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Explosions In Northern Gaza As Israel Intensifies Fight With Hamas; Key Crossing Between Israel And Gaza Remains Closed, Despite Hopes It Would Reopen Today; Musk Restores Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones' X Account; Nominations Announced For 81st Golden Globe Awards, But No Host Yet. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 11, 2023 - 13:30   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: More intense fighting today as Israel Defense Forces draw deeper into Gaza. A short time ago, CNN crews witnessed several large explosions in northern Gaza. Battles for control of the enclave have spiked since the truce ended a week.

The humanitarian crisis is also worsening. As families are fleeing that fighting, they are finding basic necessities in short supply. Making matters worse, today, a critical pipeline for humanitarian aid at the Kerem Shalom Crossing didn't even open.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is right there on the ground in Sderot, Israel.

Tell us what you are seeing there right now, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pam, we have been witnessing some very heavy explosions over the course of the last several hours. Perhaps the heaviest explosions we have heard from this position in weeks now, really shaking the frames of doors and windows where we are right now.

And we watched as there have been large plumes of smoke billowing from places where the Israeli military has been operating for weeks now, including the northeastern-most town of Beit Hanoun, as well as the Jabalia Refugee Camp.

Which we know, over the last several days, has been the source of heavy fighting as the Israeli military works to try to take down what they say is one of the last remaining Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza.

Of course, Israeli military operations are also very much focused in southern Gaza, where Israeli troops and armored vehicles, tanks, have been moving into the second-largest city in Gaza of Khan Younis.

The Israeli military says it pursuing Hamas there as well as its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who they believe is hiding underground.

BROWN: Jeremy, U.S. officials are renewing calls for Israel to protect civilians, but the U.S. is not backing international calls for a ceasefire. Has the U.S. laid out at all what the potential consequences would be if Israel does not do a better job of protecting those civilians in Gaza?

DIAMOND: You know, at the beginning of this war, we were hearing there was private pressure from U.S. officials to Israeli official to protect civilian life.

In recent weeks, we have seen both private and public pressure, but nothing yet concretely tying the rhetoric to any kind of action the U.S. would take.

But there is no question Israeli officials are feeling the pressure. Whether they have acted on it yet is an entirely different question.

I can tell you, from speaking to Israeli official's, they recognize that the clock is ticking as far as U.S. support for the war and the way it's being conducted.

That is why we have seen them put more emphasis on evacuating civilians from certain areas in southern Gaza, dropping more leaflets, directing them to head to cities like Rafah.

But the reality on the ground is something else entirely. The areas where they are telling civilians to evacuate to, like, Rafah, they are finding -- the civilians there are finding shelters that are overcrowded and under resourced. They are finding hospitals with little resources.

And we are seeing the same images of women and children being killed in a lot of these strikes. Civilian casualties continuing to result from heavy Israeli bombardment in southern Gaza as well.

And in addition to that, despite the fact that U.S. officials have indicated they believe, in the coming weeks, Israel will ramp down its operations and move to a less intense days of fighting in the new year.

Just yesterday, the Israeli national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said he believes the continuing offensive will be counted not just in a matter of weeks or months, but perhaps even longer than that.

So very much from the Israeli perspective, they are not looking at winding down these operations any time soon. At least, that is the public posture we are hearing from them.

Instead, they are making clear they want to continue until they can reach their objective of destroying Hamas and removing it from power in Gaza -- Pam?

BROWN: All right, Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

And still to come, after five years, far-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, is back on X, formerly known as Twitter. Why Elon Musk says he is allowing Jones back on the platform, coming up next.

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BROWN: Welcome back to CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Here are some of the other headlines we are watching this hour.

Police in Michigan make an arrest in the death of a synagogue president, Samantha Woll. In October, she was found stabbed to death outside her home.

A suspect was arrested last month but then later released. Police have not provided any details on the second suspect. Authorities said earlier that evidence suggested the stabbing was not motivated by anti-Semitism.

Also, the older sister of reality star, Alana Thompson, better known as Honey Boo-Boo, passed away yesterday. Anna Cardwell battled cancer the last 10 months.

Thompson said on Instagram, "This is one post I wish I did not have to make."

While Cardwell never made a formal announcement of her diagnosis, she did speak about her cancer battle on social media. Anna Cardwell was 29.

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And the Supreme Court refused to take up a Washington State law barring licensed health care professionals from practicing conversion therapy on minors.

The scientifically discredited practice attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The three conservative justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, said they would have granted to appeal, which was brought by a Christian therapist who claimed it violated his free speech.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Access granted. Right-wing conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, is back on X, the social media outlet formerly known as Twitter. Remember, he was banned from the platform back in 2018 for breaking rules that prohibited harassment and hate.

We should note some of his false and inflammatory conspiracies claimed that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax, that former FBI Director Robert Mueller was a demon.

That the U.S. government played a role in the September 11th terror attacks, and that it also had weather weapons that trigger catastrophes like major floods.

The current owner of X, Elon Musk, restored Jones' account after conducting an unscientific poll of X users. But this is a stunning reversal from Musk. He made a promise last year to keep Jones off the site.

This is what he wrote. Quote, "My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame."

Here to discuss the decision is Linette Lopez. She's a columnist at "Business Insider," who has covered Elon Musk extensively.

Linette, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

It is not just any conspiracy theorist that's being allowed on the platform. Jones, as we noted, has a track record of especially heinous and cruel lies. So why do you think Elon Musk went back on his word?

LINETTE LOPEZ, COLUMNIST, "BUSINESS INSIDER": Elon Musk is desperate to turn Twitter into something. You know, we have seen advertisers walk away from the platform in droves over the last few weeks.

A couple weeks ago, he told them to "F you" if they don't want to see hate speech next to their advertisements. And, you know, they are taking it seriously and leaving.

I recently wrote a piece this weekend called "Elon Musk's Luck Is Running Out" on "Business Insider" about how much pressure there is on him to make debt payments to the Wall Street banks who financed his purchase of Twitter to the tune of about $13 billion.

So Elon needs to make something out of this Web site. It is costing him a lot of money. And that means it will eventually cost Tesla and SpaceX money, too, because they are all connected.

SANCHEZ: It seems like, from Musk's actions, he's turning Twitter into something -- or X into something more like 4Chan, this like fringe outlet that posts all kinds of outlandish content.

Is that a fair assessment of what he is doing?

LOPEZ: I think he is turning into a reflection of what he sees on his feed and what he thinks is acceptable.

And I think, over the last couple of months, over the last year, we have come to learn that Elon thinks things are acceptable that are not acceptable to the majority of us, that most Americans would consider antisocial behavior.

Like, you know, pretending that the Sandy Hook parents are, quote, "crisis actors," which is what Alex Jones claimed and owes over $1 billion because he lied about all that stuff.

So, we're starting to understand Elon a little better. He said he had all these hopes for Twitter, like he was going to turn it into an everything app where you could go shopping and do all these things.

None of that is going to happen. People are repulsed and they're leaving. So now, what he has to do is draw, you know, a certain kind of user to the platform and hope that will save it. It won't.

This is going to be a disaster, and mostly -- and I think it will end up in a bankruptcy.

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering, Linette, Musk held Spaces, essentially like a conference call over X, with not only Alex Jones, presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, an accused sex trafficker, Andrew Tate.

Is this the kind of scenario that's going to attract major advertisers to come back to Twitter? It certainly doesn't seem like it's helping.

LOPEZ: No. Imagine that cocktail party. Yikes.

No. This is not -- this is not what advertisers want to see. This is not where anyone wants to be. It is getting super weird.

And whenever things go wrong with Elon's businesses, he asked really erratic.

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You know, in 2018, when Tesla was almost bankrupt, to his own admission, he told people who were skeptical about his ability to get the Model 3 car out, he told them to just go ahead and sell the stock.

So when -- when Elon is hungry for cash, he tends to bite the hand that feeds him. So this isn't going to turn around.

And there isn't anyone in Elon's camp who can tell him to do anything else. Linda Yaccarino should probably pack up her laptop and head home now. It is -- her job is over.

So I don't see this turning around. I wish that, you know, there were some responsible adult who could go in there and try to create a stable, healthy platform. But there is no one there.

SANCHEZ: It is getting super weird.

Linette Lopez, thank you so much for joining us. It could potentially get even weirder.

LOPEZ: It will.

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SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Linette.

So it's one of the biggest parties in Hollywood, so why does no one want to host the Golden Globes? Ahead, the show struggling to find a master of ceremonies, and it is less than a month away.

We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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BROWN: The nominations for the 81st Golden Globe Awards are out today. "Barbie" scored nine nominations. That's the most for any film this year. "Oppenheimer" is right on "Barbie's" heels with eight nominations.

What we don't know right now is who will host the January 7th ceremony. Several top stars have already declined hosting, including Chris Rock, Allie Wong, Will Arnett, Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister joins us from Los Angeles.

All right, so let's start with the nomination. You have some reporting. Let's start with nominations. Tell us what the reaction is, first of all, to these nominations. And are there any movies that would have been expected to be on the list that are not?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know, the reaction this morning is really full of excitement. This is a year where everybody is going to know a lot of the films and certainly the stars.

When you look at the list of nominations, this is truly, truly A-list. You have everyone from Selena Gomez to Jennifer Aniston to Leonardo DiCaprio.

And what is really exciting is this year there is a new category for cinematic and box office achievement. What that means is a film to be nominated in this category had to have earned $150 million worldwide.

What that means is that people have seen it, will know it, they will be excited to watch, and to see the stars show up.

You know that "Barbie" -- we should note that "Barbie" comes from Warner Bros. Discovery. That, as you said, is the leading the nominations today. Also "Oppenheimer" is in that category.

"Mission Impossible," "Super Mario Brothers," and even Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" made it into that category. You know that any time Taylor Swift may show up at an award show that is a good thing. People are going to be talking.

BROWN: They are talking and they're going to be watching. Maybe, otherwise, if they wouldn't watch, they'll be watching.

WAGMEISTER: Yes.

BROWN: All right, so you have some reporting on Chris Rock and others declining to host. What's going on here? Why do they keep declining? And any word on who could host the show?

WAGMEISTER: So, no word on who could host the show quite yet. But I have heard from a source close to the Golden Globes that they are in active serious conversations with three potential hosts.

In a perfect world, we, of course, would expect there would be a host attached less than a month away. But the show will go on.

What I am hearing in my reporting is that people like Chris Rock and Allie Wong have turned down the slot to host, not because they are against the Globes at all. They are actually very excited about the Globes.

And by the way, both Chris Rock and Allie Wong are nominated this year.

The reason why the A-listers don't want to host is because it is a lot of work for little payoff. This is not a Globe-specific issue. You also run into this with the Oscars and the Emmys.

There's a reason why Jimmy Kimmel, over at ABC for the Oscars, is about to host for his fourth year in a row. Of course he is phenomenal.

But also not a lot of people want to do it, and not a lot of people are great at it.

You get a lot of instant feedback. And often times, that feedback is negative, especially in the world that we live in today. That is why we see the stars turning down the offer.

But they will find one. And again, with all of the star power among the nominees, even if they don't have a huge host, there definitely is still a reason to tune in now.

BROWN: All right, Elizabeth Wagmeister, thanks so much.

Well, a mystery in Russia as one of Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics goes missing. Supporters of Alexei Navalny say they are not sure where he is, and they are concerned. The latest on this, ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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BROWN: We continue to follow the breaking news. Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked the Supreme Court to decide whether Donald Trump has any immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged crimes emitted while in office.

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This is the first time that the high court could weigh in on the historic prosecution of the former president.

Plus, the Air Force has disciplined more than a dozen people in connection with intelligence leaks from an Air National Guardsman. We have some new details of that investigation, and the national security implications.