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The Situation Room

Biden Says, Trump Should Rethink Counterproductive Tariffs; Syrian Rebels Enter Aleppo For First Time In Eight Years; Bitter Cold To Hit Half Of The U.S. As Holiday Travelers Head Home; Palestinians Struggle To Survive Amid Food Shortage In Gaza; Close Look At Notre Dame's Restoration Five Years After Fire. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 29, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: Happening now, President Joe Biden launches his first major criticism of President-elect Donald Trump since the election. Mr. Biden urging his successor to rethink what he calls productive tariffs against Canada and Mexico.

[18:00:02]

Stand by for those new details on the presidential transition.

Plus, brutally cold and stormy weather is bearing down on millions of Americans as travelers start heading home from Thanksgiving. We're tracking the threat of paralyzing snow in the northeast, up to five feet in some places.

And we're getting our first glimpse inside France's newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral five years after a devastating fire tore through the iconic Paris landmark.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Alex Marquardt and you're in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with the Trump transition and the latest controversy over the president-elect's vow to impose huge tariffs on Canada and Mexico. That threat touching off a back and forth with the Mexican president over drug trafficking and the border.

CNN's Alayna Treene is outside the Trump transition headquarters with new details. Alayna, so the president-elect and the Mexican president, they said that they had a great and wonderful call, but they are also publicly disagreeing about the contents of the call for the second time this week.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right. They have two very different impressions, Alex, of exactly what was said on that call. Donald Trump, for his part, argued that Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, agreed to closing down the southern border. She later said that that wasn't true.

I'm going to read for you some of what we have here. So, Trump had said that he had just had a wonderful conversation with the new president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop migration through Mexico and into United States, effectively closing our southern border. And then we had a statement from Sheinbaum herself disputing that characterization of the call. She wrote, quote, everyone has their own way of communicating, but I can assure you, I give you the certainty that we would never and we would be incapable of it to propose that we would close the border. It has never been our approach. And, of course, we don't agree with that.

So, again, very different views of what was said, but I think this is really a very important moment, Alex, because we know that so much of what Donald Trump had promised to voters and Americans throughout his time on the campaign trail was to really crack down on crime and illegal immigration into the United States.

And this relationship that he is going to have with Sheinbaum, I would remind you that they have not have a working relationship in the past. He was not in power when Donald Trump was first in office. This is going to be a very important relationship moving forward to see how the two can come to some sort of agreement over Donald Trump's big plans for cracking down on immigration.

And as you mentioned, it's also important to know that this came just days after Donald Trump had promised and really vowed to have massive tariff hikes on both Canada and Mexico, saying as much as 25 percent of a tariff on all goods coming into the United States from those countries. That's also something we saw Sheinbaum really push hard back on, saying that, essentially, Mexico would respond itself with its own retaliatory tariffs if Donald Trump were to do that.

MARQUARDT: And regarding those potential tariffs on Canada, you have new reporting about the country's prime minister. What can you tell us?

TREENE: That's right. We are just getting this news in right now, breaking news, Alex. Essentially, I'm told that Donald Trump is going to be hosting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago this evening, that they're expected to have dinner. I have not gotten further details from that. I'm told that we should get some sort of readout once it is completed, once it finishes, once they learn what was said.

But, again, I think very clear that this conversation over whether or not Donald Trump is actually going to make good on that vow of imposing a 25 percent tariff on all goods coming from Canada. I'm sure that will be a major topic of discussion tonight and really the first time we've seen these two leaders meet in a very long time and definitely since Donald Trump won the 2024 campaign. Alex?

MARQUARDT: I think it's fair to assume that is going to come up over dinner. Alayna Treene in West Palm Beach, thank you so much.

Meanwhile, President Biden is criticizing Trump's tariffs as what he called counterproductive, and urging his successor to not, quote, screw up the relationship with Canada and Mexico.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more on that for us. So, Priscilla, this is quite notable because the president has not been terribly critical of his predecessor and now successor since the election. But what's he saying?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's being blunt about what these tariffs could mean both to the relationship that the U.S. has with its neighbors, as well as to consumers. And, of course, recall that President Biden, when he came into office, had sought to strengthen alliances around the world, and that included Mexico and Canada.

So, you could understand from that perspective why the president is saying that he doesn't want to screw up those relationships, but he was also again very straightforward about what he thinks could happen should these be enacted.

[18:05:07]

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I hope he rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do. You know, look, one of the things you've heard me say before that we have an unusual situation in America. We're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies, Mexico and Canada. And the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, experts have also said that if enacted, these tariffs could wreak havoc on America's supply chains and, again, impact consumers. And the president went on to say that there is still more work to be done to lower costs for Americans.

So, of course, the president-elect, Donald Trump, has already received some pushback in response, not only from the President Biden, but also, as you heard there from Alayna, Mexico and Canada.

Now, President Biden told reporters today that he does expect to talk to President-elect Donald Trump over the course of the transition when asked if he would. So, certainly, this, you can imagine, would be one of the issues that the president would raise with Donald Trump if and when they do speak again.

But, again, Alex, certainly, the warning, both from economic experts but also from the president is that these tariffs, if enacted, could have significant impacts both for the relationships and for Americans.

MARQUARDT: Yes, and real questions about whether it's a negotiating tactic or he actually plans to go through with it. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that reporting.

Our political experts are now joining me now with analysis. Brian Morgenstern, I want to start with you. You served as deputy press secretary for the White House during Trump's first term. What is your reaction to hearing what President Biden said, calling Trump's tariff threat a counterproductive? BRIAN MORGENSTERN, FORMER TRUMP DEPUTY ASSISTANT TREASURY SECRETARY: I think President Biden is wrong and President Trump is right. He when Trump was in office for four years, he used tariffs quite effectively to negotiate a better trade deal with both Canada and Mexico. He uses it to achieve policy goals, like spurring domestic manufacturing, economic growth, bringing in tax revenue here. He's even suggested that he could use it to help with our immigration problems.

And I think that's right, because both Canada and Mexico are very heavily dependent upon U.S. markets. We do have leverage there, but it's really about supporting U.S. workers and U.S. companies and using these to achieve policy goals.

And he did it once quite effectively. Inflation was minimal at the end of his term, even while using these tariffs. So, I do think that President Trump will do what he did last time, which was use these things to bring our negotiating partners to the table. It may create a little friction in the short-term, but it's going to lead to stronger relationships in the end. So, he did it once and I think he's ready to do it again.

MARQUARDT: Meghan Hays, Biden said this in a rather informal setting. He was visiting that firehouse in Nantucket, but the comments were quite pointed. What did you make of them?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, BIDEN WHITE HOUSE: Yes, I think that he understands what tariffs, especially for Canada and Mexico, can do to the middle class. I mean, a lot of economists during the campaign were saying that this would add $4,000 to the bottom line for middle class families, and that's not something that people can afford right now. So, I do think that he's speaking from that. I also think that he doesn't think that feel that we need to be bullying our neighbors to the north and to the south. So, I think that's probably what he was going for there.

MARQUARDT: Shortly after Trump spoke with Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, on Wednesday, Trump posted on social media, I want to read this quote, that Mexico will stop people from going to our southern border effective immediately, which was then followed by this statement by the Mexican president saying, quote, we reaffirm that Mexico's stance is not to close borders, but to build bridges between governments and peoples.

Jasmine Wright, what do you think of these contradictory statements and what they say about that relationship between the American and Mexican president going forward?

JASMINE WRIGHT, REPORTER, NOTUS: Yes, I mean, it shows that they have a really different impression about what that consequential first conversation is and that they may have some issues going forward. Now, of course, if you look at what President Biden was able to do over the last four years, yes, there have been major critiques over his -- what he's done on immigration, but something that he's really focused on is strengthening his relationship with our partners, both to the south, Mexico, and with Canada, necessarily not with the current president who was not -- who hasn't been in office since Biden took over, but certainly all the different administrations.

And so I think that he's really nervous that Trump could kind of torpedo the work and the legacy that he has created for himself over the last four years. But, of course, this is going to be something that the president-elect really focuses on as he tries to show the American people that he can both maintain and increase the economy.

Already, he posted that Americans are feeling better about the economy since he was elected, even though he's not yet in office, but also his promises on immigration, his mass deportations, and trying to slow the crawl of migrants to the border.

[18:10:12]

But, of course, President Biden has already done a lot to lessen the amount of people coming over the southern border, and Trump will be taking that over, but this is going to be a really important relationship for Donald Trump. And I think that people close to Trump have no doubt that he is going to put in tariffs. I think the question is, what does that look like and to which countries are the most impacted?

MARQUARDT: We just got this new reporting from my colleague, Alayna Treene, that the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago tonight. Trudeau has said that Trump's tariffs would also hurt Americans. Meghan, do you think that tariff threats are the best way to secure the border?

HAYS: No, I don't. I think that it's going to raise prices on the middle class, and I don't think that's what we need to be doing. Over 70 percent of our vegetables come from the southern border, and I just don't think like we don't have the ability to produce them. It's in our climate here, that kind of needs, and those prices will be passed on to the consumer. So, I'm just not sure that threatening our neighbors is the best way to be doing this. There are other ways that I think that we can achieve some policy goals here without threatening them.

MARQUARDT: There was a Wall Street Journal op-ed this week, and in it they wrote, quote, the hopeful interpretation now is that Mr. Trump is merely using tariffs again as a negotiating strategy. The problem is that this strategy isn't cost free and there can be collateral damage.

Brian, what is your response to those who say that the collateral damage would be to the very voters who elected him because of prices and inflation that were too high?

MORGENSTERN: But we know how it worked out the first time and we had very low inflation and people could afford a lot more than they could then. A lot of the costs that we've seen with consumer goods especially is because of a lot of government spending and money printing, and so everyone's purchasing power went down.

But with tariffs, if we can make it here in America, they have another option. They don't necessarily have to buy more expensive foreign goods. It will spur more production here in the U.S. And if we go to our negotiating partners and say, you have trade barriers that we don't have, we're going to match you with the trade barriers, what happens? They come to us and they say, let's reach a deal that's going to be better for everyone. So, that's the ultimate goal is not hurting American consumers at all, but actually empowering them to strengthen our workforce, giving them more purchasing power.

So, I think it's an effective tool he used in the past. And I think we have a track record to look at to show that we will be better off after he is able to do some negotiating here.

MARQUARDT: Like most Americans, President-elect Trump celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with his family at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Here's a quick clip.

Jasmine, you saw Elon right there in his X sweater, sweatshirt sitting right next to the president-elect. What do you make of him having a seat at the Trump table? On the other side of Trump was Barron, I believe, and First Lady Melania Trump.

WRIGHT: Yes, Alex. Well, the branding there is certainly strong. Look, I think that there is no doubt about it that Elon has become a real integral part of Trump's inner circle over the last month or two months, obviously, since he kind of parked out in Pennsylvania as the campaign went on. And then has obviously been a part of so many discussions that are -- some are public, certainly some are private, about not just staffing and the transition, but also about the new commission that he and Vivek Ramaswamy are going to be ahead of.

I think that a lot of people who are close to Trump, some like it, some don't, but certainly some feel that there's kind of a ticking time bomb on when that relationship could potentially explode.

Now, of course, Elon Musk's businesses are really intertwined with the government, and he receives so much money for his businesses from the government. So, certainly, that's going to be a point that they kind of, accelerate on with their relationship.

But I think it's clear that Elon, at least for the foreseeable future, is kind of here to stay in the Trump inner circle, and I think the next few months will be incredibly interesting as we kind of look at the relationship.

MARQUARDT: Yes. It certainly looks like he intends and Trump intends to have him as a central player. Thank you all for joining me this evening with your thoughts and your perspectives. I really appreciate it.

Just ahead, a major escalation in Syria, we have details on a stunning rebel offensive that threatens to reignite the country's civil war.

Plus, we'll take you inside the Notre Dame Cathedral after five years of painstaking restoration. How a team of architects, artisans, and craftspeople brought the church back to life following that fire in 2019.

[18:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUARDT: We are following another dramatic escalation in the Middle East, this time in Syria, where rebel forces have just launched a surprising offensive and taken up positions inside Aleppo, Syria's second biggest cities, the first time that they've gotten into the city in eight years.

Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman joins me now. He's been tracking these remarkable developments. Ben, how did this all unfold?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This began, Alex, on Wednesday with this offensive launched from the area of Idlib Province, which is to the east -- rather the west of Aleppo. And what we've seen is that over the last three days, these rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is a group, a rebel group earlier affiliated with al Qaeda, it has managed to take almost 70 villages west of Aleppo City.

[18:20:04]

And what we saw starting this morning, they started to enter the western sector of Aleppo, Syria's second largest city. And by -- as the evening progressed, what we saw is increasingly more and more videos of rebel forces getting to the very center of the city. We saw one video of a rebel fighters in Saadallah Jabri Square, which is a main, very large, open square in the more modern part of the city. And later, we saw a live streaming video of rebels buying coffee and noodles next to Aleppo's iconic ancient citadel.

Now, what this has been is really the result of, it appears for one thing, the rebels have clearly been working very hard to prepare for some sort of surprise military offensive. But on the regime side, it appears that the absence of Hezbollah fighters who came from Lebanon to Syria during the civil war to bolster the weak and often corrupt and incompetent Syrian Army in their fight against the rebels, those Hezbollah fighters have gone back to Lebanon where, of course, they've been mauled by the Israelis and the senior leadership of Hezbollah has also been killed by the Israelis.

At the same time, the Iranians, who were providing advice and material for the Syrian military, they seem to have reduced their presence after repeated Israeli attacks on Iranian personnel in Syria. And, finally, the Russians, who, in September 2015, intervened in the Syrian civil war and essentially saved the regime, have been reducing their presence in Syria as a result of the war in Ukraine.

So, the Syrian government, which had its backers, whether Russia, Hezbollah and Iran, suddenly finds itself almost alone, not completely, there's still Russian air assets in the country, but alone and very exposed to a resurgent rebel force. Alex?

MARQUARDT: Yes, just stunning developments in a conflict that we frankly haven't been talking about in quite some time.

Ben Wedeman, I know that you'll be tracking all of this very, very closely. Thank you very much.

Joining me now is the director for the Syria Program at the Middle East Institute, Charles Lister. Charles, there's no one I'd be rather talking to about what we're seeing unfold in Aleppo. You obviously track this very closely.

Earlier today, you called what we're seeing totally game changing events. Just moments ago, I see that you tweeted that the city of Aleppo has fallen to this opposition force. What do you think the effect of this rebel advance is going to be and what do you think comes next?

CHARLES LISTER, DIRECTOR, SYRIA PROGRAM, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Yes. So, I mean, extraordinary days, days that I think, frankly, those of us who follow all of this on a day-to-day basis never really foresaw. I mean, there have been plans afoot for this offensive since early October in the middle of that month. The Turkish Intelligence Service basically intervened to make sure it didn't happen. Obviously, it has now a bunch of weeks later.

Reports on the ground appear to suggest now, as you just said, that the city itself appears to have fallen. The last remaining regime forces fled the city earlier today and essentially left the rest of it undefended. It's sort of ironic. You know, opposition forces and the rebels spent years from 2012 until 2016 fighting to keep control of half of the city. And in the space of 24 hours, we've seen the entire city fall.

But it is -- I mean, this is an earthquake amidst the Syrian crisis. By the way, it's a crisis that has never really ended, the conflicts often being described as frozen. And whilst, yes, the battle lines have been frozen between 30 and 100 people have been dying in conflict in Syria every week for the last couple of years.

So, it has remained hot. But, yes, this is the first time we've seen battle lines change, and in this case, in a very dramatic way that could easily trigger other fronts of conflict elsewhere in the country. And, in fact, around Aleppo and Idlib, we've seen multiple new offensive launched just in the last 24 hours.

MARQUARDT: Well, Charles, that was my next question is, does that mean that you expect to see -- I don't want to call it a renewed conflict, because, as you point out, the fighting has continued, but it certainly appears to be heating up, not just in Aleppo. Do you expect it to spread and really sort of get back underway in earnest?

LISTER: Yes. So, I mean, for now, what we're seeing is, you know, the remnants of the Free Syrian Army that are based in Northern Aleppo, in the countryside, and very heavily backed by the Turkish government, have just launched a major offensive against the regime and against the SDF, our partners in the fight against ISIS.

[18:25:02]

And that threatens to almost become a kind of pincer movement heading south into the north of Aleppo City. There's another new offensive that's been launched in Southern Idlib aiming to take control of the strategic M5 highway, which basically links Aleppo with the capital, Damascus, down south.

But, yes, I mean, the area that I would be looking at most closely is Daraa, way down on the Jordanian border. This was the original heartland of the revolution. It remains home to thousands of former Free Syrian Army fighters who surrendered to the regime back in 2018, but who still hold their guns, who still control their villages and towns and on a near daily basis have been challenging the regime on a very localized basis over kidnappings and arbitrary detentions and what have you.

But I would not be surprised if these advances continue in Northern Syria that we will see places like Daraa really significantly, you know, heighten up in terms of hostilities and placing the regime in a very vulnerable situation.

MARQUARDT: Well, Charles, we only have a couple moments, but how vulnerable is President Assad now?

LISTER: He's been vulnerable for a long time, you know, notwithstanding the sort of lack of attention, but he's economically weak. He's geopolitically isolated. You know, attempts by the Middle East to reengage and normalize really led to no real progress for Syria and for Syrians. Turkey sought to normalize ties with the Syrian regime earlier this year, but the regime basically rebuffed those efforts. And so, yes, they are extremely vulnerable.

I think what's surprising is that the Russians, by the way, haven't really changed their posture or their deployments in Syria, but they haven't stepped in. And the Iranians are still on the frontlines and they haven't stepped in. And that, I think, really adds to the vulnerability that he even seems isolated from his allies.

MARQUARDT: Yes, not a good sign for Assad. Charles Lister, I'm sure we'll be speaking a lot more about these developments in the coming days. Thank you so much for coming on tonight.

LISTER: Thanks.

MARQUARDT: Coming up the latest on a powerful burst of frigid air set to bring snow and ice, as millions prepare to head home from the Thanksgiving holiday.

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[18:30:00]

MARQUARDT: A brutal winter blast is about to hit half of the United States, which could mean chaos for many people traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is here. So, Elisa, what is this forecast?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I mean, if you're doing any traveling around the Great Lakes, it's going to be treacherous because we have lake effect snow. We've already had problems on I-90 all day. Erie, Pennsylvania, or parts of it, has already had more than two feet of snow today alone, and it continues. These are all the lake effect snow showers off of the Great Lakes as that cold air comes in, problems on the roads near Grand Rapids, I-196, I-90 from Cleveland up through Erie, south of Buffalo has been a problem all day today because these bands can be heavy, snowfall rates three to four inches per hour. They could generate thunder and lightning. The winds are gusty and it drops visibility, so very dangerous conditions.

These are all the winter alerts. These teal ones are the lake affects snow warnings that continue through the weekend. All flakes Erie and Ontario. That's where we'll probably find the most snow. We're talking about three, four, maybe five feet of snow for some of the suburbs. The south of Buffalo, Watertown, the official forecast is for 70 inches, so just incredible. Here's a look at all that cold air, ,ore than 70 percent of the lower 48 with freezing temperatures down to the Gulf Coast. Alex?

MARQUARDT: Good luck to everyone getting home this weekend. Elisa Raffa at the CNN Weather Center, thank you so much.

Now to Australia, which has become the first country in the world to pass a law banning children under 16 from using social media platforms in an effort to protect them from accessing content which could be harmful to their mental health.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery looks at this landmark law.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): How kids use social media is a problem millions of parents face. And Australia says it's now found the solution.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: World leading action to make sure social media companies meet their social responsibility. Social media is doing harm to our children.

MONTGOMERY: Under Australia's new law, kids under 16 are banned from accessing social media platforms and tech companies breaking the rules could face fines in the tens of millions.

But the bill rushed through in just a week is drawing criticism from those not convinced it will keep kids off the internet.

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG, AUSTRALIAN SENATOR: I mean, it's almost embarrassing. I mean, this is boomers trying to tell young people how the Internet should work.

MONTGOMERY: Tech giants, including Meta and X's Elon Musk, argue more time and evidence are needed before enforcing the ban. But for some parents, the law couldn't come fast enough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will miss your hugs, your kisses, your laugh, your beautiful, beautiful smile. MONTGOMERY: 12-year-old Charlotte O'Brien took her own life, her parents say, after years of being bullied online. Cases like hers and Allem Halkic, who ended his life at 17, have driven Australia's push to protect kids from online harm.

ALI HALKIC, FATHER OF ALLEM HALKIC: If that was in place today, and I know he would be alive. And that's some -- the guilt that I have to live with every day.

MONTGOMERY: Australia's new law is divisive, but for grieving families, it's a fight worth leading.

[18:35:02]

Hanako Montgomery, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Hanako Montgomery for that report.

I want to bring in CNN Media Analyst and Senior Media Correspondent for Axios Sara Fischer. Sara, thanks so much for joining me on this really, really interesting and perhaps trailblazing effort by the Australians.

First of all, how exactly are these social media companies going to enforce these children under 16 from getting onto their platforms in the first place?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: So that's the big question, Alex, because age verification online is very difficult and no country has really tackled it. Now, they say that there's sort of two ways you could go about it. One is using biometric data, but, of course, as you know, there's a ton of privacy issues with that, and in particular, children's privacy is much more strict online than adults. And then the second would be you leveraging some sort of government I.D. to be able to check what the ages of the child.

The problem is, you know, this kids who are under 16 and around 16, 17, 18, they don't always have government issued I.D.s. And so it's going to be very difficult for the tech platforms to actually enforce this. And that's where you have a lot of concerns that kids might just be able to go around this ban anyway.

MARQUARDT: Yes. I mean, teenagers, and I'm not trying to be funny here, they're wily, and they're very clever at getting around blocks like this.

So, neither underage users, who this is targeting, or their parents are going to be facing any fines if the ban is violated. Do you think that therefore it makes sense to put the onus on the platforms and not the parents?

FISCHER: Well, it's an interesting question, Alex, because when it comes to the platforms, another argument that they've made is that age verification should actually go to the device manufacturers. So, that would be, you know, the Apples of the world, the Googles of the world, the people who are manufacturing computers.

I think when it comes to who the (INAUDIBLE) is guessing the responsibility with this type of thing, if you're going to say that it belongs to social media companies, the other problem is what do you even deem to be a social media company. Because the way that this law is structured, companies like Facebook and Snapchat and X, they're all subject. But then you have massive platforms that are quite unregulated. I think about things like 4chan that this wouldn't apply to.

And so I think the question of where the onus lies is still very vague with this law. And that's been the big criticism of this law that they rushed it in just with a week without considering all of these different problems.

Now, in the U.S., various states have tried to do this type of thing. It's been shot down repeatedly by courts because of First Amendment issues. I don't know how it's going to go down in Australia, but I expect there to be a big fight.

MARQUARDT: And certainly other countries you'll be watching closely to see how this Australian experiment works.

Sara Fischer, thank you very much for your time.

FISCHER: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Just ahead, a look at the man who is becoming one of the leading faces of the so-called resistance against Donald Trump and his incoming administration.

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[18:40:00]

MARQUARDT: A political showdown is brewing between California Governor Gavin Newsom and President-elect Donald Trump.

CNN's Brian Todd is here with more. So, Brian, what issues is Newsom looking to fight Trump on?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, issues regarding the environment, reproductive rights, and immigration are where Gavin Newsom is drawing battle lines. It's looking like Newsom and his state are positioning to be a real thorn in the side of Donald Trump for the next four years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Get prepared.

TODD (voice over): California's 57-year-old Democratic governor prepares himself and his state to do political battle with Donald Trump. Gavin Newsom is already pushing back against the president- elect, this week proposing to offer the state's own tax credit for car buyers who purchase electric vehicles, if Trump ends the federal tax credit for those cars, as he wants to do.

TIA MITCHELL, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: I think this is the first example, and there will be more to come, of Governor Newsom kind of showing tangibly how he would push back on the Trump administration.

TODD: Almost immediately after Trump won the election, Newsom called for a special session of the California legislature to try to bolster California's progressive agenda against Trump's plans.

NEWSOM: We had the experience with Donald Trump. Don't fall -- sort of pray to somehow this is some new day. Listen to what these guys are saying and telling you. Look at what they're prepared to do day one. We're not going to be caught flatfooted.

TODD: In addition to electric vehicles and environmental issues overall, Newsom is preparing to battle the new Trump administration over reproductive rights, disaster response, and look for a very public fight from Newsom over immigration and Trump's promise to conduct mass deportations of undocumented migrants, even if Newsom's actual power to prevent those deportations is limited.

SHIRA STEIN, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: If the president calls up the National Guard and the state guards, there's only so much that the governor and that the state government can do to try and prevent that. I think the area that the governor is really going to be focused on is it's going to be a lot of messaging and it's going to be a lot of lawsuits.

TODD: Newsom has already called for more state money to file lawsuits against Trump. During Trump's first term, the state of California sued his administration more than 120 times. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly slammed Newsom over California's problems with crime and homelessness, often calling the governor, Newscum.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: What a horrible governor Newscum has been. He's been horrible, so many people leaving.

TODD: Analysts say it's becoming more clear that Gavin Newsom is positioning himself and his state as possibly the country's biggest antagonist to Trump with possible ambitions for 2028 in mind.

STEIN: The governor wants to run for president as much as he says time and time again that he doesn't want to do that.

MITCHELL: He's kind of got two years to raise his profile and see if kind of the way the country is going aligns with the type of campaign he could run.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:45:02]

TODD (on camera): Is Gavin Newsom too liberal to win a national election? The analysts we spoke to said that could make him more of a long shot,

but one of them also said in four years, many voters might want to swing back to a more left leaning candidate -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right. Brian Todd, thank you so much for that report.

Coming up, how a food shortage is exacerbating the suffering among Palestinians in Gaza. Their desperation to find even a loaf of bread to help them survive.

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MARQUARDT: Tonight, a glimpse into the worsening food crisis in Gaza, where some Palestinians are even dying as they try to get their hands on a single loaf of bread.

Today, Palestinian hospital officials say a woman and two children were crushed to death outside of a bakery in central Gaza.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more on the ongoing suffering in Gaza.

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A warning to our viewers that some images in this report are disturbing.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this ocean of desperation, a crush of bodies pressed against one another, heaved towards the same goal, a loaf of bread to survive. Wave after wave of distraught Palestinians at this bakery in central Gaza, fighting to feed themselves and their families before the days bread runs out. Amid the shrieks and shoves, one girl, clutches her precious cargo, struggling to keep her head above water.

Inside the bakery, a vignette into the chaos outside.

My hand, my hand, this woman shouts as her hijab is ripped from her head.

Uncle, please, another girl shouts, struggling for air take the money, please. I beg you, but she is slowly being crushed by the crowd.

Outside the bakery, the scale of the desperation becomes apparent and this is just one bakery.

The suffering here is unimaginable, Karam Afana (ph) says. I've been standing for four hours trying to get a single loaf of bread. Four hours, and I still can't bring bread home.

For those who left empty handed, there is nothing but uncertainty ahead. The World Food Program says all its bakeries in Central Gaza have now temporarily shut down due to a lack of humanitarian aid entering the strip. For this woman's niece, it is already too late. What is the crime of

this child? She is only 13 years old. Why did she have to go to a bakery and stand in this crowd?

Zeina (ph) was one of three people killed while trying to buy bread at that same Gaza bakery, crushed by the desperate crowd.

Our bread is soaked in blood, the father of another victim says. Where did she go? How did she get in? How did she leave? I don't know, I only found her when they brought her out dead, he says. He simply cannot comprehend how his daughter could die while trying to buy bread.

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DIAMOND (on camera): And, Alex, as the humanitarian situation in Gaza grows ever more desperate, very little seems to have been done to actually resolve those humanitarian aid bottlenecks in Gaza. But U.S. and Israeli officials say that in the wake of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, they believe that there is now an opening for a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right. Our thanks to Jeremy Diamond for that very important report.

We'll be right back.

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MARQUARDT: Today, we are getting a stunning look at the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

CNN's Melissa Bell takes us inside.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new dawn for Notre Dame Cathedral, more than five and a half years after a fire tore through parts of the gothic structure in the heart of Paris, sparkling stonework highlighting the stunning results of the estimated $737 million restoration as it was unveiled to France's President Emmanuel Macron on Friday.

After the 2019 blaze, the president had vowed to rebuild Notre Dame even more beautiful than it was. Entering the cathedral with his wife Brigitte on Friday, it was clear that France had achieved just that.

It was at the same time repaired, restored and re-baptized, Macron said.

Millions had watched in shock and horror as Notre Dame's 96-meter spire tumbled into the church during the 2019 blaze. Now its renaissance is complete. Touring the epicenter of the blaze, the medieval roof structure known

as the forest, Macron saw the beams rebuilt by hand from 1,200 oak trees from across France.

Among the highlights of Macron's tour, a mural in the north enclosure of the choir that was badly damaged in the fire, and the Virgin of Paris, a 14th century statue that became a symbol of resistance when it was found standing resolute surrounded by burnt wood and collapsed stone.

And the beautiful Saint Marcel's Chapel, one of 29 chapels that have been lovingly restored. Viewing the 12-meter wide grand organ, Macron described it as sublime.

More than 1,300 people involved in the restoration were invited inside, as the French president wrapped up his final visit to the site before its formal reopening.

You have transformed ashes into art, he told them. The whole planet was upset that day in April, the shock of the reopening will be as big as that of the fire, he said, thanking the crowds.

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BELL (on camera): The scaffolding on the outside speaks to the work that's yet to be done. 2030 will be the actual date of completion for the full restoration of the cathedral, but what we will see is from December 8th, it will once again be open to the public and the many millions who'd watched it with such heavy heart burn that dreadful night of April 2019 will once again be able to get inside.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

MARQUARDT: Some wonderful news. Our thanks to Melissa Bell for that report.

I'm Alex Marquardt in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thank you so much for watching. Have a great weekend.