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Winter Storm Brings Blizzard Conditions To Much Of U.S.; Trump Leads In New Iowa Poll, Haley Surpasses DeSantis; Protesters Demand Israel Stop Bombardment of Gaza; Taiwan's Ruling Party Wins Historic Presidential Term. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 14, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:39]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM:
The final push ahead to the Iowa caucuses. A new poll indicates who's gaining momentum behind Donald Trump's commanding lead as the state deals with historic winter weather.
Huge crowds gather in Tel Aviv calling for the release of the hostages. We'll look at how Israel is marking 100 days since Hamas launched its deadly raid, as well as the global protests against the military operation in Gaza that has followed.
And a historic win in Taiwan. Details, plus a live report from Beijing to see how China is reacting.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: We begin this hour with brutal winter weather pummeling much of the U.S. Iowa is the center of the current winter storm which has brought blizzard conditions and biting cold to the state. The state patrol says it has received calls for 86 crashes in under 10 hours on Saturday. Iowa is set to hold a Republican caucuses Monday amid an arctic blast that has campaigns concerned about turnout.
The high temperature in much of the state that day is forecast to be minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit, that's minus 16 Celsius. Elsewhere, the NFL postponed the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It will now take place in Buffalo, New York, on Monday. According to the aviation website flightaware.com, there were nearly 7,000 flight delays, more than 1,300 cancellations in the U.S. on Saturday alone.
Well, Iowans will not be the only ones braving the brutal blast. More than 80 million Americans are under winter chill alerts through the weekend and into next week, and frostbite could occur in as little as 10 minutes.
CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa breaks it down for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The blizzard exits and Arctic air is diving south. Wind chill warnings in effect for the northern and central plains for a wind chill as cold as 45 degrees below zero, as that arctic air some of the coldest air that we've seen so far this season. And it's coming right that time for the Iowa caucus on Monday.
Iowans waking up Sunday morning to wind chills as cold as 45 below zero. Frostbite happens in ten minutes or less. Monday evening, we're still looking at wind chills as cold as 30 degrees below zero, frostbite times 25 minutes or less.
This is by far the coldest caucus on record. Most have been in the 30s and 40s. You do have one that sticks 16 degrees back in 2004. Now it looks like this one will be much, much colder than that, probably not breaking zero degrees in Des Moines, high of minus 2. So, very cold and again factoring wind chill, is even colder than that in the evening.
Most of Iowa looking at temperatures at 10 degrees below zero. So, subzero temperatures and wind chill, again 30 degrees below zero. It's not just Iowa, the air temperatures for upper plains here, the northern plains, subzero temperatures through Tuesday and Wednesday for Rapids City, Omaha, Chicago as well. Minus 10 waking up on Tuesday morning.
That cold air gets as far south as Texas, looking at temperatures in single digits and teens for Lubbock, Dallas, Austin, waking up to the teens by Tuesday and Wednesday morning. So, as this spills south it impacts most Americans. Looking at 80 percent of the lower 48 with temperatures below freezing by Tuesday, almost 20 percent of us subzero.
That were looking at records falling, maybe 250 or more records, both daytime cold highs and overnight low temperatures that could fall as a result of this arctic invasion. Now, this is coming kind of first of the season, a lot of these places, especially in the upper Midwest places are in the midst of the warmest winter on record.
[01:05:05]
All of their red dots there, that's the difference of weather and climate. This is really their first colds now, but the trend since December 1st has been a warm one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, less than 48 hours remain before the first nominating contest of the 2024 presidential elections and a just released poll finds Donald Trump continues to keep his iron grip on Iowa Republicans. The final Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll of likely GOP caucusgoers shows Trump support at a huge 48 percent. Nikki Haley, a distant second with 20 percent, Ron DeSantis, third at 16 percent.
Extremely cold, blizzard-like conditions have forced campaigns to cancel or modify events in the crucial final weekend before Monday's caucuses. The candidates are still working to get people out to vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, Monday is going to be cold, really cold. But what I'm asking you is if you will take the time to not just go to the polls, take people with you. Wear layers, because you might be standing in line. Take your ID, but think of the fact that you might be making history in this moment.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They can throw a blizzard at us, and we are going to fight. They can throw wind chill at us, and we are going to fight. They can throw media narratives at us, and we are going to fight. They can throw fake polls at us, and we are going to fight.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: You have the worst weather I guess in recorded history, but maybe that's good because our people are more committed than anybody else, so maybe it's a good thing for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes is there in Iowa with the latest on a brutally cold day of campaigning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump and his team sending two messages. One is get out and caucus no matter how cold and it's cold, the other is tempering expectations. They've seen the polls that Donald Trump is up by 30 points.
In talking to senior advisers, hey don't believe the margins are really that big. They want to set the expectation. They say anything over 12 points would be a historic win. You have to remember they're not looking to just win, they're looking to set momentum going into New Hampshire, and really offset any momentum of his GOP rivals, particularly Nikki Haley.
It was clear that Haley was still on the mind of Donald Trump in a tele-rally event. Take a listen to what he said.
TRUMP: I know Nikki very well. She was my ambassador to the United Nations, and she had a lot of weakness, to be honest. She had a lot of weakness.
HOLMES: And as we have reported, Donald Trump's team is worried about Haley in New Hampshire, seen her rise there. They are spending $4.5 million between the campaign and super PAC advertising against Haley already on immigration. Again, the big point is try to get a win large enough to set momentum and offset anything she has going into New Hampshire. The other complication here, they worry the big poll numbers will keep people from turning out who might just say Donald Trump has enough support anyway. So, they're trying to stress get out and caucus on Monday.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, Sunday marks 100 days since Hamas launched its deadly raid into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 100 hostages. And right now a massive rally is under way in Tel Aviv to mark the occasion. Expected to last until Sunday night, around 24 hours, calling for the release of more than 100 hostages still believed to be held by Hamas.
Nic Robertson with more from Tel Aviv.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This rally in the center of Tel Aviv, one of the biggest for a while, 100 days of hell it's called. Estimated 120,000 people attended in the early part of Saturday evening. It's expected to go on about 24 hours, and really is to draw attention to all those more than 100 hostages still being held inside of Gaza, to try to put pressure on the government not to let the idea of the hostages slip behind the military campaign.
This is what people were doing. There was music. There were speeches. People at some points not part of the main rally but another point tried to stop cars on the central highway to make the point that the government needs to address the issues of getting the hostages back safely.
Also, 100 days, we've heard a report from Martin Griffiths, the top U.N. emergency humanitarian coordinator, talking about the situation in Gaza. 9 million people displaced, 85 percent of the population. But some of the other things were damning. He said U.N. workers in north of Gaza had seen bodies at the side of the road, people on the edge of starvation.
There's been another U.N. group has a report that says whole neighborhoods of housing are missing, there are no homes to go back to. Griffith's report interestingly and perhaps presciently focusing on Rafah where the IDF ground offensive has not reached yet. And he said, normally, the population around there, about 280,000 people. But he said, right now, there's an additional 1 million displaced people there.
He said, look, if the military operation start there, where people are already short of food, short of water, multiple families living in tiny accommodation, sharing homes, if there's a military offensive there, he said this will cause a real potential for push of people, desperate to get through Gaza's border, desperate to get into neighboring countries. And he actually said in his report as well that some countries have already offered to take some of the citizens of Gaza, and stressed it's vitally important if that were to happen they have the absolute right to return.
But very clearly focusing concerns on that southern portion of Gaza because that's the fear that the density of the displaced population, a military operation there, could have further and more dire consequences than we're seeing now. Point from Prime Minister Netanyahu Saturday evening, this gets to the point that Secretary Blinken made in the region, that there will be a U.N. team would investigate when displaced people could get back north, and the prime minister said not until all the military operations are over.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Meanwhile, protesters around the world are showing support for Palestinians in Gaza, demanding Israel stop bombarding the territory. In London, tens of thousands marched from the financial district to the houses of parliament. Protesters in Naples, Italy, laid out 5,000 symbolic tombstones to honor Palestinians killed in the war. According to the Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza, more than 23,800 people have been killed in the enclave since October 7, most civilians. 60,000 more wounded, thousands missing according to the ministry.
In Washington, protesters gathered in front of the White House and elsewhere, calling for ceasefire and demanding U.S. President Joe Biden withdraw support for Israel.
Still to come, while many in Taiwan are celebrating the results of an historic election, China is not happy at all. More on why, when we come back.
Also, unprecedented flooding from Africa's second largest river has left a trail of devastation in its wake and any hope of relief still weeks away. That's when we come back.
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HOLMES: China says that Taiwan is still its territory and that will not change, as the ruling party celebrates an historic election victory.
CNN's Will Ripley from Taipei.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Snow rarely falls on the Taiwanese capital, but on this night, a blizzard of confetti. Thunderous applause on the winning side. On the losing side, calls for unity, as Taipei braces for Beijing's brewing storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important thing for me is our relationship with China. We've been bullied for years on end, and I can't stand on kneeling down to their demands and meddling in our elections.
RIPLEY: To say China didn't want this result is the understatement of the month, maybe the year. China despises Taiwan's President-elect Lai Ching-Te. They hate his vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, the former U.S. envoy, even more. She's banned from even entering China. Diplomacy, forget it.
Ahead of the election, China did all it could to paint a dark foreboding picture of the four more years of the Democratic Progressive or Green Party in power.
Taiwan has never seen an election like this before, with three different parties vying for the presidency, but in the end, it was a third historic turn for the Green Party, a result that will have Beijing seeing red.
Within minutes of the results, a bold, familiar claim from the Taiwan affairs office in Beijing, Taiwan is China's Taiwan. The DPP does not represent the mainstream view on the island.
They did capture 40 percent of the vote, turnout more than 70 percent, about 20 million Taiwanese, more than 80 percent of the island's population eligible to vote, and many did.
In Taiwan, there are no absentee ballots.
FEIFEI HUNG, STUDENT: I am very, very pleasantly happy with it.
RIPLEY: Some like this student from the U.S. flew 16 hours to cast votes in person.
Were you afraid that Taiwan would become similar to Hong Kong or the next Hong Kong if there was a different result?
HUNG: Really, for sure. Especially since the other parties want a closer economic partnership with China. And that means it's the first step for encroachment, right?
RIPLEY: When the buzz of victory wears off, a sobering reality for Taiwan's new president, his party lost control of the parliament, a sign of voter dissatisfaction, with low pay, expensive housing, lack of opportunity, local issues that never been the ruling party's strength.
It's why they lost the last round of local elections.
[01:20:02]
But the party's two-term president, Tsai Ing-wen, did put Taiwan on the global stage like never before.
Lai, her VP and now successor, ran on a continuity ticket.
LAI CHING-TE, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF TAIWAN (through translator): We're telling the international community between democracy and authoritarianism, we still stand on the side of democracy.
RIPLEY: And he says safeguard Taiwan from China's ongoing intimidation and threats.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: CNN's Marc Stewart joins me now live from Beijing.
And, Marc, China couldn't have tried any harder to prevent this very result. They're not happy about it. So, what could they do about it?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Michael, China showed its dissatisfaction even well before election day, trying to very much pushed this narrative of this election being a choice between war versus peace, also being careful not to do too much so as to dissuade or turn off voters from Taiwan.
In this immediate aftermath of this election, for the moment, we've seen a firmly worded statement from Beijing. Let me read it part of it to you, which says the basic fact there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China will not change.
Will the statement be it? Likely not. China has a whole host of options it can do to show its strength and dissatisfaction toward this result. It could be some kind of military exercise, perhaps, Michael, even economic or diplomatic measures. That's something we will have to see, a clear timetable to a response from far from being established.
HOLMES: Meanwhile, I just -- how carefully will the new president tread politically? He's already choosing his words carefully. Describe the tightrope he's going to be walking.
STEWART: Right, a tightrope is the best phrase to describe all of this. I mean, in the past, we've heard him in the past describe China -- and he's been referred to by China as a troublemaker and as a warmaker. That's the response already from China even before the election.
And then he has also kind of fought back. Lai said he would like to have dinner with Xi Jinping. He said, of all world leaders, that's who he would like to have dinner with, he said at an event hosted by national Taiwan university, that Xi Jinping should, quote, chill out a little, not be so stressed. Beijing did not take kindly to that, saying that his remarks were weird and accused him of trying to put on a cloak of goodwill.
So, it's already, Michael, a frosty relationship even before he has been inaugurated. That will take place in May.
HOLMES: All right. Marc, appreciate that analysis. Marc Stewart there on the spot for us in Beijing.
Now, months of flooding of Africa's Congo River has killed more than 300 people in surrounding countries and according to authorities destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes and the World Health Organization is bracing for the fallout of water-borne disease.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES (voice-over): Homes submerged to their rooftops, murky water, plastic bottles, shoes and a foul smell are flooding some neighborhoods that can be only navigated by makeshift canoe. Officials say more than 300 have died in recent months from the overflowing Congo River, second longest river in Africa after the Nile.
Burst river banks and intense rains have left tens of thousands of homes destroyed.
NICLETTE LUZOLO, FLOODING VICTIM (through translator): We were born here, this is our plot with four shots that helps us with the children's school fees. This water overflows without it raining, often, but this time it overflowed badly. We have children and a plot of land but are homeless.
HOLMES: In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some 3,000 households have been affected by the swelling rivers, chest-high flood waters in the capital Kinshasa and elsewhere. In the neighboring Republic of the Congo, with its capital Brazzaville also bordering the river, 64,000 households have been destroyed or damaged according to the World Health Organization.
Small waterways that crisscross are sometimes open sewers, overflows. Residents are resorting to shovels to paddle through the murky flood waters.
CONGOLESE BOATMAN (through translator): The water used to come up to our knees, now it's up to our chests. I had the ingenuity to think of installing a canoe, and now I have three.
[01:25:01]
We're supporting the government because they're waiting for the water to recede before they build a bridge here.
HOLMES: Flooding in Kinshasa is common this time of year, but today's water levels are up nearly 6 meters, submerging entire ports along the river, a situation unlike anything many have seen in their lifetimes.
HELEN, KINSHASA RESIDENT (through translator): We've lived in this neighborhood since we were children, it's the first time since we were born we've experienced this situation. So to get around, we have to use dugout canoes and we continue to live in this situation because we have nowhere else to go.
HOLMES: The World Health Organization says it's responding to health threats like water and vector-borne diseases, maternal and child nutrition and food insecurity. Rain is expected to lighten up but might not be until February that the water line will go back to normal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Ukraine says Russia launched dozens of missiles and drones across the country on Saturday, the fourth such major attack by Moscow since December 29. Fortunately no reported injuries. Ukraine's air force says it destroyed eight of the missiles, but Russia says it achieved its goal by hitting military industrial facilities.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying on Friday that the country still lacks enough comprehensive air defenses. Mr. Zelenskyy said he discussed Ukraine's defense needs meeting while with the new French foreign minister on Saturday, and they talked about joint production of weapons and strengthening those air defenses. It was Stephane Sejourne's first trip to Kyiv since he was appointed. He promised that France will stand by Ukraine as long as it takes and will also push other European countries for more support.
I'm Michael Holmes. "INSIDE AFRICA" is next for international viewers. For everyone else in North America, I'll be back with more news after the break.
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[01:30:37]
HOLMES: Welcome back.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM with me, Michael Holmes.
Now, as we've been reporting, Republican voters in Iowa head out for the first in the nation caucuses on Monday, and they're going to have to brave brutally cold weather to do it. When caucusing begins that evening, the wind chill could be feeling like minus 20 Fahrenheit or minus 29 Celsius.
Latest polling shows former President Donald Trump on the verge of a historic victory in Iowa. "The Des Moines Register" putting Trump at 48 percent. With former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley at 20 percent and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis 16 percent of likely voter support.
CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein is there in Des Moines. He's also senior editor for "The Atlantic" and joins us now live.
Always good to see you, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Michael.
HOLMES: Quickly before politics, let's do what normal people do, let's talk about the weather, mate. Snowstorms, biting cold.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
HOLMES: OK. So, whose advantage did voters says it's too dang cold, I'm staying home?
BROWNSTEIN: Current wind chill, by the way, Michael, is 45 below in Des Moines, which is at the outer level of what I've ever experienced. I actually think it benefits DeSantis if anybody at the margin, and maybe Trump a little.
I think the weather is the biggest problem for Haley. I mean, by definition, you see in this poll that -- and not only in this poll but in general, that her supporters tend to be the voters who are most alienated from the Trump era Republican Party. In fact, the poll shows half of her voters are either independents or Democrats.
And, you know, do they feel strongly enough about her to show up on a night that may be historically cold? By the way, this is the most snow since the early '40s. DeSantis has a serious organization, and so, they will be at least, you know, contacting people, whipping them, trying to encourage them to the polls on that night.
And Trump has, you know, he has his MAGA base, and I suspect will show up as well. So, it wouldn't be shocking if the weather led to a slight flip in the DeSantis/Haley finish. But that won't likely change the big story coming out of Iowa.
HOLMES: You mentioned the poll, Trump commanding 48 percent, Haley 20, DeSantis 16 percent, Ramaswamy 8. They add up to 44 to Trump 48.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
HOLMES: Does anybody fall out after the Iowa caucuses? Who benefits if it happens?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, those are really interesting and different questions. I mean, DeSantis has put in the maximum effort in Iowa. He's visited all 99 counties. He's built this big organization. He's corralled the support of more of the state's political leadership than anyone else, including the governor and most of the leading evangelical leaders, in a state where evangelical voters might be 65 percent of the total turnout.
If he comes in third, it's hard to see a rationale for him to continue at that point. Even if he narrowly beats Haley for second, that probably is the end of the road. If he can't compete effectively against Trump here, you have to ask yourself, where would he?
The problem Haley has got, if DeSantis drops out, it's not clear she gets the bulk of those voters. They might end up with Trump.
I mean, Haley's situation reminds me of John McCain, not in 2008 when he won the nomination but 2000 when he lost the nomination. His initial surge was fuelled mostly by independent voters. That surge gave him an opportunity to make a case to core Republicans against the frontrunner, George W. Bush. Ultimately, he couldn't make a race of it. That race was decided in South Carolina. I really feel like we're heading to something like that again this year where Haley is likely to emerge after Iowa/New Hampshire as the one last viable alternative to Trump, but to have done it mostly on the votes of independents.
And to really make a race of this, she's going to have to give Republicans a stronger argument than she's been willing to try so far.
[01:35:01]
HOLMES: Yeah, Iowa is a deeply red state. Recent polling averages show a lot of love, of course, for Trump in that regard.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
HOLMES: But is Iowa a bellwether? Does the result portend much for the next races?
BROWNSTEIN: No, not really. Iowa has had a poor record picking the Republican nominee. In fact, the last three Iowa winners, none of them won a dozen states and none of them won the nomination. Now, that trend may break this year with Trump.
The reason Iowa has not been a good predictor of the eventual Republican winner is because the last candidates won here in a similar way. They borrowed into the state and focused above all on maximizing their support among evangelical Christians, who as I said are the biggest share of the vote here. But once they painted themselves in that corner, they had troubled reaching out beyond that community in other states and really couldn't make a go of it. A problem that was apparent immediately in New Hampshire.
One thing I'll be watching for on Monday is in the exit poll, who wins the voters, the minority of voters who are not evangelical Christians because that winner has usually won the nomination. And, again, the problem for Haley, who I think is very much on track to be the last standing alternative to Trump in ten days from now or so after New Hampshire, is that she has to peel away more Republicans. And to do that, she has to make a stronger case against Trump than she's willing to do so far.
All of the arguments against Trump, almost of arguments are value free. There's no value judgment, I'm a stronger candidate. We need generational change. Ultimately, she has to make a case to Republican voters about why they should not to go with someone who they view in essence as the incumbent in the race.
HOLMES: Yeah, make the differences more starker.
Ron, always good to get your breakdown. Thank you, Ron Brownstein there.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: Now, while the polls indeed suggest Donald Trump could score a historic win in Iowa, there are some votes up for grabs after former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie dropped out of the race. So, which candidate will benefit most from his exit?
Here's CNN's Omar Jimenez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chris Christie hasn't endorsed anyone yet. But there's one candidate most likely to benefit from his exit. A CNN poll from New Hampshire showed 65 percent of Christie voters surveyed said they would pick Nikki Haley as their second choice.
You are essentially one of those 65 percent who have supported Christie before but now you're leaning Haley.
CHRIS PEASE, NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTER: Yes.
JIMENEZ: And why is that?
PEASE: Because she's the best pathway for helping the country move forwards from Trump.
JIMENEZ: It was a dynamic he raised that a Christie campaign event last month.
PEASE: Would it not be better -- to better serve the anti- Trump vote for you to suspend but for Nikki to have you as a V.P. declared before the January primary?
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. I don't think so.
PEASE: I was particularly pleased yesterday when we had the Christie announcement, because the timing was right. The next best candidate is clearly Haley now she has an opportunity to gather and to speak with and to speak to that 65 percent of Christie supporters like myself. Her needle is just moved by a big jump now in New Hampshire.
JIMENEZ: Other Christie supporters like Tom Barton were ready to go all in for Christie. Now he isn't sure what comes next.
TOM BARTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE: I'm very saddened by this.
JIMENEZ: He says he's open but needs to see more.
BARTON: If there's one candidate that I would like if she would stand up to Trump more it would be Haley.
JIMENEZ: Catherine Johnson, a Democrat who supported Christie, doesn't see it the same way with Haley.
CATHERINE JOHNSON, CHRISTIE CMAPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I'm a New Hampshire Democrat volunteering for a Republican because he believes in the idea of working across the aisle. I'm going to get work for the Democrats starting tomorrow because, no, I respect her. But no, I will not vote for her.
JIMENEZ: Others as young as 10 years old like Christie --
HANNAH KESSLERING, NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENT: Let's say you weren't running.
CHRISTIE: Right.
KESSELRING: And you had no idea that this could even happen, who would you vote for?
CHRISTIE: OK.
JIMENEZ: But Hannah and her parents thought this was the right time for him to go. They attended many campaign events, and Hannah helped encourage her parents to see more of the candidates. It even changed their minds.
STEVEN KESSELRING, NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENT & HALEY SUPPORTER: I'll give Chris Christie the credit for telling me the truth about Trump and helping me to see that it was time for somebody else to take the reins. I was a Trump supporter two months ago, and I would have said that Trump's going to win the nomination. Now I feel like there's enough momentum behind Nikki Haley that she's going to win New Hampshire.
KIM KESSELRING, NEW HAMPSHIRE RESIDENT & HALEY SUPPORTER: I wasn't really a full on Trump supporter. I knew if I was a general election, if that's what was on the ticket, I probably would vote for him.
[01:40:02]
But I was kind of really undecided going in. Hannah encouraging us to go to these town halls, opened my eyes. That's what kind of made me decide who I really wanted to throw my vote behind.
JIMENEZ: But for some of Christie's now former supporters, this goes beyond the primary.
PEASE: You want to choose that voice that a greater proportion of the country is going to resonate with than this bucket.
JIMENEZ: And to you that's Nikki Haley?
PEASE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Omar Jimenez reporting there.
And, of course, we will have full coverage on Monday right here on CNN.
Meanwhile, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, protests in Washington to try to convince the White House to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. We'll take you there.
Stay with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Huge crowds of people gather in the U.S. capital to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, taking their demands straight to the White House.
CNN's Gabe Cohen was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was a huge rally that included a march through the streets of Washington and a protest outside the White House. Its size and program mirrored the last massive march for Gaza we saw in Washington, which I covered in early November. But the message on Saturday felt even more urgent as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise. These protesters calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and really trying to put political pressure on the Biden administration to send its unequivocal support for Israel and end military aid for the war effort in Gaza.
I spoke to a Palestinian American woman who has lost family in Gaza since the conflict began, and she voted for President Biden in 2020, but 2024 is a different story. Take a listen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have American family stuck there now.
[01:45:01]
And we have tried every avenue for their evacuation. They've tried four times, they were shot at, at the border. There's no circumstance in which President Biden has my vote in the upcoming election. He's single-handedly funding the genocide of my people.
COHEN: And we do know there was at least one incident connected to the protest with U.S. Park Police arresting two people, they say, for disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer.
Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: In Texas, three migrants, an adult woman and two children, have drowned in the Rio Grande River in the city of Eagle Pass. That's according to a Democratic lawmaker who is calling it a tragedy for which the state bears responsibility. He says this comes days after authorities blocked the U.S. border patrol from accessing miles of the U.S./Mexico border. CNN has reached out to authorities for further comment.
And we're hearing tragic stories more and more often lately as an unprecedented number of asylum seekers flock to the U.S. southern border. Officials in Texas say it's frankly more than they can handle, but it seems to be impossible to deter those who are desperate to reach the United States.
Here's Rafael Romo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, SENIOR CNN LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): A small boy's abandoned shoe, a jacket stuck in barbed wire, a pile of recently discarded clothes along the Rio Grande, not far from Eagle Pass, Texas, signs of human presence are everywhere.
This is the fence that runs along the border in this part of Texas.
This 38-year-old Honduran mother traveling with her 3- year-old son and 16-year-old daughter said their reasons for crossing are more powerful than the measures intended to stop them. She said she decided to leave Honduras after her daughter was kidnapped. REP. TONY GONZALES (R-TX): This crisis has spiraled way out of control, and we're at the point of no return.
ROMO: A local law enforcement official says an influx of about 1,000 migrants a day in December was way more than they could handle at Eagle Pass, Texas, a town of less than 30,000 at the border with Mexico.
TOM SCHMERBER, SHERIFF, MAVERICK COUNTY: We're suffering because we don't have the manpower to take care of what we call the local business, the criminal elements and then the immigration problem.
ROMO: New York and Chicago have made headlines because of the resources and money they've had to divert towards care for asylum seekers transported to them from Texas.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: We talk about $12 billion in addition to what we already need to run this city. And it's just unfair for New Yorkers to carry that burden.
ROMO: But the impact is also being felt in smaller cities. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has granted nearly $12 million in funding to Atlanta since 2022 to offset costs associated with migrant arrivals. Maricopa County where the city of Phoenix is located, allocated $5 million last May in funding for nonprofit agencies serving refugees.
The cost of sheltering asylum seekers in Pima County, Arizona, has been more than 65 million since 2020. Denver spent over 33 million between December 2022 and the same month last year to shelter more than 32,000 asylum seekers. And the city is projecting a cost of $180 million for 2024 if arrivals continue at the current rate.
And more migrants are now on their way to some of these cities, including Marseille Hidalgo (ph), a 33-year-old domestic worker from Colombia who says she risked everything in hopes of giving her only daughter a better life.
We witnessed an emotional reunion, a family of Cubans who hadn't seen each other for five years. Two sisters who risked everything for the American dream. She told us they were kidnapped in Mexico. Her family had to pay ransom only to be robbed again shortly after being released.
Now, they have nothing but the support of their family. Her motivation, her 7-year-old son, her only child, she's hoping to bring to America once her asylum request, she hopes, is approved.
Rafael Romo, CNN, on the U.S. southern border.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Coming up next, a momentous day for the kingdom of Denmark, and Australia, as Crown Princess Mary is set to be the first Aussie born queen.
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[01:53:23]
HOLMES: Later today, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and advertise wife, the Australian born Princess Mary, will become queen and king of Denmark.
CNN's Max Foster brings us the details of the modern day fairy tale and what Aussies back home think about one of their own becoming a queen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The shock abdication of Europe's longest serving monarch, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, means the crown will pass to the queen's son, Prince Frederik, and his Australian born wife.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark was once Mary Donaldson of Hobart, Tasmania, a world away from the royals of old Europe., until the world converged on Sydney for the 2000 Olympic games , including Crown Prince Frederik.
JUSTIN TYNAN, FORMER MANAGER, SLIP IN: My daughter and I were watching the news the other night and she was asking about it. And I said, well, I actually worked at the pub where they met. She said, daddy, do you think I could meet a prince at a pub.
FOSTER: Back then, Justin Tynan was the manager of the Slip In, a Sydney watering hole popular with tourists.
Mary said she didn't know she was in royal company when she started chatting to a handsome man at the bar.
TYNAN: I do recollect her. I mean, she was quite a striking woman. But, you know, just -- the focus I suppose was on Frederik because, you know, he was paying for the drinks.
FOSTER: Mary on a night out with friends quite literally met her prince charming. The Slip In has kept a Danish flavor, just as Princess Mary has worked hard to integrate herself into Copenhagen's upper crust.
[01:55:06]
It didn't take long for the senior royal long to become fluent in Danish.
(SPEAKING DANISH)
FOSTER: And fluent in the customs of one of the oldest monarchies in the world, as the outgoing queen told me in a 2011 interview.
QUEEN MARGRETHE II, DENMARK: I feel very confident. I feel we have a very good relationship indeed. FOSTER: In 2004, Mary and Frederik married in a grand ceremony, in
Copenhagen cathedral. The Slip In screened it live and sold a lot of Carlsberg beer that day.
Many Australians remain infatuated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very proud. I'm very excited. I think it's wonderful. I think she'll make a great queen. Don't you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, definitely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
FOSTER: But Mary is more than a mascot for Denmark or for Australia. In 2007, the Mary Foundation was formed to help fight bullying, domestic violence and loneliness. Princess Mary has also campaigned for LGBT rights and equality.
PRINCESS MARY: I've gained a better understanding of the reality of what too many people are forced to endure because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
FOSTER: Australians will celebrate when Mary becomes queen of Denmark on January 14th. Two countries linked by a chance encounter at a Sydney pub and a royal romance.
Max Foster, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We are all very proud.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can find me on X, Threads and Instagram @HolmesCNN.
Stay with us.
"CNN NEWSROOM" with the wonderful Paula Newton continues after a break.
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