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Hala Gorani Tonight
Trump Announces Picks For National Security Team; Flynn, Sessions, Pompeo Accept Posts; Bollywood Actress Won't Let Attack Change Her; Trump Supporter Reacts To National Security Nominations; Teen Cryogenically Frozen After Dying Of Cancer; New Jeremy Clarkson Show "The Grand Tour" Premieres. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired November 18, 2016 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:00:20] HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. We're coming to you live from CNN London. Thanks for being with us this hour. This is THE
WORLD RIGHT NOW.
Donald Trump's transition is shifting into high gear. We had a lieu of announcements today. Three key members of his national security team and
they are an indication that he's planning to make good on his hard line campaign agenda.
First, let's start with Jeff Sessions. He was nominated as attorney general. He was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump, but has faced
controversy in the past when his appointment to a federal district court blocked after he was accused of making racist remarks.
Also, Retired Army Lt. General Michael Flynn was unveiled as national security advisor. He was a top Trump advisor during the campaign and he
has also (inaudible) controversy with his positions on Islam and terrorism.
And finally today, Congressman Mike Pompeo, he is the choice for CIA director. He was a fierce critic of Hillary Clinton during the Benghazi
investigation. We'll have more on him as well. Let's go live Washington. CNN's Chris Moody is there. What's the next step, Chris?
CHRIS MOODY, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, the next step for at least two of his people, Pompeo and Sessions, is congressional approval.
Now because Republicans control both Houses of Congress, it looks like they should be able to go through, but it's not going to happen without a fight.
Democrats are already pushing a lot of information with these men's past, and especially with Sessions, may try to really urge centrists or moderate
Republicans in the Senate to join them in possibly opposing him, but those have not taken shape just yet.
GORANI: All right, so let's talk a little bit about the pasts, some of these men, I mentioned that there was some controversy surrounding Michael
Flynn. Jeff Sessions as well, he was nominated by Ronald Reagan in 1986. He was not confirmed by a Republican-dominated Senate, but here he is
attorney general potentially in the near future.
MOODY: Yes, there was concerns about comments he allegedly made about race and talking about the NAACP and other organizations allegedly calling them
un-American. He will face very similar questions if his nomination goes through.
Senate Democrats will be asking and bringing up many of those things. One thinning that really stands out about these nominations is for Session and
Flynn is that these people who were loyal to Trump throughout the entire of the campaign.
We heard a lot about loyalty and how important that was to Donald Trump and we're seeing that played out right here. Also he is fulfilling his
promises on these hard line issues. Jeff Sessions is one of the most hard lined senators on immigration in that chamber.
And Flynn when it comes to foreign policy particularly against Islamic terror. He has made a lot of remarks that a lot of people find
controversial in that regard. And so even though he will not face a Senate approval for that job, it will still have to go through media scrutiny as
well.
GORANI: Well, and you know, this is a powerful position within the administration, a quick last one on this weekend. We understand Mitt
Romney, such a critic of Donald Trump during the campaign, he called them a conman and a phony, he is meeting with him this weekend amid speculation
that perhaps he will be offered the secretary of state position. Should we give this any weight these reports?
MOODY: Well, I think that was one of the biggest surprises given the two men's backgrounds, which was, let's just say not pretty or not
complimentary of each other particularly in the past year or so.
One possibility is that he is bringing in people that could be taken off of the field to challenge him in a primary perhaps in four years. Who knows?
Maybe he is bringing him in seriously for consideration for a post or just bringing him in as some kind of bait and switch to turn our attention
elsewhere.
[15:05:03]There is a lot of smoke and mirrors in politics and this could be one of them. We'll just have to wait and see -- Hala.
GORANI: Well, there was speculation Ted Cruz was being considered for the attorney general job and we all know it wasn't given to him. Thanks very
much, Chris Moody in Washington.
Let's get more on these nominations, former Army commanding general and CNN military analyst, Mark Hertling is in Orlando, and Karin von Hippel, who
joins me in the studio. She is the director general of Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and a former chief of staff to General John
Allen. Thanks to both of you for being with us.
Let me start with you, Karen. First of all, let's talk a little about Michael Flynn. He said some incredibly inflammatory things not just about
how to combat terrorism, but just about the faith, the Islamic faith as a whole.
He says that the fear of Muslims is rational. He tweeted that. What should we make of someone with those types of statements in this type of
position?
KARIN VON HIPPEL, DIRECTOR GENERAL, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: It's fascinating and it's concerning for many people. Obviously for American-
Muslims as well. It is very interesting. Once his name came out and I started doing research as well on him, and you then identify where Donald
Trump's comments about Muslims has come from.
I mean, obviously he's been advised by Flynn since the start. So I think it is very concerning that someone would hold views about part of the
world's population even.
GORANI: But what are the foreign policy implications, do you think, especially when it comes to a fight against ISIS?
HIPPEL: We saw, for example, that they were proposing to register, have American-Muslims be registered. So that is obviously very concerning.
GORANI: Although the Trump campaign has since said --
HIPPEL: OK, I think there are reviews of ISIL propaganda during the campaign by some foreign affairs magazine and they were -- ISIL was hoping
that Trump would win because the anti-Muslim rhetoric they thought would radicalize American-Muslims. And so they are really going to have to make
a huge effort to try to prevent that from happening.
GORANI: General Mark Hertling, let me ask you a little bit about what you think this will do abroad. The fact that this news is coming out. The
fact that we have seen Mark Flynn that tweet about how the fear of Islam is rational, and other inflammatory statements. What will that do to the
U.S.'s efforts to combat ISIS and other extremist groups in your opinion?
MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's not just ISIS' fight, Hala, it's going to be several other things that are going to be affected by General
Flynn's appoint to the national security adviser role.
You know, he has had a very close relationship with Mr. Putin since he retired and his travel into Russia and been at a dinner with the head of
Russia as he was trying to get a job with RT, the Russian television station.
He has had engagements with Turkey. He has mentioned some things about other parts of the world. So it is not just the Muslim tweets that are
concerning to me.
It is how his actions might also affect numbers of NATO and what they see as both a Trump move in that direction, but his alter ego as the NSA doing
the same thing.
GORANI: And Karen, let's talk about NATO because one of the controversies over the summer was when Donald Trump essentially suggested that if NATO
members didn't pay their bills, they should be guaranteed protection under Article 5. Michael Flynn reiterated that (inaudible).
HIPPEL: OK, that's interesting. I mean, I think the one thing to remember is that Donald Trump doesn't have any foreign policy experience. He is
learning very quickly and getting a crash course right now.
After his meeting with Obama, Obama mentioned that actually Trump said that the NATO commitments do stand. So I actually think Trump will listen to
reason, the issue is who is he going to listen to, you know, or some unreasonable people might be giving him advice, too. That's a bit contrary
to American values.
GORANI: And Mark Hertling, I mean, to be fair, Barack Obama didn't have foreign policy experience either when he became president. In the end,
it's who you surround yourself with. It's who your advisers are.
When you see the team shaping up as it has been in the last few days. I'm talking also Chief Strategist Steve Bannon of Breitbart News and others.
What do you make of it in which direction this administration will go?
HERTLING: Well, I'm still watching very closely, Hala. He's picked a couple of people, but he has a few big ones left to go, the secretary of
state, secretary of defense, his director of National Intelligence, those are all big players. They will bring a lot of big egos to the table.
But what has happened is we have seen the heard of people going in and out of Trump Tower is a lot of the folks that could have provided informed
outlooks on national security and in some cases have been dismissed.
We're watching some of the people that are being selected for these positions. Some are surprising, some are not, but we are is still a long
way from completely finishing up this cabinet.
The undersecretaries, the under assistant secretaries and all of the people that will conduct national security efforts, but the key people are going
to be the interesting ones to watch.
[15:10:05]We've named two of them already with Flynn and the CIA director. The adjutant general is important, but let's watch and see what happens
when the (inaudible) and the national intelligence director.
GORANI: And Karen, as Mark was mentioning there, it was not just the fight against ISIS, we're talking about NATO. We are also talking about the Iran
deal (inaudible) potentially, which most of the people that Donald Trump has surrounded himself with so far and he himself has come out against. Is
there a risk that entire thing will unravel?
HIPPEL: I think the more he learns about the implications the more that I think many people hope he will change his mind on that. I am also not too
concerned about some of these appointments right now.
I think we will go through my appointments. I mean, don't forget, he had three campaign managers in a period of about six months. We may be overly
obsessing about his first few appointments, but they may not last that long either.
GORANI: In what sense you mean that they won't get confirmed or?
HIPPEL: He may not like the way that they speak to him. He they might not agree with him (inaudible) and he seems to not like people who disagree
with him.
GORANI: That there might be some sort of resolving door.
HIPPEL: I think there is, yes.
GORANI: All right, Mark Hertling, I want to ask you one last one here about sort of the -- talking main about Syria and Iraq, within the context
of the fight against, but also what the tragedy that's unfolding there on a daily basis, which are regime and Russia bombardments of civilian areas
that are rebel held. How will things change under future President Trump if at all?
HERTLING: That's a great question, Hala, and we saw when Mr. Trump talked to Mr. Putin the other day that there was a significant increase in bombing
of Aleppo by Russian forces. That is disconcerning to me.
That we don't know what went on in that conversation, but Mr. Putin evidently believed that he would increase the amount of ordinance that was
falling in Northern Syria.
We're also seeing some successes by the Iraqi forces in Mosul, but there is a lot of fight left in there and I would say probably several months. So
that is a problem and we got to continue to watch that.
GORANI: We have seen a lot of resistance in Mosul. In fact, I want to also get your thoughts here before we go to break. Do you think the
conversation between Donald Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin?
That perhaps Vladimir Putin was waiting to see if there would be any position to further Russian involvement in aiding the Syrian regime bomb
these rebel held areas before really unleashing their plan to take back Eastern Aleppo among other places?
HIPPEL: I think the Russians are planning on doing that anyway. And so I don't think that the conversation with Trump -- I don't think Trump would
have said go ahead and do that anyway. I think that the Russians were doing that anyway.
If they thought Hillary was going to win, they were going to try to raise Aleppo to the ground before she came to power to really change the
situation on the ground. So it is huge concern for civilians in Aleppo right now.
GORANI: All right, Karen von Hippel of RUSI and the former chief of staff for General John Allen, thanks very much. Lt. General Mark Hertling in
Orlando as always, thanks very much for your analysis this hour. We appreciate both of you.
Barack Obama is on his last foreign trip as president. He visited Greece, Germany, and now he is on his way to Peru. He wrapped up that final visit
to Germany as U.S. president. He left Berlin a short while ago. There he is with Angela Merkel.
He also met several other European leaders, I'm sure all of them asked him for, you know, about what to expect for the Trump presidency. He spent two
days in Berlin, trying to soothe those worries potentially about what might come after him. There he is in the presidential motorcade on his way to
Peru.
A lot more to come this evening, President-elect Trump's government is starting to take shape. I'll speak to former U.S. Defense Secretary
William Cohen about the staffing choices so far.
And a Bollywood actress tells CNN how she fought off her attackers during a brutal assault in Paris. We have that story live from the French capital,
coming up.
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GORANI: A new death toll figure revealed the staggering impact of Syria's brutal civil war. A Syrian opposition group says more than 1,000 people
have been killed in the city of Aleppo alone since a brief ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and Russia collapsed in September.
The tally includes deaths in both government and rebel-held areas in the surrounding country side. The 231 of the fatalities were children. The
U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also says thousands of people have been injured and dozens more are missing.
It's been a very busy day at Trump Tower. The president-elect has chosen three hardliners for key national security positions. He named General
Michael Flynn as his national security advisor, Senator Jeff Sessions as his attorney general, and Congressman Mike Pompeo as the director of the
CIA, all but Flynn would require congressional nomination.
Let's get some inside on Trump's picks with former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen. Cohen served under President Bill Clinton. He is now the
CEO of the Cohen Group, an international consulting that represents defense contractors and other groups. Mr. Cohen, thanks for being with us.
First your reaction to General Michael Flynn, one of the things you did when you were defense secretary of state is you supported the expansion of
NATO.
Now we heard from Donald Trump over the summer when he was still just a candidate and this was reiterated by Michael Flynn that they believed that
this idea somehow that Article 5 would automatically trigger if one member of NATO was attacked should only come into play if everyone pays their
bills, what is your reaction to Michael Flynn now rising to this position?
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: First, let me address the issue of calling Article Five of NATO's Charter into question. I think
that is a mistake. I think it would undermine the relationships we've established with all 28 members of the alliance.
So I'm hoping that President-elect Trump does not fulfill that particular pledge to basically turn the United States into a mercenary military that
we'll go only where we're paid to go.
I think what we have done over the years is to extend our defense perimeter by making sure that we have allies who share our ideals and interests are
protected under the U.S. umbrella. To call into question I think will be dangerous for us and for our allies.
Getting back to General Flynn, he is obviously very capable and competent, otherwise he never would have risen to the status of a three-star general.
I think the challenge for him is going to be one of managing the bureaucracy itself, a national security bureaucracy because it's not just a
fence.
It is State Department. It is CIA. It is the Energy Department. It is a host of issues evolving. Even climate change where you have a number of
formal generals express to the president their concerned that climate change as a national security issue is going to cause flooding in a number
of areas causing people to migrate, other people to resist the migration and lots of chaos.
So it's a big portfolio and I think he will have --
GORANI: But that has not been a Trump priority on the contrary. He doesn't to believe that climate change is a threat at all.
COHEN: Well, he doesn't and maybe he will come to realize when you see again what's taking place in the world in terms of migration patterns.
You've got people -- trying to get out of the Middle East, desperate to save their lives by going to Europe, destabilizing a number of those
countries.
[15:20:00]And so you're going to see this pattern of migration, which will have a major impact upon the stability in many parts of the world. So
whether you think we contribute to climate change or not, the reality is, it's going to produce some dislocations on a global scale.
GORANI: But let me -- because we're seen all around the world, we are on CNN International, so many of our viewers are in the Middle East, and other
Muslim majority countries. When they hear General Michael Flynn named national security advisor say things like Islam is a malignant cancer, and
Sharia law is spreading in the United States, and if you're afraid of a Muslim, that's a rational thing to think, I mean, how should they react?
COHEN: Well, I think they are going to react with fear. Most Muslims, certainly throughout the world, but specifically here in this country have
expressed that fear. And if President Trump --
GORANI: Is it justified?
COHEN: It is justified to have people in high office declare that they are not to be trusted. That they are un-American. They're on a pre-emptive
basis considered to be a threat or terrorists, obviously that's going to have an impact on their either willingness to share information with
intelligence, and police authorities, and feel that they're not really being protected under our constitution.
So obviously it's going to have a consequence in America, but I think globally. So this is one of the issues that the president-elect is going
to come to grips in terms of whether or not that kind of rhetoric is going to be helpful to the United States or harmful, it think it will fall in the
latter categories.
GORANI: All right, now secretary of state is the other -- is going to be really the most visible cabinet role in the Trump administration
internationally. Some of the speculation surrounds Mitt Romney who went to town, I have to say, on Donald Trump during the campaign. He called him a
conman and a phony.
But there's another interesting name that's popped up, I'm sure you've seen it, also reports and speculation, none of it confirmed, but David Petraeus
might also be in the running? What do you make of those two names?
COHEN: David Petraeus?
GORANI: That is just speculation out there. It isn't something confirmed.
COHEN: I know General Petraeus and he is obviously very, very capable and would make an outstanding secretary of state. So whether or not President-
elect Trump is even considering him remains to be scene, but he's a very talented individual. I'm sure he would do an outstanding job.
With respect to other nominees, Mitt Romney would be a great choice in the sense that would be a signal being sent to moderates as well as
conservatives, who feel that they have been excluded from Mr. Trump's consideration.
They have not been supportive of him. So it's rather unlikely, but I think it would be a good choice to send a kind of signal saying I am going to
pick a man. Even though he was an opponent of mine, he will be part of a team of rivals as such, and I think a lot of people take comfort in that.
Whether that's a realistic thing remains to be seen. I'm skeptical, but nonetheless remain hopeful that such an appointment or people like Mitt
Romney would be considered.
GORANI: It would be quite the reconciliation anyway. Thank you very much, William Cohen, for joining us, former defense secretary. We really
appreciate it.
COHEN: Great to be with you.
GORANI: Now to something completely different, but you will remember what happened to the reality star, Kim Kardashian in Paris. This time a
Bollywood access has survived a vicious assault in Paris. She says she won't let one bad experience ruin the city for her.
Mallika Sherawat and her French boyfriend were teargassed and beaten by three masked men when they got home last Friday. Sherawat spoke to CNN's
Melissa Bell. Here is how she is responding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALLIKA SHERAWAT, BOLLYWOOD ACTRESS: I'm not going to change my life because this happened. I'm not going to be cowed down. I'm a strong woman
and I must say that the police have been really, really supportive. They have been really, really helpful. They're conducting a thorough
investigation.
The support that's pouring in from family, from friends, from social media and also strangers. The other day I was walking on (inaudible) and some
older women that read the article, must have read about it, they walked up to me and they said don't worry, it's fine, we're with you, and it makes
you feel reassured.
It makes you feel that as a community, you're together. People are supporting you. It is very important.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You have two million Twitter followers, very high profile, will you change any of that? Your attitude to being in
the public eye so much?
SHERAWAT: Not at all. In fact, I'm going to use the platform I have to bring more attention to this cause. I'm not going to stop talking about
issues that are important to me.
[15:25:08]BELL: Now one of those issues, and you have been very vocal about it, is the question of women's rights in India specifically. You
have been on the receiving end of verbal attacks in the past over this issue. Why do you think it excites so much anger?
SHERAWAT: Because I think personally, and I talk about India because I live in India, a certain section folk feels that when I talk about these
I'm giving India a bad name. That's not true at all. I love my country and because I love my country I want to see a change in my country.
And that is why I talk about this issue. If I don't talk about this issue, if I don't bring attention to the cause, how will it change? So not
talking about something is as much a problem.
BELL: So you will continue talking about?
SHERAWAT: Absolutely.
BELL: Looking ahead, do you think that you will be coming back to Paris as you did before?
SHERAWAT: Absolutely. I absolutely love Paris. It's been a wonderful. It's a great city. I don't want this one nasty experience to spoil the
image of Paris for me. And then in the end we all have to be brave.
You know, after this incident, my family and friends said you must go out with an armed bodyguard. I don't want to do that. I don't want to change
my life because something like this happened. No. I have full faith in the authorities and I'm sure I'm going to be fine.
BELL: What do you think it will change? Was has it change in terms of how you feel about things or how you are going to live, or the coming days and
weeks?
SHERAWAT: You know, what has really changed is when you read about attacks like this on anybody, you feel sad for them, but you don't really realize
that how traumatic it is. When the Kim Kardashian attack happened, I read about and I sympathize, I said poor thing, she is a mother, it's really
sad. But when it happened to me, I was so empathetic, it was like the whole thing changed for me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: All right, there you have it. The very latest high profile robbery in Paris. A lot more to come this evening. We'll return of course
to our top story with a closer look at one of the latest Trump nominations. Senator Jeff Sessions and the racially charged comments that derailed a
previous appointment.
Also ahead, a court grants a teen's dying wish to be frozen. Why she hopes to live again in the future? We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Welcome back. A look at our stop stories. The president-elect is pulling together his national security team. Donald Trump has tapped
Senate Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Representative Mike Pompeo for CIA director, and General Michael Flynn for the very powerful role of
National Security adviser.
[15:30:00] More analysis on this shortly.
And Barack Obama is on his way to Peru where he will attend his last APEC Conference as U.S. president. Mr. Obama departed Berlin earlier today. He
spent much of his European farewell tour trying to reassure allies about President-elect Donald Trump.
Also among the stories we are following this hour, a Syrian opposition group says more than a thousand people are now being killed in and around
the city of Aleppo since a brief ceasefire brokered by the U.S. and Russia collapsed in September. The 231 of those deaths were children.
Right here in London, Buckingham Palace is getting a rather pricey facelift. The British government says it's spending nearly $460 million to
replace wiring and water pipes. Some of which date back to the Second World War.
The overhaul will also help protect the palace in the future from flooding and fires. Queen Elizabeth will continue residing in the palace during the
renovations. I think it's big enough that she can occupy one wing while they work on another.
Let's return now to our stop stories. Here we are, name by name, we're piecing together the future structure of the U.S. government. Let's look
at how the president-elect job offer to Senator Jeff Sessions could shape the judicial community and why the nomination might face some backlash.
I'm joined by CNN justice reporter, Scott Glover, from CNN Los Angeles. So Scott, first of all, talk to our international viewers that may not be
familiar with Jeff Sessions. Who is the man? What is his background?
SCOTT GLOVER, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Jeff Sessions is a veteran Republican senator from the state of Alabama in the southern part of the United
States. He has been in the Senate for four terms. He was a U.S. attorney in Alabama, a federal prosecutor down there. He is seen as a very
conservative politician. As you said in the intro, he has been tapped to serve as the attorney general by President-elect Trump.
GORANI: OK, let's talk about why Donald Trump would be interested in nominating Jeff Sessions in particular. What attracted Donald Trump to
him?
GLOVER: Jeff Sessions was one of the first, if not the first United States senators to endorse the president-elect. He did so early in the campaign
and he did so vigorously and he attended a rally, put on a hat, you know, make America great again, hat.
Some of his positions particularly with respect to immigration dove tail with the president-elect's in his repeated vow to build a wall. This is
something that has been a key issue for Senator Sessions for a long time.
GORANI: Right, and so how likely is it that he will be confirmed? Because we know that in '86 when Ronald Reagan nominated him for a federal
position, his nomination was rejected because of some of these allegations the he used some racist language.
He said about the KKK, I'm OK with them until I learned they might be smoking pot. There were allegations that he'd used some inflammatory
language toward an African-American judge, that kind of thing, will that pop up again and will this perhaps derail his nomination a second time?
GLOVER: Well, it already has popped up. You know, what you're referring to is President Reagan nominated him for the federal bench. There were
hearings in the Senate and these issues came up. We were preparing a story that offers what happened in, I think, a little more contextualized
fashion.
There were some charges made about some language that the senator used, but he also had a rebuttal and an explanation, and you know, we'll take one for
example, the one that you mentioned, he said he didn't think so badly about the KKK until he learned some of their members had smoked pot.
He says that this was a joke. There was an African-American United States attorney in the office at that time who did not take that way and this
became a big issue in the Senate hearings.
We give kind of, you know, a full review of what happened there and in fact it happened while at that time U.S. Attorney Sessions was overseeing a
prosecution of two Klansmen in the murder of a black man that was done in retaliation for a jury acquitting a black person in the death of a police
officer.
[15:35:03]And in the course of this investigation, the senator learned that some Klansmen had been smoking marijuana that evening and he made this
comment. You know, he says it was a joke.
I interviewed another prosecutor who is present at that time who says that it was a joke and found it ironic that he was being criticized about this,
you know, at the very time that he was actually, you know, helping to prosecute the KKK. There were some other statements made about the NAACP
and the ACLU to which --
GORANI: He said they were communist-inspired organizations.
GLOVER: On American communist inspired and the senator said that he, you know, he may have said something having to do with those organizations, but
it was misconstrued that he meant to harm by it. So I think it is likely that these things will reemerge and they have reemerged, and maybe
magnified in importance, and we are going to hear this debate again.
GORANI: Certainly. Scott Glover, thanks very much in L.A. joining us. So how are these nominees likely to help Trump fulfill his campaign promises
to limit immigration and bomb the expletive out of ISIS.
Carl Higbie is a long time Trump supporter and a former Navy SEAL. He joins us now live from CNN New York with his reaction. So let me first ask
you about General Michael Flynn because internationally, of course, people have focused a lot on some of the things he said about Muslims, saying
that, you know, being afraid of a Muslim, not a terrorist, a Muslim is rational. How do you defend that?
CARL HIGBIE, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think the fact is this is a guy who's been privy to more intelligence that you and I will ever see in our
entire lifetime. The fact is that he understands that, you know, maybe people are scared by this ideology, maybe people are scared by something.
He is not saying you should be, he is saying if you feel that way your feelings are rationalized. He is not going around telling people to be
scared of it. That's just what he says that if you want to feel that way, go ahead.
GORANI: Well, OK, I guess that is one way of looking at it. He also said that essentially Islam is a malignant cancer. It is hard to interpret that
any other way other than telling people that Muslims in general are evil and should be feared.
HIGBIE: So should we be having the conversation about whether or not you are offended by something he said, or should we have the conversation about
whether or not he is qualified for the job because I would argue that he is probably the most qualified person in the world for that position at this
time.
GORANI: Well, when you say things like that, shouldn't they also be put into focus to an international audience, many of whom are in Muslim
majority countries and wondering what's going on. I guess, this is the question I'm asking you that I've been getting --
HIGBIE: There is a large faction of Muslim countries worldwide that have failed to police the cancer of ISIS. So, I mean, not saying that it is
their fault, but they failed to police it. Now it's fallen on us and it's metastasize to 32 or 33 countries, I believe now.
So you know, you have someone like General Flynn who understands the intelligence behind the scenes that you and I have never seen and quite
frankly can't educatedly comment on it, but I think he's qualified to do the job and if he said those things that's fine with me but I think he'll
do a great job.
GORANI: Is there a difference between ISIS and just a Muslim individual? It seems like both are being conflated here quite a lot.
HIGBIE: So I think there is a big difference between ISIS and the Muslim individuals and I've said many times, you know, out of 1.6 or 7 billion
Muslims, most are perfectly great people that want to work with everybody in the world. But there is a faction, some say as high as 10 percent, that
are not willing to do that, and I think that's what he's referring to.
GORANI: So there are 160 million Muslims who are extremists, those are the ones that should be feared. I mean, I guess, those are the types of
statements that raise eyebrows, can you understand why?
HIGBIE: Well, we're in the longest global war against terrorism in the history of our nation. Eyebrows are already raised. So I think we need
somebody who has been privy to that type of intelligence, willing to take the necessary steps and willing to fight a war of behalf of United States
of America, and our safety, not necessarily a PR war.
GORANI: OK, so what do you think that Michael Flynn will bring to the table in terms of the fight against what he seems to believe is the number
one existential threat to all American, which is Islamic radical terrorism?
HIGBIE: Yes. It absolutely is the number one threat to not just Americans but the world. I think he is a guy who has seen this. He has been up
front and close to all of the intelligence since dating back a couple decades and he understands that you have to do things that might not be
politically popular to win a war, but ultimately to protect the American people, it's not going to be, you know, a walk in the park.
GORANI: So what about this idea that people who come from Muslim majority countries, or countries that have had terrorist attacks inspired by ISIS,
that when they come in the United States they should register or be tracked or somehow notify authorities of their movements. Do you think that is a
good idea?
HIGBIE: Yes, I think that if you're coming to the United States of America, if you want to emigrate from areas that's are hot beds for
terrorism, you know, predominantly Muslim terrorism, then yes, absolutely. We need to protect America first.
[15:40:05]And people coming from abroad and overseas don't have the same constitutional rights that we enjoy here in America. So if you want to be
part of our country, you are going to do it on our term to make sure that we can secure our citizens and our borders, other than that, you're welcome
to join us.
GORANI: What about Muslim-Americans? I mean, there have been attacks in the United States over the last year and half. They were not from
visitors, though. I mean, we are talking about people who were born in the United States. Should they register as well?
HIGBIE: No, I never said that, and I'm not making policy --
GORANI: No, I'm asking you, what do you think?
HIGBIE: OK, I would say if you go over to terrorist hot bed areas, you should have to talk to immigration or anybody at the border and tell them
exactly why you went to Iraq or Iran. It's not exactly Atlanta so I want to know why you went over there for extended periods of time and I want to
find out what you're up to.
GORANI: Carl Higbie, thanks very much, a long time Trump supporter there with his views on the latest announcements. We appreciate your time
joining us from New York.
Next, something completely different, it sounds like science fiction, but it's true. A dying 14-year-old has had her body frozen so she might be
brought back to life one day. Her story that has been generating a lot of reaction is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: We cannot tell you her name, just her amazing story. A teenager that died here in the U.K. had her body sent to the United States and
frozen in hopes that she might live again. Samuel Burke tells us how she fought to realize a dying wish.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A final wish from a young British girl who is just 14 years old who knows
she won't survive the rare form of cancer she is battling, "I have been asked to explain why I want this unusual thing done. I'm only 14 years
old, and I don't want to die, but I know I'm going to.
I think being cryo-preserved gives me a chance to be cured and woken up even in hundreds of years' time. I think that in the future they might
find a cure for my cancer and wake me up. I want to have this chance. This is my wish."
The girl's divorced parents disagreed with each other about carrying this out. The father writing, "Even if the treatment is successful and she is
brought back to life in let's say 200 years, she may not find any relative and she might not remember things and she maybe left in a desperate
situation given that she is only 14 years old and will be in the United States of America."
Friday we've learned the judge allowed the procedure to be carried out a few weeks ago. The girl's lawyer says it was not revealed to the public
initially out of respect for the family.
ROB GEORGE, LAWYER, HARCOURT CHAMBERS: Having the experience, the children solicitor involved and in addition to that, the medical professional is not
a social worker who happens to be on the case already enable the judge to be competent that this was an articulate and intelligent girl, who
(inaudible) thought very hard about what she wanted.
BURKE (on camera): To cryogenically freeze a body, the patient should be pronounced dead as soon as possible after the clinical death. So when this
young girl died here in London on October 17th, the first step was to immediately cool the body using an ice bath.
[15:45:11]Then the blood is flushed out and replaced with a special non- toxic anti-freeze to prevent ice crystal forming, which would damage the cells.
After that, the body is packed in dry ice for transportation, and when it arrives at the final destination, the body is slowly cooled down to even
lower temperatures over several days and then placed in a storage tank filled with liquid nitrogen.
(voice-over): Many experts say cryogenics have never been proven to work remaining in the realm of science fiction.
ANDERS SANDBERG, COMPUTATIONAL NEUROSCIENTIST, OXFORD UNIVERSITY: (Inaudible) cyronic patients are refugees from (inaudible) because they
won't survive if they stay here and it is a very uncertain treatment in the future. But it may better to be in an uncertain alien future than being
dead.
BURKE: There are only three cryogenic centers in the world, Moscow, Arizona, and Michigan, where this young girl's body is now with her hopes
that it won't be her final resting spot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Samuel is here with me now. It's just a fascinating case, so many people have reacted because it raises questions that go beyond science and
a judge's ruling, but just in general as human beings whether or not we should even toy with these types of things. Now the judge's ruling was in
the U.K., right? Did he rule whether or not a minor could make this decision? What was it that --
BURKE: He made it clear over and over again that he wasn't ruling on cryogenics because there is so much skepticism around this, whether a minor
could do it. That he was ruling on just this case and the young girl had spoken so eloquently. He said it was clear that she knew what she was
doing.
She had at least one parent who wanted to carry out her wishes, so he was just ruling between the parents, the mother and the father who didn't
agree. It is interesting, we've learned that during the case the father actually did go back and forth about having this carried out.
GORANI: So scientifically speaking, though, I mean, what are the implications here?
BURKE: I think there is very little science here. Of course, Science is a process and people experiment and try and try, but so far
there is absolutely nothing that tells us that she'll be woken up one day. They can actually --
GORANI: She did pass away --
BURKE: She did pass away. Her body is in Michigan now at that center.
GORANI: What I mean is she did pass away from the cancer?
BURKE: From the cancer, correct. But what I've learned today is that cryogenics, they had been able to do small organs, for instance an eye, and
bring that organ back. They have not been able to do it with bigger organs.
Certainly haven't being able to do with mammals and of course, not with humans. So you're taking a risk and though sometimes they say, well,
better to take the risk, you have nothing to lose.
GORANI: And what has been the reaction? Have most people been supportive online? Because so many people have been discussing this story.
BURKE: I think what a lot of people see is that she did have this profound want, and they have been able to see that. I think because it is a science
that is so unproven at this point that people find it very wild that someone would want to do something like this.
And I think a lot of people have sensed just how terrible this must have been. Imagine your child is dying and in the mist of all of this, you're
doing a family court battle.
So I think a lot of people realize it is a doubly worse way to die knowing that your parents are at war with each other and not knowing exactly what
is going to happen if your final wishes will be carried out.
GORANI: And this is very expensive.
BURKE: Interesting to note, it is about $200,000 to do this. We've heard about some celebrities doing it. There was a baseball player well known
in the United States who did this, of course, they had the money to do it. In this case, the documents in the court shows that she paid about $40,000.
We don't know why it cost less, but even then very expensive.
GORANI: All right, certainly, by the way, I'm interested in hearing what our viewers think about this. To me I thought it was heart breaking, here
is a couple losing their child, and she wanted this, and if you can give it to her, it's not hurting anyone, why not?
BURKE: Well, it makes you think, what are the limits? Given that there is not much science here to go on. So what is the limit of what you let
somebody do --
GORANI: It's not hurting anyone. I mean, that should be the bench march on this one. Samuel, thank you very much. Samuel Burke with that story.
Check out our Facebook page, we'll post some of our interviews and analysis, facebook.com/halagoranicnn. Quick break, when we come back, we
will have more news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:51:09]
GORANI: One of my favorite countries in the world, Morocco. It is famed for a lot of amazing things, Casablanca, the bazaars of (inaudible), et
cetera. In fact the kingdom of Morocco attracts more than 10 million tourists a year. That accounts for nearly 8 percent of GDP.
In our series on Morocco, Eleni Giokos visits the port of Essaouira, a growing destination for British tourists. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN MONEY AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a gloomy day in Essaouira, but even on a day when it is hard to find the sun, it's
not hard to find people eager to hit the waves.
Essaouira is one of Morocco's old cities, and it's becoming a popular beach destination for international tourists.
SARA JOLLY, CO-OWNER, EXPLORA MOROCCO: It's kind of a really good balanced holiday where you can be kiting and surfing and then also experience real
Morocco when you go into (inaudible).
GIOKOS: Sara Jolly moved from the U.K. to start a surfing school here with her husband about seven years ago. She gets clients from all over Europe,
but in the past year she's noticed a trend.
JOLLY: I would say from our business perspective, we have probably seen a growth of around 20 percent growth in English people coming.
GIOKOS: Jolly credits most of that growth to direct flight from London Brighton Airport that was started by easyJets in May, 2015, the only direct
flight from the United Kingdom.
NEIL SLAVEN, COMMENCIAL MANAGER, EASYJET: Over 40,000 passengers have flown with us between Luten and Essaouira.
GIOKOS: Surf schools aren't the only businesses seeing a boost.
JULIE EL QUALI, CO-OWNER, EQUI TRAIL: Since they opened a new flight, now 60 percent of our guests are from the U.K.
GIOKOS: It's now just takes a three-hour flight for London travelers to get to attractions like these scenic camel tours. The influx of English
tourists has come at the right time.
SLAVEN: There has been big demand because of events in the region, but what we have seen more recently is demand starting to recover, and the
success of a destination like Essaouira, I think it really supports what we feel for the market, that this is somewhere we want to keep investing in in
the future.
GIOKOS: That's good news for a country that depends heavily on tourism.
NADA ROUDIES, GENERAL SECRETARY, MOROCCO MINISTRY OF TOURISM: Tourism is one of the main economic sectors in Morocco. We are employing more than
half a million people. We are bringing 10 million tourists a year and $6 billion receipts, foreign receipts.
GIOKOS: That is why the Ministry of Tourism values destinations like Essaouira.
ROUDIES: When you deadlock tourism, you deadlock (inaudible) through some assets you have, natural assets, cultural assets, so you need to evaluate
and you need to invest and preserve them.
GIOKOS: That is exactly what Morocco is trying to do around the country, following in Essaouira's footsteps to attract more international tourists.
Eleni Giokos, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: Well, take flashy cars, some off-beat humor, sometimes off color humor, and a whole load of cash, and what do you get, "The Grand Tour,"
Jeremy Clarkson and Friends latest show. It has just launched on Amazon Prime, who will be hoping it tabs into the phenomenal success of their old
show "Top Gear." CNN's Fred Pleitgen got behind the wheel to bring us this look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[15:55:01]FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): They're back, Richard Hammond, James May, and Jeremy Clarkson.
The new show, "The Grand Tour" launching on Amazon Prime with a massive global advertising campaign. Now I could not do the report about the new
car program without driving a fast, flashy car through some of England's most beautiful scenery myself.
Many people around the world love cars and it is a raw passion for automobiles that many say is one of the main keys to the success of Jeremy
Clarkson's shows.
"The Grand Tour" promises more high end cars, more challenges and some of the exotic places in the world, and more celebrity guests. That sounds a
lot like Clarkson's former show BBC's "Top Pear" with the same set of presenters.
But the makers claim the new program is very different. The budget certainly appears to have gotten some fine tuning. Amazon reportedly
spending around $200 million for 36 episodes.
Will the investment pay off? To get an expert opinion, I pick up media commentator, Paul Connew.
PAUL CONNEW, MEDIA COMMENTATOR: Their aim is so -- their claim is that if they can attract just 1 percent of that 350 million that watched around the
world under the BBC's deal then it would be making the best part of almost 300 million from that alone.
PLEITGEN: But of course there are uncertainties. Jeremy Clarkson left the BBC's "Top Gear" after allegedly punching one of the show's producers.
It's not clear how well he'll be received by audiences, but Amazon certainly seems to be willing to take that chance.
Of course, putting big money into a new show always brings risks with it. But Amazon hopes that by using anchors that have had success in the past,
they can get on the road to even bigger profits soon. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: This has been THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. I'm Hala Gorani. Thanks for watching. If it's your weekend, have a great weekend. If not, hope you
have a good day at work wherever you are. Have a great evening. "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
