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FBI Identifies Gunman In Pensacola Shooting; U.S. And Iran Swap Prisoners; U.S. House Judiciary Committee Prepares For Monday's Hearing; Giuliani Digs Deeper For Dirt On Bidens; North Korea: "Very Important Test" Conducted; Unrest In Iran, U.N. Calls For Transparency; At Least 20 Killed At Tahrir Square Protest; New Delhi Factory Fire; Farage Talks About Importance Of Brexit; Speaker Gary Vee Talks Modern-Day Media. Aired 11a- 12p ET
Aired December 08, 2019 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We continue to track Friday's deadly shooting at a U.S. naval base.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One of the big questions is what was the motivation of this gunman.
RICHARD QUEST, CNNMONEY EDITOR-AT-LARGE: Perhaps this attacker tweeted out some of his thinking or intention in the minutes before the attack.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the meantime, the three sailors who died are being remembered for running toward the danger and saving lives.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The king said the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Well, this hour, a shooting in the United States playing into the geopolitics of this region right here in the Middle East.
Plus, doubling down and down and down. The American president's lawyer going out to Europe.
What was he doing there?
CNN investigates.
And going bananas: this artwork costs $100,000. Then someone ate it. I kid you not.
First up, a deadly shooting casting a pall over a crucial global relationship. A Saudi trainee at a U.S. Naval base opened fire on Friday,
killing three sailors, before he was killed, himself.
In the last few moments, we have learned the gun he used was purchased illegally. His motives still being investigated, but on both sides of the
U.S.-Saudi alliance, the leaders rushing to shore things up. The Saudi king expressing sorrow, promising help for the investigation. On the U.S.
side, Donald Trump touting his talk with the monarch, the Defense Secretary promising this isn't going to hurt ties.
CNN's International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson is on all of this, he is for you tonight in the Saudi capital.
And a lot of unanswered questions at this point.
What are the facts as we know them, Nic?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, I think, beginning with the freshest piece of information, which is about the
purchase of the weapon, though, that was done legally through the use of a hunting license, which allows a foreign national to buy a weapon in the
United States with that documentation. You know, you begin if you are an investigator to look at premeditation.
Now we know that the investigators are both looking at the possibility of terrorism, although they see no links to a major terrorist organization.
But they're also looking at this from a criminal perspective as well. And so looking at what has been reported about his possible Twitter feed may
inform.
There were quotes on that, on a Twitter posting in the minutes before his attack, that were quoting people like Osama bin Laden, with anti-American
rhetoric. People like Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al Qaeda inspirational leader from Yemen. So there is that to look at as well.
But the message for it clearly from here, I think, in Saudi Arabia, is this doesn't represent the Saudi people. That's the majority view. That's what
the king says, that was his message to President Trump.
And that really seems to encompass the position the Saudis are taking. They don't want there to cloud the relationship. It's hugely important to
them. They want to do what they can to bridge across any gaps that this is opening up.
But really the question at the moment stands, Becky, very clearly, very simply, what was the gunman's motive?
And that's what everyone is struggling to answer, both here and obviously in Florida.
ANDERSON: Saudi Arabia, of course, is long known as a special place in Donald Trump's foreign policy. The U.S. president went there on his first
trip abroad as president and he has stood by the Saudis ever since. The problem is, Nic, Congress, by and large don't back that position for a
myriad of reasons.
What can or should the Saudis do at this point?
[11:05:00]
ROBERTSON: Becky, could you ask me the last part of your question again?
I'm having trouble hearing.
ANDERSON: What can or should the kingdom do at this point?
ROBERTSON: Well, I think what we saw yesterday was absolutely what any person in the sort of public relations domain would say was absolutely the
right, smart move. You have -- you take charge of it. You try and get ahead of the facts.
The king, the most powerful, important, significant person in the country gets out ahead of it, calls President Trump, offers condolences, says that
this is a betrayal and a barbaric act. So I think that was a first step.
But what else can they do?
Well, this is where Saudi struggles and has struggled in the past, is to figure out what to do next when the story becomes a little more
complicated. Who do they put up to talk about it?
And how do they begin to sort of allay some of the sort of broader concerns that may grow out of the information that's beginning to come into the
public domain?
Do they try to get ahead of those facts and mitigate them?
Or will this count against them?
We saw Saudi Arabia get spectacularly wrong in the case of the murder by Saudi agents of "The Washington Post" journalist Jamal Khashoggi. They got
it wrong because they got out and lied about it to a degree or misinformed, unintentionally, they would say. But that was a problem and right now,
it's the messaging from here that's going to be critical.
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is in Riyadh, appreciate it. Thank you.
While that is going on, Donald Trump making some overtures towards an adversary with some rare positive things to say about Iran. Mr. Trump
hailing a prisoner swap this weekend between Iran and the U.S.
The Iranians releasing a U.S. student who had been held for three years on suspicion of being a spy while in the U.S., the Americans setting free an
Iranian scientist who was detained last year.
Now Mr. Trump praising Iran for a, quote, "fair negotiation" and saying, "see, we can make a deal together," while a senior administration official
said, the U.S. hopes this will lead to further success with Iran. Well, this is, of course, just one brief moment in the midst of decades of anger.
But a detente could have a potential to turn the east on its head.
Tehran, the nemesis of the Saudis and Israel to American allies. I want to bring in someone who's plugged into this, an expert on geopolitical ins and
outs. Karim Sadjadpour is an Iran expert, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is joining us tonight from our Dubai
studio.
Karim, this is the first time Iran and the Trump administration have agreed on anything.
How significant a move is this prisoner swap?
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Becky, I honestly don't think we should read too much into this. Obviously, it's a
happy moment that an innocent Chinese American scholar is being reunited with his wife and young child.
And I think it's pretty clear, including to the Iranians, that President Trump is not someone who is ideological. He is actually very keen on
having a deal or at least a summit with Iran along the lines of what he's had with Kim Jong-un in North Korea.
But the obstacle to a better relationship continues to be Iran's 80-year- old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who views hostility toward the United States as a part of the identity of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
ANDERSON: But the problem is, the supreme leader is going nowhere. We, you know, it's pretty clear that Donald Trump has got one eye at least, if
not both, now on the campaign. He had said that he would rip up this JCPOA deal, of course, the Iran nuclear deal. But he's not really gotten an eye
on the region at present.
I just wonder whether despite the fact you say we shouldn't read much into what can be perceived as low-hanging fruit to coin a phrase when it comes
to these prisoner swaps. they might just be over the problems that he has in the Middle East. When he says, see we can make a deal, perhaps we
should read that as a real sign that a broader deescalation is possible.
SADJADPOUR: Listen, I think it's very clear, President Trump doesn't want conflict with Iran.
[11:10:00]
SADJADPOUR: He's actually sought to deescalate over the summer after Iran shot down an American drone. He chose not to react, ignoring the advice of
his advisers.
President Trump is someone who is fundamentally someone who is not ideological. He has no principles. He is willing to cut a deal with just
about anyone. He doesn't care about human rights.
But the challenge here is that Iran's revolutionary theology for the last 40 years has been predicated on opposition to the United States. So there
are moments when they all make a tactical compromise. They'll release hostages. They may sign an arms control deal.
But I think fundamentally the two countries will remain adversarial as long as this current supreme leader is around. People at age 80 don't change
their world view.
ANDERSON: Yes. You make a very good point. And it was only a couple of days ago that the administration's representative on Iran, Brian Hook, was
doubling down on Iran, decrying its crackdown on protesters, emphasizing the effect of this maximum pressure campaign on Iran and its internal
problems as evidence that the country is close to collapse.
But you and I know that the -- I think we can agree that the country is not at present close to collapse and the supreme leader is going nowhere at
present, as I said.
So what happens next?
How do you see the shakeout at this point?
There are experts who say, be careful what you wish for.
Are you wishing United States and others for a military dictatorship, for example?
SADJADPOUR: Well, whenever the Islamic Republic of Iran has had a choice to make over the last four decades, which is whether to reform or to
repress, they always choose the path of repression.
And it's now gotten to the point where this regime can only survive with force and repression, because -- you know, there is a famous quote from de
Tocqueville that said the most dangerous moment for any authoritarian regime is when it tries to reform itself.
So I think the leadership in Iran believes if they actually pursue reforms, it will hasten their demise rather than prolong their shelf life. So I
think Iran in many ways resembles the last two decades of the Soviet Union. It's a regime, which is powerful beyond its borders. It's very influential
in the region.
But internally, it's like a rotten apple. So the challenge for the United States is, how do you engage with a tactic lead on regional issues, on
nuclear issues, what is the best way for the United States to help shepherd the cause of positive reform in Iran?
Certainly the Trump administration doesn't have a great record, there.
ANDERSON: Yes. Well, that's a challenge that the U.S. does face and the impact of what happens, of course, felt widely around this region, that we
are in, that of the Middle East.
Karim, always a pleasure, looking forward to speaking to you soon.
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. The Democrats feel they have a solid case. They are now working on drafting the charges
to be formally leveled at the president.
Plus, from Little Rocket Man to loving to dotard, no season of good cheer between North Korea and the U.S. as relations sour again.
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[11:15:00]
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ANDERSON: Well, it's full steam ahead in Washington as Democrats prepare for their next impeachment hearing, happening on Monday. Donald Trump
calls the whole thing a hoax.
But as we speak, Democrats leading the inquiry are drafting what are known as the articles of impeachment, deciding how many they will include and
which ones they will be.
Now these articles of impeachment will go into what will be a formal document, listing charges against the president, why the authors believe he
should be removed from office, well, on Saturday, the House Judiciary Committee released the report laying out historical arguments for
impeachment.
The report doesn't directly charge the president but committee chairman Jerry Nadler said in a statement, President Trump abused his power,
betrayed our national security and corrupted our elections, all for personal gain. A short time ago, he spoke to my colleague Dana Bash and
told her that Democrats feel they have a solid case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Do you feel comfortable that you and your fellow Democrats have conclusively proven the holdup in military aid was in
exchange for investigations and that, most importantly, it was a direct order from the president, himself?
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: It wasn't the -- it wasn't even in the current investigations. He didn't care about
the investigation. He cared about announcing an investigation because that was the political thing he wanted. He wanted the Ukrainians to announce
the investigation.
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Do you feel comfortable this whole thing was directed at the president, himself?
NADLER: Yes. Yes.
BASH: You feel you have a rock solid case?
NADLER: We have a very rock solid case, if presented to a jury, would be a guilty investigator in about three minutes flat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, meanwhile, a key ally of Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani agreed to testify about a conspiracy theory which is now debunked, that
Ukraine, not Russia, meddled in the 2016 election.
Giuliani, himself, continues his efforts to dig up dirt on Donald Trump's political rivals while traveling through Europe. CNN's Moscow Bureau
Chief, Nathan Hodge joining me now.
This Ukrainian diplomat, an associate of Giuliani, what is it that he is trying to accomplish by broadcasting on Twitter what Giuliani is up to in
Europe?
Explain, if you will.
NATHAN HODGE, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Right, Becky; he's accompanied Giuliani on his sort of conspiracy tour of Ukraine. And we managed to
track him down here in Kiev and here's what we were able to learn about what he had said.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HODGE (voice-over): In a whirlwind trip across Europe, Rudy Giuliani was on a mission to dig up dirt on President Trump's political rivals, meeting
ousted Ukrainian prosecutors in safe houses and making a surprise visit to Kiev to bolster dubious theories designed to defend President Trump amid
impeachment. Andriy Telizhenko said he was with Giuliani every step of the way.
ANDRIY TELIZHENKO, FORMER UKRAINIAN DIPLOMAT: Right now it is the process of Mr. Giuliani to protect his client, as he says, and to have the
witnesses there to protect his client. That's the main thing. He is the attorney for the president of the United States. That is the main goal,
to make his part of his story to protect his client.
HODGE (voice-over): Telizhenko was a former junior diplomat at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, who has promoted a debunked conspiracy
theory that Ukraine, not Russia, conspired to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
[11:20:00]
HODGE (voice-over): Giuliani didn't meet any current officials of President Zelensky, whose July 25th phone call with Trump is at the heart
of the impeachment inquiry. Instead, Telizhenko says he met with former officials described as corrupt in impeachment testimony and gave face time
to two Ukrainian politicians trying to promote another fringe theory about alleged corruption under the Obama administration.
Giuliani's new allies both have a questionable track record. A YouTube blogger and a graduate of a Russian FSB academy both publicly called for an
investigation into Hunter Biden and Telizhenko's claims that Ukraine meddled in 2016, a theory denounced by Russia expert Fiona Hill in a
recent testimony.
FIONA HILL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIAL: This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian
security services themselves.
HODGE (voice-over): Telizhenko says he's concerned the theory was picked up and amplified by the Russians but is willing to present it in an
interview with the Senate.
TELIZHENKO: It does bother me because, first of all, it's for me and makes discredit my -- to try to discredit my source for that story of Putin. And
if Russia was smart enough, they would be quiet and let you talk. And if Putin is using them, unfortunately, they not -- we can stop him from saying
whatever he is saying.
HODGE (voice-over): And while Giuliani is gathering new claims in Ukraine, back home, he is under greater scrutiny than ever.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HODGE: And, Becky, we've -- CNN has managed to fact check at least one of the new claims Giuliani has put forward about an alleged $5.3 billion in
aid to Ukraine that was misused. We found that was an inaccurate characterization of a Ukrainian government document.
In many ways we are seeing a rehash of a lot of old allegations and conspiracy theories floated before, many of which have been discredited --
Becky.
ANDERSON: Nathan, thank you. Nathan the on the story. He was out of the bureau for you this evening. And amid that impeachment row which is still
ongoing in the context for this, relations between the U.S. and North Korea look to have taken a turn for the worse after Pyongyang apparently
conducted a test at a rocket site President Trump said had being closed. That up next.
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ANDERSON: To an escalation in tensions now between the U.S. and North Korea. Pyongyang claims it has carried out what state media calls a,
quote, "very important test" at one of its satellite launch sites. Now this site was one that President Trump previously claimed had been
dismantled.
We don't know what was tested. One analyst told CNN this activity is a, quote, "message to President Trump."
[11:25:00]
ANDERSON: So how has Washington received it?
Well, Kristen Holmes joining us from the White House.
And to cut a deal with North Korea, to de-nuclearize was a clear priority for Donald Trump at the beginning of this cycle.
What's been the response to the message we are now getting from North Korea?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first, we'll talk about that, quote, "very important test."
Of course, we have been talking to the White House, essentially all they say is they have heard these reports and they're working with their
partners and cooperating really across the world with our allies, then we see the tweet from President Trump. I want to pull this up. That will set
the scene for where we are right now.
This is from President Trump, moments ago, "Kim Jong-un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way.
He signed a strong de-nuclearization agreement with me in Singapore.
"He does not want to void his special relationship with the president of the United States or interfere with the U.S. presidential election in
November.
"North Korea under the leadership of Kim Jong-un has tremendous economic potential. But it must de-nuclearize as promised. NATO, China, Russia,
Japan and the entire world is unified on this issue."
So let's talk about where we stand right now. Remember, two years ago, we were essentially at the peak of that heightened tension. We had the
president and Kim Jong-un calling each other names on Twitter, going out attacking each other and there was a serious belief that we could be on the
brink of war.
We are not quite there yet. But it is a hostile time. Just yesterday, the ambassador to the U.N. from North Korea saying that denuclearization is
off the table.
I've got to tell you, Becky, I just heard the national security advisor, Robert O'Brien, who is on the Sunday shows, he essentially said maybe that
ambassador was going rogue. Becky, we know ambassadors in North Korea do not go rogue. That would not be something that they would want to do.
That is a very dangerous stipulation and something that I generally would not happen under that dictatorship.
So we do have here a dictator who does not want to de-nuclearize who is angry at President Trump's remarks. You have a president who is desperate
to have this happen to have this negotiation made. And part of that really does have to do with that 2020 election. This would be a huge foreign
policy achievement.
If you look at their relationship over the past three years, it has become kind of cyclical. You have this attacking, this calling names, followed by
this almost love affair. President Trump, himself, said he is receiving beautiful letters from Kim Jong-un and they have fallen in love together.
Kim Jong-un referring to the president as Your Excellency in these letters. It goes back and forth. You see these promises made and broken and the
White House officials said this unique relationship would help achieve something with North Korea. So far, we have yet to see that.
ANDERSON: Kristen, thank you for that.
It is just before half past 8:00 here in the UAE, just before half past 11:00 in the morning, Sunday morning in Washington. And still ahead, on
this show, CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson.
The United Nations says it has damming video from the protests in Iran. What it reportedly shows on what's being done about it coming up.
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[11:30:00]
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ANDERSON: Our top story this hour just after half past 8:00 in UAE. We are learning more about Mohammed Alshamrani the Saudi national who opened
fire Friday at a U.S. Naval base in Florida, killing three sailors before he was killed, a chilling detail.
"The New York Times" quotes a source as saying he watched mass shooting videos at a dinner party the night before the attack. The U.S. president
Donald Trump and the Saudi King Salman have spoken about a shooting in the Saudi press agency says King Salman ordered the country's authorities
cooperate with the investigation.
Well, the United Nations says it has obtained video from the protests in Iran of possible violations of human rights. The U.N. says the video
appears to show Iranian forces shooting to kill protesters during the wave of unrest recently.
Last month's demonstrations began over fuel price hikes and quickly turned violent. The U.N. human rights office says at least 208 people were
killed, more than 7,000 have reportedly been arrested across the country. CNN senior international correspondent Sam Kiley reported extensively on
this region. He joins me now here in this studio with more.
And to add a layer to this, America's man in Iran reckons thousands of protesters could have been killed.
What is the message from Iranian security forces who, in large part, represent the more ideological side of the Islamic deep state as it were?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think we have seen a similar message sent in Iraq. In a sense, you can call it the Sisi
protocol. When demonstrations get big -- recall the Rabaa Square (ph), massacre, Sisi killed 900 to 1,000 people in a morning and crushed dissent
utterly and followed that up with jailing political dissenters and journalists.
The same kind of challenge I think is facing the Iranians here, too. These demonstrations, these anti-government demonstrations have been granular.
They have been directed at banks, at garages; they're angry about being hungry.
They see the activities that Iran is conducting external to their borders and obviously ask why are they backing Hezbollah or Hamas or the Damascus
regime, none of which have particular moral authority inside Iran when normal people are suffering.
One of the interesting things so far is we are not seeing flag burnings, the rich anti-Americanism. What you are seeing is a lot of demand from the
ground up in Iran and a response that the Iranians have used in the past, the scale of which may be higher now.
ANDERSON: You mentioned Iraq, so let me follow up with you on that, if I can because opening fire on protesters in Baghdad on Friday night, killing
at least 20 people and wounding more than 100, this follows that attack on a prominent Iraqi cleric, warning against foreign influence.
This is an escalation of tensions in what is an already volatile situation in Iraq. These gunmen who opened attack, opened these attacks, so far, are
unidentified. There are though, theories, Sam.
[11:35:00]
KILEY: They're strong theories and if you look at the eyewitness reports, those recently quoted by Amnesty International, the finger of blame, we
have no authentication of this, points towards individual Shia militia.
Now that's highly significant. These are predominantly Shia demonstrators, demonstrating against a Shia dominated government, heavily influenced by
the Shia theocracy in Iran.
So essentially, if we are seeing a schism here, we saw something similar about a week ago. Local tribal militia took up arms and came between the
demonstrators and government forces.
So what are you seeing -- this has been -- and I was on the ground in Baghdad, something the demonstrators have been conscious could happen and
are very fearful of, which is a semi covert violent response to kick this back into the sectarian violence that the government can understand rather
than the grassroots revolution, which is much harder to control.
ANDERSON: It's more about individualism and nationalism. I want to just close this out with a discussion, if you will, about what we believe the
shakeout of these protests might be.
We started this decade 2010 in Tunisia, 2011, of course, Tahrir Square in Egypt. The rest is history including this bloody conflict in Syria. We
close out the decade, if you will, with protests, sort of same but different. Iran has internal problems, clearly, on the ground. And it has
issues now with its influence around the region.
I wonder, though, what you think the shakeout might be for Tehran and its regime and whether lessons learned on the ground with their involvement
with Syria suggests to them that a brutal crackdown, Assad in Syria, works. And this is the way forward?
KILEY: Certainly from the leader of the IRGC Quds Force is a figure who pops up. We seen him allegedly in Iraq. He's certainly been in Iraq and
Damascus. This is a figure around whom the idea that violence could succeed might work.
He is also in a sense a part of the Gerasimov doctrine, chaos in the ranks of the enemy is victory. This is an option that the Iranians can play,
they can continue to stir up chaos in the ranks of their enemies and rivals, whilst there could be a hollowed out, as Karim was saying, a rotten
apple at home.
You can exist as a dangerous international player and be a hopelessly incompetent and impoverished government. The danger is again, from the
American perspective, what comes next?
Do they really want to see a violent insurrection, a collapse of Iran into civil war?
There has to be a game plan if you put these sorts of pressures on nations. Historically, the West has proved hopelessly incompetent at best when it
comes to managing these debacles.
ANDERSON: Meantime, we see a race for relevance and influence in this region with Iran, with Saudi, with Turkey and with Russia. To be
continued. Thank you, sir. All right.
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ANDERSON: Let's get you up to speed, though, on some of the other stories on our radar right now.
And huge numbers of pro democracy activists in Hong Kong have once again saved a massive march in the city. Organizers claim 800,000 people
participated. While police say it was less than 200,000. Unlike many of the protests, police actually signed off on this one.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule has successfully docked with the International Space Station. It is loaded with 2,500 kilograms of supplies and research
equipment, including genetically enhanced mighty mice to help scientists study muscles and bone loss in space.
Forty-three people are dead, from a deadly factory fire in New Delhi. A fire department official told CNN a short circuit caused the blaze and
laborers were trapped behind a locked iron door. Vedika Sud has this report for CNN from New Delhi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, JOURNALIST: I'm standing here in New Delhi, where about 500 meters behind me, right behind this building, is that building that caught
fire at about 5:20 this morning. I have spoken with fire officials who claim at 5:22 they received a phone call after which they rushed initially
a few fire tenders and eventually 35 tenders to the spot.
The biggest challenge were the lanes and bylanes through which the fire tenders could not go through.
[11:40:00]
SUD: They have to rely on a relay system which means they have to extend the pipeline and one firefighter was attempting to douse the fire. At
about 10:30 is when that fire was doused. We know there was no fire license that was granted to the owner of this building.
On the second, third and fourth floor were factories that were set up to deal with glassware and plastics. We have come to know there were a lot of
laborers also living in these factories in the different rooms of the building and they had died of asphyxiation because they couldn't find a way
out.
As of now, we do know that over 40 people are dead and over 50 have been rescued, evacuated from these buildings, and have been taken to three
different hospitals. The prime minister has tweeted on this, he also expresses his condolences. He has offered an amount to those who have been
affected by this fire -- Vedika Sud in New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: We are less than a week away from the U.K. election vote that could determine the future of Brexit. The leader of the Brexit Party, the
man who calls himself the father of Brexit, says the whole campaign will be sold out under Boris Johnson. Nigel Farage spoke to my colleague Fareed
Zakaria about why leaving the E.U. is important. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Let me ask you about Britain's role and what I notice is that Brexit seems to be a part of a larger British kind of
withdrawal from the world and this has become more --
(CROSSTALK)
NIGEL FARAGE, BREXIT PARTY LEADER: Answer: rubbish.
ZAKARIA: It feels like you are not interested in the world that much.
FARAGE: Answer: complete total rubbish. Now look --
ZAKARIA: Look at the size of your army. Look at the size of the navy. Everything has been hollowed out, foreign services is being --
(CROSSTALK)
ZAKARIA: -- by every indication.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAKARIA: -- British newspaper. There is almost no foreign news anymore.
FARAGE: The existing establishment have virtually, since the Soviets crisis of 1956, with a brief 10-year aberration called Ms. Thatcher --
(CROSSTALK)
FARAGE: All right. but no, we've -- our principle has been managed decline. Managed decline, and that is the defeatism of the British
establishment. The thought that we are not good enough to run ourselves anymore.
I want to tell you this as a Brexiteer and I'm the father of Brexit in many ways. I view Brexit at far from being insular, far from pulling our homes
in from the world. I view Brexit as the opportunity to reach out to the world. Brexit is about us reasserting our place in the world.
You know, as members of the European Union, we don't even have a seat on the World Trade Organization. You know, we've become nothing. We are
becoming a province of the United States of Europe. I think we're better than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Nigel Farage, the self professed father of Brexit and a man many blame for the mess that the entire project has been.
Coming up on CONNECT THE WORLD:
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GARY VAYNERCHUK, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: The biggest poison in us is regret. It's poison.
ANDERSON: Life lessons from that man, himself, my interview with social media guru Gary Vee just ahead.
Plus, $120,000 piece of artwork presented at Art Basel has been eaten. I tell you who ate the banana taped to the wall and why he did it.
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[11:45:00]
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VAYNERCHUK: I believe that producing content on an everyday basis at scale is the answer to 98 percent of the questions in this room about their
businesses, the nonprofit, the -- like you want to get somebody elected. All of the above. It is the answer.
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ANDERSON: The message there from Gary Vee to his more than 12 million followers across his social channels. His name is synonymous with hustle,
rising up from a young immigrant in Queens. The COO of a multi-million dollar digital agency nipping at the heels of the world's largest
advertising companies.
We caught up with Gary Vee in Dubai. He says his rise to success started with a certain American football team. Have a listen.
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LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: Now I'll explain all of this with regard to the New York Jets.
VAYNERCHUK: I desperately want to buy them.
KING: You do?
VAYNERCHUK: Yes, I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAYNERCHUK: By the time I was 10 or 11, I had been saying to anybody that was willing to listen to me I was going to buy the New York Jets.
So what am I going to do about it?
I'm going to amass the wealth and the opportunities to enable me to buy the Jets when they're up for sale and then I will go win Super Bowls.
ANDERSON: I love your stuff. There is a green knitted jersey that, as I understand it, will sit proudly above the name of the Jets at the stadium.
Go on and tell me about that jersey.
VAYNERCHUK: I appreciate you bringing this up. I literally don't like stuff?
Right?
I don't want to buy anything other than a team. I don't like stuff. But there is one item that rules my soul.
When I was 7, I fell in love with the Jets. All the kids in the neighborhood had jerseys. I ran into the house, Mom, I need a jersey. My
mom laughed at me, because that's not what immigrants do.
We don't spend $25 on a football jersey. I would cry, I was sad, then 10 or 11 days later, my mom at night had knitted me a Jets jersey with my name
Gary in the back and favorite number 5.
And it was the single most important item to me. It represents everything about my journey.
ANDERSON: As a first immigration immigrant from Belarus.
VAYNERCHUK: Yes.
ANDERSON: I've heard your story before to a certain extent. The pride you clearly have in being an American.
VAYNERCHUK: Yes.
ANDERSON: How does it feel to live in this era in America?
Are you proud of the country?
VAYNERCHUK: I'm proud of the country. I'm not proud of all of the behaviors. Whatever your politics are, I believe that anything that looks
like nationalism or us against them is always massively detrimental.
ANDERSON: Let's think about the field, going into 2020. The Democratic field?
VAYNERCHUK: Yes.
ANDERSON: If you were employed by anyone of those candidates, what would you do?
VAYNERCHUK: I would spend 95, 85, 75, I had to look at the data percent of their dollars and energy on 15 social networks. But I think it comes down
to communications and I think that having the ability to actually have people hear you and more importantly have people hear you in different
cohorts.
You know, when you sell vanilla, you are vulnerable. Using just traditional media forces you to only sell vanilla. What Facebook and
Twitter and Instagram and YouTube and creating podcasts allows you to do is create more nuanced flavors. But everyone of them is disproportionately
behind the president.
ANDERSON: Who is a brand in himself --
VAYNERCHUK: -- came in as a brand, which always plays.
[11:50:00]
VAYNERCHUK: But then using the mediums to create awareness or agreement has been much stronger than any of his competitors.
ANDERSON: Does what is going on with big social media or with big technology worry you?
Do the arguments and concerns about Facebook, for example, worry you?
VAYNERCHUK: No, what Mark did poorly when he's on Capitol Hill is, if you will ask Facebook to fact-check every piece of content that's put out by a
third party, then we should fact check everything put out by FOX News and CNN and MSNBC and "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal."
ANDERSON: A lot say that's what they do every day. They are in the business of fact checking.
VAYNERCHUK: I understand. And many would argue not every article or every post is true and, more importantly, here's where it gets -- then you get
into the conversation of facts versus opinions. You know, so much of the content of people like that's not true are actually opinions. And I would
argue that both FOX and CNN both "The Times" and "The Post" are in the business of opinions, not just facts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Gary Vee has created a phenomenon around his social advice, his motivational speaking, a fascinating guy.
Up next we go inside our local mosque, which happens to be one of the biggest and rather spectacular.
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ANDERSON: Remember that banana that became the talk of Basel last week?
Well, someone ate it. That's right, the $120,000 banana that an artist duct-taped to a wall was taken down and eaten unceremoniously by a
performance artist in front of a group of stunned onlookers. But one observer insists the art hasn't been lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't destroy the artwork. You just (INAUDIBLE) ate a banana. The artwork is not so much a specific fruit. The artwork,
you know, is the idea, the concept.
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ANDERSON: Right.
If you have been paying attention over the last couple of hours, over the last few years, you will recognize this spectacular view. It's what you
can see, just off the balcony here at the bureau and the Abu Dhabi program hub for CNN of the mosque.
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ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson. That was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you for watching.
END
