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CNN International: IDF: Forces Battle Militants, Advance ion Northern Gaza; Families of Hostages appeal to Israel: "We Must Get Answers"; Trump's Team Fights Gag Order in Election Subversion Case; 500+ OpenAI Employees Threaten to Quit After CEO Fired; Biden's Age, Handling of Israel-Hamas War Concern Voters. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired November 21, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:28]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Bianca off this week.
But just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Hopes on the rise again for a potential hostage release.
JOHN KIRBY, NSC SPOKESMAN: All of them, everybody, should be out now.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lawyers for Donald Trump and the Justice Department facing off before a federal appeals court in Washington.
JOHN SAUER, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: The order is unprecedented. And it sets a terrible precedent for future restrictions on core political speech.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department said there is a very significant threat of a drone attack on a mass gathering in this country.
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: A range of adversaries are using drones to advance their nefarious purposes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
FOSTER: Well, it is Tuesday, November the 21st, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 11:00 a.m. in northern Gaza where the Israeli military says forces are advancing as they engaged in face to face battles with Hamas militants. An IDF spokesman also says Israeli forces reached the heart of Gaza City much earlier than Hamas had expected and are pressing on according to plan.
Meanwhile, in an interview with CNN, former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak say bunkers underneath Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City were built by Israel decades ago to help give more space to the facility, but were later used as a command center of Hamas, a claim the group and hospital officials denied.
More than 12,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli attacks of Gaza, since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian ministry of health in the West Bank. The ministry, which gets its data from Hamas run health authorities in Gaza, say more than 5,000 of those children, those killed were children. The U.N. secretary general says the number of civilians killed in Gaza is, quote, unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since he has started in his post.
Meanwhile, intense international negotiations are underway to free some of the hostages taken by Hamas on October the 7th. A top U.S. official says there are, quote, they are getting close to the end of negotiations but cautions that the details are still being worked out.
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JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR: You know, everybody is interested in the numbers and who they were going to be. We're working that through, literally in real time with both sides. I think it is better if, I do not speculate about what that pool is going to look like. Obviously, we are laser focused on the American citizens that are being held hostage, and we want them out, all of them, everybody should be out now. But here we are in negotiation and we are getting closer to the end we believe in that negotiation. So again, I'm going to be careful.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Were any of the potential American hostages -- is their confidence that they are alive? I know you've addressed the lack of proof of life videos and such in the past, but --
KIRBY: I would say we have no indication otherwise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, a Hamas leader also said in a statement earlier that it is close to reaching a truce agreement with Israel. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says 28 out of 33 neonatal babies have been evacuated into Egypt from Gaza. We learned that two of the baby died over the weekend, and three were reunited with their families.
CNN's Nic Robertson is following developments and has more now from Sderot in Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): A rare glimmer of hope in Gaza, neonatal babies from the embattled Al- Shifa Hospital delivered to Egypt for safe care. Hopes also on the rise again for, a potential hostage release, as many of the kidnapped families gathered to press the prime minister to get a deal done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It is very difficult in embarrassing that I need to stand in front of the camera, and I need to go meet them to receive answers.
ROBERTSON: Even so, Qatari negotiators say their confidence levels are increasing.
SHEIKH MOHAMMED BIN ADBULRAHMAN AL-THANI, QATARIA PRIME MINISTER: The sticking points, at this stage, are more practical, logistical.
ROBERTSON: But the reality on the battlefield is different, no sign of a deal securing cease-fire yet.
[04:05:05]
Another hospital under fire, this time the Indonesian hospital near the Jabalia refugee camp. The IDF say they were returning fire, against shots fired from within the hospital. Twelve people were killed according to the ministry of health in the area.
Indeed, Israeli is continuing to press its offensive, across much of northern Gaza, including showcasing tunnels, it has unearthed that the Al-Shifa hospital, alleging that they are part of a wider Hamas command and control system, that they have yet to show that they say gives them legitimacy to take the hospital.
CNN does not have independent access to the Al-Shifa, where a handful of doctors remain, treating more than 100 patients, two badly injured to move.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared emboldened by U.S. President Joe Biden's backing, that a cease-fire too soon could benefit Hamas, implying such a defense against global critics will buy future gains against Hamas.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The third thing that has brought the achievement is the diplomatic Iron Dome, that allows us to continue fighting until victory.
ROBERTSON: Despite Netanyahu 's confidence, pushback is growing from Israel in this Arab neighbors, and the U.N.
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: We are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since I am secretary general.
ROBERTSON: On top of the dangers from shelling and missiles, another looming problem for Gazans. The weather is worsening. For many of the men more than 1 million displaced, flimsy plastic sheeting, all they have between them and the coming winter.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Sderot, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Scott McLean following developments for us from Istanbul.
This seems like a fast-moving situation in terms of any sort of deal that might be done or pause for release of hostages.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's been looking good for a few days now Max, and perhaps things are getting close. There are positive signs coming from Qataris, from the Americans, from Hamas. The Red Cross says it's ready to implement any deal on the ground should one get done and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with hostage families yesterday and he told them that getting those hostages released is his sacred and supreme mission.
The broad parameters of any deal we understand from U.S. sources is that Hamas would agree to release a number of hostages, not all of them. The latest number according to the draft proposal would be 50 in exchange for an unknown number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. All of them would be released over the course of four or five days, a pause in fighting that would happen, and perhaps more prisoners could be released beyond that from Gaza, should the pause be extended.
The reality, Max, is that Israel is under immense pressure domestically to get these hostages returned home. Polling shows that most Israelis, not all, but most would be happy to see thousands of Palestinian prisoners released, in exchange for this 239 or so hostages, a group of families met with the committee at the Knesset yesterday, and among the lawmakers present was the national security minister, a man who is a hard-line far-right figure, very divisive, a guy who favors the annexation of the Palestinian territories.
And this meeting got extremely heated. And I just want to play you part of. It is not translated, but trust me don't need to speak hero to understand the level of emotion inside that room. Watch.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
MCLEAN: So part of the reason why this meeting was so heated, is because the national security minister right now is pushing legislation that would hand down the death penalty to terrorist in Israel. Under normal circumstances that might be relatively uncontroversial, but here, the hostage families could put their loved ones in Gaza, in more danger of being killed, or harm's, while they are stuck in Gaza, being held hostage by Hamas.
One man named Hen Avigdori whose daughter and wife are both held hostage in Gaza, was one of the speakers at this meeting, and he spoke quite passionately about what he would like to see lawmakers do.
[04:10:04]
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEN AVIGDORI, HUSBAND AND FATHER OF HOSTAGES (translated): I want my child back home, it's very simple, not to satisfy any enemy. I want my girl back home. The discussion to my understanding and my view is risking the lives of Jews, and instead of talking about death, which was the most frequent, word in this discussion, talk about life, 239 living hostages. Get them out and then talk about destroying, death penalty, anything you want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: You heard the Qataris say that, look, the sticking points right now are more logistical issues, nothing central to a deal getting done. But there are complexities on both sides. Remember that Hamas doesn't really have many good cards to play. This might be one of their only good cards they're actually playing. So, they're not going to be releasing all of these sausages very easily. Obviously, Israel knows that.
From the Israeli side, there is a complication of the fact that the release of any Palestinian prisoners would require the sign off of the entire Israeli war cabinet, some of those figures are far right figures who are much more focused right now on destroying Hamas, than getting the hostages back -- Max.
FOSTER: OK. Scott in Istanbul, thank you.
Donald Trump's legal team was back in court on Monday, fighting to have a gag order permanently thrown out in the former president's federal election subversion trial. A three-judge panel appears likely to restore the limited gag order which, was temporarily frozen, and they could loosen some of the restrictions.
Despite that, the Trump campaign released a statement saying in part, today's oral argument confirms that the government is seeking to unconstitutionally silence President Trump's core political speech, and prevent his message from reaching America's voters at the height of campaign season.
CNN's Bianna Golodryga breaks down what happened at that hearing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lawyers for Donald Trump and the Justice Department facing off before a federal appeals court in Washington. In a fiery hearing lasting well over two hours, the former president's lawyer arguing that a gag order imposed in the election interference case violates Trump's First Amendment rights.
JACK SAUER, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: The order is unprecedented and it sets a terrible precedent for future restrictions on core political speech.
GOLODRYGA: The appeals court had temporarily frozen the gag order, a move prosecutors for Jack Smith say allows the former president to continue his attacks on the special counsel and his family. A lawyer for the former president argued that Trump should be allowed to respond to allegations on the campaign trail, and has a constitutional right to talk about the election interference case. An argument the judges seemed skeptical of. JUDGE PATRICIA MILLET, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA CIRCUIT: Labeling it core political speech begs the question of whether it is, in fact, political speech or whether it is political speech aimed at derailing or corrupting the criminal justice process.
GOLODRYGA: Trump's attorney said witnesses in the case haven't been attacked because they were singled out by the former president.
SAUER: That's all based on evidence that's three years old and has weighed against the fact they have no evidence of any threats or harassment that's happened in this particular case.
GOLODRYGA: To which prosecutors pointed to threats against special counsel Jack Smith, his team, and Judge Tonya Chutkan, who was overseeing this case.
CECIL VANDEVENDER, ATTORNEY FOR JACK SMITH: The special counsel has been subject to multiple threats and the specific special counsel's office prosecutor that the defendant has targeted through recent inflammatory public posts has been subject to intimidating communication.
GOLODRYGA: But the Democrat-appointed judges on Monday also had sharp questions for prosecutors about the scope of the gag order and whether it was needed to protect the special counsel and his family. One of the judges said Smith likely would not be intimidated by these posts.
JUDGE CORNELIA PILLARD, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT: Surely he has a thick enough skin.
GOLODRYGA: Another judge said Trump could not operate under a gag order on a debate stage.
MILLET: He has to speak Miss Manners while everyone else is throwing targets at him.
GOLODRYGA: The judges also raised the possibility of Trump trying to influence former Vice President Mike Pence's testimony.
MILLET: Let's assume former Vice President Mike Pence is going to testify and it's the night before his testimony. Could the defendant tweet out, Mike Pence can still fix this. Mike Pence can still do the right thing.
GOLODRYGA: Drawing parallels to when the former president said this on January 6th.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: And I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so. Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Bianna Golodryga there.
So, will the gag order stand or be changed in some way? CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams says it will be a typical ruling to make given the complexity of the issue.
[04:15:02]
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ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think they keep some form of gag order in place, but they just carve it up a little bit differently. And the judges seem to be signaling that, by perhaps opening the gag order up to allowing criticism of Jack Smith directly, or something like that, to say, look, this is -- we talk about a lot of legal issues in the context of Donald Trump, and I can say with certainty that First Amendment, free speech, is far by the hardest to figure out because of everyone in America, regardless of citizenship status, is entitled to free speech, no one is entitled to threaten anyone else. But the line between those two can be very complicated, and particularly when you're dealing with candidates for office. It's just incredibly complex.
And the judges today, who are very exceptionally bright individuals all three of them, I know them a little bit in town here, are really struggling with that. And so, we'll just have to see where they land on this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The panel heard the appeal on an expedited schedule, and more expected delivery here soon, though it's unclear exactly when.
Now, some major changes underway in the business of artificial intelligence. Microsoft has hired Sam Altman to lead a new A.I. group just three days after he was fired from the company he co-founded which was OpenAI. And now, hundreds of his former employees are threatening to quit and join him at Microsoft.
CNN's Anna Stewart has the detail.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, the fallout continues. And now, it is the OpenAI board members who face being forced out of the company just days after they ousted cofounder and CEO Sam Altman. Signatories include a board member, Ilya Sutskever, he was involved in the ouster of the CEO, and CTO Mira Murati, who took up the CEO position on an interim basis over the weekend.
The letter also laid out terms for the employees continue to work at OpenAI. It includes firing the board, appointing two new independent directors, and reinstating Sam Altman and fellow co-founder Greg Brockman. Failure to follow these demands may result in the signatories quitting and joining Microsoft instead.
And hat is because early on Monday, Microsoft, the biggest investor in OpenAI, said it was hiring both Altman and Brockman to lead a new advanced A.I. research team. Well, that news to investors and prompted Microsoft share price to rise, hitting a record high. Now, though, it is unclear whether hundreds of OpenAI staff will be moving to Microsoft or whether Altman and Brockman will be moving back to OpenAI. Even ChatGPT does not know the answer.
Anna Stewart, CNN London.
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FOSTER: Elon Musk, the embattled owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, is suing watchdog group Media Matters over report highlighting antisemitic and pro-content on the social media platform. The report appeared to play a significant role on the recent mass exodus of advertisers from the site. The lawsuit accuses Media Matters of distorting the likelihood of ads appearing extremist content on X. Musk threatened and thermo nuclear lawsuit against Media Matters over the weekend after major brands halted their advertising on the site following the reports release and Musk's endorsement of several antisemitic posts.
Police say four people were injured after a man opened fire in a Walmart in Dayton, Ohio. They say the suspect died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The victims were rushed to nearby hospitals, but we're waiting to hear more on their condition. Police haven't identified the suspect and it's clear if he knew anyone at the store. A Walmart spokesperson tells CNN they are heartbroken and working closely with investigators.
And in Colorado, police are searching for a suspect who allegedly shot and killed three people and wounded another on Monday. Investigators say the shooting happened in the suspect's neighborhood in Custer County. And the suspect and at least one victims had a contentious history over property lines.
Here is more from Custer County sheriff.
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SHERIFF LLOYD "RICH" SMITH, CUSTER COUNTY, COLORADO: When the shooting happened, there were four adult males, and one adult female. And the suspect came out, and shot four of those people. A fifth one was able to get safely away, and was our witness. And then the female was the one who survived with critical injuries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Millions of Americans are busy gearing up for a busy Thanksgiving holiday week, but severe weather could disrupt travel plans unfortunately. A look at the forecast just ahead.
Plus, as U.S. President Joe Biden jokes about turning 81, polling shows voters have serious concerns about his age, going into that election next year.
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[04:23:39] FOSTER: Rain, snow and severe thunderstorms could disrupt Thanksgiving travel plans for millions Americans. This holiday week is expected to be the busiest in years on the roads and the airports. Gusty winds, and drenching rain may lead to delays at large airport hubs in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington.
The U.S. transportation secretary urging travelers to stay safe.
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PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We are expecting about 2.5 million passengers a day. We think the airline travel peak, will be on Wednesday, and, of course, a lot of people on Americas roads as well.
As always our biggest focus is safety. We're asking drivers to allow extra time, and be extra cautious as often you are going to a relative's house maybe down a road, you don't know that we'll. And then on the aviation, side we're going to make sure we built on the progress that's been made in the last year and a half.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: U.S. President Joe Biden celebrated is 81st birthday on Monday. The oldest sitting president in U.S. history made fun of his age in an Instagram post. The photo shows a birthday cake up in flames, and the caption reads: Thanks for the birthday well wishes, turns out on your 146th birthday, you run out of space for candles.
But as far as many voters are concerned, President Biden's age is no laughing matter especially as he seeks reelection next year. Questions about his physical and mental fitness, as well as handling of their Israel war loom larger over his campaign as CNN's MJ Lee reports.
[04:25:11]
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MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden turning 81 on Monday, the White House saying the real celebration will take place in Nantucket with his family later this week. But his birthday coinciding with a series of negative polls for President Biden, showing that age remains a real vulnerability for him, as questions have been raised about his stamina, his health, his sharpness, and also concerns about whether he will be able to effectively serve out a second term.
And you add on top of that the Israel-Hamas war, a new NBC poll showed that approval rating has been falling among younger voters for President Biden, and also falling when it comes to approval of his handling of foreign policy.
CNN asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, about some of those data points and this is what she said on Monday.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: But what I'll be very clear about is we're going to not going to govern by polls here. We're going to -- or poll numbers. And we're going to focus on delivering for the American people, that's going to be our focus.
LEE: Now, while the White House typically tends to try to brush aside negative polls, saying that we are too far out from the election, or there are too many poles to care about each and every one, Vice President Kamala Harris telling our colleague Isaac Dovere in an interview, quote, we are going to have to earn our reelect, there is no doubt about it.
MJ Lee, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Still to come, U.S. officials say negotiators are nearing a deal to secure the release of some of the Hamas hostages that Hamas is holding. What we know about negotiations so far.
As top officials for the U.S. and Germany make critical stops in Kyiv. Ukraine says Russian missile strikes have killed at least two people in Donetsk overnight. We'll have details just ahead.
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