Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Magnitude 7.1 Quake Jolts Tibet, 95 People Dead; Canadian PM Trudeau Steps Down As Liberal Party Leader And Prime Minister; U.S. Congress Certifies Donald Trump's Election Victory Unhampered; Elon Musk Takes Aim At European Leaders; Tomorrow Golf League Tees Off In Florida. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 07, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL 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, a powerful earthquake rocks a remote region of Tibet leaving dozens dead. We are live in Beijing with the latest details.
Justin Trudeau resigns. The embattled Canadian Prime Minister says he will step down from the job once his party picks a new leader.
And America's top diplomat says ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are in the home stretch. We will discuss what it will take to get a deal over the finish line.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: It is 4 p.m. in Tibet where search and rescue efforts are underway following a powerful earthquake that killed at least 53 people, according to Chinese state media.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the 7.1 quake struck just after 9am local time, followed by dozens of aftershocks. Authorities say the shaking could be felt as far away as Nepal and northern India.
I want to go live now to CNN's Marc Stewart who is standing by in Beijing. So, Marc, what is the latest on casualties and damage from this earthquake as well as search and rescue efforts underway?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Rosemary, those efforts are now a national priority. It was just about two hours ago we heard from Chinese leader Xi Jinping who called for an all-out effort to search and rescue survivors.
If we look at some of the pictures we can now see that the Chinese military has mobilized troops as well as medical personnel. We understand that the Air Force has been put on alert, that a drone has been made available because this is a very remote area and getting an assessment of what's happening right now on the ground is quite challenging.
And there really are three struggles. Number one is infrastructure. As we've seen over the last few hours, some of the roads there have been covered in rubble.
That of course makes it difficult for people to get to and from places, not only on the big highways but also in some of the smaller villages as you see there.
In addition, communication has been an issue. At one point there were phone issues, there were power issues. While those appear to have been resolved, it has been part of the struggle.
And then the other complication is weather. It is wintertime and while there isn't snow on the ground, there are very cold conditions. So that will add to the challenge.
There has been concern about people, about visitors especially, to Mount Everest. A scenic area of Mount Everest has been closed and is going to remain closed indefinitely.
We heard from people who were there when the quake happened. One person was woken out of bed, another person said that they could see stones falling. So, this obviously was a very significant jolt. In fact, at points we've heard of dozens and dozens of aftershocks hit the area.
Again, this is a very remote area. It's in Tibet, along the Himalayas, near Mount Everest, between this border between Nepal and Tibet. That's where this struck.
The closest town is about 100 miles away and that's where we're seeing some of this damage.
As we look in the hours ahead, we are hoping to get some more updates from Chinese officials. But of course, daylight is going to be very scarce in the next three hours or so.
So, there is a priority, Rosemary, to get as much done as possible and to get an accurate gauge as to what crews are really dealing with before nightfall arrives, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Of course, Marc Stewart, many thanks joining us live from Beijing with the latest update there.
Well political turmoil has erupted in Canada after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his decision to step down after almost a decade in power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, OUTGOING CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: So, last night over dinner, I told my kids about the decision that I'm sharing with you today.
[03:04:56] I intend to resign as party leader, as Prime Minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Mr. Trudeau essentially said that although he is a fighter, he can't possibly keep fighting in what will be a difficult election if he has to keep fighting internal battles within his own Liberal Party.
He's been facing growing demands for his resignation with the Liberals lagging far behind the Conservatives in polling ahead of the general election later this year.
The race to replace him is now getting underway with Mr. Trudeau staying on in a caretaker role for the time being.
The Canadian Parliament will be suspended until March 24th as a new party leader and Prime Minister are chosen, meaning no significant government business will be getting done.
Well during his resignation speech, the Prime Minister listed his administration's response to the COVID pandemic and support for Ukraine as some of his proudest achievements.
CNN's Paula Newton picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUDEAU: I intend to resign as party leader, as Prime Minister.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Canada's Justin Trudeau announced he would step down as both Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister when his party chooses a new leader. Trudeau ending months of turmoil about his future with a reluctant goodbye.
One of the country's youngest ever leaders, Trudeau promised to usher in sunny ways when he was first elected in 2015.
But nearly a decade later, members of his own party recently joined a growing chorus of Canadians who wanted the sun to set on his tenure.
Amid plummeting opinion polls, Trudeau's Liberal Party was widely expected to lose a general election later this year if he remained as Prime Minister.
Still, for months, he said he had no intention of resigning.
TRUDEAU: Like most families, sometimes we have fights around the holidays. But of course, like most families, we find our way through it.
NEWTON (voice-over): Despite calls to resign from his own members of Parliament, Trudeau insisted that he was best placed to fight Canada's corner as President-elect Donald Trump threatens 25 percent tariffs on all goods imported from Canada, which is home to about 40 million people and one of America's largest trading partners.
But last month, even Trudeau's finance minister and long-time ally, Chrystia Freeland, resigned from his cabinet, leaving him on even shakier ground with a blunt resignation letter accusing the Prime Minister of using costly political gimmicks at the expense of Canada's fiscal health.
Freeland added that the government needed to start pushing back against America First economic nationalism.
A former high school teacher and the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada's most well-known Prime Ministers, Trudeau was elected three times. He became a poster child for the country's progressive agenda on the global stage, seen as an antidote to Trump during the incoming U.S. President's first term.
His government pursued policies on alleviating child poverty, gender equity, cutting middle-class taxes and the legalization of cannabis.
And while he was generally praised for his handling of the pandemic, voter sentiment has soured since.
High inflation, an affordable housing crisis and an increase in legal immigration have tested Trudeau's government.
TRUDEAU: We continue to handle migration seriously.
NEWTON: And will that include taking migrants that sometimes even present themselves at the southern border or taking migrants directly from the United States?
TRUDEAU: Canada's always willing to do more. We just need to make sure we're doing it in responsible, proper ways to continue to have our citizens positive towards immigration as Canadians always are.
NEWTON (voice-over): Now that Trudeau is resigning, once a new Liberal Party leader is in place, an election will follow by summer or early fall at the latest.
Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie are all considering a run for the Liberal leadership.
Pierre Paulieb's opposition Conservative Party currently holds a more than 20 percent lead over the Liberals in polling averages.
Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The U.S. Congress has officially paved the way for Donald Trump's inauguration as the nation's 47th president later this month by certifying his electoral victory on Monday.
Lawmakers braved a snowstorm in the nation's capital to attend the certification. And Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, fulfilled her role as President of the Senate and oversaw the proceedings that made her opponent's win official.
[03:09:58]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes.
Kamala D. Harris--
(APPLAUSE)
Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Harris praised the peaceful transfer of power as, quote, "what should be the norm."
January 6, has become a day of infamy in the U.S. with Monday's proceedings coming exactly four years after some of Trump's supporters violently stormed the Capitol, interrupting the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential victory.
Security was heightened both in and around the U.S. Capitol building on Monday. One Democratic lawmaker lamented the unprecedented security, saying the Capitol resembled the embassy in Baghdad.
Our Manu Raju brings us the latest from Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the end, January 6, 2025 ended rather quickly, about half an hour to go through all 50 states and to certify the electoral results, ensuring that Donald Trump will take the presidency on January 20th.
Clearly, a much different display than what we saw four years ago, the violence, destruction of that day, upending years and years of a peaceful transition of power at the time, in the aftermath of Trump supporters coming into the Capitol.
A lot of Republicans made clear of their disgust, their disdain with the then president's handling of all this. Some believe that Trump was done, would never come back again. We're ready to move on.
But as we know, time has changed. Trump, well on the way to becoming president again, and a lot of Republicans simply don't want to relitigate what happened January 26, 2021, want to move on.
And that's including, that's a message that the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, gave me in the aftermath of this week's election certification, saying that he's ready to move forward, he doesn't want to go back into his view of that day.
Now, Trump has said repeatedly that it was a day of love, calling that January 6, 2021. Some Republicans, however, disagree with that assessment.
President-elect refers to it as a day of love. Was it a day of love?
UNKNOWN: For me, no.
RAJU: Why do you say that?
UNKNOWN: It was not our country's best day.
SEN. JOHN NEELY KENNEDY (R-LA): I was here on January 6. What I saw was a peaceful protest that turned into a riot.
RAJU: Now, a big question for Trump is how did he deal with the January 6 prisoners? He has said on day one, he would pardon the January 6 prisoners. But who exactly will he pardon? Will he pardon ones who are engaged in serious violence, attacks against police officers, conviction of seditious conspiracy and the like?
All big questions. Some Republicans say that it's up to Trump, but they don't want him to give a blanket pardon to all these prisoners. Instead, want him to pick individual ones that he believes justify a pardon. It's uncertain which route Trump will go. That's something to watch in the weeks ahead.
Some Republicans, they want to move on from January 6. They don't want to go back into it, but it's unclear how the incoming president will deal with all of this.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, and he joins me now from Charlottesville. Great to have you with us.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-CENTER FOR POLITICS: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, four years after the Capitol riots, Congress certifies Donald Trump's presidential election victory in a very different scene to January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters tried to block the transition of power to Joe Biden.
But despite this peaceful transfer of power Monday, Trump is claiming on social media that President Biden is doing everything possible to make the transition as difficult as possible. So what's Trump talking about exactly, given what we all just witnessed?
SABATO: Well, President Trump would know how to make a transition difficult because that's precisely what he did four years ago when he refused to let the Biden teams in each department land in that department and do some prep work prior to January 20th.
And when he refused to meet with President and Mrs. Biden, as did the first lady at the time, Melania Trump, and when he refused to show up at the actual inauguration, as well as, of course, contesting the election. So, he knows exactly how to make it difficult for a transition.
Joe Biden has done none of that. He has actually been more cooperative than almost any other transition that I've experienced and lived through.
[03:15:00]
Perhaps Trump is referring to the fact that Biden is taking a series of last minute actions that Trump disagrees with, like protecting the coasts on both east and west coast from oil drilling, which I think most people in America would support.
But of course, Donald Trump is a big supporter of the oil and gas industry.
CHURCH: And Larry, some of the more violent January 6th rioters currently serving out sentences in prison are now asking for pardons from Trump, including the former Proud Boys leader.
How will Trump likely deal with this issue, given Senator Lindsey Graham is warning Trump not to pardon any of the violent rioters?
SABATO: Trump would be wise to take Graham's advice. Of course, frequently he does not. He does not take anyone's advice.
Now, look, if he pardons all of the individuals who've already been arrested and sentenced, something close to 1,200, I believe at this point, and there are several hundred more who are coming up for sentencing.
If he pardons them all, including the many, many dozens of these rioters, these insurrectionists who actually attacked 140 policemen, doing serious damage to many of them. And of course, four either died of a stroke or committed suicide in the days following the January 6th riots.
If he does that, I think it's going to cost him a number of percentage points in his 50-50 approval level that he has right now.
CHURCH: And meantime, President-elect Trump wants to put his entire agenda, including new immigration laws, energy policies, a complex tax overhaul, and an increase in the national debt limit, as well as spending cuts into one single massive bill, and he wants it passed swiftly.
So how will that likely go for him on Capitol Hill, do you think?
SABATO: It's possible that he'll be able to get it passed, but it'll be very difficult, particularly in the House, because the House, as we just discovered in the vote to re-elect Mike Johnson as Speaker, the Republicans only have a couple of vote margin.
And you've got really dozens of Republicans who are going to be unhappy with this piece or that piece or the other piece of this giant bill. And it just doesn't take very many of them to sink everything.
So, that's a tremendous danger, unless they have a clear sign-off from all of the members of the House. In the Senate, it's a little easier because they're trying to fit all this into what's called reconciliation, where the majority party in each House only has to get a simple majority.
So, in the Senate, instead of getting 60 votes as you normally need to pass serious legislation, the Republicans would only need 51, and they have 53 senators. But even there, it won't be easy. In the House, it will be extremely difficult.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato, great to talk with you, as always.
SABATO: Always enjoy it, Rosemary.
CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden honored victims of the New Orleans terror attack on Monday at an interfaith memorial service. The President promised to make every resource at his disposal available to the families of those killed.
CNN's Rafael Romo has more on their visit, as well as the investigation into the man who carried out the deadly attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden landed here in New Orleans at 3:41 p.m. local time. They attended an interfaith service here at St. Louis Cathedral honoring the 14 people who died in the New Year's Day terrorist attack.
The President also met with local officials, as well as the families of the victims, perhaps the last time he will be in the role of Comforter-in-Chief.
Meanwhile, the FBI has released crucial details about what the attacker was up to way before using a pickup truck to kill innocent people. Among the new details, the FBI says Shamsud-Din Jabbar visited New Orleans twice before the attack.
The first time in October, when he recorded video of the streets in the French Quarter, and the second time in November. The attacker traveled internationally. He was in Cairo, Egypt in the summer of 2023, and a few days later, he traveled to Ontario, Canada.
We have learned through a report exclusively obtained by CNN's Pamela Brown, that politics and bickering hindered security in the French Quarter here in New Orleans.
The 2019 report prepared by Interfor International and commissioned by the French Quarter Management District, or FQMD, identified internecine politics and bickering as a significant hindrance to the good efforts by stakeholders to address security in the district.
[03:19:50] In a statement to CNN on Saturday about the public version of the report, FQMD said that the strength of our ongoing partnership with the City and the New Orleans Police Department allows open communications of resident and business concerns and the results of any studies of reports completed.
Rafael Romo, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And we have a major update on our breaking news this hour. Chinese state media report the death toll in that powerful earthquake in Tibet has jumped to at least 95, with 130 others injured.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the 7.1 quake struck just after 9 a.m. local time, followed by dozens of aftershocks. Chinese authorities say the shaking could be felt as far away as Nepal and northern India.
We will go live to CNN's Marc Stewart in Beijing soon with more details on that.
Still to come, Ukrainian forces are ramping up attacks in Russia's Kursk region. What Russia is saying about the intense fighting, that's ahead.
Plus, the Biden administration is calling for a final push to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal, but so far there are few signs of progress. A closer look at where things stand, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: New video verified by CNN shows intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Russia's Kursk region.
Footage shared by the Ukrainian army shows armoured vehicles and artillery and drone attacks against Russian troops. Ukraine has held ground in the southern Kursk region since its incursion in August.
Ukrainian military officials say they have launched counterattacks to prevent Russian forces from pushing them out of the area. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian troops are maintaining a buffer zone and the operation will protect Ukraine's battlefields.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Russians have deployed their strongest units to the Kursk region, including soldiers from North Korea. It is important that the occupier cannot now direct all this force to our other areas, in particular to the Donetsk region, against Sumy, to Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhya.
I thank all our soldiers who are bringing the war back home to Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Russia claims to have repelled these counterattacks and says its forces have prevented Ukrainian troops from breaking through to a village in Kursk. CNN is unable to verify battlefield reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold a cabinet meeting today following a deadly shooting in the West Bank.
He is vowing to track down those responsible after gunmen attacked two cars and a bus on Monday, killing three Israeli settlers and injuring eight others, including the bus driver. No one has claimed responsibility, but the militant group Hamas has praised the attack.
[03:25:00]
In the hours that followed, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported multiple Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians across the West Bank. In a statement on X, Mr. Netanyahu promised to find the abhorrent murderers and settle accounts with them and those who aided them, adding, quote, "no one will get away."
Well America's top diplomat is hoping a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza can be reached in the final days of the Biden administration. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is calling for a final push for an agreement as Israeli and Egyptian officials report few signs of progress amid renewed talks in Doha.
At the same time, Reuters has reported that a Hamas official says the group approved an Israeli list of 34 hostages to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and detainees. But the Israeli government denies receiving a list from Hamas.
Blinken had this to say about the progress so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: What we've seen in the last couple of weeks is a reintensified engagement, including by Hamas. But we have yet to see agreement on the final points.
So, what I can tell you is this. We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks, the time that we have remaining. And we will work every minute of every day of those two weeks to try to get that to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: H.A. Hellyer is a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and he joins me now from Cairo. Thank you so much for being with us.
H.A. HELLYER, SR. ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: Thank you. My pleasure for having me on the program.
CHURCH: So, this deadly shooting in the West Bank took the lives of three Israeli settlers and comes as Israel and Hamas struggle to reach a ceasefire deal that could bring an end to 15 months of war and perhaps stop this escalation in violence in the region.
Where do negotiations stand right now? HELLYER: So, the negotiations for the past year or more at this rate
haven't been ceasefire negotiations. They've been hostage negotiations and they're hostage negotiations where the Israelis have made it very clear that following the extraction of hostages, they reserve the right to then continue the war.
And on multiple occasions, this has been said very publicly by Netanyahu, by ministers, so that we have to be very clear about the framing of it. There are no ceasefire negotiations that have been underway for at
least a year.
When it comes to Secretary Blinken's insistence that, you know, it's possible to get these over the finish line, I find this really quite extraordinary because of the fact of the matter is that over the course of the past year as well, there hasn't been any real pressure that has been leveraged against the Israelis in order to ensure that they do come over the finish line.
On the contrary, there's been a continual expression of support, not simply rhetorically, but in terms of financial support, military support. And indeed, just a few days ago, the Biden administration announced $8
billion worth of transfers going to the Israelis.
So there isn't any leverage that's being used vis-a-vis the Israelis in order to ensure that they go to the finish line. So I don't see any likelihood that there will be a ceasefire.
There wasn't a ceasefire being suggested in the first place. Again, it was about hostage negotiations. When people talk about the day after the end of this conflict, we are living, quote-unquote, "that day after right now."
The Israelis have fortified their positions in Gaza. The military infrastructure on the ground has increased and widened. And they're very explicit about this. This is also what's very strange about the framing.
The Israelis are very explicit that they're not leaving, that the occupation isn't ending, that the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied territories in Gaza, from the occupied territories of the West Bank as well, they're not going anywhere.
CHURCH: You mentioned the need for pressure on Israel to move these ceasefire and hostage negotiations forward or leverage, as you say. What do you want to see in terms of pressure or leverage on Israel?
HELLYER: Well, it's not what I want to see. You know, I'm an analyst. I'm looking at how negotiations generally succeed. And usually what happens is that both sides compromise on a particular issue in order to move forward with a negotiation process.
When it comes to Hamas, there's been a lot of pressure, obviously, on Hamas, not simply by the Israeli bombardment, but also from the Qataris and the Egyptians. [03:30:10]
But when it comes to the Israelis, there's been quite a lot of impunity over the past year that they felt. And they continue to feel empowered in that regard, because red lines were set by the administration once or twice, and they were rolled over. And there was no consequence. There were no repercussions in that regard.
And repercussions are very simple. The United States has tremendous leverage over Tel Aviv, over Israelis, whether it's in regards to political cover at the United Nations, where the United States has vetoed numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions, not simply on this conflict, but, you know, further beyond that.
The United States also is the key provider of weapons. And here I'm talking about offensive weapons as well as defensive weapons. There haven't been any real suggestions that those are going to come under any scrutiny in terms of how they're being used in the occupied territories. There's a lot of rhetoric.
And people have left the administration, the Biden administration, coming out publicly about how these discussions have been ongoing inside the administration and being very frustrated by it. So it's not that there isn't leverage that couldn't be used incredibly quickly and easily.
It's simply that the choice over the past more than 15 months now, I suppose, has been not to use any of it.
CHURCH: H. A. Hellyer in Cairo, many thanks for joining us and sharing your analysis. I Appreciate it.
HELLYER: Thank you so much.
CHURCH: It is Elon Musk versus Keir Starmer, the online war of words between the world's richest man and the British prime minister. The fight doesn't end there. That's just ahead here on "CNN Newsroom."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Canada's Liberal Party will soon start the process of picking its next leader and the country's next Prime Minister.
That's after Justin Trudeau announced he is stepping down as soon as a successor is selected. Polls show Canada's Liberals are on track to lose badly to the Conservatives in the next election, which will be held later this year.
Intraparty clashes also taking a toll on Mr. Trudeau, who said he cannot fight both internal battles and the political opposition.
[03:35:02]
Eric Farnsworth is the Vice President of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. He joins me now from Washington. Appreciate you being with us. ERIC FARNSWORTH, VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAS SOCIETY AND THE COUNCIL OF
THE AMERICAS: Good to be with you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So after nearly a decade in power, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau abruptly announced his resignation Monday. Why now? And what went so terribly wrong for Trudeau, do you think?
FARNSWORTH: Well, you know, the announcement may have been abrupt, but this has been building for some time. The Liberals are deeply unpopular in Canada. They lost some important by-elections last June.
Their coalition partners, the NDP, pulled out in September. And the caucus itself, the Liberal caucus itself, began to question Trudeau's leadership over the autumn.
But I think the major precipitating event was really the resignation of Chrystia Freeland, who's the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. She resigned for a variety of reasons, but she left with a scathing
letter that she made public, which really questioned the direction that Trudeau was taking the country, particularly as Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated south of the Canadian border here on January 20th.
So the timing has been building for a while, but I think it just became clear that with elections that have to be held this year, the caucus itself was beginning to question whether Trudeau was the horse that they wanted to ride. And he was getting that message.
CHURCH: So how necessary is the resignation of Trudeau for Canada to move forward?
FARNSWORTH: Well, a lot of people would say it's very necessary, but the way that it would normally be done, what he would be, he would call elections. I mean, elections, as I mentioned, have to be held this year by October, and the normal process would be he would call them and contest them. But what he's done is something that's slightly different.
He's actually resigned as leader of the Liberal Party, but says that he'll remain as prime minister until the Liberals determine who their next leader will be and who the next prime minister would be.
And that's really important, because in doing so he's suspended their parliament, which means that the country is really put on hold politically until the Liberals decide their own intra-caucus politics.
It's a really important scenario, because the country is going through some important changes, not to say, again, the relationship is shifting with the United States.
So, as the country goes through some political instability, you're going to have a new prime minister, and then, presumably, you'll have to have a new election after that. So, you could actually have three Canadian prime ministers this year, 2025. It's a process that really adds some instability north of the U.S. border. CHURCH: So, with that in mind, what impact will Trudeau's resignation likely have on the country once his replacement is selected in a few months, and who is best equipped to replace him?
FARNSWORTH: Well, I guess it depends on who the Liberals put forward as his replacement, but the early commentary would suggest that, indeed, anybody who they do would try to broadly continue the same policies of the Trudeau administration, which have been rejected now by the Canadian populace.
So, the opposition Conservatives are polling at least 20 points ahead of the Liberals, and so if the election were held today, the Conservatives would most likely win handily.
Nonetheless, you hear folks like Chrystia Freeland named as potential replacements for Trudeau. There are a number of others as well. We'll have to see how that works going forward.
But at the end of the day, what the real shift is going to take place in the elections themselves, when the Liberals and the other political parties will have to contest the Conservatives, who are clearly in the lead at this point.
CHURCH: And U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is taking credit for Trudeau's resignation after his relentless attacks on the Canadian leader, along with his threat to impose new 25 percent tariffs. How big a part did Trump actually play in Trudeau's downfall, do you think?
FARNSWORTH: Well, it's a really important question, but I don't think we can actually determine the answer. At the end of the day, politics are local, and Trudeau would have made the determination based on the support he had in his own caucus, and more broadly, among Canadians themselves. U.S. citizens and the U.S. President don't vote in Canada.
But having said that, President-elect Trump clearly has made the most of trolling Prime Minister Trudeau over the last several weeks and months, in a way that a number of people think are just jokes, but other people think are quite serious.
And that is something that has diminished the Prime Minister in the public eyes, and clearly caused some to question whether he had the political weight to be able to stand up to somebody like Donald Trump in the face of such onslaughts.
Particularly, again, if the U.S. does go forward with 25 percent tariffs on Canadian products, that will really stress the Canadian economy, which is already in trouble, and that's in some ways why the Liberals are so unpopular.
[03:40:10]
So, this could simply compound the issues that Canadians are facing, and I think it's one reason why the Prime Minister decided that now is probably a time to bow out and let somebody else try to take the mantle. CHURCH: Eric Farnsworth, thank you so much for joining us. I
Appreciate it.
FARNSWORTH: Thanks very much for having me. It's good to be with you.
CHURCH: A battle is brewing between Elon Musk and some of Europe's political leaders. The world's richest man is testing his strength against key U.S. partners, and aligning himself with far-right populist leaders.
CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Elon Musk is gunning for world leaders.
In his crosshairs U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alleging failings in a child sexual abuse scandal when Starmer was the U.K.'s chief prosecutor more than a decade ago, and posting this question to his followers, if America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.
Starmer firing back.
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've seen this playbook many times, whipping up of intimidation and threats of violence.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Musk's inaccurate and sensationalist accusations are catching U.K. politicians off guard. His trolling of Starmer is not new. Last summer, claiming racist riots were tipping the U.K. into civil war.
But this and his international meddling is reaching new levels.
Since becoming president-elect Donald Trump's advisor, Musk's words have more muscle. The power pair have teamed up on calls with world leaders, notably with Volodymyr Zelenskyy one day after the U.S. presidential elections.
But it is Musk's right-wing push picking up on what former Trump strategist and advisor Steve Bannon began eight years ago, championing Europe's far-right populist disruptors that has Europe's leaders worried.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Ten years ago, if we'd been told that the owner of the largest social media networks would support an international reactionary movement and directly intervene in elections, including Germany.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Musk also supporting the hard-right AFD, Alternative for Germany party, which has been accused of resurrecting Nazi rhetoric ahead of elections there next month.
But Musk is going further right than Bannon, attacking a staunch Trump ally, Nigel Farage, saying Farage doesn't have what it takes to lead his upstart Reform U.K. Party.
Farage, the British populist who pushed Brexit just hours before Musk's put down, had counted the tech titan a supporter who might finance his fledgling party.
NIGEL FARAGE, LEADER, U.K. REFORM PARTY: The fact that he supports me politically and supports reform doesn't mean I have to agree with every single statement he makes on X.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Why the falling out? Possibly differences over this man known as Tommy Robinson, a jailed anti-Muslim campaigner who fanned the flames of racist riots last summer.
Musk praises him. Farage doesn't.
The question in Europe now, how far right will Musk go?
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: A U.S. federal judge has held Rudy Giuliani in contempt for failing to turn over information to the two Georgia election workers he defamed after the 2020 presidential election.
Donald Trump's former personal attorney was ordered to pay $150 million in damages. A trial is scheduled in two weeks, where Giuliani will fight to keep ownership of the $3.5 million Florida condo where he lives.
The former New York mayor has been delaying handing over his valuables to Ruby Freeman and Shea Moss, but he began the process of turning over some of his assets after the judge ordered him to do so in October.
A deadly winter storm has made its way to the U.S. Capitol and people are dealing with hazardous conditions across the city. Stay with us as we take you to the snowy streets of Washington DC after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: As it is winter conditions are disrupting life for millions of Americans as a powerful weather system makes its final push over the East Coast. Many people in the region are grappling with heavy snowfall and thick layers of ice as CNN's Gabe Cohen reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A deadly winter storm creating dangerous conditions for tens of millions of Americans.
Snow, sleet and freezing rain blanketing large areas of the country from Kansas to the nation's capital.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): The most important thing that people can do today is to stay home and to stay safe.
COHEN (voice-over): Thick ice and gusty winds toppling trees and power lines knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes.
On the road at least four people killed in crashes and hundreds of motorists stranded amid extreme conditions.
And misery for flyers with thousands of flights either delayed or canceled.
In D.C. at least five inches of snow have already piled up the most the district has seen in at least three years and there may be more to come.
UNKNOWN: We're asking people to stay off the streets as much as possible.
COHEN (voice-over): Many schools across the region are closed and federal government offices shut down in D.C. but not everyone is staying home.
UNKNOWN: I have been telling people I am going to cross country ski on the national mall.
UNKNOWN: It's a nice day for a walk. You know there's no traffic so it makes it easy to kind of walk around everywhere and yeah just just enjoy it.
COHEN (voice-over): After the snow moves out dangerous cold is moving in. An arctic blast bringing bone-chilling temps to the same areas just starting to dig out from the snow.
COHEN: And as all this snow continues to pile up across the mid- atlantic many school districts across this region have gone ahead and announced that they are going to remain closed on Tuesday as crews continue to clear snow and concern grows about ice and bone-chilling temperatures.
Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The first person in the U.S. to have a severe case of the H5N1 bird flu has died. Officials say the person was hospitalized with the virus after being exposed to a flock of wild birds in their backyard.
The Louisiana Department of Health has not disclosed the person's identity but says they were over the age of 65 with underlying medical conditions. The Centers for Disease Control are investigating how the flu evolved in the patient's body.
Still the agency says the risk to the general public remains low with no reports of person-to-person transmission. Potentially toxic chemicals could have already contaminated nearly
half of America's water supply according to a study and scientists say those forever chemicals are becoming increasingly harder to remove as more and more are found.
CNN's Meg Terrell has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, forever chemicals are this group of chemicals known as PFAS and they've been around for decades. They're man-made chemicals that have been used in all sorts of things because they have a lot of really great properties like making your cookware non-stick or making your clothing water repellent for example.
[03:49:54]
Unfortunately, scientists then discovered that these things really don't break down in the environment they can accumulate over time and they've increasingly been associated with health risks including certain cancers, problems during pregnancy, decreasing our immune response to vaccines and other health issues.
And so, we knew that PFAS already are in our drinking water and the EPA has started to regulate this more closely. This new study though looks at PFAS in wastewater treatment plants and increasingly they say that is going to be something that we need to think about for drinking water that essentially wastewater will be treated and then used as drinking water as we go through droughts and through climate change and things like that.
And so, this new study looked at the levels of PFAS and associated chemicals in wastewater treatment plants and they found that even with triple filtration sometimes that these plants aren't able to get all the PFAS and these chemicals out of the water and that they estimate that about 23 million Americans maybe depending on water sources that are contaminated with these chemicals at levels higher than is recommended.
And these chemicals can be coming from things including pharmaceuticals they said a lot of very common drugs actually have these sort of chemical properties and so as people take these and they end up in that is one contributing source.
And so, what they recommend is that we either need to get better at stopping the PFAS from going into the water or better at filtering them out or both preferably as we learn more about how they're affecting our health.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And still to come a new golf league is launching in the U.S. and it's unlike anything the game has seen. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Take a look at this rare glimpse of one of Earth's most vibrant natural phenomena. NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured the northern lights also known as the Aurora Borealis from above as the International Space Station orbited over eastern Canada on Sunday.
He says it felt like, quote, "we've been shrunk down to a miniature dimension and inserted into a neon sign."
Fabulous look at that.
Well, tech giant Meta is making an apparent move to the right with the appointment of a new board member. He is Trump ally and Ultimate Fighting Championship chief executive Dana White. The selection is seen as yet another step by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to improve his relationship with Donald Trump.
Meta which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp says Zuckerberg wants to take an active role in tech policy conversations with the incoming Trump administration.
Well, a new high-tech golf league will make its debut later today. The Tomorrow Golf League will take place at a first-of-its-kind virtual golf course in southern Florida.
It's the brainchild of golf greats Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and will include some of the game's best players in a weekly competition.
World Sport's Patrick Snell has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TIGER WOODS, LEGENDARY GOLFER: It's going to be great. This is what we've been shooting for.
WYNDHAM CLARK, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: I'm really excited. I think this is something great for golf.
WOODS: We're trying to bring a new demographic to this game of golf and it's going to be exciting. I was blown away of the amount of moving parts there is to this but it's going to be unbelievable on TV.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT (voice-over): The league comprises six teams of four players competing at a 1,500 capacity arena in Florida ahead of a best-of-three final series showdown in March.
[03:55:04]
The message from 2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, prepare to be entertained. We're in a massive arena.
CLARK: I would think of this as almost like an NBA game. We have walk- up songs, we walk out to everyone cheering us on, we have a ref, there's a 40-second shot clock, there's a bunch of fun games within the game and then they can expect us, we're mic'd up, they can hear us in between shots, our strategy, the chirps and trash talk that we might have between players. SNELL: Do golfers enjoy a bit of trash talking from time to time? Tell
us more.
CLARK: Yes, you know that's the thing that you know I selfishly wish we had in golf because I do that all the time when I play practice rounds or rounds with my buddies.
All we do is talk trash and chirp each other and you know you get inside the arena of a normal PGA Tour event and you know that's poor etiquette so you don't do that but in this setting I think you're going to see a lot of it.
RICKIE FOWLER, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Everything's fair game, let's have a good time, play some good golf and provide some good entertainment.
Not too much on the hatred side I would say but little jabs and one- liners. Who knows I mean there could be some situations where it could get heated.
SNELL (voice-over): Golfers on each team will hit tee and approach shots into a 64 by 53 foot simulator before moving to a green that can be uniquely rotated and sloped on each hole thanks to a turntable under its surface.
WOODS: The rotating green blew me away and so yes I mean I've seen greens be able to move and but I've never seen a rotating green so that was a new experience and I think that's going to be a lot of fun for not just us but I was saying the fan experience.
SNELL (voice-over): The first session of each match is called triples, a nine-hole three-on-three alternate shot format before players then go head-to-head for six holes.
FOWLER: This is definitely new for the golf scene going away from you know playing on you know a real golf course not being in a simulator but a pretty good size arena that's housing you know there'd be 1,500 people basically right on top of us.
And you know hitting shots into a massive screen and then hopefully hitting some good shots around the green because people are pretty close there might be a few in danger.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The TGL initially had to postpone its inaugural season by a year following a roof collapse and power failure at the South Florida venue but tomorrow's golf league is now here today with organizers hoping it's here to stay.
Thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next with Max Foster, Christina Macfarlane.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
