Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Pence in Charge of Trump Transition Team; Trump May Keep Some of ObamaCare; American Muslims React to Presidential Election; Hospital Scrambles to Save Lives Near Mosul. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired November 12, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Flag burning and chanting in the streets: protesters across the U.S. demonstrate once again their anger directed at Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the president-elect plans for the future. We are learning about his potential cabinet members and White House staff.

And can ObamaCare be renegotiated?

Why Donald Trump says he doesn't want to get rid of the entire law.

Hello, I'm Cyril Vanier. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VANIER: For three straight days now demonstrators have take to the streets against the election of Donald Trump. It is not having any noticeable affect on the president-elect, who is moving ahead with his transition team.

On Friday, Trump put Vice President-Elect Mike Pence in charge of the transition. As for Trump's vast business holdings, the Trump organization says that plans are underway to transfer control of more than 500 business interests to Trump's grown children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER (voice-over): And that's some of the latest footage out of Portland, Oregon. In downturn a short time ago, things were heating up. Police report that protesters started throwing projectiles. Yesterday more than two dozen people were arrested when a gathering became violent.

CNN commentator Jeffrey Lord joins us now, a former White House political director and now a Trump supporter.

Jeffrey, first question I want to ask you is we have been looking at these anti-Trump protests. Do you feel that the president-elect should be addressing them

differently than the way he has been doing until now, which has mainly been by tweeting?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, i don't know. Rush Limbaugh, who's a very popular conservative radio host here, back on June 30th of this year, said on his show, predicted that if Donald Trump won the election, the next day the American Left would be in the streets protesting.

That is exactly what happened here. In other words, there is a certain degree of predictability about this. And I have to tell you, at my age I remember this kind of thing from this 1960s. They went after, in those days, the Democratic Party -- this was the American Left going after poor Hubert Humphrey, who was the vice president at the time and the Democratic nominee in 1968.

And they were in a riot in the streets of Chicago, calling him a fascist and all of this sort of thing. This is sort of what they do and the --

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: But you are talking a half a century ago.

What does the President-Elect need to say to people now?

LORD: -- well, what I'm saying is they are going to do this no matter what he says. They did this -- I mean, this is what Occupy Wall Street was all about. And that's not half a century ago. This is just a couple of years ago. This is who they are.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: -- aren't you letting him off the hook a little easily?

He is president-elect and he's going to lead the country?

Currently --

LORD: Well, the assumption is they are going to listen to him and I don't think that will be the case.

VANIER: All right. I want you to tell me now more about his transition. Going forward how a Trump administration is potentially going to get along with the GOP establishment, the Republican establishment, his run-ins with House Speaker Paul Ryan have been well documented during the campaign.

LORD: Yes, I think that is water over the dam now. As I understand it, Speaker Ryan has been very comfortable now, getting comfortable and had a number of conversations with the new president. He knows how to make deals. He knows how to negotiate. And I think he will have a very good relationship with these people.

VANIER: So it's not going to be adversarial, despite all the bad blood during the campaign?

LORD: No. I don't think so. And let's remember that President Reagan had problems with some Republican members of Congress as well. This is fairly typical, I might add.

VANIER: What kind of common ground will they find?

Because they are substantial policy differences.

LORD: Well, I think ObamaCare, I think repealing that. I think that there will be common ground on building infrastructure in the country. Those are two areas where I think they can get started.

VANIER: But look, infrastructure, even the Democrats are saying that they will probably sign onto that. So they are probably going to find common ground there across the political spectrum. But if you take ObamaCare, for instance, Donald Trump doesn't want to repeal every part of ObamaCare.

LORD: Right, right, well, I think that he will find common ground with Republicans on this. And never underestimate the power of the presidency. When you are elected President of the United States, suddenly you have a whole new set of friends --

[02:05:00]

LORD: -- most of them in Congress in your party because they all want something from the administration.

And so you know, the best advice for them, of course, is, for their own sake, don't antagonize the White House. Cooperate with it. And I have a feeling that that will be in play once again.

VANIER: All right. CNN commentator Jeffrey Lord, thank you for your time, we appreciate it.

LORD: Thanks.

VANIER: One of the most critical positions any new president must fill is White House chief of staff. That person holds enormous power from how the White House is run down to who gets to see the president. CNN's Dana Bash takes a closer look at the man now believed to be in line for the job.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Election Night the person Donald Trump praised more than anyone else was Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I tell you, Reince is really a star and he is the hardest working guy.

And in a certain way, I did this -- Reince come up here.

Where is Reince? Get over here, Reince. Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, it's about the time you

did this, Reince.

BASH: Even surrendering his victory speech microphone to Priebus.

TRUMP: Amazing guy. Our partnership with the RNC is so important to the success and what we've done.

BASH: It is true that the RNC had more influence over Trump's campaign than any in recent history. Priebus started to build ground operations and voter files in key states three years ago, which Trump used and benefited from, big-time.

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: We spent the last four years building a nationwide ground game.

BASH: In the last few months of Trump's campaign, Priebus personally played an outsized role, from helping lead debate prep to traveling extensively to help keep Trump focused and disciplined.

PRIEBUS: We're so honored to be working with Donald Trump.

BASH: Those pushing for Priebus say he's the ideal chief of staff for several reasons. He can organize the White House and be a good gatekeeper, crucial traits for that job.

And they point to the relationships he has with Republicans, who run Capitol Hill, especially House Speaker Paul Ryan, a longtime close friend from Wisconsin. Priebus even brokered their first meeting this spring.

BASH: Do you feel like a couple's therapist?

PRIEBUS: No, you know what, you wouldn't say that if you're in the room.

BASH: But those very bonds Priebus has with GOP leaders give Trump pause. They didn't want Trump to be president and though Priebus often acted as a go-between during the campaign, which ultimately helped Trump, sources close to the president-elect say he isn't 100 percent sure Priebus is loyal.

TRUMP: When you're a star, they let you do it.

BASH: Especially since, as party chair, Priebus had to publicly criticize Trump more than once when the "Access Hollywood" tape came out he said, quote, "No woman should ever be described in these terms or talked about in this manner, ever.

Another contender for chief of staff, Steve Bannon, was always a steadfast Trump loyalist. He came from Breitbart, a conservative publication that spends as much time attacking establishment Republicans as Democrats.

STEVE BANNON, BREITBART: What we need to do is bitch-slap the Republican Party and get those guys, you know, heeding, too and if we have to, we'll take it over.

BASH: Bannon became Trump's chief executive officer during the third campaign shake up and sources say immediately had the candidate's ear. In fact, Bannon too began traveling with Trump extensively in the waning weeks of the campaign.

Although he sometimes fed Trump's worst instincts, sources say he also had enough credibility with the candidate to convince him not to send damaging tweets or retaliate against critics in a way that will distract from his core message.

For that reason, even if Bannon is not chief of staff, Trump sources say to expect in some capacity, he will be around a Trump White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: CNN chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, there with that report.

Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump vowed to do away with ObamaCare or most of it at least. Well, he now he says he may keep some parts of the Affordable Care Act intact. The president-elect told "The Wall Street Journal" that he is now reconsidering his previous stance following his meeting with Mr. Obama on Thursday.

You see it there.

In an interview with CBS News show, "60 Minutes," he detailed what provisions of the law might stay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let me ask you about ObamaCare, which you say you're going to repeal and replace.

When you replace it, are you going to make sure that people with preconditions are still covered?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, because it happens to be one of the strongest assets.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep that?

TRUMP: Also with the children living with their parents for an extended period. We're going to --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to keep that?

TRUMP: Very much try and keep that (INAUDIBLE).

Adds cost but it's very much something we're going to try and keep.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's going to be a period, if you repeal it and before you replace it, when millions of people --

(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: We're going to do it simultaneously. It will be just fine. That's what I do. I do a good job. You know, I mean, I know how to do this stuff. We're going to --

[02:10:00]

TRUMP: -- repeal it and replace it.

And we're not going to have like a two-day period and we're not going to have a two-year period where there's nothing. It will be repealed and replaced. And we'll know. And it will be great health care for much less money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: And that's a political debate that Americans are following very closely. The threat of a repeal of ObamaCare sent more than 100,000 Americans rushing to buy health insurance on Wednesday, the day just after the U.S. election. That's the biggest turnout so far during this year's signup period.

Coming up, how realistic is a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico?

Donald Trump says the border will be a priority during his first days in office. The reaction from Mexico -- next.

Plus: what some anti-Trump protesters are doing instead of taking to the streets.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VANIER: A core part of Donald Trump's campaign was his promise to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and he isn't backing down on that. He says that border security will be a priority during his first days in office. Ed Lavandera has more on the reaction in Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We're going to build a great wall.

The wall just got 10 feet higher.

Maybe someday they're going to call it the Trump Wall.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The border between the United States and Mexico stretches nearly 2,000 miles; nearly 700 miles of it is already covered with some form of border wall or steel fencing. But Donald Trump wants more.

TRUMP: On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall. MICHAEL DEAR, CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNER: Well, of course it can be done --

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Professor Michael Dear is an expert in city and regional planning and the author of the book, "Why Walls don't Work."

DEAR: A large concrete structure which might be 25 feet high would be very intensive in terms of resources and money.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): In fact, CNN has surveyed a number of civil engineers, architects and academics about what may be most feasible. The wall would mostly likely need to be made of precast cement wall panels, 25 feet tall, 10 feet wide, eight inches thick, requiring 339 million cubic feet of concrete.

The panels would be held together by 5 billion pounds of reinforced steel with an estimated cost of at least $10.5 billion and possibly much more.

Trump supporters say they can't wait to see the beginning of the border wall construction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That wall will get built and Mexico's going to pay for that wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he will try to build a wall and I think he will try to secure our borders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If people want to come into the country, they should do it legally.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): But in Mexico, the idea of a wall is often shrugged off as a bump in the road north.

Jose Torres Hernandez says he has illegally crossed into the U.S. many times to find work --

[02:15:00]

LAVANDERA (voice-over): -- picking fruits and vegetables. He says a wall might make crossing over a little harder but immigrants like him would always find a way to find work to feed their families.

And Armando Flores Gutierrez says he has crossed the border 25 times, starting when he was just 16, to work farm fields all over the U.S. He says keeping people like him out of the country will only hurt the U.S.

He says if he tries to remove all of the Mexicans in the United States, Donald Trump will realize what a huge mistake that is and how much the U.S. economy depends on Mexican immigrants -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: How are Muslims in the U.S. reacting to Donald Trump's victory?

There's been a mixed response. Some fear the future president. They haven't forgotten he wanted a ban on Muslims entering the country, while others say he will do great things for the American dream. Jessica Schneider has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Hamtramck, Michigan, where Muslims make up a large portion of the population, there is widespread uncertainty about a Trump presidency.

SCHNEIDER: Are you angry at the things he said throughout this election?

HASAN ALTAII, MICHIGAN VOTER: Definitely. I mean, you got to be kind to people.

TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shut down of Muslims entering the United States.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Trump made that promise last December, but dialed it back by the time his party's convention convened in Cleveland.

TRUMP: We must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time as proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place.

The Muslim ban is something that in some form has morphed into an extreme vetting.

SCHNEIDER: But tonight, his statement calling for a total and complete shut down of Muslims entering the United States is still on his official website. For some Muslims and many others, the rhetoric crossing the line.

FAYROUZ SAAD, MICHIGAN VOTER: I don't know how he got elected, I'll be honest.

SCHNEIDER: Fayrouz Saad's parents immigrated to Dearborn, Michigan, from Lebanon. She works on immigration issues at Detroit's mayor's office and says Trump's divisive rhetoric has made Muslim lives more difficult.

SAAD: I'm definitely angry. I don't want to say I'm fearful because I still have faith in the democratic process.

TANIA SHATILA, MICHIGAN VOTER: It is inexcusable the things that he said. It was shocking to hear, it is very scary as well.

SCHNEIDER: Tania Shatila runs this Middle Eastern bakery. She is still hopeful.

SHATILA: We can't stand against him, you know? We have to support him and wish for the best. So, hopefully, he will

instill that unity that he's been saying in his speeches ever since he won.

SCHNEIDER: Nedal Tamir has a much different view.

NEDAL TAMER, MICHIGAN VOTER: And Mr. Trump should be held as an image of the American dream.

SCHNEIDER: Tamer voted for Trump and convinced his family to vote for him, too. As a small business owner, he sees Trump as a role model and believes he speaks from strength. He wants his fellow Muslims to see it the same way.

What do you say when they have shock or anger?

TAMER: I say to them the country is going to be great.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: And that was Jessica Schneider in Michigan.

And know that since the election we have been getting reports of racist graffiti and hate crimes targeting several groups, including Muslims.

And meanwhile, we told you earlier in the show that there have been protests across the country for the last three days. Well, some people are doing it differently. They're wearing safety pins on their clothes to protest against Donald Trump and show solidarity with Muslims, women and others, who feel threatened by a Trump presidency.

A similar movement happened in the U.K. after the Brexit vote.

As the battle for Mosul continues in Iraq, the U.N. says ISIS is once again targeting civilians. The gruesome details ahead.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:20:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VANIER: The Taliban are claiming responsibility for an attack on the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

At least four people are dead and 14 more are wounded. NATO says an explosive device was detonated at Bagram airfield early in the morning. A local Afghan official said the people killed were foreign citizens but their nationalities remain unclear at this stage.

And as the battle for Mosul rages on in Iraq, there are more reports that ISIS is executing civilians. The U.N. said Friday that the terror group killed at least 60 civilians in the city this week. Some of the victims' bodies were hung at intersections. They bore notes, accusing them of collaborating with Iraqi forces.

But witnesses tell CNN some were killed for just having cellphones. News of the atrocities comes as anti-ISIS forces pushed into the Kadicea (ph) and al-Bakraoui (ph) neighborhoods in Eastern Mosul.

And outside Mosul it's a very different picture. These images there from the Iraqi defense ministry appear to show civilians cheering Iraqi forces as they advance.

ISIS is losing ground in and around its last remaining stronghold in the country but Iraqi gains have come at a cost. Fierce fighting has put both civilians and Iraqi troops in harm's way. From near Mosul, our Michael Holmes has this look at a hospital rushing to save lives. His report contains graphic images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN HOST (voice-over): Casualties of war: the weapon, an ISIS favorite, the car bomb.

The triage room is full. And yet the ambulances keep coming. The doctors and medics have to decide who is closer to death and one operating theater at this hospital 40 kilometers from Mosul.

This man has shrapnel wounds, stitched up. He will live.

They have two other brand-new operating theaters here but not the equipment need to use them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need equipment. But as soon as possible. We have only this with two beds.

HOLMES: Outside are two other Iraqi soldiers from the same unit that has been hit. This man wounded by a car bomb days earlier. Their will to return to the fight undiminished.

He says he is ready to fight again and not just in Mosul but everywhere they are. They are dangerous to the world.

This hospital isn't used to this. Once a small-town clinic, now dealing with combat casualties. And it's the only non-ISIS held hospital in the entire province.

On this day, more than a dozen wounded soldiers brought in; 70 arrived in the last week.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is helping with advice, equipment and staff but they and the hospital workers fear a flood not of soldiers but of civilians caught in the crossfire. At the moment, unable to get out wounded or not.

It would be hard to find a better example of what this war is doing to civilians. This family was in a house hit by a shell. These two men were injured but it got worse. His sisters, age 16 and 27, were both killed. UINIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe more patients won't get access to health care. That is my biggest concern. I think right now, we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

HOLMES (voiced-over): Later we see the soldier again, outside, emotional. He knows some of the new wounded and learned two good friends could be dead -- . Michael Holmes, CNN, Al-Shekhan (ph), Northern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: And I'm joined now by our favorite meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, from the International CNN Weather Center. You are going to tell us about La Nina and why it has far-reaching global weather consequences.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[02:25:00]

VANIER: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier joined right now by Derek. I'll be back with the headlines in just a moment. You are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)