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CNN NEWSROOM

Dozens Killed in China Platform Collapse; Trump Makes Cabinet Pick Before Holiday; U.S. Troops Spend Thanksgiving Fighting Terror; The Future of U.S. Ties With Saudi Arabia; Rich Culture Blooms in the Shade of Intolerance; Far Right Extremist Gets Life for Murder of Jo Cox. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired November 24, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:08] MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: A developing story out of China where dozens are dead after a construction platform collapses. We'll have a live report for you on the rescue operation there.

Business before pleasure. President-elect Trump gets in a cabinet selection just before heading off for the U.S. holiday. We'll have to deal -- will he have to deal with a recount, though, when he returns? We'll have details on that.

And as America gives thanks, they will no doubt do so for the men and women fighting ISIS in Iraq. Our Fred Pleitgen flies along with the troops.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Max Foster in London. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

(MUSIC)

FOSTER: Well, it is Thanksgiving morning in the U.S., and as families prepare to sit down for meals together, President-elect Trump is offering a message of unity. In a YouTube video posted late on Wednesday, he acknowledges the long and bruising political season and emphasizes bringing prosperity to inner cities. This is one of a handful of times that we've heard from the president-elect since the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: We are very blessed to call this nation our home, and that's what America is. It is our home. It's where we raise our families, care for our loved ones, look out for our neighbors, and live out our dreams. It's my prayer that on this Thanksgiving, we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country, strengthened by shared purpose and very, very common resolve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Perhaps in that spirit of unity, Trump is putting aside division with some of his former rivals, offering posts to two women who criticized him during the campaign.

CNN's Jim Acosta has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Donald Trump settles in for the Thanksgiving weekend, the president- elect is making room at the table for some surprising cabinet picks.

For starters, his choice for ambassador to the U.N., one of his toughest GOP critics, Nikki Haley, saying in a statement, "The South Carolina governor and daughter of Indian immigrants is a proven deal- maker. And we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage."

Explaining her decision to step down as governor, Haley said, "When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation and to our nation's standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed."

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: When a bully hits you, you hit that bully right back.

ACOSTA: Haley had a different calling in the primaries when she was backing Marco Rubio. She attacked Trump as a race-baiting bully.

HALEY: I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK. That is not a part of our party. That's not who we want as president. We will not allow that in our country!

(APPLAUSE)

ACOSTA: Trump punched right back.

TRUMP: She's very, very weak in illegal immigration. You can't have that.

ACOSTA: In addition to his selection of Haley, Trump also tapped billionaire school choice advocate Betsy DeVos for education secretary and appears to be closing in on announcing Ben Carson to lead Housing and Urban Development.

The DeVos pick is already angering some conservatives who are outraged with her alliance with Jeb Bush's push for Common Core standardized testing in schools. Though on her website, DeVos insists she opposes Common Core, something Trump repeatedly vowed to end.

TRUMP: We're going to provide -- you're going to like this -- school choice and put an end to Common Core which is a disaster. We'll bring our education local.

ACOSTA: Trump's willingness to go outside his comfort zone may be a sign he could turn to one of his biggest Republican adversaries to become his secretary of state, Mitt Romney.

MITT ROMNEY, 2012 U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: His domestic policies would lead to recession. His foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president.

ACOSTA: The potential move enraging some of his core supporters.

MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: There's only one way that Mitt Romney could be considered for a post like that, and that is that he goes to a microphone in a public place and repudiates everything he instead that famous Salt Lake City speech.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I could think of 20 others who would be more naturally compatible with the Trump vision of foreign policy.

INTERVIEWER: Right.

ACOSTA (on camera): The decision to send Nikki Haley to the United States comes at a critical time for the Trump transition team with so many Americans uneasy about a Trump presidency. One Trump adviser said they hope Haley's selection serves as a pressure reliever over the holiday weekend.

Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: While the election may go over, the vote counting is still going on. The latest figures show that Hillary Clinton's lead is growing. Clinton has the 64 million votes compared to just over 62 million for Trump. A two million vote difference comes out at about 1.5 percent of the votes cast. And the new tallies do not change the fact that Trump won the Electoral College and thus the election. However, Clinton supporters say it does call into question Trump's mandate.

[04:05:02] The new totals come amid growing calls for a recount. A group of computer scientists are amongst those raises questions about the possibility of hacks in three key states.

Tom Foreman looks at their theories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Wisconsin, with almost 3 million votes cast, Donald Trump edged Hillary Clinton by less than 28,000. In Pennsylvania, out of almost 6 million votes, his advantage was 60,000. And the count in Michigan still remains too close for CNN to call the race.

But now, some political activists say in counties using electronic voting, Hillary Clinton appears to have mysteriously underperformed compare to areas with paper ballots by as much as 7 percent, according to what they told top Clinton aides in a call urging an official review. They've not released their analysis nor provided proof of hacking but the margin could have tipped Wisconsin and, if the others went her way too, she would have won. So, who is leading the charge?

JOHN BONIFAZ, DEMOCRATIC ACTIVIST: Our democracy is under attack.

FOREMAN: John Bonifaz is a Democratic activist who ran for office a few years ago.

BONIFAZ: This is a story of where the Democratic Party needs to be.

FOREMAN: He's a big proponent of voting rights. And he tried to get President Bush impeached over the Iraq war.

BONIFAZ: The United States House of Representatives has a constitutional duty to investigate fully and comprehensively.

FOREMAN: But at the University of Michigan, the chief computer scientist behind the discovery of these alleged voting oddities seems to be on a different page.

J. Alex Halderman is concerned about the risk of elections being hacked. He talked about it C-SPAN before this vote.

J. ALEX HALDERMAN, PROFESSOR, COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING: A realistic attack on the election will be homing in on whichever states end up having the closest margins.

FOREMAN: But he wants an investigation because he thinks any questions about voting security ought to be addressed. Not because he is convinced it would necessarily change the result nor prove anyone tried to rig the vote.

He has posted online, quote, "Were this year's deviations from pre- election polls the result of a cyber attack? Probably not. I believe the most likely explanation is that the polls were systematically wrong."

As for election officials, some certainly went into the balloting pretty confident.

JERRY FEASER, PENNSYLVANIA ELECTION OFFICIAL: I could set one of these machines in the middle of Red Square in Moscow and the Russians couldn't hack into it.

FOREMAN (on camera): We reached out to folks behind the effort. They don't really want to talk about it more in case there's legal action. But the Clinton camp has shown little interest in pursuing it. The White House is focused on a smooth transition to the Trump administration, and that likely means this political conspiracy theory will drift off into the electoral wilderness.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDETAPE)

FOSTER: Amongst those calling for a recount in the states, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, is Green Party candidate Jill Stein. She registered around 1 percent of each of the races, and there's no reason to think that her numbers would change much. Still, Stein's campaign says verifying the outcomes are essential to the integrity of the election as a whole. Her campaign has covered $2.5 million to cover filing and legal fees for the challenge.

We're going to Syria now, where claims and counterclaims about the use from chemical weapons are coming from all sides. Russia blames rebels in eastern Aleppo for using chlorine and white phosphorous to target the civilian army and civilians.

Meanwhile, the Aleppo media center says this video shows a warplane dropping a barrel bomb filled with chlorine gas. As violence rages on, activists are making a renewed plea to the international community for help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We urge the world and the West especially to airdrop the humanitarian aid and there are already warplanes for the U.S.-led coalition in Syria not far from Aleppo city. We are the people of eastern Aleppo and we emphasize that we have no problem with relief airdrop. The international community holds responsibility for any future consequences of Aleppo besiegement, hoping that our voices will be heard and Aleppo will be saved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Hard to believe scenes like this are positive. This video shows a young girl being pulled alive from rubble of the bombed building. She's reportedly been stuck there for hours.

Iraqi-led forces now have their tightest choke hold yet on Mosul. An alliance of paramilitary groups says ISIS is completely surrounded there. A critical ISIS supply route between the city and Raqqah has also been shut down.

As Phil Black reports, there's still a lot of fighting ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For some time now, various Iraqi forces have been at the gates of Mosul from the north to south and the east. Now, they say they have closed the circle on the West, as well. It's a significant development because it means ISIS is effectively trapped within the city. They can't escape across the border into Syria and the territory there, nor can they call for backup or resupply.

[04:10:06] But it does not mean the Iraqi forces expect victory in Mosul imminently. There is still a lot of fire-fighting to do, and especially a lot of work to do in the city itself. Iraqi forces have only penetrated the built-up area of the city around its eastern neighborhoods. That was some weeks ago. And the fighting there has been incredibly difficult.

It's a sign of what is still to come on an even greater scale. It is urban warfare. House to house, street to street, in an environment that the ISIS fighters know very well and one they have been preparing, they have been digging in, fortifying, they have been building car bombs, they're using sniper positions, they are using mortar fire in this incredibly built-up, populated area. So, what that means is that the population of Mosul is suffering, and so are the Iraqi forces that are trying to advance and take ground. Now, the Iraqi government says it will not reveal official casualty figures while the operation is still underway.

But we know what we've seen on the ground ourselves. At very forward medical positions. Essentially makeshift triage posts. We've seen a steady stream of women, children, men, and, of course, soldiers, as well, coming in injured before they are dispatched in ambulances to hospitals elsewhere.

Hospitals here in Irbil tell us they receive around 90 injured people from Mosul a day. Now, this is not an accurate tally by any means, but it altogether paints a picture, along with anecdotal stories of how tough the fighting is in the city that this is not going to go quickly. That Mosul will not be taken from ISIS easily.

Phil Black, CNN, Irbil, northern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, this Thanksgiving, whilst many Americans spend time with their families this holiday season, some U.S. service members will be far from home.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen introduces us to one Air Force team fighting ISIS from the sky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This Thanksgiving, Americans are in harm's way fighting ISIS on the ground and in the air.

We're on board a KC-10 extender refueling jet flying over Iraq and Syria. Captain Clark Polika (ph) commanding the massive airborne gas station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dynamic airspace, challenging environment. But it's very rewarding.

PLEITGEN: The first batch of planes, two F-15 Eagle Strike aircraft, getting them hooked up to the tanker at around 400 miles per hour, a challenge for the crews of both planes. Boom operator Uriel Escamilla says.

STAFF SGT. URIEL ESCAMILLA, U.S. AIR FORCE: They are moving around the same speed. So, at the end, it just -- the rate of closure the aircraft has toward you when they stop and when you're able to actually give them that contact.

PLEITGEN: The KC-10 refuels planes from all members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, including C-130 Hercules transporters and the mighty A-10 Warthog with its massive cannon and many bombs clearly visible through our window.

(on camera): Without the help of these tankers, the planes flying missions against ISIS could only stay in the area of operations for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. But thanks to the tanker airplane, they can get fuel in the sky and stay in the area to fight ISIS for up to seven hours.

(voice-over): So, instead of turkey and football, for the KC-10 crews, it's eight to ten-hour missions hovering over the key battlefield. The pain of being away from their loved ones mitigated by the contribution they're making to the war against terror.

1ST LT. TYLER JOHNSON, U.S. AIR FORCE: I love flying, so I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. It is hard being away from family, but I love this job and I enjoy supporting our country.

STAFF SGT. JOHN LOERA, U.S. AIR FORCE: I'm honored to be here. You know, being away from family, they understand that we work. I'm home. But right now, it's my time to be out here and just happened to be serving.

PLEITGEN: Around Mosul, we see billowing smoke of oil fires ISIS has started to try and distract coalition planes. But thanks to the tanker jet, U.S.-led aircraft can stay airborne as long as it takes to find their targets and take them out.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN with the U.S. Air Force over Iraq and Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: And coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, it's a tragedy the families of these children will live with every day for the rest of their lives, as well. The latest from Tennessee where a school bus driver is facing multiple charges after a deadly crash.

And the search for victims in the twisted wreckage of a construction disaster in China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:18:40] FOSTER: Developing news from Turkey this hour. At least two people have been killed in a car bombing. It happened in the southern city of Adana during rush hour at a parking lot near a government building. The local governor says at least 16 people were wounded. Not yet clear who's behind the blast.

A frantic rescue operation underway at the site of a construction accident in China. State media saying at least 40 people were killed when a platform at a power plant in the Fengcheng city collapsed. A number of people are reported still to be trapped under fallen scaffolding it looks like.

CNN's Matt Rivers following developments from China's capital and joins me live from Beijing with the latest. And when we look at the images, it seems to have happened within a

cooling tower.

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This was a repair project to a cooling tower at a construction site that is building a power plant currently in southeastern China. This accident happened around 7:00 a.m. and it all happened very swiftly.

We're told that there were 68 people according to government estimates at this site and what happened was they were working and a crane on the site collapsed. When that crane collapsed, it took down the scaffolding, the platform that all of these workers were on. And as you mentioned, the damage has been catastrophic. At least 40 people killed so far. We know that five people are in the hospital.

[04:20:01] But these rescue efforts are ongoing. They've been going on for nearly 12 hours now. And what officials are saying is that as they continue, the number of casualties, as they find the remaining missing people, will almost assuredly rise. So, just a very, very tense situation as rescuers, some 200 or 300 firefighters on scene right now continuing to comb through this rubble, Max.

FOSTER: And we keep hearing about the accidents, don't we, on building sites in China?

RIVERS: That's absolutely right. Unfortunately, this is not something that we hear about rarely. In fact, it happens far more often than most people would like.

The fact of the matter is that workplace safety is not that important in China. It's not something anyone puts a premium on. There was 14,136 people in the first half of 2016 alone, according to government figures, that died as a result of workplace accidents. I mean, that's a staggering number and something that we see happen year after year after year. In fact, that 14,000 figure I mentioned is down 6 percent from last year.

So, this is a systemic problem in China that's consistently we see workers needlessly die in accident on job sites.

FOSTER: OK. Back with you when we get more from the scene. Matt, thank you very much in Beijing.

Now, in the U.S., a sick child has died after a school bus crash in Tennessee. As families begin to mourn this unimaginable tragedy, the bus driver is preparing to appear in court on multiple charges.

CNN's Nick Valencia has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal investigators say 24-year-old Johnthony Walker was not on the designated route home when he flipped a school bus killing six children, the youngest just a kindergartner. Police have released only a few details about Walker. But at a press

conference earlier today, they answered some of the many questions still outstanding.

SGT. AUSTIN GARRETT, CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE POLICE DEPARTMENT: We received toxicology reports back today from the Tennessee bureau of investigation that shows no trace of alcohol or drugs in the driver's system. The driver's driving history did include a minor wreck in September of this year investigated by our agency. It's also part of the investigation.

VALENCIA: The bus, which Walker had been licensed to drive since April, was full. On board, 37 children.

The victims include Ziria Mateen (ph), who was on board with her two sisters. They survived.

Damian Brown's mother said she wait five hours before finding out her son had been killed in the crash. He liked to dance and loved Spider- man.

Eight-year-old Kiante Wilson died late Wednesday. His brother says he was a tough little boy who's now in a better place.

Nine-year-old Suri Nash (ph) would be celebrated a birthday next month. Her little brother was also on board. He is expected to survive.

In an obituary for 9-year-old Cordasia Jones, the family writes, "She passed away unexpectedly."

A sixth child who died has not been named by the family.

Police have yet to interview the child survivors for fear of putting them through even more trauma. Physical evidence and eyewitness testimony have led them to believe Walker was driving too fast, well above the 30 mile-per-hour speed limit.

DAVID DUKE, DURHAM SCHOOL SERVICES CEO: My responsibility is to look for answers.

VALENCIA: In a YouTube video released by the school bus company that employed walker, the executive in charge made an emotional plea to the public. The company is one of the largest school bus providers in the country.

DUKE: What I can do is promise that I'm determined, we're determined to find out what happened. And that we will offer any support that we can to the families that are affected.

VALENCIA: The investigation goes on in Chattanooga, as does the mourning. Some of the victims' families have turned to local community leader Bishop Kevin Adams for support. But at a time like this, he, too, says he's hurting. He was in the hospital as parents got the news their children had died. BISHOP KEVIN ADAMS, COMMUNITY LEADER: As the doctors were coming in

and, you know, just announced that to a family that your child is deceased, you know, I saw mothers literally passing out. People all on the floor, the screams. I mean, I can still hear them.

VALENCIA: Nick Valencia, CNN, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: In North Dakota, police and protesters are blaming each other for violent clashes there as hundreds of people protest the planned Dakota Access Oil Pipeline. They say it would ruin sacred Native American land and contaminate the environment. Police used teargas and rubber bullets against protesters on Sunday. A woman almost lost her arm.

The protests are an effort to hold a proposed $2.7 billion pipeline that would carry almost half a million barrels of crude oil a day through four U.S. states, including North and South Dakota.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Still to come: moving beyond rhetoric and into diplomacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They buy all sorts of my stuff. All kinds of toys from Trump.

[04:25:00] They pay me millions, and hundreds of millions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That's how then-candidate Donald Trump once described his dealings with Saudi Arabia. We examine some of the less kind things he said about the Kingdom and what it would mean in terms of relations with Washington and Riyadh.

And we travel back to the Jewish community in Venice swept up on a tide of intolerance and anti-Semitism, yet thriving all the same.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The green party nominee in the U.S., Jill Stein, has launched a bid for a vote recount in the states of the Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The campaign says it's raised more than $2.5 million to pay for the recount. A bid follows reports that a computer scientist told the Clinton campaign about the possibility of hacks in those states.

Turkish police are investigating a car bombing in the southern city of Adana. State media say two people are dead, 16 others are wounded. The blast happened in a parking lot near the governor's office during morning rush hour. No one has claimed responsibility.

A frantic rescue operation is underway at the site of a construction accident in China. State media say at least 40 people were killed when a platform at a power plant in Fengcheng City collapsed. A number of people are reported to be trapped under scaffolding.

And Hurricane Otto is expected to make landfall Thursday near the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border. The storm is unusually late in the season and unusually far south. If Otto hits Costa Rica, it will be the country's first hurricane in recorded history.

We'll return now to our top story, though, and that's the transition to the administration of U.S. President-elect Trump.

[04:30:01] Come January, he'll have to turn campaign talk into action. And the task he's facing is especially sensitive when it comes to some of America's staunchest allies like Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom has been the target of repeated criticism from Trump over the past year.

As Becky Anderson explains, his anti-Saudi rhetoric was all the more surprising given his own business links to the kingdom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: They make a billion dollars a day, folks. And whenever they're in trouble, our military takes care. You know what we get -- nothing.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bad value for money. As presidential candidate, Donald Trump's assessment of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia was typically provocative. As president-elect he may be more diplomatic. His claim that Washington is helping the wealthy kingdom too much and getting too little in return rankled for some in the gulf. There's also a distinct sense that actions matter more than words.

FAISAL AL YAFAI, COLUMNIST, THE NATIONAL: We have to wait and see what Trump will do. There has been great concern in Saudi Arabia and naturally over this JASTA bill.

ANDERSON: JASTA stands for Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, and it allows U.S. families of 9/11 victims to sue Riyadh over alleged involvement in the terror attack. Saudi Arabia has denied any link. Under legislation which Trump supported, it's one of the things souring the mood in the Kingdom when it comes to America.

TRUMP: This is amazing.

ANDERSON: On the campaign trail, Trump threatened to stop importing Saudi oil, saying he wanted independence from, quote, "America's foes and the energy cartels." The president-elect has pledged to stop the U.S. acting in his view like the world's policemen, saying Arab boots on the ground are needed in places like Syria to fight ISIS.

Regional ties with Washington were cooling anyway under President Obama because of worries about the Iran nuclear deal which the president-elect has vowed to scrap.

So, the Trump-Saudi relationship may surprise observers.

AL YAFAI: Sometimes you get the impression that people have had so much America in the Middle East that they would be happy to see the back of America. Trump is suggesting that that's what we would see.

ANDERSON (on camera): There is one angle to America's relationships with the Middle East on this the former businessmen will understand instinctively. Gulf States are not just U.S. allies. They are customers. And the U.S. is the top arms exporter while Saudi Arabia is the biggest importer on a global basis.

TRUMP: I love that sign --

ANDERSON (voice-over): Trump also has personal business interests in Saudi Arabia. It sold property to the Saudi government in New York in the past.

TRUMP: I like the Saudis. They're nice. I make a lot of money with them. They buy all sort of my stuff.

ANDERSON: So, while Trump the entrepreneur's views are clear, Saudi Arabia will be keeping a close eye on how President Trump feels come January the 20th.

Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, joining me to talk about President Trump's transition from business mogul to world leader is Morris Reid. He's a political and Democratic strategist. He was adviser on the Bill Clinton/Al Gore 1996 campaign. And also, Leslie Vinjamuri, she's lecturer of international relations at University of London, friend to CNN, of course.

First of all, to you, Morris, just this idea of Trump going back into the Middle East and trying to rebuild bridges, Saudi Arabia is going to be crucial, right? How is he going to take back --

MORRIS REID, POLITICAL ANALYST AND DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's not just Saudi. When you run as a candidate, you say and act and do one thing. But when you become the president, it's completely different.

I think that the fact that he's familiar with most of these people that he's talked about, he has a relationship and gives them a leg up, people will understand that Trump the businessman is not Trump the president of the United States. So, I think that rhetoric will go aside. They are allies. We need each other and I think he'll dig in and figure out a way to mend those fences.

FOSTER: What are you hearing from the region? Are they open to his overtures as president?

LESLIE VINJAMURI, SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: I mean, I think everybody's going to be nervous in the region, given the inflammatory rhetoric during the campaign about anti -- you know, not letting Muslims into America. This is really dangerous hearing this. If you're sitting in the Middle East wondering what in the world you can expect.

But I think it's -- you know, right now, everybody is waiting to see. It's deeply uncertain time. So, we don't know.

FOSTER: He does sound very different, doesn't he? He sounds presidential.

REID: He does. But I would remind you that Barack Obama came in as an antiwar closing Guantanamo Bay candidate, it's still open. So, what you see as candidate is not necessarily what you do as president. I think that people should step back from the rhetoric and engage for their own best interests.

That's certainly what Donald Trump was going to do. That's what the folks in the Middle East should do, as well.

FOSTER: And also, a discussion about his mandate, as well. These calls for recount and this growing margin between Clinton and Trump in terms of the number of votes, does that delegitimize him on the global stage?

VINJAMURI: I think sometimes people understands, we keep hearing that Hillary Clinton's gotten two million votes, right, in the popular vote --

FOSTER: Doesn't mean anything, does it?

VINJAMURI: Well, it means there are a lot of people in the country who didn't vote for Donald Trump. He's the sort of person who will be sensitive to that, very aware of it. It's interesting, we see him reaching out further to even candidates to come into his administration that didn't support him during the campaign.

FOSTER: Yes.

VINJAMURI: But the recount, the recount is politically potentially very divisive.

FOSTER: Leslie alluding there to Haley and possibly Romney coming into that foreign international role --

REID: What's interesting on Haley is this was a surprise pick, a woman that hasn't had much experience. I think maybe she's traveled as governor to a few places. But when you have an unstable world and a changing world, you really want expert hands --

FOSTER: But has Romney got the experience?

REID: Listen, he has the experience because he's been in a business -- been a businessman engaged around the world. He's also been a presidential candidate. You notice the trend. You go to your opponent and put them in an important pivotal job. So, when that person lands with a big American flag, in a big plane, they know you're speaking for the president and you also represent millions of voters that also voted for you.

FOSTER: Donald Trump's a man that holds grudges, right? Are they going to have the letter to in I had administration, having oppose -- in his administration, having opposed him in the past? VINJAMURI: Well, I think that's a key concern. He hasn't told us who

the secretary of state is. And Mitt Romney is name that's out there. Nikki Haley to the U.N. But they've opposed him.

So, I'm sure Mitt Romney is sitting, though, thinking, you know, how much influence will I have if I join this administration, if I'm offered and I join. And so, that's something we have to wait and see.

But it is -- it is sort of -- a good signal that he's willing to sort of reach out beyond those that supported him. I mean, he hasn't placed a lot of emphasis on expertise in any of the posts. So, I think that is something that's worrying.

Nikki Haley, you know, first woman he's appointed. She comes from an Indian background. So, she's adding a degree of diversity. She's young, she's energetic, and she hasn't -- she has openly spoken out against him. So, it is a very interesting appointment.

FOSTER: Because they haven't had a particularly big international presence in terms of diplomacy in the past, could that be an advantage for them, for world leaders dealing with them and foreign secretaries dealing with them? Perhaps, you know, this is a chance for a fresh start.

VINJAMURI: Yes. I mean, America has very long-stabbed interests. You don't just enter into the United Nations system and dramatically change those. The question is whether or not she'll be able to move the needle both within the administration on particular policies and how effectively she'll be able to work a system that she isn't familiar with in the United Nations.

REID: The interesting thing about Romney is he's a businessman. Donald Trump, where you will see, I think you'll see a pattern emerging, his next few appointments will be business people. People that he understands, he understands business people far more than he understands politicians, people that are pragmatic and understand the chain of command.

Although they opposed him, he is the boss. You know, the president of the United States is the boss. Business people understand the chain of command like the military. I think you'll see more business people, not less, entering posts with him.

FOSTER: And based here in Europe, and there's all sorts of dynamics going on within the continent, how do you think him stepping into that is going to change dynamics here, led by concerns in the European Union right now and Brexit in particular?

REID: Well, this is a guy who doesn't believe in multilateral things. He is a businessman. So, he likes to deal one on one. So, you will see more free trade agreements.

But you will also see him saying, look, if we have a deal with NATO, you have to do your part. When people were alarmed that, well, he's not going to protect them, he said we have a deal, you have to do your fair share. And then you get the fruit of the labor. So, I think that he will be a person that really digs in. He'll look

for opportunities to win. And anyone that's going to help with his winning narrative will get a lot of attention from him.

FOSTER: The frightening prospect for, you know, countries to the east of the continent is the sort of relationship he'll have with Russia. And Russia perhaps, more incursions, particularly in Scandinavia, for example, Ukraine, they're not going to get support from NATO perhaps that they used to have because they won't have the resources of the U.S. necessarily.

VINJAMURI: Well, that will be interesting, too. This is another reason why Mitt Romney's potentially an interesting pick because he has a very different attitude toward Russia than Trump has had. So, Trump has been willing to extend the hand to Putin, and Mitt Romney historically has been more concerned about the threat that Russia poses.

So, I think we have to again see who does he appoint and how much are they able to influence him? But, you know, I think America is likely -- Donald Trump's likely to get pulled back in to recognizing America's long-standing commitment to NATO. But if you're sitting in Europe, that's probably not very reassuring at this point.

FOSTER: We need to hear more from him don't we? That's the point here.

VINJAMURI: We do need to hear more.

REID: It's interesting, Donald Trump is doing exactly what Barack Obama said he wanted to do. The Russian reset. There were other interests that took over, why he couldn't do that. So, I think people are alarmed, but this is exactly what Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama wanted to do. Let's see if Donald Trump can do it and get Russia back to the table.

FOSTER: OK, thank you very much indeed for joining us today. We'll talk lots more in the months ahead.

Now, from America to here in Europe, and we are seeing a rise in populism and nationalism with racial and anti-Semitic overtones.

[04:40:02] This week, white nationalists, the so-called alt-right, held a rally in Washington complete with "hail Trump" cheers and stiff arm salutes reminiscent of the Nazis.

But history shows how a rich culture blooms even in the shade of intolerance. Our Ben Wedeman delves into a fascinating past of the Jewish people and their survival in one of the world's first-ever ghettos.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kids on a field trip enter the Jewish ghetto of Venice. Today, the ghetto is clean, calm, and quiet. Once, it was crammed and chaotic, with thousands of Jews forced by law to live within its walls.

The rumors of Venice created the ghetto, Europe's first, 500 years ago. This year is a bittersweet remembrance for a people who managed to flourish while living in prisons, says historian Simon Levis Sullam.

SIMON LEVIS SULLAM, HISTORIAN: We commemorate segregation, exclusion, separation, and celebrate the fact that Jews were brought together and flourished in cultural terms. And also met and exchanged culture and knowledge and information.

WEDEMAN: A trading superpower, Venice attracted Jews fleeing the Spanish inquisition, wealthy Jewish merchants from the Ottoman Empire, and Jewish craftsmen and artisans from Germany and elsewhere in the Italian peninsula.

"It was like New York City," the Rabbi Shalom Bahbout tells me. "Politically, it was an important city because it was a crossroads between east and west."

But it was a city where Jews struggled under severe restrictions, hundreds of Hebrew books were published here, but Jews were banned from owning printing presses.

(on camera): Under the system imposed on the ghetto in 1516, the gates were shut every night. They used to be here. There was, however, an important exception to that rule, doctors, Jewish doctors who were in great demand all over the city were allowed to come and go as they please.

(voice-over): Narrow canals formed the ghetto's boundaries, boundaries that seemed even more restrictive at night. And after the gates were shut at night, Christian guards patrolled the canals around the ghetto to make sure nobody got out or in.

And adding insult to injury, the inhabitants of the ghetto were compelled to pay the salaries of their guards. The system of segregation came crashing down in 1797 when Napoleon conquered Venice and abolished anti-Semitic laws. The Jews of Venice were quick to move out and move up until the Second World War.

SIMON SULLAM: Two hundred and fifty Jews died in the Holocaust, they were tracked and arrested in Venice by Italians and by Germans. And they were of all ages.

WEDEMAN: Today, around 400 Jews live in Venice, compared to more than ten times that when the ghetto was at its height. Jews and non-Jews alike have moved as the economy of Venice has become dominated by tourism.

Psychotherapist Dora Sullam looks at the ghetto with mixed feelings.

DORA SULLAM, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: For us, the ghetto has a completely different meaning. When I was a little girl, the ghetto for me was the place where there were the synagogues. And we would go mainly only to go to the synagogue, and it was not a very nice part of the town. It was quite poor.

WEDEMAN: Today, it's undergoing something of a revival. Attracting Jews from outside Italy.

DORA SULLAM: Now, I think we really feel it's the heart of the Jewish life.

WEDEMAN: A heart that still beats despite it all.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Venice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: And still to come: motivated by hate, a right wing extremist is jailed for life in the U.K. for the murder of a beloved politician.

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[04:47:41] FOSTER: A court here in London has sentenced a far right extremist to life in prison for the murder of the British MP Jo Cox. The judge said the crime called for a strict sentence because its done to further a political motive. Cox was shot and stabbed as he arrived for a constituent meeting a week before the June Brexit referendum.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin has more.

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ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The murder of British MP Jo Cox shock the Britain and the world. Her killer Thomas Mair, a 53-year-old man with extreme right wing views, has been sentenced for life.

NICK WALLEN, WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE: Thomas Mair is a cold-blooded killer. He calmly planned her death, he lay in wait, and then killed Jo in a sustained attack.

MCLAUGHLIN: Mair was found guilty of murder and of grievous bodily harm with intent, as well as having possession of a firearm with intent and having an offensive weapon. The murder was a clear act of terrorism, prosecutors said.

In a statement the Crown Prosecution Service highlighted, "Mair has offered no explanation for his actions, but the prosecution demonstrated that motivated by hate, his premeditated crimes were nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology."

Cox's family issued an emotional statement and called for unity after the verdict.

BRENDAN COX, JO COX'S HUSBAND: To the person who did this, we have nothing but pity that his life was so devoid of love and consumed with hatred that this became his desperate and cowardly attempt to find meaning. MCLAUGHLIN: The mother of two was stabbed and shot by Mair and her

constituency in northern England a week before the Brexit referendum in June. Mair shouted "Britain first." The scene was chaotic as described on this 911 call released by police.

911 CALL: There's hell on, there's chaos, he's stabbed people and shot people.

MCLAUGHLIN: The police found a collection of Nazi memorabilia and books at Mair's home. They also found a dossier on Cox and evidence of Internet searches for right wing material and the gun he planned to use. Maher refused to take the stand during the trial. But during a hearing he told the court, "My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain."

Cox was considered a rising star in British politics and campaigned for Britain to stay in the European Union. Her death drew tributes from all sides and led to the suspension of the campaign for several days.

[04:50:02] Her family and friends would like to remember her now with this video, a tribute for her commitment to her family and community.

JO COX, BRITISH MP: I'm elated but I'm humbled that the people have put their trust in me to be your next member of parliament.

MCLAUGHLIN (on camera): During the trial, the prosecutor said there were two human extremes there that tragic day -- the Nazi sympathizer, full of murderous hate, and then the internationalist, Jo Cox, full of compassion and love. Her family wants to make sure her legacy endures.

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Back in a moment.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hereby pardon you from the Thanksgiving table, and we hope that you have a wonderful time in gobbler's rest. And I give a special --

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FOSTER: Thanksgiving in the United States. The holiday commemorates an autumn feast shared between the first pilgrims to reach the shores and the Native Americans already there.

And this, well, this is one of the stranger traditions to arise from it. President Barack Obama marked his final Thanksgiving in the White House by pardoning two turkeys that might otherwise have become the first family's dinner. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:55:01] OBAMA: I want to take a moment to recognize the brave turkeys who weren't so lucky, who didn't get to ride the gravy train to freedom, who met their fate with courage and sacrifice and proved that they weren't chicken.

(LAUGHTER)

(CRYING)

It's not that bad now, come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: It's pretty bad.

But President Obama and the first family also rolled up their sleeves to serve Thanksgiving meals to residents at the Armed Forces retirement home on Wednesday. On the menu, turkey and gravy, of course. Beans, spinach, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

And before we go, one final holiday tradition -- thousands and thousands of Los Angeles residents turn out for the annual lighting of the freeway. Countless cars brought seasonal cheer to highway 405 last night. Festive red lights on one, glittering white down the other. These drivers are so committed to the display, many spent hours, well, pretty much where you see them now.

On a more serious note, this is the cost drivers are paying for the cheapest Thanksgiving gas prices since 2008.

I'm Max Foster in London, our domestic viewers in the U.S., "EARLY START" with Christine Romans and Boris Sanchez coming up for you next.

For everyone else, a check of the headlines straight ahead after this short break. You're watching CNN.

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