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Trump's Transition Approval; Vaping Has Immediate Affects; Ukraine Studying Debris from Missile; Mike Lyons is Interviewed about Russian Weapons Used in Ukraine; Emily Calandrelli Is Interviewed about Going to Space. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 25, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

CHRIS KREBS, CHIEF INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, SENTINELONE: There's a larger component here, as I mentioned. China is preparing for war. They are looking to infiltrate our most critical of infrastructures, the power grid, the water systems, yes, the telco systems. So that if they do make a design or a decision to move on Taiwan, and as President Xi has said, he wants to be ready to move militarily by 2027, that they can fire a first shot that's digital. They don't have to go to war with the U.S. Instead, they can knock us off our posture and our position so that we can't rise to the challenge to go support Taiwan, and the war is effectively over before it starts. So that, again, is the real challenge here politically in Congress and in the White House. Can we secure ourselves so that they can't take us down?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, it's a frontier that, as you know, is constantly, constantly evolving. And you put it best that it is a team sport here.

Chris Krebs, really appreciate you being here. So much more to talk about, but I got to leave it there. Thanks for being here.

All right, a new study this morning says vaping can seriously affect your health, and the impacts can happen almost immediately.

Plus -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY CALANDRELLI, HOST AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "EMILY'S WONDER LAB": I would find so much joy in going back to my younger self and telling her that we get to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Writer, engineer, self-proclaimed space gal Emily Calandrelli has now become the 100th woman in space. She's going to join us live to talk about that incredible moment.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:35:35]

OMAR: In case you haven't noticed, Donald Trump has wasted no time naming his presidential cabinet. Something that seems to be resonating well. New numbers into CNN show the president-elect gaining a vote of confidence from the American people for his swift decision making, especially compared to his first presidential transition in 2016.

That's why we've got CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten slowly making his way back and forth to me now.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Going to try and stay on my side of the screen, OK.

JIMENEZ: Yes, please do. Please do.

ENTEN: Distance.

JIMENEZ: Space is here for a reason.

ENTEN: Safe space. Yes.

JIMENEZ: How do Americans view this transition process now versus they did last time around?

ENTEN: Yes, Mr. Omar. Take a look here. President Trump's transition net approval. You go back to November of 2016. Look at this. He was just at one point. Just at plus one point. That was well, well, well below the historical norm.

Look at where we are today, significantly higher, plus 18 points. That's 17 points higher on the presidential transition net approval rating. The bottom line is this, if eight years ago Americans were lukewarm on Donald Trump, at this particular point they're giving him much more of the benefit of the doubt. A lot more Americans are in love with this transition. This much more meets the historical norms, where normally presidents get that boost coming out of their victory. And what we're seeing here is Donald Trump's presidential transition is getting a thumbs up and, dare I say, two thumbs up from the American people.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, we're still in the appointment phase at this point, but it does give insight to sort of where this team is thinking to lead some of these key departments, of course. I mean, but how do people feel about the prospects of his presidency given the context of some of these picks?

ENTEN: Yes, it's not just that they like what Donald Trump is doing right now. They're optimistic for the future. So, again, let's compare ourselves now versus where we were eight years ago. And what you see eight years ago, 53 percent of Americans were scared or concerned. The majority towards the upcoming Trump term. Look at where we are now. The shoe is on the other foot. Fifty-three percent of Americans are excited or optimistic. It's flip-flopped, where a majority, a narrow majority eight years ago were scared or concerned about the upcoming Trump term. Now what we see is that the majority is excited or optimistic about the Trump term.

So, what we're just seeing is very different numbers from where we were eight years ago. Eight years ago, folks really were not that in love with the Trump transition. Now they are. And more than that, looking forward to the upcoming Trump term. Four - eight years ago, the majority were scared and concerned. Now the majority are excited or optimistic.

JIMENEZ: And look, I mean, the reality is for - for these cabinet picks, they've got to get confirmed by the Senate here. And so I think, rightfully so, a lot of concern has gone into, OK, where will Republicans fall in supporting these picks since they are the majority. But - but Democrats were also very opposed to Trump's picks and his presidency overall in 2017 coming in. Where are they now?

ENTEN: I think one word to describe Democrats now, it's just, they're exhausted. They're tired. You know, it's very hard being in the opposition. Donald Trump wears out his opponents and I think they've done that here. So, Democrats - Trump - Trump's win motivates me in what way to do things, just 44 percent say to oppose Donald Trump. The majority, the 56 percent, either 46 percent, it doesn't motivate me at all, which I think is really the exhaustion pick, right? This is the plurality. Or 10 percent say it actually motivates them to support Donald Trump. Together, these numbers get 56 percent, far higher than the 44 percent who say oppose Donald Trump.

The bottom line is this, Republicans, very motivated by Donald Trump's win. And compared to eight years ago, Democrats just really, really tired. They have just given up. We'll see what happens, right? Trump gets sworn in -

JIMENEZ: Yes, this is November 2024. I think a lot of people are exhausted, you know, after the election.

ENTEN: I think a lot of people are exhausted.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

ENTEN: But this is really a very different picture from eight years ago. The American folks are much more behind Donald Trump than they were back in November of 2016. And Democrats who are so - so rich in their opposition to Donald Trump eight years ago, at this particular point they're just like, ah, I'm going to take a step back.

JIMENEZ: All right, Harry Enten, everyone. Appreciate you being here.

ENTEN: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: And staying over there. That distance is good.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning, a new report shows there's new evidence of the dangers of vaping. That vaping has an immediate impact on vascular health and oxygen levels, even when the e-cigarette does not contain nicotine. CNN's Jacqueline Howard has the details on this. She's joining us now.

Jacqueline, what are you learning from this study?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Kate, we're really learning two things that happen as soon as you vape. Researchers found that, number one, you see decreased blood flow in the arteries.

[08:40:02]

And, number two, you see a decreased oxygen uptake by the lungs. So, these are two immediate effects that researchers say happen. And in this study, what researchers did to come to these findings is, they looked at 31 healthy volunteers who have a history of smoking or vaping and they examined each person immediately before they smoked or vaped, and then immediately after they smoked or vaped. And after they vaped, that's where researchers found these findings.

And even though this research, right now it's just being presented, it hasn't been published in a peer reviewed journal, for instance, but researchers say they're putting out these findings to really encourage for more studies to look into this. They say that this doesn't seem to be tied to nicotine because they saw these effects even when smokers were not vaping nicotine. So, it's something in the e-cigarette ingredients, according to the researchers, that must be having this impact on the body.

BOLDUAN: And you're talking about these - the scary bit about this is this is an immediate impact that it's having.

HOWARD: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: But what does that also - does it say anything about the long term risks and effect?

HOWARD: Well, that's what researchers really want to look into because the lead author of the study, Doctor Marianne Nabbout, said this in a quote. She said, "if the acute consumption of an e-cigarette can have an effect that is immediately manifested at the level of the vessels, it is conceivable that the chronic use can cause vascular disease."

So, in a nutshell, she's saying that these immediate effects may give hints to what could be happening long term. So, again, that's why the researchers are saying, hey, let's take a closer look into this.

BOLDUAN: Wow.

Jacqueline, thank you so much for bringing that to us and highlighting it. Thank you.

Coming up still for us, CNN is on the ground in Ukraine, getting a firsthand look at the devastation from a new type of missile being launched from Russia.

And a close call for one Washington state man as he gets trapped in his car after a tree fell on top of it. And how he was able to walk away without a scratch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:46:26]

BOLDUAN: Ukraine and its allies are working right now to access Moscow's latest military technology after Russia fired a new type of missile on central Ukraine.

Nick Paton Walsh has the very latest from Dnipro.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was the dead of night here that people in Dnipro saw the extraordinary scene on their skyline of that multi warhead Russian missile, experimental according to U.S. officials. And here, a children's rehabilitation center where some of the debris from the attack that night indeed landed. Children were here at the time. Still broken glass from the ground below me. And really it's these vulnerable Ukrainians on the receiving end of the broader geopolitical message that Russian President Vladimir wanted - Putin wanted to send.

The parts of the debris of that missile on display to news agencies in Kyiv today. A select amount. Clearly Kyiv trying to show the world exactly what technology was used against them. And there is, of course, going to be a lot of forensic attention as to exactly what those missile parts indeed show.

There appears to be a consensus this was a hypersonic missile and it was one with multiple warheads, non-nuclear indeed. Vladimir Putin suggested that it can potentially get through all western air defenses, and I'm sure that the parts on display will be pored over to see if indeed that provides any clues as to whether this is a technological leap by Russia or not.

But still here, the message itself was very much more immediate and terrifying, surely, for those who saw multiple different fragments raining down on them from above. And the damage still here palpable in the freezing night.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Dnipro, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Thank you, Nick, for that reporting.

This morning, Russian forces captured a man from the U.K. who they say was fighting for Ukraine in the Kursk region. It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to send thousands of troops to the front lines and says Russia will continue to test and begin mass producing the hypersonic ballistic missile that it fired at Ukraine last week.

Joining me now is retired Army Major Mike Lyons. We're going to talk about all of this. I want to pick up sort of the types of missiles that we're seeing.

Obviously, we talked about the - the Oreshnik - the hypersonic missile that was used first in Dnipro last week. But I just wonder what - what - what do you assess as how that changes things on the battlefield or just sort of what you're seeing right now?

MAJOR MIKE LYONS, U.S. ARMY (RET.): So, Omar, here's why that's different.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

LYONS: That's called a MIRV, multiple independent reentry vehicle. And what happens is, one missile gets fired from Russia, but it hits multiple different targets, up to ten, within that system. The MIRV system, it was designed for nuclear weapons. Virtually unstoppable. One - one rocket can't take it out on one - because of the multiple different ways it can enter the atmosphere.

They fired it conventionally. They used conventional warheads to do that. So that was the - that was kind of the message that Russia was sending Ukraine, though, we've got this capability to do that. Fire - it goes at hypersonic speed. Can't shoot it out of the sky. It's definitely a new weapon system introduced to the battlefield that's going to give Ukraine a lot of problems.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, this comes after the United States allowed Ukraine to start using its army tactical missile systems, ATACMS.

LYONS: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Longer range firing here. They hadn't provided it to Ukraine in the - in the beginning two years of the war. Now we see that dynamic changing.

How do you see that dynamic changing sort of the - the offensive or the counteroffensive?

LYONS: So, what it will allow Ukraine to do is attack fixed targets that Russia couldn't move before. ATACMS is going to give them that more range -

JIMENEZ: Yes.

LYONS: Up to, let's say, 175, 200 miles inside of Russia. And in the past, they had moved some of those mobile targets around.

[08:50:02]

Now, fixed targets, ammunition dumps. Clear military targets there are going to be targeted here.

Now, the drone technology that Ukraine has still goes a lot further than that. It's just that the ATACMS provides a combat punch that's really significant that will be very damaging to Russian equipment there. JIMENEZ: And I should note that ATACMS came after we saw the

deployment of North Korean troops in this region, the Kursk region. This is also where we saw Ukraine actually make some gains into Russian territory as well. And, of course, here's some of the info on the ATACMS missiles.

But I want to shift regions a little bit from Israel to - to Lebanon because, as we're learning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved an emergency cease - an emerging, sorry, ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in principle -

LYONS: Yes.

JIMENEZ: According to a source familiar. Still a lot of things to work out on that front.

But context wise, how do you view a potential ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah regionally? Maybe in comparison to one that I think has been further out of reach between Israel and Hamas?

LYONS: This would makes sense -

JIMENEZ: Yes.

LYONS: Because military objectives seem to be accomplished. Moving Hezbollah troops north of the Litani River, for example, inside of Lebanon. It's important from Israel's perspective, for the world. Now humanitarian aid can flow in back to Lebanon and help there.

Sixty days. These things always count on mechanisms that make them enforceable, bring other countries in, potentially to enforce them. So - so, Israel has no choice, really. They have to accept these conditions.

Let's see how the mechanisms work to make this ceasefire enforceable or not. If Hezbollah continues to fire rockets inside of Tel Aviv, these ceasefires in the Middle East often go to - go to the wayside.

JIMENEZ: And I guess along those points, you know, since the - let's just start with the Israel-Hamas war began, there have always been concerns of wider regional escalation. And we've seen that at points. You know, some strikes back and forth between Iran and Israel themselves based on conflicts that we've seen here. Is there a pressure point at this point that concerns you most given progress that we've seen with Hezbollah, at least from what's been reported?

LYONS: Yes. The issue is, Israel, as they tried to cordon these off to three separate conflicts between Gaza, Hezbollah and Iran, the question is, what does Iran do? Do they now retaliate for what Israel did a few months ago with - with striking their nuclear facilities? What - what does Iran do? Because they can also take this ceasefire and make it not workable as well. They could provide pressure on Hezbollah in order to keep attacking Israel.

So, as Israel, again, they're trying to compartmentalize things into three separate locations, but Iran is the wildcard. If they decide to put pressure on Hezbollah, then this whole thing falls apart.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Look, a lot of factors to keep an eye on. But anytime we can report news of progress towards a ceasefire I think it's a good day.

LYONS: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Really appreciate you being here.

LYONS: Thanks.

JIMENEZ: All right, on our radar this morning, a shocking moment out of the University of Washington. Take a look at this. Ph.D. student Tyson Ramirez trapped inside his car for 90 minutes after a massive tree collapse, crushing his vehicle and pinning him inside. Tyson says he gave the people who pulled him out of the car a hug right away. OK, feels fair. He'll definitely be extra thankful at the Thanksgiving table this week.

Also, Hollywood saw a big boost at the box office over the weekend with "Wicked" leading the charge. The film, alongside "Gladiator II." helped generate $270 million worldwide. "Wicked" now holds the title for the biggest opening weekend for a musical adaptation of a Broadway show, passing "Into the Woods," while "Gladiator II" set a record for the largest November opening day for an R-rated film.

And an American trailblazer received a special honor over the weekend. Retired Major General Marcia Anderson was honored as the sponsor for a combat ship, the USS Beloit. Anderson is the first black woman to achieve the rank of major general in the U.S. Army Reserve in 2011. This is what she had to say about the honor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. MARCIA ANDERSON (RET.), SPONSOR, USS BELOIT: But then the weight of it kind of hit me that, you know, when you're the first, you have a responsibility to get it right, because the people that follow you are going to have to walk in your footsteps and you don't want to leave them a bad legacy and make their lives harder.

So, in many ways, that's what I felt, you know, after I was promoted. And then I was grateful to all the people that went before me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: The ship was named after the city of Beloit, Wisconsin, which is also Anderson's hometown. After 37 years of service, she retired in 2016 as deputy chief of the Army Reserve.

BOLDUAN: So, there's also this. Another historic launch for Blue Origin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liftoff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: With its ninth space flight, with a crew in it, it launched six space tourists to the edge of space and back Friday. On board, the first married couple to go to space together now twice, and also TV host Emily Calandrelli of Netflix and YouTube fame. She made history as now the 100th woman to go to space.

[08:55:00]

Here is how she described the trip immediately upon returning to earth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY CALANDRELLI, HOST & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "EMILY'S WONDER LAB": I immediately turned upside down and looked at the planet. And then there was so much blackness. There was so much space. I didn't expect to see so much space. And I kept saying, like, that's our planet. That's our planet. It was the same feeling I got when my kids were born and I was like, that's my baby. That's my baby. And I, like, had that same feeling where I'm like seeing it for the first time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I'm feeling the emotions with you right now. Emily Calandrelli joins us right now.

It is great to have you here. Thank you for coming in. I mean your reaction in space and afterward. Really was just everything. I mean you've had a couple of days now, I guess maybe to process the experience. How do you describe it, Emily?

EMILY CALANDRELLI, HOST & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "EMILY'S WONDER LAB": I mean I don't know when you come down from this high. This is the best thing that I have ever experienced second to watching my kids being born. And I think this is the beauty of sending more women into space is that we get to describe it in a way that moms can understand, that women can understand because I've never heard anybody describe space like that. And to me that was this realization of like oh, this was the other time I had this, this odd, this physical feeling, this discovery, this joy, but also a little bit of fear involved. It was like so many emotions intertwined.

BOLDUAN: And - and look this is not only amazing for women, not only amazing for everyone to see. But you are such a rock star when it comes to bringing girl -- girls and -- little girls and boys, but especially in my household of girls, you are bigger than any name of any bold name politician or whatever that I've entered every interview. They were like, you were interviewing Emily from "Emily's Wonder Lab." Can we come to work with you?

So your ability to -- the way you teach and speak and the energy and passion that you bring to the work is just a totally different way of describing it. What does it mean for you and your life's work to now have this additional awesome label of now the 100th woman to enter space? CALANDRELLI: Oh I find it to be such an incredible honor, to be a bookend on this milestone for women that was hard-fought and hard-won by all of the women that came before me. But I also see my mission of going into space beginning right now, like the - the work begins now. Because now I want to bring this view, this experience, this joy and awe to all of those girls that you mentioned, all of those kids that watched "Emily's Wonder Lab" so that they can have that inspiration and want to reach for their big dreams, too.

BOLDUAN: The one thing I've heard from astronauts that I've spoken to in the past and they -- and it's always stuck with me because I myself have wanted to experience it, is this, the overview effect of -- with the view from above when you're up there and you look back at Earth in the -- in the vastness of space, how it changes people. Do you -- is that what you think you've experienced?

CALANDRELLI: I think it's - it 's too soon to tell. I feel like I've seen the ocean for the first time or the Grand Canyon for the first time. And I think when you have those incredible travel-like experiences, even though this feels like it was multiplied by a thousand, it takes some time for that to sink in. So now I think I need to do the work of - of write it -- writing about what I saw in my emotions and - and creating content about it to really figure out what it means to me. I think to be honest, it's too soon to tell.

BOLDUAN: Well, I'm looking forward to those writings. I did want to bring up, because we were talking about how great this is for women and girls. And as I knew that we were speaking today, I was looking at some of your postings yesterday and something that really disappointed me and angered me was that you had -- you posted that there have been some inappropriate reaction to your spaceflight writing about how men, almost immediately started sexualizing your reaction to the flight. What happened?

CALANDRELLI: Yeah, you know, I think when you look under the carpet of the internet you are going to find some dusty crumbs and that is embarrassing for them. But if you go to my page and you look at the comments on my video that I posted, you will see walls and walls of positive comments from other women, other moms who found somebody who describes space in a way that they could relate to and they are sharing in my joy and my ah, and my excitement and I'm focusing on that.

BOLDUAN: I think that's a great way to focus, not on the smallness of those people who decided to take it the wrong way.

You talked about, this is kind of the beginning step for you kind of like step one of the next chapter. You've made a career of making science fun and accessible.

[09:00:01]

What - what do you think you can do with this? What can you - how can you bring this to the work now?

CALANDRELLI: Well, what's wonderful is that