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Mother and Daughter Plead for Help; Volunteers Risking Lives on the Front Line; China Sends Stern Message to Trump; China Concerned by Trump's Remarks. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired December 12, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:32:31] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
The death toll climbing in Istanbul overnight. Turkish state media reports 44 people have now died after Saturday's car and suicide bombing. The blast happening after thousands of fans had left a soccer game. Most of the victims police officer. A splinter group of the Kurdistan workers party have claimed responsibility.
In Chiro, Egypt, the first funeral services now being held after a suicide bomber killed dozens inside a Coptic Christian church. The blat happened during a worship service Sunday morning, ripping through a section of the church for women. At least 25 parishioners died. Nearly 50 others were injured. Egypt's president says three men and a woman have been arrested.
The Syrian army and its allies are in the final stages of recapturing the city of Aleppo. Regime forces gaining more territory as more than 700 rebel fighters surrender in the last 24 hours. That's according to Russian officials. Mass groups of civilians fleeing amid fierce shelling. More than 13,000 escaping in the last 24 hours alone. But still trapped inside Aleppo was seven-year-old Bana, whose family is now living in hiding after her tweets captured the world's attention. More now from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.
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BANA Al-ABED, 7-YEAR-OLD HIDING INSIDE ALEPPO: Hello, my friends. How are you? Stand with Aleppo.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The seven-year-old captured the world's attention as her mother Fatemah tweeted almost daily about Bana's life under siege in eastern Aleppo. Then, this chilling tweet came last month. "Tonight, we have no house. It's bombed. I got in rubble. I saw deaths and I almost died," with a photo of a shell-shocked Bana covered in dust. As regime forces advanced and captured their neighborhood, the family disappeared for a while and rarely tweeted.
FATEMAH AL-ABED, MOTHER HIDING INSIDE ALEPPO: Hi.
KARADSHEH: On Sunday, Bana and her mother spoke exclusively to CNN from an undisclosed location in rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
F. AL-ABED: I feel that we are in a really targeted from regime people, so I can't tell anyone, even my parents doesn't know where I live really.
KARADSHEH (on camera): The -- tens of thousands of people have left east Aleppo. And they've gone out. Why are you still there?
F. AL-ABED: I am afraid to lose one of my kids if I flee with the -- all the people because they think I am work against the regime. I don't belong to any side. I am just what I was speaking about, civilian people, about children.
[09:35:20] KARADSHEH (voice-over): Fatemah says she decided to speak to us because some have accused them of being an anti-regime propaganda tool, something she denies. But she admits helping her daughter articulate their messages to the world. Fatemah says she feels doing it in English is more effective.
F. AL-ABED: Bana can speak a little English. I help Bana to make sure that her voice reach to a lot of people in English.
B. AL-ABED: (INAUDIBLE) even at night.
KARADSHEH: Bana's (INAUDIBLE) in English are short and her mother in the background helps her. When they switch to Arabic, she clearly is more comfortable.
B. AL-ABED (through translator): My brother, Noor, doesn't speak because of the bombing. We don't know what he says and we are so scared of the shelling. When our house was shelled, we were so scared and we suffocated because of the dust and we were going to die.
KARADSHEH: Bana says she misses school, she misses her home and with barely any food available, she also misses fruit.
Two months ago, Fatemah told us she would never leave Aleppo. Now, all she wants is for someone to evacuate them to safety.
Bana sings her favorite song, a 1980s song about children of war.
B. AL-ABED: I am a child with something to say, please listen to me. I am a child who wants to play. Why don't you let me? My doors are waiting. My friends are praying, small hearts are begging.
KARADSHEH: Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Amman (ph).
B. AL-ABED: Give us a chance. Give us a chance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: While Bana and her family remain in hiding, the situation is dire on the front lines. A group of volunteer first responders risk their lives every day to rescue victims like Bana. They've rescued around 60,000 civilians over the course of the Syrian conflict. They're called the "white helmets." Just yesterday, the team rescuing a baby from the rubble. Take a look. The tweet ending with the caption, "life won today."
With me now is Joanna Natasegara, producer of the documentary short called "The White Helmets." It's on Netflix. And director Orlando von Einsiedel.
Thanks to both of you for being with me.
ORLANDO VON EINSIEDEL, DIRECTOR, "THE WHITE HELMETS": Thanks for having us.
COSTELLO: Your documentary, Joana, is heartbreaking. It's hard to watch. I don't know how people who -- who are part of the "white helmets" find the courage to go into war-torn Aleppo to rescue people.
JOANNA NATASEGARA, PRODUCER, "THE WHITE HELMETS": Yes, you're quite right. You know, they've been rescuing people since 2013 and have saved over 70,000 lives so far. The team that we focus on is from eastern Aleppo and is still there now attempting to rescue people where they can. But much like Bana's family, they feel targeted and, at the moment, are -- are very scared that they will be a target for the regime coming in to the city. So we're very worried.
COSTELLO: And I can understand why, Orlando, because hospitals have been targeted within Syria. In fact, there are few working hospitals, if any. So how do you get people who are terribly injured out in time to save their lives?
VON EINSIEDEL: Well, I mean, I think the tragedy at the moment is that's just not happening. I mean it's not just hospitals that have been directly targeted. The white helmets rescue centers, their equipment is being targeted. And, you know, and what's -- what's particularly worrying at the moment is that men between the ages of about 30 and 50, who are crossing over into government, areas are, according to reports that the U.N. is releasing, they're going missing. So we're really deeply concerned about -- about everyone in Aleppo but, you know, and especially our -- the guys in our film.
COSTELLO: And, of course, some of this bombing is -- it's coming at the hands of the Syrian regime and Bashar al Assad. In fact, many of the injured children that we're seeing in America, Bashar al Assad says that's just all propaganda, it's fake, including that heart- wrenching picture of that little boy covered with dirt and blood after a bombing on his village. Not that one, but we'll get to that. But -- but, how does the world -- there's the picture that Bashar al Assad says is fake.
NATASEGARA: Yes. I mean we have seen, you know, hours and hours of footage in the making the documentary, and there are many, many journalists that have done the same. The content that is coming out, both from Aleppo and from all over Syria is myriad and many -- and much of it from the white helmets. I mean it's certainly true that the world needs to respond. The world has not done enough as yet to protect civilians, and in particular children, and certainly in this stage now when Aleppo is almost fallen, you know, the Geneva Conventions, more than ever, must be used. You know, these humanitarian workers and civilians must be protected. [09:40:25] COSTELLO: So, Orlando, why isn't the world helping more?
VON EINSIEDEL: You know, it's -- it's really difficult. I can't speak necessary for the international community, but -- but in terms of the general public around the world, I think part of -- part of the probably is -- is that apathy. You know, the Syria conflict is so upsetting. It's been going on for five -- for over five years now, nearly six years, and people find it increasingly difficult to engage in it because it's so sad. Part of the reason we wanted to make this film is because of that, because the white helmets are a story of hope. These are everyday civilians who risk their own lives to save others and it's a story which resonates and we hope our film helps engage people with what's going on inside Syria.
COSTELLO: Yes, and I do want to touch, just one last time before I let you go, on who -- who volunteers for the white helmets? Who are these civilians who risk their own lives to go into this terrible country -- not a terrible country, because Syria itself, it once was a beautiful country, but it's a total, complete wreck right now?
NATASEGARA: These are ordinary civilians, Carol. So these are bakers, they're builders, they're electricians. People from all walks of life that have simply walked into a volunteer center and said, you know, we believe in hope. We believe in humanitarian work and we believe in helping our fellow men and women to survive digging out children, women, men, out of the rubble. So these are ordinary people. I think it's important to remember that they need to be protected, as well.
COSTELLO: Absolutely. Thank you both for joining me this morning.
Joanna Natasegara, Orlando von Einsiedel, thank you. Thank you very much.
And you can catch their documentary, "The White Helmets." It's on Netflix right now.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Trump calls into question a long- standing diplomatic tradition between the United States and China. Now Beijing has a stern warning for President-elect Trump.
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[09:45:38] COSTELLO: China has a stern message for President-elect Trump. If the one China policy is ignored, cooperation with the United States would be, quote, "out of the question." Those comments coming after Trump said the U.S. doesn't have to be bound by the long- standing tradition of only having diplomatic relations with Beijing and not with Taiwan. Here's what Trump told Fox News.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I fully understand the one China policy, but I don't know why we have to be bound by a one China policy. Unless we make a deal with China, having to do with other things, including trade. I mean, look, we're being hurt very badly by China with devaluation, with taxing us heavy at the borders when we don't tax them, with building a massive fortress in the middle of the South China Sea, which they shouldn't be doing, and, frankly, with not helping us at all with North Korea.
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COSTELLO: Trump unleashed an international controversy after he spoke with Taiwan's president over the phone, something no U.S. president has done in decades. And then he fired after a series of tweets against the Chinese government.
CNN's Matt Rivers live in Beijing with more.
Hi, Matt.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
This one China policy and any perceived threats to it is, for the Chinese government, one of its most sensitive topics. An d so perhaps then it's not a surprise that earlier today, at a regularly scheduled press conference for the ministry of foreign affairs, a spokesperson had some strong words for the president-elect after his comments to Fox News.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUANG SHANG, SPOKESPERSON, CHINESE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Adhering to the one China principle is a political bedrock to the development of U.S./China relations. If it is compromised or destructed, the sound and steady growth of the bilateral relationship, as well as bilateral cooperation in major fields, would be out of the question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: So some strong words there, but a relatively measured tone. But the communist party here in China does have other ways of expressing its viewpoints and they usually use state-run newspapers to do so. So earlier this morning in a paper called "The Global Times," in an editorial that paper actually said that Trump is like a child in his ignorance of foreign policy. So some very consistent, negative statements.
But, Carol, the reason why the Chinese government is so upset about this is because of what this policy means. The one China policy here in Beijing means that the Chinese government used Taiwan as a breakaway Chinese province. The United States only formally recognizes Beijing and does not recognize Taiwan. But if the Trump administration were to come in and either ignore the one China policy as it stands now or perhaps even go so far as to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, then Beijing would see the Trump administration as endorsing an independent Taiwan. And for Beijing, as they say time and again, that is a line too far. They would not accept it. How they would respond, economically, militarily, that has huge implications, and perhaps this is just some negotiations from the Trump administration. The incoming administration does expect to try and negotiate some new trade deals with China. But whether Trump's rhetoric here is just negotiating ploys or not, here in Beijing, they are certainly taking it very seriously.
Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Matt Rivers reporting live from Beijing.
One country looking forward to Trump being president is Israel. In an interview with "60 Minutes" the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he is excited to work with the new president-elect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I know Donald Trump. I know him very well. And I think his attitude, his support for Israel, is clear. He feels very warmly about the Jewish state, about the Jewish people, and about Jewish people. There's no question about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Netanyahu admitting he's had differences with President Obama, but insists it was never personal. He also said he's planning to meet with Trump to discuss ending the Iran nuclear deal. Trump previously slammed that agreement calling it stupid and a disgrace. Trump's choice for secretary of defense, though, retired General James Mattis, has warned against withdrawing from that Iran deal.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, we are minutes away from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's news conference. He'll be facing questions about a possible investigation into reports that Russians intervened into the U.S. election. More on that at the top of the hour.
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[09:53:37] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories at 53 minutes past.
Two Georgia police officers are in a hospital after they were shot while attempting to serve a search warrant in a drug probe this morning. Authorities say the shooting started when the officers entered a home about 90 miles south of Atlanta. The officers returned fire, but it's not clear if they injured the suspect. No word on the officers' conditions.
The gunman who shot and killed former New Orleans Saints football star Will Smith after a traffic accident last April has been convicted of manslaughter. Late last night, a jury also found 29-year-old Cardell Hayes guilty of attempted manslaughter for wounding Smith's wife Raquel. Hayes was facing more serious charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, but the jury convicted him on lesser counts.
Brace yourselves, a winter weather blitz is still paralyzing parts of the nation. Today, hundreds of flights have been canceled and thousands more delayed in places like Chicago as snow and frigid temperatures push across the country. Part of the Great Lakes and New England could get a foot of snow when it's all said and done. So get ready for another wave of cold as an arctic blast hits tomorrow. Dangerous subzero temperatures are expected to move in overnight from Bismarck to Boston and the Midwest could be looking at single digits for the rest of the week.
Sorry, Costello family.
And the nominees of the Golden Globes are --
[09:55:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Best motion picture, musical or comedy, "20th Century Women," "Deadpool," "Florence Foster Jenkins, "La La Land," "Sing Street."
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COSTELLO: Oh, it was "La La Land." It's proven to be quite the early favorite, picking up seven nominations, including best picture and best director. As for best actor in a drama, Casey Affleck and Denzel Washington among those getting a nod. And the nominees for best actress in a drama, Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain and Natalie Portman, all on this year's list. The awards ceremony will be held next month. This year's host, Jimmy Fallon.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.
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COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
We're following two breaking live events that are about to get underway at any moment now. On the left side of your screen, a news conference by the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell. He is sure to address the CIA reports that Russia interfered with the U.S. election to put Donald Trump in the White House.
On the right-hand side of your screen, a roundtable discussion with the attorney general, Loretta Lynch. She's at a Muslim center to discuss hate crimes and the uptick in violence since the election was held.
[09:59:57] President-elect Trump will have to deal with both issues, but for now he's scoffing at reports that Russia helped put him in the White House. But four powerful senators, both Democrat and Republican, are concerned. They're demanding an investigation and say the findings of Russian interference should, quote, alarm every American.
