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Trump Says Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo Won't Join New Admin; Trump Wins Arizona by Appealing to Latino Voters; Qatar Pauses Effort to Media Ceasefire Talks; Trump Picks First Female White House Chief of Staff; Thousands March to Demand Valencia Leader's Resignation. Aired 5-6 am ET

Aired November 10, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:32]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

Donald Trump officially sweeps the swing states with a win in Arizona. Now, he's turning his attention to who will be in his cabinet and who's already been ruled out.

And a courtesy he didn't extend to his successor. President-elect will meet with President Biden this week. What we can expect from the White House encounter.

Plus, Qatar pulls out of its role as mediator between Israel and Hamas. What it could mean for efforts to bring the hostages home.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Five days after the U.S. presidential election, the last undecided state has now been called. CNN is projecting that Donald Trump has won Arizona. That means the former president ran the table in all seven battleground states.

His total electoral vote count stands at 312 versus 226 for Kamala Harris. The news comes as the transition process gets underway. Trump is at his Florida state this weekend working on cabinet picks. And we're learning who won't be invited back to the second Trump administration. CNN's Alayna Treene is in West Palm Beach with the latest.

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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: President-elect Donald Trump spent his Saturday locked down at Mar-a-Lago, meeting with his transition team and going through a series of candidates that he is considering selecting for top cabinet roles as well as White House positions. Now, on Saturday, he did not announce new people that will be serving

in his second administration. But he did announce who would not be. He talked about not wanting his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, or his former U.N. Ambassador, Nikki Haley, to have any part in his second term.

I'm going to read for you some of what he wrote. He said, quote, "I will not be inviting former ambassador Nikki Haley or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join the Trump administration, which is currently in formation. I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously and would like to thank them for their service to our country. Make America Great Again."

Now, to give you a little bit of context on where some of this is coming from. Mike Pompeo is someone who many people in Donald Trump's inner orbit still are close to and believe that he did a good job as Secretary of State.

However, his relationship with Donald Trump has really soured in recent years, particularly because Pompeo had in many ways distanced himself from the former president after he had left office in January of 2021. I'd remind you as well that Pompeo did not endorse Donald Trump until after the Republican primaries this year, something that, as we know, Donald Trump viewed as not being as loyal to him.

And in my conversations with senior advisers, they argued that in private conversations over the past few days now, Donald Trump had asked them whether or not Pompeo would be loyal to him or whether he could trust him in a second term.

Now, as for Haley's part, Donald Trump has said that he appreciates that she had gotten up on stage at the Republican National Convention in July, called for unity. And also remember, she had actually been in discussions with the Trump campaign in the final weeks before Election Day about potentially meeting for a joint appearance and helping him campaign.

That never materialized. But again, Donald Trump had said he appreciated that on some level. However, I am told that the president- elect still harbors a lot of animosity toward Haley for the attacks that she had lobbed at him during the Republican primary, but also that she had remained in the primary for so long. Donald Trump has remarked that he believes that she hung on longer than was appropriate.

Alayna Treene, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

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BRUNHUBER: A source tells CNN that Donald Trump's team hasn't submitted any transition agreements with the Biden administration. The agreements are required by law under the Presidential Transition Act. The source says the holdup involves concerns about a mandatory ethics pledge that covers both Trump and his team.

The ethics pledge was introduced by Trump ally and Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and signed into law by Trump himself in 2020. Trump's team is already behind in accessing key transition briefings they need before taking over the government.

So the president-elect is set to meet President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday. The meeting is a political tradition that projects a peaceful transfer of power. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more.

[05:05:09]

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden is looking to bring back a White House tradition as he hosts President- elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday morning. Biden extended this invitation to Trump in their phone call on Wednesday when the president congratulated the former president on his victory in the 2024 election.

Biden has said that he directly told Trump that he is committed to a peaceful and orderly transition, which is not something that occurred when Biden beat Trump back in 2020. At the time, Trump put up many roadblocks in the transition process, never conceded the race and did not extend this same invitation to Biden.

Now, Trump did come to the White House in 2016, days after he had beaten Hillary Clinton and was hosted by then-president Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

Now, we're also told that an invitation was extended to First Lady Melania Trump to come to the White House to meet with First Lady Jill Biden. It's unclear if and when that meeting will take place, but this is all part of the Biden White House's efforts to try to show that they will assist in this transition.

It could be an interesting meeting between the two men, given the fact that one of their last substantive in-person engagements was back on that debate stage in June, which really derailed Biden's candidacy and eventually prompted him to drop out.

The two men have spoken since then. Biden had called Trump following the assassination attempts against him, and they were both at the same New York City 9/11 event a bit earlier this fall. But this will be an interesting meeting, as the two men are set to meet face-to-face in the Oval Office. Biden is now facing this reality where the man who preceded him, who he had beat in the 2020 election, will now be returning to the White House in January.

Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: So, the race for the White House is over, but the battle to control the Congress has yet to be settled. Republicans have secured the Senate, but the House is still up for grabs. Democrats right now have 205 seats. Republicans, 213. Remember, the magic number to reach a majority is 218. Republicans now just five seats away from a unified government.

There are still races to be decided in California, where Democrats could pick up seats. And in the Senate, Republicans will have at least a 52-seat majority. Votes are still being counted in two seats.

All right, joining us now from Allentown, Pennsylvania, is Charlie Dent. He's a former Republican congressman and the Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program.

Thank you so much for being here with us again. So, let's start there. The balance of power, where do you think we'll end up and how might that help or hurt Trump's chances of passing his agenda?

CHARLIE DENT, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN REPRESENTATIVE: Well, first, it appears that the Senate is going to be firmly under Republican control, whether it's 52, 53, or 54 seats remains to be seen. So, you can already mark that one up.

The second issue is the House. The House will likely be under Republican control. I suspect somewhere between 220 to 226 Republican members. I can't tell you if it's going to be the low end or the high end of that range, but you need 218 votes. So, expect a narrow Republican majority in the House. So, think about that.

Now, in terms of governing, it won't be easy for President Trump with that narrow majority in the House. He's promised to do a number of things, including making changes to the tax code, obviously deportations, tariffs, and other issues, mass deportations. Some of these items will require congressional approval, some will not.

And remember, in the United States Congress, the Senate has a 60-vote threshold for most issues outside of some budgetary matters, which is done through a process called reconciliation, but 60 votes are usually required. And so, that does demand some type of bipartisan collaboration.

And so, that means that Democrats in the Senate will have a significant amount of leverage over many of the items that must be passed into law. So, keep that in mind as we deal with the Trump administration, which is now standing up its team and beginning to populate that administration.

BRUNHUBER: All right, well, you brought it up. Let's talk about that team. Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo won't be part of his administration. So, what do you think that says about what we can expect from his staffing and how it might be different this time around?

DENT: Well, certainly what appears to me is that Donald Trump wants loyalists in that administration. And in this case, in the case of Mike Pompeo, apparently he wasn't loyal enough. I'm not surprised that he is -- he's going to keep an arm's length from Nikki Haley, given her criticisms of him and she primaried him.

But Mike Pompeo did not primary him and was, as far as I could tell, a pretty loyal foot soldier. But many of his former allies who served in that administration have kept their distance from Donald Trump because they didn't want to incur too much reputational damage after January 6th and other issues where Trump, you know, behaved very badly.

[05:10:13]

So, he wants pure loyalists. Donald Trump wants pure loyalists in that administration. Now, the problem with loyalists is some of them are competent and some of them are not. And, you know, it's interesting, too, to see what other types of loyalists will he bring back. Will he bring back Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, who both were recently released from prison? There's a question to which I do not know the answer.

But he's brought in a chief of staff, Susie Wiles, who by all accounts is seen as a steady, competent hand. And her job is going to be the hardest job, which is to manage Donald Trump. Hey, John Kelly, his former Chief of Staff, General Kelly, was a very capable and competent individual, too. But he, like the other chiefs of staff, really had a very difficult time trying to control Donald Trump. It's not an easy task.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. All right, so listen, you're in Pennsylvania, a swing state that went for Trump, with Trump now winning Arizona. That's a sweep of the swing states. It's hard to argue that the American people haven't given him a mandate.

So in the first administration, Trump didn't accomplish some of the things that he wanted to because of sort of the chaos surrounding the process, how things were carried out. Often the courts reversed what he was trying to do. Project 2025 provides a detailed playbook on how to actually push through some of these plans to, quote, "take down the deep state and return the government to the people." So do you expect that to be, if not a template, then a rough guide?

DENT: Well, first, let me say something about a mandate. Donald Trump won the election decisively. Now, a mandate is quite another matter. What was the mandate for? Was it for tariffs, for example? You know, was it to go after his enemies from within? Was it to populate, use the Department of Justice to go after his enemies?

So I'm curious, I think we're all kind of curious to see, you know, how far he will go in trying to disassemble, disassemble, you know, how the government works in terms of political appointments versus those career civil servants where Trump wants to reach down deeper into bureaucracy and make some of those nonpartisan civil service jobs, political appointments. That is a big question and we're anxious, I think we're all anxious to see how he actually intends to execute on that promise and other promises where he's, again, threatened to go after, you know, his enemies.

And so I'm watching most carefully the Department of Justice and how that administration will be populated and how they would execute some of these orders that many would find highly questionable or unethical.

The Defense Department is another one too. You know, he's -- there's already a discussion about whether or not he'll keep the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So these are all the -- these are all the kinds of things that we simply don't know the answers to because he did make some very strong statements. And we'll see if Donald Trump, you know, keeps all of those promises.

He is keeping a list. He will try to execute on some of those, but on tax policy, for example. You know, he's talked about reinstating the state and local tax deduction. Well, this is something that the Republicans have opposed and Donald Trump, he helped limit that. And now he's saying he wants it back. And so he's going to run into some issues with his own members of his party.

On Ukraine, he has many Republican members who don't want to surrender Ukraine to Russia. And there'll be issues. He has many members who don't want across-the-board tariffs because the impacts on their districts will be significant. So even his legislative agenda with a narrow majority, especially in the House, might be difficult to enact. Some things he can do through executive order. And those he will probably try to do rather quickly.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting times ahead. Charlie Dent, thank you so much for your perspective. Really appreciate it.

DENT: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Great to be with you.

Well, as I mentioned, Donald Trump's win in Arizona completes a sweep of the seven battleground states and reverses his result there in the 2020 election. A key campaign goal that may have contributed to Trump's Arizona win was reaching Latino voters.

CNN's Ed Lavandera takes a closer look at Trump's appeal to this community.

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 2016, this happened at a Donald Trump rally in Arizona.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Look at that sign. Latinos support Trump. I love you. I love you.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Next thing Betty Rivas knew, she was on stage with the future president.

TRUMP: I love her. I fall in love, Melania. I've fallen in love with her.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Eight years later, Rivas remains fully enamored with the president-elect.

Betty Rivas told us she felt a connection with Trump on that stage when they looked into each other's eyes.

Betty and her husband, Jorge, own Sammy's Mexican Grill near Tucson. In this temple to Trump, they serve tacos and enchiladas and the popular MAGA burger.

[05:15:06] LAVANDERA (on camera): If someone were to come up to you and say, you're a Latino immigrant, how can you support Donald Trump?

JORGE RIVAS, RESTAURANT OWNER: I will tell him that the man loves this country.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): He says Trump speaks about the things he cares about, faith, family, and the economy.

RIVAS: I know he's not perfect. I know he's not like a Pope. We believe in, you know, teaching our kids about God, our Christian values, family values. And the Democratic Party is embracing all the woke, left-leaning ideas that doesn't go with our values.

LAVANDERA: I think there's going to be a lot of people who have a hard time hearing you say, I like Trump because of family values.

RIVAS: I don't go by his lifestyle. I don't go by what he has done.

LAVANDERA: Do you think it's the Democrats pushing Latinos to Trump? Or is it Trump bringing in Latinos?

RIVAS: I think more Democrats are pushing Latinos to Trump.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Tony Arias and Idelfonso Armenta are the hosts of a radio show called Los Chavorrucos, which loosely translates to Young Geezers, on La Campesina radio network, which airs in five states. They take dozens of calls a day on a radio station founded by the iconic labor organizer, Cesar Chavez, and they've sensed Trump winning over Latinos in the last few years.

Democrats did not impress people, said the caller. Donald Trump spoke well and stole their hearts.

Another caller said, I fought with my oldest son. He told me Trump is better than Kamala. I said, I cannot accept that.

LAVANDERA: Are you seeing that it's a generational divide?

TONY ARIAS, RADIO HOST: I see a lot of young people voting for Trump because they're thinking about the economy.

RAQUEL TERAN, FORMER DEMOCRATIC LEADER IN THE ARIZONA SENATE: We need to do a better job of engaging our community.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Raquel Teran is a former Democratic legislator in Arizona. She recently ran for Congress and spent months knocking on doors trying to turn out Latino voters.

TERAN: What they're hearing from Trump is that there's going to be a better economy under his administration.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The night after Donald Trump won reelection, Jorge Rivas told us about their path to becoming U.S. citizens. He was born in El Salvador, granted asylum in the U.S. at age 17. Betty immigrated from Mexico. Now she thinks many migrants are lying and trying to take advantage of the asylum process. They want the immigration crisis fixed.

RIVAS: If they let in hundreds or thousands of people who already have criminal records, if deporting them creates a mass deportation, I vote for it.

LAVANDERA (on camera): But what if rounded up in all of that are people who work on a farm? If they're doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do, does that worry you?

RIVAS: That wouldn't be fair. Of course, you know, they need to make sure that they don't throw away, they don't kick out, they don't deport people that are family-oriented.

LAVANDERA: The question that persists is why Donald Trump's history of offensive comments hasn't fully turned off Latino voters. Some pointed out to us that younger Latino voters in particular don't know much about Trump, that they simply see him as a celebrity businessman. And others also pointed out that many Latino immigrants come from countries with truly dangerous and evil political leaders, and they view Trump as much more harmless.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A key player in the Middle East questions whether Hamas or Israel want peace. Still ahead, one country says it's pausing its efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire.

Plus, Russia's president has just signed a law that brings his country even closer to North Korea.

And Donald Trump is looking to fill a new administration. We'll have more on who could be in, who's definitely out?

Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: A heart-wrenching video shows the aftermath of a new Israeli strike in northern Gaza. Now, we just want to warn you, the footage is disturbing. A local hospital source says at least 25 people were killed in the city of Jabalia. The majority of them were reportedly children whose remains appeared to be lined up outside a hospital and covered in blankets.

Meanwhile, Qatar is pressing the pause button on its efforts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza. The kingdom has reportedly concluded that neither Hamas nor Israel are serious about talks anymore. Then one diplomat says that a long-established Hamas office in Qatar will have to go, at least for now. For more, Paula Hancocks joins us now from Abu Dhabi So, Paula, there

was plenty of confusion surrounding whether Hamas was getting kicked out of Qatar. Is there any more clarity now?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, what we've heard from one diplomatic source is that they have been told that the political office will be suspended. So the office itself will be closed, but there's not an actual ultimatum or a deadline that has been given for individuals to leave, although the source did acknowledge that some Hamas members may choose to leave Doha. We've also heard from Hamas itself saying that the reports that they were being kicked out were baseless and also being used as a pressure tactic.

But what we've heard, really, from Doha is frustration at the fact that more than a year of talks to try and secure a second hostage release deal and ceasefire have not yet materialized. They say that they are postponing and suspending their role as a mediator, a key mediator, it has to be said, because they don't believe that there's a willingness on either side. They don't believe, at this point, that there is good-faith negotiations happening by both sides.

Now, the Biden administration has long considered Qatar as a key mediator when it comes to the ceasefire deal. In fact, Egypt is the other mediator. But at this point, Qatar's saying it's simply not in its interests to be trying to push this process forward. But they would reverse that if the talks restarted. Kim?

[05:25:02]

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and those peace talks, Paula, so important. We see the consequence of this war dragging on, for instance, in the latest strike in Gaza. What are we learning about that?

HANCOCKS: So the latest we have of this particular strike is at least 25 people have been killed. In an Israeli airstrike in Jabalia. Now, this is an area that's in northern Gaza. It's an area that has been under bombardment, really, for more than a week now. It's where the Israeli military says that they are operating because they believe that Hamas was trying to regroup and rebuild in that area.

Now, there are some very disturbing images of bodies of children being pulled from the rubble. The hospital nearby where the bodies and the injured were taken say that the majority of the victims were, in fact, children.

Now, it's an area which is really under bombardment at this point by the Israeli military. We've heard from the IDF that they believe in the past three weeks they've killed 1,000 militants and they have detained around 1,000 militants. This from the chief of staff of the IDF. But we are hearing more warning signals from many U.N. groups that there are still many civilians on the ground.

They are simply not able to access them to be able to give them food. There's a fear of starvation, of disease in this particular area. So, it is an area that is under constant concern from many of the humanitarian aid groups on the ground. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, I appreciate those updates. Paula Hancocks, thanks so much.

Ukraine says it launched a drone attack on a Russian chemical plant overnight Saturday. According to Ukraine's security service, 13 drones hit their target in western Russia. Ukraine says the plant produces gunpowder and ammunition for the Russian army and is part of a comprehensive operation against facilities that are involved in the war on Ukraine. One source tells CNN that a nearby thermal power plant was also damaged.

According to Russian state media, President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a mutual defense treaty with North Korea. Putin signed the treaty while visiting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang in June before sending it to Parliament for approval. The new law calls for both countries to come to each other's aid if either are attacked.

And this comes as thousands of North Korean troops are already helping Russia in its war against Ukraine. Kyiv says they're engaged in combat along Ukraine's northern border.

President-elect Trump has named his first White House staff member. Just ahead, we'll introduce you to the woman who is set to become the first female Chief of Staff. And law enforcement authorities are trying to identify the source of racist texts sent to black people throughout the U.S. We'll have that and more when we come back. Please stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

We return to our top story now. Donald Trump has flipped the battleground state of Arizona, giving the president-elect a clean sweep of the swing states. CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein breaks down Trump's success at the polls.

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RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: In many ways, this was the key dynamic, that the discontent with Biden, the discontent with the economy, the discontent over the border, really radiated everywhere. I mean, Trump improved in 90% of the counties in the country between '20 and '24. And something that uniform says to me that it wasn't tactics, it wasn't messaging, it wasn't which ad ran in which state, it was a shared national verdict of discontent that really affected voters in all 50 states.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: The President-Elect is set to meet with Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday. Trump is still in the early days of shaping his new administration, but he says key cabinet figures from his first term won't be coming back. That includes his former political foe, Nikki Haley, and ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Another important part of the Trump transition will be his pick for attorney general. President-elect Trump is set to view the attorney general spot as the most important role in his administration. The list so far includes a senator, a former intelligence official, and three state attorneys general.

Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt appears to be a strong pick. He previously served as Missouri's attorney general and was at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on election night.

Well, Donald Trump's pick for his chief of staff for his new administration may not be widely known, but she's certainly accomplished. Susie Wiles is one of Trump's longest serving advisors. She's been involved in all of his presidential campaigns, and she'll be the first female in the role of White House chief of staff.

CNN's Randi Kaye introduces us to this veteran Florida Republican operative.

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TRUMP: Come here, please. Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. The ice baby, we call her the ice baby.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's newly minted chief of staff, Susie Wiles, does not enjoy the spotlight like her boss. The 40-year veteran of Republican politics prefers to operate behind the scenes.

JOE GRUTERS, FLORIDA STATE REPUBLICAN SENATOR: She's a steady hand and she's a loyal foot soldier.

KAYE: On her LinkedIn page under specialties, Wiles listed this, creating order from chaos, a skill that came in handy while running Trump's presidential campaign.

SUSIE WILES, TRUMP PICK FOR CHIEF OF STAFF: Candidates matter. What they stand for matters.

KAYE: That was Wiles in 2020, speaking to CNN affiliate WPLG after she delivered a win for Trump in Florida as head of his campaign operation in the state. She rarely gives interviews. Wiles first successfully ran Trump's Florida campaign in 2016, then again in 2020.

WILES: The traditional Republican voter coalition just simply can't -- I don't believe, elect Republicans any longer. So beginning to bring into the tent a larger number of Hispanic voters.

KAYE: After his presidency, Wiles served as Trump's de facto chief of staff, then led his 2024 campaign. One of her goals, keep a close eye on who had access to the former president.

Wiles has a string of political campaign success stories. In 2010, she helped Rick Scott eke out a win to become governor of Florida. In 2018, she was tapped to save Ron DeSantis' campaign for Florida governor. He won by 32,000 votes, the closest governor's election in state history.

After that, amid tensions, Wiles was ousted from DeSantis' inner circle. She went back to work on Trump's Florida reelection team, but was dismissed at DeSantis' urging. In 2020, Trump brought her back amid concerns about his campaign standing in Florida polls. He ended up winning Florida by more than three points against Joe Biden.

[05:35:16]

GRUTERS: Susie Wiles is the political version of Muhammad Ali. She does not lose. She is a relentless fighter.

KAYE: That fighting spirit was instilled early on. She grew up with two brothers and is the daughter of professional football player turned television broadcaster Pat Summerall.

Before agreeing to her new role in the Trump White House, CNN has learned Wiles insisted on certain conditions. Top of the list, more control over who has access to the Oval Office.

GRUTERS: She wants to make sure that the president's priorities are first and foremost followed through on and that they don't want distraction. She is laser focused.

KAYE (on camera): Senator Joe Gruters also described Susie Wiles as calming. He says she's a real leader. He said that Donald Trump likes to surround himself with winners and that Susie Wiles has certainly earned her stripes as a winner given all of her campaign victories that she stacked up here in the state of Florida and the most recent presidential election.

Now, keep in mind, though, of course, that Donald Trump had four chiefs of staff during his first term as president, but Susie Wiles seems to want to bring an anti-chaos environment to this next Trump White House. So we'll see how that plays out.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Demonstrators in New York and Washington gathered Saturday to protest against Donald Trump's reelection. Organizers in D.C. hosted what they called rapid response time to resist action. Demonstrators gathered at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station and marched to the Heritage Foundation. That's the conservative think tank that published Project 2025.

And this was the scene in New York City. Marchers there focused heavily on what Republican campaign promises could mean for immigrants and other groups. The investigation continues into the source of racist texts sent to

Black people throughout America in the days following the election. The hate-filled messages contained allusions to slavery. CNN's Rafael Romo has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The messages appear to have been sent using free phone service and mobile data providers. One of these providers, known as TextNow, told CNN Friday the company believes this is a widespread coordinated attack. The hate-filled messages have been reported in more than 20 states, from New York to California and the District of Columbia.

Students from at least three historically Black colleges and universities in Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina have reported receiving messages. And according to Nevada's Attorney General's office, the texts appear to be robotext messages.

One of the biggest questions here is, how is it possible to do something like this anonymously? Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill told CNN Friday that whether this is a single person or a group, they're using anonymizing software to obscure their location, which makes it very difficult to track them. As you can imagine, this is cause for great concern for those receiving the messages, as well as parents and loved ones.

ALYSE MCCALL, STUDENT, RECEIVED RACIST TEXT: It's truly disgusting, and whoever's sending it out is vile. No one should ever, one, think to send that message or receive that message. It just made me sick to my stomach.

JENNIFER GREEN, SON RECEIVED RACIST TEXT: We do talk about politics. It's not something that I hide from him because he is going to be a Black man in America. So I make sure that he understands what the landscape of his adulthood could look like. The fact that it happened the day after, you know, Election Day, it really speaks to what I think is going on here.

ROMO: The NAACP denounced the messages, saying that they 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.

We have also heard from President-elect Donald Trump's campaign spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, told CNN that Trump's presidential campaign has absolutely nothing to do with these text messages. CNN has learned that another text messaging service called TextSpot was apparently able to stop a new user from sending racist text messages.

TextSpot says that it was thanks to artificial intelligence that they immediately flagged the message and prevented it from being sent until they were able to conduct an internal review. The company says that they then blocked the message and banned the user from their platform and shared the information with local law enforcement and the FBI. Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Tensions are at an all-time high in Valencia, Spain, where tens of thousands took to the streets demanding action after the country's worst natural disaster in its history. Stay with us.

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[05:42:56]

BRUNHUBER: A federal emergency worker has been fired for trying to prevent hurricane victims from getting the help they need. Her name wasn't released, but she allegedly told a disaster relief team to skip homes in Florida with signs supporting Donald Trump for president. Hurricane Milton had just slammed the area.

FEMA's chief called the actions reprehensible and a clear violation of FEMA's core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. The agency says it believes it was an isolated incident. A congressional committee has invited FEMA's chief to testify about the incident at a hearing this month.

The fallout continues from Spain's deadliest floods in modern history. On Saturday, it's estimated more than 100,000 people took to the streets in Valencia, the hardest hit region, to demand government accountability. Michael Holmes reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Valencia, Spain, is spilling over once again, not from the recent floods that devastated the region, killing more than 220 people, but with anger. Protesters clashing with police following a rally demanding accountability for the deadly floods, including the resignation of regional leader Carlos Mazon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The regional government didn't warn on time for the flooding, didn't respond on time, didn't get the help from the central government on time, and they just did everything that they could wrong.

HOLMES: Mazon has defended his administration's response to the disaster, saying he respects the march, but now is the time to clean up and rebuild. But many residents say lives could have been saved if the government had acted faster.

On the day of the floods, the Spanish weather agency issued a red alert for heavy rain about 12 hours before the regional government sent out a text alert warning people to shelter in place. But by then, many residents say the water was already at their doors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We're alive, and I don't know how. And the only thing I want to say is that this abandonment and institutional negligence must be held accountable. And even though I'm exhausted, haven't slept at all, and I'm anxious, I'm here to demand answers because this is not normal.

[05:45:17]

HOLMES: This isn't the first show of anger by infuriated residents. A week ago, crowds threw mud and shouted insults as Mazon, the king and queen of Spain, and the Spanish Prime Minister visited the hard-hit area. Locals say they're frustrated by what they say has been a slow and uncoordinated response by the government.

So far, about 8,500 soldiers have been deployed to clear debris, guard against looters and search for the missing. Divers scouring river bottoms for bodies. But many of the troops have only arrived in the past week. Too little, too late for a disaster, many people say the government of Valencia should have known was coming.

Michael Holmes, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Right now, the latest on California's fall fire season, The Mountain Fire, as it's called, is at 21% containment, according to state officials. The fire began early Wednesday in Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles, and has already burned more than 20,000 acres. The cause remains unknown.

Firefighters are racing to take advantage of improved weather conditions before seasonal dry winds. CNN spoke with the county's fire captain on Saturday about how residents can stay safe in the meantime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR JOHNSON, VENTURA COUNTY FIRE CAPTAIN: Be aware with the weather conditions, that those things happen fast. So it requires constant checks. It requires preparation of your family, your loved ones, your belongings, and then heeding those warnings and orders as they become available. Because what's important to us is our people and their property. But number one, over everything, we want to protect the lives of the citizens of Ventura County. And by people listening to those, it gives firefighters the best chance of not only protecting their lives, but also saving their property.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Parts of Colorado and New Mexico are reporting record high November snowfall. Now, this video is from a resident in Centennial, Colorado. She says last weekend, she was wearing shorts and a short- sleeved shirt to pick flowers from her garden. Now, as you can see, it's packed under a pretty but thick layer of fresh snow.

Meanwhile, parts of New Mexico were under a blizzard warning that prompted state police to close several roads, including part of an interstate highway.

Ukraine has launched its largest attack on Moscow since the start of its war with Russia. The Russian Ministry of Defense says 34 drones were launched in the direction of the capital city Sunday morning. Russia's air defenses shot down all the drones, but shrapnel caused two houses to catch fire, injuring one person.

All right, much more here on CNN Newsroom. We'll be right back.

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[05:51:45]

BRUNHUBER: The National Football League is cracking down on one of its players. San Francisco 49ers star and longtime Donald Trump supporter Nick Bosa has been fined more than $11,000 by the NFL according to a league source. Bosa apparently crashed his teammate's post-game interview while wearing a Make America Great Again hat.

League rules prohibit players from wearing or conveying personal messages that is, quote, "unless such message has been approved in advance by the league office." Bosa told reporters this week he hadn't been fined at that time but he knew he could be saying, quote, "it was well worth it."

All right, we're slowly closing in on the first ever 12-team college football playoffs and several teams shook up the rankings yesterday. Andy Scholes has more, lots of upsets on the day, right?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Oh, Kim, it was an exciting day and goalposts were not safe across the country. I'll tell you what, we had a huge SEC matchup in Oxford. Ole Miss hosting third-ranked Georgia. Very rainy day there in Mississippi. Third quarter, Jaxson Dart, quarterback for Ole Miss. He's going to throw a touchdown to Antwane Wells Jr. That made it 22-10. And then the Rebels' defense was just amazing. Five sacks, nine tackles for a loss. With 16 seconds left, the Ole Miss students, they jumped the gun. They rushed the field. The refs made them all, though, get off the field because the Rebels still needed to kneel it to end the game. And then what they did, all the students rushed back on the field and they, of course, went to tear down those goalposts. Final was 28-10. This was the first time Georgia has lost to a team other than Alabama since 2020.

Here was Lane Kiffin after the win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANE KIFFIN, OLE MISS REBELS HEAD COACH: Proud of our players, our fans, you know, when they put it all into this season, we scored all the two games. So, really pleased the way they played today. One year ago, we lost to these guys by like 30. And we've made a decision. We've got to go over very differently. We've got to catch up. We've been playing for this game for a year. We've been playing all off- season schematically against the defense and offense and it paid off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: What a party there. Elsewhere in the SEC, Alabama going to Death Valley to take on LSU. They actually had a live tiger on the field for the game. First time since 2015. That guy's name, Omar Bradley. But he was not the star of the game. That title belonged to Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, who ran all over the Tigers' defense. He finished with 185 yards rushing and four touchdowns. The Tide keep their playoff hopes alive with the big 42-13 win.

Georgia Tech, meanwhile, pulling off a stunner against Miami. The Canes are down five with the ball on the fourth. A cam ward gets sacked. Jordan Vandenberg recovers. Georgia Tech, shocking fourth- ranked Miami, 28-23. And their students all rushing the field as well, going straight for those goalposts.

Now, they didn't get the whole goalpost. They only broke off the uprights. The students, they actually took one of those uprights out of the stadium and threw it in the pool at the president's mansion for some reason.

All right, maybe the most exciting play of the day coming into Jacksonville State-Louisiana Tech game last night. L.A. Tech leading 37-31 with four seconds left. Jacksonville State quarterback Tyler Huff, the Hail Mary. And that might have been the easiest Hail Mary catch of all time. Cam Vaughn just back there all alone. The homecoming court just stunned at what they just saw.

[05:55:01]

Now, Jacksonville State actually missed the extra points, so the game went to overtime, but they did end up winning it N.O.T., 44-37.

Finally, we also had a shocker in the MLS playoffs last night. Miami hosting Atlanta in a winner-take-all Game 3. Messi, a magnificent header in the 65th minute to tie the game at 2, but tempers flared as Messi's teammates were not happy with Atlanta goalie Brad Guzan, who bumped their star.

Now, fast forward to 76th minute. Miami defender was just laying in the middle of the box, but Atlanta played on and Bartosz Slisz, a header to give Atlanta the lead. They would then hold on to pull off one of the biggest upsets in MLS history, winning the series two games to one.

And Kim, Messi, he makes about $5 million more than the entire Atlanta roster. And, you know, Miami, they were, you know, the top team all season long. So that's a huge upset.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, it didn't help them. Good to see the local team for us doing well there. Andy Scholes, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

All right, before we go, you just knew that Saturday Night Live would have its own unique take on Donald Trump in the sketch comedy's first episode since the election. And the cast let the president-elect know exactly how they feel, sort of. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On Tuesday, Americans went to the polls and elected Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To many people, including many people watching this show right now, the results were shocking and even horrifying. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump, who tried to forcibly overturn the results of the last election, was returned to office by an overwhelming majority.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, thanks to the Supreme Court, there are no guardrails.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing to protect the people who are brave enough to speak out against him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that is why we at SNL would like to say to Donald Trump, we have been with you all along.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The cast members added that if Trump is keeping some kind of enemies list, quote, "we should not be on it." Yeah, good luck.

All right, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN This Morning" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "Living Golf."

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