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U.S. Holiday Travel; Trump's Meeting With Holocaust Denier; University Of Idaho Murders; Protests Erupt Across China; Russia's War On Ukraine; Tensions Escalate In Pakistan. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 27, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

As the holiday weekend draws to a close, we'll update you on which airports are likely to face the biggest delays.

The killings of the four college students in Idaho. We'll have the latest on the investigation and speak with a local reporter on how the town itself is coping.

And anger erupts in China like we've seldom seen before. Videos like these showing protests against the country's strict zero COVID policy.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Millions of Americans traveling home from their Thanksgiving holiday as widespread rain and show could cause delays. On Saturday over 2,000 flights were delayed due to adverse weather, according to FlightAware. More delays and cancellations are expected in the coming hours.

Travel headaches are expected to cross multiple parts of the country, including the Northeast, the Southeast, Texas and the Pacific Northwest on Sunday.

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BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. president Donald Trump is trying to downplay a meeting he had last week with a Holocaust denier. Nick Fuentes has trivialized atrocities against Jews and he promotes ideas saying it's actually whites being targeted with genocide.

Trump's acknowledged the visit, saying Kanye West showed up with other people. West is under fire for his own comments. He's supposed to text with Fuentes, saying they both met with Trump and Ye said Trump was really impressed with Fuentes. [04:05:00]

BRUNHUBER: Trump posted this. He said he didn't know the three people West showed up with. And there was a quick and uneventful dinner. He notably didn't reject Fuentes or his anti-Semitic and racist views. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden spent his Saturday shopping in downtown Nantucket as his administration tried to promote small business Saturday. And it was on that shopping trip Biden briefly responded to reporters' questions about Donald Trump's recent dinner with a white nationalist, Nick Fuentes.

Take a listen to what President Biden had to say.

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QUESTION: Mr. President, what do you think about Trump having dinner with a white nationalist?

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You don't want to hear what I think.

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SAENZ: While President Biden didn't elaborate on his comment, the White House has offered a more fulsome response. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates telling CNN, quote, "Bigotry, hate and anti- Semitism have absolutely no place in America, including at Mar-a-Lago.

"Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous and it must be forcefully condemned."

No surprise this is how the Biden White House would be responding. President Biden based so much of his 2020 campaign on the former president's response to the clashes down in Charlottesville. And he has spoken out against extreme hateful rhetoric as well as prejudice in this country.

Now on Sunday President Biden is returning to Washington with a long to-do list for him to confront, including trying to fund the government, as that government funding is set to expire on December 16th.

The White House is also hoping to fold in additional funding for the pandemic, Ukraine and disaster relief. The president is also hoping he can sign a bill protecting same-sex and interracial marriage once that comes up for a vote in the Senate later this week.

While here in Nantucket the president expressed a desire to try to get some new gun legislation passed, including a possible ban on assault weapons in the wake of that spate of mass shootings in this country.

Of course, he's facing an uphill climb, as the votes simply don't exist for an assault weapons ban to pass in Congress -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

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BRUNHUBER: Now it's been two weeks since the killing of four University of Idaho students. Local, state and federal investigators are still looking for answers. After more than a thousand tips and at least 150 interviews, they have yet to identify a suspect or discover a murder weapon.

Here's CNN's Camila Bernal with the latest on the investigation.

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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been extremely frustrating for the families and the friends of the victims and frankly for the entire community because it's two weeks later and we still don't have a motive.

We don't have a weapon and we do not have a suspect. Authorities saying they need more time to look over the crime scene, to process the crime scene. They say things like blood needs to be evaluated, fingerprints, tire marks.

They've already taken about 4,000 pictures at the scene. They've also collected about 100 pieces of evidence. They've done 3D scans and there's more to do. There that's all in addition to the hundreds and hundreds of tips they've received, about 1,000 so far.

And authorities say they've already done about 150 interviews. So it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of money. Governor Brad Little already pledging up to $1 million to help in terms of resources for this investigation.

And we've seen those resources there. Officers even working on Thanksgiving Day. In terms of the case and the timeline, it's pretty much the same. What authorities have been telling us is that these four students went out on Saturday night, November 12th; came back on Sunday at around 2:00 in the morning.

They're believed to have been killed during the early morning hours, stabbed multiple times while they were likely sleeping. Some of them did have defensive wounds, so it's possible that some of them fought back.

But there are still so many questions as to what exactly happened that night. One thing, though, that authorities are saying, is that they believe this was a targeted attack -- Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

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BRUNHUBER: Earlier I spoke with Angela Palermo, a reporter with the "Idaho Statesman," and I asked her about the mood in the town and how other college students were reacting.

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ANGELA PALERMO, "IDAHO STATESMAN": It's been two weeks since the attack happened. And like you said, it's a small, close-knit community. We haven't had a murder here since 2015. So the local police force is really unfamiliar with, you know, how to deal with this.

And I think the community members are feeling just a lot of shock and uneasiness. I know some people who are carrying a knife on their person now or carrying a concealed firearm. You know, people getting pepper spray, keeping a flashlight on them.

A lot of people are shaken and concerned that the person who did this hasn't been caught. A lot of students headed home a week early before the Thanksgiving break. And a lot of them aren't considering coming back for the rest of the semester.

The university is making online class participation an option. So students who do want to go in person certainly can.

Those who want to be here in person can do that. But the university is also making online classes an option so that, if students feel more comfortable staying home, you know, in other parts of the state or wherever they're coming from, I think a lot of parents may not feel comfortable sending their students back.

So the university is trying to be as flexible as they can there.

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BRUNHUBER: That was Angela Palermo with the "Idaho Statesman."

Ukraine commemorates the victims of a historic famine that claimed millions of lives. But in the process, they're trying to help other nations who need food right now. We'll have a live report on that.

As well as this: people in China take to the streets as anger and frustration explodes over the country's strict COVID policy. We're live from Beijing after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Dozens of protests erupted on university campuses and in cities across China on Saturday in an unprecedented show of defiance and anger against the government's restrictive zero COVID policy. Many shouted for leader Xi Jinping and the Communist Party to step down.

A deadly fire at an apartment building appears to be fueling the most recent anger, as video appeared, which showed lockdown measures delayed firefighters from reaching the victims. Now in an op-ed published Sunday morning, Chinese state media calls

the current measures, quote, "scientifically effective." Let's get the latest from CNN's Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER, BEIJING BUREAU: You look at how the authorities handled the aftermath. On one hand, they rejected claims that the COVID measures had anything to do with the inability for the firefighters to reach the fire quickly.

On the other hand, the COVID restrictions are so severe everyone had to be locked down. All of a sudden they launch this campaign and face reopening. That's the loudest wakeup call to a lot of people, how increasingly ineffective and unscientific and not to mention potentially dangerous this COVID policy has become.

That's why we have seen people across this country really trying to take the matter into their own hands. Not only do you see people taking to the streets, demanding their freedom, clashing with security forces but also even here in Beijing, for example, residents are seen tearing down fences that were put in place to seal them off.

All of that culminating Saturday night into Sunday morning, with multiple vigils and protests, often spearheaded by young people on the university campuses. They're seen holding up white paper, white being the color of mourning not only for the victims but also indicating there's so much anger and frustration pent up inside themselves.

But they were not allowed to express them. For a lot of these university students, their entire college life has been under some form of a lockdown -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Looking at the video, you see how big the protests are. You see the police presence there. You talk about clashes with authorities.

Is there a chance that the crackdown on the protests might turn more violent, maybe even deadly?

JIANG: That is a potential worry because, when you look at these protests, I think they are widespread, as you mentioned. But that one extraordinary protest -- you played some of the sound in the introduction -- was the one taking place in downtown Shanghai.

The protesters chanting slogans directly targeting the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping. That was such a watershed moment in the minds of so many people. So far even opponents of the policy have been dancing around this, saying the policy may not be all wrong and the leadership, really, their heart was in the right place.

But blaming the local enforcement and pointing a finger at overzealous and incompetent officials, protesters in Shanghai directly challenging the legitimacy of the Communist Party and its leader. As you know, that's simply not tolerated here.

That's why there's a lot of concern and worry about the protesters. Some of them have been taken away by police. We understand that's why a crowd has, again, gathered up in Shanghai on the same location, demanding their release.

So I think there is a lot of concern there. But not to mention, of course, from the government's perspective, there is also a lot of fear this kind of chanting and protests could inspire others across this country. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. We'll keep an eye on this important story throughout the morning.

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BRUNHUBER: Steven Jiang, thanks so much.

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BRUNHUBER: A somber commemoration of a near century-old tragedy in Ukraine. Across the country, people lit candles to mark the Holodomor, literally death by starvation. This was the manmade famine that killed millions in the Soviet Union during the winter of 1932.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew a comparison to the fight his country faces today. Here he is.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ukrainians went through genocide and, today, we're doing everything possible and impossible to stop Russia's new genocidal policy.

A new one but similar to the one that killed millions of people in the 20th century. And we don't just fight off aggression. Step by step, we're creating a system that will stop aggression, dismantle its consequences and guarantee long-term security, the security of Ukraine, all of Europe and the world.

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BRUNHUBER: But for the time being, many Ukrainians are feeling anything but secure. Power is almost completely restored in Kyiv but electricity is still in short supply across the country.

President Zelenskyy hosted an international food summit to help millions of people who are struggling to put food on the table. For more, Sam Kiley joins us from Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine.

Sam, take us through this Grain from Ukraine initiative.

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think it's any kind of coincidence at all that, on the day that Ukraine marks the Holodomor, the Stalinist genocide of Ukrainians in the early 1930s, in which many millions were deliberately and systematically starved.

Ukrainians are getting together an international body to try to fund the movement of grain from Ukraine to parts of the world, particularly in Africa, but elsewhere where grain prices have shot through the roof as a result of Russia's invasion of this country.

This is something that is burned into the soul of Ukrainians, the experience of the Holodomor at the hands of Stalin. It's something the German chancellor was keen to drive home when he talked about how hunger could not be used as a weapon of war again. This is what he said.

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OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: The gruesome tactics applied back entailed isolation and the confiscation of grain and food supplies, the forced deportation of Ukrainians.

Today we stand united in stating that hunger must never again be used as a weapon. That is why we cannot tolerate what we are witnessing.

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KILEY: Hunger and attacks on civilians is being used as a weapon by Russia. It's as if they've taken Stalin's playbook from the Holodomor, blown off the dust and are trying to repeat history. So that, for example, they've been going after civilian populations.

They've systematically tried to destroy the energy infrastructure here. They're prosecuting a war under false pretenses against the completely fallacious argument that they're coming in to rescue Ukraine from Nazism, of all things, with a Jewish president.

These are all ludicrous causus belli from the Russians and they are similar, indeed, as any student of history will tell you, that the sort of justification used during the Holodomor. And its aim was to wipe Ukraine as a culture off the map. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Sam, you mentioned attacks on civilian infrastructure; railways were hit by missiles this morning as well as some attacks around Zaporizhzhya.

What more can you tell us?

KILEY: Just a couple of nights ago, I was able to watch a train snaking its way across a bridge not very far from here, almost a romantic sight in the context of war, something that Russia doesn't want to see.

So in the neighboring oblast or province, they have struck a rail hub. And now the rail system has been badly damaged. It will take some time, local authorities are saying, to repair.

On the outskirts of this city, once again strikes by some unknown missiles against an agricultural facility; we don't have much more details except there were no serious injuries as a consequence.

Those are the steady state attacks, different from the massive attacks of the cruise missiles that happen every 10 days or so. There's been seven of them against the critical infrastructure.

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KILEY: Further south in liberated Kherson, according to local authorities, there have been 54 different incidents of artillery and other attacks across nearly 20 different small communities, small villages and, of course, the regional capital itself of Kherson city, one person killed recently in those Russian attacks, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much, Sam Kiley in Zaporizhzhya. Appreciate it.

Soccer fans are gearing up for the second week of the World Cup. When we come back, we'll look at the most anticipated matches on the schedule. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Thank you for watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile Iran's supreme leader is hailing the country's paramilitary force for its role in the deadly crackdown on protests. In a televised national address, Ayatollah Khamenei praised the military, calling the protesters "rioters and thugs" and alleged they were being backed by foreign forces.

For more, we're live with Jomana Karadsheh.

The Iranian regimes doubling down on the harsh response to protests.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the regime describes them as, rioters, thugs and mercenaries, agents of foreign powers, that this whole protest movement is a foreign plot by the enemies of the Islamic Republic -- Israel, the U.S., U.K., Germany, Saudi Arabia.

And they've used this as a pretext to crack down on the protests. On Thursday we heard from the United Nations human rights chief. He is urging the regime to listen to its people, to address their legitimate grievances, saying this is the typical narrative of tyranny, as he described it.

And saying that this approach, this fortress mentality, that doesn't work anymore, asking him to listen to the people. And he's saying what they're doing is only aggravating the situation. And this is exactly what we've been seeing for over two months. The more the government cracks down, the more people getting killed, the more people getting arrested, this is making people angrier. It's feeding the anger of those out on the streets, making them more determined to protest and demand regime change.

That speech made by the supreme leader, Kim, he was addressed the Basij, the paramilitary forces you mentioned that is a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. And it has been at the forefront of this crackdown. It's been leading the way in the violent repression of the protests in an attempt to crush them, as it has for years.

So people looking at this see this as the regime not in any way softening its position, standing its ground, a green light essentially to continue with this crackdown. And it's coming at a time where we've heard the warnings from the United Nations and others.

More than 300 people have been killed. The U.N. say that's a conservative estimate. More than 14,000 people have been arrested. The numbers are believed to be much higher than that as well. And at least 16 protesters have been sentenced to death for taking part in the demonstrations.

So the concern is with the regime not backing down, the protesters saying they're going to continue and they're not backing down either, the concern is the situation is going to get much, much worse, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much for that report, Jomana Karadsheh. Appreciate it.

A recently liberated city facing an uphill battle with winter. Still ahead, we'll talk with a security expert, who came back from Kherson. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan called off a protest march to the capital city, Islamabad, on Saturday. It was his first public appearance after a gun attack, which he says was an assassination attempt. He is pushing the government for early elections and says he called off the march to avoid violence. Here he is.

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IMRAN KHAN, FORMER PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I have decided not go to Islamabad because I know there will be destruction and the loss will be to the country. Instead of causing destruction in our country, creating havoc in our country, it's better that we get out of this corrupt system. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Khan has said the prime minister and others were behind the plot to kill him. The government and military officials have denied the accusation.

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BRUNHUBER: Crews are working to restore power to the recently liberated city of Kherson.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This was the scene as people celebrated the withdrawal of Russian troops. But that's given way to the reality of what they've left behind. Power is out, with plants suffering heavy damage. That has authorities urging residents to leave Kherson before the plummeting temperatures. There's also been renewed shelling as Russian troops moved to the western bank of the Dnipro River.

Maria Avdeeva is a disinformation and security expert. She joins us now from Odessa to give us a firsthand account about the situation in Kherson.

Thank you so much for being here. Before we get to Kherson, you're in Odessa; like many people across the country, dealing with power outages, water outages.

What's the situation there?

MARIA AVDEEVA, DISINFORMATION AND SECURITY EXPERT: The situation is quite critical because still the electricity is off for most of the day for a lot of residents in Odessa.

And that means that the people cannot get heat and cannot get water. And this is the Russian tactics, to put Ukraine into submission by weaponizing winter. As the temperature gets cold, it's starting for people to get more and more difficult to go on.

But nevertheless, they say they won't be able to be broken by this. And Russia will not get to their next goal, no matter what their next steps.

BRUNHUBER: You were in Kherson last week. The Russians retreated from there.

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BRUNHUBER: What are you hearing from residents?

AVDEEVA: The people are suffering a lot. They say they couldn't breathe freely. When they went outside -- and they tried not to do so -- they were trying to put their hands down, just not to look up and see Russian soldiers, because that was the most difficult to see occupiers on their own land. Then people said, those who live near by the torture cells, which

Russian troops made in several locations in Kherson, they heard the screams of Ukrainians brought there to the torture cells, with the bloodbaths on their hands.

And people said this was unbearable to see those people suffering and to understand what is going on just nearby.

BRUNHUBER: Gosh, yes. You can imagine why. So you can then imagine how they were celebrating as those pictures we showed just moments ago, when the Russians left.

Has that feeling of celebration changed in the weeks that have passed now?

AVDEEVA: Now Kherson feels much more different. The feeling of happiness and joyful is still there. But still now people are getting more and more terrified because of the constant Russian shelling.

And that's what authorities and military are telling people to be aware of, that this will be intensified. People are advised to evacuate because, just yesterday, they gained more than 50 Russian missiles and rockets landed in Kherson and nearby areas.

And this is a barrage of missiles that the city and those nearby get every day. So people evacuated by their own cars and the government also sets up the buses that every day take up to 100 residents of Kherson to a safer area, where they can wait until the moment comes and they will be able to return.

Because no one wants to leave their homes, especially now when Kherson is free. But there is -- for many people, there is no other choice because it's too difficult to survive without water and without electricity and without heat.

BRUNHUBER: And not just the residents; you say the hospitals as well are having to evacuate patients not just because of shelling but, as you said, because of the water and electricity.

AVDEEVA: Absolutely. I talked to an older woman who lives on the fifth floor. Her husband is ill. She said, he cannot get any medical treatment because the hospitals as well don't have water supply. There is no internet connection. You cannot call the ambulance.

And she cannot take him out of the apartment because they live on the fifth floor. So for people like this couple, it's urgent to be evacuated, at least for some time. And that's what hospitals do. They evacuate the hospitals and the patients to a safer location like Odessa, here.

And then everyone waits until the electricity will be restored. But still, while Russian troops are continuing the shelling and while they're located so close to the city, it will be too dangerous to return to Kherson.

BRUNHUBER: Listen, really appreciate your insights on this, Maria Avdeeva in Odessa, thanks so much for speaking with us.

All right. When we come back, you'll meet China's first Formula 1 star. He's racing to fame so fast, people are starting to recognize him everywhere he goes. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Search and rescue operations continue for victims of a landslide on the Italian island of Ischia. One was killed and 10 others are missing. Eight people have been rescued. But weather conditions are making search for others difficult.

Cars, buildings and roads were also damaged when torrential rain swept through the island on the Gulf of Naples on Saturday.

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I'm Kim Brunhuber at CNN Center in Atlanta. You can follow me on Twitter. I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM. Please do stay with us.