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CNN NEWSROOM

Fierce Infighting Within Trump's Transition Team?; Obama Wants Against Rise in Crude Nationalism; Syrian Government Renews Assault on Eastern Aleppo; The Search for Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi; Future of Iran Nuclear Deal in Trump Administration; Hate Incidents on the Rise Since Election; China Fixated on Trump's Hair and His Granddaughter. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 16, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:13] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, firings and infighting. Turmoil within the Donald Trump transition team.

SESAY: Barack Obama tours Europe for the last time as president. And he has a warning about the politics of fear.

VAUSE: And the hunt for al-Baghdadi. New clues in the search for the elusive leader of ISIS.

SESAY: Hello, and welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Great to have you with us for the third hour of NEWSROOM L.A.

SESAY: U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is disputing allegations of turmoil among his transition team. He tweeted Tuesday the process is, quote, "very organized," and only he knows who the finalists are for top Cabinet posts.

VAUSE: Sources tell CNN Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is at the center of the infighting.

CNN's Sara Murray has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight Donald Trump and his VP Mike Pence huddling at Trump Tower to bring some order to a transition team already facing signs of disarray. Sources involved in the transition telling CNN there are internal disagreements over some top level Cabinet positions.

Adding to the confusion, lingering questions about who's calling the shots, as newly-named chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, all weigh in on the transition process.

As Trump received his first presidential daily brief today, a National Security roundup of threats and intelligence developments, he'll have one less experienced hand to turn to. Former House Intelligence Committee chairman and CNN contributor Mike Rogers, who served as a National Security adviser on Trump's transition team, was ousted on Monday. The ouster of Mike Rogers, the second major shakeup for the transition team after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was demoted on Friday.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to give a very special thanks to our former mayor, Rudy Giuliani. He's unbelievable.

MURRAY: One area of contention, secretary of state. Sources say former New York mayor and close Trump confidant, Rudy Giuliani, is a leading candidate for the job. But others are pushing for former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: John would be a very good choice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anybody better?

GIULIANI: Maybe me. I don't know.

MURRAY: Giuliani is hardly keeping his ambitions hidden, but his international business ties, like doing business with Qatar and lobbying Citgo, a U.S. subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil conglomerate, could complicate his confirmation hearing.

Meanwhile, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is already under consideration for a high profile position, such as secretary of Defense or attorney general.

GIULIANI: Well, first of all, I won't be attorney general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You won't be attorney general?

GIULIANI: So good. I won't have to decide that one, thank God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You made that clear.

GIULIANI: If I could escape -- I can escape that one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I should ask Jeff Sessions that question, should I?

GIULIANI: Wouldn't be a bad idea. But I don't know who's going to be attorney general.

MURRAY: He spent 13 years in the U.S. Army Reserves and was the first senator to endorse Trump for president.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: At this time in Americans' history, we need to make America great again. MURRAY: Another name Pence is looking to add to consideration for

Defense secretary, Arkansas senator and U.S. Army combat veteran Tom Cotton.

Today Trump is also turning his eye to who should serve as Treasury secretary. Trump campaign finance chair and former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling, or perhaps J.P. Morgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon.

Amid transition planning, Trump's still finding time to troll his opponents on social media, tweeting about losing the popular vote, "If the election were based on total popular vote, I would have campaigned in New York, Florida and California and won even bigger and more easily."

Trump then calling the electoral college genius after he tweeted just four years ago, "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy."

(On camera): Now yet another high-ranking source in the Trump transition effort insists that everything is organized, everything is going according to plan but Donald Trump continues to write his own rule book when it comes to transition.

The president-elect actually going missing on Tuesday night as he ditched his press pool and decided to go out to dinner without really letting anyone know.

Sara Murray, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And as you heard in Sara's report, former U.S. congressman Mike Rogers is no longer part of the Trump transition team and he spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:05:01] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Chairman Rogers, I mean, there are differing accounts as to what led your -- to your exit from the transition team. There some who are saying it was your choice, others are saying you were forced out. Can you explain what happened?

MIKE ROGERS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY COMMENTATOR: The timing was probably right. If they wanted to make a change, they clearly wanted to make a change in this regard, and so it came down that it was time they wanted to go in a different direction. It was easy for me to hand it off to Mike Pence and his capable hands coming in. So I think that was kind of a combination.

I think there is some confusion going on about a chain of command coming out of New York. Hopefully, they'll get that settled pretty soon. I think they're going to need to do it because as this clock ticks, all of these decisions become more important and you have to make them sooner with a little more authority and a little more forward thinking to make sure that they don't bump into anything in the future. I think they're going to get there. I'm an optimist about that.

COOPER: When you talk about confusion coming out of New York, what do you mean? I mean, is it a difference of kind of vision? There's obviously, you know, Steve Bannon kind of wing, I guess, you could say, there's Reince Priebus as chief of staff. I mean, there's -- can you define the sort of the various arms here or kind of perspectives?

ROGERS: Well, I mean, I'm an old school guy, Anderson. I think, you know, your chief of staff has to be the one -- or whatever title you want to give them, needs to be the one making decisions. They need to be held accountable for those decisions, but you need someone that can clearly make a decision. If you make those decisions via a committee, I don't care how small it is, it just adds to the difficulty. And I think they're going to get through this.

Again, remember, this is all kind of new. There's a lot of folks that don't have any experience in what this might look like. And that's no fault to theirs. As a matter of fact, in many ways, it's a plus coming into Washington, D.C. But that's what the problem is. There's a little bit of a vacuum in clear chains of command. That will get fixed. I think this is just growing pains. I think people are saying it's in turmoil and collapsing. I don't believe any of that.

I do believe that they just have to fix this chain of command, who's making the decisions, and make the decisions on behalf of the president-elect and nothing more than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Mike Rogers there trying to --

VAUSE: He was being very diplomatic in the words that he was using.

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: Which is understandable.

SESAY: Let's see what happens.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan is back in the good graces of President- elect Donald Trump and rank-and-file Republicans. His party nominated him for re-election Tuesday. They will vote in January.

VAUSE: Ryan butted heads with Trump repeatedly during the presidential campaign. Now he says he's ready to work together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: We're on the same page with our president-elect. I talk with Donald Trump virtually every single day. I spoke with Mike Pence this morning. We are on the same page. We're working hand in glove and we're going to make sure that this is a very successful administration. But more importantly, we're going to make sure that the voices we heard from this election from the American people are acted upon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Meantime, U.S. House Democrats are delaying a vote on their leadership for another two weeks. The party is trying to figure out why they lost the presidency and came up short in Congress. That means Nancy Pelosi's job as House minority leader could be in jeopardy.

SESAY: She has held the job for more than a decade, but she downplayed the delay, saying it doesn't mean very much. So far no one has challenged Pelosi's leadership.

VAUSE: The Senate's top Democrat Harry Reid is joining the long list of critics blasting Donald Trump for choosing Steve Bannon as White House chief strategist.

SESAY: On Tuesday Reid called the former head of the far-right Breitbart news a champion of white supremacy and is urging Trump to rescind his appointment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Healing the wounds he'd inflicted will take more than words. Talk is cheap and tweets are cheaper. Healing wounds is going to take action. But so far, Mr. President, rather than healing these wounds Trump's actions have deepened them.

If Trump is serious about seeking unity, the first thing he should do is rescind his appointment of Steve Bannon. Rescind it. Don't do it. As long as a champion of racial division is a step away from the Oval Office, it will be impossible to take Trump's efforts to heal the nation seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, U.S. president Barack Obama is inviting world leaders to heed lessons from the presidential election.

VAUSE: At a news conference in Athens he said Trump used what he called troubling rhetoric about -- which stirred anxiety about globalization. Mr. Obama also warned against populist movements based on fear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do believe separate and apart from any particular election or movement that we are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is following President Obama's trip, he joins us now Athens, Greece with more. Nic, good to have you with us. Nic, talk to us about how the election

of Donald Trump is changing the tone of President Obama's last foreign trip.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it's certainly changed the perception of it. Particularly among the sort of White House press team traveling with him. And also perhaps the European leaders that he was expecting to meet. This trip has been on the books before the outcome of the election last week. So the original expectation was that President Obama would come, it would sort of -- you know, he's coming here to Greece, the seat of democracy, to talk about democracy and applaud Greece for helping with refugees and chide other European leaders into doing more as well to support Italy and Germany to take on more of the refugees streaming out of the Middle East, particularly Syria.

But what it's turned into is something where President Obama finds himself explaining Donald Trump, explaining why he believes if you will he lost the election or at least Hillary Clinton lost the election, and explaining what he understands about what Donald Trump's future relationship -- President-elect Donald Trump's future relationships will be with European countries. European leaders are very concerned and worried about what to expect from Donald Trump. So I think that explains why you heard some of the language that we heard yesterday, you were just playing right there.

President Obama is saying that he understood the fears and concerns but he felt Donald Trump had -- or Republicans in particular had tapped into those fear and concerns using less than truths and that the path he wants to put the country on or some Republicans want to put the country on is potentially divisive. And that's not what he believes the future of the United States should be or will be in the long term.

So you sort of found him there almost being on the defensive and people looking to pick up on what he can say about Donald Trump less than what he might have said here to the Greeks about debt relief, which of course is a big issue for them.

SESAY: Yes. Indeed. And President Obama also saying on Tuesday we are proud to count Greece as one of our closest allies and one of our greatest friends. Are there concerns in Greece about what the U.S.- Greek relationship will look like under a Trump administration?

ROBERTSON: There are concerns at multiple levels. Certainly what President Obama heard from the Greek prime minister yesterday was, you know, a hope and a desire that the United States, President Obama when he goes to Berlin later this week, will speak strongly with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who many Greeks see as really the sort of strength behind the architecture of the -- of Greece's debt payback plan and pitch that there should be more debt relief.

There will be a concern going forward that Donald Trump wouldn't act in the same way, wouldn't have the same instincts over the European Union importance of Greece. Greece also concerned about the future of NATO, you know, Europeans' relationship with the United States as part of NATO going forward.

It is, if you will, a fully paid up member. It's one of only five of the 28 NATO nations that spends as they should, as is mandated, 2 percent of GDP on defense. It's very important given their relationship and history with Turkey that NATO is strong. That's a concern. And also the concerns economically going forward that the United States shares that they don't want to see too much outside investment from Asia, from the gulf, into Greece as Greece has been forced to sell off some of its sort of larger state assets, ports and such like, that that would be detrimental to the EU, detrimental to the U.S. interests.

Are they going to get that same level of understanding and therefore help on the European stage from Donald Trump? And the concern is the answer might be no.

SESAY: Nic Robertson joining us there from Athens, Greece with a view of President Obama's trip to that country.

Nic, we appreciate it. Thank you so much.

VAUSE: Well, East Aleppo is again being hit by heavy air strikes, leaving hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped and running out of supplies. Details just ahead.

SESAY: Plus militia forces in Iraq say they know where a high-profile ISIS leader is hiding. The search for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

[02:18:30] VAUSE: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad says he's ready to cooperate with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump if he delivers on his promise to fight terrorism in Syria.

SESAY: Mr. Assad says, "We are very cautious in judging him especially as he wasn't in a political position before so we cannot tell anything about what he's going to do. But if he is going to fight the terrorists of course we're going to be an ally -- natural ally in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian and with many other countries who want to defeat the terrorists."

VAUSE: Meanwhile, the Syrian government is renewing its assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo. Air strikes are targeting neighborhoods for the first time in weeks.

SESAY: Activists say a barrel bomb killed at least one woman and wounded five people. Residents received text messages Sunday warning them to leave before the bombing began.

VAUSE: CNN's Jomana Karadsheh joins us now live from Amman, Jordan.

So, Jomana, what is the latest now with this air assault? Is there a casualty total at this point? JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, you know, it's what

people there in eastern Aleppo, that people we are able to reach, have feared the most in recent days, this aerial bombardment resuming as of yesterday around midday. Started raining down bombs on several neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo, according to the activists that we spoke to. They said that fighter jets were dropping these highly explosive munitions on neighborhoods that the helicopters were dropping these indiscriminate barrel bombs and also there was heavy artillery shelling.

According to a monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, they say at least eight people were killed in this renewed bombardment of eastern Aleppo.

[02:20:05] According to Syrian state media, state TV, they describe this as a preliminary operation into eastern Aleppo, and they also said that there would be a ground push from several directions, several fronts to tighten the siege in eastern Aleppo. And there also some of their reporters yesterday describing this as this zero-hour operation that is going to be nationwide going after terrorists as they described it.

So at this point, John, it would seem that this nightmare for the residents of eastern Aleppo has resumed. But it seems it's just the beginning at this point.

VAUSE: Yes. All those terrorists hiding in the hospitals and the schools, I guess. The Syrian regime has been preparing for this for some time. They actually put out text messages over the weekend warning residents there that it was coming. Do you know if many people there actually decided to leave in any significant number?

KARADSHEH: Well, you know, the few people, John, that we were able to reach after those text messages were sent because communication is very difficult with eastern Aleppo and it's getting even more difficult, some people said that, you know, after they've actually really thought about leaving now, these are the people who have endured some of the worst of the violence in eastern Aleppo and never wanted to leave, they say they wanted to leave now. But they really don't know how to get out.

They say they don't trust the regime, they don't trust their Russian allies when it comes to these routes that were announced as safe passage for them to get out of eastern Aleppo. So you have that. Other people that we've spoken to say that they have nowhere else to go, that Aleppo is their homeland and that they will never leave.

But it's not just this military operation, John. The humanitarian situation, as you know, is so dire in eastern Aleppo. We heard the warning last week from the United Nations saying the more than quarter million people living in eastern Aleppo are facing mass starvation possibly as they are running out of almost everything. We're talking about all kinds of supplies, on food, fuel that they would use for cooking and also heating now that winter is coming.

And this is exactly what we're hearing from people in eastern Aleppo. One man that I spoke to said, you know, on good days he's able to have two meals but on most days, like the majority of the people in eastern Aleppo he can one meal. And when we talk about meals it's whatever little rice, pasta, you know, these sorts of dried foods that they have stored from the past.

And on the markets, John, there is very little that is left. There's no vegetable, no fruits, and whatever's on the market, things like meat, for example, prices have really skyrocketed over the past week and average citizen in eastern Aleppo just cannot afford this.

VAUSE: Die starving or die in an air strike. It's a pretty grim choice right now.

Jomana, thank you.

SESAY: Well, in Iraq U.S.-led coalition forces are striking ISIS targets relentlessly trying to help Iraqi troops recapture Mosul.

VAUSE: Military spokesman says the coalition hit ISIS with 4,000 bombs, artillery strikes and missiles over the past month. They destroyed dozens of vehicle bombs as well as tunnels and killed hundreds of ISIS fighters.

SESAY: The Iraqi forces retook the ancient city of Nimrud over the weekend but it's been heavily damaged by ISIS. Nimrud was built nearly 3,000 years ago and became the capital of the Assyrian kingdom. ISIS destroyed many of its monuments and artifacts. The U.N. has condemned the destruction as a war crime.

VAUSE: A group of militias who have been helping Iraqi forces claim they now know where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is hiding.

SESAY: U.S. officials have killed most of the ISIS leaders in the circle but he's still a top target.

CNN's Barbara Starr reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight Pentagon officials say they do not know where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi is hiding but if they find him they will kill him. CIA director John Brennan has long warned Baghdadi will be dealt with.

JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: His time is limited. So it's just a question of whether or not he is going to be removed this week, this month, next month or in the coming months.

STARR: It had been thought Baghdadi, who released an audio statement earlier this month, was hiding somewhere around Raqqa, ISIS' declared capital in Syria. But a local militia group now says it believes he's in Iraq somewhere between Tal Afar and Baaj, close to the Syrian border.

An Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman told CNN, "We know that al- Baghdadi fled Mosul and headed out of the city in a western direction. We also have confirmed intelligence information that al-Baghdadi is not in Tal Afar."

The intelligence community says Baghdadi clearly knows he is a hunted man.

BRENNAN: The reason why he's alive is that they really do practice tremendous operational security. That they know that we are looking for them.

STARR: But even as the country moves towards a Trump presidency, killing Baghdadi may do little to reduce the terror threat. There is still plenty of worry a San Bernardino-style lone wolf attack inspired by ISIS could be launched.

[02:25:02] ASH CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We also need to operate against it wherever it arises, Libya, Afghanistan, so forth, and then absolutely, we need to protect our own people.

STARR: Inside Iraq the fighting for Mosul is likely to grow worse, much worse, as Iraqi forces inched forward and get closer to the densely populated city center. This latest ISIS propaganda video shows fighters making their stand with gunfire and even showing explosions from truck bombs.

(On camera): CNN has learned that the U.S. military is close to making a decision about whether to ask President Obama to send more U.S. troops as military advisers to next-door Syria. There are about 300 military advisers and trainers there right now. No word on how many more they might want to send. It would be one of the last major military decisions by President Obama if it all comes to pass.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, the paramilitary forces say they've entered the next phase of the military operations in Mosul.

VAUSE: They're clearing the main roads from landmines and bombs west of the city with the goal of liberating the last villages to the Tal Afar air base.

SESAY: At least 17 security forces have died in Myanmar's Rakhine State in a operation that state media say killed about 17 militants described as violent attackers. It's the most serious outbreak since clashes there four years ago.

VAUSE: The government says it is going after terrorists but its forces have been accused of targeting Rohingya Muslims, a minority group who have faced years of persecution.

SESAY: Well, time for a quick break. "STATE OF AMERICA" with Kate Bolduan is coming up next for our viewers in Asia.

VAUSE: For everyone else the future of the landmark Iran nuclear deal. During the campaign Trump promised to get rid of it.

Coming up, what will he do once he's in the White House?

SESAY: Plus we'll examine the sharp increase of hate crimes across the U.S. since the election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:14] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I am Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Thanks for staying with us. The headlines this hour.

Heavy airstrikes pounded neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo Tuesday for the first time in weeks. The Syrian military is renewing its assault against rebels. Activists say a barrel bomb killed at least one woman and wounded five people. Residents received text messages on Sunday warning them to leave before the bombing began.

SESAY: U.S.-led coalition forces say they've hit ISIS with 4,000 bombs, artillery strikes and missiles since the Iraqi-led offensive to retake the city of Mosul began a month ago. They've also destroyed dozens of vehicle bombs and tunnels and killed hundreds of ISIS fighters.

VAUSE: Members of Donald Trump's transition team huddling at Trump Tower New York picking future White House staff. Trump says the -- the process, rather, is very organized, only he knows who the finalists are. But sources tell CNN the process has been plagued by disagreement and infighting.

SESAY: Well, international leaders are waiting to see how Trump's foreign policy will shape up after a lot of unsettling rhetoric. During the campaign Donald Trump promised mass-scale deportation of illegal immigrants. He's still suggesting closer relations with Russia.

VAUSE: And in the battle against terrorism he vowed to use torture, to bomb oil fields and kill terrorists' families. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had some advice for Mr. Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I guess my hope is that in the end if as president you want to do what's right for this country, you want to improve our economy, you want to improve the lives of people, then you are going to do what is rational, not what is irrational.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Well, among the many unknowns of the incoming Trump administration is the fate of the Iran nuclear deal. Candidate Donald Trump called it a foreign policy disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: It's very tough to do when you say rip up a deal. I would police that contract so tough that they don't have a chance. As bad as the contract is. I will be so tough on that contract.

We have a horrible contract, but we do have a contract.

My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The deal was signed last year. Iran agreed to reduce its stockpile of nuclear material, ban enrichment at key facilities, and limit uranium research. In return for an end to some economic sanctions and the release of tens of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets. And many world leaders are now urging President-elect Donald Trump to keep the agreement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (Through Translator): This accord gives us all security to allow for this evaluation by France of the agreement. Could the U.S. with Donald Trump put into question this agreement? I don't think so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): He has said he will tear up the agreement.

HOLLANDE (Through Translator): I won't comment on what he might have said during the campaign but there's a principle of reality and this deal gives us guarantees. The absence of an agreement would be very serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Much will depend on Trump's yet to be named foreign policy team but could the new president on day one rip up the Iran deal? Could he renegotiate or revoke it?

For more we go to Washington. Michael Pregent, former intelligence adviser to General David Petraeus, is there. So do Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council.

And first I want you to both hear from President Obama who believes President-elect Trump will not dismantle the agreement. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Iran is a good example of the gap I think between some of the rhetoric in this town, not unique to the president-elect, and the reality. My suspicion is that when the president-elect comes in and he's consulting with his Republican colleagues on the hill, that they will look at the facts because to unravel a deal that's working and preventing Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon would be hard to explain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So, Michael, to you, if this deal is working as the president says, why not leave it in place?

MICHAEL PREGENT, FORMER INTELLIGENCE ADVISER TO GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS: Well, it's not a matter of whether it's working or not working. It's simply a matter of the administration is not enforcing existing U.N. Security Council resolutions. All President-elect Trump has to do day one is simply enforce sanctions on Iran, reinforce that we are going to deny Iran access to the U.S. banking system, and end the secret side deals. And I believe Iran would walk away. The best way to kill the deal is simply to enforce existing sanctions and Iran will find a reason to walk away.

VAUSE: Trita, do you agree with that? Do you think the Iranians could walk away from this deal?

TRITA PARSI, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL: Well, first of all, it's actually very much about whether the deal is working or not. I would guess that you have not had any sections or segments in the last year or so debating as to whether the U.S. will bomb Iran, whether Israel will bomb Iran, or whether the Iranians are getting closer to a bomb. Precisely because this deal is working, because the path to a nuclear weapon in Iran has been closed and because there is absolutely no need for any military action.

That is a deal working. And as a result that is going to be a tremendous amount of political cost for the next president to do such a thing, and I want to be very clear about one thing. Some advisers around Trump may think that this is a fight they would pick with Iran. But it's really not. This is a fight that Donald Trump or the United States of America would be picking with France, with Britain, with Germany, with Russia, and with China and with many other countries that have been strongly backing this deal. This would be a profoundly, deep strategic mistake for any administration to commit.

Now are there ways that the United States could start cheating on the deal and then hoping the Iranians would walk out of it.

PREGENT: Cheating on the deal?

PARSI: Definitely would be -- actually would be cheating on it because these sanctions have been lifted. There's a segment in the JCPOA that says the United States has to make sure that permitted trade can take place. Right now it actually isn't taking place because there's a problem not with what the Iranians are doing so much as with the sanctions relief. But even in that scenario rest assured --

(CROSSTALK)

PREGENT: I'd like to get in here.

PARSI: -- the only person who have said that they would be against --

VAUSE: Yes. PREGENT: Let me get in here.

(CROSSTALK)

PARSI: -- is Donald Trump right now.

VAUSE: -- Michael on this point.

PREGENT: Yes. Here's the deal. You're listening to a lobbyist. And I'm a former intelligence officer.

PARSI: I'm not a lobbyist. You know that very well.

PREGENT: You're the director of NIAC. You're a lobbyist. You've got 60 days to do something before the administration gets in or you're going to lose your donor base. You're not going to have the influence with this new administration. The Democrats --

PARSI: So this is the problem with some of the people coming in. They can't debate the issues.

PREGENT: No. We're debating the issue --

PARSI: So right away without anything they go on personal attacks and false accusations.

PREGENT: No. You're the director of NIAC, a lobbying group --

PARSI: Which is not a lobby group.

PREGENT: It is.

PARSI: You should have done a little bit more opposition research before you went on CNN.

PREGENT: Anyway, so let's get back to the facts here.

VAUSE: OK.

PREGENT: OK. Iran currently is in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions with its ballistic missile program. Notice I didn't say in violation of the JCPOA. The administration is against enforcing those sanctions. Iran is also in violation of existing U.N. Security Council resolutions supporting terrorism.

The Obama administration is not for enforcing those sanctions. If the Trump administration simply enforces the sanctions against ballistic missiles and Iran's support to terrorism, Iran will tie it all together as the U.S. cheating with the JCPOA and they will walk away, forcing the international community to put pressure on Iran to comply as opposed to putting pressure on the United States.

VAUSE: OK. At that point, guys, let's just take a short break because we'll keep this discussion going in just a moment. For the meantime, a short commercial break. We'll be back in a moment. You're watching CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:41:20] VAUSE: Back now with more on the fate of the Iran nuclear deal with the incoming Trump administration. I'm joined in Washington by Michael Pregent, former intelligence adviser to General David Petraeus. Also Trita Parsi, the president of the National Iranian American Council.

And Trita, I just want you to pick up on that point that Michael was making before the break, essentially that there are so many sanctions violations being carried out by Iran right now that that would be enough to bring this deal to an end.

PARSI: Actually, when it comes to the missile defense the language in the Security Council is that it calls o Iran not to do so. That was a deliberate negotiation between everyone in the P-5 Plus One that was negotiating this in which they agreed not to put in stronger language. So one can definitely say that the Iranians are acting against the spirit of the Security Council resolution but to go out and say this is a violation in which you can convince the other countries in the P- 5 Plus One that new sanctions needs to be endorsed I would really, really doubt that the Trump administration would even try to make that argument. I know many people around Trump would like him to go in that direction.

VAUSE: OK.

PARSI: But I think there's another thing that's also really important here. You have President-elect Trump now say on several occasions that his number one priority is to fight ISIS. And we have seen that some of his other very close advisers have started to walk back a little bit what they would do on the Iran deal. And I think it's very much because of the realization that now once they actually have to run this show that if you want to fight ISIS you cannot afford to have a major conflict with the Russians and you cannot afford to be able to try to get out of the JCPOA.

PREGENT: OK. On that point --

PARSI: Because you're not going to be able to get what you want on ISIS unless you have at least a decent degree of collaboration between them.

PREGENT: On that note, Iran is not an ally. Sorry, John. Go ahead.

VAUSE: I'm sorry. I was just going to get to the point where Iran's foreign minister believes that this deal is in everyone's interests. He spoke about this shortly after the election of Donald Trump. But he did add this caveat. Just listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We believe that JCPOA is a reasonable agreement good for everybody. That's our preference. Doesn't mean that we do not have other options. Iran wants to remain committed to JCPOA provided that everybody else is prepared to do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Trita, to you, exactly what are the options that Iran's foreign minister is talking about here?

PARSI: Well, I think one of the things that they may be thinking about is that if the Trump administration doesn't do what Michael is suggesting, which is to do something that would force the Iranians out, but actually goes head on and tries to get out of this deal, that the Iranians would then try to use that in order to isolate the United States and get the Europeans and the others to really commit, to recommit to the deal and bring in much more trade and investments in order to make sure that the Iranians were to stay inside of the deal. I think that is probably one of the things that --

VAUSE: Michael, to your point -- sorry. I want to get Michael to respond to that.

Michael, do you believe that there could be a situation where the United States is left isolated if it does walk away from this Iran deal?

PREGENT: Well, I want to take on the argument that Iran is somehow an ally in the fight against ISIS. Iran has actually made the situation worse in Iraq and Syria by simply resetting the conditions that led to ISIS to begin with. Sunni populations are more distrustful of the Iranian influence government of Baghdad and Damascus. So Iran is only making the situation worse. Iran is not an ally.

There is no one in the intelligence community who wears this uniform, wears the uniform of the United States, that somehow thinks that enforcing the Iran deal by simply calling them out when they're violating the sanctions will somehow hurt us in the war against ISIS. ISIS --

VAUSE: OK.

[02:45:04] PREGENT: Yes. It just doesn't make any sense.

VAUSE: I didn't mean to cut you off there, Michael, but we are out of time. So we shall leave it there. But Michael Pregent and Trita Parsi there, we appreciate you both coming in.

PARSI: Thank you.

VAUSE: Of course a very complicated subject.

PREGENT: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

SESAY: Well, there's been a spike of hate incidents in the U.S. since last week's election. In New York state someone painted a swastika and "Make America White Again" on this wall in the town of Wellsville. The governor condemned the move and ordered an investigation.

And in New York City a man riding the subway says he was attacked for being a Donald Trump supporter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Says, oh great, another white Trump supporter. Next thing I know I have hands around my neck, I'm being choked. Then another gentleman comes over. He shoves me up against the wall. Up against the window. Now I've got my arm pinned behind my back, I have the one guy choking me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, CNN's Miguel Marquez shows us more of the troubling hate crimes happening across the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You idiot.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The raise of hate. A protester pushed down a flight of stairs in the midst of an anti-Trump rally at Ohio State University. The student who did the pushing arrested for assault.

The bitterness of an ugly campaign taking new form after the surprise election of Donald Trump. "Build the wall," a Trump signature phrase chanted by middle schoolers in Detroit, Michigan, taunting Latino students during lunch period. The advocacy group, the Southern Poverty Law Center, has researched and solicited claims of harassment nationwide since the election. 437 incidents so far. An apparent sharp increase. 140 on November 9th alone, the day after the election. Since then, reports have decreased significantly.

TRUMP: Say it right to the camera, stop it.

MARQUEZ: The president-elect himself made a plea for calm in his first television interview.

TRUMP: Because I'm going to bring this country together.

MARQUEZ: The incidents run the gamut, swastikas scratched on the doors of Jewish students at a New York New School dorm. "Trump Nation, Whites Only" scrawled on the sign of a Latino church in Silver Spring, Maryland. "Heil Trump," a swastika and "Fag Church" spray-painted on St. David's Episcopal in the small town of Beanblossom, Indiana.

Celebrity Clinton supporter Emmy Rossum trolled on Twitter. This image of Auschwitz with Trump's name added, the message, "This is in all of your ilk's future. You will be seeing a train shortly. Hollywood days of subjugation is over. Sieg Heil."

ERNEST WALKER, U.S. ARMY VET WHOSE MEAL WAS TAKEN AWAY AT CHILI'S: Did you see my military information?

MARQUEZ: And in Dallas, African-American veteran, Earnest Walker, denied a free meal at Chili's on Veterans Day after a man wearing a Trump shirt questioned whether he truly served, allegedly saying that he had served in Germany and they didn't let black serve there. The manager took the Trump's supporter's side.

WALKER: Now you're grabbing my food away from me now? You're taking my food away from me now?

MARQUEZ: Taking away Walker's meal even after he showed his military credentials for him and his service dog. Chili's has issued a lengthy apology to Mr. Walker, thanked him for his service and saying the Chili's manager has been removed.

Miguel Marquez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Yes. We'll take a short break. Back in a minute.

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(WEATHER REPORT)

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[02:52:25] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Well, it turns out the romance between Han Solo and Princess Leia wasn't just an on-screen thing. Carrie Fisher revealed to "People" magazine that she and then married Harrison Ford had an affair while filming the original "Star Wars" 40 years ago.

VAUSE: She says it was Han and Leia during the week and Carrie and Harrison during the weekend. Harrison Ford hasn't responded to "People" magazine's request for comment. But you know what she also said? Well, he said she was a bad kisser.

SESAY: And she said?

VAUSE: Well, she wasn't very complimentary of Mr. Ford.

SESAY: It gives that look between them in the new movie a whole new resonance, doesn't it?

VAUSE: Yes. It does, doesn't it? Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: We're going to leave that one alone.

Now Donald Trump couldn't stop talking about China during his presidential campaign.

VAUSE: China. Now people in China are talking about him and they're fixated on two things. Jeanne Moos reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What do a pheasant and a kid speaking Mandarin -- have to do with the perception of Donald Trump in --

TRUMP: China. China. China.

ALEC BALDWIN, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": It's pronounced "gyna."

MOOS: Well, the gy-nese seemed captivated by both Trump's grandchild and his look-alike. The crest of the golden pheasant residing in a Chinese zoo bears such a striking resemblance to the Donald's hair that the pheasant's photo went viral.

(On camera): A bird lover in the U.S. actually made an attack ad featuring a golden pheasant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's threatened to ban all bird migration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huge flocks of birds migrate here every year. They bring bird flu. They eat our worms.

MOOS (voice-over): But enough with Trump's golden mane and the golden pheasant.

(On camera): We're going from pheasants to peasants.

(Voice-over): Trump's grandchild reciting a Chinese poem called "Sympathy for the Peasants" has aroused sympathy for the president- elect in China. On Weibo, China's version of Twitter, comments ranged from, "impressive, you go girl," to the more skeptical, "Trump himself curses China, but then lets his granddaughter kiss China's butt. That businessman is clever as a monkey."

Arabella's mom, Ivanka Trump, posted videos of her then 4-year-old speaking Mandarin months ago, but they've just now gone viral in China. Ivanka told the "South China Morning Post," "I have an incredible Chinese nanny who's teaching her."

[02:55:03] In this video Arabella portrays a white rabbit.

A white rabbit, a golden pheasant.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this who you want as the next president of the United States?

MOOS: Apparently so. He's now pheasadent-elect.

Jeanne Moos, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: I think I'm the only person who likes the way he says China.

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: He certainly says it enough times around here.

VAUSE: OK.

SESAY: OK.

VAUSE: Finally this hour a chance to impress your friends with the Oxford Dictionary's International Word of the Year. What is it?

SESAY: Post-truth.

VAUSE: Oh you sort of --

SESAY: I didn't mean -- yes. It means, in case you were wondering, relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. Get it?

VAUSE: All the stuff that's wrong.

SESAY: Basically.

VAUSE: OK. Editors say its use increased by 2,000 percent last year. Well, I wonder why. Because of the election and also because -- the U.S. election and also because of the Brexit vote.

SESAY: Post-truth.

VAUSE: And we're post-show.

SESAY: Yes. We are. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. At least you were. Live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. The news continues next with Zain Asher.

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