Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
CNN International: New Trump White House Taking Shape One Week After Election; Trump Fills Top Jobs With Staunch Loyalists; Judge Delays Ruling In Trump's Hush Money Conviction. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired November 12, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAHEL SOLOMON, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Good morning or good evening, depending on where you're watching. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
And ahead on CNN Newsroom, filling out Team Trump, a China hawk expected to be picked as Donald Trump's top diplomat. We'll take a look at what that reveals about his foreign policy plans. Plus, Trump taps his head of the EPA, a man who vows to roll back regulations, as nations gather for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. And President Joe Biden is meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House this hour, as Israel's government faces an important deadline. We are live in Jerusalem and the State Department with the very latest.
A one-time harsh critic and former political rival of Donald Trump may soon become the top U.S. diplomat. Sources tell CNN that Trump is likely to pick Senator Marco Rubio as his Secretary of State nominee. Rubio who has long been a China hawk and sits on both the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees, and he and Trump were bitter rivals during the 2016 Presidential campaign, with Rubio calling Trump a con artist, among other things, including crudely mocking the size of his hands. But, eight years later, the relationship is clearly much different.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): He won it by fundamentally remaking the Republican Party. This is not a partisan realignment. It is an American realignment, and Donald Trump just happens to be the candidate over the last 10 years that's truly not just revealed it, but captured it and communicated it in a very unique way. But, I mean, it's incumbent upon those of us who are in office now to turn that into policy and ultimately to continue it as a movement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And we are told that the President-elect has picked South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to serve as his Homeland Security Secretary. She would work alongside two immigration hardliners who Trump has also picked for senior roles, Stephen Miller and Tom Homan. Both served during Trump's first term. And according to a source, Trump has also asked Florida Congressman Mike Waltz to serve as National Security Advisor. He joins the people, you see here, just one week out from the election.
For more on all the transition developments, let's bring in CNN's Steve Contorno. So, Steve, break down some of these new expected appointments for us and sort of what they have in common, what they share.
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Well, it's very clear, Rahel, that Donald Trump is very focused on getting his immigration priorities front and center early in this transition process. He has built out a team that includes, as you said, Kristi Noem leading the Department of Homeland Security, and working with Tom Homan as sort of a border czar, and Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration policies, will be White House Deputy Chief of Staff. And that triumvirate will obviously have incredible power and importance and influence in Donald Trump's administration, as he carries out his plans for a border wall and mass deportation.
And then, Mike Waltz is an interesting figure, because he will be in charge of national security advisor of the President-elect, and he is someone who has been staunchly pro-Trump almost immediately since he came onto the scene, but his background is as more of a Bush-era Republican. He is someone who worked in the Pentagon under Donald Rumsfeld. He has advised Dick Cheney in the past. All of these are figures that have been very much not in line with Donald Trump's foreign policy agenda and the way that he has pulled back the U.S. from the world stage. And so, it -- but he is -- it just shows you that if you are someone who is -- demonstrates your bonafides as someone who appreciates the former President, President-elect Donald Trump, and someone who is loyal to him that he is willing to overlook your resume if you are promising to uphold his -- what his priorities are.
SOLOMON: And perhaps willing to overlook past bad blood in the case of Senator Marco Rubio.
[11:05:00]
What can you tell us on that front?
CONTORNO: Yeah. Certainly, their history is well documented, and as you pointed out, they were rivals on the stage in 2016, and a big part of Rubio's case against Donald Trump was that he felt he was not prepared for going toe-to-toe with other world leaders, and that it was not safe to have Donald Trump's finger on the nuclear football. But now, eight years later, he has aligned himself closely with the former President and President-elect. He has campaigned aggressively for Donald Trump.
I will say it is an interesting choice, given the saber rattling we have seen from Rubio, especially in regards to Iran and China. He is someone who has been in favor of regime change in certain parts of Latin America. He worked closely with John Bolton, who is obviously an adversary of Trump's now. So, it's still a pick that doesn't necessarily jibe with what Trump has said about his foreign policy priorities, but it's someone who he has grown very close to in recent years.
SOLOMON: OK. Steve Contorno live for us there in St. Petersburg. Steve, thank you.
And the judge in Donald Trump's hush money trial has delayed his decision on whether the President-elect's conviction on 34 counts should be overturned. Trump's lawyers and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office have both agreed to delay further hearings on the case until November 19th. This gives the Trump team time to make new arguments on how his election as President impacts the case. In May, you might remember, a jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Let's bring in CNN's Kara Scannell, who is tracking the story from New York. So, bring us up to speed here, Kara, what's the latest and what happens now?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, we were waiting today for the judge overseeing this case to decide whether the conviction stands or whether it would be set aside. That was based on the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity, and Trump's lawyers were moving for a dismissal. Prosecutors said they had plenty of evidence in this case anyway, and it should stand.
But, what we learned instead was that both sides had been talking over the weekend, and Trump's lawyers had said they wanted to ask the judge to postpone both today's decision on immunity and the sentencing in light of Trump being elected President, and some of the issues that are raised there, a President-elect going into office while facing state charges, and whether a state judge could do anything on the criminal sphere while there is a federal official in office.
Now, the DA's office saying that they agree that these are unprecedented times, and they asked the judge for one week to come back to him with a plan of what they think should happen. So, that's what the judge agreed to today. He said prosecutors have until 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday to tell them how they think that they should proceed moving forward. So, big question will be, does the DA'S office want the judge to move forward with the ruling on this immunity question and whether the conviction stands, or do they say that that should be set aside until Trump is out of office four years from now?
Also, of course, whether he is sentenced if, in fact, this conviction stands, with the calendar the way that it is, it seems very unlikely that they would get a sentencing in on this case just based on the pure timeline. Of course, though, that will be ultimately up to the judge to decide how he wants to handle this, but the prosecution will give them their recommendation.
Meantime, Trump's lawyers are still saying that this conviction should be thrown out because Trump was in office when some of the evidence that entered into the case came in, such as tweets that he had made, and also saying that, because he is going to be back in office, that this case should just be satisfied. Rahel. SOLOMON: OK. Keep us poster. Kara Scannell, thank you.
And as Donald Trump rounds out with his team, Republican lawmakers are hoping to seize unified control in Washington. So, at this point, we are still waiting for final results in 14 House races. Republicans only need three more seats to hold on to the majority, while Democrats are 12 seats away from taking control.
In the Senate, a secret ballot election is expected to take place on Wednesday to decide who will lead the chamber where Republicans now have control. Within the last hour, House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke about his party's gains last week. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): This is a very, very important moment for the country, and we cannot take it lightly. We flipped blue seats to red, as we planned, and we kept this majority. We expect that the majority will be larger than last time. We still have a number of races outstanding, but we're very optimistic about those, and we are looking forward to governing in unified government beginning in January.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: OK. Let's bring in our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju, live from Capitol Hill. Manu, I understand that you just spoke with the Speaker. What did he say?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. This was after that press conference in which he also said that he was going to -- that Donald Trump would actually be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning to talk to House Republicans in a victory lap of sorts, before Trump heads to the White House to meet with Joe Biden. And he also indicated that he has talked to Donald Trump repeatedly, including about naming more House Republicans to his cabinet. Johnson indicated he -- is indicating that Trump probably would not go that route, given the tightness of the expected House GOP majority.
[11:10:00]
But, as I walked into the Capitol, I asked him about whether or not Donald Trump supports him staying on the job as Speaker, and he indicated he does have Trump's support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: We'll have it all lined up. It's going to be fine. The President is fully supportive. We got to get together and move forward, and I'm excited about (inaudible). So, I work with whatever margin I have. We've demonstrated we can do that. I think you're going to have a very different mood in the Republican conference going forward, because we do have to get back government. We have an extraordinary opportunity ahead of us. Nobody wants to squander that. So, I think you'll see (inaudible) and the team are talking to all the members across the sector. Everybody has this -- the same sense of excitement. And so, it's going to be a good day for us.
RAJU: And you said out there about spending that you were going to talk to the President about this. Do you have a preference on doing a CR? I'm talking about doing it till (ph) September.
JOHNSON: I can make a case for a number of different options that are on the table. But, again, this is a consensus building exercise, as always, but the President's preference on that will carry a lot of weight, obviously. So, he and I just have not had the opportunity to put everything else going on to talk about that in detail yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And that last point, Rahel, is actually pretty critical, because one of the first key legislative decisions that Donald Trump will have to make is how to fund the federal government. He is not in power until January 20th, but govern -- but the actual funding for the government in the United States here expires in mid-December, and Trump will have a lot of say on how to handle this. They punted to his new administration. They do it early in his term. That could lead to a bunch of problems from coming in. Do they do it in a longer term basis? And Democrats are still empowering the Senate and the White House will have considerable say as well in that final decision.
So, big decisions ahead for Trump, as Johnson plans to go to Mar-a- Lago this weekend to hash out their legislative plans.
SOLOMON: Yeah. It sounds like there could be a lot of friction, even more so than usual, in these next few months or so.
So, Manu, talk to us about, before they get to January, they have to get through this session. As you sort of allude to there, they have a lot that they want to do, but very little time. Break down some of the agenda items.
RAJU: Yeah. That's including, the government spending is one of the big ticket items, as well as an annual defense policy bill that they have not yet sorted out as a major piece of legislation, but initially, right off the bat is a transition phase, trying to name new Senate leaders, new Senate Republican leader, that will be decided by tomorrow morning.
But, at the same time, Rahel, there is ample Democratic soul searching. Democrats will meet for the first time tomorrow in the Senate and the House to talk about what went wrong last Tuesday. And I just caught up with an incoming Democratic Senator from New Jersey, Andy Kim, who won his race, as he reflected on the Democratic challenges from last week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Are Democrats are just not effectively dealing with that?
REP. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): Well, I think politics is not effectively dealing with that, and certainly being the party in the White House, people questioning whether or not their lives are being meaningfully being improved right now. I think that that's part of it. But, there is something deeper, not just about this particular last four years, but just writ-large in terms of how the Democratic Party is engaging. And I think that that's something that we need to sort out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: And there are just so many questions for Democrats, including in that state of -- blue state of New Jersey, typically, Democrats carry very easily. Harris did win Andy Kim's state, but on a much narrower margin than typical past Democratic candidates have, all speaks to the concerns that Democrats have had down the line losing support over key -- from key voting blocs, why that happened, and what they'll have to do differently, all big questions the Democrats will confront starting tomorrow, as they meet behind closed doors. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. It sort of reminds me of something the GOP strategist said last week, which is New Jersey is a lot more interesting than what happened in North Carolina because of those shrinking margins, as you point out.
Manu Raju live for us here on Capitol Hill. Manu, thank you.
Now, unlike 2016, Donald Trump will return to the White House with the momentum from winning something few people believed he could, the popular vote. Trump is clearly on track to win the popular vote, with votes still being counted in California and other states. He'd be the first Republican in 20 years to pull that off.
My next guest, Ron Brownstein, argues that the shift to Trump may actually offer Democrats a path to recovery. He writes that "While disappointment with Biden provided a huge lift for Republicans last week, moving forward Trump will need to sustain support on the strength of his own agenda, leadership style and results."
I'm happy to welcome in CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein, who is with us now. He is also a Senior Editor for The Atlantic.
RONALD BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, & SENIOR EDITOR, THE ATLANTIC: Hey Rahel.
SOLOMON: Hey Ron. Good to see you. I want to start --
BROWNSTEIN: Good to see you.
SOLOMON: -- with the sort of premise that your piece begins with, which is --
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
SOLOMON: -- despite all the head scratching, the questions about how Harris lost, the answer might actually be quite simple, that she was considered the incumbent, basically, and voters were deeply unhappy with the results of the Biden administration.
[11:15:00]
So, they voted for the other candidate.
But, Ron you point out that that cuts both ways, and that can create an opportunity for Dems in four years.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Look, I mean, obviously there are a lot of things that go into every presidential race. Democrats have to look at what happened with Latino men and whether there is a enduring cultural gap there, and obviously some of her positions on LGBTQ issues hurt her. But, the through line in this election is one that we have seen before. I mean, there is simply no precedent for a party holding the White House when an outgoing President is facing the level of discontent that Biden was. I mean, we know that when incumbents who have the level of disapproval that Biden did run for re-election, they tend to lose, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Trump himself in 2020.
What's discussed less is that even when that President chooses to or has to step aside, his party has also lost the White House. Harry Truman in 1952 was unpopular. Republicans won. LBJ in 1968, deeply unpopular with the war and inflation, Republican won. And of course, in 2008, when Bush had to leave amid the financial crisis and discontent over the war in Iraq, Democrats won. So, yes, there is a lot going on, but in the end, 60 percent of voters said they disapproved of Biden's performance, and over four fifths of them voted for Trump. That was a headwind that was simply insuperable for Harris, and in all likelihood, any Democrat in this environment.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And Ron, what I also thought was interesting is that even among those who decided to vote for Trump, they didn't just -- they didn't necessarily agree on all the issues.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
SOLOMON: I mean, you cited surveys where voters said they actually disagreed with him on reproductive rights, or they disagreed --
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
SOLOMON: -- with him about mass deportation, but what they prioritized, it seemed, was the economy. And in that way, Ron, I wonder if that creates a bit of a blueprint or roadmap for Trump and the Republicans in terms of what they have to prioritize the next four years.
BROWNSTEIN: Well, yeah, look, I mean, in some ways, the most abnormal thing about this election was how normal it was. Trump is anything but a normal candidate, but voters kind of treated him that way. To a large extent, we had the normal hydraulics of American politics. When people are down on one party, they move toward the other. That doesn't mean, as you noted, they have completely erased all of their concerns about Trump. I mean, between the exit polls and the vote cast survey, which are the two competing measures of how voter attitudes, we saw a majority of voters said they thought Trump was too extreme. A majority said they worried he would steer the country toward authoritarianism. A majority opposed mass deportation. A majority supported legal abortion rights. But, in each case, a significant slice of voters with those views
voted for Trump. In effect, they decided that an unpredictable future was less of a risk than the unacceptable present. And obviously, if Trump can deliver economic results that give people more of a sense of security and stability, he is going to be in a very strong position. But, if they are still feeling economically insecure in two years, and he has pursued a lot of these policies, sweeping tariffs, mass deportation, rollbacks of civil liberties, that voters still are expressing resistance about, hesitation about, at least, the picture could look very different in 2026 and 2028.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I'm curious, Ron, because we spent so much time, I think, the year before the election, talking about how historic it all was, and in many ways it was, what's so remarkable now is just how much of a sweep it really was, whether you're talking about the Senate, whether you're talking about now it looks like the House, whether you're whether you're talking about the battleground states, I'm wondering, based on your research, if there is an election you could most compare it to where you see a candidate sweep Washington the way we just did?
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. I mean, we've had a bunch of elections lately the party that wins power wins the White House, has also won the House and the Senate, initially. Obviously, Biden did in 2020. Trump did in 2016. This feels a little more like 1980 or 2008 where you have a broad sense of discontent with the outgoing President, and the other party not only wins unified control, they win the popular vote. To me, the key difference here is comparing this to 2022, because in many ways, 2022 sent a false signal to Democrats. What we saw in 2022 was that in the states that the parties were not actively contesting, where they weren't spending a lot of money, whether it was a red state or a blue state, Republicans improved. They rose on that tide of discontent with the economy and Biden.
But, in the battleground states, Democrats were able to do quite well in governor's races and Senate races in places like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in effect quarantine those states. With their campaigns, they were able to focus voters on other issues beside their discontent over the economy.
[11:20:00]
That was the model for this year. I mean, that's what Democrats thought. So, what did we get in 2024? Well, as in 2022, we saw in states where they weren't really competing. You mentioned New Jersey. Whether it was a red state or a blue state, Republicans improved because in those places too, they were discontented about the economy and Biden. Democrats hope that, again, as in 2022, they could separate, they could segregate the swing states, and to some extent they did. They didn't lose as much ground there as they did in the non-swing states, but they didn't do nearly as well as they did in 2022. You could not separate them as much.
A much higher percentage of voters who said they were unhappy about the economy, voted for Trump in 2024, then voted for Republican candidates in 2022, and that, to me, was the key tipping point. That goes back to what we were saying before. A quarter of women who said they were pro-choice voted for Trump. A quarter of Latinos who said they oppose mass deportation voted for Trump. The cross-cutting pressure of the economy just won out in too many places for Democrats, not to say there weren't other issues, but that was the through line.
SOLOMON: For sure. Yeah. I mean, it is really remarkable. I mean, obviously, we had inflation that was at 40-year highs. And so, in a lot of ways, it's just been really sort of interesting to see the impact of that, both psychologically, financially, obviously, but also politically now.
Ron Brownstein, we will leave it here. Thank you so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
SOLOMON: All right. Still ahead, a key U.S. deadline on Gaza expires just hours from now. The U.S. gave Israel 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation or risk a cut-off in U.S. military aid. Well, that deadline expected to come up during U.S.-Israeli talks at the White House this hour. We're live in Jerusalem and in Washington straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. U.S. President Joe Biden is meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog this hour, as a key deadline is set to expire today. We're waiting to see if they speak to the cameras after closed-door talks at the White House. Mr. Biden's government gave Israel 30 days to bring more aid into Gaza and improve the humanitarian situation, or risk a cut-off in U.S. military assistance. Sources tell CNN that the U.S. is not expected to make a formal announcement today.
And on this 30th day, or deadline day, eight humanitarian organizations say that Israel has failed to meet the U.S. demands. They say that Israel has actually taken steps that dramatically worsen the humanitarian situation, particularly in northern Gaza. They warn that as many as 95,000 people are under siege in that area with no food or medical supplies. UN Agency for Palestinian refugees warns that people need everything, and that the situation is growing more critical by the hour. UNWRA says that 80 percent of people in Gaza did not receive their monthly food rations last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUISE WATERIDGE, SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, UNRWA: Anything that happens now is already too late. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people have been killed senselessly.
[11:25:00]
They have been killed because there is lack of aid, because the bombs have continued, and because we have not been able to even reach them under the rubble.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SOLOMON: And there are growing concerns about the West Bank as well, after a key Israeli minister called for Israelis' sovereignty there -- Israeli sovereignty there next year. He has ordered preparations for the annexation of West Bank settlements, so unclear if the Israeli government will go along with those plans.
But, let's get more now from Jeremy Diamond, who is in Jerusalem. We also have Jennifer Hansler at the State Department.
Jeremy, let me begin with you. As we said, today is that deadline day. I mean, what can you share with us about the status of humanitarian aid in Gaza right now?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Rahel. Today is 30 days from when the United States sent that letter, demanding that Israeli authorities take steps to improve the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and that letter came directly from the Secretary of State, from the Secretary of Defense, and it made really clear the number of steps that Israel needed to take and the kind of benchmarks that were laid out for what accomplishing those goals would actually look like. The United States has yet to actually say officially whether or not Israel has improved on those numerous criteria and whether or not they will impose consequences as a result of that.
But, a group of eight humanitarian aid organizations say that Israel has failed to meet the criteria set forth in that letter, and that also they are arguing that Israel has also taken steps that have actually worsened the humanitarian situation in Gaza over the course of the last month. Now, it's clear, when you look simply at the number of trucks that are actually getting into Gaza that Israel is nowhere close to reaching the target of 350 aid trucks that the United States set forth in its letter. If you look at October, just 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, according to Israeli authorities, 75 per day on average this month of November so far.
Israel has opened a new crossing into central Gaza today. They also slightly expanded that humanitarian zone in Gaza, although we should note that that zone has also been subject to Israeli airstrikes, just like other parts of the Gaza Strip. And we are also seeing in northern Gaza, where the humanitarian situation has been most acute. Yesterday, you actually had the first aid trucks in over a month reaching the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun, three trucks loaded with food, canned food, water as well as flour, that actually reached that city. But, this morning, local residents as well as the World Food Program reported that Israeli troops then entered and surrounded the area where that aid had been delivered and ordered residents to leave.
And so, you are just seeing as even the glimmers of hope that are coming on the horizon in Gaza are being extinguished just as quickly. U.S. officials are still meeting with their Israeli counterparts to work on some last-minute improvements in the humanitarian aid situation in Gaza. And I expect that next week, perhaps once U.S. officials have had time to convene and take stock of the situation in Gaza, we will get a better sense of whether or not the U.S. will impose any consequences for Israel, clearly not meeting those criteria outlined in that letter. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah, as that deadline comes and goes. Jeremy Diamond live for us here in Jerusalem. Jeremy, thank you.
Now, let's get over to Jennifer Hansler at the State Department. Jennifer, as we said, we don't expect for a formal statement to come from President Biden necessarily on this subject. But, talk to us about what we do expect to come from this meeting between both he and Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Rahel, it's a great question, and we don't exactly expect a lot of substantive progress to come out of this meeting today at the White House. They are, of course, going to take stock of a number of issues that is on the agenda, be it the humanitarian aid situation in Gaza, be it the war in Gaza that continues to rage on, and also the war we are seeing between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The U.S. has been trying to push forward efforts for the better part of a year to bring the war in Gaza to an end, to secure the release of the hostages, and in recent months, have also been trying to broker this diplomatic resolution to the situation in Lebanon. So, we imagine that this will be top of the agenda in the meeting between Biden and Herzog that is happening in the next few minutes.
However, the big question here, and the big looming situation is, of course, Biden is now a lame duck President, and President-elect Trump is going to be taking office. We know that he has had conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. So, there is a lot of skepticism about what can actually be done in the remaining months of the Biden presidency. It is likely they are going to take stock in their meeting today about what might realistically be able to be accomplished. But, we have not seen any actual substantive movement on a lot of these fronts, and there is a lot of skepticism about whether there will actually be movement there. Rahel.
[11:30:00]
SOLOMON: Yeah. OK. Keep us posted. Jennifer Hansler live for us here at the State Department. Jennifer, thank you.
And coming up for us, a deadly car crash in China kills dozens of people. Still ahead, we'll take a look at what happened and what police are saying about the cause. Plus, Donald Trump's latest cabinet-level pick says that he will roll back regulations on the environment, just as world leaders hold talks on climate change.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. You are watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. And here are some of the international headlines we are watching for you today.
The most senior cleric in the Church of England is resigning over his handling of a child abuse case. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is stepping down after an independent review concluded the crimes of a serial child abuser were covered up. Welby says that he wrongly believed that appropriate action was being taken against the abuser in 2013. It's unclear when he will leave his post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russia is throwing more troops into its effort to drive the Ukrainian army out of its Kursk region on Monday. Mr. Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian military was continuing to hold back a Russian force of nearly 50,000 troops, including soldiers from North Korea. Ukrainian officials said that Russia launched several waves of attacks on Monday, but none were successful.
And at least 35 people have been killed in China after an SUV drove into a crowd at an outdoor sports center. This happened Monday night in southern China. The 62-year-old driver was taken into custody after trying to leave the scene.
Here is CNN's Marc Stewart with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a case that is getting the attention of the top leadership here in Beijing, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to state media, Xi said all efforts must be made to help those in need, including consoling the families who are dealing with the emotional aftermath. It goes without saying this is difficult for people in the city of Zhuhai in southern China. According to police, this was triggered by the driver's dissatisfaction stemming from a divorce. The 62-year-old man who was driving is in police custody. Police say while he was attempting to flee, he was freeing himself with a knife which was inside his vehicle. Police say he has severe neck injuries, is unconscious, and can't be questioned.
Some important context here, China has a population of more than one billion people. Violent crime rates are low.
[11:35:00]
Guns are not easily accessible. But, we've seen several high-profile cases in recent months where people have been either hurt or killed, including deadly knife attacks.
In September, a bus crashed into a crowd outside of a school. 11 people were killed. 13 people were injured. Police have not revealed if it was an accident or something deliberate.
Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: All right. There are just over two months until Donald Trump takes office, and his energy policies are already triggering anxiety at the COP29 climate summit that's underway this week. There is growing concern that Trump will once again pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, as he has pledged to do. And now, the President-elect has tapped former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin to head the EPA. Zeldin is already promising to roll back regulations. All of this as the UN Secretary-General issued this morning at the climate talks today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and time is not on our side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: OK. Let's bring in CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir, who joins us from New York. Bill, we often hear these really stark warnings, I think, coming out of these summits. But, talk to us about whether there is any real prospect or likelihood for change at this summit this year.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Secretary-General has tried scolding and chiding and begging and pleading. It is the sort of long slow motion unveiling of this crisis that makes it so bedeviling, right? This is the 29th COP. It just took 28 of them to acknowledge the source of the problems is fossil fuels. And this morning, the President of Azerbaijan, the host country, said that their gas reserves are a gift from God, and chided fake news Western media for talking about the need to decarbonize. So, it's all over the map. It has always been messy these particular negotiations. But, in 2015, the Paris Accord was this sort of singular cooperation, almost 200 countries, and a lot of progress came out of that.
So, the earnest delegates in Baku are sort of focused on that that this is going to be a struggle. COP20 or -- COP35, COP50, and this is going to go on for a long time. The question is, can the financing that they set their sights on this particular COP, the rich countries kicking in a hopeful trillion dollars to pay for developing nations to brace for the ravages of climate change, can that happen now that Donald Trump has essentially said, we're out? We're not giving one red cent to anyone else around the world. The America First policies, he is vowing to just take hold. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer, the UK, going the opposite direction, increasing Britain's climate ambitions going forward.
SOLOMON: So, Bill, what about this news now of Trump's pick for the EPA, Lee Zeldin? How does that factor in here, and what can you share with us about his position on climate issues?
WEIR: Well, this job is really you've to protect the health of the public and the environment, healthy ecosystems. And we can look back at Lee Zeldin's voting record in Congress. He got a score of 14 out of 100 from the League of Conservation Voters, often opposing clean air and water regulations or pollution reporting, those sorts of things. And then, back in 2014, he was asked in a candidate forum if he believed in man-made climate change and what to do about it. This was his answer then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LEE ZELDIN (R), FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: I think we would be very productive if we could just get to exactly what is real and what is not real, because I think both sides of the climate change debate are filled with people who are stretching truths. I'm not sold yet on the whole argument that we have seriously a problem with climate change as other people are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEIR: We asked Mr. Zeldin's representatives if he still held those beliefs, and they only responded that he was a champion for clean air and water in Congress. That is not borne out by his voting record. But, in an interview on the first day yesterday, he was telling Fox News viewers that the President is keen on him clawing back as much regulation on pollution, tail pipes, methane emissions from power plants, as they can possibly get on day one. The Biden administration, meanwhile, Rahel, is trying to Trump-proof a lot of these things, including new methane regulations that were in the IRA. Maybe it will take an act of Congress to roll those back. But, if Republicans win all three branches of the government there, they could do those sorts of things.
So, a lot of nervousness, as you can imagine, among those folks who devote their careers to climate --
SOLOMON: Yeah.
WEIR: -- in Baku.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Well said. Bill Weir, thank you.
WEIR: You bet.
SOLOMON: All right. Still to come for us, the disturbing surge in social media posts targeting and belittling women following the U.S. presidential election.
[11:40:00]
Plus, can Americans bring about more reconciliation following a very contentious election? We'll discuss straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. Since the re-election of Donald Trump, there has been a surge of misogynistic posts on social media. New data from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue says that sexist comments, including "Your body, my choice" and "get back to the kitchen", are trending online. White nationalists and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes posted the "Your body, my choice. Forever" message on election night. It has since been reposted more than 35,000 times, and experts worry that the online harassment could carry over into the real world.
Let's bring in CNN's Clare Duffy, who joins us now with more. So, Clare, give us a sense of how bad this seems to be getting. CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah. Rahel, it is really
significant. These are the kinds of characters and the kinds of language that have existed in dark corners of the internet for a long time, but it appears that they are feeling more emboldened by the results of this election, where we know there was so much focus on women's rights, women's bodily autonomy. This surge in online abuse really started with that Nick Fuentes post on Tuesday night. But, since then, according to this analysis from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, reposts of that phrase have surged 4,000 percent on X. The group also, as you said, recorded increases in the use of the phrase "get back to the kitchen", calls to repeal the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
And this is all part of what researchers are saying is the growth of the so-called manosphere, these online misogynistic communities where the discussion ranges from anti-feminism to outright threats of violence towards women. And there are some women who are already being targeted, specifically with this kind of language. There are women who have posted to TikTok, saying, "Your body, my choice" is showing up in their comments, in their DMs.
After writing the story yesterday, I actually woke up to an email in my inbox with that phrase, and lots of other ugliness that I won't repeat on television, in my inbox. And so, I think the fear for experts really is that we start to see this online language move offline in terms of harassment and abuse that could manifest in the real world. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And I mean, we could see in the video that some of these posts were posted on X. I mean, what's Elon Musk saying, if at all, about this, and any chance that he might step in to stop this?
DUFFY: Yeah. A lot of this is happening on X. We're seeing some on Facebook and TikTok, but the bulk of this kind of language is really seeming to happen on X. The platform, Elon Musk, haven't directly commented on this. But, I do think that we have to look at the changes that he has made to the platform over the last few years. He has rolled back lots of their moderation practices. We're seeing an overall increase in hate speech in conspiracy theories. Musk himself has shared a number of those conspiracy theories. And even the company's harassment policy really only restricts harassment against a specific individual.
[11:45:00]
So, this kind of broad abuse against women doesn't even violate the company's policies. Rahel.
SOLOMON: OK. Clare Duffy, thank you. And don't forget to listen to Clare's new podcast that launched today, "Terms of Service with Clare Duffy".
Well, Republicans clearly had a strong showing in Tuesday's election, with Donald Trump winning all seven battleground states and the popular vote, but a large percentage of Americans are obviously disappointed or devastated by the election outcome in what remains a very divided America.
Joining me now to dive deeper is Eric Liu. Eric is the CEO and Co- founder of Citizen University, which is a nonprofit organization promoting civic empowerment. He also served as Deputy Assistant to President Bill Clinton. Eric, great to have you. The reason why we booked you is because of a piece that you wrote in 2016 that we thought might still be really helpful in 2024, and you argued in that piece that even after the 2016 election, that Americans don't need reconciliation. They actually need to get better at arguing. How so?
ERIC LIU, CEO, CITIZEN UNIVERSITY: Well, Rahel, thank you so much for having me. And yeah, it is -- I don't know if it's good or bad, but the arguments that I made in 2016 still pertain today. But, the point that I was trying to make was even as toxically divided as we are and polarized, and what we were just hearing about the kind of nature of quote, unquote "debate online", it is getting more poisonous in many ways. As much as that is true that what we actually need to remember is that it's OK to argue that America is an argument.
America is, by definition and by design, a perpetual set of tensions among principles that may sound like they're all good and happy, liberty and equality, but you realize when you spend two seconds thinking about it that liberty and equality are always in tension with one another, that the strong emphasis on a strong national government is always in tension with local control, that a colorblind approach to the Constitution and law is always in conflict with an emphasis on color consciousness and racial justice, that these are baked into the way that we live as Americans, and that the point of American life right now should not be to have fewer arguments. It should be to have less stupid arguments.
And I don't mean that just as a glib throwaway line. It is possible to have better arguments. A group of us, after I wrote that piece in 2016, came together and created a project called The Better Arguments Project that lays out a whole set of principles about how we can have more productive ways of disagreeing and engaging with each other, but it starts with that premise that we are not uniform, and that to be unified as a country does not require unanimity, that we should accept a certain amount of division always, but that the way that we've got to do this is both to have more productive arguments, but also ones that do not dehumanize us across the board, so that we stop thinking about each other as full, complicated people.
SOLOMON: Yeah. And I think one thing that really got my attention is that you argue that the intention of the argument should not necessarily be to persuade the other person to see things your way, but not that at all, but to perhaps just sort of create space, or just to actually try to understand where the other person is coming from. Talk to me a little bit about the intention of arguing, because it's not just having more arguments, but I think maybe reframing how you view arguments at all.
LIU: Exactly. You really hit the nail on the head there, Rahel. I think the thing that we say, the first principle of a better argument is take winning off the table. Now, that's almost radical in our culture right now, where the whole point of online and other forms of engagement is to own the other side, to crush them, humiliate them, to kind of score points off them, and that kind of culture leads us nowhere. But, if you actually, sincerely, as a matter of personal, almost spiritual commitment, say, I'm going to engage with somebody who sees the world different from me, not to change their mind, not to show that they're wrong, not to bombard them with facts, as I see them, but actually just to understand, if you try to engage not to win but to understand, you totally shift the energy, and you totally make possible a different form of engagement.
And to me, a better argument is one where people leave holding the same general worldview they might have come into the argument with, but they can no longer actually say all those people, those people, and dehumanize them and put them in a flat, caricatured box, you suddenly realize, oh, this is a person who I understand now. I get their worldview. I get what experience, what trauma, what triumph, what things shape the way that they see things, and I can kind of relate to some part of it, at least. And to me, that is the point of a better argument to be able to understand rather than win. And I get, but that sounds radical, almost naive, but it's not. It is a deep ethical commitment to re-humanizing each other.
SOLOMON: And what about the role that truth plays in having productive conversations?
LIU: Of course, it is true, and I'm talking to CNN.
[11:50:00]
I mean, any media organization has to have as its first principle in North Star. There are facts and there are truths. At the same time, we have to remember, humans are not rational, calculating fact machines. Humans are emotional animals. We are emotional beings, first and foremost and fundamentally. And so, you cannot lead in an argument or a conversation with facts if someone doesn't want to or have the emotional drivers and motivations to hear those.
And so, to me, relationship precedes facts. You first have to prioritize relationship and building a sense of trust. And I see you. I feel you. I understand who you are. And when people feel like they're seen and heard and recognized and they're not being ambushed, they're not in a game of gotcha. Then they become maybe open to, hey, would you ever consider thinking about these facts and seeing the world this way? This is what I read. Why don't you do that? But, if you begin with that brow beating and kind of scolding somebody into right thinking about your right facts, it's going to -- you're going to hit a wall. We have to prioritize relationship, heart and emotional motivation first, if we have any shot at actually re-stitching together a common commitment to truth.
SOLOMON: And speaking of common commitment, what about the role service plays? This part of your piece I really love just because I think it's something that is easy to sort of overlook in our busy world today. But, you talk about how important service is.
LIU: This is so foundational, because if all we have in civic life is just argument, even if it's better arguments, that's a pretty grim view of what it means to actually live together. And I think one thing that is far more powerful than you and me sitting down and talking about how your worldview is different from my worldview and each of us talking about the other is for the two of us to get together and work on a third thing, build a third thing, fix a third thing, heal a third thing, serve a third thing.
It's why I'm a huge believer in national service, whether that's AmeriCorps at the national level, or any kind of volunteerism, faith- based work, community-based work at a neighborhood level, service coming together with people who are unlike you, who may not vote like you, pray like you, eat like you, dress like you, but together, you're going to fix this thing. You're going to clean up this park.
You're going to deal with the after effects of homelessness or opioid use in your community, and you're going to try to stitch something together. All of a sudden now, you, again, you humanize each other, and you realize, oh, that person who I thought was because of the hat they're wearing or the tattoos they've got or the badge they're wearing. I thought they were this. And I realize, as we work on a third thing together, they're much more than this, and so am I.
SOLOMON: Yeah. We will leave it on that beautiful note. I thought it was a really interesting piece with a lot of food for thought back then, and it still holds today.
Eric Liu, great to have you. Thank you.
LIU: Thanks so much.
SOLOMON: Yeah. All right. And still to come, thousands of visitors want a whiff of a flower that really smells like no other. That story just after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: And just into CNN, the Israeli President has arrived at the White House for his meeting with President Biden. Isaac Herzog's meeting comes the same day as the U.S. deadline for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza. Aid groups say that more aid has not arrived, but it's also unclear what consequences there might be for Israel if the U.S. determines it has not met those conditions.
[11:55:00]
We expect to hear from the two leaders in the next few minutes, and we will bring that to you just as soon as it happens.
And before we go, one more thing. Thousands of people in Australia are getting in line to get a whiff of a rare flower. You see it there. The corpse flower only blooms once every few years, and the flower may only last for 48 hours. But, here is the thing. It's not one of those good smelling flowers. Apparently, it has a foul scent. One young visitor saying that it smells like a dead possum, others comparing it to a stinky pond. Different strokes for different folks. That's going to be a no for me. But, we know your time is money. So, thank you for spending some time
with me today. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. Stick with CNN. One World is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:00]
