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Israel Tightness Restrictions during Jewish High Holidays; Trump Refuses a Peaceful Transition if He Loses; Anger over Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Decision; King Salman Silent on Saudi-Israel Normalization. Aired 10- 11a ET
Aired September 24, 2020 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Kentucky grand jury indicted one officer in the police operation resulting in Breonna Taylor's death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there's no justice.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): No police officers are charged with killing Breonna Taylor, driving protests across the United States.
Plus, defiance amid rising COVID cases.
Will even tighter restrictions in Israel be enough to clamp down on those violating the lockdown?
Then CNN teams up with a museum for an immersive exhibition on migrants.
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ANDERSON: Well, this hour, this is Trump's America, a place increasingly unlike any America we have ever known.
I'm Becky Anderson. And we will connect you to all of that.
We are just 40 days away from the country's election and right now there's one story that will loom over every day until we get to America voting and
beyond. That as the president threatens to assault the democratic processes that got him into power in the first place. It's the kind of thing you
really only hear in tinpot regimes. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Will you commit here today for a peaceful transferral of power after the election and there has been rioting and looting, rioting in
Louisville, there's been rioting in many cities across this country red and your so called red and blue states, will you commit to making sure that
there is a peaceful transferral of power after the election?
TRUMP: We're going to have to see what happens. You know that. I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.
QUESTION: I know that but people are rioting. Will you commit to making sure that there's a peaceful transferral of power?
TRUMP: We want to have to get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very trans - you'll have a very peaceful, there won't be a transfer frankly,
there'll be a continuation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, to the president and those in his corner, he is putting forward a totally logical argument. Remember, he's constantly criticized
large parts of America's electoral system for taking on millions of dodgy votes. It's his own propaganda. There's no evidence for it but his
supporters buy it.
So we have heard from Mr. Trump. Let's connect you to both sides and hear from his opponent, Joe Biden, clearly in disbelief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D-DE), FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What country are we in?
I'm being facetious.
I said what country are we in?
Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say about it. But it doesn't surprise me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that is Joe Biden. Elie Honig is with us to talk through - - well, what could be the legal side of not handing over power. Let's also bring in CNN's Joe Johns, who is live for you in Washington.
Let's start with a very simple question. We are 40 days out.
How messy is this election set to become?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Potentially very messy. And if you listen very carefully to the bulk of what the president is
saying, he's said these kinds of things before but now he's making it more clear that he's using a rationale of his baseless claims of voter fraud in
the upcoming election and also indicating that he expects to see any challenge to the upcoming election to go into the Supreme Court.
We know from the case Bush versus Gore in the year 2000, those kind of things can get very messy indeed.
So there is a method to this madness. The president suggesting he'd like to see this end up before the court. Also pointing out he is in the process of
finalizing his decision on who will be his nominee to the ninth seat of the United States Supreme Court. That plays in as well.
Meanwhile, there are a few Republicans, but mostly Democrats, criticizing the president for using that language just last night in the Briefing Room
here at the White House, including Mitt Romney, the former presidential nominee, who is now the senator from Utah, indicating, in his view, it's
not the type of language a president should be using.
But some of the other senators on Capitol Hill, members of the president's party, have kind of shrugged it off, indicating, in their view, there will
be a peaceful transfer of power.
[10:05:00]
JOHNS: In the event President Trump loses the election, including Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader.
ANDERSON: Elie, let's get legal about this. I want you just to be very clear about this transition of power.
What might Donald Trump try legally at this point?
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Becky, well, look, he has a lot of legal options. One thing to understand about the election system, we don't
have one unified national election system. People ask me sometimes, well, what are the rules, what's the law? There's no one rule book. We have 51
different election systems, 50 states plus D.C., that feed into the elector process.
Right now, both parties are fighting battles in courts around the country about absentee ballots, when do they go out, when is the date to stop
counting them, what's the signature requirements?
And the Constitution actually does not require states to appoint their presidential electors based on the popular vote. There has been reporting
recently that the president and the Republican apparatus is starting to gear up to ask Republican-controlled state legislatures to appoint their
electors without regard to the vote.
If that happens, we're going to see a real legal collision here.
ANDERSON: This is absolutely fascinating. All of this, of course, coming as Donald Trump prepares to name his replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg on
the Supreme Court. He says he will do that on Saturday.
Donald Trump will be paying his respects to Notorious RBG, as she was fondly known, at the Supreme Court. President Trump linking the SCOTUS
battle with the ballot system. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We need nine justices. You need that. With the unsolicited millions of ballots that they're sending it's a scam, it's a hoax. Everybody knows
that. And the Democrats know it better than anybody else. So you're going to need nine justices up there. I think it will be very important because
what they're doing is a hoax with the ballots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: What do you make of that?
HONIG: Yes, a couple things. First of all, you don't actually need nine justices in order to rule. The Supreme Court can rule with eight. It
happened for about a year after Justice Scalia's death.
The way it lines up right now, ideologically, is we have five conservatives, all appointed by Republican presidents. And until Justice
Ginsburg's death, we had four liberals all appointed by Democratic presidents. Now if the president gets his new nominee on, it becomes 6-3.
What that means is it's really insurance against Chief Justice Roberts flipping over and joining the liberal group, which he did on several big
rulings this past term, including the tax returns case, about LGBTQ equal rights and other cases.
Now if Trump gets this ninth seat filled with his nominee, even if Roberts flips over, that's still not enough. It will be a 5-4 conservative
majority.
And could we see a case end up in Supreme Court?
Sure, it happened 20 years ago. There's plenty of disputes out there that could end up in the court again now.
ANDERSON: Were this not as tight of a race as it is -- and let's be quite clear, this is a tight race. No one has this in the bag November 3rd at
this point -- perhaps we wouldn't be seeing what we are seeing now.
Who knows?
Who is standing up to Donald Trump at this point?
HONIG: Yes, it's a great question. Look, the president is not going to be able to steal this election without enablers and accomplices. We are
starting to see this morning the handful of small -- a small handful of Republican leaders in the Senate say things, of course, we'll have a
peaceful transition of power.
But how do you define the winner?
And you going to allow the president or allow state legislatures to undermine the vote itself?
And the one person to keep an eye on is our attorney general, William Barr. He has signaled time and again he's completely with the president on this
notion of promoting concern about widespread fraud and mail-in ballots, which is completely nonexistent.
The AG will have a lot of power to decide which side of these legal disputes the Department of Justice weighs in on and perhaps to do other
things. Look, a lot of the impetus here falls on other Republicans to make sure that the president observes our traditions.
ANDERSON: Very quickly, Elie, what chance this election is a done deal 24 hours after people vote?
HONIG: To me, very low.
[10:10:00]
HONIG: You're going to have to a complete landslide one way or the other. People need to be prepared here in the United States not to know the winner
on November 3rd. Look, it's going to take days, weeks to count those absentee and mail-in ballots. I think we all have to be prepared to let
that happen and play out before we get into conclusions.
ANDERSON: To both of you, thank you. Joe Johns is in Washington. Your legal analyst today getting us through the weeds as it were is Elie Honig.
Thank you.
Well, that's not the only extraordinary display of power that the president is chasing after. The Food and Drug Administration is considering changing
the rules for how vaccines are approved, making them stricter. Pushing the approval until after the election that matters, why?
You'll remember that Mr. Trump promised one sooner for months now. So the political math wouldn't add up if that's missed. His solution -- have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what. That has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it. That sounds like a political move.
Extremely political. Why would they do this?
We came back with the great results.
Well, -- why would we keep delaying it?
We'll look at it. We'll take a look at it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's get to our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
I just wonder -- and I'm sure our viewers are wondering the same thing.
Is that true, could the White House override the FDA?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think that's unclear, Becky. What we do know is that this -- to get sort of wonky and
bureaucratic here is, that any time the FDA does something like this -- and I'll explain what this is in is a moment -- that goes through the Office of
Management and Budget. Both the FDA and the OMB are both under the White House.
Could the president or Alex Azar effectively in some way or another bigfoot the FDA?
Sure. That could be possible.
I think the point here that we want to think about is what exactly is the FDA thinking about doing?
What they're doing in effect or what they're thinking about doing in effect is saying to drug companies, look, when you get to a certain point in your
study, even if you have data showing that this vaccine works, we'll make you wait two months just to make sure that it's safe.
If that passes, if that becomes the law of the land, then we won't have a vaccine by Election Day. Just by doing the math, it just won't happen. Now
President Trump says, as we just heard, this is a political move.
Let me be abundantly clear. This is not a political move. This is a safety move; usually pre-pandemic when clinical trials like this were done, it
would take years. Nobody wants these trials to take years.
But there's a way to put in sort of the two-month delay that says, you know what, we won't make you take years but we'll make you take another two
months just to make sure it's safe.
In those two months, more volunteers will be getting more shots of vaccine into their arms and it will tell you if there's a rare side effect, it
gives you more data to see if that shows up.
More time, more shots into more study subjects' arms. That gives you more data. That's not a political move. That's a safety move. I actually think,
at some point, President Trump or someone in his campaign is going to say, wait a minute, do we want to look like the guys who are rushing the safety
part of this vaccine trial?
Americans are very hesitant about this vaccine. Only about half say they want to get it. So I think there could be voters out there, going -- wait,
I was thinking, Trump-Biden but Trump wants to give me a shot of something not proven to be safe. That might give some people some doubts.
ANDERSON: Good point, Elizabeth, thank you for that.
I just want our viewers to have a listen to what the commissioner of the FDA had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, FDA COMMISSIONER: FDA will not authorize or approve any COVID-19 vaccine before it's met the agency's rigorous expectations for
safety and effectiveness.
Decisions to authorize or approve any such vaccine or therapeutic will be made by the dedicated career staff at FDA through our thorough processes
and science will guide our decisions. FDA will not permit any pressure from anyone to change that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You heard it first here on CNN, the words of the commissioner of the FDA.
Well, the first presidential debate is now just days away. Let me just give you the exact date and time so you can whack that in your calendar.
[10:15:00]
ANDERSON: Tune in to the first of three debates between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump on Wednesday morning here in the UAE at 3 am. Of course, it will be
live right here on CNN and you can work out what times locally that works for you.
To another hallmark of the Trump era, riots and unrest. The state of Kentucky the latest flashpoint as the U.S. wrestles with racial injustice
and the use of deadly force by police.
On Wednesday, a grand jury decided not to charge police officers for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor. Back in March, she was in her bed,
when the officers burst into her apartment. Her boyfriend opened fire. He says he feared it was a home invasion.
And officers fired back, hitting Taylor six times, according to Kentucky's attorney general; 195 days after that shooting, only one of the three
officers involved was charged but not directly for Taylor's death. He was indicted for recklessly shooting into a neighborhood apartment, basically a
slap on the wrist.
Breonna Taylor's death, the lack of charges and previous racial injustice sent protesters into the street across the United States. Two Louisville
officers were shot during the protests and police have a suspect in custody. Brynn Gingras has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PROTESTERS: Breonna Taylor.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In cities across the nation, the sound of Breonna Taylor's name echoing through the streets.
PROTESTERS: What do we want?
Justice.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Here in Louisville, protesters crying our for justice from the day into the night. Frustrated and outraged by a grand
jury's decision to make no direct charges in the fatal police shooting of the 26-year-old EMT killed in her home when three officers opened fire
while executing a warrant during a narcotics investigation in March.
And as some demonstrations turned chaotic, two Louisville metro police officers were shot Wednesday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One is alert and stable. The other officer is currently undergoing surgery and stable. We do have one suspect in custody.
GINGRAS (voice-over): None of the three Louisville metro police officers involved in the Taylor shooting face any charges in her death. But former
detective Brett Hankison faces three charges of wanton endangerment in the first degree for firing bullets into a neighboring apartment.
Sergeant John Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrave were not indicted on any charges.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there's no justice. Mob justice is not justice. Breonna Taylor's death has become a
part of a national story and conversation. But we must also remember the facts and the collection of evidence in this case are different than cases
elsewhere in the country.
GINGRAS (voice-over): The Kentucky attorney general says Mattingly and Cosgrave identified themselves before breaking down the door and her
boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, disputes that claim. He fired a warning shot because the police did not identify themselves.
KENNETH WALKER, BREONNA TAYLOR'S BOYFRIEND: They refused to answer when we yelled, who is it; 15 minutes later, Breonna was dead from a hail of police
gunfire.
GINGRAS (voice-over): The attorney general says an FBI analysis shows Cosgrave fired the shot that killed Taylor but a state investigation was
inconclusive on that point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because our investigation showed and the grand jury agreed that Mattingly and Cosgrave were justified in the return of deadly
fire after having been fired upon by Walker.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Mattingly's attorney writing in a statement, "The system worked," adding these officers did not act in a reckless or
unprofessional manner. But for Taylor's family, their attorneys say it's difficult to make sense of the ruling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're upset justifiably and we're upset and outraged at the decision that was made.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Brynn is joining us now.
Donald Trump has weighed in on all of this.
What did he have to say?
GINGRAS: Yes, depending on who you ask, there's opinions about the attorney general, Daniel Cameron. Some are praising his decision. Some
people are heavily criticizing it. And as you said the president did weigh in. Let's remind your viewers that Daniel Cameron is a rising star in the
Republican Party.
[10:20:00]
GINGRAS: Here's what the president had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I thought it was really brilliant, Kentucky attorney general, David Cameron. He's doing a fantastic job. Handling it very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS: Cameron is like I said a rising star in the Republican Party. He spoke at the national convention. He was a protege of Senate majority
leader Mitch McConnell.
So certainly there are a lot of people that are now questioning, you know, maybe political motives with his decision. And people really just want
answers. That's what they have been fighting for for so long.
And I have to tell you that Breonna Taylor's family is probably raising their voices the most. We were told by their family attorney that they
weren't even alerted to the charges until minutes before Daniel Cameron announced them publicly, which they said they were supposed to get a
significant heads-up.
Mainly there's calls for more information to be out there, even from the governor of Kentucky, who said release the transcripts of the grand jury
and see what kind of charges were they actually considering.
And were any of them in relation to actually Breonna Taylor's death?
There's also active investigations, Becky, one with the FBI, with how the search warrant was obtained.
And were any liberties violated there?
And in Louisville, an internal investigation of the other two officers as well. For right now, there are still protests that are likely going to
happen and continue into the day and into the next couple of days as people are still seeking justice -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. Brynn, thank you.
Well, we want to bring you some rather remarkable video from Seattle, Washington, during the protests there on Wednesday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're dancing on the light here. This person is on the ground. He just ran over his head. He just ran over his head. Oh, my
God, he just ran over that guy's head with his bicycle. I hope you saw that.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, the show shows the Seattle police officer apparently running over a protester's head. The police department says it
is aware of the video and the Office of Professional Accountability is investigating it. No word on the condition of the protester.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Just consider what we have just seen. We have been reporting in the past what 20 minutes or so. The scenes in the United States, Donald
Trump fanning the flames of a culture war. Whether you support him or not, you can see that happening. That is clear.
Then the idea of not accepting the election results in the modern era of American politics, even if you buy into his incorrect claims about election
rigging, why would you not want a peaceful transfer of power?
And pushing a vaccine instead of letting the medical experts make the decision; if it works, the experts decide. There's no deep state conspiracy
around getting a vaccine. Just think on more of that.
Still ahead on the show, Israel's government tightens restrictions during the country's second nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
What prompted the move right before the holiest day on the Jewish calendar?
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[10:25:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the decision is not helping us at all. It's for them to be able to sit in their chairs and not to -- really to solve
the problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm happy to cooperate with any measures that have a rationale behind it and I'm not convinced that this specifically does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Backlash in Israel over the government's move there to tighten restrictions during a second nationwide coronavirus lockdown. Infections
surged to new daily highs this week. Senior lawmakers have been struggling to agree on a plan to combat this pandemic.
And this latest move, happening during the Jewish high holidays, has left many people there frustrated and angry. Let's bring in Oren Liebermann,
live in Jerusalem.
And we were discussing that, at this time yesterday. The anger, the frustration and the fact that people have been defying this second
lockdown, despite rising cases. There are now further restrictions being enacted by the government.
What's the message from leadership?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The message at this point is that the numbers are simply too bad and very much getting worse.
You can see that here in this graph and the number of total cases. This curve, which spans almost the beginning of the -- since the beginning of
the year, shows you how quick it is rising. It looks exponential.
Nearly 7,000 cases a day and that's why the leadership decided the second general lockdown with the restrictions that have been tightened was
necessary.
Look at the graph. Three countries not faring well, the U.K., Israel and the U.S. on a per capita basis you see how poorly Israel is doing,
especially when it comes relative to other countries that also aren't handling this well.
Netanyahu announcing there will be further restrictions on public protests, prayers, severe limitations on who is allowed to work and more in an effort
to get the numbers under control. Here is him explaining this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): We are facing the moment of truth. The second wave of the coronavirus hits the
entire world. It also hits us. The morbidity rate is rising. The number of severe cases is rising and unfortunately so is the number of deaths.
In the past two days we have heard from experts if we don't take immediate and difficult steps we will reach the edge of the abyss. We are required to
impose full lockdown for two weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: Now does that this mean this was unanimous and in terms of the coronavirus cabinet or in terms of the Knesset, no?
Because the experts that he referenced there don't agree that they needed to go into the second general lockdown. The country's coronavirus czar said
he disagreed about the lockdown, warning they'll face economic damage because of this.
And the jobs guru saying there will be a lost generation of youth who suffer from chronic unemployment because of a second general lockdown. It
is scheduled to last for two weeks.
That loss of public trust may contribute to people here simply as you said, Becky, violating the lockdown orders because of a defiance here.
ANDERSON: Yes. Frightening stuff. Oren, thank you.
Whether in a public building or your corner grocery store, the mantra about wearing a mask is widespread during this pandemic. As we discovered in this
advert from the Red Cross, not a new idea.
Back in 1918, health officials were prodding the public to wear a mask to fight the flu, pneumonia and death. What's old is new and important again.
Wear a mask, folks.
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ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson for you. World leaders continuing to tout their foreign policy agendas in what is a week of digital diplomacy at the
United Nations General Assembly. It follows a huge regional shift here in the Middle East after Israel normalized relations with UAE and Bahrain.
But when Saudi Arabia's King Salman addressed the UNGA in a prerecorded speech, ,he made no suggestion that his nation will make any moves toward
normalization with Israel. However, he did allude to the accords by praising of the U.S. peace efforts. Have a listen.
[10:35:00]
KING SALMAN, SAUDI ARABIA (through translator): We support the efforts of the current U.S. administration to achieve peace in the Middle East by
bringing the Palestinians and the Israelis to the negotiating table to reach a fair and comprehensive agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, my next guest says many experts missed the writing on the wall about those normalization agreements in a new "Washington Post" op-ed.
Aaron David Miller writes, "Perhaps nowhere have veteran analysts and diplomats been more off the mark than in their predictions that Arab states
would not normalize relations with Israel until there had been major progress on the Palestinian issue.
"Even tough key Gulf states such as UAE and Saudi Arabia were dealing quietly with Israel."
CNN global affairs analyst Aaron David Miller is joining us from Washington. He's a senior fellow at The Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace.
Saudi Arabia alluding to the accords, sir, but not going as far as to suggest that they could or will follow.
How viable is it that Saudi could or will normalize relations with Israel in the short term?
AARON DAVID MILLER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I mean, assuming the two agreements in place are fulfilled and the Israelis don't qualitatively
and/or quantitatively seek to change the status of the West Bank in a way that goes beyond what they're already doing, I think it's a matter,
frankly, of when, not if.
But the when could take some time. The king, unlike Mohammed bin Salman, the heir apparent, is a traditionalist. The Saudi religious establishment
is a constraint and for them to normalize for Saudi Arabia, to normalize formalization with Israel, without progress, progress on the Palestinian
issue, would be a transformative consequence. Not a kind of transaction that we now see with Bahrain and the Emiratis.
So a huge deal. But I suspect it will take some more time.
ANDERSON: King Salman, as you rightly point out here, reiterating that Palestinians must obtain their legitimate rights. This from a man who, when
the governor of Riyadh saw himself as Palestine's man in Saudi, in his speech to UNGA, he called for the establishment of an independent state
with East Jerusalem as the capital, a call made here in the UAE by the minister of state for foreign affairs, who I have interviewed now a number
of times since these accords have been declared and, indeed, from the crown prince here as well.
But in Saudi, is there or is it now clear that there is a disconnect or disagreement between King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman?
MILLER: I don't think there's any doubt about that. I think it's not only on this issue, it may well be on the way the Khashoggi issue was handled.
Relations with the United States. I mean, you have the 30-year-old crown prince who has proven to be very reckless and ruthless.
And he's coming up against a set of constituencies in the kingdom which extremely concern -- some of which I suspect are opposed quietly, to be
sure, given the fate of most of MBS' opponents.
But there is dissension. There is discord. And I suspect it would take the abdication or the death of the king to produce the kind of transition that
might give Mohammed bin Salman a smoother hand. How wide he would make without his father serving as a constraint, it's unclear.
ANDERSON: In that recent "Washington Post," op-ed, you wrote and I quote you here, "Recent events started me thinking about what else we may have
missed."
By which you meant what, sir?
MILLER: By which I meant two things. Number one, Arab attitudes are changing. And I think we were slow to understand this. The rise of Iran,
Sunni terror in the form of Al Qaeda derivatives and a desire to please the administration, to exact weapons sales political influence in Washington
and exhaustion and frustration with the seemingly intractable Palestinian problem, all of these things have shifted Arab priorities.
And allowed certain regimes so far to untether themselves even while they espouse support for the Palestinian state independent on something.
[10:15:00]
MILLER: That's close to June '67 borders with the capital in East Jerusalem. We saw a desire to mouth those slogans but to essentially cut
their own separate arrangements, particularly the UAE for sure.
With the Israelis, I think we frankly missed that. The other thing we missed is something that is even more stunning it seems to me. The
conventional wisdom was that if Israel didn't settle the Palestinian issue, if it didn't find a way to requite Palestinian national aspirations, that
over time it would essentially become an international pariah.
And yet it's stunning to think that under the tenure in a series of right wing governments headed by none other than Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel is
more accepted in the world today, in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia, with the five permanent members of the Security Council, than at any time
since independence.
And the ultimate betrayal, it seems to me, of the conventional wisdom was the fact that you have, in the region itself, if you and I, Becky, are
talking about the possibility that Saudi Arabia is going to normalize relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the author of the Arab peace
initiative, something profound has changed.
ANDERSON: It's -- you're making some very good points. I will say that living in this region and speaking to the people that I do on a regular
basis, I have to say I was perhaps less surprised than others. But you are making -- you're making some extremely good points, points well made. Aaron
David Miller, thank you for joining us. We will be back after this.
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ANDERSON: Well, this is the show of the show -- let me start that again. This is the time of the show when we bring in my colleagues at CNN SPORT to
find out what's going on in football and cricket.
But instead, I want to turn to them about a killing as we covered earlier in the hour. The case of Breonna Taylor, once again, in the spotlight after
no officers were charged for her death when a grand jury decision was announced yesterday. Let me bring in Don Riddell.
What's been the reaction in the world of sport?
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, there's been a lot of reaction which we were kind of expecting. I mean, you know, we have seen athletes
raising the case of Breonna Taylor for months now, guys like Lewis Hamilton and Naomi Osaka as you see there.
NBA players and WNBA players are particularly invested in this story. The WNBA actually has dedicated their season to Breonna Taylor's cause. And so
many players are talking about that.
[10:40:00]
RIDDELL: It's getting harder and harder for them to focus on their sport because they see what's happening to their communities and they are no
longer prepared to be quiet about it. So we'll be talking about that in "WORLD SPORT." But yes, a lot of disappointment, frustration and anger now.
That's very, very clear.
ANDERSON: Don Riddell with "WORLD SPORT" up after this short break.
Sir, thank you.
I'll be back top of the hour for you.
(WORLD SPORT)
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END
