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CNN International: Trump Appeals Decision Removing Him from Maine Primary Ballot; Senior Hamas Leader Assassinated in Beirut Attack; Russia Pounds Kyiv and Kharkiv with Airstrikes; Investigator: Police Investigating Motive of New York Crash Suspect; Japan Runway Collision Under Investigation. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 03, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo back with...

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster. Happy 2024.

NOBILO: Happy 2024.

FOSTER: We'll be strong, I think. Live from London, just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In their filing late Tuesday, the Trump team attacking Maine Secretary of State, Shenna Bellows.

SHENNA BELLOWS, MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE: I did my duty and we await the court reviewing the matter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The leader of Hamas is condemning the attack, describing it as a cowardly assassination carried out, in his words, by Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israel's official line is no comment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fireball on the tarmac of Tokyo's Haneda Airport, the collision of a Japan Airlines passenger plane with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This accident will go down as a benchmark and will be studied extensively going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It is Wednesday, January the 3rd, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. in Maine, where former U.S. President Donald Trump is asking a court to overturn a decision removing him from the state's 2024 primary ballot. Maine Secretary of State said last week she was legally obliged to remove Trump from the ballot over his role in the Capitol insurrection.

NOBILO: Shenna Bellows cited a Civil War-era provision of the Constitution that prohibits those who engage in insurrection from holding office.

Mr. Trump's attorneys accused the Secretary of State, a Democrat, of being a biased decision maker who acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner. It's a claim she flatly rejects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHENNA BELLOWS, MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it's really important to note my sole obligation is the oath I swore to uphold the Constitution and to follow Maine election laws.

I was duty-bound by Maine election laws, which required this process of holding a hearing and issuing a decision to ensure that every candidate on the primary ballot meets the qualifications of the office they seek. I did my duty. Now it goes to the court. That's why it's stayed, suspended the effect of my decision, pending court appeal, and I will uphold whatever the courts determine is appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, Trump's attorneys argue the Maine Secretary of State acted beyond her legal authority, but will that argument stand up in court? Two legal experts offer their thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM DUPREE, FORMER PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think the Trump legal team is on much stronger ground on their legal arguments about whether the 14th Amendment applies to the President, whether it's self-executing, so to speak, rather than going after the alleged political bias of the Maine Secretary of State.

I don't think that's an argument that will get a lot of traction in the upper courts. I understand why they're making that argument to kind of set the table and try to put this in context of what they view as a politicized decision. But at the end of the day, I think their legal argument is going to rise or fall, depending on those other constitutional challenges to her ruling.

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: In my view, she has the power to make this decision. Many other states, the Secretary does not. In Maine, they do.

And I think she's made a strong case that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection under the 14th Amendment and does not belong on the ballot. What the higher courts and the Supreme Court will do, that's a whole other question.

(END VIDEOTAPE) NOBILO: The political excitement reaching a fever pitch. Only 12 days left to go before the Iowa caucuses and a week until CNN's Republican debate in the state's capital, Des Moines. The network has announced only three candidates have qualified. Donald Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Haley took aim at Trump, who plans to skip the debate in favor of a Fox News town hall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I've noticed that President Trump has given me some attention. And I appreciate that because that means he sees what we're seeing.

But in his commercials and in his temper tantrums, every single thing that he said has been a lie. Every single one. I looked for some grain of truth, every single one.

[04:05:00]

So if he's going to lie about me, I'm going to tell you the truth about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, meanwhile, Ron DeSantis says Iowa is not a deciding factor for his campaign. He dismissed poll numbers showing little movement for him in the past few months. And he too called out Trump for not taking part in the CNN debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DESANTIS, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why shouldn't he have to answer questions? I mean, he's running on things like deporting illegals and building a wall, but he did that in 16 and didn't get it done. So I think he owes answers to those questions. He has not been willing to do that.

Obviously, if you go by polling, it hasn't hurt. But I think now that we're in the new year, I think voters do expect you to answer those questions. I think Iowans expect you to show up and debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: We'll be next Wednesday. It's January the 10th, 9 p.m. Eastern, 2 a.m. London on Thursday.

NOBILO: A top Hamas leader has been assassinated and a U.S. official told CNN that Israel carried out the hit.

FOSTER: A senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri was killed in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday. Lebanese media report the strike targeted an office belonging to Hamas, and several others were also killed. NOBILO: Hamas says they were also leaders from its military wing.

Earlier, an Israeli government spokesperson issued this statement about the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK REGEV, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: Israel has not taken responsibility for this attack, but whoever did it, it must be clear that this was not an attack on the Lebanese state. It was not an attack even on Hezbollah, the terrorist organization. Whoever did this did a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Al-Arouri is the first top Hamas political leader to be killed since the October 7th terror attacks. Journalist Elliott Gotkine is covering all of this live from Tel Aviv, and some interesting responses coming from Lebanon on this.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: That's right, Max. I mean, we are seeing this attack condemned by the Lebanese government. We've seen it condemned by Hezbollah, by the Iranians, by the Houthis as well.

Israel's official line, of course, remains that it's not really commenting on who done it. But we have heard from U.S. officials saying so, Axios reporting senior Israeli officials saying that it was Israel, but that the Biden administration was only informed as it was actually happening.

And then we have this post on X, formerly Twitter, by Danny Danon. He's from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's own Likud party. He's a former Israeli envoy to the United Nations congratulating the Israeli security services and saying that this just shows that whoever was involved in the Hamas massacres of October the 7th, Israel will close accounts with them.

So it almost seems like this official line of strategic ambiguity, if you want to call it that, is not particularly credible when, to all intents and purposes, everyone is saying that it was Israel.

But I think the line from Mark Regev is important. What he is saying is that Israel wasn't targeting Hezbollah. This is the Iranian proxy, the militia in southern Lebanon, which has been firing on Israeli positions and communities in the north of Israel and towards which Israel has been firing back in this kind of simmering war that hasn't quite developed into an all-out war.

So Israel trying to make it clear that it wasn't targeting Hezbollah. This isn't Hezbollah's war. Hezbollah doesn't need to retaliate to this.

It remains an open question as to whether Hezbollah will and whether this will be seen as a reason for escalating the conflict on the northern border. But as I say, for now, Israel's position is officially that it's not commenting on this. It's not taking responsibility. But at the same time, of course, let's not forget, in the wake of those October the 7th attacks led by Hamas, Israel has said that all Hamas leaders are fair game and Israel will reach them wherever they are -- Max.

FOSTER: Elliott in Tel Aviv, thank you.

NOBILO: Russia has been pounding Ukraine with missiles as the war drags on nearly two years after a full scale invasion.

FOSTER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia launched at least 500 missiles and drones at Ukrainian territory in the past five days, including a massive bombardment of Kyiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday.

NOBILO: To discuss, CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us here in London. Clare, is the purpose of these attacks to exhaust Ukrainian air defenses, especially now the aid from the U.S. and the EU is drying up somewhat? And what will happen if that occurs?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that is one of the key purposes here. Obviously, we do hear rhetoric from Putin that suggests retaliation in part for the attack last week on a landing ship off Crimea, and obviously for the attack on Belgorod on Saturday, which killed some 25 Russians.

By the way, we're seeing continued attacks, according to Russia, on that border region, several dozen missiles shot down just this morning, quite a few yesterday, one person killed, according to the governor there.

[04:10:03]

But yes, if you look at these types of attacks, the scale of them, the numbers of missiles, on Tuesday, it was almost 100 in all different types as well. It does smack of an effort to try to not only wind down the numbers of missiles that Ukraine has to shoot down Russian attacks, but also to confuse and to try to sort of, you know, also sort of exploratory to try to figure out where the gaps are in Ukrainian air defenses as well. And obviously, the timing is significant.

Russia is keenly aware, if you watch Russian media, as I do, of the fact that Ukraine just got promised the last aid delivery from the U.S. until and if new funding is agreed by Congress. So they are picking their moment when Ukraine is already seeing its supplies dwindling.

NOBILO: Would it be possible for Russia to continue at this intensity? What do we know about how they've changed their economy to be more of a war footing and who is replenishing their stocks of artillery?

SEBASTIAN: So Russia was -- I mean, even before this, I think this is something many people forget was the second biggest arms exporter in the world, even before this war. So it, you know, it wasn't necessarily the best quality in terms of weapons, if you speak to defense analysts, but it certainly had a big defense industry before this. And now they are dramatically ramping up defense spending. You see many, many images of government officials, Shoigu, the defense minister, Dmitry Medvedev, constantly visiting factories, calling for increased production.

And it's happening. We do see that they are pushing up the numbers. They just released a video, the defense ministry just yesterday, showing a big increase in the number of drones being provided to frontline troops.

And we know by U.S. intelligence and other means that Iran has become a key provider of the Shahed drones, ammunition from North Korea. So they are finding avenues to replenish. Again, not necessarily the kind of quality in terms of technology that you see from the Western armaments that are supplied to Ukraine, but quantity is on Russia's side.

NOBILO: A refrain that we keep hearing is that politics is returning to Ukraine in stark contrast to the Russian election that was coming up in March, where we were just discussing yesterday, it won't be free or fair.

How strong do you think Zelenskyy's position is at the moment? Is he likely to see any real challenge to that this year?

SEBASTIAN: So I think the issue that Ukraine has is that the constitution doesn't allow them to hold elections during a state of war. And there's a concern, certainly one MP told me a couple of weeks ago, that there are now so many Ukrainians outside the country that they wouldn't be able to count their votes. So I think there is a sense in Ukraine that it's not the right time to hold elections.

But certainly, President Zelenskyy now almost two years into the war is seeing more questioning around his strategy and how he's handling this war, certainly more opposition than he had been at the beginning when we saw this huge sort of surge of unity. And some of that is because they're going to have to conscript more people to keep this going.

NOBILO: Clare Sebastian, thank you so much.

FOSTER: The U.S. has currently reached an agreement with Qatar to extend operations at America's largest military base in the Middle East. That's according to three U.S. defense officials and another official familiar with that deal. The Al-Udeid Air Base has been a pivotal hub for the U.S. Central Command's air operations across the region. The extension is set to cover another 10 years and the deal has not been publicly announced, but it highlights Washington's reliance on the tiny Gulf country.

FOSTER: Qatar has recently played a central role in mediating the release of Americans from captivity in Gaza and in Venezuela. And the deal comes as Qatar is under growing scrutiny for hosting senior Hamas leaders. NOBILO: Still ahead for you, what does it cost to allegedly buy off a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee? A new indictment accuses Senator Bob Menendez of taking gifts from a second foreign country.

FOSTER: Plus, New York police are trying to figure out what motivated a deadly car crash on New Year's Day. With their main suspect now dead, leads are starting to dry up.

NOBILO: And some new details about that fiery plane collision in Tokyo and how the crew got more than 350 passengers to safety.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Gold bars and Grand Prix tickets. Those are just some of the gifts that U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is accused of receiving from Qatar and an alleged co-conspirator as part of a years-long corruption scheme.

FOSTER: The allegations are part of a superseding indictment made public on Tuesday. This makes Qatar the second foreign country, along with Egypt, that the New Jersey Democrat is accused of helping whilst in office. Menendez sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's vigorously denied any wrongdoing.

NOBILO: His attorney attacked the charges in a statement to CNN, quote: The government's new allegations stink of desperation. Despite what they've touted in press releases, the government does not have the proof to back up any of the old or new allegations against Senator Menendez.

FOSTER: U.S. federal investigators say they found no links to terrorism in the car crash, which killed two people in Rochester, New York, early on New Year's Day. Police identified the victims as Justina Hughes and Joshua Orr, best friends who had attended a concert together just before the collision.

NOBILO: They were passengers in the first vehicle struck by the suspect, who police believe caused the crash on purpose. CNN's Brynn Gingras has the latest on this investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A fiery crash outside a New York concert hall, after a car rammed into another vehicle, setting off an explosion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crazy to see that kind of fire. The flames were probably still like 15 feet high.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Killing two people, injuring nine others, including one critically hurt nearby. And authorities say it appears to be intentional. GAYLE SHALVOY, CONCERTGOER: You saw the carnage of the cars and the one car burnt up and car pieces everywhere. And it was surreal to think, wow, this happened right here.

GINGRAS (voice-over): It wasn't even an hour into the new year when hundreds of concertgoers exited the Kodak Center in Rochester, New York.

That's when police say 35-year-old Michael Avery, driving a rented SUV packed with gas canisters, drove towards a pedestrian crossing and collided with a ride-share vehicle, killing the passengers inside.

[04:20:00]

Avery also died later at the hospital.

CHIEF DAVID SMITH, ROCHESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT: Investigators are still combing through evidence recovered from his vehicle, but nothing thus far has been recovered that provides any additional insight into why this occurred.

GINGRAS (voice-over): What investigators do know is Avery traveled in his own car from Syracuse to Rochester on or around December 27th and checked into a nearby hotel. On December 29th, police say Avery picked up a rental car. And on December 30th, images like this one show he was alone when he bought gas canisters and filled them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very highly organized, structured, planned attack by this person for whatever reason. The only question for investigators at this point is why did he do it and was anyone else involved?

GINGRAS (voice-over): To help answer those questions, authorities with the Joint Terrorism Task Force and FBI executing search warrants at various locations.

SMITH: Additionally, we have not uncovered any information leading us to believe that the actions of Michael Avery on New Year's Eve were motivated by any form of political or social biases.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Avery's family telling authorities they believe he suffered from an undiagnosed mental illness.

MALIK EVANS, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK MAYOR: I think for us as we go into the new year is to remember the victims of this horrific accident. They were expecting to be able to ring in the new year and have a good time, but instead we have individuals that are now going to be burying family members and we have people who have now life-altering injuries because of the choices that this suspect made.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Brynn Gingras, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Japan Airlines has released new audio revealing the crew of a passenger jet was cleared to land at a Tokyo airport just before colliding with the Japan Coast Guard plane on the runway Tuesday. Nearly 400 people on that jet escaped with just minor injuries for a few of them, but five Coast Guard crew members on the plane were killed.

FOSTER: Video from inside the passenger jet shows smoke filling up the cabin just after landing. The in-flight announcement system malfunctioned and crew members used megaphones to give evacuation instructions.

More now from CNN's Brian Todd reporting from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A fireball on the tarmac of Tokyo's Haneda airport. The collision of a Japan Airlines passenger plane on Tuesday with a Japanese Coast Guard aircraft. Five crew members on board the Coast Guard plane were killed. One injured.

After impact the passenger plane careens down the runway engulfed in flames. It stops on the other end of the runway and the flames spread even further. Incredibly all the passengers and crew aboard the Japan Airlines plane nearly 400 people including eight children under two years old were able to evacuate safely. Just over a dozen suffering non-life-threatening injuries.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB MANAGING DIRECTOR: This was an extraordinary performance by the flight crew. This accident will go down as a benchmark and will be studied extensively going forward because of the success of getting these folks off the plane.

TODD (voice-over): Japan Airlines now says its crew was cleared to land by air traffic control before the collision.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, HANEDA AIRPORT (through translator):Cleared to land -- 34 right.

TODD (voice-over): Japanese authorities say they had 90 seconds to get all the passengers off the plane while it was burning. Passengers said some of the exits were not operational and everyone had to get out near the front.

SATOSHI YAMAKE, JAPAN AIRLINES PASSENGER (through translator): We could smell some smoke but passengers were not panicking a lot.

TODD (voice-over): Experts say the passengers deserve praise that if a lot of them had stopped on the way out to grab luggage or other items people would have died.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: We have had very similar situations here including planes that were engulfed in flames like this and most people in some cases all people got off but some people stopped to collect baggage or put on their shoes etc. Here passengers have already reported nobody did.

TODD (voice-over): The Japanese Coast Guard plane was on the ground when the incoming passenger plane hit it in its attempt to land. A Japanese airline safety official says preliminary reports indicate the passenger plane's pilots did not spot any aircraft on the runway before landing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could have done a go-around. It's ridiculous how unorganized these things can be at this point of the such a critical juncture of the flight.

TODD (voice-over): The Coast Guard plane was involved in relief efforts for victims of the earthquake in Japan the day before.

It's not clear who was in the wrong place at the wrong time but safety experts say these moments takeoffs and landings are always the most dangerous junctures of any flight.

GOELZ: That's when you're in the most crowded environment. You've got planes you've got vehicles moving about you've got baggage transfer taking place.

It is a crowded environment. You add the idea that it's night and it's dangerous.

TODD: Even though the FAA won't be part of this investigation former NTSB investigator Peter Goelz believes the FAA should send its own team of officials over to Japan to observe the investigation of this collision.

[04:25:00]

Goelz says the protocols for evacuating distressed passenger planes are not as good in the U.S. as they are in Japan and he believes the FAA could learn some valuable information from how the Japanese handled this.

Brian Todd CNN Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still to come U.S. House Republicans set to visit the U.S. border with Mexico as the Senate tries to reach a compromise on the border security bill. Details just ahead.

NOBILO: Plus, thousands in Japan spent another night in evacuation centers as the death toll continues to climb after a powerful earthquake on Monday. Those details ahead.

NOBILO: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. If you are just joining us let me bring you up to date with the top stories this hour.

A U.S. official says Israel is responsible for the strike in Lebanon that killed a senior Hamas leader. The attack has drawn condemnation from the Lebanese prime minister and Iran.

And Donald Trump has appealed a decision to remove him from Maine's 2024 primary ballot. Claiming the secretary of state did not have the legal authority to do so.

CNN's Paula Reid has those details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In their filing late Tuesday the Trump team attacking Maine's Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. She is a Democrat but it's Maine's policy that the first stop for questions about whether someone is eligible to appear on the ballot ...

[04:30:00]