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CNN International: Trump Appeals Decision Removing Him from Maine Primary Ballot; Senators Negotiating on Framework for Border Security Bill; New York City Mayor Defends Executive Order on Migrants; Death Toll Climbs to 62 as Rescuers Search for Survivors in Japan Earthquake; Maersk Suspends Shipping Through Red Sea After Houthi Attack; Harvard President Resigns Amid Firestorm of Controversy. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 03, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In their filing late Tuesday the Trump team attacking Maine's Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Now 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, go to the Secretary of State.

But in the filing tonight, Trump's lawyers insist that she was, quote, a biased decision maker who should have accused herself, had no legal authority, made multiple errors of law, and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

Her decision was based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Now, this particular piece of the Constitution and who should enforce it, this has been litigated across multiple states over the past several months, and we've seen differing outcomes. Now, most of the states, except for Colorado and Maine, have opted to keep Trump on the ballot, but those states mostly did so based on procedural grounds. They didn't get into the merits of the argument. But that leaves the door open for this to continue to be litigated through the 2024 election.

Now, we're also still waiting for Trump to file his appeal on the Colorado decision. That appeal is expected to go to the Supreme Court. The Republican Party of Colorado has already filed an appeal there, but it is expected that Trump will also appeal that decision. And what's clear is the Supreme Court just has to weigh in here, give some clarity on who the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment applies to, who is supposed to enforce it. And there is a desire by many parties and states to have some clarity on this before Super Tuesday.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The Biden administration is turning the U.S. Supreme Court in its latest dispute with Texas over border policy. The state installed razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande at the border with Mexico, and the federal government now wants the high court to allow the Border Patrol to remove it.

The matter has been tied up in lower courts since last year. Texas argues that cutting the wire amounts to illegally destroying its property and that its removal replaces or reduces security by helping migrants illegally enter the U.S.

FOSTER: A group of Republican lawmakers will get a close look at that border today.

NOBILO: A visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, coming amid negotiations over a potential new border security bill. CNN's Ed Lavandera reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On Wednesday, a group of Republican lawmakers, including the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, will tour the border here in Eagle Pass and get a briefing from state authorities. Of course, Eagle Pass has really become the flashpoint of the border migration crisis that we've seen unfold for months and months now. Lawmakers here will be visiting from the House side.

This, as Senate lawmakers, Democrat and Republican, have been negotiating through the holiday break, trying to come to terms on the framework and a possible deal in a border security bill. Senator Chris Murphy says that it is not likely that a deal will be in place by next week, but that they hope that there will be some sort of progress made, that they will be able to update each side, Republicans and Democrats, on what kind of deals and issues might come up in this border bill.

Republicans are pushing for more expedited removals of migrants who cross illegally, as well as pushing the Biden administration to adopt something similar to a Title 42 plan that they believe was used to keep migrants from crossing the border.

Of course, that has been very controversial. And many Democrats say Title 42 did not work as well as Republicans like to think it did. But those are some of the issues that both sides are continuing to work through.

Here in Eagle Pass, where we have seen over the last few weeks large numbers of migrants crossing. In fact, according to Homeland Security statistics, in the month of December, more than 225,000 crossings were seen along the U.S. southern border. But in recent days, it has slowed down dramatically here in Eagle Pass.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: And New York City Mayor Eric Adams is defending his new executive order, saying it's not backfiring. The order aims to curb the number of migrant arrivals in the city. But New Jersey officials say several bus operators are using the state's train stations as transit points to evade the new restrictions.

NOBILO: The order issued last week requires bus companies carrying migrants to New York City to give a 32-hour notice of their arrival. But the chief counsel to Mayor Adams says not a single bus operator has complied so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA ZORNBERG, CHIEF COUNSEL TO THE NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: What's happening right now is bonkers. It is really -- what Texas is doing is bonkers. It is financing a state operation to send hundreds and thousands of migrant individuals, recent arrivals to the United States, to New York City. Since we issued that executive order, not one bus from Texas has complied, not one.

[04:35:00]

There is the strategy, which we believe is being directed by the state of Texas, is purposely to try to evade the executive order. And now what you're seeing is the same buses from Texas paid for by the state of Texas that were previously dropping off at Port Authority are now dropping off at train stations in New Jersey, at Trenton, at Secaucus, other places in Jersey and are under -- and reportedly providing tickets, one-way tickets from those train stations to come into Penn Station.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: New details on the devastating earthquake that hit Japan's West Coast on New Year's Day. A top official says search and rescue efforts are still underway, and 17 people have been rescued since Tuesday night.

FOSTER: But the airport in the region is still inoperative and roads are being cleared in the Noto Peninsula to deliver food and essentials to impacted areas.

Meanwhile, officials say the death toll has gone up to 62. CNN's Hanako Montgomery has the details.

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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been more than a day since the powerful quake before Minae and her mother, the impact still very fresh.

MINAE AKIYAMA, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (through translator): Thinking about it now still makes me tremble. My heart was pounding. My mind went blank. We just scrambled things like our wallets and ran outside.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Minae was visiting her family for New Year's when the quake struck. Her mother's house now unlivable because of the powerful impact. The pair luckily able to escape unharmed. But with the constant aftershocks, they're still far from safe.

AKIYAMA (through translator): I feel like even now the building is shaking. Whenever an aftershock happens, I think of the main quake and my body trembles.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): But it's not just the tremors people here have to worry about. Other than a roof, there's little else.

MONTGOMERY: There is no heating right now, so people are sleeping on mats. They're using thick blankets to stay warm. There's also no running water. So, the Japanese self-defense forces are just outside this building handing out water to locals.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): This water, a lifeline for dozens here and thousands across the region. Left without supply or simply without holes after Monday's powerful quake, the devastation difficult to comprehend at night, but clearly visible from the sky. In Wajima, the shock flipping multi-story buildings on their side and raising entire blocks to the ground. Tsunami waves forcing large vessels onto the shore and fires adding to the destruction. Amid it all, authorities desperately searching for the dozens still trapped beneath the rubble.

YOSHIMASA HAYASHI, JAPANESE CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY (through translator): Prime Minister Kishida instructed us to once again put lives first, understand the situation of the damages and make an utmost effort to save people in emergency rescue operations.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Urgent efforts slowed down by the devastating impact. The quake destroying access to the most impacted zones and making these already remote areas nearly impossible to reach.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Nanao.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: California's first snow survey of the year has found below average conditions. The state's Department of Water Resources reports snowpack in the central Sierra Nevada mountains is at 30 percent of average and 25 percent statewide.

NOBILO: That's a drastic decrease from this time last year when the snowpack was 177 percent of the average. Experts say the figures could still change in the coming months but thanks to last year's wet winter, reservoirs across California are still well above average for this time of year.

FOSTER: Wet winter, we can talk about that.

NOBILO: Certainly can. Experts.

The U.S. Central Command says Yemen's Houthi rebels fired two anti- ship ballistic missiles into the southern Red Sea late Tuesday, though there are no reports of damage at this stage. But this latest incident is one of at least two dozen attacks against merchant shipping in the area since mid-November.

FOSTER: Shipping giant Maersk says it's now pausing all shipping through the Red Sea after one of its vessels was attacked by the Iranian-backed militants over the weekend. NOBILO: The Red Sea is one of the world's most important maritime

trade routes and the prolonged attack could disrupt the global economy because they then have to go around the bottom of Africa. CNN's Anna Stewart reports from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maersk had actually resumed transiting through the Red Sea in the Gulf of Aden at the end of last year following the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a big multinational mission led by the U.S. Navy to protect commercial shipping.

But just days later, an attack on one of their ships by Houthi militants have led them to pause that route once again. On Sunday, the Maersk Hangzhou, a big container ship, was on its way from Singapore to the port of Suez in Egypt.

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Now, as the ship passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance of the Red Sea, it was hit by an unknown object. It then came under fire from four Houthi boats. A U.S. naval helicopter came to the ship's defense, sinking three of those boats, killing those on board. The fourth boat escaped, according to U.S. military.

Maersk's extended suspension of this route from an initial 48-hour pause on Sunday reflects the concerns of the shipping community. Many other companies, including Hapag Lloyd, Evergreen Line and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, have all stopped using the route. And it is a critical one for the global economy, accounting for around 10 to 15 percent of world trade.

The disruption has already caused freight rates to increase significantly. And the longer the Red Sea is deemed unsafe by commercial ships, the greater the risk it will feed into global inflation.

Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Still to come, Harvard University is on the hunt for a new president. A look at how a firestorm of controversy led its current president to announce her resignation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Spanish football star Jennifer Hermoso testified on Tuesday of a sexual assault investigation involving the former head of the Spanish Football Federation.

NOBILO: After leaving the hearing, Hermoso said it went well. The magistrate will later decide whether to send the case to trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JENNIFER HERMOSO, SPANISH FOOTBALL STAR (through translator): Everything went well. I would just like to wish you a happy new year. And the process will continue its course. And I thank you for the support that you have shown many times for me. And that everything goes great for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Was it very tough?

HERMOSO (through translator): It was long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Luis Rubiales is being investigated over the unwanted kiss he gave Hermoso last August after Spain won the Women's World Cup. He faces two charges for alleged sexual assault and coercion. After allegedly pressuring Hermoso to say the kiss was mutual.

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NOBILO: Hermoso has long denied that, saying she did not consent and was not respected and received threats for speaking out. Three other men are also facing a count of alleged coercion.

FOSTER: Harvard University president Claudine Gay is resigning from her position just six months into her tenure, the shortest in Harvard history.

NOBILO: It comes after weeks of controversy, including a plagiarism scandal and her testimony on Capitol Hill about anti-Semitism on campus. CNN's Miguel Marquez has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A second Ivy League president out in less than a month.

Harvard University president Claudine Gay's tenure just six months long was mired in controversy. The weight of multiple allegations of plagiarism following a poor performance in a Capitol Hill hearing about anti-Semitism resulting in her resignation.

In a letter to the Harvard community, Gay wrote that her exit came with a heavy heart.

It has become clear that it is in the best interests of Harvard for me to resign so that our community can navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual.

Harvard announced that Alan M. Garber, who currently serves as provost at the university, will step in as interim president while acknowledging Gay's commitment to the school.

It is with that overarching consideration in mind that we have accepted Gay's resignation.

Harvard leadership wrote, adding: We do so with sorrow.

Conservative media had been unearthing multiple examples of plagiarism in Gay's past works, including an entire paragraph being lifted almost verbatim in her 1997 PhD dissertation without citation. After she, along with the presidents of UPenn and MIT, gave an answer that was widely considered too legal in a December 5th congressional hearing about anti-Semitism on campus.

REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): So, the answer is yes, that calling for the genocide of Jews violates Harvard code of conduct, correct?

CLAUDINE GAY, HARVARD PRESIDENT: Again, it depends on the context.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Fallout from the hearing also resulted in the resignation of UPenn's president, Liz Magill. House Republican caucus leader Elise Stefanik wasting no time responding to today's events.

STEFANIK: As a Harvard graduate myself, we have seen a failure of leadership from Claudine Gay, a failure of moral leadership. This accountability would not have happened were it not for that congressional hearing.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Stefanik underscoring that her investigation will continue.

JACOB MILLER, HARVARD HILLEL PRESIDENT: Only when it comes to anti- Semitic hate speech that, you know, the school tolerates it and gives these kind of lawyerly equivocal answers. And so, I think this is kind of the bigger issue that we've got to deal with.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Gay's tenure as president was the shortest in Harvard's nearly 400-year history. She was also the school's first black president and only the second woman at the helm.

In her resignation note, she wrote that it has been frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.

MARQUEZ: Now, Dr. Gay will remain a member of the Harvard faculty and the school says it will begin a search for a new president in due course.

And some conservatives on Capitol Hill say they will now start looking at MIT's president, who was also at that congressional hearing, as well as leadership and faculty at other universities that they consider too woke.

And some African American leaders now saying that all of this has the stink of racial bias in the way this was handled at Harvard and say that they will begin protesting some of those donors who targeted Claudine Gay. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: A -- this is --

NOBILO: Please. FOSTER: A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that the Biden

administration cannot enforce federal guidance, instructing doctors to provide abortions and medical emergencies no matter the state law.

NOBILO: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says under a 1986 law, medical providers must provide abortion services in life threatening situations and will be protected if those actions violate state law. But the three judge panels said in its unanimous ruling that the guidance does not apply to abortions.

FOSTER: Meanwhile, a new study shows the uncertainty around abortion rights is driving a surge in demand for abortion medications. The nonprofit service Aid Access said it has received 48,000 orders for advanced provisions of abortion medication.

NOBILO: About three quarters of people who requested it said they wanted to ensure their personal health and choice or prepare for possible abortion restrictions where they live.

FOSTER: Still to come, Philadelphia's first ever female mayor is sworn into office. What she's promising to do to help improve safety in the city.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: So Max, I was just talking about this a few minutes ago. 16- year-old dance sensation is wowing his fans and opponents at the World Dance Championship here in London.

FOSTER: Well, where else do they have them?

NOBILO: Well, I was just -- I didn't know.

FOSTER: Peculiarly British sport.

NOBILO: Whereabouts is it in London? You know --

FOSTER: It's Alexandra Park, isn't it -- I think.

NOBILO: Is that like a big part?

FOSTER: Alexandra Palace.

NOBILO: Moving on.

FOSTER: Luke Littler. He was already the youngest player to ever reach the finals, semifinals rather. Now he's the youngest to reach the finals later today. After 6-2 victory over 33-year-old veteran Rob Cross on Tuesday. A virtual unknown before his tournament debut, Littler says he's sticking with his pre-match routine.

[04:55:00]

It's very similar to Bianca's before she kickboxes. It's a ham and cheese omelet in the morning, then a pizza at the venue.

NOBILO: See, I wouldn't have a pizza. I'd have more of a complex carb situation like a whole grain pasta. But I think he should stick with whatever he's doing because it's clearly working for him.

The endorsement deals are going to roll in.

FOSTER: He doesn't look 16. Oldest looking 16 year old. Certainly, in darts.

NOBILO: It's all the talent aging him from within.

FOSTER: The owner of the Carolina Panthers is in hot water with the NFL.

The league fines David Tepper $300,000 for throwing a drink on fans during the Panthers game with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. The Panthers lost 26 to nothing. They've won only two games all season. Tepper is a billionaire hedge fund manager who bought the team in 2018.

NOBILO: It's poor form to throw a drink.

FOSTER: Yes.

NOBILO: Poor form.

Now to stories in the spotlight this hour. Philadelphia has made history as the city's 100th mayor and the first woman to hold the office was sworn in on Tuesday.

During her inaugural address, Sherelle Parker announced plans to declare a citywide public safety emergency and vowed to make Philadelphia a safer city.

FOSTER: As she rolled out her 100-day action plan, the White House says President Joe Biden also called Parker to congratulate her on her inauguration.

14 months after Elon Musk first purchased Twitter, the company now known as X has lost 71 percent of its value.

That's according to the investment firm Fidelity, which valued its current shares of the platform at just under $5.6 million.

NOBILO: It's a sharp drop from the 19.6 million Fidelity said its stake was worth when Musk took over Twitter back in October 2022. It's part of a long running trend for X, which has seen its estimated value plummet with each new crisis that the company's faced, most of which have been driven by actions of Musk himself, arguably.

FOSTER: Controversial.

NOBILO: That was in the script. As you know, I'm --

FOSTER: You're probably right though. NOBILO: -- not passing it on Musk.

Well, Walter Isaacson, who recently wrote a very good biography on him said that perhaps he was less suited to Twitter than his other companies and that seems to be borne out.

FOSTER: He's often proved right as well commercially.

Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" is up next right here on CNN.

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