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Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State; China Criticizes Trump; Continued Executions; Vanishing Species; Brexit Startups; Santa Claus Not Real. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired December 13, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[03:00:00] MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Donald Trump is set to name his number one diplomat. We'll examine what Exxon Mobil boss Rex Tillerson could bring to the role of secretary of state.
Tillerson is known for his close ties to Russia, with key figures and close ties with the U.S. political divide aren't so keen on Kremlin right now.
And we got the latest for you on hacking claims surrounding November's presidential election.
Plus, what's the worst thing that can -- that you can tell you a kid before Christmas. What is it at shopping mall for plenty of people. We're finding out.
Hello and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. This is CNN Newsroom.
Well, one of the most important foreign policy announcements Donald Trump will make is coming in the hours ahead, we're told. Transition sources tell CNN he will nominate the Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state. But the all executive ties with Russia and Vladimir Putin could complicate his Senate confirmation.
CNN's Fareed Zakaria explains the concerns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS HOST: This is a guy who has worked for Exxon since 1975, his whole life. And often what a company does for itself is actually in contradiction with the interest of the United States.
And the worry would be that especially with somebody like Putin which only has a long standing prior relationship, would he do what was, you know, what has been good for him in terms of his world of Exxon, will he be able to put that aside and do what was right for the United Stes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, a number of senators who had to confirm the appointment already raising concerns about Tillerson.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REX TILLERSON, EXXON MOBIL CEO: We are the largest American oil company. We are very global.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rex Tillerson, a career oil man on track to become the nation's chief diplomat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As someone who has spent his entire career in the energy industry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Tillerson, a 64-year-old conservative Texan has no government or foreign policy experience. He has only held one job in his adult life, working for the last 40 years at Exxon. First hired as a civil engineer out of college, work in his way up the corporate ladder through the international division and then rising to CEO in 2006.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TILLERSON: It's a belief in the promise of international engagement and then the potential for global approach is meeting this nation's challenges.
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SERFATY: At the helm of Exxon Mobil, Tillerson operated at a high level internationally negotiating on behalf of Exxon's interest with deep relationship in the Gulf and Middle East, Asia and Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: He has much more than a business executive. I mean, he is a world class player.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Tillerson having deep ties especially to Russia and Vladimir Putin and that receiving the Order of Friendship in 2012, a high honor bestowed to him personally from Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: To me, a great advantage is he knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SERFATY: But that seen as an asset to President-elect Trump is the problem for some on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: I have obviously concerns of reports of his relationship with Vladimir Putin who is a murderer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Marco Rubio tweeting quote, "Being a friend of Vladimir is not an attribute I am hoping for from a secretary of state."
Meantime, Tillerson's views on climate change in opposition to the president he is about to serve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will cancel this deal so that our companies can compete.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Tillerson supported the Paris Climate Change Agreement reached earlier this year and has declared climate change a problem, at odds with Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Where are you on the environment?
TRUMP: I'm still open-minded. Nobody really knows.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: While Exxon spent years denying that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change, under Tillerson's time the company softened its stance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TILLERSON: While there are a range of possible outcomes the risk post by rising greenhouse gas emissions could prove to be significant.
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SERFATY: Outside of his work, Tillerson a father of four has deep lineage in the Boy Scouts of America, and he go scout himself he served as national president in 2010. He had a big role in moving the organization forward now how many acceptances of gay scouts.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
FOSTER: Well, China is stepping up its criticism of Donald Trump. A scathing new editorial that in the Global Times, not only calls Trump inexperience in diplomacy they say he probably doesn't know what he's talking about. CNN's Elise Labott has more on that.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In a bold show of force China flies a nuclear capable bomber over the South China Sea, a defiant warning to Donald Trump just days after his controversial phone call with a president of Taiwan.
The bomber flew past Taiwan and past disputed islands in the South China Sea where a massive military buildup in underway.
[03:05:04] U.S. officials view the muscle flexing as a message to the president-elect.
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TRUMP: I don't want China dictating to me.
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LABOTT: In an interview with Fox News, President-elect Trump threaten to overturn a four decades' long policy of treating Taiwan as part of one-China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: 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 are 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LABOTT: But the Chinese foreign ministry said there is no deal to be had over the one-China policy, calling it to bedrock of U.S.-China relations.
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GENG SHUANG, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER SPOKESPERSON (TRANSLATED): If it is compromised to disrupt 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)
LABOTT: And a state controlled newspaper editorial mocking Trump as being 'like a child in his ignorance of foreign policy.' The Global Times writing "Only by going through some tough times will he come to realize that China and other international powers are not to be bullied." And warning, "The one-China is not for sale." An idea echoed by the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The Obama administration does not view Taiwan in our relationship with Taiwan as a bargaining chip. Taiwan is not source of leverage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LABOTT: M.P.iers from a former secretary of defense got a confrontation with China over Taiwan could spin out of control possibly even risking a military clash in the Pacific.
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WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: China is a big player in the east and they are growing military power. And so he is going to put the United States up to challenge, how do we respond? We have to ask the question would the American people support going to war with China over the issue of Taiwan's status?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LABOTT: And many long time diplomats agree the U.S. should strengthen relations with Taiwan, but caution the incoming administration should thoughtfully consider such a dramatic change in policy and they warned against doing it to blackmail China. Because in that game of chicken the U.S. could lose cooperation with China on a lot of other key areas such North Korea, fighting terrorism, and climate change.
Elise Labott, CNN, Washington.
FOSTER: With more on the diplomatic disagreement with China, let's bring CNN's Matt Rivers. He is in Beijing. So, talk about war with China in America with one of the commentators there, is that sort of discussion going on within China as well?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, when we're talking about this issue of the one-China policy that is issue of an armed conflict always ends up coming up. Now when you hear people talk about it that is an extreme possibility in a very hypothetical situation. We're assuming. And we talk about armed conflict that the incoming Trump administration would in fact ignore the one-China policy, which is, you know, it's important to remember, Max, why Beijing is so upset when Trump says things like this.
Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province. And so, when the Trump administration says it might ignore the one-China policy that could be signaling to Beijing, or at least Beijing officials would think that the Trump administration is in favor of an independent Taiwan. And that is something that Beijing consistently says it will not put up with.
And so, one of the things that Beijing has never taken off the table in terms of its rights is to go back to the island of Taiwan and to retake it and make it a part of the mainland once again.
So, that is an issue that is still on the table. And the United States for its part, Max, under the Taiwan Relations Act is required by law to assist in the defense of Taiwan in case of an invasion by China.
Now there is some strategic ambiguity there, we don't exactly know what assist in the defense means per se, but we do know the United States has sold billions of dollars' worth of arms to Taiwan over the last several decades. And so that's the implications here when the president-elect said the kinds of things that he said about the one- China policy, down the road those are the most extreme possibilities that we're talking about.
FOSTER: So, this very scathing report in the Global Times, obviously state-run, so can we assume that that's the view of the administration, that's what they want Trump to hear that they are dismissing his comments?
RIVERS: Well, that is one of the ways that the communist party gets out its message in so what have been unofficial channel. Every single newspaper here in China is censored by the communist party. Nothing is printed that the communist party doesn't want out.
[03:10:01] Now some papers are more provocative than others. So, the Global Times, for instance, has been very vocal over the last two days. And this morning in a new editorial we can show you in part the editorial staff over the Global Times wrote, quote, "The truth is this president-elect is inexperience in diplomatic practices, probably has no idea of what he's talking about. He has greatly overestimated the U.S. capability of dominating the world and fails to understand the limitation of U.S. powers in the current era."
So, while you would never, almost never hear a Chinese government official publicly state that on the record they do use the editorial pages in communist run newspapers to get out those more extreme views, max.
FOSTER: Matt Rivers in Beijing, thank you.
An activist in Aleppo say Syrian forces are executing civilians with ties to rebel groups. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports, quote, "Every hour butcheries are carried out."
Government troops are converging on the last few pieces of rebel-held territory in the eastern part of the city. Tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing with few places left to go.
Syria state media meanwhile, tells a very different story claiming many in east Aleppo are celebrating the government advances.
Our Jomana Karadsheh joins us from Amman in neighboring Jordan. In these reports we're hearing about executions, some were executions in the street women and children amongst them, how much do we rely on these reports?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very difficult to verify what is going on in eastern Aleppo right now, Max, as you can imagine. But these reports are coming from several activist people there who still have the ability to speak to the outside world through social media and through their phones. These reports are coming from several neighborhoods that were captured by regime forces over the past 24 hours.
And according to this activist according to the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Right, they say that regime forces rounded up people who are suspected of being relatives of rebel fighters, and as you mentioned, that includes women and children. And this unverified reports say that these people were publicly executed.
Now the United Nations is saying it is stressing that it cannot confirm or verify these reports but they also have received these unverified reports of mass atrocities being committed against civilians including women and children and they are expressing a great concern.
And Max, it is not only us who is receiving this report. The people who are trapped in this ever shrinking enclave that is held by the rebels are also receiving these reports. They are absolutely terrified that this, too, could possibly be their fate.
FOSTER: So, what sort of area did the rebels still control, and when do you expect those areas to fall?
KARADSHEH: Well, it's a very small area pockets that are left under rebel control. And according to activist that we have just been speaking to, Max, they say that there are thousands, tens of thousands of civilians who are trapped in this area, they are living under constant shelling.
There is no place, according to this one activist who were speaking to for people to stay in, and you're looking at families, several families staying in these apartments in this area living in this very difficult time.
And we have been speaking, Max, to people there for weeks now, for months. And over the past 24 hours, the same people that we have been speaking to is felt that you're talking to different people. You really can hear the fear in their voices, the despair, anger with the internationally community that they think had failed them and did nothing for them after all these cries for help over recent weeks.
And people have been sending messages since last night in what feels like these are their final messages, they are -- their good-byes to the world. They are absolutely terrified and they have nowhere to go. In one man's word, you know, they sitting there waiting to die, and they saying we are dying slowly, they are killing us every single day and they just want this to end right now.
FOSTER: A triumph presumably as it seem from the Syrian side and the Russian side because this operation actually moving very swiftly now in the closing stages, so how might they announce, you know, a defeat that you expect in the coming days?
KARADSHEH: Well, we have been, you know, watching Syrians state TV, Max, you see this scenes of celebrations in western Aleppo, and also, you know, you hear the tone of victory in Aleppo, this from Syrian state media. [03:15:06] But as we heard from President Bashar al-Assad himself, he said that this is a major turning point in the war in Syria. But this is not the end of it. Of course now what happens to what is left this pocket of eastern Aleppo, we have been hearing this report that the United States and others have been trying to work on a deal to try and provide rebels with an exit, say passage out of there evacuation of civilians.
That is not looking likely at this point. Are we going to see these rebels surrendering or are they going to fight until the end, it all remains to be seen and it is the civilians who are trapped in there with them who are obviously paying the highest price at this point, Max.
FOSTER: OK, Jomana, thank you very much, indeed. Now he was one of thousands of unaccompanied minors who is living in Calais migrant camp. Now this teen calls the U.K. home. Just ahead, a look at live after the jungle.
And later, Ivanka Trump, under fire over where she makes her shoes and hand bags of what you've seen in Newsroom.
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DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hey, I'm Don Riddell with your CNN world sport headlines.
The big news on Monday with the Champions League draw. The remaining 16 teams now know what their part to the quarterfinals is going to look like next year. For some, they will meet familiar foes like Bayern Munich and Arsenal as they played each other three times in the last four seasons. Bayern have advanced every time from the knockout games.
Barcelona and Paris St. Germain match up for the third time since 2013. Meantime, the reigning champions Real Madrid have had in Italy, last year's beaten finalist Atletico Madrid have fired (Inaudible). And Devi Johnson (Ph) Leicester will take on Sevilla of Spain.
In other football news, the draw has also been made for next stage of the Europa League, 32 teams are left in the competition and one tie could stir up a bit of sibling rivalry. It's Manchester United and Saint-Etienne, the French international Paul Pogba of course for Manchester United. His brother Florentin is a defender of Saint- Etienne. If they are both pick for the games in February that would make things pretty interesting.
And finally, perhaps in those surprises Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2016 Ballon d'Or award on Monday. He kept in Portugal to European Championship glory. He also won the Champions League again with Real Madrid. He wasn't there to collect the award, though, he was in Japan with Madrid preparing for the club World Cup.
And that is a quick look at your sport headlines. I'm Don Riddell.
[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK) FOSTER: Some people are dead in the coastal Indian city of Chennai after a tropical cyclone rolled through the area. The National Disaster Management Authority also says its winds were around 140 kilometers per hour at landfall. Tropical cyclone Vardah is the first hurricane strength storm to hit the Bay of Bengal this season.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us from the International Weather Center with the latest on the storm. And that's shocking to get back up and running again in the streets of Chennai, but there are real mess there.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. You know, as you said it's the first storm to make landfall across this area in the Bay of Bengal. But for Chennai, in particular really it have to go back in 1994, so we're talking 22 years since the storm of this magnitude which is a strong category one equivalent made landfall. If you take a look officials say almost 303 trees came down across the city.
And the metro population there sits somewhere around 10 million people. So, if you think about 1994 population considerably smaller, a lot more people said to be impacted. Fortunately, they have about 15,000 people evacuate from the immediate coast line, so it could have been far worse.
But you're looking at here with the drought monitor in place across the southern portion of the sub-continent, and notice it is in the deep red. That is bad as it can get when it comes to the extreme and exceptional drought across this place. And then you load this storm system as it came ashore, it brought in tremendous rainfall.
We're talking about almost 250 millimeters which should be roughly six weeks' worth of rainfall coming down in just 24 hours.
Again, you consider the population you put that water down in an urban environment and flash flooding is the concern, and of course, with those winds we had trees and power outages across in extensive areas as well.
But if you look at the monsoon season in recent years, and we know, in 2016, we were again in a deficit, even though it was forecast to be a little more with a healthier monsoon. It was not the case. If you notice we were also in the red in 2015, also in the red in 2014, so certainly some aspects of this were beneficial.
The other ones that were not is when you consider what occurred with the airport there in Chennai, in fact, the most impacted airport on our planet on Monday, it was the Chennai International Airport. Almost 200 flights were either delayed or cancelled on Monday.
If you look at the concept cancellation when it comes to the business side of things, each cancellation when it comes to an airline, it actually cost the airline the average of $6,000 that's per commercial airline in a fully loaded craft. And then if you look at the passenger cost it actually takes about $60,000 in loss is when you factor the lodging, the food, and the loss of work, as well associated with passengers having to be taking off those flights. So, again, you multiply this $200 million of impact occurring across that region. Good news is, conditions for Chennai will begin to improve some thunderstorms left in the forecast but really not much in the way of severe weather in the next couple of days. Here is what is left of Vardah at this hour moving across the western periphery of the subcontinent.
So, certainly we're going to expect some rainfall across this region. The heaviest of which will be this place back out towards the west. But what concerns me the most is what the forecast models want to do in a very, very warm environment over the next several days, which is the Arabian Sea.
The storm system forecast a potentially re-intensity back into a cyclone status there could approach portions of say Somalia or Yemen some time later this next week. And that is something we're watching carefully because it's a scenario that does not get too many tropical cyclones.
But Max, last year we have two of them make landfall across this region of Yemen and Oman, so it's something we're going to follow over the next several days.
FOSTER: OK, Pedram, thank you very much indeed for bringing us that.
Now two months ago, CNN first met teenage Muhammad -- teenager Muhammad in Calais. And it's the so-called jungle camp that they had there. He was a minor traveling alone from Afghanistan with dreams of reaching the U.K. to reunite with his family. Now his dream has come true.
CNN's Melissa Bell has this story.
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Heathrow Airport every 45 seconds a plane lands or takes off from the world's third busiest airport. Tens of thousands of hellos and goodbyes are said here every day.
But for Assam Armadi (Ph) and his nephew Muhammad, today, is no ordinary day and there is no ordinary hello. They haven't seen each other in almost a decade.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally, I'm so happy to come to the U.K. and join my uncle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm glad too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: CNN first met Muhammad in the jungle in Calais just before this month in October. He showed us around the camp that have been his home for months, but we couldn't show his face.
He, like many thousands of unaccompanied minors were living in limbo in Europe, after leaving Afghanistan armed with nothing but a dream of reaching his family in England. The walk had been long and lonely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to join to my uncle. I'm so tired here. I left more than a year ago but I didn't arrive to my uncle yet. I love football. I want to play football and I want to rest in peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:25:07] BELL: The British home office finally approved Muhammad's case and he can now have that peace. Living with his uncle Assan (Ph) and his young family in Yorkshire and going to school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
It doesn't matter is the weather is cld. I am very warm because I am with my uncle. I don't feel any cold there now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELL: Muhammad's future is certain to look very different from his past but he says he will carry with him wherever he goes his long, lonely time on the road and in the jungle.
Melissa Bell, CNN, London.
FOSTER: What a journey. Now, with more questions race about the incoming Trump administrations relationship with Russia. We'll take a closer look at how the U.S. intelligence reach its conclusions about the allege Russian hacking.
Plus, Franklin's Bumble Bee population are declining at an alarming rate. How one man search for species believed to already be extinct could hold the key to saving the vital plant pollinators.
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FOSTER: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. Live from London, I'm max Foster. Let's update you on our top stories on this hour.
Activists in Aleppo say that Syrian regime forces are executing civilians. Multiple reports claim they are killing anyone related to known rebels. The Syrian government has been inching closer to retaking the eastern part of the city which rebels have held since 2012.
[03:29:57] Donald Trump says he will be leaving his sons to manage his business empire before he officially takes office. The U.S. president- elect were supposed to outline his plan on Thursday, but he is now delaying that news conference until next month.
Trump is expected to announce Exxon Mobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, will be his choice for secretary of state. The 64-year-old oil tycoon has no political or foreign policy experience but he does have close business ties with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin. Just how close the Trump administration relationship with Russia will be -- it will be his under increasing scrutiny at the moment. U.S. intelligence is increasingly saying that Moscow try to help Trump win the White House. Trump is dismissive of that charge but his senior adviser says he won't interfere with the congressional investigation.
Pamela Brown has the details.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, U.S. intelligence officials are increasingly confident Russia intended to help Donald Trump win the election. A view that CIA shared with Congress in a classified briefing after the election.
Today, the White House made clear who they believe the Russians targeted.
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EARNEST: The e-mails that had been hacked and leaked by the Russians these were e-mails from the DNC and John Podesta, not from the RNC and Steve Bannon.
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BROWN: U.S. officials tells CNN part of the CIA shift in assessment is based on the fact that hackers obtained documents from both the DNC and RNC, but chose only to publish documents harmful to democrats online.
CNN has learned the FBI investigators did find a breach of a third party entity that held data belonging to the RNC. The FBI has not concluded the RNC was directly breached and the RNC has repeatedly denied ever been hacked. And President-elect Trump has expressed doubt the Russians were involved at all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: The extent to which the Kremlin is tied to the hacks remains murky. CNN has learned U.S. investigators discovered a digital footprint leading back to people in Russia tied to the Russian government.
And officials have said the hacks fits Russia's M.O. but there are still no smoking gun directly tying the Russian government to the set of e-mails from the DNC and Clinton campaign manager, john Podesta that were released through WikiLeaks.
Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied Russia's involvement even in Russia did try to help Donald Trump it's unknown how that might have impacted the outcome of the election. A point made in a fiery exchange by Trump transition spokesman Sean Spicer and CNN's Michael Smerconish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Show me what facts have actually shown that anything undermines that election. Donald Trump win 306 electoral votes, 2300 counties, 62 million Americans voted for him, so what proof do you have or does anyone have that any of this affected the outcome of this election?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Official say adding to the CIA's assessment about Russia's motive is evident showing individuals connected to the Russian government bank rolling operations have spread fake news about Hillary Clinton during the election. The FBI has a more conservative view of Russia's motive and has not come as far as the CIA believing that tried to help Donald Trump.
We should note no final conclusions have been made by any U.S. agency.
Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
FOSTER: Now at some attributes as China remembers the Nanjing massacre. Many served in the ring pay their respects and marked December 13, 1937, the day Japanese troops invaded the city of Nanjing. After the troops entered the city an estimated 300,000 people were killed during the six weeks rampage of rape and murder.
Japanese conservative insists the mass rapes and murders did not happen.
Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka is coming under new scrutiny for some of her business practices in China.
CNN's senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin reports.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: It turns out during that entire campaign when Donald Trump was criticizing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: China is taking our jobs, our money. China which has been ripping us off.
And we have a trade deficit with China $500 billion a year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Daughter Ivanka Trump was busy doing business with yes, China. She sells shoes and handbags made in China. And even in the last three months the final leg in the campaign, the Ivanka Trump brand was receiving shipment after shipment of merchandise more than 60 in all according to records analyzed by CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We owe them they took everything, $1.4 trillion. How do you do that, that's like a magic act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Trade doc on the campaign trail intrigued Robert Lawrence, a professor in international trade and investment in Harvard. His interest peak when early on Donald Trump found out Nabisco was moving its Oreo cookie bakery to Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:34:59] TRUMP: They're leaving Chicago, which means I'm never going to eat another Oreo again. Nobody is -- I'm serious. Never!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Professor Lawrence task one of his assistant to find out where the Trump family makes fames. And it settled on Ivanka Trump's extensive line of handbags, shoes, clothing and accessories. Hundreds of products made in China and many other nations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT LAWRENCE, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: I think we found something on the order of 6 or 700 products, and about half of those were made in China and the rest were imported.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Shipments as recently as November have been arriving from China. And in a CNN report earlier this year we tracked Donald Trump's now apparently debunked clothing line. Manufacturers in China, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: It is certainly at odds with what he claimed was immoral behavior on the part of companies and other companies like Nabisco.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Which raises a possible conflict within the Trump family. Will Ivanka's products face an increase tariffs if the soon-to-be president enacts pay soon to be launched trade war? Will Ivanka continue to make her shoes overseas while her dad tries to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
CNN ask those questions to Ivanka Trump, this was the response from her brand's spokesperson. "We have consistently expressed that we share industry leaders interest in bringing more manufacturing opportunities to the U.S. and are looking forward to being a part of the conversation."
Scott Nova who studies the industry for the Worker Right Consortium says he doubts any garment jobs will ever come back to the U.S. no matter who is president. As he told us earlier this year discussing Donald Trump's clothing line the industry survive on cheap labor when in terms of paying workers it is a worldwide race to the bottom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT NOVA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORKER RIGHTS CONSORTIUM: There is worldwide search for the countries with the lowest wages and the least regulation. And unaware of any way in which the Trump brand has taken a different approach than the one that is unfortunately standard in the industry.
Business as usual, as we are aware. Find the cheapest labor for the clothes you're making to business so you can make the biggest profit. And this is the nature of the global garment industry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
FOSTER: Now U.K. SEC sector is adjusting to the reality of Brexit. Just ahead, how one company is finding a recipe for success and a lot of food could become a lot more expensive if nt scarce if we lose more bees. When they started a search for one very special bee could solve the mystery behind their shrinking numbers. Do stay with us.
[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Franklin's Bumble Bee it may sound like some sort of scientific metaphor but it is quite literally a species of bee that hasn't been seen in 10 years.
John Sutter caught up with one man who refuse to stop searching for Franklin's Bumble Bee and discovered why his quest could provide answers to what's killing the bees we need to pollinate crops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBBIN THORP, ENTOMOLOGIST: Just hang on big bee. Now there she is, just another one in common bumble bees.
JOHN SUTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The vacuum in one hand and net in the other, Robbin Thorp is on a quest.
THORP: So we are coming into the area where we last saw Franklin.
SUTTER: He is searching the mountains of Oregon for Franklin's Bumble Bee. Its species he's believed to be the last person on earth to have seen alive. And he's got sample of the bee in the back of his truck, it's from the 1950's.
THORP: And this is Franklin's and you can see she has a black face, a little touch of quite as hair as pretty settled.
SUTTER: And this is a bee that it could be extinct in the wild.
THORP: It could be. I'm not willing to give up on it, but I'm hoping it's still out there under the radar.
SUTTER: The last time he saw it was 2006, exactly 10 years before he invited me to join him. Thorp is 83 now, a retired professor from UC Davis and mostly he works alone day after day, year after year. It's like something out of Hemmingway, the old man and the bee.
THORP: Now at times it's a, it's kind of a lonely task but I already get wrapped on that. I've got the Bumble Bees for a company vis-a-vis, and I enjoyed that.
SUTTER: And bees are already are showing signs of rapid decline. Scientists say that pesticides farms, climate change and disease all are to blame.
SARINA JEPSEN, ENTOMOLOGIST: Franklin is a bee that particularly dramatic example than a quarter of our Bumble Bee species in North America face extinction risk. I think it's an alarming number if this happens. And many of our Bumble Bee species do go extinct; we might start to see a lot since the ecosystem function that Bumble Bees provide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUTTER: You also should note that these pollinate 35 percent of the world's crops. That's a service that's worth billions of dollars per year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON MOES, SENIOR GROWER, WINDSET FARMS: So basically when we get the bees it comes in a box like this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUTTER: As wild bees disappear commercial bumble bees are becoming popular in green houses like this one in British Colombia. The bees are raise in a factory some 2,000 miles away and then they're flown in by plane. Think of them almost like cows in the farm, they are domesticate insects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOES: They are great workers and they put in a lot of time, they basically go from sun up to sunset and they work seven days a week, so they do great job for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUTTER: The bees buzz eats flower shaking up pollen and helping it reproduce. Without them tomato growers would have to pollinate their crops by hand. But here's the irony, the commercial bee industry may be contributing to the decline of wild bees.
The research isn't conclusive but Robbin Thorp and others believed that greenhouse bees are carrying diseases into wild bee populations and that that may have killed Franklin's Bumble Bee. Moes has told me that his Greenhouse takes some precautions to prevent
that. Queen bees are trapped in their boxes so they don't create new colonies and the bees incinerated after eight weeks in the greenhouse.
No one knows for certain what cause Franklin's Bumble Bee to disappear from California and Oregon, but it's clear we're doing something to cause this one's common species to vanish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUTTER: Is your gut that Franklin's Bumble Bee is still out here somewhere?
THORP: I'm hoping so and that's the best that I can say obviously since it hasn't been seen in 10 years, every year that goes by it makes the chance of finding more and more doubtful because they have to reproduce every year.
SUTTER: That's why you keep searching.
THORP: Yes, right. You smell that the basis for the quest.
SUTTER: I spent two days looking for Franklin's Bumble Bee with Thorp, I found the work absolutely maddening.
THORP: The ones that you hear fly by your ear, I'm always say, well, that must have been a Franklin's.
[03:44:59] I don't think you can put an economic value on the species. They're all priceless really but Franklin's is one that I've had lot of personal investment and yes, I feel an attachment in terms of doing it.
SUTTER: I'm not sure whether he'll find it, but maybe that's beside the point. The truth is that for anyone to know a species like Franklin's Bumble Bee had vanished, someone like Thorp has to be looking.
FOSTER: Well, the biologists say that the planet is on the verge of a sick era of extinction. That means three quarters of all species could disappear at the next couple of centuries if we don't make drastic action right now.
Elephant, amphibians, coral reefs, bees, birds, we explore five stories of endangered species in our special program, Vanishing, the sixth mass extinction. It airs just a few hours from now, 5.30 p.m. in London, 12.30 p.m. in New York.
Down the Brexit has already being good and bad, but one entrepreneurial U.K. food business elite. After the break, the strategy that hook me up to hold on to a seat dinner table.
Plus, a pastor in the U.S. state of Texas is stamping a one-way ticket to the naughty list. How he went after Santa Claus, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) JAVAHERI: Weather watch time. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri right now
watching what's happening around North America.
Big time changes in the forecast. There is a Santa Claus open of this factory there, and you begin to ice rains some serious Arctic air over the next couple of days, initially across the Midwestern United States, then eventually you get this out towards the north eastern United States where high temperatures will fail to even get anywhere close to zero for the afternoon hours there across in New York City and certainly in Boston, as well.
Some snow showers expected around in Cleveland, Pittsburg towards the latter portion of the week. And you work your way back out towards areas of the western U.S. the winter weather alert certainly in place as we get another band of wet weather coming in that translates to high elevations across the Siskiyou Mountain range above central Oregon.
You notice the conditions in Vancouver, British Colombia, about 2 degrees there, sunny skies in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Some afternoon sunshine expected to the forecast across that region. Chihuahua looking at sunny skies, a beautiful late autumn day there are 23. Mexico City no complaints at 24 degrees with sunny skies.
And you work your way farther on the tropics, you expect to see some thunderstorms certainly what you will see around Pararam coming in at 29 degrees. Rio makes it up to around 32 degrees with some thunderstorms in the forecast. And you notice the warming trend beginning to be felt around Santiago. Of course, the warm season upon us and you look at this places Asuncion around 34, mostly sunny skies.
[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Now, U.K. is thriving tax seem lobbied hard for the remain votes. The British startups rely heavy -- heavily on the visa-free movement of workers but now the E.U. referendum is showing some pretty unexpected results.
And Samuel Burke has more on that.
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, the sweet aroma of food tech. Startups like Chef Xchange here in London connecting users to an online market place of chefs will come right to your kitchen ingredients in hand. They're used to following instructions closely, Brexit however, does comes with a recipe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing chicken which comes from France, speaking of Brexit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, the price have been gone up on that chicken...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not yet. Not yet. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURKE: The weak pound has increase prices on many imports into the U.K. but not tonight's order ingredients and the chef totaling a $120.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In December I'm working in Miami, New York, and Switzerland. I'm earning euros and dollars and it's really renowned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURKE: Converting those currencies to pound a win for the chef.
We have a surprise that the chef doesn't know about. The CEO of Chef Xchange is going to join us. Hi, there.
KARL NAIM, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, CHEF XCHANGE: Welcome.
BURKE: Come on.
Even though the pound has plummeted since the referendum Brexit isn't all bad for the startup because they receive their investment in dollars.
NAIM: So, for us, an employee, for example, that could cost us whatever amount in pounds we actually transfer dollars and convert them into pounds, so British in pound and dollars is much higher.
BURKE: So, all your employee just got 20 percent cheaper.
NAIM: They did on the negative side is our revenues generated of the U.K. which is much bigger compared to our cost translate it into dollar which our management is in dollar it means that our revenues coming from the U.K. is not lower. We need to actually generate more revenues, 20 percent more revenue to get to where we used to be.
BURKE: So, the weak pound means better purchasing power for Chef Xchange but bad for their revenue. Both CEO and chef are adjusting. So far though, the ups and downs of Brexit still have them more or less where they were before the vote. At Chef Xchange it doesn't see itself brexiting any time soon.
NAIM: We will still keep our presence in the U.K.
BURKE: No matter what.
NAIM: No matter what. To service the market we have community managers in that city we're in, and these community managers are the ones that handled the relationships between the chefs handled the bookings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grilled pineapple with lots fo chocolates
BURKE: Brexit hasn't been this sweet as this dessert but hasn't left these startups as empty as our plates. Samuel Burke, CNN, London.
FOSTER: Big debate next year here in the U.K.
Meanwhile, a pastor in Texas is steering up some whole travel attacking the big man himself, Santa Claus, he believe that.
And our Jeanne Moss reports that he is now on Santa's naughty list.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, imagine you're standing in line with your kid to see Santa Claus when this happens.
DAVID GRISHAM, PASTOR: Hey, kids, I wanted to tell you today that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. The man you're going to see today is just a man in a suit. Santa Claus does not exist.
MOOS: Check out those dirty looks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no Christmas spirit anymore.
MOOS: It's the spirit of Jesus.
GRISHAM: Hi, it's Pastor Dave Grisham here.
MOOS: That moved the pastor of last frontier Evangelism to rail against Santa.
GRISHAM: And parents, you only stop lying to your children and telling them that Santa Claus is real.
MOOS: Look at those faces. I bet Santa felt like giving the pastor the boot. Pastor Grisham shot this video himself at West State Mall in Amarillo, Texas. Because are we doing the same thing at other malls after shoppers suggested Grisham should be banned from West Gate. The mall manager told CNN absolutely we would tell him to leave if he did this thing again.
Grisham isn't just a Santa denier.
GRISHAM: There are no flying reindeer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rudolph with your nose so bright.
MOOS: Noses were out of joy among parents standing in line.
GRISHAM: Sir, don't put your hands on me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But go on. Quit talking with the mass, do you understand me?
(CROSSTALK)
GRISHAM: But keep your hands to yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And stop. MOS: Pastor Grisham is perhaps best known for the time he tried to burn the Koran. And talk about naughty, six years ago, the same guy didn't just bad bad mouth Santa, he executed it.
Now parents say what he's saying is his mouth.
[03:55:03] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got my kids are over there, you don't need to come over and blah whatever the hell you're blabbing.
GRISHAM: I'm telling the truth.
MOOS: Jeanne Moss, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't have a nice name.
MOOS: New York.
FOSTER: And if it's not worth enough in St. Louis Missouri, police have arrested the so-called granny who stole Christmas. The 65-year- old woman was caught on surveillance video taking packages from someone's front porch. Authorities believe she could be behind three other recent incidents. And officials are warning that this isn't uncommon so get there boxes inside. Ward off the grinches, you're being warned.
And thanks for joining us. I'm Max Foster. I'll be back with another edition of CNN Newsroom after this short break. Do stay with us.
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