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GOP Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Will Have Support from Koch Network; Israel-Hamas War; More Details About Prisoners' Imprisonment Comes to Light; Interview with The Jerusalem Post Senior Columnist and Editor Yaakov Katz; Sports Illustrated Deletes A.I. Generated Articles; Rosalynn Carter's Funeral to be Attended by Jimmy Carter and President Biden; All 40 Workers Pulled from Collapsed Tunnel in India. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 28, 2023 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: It's a real statement of what they're trying to do, of course, with the caveat on, you know, you never know if it's going to work, but this seems a really -- this seems a significant moment for that reason alone.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly doesn't. I think you make a really good point there. I think for so many people in the, let's call it GOP establishment, not even never-Trumpers, but people who perhaps supported Donald Trump in the last even two election cycles who do not want to see him move forward as the nominee who really want a new chapter. It's been a question of who will they coalesce around? And in this case, this is a huge push for Nikki Haley to be that person. And that is what's so significant is that in that battle that, really, at this moment is between DeSantis and Haley. Haley really gets a big boost from this.

BOLDUAN: Really interesting. Great. Thanks for jumping on with that reporting. Great to see you.

We'll be right back.

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[10:35:00]

BOLDUAN: And we are standing by this morning for the release of 10 more hostages from the hands of Hamas. And we are starting to learn from those already freed what they've all been forced to endure for some seven weeks now in captivity in Gaza, including from Mirav Raviv, talking to CNN's Matthew Chance. Her relatives were released by Hamas on Friday and are telling her they had little food, little access to bathrooms and more. And then this from the head of the medical team helping the Hostages and Missing Family Forums telling CNN this morning what he has seen in evaluating 84-year-old Elma Avraham after she was released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. HAGAL LEVINE, HEAD OF MEDICAL TEAM FOR HOSTAGES AND MISSING FAMILY FORUMS: You can see on her body that she was dragged from a place to place, and that she was handcuffed that, you know, like she has chemical wounds from not treating basic needs, if you understand what I mean. So, you know, that's loss of basic dignity. That's immense suffering.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: She remains in the hospital in, what doctors are saying, a life-threatening condition.

Joining me now is Yaakov Katz. He's a senior columnist and editor -- former editor in chief for "The Jerusalem Post". Yaakov, thank you so much for coming on. What more are you hearing of what hostages had to endure and had to serve -- and survived while in captivity as their families are now starting to talk more about it?

YAAKOV KATZ, SENIOR COLUMNIST AND EDITOR, THE JERUSALEM POST: Some of the stories, Kate, are heartbreaking, right? There was one Emily Hand, who -- nine-year-old girl, the one with the curls, beautiful looking child who came back and thought she had been in captivity for a year. Cries herself to sleep. It can't be comforted. There are stories of a 12-year-old boy who was forced at gunpoint by Hamas to watch some of those horrific videos from the October 7th massacre. And when he complained about it, he was beaten.

There are stories of the elderly women who were starved, right. They lost something like five to 15-kilo of their weight, that could be about 25 pounds. There wasn't enough food. Some of the women apparently were kept in cages, kept in the dark without access to bathrooms.

This was nothing like what the Geneva Convention calls for in the treatment of captives. But let's remember, these weren't captives. Hamas took these people to cause Israel pain and to make our hearts break.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely right. And so, now where we are as we're hearing more about what hostages have had to endure, Israel and Hamas have now agreed to two additional days of a truce. And we know as of this morning that CIA Director Bill Burns and the director of Israel's Mossad are holding new meetings today in Doha about possibly trying to expand the deal further. What do you think could come after day six of this truce?

KATZ: That's the big question right now. Because on the one hand, Israel wants to do everything it can to get back as many hostages as possible. Even after the release of what we've seen over the last four days and the 10 that are hopefully going to be coming home tonight. You still will have about 170 who are going to be held in captivity in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. So therefore, Israel has that interest to get back those people.

You know, even the women and children, Kate, who have been brought back, there's many fathers and husbands who were left behind because Hamas is not willing to release any of those men. So, while we're all excited and happy to see these people come back with -- those families are still broken and are still being ripped apart.

But I think that Israel has two interests here. One is to continue to weaken Hamas, to eliminate its capabilities, to remove it from power in Gaza, (INAUDIBLE) -- I listened to Bob Baer before, the former CIA operative, who spoke about how, yes, Hamas's leadership is still intact in Southern Gaza. They still have brigades down there, thousands of fighters, significant capabilities that continue to pose a threat to Israel.

On the other hand, the other interest is to get back as many hostages. But at what point will Israel say, we've done enough with this break and this pause, we have to get back to the main objective? Which is denying Hamas the ability to ever again carry out such an attack against Israel.

BOLDUAN: Because the question is then, like, do military officials in Israel think that they can take out Hamas and its operational capabilities without starting up its ground operation again?

KATZ: I don't think so. I think everyone in Israel, when I talk to military planners, they all understand that the only way this can be done is with boots on the ground, also in Southern Gaza,

[10:40:00]

They can try to keep things a little more focused and pinpointed in the operations, different than what we maybe have seen in the northern part of Gaza where there's a lot of devastation and destruction. But it's not going to be simple. Hamas embeds itself within civilian infrastructure. We see the way they use hospitals, mosques, schools, apartment buildings.

If you want to be able to get to those people, to get to the leaders, to take them out, to smoke out the fighters and degrade their capabilities, you have to go in on the ground. And when you go in on the ground, you know, Kate, that you're going to be -- there's friction, there are battles, there's going to be destruction, there's going to be collateral damage. Sadly, civilians are going to tragically be killed in Gaza. But this is going to be part of what Israel will have to do because there's no alternative at the moment. Hamas cannot be left intact and standing to be able to continue to pose a threat to Israel and the rest of the world.

BOLDUAN: Yes, especially when the talk of you have needing to go in to take them out also means going in and going underground as we know, and are learning more and more about the tunnel network underneath all of Gaza, essentially, as these hostages are coming out. Yaakov, thank you for coming on.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NEWS CENTRAL CO-ANCHOR: All right. Coming up, "Sports Illustrated" under fire after report found several articles on its website were generated by A.I. under fake author names. More details on that ahead.

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[10:45:00]

SIDNER: "Sports Illustrated" under fire this morning after report found the magazine had published several articles under fake author names and profile images that were apparently generated by artificial intelligence. The report published by "Futurism" stated the magazine had repeatedly published articles whose authors couldn't be found outside the "Sports Illustrated" website and the profile photos on the articles were found for sale on digital marketplaces, like sell A.I. generated headshots.

CNN Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy is joining me now. This is embarrassing.

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes.

SIDNER: But there is a reason why some of this stuff is being generated, correct? I mean, some of these huge websites that used to be big things. We'd go out and get the magazines. That's not happening anymore.

DARCY: Right. This is a wild story, Sara. It's alarming, and it's leaving "Sports Illustrated", which, like you said, was a storied magazine with a lot of mud on his face. And so, what happened here is "Futurism" published a report yesterday that indicated "Sports Illustrated" was publishing stories with fake author names, with A.I. generated headshots, et cetera, et cetera. Not a good look for "Sports Illustrated."

The outlet's parent company, the Arena Group, they released a statement basically saying, we didn't actually do this ourselves, we purchased the content from a third party. And I'll read you part of the statement. It said -- they said, we have learned that the third party, AdVon Commerce, had writers use a pen or pseudonym in certain articles to protect author privacy, actions we don't condone. And we are removing the contents while our internal investigation continues and have since ended that partnership.

Now, of course, that doesn't make it better, this is something that you shouldn't be doing. But you have a struggling media industry, Sara.

SIDNER: Yes.

DARCY: And as a result of that struggling media industry, you have storied outlets like "Sports Illustrated" cutting a lot of corners. And so, in this case, they're purchasing content from a third party that's using some shady tactics, and it's leaving them with mud on their face. But unfortunately, I think because these -- we're such -- in such turbulent times for the media industry, you're going to probably see a lot more of this, especially as A.I. really picks up steam. SIDNER: Well, you know, A.I., everyone, we know it's coming for our jobs, like, you know. But I find it interesting that they're saying that they were -- didn't publish some of the names because of author privacy on "Sports Illustrated". I mean, what are they publishing?

DARCY: It's a weird -- this is the third party. This is the third party saying --

SIDNER: OK.

DARCY: -- we didn't want them to use their names apparently because of privacy issues. But at the end of the days, it's "Sports Illustrated's" website. It's their name, and it comes down to them.

SIDNER: Always. Thank you, Oliver Darcy, for that really interesting, upsetting story.

Go over to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us right now, President Biden and the First Lady Jill Biden are making their way to Georgia to honor Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. We're live in Atlanta for you next.

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[10:50:00]

BOLDUAN: Gathering today to honor Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Her husband, President Jimmy Carter, will be attending the memorial service today despite the fact that, as we know, he has been in hospice himself for some nine months. President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are on their way this morning to attend the service. The former First Lady died November 19th. She was 96 years old.

Also attending, all living former first ladies, Jill Biden, as we just mentioned, along with Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump to honor Rosalynn Carter.

CNN's Eva McKend is in Atlanta where today's service is being held. She's joining us now. Eva, what more are you learning about what -- about today's service?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Well, Kate, you know, you spoke about the Former President Jimmy Carter. There were a lot of questions about his health. And though he is not expected to speak today, I'm told by his grandson that he would not have missed this for the world. Separate from President Carter, though, this is going to be a remarkable tribute to Rosalynn Carter. Really a celebration of her life, separate from her husband.

We are going to see country music stars Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, in addition to all of these dignitaries in attendance. And it really speaks to her legacy that she was able to create. Take a listen to Kim Fuller, this is President Carter's niece reflect on how the family is feeling at this time.

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KIM FULLER, PRESIDENT CARTER'S NIECE: We know how much we loved her, and it's just so heartwarming to see how the nation loves her.

[10:55:00]

I want people to remember my Aunt Rosalynn as someone who stood up for what she believed in. You know, she believed in equal rights for women. She believed in caregiving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, my understanding is that people are slowly starting to make their way into the church. The service will begin at 1:00 p.m., Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Eva, it's going to be a beautiful celebration of a wonderful life. Thank you so much.

And we're going to have continuing coverage and much more coverage, CNN's special coverage of the service for Rosalynn Carter will begin at noon, eastern.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Breaking at this hour, traps no more. They endured 17 days with little food and water in a collapsed tunnel way up in the Himalayas. 41 workers in India finally feeling fresh air in their faces after being trapped 200 feet below the surface. Their story just ahead.

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