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Trump Transition; Iranian Plot to Kill Trump; New Trump Advisers Likely Unconcerned with Rules; Blacks Receive Racist Texts after U.S. Election; Suicide Bombing in Pakistan Train Station; Israeli Strikes Pummel Beirut; Pentagon Plans for Illegal Trump Orders; Special Counsel Assesses Future of Trump Subversion Case; Blinken Talks with Key Counterparts after U.S. Election; Firefighters Fight "Mountain Fire". Aired 4-5a ET
Aired November 09, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
An Iranian man is facing charges in a thwarted plot to kill president- elect Trump ahead of the election. What we know about Iran's alleged involvement.
Officials at the Pentagon feeling pressure ahead of the Trump administration's takeover. Why some fear a major shakeup in 2025.
Plus protests are banned in Amsterdam following attacks on Israeli soccer fans. How Israel is responding to the violence.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: It is the first weekend after America decided who will be their next president and it could be a busy one.
Donald Trump and his team are looking forward to appointing key positions in his cabinet and we could get announcements on those White House hopefuls very soon. Trump's preparations as he heads into his second term also include key meetings.
Sources tell CNN that Elon Musk joined Trump on a phone call with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Musk's Starlink satellites have been critical for Ukraine's fight against Russia.
Democrats, on the other hand, are looking inward and in many cases playing the blame game in Washington. The former U.S. House Speaker is suggesting that Joe Biden's late exit from the race may have contributed to his party's loss because it didn't allow time for a proper primary. Here she is. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, PODCAST HOST: You had reportedly said you wanted a sort of an open primary when if Joe Biden stepped down.
Did you change your mind because you saw all the excitement around Kamala Harris?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), FORMER U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: No, I didn't change my mind. We had an open primary and she won it. Nobody else got in the race.
Yes, people could have jumped in. There were some people who were sort of preparing but she just, took off with it. And, actually, it was a blessing because it -- there isn't that much time. There wasn't that much time between then and the election and it sort of saved time. So it wasn't that we didn't have an open process. It's just that nobody got in.
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BRUNHUBER: Iran is categorically dismissing a U.S. Justice Department claim that Tehran plotted to kill Donald Trump in the days before the presidential election. The response came after U.S. authorities announced they charged a man they say was directed by Iran to follow and assassinate Trump.
The suspect is reportedly still at large in Iran. The DOJ says it's part of a larger plot by Tehran to target U.S. citizens. Our Evan Perez has details from Washington.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department says that the latest Iranian 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 living in Tehran and two U.S. citizens, who allegedly -- he allegedly recruited in at least one of these assassination plots.
The two Americans are in custody and have been ordered held, pending trial. Now according to the 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 believe Trump would lose and that they could target him later. Shakeri is still at large in Iran, according to the Justice Department.
Now also on the Iranian target list was journalist and activist Masih Alinejad. She's 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.
Now they say that he is plotted to kill Trump, who ordered the strike as well as a number of Trump administration officials. More recently in this summer, a Pakistani national was arrested and charged with seeking to hire assassins to target Trump, as well as other U.S. political figures.
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Including some in the Biden administration -- Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: A Florida congressman says investigators foiled a potential plot against his life.
Democratic representative Jared Moskowitz says police told him they'd arrested an armed convicted felon near his home in the city of Margate. He reportedly had a manifesto with anti-Semitic language and the representative's name on it.
Moskowitz is Jewish. Police confirmed that they arrested 41 year old John Lipinski on firearms charges. They said evidence suggested he may have been planning some kind of criminal act.
All right, now to the latest on the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. CNN projects Nevada Democrat Jacky Rosen will win reelection and retain her Senate seat. Her victory will hold off Republicans from adding to their incoming 52-seat majority.
In the hotly contested Senate race in Pennsylvania, Republican candidate David McCormick is suing election officials over how they count provisional ballots in his race. McCormick currently has a narrow lead over Democratic senator Bob Casey.
McCormick is seeking a court order that would allow him to challenge large groups of ballots that he thinks should be disqualified, instead of having to file individual challenges.
So when the new Senate convenes in January, some Republicans known as conservative firebrands will be in charge of major committees for the first time in their careers. Texas senator Ted Cruz is in line to lead the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, as well as approve more than 100 Senate confirmed positions.
Senator Mike Lee of Utah will likely get control of the Energy Committee and senator Rand Paul of Kentucky will chair the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
All three have often railed against their leaders and committee chairs over government funding and other hot button issues.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Joining me now is Thomas Gift, director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London.
Good to see you again. Thanks so much for being here with us. So just to start, let's look at the shape of Congress, what it might look like and what it means for Trump's agenda.
What are you seeing?
THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTRE ON U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, thanks so much for having me, Kim.
It's great to be with you. Of course, the Senate is going to be held by Republicans and it looks increasingly like the House is also going to be held by Republicans, which would give Donald Trump a clean sweep combined with a right leaning Supreme Court, essentially conservatives would have full control of Washington.
Of course, they wouldn't have 60 votes, which is required to overcome the filibuster. So it's not like Donald Trump could get every single piece of legislative item that he wants through. But still, this is, I think, a mandate for Republicans. And Donald Trump is going to use it to his advantage.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. And, you know, on top of that, getting the -- looking like getting the popular vote as well.
That mandate, are we getting a better idea of what his first few months in office will look like?
GIFT: Well, I think that Donald Trump has been fairly clear about what his agenda is. I think the big question is what he absolutely wants to prioritize.
What's sort of the big legislative item that he wants to get through?
Of course, in his first term, it was the 27 tax cuts. I think probably what he'll do is push to make those tax cuts permanent. Obviously, he's talked a lot about the largest scale deportation of immigrants in history.
I think that that's very unlikely to get through, just simply because Republicans and Democrats have been talking about bipartisan immigration reform for decades and nothing seems to happen.
I think what we have to think about, right at the outset, though, is certainly what Donald Trump will do in terms of executive actions and executive orders and things that he can do that don't require congressional approval. I really think that, at the top of that list, is going to be tariffs.
He's talked about 10 percent to 20 percent tariffs on all imports into the United States, upwards of 60 percent imports -- tariffs on imports from China.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So for those who might be worried about Donald Trump's temperament and possible unpredictability, they sort of comfort themselves by the old "adults in the room" argument, that there will be others who will sort of talk him away from the ledge, from anything truly drastic.
Do you get the sense that, this time, given, you know, that that will be the same thing, given that that Trump seems to have been -- prioritized loyalty above everything else?
GIFT: Yes, that's a great question, Kim. I think the big question for Susie Wiles as his new incoming chief of staff is whether she can bring order and discipline to a really chaotic White House.
Because chaos was essentially all that we saw during the Trump 1.0 term. Trump, of course, boasts that he only likes to hire the best. But most of his talent, the so-called adults in the room that you talk about, abandoned him. His first administration had the most cabinet turnover in decades.
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He had four chiefs of staff, two attorneys general, two defense secretaries, two secretaries of Homeland Security. Of course many of Trump's former associates have since come out and publicly criticized him, most recent being his former chief of staff, John Kelly.
So there will be a lot of discussion about Trump's team. But I think the bigger question is whether there will be continuity here or this is just going to be a game of musical chairs.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, we shall see. One person who seems to be having a real voice in the government, Elon Musk. I thought it was interesting that he was reportedly not just on Trump's phone call with Zelenskyy but that he's been on other calls as well during this transition.
So what are we to make of his role and his potential influence in the administration?
GIFT: Yes, I mean, Trump has said that he wants Elon Musk to direct a task force to conduct a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and offer recommendations for drastic reforms.
Of course, Elon Musk did play a really big role in the campaign. He donated $75 million of his own money to a political action committee in favor of Trump. He was out there giving $100 to Pennsylvania residents if they would go and sign his pro-Trump super PAC petition.
But I think that this is really notable, the fact that he's kind of in the room, so to speak, with some of these big decisions. You know, he's talked about heading up this department of government efficiency. But it's very possible that he's going to be sort of a closer advisor even on issues of foreign policy, it seems.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. So listen, before we go, I did want to ask you this, because Democrats are playing the blame game. Some in the party, they feel that they've veered too far to the Left. Others say Harris wasn't progressive enough. President Biden is being blamed for not stepping aside sooner.
You were in Pennsylvania during most of this presidential campaign. You and I spoke regularly most weeks. So you were there in the -- in that swing state.
Did you get a sense of a -- of a change in the country and any sense of what Democrats did wrong here?
GIFT: Yes, I spent six months there during the summer with my family. And I will say that probably my experience wasn't entirely representative, because I'm from an area called Franklin County, which is about 70 percent Republican.
But what I can tell you in that area, that there was a huge amount of enthusiasm for Donald Trump so it didn't surprise me ultimately that he came out on top. I mean, you saw Trump bumper stickers, Trump flags, F Biden signs that had been up since 2020.
We went through the number of fliers that my parents were getting in the mail every single day. One time I counted them over the week. They were outnumbering the Harris fliers by a margin of 9:1. Again that may not be entirely representative, since -- simply because it was such a conservative area.
But yes, I mean, I think the enthusiasm for Trump is there, showed up in Pennsylvania and I guess showed up throughout the country.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. All right, well, listen, we'll leave it there. But good to speak with you again, Thomas Gift in London. Appreciate that.
GIFT: Thanks.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. authorities are probing racist texts full of hateful images sent to Black Americans all across the country. CNN's Gabe Cohen has details on the disturbing messages.
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GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators are trying to track down whoever is behind a series of personalized racist text targeting people of color in roughly two dozen states, from New York to California, some of them children.
TALAYA JONES, RACIST TEXT RECIPIENT: It's disgusting. It's really -- it doesn't even seem like something that a human with a heart and soul would even do. COHEN: Talaya Jones, one of many who received the text personally addressed referencing picking cotton and slave catchers. And today, she received an email calling her the N-word.
When you saw yet another message, what went through your mind?
JONES: That was insane, so that's what I was thinking like, somebody hacked my phone, like you don't feel safe in anything that you do, because you don't know who is doing it.
COHEN: Some of the messages specifically referred to President-elect Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am one of Donald Trump's associates and your cotton picking starts from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. You will drop out of school and become a full time cotton picker, making 75 cents an hour, sounds good.
COHEN: The Trump campaign denouncing those texts in a statement, saying the campaign has absolutely nothing to do with them.
But the president of the NAACP says, quote, these messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday's election results.
JENNIFER GREEN, RACIST TEXT RECIPIENT: It's very scary for a lot of individuals, the fact that it happened the day after Election Day, it really speaks to what I think is going on here.
COHEN: At least some of the messages were sent using TextNow a service that allows users to create phone numbers for free and the company says it believes this is a widespread, coordinated attack.
LIZ MURRILL, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Don't click on it.
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Delete it.
COHEN (voice-over): Louisiana's attorney general telling CNN that the people behind this are using software that obscures their location, writing the messages through Poland, though the senders could be anywhere.
MURRILL: We have no way of knowing where the individual is that is sending the mills but we will continue to investigate it.
COHEN: And we've now learned the FCC is conducting an investigation, working with federal and state law enforcement to figure out who's behind this and how to stop them -- Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Tensions over the Middle East conflict flare on the streets of Amsterdam. Officials describe anti-Semitic attacks and others charging anti-Arab slogans. New details plus the major investigation now underway.
Plus Hamas pushes back after sources say they're being kicked out of Qatar. We'll get the latest developments and some perspective ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: (INAUDIBLE) officials in Quetta, Pakistan, say a suicide bombing at a train station has killed at least 25 people and injured more than 50. We just want to warn you, this video may be disturbing.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The blast went off as a crowd was waiting on the platform for an express train for Peshawar.
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The Baloch Liberation Army issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, saying it was targeting a Pakistani army unit.
Well, Pakistan has been hit by a surge in militant attacks in its northwest and a growing separatist insurgency in the south. The separatist group was responsible for an October attack on Chinese engineers and investors in Karachi that killed two.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, tensions over the Middle East conflict have flared up on the streets of Amsterdam. Officials have banned public protests in the city for three days and implemented other security measures.
The crackdown on demonstrations comes after Israeli football fans were beaten and injured in violent clashes. Dutch authorities on Friday condemned the attacks as anti-Semitic. Others have said they were sparked by anti-Arab songs and chants by the Israeli fans.
Want to go live now to Amsterdam and CNN's Melissa Bell.
So Melissa, what is the latest on the aftermath and the response there in Amsterdam and in Israel?
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in Holland, an investigation is now underway to try and figure out how the levels of violence could have reached what they did on Thursday, with those hit and run attacks over the course of the night on a number of the Israeli fans.
But then what we saw also in terms of their return to Israel was several planes come to evacuate them, take them back home. Those planes then landing -- planes landing at Ben-Gurion airport with
images now emerging of some of these fans returning to Israel and shouting those anti-Arab, violent messages that we'd heard here in Amsterdam as well.
It was because the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, as they arrived, were seen in videos that were then circulating on social media, showing a Palestinian flag being taken down but also violent and aggressive anti-Arab sentiment being expressed by them on the streets that the authorities here, had by Thursday night.
Seeing that the tension around this match was rising to such an extent that they deployed extra police forces, there were some 800 policemen and women on the streets of Amsterdam by the night of the match itself as a result of that mounting tension.
And yet it didn't prevent what happened on Thursday night, extremely shocking scenes that have left not just those who were targeted but Jewish communities across Europe extremely worried.
And Dutch authorities absolutely clear on what happened Thursday night was not an appropriate political protest but, in fact, anti-Semitic hate that was openly expressed on the streets of this European city.
And I think that has led to those calls that we've seen from Jewish leaders here in Europe, that it should be a wakeup call because of what we've seen over the course of the more than a year now that this war has been going on.
Anti-Semitism was already on the rise. That has continued still further as a result. And they want something much stronger to be done about it here on the European continent. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: All right.
I appreciate that. Melissa Bell in Amsterdam, thanks so much.
Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on Lebanon are showing no signs of letting up. The country's national news agency says at least 13 strikes pummeled neighborhoods in southern Beirut overnight. The targets included an area that's considered the seat of power for Hezbollah.
Elsewhere, U.S. and Qatari sources say Qatar has agreed to boot Hamas leaders out of the country after a request from the U.S. But the militant group just denied that, calling the report baseless and a pressure tactic. Nada Bashir is watching those developments from London.
So Nada, first, let's start with the strikes in Lebanon.
What's the latest?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we have seen more distressing images of the situation in the country's capital, Beirut, and the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh. Airstrikes targeting, according to state media, the districts of Haret Hreik and Bourj al-Barajneh. Again, these are areas that are densely populated, despite the
evacuation orders that we have seen and the mass displacement of civilians, not only in Beirut but across the country.
Of course, according to officials, there had been a warning issued to civilians in the area to evacuate, to move to safe zones. Unclear whether all civilians in this area were actually able to receive this warning ahead of time.
We are still waiting for more updates with regards to possible casualties as a result of these airstrikes but certainly a hugely distressing scene for the country's capital. At least 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon over the course of Israel's military actions in the country. And again, a huge mass displacement crisis now facing the country.
As a result, real concern as to what the next steps will look like, what we may come to expect in Lebanon over the coming days, again, as we continue to see these airstrikes taking place.
And again, just to reiterate, as we see these warnings coming to civilians, there is already that displacement issue, very little safe space is left for civilians who have already been displaced across the city.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. And Nada, the reporting of Hamas being expelled from Qatar and the questions around that. So take us through what's being said and what it might mean.
BASHIR: Well, there certainly has been questions around the timing of this decision. Again, this is coming from sources telling CNN that Qatar has now agreed to essentially remove Hamas leaders from the country.
Now we know that that Qatar has played a key role in the stalled negotiations, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. Qatar has been a crucial mediator in these discussions.
It's understood, according to sources, that the U.S. had pressed Qatar to use the presence or residence of Hamas leaders in Qatar as a sort of leverage in these talks to push the negotiations forward.
And it is understood, according to sources, that the stalling status of these negotiations and the killing of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza has led to the U.S. calling on Qatar to essentially call for Hamas leaders to leave the country.
It's understood, according to sources, that that message was issued to the Qataris from the U.S., from the Biden administration around two weeks ago. And that notice was accepted by Qatar a week ago.
But as you mentioned, we have been receiving conflicting reports from one senior Hamas official, who has said that these claims are baseless, that this is being used as a pressure tactic as similar messaging has been sent around in the past.
But again, according to sources, that is the statement, the message issued by Qatar in response to the U.S. call.
BRUNHUBER: All right, interesting. Nada Bashir, thank you so much, appreciate it.
Well, there's nothing unusual about Pentagon officials gaming out scenarios. But this time they're preparing in case the next president gives them an order that they consider illegal. We'll have that story when we come back. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Pentagon officials are worried about what orders Donald Trump might issue when he's commander in chief again. Of particular concern is the threat to deploy active duty troops domestically, which he said he'd be open to. They also fear the possibility of mass firings of Department of Defense staff. CNN's Natasha Bertrand reports.
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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Pentagon officials have begun to have informal and preliminary discussions about just how the department would respond if president Trump issued an unlawful order to the military.
Or if president Trump deployed active duty U.S. troops to American cities for domestic law enforcement purposes as well as to help with his mass deportation plan that he has promised to enact when he is in power.
Now top of mind for Defense officials, here is, of course, just how the future president plans to deploy the U.S. military domestically, something that is highly controversial here within the Pentagon.
And, you know, Trump has hinted many times -- and he has outright said at times -- that he does intend or that he would support the use of the U.S. military to conduct domestic law enforcement here in the United States.
So the U.S. military officials that we have been speaking to say that they are gaming out scenarios under which that would occur and how they would respond. For example, what that chain of command would look like and how they would push back or accommodate other requests made by Trump that were deemed more controversial.
Another aspect of this, of course, is Schedule F, which is an executive order that Trump issued during his first term.
That essentially would reclassify a huge swath of apolitical government employees to make them easily -- more easily fireable. And that is something that the Pentagon is also bracing for and has been scrambling to try to address before president Trump takes office on January 20th.
So the bottom line here is that given the very hostile relationship that the Pentagon had with Donald Trump during the first Trump administration and the fact that so many of Trump's former senior military officials have spoken out against him in recent weeks, months and years.
With John Kelly, his former White House chief of staff and a retired general, going as far as to call him a fascist, Pentagon officials, largely at the senior level here, are bracing for a potentially similar relationship with the incoming White House -- Natasha Bertrand, CNN, the Pentagon.
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BRUNHUBER: A federal judge overturned an Illinois state ban on semi- automatic weapons on Friday. His decision was based on recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that strictly interpret the Second Amendment, which protects the right to keep and bear arms.
The Illinois law bans AR-15 rifles and similar guns, large capacity magazines and many attachments and just went into effect this year. It was passed after the 2022 Independence Day shooting outside Chicago that left seven people dead and wounded dozens of others.
The judge's order takes effect in 30 days. Both the state's governor and attorney general are vowing to appeal.
Special counsel Jack Smith has apparently taken the first step in preparing to wind down the federal election subversion case against Donald Trump. CNN's Katelyn Polantz has details.
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KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It's the beginning of the end of the federal criminal case against Donald Trump, related to the 2020 election.
That's because the special counsel's office that's been prosecuting that case in court in Washington, D.C., they went to the trial judge, Tanya Chutkan, on Friday at noon and said, we want to wipe away all of the deadlines and stop the work that's being done on this case.
It had been headed toward a trial and there were lots of questions about whether Donald Trump could have some level of immunity for what he's accused of doing after the 2020 vote and his allegedly obstructing Congress, trying to overturn the result of that election, which he had lost.
But the Justice Department now saying they've got to figure out what their policy is going to be now that Trump is the president-elect and is going to be inaugurated in January of 2025.
They say it's unprecedented circumstances. They want to move forward, consistent with the Justice Department policy and the special counsel's office. Jack Smith, that prosecutor that's been pursuing Trump in court in these cases, has indicted him twice.
He is going to provide an update on exactly how this case will be put on hold or wound down with Trump coming back into the presidency in -- over the executive branch, over the Justice Department.
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How exactly that is going to work. We get the update in the beginning of December -- Katelyn Polantz, CNN, Washington.
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BRUNHUBER: Elon Musk gets a taste of international diplomacy as he prepares for a possible role in the next Trump administration. Still ahead, the world's richest man gets involved in a top level conversation between Trump and Ukraine's president. That's coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken has talked on the phone with key foreign counterparts after Donald Trump's election victory. America's top diplomat has spoken recently with French, Saudi and Emirati foreign ministers, as well as the U.N. secretary general.
They discussed the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal and the plans for the so-called day after the conflict ends. The Biden administration is working to achieve as much of its foreign policy goals as possible before Donald Trump's inauguration in a little over two months.
All right. I want to go live now to Tel Aviv and Alon Pinkas, former Israeli consul general in New York.
Good to see you again. Thank you so much for being here with us. So after Donald Trump's victory, we saw some in Israel, you know, firing guns and toasting to celebrate his victory. Netanyahu himself was quite effusive. Explain to us why so much joy in Israel over Trump's win.
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL, NEW YORK: Well, there's a variety of reasons, Kim. And effusive, I think, is an understatement. First of all, there is a there is an ideological affinity between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump.
He feels more comfortable with him. They both, they are both authoritarian inclined. They are both -- loathe them of so-called liberal elite. They are both paranoid. They are both absolutely convinced that the deep state is after them.
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So there's this bromance going, a political bromance that's been going on.
In terms of the Israeli public, well, you know, Donald Trump possesses some qualities that many people here appreciate. You know, he's coarse, he doesn't give a damn about what he says. He has no inhibitions about insulting groups and people and, unfortunately or fortunately, depends how you look at it, people appreciate that.
There is a level of ingratitude. I mean, deep, profound ingratitude toward the Biden administration and Israel. But that's -- a lot of it is because of how Mr. Netanyahu portrayed and framed it all.
BRUNHUBER: All right. So let's talk sort of in more concrete terms. Donald Trump has said he wants to end the wars. He just hasn't said how.
So how do you expect him to achieve this?
Do you do you expect him to be engaged in a peace process?
PINKAS: Well, that's a good question. I mean, there are three issues and I'll go one by one in the short time that we have.
First is that he made it clear that, by the time he walks into the White House on January 20th, 2025, he wants this to be wrapped up, meaning he does not want Gaza and south Lebanon on his inbox.
You know, he probably understands that Iran is not going to go away. But that's a separate issue. And by wrapping it up, you could see -- I know we're speculating here, Kim -- but you could see a similarity that will evolve between how Trump treats the Gaza and the south Lebanon war and how he treats the Ukraine war.
He's going to tell, respectively, Netanyahu and Putin to wrap it up. He's going to want in both places some kind of a ceasefire and deal. But he's going to be indifferent to and casual about both Israel and Russia continuing a war of attrition.
Meaning he's going to say to Netanyahu, I want a ceasefire, I want a hostage deal, I want this done, to which Mr. Netanyahu will say, absolutely, Mr. President.
Mr. President, I will accommodate everything you ask, except for one thing. We do reserve the right to launch, you know, targeted operations and very focused, intelligence-driven operations.
And Trump is going to wave his hand and said, yes, do whatever you do. But I just want this done. I want a ceasefire and I want a deal. He doesn't want this to disrupt him. He doesn't want this to distract him.
But he also wants to be the one who made it happen. But by the way, it's -- this is going to apply in both cases, both the Gaza and Lebanon and in Ukraine.
The second thing is, is how he's -- and this is highly speculative of him -- how he is going to go about Iran because he could be very tough on Iran, although he's very war averse from what we've learned about him.
On the other hand, he could surprise everyone with his so-called unpredictability. And in the same manner that he approached and engaged Kim Jong-un in North Korea, he's going to call the Iranians to come back to the table and negotiate a new nuclear deal, if not for anything else, Kim, than to prove that I could do what Biden couldn't.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And quickly, we have to wrap this up. But I just did want to ask you about this. He will presumably be president for the so-called day after the Gaza war.
How do you think he will be involved there in terms of the reconstruction?
And what can Palestinians expect from a Trump administration?
PINKAS: Well, the Palestinians, I mean, I can't speak for them, obviously. But the Palestinians are probably distraught and disillusioned with every American president in the last 30 years. So I won't be surprised if they have zero hopes for Mr. Trump.
Now what you raised is a very critical question and I think there is a good chance here that Mr. Netanyahu is going to be surprised in a negative way because Trump will be -- Donald Trump as president will probably be much more attuned to what the Saudis, the Qataris and the Emiratis tell him than what Mr. Netanyahu tells him.
So any postwar Gaza plan is going to rely heavily on what the Saudis, the Qataris and the Emiratis are going to -- are going to tell Trump is the right path to go. And to a large extent, he may adopt the Biden plan of December 23 or January 24th, depends which version of, you know, a ceasefire, hostage deal, a gradual Israeli withdrawal and an international force based on an Arab force, including the Palestinian Authority.
[04:45:00]
And then add to that another layer of the Abraham Accords, which he's proud of, from 2020. But that that remains extraordinarily speculative at this point.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, that is our time. But really appreciate getting your insights. Alon Pinkas in Tel Aviv, thank you so much.
PINKAS: My pleasure. Thank you. Kim.
BRUNHUBER: U.S. military contractors will soon be headed to Ukraine to maintain the weapons that Washington is providing. That's from a U.S. official, who says the Biden administration has lifted its de facto ban on American contractors going to Ukraine. President Biden has so far kept them away, partly to avoid a
perception that the U.S. is involved in combat. The new policy is expected to speed up the maintenance of some weapons systems, including Patriot missiles and F-16 fighter jets. The change was approved earlier this month, before the election.
The world's richest man, Elon Musk, is expected to have a role in the future Trump White House. Earlier this week, he reportedly dipped his toes into international diplomacy and joined a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
But as Brian Todd reports, "The Wall Street Journal" says Musk also has a history of contacts with the Russian leader.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world's richest man, who's become a huge player on the Trump campaign trail, now reported to have had concerning interactions with one of America's biggest adversaries.
Elon Musk, according to "The Wall Street Journal," has been in regular contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin since late 2022, a report drawing unease from the head of NASA.
BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: I think it should be investigated. If the story is true, then I think that would be concerning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
NELSON: Particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies.
TODD (voice-over): That's because Musk, as the head of SpaceX, has a security clearance that gives him access to some classified information.
DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, RUSSIA AND CYBER EXPERT: SpaceX is a huge defense contractor to the U.S. government. They're sending astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. They're sending up supply ships to the International Space Station.
They're sending into orbit highly classified U.S. intelligence satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office.
TODD (voice-over): "The Journal" cites a person, who's aware of the conversations, as saying no alerts have been raised by the Biden administration over possible security breaches by Musk.
But "The Journal" also reports that several White House officials said they weren't aware of the conversations. "The Journal" says, in those talks, Musk and Putin discussed geopolitical tensions, personal topics and business.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through NATO. TODD (voice-over): Earlier this year, Musk's social media platform X
carried Tucker Carlson's interview with the Russian president, in which Putin called Musk "a smart person."
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): I think there's no stopping Elon Musk. He will do as he sees fit.
TODD (voice-over): "The Journal" report also raising alarms because of Russia's alleged attempts to meddle in America's elections, because of Donald Trump's open admiration of Putin.
TRUMP: Putin and the whole group, Kim Jong-un, they're tough guys out there. They're tough and they're smart and they're streetwise and they're at the top of their game.
TODD (voice-over): And concerns that the Russian leader has tried to manipulate Trump.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What is Elon Musk really doing?
Does he have the best interest of the United States in his mind?
Or is he serving as a conduit for Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump in a way that doesn't have to be so public?
TODD (voice-over): Separately, journalist Bob Woodward has reported that Trump has spoken with Putin several times since leaving the White House, which Trump has denied.
This report comes as Elon Musk has emerged as one of the most influential players in this election.
TRUMP: And I love Elon, by the way.
TODD (voice-over): In recent weeks, Musk has repeatedly stumped for Donald Trump in battleground states and has donated nearly $120 million to help Trump get elected.
PRESTON: We've never seen a media baron, in this age of social media, somebody who owns one of the most influential social media platforms, become so involved with one person.
TODD: Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has called "The Wall Street Journal" reporting, quote, "absolutely false."
Peskov says Musk and Putin had only one interaction, that it was before 2022, that it was on the phone and that all they discussed was technology. Peskov has also denied the reporting that Trump and Putin speak regularly.
Musk has not commented on "The Wall Street Journal" report but has called previous criticism that he's become an apologist for Putin absurd -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll have much more here on CNN NEWSROOM coming up. Please do stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: In California, firefighters are hoping to gain more control of the so-called Mountain Fire now that the fierce winds have died down for a while. Officials say the fast-moving fire has burned more than 20,000 acres and destroyed dozens of properties since it started Wednesday, about 45 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Officials say the blaze is now about 14 percent controlled. We get more now from CNN's Camila Bernal.
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CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing improvements in this fire and the containment number going up. And part of the reason is better weather conditions but also the attack, both in the air and on the ground, from these firefighters.
CAL FIRE telling me they have two priorities. One is getting to the fire in those hard to reach areas where it's very steep and trying to control the flames there. But also trying to get people back into these neighborhoods safely. They've done assessments and out of about 300 houses that they've checked, 132 destroyed, about 88 damaged.
And it's not going to be easy for those families to come back into these homes. You take a look at the house here behind me. I spoke to the homeowners. They've been here for three years and they were actually on vacation in Minnesota when this fire came through.
So they were not able to save any of the belongings that they wanted to. The homeowner telling me that she wanted to pass things down to her kids and it's all burned to the ground. They got very emotional explaining what it's like to live through this and what it's like to see their home gone. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's devastating.
You know and you look around at your neighbors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just glad that everybody was OK.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, we have had to deal with insurance companies. Nothing like this, believe me. But they've been difficult to deal with. They haven't been helpful. They've made our life difficult instead of better. And that's one reason we're speaking out.
None of these people deserve that. They've been through enough. They're at ground zero and we need the help.
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BERNAL: And so many families are going through those emotions. Fire officials saying that they're going to continue to work around the clock. They want to do as much as they can over the weekend because of the better weather conditions.
We no longer have those red flag warnings but we do see them in the forecast for next week. So what they want to do is get a handle of this fire before the red flag warnings come back into effect -- Camila Bernal, CNN. Ventura County, California.
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BRUNHUBER: And there was a bright spot from that fire. Dozens of ducks rescued from danger. Have a look at this.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Some 80 ducks made it out of the fire zone to safety. Workers at Ventura County Animal Services were able to corral the ducks into pens at a safe distance from the fire. Fire officials say the cause of the Mountain Fire is yet to be determined.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Please stay with us.
