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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Hamas, U.S. Says Deal is Close for Ceasefire, Release of Hostages; Hostages Families Clash with Israeli War Cabinet; Police: 4 Injured in Ohio Walmart Shooting, Gunman Dead; Severe Storm Threats: Gulf Coast to Mid-Atlantic & Southeast. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired November 21, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:21]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on EARLY START:

Tense talks to free the Gaza hostages. The U.S. says weeks of negotiations are now getting close to the end.

Plus, Donald Trump unleashed? A court will now decide how much the former president can say in public about the 2020 federal election case.

And, attention shoppers. The White House wants to highlight falling prices at the grocery store to counter disappointing poll numbers.

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HUNT: Good morning to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's Tuesday, November 21st, two days until Thanksgiving, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, noon in Gaza where Hamas official posted overnight on Telegram that the militant group is close to, quote, reaching a truce agreement, end quote, with Israel.

That tracks with the White House assertion earlier Monday that a deal for the release of some of the hostages is nearing.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked whether any Americans might be among the hostages that will be let go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESMAN: Obviously, we are laser focused on the American citizens that we know are being held hostages. We want them out, all of them, everybody should be out now. But here we are at a negotiation, and we are getting closer to the end, we believe, of that negotiation. So, again, I'm going to be careful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Kirby declined to go into any details on those negotiations.

West Bank health officials now say nearly 13,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. That's based on figures from the Hamas-run health agency in Gaza. The United Nations secretary general called it by far the worst death toll for children killed in a war in the nearly seven years he has had the job.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: This is what matters. We are witnessing a killing of civilians, that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since I am secretary general.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: CNN's Scott McLean is tracking developments from Istanbul.

Scott, good morning to you.

There has been so much focus, we have talked a lot about cease-fire, hostage negotiation, tunnels, but let's focus in on the humanitarian crisis here, and what -- what is unfolding there. Obviously, a cease- fire would be part of any hostage release deal that could give some relief to civilians who are suffering on the ground.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, correct, that cease-fire, at least we understand from U.S. sources, that the broad parameters of any deal, Kasie, would be that that cease-fire or pause in fighting would last potentially four or five days. There would be a number of hostages released from Gaza, in exchange for an unknown number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails right now. All of those release it would happen over the courses of four or five days. There could potentially be more hostages released from Gaza if that pause is extended.

Now, we don't know the final details. These are based on sources. These are based on draft proposals, nothing has been finalized. But we've heard from the Qataris that the sticking points at this stage are more about the finer points of the logistical parts of this, rather than anything that represents the core of this actual deal.

You played a sound there from the White House official, John Kirby. He says that things are looking good. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh also said things are looking good. The Red Cross says that they are in a position to help facilitate anything on the ground.

And Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said, look he told hostage families yesterday is that it is in his words, sacred and supreme mission to bring those hostages home. And he is under tremendous pressure to get this deal done. Polls show that most of Israelis, not all but most, would favor releasing thousands of Palestinians in exchange for these 239 or so hostages being held in Gaza.

We saw tensions boiling over in a meeting, in a committee meeting of the Israeli Knesset yesterday when the hostage families were meeting with the national security minister, in part because he is pushing legislation that that would -- that would hand the death penalty to terrorist, and they worry that that would put their family members in greater danger.

You also played a sound there from the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, calling the -- calling the number of civilians killed, almost 13,000 now, unparalleled and unprecedented, at least during his time in office.

[05:05:04]

This is likely to be taken with a very big pinch of salt by the Israelis though. They have been heavily critical of the United Nations for decades. They believe that the organization has been biased against them. Things boiled over a few weeks ago when Guterres said that Hamas's actions on October 7th, did not happen in a -- in a vacuum. And if you look at a record of the United Nations Human Rights Council, for instance, they have passed plenty of resolutions looking at Israel, more than many of the world's world human rights abusers -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Scott McLean for us in Istanbul, thanks very much for your reporting. I really appreciate it.

And coming up next here, angry families of the hostages taken by Hamas march to Tel Aviv. We'll tell you what they're demanding.

Plus, a federal appeals court ruling expected soon on Donald Trump's gag order.

And, will the drop in Turkey Prices helped the president's poll numbers? We'll be right back.

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[05:10:17]

HUNT: Welcome back.

For the first time since the Hamas attack on Israel, families whose loved ones are being held hostage by Hamas met face to face with members of Israel's war cabinet, and many of those family members say they came away deeply disappointed.

CNN's Oren Liebermann on the push for answers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gili Roman has waited 45 days for this moment. His sister, Yarden, has been a hostage in Gaza since October 7th. And this is the first chance for the families of the hostages to meet with the war cabinet.

GILI ROMAN, SISTER HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA: I do expect them to be transparent as much as possible about what can be done, okay? We all want to see everybody back today.

LIEBERMANN: Frustration boiling over after six weeks and two days of questions. SHAI WENKERT, SON HELD IN GAZA: It's something very hard, very embarrassing, that I have to stand here facing so many cameras and I have to go to a meeting in order to hear answers.

LIEBERMANN: But as the meeting was set to start, not all of the families were allowed in.

DANNY ELGARAT, BROTHER OF HOSTAGE ITZIK ELGARAT: In Gaza, there is enough room for the 240 who were kidnapped. And in the Defense Ministry, there isn't room for 130 families?

LIEBERMANN: For weeks, some families have slept outside the Defense Ministry to remind the war cabinet inside that they will not leave and they will not let up.

From Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, they marched to Jerusalem, picking up thousands of supporters along the five-day march to the prime minister's office, a public pressure campaign to force a meeting with Israel's leadership.

Adriana Adri's mother-in-law is a hostage in Gaza.

ADRIANA ADRI, RELATIVE OF HOSTAGE HELD IN GAZA: We don't have time. We don't have one hour more. We don't know if she is alive.

LIEBERMANN: The Israeli military says at least two hostages were found dead in the enclave, 65-year-old grandmother Yehudit Weiss and 19- year-old corporal Noa Marciano.

Now, some families have their own fight. Far right Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir is trying to push a death penalty for terrorists through the Knesset, which the families say endangers their loved ones in Hamas captivity.

Hen Avigdori's wife and daughter were taken on October 7th.

HEN AVIGDORI, WIFE AND DAUGHTER HELD IN GAZA: Maybe instead of talking about the dead, talk about the living. Stop talking about killing Arabs. Talk about saving Jews. This is your job.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMANN (on camera): The family members of the hostages held in Gaza met for several hours with members of the war cabinet, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the defense ministry. One of those members who spoke to CNN says he left early because he was extremely disappointed to find out there was no new information, and even more disappointing, perhaps even aggravating. He says the government didn't indicate they were doing anything above and beyond to make sure that most important was securing the release of hostages. Although, it was important that the war cabinet details, he tells us, more important or equally as important was defeating Hamas, and continuing the war. That is not what they want to hear.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Tel Aviv.

HUNT: Our thanks to Oren for that report.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not just under fire for those families whose loved ones are being held hostage, cracks within Netanyahu's the government also beginning to show.

Let's bring in CNN's Max Foster.

Max, good morning. It's always good to see you.

Netanyahu is under so much pressure here. There is the hostage families, who went him -- are demanding that he do more. Then there is pressure from his right. He had honestly been leaning that way before this happened anyway. What kind of position is the prime minister and, and how do you expect him to make the next move?

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can hear the voices in the room, they are effectively saying, as Oren is pointing out there, the focus of this campaign should be on getting the hostages out before destroying Hamas. And if you look at the polling numbers, the most recent polling numbers in Israel, there is a lot of negativity about Netanyahu's -- the way he's running this war. And his polling numbers are very low.

And there is a broader issue here, is about how all this started as well. So, it all accusations that he, and his government were distracted by the judicial overhaul plan. And, they didn't see this attack coming.

So, a relatively recent poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found the majority of the public thank the government's focus on the overall had a critical impact on the timing of the Hamas's October 7th attack. Obviously, they are very focused on the war right now, but that is the big political challenge he is facing now. And it's not just the public that have an issue with it.

[05:15:01]

It's also the right, which as you pointed out, have really formed his base. So, politically, he's looking extremely weak.

HUNT: Yeah. I mean, look, how long do you think this is tenable for him in the big picture, because when he was on with our Dana Bash a week or so ago, and she kept trying to press him, hey, look, did you not make these mistakes? Are you going to account for them? And he just kept saying repeatedly, that we are at war, those questions are at later.

I mean, this is going to go on for quite some time, I don't think that answer is going to stand up for, you know, months, if not -- I mean, this campaign be must be realistic it could go on for years. At what point does he actually have to shoulder some accountability for what happened?

FOSTER: Well, he's got this coalition emergency war cabinet, hasn't he? A war government. And as long as that holds together, and he is running it, then I guess that he is in a relatively strong position. It's when that starts breaking down, politicians, opposition politicians start reflecting on how the public feels.

If that emergency cabinet breaks down, then it's a big question about who is going to run it, even if it is during this war. So, I think we're really looking to that right now, how long they can keep the emergency government going.

HUNT: Yeah, no, I think that's a great point. And, I mean, look, I think the reality here is that in the media conditions under what we live now, public opinion, I know you know this more than anyone, it can change fast, in ways that are harder and harder to track and see. I feel like when our media was more consolidated, it was a lot easier to understand and see the trends coming and watch the shifts happen, and now, what used to take months to happen and can happen in a matter of days or weeks.

FOSTER: Don't underestimate Netanyahu. He's been around a long time and he's a survivor.

HUNT: Yeah. You know, that's a great point, I'm glad -- I'm glad you said that. He has been underestimated in the past, and he always seems to show back up, right in a position of power. It's a very good point.

Max Foster, thank you very much, my friend. We'll see you tomorrow.

All right. Just days before Black Friday, a gunman opens fire inside a Walmart in Ohio. And stormy weather on tap for millions as they hit the road for Thanksgiving.

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HUNT: All right. Quick hits across America now.

Police say four people are injured after a shooter opened fire in a Walmart near Dayton, Ohio. A woman recorded this video shortly after the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shot like ten times, I don't even know how much more afterwards, but, I just -- I am so lucky to be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Police say that the shooter took his own life.

And the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Chauvin was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison, nearly twice as long as Minnesota's sentencing guidelines.

The owner of the site formally known as Twitter, Elon Musk, is suing the progressive watchdog group Media Matters. It follows an exodus of advertisers from the social media platform in the wake of a Media Matters report highlighting antisemitic and neo-Nazi content on the platform. All right. Let's go now to weather. More than 27 million people under

a severe storm threat today from the Gulf Coast to the mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. If you are traveling already for Thanksgiving, you could be facing some delays.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking all of it for us.

Allison, good morning to you.

What should people be prepared for if they're heading out the door this morning to go see family, eat some turkey, et cetera?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, I would say if you're packing the bags, maybe pack some patience to go along with it. And that matters whether you're traveling via air or even on roadways, because we've got a couple of different systems here, several different fronts that are going to bring quite a bit of different weather. We've got heavy rain at times. You've got some snow, thunderstorms, and even some strong gusty winds.

Right now, we've got to focus up to the north, some pretty heavy rain coming down across Chicago, rain for Detroit, Columbus, even Cincinnati. You've also got some snow along the portions of the Upper Midwest, down to the south. The concern her is still the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms. You've got several of those sliding through the New Orleans area, heading towards Mobile and more rain pushing in towards Atlanta and Charlotte.

Here's the potential for the strong to severe thunderstorms today, again, basically stretching from southeastern Mississippi, all the way over towards Virginia Beach, isolated tornadoes and damaging winds will be the main concern.

Now, as we go through the rest of the day today, these systems are going to continue to push off to the east, taking a lot of the rain and snow with it. So, later on today, you've got the concern of Charlotte, Raleigh, up to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, and then eventually once we get towards the evening hours tonight, that's when the bulk of this really spread into the Northeast.

So, New York, Boston, Hartford, Connecticut, starting to finally look at some of that rain and snow sliding across portions of the Northeast. By Wednesday morning, still looking at there, and again, by Wednesday morning, you're looking at some pretty decent snowfall coming down across interior New England, as we push through those hours of the morning.

Then by late afternoon, we finally start to see an exit of the lot of the rain, and strong winds, and even the snow, so that by the time we actually get to Thanksgiving, albeit still a little bit breezy in some spots in the Northeast, most everybody else finally starts to see things dry back out. Out to the West, however, we have the next system coming in that will make for a bit of a white Thanksgiving for some.

HUNT: All right. Feels a little early for that but, hey, you know, I'll take it during the holiday season. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for that. We'll see you tomorrow.

[05:25:01]

All right. Up next, hostage talks between Israel and Hamas progressing. We're going to tell you what might be holding up the deal.

And Donald Trump's gag order facing a free speech test. What happened in that key hearing, just ahead.

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HUNT: Good morning. Thanks for being up early with us. I'm Kasie Hunt, just before 5:30 here on the East Coast.

After weeks of negotiations, statements from the U.S. and Hamas official suggest a deal for a temporary cease-fire in exchange for hostages is nearly done. A Hamas leader posting overnight on the platform group Telegram that the militant group is quite close to, quote, reaching a truce agreement, end quote, with Israel. That is consistent with a White House statement earlier yesterday that the parties are closing in on a deal for the release of hostages.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked whether the hostage release might include any Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY: I mean, I know that everybody is interested.