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tv   Anderson Cooper 360  CNN  December 21, 2023 9:00pm-10:01pm PST

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>> good evening, anderson is off tonight, and we begin with breaking news. a new window into just how far
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the former president went to overturn the election that he lost. we've already heard the phone call of him pressuring georgia officials to find him votes that he was not entitled to. not to mention, his phone call to arizona governor, doug doocy, to overturn the election results in arizona, and now the detroit news is reporting a recording that they reviewed in which he's pressuring detroit area election officials to do the same. cnn's marshall cohen joins us now with more. marshall, there is clearly a pattern emerging here. >> one state after another, trump trying to dip into the local state of affairs and influence the results, interfere with the results. i want to be clear, we have not heard this tape for ourselves. but the details were reported by the detroit news. this is november 2020. trump lost in michigan he lost by more than 100,000 votes. it's time for the election canvassers in detroit to do their job and certify the
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results so the election can be finalized. on the day or around the time of the certification, trump calls these local officials, republicans, trying to twist their arm and convince them not to certify. and according to the detroit news, here are some of what he said. quote, we can't let these people take our country away from us. quote, everyone knows detroit is crooked as heck. that's where he started. there's also ronna mcdaniel, she was on the phone. she is the chairwoman of the rnc. she told him, do not sign it. we will get you attorneys. do not sign the certification. trump says, will take care of that. incredible revelations, trump also went on to say, how could anybody sign something when so many more voters than people? that's a false claim that dead voters cast ballots in detroit. he was peddling false claims, trying to twist their arm, trying to convince them not to certify. it worked. they tried to take back their votes to decertify.
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but it was too late. they had already set the certification process into motion. of course, trump couldn't undo it once he lost. >> again, this is looking back at 2020, let's not forget that trump is running for presidency again. and could lose, so what does this tell us about potential tactics? how does this fit into the ongoing criminal cases against the former president? >> he's feeling pretty good about his standing in the polls now. he could lose. if he does lose, he might try to overturn it again. but for the criminal cases with jack smith, it's not clear if jack smith has this tape. he probably does, or he might, because he had such a wide reaching investigation. it's clearly powerful evidence. trump's own voice, and it fits a pattern. as you mentioned in the top, pam, georgia, arizona, michigan, one state after another. trying to twist peoples arms, pressure them to break their oaths to the constitution.
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pressure them to overturn results of a lawful election, in jack smith's words, trump tried to disenfranchise millions of voters by doing things just like this. >> yeah, and for context for our viewers, trump would've had to have three states flipped, three states that voted for biden legally, they would've had to have three states flipped in order for him to actually win unlawfully. so, that's important context, as you look at the pattern around these phone calls these various states. has the former president or ronna mcdaniel responded to this reporting? >> you know, it's pretty incredible that they put out a response so quickly. clearly, this is something that has rattled them. yes, the trump campaign put out a statement, i will read it for you. they said, quote, all of president trump's actions were taken in furtherance of his duty as president of the united states to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity. pam, it is hard to take that
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statement at face value, that this was part of his official duties as president. the jack smith indictment says very clearly that these were not his job as president. this was the opposite of his responsibility. this was a defrauding of the united states and an attempt to overturn an election. according to jack smith, of course, trump has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing. >> right, we know the facts, we see the evidence, some of that evidence emerging that you just laid out with this report. again we want to note cnn's not heard, we are basing this on detroit news. and their description of what is in this reporting between trump, these two local officials in detroit, and one of a candle with rnc. marshall cohen, stay right here with us, i want to bring in atlantic magazine contributor, and conservative lawyer george conway. george, this recording obviously gets at the heart of the case, jack smith is building against the former president that he actively conspired to overturn the 2020 election. how big of a deal is this? help us put this into context. >> well, it's thoroughly
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consistent with criminal conspiracies that have been alleged by the department of justice, by jack smith in the washington d. c. federal case, and by fani willis in the georgia fulton county prosecution. and it's very much reminiscent of the phone call that you mentioned where president trump attempted to coerce and bully secretary of state in georgia raffensperger to stop -- to interfere with his duties in certifying the election. then the same thing here, there was no factual basis given for the claiming that there was fraud and there was intimidation involved. according to the detroit news article, it suggested by a former elections official there, that in essence what was happening here, he suggests, is that they were being induced by the promise of legal protection,
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by the promise of getting attorneys for them, to violate their official duties, which potentially could be an additional crime under michigan law. i think an interesting question would be, whether the michigan attorney general dana nessel, has this tape or has been aware of this tape. certainly the call was known, although the substance of the call, the details of the call were not known publicly. dana nessel, the attorney general of michigan, has charged the fake electors there, as we know, and the question is whether--i think it's not necessary for jack smith to add this to his case. but it certainly consistent with his case. and the real question, is whether or not authorities in michigan will seek to prosecute ms. mcdaniel or mr. trump. >> i want to follow up on that. you say you don't think it's necessary for jack smith to add this to his case. but he's trying to build out what appears to be a pattern, a conspiracy of trump trying to overturn the election results. and the georgia case -- >> absolutely.
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>> that was 11,000 votes. that he said, go find these 11,000, i cannot remember the exact number. in this case, we should point out the president biden won michigan by with 148,000 votes, beating donald trump by more than 322,000 votes in wayne county where these canvassers were from. right? why wouldn't this be more critical? go ahead. >> i'm not minimizing. i think the case jack smith has already built, based upon the false electoral certifications and his conduct on january 6th and his overall efforts of what he did in the white house as he watched the insurrection and basically cheered it on, i think the cases isjust strong enough as it is. i think this is consistent with the case. i think it's what lawyers call cumulative evidence of his criminal intent. and i think it's certainly something that smith will want to look at, and may want to put into his trial plan. but he's got a pretty good case already.
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>> we don't know whether he has this recording or not. but it's really interesting. marshall cohen, i want to bring you back, as we saw in 2020, time and time again, our system is built on people doing the right thing. withstanding pressure. even though these two local officials tried to rescind their votes to certify after this phone call for trump, they were unsuccessful. how can we use this as a warning, as we look ahead of trump's potential tactics if he loses again? how do we ensure these local officials don't cave? >> looking ahead to next year, there's some good news and bad news. the bad news is that a lot of professional election officials across the country have walked away under the threats, the intimidation, the violence and it's not really a good line of work anymore these days because you could get doxxed, you can have someone like donald trump attacking you on social media. it could ruin your life, as we saw with ruby freeman and shaye moss in atlanta who were
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defamed by giuliani and others. here's the good news, last year, 2022, there were key elections for secretary of state offices and other election officials across the country, a lot of election deniers were running to run elections next year, many of them lost in places like michigan, arizona, people who did not want to follow the law we're trying to run. trying to get into those positions of power. and they were often beaten by people who have made it a part of their campaign to say, you know what? even if you don't like the results of the election i will follow the law, i will certify the results, i'm not gonna try to meddle because of somebody pressuring me from the outside. >> i think that is really important context for sure, george, bringing you back in. is it significant to you that the former president allegedly offered to provide lawyers for these canvassers if they went along with his plan to reject the certification? >> yes, as i said, and as the election official in michigan, the former election official
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who was quoted in the detroit news article said, that's potentially an inducement to someone to violate their official duties. potentially, in other words, potentially bribery. i think we'd have to know more facts exactly what they were promising to do in order to determine whether or not it's a case that's worth bringing. but it's certainly very corrupt. all right, george conway, marshall cohen, thank you so much, more now on one of those criminal cases we mentioned a moment ago, special counsel jack smith's answer to the former president's request to the supreme court on his claims of presidential immunity. cnn's evan perez joins us with -- what is the special counsel asking for in his latest filing? >> he's pushing back on the former presidents effort to basically delay this. trump has basically said, you know you should let the appeals court first hear this, and then take this up after that. that's a play to delay delay, which is part of his overall strategy. here, jack smith is saying, i
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will read just a part of the filing, the public interest in a prompt resolution of this case favors an immediate definitive decision by this court, the c charges herere aref the utmost gravity. of course, no president, no former president, has ever been put on trial on criminal charges before. so jack smith points out that this case is like nothing we've ever had in our history. he does cite the 1974 nixon case. and points out that this perhaps is even bigger than that because you're talking about criminal charges against a former president. >> yeah, let's talk about the u.s. versus nixon case, and just the details of that. how that is relevant here. >> so, that's 1974 nixon was trying to use executive privilege, claiming executive privilege to withhold recordings from the white house. the nixon tapes. and in that case, the supreme court hopscotched and leap
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frogged the appellate courts and took up the case. two months after the petition was filed, they registered the decision, 16 days after they had oral argument, they had a decision. that's what smith is asking here. he's asking for similar treatment. he's pointing out look, this is a trial that scheduled for march. donald trump, when he was asked for a trial date, actually asked for 2026. he has no interest in getting this adjudicated anytime soon. >> certainly not. is there any sense of when the supreme court may respond here? >> look, i do think that it is already shown a lot of interest in this case. they already asked for briefs, obviously, the fact that trump had to respond yesterday is an indicator that they are paying attention very closely. the appeals court, by the way, has also got the message, they have scheduled 80 oral argument for the case, the same case, on
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january 9th. so, all the courts seem to be getting the message that there is a criticism. the courts take too long. that the court takes way too long to hear these things. the courts seem to be on this page saying we can do this, we can do this quickly. we don't know how quickly they'll take it up. obviously, they all know what the calendar looks like. voting begins in the next few weeks so, that's what people are paying attention to. >> certainly, all, right we'll keep an eye on. evan perez, thank. you as we talked about, a good deal of the president in this case, on both sides, involves -- and another, case in nixon v. fitzgerald. we're joined now by former nixon white house counsel and watergate whistleblower john dean. who better to give us perspective than you, john. so, this latest filing from the special counsel once again stresses the gravity of the former president's case, and cites u.s. v. nixon as president for a swift decision as evan pointed out, saying, quote, here the stakes are at least as high, if not higher. do you agree with that assessment?
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>> i think they are higher than u.s. versus nixon. what we are seeking in the nixon case were secretly recorded conversation with aids. they were about half a dozen defendants who were about ready to go to trial and the prosecutor wanted that set of 64 tapes to use in the trial. he had no knowledge that, for example, it would force nixon to resign when the information was released in those tapes. but he was just preparing for trial, went directly to the supreme court, as evan mentioned, and got a ruling 60 days later. so, it is a powerful precedent and smith is relying on it. >> in your view, is the supreme court likely to grant jack smith's request here? >> i think they will. it will be very telling politically if for some reason they did not. they, theoretically, could wait until the court of appeals
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acted, saying they wanted to fully brief and see what the court of appeals where they came out on it. but, i think that delay plays into trump's hand and it's so conspicuous to all of us now that trump's m.o. is to indeed delay, delay, delay. that it will be telling politically if they are influenced at all by trump and, pam, i have not been to date. >> i am just wondering for context, because at the time of usb nixon, it was seen for the prosecutor to skip over the appeals court and go straight to the supreme court for decision. has that changed in terms of strategies and more typical now to escape over appeals court and go straight to the supreme court? help us understand the context there. >> it is more common today than it was. when leon george ski did it in 74 in the nixon case, it had been way back during the truman
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administration in a case called youngstown versus sawyer, where they jumped in and tdid one of these accelerated examinations of the outcomes. the president had indeed seized the steel mills, and that is why they wanted to act quickly. but, it was a very out of pace actions by jaworski, but, now as i said, it's much more common today. there probably have been five or six cases in the last few years. >> so, i want to go back to that comparison again because the issue at the heart of u.s. v. nixon was whether a president has privilege in the subpoena case, not this question of presidential immunity jack smith is currently asking this report. you said it's a bigger deal in this case. but, is there a meaningful distinction here? help us understand that. >> well, the distinction is that nixon was not personally exposed in the criminal
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proceeding at that point. he was an unindicted coconspirator, but had no criminal liability. nobody knew what he was really hiding, which was the fact that he had indeed very early in the watergate cover-up given instructions to his top chief of staff and other aides to use the fbi to block the cia which was pure cover-up language, not well understood at the time, months and months after the cover-up had been undertaken and the court is looking at this. but, nixon was really hiding one tape in that 64 and indeed when the tape surfaced it would force him to resign because it put the lie to all of his claims that he had not been involved in the cover-up. >> john dean, as always, thank you for coming on to offer your very important perspective. now the latest in rudy giuliani's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.
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just today, after the judge in his defamation case said shaye moss and ruby freeman could start trying to collect their nearly 150 million dollar award, he declared bankruptcy. cnn's katelyn polantz joins us now with details of the filing. we know he had claimed -- tell us about this. >> pam, rudy giuliani has a lot of debt. $150 million in this verdict that came in last week in the defamation case by the georgia election workers, that is a lot of money. that's far more than what he would ever have likely needed to pay or could pay. on top of that, with this bankruptcy filing today, we're learning that there are a lot of other people he owed money to already, including the irs and new york state's tax authorities. almost $1 million in income taxes he owes and so that is one of the things he is putting in that bankruptcy filing. 30 grand he owns in back phone bills. at one point, he owed much more
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than, that about double that, so, perhaps he picked some of it down. but, that is just a glimpse of it. there is lawyers he owns, financial consultants, and other lawsuits out there. so, now that's on the bankruptcy filing. it's an incredible portrait of a man who at one point was not only one of the most famous people but really was a leader in a very rich city, new york city. >> just a fall from grace you cannot even comprehend, to see a fall like this. so, all right, you laid out his depth and what about his assets? >> his assets are still a big question. in the bankruptcy filing, he checks a box that says he has assets between 1 million and $10 million. that is significant wealth to be over $1 million. but, it's a pretty wide range. one of the things that came out in the defamation case from ruby freeman and shaye moss, is that he was not responding to their request for information, including about his net worth. so, they were not able to get a full picture of what kind of income he had coming in, what
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sort of assets he had. there are some known properties he has in new york and florida, has bank accounts. he is a person that took a private plane to his own arraignment in georgia whenever he was charged with a crime there. he has a legal defense out there, spokespeople, he has lawyers, lots and lots of lawyers, a lot of cases. so, we really do not have the full picture of the money that giuliani has at this time that's all going to be tucked into this bankruptcy proceeding. >> the judge pointed out you're paying a spokes person you should be able to pay these two. other katelyn polantz, thank you so much. up next, one of the former president's challengers on how the attention on all the trump legal cases is making its hard to compete. also, the latest from prague, now in shock after a lone government killed d 14 at a univerersity. wewe will be r right back.k.
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>> we spoke before the break about the cases against the former president, and now for the first time so is his opponent around the santas. specifically, about how they're keeping the focus on trump and not the challengers, including himself. >> i would say, if i could have one thing changed, i wish trump had not been indicted on any of the stuff. honestly, i think that from alvin bragg on, i have criticize the cases.
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i also think it distorted the primary. -- it's both that but also just crowded out i think so much of the stuff, and it's sucked out a lot of oxygen. >> joining us now two cnn local commentators democratic strategist paul begala and with me here, republican strategist alison stewart. alice, did you speak with governors on this earlier today, are you surprised about former president trump and his indictments? >> no, because it's true. i spoke with him on the radio this morning and he reiterated what he had said in the past. this is what he views at this latest ruling out of colorado. many of these indictments, many view these as representation of the doj, and using the system to go against political adversaries. he views the colorado ruling just as many of these others, and unfortunately for him and these other candidates, this is getting so much attention by the media. this is what is dominating the coverage. he also said it is encouraging when he goes out to iowa, new hampshire, and speaking with voters. they are not concerned about legal woes of donald trump, they are looking at legal woes and financial woes for themselves, how they're going to put food on the table and
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how they're going to keep their kids safe and educated. so, they're really focusing on the campaign trail about issues important to the american people in the heartland, and it is unfortunate that donald trump is getting a lot of the earned media and the media attention based on legal woes. as we are seeing pam, it is certainly helping him in fundraising. he is using these legal issues as a way to boost support and bumped fund raising. >> if anything it gives him -- and you have to wonder if there's any other candidate to effect. paul, does desantis have a point that trump indictments have sucked a lot of oxygen from the primary race? and is it on desantis and these other candidates to do something about that rather than just complain about it. >> actually, i was listening to alice and she is 1000 times better at this than ron desantis. i mean, this is why her candidate won iowa when she was working for ted cruz. desantis, there is 24 days till
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the iowa caucus, and the only thing he should be talking about is how i can make your life better. instead, he is whining that his lucky opponent, oh he is so lucky because he got indicted four times out of 91 charges, what a stroke of luck mr. trump had! i just can't stand -- anyways. but, this is free advice. i used to charge a lot of money for this. talk about the voters lives, not your life, not mr. trump's life. talk about their lives. alice is exactly right. there is a lot of pain and strain looking for a leader who can help them, and who is going to sit in a -- >> and harold told to eight months as g desantis is right about how these indictments have sucked the media oxygen out of the room, let's make him our president. i'm sorry, it is just offending as a professional. >> -- that is so cute. i just picture in my head with
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a look. like so, alice, let's go to nikki haley and talk about her. something she said earlier today in an exchange with an iowa voter. let's take a listen. >> to me, our former president is just a grave danger to the country and to the christian church. my concern is that by people not saying that out loud, we are making it seem like it is okay, and that it is normal for people to talk like he talks. so, while i want to support you, i also want to hear from you that you also think he is a danger here. >> i would not be running if i did not think that he is not the right person at the right time. i have said multiple times, i do not think it is good for the country to have donald trump become president. i have made it very clear. the problem is, what i have faced, anti trumpers think i do not hate him enough. pro trumpers think i don't love
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him enough. the reality is, i just call it like i see it. it is not personal for me. >> of course she stopped short of agreeing with that voter that trump is a danger to the country. i wondered do you, alice, do you think haley would be able to breakthrough in a bigger way if she answered questions like that more head on then dance around it? >> i go back to what i said before, that is a unique question coming out of the -- i've been to countless rallies and town halls, even against donald trump, most voters are not asking, please pick apart the last stupid thing donald trump said. please tell me how wrong donald trump is. they are not asking about that, they're asking about the economy, safety, jobs, and those are unique and more questions and i think it's important for nikki haley, desantis, chris christie, all of them to pivot back to the issues that are important to harold and ethel, his grandparents are in the machine shed in iowa eating a chicken
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fried steak, concerned about the economy, and not these dumb things donald trump says. that one person i am sure he was asking about the latest stupid thing donald trump said about immigrants in the country poisoning of the blood of this country, that is a ridiculous thing to say and instead, we should be talking about the concerns that republicans do have for illegal immigration and making sure that we control the border, secure the border, we stop the influx of fentanyl into this country and also human trafficking. those are the issues we need to be talking about, not disgusting comments from a former president. >> all right alice stewart, paul begala, >> thank you, pam. >> send ethel and harrold our best, paul. just a week after correcting some of her work following credulous them -- two weeks after facing intense criticism, congressional testimony on antisemitism, harvard president claudine gay is once again in the hot seat. we're going to have details on that, just ahead.
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>> tonight, harvard university 's president is yet again in a predicament as she faces new plagiarism accusations. claudine gay will now make more corrections to her past academic work, this time to her
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ph. d. dissertation. this has also sparked the house to widen their probe into harvard to include the plagiarism allegations. cnn's danny freeman has the details. >> harvard university's president, claudine gay, back in the hot seat-- >> thank you, congresswoman. >>--after the elite school said it found two more instances of inadequate citation in the embattled president's writings. now, a u.s. house committee already investigating antisemitism at harvard says it will also look at the plagiarism allegations. in a new letter to harvard's highest governing body, the committee's chair cites harvard's honor code that states "members of the college community must commit themselves to producing academic work of integrity." it asks, does harvard hold its faculty and academic leadership to the same standards? last week, claudine gay summited corrections to a pair of papers she wrote as a professional academic in 2001 and 2017.
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but a cnn analysis of her writings documented other examples of plagiarism from the 90s, when gay was studying for her ph. d. at harvard. gay's 1997 dissertation lifted one paragraph almost verbatim from another source without citation. jonathan bailey is a plagiarism expert. >> what troubled you about the specific dissertation allegations more than others? >> that paragraph showed a link to text that clearly could not have been produced any other way than through copying, was not quoted or properly cited in the paper. that is what made me worry about that. >> a harvard spokesperson told cnn in a statement thursday that the university reviewed more of her writings and gay plans to update her 1997 work to correct these additional instances. harvard said the inadequate citations were regrettable, but were not research misconduct. in a previous statement about the earlier allegations, gay defended her works saying, i stand by the integrity of my scholarship. throughout my career, i have
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worked to ensure my scholarship adheres to the highest academic standards. the latest development coming a week after harvard's top governing board unanimously stood behind gay, following intense calls for her to resign over her congressional testimony on antisemitism on college campuses. >> so, the answer is, yes, that calling for the genocide of jewish people violates harvard 's code of conduct, correct. >> again, it depends on the context. >> the allegations against gay, who is the first black woman to serve as president of harvard, have largely originated from conservatist activists. the question persists, is the school holding its president to the same standard as its students? >> plagiarism really exists on a spectrum between completely original writing and completely copied and pasted and trying to pass off somebody else's work. right now, the best we have on claudine gay is sitting somewhere in the middle between the two.
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>> now, pamela, it's maybe unusual for a president of the university to face plagiarism allegations, but it is not unprecedented. back in 2021, the president of the university of south carolina resigned over plagiarism allegations. that was because of his commencement speech. meanwhile, as to what comes next, at this point harvard is still standing by president gay, but the house committee is still moving along. they requested troves of documents, so while these new corrections are going to be made, the story still likely not over yet. pamela. >> danny freeman, thank you so much. just ahead, shock and trauma in the czech republic tonight, 14 people killed and dozens more wounded in a mass shooting at a university of prague. what do you know about the massssacre and t the suspectcted shooter,r, up next..
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> this saturday, the day before christmas eve, the czech republic will have a day of mourning to remember those killed in today's mass shooting in prague. 14 people were murdered and another 25 murdered at charles university. officials also say the shooter is dead. the attack came as a shock to the european nation where mass shootings are relatively rare. tonight, we are learning more disturbing details about the suspect suspect the gunman. melissa bell has more. >> terror on the streets of prague, students risking their
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liveves to escape a gunman's bullets, that killed more than a dozen on thursday afternoon. more than 20 were injured, ten severely in the shooting of prague's charles university, before the gunmen and enrolled philosophy student was eliminated, police say. it is an attack that has rocked the czech republic. [speaking in a non-english language] >> translator: there's absolutely no explanation, no justification for this. like many of you, i'm feeling a deep sorrow and disgust over this incomprehensible and brutal violence. >> as night fell on prague, details emerged about the 24 -year-old suspect. before the deadly shooting in the capital, police say shooter left his home village where his father was found dead. intent on further bloodshed, he made his way to the czech capital. ticked off, police forces rushed to evacuate the building where the shooter was a
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supposed to attend the lecture, but struck elsewhere. forcing students to barricade themselves inside classrooms, later evacuated en masse. their preparation for end-of-year exams, brutally shattered by the country's deadliest shooting in decades. no indication of a link to international terrorism, the czech h interior a administer confirmsms, but toninight, a ciy in shock on a continent where mass shootings are few and far between. >> melissa bell joins us now. so, melissa, what more are you learning about the investigation now? >> for the time being, check authorities are being tightlipped about the identity of the victims. we are learning more about what they found out through a search of this young man's home where they found his father killed.
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they believe he was responsible for that. they also say they found evidence that he was possibly linked to a double homicide committed last week, just on the outskirts of prague, that involved the killing and the murder of a man and a young child described as a baby. that had been a case that had no leads, and they now believe that this young man may have been involved. but, apart from that, and again that was the result of a search in his home after this terrible tragedy this afternoon at charles university in central prague, there was nothing to suggest this young man would go on the rampage. his firearms were owned legally, he had permits for them, he was an enrolled philosophy student, and he had no criminal record. so, nothing to suggest he should have been kept an eye on, and yet, scenes of such tremendous violence again on a continent where we don't tend to see mass shootings very often. very few and far between scenes of huge violence where we saw this student scurrying for cover, many of them sadly not getting out of harm's way in time, pam. >> very sad, melissa bell, thank you. up next, an update on the expected u. n. vote on a resolution calling for a
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suspension and fighting in gaza. plus, chef jose -- on the hunger crisis there and how his kitchen staff is helping him, he was just in gaza, we're going to talk to him, coming up.
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>> tonight, for a fourth time this week, the u. n. security council has a vote on a resolution calling for a
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suspension and falling and encouraging more humanitarian aid into gaza. that vote is now expected tomorrow, but it could slide again if negotiations continue. the aid is certainly needed. today, a u. n. report revealed more than half 1 million people, or more than one and four households are facing catastrophic hunger and starvation. the report also warned the entire roughly 2. 2 million residents of gaza could face famine in the months ahead if the israeli bombardment continues was not enough access to food. joining us tonight with his insight on the situation, chef jose andreas, -- for years now, he and his kitchen stuff i've been in gaza, providing fresh meals to the hungry. he's also co-author of the road central kitchen cookbook feeding humanitarian feeding hope. >> chef andré, thank you for joining us. just describe what you witnessed in gaza.
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>> well, i was able to go there and three days. with team members. and our kitchen. [inaudible] rafah, which is very much very south of gaza street is aware an area where hundreds of thousands have moved from the north, given the biggest city, gaza city escaping from all the horrors that were. so, where you see is very much come after camp. what you see is the team keep increasing by the hour, where i was able to see what they call the qatari hospital, which is an unfinished hospital that --
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that were every single year is occupied, but this time made up tents where families can keep going with their daily lives. actually, the story is not really in rafah, obviously it's lead, but that is where the humanitarian aid is crossing through. so, even there, the situation, i will say, is tense even still with bombings. -- the true story is the stories you are listening from northern rafah, from places like khan younis like places like gaza city, places that really were -- but the need for food, water, many things israel. >> so, you posted this video showing the security measures your team and partnership with the u. n. have used to safely deliver these meal kits.
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what is that to like working in this type of conflict? >> everybody always needs -- to be helpful, and there you see some of the security people, many of them palestinian police, they are -- but those people are making sure that the entire think goes without incidents, making sure that they keep everybody under control, that they keep everything organized, and that there is not a lot of children in the middle. you want to make sure that everyone is not running and then all of a sudden we have an accident of people running over children because it's a stampede. so, i will say it is tense, but when people know you are coming, the days you are telling them and the day they are going to be receiving food is the moment you start bringing this kind of
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question mark of when they will get their next meal. again, it would be the main israeli northern rafah where right now all the indications are that whatever food we bring is not going to be enough. so, we need to be increasing dramatically the flow of food to every single community. >> the bottom line is that you and your team have been to so many places ravaged by war and national disasters. how does gaza compare in terms of the sheer desperation you witnessed just where you are, and where you were, and what you have turned -- heard from your team members from the north? >> what everybody needs to understand is that the people of gaza have nobody else to go. the north is, the east is surrounded by israel and the south is -- they cannot move any further. therefore, this is one of the main issues. ukraine at the very least, the acronym people in the front lines can always move in latin
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ukraine and be safe or whatever war was going on. but, again, we are an organization that believe water and food is the right. we are not a hunger immune -- organization, we are in emergency organization. we believe this is an emergency in the same way it has been an emergency in lebanon, where we see a lot of families in this place, and the same in haiti where we have palestinians that -- or in the same as israel, because we know many families were in the surrounding areas of gaza of the terrorist attack, and with missiles that. keep following their really under stretch. we make sure that food and water in these emergencies is -- >> your cat helping countless people. chef josé andrés, thank you to you and your team for everything you're doing to help
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those in need in these dire circumstances. thank you. >> thank you. >> we will be right back.
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