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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Israeli Football Fans Arrives in Tel Aviv After Attacks in Amsterdam; Qatar Agrees to Kick Hamas Out of Doha; U.S. Charges Man in Iran in Alleged Plot to Kill Trump; Iranian Officials Asked Suspect to Surveil and Kill Trump; Elon Musk Joined Trump-Zelenskyy Call; Trump Appoints Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff; Steve Madden to Halve Chinese Production; U.S. Firms Doing Business with China Prepares for Trump Admin; Taiwanese Drama Depicting Chinese Invasion of Taiwan; Oklo's House-Sized Nuclear Reactors; Overcoming Election Anxiety. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 08, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: If nothing else, it certainly has a human like ego. And there's Ada right there, look at that. That's some weird stuff.

Coming up Sunday on State of the Union, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, House Judiciary Chairman Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio. That's

Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern, and again at noon here on CNN.

The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. I'll see you Monday. I'm going to get some rest. I hope you will too.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: It's 1:00 in the morning on Saturday in Tel Aviv, 7:00 in the morning in Taipei, here in New York, we're still Friday

night and what a glorious Friday night it is, 6:00 p.m. The skyline looks magnificent. I'm Richard Quest in for Julia Chatterley. Wherever you're

joining us in this world, it's your "First Move."

We have an hour together. And here's your need to know. Israeli football fans are arriving in Tel Aviv after attacks in Amsterdam that have been

condemned as anti-Semitic. The U.S. has charged a man living in Iran over a plot to kill President-Elect Donald Trump. And sources telling us Elon Musk

joined Donald Trump in a phone call with the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Also, it's "Zero Day," the Taiwanese drama imagining a Chinese invasion. We

have all of that and a great deal more.

We start with planes that are now arriving in Israel after the government chartered flights to bring home its citizens from the Netherlands. It

follows attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam. Attacks have been condemned by officials as anti-Semitic. The police are saying as many as 35

people have been injured. More than 60 people have been arrested. The heads of the Netherlands Central Jewish Council are calling the attacks

unacceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHANAN HERTZBERGER, CHAIRMAN, CENTRAL JEWISH COUNCIL (through translator): Yes, people feel it. But people are not safe either. That's clear. What

happened last night is really terrible. People went to a football match and came back to Amsterdam to have a smoke, a drink, and go to a hotel. And

they were just put in a corner by five or 50 men and beaten up. That is unacceptable in Amsterdam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, Israel has responded by sending planes to bring its citizens back home. Matthew Chance joins me from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. One

plane has just landed, two more are on the way.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Two more on the way in the next few hours, and there are more coming in the

next 24 hours. But you can see, there are quite joyous scenes here in Ben Gurion Airport. As people welcome back some of the fans that have been

evacuated by these Israeli flights -- it's OK -- from Amsterdam.

You know, people are hugging their loved ones. There are tears. Some people are injured. One person told me earlier, look, we're so happy because this

could have ended so badly after such a terrible ordeal that these people have suffered at -- you know, at this game or after this game in Amsterdam.

A warning. Some of the images in this report, viewers may find disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is for the children. For the children.

CHANCE (voice-over): These were some of the appalling acts of violence against Israeli soccer fans. I'm not Jewish, this man screams as hooded

attackers in Amsterdam kick and beat him to the ground. One person is mowed down by a car. Another lies motionless on the street as he's brutally

kicked. Israeli and Dutch officials expressing their shock.

FEMKE HALSEMA, AMSTERDAM MAYOR (through translator): Amsterdam looks back on a pitch-black night, and it is still dark today. Hateful anti-Semitic

rioters and criminals attacked and beat up Jewish Israeli visitors to our city last night. My heart goes out to the victims, to their families, here

and in Israel.

CHANCE (voice-over): These were the scenes ahead of the match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Dutch team Ajax on Thursday night. Some Israeli

fans can be heard supporting the Israeli military, chanting, let the IDF win and cursing Arabs. One Israeli fan was recorded pulling down a

Palestinian flag.

Later, there were clashes with pro-Palestinian protesters. Dutch police deployed extra personnel, but Israeli officials tell CNN more should have

been done by police to protect fans amid prior warnings of anti-Israel protests.

[18:05:00]

JONI POGREBETSY, ISRAELI SOCCER FAN: They came really late.

MICHAEL ASUSS, ISRAELI SOCCER FAN: They came too late.

POGREBETSY: They came when lot of people were already hurt, injured, some of them probably go to the hospital.

ASUSS: We have nothing to do with the war. We come to support Maccabi Tel Aviv. And we got --

CHANCE (voice-over): But Israeli officials tell CNN they see this rampage in Amsterdam as part of a broader upsurge in anti-Semitic violence, and are

now reviewing security for all Israeli sports fixtures abroad --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you from?

CHANCE (voice-over): -- to make sure Israeli fans aren't targeted like this ever again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (on camera): Sagiv. Sagiv Mazani (ph). Hey, Richard. Well, look, we've just been speaking to a new batch of evacuees, fans of Maccabi, Tel

Aviv just come out. I've got one of them here. So, what was your name?

SAGIV: Sagiv.

CHANCE: Sagiv. Hey, Sagiv. You've just come from Amsterdam.

SAGIV: Yes.

CHANCE: That's right. Did -- you saw this first hand, you experienced it?

SAGIV: I experienced this first hand.

CHANCE: What was it like?

SAGIV: We all experienced this first hand. What happened was we were at the game. We took a train to the central station, to Amsterdam. Everything

was good, of course we lost. It wasn't that good at the beginning. But then we went to the central station, we took a train to the dam.

CHANCE: Yes, and you were targeted, you were attacked, is that what you experienced?

SAGIV: Yes. We walked a few people -- not a few people, a hundred people, to the dam square. And what happened, you can see Palestinians came from

the alleys and started attacking us. You know, suddenly, it happened. We were stomped on the head. We were treated like we were Jews from 1939. It

was horrific. It was -- you cannot even explain it in words.

CHANCE: Right.

SAGIV: To describe what happened there because it was all part of a movie. It looked like it was from a movie.

CHANCE: Right. And these were pro-Palestinian sort of activists?

SAGIV: Well, (INAUDIBLE). Yes.

CHANCE: Are you confident they were attacking you because you were Israeli, because you were Jewish?

SAGIV: Of course. Of course. They started screaming free Palestine, free Palestine. Then we, they saw us with the Maccabi scarves and everything.

So, they started shouting on us and they attacked us. Of course, physically, that's what happened.

CHANCE: Let me ask, do you think that -- you know, do you understand why people are angry, why these people may be angry because of what, you know,

Israel's military action in Gaza.

SAVIG: I don't want to get into that. I came to see games. I came to Amsterdam to see a game. I came to have fun with my friends. I didn't came

for political discussion. I didn't came for that. I came to enjoy the game. What happened after was not in our control.

CHANCE: And how does it feel to be back in Israel now?

SAGIV: The best. We wanted to come here as quick as possible. And we wanted to come here with all my friends. We didn't want to come alone. We

wanted to come together. And that's it.

CHANCE: Were -- the Dutch police, were they of much help to you in Amsterdam?

SAGIV: Of course. So, the Dutch police --

CHANCE: Because I've heard some people come back and say they didn't see any police afterwards. You weren't being protected.

SAGIV: So, we weren't protected all the time, at all costs. We weren't protected at all costs. We were protected because they told -- they were

told to protect us, but they didn't do it like -- you know, like, with emphasis to do it. Like, they didn't want to do it. You can see on their

face that they were a little bit like, you know, sort of like don't want to help us.

CHANCE: Sagiv, thank you very much. Thank you. And welcome back. You know, glad you're safe.

SAGIV: Thank you.

CHANCE: Yes. Thank you very much for talking to us. Richard, there you have it. There's a lot of people coming back with stories like that.

Stories about how they sort of narrowly escaped violence. Some of them didn't escape it. But, you know, these evacuation flights are continuing.

About two and a half thousand, 3,000 people being brought back over the next -- you know, over the last 12 hours and over the next 24 hours or so.

Back to you.

QUEST: Matthew, thank you. Thank you for bringing us the movement and the feeling in the moment in Israel tonight.

And let's stay in the Middle East, the Gulf this time. Sources are telling us that Qatar has agreed to kick Hamas out of its capital city, Doha. It is

doing so at the request of the United States. The sources say Washington made that request two weeks ago. MJ Lee's in Washington. That is an

interesting development because Hamas, the political wing, has been in Doha for some time.

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. That's really important context. Doha is where members of the Hamas

leadership actually reside. And it's actually the reason why Qatar has played such an important role in the ongoing attempts to try to get a

ceasefire and hostage release deal done in the Israel-Hamas war.

[18:10:00]

But our reporting is that the U.S., in recent weeks, actually made the request to Qatar to kick Hamas out of Doha and that Qatar has accepted and

actually gave notice to the terror group that it's getting kicked out as recently as over the last week. All of this has taken place over the last

few weeks.

So, importantly, this happened before the U.S. presidential election. I think it's just one more clear sign that the Biden administration, despite

all of its efforts in recent months, had clearly recognized that things had really stalled in the ongoing efforts to try to get a pause in this war.

I just want to read for you a quote that we got from a senior administration official, just capturing the dynamics here. They told us

Hamas is a terrorist group that has killed Americans and continues to hold Americans hostage after rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages.

Its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner.

Now, there are a lot of questions right now as to how exactly this would happen. We don't know, for example, how quickly Hamas leaders would be

forced out of Doha. We don't know exactly where they would go. Turkey is one good guess, but for all of the reasons that we just talked about, the

U.S. is likely to frown upon that as well.

But, again, given the timing of all of this and given that we know this took place before the U.S. presidential election earlier this week, look,

one of the biggest questions for the incoming Trump administration is, is this war still going to be going on by the time that Donald Trump is re-

inaugurated the president come January 20th? So, all of this will be looming over him for sure.

QUEST: It's fascinating. It just gets more complicated in more different ways every time we turn around. MJ, good to see you. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Now, the U.S. -- talking of complexities, the U.S. Justice Department has announced charges over an alleged plot by Iran to kill Mr. Trump. According

to court documents, they say Iranian officials tasked a 51-year-old Afghan who is living in Tehran with assassinating Mr. Trump before the election.

We understand the suspect is still at large inside Iran.

And in a completely separate area, the Justice Department's arrested and charged two Americans in New York. Apparently, they were working for Tehran

to monitor a separate American citizen of Iranian origin. Evan Perez is following the story. We have two here. We have two different, if you will,

events, incidents, whatever you want to call them, plots, that's a good word, plots. But the common link seems to be Iran. Explain.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. The common link is Iran, Richard. And also, another common link is this operative that,

according to the FBI, was essentially helping to coordinate this effort. His name is Farhad Shakeri. He is 51 years old. He lives in Tehran. And

according to the FBI, who spoke with him five times over the last few weeks, what he was doing was he was tasked by the Iranians to help find

people to do these assassinations.

Now, number one on this list was this Iranian journalist activist Masih Alinejad, who has been the target of the Iranians for a number of years, a

number of times that they've tried to carry out assassinations of her, according to the Justice Department. In this case they -- Shakeri

apparently reached out to a couple of people that he served time with in U.S. prison. He was deported from the United States a number of years ago,

reached out to these people, and tasked them with helping to do some surveillance, to try to follow her.

And, you know, according to these documents, you know, they have pictures of her home in Brooklyn, they have -- they followed her to a speech that

she did at a university in Connecticut, over a period of months, they did all of this, according to prosecutors, in an attempt to try to surveil her

and eventually, to try to carry out an attack on her. They did not do it, however.

Separately from that, as you pointed out, Shakeri was tasked, according to the FBI, on October 7th with trying to attack -- carry out an attack on

Donald Trump. Again, that attack did not happen, but he was given a very short timeline. Also on their list, on their target list, according to the

FBI, Richard, were two Jewish businessmen in New York, as well as carrying out attacks on Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. A number of these attacks, of

course, are all interconnected.

It's part of a broader effort by Iran, according to the FBI, to try to go after dissidents, to go after people that they believe, you know, should be

targeted. And, of course, a number of those are U.S. politicians, including Trump, and people in the current administration. There have been a number

of plots that the FBI has brought forward or made public over the last couple of years. Richard.

[18:15:00]

QUEST: Thank you. Thank you. Evan Perez in Washington. The next top administration is now getting into view. Elon Musk appears to be playing

some kind of role, although we don't know what. Foreign policy potentially, it's hard to tell. Maybe just a one off. Because apparently, he joined the

president-elect in a phone call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

And the Trump campaign manager, Susan Wiles, has now been named as White House chief of staff. She's made it clear she'll be the gatekeeper of the

Oval Office, deciding who should and shouldn't reach the president.

So, Tara Palmeri is with me. Senior Political Correspondent at Puck, and joining me. Look, can I just say, before we go one stage further, I

thoroughly enjoy reading your stuff on Puck.

TARA PALMERI, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Thank you.

QUEST: And I thoroughly enjoy it. But now -- so now, let's get some insight. This is going to be very different, isn't it? The speed of which

these appointments are going to come, the direction, the certitude of policy from day one. This is not 2016 Redux.

PALMERI: No, in fact, it's way more organized. For the past few years, you've had think tanks like American First Policy Institute working on, you

know, creating dossiers and interviewing staff. They've had a transition going for years now. This is not like the haphazard operation that Chris

Christie ran when they didn't expect to actually win in 2016.

Loyalty is going to be prized above all. Of course, central casting always plays a role with Donald Trump. But, you know, he's moving quick and fast,

and I think he knows he only has a quick -- he only has a short mandate of probably two years and what it's likely be a lame duck, you know,

presidency.

QUEST: Right. But how can -- the best planning, Susan Wiles, saying she doesn't want the clown car in the White House. But how can they prevent

Donald Trump from being Donald Trump and essentially tipping it all over?

PALMERI: Well, she can -- as your colleague John Berman said when I challenged this idea, she can steer the clown car, she can't keep it out of

the White House. At no point did Susie Wiles act as a gatekeeper to Donald Trump during the campaign. Laura Loomer was still around him. Corey

Lewandowski was still around him. A number of fringe characters, even Nick Fuentes, that was while she was working for him. They were able to have,

you know, dinner with him. She's never been the gatekeeper. She knows that that's not her role.

And if anything, she'll make enemies. They'll try to destroy her. She won't survive. And so --

QUEST: But isn't she -- but let's --

PALMERI: But savvy, savvy killer, I would say. And so, she knows, don't cut off Trump from what he loves, which is his kitchen cabinet.

QUEST: Right. But this idea of people coming in, experienced, knowing what their marching orders are, and just getting on with it, having direction.

That's going to be very different because we're going to have a whole raft of executive orders on day one.

PALMERI: Right. And I think everyone knows what the mandate is. And there are still people who are delusional to think that they can come in there.

And even though Trump may have an order, they think that they'll be able to push back on it.

And you know, there will always be people who think they can be the adults in the room, that can do it for the country. I mean, I've even heard that

Gary Cohn wants another top economic job in this administration. He was a national economic council. We -- adviser in the first administration. And

you know, he left after he passed the tax reform bills, but he was really upset about Charlottesville. He made that known. And here we are, you know,

six years later and he's made it very much known that he wants to be back. It's a very -- it's -- power is very tempting for people.

QUEST: And --

PALMERI: And if you can hold the reins to the, you know, economic levers of the United States of America, it's hard not to try to go for that.

QUEST: Right. Let's just finish on economics and business. I read your piece tonight that basically says a billion dollars Kamala Harris had. A

billion dollars. They went through the lot and the campaign is in debt.

PALMERI: Yes, it's incredible, right? I mean, we knew that they were steering towards this on October 16th. They had a 116,000 -- I mean, sorry,

$116 million. They spent a ton of money on the concerts, which you saw, the rallies, the consultants. I mean, maybe three or four times as much as the

Trump team spent on consultants. A lot of them spent time just, you know, building out sets for her various appearances.

I just read it was reported that they spent six figures on the set for "Call Her Daddy." They -- when they did that interview, they actually

created a set for that.

[18:20:00]

So, yes, there was a lot of money spent. There's a lot of finger pointing and right now she's selling her e-mail list to make up for those debts. And

while we still have about like 90 days, I think December 15th is when we'll see the -- actually, that's less than 90 days. We'll see the final FEC

report. But right, now they're in the hole.

And if you've noticed, Richard, I don't know if you get these -- well, you're abroad, so you might not be getting this, but they're still making

outreaches to small dollar donors to contribute to the campaign, even though it's over.

QUEST: I'm grateful for your time tonight. Thank you. Always good to talk to you. We'll talk more. Thank you.

PALMERI: Thank you. Bye.

QUEST: This is "First Move" on a Friday. Coming up., U.S. tariffs are set to rise with the next Trump White House. Global businesses, including Steve

Madden, are voluntarily preparing in some very unusual ways.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Another record setting day on Wall Street. Today's Money Move. Stocks in the U.S. continue their post-election rally. Record highs with

the Dow just below 44,000, although it had gone -- come through -- it had gone through that at various points during the day.

On the NASDAQ -- Tesla, its market cap is now through a trillion for the first time. Elon Musk's bet on President-Elect Trump handsomely paying off.

Shares of Trump's social media company rallied. The president-elect insists he will not sell his shares. But as you say, Truth Social is up 15 percent.

And NVIDIA is now part of the Dow. It just lost a little touch or two. Put NVIDIA down on its first trading day as the DJI.

To Asia, a positive end to a week in Japan, but even so, even in good news we had the -- we had Nissan falling off 6 percent cutting production,

laying off workers, thousands of workers because of a sales slump.

And in China, the stocks fell, Beijing has announced new economic support for local governments. That came after the market closed. Investors wanted

officials to go further, too little too late is the view, and that could pressure the stocks when they reopen on Monday.

For those U.S. firms who manufacture in China, they are planning for the return of Donald Trump to the White House, and that plan means moving

production. The shoe giant Steve Madden has said it'll shift a large part of its production out of China to other countries to avoid tariffs of as

much as 60 percent.

[18:25:00]

Now, Steve Madden's -- the CEO said that they've been looking at this for some time and this was -- you know, the election result was a final, if you

will, decision maker. But is it an example of uncertainty that firms face as they wait what might come next?

Nathan Bomey is with me. He is a business reporter at Axios. Good to see you, sir. I'm grateful for your time. It's difficult to know because the

Steve Madden example, they were quite open about saying, look, we knew this could happen. We had these plans in place anyway. We've now decided to do

it. It's a gamble. If they're wrong, it'll cost them dear. But for other companies who may be on the other wrong side of it, they could also cost

dear.

NATHAN BOMEY, BUSINESS REPORTER, AXIOS: Yes, I think there's no doubt that companies are doing a double take now and reassessing their entire global

manufacturing footprint because under the premise that there could be another trade war sparked by Donald Trump taking the White House, they're

going to look at the supply chain and say, where are we vulnerable?

QUEST: If they do that, so you end up with the -- I mean, many companies are much more savvy on supply chain post-pandemic. You have near shoring,

but you have friend shoring. But this is what they call trust shoring, isn't it? It's where you are going to move production to trusted partners

which are not going to be hit, which is very difficult in the Donald Trump world.

BOMEY: Yes, because Donald Trump is, by his very nature, extremely unpredictable. Now, we know that he had a game plan in his first term,

which was largely focused on tariffs on China and then a little bit on Europe as well. But it was heavily focused on China. So, I think everyone

expects that game plan to be repeated under the new administration.

But I think that the -- it's likely the tariffs are going to be expanded beyond that. Now, the question is, could be Mexico, could be Canada. What

other countries could be hit, and could they be much more significant? And that's where it becomes very difficult for a lot of companies to prepare.

QUEST: The -- you know as well as anybody, the economic orthodoxy is that the tariffs will invite a tit for tat and that it will slow economic

growth. It will cost U.S. consumers up to two and a half -- well, more than two and a half thousand dollars, according to estimates. But the Trump

administration doesn't seem to either care or accept any of that orthodoxy.

BOMEY: Well, I think the -- you know, if you look at what happened in the first term, the tariffs were about 10 to 15 percent on average on Chinese

products imported into the U.S., and that didn't have a significant inflationary effect. But I think that looking at 60 percent inflation -- or

60 percent tariffs on Chinese products, now that could have an even more significant inflationary effect. And of course, coming out of the inflation

crisis, nobody wants to see prices hiked again. I think the Trump administration is probably going to argue that it's worth it to -- for the

sake of the political leverage that they may have on China and other countries change for that.

QUEST: Is it your understanding that the president-elect and the whole -- they've boxed themselves in here? There is -- yes, we can perhaps tinker

around with the actual number. But if they don't do tariffs, then they've broken a fundamental manifesto promise.

BOMEY: Well, I don't know if they feel boxed in if only because I think they're pretty committed to this. I don't think there's much of a question.

And I think it's really now a question of which products end up on the list and which ones don't.

For example, if you look at his first term, the iPhone wasn't on the list. Could the iPhone get hit? That would be a huge problem for Apple, one of

the world's most valuable companies. And then I think everyone's got to look at Tesla. How is Tesla going to be impacted?

Now, Elon Musk is very close to Donald Trump. Now, of course, he's literally whispering in his ear, is he going to be able to get Donald Trump

to go a little bit easier on China than he did in his first term? Because Tesla would be very harmed if there's a big trade war with China.

QUEST: Nathan, you've got a busy few months ahead. Have a good weekend. Get some rest. Thank you, sir.

BOMEY: Thank you.

QUEST: And so, to our Weather Move. A powerful storm is creating blizzard conditions. It's part of the Rocky Mountains. It's also bringing heavy

rainfall in Central United States. Chad Myers is with us. How bad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, I mean, 90 to 100 centimeters of snow already on the ground and it's still snowing and the wind's blowing 60

kilometers an hour. So, blizzard conditions, yes. I mean, this is what the interstate. This is kind of our idea of an autobahn, although it's not

unlimited speed.

When you get two lanes going either direction and limited access, you also get limited ways to get off of that thing. But yes, 100 centimeters of

snow. And some of the spots that you saw on that last graphic, one was Las Vegas. Not Las Vegas, Nevada, where your friends may be gambling. This is

Las Vegas, New Mexico. Same first name, different last name, New Mexico, not part of where the gambling access is.

[18:30:00]

The snow is still coming down to Colorado. It is still raining here in parts of Oklahoma and Texas. And yes, we still have that tornado watch

that's in effect. Although, I don't see any significant rotation with any of these storms going into Dallas. Planes are being delayed at this point,

though, going into Dallas. If you're connecting through that city, expect some delays throughout the evening.

By tomorrow into Sunday, we'll see that rainfall continued. Louisiana, you could pick up somewhere between eight and 10 inches. So, yes, 200

millimeters of rain, and that's where the severe weather will be.

Talking about snow, Richard, and we have a hurricane, a hurricane -- 160- kilometer per hour hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. I mean, just talk about two different worlds. Now, for the first time that we know of, in the

satellite era, there will be a hurricane that is in the Gulf of Mexico, and it was a major hurricane for a while, and it's not going to hit anything.

It's going to die out in the Gulf of Mexico because of sheer and dry air, and the water is now cooling off.

QUEST: Quite fascinating.

MYERS: We'll take it.

QUEST: I mean, I -- listen, we won't -- it won't be long before we're talking about snow base and skiing, sir.

MYERS: I know you'll be involved.

QUEST: 100 millimeters -- look, this is good stuff. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Have a good weekend.

As you and I continue, we go behind the scenes of a controversial new TV series in Taiwan. It imagines Taiwan being invaded by Beijing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: It's "First Move." Julia's off, I'm at the helm, and these are the headlines. At least 13 Israeli airstrikes have hit Beirut's southern suburb

of Dahiyeh. That's according to the Lebanese state media. Israel's military is saying it was targeting buildings affiliated with Hezbollah. The strike

took place in a crowded residential area. So, far, we don't know of any casualties.

[18:35:00]

House Republicans have told the special counsel, Jack Smith, to save all records related to his investigations of Donald Trump. Their letter stated

concerns that Smith's office may try to purge relevant records. The Justice Department says Smith is winding down his work. Donald Trump has said he

plans to fire the special counsel.

Firefighters in Southern California are racing to take advantage of improved conditions as they try to contain a massive wildfire. It's burned

more than 20,000 acres since it began on early on Wednesday. The fire department says it's working around the clock before potential return next

week at the so-called gusty Santa Ana winds.

The Taiwanese government sent a letter to President-Elect Trump this week, and it did so, of course, by sharing it with a former Trump administration

official over a lunch, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

This delivery method is in sharp contrast to the direct phone call after the 2016 election. That phone call sent shockwaves worldwide. The call

broke decades of longstanding U.S. policy towards Taiwan. And so, with that in mind, imagine the scene, China invades Taiwan, bringing the island to

its knees as the world does nothing.

It is the premise of a new Taiwanese TV series. It's called "Zero Day." And it's provoking strong reaction from both Taipei and Beijing. CNN's been

behind the scenes and asked its creators why they wanted to tell this story now. Here's Will Ripley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm in a temple in Southern Taiwan on the set of "Zero Day."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Action.

RIPLEY (voice-over): An upcoming 10-part series, dramatizing for the first time Taiwan's response to a looming invasion.

RIPLEY: So, why are we in a temple with a table full of money?

CHENG HSIN-MEI, SHOWRUNNER, "ZERO DAY" (through translator): Many Taiwanese temples have close relationships with China. So, these money

illustrate bribery in local elections.

RIPLEY (voice-over): "Zero Day" begins a few months after Taiwan's general election. Producer and showrunner Cheng Hsin-mei says Taipei is distracted

with a presidential transition.

RIPLEY: How much research went into this?

HSIN-MEI: It's quite a lot.

RIPLEY (voice-over): "Zero Day" shows how quickly daily life in Taiwan could crumble before a single shot is fired. China's People's Liberation

Army cuts off the island by sea and by air.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Major news networks from the U.S., Japan, and Korea are reporting the Taiwan Strait crisis as headline

news.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Within days of Beijing's blockade, the financial system collapses. The United States and other foreign governments rushed to

evacuate their citizens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How the United States will break through the Chinese blockade to evacuate them will be a major challenge.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The island's vulnerability is exposed. Everyday conveniences collapse. Water, electricity, and communications systems fail.

Supplies run out. Food and fuel shortages create total chaos. The world is watching, but hesitant to intervene, leaving Taiwan on its own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): OK. Let me ask you. You think we could win?

RIPLEY (voice-over): Day by day fear spreads. Chaos unfolds. Divisions deepen. Democracy crumbles as PLA soldiers set foot on Taiwanese soil.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Raise your hands high. Show report to the PLA if you know any hidden pro-independence activists.

RIPLEY: And a lot of these scenes, even though they're fiction, producers say they are based very much in real life.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The crew was allowed to film inside the presidential office and on board a warship, leading to accusations from China's state-

run tabloid, Global Times, the project is propaganda for Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party.

RIPLEY: It's a very sensitive topic. So, taboo, in fact, that the crew, the actors, the directors, they all take a risk of never being able to work

in the Chinese market.

RIPLEY (voice-over): The U.S. believes China aims to have the ability to invade Taiwan by 2027. That doesn't mean Beijing has decided to invade.

RIPLEY: What was the scariest part for you as you divided these potential scenarios in the lead up to a Chinese attack?

HSIN-MEI (through translator): When the panic happened, the whole society would be in disorder.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Fascinating. Will Ripley reporting. In a moment, looking like an Alpine ski lodge, but it's actually a fancy facade that's hiding a powerful

heart. Tiny nuclear reactors are the way forward, according to the firm that makes them. Interesting. In a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

QUEST: Welcome back. Traditional nuclear power plants aren't pretty. They're large, and as you can see from these pictures ugly. Inefficient.

They consume a small fraction of the energy content of their fuel.

Now, how about something 60 times smaller and resembling an echo home? It's a nuclear reactor from Oklo. It's called a power house. Now, each one

generates up to 10 megawatts for 10 years or longer before they need to be topped up with recycled nuclear fuel. Oklo, which is chaired by Open A.I.'s

Sam Altman, received environmental approval from the U.S. Department of Energy. And with the company on target to deploy its first powerhouse in

2027.

Jacob DeWitte is the chief executive and co-founder. He joins me now. Good to see you, sir. The fascinating part about this is the small nature and

the very targeted purpose for which these reactors and these echo reactors are designed, isn't it?

JACOB DEWITTE, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, OKLO: Yes, it opens up a whole bunch of different applications and can make building these things go faster and

needing less capital.

QUEST: But who are you targeting? Is it for power generation for cities, towns and villages, or is it much more to do with specific industries?

DEWITTE: You know, it's both, but I think we see specific industries moving more quickly. You know, earlier in the segment I know there was some

conversation about bringing manufacturing back into the U.S. and scaling it up, especially having some potential acceleration with the new

administration coming in. And look, we have an energy shortage, frankly, on the grid in the U.S. with all of this activity going on. And then it's been

compounded by what's happening in A.I. And then we're trying to make this clean energy transition. Nuclear is really well suited.

And what we like about the small size is it opens up the ability to power directly data centers all the way through sort of industrial facilities and

factories so that they have the power to build. And then they can also have the resilience of having that power behind the meter.

QUEST: OK. But we're looking at a picture of, you know, of one now. And forgive my ignorance, but one reactor, one thingamajig, whatever you want

to call it, how much can that power? And don't tell me mega big -- mega thingamajigs, put it in terms of houses, homes, factories, villages, help

me understand what will one of this power?

[18:45:00]

DEWITTE: Yes, well, you know, it depends a little bit on exactly where and what you're doing. But if you think about our smallest size, something on

the order of 10,000 to 15,000 homes or a pretty moderate sized like facility or facility or factory. And then, the upper end on the size is

bigger, it'll be up to like 40,000 to 50,000 homes. And at that point, you look at stacking several together to power much larger scale factories and

facilities. So, it's 15 megawatts and 50 megawatts in the size range, but that's what it translates too for people.

QUEST: Right. And how difficult is it going to be to defeat the NIMBY argument, not in my backyard? Because small means more of them. And yes, I

mean, you and I can discuss, you know, nuclear is clean, it's safe, it is probably a future fuel as against fossil, but you've got to get rid of the

waste. There are enormous problems, particularly the more you build. So, how do you convince people to accept them?

DEWITTE: Yes, I think it's happening naturally because people see the value, right, the -- frankly, nuclear brings to them. And this is going to

sound really funny, but I think just -- we live in a world now as people are getting smart about nuclear because a lot of people just don't know

that much about it, that just having access to living in the information age, right, having access to the internet has allowed people to get smart

themselves and not be sort of befuddled by disinformation and misinformation.

So, we actually see a lot of YIMBYism around nuclear. We see a lot of excitement about it.

QUEST: How much do they cost? I'm sorry. I'm a business journalist. I just got to know how much -- you know, how much is going to cost putting it in

my back garden.

DEWITTE: Yes, yes. I mean, the small size going to start around $70 million for 15 megawatts and the bigger ones are, you know, $120 to $140

million. And then, the power we sell out of them -- you know, the cool thing is we're targeting power rates that'll be competitive with today's

prices.

QUEST: Right. So, say $100 million between friends. And essentially, if you have a tech cluster, particularly an A.I. heavy generative cluster,

then you're only having a quick whip round from the roundup change before everybody agrees to put one of these things in the middle of the cluster.

DEWITTE: Right. And that's the cool thing here. That's driving so much excitement and interest for what we've had -- you know, what's out there,

kind of what's coming for us in terms of demand. We've announced a couple of partnerships for hundreds of megawatts of deployment. So, really, these

clusters are kind of a cluster of these powerhouses of these reactors surrounded by, you know, in some cases, a cluster of data center campuses.

QUEST: Sam Altman's role, I mean, he's obviously leading the way forward. What -- to you, as the chief, what does he bring to the table?

DEWITTE: Yes, it's great. You know, we've -- it's wild actually to think about everything. If you think in retrospect here. We started the company

11 years ago and we actually got to know Sam before we even started the company. And this was before he was doing A.I. He was really excited about

nuclear because he saw the importance of having abundant energy just for humanity in general.

And then, with A.I., it's only accelerated, obviously, the clear benefit that abundant energy gives for abundant intelligence. So, he brings -- I

mean, he brings so much to the table in terms of knowing how to build a company, thinking about the demand curves, being strategic.

The thing about Sam that's always amazing to me is how fast he does things. Like a meeting with him in one or two minutes is like 30 minutes with

somebody else.

QUEST: Is it important that these things look nice? I mean, how -- it's not by accident that you've got it looking like, you know, a ski lodge. It

doesn't -- there isn't a chimney and all that. Is that significant?

DEWITTE: It is. It actually goes back to the other thing you asked about NIMBYism. I think a big thing we wanted to set out and is that make this

look cozy, right? Because what does a nuclear reactor do? It makes heat that we use. Why don't we make it look cozy? And as a result, you start to

change how people feel about it, as opposed to this brutalistic concrete structure way in the distance.

QUEST: And you then take nice pictures of it and you show us that in skis there. Good to see you, sir. Thank you. I look forward to talking more

about it and getting powerful. Thank you very much.

DEWITTE: Sounds good. Thank you.

QUEST: Politics without a panic. That's the promise from my next guest. The election anxiety proved a boom to one mental health app. And by the

way, it goes both ways. Those who celebrate it, those who commiserate it, and the rest of us who are just downright exhausted.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:00]

QUEST: I don't know about you, but I am exhausted, gasped my way to a Friday after all that we've gone through. The -- earlier this week the

mental health app, Headspace, saw a dramatic spike in users, many of them turning to the election anxiety collection, one of the suggestions, be wary

of how much -- hey, hey, hey, be wary of how much news you consume.

I'm joined by the president of Headspace, Christine Evans. We'll leave that one to one side, if we may, ma'am. But the reality is, we are all

exhausted. Whoever you supported, we've got to this point. If you were a Democrat, you're feeling down. If you are a Republican, you're celebrating,

but still exhausted. What do we need to know?

CHRISTINE EVANS, PRESIDENT, HEADSPACE: Yes, you know, I think you characterize that perfectly. I think people are exhausted. I know you are.

I know I am. And nearly half of folks here in the U.S. say that politics have impacted their relationships, right, at home, at work, they're

sleeping less well. About third of our members say that they're not sleeping as well and have sleep issues. And they say that politics has --

you know, about one in four of them have said that politics impacts their mental health.

So, we are seeing this show up in terms of how our members are engaging with us. We have an 18X increase. You mentioned our collection within our

app, Politics Without Panic, ways to be able to manage those emotions through this time period. And we have, what we launched recently, our

empathetic A.I. chatbot.

QUEST: All right.

EVANS: And 20 percent of those --

QUEST: So, what do we do? What do I do? What's the core of it?

EVANS: So, a couple of things. Yes. For -- as an individual, you know, I'll tell you a little bit of what I did and, you know, certainly the night

of the election, you know, as I -- as you mentioned, I disconnected from media just for a little bit. I went out to dinner. I turned off my

notifications. I went to bed.

Two is, you know, there is this practice that I love called radical acceptance, right? The election is done. A decision's been made, and that's

not going to change based on what we say or do, at least not immediately. And we need to focus on the things that we can change, and not be

frustrated by those that we cannot.

QUEST: Right. So, let's do exactly that. Now, not just in the journalism industry, but business people. We've been talking to them. They're facing

tariffs. There's going to be regulatory change, climate issues. Journalists like myself are going to be going into an entire raft of four years of who

knows what. It's not a question that we can just ignore. So, how do we come to -- how do we get on with our daily business, do the job which we do, and

do it well but at the same time not become old consumed by it?

EVANS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, this is what we -- we think about this regularly. And certainly, I think a large part of what we do at Headspace

is to focus both on the communities in which we operate the work that we are doing to be able to help educate folks on how they can work through

this time through processing emotions.

The connection that we can provide to them to not just the content that we have within our app and the skills and the guidance that they have but also

the services they can have, right? Talk to someone, talk to a coach, talk to a therapist. You know, engage with your community in some way where you

can be heard and label this way.

QUEST: So, Christine, I'm British, as you can hear. And of course, we have a rather foolish way of going, keep calm and carry on. You know, stiff up a

lip, just march on regardless, all the way over the cliff. I'm guessing you don't necessarily think that's the best way to move forward.

[18:55:00]

EVANS: No, I would not recommend that, nor would I would say my expert colleagues in the clinical space. I do think there is something very

powerful about actually sitting with the feeling, naming it, making sure that you're understanding it and then doing something with that and not

ignoring it.

QUEST: Oh, that all sounds a bit risky, actually having to feel something. Who knows where that might lead us? I am very grateful for you. Thank you

for joining us tonight. We'll talk more as the four years have progressed.

I want to leave you with a sound that hasn't been heard in more than five years. The bells of Notre-Dame. Just listen. Just listen.

The bells, the bells, the bells, including ones enacted by the Paris Olympics. Told for the first time since the fire in 2019, I've been up

there and seen it. The ringing was part of a technical test of the official reopening next month. They'll be there for Christmas, of course. No one

knows what caused, really, the fire, but the work of putting it together again is absolutely superb.

So, whatever you're listening to, have a bit of a bell, have a drink, have a whatever, and have a great weekend because the news never stops, neither

do we.

This is CNN. Julia is back on Monday. Thank goodness.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:00]

END