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Trump Repeats Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric At Nevada Rally; Biden Campaign Accuses Trump Of Parroting Adolf Hitler; U.S. Defense Secretary To Travel To Israel; Al Jazeera Accuses Israel Of Targeting Its Journalists In Gaza; Tommy DeVito's Cinderella Story Hits Snag With Loss to Saints; Dangerous Storm Gaining Strength As It Moves North; Taiwan Faces Flood Of Disinformation From China. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 17, 2023 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:12]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening.

Tonight, Donald Trump is doubling down on his incendiary and hateful anti-immigration rhetoric. One day after he accused immigrants of poisoning the blood of this country the former president is now claiming tonight that the influx of migrants across the southern border is a, quote, "invasion." He vowed to implement the strongest deportation operations, as he puts it, in U.S. history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Given the unprecedented millions of Biden illegal aliens who are invading our country, it is only common sense that when I'm reelected we will begin, and we have no choice, the largest deportation operation in America. They come from prisons, they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. Many are terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining us live from the rally in Nevada is CNN's Alayna Treene.

Alayna, what can you tell us about what Trump has been talking about tonight in Reno?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Jim, Donald Trump is currently speaking behind me as I'm sure you can see. But, look, he is leaning heavily into his hardline immigration rhetoric, but also policies that he's previewing for a potential second administration. We know through our own reporting, my reporting, as well as what other outlets have reported that Donald Trump wants to massively expand some of his immigration policies from his first term including rounding up undocumented immigrants in the U.S., placing them in deportation camps, and then sending them on to be deported after that.

And we know that he also wants to divert resources, more resources to immigration enforcement in the United States in order to do that plans that we're hearing him kind of talk about here on stage tonight. And you made a good point, Jim, this comes after his very violent rhetoric yesterday while speaking in New Hampshire where he said that immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country.

We heard immediately a lot of people come out and criticize him for those remarks. He's used that language in the past and of course it's associated with white supremacist rhetoric. Now we did see the Biden administration as well as the Biden campaign come out and criticize him over that language. They said that it's parroting Adolf Hitler and referred to him as using authoritarian language -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you very much.

And I want to go now, the Biden campaign is responding to Trump's incendiary comments, comparing his rhetoric to rhetoric used by Adolf Hitler. In a statement from the Biden campaign the campaign said the former president, quote, "parroted Hitler" at a New Hampshire rally. That's in response to Trump once again accusing immigrants of poisoning the blood of the country.

Let's turn now to Priscilla Alvarez to talk about this.

Priscilla, what is the White House saying? How are they responding?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're saying that it's dangerous, and the campaign has said that it's un-American, specifically a White House spokesperson saying the following, quote, "Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascist and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree 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, of course, some of the rhetoric from former president Donald Trump is not new. This is something that the president has -- or the former president has said before in the campaign. The Biden campaign and the White House have been prepared for that exact possibility. In fact, President Biden himself in private events with donors has told them that this language is likened to Nazi terminology.

And president also taking the opportunity through his reelection campaign to issue a statement condemning the former president's travel ban on predominantly on Muslim countries. So they are fully aware, they being the White House and the Biden campaign, of where the former president stands on immigration and they have been blasting each of those policies, those controversial policies as they have been rolled out and calling them un-American and inhumane in the process.

ACOSTA: And one thing we should note, I mean, as Alayna Treene was reporting there from Reno, one of the things that Trump has been saying is that Biden is trying to orchestrate this invasion of migrants into the country and so on. But we have new reporting this evening that the Biden administration is actually clamping down on a part of the border, aspect of the border. What can you tell us?

ALVAREZ: They are. And, Jim, having covered immigration under former president Donald Trump and President Biden this is truly an unprecedented situation. There has been record migration across the western hemisphere and we're seeing that on the U.S. southern border. It's putting officials in a very difficult position.

[19:05:01]

And they are now, we're learning, suspending international railway cross bridges in Eagle Pass and El Paso. Now these are measures that they have taken before when they need to move resources from these crossings to help the U.S. se are measures they have taken before when they need to these are measures they have taken before when they need to move resources from these crossings to help the U.S. border patrol process migrants.

And a Homeland Security official tells me that in the Del Rio sector, that's a sector in Texas, they are seeing nearly 3,000 migrants just today. In El Paso, it's somewhere around 1,300. These are big numbers. They are numbers that have raised alarm bells for some time. And it's, again, because of a whole shift happening within the hemisphere that's coming here to the U.S. southern border.

Now the president is also entertaining now proposals that are similar to the Trump era which, again, is part of these border negotiations we've been hearing all day about to get supplemental funding across the finish line. So all of it converging today both with what's happening on the U.S. southern border with the former president in Nevada, and with the border negotiations on Capitol Hill.

ACOSTA: All right, Priscilla Alvarez. And of course not that we need to note this but from a fact check standpoint, of course, Biden is not orchestrating an invasion of immigrants into the country. That is more campaign rhetoric from Donald Trump.

All right, Priscilla, thank you very much.

Let's discuss more now with Tom Nichols. He's a staff writer at "The Atlantic."

Tom, thanks very much for being here. To also state the obvious, immigrants are not poisoning the blood of this country, but, Tom, your reaction when you heard that yesterday coming from the former president and what do you make of these latest remarks accusing Biden of orchestrating an immigration invasion into this country? What does it all add up to for you?

TOM NICHOLS, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: I think the first thing we always have to begin with is that nothing Donald Trump says is actually designed to solve anything. It's meant to inflame and enrage and build an ethnic and racial identity with his voter base. And we've heard this rhetoric -- as your reporter just pointed out, we've heard this rhetoric before all the way back to 2015, 2016.

This is a way of galvanizing people by trying to scare them to death about a wave of brown people coming across the border. And of course the problem is the border is a real crisis, it is a problem, it does need a solution. But Trump is not aiming for any of that. Trump is aiming for emotion and just to, you know, kind of set the issue on fire because that's good for Donald Trump. And it's always important to remember that everything Trump does is aimed at what's good for Donald Trump, not actually it's solving anything like the border crisis.

ACOSTA: You know, the comments that he made yesterday, talking about immigrants poisoning the blood of the country, "The New York Times" recently looked at some of Trump's extremist rhetoric and noted that in Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf" there is a chapter titled "Race and the 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."

In another passage, Hitler linked the poison which has invaded the national body to an influx of foreign blood. Is it accidental, do you think, Tom, that Trump, and I guess I know the answer to the question, is using Hitler like rhetoric?

NICHOLS: It's not accidental at all. He's doing it on purpose. I mean, in part, I'm sure it's because insofar as he leans in anything, he believes this, but he's also doing it to flag his views as, you know, fascistic. I resisted that word for a long time and I wrote an article a few weeks ago saying it's finally time to accept that Trump has crossed the line into fascist rhetoric and basically presents himself as a fascist.

And so part of the reason he does that again is to set everybody's hair on fire about it but also to signal to the people, to his base, to the people that he wants to reach and to keep a solid grip on that he is in fact talking about racial supremacy and he is talking about, you know, this Hitler rhetoric. He is absolutely doing it on purpose. It's a tool and it's meant to inflame people's emotions and also to signal to them what he's about.

ACOSTA: And I guess, Tom, what is your view on where things stand in the country right now if former president Donald Trump can use Hitler- like rhetoric this close to the Iowa caucus? If you look at the latest polls he's way out in front of all his challengers for the Republican nomination in just about every state you can think of. Nikki Haley is gaining on Donald Trump to a measurable degree, I supposed, in New Hampshire.

[19:10:06]

But Donald Trump is running away with this nomination right now, and he's doing things by saying I want to be a dictator for a day, by saying things like immigrants are poisoning the blood of this country. What's going on?

NICHOLS: Yes. It says something really worrisome about the civic health of the United States. And it has for a while, but somebody like Donald Trump has not simply been run off the national stage. And I think two really factors in that are first we have to accept that he's gotten us used to it. He has numbed us to his rhetoric by simply fire hosing it every day to the point where he exhausts any rational person's ability to keep up with it, you know, to the point where we all kind of just shrug our shoulders and say, yes, you know, that's just -- that's him, that's how he talks.

ACOSTA: Right.

NICHOLS: But he's also pulled off this very clever trick of convincing people that he is just kidding and absolutely serious at the same time, so that his supporters and his enablers and apologists and explainers can keep jumping back and forth, and saying, well, he didn't really mean that, but he totally means it as the moment suits them because it's hard to take Donald Trump seriously. I mean, he's a fundamentally ridiculous person, but then he says, but here's what I'm going to do on day one. And then his followers will say, well, that's the plan. And then the critics say, that's very dangerous and he says, well, I did not really mean it.

ACOSTA: Well, and, Tom, to get to -- as a policy part of this, as Alayna Treene was talking about during her live shots a few moments ago, Trump is emphasizing his policy proposals as well. The Trump campaign, Donald Trump, they're talking about mass detention camps for immigrants. I mean, it's astounding to me that I'm reading "Mein Kempf" on this program to compare Donald Trump's rhetoric to Adolf Hitler.

But it also is equally astounding as a journalist to talk about mass detention camps in the United States of America for any human being. And I'm just wondering, you know, how do you wrap your head around that?

NICHOLS: I have a hard time doing that every single day, but I think one of the really worrisome things is that when he ran the first time he just fired off kind of a lot of these rhetorical bottle rockets that just, you know, spiraled off into the sky.

Now there are people actively anticipating a second term because I think it's important to remember he didn't really expect to win the first time around. They are making active plans. Trump and the people around him are -- they've learned their lessons and they're making active plans to set these things up.

Now they will be catastrophic and disastrous and probably bungled, but they are going to do it. He's not joking. I mean, this isn't some kind of elaborate prank. This time around he's going to do it. I think that more than anything is the hardest thing to get our heads around. It's one thing to say that he says crazy things. It's another thing to say, but there are actually people planning to execute this.

ACOSTA: And, Tom, I guess the other thing I wanted to ask you about, we have Michael LaRosa on, who was a spokesperson in the White House for First Lady Jill Biden in the previous hour, and he was raising the question, why isn't President Biden speaking out more on this. And I am sure there are Biden people who are saying right now, wait a minute, Joe Biden has talked about this on numerous occasions.

But when Trump a week or so ago was talking about being a dictator for a day, Biden talked about it during an off-camera fundraiser. And yes, the pool of reporter who was there got the notes, put the quotes out there, and so on. This weekend the Biden campaign put out a statement condemning Donald Trump's comments about immigrants poisoning the blood of this country.

Does the president need to get back out there and he's done it before? Does he need to do it again and forcefully condemn these comments on camera before the American people?

NICHOLS: Not -- this is going to sound strange to say but I think in some way there's an argument for saying not yet. Trump is not even the nominee. He is the all but inevitable nominee and I think if the president went out there every single day and said here's the crazy thing Donald Trump said today and here's how I condemn it, by the time we reach next November Americans are just tuned out. They'll be overloaded with it.

I think when you're dealing with somebody like Donald Trump you have to be careful about amplifying his message and you have to pick your shots. And I think as the election gets closer, as the primaries (INAUDIBLE) up and Trump starts accumulating delegates, I would imagine, and I don't know how many inside (INAUDIBLE) that the White House's operations here, but I would imagine that there would be more criticism of Trump as those moments get closer.

[19:15:09]

I think if Biden starts now, you know, in six months we're going to be exhausted. And I think that's part of -- unfortunately that's Trump's strategy is to just exhaust normal and ordinary people with this kind of stuff.

ACOSTA: And Nikki Haley who has been gaining ground on Donald Trump in New Hampshire, she was asked about Trump's behavior and his actions surrounding the insurrection on January 6th and here's what she had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY (R), 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: So there's a criticism of the former president but at the very end, well, he was the right president at the right time.

Tom, what's your sense of how the Republican Party has handled Donald Trump during this nomination contest?

NICHOLS: They've caved and surrendered out of, I would argue, sheer political cowardice. You know, Nikki Haley is gaining on Trump but in New Hampshire which is a kind of unusual Republican constituency. I mean, I think that's -- you know, there's a reason that Christie and Haley were doing better in making their pitch, that their pitch was getting more traction in New Hampshire. But you still have Nikki Haley saying, well, even if he's, you know,

convicted and if he's the nominee, you know, her hand went up, I'd vote for him. It's the same mistake Republicans made in 2016 hoping for some kind of act of God or force majeure and that just takes Trump off the stage. And then the other contenders sweep up his voters as if they are just kind of waiting to be gathered once Trump has to pull out of the race for some reason.

So the Republican Party, my former party, I'm sorry to say, has completely collapsed in the face of this purely for the sake of holding power for its own sake. Simply just to keep their jobs and to stay in Washington.

ACOSTA: All right, Tom Nichols, I appreciate the straight talk. Appreciate your insights. As always, great to see you. Thanks for coming on.

All right. And still ahead, the Israeli Defense Forces claim to have uncovered what it says is the biggest Hamas tunnel inside Gaza stretching nearly three miles in length. This as the U.S. is ramping up pressure on Israel. We'll have more on that next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:22:04]

ACOSTA: All right. This just in to our newsroom. Washington, D.C. Metro Police are urgently searching for whoever threatened several synagogues in the area. The department told CNN the synagogues received the threats earlier today via e-mail and that they are not considered credible at this time.

While police are still putting more officers around places of worship here in the nation's capital, Homeland Security and the FBI recently warned about a higher threat level of violence targeting large public gatherings during the holidays because of the war between Israel and Hamas. We'll keep you updated on all that if more information comes in.

In the meantime, just hours from now, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will visit Israel for the second time since the October 7th attacks by Hamas. The secretary is expected to push Israeli officials to define clear goals in the next phase of the war with Hamas. This comes as the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports more than 18,000 deaths in Gaza since the war began.

And CNN's Jeremy Diamond has the latest developments from Tel Aviv.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the Israeli military says that this is the biggest Hamas tunnel that they have discovered in Gaza over the course of their ground offensive. We have seen tunnels in the past that the Israeli military has discovered. They are very narrow where individuals would have to walk single file if you're a group of people. Not the case with this one. In fact the Israeli military says they need to drive a large vehicle

through this tunnel. It goes as deep as 50 meters underground then it's part of a broader network of tunnels that spans four kilometers or about 2 1/2 miles according to the Israeli military. It's equipped with electricity, with ventilation, and communication systems. Now this tunnel doesn't actually cross from Gaza Israel. It's simply within Gaza and used for Hamas' operations according to the Israeli military.

But it does come out right near one of the key crossing points between Israel and Gaza, and that is the Erez Crossing, which was also attacked by Hamas on October 7th, and was used as a crossing point to carry out that deadly terrorist attack on October 7th. The Israeli military says that this was a project of the brother of the Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahyah Sinwar, who was in charge of this project according to the Israeli military.

Now Hamas of course claims that they have hundreds of miles of tunnels inside Gaza, and the Israeli military has been methodically discovering these tunnels and destroying them. All of this of course comes amid the continuing ground offensive in Gaza carried out by the Israeli military and also mounting U.S. and international pressure on Israel to reduce the number of civilian casualties, and to begin moving to the next phase of its military operations, one that the United States hopes will be more targeted, more intelligence driven and special forces going in and out of locations to target senior Hamas leaders.

That will be a key focus tomorrow as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrives in Israel for meetings with Israel's War Cabinet to press them for specifics on what they believe they have achieved so far and what more they think they need to achieve before they can move to that next phase of this military campaign -- Jim.

[19:25:15]

ACOSTA: Thanks, Jeremy.

And the TV network Al Jazeera is accusing Israel of assassinating one of its journalists in Southern Gaza. Dozens of mourners gathered at a funeral yesterday. The Qatari News Network says Israeli Defense Forces are deliberately targeting its journalists in the conflict and is now referring the killing to the International Criminal Court.

Israel strongly denies those claims, and CNN's Melissa Bell has this story. A warning the report contains graphic and distressing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sounds of yet another family in Gaza torn apart by grief. Nothing, it seems, can shield the civilians here from the nightmares of this war, neither age, nor location, nor profession.

Journalists are meant to be protected, a reflection of the importance of their work shining a light onto the dark horrors of a conflict now in its 11th week. Instead, it has now taken yet another journalist's life.

Samir Abu Dhaka, a cameraman for Al Jazeera, was killed according to the network in the southern city of Khan Younis.

WAEL DAHDOUH, AL JAZEERA GAZA BUREAU CHIEF (through translator): We made the report, we filmed and we were done. The civil defense was with us while we were leaving they hit us with a rocket.

BELL: For Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief injured in the strike alongside his colleague, the cost of this war was already unimaginable. Wael Dahdouh lost his wife, daughter, son and grandson in an Israeli airstrike in late October, learning that his family had been killed while on air. His 15-year-old son, Al Jazeera said, had hoped to become a journalist like his father. The network issued a statement Friday saying that it holds Israel accountable for systematically targeting and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their families.

HISHAM ZAQOUT, AL JAZEERA CORRESPONDENT (through translator): This is a new crime against Palestinian journalists that adds to the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

BELL: CNN cannot independently verify the allegations. On Saturday, the IDF told CNN it has never and will never deliberately target journalists. But just days ago, CNN's own reporting and analysis suggests that it was Israeli tank fire that killed Reuters journalist in southern Lebanon in October. The IDF says the incident is still under investigation.

Within Gaza, Abu Dhaka is one of the more than 60 journalists killed since the conflict began, according to figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists, making this the deadliest war for reporters since tracking began in 1992.

Now, Wael Dahdouh, who buried his own family just weeks ago, is grieving once again, and once again saying goodbye as the light of Gaza's journalism shines a little bit fainter.

Melissa Bell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And our thanks to Melissa Bell for that very important report. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:41]

ACOSTA: It was a tough day for Tommy DeVito, the undrafted quarterback who has captured the hearts of millions of fans with his jersey Italian flair. The Giants' third string quarterback took a hard hit on the field day in the second quarter and left the field to be evaluated for a concussion.

DeVito came back in the third quarter, but the New Orleans Saints still trampled the Giants 24 to six. It's been that kind of the season for the Giants.

With me now is Rachel Nichols, host of "Headlines with Rachel Nichols" on Showtime.

Rachel, let's talk about Tommy DeVito, which I mean, it's not something I ever thought would come out of my mouth on this program, but what's going on here with this Cinderella story? I mean, he has shown a lot of toughness despite what took place today.

RACHEL NICHOLS, HOST, "HEADLINES WITH RACHEL NICHOLS" ON SHOWTIME: Yes.

ACOSTA: I mean, he can take a hit and keep going. What's going on with this guy?

NICHOLS: No, what took place today was pretty abusive when you think about that Saints defensive line, and they are one of the best in the NFL and they showed it today. Seven sacks of DeVito, and one of them as you said, knocked him out of the game for a little bit.

And to add insult to injury, Jim, after some of those sacks, some of the defensive linemen did DeVito's signature Italian hand gesture, to sort of to mock him a little bit. And he said afterward, hey, that's fair play. That's part of the game.

But as you said, he stayed in there, and not only that, in the five times that he started games for the Giants, he only has one interception in all of those five games.

So that is why you heard the coaching staff say that he will still be their quarterback for next week. And we'll see what happens after that.

You have to remember that the Giants have not -- they've only won one playoff game in more than a decade since Eli Manning led this team to the Super Bowl victory over the Patriots.

So they needed this kind of energy, this kind of story. And while the GM has said, look, the starter, Daniel Jones who started this season, he will get his job back when he gets healthy enough. I don't know. Let's see what happens.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NICHOLS: Because DeVito-mania has really taken hold in New Jersey, New York, that whole area, and he is playing well. He is not the problem. He's not the reason they lost that game today.

ACOSTA: Yes, and what is this? What is it -- you know? I feel like I'm talking to somebody's Italian grandmother here. What's going on with Tommy DeVito's hand gesture there?

NICHOLS: Exactly.

ACOSTA: I love it. NICHOLS: Well, someone asked him what it was called, and he said, it

doesn't have a name. He goes, it is just "mm." That's the sound he makes, and you know, I think it's to put -- add some emphasis, signify the sweetness of something.

[19:35:10]

And as you know, it's on t-shirts everywhere, you know, an emoji on Instagram, you can find it. So the popularity there.

ASMAN: Yes.

NICHOLS: And it's not just that, his manner is so welcoming. He is really just a great presence. He still lives with his parents. He's talked about the food that his mom cooks him. He goes out and makes a lot of appearances in the area, so he is still really in touch with the fans, and he is willing to sit there and sign autographs and relate to people.

And I just think especially in that community, where you have a huge Italian-American fan base --

ACOSTA: Sure.

NICHOLS: They feel like it's one of them. You know, I had a friend who called this the Italian-American version of Linsanity, and I think that that's really the case there. I think that this --

ACOSTA: And he's got this agent.

NICHOLS: Absolutely, and his agent is part of it. Sean Stellato, who himself was inducted into the Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame just this week.

ACOSTA: Look how he showed up.

NICHOLS: That's the jacket he is wearing right now. That's the Hall of Fame jacket. No surprise. It's bright, bright green, right? I mean that's --

ACOSTA: I love it.

NICHOLS: That's how it should look like and he has gotten endorsement offers, too. I mean, it's been crazy.

But to me in a Giants season, where they've been in and out of the playoff picture and are now probably out of it again, the idea that they've had the support, this sensation, this kind of good feeling around the team. If I'm the Giants, I will be reluctant to let that go.

ACOSTA: Yes, no kidding.

NICHOLS: And I also want to point out that he wasn't supposed to be here, not just because he was the third stringer. He was on the practice squad this past August, Jim, they released him. They got rid of him.

ACOSTA: Wow.

NICHOLS: He only came back because of injuries to other players. So they're lucky to have him in this spot. And I don't know, I'm interested to see what he does next week.

ACOSTA: Yes. I mean, when they announced that he was going to start against my Commanders who had an even worse season than the Giants, I thought Danny DeVito is playing quarterback? You know, he's a little old. But anyway, my attempts at a dad joke there.

Let me ask you this, Rachel, because this is actually some serious news. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is recovering after falling and breaking his hip Friday night. His longtime business partner says he's doing just fine.

I've had Kareem on the show before. He is an amazing guy to talk to you, and there are so many fans wishing him well. What's the latest? How do we think he's doing?

NICHOLS: He is apparently doing well in his recovery. It's a serious injury, especially for someone in the 70s. Although I love the fact that this injury happened when he was at a concert.

The man is 76 and he is still going to concerts. How great is that? You know, he's had some health problems along the way, just as anybody would in their 70s, but he has always recovered from that well.

He has maintained his athlete great shape and you can tell that when you sit and talk to him. I just saw him a couple of months ago.

I actually used to work with Kareem on the show. I had a basketball show on ESPN. He used to come on sometimes as a panelist.

And just to give you a little window into his sense of humor and his personality, the greatest Christmas gift I have ever had was from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I'm sorry, to my family to say that.

ACOSTA: Wow.

NICHOLS: But it was because he came on the show, and he presented me with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar socks, from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with his face on them. How great is that?

That is a Hall of Fame moment, and I hope that there are many more of those to come. It sounds like he's going to be recovered and back like new soon.

ACOSTA: It does not get better than that.

And speaking of pro basketball, my other team from DC, the Wizards who are also, oh, my gosh, this is not one of their better seasons. The owners of the Wizards and the Capitals announced this non-binding agreement to move the teams to Northern Virginia. Rachel, I know you follow this stuff very closely. We've seen this

happen with other teams, I mean, twenty, thirty years ago, you would see professional sports team build the big stadium, build the big arena in a downtown area of a major city.

Now you're seeing almost the reverse happening. The Atlanta Braves, they left Atlanta, built a big stadium out in the suburbs. Is this part of a trend? Is that what the Wizards and the Cavs owner, Ted Leonsis is doing, sort of following this trend? Maybe they're finding greener pastures in the suburbs, a lot of these sports owners.

NICHOLS: I mean, to me, the trend is less about city to suburbs. It's more about what is going on around these arenas. And look, as you said, teams have moved back and forth.

I first covered the Washington Capitals as a young journalist, they were playing in Landover, Maryland and practicing near Annapolis, which is where I had to live to cover the team, the DC team.

ACOSTA: My gosh.

NICHOLS: So this is not new that these teams have kind of been all over the DMV marketplace. But the trend nationally seems to be that beyond just the arena, these owners who are increasingly not legacy owners, not people who inherited the team from their dad. They're businessmen, they're tech guys, they're hedge fund guys.

They are seeing the opportunity to just not get revenue from the arena itself, but the surrounding area. So in places like Boston and Chicago, they've been able to do that by staying inside the city -- Fenway, Wrigley -- a lot of those ownerships have bought up the land around the stadium, around the arena, and they're redeveloping that area.

But in places where that hasn't been possible, and you mentioned the Braves. The Braves had plans to build a $400 million sports and entertainment complex around that suburban stadium where they'll have hotels and office buildings that look in and have views inside the stadium.

[19:40:10]

And what Washington wants to do with its teams is have an arena where they can develop the land around it. Now, I have to assume that Ted Leonsis talked to the businesses around the arena now. Obviously, he's had negotiations with the DC government, and there are lots of reasons why buying up the land around the arena might not be possible.

ACOSTA: Yes.

NICHOLS: I mean, first of all, different municipalities have different laws. And by the way, when a sports team buys up all the land around the arena, there is usually a pretty big backlash from the community saying, hey, what about all the small businesses?

ACOSTA: Yes. NICHOLS: What about the people who live there?

ACOSTA: Sure.

NICHOLS: So you have a little bit of -- you know, you're in trouble either way if you're one of these team owners, and what they are looking to do is have a place that they can build up around the arena.

And as you said, it's non-binding, so we'll have to see what happens. DC has a chance to keep the team in DC. We'll have to see if they can put that through.

ACOSTA: We've seen some of these things fall apart before.

All right, as long as we get a mediocre team back on the course, I mean, my Wizards, oh, my goodness, come on, guys. And Commanders too, for that matter.

Rachel Nichols --

NICHOLS: But you have to remember, the Capitals though, have a big fan base in Virginia. So you've got that side of it.

ACOSTA: They do. That's so -- and the Caps have been great. Rachel, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

NICHOLS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Still ahead, a storm has been battering Florida with heavy rain and winds and it's still gathering strength as it heads up the East Coast. Our team is tracking where it's headed, what to expect. Stay with us.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:45:45]

ACOSTA: Now to that massive storm roaring up the East Coast. It is putting millions of people in danger after wreaking havoc from Florida through the Carolinas.

Meteorologist, Elisa Raffa is in the CNN Weather Center with the very latest. What's the latest? How are things going out there.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've had some pretty hefty rain totals out there today, Jim, I'm talking almost a foot of rain for Georgetown, South Carolina, it's kind of outside the Myrtle Beach area, some nine to 12 inches of rain there. Flash flooding emergencies all day and most of the low country got a decent three to six inches of rain.

We still have that tornado watch until eight o'clock this evening for Eastern North Carolina. The rain already heavy, starting to spread into Delaware and Maryland near DC, starting to see some of those downpours.

The flood alerts for 60 million people go through Monday up to Maine for a widespread two to four inches of rain, and some totals could be even higher than that causing some risk to some river flooding, too.

Here is that heavy rain look at tomorrow morning from Philly to New York, Boston, just nasty, really tough commute. And then we get a punch of snow possible behind it headed into Tuesday and some of that cold air starts to rush in.

We've got wind alerts in effect for Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Cape Cod up into Maine where you see that deeper kind of brown color. We're talking about 65-mile-per-hour gusts. So very windy.

Farther in land, you're talking 45-mile-per-hour gusts, but the winds just really pop as we go into tomorrow and then into Monday as the storm system starts to strengthen like it like a top and the winds start to pick up even more.

So if you had early travel plans for the holidays, look at this, from DC, Philly, New York, and Boston, it looks like you're going to have hefty delays not just from the heavy rain, but those gusty winds.

And if you do take off, it's going to be quite turbulent -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, my goodness. Everybody, stay safe out there and you might have to pack some patience when you go to the airport there in the Northeast.

Elisa, thank you very much.

Still ahead, China is targeting Taiwan's upcoming election. We're looking at the fake speech, bad polling results, and fraudulent reports. Any of that sound familiar? We'll talk about that next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:52:22]

ACOSTA: Fake speech, bad polling results, and fraudulent food safety reports -- these are all part of China's disinformation campaign targeting Taiwan. Here's CNN Will Ripley with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A chilling picture of weaponized Chinese disinformation.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): Deepfake videos, doctored audio, casting a sinister shadow over Taiwan's upcoming presidential election. CNN inside a closed-door briefing with senior intelligence officials

in Taipei. Beijing's goal they say, boosting the chances of candidates seen as friendlier to China to win next month's crucial presidential race.

A senior security official tells CNN, Chinese leaders held a secret meeting in the Mainland last month hashing out election interference plans.

The meeting chaired by Wang Huning, the fourth ranking leader of China's Communist Party. Wang ordering officials to be more discreet, Taiwanese intelligence tells CNN. They even say the Chinese military is involved claiming PLA Base 311, a psychological warfare unit in the Mainland is targeting the self-governing democracy with disinformation.

The Mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office says Taiwan elections are purely China's internal affairs and allow no interference by any external forces.

Taiwanese officials say the secretive gathering just days after Chinese leader, Xi Jinping traveled to San Francisco, a four-hour marathon meeting with President Joe Biden.

RIPLEY (on camera): President Biden told President Xi not to interfere in Taiwan's election. Is China going to listen to that?

PUMA SHEN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, NATIONAL TAIPEI UNIVERSITY: I don't think so because they just keep doing it.

RIPLEY (voice over): Puma Shen is a professor and politician seeking a legislative seat for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Since taking power in 2016, the DPP prioritizes partnership with Washington over economic ties with Beijing, defying the Chinese Communist Party's preferred political agenda, a more China-friendly platform championed by two opposition parties currently trailing in the polls.

SHEN: For China, it is all about how to sway the people in the middle, I mean the swing voters.

RIPLEY (voice over): He says methods include spreading disinformation, malicious rumors deliberately planted, magnifying narratives favorable to Beijing, trashing politicians seen as tough on China.

From false claims the ruling party's vice presidential candidate is a US citizen to fabricated allegations of mass surveillance by Taiwan's security agencies over Taiwanese individuals, factchecked in real time by journalists in this Taipei newsroom.

[19:55:09]

EVE CHIU, CEO, TAIWAN FACTCHECK CENTER: Usually, we have lots of rumors and disinformation, but not so political, and now, because of the election coming, there's many political and malicious ones.

RIPLEY (voice over): Her grim warning, misinformation is at an all- time high. And Shen says, not just in Taiwan.

RIPLEY (on camera): Is China also trying to influence the US election?

SHEN: Oh, definitely. They actually have real engagement with real people, so they're getting better and better.

RIPLEY (voice over): Distorting the truth, endangering democracy one vote at a time.

RIPLEY (on camera): Here in Taipei, it is not just psychological warfare they're worried about. Officials are also accusing China of military and economic coercion.

On Friday, Beijing filing a trade probe against Taiwan, which could hurt the economy just weeks before the election.

We've reached out repeatedly to China's Taiwan Affairs Office for comment, so far, no response.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Still ahead, Donald Trump repeats his anti-immigrant and false rhetoric out on the campaign trail in Nevada even saying President Biden launched an immigrant invasion against the US, of course that's false, but we'll talk about it just a few moments. Stay with us.

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