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Intense Israeli Offensive Targets Hamas Strongholds in Southern Gaza; White House Faces Resistance in Congress on Funding Aid Package for Ukraine; 2023 Predicted to Be the Hottest Year in Human History; Israeli Prime Minister Rejects International Force for Gaza's Security; U.S. Concerns Grow Over Israel's Military Presence in Southern Gaza; Civilian Death Toll Rises in Gaza as Israeli Offensive Continues; European Union Warns of Potential Holiday Terror Attacks Amid Israel-Hamas Conflict; FBI Director Highlights Elevated Threats in the U.S. Amid Israel-Hamas Crisis; U.S. Republicans Link Aid for Ukraine to Immigration Demands, Drawing Criticism; Pentagon Expresses Concerns over Sustainability of Current Aid to Ukraine; Prosecutors Plan to Use Trump's Support for Capitol Rioters Against Him; November Warmest on Record. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired December 06, 2023 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead here on CNN Newsroom, Israel's ground offensive rolls into southern Gaza with major operations against Hamas underway in the city of Khan Younis. Out of money, out of time, the White House finding stiff resistance in Congress to funding another aid package to Ukraine. And no prizes for guessing this one: 2023 will be the hottest year in human history.

Senior Israeli commander says his forces have launched the most intense attacks since the start of ground operations against Hamas. Gaza's second-biggest city, Khan Younis in the south, is bearing the brunt. Scores of wounded are streaming into hospitals. The IDF says it's encircling the city as well as delivering airstrikes on Hamas tunnels and rocket launches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERZI HALEVI, ISRAELI CHIEF OF GNERAL STAFF: We have moved to the third phase of the ground operations, have secured many Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip, and now we are operating against its strongholds in the south.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

In central Gaza, the Palestine Red Crescent says video shows an ambulance fleeing the scene of artillery fire. Eyewitnesses report multiple strikes, and a nearby hospital says it received 90 bodies on Tuesday. A spokesman for many says many people are still trapped under the rubble. That spokesperson is appealing to the world to end the fighting and allow more medical aid and humanitarian supplies into Gaza.

Meantime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rejecting the idea of an international force responsible for Gaza's security once the war is over. He says only the Israel Defense Forces should control the disarmament of Gaza and Hamas. The Biden administration publicly says Israel is heeding US warnings to try and limit civilian casualties in Gaza but privately not everyone in the White House agrees. A senior official says there's particular concern about Israel's military presence in the south. Details now from CNN's Alex Marquardt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQAURDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Israeli strikes tonight in southern Gaza as Israel expands its campaign. New satellite images show dozens of Israel's armored vehicles near the main road heading to southern Gaza's biggest city, Khan Yunis. Israel's top general said Tuesday that the military is operating quote in the heart of Han Yunis where Israeli officials have said Hamas' top leadership has dug in. According to a journalist who filmed this video, IDF troops fired on civilians and journalists. Airstrikes have been seen near the city, chaos as the wounded are a rush to the hospital, and the dead are counted. Amid the renewed fighting, hospitals continue to overflow.

We are facing a huge problem, this doctor in Khan Younis says. God forbid if we get more patients, there's no space for them at all. Many in Khan Younis have gone there from northern Gaza after Israel told more than one million people to evacuate. Now they're being told to move again to so-called safe zones, though humanitarian officials and civilians say that nowhere is safe.

UNKNOWN: And we need the war to stop. Cease fire. I wish because nobody will win in this war.

MARQUARDT: A senior UN official says the civilian death toll is rapidly increasing. Overall, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, almost 16,000 people in Gaza have been killed since October 7th. In an interview with Outfront, an IDF spokesman conceded that the majority of deaths could be civilians, saying that if two Palestinian civilians are killed for every Hamas militant, that ratio would be, quote, tremendously positive.

LT COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: If you compare that ratio to any other conflict in urban terrain between a military and a terrorist organization using civilians as their human shield and embedded in the civilian population, you will find that that that ratio is tremendous, tremendously positive and perhaps unique in the world.

[00:05:09]

MARQUARDT: Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus later admitted he should have chosen his words more carefully. Amid the onslaught in Gaza, Hamas today claimed a barrage of rockets fired at Tel Aviv. Despite the Iron Dome intercepts, the large black smoke of an impact was seen north of the city and shrapnel plunged to the ground, here narrowly missing two people walking on the sidewalk. Alex Marquardt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: CNN, Tel Aviv. David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst, as well as White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. It's good to see you. It's been a while.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good to be with you, John.

VAUSE: Okay, so the Israeli government is making it clear in just the last couple of hours that this war will not be over anytime soon. And even when the fighting in Gaza stops, Israel won't be leaving Gaza, at least not from a security point of view. Here's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I want to say a word about the day after Hamas. Gaza needs to be demilitarized. But in order for Gaza to be demilitarized, there's just one force that can demilitarize it. And that power is the IDF. No international force can be responsible for that. We saw in other places what happened when they brought in international forces in order to dematerialize. I am not willing to close my eyes and accept any other arrangement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So there's a couple of questions out of this. How long will the Israelis be staying? Can they maintain security for any long period of time? Because, you know, in the days after October 7, there was broad agreement and support about destroying Hamas among Israelis. But did Israelis sign up for another long-term occupation of the Gaza Strip?

SANGER: The Americans who have been coming through Israel, they've all begun to sing variations of the same policy song, which is Israel cannot be an occupying force again in Gaza. There's a reason that they had to leave in 2004, 2005. Second, that there can be no reduction of Gaza territory. And the third was that you can't force Gazans to leave. We've already heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say he is not on board with the first or the second. You just heard him say he can't imagine anybody running the territory other than the IDF, Israeli Defense Forces. And previously, we've heard him and some of his aides say there now needs to be a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel. And that buffer zone would come out of Gaza territory. So we're headed, I think, to a real disagreement on the fundamental strategy for making a future Gaza war.

VAUSE: Well, the here and now is, though, the ground offensive in Gaza has renewed and Israel has been issuing evacuation notices for certain neighborhoods as a way of minimizing civilian casualties. Aid workers, though, and UN officials remain highly critical of the Israeli operations. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES ELDER, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: It's not a safe zone if it's only free from bombardment, as some zones have not been. It's a safe zone when you can guarantee the conditions of food, water, medicine and shelter. Okay, now I've seen for myself, these are entirely, entirely absent. You cannot overstate this. These are tiny patches of barren land or their street corners, their sidewalks, their half-built buildings. There is no water, not a little bit. There's no water, no facilities, no shelter from the cold and the rain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Publicly, the U.S. has praised Israel for these safe zones privately, though they believe at least officials believe Israel could be doing more to minimize civilian casualties. I'm just wondering overall, though, is there essentially a cost benefit analysis for Israel? The more it does on the ground, establishing safe zones and knocks on the roofs, the longer it will take to meet its military objectives.

SANGER: So, this has been the trade off all along. They know that if this goes on, a couple of things happen. The Hamas leadership may get away or find a way to regroup. International pressure will build on Israel as the casualties, the civilian casualties mount. The Israelis, you can tell from their own public statements, including those about what the ratios are between Hamas were killed and civilians were killed. They are quite sensitive on this issue.

VAUSE: Yeah. And with that in mind, on Monday, an IDF spokesperson commented on. Reports of a kill ratio in Gaza to Palestinian civilians for every dead Hamas fighter.

[00:10:19]

He said if that was the case, he wouldn't confirm it, but he said it would be a tremendous positive for urban warfare. That response has been widely criticized. But to your point, what about that other formula, the ratio of dead civilians in relation to the number of people who are radicalized and go on and take up arms?

SANGER: Right. It's the same issue we faced in the United States here about Mosul and Fallujah and many other places. And it was one of, you know, Donald Rumsfeld's rules, the former defense secretary under President Bush, which was, you know, asking the question, you can if you bomb the living room, how many radicals are you creating in the basement? I think the other reason that the Israeli statement seemed to fall kind of flat was it was putting a pretty hard hearted numeric measure on the question of whether they were reducing human, you know, civilian casualties here.

VAUSE: David, it's good to see you. David Sanger there, CNN political and national security analyst. Thanks for your time, David. Appreciate it.

SANGER: Great to see you. VAUSE: Along with a surging death toll in Gaza, the renewed Israeli military offensive continues to cause unprecedented destruction. A Moscow official say since the start of this war, more than 60 percent of all homes in other Gaza have either been destroyed or damaged. And those residents who have fleed the worst of the fighting are now forced into the southern part of the Gaza Strip, areas which are overcrowded and shelters which are now becoming a risk of disease outbreaks. The U.S. State Department says the current level of aid into Gaza is just simply not enough for those in need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We do not want to see this campaign conducted in the south the way it has been conducted in the north. There is not enough being done right now. The level of assistance that's getting in is not sufficient. It needs to go up. And we've made that clear to the government of Israel. The level of fuel that is going in is not sufficient. It needs to go up. And we have made that clear to the government of Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Senior U.N. officials have described the situation in Gaza as apocalyptic. More now from CNN's Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDEN: They came here hoping to escape the war. And this is what happened. Tuesday afternoon an apparent Israeli air strike demolished this building in Deir el- Balah in central Gaza. Civilians more than 50 are now martyrs, says Abu Bassin. The building's owner had given them shelter. They all came from the north. Under the sand and the rubble is a lifeless body. There's his head, someone says. While others, peering into the ruins, search for survivors. Is anyone alive, he calls out. Without heavy equipment, bare hands must suffice. At Deir el-Balah's only functioning hospital, the injured are rushed inside.

The hospital spokesman says they received more than 130 injured and more than 90 bodies. CNN cannot confirm the death toll. Once again, so many of the victims are children. Stunned, confused, terrified, she grasps her mother's hand. The injured, treated on the floor. The lucky are among those who fled and then fled again further south. And up in places like this, makeshift camps devoid of running water, electricity or sanitation. A plastic sheet is all that protects Anas Mosleh and her family from the elements.

We spend all night hearing rockets and bombs, she says. We're living between life and death. We may die at any moment. Indeed, in Gaza now, the line between life and death is perilously thin. Ben Wedeman, CNN in Jerusalem.

END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: For Lebanon the biggest concern right now is being drawn into a conflict with Israel. (inaudible), the prime minister says they are working with the United States and the U.N trying to keep Lebanon out of any major war. But he said Israel is the only country that can keep the conflict from expanding. The situation on the country's shared boarder remains tense. On Tuesday a CNN team in Lebanon saw several rockets fired from the south towards Israel. The military of Hezbollah has said on social media that it targeted IDF troops in a number of locations. Israel also admitting its troops attacked Lebanese soldiers by mistake, while targeting Hezbollah in self-defense. The Lebanese armed forces say one soldier was killed, three more wounded. The IDF expressed regret over the incident.

[00:15:09]

The European Union is warning of potential holiday terror attacks because of the Israel-Hamas war. The Commissioner of Home Affairs says she's allocating $30 million to protect public spaces, like places of worship during the holiday season. And she's being candid about the risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YLVA JOHANSSON, CNN EU COMMISSIONER FOR HOME AFFAIRS: With the war between Israel and Hamas and the polarization it causes in our society, with the upcoming holiday season, there is a huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Similar concerns in the United States, where the Justice Department is reporting a sharp increase in hate crime investigations since October 7th. And the director of the FBI told the Senate committee on Tuesday it's been calling a, quote, drumbeat of foreign terror threats since Hamas' attack on Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FNI DIRECTOR: We're working around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those in the United States. Inspired by Hamas' horrific terrorist attacks in Israel. I've never seen a time where all the threats, or so many of the threats, are all elevated all at exactly the same time.

UNKNOWN: Would you say that there's multiple blinking red lights out there?

WRAY: I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Coming up here on CNN, U.S. Republican lawmakers take aid for Ukraine as hostage. Unless their demands on issues like immigration are met, Ukraine will not get the U.S. assistance they need. The White House calls that crazy. That's up in a moment.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Russian President. Vladimir Putin will spend Wednesday in the Middle East where he'll discuss oil output as well as the Israel Hamas war. The Kremlin also says that Mr. Putin will host the Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi in Moscow the following day on Thursday. Busy schedule. The Pentagon says it's getting to a point where the US cannot sustain its current aid to Ukraine without major action by Congress.

President Biden is proposing a new aid package, but it's facing a roadblock in Congress because of Republican stonewalling. Conservative members of the House of Representatives say they don't want to fund more military aid to Ukraine. And Senate Republicans are insisting on making Ukrainian aid part of a broader spending package. It will also send money to Israel, Taiwan and critically to the southern US border with Mexico. Here's Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITCH MCCONNEL, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER: Now is the time to pay attention to our own border in addition to these other important international concerns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The senior Senate Democrat says Republicans are refusing to fund more military aid to Ukraine. The senator says this is a failure in order to meet Ukraine's critical needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK SCHUMER, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER: How desperate Ukraine is for the aid that the president has proposed, but it's vital. If this fails because of border, that's not a bipartisan failure. That's a failure of the Republicans and the Republican leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:09]

VAUSE: Frustrated U.S. President Joe Biden says he'll continue to fight on to try and get the aid which Ukraine needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The failure to support Ukraine is just absolutely crazy. It's against U.S. interests. It's against the interests of the world. It's just wrong. And we're going to get that aid. We're going to get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Joining us now is retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, senior military analyst and former commanding general, U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army. Let's kick off with a little sausage making and political deal making. Two things that it's best to not know what goes into the process. But here's a glimpse of what happened Tuesday in terms of politics on Capitol Hill over aid for Ukraine. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: Immediately hijacked by Leader McConnell. Then when I brought up the idea that they could do an amendment and have the ability to get something done on border, you know, they get stuck. They got stuck. They didn't like it. And even one of them started, was disrespectful and started screaming at one of the generals and challenging him to why he didn't go to the border.

KEBIN CRAMER, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICIAN: People got up and walked out because this is a waste of time. They just said, this isn't worth it. This is a joke. You're not serious about this. I'm going. You know, and I don't blame them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You know. You know. In an ideal world, domestic politics would have no impact on foreign policy. Sadly, that's not the case. It really is. But is there any objective argument that cutting all assistance to Ukraine, ending U.S. involvement, would actually be a net positive for the United States?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: None whatsoever. John, what I'll tell you is, you know, a nation's values normally drives a nation's policies, which drives a nation's strategy. So when you're talking about the values of what we're seeing in Ukraine, a sovereign country. A nation that has territorial boundaries, that has been invaded by another nation, that interferes with their conduct of their government, it would seem to me that the United States' values says that's not right.

The freedom and democracy is an important thing for all nations, and we should stand up for that. Especially the point about the fact that Ukraine has so many connections with the United States, going back to several accords where we promised to help them, with security, once they gave up some of the things that they had during the period they were part of the Soviet Union. So, no, this would be a violation, in my view, of our values, but it's also something that would be a portrayal of another country on the world stage by United States policymakers.

VAUSE: I want to hear from Democrat Senator Michael Bennett. He talked about what you mentioned there in terms of democratic values, what the U.S. stands for. He was speaking to CNN just a few hours ago. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BENNET, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: If this democracy can't get its act together, that's going to send a horrible message to Putin. I think Putin thinks he's losing on the battlefield of Ukraine, the Ukrainian battlefield, and he's counting on winning on the Capitol Hill battlefield, and we just can't let this happen, and I don't think we will.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: I want to pick up on that last point. Is Putin actually losing on the battlefield? It seems Ukraine's counteroffensive has stalled and isn't really going anywhere right now.

HERTLING: Well, Ukraine has had significant gains in terms of their defense and some of their counteroffensive, and in fact, they're killing a whole lot of Russian soldiers, and the sanctions, in my view, even though many people are debating this right now, have started to kick in with Putin. He's having trouble on the home front with his economy, with his manufacturing, with recruiting new soldiers for the fight.

Ukraine has had a tough battle, that's for sure. It's been several tough campaigns, and whereas the counteroffensive, has not made the gains that both Ukrainians and the West thought it would make, it still has been successful in terms of pushing Russia back.

VAUSE: In the last couple of days, the Washington Post has taken an in-depth look at why the Ukrainian counteroffensive hasn't met expectations. Much of it comes down to disagreements between Ukrainian and U.S. officials over timing, as well as execution. Here's part of their reporting. By May, concern was growing within the Biden administration among allied backers. According to the planning, Ukraine should have already launched its operations.

As far as the U.S. military was concerned, the window of opportunity was shrinking fast. Intelligence over the winter had shown that Russian defenses were relatively weak and largely unmanned, and that morale was low among Russian troops after the losses in Kharkiv and Kherson. U.S. intelligence assessed that senior Russian officers felt the prospects were bleak.

That quickly changed over the coming months after that, but on the other hand, the Ukrainian troops needed more time for training, and when this original plan actually did go into action, it lasted about four days. Proof, once again, everyone has a plan until they're punched in the face. But looking forward, can Ukraine regain the momentum here? And is it even possible without U.S. support?

[00:25:19]

HERTLING: If I can comment first on the Washington Post piece, because I read that and I found it very interesting. You know, there's an old saying that if you get three generals around a map board, you're going to have at least four different opinions on what should happen next. That is what has happened during the period prior to the counteroffensive starting last spring. The problem is, John, what we were expecting of Ukraine was that they would stand 10 feet tall with a force that had never been tested in battle.

And you know, you and I have talked since the beginning of this campaign. I believe that the requirement for training in combined arms operation was not going to be met with a pieced together training opportunity by the West, to help Ukraine have an army of a couple of hundred thousand soldiers going into the offensive on multiple fronts. At the same time, Russia transitioned from the offense to the defense. The defense is much easier to execute. But again, I go back to the point that I think Ukraine has learned a lot of lessons. And oh, by the way, so has Russia. So both forces are a little bit better than they were at the very beginning. But I still believe Ukraine is going to persevere.

VAUSE: Mark Hertling, good to see you, sir. Thank you for your time.

HERTLING: Always a pleasure, John. Thank you.

VAUSE: In eastern Ukraine, the town of Avdiivka has been the focus of a two-month-long Russian offensive. The former industrial town has all been but destroyed during the fighting. But as CNN's Anna Corrin reports, there are residents who remain there. And a group of Ukrainians called the White Angels are bringing supplies to residents who are living in a war zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At a warehouse stocked with humanitarian aid, 23-year-old police officer, Demetro Solovy (ph), picks up supplies. Food, water, hygiene products and a generator are on the list. He's part of the White Angels unit. And they're heading to his hometown of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on the eastern front, where one of the most fierce and bloody battles is being waged in the war in Ukraine.

I was born in this town, he tells me. My neighbors are there, my relatives, my friends. It's my duty to help them. We are their hope. But getting to Avdiivka is a deathtrap. Shortly after leaving us, with his GoPro rolling, he spots Russian shelling through the windscreen. Look, the bomb has landed. Report incoming of an ugly bastard. And there's another one, he tells his colleague. Russian artillery, mortars and drones target the road. And yet Demetro remains calm. This perilous journey has become routine despite multiple close calls. Driving past the sign that proudly states Avdiivka is Ukraine, the town of once 30,000 residents is now deserted, devoid of the living, as almost every single building has been shelled.

But surprisingly, some people still live here, including Dr. Vitaly Syntnik (ph), head of the local hospital. Diagnosed with terminal cancer, he's decided he's not going anywhere. We have a job and we do it, he explains. He called the White Angels to evacuate a man who'd just been injured from shrapnel. As they load him into the van, the idle chatter is interrupted. Incoming, it's a mortar, explains the doctor. Sometimes it rustles and then bang. That would be a tank. As the explosions get louder, it's time to go.

This is the road to Avdiivka. There is one way in, one way out. We are not allowed to travel to the town, which is 17 kilometers away. The military has banned all media, saying it's just too dangerous. But for the White Angels, they travel on this road multiple times a week, risking their lives to support the less than 1,300 people still living in the town.

As the White Angels begin the dangerous drive out Demetro reflects. It's very sad what's happening to my town. but one day we'll rebuild Avdiivka and I will live there with my grandchildren. We just need to believe.

A belief that keeps this community among the ruins alive. Anna Coren, CNN, on the outskirts of Avdiivka, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still ahead here on CNN, Donald Trump and his words might just be the biggest help for prosecutors at his upcoming federal election subversion case. New details on the latest court filing in a moment.

[00:30:06]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause, and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

U.S. President Joe Biden is trying to walk back remarks he made to Democratic donors at an off-camera fund-raiser on Tuesday, telling them, quote, "If Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I'd be running."

Later, when pressed by reporters if he would be running if it wasn't for Donald Trump, he said, "I expect so, but look, he's running, and I have to run."

The Biden campaign was quick to downplay the early remark as nothing to see here. They pointed to the fact that President Biden has repeatedly described Trump as a unique threat to the country and to democracy.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has taken an oath to, quote, "defend the Constitution against all enemies," including domestic ones, says he intends to blur the faces of the January 6th insurrectionists before he releases Capitol Hill security footage from that day. His reason: to protect them from federal prosecution and retaliation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day, because we don't want them to be retaliated against and -- and to be charged by the DOJ.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Federal prosecutors already have footage from January 6th, but also have relied on other citizens to identify some of the rioters; and critics fear blurring the video might actually just hamper that.

The Capitol insurrection interfered with lawmakers who were inside, exercising their constitutional duty to certify President Joe Biden's election.

New details about the special counsel's planned legal strategy ahead of Donald Trump's federal election subversion trial next year. Prosecutors say they plan to present evidence that Trump's continued support for Capitol rioters helps to show he intended to inspire violence on January 6th as part of a conspiracy he led to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has the latest now from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Federal prosecutors are saying in court that, at Donald Trump's trial next year related to the 2020 election, they are ready to explain to the jury how he encouraged the violence not just on January 6th, but generally, was condoning violent supporters of his for some time around the 2020 election.

Now, this is a piece of the story as we're learning what exactly prosecutors are doing to prepare to go to trial in March in federal court in Washington, D.C., taking Donald Trump to trial on four different charges related to his attempts to obstruct Congress and conspire to disrupt the transfer of power from him to President Joe Biden.

[00:35:05]

And in this court filing on Tuesday, the prosecutors are laying out that, not only do they want to argue that to the jury, they also want to show the jury things that Trump had said over the years that weren't specific to the 2020 election, about how in 2012, 2016, and other years, he always had talked about doubting votes because of the possibility of fraud. That was some argument that he had made a publicly.

They also talked about wanting to explain how he said, in a presidential debate in 2020 to the Proud Boys, the extremist group, "stand back and stand by."

And then, how he sympathized with rioters even in recent months, after he was charged; said to them, that he sympathized with them, you know, put them on screens at his rallies singing the national anthem, people who were imprisoned for January 6th violence, and then also said that he was interested in potentially pardoning them.

So, all of that, prosecutors say, very well is something that they believe a jury should hear so that they can explain to them the motive and the intent that Donald Trump had after the 2020 election; that there is a story and a history here of violence; that the character traits of the former president is something that really should be heard about how he's always tried to doubt elections and how he's always sought to exploit the possibility of violence as a way to hold on to power politically.

Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Former Republican congresswoman and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, says she'll do whatever she can to stop Donald Trump from being reelected to the White House. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ CHENEY (R), FORMER WYOMING CONGRESSWOMAN: There's a huge amount of work to be done after this election cycle, whether it's rebuilding the Republican Party, which increasingly looks like, you know, maybe an impossible task, or helping to begin a new party that's very focused on what the Republican Party used to stand for before this cult of personality, but right now and in this election cycle, I'll do whatever I have to do to make sure Donald Trump is not elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Cheney lost her leadership role within the Republican Party as well as her seat in Congress after publicly calling out Trump's lie that he won the 2020 presidential election.

She says she may actually run as a third-party candidate to draw votes away from Trump, and she's mulling a third-party run for next year.

Cheney says she fears what Trump might do in a second term, backed up by Republicans who might not defend the Constitution.

Coming up after a short break, we'll take a look at the first draft of the COP28 summit agreement and tell you what it could mean for carbon emissions and fossil fuels.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:40:04]

VAUSE: Well, I guess it's official and hardly surprising: 2023 will be the hottest year on record. From June to October, each month set new record temperatures by a wide margin, July being the warmest month on record.

CNN's meteorologist Chad Myers has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Just in from the Copernicus climate change service, November of 2023 was the warmest November on record, and probably to no one's surprise.

One point 75 degrees Celsius, three point 15 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels.

Now, we didn't really start out in the record territory, but boy, we got there in a hurry. June, July, August, September, October, and now November were all records. By a large margin, in some spots. And yes, November of 2023 will take this line and push it all the way into record territory.

There is very little, if anything, December can do to not make 2023, the entire year, the warmest year on record globally, because we are so far above where we should be. In fact, some days, we're even 2 degrees Celsius, 3.6 degrees

Fahrenheit, above normal. There was a little bit of a perturbation here in October and into November, but now we are so far above the old line which was 2016, another El Nino year.

Now, 2023 is going to be the warmest year on record, for sure.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thanks, Chad.

At the COP28 climate summit, they've released a draft agreement which pushes for a substantial increase in carbon capture and removal from the air by 2030.

Critics, though, say carbon capture is expensive and kind of unproven.

The draft also had several suggestions for phasing out fossil fuels, including the choice for parties to either phase out rapidly or in, quote, "orderly ways."

The first draft does leave plenty of room for negotiators to water down these proposals, as happens every year.

Meantime, climate activists are confronting heads of oil and gas companies at the summit. Protesters are calling for the complete end of fossil fuel use.

This comes amid reports that a record number of people linked with the fossil fuel industry were registered as delegates for COP28. Four times higher than previous years, you know, when an oil executive wasn't the president.

Here's more now from one protester.

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RACHEL ROSE JACKSON, "KICK BIG POLLUTER OUT" SPOKESPERSON: There are more fossil fuel lobbyists here, seven times over, than official indigenous representatives. They're here, unchecked, roaming free, and we're here to say it's time for big polluters to no longer be allowed to write the rules of climate action.

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VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. I'll be back with more news at the top of the hour.

In the meantime, after a short break, WORLD SPORT is up next. See you back here in about 18 minutes.

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