Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

President Trump Slams the FBI in a Tweet; Probe Zeroes in on Trump's Inner Circle; North Korea Condemns Air Drills Between U.S. and South Korea; Trump Announcement Expected on Jerusalem. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired December 04, 2017 - 00:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:11] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: In the wake of his former national security advisor's guilty plea, U.S. President Donald Trump goes on a Twitter tirade, slamming the FBI and the Department of Justice.

In South Korea U.S. fighter jets once again over the peninsula in combat exercises despite harsh warnings from North Korea.

Plus our guest later in the show says the flood of women saying "me too" is forcing a near revolution in the workplace.

Thanks for joining us, everyone. I'm Cyril Vanier, live from the CNN headquarters here in Atlanta.

So during the campaign Donald Trump ran as a law and order candidate. Now, he's attacking the country's top law and order agency.

The President sent out several tweets on Sunday and bear in mind the context. Two days ago, Mr. Trump's former national security advisor Michael Flynn admitted that he had lied to the FBI about conversations with a Russian official.

He also said crucially that he was now cooperating with the Russian investigation which is looking into Russian election meddling and into whether the President obstructed justice when he fired his previous FBI Director James Comey. Comey said in testimony that he was fired after the President asked him to go easy on Flynn.

Now the President is hitting back. Let's read you those tweets. "After years of Comey running the FBI its reputation is in tatters, worst in history. But fear not we will bring back -- we will bring it back to greatness."

And Comey responded to this quoting himself from a Senate hearing in June when he said "I want the American people to know this truth. The FBI is honest. The FBI is strong. And the FBI is and always will be independent."

Remember that bombshell testimony by Comey? That's when he accused the President of asking him to drop his investigation into Michael Flynn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: The context and the President's words are what led me to that conclusion. And so that's why I understood him to be saying that what he wanted me to drop was drop any investigation connected to Flynn's account of his conversations with the Russians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: President Trump though, it's important to note, disputes Comey's claim. He defended himself again in a tweet saying he never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Mr. Trump claims it's just more fake news covering another Comey lie.

There were several more Trump tweets over the weekend as well but as Jeremy Diamond reports someone else is taking credit, perhaps the most controversial tweet of the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the President especially active on social media this weekend. After his former national security advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI he is now cooperating with federal investigators and all that, of course, is casting a pall over this White House; the President clearly stewing over this investigation over the weekend.

But one of the tweets that he put out his personal attorney John Dowd is now claiming that it was not authored by the President but authored by this attorney John Dowd himself. This tweet though is the one that has caused the most problems for the White House this weekend because it has once again raised the specter of obstruction of justice.

In this tweet the President appeared to suggest that he knew that Michael Flynn, his national security advisor had lied to the FBI while he was still a senior White House official. But now the President's attorney John Dowd signaling that the President did not in fact know that and that the tweet was simply an attempt for the White House to continue to try and put some distance it seems between Michael Flynn and the President.

This, of course, has dominated the weekend but it's a weekend during which the President should perhaps instead be celebrating. The Senate, of course, on Friday night passed a tax reform bill, the first major legislative accomplishment of this President's time in office so far.

But now again he will head into this next week as the Senate and the house seek to reconcile those two bills instead with this investigation once again looming over his head.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: That's CNN's Jeremy Diamond reporting there.

Now reactions came in thick and fast over the weekend. Senator Dianne Feinstein from the Senate Judiciary Committee says they are investigating the President for possible obstruction of justice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA), SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The Judiciary Committee has an investigation going as well. And it involves obstruction of justice. And I think what we're beginning to see is putting together the case of obstruction of justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Let's bring in Richard Herman now, a criminal defense attorney joining us from Las Vegas. Richard -- good to have you with us.

First let's address the authorship of the tweet where the President says that he fired Comey for lying to the FBI. Mr. Trump's lawyer John Dowd says that he wrote it. But not everybody believes that now.

Does it look to you like a tweet written by a lawyer?

[00:05:03] RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Since the President has done about 3,600 tweets in the last year and a half, two years -- none of them has ever taken authorship of any of those tweets.

In any event the issue is did Trump, in fact, know and fired Flynn because he lied to the FBI? If he did that and then the next day he went to Comey and said lay off him as he did because who are you going to believe -- Comey or Trump?

Two men in a room, someone is telling the truth, someone is a liar. Some has got a great reputation, stellar reputation in law enforcement. The other is a serial, compulsive liar. Who are you going to believe?

And then look at this past summer where Trump was running round to Republican senators asking them can they make this go away. Can they make this investigation go away?

It's bad. You know, there's two types of snakes. There's strikers and there's constrictors. Think about the biggest boa constrictor you know of circling the White House and getting tighter every day.

Who in their right mind would be tweeting when they are under criminal investigation? Criminal Law 101 -- a first year law student would never let their client talk. He can't control himself. And all these tweets, his interview with Lester Holt where he said it was Comey and Russian thing and that's why I had to fire. He just destroys himself. They have obstruction case right now.

Count one against President Richard Nixon was obstruction. Count one against Bill Clinton was obstruction. Count one against Donald Trump will be obstruction.

VANIER: But look, I mean Mr. Trump actually says he didn't tell Comey to lay off Flynn. That's just not true. That's the President's version.

And now this idea that he didn't actually author that tweet and John Dowd is sort of rolling back what that tweet meant. So how much trouble does it put him in?

HERMAN: Well, what does Dowd say? Dowd says I drafted the tweet. The tweet says Trump knew. So you can't have it both ways. Ok. You drafted it but why did you say that Trump knew, then? Why did you draft it that way?

You're an attorney. You're an -- you're intelligent individual and you go by the rules of ethics. How could you possibly do that? It's preposterous.

It's just a veiled attempt to try to shield Trump in the aftermath of this absolute abomination with this tweet. Like so many -- his tweets will undo him. It's just incredible. He's out of control and he's incriminating himself almost on a daily basis with these insane tweets.

And his lawyers can't control him because I know. I just know Ty Cobb is telling him you can't tweet, you can't tweet. And he just is out of control.

Now who in their right mind would be bashing the Department of Justice when they're investigating him because that's what he's doing today? It's so out of control. It's so embarrassing to the United States right now what is going on here.

And the day is going to come. The day of reckoning is coming. Watch Flynn who was a very important person to get to make a deal. Flynn was with him during the campaign, during the transition and for about 20 days after he took office.

Flynn was very, very close with Trump. He knows a lot. And I'm sure to get the sweetheart deal he got he delivered the goods to Mueller. Otherwise, he never would have gotten that deal.

Mr. Trump is in big trouble. Jared Kushner, I'm predicting is going to get indicted next. It's is really that bad.

VANIER: And Michael Flynn has just started talking, of course, because he just signed that guilty plea, what now, 48 hours ago.

HERMAN: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I think that he's been a cooperating witness for months.

VANIER: All right. It looks like we lost the audio there. We'll try and get back to him later son in the show.

The Russian investigation headed by special counsel Robert Mueller will likely be a long drawn-out process. So what is next step?

Well, this week, investigators keep targeting Donald Trump's inner circle.

Shimon Prokupecz has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With Michael Flynn's guilty plea the special counsel now has at least two people who are cooperating and providing information to investigators on the Russia probe. Next week, expect the White House communications director Hope Hicks to be interviewed by the special counsel investigators.

Now she is key for investigators in the obstruction probe. She is said to be close to the President and was aboard Air Force One and helped draft a misleading statement from the President about a meeting that Donald Trump, Jr. helped put together from a Russian woman claiming to have dirt on Hillary Clinton. Now that meeting taking place at Trump Tower.

[00:09:53] So naturally the special counsel has now included that into their probe into Russian meddling and whether or not anyone on the campaign or people close to the President were part of that.

The next big question obviously is who else could perhaps face chargers? Who else will cooperate perhaps or indicted? That also remains to be seen.

And now with Michael Flynn's cooperation it opens doors and avenues for the special counsel that he may have not had before Michael Flynn; all this despite what some who are close to the President are saying that the investigation is winding down. It certainly doesn't appear that that is the case especially now that we have Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor and someone who was close to the President cooperating in the investigation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: The U.S. and South Korea are showing off their military power in the Korean Peninsula. A few hours ago, they started joint air practices.

The U.S. sent in stealth fighter jets as you see here. And North Korea unsurprisingly perhaps condemns these drills as a provocation which could lead to war.

This comes less than a week after Pyongyang tested a ballistic missile which flew longer and higher than ever before.

The U.S. national security advisor H.R. McMaster is warning that North Korea's nuclear program may have major repercussions across the world

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

H.R. MCMASTER, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: This is a regime that's never met a weapons that it hasn't proliferated. It's a regime who said what it clearly -- what its intentions are. Its intentions are to use that weapons for nuclear blackmail. And then to quote, "reunify" the peninsula under the red banner. The other really grave concern is the concern that he would

proliferate or sell-off weapons to others. There has never been a weapon system that North Korea has developed that it hasn't sold to somebody else.

So you're looking at a grave threat directly from North Korea. But then you're also looking again at the possibility that Japan, South Korea -- I don't know. I mean Taiwan -- who else would -- Vietnam. Who else is going to conclude that to protect their populations they need to have a similar capability?

So this would be the most destabilizing development I think in the post-World War II. And it's something that places us at direct risk but places the world at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul, South Korea. She's been following this and these tensions for a long time here.

Paula -- I'd like your assessment on what I think is a very interesting moment in the Korean Peninsula tensions and the tensions between North Korea and the U.S. We haven't heard Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un go at each other either verbally or via Twitter for a while. And in that sense perhaps, the tensions are not as high as they were a little while ago.

However, the U.S. national security advisor H.R. McMaster has spent the last two or three days saying to anyone who would listen how -- just how close we are to war. How high the tensions are. What's your assessment?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Cyril -- it is certainly a concern every time you see North Korea carrying out one of these ICBM missile when launches. The fact that this intercontinental ballistic missile was -- reached the higher altitude than any other North Korean missile ever recorded is significant.

So clearly those who are monitoring this closely within the Trump administration, H.R. McMaster in particular are going to perceive that as an additional threat and one step closer to a potential military conflict.

Now he did say within that conference when he first mentioned that he thought that the U.S. and North Korea were closer to war than before the military option is just one of the options, something that many of the Trump administration officials have said in the past and that it was not -- it's not a forgone conclusion.

But the fact is that North Korea is making significant steps towards being able to hit mainland United States with a nuclear-tipped missile. Now of course, there are few people, if any, that believe that North Korea would actually carry that out.

But to have that ability is what North Korea wants. It's what the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un wants, he says to have his own stability.

And of course, the very fact that what we've seen of this missile, the improvements are visible at this point that you can see that the first and second stage according to officials are larger. So that means that they'd be able to carry a heavier payload, a more significant payload.

But at this point, U.S. officials say they haven't nailed the re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, that's crucial. But of course, it's just another set that North Korea was working towards -- Cyril.

VANIER: Paula -- what do we need to know about this latest round of joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea. ?

HANCOCKS: According to the U.S. and South Korea they are annual. They are what happens every year. It's not something that they are reacting necessarily to. It's not how North Korea sees it. And quite frankly, it's not how many people see it.

[00:15:03] It is a significant Air Force drill. It is rather large. It is 230 aircraft; 12,000 personnel from both sides and specifically these F-22 stealth fighters that you're seeing right now.

Now these are the top of the line stealth fighters. They're cloaked in a coating that means that North Korea would not be able to see them coming. They would know that they are there when they have hit targets. So officials and experts are saying these F-22s are likely to be the ones that would lead any military action, any preventative action as some people call it against North Korea if it would come to that.

So clearly the fact that these stealth fighters are on the Korean Peninsula and flying above the Korean Peninsula right now is seen as very provocative to North Korea.

VANIER: Paula Hancocks reporting live from Seoul. Thank you very much.

And coming up on the show, a U.S. ally warns of dangerous consequences if Jerusalem is recognized as Israel's capital. CNN's Ian Lee reports from the disputed city ahead.

Plus, more than a week on Hondurans still do not know who won their presidential race. We'll have the latest on a vote recount when we come back.

Stay with us.

[00:16:12] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: A key ally is warning the U.S. not to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Jordan's foreign minister tweeted this on Sunday, "Spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on dangerous consequences of recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel. Such a decision would trigger anger across the Arab-Muslim world, fuel tension and jeopardize peace efforts." And moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv was a Trump campaign pledge. Officials say that he could announce a decision on the matter as early as Tuesday.

ON Sunday Mr. Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner signaled the President hadn't yet made up his mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED KUSHNER, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: The President's going to make his decision and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He hasn't made his decision?

KUSNER: He's still looking at a lot of different facts and that when he makes his decision, he'll be the ones who'll want to tell you, not me. So he'll make sure he does that at the right time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: And that was presidential adviser Jared Kushner. The dispute over Jerusalem goes back decades.

And as CNN's Ian Lee reports its residents are so deeply divided.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Palestinian officials have been in Washington to pressure the Trump administration to not move the U.S. embassy. They're also working with other Middle East leaders to support them. PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat, one of those meeting administration officials in Washington, said any announcement would mean the United States disqualifying itself from any role in future peace talks.

Israeli officials have not commented on the latest reports but they've enthusiastically advocated for the move in the past. But on the streets of Jerusalem, we found a stark divide.

At one level, it's a city like any other. People sell, people buy -- normal life. But Jerusalem's old city is special.

And this is the best vantage point -- here on the Mount of Olives; the Dome of the Rock in all its magnificence -- a key holy site for Muslims. Behind it if you know where to look the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built on the site where many Christians believe Christ was crucified.

And out of sight from this vantage point, the Western Wall, holy to Jews, supporting the mount where the temple once stood. It's not Jerusalem's significance that's it's dispute. It's its status.

After nearly 20 years divided by barbed wire, Israeli forces took control of the whole city east and west in 1967. The international community did not recognize what Israel called the Unification of Jerusalem. Embassies stayed in Tel Aviv. And East Jerusalem was accepted by the international community as the capital of a future Palestinian state in a negotiated settlement between Israeli's and Palestinians.

This area is called Abu Tor and it's a bit of a rarity in Jerusalem. That's because it's a mixed neighborhood. People who live on this part of the street identify as Palestinians.

MOHAMMAD MUJAHEED, PALESTINIAN RESIDENT OF JEWRUSALEM: Inside I'm Palestinian and I'm Muslim and I'm proud about that.

LEE: "I don't think it's successful step to move the embassy," Hamiz tells me. "And it's not the right time to do it. But the Israelis and the Americans have other agendas that we can't change."

A bit further down the road, let's talk to some folks here.

ADI CHIOBAN (PH), ISRAELIE RESIDENT OF JERUSALEM: I'm an Israeli woman. I live in Jerusalem. I love Jerusalem.

LEE: Palestinians say they want east Jerusalem to be part of their capital. What do you think about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't like to talk about it. I think Jerusalem is Israeli. We're Jewish.

LEE: What are your thoughts on the United States moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?

MENACHE (INAUDIBLE), ISRAELI RESIDENT OF JERUSALEM: Great. Great. First of all it's not going to be a Palestinian country. And this always was Israel.

LEE: Some Israelis who didn't want to be on camera told us, they don't support moving the embassy.

Whatever President Trump announces, the position of the vast majority of the international community remains clear. East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory. All settlements are illegal. Their view likely won't change quickly even if the U.S. embassy changes addresses.

We're also watching U.S. diplomatic missions. They've increased security ahead of any potential announcement. I was outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo when protesters attacked it in 2012 and that was over an inflammatory video. It's unclear what the reaction would be if any were President Trump to move the embassy to Jerusalem

[00:25:05] Ian Lee, CNN -- Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Moving over to Central America, tensions continue to run high in Honduras. A vote recount is under way there. We still don't know who won the presidential election more than a week after the vote. The opposition is accusing President Juan Orlando Hernandez of manipulating the results. The country's electoral tribunal says the people deserve a resolution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MATAMOROS, HONDURAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION (through translator): We feel that the Honduran people as we said yesterday deserve a result and that result cannot be stopped or be in the hands of any presidential candidate or any party. And this I say in general terms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Some of the opposition protests have been peaceful. But others, including this one right here, were more violent. The government implemented a curfew but has now lifted it in some areas.

Coming up after the break, Alabama's Senate race remains tight despite sexual misconduct allegations against one candidate. Why the U.S. Senate Majority Leader is saying let the voters decide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Hi. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Cyril Vanier.

Let's look at your headlines. The U.S. and South Korea are kicking off scheduled air drills on the Korean Peninsula. As expected North Korea is condemning these exercises; they come less than a week after Pyongyang tested a ballistic missile which flew higher and longer than ever before.

White House national security advisor, H.R. McMaster says time is running out to prevent a war with North Korea.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is staring down a critical Brexit deadline. On Monday, she is set to meet with E.U. leaders to hammer out the remaining issues in this divorce.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Alabama voters go to the polls next week in their state's special election. A new survey shows that scandal surrounding Roy Moore is hurting his appeal with some voters. CNN's Kaylee Hartung has the latest on the race to fill attorney Jeff Sessions' seat in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many in Alabama tell me December 12th can't come soon enough. Barely a week to go before the special election that has put a national spotlight on the state of Alabama.

And the latest polls say this race is neck and neck. "The Washington Post" out this weekend gives a 3-point lead to Democrat Doug Jones over the Republican Roy Moore but 3-point difference within the margin of error of that polling.

In a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate, in a quarter of a century, this poll showing that the accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior against Moore have done some damage to his numbers.

President Trump among those who believe Moore as he denies those accusations though President Trump has been very careful not to explicitly endorse the Republican. The White House has said that the president wouldn't come to Alabama to stump for him. And that remains true -- technically.

Though we have learned that President Trump will be in the area this week, he will be visiting Pensacola, Florida, for a campaign event of his own. That's just 25 miles from the state line and within the television market of Mobile and much of South Alabama.

Doug Jones, for his part, he maintaining a healthy campaign schedule, spending time in the more metropolitan area of the state of Alabama, particularly with African American voters.

Turnout is always a challenge in special elections and it will be key in this one -- Kaylee Hartung, CNN, Birmingham, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Meanwhile some Republicans congressional leaders are taking a wait and see approach to this race. Last month, U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he believed the accusations of sexual misconduct against Moore. He also said that Moore should step down.

Now, however, it appears that he's softening his tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a poll out that says Mr. Moore is up 6 points over his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, and in that poll it says that among Mr. Moore's supporters 56 percent say they were more likely to vote for him after you said he should quit the race.

What do you make of that?

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, look, that people of Alabama going to decide a week from Tuesday who they want to send to the Senate. It's really up to them. It's been a pretty robust campaign with a lot of people weighing in.

The president and I of course supported somebody different earlier in the process. But in the end, the voters of Alabama will make their choice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And should that be the final word?

The White House when asked about the president's accusers said the voters heard about the president's accusers, they voted for him anyway, end of subject.

So shouldn't that be the case with Roy Moore? MCCONNELL: Well, look, I'm concerned about the Senate. And if we have two ethics investigations in the Senate going on right now, Senator Franken and Senator Menendez and there might well be another one, depending upon people who are in the Senate.

And it will be up to the people of Alabama to make this decision. And we'll swear in whoever is elected and see where we are at that particular point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Coming up after the break, he U.S. beginning to have frank discussions about sexual harassment and gender inequality. When we come back, I'll be having a conversation about what it means for the wider American culture. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:35:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VANIER: Just a few hours ago, the New York Metropolitan Opera announced that it was suspending well-known conductor James Levine after accusations of sexual misconduct dating back to the 1960s.

This is the latest in a wave of sexual assault accusations in the U.S. that have toppled powerful men across industries. A few weeks ago I spoke to women's rights advocate Gloria Felt about the tidal wave of accusations and whether it was causing a cultural shift in American society.

Since that conversation we've seen even more powerful figures fired, suspended or stepping down from their positions. And the list recently includes NBC anchor Matt Lauer and music mogul Russell Simmons.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Gloria Felt is co-founder and president of Take the Lead, an organization that aims to put women in positions of power.

And you're also a former president of Planned Parenthood.

Gloria, how do you handle the fact that often the accusations of sexual misconduct or worse have not been prove in a court of law and the general public is looking at this, is left to just make up its own mind of whether the men are guilty based mostly on the accusers' stories.

How do you handle the fact that there's so little certainty in these accusations?

GLORIA FELT, TAKE THE LEAD: Well, it seems to me what we've heard in most of these cases that have come up so far, is not one accusation in any situation; it's a pervasive pattern.

And it's always a complicated matter for any organization to try to be fair to all concerned.

But the bigger picture here is that the women who are coming forward now, whose voices have not been heard in the past, who very often left jobs, left positions about ever either saying why they were doing so or they said it and they were not believed (INAUDIBLE) been traditional, to tell you the truth, for women for, oh, eons that they just weren't believed when they were -- when they told others that they were being harassed sexually.

So I think that these women who have been brave enough now to come forward are a chorus that is too loud to be ignored. There is not a woman in the workforce who can honestly say she has not experienced something like this at some point.

And it may have been extreme, it may not have been extreme. But these are patterns, these are cultural patterns that it's way past time for us to change.

I think what we're witnessing is an opportunity to change from a #MeToo moment to a #PowerToo moment to all of us, to be able to be not just safe in the workplace but to be able to able to thrive in the workplace because we're being treated fairly and we're not being harassed or worse.

VANIER: Gloria, here's something I often hear in casual conversation.

Is there a danger of overcorrecting, overpunishing men based on accusations?

FELT: I've been thinking a lot about that, Cyril. It's a really important question. You don't make progress by making enemies. You make progress by making friends, by teaching each other, by listening to each other.

So I think where we are now is --

[00:40:00]

FELT: -- we need a lot more honest and forthright dialogue. We need -- you know, I teach something I call gender bilingual communication. And it literally helps men and women understand each other better and communicate with each other and know, if I'm saying something or that -- or you're saying something to me, I may interpret it differently than you may mean.

I think we're at point where we need to be giving serious thought to how can we do that?

At the same time, it's not OK to just let perpetrators go, seriously. It's not OK.

So we have to figure out how to handle both of those things.

VANIER: One thing I asked you last time was how much actual, concrete change is this going to effect in society, in American society?

Here's a small, perhaps a minute example of culture change. Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, two famed American anchors, are gone. And their positions need to be filled. Now there have been several female anchors sitting in their chairs as the networks decide what to do with those jobs. I want to play you a moment from CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For years the discussion has always been, who is going to be Matt Lauer's co-host?

Is Matt Lauer going to sign a new contract?

And now he's gone. Charlie Rose, gone.

(CROSSTALK)

BRIAN STELTER, CNNMONEY SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: -- what younger woman will be sitting next to Matt Lauer while he continues to age?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think in talking to a lot of women anchors in the last few days, what they hope is that this will explode that myth, that you need the older, sort of perfunctory kind of man with the younger woman who's been the sidekick role. And they're hoping at least maybe we can get away from that retro thinking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So, real quick, more female anchors on air in the wake of these accusations, is that a gimmick or is that deep change?

FELT: Well, I think it's (INAUDIBLE) in general, not just in media but in every sector that what is so obvious to me is that, when we have more gender parity, more equality, and particularly equality in the power level of men and women, we will have a safer, healthier, actually more profitable workplace for everybody, not just in the media but every sector.

We already know that companies with more women in their top leadership make more money.

So why are women leaving?

Often women are leaving because don't like the culture of the workplace.

So how do we keep them in the workplace?

We make sure that they have equal opportunities to thrive, to shine, to do their very best job. And so it's really up to all of us now. This whole #MeToo moment has cracked open an egg. But it's up to us to turn that into a tasty omelet and really make a big culture change that will make everything better for people.

VANIER: We'll see how the omelet tastes. Gloria, thank you so much for coming on the show again. Thanks.

FELT: My pleasure.

VANIER: And thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Atlanta. I'm Cyril Vanier and "WORLD SPORT" is up next, then we'll be back with another hour of news from around the world. Stay with us.