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CNN This Morning

Sec. Blinken To Visit Israel; American Paul Whelan Marks 5 Years in Detention; Top 10 Sports Stories of 2023. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 28, 2023 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

MICHAEL GOLD, POLITICS CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": The one where you're seeing this most, I want to say effectively, but where this has been like such a heated topic of debate. What is Nikki Haley's position on abortion. And I've been out with her once or twice and she sort of says, well, I don't think there should be a federal move on abortion. We need to find a compromise. This is going to happen.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Or on Trump.

GOLD: Trump's another example where she's distancing herself from him but she can't quite bring herself to be critical. I think that's one area where you've see Chris Christie hit her particularly hard. He's unequivocal in how he feels about Donald Trump. She's kind of walking that line a little bit.

And I think it's kind of hard when you're Nikki Haley because one of your pitches is that you're more electable, that you can curry more favor in a general election. But to get there, you have to get through a Republican primary base that's very much in the thrall of Trump and has a pretty narrow consensus on a lot of these issues. I think this is kind of another example of her trying to find her way to a path to victory that's going to be really tricky for her.

NATASHA ALFORD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It undermines her branding as the credible, you know, reasonable Republican in the race, the adult in the room, when she can't just state what the facts are.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's hard because I think people do, especially in New Hampshire, look to people to be - to just talk to them straight in a way.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

DEAN: Iowa might be a bit different. Those are different voters. But I watched her kind of contort herself around, is climate change real and is it happening in front of a group of evangelicals, and it was kind of similar. It was trying to just kind of get through it without offending any particular group.

HARLOW: Thank you, guys.

MATTINGLY: Thank you. HARLOW: Appreciate it.

MATTINGLY: Well, Secretary of State Antony Blinken heading back to Israel next week as fears of a wider war continue to grow.

HARLOW: Today marks five years since Whelan was detained in Russia. You will hear from him describing how he feels abandoned and fears being left behind. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:47]

MATTINGLY: Just in this morning, an urgent warning from Israel's military telling people in parts of central Gaza to evacuate immediately.

HARLOW: This comes as the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is now expected to travel to Israel next week as the threat of a wider regional war is certainly growing. A member of the war cabinet in Israel said time is running out for diplomatic solution to the fighting at the border in the north with Lebanon.

Nada Bashir joins us from London on all of this. Diplomacy is crucial, obviously. And the fact that Blinken is going back -- I think this is his fourth - it will be his fourth trip to the region since the terror attack on October 7th.

How likely is an official broadening of this war?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, there is certainly mounting concern around the spillover of this war into the region. Of course, we've heard those repeated calls now from White Gouse officials for the Israeli military to move to what's been described as a lower intensity phase of the war. But we -- of course we have seen those escalations of hostilities across the region now, particularly on the border with Lebanon where there are concerns that we could see an uptick there.

Just in the last few days we have seen an exchange of fire across the border. Hezbollah - Iran-backed Hezbollah now confirming that it carried out a shelling across the border, targeting what it says to be Israeli positions on the border, a village nearby the border region. This, they say, in response to airstrikes carried out by the Israeli military on the southern border of Lebanon. The Israeli military did confirm on Wednesday it had carried out an airstrike, they say, targeting Hezbollah positions near the border.

The Lebanese national news agency on Wednesday confirming that three people had been killed and, according to Hezbollah, at least one of those killed was a Hezbollah fighter. But, of course, we have been hearing those fresh warnings from Israeli officials, including a war cabinet member, Benny Gantz, who has said that time is running out for a solution to this unfolding crisis.

And, in fact, the Israeli foreign ministry has warned that while time is running out, they are looking at two possible solutions here, a political solution or a military solution. And according to the Israeli foreign ministry, that would see the Israeli military seeking to remove Hezbollah from that border region entirely.

MATTINGLY: Nada, I want to ask, there's a video that's emerged on social media, we're going to show it to you right now, and it's - it echoes what we've seen in past moments during this war. It's stripped Palestinians, possibly it looks like two children. What do we know about the details of this footage?

BASHIR: Well, this is a deeply troubling video. It has sparked concerned, as you mentioned there. Dozens of men and children by the looks of things detained by the Israeli military. They are seen stripped down to their underwear, lined up, many with their hands behind their backs or above their heads. Some blindfolded as well.

And, of course, there is concern around the mistreatment of Palestinians who have been detained by the Israeli military. Now, it's unclear when this video was actually filmed, but CNN has geolocated this video to the Yarmouk Stadium to northern Gaza. And this is a region in which the (INAUDIBLE) Mediterranean human rights monitoring group says it has received reports of many detentions of Palestinian civilians with children as young as 10, elderly as old as 70, and many women who have reported, according to the NGO, mistreatment, harassment and abuse at the hands of the Israeli military.

And this video has raised concern over a situation which has been unfolding for weeks it has to be said. Earlier in the month, the U.N.'s own human rights office issued its own statement around concern around Palestinians detained. I'll just read you a little bit from that statement, from the U.N. human rights office (ph), which said it had received numerous reports of - "disturbing reports from the north of Gaza of mass detentions, ill treatment and enforced disappearances of possibly thousands of Palestinian men and boys and a number of women and girls, at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces. Most were rounded up as they were attempting to move south," of course where many Palestinians have been told to evacuate to, "or were taken during operations conducted on their homes, hospitals, schools and other places of refuge."

Now, of course, that warning coming from the U.N. human rights office. The Israeli military says it has stripped men and children - or stripped men detainees in order to ensure they are not carrying explosives.

[06:40:03]

But there is concern around the mistreatment they may have faced while in detention.

MATTINGLY: All right, Nada Bashir for us, thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up, we will speak with an American educated Palestinian poet who described being wrongfully detained by Israeli soldiers. You see him there. He also recounts the beatings and interrogations that he says he faced. MATTINGLY: And new reporting inside the Trump campaign's efforts to

build a more disciplined operation. One of their challenges? Well, that would be the candidate himself.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Well, the grim milestone and a very difficult day for former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. It has been five years now to the day since he was wrongfully detained in Russia. Whelan was visiting Russia for a friend's wedding. He was arrested in Moscow on December 28, 2018.

[06:45:01]

He was imprisoned on espionage charges, which he has consistently and vehemently denied. In a new interview, Whelan tells CNN he wants President Biden to do whatever it takes to secure his release.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WHELAN: I would ask President Biden to pull out the stops, cross the red lines and do whatever needs to be done to get this case resolved and to get me home. If - if my life is not worth that effort, then I don't know what is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Whelan's sister also says the ordeal has been extremely difficult for their family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIABETH WHELAN, SISTER OF PAUL WHELAN: Well, we've been worried about his safety every day that he has been in Russia. You know, people tend to think that an American who's wrongfully detained overseas is just sort of sitting like a toy on a shelf waiting to be exchanged, when they're actually dealing with horrible criminals, terrible prison situations every single day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: CNN's Jenny Hansler joins us now.

And, Jenny, you have spoken to Paul Whelan multiple times. I think I've learned more about his situation and what's been going on from you than by far anywhere else. It is very clear five years is five years too long. When you've spoken to him, how - how has his kind of tone and tenor changed over the course of the last several months in particular?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, good morning, Phil and Poppy.

I have seen - I have spoken to Paul Whelan half a dozen times over the course of the past two years. And in recent conversations, he has really become sort of concerned and downtrodden about his situation. He said it is surreal that he is still in Russian prison after five years. And he said he can't believe that two governments have not been able to get him home, referencing the Trump and Biden administrations.

And, you know, across the board he has always said he is trying to stay strong throughout this deal. He says getting letters from supporters, getting notes of support have helped. He likes to read books to stay strong. But it is getting increasingly hard. He said he is struggling with depression. And he said this is a crushing experience. He is also concerned about returning to his life back home and whether he will actually ever be able to return.

Take a listen to what he told me last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WHELAN: It's a concern for me that I won't see them again. I mean it's - you know, I never - I never thought I would be here not to see my cat, not to see my dog, and they've both passed away. Relatives have passed away. Friends have moved on. I'm very concerned that I won't get home to see my parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANSLER: So, of course, it's very difficult to hear him talk about his 80 something-year-old parents and this fear that he is not going to see them alive again.

MATTINGLY: Does he have any sense of what comes next? His name has constantly been in the mix for potential swaps. I know the U.S. -- you've reported the U.S. has made at least one offer, I think maybe more than one. What happens next here?

HANSLER: Well, that's a great question, Phil, and it's not clear to anyone what happens next. We know that the U.S. has put forward another substantial offer to secure both Paul and Evan Gershkovich's release. Whelan said he actually knew about this offer. He said the U.S. government keeps him generally apprised of what is going on. And he was not surprised to hear that that offer was rejected.

And while he has acknowledged that there are efforts underway to try to bring him home, he is incredibly concerned and frustrated about the pace of these negotiations. And it's really not clear to him what's going to happen next. This is what he told me at the end of November.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL WHELAN: And I am wondering what they're going to do next. If - if there's no diplomatic solution, what comes next? What are they preparing to do to honor that promise to get me home? If they're just throwing spaghetti at the wall hoping that something sticks and they can come up with a quick agreement, that's not a very good policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANSLER: And, of course, Phil and Poppy, this is something the U.S. government says they are working on every day. So, we'll have to wait and see what happens here.

Phil. Poppy.

HARLOW: Thank you, as always, for your reporting. And when you talk to him, the world can actually hear from him. So, Jenny, thank you.

MATTINGLY: Well, President Biden facing questions over his age continuously. We're going to talk to older voters on whether he's too old to run for re-election.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:22]

MATTINGLY: Well, 2023 was dominated by the GOATs in two sports and the coronation of champions in others.

HARLOW: Andy Scholes looks back at a season of change, controversy and comeback.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, 2023 saw some of the greatest ever say good-bye to their sport, while others made triumphant returns. We had a new sports power couple, many first-time champions, a new king of scoring and one of the most remarkable sports comebacks of all-time.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Gymnast Simone Biles has made history again.

SCHOLES (voice over): Simone Biles making her return to competition in 2023 for the first time since suffering a case of the twisties at the Tokyo Olympics. The 26-year-old winning five more medals at the world championships, making her the most decorated gymnast of all-time. And she now has her eyes set on the 2024 Paris games.

SIMONE BILES, PROFESSIONAL GYMNAST: Right now I would say that's the path that I would love to go.

SCHOLES (voice over): At number nine, 19-year-old Coco Gauff becoming a grand slam champion for the first time, winning the U.S. Open in thrilling fashion.

COCO GAUFF, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: Getting through that final was like a hurdle that I needed to cross, a mental blockage that I needed to cross. And I did. And hopefully I can continue to do that many more times.

SCHOLES (voice over): Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, continued his dominance in 2023, winning three of the four grand slams, overtaking Rafael Nadal for the most all-time on the men's side with 24 now for his career.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: Knowing that I play at such a high level still and I win the biggest tournaments in a sport, I don't want to leave this sport if I'm still at the top.

[06:55:02]

SCHOLES (voice over): At number eight, 2023 saw many teams celebrate a championship for the first time ever. Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic leading the Denver Nuggets over the Miami Heat to win their first ever NBA title.

Texas Rangers topped the Ariona Diamondbacks to end their 63 year World Series wait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congrats world champions.

SCHOLES (voice over): Kim Mulkey and Angel Reese winning LSU their first ever women's national title.

While the Las Vegas Golden Knights got to celebrate on the strip with the Stanley Cup for the very first time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The city of Las Vegas, we're champions.

SCHOLES (voice over): At number seven, the Vegas Strip saw a lot of partying this year. Las Vegas Aces, the first team in 21 years to win back to back WNBA titles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're coming back. We're coming back, baby.

SCHOLES (voice over): 2023 also saw the return of Brittney Griner to the WNBA. Griner missed all of the 2022 season after being wrongfully detained in Russia.

BRITTNEY GRINER, PROFESSIONAL WNBA PLAYER: You know, I'm no stranger to hard times. So, you're going to be faced with adversities throughout your life. This was a pretty big one.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Kind of an outrageous story. One might be tempted to say that PGA Tour merging with Saudi backed LIV Golf creates strange bedfellows, except we know how the Saudis got the PGA Tour into that bed, with a lot of money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a player on tour, we still didn't really have a bunch of - a lot of clarity as to what's going on. And that's a bit worrisome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still (INAUDIBLE) LIV. Like I (INAUDIBLE) LIV. Like I -- I hope it goes away.

SCHOLES (voice over): And the framework of how it will all work is still a mystery with a deadline for the two sides to reach a formal agreement set for the end of this year.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: LeBron James, tonight breaking the record to now become the NBA's all-time leading scorer, passing a fellow Laker, Kareem Abdul Jabar.

LEBRON JAMES, PROFESSIONAL NBA PLAYER: This was not a goal for me. That's why it's probably so surreal. I've been able to do some incredible things in this league and hopefully I can do some more incredible things before I'm done.

SCHOLES (voice over): In February, LeBron James became the king of scoring, passing Kareem Abdul Jabar. And over the summer, the James family was dealt a scare as LeBron's oldest son, Bronny, went into cardiac arrest during a basketball practice at USC.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen - listen - listen - listen -- listen to me. So, OK, get an ambulance here now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just five months after collapsing on the court from cardiac arrest, LeBron James' son, Bronny, is back playing, making his collegiate debut for the USC basketball team.

BRONNY JAMES, COLLEGE BASKETBALL PLAYER: I just want to say I'm thankful for everything.

SCHOLES (voice over): At number four, the U.S. women's national team's quest to become the first ever team to win three straight World Cups was dashed by Sweden in the round of 16. And the team saying goodbye to retiring stars Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz.

MEGAN RAPINOE, PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYER: It has been such an honor to be able to wear this shirt and to play with all these amazing players. And to just live out my childhood dream.

SCHOLES (voice over): Spain would hoist the cup for the very first time, but their win and celebrations were marred by an unwanted kiss. Spain's football association president Luis Rubiales receiving fierce criticism for forcefully kissing star player Jenni Hermoso. Now, Rubiales was banned from all soccer activities for three years by FIFA. And despite being defiant, eventually resigned his post.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best number ten in the world, Lionel Andres Messi.

SCHOLES (voice over): Number three, Messi mania taking Miami by storm. The world's best soccer player shocking the world by making the move to Inter Miami. And Messi's arrival to the MLS saw ticket prices soar and fans come from all over to see the Argentinian star.

At number two, the Chiefs and the Eagles playing an absolute thriller in Super Bowl LVII. Patrick Mahomes leading a game winning drive to beat the Eagles for his second title.

TRAVIS KELCE, PROFESSIONAL NFL PLAYER: In all reality, this was the best season of my life.

SCHOLES (voice over): And Travis Kelce celebrating another championship for Kansas City and he would become the story of the 2023 season as fans couldn't get enough of his budding romance with pop star Taylor Swift.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: There's breaking news right now, a serious injury on the field during the Buffalo Bills/Cincinnati Bengals game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't like how he went down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to need everybody, all call, all call.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The condition of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, the 24-year-old is in critical condition tonight after suffering a cardiac arrest and collapsing on the field.

SCHOLES (voice over): Hamlin said his cardiac arrest was caused by commotio cordis, but thanks to the heroics of first responders and medical staff, they were able to resuscitate him.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I mean you can write a Hollywood script about perseverance, the power of faith, about people rallying and rising up for others when they're down. This story about Hamlin turned into a story about humanity.

[07:00:02]

SCHOLES (voice over): Now, Hamlin would return to the field playing for the Bills in the fall, completing one of the greatest comebacks in history.

DAMAR HAMLIN, PROFESSIONAL NFL PLAYER: This event was life changing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)