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Trump Delivers Blunt Warning to Venezuela Military over Aid Impasse; Roger Stone Apologizes For Posts About Judge; U.K. Could Undermine U.S. Plan To Block Huawei; Report: White House Asks Abe For Nobel Nomination. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 19, 2019 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church with your next two of hours of CNN NEWSROOM.
Donald Trump's very direct message to Venezuela's military and its government.
In Eastern Syria we will take you to the last town controlled by ISIS. And the devastation they have left behind.
Plus sources tell CNN the U.S. and North Korea are considering making a move towards normalizing diplomatic relations.
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CHURCH: Donald Trump has a stern warning for military leaders in Venezuela: continue to back President Maduro and you will lose everything. The U.S. president spoke in Miami on Monday, urging Venezuela's armed forces to allow humanitarian aid into the country.
He called Maduro a Cuban puppet who would rather seeing his people starve than give them aid.
And he said military leaders must support opposition leader and self- declared interim president, Juan Guaido.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We seek a peaceful transition of power but all options are open. We want to restore Venezuelan democracy and we believe that the Venezuelan military and its leadership have a vital role to play in this process.
If you choose this path, you have the opportunity to help forge a safe and prosperous future for all of the people of Venezuela or you can choose the second path continuing to support Maduro. If you choose this path, you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: President Maduro says 300 tons of aid will arrive from Russia on Wednesday, high-quality medicines, which he says Venezuela paid for itself. He blasted Donald Trump for what he called an almost Nazi- like speech in Miami, saying Trump is only interested in Venezuela's oil and other natural resources.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLAS MADURO, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA (through translator): They believe with their contempt and arrogance against us, they think they own the country and Donald Trump believes he has the power to give orders and that the national Bolivarian armed forces will follow his orders.
It is an offense to dignity, a shame. The national Bolivarian armed forces, as I have told General Pedrino (ph), is authorized to respond with all the morality of our Bolivarian armed forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And we get more on the crisis in Venezuela from CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The aid crisis here on the border between Venezuela and Colombia mounting simply and tension by the day. And Donald Trump's speech in Miami frankly doing what it can to amplify the sense of concern here, certainly.
We'll deal with a rhetoric of it in a minute which was extraordinary in its ambition and sort of geopolitical overtone, but the nub of it really was a direct appeal to the Venezuelan military to essentially turn against the government of Nicolas Maduro and possibly through doing that get some sense of reward.
The U.S. president making it absolutely clear that America knew where military leadership money was in fact hidden, essentially saying they might be potentially targeting it and saying you can have pretty much everything or you can lose everything if you continue to block this humanitarian aid.
Now the speech was given of course to a large audience of Venezuelan ex pats, but Donald Trump also pointed out continually the ails of what he referred to as socialism, pointing towards it in Cuba, Nicaragua too, to trying potentially to combine there appealing to the Hispanic communities of Florida where he needs a victory in 2020, but also potentially casting those more left-leaning Democrats he is likely to face in 2020 as being potentially also allies of socialism as well.
In fact, the most striking quote I remember from him speech was to say that he hopes to soon see the first free hemisphere in human history.
Essentially, sounding like someone for the 1980's facing towards the Berlin Wall hoping to cast off --
[02:05:00]
WALSH: -- the yoke of socialism or communism from all of South America even though really only two or three countries still have remnants of that in its administration.
But the tension is building here day by day. We are seeing a deadline now next weekend set by the opposition to get humanitarian aid in. USAID has flown extra aid in here. It isn't enough to change the plight of the tens of millions of people inside Venezuela behind me.
But Juan Guaido, the self-declared interim president and opposition leader, has said that aid will enter at the weekend regardless or in the days after it setting the stage for a significant standoff and showdown here.
Donald Trump's rhetoric trying to tear the military away from Maduro. It may well not work. And the question will be, will that deadline pass. Many hopes so without some sense of certainly a volatility if not potential for violence -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, on the border between Venezuela and Colombia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: At least four Indian soldiers are dead after a gunfight with militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir. An Indian military official says two militants were also killed. Security forces have cordoned off the area and a search for more militants was underway.
The Monday violence comes just days after a car bomb killed around 40 paramilitary soldiers. It was the deadliest attack on Indian troops since the start of a Kashmir insurgency in the 1980s.
India blames Pakistan for the spike in the violence. Control of the region has been in dispute between the two countries for decades.
Officials in Haiti say eight people are being held on illegal weapons charges, including five Americans, adding to the chaos already gripping the country.
Violent protests began almost two weeks ago with demands for the resignations of the president and his prime minister over soaring inflation and allegations of corruption.
Now amid the unrest and violence, CNN's Sam Kiley is reporting the death of a teenage boy has only added to the widespread mistrust so many have of their government and their security forces.
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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Borne by violence and riots for almost a week, opposition supporters rampage and demand of the president and his government. No official figures exist for the death toll, but one family is
certain that Roberto Thelusma died here. He was 14 and shot dead they claim during the riots by Haitian police. Unable to protect him in life she defends him in death. He was shot packing up her cookie stool outside the hospital.
Roberto's death provoke condemnation at the highest level.
JEAN-HENRY CEANT, PRIME MINISTER, HAITI (through translator): I sent a special message to the mother of a young boy Roberto Badio Thelusma who'd died in front of the State Hospital. Today, I am the Prime Minister who knows what Roberto could have become in this country.
KILEY: But in the mural slum where Roberto lived, his words carry no weight.
It's sadly often the case that the poorest of the poor suffer most in these sorts of conflagrations. But in this case, the victims are being further threatened.
DIMITRI JOURNAL, BROTHER OF ROBERTO BADIO THELUSMA (through translator): Since my little brother died, we've been threatened. We are not safe here. We want the Prime Minister to be more responsible and keep us safe. My other little brother receives calls from blocked numbers, text saying that if we don't close the case, there will be consequences.
KILEY: Brazil says she saw a riot policemen gunned him down.
PRICIL JOURNAL, MOTHER OF ROBERTO BADIO THELUSMA (through translator): When he was done killing my son, he swapped his gun with another nearby cop and then he went into the hospital to hide.
KILEY: She is now afraid to leave her home.
JOURNAL: The people that are making those threats I'm guessing are the ones who killed my son.
KILEY: These slums are no-go areas for police and Roberto's death has driven home the belief among many people here that the state is their enemy -- Sam Kiley, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
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CHURCH: Turning now to the war in Syria. A double attack with an IED and a car bomb has killed at least 16 people in rebel-held Idlib. The White Helmets volunteer rescue group says 82 were injured.
This follows the reported artillery shelling of civilian areas in Idlib, which killed 18 people in the last few days. No word on who is responsible for the attacks. Idlib is the last major enclave for Syrian opposition rebels.
Despite the ongoing violence in Syria, the head of U.S. Central Command, General Joseph Votel, confirmed U.S. troops will be withdrawing -- [02:10:00]
CHURCH: -- from the country, during an unannounced visit to northern Syria on Monday. He also told our Barbara Starr the threat from ISIS is not over and the militants could regroup.
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GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL, CENTCOM COMMANDER: They have demonstrated the ability to do this in the past. So we should expect that they will attempt to maybe do that in the future.
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CHURCH: Votel also stopped in Iraq and Afghanistan, part of a two- week farewell tour as he prepares to retire after nearly 40 years of service.
ISIS fighters are still clinging to a small piece of land in Syria, almost completely surrounded by U.S.-backed forces. CNN's Ben Wedeman has been inside what's left of Baghouz al-Fawqani and filed this report.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Through a telephoto lens, people in vehicles are clearly visible, moving in the last areas still controlled by ISIS.
Curiously, no one appears to be moving as if in danger of being shot or bombed. This the last half-square mile of the so-called Islamic State that once ruled over a territory the size of Britain.
From a rooftop manned by troops from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, Commander Baram Hasiki (ph) explains the lay of the land.
"We are between 600 and 700 meters away from the ISIS positions," he says. "We surround them on three sides; on the fourth side is the Syrian army. ISIS is totally surrounded."
More than a thousand people may be inside the ISIS pocket; fighters and hundreds of civilians, including hostages. Days before ISIS occupied this building.
WEDEMAN: This appears to have been some sort of makeshift field hospital. You have got these bags for fluid and I here, down here, we have a rubbish bin that's got used hypodermic needles, tongue depressors and others and there's a sign outside that calls this a pharmacy.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): For now, most of the guns have fallen silent. We saw no airstrikes, although we could hear coalition airplanes overhead. The soldiers were relaxed, in a jovial mood. Many have fought in the war against ISIS across this part of Syria. Until this final battle, not yet over, that has reduced this town to a moonscape of wreckage and rubble -- Ben Wedeman, CNN, inside Baghouz al-Fawqani, Eastern Syria.
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CHURCH: Britain's opposition leader, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, is facing a mutiny within the party. Seven Labour MPs have quit in protest of his handling of Brexit and also the rise of anti-Semitism within the party under his leadership. And they may not be the last. Phil Black brings us the story from London.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brexit looms over this dramatic development, as it does almost every aspect of British politics. At the moment, these resigning seven resigning MPs all strongly believe there should be yet another referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union.
That's an idea the Labour Party leadership has been reluctant to get excited about. But it was one motivation for these MPs deciding to resign. It's not the only reason. The problems in the Labour Party are bigger and deeper than just that one enormous issue.
Anti-Semitism is another. And in particular what they see as the party's profound failure at wiping it out from the party membership. These resigning MPs are also on the wrong side of an ideological chasm that really opened up when Jeremy Corbyn first became the leader of the party and began driving the party strongly to the left.
So these seven MPs stood up before the British media to say their political values have not changed. But the party they joined decades ago, the party they have loved, served and dedicated their lives to, they say it's changed beyond recognition.
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CHRIS LESLIE, BRITISH MP: British politics is now well and truly broken. The evidence of Labour's betrayal on Europe is now visible for all to see.
LUCIANA BERGER, BRITISH MP: I cannot remain in a party that I have today come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti- Semitic.
CHUKA UMUNNA, BRITISH MP: The last few years have shown the established parties are simply not up to this challenge. They can't be the change because they have become the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACK: These MPs say they are not setting up a new political party -- not yet, anyway -- but they are working together. They are coordinating. They have a new website. They will meet regularly. They will sit in parliament as the Independent Group. It's a hugely dramatic development for the British Labour Party.
Some Labour Party loyalists say it's very sad; others say it is highly damaging to the party.
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BLACK: It is also very significant to British politics generally. Just how significant will be determined by what happens next and crucially how many other MPs from Labour and potentially other parties are also prepared to resign and join them -- Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We will take a short break.
When we come back, final plans are taking shape. The second North Korea-U.S. summit, the move both countries are reportedly considering that would change their relationship dramatically.
And why British lawmakers calling Facebook a digital gangster and what do they intend to do about it?
The answers when we return.
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CHURCH: Welcome back.
Another round of U.S.-China trade talks gets underway in Washington. The meetings are part of an agreement reached by President Trump and President Xi Jinping to negotiate for 90 days to try to resolve their trade dispute.
U.S. Tariffs on Chinese imports are set to jump from 10 percent to 25 percent on March 1st. The U.S. is pushing for structural changes from China, like an end to forced technology transfers from U.S. companies and intellectual property theft.
Beijing denies using such practices.
With the second summit between Trump and Kim just over a week away, the U.S. and North Korea are considering exchanging liaison officers. If they do, it will be a step to formalizing diplomatic relations. Two sources say North Korea is expecting a significant gesture from the U.S. to end the current stalemate over denuclearization.
Our Will Ripley is in Hong Kong and joins us now.
Good to see you, Will.
How did North Korea and U.S. suddenly get to this point and how premature is this, given nothing of substance was achieved at the first summit between the two leaders and we're yet to see what will come of the second summit?
And yet we're talking about these liaison officers.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think, to your second point, it really depends on your perspective. Some would argue that North Korea hasn't done anything to deserve this important step that could eventually lead to the normalization of diplomatic ties between the U.S. --
[02:20:00]
RIPLEY: -- and North Korea. Some would argue that -- including the former envoy to North Korea, Ambassador Joe Yun -- he has argued for months that a liaison office is the only way to break the stalemate because it would open lines of communication and help the two countries build confidence and build trust which is crucial for denuclearization to take off because it hasn't happened yet.
One of the reasons the North Koreans have given is that they don't have enough trust in the U.S., depending on the point of you view. is understandable, given the history between the two countries.
Obviously the U.S. doesn't trust North Korea, either. As far as the idea of first exchanging liaison officers, up to seven on each side and possibly opening up offices, which could lead to embassies in Pyongyang and Washington, the U.S. and North Korea almost did that back in 1994, when they negotiated the agreed framework.
The U.S. was training staff. They were teaching people Korean and went to Pyongyang, looking at leasing space in the German mission in Pyongyang. And then it all fell apart. It has never returned to that level since.
This time around, you have an unconventional U.S. president and a new North Korean leader and there's a lot more at stake. We know that liaison offices work, they open lines of communication to help each side resolve issues.
When you have full-time staff in the country available direct communication as opposed to relying on diplomatic back channels or trips back and forth. And if you think about Beijing 1979, Hanoi 1995, when embassies opened in China and Vietnam in the years prior, they had opened up liaison offices.
So it's a very important and potentially very promising diplomatic step if, indeed, it does happen.
CHURCH: But certainly on the surface it looks like a great move for the North Koreans and, of course, many are doubtful that they have earned this opportunity at this particular juncture.
But what does the U.S. get out of this?
RIPLEY: Each step gives legitimacy to the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. President Trump gave him a lot of legitimacy when sitting down with him in Singapore. Now he is agreeing to a second summit.
If this does progress, you could have a scenario where North Korea moves closer to normalize ties with the U.S. without taking a step to get rid of nuclear weapons, which has been the ultimate goal of the United States in this process all along.
Has the U.S. readjusted its expectations?
Is North Korea willing to give some concession to reciprocate this potential offer?
Again, this is all according to sources. We don't believe it has been agreed to yet. They are going to sign a joint statement. And the details in that statement, the specific plan that both sides walk away with, with tangible results to eventually achieve denuclearization, that will be the key that we will be watching for in Hanoi next week -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: We most certainly shall. Will Ripley, live from Hong Kong, thank you for that.
There has never been a U.S. Congress quite like the 116th, which was gaveled in at the beginning of the year, diverse in age, religion, gender and ethnicity. A record number of women are part of the freshmen class. They're shaking up the establishment and proudly pushing an progressive agenda. Here's Sunlen Serfaty.
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SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Capitol Hill, the freshmen are flipping the script.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D), NEW YORK: I am so incredibly excited.
SERFATY (voice-over): Cutting through the noise...
REP. LUCY MCBATH (D), GEORGIA: A lot of this around here is white noise.
SERFATY: -- commandeering the conversation and, in many ways, now driving the agenda. Among those leading and pushing the agenda, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, breaking free of the formulaic approach of most lawmakers.
OCASIO-CORTEZ: And it's already super legal as we've seen for me to be a pretty bad guy. So, it's even easier for the president of the United States to be one, I would assume.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
SERFATY (voice-over): And her Green New Deal resolution not only prompting quick Capitol Hill movement...
OCASIO-CORTEZ: We are in this together.
SERFATY (voice-over): -- but becoming somewhat of a litmus test for 2020 Democrats. REP. JENNIFER WEXTON (D), VIRGINIA: It helps that we come in and don't have any preconceived notions about what we should be doing and following the rules.
SERFATY (voice-over): Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, too, is creating viral moments, becoming one of the most vocal voices of the new class.
REP. ILHAN OMAR (D), MINNESOTA: I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I could respond to that.
OMAR: It wasn't a question.
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OMAR: That was not -- that was not a question. That was -- I reserve the right to my time.
SERFATY: And Congresswoman Lucy McBath who lost her son Jordan Davis to gun violence, leading the House Judiciary Committee to advance its first gun control legislation in years.
MCBATH: It was very bittersweet, because I have been able to do something and achieve something that's really profound and really makes a difference for people like my son, even though I wasn't able to save him. I think each and every one of us in so many different ways is making our mark.
SERFATY: In just two short months, these women, along with the rest of the diverse young new class are drawing strength from their record- setting numbers.
REP. LAUREN UNDERWOOD (D), ILLINOIS: We did not get here by being weak, by being wall flowers, by waiting our turn.
SERFATY: Making it clear they're doing things their own way.
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB (D), MICHIGAN: There is so much courage, but there's also rawness and realness. I think that's the difference is, you know, you're feeling that connection because these are people that are feeling differently and talking about issues differently.
SERFATY: The waves they've made so far.
REP. JIM CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: I think they're a very, very a force to reckon with and we're trying to reckon with them.
SERFATY: Not always sitting well with leadership...
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CALIF.), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That's the word, isn't it?
Viral, viral, viral.
SERFATY (voice-over): -- who have had to manage the growing power of this freshman class.
PELOSI: Welcome to the Democratic Party. We are not a rubber stamp for anybody.
The members come, they bring their enthusiasms, their priorities. We welcome that. And they are not programmed. They are spontaneous, prepared and I'm proud of them.
SERFATY: Now, at the same time, Speaker Pelosi was also asked if these new members have an outsized influence. And she said, point- blank, no.
One new member quipping back to me telling me, Pelosi knows her math here, and the math is very clear, that leadership needs us freshman to get their legislative priorities through.
That dynamic within the House Democrats that certainly be something to watch going forward. And it's also worth remembering that we've seen this sort of thing before, think back to 2010, the Tea Party, when they forced their leaders, Republicans, in this case, in a new direction as well -- Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Donald Trump may be the first U.S. president ever to believe Russia over his own intelligence agencies. The latest on allegations by former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe coming up.
Plus the U.S. claims Chinese tech giant Huawei's products pose a security threat.
But do America's allies agree with that?
Why some of them are pushing back. We will return in just a moment.
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[02:30:08] CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check the headlines for you this hour. Donald Trump is urging Venezuela's military leaders to abandon President Nicolas Maduro and support opposition leader Juan Guaido. He told a crowd in Miami, Maduro is a Cuban puppet who would rather see his people starve than accept U.S. humanitarian aid.
Following nearly two weeks of violent anti-government protest, the Haitian government says it has arrested eight people, five of them Americans. This video shows them at a Port-au-Prince police station. Local authorities say they may be charged with illegal possession of arms. Britain's opposition leader Labour's Jeremy Corbyn is facing a mutiny within his own party. Seven Labour M.P.'s have quit in protest of his handling of Brexit and also the rise of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party under his leadership. The rebels say they're united by a desire for a second referendum on
Britain's decision to leave the European Union. Well, there are hints of another eminent casualty in President Trump's battle with the intelligence community. A close ally of President Trump suggest the Director of National Intelligence could be fired soon. Last month, Dan Coats told senators North Korea was probably not going to give up its ballistic missile program or its plans for nuclear weapons. Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy spoke with our Christiane Amanpour.
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CHRIS RUDDY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NEWSMAX MEDIA: I'm hearing from sources around the White House there's just general disappointment of the president with Director Coats. There's a feeling that may be there needs to be a change of leadership in that position coming up and I think the president --
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Do you think he'll dismiss Director Coats?
RUDDY: Well, I don't know what his plan is. He doesn't tell me who he's going to dismiss or not. I have talked to various people, not him, that's -- that are very close in the White House with the security positions, the president is taking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Ruddy added it is bad form for the Director of National Intelligence to undercut the president's positions. Well, it's not just Dan Coats at odds with the president. For more on how Mr. Trump may not trust his own intelligence, here's CNN's Brian Todd.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Andrew McCabe describes it as a head spinning moment, an Oval Office meeting with President Trump in 2017 when McCabe then acting FBI Director had sent a senior FBI official to brief the president. According to McCabe, the official came back and told him the briefing had gone, "Off the rails".
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: The president said he did not believe that the North Koreans had the capability to hit us here with ballistic missiles in the United States and he did not believe that because President Putin had told him they did not. President Putin had told him that the North Koreans don't actually have those missiles.
TODD: McCabe says intelligence officials in the room told the president that was inconsistent with everything they knew about Kim Jong-un's missile capability.
MCCABE: To which the president replied, I don't care, I believe Putin.
TODD: For veteran intelligence professionals, it is yet another alarming example of the president not trusting his intelligence experts.
ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Now, we have a president that thinks he has established a personal relationship with an adversary like Putin and he's going to take his word over the intelligence community. There is no precedent in American history for this ever.
TODD: Analyst say previous presidents trust in their intelligence briefers has been almost absolute because they've known just how well scrubbed each piece of intelligence delivered to the president is and that it's above politics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each assessment is highly scrutinized. These experts look at this and obviously want to bring their boss, the commander-in-chief, only the best available intelligence.
TODD: But President Trump seems to think differently. In Helsinki, he took Putin's word over his own intelligence leaders on Russia's attack on U.S. elections.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.
TODD: On Twitter, Trump has attacked the intelligence community writing on January 30th, "Perhaps intelligence should go back to school." A few days later, another attack.
TRUMP: Iraq had nuclear weapons, had all sorts of weapons of mass destruction. Guess what, those intel people didn't know what the hell they were doing and they got us tied up in a war that we should have never been in.
TODD: And he's been publicly contradicted by his own Director of National Intelligence on matters like the war against ISIS.
[02:35:01] TRUMP: We have won against ISIS. We've beaten them and we've beaten them badly.
DAN COATS, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria.
TODD: Intelligence veterans now worry about what the mistrust between the president and his intelligence agencies will lead to.
BAER: What I'm really worried about is a Pearl Harbor is could be on its way and you're going to have a president that's going to reject it. We may be a face with an attack in this president that's going to say, I don't believe you.
TODD: The White House has pushed back on Andrew McCabe's book. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders saying McCabe, "Has no credibility and is an embarrassment to the men and women of the FBI.
(END VIDEOTAPE) TODD: And we're getting other warnings from former CIA and FBI
officials about the fallout from all of this. They say because of the mistrust between President Trump and his spy agencies, U.S. intelligence officials going forward likely will be reluctant to give President Trump sensitive secrets about Russia fearing he might tell Vladimir Putin. And they say intelligence officials overseas might have trouble getting their counterparts to believe their intelligence knowing that President Trump often doesn't believe them. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: CNN Law Enforcement Analyst Josh Campbell joins me now from Los Angeles. Great to have you with us.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Hi. Great to be with you.
CHURCH: So Andrew McCabe's whole interview has to be said explosive. But the most astounding and unprecedented part of it is the revelation that President Trump rejected his own intelligence committee's assessment that North Korea have the capability to fire ballistic missiles at the U.S. instead believing Russia's President Putin who told Mr. Trump that Pyongyang did not have ballistic missiles. How alarmed should American be about this revelation and just how credible is McCabe?
CAMPBELL: Well, they should be alarmed because this is a pattern that we've seen with this president whenever he's been presented with assessments by the intelligence committee that pertain to Russia, or, you know, specifically Vladimir Putin. He has tended to side with the Russians over his own intelligence agencies. And these are 17 agencies that exist to bring the commander-in-chief, the president, the very best possible intelligence on an array of topics.
And again, you know, sadly, as we've seen at any time that there's a piece of intelligence or an assessment that possibly poses political challenges to him, or in Iran's counter to his own world view, he tends to side up with the Russians against these intelligence agencies which is alarming. And now, with respect to the credibility, obviously, Andrew McCabe has some credibility issues of his own. We know that he was fired from the FBI for lying to investigators as part of this leak investigation.
But what the White House has done is taken that and attempt, you know, to portray him as a liar on all topics. I could tell you I worked for him inside the FBI. I know that he's a good man. He's a very confident and talented person. And much of what he's saying in this interview that we saw really squares with what we've seen elsewhere with President Trump and that is as we mentioned, you know, calling into question the assessments of the intelligence community when they run counter or where they post a challenge as it relates to Russia.
CHURCH: So let me ask you this, why do you think President Putin told Mr. Trump that North Korea didn't have ballistic missiles capable of hitting the U.S.?
CAMPBELL: So there's long been this question about who is the regional player and obviously Russia has its own interests as it relate to the Korean Peninsula and again, it kind of goes back to this larger issue where you have the United States government, these intelligence agencies trying to sensitized the president to what is actually real, what is actually happening on the ground based on an array of sources and methods that are very highly classified. But again, these professionals do this for a living.
They exist to provide the president assessments of what's going on in certain part of the world. So we know that President Putin would be, you know, attempting to portray or at least convey to President Trump assessments that are in Russia's interests, not so much the president or, you know, the United States, but the fact that the president would buy into that wholesale and again, you know, essentially contradict or question the assessments of his own people raise a lot of very serious questions.
CHURCH: All right. So if this is indeed what happened that Mr. Trump accepted Putin's word over his own intelligence, what might happen in a future national emergency if Mr. Trump rejects his own intelligence over the word of an adversary like Putin perhaps how vulnerable might that make us all?
CAMPBELL: So that is the big issue here. Now, there are two aspects to this troubling relationship that President Trump has with his own intelligence community, the first of which being we know that since he first took office, he's -- any time that he has run, you know, found himself in the crosshairs of investigators, for example, he has blasted the intelligence community. We recall he had claimed on Twitter that President Obama had wire tapped Trump Tower and he referred to, you know, the CIA is NAZIs and Gestapo.
And so, he's obviously rankled a lot of people inside the intelligence community by blushing out -- lashing out at them, so that's one aspect.
[02:40:01] But the second aspect is, you know, for these intelligence agencies to be effective, they have to be believed when the president of the United States is presented with a piece of intelligence and the intelligence community says, we have high confidence, Mr. President, that what we're telling you is the way the world is. Again, there are so many public safety and national security issues at stake if the president rejects that because maybe poses political challenges.
And the last thing, you know, (INAUDIBLE) is that there's overarching question that many of us have that are really -- we're trying to dig into what motivates the president to accept Russia's world view. There's this, you know, theory out there that some have that perhaps the Russians have some type of leverage over him or he's been compromised in some aspect which, you know, a lot of national security (INAUDIBLE) are trying to buy into that as they see this pattern unfold which, you know, maybe answering that question as far as why he rejects the intelligence community assessment.
But that's the nightmare scenario where you have the president who's not believing his own intelligence agencies maybe for sinister reasons. But even if it's not sinister, it does post challenges in a -- as you mentioned in a future threat perhaps if we're in a crisis situation and the president has to make tough critical decisions based on the national security professionals what they're providing him if he rejects that or he undermines them. It poses a host of challenges.
CHURCH: So when we're looking at why President Trump is suspicious or distrustful of his own intelligence, it does lead us to that question of whether Mr. Trump is working for Russia either wittingly or unwittingly, is that a fair question?
CAMPBELL: It is a fair question. You know, folks like me who worked in the national security establishment, when this first came to light and people were (INAUDIBLE) that as a possible theory that maybe Trump, you know, President Trump is compromised (INAUDIBLE) like there's no way this, you know, this man (INAUDIBLE) scenario or, you know, the president is either wittingly or unwittingly working.
Many have evolved on that topic especially when you recall the president's actions in Helsinki when he stood next to Vladimir Putin and not only capitulated but essentially, you know, propped him up on the world stage pointing to the president of Russia saying, I believe this person. My intelligence community people have told me something different, but this person is in his words told me very strong and powerfully that he denies, you know, interfering in the U.S. election.
A lot of eyebrows went up and the behavior of the president ever since has continued to, you know, have these questions raised. Why is the president saying these things about Russia? And, you know, you recall. It goes back to the FBI. We obviously know about the investigation into Trump campaign and the FBI reportedly opening investigation to the president himself because of these issues. This is no longer a thing just, you know, an academic exercise to try to determine, OK, what is motivating the president.
Many of us looking (INAUDIBLE) and say there are real world issues here that need to be addressed. And again, you know, the ballot box is obviously one area to do that. But one thing that we also be interesting is what this new Democratic House majority now in the House of Representatives. They've already said that they're launching investigations to get to the bottom of what is motivating the president. We'll have to stand by and see what they come up with. But serious questions are at stake here.
CHURCH: Yes, jury still out on that question. Josh Campbell, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
CAMPBELL: Thanks, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Well, Israel summit with Central European leaders was cancelled after an Israeli official accused Poland of complicity during the Holocaust. Poland pulled out of the summit Monday in protest over remarks made by acting Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz who said Poles supported anti-Semitism and had collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. That drew a sharp response from the Polish Prime Minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI, PRIME MINISTER OF POLAND (via translator): I made
this decision because the statement made by Mr. Katz, the man appointed to be the Israeli foreign minister is totally unacceptable. The words spoken by him are unacceptable not only in diplomacy but for me they are unacceptable anywhere in public. Poland was a nation that suffered most along with the Jews and the Roman during World War II.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Now, while the official group summit has been cancelled, Israel says the leaders of Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia will still visit Jerusalem and hold meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, the Chinese telecom firm Huawei response to U.S. claims that its technology poses a security risk. We will hear from its founder after this short break. Do stay with us.
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[02:47:04] CHURCH: Longtime Trump adviser, Roger Stone is apologizing for posting two Instagram attacks against the judge in his case.
One referred to his upcoming show trial and accused prosecutors of legal trickery to ensure he was tried by a judge appointed by Barack Obama. We're not showing the judge, but the picture has been the distinct image of crosshairs behind her.
Stone has removed the post which he says were the work of a volunteer. He's charged with seven counts, including lying to investigators and witness tampering.
Well, China is accusing the United States and its allies of bullying the telecom giant, Huawei. That's in response to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. During the weekend, he said the U.S. has been very clear with its security partners on the threat posed by the Chinese telecom companies such as Huawei.
Pence is talking about allies known collectively as five eyes. New Zealand and Australia have banned Huawei's equipment from their 5G networks. Canada is considering the same. And the U.S. is leading the campaign. But Chinese officials say it's all a ploy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENG SHUANG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FOREIGN MINISTRY INFORMATION DEPARTMENT, CHINA (through translation): The U.S. and some of its allies have doubled standards on this to mislead the public. The real purpose behind this is to make excuses to hammer the legitimate rights of Chinese companies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But some of America's allies are starting to waver. Saying they could handle Huawei's equipment in their 5G network. Samuel Burke, reports. SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Well, after months of bowing to pressure from the United States, Washington's allies are finally starting to push back. The National Cybersecurity Centre part of the U.K. intelligence service has concluded that there are ways to limit the risks of using Huawei in 5G networks.
Now, that's according to a report by the Financial Times. The security center says it has a unique oversight and understanding of Huawei engineering and cybersecurity.
Just last week, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is here in Europe warning countries that using technology from Huawei could hurt their relationship with the United States. But the U.K. could undermine the American-led campaign to keep Huawei out of 5G networks around the world.
Let me put up on the screen three key points about this latest round over Huawei. Number one, some telecommunications executives has suggested that the U.K. had been taking cybersecurity orders from the U.S. because of the weak position it finds itself in over Brexit and keenness to get a trade deal with the United States.
Number two, new number showed that in spite of, or maybe because of the accusations from the U.S., Huawei is increasingly crushing Apple in China. And number three, we can't forget that 5G deployment worldwide maybe impaired by taking out Huawei's equipment.
So, whether their concerns over Huawei are truly about cybersecurity, nationalism or protectionism, either way, a slowdown could affect everything from the speed of your phone to the abilities of self- driving cars.
[02:50:23] CHURCH: And these American attempts to curb Huawei's international reach have drawn a defiant response from its founder, Ren Zhengfei, who told BBC that "There's no way the U.S. can crush us. The world needs Huawei because we are more advanced.
Ren also told the BBC, he objects to the U.S. extradition request for his daughter, Meng Wanzhou, who faces charges of bank fraud and sanctions evasion. He says, "They may have thought if they arrested her, Huawei will fall, but we didn't fall. We are still moving forward."
Only strengthening Tropical Cyclone continues to dump torrential rains on New Caledonia. The storm is also generating dangerous waves along Australia's Queensland coast. And we turn to our meteorologist Ivan Cabrera, who joins us now in the studio to talk more about this.
IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we talked about this yesterday. No direct impacts, I don't think we have for Australia which is a good thing there, but the wave actions is going to be really significant, I think, over the next few days.
Let's talk about our storm which has now moved to all that much, Rosemary, last few days. This is Oma out here at the New Caledonia. Look at the spin there and you see those bands that continue to move through. Those bands are going to continue to very -- can contain some very strong winds. And also, very heavy amounts of rain has been pouring here over the last several days.
Yesterday, when we spoke, this thing was about to 80-90 kilometer per hour winds or at 140 now. The equivalent of what would be a typhoon in the Western Pacific, which is calling something different in this part of the world. Tropical cyclone it is. And there is Oma will put this in a bush and be able to see where it's headed.
That is about as close as it gets to Australia. I don't think the rain or the moisture associated with will actually hit the coast, but it has been propagating waves for days now. And so, those swells will continue moving towards the west and I think that's what's going to hit Queensland.
Look at that, the peak, I think, 160 kilometers per hour winds probably peaking as we speak now. And then, it will continue to weaken as it does so, it will make that hook towards the left here. And that will be excellent news for Queensland.
We don't need more rain here with we've had as of late, my goodness. So, three to five-meter waves, two to three. We could even get some higher, perhaps, five to six. I think by Friday that will be the strongest of the waves that will be coming onshore as a result of our offshore tropical cyclone. If you're traveling into the U.S., perhaps, coming into New York, they could be O.K. for a couple of days.
But you see that moisture across the Gulf Coast to the U.S. that is already the beginning of what will be the next storm which will dump not just heavy amounts of flooding rain across the south, but a winter storm watch is already posted.
This I think, Rosemary is going to be a big storm for D.C. It's going to have that track for in the nation's capital here in the U.S. which they don't do so well picking up the snow there. So, it's going to be several centimeters and that will continue through Thursday.
CHURCH: Well, thanks for keeping an eye on that, Ivan. I appreciate it. Well, a new report says, Donald Trump asked another world leader to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Find out who wrote the glowing recommendation. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:55:01] CHURCH: We are still 10 months away from finding out who will win the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. But one person is already making his case with an assist from halfway around the globe. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Remember the famous eye roll? The one that went viral after a 19-second handshake. Well now, it's Japanese Prime Minister Abe himself who's eliciting eye rolls after President Trump spoke of a letter of the Japanese leader wrote nominating Trump.
TRUMP: That he sent to the people who give out a thing called a Nobel Prize. There's the most beautiful five-letter -- five-page letter.
MOOS: But is a beautiful five-page letter just as beautiful when you have to ask someone to write it? One of Japan's biggest newspapers, Asahi Shimbun, reported the nomination came at the behest of Washington. An informal request when the prime minister was asked in parliament if he had nominated President Trump for the Nobel Prize?
He answered, "I'm not saying that it is not the fact." It's citing the Nobel committee's policy of not confirming nominees until 50 years have passed. Read one tweet, "Shinzo Abe should get the Nobel Prize in -- kissing."
Cartoonist Ed hall, tweeted, "Giving Donald Trump a Nobel Peace Prize would be like giving Jeffrey Dahmer a Michelin star.
AMERICAN CROWD: Nobel! Nobel!
MOOS: But chanting Trump rally goers were hungry for a prize, mainly due to the president's efforts to denuclearize North Korea.
AMERICAN CROWD: Nobel! Nobel!
TRUMP: No.
MOOS: They think the last .U.S. president to get one didn't deserve it.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I did get the Nobel Peace Prize.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS: Oh really, what was that for?
OBAMA: To be honest, I still don't know.
MOOS: But Trump critics, skewer his chances of winning. "We didn't say Nobel Prize, we said, no bail, surprise." Dana Carvey has already imagined Trump's Nobel acceptance speech.
DANA CARVEY, CAST MEMBER ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: We have to right may be up there, I love -- I love the Nobelian's. I love.
MOOS: President Trump seems to think it's a noble calling, calling for himself to win the --
TRUMP: Nobel.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
CHURCH: And thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with another hour of news in just a moment. You're watching CNN. Don't go anyway.
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