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FBI Director Christopher Wray Announces Resignation; IDF: Carries Out 480 Airstrikes In Syria Over Two Days; Biden Facing Pressure To Protect Immigrants Before Trump Takes Office; New CNN Poll: Majority Approves Of Trump Handling Of Transition. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired December 11, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:28]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM. And let's get right to the news.

We begin with breaking news. FBI director Christopher Wray has announced he will be stepping down at the end of the Biden administration. The FBI has now confirmed the news, but it was first reported from excerpts of his prepared remarks for a bureau town hall.

In those remarks, Wray insisted the FBI cannot change its, quote, commitment to doing the right thing the right way, every time.

President-elect Trump's pick to replace Wray himself, a Trump pick has already been pitching himself to senators ahead of what was, until now, a potential confirmation battle. Trump picked Kash Patel, a former federal prosecutor, former chief of staff, to an acting secretary of defense, as well as, at times, a spreader of conspiracy theories.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has been following the resignation.

And this line in Wray's remarks stood out to me. He said: It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway. This is not easy for me. I love this place.

It was not his choice.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Ultimately, it would not have been his choice. Donald Trump made clear that Chris Wray was not going to be sticking around for the next Trump administration. He was the man selected by Donald Trump in 2017 to take this job. He was very well-respected lawyer at that time, making big bucks in private practice, but then came to the FBI after Trump had had fired Jim Comey. Wray took control of that bureau and did quite a lot over the course of those years during Trump's presidency. And then afterwards that Trump became quite unhappy with. They clashed publicly a fair amount. He was not fired.

But then, Jim, in recent months, recent weeks after Trump was winning his next term, it became clear that Trump did not want Wray to stay in the job. And so what Wray said today in the town hall meeting all hands with the FBI, he gave them an address to tell them how much he appreciated their work, both at home and then making sure that there weren't threats, terrorism, threats that they could thwart. He said that he would be leaving at the end of this administration January 20th. So that will make it so that Trump can't fire him and that he will not serve out the last three years of his term.

One more thing, he said that was quite notable, sort of hinted at the politics of the situation. He says. My goal is to keep the focus on our mission, the indispensable work you're doing. The FBI, on behalf of the American people every day.

In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work. The fray at this moment in time is one where Donald Trump and Kash Patel, his stated nominee for Wray's position, want to attack the FBI for the work that they're doing, calling it at times basically the enemy or the deep state in some sort of way, in the way that they've done their work over the last couple of years.

SCIUTTO: Right, or used the FBI to attack Trump's political opponents.

And, by the way, to your point, I mean, it's a ten-year term specifically to prevent it from being a partisan position so that it crosses over multiple presidents regardless of party. How did Trump respond?

POLANTZ: Well, Trump has already posted on Truth Social. He says right off the top: It's a great day for America, making clear he's glad with the resignation of Chris Wray.

And then he brings up the personal vendetta he has. He notes that the FBI illegally raided my home, actually, that was signed off by a court. So it wasn't ever deemed to be illegal. He also says that the FBI was working on impeaching and indicting him, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America.

And then Trump says, to end a lengthy statement, we want our FBI back. And that will happen now.

So that displeasure he has, Jim, it is about those cases against Donald Trump as a criminal defendant in federal court where the FBI went to Mar-a-Lago to search the premises for the classified documents Trump had after the presidency that he was never brought to trial on. And then, separately, the FBI -- Wray was in charge at the time of the bureau's most massive investigation in its history into January 6th and the Capitol riot, thousands of Trump supporters.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, they went to Mar-a-Lago and they found classified documents that he shouldn't have had.

[15:05:04]

Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much.

CNN law enforcement contributor and himself a retired supervisory special agent for the FBI, Steve Moore, joins me now.

Steve -- Steve, Chris Wray was, as I understand it, and you know the FBI better than me, extremely popular in that building, regardless of party or political tendency, et cetera, or support. Very popular, very serious, and it seems good at his job.

What do you think the reaction is among agents you've spoken to?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: Well, there -- there may be a split among agents on this one.

What one thing you said in asking that question is that Wray was popular regardless of his political feelings. The FBI agent, the rank and file agent, believes that politics, in interfering with the FBI is toxic. Yeah, I think I may have told you before. We would not put presidential campaign signs in our yard for fear of violating the Hatch act. The FBI is supposed to investigate malfeasance in government, not be part of government.

So I think some agents are going to be upset by Wray leaving, because one thing you can say about him is he's been very quiet publicly and has not engaged in political discourse. The agents who would be happy to see Wray go are the ones who felt that, starting with James Comey and continuing on, the FBI had been politicized by one side.

And so it's going to be a matter of what their worldview is, but I can tell you one thing, the FBI agents as a whole, you don't go in there as a job, something like 90 to 95 percent of people who hire on with the FBI retire. It's like being in the marines. It is your identity.

And so they consider the bureau something bigger than themselves, and they will not like to see it go in a direction that they think is highly political.

SCIUTTO: So will Kash Patel make it more or less political?

MOORE: Well, I'm thinking that from where I sit, it seems like he's looking at politics in this while some others may be saying he's righting a wrong, it's going to come down to, uh, each individuals viewpoint on it. This has been, you know, I keep in touch with a lot of agents, and most of them have been wanting a change in the bureau. They believe -- a lot of them believe that the bureau went too hard on January 6th, others don't, obviously.

So there's kind of a split in there, even among the ones who believe that the FBI might have gone too far with January 6th I think are looking at Patel and saying, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What? What did he say? And so there's some concern there I think.

SCIUTTO: I mean, Patel has said publicly that he's going to go after Trump's political opponents. I mean, he has said that he's going to criminally or civilly target journalists. So, I wonder how the folks who say they'll lead in a less political direction line up with his public comments.

MOORE: Well, the FBI -- the FBI is not as -- I mean, the director can't just say we're going to start doing this. The FBI director reports to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice sets boundaries and so if Patel wants to do that, he's -- I mean, you're going to have to almost have to take down layer and layer and layer of legal protections in the Department of Justice before the FBI can really do something like that.

The other thing is the agents -- the bureau for me was always some place where you could go to your supervisor and say, I don't feel comfortable this investigation or going to this investigative step. I don't think we have -- even if we have a certain probable cause technically to do this, I think were on a on a border and I don't want to do this.

We had the freedom to talk that way. And I think -- I think some of that may still be there. So we can hope.

SCIUTTO: We'll see. I mean, we'll certainly see. I mean, there seems to be a deliberate effort to take away some of those legal protections, and loyalty has been a number one requirement of a lot of these appointees, including in law enforcement.

Before we go, of course, the concern would be that political targeting would distract from genuine threats, whether those be terrorism threats, drug crime, threats like the assassination we saw on the streets of New York -- I mean, is your feeling that the building can stay focused on that work in the midst of all this political controversy?

[15:10:08]

MOORE: I don't know if the building in Washington can, but the field offices are relatively shielded from that and tend not to want to answer questions on a phone call with the area code 202. If you see that coming in, you don't pick up usually. You just want to do your investigation.

So I hope there is that -- there is that wall there, but we'll find out. It's scary.

SCIUTTO: Well, Steve Moore, it's always good to have you on. It gives us a good view inside that building. Thanks so much.

MOORE: Thanks, Jim.

Well, now to Syria, where the long reign of President Bashar al-Assad has come to an end, as we've been reporting, after those rebel forces swept into the capital, Damascus, over the weekend. Such a swift fall.

Mohammad al-Jolani, who is in charge of that group of rebels that ousted Assad says they will not pardon those responsible for torturing prisoners, killing prisoners, many thousands of them under the former dictator. Jolani says that Syria's future will focus on development and reconstruction, and that his country has no desire for further war.

Fighting is continuing, however, in northern Syria, between pro- Turkish and Kurdish forces there. Reports from Turkey say a Turkish drone this week destroyed military vehicles and ammunition in northern Syria that had been seized by a Kurdish group.

The U.S. secretary of defense says American forces are working alongside Kurdish-led Syrian democratic forces. Many hundreds of U.S. forces remain there have been in the fight against ISIS. This comes as Israel has struck Syria nearly 500 times in the last several days, intending to destroy its navy weapons stockpiles, despite warnings from the U.N. to halt attacks on Syrian territory.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the dead of night, Syrian naval ships going up in flames.

At daybreak, this is all that remains of the Syrian fleet at Latakia after Israel launched a wave of strikes intended to destroy the strategic arsenal of the newly deposed regime of Bashar al Assad. Israeli missile ships fired the fatal blow at Latakia. Many more were carried out by Israeli jets. Altogether, nearly 500 strikes since the fall of Assad's regime.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We have no intention to intervene in Syria's internal affairs, but we certainly intend to do everything necessary to take care of our own security.

The Israeli prime minister says the strikes are aimed at preventing the Assad regime's strategic and long range weapons from falling into the hands of radical Islamists. Syria's rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known by his moniker Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, previously led Syria's al Qaeda affiliate. And while he has struck a more moderate tone, there is still considerable uncertainty about what this new Syria will look like.

Israel Ziv, a retired Israeli general, says Israel has long prepared for this scenario.

ISRAEL ZIV, RETIRED ISRAELI MAJOR GENERAL: To be honest, we have those plans for over a decade. It took like a, I think three days to refresh those plans and refresh the intelligence to make the decision and to go for a very big operation.

DIAMOND: The Israeli military estimates that the operation has destroyed 70 to 80 percent of Syria's strategic weapons, including jets and attack helicopters, cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as air defense systems. It also struck Syria's chemical weapons depots.

ZIV: The strategy now behind the strikes is -- is about taking off any future potential threats that can be shot back at us. DIAMOND: Israel has also sent ground troops into Syria, capturing 155

square mile buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian troops for half a century after Syrian troops abandoned their posts.

But Israel is also capturing strategic points beyond that buffer zone, a move it insists is temporary.

Israel's actions drawing criticism from its neighbors.

AYMAN SAFADI, JORDANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The aggression that Israel conducted against Syria and occupying this land is a violation and a breach of international law, and an unacceptable escalation.

DIAMOND: And the United Nations.

GEIR PEDERSEN, U.N. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA: We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory. This needs to stop.

DIAMOND: Israel very well may, having already accomplished what it set out to do.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: So what's it all mean? Joining us now for insight, retired U.S. Army Colonel Peter Mansoor, professor of military history at the Ohio State University, also a former aide to General David Petraeus.

[15:15:11]

Thanks so much for joining us.

COL. PETER MANSOOR (RET.), U.S. ARMY: My pleasure, Jim.

SCIUTTO: It was interesting. This morning, someone described to me Syria under Bashar al Assad as having been an aircraft carrier, in effect for Iran next to Israel with all these weapons and so on. And as you see Israel destroy one by one, the Syrian navy, armored personnel carriers, fighter jets, ballistic missile stores, et cetera., has Israel effectively sunk that aircraft carrier?

MANSOOR: This is the biggest strategic development in the Middle East in a very long time. Syria has been an ally of Iran and part of its axis of resistance for years, if not decades. And in just ten days, it went from being that unsinkable aircraft carrier to being potentially an enemy state to Iran. And it's also shut off Iran's communications links with Hezbollah in Lebanon, at least the overland links.

And so, this is an amazing development. And clearly works against Iranian interests in the region.

SCIUTTO: So let me ask you this. I mean, has Assad's fall combined with the damage that Israeli forces have done to Hezbollah? Of course, another means for Iran of projecting power in the region, particularly against Israel, has it effectively destroyed or at least irreparably wounded Iran's axis of resistance, as they call it, that kind of network of proxies in the region?

MANSOOR: Well, it is clearly deteriorated the axis of resistance. But Hezbollah still exists. It's still part of the government of Lebanon. It will no doubt rebuild.

Hamas also still exists, although badly damaged. The Houthis are still in the Iranian camp and Iran, of course, has plenty of militias that it supports in Iraq.

So the axis of resistance is still there, but it is a shadow of what it was just a year ago, before October 7th, 2023.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, it makes October 7th beyond the atrocities committed that day by Hamas seem to be an enormous strategic miscalculation, but one hugely damaging to Iran.

I wonder how you think President-elect Trump will deal with this new map. Will it make him think he could make a deal with a weakened Iran? Or might he give Israel even more license, perhaps to go so far as to go after Iranian nuclear facilities now?

MANSOOR: Well, I think his inclination will be to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, basically saying their mission there is done, which is not true, but he'll claim that --

SCIUTTO: Because their mission is about ISIS.

MANSOOR: -- and then he will give Iran.

Yeah, the mission is about ISIS, but he'll see that as somehow mission accomplished. And then he'll give Israel the ability to do whatever it wants to do in the region. I don't think that he wants to get involved. His instincts are to stay out of military operations, and Israel seems to be doing spectacular in whatever it attempts these days. I think it would be overreaching if Israel went after Iran's nuclear program and counterproductive. But that is in the cards.

SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, President Biden, his administration put an enormous amount of pressure on Israel not to strike nuclear facilities when it was responding to the most recent Iranian ballistic missile strike. Israel held back. Did they get different guidance from the new boss? We'll see.

Peter Mansoor, thanks so much.

MANSOOR: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we'll be back with much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:10]

SCIUTTO: Mass deportations from this country, that was a core promise of the Trump presidential campaign.

And today, new reporting on how the Biden administration is preparing for how the new administration will carry out those plans. And Democrats now pushing for aggressive 11th hour protection for immigrants facing those policies via, they hope, last-minute executive orders.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has the story -- Priscilla.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure from Democratic lawmakers and allies to extend protections to immigrants already in the United States amid party fears over the president-elect's mass deportation plans and who exactly they're going to include.

Now, within the administration, officials are wrestling with these demands, but they're also trying to avoid overreaching on an issue that strategists argue cost Democrats the White House. And it is those electoral results and that reality that is in part factoring into these conversations internally. One senior administration official telling me, quote, the paradigm has shifted.

Now, it's a reflection of the state of immigration policy, which has been made through the executive and therefore much of what the president has done can be undone with a stroke of a pen. And so Democrats are urging the administration to do what it can to, at the very least, extend protections for some immigrants in the United States just a little bit longer. Now, some of these Democrats include, for example, Senators Dick Durbin, Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto and Alex Padilla, among others.

And in a letter this week to President Biden, they said, quote, the following: We urge you to act decisively between now and the inauguration of the president-elect to complete the important work of the past four years and protect immigrant families. Now, some of those actions include extending a form of humanitarian relief for certain countries, known as temporary protected status, expediting DACA renewals and processing pending asylum claims.

And the administration has done some work already, announcing, for example, this week the automatic extension of work permits for certain -- for certain immigrants in the United States. But certainly Democrats are calling for more action as they fret over what exactly President-elect Donald Trump's mass deportation plans will look like.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Thanks, Priscilla.

The Trump transition is moving quickly. As Donald Trump's cabinet picks roam the halls of the Capitol, making their cases for Senate confirmation, we are learning today that Americans most do like what they see. That according to the first CNN poll since President-elect Donald Trump's win.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny will break down the numbers for us -- Jeff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President- elect Donald Trump is enjoying something of a honeymoon one month after his election, and a little more than a month before he's sworn into office for a second term.

[15:25:07]

A new CNN poll finds that most Americans expect President-elect Trump to do a good job upon his return to the White House next month, 54 percent of them do, and a majority of Americans approve of how he's handling the presidential transition so far.

Almost seven in 10 Americans, according to our new poll, say that Trump will be able to bring change to the country, though only half of those Americans, about 48 percent, say they think it will be change for the better.

Now, there is no question the country's mood appears to have lifted somewhat following Trump's win, at least in part due to the type of shifting partisan sentiments often seen in the aftermath of elections where the presidency changes hands of a political party, but most overall still say things in the country are going badly at 61 percent. But the share who say things are going very badly, that stands at only 15 percent, the lowest in CNN polling since May of 2018.

Still, taking a bigger look here, Americans' emotional reactions as they look ahead to a second Trump term are mixed. Overall, slightly more express a positive feeling 52 percent than a negative one, 48 percent. But the share who say they're afraid, 29 percent, outpaces the share who say they're enthusiastic.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Jeff.

Coming up, a new report on forced adoptions in Russia of Ukrainian children. The details revealing a possible war crime by the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. Could anything be done to stop it? I'm going to be joined by a former U.S. ambassador at large focused on war crimes and criminal justice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:08]

SCIUTTO: The International Criminal Court last year issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes of unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children. Just one week ago, the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab issued a new report adding evidence that Russia, quote, engaged in the systematic, intentional and widespread coerced adoption and fostering of children from Ukraine in what they call the largest missing persons case since World War Two.

This new report identifies and chronicles the stories of 314 children forcibly taken to Russia from Ukraine in the early months of Russia's invasion, and details of Russia's manipulation tactics to erase -- entirely erase their Ukrainian identities, in other words, to Russify them.

After 20 months of meticulous piecing together of the data, researchers were able to discover the identities of those Ukrainian children and facilitate their safe return.

Here to discuss the report and its implications is Ambassador Stephen Rapp, a former international prosecutor and diplomat, now visiting fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, continuing as a roving ambassador, pursuing -- pursuing justice and accountability in Syria.

Thanks so much for joining us, and thanks so much for the work that you do.

STEPHEN RAPP, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW, U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM: Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: You know, it's interesting, as you -- and sad and demoralizing as you watch this war that that behaviors and crimes that we thought were from a different age are being repeated. And as I read this report and going back to the earliest reports of these deportations, it made me think of Stalin, made me think of Stalin's Russia. And yet here we are again.

RAPP: I mean, one of the challenges here is that there was never any accountability for the crimes of Stalin. There was accountability for the crimes of the Nazis. And we see Germany today as a leader in the rule of law in Russia. The idea and when they were committing crimes in Syria, it was the same. You could get away with it and you would never have to answer for these crimes.

SCIUTTO: So what was to the best of your assessment, Russia's intention here?

RAPP: Well, its intention it's consistent with what Ukrainians really almost view as a genocide, whether it meets the technical definitions. But they really wanted to Russify Ukraine. They basically viewed this as part of their own country, that there was no such nationality, no such -- no such community, you know, no such language. And they wanted to basically bring that country back in and force it as one of the extremists said, that we'll kill a million, we'll kill a 2 million, we'll kill 3 million until we until they all agree that, you know, Ukraine doesn't exist.

But here, you know, and they, you know, in that philosophy, the idea of bringing these children in and taking them away from their families and adopting them to Russian families, they viewed as a humanitarian thing, which it wasn't, of course, imagine being torn away from -- from your family and completely isolated. I mean, sometimes they say there's opportunities for families to make contact, but they make every effort to obstruct that.

And this Yale study is really important because we know this is a much bigger problem. I mean, the Ukraine, the Ukrainians point to like 19,500 cases of children removed, but these are ones done at the initial period of the conflict as they brought them out. And as the Russians own documents showed what they were doing, and they showed that there was suddenly this intense effort to change practice.

Under Russian law in 2022, it was illegal to do this without Ukraine's permission. So they immediately naturalized all the children as Russians.

SCIUTTO: So they would not be -- the law wouldn't apply to them.

RAPP: Yeah, exactly. And then they involve the military and they involve the department of education, and they involve the whole state in this rushed effort to bring them over into Russia and then to actually accelerate the process of adoption with no notice to their natural families or to relatives or anything else in violation of very clear violation of the Geneva conventions, which say you can't move children during a conflict, you know, away from their families and loved ones, for reasons even for security without permission of the family.

SCIUTTO: So this relates to just over 300 children. You're saying the Ukrainian allegation is that many thousands were removed? How many of those children are going to come home? And when?

RAPP: Well, you know, efforts are being made through third parties to establish relations. And if sometimes we've had situations of mothers who've walked, you know, hundreds of miles into Russia, have had a child that found a cell phone, remembered actually a number of a family member and have gotten through, and where the Russians finally relented.

But otherwise, you know, those children have been moved and they'll be. And if, depending on how this conflict ends, you know, they can well stay in Russia and be separated from ever -- from their families. And that's certainly the intention of what the Russians have done.

[15:35:01]

SCIUTTO: Disappeared --

RAPP: And they made it permanent. Their parents are strangers. They have new parents through these sort of accelerated adoptions, et cetera.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because there's an ICC warrant based in part on this.

Does the West's refusal to enforce also an ICC warrant against Israeli leaders help weaken a warrant like this against Putin? Because if I see warrants are sometimes obeyed and not obeyed other times, does that weaken enforcement? RAPP: Yes. I mean, the short answer is you can either follow the rule

of law or you can or you can say it doesn't apply in some cases and it applies in others, in which case you're basically saying its not a question of law, it's a question of politics. And of course the Russians use this as a as an argument on why Putin shouldn't have to surrender to the court. There's -- there's clear jurisdiction in this case because he committed these crimes on the territory of Ukraine.

If he committed crimes in Russia, Russia's not in the ICC. They couldn't touch him, but because he did it in another country, and that country gave jurisdiction, then, then, then it's clear.

The Israel situation is a little more complicated about whether Palestine is a state, but it's been recognized as such by the U.N. and the court. And if you commit crimes in its territory, namely Gaza, then there is there is jurisdiction.

There are avenues for contesting warrants, like the Netanyahu warrant, challenging it and saying that there's an accountability process at the national level. And by doing that, defeating ICC jurisdiction, that's the approach that one should take, not to attack the court, but to work under the law.

Of course, the Russians will be complete scofflaw and defying this. And of course, they've, you know, just given exile to another person who, you know, richly deserves an international arrest warrant, you know, Bashar Assad, et cetera. But, you know, we've had times in the past when it looked like we could never get somebody a Milosevic or Charles Taylor, that I prosecuted, who was given a safe and comfortable exile. And eventually the pressure built and relief from sanctions and processes that go forward and international community really making it important. You know, sometimes you can bring these guys to justice.

SCIUTTO: I was going to bring that up because you, of course, have played a leading role in the effort to put Assad and other top Syrian officials on trial for what were getting. And even better, but sadder sense now, the extent of the atrocities committed by the Assad regime. When you look inside those prisons and you see, for instance, the rooms full of shoes of people lost inside there, killed, tortured inside there.

Do you believe that Assad will face justice?

RAPP: Yes, I believe that he will. Now, of course, we haven't had an international arrest warrant for him because there isn't an international court with jurisdiction.

You know, I think were going to have to work other ways. The French do, by the way, have an arrest warrant against him for the use of chemical weapons that, while killing 1,400 Syrians, injured one French individual. So they have jurisdiction.

And there was a question about whether they could do that while he was in power. He's not in power anymore. So, that warrant stands. Of course, it's much better that he face justice, frankly, in Syria.

And I think it has to be a high priority of this transition. And in our engagement with that transitional government in Syria to develop a court, a special court like we've had in Sierra Leone or elsewhere that could adopt international standards, include Syrians and some international advisors and obtain the kind of legitimacy that it would be needed to bring pressure to have Assad to justice. But of course, it's not just Assad.

There are -- there's a whole army, I mean, a whole military intelligence system, a whole machinery of death that this regime maintained. We don't want to prosecute everybody, certainly those that were conscripted and forced into it. But the authors of these crimes, I mean, what were seeing now is 100,000 people were tortured to death in these prisons. We saw it in the Caesar photos in 2013, when there were about 11,000.

But now, you know, there was 150,000 missing. You know, fewer than a third of that come out. So we know what -- what that crime was, not to mention the poison gas and the attacks on hospitals and the killing of the innocent.

SCIUTTO: Barrel bombs.

RAPP: And, you know, half the country being run off and creating refugee crisis across the world.

SCIUTTO: Just the scale of it --

RAPP: It requires -- it requires justice or it'll happen again.

SCIUTTO: Well, we appreciate your efforts to deliver justice.

Ambassador Stephen Rapp, thanks so much for joining.

RAPP: Very good to be with you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And we will be right back with more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:42:44]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

We're returning to our call to earth day coverage. Thousands of students across the globe engaged in a day of action to help save the planet they're inheriting. We have correspondents filing reports from all over the world, including Hong Kong, Nairobi, London and Los Angeles.

Our theme this year is connected generations. We'll be looking to the wisdom of our ancestors for sustainable living practices and seeing how we can use those practices in our daily lives.

Let's begin near Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where schoolchildren are volunteering with the nonprofit group a cleaner planet to tidy up a local park.

Our Elizabeth Perez is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH PEREZ, CNN EN ESPANOL ANCHOR: Thank you. It's a pleasure to greet you from Philips Park, where a day of cleaning and garbage collection is taking place in Miami. As part of the Call to Earth Day initiative, a nonprofit foundation called a cleaner planet has organized the event to not only clean the place, but also raise awareness of the importance of the environment and recycling as a method to reuse materials.

And they are the founders of a cleaner planet.

Mike, Daniella, thank you so much for being with us in CNN.

Daniella, and why this park?

DANIELA VECCHIONE, FOUNDER, A CLEANER PLANET: We're today in this park first, because we live here, so we love that aspect of, you know, contributing with your community.

And also our kids, they go to this school attached to this park. So, you know, we are here and doing it, you know, in the city of Coral Gables, which by the way, we get a lot of support from them.

PEREZ: And why, mike, is it important that kids are involved in these kind of activities?

MIKE JEFFERY, FOUNDER, A CLEANER PLANET: I think because, you know, they're growing up, its good to show them that we need to do our little part to help keep the community and the planet clean, and hopefully, you know, they'll keep that going as they get older. And, you know, hand it on to the next generations.

PEREZ: This is a park close to an elementary and middle school. And children from the school interested in helping came to participate.

Cyprus, I saw you picking up garbage. Why do you like to be part of this event?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: I like to clean. I like to be part of this event because i. I get to help my earth live longer and help it like be clean.

PEREZ: What did you find so far?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: Ii found plastic bottle caps like. I also found Styrofoam and other types of garbage.

PEREZ: What would you say to people that litter in parks like this?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: That they shouldn't litter and they should put in their garbage can so the -- so the Earth could be healthy.

PEREZ: As you can see, children between the ages of 6 and 14 are part of this event.

Nicholas, and I've seen that you have collected a lot of garbage. What have you found so far?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: Today, I have found plastic, some paper, some things for like a medicine cup. And I just found a lot of those type of things and -- and, yeah, yeah.

PEREZ: How do you feel after this activity?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: I feel amazing, you know, the amazing part of our day is that you can hang out with friends, you clean up your community, and it also helps out the earth.

PEREZ: What would you say to kids that would like to do this kind of activity? But they don't know how to start?

UNIDENTIFIED KID: Well, first of all, I think its an amazing idea that kids want to do it because you can again, you can help out the community and everything like that, and I think that they should do I, and yeah.

PEREZ: It's a very nice day for Miami and the city of Coral Gables after this cleanup. We have a little bit better world and mother earth.

I'm Elizabeth Perez from South Florida, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Elizabeth and to those school kids.

Well, in California, development and climate change are threatening native plant species. But one indigenous tribe is trying to protect them. Many native plants hold deep meaning to the Chumash people, which is why they continue to cultivate the plants and pass on their wisdom.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under the shade of an old oak tree, a special group assembles to learn ancient wisdom.

LEVI ZAVALLA: So we're standing here under this beautiful oak tree. We call this Khu. And we're standing in our medicinal garden.

Hello everyone. My name is Levi Zavalla. I'm from Santa Ynez and the Kiowa clan. Samala Chumash.

JONES: Levi Zavalla is responsible for passing along indigenous plant knowledge to his tribe.

ZAVALLA: We have all these medicinal plants as you see behind you right over here. That is. It's the stinging nettle. That's really good medicinal plant. Right here, we have oncogene (ph) or yerba mansa. It almost looks like a carrot, right. So check that out. Smell it. Look at it.

That's really good for liver cleansing. And see, our ancestors knew all this. They had so much time to study this.

JONES: The Chumash people settled in an untamed and undeveloped Santa Ynez Valley in central California, no less than 13,000 years ago.

DIEGO CORDERO, LEAD ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNICIAN, SANTA YNEZ CHUMASH ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICE: My name is Diego Cordero. I'm a Chumash person from Santa Barbara, and I work for the Santa Ynez Chumash environmental office.

JONES: Diego Cordero is tasked with growing and caring for local plants, keeping them intact and thriving for future generations. He says many native plant populations have declined over time due to urban development and the effects of climate change. The nursery contains about 3,500 plants, many of which possess deep cultural meaning to the Chumash plants, like the juncus used for basket weaving and dogbane for rope and string.

CORDERO: Most people are familiar with seeds, right? That is one way that plants reproduce and make more plants. That's a good one.

There's another way, though, where you see each one of these little leaves. This can make an entirely new plant. Maybe dig it out a little bit with your finger first, so you make like a little divot, and then you put it in there and then scoop some over it.

We were always raised to say that these things haven't been lost. They're not dead. They're asleep. And our job as Chumash people is to wake these things up again.

All right. Who does not have a job right now? Raise your hand.

JONES: For the students and elders taking part in the days outdoor classroom, there is a sense of pride in revitalizing ancient practices and keeping the traditions alive.

MICAELA ACUNA: I feel like it's good to know your culture and where you come from. And then, like, not only that, but also be able to like, learn it. So that way you can pass it on to the next generation.

KYLIE LAPOINTE: I love learning about my ancestors. I love going to my grandmother's house, reading books with her. I like to talk in my language and just kind of show people like the unique stuff we have and everything.

KRISTINA TALUGON RIVERA: For the youth to see the elders supporting what they do. It's just a way to know that the native plants, the medicinal teas and some of the materials needed for basket weaving can be collected by the youth.

[15:50:04]

JONES: And for the teachers like Cordero and Zavalla, it's inspiring to know the long chain of shared knowledge won't soon be broken.

CORDERO: I've put a lot of effort into making this nursery a space that's welcoming and accessible for elders and children. That is something that they can participate in that relationship, and they'll pass that on to future generations.

ZAVALLA: These plants helped our people thrive. You guys are the future. You guys are our future, and you will be the ones sharing this knowledge when were gone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Julia Vargas Jones for that report.

You can learn more about call to earth day and how students around the world are taking action at CNN.com/calltoearth. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: All right. So football or soccer fans start making plans. We now know where the men's World Cup in 2030 and 2034 will be held. Spain, Morocco and Portugal will be the main hosts in six years, and the one after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: The host of the FIFA World Cup 2034 will be Saudi Arabia!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Organizers in Riyadh. Of course celebrated FIFA's announcement. But choosing Saudi Arabia is controversial. A recent report from a human rights group found the country is using the tournament to, quote, wash away its poor human rights reputation.

[15:55:04]

The report focuses on migrant workers who are the engine of Saudi Arabia's construction boom and are, quote, vulnerable to widespread abuse there. It says there were 13.4 million migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, representing 42 percent of the country's population. New construction will include building and renovating 11 stadiums and 185,000 new hotel rooms. It's a big project.

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.