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CNN International: College Heads Grilled Over Alleged Antisemitism on Campuses; Iowa Republicans Explore Alternative to Voting Trump; George Santos Cashes in on His Expulsion from Congress; 2023 is Set to be the Warmest Year on Record. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 06, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
U.S. President Joe Biden is attempting to walk back remarks made about his 2024 presidential bid after telling a group of donors that he wasn't sure he'd be running if Trump wasn't in the race. When pressed on the comments, Biden said he would stay on even if Trump dropped out.
And tonight is debate night for four Republican candidates and notably missing will be the front runner, Donald Trump. He attended a town hall on Tuesday where he criticized Biden's physical and mental aptitude and sidestepped questions about abusing his powers if he were reelected.
Nearly two months after the start of the Israel Hamas war, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Republican led resolution on Tuesday condemning antisemitism. The vote was 311 to 14, a number of Democrats, however, expressed concern over the language of the resolution. They claim it would effectively define any criticism of the Israeli government as anti-Semitism.
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REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): Unfortunately, this resolution does absolutely nothing to genuinely counter the scourge of antisemitism, nor does it help bring us together with the unity of purpose that this topic merits. Rather, it is another attempt in a long series of veiled efforts by the GOP to weaponize Jewish lives for political gains. It is another partisan gotcha game that amounts to cheap value signaling, not serious action.
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NOBILO: U.S. lawmakers have also been grilling the leaders of some of the country's top universities about alleged incidents of antisemitism on their campuses.
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Tensions have been running high among students since the war began. CNN's Rene Marsh explains.
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REP. VIRGINIA FOXX (R-NC): After the events of the past two months, it's clear that rabid antisemitism and the university are two ideas that cannot be cleaved from one another.
RENE MARSH, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Presidents of Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and MIT facing tough questions about how they've responded to antisemitism on their campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Since the October 7th Hamas terror attack on Israel, hundreds of students at campuses across the country have held anti-war protests, in some cases using charged language and at times turning violent.
REP. GLENN GROTHMAN (R-WI): I have a friend whose son goes to the University of Pennsylvania. Right now, he is physically afraid to go to the library at night. Could you give us your reasons as to why that is true in Pennsylvania? Why today a Jewish student is afraid to walk to the library at night?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm devastated to hear that.
MARSH (voice-over): Now, the Department of Education has opened an unprecedented number of investigations into alleged incidents of hate on college campuses, Penn and Harvard among them.
REP. MARK TAKANO (D-CA): Can you tell us why the university did not react as quickly as other universities might've or others might have hoped?
CLAUDINE GAY, PRESIDENT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: The notion that Harvard did not react is not correct. From the moment I learned of the attacks on October 7th, I was focused on action to ensure that our students were supported and safe.
REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): There have been multiple marches at Harvard, with students chanting, quote, there is only one solution, intifada, revolution. And quote, globalized the intifada. Is that correct?
GAY: I've heard that thoughtless, reckless and hateful language on our campus, yes.
STEFANIK: Do you believe that type of hateful speech is contrary to Harvard's code of conduct, or is it allowed at Harvard?
GAY: It is at odds with the values of Harvard.
MARSH (voice-over): The focus of much of the days questioning, the fine line between allowing freedom of speech, while at the same time protecting students who feel threatened by the language.
REP. KEVIN KILEY (R-CA): If you are talking to a prospective student's family, a Jewish student's family right now, could you look them in the eye and tell them that their son or daughter would be safe and feel safe and welcome on your campus?
GAY: We are absolutely committed to student safety.
MARSH: All of the university presidents made it a point to tell the committee they're also seeing a rise in Islamophobia on campuses, so they are committed to not only addressing antisemitism but Islamophobia as well.
The university also listed several measures that they put in place since the October 7th Hamas attack. That includes increased security on campus and more counseling services.
Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
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NOBILO: A top U.S. law enforcement official is sounding the alarm about the number of terror threats that are elevated right now. The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, told a Senate committee on Tuesday that the agency has been following a, quote, drum beat of foreign terror threats since Hamas's attack on Israel.
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CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We're working around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those inspired by Hamas's 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you say that there is multiple blinking red lights out there?
WRAY: I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.
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NOBILO: There are only a few weeks until the Iowa caucuses. The very first event in the party's primary calendar leading up to the 2024 presidential election. CNN's Jeff Zeleny spoke with Iowa Republicans who voted for Trump in the past but are now looking for someone different.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sally Hofmann has been thinking and praying about the Republican presidential race.
SALLY HOFMANN, IOWA VOTER: I pray for the direction this country is going, and I pray for the candidates.
ZELENY (voice-over): As candidates have descended on Iowa, Hofmann has watched with an open mind. When we first met earlier this year, she had high praise for Donald Trump and curiosity for two of his rivals. HOFMANN: I like what Trump has done. To me, it's huge to have three U.S. Supreme Court justices during his term, and that, I'm a big pro- life proponent. I like what Nikki Haley is doing. I like DeSantis, too. So, kind of in that range.
ZELENY (voice-over): Now, as Republican hopefuls scramble for support six weeks before the Iowa caucuses in the 2024 campaign, Hofmann is among those looking for a fresh start.
HOFMANN: I'm thankful for what Trump did while he was in office. But I've been a little bit disappointed in Trump lately.
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I'm just veering away from him and leaning towards DeSantis. He seems like a man, who when he believes something, he'll stand by it. That's what I appreciate about him.
ZELENY (voice-over): As fall turns to winter in Iowa, it's a season of choosing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you guys' Iowa or Illinois residents?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perfect. Have you filled out one of our commit to caucus cards?
ZELENY (voice-over): And a critical moment for Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley to show that the Republican primary is still a contest, not a coronation.
ROGER DVORAK, IOWA VOTER: I'm very impressed with Nikki Haley, and I just hope she gets the nomination.
ZELENY: Roger Dvorak voted for Trump, but believes his criminal cases are a distraction.
DVORAK: Whether he's guilty or not, I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. But I just don't think he can be effective as a leader of the country.
ZELENY (voice-over): There's no doubt Trump remains a driving force in the campaign.
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to win the Iowa caucuses.
ZELENY (voice-over): He's in Iowa again tonight, the second time in four days, to try and maintain his dominance. Yet exhaustion with the former president once whispered easily comes alive in conversations with Republicans like Karen Hanna who also voted for Trump but is weighing an alternative.
ZELENY: What is it that gives you pause about President Trump? KAREN HANNA, IOWA VOTER: I think all that's going on and I think Ron DeSantis is a little bit more solid and less drama. You know, just all the things that Trump's going through the courts, so unsure about that. But, no, I like Ron DeSantis, what he stands for.
ZELENY (voice-over): The question is, how many Iowans are inclined to go against the grain of the Trump-controlled GOP as they make their final decisions.
ANNE WALFORD, IOWA VOTER: I'm looking at Nikki Haley, and, of course, DeSantis, and Vivek and Trump if --
ZELENY (voice-over): Ann Walford's laughter underscores the impressions of many Republicans, a reluctance to be with Trump now but a pledge to be with him in the end.
WALFORD: If he's the nominee, I will vote for him.
ZELENY (voice-over): That sentiment resonates on the Hofmann Farm outside Cedar Rapids, where Sally said she, too, will support Trump if he's the party's choice. But for now, he's not her choice, and she hopes Iowa can spark a new direction for the country.
HOFMANN: I think it's more of a wide-open race.
ZELENY: It's more of a wide-open race.
HOFMANN: I think -- right. I think it won't surprise me if Trump gets it. It won't surprise me if he doesn't -- isn't the nominee. And I'm just hoping that DeSantis might be the one. But I think it's more wide open.
ZELENY: But that's a central question. Just how many open minds are there remaining in Iowa, New Hampshire, and the other early voting states? Four of the Republican candidates will be here in Alabama for their fourth presidential debate. That is, Wednesday night. It is clear that voters in Iowa and elsewhere are watching these debates carefully to make up their minds before voting begins in January.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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NOBILO: Just ahead, disgraced former Congressman George Santos already has a new job after getting kicked out of Congress.
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GEORGE SANTOS, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: I know you were trouble when you walked in. That's me. Bye.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NOBILO: George Santos may have been expelled from the U.S. House, but the disgrace hasn't stopped him from cashing in on his notoriety. The former congressman has become something of a sensation on the celebrity video sharing website Cameo, CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has the details on Santos's new gig.
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SANTOS: Well, happy, happy birthday or I can just do the -- happy birthday to you.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former Congressman George Santos basking in the glow of the spotlight.
SANTOS: Merry Christmas, have a fantastic new year. Love you all.
SERFATY (voice-over): Wearing his new status like a badge of honor.
SANTOS: I was a whole congressman up until last Friday.
SERFATY (voice-over): As he amplifies and cashes in on his expulsion from Congress.
SANTOS: Hey, look, it is what it is. I'm no longer a congressman.
SERFATY (voice-over): Santos becoming an overnight star on Cameo, leading to a private lunch with the CEO of the celebrity video message platform today in New York. Demand for a personalized video from Santos so great, his latest fee was $350. Nearly four times what it originally was just two days ago.
SANTOS: Let's talk about best dressed worst dressed, right? Look up Glenn Grothman from the state of Wisconsin and you'll understand what I'm saying when I talk about worst dressed in Congress.
SERFATY (voice-over): And even as he actively solicits more, a source with knowledge tells CNN that Santos is receiving hundreds and hundreds of requests a day including from his former colleague, Senator John Fetterman, purchasing a video to troll Senator Bob Menendez, who is also under federal indictment.
SANTOS: Hey, Bobby. Look, I don't think I need to tell you, but these people that want to make you get in trouble and want to kick you out and make you run away, you make them put up or shut up.
SERFATY (voice-over): Santos's quest to blaze his own post-Congress path, ripping a page out of Trump's own playbook.
SANTOS: You have haters. Let them hate. But just do you, girl. Screw the haters.
SERFATY (voice-over): Brazen --
SANTOS: To hell with this place.
SERFATY (voice-over): -- Defiant. SANTOS: I'm going to make a funny post about roasting Mr. I Am Former Principal and I thought fire alarms opened doors, Jamaal Bowman, which I think should be expelled from Congress next.
SERFATY (voice-over): -- and bitter. Threatening to name names and taken down some of his former congressional colleagues with him.
SANTOS: Now, if the House wants to start different precedent and expel me, that is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body because this will haunt them in the future.
SERFATY (voice-over): Santos going after four House members since his departure from Congress, threatening to file ethics complaints against him. All this as Santos leans into the mockery.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: Everyone, stop assaulting me. I'm being assaulted. This entire country has been bullying me just because I'm a proud, gay thief.
SERFATY: It is very unusual for politicians to join Cameo. Santos now as a former congressman, he's no longer subject to campaign finance laws. So, he is making a great deal amount of money on Cameo -- a source tells me. And he's certainly trying to capitalize on it. He was up until 2:00 a.m. taping video messages of himself trying to meet the demand of all these requests.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
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NOBILO: Coming up, a UN weather organization says global temperatures have set a troubling new record. We'll have the details after a quick break.
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NOBILO: The U.N. Weather Organization says 2023 will be the hottest year on record. Each month from June to October, set global temperature records by wide margins, with July being the warmest month on record. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has more.
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CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, just in from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, November of 2023 was the warmest November on record, and probably to no one's surprise. 1.75 degrees Celsius, 3.15 degrees Fahrenheit above pre industrial levels.
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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 in here in October and into November, but now we are so far above the old line, which was 2016, another El Nino year. That 2023 is going to be the warmest year on record, for sure.
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NOBILO: Climate activists are confronting heads of oil and gas companies at the COP28 Summit. Protesters are calling for an end to the use of fossil fuels. This comes amid reports that a record number of people linked with the fossil fuel industry were registered for COP28, four times higher than last year. Here's more 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 right the rules of climate action.
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NOBILO: There's a new international effort to promote nuclear fusion as a clean energy source. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry announced the plan at COP28. The U.S.-led global initiative will focus on fusion research, development, regulation and economic potential. Nuclear fusion replicates the power of the sun and happens when two or more atoms are fused into a larger one, generating a massive amount of energy as heat in an exothermic reaction. Scientists say it could be a limitless carbon free energy source without the nuclear waste.
And that does it here on CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" is up next.
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