Return to Transcripts main page

Isa Soares Tonight

DOJ Charges 3 People Over An Alleged Iranian-Backed Plan To Assassinate Donald Trump; Biden Administration Set To Allow American Military Contractors To Deploy To Ukraine; Israeli Football Fans Attacked In Amsterdam; Trump's Priorities As He Returns To Oval Office; Illustrator George Butler Captures War-Torn Life In Ukraine; Sotheby's Sells Its First Humanoid Robot Artwork; Princess Of Wales To Attend Remembrance Day Events; Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree En Route To New York; Notre Dame's Bells Ring Out For First Time Since 2019 Fire; Dow Jones Hits 44,000 Mark For First Time. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired November 08, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:00:00]

LYNDA KINKADE, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: A very warm welcome to the show, everyone, I'm Lynda Kinkade in for Isa Soares. Tonight, breaking news. A

foiled plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump, the DOJ charges three people over an alleged Iranian-backed plan. Plus, the Biden administration

set to allow American military contractors to deploy to Ukraine.

This as Hungary's President says it's obvious Ukraine faces military defeat. Plus, violent clashes in Amsterdam, targeting Israeli football

fans. Police now investigating the anti-Semitic attacks. Amsterdam's mayor condemning what is a dark day. We being with breaking news. The U.S.

Justice Department is charging three people accused of a newly-exposed Iranian plot to kill Donald Trump before the presidential election.

Two of the three men charged were arrested in New York. They made their first appearance in federal court Thursday. U.S. officials say the third

man charged in the case is still at large in Iran. CNN's Zach Cohen is following the story and joins us now. Zach, good to have you with us. So,

three charged, two are taken into custody, one still at large. What are you learning?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Lynda, this all three individuals charged by the Justice Department are part of a network

allegedly, that is tasked with carrying out assassination plots on behalf of the Iranian regime. And two of those individuals that you mentioned, we

do know that they were Americans, and prosecutors say that they were specifically asked to surveil an Iranian dissident living in New York,

essentially providing information about her whereabouts with the intention of ultimately helping carry out an assassination -- an assassination plot

on U.S. soil.

And the third individual, as you mentioned, was -- that was charged is in Iran, is an Afghan national that is currently in Iran according to

prosecutors. And that was the leader of this broader plot to kill Donald Trump, prosecutors say. His name is Faraj Shaqiri(ph), and prosecutors

allege that he was the one who was tasked by the IRGC to come up with a plan to kill Donald Trump before the U.S. election.

Now, the charging documents do lay out how what Shaqiri(ph) told prosecutors during his interview with the FBI, and he says that he met with

IRGC operatives in Iran, and they instructed him to come up with a plan on October 7th or by October 7th for killing Donald Trump, because in the

notes that they believe that Donald Trump was going to lose the U.S. election.

And they said that if Shaqiri(ph) could not come up with a plan by October 7th, they would wait until after the U.S. election, anticipating that

Donald Trump would ultimately lose, and they could carry out a similar plot after the fact. But look, this speaks to the broader concern we've heard

from U.S. officials for months now about Iran's intentions to carry out these political -- politically-targeted assassinations against not just

people like Donald Trump and former members of his previous administration, but also any political -- perceived political enemy in the U.S. and abroad.

KINKADE: And of course, Zach, this isn't the first charge like this. We know, of course, in September there was a Pakistani national with ties to

Iran and who was accused of making threats against leaders of both parties. Just what do we know right now about the threat level from Iran?

COHEN: Well, as far as Donald Trump is concerned, we know for a fact that this Intelligence that the U.S. government has obtained over the course of

several months to a year about this Iran's intentions to assassinate or try to assassinate Donald Trump, the threat level is very high, specifically

the U.S. Secret Service as we previously reported, had to ramp up its security around Donald Trump even before the first unrelated assassination

attempt because of this Intelligence about the Iranian threat.

And U.S. officials are still very concerned about Iran's intentions to target the now President-elect, the man who will assume control of the U.S.

government starting on January 20th. And this all, I guess, can be traced back to the killing of Qasem Soleimani; the Iranian general who, you know,

Donald Trump is blamed by the Iranian regime and has vowed retaliation for, as well as against members of his previous administration.

We know for a fact that not just Donald Trump, but people like John Bolton; Donald Trump's former national security adviser at the time, his former

Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, they all still have security details because of this Iranian threat, and it's only going to become more

concerning and more of a priority for the Secret Service and for the government writ-large as Donald Trump takes office.

[14:05:00]

But again, this latest document -- this latest charging document does also underscore the threat against any political -- perceived political enemy of

Iran in the United States. Prosecutors believe that they are willing and more willing than ever to target anyone who speaks out against the regime.

So, U.S. officials clearly very concerned.

KINKADE: All right, let's stay across developing story, Zachary Cohen, good to have you with us, thank you. Well, a close Trump ally is calling on his

fellow European leaders to urgently adapt to Trump's election win, and rethink their support for Ukraine. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

hosted an EU Summit in Budapest.

He suggests that Trump will end U.S. support for Ukraine's fight against Russia, and said that Europe cannot finance the war alone. Mr. Orban told

state radio that it's obvious Ukraine faces military defeat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIKTOR ORBAN, PRIME MINISTER, HUNGARY (through translator): The Americans will quit this war. First of all, they will not encourage the war. They

will not say war is a good thing. People say many things about Donald Trump, even those who do not like him. But nobody doubts one thing, which

is that he will not start a war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: But EU officials say only Hungary and Slovakia are calling for a change of course on Ukraine. They say leaders are discussing how to respond

in case Trump withdraws U.S. assistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Mr. Orban's call for an immediate ceasefire is nonsense.

He also said he doesn't understand Trump's vow to end the war quickly, saying that would mean losses for Ukraine. Mr. Zelenskyy congratulated

Trump on his election win on Wednesday, and we're now just learning that billionaire Elon Musk was on that call as well. But of course, Joe Biden is

still the U.S. President for a couple more months, and now he has lifted a de facto ban on U.S. military contractors deploying to Ukraine for the

first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Well, let's bring in our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, who joins us live from London. Certainly, a lot of developments today, Nic. So,

let's start with that call that happened between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President. We're already getting leaks from the Trump team,

apparently Elon Musk was on that call. Is Elon Musk now working on foreign policy? Why would he be on that call and what does that -- what does he

have to gain from this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure, I think it's more about what Trump has to gain here. And I think it's a matter of signaling

to President Zelenskyy, look, Elon Musk plays a massive and outsized role in the war in Ukraine. In fact, that's been investigated in the United

States because of it because his company SpaceX, makes the Starlink satellite communications system, which has been absolutely indispensable to

the Ukrainians.

In fact, Musk was financing the units and the operating costs so that the army, the military, the Ukrainian military could communicate with itself,

could share data about drones from one unit to artillery and another unit so frontline bunkers could see, get data feeds coming in from drones and

other locations know what the challenges were sort of over the horizon.

So, Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starlink system has been an indispensable part of the war. We know that the White House, through the Department of Defense,

through European allies, have been funneling a massive amount of military support and aid to Ukraine. And they've been trying to sort of Trump-proof

that in their words, to mitigate against what Donald Trump may do once he gets into office.

The concern was, as he said, he would end the war. So, you keep the weapons flowing, you get a good supply going. But how does Starlink factor into

that? Well, those weapons are all well and good, but if you don't have the communications, you don't have the ability to share the eyes over the

horizon, then that all in a way becomes redundant or it certainly really hampers the Ukrainian military.

So, we don't know why Musk was on that call, but for President Zelenskyy, he would be aware that this tech genius, this hugely powerful influential

and rich businessman really has the ability in his hands particularly if he were pressured by Donald Trump to alter radically how Ukraine could or

could not fight the war.

And if you're Donald Trump trying to end the war, that's a very useful pressure point to have on Zelenskyy. Look, we don't know that's the case.

This is speculation. But when you bring Musk to the table in the context of Ukraine, Starlink is the big thing.

[14:10:00]

KINKADE: Exactly. And in terms of other ways the Biden administration is trying to Trump-proof policy. We did just hear that the Biden

administration has given the green light for U.S. contractors to be -- to be able to work in Ukraine. Explain how that's going to work and how

significant that is.

ROBERTSON: It is significant, and I think that many in Ukraine, President Zelenskyy among them, who will just wish this happened a whole long time

ago. I mean, if you look at what the Ukrainian officials have been asking for in terms of military support, whether it's -- whether it's tanks,

whether, you know, sophisticated modern tanks, whether it's the -- you know, the fighter aircraft, the F-16 fighter aircraft to fight in -- fight

in the skies, everything, it always takes so long to come.

And this has been a very important piece of the sort of up-arming of Ukraine that they've been denied in a way, the repair of equipment that

gets mangled and beaten up in battle. And the quickest way of returning that kit to the frontline is to have people and equipment, mechanics,

experts in place in country inside Ukraine to do that.

So, we're told that the Biden White House took the decision to allow the Pentagon to appoint contractors to go inside of Ukraine to fix things like

the Patriot air defense -- missile defense system, which is vital for protecting civilian and military lives inside of Ukraine right now, that

decision was taken before the election, but the fact that it's being put into place now, of course, this is good news for Ukraine. But perhaps, they

would be left feeling that they wished it had come sooner. It's a help, but yes, maybe too late.

KINKADE: And of course, Nic, European leaders are trying to prepare for this new administration and what that will mean for Europe as a whole. What

did you make of Viktor Orban's comments that this means essentially, Trump and the administration, therefore, the U.S. will withdraw support from

Ukraine and lead to a military defeat?

ROBERTSON: Well, we don't know where Viktor Orban gets his information from, he is quite close to the -- to Trump and the people in his orbit, and

drying up the funding for the war in Ukraine is certainly something President Trump has talked about or President-elect Donald Trump rather has

talked about.

And again, that would be a way for controlling and bringing an end to the war, which is something that he said he would do. But -- so that puts the

emphasis and the burden on the European leaders to come up with additional funds to keep the war going. And at the European Union level, we know that

Viktor Orban has actually been a difficulty at those EU meetings, blocking funding going to Ukraine, making it take a lot longer, breaking down the

amounts of money into smaller amounts of money, all that sort of thing.

So, I think what we're hearing -- what we're hearing here is Orban articulating what he expects to happen, what the other European leaders are

trying to prepare for. When you look at the statements coming from the European leaders, whether it's Macron, Emmanuel Macron, the French

President, Alexander De Croo; the Belgian Prime Minister or Mark Rutte, the new NATO Secretary General, they're all essentially saying we don't have

the money to go it alone, we need the U.S. money, and our pitch is going to be, we can work this out together.

Let's do it. I don't think that's the framework with which Donald Trump will be coming into office with, however.

KINKADE: All right, Nic Robertson staying across all those developing parts, good to have you with us, thanks. Well, Donald Trump is making his

first major staffing decision since becoming President-elect. Trump has named campaign manager Susie Wiles his next White House Chief of Staff.

Wiles is a long-time Trump confidant and political strategist, and she will become the first woman in history to be in that powerful role. Now, before

agreeing to accept the job, Wiles wanted a promise that she would be the gatekeeper, and have control over who had access to the President inside

the Oval Office.

It's a task former Trump Chiefs of Staff struggled with. A source tells CNN with Wiles in charge, the clown car can't come into the White House at

will. Well, the hiring of Wiles is likely to give the transition process a boost forward. Sources say Trump allies are working the phones in an effort

to secure a high level post in the new administration. The President-elect could make more staffing decisions later today.

Well, no one better to talk about Donald Trump's choice for Chief of Staff than Chris Whipple. He's the author of "The Gatekeepers: How the White

House Chief of Staff define every Presidency". Good to have you with us.

CHRIS WHIPPLE, AUTHOR: Good to be with you.

KINKADE: So, you wrote this book, "The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency". Just how much power do they

wield?

[14:15:00]

WHIPPLE: Well, the job is absolutely critical. What I learned from writing the book is that every President learns sometimes the hard way, that you

cannot govern effectively without empowering a White House Chief of Staff as first among equals to do a number of things. Most important, you

mentioned the gatekeeper role, but the President counts on the White House Chief of Staff to execute his agenda.

And at the end of the day, most importantly, to tell him what he doesn't want to hear. So, it's an absolutely critical position. And one of the

reasons that the first Trump term was such so chaotic, frankly, was because the notion of a Trump White House Chief of Staff was really an oxymoron.

Trump wasn't interested in having anybody tell him what he didn't want to hear, and the first term was the result.

KINKADE: And of course, you write that each President reveals himself by the Chief of Staff he picks. So, given what happened in the first term,

what does that say about Trump? And what does it say that he has now chosen what will be the first woman to hold that role?

WHIPPLE: Well, first of all, it's long past time that a woman became White House Chief of Staff. There's never been one, and that's a -- that's a

welcome development. I think what Trump's chiefs of staff during his first term revealed about him is that, again, he's not someone who wants anyone

to tell him hard truths.

Trump wants to be Trump and do what he wants to do. He went through four White House chiefs and he ultimately found the chief that -- who was

perfect in his own mind, Mark Meadows, who was the ultimate sycophant to -- who would -- who wouldn't challenge Trump on anything. So, the challenge

for Susie Wiles is that she's going to have to find a way to tell the President hard truths.

By all accounts, she managed the President well, if you can do any -- such a thing with Trump on the campaign. But of course, the consequences are so

much more grave in the White House than they are on the campaign trail.

KINKADE: And of course, you mentioned the four chiefs of staff that went through the Trump administration the first time. I just want to play some

sound. Each time we broke that news from the last term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: The White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus forced out and replaced now by the current Homeland Security Secretary,

retired Marine Corps General John Kelly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump last hour confirming that Chief of Staff John Kelly will leave his post at the White House at the end of the

year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump has just tweeted that Budget Director Mick Mulvaney will be named his acting Chief of Staff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Mick Mulvaney is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's gone. He was an acting Chief of Staff, never became a permanent Chief of Staff over here at the White House. The President

announcing on Twitter just in the last several minutes that he's naming the Republican congressman from North Carolina Mark Meadows as his new Chief of

Staff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: I believe for your book, you spoke to about 17 Chiefs of Staff. Did you speak to any of Trump's former chief of staff. And if so --

WHIPPLE: I did --

KINKADE: What insight did they give you?

WHIPPLE: Well, I did. You know, I spoke to all the living White House chiefs of staff at the time. My book came out in 2017 and subsequently, I

spoke with Reince Priebus who had a harrowing tale to tell about his short tenure as White House chief. He said, Chris, take everything you've heard

and multiply it by 50.

KINKADE: Wow --

WHIPPLE: That's how chaotic it was. Now again, I think that Susie Wiles brings some real strengths into this job. It was mission impossible during

Trump's first term, but she has a chance because she's demonstrated that she can -- she can work with Trump without getting fired, for example, on

the campaign.

She's respected within Trump world and outside. I think a real challenge for her will come with Capitol Hill and running the White House. I mean,

the great White House chiefs have all had previous White House experience and knowledge of Capitol Hill. She doesn't have much. She was there 40

years ago, but ultimately the biggest challenge for any chief and you -- it's exponentially more difficult for Trump's chief is once again to tell

the President, I'm sorry, sir, you really don't want to go down that road. Here's why and expect him to listen.

KINKADE: Well, we will be watching this closely and awaiting some more decisions potentially later today. Good to have you with us, Chris Whipple,

we appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

WHIPPLE: My pleasure.

[14:20:00]

KINKADE: And still to come, Israeli soccer fans beaten and injured in violent clashes in Amsterdam, what we're learning about those attacks.

Plus, war-torn life in watercolor, illustrator George Butler joins Isa's book club to discuss his collection of testimonies from Ukraine, giving

more of a personal glimpse into life on the frontlines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BUTLER, BRITISH ARTIST & REPORTAGE ILLUSTRATOR: If nothing else, this is a record of first draft of history if you like of what was

happening to them at that time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back, I'm Lynda Kinkade. Police in Amsterdam are conducting a major investigation after Israeli football fans were beaten

and injured in violent clashes there overnight. Dutch and Israeli leaders are condemning the attacks as anti-Semitic. Israel says hundreds of

football fans were ambushed and assaulted and several sent to hospital.

The violence broke out after a match between the Dutch side Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. The mayor of Amsterdam described it as hit-and-run

attacks with men on scooters crisscrossing the city looking for Israeli football fans. The Dutch king said the attacks are reminiscent of the

quote, "dark and grim times for the Jewish people."

In a phone call to the Israeli Prime Minister, he said "we failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night, we

failed them again." Well, let's get straight to CNN's Melissa Bell for the latest developments. Melissa, we did hear from the Prime Minister there as

well, he said he's deeply ashamed that this could happen in 2024. What are you learning about how this violence unfolded?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, over the course of the last couple of days, up until this match and the aftermath tension that had

been rising between those Maccabi Tel Aviv fans as they arrived here in Amsterdam and then against them overnight.

Now, you mentioned the mayor of Amsterdam, she also referred to the deep feelings that the war in Gaza has stirred here in Europe, pointing out that

the violence that was carried out on those Israelis overnight, though, had nothing to do with political protest. This, she said, had been a crime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This for the children, for the children --

BELL (voice-over): For the children chants the attackers, free Palestine now --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free Palestine!

BELL: The Israeli embassy says it is just one of hundreds of Israeli fans targeted in Amsterdam overnight after a soccer match between the Israeli

team Maccabi and the Dutch team Ajax with the attackers violently denouncing Israel's war on Gaza.

[14:25:00]

This man trying to escape being beaten by saying that he isn't Jewish before being struck hard in the face.

(SIREN BLARING)

BELL: The Dutch Prime Minister condemning the attacks as anti-Semitic and vowing to prosecute the perpetrators. Police say they've launched a major

investigation, it's unclear how it all started. In total, more than 60 individuals were arrested and some remain in custody. And in a press

conference Friday, the city's mayor had this to say.

MAYOR FEMKE HALSEMA, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS: What happened last night is not a protest, it has nothing to do with protest or demonstration. It was

crime.

BELL: The violence culminated with clashes overnight after a build-up earlier this week, with Israeli fans seen here chanting pro IDF slogans and

F the Arabs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ole!

BELL: And others tearing down a Palestinian flag from a building

(CROWD CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BELL: And while the situation is now under control, attention may soon shift to France, where a match between the Israeli and French soccer teams

is scheduled for next week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELL: Now, Lynda, Israeli authorities have taken a keen interest in fact, even sent planes here to Amsterdam to collect Israeli football supporters

and bring them back to Israel. We've also had the visit this afternoon of Israel's Foreign Minister, who's been meeting with Dutch authorities,

vowing to work closely with them in collecting evidence that prosecutions can be brought. Lynda.

KINKADE: All right, Melissa Bell for us in Amsterdam, thank you. Well, still to come tonight, as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White

House, we'll take a look at what his key priorities may be in his first days in office.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]

KINKADE: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade. Well, when Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office, he will do so with a list of promises that if enacted could

completely remake the U.S. government and transform society.

While on the campaign trail, the President-Elect repeatedly pledged to crack down on immigration, impose blanket tariffs on foreign goods,

implement expensive tax cuts, reduce government spending by trillions. That's just the start. How easily Trump will be able to push through his

agenda will impart hinge on who wins the tight race for control of the House of Representatives.

Top of the priorities is border control, and since being elected, Trump has already reiterated his plan to carry out mass deportations of undocumented

immigrants no matter the cost, as well as closing the Southern Border and ending birthright citizenship. An issue that puts the President-Elect's

rising Latino support in focus.

Well, for more, we're joined by radio host Victor Martinez and CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein. Good to have you both with us.

VICTOR MARTINEZ, RADIO HOST: Thank you.

KINKADE: Victor, can I start with you? Because a majority of white voters did cast their ballot for Trump, which was pretty much unchanged from the

2020 election, which he narrowly lost. But he did make inroads with Black and Latino voters, especially men. Can you explain why?

MARTINEZ: Well, I mean, there's multiple reasons of why. I mean, obviously, he delivered a message on the economy that obviously the Latino men liked

and voted for him. I do place a lot of that support on the fact that Latino men decided they were going to vote for a man president and not a woman.

As you said, I have a morning show. We have five radio stations in Pennsylvania. Our audience is about 250,000 Latinos. And before the

election, I was talking to the audience, and I got dozens of calls from men who said, nope, she won't be respected. I don't think she's up to the job.

I think she won't be able to play the part with leaders around the world because she's a woman. So, all of those things absolutely play a part with the Latino men.

KINKADE: Yes, it's interesting. I heard the same from colleagues, like Black, Latino women, who said their husbands won't vote for Harris for

similar reasons.

Ron, I want to ask you, because Kamala Harris would have been the first female, the first Black, and the first Asian American president. That's a

lot of firsts. Supporters of Harris say that race and gender impacted the way people voted. Will we ever really know how much of an impact that had?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, there are studies after that try to disaggregate that. And I think it did have some effect. But as

you and I have talked about before, the uniformity of what we saw in terms of 90 percent of the county is moving toward Trump. Very little variation

in the improvement for him in the most urban counties, through suburban, through rural, suggests that mostly what happened, the biggest factor in

what happened, was a common national experience, a common national verdict that people were unsatisfied with the outcomes they received from the Biden

Administration over the four years. Primarily on the economy, and it also in other issues like the border in crime, certainly inflation at the center

that. You know, 46 percent of Americans said they were worse off than they were four years ago. And the exit polls, 70 percent -- 60, 70, to 77

percent described the economy in negative terms, 60 percent said they disapproved of Biden's performance.

Lynda, there is simply no precedent for an outgoing president's party holding the White House when you have those kinds of attitudes in the

electorate. And I think that above all, I mean, you can point to other factors, but that is the big factor. People were unsatisfied with the way

things are going in the country. And thus, they were willing to take a risk on a candidate about whom they still have some serious reservations in

Donald Trump.

KINKADE: Yes, and a risk on a candidate who had pushed through an economic policy that had been dismissed widely by, you know, Nobel Prize-winning

economists across the country.

But to you, Victor, I want to ask about the other major policy, the mass deportation plan, the biggest in history. Donald Trump says he's going to

deport potentially over 20 million people. And he also wants to scrap birthright citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants. The

latest study by Ford U.S. found that one in three Latinos could be swept up in that.

Do you know of that at all weighed on the minds of people, your listeners, when they went to vote?

MARTINEZ: I don't think they understand quite well what this mean, to be honest with you. Trump never said how he was going to do this, how he was

going to implement this mass deportation. And a lot of people like myself, the worry that we have is that if you decide to use local police, as it has

been suggested, well, that could be a lot of problem.

I mean, if you look at me, you wouldn't think that I am a Puerto Rican U.S. citizen. You can think that I am a Mexican or from Latin America. So, what,

the local police is going to stop me now just to ask me who I am or for me to have to prove that I am a U.S. citizen. And I don't think the Latino

community, or at least those who voted for Donald Trump quite understood what that meant, that he's going to start now deporting 20 million people,

and how he's going to do those things.

Is he going to use the military? Are we going to have now the military roaming our streets? That is yet to be seen.

[14:35:57]

KINKADE: Yes, exactly. And he said he'll carry out this plan no matter the cost. Ron, to you. Trump has won the White House. He's won the Senate. The

Republican Party won the Senate. We are awaiting the results for the House. Based on what we know, which party is favored to win the House?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think Democrats almost have to run the table to win the House. I mean, there are four seats in California where they are narrowly

trailing, where they could win. They would have to win at least one other somewhere else. You know, it could be done, probably. It's going to be an

uphill challenge for them to do so, which would be unified control for Republicans.

Can I just add on that deportation point? Something really important note. If you look at the exit polling and the vote cast that was done, the other

-- the other measurement we have about what voters thought. Most Latinos oppose mass deportation. Most voters in the country oppose mass

deportation. But one-fourth of Latinos who said they oppose mass deportation voted for Trump anyway. Very similarly, one quarter of women

who said they were pro-choice voted for Trump anyway. One in eight voters who said that he was too extreme voted for Trump anyway. One in eight

voters who said that he might lead the country to our autocracy voted for Trump.

What we saw is that the concern about the here and now, about the economy, outweighed the hesitations on these other issues that, you know, voters

were telling themselves in many cases were not going to come to pass. I mean, you know, it was the devil you know was more concerning for them.

They did not want to continue down the fighting path.

But that doesn't mean that, you know, that the question will be if Trump in fact does pursue these policies -- there was a Republican senator on CNN

Domestic today saying we intended to deport every undocumented immigrant in the country. If it does move down that path, will those voters who

expressed unease about those policies but voted for Trump anyway because they want a more stable economic situation, will they stay on the bus? And

that's going to be a big question as he moves forward.

KINKADE: Yes, you make some really good points there, Ron.

To you Victor, what do your listeners want most from a Trump administration?

MARTINEZ: Well, I mean, they want him to come through with everything he promised, right? He now has to deliver on lowering gas prices. He now has

to deliver on lowering inflation. He has to now deliver on lowering the costs of groceries. He has now to deliver on lowering rent prices and

childcare prices. All of those things he promised, all of those things he said he was going to fix.

Now, once again, I don't think he told us exactly how he was going to do those things other than drill, drill, drill and tariffs. So, what now I'm

getting from my audience is, OK, he got elected, now you got to come through. Now, I want to see cheap gas. I want to see cheap groceries. I

want to see a lower rent. Now, that's to be continued.

KINKADE: Yes, wait and see a couple of months from now. Victor Martinez, Ron Brownstein, great to have you both with us. Thank you. Have a good

weekend.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

KINKADE: Well, the FBI is investigating a wave of racist text messages that were sent anonymously across the United States. Dozens of Black Americans

were sent racist texts filled with hateful rhetoric. Some received messages telling them they had been "selected to pick cotton at the nearest

plantation." The Canadian company behind the TextNow app said some of the offensive texts came from its app, which allows users to send text messages

anonymously. They've since deactivated those accounts.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling a massive wildfire in Southern California. Thousands of hectares have burned leaving homes and

neighborhoods destroyed. Dry conditions and gusty winds fueled the mountain fire, causing it to spread quickly, forcing thousands of people to flee

their homes. The blaze is only seven percent contained, but forecasters say the conditions there should continue to improve throughout the day.

[14:40:10]

Well, still to come tonight, a vivid collection of drawings, chronicling life in war-torn Ukraine. Illustrator George Butler joins Isa for our "BOOK

CLUB," showing pen and paper still has power in our digital age.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has dominated global news since the war began more than two years ago. One illustrator telling the stories of

the people behind the headlines is George Butler. Here's the author of the book Ukraine: Remember Also Me. A powerful collection of drawings that

capture humanity on the front line. George Butler joins Isa for our "BOOK CLUB."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us today on the "BOOK CLUB" is George Butler with this fascinating book, Ukraine: Remember Also Me. George,

welcome to the club. I mean, this is fascinating. It's gripping, it's moving, it's personal. And what struck me the first time I saw it was just

the syntax seemed a bit odd.

BUTLER: Yes.

SOARES: Right? And then I understood it's from a famous Ukrainian poem that kind of touches pretty much the core of your book. Just explain the title,

first of all.

BUTLER: Yes, the book is called Ukraine: Remember Also Me. And it is the last line of a poem called My Testament by Taras Shevchenko and he wrote

that in the 1840s. And as I spent some time there, I also read the poem, it just seemed incredibly poignant.

SOARES: Read oh bury from there onwards to the end.

BUTLER: Read the last paragraph?

SOARES: Yes.

BUTLER: Oh bury me, then rise ye up and break your heavy chains and water with the tyrants' blood the freedom you have gained. And in the great new

family, the family of the free, with softly spoken, kindly word remember also me.

SOARES: And that's really goes to what you were trying to do, does it not with this book and these stories?

BUTLER: Yes.

SOARES: That you're hoping that their words told by them, right? Their stories and your illustration will be remembered by so many after that.

It's so important this --

BUTLER: Yes, more -- I think I went there as an illustrator and spent about two and a half months over the last few years. But really it was in Ukraine

and from the Ukrainians that I learned that their stories were in a way equally important as the illustrations. The illustrations are the

introduction and then having it in their words was the most powerful part. If nothing else, this is a record of the first draft of history, if you

like, what was happening to them at that time.

SOARES: Let me just show you one of my favorite stories. That's Madame Olga. This is your drawing of Madame Olga, who is 99 when you -- I read

that she then past away.

BUTLER: Yes, sadly.

[14:45:12]

SOARES: But she is a matriarch, great-grandmother. You spoke to her in Kyiv. But she embodies and encapsulates this spirit, this resilience that

I'm sure you've seen throughout.

BUTLER: The whole of Ukraine is held together by this volunteer network, people helping and delivering food. And one of the -- one of the volunteers

happened to be standing on the street and she came to talk to me. And we spoke a little bit about individual stories in Ukraine. And she said, you

must -- if you can, and if I can get permission from Olga, you must come and meet her. And we went to a fourth-floor apartment. She was in bed. She

couldn't get -- too frail to get out of bed, too frail to get down the stairs when the air raid sirens went off, which they did all the time. And

yes, she just goes on to tell her story.

She was at the beginning of the book because it was a very -- it was in a way a very hopeful time after the -- after about a month of war in 2022,

after the fourth scale invasion.

SOARES: Yes.

BUTLER: And there was, of course, this great sort of identity. Everybody in the world suddenly knew what the blue and yellow colors meant. It was a nod

to the sort of cyclical nature of war. It was a nod to the fact that she'd seen it before. It was fortuitous that she was getting put in and hit the

muddle up because that just helped sort of tell the story. And yet there was still this real sadness and desperation. And she would have hated her

husband, Petro, to be there to see it all.

But she was also terrified that I might be there to take her away from her home. She wanted to stay in Ukraine until her last few days. And then a few

months later, she died in her sleep before 100th birthday.

SOARES: And you said it was a story of hope. And there are many stories here that do convey that. Do you think that hope has faded? Because you

were hinted there that perhaps there may be a shift.

BUTLER: There was that sort of honeymoon period for one of a better phrase where we all understood exactly what the mission was. But the reality in

Ukraine -- and it's easy to forget that these stories are still going on. Everyone in the book, except for Madame Olga is still alive. But yes, it's

more solemn. There's no shortcut to the Ukraine beating Russia or pushing them back. And that's going to come at a great cost.

SOARES: Petro, 70 years old. Here he is, book Gatherer. Can you read for us, George, from this bit here, and I'll ask you to read the one after

hitting his own words? So, how you -- how you saw him the first time you saw him?

BUTLER: He's 70. I met him in Kramatorsk. I walked around the corner, and I saw a scene that at first made no sense at all. Hundreds of books had

landed in a small rose garden outside the apartment building, blown there by the blast. The books lay open with pages dangling in the bushes. Amongst

it all stood Petro, collecting the books, folding them carefully and stacking them in piles.

SOARES: How does he explain to you, in his words, what he was doing? Why was he collecting books? Just explain that.

BUTLER: I decided to come and see what had happened. Then I saw the books. These were not my books. It wasn't my flat. But I was bought up so that if

I see a loaf of bread on the ground, I'll take it and I'll put it somewhere. It's the same with books. They are a spiritual food. I think the

owners of the flat have used the books to barricade the window. But as the hit was inside the building, it blew everything out.

The thing about spending time with Petro, or with just anybody in the book, was it was kind of making the drawings with their permission. It did them

justice, and it was about dignity.

SOARES: I wonder whether one, there is a guilt, you feel guilt for coming back? Do you stay in touch with these people? How hard is it to think that

you could get away from all of this and they're still having to deal with the realities of all?

BUTLER: There is an element of that. I think that creating the drawings has been -- it feels a really gentle and kind of comprehensive way of trying to

understand what the person in front of you is going through. So, I feel like that is quite a nice therapy to put it down on a page and understand

what has happened.

Unlike the people that are there, I know that I can leave, and I can share their story and talk about it with you and know that there's great relief

in knowing that I've played my part in this promise that I'm going to tell other people about it.

SOARES: It's absolutely gripping. It's thought-provoking. It's moving. George, I really appreciate your time with us. Thank you very much. I'm

going to ask you to sign it for us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:34]

KINKADE: Welcome back. Music's biggest night, the Grammy Awards, released their 2025 nominations a short time ago, and Queen B is leading the pack.

I'm not sure --

Beyonce scored 11 notations, including Album of the Year and Cowboy Carter, making her the most nominated artist ever. Other familiar favorites

included Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, rapper Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone snagging seven nominations. While Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, and

Chappell Roan all have six nominations. The 67th annual Grammy Awards will be handed out in February.

A painting by a humanoid robot called Ai-Da, has made history selling for more than $1 million at Sotheby's in New York on Thursday. It's the first

time the robot's artwork has been sold by a major auction house, and there was little need to read the catalogue since the robot provided its own

explanation of the seven-foot-tall painting titled A.I. God.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AI-DA, ROBOT: My artwork is a portrait of Alan Turing, the brilliant British mathematician who laid the foundation for modern computing and

artificial intelligence. The portrait has a fractured and layered quality, reflecting our current fragmented and multifaceted worlds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, Ai-Da, the robot, is named after Ada Lovelace, known as the first computer programmer. The humanoid is the brainchild of Aidan Miller,

who says Ai-Da is intended to spark a conversation about how we interact with technology and artificial intelligence.

Britain's Princess Kate will make her first public appearance in almost a month when she attends two Remembrance Day events in London this weekend.

The Princess of Wales has slowly been returning to her royal duties as she continues to recover from cancer treatment. In September, she announced

that her course of preventative chemotherapy was complete, but that she still faced a long path to a full recovery.

Buckingham Palace said Kate, as well as Prince William and King Charles, would attend events this weekend, while Queen Camilla's participation would

be subject to medical advice after suffering a chest infection.

[14:55:07]

Well, it's starting to look a little like Christmas. A giant tree is headed for fame in New York as this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. The

23-meter-high tree was cut down Thursday morning in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and will be hoisted up into its New York home on Saturday.

It will eventually be decorated with 50,000 multicolored lights and Swarovski crystal star on top.

Before we go today, a sound that hasn't been heard in more than five years, the bells of Paris's famed Notre-Dame Cathedral. On Friday, eight of the

cathedral's bells tolled for the first time since a fire devastated the church in 2019. The ringing was part of a technical task ahead of the

church's official reopening, which is slated for next month. Investigators have yet to determine what caused the fire at the 850-year-old cathedral,

which drew an estimated 13 million visitors each year.

And a quick check of the markets in New York, and that's where the Dow Jones has broken the 44,000 mark for the first time ever. Investors

reacting to Donald Trump's new administration that is expected to be pro- business.

Well, thanks so much for watching. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Have a great weekend and stay with CNN. For now, "NEWSROOM" with Jim Sciutto is up next.

END