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U.S. President Biden Pardons Son Hunter in Criminal Cases; Syrian Rebels Gain Major Ground In Aleppo After Years Of A Largely Stagnant Conflict; Crowd Crush At Guinea Football Match Causes Casualties; Why Trump Tapped Firebrand Kash Patel For FBI Director; Biden Heads To Angola, First Visit To Africa As President; Interview With Adi Levy, Aunt Of Hamas Hostage Edan Alexander; Record Number Of Travelers Over Thanksgiving Weekend. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired December 02, 2024 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:35]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Ahead on CNN Newsroom, a shock announcement from the White House as President Joe Biden reverses course and grants his son Hunter a full pardon. Rebel forces in Syria say they've gained even more ground as Russia comes to the aid of the Assad regime with airstrikes in the north of the country.

And later, we'll talk to the mother of Edan Alexander these days after Hamas issued a propaganda video showing the Israeli American hostage alive.

Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade, and we start this hour with the U.S. president's decision to pardon his son. With less than 50 days in office, he made a move he vowed he'd never do.

He issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son Hunter for his crimes. Republicans and Democrats are weighing in on the ramifications of that broken promise. Senate Republican Chuck Grassley pointed to social media saying, quote, I'm shocked President Biden pardoned his son Hunter because he said many, many times he wouldn't. And I believed him. Shame on me.

Senate Republican Tom Cotton says most Americans can sympathize with Joe Biden as a father, but that they can't forgive him for, quote, lying about it repeatedly. Republican Senator Ron Johnson also weighed in, saying the pardon confirms that, quote, under Democrat governance, there truly is a dual system of justice, one that protects Democrats and another weaponized against their political opponents.

A senior administration official says the president reached the decision this weekend with his family during their Thanksgiving holiday.

Just last month, the White House said a pardon was not on the cards. CNN's Evan Perez has more detail on the president decision and how he reached it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, saying that there were signs that his son was being selectively and unfairly prosecuted. Now, Hunter Biden was facing the prospect of spending several years in prison after being convicted on gun charges in Delaware and on tax charges in Los Angeles. The president has repeatedly said that he would not pardon his son. Take a listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you, will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is?

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?

BIDEN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have.

PEREZ: In a statement on Sunday night, the president said the charges in this case came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigating them to attack me and oppose my election. He also goes on to say that for my entire career, I have followed a simple principle. Just tell the American people the truth, they'll be fair minded. And here's the truth, I believe in the justice system. But as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it has led to a miscarriage of justice.

Now, Joe Biden took office in 2021, promising to restore faith in the justice system. And this statement on Sunday night indicates that he believes the justice system has failed to treat his son fairly. Now, Hunter Biden will be covered under this pardon for anything that happened between 2014 and 2024.

So the question remains whether Republicans in Congress and whether the incoming Trump administration will find new reasons to investigate Hunter Biden and the Biden family as they have said they repeatedly would do. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Laurie Levenson is a former federal prosecutor. She's also a professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School. She joins us now from Los Angeles. Good to have you with us.

LAURIE LEVENSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Good to be with you.

KINKADE: So this pardon relates to Hunter Biden's federal cases, both the gun possession case in Delaware and the tax evasion case in California. Can you just remind our viewers what those cases were about?

LEVENSON: Yes, absolutely. On the gun case, the conviction was for filling out a form for a firearm in which Hunter Biden didn't admit that he had used drugs. It's a very unusual case to have been brought in the first place. But then he had tax cases in Los Angeles and those related to the money that he had. And he didn't pay his taxes. Instead, he paid for fancy clothes, for women escorts and for drugs.

[01:05:05]

So he was convicted on that tax offense as well. And he was standing. Sentencing was coming up for both of the charges.

KINKADE: Yes. So the sentencing was due to happen in the next week or two before Christmas. How much time in jail was Hunter Biden facing?

LEVENSON: Well, theoretically, he was facing decades, 42 years in prison. But he wouldn't be likely to get that. No defendant would be, but it could be several years. And so he would have been going to prison, at least on the tax offense, if not the false form offense.

KINKADE: Right. And so looking ahead, could the next Justice Department reopen these cases or any other cases outside the timeframe of this pardon?

LEVENSON: Well, the next Justice Department could not reopen these cases because he would have been pardoned on that. And a pardon is complete, and President Biden has the power to do that. The question is whether they could come up with other charges against him. And that would depend on the statute of limitations.

Most of this happened more than five years ago. Most of the statute of limitations would be limited. But there are some crimes that do have longer statutes. So if you do enough hunting, they might be able to find some type of charge against him and charges involving other business activities that he had.

KINKADE: So what does this decision by President Biden say about his faith in the Justice Department, given that, like Trump, he claims that these charges were politically motivated?

LEVENSON: Well, I think that President Biden is saying that there was a political motivation by the special prosecutor that was used against Hunter Biden and that at this point, even though Biden had said he wouldn't pardon his son, when he took a look at overall what happened in this case, he felt that it had been very political from the first charge in Delaware, which, frankly, was a surprise that it was brought in the first place to all the clamor for him to go to prison.

He felt that Hunter Biden was almost paying for the sins of his father. Because Joe Biden was running for president. The people were after him. The special counsel were after Hunter Biden.

KINKADE: Trump has taken to Truth Social to react. He said, does this pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J6 hostages who have now been imprisoned for years? Now, he, of course, is referring to the January 6th protesters who stormed the Capitol. So do these cases have anything in common? LEVENSON: They really don't have anything in common. I just think that

this is Donald Trump's way of saying, you can't criticize me when I end up partying people who stormed the Capitol. But I think it's very much apples and oranges. You don't have Hunter Biden who hurt anybody during his activities. Many of those people who were convicted for their offenses on January 6th did.

And Donald Trump has already done a lot of pardoning. It's remarkable. One of the people he pardoned during his first session who's related to him is now the ambassador to France. So what you have a little bit is deflection by Donald Trump saying, hey, the people I'm going to pardon are more worthy of pardon than Biden's son is for the country.

KINKADE: All right. Laurie Levenson, former federal prosecutor, good to have you on the program. Thanks so much.

LEVENSON: My pleasure.

KINKADE: Well, rebel forces are ramping up their offensive in Syria, which will only worsen the humanitarian crisis. Coming up, I'll speak with an aid worker about the growing needs on the ground. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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[01:12:19]

KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Rebel forces are expanding their control in Syria after launching a surprise offensive there last week. They claim to have made significant gains in the northern countryside of Aleppo, capturing several towns and villages. Syrian state media says President Bashar Al Assad says he intends to fight what he calls terrorist organizations with force and determination.

As the Iranian foreign minister arrived in Damascus Sunday in a show of support for a key ally. Russia is also stepping in to help Syria, continuing to strike rebel targets in Aleppo, Hama and Idlib. Russian state media reports that more than 300 rebel fighters were killed over the past 24 hours. CNN cannot independently verify those numbers. The United Nations special envoy for Syria is pushing for a de-escalation, warning, quote, Syria is in danger of further division, deterioration and destruction.

Nic Robertson is following the developments and has the latest from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, all the indications are that Bashar al Assad, the Syrian president backed by Russia, will try to fight, regroup and take back control of Aleppo. It was a lightning advance by that group, that rebel alliance to get into the city almost fully under their control now. And it does appear that they will take the last neighborhoods in the coming days.

The situation right now for Bashar al Assad, he has said that he will take on these terrorists, will regroup his forces. He met Sunday with the Iranian foreign minister who flew into Syria for conversations. The Iranian foreign minister saying that this was an indication of how much support Iran is giving to its neighbors at this time.

But it's Assad's air force, along with the Russian air force, that have been perpetrating the bombing raids in Aleppo and some of the other areas in the north of Syria, trying to hit rebel targets, a couple of locations where at least a handful of people have been killed.

The real picture of what's going on is still emerging at the moment, but the rebel groups seem to be having surprising success. The concern here for the United States is that this is a complicated situation, that the principal rebel group at the head of this rapid advance is a prescribed terrorist organization that the United States has been watching closely for a long time. And it's allied here as well with another rebel group that's not a fundamentalist Sunni group. It's a group that's backed by Turkey.

[01:15:04]

But the picture that emerges is Bashar al Assad weaker, his allies Russia and Iran weaker, and for the United States, a complicated picture.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It's a complicated question because the group at the vanguard of this rebel advance, HTS, is actually a terrorist organization designated by the United States. So we have real concerns about the designs and objectives of that organization. At the same time, of course, we don't cry over the fact that the Assad government backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, you know, are facing certain kinds.

ROBERTSON: Of pressures and the reasons to think that this offensive can continue, the rebels appear to want to push further south towards the Syrian cities of Hama, perhaps Homs, further south of that. Assad threatening to fight back. But if you look back to 2016, when Bashar Al Assad took control over Aleppo, that was a very long, a very bloody and very destructive fight with a huge number of casualties. At this time it's hard to see that we're not looking at the potential for that again. Nic Robinson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, for more, I want to welcome Abdul Razak Awad, who is in northern Syria. He's a manager for Action Humanity and joins us from Aleppo. Thanks so much for joining us.

ABDUL RAZAK AWAD, NORTHERN SYRIA AREA MANAGER, ACTION FOR HUMANITY: Thank you. Thank you so much for your interest.

KINKADE: So you are in Aleppo, a city now under the control of rebel forces. How would you describe what has unfolded there over the last few days?

AWAD: So two days ago, my team and I entered to Aleppo to see how people, how civilians, people in city. I saw afraid in their eyes from airstrike plane, war plane, from conflict with the groups. And we're trying to provide them a need, basic need really. We start distribution and we're trying to provide them basic needs like bread, water, all basic needs now in Aleppo is necessary to civilians, people in the city.

KINKADE: And of course, we have reported extensively on the humanitarian crisis in Syria for years. Just how bad could things get as this fighting intensifies.

AWAD: We trying to move between the neighborhoods city in Aleppo carefully with our teams to provide the basic need. And our people really afraid from future from what happened in just two days, but just they need to feeling safe with them -- with their family and with their children. That's what the families need now.

KINKADE: Have you seen or heard of many people fleeing the city?

AWAD: Yes, yes, yes, we have. We -- sorry have died two days ago. More than 14 people civilians, people in airstreak plane attack in nearby University Hospital, nearby main roads inside city.

KINKADE: And just talk to us about what sort of damage there has been on infrastructure there?

AWAD: Just damage, not damage. When rebel force entered to city, we don't saw damage in priority or in building or anything. Just vague standing in street.

[01:20:00]

But we saw damage from just airstrike, plane attack by Assad regime and Russia. Just I said in nearby main roads or any other place they attack. Yes, we saw it. They attack civilians, people in the -- inside city.

KINKADE: Well, we appreciate you spending some time with us. We wish you all the very best on the ground there in Aleppo. Abdulrazak Awad, thank you so much.

AWAD: Thank you. Thank you so much.

KINKADE: We are following a developing story out of Guinea this hour, where the prime minister has confirmed that there has been multiple casualties following a crowd crush at a football match. One video from the social media showed fans scrambling to flee the packed stadium, some even scaling a wall.

A local outlet says clashes between fans and security began over a series of decisions by the referee, which was then followed by a crush of crowds who tried to leave the stadium. CNN has not been able to verify this report, but we will continue to follow this story and bring you the latest developments.

Still to come this hour. Much more on our breaking news. U.S. President Biden says raw politics has led to a miscarriage of justice after being granting his son an unconditional pardon.

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[01:25:08]

KINKADE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Updating you now on the breaking news out of Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden announcing Sunday that he has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who faced sentencing this month for federal tax and gun convictions.

President Biden released a statement on the decision saying no reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion. Then Hunter was singled out only because he is my son. And that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter, who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me and there's no reason to believe it will stop there. Enough is enough.

The decision comes after Biden and White House officials repeatedly said in recent months that he would not pardon Hunter, nor would he commute his sentence. But as one presidential historian put it, Biden's announcement was to be expected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS BRINKEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Nothing here is surprising. The thought that Joe Biden was going to leave office and have his son in prison seemed remote at best. And so it's more than a family story of Joe Biden and Beau and Hunter, but the laptop of Hunter Biden became part of the political landscape for years now, you know, with the New York Post story that it was a cover up of that by the mainstream media, that it was really should have been reported sooner to the fact that there was accusations that was Russian disinformation, to the fact now all that noise about Hunter Biden, Alaska (ph) comes to rest.

He's going to go on live his life. Joe Biden will leave the White House and this will become part of our political history and folklore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, CNN senior White House correspondent M.J. Lee gives us more background on what may have influenced President Biden to pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His son since the president ended his 2024 campaign over the summer. The context here, of course, is that President Biden and White House officials have been asked multiple times whether the president would pardon his son now that his time as president was limited to a handful of months. And he and his aides repeatedly said he wouldn't do that because of his deference to the judicial system. The reason he was asked that question repeatedly, though, is because

in many ways it was a difficult thing for folks to understand this idea that as president of the United States, you are uniquely positioned to save your son from spending time behind bars of, you know, being able to clear your son's name.

So why not, I think was essentially the question that a lot of folks were curious to have answered as the president continued to insist that he wouldn't do this. And if you look closely at the statement the president released tonight and in my conversation with the White House official this evening, two things I think are abundantly clear.

You know, one, as he has said all along, the president very much believes that his son Hunter was targeted by raw politics and that his, the president's political opponents had wanted to hurt his son. As one official told me tonight, the president believed that this was cruel and that his son had endured enough.

And the other thing is that, you know, what particularly angered and swayed the president in the end is the belief that his political opponents were trying to break Hunter, his son, even as he was recovering from addiction. I think this is particularly what the president saw as cruel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: More I'm joined by CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere. Good to have you with us.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: It's great to be here.

KINKADE: So President Biden made this decision during Thanksgiving weekend with his family. What can you more can you tell us about this?

DOVERE: Well, Thanksgiving weekend in Nantucket, which is where the Bidens were those last couple of days, is a sacred time for the Biden family. They started there in 1972 after Joe Biden's first wife and baby daughter were killed in a car crash. That same car crash. Hunter Biden and his late brother, Beau Biden, were in the car. And they were they had been shopping for Christmas trees.

So they went to Thanksgiving in Nantucket as a sort of respite for the family to try to begin recovery.

[01:29:49]

And that is where they've been going every year since. That is where they were these last couple of days as Joe Biden thought about what to do with this pardon, talking to the family, talking about their fears of what might be coming, not just with the sentencing that Hunter Biden was facing in the upcoming weeks.

But also about possible more charges and more retribution that they fear might be coming from the Justice Department when it's led by the Trump administration. So this is a father protecting his son, also acting in a way that he

feels like recognizes what he believes is more stringency on his son and more prosecution of his son than would have been the case had he not been the president or the presidential candidate and protecting him, through the powers of the presidency from the consequences of his being president in the first place.

KINKADE: So this pardon essentially covers both federal cases, both the gun related possession charge in Delaware, but also the tax evasion case in California, right.

And obviously, we're going to expect sentencing that would have happened in the next week or two. Correct?

DOVERE: That's right. It was coming up the week after this coming one. And there was a feeling that Hunter Biden might very well have been headed to prison.

But this pardon is a blanket pardon. I'll just read to you what it says. It says "a full and unconditional pardon for those offenses against the United States, which he, Hunter Biden, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1st, 2014 through December 1st, 2024, including but not limited, to all offenses charged or prosecuted. And it then list the ones that are -- that were pending until this pardon was issued.

But what that means is that anything that Hunter Biden might be accused of in the future, might be -- there might have been an attempt to prosecute him of in the future in a Trump administration, he is now pardoned for.

It's of course possible that there could be crimes that are sought out from before 2014, that he would be prosecuted for, but that length of time is one that is very carefully chosen here as a way to, in Joe Biden's feeling, shield his son from anything that might be coming at him and was already coming at him.

KINKADE: And interestingly, this is a complete reversal of Biden's longstanding pledge not to use his presidential power to protect his son.

What kind of -- what does that mean? What sort of message does that send.

DOVERE: Well he was very clear when he was asked whether he would pardon Hunter Biden before. He said no, I believe in the justice system. I believe in the Justice Department. It's a matter of principle.

Members of his administration, including the White House press secretary, were asked about this repeatedly. They were also told "no" or they also said no. He will not pardon Hunter Biden.

But there was a feeling among, not only close White House advisers, but among the family in a wider way that when it really came down to it. And of course, we're in this countdown period of Biden's presidency until -- from now until January 20th, that he would eventually pardon Hunter Biden when -- in making this pardon, Biden said that once he made the decision to pardon Hunter Biden, he figured why not just do it right away? Theres no need to drag it out and get to it.

But it is this reversal and it puts him now in a position where it is obvious that Donald Trump will point to this for any decisions that he makes, whether it's about pardoning January 6th -- people who've been convicted of crimes related to January 6th or things that he may pardon people for, or things that he might have the Justice Department do when he is president again.

Now, it should be pointed out that Trump will likely be able to point to that or likely point to that in one way or the other. But he was likely going to do these things anyway.

And so there's a little bit of a chicken and the egg here to it. And of course, we saw just on Saturday that Donald Trump appointed as his ambassador to France -- or nominated as his ambassador to France, Charles Kushner who is not only the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, but was someone who Trump himself pardoned at the end of his presidency four years ago.

KINKADE: Yes exactly. A good point you're making there.

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere, good to have you with us. Thank you.

DOVERE: Thank you.

KINKADE: we are learning more about Donald Trump's controversial decision to pick firebrand loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI.

[01:34:51]

KINKADE: Sources say the staunch FBI critic was one of two candidates the president-elect was considering in recent days.

CNN's Alayna Treene reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, we're learning that President-Elect Donald Trump had been wavering in recent days between two different people that he thought he would want to serve as his new FBI director. That includes Kash Patel but also Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

Now, according to my conversations with those working on the transition team, I'm told that Trump had long knew that he wanted to have Kash Patel in a big role in his second term, including some sort of role in national intelligence or at the Department of Justice.

But when it became clear that he was going to be a top contender for the FBI director, some people close to Donald Trump had some skepticism about that. They worried that there would be too much controversy surrounding Patel, particularly as it related to an upcoming and likely contentious Senate confirmation battle.

However, behind the scenes, I'm told that others and those closest to Donald Trump, including his sons Eric Trump, as well as Donald Trump Jr., as well as his incoming deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, had really pushed Donald Trump to end up choosing Patel.

They argue that he was likely the only person in their minds that they believed could really disrupt the Federal Bureau of Investigations as much as they believed Patel could, as well as root out the bias that Donald Trump believes has really permeated the bureau over recent years.

Now Donald Trump, I'm told had interviewed both Andrew Bailey and Kash Patel at Mar-a-Lago in person earlier this month however, I was also told that Donald Trump was not that impressed by Bailey. He thought that he lacked the personality traits to really be the type of legal pit bull that Donald Trump wants his FBI director to be.

I'm going to read for you one quote from a Trump adviser who has been involved in some of these conversations. They said, quote, "It came down to a matter of what Trump wants and what he was looking for in terms of an FBI director. And bailey didn't fit that mold. He didn't have the personality."

Now, in addition, we've also heard many of Donald Trump's incoming cabinet picks but also top allies try and defend Patel online as well as on television over the weekend. They argued that again, they believed that Patel was the only person that could reform the FBI and try and restore trust in the agency.

Take a listen to what some senators said Sunday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump campaigned on reforming the FBI and the department of justice, so I don't know why any of this is frankly surprising to people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are serious problems at the FBI, the American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I got to say, all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, all of the people pulling their hair out are exactly the people who are dismayed about having a real reformer come into the FBI and clean out the corrupted partisans who sadly have burrowed into senior career positions at the FBI.

I think Kash Patel is going to be confirmed by the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, despite that praise from those, I should add those are some very loyal defenders to Donald Trump.

There is still some skepticism from many Republicans on Capitol Hill. I'm told that, like many of the other controversial picks that Donald Trump has announced in recent weeks, they will likely have Patel go to the Hill at some point to meet with senators one on one before this confirmation battle plays out in public.

Alayna Treene, CNN -- West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

[01:38:22]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back.

I'm Lynda Kinkade.

U.S. President Joe Biden is visiting Angola on a trip postponed from October. It will be his first time in Africa as president and he'll highlight several U.S. initiatives as CNN's Sunlen Serfaty reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: This is certainly a long-anticipated trip for President Biden.

This was originally scheduled for back in October but the trip had to be postponed as Biden dealt with the two hurricanes that were hitting the U.S. at the time.

Now, while in Angola, he'll be meeting with the president. He will be delivering remarks, according to a senior administration official, about both countries' shared history and highlight the growth and strength of their relationship.

But while he's there, administration officials say that he's going to spend a lot of time talking about China's growing influence in the region and about investing specifically for that reason into Africa's infrastructure referencing the rail corridor project that the U.S. supports.

And a White House official suggesting that this is the same sort of initiative that they hope these sorts of initiatives can be carried on in the Trump administration.

And that is certainly going to be one thing that is hanging over this trip for President Biden, the fact that in just two short months, he will be leaving office and handing the reins over to President Trump.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN -- at the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KINKADE: Well health officials in northern Gaza say Israeli airstrikes killed at least 200 people over the weekend. The director of Kamal- Adwan hospital says five buildings in two different areas in the north were hit during the attack Saturday, leaving many buried under the rubble.

Gaza's civil defense says 40 people in the same family were killed in one strike. The deadly airstrikes are adding to the worsening humanitarian crisis. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says it halted aid deliveries through the main crossing between Israel and Gaza after more trucks were stolen.

The UNRWA chief says, quote, "The difficult decision to stop deliveries to the Kerem Shalom comes at a time when hunger is rapidly deepening."

An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a meeting to discuss the hostages still being held by Hamas, amid renewed protests and calls for a deal to free them.

On Saturday, Hamas released a propaganda video showing Israeli- American hostage Edan Alexander pleading with Mr. Netanyahu and the incoming U.S. President Donald Trump to do whatever they can to free those being held.

Mr. Netanyahu says he spoke with Edan's family on Saturday and on Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Edan's mother and his family.

[01:44:47]

KINKADE: Well, for more on this joining me now live from Tel Aviv is Edan's aunt, Adi Levy.

Appreciate your time today. I'm so very sorry for what your family is dealing with. How are you all holding up?

ADI LEVY, AUNT OF HAMAS HOSTAGE EDAN ALEXANDER: Well, it's really hard to see him after over a year and to hear him speak to us. Also it's like we have like, a conflict emotional.

He's very strong. But it's hard to see him. You can see him suffering like no family should see their sibling like that. Like that. Also my sister and her husband, it's really hard.

KINKADE: And your nephew is just 19 years old when he was captured. You and the rest of the family saw that hostage video. Can you explain the reaction from your sister, from Edan's mother? How was she?

LEVY: Well, since we saw the video, we started to ask. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called us one hour later and to say that good words and to give us strength to hold on and also, he told us that he's doing the maximum to bring them home.

And it's really important that Benjamin Netanyahu and also President Biden and President-Elect Trump to work together to free them. Edan is a live proof that the hostages are still alive and they are waiting for us. And we must do everything we can to bring them home.

There's still seven American hostages over there.

KINKADE: And this video, this hostage video, it was titled "Soon, time is running out".

Edan has been a prisoner of Hamas for more than 420 days. When you spoke to Bibi Netanyahu, did you get any indication of where these negotiations are at, to get a deal to bring the hostages home?

LEVY: He just -- he just said to us that they're doing now everything they can. And that he gave us hope that they will bring them home. But we are now like just doing everything we can as a family, to speak with everyone so that nothing will be on the way for -- for this to happen.

Edan said to us in the video that he needs us to be strong and also talk to Biden and Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. So we need to hear him. He speaks for all the hostages over there.

KINKADE: Yes.

(CROSSTALKING)

LEVY: They need to hear them and do it.

KINKADE: And he did speak to Bibi Netanyahu and incoming President Trump. He did say use your power to end this nightmare essentially. And he called on the people of Israel to demonstrate.

You know, given he was speaking under duress, we don't know if he was being told to say any of that. When you heard him speak, does it sound like the sort of thing that he would say? Does it sound like something he would want?

LEVY: Well I think that when he talked to us, to the family, to his grandmother and grandfather, his parents, and sister Mika and brother Roy he was like full emotional.

And it was our Edan. It was really hard to see him and this was not like no one told him to say that. It was really heartbroken to see it.

The other things I'm not sure I don't know. I don't know.

KINKADE: When you and your family speak to other families of hostages, because we know there are about 100 hostages still believed to be in Gaza, what do they say to you about what needs to happen to end this? To bring them home?

LEVY: We need to come together. That's what should happen. Everyone should come together to get an agreement.

[01:49:53] LEVY: Everyone in Israel and United States, all like the headquarters of everyone should just work together to get it done. That's what everyone thinks and everyone knows that we should do.

KINKADE: Adi Levy the aunt of hostage Edan. We really appreciate your time. We wish you and your family all the very best. And thank you for talking with us.

LEVY: Thank you. Goodbye.

KINKADE: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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KINKADE: Welcome back.

TSA security officials saw a record number of travelers during this year's Thanksgiving holiday.

CNN's Rafael Romo reports from Atlanta.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Transportation Security Administration announced last week it expected this to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period on record, projecting to screen a total of 18.3 million people from Tuesday, November 26th to Monday, December the 2nd.

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ROMO: That's about 6 percent higher than last year and we have seen many of those passengers here at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport.

A passenger told us earlier it took her an hour to get through the security line. Another passenger shared with us some tips that allows her to always be on time and never miss a flight, even during the busiest travel period of the year. This is what she had to say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely have your I.D. and documents prepared and make sure that you're adhering to the TSA, like guidelines so you don't get pulled over and you have to wait for them to check your bags.

Typically, I'm the person that shows up like 2.5 hours before the plane leaves so I usually just like take my time through everything and most of the time it works out well which is probably why I've never missed a flight. So yes.

ROMO: At the national level, the Transportation Security Administration processed 2.4 million passengers Wednesday and 2.7 million Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. They were expecting more than 3 million passengers on Sunday.

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport remains the busiest in the world, but since we don't have to put up with the kind of blizzard conditions affecting parts of the Midwest, things so far have been smooth here.

Rafael Romo, CNN -- Atlanta.

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KINKADE: And finally, for all the aspiring treasure hunters out there, a man has hidden more than $2 million worth of loot in chests scattered throughout the United States. All the clues needed to find the five chests are in this book, titled "There's Treasure Inside", written by the man behind the hunt John Collins Black.

Now the treasures include everything from gold to Pokemon cards, sports memorabilia, and even a brooch once owned by Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

Good way to sell a book.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

Stick around, CNN NEWSROOM continues with the lovely Rosemary Church in just a moment.

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