A Former U.S. Government Official`s Guilty Plea; Tax Bill in the U.S. Senate; CNN Reporters` Impressions of a Slave Auction; Last Night`s Supermoon

1. CNN 10, DECEMBER 4, 2017
A Former U.S. Government Official`s Guilty Plea; Tax Bill in the U.S. Senate;
CNN Reporters` Impressions of a Slave Auction; Last Night`s Supermoon
Aired December 4, 2017 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM
AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: This week, CNN`s down to the middle coverage
starts with a pair of political stories out of Washington, D.C.
First on Friday, a former U.S. national security adviser pled (se declaró) guilty to
lying to government investigators. His name is Michael Flynn. He`s a retired
lieutenant general with the U.S. army and an expert in military intelligence. Last year,
he worked as an adviser on candidate Donald Trump`s political campaign and he
served as president Trump`s national security adviser early this year.
But Flynn resigned after less than a month on the job. The reason? In December
2016, he had several phone conversations with an ambassador from Russia. U.S.
prosecutors say Flynn discussed sanctions, economic penalties that the Obama
administration had placed on Russia. It`s illegal for an unauthorized private American
citizen to negotiate with foreign governments on behalf of the U.S.
And because President-elect Trump had not taken office yet, and Flynn was not yet
U.S. national security adviser, he`d been suspected of breaking that law. Flynn
initially told investigators that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian
ambassador. But after months of investigation by the FBI, Flynn pleaded = pled
guilty on Friday to one count (crime) of making false statements to U.S.
investigators.
A special counsel is investigating alleged Russian meddling (interfering) in the 2016
U.S. presidential election and Flynn is the first person who served inside President
Trump`s administration to be implicated (involved). The White House says that
Flynn`s plea only indicates that he himself did something wrong.
Flynn`s agreed to cooperate with the ongoing (continuing/en curso) investigation.
Second story out of Washington broke in the wee hours (a altas horas) of Saturday
morning. Republicans in Congress took another big step toward a major overhaul

2. (reform) of the U.S. tax code. The Senate passed a tax reform bill at 2:00 a.m.
Fifty-one Republicans voted for it. One Republican and 48 Democrats voted against
it.
Like the bill that the House of Representatives passed in November, the Senate
legislation would reduce taxes for most Americans and decrease the taxes that
businesses pay on their profits. Unlike the House bill, the Senate version would keep
seven different income tax brackets (level of income for tax purposes/tramos
fiscales), though it would change their rates. It would allow teachers who used their
own money for classroom supplies to deduct more from their taxes and it would
take away the Obamacare law that requires Americans to buy health insurance.
Critics are concerned that the bill would increase the deficit. For decades, the
government has spent significantly more money than it collects through taxes. Those
who opposed the bill say reducing taxes would further increase that deficit.
Supporters of the bill say it will help the U.S. economy grow enough to offset
(counterbalance, compensate) that.
What happens next? Both bills have to be reconciled (put in agreement/conciliar) to
a single piece of legislation that has to pass in the House and Senate. If it does, it
will head to the Republican president`s desk for signature. President Trump`s hoping
to have that done by Christmas.
On November 15th, we brought you an in-depth report on modern day slavery. CNN
correspondent Nima Elbagir traveled with the production crew to the North African
nation of Libya. There, they witnessed a slave auction taking place. And today, we
have their impressions of what they thought and felt as they uncovered an astounding
and disturbing event.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Once we
arrived in Tripoli, it was essentially a wishing game. We knew that there were a
number of these auctions going on in a variety of different locations and we knew
that they happened once or twice a month.
It was I think probably the longest few days -- among the longest few days of life,
wishing to hear whether this was actually happening.
We needed to push to try and get access to those people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

3. ELBAGIR: There are one to two of these auctions every month and that there is one
happening in the next few hours. So, we`re going to --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ELBAGIR: I don`t honestly know what I was expecting going in. I think I couldn`t
figure out (understand) how you could mentally process selling of human beings and
then when I heard, when we heard them speaking about these people that they were
selling as merchandise, it made sense because you need a certain degree of cognitive
dissonance (discordancia). You have to dehumanize someone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELBAGIR: Finally, it`s time to move.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We still have a job to do, so it distracts you a bit from
what you just witnessed. But when we were actually sitting there watching the
auction, it felt like everything was going in very, very slow motion.
ELBAGIR: There were all the things that we knew we needed to hit (reach a target)
as journalists, getting hint (dar indicios) to use the word auction on our audio to
confirm that it`s an auction. Getting to the auction and to confirm that they had sold
12 people on that night, having all of that as evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember being outside in the Treeq Alsika detention
center. And when I went around the corner, and there was this massive room and the
front was open to the elements, and ostensibly, it was a cage, right? It was a wired
cage and people were looking at you from the other side.
And I remember thinking, you know, if there was a single gorilla in there, people would
think, how sad, he hasn`t gotten a lot of room. And it turns out there were over a
thousand people in there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day in an environment like that, not being able to
take a good shower, sitting there and not having the food you need, being thirsty. So,
every hour counts. Leaving them behind in an enclosed space like that and not being
able to help because you can`t help one of them. You`d have to help all thousand plus
within that because you can`t just go to a few people and be like how can I help you?
You really need to help them all.

4. ELBAGIR: There was point where Alex and I were interviewing Victory, the 21-year-
old who`d been enslaved, and I was overwhelmed (abrumado) because Victory
was overwhelmed.
His dream was to be a designer. He wants to come to Italy and work as a stylist and
maybe one day work with Dolce & Gabbana, and it was such relatable (possible)
dream.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And why not? Because he`s African?
ELBAGIR: And why not? Exactly.
I think this is the first story in a long time where I had nightmares. There was just
something really fundamentally heartbreaking (desgarrador) about people -- people`s
dreams being exploited in that way. I think we were all thinking that, you know, we
just hoped we can do justice to (treat fairly) this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
What do Hyperion, Proteus, and Puck all have in common?
Are they all comets, elements, moons, or Shakespeare characters?
The one thing all these objects have in common is that they`re moons of different
planets. Ours, of course, is just the moon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Many of the moon`s nicknames date back
to the early Native Americans. They named each full moon in every month to help
them keep track of their planting and harvesting schedule.
SUBTITLE: What`s in a moon`s name?
GRAY: The full name in April is known as the Pink Moon, signaling the first appearance

5. of the wild ground phlox (see picture below), one of the earliest spring flowers.
When you have two full moons in a calendar month, the second one is called the Blue
Moon.
One of the more notable moons, the Harvest Moon in October, also known as the
Hunter`s Moon or the Blood Moon. This is when the leaves are falling off the trees
and the animals are fat. So, this signaled to tribes it was time to hunt all they could
to get them to that long winter.
And another thing to note is that the moon does not appear pink during the Pink
Moon, red during the Blood Moon, or blue during the Blue Moon. The only thing that
can really alter the way we see the moon is if there`s a lot of dust, haze (fog), ash or
smoke in the atmosphere, the moon can sometimes have an orange or red glow (brillo).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Well, if you thought our moon looked a little bigger and brighter last night
than usual, it`s because it was. It was a supermoon, the only visible one of 2017. And
it made our planet`s natural satellite look 16 percent brighter and 7 percent bigger
than it normally does.
Now for some science, the moon`s orbit around the earth is not a perfect circle and
when the moon`s at perigee, it`s close point, and when it`s full, it`s considered a
supermoon. This happens at new moons, too, but you can`t see those.
Don`t shed a tear if you missed last night`s supermoon. Two more of them are
expected in January.
(MUSIC)
AZUZ: For "10 Out of 10", implosion failed. Now, we`re not talking about the bus that
infamously blocked the Weather Channel`s view of the Georgia Dome`s demise
(death). For the Silverdome in Detroit, Michigan, the views were pretty good. But,
well, nothing happened -- at least not yet.
Construction officials say explosives succeeded in breaking the steel beams (vigas)
around the superdome`s upper ring and they say it will collapse, they just don`t know
when.
It seems the Silverdome is able to stand up for itself. It`s got a spine of steel, it
should be beaming (shining) with pride. May not be the last dome standing, but when

6. an arena is no longer considered venuseful, it steadied up (stabilized itself) to
something amazing when it refuses to cave (give in/ceder) under heavy pressure.
I`m Carl Azuz. Hope to see you tomorrow.
END
phlox

7. an arena is no longer considered venuseful, it steadied up (stabilized itself) to
something amazing when it refuses to cave (give in/ceder) under heavy pressure.
I`m Carl Azuz. Hope to see you tomorrow.
END
phlox