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Israel and Hamas Announce Extension of Pause; Henry Kissinger Dies at 100; Scott Kirby is Interviewed about Holiday Travel; Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 30, 2023 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, while you were sleeping overnight, Israel and Hamas did announce a last-minute extension to that deal, to pause the fighting for one additional day. It really was, though, down to the wire.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: And we have new pictures this morning of one of the hostages just released by Hamas. You see it there. The family of 40-year-old Moran Stela Yanai gave CNN these photos of her reuniting with loved ones. Stela Yanai was one of ten Israelis Hamas set free on Wednesday. She was attending the supernova music festival when she was taken hostage on October 7th. Her brother-in-law will join us tomorrow morning.

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HILL: This morning, the fragile pause between Israel and Hamas will continue for at least another day. Israel says it does have a new list of women and children who are expected to be released, but that comes after Israel and Hamas really were up until the last minutes of this deal to extend the pause.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke from Israel just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have been focused relentlessly on trying to secure the release of hostages.

This process is producing results. It's important. And we hope that it can continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Joining us now is CNN political and foreign policy analyst Barak Ravid. He's also political and foreign policy reporter at "Axios."

Barak, we'll get to kind of the really intense dynamics last night in a moment. But to start with, what's been going on this morning? The secretary of state meeting with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting with other senior officials as well. What do we know about what was conveyed in that meeting from the U.S. side?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: Good morning.

I think one of the most important points that Blinken wanted to make in his meetings in Israel didn't necessarily have to do with the hostage deal.

[08:35:08]

Obviously, that came up, too, and the U.S. wants to continue the pause. But there was a more important issue, and this is what happens when the pause ends, because it will end. It's just a matter of days. And Blinken told Netanyahu and the members of his war cabinet that before any resumption of military operations, especially in southern Gaza where 2 million Palestinians are concentrated, the U.S. wants to see what's the Israeli military plan, meaning, how do you go into southern Gaza without creating huge harm to civilians.

HILL: And this is -- I mean this is some of the reporting that you had yesterday as well, that Biden was making that very clear that the operations in southern Gaza could not look like what had happened in the north. And you also made the point too, so many civilians who had been told they had to leave the north and are now in the south. How is that message being received?

RAVID: I think the Israelis agree that they need to take this into consideration. And I think they're going to - we're going to see in the coming days discussions between Israel and the U.S. on a military- to-military level, the same way we saw before the operation in the north, when U.S. generals came to Israel to sit on the operation plans with their Israeli counterparts.

But I think that when the U.S. now is telling Israel, you need to take into consideration the humanitarian situation in southern Gaza, and the number of Palestinians in southern Gaza, this is more than a hint that it's not about how you do the operation, it's maybe about whether you do the operation.

MATTINGLY: Barak, given some of the optimism we'd heard early in the day yesterday, I was stunned that it was literally a matter of minutes before the deadline they reached that deal last night. What does that say for the prospects, based on what you know that happened last night, about another extension?

RAVID: Yes, I think what it means is that we're going to have another drama today, tonight, and maybe we got into a point where, you know, there's not enough goodwill and not enough mediation that can take this pause another day further. It was really, you know, minutes away from resumption of hostilities. Both sides, the IDF and Hamas, literally issued statements saying that their force are on high alert, preparing for resumption of hostilities when in, I think, 15 minutes before the ceasefire ended, Hamas sent a new list of hostages that was, according to the criteria, agreed upon by both parties and basically bought another day of pause. But I think that we are really on the last, you know, drops of fuel with this ceasefire.

HARLOW: Barak Ravid, always appreciate you joining us and reporting. Thank you.

RAVID: Thank you so much.

MATTINGLY: Well, Henry Kissinger is dead at the age of 100. The polarizing former secretary of state reshaped American diplomacy and the world. We're going to speak to someone who talked to him recently, David Axelrod, next.

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[08:41:37]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE: Secretary Kissinger really set the standard for everyone who followed in - in this job.

Even fewer people did more to shape history than Henry Kissinger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: One of the most prolific and dominating forces in American foreign policy has died. Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger passed away at the age of 100.

Kissinger's complicated legacy was largely formed under his years with President Richard Nixon in the 1970s. Tributes have been pouring in from leaders across the globe ranging from former President George W. Bush, French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, China's foreign ministry, even Russian President Vladimir Putin. It wasn't just the '70s, it was every year after that.

Joining us now, CNN's senior political commentator David Axelrod.

David, you recently sat down -- or you spoke with Kissinger last year, I believe, correct?

DVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, uh-huh.

MATTINGLY: To that point, we've been talking about this all day, he was in China in July to meet with the Chinese president at the lowest moment of U.S. relations with China in a very long time. He was meeting with members of Congress in September. What was he like?

AXELROD: Yes. It was incredible, Phil, because the man was 99 years old. By the way, he was in China, you know, celebrating his 100th birthday with Chinese leaders who he had known for decades and decades. He was 99 years old and he was completely cogent. And, you know, and I'm sitting there thinking, this man has been on the scene for eight decades he's been influencing American foreign policy. And, of course, I remember as a young man watching Kissinger in the role as both secretary of state and national security advisor.

And, Phil, you'll appreciate this as a former White House correspondent, he was the only guy who combined the roles. When he was national security advisor for Nixon, he basically subjugated the secretary of state and secretary of defense to him. And then when he became secretary of state, he didn't want anybody to do that to him, so he maintained both roles at the same time.

And, you know, Tony Blinken said -- talked about no one has done more to shape history. That was what Kissinger wanted to do. Kissinger saw his role as a man who moved history. He wanted to be remembered that way. And he'll be remembered that way for better and worse.

HILL: In terms of that for better and worse, there has been plenty of controversy and criticism over the years. I was struck by some of what was written overnight in terms of the obituaries as well and how he's being remembered. Did any of that strike you, that some of them went straight to the controversy, went straight to the questions?

AXELROD: Well, it's hard to ignore, Erica. If you - you know, if you lived through that era, he really was controversial because he believed that he was a realist. He led a school of thought that said you need to subjugate everything to the country's strategic interests. And often that meant human rights. And sometimes it meant circumventing the, you know, rules and laws.

The bombing of Cambodia secretly, the bombing of Cambodia in the Vietnam War, which is something that he and Nixon initiated early in the Nixon administration, done without the knowledge of Congress, or permission of Congress.

[08:45:15]

Cambodia was not a party to the war at that point. But he - it was - he felt it was in the strategic interest of the U.S. to do that because he felt supply lines were coming through -- or troops were amassed in Cambodia, north Vietnamese troops. And, you know, he was involved in, under his watch, covert actions to topple leaders who he felt were leading in the communist direction.

He, you know, turned the other way to abuses of human rights when they were being -- when they were being propagated by allies in the fight against the Soviets. So, you know, he had a philosophy and he brutally enforced it.

He also was a very secretive person. And when the Cambodian raids were revealed, he authorized, with J. Edgar Hoover, you know, investigations of White House staff, including his own, to see where the leaks came from.

MATTINGLY: Right.

AXELROD: So, you know, these things linger. Tens of thousands of people died in incursions that he sort of turned his back to because he had larger goals.

MATTINGLY: Right. Yes, and you can't leave it out. People aren't leaving it out. The conversation you had with him is fascinating. David Sanger's obit in "The New York Times" today, it is a must-read for everyone. David Axelrod, thank you, as always.

AXELROD: Incredible. Yes.

Yes, good to see you guys.

HILL: The CEO of JP Morgan Chase issuing a stark warning to Wall Street, a recession is not off the table. We'll tell you why he's concerned this morning.

MATTINGLY: And Sunday was the busiest day ever for U.S. airports. How are airlines prepping for another rush of travelers next month? We're going to speak with the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby. That's next.

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[08:51:24]

HILL: Holiday travel is expected to continue breaking records this season. Sunday actually was the busiest day ever for U.S. airports. The TSA says it screened more than 2.9 million passengers as folks headed home after the Thanksgiving holiday. That's actually up over - that's up 10 percent over last year's numbers. And Airlines for America, which represents the country's largest carriers, says flights were completed 99.9 percent of the time, 83 percent of those arriving on time. Those are statistics that are probably music to the ears of our next guest, the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby.

Scott, it's good to have you with us this morning.

SCOTT KIRBY, CEO, UNITED AIRLINES: Thank you.

HILL: Look, I know United had a - had a very busy, very successful Thanksgiving holiday travel period.

KIRBY: Yes.

HILL: I'm curious, after the holiday meltdown in 2022, that following January you told CNN the system was, in your words, stressed to the max. I know you've been critical of FAA staffing.

KIRBY: Yes. Yes.

HILL: Do you think what we saw over Thanksgiving, and specifically for United, was that a lucky break or is the worst behind us?

KIRBY: Well, thanks for having me. And, actually, this really was the successful holiday, which was great for United. It was also great for the whole industry, as you said. Really the best in probably 20 years that we've had.

And I think the key to it was the changes that the FAA has made, particularly for the New York/New Jersey air space. For years there were more flights scheduled than the theoretical capacity of those airports could handle. And so even in blue sky days you had flights that either had to be delayed by multiple hours or canceled and the FAA has made changes in the New York/New Jersey air space. And that's the biggest travel market in the world. So, if it runs poorly, it spills over to the rest of the system. And if it runs well, the rest of the system can run well. And so I think the biggest credit, the biggest change for this Thanksgiving holiday was the changes that the FAA has made to the New York and New Jersey air pace.

HILL: That's good to hear, especially as someone who flies out of that air space a lot selfishly.

KIRBY: Yes.

HILL: There's some new details that came in last night. I know the NTSB continues to investigate runway incursions. There was a particularly close call on a runway in Austin earlier this year.

KIRBY: Yes.

HILL: Do you think there is enough urgency around this issue? Is there anything that the airlines themselves can do or are you really at the mercy of the FAA here?

KIRBY: No, they're - the great thing about aviation is, it is an order of magnitude safer than the second safest industry in the world. Our safety standards are unbelievably high. At airlines but also at the FAA. And we're all working together on this.

I mean coming out of Covid and you got a lot of -- more new people, a lot of people retired, that has been some of the challenge that we at airlines have attempted to address, but also doing it in concert and hand in hand with the FAA. And we're all working on things. You know, at United we've done things like we've - we've significantly changed the training, increased the amount of training that pilots have, recurrent training, but also new hire training, upgrade training, and a lot of things like that to keep this as by far the safest industry anywhere in the world, and the U.S. system safer than the rest of the world as well.

HILL: I want to ask you a couple of quick money (ph) questions.

Number one, FAA reauthorization actually runs out at the end of December. How concerned are you about January 1?

KIRBY: Well, hopefully we're going to get it done. I feel encouraged - in fact, I'm on my way to D.C. tomorrow. By I feel encouraged about what we're hearing in D.C., that the FAA reauthorization is going to be done. It's critical that it gets done because while the holidays ran well, you know, there was reasonably good weather over the holidays. And the infrastructure -- we need to invest in the infrastructure. The air traffic control system is 3,000 controllers short of what it needs to be. And so there's a lot of work to do to make this the best air traffic control system in the world. And the FAA authorization bill will do that.

[08:55:02] I think it's going to get done. There's a couple of issues that have been hanging it up that I think there's going to be -- I'm at least encouraged to hear that there's compromise on and we can get it over the finish line. So, I think it will be done by the end of the year and we won't have anything to worry about on January 1 - at least fingers crossed.

HILL: OK, from your lips to Congress' ears.

And then, from a consumer's perspective, we saw this revenge spending coming out of the pandemic, right, and then there was a lot of talk about how expensive it has become to fly. Prices are cooling a little bit and I think we can just show on the screen the trend that we've seen for consumers. Is that trend going to continue?

KIRBY: Well, first what I would say is, I don't think it was revenge travel. I think it is the new normal. People appreciate experiences and travel is one of those experiences and so that has been strong. If you're really - if you're look at charts like that, I can't see the chart, but if you're looking at charts like this, air travel remains an incredible value. It's about 40 percent lower in real terms than it was 20 years ago. So, prices have come down.

Now, they artificially dipped really, really low in Covid, so there was a bounce back from that. And so I think we're in the zone of the new normal for pricing.

HILL: All right, Scott Kirby, appreciate your time this morning. Good luck tomorrow in D.C. Thank you.

KIRBY: Thank you, Erica.

MATTINGLY: And thanks for joining us this morning. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right after this break.

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