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Israeli Combat Ops Spread into Southern Gaza; Judge Tanya Chutkan Won't Drop Charges in D.C. Election Subversion Case; Second Day of COP28; Emotional Reunions as Hamas Hostages Return Home. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired December 02, 2023 - 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 (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber.
This hour on CNN NEWSROOM, the fighting between Israel and Hamas continues but so do negotiations to release more hostages and prisoners. Ahead, we'll tell you who the U.S. blames for ending the truce.
Plus, a historic vote on Capitol Hill as George Santos becomes just the sixth person ever to be expelled from Congress. We'll bring you his parting words to his former colleagues.
And world leaders at the U.N. World Climate Action Summit are focused on fossil fuels. We'll go live to Dubai for the latest on what's coming out of COP28.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: It is 4:00 am here in Atlanta, 11:00 am in the Middle East, where combat operations between Israel and Hamas are heading into a second day following the collapse of a week-long truce.
The IDF released this video of what it said was a strike against Hamas targets operating close to Israeli troops in Gaza, one of more than 400 targets, the IDF says, were struck in the past 24 hours.
Israel has been directing much of its firepower toward targets in southern Gaza and released a new evacuation map showing Palestinians where they should go. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says at least 178 people have been killed since the truce ended early Friday.
Despite the resumed fighting, a U.S. official says talks to release more hostages are ongoing. The IDF believes 136 people are still being held in Gaza, including 17 women and children. The families of three more hostages have now confirmed their loved ones are no longer alive. CNN's Ivan Watson is covering this from Beirut.
What's the latest on the fighting?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, in the 24 hours since the truce ended, the onslaught resumed with ferocity. The Israeli Defense Forces saying they carried out more than 400 strikes in that first 24-hour period.
The Gaza ministry of health, which is run by Hamas, it says that at least 178 people were killed in that period of time. I want to point out one of the casualties, it's a journalist, a freelance journalist named Mantasr El-Sawaf (ph), who was working for Turkiye's Anadolu agency.
And he had earlier been injured in an Israeli strike that, according to Anadolu Agency's bureau chief in Gaza and according to his own media posts, social media posts, that airstrike had killed at least 45 people from his family, including his mother, his father, his brothers, their children.
So that's just kind of one face of the loss of life now that the hostilities have resumed after that week-long respite from the killing.
Now as you pointed out, the Israeli government says that they're still open, somehow, to resuming the truce, which -- they're blaming the collapse of it on Hamas, saying that Hamas was not offering up the names of women that the Israeli government and the Biden administration believe to be in the custody of Hamas.
Women from the age of 20 to 30, that they say that, Hamas was arguing, were military hostages; whereas the Israeli government's saying that they were, no, in fact, civilians who were kidnapped at that Nova music festival.
Take a listen to what Antony Blinken, the U.S. top diplomat, had to say, where he's casting blame on why the hostilities resumed on Friday.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's also important to understand why the pause came to an end. It came to an end because of Hamas. Hamas reneged on commitments it made.
In fact, even before the pause came to an end, it committed an atrocious terrorist act in Jerusalem, killing three people, wounding others, including Americans.
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BLINKEN: It began firing rockets before the pause had ended and, as I said, it reneged on commitments it made in terms of releasing certain hostages.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WATSON: Now one of the militant groups in Gaza -- that is Palestinian Islamic Jihad -- they've claimed responsibility for firing rockets out of Gaza at Israeli cities. And in the meantime, the IDF has distributed these maps -- that's the Israeli military -- these maps and leaflets that were dropped over the population in Gaza.
They are purportedly interactive. They have QR codes that are supposed to indicate safe places that people can go to in the enclave. I do have to stress the fact that electricity is spotty there due to the destruction.
People have spotty access to the interne. And also the U.N. points out that 1.8 million Gazans, that's more than 80 percent of the population, have already been displaced by the first 1.5 months of fighting.
So basically you have displaced people who are under bombardment, being told to move from one place to another to try to avoid bombardment that is just colossal and ferocious. Again, more than 400 targets, the Israeli military says, struck in this small, densely populated area in a period of just 24 hours.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much for the updates. Ivan Watson in Beirut, appreciate it.
Hospitals in southern Gaza say Palestinian casualties have been mounting quickly since the truce ended early Friday. CNN's Ben Wedeman has our report and we want to warn you, some of the images in his report are graphic and disturbing.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pause is over. Now let's slip again the dogs of war.
Still alive, someone shouts, as a baby is carried away from a house hit in Rafah.
In Khan Younis, children are rushed into the emergency ward, the United Nations estimates almost 40 percent of Gaza's population is under the age of 15. Thousands of children have already been killed. And that must stop, pleads UNICEF spokesman James Elder from a Rafah hospital.
JAMES ELDER, UNICEF SPOKESMAN: We cannot see more children with the wounds of war, with the burns, with the shrapnel littering their body, with broken bones. Inaction by those with influence is allowing the killing of children. This is a war on children.
WEDEMAN: Mediation efforts to extend the truce came to naught. Israel continues to pursue its goal of destroying Hamas. Just be more careful while doing it, U.S. secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Israelis.
BLINKEN: And I underscore the imperative of the United States, that the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale we saw in northern Gaza not be repeated in the south.
WEDEMAN: By Friday evening, the death toll since the morning shot past 170, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, adding to the nearly 15,000 killed before the truce. This man came to the Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City in search of his little brother Ziad (ph), only to find him in a body bag.
Ziad is dead, he cries into the phone.
Inside, medics struggled to save the life of a 2-year-old girl, gravely wounded in an Israeli strike.
Since Friday morning, says hospital volunteer, Rafi Ayed (ph), we've wrapped more than 40 martyrs from various areas who were bombed in their homes.
There's still a chance the truce could be renewed if Hamas and Israel can come to a new agreement. The people of Gaza cannot afford to wait -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, let's bring in Hiba Tibi in Ramallah. She's the CARE country director in the West Bank in Gaza.
Thank you so much for being here with us. We just saw in that package what the resumption of war means for so many people. Tell us what you are hearing from your people there in Gaza, particularly how this is affecting the most vulnerable.
HIBA TIBI, CARE COUNTRY DIRECTOR, WEST BANK AND GAZA: Good morning, Kim. So over the last seven days, it was a moment for everyone to do two basic things.
The first one is to try to understand the level of impact they have on their personal life but also just try to secure some of the basic needs that they were in massive need to.
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The first part -- and, of course, this includes my colleagues -- was very massive in terms of losing their houses, getting to know more confirmation on the people that they love and lost.
And secondly, they were not able to secure most of the needs that they have. And the overcrowded shelters that we have been -- are sharing with you all the information around the lack of food, the lack of fuel, the collapsing medical system, continues to have that.
Seven days of a pause was very important to secure some aid entering, was not enough with the end of the pause. The new map that was just shared on the report by the colleagues at CNN makes it very difficult and scary for the people to know that they need to evacuate again for the sixth or seventh time. Where they are expected to move to overcrowded shelter in winter with
the outbreak of the diseases.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's the problem.
When they're being asked to evacuate, the question is, where do they go that's safe?
TIBI: This is exactly what our colleagues were asking us, where to go. We don't know, even the colleagues, they don't know where to go to.
There are no places enough to receive people. The designated safe places in these maps refer to the U.N. designated shelters, which are already extremely overcrowded and people are sleeping in the outdoors. So they have no place to go to, even in the --
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TIBI: -- that are not, that are marked for as safe. They were certain locations that were bombed yesterday.
BRUNHUBER: And, you know, you're talking about and seeing in that package, I mean, the acute dangers of the bombings. And then there's sort of the slow motion crisis of disease as well. As you say, in these overcrowded shelters, more and more people forced into ever smaller areas with even fewer resources.
TIBI: Exactly. So already, before, before the pause, the speed of that disease (INAUDIBLE) reached five times quicker compared to the normal similar conditions of the -- of weather or seasons.
Now we expect this to even more and more to be much, much bigger with the lack of hygiene practices, the collapsing medical services, where you cannot access medication related to certain diseases, and the outspread of waterborne diseases and of course now the cold weather.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, and the fear is that more people could eventually die from those things, from disease and exposure, than to, you know, injuries from the war. But it's not just the physical health that's in jeopardy.
I mean, people had, you know, a week's break from all the attacks. Now talk to me about the sense of despair, the mental trauma that must be getting worse day by day, especially for children.
TIBI: I can't thank you enough for asking this question so we can give the chance to share what my colleagues were telling me.
Kids specifically, over the last period, already suffered a lot. With the seven days that had happened, they were able to take their breath again. They were able to go out, even for them -- and quoting my colleagues -- "we were able to see our kids and grandkids' smiles again."
With the beginning of the -- with the end of the truce in the morning, with the first bombs, sounds we hear, they were terrified, because they thought, as kids, that this has ended. So imagine reinitiating all of that again.
Terrified parents understanding what they have already discovered during the pause with all the losses and getting themselves prepared for the future with these very scary, let me say, maps that they have received, dividing the blocks in the Gaza south into very small blocks, where you don't know exactly where you have to go.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Tough for so many people. I really appreciate getting your insights on the situation, Hiba Tibi in Ramallah, thank you so much.
TIBI: Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: If you would like information on how you can help with humanitarian relief efforts for Gaza in Israel, go to cnn.com/impact and there you can find a list of vetted organizations that are providing help. That's at cnn.com/impact.
Well, Friday saw developments in several legal cases involving former U.S. president Donald Trump. A Washington, D.C., federal appeals court ruled Trump can face civil lawsuits related to the January 6th, 2021, riot. The decision will have implications in several cases against him.
Later Friday, Trump lost his bid to get federal charges against him dropped in the D.C. election subversion case. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected Trump's legal arguments and refused to dismiss the four charges. New York University Law School professor Ryan Goodman has more on her decision.
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PROFESSOR RYAN GOODMAN, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: So can Jack Smith prosecute president Trump?
Or does he have immunity for the actions he took while he was president?
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The answer is, you can prosecute somebody. And there's one important line in there from her opinion.
She says, "Defendant Trump's four-year service as commander in chief did not bestow on him the divine rights of kings to evade the critical accountability that governs his fellow citizens."
It's a very huge opinion in this case, because it means that Jack Smith can go forward, unless she's overturned by the court of appeals. But that shouldn't be happening.
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BRUNHUBER: Also Friday, Trump's lawyers appeared in an Atlanta court for the first time in connection with Georgia's election subversion case. They argued that the indictment should be thrown out because it violates free speech, adding that if Trump wins the 2024 election, the trial would need to be postponed until after his term.
Now former congressman George Santos was expelled from the U.S. House Friday and he's not going quietly. In a vote, 311-114, Santos becomes just the sixth person in history to be expelled from the chamber.
It comes after an ethics probe found substantial evidence that Santos used campaign funds for personal use. Santos has been caught lying about his past and is also under federal indictment for fraud.
After the vote Santos told CNN, quote, "To hell with this place," and declared the House was creating a dangerous precedent for itself. Here he is.
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GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I had no skin in the game.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you know this was how it was going to go?
Did you know how it was going to go?
SANTOS: You know what?
Unofficially already, I'm no longer a member of Congress. I no longer have to answer a single question from you guys.
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BRUNHUBER: The locks on Santos' former office have already been changed. A special election will be heard early next year to fill the seat.
World leaders at the COP28 summit clash over fossil fuels as they look to curb the global climate crisis. We'll go live to Dubai for the latest. That's coming up next, stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Turning to the war in Ukraine, Russia says it's boosting the size of its army by some 15 percent. Ukraine's top general has issued a blunt assessment of a long fight ahead.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language). ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a harsh winter begins to set in, Ukraine's war is becoming more difficult, painful and exhausting as this conflict grinds toward the end of its second year.
A stalemate is how General Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, labeled the war, making international headlines while upsetting President Zelenskyy, who projects a far more upbeat assessment.
But in a rare interview, a Zaluzhnyi senior adviser, General Nazarov, tells me his boss stands by those controversial comments.
COREN: General Zaluzhnyi was just giving an honest assessment of the war, which was a wake-up call, I think, to the West.
GEN. VIKTOR NAZAROV, SENIOR ADVISER TO UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES COMMANDER: Yes, I agree with you. It was some kind of message and some kind of alarm signal to -- for some politicians and for Western society. But we are ready to fight this, our enemy. But we need help, we need support.
COREN (voice-over): Equipment is what Ukraine desperately needs -- artillery pieces, ammunition, long-range missile systems, specifically ATACMs, drones, electronic warfare and air defense systems.
Last weekend, Kyiv experienced how vital those air defense systems are at protecting the population when Russia launched what local officials called an unprecedented number of attack drones on the capital.
The general fears if Ukraine doesn't receive advanced weaponry, his country faces a very difficult 2024.
COREN: General, is there one specific weapon that would be a game- changer in this war?
NAZAROV: I don't think so. But importance of F-16 is the -- I believe that will help us to change the situation concerning the Russian air superiority on the front line.
COREN (voice-over): The problem, however, is that Ukraine needs those F-16s now, not in spring of next year when they're due to arrive. But Russia is stepping up its military production on an industrial scale.
General Nazarov's biggest fear is whether the West has the patience for what is turning out to be a much longer war.
COREN: There are concerns that the West is losing interest in this war and the support is waning, especially in the U.S. amongst Republicans.
What is your message to those Republicans?
NAZAROV: American support is vital for Ukraine, real vital. It's very important for us. What I want to say to Republicans, we need to understand that now we have a problem to conduct this war. But if we don't manage to win this war, in future we'll have more
problems not only for our country, for my country, for our populations, but only for Europe as a whole. It will be a problem for United States also.
COREN (voice-over): Anna Coren, CNN, Kyiv.
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BRUNHUBER: Fossil fuels are at the top of the list of priorities, as world leaders gather for the second day of the U.N. World Climate Action Summit in Dubai. The White House is announcing a new rule that would dramatically cut the U.S. fossil fuel industry's emissions of methane.
It's one of several promises expected today from governments at the summit. And our David McKenzie joins me from Dubai.
So, David, bring us up to speed on the latest pledges being made by the U.S. and others there at the summit.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, this is a major announcement by the U.S., through the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA.
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MCKENZIE: They are they are announcing much stricter rules when it comes to the production and the offset or the putting off of methane when it comes to oil and gas production and exploration.
This is important because methane is a much more powerful warming agent than carbon dioxide. And traditionally it's been a big byproduct of the oil and gas industry. They are cutting the allowable methane that will come out of these industries and hoping that this translates to the rest of the world.
But the U.S. and other nations, in fact, are ramping up production of oil and gas. I put that question to a leading climate change expert.
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MCKENZIE: You have countries, all over the world, including the UAE and the U.S., who are ramping up production of oil.
Doesn't that completely fly in the face of phasing out fossil fuels?
BILL HARE, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: Yes, it goes in completely the wrong direction. It's really hypocritical. Both the Emirates and the U.S. are saying they're committed to 1.5 degrees. But you can't be committed to the Paris agreement's temperature limit if you go on expanding fossil fuel production.
That doesn't mean we can't make progress here. This is the place where every year leaders come and have to face the truth about what's happening. And I'm still optimistic that, in a week's time, we can walk away with something that makes a big step toward a fossil fuel phaseout.
MCKENZIE: There are very bold pronouncements on one hand and actions on the other.
Are the two lining up?
HARE: No, they're not. One of the big concerns that many have about the process here is that we're seeing an awful lot of announcements which are never followed up. They're never accountable.
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MCKENZIE: Well, the good thing with the methane rules is that they are enforceable for the EPA and the U.S. The worry is that some of these announcements at COP will be sounding good but not actually acting on reducing emissions -- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right, appreciate it. David McKenzie in Dubai, thanks so much.
And thank you all for joining us, I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, I'll be back after a quick break. For everyone else, it's "INSIDE AFRICA."
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back, I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
Our top story, the resumed fighting between Israel and Hamas. Fighting in southern Gaza on the ground, in the air and with naval forces is entering its second day, following the collapse of the truce. Israel says it hit more than 400 targets over the past 24 hours.
The IDF is now warning Palestinians in southern Gaza to evacuate even farther south and has posted an online map showing them where to go. Have a look at this.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): This was the desperate scene in Khan Younis as aid trucks delivering drinking water outside the Red Crescent Hospital to people in the midst of the humanitarian crisis.
Early Friday Israel accused Hamas of violating a deal. It had paused the fighting for seven days. During that truce, Israel was able to recover dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The IDF believes 136 people are still being held in Gaza, including 17 women and children. Despite the resumed fighting, a U.S. official says talks to release more hostages are ongoing. Now to CNN's Melissa Bell is in Paris.
Take us through the latest as the focus of the fighting turns to the south of Gaza.
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're talking about a part of Gaza that has most of the 1.8 million internally displaced Palestinians. And that is now the focus of Israel's resumed violence there inside Gaza.
And we've seen those leaflets being distributed in Khan Younis that you mentioned a moment ago, which appears to be the focus of a great deal of attention, warning them that this is now a fighting zone and they need to evacuate further south.
What the IDF says is that this is about protecting civilians and getting them out of the way of fire. But humanitarian organizations point out that there are very few places for people to go. Still, this is what the IDF had to say.
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LT. COL. (RES.) JONATHAN CONRICUS, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: It's not an ideal situation in Gaza.
What we are doing is the best thing we can in order to disseminate the information, to get it out to Gazans and to give it to them in good enough time so that they can actually use it and it can become something that helps them make the right decision.
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BELL: There are, of course, questions that came about whether people will actually be able to use these QR codes that are on the leaflets, given the very poor reception, the lack of internet services that are so frequent there in Gaza.
But still, a desperate humanitarian situation that, over the course of seven days, saw some alleviation in the shape of food trucks, aid trucks that were able to get into Gaza. That has now stopped, even as the fighting has resumed.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And then, Melissa, of course, the pope has been getting involved, again, in the conflict. Take us through the latest on that.
BELL: That's right, he's been remarkably outspoken and forthright in what he said about the war so far publicly, describing it not as a war but as terrorism.
What we've learned today is more about a phone call that apparently took place between the pope and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog. This according to an Israeli official, who says that even as the Israeli president was explaining the strength of feeling and shock felt by Israelis after the October 7th attacks, the pope replied abruptly.
"Terrorism could not be an answer to terror." That's the latest. It's in a phone call that took place in October. We just learned about it. The pope being forthright in what he's had to say so far. What we didn't know is he'd been that forthright directly to the Israeli president.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Thanks so much, Melissa Bell, in Paris.
We've seen outpourings of emotion many times over the past week, as dozens of families reunite with loved ones they thought they might never hold in their arms again. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has one of their stories.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hen Avigdori waited 50 days for this moment, embracing his wife and 12-year-old daughter, now freed from Hamas captivity.
HEN AVIGDORI, WIFE AND DAUGHTER KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: I can easily say, this was the happiest moment of my life, the depth and the amplitudes of the happiness and the emotion was almost unbearable.
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In a good way.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Waking up the next day brought a new flood of emotions.
H. AVIGDORI: And I was the first one to wake up and I just wake up and counted, one wife, two kids and it was so -- it's supposed to be obvious that you wake up alongside with your family. But for me, it wasn't obvious for the last 50 days.
DIAMOND: Tell us how they're doing, Sharon and Noam?
H. AVIGDORI: I didn't see anything that is abnormal till this point. They're sleeping well. They're eating well. They're making -- they're laughing a lot. Most of the humor has come from Noam, actually.
She has given me a hard time. She is busting my ass with humor all the time. You are too old.
DIAMOND: Already?
H. AVIGDORI: You are too old. You are not updated. You don't know fashion. You don't know anything.
DIAMOND (voice-over): For now, the Avigdori family isn't sharing much about Sharon and Noam's captivity.
H. AVIGDORI: They tell me a lot. I can share nothing. This is a matter of privacy and national security.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Or the moment they were kidnapped from kibbutz Be'eri.
DIAMOND: Till a few days ago, you didn't know exactly what happened to them. What have they told you about that moment?
It must have been absolutely terrifying.
H. AVIGDORI: It was absolutely terrifying. And again, I don't speak about what happened to them.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Avigdori did share that his wife and daughter were held alongside four other relatives, where Noam took on the role of big sister to 3-year-old Yael and 8-year-old Nave.
H. AVIGDORI: She is kind of surrogate old sister for them. And she kept this job all during her captivity. And now, the girls are at home. They're adjusting slowly but surely.
DIAMOND (voice-over): For Hen's wife, that also means fresh grief.
AVIGDORI: Her brother was killed on the 7th of October. She didn't know what happened. She took it. Well, it will take time.
DIAMOND (voice-over): They are also adjusting to this, realizing that people across Israel know their faces and their story. Noam's brother, meanwhile, is savoring the little moments.
OMER AVIGDORI, MOTHER AND SISTER KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS: It is like when we eat dinner and my mom brings like a bunch of food, that night most of us won't eat. But she brings it anyway, like little things that you didn't realize how much we miss them until they actually happen again.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Those little moments followed seven weeks of relentless advocacy. But even with his wife and daughter home, Hen Avigdori says his work isn't done yet.
H. AVIGDORI: Because I tasted the happy and I know that my country should be -- should do anything to give this experience to all the other members of the kidnapping and as soon as possible.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Hod HaSharon, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Gaza residents who had to flee their homes because of fighting now have another problem: the cold. The U.N. says about 1.7 million Gazans are now displaced, a vast majority of the population.
Recent satellite images showed up to 50 percent of buildings in northern Gaza are damaged by the war. So many people who no longer have a proper roof above their head, which they say isn't helping as nights get colder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OM SALAH ZOROB, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): As you can see, we
were displaced from our homes without taking anything with us. We now cook over the fire, wash and cook in a primitive manner. The bitter cold gets intense at night.
We did not expect that we would escape from our homes and have them destroyed. This means that, when we return, we will also live in tents near our destroyed homes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Getting the humanitarian aid into Gaza has become more critical as the fighting resumes. An eyewitness earlier told CNN no trucks were seen crossing into Egypt at the key Rafah crossing after the truce ended.
The United Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees says the only way to help people in Gaza is another pause in the fighting.
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FILIPPO GRANDI, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: There is no other way but for this to end, at least for a humanitarian cease-fire to resume, so that people can be assisted. Because it's not just a matter of displacement and no space; it's that aid cannot go to these people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The U.N. says singer The Weeknd is donating 4 million meals to the World Food Programme to help the people of Gaza. They say more than 1 million Palestinians in Gaza are on the verge of starvation and a humanitarian catastrophe beyond reckoning has been unleashed.
U.S. Democratic representative Adam Smith says his home in Washington state was vandalized with graffiti, urging a cease-fire in Gaza.
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It said, quote, "baby killer." Smith says he supports humanitarian pauses in the conflict but condemned acts of intimidation and violence by political extremes last night on CNN.
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REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Sadly, the extremes on the Left and the Right have increasingly seen intimidation and, in some cases, violence as a legitimate way to advance their viewpoints. And it's very troubling.
And like I said, we've seen it on both sides of the political spectrum. But you know, we need to have respect for civil society and representative democracy and know how to disagree with each other without going to this level of intimidation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The incident comes as the White House and Congress face mounting pressure to publicly call for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Still to come, the name plate is gone and the locks to former congressman George Santos' office have already been changed after he was expelled from the House. A look at who else is on the congressional wall of shame. That's coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Wall Street extended its gains on the first day of December with all three indices in the positive territory. The Dow gained 0.8 percent while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were up by more than 0.5 percent after one of the strongest months of the year in November.
Traders are optimistic that the U.S. Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates, even though Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday it's too early to decide.
Walmart is no longer advertising on Twitter, the social media platform now called X. America's largest retailer is the latest company to pull its advertising dollars after owner Elon Musk publicly embraced an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and told advertisers to go eff themselves.
Other companies include Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN. A principle analyst at Insider Intelligence had this warning about the future of the social media platform.
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Quote, "If anyone is killing X, it's Elon Musk, not advertisers."
George Santos is no longer a member of Congress after his former colleagues voted to expel him from the U.S. House of Representatives. Now that action Friday has only happened a half-dozen times in the nation's history. CNN's Brian Todd looks back at who else has been ousted and what prompted their removals.
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QUESTION: Mr. Santos, your reaction --
FORMER REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): No questions.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George Santos seemingly always wanted to be thought of as exceptional. And tonight, he certainly is. Historians say you have to be a special kind of scoundrel to be expelled from the House of Representatives.
RAYMOND SMOCK, ROBERT C. BYRD CENTER FOR CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY: It's very rare for the House of Representatives to expel a member. It has only happened five times before and now, George Santos makes that number six. TODD: The last one was James Traficant, the flamboyant Ohio Democrat known for invoking a "Star Trek" phrase when he was particularly outraged.
JAMES TRAFICANT (D-OH), FORMER REPRESENTATIVE: Beam me up.
TODD: Traficant was expelled from the House in 2002 after being convicted of racketeering, bribery and tax evasion. He served seven years in prison.
SMOCK: He wore a wig that look like a muskrat for all practical purposes and he was a well-liked, colorful, comedic member in so many ways. But he was also a crook.
TODD: In 1980, Pennsylvania Democrat Michael Myers was expelled after being convicted for taking bribes, part of an investigation called Abscam.
REP. MICHAEL MYERS (D-PA): Money talks in this business and bullshit walks.
TODD: This FBI sting video shows Myers accepting $50,000 to help a fictional Arab sheikh.
In 1861, three congressmen were expelled for joining the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Then there are the members who are not expelled but whose corruption was legendary. Authorities uncovered $90,000 in cash hidden in a pie crust in the freezer of the home of Democratic Congressman William "Cold Cash" Jefferson. He was convicted of bribery in 2009.
PROF. LARRY SABATO, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: There are lots of places to hide $90,000. The freezer is very inventive and creative.
TODD: Prosecutors said Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter took $250,000 in campaign funds and spent it on video games, groceries and other household items. And $14,000 Italian vacation. Then, he claimed it was all his wife's idea, until she called him out on him in court.
SABATO: When you are a thief and a cad simultaneously with your own wife, I think it makes one too much less sympathetic.
TODD: In 1838, Congressman William Graves of Kentucky actually killed a fellow house member in a duel. Graves not only wasn't expelled, he wasn't even censured.
Historians say in some ways, scandals have become part of the fabric on Capitol Hill, with more than 11,000 people having served in the House throughout American history.
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I suspect that as long as money and power, they'll have it, at the same place, corrupt individuals will try to take advantage of that nexus. TODD: And some seemingly can't shake the habit. Michael Myers, the Congress representative convicted in the Abscam case more than four decades ago, is back in jail, sentenced last year for taking bribes in a ballot-stuffing scheme in Democratic primaries. He's 80 years old -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman is speaking out for the first time about her role in the college admissions scandal known as Operation Varsity Blues. Huffman pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to falsify her daughter's SAT scores, the crime that sent the Emmy-winning actress to prison.
In a revealing interview with CNN affiliate KABC, the Oscar nominee recounted the moment she was arrested.
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FELICITY HUFFMAN, ACTRESS: They woke my daughters up at gunpoint -- again, nothing new to the Black and brown community. Then they put my hands behind my back and handcuffed me and I asked if I could get dressed. And I thought it was a hoax.
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BRUNHUBER: Just ahead, law and legacy, remembering Sandra Day O'Connor, who was once called the most powerful woman in America. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor died Friday in Arizona at the age of 93. O'Connor was the first woman to serve on the nation's highest court. CNN's Jessica Schneider looks at her life and career.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sandra Day O'Connor grew up a cowgirl from Arizona, 25 miles from the nearest town.
FORMER JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR, U.S. SUPREME COURT: I tend to be a bit of a pragmatist probably, because we had to solve all our own problems out on the ranch. If the truck broke down, we had to fix it. If some animal needed medical attention, we had to provide it. There wasn't much we didn't have to do.
SCHNEIDER: She had the toughness ranch life can breed. MARCI HAMILTON, FORMER O'CONNOR LAW CLERK: She was incredibly fearless about life and part of that was because her early life was very hard. Her parents died, her grandmother died, she was shuttled back and forth between the ranch and relatives in Texas to go to school and she just became very self-sufficient.
SCHNEIDER: O'Connor went to Stanford in the same law class as future Chief Justice William Rehnquist. They dated for a time and he even proposed. She turned him down but they stayed lifelong friends. Upon graduation, no law firm would hire O'Connor, so she eventually helped start her own, later becoming a powerful state lawmaker, then judge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Reagan today settled the question of when he would nominate a woman to the nation's highest court.
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: She is truly a person for all seasons, possessing those unique qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to the public good.
SCHNEIDER: In 1981, President Ronald Reagan nominated her to be the first woman on the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed O'Connor unanimously, 99-0.
In 1988, the justice survived a breast cancer scare and returned to work just 10 days after surgery. Her dry, western wit remained intact.
O'CONNOR: The worst was my public visibility, frankly.
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There was constant media coverage. How does she look?
When is she going to step down and give the president another vacancy on the court?
SCHNEIDER: Over time, O'Connor became known as a moderate conservative on the court and often the swing vote on hot button social issues, a reference she didn't like.
O'CONNOR: We have an equal voice and I'm no more powerful than anyone else on this court. That's for sure.
SCHNEIDER: Some criticized her as a fence sitter, waiting to see which way the wind would blow.
HAMILTON: Those would be the people who have never met her. Anybody who's met her knows that she makes up her own mind and she's not at all concerned about where anybody else is on the spectrum.
SCHNEIDER: Her most well-known votes, upholding abortion rights in Planned Parenthood versus Casey, supporting the University of Michigan Law School's affirmative action program and siding with her conservative colleagues in favor of George W. Bush in Bush versus Gore.
In 2006, she stepped down from the court to care for her husband, John, who had Alzheimer's disease. She became a passionate advocate for Alzheimer's research.
O'CONNOR: It does take a staggering toll on the families and the caregivers. I can certainly attest to that.
SCHNEIDER: In 2018, O'Connor revealed she too had been diagnosed with dementia and withdrew from public life.
The retired justice was grateful, she wrote, for her countless blessings and experiences, including helping to break the glass ceiling.
O'CONNOR: It wasn't too many years before I was born that women in this country got the right to vote, for heaven's sakes. And in my lifetime, I have seen unbelievable changes in the opportunities for women.
I think it's important that women are well represented. That it is not an all-male governance as it once was.
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BRUNHUBER: That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber, I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
