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The Global Brief with Bianca Nobilo
House Intel Report Accuses Trump Of Misconduct, Obstruction; Kamala Harris Drops Out Of Presidential Race; Trump, Macron Clash As World Leaders Gather In London; British Royals, PM Host Receptions For NATO Leaders; Dow Drops After Trump Warns Of Possible China Deal Delay; Epstein Accusers' Lawyer Calls On Prince Andrew To Testify; India's Rape Culture: Lawmakers Call For Death Penalty For All Rape Cases; Apostrophe Protection Society Disbanded. Aired 5-5:30p ET
Aired December 03, 2019 - 17:00 ET
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[17:00:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN HOST: Tonight on THE BRIEF, U.S. House Democrats released their report laying out the case for Donald Trump's impeachment. A
clash of posturing on priorities, the U.S. President and his French counterpart trade jabs at a NATO meeting. And more royal fallout for Prince
Andrew, a lawyer calls on the Duke of York to testify.
Live from London, I'm Bianca Nobilo. Welcome to the show. Just hours ago congressional Democrats took their strongest step yet towards impeaching
the U.S. President. The House Intelligence Committee released its report on the investigation into the President.
A 300 page report argues that Trump personally, with the help of senior officials, solicited interference of a foreign government in the upcoming
2020 election to benefit himself. It also outlines what it calls overwhelming evidence of obstruction of justice by a President who has
consistently refused to cooperate with Congress. CNN's Alex Marquardt has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Overwhelming is the amount of evidence House Democrats said today of the
President's misconduct with Ukraine and his obstruction of Congress.
A new report from the Intelligence Committee stating that President placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of
the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.S. presidential election process and endangered U.S. national security.
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): The evidence is overwhelming that. He abused his office to leverage your taxpayer dollars to have a foreign government and
cheat an election.
MARQUARDT (voice over): The 300 page report details the Committee's findings after an eight week historic investigation. Their blistering
conclusion that it would be hard to imagine a stronger or more complete case of obstruction than that demonstrated by the President since the
inquiry began.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): This is the result of a President who believes that he is beyond indictment, beyond impeachment, beyond any form of
accountability and indeed above the law. And that is a very dangerous thing for this country to have an unethical President who believes they are above
the law.
MARQUARDT (voice over): Chairman Adam Schiff launched the investigation in September prompted by the whistleblower's complaint. That complaint
centered around the July 25th call in which President Trump asked Ukrainian President Zelensky for a favor and investigations into a 2016 elections
conspiracy theory and the Bidens.
Our investigation determined that this telephone call was neither at the start nor the end of President Trump's efforts to bend U.S. foreign policy
for his personal gain.
The report reads, rather it was a dramatic crescendo, an effort, democrats argue, that included Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney saying they were either knowledgeable of or active participants in an
effort to extract from a foreign nation the personal, political benefits sought by the president.
Pompeo was on that July 25th call and Mulvaney famously admitted to the quid pro quo before walking it back.
MICK MULVANEY, ACTING CHIEF OF STAFF: I have news for everybody. Get over it. There's going to be political influence in foreign policy.
MARQUARDT (voice over): The committee report alleges that the President's misconduct in Ukraine was not an isolated occurrence nor was it the product
of a naive President. Trump, according to the committee, benefited from Russian interference in the 2016 election that the then candidate welcomed.
Now they say that President is soliciting China and Ukraine to interfere, which presents a clear and present danger that the president will continue
to use the power of his office for his personal political gain.
The central role of Rudy Giuliani in Ukraine policy runs throughout the entire report. It details his calls with the White House, the Office of
Management and Budget and Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes.
In April, the report says, Mr. Giuliani had three phone calls with a number associated with OMB and eight calls with a White House number. Giuliani had
been pushing for the ouster of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. She was recalled in May after what the committee called a baseless smear campaign.
The report reads, "her ouster set the stage for other U.S. officials appointed by President Trump to work in cooperation with Mr. Giuliani, to
advance a scheme in support of the president's re-election."
The committee also detailed the lengths the administration went to not cooperate saying not a single document was produced by the White House.
Officials were also blocked from testifying or handing over records.
In the end, the committee does not recommend impeachment, saying that will be left up to the full House, whether the President shall be held to
account, they say, and whether we as a nation are committed to the rule of law or instead whether a President who uses the power of his office to
coerce foreign interference in a U.S. election is something that Americans must simply get over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: And Bianca in just under an hour's time the Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on this report. It is a formality, and is
expected to be voted upon along party lines, meaning, that the baton will now get passed from the Intelligence Committee into the next phase to the
Judiciary Committee.
[17:05:00]
Bianca, we also heard very soon after this report was released from the White House, from their spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, she said, in part
"this report reflects nothing more than Democrats frustrations. Chairman Schiff's report reads like the ramblings of a basement blogger straining to
prove something when there is evidence of nothing." Bianca.
NOBILO: Alex you mentioned the Judiciary Committee holding its first hearing tomorrow, what can we expect from that?
MARQUARDT: Well, this is the first of what will likely be several hearings. Tomorrow's might be a little bit dry. It might lack some of the drama that
we saw in the Intelligence Committee. What we're expecting to see are four constitutional experts who will be questioned by the members of the
Judiciary Committee.
Next week, there may be more hearings, that's when articles of impeachment may be drafted up, debated upon and amended and then Democrats are hoping
to have a full vote in the House on the impeachment of the President before Christmas. Bianca?
NOBILO: Alex Marquardt, thank you.
The race to challenge President Trump in 2020 is now a little bit smaller. Senator Kamala Harris has ended her campaign to be the Democratic nominee
for President. Harris was among the leaders in the polls early on in the summer after a strong showing at the first Democratic debate. But she's
since lagged in the polls and in fundraising in recent months.
Instead CNN's most recent polls Democrats, Harris - it said that Democrats - among Democrats Harris only got 3 percent of the support, so clearly at
the bottom of the very crowded field and far away from that top tier.
And now as the impeachment inquiry rolls on at home, Donald Trump is gathering with world leaders thousands of miles away and controversy
certainly followed him here to the United Kingdom.
NATO's 70th anniversary meeting kicked off a few hours ago at Buckingham Palace. But before that even started Mr. Trump engaged in a verbal skirmish
with the President of France. Emmanuel Macron has said that NATO is quote "brain dead." Mr. Trump said that that was a nasty thing to say. Take a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I heard that President Macron said NATO is brain dead. I think that's very insulting to a lot of
different forces. And you just can't go around making statements like that about NATO, it's very disrespectful--
EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE: I know that my statements created some reactions and shake a little bit - I do stand by--
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The two Presidents disagreed over plenty of other things too. For example, the U.S. had declared victory over the terror group ISIS. But Mr.
Macron sees it differently. Watch how that part played out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And we have a tremendous amount of captured fighters - ISIS fighters over in Syria. But many are from France. Would you like some nice ISIS
fighters? I can give them to you. You can take everyone you want.
MACRON: Let's be serious. A very large number of fighters you have on the ground are ISIS fighters coming from Syria, from Iraq. And I think number
one priority, because it's not yet finished - is to get rid of ISIS.
TRUMP: This is why he's a great politician. Because that was one of the greatest non-answers I've ever heard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: The two leaders also differed on NATO member Turkey which recently bought a missile system from Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I can only say we have a very good relationship with Turkey and with President Erdogan - I do. I can't speak for the President of
France.
MACRON: How is it possible to be a member of the Alliance, to work with our office, to buy our materials, to be integrated, and to buy the S-400 from
Russians? Technically, it is not possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Amid all of the controversy, the U.S. President and other NATO world leaders have squeezed in meetings with British royalty. Queen
Elizabeth hosted NATO leaders at Buckingham Palace and it was all smiles between the Queen and Mr. Trump.
Later NATO leaders arrived at 10 Downing Street for a reception hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. President Trump ignored reporters'
questions about the impeachment inquiry as he entered and left the Prime Minister's residence.
Meanwhile, crowds of protesters gathered outside Buckingham Palace, chanting "No NATO" and denouncing the US President's policies. Nina dos
Santos is outside 10 Downing Street for us. Nina, the day started off with President Trump and President Macron verbally sparring with each other, how
did it end?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it ended with a 35-45 minute long reception here at Downing Street where everybody arrived, and appeared to
also leave in good spirits. But I have to say, the actual function didn't last all that long.
[17:10:00]
As you, said disunity was on full display here amongst some of the crucial members of NATO, including the likes of Turkey, who has one of the biggest
armies in the bloc and also the U.S. President very much taking this as an opportunity to remind other NATO members - as he has done, frankly, over as
many of the last three or four years. That it is time to pay up otherwise he would impose penalties on them.
That didn't go down well with the likes of France, as you just heard there with Emmanuel Macron and also President Trump sparring verbally there.
But the other big story is the fact that Boris Johnson didn't have any big bilateral meetings with President Trump today. That was very much
conspicuous in his absence, Bianca. The fact that Boris Johnson is only nine days away from a general election means that this NATO summit has come
at a very, very uncomfortable time.
And that means that considering as Donald Trump is not particularly popular with U.K. voters, particularly because they're concerned about whether or
not the United States might want to get its hands on elements of the free healthcare system here in a post Brexit U.S.-U.K. trade deal. The two sides
have been maintaining a very polite distance, despite the fact that obviously Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, as we know, are said to be good
friends.
And just briefly in a 58 minute long impromptu press conference, that is the way the day started, the U.S. President said, I'm not going to get
involved in these elections. But then he went on to talk about his support for Boris Johnson and also his support for Boris Johnson's big main policy
which is getting Brexit done. Back to you.
NOBILO: Nina dos Santos outside Downing Street, thank you very much.
U.S. markets have taken a beating. The Dow closed down 280 points after dropping 460 points at its worst. The S&P and NASDAQ both shed more than
half a percentage point as well. Investors got spooked after President Trump warned that a trade deal with China might not even happen until after
the 2020 election.
That contradicts earlier statements he's made. Speaking to reporters in London Mr. Trump said that any deal will happen on his timetable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And by the way I'm doing very well on a deal with China if I want to make it - if I want to make it. I don't think it's up to if they want to
make it, it's if I want to make it. But you're going to find out very soon. We'll surprise everybody.
In some ways I like the idea of waiting till after the election for the China deal. But they want to make a deal now and we'll see whether or not
the deal is going to be right - it's got to be right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Tuesday sell off was even steeper than Monday's when all three major indices recorded their worst one day percentage drop in two months.
And all this comes just as stocks had hit a string of record highs.
Now Britain's Prince Andrew is facing more fallout over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. A lawyer of five women accusing Epstein of sexual abuse
wants the Prince to answer questions over what, if anything, he witnessed in Epstein's homes.
The five women told the BBC that Prince Andrew saw young women giving massages. The lawyer says that he's drafted subpoenas to compel the Prince
to testify if he stepped foot in the United States. And all of this comes on the heels of a bombshell BBC interview with a woman who says that she
was forced to have sex with the Duke of York as a teenager. Prince Andrew denies all of the allegations.
Max Foster joins me now from outside Buckingham Palace. Max, what do we know about the prospect of Prince Andrew testifying and what impact is this
having on popular support of the monarchy in the United Kingdom?
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, there are some polls suggesting that this has affected the respect that monarchy has in the
United Kingdom. We've also seen Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition leader, during this election campaign in the country currently questioning the
current state of the monarchy.
I think what he's suggesting there that it is perhaps very big and it needs to be slimmed down. If you're going to slim it down, you're going to get -
push out the likes of Prince Andrew, possibly Prince Harry as well. Just keep it to the line of succession.
He is still under a lot of pressure. This interview with Giuffre that went out on the BBC last night was shocking to hear. Not necessarily any new
massive revelations, but it was a opportunity for Brits to hear her side of the story when they'd already heard his side of the story.
They now have to make their decision on who they believe. The whole idea of Prince Andrew doing this initial interview was to show British people
they've got nothing to hide, that he can be trusted. That had the opposite effect. And he lost a lot of faith from the British public.
And he said afterwards he did regret having this relationship with Epstein, something he should have said probably in the interview. He expressed
empathy for the victims, again, something that he didn't do in the initial interview. Many people say that was too little too late.
He also said he would, of course, work with U.S. authorities, official bodies at least, wanting to investigate this.
[17:15:00]
So far they haven't asked or issued any subpoenas for him so that hasn't been tested. But what the victims' lawyers - Giuffre's lawyer wants is an
interview with her lawyer that they can use in their own investigations. No response from his side on that so far.
NOBILO: Max - Max Foster, thank you very much joining us from outside Buckingham Palace. That's been a very long day for you. Appreciate it.
In India two brutal cases of rape and murder have led to escalating protests and calls from some lawmakers that all convicted rapist to be
sentenced to death.
Outrage has been mounting across the country after a 27 year old veterinarian was gang raped, murdered and set on fire in Central India last
week. In another case a six year old girl was raped and strangled to death in Northern India. The cases have challenged India to confront its deep
rooted problem of sexual assault.
Still ahead on the program, NATO's annual meeting is off and running, but President Trump once again at the center of controversy. We'll talk with
one of our political analysts, that's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: NATO's Seventieth anniversary meeting is shaping up to be quite a gathering, and front and center of it all is the U.S. President Donald
Trump. Mr. Trump called the President of France insulting for saying that NATO is experiencing a brain death. He then offered to send ISIS fighters
over to France. Macron said, "Be serious."
Mr. Trump then praised Turkey's President, who's recently bought a missile defense system from Russia, bearing in mind that NATO was established to
defend against - to be a bulwark against the Soviet Union.
He denied knowing that the embattled Prince Andrew, despite the photos evidence, otherwise had been involved with Epstein and Trump had met him in
a similar situation. And he has promise not to weigh in on the British election, which is playing out currently in the United Kingdom and is only
nine days away from taking place.
President Trump, himself, hasn't been the biggest NATO fan. Here's what he said on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Do you think the United States needs to rethink U.S. involvement in NATO.
TRUMP: Yes, because it's costing us too much money.
Number one, NATO is obsolete. Number two, the countries in NATO are not paying their fair share.
It's obsolete and we pay too much money.
NATO is obsolete. In my opinion NATO's obsolete.
So here's the problem with NATO, it's obsolete.
It was 67 years or it's over 60 years old.
When I said that NATO to Wolf Blitzer it's obsolete, I got attacked. Three days later people that study NATO say, you know, Trump is right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Well, speaking of people who might study NATO, let's break all this down with CNN Political and National Security Analyst, David Sanger. David,
good to have you on the program.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you, Bianca.
NOBILO: We were just listening to several snippets from a few years back when President Trump was talking about NATO being obsolete. Now he seems to
be trying to rally the NATO members around, and get them to increase their defense spending and to revitalize the organization. Do you think that he
has had some success in that, in having an impact on getting the countries to pay their fair share?
[17:20:00]
SANGER: Certainly, Bianca, I think his jawboning has resulted in their willingness to step up with a bit more money. The administration maintains
that they are now paying $130 billion more. That's true. If you add it up back to 2016 when Barack Obama was still President, there was more -
probably upwards of $400 billion more on tab if they deliver it.
But what was striking in that rather tense exchange that you heard with President Macron was that the two leaders are talking past each other about
what central to this. To President Trump it's all about who pays for NATO, and that's an important topic. You may remember President Obama beat up on
the NATO countries as well for not contributing enough.
But the second issue is what is NATO's mission supposed to be? And here you saw President Trump talking about everything except containment of Russian
aggression, including in Ukraine. And you heard President Macron doubled down on that and some other areas, including cyber and other new
technologies where NATO got a long way to go.
NOBILO: Yes, that was really striking when you saw the two of them together. That the President Trump's focus, as often is, was on the
financial aspects of this and then it seemed Emmanuel Macron was focusing on the strategic aspects of this and the evolving nature of the threats and
subsequently the objectives that NATO should be pursuing.
When it comes to that, when it comes to the strategy, where do you see the biggest divides between the President and the other members of NATO?
SANGER: Well it's probably over Russia, most of them, with the possible exception oddly enough of President Macron himself has been fairly strong
on the question that Russia does not get back into the G-7 - what became the G-8 until they resolve the issues that led to their ouster in 2014,
which was the invasion of the eastern part of Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea.
The President seems to just want to get them back in without having reached any particular agreements or concessions there. Most of the rest of NATO
considers, particularly the eastern countries in NATO, consider Russian aggression to be their number one issue.
But president kept talking about having missions elsewhere in the world, including some vague idea around China. It wasn't clear from what he said
that he understood that NATO had been an active participant in Afghanistan and, of course, in the Balkans and so forth. This whole idea of being out
of area is not exactly new, it's more than 20 years old.
NOBILO: And in the back of the President's mind, presumably all the time, at the moment is the specter of the 2020 election. How invested and
interested are Americans in NATO and in America's role in it?
SANGER: Not especially. I think that for Mr. Trump's base he wants to be able to do two things. He wants to go out and say I've gotten European
countries to pay more so you don't have to and that gets big cheers. And he talked about going into stadiums and getting cheered on these issues in his
sit down with President Macron today.
But I think the second issue is, he wants to be able to cite some foreign policy wins. It's unlikely to get much out of North Korea and Iran. So he
does want to say I revitalized NATO. I turned it from an obsolete institution into an active one.
But these divisions about what NATO should be doing, which is by the way a fight that precedes Donald Trump by many, many years, is hardly one in
which the President's taken the lead.
And when Macron said that NATO was brain dead, what he meant was that, this was a criticism of the United States and President Trump for pulling back,
and for the uncertainty about whether NATO - whether the United States would be there if NATO countries were attacked.
NOBILO: David Sanger, thank you very much for joining us to break all of that down.
[17:25:00]
SANGER: Great to be with you.
NOBILO: When THE BRIEF returns, how some grammar enthusiasts are admitting defeat, saying, ignorance and laziness have won.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NOBILO: It was an organization dedicated to keeping the world safe from poor, possessive punctuation. And for all you grammar geeks out there, like
me, I have some devastating news for you this evening.
The Apostrophe Protection Society is no more. Yes, it is or was a real thing. It was set up by a retired journalist John Richards to champion the
proper usage of the much misunderstood apostrophe. But he's admitted defeat, saying, "We, and many of our supporters worldwide have done our
best, but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won." How depressing.
I'm sure all of you Brief viewers know how to use an apostrophe. The group's website closed after the announcement and it had a 600-fold
increase in traffic that proved just too expensive. So now it's up to all of us to ensure that proper punctuation permeates.
That's THE BRIEF. I'm Bianca Nobilo and "WORLD SPORT" is up next.
END
