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Arctic Air Dropping Temperatures 10 To 20 degrees Below Average; Trump Picks Loyalist Kash Patel To Be The Next FBI Director; Syrian Government Forces Step Up Attacks On Rebel Coalition. Aired: 3- 4p ET

Aired December 01, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:37]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitefield.

All right, we're following the latest on our breaking story as holiday travelers are up against the worst of winter this weekend.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

WHITFIELD: I've never heard of thunder snow, but you heard it. Incredible storm chaser footage captured the sound of a thunder snow in Copenhagen, New York yesterday. The National Weather Service warns that whiteout conditions in the area are expected to make travel treacherous, and that's not stopping the Buffalo Bills, no way, who called on loyal fans, as they usually do, to help dig out the stadium ahead of tonight's game against the San Francisco 49ers. Who do you think has the advantage there?

All right, plus, in Pennsylvania, officials are urging residents to stay safe by staying home as more snow is piling on to yesterday's accumulation, which broke records in some areas.

CNN is covering this blast from all angles with team coverage in New York, Atlanta, and the CNN Weather Center.

All right, let's begin with CNN correspondent, Polo Sandoval, live for us outside New York, where it's frigid, but it's no big deal, is it? Polo, you can handle it. What's happening? How are people trying to stay warm and stay safe?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, I remember about a year ago in Buffalo, New York, I actually experienced that thunder snow. It's really something so I know exactly what that person was talking about.

In terms of what we're experiencing today, a vast majority of the country really just stuck with that bitter cold, with about 70 percent of the of the United States experiencing temperatures at or below 32 degrees, but consider us the lucky ones.

If you drive northwest close to the Great Lakes, that is where folks have been digging out of what one county official described as a snow- pocalypse -- snowmageddon, I should say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL (voice over): Record-setting snowfall is complicating the post-Thanksgiving ride home for travelers in the Great Lakes region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This could be 24 to 35-inch snow for sure.

SANDOVAL (voice over): Daily snowfall totals have paralyzed stretches of the highly trafficked I-90 corridor this holiday weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a car underneath that. Yep.

SANDOVAL (voice over): Here in Erie, Pennsylvania, nearly 23 inches fell on Friday alone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday, I shoveled for four hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

SANDOVAL (voice over): Shattering a 1979 record burying cars and interrupting flight operations at Erie International.

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, over two feet of snow fell on Friday, eclipsing a daily record set in 1942 and the list of cities impacted by the locally heavy lake effect snow goes on. In Buffalo, New York, Bills fans are once again being hired as shovelers to clear out the stadium ahead of a snowy Sunday night game against San Francisco and there's more to come according to meteorologists, with nearly two million people still under lake effect snow warnings come Monday.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The biggest concern right here along that eastern flank of Lake Erie, as well as portions of Lake Ontario. Now, the reason you're getting that lake effect, you've got the slightly warmer lakes, that very cold air rushing over.

SANDOVAL (voice over): Then there's the cold, some of the chilliest temperatures since last winter, which are expected to linger into the week ahead that have been felt as far south as Florida, where many residents endured freeze warnings this weekend.

Some are making the best of these snowy scenes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the weather outside is frightful and the fire is so delightful --

SANDOVAL (voice over): But they may also be foretelling a wicked winter ahead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (on camera): With the Sunday after Thanksgiving, it is already a very busy day on America's roadways with AAA estimating that roughly 71.7 million Americans will be driving back home after their Thanksgiving holiday, which begs the question, when may be the best time to actually hit the road? Well, travel experts recommending that you avoid starting that journey between noon and 6:00 PM today, and also 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM tomorrow. So it may be a little too late to hit the road and avoid traffic today. So some people may have to wait until the crack of dawn unless, of course, as you mentioned, Fred, they've got to get to work tomorrow.

[15:05:11]

WHITFIELD: Yes, then you're in trouble. Okay, either way, be careful, drive slow, and be a safe driver.

Polo Sandoval, thank you so much in New York.

CNN's Rafael Romo is live for us from Atlanta, where people are hitting the skies to either get back home or, you know, have a delayed holiday with family because they couldn't get there for Thanksgiving, whichever it is, it's busy. I see it behind you.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No, it's definitely busy, but it is flowing. That's the good news for many passengers here and Fred, the Transportation Security Administration announced it last week that it expected this to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period on record, projecting, and listen to this, to screen a total of 18.3 million people from Tuesday, November 26th to Monday, tomorrow, December 2nd. That's about six percent higher than last year.

And we have seen many of those passengers here at Atlanta's Hartfield- Jackson International Airport. A passenger told us earlier, it took her an hour to get through the security line. Another passenger shared with us some tips that allow her to always be on time and never miss a flight even during the busiest travel period of the year. This is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVY LI, TRAVELING FROM ATLANTA TO NEW YORK: Definitely have your ID and documents prepared and make sure that you're adhering to the TSA, like guidelines so you don't get pulled over and you have to wait for them to check your bags.

Typically, I'm the person that shows up, like, two-and-a-half hours before the plane leaves, so I usually just like take my time through everything, and most of the time it works out well, which is probably why I've never missed a flight, so, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Wise advice for all of us.

Fred, at the national level, the Transportation Security Administration processed 2.4 million passengers Wednesday and 2.7 million Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. They were expecting more than three million passengers today. Atlanta's Hartfield-Jackson International Airport remains the busiest in the world, but since we don't have to put up with the kind of blizzard conditions affecting parts of the Midwest, things so far have been very smooth here.

I took a look at the other side of the airport, Fred, the wheelchair line. That's the only one that I have seen so far that is busy and a little backed up, but not too bad, considering.

Now back to you.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. Okay, well, hopefully everybody was listening to your guest there, because she sounds like a professional traveler. She knows how to do it.

All right, Rafael Romo, thank you so much.

All right, meteorologist, Elisa Raffa is tracking the latest weather conditions from The Weather Center, and it is kind of getting in the way of some people's travel, but we've just got to live with it, because it's going to be your while, something tells me.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. The snow continues through the next couple of days. Warnings now go until Tuesday. You were mentioning the thunder snow. That is --

WHITFIELD: I've never heard of that before. How am I in the dark about that?

RAFFA: It is rare when it happens, that's why it is so dynamic, all of the snow that's pumping -- basically what happens is you have this cold, moist air that's coming off of the lake, and so much of it is rising so fast, it creates a lot of instability, like a thunderstorm.

So you get thunder in snow showers. So, we're continuing with the lake effect snow showers coming off of the lakes. I-90 has been a mess from Cleveland up through Erie, south side of Buffalo there, where we've had these bands that, again, are fueled by wind, so visibility drops to a quarter mile or less.

You get whiteout conditions. You have feet of snow already on the ground. Watertown, another spot off of Lake Ontario, that has been already dealing with multiple feet of snow on the ground. I mean, we're talking about three feet down already from Erie up to some of those southern suburbs of Buffalo, Watertown, and we can still get another foot, two feet as we go through the next day or two, because the lake effect snow machine won't stop.

Some totals are already well over 30 inches, 38 inches for parts of Pennsylvania, Western New York, 46 inches. That is again nearing four feet. Just incredible.

So the alerts continue. The lake effect snow warnings have been extended through Tuesday morning for some locations from Cleveland, again, just south of Buffalo and then Watertown area as well, because we're still looking at an additional 12 to 20 inches of snow, especially around Erie, going into the next day or two, really not wrapping up until Tuesday morning.

So what's happening is, as we have these lake temperatures that are actually your record warm, the water is in the upper 40s, some lower 50s. Now that's not, you know, jump in warm, right? But it is relatively much warmer than that cold air that's coming over it.

So what happens is you have that cold wind picking up the moisture from the lake. It's forced to rise once it hits the terrain, and that's where you get the lake effect snow, and it doesn't stop, Fred, until that wind stops, so that's why it just goes for days on end.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. I'm glazing over just thinking and hearing about all of this. No, thank you. That's a whole lot of extreme weather.

All right, Elisa Raffa, thanks so much. ' [15:10:03]

All right, still to come, he calls himself the enemy of the so-called Deep State. Now, he could end up in charge of the FBI. President-elect Donald Trump plans to name loyalist, Kash Patel to head the nation's top law enforcement agency.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Reaction continues to pour in on President-elect Trump's pick to lead the nation's top law enforcement agency. Trump is tapping long-time loyalist and partisan fire brand, Kash Patel to be his new FBI director.

[15:15:10]

Patel's selection means Christopher Wray, the current FBI head, would need to be fired or step down. Trump appointed him, Wray, as his FBI director back in 2017.

Patel is a highly divisive figure who worked as a National Security official in Trump's first administration, and has accused the so- called Deep State of targeting Trump. It's a controversial pick that almost certainly sets up another potentially explosive confirmation battle in the US Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Kash Patel's only qualification is because he agrees with Donald Trump that the Department of Justice should serve to punish, lock up, and intimidate Donald Trump's political opponents, and so the cost to the American public is pretty simple.

The Department of Justice and the FBI is supposed to be there to go after drug traffickers, gun smugglers, to go after corrupt Wall Street financiers. Instead, the Department of Justice is going to serve Donald Trump's political interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Alayna Treene is joining us now from Florida, near Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. So Alayna, what more can you tell us about this pick and the reaction?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, I'll start with just a little background on Kash Patel, Fred, because as you mentioned, he is a divisive picture, or excuse me, a selection for Donald Trump and part of that is because he has long time been a top critic of the FBI.

He has called for shutting down the FBI's Washington headquarters, for firing all of the top leadership at the Bureau, and also for trying to root out bias among the different agents. And he also shares Donald Trump's deep distrust of the agency overall, particularly in the last several years, as we saw the Department of Justice issue a series of investigations and then later prosecutions against the president- elect.

But some of the controversy, as well is around the questions about what he would do in the role. You just heard -- you just played that clip of you know, there being fears about him seeking retribution and carrying out Donald Trump's desires to potentially seek retribution against political opponents, but also of changing the way that the FBI operates overall.

However, we also saw a number of people, top Republican allies to Donald Trump, as well as some of the Cabinet picks that he has selected, defending Patel today, both on social media, but also on some of the shows, the Sunday shows this morning, and arguing that this is the kind of pick that is needed by Donald Trump to try and disrupt the agency and try to regain trust in the FBI and the intelligence institutions in Washington, DC, as well as try and reform what they believe is an agency that has kind of soured and been brought down in their terms as part of the Deep State.

Now we did hear Pete Hegseth, he is Donald Trump's or, excuse me, Bill Hagerty, a top senator, Republican senator who would be involved in looking at some of the confirmation process for Kash Patel, weigh in on this, this morning, I want you to take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL HAGERTY (R-TN): I've encouraged President Trump to bring Kash Patel to the table for precisely this reason.

This entire agency needs to be cleaned out. It's not doing its job. There are serious problems at the FBI. The American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Fred, we also heard similar statements online as well, including from Senator Chuck Grassley, who is going to be the incoming top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee that will be tasked with going through the different confirmation processes for all of Donald Trump's pick.

So we are hearing a lot of support right now from Republicans, but still, and I know from my conversations, there is a lot of skepticism about his chances during that confirmation process and whether he's going to have an uphill battle trying to become the next FBI director.

WHITFIELD: And then Alayna, Trump has also announced a couple of other noteworthy picks with family ties for his new administration. What can you tell us?

TREENE: Yes, we saw Donald Trump announce this weekend, two big picks, including Charles Kushner and Massad Boulos. Both of them are the father-in laws to his daughters. I'm going to focus on Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump's father-in-law. He was selected by Donald Trump, he announced today to be a key adviser on Middle Eastern and Arab affairs, and then yesterday we saw Donald Trump also announce that he was going to be selecting Charles Kushner, Ivanka's father-in-law and Jared Kushner's father to be his ambassador to France.

And really, you know, this is keeping in line with what we've seen Donald Trump do in his first administration, when he brought both Jared Kushner and Ivanka into his administration, into the White House, to be senior advisers to him. But the thing as well is that this is raising questions of whether there are conflict of interest.

We know in the past that bringing family into some of these roles has been looked down upon. It has raised questions of whether they could benefit financially after they leave the White House or after Donald Trump, in this case, would leave the White House.

[15:20:10]

We know that Republicans have spent the last several years looking into whether Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, had benefited financially from the time when Biden was vice president, and so a lot of questions over some of these decisions, but Trump keeping kind of with choosing family members to serve in key roles that he's kind of leaning on, and in this case for foreign policy matters -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

All right, tomorrow, California lawmakers will gather for a special legislative session. Governor Gavin Newsom is convening the meeting to safeguard California laws from the Trump administration.

Newsom is also preparing to challenge the incoming Trump White House on multiple issues from potential migrant deportations to climate laws and reproductive rights.

Here now is CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Get prepared.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): California's 57-year-old Democratic governor prepares himself and his state to do political battle with Donald Trump.

Gavin Newsom is already pushing back against the President- elect, this week proposing to offer the state's own tax credit for car buyers who purchase electric vehicles, if Trump ends the federal tax credit for those cars, as he wants to do.

TIA MITCHELL, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: I think this is the first example, and there will be more to come, of Gov. Newsom kind of showing tangibly how he would push back on the Trump administration.

TODD (voice over): Almost immediately after Trump won the election, Newsom called for a special session of the California legislature to try to bolster California's progressive agenda against Trump's plans.

NEWSOM: We had the experience with Donald Trump. Don't be - don't fall -- sort of pray to somehow this is some new day. Listen to what these guys are saying and telling you. Look at what they're prepared to do day one. We're not going to be caught flatfooted.

TODD (voice over): In addition to electric vehicles and environmental issues overall, Newsom is preparing to battle the new Trump administration over reproductive rights, disaster response, and look for a very public fight from Newsom over immigration and Trump's promise to conduct mass deportations of undocumented migrants, even if Newsom's actual power to prevent those deportations is limited.

SHIRA STEIN, REPORTER, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: If the president calls up the National Guard and the state guards, there's only so much that the governor and that the state government can do to try and prevent that. I think the area that the governor is really going to be focused on is it's going to be a lot of messaging and it's going to be a lot of lawsuits.

TODD (voice over): Newsom has already called for more state money to file lawsuits against Trump. During Trump's first term, the state of California sued his administration more than 120 times. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly slammed Newsom over California's problems with crime and homelessness, often calling the governor, Newscum.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: What a horrible governor Newscum has been. He's been horrible, so many people leaving.

TODD (voice over): Analysts say it's becoming more clear that Gavin Newsom is positioning himself and his state as possibly the country's biggest antagonist to Trump with possible ambitions for 2028 in mind.

STEIN: The governor wants to run for president as much as he says time and time again that he doesn't want to do that.

MITCHELL: He's kind of got two years to raise his profile and see if kind of the way the country is going aligns with the type of campaign he could run.

TODD (on camera): Is Gavin Newsom too liberal to win a national election? The analyst we spoke too said, that might make him more of a long shot. But one of them said in four years, many voters might want to swing back to a more left leaning candidate.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: Coming up, Syrian rebels making advances in Aleppo after wrestling for control of most of the country's second largest city. How the government is fighting back?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:20]

WHITFIELD: New today, multiple people were killed when Syrian government forces, backed by Russia, launched airstrikes against the country's rebel coalition. The attacks are in retaliation after opposition forces took control of most of Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. It was a surprise offensive that's reviving a Civil War that had largely been dormant since a ceasefire was reached in 2020.

With us now, Aaron David Miller, he's a former State Department Middle East negotiator. Good to see you, Aaron.

So are we seeing the possibility that the Assad regime could lose its control over Syria?

AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I mean, I think that's the real question, Fred. Thanks for having me.

You know, the Middle East if anything, it is full of surprises. I think people assume, not everyone, but most, that, in fact, they were facing a frozen conflict with the Assad regime controlling, let's say 60 to 65 percent of the country. But clearly, Syrian military is weaker, corrupt, economically vulnerable, the Assad regime, and I think the organization of these Islamist forces, organized by an offshoot of Syrian al-Qaeda, which seems to have evolved, much more interested in taking back control of Syria than it is in pursuing an international terrorist agenda, I think surprised almost everyone.

I think the core question now is, to what degree are the Iranians and the Russians willing and able to provide the kind of support they provided in 2015 which then literally saved the outside regime from being overthrown.

WHITFIELD: So could this situation in Syria now become a thorn in the side for Donald Trump when he takes office in January?

[15:30:03]

MILLER: You know, President-elect Trump's instincts during Trump 1.0 was to withdraw, withdraw, withdraw. In part, withdraw the 900 forces, American forces that are deployed doing counterterrorism policy in Syria. And I think that may well be his instincts as well.

I don't think the president-elect has any intention of making Syria or what happens there, a priority. So again, I think Trump's going to be much more focused on Iran. And clearly, this is a blow an Iranian regime that's already been undermined by the loss of its -- undermined its proxy forces both in Lebanon and Israeli strikes against its air defenses system in October. WHITFIELD: I want to turn now to Gaza, where Hamas has released a video of an Israeli-American hostage pleading for Benjamin Netanyahu and President-elect Trump to work out a deal for hostages. So you know, how does this show Hamas's desperation? Or does it?

MILLER: I think what it shows is cruel manipulation of the hostages, 101 both living and dead by some estimates, only 51 remain alive. Is it possible that Hamas is going to demonstrate additional flexibility? They are under enormous pressure since the killing of Yahya Sinwar and Israeli military activities in the north of Gaza. That's one question. Will Hamas feel flexible?

And then the other question is, Mr. Netanyahu's own flexibility. He has prioritized focusing on Gaza, but not on hostages and a deal is going to mean the release of Palestinian prisoners, some commitment to Israel withdraw from Gaza, which this Israeli government is simply not going to agree to.

I would think, though it's possible to envision maybe by the year's end, maybe a phased deal in which some hostages would be released in return for a four, five, six weeks ceasefire. A lot of this, though, Fred is caught up in the relationship between Netanyahu and the incoming president, and whether or not, according to some reports, Donald Trump wants this off the agenda by the time he becomes president, or whether or not Mr. Netanyahu wants to give him a sort of victory and a diplomatic triumph when he becomes president.

WHITFIELD: All right, fascinating. Aaron David Miller, great to have you. Thank you so much.

MILLER: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: As the war rages on in Gaza, the fragile ceasefire to the north of Lebanon has brought relative calm there, and now the residents of Beirut are assessing the scale of the destruction and the conflict left behind.

CNN's Tamara Qiblawi reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE WRITER (voice over): When Israel's bomb stopped, the devastation came to light. Mangled mounds of rubble lined the streets of Southern Beirut.

Hezbollah, which dominates this residential neighborhood adorns the destruction with photos of its slain fighters. The scale of loss undeniable.

QIBLAWI (on camera): It's really hard to describe just how dramatic the destruction is in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but if we could convey it in a single frame, this would probably be it.

Have a look. Over here, the destruction starts below ground, right? It gives you a sense of how big the bomb was, but also people's former lives. I can see a closet. I see some clothes, some mattresses, and in front of me, I see what used to be a children's room and a cooking pot with food in it, which suggests that people or a person was cooking as they received the evacuation order and fled in an instant, likely taking very few of their belongings with them before their house was destroyed.

QIBLAWI (voice over): We met one 25-year-old woman, Marwa. She only just returned to her home --

QIBLAWI (on camera): And that's your doll --

MARWA, RECENTLY RETURNED TO HER HOME: Yes.

QIBLAWI: From when you were a kid?

MARWA: Yes. This one --

(MARWA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: But this one is badly ruined.

(TAMARA QIBLAWI speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: These are your memories.

(MARWA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: Yes, for sure. I've had this one since I was two years old.

(TAMARA QIBLAWI speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: And this is the food you had to leave behind?

(MARWA speaking in foreign language.)

(TAMARA QIBLAWI speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: How did you feel when you first returned home?

(MARWA speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: We were upset. I mean, we're grateful that our home is still standing. But I was expecting to be displaced for only a short time and the war went on for a long time. So when I came back and found everything in tatters, I realized that it wasn't fit to be live in. That was the most upsetting thing. Other than that, it's all just material stuff. It is all replaceable.

[15:35:05]

QIBLAWI (voice over): Across the neighborhood, people are trying to put on a brave face, but the place is cloaked with the uncertainty of what's to come.

Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thank you for that report.

Up next, back in this country, President Biden marking World AIDS Day with a speech on the South Lawn, the progress he says was achieved under his administration.

Plus, progress made. Stadium crews and members of the Bills mafia working hard to clear the field of a massive amount of snow ahead of tonight's NFL game in Buffalo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:26]

WHITFIELD: President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden honored the lives lost from the HIV-AIDS epidemic on this World AIDS Day. The AIDS Memorial quilt was displayed at the White House for the first time ever. Here's more of what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Done in the memory of all of those we lost to HIV-AIDS. It started with one name on one panel nearly four decades ago and decades later, 50,000 panels and 110,000 names.

This quilt weighs 54 tons, the largest community art project in the entire world. It tells the tragic stories of brothers who died too soon, moms who contracted AIDS at childbirth, a daughter's life stolen, eventually their own as well; friends and partners who lost loved ones of their lives and so many more stories of precious lives cut too short.

Today, for the first time in our nation's history, the sections of AIDS quilts have been publicly displayed here at the White House because --

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: -- because like the first threads of this quilt stretched nearly 40 years ago, stitched nearly 40 years ago, this movement is fully woven into the fabric and history of America, shining a light on the memory and the legacy of all the sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, moms and dads, partners and friends who have lost -- we've lost to this terrible disease.

Together, we honor the spirit of resilience and the extraordinary strength of people, families and communities affected by HIV-AIDS, including nearly 40 million people living with HIV around the world today, 40 million, and we send a clear message to the nation and to the world that we stand united in the fight against this epidemic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me now is Washington correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty. What more did the president say?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT:` Yes, Fred, certainly a significant visual image there that you're seeing. The president there on the South Lawn of the White House just a few minutes ago, the first time that this world -- the first time the AIDS quilt has ever been displayed on the south line of the White House, and you saw the president there really connect, say he understands all too well the pain of losing someone you love, pain of losing a child and standing there with families of those who have lost loved ones of their own to this epidemic.

And notable in this speech, we saw President Biden acknowledge that he felt what he said is a special obligation to make sure that people are seen and heard during his time at the White House. That is certainly a nod that his time here at the White House coming short, and he's mindful of his legacy.

And one of the things the White House is eager in the final days to highlight is those parts where they believe that he's made progress, and this being one of them, Fred, this week, the White House is going to release a progress report of progress that they believe that the Biden White House has made for this epidemic. So that's certainly something the White House officials and the president himself very eager to define his legacy going forward after he leaves the White House.

WHITFIELD: And then this evening, the president will be traveling to Africa, right, becoming the first sitting US president to visit Angola. Why is this visit so important?

SERFATY: Yes, Fred, the White House, certainly eager to again, to make good on promises that President Biden himself made. He promised that he would visit Africa during his time in the White House, and this is a long awaited trip.

This trip was originally scheduled for back in October. Biden had to postpone that trip due to the two hurricanes that were hitting here in the US. Now, while he's there, he will be meeting with the Angola president. He will be giving a big speech. White House aides say they'll talk about the partnership and the strength that the relationship has amounted to.

But he also will be talking about, given the growth of China in the region, the investments in infrastructure, rail corridor system, that the US support so certainly, again, this trip, potentially, we do not know, but potentially one of the last of his time here at the White House, a foreign trip, a moment that President Biden is eager to secure his legacy -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much.

SERFATY: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, Trump's return to the White House is rattling nerves in Taiwan, thanks to some of his campaign trail comments about the island. That's straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:49:44]

WHITFIELD: All right, there's a lot of uncertainty over what a second Trump presidency will bring to Taiwan. CNN's Will Ripley reports on how the self-governing island is bracing for potentially drastic changes to its democracy and economy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Taiwan, they stole our chip business.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If this is a preview of the next four years, Taiwan better buckle up.

[15:50:10]

TRUMP: They want us to protect and they want protection. They don't pay us money for the protection, you know. The mob makes you pay money, right?

RIPLEY (voice over): President-elect Donald Trump's transactional tone rattling nerves in Taipei, raising serious questions about US support for this island democracy, already under relentless pressure from Beijing.

RIPLEY (on camera): What do you do when you're on an island with less than 25 million people, with a neighbor like China, and a political situation like what's happening in the Gulf?

CHEN MING-CHI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, NATIONAL TSING HUA UNIVERSITY: We have to arm to our teeth. And we have that kind of a mentality. We are willing to fight.

RIPLEY (voice over): Taiwan will need to invest even more in defense, Professor Chen Ming-Chi says, including billions of dollars in US-made weapons, despite a $20 billion backlog of undelivered fighter jets, tanks, artillery, and missiles.

RIPLEY (on camera): Is Taiwan more or less safe during Trump 2.0?

MING-CHI: We don't know. One characteristic of Trump, especially during the second Trump administration, will be the unpredictability. So, we don't know we will be safer or more dangerous. But the thing is that we are going to pay a higher price for it either way.

RIPLEY (voice over): Taiwan could be caught in a bind, facing skyrocketing defense costs and growing economic uncertainty.

RIPLEY (on camera): What are you guys thinking here?

KRISTY HSU, DIRECTOR, TAIWAN ASEAN STUDIES CENTER, CHUNG-HUA INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH: A lot of worries going. I mean, worries about this and post-election may have a big shift of policies towards trade, towards investment.

RIPLEY (voice over): Kristy Hsu is a top economist in Taipei. She says Taiwan's chip industry is bracing for impact if Trump reshapes trade policies or imposes steep tariffs. Taiwan produces most of the world's advanced chips, powering everything from smartphones to missiles.

TRUMP: These chip companies, they stole 95 percent of our business. It's in Taiwan right now.

HSU: Taiwan is not actually stealing jobs or stealing business opportunities from the US. Taiwan is actually helping US to extend its semiconductor supply chains.

RIPLEY (voice over): Leaders in Taipei are publicly optimistic, emphasizing strong ties with Washington. On the streets, feelings are more mixed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Trump doesn't like war, so that's reassuring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In the long run, I fear Trump may put Taiwan's safety at risk.

RIPLEY (voice over): An uncertain future under Trump 2.0 is pretty much the only guarantee.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still to come, tempers flare on the field after Michigan's stunning upset win over rival Ohio State, the act that had players throwing punches.

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[15:57:33]

WHITFIELD: It was a rivalry weekend in college football, and it certainly lived up to the hype with some major upsets, shaking up the playoff picture. But it also turned ugly when a fight broke out after the final whistle of the game -- the game -- Michigan topping Ohio State in dramatic fashion.

CNN's Carolyn Manno has more.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST:

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, as you know, rivalries are the lifeblood of college sports, and Michigan and Ohio State, is one of the biggest and most bitter of all.

And on Saturday in Columbus, it was the 120th meeting all time between the two, a six and five Michigan team pulling off a massive 13 to 10 upset on the road against second ranked Ohio State and that's after the game went final, you can see a Wolverines' player trying to plant a big blue flag on the Buckeyes' logo at midfield and that's when players confronted him, and that's when it really escalated.

A lot of pushing and shoving, several punches thrown. Finally, stadium security and local police came in to break it up. Multiple outlets reported that officers actually used pepper spray to try to defuse the situation, and you could see several players wiping their eyes and coughing after the melee. Here's what both sides had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KALEL MULLINGS, MICHIGAN RUNNING BACK: You hate to see stuff like that after the game. You know, that's just bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, you know, some people got to -- they've got to learn how to lose, man. You can't -- can't be fighting and stuff just because you lost a game.

You know, all that fighting. We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all of that fighting.

RYAN DAY, OHIO STATE, HEAD COACH: I know that. You know, these guys you know are looking to, you know, put a flag on our field, and our guys weren't going to let that happen. So, you know, I'll find out exactly what happened. But you know, this is our field, and certainly, you know we are embarrassed of the fact that we lost the game. But you know, there's some prideful guys in this team that weren't just going to let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Despite the loss, the Buckeyes are still 10 and two and a safe bet to make the playoff, but this is a fourth consecutive loss to Michigan for Head Coach Ryan Day, and that certainly matters.

Meantime, the Miami Hurricanes also 10 and two, but they might be sweating it out come next weekend, the Canes ranked sixth entering the day. They were also upset, stunned on the road by Syracuse 42 to 38 after jumping out to a 21-nothing lead.

Syracuse quarterback, Kyle McCord torching Miami's defense for 380 yards, three touchdown passes, and running back, LeQuint Allen had two more on the ground, including the go ahead score midway through the fourth quarter.

So the loss knocking Miami out of the ACC championship next weekend, meaning they will need to rely on the playoff committee to give them an at-large bid to make the field of 12.

Number three Texas, all but securing their postseason berth with their win last night. And making it even sweeter, they did it by dominating their longtime rival, Texas A&M, 17 to seven on the road in front of well over a hundred thousand fans in the first game between the two schools in over a decade. Next stop, trying to avenge their home loss to Georgia earlier in the season in the SEC Championship game next weekend.

After one of the wildest regular seasons in recent memory, the 13- person playoff committee is going to have a heck of a time trying to pick who is in and who is out in this new 12-team field but we will have our answer after the conference championships play out next Sunday. A lot to discuss. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, I look forward to that. Carolyn Manno, thanks so much.

[16:00:42]