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IDF Preparing To Expand Gaza Offensive To New Areas; U.N. Chief Says Israel Creating "Massive Obstacles" For Gaza Aid, Cease-Fire Only Way To End Nightmare; U.S. Supreme Court Declines To Speed Up Trump Immunity Ruling; U.S. Southern Border Near Breaking Point Due To Migrant Surge; Iowans React To Trump Comments On Immigrants; Hundreds Of 2,000 Pound Bombs Dropped On Gaza; Czech Republic Honoring Victims Of University Rampage; Trump Claims Presidential Immunity For Election Interference; Cooking Up Holiday Magic With "Half Baked Harvest". Aired 4-5a ET
Aired December 23, 2023 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
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RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST (voice-over): Hello and a warm welcome to you if you're joining me in the United States or wherever around the world. I'm Richard Quest in London and this is the CNN NEWSROOM.
We'll tell you about the scale of Israel's bombardment in Gaza. New CNN analysis is putting this into greater context. The IDF continues not to let up on its fight against Hamas.
The special counsel rejected: the U.S. Supreme Court's denied a major request by Jack Smith in his presidential immunity dispute with Donald Trump. Now the former president and what he says.
And join me in the kitchen. Lord, help us all, as I make holiday baked brie with the founder of the food blog, Half Baked Harvest.
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QUEST: Four in the morning on the East Coast of the United States, 9 London and 11 in Gaza, where Israel's military says it is pressing ahead with plans to expand its operation in Gaza, despite going pressure to scale back the offensive.
An IDF spokesperson said that their campaign will widen to new areas with an emphasis on southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council adopted its long delayed resolution, much negotiated, which called for increasing aid to Gaza. The U.S. supported the measure by abstaining, because the resolution did not condemn Hamas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: It took many days and many, many long nights of negotiating to get this right. But today, this council provided a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of unimaginable suffering. Today this council called for urgent steps to immediately allow safe, unhindered and expanded humanitarian access.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says it's received 70 aid trucks on Friday through the Rafah border crossing. That is the one in Egypt. And Israel began this week allowing some aid trucks to cross directly into Gaza from Israel, the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Far fewer trucks are entering each day than before the war. President Biden says that he is heartbroken to learn of the death of an Israeli American hostage. The Missing Persons Families Forum says 70 year old Gadi Haggai had died while in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Nada Bashir is with me, following all the events in Gaza.
Nada, it seems appropriate to start with this idea that Israel is saying it's widening its offensive in southern Gaza.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, which means getting aid into Gaza that much more difficult. Unclear details about what that might look like, what cities in southern Gaza will form the focus of this wider expansion of Israel's military operation.
Over the last couple of days we have seen the Israeli military calling on civilians in southern Gaza to evacuate. They said they'll be looking to widen not just airstrikes but the ground operation in parts of southern Gaza.
That has raised alarm bells for some 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza already displaced, the vast majority concentrated in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. We have seen them living in these tent cities.
There are real fears, real concerns that if we will see a revamping, a doubling down of the military operation, both in the air and on the ground, that civilian death toll will continue rising.
That southern part of Gaza has been a crucial gateway for getting aid in. Of course, it is just a drop in the bucket compared to the aid that was coming in before the war. But if we do see the ground incursion doubling down in the south, not only do we expect to see the civilian death toll mounting but the humanitarian situation to get worse.
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QUEST: -- the United Nations Security Council resolution.
[04:05:00]
The issue becomes, A, getting more aid through Rafah and certainly ramping up to Kerem Shalom.
BASHIR: Absolutely. The U.N. Secretary general Antonio Guterres has himself raised concerns about how this will actually take place, how this resolution will be put into practice, saying the Israeli government has already put major obstacles in the way of aid distribution, not least on the logistical front.
But also ensuring there are security guarantees for aid organizations operating on the borders, attempting to operate on the ground. As we know, the situation is dire. This resolution has brought some hope.
But that will need to be brought into practice very quickly. We are talking more than 2 million people, according to the U.N.'s humanitarian organization, now facing a state of acute food insecurity.
We are hearing about famine being talked about by the aid workers and the U.N.'s own agencies. That was raised by the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. We have heard from people on the ground warning about how dire the situation is. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. NOUR WAHIDI (through translator): The situation is bad. The health situation is bad, the economic situation is bad, the humanitarian situation is bad. Diseases are terrifyingly widespread and there is a significant shortage of food.
So every day I come to work, I witness all the sufferings that we never could have imagined.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: Friday we did see 70 aid trucks cross over from the Rafah border crossing into Gaza. Again, just a fraction of what we used to see before the war, 500 trucks a day before the war began.
QUEST: Nada, I'm grateful.
Nada Bashir in London with me.
Now to Tel Aviv. Mark Regev is with me, the senior advisor to the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
Mark, thank you for your time, to take your time to talk to me. I want to start with the idea of the further push into southern Gaza. Israel, first of all, tells people to go south. Once they have gone south, they tell them to move around the south into different areas.
Now they're being told to move -- there is nowhere to go, Mark, except scrub land with no facilities, no water, no toilets.
Where would Israel now like those people to go?
MARK REGEV, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Well, Richard, I think when we told people to move south out of the north, it was the right thing to do because, as you recall, the heavy fighting started in the north.
All the people who moved to the south did the right thing. They accepted our advice. In fact, I think over 90 percent moved to the south. It is clear there was heavy fighting in the north. It was common sense to move away.
Now the fighting has started in the south, we've had to be more specific. We've asked people to go to specific areas where we do not intend to see serious, intensive fighting. But we are urging people, please get out of the line of fire. We don't want to see civilians caught up.
QUEST: But Mark --
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QUEST: -- be realistic, Mark. You are moving hundreds of thousands of people into very limited areas, amongst -- you know, massive bombardment. There is simply not the space or facilities, on humanitarian grounds, to move those people into that area.
REGEV: Two comments: first of all, it is obviously difficult to move and move again. My own father was a refugee during the Second World War and I know what is, like. I have heard firsthand what it is like to have to move.
And from a war situation, it can be very difficult. But surely, all of the troubles in relocating are nothing compared to the possibility of being killed by being caught up in the crossfire.
And Israel is saying that there is going to be fighting in a particular area. Hamas is embedded there. And we ask civilians to leave. We urge them to do, so we do not want to see them hurt.
QUEST: Now the question of the aid coming in, as the result of the U.N. Security Council. The United Nations secretary general has pretty much summed up, in his view, Antonio Guterres, on what the problem is.
He said, basically, in his statement, the single largest problem in getting aid into Gaza, was Israel's bombardment, Israel's continued attack.
REGEV: So let's be clear, as you yourself reported Israel, opened a few days ago the Kerem Shalom crossing, which allows for increasing the quantity of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
Since the beginning of this operation, Israel has placed no limitations whatsoever on food, water, medicine, shelter, that sort of thing going into the Gaza Strip for the civilian population of Gaza, who are not the target of our operation.
[04:10:05]
Our target is Hamas. But to talk about the secretary general's remarks, he has been calling now, I think for two months, for what he calls a humanitarian cease-fire, just to end it all. He is basically offering a lifeline to Hamas.
We thank the United States for its diplomatic support at the United Nations preventing that resolution passing the Security Council. Because if you give a lifeline to Hamas, if you say a cease-fire now with Hamas in power, you are just condemning us all to more bloodshed in the future.
Because Hamas, Richard, as you know, says openly that Israel must be destroyed. They say they'd do the October 7th massacre again and again. You keep Hamas in power, you condemn both Israelis and Palestinians to more bloodshed down the line.
QUEST: Mark, you and I both know, in the course of war, comments get made that need to be clarified. Yesterday, I think -- or this week -- saw one of them from an Israeli spokesperson, who basically said there was no food shortage in Gaza.
That comment being made, at the same time as the World Food Programme, UNDP, all of them, saying it is almost a famine in Gaza at the moment. So let me give you an opportunity to clarify the comment, that there is no food shortage or there is plenty of food in Gaza.
Do you wish to clarify it?
REGEV: I can say the following. I know for a fact, over the last few days, there were trucks of food that Israel authorized. And Israel had also completed a security check. And yet they were still waiting at the crossing to enter and not because of Israel.
There were all sorts of logistic issues they said inside Gaza. One has to ask the following question, Richard.
Is it possible that Hamas knows that its only chance to survive is by sacrificing the people of Gaza and by saying we will not allow humanitarian aid to be distributed?
We will keep this out. We want to unofficially create a humanitarian crisis. That will create international pressure for the cease-fire, which is the only way they can save themselves.
QUEST: Mark, I am grateful, thank you for taking the time to talk to me this morning. I'm grateful, thank you.
REGEV: Thank you for having me.
QUEST: Now in Colorado, two paramedics were found guilty of criminally neglect, homicide in the death of Elijah McClain in what could prove to be a landmark decision. They injected the 23-year old with ketamine while he was being held down by police officers in August 2019.
The officers stopped McClain on his way home, while responding to a suspicious persons call, according to the indictment. During the trial the prosecutors argued that the paramedics, Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, acted recklessly by not speaking to McClain or checking his vital statistics.
The paramedics testified they followed their training and were told numerous times that ketamine is a safe, effective drug.
CNN has reported that having two paramedics standing trial for the death of someone they treated in police custody is an unparalleled situation. In a move seen as a victory for Donald Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court
has declined a request by special counsel Jack Smith to fast-track arguments on whether the former president had any immunity from federal prosecution.
The high court's decision will likely delay the start of Trump's election subversion trial. CNN's Evan Perez has more.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by federal prosecutors to skip the appellate court and have the high court decide whether Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution on election subversion charges.
The decision deals a significant blow to special counsel Jack Smith's effort to keep a March 4th trial date on track. That is a lot harder now that prosecutors will have to wait several weeks while the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals weighs the same consequential questions.
Trump is arguing that he has immunity for actions that he took while in office to pursue his claims of election fraud. He also claims that, because he was impeached by the House of Representatives and acquitted by the Senate, prosecuting him would violate the Constitution's double jeopardy clause.
Trump's attorneys had urged the Supreme Court to stay out of the dispute for now, saying that the special counsel was trying to rush to decide the issue with reckless abandon.
And the Justice Department had argued that the case deals with an unprecedented criminal trial of a former president and required taking the unusual step of bypassing the appeals court.
The special counsel said the public interest and a prompt resolution of this case favors an immediate definitive decision by this court.
[04:15:04]
Now the one-sentence rejection by the Supreme Court on Friday did not come with any additional explanation. There is no notice of dissent among the justices.
But Trump's claim of immunity could make its way back to the high court in the thick of the political calendar. The D.C.-based appeals court has scheduled oral arguments on the immunity question for January 9th. And that is just days before the Iowa caucus on January 15th -- Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The storm system that unleashed flooding rains on California and Arizona is on the move.
(WEATHER REPORT) QUEST: The U.S. and Mexican officials will meet -- are expected to next week. The issue is to slow the number of migrants streaming to the southern U.S. border each and emery day. We will be on the border when we return.
And going to the other end of the issue, the U.S. economy that relies on migrant labor, we are going to Iowa to hear how recent remarks by Donald Trump, regarding immigrants and the availability of migrant labor, are being received. This is CNN.
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QUEST: Some U.S. officials are warning that the southern border is at what they are calling breaking point, encountering record numbers of migrants at the border every day, straining personnel and all resources. It is a worsening situation.
It led to calls between President Biden and the Mexican president, to pressure Mexico to do more to slow the surge of migrants. Senior U.S. officials will now travel to Mexico for more discussion in the coming days. CNN's Rafael Romo is at the border in Texas.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: We are at a migrant camp here in Eagle Pass. We're right next to the U.S. border with Mexico. Behind me, you can see a holding area where Border Patrol agents take immigrants once they have surrendered to authorities so they can wait there before being processed.
And this is happening only hours after Customs and Border Protection released the latest on the number of apprehensions here at the U.S. southern border. The U.S. Border Patrol recorded a total of 191,113 of what they called encounters with immigrants, meaning either apprehensions or people who turned themselves in.
That compares to 189,000 or 4000 more than the month of October. But these are only people who cross the border at sites other than a point of entry. If we add everyone else, the figure is close to 0.25 million.
In releasing the latest figures, a top immigration official recognized they are facing a serious challenge along the U.S. border. He also said that CBP and other federal agencies need more resources from Congress to both enhance the security at the border and the country as a whole.
And the reality is that the impacted communities like Eagle Pass is brutal. This is a city of less than 30,000 people. Local officials say that they are having to deal with this crisis with little or no help from the federal government.
Earlier this week, we heard from congressman Tony Gonzales, a Republican, whose district includes two-thirds of the Texas border. He says that the situation here at the border is at a breaking point -- Rafael Romo, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.
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QUEST: So as you heard there, the Biden administration is facing the widening criticism of what's going on at the border. The former Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson spoke to Wolf Blitzer about what he thinks the administration needs to do about the overwhelmed border.
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JEH JOHNSON, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: this is, in fact, a situation that is unsustainable, 10,000, 12,000 a day, taxes, resources, not just to the Border Patrol, not just communities along the southern border, but in the interior, in places like New York and Chicago. And so we're in a crisis, very much so right now.
I guess if I were in the Biden administration right now, Wolf, I would be saying to the American public, we are on this. We recognize this is a huge problem. We recognize this is a crisis, and we will work with Congress to add more authorities to address an emergency situation like this, to more expeditiously remove people back to where they came from.
[04:25:07]
All the while remaining humane, consistent with our values, being fair, be humane, but we have to address this crisis, raising the standard for asylum on the front end, for example, perhaps considering some sort of emergency authority, like Title 42, to deal with numbers of this volume.
But the president, in my opinion, needs to really say directly to the American public, I recognize the problem. I'm on this. My administration is doing everything we can to address it, including working with Republicans in Congress.
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QUEST: That is half of the equation, if you will. Former president Donald Trump came under scathing criticism for saying migrants are, in his words, "poisoning the blood of the country."
Tell that to the farmers in Iowa. Iowa holds the first of the nation caucuses in the next few weeks and farmers there rely heavily on migrant labor.
Do they see it in quite the same way?
Gary Tuchman has been to Iowa to see what they thought of former president Trump's comments. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cory Fehr, his wife and eight children have a large 24,000 acre family farm in the small town of West Bend, Iowa.
CORY FEHR, IOWA FARMER: We grow organic corn, soybeans and oats, are our three main crops.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): About 50 miles south in the city of Fort Dodge, father and son, Gary and Dave Nelson also farm corn and soybeans.
TUCHMAN: How many acres do you have in the farm?
DAVE NELSON, IOWA FARMER: So it's about 5,000 acres.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Both families have successful businesses. And have had the same political outlook.
TUCHMAN: Who did you vote for for president in 2016 and 2020?
FEHR: I voted for Trump.
TUCHMAN: Both times?
FEHR: Both times.
TUCHMAN: In 2016 and 2020, who did you vote for for president?
GARY NELSON, IOWA FARMER: Donald Trump, yes.
TUCHMAN: Both times?
And what about you?
D. NELSON: I voted for Donald Trump both times.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Harvest season is now over. Cory Fehr says during the heart of the season, he needed about 90 workers.
TUCHMAN: Are there enough Americans to take those jobs?
FEHR: There are not.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): So Cory had 72 migrants working on his farm this year, legally, under the government H-2A program. He thinks the government needs to make it easier for more migrants to come to the U.S. to work.
He hadn't seen and heard what former President Donald Trump declared about undocumented migrants coming across the border. So we showed it to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's crazy what's going on. They're ruining our country. And it's true. They're destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): So we asked, how does that make you feel about the man you voted for twice?
FEHR: It brings out a side of him that, I say, I haven't decided what I'm going to do this year.
TUCHMAN: About whether you'd vote for him again?
FEHR: Right.
TUCHMAN: What do you think the people who work for you, who've just left for the season, would think about those comments?
FEHR: They would be offended by that.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary and Dave Nelson say they will likely hire migrant workers in the future under the same government program. We also showed them the Trump video.
G. NELSON: I don't think it was appropriate. My ancestors came at one time. And maybe the same thing was thought about them, that they turned out to be great contributors to our country.
TUCHMAN: Do you find it's offensive, though, to use that term, destroying the blood of our country?
G. NELSON: Yes, that's harsh words. It's not proper. It's not fitting from a presidential candidate.
TUCHMAN: Do you wish he didn't say that?
D. NELSON: Definitely. I mean, it's -- he's using words from things like that in our past, of the Nazi piece in that. And that's been the hard thing with Trump is just too many times things are said that it's like whether it's taken out of context or he's using examples that don't apply in these situations.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Son Dave doesn't know who he wants for president at this point. Father Gary is supporting Ron DeSantis. Recent polling does show that a plurality of likely Iowa Republican caucus goers are more likely to support Trump because of these comments.
At the Groggy Dog restaurant in Indianola, Iowa --
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TRUMP: And it's true. They're destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): -- I show the video to one of the customers and this Trump supporter is OK with it. TUCHMAN: Does it make you even more supportive of Donald Trump?
STEPHANIE WIREMAN, IOWA VOTER: Yes. You can see he's pretty, like I said, straightforward. He, you know, spells it out for you right there and what he wants and what he wants to do to make our country better.
TUCHMAN: So you don't think it's offensive?
WIREMAN: No. No.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Outside the restaurant.
TUCHMAN: Do you think the comments are offensive?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To some.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Is it offensive to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): To be clear, the farmers we talked to do not favor illegal immigration. What they favor is more legal immigration.
[04:30:03]
U.S. agriculture, they say, needs it.
TUCHMAN: If you could talk to former President Trump and give him a message about his language and how to handle the situation, what would you say to him?
As a farmer?
FEHR: Yes. We need them to get our work done here. They're a necessity. And there's a lot of good people that come.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN, Fort Dodge, Iowa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: We are learning more about the massive bombs that Israel has been dropping on Gaza. One expert says this level of destruction has not been seen since Vietnam.
And the Czech Republic is honoring those who were murdered, in its worst peacetime mass shooting.
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QUEST: Welcome back to you, joining me in the United States and around the world. I'm Richard Quest. This is the CNN NEWSROOM. Despite growing pressure to scale back its offensive in Gaza, the
Israeli military says it's preparing to expand its operations against Hamas. An IDF spokesperson says the emphasis will shift to southern Gaza as its campaign widens to new areas.
The announcement comes on the same day as the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution, calling for unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza. Several aid organizations are criticizing the resolution for not demanding an immediate cease-fire.
Now the measure calls for humanitarian pauses, to lay the groundwork for a sustainable end to the fighting.
A new CNN analysis suggest Israeli forces dropped hundreds of 2,000 pound bombs on Gaza in the first months of the war.
[04:35:02]
Massive ordnance that gave a huge blast radius. Nima Elbagir now reports, our chief international investigative correspondent. And I need to warn you, the report contains graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even at a distance, the devastation wrought on Gaza is unmistakable.
ELBAGIR: We are a few 100 meters here from the boundary with Gaza. But even here, you get a sense of the degree of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the sheer intensity and scale.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): This is what that looks like up close. Scenes of destruction have become all too for many here. Hit the aftermath of another Israeli airstrike, this time in late October at the Jabalia refugee camp in, one of the most densely populated residential areas in Gaza.
The bomb that caused this damage is a 2,000-pound bomb, likely made in the USA, dropped by the Israeli Air Force at least four times as powerful as the vast majority of the bombs used by the U.S. in its fight against ISIS.
In densely populated Gaza, the human cost is incomparable. Whole families wiped out in one blow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): These are their names. They were blameless. They are all innocent.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): Jabalia refugee camp is one of the epicenters of Israel's bombing campaign. To understand the complete picture and scale of the destruction in Gaza, you need to look from above.
In coordination with artificial intelligence companies, Synthetic, CNN was able to locate over 1,900 craters left behind by bombardment in just the first month of the war. Using AI, we analyzed the diameter of these craters, over 500 of which
were greater than 40 feet in diameter, consistent with American made 2,000-pound bombs used by the Israeli Air Force. Our analysis covers the one month period to November 6, in which a staggering 10,000 people are believed to have died.
The U.S.'s most senior Middle East diplomat testified on November 9, the number of dead could be even higher.
BARBARA LEAF, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS: Than this period of conflict and conditions of war. It is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are. We think they're very high, frankly. And it could be that they're even higher than are being cited.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): Yet the U.S. continues to back Israel's bombardment.
So why is the death toll so staggering?
Because it's not just about the point of impact. This is a crate caused by a 2,000- pound bomb. The potential kill zone from that crater can spread up to 365 meters, that's 1200 feet, an area equivalent to roughly 60 soccer pitches or around 90 American football fields.
The IDF told CNN, "In stark contrast to Hamas' intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."
But is that true?
This is just north of the shanty refugee camp along the main coastal road.
When you go in closer, you can see in just this small neighborhood at least nine craters consistent with 2,000-pound bombs, which means the potential kill zone could encompass this entire area. CNN and Synthetic's analysis of the devastation of Gaza shows extensive bombardment.
In an area this densely populated and using these bombs, it's inherently indiscriminate and the human cost continues to soar, surpassing 20,000. Many of the dead still unburied, still under the rubble, with no end in sight -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, Sderot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: To Prague now, where emotions continue to be high, as the city prepares to honor the victims of the deadliest peacetime mass shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): This makeshift memorial has been set up at the Charles University, where a gunman killed 14 people on Thursday and wounded 25 people. An official day of mourning is underway and a nationwide moment of silence will take place Saturday.
Bells across the country will toll for the victims. Some students paid their respects at the memorial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD SMAHA, CHARLES UNIVERSITY STUDENT (through translator): I have come to express my sorrow over the disaster that happened here. It is something unexpected. Nothing like this has ever happened in Prague.
Moreover, the gunman probably went to our school so he thought it was appropriate to come here and express condolences to the victims and their families. Of course it is a shock. This is not America. Such things don't happen in Czechia. I think it is terrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:40:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): Now police have released this body cam video. It shows the officers searching the building where the gunman took his life after the attack. The gunman has not been named and officials are urging the public not to spread information about him, fearing possible copycat attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The U.S. Supreme Court has given Donald Trump a win in the legal battle against the special counsel, Jack Smith. The concept of presidential immunity is at the center of the courtroom fight. It has been used before. It is all on the CNN NEWSROOM next.
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QUEST: I told you earlier of the legal victory in some ways, for Donald Trump. As the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the request by the special counsel, Jack Smith, to fast-track the case on whether the former president has immunity -- or any immunity -- from federal prosecution.
The issue, crimes that Mr. Trump allegedly committed while in office in order to subvert the 2020 election. His attorneys claim he was working in his official capacity as president to ensure election integrity, when he committed the interference.
And he is therefore protected under presidential immunity. It's an idea that has been put forth before. Brian Todd now looks at the concept of presidential immunity and how it has played out in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: This is a very sad day for America.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In arguing his innocence in the federal criminal case against him related to January 6th, former president Donald Trump and his lawyers insist that Trump's presidential immunity, while he was in office, extends to the criminal justice system. What is presidential immunity?
NICK AKERMAN, FORMER ASSISTANT SPECIAL WATERGATE PROSECUTOR: Presidential immunity, basically means that you cannot be sued or criminally prosecuted for certain acts as President of the United States.
TODD (voice-over): Why is there an idea that a president shouldn't be criminally prosecuted for an act committed during their time in the White House?
[04:45:02]
AKERMAN: Philosophically, the heart of the argument on this immunity is that a president has to be able to move forward, make decisions, at a pretty rapid pace. And he can't be subject to lawsuits for any act that he takes, whatever act that is, that he can't be tied up in court rather than being acting as president.
TODD: But Nick Akerman says that applies mainly to civil lawsuits against a sitting president, not criminal charges.
AKERMAN: It's a completely different situation if a president commits a crime. Under no circumstance does a president have the right to commit a crime.
TODD: President Richard Nixon tried to invoke a limited presidential immunity over judicial orders in 1974 when he tried to avoid handing over his White House tapes to the special counsel investigating the Watergate scandal. He didn't try to invoke immunity over criminal prosecution.
TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: The Supreme Court, in the summer of 1974, swept all these arguments away and said that Richard Nixon had to turn over the tapes.
TODD: Nixon did hand over the tapes, which contained evidence that he was involved in the Watergate cover-up. Shortly after that, he was out.
RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT: I shall resign the presidency, effective at noon tomorrow.
TODD: After leaving the presidency in his iconic 1977 interviews with journalist David Frost, Nixon seemed to indicate he thought he was above the law, while serving as president.
NIXON: But when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal. TODD: But historian Tim Naftali says Nixon was not referring to absolute presidential immunity.
NAFTALI: He was talking about a very narrow band of national security and domestic security operations, which, for a period of time, could be done in the United States and it not be illegal.
But even that narrow band, which does not include insurrections and it does not include burglarizing the Democratic National Committee or your opponents national party headquarters, that narrow band ultimately was removed by Congress and the courts.
TODD: Even though current special counsel, Jack Smith, was rebuffed today in his attempt to get the Supreme Court to quickly decide whether Trump has presidential immunity, some legal analysts believe the Supreme Court will likely weigh in on that question in some fashion.
The question is when since Smith had been pushing for Trump's January 6th trial to start within a few months -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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QUEST: The holidays always bring up the age-old question, what on Earth should I cook?
So this year I made a holiday baked brie, with the founder of the food blog Half Baked Harvest -- in a moment.
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[04:50:00]
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QUEST: Longtime viewers, you all know I am voracious snacker. Don't leave any food on your desk. If I am around, doesn't matter if it's only cookies, turkeys, treats, anything. I'm game for it at this time of the year.
This year I wanted to bring something different to the table, in the most literal sense. So I had Tieghan Gerard, the chef behind Half Baked Harvest, show me how to make one of her signature holiday appetizers.
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TIEGHAN GERARD, FOUNDER, HALF BAKED HARVEST (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE). So we are making a cranberry baked brie. This is the ultimate holiday appetizer.
QUEST (voice-over): It sounds intimidating. GERARD (voice-over): No, it's really easy. We're making a really quick
cranberry jam. You have a little bit of fresh cranberries. We put the cranberries in --
QUEST (voice-over): Cranberries, yes.
GERARD (voice-over): cranberries. Now we do a little bit of maple.
QUEST (voice-over): Maple next. This all over and --
GERARD (voice-over): Dump the whole thing in. And now a little bit of vanilla, which I think works really nicely with the --
QUEST (voice-over): Ooh!
GERARD (voice-over): it's a nice holiday touch with that cinnamon we are going to put in here too. Cinnamon is warming, it's also so good for you. So anyone fighting colds out here during the holiday season.
No, no. Oh, no. You need to cook them. You don't eat them raw. So this goes on the stove over medium high heat, get it bubbling and get it broken down into a jam.
QUEST: And so medium high heat, just leave it on that. And, in that famous time-honored cooking phrase, here is what I made earlier.
GERARD: Yes, this is exactly -- this is what you made earlier. We had some homemade cranberry jam. Super easy. If you guys don't want to make your own cranberry jam, honestly use some fig preserves, use the store-bought cranberry jam.
QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) heresy.
GERARD: Go for it guys. A little bit of help from the store never hurt anybody, especially during the holidays.
QUEST: (INAUDIBLE). This is what the French do apparently, in the sense that the rest of us in the U.S. and U.K., we end up making every course, to the point where we are exhausted.
Whereas the French say, now I can get a better kick down the road, (INAUDIBLE) dessert and I'll make the beautiful starter and main.
GERARD: Ideally you want your puff pastry to be cold from the refrigerator so that butter is very cold and not softened. We're going to make this work.
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GERARD (voice-over): You've got it separated here. Place some (INAUDIBLE).
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QUEST (voice-over): Go for it. GERARD (voice-over): Now we have brie cheese, a beautiful wheel of brie cheese. This looks absolutely perfect. All we are going to do is plop it right here in the middle. We will take a little bit of this --
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QUEST: You are not going to cut the top or your (INAUDIBLE) up or not.
GERARD: No, to be easy, sometimes I cut it off; sometimes I don't. If you cut it off it's going to be very, very melty. If you leave it on, it's going to be enclosed a little bit more and you can break into it and it'll be ooey gooey.
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QUEST (voice-over): So you want it to be fully covered?
GERARD (voice-over): Yes, ideally fully covered but if some of it is exposed, it's OK. Like the pastry that I use at home is a little bit smaller and it doesn't fully covered the brie.
QUEST: Now this is just --
GERARD: This is an egg. This is a beaten up egg. And what we are doing is brushing it over our pastry. And we will sprinkle on some of the coarse sugar. It will bake up in the oven and be beautiful and sparkly and glistening and the perfect holiday appetizer.
[04:55:05]
We are all about presentation. Now we'll work a little more TV magic and I'm going to have you put this in the oven and you will pull out a baked one that will look beautiful.
QUEST: Oh, my goodness.
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QUEST: Imagine --
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GERARD: -- (INAUDIBLE).
QUEST: -- imagine. Look what the oven created.
GERARD: Do you guys see how beautiful it is?
This is my Christmas cranberry punch. It has got pomegranate, a little cranberry.
(INAUDIBLE) this?
QUEST: Merry Christmas.
GERARD: Merry Christmas, happy holidays. QUEST: Ready to cut this?
GERARD: Please do. Be my guest.
QUEST: I am looking forward to every morsel of it
GERARD: It's pretty good, right?
It's baked brie.
QUEST: Mmm!
GERARD: It's super (INAUDIBLE). super easy.
QUEST: That really is excellent.
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QUEST: And look, Santa is taking a free dive in this aquarium in south Florida, spreading Christmas cheer to the sea creatures at the Florida Keys Aquarium Encounters.
Ahh, bless.
According to local media, a scuba captain, don the (INAUDIBLE) the clothes on Thursday and doled out some tasty treats to the various aquarium residents. A variety of reef fish, Florida lobster, rays got to feast thanks to Santa's holiday generosity.
And before we go someone, a lot of people, in the U.S., will have a very Merry Christmas. Up to $620 million in today's Powerball lottery jackpot. There were no winning tickets on Wednesday night's drawing, letting the grand money prize pile up.
The lottery says five Powerball jackpots have been awarded this year with winning tickets sold in Washington state, Virginia, Ohio and California.
That is it this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Richard Quest in London. Around the world, around the clock, this is CNN. More in a moment.
