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Crisis In Syria; 2 Ohio Bills Resticting Abortion Awaits Gov's Signature; Mumps Outbreak; Capitol Hill Showdown. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired December 09, 2016 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[12:31:16] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: President-elect Donald Trump is set to take the podium soon at a rally in Louisiana. We're going to bring you those remarks live, once he hits the stage. Should be rather soon.

I want to move overseas now into new developments in the war in Syria. Government forces are tightening the noose around rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Russia says the Syrian regime now controls about 93 percent of the area after stepping up air strikes and ground fighting. At least 10,000 civilians have fled the fighting in the last 24 hours alone thousands more may follow. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen is the first western T.V. reporter inside what is the old city of Aleppo.

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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As the rebels increasingly lose their grip on Aleppo, Syrian armed forces continue to pound the besieged areas, many killed and wounded in the crossfire. We came to this front line crossing just as a man was being evacuated. Claiming he was shot by rebels as he tried to flee.

They shot me as I was running out, he says. They don't allow anyone to get out. They said, are you going to the regime areas?

The opposition strongly denies its fighters would harm civilians but the rebels do acknowledge they won't be able to hold out in Aleppo much longer, and that realization is leading to an avalanche of people trying to flee the rebel districts.

Syrian troops throwing some bread, but not nearly enough to quell the hunger of the many who've been starving for months. The Syrian military made major advances once again in the past 24 hours. And we see that as the army moves forward more and more people are coming out of those former besieged areas.

Many of those fleeing, families with small children. Struggling to carry the few belongings they were able to take. Many overpowered by emotions, some with barely enough strength to walk, others too frail to walk at all. The Syrian army has a massive force at this front line. The local commander with a clear message to the rebels. Look at the sea, he says, these are your families. Surrender yourself and drop your arms. Come back to the country and hopefully our leadership will...

But for now, the fight goes on. This family one of the many to cross into government-controlled territory, now in safety, but still in agony. Things used to be good, this elderly woman says. May God act out revenge on those who brought us these difficult circumstances and may God protect us. And so they walk on. Weak and traumatized, moving into an uncertain future. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Aleppo.

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[12:34:12] KEILAR: Two separate bills putting major restrictions on abortions land on Governor John Kasich's desk. Will the Ohio governor sign them and will the Supreme Court take notice?

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KEILAR: Ohio lawmakers passed two controversial bills this week, both restricting abortions, both bills now await Republican Governor John Kasich's signature or veto. Critics say these measures could virtually ban abortions in the state if they become law. Late Thursday lawmakers approved Senate Bill 127. It would ban all abortions after 20 weeks unless the health of the woman was in jeopardy. A Democratic proposal to add an exception for rape and incest was rejected. And this comes days after a measure known as the "Heartbeat bill". That would ban abortions from the moment that a heartbeat of a fetus can be detected. That's usually about six weeks into a pregnancy. Sometimes before many realize they are even pregnant. I want to bring in now CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin to talk about this.

OK. Jeffrey, what do you make of the chances of John Kasich vetoing these bills? He does have personally a feeling that there should be an exception for rape and incest, but what do you think the future, just specifically of these bills could be?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, John Kasich is well known to be against abortion as a general matter, but I think it's important to draw the distinction between these two bills. Legally, I think, they're in very different position.

[12:39:58] The 20-week bill has a chance of being constitutional. You know, the Supreme Court just this past June reaffirmed Roe v Wade in a very dramatic way in a 5-3 decision and all five of those justices are still on the court and they said that the states cannot place an "Undue burden". That's the key phrase, an undue burden, on the right to an abortion. 20 weeks may or may not be an undue burden. I don't think the courts have really settled that issue. The heartbeat bill is clearly unconstitutional. Under the current law of the land, there is no court in America, I think that would uphold the heartbeat bill, because that would affectively ban abortion in Ohio, and since 1973 in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has said you can't ban abortion. So I think the two bills are really somewhat different.

KEILAR: OK, so very different, but this heartbeat bill, for instance, where do you see the pathway for this? Where does this end up next? Is there a point, obviously, about just moving it forward and advancing it in the courts? TOOBIN: Well, you know, that raises the issue of the composition of the Supreme Court which, of course, is a very big issue and was in the last election. You know, Justice Scalia's seat, of course, now vacant, that seat would not tip the balance on abortion, because as I mentioned, you know, just this past June, the Supreme Court with five members who are still on the court reaffirmed Roe v. Wade in a very clear way. So in the immediate future, I don't think there is any threat that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, and I think any court would overturn the heartbeat bill. The question becomes, what happens if Justice Ginsburg, 83 years old, Justice Kennedy, 80 years old, Stephen Breyer, 78 years old, what if one of the three of them leave and then President Trump replaces them? Then everything is up for grabs on abortion, including overturning Roe v. Wade altogether.

KEILAR: OK, so here looking in the next few years, maybe not immediately, there is the possibility -- when some people are concerned that Roe v. Wade could be overturned you're saying they really have a reason to be, right?

TOOBIN: Oh, absolutely. But not today.

KEILAR: Not today.

TOOBIN: You know, and not once President Trump replaces Antonin Scalia, which presumably will be sometimes in the first half of 2017. That will basically just restore the status quo of five justices in favor of abortion rights. Four justices opposed. The real issue and the real political Armageddon, if it happens, is if one of those five justices leaves during Donald Trump's presidency, and then you really do have Roe v. Wade on the table in a very clear way.

KEILAR: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. Appreciate it.

TOOBIN: OK, Brianna.

KEILAR: And always good to see you. Happy Friday. You know, the mumps may be one of those childhood diseases that we get vaccines for when we are kids. But right now it's actually making a comeback and there are hundreds of cases around the country. They're making grown-ups very sick.

CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining me now from Atlanta. So Sanjay, these are cases that are popping up in different parts of the country, various college campuses, in particular. The CDC says it's the worst in 10 years?

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The ingredients for mumps outbreak is that you have people who are clustered together in very close quarters which is why you often see them in dormitories, for example. And, also, even if you've been vaccinated as a child, typically people get two shots. The second shot coming between 4 and 6 years of age, they're very effective vaccines. Problem is that over time, 10, 15 years later, they can start to decrease in how much protection they're still offering. What is happening 10 to 15 years late? People are often going to colleges. So clustering, vaccine starting to wear off and particularly in colder weather states, during the colder weather, the people are even more clustered. So that's what's happening here and we do see these blips from time to time. This is as you pointed out, the highest it's been in the last decade, but it goes up and down year to year.

KEILAR: OK. So you mentioned that it's clustered. It's in dorms. I know a lot of times they, at least, very strongly, consider college students to get re-upped, if you will, on their MMR. Why isn't that happening?

GUPTA: Well, it's been a back and forth for some time. You know, in some ways, Brianna, it's just the logistics and a way you can get kids in to get vaccinated. They're still living at home. You, you know, parents take them in to the pediatrician's office. If you're talking about getting another sort of adult vaccination, at least adolescents, if you will, vaccination, sometime in the mid-teens, for example, it's just harder logistically to do that.

[12:45:02] But you're absolutely right. It's come up. Certain university, districts and school districts have said we're going to mandate a third MMR, measles, mumps, rubella shot, at some point to offer longer immunity. Its just hasn't been done nationally yet but I can tell you comes up almost every year as a proposal and if the numbers stay up, we don't know if they will, it's likely to gain more traction.

KEILAR: What's the biggest danger with this virus?

GUPTA: Mumps, first of all, before vaccinations, I should point out, You know, before in the mid 1960s and earlier, you are talking a 150 to 200,000 case as year. Just to give you some context. And this year well, probably it's going to be 2, 000 to 3,000 cases. So it's very effective, these vaccines. No question about it, but it can be a serious disease. It's very contagious. That's why you see it again in dorms. Spread through close contact. It can lead to that sort of characteristic swelling of the carotids that are here which is, you know, people think of the mumps, but they can also in rare cases, cause inflammation of the brain. Very rare cases, it can cause death. It hasn't happened in some time in the United States, but those are the big concerns. But again I want to pointing out, the vaccines are not 100 percent effective. But if you take both shots, your effectiveness is typically somewhere in the 80 percent range. So it offers a lot of protection.

KEILAR: Certainly does. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for that, and we are waiting for the President-elect to take the stage at a Louisiana GOP senate rally. We're going to take you live to Baton Rouge when that happens. We'll be right back.

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[12:50:33] KEILAR: Dylann Roof in his own words. A jury hears the two- hour confessions today of the 22 year old charged with gunning down nine people in a Charleston church. It is day three of the trial underway in South Carolina. Yesterday, jurors were shown close circuit video of Roof arriving at the church where a bible study class was underway and then leaving the church after the massacre.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick has been following this trial. What do we expecting in today's testimony Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's happening today Brianna is that the jury is hearing very powerful testimony, really a confession by Dylann Roof. That's a two-hour taped video and audio which is made the day after the shooting when he was captured in Shelby, North Carolina. He's being questioned by the lead investigator Michael Stansbury at a table and he tells the investigator what happened. The FBI investigator saying, "Can you tell me about last night?" And Roof says, "I just -- I went to that church in Charleston and I did it." He had some sort of a goofy, almost nervous laugh.

"Did what? Did you shoot them?" "Yes", Dylann Roof says. "With what?" "A glock 45." He also describes what was happening in that bible study group, how he himself sat there for about a 15 minute period watching and then people stood up to offer a prayer, they closed their eyes, Dylann Roof says, "I didn't say anything before I pulled the gun. I had seven magazines, I had a bag. I was sitting there thinking, if I should do it or not for 15 minutes. I could have walked out. I don't want to say it was spur of the moment."

This is part of that two-hour almost confessional tape that the jury is hearing today. Yesterday, they saw that video of him entering the church. You can see him adjusting sort of his pants. You see what looks like a glock there in his waistband and then not long after, he exits that very same church, the Emanuel AME church with a gun, and he appears around, to see if anybody noticed. And then he walks out and you see the gun there in his right hand.

And so that is what the jury is seeing today. They also saw an image of Dylann Roof sitting with those parishioners that during that study group, the image was taken, a snapchat video by somebody who was killed. That was 26 year old Tywanza Sanders who actually confronted the gunman, trying to talk him out of it, saying you don't have to do this, we mean you no harm. He was shot, his mother testified on day one of the trial. It has been powerful, there's been a lot of emotion, a lot of drama. As a matter of fact, Dylann Roof's mother suffered a heart attack after the first day of the trial before the jury. They're listening, they are focused and the story they are hearing is very graphic. Brianna?

KEILAR: It is heart wrenching and you can see it even just as you watch him going and out of that AME church. Deb Feyerick, thank you so much for following this for us.

And the reminder that we are awaiting, awaiting the president-elect. He is expected to take the stage in Baton Rouge any minute now. We're going to take you there with us. Hang around. We'll see you in a moment.

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[12:57:40] KEILAR: You were looking at some live pictures here. We're actually awaiting Donald Trump set to take that podium at Baton Rouge at a get out the vote rally for the Louisiana Senate runoff. We're going to hear his remarks live, we'll bring that to you when they begin.

Meantime, a showdown is brewing on Capitol Hill. Democrats and Republicans at odds over a must pass spending bill to avoid a government shutdown at midnight. In a big gamble, Democrats are threatening to block the bill if their demands are not met. What are they asking for? The extension of an expiring health insurance program for retired miners and their spouses. CNN' Senior Political Reporter Manu Raju is following the story. He joins me now from Capitol Hill. Any closer to a compromise here, Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Not at this point Brianna. Now, in this bill that would need to be passed to keep the government open until April 28th, it includes a four month extension of that coal miner health insurance program. But what the Democrats are asking for is a year-long extension. Now, this is the problem.

The House of Representatives is gone for the year. That means the Senate has to act on this bill because if it makes any changes, the House is not there to take it back up and they have to vote, passes by midnight tonight, or the government will shut down. Now, this effort is being led by a number of coal state Democrats who are up for re- election in 2018, including West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who's been on the phone all morning trying to get 41 members to vote against this bill when it comes up for a vote later today. He's not clear whether or not he has the support, but in a bit of news here, a Republican senator from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito says that she will vote against this as well.

And another Republican senator from a coal state Ohio, Senator Rob Portman is considering voting against it as well. He has not decided yet, but it's not clear whether or not the Democrats will stand firm against it. I just talked to Senate Minority Leader Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat, he's saying that he doesn't know if the Democrats have the appetite to force a government shutdown. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Manu Raju on the Hill for this very important measure there. Thank you so much for that report. And thank you for watching NEWSROOM. Wolf starts right now.

[13:00:11] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's noon in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1:00 p.m. in Washington, 8 p.m. in Aleppo, Syria. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

Up first, the president-elect --