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New Day Saturday

Climate Change Will Shrink Economy And Kill Thousands; Critics Suspicious About Climate Report Release Date; Trump Gets Tastes Of New Political Order As Dems Vow Investigation; Roger Stone Associate In Plea Talks With Mueller Team; Comey And Lynch Subpoenaed To Privately Testify Before Congress; Wife Texted About Crumbling Marriage Before Her Murder; Protests Over Rising Fuel Costs Turn Violent In Paris; Missionary's Last Letter Before Isolated Tribe Killed Him. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired November 24, 2018 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, that matters. So, that's going to be interesting to see what they are capable of doing and we're sending our best to them certainly.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: It will.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A U.S. government report on climate change contains dire warnings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is frightening and it screams serious action has to be taken now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former vice president and environmentalist Al Gore said, the president may try to hide the truth but his own scientists and experts have made it as stark and clear as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another controversial figure possibly ready to flip and help Robert Mueller investigate the Trump campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This idea that Jerry Corsi could implicate me, there's simply no evidence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger Stone's personal motto is admit nothing, deny everything; launch counterattack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He could end up providing a really critical missing link between Russian hackers and WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Good morning to you. 7:01 is the time on this Saturday morning. You're up early. We're glad for it. I'm Christi Paul.

SAVIDGE: And I'm Martin Savidge in for Victor Blackwell. President Trump is grappling with the reality that Democrats will soon control the House of Representatives. The president's pushing his legislative agenda while staying at his estate in South Florida, calling on Congress to strike a bipartisan deal on border security.

PAUL: Now, Democrats have laid out a different set of priorities, promising to investigate Saudi Arabia, look into the president's financial ties to the kingdom. And a new government report details that devastating effect of unchecked climate change, warning of premature deaths, of extreme economic consequences if global warming isn't addressed. We're talking about devastating wildfires, destructive storms, crippling economic losses; that's what is in this new report that outlines what could be a grim future for Americans.

SAVIDGE: CNN's Renee Marsh looks at the impact laid out in this government report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you weren't paying attention to the climate change issue, this report could change that. It is frightening, and it screams serious action has to be taken now. It is the work of federal agencies and the scientific community, and the report makes it clear that we are already experiencing the dangerous effects of climate change. It states that wildfire season is long now but will only get longer, burning six times more forest area per year by the year 2050. More people will be exposed to ticks that carry Lyme disease and mosquitoes that transmit viruses such as zika, west nile, and dengue.

Allergy season will be a lot worse. Higher temperatures will also kill more people. It specifically looks at the Midwest. The Midwest is predicted to have the largest increase in extreme temperature, and according to the report, it will see an additional 2,000 premature deaths per year by the year 2090. Oh, and the cost, that's going to be a big one as well. The cost of climate change according to the report could reach hundreds of billions of dollars annually. And by mid-century it says it is very likely that the Arctic will be nearly free of sea ice in later summer.

We should point out, this was a congressionally mandated report; it was released by the Trump administration the day after the Thanksgiving holiday when people were distracted and families are shopping and the release time really sparking controversy and speculation that it is being buried on a day when few people will be paying attention. The report also came one day after the president tweeted. And I'm quoting, "Brutal and extended cold blast could shatter all records -- whatever happened to global warming?"

That tweet illustrates Trump's continuous skepticism when it comes to climate change and it directly contradicts the findings in this government report. The tweet also illustrates the president's lack of understanding on the issue. As we know, climate change is best exemplified by the consistent rise in temperatures year after year, not extreme weather over a one-day period. Renee Marsh, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Now, the scientists behind the study didn't just look at climate shifts over one day or even one year, they looked at long-term trends here.

SAVIDGE: And joining us now is CNN's Allison Chinchar and Kim Cobb, Climate Scientist at Georgia Tech University. Good morning both of you.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. Nice to be with you.

SAVIDGE: Allison, you were on this call, and there was some interesting insight that came out in the way questions were asked or answered or not.

CHINCHAR: Yes, so the main focus of the phone call was to talk about the report. And the main takeaway from this was, really, to show the direct impacts of climate change on Americans' lives. Usually these reports it's from a global standpoint, but this was really to focus on the United States. They talked about the three industries that would be most impacted -- real estate, health care, and agricultural, being those. But probably, the most interesting thing about that phone call was at the end they did a question-and-answer segment and they had numerous people ask about the, you know, timeline of this being issued on Friday.

But one person directly asked, they said, this is the official White House climate report and it says climate change is real. But you have the president of the United States saying it's not. What are we supposed to believe? That you know, White House report or the White House spokesperson and they refused to answer it. The moderator simply would not allow any of these panelists to answer the question. I just found that odd that these scientists, they wrote the report, and they're not even really allowed to answer that simple question.

[07:05:45] PAUL: Did you get a sense that they wanted to answer the question? Did anybody start to answer?

CHINCHAR: You could start to hear like -- you know, things like that where people would start to but the moderator, you know -- again, I know that's a moderator's job is to decide who gets to answer the question. But I did get the sense that if they were allowed, that maybe not all of them but some of them would have liked have answered that question.

SAVIDGE: What about the question of timing? In other words, you released this at a time when --

CHINCHAR: The moderator shut that one down, as well. Yes, that was not the --their response to that was simply we want the focus of this to be about the content of this, not about the timing of release.

PAUL: All right. So, with that said, Kim, just so our viewers know -- Kim Cobb, of course, with us now, that you go to Christmas Island every two weeks. This is your area of study. Christmas Island, in the Pacific, of course. Is what you heard from this report, does it correlate with what you have found in your 18 years of research?

KIM COBB, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: Yes, absolutely. So, as a climate scientist, some of us from the business are digging back into the past to look at climate extremes before the rise of carbon dioxide. And of course, what we've seen locked into the records is coming up into the president, things are getting warmer and the natural climate exchange that I study are getting more extreme. Perfectly consistent with the findings of this report.

PAUL: And how -- I'm sorry, go ahead, Martin.

SAVIDGE: I was going to ask, you know, we've had a number of reports that have been done over the years. What makes this one so important and why should we so carefully look at it?

COBB: Yes. I mean, I think, these reports come out every several years. And this one, I think, caught my eye because it really has ratcheted up some of the impacts that we had bigger uncertainties about in the past. And now, with this report they're becoming clearer than ever. And that's unfortunately in the worse direction, right? So, sea level estimates have ticked up. Our attribution of climate extremes has improved since the last report. And so now, we're really facing with a lot more certainty some of these very, very damaging types of climate exchange and impacts. Unfortunately, this report is just another exclamation mark on a year of dizzying records with wildfires, temperature extremes, heat waves and, of course, the hurricane season here in the southeast.

PAUL: So, are we in the thick of this now based on, you know, what you just ticked down the list of what we're dealing with, or can you give us out some sort of a timeline when we're really going to see this ratcheted up or, again, are we in it?

CHINCHAR: Yes, so you have some aspects that are already taking place. You have coastal flooding, places like Florida, the Carolinas up and down the East Coast. They call it sunny day flooding in Florida, where it's not raining, but anywhere getting those (INAUDIBLE). Things that really isn't -- it's a great example of that sea level rise. Now, other things, it's going to take several more decades before you really start to notice large scale issues with. But the fact of the report was not just to shock -- and I think that's separates this report. This wasn't just the here's the doom and gloom. This specific report actually gave solutions to the problem. Here's how we can fix the ones that are happening now and then here's how we can fix the ones that we know will happen down the road.

PAUL: What solutions stood out to you?

CHINCHAR: Right. So, they talk about certain things, you know, in areas of the west. They have this drought program that's already existed and it's meant for farmers and ranchers on how they can start to prepare for drought, for heat waves and how it would affect their livestock. There's the Acadiana group in Louisiana that has -- that basically it was created to help assess flooding risks for areas along the southeast. So, again, you have these programs that are already being established to help look into the future of what can we do to mitigate some of these issues that we know will take place.

SAVIDGE: Professor, is it too late? I mean, can we still prevent this?

COBB: Oh, absolutely not. I mean, we have so much work to do. And so, as Allison was saying, some of that work is just reading into those regional reports which the report has, of course, region by region, where did they expected impacts? And thinking about how scientists can work with people in their communities and policy makers to protect those communities today from the impacts that are coming down the pike today actually.

And so, the other bucket of recommendation that they make is, of course, to get on top of our emissions and to start to make sure that we're not baking in more risks than we need to. It's absolutely not too late and we really have time to get to work. But this report does stress that the time to do so is now and it's really important for the American health and well-being and our economic prosperity that we take this very seriously.

[07:10:09] PAUL: All right, Allison Chinchar and Kim Cobb, we appreciate you both being here, thank you.

COBB: Thanks for having me.

SAVIDGE: Well, on the flip side of all of this in Paris, measures taken to encourage more environmentally friendly policies have not always been embraced. These are pictures now coming to us live in Paris -- where right now, people are protesting rising fuel cost. They're opposed to taxes on Diesel and gas that President Macron enacted alongside (INAUDIBLE) or electric vehicles. Thursday, the French Interior Ministry said that two people had died in that unrest.

President Trump has frequently argued against implementing environmental laws saying that they are too expensive and will harm American business.

PAUL: CNN Senior White House Correspondent Jeff Zeleny with us now. So, Jeff, despite this new environmental report, obviously, activists face some stiff opposition from the president and a lot of people in his party. With that said, where do we go here?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Christi. The president did not talk about this at all yesterday when this was released and he does often want to draw attention to what his administration is doing. But the fact that he did not mention it at all is a sign that he is not focused on this. Now, the White House released a statement saying all this is largely based on extreme scenarios.

But we do, of course, know where the president stands on climate change. He has been someone who has said repeatedly along the line that he does not believe it's caused entirely by humans. He was visiting the wildfires just last weekend in California, said that he does not believe that climate change caused any of that. But take a listen to some of what he has said and why it may make this report more complicated in the end. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States will

withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. I don't think it's a hoax; I think there's probably a difference but I don't know that it's manmade. I will say this -- I don't want to give trillions and trillions of dollars, I don't want to lose millions and millions of jobs, I don't want to be put at a disadvantage. I have a strong opinion, I want great climate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, given that as a backdrop here, it will be interesting to see how the administration proceeds going forward or if any changes are made at all -- unlikely to think that the president will usher in any type of changes. But there is one thing for the pure, raw politics of this, a political strategist in the Republican Party will say that they believe that younger voters are much more interested in the environment, in climate, other matters. So, it is -- certainly helpful for the long-term strength of the Republican Party, as well, to begin to acknowledge climate change even as there are some skeptics in this administration. But certainly, the president not mentioning this at all, at least so far.

SAVIDGE: Jeff, while we have you, you know, I wanted to ask you, the Democrats in a little over a month are going to be in control of the house and they're promising to investigate the president. How is that going to change the whole dynamic in Washington?

ZELENY: What's going to change it incredibly -- I mean, for the first two years of the administration, there's not been a check on what the administration has been doing. So, in an era of divided power in Washington, there are going to be new investigations, new oversight regulations, you know, a check on what the White House is doing. And again, yesterday the president got the first wind as he was golfing here in South Florida. Adam Schiff, the who is the incoming Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he and his committee are going to investigate the links, potential links, between the White House, the Trump family, and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He said they are going to look into the links here. So, that's just one example of the new era of Washington that will begin in January.

And of course, Democrats could also overreach here. We've seen that before, so we do not know how this will end necessarily, but this will be a new moment, a new ear for the Trump administration. Behind the scenes, White House lawyers already preparing for what they will cooperate with, what they won't cooperate with but it is going to be a different moment. So, we'll see if the president realizes how different this will be but for at least the next few days he's here in South Florida likely to play golf. A beautiful day here again today. And he heads to Mississippi on Monday for a campaign rally and then back to Washington.

SAVIDGE: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.

ZELENY: Sure thing, Martin. PAUL: Hey, Jeff, thank you so much. For Democrats taking control of the house in January, as we were just talking about, President Trump's financial ties to Saudi Arabia, that's near the top of their agenda. CNN Contributor and National Reporter for the Washington Post, Wesley Lowery with us now. Wesley, so good to see you. So, you know, Adam Schiff has promised that they're going to investigate the president and Saudi Arabia and any connections there with financials and business, is this their way to get to the president's tax returns?

[07:15:10] WESLEY LOWERY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes and no. The Democrats, in fact, have steps and means of getting hold of President Trump's tax returns now that they control the house, as is. There are other avenues towards his tax returns but I think broadly, it is a way to ask and answer additional questions about what the president's relationship is with Saudi Arabia, what additional financial ties he might have.

And more crucially, I think, or perhaps equally crucially, is what -- how is what the president is saying publicly, is it consistent with what the administration knows privately? So, for example, in a lot of these cases, whether it'd be the case of my colleague Jamal Khashoggi, whether it be other incidents, we rely basically on what the president is telling us and then leaks from the White House and the rest of the administration that contradict what the president is telling us. Very often without us ever receiving a definitive answer about what is true or what is not true.

So, right now, for example, in the Khashoggi case, we have based on unnamed sources a sense of what the CIA has concluded in that case, and we have that standing in opposition to what the president of the United States has said on the record, right? What Democrats being in control of the house can do is now running these committees, they can provide a definitive account for the public about what the CIA does believe happened in this case, what we know about what's happening overseas. And so, again, it's going to provide a different level of oversight and clarity and accountability; a check on the presidency outside of these unnamed leaks that we've seen from the very beginning of this administration.

PAUL: Never really know how the president is going to respond to those checks and balances. Let's say, Wesley Lowery -- hey, thank you for being here but stay with us because I know we've got some more question for you.

SAVIDGE: More breaking news overnight, the gunman in an Alabama mall shooting, Thanksgiving night, is still on the loose.

PAUL: Yes, authorities now say that 21-year-old man killed by an officer at the mall, "likely did not fire the rounds that injured two people." Investigators say the man was involved in some aspect of the altercation and was armed with a handgun. Now, police say the error came to light after investigators and crime experts spoke to witnesses and examined evidence for 20 hours.

SAVIDGE: Still to come, more trouble for President Trump after an associate of Roger Stone says he is negotiating a plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office. We'll have more details on that just ahead.

PAUL: Also, she made their marriage look perfect on social media. But newly released text messages revealed days before her murder, Shanann Watts told a very different story to friends.

SAVIDGE: An American missionary's last letter. It detailed his desire to evangelize the people who killed him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:21:54] SAVIDGE: New developments in the Russia investigation. Roger Stone's Associate, Jerome Corsi, said that he is in plea negotiations with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team. Corsi could face a number of charges ranging from perjury to obstruction of justice in regards to his relationship with WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange and Roger Stone.

Last week, Corsi said that he expects to be indicted for giving false information to the special counsel or to one of the other grand jury. During a radio interview, Roger Stone was on the defense and said that there's no way he could be incriminated as a result of the deal. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ASSOCIATE: This idea that Jerry Corsi could implicate me, there's simply no evidence or whatsoever that would show that I knew about the source or the content of any allegedly stolen e-mails or any allegedly hacked e-mails that were published by WikiLeaks. Just not so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Joining me to discuss is CNN Contributor and National Reporter for the Washington Post Wesley Lowery and CNN Legal Analyst and Criminal Defense Attorney, Joey Jackson. Good morning again.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Joey, let me start with you. Why is Corsi being targeted here, and how confident should Roger Stone really be?

JACKSON: Well, he needs to be confident certainly in public to project that air and certainly in the event he gets indicted. You know, to influence the potential jury pool to follow. But here's the reality: We certainly know that Mr. Corsi or Dr. Corsi has been in discussions, you know, with the special counsel. Prior to the discussions, we know they provided about 40 or some odd hours of testimony and you don't provide that amount of testimony and information and giving over of documents because you have nothing to say.

So, clearly, there's an interest in the information that he's given; whether or not that is accurate is the subject of any potential indictment on him because as you open the piece, will it be that they don't believe him and his explanations, and therefore, will it be perjury, will it be obstruction of justice, will it be something else? And so, whenever you have a special counsel or any prosecutor that's investigating associates of yours, who know you well, who know what you do, who you hang around with, what your activities are, there's a need to be concerned.

And so, while we don't specifically know what if anything, he told them concerning Roger Stone's activities, we certainly know that he knows what those activities could be. And so very concerned I would be if I was Mr. Stone, even though he's projecting the air that he's not concerned at all.

SAVIDGE: Right. He is certainly trying to do that. Wesley, Corsi said that he believes that he is the victim of a perjury trap. What does this potential indictment really mean for the investigation as it moves forward?

LOWERY: Well, sure. I mean, at the most base level, it mean -- the potential indictment here means one potentially additional, potentially additional cooperating witness for the Mueller team as they work to try to trace the ladder up as close to the president as possible or at least into his campaign inner circle. Again, perhaps it allows investigators to be privy to or have access to additional e- mails or text messages or other communications they might not already have.

But you know, it's notable that when someone says, you know, they've been fallen into a perjury trap, you know, you can't perjure yourself if you're telling the truth. And so, any time someone raises that, it raises the specter or the question of, well, what were you saying in interviews presumably with legal counsel, either present or having previously advised you that you are concerned you said something that was untrue?

[07:25:30] You know, there's a real question in this case about this particular person, Corsi, but whether or not, you know, how reliable of a witness he might be but again, he is certainly going to be privy to conversations and interactions he had with Roger Stone. Roger Stone has been on, kind of, both sides of this at times, denying any contact with WikiLeaks, and then people have now -- we've now seen evidence of some of those contacts. And so again, whatever this particular witness is privy to is going to be helpful for Mueller, whether it ends up being a key piece or a peripheral piece one way or another.

SAVIDGE: Yes, one remains to be seen. Switching gears a bit, former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch were issued subpoenas to privately testify before Congress about the FBI's actions in the 2016 -- or their actions in the 2016 campaign. Both Comey and Lynch agreed to do this publicly earlier. There was no response. So, I'm wondering, Wesley, what's the significance of this last-minute request?

LOWERY: Certainly. You know, I do think at this point, you know, you have Republicans who have vowed, Republicans on the hill who have vowed to investigate this and there's been no questions raised about the extent to which Republicans are really interested in getting to the bottom of the extent of interference in the election in 2016. This is a means of them trying to tie some of this up. I think that both Jim Comey as well as former Attorney General Loretta Lynch wanting to do this in public is an interesting move by them. If Republicans would agree to that, I'd be really surprised. We remember the kind of side show that was the initial James Comey hearings of now, almost two years ago. I think they would be hesitant to want to do some more hearings like that again.

On the other hand, I do think that there's an argument, an argument to be made in public that even some Republican viewers and voters might be very sympathetic to the idea that, well, if you're going to bring in the FBI director and former attorney general, perhaps the public should hear what they have to say about their behavior during the 2016 election and what they know and what they believe about this election interference. And so, there's a chance that these end up going public that this could be something that winds down a road Republicans are not interested in going down.

SAVIDGE: Yes, I think a lot of people would like to hear that. Wesley Lowery and Joey Jackson, as always, thank you both.

JACKSON: Thank you, Martin.

LOWERY: Thanks for having us.

PAUL: I want to show you some live pictures that we're getting from Paris here. Protests have become quite violent there in Paris as climate change legislation is being pushed by the president and people are not taking it lightly. They do not like what is being proposed. We'll walk you through what's going on there.

Also, listen to this -- he has changed. That's what Shanann Watts texted a friend just days before her own husband killed her. We have more for you of what she said in those newly released messages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, just days before her death, a Colorado wife and mother texted a friend that her husband was acting distant and cold. Chris Watts was sentenced to life in prison last week for killing his pregnant wife, Shannan and their two young daughters. Watts initially reported his family missing. He even pled for their return.

SAVIDGE: And then, the next day he told police how he brutally killed his family and stuffed them into oil barrels. New documents released by police show how Shannan told a friend, her husband didn't want their new baby. Rob Lowe, of our affiliate KDVR, has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB LOWE, KDVR: Heartbreaking text from Shannan Watts to a close friend reveal a crumbling marriage into wife who can't figure out why her husband seems to suddenly want a divorce. Six days before she was murdered, Shannan tells her friend, "Chris told me last night he's scared to death about this third baby. And he's happy with just Bella and Celeste and doesn't want another baby." Remember, Shannan was pregnant with a boy but doesn't know it yet. When she tells her friends, "I'm supposed to go tomorrow for 4D ultrasounds and gender. Gender reveal next Saturday. I just want to cry. We've never had a problem in our relationship like this. No joke. Never. This is total left field."

Shannon's friend tries to comfort her texting, "Oh honey, it will be OK. Just give him time. He is adjusting to the idea of the baby. He's scared. He shouldn't be doing this to you, but he's a good guy. He will fix it."

"What if he really doesn't love me anymore?"

"Not possible, honey. He loves you."

Shannan responds, "Tomorrow was eight years we started dating." The next day, Shannan tells her friends, "He said we are not compatible anymore. He refused to hug me.

Shannan's friend text back. "Go through his phone, make sure there's is some other blank I have to kill."

When the friend suggests counseling, Shannan's text back, "He said he's not sitting on no damn couch, saying what he just said to me to no stranger." Shannan would soon add, "This baby in my belly deserves his full love."

Finally, Shannon messages, "Only thing I can think of even though I don't think he has it in him is another girl."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:35:08] SAVIDGE: Again, that report coming from one of our affiliates. It was an emotional week of hearings in South Florida, where a state commission has been investigating the deadly shooting in Stoneman Douglas High School, earlier this year.

The Parkland High School group is trying to develop a plan to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.

PAUL: Yes, CNN reporter Natasha Chen has been following this hearings and she's with us now. So, what is the draft report saying, Natasha?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it addresses some of the mistakes that were made that day, and that includes the fact that Broward County and Coral Springs law enforcement weren't even on the same radio channel.

So, this draft report issues -- addresses issues like that in the final recommendations be given to the Department of Education. The Commission started with low-hanging fruit, options that are easy to implement and low cost like identifying and clearing space for what they call hard corners. Hiding spots and classrooms that are out of the line of sight for anyone looking through windows and doorways.

During one of the hearings, they said the investigation determined it was likely one of the students died because she was nudged out of a hard corner. They also discussed requiring a Code Red alarm system with the ability for all employees to declare and remotely lock down the school.

Also, they recommended a single point of entry and exit that something Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has already done when they started school this August.

Then, they wrote recommendations that may require low to moderate funding, like installing fencing around perimeters, high enough to prevent climbing. Considering metal detectors and mandating that surveillance video be shared with first responders in real time during emergency.

Because that was a problem during the shooting when police view footage 26 minutes delayed. So, they thought the shooter was on the third floor, when in fact, he had already left campus. Then, their recommendations that would take even more money. Electronically controlled door systems, installing ballistic resistant glass and putting GPS locators on school buses.

Now, on top of that, they recommended every school have Stop the Bleed Kits and training. Students are taught to apply tourniquets and pack wounds as a first line of defense before medical professionals get there.

Other parts of the draft report, say there should be changes to privacy laws. So, school districts can share more information with law enforcement. This commission will meet again in mid-December. And they were hoping to have testimony from Scott Peterson, the school resource officer who resigned after surveillance video showed he did not enter the building where the shooting was happening. Instead, his lawyer spoke on his behalf at the hearings.

Now, we're not sure when the final report will be released. But Martin and Christi, they are trying to get that done before the end of the year.

PAUL: Wow. All right. Natasha Chen, thank you very much.

CHEN: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well, the debate over guns has two big groups going head to head. Earlier this month, a medical journal suggested ways for doctors to produce gun violence and the NRA wasn't too happy. Tweeting for doctors to "Stay in their lane."

The photos, the doctors responded with showing the gunshot wounds they encounter on a daily basis are gripping. And next hour, we will talk to two doctors. One is a gunshot victim himself, the other is a member of the NRA.

PAUL: And we want to take you live to Paris right now. See what it's happening on the streets there. There are protests because the president there, Macron, wants to implement fuel costs, taxes -- more taxes on fuel there. And you can see how that is being met much resistance. We are hearing that a lot of these protests have turned violent now. We're going to take you there. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:57] PAUL: Mortgage rates held steady this week. Here's your look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: We want to take you to a developing story coming out of Paris this morning, where right now, people are protesting. And they're protesting over rising fuel costs. They are opposed to taxes on diesel and gas that president Macron enacted alongside incentives to buy green or electric vehicles. And it's all part of an effort to enact more environmentally friendly policies.

PAUL: CNN senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann is live for us there in Paris. Jim, what are you hearing, and who are these people protesting?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK. Christi and Martin, good morning. In fact, there are protesters are right below -- as right below our office here on the Champs-Elysees. I'll show what's going on right now.

Basically, you see everybody has got a yellow vest on. These are yellow vested movement's being called. The yellow vest movement, either kind of things that all of French have to have in their automobiles. And so, it's been quite easy to organize in the sense that everybody has got one and can put one on and protest.

It started out as a protests, as Martin indicated, a protest over gas prices. But, in fact, it's morphed into something much wider about the high cost of living, and the Macron government in general. Macron's popularity has dropped to about 25 percent.

You remember that on his very same (INAUDIBLE) just two weeks ago, we had 70 world leaders including Donald Trump parading up the Champs- Elysees. It's a quite a different scene out there today. Christi, Martin?

SAVIDGE: Yes, but is there any indication that the government may be thinking about backing down on some of these taxes?

BITTERMANN: Well, there's a little bit of one. And yesterday, just before this began, of course, there was a demonstration a week ago, too. But before this gathering today, yesterday the government announced that -- Macron himself announced that he would be making a further announcement of something on Tuesday. No one knows exactly what that something will be.

But obviously, the government is feeling the pressure from this movement which is quite autonomous. And one of the things that they want problems for the government is that there's no-one really organizing this. There's a lot of people with different cities across France, but there's no central figure that the government can actually deal with to decide which demands they can answer or accede to. So, it's a complex situation of trying to get their arms around it. But today, obviously on the Champs-Elysees, which was supposed to be forbidden -- there were supposed to be no protests on the Champs- Elysees today. And, in fact, all morning long, we've seen just the opposite. Christi, Martin?

[07:45:43] PAUL: So, Jim, we're looking at a picture of what -- we were looking at a picture there of a car on fire now, and in turn over now, looks like we see some people running. Is there any sense of whether authorities have a handle on these protesters, and how expensive it is?

BITTERMANN: Well, I think it began this morning, a team that they were caught a little bit of I surprised about how -- by how early they started. They started about 9:00 local time, though gathering in Paris was supposed to take place at 2:00 in the afternoon, Paris time.

So, many hours ahead of time, people started appearing on the Champs- Elysees. They've made their way up and down, and basically, closed down the Avenue to traffic, and then, started building these barricades, setting things on fire, and the rest of it.

Now, we were told just a while ago by the Interior Minister that he estimates the number of people in the Champs-Elysees at about 5,000. I would say it's less than that now. It's down into the hundreds, I would suppose, or maybe 1,000 or more. But in any case, it's diminished a lot from the high point which was earlier in the day.

In any case, they are now confronted with what the French call the casters, these are basically vandals who come out just about every protest demonstration we have here. Who have their hearts set, doing as much damage as possible. Those are the ones who are setting fire to vehicles and doing all kinds of other damage along the Champs- Elysees.

They came here armed with crowbars, so they could fry up the paving stones from the street. And then, use those paving stones as ammunition against the police. Christi, Martin?

SAVIDGE: The remarkable images as you look at the -- what looks like clouds of tear gas. The Arc of Triomphe. Water cannon clearly were visible there just a few minutes ago and it appears that you have riot police in full gear on the streets. This is about will continue to follow --

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Oh, my goodness. Did you just hear that?

SAVIDGE: And as we listen to what is developing on the streets of Paris this morning, the protests that now has gone in a very violent direction. And Jim Bittermann is there for us. We'll continue to check in with him. Thank you, Jim. Meanwhile --

PAUL: We'll keep you posted this week, look at those pictures coming in, by the way. SAVIDGE: We'll also bring to you the last letter an American missionary left behind before he was killed on a remote island. We'll tell you what that letter said.

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[07:52:16] SAVIDGE: New this morning, a U.S. service member has been killed in Afghanistan. NATO has not released the name of that service member until family members, of course, have been notify.

PAUL: Now, this brings the U.S. combat death toll there this year, just there, to eight. More than 2,400 U.S. forces have died in the Afghan War, thus far.

We have some new details for you about a letter. An American missionary wrote before he was killed on a remote restricted island off India. John Chau gave the letter to fishermen before he left their boat for the last time. And it shows that he knew the dangers on this island.

SAVIDGE: Chau wrote, "You guys might think I am crazy in all this, but I think it's worth it to declare Jesus to these people. Please do not be angry at them or at God if I get killed." It's believed that Chau was killed by the tribe during his mission trip to the island. CNN's Polo Sandoval has the details.

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the oldest and most isolated tribes in the world. And authorities say, they're responsible for last week's killing of American missionary, John Allen Chau.

This archived footage from Survival International provides some of the few existing images of the tribe known as the Sentinelese. They live in complete isolation on the tiny island of North Sentinel.

According to Indian officials, Chow illegally paid fishermen to take him to the isolated island hoping to convert the tribe to Christianity. Authorities believe he first canoed to shore on November 16th deliberately disregarding an established perimeter around the island.

According to journal entries left with the fishermen and shared with The Washington Post, the 26-year-old wrote, "I hollered, 'My name is John, I love you and Jesus loves you." He was then, reportedly shot at by a member of the tribe with an arrow piercing his Bible.

The next day, Chow made a second attempt but never returned. The fisherman he hired, later reported seeing the young man's body buried on the beach by tribe members. Chows last entry in his journal reads, "You guys might think I'm crazy in all this but I think it's worthwhile to declare Jesus to these people. God, I don't want to die."

In 2006, the same tribe killed two poachers who had been illegally fishing near their Island. Survival International, a group advocating for tribal people believes the Natives decision to remain isolated should be respected.

SOPHIE GRIG, SENIOR RESEARCHER, SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL: They've made it very clear they don't want contact. Somebody comes, they have no idea what he's coming for and why -- you know, I think it's far more self-defense than it is murder.

[07:54:54] SANDOVAL: On social media, Chau's family wrote, their son love God, life, helping those in need and had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people. "We forgive those reportedly responsible for his death," they wrote.

All they can do is wait to find out when or if their son's body will be recovered. Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: In other news, on Black Friday, there was plenty of green in Las Vegas. More on the $9 million face-off between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. That's coming up next.

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PAUL: Well, the showdown for the ages. Two of golf's greatest champions, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, squaring off in what was constantly, the match. It was neck and neck all the way and took four extra holes, 22 in all just to get a winner.

SAVIDGE: In the end, Mickelson edged out his longtime rival, earning $9 million dollars in prize money. It's not bad for the day's work and something perhaps priceless. Mega bragging rights. Somehow I smell a rematch.