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Trump Prime Time Oval Office Address; Manafort Fed Info to Alleged Russian Operative; Carbon Emissions in the U.S. Rose Sharply in 2018; Critics Say VP Pence Lied for His Boss. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 09, 2019 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:00] JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello everyone, wherever you are around the world, thanks for being with us. I'm John Vause and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Ahead this hour, a crisis of the huddle, a crisis of credibility. In the first Oval Office address of his presidency, Donald Trump makes the case for a great big wall on the Mexican border.
Brexit is getting nasty. With 79 days until the deadline, protesters turn up the insults calling lawmakers liars, fascists, and Nazis in the lead up for next week's critical vote in parliament. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As the Trump administration rolls back regulations to limit carbon emissions, carbon emissions soar in the U.S. the first increase in three years.
And so on the 18th day of a government shutdown, the U.S. President appealed directly to the American people for funding for a border wall with Mexico. Donald Trump has given airtime on every major Network and news channel in the United States during an address which lasted less than ten minutes. He repeated debunked facts and misleading statements and insisted the only solution to a non-existent crisis on the border with Mexico was his great big wall.
Democratic leaders who recently took control over House of Congress accused him of stoking fears and urged the President to end his government shutdown. More details down from CNN's Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump did make his pitch for a border wall on a primetime address to the nation from The Oval Office while the President did not declare a state of emergency down on the border. He did talk about the situation on the border and humanitarian and national security terms, at one point saying he wanted to appeal to the heart and soul of the country. Here's more of what he had to say.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally killed by those who illegally entered our country and thousands more lives will be lost if we don't act right now. This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart in a crisis of the soul. ACOSTA: The President did manage to tell a number of falsehoods in
that brief eight-minute address. At one point saying it was Democrats who were requesting a steel barrier down on the border. A democratic aide up on Capitol Hill tells CNN that is not the case. The President also said that Mexico would somehow pay for that steel barrier through a new trade deal between the U.S. and Mexico, but that's not how that trade deal works.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ron Brownstein is CNN Senior Political Analyst and the Senior Editor for the Atlantic and I'm pleased to say he joins us now from Los Angeles. Ron, good to have you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, John!
VAUSE: What really struck me about this, apart from the President using his indoor voice, it was a sort of walk back of the idea of a wall because of all-encompassing to solve everything all the problems out there and just what the wall will actually be. Listen to what the President said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Finally, as part of an overall approach to border security, law enforcement professionals have requested $5.7 billion for a physical barrier. At the request of Democrats, it will be a steel barrier rather than a concrete wall. This barrier is absolutely critical to border security. It's also what our professionals at the border want and need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He said, what, six times in eight minutes, about a physical barrier. You know, part of -- part of a package of whole lot of other stuff. Who was the audience here? Who was he hoping to win over?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, look, it's a great question. I mean, the President throughout his -- throughout his presidency really has shown almost no capacity or interest in trying to speak to voters beyond his base. When we look at the debate over the Affordable Care Act, even the debate over tax reform, he really was unable at any point to move public opinion. And I think tonight by starting with the humanitarian -- emphasizing the humanitarian notes, downplaying the talk of the wall talking about you know, as you say there were various euphemisms. He at least showed an attempt to talk to people who might not be entirely in is camp.
But he turned so quickly and so hard for the familiar American carnage arguments of undocumented immigrants coming in to rape and pillage that I have a hard time imagining anything he did or for that matter the Democrats did tonight move the needle very much in this -- in the attitudes, public attitudes about the wall.
VAUSE: He wasn't all that new in this. Maybe there was this new explanation for how the wall will be funded, you wish anyway. Listen to what the President said again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The border wall would very quickly pay for itself. The cost of illegal drugs exceeds $500 billion a year, vastly more than the $5.7 billion we have requested from Congress. The wall will also be paid for indirectly by the great new trade deal we have made with Mexico.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:07] VAUSE: Except for the fact that wall won't stop drug smuggling because drugs enter through U.S. ports of entry. As the last point about the trade deal with Mexico, Washington Post reports this betrays a misunderstanding of economics. Countries do not lose money on trade deficits so there is no money to earn. The size of trade deficit or surplus can be turned by other factors besides trade. Congress must still appropriate the money and the trade agreement has all been ratified.
Does anyone out there even the most dedicated and devoted Trump supporter believe Mexico will actually write a check to the United States for the cost of the wall if it ever happens?
BROWNSTEIN: As I said, I mean, look, and that's why the speech very quickly turned back to kind of the usual Trump approach and strategy of speaking only to his most committed supporters. I don't -- I haven't seen balling on how many of them actually believe Mexico is going to pay for it. But the idea that the renegotiated NAFTA will fund the wall is kind of the reflects -- I mean it's again Trump making arguments that are designed more to mobilize rather than persuading.
And by the way, it's not only drugs that now flow primarily through ports of entry, the undocumented population too. First of all, apprehensions as you know, at the border are down by about 75 percent from the beginning of this century. Under the extent there is a crisis, it is not people individual you know, single males we're coming across in the middle of the desert because they want to work in Phoenix or LA, it is families presenting themselves at the ports of entry looking for asylum. So it's not clear how relevant a wall is to that problem or as you know, the drug problem which is very real.
VAUSE: OK, well, the Democrat ask for and they'll given the right of reply to the President which is unusual to say the least. But it meant you know, some air time for the joy of Chuck and Nancy. Here is Chuck Schumer, the leader of Democrats in the Senate. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The President of the United States having failed to get Mexico to pay through his ineffective, unnecessary border wall, and unable to convince the Congress or the American people to foot the bill has shut down the government. American democracy doesn't work that way. We govern by temper tantrum. No president should pound the table and demand he gets his way or else the government shuts down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: How important is it that Donald Trump seemed to fail to make the case here why he had shut down the government to get this debate about border security?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I mean, the polling in general -- first of all, through American history, government shutdowns has not been a powerful enough lever to get the protagonists of it the goals they seek. And it just -- it just has not worked. It didn't work with Republicans in '94, '95 against Clinton, it didn't work on the Affordable Care Act. It just doesn't work because the pain is too much.
And I think to me -- first of all, you know, I think for many Americans watching Schumer and Pelosi tonight, their first thought was how many days until Saturday Night Live because if there was ever -- I mean, that's just -- you could just picture the -- I could just picture the cold opening now. My second thought was Beto O'Rourke not available tonight. It was a reminder that Democrats really do have a need to kind of make a generational transition in how they are talking to America.
But having said that, I thought the most interesting reaction of the night was not for either of them but a tweet from Colin Allred who you may recall was -- is an African-American Democrat elected in the suburbs of Dallas to a previously Republican district. And he came out tonight and said the wall is unnecessary too expensive and ineffective. And if a suburban Democrat in Dallas, not Chicago, or LA feels comfortable opposing the president so unequivocally, I think that is just a reminder of how weak a hand he is playing.
Not only with the shutdown itself which is unpopular, but consistently somewhere between 55 or 60 percent or even 60 percent plus of the country has opposed the wall in every poll taken during his presidency. And that number rises among the groups that created this Democratic majority, minorities, millennials, and college-educated whites. So he is I think playing on the short side of the field. He's shown that he's comfortable doing that, but Democrats don't feel a lot of pressure and I think that's we're dealing with.
VAUSE: Ron, as always, thank you.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: And you can watch the replay of President Trump's entire address as well as the response from the Democratic Party coming up in our next hour. That 7:00 Wednesday morning London, 3:00 p.m. in Hong Kong. The British Parliament says the vote on Theresa May's Brexit plan is coming Tuesday but if it's rejected which seems likely, the default position of a No Deal Brexit now comes with a new obstacle.
Lawmakers had voted to curb the government's taxation powers if Britain crashes out of the E.U. without an agreement. Well, it's seen as by some especially symbolic gesture. It shows that lawmakers on both sides do not support the New Deal scenario. Opposition party leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted this. "This vote is an important step to prevent a no deal Brexit."
The divisions in the U.K. are not confined within the Palace of Westminster. Angry protesters are heckling lawmakers as they head to work. Some members of parliament are urging more action from police. Details from CNN's Nina dos Santos.
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[01:10:07] NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN EUROPE EDITOR: They harassed members of the media --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a disgrace.
DOS SANTOS: Chased the left-wing commentator, with abuse. But it seems like these lobbed against a prominent anti-Brexit M.P. that colleague say crossed the line.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I object being called a Nazi, actually.
DOS SANTOS: The second time since December, the conservative lawmaker and a (INAUDIBLE) was surrounded and repeatedly called and Nazi and the yards on the U.K. seated democracy. Downing Street condemned the treatment as unacceptable and disgraceful for more than 50 MPs from all parties signed a letter to Scotland Yard urging the force to investigate.
PAT MACFADDEN, BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: We are asking the police to ensure that those two things can happen. Journalists can do the job, MPs can speak their minds. It's not what we want in this country and really it's a sad reflection of part of what the Brexit debate has done to the country.
DOS SANTOS: Police have not made any arrests, but promised to take robust action in the future.
LAURENCE TAYLOR, DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, METROPOLITAN POLICE: Policing Brexit is always going to be challenging for the police service. We have an enhanced presence outside Parliament. We've reviewed our policing plan and we'll be reviewing that again after the vote.
DOS SANTOS: Protests like these have become a fixture outside the Houses of Parliament ever since the U.K. held its referendum on E.U. membership in the summer of 2016. Now, with Brexit just two months away, the atmosphere is becoming increasingly toxic with some of the most vocal demonstrators having been targeted themselves by the UK's version of the so-called yellow vests.
STEVE BRAY, REMAIN PROTESTER: They've jostled us, they've come in. I've been surrounded a number of times and you know, I personally feel that having my mobile phone on me on record has stopped a lot more happening than could happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I grew up for the simple saying, if you can't be nice, don't be nasty. That's what behavior makes us all look bad.
DOS SANTOS: In Brexiter Britain, the lines between free speech at hate speech are becoming more blurred by the day. Nina dos Santos, CNN London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Trade talks between United States and China may be moving forward in a positive direction. Negotiators have agreed to extend the talks in Beijing for a third day. One person familiar with these negotiations describe them as constructive. The U.S. President even tweeted the talks are going well. This is the first time negotiators have met face to face since the two presidents Trump and Xi agree laugh last month to restart these talks.
CNN Steven Jiang is live once again this hour in Beijing with more details. So what, the Asia Stock Market is up, oil price has surged up, there's a lot of expectation here, a lot of optimism that maybe there'll be a breakthrough because there is a deadline here, March 2nd before the U.S. President slips tariffs on a whole bunch of Chinese imports.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: That's right, John. And all signs pointing to these talks going relatively well given the fact that negotiators want at least one more day to talk more on specific issues. And we are also starting to see some would say, concrete evidence of Chinese concessions in the past few days. Just yesterday on Tuesday for example, the Chinese government approved a five genetically modified U.S. crops to be imported into China. And this is something that U.S. government has long demanded.
And this is also something very controversial here in China because a large portion of the population are actually strongly against any sorts of genetically modified food. For -- so for the Chinese government to make this approval -- to provide this approval right now, according to many, is a sign of their willingness or even eagerness to a move this negotiation process along.
There are also other signs even before the negotiators from the U.S. arrived here in China. For example, the government has proposed changes in their laws on foreign investments and intellectual property rights by banning the force to transfer of foreign technologies to foreign companies, Chinese partners here and by a promising equal treatment to foreign companies here in China.
So all these moves, John, are some of the concessions may even be unthinkable just a few months ago because what Mr. Trump has long complained or demanded is about economic structural changes, something -- some critics say would the really trigger an existential crisis for the leadership here because that's going to affect how they actually view how the economy is run here. But now, it seems like with the market lay slowing, Chinese economy here, President Xi of China is under increasing pressure to make a deal while Mr. Trump is also very concerned about a volatile U.S. Stock Market. So they both have the incentives to make some sort of deal by that deadline. And now we are seeing these the latest signs and the people are now expecting some sort of agreement even by longtime pessimists not only through these closely watched trade negotiations but also through a Chinese flattery of Mr. Trump behind the scene lobbying as well as these paper concessions by China. John?
[01:15:11] VAUSE: Flattery it seems, we get you every way. Steven, thank you. Next on CNN NEWSROOM. Turkey's president lashes out of the U.S. National Security Adviser, accusing him of moving the goalposts on a plan to withdraw American troops in Syria.
Also, a mistake by Paul Manafort's lawyer is revealing shocking new details about the former head of the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia.
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VAUSE: Well, the confusing and murky exit strategy for the U.S. troops in Syria just got a lot murkier. U.S. national security adviser was snubbed in Ankara as he tried to secure security guarantees with Turkey for America's Kurdish allies. CNN's Alex Marquardt has more now from Washington.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A furious response from one of the United States' most important NATO allies. As Turkey's president blasted National Security Advisor John Bolton after he delivered to Turkey a list of five conditions before American troops leave Syria.
Those conditions not revealed, but Bolton while visiting Israel this weekend indicated that U.S. forces would not be leaving Syria until ISIS is defeated and Kurdish forces, Turkey's sworn enemy are protected.
"Bolton's comments were unacceptable," President Erdogan said. Not possible for us to swallow. He called Bolton seriously mistaken and not calling America's Kurdish allies what Turkey thinks they are, terrorists.
Erdogan reportedly denied a meeting with Bolton who did meet with his Turkish counterpart before leaving the country. A spokesman for Bolton said that a meeting with Erdogan was never on the schedule.
Last month, President Trump and the White House produced video made it clear he wanted U.S. troop's home immediately.
TRUMP: They're all coming back and they're coming back now. We won.
MARQUARDT: But during Bolton's stop in Jerusalem, he told reporters that the U.S. withdrawal from Syria would, in fact, have some preconditions.
JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR OF THE UNITED STATES: To do so for Northeast Syria in a way that makes sure that ISIS is defeated and is not able to revive itself, and become a threat again.
MARQUARDT: The same day, the president denied his own previous comments.
TRUMP: We are pulling back in Syria. We're going to be removing our troops. I never said we're doing it that quickly. But we're decimating ISIS.
[01:20:02] MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's extraordinarily dangerous to send mixed signals where nobody knows who really speaks for the United States government.
MARQUARDT: In his tirade, Erdogan said he was ignoring Bolton, and listening to the president's words instead. Begging the question who do countries look to now for direction on U.S. foreign policy.
BOOT: If I'm another world leader, I would not believe a word that any cabinet official, any aide to Donald Trump tells me until I heard from Donald Trump himself. And I wouldn't necessarily believe it from Donald Trump either because he's liable to change his mind within a couple of days. So there is no consistent U.S. foreign policy. There is no consistent message.
MARQUARDT: Adding to the confusion is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who is currently traveling in the Middle East right now to eight different countries and whose message to them according to U.S. officials is, the U.S. is not leaving.
A source is telling my colleague at the White House, Kevin Liptak that President Trump is now closer to Bolton and Pompeo's position about not immediately pulling out of Syria after he visited the U.S. troops in Iraq at Christmas. Where he was told that ISIS has not been entirely eradicated in Syria. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier, joins us now from Washington on what was one of those rarely seen extraordinary moments in international diplomacy.
So, Kimberly, with that in mind, it's one thing for all of this, this exchange between Turkey's president and the U.S. national security adviser to happen behind closed doors.
It's a whole different story when it plays out so -- very deliberately in public.
KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Absolutely. It's like you're watching a tug of war with the national security advisor on one side and the Turkish president on the other. And they're each trying to get Donald Trump's ear. But I think in this case, Bolton has won and all of the different messages you saw coming from a very frustrated Turkish president are assign of that. He thought he'd won Trump over to his position, and now Bolton has dialed it back.
VAUSE: Here's a little more from Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chastising John Bolton. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): Regarding this matter, Bolton has made a serious mistake. And whoever thinks like this has also made a mistake. It is not possible for us to make compromises on this point. Those who are part of the terror corridor in Syria will receive the necessary lesson. There is no single difference between the PKK, YPG, PYD, and Daesh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Then, what he was talking about there is this request by the United States for security guarantees for the Kurdish militia fighters who were the U.S. allies, doing all the heavy lifting in Syria in the fight against ISIS.
What was interesting there, is you know, he call a date which is what they have they refer to ISIS. But it basically put ISIS and the U.S. allies, the Kurdish militia fighters all of the one button bucket, all on a par, all this being essentially the same.
DOZIER: Well, Turkish officials I've spoken to have always argued that there is no difference between the SDF, the name of the militia that works with the United States. And the Kurdish militia terrorist group that has attacked inside Turkey.
So, this is their argument and they're not moving off from it while the U.S. has made a differentiation between different Kurdish groups and always insist when they talk to reporters like me that they're working with the mostly Arab and some Kurdish elements of these militia groups.
The Turks will always say, no, as long as the U.S. stays there and supports any element of the Kurdish militia groups. They end up supporting what Turkey calls a terrorist statelet on its border.
VAUSE: Yes, Bolton, who presumably supportive of the president's plan to withdraw troops in the first place. But he was in the Middle East to try and clear up the confusion about the timeline here for the U.S. troop withdrawal, which is gone from what, now? To 30 days, to 120 days, to a period of time?
You know this timeline was described by the news web site Axios. With this headline, "The U.S. is leaving Syria and will stay as long as it takes." It seems so mission impossible for Bolton, and also the Secretary of State who's also on a similar trip to the region, given that -- you know, the president back in Washington keeps changing his position and undermining his advisors, which raises again questions about U.S. credibility.
DOZIER: Well, we haven't heard anything different from Trump since Bolton has been on this trip. And yes, President Trump is currently working with the wall issue. But still, I think if Bolton had spoken out, and out of turn, the president would have tweeted something back here. What happened was in the fall, you had Bolton and other top officials pushing to expand the mission inside Syria to include not just fighting ISIS but also to push out Iran
Some officials said that was a little too far, it angered Turkey. The Turkish president asked for that infamous phone call with Donald Trump, where he then decided, yes, you can do the job-fighting ISIS. I'm pulling my troops out.
Ever since then, Bolton has been trying to talk the president into walking that back. I think the resignation of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and the round condemnation that Trump got from his own GOP allies on Capitol Hill, all made an impression. And he's found a way with some time and distance to reverse his own decision.
[01:25:49] VAUSE: Well, What's also interesting is that after Bolton cut short his visit to Ankara, and there is an editorial which appeared at a pro-government newspaper in Turkey, calling out -- you want to say it was a slow-moving coup against Donald Trump.
And it finished with this paragraph. "The Turkish government had unveiled its plan to target PKK, YPG targets, the Kurds in Northern Syria long before Trump decided to withdraw from Syria. If senior U.S. officials keep making up new rules as they go, the Turks will run out of patience."
I mean, this is just an editorial, but it is a pro-government newspaper. So, what they're saying is that regardless what the U.S. does, you know, they could soon be this attack, you launched -- you know, across the border from Turkey into Syria, targeting the Kurds. But that seems it won't happen as long as the U.S. stays there. And that now seems to be where the state have play is.
DOZIER: Well, at least, you've got that, that tension those two positions laid out. Turkey has said that is been patient for a long time while waiting for the U.S.-led coalition to defeat ISIS with these Kurdish militia group's help.
But that patience has run out, they are worried at this point that an independent Kurdish state could form on the other side of the Turkish border, and be a launching ground for future terrorist attacks on Turkish territory.
So, their fear comes from a legitimate place but from the U.S. point of view, they can't allow people who risk their lives and did most of the fighting and dying to then be attacked, and to be run by some sort of Turkish colonial force.
VAUSE: Kimberly, you know, this is a complicated issue but it's an important one. It's also a very sensitive issue one which could it -- you know, obviously, has serious consequences for the region. So, thank you for being with us, and thank you for your insight.
DOZIER: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, either the wall is the only solution to a growing crisis of the southern border, or let's say $5 billion solution, in search of a problem. Next up, a closer look at the facts of most really happening on the U.S.-Mexico border.
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[01:30:18] VAUSE: Thanks for staying with us. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with a check of the headlines this hour.
The British parliament will vote next Tuesday on Theresa May's Brexit agreement with European Union. Lawmakers have also handed the Prime Minister a big defeat curbing the government's taxation powers in the event of a no deal Brexit.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is on a visit to China to hold talks with the president there, Xi Jinping. Beijing is not saying why he was invited but it comes as Chinese and U.S. negotiators are meeting also in Beijing to try and resolve their ongoing trade disputes.
In his first prime time televised address from the Oval Office, President Trump blamed Democrats for failing to address what he called a crisis at the southern border as well as for the government shutdown now into its third week.
In their response, Democratic leaders demanded the President reopen the government before there's any more debate on border security for his border wall.
Just calling something a crisis doesn't make it a crisis. And despite what the President said during his prime time address, a crisis on the southern border, there is not.
To help us sort the facts from a lot of fiction CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary of Homeland Security is Juliette Kayyem and she is joining us now.
Ok. So one thing which the President did say which seems to be true is his claim of a humanitarian crisis on the southern border.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right.
VAUSE: And that's a crisis with, you know, kids being separated, with children dying and has been created by the policies of the Trump administration.
KAYYEM: That's exactly right. You know, the President highlights problems that exist at the border. We know this. We've known this, you know, since the country was created. Borders and border enforcement has issues. There are public policy problems.
But the solution doesn't get you to a wall especially when it comes to the humanitarian crisis because what we see no matter how draconian the Trump administration is, people still need to flee their countries. They will still come here.
There's nothing about a wall that would stop them from doing that as the President has suggested in the past. And so he's using the humanitarian crisis as if to say well, that's the reason for the wall when it's just the exact opposite. No wall is going to stop something like that
VAUSE: There was no declaration of a national emergency but the President did continue on with this line about uncontrolled illegal immigration. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every day customs and border patrol agents encounter thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter our country. We're out of space to hold them and we have no way to promptly return them back home to their country.
America proudly welcomes millions of lawful immigrants who had reached our society and contribute to our nation. But all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ok. Here are the numbers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection which shows the numbers of apprehensions on the southern border since 2000.
See how it all goes the way down there, right, towards the right-hand side of the screen.
(CROSSTALKING)
VAUSE: These numbers are since 2000. But ok.
KAYYEM: It's good news.
VAUSE: Yes. Where is the crisis.
KAYYEM: It's good news. It is not bad news. It is actually good news.
VAUSE: So there's no crisis, right. This is -- there's been a slight blip (ph) --
KAYYEM: Yes.
VAUSE: -- in the last 12 months relative to other years.
KAYYEM: Yes. I mean I've been in border enforcement and immigration issues for most of my career. There's no crisis. And as I said earlier, look, there's problems.
We clearly have problems. We have illegal immigration. You don't want to have it. You want to make sure that people get here lawfully or if they come here for asylum, that they're granted asylum if they deserve it.
But the President has had to create this narrative of a crisis not just to justify simply the wall but to justify why he brought the U.S. government to a stand still with this shutdown.
And so they just keep regenerating these stories and these tragedies and these crises but none of them really justify the kind of solutions that are coming out of the White House.
I personally left that, you know, the Trump speech and felt like he really doesn't have many more cards to play. There was almost nothing new in that speech. He didn't invoke an emergency or a national security emergency. He seemed defensive about whether Mexico will pay for the wall which they're clearly not.
And so I think that, you know, politically this was his last gasp and I don't know where he goes from here.
VAUSE: One thing which is notable though is that he did not repeat the lies over misstatements or the falsehoods of other administration officials about 4,000 terrorists, you know, crossing into the United States over the southern border. And so turned his focus on illicit drugs. Here is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:35:03] TRUMP: Our border is a pipeline for vast quantities of illegal drugs, including meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. every week 300 of our citizens are killed by heroin alone, 90 percent of which floods across from our southern border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ok. So when we're talking about smuggling drugs, the Drug Enforcement Agency reported last year,"The most common method involves transporting illicit drugs through U.S. Ports of entry in vehicles with concealed compartments or co-mingled with legitimate goods on tractor trailers."
How would a wall stop drugs being smuggled in to the U.S. through ports of entry?
KAYYEM: It absolutely wouldn't. And that's because if you're a drug dealer, you want to minimize the likelihood that you will get caught. So who are going to get to courier the stuff? Lawful residents and people who are not illegal coming over valid borders.
And the other piece of this is if you look in the United States, the people who are unlawful at this stage, in other words, they're out of status, they didn't come here by crossing borders illegally. The majority of them came here legally and overstayed their student visa, overstayed, you know, their travel visa.
And so, you know, this idea of a wall stopping those people is also just absurd. And when you add the $5 billion , you know, price tag that Mexico is not paying. The failures of this policy become that much clearer.
VAUSE: Yes. Funny, no one seems to be talking about the issue of circular flow. And to explain what circular flow is, here's a clip from the TV show, the comedy show "Adam Ruins Everything".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations drastically increased border enforcement in response to public opinion, they stopped that circular flow. Not by keeping people out but by keeping people in.
As it got harder and harder to go back and forth, people crossing the border decided they were much better off just staying in the U.S. This increase in border enforcement caused the number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States to skyrocket by 248 percent.
It's counter intiuitive but building a wall wouldn't stop people from coming in, it would actually stop them from going back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, someone described the wall as a solution in search of a problem.
KAYYEM: Yes.
VAUSE: Maybe it's just a great big problem in waiting.
KAYYEM: That's exactly right. Look, what you want to do is you want to maximize the number of lawful crossings without stopping commerce or lawful immigration and ensure that the borders remain porous enough so that you could have the economic and vital activity that occurs between the United States and Mexico at least at the southern border.
A wall would stop all that, of course. And also those who are already here who often return home. They're seasonal workers. They've decided that it's not working out here. They miss being home, will not be able to
I'm pretty confident the wall does not get built. Under the Obama administration they built about 700 -- 800 miles of barriers which makes more sense. And that this is -- this is -- this has left the realm of national security and we're just in pure politics or dare I say even ego at this stage because there's -- there's no policy behind the wall anymore.
VAUSE: Politics and ego are often one and the same.
Juliette -- good to see you.
KAYYEM: Yes. Thank you.
VAUSE: Thank you.
KAYYEM: Thank you. Good night.
VAUSE: What appears to be a colossal mistake by Paul Manafort's lawyers has revealed alleged details about their client's close coordination, called even, collusion with Russia.
In court filings which were accidentally unsealed, Manafort was sharing polling data with an alleged Kremlin operative during the 2016 campaign -- that delegation from the Robert Mueller investigation.
It is a remarkable suggestion of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia beyond anything we've seen so far.
Details now from CNN's Sara Murray reporting from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort shared campaign related polling and discussed the Ukrainian peace plan with a Russian associate, Konstantin Kilimnik. They stayed in touch after Donald Trump was elected meeting in Madrid in 2017.
Those revelations are the closest public assertion yet of coordination between a Trump campaign official and Russians. In this case, Kilimnik, a man prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence which investigators say is responsible for hacking the Democratic Party and leaking stolen e-mails during the 2016 campaign.
Manafort's legal team inadvertently revealed the details about his contacts with Kilimnik in a new court filing. That filing meant to explain that Manafort never intentionally lied to federal investigators when he was supposed to be cooperating in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.
The filing was submitted under seal then made public with redactions. But a formatting error allowed those redactions to be made public.
[01:39:58] In another failed redaction, Manafort's team takes issue with prosecutors' claims that Manafort lied about his contacts with the Trump administration. Manafort's team says someone asked in Manafort's name if they met the President.
"This does not constitute outrage by Mr. Manafort to the President", Manafort's team wrote in their filing.
The Manafort revelations come as another Russian he encountered during the campaign, Natalia Veselnitskaya faces an obstruction of justice charge brought by the southern district of New York.
Veselnitskaya was the Russian lawyer that Trump campaign officials hoped would deliver dirt on Hillary Clinton in the now infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting. That meeting now a focus of Mueller's investigation.
But the new indictment is related to a money laundering case against Prevezon Holdings, a Russian-owned investment firm. The indictment highlights Veselnitskaya's close ties to the Russian government saying she submitted an intentionally misleading declaration to the court which she allegedly drafted in secret cooperation with a senior Russian prosecutor.
Veselnitskaya has previously denied any ties to the Kremlin.
NATALIA VESELNITSKAYA, RUSSIAN LAWYER (through translator): No. I'm certainly flattered by being marked and called as a government attorney. But I have never worked for the government in the first place.
MURRAY: In written testimony to the Senate judiciary in 2017, she claimed she had no relationship with Russia's prosecutor general quote, "Other than those related to my professional function of a lawyer."
In April 2018, she revised her story again calling herself an informant.
Today Veselnitskaya declined to comment on the indictment but vowed to "defend my professional honor".
Now Veselnitskaya is not here in the United States and unless she decides for some reason to leave Russia she'll probably never see a U.S. Courtroom. Of course, Paul Manafort is not going to be that lucky. He's due for sentencing in February as well as in March.
Sara Murray, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Next up on CNN NEWSROOM, U.S. economy picking up steam means a big increase in carbon emissions as well -- the biggest uptick in eight years.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, America's climate change denier in chief has another critical report they're trying to explain away. It finds carbon emissions rose sharply in the United States last year and puts renewed criticism on Donald Trump's environmental policies.
Details now from CNN's Jason Carroll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this report means a couple of things. First the U.S. is seeing a strong economy and as a result, seeing more emissions from the manufacturing industry, factories and in transportation.
[01:45:02] And the reality is there's simply not as many policies in place to police those industries.
This administration has made it clear at times they're not on board when it comes to the science behind climate change. And critics say this new report should be a wake-up call.
The report from the Rhodium Group estimates carbon emissions increased by 3.4 percent last year. That's the biggest increase in eight years. The report also shows how fossil fuel emissions from industries such as power, transportation, and building had actually been decreasing in the United States in previous years but now again increasing.
The Rhodium Group estimates that that the industrial sector is on track to become a major source of emissions in California by 2020. That's followed by transportation which will be the biggest sources in the state of Texas by 2022.
Again, the Trump administration wants to roll back a number of environmental protections saying some of those protections hurt industry, hurt the economy. The new research shows these increases highlight what critics say is a lack of strategy in the administration's emissions efforts.
A number of the President's critics say this report is just another reason why the United States should not have pulled out of the Paris Climate Change agreement. The goal of that agreement, of course, is to strengthen the global response to climate change creating an international network of government bodies all dedicated to lowering emissions. A number of environmentalists have already come out and have said that this particular report is extremely alarming.
Jason Carroll, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Geologist, scientist and really smart person Jess Phoenix joins us now from Los Angeles.
JESS PHOENIX, GEOLOGIST: Hi -- John.
VAUSE: Hi. How are you doing?
PHOENIX: Good. How are you?
VAUSE: Good -- thanks.
Ok. This report despite Americans buying more electric cars, despite the expansion of solar and wind and closing down coal fired power plants in record numbers, you know the lead of from this report says most of the carbon increase last year was directly attributed to an increase in economic growth.
It then goes on to add it does not have to be the case that a rising economy results in rising emissions. But it will be the case until economic growth is decoupled from, you know, the carbon economy from emission. That just hasn't happened yet in the United States.
And all that other stuff -- you know, the wind, the solar, the electric cars, well it is helpful. It's not negating the uptick in economic activity.
PHOENIX: Yes, that's exactly right.
And until we have federal and state governments that are willing to actually regulate industry and the building sector, we're going to continue to see this type of -- of rise in CO2 emissions whenever we have an economic boom. And we are on target to meet the goals that we have set for ourselves
in order to help stop the climate change slide that we're seeing.
VAUSE: Are there any economy -- any examples of economies around the world which have actually managed to increase economic growth while reducing emissions at the same time? Is it possible?
PHOENIX: Well, it's definitely possible and anytime you see a culture that is heavily dependent on innovation for its progress, you're going to see things not only become more efficient like we saw with the American manufacturing revolution at the turn of the 20th century, but you're going to see things become more environmentally friendly because no one wants dirty water, dirty air, dirty soil. And we all want a clean place for our children to grow up.
So I think that it is possible and it is something that we are seeing great strides in particularly among a lot of the European countries. The Nordic countries are a great example of having more sustainable solutions that still work and help the economy function at a healthy level. We can do that here in the U.S. It's not impossible
VAUSE: Ok. So Sweden or Switzerland, one of the countries that have actually gone to a zero emissions economy at some point. That's the goal. At least they've got a goal.
Because in the United States, we have a U.S. president who, you know, does not believe in climate change. This is what he said last year after another report on climate which was released by his own government. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you read the climate report yet?
TRUMP: I've seen it. I've read some of it. And it is fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say the economic impact will be devastating.
TRUMP: Yes. I don't believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't believe it?
TRUMP: No, no. I don't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Not only does he not believe in the science of climate change. He has this weird thing for coal. Again, the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to put the miners back to work. The miners go back to work.
We're going to put the miners back to work. We're going to put the miners back to work. And everybody will say well, you won't get any mining jobs. We picked
up 45,000 mining jobs. And the miners are very happy with Trump.
We're going to protect our coal miners. We're going to protect our steel workers.
[01:49:58] I talked to the miners. And I talked even about a different way of life. They didn't want to hear about it. They love digging coal. That's what they like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, there's been this (INAUDIBLE) strategy to rollback Obama era policies designed to reduce emissions. It's been going on for two years. Do we know what the impact that would have had in this increase in carbon emissions, although it's too soon for that to actually show up in the science.
PHOENIX: Well we did actually have a trend toward decreasing emissions, particularly from the energy sector and it still went down buy 0.1 percent in this period that we're discussing over the last year.
So we were seeing effects of the policies that have been implemented over the last 20 years or so.
So if we continue to strip away regulations that are designed to protect the American people and the world at large from harmful emissions, we're going to see these increases continue. And this is something we just can't handle .
And I would like to point out, John, that I have worked in coal mining. It's one of the main reasons I founded an environmental nonprofit. There's no such thing as clean coal. And we saw coal plants closing at a record rate last year.
Coal is a dinosaur. It's a thing of the past. We have to get with the program and move on to sustainable sources of energy.
VAUSE: And also there's this report a couple of weeks ago that said basically solar and wind is now cheaper than coal. But this report found that to meet the Paris agreement, the target of a 26, 28 percent reduction from 2005 levels of carbon emissions by 2025, the U.S. will need to reduce energy related CO2 emissions by 2.6 percent on average over the next seven years, more than twice the pace the U.S. achieved between 2005 and 2017, significantly faster than any seven-year average in U.S. History.
There would seem to have actually no chance while Donald Trump remains president.
PHOENIX: Yes. I don't think he's going to be a particularly friendly president towards environmental progress. However, this is not an impossible goal. This is something we can achieve. I mean the United States is known for achieving really big, very lofty goals because we pull together as a country and we work towards a common purpose. So if we have a Congress that is willing to enact legislation despite the President, we might be able to see some very good significant progress. I believe we can do this. It's just a matter of having the innovation and the fires that would get that innovation going really able to be fed by incentives.
VAUSE: Yes. Very quickly. I want to say a little bit of good news because, you know, overall carbon dioxide emissions are still down, what, 11 percent. This reports notes since 2005. That's never really been sort of hyped by the Obama administration and also I guess, you know, the George W. Bush administration as well.
PHOENIX: Right. And both of those presidents made the environment something they wanted to focus on but it wasn't actually something they were able to focus on. And I think that's something that you might be familiar with in the news business.
Typically the environment isn't something that gets people to tune in. They want to see reports about wars and things like that. And but really this is the greatest threat we're going to see. We have to deal with it.
VAUSE: I think that, you know, the energy toward climate change and reporting on news and what people want to know -- I think that's changing very quickly. I hope anyway.
But Jess -- as always --
PHOENIX: Yes.
VAUSE: -- thank you. Good to see you.
PHOENIX: Thank you -- John. Take care.
VAUSE: Thanks.
Next up on CNN NEWSROOM, standing by his man -- America's Vice President hammered by critics for defending his boss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Flights out of London's Heathrow Airport were halted Tuesday evening after a drone was spotted in the area. Officials called the delay which lasted just over an hour -- precautionary.
[00:15:503] It comes just weeks after Gatwick Airport outside London was shut down for a day and a half because of drones. Both airports recently invested millions in anti-drone technology. British police are expected to be given new authority to deal with the misuse of drones.
It was the U.S. President Harry S Truman who once remarked, want a friend in Washington, get a dog. But it seems Donald Trump has no need for man's best friend. He has his own very loyal best friend it seems. No matter what he says, now matter how big the outrage from the U.S. President, America's Vice President always stands loyally beside Trump.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Vice President has taken flak for his adoring gaze at President Trump, for his silent head swivel during that Oval Office confrontation, and now for his sighing -- and those pained eyebrows.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That was his impression.
MOOS: During interviews that had anchors calling him out.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So Mike Pence just tried to pull a fast one on us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Pence knows that he's lying.
MOOS: "Lick, spittle, bootlicker", tweeted one critic with more than just his pants on fire. The Vice President is known for his professed rectitude pumping someone to tweet, "I'm calling Jesus because Pence just broke a commandment."
The VP rattled off misleading border stats and was asked about his boss's statement that past presidents have told Trump that they should have built a wall.
TRUMP: Some of them have told me that we should have done it.
MOOS: Except representatives for the four living presidents said it never happened.
PENCE: Well, you -- I know the President has said that that was his impression from previous administrations.
MOOS: Almost hard to watch. Bad enough getting caught in your own lies but to have to explain someone else's --
Pence's performance inspired a one-word tweet that sent us to to the dictionary for guidance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Oleaginous".
MOOS: Meaning oily or offensively ingratiating.
Watch out. If you stand too close to your man, his habits might rub off on you.
Jeanne Moos, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Stay with us. The news continues right here on CNN with Rosemary Church after a very short break.
[01:57:30] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
