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Jason Miller Opts Out of White House Job; Donald Trump to Dissolve Trump Foundation; Obama Says He Could Have Won Election; Recap of Most Impactful Movements from Around the World in 2016; Weather Impacts Holiday Travel. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired December 26, 2016 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00] JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two days after it was announced Jason Miller would be the communications director for the next White House, Jason Miller actually put out a statement saying that he would not accept the role after all. Jason Miller actually cited his family, saying that his wife is expecting their second daughter in January and saying the holiday season had made it important to him -- it came to light he needed to be home with his family. It was the first time over the holidays he had been home with his family since March 2015. Jason Miller had previously worked with Senator Ted Cruz and his presidential bid. Of course, started working with Donald Trump this summer and hasn't had any time off. Jason Miller saying he will not, in fact, accept that role as communications director. And, instead, the Press Secretary Sean Spicer will be taking over the communications director role in addition to his press secretary responsibilities -- Martin?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for the explanation, Jessica Schneider.
I want to bring in now Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst and a columnist for "The Washington Post"; and also, Salena Zito, a CNN contributor, a "Washington Examiner" reporter and a "New York Post" columnist.
Josh, let me go to you first.
The Trump Foundation was used for several non-charity causes, I think is the best way to put it. Back in 2007, it reportedly spent $37,000 to purchase two large portraits of Trump, one which was hung at his resort, and reportedly there was another $258,000 to settle lawsuits Trump was facing. Trump has paid some penalty taxes as a result. How significant is this investigation at this point? He's not even president yet, but soon to be.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the investigation has Had its effect, which was to bring to light some incidents of self- dealing. The Trump Foundation paid a fine for giving what was deemed to be an inappropriate political donation to a group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi who was at the time investigating Trump University and she ended up not going through with that investigation. The Trump Foundation has been embroiled in scandals for years. And I think ending it is one small step in the right direction untangling the president-elect from his legal conflicts. This is something the transition team is dealing with very, very seriously and urgently, as they should.
One last thing is this comes right after the Eric Trump Foundation was embroiled in a scandal just last week over seeming to offer access to the president-elect and his family in exchange for campaign donations. So, it's just been a tangled mess all along.
SAVIDGE: And something they want to put behind them.
Salena, Newt Gingrich says, President Obama is in, quote, "a desperate frenzy," to save his legacy. Here's how he put in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH, (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think President Obama is beginning to figure out his legacy is like one of those dolls that as the air comes out of. It shrinks and shrinks and shrinks. He's in this desperate frenzy. What he's actually doing is sending up a whole series of things to distract Trump, which will make his liberal allies feel good about Democrats and hate Republicans when Trump rolls them all back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Let me now ask you this. Do you think that's a fair assessment, Salena?
SALENA ZITO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, President Obama has always remained personally popular throughout his presidency. There have been dips in his approval rating but people have genuinely liked him.
Having said that, in terms of his legacy, he has a lot to sort of reflect on, on how his party has been decimated down-ballot. They have lost 919 state legislative seats, 600 congressional seats, governor races and sort of statewide offices. That's the legacy part, I Suspect, that Speaker Gingrich is talking about.
Most presidents want to leave office with a strengthened and empowered political party. While he remains popular, his party has been decimated down-ballot. That's his sort of problem right now.
SAVIDGE: Josh, President Obama in an interview with David Axelrod, said he thinks he could have beaten Donald Trump in this election. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): In the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow it really was a fantasy.
I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I -- if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could have mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind It.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SAVIDGE: It would have been against the law. Of course, it's not going to happen, so it's mind candy at this particular point. I'm wondering is he just once again -- critics can say, they don't get it, the Democrats loss this election because of a basic breakdown in connecting with his voters. Or is he fantasizing that, no, I could have won if it was me?
[14:35:23] ROGIN: No. I don't think he actually wants to run again. I don't think Michelle would put Up with that again. This is an instance where President Obama has not so Subtly criticized Hillary Clinton's strategy throughout the campaign. He said maybe Democrats should have spent more time in the Rustbelt. Maybe they should have talked to more red state communities. Here he's saying that maybe she didn't go with the positive message she should have. He doesn't say it directly but the intent it clear. He's saying she went too negative too early and that ended up not working. If he had been in charge of the election, whether or not he's running or not, he's claiming he would have done it a slightly different way.
SAVIDGE: Salena, do you think President Obama has a point here? If we just ignore the fact that it was not legal for him to run again, the point he's making is That Hillary Clinton and their campaign didn't go about it the right way?
ZITO: It's interesting. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, you saw the largest amount of Trump voter -- or Obama voters vote for Trump. So, Trump took away that in theory should have been Clinton voters. That Obama sort of won over and won over their doubts. I think that was a little bit of a dig at Clinton.
SAVIDGE: And you're right about the crossover vote. I saw a lot as I was out covering it in Ohio and other places.
Josh Rogin --
ZITO: You could see it everywhere.
SAVIDGE: You could. It was significant.
Salena Zito, thank you both for joining us today.
ROGIN: Thank you.
ZITO: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: Next up, a massive search is under way after a Russian military plane crashes with 92 people on board. Now investigators are looking to try to pinpoint a cause.
Plus, from Brexit to the Rio Olympics, we'll take a look back at some of the biggest and most impactful moments from around the world over the past year. More after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:40:38] SAVIDGE: 60 members of the Russian army's official choir were on a military plane that crashed into the Black Sea on its way to entertain Russian troops in Syria. It's believed none of the 82 people on board survived. Reportedly 13 bodies were found in a massive search operation. Russian divers have found a piece of the plane's cabin. Aviation officials say pilot error or a mechanical problem may be to blame. For now, the Kremlin is ruling out terrorism as a possible cause.
In Pakistan, a fake news story almost led to threats of nuclear war. A fake story published on a website falsely quoted a former Israeli defense official saying Israel would destroy Pakistan with nukes if Pakistan sent troops to Syria. Pakistan's defense minister incorrectly assumed the story was real and warned his country is also a nuclear power. Israeli officials later said the former defense minister never threatened Pakistan.
Looking back at 2016, it was an Olympic year, an unprecedented presidential election year, a year filled with conflict of nations and the refugees who tried to flee.
CNN senior international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, takes a look at the top-10 international stories, from the scandals to political chaos to the heartbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SHOUTING)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We begin our top-10 with Brazil, a country's whose roller coaster of scandals and triumphs made news the world over. A mosquito-borne Zika outbreak leading to birth defects.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brazil is losing the battle against this virus.
WARD: Then, a political a political crisis that rocked the corridors of power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Senate removed Dilma Rousseff as president.
WARD: As backdrop to Brazil's moment in the sun.
NICK PARKER, CORRESPONDENT: The whole world will be watching Brazil as it hosts the Olympics.
WARD: Which despite a few setbacks, it was widely considered a success.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The Turkish military announcing it has taken over the country and imposed martial law.
WARD: In the dead of night, machine gunfire rings out as a coup attempt takes hold. And almost as quickly as it began, it was over. The president survived the coup attempt but some 290 others would not. Seeking retribution, President Erdogan would go on to detain and dismiss tens of thousands of people. A diplomatic thawing sees a U.S. president touch down on Cuban soil
for the first time in 88 years, infuriating Fidel Castro. Eight months later --
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Breaking news out of Cuba. Fidel Castro has died.
WARD: For some, grief for the loss of a revolutionary. For others, celebrations for the death of a ruthless dictator.
(CHEERING)
WARD: Cuban exiles thrilled as they remember a tyrant who imprisoned and executed his opponents and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
A global migrant crisis worsening by the minute. 65 million people now displaced.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: 2016 has been the deadliest year ever for migrants and refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Among those rescued, this 5-day-old infant peering out of his thin blanket.
WARD: War, terror, poverty, seeing migrant camps across the world swelling to unsustainable levels. One camp in France bulldozed to the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): What is this life? Have mercy on us. Have mercy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I wanted to tell you that you're not alone.
WARD: Coming in at number six, seismic stations around the world pick up on the unmistakable signs of North Korean aggression, but this time it's different.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: North Korea exploding its most powerful nuclear warhead ever.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: The equivalent of at least 10,000 tons of TNT, detonated deep underground.
WARD: The question now, will the next warhead be mounted on a missile?
UNIDENTIFIED CNN MILITARY ANALYST: When you have this many tests, you're eventually going to get it right.
WARD: Unimaginable acts of terror in the name of ISIS leave a bloody trail beyond the borders of Iraq and Syria.
(SHOUTING)
WARD: Two explosions rocking the main terminal at Brussels airport.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Across town, in the center of a city, a bomb exploded on a metro train.
[14:45:13] WARD: Those three suicide bombers killed 32 people. Three months later, another airport is hit.
(SHOUTING)
WARD: Three men wearing explosive vests carrying A.K.-47s exiting a tax curb side, shooting at panicked travelers before blowing themselves up.
(SIREN)
WARD: 44 people would never make it out of that Turkish airport.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: About six to eight gunmen have taken over this bakery/restaurant in Dhaka in this more affluent area in Bangladesh.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Military commandos moved in. The siege ended with 13 hostages saved, but 20 others dead at the restaurant.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: We are following breaking news out of France.
(SCREAMING)
COOPER: More than a mile of carnage as the truck drove down the beachside promise in addition killing as many people as the driver could.
WARD: A day of celebration for French independence ending with the slaughter of 84 people.
While the so-called soldiers of ISIS waged war in cities across the world, back in Iraq, the land they once laid claim to, was being taken back.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Iraqi city of Fallujah, we understand, has been liberated.
UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: Iraq's military is claiming victory in Ramadi.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news in CNN, in Iraq, an offensive to retake the key city of Mosul from ISIS is under way.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: With much international support, a lot of coalition planning, American air power -
(GUNFIRE) PATON WALSH: One came right at me.
WARD: CNN's own team would later make it inside the city limits of Mosul, and very nearly would not make it out.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We realize we're trapped. Our MRAP takes a direct hit.
(EXPLOSION)
DAMON: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
We need to move, but every time we try, gunfire drives us back.
WARD: Arwa Damon and her team would spend 28 hours trapped. An estimated one million civilians are still within this embattled city.
Across the border in Syria, another hellish landscape unfolds.
(EXPLOSION)
WARD: Its biggest city, Aleppo, the epicenter of this horror. This is what hell feels like.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): The Syrian regime's latest aerial assault.
WARD: Gallon drums filled with explosives and shrapnel shoved out of helicopters.
(SHOUTING)
PATON WALSH: Racing frantically what they say nine people stuck under that rebels.
WARD: A dazed and shell-shock boy pulled from the wreckage of his home would become the bloody face of Syria's suffering.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: He doesn't cry once. This is Omran. He's alive. We wanted you to know.
WARD: Coming in at number two, Russia flexing its military muscle at home.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Vladimir Putin moving nuclear-capable missing with the border of Poland and Lithuania.
WARD: And on a global stage.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. is blaming Russia for bombing a humanitarian convoy in Syria.
WARD: Moscow using its superior arsenal to turn the tides of war in favor of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. He told us that Russian regime forces target hospitals cynically and
deliberately.
The diplomatic vacuum between U.S. and Russia intensifying with accusations of hostile acts still shrouded in mystery.
BLITZER: A series of cyberattacks on Democrats indicate Russia is trying to sway the election for Donald Trump.
WARD: And in our number-one slot this year, the surge of populism across the West, as voters rejected the establishment. Many feeling ignored by politicians and left behind economically.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESOPNDENT: The people have voted to leave the European Union.
NIGEL FARAGE, FORMER UKIP LEADER: There is a dream that the down is breaking on an independence United Kingdom.
WARD: It was a vote that took the world by surprise. One of the main forces behind Brexit, anger over immigration.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: "They should go back to where they came from," this man says, "before we rip their heads off."
WARD: And, of course, in the U.S., where President-elect Trump capitalized on the issue.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
WARD: The rejection of globalization resonating with voters.
BLITZER: CNN projects Donald Trump wins the presidency.
WARD: Will the march of populism continue? With elections in France and Germany coming up, 2017 promises to be an interesting year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[14:50:14] SAVIDGE: Just into CNN, Israel retaliating, suspending all working ties with the 12 nations who voted in favor of that U.N. resolution that criticized Israeli settlements in the West Bank. We'll have much more on this developing story straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: The deadly outbreak of gun violence has been gripping Chicago saw no letup whatsoever over the Christmas weekend. Police say they're now investigating 27 shootings that took place either on Christmas eve or on Christmas Day. 12 of them were deadly. Chicago police superintendent, or the superintendent, held a news conference just a short time ago. He called the violence sickening. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDDIE JOHNSON, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: We now know the majority of these shootings and homicides were targeted attacks by gangs against potential rival gang members and groups who were at holiday gatherings. These were deliberate and planned shootings by one gang against another. They were targeted knowing fully well that individuals would be at the homes of family and friends celebrating the holiday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: The police superintendent's calling on Chicago policymakers to enact stricter gun laws.
Well, weather is a deciding factor in how long it's going to take for holiday travelers to return home or go wherever it is they're planning to go.
Let's bring in CNN Meteorologist Tom Sater.
Tom, how is it looking across the nation? There are a few places to worry about.
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There are. It may be easier to fly than drive in some states where all highways are shut down in parts of North and South Dakota, believe it or not. They say not only is it too dangerous to travel, it's impossible. That's mainly from around Minot to Grand Forks to Bismarck, Dickinson. In is South Dakota to the Wyoming line, we have three-foot snow drifts. Power lines are down. It's icy and you can't see. Blizzard conditions.
To the east, Chicago's rain is to the east of them but winds are picking up. Could cause slight delays. Minneapolis, maybe an inch of snow, no big deal but winds are kicking up. Sleet and freezing rain in upstate New York, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire. It's going to change to rain. No worries there.
All the warnings of the northern tier states, even though we've had snowfall from Flagstaff to mountain areas of Colorado, 6.8 yesterday. Bismarck, North Dakota to the south, blizzard conditions. Winds gusting 50 miles an hour. When you factor in winds in Minneapolis at 39, it feels much colder. Not like in North Dakota, when it's like 11 below in Minot. Chicago, 51. Things will improve as far as air travel.
To the east, we had a number of high temperature records broke on Christmas day, from Tallahassee, 82, to Paducah, Kentucky. Many records set were broken just last year on Christmas day. And many more records could be broken today. So, it's really far from holiday weather across the Deep South.
We do have snow still in some areas to the north but, again, it's mainly a rain event. And I hear 82 in Miami, where Mr. And Mrs. Claus have their condo and plan to do deep-sea fishing -- Martin?
[14:56:34] SAVIDGE: It was incredibly warm.
Tom Sater, thank you very much.
Next, Israel responds, suspending all working ties with the 12 U.S. Security Council members who voted in favor of the resolution that criticized Israeli settlement in the West Bank. We'll have a live report from Jerusalem coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:04] SAVIDGE: Hello. I'm Martin Savidge, in for Brooke Baldwin.
This just in the CNN, and it involves, arguably, the most important ally the United States has in the Middle East, Israel. Moments ago, we learned --
