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At Least 95 Killed in Tibet Quake; Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau Resigns; Trump's Victory Certified, Paving Way for Inauguration; Winter Storm Conditions Impact Millions of Americans; Elon Musk Takes Aim at U.S. Partners in Europe. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired January 07, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister. I care deeply about this country and I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: One of the most important pillars of our democracy is that there will be a peaceful transfer of power.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): When you lose an election, you roll up your sleeves and try to win the next one. You don't deny that you lost and encourage people to do bad, bad things.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I should have done this yesterday. I need food and milk and, you know, staples, so here I am.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to get me through. I have 80 rolls of toilet paper at home too, so I'm good. There's nowhere better to be than the District of Columbia in the snow.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Max Foster.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Tuesday, January 7th, 9 a.m. here in London, 5 p.m. in Tibet, where the Chinese state media are reporting that at least 95 people have been killed in a powerful earthquake and 130 others injured.
FOSTER: The U.S. Geological Survey says a 7.1 quake struck just after 9 a.m. local time, followed by dozens of aftershocks. Authorities say the shaking could be felt as far away as Nepal and northern India. We'll go live to Beijing later in the program for you.
To the end of an era in Canadian politics, meanwhile, after almost 10 years in power, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he's resigning as head of the Liberal Party, which means he's also giving up the premiership.
MACFARLANE: His successor will automatically become Canada's next Prime Minister. But Mr. Trudeau will stay on as caretaker Prime Minister for the time being. He succumbed to pressure from members of his own party, who had loudly been calling on him to quit.
Among them, his once close ally, the Finance Minister, who resigned herself last month.
FOSTER: The Liberals are widely expected to lose the general election later this year to Canada's Conservative Party. And Mr. Trudeau's departure is seen as an attempt at damage control.
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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, OUTGOING CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I'm a fighter. Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians. I care deeply about this country. And I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians.
This country deserves a real choice in the next election. And it has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Well, Donald Trump twisting the knife and once again pushing for Canada to join the U.S., posting, quote: Many people in Canada love being the 51st state. The United States can no longer suffer the massive trade deficits and subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this and resigned. If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no tariffs.
FOSTER: And that looming threat of tariffs remains despite Mr. Trudeau's recent visit to Mar-a-Lago. CNN's Paula Newton has the details.
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TRUDEAU: It's always a pleasure to sit down with President Trump.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even before his first term, Donald Trump dismissed Justin Trudeau as a pretty boy, then called him dishonest when they met as leaders.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT: Well, he's too fast.
NEWTON (voice-over): The relationship was combative. Trudeau, the antithesis of MAGA branding, an unapologetic progressive. Still, they muddled through Trump's first term, even sealing a trade deal.
But since his reelection, Trump has trolled Trudeau, calling him governor and Canada the 51st state. So when Trudeau announced he'd be stepping down --
TRUDEAU: And it has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
NEWTON (voice-over): President-elect Trump was less than generous. Posting on Truth Social: The United States can no longer suffer the massive trade deficits and subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this and resigned.
TRUDEAU: I'm a fighter. Every bone in my body has always told me to fight.
[04:05:00]
NEWTON (voice-over): Somber as he told Winter Morning, Trudeau admitted he was no longer wanted in the ring by his own party.
TRUDEAU: I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister.
NEWTON (voice-over): Trudeau's undoing with Canadians and his party sounds strikingly similar to President Joe Biden's fate. Inflation, an affordable housing crisis, an increase in legal immigration that has put a strain on public services. It has all soured voters on his nine- year-old government.
The Conservative Party leader, led by career politician Pierre Poilievre, opened a more than 20 percent margin in polls, in part by doing its own trolling online, most recently calling Trudeau and his government wacko.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happens if they run a government?
NEWTON (voice-over): MAGA's base has taken notice, with shout-outs like this one from Megyn Kelly. Can we get him in our country?
But it was Chrystia Freeland, Trudeau's right-hand and finance minister, that was the tipping point. She resigned a few weeks ago, and in a letter called Trudeau's recent tax cuts political gimmicks, and lecturing him that Canada needed a stronger fiscal position to battle Trump's America-first foreign policy.
Even a quick trip to Mar-a-Lago in November did not come off as the strongest move, as President-elect Trump still threatened 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, chirping Governor Trudeau in his posts.
Paul Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
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MACFARLANE: Donald Trump Jr. is expected to visit Greenland today, as his father, the U.S. President-elect, pushes for control of the Danish territory. Denmark's foreign ministry says the trip is to shoot video for a podcast, and is not an official American visit.
FOSTER: Trump Sr. posted on social media late on Monday that he's hearing the people of Greenland are MAGA, and he promised they would benefit tremendously from becoming part of the U.S.
MACFARLANE: Denmark has said Greenland is not for sale. Trump has also repeatedly said he thinks Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
FOSTER: All of that would become the U.S..
MACFARLANE: 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. It's a peaceful scene right now in Washington, DC, where lawmakers on Monday braved a snowstorm to attend the certification.
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: This announcement of the state of the vote by the President of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States. Thank you very much.
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FOSTER: Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, fulfilling her role as President of the Senate, and oversaw the proceedings that made her opponent's win official. Harris hinted at the stark difference of Monday's certification from that of four years ago.
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HARRIS: Today was obviously a very important day, and it was about what should be the norm and what the American people should be able to take for granted, which is that one of the most important pillars of our democracy is that there will be a peaceful transfer of power.
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FOSTER: January 6th, 2021, became a day of infamy in the U.S. when some of Trump's supporters violently stormed the Capitol, interrupting the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential victory.
MACFARLANE: Our Many Raju brings us the latest now from Capitol Hill.
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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 of this. Some believe that Trump was done, would never come back again, or 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 6, 2021, want to move on. And that's a message that Senate Majority Leader John Thune gave me in the aftermath of this week's election certification, saying that he's ready to move forward, 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.
RAJU: President-elect refers to it as a day of love. Was it a day of love?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not for me, no.
RAJU: Why do you say that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not our country's best day.
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SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I was here on January 6th. 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 6th prisoners? He has said on day one he would pardon the January 6th 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. But that's something to watch in the weeks ahead.
Some Republicans, they want to move on from January 6th. 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)
MACFARLANE: Now, let's return to the earthquake in Tibet, which so far has killed at least 95 people. Our Marc Stewart's been tracking this from Beijing. Marc, tell us, what more are you learning about the quake?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christina, it is almost nightfall here in China, so there is concern that as night moves forward, perhaps that death toll could rise. But I can tell you this has now become a national priority. It was just a few hours ago that we heard from Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He issued some remarks calling for all-out efforts to search and rescue any survivors from this quake, which, as you can see on this map, is very close to the Himalayans. This is a very remote part of Tibet, about 100 miles away from the epicenter is the nearest city, that being Shigatse. And as you can see in some of this video, the rescues are taking place.
People are in many cases covered in debris from when the earth began to shake at around 9 o'clock this morning. Rescue crews have been able to finally be deployed. The Chinese Air Force is also part of this effort.
But there are a lot of challenges. Number one is infrastructure, as we see from these images. Some of the roads and highways are covered with debris. That makes it difficult for people to get out of the earthquake zone and for rescue teams to enter to see exactly what they are facing.
There have been some communication issues. At one time, phone service was down in some of these very remote villages. And then the other challenge being weather.
As we look ahead to this night, this night of uncertainty, of course aftershocks are going to be a concern. At one point today, 49 individual aftershocks were recovered. And those can be just as destructive and just as damaging.
As far as the rescue effort, we know that a drone is on the ready to try to get an aerial look. That is really the challenge right now, it appears, to try to assess just the scope of all of this.
The Chinese New Year is actually about two weeks away. It's supposed to be a very festive time, a very sacred time for many families. As we heard from people on social media, Max and Christina, this earthquake, this disaster is already starting to dampen the mood here in China.
FOSTER: OK, Marc Stewart, thank you so much for joining us from Beijing. Obviously, it looks so remote, the numbers, you know, we've got no idea what the eventual numbers will be.
MACFARLANE: They're set to get higher, obviously.
FOSTER: A powerful winter weather system sweeping across the U.S., wreaking havoc from the heartland of the Midwest all the way to the nation's east coast.
MACFARLANE: At least four people have been killed in car accidents as thick layers of ice continue to plague roads and highways in the region. Federal government offices will again remain closed today in Washington DC as more snow cover the capital overnight. Nearly 200,000 residents are without power across five states as well, with Arctic air forecasts to send dangerously cold temperatures as far south as Florida and the Gulf Coast.
FOSTER: Threatening to impact more than 250 million people throughout the country. The deadly winter storm making its final exit off the Atlantic coast. Meanwhile, CNN's Gabe Cohen has more on that.
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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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.
[04:15:03]
And misery for flyers with thousands of flights either delayed or canceled.
In DC, 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 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 DC. But not everyone is staying home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have been telling people I am going to cross- country ski on the National Mall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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, yes, 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.
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FOSTER: DC Snowball Fight Association, meanwhile, embracing a snowstorm.
MACFARLANE: It's my kind of fight.
FOSTER: Organizing the Great Meridian Chill Battle, as it's called, of 2025. Snowballs, of course, were most people's weapons of choice. Others stepped it up a notch, though, shoveling heaps of snow onto their opponents. There we go.
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JACK PITSOR, WASHINGTON D.C. RESIDENT: I did not come here to make friends, that's for sure.
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FOSTER: Get it all out.
MACFARLANE: Well, meanwhile, the newest pair of giant pandas at the Smithsonian's National Zoo also had a blast tumbling in the snow today. There he goes. Bao Ling, Li and Qing Bao played in about 5 inches or 12 centimeters of fresh powder somersaulting across their outdoor habitat.
Who doesn't want to see a panda tumbling in snow?
FOSTER: Well, people couldn't see it. These are pictures we're bringing to you from the zoo because the zoo wasn't open to the public because of the weather. But their renovated habitat opens to the public on January 24th.
MACFARLANE: Get it in your diaries.
Now, Elon Musk is stirring up controversy here in London and across Europe. Why one MP wants to summon the U.S. ambassador over the billionaire's bombastic comments.
FOSTER: Plus, Pope Francis signals how he plans to navigate a second Trump administration. A clue as he names a new Catholic leader in Washington.
MACFARLANE: And it's billing itself as a game changer for the game of golf, a new competition at the virtual venue that has some heavy hitters behind it. See what he did there.
[04:20:00]
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FOSTER: A battle is brewing between Elon Musk and some of Europe's political leaders. The world's richest man testing his strength against key U.S. partners and aligning himself with far-right populism.
MACFARLANE: CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has been looking into the issue.
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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)
FOSTER: Well, at least one British lawmaker is asking the government to take action over Musk's recent inflammatory remarks. The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davies, says people have had enough of Musk interfering in the country's democracy when he clearly knows nothing about Britain.
[04:25:00]
MACFARLANE: Well, Davies said the U.S. ambassador should be summoned to explain, in his words, why an incoming U.S. official is suggesting the U.K. government should be overthrown.
FOSTER: Well, it is interesting because he's had so much criticism for getting or interfering in British politics, but there was some evidence last night that it's working. Because the Home Secretary came out and said they would be changing the law on child exploitation, which, you know, this is in response to a report.
MACFARLANE: Which makes it very hard to ignore the comments, right? But it's the manner with which he addressed it, you know, the wording, the frankly quite offensive wording that he uses to get this done, which is clearly problematic.
FOSTER: Yes, but it worked.
MACFARLANE: It's obviously an issue all of European leaders are grappling with right now, not just the U.K.
And an extreme far-right politician in Austria is now one step closer to becoming Chancellor. This comes after Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen asked the leader of the pro-Russian Freedom Party to form a coalition government.
Herbert Kickl heads that party and has one of Austria's lowest approval ratings. Earlier this week, negotiations to form a government among Austria's mainstream parties collapsed.
FOSTER: Protesters gathered in Vienna to denounce Kickl's possible chancellorship, saying he takes the country closer to an ugly Nazi past.
A 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 armored vehicles and artillery and drone attacks against Russian troops.
MACFARLANE: Ukraine has held ground in southern Kursk 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 buffer zone and the operation will protect Ukraine's battlefields by diverting Russian forces. FOSTER: 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 those battlefield reports, though.
Officials in Moldova say more than 51,000 households in the country's breakaway Transnistria region have no access to gas. Homes and apartment buildings are experiencing blackouts and some are also losing access to water. For decades, the region has relied on Russian gas supplies that were transported through Ukraine.
MACFARLANE: And after three years of war, Kyiv has refused to extend a transit deal that benefits Moscow. Now Moldova's president blames Russia for causing instability in Transnistria.
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DORIN RECEAN, MOLDOVAN PRIME MINISTER: What we see today in Transnistria region is that people don't have electricity for hours, they don't have heating. Most of all, they don't have access to gas. And starting today, they have even interruptions of water supply.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACFARLANE: Meanwhile, Russia's president is marking Orthodox Christmas. Vladimir Putin attended a service in Moscow on Monday night, lighting candles and saying prayers.
FOSTER: Russian Orthodox Christians typically celebrate Christmas on January 6th and 7th. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, lawmakers in Kyiv officially switched the holiday to December 25th.
MACFARLANE: Still to come, U.S. President Joe Biden visits New Orleans to honor the victims of the New Year's Eve terror attack. What he said to families just ahead.
FOSTER: Plus, the unease surrounding possible January 6th pardons hits home for some families. Our Donie O'Sullivan speaks with a son he now fears for his life after helping put his father in prison.
