Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Melania Trump Expected to Skip Meeting With Jill Biden; Unrest in Amsterdam; President Biden Meets With Israeli President; Online Rhetoric Against Women Surging Following Election. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 12, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

NADYA OKAMOTO, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR: And then him continuing to be able to be our president as well, and so I think that, in many ways, some of that behavior has been normalized.

But, again, I don't think this behavior or even the beliefs are isolated to just one party or to this specific moment in time. I think that they have absolutely been normalized. And so that's something we have to watch out for.

And, again, I think that it could be dangerous to just say, oh, this sexism is influenced by one person or even foreign parties because these issues have absolutely existed here.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I want to bring back in Machalagh to get your thoughts on this, because you heard what Nadya said.

There's also these posts calling for the repeal of the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote, surged over 600 percent on X and other forums like Reddit last week. That doesn't mean everyone supports that. But it is gaining traction.

What do you say to the women watching right now who do have real concern that perhaps some of their rights will be rolled back under a Trump presidency? What do you say to them?

MACHALAGH CARR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF OF KEVIN MCCARTHY: I think if people have real concern, they probably should get their information somewhere not Reddit.

Look, if having access to abortion was a number one issue for you in this election, then the top of the ticket didn't matter, because post- Dobbs, it's a state's issue. And if having access or pushing pro-life agenda was a number one issue to you, that meant the top of the ticket didn't matter to you, because post-Dobbs, it's back to the states.

The Dobbs decision said that this issue is now up to the people and their representatives. And so if you live in a state where that access has been more restricted or access is completely unrestricted, both states, of course, exist, then you can make decisions based on where you live and you can vote on that way. But this idea that post-Dobbs, Trump wasn't clear, I don't think that

that's entirely accurate. I think he was very clear. He said he would not sign an abortion ban. He said he did not support having that be decided at the federal level. He said he supported the repeal of Roe, which was simply Dobbs, which put it back to the states.

And so I think that the fearmongering and the trying to make people terrified of their own government didn't work as an election campaign. And I think moving forward, we just need to speak with a little bit more truth and honesty about what the threats are and are not.

BROWN: I think it's important to have that transparent conversation. And, of course, Trump's team would point to look at the first movie made was put a woman as his chief of staff, the first female chief of staff and so forth.

But you talk about abortion. And I do think that's a really relevant part of this conversation as well, because, Margaret, to bring you back in, these 10 states had abortion the ballot this election cycle. And seven of them -- we have a map up here -- seven of them were successful in protecting reproductive rights, including states where Trump won, like Missouri and Arizona.

What do you think about that, the idea that the electorate, that voters largely indicated they want abortion access enshrined into state constitutions, but also rejected a presidential candidate who positioned herself as a champion of reproductive rights, Margaret.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think a couple of things.

First of all, I would also mention Florida passed it with -- past abortion rights protections by more than -- or voted -- the populace in Florida voted more than 50 percent in favor of it. It's just it didn't pass in Florida because there was a 60 percent threshold.

So, the majority of people in Florida also wanted a change and an expansion and security of abortion rights and women's health care. So this is a widespread -- to your point, Pam, widely held belief and widespread view amongst a majority of Americans.

And it does end up being a galvanizing issue at the ballot box. However, if you look at the crosstabs in many of these states and in most of them across the country, even for people who said abortion rights and the right for women to make their own medical decisions was one of their top choices, it seemed as though there is always a cross- section of people who voted for Donald Trump also and -- or -- either at the same time or abrogated that secondary belief about abortion rights, medical decisions in favor for Donald Trump.

And it seems as though when you look at the crosstabs, the issue of economic stability, inflation, which -- inflation, which was a shorthand for economic stability and prosperity, won out. And so that's -- ultimately, like, voters are always making calculations in their mind about what are the issues that are most important to them and how are they going to vote on them? And in this election cycle, it seems as though the data tells us and

the evidence tells us that people were voting their pocketbooks. It's that sort of very simple, very straightforward. It's the economy, stupid, which doesn't mean that -- the other piece of this is that abortion rights have become federalized.

[11:35:03]

And, in many states, like New York, for example, people felt in many places in New York that they could vote for Donald Trump and they could vote for another proposition the ballot. Proposition 1 is what we had here in New York, which also codified equality for women.

So it's become -- it's not a one-note stand-in as Kamala Harris is pro-choice and Donald Trump is not, and, therefore, it's just that simple. These are complicated, complex issues and people -- voters are constantly weighing all the vectors that are in front of them in terms of their own considerations.

BROWN: Margaret Hoover, Machalagh Carr, Nadya Okamoto, thank you for that thoughtful conversation. Appreciate your time.

Any moment, President Biden will sit down with his Israeli counterpart at the White House, as U.S. military aid Israel could be in jeopardy. We're going to bring you those remarks live when they happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:31]

BROWN: Moments ago, Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived at the White House for a meeting with President Biden.

And it comes as U.S. military support to Israel could be in jeopardy. Humanitarian groups say Israel has failed to meet today's U.S. deadline to improve the flow of aid into Gaza.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is that the White House and Kylie Atwood is with me here in studio.

Arlette, first to you. How much will this shape the meeting?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, we expect this meeting between President Joe Biden and Israeli President Isaac Herzog to kick off any minute now.

It is unclear, though, whether President Biden will specifically bring up this 30-day deadline that is today for Israel to meet some standards to try to surge additional humanitarian aid into Gaza.

You will remember that, about a month ago on this day, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had sent a letter to Israel outlining certain steps they wanted them to take to surge more aid into Gaza, while also saying that, if they did not, it could risk violating U.S. law that governs foreign military assistance, really raising questions about whether the U.S. might withhold any additional military aid for Israel.

Now, sources have told our colleagues M.J. Lee and Jenny Hansler that they are not expecting any formal announcement from the U.S. today or any formal report on this matter. There is a belief within the U.S. government that there are more steps that Israel can take, but so far the White House and the State Department in the U.S. have not outlined whether they will be responding in any way to this 30-day deadline.

Now, as you noted, there is a group of about eight humanitarian aid organizations who have said that Israel has not met those standards that were set by the U.S., part of those standards including about 350 humanitarian aid trucks going into Gaza each day and about 50 to 100 commercial trucks being able to enter in Gaza.

These aid groups say that that simply was not met. But this meeting is also playing out not just as there is this deadline for Israel to surge more aid into Gaza, but also as the U.S. is quite eager to end this conflict in the Middle East.

But, so far, it seems that those cease-fire and hostage release talks really have been at a standstill, leaving open the question of whether this can even be achieved before President Biden leaves office in January.

BROWN: And there are questions about that. What can be achieved?

Kylie, how much leverage does the Biden administration have as it enters its final two months in power?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: They have very little leverage at this point, but they still have some.

The Biden administration is in control of the levers of government at this point. So if they wanted to exert the leverage that they have, they could. Indications from the reporting that M.J. Lee has from sources that the Biden administration isn't going to make any policy changes in response to this letter and what Israel has not done when it comes to surging resources to make sure that humanitarian situation in Gaza is in a better place than it was 30 days ago.

The fact that they're not going to make policy changes is going to create a lot of criticism for them. It's going to open the floodgates because you have these humanitarian organizations who are saying not only has Israel not lived up to the criteria that were very explicitly laid out by the Biden administration, by the secretary of state and by the secretary of defense, but also that Israel has made the conditions even worse in Gaza in the last 30 days.

So, these humanitarian and aid organizations, rest assured they're going to be quite frustrated that the Biden administration penned this letter and now isn't actually going to do anything with the pressure, with the threats that they said could potentially be imposed if Israel didn't follow through. So I think that's an area to watch.

It also begs the question as to how effective a letter like this even was to send. BROWN: Right.

ATWOOD: If you're not actually going to follow through on the threats that you lay out in the letter and you aren't seeing the results that you were hoping to see, according to the scoreboard that these aid organizations put together, then what was the point in the first place of doing this?

So they do have some leverage, but it doesn't appear at this point that they're willing to use it.

BROWN: Yes, I mean, those are very fair questions. Why send the letter in the first place if you're not going to enforce it, make good on those threats?

Kylie Atwood, Arlette Saenz, thank you.

We're following more unrest in Amsterdam, where riot police arrested three people overnight after violence once again broke out on the streets of the Dutch capital. Video posted a social media captured the moment a tram caught fire after riders lit fireworks inside of it while appeasing to chant -- while appearing to chant antisemitic slurs.

[11:45:09]

The city has been under emergency measures since last week, when Israeli soccer fans were beaten and injured in violent clashes in the city after a soccer game.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following the story from London.

Salma, what do we know about this latest round of violence there? So disturbing.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so more unrest on Monday night.

I do believe we have that footage to show you of that tram that's been set on fire. Authorities say that's because there was groups of people who were throwing around stones, wooden pallets, poles, and, yes, fireworks, some of those fireworks landing in that tram, setting it ablaze.

Riot police were quick to move into the square in the western part of the city. They made three arrests, according to the authorities. They warned people to stay away. And this is just the latest round of arrests. As you mentioned, there's been unrest, violence in Amsterdam for days now that really crescendoed around this football match between a local Israeli team and a local Dutch team on Thursday evening.

After that match, dozens of Israeli soccer fans were chased down, beaten, wounded, injured. The violence was described as antisemitic by Dutch authorities and foreign leaders. Prime Minister Netanyahu scrambled planes to evacuate Israeli citizens still in Amsterdam. At the time, the Dutch prime minister was quick to hop on the phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu and promised that calm would return to Amsterdam.

Israel's foreign minister said he expected to see arrests, he expected to see severe punishment for any perpetrators. And, clearly, you see that the Dutch authorities are making those moves on the ground, trying to restore calm and bring any assailants to justice.

BROWN: Yes, what else is going on to maintain the peace there, given the violence that's erupting?

ABDELAZIZ: Yes, so there's been some strong security measures that have been taken place by the Dutch authorities.

Key among them was banning protests for several days. Riot police said that that was in order to try to return to normalcy, to maintain that calm. They have also asked people to submit any social media videos, to submit any material that might be able to help them identify the assailants behind this attack.

Again, the Dutch prime minister was unequivocal in his language. He described these attacks as horrific, as antisemitic, said that they are appalling and shamed the country, absolutely vowed to take these steps.

But Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he will take his own steps as well. Israel is reviewing the security measures for any sports events that might be potentially attended by their citizens and new guidance could be issued.

BROWN: All right, Salma, thank you so much.

And still ahead this hour: It's a custom carried out by the outgoing first lady, inviting her successor to the White House. Why Melania Trump is expected to decline Jill Biden's invitation tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:52:30]

BROWN: It's a long-held tradition. The current president and first lady invite their successors to the White House for a visit.

But when president-elect Donald Trump meets with President Biden tomorrow, he will be flying solo. Sources tell CNN Melania Trump is not expected to meet with first lady Jill Biden.

Let's bring in CNN's Kristen Holmes with more on the story, who has been breaking news left and right, including this one.

I have to say I'm not surprised she's not going, but what's the thinking behind it?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so not surprising, but still kind of surprising.

BROWN: Right.

HOLMES: I mean, just given that everything she does is a little bit surprising.

So we were told that she informed the White House, she informed Donald Trump's team, which is obviously separate from the first lady's team, that she had a prior engagement related to her book. Now, I am still curious if she changes her mind, because, one, I was told that there were people who really wanted her to go within Trump's orbit, thought it was very important for the former president.

And, two, I was also told when she went to Rosalynn Carter's funeral, that part of the reason that she went was because she didn't want the media narrative around the fact that she wasn't attending. So this idea that now this has become a story makes me wonder if she will shift her thinking at all.

But, as we know, she made it very clear on the campaign trail that she really wants nothing to do with this. I mean, she appeared three times total in the span of two years. One was at his announcement. The second was at Madison Square Garden, where she made brief remarks. And then the third was standing on that stage on election night.

And we were told that's because she didn't want to be in the spotlight. Now, there isn't a huge amount of pushback from Donald Trump's team, but obviously a lot of questions as they break another norm with her not showing up.

I will say the biggest moment we saw in the campaign of her not being there was with that debate with President Joe Biden. Everyone else in the family was there. Everybody's families were there. I mean, that is a key moment in any campaign to have that first debate and she was nowhere to be seen.

BROWN: Yes, there's always this mystery shrouding her, right? She's not showing up tomorrow. Is she going to move back into the White House? What do we know?

HOLMES: Well, there's a lot of speculation right now and I have heard from a lot of sources that they don't expect her to be there full time. They say that she will come in. They insist she will be there for big events, talking about state dinners, big trips, big meetings, but that she's not going to set up full-time residency.

We will see what happens. But I am also told that they are looking at possibilities for splitting her time really mostly between New York and Palm Beach. They say that she has -- these are sources close to her -- has built an entire network in Palm Beach. She loves it down there. She has friends, she has family down there.

They also say that she's likely to spend a lot of time in New York. She has said that too. Barron is going to NYU. She has often said that her number one priority in anything is Barron, so she wants to be close to him. So a lot of speculation, a lot of talk, and a lot of planning for her to be at Trump Tower quite a bit.

[11:55:08]

BROWN: All right, well, we are going to be watching all of this closely.

Kristen Holmes, great reporting. Thanks for bringing us the latest.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Pamela Brown. You can follow me on Instagram, TikTok and X @PamelaBrownCNN.

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" starts after a short break.