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Connect the World
At Least 95 Dead After Powerful Earthquake Rocks Tibet; Donald Trump Junior Visiting Greenland Amid Father's Talk of U.S. Buying Territory; Imprisoned Activist's Mother Marks 100 Days of Hunger Strike; Trump's Possible Pardon for January 6th Convict Splits Family; Major Policy Changes Indicate Conservative Shift at Meta. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired January 07, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well Donald Trump Jr. lands in Greenland as his president-elect father, floats again the idea of the U.S.
owning that territory. It is noon in Greenland. This is a live shot of the airport there. It is 06:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. This is
"Connect the World", and wherever you are watching, you are more than welcome.
Also coming up this hour, at least 95 people are dead after an earthquake in Tibet. A hunger striker protesting her son's detention in Egypt will
join me live to discuss 100 days of painful protest. Controversial figure in French politics has died, the life and legacy of Jean-Marie Le Pen.
And the stock market in New York will open in about 30 minutes from now. The futures markets indicating a higher start, we will be back to those
markets at 09:30 New York time. Well, it is a slow, difficult search to find survivors and victims of a powerful earthquake that struck Tibet.
Chinese state media report at least 95 people dead, 130 injured. The magnitude 7.1 quake struck a remote border region this morning, not far
from Nepal. More than 100 aftershocks have followed. The quake was felt in Nepal and Bhutan and in northern India. Well CNN's Marc Stewart has the
latest for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moment, a deadly earthquake strikes a remote region of Tibet, shelves emptying out as people
flee a grocery store. The 7.1 magnitude quake hitting Tuesday morning near the Himalayan border with Nepal. The epicenter around 50 miles north of
Mount Everest, turning hundreds of houses into rubble.
Destroying cars and motorbikes and causing landslides, cutting off mountain roads. Anna Guo, an 18-year-old tourist from Sichuan province in China shot
this video when the quake hit on her way to visit the Tibetan base camp of Mount Everest.
ANNA GUO, WITNESS: I was waiting in line and we heard something. Then we realized it was an earthquake. It got stronger and stronger, and the
windows started shaking. People started panicking. We have never felt an earthquake that strong before.
STEWART (voice-over): Guo fled the area with her tour group on a bus, and they're now sheltering in a nearby city a few hours' drive away. Now in the
towns and villages around the epicenter of the quake, the number of fatalities is mounting. And a major rescue operation is underway.
As emergency workers try to dig people out of the rubble and treat the injured survivors. Chinese state media says at least 200 soldiers from the
People's Liberation Army have been sent to the area, and another 1500 are on standby. Rescue teams expected to work into the night, facing the
challenges of darkness, cold weather and high altitude. Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, our CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has a closer look for you now at the region that has been impacted by the quake and the
challenging rescue conditions that you just heard, Marc mention in his report.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: When this powerful and deadly earthquake struck just after 09:00 a.m. local time, what struck me is the shallow
nature of this earthquake, only 10 kilometers deep, meaning that there wasn't a lot of ground to absorb the shaking. So, the earthquake was
certainly felt well away from the epicenter, and we do anticipate the aftershocks to continue, especially with this powerful of an earthquake.
In fact, when we look at similar strength earthquakes, magnitude 7.0 or greater, we typically experience at least one magnitude 6.0 or greater
aftershock with several dozen 5.0 or less. Now, where the earthquake occurred on the Tibetan Plateau, it is a high elevation location. So,
here's the Himalayan Mountains.
Here's Nepal, India to the south, China to the north. That's the epicenter, right there. So just by its true nature of its location, it is a cold part
of the world, but it's been particularly cold lately. Now in terms of the weather going forward, we don't have any significant weather systems in
play for the search and recovery efforts until the weekend.
[09:05:00]
So, we look towards Saturday and Sunday, when you start to see some of this impactful weather starting to impact the Himalayans and the surrounding
areas that could pick up the winds and complicate that search and rescue effort going forward. So that's again for the weekend. In the meantime,
generally dry conditions anticipated in and around the epicenter.
Here's the closest reporting station. The next three days, you can see temperatures will drop well below the freezing mark overnight. So that also
complicates the search and recovery efforts. But you can see, by the afternoon, temperatures warm into the single digits to around 10 degrees by
Friday afternoon. Back to you.
ANDERSON: And we will get you more on the impact and fallout from that earthquake as we move through the hours ahead. Well, the Founder of
France's Far-Right Party, the National Front, has died at the age of 96. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the father of the party's current leader, Marine Le Pen
regularly courted controversy, especially with his views on the Holocaust, in a political career that spanned decades.
Well, never could his party have been more relevant. Perhaps he might have been surprised by just how relevant, given how for so many years. He was
sort of cast out by the ruling elite in France. Melissa Bell is live from Paris for us. And Melissa, just break down Le Pen's legacy for us and the
way his politics still impact France today more so than perhaps ever before, certainly in recent history.
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, I think one of the most interesting things when we look back at this man's
legacy, dead now at the age of 96 is how peripheral, controversial on the sides of the French political landscape, he was for so much of his career.
And yet how so many of his ideas have now become pretty mainstream.
The party that he founded, the national rally, the National Front, as it was called then, was long considered, Becky, too extreme, too ultra
nationalist. His own views, anti-Semitic, too extreme in their racism. He's had a number of convictions for incitement to hatred.
One of the most famous episodes was when he described the gas chambers of World War Two as a mere detail of that war. And he had these very extreme
views, but fundamentally that ultra nationalist, anti-immigration position that seemed so radical in the 1980s and 90s has now become under the
leadership of his daughter Marine Le Pen, the rebranding of the National Front pretty mainstream.
In fact, what we saw in last European elections was that party win the poll here in France, which is something that never happened before. But back to
Jean-Marie Le Pen, this is a man who had, as I said, tremendously controversial views for a long time. Founded this party out of a variety of
minority parties opposed to the Gaulish tradition, 1972 stood for very long time on the extreme right of French politics.
Give you an idea the first of the fifth president, five presidential elections that he contested, Becky, he won just 0.75 percent of the vote in
back in 1974. The big upset, of course, came in 2002 when he made it through to the second round. Jacques Chirac, of course, saw him off in that
but that was something of wake-up call, but also a sign of how his ideas were shifting to the center ground and gaining in popularity.
That progress, that path, of course, in the end, brought to a natural conclusion by his daughter, who not only rebranded the party sought to weed
out some of the more extreme views and candidates from it, but even throughout her own part, her own father, the merry man who founded it in an
effort to rebrand it and have it lost some of its toxicity. So, this was an extraordinary man who had an extraordinary life.
He was a paratrooper, soldier, a young parliamentarian in the 1950s he founded this party, got thrown out of it began on the side of French
politics. In the end, I think we can say today that maybe 30 to 40 years ahead of his time, had -- to the fact that there was room in the political
spectrum for ultra nationalist views that seemed very counter to the zeitgeist of the time, but ultimately, have become pretty mainstream, and
not just here in France, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. It's good to have you, Melissa. Thank you very much indeed. Melissa Bell is in Paris for you. Let's get you to U.S.
politics now and to Donald Trump Jr., who has just landed in Greenland. Now his trip comes just hours after his father expressed interest again in the
U.S. buying the Danish territory once he becomes president. On Truth Social, late on Monday, Trump senior posted that, he is hearing that the
people of Greenland are MAGA.
[09:10:00]
And said they would benefit tremendously from be becoming part of the United States. Well, Greenland's Prime Minister says the territory is not
for sale and will never be for sale. We'll see you. There's Jeff Zeleny joining me now, not from Greenland, but from West Palm Beach in Florida,
where the president-elect, of course, resides.
Jeff, I want to get to Greenland in a moment, but first President-elect Trump is set to speak quite soon in the next couple of hours, and he's set
to speak where you are in West Palm Beach in Florida. What can we expect to hear from him today?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, I think President-elect Trump is going to be laying out his plans for his
first 100 days and beyond. This is going to be one of the first times we really heard him talk and likely take questions as well about how he
intends to enact his agenda.
He's talked a lot about, you know, what he would like to do, but the how he would like to sort of enact his agenda, extend his tax cuts, do immigration
reform, et cetera, is very much an open question in the divided Congress. So that is one of the things we expect him to talk about, as well as his
broader plans.
I mean, we are 13 days away from President-elect Donald Trump becoming the 47th president. He knows a lot more about the job this time. They also know
that time is running short. Yes, yesterday, the U.S. Congress certified his election for four more years, but the reality is, they know they have about
half that time, if that with the Republican majorities in the Senate and the House to try and get their agenda accomplished.
So tomorrow, he'll be going to Washington to meet with some Senate leaders, but in just a couple hours here, he will be holding a news conference. Of
course, we have seen him address any variety of subjects, but his agenda certainly is among them, as well, as you said, also his obsession with
Greenland.
ANDERSON: Yes, let's get to that. Because, of course, Donald Trump knows a lot more about what he intends to do across a myriad of issues than we do
at this point, what we hear is a lot of tough talk and bluster, and it is yet to be seen whether that is what this Greenland rhetoric is all about.
But on Greenland, Denmark's Foreign Ministry says that Donald Trump Jr. his visit there is not an official visit, and they're very keen to point that
out. So, what is behind all of this? And perhaps more broadly, we should be talking about how, whether this, in any way fits into Trump's foreign
policy posture?
ZELENY: I think it does in terms of the bluster that you said. I think that's a very good word, Becky. We both remember his first term, and one of
the things he liked to do is sort of talk a lot, and his action is always not following up on what he's talking about, but specifically in terms of
how he deals with foreign allies and adversaries alike.
He has a tendency to try and set people off balance. So, I think the Greenland conversation, sure, in Donald Trump's perfect world, he would
like world domination. But that is not how it works. It is a sovereign territory that is not the United States is to have. But by talking about
this, by consistently mocking Canada, suggesting it should become a 51st State of the United States.
The intended message, perhaps, is to send a message to other world leaders that Donald Trump is back, and he likes to sort of keep things off balance
a bit. So certainly, he will be dealing with a NATO country. So be dealing with G7 nations, G20 nations. This is just a preview of what is to come
here.
But again, we have to separate the bluster from the actual reality, and we know that this Greenland obsession of his is not rooted in reality. But
that doesn't mean it's not a sign of things to come in terms of how he deals with other foreign leaders as he begins to return to office.
ANDERSON: Yeah, it's good to have you. His son, look, we're looking at pictures of him, and we also were running some video from the cockpit of
the flight that Don Jr. flew in on, apparently, that's been posted on his social and that's what we've just been running that.
I mean, look, he was heavily involved in the campaign, huge supporter of his father's, but in fact, has no like specific role in this
administration, certainly not to date. And so, to all intents and purposes, he's traveling there, I guess, as a private citizen. And certainly,
Greenland is keen to point that out a small country, of course, population 57,000 part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
And as you say, the prime minister there pointing out that it is currently not for sale. It's always good to have you, Jeff. Thanks very much indeed.
Still to come, Israel's Prime Minister promises consequences after a deadly day in the occupied West Bank, those details are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:15:00]
ANDERSON: Well, there has been an explosion of violence in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is holding a Cabinet
meeting following a deadly shooting which killed three Israelis. He is vowing to track down those responsible after gunmen attacked two cars and a
bus on Monday.
Well, in the hours that followed, the Palestinian News Agency Wafa reported multiple Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians across the West Bank.
CNN's Jerusalem Correspondent, Jeremy Diamond is across the very latest for us and joins us now, Jeremy.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well Becky, Yesterday, we saw the deadly day in the West Bank that could potentially grow deadlier as
tensions are clearly rising in the wake of this attack carried out by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank. Three Israelis were killed as at least
two gunmen opened fire on vehicles on Route 55 in the occupied West Bank.
Eight others were injured in this shooting attack, according to Israel's emergency response services. And in the wake of that attack, not only have
the gunman fled and not yet been apprehended, but what we saw was the beginnings of a wave of retribution attacks carried out by Israeli settlers
on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
We saw that in several villages, settlers stormed in, in the hours following this attack, throwing stones at Palestinian homes. At least one
vehicle was set on fire in a Palestinian village in the northern part of the West Bank. And the Israeli government is also vowing a more official
response in the form of military action in the West Bank.
We saw the Israeli military's Chief of Staff, General Herzi Halevi. He was on the scene in the hours following this attack, vowing that the clock is
ticking. He said for the attackers, and he said that the Israeli military will intensify its operations in the West Bank. The Israeli Prime Minister
holding a security Cabinet meeting today after he also vowed that there would be retribution for this attack.
This is, of course, just the latest deadly incident inside the West Bank, which has been one of the deadliest years for Israelis in the West Bank,
with 34 killed in 2024, 19 of whom were civilians, 15 soldiers. And for Palestinians, 2024 was one of the deadliest years as well, with more than
500 Palestinians killed, according to the United Nations.
And now the question is, will this continue to spiral even further? We have seen, of course, in the wake of other attacks on Israelis in the West Bank.
[09:20:00]
Settlers taking matters into their own hands and carrying out revenge attacks against Palestinians who have been completely uninvolved with these
attacks, setting fires to homes and villages as well as shooting at Palestinian civilians. And so certainly, that is a risk right now, but we
are also waiting to see how the Israeli military will respond as they vow more forceful operations inside the West Bank, Becky.
ANDERSON: Jeremy Diamond on the story for you. Jeremy, thank you. Well, today marks 100 days since the mother of an activist imprisoned in Egypt
started a hunger strike in a plea to the UK government to get her son released. Her family says, Laila Soueif has been surviving on nothing but
black coffee, herbal tea and rehydration salts, and has vowed not to eat anything until her son is freed.
Alaa Abd El-Fattah was a leading activist in Egypt's 2011 uprising, and has been behind bars for much of the past decade. Laila is currently in Cairo
in order to visit her son in prison on Wednesday this week, and she has made the time to join us now live. And Laila, thank you for joining us. How
are you doing right now?
LAILA SOUEIF, MOTHER OF IMPRISONED BRITISH-EGYPTIAN WRITER & ACTIVIST: Well, I'm still on my feet, which is quite a miracle. I never expected to
last this long, but I'm very, very tired, and I tired very easily. I'm also slow, much slower than I ever was, but so far, I have not had dire
consequences. I've lost a lot of weight. I've lost like --
ANDERSON: Well Laila, you and I have talked something a number of times about your son's detention over the years. You started this hunger strike,
as I understand it in September, standing in front of the British Foreign Affairs Office in protest at the lack of progress in freeing your son, who
is an Egyptian-British citizen. What are you hearing from the British government now about their efforts to get him released?
SOUEIF: They -- I'm told they're working very hard on it, but there have been no concrete results so far. There are a lot of you know, coming and
going and call and telephone calls around meetings, but so far, no concrete results.
ANDERSON: So, update us on your son's case, Laila, if you will, where do things stand at this point?
SOUEIF: Alaa remains in prison. He finished his sentence on the 29th of September and has not been released. The Egyptian authorities are still
refusing to recognize the time he spent in pre-trial. In pre-trial detention, which is against the Egyptian law as well as any -- the law in
any country, and that's it. I get to visit him tomorrow, and I'd see how things are --
ANDERSON: When you get to visit him tomorrow, as I understand it, for about 20 minutes through a glass barrier, and what are you going to discuss? What
are you hoping to say to him?
SOUEIF: Well, I'm going to tell him as much as I know of what the British are doing and what is happening in Egypt. Given that, of course, you have
to keep in mind all the time, because you're talking through a phone behind the glass barrier, that everything you're saying is being recorded for the
benefits of Egyptian state security. But I hope to get anyway --
ANDERSON: Laila, you wrote -- go on.
SOUEIF: I hope he will be at least assured by the fact that I am still on my feet. I mean, I know he's very worried about me, and by the fact that
it's having very strong impact to England.
ANDERSON: Well, you wrote that you've been lucky that your body has been this resilient during this 100-day hunger strike. But you also wrote that
you'll soon run out of time. How much longer do you think you can go on?
[09:25:00]
SOUEIF: I have no idea. I mean, nobody really knows how long these things go on, but I can't be much longer. I'm expecting any time to have to be
hospitalized. Personally, I'm going to go on with this hunger strike until either Alaa is released or collapse completely, but I have no idea when
that will happen.
ANDERSON: Well, we wish you all the best, and I do hope that you get to see Alaa tomorrow, and that you can -- as you say, get him up to date on the
efforts to get him out of detention. Laila, it's good to speak to you again. Thank you very much indeed for making the time to join us today, and
we will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Time here is just before half past 6 in the evening. You are watching "Connect the World". News are
your headlines is out Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to settle accounts after gunmen killed three Israelis in the occupied West
Bank on Monday, including two Israeli settlers.
Palestinian News Agency Wafa reported multiple Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians across the territory. Well, later this hour, Jimmy Carter's
casket will begin its trip to Washington, where the 39th U.S. President will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. Members of the public have been
paying their respects to the late president at the Carter Center in Atlanta.
Well, Meta is making notable moderation policy changes ahead of Donald Trump's incoming administration. CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company is
getting rid of fact checkers to restore what he calls free expression on its social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
And a U.S. Federal Judge has held Rudy Giuliani in contempt for failing to comply and turn over information to the two Georgia election workers he
defamed after the 2020 presidential election.
[09:30:00]
The judge's ruling comes as Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss attempt to collect one $50 million in damages from Giuliani, which was awarded to them by a
jury. And that is a bell on Wall Street. The markets are out of the gates, up and running. We will have a check in to see what those markets are
doing, momentarily, the futures at least, indicating a higher open for these markets.
And indeed, that is what we are seeing. And another clip by that, NASDAQ, I mean, it really is on an absolute rip. At the moment, the DOW up about a
quarter of 1 percent and the S&P up by a third of 1 percent. Well, Donald Trump will become the next U.S. President in 13 days.
And it couldn't come sooner for more than 1500 people who are charged with crimes connected to the January the sixth insurrection in 2021, four years
ago. Trump told "TIME" magazine he will issue pardons in his quote first hour in office. Well, the issue hasn't just split the nation.
It's also divided one family after a son turned in and later testified against his father, who for now, remains in prison. My colleague Donie
O'Sullivan has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If Trump pardons your dad, what's your biggest fear?
JACKSON REFFITT, SON OF JANUARY 6TH CONVICT: You know, just getting shot in the street. I don't know.
O'SULLIVAN: By your father?
REFFITT: By my father, by someone he knows. There's a bunch of people that I don't know, and I don't know their intent. So -- you want to help me lift
this?
O'SULLIVAN: Sure.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): This is Jackson Reffitt.
O'SULLIVAN: Yeah. Do you want me to take this end here? Or how do we do this?
REFFITT: Yes, please.
O'SULLIVAN: He says he's moving out of his rental home and into hiding for his own safety.
REFFITT: Bought a gun because I got so paranoid and moving out because I'm scared.
O'SULLIVAN: Do you know how to fire a gun?
REFFITT: Yeah, I've been shooting it.
O'SULLIVAN: Do you have it on you right now?
REFFITT: Yeah, I have to wear to around the house kind of often, just to get used to how it feels.
O'SULLIVAN: OK.
REFFITT: But I'm part of that, like --
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Jackson's dad is Guy Reffitt, who was a member of the Texas Three Percenter militia.
GUY REFFITT, JACKSON REFFITT'S FATHER: And I just kept going, go forward, go forward. I couldn't even see, bro.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): He's serving a more than seven-year sentence for his role in the January 6th Capitol attack. Refit was convicted of five
felonies, including carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds.
O'SULLIVAN: So, you reported your dad to the FBI?
J. REFFITT: Yes.
O'SULLIVAN: That's what got him arrested, basically?
J. REFFITT: More or less, yeah.
O'SULLIVAN: What effect has that had on your family?
J. REFFITT: It's destroyed it.
O'SULLIVAN: Was there a moment where you thought I know my dad has done all this stuff, but I don't want to report him?
J. REFFITT: Yeah, I still feel horrible. Of course. Like, I -- I can't get over it, but I don't regret it.
O'SULLIVAN: When was the last time you spoke to your dad?
J. REFFITT: Five months ago, it was the first time I talked to him and it was just a crying fest for the first 10 minutes, and that was great. And
then, I brought up the fact that I'm worried about him getting out and he was almost puzzled, like he was confused as to why I thought that.
O'SULLIVAN: Are you overreacting?
J. REFFITT: No, I get death threats daily, hourly at this point.
NICOLE REFFITT, JACKSON REFFITT'S MOTHER: Unbeknownst to us, it was our 18- year-old son who turned his dad into the FBI.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What? Why did he do it?
N. REFFITT: My son is a declared Democratic socialist.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Jackson's mom, Nicole has become one of the most prominent people campaigning for the release of people serving time for
January 6th. Nicole left Texas and moved to Washington, D.C. where she takes part in a nightly vigil out here, outside the city's jail.
O'SULLIVAN: You've been coming here for hundreds of nights.
N. REFFITT: Almost 900.
O'SULLIVAN: Why?
N. REFFITT: You know, after I saw what happened to my husband, I could not sit on my hands at home anymore.
O'SULLIVAN: Do you wish Guy didn't come here on January 6th?
N. REFFITT: No. I'm glad he stood up for something.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Every night, January 6th prisoners from around the country call into the vigil.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Continue holding the line. This thing's almost done.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Including Guy Reffitt who recently called in to wish Nicole a happy birthday.
G. REFFITT: Happy Birthday. Sorry, I couldn't get you something better than 80 months but you know --
O'SULLIVAN: Are you confident that Trump will let your husband walk free?
N. REFFITT: I feel like Trump is a man of his words.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the next step for your family?
N. REFFITT: To continue to fight together.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Nicole is sometimes joined in D.C. by her two daughters, Jackson's sisters who've been caught in the middle of a divided
family.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is not shown on my father.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have nothing against Jackson. Jackson is my brother. I love him. I love him no more than I love my father. I love my
father. I love my family.
N. REFFITT: From the beginning, the girls and I have received hundreds of mailed death threats. I'm not talking about online things. I'm talking
about rape to my daughters, death to my husband, death to me.
[09:35:00]
O'SULLIVAN: You don't think Jackson has to be afraid of his dad?
N. REFFITT: No.
O'SULLIVAN: Yeah.
N. REFFITT: I think that's been put on the record several times.
O'SULLIVAN: So why is Jackson still afraid?
N. REFFITT: I just think that it's the same thing where people think this red hat on my head is scary and dangerous. It's that same mentality.
Jackson comes from a lot of love and there's a lot of love left to be given.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And justice for all.
J. REFFITT: I mean, I love my mom, of course. I love her.
O'SULLIVAN: Do you love your dad?
J. REFFITT: Of course, I love my dad. I love my dad, but I can't -- I can't feel safe around him. I hate having to put myself in this situation, to
feel some sort of comfort after the election and what's going to happen when my dad gets pardoned, when all these hundreds of people get pardoned,
and all these thousands of people get validated for their actions. And I'm one of those people that they call a traitor. And my dad once said traitors
get shot. So that's been ringing in my head for years and years and years.
O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): In a message from prison, Guy Reffitt said that Jackson has never had anything to worry about from me, and he will never
have anything to worry about from me ever.
O'SULLIVAN: If your dad's watching this, what's your message to him?
J. REFFITT: That I love him and that I hope he gets better. And I hope I get better too. I hope I grow out of this paranoia right now and that I
really thought what I did was right. I thought I did what I did to protect him and my family and the people around him, and the people he could have
hurt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Donie O'Sullivan reporting there. Well, it was a week to remember for AC Milan and their new boss, two games down, a trophy and a little
dance to show for it. Not bad. We'll have the details next in "World Sport".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, back to Meta, we've learned a lot more about the upcoming changes to its moderation policy for Facebook and Instagram and changes to
the company's board with Donald Trump's longtime friend Dana White joining for more. Clare Duffy joins me now live from New York.
This was fascinating to hear Mark Zuckerberg out with these changes to his social media sites today, and of course, news on who is joining a board.
This all feels like it's sort of skewed in Donald Trump and Elon Musk's direction. Let's start with these changes. What are they -- what do they
indicate to your mind?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yeah, so Meta is rolling back some of its content moderation practices. In particular, it is getting rid of its
third-party fact checkers, which the company started its partnerships with in the wake of concerns that foreign actors were manipulating the platform,
using them to spread disinformation and sow discord among American voters around elections.
[09:40:00]
But now the company is getting rid of those fact checkers, and it will instead rely on user generated context labels that will be added to posts.
They're called Community notes. This is something that Elon Musk has done on X since he took over two years ago, and Joel Kaplan, who is one of
Meta's Top Republican Executives, he recently took over as its top policy executive.
He announced these changes on Fox News this morning. Let's listen to how he described the system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOEL KAPLAN, CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS OFFICER OF META: So, somebody can write a note, and then the way it works is different people on the platform can
sort of vote on that note, and if you get people who usually disagree, who all say, yeah, that sounds right, then that note gets put on the post, and
people see it.
X has been doing it for a while. We think it's working really well, and we're going to adopt that system. So --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: Now Meta says that this is an effort to address mistakes that its content moderation systems have made, that they have been too restrictive,
and Meta said it has censored some voices. And you know, this is Mark Zuckerberg says this is an effort to increase free expression.
But I think it also looks pretty clearly like an effort to appeal to the Republican voices, including Trump, who have accused the company of
censoring conservative voices, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, Mark Zuckerberg himself very specifically describing the adoption of these community notes as similar to X, which, of course, is
owned by Elon Musk. Meanwhile, Dana White of UFC fame has joined the board. Now it is no secret that he is a big mate of Donald Trump's. What does he
bring to Meta?
DUFFY: Yeah, it's really interesting. And you know, we know that Dana White is a friend of Trump's. He stumped for Trump on the campaign trail. We also
know that as head of the UFC he's sort of the leader in this competitive fighting space which Mark Zuckerberg has really taken up as a hobby.
So, it's possible they know them. They know each other from that space as well. Dana White says that he is really interested in social media and AI,
and he is looking forward to joining the Meta board to engage on those topics. But I do think that we can see this as part of a broader shift
within Meta's top ranks towards the right.
This effort to cozy up to Trump, to appeal to Republicans ahead of the changing administration. We've seen a number of other efforts from Meta on
that front. We saw Mark Zuckerberg visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The company has said it's going to donate a million dollars to Trump's
inaugural fund. This is just another thing that sort of pushes Meta in that direction, I think.
ANDERSON: And I guess you can argue that this is absolutely Mark Zuckerberg's decision, majority owner of the company. And consequently, if
he wants to do this, he can. Who are we to comment? As it were all right. Clare, thank you. There was an Italian football classic played in Saudi
Arabia on Monday between AC and Inter Milan.
Yeah, it was always special when these two sides meet this time in the Italian Super Cup final. And in the end, it was the red and black half of
the city would come out on top. Amanda Davies back with much more on that in "World Sport". That is coming up after this. We will be back in 15
minutes time with the second hour of "Connect the World".
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