Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump to Go to Paris for Notre Dame Cathedral Reopening; LAPD Says, Hannah Kobayashi Traveled to Mexico on Her Own; Wall Street isn't Buying Trump's Rhetoric. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Before he returns to the White House, Donald Trump is set to return to the world stage in a big way, taking center stage in France for the grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, just as he's putting more world leaders on notice.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A new twist in the mysterious disappearance of Hannah Kobayashi Surveillance video shows her crossing into Mexico alone with her luggage, LAPD now declaring her a voluntary missing person.

And five feet of snow in just days and the Arctic air is here to stay. A forecast you may not want to hear but you need to.

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Donald Trump is taking the show on the road. With his second inauguration still weeks away, he's headed to France this weekend for the grand reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris five years after that horrible fire. French President Emmanuel Macron extended the invitation to this, what is going to be a star studded VIP event and also in what will be Trump's first foreign trip since winning the election.

Macron's invite is also the latest move by foreign leaders, especially European powers, trying to position themselves as Trump's go-to European ally. If they're making nice on one hand, on the other hand, Donald Trump is very clearly trying to put them all on notice with his trade war threats, his NATO hesitancy, his isolationist tendencies when it comes to Ukraine.

Donald Trump isn't waiting to reenter the Oval Office to jump back into foreign policy. Overnight, he laid down another new red line, warning that there will be, quote, hell to pay in the Middle East if Hamas does not release hostages from Gaza before inauguration day.

Let's start with CNN's Steve Contorno. He's joining us now, tracking all of it for us. Steve, what is Donald Trump saying about this trip?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Yes. Last night on Truth Social, Donald Trump announced for the first time that he intends to take up Macron's offer to attend the ceremony in Paris. He said that Macron has, quote, restored -- done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory and even more so, putting that Trumpian flair on his Truth Social post there.

And as you mentioned, this is coming at the end of a three-week stretch where Trump has already inserted himself back into foreign policy to a really unparalleled degree. He has threatened Canada and Mexico with tariffs. He has met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago to discuss that threat. He has spoken to the Mexican president about closing the border. He has spoken with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. He has said there would be, quote, hell to pay if hostages in Gaza are not released. He has hosted the Argentinean president at Mar-a-Lago, and he has threatened a 100 percent tariff on a group of countries, including Russia and China, if they start to try to create a currency to rival the U.S. dollar. So, just a really unprecedented step back out onto the world stage for Donald Trump, and now this first foreign trip will really be the icing on the cake.

BOLDUAN: And Donald Trump's also weighing in once again on the sale of U.S. steel, saying he's intending to block it. What's going on here?

CONTORNO: Exactly. Another issue that Donald Trump believes he can fix with tariffs. He wrote on Truth Social that -- sorry, through a series of tax incentives and tariffs, we will make U.S. steel strong and great again, and it will happen fast. And then he says, as president, he will block the sale of U.S. steel to a Japanese company.

It is worth noting that Joe Biden, President Joe Biden, also opposed the sale of U.S. steel to a foreign country, and Vice President Harris during the campaign opposed it as well. So, there was agreement from both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees on this issue and Trump promising to make good on his vow to block the deal once he gets into office.

[07:05:01]

Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right. Steve, thank you so much. Good to see you. John?

BERMAN: All right. Happening now, well, Capitol Hill this morning, where President-elect Trump's in battle defense pick Pete Hegseth will meet with at least one Republican senator who wants to ask him about a new sexual misconduct allegation today, this as some Republicans seem to be warming to Trump's desire to scrap FBI background checks all together.

Let's get right to Lauren Fox who is in Washington for the latest on today's plans and specifically what Hegseth has been doing.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, Hegseth has really been blitzing Capitol Hill trying to meet with as many lawmakers as possible as he tries to defend himself against some of these questions about his past actions. He has a really important meeting today on Capitol Hill with Representative Shelley Moore Capito. She is a Republican woman from West Virginia. And we asked her last night about what she wanted to hear from Hegseth. And, you know, she said a lot of these issues she expects are going to come up, that they're going to have the conversation about them.

You know, when lawmakers get out of these meetings, it really depends on sort of how close they are with Donald Trump, whether or not they talk about these meetings. But we heard yesterday from Tommy Tuberville. He came out and said he had a really strong meeting with Pete Hegseth. Meanwhile, others are also expected to continue meeting with senators as part of their confirmation process, including Tulsi Gabbard, as well as Pam Bondi are going to be on Capitol Hill this week.

But there's really a mounting question right now that is happening where you have Republicans who are sort of torn about whether or not they need to see these FBI background checks as part of this vetting process. Yesterday, I talked with Senator Susan Collins of Maine about Kash Patel, whether or not she thought he was a good pick. This is what she said. She said, quote, I don't know Kash Patel. I had heard his name, but I don't know his background and I'm going to have to do a lot of work before reaching a decision on him. And she made clear that background checks should be a part of that vetting process.

Then you had Senator John Thune, the incoming Republican leader, saying this, quote, my job is to make sure the nominees have a thorough, fair process, and, ultimately, you know, our members will decide. Historically, the best place to get this done has been through the FBI, Thune said.

Now, there are others like Senator Mike Crapo, who is a Republican who will lead the Finance Committee in the new year. He said it's really up to the president to decide whether or not he needs those FBI checks. But, obviously, senators have a lot of questions on some of these nominees and their backgrounds. And as Thune said, the FBI background checks are traditionally the process to get that information the most quickly to lawmakers. John?

BERMAN: Yes. A lot of lawmakers have relied on it for a very long time. Lauren Fox, thank you very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: coming up for us, one of President Biden's last international trips overshadowed by his decision to pardon his son. There's new reaction coming in this morning. We'll bring that to you.

And also there's new information in this case of the Hawaii woman who went missing after her flight landed in Los Angeles. Remember, her aunt came on to plead for anyone's help in trying to find her. Well, police now say they have evidence that she's now left from Mexico.

Police also say a shoplifter picked the worst possible time to go to work, if you will, when more than a dozen officers were already in the store for a shop with a cop event.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: A woman from Maui who was reported missing last month is now being considered a voluntary missing person. Now, this is coming from Los Angeles Police who say that they believe now 30-year-old Hannah Kobayashi left California and entered Mexico on her own. You'll remember she was last seen on November 11th when she had flown from Hawaii to L.A. but missed her connecting flight from L.A. to New York. Her aunt came on our show to plead for the public's help in finding her. And now police say they have new evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JIM MCDONNEL, LOS ANGELES POLICE: As the family is aware, late yesterday, after traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border, we reviewed video surveillance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which clearly shows Kobayashi crossing the United States border on foot into Mexico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is tracking this one for us from Los Angeles. What are you learning?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this is a surprising turn of events after so much attention on this case. Now we're piecing together those last few days that Hannah Kobayashi spent here in Los Angeles.

I want to walk you through a little bit of this timeline of events. So, starting on November 8th, that's when we know she came from Maui to Los Angeles, but she did not board the flight to JFK. She was supposed to board with her ex-boyfriend. She was going to New York to photograph a D.J. event in Brooklyn. Instead, she's seen on November 9 and 10 at the Grove Shopping Mall here in Los Angeles. She's seen first at a bookstore at the Grove and then she's at a LeBron trial event at the Nike store. She posted a photo from that event on her Instagram account on that day, this again at the Grove in Central Los Angeles.

And then we hear the last day that she's actually speaking to her family on November 11th. That's when we have some disturbing messages coming from Kobayashi, where she says that deep hackers wiped her identity, that she was tricked into giving away all of her funds.

[07:15:06]

This is the last day we hear from her. And now authorities are saying that just the next day she is seen at a Greyhound station in Los Angeles Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and then takes public transportation down to the San Ysidro border, and that's where they say they see the surveillance footage of her crossing over into Mexico.

I want you to hear the description from authorities of what that looked like to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFC. DOUGLAS OLDFIELD, SPECIAL ENFORCEMENT, LOS ANGELES POLICE: She appeared fine. She was with nobody else. There were some desires or posts that would be consistent in somebody who would have the desire to disconnect from their phone.

I think it's not something that I have available right now. It's just that was part of the investigation.

Are we 100 percent right on that? We can't say, right? We just know that she did not have her phone after she left LAX.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, a lot of twists and turns in this. Most importantly now, they believe she is a voluntary missing person, is the way the Los Angeles police are describing it. How is the family reacting to this?

JONES: Well, Kate, we have to remember this is a family that's going through an overwhelming amount of grief. Her father, Ryan Kobayashi, had come to Los Angeles to help look for his daughter. And on November 24th, he was found dead near LAX.

Now, the family at the time, they said that that loss compounded their grief immensely. We are also hearing that the family is disagreeing with the LAPD's assessment of the situation that she had missed her flight intentionally. They say that they have been kept in the dark about this situation, and we spoke with them over the weekend to her sister, Sydni, who said that she was frustrated with the way that this investigation was conducted.

Now, Kate, we still haven't heard from the family since, and we're hoping to get more details as we hear more.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thank you so much for that, Julia.

Coming up for us, President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs as high as 100 percent on some countries. He's also promised, as you know, mass deportations as soon as he takes office. So far, Wall Street isn't buying it. We have new reporting on that for you.

And strong emotions were seen and heard in a South Carolina courtroom for the trial of a drunk driver who killed a bride on her wedding night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the rest of my life, I'm going to hate you. And when I arrive in hell, and you come there, I'll open the door for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, a new study finds that some on Wall Street are not buying President-elect Trump's plans on mass deportations.

CNN's Matt Egan is here with that. Good morning, sir.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, good morning, John. Look, this is a case of campaign promises colliding with reality. Wall Street does not believe that the looming immigration crackdown under Trump will live up to the hype.

So, Goldman Sachs surveyed more than 500 economists, and they do expect immigration to come down under Trump. But look at this, just 6 percent say immigration will go negative under Trump, and that's basically what would have to happen in order for him to keep his promise of deporting millions and millions and millions of undocumented people.

The vast majority, over 70 percent, say that immigration will still be above 500,000 per year under Trump. For some context, pre-COVID, the pace was around 1 million per year. So, again, slower, but not nearly as big of a crackdown as Trump has promised.

Why is this? Well, Goldman Sachs economists say there's two big reasons, one, because there are legal limits and, two, because there are logistical limits to executive action and those limits will likely slow down the pace of deportations.

Now, this will come as a relief to business owners who warn that deporting millions of people could starve them of workers. Look, I mean, undocumented people are a key part of this economy, right? They are cooking meals in restaurants, building homes, and they're picking crops on farms. The USDA found that a plurality of farm workers in America, 41 percent are on unauthorized. And experts have warned that if you deport all of these crop workers, they're going to send grocery prices even higher.

John, we should note, just because investors are saying that the immigration crack down isn't going to live up to the hype, it doesn't mean they're right, but I do think this helps to explain why investors are basically shrugging off all these inflation warnings about the Trump agenda. They don't believe that mass deportations are going to happen.

BERMAN: Yes. It's an interesting perspective and important as we go forward, Matt.

What are these same types of people saying about Elon Musk? Not Elon Musk in general, but Elon Musk's plans to slash government?

EGAN: Yes, there's also some skepticism there. Remember, Trump has tapped Elon Musk to lead DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, and investors are expecting government spending to come down under Trump, but, again, not to the degree that Elon Musk has suggested. 42 percent of investors actually expect that this Musk-led commission will only come up with insignificant or very modest spending cuts. Contrast that with what Elon Musk promised in October during that Madison Square Garden rally. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We set up DOGE.

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much do you think we can rip out of this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?

[07:25:02]

MUSK: Well, I think we can do at least $2 trillion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MUSK: Your money is being wasted and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We're going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EGAN: So, Musk there promised at least $2 trillion. That would be massive because the government budget is $6.5 trillion. So, you're talking about around a third. But investors think that's not going to happen. Only 10 percent of investors polled by Goldman Sachs say that Musk's commission will be able to cut more than $400 billion a year.

Of course, John, the problem is that so much government spending is tied up in areas that you really can't touch, right? You have to pay interest on government's mountain of debt. You can't touch that. That's almost a trillion dollars. You have defense spending. That's nearly a trillion dollars. And then there's all those entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare. That's $3 trillion there. All of this explains why former Bush economist Glenn Hubbard said it's just mathematically impossible to find $2 trillion. So, again, that's just think spending coming down but probably not to the degree that Musk has suggested.

BERMAN: Yes, we'll have to see what they come up with. Also, how they explain the accounting, because you can do a lot of tricks and smoke and mirrors and things and claim things. We'll have to wait and see. Thank you very much.

All right, party girls and non-party girls revealing new allegations against Trump nominee Pete Hegseth. We've got new details on how senators in charge of his confirmation are reacting.

And this morning, 70 percent of the country seeing extremely cold temperatures. New reporting on who is most at risk as a new snowstorm begins to take shape.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]