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Donald Trump Will Not Testify on Monday on His Civil Fraud Trial; Trump Criticized Over Dictator Remarks; Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis Fighting Ahead of the Iowa Caucus; President Zelenskyy to Visit Washington; Israeli Airstrikes Kills Dozens in Gaza; Harvard President Gets Support from Hundreds of Faculty; China, Philippines Trade Blame Over Maritime Incidents; At Least 6 Dead After Tornadoes Sweep Through Tennessee. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 11, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to all our viewers joining us here in the United States, around the world, and streaming on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead, Donald Trump changes his mind when it comes to plans to appear in court today. We will look at how that will affect his New York civil trial.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I said I want to be a dictator for one day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Republican frontrunner doubles down on a controversial comment. Hear why he says concern about it is a hoax.

And homes turn to rubble and ash in Gaza after an Israeli airstrike. What the U.S. has to say about civilian protection in Gaza.

Good to have you with us. Well, just days ago, former President Donald Trump declared he would testify today in his $250 million New York civil fraud trial. But a few hours ago, he changed course, announcing on his Truth Social platform that he will not take the stand after all.

New York Attorney General Letitia James responded on social media saying her office had, quote, "already proven that he committed years of financial fraud and unjustly enriched himself." Trump, his adult sons and his company are accused of inflating the value of their properties in order to receive better loan and insurance terms. He already has testified once and his lawyers advised against him doing it again. Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Most dangerously, he would have faced cross-examination, which is, you know, the rules really permit a probing yes or no kind of set of answers, and that could have put him in hot water for either having to tell the truth or commit perjury. So, this is a case that he already realizes he's going to lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Trump vehemently denies the charges the case has raised. Separately, the Republican presidential frontrunner also has been taking heat for suggesting he would use a second term to exert executive power in unprecedented ways, and for his recent comments on whether he would be a dictator. But Trump is trying to reframe the narrative that he would be a threat to democracy using familiar accusations that it's all a hoax. CNN's Alayna Treene has more.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, Donald Trump, speaking at an event last night hosted by the New York Young Republican Club, doubled down on comments that he had made during a town hall with Fox News earlier in the weekend. He essentially said that he would be a dictator for one day if he reclaimed the White House in order to build a wall and to quote, "drill, drill, drill."

But Trump also attempted last night to undercut the narrative that he would be a threat to democracy by characterizing it as a new hoax cooked up by Democrats. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In the past few weeks, the radical left Democrats and their fake news allies have unveiled their newest hoax that Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party are a threat to democracy. Do you believe that? That's what it is. It's a hoax. It's a new lie. We call it now the threat to democracy hoax. It says what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: The former president also repeated claims last night that he thinks Joe Biden is the, quote, "real threat to democracy." And so, I think, you know, there's a couple of things worth pointing out here. There is a concern and I've spoken about this with Donald Trump's advisors and other Republicans, that some of this ramped up rhetoric is not going to play well outside of his loyal base, especially if he were to go on and win the Republican nomination and then advance to the general election.

I think that's why you're seeing Donald Trump, as we've seen him do time and time again, to reclaim the narrative on this. And that's essentially what he's doing. He's trying to flip the script and put this on Joe Biden. He's claiming that this is an artificial narrative being spread by Democrats when really Biden is the one who's using the government to go after him and his political enemies, pointing to the series of indictments that he is facing.

But, you know, that's not really an argument that seems to be resonating outside of Donald Trump's closest group of supporters.

[02:04:58]

And, of course, there's also no evidence that the White House has had any involvement in the indictments against Trump. Now, I do also think it's very important for us to be clear about the greater context of this, which is that Trump himself has said publicly that if he were to reclaim the White House in 2024, he would use the Justice Department to go after his political foes.

And his team has already been formulating plans to move the Justice Department under presidential control and try to strengthen the power of the executive branch. Now, another thing I think is just very interesting is the unintended consequences of Donald Trump continuing to talk about this, and that is that it's giving Joe Biden and the Democratic Party an opening.

What Democrats have been trying to do is paint the election as not only a rematch between Trump and Biden, but a choice between authoritarianism and democracy. And so, this is just another opening for Democrats to use to go after Donald Trump. Alayna Treene, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: Two of Donald Trump's biggest Republican rivals in the presidential race are looking to boost their profiles ahead of the Iowa caucuses. The attacks between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley are getting personal, with Haley accusing DeSantis of being a phony, saying he's too similar to Donald Trump in a new political ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're going to build the wall.

RON DESANTIS, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Build the wall.

TRUMP: Judges are a priority.

DESANTIS: And honestly, made in China and Russia. Businesses that have been locked down.

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What a phony.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, DeSantis accuses Haley of pretending to be two different candidates on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESANTIS: You can't have Hawkeye Haley here saying she's conservative, and then a more nuanced Nikki appealing to independents and liberals in New Hampshire. That doesn't work. You got to have the same message everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: Joining me now is CNN's senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic," Ron Brownstein. Appreciate you being with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, Ron, you just wrote about two Republican theories for beating Donald Trump, but concluded that neither one will likely dislodge Trump from his commanding lead in the race to become the GOP nominee for president. Why has neither Nikki Haley nor Ron DeSantis found a way to effectively challenge Trump with just five weeks to go before the Iowa caucus?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, their common problem is that neither one at the moment is attracting a coalition broad enough to really threaten Trump. They are also -- they have also jointly made the decision that they are largely going to defer to another day, making the strongest possible case against Trump and focus on trying to edge out each other to get him into a one-on-one race. You know, they are operating from completely different theories about what it takes to beat him.

DeSantis is running to Trump's right, trying to peel away some of his core supporters on the theory that if he gets it down to a one-on-one race, that the voters in the middle will have no choice but to rally around him as the last chance to stop Trump. But that strategy, Rosemary, really hasn't paid a lot of dividends. He hasn't peeled away a lot of Trump supporters, and he's alienated a lot of the more centrist voters in the Republican Party who are the most resistant to Trump.

That's left the vacuum for Haley, which she has filled to probably pass him as the most viable alternative to Trump, consolidating those more centrist voters, college-educated voters, suburban voters. But that last debate showed the limits of her approach. But when DeSantis and Ramaswamy really tag-team, went at her from the right, and she didn't have, I think, as effective a response as she did in some of the earlier debates.

CHURCH: So, Ron, how might this outcome potentially change for those Republicans looking for an alternative to Trump once his competitors are reduced to just one other, either Haley or DeSantis, however that turns out.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. The question is whether that -- whether that happens early enough to matter. I mean, if Donald Trump wins Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, everyone agrees that the race is pretty much over. Haley and DeSantis are betting on different states to use as the springboard to eclipse the other. DeSantis has put all of his chips into Iowa like the last three winners of Iowa, Mike Huckabee in '08, Rick Santorum in '12, Ted Cruz in '16. He's put a lot of effort into organizing the state's evangelical community.

The problem is, is that all three of those predecessors with the same strategy really weren't able to parlay an Iowa win into a full-scale challenge to the front runner because they got pigeonholed. As in effect, the candidate solely of the religious right immediately fell off the rails in New Hampshire.

Haley is focusing very much more on New Hampshire, which has a more moderate electorate, Republican electorate, allows independents to vote.

[02:09:59]

And she's hoping that a strong performance in New Hampshire, where the governor, Kristen Nunez, may endorse her in the coming weeks, will allow her to eclipse DeSantis and get that one-on-one race with Trump in South Carolina.

The problem they've got is it's possible that both of them may still be viable after New Hampshire. And if that's the case, it's obviously going to be very hard to overtake Trump given the breadth of his support in the party at this point.

CHURCH: Right. So, if it is inevitable that this becomes a two-man race between Trump and Joe Biden, it certainly looks that way right now, Democrats usually win the popular vote in U.S. presidential elections, but that's not how elections are won in this country. Instead, the Electoral College System essentially puts the decision in the hands of a few hundred thousand voters residing in those smaller swing states. So, what might that mean for the outcome of the 2024 election as things look right now, the numbers?

BROWSTEIN: Well, first of all, Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections, Rosemary, which is something that no party has done in the history of the modern party system in the U.S. since 1828. No party has won the popular vote seven out of eight times in over eight elections since 1828.

Now, right now, Joe Biden would like to have that problem of leading in the popular vote, but having an Electoral College puzzle because he is trailing consistently in polling at this point to Donald Trump, which is something that was never the case in 2020. There was no point at which Biden was trailing Trump.

But we continue to see polls with Biden really at a low ebb. And those polls do reflect a lot of dissatisfaction with him. You know, his approval rating is stuck down around 40 percent. It's even been sinking lower. CNN and others have had him as low as 37 percent. But I don't think the polls at this point register fully the resistance that Trump may face if he emerges as the nominee, particularly if he's going on trial this summer.

Biden, in all likelihood, will be in a situation where the last few points he needs to win, if he can win, will have to come from voters who aren't wild about his performance, but are reluctant to turn over the reins of power to Trump. The situation they are both in, though, is that, as you know, we are down to a handful of swing states. Forty states have voted the same way in each of the last, at least past four presidential elections, which is the highest share of states voting the same way four times in a row since the turn of the 20th century.

We're talking about Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, maybe Michigan as our true swing states and only a handful of voters in them. You're going to see enormous effort in very few places that will ultimately decide how 330 million people go forward from here.

CHURCH: All right. We'll watch to see what happens. Ron Brownstein, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is wading into one of the biggest debates in U.S. politics right now. He is set to visit Washington this week. In addition to meeting with President Biden, he's expected to go to Capitol Hill, where aid for Ukraine is bogged down amid divisions of a U.S. immigration policy. CNN's Kevin Liptak has details.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Zelenskyy's visit to Washington on Tuesday will come at a critical moment as lawmakers are working to come up with a package that would include new aid for Ukraine along with new rules on migration into the United States. And certainly, the fact that President Biden invited Zelensky to visit Washington tells you that the administration is looking for some kind of dramatic way to break the impasse on Capitol Hill.

So, while he is in D.C., he will meet with President Biden at the White House to discuss what President Biden's aides say is vital American support for Ukraine, but he will also be on Capitol Hill. Zelenskyy will speak to all senators at a meeting in person and he will meet as well with the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.

And certainly, his challenge will be in convincing some of these skeptical Republicans that the $60 billion in additional American assistance that President Biden is requesting for Ukraine could make a difference on the battlefield as Ukraine remains bogged down in this counteroffensive that hasn't necessarily changed the battle lines so far.

But already you're hearing some Republicans sort of oppose Zelenskyy's visit. J.D. Vance, the conservative Republican from Ohio, said that Zelenskyy will come to Washington and demand that Congress care more about his border than our own. And remember, these talks are tied together with this conversation about tightening the rules on migration into the United States.

We did hear Sunday from the two senators who are sort of leading those discussions, the Democrat Chris Murphy and the Republican James Lankford, it did not appear as if they were any closer to an agreement. Listen to what they said.

[02:15:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I think this is one of the most dangerous moments that I've ever faced in American politics and I wish Republicans weren't holding Israel aid and aid to Ukraine hostage to the resolution of immigration reform. MARGARET BRENNAN, HOST, CBS NEWS FACE THE NATION: Can you get Ukraine

aid passed separate from this?

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): No, no. The focus is we hear from so many people is why would we deal with other people's national security and ignore America national security? Why would we literally allow people across our southern border if this administration labels national security risk by the thousands coming into the country, separate from just the migrants that are coming from employment. We have individuals they've literally labeled national security risk coming into the country. Why would we not work to be able to stop that? We can't do two things at once.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, President Biden did say last week that he was open to significant compromise when it comes to border provisions. But he is really caught in a bind here, feeling pressure from both sides, certainly from Republicans and even some Democrats who want to do more to stop the migrant flows from coming into the United States, but also on the other side from progressives and immigration advocates who are worried about the steps that President Biden might agree to, worried that they could amount to some of the restrictive policies that President Trump enacted when he was in office.

Now, we did hear from Senator Chris Murphy today that the White House plans to become more engaged on these talks over the coming weeks, but it remains certainly unclear whether presidential involvement will break the impasse. Kevin Liptak, CNN, Los Angeles.

CHURCH: Mr. Zelenskyy spent Sunday in Argentina congratulating the country's new president, Javier Milei, on his inauguration. The two held a bilateral meeting after the swearing-in ceremony. The Ukrainian president posted that Argentina and Ukraine are united by their love for freedom, writing, "We truly cherish it, protect it, and stand ready to strengthen it together." Zelenskyy also made time to meet with the presidents of Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

And still to come, urgent calls for more humanitarian aid for Gaza as the war there intensifies and expands in the south. We will have details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Israeli forces and Hamas's fighters are engaged in intense battles in Gaza as Israel expands its operations in the south. The Palestinian news agency WAFA says dozens of civilians were killed in airstrikes Sunday across Gaza, including in the southern city of Khan Younis and in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north. We do want to warn you the next video contains images that are disturbing. It shows the wounded being rushed to a hospital in Khan Younis.

According to WAFA, medical sources say those arriving for treatment are having to lay on the floor because there are no beds or medical supplies available. The Palestinian crossing authorities says 100 aid trucks arrived in Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, which is consistent with the daily average that's been allowed in over the past week. But it's still less than a quarter of the aid that was going into Gaza before the war. That's according to the U.N.

The World Health Organization says the lack of basic supplies is allowing diseases to spread and warned that Gaza's health care system is, quote, "on its knees and collapsing."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: As more and more people move to a smaller and smaller area, overcrowding combined with the lack of adequate food, water, shelter and sanitation, are creating the ideal conditions for diseases to spread. Health needs have increased dramatically and the capacity of the health system has been reduced to one third of what it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments. She joins us now live from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So, what is the latest on the fighting across Gaza, the loss of civilian lives, and of course the dire humanitarian situation right now?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, this phase of fighting that we're in now, the second week after that week long truce, it shows no sign of winding down. We're seeing that a key focus still in the north of Gaza is the Jabalia refugee camp, as you say, the WAFA news agency, the Palestinian news agency reporting 45 civilians were killed in an attack on a house on Sunday, another nine in a square.

Israel says, the national security adviser for Israel says that they are closing in on a command-and-control center, a Hamas command and control center in Jabalia. The IDF this morning saying that they've uncovered a number of stores of weapons including AK-47 rifles and an RPG hidden, they say, in UNRWA bags, the UN Relief and Works Agency bags, in a civilian residence, also a launch site, they say, containing 50 projectiles.

They are making it very clear that the key focus is still to try to root out Hamas's infrastructure and officials however, they can. They are now claiming that they have killed some 7,000 Hamas militants out of an overall death toll that we're getting from the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah of approaching now 18,000. So that is up in the north in Jabalia.

Separately, we're seeing very intense fighting in Khan Younis in the south of Gaza. That is an area where there was an urgent appeal by Israel for civilians to evacuate on Saturday. They published a map, we can show you it, which shows very specific areas that civilians were told to evacuate from some five blocks, you can see them highlighted there in orange. They were told to evacuate to shelters to the west of Khan Younis without being very specific about exactly were. [02:24:56]

Now this is something that the international community is watching very closely, this tactic, to see whether there is a sign that Israel has somehow changed its tactics, is doing more to protect civilians now that it's also operating in the south, which is where, of course, many civilians from the north have evacuated to. And this is something that Secretary Blinken spoke about in an interview on CNN on Sunday, choosing his words very carefully but still making it clear that what Israel is doing is still not enough. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think the intent is there, but the results are not always manifesting themselves. And we see that both in terms of civilian protection and humanitarian assistance. Even as Israel has taken additional steps, for example, to designate safe areas in the South to focus on neighborhoods, not entire cities in terms of evacuating them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASIAN: So, he said he wants to see more pauses in fighting for civilians to get out. More than one route out, he said, which is something they're not currently seeing. The U.N. coordinator of human rights, Lynn Hastings, in that region, went one step further, saying that they're designating these patches of land, she said, where there is no infrastructure, food, water, healthcare, or hygiene as safe zones. She really questioned the validity of that.

As to what comes next, Secretary Blinken also spoke about that. He said, once the military operation is over, this is not over. There need to be serious discussions on a durable lasting peace, which he said should involve an independent Palestinian state. That is clearly some way in the future. We don't see any sign of this operation winding down. And meanwhile, the Qatari Prime Minister saying on Sunday that there is, he says, less willingness on both sides, both Israel and Hamas, to continue negotiations than there was before the truce. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Clare Sebastian, joining us live from London. Many thanks.

And still to come, a show of support for Harvard University's president as she faces pressure to step down over her testimony in Congress about anti-Semitism on campus.

Plus, we will bring you the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. Stay with us for that and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:08]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. At least 600 members of Harvard University's faculty have now signed a

petition urging officials to resist calls for the removal of university president, Claudine Gay. The petition comes amid pressure on Gay to step down following her testimony on antisemitism before Congress last week. She was among three university leaders who failed to say unequivocally that calling for genocide against Jews would violate the school's code of conduct. The Harvard petition urged officials to, quote, defend the independence of the university and resist political pressures.

Well, meantime, the University of Pennsylvania has appointed new leadership, after its now former president, Liz Magill, resigned on Saturday, over her testimony before Congress. The chairman of the school's board of trustees also resigned. Julie Platt, the board's new interim chair, said the change of leadership was necessary and appropriate.

CNN's Polo Sandoval reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The University of Pennsylvania will begin final examine exams this week under new leadership after controversy resulted in the resignation of two university officials. Among them, Liz Magill, the now former university president. She along with the heads of Harvard and MIT. have been heavily criticized since last week, for failing to recognize that calling for Jewish genocide is a direct violation of the university's code of conduct.

Here on campus, we have seen reaction and heard reaction from students, including one in particular who was also the vice president of the Jewish Heritage Program, who told CNN over the weekend that he felt that this was a step towards accountability for the university administration.

Separately, we also heard over the weekend from the governor of Pennsylvania who spoke at a local synagogue joining both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders, strongly condemning violence against all faiths.

This is what he said.

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: In whatever form, whether antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, it has no place here in Pennsylvania, in a place founded on the promise of William Penn. We will not tolerate it.

SANDOVAL: The governing organizations at Harvard continue with their regularly scheduled meetings, and the last few days is the growing calls for their president, Claudine Gay, to step. Gay has issued an apology recently. A Harvard spokesperson declining to comment.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, Philadelphia.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Much more to come here on CNN. We'll go live to Beijing for the latest on a string of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. Back with that in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:37:07]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

Tensions between the Philippines and China are flaring once again in the South China Sea. Both nations are accusing one another of dangerous maneuvers and a collision that happened this weekend in the contested waters of the Spratly island chain.

The Philippines has summoned the Chinese ambassador to complain about what it calls aggressive actions. It's the latest in a string of maritime confrontations between the two countries that have heightened regional tensions.

CNN Beijing bureau chief Steven Jiang joins us now with more.

So, Steven, what can you tell us about this latest incident? And what's been the reaction to it so far?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, Rosemary, as you just said, not surprisingly, both governments blaming the other as the culprit, the cause of these latest incidents over the weekend. But the root of this, of course, is the long-running territorial dispute between China and many of its neighbors, including the Philippines because China claims sovereignty of almost the entirety of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea.

But there are strategic and tactical reasons why we are hearing more of these dramatic encounters because the Philippine government under President Marcos has been increasingly publicizing these incidents, obviously trying to draw more global attention and presumably more support for the Philippines because they do have the sense of urgency because what Manila has done back in 1999 was to deliberately run ashore a World War II vessel on the Second Thomas Shoal, that's part of the Spratlys, to stake its claim.

Over the last 20 years, for the most part, they've been able to use that ship as a military outpost, rotating and resupplying it with civilian ships. But has changed since China's leader Xi Jinping took power with the Chinese foreign policy and military operations in the region becoming more assertive and some would say more aggressive.

Now, that ship, of course, being so old, the Filipino ship is rusting away, and structurally disintegrating. So, the Philippines need to repair it urgently to shore up its claim. That's why we've already seen some reports emerging that the U.S. is advising Manila on that front. And that's also why strategically, President Marcos has been deepening and expanding cooperation with the U.S., by allowing more access to Filipino bases by military of the U.S., but also, restarting joint sea and air patrols with the U.S. and recently stopping in Hawaii to visit the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on his way from APAC.

All of that, of course, is why Beijing sees the Philippines doing the U.S. bidding to stir trouble in the region, to contain China's rise and challenge Beijing's supremacy. That's why the U.S. is seen as part of the saga, despite the recent thaw in U.S./China ties.

So, that's why, Rosemary, a lot of worry in terms if the latest incidents not boding well for where the situation may be headed -- Rosemary.

[02:40:07]

CHURCH: And, Steven, the United States has urged China to abide by a 2016 arbitration ruling over these disputed waters. Clearly, China is not doing that. So, what is China's goal here?

JIANG: Well, China actually does not even recognize the legitimacy of that tribunal. So, they've been saying time and again, they're going to continue to ignore the ruling handed down by that court. But the worry here, of course, is China could just wait for the Filipino ship to be washed away by waters and then swoop in to seize that island -- that reef and potentially militarize it, as they have done to so many other reefs and islets in the South China Sea. That, of course, is something the Philippines and the U.S. do not want to see happen -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Steven Jiang joining us live from Beijing. Appreciate that.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is up next. And for our viewers here in the United States and in Canada, I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:35]

CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in North America. I'm Rosemary Church.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: -- baker today in "The New York Times", he said that I want to be a dictator. I didn't say that. I said I want to be a dictator for one day. But "The New York Times" said -- and you know why I wanted to be a dictator? Because I want a wall, right? I want a wall. And I want to drill, drill, drill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Donald Trump, doubling down on his dictator comments that are causing concerns in some circles. But the former president's staunchest supporters don't pay those remarks too much attention, focusing instead on matters discussed around the dinner table and making ends meet as the holidays approach. CNN's Elle Reeve takes us to one small community in the deep red state

of Louisiana to gauge the mood there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the annual Bawcomville Redneck Christmas Parade in West Monroe, Louisiana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just not your typical Christmas parade. I mean, we've got a motorized lazy boy. I mean, you can't get much more redneck than that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hilarious. People will be throwing toilet paper, ramen packets, toothbrushes. My goodness, it's always a good laugh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This part of our town, I don't think there's very many rules, you know? And so, pretty much anything goes.

REEVE: But behind the jokes, there's a tough reality. Bawcomville is a very poor community, and the parade serves as a holiday toy drive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have been a child who has been less fortunate growing up, and I had the redneck parade, the fire department give me and my brothers Christmas gifts, and this is my way of returning the love.

REEVE: These ladies run Bawcomville Hope, a non-profit that gives food to the needy.

Is there a lot of need in this community for them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my lord, yes. People don't realize this is kind of like a third world country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's need for clothes, food, housing. There's many, many homeless in this area.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of abandoned homes, abandoned trailers that they're living in, and so --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And in the woods.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just makeshift tents. They weren't managing to survive until everything got so expensive and they couldn't afford the little apartments that they had or the houses and --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Interest rates skyrocketing, fuel skyrocketing, the milk, $5 a gallon.

REEVE: I know it's a sensitive subject, but do you guys have any thoughts about the upcoming presidential election?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope Trump gets back in there. Maybe he can straighten it out.

REEVE: And why do you think he'd straighten it out?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it wasn't in this turmoil when he left. All this has managed to happen in the last three years, so.

CHRISTINA JONES, PARADE SPECTATOR: I think we are going downhill, especially for a parent like me that's a single mom, and not being able to find work. Feels like you keep getting put in a hole. You're trying to climb out, but you keep getting knocked down.

REEVE: President Biden's campaign has been pushing Bidenomics, saying the economy has gotten better since he's been in office. But while by some metrics that's true, wages are higher, inflation is falling, public opinion polls show that people still think it's bad.

So there's some, you know, commentary, punditry that says, well, yes, inflation was bad, but now it's lower. The economy was bad, but now it's better. Unemployment is lower. What do you say to those people?

TONI BOLER, PARADE SPECTATOR: I say that's a big fat lie.

REEVE: OK, why? Just give me some details.

BOLER: Well, I mean, look at our pocketbooks. What little people may have been able to save from the stimuluses we got and all that, it's gone. People are living off credit now. If they even have that.

I don't know how these families that come to this redneck parade, this community even can buy groceries. Because you got to either choose to buy gas, or do I buy groceries, or do I pay my electric bill.

REEVE: Louisiana is a deep red state, and neither presidential campaign will spend much money to win over voters here. There were a few Trump flags at the parade, but support for the former president had a different feel to what we felt in the run up to 2020.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No comment.

REEVE: Many people didn't want to comment on politics, but those who did focused on the economy.

JANE TEMPLE, PARADE SPECTATOR: Economy, economy, economy, you know, economy is horrible.

[02:50:02]

We're ready for Trump -- can I say that?

REEVE: Totally.

TEMPLE: We're ready for Trump to get back in. Can't wait. We're counting on it.

I think he cares. May be wrong, but I think he does. And that's to say he's going to be perfect. We know that, you know, a lot of things he does, but for the most part, when he was in office, even with everything going on, he accomplished a lot.

REEVE: And do you think that Biden doesn't care about people down here?

TEMPLE: I don't think that he has a clue.

REEVE: You've probably seen a lot running a convenience store.

WILLIAM THOMPSON, PARADE SPECTATOR: Oh yes, they got problems with the drugs, the meth and the fentanyl. That's here is prevalent and the law still hadn't been able to deal with it. I blame Biden for that too.

REEVE: Who do you think you'd vote for in the 2024 presidential election?

THOMPSON: Trump.

REEVE: Why?

THOMPSON: Because he's the only president in my knowledge who's given back to the people and helps the people. If he's in jail, I'd vote for him.

REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN, West Monroe, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY: In Tennessee, at least six people are dead and dozens others injured after multiple tornadoes and strong thunderstorms tore through the state over the weekend.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more on the recovery efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORESPONDENT: What we are able to see is the devastation caused by the 13 tornadoes in the Tennessee office of emergency management said that that's how many tornadoes were spotted here on Saturday.

And what I can tell you is that in this particular neighborhood, here in Madison and the north side of Nashville, many homes are a total loss. There are downed power lines and trees, total devastation here. 22 structures have collapsed.

And Governor Bill Lee has declared a state of emergency. I was talking to a gentleman who lives here on this block earlier, and he was telling me that him and his wife were watching TV when they realized after listening to the forecast that their area was in the danger zone. They ran to the kitchen. A decision that ultimately he says, saved their lives.

Let's take a listen.

GREGORY CHANCE, TORNADO VICTIM: What I remember is, we got in our safe place. The next thing I know, all you hear is stuff started flying and glass was breaking. It seemed like it lasted forever. But it was probably 30 seconds.

ROMO: Restoring power is another huge challenge authorities here are facing. According to officials, tens of thousands of people are still without power, and official for the local utility was saying that it's not a matter of hours but days before they can turn everybody back on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We expect some of this to be prolonged. And we'll know more as crews further assess the damage.

ROMO: We don't have an estimated restoration time, but we know that outages in the Hendersonville area will be prolonged.

ROMO: And the damage to the power grid is so extensive, that two utility provides are operating on generator power.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Nashville, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: That same storm is currently impacting Northeast U.S. with heavy rain, high winds and snow. Parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are expected to get the heaviest rainfall. And over 40 million people are under flood watches from Eastern Maryland, Delaware, to parts of Maine, Philadelphia and New York City.

Winter storm alerts are also forecast across parts of the Appalachian Mountains and the northeast, through Monday evening, likely accompanied by snowfall.

The children of an Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf on Sunday. She was awarded the prize back in October for her decades of human rights activism, for which she has been sentenced for a total of 31 years in prison in Tehran. At Sunday's award ceremony, her children delivered a lecture written by Mohammadi from her prison cell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI RAHMANI, SON OF NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAURETE NARGES MOHAMMADI (through translator): I am confident that the light to freedom and justice will shine brightly on the land of Iran. At that moment, we will celebrate the victory of democracy and human rights over tyranny and authoritarianism. And the anthem of the streets of Iran will resonate worldwide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In her lecture, Mohammadi highlighted how young people in Iran have been a catalyst for civil resistance, adding, quote, the Iranian people would dismantle obstruction and despotism through their persistence. Have no doubts, this is certain.

Well, Bronny James, the son of NBA star LeBron James, has made his long awaited college basketball debut, months after a major health scare.

[02:55:06]

James scored four points in 16 minutes of play for his team, the University of Southern California on Sunday. The freshman suffered a cardiac arrest during a practice in July. He was diagnosed with a congenital heart deflect. Last month, his doctors cleared him to return to basketball. His team lost on Sunday. But LeBron James was there to see his son's big moment.

Well, dozens of swimsuit-clad people in Santa hats, enjoyed the frigid air Sunday in Budapest on -- for -- all for a good cause, of course. Participants of the 20th Budapest Santa Speedo run shouted ho, ho, ho, as they ran through the city. The runners jumped, skipped and dance to stay warm and appeared to enjoy themselves despite the cold.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We love it. We are having a great time. We support a good cause. What more can one want? We don't need anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): At last, we don't feel hot. We had enough heat. I have been running for 19 years. At first, we were just 11. Now, we have a good crowd, a good mood. And it's a good feeling to help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Organizers of the run donate their participation fees. And this year, the donations will benefit the Tiny Ray of Hope Charity, which supports families raising severely premature babies with disabilities.

And we want to thank you for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. We'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Do stay with us.