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CNN This Morning

Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas Continues as More Hostages are Released; Some Children Reunited with Family Members in Israel after Being Held Hostage by Hamas. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 28, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ELIE HONIG, SENIOR CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Also pressed Mike Pence on, the fact that Donald Trump was hearing different pieces of advice from different advisers. Some of them who I think are generally seen as more responsible were telling Trump there's no evidence of fraud, but other people were telling Trump that there was evidence of fraud and you push ahead. So I think defense lawyers for Trump are going to focus on that latter part.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Elie Honig, thank you. Commas matter. Appreciate it.

HONIG: Thanks, guys.

HARLOW: See you soon. CNN THIS MORNING continues now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS HAND, NINE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER RELEASED BY HAMAS: Emily should be here in a couple of minutes. I don't believe it. And all of a sudden, the door opened up and she just ran. It was beautiful. Just like in -- just like I imagined it, running together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What an interview. You will hear much more of that soon. Good morning, everyone. We are glad you are with us this hour. That was the father of nine-year-old Emily Hand describing the moment he reunited with his beloved little girl after she spent more than seven weeks in Hamas captivity. And this morning he sat down with our own Clarissa Ward for his first interview since Emily came home.

MATTINGLY: And right now, we are watching and waiting for Hamas to release 10 more hostages today after the temporary truce with Israel was extended for two more days. Late yesterday, Hamas released a fourth round of captives. That group including a mother and her three- year-old twin daughters. Sadly, their father still being held.

HARLOW: Take a look at this video this morning. What you're looking at is 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi getting a big, emotional hug from his mother as they were finally reunited last night. The only American hostage released since Friday is four-year-old Abigail Edan. Later this hour we will be joined by her family. MATTINGLY: We have team coverage this morning. Let's start with

Kaitlan Collins in Tel Aviv. Kaitlan, one American released. What do we know about when officials expect the other Americans, two in particular, two American women, to be released?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's a question that even U.S. officials are wondering right now. They certainly believe that those Americans would be in that first group of 50. There are several Americans who are still being held, but there are three that they believed would qualify for women and children and that would make it into those first four days of the hostage releases. So far that has not happened.

And of course, now we are on day five of what was really supposed to be a four-day temporary truce. It has now been extended for two more days. It's clear why it was extended. Every side right now feels like they are benefiting from this. It's quiet in Gaza right now. There is a lot of aid going in. You are not seeing the IDF forces who are there move around much. They've maintained these truce lines, as they are referring to them. And obviously, Israel is getting its hostages back, and you are seeing that after emotional reunion and emotional reunion with all of these families who want to know whether or not their loved ones are going to be next.

And I think one thing to keep in mind here is this is such a heartbreaking day-by-day basis for all of these families who they get a call from the Israel government each night once Hamas has handed over the list either telling them, yes, your loved one is on it, or no, they are not. And so they are kind of just sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.

And so that is where we are on day five. I think a big question right now is what comes after day six. It's not clear on either side yet if it will get extended again, what this will ultimately look like, or who Hamas has left into captivity to produce that would fit under this category.

What we are seeing, though, are a lot of emotional reunions between these two families, and one that is probably the most searing is Emily Hand and her father. CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward is here in Tel Aviv. And obviously, Clarissa, you spoke to him. No one will forget when he said he initially thought his daughter was killed. Where do you even start now that they have been reunited?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there is obvious joy, and you saw that in that clip, the moment that he saw her, that he held her, he talked about squeezing her too hard. He talked about how skinny she had become, how pale she was, and how for days she would only speak in a whisper because she had been told repeatedly during her captivity to be quiet, to be quiet. And she is only just now rediscovering her voice.

And there is a sense that it is going to be a very long journey ahead. And we asked about the events of October 7th. And of course, one of the biggest challenges for Tom as a dad had been basically telling Emily about what happened in kibbutz Be'eri where they were living and what happened to people in her own community, part of her family. Tom's first wife, Narkis, who was basically like a second mother to Emily, the mother of his two older children, she was killed on October 7th, and this is something that he had to break to Emily. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Does Emily understand what happened on October 7th?

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THOMAS HAND, NINE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER RELEASED BY HAMAS: Yes. Yes. Unfortunately, she does. How do you tell her, you know, your second mom is dead? Killed. Shot. When we got back to the hospital, I asked the psychiatrist, what should I do? She said, you've just got to tell her straight. That's the best way.

OK, yes. That was very hard, because we told her, and her little eyes glazed up and she just went, took a sharp in-breath, took a breath. Terrible thing to tell a child. But then they recommend you have to close the book. Sounds cruel, but you have to stop the hope. You've got to stop that. It has to be final. Narkis is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD (on camera): And you feel how much pain there still is, even for families that have had the fortune to have their loved ones returned to them. There is such a profound sense of grief for all that has been lost, for the loss of Emily's innocence. He said she is starting to smile more. She is starting to play more. But even last night, out of nowhere, she hid underneath the cover in their hotel room and just started sobbing for an hour and didn't stop and didn't want to be comforted and didn't want to talk about it. And he said he has been told by the psychiatrist and psychologists who he is consulting with it's an really important to allow this to unfold at its own pace, to allow Emily to share when she is ready, and not to push her too much to try to get details of her captivity, although we are learning more of those details.

COLLINS: What are we learning about how she was kept?

WARD: So interestingly, Kaitlan, she was not held in the tunnels as many of the hostages have been. She was held in houses and moved frequently house to house, because the bombardment, of course, was intensive. The Israel military was on the move. They were worried about being targeted or located. So there was a lot of movement from house to house. She was kept intact with this unit, the young girl who she had been spending the night with, having that sleepover with, Hila Rotem, and her mother, Raaya. Hila and Raaya were ultimately separated for reasons that we don't fully understand.

But he said that Raaya really was like a mother to Emily as well as Hila during that time. And she and Hila became incredibly close. He describes how she used to stroke Hila's ear at night to help her fall asleep as a source of comfort. He also talked about the fact that she hasn't been physically harmed. She has a terrible case of head lice and there wasn't really enough food. She was having to dig up breakfast every day, but lunch and dinner not always. She learned to like to eat just plain olive oil and bread because sometimes that was all that they had.

And beyond that, he is really just waiting for her to give more information, to give more details when she is able to talk about it, with the full realization that that might take quite some time.

COLLINS: Yes, I can't even imagine how many questions he has for her about what she has gone through, because, I mean, just to be a parent and to be protective and to want to know everything that she's seen and to not be able to necessarily outright ask that.

WARD: It's really hard. He said that. He said that I want know everything. I want to understand everything that she has been through. And every child and every hostage is different. For example, with Hila, who is now reunited with her brother, Hila wants to talk about it non-stop. She wants to give every single detail, and it is a form of catharsis for her to talk about it.

Emily is very different. Emily -- and she is younger, Emily, keep in mind. She just turned nine years old in captivity. And so it's much harder for her to talk about it. She is still finding her voice. She is still struggling, I think, to process what she has been through. And even some small detail that really stayed with me again, Tom asked her, how long do you think you were held for in captivity? Because of course they didn't have phones or clocks or calendars. And she said Hila and I thought we were held for a year, which I think goes to show you just how your entire universe is flipped upside down, time stands still, everything is different and alien and foreign. And I think it's going to take her a very long time before she really starts to let go of that, reacclimatize.

And for Tom, of course, as well, there is a lot of guilt involved, even though, of course, he has done nothing wrong and nothing to justify feeling that way. But as a parent you understand it. Why couldn't I help her? Why couldn't I save her?

[08:10:01]

He talked about trying to imagine whether he should have sneaked into Gaza at some point to rescue her. And all the things that go through his mind. I think sometimes we forget the trauma the people on this side who haven't been held in captivity but who have been held hostage in a different way, emotionally, by their own impotence, to safely get their loved ones out freely. Obviously, now Emily is free. So many others are not. That's why where Tom's focus is right now in trying to push and campaign for the others to get out, too.

COLLINS: Their journey is nothing short of remarkable. Clarissa Ward, we will be watching much more of that interview. Great interview.

Poppy, Phil, obviously just one of the many stories that we're seeing here as these reunions are happening. And yes, they look so happy in the videos and they are, but they are also filled with so much trauma, as you can still see. MATTINGLY: Yes, such a long path ahead. And as you noted, so many

parents, children being reunited. After 50 days, four-year-old Abigail Edan is finally reunited with her loved ones. We're going to speak with two of her family members about her return. That's ahead.

HARLOW: Also happening right now, this rescue mission underway to save 41 workers who have trapped inside a tunnel in northern India for 17 days. Some should come out at any moment. We'll take you there live.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe President Trump was the right president at the right time.

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HALEY: I was proud to serve America and his administration, and I agree with a lot of his policies, but the truth is, rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. You know I'm right, chaos follows him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: That was Nikki Haley at a rally in Bluffton, South Carolina, pitching voters on why she thinks she's a better choice than Donald Trump. With just seven weeks until Republican voters in Iowa have their voices heard, Haley touted polls showing her in second place in the first set of early state races.

She also told the crowd that she expects the field to narrow after Iowa and after New Hampshire, which she suggested would allow her to have a real chance to win her home state of South Carolina. Trump, however, still has a wide lead in all three of those states.

HARLOW: But you can't deny Haley's rise in the polls, and that has raised questions for some about the viability of some of her candidates, including our next guest, Chris Christie, one of Trump's biggest critics, who has staked out a strategy to show strong support in New Hampshire.

And he is with us this morning, former governor of New Jersey, Presidential Candidate good morning. It's great to have you.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good to be here.

HARLOW: So, we were listening to you this weekend with our friend Dana Bash on State of the Union. And you said something we haven't heard before, that you're in this through the convention this summer.

CHRISTIE: Yep.

HARLOW: But here's what you told us in July, listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: After I lost in New Hampshire eight years ago, Poppy, I got out. And I think I wouldn't feel comfortable asking donors for more money or voters for their vote if I didn't see a realistic path to victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Then you also told "The New York Times" in September, if I don't do well in New Hampshire, then I leave. What changed?

CHRISTIE: Well, nothing's really changed. I just have gotten much better in New Hampshire. And so, it seems to me that there's no path now that doesn't include me continuing. I'm going to do well in New Hampshire.

HARLOW: What's well?

CHRISTIE: Look, I think right now I'm in the top three, and I think I'm going to do even better than so, you know, that's what's changed. What's changed is, that we started to move up in the polls pretty significantly. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy have dropped significantly in New Hampshire, and so that's what's changed.

And so, I'm going to continue to keep you guys updated as circumstances change and circumstances have changed.

HARLOW: So, you like the polls right now?

CHRISTIE: Well, look, I still don't think the polls are really extraordinarily accurate, and my proof of that is just look back to the history in '07 at this time, Thanksgiving of '07, Mitt Romney was winning the Iowa Caucuses and Mike Huckabee was at 4 percent.

He wound up winning in 2011, at this point, New Gingrich was winning the Iowa caucuses by a pretty wide margin. And Rick Santorum, yeah, rather Rick Santorum, who ultimately wound up winning. He won at 3 percent on Thanksgiving of 2011, and in 2015, Ben Carson was winning by ten points and Ted Cruz was at 7 percent, and he wound up winning.

So, it's not that I distrust these particular polls, I just know that voters make their decisions very late in this business and they're willing to change.

In fact, in a recent poll we did, three-quarters of Donald Trump's voters in New Hampshire said they are open to changing their minds between now and primary day on January 23.

So, I know everybody wants to make this race over now, but it's not over, and it's not even close to over. And when you look, just look at the history, forget about predictions. Let's look at what's happened over time, and what's happened tells you that there's a long way to go here, and I like the fact that we're gaining momentum now.

MATTINGLY: It does seem, though, that the new kind of hit candidate in the field right now is Nikki Haley. She's been rising in the polls, there's a lot of talk about her. One of the issues that I think she was able to differentiate or has gotten credit for differentiating herself is abortion, particularly in the wake of what we saw in Virginia, what we saw a couple of weeks ago in November.

But I was struck a couple of weeks ago in Iowa, she said she would sign a six-week abortion ban. Poppy asked you about abortion when you were on set a couple of months ago. Would you sign a six-week abortion ban?

CHRISTIE: I would not sign a six-week national abortion ban. And the reason I wouldn't is because we fought for 50 years and we had this conversation a little bit before. We fought for 50 years to put this in the hands of the people, to say the federal government in that case, the Supreme Court had taken it out of the hands of the people and given them no voice.

Now people have a voice, and we've seen it. You mentioned Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, and Kansas. And one thing I know for sure is there is no consensus around a six-week abortion ban nationally.

MATTINGLY: Do you think that makes her unelectable?

CHRISTIE: I think it makes it much more difficult in a general election for her because you could see when Governor DeSantis signed that bill in Florida, it certainly affected his popularity with a broader electorate. And my view is this, I want the people, not the politicians, to make this decision.

So let people vote in the states. We see a great exercise in democracy going on all across this country. This is one of the most emotional issues I was going to have to deal with. I'm pro-life, that's my personal belief, and I believe strongly in it.

But here's the bottom line, is that people should be able to make this choice. It's too emotional to put this in the hands of politicians.

[08:20:00]

And imagine if you're the American people, and you watch this House of Representatives try to pick a speaker and see what they went through, watch this Senate, not be able to promote military officers because they're so paralyzed. You want to put abortion in the hands of those folks.

I don't, so, as president, I would not sign a six-week abortion ban. It doesn't represent a consensus in the country, and it's taking away most importantly to me, what we fought for 50 years was, to put this in the hands of the people. Let each state make its own decision.

HARLOW: Let's talk about money.

CHRISTIE: Okay.

HARLOW: Because it matters a whole lot in politics. There are some big-money guys, and they are guys Ken Langone, who backed you in 2016 until you dropped out of the race, planning to meet with Nikki Haley next week. He told CNBC, the only person I see you can give Trump a run for his money is Nikki Haley.

Ken Griffin, the big financier, and big Republican donor, told Bloomberg he was actively contemplating it when it comes to Nikki Haley. Are you worried about the big money going after Haley?

CHRISTIE: I'm really not.

HARLOW: Really?

CHRISTIE: No, because none of them have.

HARLOW: You don't want it? Well ---

CHRISTIE: None of them have, and, look, I've met with Ken Griffin and spoken to him as well. I think he's going through the process of trying to decide if there's someone that he believes could beat Donald Trump and if he wants to support that person, and there's plenty of other folks.

And we've had a number of people, both folks that I've known over the years on Wall Street and folks around the country who have been supporting our campaign and supporting our Super Pac. And so, I don't feel concerned at all. We feel like we have you always can use more money, Poppy.

So, no one's going to say no ---

HARLOW: This is why you surprised me when you said you're not worried.

CHRISTIE: No, well, but we can't worry about this stuff. You go out and work and you make your case to the American people, including these donors, as to why you're the best alternative. And if you're convincing, you'll get them to write a check, and if you're not, you won't.

But I don't sit every day worrying about it. And look, Governor Haley's campaign is good at putting out process stories, like, even stories about someone meeting with someone. I don't put out stories about every person I meet with for two reasons.

One, I don't know what the meeting is going to lead to, and two, I like to keep those things quiet. Those people tend to be more honest with you when they're quiet. And so, the process stories are wonderful, but in the end, what's going to matter is who are people voting for.

And my concern about this abortion issue is real because you can't say one thing in Iowa and something different in New Hampshire. Now, I was on the stage next to Governor Haley when she gave a long talk at, I think was the second debate, about how we don't want to divide the country on this.

We have to respect everyone's opinions, but then when she's sitting across from Bob Vander Plaats in Iowa, a much more conservative place, she says, I'd sign a six-week abortion ban. Well, which one is it? And I think we have to take her out of a word that she would sign a six- week abortion ban.

And I don't think that represents that's us in this country. And the problem is you're going to divide the country even more, and Republicans don't need that right now. We need to win and to win, we need to let people speak for themselves, not put it in the hands of politics.

MATTINGLY: It seems like something that might come up at a debate.

CHRISTIE: Someone asks, you know, Phil, I'll answer. I mean, the thing that's different about my debate performances from the other folks is I actually listen to the questions and then answer the question that's asked rather than the answer that I memorized beforehand.

It's a crazy strategy, but we're going to actually try to be responsive to people. And I think that's what you've seen our numbers go up after the last debate because I think people looked on the stage and said, these are extraordinarily serious times and we don't want to be treated not seriously.

And when you say one thing in Iowa and something different in New Hampshire, when you're not telling people a responsive answer to a direct question, people begin to wonder how serious you are.

And with the war in Israel, with the war in Ukraine, with the problems we have here at home economically, and the unrest that we have on our college campuses, you need a serious president who's going to answer the questions directly and tell people the truth, that's why we're running.

MATTINGLY: Governor Chris Christie, we always appreciate you coming in.

CHRISTIE: It's great to be back here,

HARLOW: Thank you.

CHRISTIE: It's good to see you both.

HARLOW: So ahead, the suspect in the shooting of those three Palestinian college students has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges. The mother of Hasham Aratani, one of the students is still hospitalized. She joins us live, next.

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[08:25:00]

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MATTINGLY: We have new reporting just into CNN, Hunter Biden's lawyers have told the House Oversight Committee that he is willing to testify on December 13 in their inquiry into his actions. But only if he can do so publicly. CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins us now. Katelyn, this is your reporting. What's behind this offer?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, mine and Evan Perez's, we obtained a letter from Hunter Biden's lawyers to the House Oversight Committee, this committee that has been doing an inquiry into the Biden family and any transactions they may have with foreign entities or foreign people.

And now the President's son is willing to testify publicly, not behind closed doors. His lawyers say he got a subpoena, they are willing to respond to that subpoena, and they are willing to put him under oath before this House committee. Now, they are making it very clear they disagree with what the House committee is doing here.

But they do say, and they write in this letter today sent by Hunter Biden's lawyers, "We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public. We therefore propose opening the door. If, as you claim, your efforts are important and involve issues that Americans should know about, then let the light shine on these proceedings."

So, these proceedings that they're talking about and the reason that Hunter Biden was subpoenaed here earlier this month is because there is an ongoing inquiry led by the chairman of the oversight Committee, Jim Comer. He has been looking into the possibility of any connection that Hunter Biden's business dealings or others in the Biden family may have with the President some evidence of corruption.

But even Republicans, not on that committee, but around the Republican caucus, have really questioned whether this is an impeachment inquiry that should go forward to the President. There's a lot of doubt that they're finding any facts or evidence to this effect. But Hunter Biden's lawyers say you subpoenaed.

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