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Trump Pushes Fraud, Refuses To Concede; Republicans Resist Acknowledging Trump's Loss; New York Leaders Weighing Emergency COVID- 19 Options; Europe Tightness Coronavirus Restrictions; California COVID-19 Cases Spike; Georgia Recount Roughly 20 Percent Complete; Al Qaeda's Abu Mohammed al-Masri Killed; Federal Judge Says New DACA Rules Are Invalid; Art's Evolution During The Pandemic. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 15, 2020 - 04:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Protest turns to unrest in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump blames Antifa for violence as his supporters protest an election he lost fair and square.

Then states across the U.S. forced to act, trying to mitigate the COVID-19 surge that's piling pressure on hospitals. We'll tell you about new restrictions and warnings.

And the rest of the world is also struggling as the pandemic rages. Mexico becomes the latest country to surpass 1 million cases.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: There's been a strong police presence in the nation's capital after protests. One person is in critical condition with stab wounds. The mayor's office reports two police officers were injured and at least 20 people arrested. Sara Sidner followed the unrest as it unfolded.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Really, what you're seeing are several different things. You're seeing anti-fascists, who are out, who are anti-Trump as well.

And when they see someone from the Trump supporting side of things, who come into the area where they are, we've seen arguments unfold and then sometimes violent acts unfold as well.

We've also seen, conversely, some of those folks, who are anti-Trump, who are walking the streets in large groups. And then we have seen Trump supporters, including the Proud Boys, who he infamously told to stand back and stand by during the very first 2020 presidential debate with Joe Biden.

We have seen them running toward a group of people who were not being aggressive until confronted with a bunch of folks who were coming and screaming curse words at them. And then it started to turn into a bit of a melee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: President Trump blamed the violence on left wing agitators. He claims his supporters had attackers running for the hills.

As you can see in the upper right of your screen, the president's motorcade made a slow pass through the crowd on his way to the golf course.

Now despite what President Trump and his supporters might think, he has no legitimate path to a second term. So far his many legal challenges have been tossed out of court for having no merit. He continues to insist he was cheated in a fraudulent election. Officials have said repeatedly that isn't true. We get more from Jeremy Diamond at the White House.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, one week after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, President Trump is still refusing to concede and admit defeat in this 2020 election.

Instead, what we've seen from the president is continuing to falsely claim that he has won, falsely claiming that there has been widespread voter fraud and that this election was rigged against him.

Of course, these are the same claims we saw the president make in the run-up to the election; but he has only continued to make those despite the clear and overwhelming evidence of this election, despite the fact that we have seen election officials, Republicans and Democrats, in all 50 states make very clear there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and that, in fact, the 2020 election was one of the most secure to date.

During this week, we've also seen the president privately, according to our sources, waver between this pugilistic attitude where he says he wants to continue pursuing the lawsuits and recount challenges in key battleground states and also, at other moments, beginning to come to grips with reality.

We saw a sliver of that as the president spoke in the Rose Garden, acknowledging the possibility at least of a future Biden administration.

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TRUMP: This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully, the -- whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration will be, I guess time will tell. But I can tell you, this administration will not go to a lockdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: But on Saturday we saw the president drive through this crowd of supporters.

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DIAMOND: Who were protesting in Washington, parroting his claims of a stolen election.

And after that, the president seemed to be buoyed by those supporters, digging in once again on his claims of a rigged election, taking to Twitter, making several tweets that Twitter has labeled as misinformation about this election.

And the president showing no sign that he is prepared to concede this election publicly -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: President-elect Joe Biden meanwhile is staying above the drama coming out of the Trump White House. His primary focus is on the pandemic. Jessica Dean has those details.

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President-Elect Joe Biden spending the weekend meeting with his transition advisers. Earlier this week they announced the formation of their COVID-19 advisory board as they look toward the coronavirus pandemic and what they'll be able to do when Biden assumes office on January 20th.

As it stations now, the General Services Administration, the federal office responsible for validating Biden as the new president-elect and triggering this formal transition process, has yet to do that.

And what that means is that the Biden transition team cannot formally interface with any of the federal agencies. That includes Health and Human Services. That includes the Coronavirus Task Force out of the White House.

That's important because, when it comes to things like a vaccine distribution plan, plans are already being drawn up in Health and Human Services for what that might look like. And the Biden team, which will be in place once that would start, is not allowed to talk back and forth with them.

So what have they been doing?

We know that they have been doing some work-arounds, back channeling with local officials, governors, people in the medical community, trying to do as much as they can without interfacing with these official agencies. They're still waiting for that green light.

But they will tell you they feel good about where they are with their advisory board. The president-elect releasing a statement on Friday, saying urgent action is needed right now when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. It can't wait until he takes office in January.

He urged Americans once again to do all the things that he's been saying, wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands but acknowledged that he won't be in office until January but that the coronavirus pandemic is on its own timeline -- Jessica Dean, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.

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BRUNHUBER: So to talk about all this, let's speak to Inderjeet Parmar, a teacher of international politics at City University in London.

Thank you very much for joining us. I want to start with what we're seeing in Washington, the Trump administration and his allies refusing to concede, rallies by his supporters, even isolated violence between pro- and anti-Trump factions.

Before the election you were signatory to a letter warning the president's refusal to accept the result of an election, you wrote, "There could be a rapid increase in radical right extremism, including increased risks of domestic terrorism."

Much of what you wrote about in that letter in October has come to pass.

So how worried are you by what you're seeing now?

INDERJEET PARMAR, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, CITY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: Well, I think it is worrying. The United States is -- it may not be an exceptional state but it isn't an ordinary state. What goes on inside the United States, its democracy and with other issues like race relations, they reverberate around the around.

The United States right now appears to be sleeping -- sleepwalking toward a coup by an authoritarian president who is refusing to abide by a fair election result.

And the leadership of the Republican Party, the principal leadership of it, at the national and state levels, is aiding and abetting him. So the mainstream conservatives, so-called, are aiding a much more right-wing kind of pressure to not accept a democratic election result.

And that is what is dividing the country. It's polarizing it. It's hardening the boundaries between the population. And whether or not President Trump remains to remain in power, despite the result, he's actually -- appears to be paving the way to making America ungovernable and releasing the Proud Boys and other right-wing forces and white supremacists in that project.

BRUNHUBER: Well, so, I mean, given all of that, where does the Republican Party go from here?

You wrote Trumpism will remain a major force in U.S. politics. How exactly like, literally with Trump running in 2024 or will someone

else pick up the baton?

PARMAR: Well, you have 72 million votes for President Trump. He has a very, very loyal base.

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PARMAR: Probably more loyal than any president in American history right the way through his presidency. He continues to command support; 70 percent of them have been persuaded that the election has been unfair and fraudulent and so on.

I think either he's paving the way to return in 2024 for a second run at the presidency or he wants to be the kingmaker of the party; that is, by sucking up whatever kind of TV networks or whatever he may be planning, he wants to remain a kingmaker.

That's to way that President Trump is going to be likely to be around but the whole idea of Trumpism and the manner of politics, authoritarian politics, populist politics, untruth politics, I think that's going to remain. He didn't invent that, actually, but he has harnessed it fully.

And the Republican Party leadership is playing a dangerous game. I think they believe they can harness that Trumpism but let Trump go gently. And they have the Georgia runoffs in the Senate in January in their minds at the moment.

But it's such a dangerous game, with the mainstream conservatives playing a game of betting and appeasing the extreme right. We've seen historically what can happen when that sort of those two forces combine with one another, with one thinking, the mainstream thinking, they can control that genie, which they appear to be letting out of the bottle.

BRUNHUBER: Add in the economy as well and that's a potent mix for trouble. We heard from the Fed chairman this week, who said essentially the U.S. economy may never be the same again post COVID.

Will that create the conditions for more political instability, especially since Biden's hand might be tied as president by a Senate?

What affect will that have?

PARMAR: I wrote an article with a colleague a few months ago called "America's Perfect but Terrible Storm."

A large number of factors are coming together; the legitimacy crisis, which is underpinning the crises, are exacerbated by the pandemic and the effects. It's exacerbated by the police killing of George Floyd and the protests which have been ongoing and the economic conditions.

Americans are going hungry in large numbers, a very large number being pushed into poverty. What we've got really here is a very, very deep crisis of -- a multiaspect crisis. And that has given rise to people who feel like men of destiny or charismatic individuals like Donald Trump, who are dangerous to democracy.

And they appear to be using any means necessary to cling onto power.

So where do we go from there?

My big question is where is the Democratic Party?

Where is the Democratic leadership?

The GOP has made its stand but the Democratic leadership, I'm surprised, is playing a very softly-softly game on this question, When if you feel like the greatest threat to American democracy since the Civil War appears to be going on right under their noses and they're pretending nothing has changed.

And they're going to be transitioning to power by January 20th. And I think that needs to be challenged. That narrative appears to be too complacent and needs to be challenged. And I think mobilizations may be required to bring that message home.

BRUNHUBER: Well, we'll see. There's still some time before then, so we'll hope everything is resolved peacefully. Thank you very much for your insight, Professor. We appreciate it.

PARMAR: Thank you very much.

BRUNHUBER: The coronavirus pandemic is raging across the U.S. as Thanksgiving approaches. Just ahead, we'll find out how recent spikes in new cases have helped experts worried about the virus spreading during the holiday.

And Mexico passes an unfortunate coronavirus milestone. We'll have that story coming up after the break along with new restrictions that many Mexican states are opposing.

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BRUNHUBER: The coronavirus pandemic continues to paint a grim picture across the U.S. Daily new cases topped 100,000 for the 12th day in a row. Hospitalizations hit a new high for the fifth straight day, overwhelming health care workers across the country.

Those numbers have health official worried an unprecedented surge of new infections could follow the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Some states are limiting the number of people gathering in a household as well as stay at home orders through the end of the month.

Advisers to President-Elect Biden are also worried that a lack of leadership from the current administration could lead to more financial pain for Americans. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE OSTERHOLM, CENTER FOR DISEASE RESEARCH AND POLICY INSTITUTE: How are we going to help support our communities if we're asking them to reduce their work time, what is open?

We need to protect the waitress that doesn't have a job anymore. We need to make a conscious decision, are we going to open bars and restaurants or our schools?

We need to look at all those issues collaboratively and with the financial support to basically make do what we have to. At this point I don't see that leadership coming and it's going to take really, unfortunately, until January, when President Biden can get in and hopefully make a big difference.

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BRUNHUBER: Rising infection rates in New York City are forcing officials to take drastic measures but conflicting guidance has many parents perplexed about how it affects schools. CNN's Evan McMorris- Santoro explains the confusion.

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EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With the pandemic numbers heading in the wrong direction in New York, both the governor and the mayor of New York City are talking about new restrictions. There are two magic numbers.

The first is 10: at 10:00 pm every night, restaurants have to close to in-person dining. And 10 people are the maximum allowed in private gatherings, whether they're inside or outside.

[04:20:00]

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Those are new restrictions by the governor that began this weekend.

The other magic number is 3. If the seven-day rolling average of the infection rate crosses 3 percent, New York City schools are set to shut down again. That was the plan until this weekend, where the numbers have gotten close to that number but haven't crossed it.

Today in a press conference, the governor said that 3 percent number may not be the number anymore. He said that testing is good enough inside schools to keep those schools open, even if that number crosses 3 percent.

But that's not a guarantee yet. So parents and teachers and students are wondering which number is going to be the number that keeps schools open or closed, as everyone worries that the pandemic numbers could shut New York down again -- Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Austria is set to enter a second national lockdown after an explosion of new cases. It will be in place at least 2.5 weeks. Their infection rate this week was 10 times higher than expected.

Rising infection numbers in Greece have prompted them to close primary schools and nurseries on Monday.

And Russia reported the most new cases in a single day on Saturday since the pandemic began, well over 22,000.

To talk about all that, let's bring in Sterghios Moschos, an associate professor of molecular virology at Northumbria University.

Thank you very much for joining us. I want to ask you, hospitals in Europe are filling up; in France, for example, some 95 percent of intensive care units are treating COVID patients.

What do you make of what we're seeing across the continent?

STERGHIOS MOSCHOS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR VIROLOGY, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: Well, frankly, the situation was entirely predictable and predicted. Many people with training like myself were shouting from the rooftops over the summer, this is not what we should be doing because we anticipated it to lead to a large transmission as winter closes in.

This is a respiratory virus. It likes close, dry spaces. People get indoors and that's a result of the transmission starting. We also have an additional challenge that appeared in the last week or so, in keeping people on message because of that announcement from Pfizer regarding the potential success and function of the vaccine they're developing.

BRUNHUBER: How do you mean?

You mean people are just jumping the gun here and thinking, well, there's a vaccine, thinking basically it's like a cure that they can go out and do whatever they want?

MOSCHOS: Yes. So that's precisely it. I think there's been a huge relief felt by a lot of people.

And don't get me wrong. We're in a good position. We're seeing positive numbers emerge.

At the same time, there's a lot of nuance in the data, A, that doesn't explain, for example, if the aged population is protected, if people with conditions that can make them more susceptible to COVID are going protected.

And there's B, the component of getting the vaccine out there. Until a very large proportion of the population, meaning 75 percent, 80 percent of the population is vaccinated, we're not going to be in a position to pull our masks back in it, for lack of a better phrase. We need to keep our guard up. We're in the same place and the most dangerous phase of the pandemic

because it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere; transmission is happening as we see across the world, very strongly and we need to curb that transmission. That's down to everyone doing what they're supposed to do.

BRUNHUBER: On that, I was speaking to a doctor earlier on the program, a doctor in a prominent position, who is against any type of government intervention, that it should just be a matter of personal responsibility as to what measures you take to protect yourself.

In other words, no mandatory lockdowns. No mask mandates.

Is there a case for that?

Or is that basically how we got into this mess again?

MOSCHOS: Yes. I hope that your controllers can put up the graphs that show the transmission decline in places like Belgium over the last few days. So two weeks ago, Belgium was seeing a stratospheric increase of cases. The hospitals were overwhelmed.

Clinicians were going in, even though they were positive because they didn't have enough staff to keep the numbers of people going in. Belgium puts a strong lockdown down. And there you go. It drops down like a lead balloon.

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MOSCHOS: So if anybody keeps telling me government intervention doesn't affect the transmission, I'm sorry, it does. Here's the data. Look at it.

So can we all please do what we're supposed to do and help our governments rather than try to help ourselves in enjoying something temporary against something that's good for the entire society?

BRUNHUBER: All right, very important note to end on, thank you very much for joining us, Sterghios Moschos, we appreciate it.

MOSCHOS: You're welcome.

BRUNHUBER: Now 46 passengers who tested negative aboard Sea Dream I were able to come off the cruise ship. A passenger said they disembarked in Barbados to fly home. The cruise was the first to resume in the Caribbean since the pandemic started.

And it was supposed to show it was possible to keep coronavirus at bay with proper safety measures. Except the virus had other plans. Seven people on board quickly tested positive.

Well, that wraps up CNN NEWSROOM for our international audience. If you're in the United States or Canada, stick around. I'll have more news after the break. Please stay with us.

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Welcome back to you our viewers in the United States, Canada and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

California reported almost 10,000 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday and 81 deaths. The state's health department says it's now seeing the fastest rate of increase in new cases since the start of the pandemic.

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BRUNHUBER: CNN's Paul Vercammen is in L.A. and spoke with the city's mayor.

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PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Los Angeles County and in the city of Los Angeles, they have dramatically ramped up testing, especially here at Dodger Stadium.

By all accounts, the most busy testing site in the country. If you look behind me, you can see those are the six lines of cars that have filtered through here. Earlier this week, they had one day where they tested 8,000 people. Another day, last night, about 7,800, from what we understand.

They're able to move people through here rather quickly, about a 20- minute wait per average. And instrumental in getting this done for the city, Mayor Garcetti.

This was an extraordinary measure you took. Why?

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES, CA: We see the tsunami coming. But the good news is we can hear the alarm as well. We stood this up as the biggest testing center in America, along with our firefighters and core volunteer group.

And it's been incredibly successful, to help people know when they have the symptoms and when they don't have the symptoms, whether or not they're positive. And right now this is right outside Dodger Stadium. If this were a baseball game, we're in the bottom of the sixth and the game will be decided in the next couple of innings.

VERCAMMEN: And the hospitalizations are going back up in Los Angeles County, almost up to 1,000 again.

Your concerns there?

GARCETTI: Absolutely. Our cases went from about 1,000 to today nearly 4,000 in three weeks. We're seeing this across the world and across the country. But when we expand capacity and we send a wireless alert to everybody, we said get tested now so we can find out where the virus is living and do our best to make sure we can bend that down.

VERCAMMEN: You were a co-chair on the Biden campaign.

What is he relaying to you recently and what are your concerns now that President Trump is not conceding and what sort of roadblocks that could cause?

GARCETTI: This election is over. Nothing will change that. It's not just about the information given to an incoming administration but to the American people. No more hide the ball. We need information to be public.

And anything that needs to be given to the next administration so they can prepare and continue a seamless transition. I think about George Washington, one of the greatest things he did was how he exited power.

And to me that laid down the foundation for our democracy. Right now we need to see those better angels come out from Trump and the administration.

VERCAMMEN: You're talking about exiting a position. In 2022, you will no longer be mayor and even right now the rumors are swirling, would you entertain an offer to join a Joe Biden cabinet?

GARCETTI: You know, first I was savoring the minute of him winning and this moment of experiencing the change of what has been four years of war against America's cities and the values and the unity of this country.

But I'm too busy with this to entertain that right now. I never turn down Joe's call. If he calls, I'll answer the phone. But we've only talked about the election and right now my focus is on protecting lives and livelihoods.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: In Georgia, roughly 20 percent of the 5 million ballots cast in the presidential election have been recounted by hand. Joe Biden's lead over Donald Trump before the audit stood at over 14,000 votes. CNN's Amara Walker is at one of the recount sites in Georgia.

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AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here at Fulton County at the Georgia World Congress Center, the hand recount is moving along swiftly and efficiently. I spoke with the elections director. He says the stated goal is to finish out by Monday, a couple days earlier than the deadline.

He said judging by the way things are moving, they could finish earlier. Statewide, according to the secretary of state, things are moving at a smooth pace. But overall, the state is up against a pretty tight deadline to recount 5 million ballots cast.

Wednesday, 11:59 pm Is the deadline for the hand audit. And Friday, the 20th, is the deadline to certify the final results.

Transparency in this entire process has been the priority for state election officials, especially as President Trump and his campaign have been repeatedly trying to undermine the election process, claiming falsely that there has been widespread voter fraud.

In fact, just a few days ago, Trump's campaign alleged that four dead Georgians voted on November 3rd. One of those individuals, it turns out, is alive and well.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president of the United States was accusing you of voter fraud, essentially.

AGNES BLALOCK, GEORGIA VOTER: Oh, I know it. And I knew it wasn't fraud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who did you vote for? You don't have to share that.

BLALOCK: I voted for the Democrats, for Biden.

(CROSSTALK)

BLALOCK: I guess I voted against the other one, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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WALKER: Now the Trump campaign had claimed in a tweet that Mr. James Blalock in Georgia had voted even though he died in 2006. He never voted, according to election officials. In fact, his wife, who you saw there, she's been voting under that name for many years, according to election officials.

Also on the floor here and in other counties, the Carter Center has sent out monitors. That's an unusual move by the Carter Center. This is the first time they've sent observers to observe an American election.

Typically what they do is send out monitors to countries where they feel like democracy is under threat. So again, transparency, boosting confidence in the election system in the U.S. has really been the priority -- I'm Amara Walker, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: As the Trump presidency winds down, the future of his eldest daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, remains unclear. But after four years of serving in her father's divisive administration, the couple will likely find New York's high society unwelcoming. CNN's Kate Bennett explains why.

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KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: When Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner leave the White House in January, the question is, will they return to Manhattan? If they do go back to New York City, they will likely receive a chilly

reception. CNN spoke with several sources who say that Trump and Kushner may not be welcome in the way they once were living in New York City.

Ivanka Trump did build her brand on her name but after four years in the White House and a contentious administration, she might struggle to get footing again, should she want to reenter that business.

There are other options for the couple, of course. They might go to Florida or to New Jersey but returning to New York City will certainly be a challenge.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the couple's three children were withdrawn from their private school after the school noticed that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were not abiding by set rules for COVID precaution.

The school and the couple as well as other parents who complained tried to make terms on how to keep the children in the school. However, Kushner and Trump decided the best move for their family was to withdraw the children rather than meet the demands of the school, who was insisting that they follow the COVID guideline -- Kate Bennett, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: It goes without saying Al Qaeda has plenty of enemies. But so far no one's claiming responsibility for the reported killing of one of its top leaders.

Plus we're keeping our eyes on two storms threatening opposite sides of the world. We'll have a live weather report coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A shooting in Iran last August sparked an international mystery. Local media said a Lebanese academic was gunned down with his daughter by attackers on a motorbike but "The New York Times" is among those reporting, he was no scholar. They say he was a top Al Qaeda leader and was killed by Israel.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is unraveling this story in Jerusalem.

A secret killing, a coverup, geopolitical intrigue. Help us unravel this.

What do we know?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All the details around this killing and, in fact, who was it that was killed, remain murky at this point. That's because the actors here, the players involved, haven't confirmed any of the details or that this happened.

That would be Israel, Iran and the United States and Al Qaeda. We know, back on August 7th on the streets of Tehran, there was a drive- by shooting that killed a middle-aged man and his daughter.

Was it a leader of Al Qaeda?

This might be part of the shadow war between Israel and Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): On the streets of Iran's capital city, the drive-by shooting took seconds. A middle-aged man and his daughter shot and killed in their car on August 7th. Semi-official news agencies ID'd the man as Habib Dawood, a Lebanese academic, Habib Dawood, with ties to Hezbollah. And then the story vanished.

Dawood, it seemed, didn't exist. There was no eulogy for him in Lebanon, no academic by his name in Iran.

Months later, mid-October, on obscure social media accounts, the story resurfaced but not about Dawood. The accounts said the man was really Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, better known as Abu Mohammed al-Masri, the number two man in Al Qaeda.

"The New York Times" said it was indeed al-Masri, according to unnamed intelligence officials. A senior counterterrorism official told CNN, that al-Masri "is probably dead."

Al-Masri was on the FBI's most wanted list; $10 million reward for information leading to his capture. He was one of the primary planners of the twin bombings of the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya on August 7th, 1998, 22 years to the day before he himself was killed.

According to "The Times," the drive-by shooting was carried out by Israeli agents at the behest of the United States. If true, it would be similar in nature to Israel's reported killings of Iranian nuclear scientists in the past.

The Israeli and American governments declined to comment and Al Qaeda has made no comment about losing one of its leaders. Iran's foreign ministry denied the report Saturday, accusing the U.S. and Israel of spreading lies that Iran associates with terrorists.

Some analysts saw Abu Mohammed al-Masri as next in line to lead Al Qaeda, the man who would take over for Ayman al-Zawahiri, the terror group's leader for a decade, also on the FBI's most wanted list.

What about the woman in the car with al-Masri who was killed?

It was his daughter, Miriam, the widow of Hamza bin Laden, the deceased son of Osama bin Laden.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LIEBERMANN: So what is Al Qaeda, a Sunni terror organization doing cooperating with Iran?

Al Qaeda leaders have been there before. Soon after 9/11 and, in fact, this seems less about ideology and more about interest. Al Qaeda and Iran view the United States as their primary enemy.

Could Israel have carried out an operation like this in Iran?

That answer seems yes, not only because of the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists attributed to Israel but also because of Israel's stealing of the Iranian nuclear archive. That was a significant operation.

BRUNHUBER: A fascinating story. Thanks for unpacking it for us. CNN's Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem.

A federal judge has dealt another blow to the Trump immigration agenda and his acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf.

[04:45:00]

BRUNHUBER: They say Wolf was not legally serving as acting secretary when he signed rules limiting applications and renewals for the Obama- era DACA program.

That means the rules, according to the judge, are invalid. DACA stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It's meant to shield undocumented immigrants from deportation if they came to the U.S. as children, the so-called DREAMers.

Turning to global weather now, Typhoon Vamco has made landfall in central Vietnam, packing winds of up to 93 miles per hour. At least 67 people were killed after it barreled across the Philippines during the past few days, bringing with it devastating mudslides and severe flooding.

We're also keeping an eye on Hurricane Iota. It's intensifying rapidly and will likely make landfall on the Honduras-Nicaragua border late Monday night as a very destructive storm.

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BRUNHUBER: Coming up, the art world is finding new and innovative ways to bring joy during the pandemic. We'll have that after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: The pandemic has forced artists and musicians to find new and innovative methods to get their works to the public. Some are wondering if museums, galleries and concert halls will ever be the same. Cyril Vanier takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As lockdowns swept the world throughout 2020, music and arts venues were among the first to fall victim to COVID-19 restrictions.

Now 11 months into the pandemic, venues are using new and innovative ways to bring in business. Some simply socially distancing crowds, others taking the phrase "living in a bubble" to a whole new level.

Then there's the question of whether you really need to be somewhere at all, thanks to creations like telepresence robots, as seen in this London gallery. And other technologies are surging during the pandemic, like remote video streaming, virtual reality and holographic projections.

PHILIP COLBERT, ARTIST: I wanted to stage my exhibition opening using these telepresent robots as almost like a sci-fi vision of a possible future, where we do have a telepresent robot, which goes out into the world for us so we stay protected at home.

And I felt that that was an interesting way of genuinely making the show more accessible.

VANIER (voice-over): The pandemic seems to have accelerated what some see as an already impending future, the digitization of arts and experience, something that's long been fueled by streaming services and social media.

And there's certainly no shortage of technology to keep venues distanced or just empty, using virtual experiences. Still, many professionals and patrons alike are antsy for a return to the norm of crowded concert halls and face-to-face interaction.

MONIKA VOGLGRUBER, BELVEDERE MUSEUM, VIENNA (through translator) We are now offering a virtual selection but this will never replace the experience of the original. You can compare it to a crystal.

[04:55:00]

VOGLGRUBER (through translator): There are techniques today to recreate crystals but they will never come close to an original.

It's the same for artwork and experiencing it directly in the museum.

VANIER (voice-over): The question remains, though, could all this COVID-era technology be a new normal?

And if so, would it be that bad?

A new digital era of consumption aims to bring more interactivity and accessibility to everyone, potentially democratizing arts for the masses. HAROUT FAZLIAN, LEBANESE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: This will be the

first concert that I will be conducting without a public, physical public. But I know that, in the background, there are hundreds and thousands of people who will be watching from their homes. And maybe this is an advantage, because everybody will have front-row seat watching this concert.

VANIER (voice-over): Most likely, a post-pandemic future will bring a hybrid of both digital and in-person events. And if anything, the pandemic has shown that arts are a nonnegotiable aspect of life -- Cyril Vanier, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And from Egypt, there's been some ancient artistry on Earth. Archaeologists in Cairo discovered more than 100 ornately decorated coffins and gilded statues dating back more than 2,500. And some of those coffins contained mummies.

They were sealed and exquisitely painted. Experts say that indicates they were high ranking families. The public will get a chance to see them when they go on display at a Cairo museum next year.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a short moment with more news. Stay with us.