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CNN International: Four Republican Candidates Face Off in Fourth Debate; Three People Dead After Shooting on Las Vegas College Campus; IDF Searching for Leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar; Ukrainian Forces Getting Worried About U.S. Support. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired December 07, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo. Just ahead for you on CNN newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love all the attention, fellas. Thank you for that. Social media companies need to show us their algorithms.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The only person more fascist than the Biden regime now is Nikki Haley, who --
RON DESANTIS, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The idea that we're going to put someone up there, that's almost 80 and there's going to be no effects from that we all know that that's not true.
CHRIS CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is an angry, bitter man who now wants to be back as president because he wants to exact retribution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Armed confrontation of the suspect by law enforcement stopped the suspects further actions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are really nervous and we saw students running out in single file lines with their hands up scared.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now that I've calmed down a bit, now I just feel angry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
NOBILO: It is Thursday, December 7th, 9:00 a.m. here in London at 3:00 a.m. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where four Republican presidential hopefuls met on stage for a fourth debate as they try to set themselves apart from front runner Donald Trump less than six weeks before the first nominating contests. Taking part on Wednesday, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie,
former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The candidates sparred over issues ranging from electability to the border and whether Trump is fit to return to the White House. Haley, who's been rising in the race, faced criticism from Ramaswamy and DeSantis.
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DESANTIS: We beat the Democrats on election integrity. I have delivered results. That's what we need for this country. And you have other candidates up here like Nikki Haley, she caves anytime the left comes after her.
HALEY: We passed pro-life bills. We moved an unemployment from 11 percent to 3 percent. We took on the unions and we took on Obama. When it came to the unions, the Syrian refugees and everything in between. And so, I've had a fight. And so as much as Ron says that that's not true.
RAMASWAMY: After you left the U.N., you became a military contractor. You actually started joining service on the board of Boeing, whose back you scratched for a very long time and then gave foreign multinational speeches like Hillary Clinton is. And now, you're a multimillionaire. That math does not add up. It adds up to the fact that you are corrupt.
CHRISTIE: We've had these three acting as if the race is between the four of us. The fifth guy who doesn't have the guts to show up and stand here, he's the one who, as you just put it, is way ahead in the polls. And yet I've got these three guys who are all seemingly to compete with, you know, Voldemort, he who shall not be named.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Trump skipped this debate, just like he did for the previous three. A closer look now at the swipes and the name calling, and what came out of the showdown, CNN's Jeff Zeleny has those details.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at the center of a political firestorm at the fourth Republican presidential debate Wednesday night at the University of Alabama, particularly with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. They've been locked in a close race to be the leading alternative to Donald Trump.
DESANTIS: Her donors, these Wall Street liberal donors, they make money in China. They are not going to let her be tough on China and she will cave to the donor. She will not stand up for you.
HALEY: He's mad because those Wall Street donors used to support him, and now they support me.
ZELENY (voice-over): DeSantis and Haley ferociously tangled throughout the night over her newfound support from some corporate donors, over their respective views on China, their foreign policy views, and much more.
ZELENY: But perhaps the biggest fireworks of the night came from former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami when they exchanged a fierce battle over this.
CHRISTIE: This is the 4th debate, the 4th debate that you would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America.
RAMASWAMY: Chris, your version of foreign policy experience was closing a bridge from New Jersey to New York. So, do everybody a favor. Just walk yourself off that stage. Enjoy a nice meal. And get the hell out of this place.
ZELENY: In just forty days, Iowa Republicans will be the first to cast their ballots in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest at the Iowa caucuses. Followed a week later by the New Hampshire primary. Time is running out for these Republicans to make their case against the front runner in the race, Donald Trump, who once again skipped this debate but it's driving the race in every way.
[04:05:04]
Now, he was at the center of the conversation and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie directly confronted him, saying he's not fit for office.
CHRISTIE: Do I think he was kidding when he said he was a dictator? All you have to do is look at the history and that's why failing to speak out against him, making excuses for him, pretending that somehow he's a victim empowers him. You want to know why those poll numbers are where they are? Because folks like these three guys on the stage make it seem like his conduct is acceptable. Let me make it clear, his conduct is unacceptable. He's unfit.
ZELENY: But throughout the course of the year, a similar argument from Christie has gone unanswered by Republican voters. The former president is still leading the way in Iowa, New Hampshire and indeed nationally, but voters, of course, have not cast a single ballot. So, he is hoping that they will listen to his argument.
Now the question is, in this race for second, did Haley or DeSantis make any movements? The Iowa Republican voters we spoke to after the debate gave both of them high marks in different ways. Haley, they said, was presidential. DeSantis got his conservative record through. Of course, evangelical voters so important in Iowa. So, at the end of the day, perhaps the biggest winner once again was not on stage, Donald Trump. But there is no doubt it was the smallest stage yet. But perhaps the most consequential, biggest debate of all. Again, the votes start in less than six weeks.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NOBILO: Last hour, I spoke with the director of the Center on U.S. Politics at University College London and I asked how he thinks the candidates fared.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTER ON U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Haley and DeSantis they're both vying to be "the" and not just a Trump alternative heading into Iowa. And so, it got negative. And I think it really felt like a tag team effort to me where you had De Santis and Ramaswamy throwing grenades at Haley. Haley trying desperately to defend herself and relying considerably on Chris Christie. I'm not sure if that equation works to Haley's advantage, given that Christie is also going so hard at Donald Trump. But ultimately, I don't think there was a clear winner. And the feeling I got most from watching was that it was just too little, too late for all the candidates not named Trump.
NOBILO: And Thomas, when you were watching the debate, did anything stand out to you in particular? Obviously, from what you're saying, it sounds like nothing is moving the dial significantly, but perhaps a personal moment from one of the candidates or a policy suggestion or debate.
GIFT: Well, you know, really what struck me, I think, was how Nikki Haley conducted herself. Because she's really the growth stock right now. She has all the momentum. She's done well in the debates up until this point. You know, she won the endorsement of Americans for Prosperity. That's the Koch backed network that has big outreach capacity. And she's got the electability on her side. So, I don't think it's surprising that she was kind of taking most of the heat.
I'm not sure though how effectively she was able to defend herself. It did seem to me like she was relying quite a bit on Chris Christie, and that's not necessarily the alignment that that she wants. And so, I do think that DeSantis and Ramaswami both were able to get some digs in at her. You know, how that plays in the polls, I'm still not sure if there's going to be a big effect. But she's got to be expecting I think considerable blowback, given that now she's sort of the presumptive candidate, I would say to be second place.
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NOBILO (on camera): Whoever becomes the Republican candidate, he or she will be facing a Democratic incumbent whose approval rating is currently at a historic low. CNN's exclusive new poll shows President Biden is heading into the 2024 election year with only 37 percent approval among American voters. That is down from 45 percent nearly a year ago. Deep concerns about the economy are helping to push the president's poll numbers down. The disaffection is most pronounced among younger voters and independents, with only one in three saying that they approve of the job that the president is doing.
As he's done many times before, U.S. President Joe Biden is again calling on Congress to enact strict gun control laws after shootings in Texas and Nevada. Multiple deaths were reported in each state. The president says Republicans, quote, must join with Democrats to pass gun reforms to prevent more families from being ripped apart by gun violence. Mr. Biden says federal law enforcement is working with state and local offices in Texas and Nevada to assist in any way they can.
The University of Nevada in Las Vegas will be closed for the rest of the week after three people were killed in Wednesday's shooting. The suspected shooter is dead, but police have yet to release his name. CNN's Lucy Kafanov has more.
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LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police say three people were killed, another suffered a gunshot wound and is now in stable condition at a local hospital. The suspect, also dead. Now, police have not released the identity or the name as they are still notifying the next of kin. But law enforcement sources tell CNN, he is a 67-year-old career college professor who has connections with schools in Georgia and North Carolina. Now his connection to this university as well as the motive for now remain unknown.
Reports of shots fired began at around 11:45 a.m. local time near the Beam Hall, which is home of the University of Nevada's Lee Business School. Police say that the shooting started on the 4th floor of that Beam building, went to multiple floor. The sheriff telling us that police engaged and, quote, neutralized the suspect outside of Beam Hall.
And let me just set the scene for you. This was a very busy time on campus. Students were in the middle of study week right before final exams, before going home for winter break. So, a lot of folks were on campus. There was actually tables set up outside where students were eating and playing Lego games, according to the sheriff. And the sheriff also said that a lot more lives could have been claimed were it not for the heroic actions of university police, who acted so quickly to neutralize the suspect. The students describing these terrifying moments take a listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE STUDENT: Now that I've calmed down a bit, now I just feel angry. The fact that this happens over and over again is ridiculous. School shootings have been happening since I was born. I was born in the year 2000. It's 2023. And I'm tired of it. And like, I don't know how I can just walk around on campus after this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE STUDENT: See all these school shooting stuff always. And I'm like, I kind of knew it was going to happen to me one day. But it's weird for to have it real. It's scary and it's real and it needs to be taken seriously. And it's like, like this is like my actual life.
KAFANOV: It's not lost on anyone that this is a city still scarred by one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. We're just a few miles away from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, where, as you will recall, in 2017 a gunman opened fire at a music festival, killing 58 people. Now this is still very much an active investigation. We know that the FBI and ATF are involved. We'll keep you updated on the latest back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with a university student who was in a class in the same building where the shooting occurred. He credits his professor for getting the students out safely. Here's part of what he experienced.
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BRETT JOHNSEN, STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA LAS VEGAS: As soon as I saw him open the door and I seen his face turn from calm to panic, that's when things got real and then he told me to get on the ground. That's when -- that's when we all realized, like, this is serious.
After about 30 seconds, my teacher, he likes sneakily opened the door again. And he assessed the situation and he looked outside and he told. Us to run as fast as we can. And I'm grateful for him because if he didn't let us out and we were stuck in that classroom and who knows if the shooter came in, we were all just sitting ducks. So, I had full trust in my teacher. And when he opened the door and he told us to run and then we had to run. So that's when I ran as quick as I can.
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NOBILO: Last hour, I spoke with a gun violence survivor who is the chief program and policy officer for Brady, a nonprofit organization advocating against gun violence. He says most Americans see eye to eye on some gun control laws, and Washington needs to pay attention to what they want.
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CHRISTIAN HEYNE, GUN VIOLENCE SURVIVOR: 90 percent of Americans support policies like universal background checks. Just requiring that background checks are done when a firearm is purchased, and still 18 years after our shooting that continues to be a loophole that exists in this country in too many states. So, we have to start with the foundation like that. Like how do we set the bar around a universal background check system that allows every other gun law to essentially work. And then we need comprehensive laws that really tackle gun violence in meaningful ways with the types of violence that that were occurring.
But let's be really clear. States with strong gun laws have low gun death rates. Right. States with weak gun laws have really high gun death rates. We know that gun laws work. And so, what we really need to do is also address the system that's allowing a minority of senators to ignore the will of the American people, right? The tools like the procedural filibuster are making it impossible for us to get the change that Americans are calling for day in and day out.
So, I think we're getting there. I think we will get there. But it will require that Americans continue to show up. If we can't change the laws. We got to change the lawmakers and that's something that Sarah Brady said here, one of the founders of our organization at Brady, and it's something we take to real heart. So, we're hopeful that there's a path forward. But it requires sustained momentum and people not accepting today's shooting to be our reality.
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NOBILO: Still ahead, today marks two months since the Hamas terror attack and Israel's military response began. New details on the search for one of the militant group's top leader.
Plus, Senate Republicans block billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine. Details of how the aid package is becoming a bargaining chip in U.S. politics.
Plus, what that means on Ukraine's front lines, especially with winter fast approaching. That report is just ahead.
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NOBILO: It's exactly two months ago today, that Hamas launched its terror attack on Israel, killing about 1,200 people. And the Israeli military is forging ahead with its campaign to eliminate the militant group in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces blurred the faces of its soldiers in this video from Khan Younis, the second largest city in Gaza. And that's where they say they've surrounded the home of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's highest-ranking leader based in Gaza. They did not say where they think he is but asserted that he's underground.
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MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISOR TO ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I think it's a symbolic victory for Israel, but it will be a real victory very soon. It's only a matter of time before we get the man who was directly responsible for the massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7th, the brutal massacre, the atrocities, the rapes, the burnings, the beheadings, we will reach him and justice will be done.
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NOBILO: With me now is Clare Sebastian. So, Clare, what do we know about the search for one of Hamas's top leaders?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he is the prime target, right? He is the leader of Hamas in Gaza. He is believed to have been the instigator for the October 7th attacks. So, he has all along been the absolute focus of Israel's operation. And now they don't know whether they're closing in on him. But certainly, they say, as you say, that they've encircled his house. The military says that it's in the area of Khan Younis. And of course, Khan Younis has been very much the focus of the offensive post truce. We're now on day seven after that. And it was enough of a of a moment in this for Prime Minister Netanyahu himself to come out and speak about it. Take.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Last night I said that our forces can reach anywhere in the Gaza Strip. Now they encircled Sinwar's house. His house is now his fortress and he can escape. But it's only a matter of time until we get him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN: So, they seem to think that this has got them closer, right? Yahya Sinwar has spent decades moving up through the ranks of Hamas. He notably spent more than two decades in prison in Israel and was released as part of the prisoner swap that freed Gilad Shalit back in 2011. So, he has been in Israel sites ever since that, but especially now, of course, in in this war.
And I think, you know, looking at the video that the idea has put out, I think hopefully we can show it again, of the battles in Khan Younis, you get a sense of -- there's just the intensity of fighting going on at the moment. The effort that it's taken to get to this point street by street in this town. Obviously, this is IDF video. We can't verify it. They have blurred the faces.
And crucially, what this doesn't show is the civilians. Because we know that even before the war, some 400,000 people lived in Khan Younis. We can only assume that it's more now because of the displacement from the north. So, there's again, even as they try to track down Sinwar, is an extremely delicate moment in the conflict where Israel needs to prove to the international community that it can do this while protecting civilians.
NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you.
This just in to CNN. Russian officials say two children are dead and at least five others wounded after a school shooting in the city South of Moscow. Russia's Investigative Committee says the suspect, a 14- year-old girl, brought a pump action shotgun to school and fired on her classmates. The agency has initiated a murder case following the incident. And police are investigating how she obtained the weapon and brought it to school. And we'll bring you more details as they come in.
We've also learned that Russia will hold its presidential election on March the 17th next year. The country's upper House of Parliament says it unanimously approved the decision earlier this morning. The current President, Vladimir Putin, has not formally thrown his hat in the ring yet, but it is expected that of course he will.
Mr. Putin has been in power as either President or Prime Minister for more than 20 years. This next election could give him another six years in the Kremlin.
Along the frontline in eastern Ukraine, Russia is intensifying its attacks, particularly around the strategic town of Avdiivka, where Ukrainian forces worry about having to fight with aging weapons and eroding U.S. support. CNN's Anna. Coren is there.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Down a muddy road, hedged by a bank of spindly trees and branches, sits an old farmhouse. Its owners left some time ago, but it has new residents. These are soldiers from the 47th Mechanized Brigade.
SASHA, GRAND UNIT COMMANDER, 47TH MECHANIZED BRIGADE: That's where we keep our missiles.
COREN (voice-over): And they're part of the fight for Avdiivka, one of the most fiercely contested battles on Ukraine's eastern front. Camouflaged under the thicket is a Grad, a multiple-launch rocket system from the Soviet era.
As outgoing artillery fires from nearby fields, 32-year-old Sasha wishes they had better and more modern weapons.
SASHA: When you hit with the modern weapons and with the Western weapons, of course, they're more accurate and they bring, let's say, more damage to the enemy.
COREN (voice-over): In the past two months, Russia has been sending waves and waves of troops to Avdiivka as they try to encircle the town. But Sasha and his fellow soldiers know this war could become even more difficult. if U.S. aid, now under threat, suddenly dries up.
SASHA: All the delay, it's just the cost, it's the lives of the best Ukrainian people. We have the spirit, we will continue definitely, but we need some kind of support.
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COREN: If U.S. Congress does not pass the military aid package, then Ukraine will not receive the advanced weaponry it desperately needs to fight this war. And that means it will have to rely more heavily on decades-old Soviet equipment like this Grad to combat Russian forces who are gaining supremacy on the frontline.
COREN (voice-over): A sobering reality for these soldiers almost two years into this war.
SASHA: I'm afraid Ukraine will not be able to stand without our partners and allies. So, this is the -- as simple as that.
COREN (voice-over): Weighing even heavier on their minds is last week's alleged execution of two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers who were surrendering to Russian forces not far from Sasha's position. Drone footage shows the POWs climbing out of their dugout, arms above their head, before being shot at close range.
Ukraine is now investigating what the Prosecutor-General caused a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions.
SASHA: Every similar event brings a lot of pain and suffering to us, that's for sure. It will not make us weak. It will not scare us. We will continue doing what we have to do. COREN (voice-over): Which is fighting a seemingly endless war as they build more trenches. Uncertain if the West will truly be there for the long haul.
SASHA: If we let Ukraine go, if we let Putin win, then who will feel themselves safe here? I think no one.
COREN (voice-over): Anna Coren, CNN, on the outskirts of Avdiivka, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: It's been hard for Ukrainians to have any sense of normalcy, but despite the Russian invasion, some took time out on Wednesday to Mark St. Nicholas Day.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3,1 OK, whoa.
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NOBILO: The event was marked with the tree lighting in Kyiv, St. Sophia Square, Mayor Vitali Klitschko doing the honors there. The tree is decorated in the country's national colors of gold and blue and topped with the state symbol, the Trident. For the first time the holiday is being celebrated on December 6th instead of the 19th, in a break with Russian Orthodox traditions.
Still ahead, we go to the epicenter of the crisis at the southern U.S. border, where officials say they're unable to handle the influx of migrants.
Plus, Boris Johnson tried to apologize to families of COVID victims in Britain, but they didn't want to hear it. Will his second appearance today in front of an inquiry be any different?
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