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U.S. Vetoes U.N. Resolution Calling For Immediate Cease-fire; World Food Programme Officials Visit Gaza's "Immense Humanitarian Crisis"; Trump Vows To Appeal Gag Order; Hunter Biden Under Indictment; Texas Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Emergency Abortion; Michigan Teen Sentenced To Life Without Parole; UPenn President Under Fire Over Campus Anti-Semitism; Storm System In Store For Eastern U.S. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired December 09, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster in London. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not support this resolution's call for an unsustainable cease-fire that will only plant the seeds for the next war.

FOSTER (voice-over): The U.S. facing global criticism for vetoing a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire. We'll look at how other nations are responding.

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FOSTER (voice-over): Plus, Trump's gag order back on. An appeals court ruling the former president can't go after witnesses in the election interference case. But there is one person whom he can still attack.

And the state of Texas has once again pushed a pregnant woman from having an abortion after a court order allowed her to move forward. We'll look at why this case is so important.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

FOSTER: The United States facing fierce international criticism for vetoing the U.N. Security Council's latest attempt to call for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Human Rights Watch warned that the U.S. had put itself at the risk of complicity in war crimes.

The medical charity, Doctors without Borders, condemned the U.S. vote as, quote, "a vote against humanity." The U.N. Security Council resolution had 13 votes in support, with the

U.K. abstaining. Despite growing international pressure for a cease- fire, the deputy U.S. ambassador explained why the U.S. blocked this measure.

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ROBERT WOOD, U.S. DEPUTY AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: We proposed language, with an eye toward a constructive resolution that would have reinforced the lifesaving diplomacy we have undertaken since October 7th.

Increased opportunities for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, encourage the release of hostages and the resumption of humanitarian pauses can lay the foundation for durable peace.

Unfortunately, nearly all of our recommendations were ignored and the result of this rushed process was an imbalanced resolution that was divorced from reality.

We still cannot comprehend why the resolution's authors declined to include language condemning Hamas' horrific terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, an attack that killed over 1,200 people.

We are very disappointed that, for the victims of these heinous acts, the resolutions offered not their condolences nor condemnation of their murderers. It is unfathomable. Nor is there condemnation of the sexual violence unleashed by Hamas on October 7.

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FOSTER: Israel's U.N. ambassador thanked the U.S. for standing firm against a cease-fire. But on the Palestinian side, the failed vote was seen as a major setback.

Britain was the only Security Council member to abstain, saying it could not vote for a cease-fire that did not also condemn what it called the mass atrocities committed on October 7th.

Meanwhile, there's been no letup in the fighting since the truce expired a week ago. Thick clouds of smoke and dust fill the sky of Gaza as the Israeli military continues hitting what it calls Hamas targets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER (voice-over): The Israeli military released this video of recent ground operations in Khan Yunis, the second largest city in Gaza. The fighting there described as house to house and tunnel to tunnel.

The next video is graphic. As the Israeli offensive expands, Palestinian casualties are mounting across the Strip. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said one hospital in central Gaza reported 71 fatalities in the past 24 hours. It claims more than 17,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Ivan Watson is covering this from Beirut.

What reaction are we getting from that U.S. veto of the resolution?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, this was clearly a failure by diplomacy to try to put a stop to the fighting.

The U.S. decision being the only member of the Security Council to vote against a cease-fire revealed Israel's growing international isolation as well as its closest ally, the U.S., and its growing international isolation. Then it created this unusual situation where you had the Russian representative to the U.N.

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WATSON: And major international human rights groups basically in agreement in their criticism of the U.S. veto of the cease-fire.

Now the U.S. representative argued that a cease-fire, a stop to the fighting in Gaza, would essentially, in his words, be "dangerous" because it would allow Hamas to regroup and at some point in the future carry out further attacks on Israel.

The Israeli ambassador thanked the U.S. for its support. The criticism came first and foremost from the Palestinian ambassador to the U.N. Take a listen.

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RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Instead of allowing this council to uphold its mandate by finally making a clear call after two months of massacres, that atrocities must end. The war criminals are given more time to perpetuate their crimes.

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WATSON: The Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh went on to say that, the use of the U.S. veto, quote, "exposes the hypocrisy of claiming to care about the lives of civilians."

The United Arab Emirates drafted this cease-fire resolution. And the UAE deputy ambassador, after the U.S. veto, said, quote, "This council grows isolated. It appears untethered from its own founding document."

Now Russia's representative went on to accuse the U.S.' claim that the U.S. would be responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in the future and, quote, "History will assess what Washington has done."

And now listen to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Medecins sans Frontieres, Oxfam, all criticizing the U.S. veto, with the Human Rights Watch saying that the U.S. is providing Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover and, quote, "the U.S. risks complicity with war crimes."

FOSTER: And in terms of -- we're looking at the images, you know the fighting just continues in the same way it has done in recent days.

WATSON: That's right. The Israeli military says it carried out strikes against -- at least I believe it's 450 targets in Gaza in a 24-hour period, with fierce fighting reported in the south of the enclave, around Khan Yunis, where it's been described as house-to-house fighting.

The Hamas ministry of health in Gaza reported that one hospital alone got -- received the bodies of at least 71 people killed in that 24- hour period and more than 160 people wounded.

On Israel's northern front, much less intense front in the fighting, where it is exchanging artillery fire on a daily and nightly basis with Hezbollah militants based in the south of Lebanon. The cross- border fire has continued.

The Israeli military says that a number of projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israel and that it carried out retaliatory fire.

It also said that it carried out airstrikes with fighter planes against what it described as, quote, "operational command and control centers inside Lebanon."

Meanwhile, Hezbollah claimed to have scored a direct hit on an Israeli security site just before midnight local time.

FOSTER: Ivan in Beirut. Thank you so much for joining us.

Now the trauma of the war does not spare anyone, especially Gaza's children. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more on that.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eight-year-old Mohammad (ph) is doing his daily chores, fetching water, collecting scraps of paper and plastic to start a fire, to help his mother cook their daily meal. But he'd rather be elsewhere.

"You think I like it here?" asks Mohammad (ph).

"Of course, we don't. It's terrible. I want to go home, where we had food and water."

That buzzing comes from Israeli drones hovering overhead. They never go away.

"He's been deprived of his childhood," says his mother, Um Oudai (ph). "He can't live like a normal child, he can't go to school. He misses his friends."

More than anything, the children here miss a sense of safety.

Overnight, Israeli warplanes struck the Yafa mosque in Deir al-Balah. No one was there but everyone heard it.

"In the camp, the best parents can do is keep the kids' minds off the danger. I play with them, I joke with them and distract them from their misery," says Ahmad Khaled (ph). "When they hear the bombing, they're terrified."

But there is no escape. These children have already seen too much.

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"We miss our town. We lived well," says Jawaher (ph). "Now all we see are dead bodies everywhere."

There are no basic services here. The garbage piles up in the street.

Says Mohammad (ph), "We go from one place to the other and they keep bombing us."

Yet they still play, as the drones buzz overhead -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The Rafah border crossing from Egypt into southern Gaza is effectively the only humanitarian lifeline for more than 2 million people living in the besieged enclave. The Palestine Red Crescent Society says 100 aid trucks and 11 ambulances, donated by Turkiye, reached Gaza through the crossing on Friday.

The U.N. says Rafah is essentially the exclusive area where they can distribute aid. They have had to stop giving out aid in Khan Yunis and central Gaza in recent days due to the intensity of the fighting there.

Senior officials for the World Food Programme visited Gaza on Friday and met with residents. They described desperate scenes of people with nothing to eat or drink, overcrowded shelters and the sound of bombs exploding throughout the day.

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CARL SKAU, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: People are really desperate. There is fear in there, there is fear in the children's eyes that we see. And you can almost smell it, the fear.

They do not know where to go. They have nowhere to stay. And we have no answers for them. That is the most frustrating part really of being here, not being able to help.

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FOSTER: Earlier I spoke with Carl Skau. He is the deputy executive director at the World Food Programme. He was one of the officials who visited in Gaza on Friday. He described the immense humanitarian crisis.

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SKAU: It was very crowded. There are crowds moving south from the north, from the active military operation. There are people everywhere, on the streets.

The shelters are overcrowded. People are camping on the streets. There is really a sense of desperation. Many have not eaten for several days.

In the survey we did during the seven-day pause, it showed half the population in Gaza is starving. And there was this sense of fear, that I tried to explain. You can see it in the people's eyes, you can almost smell it.

And they are asking us, "What is going to happen next to us?

"What are you doing?"

And there are very few answers.

FOSTER: We are seeing aid being distributed there, Rafah probably the area getting the most aid or at least some aid.

What stories were you hearing about other parts of the territory?

SKAU: Well, the humanitarian operation is really on the brink of collapse. Law and order are breaking down in the south. This stems from the desperation. Not enough food is coming in. So food is maybe the most sensitive commodity.

So you see the desperation around the distribution sites. People do not know when they will get their next delivery, so it's almost to the point of violent. So it is not safe for our staff. They really live this crisis, while they're also trying to tackle it. And so we need a step (ph) change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: If you'd like to know how to help with humanitarian relief efforts for Gaza and Israel, please go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find a list of vetted organizations providing assistance there, that's cnn.com/impact.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says it has identified more than 300,000 cases of 15 infectious diseases in shelters across Gaza. According to the ministry, most are cases of upper respiratory tract infections and diarrhea. Other diseases identified include scabies, measles, meningitis and acute viral hepatitis.

The U.N. says nearly 2 million people have been displaced across Gaza since October. That's about 5 percent of the enclave's population forced from their homes by the war.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Where should I take my kids and my things?

Every ever place I go I buy pillows, sheets and kitchen essentials, I buy everything. And in the end, we leave the area we got displaced to, to another area, leaving everything behind.

Why should we get displaced?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The U.N. warns overcrowding at shelters and poor sanitary conditions increase the risk of diseases spreading.

Now New York police are looking for an attacker, who beat and robbed a Jewish man while spewing anti-Semitic slurs at him.

Police say this surveillance video shows the suspect entering the subway after he punched the 40-year-old victim in the head several times and took his cell phone. It happened on Thursday, the first night of Hanukkah.

And it's just the latest in a series of violent incidents that have spiked since the Israel-Hamas war. New York mayor Eric Adams spoke out against the hatred and the intolerance.

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MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: I want to be clear, everyone in our city, in this state, in this country has a right to practice their faith in peace. Here in New York City, we assure that right is protected.

Since the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7th, the has been on heightened alert and as we celebrate Hanukkah, we're going to continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: A federal court reinstated Donald Trump's gag order in his election interference case and he's not happy about it. What the former U.S. president is saying just ahead.

And on the other side of the political divide, a new federal charge or new federal charges filed against Joe Biden's son. What are they, why do they matter, next.

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FOSTER: Former U.S. president Donald Trump vowing to appeal a gag order ruling in his federal election subversion case. On Friday, an appeals court largely upheld the gag order. Except now it does not apply to comments made about special counsel Jack Smith or the Justice Department.

The lengthy opinion came from all three judges who heard his appeal two weeks ago.

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FOSTER: CNN's Evan Perez breaks it down for you.

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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: An appeals court has largely upheld a gag order against former president Donald Trump in the federal election subversion case, saying he can be barred from making certain comments about witnesses as well as prosecutors, court staff and their family members.

Trump immediately vowed to appeal the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court, calling it a violation of his First Amendment rights.

In this ruling, the three judge panel from the, D.C. appeals court said they did not take this step lightly, recognizing his status as former president and, of course, as a candidate for president.

But they said Mr. Trump's documented pattern of speech and his demonstrated real-time, real-world consequences pose a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the general criminal trial process in this case.

The judges went on to say that, Trump is a criminal defendant like any other and, quote, "He must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants. That is what the rule of law means."

The ruling Friday also pushed back on Trump's efforts to try to delay this trial, which is set for March. The former president calls prosecutions against him election interference.

But the judges said that, to allow Trump to delay the case would be, quote, "counterproductive, create perverse incentives and unreasonably burden the judicial process" -- Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

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FOSTER: We expect to see the former president take the stand again on Monday. He will be the final defense witness in the civil fraud trial against him, his adult sons and his company.

The New York attorney general is suing Trump for $250 million and seeking to bar him from doing business in the state. This will be his 10th appearance in court for this trial, which began in October.

Lawmakers in Washington are reacting to news that the son of the U.S. President has been hit with new federal charges. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee told CNN that Hunter Biden may have been indicted to protect him from having to face questioning by the committee next week. Biden is accused of scheming to avoid paying more than $1 million in

taxes. Prosecutors say he instead will -- he instead spent lavishly on things like escorts and drugs. Paula Reid has more.

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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Biden ignored questions Friday about the latest criminal charges filed agains his son.

QUESTION: Any comment on any charges against your son?

REID: Those new charges laid out in a 56-page indictment unsealed Thursday. Prosecutors allege Hunter Biden engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.

They allege the younger Biden had money but spent it on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes.

The case was supposed to be resolved with a plea deal that fell apart over the summer.

HUNTER BIDEN, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S SON: I'm cooperating completely and I am absolutely certain, 100 percent certain that at the end of the investigation that I will be cleared.

REID: The case stems from Hunter Biden's lucrative overseas business dealings. He did eventually repay taxes he owed, along with hundreds of thousands of in penalties and fees. But prosecutors say that when he did finally file his returns, he included false business deductions in order to reduce his tax liability.

His lawyers claim prosecutors have bowed to political pressure to bring charges against the president's son. In a statement, his attorney, Abbe Lowell, said, if Hunter's last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware and now California would not have been brought.

In a newly released podcast recorded before the indictment, Biden said the pressure comes from Republicans' intent on undermining his father.

H. BIDEN: They are trying to -- in their most illegitimate way but rational way, they're trying to destroy a presidency. And so it's not about me. And their most base way, what they're trying to do, is they're trying to kill me, knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle.

REID: The indictment does not include any evidence linking these alleged crimes to President Biden but GOP lawmakers continue to push forward with their impeachment inquiry and pursuing an interview with the president's son.

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): My concern is that Weiss may have indicted Hunter Biden to protect him from having to be deposed in the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

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REID: Now that claim doesn't really pass muster because Hunter Biden did not use the indictment he was already facing in Delaware to avoid sitting down with lawmakers.

He has committed to a public interview, something the lawmakers on that committee have so far rejected, insisting first on a behind- closed-doors deposition. So they appear to be at a stalemate.

It's unclear when if ever he will appear for an interview on the Hill. It's unclear when he will appear in federal court. An initial appearance has not yet been scheduled -- Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: "It's the economy, stupid," a phrase made famous by Bill Clinton's campaign more than 30 years ago. But the battle cry seems more relevant than ever as U.S. President Joe Biden heads into an election year with low approval ratings for his handling of the economy.

Biden took jabs at his predecessor, Donald Trump, while speaking at an infrastructure event in Las Vegas on Friday.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All this project stands in stark contrast to my predecessor. He always talked about infrastructure week --

(LAUGHTER)

BIDEN: -- four years of infrastructure week. But it failed, he failed. On my watch instead of infrastructure week, America's having infrastructure decade -- decade. Over $1,377,000,000. Trump just talks the talk. We walk the walk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: In a recent CNN poll, only 33 percent say they approve of Biden's handling of the economy, down three points from the month before.

I'm Max Foster in London. For our viewers in North America, more news in a moment. For our international viewers, "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS" is next.

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(MUSIC PLAYING) FOSTER: Welcome back to our viewers in North America. I'm Max Foster

in London and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

In a ruling issued late Friday, the Texas Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a pregnant woman from obtaining an emergency abortion.

Kate Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, says her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal genetic condition and complications with her pregnancy are putting her health at risk. A lower court ruling issued on Thursday would have allowed Cox to obtain the procedure.

But Texas' attorney general, Ken Paxton, asked the state's high court for an emergency stay. He has also threatened to prosecute anyone who helps facilitate the procedure. Earlier, Kate Cox's attorney spoke to CNN about what the next options are medically. Take a listen.

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MOLLY DUANE, ATTORNEY IN TEXAS ABORTION CASE: Well, I think what Attorney General Paxton's activity over the last day shows is that the medical exceptions to Texas's abortion bans never really existed in practice.

Because what we have here is a set of doctors and a real patient. This is a real person going through a heartbreaking situation right now with her family, where not only is she suffering the loss of a pregnancy but she is dealing with the real implications for her health and her future fertility.

And her doctor says the care you need is an abortion. And what we have is the attorney general attempting to practice medicine, I guess, and second guess the judgment of those physicians, who have, you know, put their lives on the line.

And what would you do if you were her doctor?

And the second that this lawsuit was filed that we got this order that attorney general personally threatened you in every hospital you've ever worked at?

I mean, it's unimaginable and it's shameful.

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FOSTER: Joining me now, Lindy Li, political strategist and woman's co- chair of the Democratic National Committee. She joins us from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, very early.

Welcome to you.

LINDY LI, CO-CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Thanks for having me.

FOSTER: I just want you to listen to what the district court judge said at Thursday's hearing before the newest pause.

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JUDGE MAYA GUERRA GAMBLE, DISTRICT COURT, TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS: The idea that Ms. Cox wants desperately to be a parent and this law might actually cause her to lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Your reaction?

LI: Oh, that is absolutely right. Denying her an abortion, ironically, would destroy her dreams of completing her family. She wants nothing more than to another baby. She wants nothing more than to be pregnant again.

Denying her an abortion would so damage her physically that she might even lose her uterus and never be able to bear a child again. Of course, advocates against reproductive rights tend to sacrifice common sense and compassion for religious extremism.

They're operating in a logic-free zone. And Texas' attorney general Ken Paxton and his fellow Republicans only pretend to uphold family values because this woman wants nothing more than to have her third child. And women shouldn't be forced to carry a dead or dying fetus, end of story.

FOSTER: Let's hear from Kate. She's spoken about how painful this entire process has been.

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KATE COX, PREGNANT MOTHER: It's a hard time, you know, even with, you know, being hopeful with the decision that came from the hearing this morning, there's still -- we're going through the loss of a child. There's no outcome here that I take home my healthy baby girl, you know. So it's hard, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: And she's not alone, is she?

So many people have had this experience.

LI: Max, you're so right.

And that woman who is 20 weeks pregnant and deeply suffering from a slew of medical complications, that landed her in three different emergency rooms in the past month, that somebody like her, who is in dire -- such dire straits has to spend her days filing lawsuits, simply to have health care is an utter travesty.

This should not be happening in 2023 in the United States of America. Unfortunately, this is where we are.

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LI: And I want to ask those who pride themselves to being pro life and pro family, why are you threatening to punish a pregnant woman who wants nothing more than to have a family, than to be a mother again?

Why are you threatening her and her doctors with a $100,000 fine and a first-degree felony?

FOSTER: Yes, another case, a anonymous (ph) woman in Kentucky filing an emergency class-action lawsuit, asking a judge to allow her to terminate her pregnancy, as well.

Do you see these cases as a test for other legal action in more states that have more restrictive abortion laws?

LI: Thank you for bringing up the Kentucky case because these are examples of people filing individual cases, seeking a court-ordered abortion in aftermath of the overturning the Roe. I'm so heartened to see women not giving up.

It's not just in the court of law, mind you; it's also at the ballot box. We saw this in Wisconsin, when the Supreme Court justice, who supported abortion rights, won by more than 10 points, 11 points.

We saw this with issue one in Ohio. We saw this in Kansas, ruby red Kansas, of all places. So Republicans and forced birth extremists are going to be shellacked time and time again. And they keep doubling down.

And I say keep doing what you're doing, because women are going to come out in droves and show you that our rights will not be denied.

FOSTER: Yes, and there's -- quite a stark fact here, the report that's out this week, found nearly one in five people who had an abortion in the first half of 2023 traveled across state lines for their care. That is double what we had just in 2020.

LI: That is a startling fact. I want to remind everybody of the 10- year-old girl, who lived in Ohio. She was a rape victim. And she had to go to Indiana to seek abortion care. That is just -- that is miscarriage of justice is an understatement.

The fact that they went after her doctor, Dr. Bernard, Caitlin Bernard, simply for providing a 10-year-old girl abortion care.

And I want to remind everybody, abortion care is health care. It is indistinguishable. Women should not be traveling across state lines for health care. We shouldn't have to be groveling and begging for our own lives.

FOSTER: OK. Lindy Li, really appreciate your thoughts and for getting up with us. Thank you so much.

LI: Thank you so much.

FOSTER: Now in Michigan, a 17-year-old convicted of shooting and killing four of his classmates has learned his sentence.

Ethan Crumbley will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentence was handed down after survivors and the victims' families had their emotional day in court. CNN's Jean Casarez was in Pontiac, Michigan, with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Families finally getting their chance to be heard.

BUCK MYRE, FATHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: Our family has been navigating our way through complete hell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It almost feels like time slows down and everything around you speeds up. It's been two years already but feels much like yesterday.

CASAREZ (voice-over): Madisyn Baldwin's mother describing the moment she learned her 17-year-old daughter was dead.

NICOLE BEAUSOLEIL, MOTHER OF MADISYN BALDWIN: On November 30th, 2021 is a day that has forever changed my life. It burns into my body like a cigarette burn. I looked through the glass. My screams should have shattered it. My daughter's lifeless body was laying on a cold metal gurney.

CASAREZ (voice-over): After speaking in court, Nicole Beausoleil told CNN she felt her daughter was with her today.

BEAUSOLEIL: I felt like she was saying, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you for taking the higher route. You know, not going down that path of anger.

CASAREZ (voice-over): Madeline Johnson didn't know walking to class that day would be the last time she would see her friend.

MADELINE JOHNSON, MADISYN BALDWIN'S BEST FRIEND: I didn't think that goodbye was going to be permanent. I thought it was goodbye for an hour. And I'll see you next class.

CASAREZ (voice-over): At first, Kylie Ossege thought a balloon popped, then realized she was shot.

KYLIE OSSEGE, OXFORD HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I fell right to the ground. I remember hearing screams. I saw running but I couldn't run. I was already down.

CASAREZ (voice-over): Right next to her, Hannah St. Juliana.

OSSEGE: Realizing that I wasn't alone, I kept trying to reassure her. Someone will come help us. don't worry. Just keep breathing. Just please stay with me. I said that to her a thousand times.

CASAREZ (voice-over): Hannah died from her injuries. Her father spoke directly to the shooter of the future he stole. STEVE St. JULIANA, 14-YEAR-OLD SHOOTING VICTIM'S FATHER: I will never think back fondly of her high school and college graduations. I will never walk her down the aisle as she begins the journey of starting her own family. I am forever denied the chance to hold her or her future children in my arms.

[05:40:00]

CASAREZ (voice-over): In addition to the four students killed, seven other people were shot that day but survived, including Riley Franz, who was hit in the neck and Molly Darnell, a teacher at the school.

RILEY FRANZ, SHOOTING VICTIM: I can no longer sleep without having flashbacks of a bullet entering one side of my neck and exiting the other.

MOLLY DARNELL, SCHOOL TEACHER AND SHOOTING VICTIM: Because I came within your line of sight, you intended to kill me, someone you didn't even know.

CASAREZ (voice-over): The shooter was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

ST. JULIANA: There is utterly nothing that he could ever do to contribute to society that would make up for the lives that he is so ruthlessly taken.

JOHNSON: I want the person who did this to know that Madisyn would have been your friend. I want you to know that she would have treated you with nothing but kindness had you not killed her.

I'm not sure how much emotion you're capable of feeling but I hope you regret it. And I hope it eats away at you. And I hope you feel even a fraction of the loneliness that I felt over these last two years.

MYRE: What you stole from us is not replaceable. But what we won't let you steal from us is a life of normalcy. And we'll find a way to get there through forgiveness and through putting good into this world.

CASAREZ: This case may be over but the criminal charges against the shooter's parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are set to go to trial this next year. This is a precedent-setting case because, never before in this country have the parents of a school mass shooter been charged with the crime itself.

They are both charged with involuntary manslaughter, saying they had noticed that their son had mental issues; he was asking for help. Nonetheless, they got him a gun and days later he committed that mass shooting.

The trials have been severed, so they will get individual trials now. But it is believed the first parent will go to trial January 23rd, 2024 -- in Pontiac, Michigan, Jean Casarez, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: Still to come, U.S. lawmakers call for three college presidents to be ousted after they refused to say that calls for genocide cannot be tolerated on their campuses. Details next.

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FOSTER: A bipartisan group of more than 70 U.S. lawmakers demanding the removal of presidents of some of the country's top universities. They've been under intense scrutiny following a congressional hearing this week, where they refused to take a zero-tolerance line on anti- Semitic speech.

As Miguel Marquez reports, it comes amid a rising number of apparent hate crimes.

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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shots fired outside Temple Israel, a synagogue in Albany, New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were told by responding officers that he made a comment, free Palestine.

MARQUEZ: No one injured but nerves frayed as anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise.

Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, 28, now being investigated for a possible hate crime.

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): I've directed our state police as well as the National Guard to be on high alert.

MARQUEZ: The Big Apple seeing a spike in incidents, motivated by hate.

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: The numbers don't lie. For every 250 percent rise and ethnically motivated hate crimes in New York City over the past two months.

MARQUEZ: Anger and fear on college campuses, some of the nation's finest schools, MIT, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Their presidents facing withering criticism after failing to take a definitive hard line against calls for genocide during pro-Palestinian protests on their campuses.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Ms. Magill, at Penn, does calling for that genocide Jews of violate Penn's rules or code of conduct?

Yes or no?

LIZ MAGILL, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: If the speech turns to conduct, it can be harassment, yes.

MARQUEZ: A protest outside the office of University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill, making clear there is no room for nuance on calls for genocide.

Penn's president facing calls to resign.

Harvard's president, Claudine Gay, issued a full-throated apology for her testimony.

CLAUDINE GAY, HARVARD PRESIDENT: We embrace the commitment to free expression and give a wide berth to free expression, even of views that are objectionable.

MARQUEZ: That apology in the "Harvard Crimson," the student newspaper, Gay explained, in part, "Calls for violence against our Jewish community, threats to our Jewish students, have no place at Harvard and will never go unchallenged."

Anger and fear running in all directions after three Palestinian students were shot in Burlington, Vermont, last month.

Jason Eaton, the alleged shooter, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. The case is still being investigated as a possible hate crime.

The question for the president of the University of Pennsylvania still very much an open question. The board of trustees met on Thursday; they came to no conclusion. But it is expected in the days ahead they will say whether she will stay or whether she will go. The pressure is mounting -- back to you.

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FOSTER: Miguel Marquez there.

Still to come, severe weather expected to make its way east in the U.S. in the coming days. The complete forecast for you just ahead.

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FOSTER: A strong storm system could grip most of the eastern U.S. this weekend.

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FOSTER: An ancient prison/bakery has been uncovered in the ruins of Pompeii in Italy. The new archeological discovery shows enslaved people and donkeys were imprisoned together. The Pompeii Archeological Park says they used to manually run a mill, grinding grain for bread. Indentations on the slab flooring forced the donkeys to walk in a

circular motion, grinding the grain, almost like a clockwork mechanism.

Now they say lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice. But sometimes in life, things are even more remarkable and they can happen.

This is Wayne Murray, who's just won the $10 million prize in the New York Lottery's 200 Times Scratch-Off Game. Pretty incredible but especially so because this is the second time in less than two years that Murray has won that amount on a scratch card.

Both tickets were bought at the same convenience store in Brooklyn. To put it into perspective, the chances of winning $10 million on the game are one in 3.5 million. In both cases he took the lump sum payment of more than $6 million.

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FOSTER: Wonder if he can make it three for three?

Good luck to him, I say.

Now dozens of kids in Missouri being granted an early wish from a very special Santa. The children not only got to see the Jolly Old Elf but they got to speak with him in American sign language.

A sporting goods chain has been recruiting a signing Santa every holiday season for eight years, in collaboration with the Deaf Awareness Group. Adults say it's magical to see kids included in the fun when so many of them often aren't.

Seventh grader Robin (ph) exclaimed, "I like signing what I can. I am chatting with Santa."

Brilliant.

The retired American tennis great Chris Evert has been diagnosed again with cancer. The disease will force her to miss her job as an analyst at ESPN for the Australian Open. Evert was world number one for seven years in the '70s and '80s and won 18 grand slam singles titles.

She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in January of 2022, completing her treatment several months later. She admits the diagnosis is not what she wants to hear but is glad cancer -- the cancer she's got now was identified early. She hopes to return to her broadcasting career and duties later next year.

Oscar nominated actor Ryan O'Neal has died. He was 82. His son, Patrick, posted an announcement online, saying his father died peacefully with loved ones by his side. His big film break came in 1970, playing opposite Ali McGraw.

(VIDEO CLIP, "LOVE STORY") FOSTER: "Love Story" turned them both into major Hollywood stars and

earned O'Neal an Oscar nomination. The one line from the movie everyone still remembers more than 50 years later, "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

Ryan O'Neal, dead at the age of 82.

That wraps up this hour at CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."