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Soon, Defense Secretary Austin Holds News Conference in Israel; Trump's Rhetoric on Migrants Draws Comparisons to Nazi Germany; Driver Charged With DUI in Presidential Motorcade Crash. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 18, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Any moment now, you're looking at that podium there. That is where U. S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will be holding a news conference expected to send a very strong message to Israel as pressure is growing on Israel to change its tactics in Gaza. We'll bring you that live.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And Donald Trump promising voters the largest deportation operation in history as he accuses migrants of poisoning the blood of the country. But Nikki Haley, who has a very different campaign message, is now surging in New Hampshire.

SIDNER: Plus, President Biden just steps away when a car collides with the president's motorcade, what happened, coming up.

I'm Sara Sidner alongside Kate Baldwin. John Berman is off today. This is CNN News Central.

This morning we are awaiting a press conference from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after his meeting with the Israeli defense minister. Austin is expected to press Israel's defense officials to define specific milestones for progress in its war against Hamas as civilian casualties in Gaza climb ever higher.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins me now from Tel Aviv. What are you expecting to hear in public from defense secretary? Obviously in private, sometimes these conversations are much different.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I expect that the messages in public and in private will be quite different. But nonetheless, we have been hearing a ramping up of the public pressure as well from U.S. officials, as they urge their Israeli counterparts to give a clearer timetable and a nearer term timetable for transitioning the war effort to the next phase of the military campaign. And that next phase, U.S. officials anticipate that it will be resulting in far fewer civilian casualties, that it will be a less intense bombing campaign, that you will not see this kind of all out ground offensive, but instead what U.S. officials would like to see are more targeted raids carried out by Special Forces intelligence-driven to go after Hamas's senior leadership. Of course, that is not what we are seeing right now in Gaza as we continue to see numerous civilian casualties resulting from daily airstrikes in Gaza, a ground offensive that is going into population centers deep into the Gaza Strip.

And so today we understand that the defense secretary was set to press his Israeli counterparts for clearer milestones, both in terms of what they feel they've accomplished so far in their fight against Hamas and what more they think they need to accomplish before they can transition to that next phase of the fight.

This is part of a broader push that we have seen from U.S. officials. Not only have we seen more daylight between President Biden and the Israeli prime minister in their public remarks but also, of course, the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was here just a few days ago pressing on this exact same point.

And so it's very clear that there are a lot of major differences between the U.S. and Israel as far as how they see the next stages of this fight, how quickly Israel can get to the next stage of this fight, and also just the sense of urgency that the U.S. is trying to impress upon Israel about the mounting international pressure, a loss of international public support, and the need to begin to transition as soon as possible.

[10:05:02]

SIDNER: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you for all your reporting there in Tel Aviv.

Joining me now to discuss further is CNN Senior Global Affairs Analyst and Reporter and Anchor Bianna Golodryga.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: And friend.

SIDNER: And friend.

It's very clear that the Biden administration is changing tack. They're doing so publicly and they're doing so privately. But there's also this issue on the table where Biden has been very clear that aid to Israel is being given unconditionally. So what leverage does the United States actually have here?

GOLODRYGA: It's a fine balancing walk for the United States because obviously there is pressure, as Jeremy noted, from around the world as they continue to see images of what is going on in Gaza, and also just notable that the president last week used the word indiscriminate bombing. Equally notable, we haven't heard him use that word again. It will be interesting to see if we hear that from Secretary of Defense Austin. We didn't hear that from Jake Sullivan either.

So, yes, I think there are some differences in terms of how this war is being conducted. The U.S. laying out a timetable of saying you have weeks left to continue this fighting at this pace and at this scale. That doesn't mean that the goal of defeating Hamas, they believe, will end in three or four weeks or will be accomplished, but what that next phase looks like is important.

More important than that, though, is what the day after looks like. And that's where I think you are seeing more disagreements publicly, a very stubborn Netanyahu continuing to say and play to his base and thus leading many to think he's worried about his own political future more than he is about the safety and security of his country and putting his best number one ally, literally sticking their neck out on the line protecting Israel, but also knowing that there are differences between how they view what the day after looks like. And guess what, Sara, Netanyahu is not laying out a plan of his own. He's just saying no at this point to a two-state solution.

SIDNER: So, he's not giving a solution, and it doesn't appear when you look at some of the language that that's a solution, that he's even thinking about a two state solution that's sort of not on the table.

That being said, you've got the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, going, you now have Austin Lloyd, the defense secretary, going. What can he possibly say that's different here or is this sort of commander to commander talking through things?

GOLODRYGA: I think it's a bit of tough love. I will be curious to see the language that we use in this press briefing right now. But, again, it's a reminder that the United States visibly, publicly still stands beside its ally and knowing that they both have national security issues on the line, the United States, as well as we've seen what's happening in the Red Sea there.

But another important issue that Netanyahu, many view is not paying enough attention on or focusing enough on or prioritizing, is the hostage situation. And let's not lose sight of the fact that we now know the CIA director is in Poland meeting with the prime minister of Qatar, as well as the head of Mossad, and trying to see if they can launch new negotiations in bringing some of those hostages home, especially after the tragedy we saw Friday.

SIDNER: You did see the Israeli army admitting, look, they accidentally killed three hostages, the New York Times' Ronen Bergman reporting that they were waving red flags.

GOLODRYGA: White flags.

SIDNER: Sorry, white flag. I don't know why I keep saying red flags in my mind, white flags in reality.

When you have this situation and then you also have, you know, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars to Gaza, to Hamas, because that's the government there. Is there going to be a conversation, you think, around the sort of money that has come into Gaza and the way that Hamas has used it? Qatar is doing these negotiations at the same time they've been giving hundreds of millions of dollars to Hamas.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, there's been criticism for Qatar and its behavior over the past few years, sort of playing all sides. But let's not let Netanyahu get off the hook either, because he's green lit this funding for many years in the bet that he made, that in avoiding a two-state solution, he could sort of neutralize Hamas. Hamas viewed as a terror organization, and thus, look, he tells the world this isn't a partner we can negotiate with, but it's someone we can work with and thus marginalize and weaken an already corrupt and weak P.A., thus avoiding the talks and the pursuit of a two-state solution.

That literally blew up in his face, and this is one of the reasons I think he is saying we're going to talk about -- ask the tough questions after this war is pursued because he knows that he has a lot on the line, too. A lot of the decisions he made were clearly the wrong decisions. The bets that he made were the wrong ones as well. And it was notable that it was the chief of staff of the IDF in, not Netanyahu, that came out and addressed the public when news came out about the tragic death of those three hostages.

SIDNER: Yes. He is facing a lot of pushback, if you will, from the public, from the Israeli public, very upset with what happened. Thank you so much, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Sure.

SIDNER: I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Back here at home, Donald Trump launched into a fresh attack back against migrants coming to the United States during a campaign rally this weekend.

[10:10:03]

The Republican frontrunner's words, his focus, his rhetoric, drawing comparisons to Nazi Germany as he spoke to supporters in New Hampshire and Nevada.

CNN's Omar Jimenez, he joins us now. He has more on this.

Omar, what was Trump's message to voters? What are you hearing about this?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we've heard over and over again is that Trump says that illegal immigration is poisoning the blood of this country. And it's not an accident. He said it multiple times at different points on social media, at different rallies. We heard, of course, him say it over this weekend as well.

We're a month away from the Iowa caucuses, which significantly is when voters will actually get to make their voices heard, not just likely voters in the form of polls, which is what we've seen to this point. And what is clear from the rallies this weekend is this is likely what the Trump campaign is going to look like in the weeks leading up to those first votes.

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JIMENEZ (voice over): Former President Donald Trump is zeroing in on his campaign message in the final weeks before the Iowa caucus. DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Given the unprecedented millions of Biden illegal aliens who are invading our country, it is only common sense that when I'm re-elected, we will begin, and we have no choice, the largest deportation operation in American history.

JIMENEZ: While holding rallies in two early voting states, he tapped into a similar immigration message that helped catapult him to the White House in 2016.

TRUMP: They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done. They poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world.

JIMENEZ: Trump also praised dictators, claiming that North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un was, quote, very nice, and he quoted Vladimir Putin.

TRUMP: Vladimir Putin -- has anybody ever heard of Vladimir Putin -- of Russia says that Biden's, and this is a, quote, politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system.

JIMENEZ: The Biden campaign responded forcefully. Writing in a statement, Donald Trump channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong-un and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy.

Trump's GOP rival, Chris Christie, slammed the rhetoric and is calling out Nikki Haley for not condemning it.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's disgusting. And what he's doing is dog whistling to Americans who feel absolutely under stress and strain from the economy and from the conflicts around the world.

Nikki Haley should be ashamed of herself. And she's part of the problem because she's enabling him.

JIMENEZ: He, Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are locked in a race for second place. While speaking in Iowa, Haley has singled DeSantis out for running negative ads against her.

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ron DeSantis has not put one truthful ad up there about me. He has spent millions of dollars against me. And while he's lying about me, I'm going to tell you the truth about him, because he doesn't want to hear it.

JIMENEZ: And DeSantis continues his huge campaign push in Iowa.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've already done all 99 counties, and we're just going to keep going for good measure.

JIMENEZ: Despite a major setback in his political operation after the sixth senior leader of the Never Back Down super PAC in support of him stepped down. (END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ (on camera): Now, look, I was talking to the head of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center Recently, and New Hampshire votes after Iowa, and he told me that typically in that state, for example, in New Hampshire, they see upwards of 50 percent of voters not deciding who they're going to vote for until the weekend before the actual election.

The point being, a lot can happen, even in this next month. And a strong second place finish for some of these candidates could send a message that this type of rhetoric is vulnerable and that anything can happen, but obviously a tall task. We will see.

BOLDUAN: All of the above. Omar, it's great to see you. Thank you so much.

Joining us now for more on this is CNN Senior Political Analyst and Anchor John Avlon.

So, Omar, put together really well what we are hearing consistently now from Donald Trump. But we know -- I mean, he launched his campaign on I am your justice, I am your retribution. How does this commentary this weekend fit into that?

JOHN AVLON, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it accelerates it. And it's not a dog whistle anymore. It's a bullhorn. It's in the teleprompter.

I think we shouldn't get numb to the fact that having a presidential candidate of a leading contender for a major party praise dictators at every stop, talk about not demonizing immigrants, but rounding them up in camps and mass deportations, that that is outside anything we have ever seen in American politics.

And I think there's a danger we normalize it. It kind of gets -- Trump quotes Putin, gets buried in page A14 of the newspaper.

[10:15:02]

That's losing our bearings a bit. It is worth calling out because we've never had a major party candidate campaign as being as autocratic adjacent as Donald Trump is and the plans to back it, not just the rhetoric this time around.

BOLDUAN: So, there are a couple elements of this I want to jump into, because then when you hear this from Donald Trump, it should be even less surprising then to hear that Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill cannot come together around an immigration deal dealing with border security and connected to Ukraine and Israel aid.

Look at the calendar, and it's going to get even harder or if it's not already impossible. We put this fancy calendar together for you.

The Senate was supposed to be out you know TBD and when they're actually going to leave but they would be out until January 8th. Let's see exactly what happens with that. The House is already out. They're not coming back until January 9th. The next week is the Iowa caucuses, then government funding starts running out four days later. Four days after that is January 23rd. That is New Hampshire. All to say what is already impossible is now wrapped up in presidential politics impossible.

AVLON: Well, you know, politics is the art of the possible, and you don't accept impossible for an argument, but the calendar you just laid out shows exactly why kicking the can is not about solving the problem.

BOLDUAN: That is so true.

AVLON: And everyone's saying, well, we need a little more time to solve this problem. That calendar's not your friend, because it does get dragged into presidential politics, and it makes you wonder whether Republicans really want to solve this problem.

This has been one of the problems with immigration for a long time. People would rather demagogue the issue than deal with it and solve it. And this negotiation is sort of squarely on Republicans' turf. This isn't a balanced plan. The DREAMERs aren't being discussed. It's not comprehensive immigration reform. It's solely border security.

And I think it's healthy for Biden to be leading a negotiation to change that, especially in the context of Ukraine and Israel. But you got to wonder whether Republicans really want to solve this problem, given that they're trying to say it goes into, you know, directly opposite the caucuses and primers.

BOLDUAN: Now, let's look at the new polling coming out from CBS. You've got Trump continuing to dominate in Iowa. Something, though, interesting is happening in New Hampshire when you look at Nikki Haley surging in the way that it's kind of being described. Is Nikki Haley finally consolidating the non-Trump support, the non-Trump vote, as it appears, now the top alternative to Donald Trump there, which led to an interesting moment that happened on the Sunday talk shows? I'm going to play this moment that happened on ABC Sunday as she was talking to Jonathan Karl.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean he's running on retribution, he wants to go out and he talks about annihilating his enemies and using the criminal justice system to do so. What do you think of that?

HALEY: You guys are exhausting. You're exhausting in your obsession with him. The thing is the normal people aren't obsessed with Trump like you guys are. The normal people care about the fact that they can't afford things. They feel like their freedoms are being taken away. They think government is too big.

I know y'all want to talk about every single word he says and every single tweet he does. That's exactly why we need a new generational leader, because people don't want to hear about every word a person says. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I just found that really interesting.

AVLON: It's called redirection.

BOLDUAN: Right. But why the choice in doing so? She's surging in New Hampshire. She's sitting right next to the major endorsement that she received from the New Hampshire governor, Chris Sununu. I thought it was a really interesting thing what she did.

AVLON: I think it's part of this effort we've seen, I think, most folks in the field, with the exception of Chris Christie, do, which is tiptoe around Donald Trump, because they don't want to alienate the supporters they think they can pick up, the persuadables who've been leaning towards Trump.

But it doesn't deal with the moral urgency of saying, look, if you're a Republican who came of age in Reagan or anything resembling it, then you have an internationalist foreign policy, as she does, right, want to stand up for freedom at home and abroad. You're more free trade than protectionist. You're not an isolationist. You don't want more power for an executive, let alone autocratic, adjacent policies. Those are things that should be able to clearly call out.

And I think what she's saying is, oh, it doesn't affect how most people think. Well, right now, most Republicans have for a long time been clustering around Trump, not in spite of maybe even because of those comments. You want to draw contrast in campaigns.

And so I think that general deflection, even though she brought around a new generation, is part of that problem that's gotten the Republican field into the hole they're in.

BOLDUAN: It's very interesting and let's continue to see where she heads in -- what she does in New Hampshire and obviously before and beyond.

AVLON: And beyond.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, John. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Coming up, a car crashes into President Biden's motorcade outside his campaign headquarters in Delaware, the driver facing charges. We will explain.

Plus, Southwest Airlines slapped with a record fine for last winter's meltdown that left millions of you holiday travelers stranded for more than a week.

Also, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party censured and stripped of almost all of his authority after sexual assault accusations.

[10:20:03]

Much more on that ahead.

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BOLDUAN: This just in to CNN, a manhunt is now over. Texas authorities have caught the inmate who escaped from prison over the weekend. 39 year old Robert Yancy Jr. is serving a life sentence for sexual abuse of a child. And police say they recaptured him just miles away from where he initially escaped.

Police also have arrested two other people in connection with his escape and we're waiting now to hear more about how the man got out and how they found him and brought them back under arrest.

[10:25:00]

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. This morning, new details are surfacing about the incident where a vehicle smashed in to an SUV that was part of President Biden's security detail. Police have charged the driver involved with the incident where a vehicle smashed in to an SUV that was part of President Biden's security detail. Police have charged the driver involved with a DUI.

This is the moment it happened. You can't see it, but you can certainly hear it.

You also see quick reaction there. There's President Biden walking out and listening to that at the same time, and then he has whisked away.

The incident occurred last night around 8:00 as the president was leaving his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is following the story.

You brought us the news that the driver has been charged with a DUI. Was this merely an accident or intentional? Have they determined that?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, the Wilmington Police Department says that this was simply an accident. That crash of a car that ran into another car part of the motorcade up in Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday happened just after 8:00.

The Wilmington Police Department says that it was an accident and that they are charging the 46-year-old man who was driving the car with multiple charges, including driving under the influence.

I want to read you a bit of the statement we got from the Wilmington Police Department, which said Wilmington Police have determined that this was an accidental collision and have charged the driver of the striking vehicle, a 46-year-old Wilmington man, with driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and inattentive driving. The Secret Service had indicated that they believed it was unintentional last evening.

But you saw President Biden there as he was emerging from the campaign headquarters where he had met with staff for a holiday event. You could see that the president appeared to be startled when he heard that loud bang, that car crashing into another vehicle that was part of the motorcade. The Secret Service then moved the president into his vehicle, where First Lady Jill Biden had already entered.

So, at this moment, the Wilmington Police Department has said that they do believe that this was an accident and that man will be facing charges. We have not heard the name of this man, the suspect, but the Wilmington Police have identified him as a 46-year-old man.

So, it was a startling moment for the president and also those traveling with him, but now it simply appears to be that it was simply an accident.

SIDNER: All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for the update. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And a historic fine for one of the largest airlines in the United States. The Department of Transportation has now ordered Southwest Airlines to pay $140 million, the largest fine it has ever levied for last year's holiday meltdown.

You remember the pictures. You probably were among those who were stranded. Over ten days last winter, Southwest canceled nearly 17,000 flights and left 2 million passengers stranded.

CNN's Pete Muntean has more once again at Reagan National Airport, outside of Washington, D.C.

Pete, this fine is huge. What is Southwest saying about this?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Southwest is really trying to spin this as a win for consumers, Kate, and here is why. Of the $140 million of this fine, $90 million sets up a fund for passengers in the future who face cancelations and delays that were controllable by Southwest. If they arrive at their destination more than three hours late, they'll get a $75 voucher. Only $35 million of that big vine is going directly to the federal government.

Remember last year, we are almost on the one-year anniversary of when this ten-day-long crisis at Southwest Airlines really kicked off with a snowstorm in some of its major hubs that led to a behind the scenes meltdown of its scheduling system. 16,900 passengers or flights canceled, 2 million passengers left in the lurch.

And this is what the Department of Transportation says it levied this fine for, repeated and inadequate help from Southwest Airlines. It says there was not adequate help when it came to customer service and that Southwest did not quickly respond to passengers who needed refunds.

Southwest did give $600 million in refunds and reimbursements to passengers in the wake of this crisis that it had at the airline.

I want you to listen now to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who just told me that this really sends a message to other airlines that they cannot overschedule the airline and under deliver. Listen.

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PETE BUTTIGIEG, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: How you bounce back from a weather event is under your control. And this sends a message that every airline has to make the proper investments in having a good enough system and good enough customer service that when the unexpected happens, when weather happens or anything else, you can quickly get back on your feet, take care of your passengers, get people to where they need to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Here is the statement from Southwest Airlines. It is calling this a consumer-friendly settlement, even though the Department of Transportation calls this an order for Southwest to pay this fine, a big difference in rhetoric there, Kate.

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