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CNN International: Families of Hostages Demand Action, Meeting with Prime Minister; Journalist Films Family's Evacuation From Northern Gaza; Trump Lays Out Aggressive Pan for Possible Second Term; Christie Says Biden, Trump Not Ready for Second Term; Nikki Haley Surges to 2nd Place in Key Primary States. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired November 17, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
The White House says President Joe Biden signed the stopgap spending bill into law late on Thursday. The measure keeps the U.S. government open and operating into early next year.
After raiding Gaza's largest hospital, the Israeli military has released a video it says backs up its claim of uncovering an operational tunnel shaft in the grounds of the Al-Shifa complex. Hamas denies using the hospital as a command center and calls Israel's claims baseless lies.
Families of the hostages taken by Hamas on October the 7th have been marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring them home now.
CROWD CHANTS: Bring them home now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring them back now.
CROWD CHANTS: Bring them back now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: They are calling on the Israeli Government to meet with them regarding hostage negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UDI GOREN, COUSIN ABDUCTED BY HAMAS: It is clear beyond doubt that the time is working not in our favor and we have to get the hostages back to Israel as soon as possible. We can't wait. Right now we know there's a deal on the table and it's being delayed because we are trying to get a better deal. There is no time. There's no time for the children. There's no time for the infants, for the injured, for the chronically ill, for the elderly. This is as crucial as winning this war. In fact, there will be no victory in this war if these people are not back here.
AVI ORPAZ: There are now 41 days already at Gaza. We are very concerned for the condition for the health and for the mental condition, physical condition, of course, and we will say their names every day, every day until there will be back and will answer present.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: We want to give you a first hand look now at the harsh reality of civilian evacuations from northern Gaza. Israel says hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have used an evacuation corridor to leave the area where the IDF is focusing its ground operations. A Palestinian journalist recorded his family's journey south, showing the dangers along the way. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has his story. And a warning, some of the images in her report are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gaza City, two-year- old Walid (ph) distracted through his family's most difficult night of the war so far.
(SOUND OF ARTILLERY)
KARADSHEH: With daybreak, the Israeli military calls with an order, you have 30 minutes to get out. It was 9:30 a.m. on November the 10th, with makeshift white flags, they say the military told them to hold up, they prepared to move.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We stay together, we don't rush. If there are strikes or shooting, it's not at us. We walk together slowly. Slowly together. No rush. The Israeli army knows and I am recording because the army knows.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): With the little they can carry, they head out, and into the unknown. Some too frail to walk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): Carry him! Carry him! Put him on your back.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Journalist Rami Abu Jamous is filming the forced evacuation of his family, along with more than 30 of their neighbors. His phone in his right hand, and in the other his son Walid.
He speaks French with his son, looking for his wife ahead. While waiting for other elderly neighbors, struggling to catch up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): Carry him, Eyad. Put him on your back. He age not on the floor on the floor Don't be scared. Stay on the right. Don't be scared.
Be careful around this spot. KARADSHEH (voice-over): That constant buzz you hear is Israeli drones overhead. It's been the soundtrack of Gaza for years. As they get to the other side of the street, Rami spots his neighbor, Abu Ahmad, something is not right.
RAMI ABU JAMOUS, JOURNALIST (translated text): What's going on Abu Ahmad? What's wrong? It's all in God's hands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): My son, Ahmad!
[04:35:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): It's all in God's hands.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): I told you, let's stay at home, my son! I told him, let's stay at home!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): Let's carry him. Let's carry him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): I told you, let's stay at home, my son! Let's stay at home, my son!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): Let's go. Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): If only we had stayed at home, God!
Ahmad? Ahmad! Are you breathing my son?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): Yes, he is breathing. He is breathing.
Breathing? Let's carry him.
Yes, yes. Carry him. Carry him. Pray to God. Pray to God. He is still alive. There's breathing.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Ahmad was shot in the head. He didn't make it. And around the corner, two others, a man and a woman also shot. It's uncertain who opened fire on the group. CNN geolocated these videos and traced this deadly journey out of central Gaza City. We provided the Israeli military with details of this incident, and these coordinates. But they did not respond to our request for comment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello --
KARADSHEH: Hello, Rami.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): We reached Rami, now in the south.
JAMOUS (translated text): There were no ambulances.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Like most here, they were on their own. They got to Shifa Hospital, but so did the war.
JAMOUS (translated text): Total panic at Shifa Hospital. Look at the dead bodies. Not even a morgue. Gaza has fallen.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Witness to it all, two-year-old Walid.
JAMOUS (through translator): I kept trying to make sure he's not scared and make him feel like he is seeing around us as a circus, or an amusement park. I don't know if I succeeded. Even the journey of humiliation, where you take a donkey here and a horse there, I was trying to make that entertaining for him.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): I asked Rami why he decided to film.
JAMOUS (through translator): I just want this to get to the world so they know the injustice that we are facing. They cast doubt on everything we do. They are stronger in every way, not just militarily, but with the information that comes out, the narrative that comes out, the news that comes out. What they say is the truth, and our words are lies.
Please, just deliver our message. I don't want anything else. I don't want all of those who have been killed who have died in vain.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Rami doesn't know what they'll do now. But says he will only leave his homeland, forced at gunpoint, or dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (translated text): My dear, my dear. Give me a kiss.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Jomana, Karadsheh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Israel says they have tried to call people in Gaza to evacuate areas where military operations are underway to minimize civilian casualties, but there have been world -- there's been worldwide criticism on the number of deaths in Gaza. The Hamas controlled Gaza Ministry of Health says more than 11,400 people have been killed, including about 4,700 children.
If you'd like to get information on how to help the humanitarian efforts for Gaza and for Israel, please go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find a list of vetted organizations providing assistance -- cnn.com/impact.
Now a new CNN polling shows two Republican challengers gaining ground on Donald Trump. Whilst Chris Christie questions the former and current presidents' fitness can be. That's next.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Former U.S. President Donald Trump is laying out an aggressive agenda for what a possible second term would look like. CNN's Kristen Holmes reports on what's being planned if he takes back the White House next year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not only does Donald Trump plan to win back the White House. But he and his allies are already outlining plans to overhaul the federal government and implement radical policies within hours of taking the oath, vowing to purge the federal workforce.
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And in day one, I will reissue my 2020 executive order restoring president's authority to tell rogue and corrupt bureaucrats -- you're fired!
HOLMES (voice-over): And use the Justice Department to target political adversaries.
TRUMP: On day one of my new administration, I will direct the DOJ to investigate every radical district attorney and attorney general in America for their illegal, racist and reverse enforcement of the law.
HOLMES (voice-over): As for the second day and beyond, Trump and his allies have promised to wield the power of the executive branch in unprecedented ways.
TRUMP: In 2024, we are going to put America first like never before.
HOLMES (voice-over): With a focus on revenge, telling Univision this month --
TRUMP: If I happen to be President and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them.
HOLMES (voice-over): As in his first term, many of Trump's policies are expected to prompt robust legal challenges.
CROWD CHANTS: This is what democracy looks like!
HOLMES (voice-over): And political opposition.
CROWD CHANTS: The people united will never be divided.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The typical constraints of the political process don't seem to apply to him. There's not a lot of law to deal with a president who just doesn't care about the law.
HOLMES (voice-over): This time, to avoid delays, Trump aligned groups are laying the groundwork in advance.
PAUL DANS, DIRECTOR, PROJECT 2025: This is for conservatives to help the next standard bearer to be ready day one.
HOLMES (voice-over): Paul Dans overseas Project 2025, a transition team run by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation.
DANS: We're a coalition now of 70 of the leading conservative organizations, essentially conjoining our forces to bring great people into the fold, to put our ideas and people into the bloodstream in the next administration. HOLMES (voice-over): These efforts are welcome to a point. Two of
Trump's senior campaign advisers tell CNN, quote: None of these groups or individuals speak for President Trump or his campaign.
One priority in a second term, a crackdown on illegal immigration that would go beyond the hardline proposals that fueled Trump's first run for office, including mass deportations and detention camps.
TRUMP: We will use all necessary state, local, federal and military resources to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history, and we have no choice. Some people won't like that. We have no choice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President.
[04:45:00]
HOLMES (voice-over): The former president has also promised to expand his travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries. That Joe Biden rescinded after taking office.
TRUMP: When I returned to office, the travel ban is coming back even bigger and much stronger than before.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: While Mr. Trump is working on plans for his second term, other Republican presidential candidates are gaining support. New CNN polling has former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley in the second- place spot in New Hampshire, a key 2024 primary state. Trump still maintains a comfortable lead, but Haley has climbed eight points since September. In Iowa she's tied with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for second place with 16 percent of the vote. Back in her home state Haley is ahead of DeSantis and again in second place behind Trump, but by a wide margin.
Meanwhile, rival Chris Christie is suggesting both President Biden and Donald Trump are simply too old for a second term.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This job is the hardest job in the world. It is relentless. Every hour of every day you have to be ready. He's not ready. And by the way, neither is Trump. This guy in the last couple weeks can't remember who he's running against. How many times has he said when I beat Barack Obama? I'm like, no, you didn't beat Barack Obama, you beat Hillary Clinton. They look a lot different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Now the Africa Cup of Nations, often referred to as AFCON, is one of the continent's biggest sporting events. The next competition will take place in Cote d'Ivoire in January 2024. We caught up with some sport and business experts to gather their expectations for the event. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EDEM SPIO, HOST AFRICA BUSINESS OF SPORT PODCAST: Countries, especially those in the global north, love to use sports as a vehicle to show their soft power and also their ability to be big in the industry. We saw how Qatar really went above and beyond in hosting the 2022 World Cup. We've seen how Australia has done a fantastic job this year as well.
An event like the AFCON it's the flagship football event here in Africa really positions any country which is able to hosted as a country that understands the importance of having sports in there and also wants to be a big, big name within sports here in Africa.
And we all know that Ivory Coast has been one of the very best things for a very long time. You and I have watched the likes of Didier Drogba, Kolo Toure and all the other stars do very well.
So it's in Ivory Coast hosting their second AFCON, they can really show to the world -- show to Africa first that we understand sports. We want to develop sports and also show globally that we're getting ready for whatever sports, especially football events that come to come through in the subsequent years.
STANISLAS ZEZE, ENTREPRENEUR AND CEO BLOOMFIELD INVESTMENT: This type of actual event will draw a lot of people from all over the world. So economically and diplomatically is an excellent opportunity for this country to sell itself. The economic return is not going to be short term. It's going to be long term because a lot of people have heard about it countywide, they haven't been here. So they heard this country is a country with a lot of opportunities and this is the opportunity for them to come.
And even if you lose the competition itself, you still win. Because like I said, the competition is something that is punctual. You come, you play and people are happy and then they go. But economically, the fact that people came here and discovered this country, discover the opportunity, they will certainly come back and invest. And they will come and they will see the attractiveness of this country. They will see the economic infrastructure, the people, whatever they will see here, will be something that has certainly started, reflect on possibly of coming back.
NELSON ANDRADE, GENERAL DIRECTOR, MOTA-ENGIL: I think that the construction industry is the first pillar of what is the can. The second pillar will be the hospitality, will be the event. But the first pillar is construction. It was construction that developed the regions of Gontougo, of Waki (ph), Yamoussoukro. We engaged in building and bringing technicals, technicians, equipment, machinery to build. We have a lot of men, local manpower that when we look at the future, they will -- we will leave a legacy of knowledge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, university researchers around the world are using it to drive innovation in robotics that were unheard of just a few years ago. In the new series, called "BOLD PURSUITS," Will Ripley meets with the scientists behind these incredible machines.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Our oceans, they remain largely unexplored and contain many mysteries and challenges. On the shores of Abu Dhabi, I've come to meet a team investigating what role robots could play in our oceans.
IRFAN HASSAIN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, CENTER FOR AUTONOMOUS ROBOTIC SYSTEMS, KHALIFA UNIVERSITY: We use different types of robots. Some robots are called unmanned surface vehicles that stay on the surface of the water, and then we have the underwater drones that are used for the underwater operations.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They're deploying these robots to perform various challenges. Today, they're simulating a task where robots could one day be used to clean up our oceans.
HASSAIN: It has its own camera. Basically, it identify autonomously the plastics. It goes there and pick the plastics --
RIPLEY: It picks it up.
HASSAIN: It picks it up. And then we have the other boats, which has these baskets and it drops it in their and then this boat can bring it towards the coast and where you can remove the plastics.
[04:55:00]
RIPLEY (voice-over): This research into autonomous marine robotics is being conducted by a team at Abu Dhabi's Khalifa University.
HASSAIN (voice-over): We have about 90 researchers working in different aspects of robotics, plus chip cleaning, coral reef inspection, a swarm of robotics, aquaculture.
RIPLEY (voice-over): In this robotics lab, students attach an array of technology, including cameras and sensors. In this research pool, wave simulation technology allows them to conduct their studies using advanced software, AI, and algorithms. They analyze the data.
LAKMAL SENEVIRATNE, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR AUTONOMOUS ROBOTIC SYSTEMS, KHALIFA UNIVERSITY: I've been working in the field since the 1980s and there's never been a time like this.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Advances in technology are changing scientists' approach to robotics. The arrival of AI is a game changer, achieving their goal of building autonomous underwater robots is not easy.
SENEVIRATNE: You don't have GPS, for example, underwater. Your visibility is poor. You have waves and streams, and you're buffeted every which way. Communication is very difficult as well, so many challenging problems.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Challenges that through sheer determination and continuous research, these scientists aim to overcome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, thank you for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London early. "EARLY START" is next.
