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Israel Advances Plans for Homes in E. Jerusalem; Kerry to Give Speech on Mideast in Coming Days; Trump Announces Homeland Security Team Member; Violent Brawls Break Out at Malls across U.S. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired December 27, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:16]

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: -- back to cover the hole and conceal their escape. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

Good morning, I'm Suzanne Malveaux in for Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. From scorching rhetoric to swift now, Israel announcing it is advancing plans to build hundreds of homes in East Jerusalem, despite a U.N. resolution condemning settlements in that area and the West Bank just days ago. That news comes as Israel also says it will curb ties with the 12 nations who backed that resolution. The move, which does not affect trade or other aspects of these relationships, is meant to highlight the fury of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And one reason for the Prime Minister's anger, well that is the belief that the U.S. orchestrated the vote. Here's what Netanyahu's spokesman told CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KEYES, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU'S SPOKESMAN: That evidence is going to be presented to the new administration through the proper channels and they can choose to share that if they'd like. But I can tell you that, I myself, have seen the information and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that information exists and what it shows is, is that the Obama administration helped craft and push and lobby for this United Nations Security Council resolution which is so outrageous and frankly, it's an abandonment of a long-standing position of the American administration to protect Israel at the United Nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Our own CNN's Oren Liebermann, he's joining us now from Jerusalem. And Oren, do we have any more details about this evidence that they may have?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: We've tried. We've pushed David Keyes, who you heard from right there, as well as Israeli officials in the U.S. and others Israeli officials here and they have yet to present any of this information or this evidence that they say that they have, that shows the U.S. was behind in any way this U.N. Security Council resolution. We'll keep pushing them, but they have yet to put forward that information. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not be abiding by this resolution and we're already seeing that. Tomorrow at a Jerusalem Zoning Committee meeting, the city is set to advance plans for hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem. And these were already on the agenda before the Security Council vote. But that's exactly the point. This Security Council vote was supposed to stop the construction. Jerusalem, the city and the deputy mayor saying, they weren't going to stop building before and they're certainly not going to stop building now.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu taking diplomatic action, on Christmas Day, he had summoned the ambassadors of the countries that voted for the resolution. Now, he's limiting the contacts with ministries and embassies as these moves forward. He said it's a temporary limit and it really has no practical effect. It doesn't affect trade, or cooperation, or coordination of security or anything like that. What it does is, it sends a very strong signal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is furious at this. Most of his anger, pointed at President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. He's hoped though and he's made it this clear in his statements. He's looking forward to working with President-elect Trump and Trump's pick for Israeli ambassador who -- whose views match Netanyahu's far more than the current administration.

MALVEAUX: All right, Oren, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

As U.S.-Israel tensions remain high, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, he is expected to deliver a speech on the U.S.' vision for Middle East peace in the next couple of days. It is interesting timing as there are only 24 days left for the Obama administration. And our CNN's Elise Labbott, she is live now in Washington this morning. Let's unpack this, Elise, a lot of questions here. First of all, I'm wondering what is the point, Secretary Kerry, laying out a U.S. Middle East peace plan or initiative, is this, the Obama administration articulating its visions, its aspirations, a signal to our Middle East allies or perhaps even an appeal to the incoming president as a road map forward?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, I think it's a combination of all of the above. I mean, you remember, Secretary of State Kerry spent the better part of a year trying to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to have direct talks. He was shuttling back and forth between the two of them, trying to get them for direct talks and then trying to get a peace deal together. He did make progress on some of the issues but was not able to close the deal.

And so, I think, he has been kind of working this ever since. Meeting with both Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas and you know, I think, the administration, particularly Secretary Kerry, feels that they would be remiss if they left office without laying out their vision for how they see a deal. I mean, look, you've covered the White House, successive presidents, all kind of came to the same type of conclusions. You could call them the Clinton parameters. You can call them the Bush Annapolis process. I mean, all of the presidents as they left office, felt that they were, you know, within reach of a peace deal but they ran out of time. And I think, this is an effort by Secretary Kerry to show how he sees a deal playing out for the next incoming administration. And I think everyone knows what pretty much the parameters of a deal are. It's just -- really the question is whether the parties are willing to make the compromises to make that deal. And I think that's another thing that Secretary of State John Kerry will get into. Because when I interviewed him, a couple of months ago, that's exactly what

[10:05:16] he said. He said I didn't fail, the U.S. didn't fail, the parties failed to make the necessary concessions because we all know what the deal is, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Sure and Elise, you bring up a good point. I mean, it is so consistent, every president goes in says, they're going do - you know, they're going to get this done, Middle East peace, and then end up having really to try to at least explain what they tried to do during their administrations. Let's talk about five days before the U.S. presidential inauguration. They'll be these talks in Paris over Israeli/Palestinian negotiations. Could that have any impact at all once Trump takes office five days later?

LABOTT: I personally don't think so. I mean, I think, the incoming Trump administration will be watching it certainly. These are a lot of U.S. allies that will be gathering. I'm sure the Obama administration will be represented in some way. And they will lay out what they think is the way forward. They could perhaps take what's enshrined in that conference to -- back to the U.N. Security Council for a resolution.

But I think President-elect Trump has made clear that he is not interested in negotiating this at the United Nations. That he thinks that he's going to be the president to finally make that, what he calls the ultimate deal, and I have to tell you, it's not just the Israelis that are excited about President Trump and what he might do for Israel and the peace process. I've talked to Palestinian officials, that they feel that maybe with his unorthodox approach, that he could finally get some traction, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, we will see. Elise Labbott, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Let's talk about this further. Joining me now, Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst and "Washington Post" columnist, Rebecca Berg, she is CNN political analyst and national political reporter for "Real Clear Politics." Thanks for joining me. First of all, Josh, sources tell CNN that Israel is worried about this follow-up resolution at the United Nations. This is one that would impose terms for the peace negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That could actually happen in the next couple of weeks. So, how will that news that Israel's moving forward with plans to build those homes in East Jerusalem influence that negotiation?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND COLUMNIST "WASHINGTON POST": For the Israelis, I think this latest resolution, simply raised the priority of the U.N. actions to the top of their agenda. This is now the most important thing for the Israeli government to deal with. They view this as an essential issue. They're going to the mats on it. They're going to fight it as much as they can.

Now, for the Obama administration, they have to weigh whether or not another U.N. resolution is actually going to do more harm than good. They had a list of things they wanted to do before the end of their administration, laying out the peace parameters was one. The U.N. resolution on settlements was another. That's probably enough. They've sort of made their points. You know, they don't need to add insult to injury. But for the Israelis, this is simply most important thing that they have to deal with in the next three weeks. And they're going to try to fight it and use every tool at their disposal.

MALVEAUX: And Rebecca, Obama's deputy national security advisor, he says that there wasn't an ambush at the U.N. because the president and Secretary Kerry, they've made it clear over the years, really, that the settlements were a barrier to the implementation of the two-state solution. And John Kerry now, expected to speak about that in about a week or so. Should we expect him to speak harshly about the new settlements? Is he going to emphasize that point? What would that accomplish?

REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER "REAL CLEAR POLITICS": Well, I wouldn't be surprised if he did that, Suzanne, just because the Obama administration and Secretary Kerry now have to really aggressively defend their decision not to intervene with this U.N. resolution, and their past positions on Israeli settlements. So, this is going to be an important opportunity for them to really make the case for why they did what they did, make the case for why it isn't necessarily an attack on Israel by the United States, an attack on one of our allies.

And it's an important speech as well because Secretary Kerry really needs to send a message I think to the incoming Trump administration. Clearly, the Obama administration and Donald Trump have very different views about how to deal with Israel, how to deal with this issue of settlements and how to deal with a potential peace process. And I think this administration is going to want to send a strong message to Donald Trump about how they see this and how they see the world more broadly in hopes that maybe he will take heed. But so far, he's not really listening to what they've said about this in the past.

MALVEAUX: And not surprising, Josh, you know, for the second day Israeli officials claim to have proof that the Obama administration coordinated the U.N. vote. One official even calling it as parting shot by the president but they say they're going to give this information, not now, not reveal it now, but to the Trump administration. So what is the strategy, do you think, behind that?

ROGIN: Yes, I mean, this has always been a little bit confusing to me. Because the Obama administration has been thinking about this and planning for this for well over a year, OK, and they don't make a decision

[10:10:16] to abstain from a U.N. vote regarding Israel without a lot of forethought, all right. Now, whether or not they were -- they definitely weren't an innocent bystander. Whether or not they were actually the main driver and what evidence exists, I think we're all interested to find out. But the bottom line is that, the Obama administration was involved in this, they're not denying that basic fact. And, you know, whether or not this evidence comes out, this decision -- will be part of the Obama administration's legacy and it should be.

MALVEAUX: And Rebecca, Donald Trump said earlier this year the United Nations is not a friend to Israel. He has slammed the organization on Twitter in recent days. And, you know, calling it just a place for people to hang out and have fun. Do you think there's going to be a significant shift in the relationship with the United States and the U.N.?

BERG: Well, there certainly could be. And I think his comments, Suzanne, really do preview that difficult relationship. And it's really going to create a tough situation for the incoming ambassador to the United Nations. Nikki Haley, who doesn't have any real foreign policy/United Nations experience, having been the governor of South Carolina, and so she's going to have her work cut out for her. Having to make inroads at the United Nations, at the same time, that Donald Trump is insulting the institution and she's really going to have to chart a new course in terms of how we deal with the United Nations, how the administration will deal with the United Nations. So it will be very interesting, at least from my perspective, to see how she deals with some of these challenges and how she deals with President- elect Trump's very aggressive stance towards the U.N.

MALVEAUX: Very interesting for all of us. We'll all be paying close attention. Rebecca Berg, Josh Rogin, thank you so much, stay with me.

Coming up, Donald Trump taps a former Bush advisor for his cabinet and he doesn't agree with the president-elect's stance on Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:41] MALVEAUX: Donald Trump has added a new member to his transition team. Thomas Bossert will be the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and counterterrorism. Bossert is a veteran of the George Bush administration. He was the former assistant to the president for Homeland Security and is now a specialist in cybersecurity. Jessica Schneider, she's live in Palm Beach following this story. Interesting pick for Donald Trump, what else can you tell us about him?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are few things to note, Suzanne. But first of all, you know, Thomas Bossert is a veteran when it comes to national security issues. As you mentioned, he served under George W. Bush as deputy Homeland Security adviser. And since 2009, he has run his own firm, a national security consulting firm. The Trump team saying, that this will essentially be an elevated position. It's officially being called the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and counterterrorism.

But in the notice today, the Trump team saying, that it will be an elevated position designed to work hand-in-hand with the national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. The Trump team saying, that Bossert will focus on national and transnational security issues, while Michael Flynn will then focus on international security issues. In particular, Bossert will be consulting with the president, advising him when it comes to Homeland Security, also cybersecurity, as well as counterterrorism.

Interesting when it comes to cybersecurity that was something that was in particular, mentioned in the statement released by the Trump team today. Especially that's of note, considering the recent revelations of the Russian hacking during the election season. Thomas Bossert, actually saying, in that statement that he would articulate a cyber doctrine that reflects the wisdom of free markets but also limited government.

Now, interestingly, although Thomas Bossert did serve under the George W. Bush administration, now being tapped to serve in the Trump team, he did write somewhat of a controversial -- might become a controversial op-ed in the "Washington Times" just about one year ago, November 2015. This op-ed was talking about the conflict in Syria and in particular referenced both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. I'll read one line for you. Thomas Bossert saying, about a year ago saying, "To be clear, the use of military force against Iraq and Afghanistan was and remains just."

Of course, this is something that Donald Trump spoke out, repeatedly about throughout the campaign, repeatedly saying that he was against the invasion in Iraq, saying that he had articulated that position many times. Of course, we know that he did tell Howard Stern in 2002, before the invasion, that he did support it. But could that be of issue, could it be something that will be raised by critics, apparently, Donald Trump, not taking issue with that as he has named Thomas Bossert to be his adviser for Homeland Security and counterterrorism. Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Jessica, very insightful. Thank you so much. Appreciate that. I want to get a little bit more detail on this. Let's bring back our panel. Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst and "Washington Post" columnist, Rebecca Berg, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for "Real Clear Politics." So Josh, let's start off with that, that was pretty interesting, the pick - Donald Trump's pick here for Homeland Security.

ROGIN: Yes.

MALVEAUX: The team really having a different opinion on Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of whether or not we even should have gone in. What do you make of that?

ROGIN: Sure, well, I don't think it's a deal breaker for Donald Trump if some of his officials were and remain in favor of the Iraq war. Remember, Vice President-elect Mike Pence was a proud cheerleader of the invasion of Iraq, you know, still maintains that position today. What's interesting about this pick is that, here you've got a technocratic, a cyber guy, and that's outside the mold of much of Trump's national security picks. We've seen a lot of generals. We've seen a lot of people focused on fighting Islamic extremism. Even Trump's Homeland Security pick General Kelly, didn't really have any experience with sort of the nuts and bolts of Homeland Security, which is a very technical cyber-driven mission, OK?

So he's bolstering up that side of the shop, which is a good thing. -- We're also looking at a National Security Council that's going to be a lot smaller than it was during the Obama administration. What Obama did was he expanded the White House National Security staff to over 400 people. Trump is going to shrink that down to as little as 100 people.

So, each one of these positions is going to have a lot more responsibility. And this is one of those big positions that's going to have a lot of responsibility.

MALVEAUX: Not surprising too, that the focus is on cybersecurity considering the Obama administration that was really at the forefront is to deal with that threat,

[10:20:16] that that was like the new threat that the United States was quite vulnerable to, that we've -- known for some years here. Rebecca, let's talk about Trump firing off some of these late-night tweets yesterday, including this one. He says that, "The world was gloomy before I won. There was no hope. Now the market is up nearly 10 percent and Christmas spending is over a trillion dollars!" I guess you could make the argument that the market is higher because of the election but, I don't know, taking credit for holiday spending? What do we make of this?

BERG: The holiday spending might be a bridge too far, at least, to draw a direct connection there between Donald Trump and his victory and Christmas spending. But certainly, a big part of the optimism in the market right now, Suzanne, is that traders do feel and investors do feel that Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress will be better for business. Donald Trump said his administration is a sign that the country is going to be open for business. They've talked a lot about corporate and individual tax reform. And those are things that businesses have been wanting to see in addition to Trump's promise to roll back Dodd-Frank Banking regulations.

There's a lot of reason for businesses to be optimistic right now. But at the same time, the economy has grown a great deal under President Obama and Donald Trump isn't necessarily giving him credit for that. So he's giving himself credit. Not necessarily giving President Obama his due as well. But certainly a very bullish market right now as a result of this election. Although, I would caution that there is still a great deal of uncertainty, especially when it comes to Donald Trump on foreign policy and that also factors into the market as well usually.

MALVEAUX: Sure. And, Josh, Trump also went after the U.N., writing, he says that, "The United Nations has such great potential but right now it's just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!" We've heard of previous administrations really, you know, saying, OK, the U.N., NATO, EU, some of these other international bodies are not -- don't really have the teeth that are necessary to get things done. Do you think that Trump's statement here he's reconsidering our position with the United Nations and with NATO? Do we take this seriously? ROGIN: I take it very seriously. First of all, I don't -- I've been watching the U.N. Security Council, doesn't seem like they're having that good of a time, actually. They're dealing with pretty tough issues and it gets pretty contentious, actually. But setting that to one side, I think that this administration is going to take a drastically different position, vis-a-vis the U.N., that we've seen over the last eight years. And the first battle is going to be over how they respond to this Israel resolution and Security Council.

You've got a big drive in Congress to reduce U.S. funding to the U.N. That's going to be a confrontation if the Trump administration decides to join that battle, looks like they just might. We're going to be facing a period of contentiousness where the United States tries to pressure the U.N. into making some big changes in the way it does business by withholding dues. And the last time that happened, it got very, very ugly. So, that's what we're looking at in the months ahead.

MALVEAUX: Certainly does not look like a party there over at the U.N. Security Council. Josh Rogin, Rebecca Berg, thank you so much, really appreciate it.

And still to come -- brawls breaking out at malls in a dozen states from Colorado to Connecticut.

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[10:27:07] MALVEAUX: A meltdown at malls across the country as brawls break out in several states. Over a dozen incidents were reported at malls from Texas to Connecticut and Illinois. Several of them are forced to evacuate or lockdown after false reports of shots fired sent shoppers running. Our own Sara Sidner, she is live in Los Angeles. Sara, just tell us what's happening, what is going on?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is such a good question. What the heck is going on? There's mayhem in these shopping malls, all the way from Colorado, straight across to Connecticut, brawls breaking out among teenagers in a lot of these malls that were packed with families. And you know this as well as I do, this is the traditional post-holiday shopping run, right? You look for deals or you're returning those unwanted gifts. Well, this is what families encountered in Manchester, Connecticut.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER (voice-over): People there were screaming. Punches being thrown inside the shops at Buckland Hills ending with a chase and an officer reportedly assaulted trying to break up the fight. Then we move on to the middle of the country in Fort Worth, Texas. A mall there put on lockdown after a massive fight ensues near the food court. Apparently, there were more than 100 middle and high school students involved in that one. The madness ending with officers having to go store to store to let shoppers out once the lockdown was lifted.

We'll move on to Aurora, Illinois. Cold outside, a lot of teenagers go to the mall. Well, another fight involved there, multiple people at Fox Valley Mall. The mall closed for the entire day after that fight. And in Ohio, another mall, another fight, in the food court, again. Now to Colorado, the town of Aurora, the Aurora Town Mall there closed and evacuated after not one but several fights broke out inside that mall. And here's what police say prompted what happened there.

SGT. CHRIS AMSLER, AURORA POLICE: Our investigation revealed how this all started was actually from social media. There was something that was going around on social media about a fight that was going to take place here at the Town Center of Aurora which is what drew all of these people who are up to no good to our mall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And then there's this. Not a fight but a serious scare for families in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Police say teenagers set off fireworks and shoppers thought that was the sound of gun shots. They were so frightened, they started running. And several shoppers ended up being injured as they tried to run out of the mall.

I do - Suzanne, I want to go back to what we heard from Aurora, Colorado, and the police officer there, talking about how this all started. He mentioned that social media, there was something on social media saying there was going to be a fight at the mall and a lot of kids I suppose saw that and then decided to show up. And so, that's why you've got the large crowds. And that's something I'm sure law enforcement is looking at now to see if there's some kind of a pattern that went out to a huge number of people that got sent all over the country and that may have some connection with all of these different fights, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Sara, in light of that fact, in light of that suspicion there, do the police or authorities think they could get ahead of this next time, if there's another holiday when a lot of kids are out and about, and they're out of school. That they might be able to search through social media sites and really kind of predict or see ahead of time those --