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Biden Orders Strikes On Iran-Backed Groups In Iraq; Today: Netanyahu Confidant Meeting With Senior U.S. Officials; Ukraine Claims It Destroyed Russian Naval Vessel In Crimea; Donald Trump's Christmas Message To Foes: "Rot In Hell". Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 26, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:08]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Airstrikes in Iraq as the U.S. punishes a militant group for an attack on U.S. service members. But the strikes are also raising fears of this escalating into a bigger war with the U.S. caught in the middle of it. And those attacks come as the U.S. and Israel are trying to get on the same page as far as the war against Hamas. A top advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu meeting with White House officials to discuss tactics as outrage grows over the staggering civilian death toll in Gaza.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: And exonerated and home for the holidays. I'll speak to a man who was wrongfully convicted about what it means to be free and the tough challenges on the outside for others who are exonerated.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar with Jessica Dean today in for the holidays. Boris Sanchez is off.

And with fears of a widening war in the Middle East, the U.S. executed its own strikes against Iranian-backed militants in Iraq. This happened yesterday. There's video here, as you see, showing the aftermath in Babil Province.

The move is in retaliation for a drone attack on American forces hours before at Erbil Air Base in Iraq, according to the defense secretary.

DEAN: President Biden ordered the strikes on three facilities used by a group called Kataib Hezbollah. U.S. Central Command saying it's likely a number of those militants were killed. However, Iraq's government condemning the strikes as hostile acts, saying 18 people, including civilians, were wounded.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand is joining us now with the latest on this.

Natasha, what is the latest that you're learning about these U.S. strikes in Iraq? NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, Jess, the U.S. military, they struck three facilities that they say are linked to this Iran-backed militant group, Kataib Hezbollah. And the goal of those strikes, of course, is to degrade the infrastructure that they are using to carry out these strikes and also to basically destroy the infrastructure that they're using to launch the drones and the rockets from. Because we have seen over 100 such attacks from Iran-backed groups against U.S. and coalition bases in Iraq and Syria.

The U.S. saying that they are trying to calibrate their response in such a way that it does not escalate the conflict to such a dramatic effect that it leads to a broader war. But also, of course, to retaliate against these attacks and to send a message that they won't be tolerated. This one in particular yesterday was particularly significant because it resulted in a U.S. service member being critically wounded, something that we have not necessarily seen in past attacks.

Previously, U.S. troops had suffered pretty minor injuries. So while the U.S. has conducted these kinds of strikes before in Iraq and Syria, including just last month in Iraq, these groups have not yet been deterred. And so at - the Iraqi government, they are obviously expressing some outrage here over the strike, saying that it was a violation of their sovereignty, but at the same time, the Pentagon will say, well, it does not appear as though Iraq is necessarily doing enough to protect the troops that are stationed in the country there.

And so they say they are taking matters into their own hands. The White House issued a statement last night saying that they are basically going to do everything they can to protect U.S. service members in the region. Now, the question, of course, will be, does this actually work? Does this deter these groups from attacking in the future? It has not to date.

These Iran-backed groups have said that they're going to continue launching these strikes, really, as long as the U.S. continues supporting Israel in the war.

DEAN: Right. And we've just seen that continue.

All right. Natasha Bertrand for us, thanks so much.

Meantime, here in Washington, one of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's closest advisors is expected to meet with top Biden administration officials and members of Congress today.

KEILAR: A source telling CNN that Ron Dermer, who served for years as Israel's ambassador to the U.S. under Netanyahu, is in Washington to discuss the next phase of the war in Gaza.

[15:05:06]

Let's go to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez live for us at the White House today.

Priscilla, what are you learning about in today's meetings? PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Brianna, this is a meeting that comes at a critical time as the U.S. tries to have Israel move toward, away from a higher intensity war to contain casualties, especially as the death toll in Gaza continues to grow.

So, a significant meeting here with Ron Dermer. He will be meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. And he is one of the closest confidants to Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He's also a member of the War Cabinet and previously served as Israel's ambassador to the U.S.

Now, Israel has previously assured the United States that it would move toward low intensity war, a more precise strategy in targeting, for example, of Hamas leadership. But up until this point, it's not quite clear what that timeline is, when Israel would move to that phase. U.S. officials have said that they expect those targeted operations, more localized operations to happen by January.

But again, when asked by reporters what exactly that phase looks like and when it would happen, it's still unclear. So that is a topic of discussion going into today.

Now, as Israeli officials have said so far that there isn't daylight between the U.S. and Israel, meaning that they both are trying to see the end of Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAL HEINRICH, SPOKESPERSON FOR ISRAELI PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Well, we take advice from friends. We consult with friends. We don't have to agree on every small detail with friends. In the bigger picture, we all share the same goals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, privately, we know that senior U.S. officials have had tough conversations with their Israeli counterparts over the last few weeks and months since those terror attacks on October 7th. And President Biden said in an event with donors earlier this month that Israel risks losing support on the international stage if it doesn't start to contain those - the deaths of innocent civilians.

So the president here, under domestic and international pressure as Israel continues its conflict in Gaza and a lot of questions going into this meeting, the question is what is the ultimate outcome of this and will there be a clear timeline on the next phase of this war?

KEILAR: Yes, all good questions.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you for that.

Let's talk more about this now with retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks. He's a CNN Military Analyst.

General, I want to talk to you first. We're going to talk about the strikes in Iraq, but first I want to talk to you a little bit about what is on the table with these discussions between the Biden administration and this key confidant to Bibi. Can they get somewhere, do you think, on having a sense of the next phase of the war being lower intensity and that maybe being sooner as the U.S. wants it to be?

JAMES MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think so. Look, Israel is listening essentially to one party and that's the United States, this administration. They admire and they respect Israel. They admire and respect and are thankful for the support the United States has provided Israel in this ongoing fight.

However, there are limitations, as we've seen. So I think what Israel is trying to do is achieve an objective where they can go forward publicly and say mission accomplished or at least mission accomplished close enough, and then realizing that there is still work to be done, but to stop the campaign that we've seen to date, which is heavy use of airstrikes and attempt to be precise in their targeting, but clearly with the challenges that Hamas has presented in terms of using the Palestinians as human shields and to wrap themselves in the population within Gaza. That becomes a very tall order, as we've seen.

So I think they'd like to accelerate and then at some point declare that they have accomplished what they want to accomplish and then go about the business of trying to continue, acknowledge privately that they have to continue their operations to eradicate Hamas leadership and to continue to get after the infrastructure, that's the inventory of weapons systems, ammunition and the kind of free use of the tunnel systems that Israel is now taking on as a primary objective.

But also bear in mind, overarching all of this is what's the status of the hostages, when can they be returned and realizing that's the toughest mission to accomplish, because that's the leverage that Hamas retains.

DEAN: Right, over a hundred hostages still in Gaza and away from their families at this point. I want to broaden out, for just a second to talk a little more about the region as a whole. The United States, the Biden administration has gone to great lengths to try to keep this war from expanding and spilling over and escalating in a way.

And yet we've seen more than a hundred attacks on the U.S. by these Iranian proxies. And as Natasha was just reporting, the U.S. is obviously striking back in certain instances, including this most recent one.

[15:10:04]

Is this working in terms of trying to keep all of this at bay and should we just continue - we'll - do you think we'll just continue to keep seeing this play out as long as the Israel-Hamas war continues?

MARKS: Yes. The short answer is no and yes. We're probably going to see it continue to play out and no, it's not sufficient. The United States understands this intimately. They've got to take the initiative and turn this into something more than a response to these strikes by the Iranian proxies. The solution to what's taking place in Gaza and then the expanded, what I would call, provocations by these proxies is the solutions in Tehran. And the United States has got to work an outside-in type of strategy. There has to be some punishing blows against the proxies that do exactly what you've described. Prevent the expansion of the fight where Tehran feels like it is being threatened within its own borders.

The United States really must put some punishing blows against the proxies: the Houthis, the Hezbollah in Lebanon. You've got to go after the Hezbollah that are in Iraq much more aggressively than we have right now. And certainly we've got to keep the Iraqis apprised. But if they don't want us there, they can invite us to depart.

That has to be something that really kind of ramps up. Outside-in the strategy, I think. And this administration has to understand that.

KEILAR: One of these service members now in critical condition, which I think sort of raises the specter, and I'm curious what you think about it of when you have something creeping along that continuum, we're not just talking about not to diminish TBIs because they're serious, but we've seen some injuries that are not as bad as what we've seen in this particular strike that the U.S. is retaliating for. What are your concerns if things get worse with what's happening to U.S. service members?

MARKS: That's a very, very tough hurdle to cross. You understand this, Brianna. You're married to a soldier.

Any one fatality, any one injury is unacceptable. And if we had no injuries as a result of the provocations from these proxies, that activity should be punished. Injuries should not be the standard by which we evaluate what type of a response or what type of action we're going to take so that we can really take the initiative and get these proxies on their heels to get them worried about going to sleep at night, conducting operations, going to the market.

They need to be concerned that the United States and its partners in the region are coming after them. It should not be the number of casualties that are being sustained by the United States, because you just described it. One casualty then leads to two and maybe those two casualties are okay and we can get beyond it, nonsense. There needs to be a very aggressive action on the part of the United States, not measured against casualties.

DEAN: All right. Major General James "Spider" Marks, as always, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

MARKS: Thank you. Thank you very much.

KEILAR: Today, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, congratulated his Air Force for destroying a Russian warship. This one you see in the picture here, which the Ukrainians say was carrying attack drones.

Now, CNN cannot verify this claim independently, but the strike on the Novocherkassk at a port town in Crimea was apparently caught on camera.

DEAN: A Russian-appointed local official says one person was killed, and this would be the third time in less than a week that Russia took a major loss of military hardware.

CNN's Nada Bashir been tracking developments.

Nada, what is Russia saying more about this attack on its warship?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, the Kremlin has acknowledged this attack now. We heard earlier from the Kremlin who issued a statement saying that the Russian's defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, had reported this incident to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, saying that they had assessed and seen that the Ukrainian armed forces had carried out this attack overnight using what has been described by the Kremlin as guided missiles.

But they haven't gone so far as to say that the vessel itself was destroyed. They are attempting to downplay, perhaps, this latest attack, saying that the vessel sustained some damage. But, of course, that isn't the line coming from the Ukrainian armed forces, who have, of course, welcomed this as a sign of progress for Ukraine. We heard earlier today from a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YURII IHNAT, SPOKESMAN, UKRAINE AIR FORCE COMMAND (through interpreter): This is such a powerful event for us. In fact, we destroyed both the ship and the occupiers through well-coordinated actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:15:00]

BASHIR: Now, crucially, this vessel is said to have been carrying Iranian-made Shahed attack drones when the strike took place. Now, these attack drones have been heavily relied upon by the Russian armed forces throughout the course of the war in Ukraine. It's one of the key reasons why Ukraine has continued to push for international support when it comes to bolstering its air defense system. So this has been seen as a welcome sign of progress through - during the counteroffensive against Russia's armed forces.

As you mentioned, we have seen now three attacks against Russian military hardware just over the last week. Earlier in the week, Ukraine reporting that they had downed Russian warplanes and fighter jets as well.

President Zelenskyy himself has congratulated the Ukrainian military. He thanked them for their work going on with this counteroffensive. But he also said today that there would be no peace, no place of peace for occupiers on Ukrainian land.

DEAN: All right. Nada Bashir for us in London, thanks so much for that update.

KEILAR: And still to come, a Christmas Day message really like no other: "Rot in Hell." Part of Donald Trump's online rant against his opponents, what he said about President Biden and Special Counsel Jack Smith, next.

DEAN: Plus, the top U.S. diplomat headed to Mexico tomorrow for talks on the ongoing migrant surge as law enforcement officials at the southern border struggle to deal with an overwhelming influx of people.

And a little bit later, free returns might a thing of the past, why a growing number of retailers are charging fees and making returns much more difficult, that and more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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DEAN: Former president, Donald Trump, spent the Christmas holidays lashing out at his political and legal rivals on social media. His wide-ranging rants also included attacks on the woke military, his words, and the electric car industry.

KEILAR: He ended one of his Christmas Day rant saying, "May they rot in hell, Merry Christmas."

CNN's Kristen Holmes with us now.

That's not how you end your holiday cards, I'm quite sure. This one looking more like Dante's "5th Circle of Hell," which, by the way is "Wrath," I looked it up, than a holiday message.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good reference.

KEILAR: Yes.

HOLMES: I think this has peaked Donald Trump, right? We know that this is how he acts. He has never been one to put out this message of unity and peace, even if we are in a time of war and that's really we saw from world leaders and former world leaders across the globe, this message of peace. Instead, Donald Trump just wanted to air his grievances and he did.

KEILAR: Yes, he does.

HOLMES: He went after ...

DEAN: Yes.

HOLMES: ... Joe Biden.

KEILAR: Truly.

HOLMES: He went after Jack Smith. He talked about how all of these cases are election interference. He went after the judges, the justices in Colorado that had ruled against him on that case, taking him off the ballot. And this is really a preview of what we are going to see for the next year.

We are looking at a very polarizing time anyway, politically. It's only going to get more divisive and particularly Donald Trump is only going to get more personal with his attacks. And one thing I do want to point out. There is no reason for him right now to tone it down. He's been saying this. He's been ramping up his rhetoric. He's increasing his aggressive anti-immigration speech. His poll numbers show him increasing, getting more popular.

So until we are in a possible position where he is the GOP nominee and he is looking for maybe more moderate voters, I see no reason. And when I talk to his advisers, they see no reason for him to change his course.

DEAN: And we have less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses January 15th. When will we see him back out on the trail?

HOLMES: So we are expecting him to go back out a week from Friday on January 5th and then he's going to have another kind of blitz of campaign stops ahead of the caucuses. But one thing that's pretty interesting is that even with this last minute blitz, this last minute push, he's being far outpaced by his rivals on the campaign trail. Yet they aren't really able to break through, take those poll numbers into consideration to even this really a fight for second place.

DEAN: Right. All right. Well, more to come on that. We'll see you out in Iowa, Kristen. Thanks so much and joining me now ...

KEILAR: That's your Christmas present.

DEAN: Yes.

HOLMES: I need a new pair of boots, so ...

DEAN: We know. Yes, I was just thinking about my parka and if it can withstand one more season there. We'll find out together. All right, thanks so much, Kristen.

HOLMES: Thank you.

DEAN: And joining me now is Toluse Olorunnipa. He is the White House Bureau Chief for The Washington Post.

Always great to have you here, Toluse.

I'm curious just first what your thoughts are on Trump's Christmas message.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, I think as Kristen said, this is the kind of message that we get from Trump during the holidays, during Thanksgiving, during Easter. He always finds a way to jab his political opponents.

I do think this is a forewarning of what we're going to see in 2024. We are going to see a very dark and divisive and foreboding campaign, not only from Trump, but from the other Republicans and from President Joe Biden. He is pointing out Trump's rhetoric. He's elevating and reminding Americans about what a Trump presidency would look like in 2025. And a lot of those messages are dark and dangerous and predicting doom and gloom for the country.

And so I think this will be a campaign about who not to vote for, even more so than who to vote for or why to vote for a specific candidate.

DEAN: Not necessarily inspirational in that way. And as the former president continues to be the frontrunner in these early states in the polling that we're seeing and we're headed now, as I just mentioned, we're about three weeks out from when people begin to vote. Is a strong second place enough for somebody running against him in Iowa? Is that enough to stop him or slow him down at all?

OLORUNNIPA: It really depends on what happens in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has played a key role in a number of past presidential campaigns. If a Nikki Haley or a Ron DeSantis does very well in Iowa, everyone's going to turn to the voters of New Hampshire to decide what's going to happen with the rest of the race.

If those voters decide that they do not want Donald Trump to be their standard bearer and that we have an upset in New Hampshire, then all bets are off in terms of what would happen in the future states in the primary. Donald Trump will not run away with the nomination if he loses in New Hampshire.

Now, he could still get the nomination by losing in New Hampshire, but the voters of New Hampshire are going to have a key role to play, depending on what happens in Iowa in determining the rest of the primary.

DEAN: And it's just important to point out to everyone that these primary voters are kind of different or are different.

[15:25:00]

A primary voter in Iowa is different, more conservative, oftentimes more evangelical than a primary voter in New Hampshire, which, to your point, could maybe open it up for somebody like Nikki Haley, who we have seen surge there to really make a run at it.

But at what point do any of them have to start thinking about, do I get out, do I consolidate my vote to somebody else? Do you even have that quality even? People do need to have that conversation when they're running for president.

OLORUNNIPA: All right. We're very close to voting in Iowa. The Iowa caucuses are just a few weeks away. When those numbers come in, as we saw in 2020, we saw a number of candidates, see those numbers, they saw themselves in the very low single digits and they said, there's no path for me, and they got out.

And so we could see a very quick winnowing of the field after Iowa, a number of these candidates, we've already seen a number drop out because they couldn't have enough money to get to the Iowa caucuses. But after the voters give their verdict in the Iowa caucuses, I do think we will see a winnowing of the field and this push to have a Trump alternative, have a single person go one-on-one against Trump, whether it's Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis and stand toe-to-toe with the standard bearer of the party. And a number of Republicans are going to be calling for that to see if anyone else who could go one-on-one with Trump will be able to take him down.

Right now, the numbers show that he's in a very difficult position for any of the other Republicans to try to take him on. But that one-on- one race is something he's never faced before in a Republican primary. It's how he got to the nomination in 2016, by having all of the other candidates split the vote.

So if he does face a one-on-one challenge, that could make it more challenging for him to secure the nomination.

DEAN: Yes. And yet, so many of them, and you mentioned how far ahead he is, but so many of them, especially if you talk to Ron DeSantis' campaign, Nikki Haley, they just want to be around in case something also happens, because there's this giant, well, there's a lot of X factors floating around with Donald Trump, right?

But in addition to us seeing the primary in 2024, he's got all of these legal cases ...

OLORUNNIPA: Right.

DEAN: ... potentially going to trial.

OLORUNNIPA: Right.

DEAN: At what point does that start to intersect and do you anticipate we see him doing what he's done before - in all of these cases up to now and all of these appearances in the courthouse, where he really uses it to just kind of rally the troops.

OLORUNNIPA: Well, he's definitely rallying his base with all of these various indictments, but he's also using them as a strategy to try to delay some of these various cases, because he feels that if he pushes these cases off, he can get the political benefit of being under indictment, which normally we wouldn't think that that would be a political benefit, but in the Republican Party right now, there's this sense of grievance and he's able to tap into it by saying that people are going after him because they're going after these specific voters.

And so he's able to use that while not also having to face the actual judges and juries by pushing these cases, by filing appeals, by making sure that none of these cases move forward as quickly as a number of the prosecutors want them to move forward. And that's his goal, to push these cases beyond the election so he can get the political benefit of being under indictment and of saying that he's aggrieved and of saying that people are coming after him and getting his base riled up, while not having to face the evidence and face the jurors and face the judges and push that off, and maybe never have to face them at all if he becomes president in 2024. DEAN: Right, right, right. It's the court of public opinion, it seems to be his favorite.

All right, Toluse, thanks so much. It's great to see you.

Coming up, while the record surge of migrants at the U.S. southern border continues, Secretary of State Tony Blinken is scheduled to meet Mexico's president as the Biden administration struggles with how to deal with the border crisis. Stay with us.

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