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Aleppo Ceasefire Broken, 50k Civilians Trapped; Trump, Ryan Ignore Past Hostilities, Make Peace; Interview with North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows; Federal Reserve Expected to Hike Rates Today. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 14, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: -- gay scout leaders and scouts as well.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right, right.

CUOMO: Unknown fact.

CAMEROTA: Good to know. All right. Time for NEWSROOM with Carol Costello where you will learn more tidbits.

CUOMO: She was a scout.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm just laughing because --

CUOMO: Kicked out for setting fires.

COSTELLO: No, I was kicked out of the brownies, but not for setting fires. And saying a bad word.

CUOMO: Why were you kicked out?

CAMEROTA: Oh, go on.

COSTELLO: I said a bad word. I was mad.

CUOMO: Uh-oh.

COSTELLO: I was nine.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Nine.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. I'm with you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Alisyn. Have a great day.

CUOMO: I head it was something else.

COSTELLO: No. NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The slaughter of civilians, women and children, goes on in Aleppo, Syria, despite calls for a ceasefire, a ceasefire reached and quickly discarded. The Syrian army upon orders from strongman Bashar al-Assad continues to drop bombs on its own people.

Evacuations were supposed to be part of the now defunct ceasefire agreement. That did not happen. Here's how one resident describes it. Listen for the shelling in the background.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALAH AL-ASHKAR, ALEPPO MEDIA CENTER ACTIVIST (through translator): Good morning, my friends, the ceasefire agreement declared yesterday seems to have been violated. Tens of artilleries are falling on besieged neighborhoods in Aleppo. There are wounded in the field hospitals, wounded from the shelling by the Syrian regime and Iranian allied militia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We are covering all angles of this story. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is in London, but I'd like to start with CNN's Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. He just got back from Syria.

Take it away, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, you're right. It's not just fighting that's broken out again in Aleppo. It's actually a very heavy fighting that has broken out.

The latest that we're getting is that some activists are saying that as many as a hundred artillery shells have fallen on that very small enclave that the rebels still hold in that town. The government is saying that six people have also been killed on the government side by shelling that's been going on the other way. But we're also hearing that the government is using air strikes, as well.

Of course, the civilians, once again, the ones who are suffering under all of this. And keep in mind, there was supposed to be an agreement that would see the evacuation of those civilians and those fighters in place right now, but that agreement seems to have broken down.

Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): After years of holding out against Syrian government forces, and months trying to fight off a massive final assault, the last remaining rebels and civilians are set to leave Aleppo, allegedly guaranteed safe passage in return for full government control of this ancient city.

The past weeks have been among the most brutal in the five-year civil war. As pro-Assad forces kept taking chunks of territory away from the opposition, tens of thousands of civilians fled. A mass exodus under fire that I witnessed firsthand.

PLEITGEN (on camera): There is a massive, almost avalanche of people trying to make it to safety. As you can see, there's people who are carrying their children but also a lot of children left to make the trek themselves. It's so difficult for many of them. Of course, they've been under siege for such a very long time.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Aleppo is among the oldest cities in the world, Syria's cultural center, and was the country's economic powerhouse. A melting pot of cultures with a pre-war population of more than 2 million people, the thriving cosmopolitan city was a source of pride for Syria. It was also one of the first places where the rebels managed to hold any territory in the face of a government crackdown.

After years of fighting, what is left in many places is complete destruction. Whole neighborhoods flattened, including most of the ancient old city. The rebels' retreat from Aleppo won't end Syria's civil war. Opposition fighters still hold large parts of the country and ISIS is advancing in others. But the opposition's defeat would mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers, cementing their grip of what is left of this war-torn nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And, you know, it was the Russians and the Turks who were instrumental in bringing this peace deal or the ceasefire deal that's supposed to be in place for bringing that together, Carol. And they say they're trying to work to try and re-establish it, to try and make sure that the weapons are silenced once again.

But, honestly, with every second goes by, with every airstrike that happens, that's becoming less likely and once again, the civilians caught in middle, suffering under that heavy fighting that's going on, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Frederik Pleitgen reporting live for us this morning. Thank you very much. Let's bring in now, Christiane Amanpour.

Hi, Christiane. You know, Syria seems so far away from most Americans. And then they look at these pictures and they feel sorry about it, but you tell us in your words why Americans should care about what happens in Syria?

[09:05:08] CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, obviously on the humanitarian level, it's something that people all over the world should care about because these are massive atrocities happening not just because of what the parties on the ground and the nations that are backing are doing, but because of what the other countries are not doing to stop this. So it is a very, very dark stain on the conscience of the international community. There's no doubt about it.

But I think also in terms of absolute practicalities, not only do you have a country destroyed in a very vital part of that Middle East, you have a basket of area of terrorism that can rear its head again, and, of course, you have this endless torrent of refugees who are forced out of their own country, forced out of the surrounding countries which can no longer help them, and then forced into Europe.

And that is also what's turned European politics and, indeed, American politics on its head in terms of the fear of refugees, the hatred of all these people coming in, and has given rise to a lot of the populist political sentiment that we have been seeing over the last year. So for all those reasons, it's massively important.

COSTELLO: You know, I don't think people realize how many civilians have died in Syria, tens of thousands, and that includes women and children. I know that you recently visited a hospital. Are there working hospitals in this part of Syria anymore?

AMANPOUR: Well, Carol, to be honest with you, I visited via Skype. It's incredibly difficult, as you know, for any western journalists to get behind the lines where the rebels are. Fred was incredibly fortunate to do his great work over the last week showing the perspective from the Assad side, as those forces were going in to capture that part of besieged opposition-held eastern Aleppo.

So in order to get behind those lines, we've had to talk to people via Skype. And there were very few actual hospitals, in fact. They were what people called sort of makeshift medical centers that they set up in basements. You know, they had barely any electricity, barely any running water, all sorts of jerry-rigged operations to try to help the wounded. But even those have gone by the bye now that the push has gone almost to the very last corner of opposition-held eastern Aleppo.

But I'll just play you one doctor who was one of the emergency center directors who we reached yesterday, and he had heard, firsthand, he said, about these extrajudiciary summary killings of civilians. Listen to what he told us just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. HAMZA AL-KHATIB, DIRECTOR, AL-QUDS HOSPITAL: On the west side of Aleppo or even the east side of Aleppo where the regime are taking control over there, a lot of execution have been committed. We have here, yesterday, about 20 person in the morning and another 17 in the evening, and there was women and children among them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: So these are incredibly dire and brutal eyewitness accounts. Of course, the United Nations has also been talking about this kind of thing, but they haven't actually been able to have an independent investigation, an independent verification. They're relying on sources. But this is the kind of carnage that we saw in Bosnia more than 20 years ago. You remember the destruction and the executions in Srebrenica that led to war crimes trials and convictions.

So this is incredibly serious, what is happening right now. And obviously, the actors on the ground are responsible. Their backers are responsible, Russia, Iran, and the others and the militias there. But the West is also responsible for failing to do anything to try to end this war over the last five and a half years. And that's really been a problem because the diplomacy has not worked, and there has been no serious attempt to change it by military means, whereas, obviously, as you know, the Russians have put their massive military might behind the Assad regime.

COSTELLO: All right, Christiane Amanpour reporting for us this morning. Thank you.

The Donald Trump era taking shape in Washington and apparently in full bloom in Wisconsin. That's the latest stop on his "Thank You" tour and the setting for a show of unity with the state's native son House Speaker Paul Ryan. But the Wisconsin crowd apparently not forgetting Ryan's reluctance to embrace his Party's nominee. Listen to their reaction as the President-elect extends an olive branch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Speaker Paul Ryan, I've really come to --

CROWD: Boo!

TRUMP: Oh, no, I've come to appreciate him. Speaker Paul Ryan. Where is Speaker? Where is he? I'll tell you, he has been terrific. And you know, honestly, he's like a fine wine.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Every day goes by, I get to appreciate his genius more and more. Now, if he ever goes against me, I'm not going to say that, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:10:04] COSTELLO: CNN's Sunlen Serfaty live in Washington with more. Good morning.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. And that campaign-style rally last night with President-elect Donald Trump and Speaker Ryan also notable because we saw Donald Trump really use this platform to push for his Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, who, of course, has really caused an uproar on Capitol Hill among many Democrats but notably among many prominent Republicans, as well.

We saw Donald Trump really go out of his way last night to defend his pick, without mentioning his specific ties to Russia, which, of course, is the source of so much of the contention on Capitol Hill. Here's more of what Donald Trump said last night in Wisconsin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Rex will be a fierce advocate for America's interests around the world and has the insights and talents necessary to help reverse years of foreign policy blunders and disasters.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Very excited about Rex. And you know, Rex is friendly with many of the leaders in the world that we don't get along with. And some people don't like that. They don't want him to be friendly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, today at Trump Tower, the President-elect will be convening an interesting meeting, a summit of sorts, with some of the top executives from the tech world at Trump Tower. We're talking about people like Tim Cook, Sheryl Sandberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos -- many of whom notably were very vocal against Donald Trump and his campaign over the last year and a half. Now, one name you will not see on this list, you know, is Twitter and the Twitter CEO were not invited to that meeting today.

One thing also in the mix today, Carol, interesting, potentially today, is we now know that Donald Trump has been receiving these briefings from his incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. You may remember that it had been reported that, on average, Trump himself has only receiving one PDB, these presidential daily intelligence briefings. Well, now, we know according to transition officials that Michael Flynn, his National Security adviser, is getting these briefings himself daily, and he's briefing the President-elect three times a week, Carol.

COSTELLO: So he's sort of the middle man between the intelligence officers and Donald Trump? Got it. And the Twitter thing caught my ear. So why wasn't the CEO of Twitter invited to this tech meeting? Do you know?

SERFATY: Yes, this is really interesting. I think it is notable and I think it certainly caught everyone's eye, the fact that Jack Dorsey and anyone from Twitter is left off the invitee list. Notable because Donald Trump's affinity for Twitter, how much he relied on it during the campaign and relied on it during the transition and potentially during his presidency, as well. Left off the list, and we know that the meeting today is to talk about jobs and certainly, you know, a whole grab bag of other topics, but no response as to why they're not in that meeting.

COSTELLO: Interesting. I'm sure you'll delve into it later today. Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump promises to drain the swamp. My next guest wants to lead the bucket brigade, and he says much of it can be done with the stroke of a pen. He will explain.

Plus, the Department of Energy refusing to give Team Trump the names of climate change employees. Later this hour, we'll talk to the union president representing those fearful workers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:16:42] COSTELLO: Cheers for Donald Trump in Wisconsin and boos for Wisconsin's native son, House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Hundreds showed up for a Trump victory rally near Milwaukee, including Paul Ryan, who was no fan of Donald Trump during the election. How times have changed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: It was before I had my driver's license the last time Wisconsin went Republican. This is amazing. I want to thank Donald Trump. I want to thank Mike Pence, for helping Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, the Midwest finally see the light of day and put a Republican back in the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now to talk about that and more, North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows. He's also a member of the Freedom Caucus and a Republican -- or he's chairman of the Freedom Caucus.

Welcome, sir.

REP. MARK MEADOWS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Thank you. It's good to be with you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here.

You once considered replacing Paul Ryan as speaker because he did not support Trump. Are you confident now that he will work in concert with the president-elect?

MEADOWS: Well, you know, I've had a number of conversations with the speaker and I can tell you that we're unified here in Washington, D.C. about draining the swamp as you were talking about, making sure that Washington, D.C. works on behalf of the American people.

So, I'm very confident we're going to be looking for a unified Republican majority on January 3rd. And really get down to business on day one and so, yes, a lot of things were said in the past. But I think that you can see from last night, it's really all about making sure that we hit the road and do the hard work on day one.

COSTELLO: Hit the ground running.

I know you've put together a landing book for Trump. What exactly is that?

MEADOWS: Well, you know what we believe is as we've got a number of issues that their transition seem is looking at that goes across a number of different agencies, you know, we've actually worked real hard to come up with some 21-page report to give to the Trump transition team that actually will look at rules and regulations, things that can make our first 100 days the most productive. It's important that we let him know what was happening here on Capitol Hill. Just as much as what was happening in the executive branch. COSTELLO: Also, is it in that book? Because you say there are 200

regulations that Mr. Trump can eliminate without congressional approval. Is that part of that book?

MEADOWS: It is. We've got 21 pages. Right now, it's up to 232 recommendations in terms of rules and regulations. Many of them would save tens of billions of dollars, just with the stroke of a pen taking some of the overreach that we've seen in the executive branch, allowing our businesses to get back to work.

So, we -- the list continues to grow. But we felt like it was important to put together a real working document where they can actually look at that, make decisions, it's truly an executive branch decision --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this. These 200 regulations you say Mr. Trump can eliminate them without congressional approval with the stroke of a pen he can get rid of them. But isn't that what you criticized Barack Obama for doing?

[09:20:00] MEADOWS: Well, I'm glad you brought that up, Carol, because one of the interesting things is there's two different rules. One is a legislative role. The other is an executive branch role.

And we're not suggesting the overreach, because that would be hypocrisy in the first degree. What we're really looking at is the overreach that we've seen in the last eight years actually rolling that back. These are some regulations that really can have an administrative fix that don't have a legislative fix in mind.

To give you one ridiculous example. The FDA, we're sitting here working with EpiPens and everything else that have real health concerns and yet we've got regulations on the size of breath mints. Those kind of things just bog down the regulatory process. So, most of the recommendations are much more egregious than that. The fiduciary rules for our financial --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: The reason I'm asking, and I'm sure there are some ridiculous regulations on the book. I'm not arguing with you there. But I'm also sure there are some regulations in your landing book that Democrats might not be all into, right?

MEADOWS: Oh, without a doubt.

COSTELLO: So, again, isn't it kind of hypocritical to say Donald Trump just gets rid of them without congressional approval because aren't Republicans doing the same thing as they accuse Democrats of doing when President Obama was in the -- was in the White House?

MEADOWS: Well, I can tell you from an article and a constitutional standpoint, you'll find no one that is going to be more vigorous in making sure that we rebalance that power on a legislative and executive branch. What we've tried to do is focus purely on those things that have an executive priority that don't have a legislative role. Anything that actually should require Congress to act, we left off of this 21-page report, so I think that you'll find that even as you go through with a fine tooth comb, it is one that actually balances that power in the appropriate manner. But it's a valid point.

COSTELLO: Well, and another -- and another just question for you.

MEADOWS: Sure.

COSTELLO: Lawmakers are a check on the president of the United States. So, wouldn't you want lawmakers to be involved in this? Like, wouldn't you want that? Isn't that helpful for our country?

MEADOWS: Well, I can tell you that we've had a number of us on the House Freedom Caucus who have been going through these rules and regulations.

I'll give you a prime example. In 2013, there were 72 bills that passed the House, the Senate, and were signed into law. That same year there were over 3,500 regulatory laws that were put into effect.

So, if you think that you can -- you can act on a congressional level as quickly as the executive branch, you know, history shows us that that's not the case. So, this --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Yes, but that's not -- to take a check and balance out of the system, is it?

MEADOWS: Well, it's not taking a check and balance out of the system.

COSTELLO: It's more expedient with the president to do it with the stroke of a pen instead of lawmakers sitting down doing the work.

MEADOWS: Well, we're doing the work. And, and I think you're missing one critical point. And that is, is that anything that is legislative in its jurisdiction, we're going to fight vigorously to make sure that we keep that here.

The other is, it's rules and regulations that are the purview of the executive branch. You know, the executive branch has had the ability to write rules and regulations going back all the way to George Washington. The Supreme Court has upheld that. And so, as we look at that, it's helping identify some of those that are uniquely theirs, and the rest is keeping those legislative priorities where they should be in the Senate and the House.

COSTELLO: All right. Congressman Mark Meadows, thanks for joining me this morning.

MEADOWS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come -- you're welcome. Still to come in the NEWSROOM: don't say happy holidays to Donald Trump. He's bringing back "Merry Christmas". Why he's railing against political correctness, again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:13] COSTELLO: Sad news to pass along this morning, Alan Thicke has died. He died yesterday at the age of 69. He collapsed at an ice rink in Burbank, California. Thicke is best remembered for playing Dr. Jason Seaver on the '80s hit series "Growing Pains."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ben, what are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watching Carol flirt with some guy and he's not Bobby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's none of your business -- what guy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Thicke's career in Hollywood spanned five decades. But here's something you might not have known. He's Canadian born. He'd also a songwriter. He created the theme song for many popular sitcoms. Listen.

(MUSIC)

COSTELLO: I have children of the '80s sitting with me. We're all singing along. In addition to "The Facts of Life", Thicke also wrote the opening theme for "Different Strokes" and for "Wheel of Fortune."

Thicke is survived by his wife and three sons including the singer Robin Thicke.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

If you have a credit card or a savings account or you're getting ready to buy a car or a home, you will want to pay attention to me now. The Federal Reserve expected to raise its key interest rates today. Millions of Americans could be impacted.

Christine Romans is looking at the winners and losers, and the opening bell this morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

COSTELLO: Yes.

ROMANS: Twenty thousand is in sight for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In 19 days, the Dow has gone from 19,000 to 20,000. It's just remarkable.

But the big story today, Carol, the Federal Reserve, set to raise rates for the first time in a year and only the second time since 2006.

Let's look at what that means. It means you will be paying more to borrow money for a mortgage to buy a house, for car loans, on credit cards. If you have debt that's sitting on credit cards, those interest rates are likely to rise.

Who will -- let's talk about what that looks like. If you have a mortgage of $250,000 mortgage, this is -- this is how you're going to feel the higher interest rates. A new loan $250,000 at 4.2 percent, you'll be paying $1,223. At a higher interest of, say, 4.5 percent, $1,267 that's adding some significant dollars on the life of the loan.

So, raising the cost of borrowing, Carol. This is one of those business headlines that matters to everyone who is basically at work in the economy.

It's good news, though, for savers. For a long time, we've been saying that savers do not benefit from the ultralow interest rates. Remember, the Fed keeping interest rates low to recover the economy after the recession.

Now, the economy is strong again. You got jobs growing. You've got all these since of life in the economy. And you've got the compromise of pro-growth policies from President-elect Donald Trump. All these are reasons why many expect the Fed this afternoon, 2:00, we'll know for sure, to raise interest rates.

You're seeing the opening bell there. Again, very close to 20,000.