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Trump's "Thank You" Tour; The Toxic Legacy of ISIS; French President Hollande Won't Seek Re-Election; Immigration, Identity Politics to Play Crucial Role; Examining Hate Speech and Crimes Post- Election

Aired December 02, 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, a fired up thank you tour. Donald Trump emerges from Trump Tower and promises to bring a divided country together.

Black smoke rises in Mosul as ISIS leaves behind a haze of toxic fumes.

And high school students in Australia one up pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, once dubbed the most hated man in America.

Hello everybody. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause, NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

The man who will lead the United States for the next four years kicked off a "thank you" tour in the state which helped him win. President- Elect Donald Trump He fired up the crowd in Cincinnati, Ohio on Thursday night and brought back some of his biggest hits from the campaign -- let's build a wall, the media is dishonest and we'll make America great again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: This is the moment. This is our chance. This is our window for action. This is the hour when the great deeds can be done and our highest hopes can come true. We're going to do it, folks. We're going to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Trump also confirmed he wants retired Marine General James "Mad Dog" Mattis as defense secretary.

Joining me now in Los Angeles, Wendy Greuel, a former L.A. City councilwoman and Clinton supporter; and from San Francisco, Harmeet Dhillon, a member of the Republican National Committee for California. Thank you both for being with us.

I guess he's back. He's out there on the campaign trail, so the campaigner in chief. Clearly Donald Trump enjoys being in front of a big crowd. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now that you put me in this position, even if you don't help me one bit I'm going to get it done, believe me. Don't worry about it. Be easier if you help but that's all right. Don't worry, I'll get it done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So Harmeet to you, is this a sign of what the next four years this will be like?

HARMEET DHILLON, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CALIFORNIA: I don't know about the next four years but I do think it's gracious for him to go out and thank the people who got him elected. And I think that his formula of speaking directly to crowds like that and connecting with ordinary Americans, it won him this election, so why stop when a good thing is working?

VAUSE: Ok. You know, tonight for Donald Trump he said it was all about loving each other and coming together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've always brought people together. I know you find that hard to believe. Although this group probably doesn't find it hard to believe. But we are going to bring our country together, all of our country. We're going to find common ground and we will get the job done properly. We'll get it done properly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Wendy at least tonight, Donald Trump did make a mention of the problems in Flint, Michigan. Do you see evidence from your point of view that, you know, Trump is at least trying to bring the country back together?

WENDY GREUEL, FORMER LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCILWOMAN: Well, I think if you look at some of the things that have been happening in the last week or so and the comments that he has made he is not necessarily bringing people together. He may say the words tonight but he has not condemned those who have come out on their racist attitudes or the people -- some of the people that he has appointed who don't represent, I think, the best of our country.

And tonight, you know, he loves that election, that kind of campaign opportunity. But he hasn't made the jump to being the next President of the United States. We need someone who is a serious individual who is going to focus on the issues that are important and not continue just to campaign.

And I think that's what the American people are looking for and being someone who is going to bring people together he needs to make sure that those people who voted for him and those who didn't.

VAUSE: And Harmeet -- do you think he is trying to reach across to those who did not vote for him?

DHILLON: Of course, he is. If you listened to his speech today, the two speeches actually, I think he does that. He talks about the troubles of the people in Flint, Michigan. He talks about the troubles of people who are unemployed, underemployed and suffering from the bad policies of the last eight years.

You know, I think the reality is that Clinton supporters are not going to be happy if Donald Trump succeeds as president. He's already looking pretty presidential. I'm personally very pleased with the diversity of the choices that he has made. They're not the same choices I necessarily would have made but hey, I mean he won the election and they are all highly qualified people. And I would think that all Americans should wish him the best just as I wished Barack Obama the best even though I didn't vote for him eight years ago.

VAUSE: Ok. Well, clearly, Donald Trump was having a good time tonight and he was relishing his win over Hillary Clinton. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We did have a lot of fun fighting Hillary, didn't we? Right -- right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:05:12] VAUSE: Harmeet, the crowd, they're still chanting lock her up.

DHILLON: Yes, absolutely. I mean, look, people are still very excited. I'll tell you that those of us who voted for Donald Trump and were supporting him we heard time after time from the media that he had no chance of winning. I think the "New York Times" said the week before the election that his chances of winning were approaching zero.

And so what you're seeing is the exuberance of people who were told they were wrong by the elites in this country and who were proved to be right. So give them a little chance to blow off some steam here.

But the President-Elect has already said that he is, you know, not out to hurt anybody. And the election is done and you know, it's time to move on and make America great again.

VAUSE: Wendy -- do you think Donald Trump should have actually said something then about Hillary Clinton or would he have been lynched by that mob?

GREUEL: I think, you know, when you talk about we had fun fighting her that you're encouraging that crowd and that seeing across the country some of the people who were Trump supporters who have literally taken some of their attitudes and behaviors against others, whether it be racially or it be against anyone who was a Clinton supporter. We do need to come together to improve this country and it is incumbent upon the President of the United States, the President-Elect to stand up and be that kind of person. I have to tell you, I haven't seen that yet where he has embraced everyone and said he will not accept anyone like Steve Bannon who works for him to have anything that is close to being racist or anti-Semite whatever it may be. And all of us want America to be a better place and we want to be there to support it.

But I'll tell you even at my son's school we have heard about more bullying happen to some of the students there after this election that people are emboldened to push some of those things that may have been said during the campaign.

I listened to a journalist who wrote something that said the press took Donald, you know, very much literally but did not take him seriously. And people who supported him took him seriously but didn't take him literally.

We need to see a president of the United States who is going to stand up and actually give us a plan for the future. I haven't seen that yet.

VAUSE: Well, part of that plan for the future I guess we saw play out in Indiana today when Donald Trump did that sort of victory like at the Carrier air condition plant there in Indianapolis. The plant was meant to shut down. It was meant to move to Mexico but Trump personally intervened saving about a thousand jobs. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I just want to let all of the other companies know that we're going to do great things for businesses. No reason for them to leave any more because your taxes are going to be at the very, very low end and your unnecessary regulations are going to be gone. We need regulations for safety and environment and things but most of the regulations are nonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Harmeet this seems to be more of a symbolic win than anything else. He surely can't intervene in every factory which is about to close down and, you know, call up every CEO out there.

DHILLON: Well, symbols are American -- are important -- John. I mean you know, gosh, it's very refreshing to me as an American and a business owner to hear somebody finally standing up for American business and saying that American jobs should come first. I mean that's what he campaigned on. So I think it's entirely appropriate for him to take that victory lap there.

He is sending a signal more importantly to other businesses. And he said it very clearly on the campaign trail and today that if you plan to leave and take your business elsewhere and then make stuff abroad to the benefit of other workers outside and then ship it back here to America it's going to cost you and the government is going to be scrutinizing that. And that's the role of the government to do that and make sure that American jobs and American businesses come first.

VAUSE: Ok. I want you to listen to what Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said about the Carrier deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That's obviously good news and an announcement that we would welcome. But again as I mentioned yesterday, Mr. Trump would have to make 804 more announcements just like that to equal the standard of jobs in the manufacturing sector that were created in this country under President Obama's watch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Wendy, to that point, a lot of people have pointed out there needs to be a broader policy here of growing jobs as opposed to intervening on individual cases one by one.

GREUEL: That's right. And it's also not only just about individual one by one. And all of us and as a small business owner over the years and my family, it's important to keep those small businesses and the larger businesses here whether it be in California or across this country. But there has to be certainty.

And in this deal and scrutinizing how long will those thousand jobs be here? How long can you ensure that the future jobs that you are creating will be here in the United States? And I think those are the details that people want to see.

[00:09:58] Everyone wants to have jobs stay here in the United States but I think the American people are asking where's the plan so that it will be something that is not just a flash in the pan today but actually long standing.

VAUSE: And Harmeet to that point, you know, people are asking for the broader plan here and I don't want to be the sort of the downer in all this but a thousand jobs is still leaving. It's only 2,000 jobs are to go, and he saved 1,000.

DHILLON: Yes, I think we're nitpicking here and I think it's funny that we are criticizing him for creating jobs even before he takes office. I mean he's talked about the broader plan. The broader plan is decreasing regulation in this country, cutting taxes, simplifying the tax code, making it clear that there is a level playing field here for American businesses and that if foreign corporations and foreign states that have deals with us cheat they will be held accountable for that.

These are all a recipe for success in this country. I think we have to give him a chance.

VAUSE: Ok. Harmeet -- with that we'll leave it. We'll catch up with you guys both next hour. Harmeet Dhillon there in San Francisco and Wendy Greuel here in Los Angels. Thanks to you both.

GREUEL: Thank you. DHILLON: Thanks.

VAUSE: All but six of the 71 bodies from the plane crash in Colombia will be repatriated to Brazil on Friday. A Bolivian news network shot this video -- likely one of the last videos of the Chapecoense football club before the plane went down.

The video shows crew member talking about how excited they are to host the team as the flight is headed for their biggest game ever. Colombian authorities confirmed the jet was out of fuel when it crashed. Bolivia has suspended the permits of the charter airline.

Still to come here Austria preparing for one of its most important elections in decades. Next, how the results could challenge the European Union and test the rise of populism across the continent.

Also ISIS has left a toxic legacy in one Iraqi town south of Mosul. What is being done about the flaming oil wells? That story also ahead.

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DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam for a quick look at your weather watch. We start across the United States where cold air and winter-like conditions are steadily starting to settle in for many locations, specifically downwind from the Great Lakes. Lake effect snow showers kicking in to full effect and mountain snow developing across the northern Rockies -- that's going to help build up some of the snow base at the ski resorts out west.

Here's a look at our forecast radar. A few showers anticipated across central and western sections of Texas. Some of that moisture will make its way towards the four corners. It will be cold enough for that to remain in the frozen variety so a few snow showers expected just west of Denver.

But look at our temperature trend over the next seven days. Oh, yes, you see that cold air starting to build from Canada? That is going to bring some of the coldest air of the season so far across much of central and eastern sections of the United States. That's really for the middle of next week.

Vancouver, British Columbia 9 degrees with rain showers, of course, snow for the higher elevations; 15 for San Francisco; Denver one lonely degree above freezing.

[00:15:02] If you're traveling in or out of the Big Apple, temperatures around 9 degrees for the day today and we stay fairly temperate through the course of the weekend. We cool off somewhat into Atlanta by Sunday; a few showers and storms across Central America.

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VAUSE: A political shock in France with President Francois Hollande announcing he will not run for a second term. It is the first time in over 50 years a sitting French president has decided not to seek re- election. He leaves behind a divided left which could boost support for the conservatives and the far right National Front in the next election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Power, the exercise of power, the corridors of power, the rituals of power have never made me lose perspective either over myself or the situation because I have to act.

And today I'm conscious of the risks that would result from a step, my own, that did not unite enough people behind me. I have therefore decided not to be a candidate for the presidential election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Mr. Hollande has some of the lowest approval ratings ever. His administration has struggled to revive the economy. Prime Minister Manuel Valls is expected to seek the nomination for the presidency for the Socialist Party.

The rise of populism across Europe faces a major test in Austria with the second round presidential vote this weekend. Norbert Hoffa, on the right, could become the first far right head of state in Europe since World War II. He's an anti-establishment candidate, an agenda which helped Donald Trump win in the United States. Leftist candidate Alexander Van Der Bellen won the election in May but a rerun was ordered because of voting irregularities.

And here's another hot button election issue that may sound familiar -- immigration. It's a big deal for voters in Austria and in other European countries which will soon have elections.

Atika Shubert reports from Vienna on the so-called identity movement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vienna, Austria -- the city is a living monument to centuries of European history and heritage. At its center is a statue of Empress Maria Theresa sitting on her throne.

Monday night, Austria's far right Identity Movement arrives, lights flashing. They used a crane to hoist a giant black niqab, the Islamic face veil on to the statue and they pinned this sign, "Islamization -- no thanks", it reads.

MARTIN SELLNER, MEMBER OF AUSTRIA'S IDENTITY MOVEMENT: My generation was never asked if we wanted mass immigration and if we want Islamization as its population replacement in your country.

SHUBERT: 27-year-old Martin Sellner is a veteran of the Identity Movement, posting frequent YouTube videos and wearing colorful T- shirts he designs himself with slogans like "Europa Nostra" or "Our Europe". He met us at a typically Viennese cafe.

SELLNER: My biggest fear is that at some point, demographics could kill democracy.

SHUBERT: So you're not a white supremacist?

SELLNER: No, not at all. Not at all. I'm I think we're just patriots. I think the problem is not people. The problem is a system. That's why we also reject, like, the entity of anti-Semitism or something like which is just identifying the problem with certain people. I think that is stupid and wrong.

SHUBERT: But the Identity Movement does single out one group -- Muslims. Only an estimated 7 percent of Austrians are Muslim but in Vienna and its suburbs where Sellner grew up, the demographics are now more than 12 percent with some neighborhoods majority Muslim. Sellner claims this is Islamization.

SELLNER: A majority of them is largely against democracy, anti- Semitic, parliamentaristic and more than 70 percent of them say that for them the ethnic (inaudible) identity is more important than the Austrian citizenship.

SHUBERT: Last year Austria was overwhelmed with refugees. Most moved on to Germany but 90,000 stayed to claim asylum in Austria prompting the government to stop refugee applications at just 80 a day until an annual limit of 37,500 is reached this year.

But that wasn't enough for Sellner. He and other Identity Movement activists hand out fliers calling for Austria to shut its borders altogether. And now he believes that god emperor Donald Trump, as he cheekily refers to U.S. President-Elect, will bring the change Sellner wants in Europe.

Do you think there will be a Trump effect?

SELLNER: Yes, absolutely. The idea that you have the right to preserve your identity, to close your borders, to be patriotic without any feeling of guilt.

[00:20:05] SHUBERT: But cultural blends do have their benefits.

SELLNER: I think it's possible to have different ethnic communities. Especially in Vienna, for example, what we're drinking here, the coffee, something that was brought here by the Turks. But does it really have to be a complete exchange of populations?

SHUBERT: Vienna's famous Cafe Melange is an equal balance of black coffee and creamy milk foam. It seems for Sellner that blend is fine for drinking but people, he says, need a different balance.

Atika Shubert, CNN -- Vienna.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And in the days since the election of Donald Trump one civil rights group in the U.S. has tracked hundreds of cases of harassment and intimidation of ethnic and religious minorities. The Southern Poverty Law firm says many of those behind the harassment invoke Trump's name during the incidents.

And while the President-Elect has publicly called for it to stop some are not listening. Here is one incident at a Starbucks in Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're trash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I voted for Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The angry customer in the video later told reporters his server took a long time to make his order because he's white and voted for Trump. He also said he was sorry for being upset. Meantime CNN is waiting for comment from Starbucks.

Joining me now is Dr. Judy Ho, a clinical and forensic psychologist based here in Los Angeles. Judy -- always good to have you with us.

JUDY HO, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Thank you -- John.

VAUSE: There have been so many examples of these types of angry outbursts. We see this sort of totally unrelated to politics and somehow politics always gets into the mix of this confrontation. I want to show you this video -- a Chicago woman, Jennifer Boyle arguing with two African-American employees at a craft store. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why don't you just shut your face? And I voted for Trump, so there. And look who won. And look who won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That started out as an argument over shopping bags. The one at Starbucks was because his coffee was late. So what is going on here?

HO: Well, Trump's campaign has long time been really kind of putting forward this rhetoric of injustice and don't feel isolated and here we are to try to protect you from further harm. And so whenever somebody is feeling somehow like they are getting the short end of the stick they are invoking his name because that is really how permeating his message has been.

VAUSE: Ok. There have been so many examples, just random events happening to people in stores even here in California. We have friends of Asian descent that have been told by complete strangers you are going to be deported now President Trump is in office. HO: Right.

VAUSE: How do people -- first of all why do they do that? And how do they feel that it's right to do that?

HO: Well, human beings naturally want to categorize. There's an in group-out group situation where an in group I feel better than the out group and that somehow propels that person forward. It makes them feel better about themselves.

And so now that Trump's in office there are some people who are using that to say I am better than you, this makes me feel better than you to say this type of negative language. And it's because he has provided models for that during his campaign.

VAUSE: Ok. I want to show you an incident which happened a Delta flight last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump, baby. That's right. This man knows what's up. We have some Hillary (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on here, Donald Trump is your president. Every (EXPLETIVE DELETED) one of you. If you don't like it, too bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This man was not provoked in any way. He just got up apparently and started shouting this out on a plane. We should note Delta has banned him for life. So how do you explain this outburst?

HO: Well, it seems like he's unprovoked but at the same time we don't know the context he was coming from -- right.

VAUSE: Sure.

HO: So I think there was probably a place where he thought there has been a long time where he hasn't had a place to say something or a place to really shout out what he wants to say or how he wants to feel. And by looking and invoking Trump's campaign he's able to now say I am powerful. I'm able to stand behind this because there is somebody else who's saying that this is ok.

And so this sort of model of behavior is really what people like this are responding to. Perhaps they felt marginalized in different ways in the past and now they feel like there's a place to say something.

VAUSE: Children too, are caught up in this. Some middle school kids in Michigan just days after the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHILDREN: Build the wall, build the wall, build the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Chanting "build the wall", "build the wall". Is that coming from the parents?

HO: You know, children are like sponges. They learn from their environment. So if it's not coming from the parents it's coming from teachers or some adults around them. And so what happens is children hear this and children are so susceptible to social modeling. So when they see an adult that they trust saying those things, that's when they are echoing those same sentiments.

VAUSE: Is this going to calm down or is this going to get worse, or it all depends on what President-Elect Donald Trump does when he is in office?

[00:24:53] HO: I actually believe that he should be doing something now instead of waiting until he's in office. If he actually does something more forcible and say this is unacceptable behavior I believe that it can curb some of it but because he hasn't really made such a strong statement, really kind of no action is a passive acquiesce of what is happening.

VAUSE: It gives them a pass.

HO: Exactly.

VAUSE: Judy good to speak with you. Thank you so much.

HO: You too -- John. Thanks.

VAUSE: Ok -- a short break here.

When we come back, it's been months since ISIS abandoned one Iraqi town outside Mosul but the toxic legacy left behind lives on. As workers scramble to put out the flames of a burning oil field, an even bigger danger is lurking beneath the surface.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

The headlines this hour.

U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump kicked off his "thank you" tour in Ohio. Trump promised to unite the country and protect American workers.

He also had publicly confirmed his choice as secretary of defense retired Marine General James "Mad Dog" Mattis. The general led one of the bloodiest battles in Iraq back in 2004.

South Korean opposition party plan to vote next week on impeaching President Park Geun-Hye. She denies any wrong doing but has offered to resign. Park is accused of letting her confidant view confidential documents and presidential speeches.

French President Francois Hollande says he will not seek re-election. His administration has struggled to revive the economy and he has some of the lowest approval ratings ever and support has grown for the conservatives and the far right National Front.

The U.N. calls a number of Iraqis killed in November staggering -- almost 3,000 dead and it tripled September's toll. The U.N.'s top envoy to Iraq says many of the casualties were civilians used by ISIS as human shields.

[00:30:05] And one Iraqi town is still suffering even though ISIS left months ago. The terror group's scorched earth tactics have left residents with a toxic legacy.

Phil Black has more.

[00:30:00] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: One Iraqi town is still suffering even though ISIS left months ago. The terror group's scorched earth tactics have left residents with a toxic legacy.

Phil Black has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As ISIS retreated from this territory, it transformed the landscape into this apocalyptic vision. The group blew up and set fire to 19 oil wells near the town of Qayyarah. We don't know the motivation. More ruthless, vengeful destruction or perhaps the hope it would provide cover from air power above. But fires have burned since August, lowering the sky, concealing the sun, layering the earth and people's lungs with toxic black filth.

(on-camera): The heat coming off this fire, it is incredible. It's melted much of the ground around the well. The air, it is thick and foul. It really tastes terrible. It makes your eyes water. This is the poisonous atmosphere that people in this part of Iraq have been breathing in and living with for months.

(voice-over): There is now a desperate effort to fix the wells. But lead engineer Idklat Muhammad (ph) tells me it's a difficult and complex process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Technical. Yes.

He says, "You can't just put the fire out because that would release vast amounts of deadly fumes."

First, earth moving equipment is used to contain the fire and channel the flowing, bubbling oil into reservoirs. Then workers dig down through the flames while trying to keep the oil and their equipment cool as they howl out mounds of smoking sludge and earth.

Gaze through the flames and you can see the fire's red-hot core. They need to get through all of this to find the head of the well. Only then can they determine the extent of the damage and what must be done to close it.

Workers here say the nature of the job is always challenging and dangerous, and in the beginning they had to cope with ISIS as well

This man says "You'll be trying to dig out the fires and they'll be shooting at you. You will be using the hose and mortars will start coming in."

The group also left mines around the burning wells, most haven't been cleared yet. It's too early to accurately estimate the value of the wasted oil or the cost of the repair work, the final figure will be many millions of dollars. The human cost is more disturbing. Families live beneath the towering columns of smoke and a sky that always feels like twilight. Children's faces and hands are stained by the same air they breathe. A dark shadow now hangs over their health, their future because of yet another toxic legacy left behind by ISIS.

Phil Black, CNN, Qayyarah, Northern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, still to come here, the pharmaceutical boss was called the most hated man in America. Now some high school students are needling Martin Shkreli into a Twitter rant. We'll explain in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:35:20] VAUSE: The second man to walk on the moon is recovering after a health scare at the South Pole. Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin was on a tourist trip to Antarctica when he fell ill. And the 86- year-old was then airlifted to New Zealand. Aldrin apparently had fluid on his lungs, but he is now responding well to antibiotics. His condition is stable. His manager described him as being in good spirits. There is a picture of him posted on his Twitter account. Aldrin appeared to be all smiles.

OK. So do you remember this guy right here?

Martin Shkreli, dubbed the most hated man in America after he jacked up the prices of a drug called Daraprim use in the treatment for HIV and other illnesses.

He smugly boasted about raising the price from $13.5 to $750 a pill. Now a group of high school kids in Sydney, Australia have just shook Shkreli, making their own version of the drug for just a few dollars a pill. They call their project "Breaking Good." A play on the name of the U.S. TV series "Breaking Bad."

Shkreli went on a Twitter rant when he found out. "I'm a grown ass man & want to introduce these kids to the concept that average ANDA, which stands for Abbreviated New Drug Application, takes 5 years & costs $5 million. So they have $4,999,980 to go."

"And never, ever compare your cook game to mine. Highest yield, best purity, most scale. I have the synthesis game on lock."

Well, for more on the project that's gone Shkreli so angry, I'm joined now by Alice Williamson. She's a post doctoral research associate at The University of Sydney. She worked with the kids on "Breaking Good."

Alice, thank you for being with us. Hit me up with the technical stuff first. Explain how the students at Sydney Grammar actually managed to pull this off.

ALICE WILLIAMSON, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY: Well, the students had looked through the patent literature. They had looked at some roots that have been published on Wikipedia and all of the details that were given for the recipe, if you like, the synthetic procedure to make this medicine.

And they try to follow and assess they could but they had some problems along the way and managed to fix those up with the help of their really great teachers at Sydney Grammar School, Dr. Malcolm Vince (ph) and Dr. Erin Sheridan (ph).

VAUSE: I love that they use Wikipedia. Why do they specifically choose this drug to try and replicate on the cheap?

WILLIAMSON: Well, we've been working with Sydney Grammar for the past two years. And when I say "we," I mean the Open Source Malaria Consortium that I work as part of.

So the Open Source Malaria Consortium was founded by Associate Professor Matthew Todd back in 2011 at the University of Sydney. And we are looking for a new medicine for malaria and doing so in a bit of a different way than the traditional approach, the direct discovery, in that we share all of our data online and there is no secrecy because we are trying to see whether we can maybe find a medicine more quickly and more cheaply by sharing data rather than keeping things all secret.

And because we are open with all of our data and we have these shared platforms, it means we can have some really unusual collaborations with undergraduate students. So there's many in the states who we are working as part of the Open Source Malaria project and also with high school students which is even more unusual.

So the boys at Sydney Grammar had been working making anti-malarial building blocks for a year or so, and then when we heard about the story in September of 2015, I think it stayed with us. And we wondered whether it would be a really good educational project to see if the boys could try and recreate this medicine in their lap and get them involved in a real research challenge and again to understand, you know, how to build molecules, which is what organic chemists like me and many of us try to do.

And also maybe see how -- if we could maybe highlight some of the inequity that has been involved with this drug and by showing that a group of young boys can make this before and after school.

VAUSE: Yes, they did it in their spare time. I mean, it is incredibly impressive.

Shkreli posted a video statement on YouTube. Here's some of what he had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN SHKRELI, FORMER CEO, TURING PHARMACEUTICALS: True scientists are hard at work replacing Daraprim with a more effective solution, which could be taken prophylactically and be far safer with more options.

Medical science has brought tremendous advances in cancer, mental health, autoimmune disorders and many others. Technology has lowered the costs of a myriad of goods and services dramatically. We should congratulate these students for their interest in chemistry and I'll be excited about what is to come in this STEM-focus 21st century.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: What would you like to say in response to that statement which was for the most part dripping in sarcasm?

WILLIAMSON: Well, I think I'll just take it as what he said. I mean, I think that congratulations to the student is really in order. I mean, they have achieved something that most people wouldn't be able to do. And, you know, even as first year undergraduates or second year undergraduates, will have the opportunity to do rather than be able to do.

[00:40:20] And I think that's what this project was all about. It's trying to inspire young people to be interested in STEM. We know we need new scientists across all fields, especially in politics, to be honest. And that's what this project is about. It's about engaging young people by far, enabling them to participant in a real research project.

VAUSE: You know the cost of medicine, huge mark ups is not unique to Shkreli. Although he's the extreme example. I just want to -- it's some kind of breakthrough moment here in some way to try and bring down the prices of medication?

WILLIAMSON: Well, I mean, these students -- it was never the goal that the students are going to try and sell this medicine. What they've made is the active ingredient to the medicine and there are lots of elements to a drug.

We know when we take a pill, it's made with lots of different components and that needs to be built including, you know, the central element. I mean, if we think about, you know, the analogy of a Thanksgiving dinner that's made up of turkey, which is the active ingredients, there was a lot of trimmings involved, too. So you have to be able to build all of those ingredients, too.

But I think what the students have shown is that this material, this active ingredient can be made very cheaply. And we knew this before. Pharmaceutical industries can produce this very cheaply. But if it's so cheap, then why is this drug so expensive?

VAUSE: Yes, and that is a question which so many people have been asking. And it's taken, you know, what, 17-year-old boys in Sydney to prove that it can be done for much less cost.

Alice, thanks so much for being with us and congratulations to these 17-year-old boys.

WILLIAMSON: It's my pleasure.

VAUSE: And thank you for watching NEWSROOM live -- CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. "World Sport" is up next. Then I'll be back with another hour of news from around the world. You're watching CNN.

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