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Burying a Damning Climate Report; Controversial Brexit Plan; Paris Protests Turn Violent; Mississippi Runoff Election. Aired 6:30- 7a ET

Aired November 26, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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


[06:30:00] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think, Alisyn, what's important about that is we know -- and this is the president's government -- his own scientists who are issuing a dire report that conforms with the science that we know with the reality that we see.

The question I have is, for those who are combating or want to combat climate change, is there a different political strategy that's necessary than this international approach that has not fully taken root yet? I think that's going to be a challenge for lawmakers who care about this. It's going to be a challenge for chief executives around the country who run states who want to take measures to combat climate change. I think there's got to be some re-thinking so that we're not stuck in a debate between is it real and what's the cause anymore.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What -- what we're --

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's been debate. Yes, that's the thing is there is no debate.

AVLON: Yes, we're not. We're not.

GREGORY: No, no, we're not -- we're not (INAUDIBLE). And I get it --

AVLON: The president is a climate change denialist. His government is not.

GREGORY: Right.

AVLON: And what's interesting about this report is not only the economic impact, which may get his attention, but the way that a lot of states in the Republican base are going to be feeling the brunt of this.

GREGORY: Right.

AVLON: The Midwest agriculture farm belt. The southeast with flooding. Even the upper -- upper plain states with higher ozone levels. So some conservatives are going to find their constituents are not be happy about the implications. So maybe that will change them.

BERMAN: I don't want to let Phil Mudd go without weighing in on this because, and I'm not even joking here, because you are talking about defense or you talk about intelligence, officials that I always talked to say what we don't see are the national security concerns surrounding climate change, the defense concerns around climate change, the national security concerns. They're very real and are very relevant.

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Sure. If you look at people in my world talking about things like climate change, they talk about things like changing weather patterns, believe it or not, a national security issue, because that has to do with water. In places like the Middle East, water is an issue that people go to war over.

But this is pretty simple. I think we're debating this. This is a -- this is a leadership issue. Tens of millions of Americans will wake up today and eat hamburgers for lunch. That's going to kill them. People don't focus on the long term, they focus on the short term. There's a parallel here. The president comes into office says we're withdrawing from climate change and we're investing in coal. That's going to kill us unless we get leadership that says, we've got to take short term pain for long term gain, which is something Americans don't do when we eat hamburgers. We're not going to win this one. We need leadership on this issue.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, David, Phil, John, thank you very much for covering all of those topics.

Now, a terrifying shark attack.

BERMAN: You're just trying to totally ruin our morning.

CAMEROTA: Well, I'm trying to wake you up, OK.

BERMAN: All right.

CAMEROTA: Geez.

BERMAN: I'm awake. I'm looking at this and I'm awake.

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, if this -- if this doesn't get you, I don't know what will. This was caught on video, this terrifying shark attack. A shark bites a man's head --

BERMAN: That is a bad place to get bitten by a shark.

CAMEROTA: OK. But the man somehow lives to tell about it. And we have all of the details ahead.

BERMAN: Tell me.

CAMEROTA: Ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:50] CAMEROTA: Breaking overnight, the United Arab Emirates has pardoned a British student sentenced to life in prison for spying. Authorities in the UAE say Matthew Hedges has been released from prison and could leave the country today. Hedges was arrested in Dubai after a research trip and he was kept in solitary confinement for six months. He was convicted last week after a five minute hearing. Hedges' family says he was forced to sign a confession in Arabic, though he does not read or speak that language. An Emirate official maintains the Hedges was guilty but says he was granted clemency because of the close ties between the U.K. and UAE.

BERMAN: British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to address Parliament today on her Brexit plan. Over the weekend, European Union leaders endorsed the U.K.'s withdrawal agreement and agreed on a post- Brexit future. The prime minister's plan has been slammed from lawmakers. Will she have the votes? Will the prime minister have the votes she needs to get it through parliament? We've got a long road still ahead.

CNN's Nic Robertson live in London with the very latest.

Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, John, a long road, she's right at the beginning of it, meeting with cabinet ministers right now. And, of course, just two weeks ago, when she had a similar type of meeting, some of the cabinet ministers resigned over the issue of the agreement that she had at that point. It hasn't changed significantly. The numbers in Parliament really don't stack up.

She will be addressing parliament. She's written an open letter to the voters of the U.K. in hopes that they will sort of create a momentum behind the MPs to change their minds and support this deal. What Theresa May is going to say is what she's been saying, that this is the best deal. If you don't go for this deal, you go back to square one. That this deal is the deal that delivers on what you wanted as part of the Brexit, that is control of the borders, migration, control of your money, control of your laws.

She's going to continue that message over the next couple of weeks until that vote comes. But the numbers are stacked against her very badly right now. Not only is her own party divided, dozens of rebel MPs within her own party, the opposition, is 100 percent set against the deal. The party in Northern Ireland, who she counts on for her parliamentary majority, they are against it as well. The Scottish national party, 35 MPs there, are against it. So the numbers are really stacked against her. But the clock ticking on that vote probably within a couple of weeks,

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. There seems to be a lot of activity happening behind you as well, Nic. Thank you very much.

So president -- French President Emmanuel Macron slamming violent clashes between protesters and police and calling on his government to give a clear answer to thousands marching against soaring fuel, taxes and living costs.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now with more. Melissa.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hoping -- we're expecting to hear, Alisyn, from the French president tomorrow, a beginning of an answer perhaps to those demands. It's been two weeks now that these protests have been going on with those extraordinary pictures over the weekend on the Champs-Elysees itself. Of course an avenue much more famous for its celebrations and its shops, its parades also, really than it is for its violent protests.

[06:40:01] The government blames far right elements to -- for what -- for that violence, for those images that you see there. Evidence also that they were members of the far left on the Champs-Elysees causing some of that trouble. That is now under control. Of course, the streets are much calmer. The violence has been contained. But the big question is what happens next because those protests continue throughout France with those yellow vests out on the streets protesting what began as a fight against this rise on fuel, a tax that had been introduced by the French government.

We expect to hear Emmanuel Macron address that directly tomorrow. Many of the protesters have said, look, we're going to wait and see what he has to announces, but we are not crucially expecting the French government to back down on that tax.

The question then is whether next Saturday we see a repeat of that anger spilling out onto the Champs-Elysees, and many people are predicting that that's exactly what's going to happen.

BERMAN: All right, Melissa Bell for us in Paris. A lot to watch overseas. Appreciate it.

President Trump back on the Campaign trail today, this time for an embattled senator in Mississippi. Will his visit be enough to keep that seat red? There's a lot of controversy swirling about this race. We'll tell you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:05] BERMAN: President Trump will stump in Mississippi today for Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith on the eve of her run-off election. Hyde-Smith is facing a challenge by Democrat Mike Espy. So let's figure out where this is headed. There is something about Harry. Harry Enten.

This race has become controversial.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: It has.

BERMAN: Highly controversial because Cindy Hyde-Smith had the business (ph) says she wanted a front seat at a public hanging. There were reports over the weekend that she attended a segregationist-type school in the '70s there. There's a lot going on.

ENTEN: Yes, there's a lot going on. But I really should caution everybody not to read too much into that. You look at the polling, that's been limited. You look at the historical nature of Mississippi and where it leads partisanly, and you basically, if you were to look at that, you would still this, as this forecast that I've created show, that Cindy Hyde-Smith is a pretty heavily favorite. She's favored to win by 10 points.

Now, I should point out that there's a fairly wide margin of error with this estimate.

CAMEROTA: Wowie.

ENTEN: Yes. plus or minus --

CAMEROTA: That's huge.

ENTEN: It's plus or minus 13 points. And that's based upon the history of polling in races like this. Runoff special elections that are somewhat off cycle. And it's going to be very difficult for pollsters really to model this race. And it's difficult for analyst, such as myself, to model this race because we're not really quite sure what the turnout will be. And that's what this bottom line is getting at, which is a big African-American turnout.

Races in Mississippi are highly polarized along racial lines. If there's a larger African-American turnout than we think there's going to be, that will give Mike Espy a real shot in this race.

BERMAN: But you need to have a very low white turnout at the same time?

ENTEN: You'd need a low white turnout. And Mike Espy would have to do better than traditionally Democrats do among white voters.

Look at this low percentage of vote he actually has to win. He has to win more than 22 percent of white voters that, in most states, if you won 22 percent of white voters, you'd be blown out. But in Mississippi, if he gets up above 22 percent, he will win.

But I should point out how difficult that is. In the first round, the two Democrats combined got a little -- right around 15 percent of the vote. So that's a long climb from 15 percent all the way up to 22 percent. And no Democrat, in recent history, has been able to do that.

CAMEROTA: Do you have something telling us how the economy plays into this?

ENTEN: I mean, look, the economy plays into this in the same way that it plays into races across the south and across the rest of the country. The economy is pretty decent. And that is part of the reason why I think that Espy is going to have such a difficult time with these white voters who traditionally vote Republican really haven't heard too much, in my mind, to shift their votes too much.

BERMAN: All right, Harry. You know, Alisyn is insisting we talk about 2020 here.

ENTEN: That's right. And we will -- we want to assuage you. CAMEROTA: (INAUDIBLE) the climate change report that we don't need to talk about 2020 anymore. It's all -- we just all need to come together and just be happy because we don't have much longer left on this earth.

ENTEN: I believe the power is in our children. I want them -- I want to let them lead the way and I want to provide them a forecast for their future. That's my belief.

CAMEROTA: That's a song.

BERMAN: Yes --

CAMEROTA: That's a song, Harry, that's not your philosophy.

BERMAN: Absolutely brutalizing a Whitney Houston song there.

ENTEN: Look, I love Whitney Houston.

BERMAN: Just go.

ENTEN: OK.

BERMAN: Give us some numbers.

ENTEN: Give you some numbers. OK.

So this is the thing that I think is so interesting, right? Look at Donald Trump's handling of the economy in the most recent CBS News poll. It's actually right-side up. He's doing fairly well on the economy. Fifty-two percent to 41 percent disapprove. But look at his job approval rating overall. It's pretty much the exact opposite. This flip compared to the other side. He's underwater here, 39 percent to 55 percent.

And I want to just put this into some historical context. If you look at the economy rating in midterm elections, this is a lot of numbers on this page, but the most important thing is the top number right around a midterm election with 76 percent for Bill Clinton. Donald Trump ranks third on this. He's actually getting a lot of credit for the economy. He's fairly high up. But look at the overall historic approval rating. Exact opposite. He's right there near the bottom at 39 percent.

And this is, I think the thing that's hurting the Donald Trump presidency so much is that normally when a president's approval rating is as low historically as Donald Trump's is, it's because they're rating him low on the economy. That is not the case here. And so what that suggests to me is there's something unconventional going on. Donald Trump is being very unconventional in his presidency and it seems to be hurting him.

So, take a look at this. This is a Monmouth poll. Eighty-one percent of Americans think that the president's administration has been less conventional than usual, 81 percent. And the question, is that good or bad, only 27 percent say it's good. Forty-six percent say that it's bad. So the question is, with the president, with all his actions, with the tweets, with the comments, with the statements, all of that, it suggests that the bad -- that his unconventional ways are really, really hurting him.

CAMEROTA: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to see you.

All right, you have to see this video, Harry, and all of you. An American fisherman was attacked by a shark and he lives to tell about the harrowing moment that was captured on camera. All of the details, next.

BERMAN: The thing you never want to be (INAUDIBLE).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:53:46] CAMEROTA: After burning for more than two weeks, the deadly camp fire in northern California is finally 100 percent contained. This historic fire has killed 85 people but hundreds are still unaccounted for this morning. Nearly 19,000 buildings, most of them homes, have been incinerated. The fire has consumed more than 153,000 acres.

BERMAN: NASA is bracing for what it calls seven minutes of terror. They also might want to brace for finding a new slogan rider there.

CAMEROTA: You don't like that one?

BERMAN: I'm not a big fan of that.

It's Insight spacecraft prepares for a risky landing on Mars. So this soft landing is expected to happen around 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Mars explorer blasted off from California almost seven months ago. This will be the first NASA mission aimed at mapping the interior of Mars. It's going to drill down. It should be fascinating.

CAMEROTA: Sounds complicated.

All right, the story John's been waiting for all morning, a shark attack. A survivor has marked Thanksgiving by sharing the moment that he was attacked and almost killed. He put out this video on YouTube. It has gone viral. Here it is. OK, that's an American spear fisherman?

BERMAN: How can you tell he's American?

CAMEROTA: I know this to be true. His name is Will Krause. He was in the Bahamas over the summer when a shark attacked him from behind, as you can see, charging at his head and neck.

[06:55:03] BERMAN: That's devious coming in from behind.

CAMEROTA: I agree. That was not a fair right. Charged at his head and neck. Also not fair. Once the spear fisherman

surfaced, he was bleeding heavy and in shock. In a news interview he said he was nervous that his time was up. Oh, come on. What? Krause says he's OK and more grateful than ever this Thanksgiving.

I still have a lot of questions about this.

BERMAN: I can understand why he's grateful.

CAMEROTA: I can, too, but what -- how did he --

BERMAN: What questions -- what questions do you have?

CAMEROTA: How did he survive? Did he punch the shark? Why did the shark run away after he smelled blood? Why did the shark attack him in the first place?

BERMAN: Why did he think he might not be attacked by a shark if he's swimming in shark-infested waters?

CAMEROTA: Yes. That's a good one. I mean a lot of these questions I have are for the shark, so I don't know if I'm going to get my answers.

BERMAN: He could not be reached for comment.

CAMEROTA: Right, at the moment.

BERMAN: All right, drama at the border. The Border Patrol fires tear gas on a crowd of migrants that includes women and children. Is this the image that America wants to project around the world? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we find that it gets to a level where we are going to lose control, then we will close entry into the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tear gas was thrown at the group that was trying to cross over.

[07:00:01] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you see these types of images, it bolsters (ph) the president's standpoint, we clearly do not have control.