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CNN International: Hunter Biden Faces Nine Criminal Charges in Federal Tax Case; Trump Expected to Testify in Own Defense Monday; GOP Candidates Bak on the Trail After Fourth Debate; Heavy Fighting in Gaza as Humanitarian Crisis Worsens; Two Rockets Strike U.S. Embassy in Baghdad; U.S., U.K. Top Diplomats Try to Break Impasse on Ukraine Aid. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired December 08, 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, live from London. Max Foster has the day off today. Just ahead for you on CNN NEWSROOM.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

NOBILO: It is Friday, December 8th, 9:00 a.m. here in London. The first round of caucus voting in Iowa is just a few weeks away, and both the Democratic incumbent and the Republican front runner are facing legal headwinds as the election season heats up.

President Biden's son Hunter is now facing multiple federal tax charges, a fact that is likely to dog the president on the campaign trail.

And former President Donald Trump has numerous federal and state court cases that will stretch well into next year and will almost certainly interfere with his campaign schedule.

The Justice Department says Hunter Biden could face up to 17 years in prison if convicted of the tax charges. The investigation into the president's son was on the verge of being resolved in July when a plea deal fell apart. CNN's Evan Perez has the details on the new charges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A federal grand jury returned a nine-count indictment against Hunter Biden, charging the son of the president with failure to file and pay his taxes and filing false tax returns. The charges, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, include three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanors. Special counsel David Weiss accused Hunter Biden of engaging in a four-year scheme during which he failed not to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes that he owed for the years 2016 through 2019. He also allegedly filed false tax returns. Prosecutors claimed that Hunter Biden used a company that he owned to

claim false tax deductions. Prosecutors said that he used the money instead to, quote, fund his extravagant lifestyle. Now this is a time that Hunter Biden made millions of dollars from business dealings in foreign countries, including Ukraine and in China.

Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that Weiss bowed to Republican pressure to file unprecedented and unconstitutional gun charges to renege on a non-prosecution resolution. And now, after five years of investigating with no new evidence and two years after Hunter paid his taxes in full, the U.S. attorney has filed 9 new charges when he had agreed just months ago to resolve this matter with a pair of misdemeanors.

Prosecutors used the 56-page indictment to detail some of the ways that they say Hunter Biden spent money. Instead of paying taxes, he spent money on luxury clothing, on payments to escorts and dancers, and other personal expenses, such as an apartment for his daughter. They say he spent $188,960 in adult entertainment. Hunter Biden tried to seek tax deductions for a $10,000 membership to a sex club, according to prosecutors. And he also claimed tax deductions for wages -- for payments to women, including one who was pregnant with his child.

Now, none of these allegations in the indictment mentioned any reference to President Biden. And prosecutors say that the investigation into Hunter Biden is ongoing.

Evan Perez. CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: David Axelrod is a senior fellow at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics and the host of CNN's "THE AXE FILES." And he weighed in on what Hunter Biden's charges could mean for the upcoming presidential campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID AXELROD, CNN HOST "THE AXE FILES": House Republicans have been trying for two years to link the president to his son's activities, and that hasn't really panned out. There's been no financial gain shown before Biden. And so, in that sense, this is about his son. It's not about him.

[04:05:00]

But there's no doubt that supporters of President Trump, who's facing four separate trials, will try and conflate the two and muddy the waters to try and take some of the pressure off of himself. This will be a log on the fire. The fire may not actually reach the door of the White House, but the Republicans will try and depict it as such.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Trump wants his supporters to believe that his many serious legal problems are politically motivated. Here he is on Thursday, during a break in his $250 million fraud trial in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a political witch hunt. This is meant to influence an election. This is third world country stuff. This is Banana Republic stuff. I should be right now in Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina, I shouldn't be sitting in a courthouse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The former president was in court on Thursday to hear NYU accounting professor Eli Bartov testify as an expert witness for Trump's defense. Bartov says he found no evidence of fraud in Trump's business deals. CNN's Brynn Gingras has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Trump, expected to take the stand on Monday as the final witness for the defense in the civil fraud trial that is really nearing an end after about two months. But in the courtroom for the defense, the second to final witness is an accounting expert. That really was the strongest witness for the defense that we have seen yet. Really, this witness basically said that the statement -- the financial statements of condition that are at the heart of this case. Which of course, if you remember the New York Attorney General has said, had overinflated assets done by the Trump's, and they did it intentionally.

This witness countered that for the defense. Basically saying that they weren't out of the ordinary. That no accounting principles were violated and that he, in his judgment, hasn't even seen a case of fraud here. And even questioned the Attorney General as to why they even brought this case forward. So really the strongest witness that the defense has put forward.

The former President sitting at the defense table listening to this testimony. But again, the big day and the big final day will be Trump when he finally does take the stand in this trial that has started really in October. And we won't hear a final decision. Of course, the judge making that final decision until January. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Republican presidential candidates were back on the campaign trail on Thursday following their fourth and final debate of the year. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, speaking to voters in Iowa, was asked whether he'd send U.S. troops to fight in Ukraine. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DESANTIS, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will not send U.S. troops to Ukraine. I don't think that that's something that is in our interest. My goal is going to be to, to reconstitute our military, pursue a peace through strength strategy, but not to send our troops all over the world. Not to engage in nation building. Not to do some of these things that these DC elites have been doing for the last several decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie took his campaign to New Hampshire, where he's been meeting with young voters. Here's what he said when asked about hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have to. Send the message to terrorists around the world. That you take an American, we're coming to get them. Possible for us to come and get them. We're going to come and get them.

Second thing is, you need to send a message to people in this country that we're not going to stand for Americans being pawns in geopolitical terror games. And we have some of the greatest trained military the world has ever known. If they come to you with a plan where they say I think this can work and we get them out safely and it makes sense to me, then you're damn right I would do it and I'd send them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Israel reports its military has struck about 450 Hamas targets in Gaza over the past day. One man in Gaza City says 17 members of his family were killed in a series of air and missile strikes on their home. Clashes are continuing in Khan Younis in the south, where the Israeli military is searching for Hamas leaders. The IDF says it has arrested and interrogated hundreds of terror suspects and killed several Hamas commanders in recent days. Civilians in Gaza say nowhere is safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They told people to leave Gaza City and to go to Khan Younis. We are in the city of Khan Younis and we were supposed to be an unthreatened areas. The blocks that were not threatened. Israel should have given a warning that they will strike this building. There were hundreds of residents in the building behind you and they left just one day before the strike.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in northern Israel on Thursday, meeting with troops. Later in Jerusalem, he said Israel is fighting against the forces of evil.

[04:10:00]

Images posted on social media show a mass detention of men in Gaza by the Israeli military. In the pictures, a large group stripped to their underwear are kneeling and sitting while blindfolded. The exact dates and circumstances of the detentions are not clear. To discuss all of these threads, journalist Elliott Gotkine is here with me in London. Elliott, first of all tell us the latest on the ground in Gaza.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: So look, there's been intense fighting in Khan Younis. There's also been intense fighting still going on in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. And Khan Younis, which is the second biggest city in the enclave, Israel says that it has encircled Khan Younis. It says it's operating in the heart of Khan Younis.

And as we were just saying, 450 targets struck by the IDF, it says, over the previous day. This is the largest number of targets hit since the end of that truce between Israel and Hamas. It says it's been striking from the air, from the sea, from the ground as well. And interestingly, it says that in one, two-hour series it says of precise strikes. It says it killed numerous terrorists.

Now at the same time, we've heard from the health authorities in Khan Younis saying that dozens of casualties came into hospitals there. And so, the fighting there incredibly intense. We know of course, the death toll so far in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas run health ministry, more than 17,000.

Now Israel says that it's killed around 5,000 Hamas militants. But even if the Hamas run Health Ministry figures are precise, and if the IDF figures are precise, that's still, you know, around 12,000 civilians that would have been killed since the war began after that -- that massacre by Hamas on October 7th.

NOBILO: What do you know about President Biden's phone call with Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday?

GOTKINE: So this is the 16th time that the two have spoken since October 7th. President Biden is very much invested and keeping an eye on what's been going on. And again, it's he reiterated the U.S.'s position that Israel needs to do more to protect the lives of civilians -- in President Biden's words -- to make sure that they separate out the Hamas militants from civilians to ensure that as few civilian casualties are added to that total as possible.

Now Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in an interview with CNN said that, you know, Israel is seemingly making efforts to do so, but still more needs to be done to protect the lives of civilians inside the Gaza Strip.

NOBILO: And what have you discovered about those disturbing images that we referenced, just before you and I started talking, of men stripped down to their underwear, blindfolded? What do we know?

GOTKINE: Quite striking images that started spreading on social media on Thursday. Now, we've geolocated some of those images to Beit Lahia, which is just north of Gaza City. We've seen those images of men kneeling, blindfolded, stripped to their underwear and then being put onto a cargo truck.

Now we've spoken with relatives of some of those have been identified, the employer of one of those have been identified, and they say so that -- and according to them -- at least some of those men we know for sure are not members or not known to be members of any militant groups.

Now, Daniel Hagari, he's the chief spokesman for the IDF, he was asked about this. And he didn't seem to specifically reference these images. But what he did say is that once there is fighting, intense fighting, such as we've seen in Khan Younis, for example, once the dust has settled and they -- after they finished engaging with the enemy, people emerge either from buildings or from tunnel shafts. And in Hagai's words, they say the IDF investigates and checks who has ties to Hamas and who does not. We arrest them all and questioned them.

Now there's the Committee for the Protection of Journalists says that that one journalist may be among those who were arrested and or detained. And Euro Med Monitor has accused, which is a an NGO, accuses Israel of detaining and abusing dozens of Palestinians. We've reached out to the IDF to get some more details on those. In terms of the stripping down to the underwear, it's assumed that that is to avoid the risk that some, if there are militants among them, would be wearing suicide vests. But as I say, we've reached out two spokespeople for the IDF to get some more specifics. Haven't got them yet, but as soon as we do. You'll be the first to know.

NOBILO: Keep us posted. Elliot, thank you so much.

A mother and her two toddlers have been discharged from a hospital in Israel, two weeks after Hamas released them as hostages in Gaza. Hospital officials say 3-year-old Emma and Yuli Kunio and their mother Sharon went home from the Schneider Medical Centre Monday of last week. They were the last to leave the facilities, returning captives department. The hospital says the three have been receiving psychological and social care.

Israel believes 138 people are still being held hostage in Gaza. To mark the Hanukkah holiday, 138 candles were lit on a special hostage menorah in downtown Tel Avi. The grandson of one of the hostages, spoke about the meaning behind lighting the candles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL LIFSHITZ, GRANDSON OF HOSTAGE ODED LIFSHITZ: We are here. It's something symbolic.

[04:15:00]

So, we light the candles for the return of the hostages, for the release of the hostages. To make a deal for the hostages. And that's what we are here for. And there is a holiday. So it's part of all the Hanukkah holiday to call for that, you know. And I can call for all the world to press more. To do everything they can. I see maybe there is a deal take it to do it. They are dying there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lit the first menorah candle at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In addressing the war with Hamas, he alluded to ancient Hebrew scripture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Today we are fighting the Maccabees of today against the forces of evil that are coming to wipe the Jewish people and its state off the face of the Earth. We show the same determination, the same heroism, the same sacrifice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: We're watching a developing story out of Baghdad, Iraq, where two rockets have hit the U.S. embassy, it released a statement saying there are no reported casualties and damage assessments are ongoing. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the embassy says indications are that it was initiated by Iran aligned militias. The embassy is calling on the Iraqi government do everything in its power to protect diplomatic partners and facilities. Again, no casualties reported as two rockets hit the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Future U.S. aid to Ukraine hangs in the balance as a key bill is stalled in Congress. You'll hear about new pressure on lawmakers to act and what will happen if they don't.

Plus, the presidents of some of America's top universities try to clarify their remarks about anti-Semitism on their campuses, but they're facing strong backlash to that.

And what we're learning about the alleged gunman in the mass shooting on the -- of the UNLV campus in Las Vegas, all those stories are still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:46]

NOBILO: U.S. lawmakers are coming under new pressure to green light more military aid for Ukraine. It's coming from top U.S. and British diplomats who met in Washington on Thursday. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said letting Russia win in Ukraine would be, quote, the worst thing in the world. Adding that President Vladimir Putin would always come back for more. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed that sentiment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's crucial that the United States and our partners continue to do our respective parts. And that's why the supplemental that's currently before Congress is so necessary and so urgent. And there's a very clear choice before us. Are we going to ensure that Putin's aggression against Ukraine remains a failure? Or will Putin prove that, as he believes, he can outlast us, he can divide us. He can not only continue to threaten Ukraine, but take that aggression elsewhere, including potentially to countries in NATO.

(END VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: On Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked an aid bill for Ukraine and Israel demanding tougher border security. The White House says the money for Ukraine will run out by the end of the year unless Congress approves more funding. Despite the congressional logjam, the White House still approved $175 million in new aid for Ukraine this week. And that was done under a separate presidential authority. But it's a far cry from the more than $60 billion in the bill that the Republicans blocked. Nick Paton Walsh explains how a lack of aid could affect Ukraine down the line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The recent package we just heard you of $175 million that's going to provide HIMARS, ammunition, the longer, more accurate range missiles, javelins, other things too that are urgently needed by Ukraine. But there are suggestions from U.S. officials that it's going to be air defenses urgently needed by Ukraine to fend off the attacks by Russia and Ukraine's infrastructure. The air defense may begin to suffer with ammunition. And that possibly also too the badly needed 155 -- 155 artillery shells. They're the kind of the key part of so much of Ukraine's artillery attacks that they may begin to slow down in arrival here too.

Now Ukraine, I think, has perhaps been concerned this moment. It might begin to arrive. It might be the beginning, as I said, of a broader doubts in Western capitals as we head into the second -- the third year now of this war next year, that would possibly there may not be a decisive victory ahead for Kyiv. But I think there are many Ukrainians here who feel certain that Russia is holding its ground. Will use any pause to reequip, to regroup and then potentially push forwards ahead.

And we are seeing even signs not far from where I'm standing in Avdiivka, a key town that Russia is again beginning to use a grinding, slow and brutal offensive towards. But essentially Moscow is looking to take one small town after another over the months ahead and try and increase its grip in -- on Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: For the first time in about 80 days, Russia has reigned a barrage of cruise missiles onto Ukraine. Officials say 19 of the missiles were fired Friday morning, but all of those headed towards Kyiv were shot down. However, some still hit the eastern city of Pavlohrad, killing one person and wounding four others. Russia has not used cruise missiles for a while, but it's been pummeling Ukraine with other long range weapons.

Still ahead, Southern Gaza's healthcare system, on the verge of collapse. We'll meet a woman struggling to care for her newborn baby.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: 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.

The son of U.S. President Joe Biden has been charged with nine criminal counts in a federal tax case. Hunter Biden is accused of engaging in a four year scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes.

Two rockets have hit the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday morning. The embassy is located in the heavily fortified Green Zone. No casualties have been reported and no group has claimed responsibility.

The UN Security Council, is set to vote in a few hours on a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The emergency meeting comes after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres formally referred the matter to the Security Council. And the UAE submitted a draft resolution on Wednesday. Guterres says he invoked for the first time a rare but powerful measure called Article 99. It allows him to bring any matter which, in his opinion, may threaten international peace and security. In his letter, he stressed the plight of Gaza civilians, who he said are facing quote, grave danger on a daily basis to justified this. Listen now to the Palestinian representative to the UN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIYAD MANSOUR, PERMANENT OBSERVER TO THE UN FOR PALESTINE: The number of killed are now in excess of 17,000 Palestinians and killed and injured around 65,000. A large number of them, 70 percent of them are women and children. This is something that is so disgusting and disgraceful to see this large number of children being killed. More than any other conflict since the creation of the United Nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Israel says it will open another border crossing between Israel and Gaza for the inspection of aid trucks within the next few days.