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White House Helped Arrange Call between Giuliani and Pompeo after Handover of Biden Allegations; Trump-Ukraine Events That Led to Impeachment Hearings; Bolton Says White House Blocked Twitter Account; House Democrats Move Closer to Articles of Impeachment; Hong Kong Prepares for Contentious Local Elections; Netanyahu Indicted on Criminal Charges; Biden "Embarrassed" for Lindsey Graham; U.S. Campus Hate Crimes; Pakistan Pollution; Color-Blind Boy Cries after Seeing Color. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired November 23, 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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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Coming ahead this hour, emails just released. Yes, we're talking about emails again, show how the White House helped coordinate Rudy Giuliani's efforts in Ukraine.

Also this hour, a new accusation against one of Donald Trump's biggest defenders in Congress and his alleged role in trying to get dirt on the Bidens. We're talking about Devin Nunes there.

And she's the best gymnast in the world. Next, why Simone Biles is calling for another investigation into the team's former abusive doctor.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, I'm Natalie Allen. Thank you so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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ALLEN: Thank you again for joining us.

Developing overnight, we have new developments for you on this same story regarding the impeachment inquiry. Newly released documents give us a clearer view of how President Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, coordinated his efforts in Ukraine through the White House. And it's coming directly from the U.S. State Department.

The information results from a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by the advocacy group called American Oversight. Email exchanges spell out how the White House helped arrange a phone call between Giuliani and U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

This took place the day after Giuliani handed over materials with unproven claims about former vice president, seen here, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter. Documents show that Mike Pompeo spoke with Giuliani briefly twice in late March. The first time occurring before Giuliani handed over that information.

It was the second conversation facilitated by the White House. For that call, Giuliani's assistant reached out to President Trump's then executive assistant Madeline Westerhout, seen here with Rick Perry. Giuliani's assistant said she was, quote, getting nowhere through regular channels," end quote.

Westerhout asked the State Department how to get Giuliani and Pompeo in touch. A lawyer representing an indicted associate of Giuliani said his client is willing to testify before Congress about the alleged role of Republican congressman Devin Nunes, as we mentioned, in trying to dig up dirt on the Bidens.

The attorney says his client, Lev Parnas, claims he helped put Nunes in touch with this man, disgraced Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

CNN's Vicky Ward spoke about it with our Chris Cuomo earlier.

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VICKY WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, his lawyer says that Lev Parnas would like to come and speak to Congress and that he would say to Congress, were he given the opportunity, that last December, Devin Nunes, the senior Republican, presiding over the impeachment hearings, went to Vienna and met with Victor Shokin.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Victor Shokin, the person who was the prosecutor for Ukraine, that Ukraine and everybody in the United States, wanted out, for not investigating corruption?

WARD: Correct and who was fired in 2016, under pressure by many Western leaders, including our then vice president, Joe Biden. He has an ax to grind against the Bidens.

Victor Shokin is the man who has claimed to have dirt on Joe and Hunter Biden. He has claimed to have evidence that Ukraine meddled in our elections.

CUOMO: Reportedly met with Rudy Giuliani, Mr. Shokin.

WARD: He's -- absolutely. So, Shokin--

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CUOMO: Rudy Giuliani wanted to get him a pass to come to the United States and it was denied.

WARD: Absolutely correct.

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ALLEN: Well, Nunes declined CNN's multiple requests for comment.

Next week is the annual holiday of Thanksgiving in the United States but many members of Congress and their staffs will be burning the midnight oil on Capitol Hill instead. That is because they'll be pulling together a report from the impeachment hearings of the past several weeks.

The matter then goes to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which is expected to draft articles of impeachment. A vote by the full House could come by Christmas.

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ALLEN: Here's CNN's Manu Raju with more about it.

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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: House Democrats are planning to take their impeachment deliberations behind the scenes. And expect those deliberations to be intense and active over the next several of days, including next week, Thanksgiving week, a holiday week in the U.S. in which the lawmakers are going to be gone on recess.

But staff members of the key committees as well as members of Nancy Pelosi's staff will discuss exactly how to move forward. And the first thing they're going to do is finish a report being written right now by the House Intelligence Committee along with two other committees, detailing the findings of this investigation that has been going on for roughly seven weeks.

This investigation, of course, is focused on the issue of Ukraine, the president's handling of the relations with that country and whether or not he withheld security assistance from that country, roughly $400 million, as well as a key meeting sought by the Ukrainian government in the White House in exchange for announcement of investigations that could help the president politically.

The focus of the likely articles of impeachment that are expected to come out will focus on abuse of power by the president while potentially focus on bribery, obstruction of justice, obstruction of Congress.

There's still debates exactly on how to structure that. Obstruction of justice for one, there was a discussion whether or not to include the episodes of obstruction that were laid out in the Mueller report that showed the president allegedly trying to interfere with an investigation into his campaign.

Nancy Pelosi will want to keep it focused narrowly on the Ukraine issue but there's a discussion of making it broader. But the report that will be released in the next few days will start with the basis of those articles that will be considered by the House Judiciary Committee likely the first week or first two weeks of December.

At that point, that committee will vote on those articles of impeachment. Then it will go to the full House, which could vote then before Christmas to make President Trump the third American president in history to get impeached.

After that, it would go to the Senate, led by Republicans, and that Senate trial could take two weeks, four weeks. Right now, both sides agree on this. Republicans are unlikely to convict and remove the president from office. All of this at the end of the day will be ultimately up to the voters on whether or not President Trump should stay in office -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

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ALLEN: Well, the public testimonies of 12 witnesses were fairly consistent in asserting the president's July 25th phone call with Ukraine's leader amounted to, we all know that term now, a quid pro quo. For more on this, here's CNN's Jim Acosta.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Still stinging from a week full of damaging testimony in the impeachment inquiry, President Trump is dug in, refusing to answer some of the looming questions hanging over his administration.

One top White House official tried to stop us from asking the question.

ACOSTA (on camera): Any response to Fiona Hill?

Mr. President, Fiona Hill says that the idea that Ukraine meddled in 2016 is false.

Can you respond to Fiona Hill, Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're done.

ACOSTA: Can we ask a --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're done.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president would not respond to testimony from his former adviser on Russia, Fiona Hill, who told lawmakers this week that Mr. Trump's theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election is false.

But the president kept repeating that debunked claim on FOX.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They gave the server to CrowdStrike or whatever it's called, which is a country -- which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian. And I still want to see that server.

ACOSTA: But that's not true. He will testify that's peddling Russian propaganda.

FIONA HILL, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OFFICIAL: This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.

ACOSTA: Well aware that Democrats are moving toward impeachment in the House, the president is now looking to Republicans to save him during a Senate trial. White House officials tell CNN a trial could actually give Mr. Trump a political boost.

TRUMP: You know who I want as the first witness, because, frankly, I want a trial?

ACOSTA: The president turned to FOX News to respond with falsehoods and fabrications. Mr. Trump continued to claim he barely knows European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland, who testified there was a quid pro quo with Ukraine.

TRUMP: Now, with this guy, who, by the way, I hardly know him, OK?

QUESTION: Sondland?

TRUMP: Yes, I have spoken to him a few times.

ACOSTA (voice-over): That's not what Sondland says.

SWALWELL: And he has spoken to you often?

SONDLAND: What's often?

SWALWELL: Well, you said at least 20 times?

SONDLAND: OK, if that's often, then it's often.

ACOSTA: The president also slammed former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, insisting she was out to get him too.

TRUMP: But this ambassador that everybody says is so wonderful, she wouldn't hang my picture in the embassy.

ACOSTA (voice-over): But the president offered zero proof to back that one up either.

The president may want to consider a different figure in the Ukraine saga, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who has yet to testify but tweeted that, "The White House refused to return access to my personal Twitter account, out of fear of what I might say.

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ACOSTA (voice-over): "To those who speculated I went into hiding, I'm sorry to disappoint."

But the president says that's not true.

QUESTION: Did you guys freeze his account?

TRUMP: No, of course not.

ACOSTA: The only question Mr. Trump would take from reporters on the inquiry, his feelings about the whistleblower.

TRUMP: The whistleblower, I don't think there is. I consider it to be a fake whistleblower.

ACOSTA: GOP officials say expect to see a trial in the Senate as the president is likely to be impeached in the House. One source said Republican leaders are already looking to the Clinton impeachment trial as a guide. The White House officials are eyeing that trial as an opportunity to bring in a slew of their own choice witnesses, from Hunter Biden to the whistleblower -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

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ALLEN: Well, let's talk about developments with Leslie Vinjamuri. Leslie is head of the U.S. and Americas Programme at Chatham House in London.

Hi, Leslie. Good morning to you.

LESLIE VINJAMURI, CHATHAM HOUSE: Good morning, thank you.

ALLEN: All right. We just heard, yes, there's fake news, fake this. That is the president's playbook. And he's been playing it hard.

What do you make of President Trump's daring Democrats to put him on trial in the Senate?

He's given the impression he's got nothing to fear. He remained defiant, talking with FOX News.

VINJAMURI: Well, remember, this is the president's approach. He also, if you go back a few weeks or a few months, he was daring the Democrats to begin impeachment hearings.

I think there are a couple of things here. First, of course, he knows at this point he has the -- he has the Republican voters on his side. And he has the Republicans in Senate. And he has a majority. So he isn't worried that he's going to lose the vote.

But I think more importantly, the president knows that a lot of what matters when we move to the Senate is what the narrative looks like, how it plays out, how the story is told.

And I think, frankly, that he relishes the opportunity to say a very different narrative, to really drill down in the Senate on the idea that has been pushed by the president and those around him that this is not an impeachable offense, that this is a witch hunt by the Democrats.

So I think he's really looking to impact the voter in the leadup to the primaries and to the 2020 elections. Now whether that will backfire, how that will actually transpire is very difficult to predict. But I do think that this president is trying to absolutely capture that narrative.

ALLEN: Right, because there are questions now about, if the president is impeached, will that hurt him or help him as we push on to this 2020 election?

VINJAMURI: That's right. And, again, a lot of this comes down to how fixed you think public attitudes are and whether they will change.

If you look at the polling, Americans are divided pretty equally on whether or not they support impeachment.

But when you drill down and you look at partisan attitudes, Democrats are very much in support. Republicans are very much opposed. But that independent voter is at around 41 percent.

So you know, one question is, will independent voters -- will their attitudes change and will they take this to the polls?

So you know, if we begin to look beyond the question of the outcome of the impeachment, these hearings matter critically for the elections, whether they change people's attitudes. And also whether when people go to the polls they're still thinking about the impeachment.

And if there's a backlash, then that could have a very negative impact.

ALLEN: Back to what we saw in the past few weeks with the testimony, hours and hours of testimony, it ended this week with Fiona Hill. She was straightforward, debunking the president's claim that it was Ukraine, not Russia that interfered in the election.

But he continues not to back down. She called it a fictional narrative propagated by the Russians. Then the president goes right back on TV on FOX and kept at it. And that seems that's going to be what he does, regardless of what kind of testimony we hear.

And we still could hear from John Bolton, who is teasing us that he may still be in play here.

That's right, Fiona Hill's testimony was extraordinary. Very powerful. And, remember, this is somebody who has worked for a very long time in government. And served, again, across parties, is not political. Is nonpartisan. And was really trying to cull out the fact that, what she was seeing from the inside was the policy towards Ukraine, America's policy towards Ukraine, was not being driven by America's national security concerns.

And secondly, as you mentioned, that the narrative that Trump was trying to construct, that this was about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections, simply isn't held up by the fact.

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VINJAMURI: The president is going to try to undermine the veracity of what's emerging as, frankly, uncontestable facts. But you know, there's two things for the Republicans, are they going to support him and say the facts contest the basic claims that are coming out very clearly.

Or are they going to say this is not an impeachable offense.

When you move past the president, go to "The Wall Street Journal," the editors there, they're saying this is not an impeachable offense. The American people will have to decide. If they're watching FOX News, I think the confusion around this is going to be very significant.

But I think it will come down ultimately to whether or not people think this is an impeachable offense.

ALLEN: We'll continue to watch it, because they continue to work through it through the Thanksgiving holiday. And will he be impeached by Christmas?

We'll wait and see. We appreciate your insights, Leslie Vinjamuri, thank you, Leslie.

VINJAMURI: Thank you.

ALLEN: Next, a crucial Election Day in Hong Kong. We'll tell you what's at stake on Sunday. And the impact it could have on the ever- powerful pro-democracy movement.

Also, embattled and defiant. We're talking about the Israeli prime minister who faces the fight of his political life. We'll go live to Jerusalem, after this.

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ALLEN (voice-over): This is Bogota, Colombia: loud bangs and plumes of tear gas sent protesters running for cover in the capital. Thousands have gathered to denounce the president's policies when they were dispersed by police.

In response to the unrest, a curfew was imposed and police are out in force. Reports of looting and confrontations with police have put people on edge. A CNN reporter describes a city gripped by fear. Some defied the curfew and gathered outside of the president's home to protest some more.

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ALLEN: In Hong Kong, police are braced for unrest during local elections coming this Sunday. Over the past few weeks, we've seen brutal attacks on both pro-democracy and pro-Beijing candidates. Riot police are being deployed to polling stations as a precaution.

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ALLEN: More than 4 million people are able to vote in the elections. And for the first time, all of Hong Kong's district councils are being contested at once. And the largest pro Beijing party is fielding 179 candidates and the pro-democracy parties has 397 candidates.

Sunday's elections followed some of the worst violence the city has seen since the protests began. Last week, clashes broke out when demonstrators occupied a university. CNN's Paula Hancocks spoke to protesters who managed to escape and avoid arrest.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a dramatic escape caught on camera. Protesters fleeing Hong Kong Polytechnic University by rappelling from a bridge. Volunteers on motorbikes waited below to whisk them away.

One of those who escaped tells us she would have done anything not to be arrested by police and face a maximum 10 years in prison on charges of rioting. We're not identifying her to protect her safety.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We were on the bridge and we heard someone shouting, don't look back. If you can escape, just leave. When the police seemed to step back a little bit, me and my friends decided to abseil without gloves.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): She has rope burns and bruises but she also has her freedom. She tells us she was on the front lines. Her job was to pour water on the tear gas canisters to stop the smoke. Like many protesters we speak to, she defends the violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Protesters do not want to use violence but violence is a way to create large attention. Petrol bombs are not for attacking the police but for protecting protesters.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): On the phone, I speak to another woman who escaped. She doesn't want to be filmed and does not tell us how she escaped for fear police could identify her. She tells me she helped to make petrol bombs on campus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The protests will continue. Everyone has learned from the mistake this time. So they won't defend a university anymore because the importance of this protest is to be water.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Some managed to escape through the campus sewer system, although others were arrested. The new police commission appealed to protesters again on Friday to leave the campus, hoping it will end peacefully.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It is very dangerous inside. There are a lot of explosives and gasoline bombs. The environment is very bad there.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): For the parents of those refusing to leave, all they can do is wait and watch. Police have rejected their pleas to go inside on safety grounds. One pastor is going in on their behalf to try and convince the remaining protesters to leave.

So how are the parents coping?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're quite nervous, sad and with a sense of despair and quite emotional.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): There are some under the age of 18 inside who police say they will not arrest, others who haven't slept in days and a growing sense of desperation to avoid arrest at all costs -- Paula Hancocks, CNN, Hong Kong.

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ALLEN: We will, of course, be reporting on the election, which takes place Sunday.

Israel's prime minister has promised to accept any court decision he may face but Benjamin Netanyahu also claims that investigators acted illegally. The country's attorney general announced multiple charges against Mr. Netanyahu this week.

Let's talk about it with our Paula Newton, she is covering the story for us from Jerusalem.

And there are charges and now countercharges from Netanyahu.

What's the latest, Paula?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean in terms of Benjamin Netanyahu, he remains defiant and, of course, is going to fight this. What's interesting is how he's chosen to fight it.

And the one thing you can't mistake, Natalie, was the fact that he borrowed language from President Trump in terms of calling these indictments politically motivated, saying it was a witch hunt and a coup. And he indicated that the investigators need to be investigated.

What does that mean?

He's saying that the very basis on which this indictment lies may be fraudulent. And his Shabbat message, it's a day of rest here, it doesn't matter your political persuasion, you could use the rest today.

All of these protests will eventually be decided in court and we will accept the court's decision. There is no doubt about that. This is a framework, we will safeguard it and we will always in the end and the beginning, act by the rule of law.

Of course, that's important in terms what he's saying there. But this is the key here. This means that those who did not act by law in the police or in the prosecution, there should be an examination. It should be dealt with. And there should be a remedy.

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HANCOCKS: What is he trying to say there, Natalie?

He's trying to say, look, he wants these charges looked into. He wants to know why they were leveled against him. He denies them, this is breach of trust, fraud and bribery, all of which could carry prison sentences, they're very serious charges. And you're starting to get insight into Benjamin Netanyahu and how he

plans to take this on. Remember, we're in a state of political limbo here in Israel. After two elections, a stalemate, still no resolutions on who will form the new government.

ALLEN: And now this. Paula Newton, thank you.

His name has been on almost everyone's lips here in the U.S. throughout the impeachment inquiry. But John Bolton has been mostly silent until now. What the former national security adviser is saying, that's next.

Plus, Carter Page was a minor player in the Trump campaign who had a major role in launching the Russia investigation. We'll explain why the Justice Department is now saying the FBI made mistakes in its investigation of him.

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ALLEN: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States in Atlanta. And around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.

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ALLEN: A series of tweets on Friday from former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton attracted a lot of attention both because of what they said and because Bolton has been mostly silent since leaving his White House post. Here's CNN's Brian Todd with more about it.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's been one of the ghosts of the impeachment hearings, on a list of key figures like Mike Pompeo, Rudy Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney, who didn't testify.

But former national security adviser John Bolton could know more than all of them about the allegations that President Trump abused his power to leverage the Ukrainians to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.

MELANIE ZANONA, "POLITICO": John Bolton has been one of the most mysterious figures in this whole Ukraine saga. He was one of the biggest starring players in this whole episode with Ukraine and yet he was an offstage character almost the entire time in the impeachment probe.

TODD (voice-over): But on Friday, after more than two months of silence, a tease from John Bolton. In a series of tweets, he accused the White House of blocking his access to his personal Twitter account, which President Trump denied. TRUMP: No, of course not. Of course not. No, I actually had a good relationship with John.

TODD (voice-over): In a tweet, Bolton asked whether the White House blocked his Twitter access, quote, out of fear of what I may say?

The specter of John Bolton loomed over the impeachment hearings in accounts his top aide, Fiona Hill, gave of Bolton's concerns about the Trump team's pressure on Ukraine.

HILL: He, then, in the course of that discussion, said that Rudy Giuliani was a hand grenade that was going to blow everyone up.

TODD (voice-over): Hill said Bolton physically stiffened at a July 10th White House meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials when E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland first linked a possible Trump meeting with Ukraine's President to Ukraine investigating the Bidens.

Hill said Bolton immediately walked out of the meeting and gave her an ominous directive afterward.

HILL: The specific instruction was that I had to go to the lawyers, to John Eisenberg, our senior counsel for the National Security Council, to basically say -- you tell Eisenberg Ambassador Bolton told me that I am not part of the -- this -- whatever drug deal that Mulvaney and Sondland are cooking up.

TODD (voice-over): And American diplomat David Holmes testified that Bolton met with Ukraine's President in August and warned him what it would take to lift a hold on U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

DAVID HOLMES, COUNSELOR FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN UKRAINE: It would hang on whether President Zelensky was able to, quote, favorably impress President Trump.

TODD (voice-over): But Bolton could know so much more. Two weeks ago, his lawyer wrote a letter to congressional leaders saying Bolton was involved in, quote, many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far.

TODD (on camera): What could he have witnessed?

MICHAEL ISIKOFF, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT, YAHOO! NEWS: John Bolton would have had more communications directly with President Trump than any witness we've heard from to date. So anything the President said in John Bolton's presence about the pressure campaign on the Ukrainians would be enormously significant testimony.

TODD (voice-over): Including one meeting that an aide testified Bolton had with Trump in August where the aide said Bolton tried and failed to get Trump to lift the hold on U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

TODD: Among the crucial looming questions are when will John Bolton reveal what he knows about the Ukraine dealings and in what forum?

Bolton's lawyer said he wouldn't testify at impeachment hearings unless a judge forced him to and he wasn't subpoenaed by House Democrats.

But he might have to testify at a Senate impeachment trial. Or Bolton's first revelations could come in a new book he's writing, which is due out next year sometime before the election -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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ALLEN: Joe Biden has some strong words for Republican senator Lindsey Graham. He spoke with CNN's Don Lemon in the key state of South Carolina Friday. Here he is.

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DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Let me ask you because Lindsey Graham now, who you've worked with, who was a friend, who I know there's video of him saying you are the nicest person he's ever met. You're the greatest man.

And now he's asking the State Department for documents for you and your son.

What do you say to Lindsey Graham and folks like him?

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're asking Lindsey Graham, they have him under their thumb right now. They know he knows if he comes out against Trump, he's got a real tough road for re-election, number one.

[05:35:00]

BIDEN: I am disappointed and quite frankly I'm angered by the fact. He knows me. He knows my son. He knows there's nothing to this.

Trump is now essentially holding power over him that even the Ukrainians wouldn't yield to. The Ukrainians would not yield to, quote, "investigate Biden." There's nothing to investigate about Biden or his son. And Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he's going to regret his whole life.

LEMON: What do you say to him?

BIDEN: I say, Lindsey, I just -- I'm just embarrassed by what you're doing for you. I mean, my lord.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Joe Biden there with Don Lemon.

Well, President Trump routinely denounced the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling as a political witch hunt without merit. The origins of the FBI investigation that started it all are now the subject of a lengthy official review by the U.S. Justice Department.

And as the so-called Horowitz report is expected to show, mistakes were made. CNN's Evan Perez has the details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department is investigating a former FBI lawyer who allegedly altered an internal document used to prepare the 2016 surveillance warrant application on a former Trump campaign adviser.

The altered document is among a number of mistakes that are expected to be cited in an upcoming report by Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz. Despite the mistakes, Horowitz's report is expected to find that the court-ordered surveillance of Carter Page was valid.

And the report is also expected to conclude that the FBI properly opened an investigation into connections between Trump campaign figures and Russians in 2016. But it's those mistakes, including the altered document that will likely add fuel to criticisms of the FBI by President Trump and his allies.

The low-level lawyer who allegedly altered the document is now the subject of a criminal investigation by John Durham, who was appointed by attorney general Bill Barr to take another look at the intelligence used in the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation.

The president has said that he and his campaign were illegally targeted by the Russia investigation. But the Horowitz inspector general report is not expected to support that claim by the president -- Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

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ALLEN: Next here, swastikas, racist stickers, sexist social media posts. Students are fighting back after U.S. universities are hit with hate crimes. We'll tell you about that.

Also how Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles is kept out of the loop, why the gymnast is outraged over the investigation of her former team doctor.

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ALLEN: Some college campuses in United States are rattled after a series of racist and anti-Semitic incidents. This week alone, at least four cases were reported at universities hundreds of miles apart. CNN's Sara Sidner has this.

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SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It appears hate incidents have exploded onto university campuses across the country. At University of Wisconsin Eau Claire five football players have been suspended, accused of circulating a meme of a KKK cross burning in a private football group Snapchat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These young men are adults. They're juniors in college. So they know right from wrong. I really don't care if it was a joke or not.

SIDNER (voice-over): At the University of Georgia, police say swastikas greeted more than 1 dozen students this month on the doors of their rooms at two residence halls. Last month a Jewish student reported the letters of her historically Jewish sorority were ripped from her dorm door and later "All hail," with a swastika below it appeared.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that we had 201 anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses last year, which is an 86 percent increase from 2016, is just staggering.

SIDNER (voice-over): At Indiana University, Professor Eric Rasmussen stirs controversy by posting and quoting this article, "Are women destroying academia? Probably."

The provost blasted him, saying, "For years he has used his private social media accounts to disseminate sexist, racist and homophobic views."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Academic freedom should protect me even if I believed all the things the provost attributed to me.

SIDNER (voice-over): The university says they can't fire him because of his First Amendment rights.

At New York's Syracuse University, furious students have protested for days over their school administration's response to several hateful incidents on or near campus this month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the students, wholeheartedly reject these phenomena and we refuse to cease our occupation until our demands are met in their totality. All power to the students.

SIDNER (voice-over): The university says over 13 days this month, there were 12 incidents of hateful graffiti on or near campus. And a black female student was called the N word.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been busy, overwhelming at times. We need to come together as a community.

SIDNER (voice-over): And they did. And now four Syracuse students have been suspended and students of other universities have been disciplined for the verbal assault of the black student.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The incident involved 14 people leaving a fraternity party.

SIDNER (voice-over): This is the second time in 18 months that fraternity members at Syracuse have faced discipline for racist behavior. In 2018, 15 members of Theta TAUB: were suspended after videos showed them using homophobic slurs, joking about "gassing Jews" and spewing their hatred of black people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I solemnly swear...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I solemnly swear...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- to always have hatred in my heart for ...

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

SIDNER (voice-over): A year later, hateful rhetoric aimed at blacks, Asians and Jews keeps appearing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking over my shoulder a little bit but I wouldn't say I'm particularly scared because I think I know that's what they want.

SIDNER (voice-over): In a tearful address to the students, the chancellor said he understood the students' fear after his mixed race family faced attacks when they lived in the South.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife subjected to many racial epithets. Their car tires were slashed. My kids' dog was shot. There was little investigation. Those responsible were never found.

SIDNER: The chancellor ended by saying that was then and in the South, this is 2019 and in Syracuse, where he says hate has no place.

[05:45:00]

SIDNER: He finally agreed to sign on to nearly all of the students' demands trying to make his campus safer and more inclusive -- Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: The world's most decorated gymnast, Simone Biles, said USA Gymnastics officials failed to protect young athletes from sexual assault. "The Wall Street Journal" reports the Olympian was kept out of the loop for years about the sexual abuse investigation of the team doctor. We get more from Brynn Gingras.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Simone Biles, considered the greatest gymnast of all times, calling for an investigation into USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

This is in the wake of a damning "Wall Street Journal" report which found Biles was kept in the dark for years about investigations into Larry Nassar, despite allegations, officials knew Biles had concerns about him. Nassar is the disgraced former doctor for the USA Gymnastics team

accused of sexually abusing hundreds of female athletes he treated throughout his career.

"The pain is real and doesn't just go away, especially when new facts are still coming out," Biles tweeted Thursday.

According to "The Journal," which cited multiple sources, including testimony provided to Congress, the facts show the head of women's gymnastics was made aware that Biles had concerns about Nassar in 2015.

"The Journal" the complaints promptly went up the chain of command to then CEO Steve Penny. Yet Biles was never included in its internal investigation. The report also said Biles' name wasn't initially given to the FBI as someone investigators should speak to as the agency conducted a criminal investigation.

This while Biles' star was rising. She made numerous public appearances representing USA Gymnastics ahead of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. It wasn't until after games where she brought home four gold medals when Biles was notified of the investigations and interviewed by federal agents, according to "The Journal."

"Numb is becoming a normal feeling," she tweeted on Friday.

Nassar is essentially serving a life sentence for criminal sexual conduct and federal child pornography charges. Last year, more than 150 women, including some of Biles' Olympic teammates, faced Nassar in court.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Imagine feeling like you have no power and no voice.

You know what, Larry, I have both power and voice and I am only beginning to just use them.

GINGRAS (voice-over): On the eve of Nassar's sentencing in 2018, Biles tweeted about her own abuse. And in an August interview, lashed out at USA Gymnastics.

SIMONE BILES, OLYMPIC GYMNAST: We have one goal. We did everything that they asked us for, even when we didn't want to. And they couldn't do one damn job.

You had one job. You literally had one job and you couldn't protect us.

GINGRAS (voice-over): In a statement to CNN, the current USAG CEO, Lily Loom, said she was deeply saddened and outraged to learn from "The Journal" that Biles' concerns had been mentioned in the initial complaint to USA Gymnastics and extended her apologies to Biles and her family.

GINGRAS: A lawyer for Penny told CNN that Penny didn't know that Biles was a victim of Larry Nassar's until she talked about her experience on Twitter. Penny is no longer with USA Gymnastics. He resigned from his post back in 2017 and he is currently facing criminal charges of his own in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal -- Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Next here, struggling to breathe: toxic smog is smothering Pakistan. The impact it's having on students there. We'll have a report, coming up.

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[05:50:00]

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ALLEN (voice-over): This is Pakistan's second largest city, a thick, toxic smog is blanketing the city, if you can see here, schools in Lahore has been closed for a second time this month. And people are being told to stay inside. That is because the air quality has reached the hazardous level.

The smog is a mixture of industrial pollution, burning waste and farm fires in nearby India.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: That sounds like a terrible mix.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[05:55:00]

ALLEN: Let's end on this one, the world of a 12-year-old Minnesota boy just became a lot brighter. Jonathan Jones is his name and he is color blind. That is, until he tried on a pair of glasses from his science teacher. Take a look at the emotional moment he saw color for the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See what it does.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what are you thinking?

Like the results? ALLEN (voice-over): Aww. The glasses cost about $350. His mom said they're going to buy him a pair of course, and started a GoFundMe to raise money for other color blind children. We've seen adults having reaction around the world when they found these glasses. So wonderful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. If you're joining us from the U.S., "NEW DAY" is next. If you're an international viewer, I'll be back with the headlines.