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Trump Chose Matt Gaetz as Attorney General; Gabbard as Intelligence Director; Biden Sits Down with Trump at the White House For the First Time in Four Years; Security Tightens in Paris for the Football Game Between France and Israel; Missing Wisconsin Kayaker Likely Faked Death or Fled to Europe. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 14, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, Donald Trump's latest cabinet pick is leaving some on Capitol Hill stunned and disgusted. Details on why the President-elect may have made his choice.
The U.S. says Israel is doing enough to bring aid into Gaza, but aid groups and residents are telling a different story of life on the ground there.
And later, investigators say a father who went missing during a kayaking trip is not missing at all.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Appreciate you joining us. Well critics say Donald Trump's latest cabinet pick confirms what they already know about the president-elect. He values loyalty above all else. Trump has selected Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general.
The Florida Republican resigned from Congress late Wednesday just a few days ahead of a report from the House Ethics Committee. Gaetz has repeatedly denied accusations including sex trafficking, having sex with a minor, illicit drug use and obstruction. He is just a sampling of Gaetz declaring his support for Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): An election that was stolen as a consequence of illegal last-minute changes to the rules.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Here's the question I want to ask you. Let's just start with basics. Do you accept that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election?
GAETZ: I accept that Joe Biden is the president.
This is Donald Trump's party and I'm a Donald Trump-Republican.
We are on a mission to rescue and save this country and we ride or die with Donald John Trump to the end.
We either get this government back on our side or we defund and get rid of, abolish the FBI, CDC, ATF, DOJ, every last one of them if they do not come to heel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The other pick announced Wednesday is former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Now a Republican, Gabbard has declared Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not an enemy of the United States. She's also blamed the Biden administration for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Republicans who will control both chambers of Congress next year have mixed feelings about the Gaetz election, but Democrats on Capitol Hill were in shock.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I was shocked that he has been nominated.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Disappointed?
UNKNOWN: We have a confirmation process.
UNKNOWN: I don't know yet. I'll think about that one.
RAJU; Do you have any concerns about it?
UNKNOWN: We'll see.
RAJU: Do you think Matt Gaetz is confirmable?
UNKNOWN: We'll find out, won't we?
RAJU: Senator Kennedy, what do you think of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General?
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Happy Thanksgiving.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): This is going to be a red alert moment for American democracy.
SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): Trump is following through on his threat to weaponize the Department of Justice clearly.
REP. ALEX SWALWELL (D-CA): Well, to the president, I say, no, seriously, who is your pick for attorney general? Because this pick is a middle finger to Democrats and sane Republicans. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: More now on Trump's latest cabinet picks from CNN's Kaitlan Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS": In a world where people are used to being surprised by their boss and Donald Trump and basically everyone in his orbit, it kind of operates that on a daily basis. Certainly those who have been around him for four years or eight years.
This one was even a huge surprise to people who have been working on the transition. I've been in Palm Beach. I just got back this morning, I've been covering it very closely and talking to a lot of people who have been involved in it.
This is not a name that had come up for almost anyone in any of the discussions or interviews or talks that they had been having about who was going to head the Justice Department. Obviously one of Trump's biggest priorities, one that he has been thinking about for months now before he was even re-elected, he had been thinking about who he would put in this position.
And so this one was a shock to essentially all of them. And so that is really the big question of what this looks like going forward. It was about 24 hours ago that I had heard from sources that Trump was unhappy with basically everyone that had been brought to him as a potential candidate for attorney general.
He had interviewed many of them. One of the interviews was described as disastrous to me. And so essentially he was wish casting about for who he was going to put in this position.
[03:05:00]
And the two qualifications that he wanted, which is someone who is fiercely loyal to him and someone who would be compliant with what he wants to happen at the Justice Department. That is what he got in Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz.
But of all the decisions that he's made about his cabinet, Kristi Noem was made pretty quickly to the surprise of a lot of people. This one maybe even half that kind of a timeline.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two criminal cases against Trump, is expected to step down in the weeks ahead and is discussing how to wind down the federal prosecutions against the incoming president. Last month, Trump vowed to use his powers to end Smith's investigations and fire him, quote, "within two seconds."
According to Justice Department policy, a sitting U.S. president cannot face prosecution. The Department has already asked a federal appeals court to pause efforts to revive the classified documents case. The more serious case against Trump involved his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, leading to the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol. That prosecution and efforts to prove accountability will also be going away.
Smith will produce a report on the investigations. It's not clear when or even if it will be released to the public.
Well meanwhile, Trump returned to the White House on Wednesday to meet with the U.S. president who promised a smooth transition, even though what Trump gave Joe Biden four years ago was anything but. CNN's Arlette Saenz has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, OUTGOING U.S. PRESIDENT: Mr. President-elect and former president, Donald, congratulations.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two former competitors face to face, setting the course for a presidential transition unlike any other in American history.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: A transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get.
SAENZ (voice-over): President-elect Trump returning to Washington and the White House for the first time since his election victory, meeting President Biden for nearly two hours in the Oval Office.
TRUMP: Politics is tough and in many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today and I appreciate it very much.
SAENZ (voice-over): The White House described the sit-down, which included their chiefs of staff, as cordial and substantive.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President-elect, again, was gracious, came with a detailed set of questions.
SAENZ (voice-over): Trump telling the "New York Post" they, quote, "got to know each other again" and spoke about Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East. "I wanted to know his views on where we are and what he thinks," Trump said, "and he gave them to me."
The meeting restored a tradition last seen in 2016 when President Obama hosted the newly elected Trump at the White House.
BARACK OBAMA, THEN-U.S. PRESIDENT: We want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed, then the country succeeds.
SAENZ (voice-over): Trump shunned the protocol in 2020. Four years ago today, he publicly mused about who would occupy the White House, despite Biden winning the race.
TRUMP: Whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell. SAENZ (voice-over): Trump ultimately refused to concede, watched as
his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6th and skipped Biden swearing in.
Today's meeting a full circle moment for the two men who fiercely brawled in the 2024 race.
BIDEN: Most importantly, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, Trump is a threat to this nation.
TRUMP: He's a low IQ individual. Take his IQ. I guarantee you it's in the low 50's or 60's.
SAENZ (voice-over): With a historic handshake, Biden promising a peaceful transfer of power to his predecessor and now successor.
BIDEN: Looking forward to having a, like we said, smooth transition. Everything we can to make sure you're accommodated, what you need. We're going to get a chance to talk about some of that today.
TRUMP: That's good.
BIDEN: Welcome. Welcome back.
TRUMP: Thank you.
SAENZ: One person who did not come to the White House today was former first lady Melania Trump. First lady Jill Biden had extended an invitation for her to meet here at the White House the same day that president-elect Donald Trump came, but ultimately the former first lady decided not to come.
Sources had cited previous scheduling issues for the reason why she did not attend. But First Lady Jill Biden did present President-elect Trump with a handwritten note congratulating Melania Trump and saying that her team stands ready to help in the transition in any way.
But this decision not to travel to the White House for this customary meeting just highlights another example of the unconventional approach that Melania Trump has often taken to this role of First Lady. Sources say that she's unlikely to move to the White House full-time in her husband's second term in office.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Tim Naftali is a CNN presidential historian and the former director of the Nixon presidential library and he joins me now from New York. Appreciate you being with us.
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN AND FORMER DIRECTOR, NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY: Pleasure Rosemary.
[03:09:59] CHURCH: So let's start with the shock and awe of President-elect Donald Trump selecting Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general to head up the very department that investigated both of them. Even some Republicans are horrified. So what impact could Gaetz potentially have on the DOJ if he is confirmed?
NAFTALI: Well, he could have an enormous impact, but I want to step back and remind viewers that Donald Trump promised that he would do this, not that he would name Matt Gaetz. But he made it clear that he was intent on launching a vendetta against the so-called enemies within. And those enemies weren't simply in the Justice Department, but he believed that many of them were there.
So it makes perfect sense in his world that he chose an absolute loyalist to be, as he put it, his Roy Cohn or his Bobby Kennedy. In other words, he wanted someone who would follow what he needed done. We see a different mood, a different approach to Trump 2.0 so far than the first Trump administration.
The storm when drawn, the energy, the chaos was coming from him, from his words in the very beginning of his previous administration. In this case, it's his actions that are provocative and creating a sense of storm. And the actions are the appointments he's making. And Matt Gaetz fits into this sort of characterization of this Trump 2.0.
CHURCH: And before the Matt Gaetz news dropped, the Pentagon was reeling from news of another controversial pick from the day before, the selection of Fox host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary. He has never run anything and certainly nothing near the size of the defense department and some commanders are baffled. They're calling this an effing nightmare. What's your reaction?
NAFTALI: Well you can imagine that the head of the Pentagon, since the very first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal 1947, the head of the Pentagon has come from three basic buckets either it's somebody with military leadership experience either as military officer or as a civilian in a high at a high level of the Pentagon or you've had who are in one way or another responsible for Armed Services questions, whether appropriations or policy-related questions, or you've had defense intellectuals.
Hegseth fits in none of these categories. And Hegseth, who has a background as a military, he has been a military officer, but has never been a very important rank but it was not a very high level officer and he's never been a policymaker the Pentagon but he is a Fox personality who copy President's attention and the President is now rewarding him with the keys to the entire Pentagon.
CHURCH: And earlier Wednesday, President Joe Biden and President-elect Trump met for a sit-down meeting at the White House, a tradition Trump refused to follow when he was the outgoing president. What stood out to you in this rare moment of a president welcoming back his predecessor who plans to pretty much completely overhaul the government?
NAFTALI: Rosemary, what stood out to me about the meeting between President-elect Trump and President Biden today was how normal it was. In fact, how boring. Sometimes boring is good though, because it restores a tradition that was unbroken until four years ago when there wasn't a peaceful transition of power, when the president who had lost an election chose not to recognize the fact he had lost the election and tried to find a way to stay in office.
At that point, President Trump did not meet with President-elect Biden. He did everything he could to obstruct the transition to a Biden administration. So what we saw today was the way it's supposed to be the first time also since the 19th century that a former president was about to succeed a sitting president. And it was normal.
President Trump, President-elect Trump described the event as nice. He was grateful to President Biden for the courtesy that he showed him. And President-elect Trump said that he anticipated that the transition would be a smooth one. As if he cared about transitions. He didn't four years ago, but he does now. So it was the normal, normalness, if you will, of today.
[03:15:04]
The fact that it stuck with tradition, that it seemed to live up to expectations of an earlier era that made it so remarkable. It is something, isn't it, when the normal is remarkable?
CHURCH: It certainly is. Tim Naftali, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
NAFTALI: My pleasure Rosemary.
CHURCH: Authorities in Brazil are investigating two explosions outside the Supreme Court as a suicide attack. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first explosion was a car bomb from a car park not far from the Supreme Court building in Brasilia. The second explosion came from explosives tied to an attacker's body, police say. And we now know he actually tried to enter the Supreme Court building, wasn't able to, and detonated the explosives on the steps right outside the front door.
Authorities are investigating this as a suicide attack, but they're not releasing further information on the suspect quite yet. But we are learning from both Agencia Brasil, a government-run news agency, and CNN affiliate in Brazil, CNN Brazil, that the supposed attacker came from southern Brazil and in 2020 he had run for local office under former president Jair Bolsonaro's Partido Liberal, the Liberal Party.
Now that information CNN cannot independently verify. Now the context of this attack is very important. This is the same location where in January 8, 2023 protesters, supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed both the Supreme Court, the presidential palace and Congress violently. Hundreds of people were arrested then and president, former president
Jair Bolsonaro is still being investigated for his potential role in the attacks. Of course, this is also coming as Brazil readies to welcome world leaders ahead of the G20 in just five days.
Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The Philippines government reports what is now Typhoon Usagi has made landfall across the northern tip of the islands. Heavy rains and winds of 175 kilometers per hour have been battering the area. The storm has weakened slightly since making landfall.
This is the third typhoon to hit the north in just one week, but it won't be the last. A fourth storm further east over the Pacific is expected to strengthen to a typhoon in the coming hours and hit the Philippines sometime this weekend.
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Nearly a month's worth of rain fell in one hour in southern Spain Wednesday. Severe thunderstorms and torrential rain battered the Malaga area. Nearly 3,000 people and 1,000 homes have been evacuated and more rain is in the forecast.
Authorities have issued an orange warning for rain and announced that schools will be closed on Thursday. The same region was hit by deadly flooding that killed more than 220 people just two weeks ago.
Human Rights Watch has issued a new report focusing on what it says is Israel's mass and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, why it says this amounts to a war crime.
Plus more strikes reported in Lebanon as Israel announces it's expanding its military ground operation against Hezbollah. The details, just ahead.
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CHURCH: A new report by Human Rights Watch is shining a light on the displacement of the majority of civilians in Gaza, as Israel's war against Hamas shows no sign of ending. The report says Israel's actions have intentionally led to the forced mass displacement of Palestinians, which it describes as a widespread and systematic campaign that amounts to a war crime, crime against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
As of last month, the U.N. estimates more than 90 percent of Gaza's Palestinian population have been displaced. According to the report, the majority of civilian infrastructure has been destroyed, leaving much of Gaza uninhabitable. Human Rights Watch says Israel's evacuation system has not just failed
to keep Palestinians in Gaza safe, but instead put them in harm's way. The Israeli military is denying accusations in the report.
Lebanese state media reports a third straight day of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs. This comes one day after Israel's newly appointed defense minister says the country has expanded its military ground operation in southern Lebanon.
Meantime, a new report from the International Organization for Migration finds that nearly 900,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Lebanon since last October when tensions first flared between Israel and Hezbollah. The wave of displacement has surged since late September.
CNN's Nada Bashir joins us now live from London. Good morning to you Nada. So what is the latest on Israel's expanding ground operation in Lebanon?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there have been no clear details offered by Israel's newly appointed defense minister with regards to what this expanded ground operation will look like in southern Lebanon when it actually began or is due to begin and what we can expect to see in terms of Israel's military operations on the ground.
There is of course a huge amount of concern. Of course, we've already seen hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced across Lebanon, particularly in the southern area. We have seen the destruction of civilian areas, residential areas in the south of historical areas across the country.
So this is deeply troubling to hear that we are seeing an expansion despite efforts by members of the international community to push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. And of course, all this comes as we continue to see air strikes targeting parts of the country's capital, Beirut, focused on those southern suburbs.
For the third day in a row now, we have seen yet more Israeli air strikes targeting the southern suburbs, particularly the district of Burj al-Biraj, near the airport in Beirut. And as you mentioned, again, a huge displacement crisis not only in the south but across the country including in the capital where many have already fled their homes for their own protection.
The Israeli military did say that it issued an evacuation order ahead of what it described imminent strikes in the southern suburbs. It is an area that is known to be a Hezbollah stronghold. The Israeli military maintains it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure but important to underscore this is also a residential area crammed with residential buildings and high rise apartment blocks, so very troubling for the civilian population.
CHURCH: And Nada, what more can you tell us about the damning Human Rights Watch report on Gaza and of course Israel's reaction to it?
BASHIR: Well, Rosemary, this is a 154-page report published today by Human Rights Watch which details more than a year of widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip, of civilian infrastructure across the Gaza Strip and the mass displacement of more than 90 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million strong population.
It has described the mass displacement of Palestinians in Gaza as being part of a deliberate and systematic campaign which, according to Human Rights Watch, could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
They have cited the illegal and deliberate destruction, controlled demolitions of homes and civilian infrastructure. They've gone on to accuse Israel of attempting to create buffer zones or rather claiming to create buffer zones and security corridors in areas where civilians could potentially be permanently displaced.
[03:25:07]
We've heard from one Human Rights Watch researcher who has said, quote, "the Israeli government cannot claim to be keeping Palestinians safe when it kills them along escape routes, bomb so-called safe zones and cuts off food, water and sanitation." Of course, we've reported on multiple occasions now on civilians being targeted as they attempt to move through so-called safe corridors to access these humanitarian zones outlined by the Israeli military.
We have reported multiple times of course on the targeting of these humanitarian zones and the Israeli military has denied these allegations. They have said that Israel has committed to international law.
They said that there is no doctrine that aims at causing maximal damage to civilian infrastructure but this is not the first time that humanitarian organizations or U.N. investigators have accused the Israeli military of actions on the ground in Gaza that could amount to war crimes.
Whether we see any repercussions, any substantial actions, particularly from Israel's allies, remains to be seen at this stage somewhat unlikely given previous warnings that simply haven't been heeded.
CHURCH: Alright, our thanks to Nada Bashir, bringing us that live report from London.
Well, the report from Human Rights Watch comes a day after the U.S. State Department said Israel has not violated U.S. law and is making progress at improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza. But that assessment is in sharp contrast to the finding of eight aid groups that describe dire conditions in the enclave, where much of the aid is not being distributed.
Aid agencies have called the situation in northern Gaza apocalyptic, with areas in danger of imminent risk of famine as Israel continues its intense military offensive there.
And joining us now from Gaza City is Louise Wateridge, senior emergency officer with UNRWA, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. Appreciate you talking with us.
LOUISE WATERIDGE, SR. EMERGENCY OFFICER, UNRWA: Thank you.
CHURCH: So aid groups are accusing Israel of ignoring a United States ultimatum on Gaza aid, but the U.S. disagrees with that assessment and says there will be no consequences for Israel. What is your reaction to this?
WATERIDGE: There's simply not a humanitarian in Gaza right now that believes there is enough aid here for the 2.2 million population in need of everything. Not just for the last days and weeks, but for the 13-month duration of this brutal war.
We have never seen people have what they need. People are hungry. We are surrounded every day by people who beg for pieces of bread, who need clean access to water. It is just unbearable the situation that the population have been forced into and a lot of this can be resolved with a facilitation of a humanitarian response and we have just not seen that for 13 months.
CHURCH: So why do you think the U.S. disagrees with the assessment of aid agencies that Israel is violating the rules?
WATERIDGE: All we can say is what we see on the ground. Yesterday in Gaza City, I'm surrounded by families who have just been forcibly displaced for the 14th or 15th time. They are now sheltering in schools that have been bombed since they arrived. There is absolutely no hope.
I cannot speak for the political minds involved behind this war, but I can tell you what is happening on the ground. And we have been reporting day in and day out from Gaza the testimonies have been coming out. We are aware that international media has still restricted from being in the Gaza Strip, but that hasn't prevented testimonies and the live streaming of forced displacements, of killing, of children under the rubble, of hospitals decimated.
People around the world have been watching and have been informed what is going on. We now desperately call for action. We have been calling for action since this brutal war started and it has gone on far too long.
CHURCH: So what needs to happen next then in terms of action in Gaza? If the U.S. refuses to do anything, who will come to the aid of Palestinians? Who do you look to?
WATERIDGE: First and foremost, we need a ceasefire. We need political pressure and we need political will for there to be a ceasefire, for there to be a return of the hostages. These families need their loved ones home. It's been brutal for all civilians involved on both sides of this brutal war.
And the only way that this is going to happen is political will. It feels very hopeless here. There is not a lot of hope when you speak to people on the ground. Everybody says the same thing. They need everything, but they want the bombs to stop more than anything. They are broken.
[03:30:00]
When you speak to families here, that's the only way to really describe it now. People look soulless. They look destroyed by everything that's happened.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, there has been an election here in the United States, and as a consequence, Donald Trump will be the next U.S. president to take over in January, on the 20th, and he has made it quite clear that he is very much on the side of Israel. So it is very unlikely, I mean, there's very much frustration for the U.S. right now, but that will actually worsen, will it not, come the new year?
WATERIDGE: We will just keep reiterating our cause that we need more humanitarian access, we need more humanitarian supplies, and most of all we need the bonds and the strikes to stop. Every day here the first thing we do is check if our friends and colleagues are alive. We are seeing horrific things.
Yesterday on my journey, I'm seeing dogs eating in corpses. It is just hell on earth. That needs to change and there will only be stability in the region if there's stability starts here. So it's in everybody's interest to stop this war.
CHURCH: Louise Wateridge, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
Well the militant group Islamic Jihad has released a video of one of the hostages held in Gaza. It shows Russian-Israeli citizen Sasha Trufanov, who recently turned 29, marking his second birthday in captivity. It's unclear when the video was taken and he's likely speaking under duress.
Trufanov says hostages are running out of food and other necessities and he's afraid of being accidentally killed by Israeli troops. The Israeli group representing hostage families says the footage shows the remaining hostages need to be brought home urgently.
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The Dutch police arrested a number of pro-Palestinian protesters who defied a ban on holding rallies in Amsterdam on Wednesday. Their rally was peaceful but it followed several nights of clashes which came after attacks on Israeli soccer fans in the city last week.
Tensions are also high in Paris where protesters rallied against a gala organized by a far-right Israeli group on Wednesday. Security is extremely tight around the national stadium there as France and Israel's soccer teams prepare to take on each other today.
Well in the coming hours, thousands of officers will be deployed to ensure security in the city. CNN's Melissa Bell has the details from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A huge police presence will be around the Stade de France here in Paris on Thursday to ensure that the planned match between Israel and France goes ahead as peacefully as possible.
It had already been described as an event that was likely to attract tension, but the events of last week in Amsterdam, which saw more than 70 people arrested after a night of violence against Israeli fans in the Dutch capital, has led to renewed fears that these kind of sporting fixtures can become lightning rods for pro-Palestinian support, and possibly, as we saw in Amsterdam last week, tension and violence.
That's why French authorities are taking no chances. 4,000 policemen and women but also more than a thousand stewards in the Stade de France. 20,000 tickets have been sold rather than the 80,000 that can normally be taken inside at that stadium and any pro-Palestine signs have been banned. The only signs will be allowed are either Israeli or France flags.
The French authorities say that will be closely monitored. We saw earlier this week a basketball match in Greece attended by a Tel Aviv side where the fans had displayed large Free Palestine signs. That is the kind of expression of support that the French are keen to avoid this time.
At the match also on Thursday will not only be the French president but two former presidents, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. There we understand to show their opposition to any form of anti- Semitism.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Donald Trump has made his pick for attorney general. We will get reaction from a former White House attorney to the choice of controversial congressman Matt Gaetz.
Plus Russia attacks Ukraine's capital with missiles for the first time in weeks. Why those missile attacks are sparking fear in residents. That's just ahead.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. Want to check today's top stories for you?
A new report by Human Rights Watch says Israel's actions in Gaza have intentionally led to the forced mass displacement of the majority of civilians in the enclave. It describes it as a widespread and systematic campaign that amounts to a war crime, crime against humanity and ethnic cleansing. The Israeli military is denying accusations in the report.
Republicans have finally won enough seats to gain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. They captured the 218 seats needed to cross that threshold on Wednesday, even though a handful of races are still undecided. Democrats have won 208 seats, so the Republicans' majority remains razor thin.
Both parties are expressing surprise at Donald Trump's pick of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general. The Florida Republican has now resigned his seat in Congress, effectively ending a House ethics committee investigation into alleged sexual misconduct. Gaetz denies any wrongdoing.
CNN spoke earlier with former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb about Matt Gaetz. Here's what he had to say about Trump's pick for attorney general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ATTORNEY: This is just a shocking event and intentionally so. I mean, you know, he's a disruptor, Trump is. But Matt Gaetz is just simply unqualified both academically, professionally, ethically, morally and experiential. He has no business being in this conversation he doesn't have any you know leadership is quite contrary I mean the one thing he did his famous for you got eight votes for -- out of his own party which was deposing Kevin McCarthy.
You know when he walked into the White House when I was in the White House, you know, serious staffers you know throw red flags they look the other way and hope he wasn't there to visit him -- visit them.
So this is not it this is just not a serious choice this is a choice that is contemptuous I think anybody who served in the Justice Department historically and most of the people that are there today, you know, are deeply saddened by this and that diminishes the pride that with which they associate themselves with the Department of Justice. Hopefully this will be a chapter that passes quickly. Hopefully it won't even get to a hearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Another battle is brewing over Peter Hegseth, Donald Trump's pick to be defense secretary. Critics are blasting his lack of government experience and controversial positions on diversity and women in the military. CNN's Oren Lieberman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The next Secretary of Defense could reshape the entire military. Pete Hegseth, the 44-year-old Fox News host and Army veteran, emerged as a last- second surprise even to many in President-elect Donald Trump's orbit. In announcing the pick, Trump called him tough, smart and a true
believer in America first. On major policy issues facing the Pentagon, the Princeton and Harvard graduates' view comes across as blunt and short on specifics.
Take China.
[03:40:07]
PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS ANCHOR AND U.S. ARMY VETERAN: They have a full- spectrum long-term view of not just regional but global domination and we are, we have our heads up our (expletive).
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): And on Russia, Hegseth said he doesn't see President Vladimir Putin as a strategic threat to Europe.
HEGSETH: I think he's probably knows enough to know that he's probably not going much further than Ukraine.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): During his military career, Hegseth deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, receiving two bronze stars for his service. He also served at Guantanamo Bay and has defended the practice of waterboarding alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
A major in the Army National Guard, Hegseth, if confirmed, would go from mid-grade officer to running the agency he has railed against. Much of his commentary about the military has been an outright attack on its top leadership.
HEGSETH: They'll do any social justice gender climate extremism crap, because it gets a check to the next level and gets some close to the political appointees who don't know anything about the military really.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Hegseth has said a Trump administration should start by firing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General C.Q. Brown, a frequent right-wing target and only the second black man to be the head of the Joint Chiefs.
HEGSETH: Well, first of all, you've got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and you've got to fire this. I mean, obviously you're going to bring in a new secretary of defense.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Hegseth has also derided DEI, critical race theory and wokeness. He claimed in June that one-third of the country's most senior officers are complicit in the politicization of the military.
HEGSETH: I would say over a third are actively complicit and then you have a lot of grumblers who are sort of going along.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Hegseth has even questioned women serving in combat roles.
SHAWN RYAN, SCREENWRITER, PRODUCER, AND HOST OF "SHAWN RYAN SHOW": You don't like women in combat? HEGSETH: No.
RYAN: Why not?
HEGSETH: I love women service members who contribute amazingly because everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated and complication in combat means casualties or worse.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): In a 2016 interview, Hegseth also attacked Muslim immigrants who don't assimilate, in language echoing the anti- immigrant rhetoric of the far right.
On Secure Freedom Radio, he said, We have to be willing to confront those who won't assimilate to the ideas of our country and show allegiance to them, lest we find ourselves in a place where there's a silent invasion of groups of people who have a very different view of the future that looks nothing like America, nothing like freedom.
In 2019, Hegseth publicly pushed for service members accused of war crimes to be pardoned and praised President Trump when they were. Hegseth's defense of Trump includes denying the 2020 election results and broadcasting those claims on the mall on January 6th before the riot.
LIEBERMANN: Despite Hegseth's controversial positions on a number of different issues here, he has perhaps the most important qualification to get through the confirmation process and become President-elect Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense, and that is loyalty to what would be his commander-in-chief.
Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon.
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CHURCH: China is reportedly seeing a political opening after Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. and it may try to exploit it at the APEC summit in Peru where the two countries' leaders are set to meet again. That's just ahead.
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[03:45:00]
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CHURCH: A series of blasts rocked Ukraine's capital Wednesday morning as Russia bombed Kyiv with missiles for the first time since August. Ukraine says air defenses intercepted two cruise missiles and two ballistic missiles, along with dozens of attack drones.
And one man in the Kyiv region was wounded by falling debris. The city has endured nightly drone assaults for weeks. Residents fear a major attack could be expected, cripple Ukraine's damaged energy infrastructure even further ahead of winter.
Well meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reassuring allies that the Biden administration is doing all it can to support Ukraine before Donald Trump enters the White House. Blinken met with NATO's Secretary General in Brussels. He says the outgoing U.S. administration is working to ensure Ukraine gets the aid it's been promised so it can come to the negotiating table with Russia from a position of strength.
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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've obligated just recently and pushed out the door. Another $8 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, that was in September. Another almost half a billion dollars just a few weeks ago. And President Biden is committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and January 20th.
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CHURCH: The U.S. Secretary of State also met with his Ukrainian counterpart who is asking allies for more aid, especially as Russia bolsters its forces with thousands of North Korean troops. The U.S., Ukraine and South Korea all say those fighters are already engaging in battle. Antony Blinken assured Ukraine that the U.S. will issue a firm response to North Korea's involvement in the war.
Well planet heating pollution is set to hit an all-time high this year, according to a new study from the University of Exeter. The experts who wrote it say global emissions from coal, oil and gas are all projected to increase. It comes as many expect 2024 to be the hottest year on record and experts say the trends show no sign of stopping.
Meantime, Argentina is pulling itself out of the COP29 climate conference, where delegates are supposed to be working on those issues. President Javier Melei has recalled the country's delegates from the conference. That's according to a government source. It comes as he prepares to meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump later this week.
World leaders are gathering in Peru where the annual APEC summit is getting underway, but diplomats say much of the focus will be on one person who's not even there, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who pledged to slap tariffs on both friends and foes.
Experts say Beijing smells opportunity in Trump's election victory, and it will try to divide the U.S. and its allies while presenting itself as a more stable alternative to Washington.
And for more, Marc Stewart joins us now live from Beijing. Good to see you again, Marc. So what is expected out of this APEC summit with China's growing influence in Latin America?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi again Rosemary. You know this conference hasn't even started and already the United States and China are dominating the headlines as these 21 different world leaders or representatives from 21 different countries gather in Peru. And it comes at a time when China is trying to assert its power around
the world almost as an alternative to the United States. In fact, it's made a lot of investment in Latin America.
So as China begins to hold meetings, whether they be formal or on the sidelines, it is most likely going to send a message that as the United States enters a new chapter with the incoming Trump administration and its America first policies, that it may not necessarily be a good idea to solely align yourself with the United States as you have in the past. That's the message it will make to other nations.
And that there could be some benefits in partnering and having conversations with China. So China definitely sees this as an opportunity. And Rosemary, we really have seen China try to establish itself as an amicable diplomatic force.
In recent months, we have seen it allow for visa free travel for tourists from some European countries. We also have seen the resumption of trilateral talks between China, Japan and South Korea.
[03:50:02]
All of these are overtures to try and get some new views, new eyes on its policy and views of the world, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And Marc, what might come out of the meeting on Saturday between President Biden and his Chinese counterpart?
STEWART: Right, I think very safe to say one of the most anticipated moments out of this entire gathering. Expect China to try to portray the message that it is very much open to discussion, diplomacy, and communication as well as stability.
Because I think it is safe to say that Beijing is definitely having flashbacks to the first Trump administration when many diplomats here wonder what was coming next. You know despite some frosty moments between the United States, including the Biden administration, it's at a point now where there are regular diplomatic talks.
We've seen Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen come to Beijing, as well as National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and that there is room for common ground on issues such as control of fentanyl and climate change. It's a message that Beijing will certainly try to project this weekend, hoping that this incoming administration, which may likely be filled with China critics, to let them know that is an approach they certainly would like to see continue. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Alright. Our thanks to Marc Stewart for bringing us that live report from Beijing. I Appreciate it.
Still to come, police dig into the case of a missing kayaker and find shocking information from the day he disappeared. We will tell you how a presumed death began to unravel.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: A missing man from the U.S. state of Wisconsin is now believed to have faked his death and fled the country. Police are asking the man, who is a husband and a father, to come forward and explain the bizarre findings made after his disappearance. CNN's Whitney Wild has more details.
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WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Green Lake, Wisconsin, in the middle of August, sheriff's deputies began searching for missing kayaker Ryan Borgwardt. The husband and father of three had been on a fishing trip about an hour north of his home and never returned.
They found his capsized kayak, car, and other belongings, his set of keys, wallet, license, even his fishing rod and tackle box turned up, but no Borgwardt.
SHERIFF MARK PODOLL, GREAT LAKE COUNTY, WISCONSIN: We continued our search throughout and it continued through 54 days.
WILD (voice-over): Keith Cormican is a diver for the nonprofit organization Bruce's Legacy. They assist in recovery operations for drowning accidents.
KEITH CORMICAN, DIRECTOR/DIVER, BRUCE'S LEGACY: I had been on the water for actually 23 days. I had about probably eight to 10 days of just reviewing the data.
WILD (voice-over): Local and state authorities along with volunteers also helped in the search using high-end sonar equipment, drones, even cadaver dogs. But Borgwardt's body never turned up. So the Green Lake County Sheriff's Department pursued a different theory. Borgwardt faked his own death and fled the U.S.
Sheriff Mark Podoll says a digital forensic search of Borgwart's laptop revealed that he replaced the hard drive and cleared his browser history on the day of the disappearance. And there's more.
Investigators found that the 44-year-old moved funds to a foreign bank, changed his email, communicated with a woman in Uzbekistan, purchased airline cards and took out a $375,000 life insurance policy in January.
[03:55:08]
The Sheriff's Office says deputies later discovered that Canadian officials ran Borgwardt's passport the day after he was reported missing.
PODOLL: Due to these discoveries of the new evidence, we were sure that Ryan was not in our lake.
WILD (voice-over): Podoll says they don't know who the woman in Uzbekistan is, but they believe Borgwardt is likely in Eastern Europe. His department is also investigating if any crimes were committed and if anyone assisted, no charges have been filed. In the meantime, Podoll has a message for Borgwardt.
PODOLL: Get a hold of us. Get a hold of us and let us know that you're okay. People forgive, but it's important that we get him back here.
WILD: The sheriff said that in his many decades of experience in law enforcement, he has never seen a case quite like this.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.
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CHURCH: Florence has become the latest Italian city trying to curb so- called over-tourism after a dramatic surge in visitors in recent years. Officials have approved a plan to restrict lockboxes, often used by short-term rental landlords and golf carts used by tour guides. It will also ban the use of loudspeakers and amplifiers.
The move comes as Florence gets ready to host tourism ministers from the G7 Group. Nearly 8 million people have visited Florence in the first nine months of this year. Pompeii, Venice and Rome have also taken steps to limit mass tourism.
And now get ready for some cuteness overload. A couple in Australia say they were shocked, scared, happy and excited when they came home and found a koala in their bedroom. The wife recorded video and posted it on social media with the caption, Only in Australia.
The video shows the koala sitting on the floor, then hopping onto a bedside table and the bed. They think the koala might have snuck inside through the pet door. It left after the husband used a sweater to try to guide it outside. Koalas rarely attack people. They're mostly found in the east and southeast of Australia. Very cute.
Thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane is next in London.
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