i want to thank you for joining us late tonight from tel aviv, laura coates live starts right now! ♪ ♪ ♪ >> good evening, it is a special two hour edition of laura coates live, abby has the night off. i want to begin tonight, not with words but with the images and the sounds of the moment that hostages finally came face to face with their loved ones. seven hole weeks after being ripped away by hamas. watch. [inaudible] [laughter] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [muted] [inaudible] [muted] [inaudible] [speaking in a non-english language] [speaking in a non-english language] [speaking in a non-english language] [speaking in a non-english language] [crying] [crying] [inaudible] [crying] [crying] [inaudible] [crying] [crying] [crying] [crying] [speaking in a non-english language] [inaudible] >> you know when you watch that, what really strikes me? how little words are actually exchange between those who are holding each other. the faces, what it is like for the parents to see their child. the children to say their parents. it is overwhelming and unbelievable to think about. what this was like. and tonight, a whirlwind returned out of captivity for 11 more israelis. nine of whom are children. doctors, nurses, in tel aviv met hostages fared by a helicopter at a hospital. and inside, tear by teddy bears, flowers, toys, where on standby ready to save three year old twins released into israeli custody. the truce between israel and hamas seems fragile, and at best, we are being generous with that. for now the intention is to make it last two more days and make sure that tomorrow exchanges of hostages and palestinian prisoners takes place. israel's government says it has received, and now reviewing the latest list of those abducted that hamas promises to return. it raises hopes, if only an inch, that the stop in the fight and gives way to maybe a cease-fire, and eventually peace talks. also tonight, new details give clarity to a harrowing question. what exactly was lifelike for these hostages? many of those coming directly from family members of those who were taken. >> they ate a lot of price. sometimes they did not have rice so they ate only bread. it doesn't feel like they were eating food, and vegetables, and vitamins. and one of the things that you need. >> 50 days an food that you would give to a bird. families have told cnn and others over and over, that their relatives lost abnormal amounts of weight after the past several weeks. for now they cannot even eat, or drink normally. everywhere confirming that the hostages were treated like prisoners in solitary funt confinement. >> many people, and they have got light for only two hours a day. they did not mention, they didn't have any decent facilities like shower. they did not shower for several weeks. so it is horrible conditions. >> another recurring theme? sleep. it was hard to come by. when it did happen it was on improvised beds. chairs that were pushing together or maybe tables. something that you and i do not think about. going to the bathroom was another arduous labor. >> she told me that if you want to go to the toilet, you have to knock on the door. and only after one and a half hours, or two hours, they would open the door and you can go to the bathroom. >> i imagine there were children there as well. and the physical toll. i mean, it is unmistakable. the mental anguish, unfathomable. listen to this man described his first interaction what his niece. >> she can smile. she talks to make, she hugs me. so i feel that it is the same can't. she is a little bit instead now. she is a little bit cold. she talks about things that happen like it is in the third person, like it had happened to someone else. she says that she had horrible things. but she says it with a straight face. it is like she is describing the scene from a movie. that she watched somewhere. >> reporter: i mean think about that this association, right? those stories emerging each and every hour. and they are powerful. let's take a step back though, and look at the entire picture. what we have watched happen over the past several days and hopefully what to expect moving forward. joining me now is alex marquardt, cnn chief national security correspondent. alex, when you hear the stories they are unbelievable to think about. i want to talk about the numbers. set the stage for us in terms of the number of people that returned home already? >> there are a lot of numbers, they are all very important because they each tell us story. in the beginning, when this deal started four days ago, they were just shy of 240 hostages altogether. in the past four days, 69 have then released. by hamas. now the deal said over four days, 50 israeli women and children were to be released. some of them are dual nationals like that one girl, abigail, she is an american citizen as well. so that did happen. the 50 came out over the past four days. there were four surprises we were not anticipated. there were 19 others who came out. over the course of the four days. there wasn't a russian israeli man. he is the only israeli man who has been released so far. and he was actually released under us ideal that was done directly between the russians and hamas. and that speaks to that growing relationship between those two parties which is very interesting. and then you have 18 other foreign nationals, they are not israeli. there are a lot of time nationals, for example, that work as laborers on israel. >> on the kibbutz? >> in various kibbutz's in the agricultural center generally speaking in israel. so we have 17 national, as one filipino national released as well. so great knows. 69. but that's only about 30% of the original number. so you still have the vast majority still be held by hamas, and other groups in gaza. >> and a fraction of those who were killed on october 7th as well. but there was an exchange, not just the released. it was also palestinian prisoners. what do we know generally about those released? >> the agreement when it broke was that for every hostage release, 150 palestinians would be released from israeli prisons. so you have 50 were released. 150 palestinians have been released over the past four days. we have seen these scenes of celebration in the west bank, as these palestinians have come home. these are also just women and children. the vast majority who are eligible to be released among the palestinians are male teenagers between 16 and 18 years old. summer as young as 14 years old. the range of charges is quite broad, there is some who are accused of allies or taking part in a legal terrorist organizations. for having illegal weapons. but the majority were told, are charged with things like throwing stones and endangering regional security. and then there is something that is very important and worth noting. the fact that there are dozens among these 150 who are held under what is called administrative detention. which is this highly criticize part of the israeli judicial system. and which palestinians can be held without charge, they can be held without trial for months or four years. they can be held essentially indefinitely. >> i made, comparison here. that is the absence of due process in the united states. is to criticize internationally as well. a lot ahead. thank you for the numbers, so much. thank you. i want to bring in this man. he was born and raised on the kibbutz be'eri, his mason if you survived captivity. thank you so much for joining us today. just thinking about what this must be like for you and your family to know that they have returned after several weeks of just trying to get some answers. what is tonight like for you? >> i think there is definitely a sense of relief. that they are back and okay. but it makes some sad news. my sister, the mom, was murdered on october 7th. the children did not know that. we thought they were together when they were kidnapped, but they were separated from the outset. and when they first crossed the border and reunited with their grandmother, and with their older brother, the first news that they had to confront with was the fact that the mom is no longer alive. and that was a terribly emotional and traumatic moment for them. i believe when they were in captive for 50 days. one of the thoughts that kept them going was they would hear from their mom at the end of it. and the stream had been shattered by the fact that she was murdered. >> the fact that they did not know that their mother have been killed. i cannot even imagine what those moments would have been like for your niece and nephew. how are they doing emotionally? i know there is the physical, but just thinking about emotionally? what that is like for them? can you even describe what they are saying to you? >> i think they are very slim. they lost a lot of weight. some other interviewees mention that. for me, i do not think the terrorists use this says some sort of torture methodology. there is some discussion in gaza, and there was a suffrage from that. when i spoke to them, the first time as spoke to them, the 13 year old knees. she had this enormously big smile and glittering eyes when she come to the zoom call. and this is what stuck in my head. what is behind this glittering eyes? what is deep inside them? following this horrible ordeal. it is just very difficult for me to assess. when they talk, they come across as normal children. they recounted some of the experiences that they had in captivity. some of them are very unpleasant. >> can you describe some of those to us now? what they were going through? >> i would rather not because there are other parents who have children in captivity. and there is no need to make them where a more. i can just say that it wasn't pleasant to say the least. it was horrible. they were held in a house, in a room. with another lady. also from the kibbutz. and when they decided to release them, they didn't actually tell the other lady that they are going to release them. they just took them out on a ploy that they are going to the toilets and then and cut them, blindfolded them. took them to the place where they are being handed over to the red cross. >> so they had no idea that they were being released? they had no idea until they were in the hands of the red cross of the red hands that they were going to be free? >> they tried to hide it from the lady who stayed behind, all on her own. so maybe put some psychological pressure on her. it's really a belief of why would you be able to stay to that extent? i know also that they were having a diary, the three of them together. and the terrorist did not allow them to take it with. and another i think very telling anecdote, when they were walking, this is the grandfather told me that. when they were walking to, from the vehicle of the terrorist too the red cross, and they were holding hands, i'm told the sister, elma, that he just felt very sorry that they were surrounded by gazans. civilians. he said i feel so sorry for them because they are staying here. and we are going home. it just shows you how beautiful a person, probably the lowest point in his life. >> beautiful to think about keeping that diary, to look around and one's own plight and appreciate the goodness and what was happening. the sensitivity, he happy did that they were released and sorry for what they endured. for you personally is with your sister. thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you. >> up next, after his antisemitic post, elon musk shows up in israel. kara swisher joins me live. plus, new details tonight on the shooting of three palestinian college students in vermont. what the suspect told police. derek chauvin, remember him, the former officer convicted inside of george floyd's killing. he is stabbed inside of prison, his attorney will join me. elon musk getting a -- which may surprise you, if you recall, just recently he raised more than a few eyebrows promoting an antisemitic conspiracy theory on acts. but that did not seem to stop israeli officials, including prime minister netanyahu, from rolling out a kind of welcome mat. johnny manages, gazan cnn contributor curve swisher, host of the podcast on and pivot. kara, first of all, what was he doing in israel today? >> well, he has applied private plane he can go anywhere he wants. he was trying to do some fixing of the problems he's having for the past couple of weeks from the promotion of those antisemitic tweets. i think it caused a lot more consternation among advertisers and he, thought so he's trying to do a bit of cleanup, would be my guest. >> did he clean it up? i didn't -- he didn't apologize, i understand. did he attempt to? >> he went, he had some observations. i'm not sure that what we're focused on him and not the hostages. usually flies in and does this. he can try as much as he wants. look, he made a mistake, a very bad one, and everyone knows the mayor of paris today was calling the platform a toxic waste dump, essentially, so he's trying to make it seem for advertisers as not as bad in that he has empathy. it's not unlike a political person going in and doing that. i just don't know why we're focusing in on him and not the hostages, they had these terrible experiences. not you in particular, but why he is there. i don't know why netanyahu had him there, it sucks up media attention. it looks like he was sort of learning on the ground, oh look, hamas is terrible. we should be careful, we should help gaza. i don't know why we need to be doing this at this moment in time. >> you said exactly why i was thinking. why i'm concerned about a long mosque being there is because netanyahu and the president, in the midst of the hostages being released and the ruler of negotiations took the timeout to shepherd him around, it seems. it tells them about their priorities. also the platform itself whether it is the toxic waste dump you allude to from the french president or otherwise. there are a lot of statements, a lot of competitions having on it that can add, to contribute to the rise of antisemitism. i'm wondering in his presence being there, kara, can it course correct some of what we're seeing? >> i don't know, i think advertisers are on to this kind of thing. when a politician does it, he is a politician of a different sort. a tech politician, i guess. it is a fine, netanyahu has let him, helped him out of a jam when he's attacking adl a while ago. netanyahu is in a jam of his own. so they are both trying to use the reflected fame to create some good thing and i'm glad that he learned about the problems there, i'm glad you went there, but i'm not sure why it is happening except to clean up his mess, and it's his own mass and he should apologize. he's not going to, he's not going to. >> what occurs to me is when people have, and maybe i'm being too cynical here and judgmental, i mean imagine that, but, kara, about sunnies like this, when someone visits a place like gaza or other areas and you say to yourself you mean you had no clue that this was happening? that all of the coverage, even the last seven weeks, that an epiphany can still occurred that degree that he speaks about i find surprising. but he has a lot of power and we're seeing from our department of homeland security and beyond, we know there is a rising islamophobia and antisemitism. we know that a lot of the coverage happens behind the cloak of anonymity behind social media. what could be done for him to be more transparent about how this is happening on his platform? >> i think that he's hiding behind a fig leaf of free speech, it's his go-to thing. and, in this case, look, it is clear that he promoted antisemitic content at the very least. i don't know what is in his heart, i don't know what he's thinking and doing, i know it's having repercussions with advertisers and it's what counts to him right now. so he is trying to save his skin and, okay, again i don't know that we need to be -- this is not a new thing for silicon valley people to have epiphanies. i had an argument with mark's october about holocaust deniers. it took him two years to remove them from the platform because he had learned about it. so i don't think that we should be helping billionaires learn, not necessarily. i don't know if that is the great goal of the world. i am glad he saw these things, he is very lucky that he could do, that that he could fly there and meet with the head of the country. i think the focus should be on the hostages and not elon musk. that is pretty much my take, he inserts himself quite a lot in a lot of stuff that he has no business and sorting itself in. i wish that he would just fix the service and keep quiet a little bit more. he went down to texas, whatever, i don't know where he's gonna pop up next. maybe in the newsom desantis debate, bill be sitting in the front row commenting. i don't know, i don't care at this point obviously. >> really quick, kara for -- you don't have to apologize, the idea of the focus rightly being on the four hostages and beyond, yet money makes the world go around. and if his focus is on the advertisers, and it is what's going on, maybe if the private sector, the most powerful influencer in trying to resolve what's going on, is that where the folks ought to be in trying to lean appropriately? >> i think in israel the focus should be on the hostages, with elon musk should be talking to his advertisers. maybe should have visited them and listened and spoke his mind in what he actually meant to say. but this happens over and over again, whether it is on friends issues or issues. he does it all the time. what was really kind of sad was on twitter, on ex, people were saying that you see, he's not an antisemite he went to israel. i was like, okay, why are we talking about this? why is this the topic? it doesn't prove anything, i don't know what is in this man's heart. i honestly don't, and none of us do. i do know what he promotes and he should stop doing that. he'll do it again, though, he's done it before. he called george soros names, he attacked the adl, he can't help himself. i don't know what is going on in his heart, though. >> kara swisher, we know what happened on the ground today in his visit. thank you so much for joining me tonight. nice to see you, as always. >> good to see you, laura. >> well, a suspect arrested in the shooting of three palestinian college students in vermont. they are investigating whether it was in fact a hate crime. more on the details, next. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportunity. that's why comcast business is introducing the small business bonus. for a limited time you can get up to a $1000 prepaid card with qualifying internet. yep, $1000. so switch to business internet from the company with the largest fastest reliable network and that powers more businesses than anyone else. learn how you can get $1000 back for your business today. comcast business. powering possibilities. tonight we have new details about the shooting of three palestinian college students in burlington, vermont, as well as the question why digital appin? the suspect, jayson eaton, entered a not guilty plea today to three charges of attempted murder in the second degree. he's being held without bail. the court docks described him that he seemingly came of nowhere, he shot -- a bed eliminate and tahsin are the ahmaud. they were just walking outside saturday evening, speaking in a mix of arabic in english. palestinian coffee is, they told police, the suspect stepped off a porch and started shooting without saying a single word. now, they don't have evidence you have to call it a hate crime and they're trying to determine what is motive really was. but the family members, they say they know exactly why it happened. >> that these boys, these young men were targeted because when they were arabs, they were wearing gaddafi's, and i think that is our fear. we will support the authorities as they go through their investigation, but certainly seems like that is our fear. >> i want to bring in democratic congresswoman becca balint of vermont. congresswoman, thank you so much for joining me this evening. i mean, this story is unbelievable. what is your reaction to what we've learned about the shooter and how this actually happened? >> yeah, this has been a devastating, violent attack on these young men. i know i speak for vermonters across the state that we are just absolutely heartbroken by what has happened to these young men and what their families are going through right now. and it is clear that, as you are just saying in the intro, we don't know yet about a motive, we don't know yet about the circumstances leading up to this incredibly violent attack, seemingly completely unprovoked. and we are waiting for the official word from both our local federal partners or more of details. what we know, as vermonters, we want to stand absolutely, unequivocally with these families, with these palestinian americans and say we do not condone hate in this state that we have to stand with our muslim brothers and sisters here in vermont and across the nation and we must absolutely reject the islamophobia and fear that is on the rise right now. but the most important thing in talking with some of the family members today, that they wanted me to convey to americans is that, we must continue to see them as humans. and not just as a story that we're all talking about, that they were young man just walking together. friends from long ago. they've been friends their whole lives, and just walking down the street in burlington and being attacked and they don't want us to louisiana tvs individuals. >> i'm so glad you said that because oftentimes we can talk about a story as opposed to what exactly is happening. these are three college students walking on a saturday night, thanksgiving weekend, to be gunned down in this manner. anywhere in america, anywhere in the world this should be an unbelievable story to people and yet it is increasingly familiar for what we are seeing. separately, congresswoman, in the war the washington post is reporting that president biden apologized to some prominent muslim american leaders after he publicly questioned the palestinian death toll that has been reported by the hamas controlled gaza ministry of health. what do you make of that apology? >> well, i think the president, like so many americans, wants to be able to convey, clearly, that he stands with innocent palestinian civilians and israelis. it is so clear to me that this is a man who can admit when he hasn't quite hit the mark, and so i applaud that he is always trying to be better and be really clear with muslim americans across the country and, most particularly, palestinian americans. that the death toll in gaza is absolutely devastating. that the suffering cannot continue, and so i welcome his apology and his commitment to doing better. i think it is something that we, as americans, all need to do. we need to hold this complexity and be able to say the suffering cannot continue. >> reporter: congresswoman back a ballot, thank you so much for your words tonight, i appreciate it. >> thank you. tonight, a new development on a story that cnn has been following very closely. a man who has served over a decade in prison for a crime that, experts say, he could have not committed. when he might soon be freed. here why when jake tapper joins me live. tonight the clock is ticking. the philadelphia district attorney now as 180 days decide whether c.j. rice gets to breathe fresh air and free air once again. rice is in year 12 of eight 30 to 60-year prison sentence for a 2011 shooting that injured four people. it's a case that cnn has followed very closely. now, because of groundbreaking reporting by jake tapper, no less, his reporting asked a simple question at the heart of mr. rises conviction. was he even capable of committing this crime? joining me now is cnn anchor jake tapper who wrote about his conviction for the atlantic last year. jake, this is a very big development tonight. what happened? >> well, a judge overturned his conviction. we argued in that atlantic cover story last october, 2022, that cj rice did not get adequate counsel, that his attorney, sanjay weaver, who has since passed away, it was incompetent and did not represent him adequately in september. the district attorney's office granted attorney carl schwartz's petition, he is an attorney that, i believe my father hired, although my dad will not admit to it. and then a judge in october agreed that the heaviest petition be granted and today, a second and final judge ordered that the petition be granted overturning the conviction so, as you know, it goes back to the commonwealth of pennsylvania represented by the district attorney of philadelphia to decide whether to retry the case or free c.j.. and i'm confident that the district attorney of philadelphia, larry grassley, will ultimately decide to free c.j. rice. >> reporter: you mentioned your father, it's an important reason you did so. your farther was actually c.j. rice as a pediatrician and brought this case to your attention. he didn't even think he was capable of committing this crime. what do you make of this happening so many years after his conviction? for 12 years. >> so my dad was his a pediatrician, as you noted, and was convinced that c.j. could not have committed the crime because c.j. had been shot a few weeks before this shooting and said that c.j. was in no position to even walk briskly, much less run after this crime. it was two blackmails shooting this family. but there was a questionable photo lineup and this family picked out, this one woman picked out c.j. and said he did it. you know how the justice system, i put justice in quotes, works. with incompetent counsel and this one eyewitness i.d., we all know how undependable witness -- unreliable witness i d can be. today was sentenced to 60 to 30 years in prison. and after a few years of my dad complaining about this to me and how unfair it was and him trying to do it on his own, i said dad, i'm a journalist, let me see if i can do something about this. i pitched the story a few places and ultimately jeff goldberg, my friend, who is the editor in chief of the atlantic, so why don't you write it for us? it turned into a cover story and i like to think that that helped with carl schwartz and the petition given some attention and now, finally, the conviction has been overturned. like i said it is now in the hands of the district attorney's office, but i hope that they will come to the realization that a division in their office has already agreed upon, that c.j. did not get adequate representation. nobody in the shooting he was convicted on was even seriously injured, much less killed. the guy has done 12 years in prison for a crime i do not think he committed. my father, who was his pediatrician at the time, did not think he was even physically capable of committing. it is time for the wheels of justice, which have spawned very slowly, did come to their conclusion and let him go. >> it's unbelievable to think about this. just all the different steps, all of the different moments where he could have not been incarcerated. i was wondering, jake, as you will know and assure you think about it all the time, how many other people are in prison right now who is fathers did not have a persistent and completely devoted attention to a case like this one, and be able to head it off to somebody like yourself? all those in the legal system trying to make fit. jake, thank you for that story and i cannot wait to see what happens next with c.j.. thank you so much. >> thank you, laura. the article in the atlantic makes it very clear. what is amazing about this story is how common, how common it is. we have a legal system in this country, my dad always says. we do not have a justice system. we have a legal system. >> i've been a federal prosecutor, i second that emotion, mr. topper. jake tapper's show on the league tomorrow, thank you so much for joining us. derek chauvin, the former minneapolis police officer convicted in the killing of george floyd, he is now been stabbed in prison. we'll talk to his attorney, next. the former minneapolis police officer convicted in the killing of george floyd has been stabbed inside of a federal prison just recently. we're told derek chauvin is in stable condition, but the circumstances are still in history. i'm joined now boy derek chauvin's attorney, gregory derek soon. gregory, thank you for joining us tonight. what are you learning about the condition of derek chauvin, your client, tonight? >> well, i did, as a matter of fact, finally get contacted by the federal prison system tonight and i spoke with them for about ten minutes and i learned about as much from them as i would have learned from you. and that is meeting that she told me, basically, nothing. she said that the matter was under active investigation and that they weren't going to give out any details and that, with respect to derrick's health and medical condition, she could not provide me any information until mr. chauvin filled out some sort of report. i, of course, asked her, did you ask mr. chauvin to her full of this report so that his attorney and family members can find out about his medical condition? of course she said no. >> so you don't know who stabbed him or whether he is in stable condition, whether he has had surgery, where he was stabbed, what part of his body, how many times? none of that is known to you? >> none of it is known to us, it's been over 72 hours since it's happened. >> reporter: what happens next, will he be moved to a higher or maxman facility in light of what has happened to him? >> i think it is fair to say that team, at my firm, are going to need to be provided some sort of, and his family obviously, are going to need to be provided to some sort of assurances that what happened can't happen again. meaning there is going to be some sort of extra protection or enhanced protocols or something like that. we certainly can't let it go back to the status quo, because obviously the status quo is unacceptable. >> reporter: one question to you, gregory, i don't cut you off. but was he in fear of his safety before this event happened? >> i think it's fair to say that the second he went into the prison system, because of the nature of his trial, being the most publicized trial of the last 25 years, he definitely had concerns for his safety. his attorneys, family, everyone had concerns for his safety throughout this ordeal. >> reporter: has he been in solitary? >> i know that he was in solitary initially, but obviously he certainly wasn't in solitary when this happened because, if he was, i doubt that it could happen. it would have to be really coordinated for it to happen. >> reporter: is the reason and nature of this form, is it about medical privacy? is that the nature of why the bureau of prison is telling you that he has filleted form? >> that is the alleged reason. the reality is this. if somebody from the bureau of prisons wanted to present that form to mr. chauvin, if used able to sign it, i'm very confident that this thing would have been signed already. it's been 72 hours. i think this is part of an attempt to keep what has happened to him out of the general, out from the media and from general knowledge until they have found out a way, how to deal with as a public relations disaster. >> reporter: have you had communication with him off until now? >> of course not. we don't know where he is, we don't know how to contact him, and, i get it, it's important that we're able to speak with your attorney and that is obviously a right of every criminal defendant, but the reality is the more egregious part about this is that his family members had to find out that he had been stabbed by communications by the attorney general of this state, who has no jurisdiction over mr. chauvin at this point. there is absolutely no reason that he should have been provided any information about mr. chauvin's condition at all. >> reporter: do you know why he was? >> i don't know. apparently, according to what i am hearing, there is some discussions related to why that information was leaked to the attorney general, but i can't speculate more than what i've said because i just don't know how he managed to get that information before everybody else did. >> reporter: there is certainly a lot more to the story. gregory erickson, keep us posted. thank you so much. >> thank you.