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White House Announces President Biden Will Meet with President- Elect Trump; Donald Trump Meeting with Advisers to Select Cabinet Nominees for His Upcoming Administration; Pentagon Officials Discussing Possible Response If President Donald Trump Tries to Use Active Military Personnel Domestically; Republicans Likely to Maintain Majority in House of Representatives; Qatari Officials Suspending Mediatory Role in Ceasefire Negotiations between Israel and Hamas as They No Longer Believe Either Side to be Negotiating in Good Faith; Justice Department Releases Information on Recent Iranian Plots to Assassinate Donald Trump; Police Arrest Suspect in Two-Day Stabbing Spree in Seattle, Washington; North Carolina Still Recovering from Hurricane Helene; Trevi Fountain in Rome Undergoing Renovations. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired November 09, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:24]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with a return to a political tradition. Today the White House announced that outgoing President Joe Biden and President Trump will meet in the Oval Office on Wednesday morning. It's a meeting that did not happen in 2020 after Trump refused to admit that he lost the election to Biden.

And this comes as Trump and his transition team are working quickly to fill key White House positions. And sources tell CNN that we could learn some of the new names as early as today. Earlier this week Trump made history by announcing Susie Wiles as the country's first ever female chief of staff.

And now there is a scramble underway at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as members of his circle and the GOP sphere are battling behind the scenes for a spot on his team.

We have got a team of correspondents covering all the developments for us. CNN's Alayna Treene is covering the Trump transition near his Florida home. Let's begin with Arlette Saenz and this newly announced meeting at the White House. Arlette, what do we know?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, this is a bit of a return to tradition as President Biden is preparing to host President-elect Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Biden had said that he extended this invitation in a phone call he had with Trump after the election on Wednesday. And in that call, he said that he told the President-elect that he was committed to having a peaceful, orderly transition and transfer of power.

That stands in stark contrast to what we saw play out back after the 2020 election when former president, or then President Trump, refused to concede the election to Biden and put up many roadblocks in the transition process during that period of time. But now they are returning to this tradition.

Actually, back in 2016, then President Barack Obama had hosted Trump just days after he had defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. They sat down in a meeting in the Oval Office, as you see right there.

Now, we are also told that the first lady had extended an invitation to first lady, incoming first lady Melania Trump to visit the White House when the President-elect comes. We are still waiting to hear when exactly that meeting will happen.

But it all really highlights what the president and his advisers have been quite eager to show, is that he is committed to having an orderly transition even as it was something that was not afforded to him in the past. And this meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday will be a key step in that process.

WHITFIELD: All right, Arlette.

Alayna, to you now. Any updates from the Trump team about his perspective on this White House meeting?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think it's similar, Fred, to what Arlette just laid out. They also say when I talked to his team and his top advisers that Donald Trump is committed to a peaceful transfer of power. As Arlette mentioned, though, that did not happen or occur in the aftermath of him leaving and losing, or leaving the White House but losing the 2020 election.

But also I think it's so important to keep in mind the context of this. The relationship between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, the criticisms and attacks that they have lobbed at each other over the last year. Before Kamala Harris took over and became the Democratic nominee, the official Democratic nominee, I should say, he was going against Joe Biden and had very harsh words.

So I think this meeting will likely be a bit awkward. But I think they both recognize, and I hear this from the Trump side, that they need to go back to tradition here and really have this meeting, figure out what the best process is to have the peaceful transfer of power.

And I'd also say this comes after him and Joe Biden spoke on Wednesday after Donald Trump had won the election. Sources familiar with that call told me that it was a cordial call. It was very short. It was very brief. Joe Biden congratulated him and reiterated his commitment to that peaceful transfer of power, and also had invited him to the White House.

So I think we will see how this goes. I am eager to see what this meeting will be like and what we learn from it, particularly knowing just the very sour relationship between those two men. WHITFIELD: And then Alyna, I wonder what do you know about how Trump

might be prioritizing the next selections to fill vacancies in his team?

TREENE: There is a lot going on behind the scenes on that island behind me, Fred, where Donald Trump has really been, I am told, holed up at Mar-a-Lago in these meetings, talking with his transition team about these different roles.

[14:05:10]

But I think the key thing to keep in mind is the roles that he views as being most important and the most powerful when he ends up in the White House come January. And the top of that, the most important role in Donald Trump's mind, is who is he going to select as his attorney general? We know that he has said he does not believe that the Department of Justice should operating as independently as it has for the last several years. He thinks that really he should be able to work hand-in-hand with his attorney general to carry out his legal aims, including potentially going after his political opponents, but also the other legal avenues that I know that he has been looking at behind the scenes.

Now, a couple names I want to walk you through for this given the magnitude of whoever the person is, the power that they are going to hold. One person I am told that is at the top of the list under consideration is the Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt. He used to be the attorney general of Missouri as well. He was actually the attorney general when the state had targeted big tech companies for what they alleged was censorship of conservatives. But him and Schmitt, or Schmitt and Trump, I should say, have been very close. He helped Donald Trump prepare with the two debates, first against Biden but then later against Kamala Harris. He was at the Republican National Convention. He was at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night for election night. So they are close.

And again, there are some other names I can walk you through. We have heard Senator Mike Lee of Utah could potentially have that role. We have also heard John Ratcliffe, his former director of national intelligence. Also heard of Andrew Bailey. He is currently Missouri attorney general, a little bit of two Missouri guys on this list there. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who, like Trump, has been indicted and impeached, and also his former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker.

But I think what is more important from the names, because Donald Trump's mind changes a lot and this is going to be a very big role for him, is what Donald Trump thinks about this. Again, I will remind you that after he left office in 2021, he often said his biggest regret was who he selected for that role, referring to his former attorneys general Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr. He he's also said that he has a lot of big plans for what the Justice Department will do. And really, when it comes down to it, when I talk to his team, they say that this person needs to be someone Donald Trump trusts greatly, but also someone who he believes is very loyal to him. Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK. All right, Alayna, thank you so much.

And Arlette, to you in Washington, Trump has said that he is making plans for a lot of executive orders. So what, if anything, can President Biden do right now, I guess to protect his legacy against those incoming executive orders by Trump?

SAENZ: President Biden is really trying to safeguard what he can in his remaining time in office. But there is no question that there are initiatives that President-elect Trump could very well undo once he comes into office. But the focus for the White House in the coming weeks is really trying to finish up and tie up a lot of those loose ends to try to get as much money out the door, as much assistance out the door as possible.

One key area that they're focused on relates to additional aid to Ukraine. They want to make sure that all the approved money is out the door to that country at a time when further U.S. support for Ukraine is in serious doubt under a Trump presidency. There are also efforts to try to rush money out the door when it relates to some of the key pieces of legislation that the administration has passed relating to semiconductors and also climate initiatives. The Biden administration could also potentially finalize some rules or regulations relating to the environment and climate, as Trump has signaled a lot of the climate policies are going to be a key target for him.

And then Biden is really trying to put his final mark when it relates to judicial nominations. Just yesterday he had nominated two additional federal judges. That is something that Senate Democrats are really keen on trying to accomplish, potentially confirming many more judges in this lame duck session, though it is really unclear what kind of cooperation they might get from Republicans on that front.

Biden also is preparing just this week to head out to two key foreign summits, meeting with world leaders at the APEC Summit in Peru and then the G-20 Summit in Brazil. And this comes at a time when world leaders are also grappling with what a Trump presidency will look like. So Biden in some ways will be there to talk one on one with so many of these leaders, maybe potentially some of them who have already reached out to President-elect Trump as they're gaming out what this will look like in the foreign policy state going forward.

But for President Biden, they are trying to get as much done as they can before they leave office, but there is no question that Trump could undo many of the initiatives that Biden has set into motion during his White House.

[14:10:03]

WHITFIELD: All right, Arlette Saenz, Alayna Treene, thanks to both of you ladies. Appreciate it.

So as the transition takes shape, officials in the Pentagon are meeting to discuss what to do if Trump issues controversial during his second term. CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Pentagon officials are beginning to have informal discussions on how to respond and how DOD would respond if President Donald Trump tried to use active military domestically, and what would happen if he tried to reinstitute an executive order called Schedule F that would allow him to more easily fire apolitical civilian employees across not only the federal government but also specifically the Pentagon and the Department of Defense.

In terms of the question of how to handle the attempted deployment of active duty military troops domestically or the issuing of an unlawful order, defense officials we have spoken with say that largely relies on the chain of command, and that chain of command specifically following lawful order and abiding by laws that determine how they can be deployed.

But it is a question of whether they would that is to resign or refuse to obey the order, and how that would happen. Crucially again, it relies specifically on the chain of command following the law, knowing the law, and handling it properly.

But the Insurrection Act, which Trump threatened to invoke during his first term as president, still gives the president a large amount of leeway into how and why he would try to deploy active duty military domestically. It has happened in the past. But it was used for enforcing desegregation or for the handling of, for example, the Rodney King riots. Trump has threatened to use those active duty troops in his first term to handle large scale protests. Again, recently, he has threatened to use troops to carry out mass deportations. Should he choose to do that and use active military troops in a domestic law enforcement capacity, that in and of itself would be quite unprecedented for that use.

So that's something the Pentagon is beginning to game out, essentially to look at the possibilities. The results of the possibility that he reinstitutes Schedule F, and that would reclassify a number of apolitical civilian employees in a way that would make them more easily fire-able. Crucially, that could disrupt the day-to-day operations of the building. The Pentagon is, of course, a very large organization that relies on that apolitical civilian population and the number of employees simply to function on a day-to-day basis. So the Pentagon having those conversations about the questions and, crucially, the concerns.

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WHITFIELD: Oren Liebermann, thank you so much at the Pentagon.

All right, four days after Election Day and we are getting a better view of what Congress will look like come January. Right now, Republicans are leading with 213 seats to the Democrats 204. The number to control the chamber, 218. Eighteen races still not called.

Here with us now, senior Congressional reporter for "Punchbowl News" Andrew Desiderio, and congressional reporter for "Politico" Nicholas Wu. Great to see you both. ANDREW DESIDERIO, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "PUNCHBOWL NEWS":

Good afternoon.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nicholas, you first. Most of these 18 House races are out west. What is the hold up? What is the feeling from both parties right now?

NICHOLAS WU, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "POLITICO": Both parties are really just watching every single race to see how the remaining buckets of votes come in. These states are all places that have a lot of absentee voting, voting by mail. So it will take longer to go through all these ballots, check all the signatures, cross all the t's, dot the i's that it takes to go through all this. And so with control of the House resting on such a razor thin margin, that is why we are seeing so much attention on this handful of remaining districts.

WHITFIELD: And Andrew, a Republican majority in the House would be slim. Is there any hope among Republicans in either chamber that they can actually legislate with Trump in the Oval Office, or should we expect the chaos of the last Congress to kind of continue?

DESIDERIO: You can never guarantee that there won't be chaos, but I think it will be a lot easier for Republicans to legislate if they have the trifecta, meaning the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. One of the big legislative battles next year is going to be renewing Trump era tax cuts, the 2017 tax cuts and jobs act. If Democrats were to somehow be able to get control of the House of Representatives, that would be major because they would get a seat at the table as part of those negotiations on those tax provisions, right.

But if Republicans, as expected, control all three, then it's going to be a lot easier for them to do essentially what they want in terms of tax policy, extending those Trump era tax cuts, maybe cutting the corporate rate even further, doing things that progressives really have really argued against ever since the 2017 law was enacted.

[14:15:03]

So I can't overstate how important it's going to be in terms of control of the House for this tax battle.

WHITFIELD: And there's another race we are watching very closely. Next week, Republican senators are voting on a new majority leader as longtime leader Mitch McConnell is stepping down. Top candidates include Texas Senator John Cornyn, GOP Whip and South Dakota Senator John Thune, and Florida Senator Rick Scott. So Nicholas, when it comes to this race, does anyone have the upper hand among them?

WU: Right now we are waiting to see what Republicans are going to say as they come back next week. But one big question for this race is whether or not President Trump, or President-elect Trump is going to weigh in at all. We have already seen some top Republicans openly saying that they don't want him to be part of this race, that they want to be able to sort it out themselves. But if he puts his finger on the scale, this could really shake up the race for Republicans.

WHITFIELD: Andrew, do you see that Trump will put his finger on the scale?

DESIDERIO: Look, it can go either way. Republicans I talk to say you can never guarantee anything, of course, when it comes to Donald Trump and the potential for him to really upend any race that he could potentially comment on and influence. But I will note that this is a secret ballot election. So there is a risk for Donald Trump getting himself involved in the Senate Republican leadership race in the sense that if he endorses someone and then that person doesn't end up winning the election, number one, you are starting off 2025, essentially, on the wrong foot with the person that you are going to have to work very closely with to get your agenda through.

But number two, there is no accountability measure for Republican senators in terms of they don't have to stand up and publicly reveal who they are voting for. Again, it's a secret ballot election. So I don't know that it is necessarily in Donald Trump's best political interest to actually weigh in on this race.

I think Republican senators view John Thune, the current majority whip, as the front runner in this race, but Rick Scott is getting a lot of backing from conservative media figures and from grassroots conservatives as well. The question is will that translate into votes for Rick Scott for majority leader. And again, it's a secret ballot election, so there is no mechanism to really hold Republican senators accountable for this. Some are coming out and saying publicly who they will support. But it's only a handful so far. And we are four days away from this election.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And Nicholas, Trump is going to want his picks to pass muster and get a Senate majority and be able to be confirmed. So he doesn't always like the traditional route. Do you see that he will try to exert some leverage, however, so that he can get what he wants?

WU: That is kind of the question, although as we have seen over the past few years, Trump can be kind of capricious when it comes to Congress. Staffers and members of Congress frantically checking their phones to see what shows up on X, formerly Twitter, or Truth Social. And so they will certainly have a lot of leverage over this incoming Republican class just because so much of the party is being remade in his image since he was last sitting power.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nicholas Wu, Andrew Desiderio, we'll leave it there for now. Good to see you guys.

DESIDERIO: Thank you.

WU: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, a disturbing stabbing spree over a two-day period in Seattle, Washington. Police have a suspect in custody. We'll have the latest on the investigation.

Plus, we go to southern California where residents are dealing with the aftermath of a raging wildfire that sent many scrambling to safety.

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[14:23:28]

WHITFIELD: Police have arrested a man after at least nine people were stabbed over the course of two days. The attacks began Thursday with four stabbings in Seattle's Chinatown international district. And then Friday, five more stabbings happened in the same neighborhood. CNN's Camila Bernal is following the investigation. Camila, do police believe the man arrested is responsible for all these attacks?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. Yes, they say that it was witnesses who identified the suspect. They then arrested him. And those witnesses also were able to verify this was in fact the suspect. They also were able to recover a weapon near the suspect, and then they also found a knife that was still inside of one of the victims. And so those are things that they're going to be able to test for evidence and use to verify that theory.

Now, we know that this happened in a time span of just 38 hours in the Chinatown international district. And authorities saying that at least nine, maybe even ten people were stabbed in this period of time, and some of them severely injured. On Friday at least five people were stabbed and we know that one of them was treated there at the scene and then released. But four others were taken to the hospital in critical condition. At the hospital the harbor view medical center, they said late Friday that two of those victims had been upgraded. But there were still two victims in critical condition. Now, we also know that on Thursday four, or maybe five people were stabbed.

[14:25:03]

And again, authorities say they believe it is the same suspect. Take a listen to what police said about the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC BARDEN, DEPUTY CHIEF, SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: There's a similar description, a suspect description. The randomness of this, this is a horrific tragedy, a mass casualty event. Officers located a suspect matching a description given by witnesses. Officers detained that individual. Witnesses were then brought by who looked at the suspect and confirmed that that was the correct person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: So you also heard there from authorities that they believe this was all random. So the question here is, was it nine or was it ten victims? They say that nine of them appeared to be random. One of them, they say, was a man who was 60 years old, was in his car, and someone tried to get in to take his phone and forcibly opened the door. This man was able to essentially block the attack so he was only cut in his hand. And so authorities are trying to figure out if this incident is also connected to all of this. It all happened in the same timeframe, in the same area. So police just trying to verify all of this right now, and they say they will continue this investigation.

But of course, this is extremely concerning for people who work or live in this area or even just have to go through this area because of the randomness of this attack. It is terrifying for a lot of people, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, a horrible situation. All right, Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

BERNAL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: In a moment, why the negotiations to free the remaining hostages in Gaza may be in jeopardy.

Plus, two months after Helene's devastation, many are still in desperate need for help. How one group is making sure families will be prepared for the oncoming cold weather.

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[14:31:16]

WHITFIELD: All right, to the Middle East now, where CNN has just learned that Qatar plans to suspend its role as a mediator in peace talks between Israel and Hamas. Sources say Qatari officials no longer believe the two sides are negotiating in good faith.

CNN's chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance is in Jerusalem. Matthew, what are you learning?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, there has been lots of different reporting surrounding what's been going on with Qatar over the past day or so. Look, you are right. They have just issued a statement, the Qatari foreign ministry, clarifying that they have suspended their mediatory role in discussions about ceasefires and hostage releases between Israel and Hamas. They said they gave notice of that 10 days ago because, to summarize what the foreign ministry's statement said, to paraphrase it, that there was no progress and that neither side was willing to take part in it in a serious discussion about how to achieve the ends. And so until that changed, they said, they're going to suspend their mediation activities.

But I think the most significant bit of the statement we got from the Qatari foreign ministry is that they pushed back hard on the idea that the country was going to kick out Hamas political representatives inside Qatar. There had been reporting earlier from CNN and other news organizations as well, briefings from U.S. officials that under U.S. pressure, Qatar had agreed to kick out Hamas, and they would have to find somewhere else to go to set up a political office. That would have had all sorts of knock-on consequences for how to contact Hamas in any future negotiations, for example.

But this statement comes out and says, actually, those media reports are not true. They're false. And the statement goes on to say that the political office of Hamas in Qatar continues to play a very important role to be a point of contact between the two sides. And so, look, it's not going to change its policy when it comes to keeping Hamas in the country, apparently, but it is going to suspend any further attempts, any further mediation efforts that it's been engaged with.

WHITFIELD: And what about the reports that Qatar has asked Hamas leader who live in Doha to leave the country?

CHANCE: Yes, well, like I was just saying, that report has been rejected by the Qatari foreign ministry. It had been reported broadly that the United States had sort of passed on to Qatar, which is, of course, remember, a major U.S. ally, has got one of the biggest, or the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East. It houses it there. The U.S. has passed on to Qatar that it was no longer sort of appropriate for Hamas political representatives to be housed in a country which is a such close American partner.

But as I said, the Qatari foreign ministry in this statement has now pushed back on that, indicating that they're not going to, at this stage at least, kick Hamas representatives out of the country, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Matthew Chance, thanks so much.

New today, Iran is denying the U.S. Justice Department's claims that it plotted to kill Donald Trump before the election. Iran's foreign ministry says it categorically dismisses the DOJ's allegations, describing them as, I'm quoting now, 'completely baseless", end quote.

[14:35:00]

On Friday the Justice Department revealed it charged three people in the alleged thwarted plot. Two of the people charged are U.S. citizens, and one suspect is still at large in Iran.

Here's CNN's Evan Perez.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department says that the latest plot to try to kill Donald Trump was part of a broader effort to carry out attacks on a prominent critic of the Iranian regime as well as against U.S. and Israeli citizens. U.S. prosecutors unsealed in federal court in Manhattan a complaint against an alleged IRGC operative leaving in Tehran and two U.S. citizens who he allegedly recruited in at least one of these assassination plots. The two Americans are in custody and have been ordered held pending trial.

According to court documents, Iranian government officials tasked Farhad Shakeri, 51 years old, to focus in recent weeks on surveilling and ultimately assassinating Trump. He couldn't come up with a plot in a short timeframe before the election, and the Iranians apparently believed Trump would lose and that they could target him later. Shakeri is still at large in Iran according to the Justice Department.

Also on the Iranian target list was journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. She is a prominent critic of the Iranian regime who the FBI says that the Iranians have been trying to kill several other times. Prosecutors say Shakeri told the FBI in voluntary interviews about the various tasks that he was given by the IRGC. Now, this includes plans for a mass shooting that targeted Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. And Shakeri also told the FBI that he was tasked with surveilling and assassinating two Jewish businesspeople living in New York City.

The U.S. government has repeatedly raised concerns that Iran is trying to retaliate for a 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed IRGC General Qasem Soleimani. They say that they have plotted to kill Trump who ordered the strike as well as a number of Trump administration officials.

More recently, this summer, a Pakistani national was arrested and charged with seeking to hire assassins to his target Trump as well as other U.S. political figures including some in the Biden administration.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

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[14:41:54]

WHITFIELD: All right, it's hard to believe, but it's been nearly two months since hurricane Helene tore across the southeast. And as the second deadliest hurricane to strike U.S. mainland over the past 50 years, more than 200 people were killed across six states, with over half of those fatalities in North Carolina. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the governor estimated Helene cost about $53 billion in damage across his state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROY COOPER, (D) NORTH CAROLINA: We ended up having more than 1,300 roads that were closed. You all know how difficult it was to get around in western North Carolina. Now we are down to fewer than 300. So many roads have opened. We have a lot of work to do. We're going to need significant federal and state money to repair these roads and make them stronger than ever. But that has to be a priority.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: For more on the cleanup and the recovery efforts, I want to bring in Colonel Alpo Portelli with Rotary International. And they are actually partnering with ShelterBox, an international disaster relief group to help communities recover. So Colonel Alpo, you are in Dysartsville. What is the situation like there?

ALEX "ALPO" PORTELLI, (RET) COLONEL, U.S. ARMY: Dysartsville is in actually in McDowell County. We are recovering pretty well. The main problem we're having in our county is most of the roads that the governor referred to that are still closed are in our county. So we're having some difficulties across our four northern counties of western North Carolina distributing things out to individuals in need.

But with the help of ShelterBox and our relationship with them, ShelterBox has been providing us with a lot of bulk items that we have specifically been coordinating with the county emergency operations center, 13 counties that are still in need of bulk items. And we are building kits to get to those emergency centers for their use, things like tents, cooking stoves, subzero sleeping bags, because we already have cold temperatures, and we have had first snow, solo lights, chargers, things like this, very specific to help those individuals that are still in the relief part of recovery. And other counties we're working across the board as well to cover things for rebuilding. So it's building supplies and things of that nature. But it's still, it's still really bad.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So that is an incredible combination of things. Building supplies, you said subzero sleeping bags, and did I hear you properly, you said tents? So there are places in which people are planning to stay take in tents through winter?

PORTELLI: We have people who will probably be staying in tents for at least three to four months as they're able to rebuild homes over time. Again, part of that is just getting building materials up to them. But North Carolinians are very, very resilient.

[14:45:01]

And after the initial shock wore off of being pummeled for two days by a hurricane, everybody has got their sleeves rolled up, and we are doing everything we can to bring normalcy back to the area. And again, some areas are in early stages yet. Others are well underway and some are already in the rebuilding phase. So it's pretty hard to do that kind of a spread, but we are actually doing it very well. It's not as bad as it was on day four or five. But at day 44, it's still difficult. And for most of them, it is in their high mountain counties in the northern part of western North Carolina.

WHITFIELD: For a lot of folks who have really lost everything, what are they telling you about why they insist on rebuilding there, or why they at least insist on stay there in order to figure out what their future is going to be like?

PORTELLI: Historically a lot of these families are attached to the land, and they have been since mid-1800s. And that's what they have. It is their land. It is hard to explain how deep the sentiment goes. Certainly, everybody that is desiring to rebuild wants to rebuild safer. This is unprecedented, the damage and destruction that we've had. Most of us in western North Carolina are used to maybe a winter storm where you lose power for a couple days. But we still have people without drinking water. We still have people that don't have electricity. The grids are recovering fairly well, but if you don't have a house, it doesn't help if you have electricity or not.

So these are the kinds of things that we are dealing with as we are trying to get all of these supplies out to people across that entire spectrum of recovery and rebuilding. But there is still a lot of clean up, there's a lot of debris out there we left out because it's been fairly dry, and that's helped out. But the temperatures are dropping, and we'll get more snow here before too long. And so it's a matter of taking care of those people.

WHITFIELD: Wow. It's incredible. So what kind of coordination is happening between state resources, federal, and, you know, nonprofits and groups like yourself?

PORTELLI: It's absolutely incredible. And contrary to popular belief, FEMA has been here and has been doing an outstanding job in coordination with all of the NGOs as well as all of the county emergency operation centers. Like anything, it's a little bit slow to start, but once that surge is underway, it is going extremely well. And the coordination and the cooperation between all of us is really, really tight. And it is getting very specific as to what we need. And that's helping us get the distribution out for exactly what is needed in each of the areas in the counties.

WHITFIELD: Incredible work that all of you are doing. Colonel Alpo Portelli, thank you so much.

PORTELLI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Coming up, President Biden making plans to ensure a smooth transition of power. How soon he will welcome President-elect Trump to the White House.

And it's a bucket list tourist destination in Rome. Right now, the Trevi Fountain is not living up to the hype.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:53:02]

WHITFIELD: All right, one of Rome's most cherished landmarks will forever be linked with dreamy song "Three Coins and a Fountain," and the movie about women seeking love by making a wish. But now the Trevi Fountain is getting a makeover as well as mixed reactions from tourists. CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau has more details from the eternal city.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The Trevi Fountain here in central Rome normally conjures images of romance, couples throwing coins in the fountain for luck and love.

But lately, it looks more like a break up zone. The city is refurbishing this 18th baroque century masterpiece. So they've set up what has been described as a swimming pool or bathtub to collect the coins. But as you see, it's not as easy as it looks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we are a little disappointed. We've come all this way. But just to get into the vibe of everything, it's good. It's good.

NADEAU: Legend says that if you throw one coin over your shoulder into the fountain, you will come back to the Eternal City. Two coins means you will fall in love with attractive Italian, and three coins ensures you'll marry them. No one knows what it means when you miss the water altogether. The bathtub will be here in the $300,000 euro renovation is done and the real Trevi Fountain is filled with water once more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are disappointed. We love it anyway. I don't think we'll come back another time on this trip, but we'll probably come back another time maybe after the big jubilee in 2025 when everything is not under construction.

NADEAU: Until then, tourists can only hope they get lucky.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: And now to this gorgeous sound as bells ring out. More than five years after a catastrophic fire destroyed much of the Notre Dame Cathedral, eight bells were restored in the norther belfry and sounded out yesterday as a test ahead of next month's official grand opening.

[14:55:08]

The bells' restoration marks a key milestone for the project since they sound out for the most important moment of mass.

Meanwhile, investigators have yet to determine the cause of the 2019 fire, though they believe it was accidental. The cathedral's reopening is scheduled for December 7th.

Next hour, what President Biden's top priorities are for his final weeks in office.

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