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NY Mayor Eric Adams Accused Of 1993 Sexual Assault; Young Michigan Voters Weigh In On Biden, Israel-Hamas War; Qatar: Truce Begins At Midnight, Hostage Release At 9:00 A.M. ET Friday. Aired 11:30a-12p ET
Aired November 23, 2023 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:30:00]
MAJ. MIKE LYONS (RET), U.S. ARMY: Where the hostages came from -- emanated from.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
LYONS: Then they could possibly you know use raids to go back to those locations. That's really the reason why.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, thank you, Major, for your insight and your time. I really do appreciate it on this important morning.
LYONS: Yes. Thanks, Danny.
BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Major. Happy Thanksgiving.
LYONS: Happy Thanksgiving.
FREEMAN: All right, coming up. New York Mayor Eric Adams accused of sexual assault. The claims are being made in a new lawsuit, but now he's speaking out. We have details just ahead.
Plus, what young voters think of President Biden's response to the Israel-Hamas war? Ahead, we'll go to Michigan as the 2024 election draws near.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:35:13]
FREEMAN: Breaking news now into CNN. New York Mayor Eric Adams is being accused of sexual assault. The alleged assault happened back in 1993. And that's according to court documents filed yesterday.
So, let's get right into it with CNN's Jean Casarez. Jean, what are you learning? This is breaking right now.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is under the Adult Survivors Act, which is expiring at the end of this week. And this allows alleged victims to come forward no matter when they believe this sexual assault happened. It's all about sexual assault, sexual battery.
And so, this is a summons at this point that was filed and it's from 30 years ago. According to the alleged victim, it was 1993. They both were city employees. It is alleged. And in this summons, it says that she is accusing the now-mayor of sexual assault, sexual battery, employment discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Now, suing him, the mayor, of course, along with the city of New York, the police department, and so many other defendants citywide and asking for a minimum of five million dollars. Now, we do have a response. Minutes ago, the mayor of New York City gave a response to this legal filing that just happened. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC ADAMS, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: You know, it's absolutely not true. You know, I would -- I would -- I would never do anything to harm anyone. And it's just really say -- you know, my career speaks for itself. And just really something absolutely, that has never happened.
And not only recall ever meeting the person who made the -- this allegation. But, you know, I have a city to run, and I'm focused, and I have to make sure that we continue to do so. But absolutely, this has never happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mayor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: So, at this point, that summons has been filed. Now, it will be on to the complaint. There is a time period where they can file that complaint. And then, of course, the city of New York and the mayor himself can file legal answers to all of that.
FREEMAN: Oh, the mayor, though define right there in that statement, for sure.
CASAREZ: Never met her, he says. Correct.
FREEMAN: Thank you, Jean. I really appreciate it.
CASAREZ: All right. Thank you.
FREEMAN: All right, coming up for us. Several young Michigan voters say they're divided on how President Biden has handled the war in Israel. Coming up in a moment, how the U.S. response to the Israel- Hamas war may impact Biden's reelection bid?
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[11:42:09]
FREEMAN: Now, to the race for 2024 and President Biden's struggle with young voters who are not happy with his response to the Israel-Hamas war. Recent polling shows Biden is losing the critical voting bloc Democrats sorely need. Now, the war and young voters are the focus of John King's latest installment of his series, "All Over The Map." The series tracks the presidential campaign through the eyes and experiences of voters in key battleground states. Today, we're headed to Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR (voiceover): Midterms are done. Finals just ahead. There is a rhythm to life on campus. And this fall, a raw divide.
MAYA SIEGMANN, MICHIGAN VOTER, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I am an Israeli-Jewish, Israeli-American.
KING (voiceover): Maya Siegmann is a sophomore at Wayne State in Michigan, studying social work, and chatting with friends here at the Jewish campus organization Hillel.
KING: Hillel is a police officer down the hall. That's not normal.
SIEGMANN: It is now.
KING (voiceover): Siegmund traveled to Washington last week to join thousands in support of Israel. Now, back on a campus divided.
SIEGMANN: The division is very clear. The tension on campus is very high.
KING (voiceover): Wayne State spends 200 acres in downtown Detroit. Ibrahim Ghazal is among the 24,000 students.
IBRAHIM GHAZAL, MICHIGAN VOTER, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I'm Muslim. I'm American. I'm Palestinian.
KING (voiceover): Ghazal calls antisemitism horrible and disgusting.
KING: Do you feel the flip side of it? Are there more --
GHAZAL: In terms of Islamophobia?
KING: Yes. This horizontal phobia.
GHAZAL: Of course -- of course.
KING: People just say horrible things.
GHAZAL: I think it's -- I think it's disgusting the standing up for children dying and women dying, and civilian infrastructure being destroyed is being compared to supporting Hamas. I mean, holding up a Palestinian flag does not support Hamas. Hamas has their own flag. Nobody's carrying their flag.
KING (voiceover): This coffee shop is in Dearborn, where about half of the residents are of Arab ancestry. Ghazal and his friends say a president they supported in 2020 is now greenlighting an Israeli response they see as indiscriminate.
GHAZAL: And I don't think our country should fund that type of reaction.
KING: Do you feel this way?
GHAZAL: To an extent? Yes. I feel as though President Biden doesn't value my life as a Muslim-American as much as he values other lives.
KING (voiceover): Young voters were a giant part of the Biden 2020 coalition. And this urban campus tilts Deep Blue.
KING: If it's Biden-Trump next November, you would --
SUMMER MATKIN, MICHIGAN VOTER, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I'd go Biden.
KING (voiceover): Summer Matkin is just 18, a theater major, an Esports enthusiast, and an LGBTQ voter who wishes President Biden would yield to someone younger.
MATKIN: I think that weird generational gap is something that is very, very hard for young people. So, when there are certain things that we want to be heard as young people, you know, with not only, you know, the conflict out with Israeli and Palestine people, but we also have like student loan forgiveness and all of these different financial problems that aren't being handled when they're very much capable of being handled.
[11:45:08]
KING (voiceover): Matkin isn't ruling out voting third party but.
MATKIN: It feels like a weird kind of throwaway vote.
KING (voiceover): Joseph Fisher used to think that way, but right now he favors a socialist party. In 2020, Fisher was just 17 but he helped the ACLU register voters back home in Georgia.
KING: So, you helped Joe Biden get elected?
JOSEPH FISHER, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENT: I did. Yes.
KING: What about 2024?
FISER: I will not vote for Joe Biden. Not at this time.
KING (voiceover): This is Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan, students writing the names of Palestinians killed in Gaza.
FISHER: One of our demands that we're pressuring admin for right now is complete divestment from the State of Israel.
KING: You say genocide?
FISHER: Yes, genocide. KING: The Prime Minister of Israel or the president of the United States would say response to terrorism.
FISHER: Absolutely. It's an -- it's absolutely essential that we call it for what it is, a genocide, and also say that it doesn't start on October 7. It started in 1948 with the creation of the State of Israel.
KING (voiceover): Some Jewish students say talk like that beliefs like that are stoking an alarming rise in antisemitism.
SIEGMANN: I wish it wasn't like this. But this is what we live right now.
KING (voiceover): 50,000 students here in Ann Arbor, and the interest in the College Democrats is up.
JADE GRAY, WAYNE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: We've had 50, 40, 30, consistently for meetings.
ANUSHKA JALISATGI, WAYNE UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Yes. And in the past, it has been closer to maybe 10, 15, 20.
KING (voiceover): Seniors and co-presidents of the College Democrats, Anushka Jalisatgi and Jade Gray helped generate a big turnout here in 2020 and again in 2022. They have weekly meetings now to plan 2024.
KING: Should we have somebody younger? Is that come up much?
GRAY: Absolutely, it comes up.
JALISATGI: Yes.
GRAY: And I think that that's a -- you know, it's a real point to make.
JALISATGI: Yes.
GRAY: It's a real conversation to be had.
KING (voiceover): The immediate challenge, though, is seeing students who agree on things like abortion rights in defending democracy at odds over the Israel-Hamas crisis and President Biden's response.
GRAY: You know, Mr. President, I've seen you take key humanitarian steps. But I think the next step is a ceasefire. And I think that that would go a long way with voters.
KING: We don't know what's going to happen you know, next week or next month. But at the -- if the election were tomorrow, do you think that it is more likely some of your members would sit out or look for another option, third party because they're mad at the President about this?
JALISATGI: Some of them. Yes, they have shared with us that maybe this is making me reconsider. KING: Is it fair to say you're glad the election is not tomorrow?
JALISATGI: Yes.
KING (voiceover): Young progressives who agree on so much, divided at the moment, over which names should most stir your outrage. John King, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREEMAN: John King, thank you. Kate.
BOLDUAN: Those pieces have been great.
Coming up still for us. A glimmer of hope for families of hostages held now for nearly seven weeks by Hamas in Gaza. The new details on how 13 women and children will soon be getting out and soon be back with their families. And we also have a closer look at the devastation left in the wake of a deadly landslide in southeastern Alaska. An update on the search for the missing.
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[11:52:28]
FREEMAN: New details today in a shooting at an Ohio Walmart. The FBI says the shooter may have been partly inspired by racially motivated violent extremist ideology.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREEMAN (voiceover): Investigators say 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones went into a Walmart near Dayton on Monday and shot three women and a man. The FBI says Jones's journals led them to think the attack was somewhat racially motivated. Jones later died from a self- inflicted gunshot wound.
And a search strategy will be announced today for three people who remain missing after a deadly landslide in Southeast Alaska. The landslide on Monday killed a girl and two adults and left others stranded. Boat operators managed to rescue about 20 other people in the wake of that landslide.
And two stars are accused of sexual assault this morning, actor Jamie Foxx and Guns and Roses frontman, Axl Rose. A lawsuit filed this week in New York accuses Foxx of sexually assaulting a woman at a restaurant in 2015. The Jane Doe making these claims says she believes Foxx may have been intoxicated at the time. Foxx has not responded to CNN's request for a comment.
The lawsuit against Axl Rose centers on an alleged incident in 1989. Former penthouse model Sheila Kennedy says Rose "violently assaulted her after they met at a New York City nightclub." Rose's attorney later said Rose has no memory of ever meeting Kennedy.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FREEMAN (on camera): Both filings are coming right before the deadline for a New York law that allows accusers to sue their alleged abusers in New York court even if the statute of limitations on their claims had expired.
BOLDUAN: And the major update that we've been following all throughout the morning in the Israel-Hamas war. Today, Qatari officials saying within just the past two hours, the temporary truce and hostage deal will begin tomorrow. Here's what we know.
The truce will last for days. It will begin midnight Eastern Time tonight. 13 women and children will be released then about nine hours later.
FREEMAN: But those are just a few of the hundreds of people reported missing. Family of those missing are waiting for any word at this point.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GIL DICKMANN, FAMILY HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: Let me just update you. I just received the message that we were contacted. And Yarden and Carmel are not on the list for tomorrow.
And I want to agree with you that we are a big family now. We have many new relatives in this family and we're very -- and I'm actually myself very excited to hear about the kids that are coming home and the hostages that are coming home. And -- but after saying that, I can't really believe anything until I see them free and home.
[11:55:01]
It's a terror organization. This war has been horrible. And they've done horrendous things to the people that they -- that they -- you know to the people of Be'eri and to the people of all the other kibbutz here. We really want to see the hostages home to be sure, that everything is OK.
DANI ENGEL, FAMILY HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: I think that they try to defend this family. And we are not certain about what is happening with him -- with him. We're not certain of anything but with him is harder.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREEMAN: Now, Qatar says it can't disclose which routes hostages will take but says it is working with the Red Cross to facilitate the handoff. And Palestinian hostages will be released at the same time.
BOLDUAN: Thank you all so -- thanks for being here, Danny.
FREEMAN: Thanks for having me.
BOLDUAN: And thank you all so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.
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