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Recount Under Way in Three States; Ohio State University Shooting; Regime Forces Retake Large Area of Eastern Aleppo; French Conservatives Pick Fillon as President Candidate; 21-Gun Salutes in Cuba's Two Largest Cities. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 29, 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] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, President-Elect Donald Trump draws widespread outrage as he puts his baseless claims that millions voted illegally in an election he won. Did Russia hack the U.S. election?

A recount is now underway in one state, two more could soon follow. But will it make any difference to the result?

And the anti-American rant from the attacker who used his car and a knife to wound 11 people on the campus of Ohio State University.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

U.S. Vice President-Elect Mike Pence says get ready for some big announcements on Tuesday from the Trump transition team. One is expected to be the formal announcement of House Republican Tom Price of Georgia to head the Health and Human Services Department. Price, a medical doctor, has been a vocal critic of Obamacare.

We may also find out Donald Trump's choice for secretary of state. Former CIA director David Petraeus met with Trump on Monday and former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be having dinner with Trump Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, the Green Party filed a petition Monday to recount votes in Pennsylvania. A recount in Wisconsin is expected to begin this week. While there is no evidence of any significant election fraud, former Green Party candidate Jill Stein says confidence in the electoral process is at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL STEIN, GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we have are predictors that if tampering took place that it would be most likely to be discovered in the three states where we are looking. But it's like when you get into an airplane you do not want to have evidence that the airplane is rapidly losing altitude before you create a backup system to be sure that your airplane has a safety net that it has built in quality assurance.

That's what we're calling for in this election and in all elections that we need to have a system that we can be confident in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I'm joined now by Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican consultant John Thomas. Good to have you both here. It's been a while.

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Thanks for having us.

VAUSE: Ok. John -- Donald Trump continues to insist he won the popular vote in a landslide. He's arguing Hillary Clinton received millions of fraudulent votes. And then a short time ago he tweeted this. "CNN is so embarrassed by their total 100 percent support of Hillary Clinton and yet her loss in a landslide that they don't know what to do."

There are so many things wrong with that statement but let's just start with the fact that Hillary Clinton lost in a landslide. That is just simply not the case. Why does he keep insisting so?

THOMAS: Well, old habits die hard. You know, Trump I'm sure is angry that there is a recount going on when he won the game fair and square. So that upsets him.

And look, one could argue there might be select cases of voter fraud in limited instances but the idea that two million illegal votes that's ludicrous.

VAUSE: It is ludicrous, yes.

THOMAS: And even Republicans are all shaking their head going Trump, you won the game fair and square.

VAUSE: Put down the iPhone.

THOMAS: Let's move on.

VAUSE: Right. Yes.

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, if you look at Donald Trump's Twitter feed today, you'd say two things. One, the chaos candidate is back; and two, you never knew that there was an election that happened.

I mean this is emblematic of the chaos candidate that we saw over the last 19, 18 months and I think really it underscores the unprecedented dynamic that Donald Trump is bringing to the office of the presidency. Like you don't expect this from the incoming commander-in-chief to criticize one of the top networks worldwide going into, what, eight weeks until he's becoming the next president.

VAUSE: As well as a lot of other people too in the process.

JACOBSON: Right.

VAUSE: He is going after a whole lot of people with this.

One state where Trump alleges voter fraud happened is Virginia, a state he did not win. And this was the reaction from the governor there, Terry McAuliffe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE (D), VIRGINIA: We do not -- I apologize -- I mean, come on. We do not have one instance of that happening. He mentioned three states, I believe -- California, I think New Hampshire and Virginia.

All I say is when you make an allegation put proof behind it. Every single organization who does political fact-checking has said that is 100 percent erroneous. Show me the facts. And we'll get them the first time. I've always said we want to make sure people who vote are entitled to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Dave -- how much damage is Trump causing to the actual electoral process here, the election process by making these allegations without proof?

JACOBSON: I think he is undermining his own election to the office of the presidency. And I think what is laughable is the fact that this is coming -- I mean I'm not surprised -- this is coming from a candidate who for eight years campaigned and said President Obama is an illegitimate president because he is not born in the United States. So I'm not surprised by his actions.

THOMAS: I mean first of all, Governor McAuliffe was Hillary Clinton's campaign chair --

VAUSE: Sure.

THOMAS: -- so let's be clear.

[00:04:58] The other thing, it's a little bit hypocritical of him to say that because didn't Hillary Clinton now join in on the recount, a recount alleges that the system might be rigged, that there might be voter fraud or problems to that degree. So it just seems a little bit odd.

VAUSE: With that in mind, they didn't start it. The Green Party started it. So Dave --

THOMAS: Ok. Well, she joined in. She endorsed the effort.

VAUSE: But Dave, shouldn't their lawyers be there if there's a recount under way? Wouldn't that just be sort of standard?

JACOBSON: Absolutely. Look, but I do think largely that the Jill Stein effort is relatively frivolous in the sense that like, I get the 10,000 vote discrepancy between Trump and Clinton in Michigan, I get the 22,000 vote discrepancy in Wisconsin. I don't get the 70,000 plus votes in Pennsylvania. And that's really the linchpin. That's the key here to the threshold.

THOMAS: I don't think the lawyers should be there to make sure because endorsing the effort. Hillary Clinton should be just like Barack Obama has been doing, saying we lost, you won, let's do a seamless transition of power.

VAUSE: Ok. The recount now under way in Wisconsin. The process has started in Pennsylvania. The deadline for request in Michigan is Wednesday. But election officials in Wisconsin blasted Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK THOMSON, CHAIRMAN, WISCONSIN ELECTIONS COMMISSION: Personally I would like him to come down out of his Trump Tower and go up to Wautoma in Waushara County and spend the time with the folks on the ground that are counting these votes. I mean he won that county.

But I mean to say that it's not being fair or it's not -- that people are counting illegal votes, from my vantage point is an insult to the people that run our election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: I don't want to keep hammering this, John, but wouldn't it have been better if Donald Trump just simply hadn't opened up this can of worms of, you know, rigged elections and voter fraud to begin with all those weeks ago?

THOMAS: Yes. I mean without a doubt. Obviously he shouldn't have said it in the first place. I do think it is hypocritical now the other side is saying the same thing. Donald Trump needs to understand he won. Let's move on.

VAUSE: Ok.

One of the reasons for the recount is all based on information coming from Alex Halderman who is a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan. He argues this, "One explanation for the results of the 2016 presidential election is that cyber attacks influenced the result. This explanation is plausible in light of other known cyber attacks intended to affect the outcome of the election. The profound vulnerability of American voting machines to cyber attacks and the fact that a skilled attacker would leave no outwardly visible evidence of an attack other than an unexpected result."

The implication here is that Russia was somehow involved.

Jill Dougherty, who is a global fellow for the Woodrow Wilson Center, is standing by in Moscow right now -- also a former bureau chief in Moscow.

Jill -- good to see you. How are these allegations likely to be viewed by the Kremlin?

JILL DOUGHERTY, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Hey -- John.

You know, I think there's no question that they will deny it. They denied every allegation so far. And actually nothing really has been proved.

But you know, I think it's a broader picture. What they have definitely been trying to do is undermine American's faith in their own democracy, make American democracy look chaotic, ineffective and maybe even rigged as Donald Trump has said.

So they don't really have to answer specific charges but overall, I think there is no question that they want to really undermine not only American's faith but also Russian's faith in that alternative American democracy.

VAUSE: Ok. Jill -- thank you. We'll catch up with you later this hour. We have a lot to get to on Syria. So thank you for being with us. We'll be with you in about 30 minutes from now.

I just want to get to the issue of the actual numbers that we're looking at here. We have Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump in the popular vote by more than two million. His deficit in percentage terms is the third largest on record for an election winner. 53.5 percent of Americans voted for someone not named Donald Trump. So Dave, does this translate into a question of political capital and mandate?

JACOBSON: Not necessarily. Like I get the message that the Republicans maintain control of the House. They are in power in the Senate and now they have the White House. So I think symbolically, there's somewhat of a -- I get the narrative that they think that they have a mandate but if you look largely at the popular vote like you articulated, I think that raises real questions about like whether or not the American people really support x agenda that they're going to advance.

And so the question is like what kind of agenda does Donald Trump pursue? We know that he's got some significant differences with House Speaker Paul Ryan. Like does he pivot and be more to the middle because let's remember anybody who gets elected, their next step is looking at their next upcoming election. So Donald Trump is looking to 2020 as he calculates sort of what his next move is going to be when he becomes president. So I think he's going to take that in consideration.

VAUSE: I just want to -- is it a sore point that Clinton got so many more votes in the popular count than he did?

THOMAS: I mean I'm sure. This is a guy who prides himself on winning, winning, winning in every single thing he does and here is a statistic where he didn't win but at the end of the day he is the President -- he's going to be the President of the United States.

He not only -- look, the electrical map is stacked in favor of Democrats. If any Republican wants to win they have to run the table and that was an impressive feat for anyone.

[00:10:03] VAUSE: Ok. We heard the Trump transition team saying expect some big announcements maybe even who will be secretary of state. Mitt Romney is causing a lot of turmoil. He is someone who Donald Trump apparently is looking favorably upon.

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway on the weekend spoke out on this. It was seen as kind of a bizarre moment on why Mitt Romney should not get the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: I'm all for party unity but I'm not sure that we have to pay for that with the secretary of state position. But again, let me repeat, what Donald Trump decides, Kellyanne Conway and everybody else will respect.

It's just the backlash from the grassroots. I'm hearing from people who say, hey, my parents died penniless but I gave $216 to Donald Trump's campaign and I would feel betrayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A lot of reporting that Trump is irate at Conway for speaking publicly. But a few hours ago, spokesman Jason Miller said, essentially, hey, there's nothing to see here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS HOST: So the MSNBC report that Trump was livid, that he's furious with what she did -- that's not true?

JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN: No, no. Not at all. In fact the President-Elect gave her permission to go out and do that and she did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: John -- this would seem to be unprecedented -- all of this turmoil within a presidential transition.

JACOBSON: Right. Yes, go ahead.

THOMAS: Well, yes, I was just going to say. Look, this looks scripted to me. There is no accident that Kellyanne Conway came out and made the statement. I think it's actually a smart move in the sense of what Trump is positioning himself. If he ends up choosing former Governor Romney is that despite pressure from his base he chose the moderate, the sensible position.

And if he doesn't choose Governor Romney, he's got an out saying look I just can't go against the people who put me in this office. There's no way Kellyanne Conway went out there unauthorized. She's been loyal to Donald Trump this far and she's only worked for establishment politicians up to this point. So she doesn't loath the establishment. JACOBSON: But the question is like why fan the flames of this fragmentation between the establishment and the Trump world? Number one.

Number two, this exposes the continued infighting and dysfunction within the Trump universe.

THOMAS: But there is not. It's feigned outrage --

VAUSE: You think it's all stage-managed?

THOMAS: It's staged.

JACOBSON: A reality TV show?

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: It's reality TV.

THOMAS: The head of "The Apprentice" knows what he is doing.

VAUSE: Ari Fleischer, the former, you know, George W. Bush spokesman, did say that this is Trump seeing who can take the heat. Maybe it is.

THOMAS: It's possible.

VAUSE: Ok. John Thomas, Dave Jacobson -- see you guys next hour. Thank you for being with us.

THOMAS: Thanks.

Well, U.S. authorities are trying to figure out if a rampage at Ohio State University was terrorism. They say 11 people were injured when 18-year-old Abdul Razak Ali Artan rammed his car into a crowd on campus Monday. Then got out and slashed them with a knife. One officer shot and killed him.

Artan was a legal U.S. resident from Somalia and a student at the school. Investigators are looking into Facebook posts they believe he made critical of attacks on Muslims.

CNN law enforcement contributor, Steven Moore joins us now. He's also a retired special agent with the FBI. Steve -- thank you for being with us.

I guess the big question now here is was this an act of terror? Just by the way of the tactics that were used here, it would seem at the very least a copy of a terrorist attack.

STEVEN MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if it's not a terrorist attack, it's about the best copy you can get. Again we can't say right now that it is 100 percent a terrorist act. But what law enforcement has to do is look at what is most likely.

And what is most likely is that you have a man who has said things against the attacks against Muslims. He has followed the ISIS play book right down to the line. And he has no other motive in these attacks.

I mean the al-Baghdadi play book is if you don't have a gun you have a car, use the car; if you don't have a car, use a knife. Well, he used a car and a knife.

VAUSE: Ok. Then you mentioned the Facebook posting which apparently he posted just minutes before the attack. Part of it reads "My brothers and sisters, I'm sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters being killed and tortured everywhere; seeing my fellow Muslims being tortured, raped and killed in Burma led to a boiling point. I can't take it any more. By the way, every single Muslim who disapproves of my actions is a sleeper cell waiting for a signal. I am warning you oh, America."

What does the last part of that statement say to you about every single Muslim is a sleeping cell?

MOORE: It's going to be hard to try to figure that out. But obviously the last line of that is a threat. It is an indication that he is coming to the point where he is an active threat. And that's what you're looking for in these kind of situations. Is this person going to become weaponized, essentially?

And apparently in this case he did become weaponized because of perceived and maybe actual, we don't know, atrocities against Muslims. But either way, this was motive for him.

[00:15:05] VAUSE: You know, the attacker here graduated from the school earlier this year. He was doing extra courses -- non-credited courses. As you say we still don't know the motive in this case. But it seems many people who are flipped by jihadi kind of propaganda continue leading normal lives.

MOORE: They do. And that's part of what makes somebody who is kind of weaponized more dangerous because, you know, people look back and say two years ago the guy drove a Corvette and he was partying. Well, you know what, he changed. That's what happens with people.

And when they do not outwardly show this weaponization, then you're going to be surprised by their actions, unfortunately.

VAUSE: The students at Ohio State they were told essentially to shelter in place. The barricaded the doors up to their classrooms, and the images are disturbing. They were also told to run, hide, and fight which has been the advice now for a few years.

How would you judge the response by the students and also the campus police? Did they get lucky or did they do everything right?

MOORE: Well, I would say that they got lucky except they had a plan that worked. So it was actually -- it was actually training. It was preparation. It was, you know, making your own luck essentially.

I ran an active shooter response team for two years on a campus. And part of our deal was to train the students what to do. I occasionally when I was an FBI agent posed as an active shooter for the SWAT teams so that I could find out what the best way to attack was. And what I found is that I could shoot nobody that I didn't see.

So the best thing to do is to get away from the shooter. If you can see him it's too late. You can't outrun a bullet. But if you can't run, hide. The problem with hiding is it only works for a little while because he will find you eventually. And if he does, that's when you go and you fight. You engage him. So run, hide and fight is a good tactic in that order.

VAUSE: Yes. And sadly, so many campuses and schools have had a lot of experience dealing with this kind of situation.

Steve -- thanks for being with us.

MOORE: Sure.

We'll get a little bit more now on the situation at Ohio State. Masih Fouladi is a legal advocate for the Council on American Islamic Relations here in Los Angeles.

Masih -- thank you for coming in.

MASIH FOULADI, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: Let's stick with the story in Ohio for a while.

Right now investigators still don't know the motive for this attack. The Ohio State president Michael Drake -- he cautioned everyone about a rush to judgment. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MICHAEL DRAKE, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: Even though we all know when things like this happens that there is a tendency sometimes for people to put people together and create other kinds of theory. We don't know anything that would link this to any community. We certainly don't have any evidence that would say that's the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Despite those words and similar words coming from a lot of officials, are you concerned or have you heard about any backlash already?

FOULADI: Like President Drake had mentioned, I think it's important to respect the families of those who are involved and to wait for the investigation to be completed. Obviously our thoughts and prayers are with them and we hope that a thorough investigation is completed.

VAUSE: Ok. Artan, the attacker here, he was interviewed by the campus newspaper back in August. And he talked about his fears of being a Muslim on campus of being able to find a place for prayer.

This is what he said to the newspaper this year. "I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I'm a Muslim. It's not what media portrays me to be. If people look at me, a Muslim praying I don't know what they're going to think, what's going to happen. But I don't blame them. It's the media that put that picture in their heads."

How widespread are those fears among Muslims right now?

FOULADI: I think the rhetoric throughout 2015 and 2016 has been anti- Muslim and anti-immigrant, anti-a lot of minorities. I think there's a lot of minorities that have fears and they're legitimate. Again, this investigation isn't complete and we look forward to seeing the results of the investigation. But I think there are legitimate concerns within many minority communities about fears because of the rhetoric in the last two years.

VAUSE: It's not just the Islamic community which seems to be a target of a lot of hate crimes especially in the last couple of weeks.

It's happening here in California. Five mosques -- they're ramping up security because they received a number of letters calling Muslims vile and filthy, calling for genocide, saying President-Elect Trump will do to the Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews.

Who is behind that? Who is making these kind of threats?

FOULADI: We learned of these threats on Thursday, a local mosque in southern California reported to them -- reported the incident to CAIR and we had them contact local officials. Once we became aware that this was a statewide and a national issue we got the FBI involved and we wanted to make sure that there is a thorough investigation right now.

[00:20:06] Local officials are doing exactly that and seeing who is at the bottom of this and trying to see if there is a credible threat to individuals at these different mosques.

VAUSE: What sort of chilling effect is this having on people who still want to come, pray and worship?

FOULADI: That's one of the biggest concerns with the uptick of incidents after the election, both in the Muslim community and within other minority communities. We want to make sure that people remain vigilant but they are also aware that this has occurred in the past and there's no reason to get scared.

The constitution's here to protect us. Local law enforcement and federal law enforcement is here to protect us. As long as we are reporting these incidents and following up on them the community just has to be more vigilant but don't fear too much and go about your daily --

VAUSE: Trust the institutions.

(CROSSTALK)

FOULADI: Exactly.

VAUSE: Masih -- thanks so much. FOULADI: Thank you.

VAUSE: Good to speak with you. Thank you.

We have some breaking news out of Colombia -- a plane carrying a Brazilian football team has crashed. Local news is reporting the plane lost contact in the northwestern region of Colombia. More than 70 passengers are believed to be on board. The Chapecoense football team was due to play in the South American football finals in Colombia on Wednesday. We'll have more details on this as soon as we get them.

In the meantime a short break. When we come back, thousands of Syrians are fleeing eastern Aleppo as the battle for the city appears close to a major turning point.

Also, Raul pays tribute to Fidel in Cuba, signing an oath of allegiance next his brother's urn. More from the island, coming up.

[00:21:45] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: There's a warning of a imminent humanitarian disaster as Syrian forces appear on the brink of crushing the rebellion in Aleppo. The army and its allies broke through rebel lines and took control of a large are of eastern Aleppo on Monday. There'd been fierce fighting for Syria's second largest city for the past two weeks.

Activists say about 10,000 people have fled the area in the past few days. An estimated 250,000 people have been trapped in eastern Aleppo since July.

Russia has been the Syrian government's closest ally in this civil war. Back with us now, CNN contributor and former Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty. Jill -- thank you for being with us again.

At this point is the Russian president calling the shots in Aleppo? Is this essentially his war now?

DOUGHERTY: Well, I think yes and no. I mean, obviously, he has rescued Assad and improved the forces of Assad so that they are able -- the government forces are now able to basically attack and take over eastern Aleppo.

That is a big victory and Russia actually can say in a sense its hands off that the government is doing it because Russia insists it is not part of this direct bombing.

So you know, overall Vladimir Putin has had quite a bit of success, I think you'd have to say, in his ultimate objective in Syria.

VAUSE: What happened to all those predictions by the Obama administration last year that when the Russians got involved in Syria they would become trapped in a quagmire?

DOUGHERTY: Well -- very good question. It hasn't happened. Just look -- I was thinking looking at the board right now you have the opposition in disarray, the Russians have succeeded in making it basically impossible or challenging the United States to separate the good opposition forces from ISIS and that hasn't happened.

Right now they are conflated and that is good for Russian strategy because they can say simply, look, they're all bad. You haven't been able to separate them and we have to go after ISIS.

You also have Russia definitely at the table for any possible solution. You have improved relations even with Turkey which at one point were -- the relations were very, very bad. Not to mention Iran -- relations between Russia and Iran also very good. And then to go on, it's been a big advertisement for Russian weapons in Syria.

And then I mean, just every way you look, I think Putin has been able to place on the table right now facts that Donald Trump as president of the United States is going to have to deal with. It's a fait accompli that Donald Trump will have to deal with.

VAUSE: The clock is running down to that new U.S. administration and we know that President-Elect and candidate Donald Trump certainly had much more favorable views in dealing with the Russians as well as with Vladimir Putin. But is there concern in Moscow that there is still a great deal of uncertainty over what a Trump administration might bring which would affect the timetable of any military offensive under way in Syria right now?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that's definitely true. But you know, in a sense the Russians could argue, excuse me, that they set the timing. I mean how is Donald Trump going to change anything other than say we should cooperate with Russia on fighting ISIS? And that works in Russia's favor because that is what Russia has been saying all along. We should carry out operations together.

The Obama administration wouldn't do it because it included attacks on civilians. But right now what is the option for Donald Trump? I don't see a lot of options for him quite frankly, other than either not dealing with Russia or dealing with Russia.

VAUSE: Yes. Ok. Jill -- thank you for your insights. We very much appreciate it. Jill Dougherty, live for us in Moscow. Thank you.

We'll take a short break.

When we come back, France may be headed in a more conservative direction. Some are wondering if this is all related to what is called the Trump effect. We'll have more on the results of France's primary elections in just a moment.

[00:30:04] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

And there is breaking news out of Colombia, a plane carrying a Brazilian football team has crashed. Local reports say the plane lost contact in the north-western region of Colombia. More than 70 passengers are believed to be on board. The Chapecoense football team was due to play in the South American Cup finals in Colombia on Wednesday.

VAUSE: Investigators are digging at a social media posts to determine whether an attack at Ohio State University was an act of terror. They say Abdul Razak Ali Artan ran his car into a crowd, Monday, then slash several people with a knife before being shot dead by campus police officer.

In Cuba this morning, Fidel Castro week. Monday kicked off with cannon fire and 21 gun salutes for the former Cuban leader who died Friday at age 90. People also poured into Havana's Revolutionary Square for a rally in his honor.

Syrian forces and their allies have taken control of a large part of Eastern Aleppo. It's the latest advance in the fierce battle for the rebel last urban stronghold. Activists say 10,000 people have fled the area in recent days.

French conservatives have chosen Francois Fillon to lead their party in their country's presidential election next year. Just a few weeks ago, Fillon was considered an unlikely bet for the presidency. But the lawyer turned politician won support for his tough stance on unions, immigration and fighting Islamic terrorism. And some are comparing him to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for pulling off an upset victory.

Joining me now Dominic Thomas, the head of Department of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA.

Dom, thank you for coming in.

Francois Fillon making France great again. How similar are his policies to Donald Trump?

[00:35:15] DOMINIC THOMAS, PRESIDENT, DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE STUDIES AT UCLA: I think it's really interesting, John, to see the fact that in the polls until the 20th of November, two days -- the 18th of November, two days before Francois Fillon made it through to the second round runoff, not a single poll had him with any chance of making it through to the second round. So one can only think that the U.S. election has played a role in shaping the way in which the right, which you fully remember, this is the first time that the right in France has ever had such a primary.

Francois Fillon ran on an extremely conservative platform and speaking out vociferously in favor of a sort of an old traditional France, of Catholic values, that is a code name for addressing the issue of whiteness and sort of malaise around these kinds of question.

He published a book on totalitarian Islam, which sort of bolstered his security credentials and so on. And in many ways has been talking about a vision of a France, a traditional France, of a time when France could claim to be a great and grand nation.

VAUSE: Well, you're looking ahead to the election, the presidential election. And given the collapse of the ruling socialist party and their support, does this effectively mean that the next election in France for president will be a contest between the hard right and the far right?

THOMAS: The entire election so far has been shaped around the far right, around sort of a questioning as to who can defeat Marine Le Pen. The interesting thing is going to be is whether or not the constituents that supported Fillon with a platform that is essentially or at least shares points of commonality with everything except the economy with Marine Le Pen is whether this will be palatable to a center, electric and to people on the left.

And whether or not Fillon in making concessions to the center or the left is going to lose that base. That is the fundamental question. If the socialists who haven't even held their primary yet, these as though certainly people who have announced their candidacy, former government ministers especially those in the sort of economic sector have already announced that they plan to run, but Francois Hollande has not yet declared whether he is going to run and his prime minister, Manuel Valls, that would be considered the front runner for that party has not announced whether he is going to run out of loyalty to a sitting president.

So the big question will be how the socialists were able to organize themselves and whether or not a figure like Francois Bayrou who runs this MoDem political party that has about 10 percent of them can present themselves with a more moderate platform that will stand up against Marine Le Pen.

VAUSE: You mention the economy which is one of the big differences here between Le Pen and Fillon. So given some of Fillon's stances on taxes and free markets, could you see Marine Le Pen doing essentially what Donald Trump did, sort of an end run to some of these blue-collar voters with her message that she has on the economy?

THOMAS: I don't even think she has to do an end run. Because I think that many of those voters have already constitute the base of her party. The economic issues did not play a major role in the primary. But the malaise, the disillusionment and so on absolutely did.

What's going to be interesting is whether Fillon's attack on welfare, on job security, on raising the retirement age and so on and his downgrading or reduction of taxes for the wealthy is what Marine Le Pen is going to fasten on in order to potentially make that case is that her party will be a greater appeal to the worker and to those that had been left behind by globalization and one should not underestimate the power of that argument after Brexit and after the election of Donald Trump.

VAUSE: It's almost looking like a mirror image in so many ways.

THOMAS: It absolutely is.

VAUSE: Dominic, as always, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

THOMAS: Thank you, John. VAUSE: Well, five members of the Philippine president security team were wounded in Marawi City on Tuesday after their convoy was hit by an explosion. Two members are in critical condition and official tells CNN Philippines the team was part of a 50-person convoy preparing for President Duterte's visit to Marawi on Wednesday. It's not clear if the president will still go ahead with that visit.

Long lines in Havana as Cubans come out to celebrate the life of Fidel Castro. How the country is paying tribute to its long-time leader?

Also, a major U.S. airline makes history as the industry adjusts to a new reality in Cuba.

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[00:40:00] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.

In Cuba, flags remain at half staff and President Real Castro paid his respects to his brother, Fidel. The Cold War icon died, Friday, at age 90. The president signed an oath of allegiance before Fidel's ashes inside the country's defense ministry. But Castro's ashes won't stay there for long as they start a ceremony, a journey across the island.

On Wednesday, they will follow in reverse the same route that Castro and his band of rebels took when they seized power in 1959.

Castro is being honored this week with three cannon fire and a pair of 21-gun salutes fired Monday morning. One salute took place at Havana's La Cabana Fortress built at the 18th century to defend the harbor. After the Cuban revolution, it became the notorious facility where Castro's opponents were jailed and executed.

The 21 gun salute was also held in Santiago to Cuba, the country's second largest city and the birth place of the revolution.

The dictator's funeral presents something of a problem for world leaders. British Prime Minister Teresa May will not be attending. And the Russian and U.S. president are also sitting this one out. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won't be there either after coming under fire for a condolence message about Castro that critics called gushing and tone deaf.

Many governments will send delegations to the funeral instead. North Korea, however, seems to be taking Castro's death particularly hard. It has already sent a senior delegation to Havana and declared three days of national mourning.

Monday morning an historic flight took off from Miami heading to Havana. It's the first time a U.S. commercial plane has gone to Cuba in over 50 years. U.S. official called the American Airlines flight an important milestone in strengthening relations with Cuba. And the White House says Castro's death should not impact those efforts.

But U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is threatening to roll back that deal unless Cuba is willing to negotiate a better one. Stay with us for the latest hour of breaking news. It appears the plane has crashed in Colombia with more than 70 people on board including a Brazilian football team. We'll be right back.

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