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Trump Lauds RFK Jr., Predicts He'll Do 'Unbelievable Thing'; Trump Taps Loyalists with Dubious Credentials for Key Jobs; Biden Arrives in Peru with Specter of Trump Looming Large; Report: Israel's Mass Displacement in Gaza Amounts to War Crime; Gaetz Praises One of the World's Most Brutal Prisons. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired November 15, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everybody. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

[00:00:15]

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump taps a vaccine skeptic as health secretary, one of a number of controversial picks for his cabinet.

Human Rights Watch is saying that Israel is committing war crimes, pointing to the deliberate and massive displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.

And we'll take you inside one of the world's most brutal prisons. A CNN exclusive.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: Donald Trump pushing ahead with plans to reward loyalists with plum positions in his cabinet, despite intense doubts over many of their qualifications.

The latest provocative pick is known vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump wants to put in charge of the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services.

Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius blasted the choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, FORMER HHS SECRETARY: To have someone coming into a scientific agency that is a vaccine skeptic and may well undo decades of public health work, I think is terrifying for the American public, who rely on HHS from cradle to grave for resources for information for public health, for oversight of our food and medicines.

And that, to me, is -- is a very frightening aspect for the American public. (END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: During a, quote, "America First" gala at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, Trump accused Democrats of not treating RFK Jr. well and then predicted he would do, quote, "some unbelievable things" and joked, "Don't get too popular."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We want you to come up with things and ideas and what you've been talking about for a long time. And I think you're going to do some unbelievable thing. Nobody -- nobody's going to be able to do it like you. And boy, does he feel it in his heart.

So, congratulations, also, to your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: While at the podium, Trump also announced Doug Burgum as his choice for secretary of the interior. The North Dakota governor ran unsuccessfully against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

Other recent selections include Trump's own criminal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, to be the No. 2 lawyer at the Justice Department; and Doug Collins, a former Georgia congressman, tapped to become Veterans Affairs secretary.

But it's the thought of RFK Jr. in charge of America's health that seems to be causing the most alarm at the moment. CNN's Brian Todd, with a closer look at his many controversies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I'm going to let him go wild on health. I'm going to let him go wild on the food. I'm going to let him go wild on medicines.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The person Donald Trump's going to let go wild. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the 70-year-old son of Democratic icon Robert Kennedy and has become known mostly for espousing outlandish false conspiracy theories about the COVID virus.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (I), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and -- and -- and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and -- and Chinese.

TODD (voice-over): And he's repeatedly, baselessly, called the COVID- 19 vaccines unsafe.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There could be widespread disinformation to the public about what they should or shouldn't be doing in terms of their public health.

TODD (voice-over): The co-chair of Trump's transition team told CNN's Kaitlan Collins this about what Kennedy might try to do with the COVID vaccines that are in place now, which have been proven to be mostly safe. HOWARD LUTNICK, CO-CHAIR, TRUMP-VANCE TRANSITION TEAM: He says, if you

give me the data, all I want is the data. And I'll take on the data and show that it's not safe and that, if you pull the product liability, the companies will yank these vaccines right off -- off of the market.

TODD (voice-over): In May of this year, it was revealed that Kennedy once claimed in a deposition that a parasitic worm had once entered his brain and died, which he said led to, quote, "severe brain fog" and trouble with his short-term memory.

He actually joked about it.

KENNEDY: Maybe a brain worm ate that part of my memory.

TODD (voice-over): Earlier this year, in a rambling video posted on X, Kennedy admitted that about ten years ago, he was driving in upstate New York when he found the carcass of a dead bear that had been hit by a vehicle.

KENNEDY: So, I pulled over, and I picked up the bear and put him in the back of my van, because I was going to skin the bear.

TODD (voice-over): But Kennedy said he got sidetracked by several events that day, couldn't go home, didn't know what to do with the bear.

So, he decided to leave the carcass in New York's Central Park and make it look like a bike accident.

KENNEDY: So, we went and did that, and we thought it would be amusing for whoever found it or something.

LARRY SABATO, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: The whole story, the wild, weird story that RFK Jr. told about the bear cub and how it got into Central Park has really made an impact and not a positive one for him.

TODD (voice-over): This summer, an article in "Vanity Fair" had a photo of Kennedy appearing to pantomime eating a dog carcass. Kennedy denied it was a dog.

KENNEDY: It's actually me eating a goat in Patagonia.

TODD (voice-over): That same "Vanity Fair" article published allegations that Kennedy had sexually assaulted a former nanny for his family. Kennedy sidestepped the accusations.

KENNEDY: I am not a church boy.

TODD: Robert Kennedy Jr. has already floated ideas for major turnover at public health agencies. In one recent interview, he said he would cut the number of employees in nutrition departments at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

And at a recent conference, he proposed replacing about 600 officials at the National Institutes of Health with hand-picked staff.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A Republican senator warning that Trump's highly contentious choice for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, will have a very difficult path to confirmation.

There are growing calls for the release of an ethics report into the former congressman. Gaetz had been the subject of a years-long sex crimes investigation, but the Justice Department ultimately decided not to pursue criminal charges.

The House Ethics Committee was expected to release its long-awaited report on Gaetz in the day ahead but suddenly canceled that meeting. And it's now uncertain whether that information will ever be made public.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Jamie Metzl is a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council. He's also the author of "Super Convergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and A.I. Revolutions will Transform our Lives, Work, and World."

It's good to see you, sir. I guess if we wanted a preview of Trump 2.0, we just need to look at these appointments. The main ones: attorney general, Gaetz. You've got Health and Human Services secretary, RFK Jr; DNI, Tulsi Gabbard; defense secretary, Hegseth.

What are the risks of picking loyalists over substance, fealty over qualification to do these top jobs?

JAMIE METZL, SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Thank you, Michael.

These are really important jobs. In the early days of the Trump appointments -- John Ratcliffe, Marco Rubio -- I started to think, Hey, maybe this isn't going to be as bad as some of us had feared.

But now, seeing some of these appointments, what it really looks -- it almost feels like sabotage. I mean, to put somebody like Matt Gaetz in charge of the Justice Department, given all of his issues of pedophilia and drug use; and Tulsi Gabbard, who has been praising America's adversaries; made a secret trip to meet with Assad, spreading lies and what Mitt Romney has called dangerous falsehoods about America and America's actions.

It almost feels like some of these appointments are trying to burn these institutions to the ground from the inside, which is what some people in the Trump camp are saying.

And the real question for us in the United States is not whether these people are qualified for these jobs. Some of them are, as I mentioned, but some of them very clearly are not.

It's whether we still have a functioning United States Senate that can review these kinds of appointments. If we do at least check, the checks and balances of our system, might -- might apply. But if not, this is going to be a real blow to our democracy.

HOLMES: Yes. Russian state television was calling Tulsi Gabbard an asset. So, I mean that's a good start for your director of national intelligence.

You mentioned Matt Gaetz. I mean, he could be. And the whole Senate thing is important. He could be rejected in a Senate confirmation process.

But how much pressure would Republican senators be under now when it comes to confirming these choices? Bearing in mind that Trump can, at least initially, postpone confirmation hearings with recess appointments?

METZL: There's huge pressure on particularly Republican senators.

Yes, there's the issue of recess appointments. If recess appointments become the norm, that is -- is basically abrogating the role of the United States Senate in our Constitution.

But even more than that, Senate -- Senator Tommy Tuberville has threatened to primary any Republican senators who oppose any of the Trump picks. And there are rumors swirling around that Elon Musk will fund those primary challenges.

So, the question is, are there enough Republican senators who have the patriotism and the backbone to help steer a safer course for America?

HOLMES: Yes. I mean, all of these are controversial. The ones we've laid out.

Tulsi Gabbard, in particular, having the keys to national intelligence, given her history with Russia. And as you pointed out, Syria.

Given, particularly, her pick, do you think allies are going to be reluctant to be sharing intel with the U.S., with people like Gabbard at the helm of government?

[00:10:08]

METZL: Not only think. I know that's the case. I'm already receiving reports from British intelligence, expressing deep concerns about sharing information with the United States.

Even before these, these appointments, there have been so many horrendous leaks in U.S. intelligence. But if there are people who are felt to be, whether even rightly or wrongly, felt to be sympathetic to our adversaries, you can only assume that people are going to have second thoughts.

And that's the key point. The -- the Department of National Intelligence was created after 9/11, because the lack of sharing of information put America at risk.

So, we have that issue domestically. But certainly, in the Five Eyes intelligence community, that international sharing is what keeps us safe. If we don't trust each other, if people feel just like the Israelis may, because their -- their sensitive information was leaked.

They can't share information. Then we are all going to be at greater risk. These -- this is not a game. I think a lot of people feel like it's a burn the house down. It's like a video game.

This is really serious. These are very serious positions. These are the people who are going to be the president's cabinet around him, making fundamental decisions with huge implications for America and the world.

HOLMES: Yes, yes, yes. I think people sometimes look at Trump and think it's a reality show. It is not.

I mean, this time around to that point, as opposed to last time, in a way, he's in a kind of echo chamber now, surrounded by the faithful. He's in full control of Congress.

There aren't the proverbial adults in the room who were there last time around. Some say these picks are a test of sorts. If he gets away with these nominations, then he will know he can go further. Would you agree with that?

METZL: I completely agree. If the Senate can't hold the line, if -- if it turns out that we don't have a functional legislative branch that's able to fulfill its responsibilities.

Already, there are questions about the legitimacy of some of the members, the currently seated members of the of the Supreme Court as a result of -- of Republican politicization of the court.

Every -- every big society, every great empire has started to have issues, and there's no natural floor. People feel there's a natural floor for a democracy falling apart, but there really isn't. Lots of democracies have fallen apart. Lots of societies have fallen apart. Empires have -- have fallen apart.

And America is not built on -- on some kind of rock-solid foundation. The foundation is our culture. It's our norms, our structures, our institutions. It's people coming together to build a future.

If we have cabinet officials, no less, who are -- who see their primary goal as either going to war with the American government or expressing fealty to the authoritarian -- a potentially authoritarian president of the United States above their responsibility to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, we are really in trouble.

And when America is in trouble, the world is in trouble.

HOLMES: Always good to get your thoughts. Although actually, I'm not sure. I do feel good now. Jamie Metzl, thank you so much, as always. METZL: Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: Well, "The New York Times" now reporting Elon Musk met with Iran's ambassador to the U.N. this week.

The talks between the world's richest person and the Iranian envoy, Amir Iravani, were apparently held at a secret location. According to the newspaper, Iranian officials said the discussion was focused on how to defuse tensions between the two countries.

A U.S. official says the Biden administration was not given any heads up about the meeting. Musk has been chosen to head up a newly conceived Department of Government Efficiency, which isn't a department under Trump, but is not a current government official.

And it's not clear why he would or should be involved in foreign policy conversations, especially with an adversary of the U.S.

And the U.S. president, Joe Biden, has arrived in Peru for the APEC summit with its focus on Asia Pacific economic cooperation. The president will seek to reassure leaders who are talking about how to insulate their economies against potential challenges posed by President-elect Donald Trump and his policies.

In particular, Biden is going to be meeting with Chinese President Xi on Saturday. What reassurance there will be remains an open question.

CNN's Steven Jiang is following developments for us live from Beijing. Always good to see you, Steven.

Joe Biden really in the lame duck phase now of his presidency. But APEC is important. And this will be an important meeting with China's President Xi. What can we expect?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Michael. This is very likely their final meeting.

And as you said, the election result in the U.S., of course, very much looming large. And some of the more recent personnel announcements, as you were discussing with Jamie, also of course, coloring the meeting with, for example, Marco Rubio being nominated as the next -- next secretary of state and Mike Waltz being Trump's new national security advisor. And these are very much known China hawks in Washington.

So, this is going to color this meeting, as well.

But from the Biden administration's perspective going into this meeting, their bottom line is, no matter who is in the White House, this tough and complicated relationship between two superpowers needs to be managed.

That's why, they say, the president, the U.S. president, is expected to highlight some of the progress they have made in recent months, including the resumption of military-to-military dialogs, as well as the joint efforts in cracking down global fentanyl trade. Of course, they're going to continue to raise U.S. concerns and allegations, ranging from China's support for Russia, as well as the recent alleged hacking of U.S. infrastructure, not to mention Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Now from Beijing's perspective, they're going into this more trying to project this image of stability and China's global leadership. The message being China is now the biggest certainty in the world full of growing uncertainties, especially with Trump's impending return.

Now, of course, they are worried about these potential massive tariffs on China's imports, as threatened by Trump during the campaign.

But I think what has angered them, perhaps, more in the past few years, is Biden's approach of forming this united front with allies and partners, targeting China on numerous issues.

So, from that perspective, the -- Trump's philosophy -- philosophy of America first, going alone in foreign policy, is still seen as potentially strategically beneficial to them.

Now, of course, Chinese officials have told us they're very much prepared to deal with a very different Trump administration, and they are not going to take anything he throws their way lying down.

And the fact, of course, this is all happening in Peru is not lost on people. China just unveiled a multi-billion-dollar mega port built by a state-owned shipping company. And that, of course, is very much a testament of China's growing economic clout in the region, replacing the U.S. as the biggest trading partner with the growing numbers -- growing number of Latin American countries just in the past two decades and so.

And that kind of inroads China has made economically, many analysts have said, will eventually turn into their strategic -- strategic advantage, as well.

So, that's something, I think, they're very much mindful, as well -- Michael.

HOLMES: All right. Good preview there. Thank you very much. Steven Jiang in Beijing.

Now, a major accusation against Israel coming from Human Rights Watch. The group says Israel is carrying out a mass campaign of displacement in Gaza, claiming it amounts to war crimes. That story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:20:04]

HOLMES: A mass displacement of Palestinians amounting to a war crime and crime against humanity. That's what a new report by Human Rights Watch is accusing Israel of doing in Gaza.

It says the campaign includes deliberate and systematic demolition of homes and infrastructure in what Israel apparently sees as its future buffer zones, as they put it.

The end result, according to the report, is that some Palestinians will never be able to come back home, which critics say has been the plan all along. Israel strongly denies the accusations. Jeremy Diamond, now with details.

And a warning: Some images in his report are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For more than a year, this scene has played out in Gaza, day after day, on an endless loop.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, forced to flee their homes in an elusive quest for safety, spurred by Israeli bombs and missiles, as well as military evacuation orders.

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: For your immediate safety, we urge all residents of Northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily relocate South.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Israeli officials say these leaflets and the other warnings are evidence of its efforts to minimize civilian casualties.

Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based watchdog, says Israel's evacuation system has not only failed to keep Palestinians safe, but amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a 154-page report analyzing 184 evacuation orders, Human Rights Watch concluded that Israel's actions have intentionally caused the mass enforced displacement of the majority of the civilian population of Gaza.

The report calls Israel's evacuation orders inconsistent, inaccurate, and frequently not communicated to civilians with enough time to allow evacuations and says designated evacuation routes and safe zones were repeatedly attacked by the Israeli military.

NADIA HARDMAN, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: I've spoken to people who, yes, they saw the evacuation orders to leave, but they couldn't follow them, because the attacks had already started.

The routes that they were told to take to get to so-called safe areas were being bombarded at the same time, and once they got to those safe areas, they weren't safe.

Attacks that we verified happened in those so-called safe zones.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The Israeli military said its evacuation orders are part of "significant efforts to mitigate harm to civilians," and that it is "committed to international law and operates accordingly."

The United Nations estimates 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced during the war, more than 90 percent of Gaza's population.

Today, Northern Gaza is the focus of that displacement, as the Israeli military mounts one of its most devastating offensives yet.

This woman says Israeli loudspeakers blasted a warning to residents: "It was saying either get out or die, one of the two. So, we left with our children, taking only what we could carry." She says they left without food or water, just the clothes on their backs.

Fleeing is one thing. Finding safety is something else altogether. Yet another school turned shelter for the displaced was struck Thursday by the Israeli military.

Emergency rescue officials say four people were killed, including two children. Yet another reminder that nowhere in Gaza is truly safe.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Joining me now from Amman, Jordan, Shaina Low is communication adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

It's always good to see you. The head of your organization, Jan Egeland, was recently in Gaza, and he found it almost impossible to put into -- into words. He said it was something like out of Stalingrad, the destruction beyond belief, humanity being erased.

Can you describe what's happening to civilians in Gaza right now?

SHAINA LOW, COMMUNICATION ADVISOR, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: Civilians in Gaza are continuing to be pushed from place to place.

We're seeing in in North Gaza, in particular, a very tight siege that has allowed very little, if any, food, water, medicine to somewhere around 75,000 people.

We, as aid agencies, have not been able to get sufficient aid in for the last year but have seen the number of aid trucks entering Gaza drop precipitously in the month of October. Starvation is on the rise.

People continue to die. Even that school that was mentioned in -- in the report just before I came on, we've been water trucking to that school. And that is the second time that it's been hit in just a couple of weeks.

HOLMES: Yes.

LOW: These are civilians trying to seek safety, but they know that there simply is no safe place in Gaza.

HOLMES: The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, sent a letter recently to the Israeli government, demanding Israel improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days; set out steps.

[00:25:08]

That deadline is long past. None of the demands have been met. U.S. law bans supply of weapons when humanitarian aid is being deliberately blocked.

What does the U.S. need to do now, is obligated to do, in light of those demands being ignored?

LOW: Well, U.S. law is extremely clear. When American humanitarian assistance is being obstructed, military aid must be stopped to the offending party.

And in this case, we've seen time and again the Biden administration just completely neglect their obligations under even domestic law, let alone international law, and continue to pump weapons to Israel that are killing civilians and destroying Palestinian infrastructure.

HOLMES: Human Rights Watch, as we just said, we reported on, you know, saying Israel, massive displacement of Palestinians, quote, "deliberate demolitions of homes and infrastructure" as "a systematic campaign that amounts to a war crime and a crime about -- against humanity. That it fits the definition of ethnic cleansing."

The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" openly called what's happening in Northern Gaza ethnic cleansing. How would you define what's happened and continues to happen?

LOW: Well, we've come to similar conclusions. And we've been saying since that first so-called evacuation order, which in fact, does not meet the legal definition of an evacuation, on October 13th of last year, that civilians have been forcibly transferred.

This is a war crime. And in the case of when it's done at a massive scale, as we've seen in Gaza, this is a crime against humanity.

We've seen that civilians are not being able to flee safely, that the places that they're being told to flee to are not safe and do not provide adequate supplies to sustain human life.

And we've seen, through Israeli efforts, that -- that they are making that there is no opportunity and will be no opportunity for many of these civilians to return home once hostilities have ended.

HOLMES: Yes, a lot of people think that this is a clearing out of the Northern sector of Gaza, and it will not be repopulated by Palestinians.

Donald Trump has, in the past, said Israel should, his words were "finish the job." Now that he's won the election, do you think that's what we're seeing? An empowered Netanyahu government, quote, "finishing the job" in Gaza, no matter the human cost?

LOW: It -- it appears that way. I mean, we've seen, even under the Biden administration, very little, if any, restraint from the Israelis in terms of the way that they are conducting hostilities.

And I -- it appears, with the people that Trump has selected for his administration and already announced this week, and -- and the actions that we've seen the Netanyahu government take, that they really do feel emboldened; that they can do whatever they want, continue to violate international humanitarian law without any accountability or consequence.

HOLMES: Norwegian Refugee Council certainly trying to do its part. Shaina Low in Amman, appreciate you and the work of your organization.

LOW: Thank you.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, no sign of Israel letting up in the war's other front.

Lebanon officials say at least 43 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the country on Thursday. More than 90 others wounded.

Hezbollah says it struck back, launching 30 strikes on Israel and its troops in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Syria's state news agency says Israel hit two targets in and near Damascus, killing 15 people on Thursday; 16 others reportedly wounded.

Israel claims it went after targets held by the militant group Islamic Jihad.

U.S. attorney general pick Matt Gaetz has praised a brutal prison in El Salvador as a model for the U.S. Well, CNN got exclusive access to the facility, known as the worst of the worst.

We'll show you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:31:26]

HOLMES: President-elect Donald Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general, Matt Gaetz, would oversee U.S. prisons if he's confirmed.

Back in July, Gaetz took a tour of one of the world's most brutal prisons and suggested it should be a model for the U.S. Now, this prison is where El Salvador keeps the, quote, "worst of the worst": murderers, rapists, and gang members, including some who were deported from the U.S.

El Salvador's president released a video of some of Gaetz's comments after visiting the facility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT GAETZ (R), FORMER REPRESENTATIVE FROM FLORIDA: There's a lot more discipline in this prison than we see in a lot of the prisons in the United States. This is the solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, CNN is the first major news organization to gain access to the prison system that Gaetz has been praising. Our David Culver takes you inside for this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. We're going to go in here.

CULVER (voice-over): Even as I'm stepping through these doors, I don't fully grasp what we're about to walk into.

Suddenly, you're hit with the intense gaze of dozens locking onto you. These men, described as the worst of the worst, tattooed with reminders of El Salvador's dark past. It's tense and uncomfortable, but here, officials say comfort isn't meant to exist.

CULVER: There's no mattresses. There's no sheets. You've got a toilet over here for them to go to the bathroom. You've got this basin here that they use to bathe themselves.

And then you can see there there's a barrel of water that they can drink from.

CULVER (voice-over): This is a rare look inside El Salvador's terrorism confinement center, known as CECOT.

CULVER: And he says there's always somebody standing here in front of the cells.

And then, if you look up, there's another corridor with more security personnel.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Twenty-four/seven light.

CULVER (voice-over): The prison sits like an isolated fortress, nestled in mountainous terrain, about an hour and a half drive from the capital.

Even with government officials on board with us, we're stopped a mile out.

CULVER: OK. He's going to inspect the bags now, too.

OK, we're clear to get back in.

CULVER (voice-over): Only to hit another checkpoint.

Approaching the main gate, our cell signals vanish.

CULVER: They want to do a full search on us before we enter.

CULVER (voice-over): Once cleared, we tour the vast campus.

CULVER: It's been equated to seven football stadiums. It's almost multiple prisons within the prison. You can see off to the distance, there's three different rings as they describe.

The far end, you have one that's nine meters high of concrete. And then above that, three meters of electrified fencing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 15,000 volts.

CULVER: Fifteen thousand volts.

CULVER (voice-over): More than a thousand security personnel -- guards, police, and military -- are stationed on site.

Inmates are assigned to one of eight sectors.

CULVER: The director tells me the inmates, once they're inside one of these sectors, they never leave. Everything is done within, including doctors as well as legal visits or court hearings.

CULVER (voice-over): Each sector holds more than two dozen large cells.

CULVER: Roughly 80 inmates per cell, but it can fluctuate.

CULVER (voice-over): Most bear the markings of the gangs that held this nation hostage for decades, committing brutal acts of violence.

MARVIN VASQUEZ, PRISONER: You've got to kill people. You've got to rob. You've got to do what you've got to do to survive.

CULVER: You have to do those things?

VASQUEZ: Yes, you've got to do that.

CULVER (voice-over): We meet 41-year-old Marvin Vasquez, shackled and heavily guarded.

[00:35:03]

CULVER: What gang were you part of?

VASQUEZ: MS-13.

CULVER: And do you have any gang affiliations?

VASQUEZ: Yes, I'm tattooed up.

CULVER: What is this?

VASQUEZ: Crazy Criminals. Say Crazy Criminals. Yes, I made this clique (ph) in 2011.

CULVER: You made the clique (ph)?

VASQUEZ: Yes.

CULVER: You were a gang leader.

VASQUEZ: Yes.

CULVER: What is it like to -- to live here? VASQUEZ: It's probably not a hotel five star, but they give you the

three times the food. They give you some programs. You go to -- you go to do exercise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

VASQUEZ: Some church religion programs, too.

CULVER: But that's limited to just 30 minutes a day. The other 23.5 hours, they're kept inside and locked up.

CULVER (voice-over): For inmates who get violent with other prisoners or guards --

CULVER: We're going to close the door. I just want to get a sense of -- wow.

CULVER (voice-over): Solitary confinement awaits.

CULVER: The only light you get is through this hole, and it can be in here for 15 days, potentially.

All right, I'm ready to get out.

The director brought up that a lot of folks will raise concerns from a human rights perspective, an abuse of human rights. That he's calm hearing that, because he sees it day to day, the process they go through to maintain, as he sees it, proper punishment.

CULVER (voice-over): While you're cut off from society here, whispers of life on the outside make their way in.

VASQUEZ: I've heard about it, that it's a new El Salvador. It looks different.

NAYIB ARMANDO BUKELE ORTEZ, PRESIDENT, EL SALVADOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CULVER (voice-over): That new El Salvador has emerged under President Nayib Bukele, who took office in 2019 and declared a controversial state of emergency more than two years ago, it sparked an aggressive crackdown on crime.

We see that firsthand as some 2,500 police and soldiers deploy into one neighborhood.

CULVER: It's going to go on through the night for however long it takes for them to root out any suspected criminal elements.

CULVER (voice-over): Critics argue Bukele's strategy has given him far-reaching power to suppress dissent and silence any opposition.

Late last week, as the U.S. State Department lowered its travel advisory for El Salvador, citing a significant reduction in crime, it also warned that Bukele's emergency measures allow authorities to arrest anyone suspected of gang activity and suspends constitutional rights.

And yet, most we meet seem unfazed by the added show of force.

CULVER: I asked him, I said, how do you feel with all these soldiers? I mean, there's a couple of dozen just right outside his door.

And he said, "No, I feel safe."

CULVER (voice-over): El Salvador now has one of the world's highest incarceration rates, the most hardened criminals brought to CECOT, where inside, a life sentence awaits.

VASQUEZ: We did bad things. We paid the rough way, doing time.

CULVER (voice-over): And yet, for many on the outside, the prison now a symbol of newfound freedom, the new El Salvador as they see it.

David Culver, CNN, El Salvador.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Coming up here on the program, Maori members of New Zealand's Parliament protest a bill that many fear would set back the rights of the indigenous.

Also, the Philippines bracing for yet another typhoon. The latest on what is a busy weather season, after the break.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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HOLMES: Maori members of New Zealand's Parliament staging a haka to disrupt the vote on a bill that many claim would undermine their rights.

The measure is based on an 1840 treaty between the British crown and Maori chiefs, and it still guides policy today. This bill would limit interpretations of the treaty, and some argue it's led to discrimination against non-indigenous citizens.

Protests are ongoing across the country, but with little support from political parties, the bill is unlikely to become law.

The Philippines caught in the middle of a record-breaking typhoon season. Tropical Storm Man-yi, has now strengthened into a typhoon with the potential to rapidly intensify. It's expected to make landfall this weekend, and it will be the country's fourth typhoon in just 11 days. The last storm, Usagi just hit the Northern part of the weather-torn

nation on Thursday as a super typhoon. It's -- it has since weakened and is now heading North towards Taiwan.

And turning to Central America now, where Tropical Storm Sara is expected to hug the coast of Honduras for the next couple of days, bringing heavy rain, flooding and potential mudslides.

Some good news, though, for the U.S. The odds of it reaching the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. appear to be decreasing.

Tropical activity should be winding down this month, but Sara is now the third named storm in November alone. Scientists pointing to exceptionally warm waters because of -- you guessed it -- climate change.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Instagram, @HolmesCNN. Do stick around. I'll be back with more news in about 15, 20 minutes or so. WORLD SPORT in the meantime.

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