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CNN This Morning
Israel Resumes Hostage Negotiations with Hamas; CO Supreme Court: Trump Ineligible for Office, 2024 Ballot; Heavy Rain, Flooding Leaves Damage, Power Outages in Maine. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired December 20, 2023 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[08:30:57]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, CNN has learned that Israel is back at the negotiating table, at least trying to be, with a proposal for another temporary pause in fighting in exchange for Hamas releasing more hostages held in Gaza. CNN's Will Ripley joins us live from Tel Aviv. Will, what more do we know at this point?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Israel has been signaling since Wednesday night local time that they want to put a deal on the table. But the question is, how will Hamas receive the offer that reportedly has been made by the Israelis and is being delivered by Qatar right now?
Let's put the details up on the screen so you can see exactly what's on the table potentially. It would include a week-long pause in fighting in exchange for the release of around 40 Israeli hostages. The priority would be women, any elderly or people in need of urgent care.
Now, the numbers would back up that this would be less than half of the remaining hostages that are currently believed to be in Gaza still alive. You have 101, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's office, that are believed to be still alive. Another 21 whose bodies are in Gaza who were killed in one way or another, getting all of them back is a huge priority for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, especially after the global outrage over the rapidly rising civilian death toll.
You have the Hamas-controlled health ministry reporting a number of deaths inching closer and closer to 20,000, including more deaths in -- over just the past few hours in the Jabalia refugee camp, as many as 20 people killed is what the Hamas officials are reporting there. And of course over the weekend, Phil, you had three Israeli hostages who also died reportedly in accidental fire from the IDF. Whereas, you know, diplomacy really has been the key here to getting these hostages Released. The last deal took more than a month to hammer out. They released them in phases, but this time around, Israel wants basically all of the remaining hostages to come back. The problem is that Hamas has said, it would require a permanent
ceasefire for that to happen, for all of the hostages to come back. Because essentially that is their last remaining leverage with the IDF on the ground, very strategically trying to eliminate Hamas leadership as quickly as possible, but they haven't done that yet.
What they have done is kill a lot of civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza and the world and the United Nations, and even the United States pressuring Israel to find some way to reach their objectives, but stop killing innocent people.
MATTINGLY: Will Ripley for us, in Tel Aviv, thank you.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Former President Trump vowing to appeal Colorado's Supreme Court decision to remove him from the 2024 primary ballot. Harry Enten is here to break down the path to the White House if that ruling stands.
MATTINGLY: And reaction from a Colorado Democrat who is in the Capitol on January 6th and agrees Trump's role in the insurrection should disqualify him from running. We're going to talk with Colorado Congressman Jason Crow about the historic ruling. That's next.
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[08:37:35]
HARLOW: All right, this just in President Trump reacting to Colorado's historic ruling that has disqualified him from the state's 2024 ballot. Trump posting on Truth Social that it is, quote, "a sad day in America." He is vowing to appeal this up to the Supreme Court. Colorado has 10 electoral votes, and Trump would need 270 to win the election. But if the ruling would stand, what would it mean for his presidential bid? CNN's Senior Data Reporter Harry Enten joins us now.
It's not the first state or the second state or the third state. Why is Colorado matter here?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You know, to be honest with you, I think that's part of what I've been asking myself. You know, does Colorado matter at all? And, you know, we look towards the general election. And, you know, you mentioned it's not anywhere close near the top of the primary ballot.
And in the general election, this is a state that safely for Biden, even before this ruling came out. Solid for Biden according to the Cook Political Report inside elections. Safe for Biden according to Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball. The last Republican candidate to carry the State of Colorado was George W. Bush back in 2004. And it was a state that Joe Biden easily carried back in 2020, won it by nearly 14 points.
And if you look back to 2016, remember, this is when Donald Trump was able to win in the electoral college. He did it through those Great Lake background states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. You notice over here, Colorado is blue. Colorado is blue. The fact is Donald Trump does not need the state of Colorado in order to win the presidential election. And it's so in the primary season, it really doesn't matter there either.
HARLOW: Looking at 2024 more broadly, how is Trump's path to 270 looking?
ENTEN: Right, so even without Colorado, let's sort of just map this out for you. Donald Trump's electoral votes, remember, 270 are needed to win. States he won in 2020, you see that there, he's at 235. States he lost but now leads in 67. That total combined, 302 because he's leading in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, states that he lost back in 2020. But of course there's this bigger question, is Trump guilty of subverting the 2020 election? The majority of Americans actually say yes, despite the fact that Trump's leading the polls, but it's pretty much a dead split when you add in the no and the unsure. That gets you up to 48%, a divided country, Poppy, on this question.
HARLOW: Yeah. Also still has to technically, importantly win the primary --
ENTEN: Yes.
HARLOW: -- before we can get to the general.
ENTEN: We'll see what happens.
HARLOW: Thank you, Harry. Phil?
[08:40:00]
MATTINGLY: Thanks, Poppy. Let's go ahead and talk to about all of this with Jason Crow, the Colorado Congressman. Democratic Congressman, who's a manager in Donald Trump's first impeachment trial and serves on the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee. Shortly after the Colorado ruling, he put out a tweet on X saying, "The Colorado Supreme Court has it right. The Constitution protects the right to vote and bars candidates who abuse the process or engage in insurrection. Donald Trump has done both."
Congressman, we appreciate your time this morning. One of the questions from a legal basis is the former president has not been indicted for nor convicted of insurrection. I understand what people say they saw or were a part of as you were on January 6th, but what's your response to that? There's no court -- there's no jury that has found that?
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, that's like saying that a court can't find that because a court hasn't already found that. So that's actually part of what Supreme Court looked at here in this instance, in this case. And obviously the evidence in my view is very clear.
The whole world, the whole country saw what happened on January 6. You know, there's hundreds of hours of video footage. Of course, I lived through it myself as did my colleagues and as did those hundreds of U.S. Capitol Police officers, you know, 160 of whom were brutally beaten and, you know, one of which was killed that day.
So we saw what happened. It was pretty clear. And of course, the Colorado Supreme Court used all the available evidence when making its ruling.
MATTINGLY: Given the context of January 6, you know, I heard from several Democrats last night saying, look, agree on the merits. Unequivocally, the danger here, though, is real in terms of what might happen if this continues to move forward. Do you agree with that?
CROW: Well, I'm not sure what they're talking about when they say the danger. I mean, the danger --
MATTINGLY: The risk of political violence, essentially.
CROW: Yeah, well, the danger is Donald Trump fundamentally. I mean, this is a man who repeatedly, over his entire political career, in his time in the presidency, has scorned the rule of law. He has scorned our democracy. He has used political violence to achieve his ends. And, you know, he is now outright saying that he wants to be a dictator on day one, and doubling down on that claim. So I think we should take Donald Trump for his word. And, you know, he poses an existential threat to our democracy. That's why I will continue to do everything possible to make sure that he doesn't get anywhere near the Oval Office because he is hell bent undermining and destroying our democracy and thwarting the right to vote of the American people.
MATTINGLY: I want to play some sound from voters in Colorado their response last night. Take a listen.
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ANNE BERKELEY, COLORADO RESIDENT: The people in the process decided who gets on the ballot. I do not see our judicial system having a right to interject themselves into the middle of the process.
YULLA LOCKNELS, COLORADO RESIDENT: That's not right. Feels unfair? Absolutely. Unfair for everyone because it's my own decision. It's not the court's decision who I'm voting for.
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MATTINGLY: I'm sure as many people as you could find saying those things completely agree with what the Supreme Court decided yesterday, but what do you say to constituents who have those views? So this isn't fair or this shouldn't be decided in the courts?
CROW: Voters should always have a say. This is about the will of the voters, in fact. But there are constitutional safeguards in place that were enacted after the Civil War when there were insurrectionists and members of the Confederacy who were running for Congress, running for office, who were attempting to undermine the system. There are safeguards that were put in, in this case, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, that prevent candidates from actually using the election process to thwart the will of the voters and to undermine that process. That's what we're talking about here. We're actually talking about protecting the will of the voters by
preventing, in this case, a candidate, Donald Trump, from undermining the election process. He has been very clear over and over and over again that he does not care what the voters have to say. He could care less about the will of the voters. He will do anything possible, including widespread election fraud to try to win this election. And there are safeguards in place to prevent that, and that's what this case was about.
MATTINGLY: Congressman, a couple days after January 6th, you and I had a very lengthy conversation about what happened, about what was going to happen next that I wrote about for CNN. And in that, I was just looking back at it, you said there's been a lot of talk about moving forward, which is really important, but you can't move forward without truth and accountability.
I asked you, how do you find that balance? And back then, you said, I don't know how to answer that yet. Do you know how to answer it now?
CROW: Well, there's no hard and fast answer here. I mean, this is hard stuff. This is the leadership challenge of our time, is bringing people together, having a positive vision for our country, which is what I try to do the vast majority of the time, but also recognizing the very real dangers, the very real challenges that we face.
You know, we can't gloss that over. We can't ignore the fact that there are very nefarious, extremist views in our country or trying to undermine the very root of our democracy. So, you know, that is a leadership challenge. You have to find that balance. We have to have that proactive vision, which we do.
[08:45:09]
We've passed some incredible things last Congress for the country, and we're going to campaign on that. We're going to take that to the voters. But at the same time being very clear about what's at stake and what's on the ballot, like the women's right to choose, like gun violence prevention, like us addressing the climate, the crisis, all of those things are on the ballot, too.
MATTINGLY: It's remarkable. We're still talking about it, almost three years later. Congressman Jason Crow, I appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.
CROW: Thank you.
HARLOW: Well, the very busy holiday travel rush in the United States already underway. What can you expect at airports? And Maine's Governor declaring a state of emergency for 14 counties after a powerful storm brought historic winds and rain and knocked out power for thousands. We'll take you live to the flood zone, next.
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[08:50:16] HARLOW: Here are five things to know for this Wednesday, December 20th. Today, President Biden will head to Milwaukee where he will speak with the Wisconsin Black Chamber of Commerce about his economic record. He will try to turn public perception around after several polls show voters have a negative view of his handling of the economy.
MATTINGLY: Sources say the U.N. Security Council is now expected to vote in the coming hours on a resolution calling for the suspension of hostilities in Gaza. Diplomats have been working furiously behind the scenes to try and finalize the resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates.
HARLOW: Lava flows down significantly since Monday's volcano erupted in Iceland. Authorities say there is still little threat that there will be impact on international air travel. Some areas, though, including the capital, may experience gas pollution from that.
MATTINGLY: And overnight, a local news helicopter from Philadelphia crashed in New Jersey, killing two people on board. The station said an investigation is now underway.
HARLOW: The busy holiday travel rush about to kick into high gear across the United States. One airline industry group expects about 2.8 million passengers will fly per day between tomorrow and New Year's Day. The FAA has opened more than 150 new east coast routes to try to keep air traffic moving smoothly.
MATTINGLY: And that's five things to know for this morning. Don't forget to download the Five Things podcast every morning, wherever you get your podcasts.
HARLOW: People in Maine dealing with cleanup this morning after Monday's powerful storm brought historic winds and flooding to near two-thirds of the state, damaging homes, businesses and roadways. Central Maine Power says 400,000 people lost power at the peak. More than 280,000 are still in the dark this morning. Police say two people are missing in Central Maine after their vehicle was swept away with floodwaters.
Danny Freeman joins us live from Augusta, Maine. I mean, we see it behind you, still the impact of it. What are you hearing from people?
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Poppy. You can see it behind me right now, here in Augusta and other parts of Maine. Frankly, it's still a mess to clean up underway. Take a look right behind me right here. This is the Kennebec River. And that's a freezer, a fridge that seems to have just floated into this area. This area actually right here used to be a parking lot, but now, of course, it is very much waterlogged.
Central Maine Power, Poppy, you mentioned they also said that Monday's wind aspect of the storm was the strongest they faced in history, 280,000 people statewide still without power. And that state of emergency is still in place for 14 out of 16 counties. And, Poppy, it's because of flooding like this that still persists throughout the state. Now, the good news is that here, the Kennebec and other rivers around
the state, the majority of them have crested already. So the water levels are going down. But you can see right here, the current is still fierce.
Poppy, you mentioned, it was 50 miles west of here in Mexico, Maine. Authorities are searching for two people that are still missing after their car was swept away again in those strong floodwaters, which is why public officials are still urging caution from residents. The Augusta School District and other school districts in and around the state, they are still closed today, again out of an abundance of caution just because the flooding has been so bad.
Now, the good news is also we've seen here in Augusta, the state capitol, a lot more lights back on, a lot more power coming to businesses in the area. But we've also been talking to residents who've said, you know, maybe they live 10, 15 miles out of town here. They're still running on generators. But a lot of these mayors, they say they are prepared and hoping for the best for those lights to be turned back on.
Poppy, we're going to get an update from the governor at 11:00 a.m. to give us the latest on the situation statewide of the flooding in the aftermath of that storm. Poppy?
HARLOW: Thank you, Danny. Appreciate it.
MATTINGLY: Well, overnight, the death toll from the earthquake in China rose to 131 people. New video, you can see it here, shows the destruction at the epicenter, the northwestern part of the country. This surveillance video shows people running out of a sports bar the moment that 5.9 earthquake struck. Right now, thousands of rescuers are working to reach survivors in frigid 14-degree temperatures. You can see those crews digging through the mud, using excavators to try and find anyone who is trapped.
HARLOW: Well, Ja Morant, back on hardwood after his 25-game suspension and picking up right where he left off, leading the Memphis Grizzlies to quite a comeback win. What he had to say about his return, next.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his return, here goes Morant (inaudible).
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MATTINGLY: I believe he called game. There was a big night for Grizzly star Ja Morant returning to the NBA in style. Morant scored 34 points and hit that game winner you just saw during his season debut against the Pelicans last night.
Now the two-time All-Star, you remember, was serving a 25-game suspension for social media posts where he flashed firearms. After the game, Morant spoke about his long road back to the court.
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JA MORANT, MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES GUARD: I've been putting work in, man. I ain't played a game in eight months. I had a lot of time, you know, to learn myself. A lot of hard days, you know, where I went through it. But you know, basketball is my life, what I love, therapeutic for me. I'm just, you know, excited to be back.
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HARLOW: Important to hear him what he just said there. I went through a lot. I learned from it. And he's back.
MATTINGLY: Yeah. I hope he does. A lot of players around the league supportive, LeBron James, saying welcome back. Be great. Congratulating him after hitting that game winning shot. Hopefully he's on the right path.
HARLOW: I'm sure.
MATTINGLY: Certainly damn good at basketball.
HARLOW: Very good. All right, thanks for being us. CNN News Central is now.
