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More Than 300 People Killed in Aleppo in the Past Week; Trump Meets with New York Times Editors and Reporters; Critics Question Trump's Conflicts of Interest; Japan-South Korea Deal Prompts Protest; Separated Twins on Track for Fast Recovery; Violent Clashes Erupt Over U.S. Oil Pipeline. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 23, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:10] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour, renewed calls for solution in Syria as more strikes target neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo.

Rethinking his priority. Donald Trump backtracks on a major campaign pledge.

The standoff in North Dakota over plans for an oil pipeline through land Native American tribes don't want disturbed.

Hello, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I am Isha Sesay. This is NEWSROOM L.A.

It's hard to imagine that things are getting worse in Syria, but they actually are. Hundreds of people have died in heavy shelling since the Syrian regime resumed its attacks on Aleppo more than a week ago. Activists say air strikes and barrel bombings killed 15 people in rebel controlled neighborhoods Tuesday. Both sides in the conflict claim the other is using chemical weapons. Meanwhile, the United Nations says the situation is beyond desperate, and something needs to be done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS LAERKE, SPOKESMAN, UNITED NATIONS HUMANITARIAN OFFICE: It's absolutely heart-breaking and unacceptable that we all are witnessing what is happening almost on direct television, direct transmitted what may amount to war crimes in eastern Aleppo. We need the political actors and the actors on the ground to create the situation whereby we can implement the U.N. plan, which you are well aware of. The plan that talks about getting medicines, getting medical personnel, getting food and other kinds of relief into eastern Aleppo safely and securely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Well, CNN correspondent Jomana Karadsheh joins me now from Amman, Jordan with the very latest.

Jomana, good to have you with us. We're getting word that the U.N. has finally been able to get some aid to some Syrian refugees along the border with Jordan. What more can you tell us? JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're waiting, Isha, to

hear more details about this. But for months now, Jordan had shut off its northeastern border. That is where there is an estimated about 70,000 to 80,000 Syrian refugees who are stranded there.

If you recall back in June, there was a suicide attack there that targeted the Jordanian military, and seven soldiers were killed in that attack. And that led the Jordanians to completely shut off this area and declared it a military zone. They say that Jordan's security comes first. This is the country's top priority. And so they have sealed off the border and aid agencies were not able to get through to that area where it's referred to as the berm.

And this is where these refugees have been living in some of the most dire conditions you can imagine. We got reports of refugees dying because of the heat, the conditions they have been over the past few months. There has been one delivery of aid that happened back in August. And they used the United Nations worked with the Jordanian government. They reached an agreement and they used cranes to drop some eight deliveries in there.

But for a few months now, the different aid organizations and the Jordanian government and the military have been working on a plan to try and get more frequent aid deliveries in there to try and alleviate some of the suffering that these people have been going through in that area. So we'll wait to hear more details about how these deliveries are going to take place. But we've been told that these are going to be quite regular aid deliveries. But of course a concern we've heard from organizations like Doctors Without Borders, MSF, saying that they need access at all times because of the medical conditions there. And they were really worried about the outbreak of diseases in that area, Isha.

SESAY: And Jomana, what is the latest you're hearing about the situation in Aleppo, where of course the need is so great and the suffering grows day by day?

KARADSHEH: Well, it is for a week now, Isha, it has been that same situation where we're seeing these reports from activists on the ground from residents of this constant bombardment. As you mentioned earlier. We're also getting these reports. Of course, CNN cannot verify any of these claims. We're hearing them from both sides in this conflict. Of the use of chemical weapons, in this case poisonous gas suspected of being used in attacks again yesterday in Aleppo.

According to activists, they claim that four barrel bombs hit a neighborhood in eastern Aleppo, and they say that these barrel bombs were infused with poisonous gas, allegedly chlorine in this case that leads to cases of suffocation.

[02:05:03] We've seen so many of these videos coming out. And at the same time, Isha, we're hearing from the Russian government and we're hearing from the Syrian government. They accuse the other side, the rebel fighters they say of using chlorine, white phosphorous in some cases, they say, in targeting western Aleppo. Of course, that government-controlled side of Aleppo has come under constant bombardment, too, by rebel forces who have shelled it, killing at least 60 people this month according to the United Nations.

Now the Russians say that they have fragments of shells that contain these chemicals, and we've heard from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, saying that the Russians have asked them to investigate this. So they're asking the Russians to provide them with what they're calling as evidence of the use of these chemicals by the rebels to deliver it either to the Hague or to them in Damascus to investigate. And meanwhile, of course, it is the civilians who continue to suffer while everyone accuses the other of using chemical weapons and of attacking the other, Isha.

SESAY: Yes. A terrible situation. Hard to imagine that it gets worse day by day, but as we say, it certainly does. Jomana Karadsheh joining us there in Amman, Jordan.

We appreciate it, Jomana. Thank you.

Now U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is disavowing the so-called alt- right. Over the weekend a white supremacist think tank celebrated Trump's election with Nazi-style salute. Trump told "The New York Times" he doesn't want to energize a group with racist anti-Semitic views and as Sara Murray reports he is backing away from a campaign promise to put Hillary Clinton in jail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Hillary Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): That pledge to put Hillary Clinton behind bars is no longer a top priority. Donald Trump telling the "New York Times" today he is not taking a potential investigation entirely off the table, but saying, "It's just not something that I feel very strongly about," adding that such a move would be very, very divisive for the country.

One of his top advisers Kellyanne Conway is hoping other Republicans follow Trump's cue.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP ADVISER: I think when the president- elect is also the head of your party now, Joe, tells you before he is even inaugurated he doesn't wish to pursue these charges, it sends a very strong message, tone and content to the members.

MURRAY: While Trump appears poised to forgive some grudges, that doesn't appear to extend to the press. After a fiery meeting with television executives Monday, Trump spiraled into a Twitter tantrum against the "New York Times" today saying, "I canceled today's meeting with the failing 'New York Times' when the terms and conditions of the meeting were changed at the last moment. Not nice."

Then he ventured out for his meeting with the newspaper anyway, telling "New York Times" reporters he's focused on how much climate change regulations will cost American businesses, and admitting there is some link between humans and climate change, saying, "I think there is some connectivity, some something. It depends on how much." The billionaire businessman also suggesting he wants to be the one to

strike a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians with the help of his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner.

And yet again Trump leapt to the defense of his chief strategist Steve Bannon, under fire for his ties to the alt-right movement which has embraced elements of white supremacy and anti-Semitism. Trump saying of Bannon, "If I thought he was racist or alt-right, I wouldn't even think about hiring him." But Bannon himself has boasted that Breitbart News is the platform of the alt-right. That as another one of Trump's White House picks, incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is facing a new wave of scrutiny for these comments in an August speech.

LT. GEN. MICHAEL FLYNN, TRUMP'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are facing another ism, just like we faced Nazism and fascism and imperialism and communism. This is Islamism, and it is a vicious cancer inside the body of 1.7 billion people on this planet. And it has to be excised.

MURRAY: All of this as Trump continues to stoke the palace intrigue around those Cabinet positions that have yet to be filled. The president-elect confirming to the "New York Times" that General James Mattis is under serious consideration for Department of Defense. And after meeting with Dr. Ben Carson today, Trump announced that he is still in the running for a top slot and could be tapped to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Trump tweeting, "I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD. I have gotten to know him well. He is a greatly talented person who loves people."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Our Sara Murray reporting there.

Well, one group firmly behind Donald Trump seems to be investors. The U.S. stock market rallied. It started the day he was elected, drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high Tuesday.

[02:10:04] The index closed above 19,000 for the first time. The market favored Hillary Clinton during the U.S. presidential campaign, but hopes that Trump will enact business-friendly policies. That has helped drive that rally.

Well, it's still not clear how Donald Trump will address concerns about his sprawling business empire, his new role as president and potential conflicts of interest.

CNN's Tom Foreman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Donald Trump opened his billion-dollar Scottish resort in 2012, he had big ambitions.

TRUMP: We wanted to build what we determined could be easily the greatest golf course anywhere in the world.

FOREMAN: But soon he was tilting at windmills. Embroiled in a legal fight with the Scottish government over a wind farm just offshore ruining the view. A fight he lost less than a year ago. Yet shortly after his election, he met with British politician Nigel Farage, who helped lead the Brexit movement. And did they discuss wind farms again? Just today, Trump told the "New York Times," I might have brought it up. The story embodies everything political watchdogs are worried about.

ALEXANDRA WRAGE, TRACE PRESIDENT: Whether a position is abused or there's just the potential for that abuse, there's just the opportunity to abuse it, either way it's undermining of confidence in government.

FOREMAN: The billionaire politician told the "Times," "In theory, I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly," adding, however, "he's phasing that out now," letting his children take over. But a firewall has clearly not gone up yet, so the president of Argentina says when he called to offer congratulations, Trump's daughter Ivanka was on the line, too. The transition team says no business was discussed but the Trump Organization is working on a $100 million project in Buenos Aires.

When the Japanese Prime Minister came calling, there was Ivanka again. With the Trump Organization doing business with at least 150 companies in 25 countries, the potential for professional ties colliding with politics is huge. Will the new president recognize the new envoy from the Philippines picked just before the election? Sure. It's his former business partner.

Lawsuits are also a worry, such as the one over Trump University, which he just settled for $25 million. So are reports of questionable behavior and bookkeeping at the Trump Foundation. And even that fancy new D.C. hotel he so proudly opened recently, it is on property leased from the very government he will now lead.

(On camera): Even as the president-elect promises to step away from all these entanglements, it remains unclear when he will complete that step. But one thing is very clear, he's confident this will not be a problem. Telling the "Times," the law is totally on my side. The president can't have a conflict of interest.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Now in just a few hours, Britain will unveil its first economic plan since it voted to quit the European Union. And the raise is in the works for its citizens. The Treasury wants to hike the minimum wage by 4 percent from the equivalent of $8.90 per hour to $9.30. The new rate would start in April. About 360,000 workers in the UK earn less than minimum wage and Britain is planning to crack down on such employers.

Next here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., protests in South Korea after the country signs a new deal with Japan. Details on what they've agreed to share just ahead.

Plus, they're one in 2.5 million. An exclusive update on the formally conjoined twins after their surgery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:17:50] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Japan and South Korea have agreed to share military intelligence. Officials signed the deal Wednesday. It's the first military-related agreement between the two countries since World War II.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me now from Seoul with the details.

Paul, it's good to have you with us once again. So this deal as they share information does not include top secret information. Help us understand what is going on here and the details.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isha, there are three levels of security, one, two, and three. One being the most secure intelligence that you can have. It's basically the second and the third tier. So the confidential and secret information that Japan and South Korea wouldn't want anybody else to have, but isn't necessarily the ultimate secret information. They are willing to share that with each other. Not to a third party, but effectively to help them find out and analyze exactly what is going on with North Korea.

Now we heard from South Korea's Defense ministry this Wednesday and they said that it's a good deal for them for the very simple fact that Japan spends more on defense. So they have more capabilities. They can collect more data. They have more information of exactly what North Korea can do.

South Korea was saying that allows them to monitor these ballistic missile launches to find out what kind of trajectory they have. How detailed is their nuclear program. So this is really an enlargement of something that the two sides and the United States agreed on a couple of years ago. And during that time, all of this information was being shared, but it had to be shared through the United States as the intermediary. So what we're seeing today is Japan and South Korea agreeing to deal with each other directly. Something that Washington has been pushing them to do -- Isha.

SESAY: Yes. And it's a deal that in South Korea is seen as controversial in some quarters. Why is that?

HANCOCKS: Well, that's right. The -- of course you have to remember that South Korea was colonized by Japan for about 35 years at the beginning of the 20th century. There are many anti-Japanese sentiments that still linger in this country.

[02:20:02] So there is a lot of suspicion about these kind of deals. And certainly we have seen just outside the Defense Ministry when this deal was being signed this morning that there were a number of protesters saying this should not happen. We should not be sharing information with Japan.

And of course after that you've got the opposition leaders as well saying this shouldn't happen because President Park Geun-hye who's effectively signed off on this deal does not have the trust of the people. She is embroiled right now in a corruption scandal that is gripping the nation. Prosecutors have called her a suspect in the scandal and hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets asking for her to resign. And so opposition leaders are saying she doesn't have the power to put this kind of deal through -- Isha.

SESAY: All right. Paula Hancocks joining us there from Seoul, South Korea. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Now Lufthansa Airlines is advising passengers to check the status of their flight online. The airline's pilots are on strike and they will not go back to work Thursday. The pilots say they haven't gotten pay raises in five years, despite record profits and big salary bumps for executives. Lufthansa canceled 900 flights Wednesday, stranding tens of thousands of travelers.

Conjoined twins separated less than six weeks ago continue to defy all expectations. They survived a grueling 27-hour surgery in New York. Now doctors say they're not just recovering on schedule, they're actually ahead of it.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta went to check on the boys.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Nicole McDonald got to hold her son Jadon for the first time it was as if she saw him for the first time.

NICOLE MCDONALD, MOTHER OF JADON AND ANIAS: As a mother, you know when you hold your child you know every bit of their face. Well, his face also encompassed Anias'. So it was my first moment of relearning his face.

GUPTA: Jadon and Anias are literally one in 2.5 million. They were born craniopagus twins, conjoined at the head, sharing between 1.5 to two inches of brain tissue. After over a year of planning, last month the boys were separated after a 27-hour long operation at Children's Hospital in the Montefiore in the Bronx. Follow their journey through surgery and rehab.

The McDonalds have allowed CNN to follow their journey from surgery through rehab exclusively.

(On camera): Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Hi, Buddy. Hi. The last time we were in this room, they were --

N. MCDONALD: They were on one bed.

GUPTA: Were conjoined. And I think he's pretty happy with the outcome.

N. MCDONALD: I would say so.

GUPTA: You're sticking out at me?

N. MCDONALD: Yes, it's a new trick.

GUPTA: You're sticking out at me?

(Voice-over): For the McDonalds, this entire month has been full of first times. First time in separate beds. First time being held. First time seeing each other. But it hasn't been easy to get here. The boys have battled infections, fevers and seizures. It's been particularly trying for Anias.

N. MCDONALD: Serious infections close to the brain. Skin involvement. They had to take, you know, the bone out of Anias. They had to take skin out. You know, there's just been -- for Anias, it's just -- there's never a break.

GUPTA: Despite all of that, the boys' doctors are so pleased with their progress. Dr. James Goodrich is the boys' neurosurgeon.

(On camera): They said he was right on or ahead of schedule even. Is there a -- I mean, because this is so rare, is there a schedule?

DR. JAMES GOODRICH, NEUROSURGEON, THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL AT MONTEFIORE: Well, just when we deal with traumatic cases, people with injuries, recovery times are in months.

GUPTA: Yes.

GOODRICH: Sometimes years. So we're a month. If you can say this is one month out. This to me is incredibly fast.

GUPTA: Do you feel like you have permission or do you allow yourself rather now to think about the future with regard to Jadon and Anias?

N. MCDONALD: I think about their future all the time. All the time. I think about the first time they go to a park. And I think about, you know, them getting married some day. I think about -- I thought through their whole future 100 times.

CHRISTIAN MCDONALD, FATHER OF JADON AND ANIAS: It's not that I'm not optimistic. I guess I'm just more curious what the future holds for them. But I guess I don't want to get my hopes up, you know. I guess I just take it one day at a time.

GUPTA (voice-over): But each day continues to bring more blessings. The day I visited, Nicole and Christian got to see Jadon without his head dressings.

C. MCDONALD: I've never seen you like this.

GUPTA: For the first time.

(On camera): What's that like, Mom, to see the first -- first time without the dressings?

N. MCDONALD: It's amazing. It's the most amazing thing. I just can't even believe it. And look at his little hair on top that's growing in. Hi, baby.

So when I look at them and I see them laying in their beds whole and generally healthy and I think mentally with it and moving forward, I don't just see that miracle, the separation miracle, but it's been the miracles that took place every step of the way.

[02:25:18] C. MCDONALD: How does it feel to be your own little boy?

GUPTA (on camera): Well, I think the images speak for themselves there's. No question these boys are doing really well. And what you've seen is something rare, very rare. I'm a neurosurgeon. I'd never seen anything quite like this. One in 2.5 million pregnancies result in babies who are conjoined at the head. Obviously a much smaller percentage actually make it all the way to birth and a smaller percentage ever get the resources of a hospital like Montefiore and are able to have this sort of operation. So it is incredibly rare.

The doctors who performed the operation, the world's expert in this type of operation, said this was the most challenging procedure he had ever done, the most challenging separation he had ever done. And also now one of the most rapid recoveries he has ever seen. So some good news in there certainly.

Next stop for the boys over the next several days, maybe weeks is going to be rehabilitation. Remember, these boys have never sat up before. They've never been able to crawl. They've never walked before. They're 14 months old. So in many way, this is a second birthday of sorts. And now they have a second shot at things. We'll keep an eye on them. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Our thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta for sharing that amazing story.

Time for a quick break. "STATE OF AMERICA WITH KATE BOLDUAN" is coming up next for our viewers in Asia. Next here on CNN NEWSROOM L.A., why protests against an oil pipeline in North Dakota are turning ugly and attracting nationwide concern.

Plus, Barack Obama awards the top U.S. civilian honor to some American superstars. We'll tell you all about them. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:29] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour.

Japan and South Korea have signed their first direct military-related agreement since South Korea's liberation of Japanese occupation in 1945. The deal allows for sharing confidential or secret military intelligence, but it excludes top secret information. The Colombian government will sign a new peace deal on Thursday with

the Marxist rebel group FARC. President Juan Manuel Santos made the announcement in a televised address. The agreement will be sent to Congress for approval. Voters rejected the last peace deal in a referendum in October.

U.S. President-elect Trump is pulling back from campaign promises to prosecute Hillary Clinton. In a "New York Times" interview, Trump said he doesn't want to hurt the Clintons. Despite campaign chants of lock her up, Trump says the suing charges would be very, very divisive for the country.

Well, what had been a quiet corner of the U.S. Midwest is now the epicenter of an ecological fight prompting demonstrations across the nation. Protesters and police remain locked in a tense standoff over the Dakota Access pipeline. It's a proposed means of transporting crude oil across the states, but also a major concern for the people who live along its path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY (voice-over): On the freezing plains of North Dakota, a bitter battle that shows little sign of abating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nothing more than ecological racism.

SESAY: One side calls it essential infrastructure.

PROTESTERS: Water is life.

SESAY: The other calls it a danger to health and entire communities.

This is the Dakota Access pipeline. A $3.7 billion project intended to connect and a project destined to divide.

Here is the plan, to pump crude oil from the rural and energy-rich north central U.S. to Illinois, more than 1200 miles to the east. From there, it can be transported to refineries on the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast. The pipeline is slated to run under the Missouri River, and the standing rock Sioux tribe, whose land borders the route, said it would affect its drinking water supply while putting communities further downstream at risk from oil spills and contamination.

Protests have gone on for months, but have recently turned violent. 400 protesters facing off against well-armed police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were met by brutal force with water cannons, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets and in an unbelievable amount. It was horrific. It was a horrific scene.

SESAY: But police say they are facing an ongoing riot. These images published by the North Dakota Joint information Center purport to show improvised weapons used by the protesters. Construction of the pipeline had been delayed while the Army Corps of Engineers engages in further talks with the Native American community. And as anger bubbles nationwide, this saga clearly has many miles yet to run.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Well, earlier I spoke with Michael Knudsen, a coordinator for the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council. He's attended recent protests and calls resulting violence a manmade police perpetuated disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL KNUDSEN, MEDIC COORDINATOR, STAND ROCK MEDIC AND HEALER COUNCIL: In this action, I can't say exactly what started, you know, the escalation. What we know is that demonstrators, water protectors were intending to pull a truck off of the bridge to unblock the road, as this roadblock was preventing people from traveling freely on a public highway and it also presents -- preventing people from being evacuated in an emergency, with emergency services up that road.

So that was kind of the beginning. And then police showed up. And what I saw was the escalation from there. Water cannons for eight hours straight on Sunday night, as well as rubber bullets, flash bang and concussion grenades shot directly at protesters.

SESAY: So you're saying that you saw the police firing these concussion grenades, something that the police has rejected, has denied as having happened. You saw that?

KNUDSEN: Yes, yes. Over the course of eight hours, every couple of hours periodically I would see them fire these flash-bang grenades out of cannons, as well as the tear gas canisters out of cannons.

[02:35:06] Some -- we were on the south side of the bridge in a triage area. I'm the logistics coordinator for the medic council. And what I saw was many being fired into the crowd on the north side of the bridge on the police line, and then some even being fired across the river.

SESAY: We know that the Army Corps of Engineers is supposedly having talks with the standing Sioux Tribe. Can you tell us what -- where those conversations are right now? What is happening? Is there any room for compromise here?

KNUDSEN: So to be honest, I don't really know. Last we heard, they were on waiting to give the permit until there was consultation with the tribes. I can't confirm what the talks are right now. But what I can say from the medical perspective and health perspective is that police are consistently escalating. With every action, there is a new escalation. And in this action we saw -- we treated 300 people, total 26 were evacuated to three different hospitals, four different hospital, including Hennepin County.

And this is an example of police violence unprecedented in my state that I remember. And where they are using force that could be potentially lethal.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SESAY: Well, police say more than 525 people have been arrested in connection with the protests since they began months ago.

Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, from superstar singers to actors to architect, some distinguished Americans receive an exceptional honor. Stay with us.

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SESAY: A milestone in Washington on Tuesday. Outgoing President Barack Obama reduced the sentences of 79 U.S. prison inmate, lifting his total commutations over the 1,000 mark. Most were sentenced under harsh anti-drug laws which have since been revised.

[02:40:05] Mr. Obama has shown clemency to more prisoners than the previous 11 presidents combined and he is planning to reduce more sentences before his term is up.

And later on Tuesday, Mr. Obama granted America's highest civilian honor. He presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 21 famous personalities, including actors Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro, singer Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross and basketball stars Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The president highlighted the charitable work of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, and poked fun at some other recipients.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For two decades the Gates Foundation has worked to provide life-saving medical care to millions. These two have donated more money to charitable causes than anyone ever. Many years ago Melinda's mom told her an old saying. "To know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived, that is success."

By this and just about any other measure, few in human history have been more successful than these two impatient optimists.

Bruce Springsteen has been carrying the rest of us on his journey, asking us all what is the work for us to do in our short time here.

I am the president. He is the boss. And pushing 70, he is still laying down four-hour live sets. If you have not been at them, he is working. Fire breathing rock 'n roll. So I thought twice about giving him a medal named for freedom because we hope he remains in his words a prisoner of rock 'n roll for years to come.

When he was 5 years old, Michael Jordan nearly cut off his big toe with an ax. Back then his handles need a little work. But think. If things had gone differently, Air Jordans might never have taken flight. I mean, you don't want to buy a shoe with like one toe missing.

Ellen DeGeneres has a way of making you laugh about some thing rather than at someone. Except when I danced on her show. She laughed at me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: And in true Ellen fashion, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres persuaded fellow award winners to take part in the latest Web craze, the mannequin challenge. In case you haven't heard, that's where participants stand still as if frozen.

And that's not Ellen's only video this week. With Thanksgiving here in the U.S. just one day away, she also poked some fun at that grand old holiday tradition, being nice to your family. And she roped in a familiar CNN face to keep things in order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your moderator will restore civility to the conversation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This broccoli casserole is so good. I think it's actually --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wrong.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Lucas, don't interrupt your sister.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's better than the sweet potatoes that you helped make.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wrong.

BLITZER: Leslie is speaking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Plus, your moderator can serve as a fact checker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard that Barack Hussein Obama made it legal to steal things.

BLITZER: That is completely false.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, then who stole my glasses?

BLITZER: Your glasses are on your forehead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: He is going to be busy. Very busy this Thanksgiving. Our own Wolf Blitzer there.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. You're watching CNN.

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