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Syrian Military Prepare to Take Aleppo; Trump Skimping on Intel Briefings; South Korean Protesters Demanding Resignation of Park; Russia Dismisses Report on Sports Doping. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired December 10, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): In Syria, the U.N. calls for an urgent cease-fire. And we're getting reports that say hundreds of men may have gone missing, trying to escape Eastern Aleppo.

Also Russia under the microscope as President Obama orders a thorough assessment of hacking during the presidential campaign.

And thousands of protesters are expected to gather soon in Seoul. They're unwilling to wait for the impeachment process to remove the country's president.

Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Cyril Vanier, live from Atlanta, and CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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VANIER: As the Syrian regime 's offensive continues in Aleppo, the U.N. warns that hundreds of men may have gone missing after fleeing rebel areas. Family members say they lost contact with them as they headed for government-controlled neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Syria. The aim is to allow civilians to escape and to allow humanitarian aid to go in. Speaking earlier to CNN, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said that Aleppo civilians were in very grave danger if the violence didn't end quickly.

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STAFFAN DE MISTURA, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY TO SYRIA: This was taken by satellite and the U.N. type of (ph) organized the satellite picture. All the red you're seeing, it is totally destroyed. And the yellow is partially destroyed. And that is the city of Aleppo.

Now we need to avoid that the so-called battle of Aleppo will actually end up with the total destruction of the city and many more people killed. So the priority are the Syrian civilian people. And to do so, we need first a pause in order to be able to allow the

people to move and I think some have already, as you know, moved and others may be moving. But they need to be also welcome and given shelter (INAUDIBLE).

And second, to avoid the final part of the battle, we need to make sure that the fighters, if they decide to do so -- and we hope to do, that they do so -- will be able to move out of it in safety so that, in fact, we will be avoiding the last part of the battle of Aleppo.

You remember about a month ago, I said, if the bombing continued, there would be no left Aleppo by Christmas. We need and we hope that we will be able to avoid at least that.

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VANIER: Friday's general assembly resolution comes as global officials are set to meet yet again to try and end Syria's civil war. U.S. secretary of state John Kerry will participate in a minister's meeting in Paris on Saturday.

U.S. and Russian officials are also set to meet the same day in Geneva, Switzerland. Russia backs the Syrian government and claimed on Thursday that an Aleppo cease-fire was in effect. However, as our Fred Pleitgen saw firsthand, the violence does continue.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This is what the Syrian army's alleged halt in fighting looks like in Aleppo, the call to prayer pierced by explosions of gunfire as Bashar al-Assad's forces continue to pound the rebels.

Aid groups like the Red Crescent working around the clock to try to provide help for the growing tide of displaced. Of course, the volunteers from the Red Crescent are doing their best to try and keep up with the massive demand for aid here in this district after it was taken back by the Syrian military. But there are so many people lining up, that it's impossible to meet all the needs.

Tens of thousands have already fled Eastern Aleppo, many with only a few belongings they were able to grab, trying to get out of the crossfire, now left with almost nothing.

"These are the blankets they gave us," this woman says "but we're 10 people.

"Do you really think that one blanket per person will be enough?"

These could be the rebels' final days in Aleppo as the Syrian army continues to hit them hard, bringing more weapons like tanks and artillery into position, a senior general telling CNN he believes his forces could take the entire city soon.

"It won't be long until we get it back," he says. "It might be a matter of weeks but not more than that." As the international community continues to try to broker a truce for Aleppo, the reality on the ground shows an escalation in the fighting, the Syrian army so close to achieving their goal, seemingly unwilling to back down -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Aleppo.

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VANIER: Now the U.S. president is ordering a review into cyber attacks aimed at influencing U.S. elections. Barack Obama wants the report on his desk before he leaves office and Donald Trump takes over next month.

The U.S. government blames Russia for hacking emails from the Democratic Party. Multiple sources close to the investigation say that Russian meddling was aimed at steering the election toward Trump and the president-elect, for his part, doubts Russia's involvement, this despite overwhelming evidence from cyber security firms, that the country was behind the attacks and Russia denies those claims.

The new intelligence assessment comes as we are learning that Trump is attending on average only one intelligence briefing per week. For comparison, other presidents-elect got one a day and Trump is sure Russia had nothing to do with his win. Jim Sciutto has more.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an unprecedented cyber attack ordered by senior Russian leadership on the U.S. election, hacking the e-mails of Democratic officials, then released to the public virtually daily by WikiLeaks.

Now President Obama is ordering the intelligence community to conduct a full review of Putin's meddling and all cyber attacks connected to U.S. elections going back to 2008.

The question is, how will his successor react?

TRUMP: Wouldn't it be nice if we actually did get along with Russia?

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Trump repeatedly praised Russia during his campaign and denied that the Kremlin interfered in the election. And he's continued to express doubts, even now that he has access to top U.S. intelligence as the president-elect, telling "TIME" magazine this week, "I don't believe they interfered. That became a laughing point, not a talking point, a laughing point. Anytime I do something they say, 'Oh, Russia interfered.'"

Trump's skepticism of the intelligence community comes despite his own limited appetite for intelligence briefings. So far, Trump has only had four presidential daily briefings; on average, one per week.

Former CIA director Leon Panetta telling CBS News that is not nearly often enough. LEON PANETTA, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: If you're President of the United States, you'd better be in touch on a daily basis with your intelligence briefers so that you have an understanding as to what are -- what's happening in the world.

What are the crises you have to pay attention to and what steps do you have to take in order to deal with those crises?

SCIUTTO (voice-over): CNN has learned, however, that Trump has requested a more focused briefing on the threat from North Korea. The U.S. now believes the regime can mount a nuclear warhead on a missile, according to a senior military official.

CIA director John Brennan told Erin Burnett in a recent interview that he considers Pyongyang America's biggest current threat.

JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: OK, look at the globe right now, North Korea with continued march toward increasing Kim Jong-un's nuclear arsenal and missile capability, not just to threaten his neighbors but also to have intercontinental capability. We can't allow Kim Jong-un to continue on this march.

SCIUTTO: Now on Mr. Trump's intelligence briefings, he is receiving them less frequently than previous presidents-elect; however Reince Priebus, his incoming chief of staff, telling CBS News that as they get closer to the inauguration, the number and the frequency of those briefings will increase -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

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VANIER: So for more on all of this, I'm joined by CNN political commentator Lanhee Chen, a former policy director for Mitt Romney.

Thanks for joining us. And the first thing I want to ask you about is following up on what we just said, Donald Trump not taking even a fraction of those national security briefings, intelligence briefings, that are offered to him or made available to him.

What do you make of that?

LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think, first of all, these briefings during this period of time, they're important but they're probably not as critical as they'll be as when he takes office and certainly it should be the case that people around him who are going to be advising him -- for example, his national security adviser-to-be, General Flynn-- it's important for him to be getting access to the information.

But as far as Mr. Trump is concerned, I think at this point, there are probably a lot of different things he's focused on. And so I presume, as we get closer to when he takes office, he may end up taking more of these briefings.

But they are certainly important. It's important for the commander in chief-to-be to be familiar with all of the challenges that America faces around the world, as well as the national security posture of the country, going into the day he'll be inaugurated.

VANIER: OK. But I'm hearing you're saying essentially it's OK and it stands to reason, if he's focusing on building his team and on his domestic politics rather than the national security at this moment in time?

CHEN: Yes. I think at this moment in time I think it's important that he's getting some of that information, it's important that he's getting a picture of what's going on.

But in terms of actually needing to be in those briefings every day -- now if he -- once he takes office, if he's not getting a daily briefing, that's a problem. He needs to be getting a daily briefing.

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CHEN: But at this point remember Barack Obama is still the commander in chief; Donald Trump needs situational awareness. But beyond that I don't think everyday briefings are needed.

VANIER: OK. So if building his team at this point is more important, tell me about former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. It looks like he's been -- it looks like he won't be part of the team and that they're putting a nice face on it but essentially he's been dropped.

CHEN: There could be any number of different reasons for that. And some of it may be that Mayor Giuliani himself decided that whatever the sacrifice was going to have to be for him to serve, he wasn't willing to make that sacrifice.

But it seemed clear that, for whatever reason, there wasn't a good fit there between Giuliani and the job of secretary of state. And what I was saying earlier is I think they have got a pool of very strong candidates remaining for that job. So I'm not sure that the president-elect is any worse for the wear.

VANIER: So a smart move then by Donald Trump?

CHEN: Well, I think that there probably were others in that pool that were stronger than Mayor Giuliani as secretary of state candidates. I think that the others that are being named, that are being considered all have great experience.

I think would bring a great deal of perspective to the job. So I certainly don't think it's any worse for the president-elect and for, Mr. Giuliani, it sounds like he has got a bunch of stuff he wants to pursue in the private sector.

VANIER: All right. CNN political commentator, Lanhee Chen, thank you very much.

CHEN: Thank you.

VANIER: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM after the break, more protests in the streets of Seoul. Why an overwhelming impeachment vote hasn't slowed down the crowds.

Plus Russia, the Olympic Games and doping: a new report is out with some bombshell findings. We'll tell what you they are. And I'll be talking with a U.S. Olympian about whether she was robbed of a medal.

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VANIER: Protesters in Seoul, South Korea, are set to demonstrate once again against President Park Geun-hye. Lawmakers did vote to impeach her on Friday but people in the capital are demanding that she step down now rather than wait for months of proceedings. For more on this, let's speak to our Paula Hancocks, who joins us live from Seoul.

Paula, Park Geun-hye has been rather inscrutable since this scandal broke out, apologizing repeatedly yet refusing to step now. Now you're followed her career closely. You've interviewed her.

What do you make of that?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cyril, we've certainly heard over recent years rumor and speculation that she did not have a big circle of advisers, not necessarily a big circle of friends.

She very publicly said before she took power that she'd pulled away from some members of her family to make sure that there was no external influence. So I think this is what has surprised and angered so many people, the fact that, despite all that, there was one woman, Choi Soon-sil, this close confidante who has been become known as the shadow president, who had such an influence over President Park Geun- hye.

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HANCOCKS: That's one of the reasons why people are simply so angry at what has happened and certainly one of the reasons why, already in downtown Seoul, we're seeing protesters start to gather.

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HANCOCKS (voice-over): South Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye, grew up in the presidential Blue House. Her father was president for 18 years.

Park got her first taste of politics after her mother was killed in an assassination attempt on her father.

PARK GEUN-HYE, PRESIDENT, SOUTH KOREA (through translator): With the sudden passage of my mother, heavy responsibilities and duties of the first lady were suddenly forced upon me. It was indeed an arduous task for me. But I would say that my experience during those years continued to be very helpful to me, even to this day.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Five years after her mother's death, tragedy struck again when her father was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979.

GEUN-HYE (through translator): After both of my parents passed away, I lived a very normal life. But come the Asian economy crisis that buffeted South Korea in the late 1990s, I was shocked to see what was transpiring in the country. And I couldn't just sit idly back, knowing how much it took to build up this country.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Although Park has presidential roots, her road to political power has been far from easy. In 2006, she was attacked while campaigning ahead of local elections in Seoul. Park has used the attack and her parents' assassinations as lessons on leadership and trust.

GEUN-HYE (through translator): Regardless of whatever area you're engaged in, but all the more so in the case of politics, I believe that one should value and place the utmost value on trust and confidence.

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HANCOCKS: Now clearly those kinds of words would ring hollow to many protesters now, as she has been embroiled in this ever-widening corruption scandal. Of course, protesters are still coming out today, Cyril, as you say, because they don't want to have another six months of the constitutional court deciding whether or not to impeach President Park Geun-hye. They would like her to step down today -- Cyril.

VANIER: And Paula Hancocks, thank you very much. Of course, we'll continue to get updates from you and from Seoul to look at how the protests are going. Thanks a lot.

The International Olympic Committee plans to test drug samples from Russian athletes, who took part in the 2012 London Games and in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Now this follows a bombshell follow up report by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

It says that Russia conspired with athletes and sporting officials to carry out an elaborate doping system and cover-up that benefited more than 1,000 Russian athletes. Jill Dougherty has more on Russia's reaction.

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JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Russian media and some sports officials here in Russia are dismissing and criticizing this report, saying essentially there's nothing new, there's no evidence and there are no names included in it.

Essentially what they're saying is everybody does it, athletes from other countries do it and, besides, it's a common evil. Now the Kremlin has weighed in, the spokesperson for President Putin, saying they're going to study this report but they're not going to react, as Dmitry Peskov put it, "emotionally."

Peskov said they will look especially at that Internet website from the McLaren report, looking at all the details from that but they will not respond emotionally to allegations of a state conspiracy.

The Russian ministry of sports insists that there is no state- sponsored program of doping. They said they continue their fight against doping from a zero tolerance position.

They also say that the security services in Russia have been investigating that first McLaren report that came out in July and they're urging them to do the same now with this second report.

And then, finally, the ministry of sports saying we're ready to cooperate with any international organization that is fighting doping -- Jill Dougherty, Moscow.

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VANIER: I want to bring in a unique voice on this now and it's fantastic to be joined by Lauryn Williams, an athlete who's been wearing the Team USA jersey for more than a decade.

Now you won a gold medal four years ago at the London Olympics in 2012. That was for the fourth time, 100-meter relay; a silver medal as part of the bobsled team at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. And that actually sets you apart because you do Summer and Winter Olympics. You have a very impressive resume.

How does that report affect you?

That report affects me in the sense that I'm disheartened on behalf of athletes worldwide to hear that the widespread doping --

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WILLIAMS: -- in Russia was on such a large scale. And that athletes were allowed to compete in Rio is just sad for me to hear. And the medals that were stolen in Sochi, the medals that were stolen in London, at the world championships in Moscow, all these different opportunities that -- opportunities where athletes missed their chance to stand on the podium.

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VANIER: But I'm saying you personally because you competed in both of those Olympics that you just mentioned, 2012, 2014.

WILLIAMS: For me personally I think that it was a hard thing to know that that was going on. I missed the team in 2013 and I said I don't -- like who would want to compete in Russia anyway?

They're probably cheating. Come to find out what we always thought to be true is actually true and on a much greater scale than we ever expected.

VANIER: So as an athlete, you always thought this was the case?

WILLIAMS: Yes, definitely. Everyone always thought that the Russians had some sort of doping happening. And the McLaren report proves that, not only was it happening, it was happening on a scale that no one could imagine.

VANIER: Bring us into the locker room talk.

What's that like?

How do you -- did -- do athletes among themselves, within Team USA, for instance, vent their suspicions or their anger?

WINSTEAD: Definitely. You vent your suspicions and your anger. But you don't know what to do about it. You don't have any proof. These are the things that have gone on. And you see how they manipulated the system in such a way that even as new codes and new things are being made and be put in place, Russia was finding ways to get around that each and every time.

VANIER: So is that something that you were talking about with, for instance, the coaches, the management of the team?

Is that something that was a given, that we have to contend with this when we go out on the track?

WILLIAMS: Definitely it's a cloud that's always hung over our heads, whereas, in 2004, I was beaten by a Belarusian and constantly people were telling me, you're going to get a new medal. You're going to get a new medal.

And I was like, what do they mean?

What do they mean?

And it's been in that cloud, that no one has believed in the results of these countries for quite a long time.

VANIER: Have you ever been tempted, given your suspicions, have you ever been tempted to dope or use substances or seen a teammate or fellow Olympian who's been tempted?

I'm not asking whether you've done it, I'm asking whether you've had that temptation, whether you can understand that, given those suspicions that are widespread?

WILLIAMS: I've never been tempted. I don't believe that drug is the way to go. I believe in reaching your full potential. And I think that's the thing that's most important.

Why get to the top and realize that you're not the best athlete because you cheated?

You know, that means that you have inferior genes and that you don't believe in yourself.

I think that I'm the best specimen out there; I'm a world-class athlete and I've never needed to use any drugs to prove that.

VANIER: Have there -- were there any -- ever any words exchanged that you know of between yourself and Russian athletes or Team USA athletes and Russian athletes about this?

WILLIAMS: No, there's -- not to my knowledge has there been any conversation about the Russian athletes doping directly with the athletes.

VANIER: You didn't have any friends; for instance, you competed against them so many times, you didn't have any friends in the Russian track and field team, for instance, that you ever brought this up with?

WILLIAMS: No, I haven't had any interaction with any Russian athletes, aside from being in Rio this summer and watching them come through and take the pledge through (ph) quiz. I said they didn't belong in Rio in the first place.

But they were there, they knew, they were knowledgeable about what it is to compete clean and what true sport is, but yet and still we find out that there was widespread doping, that they don't care. It was blatant disrespect for the rules.

VANIER: All right, Lauryn Williams, thank you very much for sharing your views and your insights on this. Thanks a lot. We appreciate it.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

VANIER: And next up on CNN NEWSROOM, a tropical storm is brewing in the Bay of Bengal, heading for India. Details coming up after the break.

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VANIER: OK. We're joined now by our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam.

Derek, tell us about something that you started telling us about last week. You were setting this up and it's still ongoing. There's a cyclone that's gaining strength in the Bay of Bengal and continues to threaten Eastern India?

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DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Take a look at this video coming out of a 40-car pile-up that took place in Favlereuil (ph), Michigan. I bring this up because this is close to my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And I know first-hand, Cyril, that conditions can get so dangerous here because whiteout with snow like this blinds drivers and causes pile-ups just like that, 40 cars involved in that crash.

VANIER: No fatalities that we know of?

VAN DAM: There were fatalities, unfortunately, as well, three.

VANIER: All right. I didn't know that.

VAN DAM: All right.

VANIER: Derek Van Dam, thank you very much for joining us.

Thank you for watching us. I'm Cyril Vanier and I'll be back with the headlines in just a moment. You are watching CNN.

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