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CNN This Morning
Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire Deal Now In Effect; Former German Chancellor Tells All About Trump & Putin; East Coast Expected To See Thanksgiving Day Rain. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired November 27, 2024 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:33]
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, November 27th.
Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.
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HUNT: Ceasefire reached. How a deal between Israel and Lebanon is ending fighting with Hezbollah for now.
And --
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DAVID PLOUFFE, FORMER HARRIS CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISOR: The political atmosphere was pretty brutal, and that's not an excuse.
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HUNT: Soul searching. The leaders of Kamala Harris's campaign reflect on what led to their defeat.
Plus, airport slowdown. How a shortage of air traffic controllers could impact your holiday plans.
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HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the Washington monument on this busy pre-Thanksgiving travel Wednesday. Reagan National Airport is behind there somewhere. Those planes will start taking off pretty soon.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We're now entering the ninth hour of a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The U.S.-backed deal ends a 13-month conflict on Israel's northern border that spirals -- spiraled into an all out war with the terror group. Some residents in southern Beirut waved Hezbollah flags earlier this morning, celebrating the end of hostilities.
Israeli forces moved into southern Lebanon to push back Hezbollah fighters. A few months ago forcing evacuations of towns and villages near Israel's border. This morning, some of those residents have begun to return despite a warning from the IDF that their evacuation orders do remain in effect.
And in a sign of how fragile this deal is, IDF forces reporting they opened fire on several vehicles approaching a restricted area just a few hours ago.
Last night, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hailing the ceasefire as a victory.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): And now, Hezbollah is no longer, and it will help us with the task of bringing our hostages back. We were attacked in seven fronts, and we retaliated. We are changing the face of the Middle East.
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HUNT: So what is in the deal? It calls for a 60-day pause in fighting that negotiators hope will lead to a lasting peace. In those two months, Hezbollah fighters are supposed to retreat at least 25 miles away from Lebanon's border with Israel.
Similarly, Israeli troops are expected to withdraw from Lebanese territory and under the deal, Lebanon's government, along with U.N. peacekeeping troops, will monitor the movement of Hezbollah. On Tuesday, President Biden hailed the deal, hoping it leads to a similar agreement between Israel and Hamas.
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BIDEN: Just as the Lebanese people deserve a future of security and prosperity, so do the people of Gaza. They too deserve an end to the fighting and displacement. The people of Gaza have been through hell.
Over the coming days, the United States will make another push with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with the hostages released at the end of the war without Hamas in power, that becomes possible.
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HUNT: All right. Joining us now to discuss all these developments, Avi Mayer, the former editor in chief of "The Jerusalem Post".
Avi, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.
How do you think we got to this point and can you dig in a little bit to obviously, President Biden out there yesterday talking about this deal, taking credit for it. But there are some questions as well about how the impending arrival of Donald Trump to the White House on January 20th here in the U.S. impacted what were seeing where you are.
AVI MAYER, FORMER EDITOR IN CHIEF, JERUSALEM POST: Well, Kasie, good morning.
I would say that Israelis are hopeful, but not particularly optimistic that this will end up being a viable ceasefire. We've been here before. The second Lebanon war that ended in 2006 also concluded with a ceasefire. And we know that, of course, Hezbollah spent the past 18 years rearming and transforming southern Lebanon into an armed garrison from which to attack Israel, as it has done for the past year.
And so that is exactly how we got to where we are. You know this has been a war that has been ongoing, and its devastated civilians on both sides of the border as a result of Hezbollah's bombardments and Israel's need to defend its citizens. And so what will be key at this point will be the enforcement. Will we, in fact, see that there are monitors put in place to ensure that Hezbollah does not return to the southern part of Lebanon, does not transform it back into an armed garrison from which to attack Israel?
[05:05:10]
And are the residents of northern Israel able to finally return to their homes? We know that Israeli officials are not at this point calling on the residents of northern Israel to return home. They know that at the point that were at right now, the situation is still so fragile that they can't do that in good conscience. We hope that perhaps two months down the line will be in that position, and people will start being able to come home.
HUNT: Yeah, Avi, you say that right now. The situation is very fragile. And what would you say are the biggest risks that are presented right now in terms of this potentially falling apart well, the most I think profound risk is that Hezbollah will violate it as it has time and time again, that they will continue to bring in arms from Iran via Syria, that they will then transform the villages and towns of southern Lebanon into an armed garrison as they have done for the past 18 years, and well before, and that Israel will, in fact, not be permitted to respond, even though it has been assured that it will have that ability.
Israel, I think is quite adamant that it will have the ability to respond to any violation of the ceasefire, including, of course, attacks on Israeli towns and villages. But also Hezbollah attempts to rearm in that part of the country. We have to see if indeed that is maintained and if this is a significantly different situation than that which was presented to us at the end of the war in 2006.
HUNT: Avi, what impact or relation, if any does this cease fire and this portion of the conflict have on what's going on in Gaza and the war between Israel and Hamas?
MAYER: Well, that was one of the points that the prime minister made in his address last night that, in fact, we have managed they have managed to bifurcate this war and it is no longer a united front between Hezbollah and Hamas, but in fact, Hezbollah is now laying down its arms supposedly. And Hamas may indeed follow in suit.
And we know that, in fact, today, Hamas is saying that it is willing to soften its position and perhaps reach an accommodation with Israel that would see the release of the remaining hostages and a cessation of hostilities in Gaza, which would seem to be a confirmation that, in fact, this tactic seems to have worked. We can only hope that that's indeed what will happen in the weeks and months ahead.
HUNT: Do you get the sense that Benjamin Netanyahu would be ready to move forward with a hostage release deal and a ceasefire, if possible?
MAYER: I think there's a great deal of eagerness in Israel to bring this war to a close. It's been 14 months of absolute devastation on both sides of the border, on all sides of Israel's borders, quite frankly.
This is I think, a time when Israelis need a rest. I think we have been sort of mobilized for this war for so long. The entire country has been mobilized and devastated in so many different ways. I think the prime minister is interested in bringing this, this war to a close. The question is under what terms?
I think there are those who have suggested that the prime minister has been waiting for Donald Trumps entry to the White House, to perhaps seek more favorable terms to Israel. But if that can be achieved right now by Hamas softening its stance and in fact expressing any eagerness or even willingness to reach an accommodation, I think they'll find a willing partner on the Israeli side as well.
HUNT: Interesting. Okay, Avi, mayor for us this morning. Avi, always grateful to have you. Thank you so much for being here.
MAYER: Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Straight ahead here on CNN this morning, a peek behind the scenes. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel's tell all about what it's really like to deal with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on the world stage.
Plus, staffing woes, how a shortage of air traffic controllers jamming up flight travel ahead of tomorrows holiday. And taking a look in the mirror, the leaders of the Kamala Harris campaign give their autopsy of a 2024 defeat.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a cultural dynamic that's at play in politics today, where it is converging like we've never seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're losing the culture war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we're losing the culture war.
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HUNT: Welcome back.
A new member -- a new memoir by the former German chancellor Angela Merkel is lifting the curtain on her relationships with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
The Russian leader was well aware of Merkel's fear of dogs since she was bitten by 1 in 1995, so Putin brought one with him during a meeting with the German chancellor in 2007. In an excerpt obtained by "Politico" -- excuse me -- Merkel writes this, quote, I interpreted Putin's facial expressions to mean that he was enjoying the situation. Did he just want to see how a person in distress reacts? Was it a small demonstration of power? I thought just -- I just thought, stay calm, concentrate on the photographers. It will pass.
Merkel says she also found her interactions with Donald Trump so challenging that she sought advice from Pope Francis on how to deal with him. In another moment shared by "Politico", she writes Trump judged everything from the perspective of the property entrepreneur he had been before politics. For him, all countries were in competition with each other in which the success of one was the failure of the other. He did not believe that the prosperity of all could be increased through cooperation.
Let's go live to London and bring in CNN's Max Foster.
Max, good morning to you. Thank you so much for being here.
Really fascinating. I mean, Merkel was just such an incredibly powerful figure, of course, for so long on the world stage and she's pretty candid about what it was like to deal with people like Putin and Donald Trump.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yeah, and you've got to think that Donald Trump and Angela Merkel had completely different world views. You know, this idea of competition that Donald Trump has and just the quote that you gave out there is opposite to how she believes.
[05:15:04]
You know, she believes in the European project countries working together, NATO. And she describes in the book how a lot of those ideas come out of the fact that she was brought up in Eastern Europe and she saw the European Union and NATO as peace projects whereas now she sees them under threat. And Donald Trump is really at the forefront of that.
But there was an interesting moment in it where she describes meeting him for the first time officially and she got really flustered because he refused to shake her hand and she sort of reprimands herself and the quote she puts in there. She assumed the U.S. president would be someone completely normal. So it's really interesting to see how they clashed, but how also the insights into his character and why he does what he does.
HUNT: That's fascinating.
I have to say maybe she may have been the only one who thought that, Max. I want to show there's this moment where you can kind of see Angela Merkel react to something that Donald Trump is doing, where he is talking about another world leader, as they're all kind of gathered together. This was back in 2019.
Let's watch this moment and well talk about it.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: And honestly with Trudeau, he's a nice guy. I find him to be a very nice guy but, you know, the truth is that I called him out on the fact that he's not paying 2 percent. And I guess he's not very happy about it.
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HUNT: So you could only see her face kind of there at the beginning where he says, well, he's two faced. He's like insulting Justin Trudeau.
It's very clear she -- and there were other moments, you know, over time where you could see the feelings or it felt like you could see the feelings on her face. Like when Bush, you know, rubbed her back. She tries to dispel that as well.
But a really kind of interesting window into how she thinks.
FOSTER: Yeah. She's such a principled character. She was this towering figure. Many people still look up to her as the ultimate sort of liberal figure.
And these two clashed against each other, and she had to redefine a lot of her worldviews with the context of someone like Donald Trump in the frame. But I do think she, the insight she gives is that, you know we often talk about Donald Trump being a transactional leader so we think of a negotiation. So he goes into a deal, he gets something out of it they get something out of it.
What she's saying is that actually it's more about winning for him. He doesn't think that both sides can get what they want. You have to be the winning side. And I think that does inform other world leaders currently because you can go into a conversation with Donald Trump.
And in that context, you have to -- to get something out of it. You have to allow him to win. So you think to yourself, I want to get this out of it. Focus on that. But he needs to get what he wants out of it as well, and he needs to come out on top.
And you do see some of the relationships that are very successful with him working in that way and when it comes to the, you know, these strongmen that he's famous for admiring, he's being tested and you know, until someone wins, he's going to continue with that relationship. So I do think she gives a good context on him.
HUNT: Yeah. It's really fascinating.
All right. Max Foster for us this morning -- Max, always great to see you. Thank you for being here.
FOSTER: Thank you, Kasie.
HUNT: All right. Still coming up here on CNN this morning. It has been three weeks, only three weeks since Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump. But now her team is speaking out about what they think went wrong.
Plus, thanksgiving dinner in outer space. How NASA astronauts are celebrating the holiday with zero gravity.
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HUNT: All right, 22 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup.
An Arizona man is now under arrest accused of threatening to kill Donald Trump. Court documents allege the man also posted a series of photos and videos on Facebook, including videos of himself waving around an AR15 while making threats.
Just because they are hundreds of miles above the Earth doesn't mean they don't get to celebrate the holidays. NASA astronauts sharing what they're having for Thanksgiving dinner from the International Space Station.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, apples and spice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Smoked turkey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And smoked turkey. It's going to be delicious.
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HUNT: Air and space, it's great.
All right. The TSA predicting this will be the busiest Thanksgiving for travel ever, 18 million Americans are expected to fly for the holiday this year, the highest volume is expected today. And then Sunday and Monday.
AAA also expects more than 71 million people to travel by car for at least 50 miles, thanks to falling gas prices. All right. Possibly our most important story of the morning. Some needed relief for last minute travelers on the East Coast. Dry and calm conditions are shifting our way today but out West, heavy snow still falling on parts of Colorado.
Let's get straight to our meteorologist -- our weatherman, Derek Van Dam.
Derek, good morning.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey. Happy Wednesday and happy Thanksgiving Eve, Kasie.
You know, I understand that snow can bring headaches to the airline industry, but I want to bring you this beautiful, beautiful shot coming out of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. These are roads I've walked many times. This is such a beautiful part of the country and they are getting some snow right now.
And this is all part of a larger storm system that's going to move east and impact our weather along the east coast as well. But let's just take a moment. Start on a positive note because hey, this is beautiful. And we're heading into the meteorological winter, which starts on December 1st.
[05:25:01]
And we'll take what we can get. There's the snow across the state of Colorado. There are some potential impacts there to Denver International Airport, but the majority of it staying west into the foothills and the Rocky Mountains.
But that moisture is going to stream eastward and eventually evolve into a larger storm on the East Coast.
So let's talk about the airports for today. Potential delays Cincinnati, Nashville, as the storm system and its energy moves into the region that will be more of a rainmaker, potentially some snow mixing in. But watch how the system evolves over the next 12 to 24 hours. This is going to deepen and strengthen and bring rainfall to the coastal cities so that i-95 corridor but inland.
Notice that is snowfall and it could be heavy at times. This is for late Thursday and into the day on Friday, the lake effect snow machine will certainly kick in, will be measuring snowfall on feet in some of those downwind locations.
Just a heads up, we do have some winter storm watches. This is valid for Friday. Many of the higher elevations of northern New England, again away from the coast. And then, Kasie, the coldest air of the season, settles in behind it. Right on cue, that's the frigid air that will settle in across the Great Lakes all the way to the East Coast. We could see below freezing temperatures all the way down to the Gulf Coast by the first half of next week.
So be prepared. Get those winter coats out. It's time. HUNT: All right. Very helpful. Derek Van Dam, thank you.
VAN DAM: All right. We got it.
HUNT: We will see you next hour on this Thanksgiving eve. Thank you.
All right. Still ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING: this year's Thanksgiving travel period going to be one of the busiest ever. But a key FAA shortage could impact your holiday plans. We'll tell you why.
Plus, the leaders of Kamala Harris's failed presidential campaign pull back the curtain on what they think went wrong.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew we had to show her as her own person.
She also felt that she was part of the administration and unless we said something like -- well, I would have handled the border completely differently, we were never going to satisfy anybody.
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