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Evacuations From Aleppo Stop Again; New Details On Senate Intel Probe Of Russia Hacking; Ivanka Trump's White House Role Takes Shape; Trump's Global Reach: 150 Firms, 25 Countries. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired December 16, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:31:37] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: There are thousands of people in Syria, families and children, desperately trying to get to safety as fighting rages around them.

Today the off and on evacuation mission is off again and nothing is moving right now. It's just too dangerous. I'm talking about people trapped in the city of Aleppo. These buses that convoyed about 9,000 people out of Aleppo this week are sitting still today after reports of shooting on the roads going out of the city.

Also today, people who worked for the international Red Cross and other aid agencies are being told to get out of Aleppo. They're being told this is just not safe to be there.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is watching what's happening in Syria from Beirut. And tell us about this, the evacuations that they could restart. It seems like every day it's just back and forth, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you're absolutely right. And you know, as usual in situations like this one, Brianna, it's both sides blaming each other for the breakdown of these evacuations. Apparently what happened is that, that earlier today, there one of these convoys that was going.

And you're right. Before all of this had been going very smoothly. Some 8,000 to 9,000 people had already been brought out of that little last rebel enclave there in the eastern part of Aleppo when all of a sudden the convoy was stopped.

There was some shooting. Apparently several people were either killed or executed and then that convoy got turned back around. Now what happened afterwards is that the Syrian government said that they believed that the people onboard that convoy, some of the rebel fighters who were on it had been carrying weapons that they weren't supposed to carry.

However, the opposition said that they believe it was a Shiite militia that fights for the government that stopped this convoy, executed some people because they weren't happy with the agreements to get this evacuation going and the way that it was going to be implemented. Now, the bottom line in all of this is, is that right now no one is being evacuated. From what we're hearing, there are some rebel factions and also the Syrian governments and some other powers as well who are trying to get this started again. But there's really mixed messages about all this, because the Russians are saying that they believe the evacuations had already been completed and that there were only hard-line rebel fighters left in eastern Aleppo who wants to fire at their government. The Turks who are also part of this agreement say, that's absolutely not true. There are still tens of thousands of civilians on the ground.

And then there's a lot of them who are very weak and, you know, UNICEF has come out and they said listen, it's not only that there's tens of thousands of people, there's also literally thousands of children who are still stuck there in eastern Aleppo. Many of them orphaned children, some of them very weak, some of them very ill and they need to get to out as fast as possible. So certainly there should be efforts to get this going again. But right now everything is stalled.

KEILAR: You're talking about how weak obviously a number of those kids are. We know that some of them have been malnourished. Tell us more about the situation, the desperate situation that they are living in as they wait to get out.

PLEITGEN: Yeah. Well, you know what? I'll tell you this -- the people from the Red Cross and Red Crescent who went into eastern Aleppo said when they got there, they were absolutely shocked at the conditions inside eastern Aleppo. They say the people that they met were among the human beings that were in the worst state that they'd ever seen people in. So that's how bad the condition there's are. And I went into some of the neighborhoods that were taken back by the Syrian government when I was in Aleppo a couple days ago. And there was other destruction and some of the people that we saw fleeing those areas were indeed malnourished. Many of them too weak to even walk, many of them had wounds and still had to try to escape as well. And all of them of course were traumatized.

[12:35:04] And of course, on top of that, the situation is even worse for all of the kids. There's a lot of orphans. We've seen video in the past couple days of orphans begging to get out and to be evacuated and a lot of them are in really bad state. You know, some of the children that we saw were also malnourished wearing some really old, dirty, torn clothes. And all of them, of course, extremely scared about the situation, and now, possibly a return to the violence if in fact this evacuation agreement breaks down altogether.

KEILAR: All right, Frederick Pleitgen covering the desperate situation there in Aleppo from Beirut. Thank you for that.

Up next, the GOP may have been mostly immune from Russian hacking. Maybe? Doesn't mean the matter isn't causing big problems in the Republican Party. We'll explain, coming up.

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KEILAR: President-elect Donald Trump's feelings about Russian president Vladimir Putin and his denials that the Kremlin hacked the 2016 election are unleashing a feud in the GOP and that could signal trouble for his nominee for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He has a personal friendship with Putin. He opposed U.S. sanctions on Russia that were imposed after the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea.

We have CNN senior political reporter Manu Raju joining me now. And I want to talk to you about how this factor into the Tillerson confirmation. But we're also getting word now and this may be factoring into the confirmation, from your reporting that the Senate Intel Committee Chairman wants both Trump and Obama administration officials to testify on this matter.

[12:39:58] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah that's right. This is one of several investigations that are going to happen next year on Capitol Hill about Russia. Russia's meddling in the elections in this announcement today from Richard Burr who is a Republican from North Carolina. He said that Trump and Obama administrations will come before his committee. And if they don't, he's saying we will subpoena to get that, to come before the committee to get to the bottom of how involved Russia was in the elections.

He also wants to hear specifically how the intelligence community came up with that October 7th assessment and said we believe that Russia was deeply involved in the elections. But one thing to know, this is, a lot of that is going to happen behind closed doors in a classified setting. So we as the public will have a hard time hearing about it until decided what they want to release publicly. But again, that's just one of several inquires that are going to happen at least three on the Senate side and one on the House side. We'll see how much we actually learn about the impact, though.

KEILAR: None of those out in the open?

RAJU: Some may be in the open, especially the Senate Foreign Relations, Senate Armed Services Committee.

KEILAR: OK.

RAJU: We're going to expect to hear those in public hearings.

KEILAR: Maybe not the good, juicy stuff that we want to answer all of our questions. You talked to Senator Lindsey Graham and you talked about this nomination of Rex Tillerson who has a close friendship or close as far as many Americans would be considered. What did he tell you?

RAJU: Well, Senator Graham actually said that, "Look, if Rex Tillerson does not adopt my position on Russia, I won't vote for him," that's what he said. And what is Lindsey Graham's position he is hard core, hard-line against Vladimir Putin. He believes that stiff sanctions need to be in place against Russia and he does not believe that there should be any softening on Putin at all. And he made that point actually clear to our own Wolf Blitzer just a couple of ago. Here's what we said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: I can't imagine how I would vote for anybody that believes that we should not sanction Russia giving the fact they did, in fact, interfere in our election. If they don't believe sanctions are appropriate given what Putin's have been doing all over the world including our backyard, then I don't think they have the judgment to be secretary of state.

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KEILAR: So Republicans are basically saying Rex Tillerson, have you come up here to be confirmed, you better switch and become a hard- liner on Russia. You didn't support sanctions before. You have to show us that you have a different point of view as secretary of state than had you as CEO of Exxon.

RAJU: Absolutely. And that's going to be the fascinating thing. Where does he come down on these issues now that he could be secretary of state? Even Bob Corker, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman told me this week he had no idea where he stood on these issues. And I'm told that Rex Tillerson has done making calls to people on the Hill including Bob Corker to see if -- the interesting to see if he can allay some of those concerns. But we are hearing from people from former Bush administration officials lobbying on behalf of Rex Tillerson including by former vice president Dick Cheney trying to make the case that he's not going to be soft on Russia. But the key will be what does Rex Tillerson actually say about what he believes?

KEILAR: Yeah, he has great knowledge of Russia to what and does he use it, that's the question.

All right, Manu Raju thank you so much for that report.

Up next, he's already calling on members of Congress. Who will have an office in the White House, she is, actually. What exactly is the role of Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka in his administration? We'll talk about that.

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[12:47:02] KEILAR: Donald Trump has made it crystal clear more than once he keeps his adult kids close and they will not be relegated to the background when he takes office. This week, more details emerge about Trump's oldest daughter Ivanka, her future role, her title, the possible duties, even where her office will be in the Trump White House.

And today transition sources confirm, Ivanka Trump has been calling members of Congress. She's doing groundwork for one of her important issues, and that Affordable childcare. It certainly won't be the first time that our president's immediate family has played an active part in the administration.

Here's CNN's, Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Christmas season brings Mrs. Kennedy to a children's hospital in Washington for a visit with ill and crippled children.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fifty-five holiday seasons ago, the first lady was doing what so many have since, making ceremonial appearances, pushing social causes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just say no.

FOREMAN: Sometimes grappling with governmental issues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know we can get savings.

FOREMAN: But when Donald Trump's wife Melania switch into that role it is now clear she will have company.

His older daughter Ivanka is expected to play a major part in the pageantry and policies of his presidency.

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: He will deliver.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Ivanka is incredibly committed to women in the workplace, women in the economy, women entrepreneurs. She is -- she's had a wonderful platform during the campaign. Certainly she and her father announcing the childcare and elder care plan, I think was a big highlight of our campaign and outreach to women particularly.

FOREMAN: Already talk about Ivanka having an office at the White House since her role is not yet defined the transition team is pushing back on that. But she and her husband have been house shopping in D.C., she instagramed about her father's summit with the tech industry, sat in on chats with world leaders, helped arrange a meeting with Al Gore to talk about climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I found an extremely interesting conversation.

FOREMAN: The ivy lead educated 35-year-old has ban key player in her dad's business empire for a long time and she's helped temper his hottest moments on the campaign trail, too.

IVANKA TRUMP: While I do sometimes tell him to withhold some of that sort of fire, I also understand it, and I think its instinct and I think it's also speaks to his passion.

FOREMAN: In return, he openly admires her intelligence, drive, and sometimes to an uncomfortable level, her looks, as it was on "The View" a half dozen years ago.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT-ELECT: If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it. Oh, it's so weird.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Tom Foreman here with me live now. This is just fascinating, this idea that she would be so involved.

FOREMAN: It is. And there's no question about it. They haven't defined her role yet. They have said exactly what she's going to do. But it's really clear she's going to be a big player in this thing and she already is.

[12:49:58] KEILAR: And she's been calling, right, members of the House Ways and Means Committee because we think back in history. I'm actually stunned having covered Hillary Clinton that first ladies or family have taken such a -- I don't want to say a back seat. But they don't take on controversial issues really, and even the small issues become controversial but she's doing childcare, it appears. She's making these calls.

FOREMAN: Well, in a strange way, Hillary Clinton sort of paved the way for this when she took on health care. But it is a very delicate balance, because obviously, government watchdogs say, if this person is not given an official role in the White House, how do you hold them accountable? They're not elected. They don't hold an office and yet have all of this influence.

And that's one of the delicate lines they have tread with this unless they give her an official role saying this is what she does.

KEILAR: And then just a couple hours ago there was a charity website and they had an auction prize where you can get coffee with Ivanka. The bidding was high. It was at 80 grand. And now this is no longer happening, right?

FOREMAN: Yeah. It seems like and MPR says it's off the table now. I think we're going to see a lot more of this, with this White House because, right, they're the promise all along has been, we will do things differently. It won't be business as usual. Well, that's fine. But in doing that you're bound to step across lines and make people uncomfortable and you're going to have your back up now and then.

KEILAR: Hillary Clinton did that. And there was a lot of negative response.

FOREMAN: Stayed a long time.

KEILAR: We'll see maybe times are different. I mean this is decades later. We'll see what that is. But you made a very good point that toes get stepped on.

FOREMAN: Interesting time.

KEILAR: It is. Tom Foreman, thank you so much.

Up next, the president-elect has yet to tell us how he's going to separate himself from his businesses around the world. We do know that his lawyers are hard at work and some ties are already been cut.

CNN's Drew Griffen is on the case. We'll bring that to you.

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[12:55:29] KEILAR: You may know the president-elect postponed the news conference he scheduled yesterday to hold on the issue of separating his business ties from his new responsibilities. But work to that end apparently is going on in the background.

A Trump organization attorney tells CNN the company recently "Terminated" three overseas licensing deals, two in Brazil, one in as you Azerbaijan, and still hundreds if not thousands of deals to pose conflict of interest questions like none that we have ever seen.

Here's CNN senior investigative correspondent Drew Griffin.

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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's companies spread across the globe, about 150 different limited liability corporations and companies that have had dealings in 25 countries according to a CNN analysis. But the focus is on ten countries. Donald Trump has licenses named for real estate deals and cut deals with some international businessmen that have attracted controversy. Some has under criminal investigation. Others have deep ties to their own governments. All of them could present a conflict for the president-elect.

In Turkey, Trump has licenses named with two towers owned by the business and media conglomerate founded by the billionaire Aydin Dogan. Earlier this year, Dogan was indicted in Turkey for an alleged fuel smuggling scheme. And in 2009, his company was slapped with a $2.5 billion fine for alleged unpaid taxes. The fine later reduced through an appeal. Dogan's company says these charges are politically motivated and in a statement to CNN called them absurd.

Trump's partner on golf course developments in the United Arab Emirates, billionaire Hussain Sajwani was found guilty in Egypt in a case involving allegations of government corruption. And Sajwani eventually settled out of court but the Canadian government confirmed to CNN that it froze his assets until 2014. That didn't seem to bother the president-elect, with his licenses named to Sajwani for two new Dubai golf courses.

It goes on and on. In Azerbaijan, a country with a history of corruption and human rights abuses, the Trump organization just confirmed to CNN that it's now terminated its deal for a Trump branded hotel.

In Indonesia, his partnering with a billionaire businessman, who like Trump has jumped into politics forming his own political party. And also like Trump once publicly stated in an interview he admires Vladimir Putin.

In the Philippines, his condominium licensing business partner just been named special trade envoy to the United States. It's not that there is just potential conflict of interest here, says Larry Noble with the campaign legal center, it's that the incoming U.S. president who built his business around the globe already has a world of actual conflicts of interest he will deal with on day one.

LARRY NOBLE, THE CAMPAIGN LEGAL CENTER: There is a danger, because the foreign leaders, foreign business people are going to be considered in this dealing with the president, dealing with the president's family. So they're going to making decisions knowing that if they help the president's children, they're helping the president and may get something for it.

GRIFFIN: It is a potential problem that concerns former U.S. Ambassador and former Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey especially since Trump appears to be keeping his business intact and in the family.

JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: If you do not divest yourself of all foreign holdings and for that matter, domestic holdings, put them in true blind trusts, you open yourself up obviously to these kind of questions.

GRIFFIN: Questions that will dog the Trump administration every time a decision is made concerning any country where a Trump tower or a Trump project, a Trump golf course has been built. Ambassador Jeffrey says it will be up to Trump to prove he is putting America and not his business first. And up to the rest of us to make sure.

JEFFREY: Essentially a president can do what he or she wants to do, can have the assets, can have the relationships and it's up to the American people, the media and the congress in the end to pass judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That was CNN's Drew Griffin reporting. Trump's business partners who've been accused of crime say the accusations are politically motivated. For example, Trump's business partner in Turkey believes he's being targeted because his news outlets have been critical of Turkey's government and pushing for freedom of the press. The watchdog organization Freedom House has accused the government of intense harassment of journalists.

Thank you so much for watching NEWSROOM with us today. Wolf starts right now.

[13:00:09] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow, wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

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