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CNN International: Ukraine Funding Bill Hits Stumbling Block in U.S. Senate; Illegal Crossings Threaten to Overwhelm Southern Border; Hecklers Interrupt Boris Johnson's Apology to Covid Victims; Dire Conditions in Gaza Take Toll on Newborn Babies; Taylor Swift Gets Time's Year-End Nod. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 07, 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.
Four Republican presidential candidates face off Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa. Alabama. Donald Trump did not participate in the debate, yet the former president remains the front runner for the party's nomination well ahead of the other candidate.
Three people were killed in a shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Wednesday. We're told that the gunman who was dead was a 67-year-old career college professor. The motive for the shooting is as yet unknown.
Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from his leadership post in October, is calling it quits after 17 years in Congress. McCarthy wrote Wednesday in "The Wall Street Journal" that he'll be officially resigning at the end of the year. Those who know and work with McCarthy on both sides of the aisle had this reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Kevin serve the House with great, you know, with the great distinction for a long, long time. I mean, you brought us back to the majority. He of course served as speaker. But you know his leadership and in so many different ways is going to be missed around here.
REP HAKEEM JEFFERIES (D-NY): I had a very good working relationship with Kevin McCarthy. And I wish Kevin McCarthy and his family nothing but the best in terms of the next chapter professionally in his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Since losing the speakership two months ago, McCarthy's attendance at GOP meetings is said to have been sporadic.
The latest batch of U.S. aid for Ukraine hit a stumbling block in the U.S. Senate last night. The bill would also set aside more money for Israel, Taiwan and U.S. border security, but Republicans said no to it. Because they want the White House to push for tougher immigration policies first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Ukraine is very important. So is Israel. So is Taiwan. But nothing's more important to me right now than securing our homeland. That's the most exposed to a terrorist attack and other bad things in modern history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The White House says the money for Ukraine will dry up by the end of the year unless new funding is approved. Lawmakers are running out of time for a compromise because of the upcoming holiday break. And as Manu Raju reports, that is creating major concern.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fears in the Capitol that Ukraine aid could be stalled permanently amid a dispute over immigration that has completely stymied negotiations in the Senate. Republicans, they're demanding that aid to Ukraine be paired with stricter border policies. And Democrats say that what the Republicans aren't proposing is just far too much than they are willing to accept the end result. A bill that they tried to advance Democrats did without those stricter border measures, failed in the Senate on Wednesday evening.
Now one of the key Republican negotiators, Tom Tillis of North Carolina, told me that he believes that something needs to be done now because there will be a migrant surge at the border, even worse than now if Donald Trump becomes president, and migrants believing that they need to come over the border now before 2025.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): You have a presidential candidate who says he will close the border on day one. Donald Trump said that within the last 48 hours.
[04:35:00]
He is likely to be the nominee and likely to win the race. What do you think is going to happen with future flows next year? They're going to double over the four time increase in the last year of Trump. .
RAJU: But there is so much uncertainty about how this ultimately will get resolved. Given the divide over the policy as well as the process, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, wants to move these bills individual Ukraine aid, Israel aid, as well as dealing with the border -- the border tied to Ukraine. Democrats want Israel and Ukraine and everything else tied together as one big package. But they first have to agree on the policy, and they're nowhere near an agreement on that. Which is why there is a belief in the Capitol that members will leave town for the holidays without dealing with aid to Ukraine at a time when the White House warns that urgent action is needed or Ukraine would be kneecapped in its war against Russia.
Manu Raju. CNN, Capitol Hill. (END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: The United States is struggling with a massive influx of migration along its southern border. Border Patrol agents in Texas say they've apprehended 8,000 people making illegal crossings in just the past three days. More than 3,000 in the past day alone. Local leaders are demanding President Joe Biden see the situation for himself. Rosa Flores reports.
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ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The unprecedented migrant surge on the U.S. southern border has forced thousands of migrants, including Lorianze (ph) and her three-year-old son from Venezuela to wait outside for immigration processing in two states, Texas and Arizona.
FLORES: So, you've been here for hours?
FLORES (voice-over): Federal authorities temporarily shutting down two international crossings with Mexico in the last week and redirecting port of entry personnel to process migrants.
In the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector, migrant apprehensions have exceeded 2,500 per day some days this week, according to a law enforcement source.
TOM SCHMERBER, MAVERICK COUNTY, TEXAS SHERIFF: We need somebody from D.C. to come over here and see this problem.
FLORES (voice-over): Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber, a Democrat, says the influx puts a strain on his limited force.
SCHMERBER: I don't have the manpower and I don't have the equipment.
FLORES (voice-over): His deputies respond to drownings on the Rio Grande. Scenes like these, showing an unconscious migrant mother getting CPR while her children scream have happened too often in the last month, making Maverick County the deadliest area for migrants in this 10-county border region, says medical examiner, Doctor Corinne Stern.
FLORES: Have you seen these many drownings in a very short period of time before?
DR. CORINNE STERN, MEDICAL EXAMINER: No, not like this and especially not at this time of the year.
FLORES (voice-over): Dr. Stern says in the last week or so, six migrant children between the ages of zero and 15 have drowned in Maverick County alone.
STERN: It's horrible. We shouldn't be burying our children.
FLORES: Lorianze (ph) shows us the water wasn't about any high when she carried her son across the river. FLORES: She says she gets emotional because it's just been a very tough journey.
FLORES: Would you invite President Biden to come here to Maverick County?
SCHMERBER: It'd be great. It would be very, very good. I think that it would help him a lot.
FLORES (voice-over): In Arizona.
SHERIFF MARK DANNELS, COCHISE COUNTY, ARIZONA: Why won't the president meet with us so we can address community concerns?
FLORES (voice-over): The sheriff of Cochise County, a Republican, also calling on President Joe Biden to visit his border state.
DANNELS: This is frustrating. It's insulting and for us to try to do everything we can to protect our citizens.
FLORES (voice-over): Daily migrant apprehensions in Border Patrol's Tucson sector have nearly doubled in just months, a homeland security official says. Smugglers are dropping off large groups of migrants in remote areas, creating a transportation nightmare according to CBP.
GOV. KATIE HOBBS (D), ARIZONA: We need the federal government to act.
FLORES (voice-over): Arizona's Democratic governor frustrated with the Biden administration's border response.
HOBBS: We need the government to step up and do its job and secure our border.
FLORES (voice-over): As for Lorianze (ph), she is counting her blessings after surviving the journey.
FLORES: Would you do it again?
LORIANZE: No.
FLORES: She says that she would never do it again.
FLORES (voice-over): Her message for migrants: Stay home.
FLORES: The Biden administration has added legal consequences to illegal entry into the country. It's dealing with this current surge happening here in Eagle Pass, Texas and in Lukeville, Arizona by using something called enhanced expedited removal. Which means that asylum officers make a determination on a migrant's case while they're in custody. So, if a migrant has no legal basis to stay in the United States, they are swiftly deported. Now this comes with its own challenges, and it's already testing the migrant detention infrastructure on the U.S. southern border with some facilities already over capacity.
Rosa Flores CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas. (END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: Guyana is pushing back against what it calls an existential threat from its eastern neighbor Venezuela. That country's President, Nicolas Maduro, is calling for the creation of a new Venezuelan state.
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The hypothetical state is called "Guayana Esequiba," and it's made-up of 2/3 of Guyana's national territory. Venezuela has long claimed this oil rich, heavily forested land as its own, and disputes the boundaries set by international arbiters back in 1899. On Sunday, Venezuelans voted in a referendum, symbolically approving an annexation. But in a bid to make it real, President Maduro announced a new map showing the disputed territory marked as Venezuela's. Guyana's leadership says this is unacceptable.
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IRFAAN ALI, GUYANESE PRESIDENT: The measures announced are in blatant disregard of the order given by the International Court of Justice on December 1, 2023. Guyana views this as an imminent threat to its territorial integrity and will intensify fight precautionary measures to safeguard its territory.
We will not allow our territory to be violated, nor the development of our country to be stymied by this desperate threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Guyana's president told CNN that the country is working with allies and taking every diplomatic measure that it can to stop Venezuela's blatant land grab.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just arrived for a second day at the U.K.'s public COVID inquiry. It's examining how he and his former government implemented lockdowns in other measures during the pandemic. He tried to apologize to the families affected by COVID-19 during his appearance on Wednesday, but hecklers were not having any of it. Some protesters held signs that said, quote the dead can't hear your apologies. According to the PA news agency, Johnson didn't cite specific errors he considered he or his staff made at the time but gave plenty of suggestions as to how things could be done better in the future.
More on the Israel Hamas war just ahead, including the harsh toll that it's taking on newborn babies and their mothers.
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[04:45:04]
NOBILO: Israel has announced it will allow a minimal increase in the amount of fuel entering Gaza each day. As of Tuesday, Israel said the limit is two tankers of fuel daily, which is roughly 60,000 liters. The exact amount of the increase was not announced and will be determined from time to time. But Israel's war cabinet says the extra fuel is intended to prevent the outbreak of diseases. The move also comes after pressure from the U.S. to boost fuel shipments to Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Palestine Red Crescent Society reports 80 trucks with food, water and medical supplies crossed into Gaza on Wednesday. It's well below the daily average of 170 trucks during the humanitarian pause, according to the United Nations.
France says it will send another 549 tons of aid to Gaza, including emergency shelters and food rations, and that is in addition to the 180 tons of aid that France says it's already delivered.
With the dire conditions in Gaza, babies born prematurely, and their mothers are facing huge challenges as they try to find adequate care. CNN's Larry Madowo takes us inside one hospital.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every breath is a miracle for these babies born prematurely during the war in the Gaza Strip. They're here because Israeli forces ordered the Al Shifa Hospital in the north evacuated, claiming Hamas terrorists operated from there.
Baby formula is the only source of nutrition here. Many of the mothers have not been found yet. Nobody knows if they're alive or dead. Shaimaa Abu Khater just arrived and is meeting her daughter for the first time since she was born 38 days ago.
Your father says to tell you that he loves you. She tells Baby Kenda, her voice breaking. This is the closest she can get to her own child. She was incubated as soon as she was born.
SHAIMAA ABU KHATER, MOTHER OF PRETERM BABY (through translator): We were under siege in the north. I didn't know anything about my daughter. We had no connectivity. When the truce came, I found out that she was in Egypt.
MADOWO (voice-over): Kenda and 11 other preterm babies from Al Shifa came to the New Capital Administrative Hospital in Cairo over two weeks ago. Nine more have arrived from across Gaza since.
MADOWO: How relieved are you to be able to see your baby finally?
KHATER (through translator): I'm very happy. Thank God. Today I felt like a mother because I've never seen her before. I just want to hold her and touch her.
MADOWO: Doctors say she'll be able to hold her daughter soon. All the babies in this neonatal intensive care unit are under six weeks old and yet they have already been through so much in their short lives. A war and their risky journey across the border from the Gaza Strip to here in the Egyptian capital. Sawsan Abu Amsha gave birth to twin girls two months early, just six days after the Israel Hamas war started in the north. SAWSAN ABU AMSHA, MOTHER OF PRETERM TWINS (through translator): There
were air strikes and heavy bombardment, the dead everywhere. It all weighed down on me. So, I had labor pains and cramps. They took me to Shifa Hospital, and I spent a week in the ICU.
MADOWO (voice-over): One of the girls has been discharged from NICU and she can breastfeed her in the nursery, but the twin sister remains in an incubator. Their mother never thought she would see them again.
AMSHA (through translator): Shifa was under siege. Out of despair, I lost hope and I left. I wanted to take my girls with me, but the doctor said if I did, they would die. They said to leave them and God would protect them.
MADOWO (voice-over): Doctors say all the babies are doing better and when they arrived in Cairo.
DR. OSAMA AL KHOLY, PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS, ZAGAZIG UNIVERSITY: Most of cases are growing well, increasing in weight, become good general condition, they tolerate oral feeding. Some problems in some patients but not too much.
MADOWO (voice-over): In fact, eight have made it out of the NICU into this nursery but reuniting them with their parents might be harder than saving their lives.
AL KHOLY: We know only the name for the mother, but we don't know where is the mother is now.
MADOWO (voice-over): Larry Madowo, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: If you would like information on how to help with humanitarian relief efforts for Gaza and Israel, please go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find a vetted list of organizations providing assistance that is cnn.com/impact.
Up next, what led Time magazine to name Taylor Swift, its person of the year, and who else was in the running?
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TAYLOR SWIFT, SINGER: I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero
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NOBILO: Taylor Swift no longer an antihero. The 33-year-old pop star has just been named Times Person of the Year. She's the first solo entertainer the magazine has recognized in this way. She's also beat out Russian President Vladimir Putin, Britain's King Charles and even Barbie. 2023 has been a blockbuster year for Swift. She's in the midst of a sold-out global Eras Tour and has released her own versions of her albums "1989" and "Speak Now."
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In the cover story, Time writes: No one else on the planet today can move so many people so well. Swift is the rare person who's both the writer and the hero of her own story.
Tamarind is apparently going to have a breakout 2024, the top selling maker of seasonings and spices, McCormick and Company, predict that the fruit's sweet and sour flavor will dominate menus next year. Tamarind comes from a tree that commonly grows throughout Africa, Mexico, Asia and India, and it can be added to potato chips ice cream and even coffee. The flavor of the year report released early since -- yearly rather -- since 2000, identifies trending spices and seasonings about to hit restaurant menus or cookbooks.
And finally, today we want to remember Norman Lear, a giant in the entertainment industry who has died at the age of 101. Lear dominated American television in the 1970s with enormous hits that found ways to make us laugh while also raising awareness about issues like racism. Perhaps his biggest defining hit was "All in the Family."
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ARCHIE AND EDITH, ALL IN THE FAMILY: Those were the days.
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Later, The Jeffersons was hailed as the first show on TV to depict wealthy African Americans still struggling to be accepted in white society.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're moving on up to the eastside. We finally got a piece --
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NOBILO: He remained active in film and TV production into his 90s. That was Norman Lear, who has died at the age of 101.
And that does it here for us on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" is up next.
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