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Alabamians About to Decide Between Jones and Moore; Fallout of Trump's Israel Decision Palpable in the Middle East; Fires Chooses No Color and Status. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired December 11, 2017 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, HOST, CNN: U.S. President Donald Trump gives his full throated endorsement to controversial Senate candidate Roy Moore as Alabama's decision day draws near.
CYRIL VANIER, HOST, CNN: Plus, around the world protests like these are expected again today as the backlash grows over Mr. Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
CHURCH: And a bitter battle in Paris over how best to clean up its own air pollution.
Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and of course all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
VANIER: And I'm Cyril Vanier. You're watching CNN newsroom.
So on Tuesday, voters in Alabama will make a choice that will have a major impact on the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
CHURCH: Either republican Roy Moore or democrat Doug Jones will take the seat in the Senate vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Now here is why the vote is significant. Republicans hold the majority in the Senate right now by just two seats. A win by the democrat would shave that majority down and could hurt President Donald Trump's agenda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN YOUNG, CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST FOR ROY Moore: This is Donald Trump on trial in Alabama. If the people of Alabama vote for this liberal democrat, Doug Jones, then they're voting against the president who they put in office at the highest level.
So it's very important for Donald Trump and again it's ground zero for President Donald Trump. If they can beat him, they can beat his agenda because Judge Moore stands with Donald Trump and his agenda. Judge Moore wants the wall. Judge Moore wants to lower taxes. Judge Moore wants a military that is strong. And that's who judge more. And our opponent, this democrat, Doug Jones, want the exact opposite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANIER: So the two candidates campaigning? Well, CNN's Kaylee Hartung looks at the last-minute push by both candidates.
KAYLEE HARTUNG, REPORTER, CNN: The clocking is ticking down to the December 12 special election for Alabama's junior seat in the U.S. Senate. Republican candidate Roy Moore has all hands on deck as he works to galvanize his base in the state, conservative and Christians.
In this state that Donald Trump won by 28 points in the 2016 presidential election, Roy Moore is depending on him for some help. Listen to a clip from this robo call that will be ringing across homes in the State of Alabama.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hi, this is President Trump Donald Trump. And I need Alabama to go vote for Roy Moore. If Alabama elects liberal democrat Doug Jones, all of our progress will be stopped cold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARTUNG: This is just the latest effort by President Trump to support the republican Moore. It was just last Monday that he explicitly endorsed the candidate. On Friday, he took a trip to nearby Florida, about 20 miles from the state line where he had encouraged Alabamians to come to the rally, and then of course encouraged them to vote for Roy Moore.
In this home stretch of the race, it will be interesting to see what impact this can have. But the targeted ground game for Moore is different from bringing in a heavy hitter like President Trump.
Canvassers who are going door to door knocking explained to me that they're going to areas where they know more has support. The effort is all about getting out the vote. Getting people to the polls for a special election in December on a Tuesday when we're near the holiday season when politics is very far from many people's minds.
But for anybody who lives in the state of Alabama and from what I've experienced, it would be hard to be unaware of an election that has gotten so much national attention.
In Birmingham, Alabama, Kaylee Hartung, CNN.
CHURCH: Alabama's senior republican senator says he could not and did not vote for Roy Moore.
VANIER: Yes, Richard Shelby tells CNN that he has already cast his ballot and chose to write in a candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD SHELBY, (R) UNITED STATES SENATOR: There is a time. We call it a tipping point. And I think so many accusations, so many cuts, so many drip, drip, drip when it got to the 14-year-old's story, sorry, that was enough for me. I said I can't vote for Roy Moore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, the effects of the Alabama Senate race go far beyond the state. For some perspective on that, we're joined by Scott Lucas, professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham in England. Thanks so much for being with us.
So on Tuesday, Alabama voters select the senator of their choice in this crucial and divisive race with the president endorsing Roy Moore despite the sexual misconduct allegations against him. And as we saw, that is upsetting some republicans.
How do you expect this vote to turn out? And what impact could this potentially have on the party and of course, on the Senate?
[03:04:58] SCOTT LUCAS, POLITICS PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: Well, I'd be on a fool's errand if I told you which way I think goes on Tuesday. I think it's too close to call. And it will come down to voter turnout. But I think you raise some very important wider questions.
And that is of course, if Doug Jones, you know the prosecutor noted for pursuing civil rights cases, if he defeats Roy Moore, it's a huge blow to the Republican Party and to Donald Trump. But even if Moore wins, I think that only begins the issues for the republicans. And that's for two reasons.
I think the first is that you have a divided party. You heard Richard Shelby there. Very conservative but very mainstream senator from Alabama. And that reflects that many, many republicans do not like Moore. They don't like where the party is heading. And that pits them against the so-called hard right.
People like Steve Bannon and Breitbart who have strongly backed Moore to the hilt for months. And then even if, even if Moore gets in and you try to match up the republican differences, the fact is that with the seriousness of the allegations against him, even if that does not lead to his withdrawal from the Senate seat, the democrats can use that to again and again say really, are you actually upholding morality? Are you upholding decency, GOP, or are you just doing this for political expediency, like tax cut.
CHURCH: Yes, and the democrats have cleaned shop so they positioned themselves to do exactly that. Of course, as you mentioned, we heard the republican Senator Richard Shelby's criticism of Roy Moore.
He said he couldn't bring himself to vote for Moore because of the sexual allegations against him. And that of course has given Moore's rival Doug Jones new material for political ads.
How likely it is that those adds will potentially change the outcome in this very republican state?
LUCAS: Well, you know, first of all, in normal times, you're absolutely right. Alabama is almost as red as any red republican state. Now these aren't normal times. But still, I think you've got a lot of people that could stand by Moore, despite all the charges. In part, that's because a lot of people from Alabama who I grew up
with don't like, quote, "outsiders telling them what to do." So attacks on Moore could actually, you know, do the opposite. Reinforce their support for him.
And remember, soon after the allegations came out, far from people peeling away from Moore, we know that almost 40 percent of Alabama Evangelicals said they were more likely to vote for him rather than less likely. So he's got a very strong base behind him. How big that base is one question.
And secondly, I come back to it. Doug Jones is also in this election. And if he is going to win, he's got to mobilize his supporters. He's got to mobilize his backers. So it's not just a question of who is behind Roy Moore, but how many people go to the polls for Doug Jones on Tuesday.
CHURCH: And I do want to turn just quickly, if you don't mind to the recent decision President Trump made to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. We've seen protests across the globe, and many analysts are asking why Mr. Trump would give up leverage in any future Middle East peace talks.
Why do you think he offered this gift to Israel at this time? And where does this leave any future efforts to find peace?
LUCAS: Two reasons. One is well-known, and that is Donald Trump promised Evangelicals and pro-Israel American Jews in 2016 he would do this.
The second lesser known reason, because his son-in-law, Jared Kushner is behind this. Kushner now cease himself as America's top diplomat in the Middle East, pushing aside Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
And this is part of Kushner's idea to supposedly bring Middle East peace. Now it won't do that. This is the worst possible move.
It actually removes the U.S. from being any type of honest broker in the Israel-Palestinian issue. Whatever you think of that. And it's going to further split which will have effects on Israel and Palestine and on issues like the conflict in Syria and indeed relations in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
CHURCH: Scott Lucas, thanks so much for your perspective and analysis. We always appreciate it.
LUCAS: Thank you.
Well, in the Middle East, the U.S. is facing more fallout from President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Protests over the move have rocked the region for days now. This was the scene in Turkey Sunday, including a mass demonstration in Istanbul.
VANIER: Many countries, including U.S. allies have slammed the Jerusalem decision. But Israel's prime minister says they're in denial. Here is what Benjamin Netanyahu said a short time ago at an E.U. meeting in Brussels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: For 3,000 years, Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people. From the time established by King David, well documented in the history of the bible, and the aftermath when Jews in the ghetto of Europe whispered next year in Jerusalem, next year in Jerusalem. We never lost our connection.
Yet, that connection is denied in the U.N. forms and UNESCO and laughable decisions that seek to deny history and seek to deny historical truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:09:58] VANIER: We're joined now by Ian Lee in Jerusalem. Ian, five days after Mr. Trump's decision, ho do Israeli officials, first among them Benjamin Netanyahu there, feel about the level of pushback that they're seeing?
IAN LEE, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Cyril, I don't think any of them would look at what is going on and be surprised about the pushback because they've heard strong warning from Arab leaders, from regional leaders from European leaders about the United States making this unilateral move and decision by declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
But at the same time this is something that they feel very comfortable weathering. They got what they wanted. You know this is something they've advocated enthusiastically for years, that the world recognize Jerusalem as their capital.
Now it's just the United States. No other countries, at least so far have followed the United States' footsteps. But this is something that they're quite pleased with, despite the warnings.
And we saw the prime minister. He's meeting with E.U. foreign ministers. And they're going to be discussing this. Now, the prime minister has said that this isn't going to disrupt the peace process.
In fact, it's going to make peace more possible that runs contrary to everything we've heard from, again, regional leaders, the European leaders, the international community. The Palestinians have all said that this is going to make peace harder.
So does the United States and Israel know something that we don't know? Unlikely. But this is something that they are standing by, that they believe this will for the peace process, despite what the Palestinians say, which is essentially the peace process is over.
VANIER: Yes. I want to pick up on that last point that you're making. Several officials within the Trump administration and earlier on Sunday, it was in fact, Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. who was making that point are saying that it really doesn't hinder the peace process. In fact, it may help it. So, are we starting -- and I know it's still early days. But are we
starting to get a better picture of how this decision down the road could impact prospects for peace?
LEE: Well, you know, even to the lead-up, Cyril, of this announcement we heard from Palestinian officials who said that essentially the peace process would be over. It would be a death blow to it using those kinds of expressions.
And we heard from Arab leaders who said this is going to make it more difficult. You know, when President Trump did give the speech, he said that the borders of Jerusalem and you know, who controls what will be determined in a final peace process. But you know, when it comes to the Israelis, they view it as all of Jerusalem is their capital.
And so, for the Palestinians who have been advocating for a long time with the two-state solution that east Jerusalem would be their capital, it seems like that is even further off at this point.
And we've seen Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas going to regional leaders. Yesterday he was in Jordan meeting with King Abdullah. Today he is in Egypt speaking with President Sisi. And both those countries, Jordan and Egypt are strong U.S. allies, especially improved relations under President Trump. But both countries have also condemned President Trump's move.
So, without the United States, there does seem to be somewhat of a vacuum here. Who is going to come in and fill that role and move forward the peace process? Right now it's hard to guess.
VANIER: All right, Ian Lee reporting life from Jerusalem. Thank you very much.
CHURCH: And Russia's president has also expressed concern over Mr. Trump's Jerusalem decision. Vladimir Putin will meet with the Turkish and Egyptian presidents later Monday. An earlier statement from the Kremlin said a further escalation of tension in the region cannot be allowed.
Clare Sebastian joins us now from Moscow with the latest from there. So Clare, what's expected to come out of this meeting between Mr. Putin and Turkey's President Erdogan? And what role is Russia hoping to play in this?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, Rosemary, you know, I really think given the timing of this visit, it's more about optics than it is about concrete results.
Russia has really been trying to strengthen its influence over the Middle East in its meetings, as you said today, both with the leaders of Turkey and with Egypt, really trying to reassure those countries that it has their back at a time when they feel perhaps that the U.S. does not. And it's sending that signal to the world as well.
As for Turkey, well, this is a critically important ally for Russia in the region. Turkey really has been pivoting towards Russia over the last year or so. The economic deals working together on a solution to the Syrian conflict, despite initially backing opposite sides in that conflict. And Turkey is of course a NATO member. So that makes the pivot towards Russia even more significant.
[03:15:02] But as I said, this really is about Russia, which has been building up its kind of credentials within the Middle East off the back of the Syrian conflict and the critical role it played there in propping up the Assad regime.
It's attempting to appear as an honest broker, perhaps a guarantor of security in the region, again, as I said, at a time when the U.S.'s role in that regard, at least in the eyes of some Arab countries seems to be diminishing, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And Clare, what did Russia mean when it said in a statement that a further escalation of tension in the region cannot be allowed? What action might it take? Do we know?
SEBASTIAN: Well, I think in a sense this visit today is that action. As I said, Russia is sending a signal as well as it is, you know, having important discussions about various political and economic issues.
It wants to appear as, you know, a calm and collected mediator in this region in a country that, you know, at least given the evidence of what it's done in Syria has the power to really have these countries' back should it -- should it choose.
You know, Russia has a fairly unique role in the region. It's remained kind of a -- retained a working relationship with countries on many sides of various different conflicts, Sunni and Shia, Israel and the Palestinian authority. So, I think we can continue to see this kind of diplomatic offensive from Russia in this region.
CHURCH: Clare Sebastian bringing us that live report from Moscow where it is 11.16 in the morning. Many thanks to you.
VANIER: Coming up on the show, exhausted firefighters, devastated residents, and the impact from the out-of-control wildfires in Southern California.
CHURCH: And a crucial vote in Alabama Tuesday will have a big impact on the U.S. Senate. An update on the controversial race. That's still to come. Do stay with us.
[03:20:00] COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, thousands of firefighters are waging what seems like an endless war against destructive wildfires in Southern California. They're currently working to contain six active blazes, the largest one, the Thomas fire, is still burning out of control as it advances north, prompting fresh evacuations. Now it has scorched 93,000 hectares so far and is only 10 percent contained.
VANIER: Since the fire started earlier this week, some 200,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. And as some people start returning, they're digging through rubble to see what little might have been spared.
CNN's senior U.S. correspondent Kyung Lah has more from the fire area.
KYUNG LAH, SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Unrelenting and growing as punishing winds and dry land fuel the largest of California's fires, the Thomas fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE ZANIBONI, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: It's not a house-by-house fight yet. We're trying to prevent that. And you know, if we can get the wind to cooperate with us, the wind is definitely picking up now.
LAH: So you've been hitting it from the air as well as working it from the ground?
ZANIBONI: Yes, correct. The helicopters have been a huge help.
LAH: You can you see the wind as it pushes the embers this way. All of these embers fly towards the houses that haven't burned yet.
ZANIBONI: Firefighters, they're busy.
LAH: Exhausted. And in the back of this truck, injured. Thousands of firefighters weary after nearly a week battling wildfires raging across Southern California.
In northern San Diego county, homes burned in minutes. A wildfire spreading so fast, terrified thoroughbred horses ran in circles, trapped. Others burned alive in their barns. Some horses barely made it out. Their trainers' escape route burning around them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got five heading out of San Luis Rey.
LAH: This entire neighborhood disappeared in just 20 minutes. Daylight revealed all that was lost. In Los Angeles' Bel-Air neighborhood, hillside mansions burned, more people running from flames.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We started panicking. We didn't know what to do. So we hadn't been told to evacuate, but we were going to evacuate. So we just started thinking, my husband said just take anything that, you know, you think you might need. Everything can be replaced. Let's just get out of here.
LAH: Nearly 200,000 people in Southern California evacuated this week. Some returning to a home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, honey, it's me. Our house is still there. Yes. Everything looks good.
LAH: Others digging through what's left.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is not much. But if there is a few things, it will help them, you know, have some connection to the past, then that's what I'm trying to do. That's what it is. Material stuff. But like you said, memories of a lot of years.
LAH: Back here in Santa Barbara County, it's at night when the fire's fury is most visible. You can see it churning in those hills. It continues to march northwest. But it's not just the wind. It's also the dry brush. Two hundred fifty days here in California without any significant rain.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Santa Barbara County, California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANIER: And in the face of all of this, Governor Jerry Brown has a sobering message for Californians. Get used to this.
CHURCH: Yes, he says climate change is exacerbating the flames, and they're only going to get more intense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY BROWN, GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA: This is the new normal. And this could be something that happens every year or every few years it happens to some degree. Just more intense, more widespread. And we're about ready to have firefighting at Christmas.
This is very odd and unusual, but it is the way the world is with the kind of carbon pollution that we're not only living with, but we're generating still. It's still increasing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:24:56] CHURCH: And meteorologist Julie Martin joins us now from the weather center. Julie, that is very sobering news there for the people of California. What's the weather looking like as far as trying to help contain these fires?
JULIE MARTIN, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Well, Rosemary, no rain in sight for the coming weeks ahead. And the relative humidity levels today very low once again as well as the Santa Ana winds are high. So you get those factors together. And it's another very dangerous day here in Southern California.
Twenty million people under the threat as we speak. We're most concerned about the Thomas fire in Santa Barbara County. This is moving off to the north. It's only 10 percent contained, 230,000 acres.
We'll take a look at some video I believe we have from nighttime. And you can see how rapidly this fire is moving. And just the intensity of it.
The good news is that the other five of the other six fires are now more than 70 percent contained. So firefighters have made some headway on those. Taking a closer look, though, at the land consumed, 359 square miles with the Thomas fire that is bigger than the city of Chicago. The big news is the winds are going to start to back off. So they'll
still remain offshore, but the Santa Ana event will die down. And that should help the firefighters.
Let's take a look at what's happening though, over in the U.K. A big weekend for snow. In fact, in some cases, this is the fourth most snow on record for places like Wales here. Thirty centimeters.
On Sunday, 12 here in Wycombe, England. And it's going to be another cold and raw day here in England as well. Lots of travel delays because of all of this snow, in and out of London, also in Birmingham and in Germany where a lot of the airports had to really just stop operations for a while.
The good news is the snow moves out. But we do have some more rain moving in, as we get into midweek. Still in the higher elevations. The alps are going to get more snow as well as Germany. And the winds are going to persist throughout much of the week.
Rosemary and Cyril, over to you.
CHURCH: Thank you so much, Julie. I appreciate that.
VANIER: Alabama voters are a day away now from deciding a controversial Senate race that has divided the Republican Party. Roy Moore's latest comments on the allegations against him, when we come back.
CHURCH: And Paris is trying to lead by example on climate change. But its attempts to clean up are having unintended consequences. The city's struggle to clear its own air. That's still to come. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world I'm Cyril Vanier.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: And I'm Rosemary Church, let's update you now on the top stories we've been following this hour.
Protesters took to the streets in several countries Sunday to condemn the U.S. and its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. This was the scene in Karachi, Pakistan where some people burned flags and chanted death to America. Large demonstrations also took place in Lebanon and Turkey.
VANIER: In southern California, the rampaging Thomas fire has moved north now prompting more evacuations. The largest of the six infernos is just 10 percent contained and has now scorched more than 93,000 hectares. California's governor says extreme fires could be the new normal for years to come.
CHURCH: It is the final day of campaigning in Alabama's U.S. Senate race. Republican Roy Moore is running against Democrat Doug Jones. Several women have accused Moore pursuing sexual relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. U.S. President Trump has endorsed Moore.
VANIER: And about that a short while ago, I spoke with CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson and Ellis Henican, political analyst and columnist at Metro Papers. I asked them about the choice Alabama voters are faced with in this closely watched race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that the accusations against them, at least some of them are credible and I personally don't believe that he should be in the U.S. Senate. But many people in Alabama have put it to me this way. They say, look, he doesn't -- I'm not voting for him because he represents my values.
I'm going to vote for him because he represents my interest in Washington and what I care about in Washington and I can't give up that interest to a Democrat that does not support the values or the, quote, interest of the state. And so, there are a lot of voters I think are very torn on what they're going to have to do on Tuesday.
VANIER: But those same voters that tell you about values, they don't feel that Roy Moore is running afoul of those same values because of those credible accusations against him?
FERGUSON: Sure. Well, and that's why they described it the way that I said it a moment ago. They say look, he doesn't necessarily represent my values but he represents my interests. We're a conservative state, they have a lot of problems with the Democratic candidate especially on other issues like abortion as one caller said to me tonight on my radio show.
They said look, I didn't vote even for Roy Moore during the primary. I think he's a bad candidate, the weakest candidate but I hope that he gets this job and then maybe even as one caller said, they unseat him and then we get, you know, someone appointed by the state so at least my interests are still being represented in Washington, D.C.
Look, the majority of the callers I talk to said to me they're going to vote for him. They're not big supporters of him but I think he's probably going to win this election.
VANIER: Interests versus values. That probably sums up this race. Ellis, you're usually on the liberal side of this composition, are you rubbing your hands thinking this can only be good for the left what's happening?
ELLIS HENICAN, Well boy, I think the politics you're right, but there is a moral abomination at the core of this thing that really I think goes beyond whatever the narrow political calculations are. You can make a case here that kind of either way the Dems win here, right. Either they get a seat that they didn't expect to get in Alabama or they get a wonderful campaign issue for the midterms and they can, you know, turn Roy Moore into the poster boy of the Republican Party.
You know, we can all understand the political benefits of that. But I got to tell you, I think when we reached the point of having otherwise decent people sending a child molester to the United States Senate and coming up with all these excuses, and Ben just laid out a couple of them. Oh, maybe they'll replace him later or I've got this economic interest. I got tell you, we crossed some lines --
FERGUSON: -- should the Senate seat him if he's elected?
HENICAN: But we crossed some line beyond that. You know, listen, I think that it's highly likely that they will. The mechanics of not doing it are difficult. The principle of allowing people to decide who they want to represent them is as strong with the bedrock of American politics. So, I got to say, if you vote for this guy, you're sending him to the senate, get used to that Alabamans
FERGUSON: I could not walk in with a good conscience and hit a button for Roy Moore.
[03:35:00] This would be an example of an election that I probably just would not vote in because I also with a clear conscience could not support the Democratic candidate. And there's going to be I think a significant number of people that do that, but ultimately special elections usually have smaller voter turnout. And here's the one caveat, everybody is well-informed in Alabama on these accusations on the women they do believe and some of them they have question marks about their or what they've had to say about Roy Moore.
They know everything and I think they're the ones that are going to get to decide this on Tuesday if they're going to vote their values or their going to vote their interests. And I think a lot of them are going to vote their interests more than they're going to vote their values.
VANIER: Ellis, do you think the Democratic Pay, which has taken the absolute opposite stance by cleaning shop, kicking out all of those who were accused of sexual misconduct. Do you think that strategy is a winning one? Interest versus values, Democrats choosing values.
HENICAN: I don't know. I kind of been scratching my head about that one. You know, I like the sort of the moral purity of it, but you kind of feel like a sucker at some point, don't you, when your guy is all quit and shame and the other side just says I deny everything and I won't face any evidence. Frankly right up to the White House, I don't care what any of these people say, and so forget about it. I ain't going nowhere. I mean at some point you sort of feel like you're kind of on the sucker side of that bet.
FERGUSON: With all due respect, let's be clear about something. I think both parties here have not let on this issue very well. I mean, you had Nancy Pelosi, that was backing up John Conyers just a couple of days before he finally was forced to resign.
VANIER: Yes, but that's changed now --
FERGUSON: You had Democrat --
VANIER: What was there to remember Ben? FERGUSON: Hold on one second -- hold on one second. You even had --
this is the part where I think we should take politics out of it and be clear about the lack of leadership here. You had the Senate Minority Leader send 2out an e-mail press release saying that he thought that Al Franken should step down after the news had already broken, that Al Franken was stepping down. That's not leadership.
And I think both parties need to do better job of leading on these issues. But to somehow say that the Democrats have been leading on this, that's just false. I mean, they were backing up the support in --
VANIER: I mean the bottom line is they got rid of--
FERGUSON: -- backing up supporting Al Franken.
VANIER: But the bottomline Ben is they got rid of two prominent members of their party.
FERGUSON: I don't think they got rid of them. I think the people decided, the voters decided, the constituents decided.
VANIER: It did not sound like --
FERGUSON: They were not going to allow --
VANIER: It did not sound like Senator Franken left just because he felt it was the right thing to do. It sounded like he had no alternative.
FERGUSON: I think they had no other choice because the outrage around the country to say we can't keep standing behind you. We're taking too much heat so we're, going to walk away from you. But remember, both of those candidates were very much backed by the leadership of the Democratic Party.
After the accusations had come out what changed political pressure in Washington from outside of Washington is what changed their minds to all of a sudden walk away from when they were defending him with the same accusations. There was no new accusations that came out for them to change their mind.
HENICAN: But where is the moral outrage Ben on the Republican side? I mean, we've got guy who may well win Alabama. We've got a president --
FERGUSON: I said I wouldn't vote for him, there's the outrage.
HENICAN: Keep your eyes open tomorrow because I know a bunch of the women of the Trump accusers are getting ready to do an event tomorrow that might prove interesting as well. It's time though isn't for decent Republicans with good moral compass, Ben, maybe you would include it to stand up and say, you know what, maybe some of our guys ought to go too.
FERGUSON: Like I said, I would not vote for Roy Moore and I have not told anyone to vote for him. I don't think that he has the characteristics needed or the moral, you know, I think background core issues that matter to be in the U.S. Senate.
VANIER: Gentlemen, interests versus values, I think Ben put it best. We'll see which one wins out. That's on Tuesday. Thank you gentlemen for joining the show.
FERGUSON: Thanks.
HENICAN: Good seeing you guys.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Coming up after the break, the childhood friend of Roy Moore's accuser is telling the story she heard years ago. That's still to come. Stay with us.
[03:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well this is the final day of campaigning in Alabama's controversial senate race. Republican Roy Moore is running against Democrat Doug Jones.
VANIER: Several women have accused Moore of pursuing sexual relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Moore reiterated his steadfast denial of all the allegations in an interview on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY MOORE, CANDIDATE, ALABAMA SENATE: I did not know any of the women who have charged me with sexual allegation or molestation and I did not know any of the women. When I saw these pictures on the advertisements of my opponent, I did not recognize any of those people. I did not know them.
I have written cards, graduation cards, I have known families. I've known a lot of people throughout my life, but these allegations are completely false. I did not date underage women. I did not molest anyone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
MOORE: And so, these allegations are false.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And one of Moore's accusers says he abused her when she was 14 years old.
VANIER: Her childhood friend tells CNN's Gary Tuchman that she's known about this accusation for decades.
(BEGIN
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Betsy Rutenberg Davis lives in California but grew up in Gadsden, Alabama, the hometown of Judge Roy Moore. 2
BETSY RUTENBERG DAVIS: This is me up here and almost directly below me is Leigh, right here.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Leigh Corfman, the woman who says Roy Moore sexually abused her when she was a 14-year-old girl, an allegation that Moore denies. Betsy Davis is one of the two friends Corfman has said she told at the time.
DAVIS: Leigh and I grew up together. I have known her since we were babies.
TUCHMAN: She confided in you about something when she was 14-years- old and you were 14-years-old.
DAVIS: Yes.
TUCHMAN: What did she tell you?
DAVIS: She told me she snuck out of her house and went on a date with Roy Moore and he had sexually assaulted her.
TUCHMAN: After she told you this, what was your understanding of who Roy Moore was in the community? What did you think he was?
DAVIS: He was like -- he was a big lawyer. He was a powerful guy. He was supposed to put criminals in jail.
TUCHMAN: And did she tell you how old he was?
DAVIS: I knew he was a lot older. I mean, I don't know that she said that he was 32 but I knew that he was like more than twice her age.
TUCHMAN: What did she tell you that he did to her?
DAVIS: I remember her saying that he made a pallet on the floor, maybe with blankets, something like that, and I remember her saying that he came out of his room in nothing but tighty whities, which is what we used to call Jockey underwear.
TUCHMAN: And what happened then?
DAVIS: They started to fool around and he guided her to --
[03:45:00] it's like he was trying to teach her what to do. And she didn't want any part of it. And she told him so.
TUCHMAN: Is it in your memory that when she told you about it she was scared or didn't understand what was going on?
DAVIS: I wouldn't use scared but definitely creeped out.
TUCHMAN: So when she told you this, what did you say to her?
DAVIS: I said you cannot see him again. This is not good. He's too old for you. You are too young for him. You've got your life ahead of you, you know, you got to go to college. You got to, you know, live your life.
TUCHMAN: Were you mature enough at 14 to realize how debilitating psychologically, mentally this could be for a 14-year-old child to be with a man who is over 30 years old?
DAVIS: I don't think I understood that but what my mother had always said to me and drilled it into my head was, you know, in terms of sex men take what they want and it's always the woman's fault. And I knew that if she went down this path, she was going to be blamed and she was the one that was going to be left and it wasn't going to affect him at all. So I told her she was my friend, get out. This is no good.
TUCHMAN: He was asking her to go out again?
DAVIS: That is my understanding, yes.
TUCHMAN: And she was asking you for advice how she should handle him?
DAVIS: Yes. I was like just, no, absolutely not.
TUCHMAN: After she told you about this, what happened on the floor on this mattress or whatever it was? Did you discuss it all telling any adults, your parents about what happened?
DAVIS: I'm not sure that we discussed it but I know we knew that we weren't going to tell anybody.
TUCHMAN: Why is that?
DAVIS: We felt like we were equipped to handle it. We decided that it wasn't a good idea, nobody wanted to get in trouble, and we didn't know if anybody would believe us.
TUCHMAN: Betsy Davis and her husband, Charlie, live in Los Angeles and are the parents of two boys. He says he's known about this for a long time.
When did your wife first tell you about this?
CHARLIE DAVIS, BETSY DAVIS' HUSBAND: Well, shortly after I met my wife. I met Leigh Corfman on our visit to Gadsden. And from that time on I knew she had an incident, but I didn't know who Roy Moore was in the beginning, but that all came out over time.
TUCHMAN: And how many years ago was it that you first found out?
C. DAVAIS: 19 years.
TUCHMAN: Betsy Davis says she is a Democrat but --
B.DAVIS: I'm not here to tear Roy Moore down. I'm here to hold my friend up.
TUCHMAN: And regarding unproven allegations that women speaking out against Roy Moore are doing it for money.
Has anyone paid you to talk to us? Any Democrats?
B. DAVIS: God, no.
TUCHMAN: Any members of the news media?
B. DAVIS: No.
TUCHMAN: Any establishment Republicans? B. DAVIS: No, and I ran. I cannot tell you how many phone calls I've
declined, how many messages I haven't returned.
TUCHMAN: So why are you talking to us now?
B. DAVIS: Because at the end of the day I need to set example for my kids and one of those examples is to stand up for the truth and to stand up for my friend.
TUCHMAN: Election day is this Tuesday. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: All right, leaving politics behind us now onto something totally different. Good news for investors wanting to cash in on bitcoins wild price jumps without having to actually buy any bitcoins. On Sunday, the Chicago Board Options Exchange opened its bitcoin futures market. Now, this is the first time a government regulated exchange has allowed trading on the digital cryptocurrency's value.
CHURCH: And right now, a single bit coin is worth more than $16,000. How about that? Some top economist warn that bitcoin's volatility signals a bubble about to pop but other insiders say it will grow more stable with widespread acceptance.
VANIER: Paris is leading the world on climate change but it's having a hard time cleaning up its own pollution problems. That story, just ahead after the break. Stay with us.
[03:50:00] COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JULIE MARTIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm meteorologist Julie Martin with your forecast as we start things off on a very cold Monday for many of you here in the northeast all the way down to Florida. We're looking at some of those subfreezing temperatures. The snow has basically moved out that caused all of that trouble here in the southeast and in the northeast for that matter.
So, we will see a little bit more snow coming across the great lakes. The clipper system starts to work its way in and then some very cold temperatures as we head into the week ahead for the northeast and the upper Midwest. So taking a look at the blues and the purples and pinks here on the map, that's the cold air that's really going to be kind of dipping in across these northern territories.
By the time we get back out to the west though, looks like things will definitely be on the warm side. In fact, temperatures running well above average in much of the western U.S. Los Angeles 28, very gusty windy conditions once again there. For the fire danger, those Santa Ana winds whipping up yet once again today. Twenty-six here in Dallas, 13 and sunny skies in Atlanta and 4 for New York City with partly cloudy skies.
Taking a look at the fire danger as I mentioned, another day of very critical fire conditions expected. It would be very tough conditions for the firefighters with those winds anywhere from 20 to 40 kilometers per hour and the very warm weather as well. Temperatures running well above average.
(COMMERCIAL: BREAK)
CHURCH: French president, Emmanuel Macron will take the lead on climate change this Tuesday at the One Planet Summit in Paris. The meeting is happening two years to the day that nearly 200 governments agreed to take action to slow climate change.
VANIER: Now Paris has put a lot of effort into improving its air quality but some of its attempted improvements had actually been total flops. CNN's Jim Bittermann has details on this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You don't have to look far to see how complicated the climate change issue can become. In fact, right outside the Paris Conference Center's front door, there is a battle going on between two million Parisians and the one million suburbanites who commuted to the city each day. Four years ago city officials began closing down sections of express lanes along the river (INAUDIBLE) in Paris hoping to replace cars and trucks with bicycles and pedestrians in order to limit pollutions.
But after a yearlong study, air pollution officials found that roadway closings only pushed the pollution from the river where no one lives to Paris neighborhoods where people do live.
CHARLOTTE SONGEUR, AIR QUALITY ENGINEER, AIRPARIF: If you take out cars, you have better air quality. It's better because less emission. But if you put them in other places, in other routes, you will have more pollution.
BITTERMANN: What's more, it was expected that an increase in traffic would encourage commuters to use public transit, but it hasn't happened. According to rail statistics, fewer people are commuting using suburban trains because service is deteriorating. One in four trains on some lines are delayed because of breakdowns and strikes. Commuters are increasingly furious with their lack of alternatives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To live in Paris, it's too expensive. So, they have to go in the suburbs to live and take the metro, the public transport, but it's not really sure. It's not really safe and you have many, many delays.
BITTERMANN: As well, the increase in traffic congestion on Paris streets adds time to commutes and can delay emergency vehicles which may get stuck behind the idling cars. City officials say it's worth it for the pleasure Parisians and tourists derive from a leisurely walk or ride along the river.
[03:55:00] CHRISTOPHE NAJDOVSKI, PARIS DEPUTY MAYOR FOR TRANSPORT: There are thousands or tens of thousands of people who are just using it now with biking, with walking or just enjoying this new park in the center of the city of Paris.
BITTERMANN: That may be true in the summertime, however, when the weather turns, the strollers and riders disappear, but the cars do not. What's more, the city's ambitious scheme to encourage bike sharing has had its own problems. The company behind it is reporting that because of vandalism and theft, 15 to 20 percent of the bikes were lost each year and maintenance cost went through the roof.
ALBERT ASSERAF, STRATEGY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JC DECAUX GROUP: We have to work on each bicycles almost every 15 days.
BITTERMANN: The old bicycle rental stations are now being ripped out to make room for a three new higher tech bake sharing scheme, something which may solve some of the problems. But as city officials here have found out, convincing people to abandon their cars and go green is proving more difficult than they first thought. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: Every year we show you the running of the bulls in Spain. Now we can bring you the running of the Santas.
(VIDEO PLAYING)
CHURCH: This weekend in Denmark, hundreds of people took part in a special charity run in a city in the country's south. The Santa Claus Stampede was organized by the (INAUDIBLE) charity named after a story by legendary Danish author Hans Christian Anderson. The money raised will used to give 500 families a full Christmas dinner and a gift.
VANIER: And that's it from us. Thanks for watching. "Early Start"is next for viewers here in the U.S.
CHURCH: And for everybody else, stay tuned for more news for with Max Foster in London. You're watching CNN. Have a great day.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
