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Hala Gorani Tonight
New Revelations Undermine Trump's Ukraine Timeline; Trump Defiant As Damaging New Revelations Emerge; Trump Wants To Designate Mexican Cartels As Terror Groups; 6.4 Magnitude Quake Struck Albania; Wintry Storms Disrupt Airports And Highways; China Accuses Pompeo Of Meddling In It's Affairs; TikTok Video With An Anti-China Message Goes Viral; Labour Leader Refuses To Apologize Over Anti-Semitism Claims; Northern Ireland Voters Focus On Brexit; Kurdish Civilians Bearing Brunt Of U.S. Pullback; French Chef's Lawsuit Against Michelin Begins Today. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired November 27, 2019 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Live from CNN Center, I'm Hala Gorani.
Tonight, what did the US president know and when new revelations are emerging which undermine Mr. Trump's own timeline of events around the
Ukraine scandal. Also, Albania is scrambling to rescue people trapped in the rubble following that deadly earthquake. I speak to the prime minister
of Albania about what the country needs most right now. And if you're headed to the United States for Thanksgiving, prepare for travel chaos to
winter storms are bearing down on the west and Midwest, we'll tell you all about that.
We begin with new revelations that raise some serious new doubts about US President Donald Trump's mainline of defense in the Ukraine scandal that
could lead to his impeachment in the House of Representatives.
The New York Times is reporting Mr. Trump knew about a bombshell whistleblower complaint before you unfroze military aid to Ukraine in
September. Sources say, also knew about it, before he told a top aide, there was no "quid pro quo." Republicans have seized on those remarks as
proof that Mr. Trump did not leverage aid to Ukraine in exchange for political favors. But now the timeline appears to be different from the
one that the administration has been saying unfolded.
Now for his part, President Trump says maniac Democrats are trying to overturn the 2016 election. Listen to how he whipped up a crowd of
supporters in Florida last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: They're pushing that impeachment, witch-hunt, and a lot of bad things are happening to them.
Because you see what's happening in the polls? Everybody said that's really bullshit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: That bleep of the president of the United States, that is really BS is what he said. One of Mr. Trump's main complaints about the
impeachment process is that he has no representation at the hearings. Well, he and his attorney had been invited to this second round of public
hearings next week, but we're now learning their chairs may remain empty.
Let's bring in Congressional Correspondent Phil Mattingly for more on all these details. He's in Washington. What do, what does this timeline of
events change in terms of the impeachment proceedings at the President unfroze aid, according to these reports, only after learning of a
whistleblower complaint?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Hala, I think the interesting thing is it completely shifts the lens through which you view
almost everything we've heard in public testimony or enclosed, or depositions that we've gotten transcripts of over the course of the last
three or four weeks at this point.
Look, the reality of the Republican defense, which has been staunch and it has been unified, particularly in the House over the last couple of weeks
is that the President made clear when asked about it directly by his US ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, who was deeply involved in these
issues, and who had told the Ukrainians he believed that in fact, a quid pro quo was necessary that the President was very clear, no quid pro quo.
And I think when you look at it through the lens of the President, knowing that a whistleblower complaint had been filed, that the complaint
explicitly laid out a potential quid pro quo. And not only did he tell the ambassador to the EU this specifically, he also told a US Senator Ron
Johnson, in explicit terms. Justin later recounted that that didn't happen, and that "who told you that?"
So I think everything starts to shift a little bit based on this New York Times reporting in terms of who had the understanding and when. I would
also point out one other detail, Hala, that I found very interesting. It's a little bit in the weeds, but we got the deposition transcript of a
budget, a White House Budget official last night, where he lays out that over the course of July and August through the entirety of those two
months, he had been asking for a White House rationale as to why the aid had been held up, never got one.
In early September, he finally got one saying that the White House and the President wanted to know what other countries were contributing. Again,
that was after according to the times, the President was aware of the whistleblower complaint.
GORANI: Yes.
MATTINGLY: It feels a lot like trying to cover tracks, not like their defense, the least if they were holding up for the period of the last
couple of weeks actually stands when you look at it through that lens.
[14:05:00]
So where does that leave us in terms of the actual impeachment inquiry here. What -- next week there are hearings with a panel of experts
testifying on Capitol Hill. How far does this mean we are from an actual vote in the House of Representatives on impeachment?
MATTINGLY: Yes, we're weeks away. And I think I'm not sure the new revelations actually changed the dynamics politically right now, both sides
are pretty entrenched in their Red Team-Blue Team corners. We've seen that play out over the course of the public hearings. But what this means is,
this is now shifting and Democrats are full speed ahead.
The House Judiciary Committee where this hearing will be held next week is where they will draft articles of impeachment. After they move through a
couple of public hearings, many of which will be nuts and bolts kind of precedent history how impeachment actually works. Those articles of
impeachment will be introduced. They'll be considered in the committee level and before Christmas. That's the plan right now, before Christmas.
The Full House will have a vote to impeach the president of United States. They have the votes right now. Democrats are aligned on this for the most
part and plan on moving it forward. So the President is moments like, almost certainly at this point to be impeached by Christmas. The big
question then will be what happens to the United States Senate.
GORANI: All right. Of course, where the Republicans hold a majority, thanks very much, Phil Mattingly in Washington. Let's bring in one of our
legal analyst now. We're joined by former US federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin.
Michael, do these revelations the reported by the New York Times changed anything in terms of the inquiry itself, do you think?
MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it does and it doesn't. It does make it clear that the President, if this report of the New York Times is
to believe, had a notion that they were going to be out in allegations about a quid pro quo and that he was getting ready to defend himself.
And so when Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, says to him, Mr. President, what do you want from Ukraine, rather than say, I want anti-
corruption efforts? I want guarantees I want -- He says, no quid pro quo, which is really unusual sort of conversation to be asked, what do you want
and your sort of reply is no quid pro quo.
So it implies knowledge on the President's part, which going to make it much more difficult in the Senate for them to claim that he didn't have any
predisposition or preinclination or preinvolvement in this stuff. So I think it's a bad fact for him.
GORANI: It's not the most conversational term, by the way, no quid pro quo. Though, it has entered the vernacular in this country. This is what
the President told his supporters in Florida yesterday about the Ukraine scandal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want nothing -- this is a quote. I want no quid pro quo. I want nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: So he's denying this, of course, this is after all the expert witness testimony and all these veteran diplomats, many of whom, by the
way, are politically conservative. They're not necessarily Never Trumpers. His own EU Ambassador was a big donor to his campaign in 2016. So where
does that leave the process because it is still entirely political. It's very different from a case, for instance, in a civil or criminal court.
What happens next week?
ZELDIN: So what happens next week is that they will be open hearings in the judiciary committee to hear from constitutional experts who will tell
us whether they analysis of the President's conduct believe that an impeachable offense has occurred. The following that they will receive a
report from the House Intelligence Committee, the ones that held the hearings, on all these fact witnesses. They'll combine those two things
together, and then they make a decision in the committee whether to vote articles of impeachment.
If they write and then vote articles of impeachment, and they pass by a simple majority, they then go to the Full House representatives who then
get to consider them one by one, and each one that is passed again by civil majority is then sent over to the Senate, where a trial is held and you
need 67 of the 100 senators to vote in favor of conviction for the president to be removed from office.
It has never happened in our history. Nixon probably would have been removed. But he resigned before they got to the Senate.
GORANI: What an expectation as far as Donald Trump is concerned, and certainly with Republicans in control of the Senate. That's not what we
expect to happen. A conviction though an impeachment is certainly a very probable before Christmas.
Rudy Giuliani, CNN is reporting now, acknowledging meeting with the lawyer of a Ukrainian oligarch, very connected to the Kremlin. He previously said
he had nothing to do with this person. How does Rudy Giuliani's pronouncements, all these reports surrounding his activities in Ukraine
change things for this inquiry?
ZELDIN: So it is clear that Rudy Giuliani is doing two things. One is he's representing the president in the President's effort to acquire dirt
on the Biden's and get to the bottom of what he thinks was the Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election. And at the same time, he is representing
himself to try to obtain business.
[14:10:08]
So he's using his connections with the White House to parlay that into personal business. He has said over and over, I'm not being paid by the
President. Well, if you're not being paid, and you spending this much time, you know, out in the public domain, working on the President's
behalf, you need to earn an income somehow. And it seems that what he's doing is trading on his relationship with the president to acquire other
clients.
That's nothing that is necessarily illegal, is unseemly in my estimation, but we'll see whether he has done anything that crosses the legal-illegal
line.
GORANI: But he's not being forthcoming here and has been not being fully, you know, transparent about who he's meeting with, their accusations that
he was conducting a shadow parallel foreign policy in the name of the president and countries like Ukraine meetings all over Europe with
characters that are considered to be quite shady.
Does this reflect on the president at all? Will it spill over onto the president?
ZELDIN: It's not clear because you can separate Giuliani working on Giuliani's behalf, from Giuliani working on the President's behalf. But
what he has done or alleged to have done on behalf of the President is bad enough, as it sits, you know, it make it as it is.
That is that he was endeavoring to get the Ukrainians to get political dirt on the Biden's the, you know, front runner against President Trump still to
this day. And in exchange for that, they would get a meeting with the White House and they get their military aid and, you know, the President
would be happy and Giuliani will have done his job.
And at the same time, Giuliani is meeting with all sorts of shady characters who he's quite willing. It seems to represent so much for
America's mayor holding a high ethical standard. He seems to be willing to be representing anybody, as long as they're as long as they're paying him,
which is I think, as I say, not illegal, but unseemly in my, you know, sort of core values.
GORANI: Thanks very much, Michael Zeldin, as always, for joining us. Appreciate it.
ZELDIN: Thanks, Hala.
GORANI: Have a great Thanksgiving.
ZELDIN: You too.
GORANI: Meantime, Mr. Trump wants to designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations. Listen to what he said in an interview on
Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't want to say what I'm going to do, but they will be designated. I will be designating the cartels, absolutely. I have been
working on that for the last 90 days. You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process and we're well into that process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: What is Mexico say about all of this, designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations? What does it change? Matt Rivers is in Mexico
City with the reaction there and we're hearing from the President, Matt.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And I think it's safe to say how the Mexico's government, a, is not thrilled with this. This statement from the
president and also, b, frankly, they were they were taken off guard by this. Mexico's foreign secretary, saying that he would be immediately
requesting a meeting with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and that, you know, foreign ministry here is not thrilled about it.
And also, as you mentioned, in his daily press conference this morning, President Lopez Obrador of Mexico, he didn't get into it all that much, but
he was pretty clear and his point of view, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOPEZ OBRADOR, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO (through translation): I only need to say, cooperation, yes, interventionism, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: So basically, let's unpack this a little bit. Basically, when the United States designates groups as foreign terrorist organizations, it
gives the United States government a legal groundwork to take stronger action, mainly in the financial and diplomatic realms against these groups.
So for example, US finance-led institutions would be barred from doing any sort of business with anyone related to a member of a group of foreign
terrorist organization. Members of the FTOs would not be allowed to enter the United States. And that would certainly have an impact on the Mexican
United States bilateral relationship.
But, Hala, I think what people here in Mexico and the government here would be worried about is, does this provide any sort of justification for the
United States that have unilateral military intervention here in a sovereign country? That's what President Lopez Obrador is talking about.
No interventionism from the military.
It was just earlier this month, nine Americans were killed as a part of what many suspect is cartel violence. The President offered to send
military support here to Mexico and the Mexican government denied that. So what the fear is, now, is that for the United States use this foreign
terrorist organization label as a way to justify unilateral military intervention.
[14:15:00]
The President has not said he will do that, not at all. We don't know the timeframe of when this designation will come down, Hala. But it does
appear given what the President said that they will be labeling cartels here foreign terrorist organizations.
GORANI: Is that the biggest concern for Mexicans, that the President of the United States is using this designation as a pretext to be able to use
military force or conduct some sort of military intervention in Mexico. That's their biggest concern right now?
RIVERS: That's definitely one of the biggest concerns. I mean, there's also, you know, economic concerns. You know, there's a concern that it
could hurt the trading relationship between the United States and Mexico. But I think just from an existential level, I think if you're members of
the Mexican government, you do not want members of the American military operating in your sovereign territory. What Mexican government officials
would say is that that's a violation of Mexican sovereignty.
What President Trump might say and what Americans might say is that was going on here in Mexico with the drug trade, with human trafficking has a
negative effect on the United States. The United States has to do something about it. President Trump thinks that maybe this is the way to
go, but he's going to face stiff opposition from the Mexican government.
GORANI: Matt Rivers live in Mexico City. Thanks very much.
Still to come tonight, after the worst earthquake to hit Albania in decades, rescue workers there are afraid that there are still people
trapped under the rubble. It's been 48 hours so it's always possible still to find survivors. We'll be speaking to the country's prime minister after
a quick break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Albania's government has declared a state of emergency, the day after a powerful earthquake killed at least 30 people. Rescue workers are
searching for anyone still trapped in collapsed buildings. It's not clear how many people are still missing.
Several countries have sent troops machinery also those tracker dogs that are great at helping rescuers locate survivors. And this is really time is
of the essence when an earthquake hits. You've got like two or three days in which to find as many survivors as possible. Hundreds of people spent
the night outdoors sleeping in tents as aftershocks shook the country overnight.
The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama joins me now from Durres which was hit hard by the quake. Prime Minister, first of all, could you update us on
the latest toll how many people have perished? How many people are still missing?
EDI RAMA, PRIME MINISTER OF ALBANIA: Thank you for having me, for a very difficult moment for our country and our people. And we are under shocking
earthquake and (inaudible) accounting with that. We are beyond Turkey and we don't know yet what will be the final Monday.
[14:20:00]
Six hundred sixty-seven people have been registered dead, only people with totally different (inaudible) but few are in very bad shape and we are
studying also some flights to send them in specialized clinics (inaudible). The account (inaudible) damages, probably damages and we have hundreds and
hundreds more than thousands. We are still making the inventory of families that lost their house. Yes, it's horrible and thank God.
GORANI: Can you put a number, Prime Minister, on the number of people missing?
RAMA: Say it again.
GORANI: Could you could you put a number on the number of people missing and what is really what rescuers are facing hear in terms of--
RAMA: There are few now as we speak, fumes of rescue teams coming also from different countries, super specialized, super (inaudible) that have
joined our very (inaudible) people and skilled-- there are few dozens of (inaudible) people.
GORANI: A few dozen.
RAMA: It's still not very clear. We had another earthquake two hours ago, less, let's say, strong but still few dozens of families fled their homes
when stops. So the country's shaking every four or five hours, get some kind of shakes, but (inaudible) but we are holding strong and we are coming
together, and we're not alone with this.
GORANI: So you've received, Prime Minister, you've received specialized help from specialized teams and from other countries. And the objective
now is to find survivors obviously.
And you mentioned a few dozen people still missing. I imagine you've spoken to families who are frantic now with worry, agonizing over whether
their loved ones have been able to survive. Is that just about the number of people that rescuers are now looking for in the rubble, a few dozen?
RAMA: There are different spots where, you know, we have some numbers that are now small numbers. The (inaudible) is fading away. We succeeded to
rescue and to save from very, very impossible situations, nearly 50 people, 48 to be exact. We hope that there is still life under the rubbles, but it
looks more, you know, hopeless. And, you know, it's really, it's really upsetting.
GORANI: Well, we really wish you the best of luck you and your countrymen and women. Prime Minister Rama joining us from the quake zone there in
Albania after that 6.4 magnitude quake and a very strong aftershock in the last 24 hours. Best of luck to the rescuers as they continue to search for
survivors.
The Prime Minister there talking to CNN beyond 30 dead is what Prime Minister Rama said, with countless damage. Thousands have lost their
homes. Specialized teams looking for survivors, hope is fading though in previous earthquakes. Survivors have been found many, many days after the
initial tremor brought buildings down, but you see the extent of the damage and the trauma there suffered by people who went through a very, very
difficult last few days in Albania. We'll keep our eye on that story and our thanks to the prime minister of the country.
Now, there's severe weather in the United States. So if you're flying to this part of the world over the next day or so, be prepared to face some
pretty severe delays. Early winter storms are disrupting airlines and highways on one of America's busiest travel days the day before
Thanksgiving.
Over the west, heavy snow is being driven by hurricane force winds and the storm is so powerful it's being called a bomb cyclone.
Another major storm is attacking the Midwest. Ryan Young joins me now live from Minneapolis, Minnesota. What's going on where -- it doesn't look like
at least like it's snowing, but it certainly looks cold, Ryan.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Look, Hala, look there's some good news here. In fact, most of the snow hit overnight. When we went sleep,
there was no snow on the ground.
[14:25:03]
Now, we had about nine inches overnight. You can see what sort of left, the -- what's left behind. I will tell you this, though. It hasn't snowed
in the last three hours so that's good news.
The bad news is, though. If you look out there, you see all that slush out there on the road. But you have more than 30 minutes million people
traveling, you know that stuff can ice up. We've had nearly 200 accidents and 300 spinouts, all that creates a really bad mix when it comes to
driving. Of course, as we walk down here, the big question is about what was going to happen at the airport.
What we heard so far, about a hundred cancellations. I mean, sorry, a hundred delays and only 35 cancellations. So that's good news in terms of
this area so far. But again, what they're thinking about is what's going to happen when this freezes up a little later on tonight, because as you
said, it is cold. Sometimes it's a little difficult to talk because of all the coal that impacts your lungs, but at the same time, in terms of what
they're trying to do for the highway. They're all pre-treating this to make sure that nice later commute that's going to be happening a little
later on is a lot safer for the drivers who are out there.
GORANI: So, so far, it's delays, not cancellations, right? Because our viewers around the world some of them might even be American flying home,
others might be tourists flying to the United States or this part of the world, no cancellations, but just delays. So arm yourself with patients.
Young: Yes. Look, that's the big point that I think can be made here. We looked at New York. We've looked at Chicago. We look all the way to
Denver. What we've seen is, a stacking delays but not so much cancellations.
In fact, the board was mostly green at a lot of these airports. That's why we came outside. That was -- we've even talked to the pilots at a nearby
hotel, they told us they haven't had the some of the issues that they thought they were going to have today. So that's all good news especially
when you're dealing with trying to travel somewhere for the holidays.
Of course, you still have to pack your patience because you never know when one of those delays will sort of pop up and slow you down.
GORANI: Right? Well, I'm flying out tonight. So I'll let you know. I'll let you know that good.
Still to come -- thank you. Still to come tonight, a video posted on the Chinese social media app TikTok has gone viral not for its beauty tips, but
for an anti-China message. We'll tell you all about it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson is accusing the United States of meddling and China's affairs after Pompeo slam to China's
government for detaining members of the Muslim Uighur minority and secretive internment camps.
China's Foreign Ministry says there are no ethnic, religious or human rights issues in the Far West region where Uighurs mostly live, but the US
and other Western nations say China is trying to eradicate that Muslim culture that minority population all together.
[14:30:00]
This is what Mike Pompeo had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've all seen the Xinjiang papers released in recent days. They detailed the Chinese party's brutal
detention and systematic repression of Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang. These reports are consistent with an
overwhelming and growing body of evidence that the Chinese communist party is committing human rights violations and abuses against individuals in
mass detention.
We call on the Chinese government to immediate release all those who are arbitrarily detained into -- and it's draconian policies that have
terrorized its own citizens in Xinjiang. It's not just that are the largest, that are the target of the CCP's hostility Christians, Tibet, and
some other minority groups. We've also felt the CCP's heavy hand of repression.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, the issue have gone viral on TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media. The app is best known for pranks, dancing videos, and other
lighthearted content. It's mainly younger users, younger even than Instagram.
But an Afghan-American teenager used what looked initially like a beauty tutorial to accuse China of abusing Muslims. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FEROZA AZIZ, AFGHAN-AMERICAN CRITICIZING CHINA: Hi, guys. I'm going to teach you guys how to get long lashes. So, the first thing you need to do
is grab your lash curler lashes, obviously. Then you're going to put them down and use your phone that you're using right now to search up what's
happening in China, how they're getting concentration camps throwing innocent Muslims in there. Please be aware. Please spread awareness.
And, yes, so you can grab your lash curler again --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Well, the teenager who posted that video says TikTok is now discriminating against her.
Hadas Gold joins me now live from London.
So this went viral. It got millions and millions of views. But I understand that the initial TikTok video was taken down?
HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA AND BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, it's a little bit confusing. That 40-second video definitely went viral with more than one
million views.
Now, Aziz says that she was locked out of her account. She told CNN, she thinks this because she was criticizing China and that TikTok is, of
course, Chinese company owned by ByteDance. It's one of the few apps that have really taken off in the U.S.
But the company actually said in a statement that they do not moderate content -- moderate content due to political sensitivities, although there
have long been suspicion surrounding certain Chinese tech companies and have closely connected. They may be to the Chinese government.
But about what happened with Aziz, TikTok denied that the company banned her video or her account. And we were able to find the video and her
account on TikTok as of Wednesday.
But what happened, TikTok did say banned another account owned by Aziz because she posted a video with an image of Osama bin Laden, which they say
violated their ban on content with imagery related to terrorist organizations.
And they also said that they banned the device associated with the account firm of that service. But Aziz says that her account, as recently as in
the last few days, she was not able to sign in. She has said that she has recently been able to get back in.
Aziz says the video with the Osama bin Laden imagery was just a joke. She was poking fun at what she says is sort of racial overturn that she has
faced as a Muslim teenager.
But these concerns over TikTok connection to China, the reason that I think the story is getting so much attention is because there's a lot of
concerns, including from U.S. lawmakers who have requested a national security assessment of the platform.
They're saying that they're worried these apps could be used to spy on U.S. citizens or even become targets of foreign influence campaign.
Now, TikTok has been of a sort of a PR move, trying to repair this image about that it's having and its head, Alex Zhu, just recently had an
interview with the New York Times. They say that Chinese regulators don't have any influence over the company.
They said that they refuse also any requests if they were to get anything from Chinese regulators. They said that for now the company is pretty
lucky that we still associate most of TikTok with memes and lip-syncing and fun things like that and not political discussions.
But clearly, political discussions are coming to that app and that image could be changing. Hala?
GORANI: So I mean, what the company is saying is that they didn't take or lock this young lady out of her account because of the content -- because
of this particular video.
But does the Chinese government have any influence? What do the people who run TikTok say? Does it have any influence? Can it request that content
be taken down?
GOLD: So Alex Zhu, who's the head of TikTok told the New York Times no. He said that Chinese regulators have no power over them. And he even said
that a lot -- in that interview he said a lot of their data is actually hosted in the United States, not even hosted in China.
But there's a lot of concerns about these companies that are ultimately owned or operated from China, about what the Chinese government could, at
some point do.
Of course, we've had a lot of conversations about this related to Huawei. This is something we see over and over again with Chinese companies. There
are some options for a company like TikTok. And this is something that was brought to the head of TikTok in that New York Times interview. For
example, they could try to divest TikTok, make it be a U.S. owned company, instead of being connected to China.
There's no -- there's no sense of that is coming any time soon. But these are concerns we're seeing over and over again as Chinese companies get more
popular and their influence spreads around the world, the concern that they have connections to the Chinese government and what the government could do
potentially with that information.
[14:35:10]
GORANI: Well, I'd be interested to know if this segment aired in China or if CNN went dark. That happens sometimes when you talk about China and
issues like the Uyghur minority.
Thanks very much, Hadas Gold, in London.
GOLD: Thanks.
GORANI: When a politician is in trouble, they often try to clear things up with a T.V. interview. If that was the British Labour Party leader's plan
for dealing with questions about anti-Semitism, it seems to have backfired.
Listen to an interview Jeremy Corbyn gave only hours after the chief rabbi of Britain said Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitic allegations in the Labour
party made him unfit to be prime minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW NEIL, SCOTTISH JOURNALIST: Eighty percent of Jews think that you are anti-Semitic. That's quite a lot of British Jews.
I mean, wouldn't you like to take this opportunity tonight to apologize to the British-Jewish community for what's happened?
JEREMY CORBYN, BRITISH LEADER OF LABOUR PARTY: What I'll say is this, I am determined that our society would be safe for people of all faiths. I
don't want anyone to be feeling insecure in our society. And our government will protect every community.
NEIL: So no apology?
CORBYN: Against the abuse they received on the streets, on the trains, or in any other --
NEIL: So no apology --
CORBYN: On any other form of life.
NEIL: I'll try one more time. Any apology?
CORBYN: Andrew, can I explain what we're trying to do?
NEIL: You have, and you've given plenty of time to do it. I asked you if you wanted to apologize and you --
CORBYN: Andrew, I don't want anyone to go through what anyone has gone --
NEIL: And you said that several times. I understand that, Mr. Corbyn. I was asking you about an apology.
Let's move on to Brexit.
CORBYN: Well, hang on. Can I just make it clear? Racism in our society is a total poison.
NEIL: You've said that several times. So, you know, we get that.
(CROSSTALK)
CORBYN: -- Islamophobia, anti-Semitism --
NEIL: And you said that, too. Let's move on to Brexit.
CORBYN: -- or any other -- any other form of racism and I want to work with every community to make sure it's eliminated. That is what my whole
has been about --
NEIL: You made that clear, and people will make up their own minds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of the Labour Party -- the leader of the Conservative Party and the current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has
not, according to the BBC, set a date yet for an interview with Andrew Neil, who conducted that interview with Corbyn.
Now, with the future of Brexit hanging in the balance, Northern Ireland could play a key role in next month's U.K. elections. Northern Ireland
shares a long open border with the Republic of Ireland which would remain in the European Union after Brexit.
As our Nic Robertson reports, many Northern Ireland voters are concerned about how all of this will work out for them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): North Belfast, the cold crisp night, the election is nearing of 18 Northern Irish
seats -- as many as eight could change hands. This is one of them.
JOHN FINUCANE, NORTHERN IRELAND POLITICIAN: Hello. How are you? Good evening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.
FINUCANE: John Finucane, (INAUDIBLE) from Sin Fein in advance.
ROBERTSON: John Finucane, a lawyer with pro remain, mostly Catholic Irish nationalists, Sinn Fein.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, 100 percent, John. I'm going to have to vote --
FINUCANE: Thank you very much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The actions for Brexit is really the key
ROBERTSON (on-camera): What is it you want to happen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, to be honest, I voted to remain in the E.U., you know, so my key thing would be like Brexit, so there's no hard borders
in Ireland.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In this constituency, most other pro-remain candidates withdrew to let Finucane, who is also Lord Mayor of Belfast get
their vote, even though his party refused to take their seats in Westminster.
FINUCANE: But the people of North Belfast are very similar to the people of the north here, in general. They voted to remain whenever the Brexit
referendum came around in 2016. I think this election on December the 12th gives them another opportunity to send a very powerful message.
ROBERTSON: He is up against pro-leave, mostly protestant Democratic Unionist Party incumbent, Nigel Dodds.
Just a few weeks ago, Dodds' party were kingmakers in London. Now, they're under fire from all directions. Unprecedented political alliances are
forming and the future of Northern Ireland is at stake.
ROBERTSON (on-camera): Dodds' message, vote DUP, change Johnson's Brexit deal, strengthen Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom.
Dodds' social media feed shows him campaigning, but he didn't let us along or give us an interview. Neither did any other DUP candidate.
Jim Wells, a local veteran DUP politician who is not running in the election did agree to talk.
[14:40:02]
JIM WELLS, DUP MEMBER OF LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: It's on an ice age North Belfast. In fact, there could be a few hundred votes either way. We need
to maximize the unionist turnout to defeat Sinn Fein.
ROBERTSON: The trail of the union is a live issue in these elections. And that may cost the DUP votes to moderate unionists.
STEVE AIKEN, ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY LEADER: But I want to stop Boris Johnson's withdrawal deal. And the only way we can do that is by with
remaining within the E.U.
ROBERTSON: Even so, neither Aiken nor anyone else in his party will stand against Dodds in North Belfast. Such are the unprecedented tactics of this
election. Aiken's decision could actually benefit historic foe, Sinn Fein, because Aiken's party's message is pro-remain.
Yet, for all the change, the election is reviving old sectarian grievances. In this divided constituency, that resonates.
ROBERTSON (on-camera): Will you be voting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Most, 100 percent.
ROBERTSON: And do you know who you'll be voting for yet?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Nigel Dodds. Yes.
ROBERTSON: And why would you vote for him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's the only one, I think, will have to sound off Boris' (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTSON: Getting out the vote this election doubly difficult. Cold weather and Christmas could crimp turn out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I won't be voting for the DUP or Sinn Fein. Because, you know, they're just so old-fashioned. They need to get high -- because
they're not doing anything.
ROBERTSON: New tactics are opening new possibilities that could see more pro-remain MPs in Westminster. Moderate nationalists, the SDLP could win a
couple of seats.
CLAIRE HANNA, SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC AND LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATE: Look, the issue is Brexit. And the issue is the fact that Northern Ireland and
certainly my constituency voted very firmly to remain, and that voice hasn't properly been represented in Westminster.
ROBERTSON: Hanna is taking on the DUP in South Belfast. Sinn Fein is helping her by stepping aside. Unlike them, she is not an abstentionist,
and would take her place in parliament.
HANNA: Look, I think abstentionism is not -- and as I say, it over empowers the DUP.
ROBERTSON (on-camera): By Christmas, everyone here will know who their new 18 MPs are. Few though would dare predict what happens after that.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: One month after 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in Britain, the first remains have been returned to Vietnam. A plane carrying 16
bodies landed in Hanoi and the victims were taken to their hometowns for funerals. A total of 39 bodies were found in a truck in England last
month.
Family members say the victims paid very large sums to smugglers in hopes of finding better lives in the United Kingdom.
Eight people allegedly connected to this smuggling skim have been arrested in Vietnam and the truck driver is facing manslaughter charges in Britain.
Now, to Syria where American troops are again teaming up with the Kurds to fight ISIS when the U.S. ordered its troops out of northern Syria last
month, Turkish forces moved in.
CNN's Clarissa Ward shows us how civilians are now paying the price for that U.S. exit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Class should be in session now, but here in Al-Hasakah, the school has become a
temporary shelter for displaced people.
In one classroom, we met Ibrahim Hassan, the Kurdish father of five tells us he was forced to flee his home in Ras al-Ain with his children when the
Turkish military operation began.
This is what remains of his house. Ibrahim says it is one of many in his Kurdish neighborhood that was deliberately ransacked by Turkish-backed
forces.
IBRAHIM HASSAN, DISPLACED SYRIAN KURD (through translator): They took everything, and after they took all our belongings, they set it on fire and
burned it all.
Just days before the offensive began, Ibrahim's children had posed smiling with U.S. troops patrolling the area. He says America's presence gave him
a false sense of security, then suddenly they were gone.
HASSAN (through translator): Since America betrayed us, every time I look at these photos of my children with the Americans, I want to erase them.
WARD (on-camera): Do you feel that you trust the Americans still?
Definitely not.
HASSAN (through translator): Now we hear and we see on television America saying that they're only here for the oil. Why did Trump do this? You
have betrayed all of the people.
WARD (voice-over): It's a sentiment we found shared by many here. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced by Turkey's offensive. Hundreds of their
homes have been damaged or looted. Local authorities are now trying to move them out of the schools so that class can start again and into hastily
built camps like this one, conditions are bleak and resources are scarce. Because of the security situation, international aid agencies have had to
pull out, leaving the Kurds with no one to rely on but themselves.
[14:45:25]
WARD (on camera): So she's saying it's really difficult here because it's very cold, especially at night. They don't have enough food. They don't
have electricity and the water is not good.
WARD (voice-over): Camp organizers say there are 3,000 people living here now, with more arriving every day.
WARD (on camera): Almost everyone in this camp is from the town of Ras al- Ain, and Ras al-Ain used to be around 75 percent Kurdish.
Now, though, we're told there are just a handful of Kurds left. And the people here believe that the ultimate goal of this Turkish offensive is to
essentially push the Kurds out of this area completely and change the ethnic makeup of it forever.
WARD (voice-over): Turkey has done little to alleviate their fears, as the Kurds have poured out of these areas, Arabs have been bussed in. Syrian
refugees who Turkish authorities claim are originally from these areas.
After more than eight years of civil war, this part of Syria is full of stories of people forcibly displaced.
In the Christian village of Tel Nasri, we find more families from Ras al- Ain sheltering in the ruins of a destroyed church.
Will you try to go home? I asked these women. There's no home to go to, they reply.
ISIS cleansed this area of Christians when it was in control. They have yet to return. Now, the village provides refuge for another people, forced
from their homes with no sense of a possible return.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Northern Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: We'll be right back. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Now to the case of the chef, the star, and the souffle, a French court began hearing arguments today in a lawsuit between one of the world's
top chefs and the famous Michelin Guide.
The chef wants an explanation after one of its restaurants was downgraded by Michelin from three stars to two stars. The whole thing centers on a
cheese souffle. The story from Saskya Vandoorne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN FIELD PRODUCER (on-camera): In France, food is given a special place. In the best restaurants, it is given an almost ceremonial
reference, and for the top chefs, the ultimate measure of their success is the Michelin Star.
[14:50:09]
But what if far from being something to wish for, the Michelin star was more of a curse.
VANDOORNE (voice-over): Marc Veyrat, one of France's most famous chefs has earned nine stars in all. But in January, his Maison des Bois restaurant
in the Alps lost its third star over a souffle that a critic said tasted of cheddar -- an affront that Mr. Veyrat has not even begun to digest.
Now, the 69-year-old is taking the Michelin Guide to court. He said he no longer wants its stars and wants the Guide to clarify the reasons behind
its decision. But it turns out, it's not that simple.
GWENDAL POULLENNEC, INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR, THE MICHELIN GUIDE: A food, especially, in France is about passion, it's about emotion. Chef are real
artists. So, they are quite proud.
Sometimes excessive, fragile, and I think in that case, he's saying, OK, I deserve three star because I am who I am. We have to avoid any kind of,
let's say, emotional blackmail. Because, OK, that menu guide with three- star, but not with two-star. OK. Is that fair? No.
VANDOORNE: It isn't the first time that the pressure placed on chefs by the star system has caused controversy. The 2003 suicide of the three-star
chef Bernard Loiseau was linked to a system of intense gourmet critic.
Several chefs have even asked for their stars to be removed, citing the psychological, as well as financial pressure of maintaining their rating.
TEXT: For 20 years, I couldn't sleep for three months in the lead up to the Guide being because I was so scared, I would lose the stars. How can
you allow that? Will we do this tomorrow for lawyers, doctors, mechanics, for everyone? What right do they have to do this?
VANDOORNE: Veyrat hopes the hearing today will force the Guide to be more transparent about how it awards stars, and more importantly, why it takes
them away.
Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GORANI: That's really an interesting story. A lot of pressure on some of these chefs.
We'll be right back after a break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GORANI: Well, speaking of cuisine, this week, we've brought you stories of how top restaurants in Budapest are revolutionizing Hungarian cuisine by
injecting a modern twist into some traditional dishes.
Today, we go inside the New York cafe, one of the oldest and most popular eateries in the city to discover how it fed a literary movement. Take a
look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 1894, the New York Life Insurance Company opened its European headquarters in Budapest and built a coffee house inside that
it hope would one day be called the most beautiful cafe in the world.
ANDRAS JOKUTI, HUNGARIAN FOOD CRITIC: If you just visited, you are already thinking like, OK. Where am I? Is this a palace?
[14:55:04]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coffee was introduced to Hungary by the Turks in 16th century, but it wasn't until the Austria-Hungarian Empire was formed in
1867, that the fashionable cafe culture thriving in Vienna finally took off in Budapest with an estimated 500 coffee houses opening throughout the
city, including the New York Cafe.
JOKUTI: It's even more interesting because this was finally not just a place for the rich. It was a meeting point for poor artists. So they just
went there in the hope of there will be some nice rich people who would offer them a meal. For example, for a nice poem for their wives or any
other services.
TAMAS FAZEKAS, GENERAL MANAGER, NEW YORK PALACE HOTEL, THE DEDICA ANTHOLOGY: There was literature movement based and established in the New
York cafe. It was called Nyugat. Nyugat means best.
And basically, they wrote articles, novels, poems, and for magazines, newspapers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, the cafe welcomes one and a half thousand guests a day for coffee and a bite of one of Hungary's most traditional
deserts, the Somloi sponge.
ABRUDAN ZSOLT, EXECUTIVE CHEF, NEW YORK CAFE: It's made up with three years of sponge cake. One is the vanilla taste, one is chocolate, and one
is the walnut. And with vanilla cream inside, walnut, raisins, and finish with chocolate sauce, and whip cream, of course, with all of the deserts,
so. Whip cream is not enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it comes with a warning.
ZSOLT: You can get sick very soon if you eat a lot. So, yes, you need to be careful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: And finally, a Greek television reporter, Lazos Mantikos, was sent out to cover some terrible flooding in his country. But he got proposition
instead by a pig.
Mantikos was all set to do a live report for Good Morning Greece when an escaped female pig began chasing him.
He was nipping at the reporter. Apparently, just a sign that she may have wanted to mate with him. Who wrote this seriously? Who wrote this? I'm
going to say it out loud.
His colleagues back in the studio were doubled over with laughter. They urged Mantikos to stop reporting on the flooding and focus on fixing his
relationship with the pig.
Thanks for watching tonight. I'm Hala Gorani. Stay with CNN. "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
