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Ukraine's Martial Law; Trump Refuses to Condemn Russia; Senators Briefed on Khashoggi; Trump Buries Climate Report; Northeast Braces for Storm; Election in Mississippi; Close California House Race. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 27, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:43] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New developments overnight in the dangerous armed standoff between Russia and Ukraine. Russia fired on and seized three Ukrainian ships. While NATO condemned the Russian action, President Trump says he doesn't like what's happening either way, he says. Meanwhile, Ukraine declared martial law to deal with the situation. Russia says that move could worsen tensions.

Our Nick Paton Walsh, live in Kiev with the very latest here.

Nick.

NICK PATRON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, we're about 20 hours away from Ukraine for the first time imposes martial law across ten of its regions near Russia and where Russian separatists in the country operate. Now, we've heard from the Kremlin spokesperson that he believes this is a barely camouflaged overtone, a bid to ramp up pressure on those separatist areas and increase tensions generally. I have to say, on paper we know what martial law means, but nobody knows what it means it practice in this country.

Key overnight, Germany's Angela Merkel has spoken to Vladimir Putin seeking to escalate this, to get analysts in to work out what really happened in the Kerch Strait near the Crimean peninsula where Russian boats rammed into Ukrainian boats and where about two dozen Ukrainian sailors are now still held prisoner.

What's important is that when we saw Crimea invaded by Russia and the eastern Ukraine, too, the world spoke together with Barack Obama leading the way and imposed sanctions, had a tough response. So far, President Trump has been relatively muted, saying he's not happy, saying he wants it straightened out. His secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has condemned what he said was aggressive Russian actions.

But people in Ukraine here, I think, are troubled because this is Moscow flexing its overt military muscles against Ukraine military, not using separatists as proxies and maybe seeing what perhaps they can get away with, with the potential ally maybe you might thing in the Trump administration.

Alisyn. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That is really important context. Thank you very much, Nick.

Well, President Trump says he does not believe the government's latest damning climate change report. Up next, a top senator tells us what he thinks the U.S. needs to do before it's too late.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:43] CAMEROTA: President Trump issued an extremely mild rebuke to Russia for firing on and seizing three Ukrainian ships.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've let our position be known and we're not happy about it.

We do not like what's happening either way. We don't like what's happening. And hopefully it will get straightened out. I know Europe is not -- they are not thrilled. They're working on it, too. We're all working on it together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, joining us now is Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley. He's on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Good morning, senator.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: Good morning. Good to be with you.

CAMEROTA: We have a lot to talk about. So let's first talk about what's happening with Russia and Ukraine. President Trump -- I mean he says, you heard him there, hopefully it will get straightened out. That is very different than what others in the administration said. I mean Secretary Pompeo went much farther. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley had this to say. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: It is an arrogant act that the international community must condemn and will never accept.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, senator, when there's a discrepancy like this between members in, you know, the same administration virtually, it is confusing to Americans and I suppose on the international stage as well. Which response is real?

MERKLEY: Well, I would like to think that Nikki Haley's response is real. That's absolutely the right response. A powerful condemnation of this act of aggression on this waterway and certainly a strong rebuke to Russian partnership with our NATO allies.

[06:40:13] I think President Trump finds any fact that is uncomfortable one in which he wants to ignore. We see this with Khashoggi. He said, maybe it happened, maybe it didn't. In this case he's saying, well, it's not good either way, which is, in essence, a reference to Russia saying, well, they have their case for why they -- it was a legitimate ability to take these vessels and imprison these sailors.

This is -- this equivalence is not OK and I think Nikki Haley said she had cleared and coordinated. So I -- hopefully the president will partner with his entire team and send a strong message on this.

CAMEROTA: OK, so all of this is the backdrop for President Trump going to meet with Vladimir Putin at the G-20 later this week, and you don't think he should. Why not?

MERKLEY: I don't think he should meet one-on-one. And it's a list of reasons. First, he's under investigation for possible collusion with the Russians. We don't know what kind of connections he has, financially conflicts of interest. There was no transparency on his last meeting, this one-on-one meeting where only a translator was there. We still don't know what was said at that meeting. And, quite frankly, it's just -- there needs to be a strong front with our national security partners, present to say what's acceptable and what's not. Just don't believe that President Trump is capable on these one-on-one meetings of conveying any form of criticism or setting any sort of boundaries.

CAMEROTA: It's so interesting to have you remind everyone of what happened in Helsinki, where President Trump and Vladimir Putin had that one-on-one and there was no stenographer, there were no other officials and, I mean, I think that people may have forgotten that we still do not know what was agreed upon in that meeting.

MERKLEY: And when he came out, he was just completely reciting Putin's talking points, like he'd been hypnotized during that -- during that meeting. Russia couldn't -- had assured him, Putin had assured them that they hadn't interfered in our elections at all, which, of course, we know to be absolutely false. We want the president to know the facts and to hold Russia accountable.

CAMEROTA: Al right, let's move on to what's happening with Saudi Arabia. So speaking of holding accountable, tomorrow you, in the Senate, will be briefed by Secretary of Defense Mattis and Secretary of State Pompeo. Your chairman of your committee, the Judiciary, wants -- sorry, Foreign Relations, I should say, wants to punish the crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, certainly more than President Trump does. What do you want to see happen? What can Congress do?

MERKLEY: Well, we're entertaining a bill that essentially says that we are going to cut off arm sales to Saudi Arabia. We're going to hold those accountable for humanitarian -- violations of humanitarian acts in Yemen. We're absolutely going to prohibit the U.S. to be involved in refueling the Saudi planes. A very strong response to this incomprehensible, massive humanitarian disaster stemming from the Saudis continuous bombing of civilian sites in Yemen.

This is now unfolding as one of the most -- the biggest catastrophes around the world. We have millions of people who are essentially in the early stages of starvation. We have the biggest cholera epidemic in the -- in history. And the U.S. is complicit in it. And we want to draw a line and say, absolutely not, this has to stop.

CAMEROTA: In terms of the Khashoggi retribution, why aren't you having CIA Director Gina Haspel come and speak to you. She's the person who's heard the tape of whatever happened inside that consulate.

MERKLEY: There has been a request for her to join the briefing, I hope she will, because you're absolutely right, we would like to hear directly from the source, her understanding of the situation.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, I want to ask you about the climate report. As you know, President Trump doesn't believe it. He doesn't believe in climate change. Here's what the report spelled out just for your area, Oregon, the northwest, OK, and it's, you know, very troubling. Warmer winters leading to reduction of mountain snow pack, more wildfire risk, damaging health and infrastructure, as we've just seen so painfully in California, millions in ski revenues will be lost, increased infectious diseases, including tropical ones, more than 80 additional heat-related deaths per year in Portland by 2050.

What is the answer, senator?

MERKLEY: Well, and I tell you, we see the effects right now with the greater forest fires, the acidification of the Pacific Ocean affecting our oysters, the pine beetles are rampaging. So it's not even just looking into the future, it's here right now. And the answer is a complete conversion to renewable energy, which is now cheaper -- cheaper than fossil-generated coal plant energy. Cheaper than gas energy.

[06:45:03] So we have to move to solar and wind. It is a five alarm fire for the planet. We've had the international report. We've had the U.S. government's report, which came out last Friday saying we are in deep trouble and we need to act aggressively. And aggressively means an end to burning fossil fuels.

CAMEROTA: Senator Jeff Merkley, thank you very much for coming on with your positions.

MERKLEY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: John.

BERMAN: So a man goes hand gliding and his pilot forgets to attach him to the glider. Let me rephrase that. The pilot forgot to attach him to the glider. If you do one thing, one would think, it's to be attached to the glider.

CAMEROTA: That should be the first thing.

BERMAN: You will not believe what happened after. Just check out this video. We'll tell you the whole story in a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: The storm that produced heavy snow and blizzard conditions in the Midwest is now bearing down on New England.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has the forecast.

[06:50:01] Hey, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is there, John. Snow just about everywhere, from Sunday River all the way down to Killington, it is really coming down at times.

This weather update is brought to you by the Shark Ion Robot Cleaning System. One dock, two Sharks.

Yes, it's cold. Yes, it's windy. But, yes, it is snowing. I hate it when it's cold and windy and still not doing anything. So here you go, if you are going to be skiing this weekend, you have a lot of snow across parts of the northeast, and the west as well, don't get me wrong. There's a lot of snow everywhere.

More coming down today for south towns of Buffalo, along the way along the lakes. The cold air is in place just for two more days, though. New York, you do have a good shopping weekend because mild air is on the way. D.C. as well. Look at this, Sunday in D.C., 65.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: That looks nice.

All right, Chad, thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: So a Florida man who decided to try hang gliding for the first time while on vacation in Switzerland may be regretting that decision. Chris Gurski (ph) spent two minutes and 14 seconds hanging on for dear life after his instructor forgot to connect his harness to the glider. Chris posted the video on YouTube, what you're looking at right now. It's making my palms sweat. He calls this his Swiss mishap. He says he thought he was going to die throughout this ordeal. Chris did manage to hang on long enough to fall into an open field. He suffers a fractured wrist and a torn biceps tendon but he says he is grateful to his instructor for the landing and plans to try hang gliding again. Oh, brother.

BERMAN: So if you're keeping score at home, the instructor did remember to press record on the video but forgot to attach the guy that he was teaching how to hang glide.

CAMEROTA: Coming in hot.

BERMAN: It seems to me, and I don't want to tell him how to do his job, but on the checklist --

CAMEROTA: But this was wrong.

BERMAN: On the checklist of things you do when you take someone hang gliding --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Attaching them would be wise.

CAMEROTA: Attach the customer.

BERMAN: Attach the customer.

CAMEROTA: To something safe.

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: Yes, listen, don't people have enough stress and excitement in their own lives. This is why I don't go hang gliding. I don't need this level of excitement. I mean isn't there -- aren't their own lives just good enough?

BERMAN: On the upside, the Swiss mishap isn't yodeling for the first time -- for the first time ever.

Democrats continue to make gains in the House. Could they reach a 40- seat pickup? There's something about Harry, next.

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[06:56:28] CAMEROTA: OK, about one hour from now, voters will head to the polls in Mississippi for a Senate runoff between Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy.

There's something about Harry, so let's take a look at today's election, as well as two undecided House races, with CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.

Hi, Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Hi. How are you. I've been told I have three minutes, so we're going to make these three minutes count.

CAMEROTA: Go.

ENTEN: So what is Mississippi really about? I would argue that Mississippi, the vote there will be mostly about race, and that is the numbers that I keep looking at and trying to understand what's going to happen. And what we see here is, we have a fairly evenly divided state, but whites make up the vast -- make up the majority of voters at 63 percent.

Why is that important? Because, look at this, if you look to the first round of this election, remember, you had two Democrats, two Republicans running. Among white voters, the Republicans ran over the Democrats. Hyde-Smith, McDaniel combined for 84 percent of the vote, Espy and Bartee combined for only 16 percent of the vote. So if Mike Espy is going to come back and win on Election Days, he's going to have to do significantly better than the 16 percent. And I'm not sure that he can necessarily do that.

BERMAN: It was interesting because President Trump went down there last night and said Mike Espy -- how does Mike Espy fit with Mississippi? Maybe he was trying to send a signal.

ENTEN: He might have been trying to send a signal. And, you know, one of the things that I would point out is just the history of this state where white voters have continued to make up the majority. They have been very stubborn in the ways that they have voted. So the last time you had a governor win a majority, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate win a majority was '87 and a senate race was '82, and a presidential race, you have to go all the way back to 1956. That's the hill that Espy has to climb tonight in order to win.

CAMEROTA: OK, do you want to move on to the other undecided races or do you have anything else to say about Mississippi?

ENTEN: Yes, so -- look, I -- the only thing I would say about Mississippi is, Mississippi is still Mississippi. And when we kind of look at the stats, look, this is just not the type of state that we'd expect Democrats to do well and given the midterms. Remember, Democrats did well among voters with a college degree. Mississippi ranks 49th in that among adults. Democrats did well in urban areas. Mississippi ranked 47th in that.

BERMAN: So I'm old enough to remember on election night when --

CAMEROTA: Three weeks ago.

BERMAN: Three weeks ago --

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: When people like the AP and CNN and others called California 21 for David Valadao, the Republican.

ENTEN: Well, they probably should not have done that. California, a lot of vote by mail in that state. The votes came in very late. And, look, last night, T.J. Cox, the Democratic candidate, over David Valadao has taken the lead. That race has been uncalled by the AP, by our network. And this could, in fact, lead to the 40 -- a 40 seat net gain for Democrats, which was unimaginable on election night.

I will point out, my forecast on election night did have that result within the margin of error. So I actually did OK. But, hey, it was good.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Who's counting.

CAMEROTA: The heck with California. You did fine.

BERMAN: Unimaginable to anyone but you is what you're saying.

ENTEN: There's something about Harry. CAMEROTA: There is.

But this is remarkable, 400 votes, right, separate them. I mean every vote counts. We learn that someone in very election cycle.

ENTEN: Every vote counts. I will say that based on the votes remaining, I expect that this margin is actually going to rise. You know, we still have to count the votes, but I would say Cox is a favorite at this point over Valadao.

And this is just an amazing fact. This is an amazing fact. Look at this. there were seven California districts that elected a GOP representative and voted for Clinton in 2016. And all these districts, the Democrats are leading or they've been called for them at this point.

BERMAN: As you yourself, hey, Harry, said, there's something about Harry.

ENTEN: There's something about John and Alisyn, too.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for being here.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. It doesn't have the same ring to it, but thank you very much.

And thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, prosecutors say Paul Manafort lied to Mueller's investigators. NEW DAY continues right now.

[07:00:03] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a lot of phony stuff, like the Russian witch hunt garbage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paul Manafort lied to the FBI