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U.S. to Meet Iran in World Cup Match; Iran Asks FIFA to Suspend U.S. Soccer Team for Altering Iranian Flag in Post; Former President Trump Draws Criticism and Condemnation for Hosting Kanye West and White Nationalist Nick Fuentes for Dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 28, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: These were the stars, this was "Glee" before "Glee."

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The best karaoke songs.

LEMON: Yes, really great. And also, listen, she was a trailblazer for women and for minorities in the business because she had this terrible record contract. She sued her record executive, and she won after years.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Really?

LEMON: Yes, she's amazing.

HARLOW: Fighting for what she's owed.

LEMON: Fighting for what she's owed.

HARLOW: Only 63.

COLLINS: Her publicist talked about how hard it was to tell everyone the news.

HARLOW: I'm sure.

COLLINS: She will be missed.

And CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

LEMON: Good Monday morning everyone. We're so glad that you could join us on CNN THIS MORNING. It is November 28th, and there is lots to get to this morning. Tomorrow U.S.-Iran World Cup match, the U.S.-Iran World Cup has somehow become a high-stakes political showdown on the world stage with the Iranians now demanding the American team be thrown out of the competition.

COLLINS: Donald Trump under fire after dining at Mar-a-Lago with Kanye West and a white nationalist who is also a holocaust denier. We have now the former president reacting to the backlash he is getting for that dinner. HARLOW: Also, the January 6th committee is actively discussing what

to include in its final report expected to focus on more than just former President Trump. We will explain.

LEMON: So politics and sports on a geopolitical collision course in Qatar. The U.S. and Iran play a consequential soccer match tomorrow in the World Cup. If the U.S. team loses, well, they go home. But before the game even begins, Iran wants the Americans to be thrown out of the competition for altering the Iranian flag on its social media platforms. CNN sports anchor Carolyn Manno is live for us, for CNN THIS MORNING, in Atlanta, and CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood joins us from the State Department this morning. Good morning to both of you. Carolyn, I'm going to start with you. How is this impacting tomorrow's showdown between the U.S. and Iran?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: According to U.S. Soccer, the players were not consulted about the decision to post this since deleted graphic of the group's standings without the emblem of the Islamic Republic in it. It has certainly added an intensity to a match that is already going to be really difficult for the United States to win. That's not to say that the players aren't in favor of the decision to show support for the women of Iran. The men's team has publicly supported a number of causes that they felt passionately about in the past.

But it is worth noting that this decision didn't come from them. U.S. Soccer told CNN that they always planned to go back to the original flag. They called it a one-time change. But the stakes are very high here, as you know, Don. There's a lot at stake. No subtleties are going to be missed. Everything that the United States says and does is going to be used as ammunition. And right now, Iran is calling for FIFA to suspend them from the tournament. Whether or not FIFA decides to respond, that's still very much in question. They haven't publicly said anything yet. And they also haven't confirmed that, in fact, FIFA -- that Iran has decided to ask for this formally. But we'll just have to wait and see. It's made everything a lot more difficult, that's for sure.

LEMON: Kylie, a question for you. How has the U.S. government responded to this escalating situation? Have they said anything?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, a State Department spokesperson said that there was no coordination between this decision by U.S. Soccer and the U.S. government. But it's important to note that they aren't coming out and criticizing this decision. I want to read what a State Department spokesperson said to us yesterday, quote, "We look forward to a peaceful and competitive match on the field. The United States continues to find ways to support the Iranian people in the face of state-sponsored violence against women and a brutal crackdown against peaceful protesters."

So it's significant there, the spokesperson not coming out and saying that this was the wrong decision, but making it very clear that the U.S. government didn't coordinate with U.S. Soccer on this.

I do think it's important to note, however, that the secretary of state has been critical in some part about some of the decisions surrounding the games. Just last week being critical of FIFA because they said that they were going to be doling out these yellow cards to players who are wearing that one love armband that represents diversity and inclusion. So the U.S. does have a history of saying when they want to be critical in this case. In this case, they're saying we are going ahead and we're supporting U.S. Soccer. We look forward to a match.

LEMON: Kylie, Carolyn, thank you very much.

COLLINS: OK, this morning former President Trump is attempting to defend himself, also distance himself after he had a white nationalist and holocaust denier as a dinner guest at his private Mar-a-Lago club. Trump says the Nick Fuentes was a guest of his guest, Kanye West, who has also espoused antisemitic views. But our reporting also shows that Trump found Fuentes, who flattered him throughout the meal, quote, "very interesting." CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is on this story. Sunlen, one thing that has stood out to me is that Trump has put out multiple statements on this, but he has yet to denounce these statements that we've seen from Fuentes, these very well documented bigoted statements from him.

[08:05:09]

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Kaitlan. The former president is trying to distance himself from this controversial dinner, claiming he didn't know who Nick Fuentes was and that he wasn't aware he was going to join them for dinner. But very importantly here, Trump is not disavowing the racism and the antisemitism of Fuentes or Kanye West's recent antisemitic remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SERFATY: Former President Donald Trump's newly launched bid for the White House facing criticism after he hosted a known white nationalist, Nick Fuentes, who was a guest of rapper Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago.

GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON, (R) ARKANSAS: I don't think it's a good idea for a leader that's setting an example for the country or the party to meet with a vowed racist or antisemite.

SERFATY: West's recent antisemitic remarks caused companies he was affiliated with, including Adidas and Balenciaga, to drop him from their brands. Fuentes is a 24-year-old holocaust denier who espouses racist rhetoric on his podcast.

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI DEFAMATION LEAGUE: Nick Fuentes is a racist, an antisemite, and someone who revels in just saying hateful, bigoted things about jews and other minorities.

SERFATY: Fuentes was also on the grounds of the capitol on January 6th, prompting the house select committee investigating the capitol attack to issue Fuentes a subpoena in January. MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: It's

incredibly poor judgment, and I think that ever since the election in 2020, I think the president has descended deeper into heart of darkness here.

SERFATY: In a post on his Truth Social platform Friday, Trump denied knowing Fuentes, writing, "West unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends who I knew nothing about. The dinner was quick and uneventful."

KANYE WEST, RAPPER: So Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes, and Nick Fuentes, unlike so many of the lawyers and so many people that he was left with on his 2020 campaign, he's actually a loyalist.

SERFATY: A source told CNN that Trump found Fuentes, quote, "very interesting," particularly Fuentes's his ability to rattle off statistics and his knowledge of Trump world. At one point during the dinner Trump declared he liked Fuentes.

According to that same source, the dinner grew tense at various times, including when West, who recently launched his own presidential bid, asked Trump to join his 2024 campaign ticket as his vice president.

President Joe Biden, who is still weighing whether he will seek reelection in 2024, responded to the dinner from Nantucket over the weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what do you think of Donald Trump having dinner with a white nationalist? What do you think of that, sir?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You don't want to hear what I think.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

SERFATY (on camera): And it was Trump's willingness to sympathize with white nationalists that was a major factor convincing Biden to launch a 2020 presidential campaign in the first place. And during his campaign announcement then, Biden, you'll recall, rebuked Trump's response to Charlottesville when he said then there were very fine people on both sides. And Biden framed, as you guys remember, the 2020 race as a battle for the soul of this nation.

COLLINS: Sunlen, thank you. Biden weighing in, but we haven't seen Republican leaders weighing in.

HARLOW: That's a very good point. We'll get to all of that. With us is contributing writer for "The Atlantic" Yair Rosenberg and CNN correspondent Donie O'Sullivan. Thank you both very much for being here. I think Kaitlan makes an excellent point, where are Republican leaders in this. Also, what you don't say is often as important as what you do say. So the president said a lot on Truth Social. Not included anywhere in there was any sort of apology, any sort of recognition of how wrong this was. He may not have known Fuentes before. He knew Kanye, what Kanye had said, the antisemitic remarks. He knows now what Fuentes stands for and has said, and yet nothing. What does the silence tell you?

YAIR ROSENBERG, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": It's not something new. We know Trump is constitutionally incapable of condemning people who praise him. And we've seen this over and over again since 2016. And that in practice means he launders his most ugly sycophants into a discourse, because they'll say something terrible, and he'll at most say, well, I don't know that person or I don't have anything to do with them. But he'll never, very conveniently ever say that I disagree with them, because he sort of things, a, he needs them and, b, that condemning people on your team, even if they're bad people, is a sucker's game. And that's something he never wants to be playing with. And his fans, some of his supporters like that because he never backs down.

HARLOW: I always learned as a child you are who you surround yourself with. That was a lesson to me as a child. And he is surrounding himself with these people. "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board says, "What is worse," it writes it this way, "The Wall Street Journal," right, Murdoch's "Wall Street Journal", "that Mr. Trump hasn't admitted his mistake in hosting the men or distancing himself from the odious views of Mr. Fuentes. Instead he portrays himself as an innocent victim," it says innocent, who was taken advantage of by Mr. West.

[08:10:04]

ROSENBERG: At what point after being president are you no longer the innocent and you're now the central actor and you have to take responsibility for your actions? Clearly for him that point is never. But I think a lot of people looking at this say you should know better. The people who decide who sits around the president should know better. And again, he can't do this. He's never been able to do this. And sometimes I think we see a moment like this and people are particularly shocked. But he has been having these weird inconvenient moments since he started politics, since he entered the political arena. And people know what he is. At a certain point, they make a decision based on --

LEMON: Do they know --

COLLINS: And what does it say when there is a pattern?

LEMON: Hold on one second. Do they know who he is? You know said we know who he is. Do they know who he is when he doesn't speak out? Sorry, pardon me. Do they know how he is?

ROSENBERG: I think they do. I think some people, I think they like seeing their leader not back down, right. So the media, the press, right, the liberals, Jews some people say, oh, you did this terrible thing, you met with this person. You need to denounce them. And he says I will never apologize, I will never denounce my own supporters no matter who they are.

And for some people that's a very appealing strongman quality. And so on the other hand, that's what some of his support base sees, and on the other hand people who are critical or people who are making a decision between different camps look at that and say maybe that's not something I want in my leader, that shows a certain lack of maturity and shows a certain lack of leadership.

COLLINS: And I covered Trump day in and day out for five years, still am covering him to this day. I think you're totally right in the sense that he doesn't like to criticize people who praise him. And the reporting from this dinner is that Fuentes knows how to appeal to Trump in the fact of saying, you're not surrounded by loyalists, you're surrounded by people working against you. That is something that appeals to the inner part of Trump.

And one thing you picked up on, Donie, was that Fuentes is someone who has asked people he's met with before not to condemn him. Do you think that could be playing a role in Trump's response here?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, I went back. I was listening Fuentes give an interview a few years back. And we should just say this is not coming out of nowhere, right. Fuentes was running around outside CPAC I think when we were there two years ago in Orlando. Most people, most Americans might not know his name, but he is a known quantity within the Trump base. Listening back on a podcast from about two years ago he spoke about some Republican politicians. And Fuentes said, he said I didn't ask them to come out and praise me publicly. I know I can be toxic in that way for the mainstream. But all I ask is that they do not disavow me. And that is specifically what Trump is doing here.

COLLINS: What else about Fuentes sticks out to you? Because the other part of this is, it's well documented everything he said. It's not like any kind of secret.

O'SULLIVAN: It's just a surreal situation to think Kanye, Fuentes, and Trump at this meal. What I will say is that Fuentes, as the stars all start to align, right now he's banned off most of the major social media platforms. Twitter under Elon Musk may very well bring him back online. So that's just another element in all of this.

LEMON: That was my question to you. That's why I said do they know who he is. And perhaps they do, which begs the question, why aren't more people speaking out? This is David duke 2.0. David Duke? I don't know who, I denounce, Proud Boys stand back and stand by. So if they do know who he is, what does that say about them if they are saying this is OK or they're silence, as you said, Poppy, is speaking volumes.

O'SULLIVAN: Fuentes is popular among certain people, not despite his antisemitism and racism but because of it. And this is so central to all the other QAnon stuff and everything else, this idea there's a cabal, Democrats. A lot of times they're just talking about Jews.

HARLOW: I think the point you made, Kaitlan is so important, is where is Republican leadership in this now? And let's hope there's no denouncing to come today. But we'll talk about Dana a little later about her interview with Asa Hutchinson, Republican Governor of Arkansas, who did come out and condemned this. But look at these Republican officials who have come out condemned it.

Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo said "Antisemitism is a cancer. We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world's oldest bigotry." He didn't mention Trump. David Friedman, Trump's former adviser, ambassador to Israel, tweeted "Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable." And the Republican Jewish Coalition came out and said "All political leaders need to reject messages of hate and refuse to meet with Kanye and Fuentes." That's what all of those Republican leaders, but not in Congress, are saying. What do we need to hear from allies of the former president in Congress?

ROSENBERG: I think it would be nice, I think the Jewish community would appreciate Republicans in Congress coming out and forthrightly condemning something like this. But I think, also, words are only so much. I think at a certain point there has to be action. It's time for the Republican Party to say here is where the lines are.

[08:15:00]

And I don't think -- frankly, I don't think we're going to see that because I think if you look at, say, the Republican new House majority, so you have someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is going to have more influence. She is going to get back on Committees, and she shook hands with Nick Fuentes and spoke at a conference with him, which is actually far more grave than what Trump did, by his own explanation where "I don't know this guy."

Well, she knows who it was and she did it on purpose, and she refused to apologize and she is about to have more authority in Congress, not less.

So people might say what they say, but I would look at what they do.

COLLINS: By Trump sharing a meal with him, do you worry about how it legitimizes Nick Fuentes?

ROSENBERG: Unless it was specifically him and more, the idea is that he expresses that people with powerful positions or influence can sit down and brush off those sorts of encounters and not say, well, this sticks to me in a way that I'm really uncomfortable with.

Because when Trump says I don't really care enough to denounce this sort of thing, then other people say, well, you know, that it's probably not such a big deal to voice these things in polite company.

I'm reminded of something a very long time ago, and I keep bringing it back to 2016, but during the 2016 election, there was this long standing White supremacist in California who somehow ended up as a Trump elector. And then when they interviewed him, he said, well, when I used to say the things I say, they would say, well, you're a Nazi, you're a racist, you're a White supremacist, right?

But now they say, oh, you're just like Trump. That makes sense. Right? It didn't mean that they agreed with him, but it suddenly became part of the conversation in a normalized way that it wasn't before. And so this is sort of, we're just seeing the unfurling of this over,

you know, six years. It is sort of the natural consequence of where things started, and where they ended up.

LEMON: Donie, it is hard to believe.

O' SULLIVAN: Yes, and just one final point, I will say, somebody to watch on this is Kevin McCarthy, because when Greene was involved with this guy, a few months back, he came out, denounced it, what's he going to say now given that it's Trump and in the middle of this leadership contest.

LEMON: On that point.

COLLINS: He has been meeting with her.

LEMON: We're talking about what Republicans have not said, when something happens that they -- you know, that is politically expedient for them, immediately, there is a statement that is put out, immediately. Someone dies, I'm so sorry that this person died.

When the former President meets with a White nationalist and a Holocaust denier and we're wondering like, when are they going to do it? Well, maybe they will do it. Let's see what they say. Why haven't they said it already?

And the other issue is, look, he should have known and if he didn't know who Nick Fuentes was, that is an even bigger problem than him knowing who he is. So, thank you, both of you. We appreciate it.

A pilot and a passenger rescued overnight after their plane crashed into power lines in Maryland, how long it took to get them down.

HARLOW: Rare protests, huge protests, clashes with police in China spreading across that country speaking out against the Zero-COVID Policy and so much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:03]

HARLOW: For the five things to know this morning, let's go to our friend Erica Hill. Good morning.

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, guys. Good to see you this morning.

LEMON: Hi, Erica.

HILL: Unprecedented protests are erupting across China.

(CROWDS chanting in foreign language.)

HILL: Thousands demanding an end to COVID lockdowns in the midst of a record shattering outbreak. Demonstrators also calling for President Xi's resignation. All public schools in Houston closed today. The city actually issuing

a boil water notice because of a loss of water pressure at a purification plant. Houston's Drinking and Wastewater Utility serve some 2.2 million customers a day.

A significant severe weather event likely to hit the South this week. We're talking about more than 25 million people from Eastern Texas up into Southern Indiana who could be facing severe thunderstorms capable of tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail.

This miraculous rescue in Maryland, a pilot of the plane and his passenger crashing into power lines last night that left them trapped for hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF SCOTT GOLDSTEIN, MONTGOMERY COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Both patients have been transported from the scene to local area trauma centers with serious injuries. There is a hypothermia issue as well, but there's also orthopedic and trauma injuries from the crash.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: And there is a new word of the year -- ready for it? "Gaslighting" that from Merriam-Webster which defines gaslighting as mind manipulating, grossly misleading, and downright deceitful.

Searches for gaslighting on MerriamWebster.com increased more than 1,700 percent over the past year.

And those are the five things to note this morning. You can find more of these stories all day on CNN and CNN.com. Gaslighting.

HARLOW: Gaslighting, who knew?

LEMON: Gaslighting.

HILL: I mean what a shock.

COLLINS: Erica Hill never gaslights, so...

HILL: Never.

COLLINS: She always tells us the truth.

HILL: Thank you, Kaitlan.

HARLOW: Thank you, friend.

All right, well, this is great to see.

Legendary comedian Jay Leno making a triumphant return to the stage after suffering significant burn injuries in a gas fire two weeks ago. This is video of him leaving the comedy club -- a comedy and magic club in Hermosa Beach, California last night after performing before a sold out crowd. He appeared to be in good spirits, chatting with the media, making

some jokes even before the show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: We've got two show us tonight. Regular and extra crispy. Thank you and good night, ladies and gentlemen. We are closed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh. Will you be bringing it?

LENO: I never thought of myself as a roast comic. Hey, thank you. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The former "Tonight Show" host is an avid car collector. He had been working underneath a vehicle when he was burned on his face, chest, and hands. His doctor says the 72-year-old underwent two surgical procedures to treat his injuries. Oh, and there he is smiling with the medical team.

COLLINS: So glad to see he is doing well.

LEMON: Yes, it's so good to see him back.

Up next, new CNN reporting, just in about what will be included in the January 6 Committee's final report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:29:09]

LEMON: The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack now finalizing what to include in its final report next month.

CNN has learned it is likely to go beyond Donald Trump's role in trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and the violence that followed.

CNN's Paula Reid joins us live from Washington, DC.

Paula, good morning to you. What do we know? What's going to be in this?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, morning, Don.

With just a few weeks left before the Committee expires, members are still debating exactly how they want to present what they have found.

This investigation has been going on for nearly two years and we got a glimpse of their work during those dramatic hearings this summer, but the Committee also has five teams that each looked into a specific aspect of the attack. They have interviewed roughly a thousand witnesses, they have analyzed

tens of thousands have documents and it's clearly going to be impossible to include everything.

So we're seeing some tensions behind the scenes about this spill out into public view.

[08:30:10]