Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Donald Trump Parrots Adolf Hitler; Nikki Haley Gaining In New Hampshire Over Trump; Lloyd Austin Visits Israel Again; IDF Discovers Biggest Hamas Tunnel In Gaza; IDF Mistakenly Kills Hostages And Al Jazeera Journalist On Airstrike; Texas Abortion Case Highlights Weakness For Republicans In 2024; East Coast Faces Severe Storm. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired December 17, 2023 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You're live in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening. We begin the hour with the Biden campaign linking former president Donald Trump to the most reviled man in history, saying the former president channeled his role models and quote, "parroted Adolf Hitler" at a New Hampshire campaign rally. That's in response to Trump once again, accusing immigrants of quote, "poisoning the blood of the country" and echo of the vile rhetoric used by Nazi Germany to justify the Holocaust.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done. They poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They're coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world. They're pouring into our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie once again warning today that the GOP needs to pay attention to the reality of what those comments truly mean.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's disgusting. And what he's doing is dog whistling to Americans who feel absolutely under stress and strain from the economy and from the conflicts around the world. And he's dog whistling it to blame it on people from areas that don't look like us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And when it comes to American democracy, Trump is taking his cues from a ruthless dictator who murders political dissidents, refuses to comply with international law, illegally detains Americans, and attempts to subvert the democratic process. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Vladimir Putin of Russia says that Biden's and this is a quote, "politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: If Trump's admiration for authoritarians wasn't clear enough at yesterday's rally, he also quoted the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and praised the world's harshest dictator, Kim Jong-un, as quote, very nice. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins me now. Priscilla, what's the White House saying about all of this dark rhetoric?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The resounding message is that it's dangerous. And we heard that directly from a White House spokesperson who said the following, quote, "echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagreeing with the government are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans on our democracy and on public safety. It's the opposite of everything we stand for as Americans."

Now, Jim, President Biden in private events with donors has also condemned his predecessor's language as he campaigns and said that his rhetoric is likened to Nazi terminology. So, we've heard this before from the president himself. And the White House and the Biden campaign have repeatedly gone after and blasted the former president for his controversial immigration proposals should he take a second term.

So far that the president himself issued his first statement through his reelection campaign condemning Trump's travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries, calling it, quote, "cruel" but of course, Jim, this is a delicate issue for the White House. It's a political liability going in 2024.

You don't have to look much further than what's happening on Capitol Hill, where border talks are at the center of the president getting aid to Ukraine and Israel and Republicans continue to slam the Biden administration over its handling of the U.S.-Mexico border.

So, the president both confronting that reality here in Washington, while also condemning and trying to strike a different vision on America and immigration against his predecessor, former President Trump.

ACOSTA: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you very much for that. And joining us now to discuss Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, great to have you back. What was your response when you heard Trump's comments this weekend about immigrants poisoning the blood of the country and some of these other remarks that he made?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS: We've heard it all before in various forums. He is getting worse. I think Chris Christie on your air earlier today said he's getting

crazy or his election day approaches, or maybe he feels like the walls are closing in.

[17:05:04]

But listen, Joe Biden and the Democrats are absolutely right to bring this to people's attention as often as possible. This is not only revolting to use Adolf Hitler's own words, practically word for word, but to say the kinds of things that he's saying about immigrants.

It's not the American way and it will sell in a Republican primary. The MAGA base loves it. They cheer him every time he says it. And the rest of the Republican party is too afraid of Trump to challenge him. But I'll tell you where it won't sell, and that's in a general election. It isn't going to sell, certainly with Democrats, and it isn't going to sell with most independents either. That's not the image of America that a large majority have.

ACOSTA: Right, and it might be tempting for some folks to say, oh, the White House went too far making this comparison between Trump's remarks yesterday and remarks used by Adolf Hitler. But we just need to show "The New York Times" recently looked at Trump's extremist rhetoric and noted that in Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf, there is a chapter titled Race and People and Hitler wrote, all the great civilizations of the past became decadent because the originally creative race died out as a result of contamination of the blood.

And in another passage, he links the poison, which has invaded the national body, to an influx of foreign blood. I mean, I just have to wonder, Larry, you know, where is, I mean, we know Chris Christie has been out there saying this, he's been pretty consistent on this, but where is the rest of the Republican Party? I mean, there was a time, Larry, that you know, inside the offices of the RNC, alarm bells would have been going off if a previous Republican frontrunner was using Hitler-like rhetoric, but not this time around.

SABATO: Well, Trump has gotten away with it for so long, and they know that if they object in any way, shape, or form to what Trump is doing, they'll get the backlash from the MAGA base, and there are millions of them. And they're all Republicans. I mean, these are people who are working inside the party and many places have taken over the party. But, you know, Trump does exactly what he's doing. He knows what his base loves. He knows what motivates them, and he's done it over and over.

I'm a guy sitting in Charlottesville and I remember the neo-Nazi riot here in August 2017. Remember after that Trump said there are fine people on both sides. And his dallying with David Duke and his encouragement of the Proud Boys. We can go on and on. There's a method to his madness. It is madness, but there's a method to it.

ACOSTA: Well, and I want to show a compilation of some of the rhetoric that he has used so far on the 2024 campaign trail. This is obviously not all of it in its totality, but here's a sample. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done. They poisoned mental institutions and prisons all over the world. Not just in South America, not just the three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world.

We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: You are promising America tonight. You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody.

TRUMP: Except for day one.

HANNITY: Except for?

TRUMP: He's going crazy. Except for day one.

I'd 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)

ACOSTA: So, Larry, and this is not a one-off and we've heard some Republican lawmakers up on Capitol Hill say, well, he says the dictator stuff for a comedic effect, it riles up the base and that sort of thing. I guess one of the questions that I have and I think it's a question a lot of Americans have, is this who Donald Trump is? Is this what he really thinks? Or is he just playing to the audience? That is a question that you hear time and again. What's your thought on that, Larry?

SABATO: My thought is who cares? It doesn't matter. But presidential words matter. Presidential candidates' words matter. And they have implications for policy, implications for relations around the world, and how our country itself can get along one to another. So that's what's important about it. He's saying it, and he's said it over and over again. And to some degree, I think it is true. You listen to what he says, and he's going to try and carry through.

Maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but he'll try. He'll do outrageous things, and people need to be aware it isn't just rhetoric anymore. And those Republican congressmen and Republican governors who haven't said a word, who haven't said one word negative about Donald Trump in public, in private, they'll tell you plenty, but in public, they are all encouraging him directly or indirectly.

[17:10:08]

And they're going to be held accountable for it eventually maybe only by history, but they're going to be held accountable for it. Because what they've done is completely irresponsible and it has led to the re-rise, the resurrection of Donald Trump.

ACOSTA: One of the things we have also seen is Nikki Haley, just maybe incrementally, she has started to ratchet up her criticism of the former president. She had this to say about Trump's actions on January 6th earlier today. She said this on ABC. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When President Trump had the opportunity to stop it, when he had the opportunity to say it, the bully pulpit matters. People listen. He didn't. And I hate that for the people that were there supporting him. I hate that for those of us that were watching it. But what I do know is he was the right president at the right time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Larry, what do you think of all that? I mean, there's sort of a criticism mixed with a compliment there. It's, you know, sort of looking for a Goldilocks formula, not too hot, not too cold. But she is gaining on Trump. I mean, a new CBS News poll shows Donald Trump firmly in the lead in Iowa and New Hampshire, but Nikki Haley is gaining some momentum.

If we have any of those polls, we can show it up on screen for you. But you know, she's at 29 percent now in New Hampshire. Do you think the question can be asked, you know, do we talk about Trump too much, and do we not talk about Nikki Haley enough? What do you make of where she is right now?

SABATO: Well, if she does indeed end up winning New Hampshire, and that's what it will take. She's not going to win Iowa. I think even our own staff understands that because the governor in Iowa, who's also very popular, is supporting DeSantis. The governor in New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, is now supporting enthusiastically Nikki Haley, and it probably will make some difference. It already is making some difference because independents, not just Republicans, can vote in the GOP primary for president in New Hampshire.

You know, you listen to that and you realize she's still trying to have it both ways. Now, I give her credit for at least trying to have it both ways. Most Republicans only want it one way, Donald Trump's way. But her statement is, you know, two, two and a half years too late. What she said is perfectly obvious and was obvious on January 6th. The sad situation we're in is that a milquetoast statement like the one Nikki Haley said can get the positive attention it's getting. It's sad.

ACOSTA: Well, and I suppose you could make the argument, Larry, that getting back to the question earlier, you know, is this Donald Trump? Is this who he is? Is he just saying these things because he knows, it'll help him win the nomination? To some extent, that's neither here nor there because of January 6th, because of his actions around January 6th.

He attempted to overturn an election. And so, you couple that with this very extremist and vile and hateful rhetoric he's been spewing out on the campaign trail. Obviously, I mean, why wouldn't any American take him seriously? SABATO: Well, they ought to take him seriously. And he did prove it on

January 6th and a hundred other occasions. It wasn't just January 6th. You know, I remember, and you remember, when he was running the first time in 2016 and even the first half of his term, you had some Republicans and conservatives saying, oh, look at these crazy liberals suggesting that Donald Trump won't leave office on time, or that he might pull a coup d'etat. Well, who turned out to be right? He tried to pull America's first coup d'etat.

Why is it that now that he says, yeah, I'll be a dictator on day one? And by the way, if you're a dictator on day one, you can have the rest of the term as dictator. You may decide you like it on day one. Why is it that people don't believe that either? Maybe since they were wrong about January 6th, they ought to consider that they're wrong in thinking that Trump won't try to become truly authoritarian or a dictator.

ACOSTA: All right, Larry Sabato, thanks again for joining us. We appreciate it.

SABATO: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: Alright, and still to come, Israeli military forces claim to have uncovered new tunnels under Gaza, much bigger than the ones we've seen before.

Plus, Senate negotiators are racing to reach a border deal with aid for Ukraine and Israel. All of that on the line. We'll bring you the latest on the talks next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:58]

ACOSTA: The U.S. is ramping up pressure on Israel as the international community continues to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Just hours from now, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will visit Israel for the second time since the war began. The secretary is expected to push Israeli officials to define specific milestones for the war with Hamas. This comes as the Israeli defense forces claim to have uncovered what it says is the biggest Hamas tunnel inside Gaza, stretching nearly three miles in length.

Let's go straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond live in Tel Aviv with all the details. Jerry, pretty stunning stuff. What more are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, the Israeli military has shown us Hamas tunnels before, but nothing quite as big as this one, Jim. What we have seen in the past in terms of Hamas tunnels is those that are pretty narrow, where you would have to walk single file if you were a group of people to get through it. But this one, you could put several people side by side. In fact, it's large enough for a large vehicle to pass through, according to the Israeli military.

[17:20:00] This tunnel goes as far as 50 meters underground and the Israeli military says that it is indeed the biggest that they have discovered so far. They actually discovered this tunnel weeks ago, but it was only in the last couple of days that they began showing it to journalists and also putting out this video today of this tunnel.

They say that it was a project of Yahya Sinwar's brother. That's the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They say that his brother was in charge of this project, though they didn't provide any evidence to back that up. Hamas, of course, has claimed to have hundreds of meters of tunnels, but what's significant about this one is the size of it and also how close it was to the Erez crossing, which is one of the main crossing points between Israel and Gaza.

One of the entrances of this tunnel came out just 400 meters away from there, and that Erez crossing is also one that Hamas's militants attacked on October 7th and where they carried out their deadly attack that day.

ACOSTA: And Jeremy, the Palestine Red Crescent Society says there's been a communications blackout in Gaza for four days now. What can you tell us about that?

DIAMOND: Yeah, that's right. I mean, this is the longest sustained blackout that we have seen in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of this conflict. It's not the first time, of course, that communications have gone down, but it is forcing the Palestine Red Crescent Society and others to use radio communications to coordinate their emergency operations at this time.

It also comes as we have watched as the civilian casualty toll in Gaza continues to mount. And tomorrow the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, will be in Israel for meetings with Israel's war cabinet and Israel's defense minister to talk about what the future of this war looks like. We have watched as both international and American pressure has been mounting on Israel amid that civilian death toll.

And Secretary Austin's visit is very much a part of that pressure campaign, specifically aimed at trying to get a specific timetable from Israel for when they will ramp down this current phase of the war and shift from a full-out ground offensive with a sustained bombing campaign instead to more targeted special operations raids, intelligence-driven, more targeted to focus on Hamas' senior leadership. That will be a big focus of the meeting tomorrow.

It was also a focus of the national security advisers meeting just days ago. And so, you can see the kind of broad U.S. pressure coming to bear on Israel. The question now is whether or not the Israelis will have an answer for those questions. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. Jeremy Diamond reporting in Tel Aviv for us. Thank you so much. For more on this, let's bring in editor-in-chief for the "Jerusalem Post," Avi Mayer. Avi, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. I know it's very late there, so we appreciate your time. Secretary Austin, as we were just mentioning, is set to sit down with Israeli officials to discuss their goals in Gaza during a meeting in Israel tomorrow. How do you see that playing out?

AVI MAYER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, JERUSALEM POST: Well, Jim, the Israeli military's goals and Israel's goals more broadly have been very clear from the very start. They are to deny Hamas the capacity to ever carry out a massacre like October the 7th again, to secure safety for the people of southern Israel and to secure the release of the hostages. Those remain the goals today.

And so long as those goals remain unanswered, I think it would be very difficult for Israel to say, yes, we're going to put a pause to the fighting. It is Israel's sovereign duty, as it would be for any country, to ensure the safety of its civilians, and that's exactly what Israel is trying to secure at this time.

ACOSTA: And what is your sense of how receptive the Netanyahu government might be if Secretary Austin comes in there tomorrow and says, you know, need to dial things back, need to make some adjustments, try a different approach, be more surgical? What do you suppose that reaction might be from the Israeli government?

MAYER: Well, there's been a constant dialogue between the Israeli and American militaries throughout this conflict. I know that the leaders of both militaries remain in constant contact pretty much every single day. And I imagine that that will continue.

I think there have been certain concerns raised by Israel's allies, also within Israel, about the extent of the operation and how far it's going to go and when it's supposed to end. I'm sure that will continue to be a part of the conversation.

I think Israelis are very receptive to hearing what their friends have to say while ensuring that they're maintaining their national interests and ensuring that they are pursuing those interests as best they can.

ACOSTA: And there were these big protests. I'm sure you saw these in Tel Aviv yesterday after the IDF announced that soldiers mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages. What's your sense right now as to how the Israeli people are feeling regarding military leadership, how the IDF handled this, and the tragic mistake itself? What's your sense of it right now?

MAYER: Well, the killing of those three hostages was a terrible error and tremendous tragedy and Israel's chief of staff has in fact expressed condolences. He's taking personal responsibilities that it never should have happened. This was a violation of the rules of engagement.

That Israeli soldiers open fire on three individuals were waving white flag, would apparently put banners on the building they were in saying that they were in fact hostages and calling onto soldiers to come and help them.

[17:25:00] There has, as you said, been an outpouring of support for the hostages

and their families throughout Israel. There's a great deal of pressure to reach some kind of arrangement with Hamas that would enable the release of further hostages, perhaps alongside some kind of temporary pause in the fighting. And we understand that Israeli officials have been in touch with Qatari officials in Europe to bring such an arrangement about. We hope that will happen in the coming days.

ACOSTA: And Avi, the news network Al Jazeera says one of its journalists died this week after being injured in an Israeli airstrike while reporting on the situation in Gaza. I'm sure you've seen this. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports at least 64 journalists, media workers are among the thousands killed since the war began.

As a fellow journalist, what do you make of these deaths and the care and caution that Israeli forces are taking inside Gaza? Obviously, it's a war environment. These are not, you know, safe conditions for journalists to be operating in, and journalists know that, but what's your reaction?

MAYER: Look, I think that's exactly right this is a war and terrible things happen during the war including things that are inadvertent and I think that's what we're talking about in the case of these journalists who of course we're not targeted by the IDF. The IDF does not target civilians including journalists.

And I think ultimately when we look at what's going on in Gaza, the attempt by Hamas and actually the success in embedding itself in civilian population, disguising itself as civilians, in fact, not distinguishing at all between civilians were killed and terrorist were killed, all this is part and parcel of their plan to use the people of Gaza as a human shield.

And so of course, Israel is, I think, taking tremendous care to ensure that the number of civilians who are killed is limited. There have been military officials in the United States and elsewhere who have said that Israel has taken unprecedented steps that their own militaries would not take in order to protect civilians in this conflict area. But unfortunately, these things do occur, even as Israel does whatever it can to minimize them.

ACOSTA: All right. Avi Mayer, thank you very much for your time tonight. Appreciate it.

MAYER: Thank you for having me.

ACOSTA: In the meantime, Senate negotiators say they're working around the clock to reach a new immigration deal as aid for Israel and Ukraine hangs in the balance. We'll talk about that next. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:31:32] ACOSTA: Kate Cox captured America's attention when the Texas Supreme Court denied her permission to end her pregnancy, a pregnancy that her doctor said was threatening her life and future fertility because her fetus had a rare genetic condition. It put the issue of abortion squarely back into the national debate, forcing more politicians to answer questions on where they stand on women's rights.

Let's discuss now with Caroline Kitchener. She is a national political reporter at "The Washington Post" covering abortion and women's health. Caroline, let's talk about this. The Kate Cox case really thrust this issue back into the spotlight, but it's not just Texas. I mean, we're talking about restrictions that are, I guess, causing issues across the country for women who are having problems with their pregnancies. How is this going to play out, do you think?

CAROLINE KITCHENER, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: That's absolutely right, Jim. I mean, we have now 17 states where abortion is completely banned or mostly banned. And I think we could see other cases like this one. I mean, this really captivated the nation's attention. Everybody was focused on it. Everybody was talking about it.

And I think, you know, going into 2024, Democrats are really eager to, you know, keep people's focus on what these abortion bans do and particularly what the exceptions do and don't do, because I think what drew so many people's attention to this case is that I think a lot of people assume that somebody in Kate Cox's position would be able to get an abortion. Obviously, she wasn't.

ACOSTA: Yeah, and we saw some Republican candidates really sidestepping questions about this issue on the campaign trail just this week. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We got to approach these issues with compassion, because these are very difficult issues, and nobody would wish this to happen on anybody.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You do believe that the Supreme Court should ban mifepristone?

VIVEK RAMASWAMY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe that the Supreme Court should put the FDA back in its place.

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When it comes to abortion, quite honestly, I don't think the fellas have known how to talk about it properly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yeah, what's your sense of how this issue is just going to be a really bedeviling one for Republicans in this next campaign cycle?

KITCHENER: Well, I think one of the most significant developments that we've seen in politics on the abortion issue is what, you know, former President Donald Trump has come out and said. He called the six-week bans terrible earlier this year. Um, that is after he appointed the Supreme Court justices that were necessary to overturn Roe v. Wade.

So, as the frontrunner, he is already making the calculus that it is the smart thing for him to do voter wise to already begin trying to backtrack and kind of, you know, hedge things on this issue in hopes that, you know, voters will -- you know, that voters will be convinced.

ACOSTA: And we saw the big effect that abortion played in the 2022 midterms, in the '23 elections that we've had so far this year. I mean, I suppose it stands to reason that this is going to be a huge driving and mobilizing force in 2024. I mean, have you detected any sense that it's going to fade away or is it going to be just as fierce of an issue as it has been?

[17:35:00]

KITCHENER: I don't think it's going anywhere. And one thing that you're really seeing play out in the states right now is conversations around where do we put abortion directly on the ballot. We have seen, you know, time and again, Michigan, Ohio, you know, when abortion is on the ballot, people turn out, you know, people want to protect those abortion rights.

So now you are seeing some conversations happening between abortion rights advocates and, you know, Democrats that are, you know, trying to get Biden reelected because, you know, Arizona, Florida, these are some of the places where we could see abortion on the ballot and the thinking is, well, if it's there, if that direct abortion question is there, then more folks will turn out and more folks will vote for Biden.

ACOSTA: And Caroline, what about the Supreme Court also announcing this week that it will hear a challenge on abortion pill access? The abortion pill is a widely accepted reproductive health tool that has been accepted for some time in this country. What are the impacts of that case?

KITCHENER: This is something to watch really closely because this case, the outcome of this case, would not just impact abortion access in those states with bans, it could affect abortion access nationwide and it would put back in place some old restrictions that made mifepristone much more difficult to access and, you know, one of the most important ones being that, you would have to go in person to a provider to be able to get that pill.

Now, because of the landscape right now with abortion clinics just all the way full up, people waiting, you know, two, three weeks to get an appointment, that would just upend abortion access nationwide.

ACOSTA: All right. Caroline Kitchener, thanks so much. We appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

KITCHENER: Thank you. ACOSTA: And we'll be right back. Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:04]

ACOSTA: Now to that massive storm unleashing tornado watches, severe thunderstorm warnings, and flash flood alerts on the East Coast, it's bringing torrential rains and powerful winds from Florida through the Carolinas, messing up holiday travel for so many people, and it's still gaining strength as it races up the coast.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is in the CNN Weather Center tracking all of this for us. What's the latest?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: We are still watching for that heavy rain and the gusty winds. It's still working its way up the East Coast. We're going to find that heavy rain going into tomorrow morning. A really nasty commute for most of the Northeast.

Here's a look at a record that we broke today, 9.8 feet, so nearly 10 feet of essentially storm surge that came into Charleston Harbor this morning. That ranks the fourth greatest on record for them. That breaks hurricane storm surges from Matthew and from Idalia. It is the highest tide that a non-tropical system has ever seen for the Charleston area.

So, getting a lot of that water from the ocean, also getting a lot of that water from the sky, some heavy downpours near Wilmington there. You could see some lightning strikes, a tornado watches, in fact, through 8:00 this evening because the storm system, as it spins on shore, has a lot of moisture with it. So, you can get some of those brief spin ups from some of those kinds of bands.

And here's that flood risk I was talking about. It goes through the Carolinas up to Maine. Sixty million people under the (INAUDIBLE) for some flooding. National Weather Service tweeting out a bunch of rivers to kind of have some minor flooding as well.

They are watching that closely in New York and New Jersey because looking at the heavy rain by tomorrow morning, looking at downpours from Philly to New York, and then headed in to New England as you go through the rest of the day on Monday, then you get the punch of cold air behind it, that could pop some snow. So, we have to watch out for that, too.

This typical track would be one of those blockbuster snow storms but we are just not getting it because the cold air is right behind it instead of with it. So here are the (INAUDIBLE) widespread 2-4 inches of rain, could be looking at some 6-inch totals in some of those locally heavy downpours, and then there's that snow there on the backside, a couple of inches.

Then wind kicks, too. We're looking at high wind warnings from Long Island. It includes Brooklyn and Queens, Long Island, then up to Cape Cod, and then going into Maine. High wind warnings for 65 mph gusts. Further inland, you're talking about 35, 45 mph gusts. But I mean, look at how this pop going into Monday morning along the coast, a 65 mile per hour wind. So, if you've got decorations outside, you'll want to take them in.

ACOSTA: All right. Elisa Raffa, thank you very much. Great advice. We appreciate it. Coming up next, the White House accusing Donald Trump of parroting Adolf Hitler after he accused immigrants of poisoning the blood of this country. We're getting a reaction from a Republican member of Congress next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:48:17]

ACOSTA: Former President Donald Trump marking his campaign trail return this weekend by demonizing his opponents, attacking immigrants, and supporting rioters arrested for attacking the Capitol on January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you remember in Minnesota, Minneapolis, where they took over the police station, they took it over and they burned it down. By the way, what happened to those people? Are those people in jail with the J6 hostages? I don't call them prisoners. I call them hostages. They're hostages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Let's discuss more now with Republican Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. He sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees. Congressman, welcome back to the program. We appreciate you being here.

I wanted to ask you about what Trump has been saying this weekend. He said that immigrants are -- quote -- "poisoning the blood of our country." What's your reaction to that? Do you agree with that?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Well, of course not. I mean, immigrants, of course, are not. That's one of the strong points of this entire country. Folks coming here illegally are not helping things whatsoever. You know, we've lost over 100,000 children at the border in the last three years. We've got criminal situations.

You know, I was mayor of Knox County here in Tennessee. At one time, I had one school that had over 20 languages that spoke -- and it was a school that was probably around 300 students. So, it's a real -- it's a financial problem with this country. You know, I realized the folks are making the analogy that it's something maybe that Hitler had said.

[17:50:00]

You know, I have one rule in my office. It says you never compare anything to the holocaust or Hitler except the holocaust or Hitler because of the -- just the horrendous nature of that -- of that time period.

ACOSTA: Well, the White House is making that comparison. President Biden is making that comparison, his campaign is. But if you do look at verses in "Mein Kampf," Hitler's manifesto, Hitler does talk about the blood of countries being poisoned by people that are not wanted in that country.

It says in a chapter -- this is in '"The New York Times" about a couple of months ago -- titled "Race and People," Hitler wrote, "All the great civilizations of the past became decadent because the originally creative race died out as a result of the contamination of the blood."

Do you think Trump should knock this off?

BURCHETT: Well, any -- any kind of comparison to "Mein Kampf," I think, is, pretty horrendous. Actually, I -- you know, I wasn't there. I didn't hear what he said. I -- honestly, this is about the first I've heard of it because I don't -- I just don't follow the national media maybe as well as I should.

But yeah, I ended up (ph) comparison. I don't know if that does us any good, but the reality is he has touched upon a nerve that this illegal immigration thing has caused. I mean, you have Democrat -- you know as well as I do, you have Democrat folks, New York -- in the New York City and New York state, both stating, in fact, that they have -- you know, we got to get something -- do something about this, this horrendous problem we have.

When I see veterans go without their benefits, that possibly someone is here illegally is getting to me, we've got the cart before the horse and we need to address it. But --

ACOSTA: Do you want to be on a campaign stage with the former president if he's saying something like immigrants poisoning the blood of the country or even undocumented immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country?

BURCHETT: Well, that's extreme for me completely. I would not have chosen those words.

ACOSTA: And would you support Trump if he wins the nomination? Have you made up your mind on that?

BURCHETT: If he wins the nomination, absolutely. Absolutely. We have a --

ACOSTA: Eve if he is saying things like poisoning the blood of the country and dictator for one day and -- and all of that? Doesn't that concern you that he's using this kind of extremist talk out on the campaign trail?

BURCHETT: You well know I'm from East Tennessee and we don't usually talk like that. He's from New York and that's the way folks -- he's Trump being Trump. It's campaign bravado. You get up on stage, you're feeding off the audience, and you just let it rip (ph). ACOSTA: Yeah.

BURCHETT: That's exactly what he does. That's -- frankly, that's why a lot of people like him. That's why you're seeing his numbers are going up even -- to me, it's --

ACOSTA: It's not just campaign talk, is it? It's something different, isn't it?

BURCHETT: I don't think he's going to be -- Yeah, so many -- he got a lawyer everywhere you turn in the White House or in Congress. There's no way in the world he's going to be a dictator for a day, Jim. You know that and I know that. There are so many stopgaps in place. You just can't. It just doesn't happen.

ACOSTA: He tried to overturn the last election, and he's calling January 6 prisoners hostages.

BURCHETT: Well, the treatment they're receiving, he does -- and again, he touches on another nerve. You know, you had rioters that did billions of dollars of damage across this country, police stations, federal courthouses, and you're not seeing them brought to trial or anything. If not -- if anything, probation.

Yet, there are people that are still locked up in D.C. that are awaiting a trial. To me, that's -- I think that's a miscarriage of what the founders had in mind when they talked about a quick and speedy trial.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you -- let me ask you about what has been happening up on Capitol Hill. You and other House lawmakers left Washington for the holidays leaving a lot of stuff unfinished. Military aid for Ukraine and Israel, immigration. Is that acceptable to you?

BURCHETT: Of course, what is unacceptable to is that we -- HR2 was passed to secure our border and yet the Democrat-controlled United States Senate won't even take it up. There are multiple pieces of legislation that have gone over there. It is unacceptable to me that you're going to tie what's going on in Israel to what's going on in Ukraine and our own border.

This White House and the Democrats in control don't want to address our own border, but yet want to spend $114 billion to Ukraine to strengthen their border between Russia and Ukraine. I have a real problem with that and tying any of those bills. That's one of the -- you know as well as I do, that's one of the major problems with Washington. That's why we're $33 trillion in debt.

[17:55:00]

It's because everybody gets what they want and then they load it up with junk and spending packages that we don't need. I would say send every one of those bills, send us a border bill, which we already have passed, HR2, let the Senate bring that out.

ACOSTA: But you're going to leave the Israelis and the Ukrainians in the lurch?

BURCHETT: I would not tie the -- we are not leaving the Ukrainians in the lurch by any shape, form or fashion. Well, Europe needs to step up. What they're doing in their accounting is they're saying all these refugees that they're taking from Ukraine, that that's counting in their dollars and cents, while this country takes refugees and sends them $114 billion.

As far as Israel goes, we can -- we can send them aid and we have. We've got our -- if you don't -- everybody forgets but we've got our aircraft carrier fleet over there, one of the largest in the world. We've got submarines in the (INAUDIBLE). We've --

ACOSTA: But can't you walk in and chew gum at the same time? Why not try to get all of this done? Get the border done, get Ukraine done, get Israel done. I mean, less than two dozen bills have made it into law this year. Is that correct? I mean, what do you say to people at home who are -- who want to send Congress a lump of coal this year?

BURCHETT: I would say send them two lumps of coal. You know, I'm tired of rushing to Washington to name post offices, but I'm also tired of giving away our civil liberties, which we just did this past week with the NDAA where we added on the FISA courts which allows, when they're in fact spying on folks that are from other countries, allows them to backdoor.

And this is literally thousands of times the FBI has done this and violated American civil rights by doing it. So, yeah, there's a lot of problems there. But a lot of people would tell you, we got enough laws on the books. We need to --

ACOSTA: Right.

BURCHETT: The majority of my time I spend is dealing with constituents that are having problems with places like the VA. And when you try to address it, people say, oh, you're voting against money for veterans. We've gone out of control spending on our Pentagon, which has failed five audits in the history of audits. They never passed another audit yet.

ACOSTA: Yeah.

BURCHETT: What did we do this year? Billions more dollars.

ACOSTA: Yeah.

BURCHETT: We got some real problems and spending is at the top of it.

ACOSTA: All right. We will tackle that next time, congressman. Thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it. Happy holidays.

BURCHETT: Yeah, have a merry Christmas.

ACOSTA: All right. Appreciate it. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)