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White House Budget Official Breaks Ranks, Testifies Behind Closed Doors; Results Of Latest CNN/Iowa Poll; Hong Kong Police Officer Shot with Arrow during University Siege; Ukraine at Heart of West-Russia Tensions; Prince Andrew Interview on Jeffrey Epstein; Saudi Aramco Plans Stock Market Debut; Australia Fires; Kaepernick Controversy; The Ultimate Joe Biden Catchphrase. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired November 17, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Another day, another look at what's being said behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. One name keeps coming up.
Not Warren, not Biden, not Sanders. Buttigieg is leading the pack.
And putting it all on the line. Government workers in Hong Kong speaking out about police brutality. An interview you will see here only on CNN.
Live from CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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HOLMES: And a warm welcome.
White House insiders are telling Congress disturbing new details about President Trump's now infamous phone call with Ukraine's leader last July. Revelations include how the call transcript ended up on a highly classified server and who blocked $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.
Now on Saturday, a senior White House budget official said he was confused about why the aid had been put on hold. A Trump political appointee apparently took control of the Ukraine account outside the normal budget process and then signed documents freezing the funds.
Also on Saturday, transcripts from two earlier depositions were made public. CNN's Lauren Fox with those details.
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LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On Saturday, we got new details about Tim Morrison, a former NSC official, who testified to congressional investigators last month that he came to understand that E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland was getting direction from president Donald Trump when he was pushing the Ukrainians to announce investigations into the president's political rivals.
Morrison testified behind closed doors that he believed that Sondland and President Trump had spoken approximately five times between July 25th, the date of that phone call between President Zelensky and President Trump, and September 11th, when nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine was finally released.
He said in one of those conversations, he spoke directly with Gordon Sondland after Sondland had gotten off the phone with President Trump. Here's what he testified.
Quote, "He told me he had just gotten off the phone with the president. He told me, as it relates to Ambassador Taylor's statement, there was no quid pro quo but President Zelensky must announce the opening of the investigations and he should want to."
Now Tim Morrison also provided more details about the July 25th phone call, especially the fact that was put in a secure server. There are questions, of, course why it was put in that server. But Morrison said he came to understand from the top NSC lawyer that it had been put there by mistake. Here's what he told investigators.
Quote, "John Eisenberg relayed that he did not ask for it to be put in there but that the executive secretariat staff misunderstood his recommendation for how to restrict access."
Now this is a reminder that, next week, both of these individuals, Tim Morrison and Gordon Sondland, will testify publicly in front of these congressional investigators and the American public -- for CNN, on Capitol Hill, Lauren Fox.
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HOLMES: And in the U.S. state of Louisiana, Democrats are celebrating a significant win and a setback for President Trump. The incumbent Democratic governor John Bel Edwards narrowly beat his Republican challenger, who was heavily backed by the president.
Louisiana was a state that in 2016 Trump won by 20 percentage points. He held two rallies in the state recently.
After weeks of more or less static standings among the top-tier candidates, Pete Buttigieg is having a breakout moment in Iowa. CNN's Jeff Zeleny with the latest polling.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There's a new Democratic front-runner in the 2020 race in Iowa. His name is Pete Buttigieg. For the first time the South Bend, Indiana, mayor holds a clear lead among voters who say they are likely to participate in the Iowa caucuses.
He climbs to 25 percent in a new CNN/"The Des Moines Register" Iowa poll. Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are all locked in a three-way race for second place.
Amy Klobuchar, the only other candidate to break out of the lower tier, with 6 percent. Take a look at how the race has changed since only September. Buttigieg rising 16 points while Warren and Biden have slipped. Sanders and Klobuchar have increased.
But the race remains fluid with 30 percent saying they've made up their minds but still 62 percent of likely Iowa caucusgoers say they could still choose another candidate.
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ZELENY (voice-over): That, of course, gives a sense of hope to more than a dozen other Democrats still in the race here.
Now this is why second choice is so important. Elizabeth Warren is the second choice of 20 percent of likely caucusgoers, followed by Buttigieg at 14 percent with Sanders and Biden each at 13 percent.
But electability is a critical question for Democrats. That remains the core bit of Biden's strength of the four top candidates tested, a majority, 52 percent, say Biden could beat Trump. The rest do not reach the majority point.
This is where the race is standing right now. There is a sense of pragmatism hanging over Iowa voters: 63 percent say they prefer a candidate with a strong chance to beat Trump compared to 32 percent, who prefer someone who shares all their views.
The race is now, some 80 days before the voting begins in 2020. Now the question for Buttigieg is, how does he handle the pressure of being a front-runner? -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
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HOLMES: And let's bring in Thomas Gift from the University College, London.
A pleasure to have you, sir. Talk to us about this testimony on Saturday. You had a couple of people, one called the Trump-Zelensky call unusual and concerning. And a lot of concerns about the role and truthfulness of Gordon Sondland.
What do you make of the testimony and its potential impact?
THOMAS GIFT, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: I think the biggest takeaway is Gordon Sondland has a lot of explaining to do and seems to be at the center of a lot of irregular discussions.
I think viewing it in the context of what happened last week, it's very much the case that there is overwhelming evidence that a quid pro quo did exist. It wasn't just the result of one phone call July 25th but this was a concerted effort going to the highest levels, including the president.
The question is for Republicans, how do you respond to this? They have been a little bit uncertain on what their line of justification is. Even if this happened, even if it was problematic, it just doesn't rise to the level of an impeachable offense. At least that is the case they are going to try to make to the American people.
HOLMES: Do you think there is a cumulative effect here?
Every day it is sort of another one adding to the pile that sort of shows that things weren't particularly, I don't know. Donald Trump openly said he hardly knew this guy, Gordon Sondland, the man who can call the president on a cell phone at a Ukrainian restaurant.
Tim Morrison said it was his understanding Sondland spoke to Trump multiple times and said he believed and at least related to me that the president was giving him instruction. That is hardly someone you don't know.
GIFT: Yes. He certainly doesn't seem like a peripheral figure. I think it is important for Donald Trump to make the case that he only had limited contact with him. I think ultimately what Democrats and Republicans will be looking at here are the poll numbers.
The standard narrative going into the impeachment inquiry is Democrats were going to impeach in the House. And then the Republicans would block in the Senate.
If you look at approval ratings for Donald Trump or approval for impeachment, there hasn't been a whole lot of movement since these actual public hearings began. So I do that that militates against this argument that there is a lot of momentum for Democrats going forward. We will see. There is still a time to go.
HOLMES: Well, there's eight more people testifying this week. Who knows what we will end up with. It is something that the support for Nixon's impeachment didn't move until towards the end as well. One of those people testifying this week, if he turns up, is Gordon Sondland.
What sort of jeopardy might he be in in terms of truthfulness?
He has offered up two versions under oath. The first one. Then he amended that. Who knows what we will see with version three.
What sort of risks is he taking?
GIFT: Well, there are political risks and legal risks. This is someone who has provided testimony and had to revise that testimony. So there is a big question mark I think in the minds of both Democrats and Republicans as to what Gordon Sondland is ultimately going to say.
I'm sure the American public will be watching intently. So will Donald Trump. But I think we just don't know at this point is the bottom line.
HOLMES: Yes. I was going to ask you, too, while we had you about the Iowa poll and what you made of that with the results. Pete Buttigieg ahead.
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HOLMES: It is just Iowa and it is a mainly white state. He doesn't have a lot of minority support.
What do you make of the momentum for him?
GIFT: Certainly the poll numbers are much stronger for Pete Buttigieg in Iowa than they are nationally. So it's hard to assess the extent to which this really suggests that he has momentum across the United States. But certainly these early primary states matter a lot. And it's great to get this early momentum.
I think a lot of his support probably says more about some of the other contenders than it does about him. With Biden's candidacy stuck in neutral, voters are looking for a moderate with a progressive streak. And I think Buttigieg really fits that bill.
One question for him is, is he peaking too early?
He has significant ground game in Iowa, a lot of mobilization there. When you think about candidates that have done well in the past, including Barack Obama in 2008, they really hit their stride just a few weeks out. At this point we're several months out.
The question for him is can he continue this momentum going forward?
HOLMES: Very good point. I want to ask you about the Louisiana governor's race on Saturday. John Bel Edwards beat out Eddie Rispone, a deeply red state. Donald Trump, he invested a lot in this race. He had two rallies in two weeks. He had three rallies in the last five weeks.
My goodness, a whole bunch of tweets and retweets on this election.
Is that a reflection on his problems or do you see it as more a local issues election?
GIFT: Well, I think it's a bit of both. It is worth pointing out that Edwards is certainly to the right of his party overall, especially on issues like abortion and gun control. I think he did do a really good job with resonating with Louisiana voters in terms of kitchen table issues, like access to early childhood education, expansions of Medicaid, workforce training and increase in the minimum wage.
In a lot of ways he just did a better job than the Republican in terms of appealing to Louisiana voters. But it raises the question of how much impact Donald Trump really has in his ability to dictate outcomes from Washington. He really put a lot of his political capital into this race just like he did in Kentucky.
Does that suggest something for 2020?
Does this suggest that some of his support might be soft and will some of the states become swing states that haven't traditionally been so?
That is the question that remains.
HOLMES: Yes. With the candidates going forward, some of them may not want him to come and support them. Thomas Gift, got to leave it there. Appreciate it. Thanks for your insights.
GIFT: Thank you, Michael.
HOLMES: Mr. Trump went to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland to apparently begin procedures, including lab tests for his annual regular physical. Previous exams had been announced ahead of time, though. That's what made everybody's ears prick up on this one. The White House says he is healthy and energetic.
The U.S. and South Korea just made a diplomatic gesture towards Pyongyang. They are postponing joint military drills later this month. The U.S. Defense Secretary called it an act of goodwill during a joint press conference in Bangkok. Mark Esper was asked if this was a concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
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MARK ESPER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I don't see this as a concession. I see this as a good faith effort of the United States and Republic of Korea to enable peace, to shape the terrain, if you will, to facilitate a political agreement, a deal, if you will, that leads to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
And that's what we do. As I said earlier, my job is to bolster diplomacy, enable and empower. At this point it creates more space for our diplomats to strike an on the denuclearization of the peninsula.
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HOLMES: We'll take a break. When we come back, a new standoff erupts in Hong Kong. Demonstrators taking on police with slingshots, petrol bombs, even bows and arrows. And we speak with firefighters who are becoming more critical of the city's police force.
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HOLMES: What they think about the growing unrest. That's when we come back.
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HOLMES: A national bank in Iran has been set on fire as protests over a gas price hike have escalated. One person has been killed. Protests on Saturday flooded the streets of Tehran, jamming roads. Iran's supreme leader said he supports raising prices. In Hong Kong, a standoff between police and protesters getting even more violent. Authorities say a police officer was shot with an arrow during a dispersal operation at Polytechnic University. He was wounded in the calf and taken to the hospital.
Authorities surrounded that university now, trying to force out pro- democracy demonstrators who have really set up defenses there. They fired tear gas and water cannons, protesters retaliated with petrol bombs and bricks. Let's head out to Anna Coren for an update on the situation.
Arrows, petrol bombs and you have the gas mask on?
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: I have the gas mask on, Michael, because tear gas has been fired over the last hour since we last week. They are expecting police to charge very, very soon.
We are standing outside Polytechnic University. Down here is where the two water cannons are. They have been throughout the day spraying water, charging, retreating. But they have kind of held their position. They're shining their really strong lasers in this direction on this overpass.
On the other side, are dozens of riot police vehicles with riot police standing outside and vehicles firing tear gas. There is a wall protesters have built on top of this overpass, which is over the Crest Harbor tunnel that links Kowloon to Hong Kong island.
Protesters have built a wall. They have been throwing petrol bombs at police in the last hour. It looks like they are gearing up.
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COREN: The police are gearing up, to try and clear this area.
Behind me, Michael, we are seeing more police vehicles. So the protesters are saying try to protect this area as much as you can and then retreat to the university. They believe here in this university they can get to the second story. There is a balcony there. They can throw petrol bombs. They have catapults up there where they have been throwing stones or bricks.
We haven't seen them throw petrol bombs. But police say they have been throwing them from the catapult as well. Bows and arrows as there are several archers up there. The protesters say they are going to dig in. This is the last stand. All the other universities across Hong Kong have fallen. But the protesters will dig in and try to protect the university against their police.
As the protesters said time and time again throughout the day, we are at war. As far as the police are concerned, everyone here are rioters. Perhaps only a thousand or a few more protesters here have come from other universities where they have been taking action throughout the week. They have now all descended here at Polytechnic University. As I say, this is the final stand.
HOLMES: Keep an eye out for us, Anna Coren. Thank you. Anna Coren in Hong Kong.
As the protests rage in on Hong Kong, anger against the government mounting. There is one service department growing in popularity and that is the fire brigade. As police often are criticized for their handling of unrest, firefighters get applause. A small but growing number of firefighters admit they support the protest movement.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Hong Kong firefighter points to his swollen face. Riot police accidentally hit his fire engine with tear gas earlier this month. Tempers flared on both sides.
Police pushed the firefighter into a corner for chasing and pepper spraying a journalist. Police and fire services rushed to issue a joint statement within hours, calling it a misunderstanding. These men say it's more than that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): The power of police is like unlimited. They can do whatever they like.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Two Hong Kong firefighters and one paramedic all not authorized to speak to CNN. They will only talk if we hide their identities.
RIPLEY: Have any of you ever participated in the protests, covering your own faces?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
RIPLEY: Do you think you would be fired if they ever found out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course we would get fired.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They say many of their colleagues have also joined the protests, ignoring warnings like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You can't stand against the government showing a negative image to the public.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Videos like these show what some consider government-sanctioned police brutality. Skeptics argue they generally lack context about what happened before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police is using excessive violence when they are arresting those young people.
RIPLEY: Can you describe what kind of excess of violence you have witnessed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When someone is under arrest and they didn't fight back, they are just lying on the ground and police were still beating them. And now it's like a common practice.
RIPLEY: Every week? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like every protest.
RIPLEY (voice-over): This woman, peppered sprayed and pushed to the ground.
This office worker's head injury said to be from a tear gas canister.
Protesters shot in the torso with live ammunition, all in the span of two days. Amnesty International accuses Hong Kong police of being out of control.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cannot believe that our office is out of control in the use of force but of course we are under great pressure.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Pressure including violent attacks targeting officers. Hong Kong police sent us this video, frontline protesters beating an off-duty cop. The firefighters watching say they tried to help but were outnumbered.
Bricks and petrol bombs are the weapons of choice against police.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): Others include an improvised explosive device, metal poles and flaming arrows. This government supporter was even doused with flammable liquid and set on fire.
CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE (through translator): These rioters' acts have gone overboard with their demands and these acts are the enemies of the people.
RIPLEY: Would you dispute the fact that the protesters are also putting lives in danger through their behavior?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You are right. Some small groups of protesters are putting things in danger. That's undeniable. But, for me, I understand what they are doing.
RIPLEY: So are you saying that you, if you had to pick a side, would you side with the protesters over the police as a firefighter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I will side with the protesters.
RIPLEY: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are desperate.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They all say the biggest challenge facing Hong Kong right now is not violence; it's lack of trust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one is trusting each other. That is why we are hiding our face. People don't trust the government. We don't trust the police. And there's no way back.
RIPLEY (voice-over): And no way forward, for a 70-year-old man hit with a brick and a 22-year-old student who fell from a parking garage, two protest-related deaths in just one week -- Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.
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HOLMES: Well, the impeachment storm in the United States revolves around Ukraine. Ahead, why the former Soviet republic is in the middle of a geopolitical tug-of-war.
Also, in an apparent effort at damage control, Britain's Prince Andrew is speaking out about his friendship with the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
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HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Our top stories this hour.
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HOLMES: Ukraine, of course, is central to the impeachment storm in the United States.
So how did the nation assume such a key role?
Nina dos Santos has the history, the long-running geopolitical tug-of- war and why what happens in Ukraine doesn't always stay in Ukraine.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF UKRAINE: I don't want to be involved.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): The Ukrainian president may not want to be involved but his country is at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
So how did we get here?
LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: You think about Ukraine's geography. It is right there right next to Russia, it is sort of leaning west, not fully embraced by the West.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Until the breakup of the Soviet Union, it was the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, firmly within Moscow's sphere of influence. That came to an end in 1991 and Ukraine faced a crossroads.
VINJAMURI: There was so much scope for how to reimagine Europe. And I think Ukraine was especially problematic for two reasons. One is that it wasn't just on the periphery. It was core to the Soviet Union's understanding of who it was.
Secondly, it had all of these nuclear weapons.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): The Soviets left behind nearly 2,000 nukes in Ukraine. It was an unexpected crisis, solved with a 1994 agreement, in which Kiev gave up the weapons and Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. pledged to respect the country's independence, its sovereignty and its existing borders.
But in 2014, Ukraine found itself once again at the center of tensions between Russia and the West. In February, mass protests forced the pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych into exile. A month later, Russia sent special operations troops into Crimea and annexed it.
To this day, Ukraine is still fighting to reclaim its lost land.
VINJAMURI: The ability of Ukraine to root out corruption, to professionalize its military, to really maintain that independence is really completely conditioned on the ongoing assistance from the United States. So it gives the United States, and the president in this instance, tremendous leverage.
DOS SANTOS: This is a country that is effectively a buffer state, isn't it?
VINJAMURI: Yes. At the moment what we have really is the need to preserve what has become a buffer state but also not to deny the people in Ukraine, who would like to see more integration with the West, certainly economically and possibly politically.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Ukraine may be thousands of miles from the United States but the country's precarious past and uncertain future means whatever happens in Kiev has become key on Capitol Hill -- Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Prince Andrew speaking publicly for the first time about his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The British royal said he never saw anything suspicious while he stayed at Epstein's New York home.
The Duke of York denying allegations from one of Epstein's accusers, who said she was forced to have sex with the duke. There is actually a photograph of the two of them together. The duke claims he has no recollection of the photo being taken or ever having met the woman.
Hadas Gold joining us now from London with more.
Bring us up to date on the latest revelations.
HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, this was an astonishing interview not just for the content but for the fact that it even took place.
[05:35:00] GOLD: It is so unusual for a senior member of the royal family to sit down for an extended interview not connected to their charity work. And it's about such a sensitive topic.
It also took place in Buckingham Palace. It was done with the queen's approval. There were several interesting points, in addition to him denying any of the allegations brought forward by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, whose photo you showed. He said he has no recollection of ever meeting her and he has alibis for when she said she met him and interacted with him.
What was probably even more astonishing was his justification for continuing seeing Jeffrey Epstein even after he had been convicted of sex crimes while he stayed at his New York mansion in 2010, why he thought that was a good idea. Listen to what Prince Andrew told the BBC.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said you went to break up the relationship. Yet you stayed at that New York mansion several days.
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PRINCE ANDREW, DUKE OF YORK: But I was doing a number of other things while I was there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender.
PRINCE ANDREW: It was a convenient place to stay. I've gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight that one could have, it was definitely the wrong thing to do.
But at the time I felt it was the honorable and right thing to do. And I admit fully that my judgment was probably colored by my tendency to be too honorable. But that's just the way it is.
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GOLD: What's really interesting, Michael, about the comments is earlier in the interview he claimed he wasn't a very good friend with Jeffrey Epstein. Yet there is some confusion if he wasn't such good friends, why did he feel he had to break up the friendship in person, stay at his house, especially as a member of the royal family, staying at the house of a convicted sex offender?
That is what a lot are still questioning today. Another thing is Virginia Roberts Giuffre has called on Prince Andrew, and said if he is willing to sit for an interview, why isn't he willing to speak under oath to investigators?
He told the BBC he would do so only if legal advice told him to do so.
HOLMES: Details are now emerging about what could be the largest initial public offering in history. Saudi Aramco giving retail investors a chance to own a piece of the world's most profitable company.
The state oil giant will price its shares on December 5th. It could raise $24 billion, just shy of the $25 billion raised by Alibaba, the world's biggest ever IPO.
We go to CNN's John Defterios in London with more.
What do you make of this price range?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: I was trying to think of the best analogy to use. It is like the "Goldilocks" tale. Not too hot, not too cold, just right when it comes to this IPO going forward.
The value of the company overall and potentially still being the number one IPO in the world, beating Alibaba in September 2014. I'll tell you why, $1.6 trillion to $1.7 trillion for matters of comparison, well above a company like Apple, which is valued at $1.2 trillion. Amazon, Microsoft. Five times the size of an oil comparison company like ExxonMobil or Chevron.
In that price range that was listed there, they could get to $25.4 billion, beating the e-commerce giant in China. This is important to the crown prince. Back in 2016, it was 5 percent listing in New York, London or Shanghai or Tokyo. We know it is 1.5 percent only in Riyadh.
This is a very important milestone. They have been talking about it for three years. It is important to get it out the door by the end of 2019.
HOLMES: What about, John, the timing by the crown prince of the Saudi government, is this a good time to go public as an oil and gas company, climate change?
A lot of things play into it.
DEFTERIOS: Yes. You're making key points here. Almost like swimming upstream. To give you the best qualification for this, the S&P 500 on Wall Street used to have about 10 percent of the listings of market cap by oil and gas companies.
That is below 5 percent now partially because of climate change. Partially that institutional investors don't want to hold them in their portfolios. It is not an easy time to list.
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DEFTERIOS: But if you take Aramco on profits alone, $111 billion in 2018, They're in a league of their own. The final point is there is concern about peak demand. We consume 100 million barrels of oil a day.
Could that come in 20 years?
Even so, Aramco is efficient enough to beat the competitors. It's just people don't want to hold oil and gas talks right now.
HOLMES: Thanks for that.
We'll take a short break. When we come back, Venice on edge as another round of flooding is expected to submerge the city. A live look at how the city is preparing.
And bush fires in Eastern Australia. We hear from homeowners who lost everything.
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HOLMES: Smoke filling the air in parts of eastern Australia as crews battle to contain dozens of bushfires in New South Wales. The fires have destroyed hundreds of homes, killed four people. The cause of many of the blazes may be natural. But a 16-year old has been arrested in connection with one Queensland bushfire. CNN's Milena Veselinovic reports.
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MILENA VESELINOVIC, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An inferno tearing through eastern Australia. Strong winds and hot, dry weather upping the fire threat to dangerously high.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is pretty bad, pretty dangerous with the wind behind it. There is a chance that it can build up fast. But that's what we're here for.
VESELINOVIC (voice-over): Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in the state of New South Wales.
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VESELINOVIC (voice-over): Residents are coming to terms with shattered livelihoods.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not good. Very emotional. The amount of work that was put into this place to make it the home that it is and then to lose it in one night to the fire.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is like anything. It's sadness. I'm cranky. You get all the emotions hitting you all at once. It's hard to pinpoint anything really. It is what it is. It's happened. Now I take photos. I will have to come back and clear the area and rebuild.
VESELINOVIC (voice-over): Authorities warn conditions will likely get worse. Temperatures are set to rise and dry storms are expected this weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Damaging wind gusts and hail will make firefighting more dangerous. VESELINOVIC (voice-over): Prompting firefighters to warn those in affected areas to be prepared to leave -- Milena Veselinovic, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Crippling floodwaters are filling the streets of Venice once again. In a short time, high tide is expected to reach 1.6 meters, around 5 feet if you're in the U.S.
Earlier they were busy cleaning up the damage after nearly a week of historic flooding.
Tragic, really, isn't it?
The quarterback who said the NFL is not allowing him to play because of him kneeling during the national anthem got to show his skills to scouts. But the day was not without its drama. A report from Colin Kaepernick when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
The American football quarterback Colin Kaepernick got to make his case on Saturday for why he should play in the National Football League again. He skipped an NFL-sponsored workout and held one of his own here in Atlanta.
Kaepernick hasn't played in the league since 2016. That's when he earned worldwide attention and the wrath of the president for kneeling during the national anthem. He said he kneeled to protest police brutality and racial inequality. CNN's Andy Scholes takes a look at the workout and the drama surrounding it.
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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it wasn't the plan but Colin Kaepernick did step on this field south of Atlanta in what he hopes is the next step of getting back into the NFL.
Kaepernick, once he did take the field, did some stretching, threw passes to his receivers short and long. Once his workout was over, he walked over and greeted the hundreds of fans that had gathered south of the end zone to cheer him on. He talked to them for a while, signed some autographs.
He did not take any questions from the media. But he did give this statement. COLIN KAEPERNICK, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I've been waiting for three years. I've been denied for three years. We all know why I came out here to show today in front of everybody we have nothing to hide.
So we are waiting for the 32 owners, the 32 teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running. Stop running from the truth. Stop running from the people. Around here, we are ready to play. We are ready to go anywhere. My agent Jeff Nalley is ready to talk to any team, interview any team at any time. I've been ready, I'm staying ready and I will continue to be ready.
SCHOLES: This was one wild day. This workout was supposed to be held by the NFL at the Atlanta Falcons' practice facility. It was going to be closed to the media. And many other media members and I, scouts, members of the Atlanta Falcons facility had already arrived. They were waiting for this workout to begin.
And about 45 minutes before it was supposed to start, Colin Kaepernick's representatives canceled it and decided to move it to this stadium 60 miles south of the Atlanta Falcons' practice facility.
One of the reasons they canceled the NFL's workout was because of the liability waiver the NFL requested Kaepernick to sign. It also had some employment language in there that Colin Kaepernick's representatives were not happy about. I spoke with his agent Jeff Nalley and asked what that was about.
JEFF NALLEY, KAEPERNICK'S AGENT: Colin works out yesterday here at the university. They asked for an injury waiver as well. So the Colin and the four receivers all signed it, no problem. We allowed them to sign it. We sent that form to the NFL league office and they denied it.
The one they sent over was five or six pages. And his lawyers had problems with it.
SCHOLES: What was the biggest problem with it?
NALLEY: I'll let the lawyers talk about that. But there were -- they wanted him to waive his right to certain claims and issues. And, again, the purpose for a waiver like that is to protect them if he gets hurt, if the receivers get hurt. That's not what that waiver was.
SCHOLES: In the end, Nalley said he thinks the NFL workout was just a PR stunt. The NFL did release a statement, saying they were disappointed Kaepernick decided to move the workout. They also said they sent him a standard waiver to sign.
At the Falcons' practice facility, I saw at least 20 scouts going there to watch Kaepernick work out. When the workout got moved here to this stadium, only eight scouts showed.
Will one of those eight teams end up signing Kaepernick?
We'll have to wait and see. One thing is for sure, there is still plenty of mistrust between Kaepernick and the NFL -- Andy Scholes, CNN.
HOLMES: Who is the guy running for president who loves to say, "C'mon, man," more than any other 2020 candidate? CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on Democrat Joe Biden's famous catchphrase and comeback line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the ultimate Joe Biden come-on.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: C'mon, man.
C'mon, man.
C'mon, man.
MOOS: Used to convey everything from sarcasm.
BIDEN: My heartbreaks. C'mon, man.
MOOS: To enthusiasm.
BIDEN: C'mon, man. Let's do it.
MOOS: In just a single interview, we counted four of them.
BIDEN: C'mon, man.
C'mon, man.
[05:55:00]
BIDEN: Oh, c'mon, man.
MOOS: Oh, sure, other Bidenisms might be plentiful.
BIDEN: Look. Look. Look. Look.
Guess what?
The fact of the matter is. The fact of the matter is.
Folks. Folks. Folks. Look, folks.
MOOS: Let's look, folks.
BIDEN: C'mon, man.
MOOS: It's so much more expressive.
BIDEN: It is all about around the clock sex, it's all -- c'mon, man.
MOOS: Whether he's dismissing outdated attitudes, or challenging President Trump to a push-up contest.
BIDEN: C'mon, Donald, c'mon, man. How many push-ups you want to do here, pal?
MOOS: At least "C'mon, man" is G-rated for expressing exasperation. It's a handy alternative to stuff that needs bleeped.
TRUMP: With ridiculous bull (INAUDIBLE).
MOOS: Joe Biden's former boss employed it.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: C'mon. C'mon, man.
MOOS: But did Obama get it from Biden or Biden from Obama?
Maybe one or the other got it from the ESPN sports segment --
UNIDENTIFEID MALE: C'MONETTI: , man.
MOOS: Joe Biden's "C'mon, man" has got to the point that right- wingers have come to his defense.
A "New York Times" columnist wrote about the bro-iness of Joe Biden calling "C'mon man" a rhetorical device that men use among themselves in locker rooms and barbershops to reinforce masculinity.
Conservatives criticize the criticism for being PC.
Comic sidekick Andy Richter credited Biden when describing his dog crowding him in the car, "In the words of Joe Biden, 'C'mon, man,'" an expression Joe hangs on to like a dog with a bone.
BIDEN: C'mon, man.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos ...
BIDEN: C'mon, man.
MOOS: -- CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: That will wrap up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for your company. I'm Michael Holmes. "NEW DAY" is up next. For our international viewers, "VITAL SIGNS WITH DR. SANJAY GUPTA" is just ahead. First, I'll have your headlines after the break. Come on, man.
