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U.S.-Mexico Border Closed; Embedded Enemies of Trump in the White House; Russia Attacks and Seize Ships in Crimea; E.U. Approves U.K. Exit; Central Plains Slammed by Blizzard; Artificial Intelligence for Recruitment. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 25, 2018 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for being with me. We begin this hour with breaking news on the U.S.-Mexico border. Federal officials closing down California's largest border crossing right now between San Diego and Tijuana shortly after hundreds of migrants overwhelmed Mexican police and rushed toward the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Right now all roads and pedestrian bridges in both directions are closed at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. And all this happening as the incoming Mexican government denies reports that it has reached a deal with the Trump administration to keep asylum seekers in Mexico while their applications are pending. I want to bring in CNN's Raphael Romo tracking every angle of this. What is the latest development there on the San Ysidro Port of Entry there?

RAPHAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Ana. The San Ysidro Port of Entry remains closed and we should add that it's the busiest border crossing point in the entire world. There is no word from authorities on when it will re-open and it is not yet clear, Ana, if any immigrants made it to the U.S. at all.

It all started several hours ago with a peaceful protest on the Mexican side of the border. As the crowds grew larger they started slowly getting closer to a contingent of Mexican federal police who were blocking access to the bridge connecting Tijuana to the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Shortly after 11:00 a.m. California time, around 500 migrants overwhelmed police and rushed towards the U.S. border. That's what prompted U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities to immediately close the border in both directions, first for pedestrian traffic and shortly thereafter for vehicles as well, Ana.

CABRERA: Can you tell us about who is in this group, this group rushing the border? Are they asylum seekers? What do we know about them?

ROMO: They belong to the groups that we have seen coming through Mexico, the caravan. At first it was the younger able-bodied men, but after a while police gave up and decided to let everybody go in and we saw families, young children, mothers, trying to get to the United States.

CABRERA: So, if this port is now shutdown what does this mean beyond for people who are migrants but those who have to commute across the border for work, those who maybe went to Mexico for Thanksgiving and are trying to make it back home to the U.S.?

ROMO: For the time being, there's no going back and forth on the point of entry and it is a very good point, Ana. This would be one of the busiest days, if not the busiest of the year for that crossing point because there is a lot of people in that part of California that have family on the other side of the border and the other way around as well and so those people are going to have to wait.

Again, the authorities are not really saying whether the situation is fully under control or whether we will have to wait a few more hours before we know exactly what happened or whether any immigrants were able to make it to the U.S. territory, Ana.

CABRERA: And bigger picture as we mention, this comes on the heels of the new reporting about a possible deal between the U.S. and Mexico's incoming government that would keep asylum seekers in Mexico to await while their court cases play out in the U.S., but now Mexico's incoming government is denying there's a deal.

ROMO: Yes. We reached out to the transition team for President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last night and they sent us a statement saying that essentially there is no deal because the president-elect has not yet taken office, and number two, they make the point that they don't want to be a holding country for immigrants trying to get asylum into the United States.

We know that there have been conversations between U.S. officials and the transition team, but again, the Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador doesn't take office until December 1st and we really have to wait until then for any official agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. However, President Trump has said and he posted it last night on Twitter that no immigrants will make it to the U.S.

CABRERA: Raphael Romo, thank you for that update. Now President Trump this weekend reiterating his threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border if necessary. Here's one of his tweets, "Migrants at the southern border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court, and this would be very smart if Mexico would stop the caravans long before they get to our southern border."

Joining us now from Mexico City, Ana Maria Salazar.

[17:05:00] She is the former deputy assistant secretary of defense and policy adviser to former President Bill Clinton. Ana Maria, thanks for being with us. What do you make of what we're seeing happening right now at the border?

ANA MARIA SALAZAR, FORMER EDPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, you know, it doesn't surprise me or other people who have been following the phenomena of this caravan. A month ago as we were watching this caravan crossing up through Mexico and just watching how well organized they were and the fact that there was clearly some money or somehow there's some kind of funding for some of the people in this caravan.

They're very well organized, and we kind of -- we expected that there would be a point where they would try to reach the northern border. This is not the first time that caravans take place in Mexico. This is kind of a yearly phenomena. The difference between this caravan is that it has reached the Mexican border.

They chose, somehow they chose this one city of Tijuana which is also somewhat surprising since it's the farthest city to reach if you're coming from Central America. And the fact that it's happening today is also not surprising because it's one of the busiest crossings for the city of Tijuana because of the Thanksgiving weekend, and of course the Black Friday shopping.

A lot of Mexicans cross into the United States to try to shop in the United States. And many of them are trying to return as we speak and there's a lot of Americans who do come to Mexico to spend the long weekend. So, it's not surprising. There is a very smart, you know, they're very smart, the people who are organizing this.

And the next big event that's happening, and of course, that we're watching very closely has to do with the swearing in of the new president of Mexico, which is next Saturday.

CABRERA: Right. I want to talk to you more about potential plans involving that incoming government, but first just stay with me regarding this group who this afternoon apparently overwhelmed some of the Mexican officials in that area and tried to surge towards the border.

There are troops now on the U.S. side of the border, anticipating the arrival of this caravan. Does what we're seeing today validate the president's decision to send those troops there?

SALAZAR: I don't know if it validates it, but it clearly is a reminder that Mexico is -- plays an important role in trying to slow down migrants, Central American migrants that would want to cross into the United States legally and illegally.

And at this point there is really not very many Mexican officials who are answering the phone. I've been talking and interviewing the mayor of Tijuana throughout the week, and he's basically desperate because he's not getting federal support. He pretty much -- they assumed something like this was going to happen because they could see the number of people just kind of organizing themselves and I'm sure they received information from different sources that this was going to happen. And there's nobody really to pick up the phone between now and until

December 1st. And there's going to be a restructuring of all these security institutions, agencies in Mexico. So it's a very -- it could be very confusing, it could be very dangerous for the next week, week and a half.

CABRERA: So what is your take then on the reporting that Mexico and U.S. may be close to a deal on asylum seekers where migrants would remain in Mexico while their cases are being decided in the U.S.?

SALAZAR: See, it's just part of this lame duck government that Mexico -- I mean, there had been discussions throughout the months about this issue. This is not the first time Mexico -- the U.S. government had approached the Mexican government to do this. And I think informally the Mexican government had tried to make sure that these caravans or large groups of peopled didn't approach the U.S. border in the manner that it's taking place right now.

Since this is an outgoing government, I think they pretty much said we're not going to run the risk of a shootout or you know, a situation where there's a number of migrants getting killed as they're trying to approach the border. They're going to leave that problem to the next administration.

And I'm sure the U.S. government has approached the next administration, the new Mexican administration, trying to reach an agreement. The problem is it's politically very unpopular in Mexico because it's perceived to be doing the U.S. -- doings or Donald Trump's demands. And two, there is a problem because once that agreement is reached you do have a humanitarian crisis already in different parts of the Mexican border including Tijuana.

CABRERA: Right.

SALAZAR: I mean, this is just one group that has arrived but, you know, there is a relatively large Haitian group that is already in some parts of the city of Tijuana and other Central American groups.

CABRERA: We also are learning that the number of people who have been seeking asylum in the U.S. has ballooned in recent years. In fact according to "The Washington Post" reporting on this quote-unquote remain in asylum in the U.S. Has ballooned in recent years. Asylum in the U.S. Has ballooned in recent years.

In fact according to "The Washington Post," reporting on this "remain in Mexico" deal says asylum claims have quadrupled since 2014.

[17:10:07] SALAZAR: Right.

CABRERA: Does the U.S. need to address this?

SALAZAR: Absolutely. I mean the fact that it's quadrupling doesn't necessarily have to do with the legal situation in the United States. I know there have been debates throughout on CNN and throughout the day in terms of what should the U.S. change its law in order to stop these types of requests. I mean, I think we have to look at what's going on in Central America.

Central America is one of the, you know, especially where these people are coming from, Honduras, Salvador, Guatemala, they're among the most dangerous countries in the world. There is clearly an economic crisis also and, you know, part of the problem is there's been an attempt to try to address some of these issues and it hasn't been very successful.

And if you add that in Honduras which is very important to talk about, in Honduras there was a change in president. A new president was sworn in. There's a lot of controversy behind this swearing in. And originally this caravan was organized by a person that was an opposition to this new president.

I mean, this is open information, and he was the one pushing this group of Hondurans, clearly many of them who have an economic situation or a security situation that is quite dire. But there's also political -- there's a political reason behind this caravan, which in prior years when you had these caravans which many of them were political in nature.

They would stop in Mexico City or in central parts of Mexico and then people would start returning. That has not been the case. So there's something bigger going on here, and some of it has to do with politics in Central America, Mexico maybe, even in the United States.

CABRERA: All right. Ana Maria Salazar, really appreciate your expertise on this. Thank you for joining us.

SALAZAR: Have a good day. Bye-bye.

CABRERA: You too. A new tell-all book from two former Trump advisers claiming the president has "embedded enemies" in Washington and they're naming names.

Plus we re following breaking news out of Crimea. Ukraine is now accusing Russia of firing on and seizing its naval ships. We are live in Moscow with the latest.

[17:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Welcome back. Today, new accusations from a pair of the president's closest outside advisors, Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, claim in a new book that the administration is filled with embedded enemies, people inside the White House working to impede the president's agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Look, we have seen individuals who my guess is, not only do they not support him when he was running but probably didn't vote for him on Election Day two years ago.

DAVE BOSSIE, CHAIRMAN, CITIZENS UNITED: There are people inside the White House who understand and are for this president's agenda and there are those who are there for their own agendas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN's Sarah Westwood is joining us now. Sara, Lewandowski and Bossie name names. According to them, whom should the president not trust?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Ana. Lewandowski and Bossie claim that there are opponents of the president hidden among the ranks of the Republican Party, the media, the intelligence community and even the president's own staff in the West Wing. They point to former top economic adviser Gary Cohn as an example of someone they describe as a globalist, some they say probably didn't even vote for the president on Election Day.

Another name that is apparently in this book is former press secretary Sean Spicer. Bossie and Lewandowski describe both as being members of the so-called November 9th Club, a group of people that they say only supported the president after he had won the election.

They also go after Chief of Staff John Kelly a little bit, apparently lamenting the fact Kelly has placed all these restrictions on access to the president since he took control of the chief of staff position. For example, they cite an instance in August when they were required to walk around the West Wing with a formal escort, something that they told Fox News' Chris Wallace they didn't feel was necessary.

And this comes amid speculation, renewed speculation that the president might be eyeing replacements for Chief of Staff John Kelly, one of those big Nick Ayers, the current chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. And of course this comes against the backdrop of a larger staff shakeup that is on the horizon.

People potentially eyeing the exits, and of course, these allegations of hidden opponents among the president's staff are significant because, Ana, we know that this is president who really values loyalty.

CABRERA: That's right. Sarah Westwood, thank you. Joining us now, "Time Magazine" contributor Jane Newton-Small and Washington bureau chief for the "Chicago Sun Times," Lynn Sweet. Lynn, what's unique about this book is the authors name several former Trump administration officials, Gary Cohn, Rob Porter, Sean Spicer as having hamstrung this president. Why publish this book? What are their motives here?

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN TIMES: Well, reading between the lines and doing a little bit of, you know, political psychoanalysis, these -- we are coming up to 2020. They want to be players. They want to remain relevant.

Their views that there are non-Trump loyalists in the White House are hardly new. That it's been known. You know the backgrounds of people who are there. And what's interesting is they're talking about people who are not in the White House, you know, look what's making the news rather than saying here are the people in the White House who are making the point you're making.

So I don't read a lot into it except that everybody who has an inside tale to tell is entitled to tell it and Cory and David certainly have their own unique history of Trump and want to put it out there. So I don't put a lot into it. I don't read a lot more meaning than what they asy as to whether or not they -- what they wrote -- foresees anything into the future that is meaningful as to what Trump may or may not do.

CABRERA: Jane, do you think this is just a big publicity stunt? I can imagine this (inaudible) haven't already said everything to the president that they say publicly in this book.

[17:20:03] JANE NEWTON-SMALL, CONTRIBUTOR, TIME MAGAZINE: Well, I think this actually plays to the audience of one, right? It plays to the audience of Donald Trump and certainly these are two consultants whose bread and butter is made by their access to Donald Trump and they're paid as consultants to a large degree because they are very inside his inner circle.

And so, an entire book that basically regurgitates all of his tweets essentially over the last few years and sort of lists through all of his own lamentations about a lot of these people that they are naming in this book is not that surprising, frankly. And this also does play into Donald Trump's best sense of, you know, essentially the showmanship that goes into the apprentice, you know.

Who's in and who's out in any given week that gets everybody talking, everyone thinking about, you know, who's fired and who's going to be the next person in and the comeback kid, and that's one of his favorite games to play. And that's the way he keeps his ratings up and the way he keeps people interested in what he's doing.

CABRERA: Jane, do you expect the accusations in this book of a November 9th Club of aides and advisers who's only choosing to support the president after that 2016 election after he won to actually spur the president now to make further changes?

NEWTON-SMALL: Well, look, the president was about to make a lot of changes anyway. He's talked openly on twitter and other places about how he's going to be making some changes, how we're probably going to see some cabinet members go. There are a lot of rumors that Kristjen Nielsen at the Department of Homeland Security is probably on her way out.

That his interior secretary, Zinke, is potentially on his way out who is also a big target of the Democrats as they take over the House and in terms of investigations that he misused funds in various different ways or abused his position.

So, there are certainly a lot of people in the cabinet that people are saying that are probably likely to go now that they are finished with the mid-term elections and moving on sort of ala Sessions, right?

Jeff Sessions, the attorney general that he just ousted, so sure. I mean, look, Donald Trump's favorite game is firing people and hiring people. And that was what -- it's the 13th season of "The Apprentice" was about and this entire book plays into that premise and that's what we're going to see in the next few weeks as he does his latest game of cabinet bingo.

CABRERA: Speaking of drama, Lynn, Fox News' Chris Wallace asked Lewandowski about a reported West Wing dust up between him and John Kelly, the chief of staff. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Did you get into a physical altercation with John Kelly this last winter that had to be broken up by the Secret Service? Yes or no?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, the Secret Service didn't break anything up. John and I had a very candid discussion as he probably had many times with the president. The difference is --

WALLACE: Did he grab you?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I don't want to get into a John may or may not have done, but what I do think is he understands that my position is to support the president and the president's agenda all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Lynn, that's not exactly a denial.

SWEET: No, it's not a denial and why play coy? And actually if you're going to tell a tell-all book that seems like a wonderful thing to have put in. But, I want to just try and explain to people the unique -- almost unique because a few people have it in the Trump orbit of Cory Lewandowski.

He was there from the beginning. David Bossie has been a crusader for these kinds of causes that Trump embraces for a long time. And what they are expert at is explaining how Trump works. That's why they're important players here. It doesn't mean that they have entree into the White House the way that they think they should or don't irritate others, but they think they are the keeper to the flames.

The reason that they still get attention is that I think people recognize that when you try to figure out what is happening with Bossie and Cory Lewandowski, they are just people to help analyze the Trump psyche. And when you talk to these non-normal times in the presidency, when you talk to them and see how they view it, I think it gives an insight a little bit as to the forces that do keep Trump in power, and are important to understand who to empower.

CABRERA: We also know that -- we also know -- sorry, Lynn. I don't mean to step on you but what you said reminded me the fact that we've had a lot of tell-all books from people inside the White House, where there are sources that have been talked to, but a lot of these books don't include interviews with the president themselves obviously because the president has this close relationship with Lewandowski and Bossie. He did give an interview to them and in it the president apparently says of the Russia investigation, "I think it makes my base stronger. Jane, do you think there's any truth to that statement?

NEWTON-SMALL: Well, I think this is sort of classically what both Cory Lewandowski and David Bossie are sort of drumming up in this essentially their own version of a witch hunt within the Trump administration, within his own ranks. It is that sense of the "us versus them," right? That the more people are out to get Trump the more his base rallies to him.

And to that point, Trump said himself that the Mueller investigation essentially has strengthened his base's love for him. And so the same sort of factors are at play here with this idea that there are people betraying him from within the administration.

[17:25:02] It gets the base ginned up. It gets them worried that he's not protected, that he's not making the right decisions and it gets them more and more passionately engaged in his causes and in his re- election, and that's what they're trying to do here.

SWEET: well, one thing in the passage I wrote of an excerpt in the "Post" where they're talking about Bossie and Lewandowski about Trump talking about how much he's loved more because of this.

CABRERA: Right.

SWEET: So Vice President Pence is there and he turns to Pence and says, "Mike, do you think I'm loved the same or more," and Pence says something like either the same or more than before, just kind of right in there, boss, and you know, the love is there. So I think whether or not they meant to have a telling moment in this interview, I think reporting on that exchange gave a little window into what's going on.

CABRERA: All right, Jane Newton-Small, Lynn Sweet, good to see you ladies. Thanks so much.

SWET: Good to see you. Thank you.

NEWTON-SWEET: Thanks.

CABRERA: We are monitoring developments along the border with Mexico. The busiest crossing in the western hemisphere now shutdown after hundreds of migrants attempted to storm a border fence there. More on this story straight ahead.

[17:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: We continue to follow the breaking news at the U.S.-Mexico border where authorities right now are guarding against hundreds of migrants trying to push through Tijuana. This is just some of the video of the scene from the busiest port of entry in the western hemisphere, the San Ysidro Port of Entry that connects San Diego and Tijuana.

Now, the United States has closed that port for now and reporter Elizabeth Alvarez from CNN affiliate KUSI is joining us now. I know you've been there on the U.S. side of this border. Describe for me what you've been witnessing.

ELIZABETH ALVAREZ, KUSI REPORTER: Well, right now it's a lot calmer than it was an hour ago. But what we are witnessing right now is a heavy law enforcement presence both on the grounds and in the air. Take a look. We have a number of Custom and Border Protection officers. We also have U.S. Marines that are further down the line here and Department of Homeland Security officers as well here guarding this part of the border where we are.

We are right on the west side of the San Ysidro Port of Entry, right where the PedWest -- we call it the PedWest, as the pedestrian entrance of the border, where for going on here and on the West Coast, it's 2:30 now -- going on two and a half hours, the border has been closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

What has happened here, this here is the border fence. Let's show it to you one more time as we give you a slow pan. This is the border fence. Just to the west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. About an hour ago we saw probably close to about 100 people on the Mexican side. Those people believed to be part of the migrant caravan, those Central Americans who are in Tijuana waiting to seek asylum into the United States.

What we heard -- we saw, first of all men, women and children. What we heard, we heard a lot of the women yelling that they needed water, that they were hungry. They yelled this in Spanish, but law enforcement out here making sure that everyone stayed safe and also encouraging those migrants to go back.

What you need to keep in mind here at least on this section of the border, there are actually two fences. This is one, and then you have another fence that is over closer to Mexico. There is a river in between. So when those migrants who crossed over had to get over that Mexican side, cross the river, and ended up here.

Now, all is quiet. We did hear some flash bangs. We saw what perhaps may have been some tear gas at one point fired off here where we are. But as you can see there is no one on the other side, at least from this vantage point.

What we're hearing from migrant activists who are also out here, a group of about 200 migrant activists showed up at a park which is about a mile away from here earlier this morning. They held a march. They marched from this park about a mile away. They marched here to the border. Many of them had communication with the folks who are part of the migrant caravan.

And what we heard from them was that some of the migrants were headed west. That direction is west. That is where the beach is. We have a park on our side of the border. It's called Border Field Park -- Friendship Park. It's also known as Friendship Park. What we heard was that the migrant activists were saying that some of them were perhaps moving in that direction. Perhaps that is why you no longer see any of the people on the other

side of this fence. But, no, make no mistake there is a heavy law enforcement presence both here on the ground and I'm sure you can hear the helicopter. We have had the Border Patrol helicopter above us as well as a military chopper or two or three hovering around the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

And I'm going to leave you, Ana, with this shot here. This is the San Ysidro Port of Entry. This right here is the pedestrian entrance. And as you can see, it is quiet. Not a soul. This almost never happens. I mean, it is very rare. I don't remember the last time it was completely shutdown like this for this long. So, that's what's happening here along the U.S.-Mexico border in San Ysidro, yes.

[17:35:05] CABRERA: We do know this is the busiest land port of entry in the western hemisphere to your point, that it is usually a bustling location. Thank you very much for that update Elizabeth Alvarez with KUSI, reporting again on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border, which is currently shutdown at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. No update right now as to when that may reopen. We'll stay on top of it.

Meantime overseas, Britain's plan to exit the European Union passed a crucial step today but not all of Britain is thrilled. So what's next and how could this affect the U.S. economy? Details ahead, live i the "CNN Newsroom."

[17:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: To what could be a major escalation of tension between Russia and Ukraine is developing right now off the coast of Crimea. The Ukrainian navy is accusing Russia of opening fire and taking three of its vessels. It's all happening around the Kerch Strait which sits between Russia and Crimea.

Now, earlier today, Russian authorities closed off the strait which typically sees quite a bit of traffic. CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is joining us live from Moscow. Matthew, what more are you learning?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, this is a major escalation potentially because you've seen Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian navy, fire upon three naval vessels and then board them with a raiding party consisting of Russian Special Forces.

The Ukrainian military says at least six of its naval personnel were injured in that confrontation. And it comes after another incident we've got video for now, which happened earlier in the day of Russian patrol vessels trying but failing to intercept a number of Ukrainian vessels as they moved from the Black Sea through that very tight Kerch Strait into the Sea of Azov where all these confrontations are currently taking place.

One of the Russian ships actually rammed a Ukrainian naval tug and you can see in that video there that tug in front of you and the Russian vessel approaching it and eventually collided, but they weren't able to intercept them and to board those vessels. There's been another incident which has followed that which has led to an actual firing on Ukrainian vessels.

And so it's an immensely volatile situation that is unfolding in the strategic Kerch Strait, this strip of sea between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, between the Crimean peninsula and mainland Russia. There's been reaction from the Ukrainians, of course. They've condemned it.

The Ukrainian president has convened an urgent session of his war cabinets and we're going to expect some pronouncements from that in the hours ahead. It's still in session now even though it's well after 2:00 in the morning in Kiev and in Russia at the moment, so approaching that time anyway.

And there's been reaction from western institutions. President Trump is said to be monitoring the situation, that's according to Sarah Sanders talking to CNN. And NATO, the western military alliance, has issued a statement as well saying it's monitoring it and calling for de-escalation and restraint in that, as to say, a very worrying development taking place between Russia and Ukraine, Ana.

CABRERA: All right, thank you for the latest information. As you just mentioned, this is still developing. We'll stay on top of what's happening in that part of the world. More developing news this hour.

The 27 remaining members of the E.U. voted unanimously today endorsing a plan for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. But even when the deal was reached, there wasn't much celebration. The president of the European Commission seemed to have voiced the general reaction, calling this a sad day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: I'm totally convinced that this is the only deal possible. Those who don't think by rejecting the deal that they would have a better deal will be disappointed in the first seconds after the rejection of this deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So what now? U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May still has some big hurdles to overcome. The Brexit deal now goes to the British Parliament where opposition parties and even some members of her own parties say they will vote against it. Bianca Nobilo is joining me now from London with more details. Bianca, what does this mean for the U.K. and for Europe?

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as far as the prime minister is concerned, Ana, the worst is definitely yet to come. It's quite striking that the 27 member states of the E.U. were able to come to agreement more or less on their part of the deal, but the British Parliament, the one country is very much in argument with itself. So the prime minister is facing opposition to her deal from her own party, and it is fierce. That's from people who advocated for Brexit to begin with that think her deal doesn't deliver on that. They think it keeps the U.K. too closely aligned with the European Union, and they want to see a cleaner break. She also faces opposition from members of her own party and the opposition party in the U.K. over wanting to remain in the European Union, namely whether or not there could be a second referendum.

So the prime minister will try and pass her deal through the British Parliament, but at the moment, Ana, it doesn't look like she has the numbers to do that. So MPs on both sides of the debate, MPs that want to see a harder Brexit and MPs that want to see potentially a second referendum and maybe Britain even remaining in the E.U. ultimately, will keep pushing for their outcomes.

[17:44:56] So she's in a very precarious position at the moment where she's tried to strike this compromised deal, Ana, but ended up pleasing almost no one.

CABRERA: All right, Bianca Nobilo, thank you for that.

Millions of people in the Midwest are under a blizzard watch this hour as winds up to 65 miles an hour and heavy snow snarl holiday travel today. We'll have the latest forecast when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Welcome back. Major travel trouble for Americans trying to get home after thanksgiving, now finding it all but impossible in some places. More than four million people across the central plains are under blizzard warnings right now. These pictures give you an idea of what it's like.

[17:50:00] This is in Hays, Kansas. The student who took those photos says most of the streets were dark. Many people have no power right now. Parts of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska also impacted. As one highway was being shut down, an officer with the Kansas Highway Patrol tweeted a video advising people to simply stay home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

BEN GARDNER, KANSAS HIGHWAY PATROL: The roadways are blocked. Traffic jams, jackknifed semis, things like that. I'm telling you now, today is a day of staying home and being safe. KDOT is doing the best they can. They're rocking it here, but it's hard to keep up with what's taking place across Kansas.

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CABRERA: That looks brutal out there. CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera is joining me now. You and I are lucky to be inside where it's warm. Give us the latest on this storm. What do people need to know?

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Ana, good to see you. I was just going to say, you know, that you don't have a choice. A lot of people still haven't made it back home and they're flying. And this is an indication of how bad the storm is already. Just a few hours ago, we have now doubled the cancellations just for today as far as airplanes go, an upwards of 400 delays.

And for tomorrow, look at this, the number is just jumping, now, 156. This is going to continue to ramp up. The reason for that is that Chicago will not see the peak of the storm until tonight into the early part of tomorrow. So the blizzard warnings actually include now upwards of almost 15 million people, from Kansas all the way into Illinois.

We're talking about heavy snow, whiteout conditions, winds upwards of 45, 50, 55 miles an hour. And in fact, the snow is going to be significant here. Look at Iowa already picking up upwards of a foot of snowfall, and that combined with the winds, look at Kansas City, currently at 46.

Once the storm moves east, you're going to get on the backside of that low. That's going to be the cold side. That's where it's going to start snowing. Chicago, it's going to rain in the next couple of hours. Don't let that fool you. A quick turnaround by the time we get into 9:00, 10:00.

And then tomorrow, you're going to be digging out of 8 to 12 inches of snow. This is incredible here. We could go an entire season without a blizzard across the Midwest and we're getting one, Ana, in November. Crazy stuff. Back to you.

CABRERA: You just never know. It's that time of year, having lived in Colorado, stuff happens. But terrible timing, obviously. ivan cabrera, thank you, my friend.

Finding a reliable babysitter can make a lot of parents nervous, but would you trust artificial intelligence to help you pick someone or maybe rule someone out? More on that, next, live in the "CNN Newsroom."

[17:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Most parents hiring a nanny or a babysitter might run a background check, you'll talk to references. But would you consider artificial intelligence? There are now companies offering artificial intelligence to assess the candidate's personality. Parents can even submit a name, an e-mail address, and consent to access this applicant's social media accounts.

And then the program is set to analyze speech, facial expressions, online history and give an automated risk rating for things like drug abuse, bullying, even attitude. Joining me now, "Washington Post" reporter Drew Harwell. He is the national technology reporter covering artificial intelligence.

And Drew, you did a deep dive on this. It was fascinating. Tell us more about how artificial intelligence is now being used for help in hiring, recruitment, and more. How does it work?

DREW HARWELL, NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Yes, for the babysitter side, it takes this program and looks at all of the babysitter's social medias so their Facebook, their Twitter, their Instagram. And it looks for certain telltale clues. Something in an image that looks wrong or some wording or phrase from their history that may give a clue to a risk.

It's hard to tell how good this software is, but it's making these very strong risk factor decisions that these parents are taking as truth and that's helping them create, you know, what they think is the right situation for their kids.

CABRERA: And it's not just happening in baby sitting, is it? Are there other companies, organizations that are using artificial intelligence to help with hiring people?

HARWELL: Yes, there are a lot of companies where you'll go in now for a video interview and there will be this algorithm that's effectively looking at your performance in the interview. Is this person smiling enough, saying the right things, looking the right way? And employers are looking to those things for clues to what that person's performance would be like.

The worry about this is that, how do we know that the software is really picking up on the right evidence and making the right decision? And is the human factor of these babysitters or these job recruits, is that being accounted for or is the software missing out on all of that?

CABRERA: Are there certain industries where this is more common than others?

HARWEL: You're seeing this a ton in recruiting like you said, H.R. I mean, companies are turning to this because they can filter through hundreds of resumes, hundreds of video interviews at a time and make these really strong decisions.

But I think you're going to be seeing it more in even just job performance, for people who are already in a company, filtering through what they've said on their e-mails, what they've said to other colleagues, for evidence on -- whether they're a good employee or somebody who needs to be laid off?

CABRERA: Well, it's really interesting. I encourage everybody to read your article. Drew Harwell, thank you very much for coming on.

HARWELL: Thank you.

CABRERA: Top of the hour. You are live in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for being with me on this Sunday. And we begin with breaking news on the U.S.-Mexico border. Federal officials closing down California's largest border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, shortly after hundreds of migrants overwhelmed Mexican police and rushed toward the American side.