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More than 40 Dead in Tower Platform Collapse in China; Trump Nominates First Two Women to Cabinet; Mosul Completely Surrounded; Greece and Croatia Help Israel Battle Wildfires. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 24, 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, breaking news out of China where at least 40 people were killed during a construction accident.

U.S. President-Elect Trump calling for national unity as he named the first two women for top level positions in his administration.

And Iraqi troops tightening their chokehold on the ISIS-held city of Mosul saying it is now completely surrounded.

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

NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

At least 40 people are dead after a platform at a power plant in southeastern China collapsed. China's news agency Xinhua reports a number of people are trapped under scaffolding. Rescuers and firefighters are on the scene in Fengcheng. There has been growing anger in China over loose safety standards at industrial sites. Deadly accidents have been common.

Let's bring in Matt Rivers who joins us now from Beijing with the very latest. And Matt -- what more can you tell us about these rescue efforts?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is still information that is just coming in to our newsroom. So we don't know a ton of information about what happened in Jiangxi. This would be an inland city in central China, so it's quite a large accident. This was a construction project -- repairs being done to a cooling tower at a power plant and the scaffolding apparently collapsed.

There are people that remain trapped and as we've been hearing these reports coming in from state media, the death toll has continued to go up.

And we're also hearing that as these rescue efforts --

SESAY: Matt -- we're going to interrupt you -- Matt, we're going to interrupt you because we have a terrible connection. We're going to work to get a cleaner line so that we can hear you and get the very latest from that situation in southeastern China. We're going to work on that.

Until then let's move on to politics.

U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump is calling for unity in a direct address to the American people. His Thanksgiving Day wish: that the country begins to heal its divisions and move forward as one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We've just finished a long and bruising political campaign. Emotions are raw and tensions just don't heal overnight. It doesn't go quickly unfortunately.

But we have before us the chance now to make history together, to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities, so important to me and so important to our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Meanwhile Team Trump is pressing ahead on the transition, nominating two women for cabinet level posts. Here's our own Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President-Elect Donald Trump is bolstering his cabinet by turning to a one-time critic.

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK. That is not a part of our party. That's not who we want as president.

CARROLL: Trump today announcing South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as his choice to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley, a daughter of Indian immigrants became the first woman and first person of color elected as governor of the Palmetto State. She has no significant foreign policy experience.

Trump today also naming Betsy DeVos, a top GOP donor and proponent of school choice, as his pick to head the Department of Education, calling her a brilliant and passionate education advocate. DeVos was also critical of Trump and never an enthusiastic supporter during the campaign. Trump pledged throughout the campaign to do away with the common core education standards to huge cheers.

TRUMP: And we are going to end common core. Education is going to be brought local.

CARROLL: DeVos previously served on the board of an education group led by Jeb Bush that supports common core. But in a statement she says "I am not a supporter, period. It got turned into a federalized boondoggle." Trump taking to Twitter to announce that he is considering another rival for HUD Secretary, Dr. Ben Carson. And Carson tweeting an ambiguous follow-up saying an announcement is forthcoming about his role in helping to make America great again.

As Trump opens up his cabinet to one-time opponents, he is also showing an openness to reconsider core positions from the campaign. Indicating in an interview with the "New York Times" on Tuesday that General James Mattis, a contender for Defense Secretary helped change his mind about waterboarding.

[00:05:09] TRUMP: He said "I've never found it to be useful". He said "I've always found give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I'd do better with that than I'd do with torture."

CARROLL: The transition team says that Thanksgiving is going to be a down day for the President-Elect and his family and not to expect any announcements until after the holiday.

Jason Carroll, CNN -- Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, joining me now, Mo Kelly. He is the host of "The Mo Kelly Show" and "The Mo Kelly Experience" radio programs in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Mo Kelly in the house. It's good to have you with us.

MO KELLY, RADIO HOST: Good to see you once again, Isha.

SESAY: So, you know, Thanksgiving is the season for turkey, giving thanks and, it would appear, a little tenderness from the President- Elect; his remarks in the video clearly an appeal for a national kumbaya.

Let me play a little bit more for you before you react to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are very blessed to call this nation our home. And that's what America is. It is our home. It's where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors and live out our dreams.

It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: That's his prayer. Is the nation ready to answer?

KELLY: Yes. I noticed two things. He opened with blessed and he finished with prayer. He is obviously trying to appeal to a certain segment of America. If Donald Trump can be consistent in being an adult, then I think he can unify America but he can't be an adult on Wednesday and a petulant child on Thursday.

Every decision he makes, he's either going to breed confidence or concern. Today it was confidence. It might be a tweet tomorrow which is going to cause concern. If President-Elect Trump wants to be President of all Americans as he says in that video then he has to make a consistent effort to be the adult in the room as opposed to the President-Elect who wants to be the child who's on the phone tweeting in the room.

SESAY: Although, to be fair, to give a contrast his public statements, the ones he's made whether it was the night that he, you know, accepted victory or the two videos, this included, that he's made online have been very moderate in tone and very presidential and adult-like.

KELLY: That's right. And I would want to see more of that. But it can be undone tomorrow if he goes back to the other behavior which has spoken to the division which he seeks to close.

You can't do things which inspire division and then say we need to come together. It's almost like yes, he acknowledges the open wound but at the same time, he doesn't acknowledge that a week ago, he was pouring salt into that wound when he talks about a victory tour of the states that he won or if he wants to get into a war of words with "Hamilton" and also "SNL" but he is the person who's going to defeat ISIS?

I mean is he going to breed confidence or is he going to inspire concern?

SESAY: Well, not everyone is happy with Donald Trump appearing to moderate his position, as you're well aware. On Wednesday -- or on Tuesday, I should say -- he had that meeting at the "New York Times". He came out and said he wasn't really interested at decisions going after Hillary Clinton and prosecuting her for her use of her private e-mail servers.

That is not going over well with some. I want you to listen to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: I'm hearing from people who are -- they're livid at Hillary. They're still mad. I mean there are a lot of people, maybe a lot -- I don't know how many, really thought that when Trump said you ought to be in jail, that they agreed with that and thought that she should be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: First off, do you take Limbaugh at his word that there's this significant group of people who are livid with Donald Trump for him walking back on this promise and is this a problem for a President Trump?

KELLY: Well, I would take him at his word because much of what propelled Donald Trump was anger and emotion and a feeling even though it may not have been legitimate in nature. There was a feeling that Hillary Clinton was a crook and needs to be prosecuted when you heard the chants of "lock her up".

This is one of the many promises that Donald Trump has made that he is now walking back. He said day one he was going to repeal and replace Obamacare. We know that is not going to happen. The wall has turned into much more of a fence than a wall. We know that he has changed his position on torture. Well, he's not going to be involving himself in torture. Now, he's not going to appoint a special prosecutor.

So if anything it's more a culmination of all these promises and he hasn't even gotten in the chair that people realize wow, this may not be the guy that we thought he was.

SESAY: But if he brings the jobs, will they care which guy he is?

KELLY: Well, that remains to be seen because he is talking about a trillion dollar infrastructure project and he's also talking about cutting taxes.

[00:10:06] Now, I'm not a economist by nature but I know if you're going to cut taxes and also increase spending, it makes it virtually impossible for that to happen as well as decrease the national debt and the deficit. The math doesn't work. And I don't know how long before everyone else figures that out.

SESAY: All right. Well, we know that in the past couple of days President-Elect Trump's focus and his team has been in picking his cabinet.

Let's put up on the screen the news we got on Wednesday. We know that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has been nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. GOP mega donor Betsy DeVos has been tapped to lead the Education Department and Ben Carson, more of a tease I think we could say for what happened on Wednesday, that he's in the frame to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

As you look at those three -- two picks, one potential -- Your thoughts?

KELLY: Governor Haley, I think she's a standup politician and a great governor but she has no real foreign policy experience. So it's about matching the correct person with the job and what the job entails.

And with that in mind, DeVos she doesn't have any real history in education. She's been an opponent of public education but not in terms of building education or managing education infrastructure.

And then you have Dr. Ben Carson whose spokesperson said last week that he was unqualified and ill-prepared to lead any federal agency and that was for Health and Human Services, something he would be much more closely aligned. And now you want to put him in the head of Housing and Urban Development? He has no experience in housing or urban development. The only thing which aligns as urban if you want to say that he's an African-American man, let's put him in the Housing and Urban Development position -- it doesn't make sense.

And it goes back to what I said before, are these choices breeding confidence or concern? That concerns me.

SESAY: Is that the one that concerns you the most?

KELLY: Oh, absolutely. If you're going to have that trillion dollar infrastructure project and ostensibly Dr. Ben Carson may be at the head or have a very significant role in that, it says to me, it's questionable decision-making. And if Donald Trump's administration is going to be successful it's going to be successful because he hired the right people to do the right things in these positions.

And if Dr. Ben Carson was his best candidate for Housing and Urban Development, that gives me great pause. I mean, I've been to the doctor a lot but it doesn't mean I'm ready to be surgeon general.

SESAY: Well, you know, let me give you the counter to that. Donald Trump would say I don't have any executive experience when it comes to government but people had faith in me and they voted me in as President of the United States because I'm a smart guy and they believe that I can make it work. So by the same token, he believes Ben Carson is a smart guy and he can make it work.

KELLY: And I think it's flawed logic on both ends.

SESAY: Ok. So on that note, let me flag something for you from the "Washington Post". The "Washington Post" newspaper is reporting that Donald Trump has only had two intelligence briefings since his victory some two weeks ago. Now, those on the transition team saying this is no big deal. He is busy picking the cabinet. There are those who say, this maybe suggests he's not that into the job, that there is a level of indifference here. How do you read it?

KELLY: I hope that that report is 100 percent untrue. I hope. I would hope that the President-Elect is more about the business of getting the necessary information to make the most prudent decisions as it relates to our national security that since you've said he's not a politician, he's never done this before.

He's also expected to pick a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He's supposed to make these national security decisions. And if he is not involving himself up to his neck in just the basic information, there is no way in the world he can effectively lead this nation or protect it. I hope that that is untrue. But once again if there is any truth to it, that gives me great cause for concern not great confidence.

SESAY: The thing is, if there is any truth to it, again we don't know. This was reported by the "Washington Post" -- let me be clear. The fact that he is not availing himself to press conferences in the general open space so he can be questioned on these things -- that is troubling to some as well.

KELLY: Well, it goes one step further than that. Not only is he not having press conferences, there are instances where he is ditching the White House correspondent pool which is assigned to cover him and follow him. He is setting up this adversarial relationship with the media that we've never seen or I should say we have not seen since maybe Richard Nixon. And I don't need to tell anyone how that turned out.

SESAY: One other thing I want to flag to your attention and that is -- this word that we're getting that the Green Party's presidential candidate Jill Stein is thinking about filing for recounts in three major states if she can raise $2 million over the next couple days.

Take a listen to her campaign manager who explains what's going on.

[00:15:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID COBB, JILL STEIN CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Over the last 48 to 72 hours, reports have come in from cyber experts, from forensic experts and others who are reporting to us some very troubling news about the possibility of security breaches in voting results across this country in the last election cycle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: All right. So you hear that and you hear that Jill Stein is thinking about filing for a recount and you think what? I mean what are the chances this will affect anything?

KELLY: I'd say slim to none. That's bad news, bad news. First, I would like to see the evidence. I know what cyber experts are saying but show us the evidence which would then lead us to a need for an audit or recount.

It's bad news in another way because if there is actual evidence, then our democracy is in seriously in peril at that point because it might have been co-opted by a foreign interest.

SESAY: Yes. Again, nothing confirmed that that is indeed what happened. Just that, you know, they say that the numbers bear further scrutiny.

Are you surprised we have not heard from the Hillary Clinton campaign publicly on this matter?

KELLY: No because she gains nothing by getting in the fray. We always know about the smooth transition of power in the United States. Now, personally I'm quite sure she probably would like to make a statement. But historically when a candidate loses, you take a step back and you allow the winner to seamlessly move into the White House and move forward. Anything that is going to be said will be said by people not named Hillary Clinton.

SESAY: All right. We'll be watching. Mo Kelly -- we'll be looking out for you next hour. KELLY: Thank you for having me.

SESAY: Thank you so much.

A quick break. Next on CNN -- a breakthrough for Iraqi forces as they fight to recapture the city of Mosul from ISIS.

Plus, Otto becomes a hurricane again as it barrels toward Central America.

Stay with us. .

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DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Late season tropical activity for the southwest Caribbean Sea. We have Otto regaining strength, now officially a hurricane, category 1 just off the coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

You can see the satellite imagery there with some of the convection really just starting to build out from the center of the storm. 140 kilometer per hour sustained winds near the center of circulation, gusts over 160 kilometers per hour.

This storm will make landfall within the next 12 hours, move across both of these countries and really the main threat aside from strong gusty winds is the extremely heavy rainfall we are anticipating across this area. The greatest impacts from hurricane Otto really flash flooding, mudslides and landslides as the storm moves in a slow westerly direction.

Here's a look at temperatures across the United States. Daytime highs of 15 in San Francisco, 9 degrees for Denver -- so starting to cool down across the Rockies. Look at Chicago, single digits for you, New York 11 showers anticipated.

[00:19:58] The Pacific Northwest looking very active as storm systems start to move into the region, bringing snowfall and rainfall to the valleys below. Havana, Cuba 28 degrees; Kingston, Jamaica 30; Mexico City, you'll top 21 with a few afternoon thunderstorms.

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SESAY: Activists and doctors in eastern Aleppo are begging for help after days of intense fighting that killed more than 300 people. They are asking the international to stop the regime's bombardment and also made a plea to the U.S.-led coalition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We urge the world and the West especially to airdrop the humanitarian aids. And there are already war planes for the U.S.-led coalition in Syria not far from Aleppo city.

We are the people of eastern Aleppo. And we emphasize that we have no problem with relief airdrop. The international community holds responsibility for any future consequences of Aleppo besiegement hoping that our voices will be heard and Aleppo will be saved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: This is the horrific aftermath of those air strikes. You're watching a young girl being rescued from the rubble of a bombed-out building. These images captured by the Syrian civil defense volunteer group also called the "White Helmet". The girl had reportedly been trapped for more than five hours before that little girl was saved.

Iraqi-led forces now have their tightest chokehold yet on Mosul. An alliance of paramilitary groups says ISIS is completely surrounded there. A critical ISIS supply route between the city and Raqqa has also been shut down. This comes more than a month after Iraqi forces launched an operation to recapture Mosul.

Let's bring in CNN military analyst Rick Francona for his take on the battle for Mosul. He joins us now via Skype from Preston, California. Colonel Francona, good to have you with us once again.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good evening.

SESAY: Now, the Iraqi-led coalition -- good evening -- the Iraqi-led coalition is in the process of encircling the strategically important city of Tal-Afar as well as we know choking off Mosul. Explain to our viewers the strategy that is in play right now.

FRANCONA: Well, the Iraqis have finally done what they should have done at the beginning of this, and that was completely surround the city. Now they've got it surrounded on all sides, they are able to choke off any resupply from Raqqa to Mosul. They're also able to choke off any escape route out of the city.

So this should have been done some time ago. Finally taking that airfield and it was taken by an Iranian-led and Iranian-trained Shia militia -- something we are not very sanguine with in the United States and the U.S. coalition. But they have finally done that. They dropped almost all the bridges over the Tigris inside the city therefore complicating movement inside the city.

And the Iraqis are doing a really good job on the ground going through areas, neighborhood by neighborhood, pausing to consolidate their gains and make sure that there's no booby traps and there's no chance of counter attacks. And actually, I think Isha, they are doing a really good job of taking the city.

Unfortunately, we are not able to use as much air power in there so the going is very, very slow. I saw some of the footage -- this is going block by block, house by house, even door by door.

SESAY: Let me ask you about the taking out of those bridges, Colonel Francona. I understand what that means for restricting the movement of ISIS fighters but what about means for civilians who are trying to flee. I mean how much does that complicate that effort or that desire to get out -- out of harm's way?

FRANCONA: Yes, exactly. That makes it that much harder. And this is something that you have to really consider when you are deciding to take out these bridges. Not only does it complicate civilians trying to flee it also damages the infrastructure that's going to have to be considered when you rebuild the city.

Bridges are very sometimes hard to replace. These are large bridges. And if you drop two or three spans of them -- very, very difficult to replace and the Tigris River is not something that you can just ford very easily. It's a major river. It flows right through the city. There are five major bridges, there's only one left standing.

I remember when we were bombing the Iraqi cities during the invasion and even back in Desert Storm, bridges were always the target of last resort.

SESAY: And just very quickly, Colonel Francona, Tal-Afar is a predominantly Sunni city, we know it's divided between Sunni and Shia Turkmen (ph) before ISIS captured it in 2014. What does the fall of this city mean for these efforts to rid Mosul of ISIS?

[00:25:06] FRANCONA: Well, it's just one more piece. They needed to do that to surround it and cut that road. The problem is what do they do now that they have that city? There is a lot of fear inside the Sunni population of what's going to happen. Remember this is a Shia militia that liberated the city. And you've got Kurds on the side. And the Sunnis in Mosul, in Tal-Afar and when we get to Sinjar are all very, very nervous.

SESAY: Colonel Francona, we always appreciate the insight. These certainly are tense days ahead. We appreciate the analysis. Thank you very much.

FRANCONA: Have a good evening.

SESAY: You too.

Now firefighters in northern Israel and the West Bank have wildfire flames under control but a new fire has started west of Jerusalem. Greece and Croatia are sending crews to help with the fires. Officials have evacuated hundreds of families and flames have damaged nearly three dozen homes. There are no reports of injuries.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now with more on the fires and a hurricane barreling towards part of Central America. There is a lot going on. Derek -- tell us more.

VAN DAM: Yes, Isha -- this really is a multination effort to help extinguish the flames across Israel. We've highlighted all the hot spots. And there really are dozens of brush fires going on at the moment across Israel and parts of the West Bank, again just outside of Jerusalem about 15 kilometers to the west of the city center.

Unfortunately the winds are coming from the land off shore. So this is not really great help because if the winds were coming from the west we would get that help with the humidity from the Mediterranean but that's just not the case and unfortunately there is no rain in sight. And Isha -- you mentioned a hurricane. Well, this is very late in the season for this to develop across the southwest Caribbean Sea. Take a look at this -- Costa Rica to Nicaragua over the next 12 hours are going to get hammered with significant amounts of rain, over 250 millimeters throughout this mountainous region.

That means flash flooding, mudslides, landslides certainly a possibility across this area. Interesting facts about this --this is the lowest latitude hurricane that's ever formed since at least 1971 which is Hurricane Irene and this is the latest hurricane to ever form in the Caribbean this time of the year.

You can imagine that the end of the hurricane season which is officially the end of November, we're tailing up to that right now. So this is quite impressive to see this type of a storm form this late in the season.

Here goes the storm system moving west. It will exit the coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica by local time, probably in the evening around Thursday which, of course, is Thanksgiving in the United States. But winds will not be the major factor. It's really the heavy rain and the potential for flash flooding -- Isha.

SESAY: We will keep an eye on that. Derek Van Dam -- appreciate it.

VAN DAM: Absolutely.

SESAY: Thank you.

VAN DAM: All right.

SESAY: Time for a quick break. Protests over the Dakota oil pipeline have turned violent. Next, we'll talk with a resident who says the pipeline will lead to a cultural genocide.

[00:28:11] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles, I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour.

Rescue workers and firefighters in southeastern China are searching for survivors after a construction platform collapsed at a power plant. China's news agency Xinhua reports more than 40 people were killed and others are still trapped under the scaffolding. It happened as a cooling tower was undergoing repairs.

Donald Trump is urging unity in a Thanksgiving message posted on YouTube. Trump says it's time to bring real change to Washington and real safety to U.S. cities. The president-elect is spending Thanksgiving with his family at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

Iraqi forces have encircled the ISIS-held city of Mosul saying it's now completely surrounded. And a key ISIS supply route has been shutdown. The terror group is now effectively trapped inside the city, which it captured back in 2014.

Hurricane Otto is heading for a rare late November landfall on Thursday afternoon in Eastern Central America. People in Nicaragua and Costa Rica should expect heavy rain and possibly flash flooding. This would be Costa Rica's first hurricane landfall in recorded history.

And a sixth child has died from injuries sustained in a school bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Keyonte Wilson was described as a tough little boy. He was one of 37 students on the bus on Monday when officials say the driver plowed into a tree. Police say he will likely face a sixth charge of vehicular homicide, among other charges.

Well, in North Dakota, police and protesters are blaming each other for violent clashes. Hundreds are protesting the plant Dakota Access Pipeline, which they say would ruin sacred Native American land and contaminate the environment. Activists say police used tear gas and rubber bullets against protestors on Sunday and a woman almost lost her arm.

CNN's Paul Vercammen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Very different views from the front line where protesters want the Dakota oil pipeline route moved away from the Standing Rock Reservation.

There's now dispute earlier this week. In frigid weather, law enforcement sprayed demonstrators with powerful blasts of water. Police say demonstrators set fires and tried to storm past the roadblock. But protesters accused police of dangerous tactics not just the spraying but fire concussion grenades, rubber bullets and injuring hundreds of demonstrators.

The father of Sophia Wilansky, a 21-year-old protester, says an explosion nearly cost his daughter her arm. Sophia is undergoing surgery.

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.

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.

VERCAMMEN: Authorities say they didn't use concussion grenades, rather demonstrators attacked them with makeshift explosives, even rolling one-pound propane canisters toward officers.

Amid all the violence at Standing Rock, silence. No sound of pipeline construction now because the Army Corps of Engineers stopped for talks with tribal leaders. The Standing Rock sues say the pipeline route will destroy sacred burial of prayer sites and they fear the pipeline's proposed path under the Missouri River could contaminate water.

The consortium funding the $3.7 billion pipeline that will run through four states from North Dakota to Illinois say it's safe. They also say it's a much more efficient way to transport crude oil instead of by rail.

Paul Vercammen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, Linda Black Elk joins us now from 48 North Dakota. She's an ethnobotanist at Sitting Bull College. She also lives on the Standing Rock Reservation.

Linda, thank you so much joining us. It's good to have you with us.

You have said the opposition to the Dakota pipeline is about a lot more than water. You said effectively a cultural genocide is at stake. What do you mean by that?

LINDA BLACK ELK, ETHNOBOTANIST, SITTING BULL COLLEGE: Well, obviously, this really is about water quality. You know, a possible leak in the Dakota Access Pipeline could endanger the water for millions of people in the Dakotas, but also upwards of 18 million people downstream. But as you said it isn't just about that.

It's also about sacred sites that this pipeline crosses and destroys. It is about treaty rights because this land is Lakota Land. It belongs to the land of the Lakota nation -- the people of the Lakota nation according to the treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851.

It's also about sacred, edible and medicinal plants. I know a lot of people out there probably do not collect wild foods and medicines anymore, but the Lakota people do. And this pipeline crosses land that is just vibrant and diverse with incredibly, culturally important plants.

I've personally collected food and medicine within the path of the pipeline. And, you know, it's an issue that not just a leak would affect these plants and even the animals that graze there. But potentially any compounds that might leak off -- leech off of this stainless steel pipeline. And so there's really is cultural genocide affecting the life way of the Lakota people.

SESAY: Linda, there are those who say that this pipeline is good. It's actually good for North Dakota. It's good for the economy. It will bring jobs. It's a good thing.

How do you respond to those people?

BLACK ELK: Well, I'm sure it's good for a couple of people's pocketbooks. And when we talk about jobs, actually the vast majority of the people, who are working for the pipeline have only very short- term jobs and the vast majority of those people are not from North Dakota. So it's just not -- the benefits do not outweigh the risks at all. SESAY: The construction has been halted to allow for consultations between the Standing Sioux tribe and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Linda, do you know where those talks stand right now?

BLACK ELK: I don't. I know those talks are continuing. I know that Chairman Dave Archambault, chairman of the Standing Rock nation is standing firm in his belief that the Dakota Access Pipeline must be stopped. And, you know, we actually haven't heard a lot more from the corps of engineers.

Hopefully, they will agree with us. We are opening that President Obama will step in and agree with us that the Dakota Access Pipeline needs to be stopped.

You know, this is also about a long-term divestment from fossil fuels. As native Americans, we really believe that we need to start divesting from fossil fuels in order to save what's left of our mother earth.

SESAY: Linda Black Elk, thank you so much for joining us and just giving us your perspective and your deeper insight into how people feel about this Dakota Access Pipeline. We very much appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACK ELK: Thank you for having me.

SESAY: Time for a quick break. Thursday marks Thanksgiving here in the United States. And while thousands of turkeys will be gobbled up on dinner tables across the country, two have been granted a presidential reprieve. They weren't saved from Barack Obama's jokes, though.

And it looked like fireworks. That's what a witness said about this explosion in a wine shop. Find out what caused it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:41:47] SESAY: You have got to see these pictures.

An electronic cigarette is being blamed for injuring a man at New York's Grand Central Terminal. The explosion was captured by security cameras. The 31-year-old man was talking to his co-workers at a wine shop -- yes, you see it there -- when the E-cigarette in his pants pocket exploded. A witness told CNN affiliate, WABC, they thought it was fireworks. He was taken to the hospital with burns on his legs, thigh and hand. He is scheduled for surgeon. It was serious. Very, very frightening.

Well, it's a White House tradition that brings out the stand-up comic in President Obama and of course some priceless puns. The annual pardoning of a turkey for Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, or in this case two turkeys named Tater and Tot.

Get it, Tater, Tot.

Notably absent from the president's poultry pardon daughters Malia and Sasha.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Malia and Sasha, by the way, are thankful that this is my final presidential Turkey pardon. What I haven't told them yet is that we are going to do this every year from now on.

(LAUGHTER)

No cameras, just us. Every year. No way I'm cutting this habit cold turkey.

(LAUGHTER)

Good one. Nice speech line.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: At least someone thought it was funny. Those puns.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "World Sport" is up next. And I'll be back with another hour of news from all around the world. You're watching CNN.

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