jordan of greatness. He is the definition of somebody so good at what they do that everybody recognizes. That's pretty rare.

According to a recent headline, the movie "Sully" was the last straw. We should never travel with Tom Hanks.

(LAUGHTER)

I mean, you think about it. You've got pirates, plane crashes, you get marooned in an airport purgatory, volcanoes, something happens with Tom Hanks. And yet somehow we can't resist going where he wants to take us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Looks like it was a fun day. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "World Sport" is up next. You're watching CNN.

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(WORLD SPORT)