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Thousands Risk Safety Protesting In China Over COVID Lockdowns; Houston Closes Schools Amid Citywide Boil Water Alert; Trump Faces Criticism For Hosting Holocaust Denier At Mar-A-Lago. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 28, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello everyone, I'm Alisyn Camerota. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.

People in China are rising up against the COVID lockdowns, a rare and remarkable protest that's really stretching across the country. CNN has confirmed at least 16 locations in 11 cities where there have been these demonstrations.

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BLACKWELL: Thousands are risking their lives as government forces have crackdown. Demonstrators oppose the zero-COVID policy the government imposed in response to the latest outbreak, which is the largest since the first report of Coronavirus in Wuhan in 2019. There were more than 40,000 cases in a single day, according to the Chinese Health Commission.

CAMEROTA: And many in China blame the COVID restrictions for trapping people in a deadly fire. 10 people were killed on Thursday after witnesses said the strict protocols delayed fire crews from reaching the victims. And that tragedy is igniting this wave of demonstrations. A protester in Hong Kong describing how he and his family have suffered from the zero-COVID rules.

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JAMES, PROTESTER IN HONG KONG: Speaking in a foreign language.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a victim. I cannot go home for many years, like two to three years, right? My parents were locked down for three months, and even relatives of my good friends, they suicide because of the lockdowns, right? And I know people die because of it -- because of the side effects of this policy. I think everyone who has a sane mind should say something or do something to stop this unreasonable social measure.

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CAMEROTA: CNN's Selina Wang has been following all of this for us. What's the latest, Selina?

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Victor and Alisyn, we're witnessing an extraordinary and historic moment in China. No protests of this scale with demands for political reforms have been seen in this country since the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests in 1989 that led to a massacre of unarmed protesters. In cities across the country, we're hearing chants for an end to COVID lockdowns, but also for free speech, democracy, the rule of law, human rights.

This is a country where it's extremely dangerous to publicly criticize a party, especially Xi Jinping himself. You risk prison time or even worse. But that's exactly the risk people are willing to take here. And in some places, including in Shanghai, people have been chanting for Xi Jinping to step down.

I was there at the protest in Beijing on Sunday night into Monday morning, surrounded by crowds of young people chanting over and over again, we don't want COVID tests. We want freedom. And I spoke to several protesters, including one who told me he motorcycled and biked for more than an hour to get to the scene. And when I asked him how he was feeling, this is what he told me.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Speaking in a foreign language.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm overwhelmed. Every conscientious Chinese should be here. They don't have to voice their opinions, but I hope they can stand with us.

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WANG: Many people there were also holding white papers in their hands, which is a sign of solidarity against censorship. There was a large police presence the whole time then after 2:00 a.m., masses of police filed and forming a wall around us forcing us to disperse.

While the protest I witnessed was peaceful, authorities have taken more violent approaches at protests and other areas like Shanghai. Videos there show arrests and chaotic scenes of police pushing, dragging, and beating protesters. This is a police state that does not tolerate dissent. But people hear their -- past their breaking points after three years of draconian lockdowns and zero-COVID restrictions. Victor, Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: Selina Wang, thank you for that. Joining us now are CNN correspondent Marc Stewart, and Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and Trustee Chair of Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Marc, let me start with you and how the markets are responding to these protests. We've not seen something like this in China for many years. MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): And markets and traders are certainly making note of that. Right now, the Dow, for example, has been down more than 400 points today. That is very significant. The tech-heavy, NASDAQ, that has been down more than 100 points as well. So, the markets are having a rough day. And it's not just in the United States. It's really around the entire world. We are seeing declines in Asia. We're seeing declines in Europe.

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As we have discussed many times, the one thing that traders want is stability and certainty. And right now, in China, that's just not the case. That's not the message that's been exuded. Traders really are having to reconcile two thoughts here. This came from a trader I was talking to earlier.

On one hand, there were indications that China was going to perhaps loosen up some of these restrictions. Now, it looks like the zero- COVID policies are here to stay. There's no clear roadmap for the future. And that's why the markets are having such a tough time with this.

CAMEROTA: Scott, we understand you just spent almost two months in China. So, what did you see there? What was the mood like in terms of these COVID restrictions?

SCOTT KENNEDY, SENIOR ADVISER, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Oh, I spent seven weeks in Beijing and Shanghai. And I can tell you, in Beijing, people were angry because they had spent three years dealing with these restrictions, particularly since the Shanghai lockdown and Omicron, which is really put people in a difficult bind and having to screen to get into any building, wear a mask. In Shanghai, they're really traumatized.

And so, I think people are really fed up. They really want to get beyond the pandemic to a different era where they -- if they look on TV and talk to others around the world, the rest of the world is moved on and China has not. And that's why people are so upset.

BLACKWELL: Scott, Selina reported that there are some who are calling for Xi's resignation. That is highly unlikely, but that notwithstanding. What are then the implications of these protests, if any, for the government?

KENNEDY: Well, it depends on how the government frames them and how they try to deal with them. There is a material issue. Can they end the pandemic -- zero-COVID policies quickly and safely? And secondly, can they deal with the normative demands that they're hearing from the protesters?

My sense is they're going to try and keep this as a material issue and see if they can defuse the protests by lowering quarantine periods and trying to make things a little bit more comfortable and encouraging vaccinations. But there is no way to end zero-COVID quickly without inducing a lot of illnesses. And so, the government is really in a bind of its own making. And so,

it's not clear exactly how this is going to end quickly. And so, that uncertainty that markets are facing, were going to be facing for all of us for several more weeks, at least.

CAMEROTA: And then, Marc, I mean, one of the sad ironies is that even with these super strict lockdown measures, they're still having cases -- surge there. I mean, the highest number for the sixth consecutive day, something like 40,000 cases locally transmitted on Sunday.

STEWART: Which, statistically speaking, is actually very small considering the large population volume of China. But this is something that the government is focused on, maintaining this zero- COVID policy. And there may be some economic repercussions from such a strong and bold approach.

BLACKWELL: How do you maintain an economy -- keeping the economy going under these zero COVID policies, I guess that's the question they're trying to answer. But their economy obviously impacts the world economy.

STEWART: And just today, we saw the price of oil fall to some pretty significant lows because oil as we know, the price of oil is dictated by supply and demand.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

STEWART: The people in China are being told to stay put, the need for oil has dwindled. And that's why we are seeing a slump in the price. That actually, though could benefit us here in the U.S. if prices are low, that's certainly going to help after several months of record- high gas prices.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Scott, is there any way to determine what President Xi is going to do about these widespread and highly unusual protests? I mean, they're so rare. And now they're so widespread and vocal. We saw people taking off their masks and speaking to camera crews. That never happens. And so, any idea what his response is going to be?

KENNEDY: Well, the past practice would be for when they face protests of this scale and even though we only hear about protests every once in a while in the West, actually, China has thousands of protests every year. So what you will see is a crackdown on the ringleaders, those that are most vocal, and then quietly trying to address some of their concerns.

I do think that Xi Jinping knows that this is a black guy on China that China's economy cannot rebound economically until they get to a post-COVID era. So, I think you'll see both some carrots and some sticks. If the protests grow massively beyond where they are right now and extend for several weeks, then you can expect a much harsher crackdown, eventually, but we're not anywhere close to that yet.

CAMEROTA: OK. Mark Stewart, Scott Kennedy, thank you both very much for all the insight.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's go to Texas now where more than 2 million people are affected by a city-wide boil water advisory in Houston.

CAMEROTA: Efficiency of water purification plant lost pressure after a power failure Sunday morning. CNN's Rosa Flores is following this for us. So, Rosa, public schools in Houston, we understand are closed today because of this advisory. When will the water be safe?

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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You know, according to the mayor, it could be as early as later tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning. Let me take you through this because here's what the city of Houston says. There was a power outage yesterday at a water treatment plant. That caused the water pressure to drop.

Now at that -- at this water treatment plant, there are multiple sensors. Some of those sensors showed that the psi, the water pressure, in essence, dropped below 20 for about two minutes. And then a couple of other sensors showed that the -- that the psi dropped below 20 for 30 minutes.

That was a cause of alarm because whenever the water pressure drops, that could be a sign of the introduction of contaminants to the water supply. That, of course, was a concern.

Hours later, that's when the city of Houston issued this voile order that was city-wide, as you mentioned, impacting millions of people. Now, some Houston residents do to Twitter to say that the city perhaps should have acted sooner in letting residents know. The mayor of the city had a press conference just a few hours ago and he was asked about that -- about that criticism. Here's what he had to say. Take a listen.

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SYLVESTER TURNER, MAYOR OF HOUSTON, TEXAS: Everybody's looking at the data. Everybody's looking at the data. A decision was then made out of an abundance of caution, OK? To then issue the boil water notice. And under the normal processes, you have a city -- municipality has 24 hours to issue the boil water notice from the time of the incident.

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FLORES: So, what is going on right now, what is happening is water samples have been collected from throughout the city of Houston. Those samples are being tested. And, guys, here's the interesting thing.

To test these samples, they have to sit in the lab for 18 hours. Those hours have to transpire. After that is when the state of Texas can then determine if anything grows in these water samples, then there's a problem.

If nothing grows in these water samples, then you know, the city of Houston could get the green light so that the water boil advisory can be lifted. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed as a resident of Houston that nothing grows on those samples so we can get our water back. Guys, back to you.

BLACKWELL: So, we. Rosa Flores, thanks so much for walking us through that.

CAMEROTA: So, in Georgia, early voting is underway in that runoff election between Democratic senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker.

BLACKWELL: Nearly two dozen counties allowed early voting this weekend and more than 181,000 people have already voted, most of them in person. CNN's Eva McKend is at a polling station in Atlanta for us. What kind of crowds are you seeing there, Eva?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (on camera): Well, Victor, as you can see, the line stretches all around this library. And I'm going to take you down here with my photographer, Taka, and it goes, we'll hold down the block. And people have been telling me that they've been waiting for about two hours to vote. It wasn't quite this bad this morning.

But essentially, I think this really illustrates that people here in Georgia are very engaged, excited, and keeping up with this election. This is the first day in Georgia that you can vote early in every county in this state. We caught up with one couple earlier who told us that they tried to vote actually on Saturday, the lines were too long, but they came back out again this morning. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came out over the weekend and the lines were about an hour and a half long. And we said well, you know we can -- we can come out on Monday when the lines will be shorter. So, we came back out today and the lines were even longer. And we said well, today's our day we've got the time. And so, we're going to be here to ensure that our voice is heard.

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MCKEND: So, people if they don't make it through the line today, they have the opportunity to vote here in Georgia all this week or on Election Day on December 6. Now, for the candidates' part, Herschel Walker, Senator Warnock keeping very busy schedules as they make their closing arguments. Warnock at Morehouse College today and then having a concert tonight with the Dave Matthews band, Herschel Walker will be campaigning in Cumming, Georgia this evening. Victor, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Eva, thank you very much. Look at that. Look at people doing their civic duty.

BLACKWELL: It's fantastic.

CAMEROTA: Two hours. And this is in even the first day. That's commitment.

BLACKWELL: Yes, in the middle of the afternoon on a Monday.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

CAMEROTA: That is impressive. Look at all of them. All right, we will obviously keep an eye on that throughout the day and the days ahead.

BLACKWELL: Backlash is growing after former President Trump hosted white nationalist -- white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes for dinner. New details about the visit and the fallout.

CAMEROTA: And a shocking story out of California. Police say a former police officer catfished a teenage girl and then killed her family.

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CAMEROTA: Criticism continues for former President Trump's decision to host a Holocaust denier at Mar-a-Lago. Nick Fuentes is a longtime promoter of white supremacy and antisemitism among other odious things.

BLACKWELL: A source tells CNN the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who's under fire for his own antisemitic remarks recently brought Fuentes as his guest to the dinner with Trump. Now, Trump claims he doesn't know him and was not told Fuentes was coming. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is following this story for us. So, we've heard the criticism from some Republicans, other Republican leaders have not said anything yet.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That's right, Victor. And this is notable. We've heard from a few Republicans but we have not heard from many.

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And very notably, we have not yet heard from the Republican leaders in Congress in response to this controversial dinner. We have heard from a handful of Republicans over the weekend. We heard from the Republican Alabama governor. Here's what he had to say.

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GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON, (R-AR): No, I don't think it's a good idea for a leader that setting an example for the country or the party to meet with avowed, racist, or anti-Semite.

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SERFATY: Now, on Friday, the former president did come out with a response after the backlash was growing to this controversial dinner and he importantly, is not apologizing and not disavowing the racism and antisemitism of Nick Fuentes, nor the antisemitic remarks of Kanye West, the recent. He's essentially trying to distance himself from the dinner saying,

look, he didn't know who Nick Fuentes was. He says it wasn't planned with him ahead of time and says in part in the statement that Kanye West "unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends" who Trump says I knew nothing about. And Trump called the dinner quick and uneventful.

But as you referenced, a source is telling CNN that Trump did, indeed, at that dinner find Fuentes very interesting and he was especially impressed with his ability to rattle off statistics, a source says, and his knowledge of the Trump world.

And at one point, he declared -- Trump declared that he liked Fuentes. So, certainly, Victor and Alisyn, as the controversy grows over this dinner, the real important question here is, of course, how Republicans on Capitol Hill will continue to respond.

BLACKWELL: Yes, some explanation from the former president, but no condemnation of those philosophies.

SERFATY: That's right.

BLACKWELL: Sunlen Serfaty, thank you.

SERFATY: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Joining us now is Steve Leder. He's the senior rabbi at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. Rabbi, I always great to see you, thanks so much for being here. When a former president of the United States and current candidate for president meets with an antisemite and Holocaust denier, what's the fallout for the Jewish community after that?

STEVE LEDER, SENIOR RABBI, WILSHIRE BOULEVARD TEMPLE: The fallout for the Jewish community and for the entire nation is a further legitimization of Jew-hatred, misogyny, and racism. That's the fallout. Full stop.

CAMEROTA: President Trump says he didn't know who Nick Fuentes is. $Is that an excuse?

LEDER: First of all, I'm no expert in Secret Service protocols but I find it impossible to believe that anyone gets to have dinner with a former president unannounced. You don't just show up. I've been to the White House, you've been to the White House, you don't get near a former president or current president without a very thorough security process so, I find it hard to believe.

And even if it was somehow spontaneous and a surprise, it's no excuse for the president sitting down to dinner with two people so toxic for our culture if we have the time. I don't think a lot of people understand the kinds of things Nick Fuentes has said in the past. And I'm happy to make -- I created a list for us if we have the time, Alisyn. On behalf of Wilshire --

CAMEROTA: Yes, you can give me - give us a couple of headlines -- give us a couple of the headlines.

LEDER: OK. First, I want this country to have Catholic media Catholic Hollywood, a Catholic government. I want this to be a Catholic- occupied government, not a Jewish-occupied government, the old trope of some kind of Jewish conspiracy and Jewish Cabal. Here's one that should concern all of us. This was during a taping of one of his shows.

An audience member asked Nick Fuentes, well, how he should respond to his wife when his wife gets "out of line." And for Fuentes's answer, why don't you give her a vicious and forceful backhanded slap with your knuckles right across her face, disrespectfully, and make it hurt? Just kidding, of course. Just a joke. I would never lay a hand on a woman unless she had it coming.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LEDER: So the final --

CAMEROTA: I mean --

LEDER: The final --

CAMEROTA: Yes, go ahead. Go ahead. Give us the last one.

LEDER: (INAUDIBLE). He's a Holocaust denier. And he jokingly, jokingly denied the Holocaust. And he compared Jews who were stuffed into the crematory. Including 1.5 million children sent up, turned into smoke by the Nazis, he compared them to cookies in an oven. And this is who our former president chooses to dine with.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And just because Nick Fuentes thinks that he can couch some of it as sarcasm or comedy doesn't make it any less odious and horrible. And I'm glad that you let everybody know who's not familiar with him what he believes in and what he tells. And so, the fact that Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy hasn't spoken out about this, what does that tell you?

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LEDER: Is no one ever shunned? Is anyone, who's willing to cast a vote for a Republican, OK, regardless of their lack of moral fiber? Is there no bottom to any of this? He has to speak out or he will have no credibility going forward with any reasonable voter right, left, or center.

It's really frightening. People die because of this kind of hatred. And the fact that people who claim to be leaders representing the values of this nation won't stand up and call Jew-hatred, Jew-hatred, and call racism, racism, and call misogyny, misogyny is unbelievably dangerous. They -- let's stand up and call these things what they are, whether we're left, right or center, or decencies, dude.

CAMEROTA: And what would you like to hear him say? I mean, they make it sound -- they -- sometimes, these folks make it seem so hard to come out and denounce it. Kanye can't denounce it. You know, Kyrie Irving has a hard time. What would you like to hear Kevin McCarthy say today?

LEDER: I would like him to stand up and say, I'm going to put principle above self-interest, and I'm going to stand up for what's wrong even if it costs me votes from this energized base so filled with hatred. I don't care about that. I care about saying and doing what is right, you know. I care about what makes America truly beautiful, which is brotherhood and sisterhood from sea to shining sea.

CAMEROTA: Rabbi Steve Leder, always great to talk to you, thanks so much for your time.

LEDER: Thank you, Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: The man charged with killing 10 black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York pleaded guilty today to charges of murder, domestic terrorism, and attempted murder.

The district attorney detailed some of the evidence of Payton Gendron's planning ahead of the attack and may include googling with zip code had the "highest concentration of African-Americans." Today's guilty pleas guarantee that Gendron will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, students at the University of Idaho are returning from Thanksgiving break and there is still no arrest for the murders of four students. No even suspect that we're aware of. We're live on the ground with details on where security has now been stepped up.

BLACKWELL: And police removed football star Odell Beckham Jr. from a flight. They say he refused to put on his seatbelt. His reps insist the incident was completely unnecessary. We have details ahead.

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