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Trump's Frustration Grows over Delay of Senate Trial; Interview with Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA); Semi-Truck Barrels Toward First Responders at Crash Site; Nearly 20 Million Under Winter Weather Advisories. 235,000 plus Displaced in Northwest Syria as Violence Escalates; Examining the State of Race Relations over the Last Decade; "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice". Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired December 28, 2019 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[11:00:10]
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Desperate search -- teams are scouring the Hawaiian coastline looking for the seventh victim of a tour helicopter that crashed on the island of Kauai.
Plus, a manhunt intensifies in Virginia. The FBI looking for two men who robbed a Denny's allegedly killing a delivery driver as they ran from the scene.
And out of control -- an 18-wheeler comes barreling into an accident scene in Texas and it is all caught on video.
Hello, everyone. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 on the West.
I'm Martin Savidge, in for Fredricka Whitfield. It's great to be with you.
President Trump is on his holiday vacation in Florida where he continues to vent his anger over his stalled impeachment trial. He's been lashing out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the whistleblower in a series of Twitter attacks. The President clearly frustrated by the uncertainty surrounding his Senate trial.
Speaker Pelosi continues to hold off on sending his articles of impeachment to the Senate as Democrats push for witnesses to testify. And Majority Leader McConnell signals that he's not in any hurry to get the trial under way.
As the President fumes over his stalled impeachment, sources say he is also seeking advice about who should be on his defense team and what the strategy should be.
CNN White House producer Kevin Liptak joins us now.
And Kevin -- impeachment is clearly on the President's mind and his Twitter feed.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Yes, it certainly is -- Martin.
The President agitated at Democrats' tactics as the standoff over his impeachment trial stretches into a new week and a New Year. The President lashing out at Nancy Pelosi claiming that she's trying to rig this trial, at the same time, as you said, soliciting advice from his allies down in Mar-A-Lago about what in particular this defense will look like and when it will be mounted.
The President eager for his symbolic day in court, believing that the Senate will vindicate him after he was impeached by the House. He's eager to get this trial under way. Of course, he's being stymied by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has so far refused to send over those two articles of impeachment.
Now, what is this standoff all about? It's about the rules of the Senate trial -- what it will look like.
Pelosi believes that Democrats should be able to call witnesses, including some of those White House officials who refused to participate in the House proceedings like acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.
And that's in direct opposition to what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said. He said he cannot set the rules for the Senate trial until he has those articles of impeachment. He so far has refused Democrats' requests to include witness subpoenas in the initial resolution setting the Senate trial.
He has expressed a desire not to get the Senate trial under way. He doesn't share President Trump's eagerness to get this going and he has scoffed at Democrats' attempts at using leverage in sending over those articles of impeachment, saying he's not interested in those at all.
So there are a lot of questions going forward as the standoff continues. One, will there be witnesses in this trial? Two, will there be document subpoenas? Three, when exactly will this trial take place and how long will it last? And maybe most immediately, when will those two articles of impeachment be transmitted?
Now, last night on CNN the Democratic Representative Dan Kildee, he's from Michigan -- he spoke to some of these timing questions. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DAN KILDEE (D-MI): I think we have to wait until we have some assurance that this trial is not going to be some sort of a sham or a joke. And we see a little bit of movement --
(CROSSTALK)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: I mean I'm talking extremes here, like into February?
KILDEE: Well, I mean that's certainly possible but I'm not going to get ahead of the Speaker.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIPTAK: Now that is, of course, on the extreme end of things. Most people on Capitol Hill and at the White House say that they expect some movement on this impeachment trial to take place in early January when lawmakers return to Washington.
Now, House Speaker -- or the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and McConnell have not spoken recently. Sources say they don't expect them to speak until January. So this standoff certainly will continue into the next week -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Yes, at least for that. Kevin Liptak -- thanks very much with the view from the White House.
With me now is Congressman John Garamendi. He is a Democratic representative from California and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Congressman -- thanks very much for joining us today.
REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Good morning.
SAVIDGE: So, one of your Democratic colleagues in the House says that he wants assurances that the Senate trial won't be a sham. And if it takes until February to get that, so be it.
And I'm wondering, are you ok with the impeachment trial dragging into February, maybe later?
GARAMENDI: Well, I think I'm with the American public. The American public wants a real trial. They want to have witnesses, they want to have documents.
[11:04:48]
GARAMENDI: A lot of open questions coming out of the hearings in the House of Representatives. More than 30 witnesses, all of them testifying that, yes, indeed there was a problem here in the Ukraine situation. Now let's get the witnesses from the White House.
The American people want it. Certainly I do. And I think the Senate must have those documents, must hear from the key witnesses that were part of the telephone call and part of the withholding of the aid to Ukraine.
SAVIDGE: And I get wanting those kind of assurances, but of course February is awkward in timing. It's when the Democratic presidential caucuses and primaries get under way. And I'm wondering, should that be a concern for the Democrats that an impeachment trial might overshadow your party selecting a presidential nominee?
GARAMENDI: Well, I don't think that's of concern. What I think will happen is when we return to Washington January the 6th and 7th, this will very quickly be ironed out. There's going to be a lot of pressure on the senators -- Democrat and Republican -- to have a full- blown, honest trial in which testimony is received from the key witnesses and the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, the Pentagon as well as the State Department and critical documents being made available.
All of those are critically important.
I suspect the first week of January you'll see all of this ironed out. And then Speaker Pelosi will be in an appropriate position to be able to say, ok, here's what we're looking for. Here's the kind of managers that will be best suited for those kinds of witnesses and the documents and the questions that are inevitably going to be asked.
SAVIDGE: I want to ask you about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden --
GARAMENDI: Sure.
SAVIDGE: -- because he says that he will not comply or he's indicated that he may not comply if he's subpoenaed to testify in the Senate impeachment trial. And I'm wondering how can Democrats demand witness impeachment testimony if one of their own members of their own party won't testify?
GARAMENDI: Well, I don't know what Vice President Biden had on his mind when he said that. He was responding to a question, I think, came from left field to him.
The fact of the matter is that Biden is not a key witness. I suspect that if somehow the Republicans were to maneuver into a situation where he would be subpoenaed, he would appropriately respond to that subpoena.
But that's really a sideshow. And that's not the critical issue before the Senate. The critical issue before the Senate is the impeachment documents that were sent or will be sent to the Senate.
It's quite possible that one of those, that is the obstruction of the House of Representatives or the obstruction of Congress' investigation could be pushed aside if the witnesses, if the information was made available during the trial. That then leaves the question of the first article of impeachment, which has to do with the President literally bribing or extorting the government of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and what took place there.
Now, all of the information from all the intelligence sources, all of the documents, all of the witnesses that provided testimony during the impeachment process in the House all came to the same conclusion. There was nothing going on with the Bidens in Ukraine.
SAVIDGE: Right. I should point out you have supported and have endorsed the vice president, correct?
GARAMENDI: That is correct. I think he's the right person at the right time to deal with the issues of trying to put our government back on track, trying to heal the extraordinary harm that President Trump has created dividing this country. SAVIDGE: And I want to ask you about the President because he has
been extremely active tweeting and retweeting, attacking Speaker Pelosi in the last few days. What do you think of the impact of obviously this very aggressive approach by the President on the Speaker as she pushes to have a say in a Senate trial?
GARAMENDI: Well, every tweet that comes out, every lie that he expounds, every time he goes to one of his rallies, it's just more division and it's in very many cases bizarre. It's weird. And he uses the word "crazy" and really one looking at the way he is responding to all of this and the way he has acted. I guess well over 16,000 lies in the three years that he's been in office.
This is really out of the ordinary. It's bizarre and entirely beyond what we would expect from a normal person. It's kind of like that drunk at the end of the bar just mouthing off in a strange way.
Not to say the President is that, we know he doesn't drink. But boy I'll tell you, this is really strange.
[11:09:54]
SAVIDGE: Before I let you go, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I want to get your reaction to the "New York Times" reporting that -- we're showing the videos of Navy SEALs calling out their platoon leader, that's Eddie Gallagher. They called him toxic and evil. That was before his trial.
He was eventually acquitted of murdering an ISIS prisoner but he was demoted in rank for a separate, posing in a picture with a corpse. President Trump intervened and he restored Gallagher's rank and I'm wondering, you know, are you worried about the impact of a president meddling in military discipline?
GARAMENDI: Well, I know right now we have 1.4 million Americans serving our country in the Armed Forces in every one of those positions, many of them overseas for extended period of time away from their family, all of them doing the very best they can to obey the rules of conduct.
And here we have a situation that brings into this entire question of how the military is going to provide discipline within its ranks. It's a very bad situation all the way around, including the pardon.
And now we seem to have Mr. Gallagher or Chief Gallagher becoming part of the President's campaign, campaigning for him. So you've just -- it raises a very serious issue of discipline within the ranks all the way down.
So I really do have confidence in the men and women that are out there serving this nation oftentimes in dangerous situations.
SAVIDGE: Congressman John Garamendi -- thank you very much for joining us today.
GARAMENDI: Thank you. SAVIDGE: Happy New Year to you.
GARAMENDI: To you and to all of your guests.
SAVIDGE: Thank you.
Still ahead, a heart-stopping moment on a Texas highway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw that trailer coming. I knew I had to run away from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: An out of control tractor-trailer slamming into an SUV, trapping a man inside. We'll hear from a news photographer who survived this.
Then later, air strikes and bombings -- a terrifying new normal for families and children in Syria.
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SAVIDGE: On the Hawaiian island of Kauai, the desperate search for a helicopter tour that was carrying seven people seems to be coming to a tragic end. It appears there are likely no survivors.
Right now rescue teams are still looking for the seventh victim after remains of the other six were founding yesterday. The identities of the victims haven't been released yet. However, we know that two of the passengers were children.
Police say debris from the helicopter was found in a remote area of a state park after it failed to return from a sightseeing excursion. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board say they are now both involved in the investigation.
[11:14:47]
SAVIDGE: And in Virginia, a manhunt is under way for two men accused of killing a food delivery driver. Police and the FBI are offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction after surveillance video shows the pair robbing a Denny's Restaurant before shooting a man who was there to pick up a food order as the suspects were leaving.
CNN's Natasha Chen joins us now with more on this. And Natasha -- what more can you tell us about this?
NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is really heart breaking. And police say it's particularly callous and heinous because these two guys had walked into this Denny's, about 20 people inside, all apparently having, you know, done exactly what these suspects asked. They demanded people's cell phones and wallets, and they cooperated, did everything they were told. And on their way out, police say these two suspects shot two people. One person was 30 -- a man in his 30s on the ground inside the restaurant. He is expected to survive.
But the other person is the one you mentioned, a Door Dash delivery person in his 50s who happened to open the door and was entering the restaurant for a pickup when these two suspects walked out.
Now, police say this happened in the early morning hours of December 26th, around 2:30. And as I mentioned, about 20 people were inside and really did everything as they were told. Police want to note that these two suspects didn't actually get any of the business' money, but again did demand the cell phones and wallets of all the people inside. Police say at least one handgun was used.
Now, police also believe that these suspects potentially in their late teens, early 20s are linked potentially to three other robberies in the same week in that same area of Manassas, Virginia. We are talking about robbery at a bowling alley, at a hotel and at a Walgreens, all within the Christmas week. And so police are talking about this being a very important case for them to get the public's help in identifying these people.
Here's the police chief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF BARRY M. BARNARD, PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY POLICE: If they are involved with these earlier robbery, and as I say we believe there's a link there, then they have escalated their level of violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHEN: And of course the community is now rallying around this family of the victim, the deceased victim in his 50s. We know that the family has set up a Go Fund Me account with the help of their friend that's now raised more than $100,000. He leaves behind a wife and two children that you're seeing right there. And the funeral services, according to that Go Fund Me page, are happening today -- Martin.
So this is just very tragic and a lot of people are asking why this needed to happen because he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
SAVIDGE: Right. It seems so not only cold-blooded, it just seems so senseless.
Natasha Chen -- thank you very much.
CHEN: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: Up next, the future of impeachment. As President Trump sounds off against Nancy Pelosi on Twitter, his defense team is strategizing behind the scenes.
We'll talk with a former Senate parliamentarian about what we can expect in the New Year.
[11:17:52]
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SAVIDGE: As uncertainty over the Senate impeachment trial engulfs the White House, a source close to the President says he is seeking advice on two fronts. First, who should serve on his defense team? And second, what will be the most successful strategy to put in motion as far as the defense?
Jeff Mason is a White House reporter for Reuters and Alan Frumin is a CNN contributor and a former Senate parliamentarian. Welcome to you both.
JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, REUTERS: Thank you.
ALAN FRUMIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good to be here.
SAVIDGE: Jeff -- let me start with you. What are the biggest factors will the President be considering when he's looking for and building his defense team?
MASON: Well, a few different things. Number one, I think he'll probably want somebody who's either good on TV or certainly good in the Senate. He needs people around him who are supporters and people who can press his case.
You know, we've seen frustration from President Trump for some time now that he hasn't really been able to get out and give his version of events, even though of course, he has that opportunity every time he talks to reporters and could have had some witnesses during the House period as well.
But there's been a tension in President Trump's thinking and amongst the people around him and in Republicans generally about whether to have a longer trial or a shorter trial. Certainly he will want a defense team that can get his case there in the Senate and present it to the American people.
SAVIDGE: Alan -- we've seen, of course, the President's strategy in the House, that was blocking witness testimony. But the Senate, that's a whole different animal.
So I'm wondering how do you think his strategy will change, if at all, with the Senate trial?
FRUMIN: Well, I would expect that the President would want witnesses to be presented. The Senate -- in the Senate, an impeachment trial is a unique occurrence. Every other impeachment trial that I witnessed and studied, there have been witnesses.
It would seem to me that the President would want to take the opportunity to make his case and to present a trial and to present his witnesses before the Senate. SAVIDGE: And talk to us about the role of the Senate parliamentarian,
and historically how they operate in the midst of an impeachment trial, if you will -- Alan.
FRUMIN: Well, the Senate parliamentarian has the authority to advise the Senate's presiding officer. And during a presidential impeachment trial, that must be the Chief Justice of the United States. And so it's a unique situation.
The parliamentarian is a career, nonpartisan professional. The current parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough has been in the parliamentarian's office since 1999.
She was hired when Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott was there. She was promoted when Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid was there. She's been retained by Mitch McConnell. And so she represents procedural continuity and procedural integrity in the Senate.
And I'm guessing she's been studying impeachment trials, going all the way back to the late 1700s. And her job will be to give the Chief Justice advice on the floor of the Senate as the trial is proceeding. My assumption is that she will meet or has met with the Chief Justice already or has met with his staff to go over the ground rules for how these trials have been run in the past and what the Chief Justice should expect to see on the floor of the Senate.
SAVIDGE: Yes. A very interesting and potentially crucial role.
Jeff -- we know that the President has been airing his frustration on Twitter, particularly towards House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. What's his mindset right now, do you think?
[11:24:58]
MASON: Well, the one thing about President Trump's mindset is we can pretty much always tell what it is by the Twitter account, as you say. I mean he is certainly frustrated with Speaker Pelosi.
He's been frustrated with her throughout most of this process. I mean I remember a time earlier in his presidency, perhaps even earlier this year, when he was a little more careful about his criticism directed at the House Speaker, a little more respectful.
That has certainly changed since this impeachment process. And you see a lot of frustration in his comments on Twitter and elsewhere to reporters, a, about the fact that she is withholding the impeachment articles right now and not sending them to the Senate, which of course is a strategic decision on her part but not one that he seems to be happy with. I think he's ready to get this going.
And just broadly with the entire process. We know that President Trump does not think that the process was handled fairly towards him. And he blames the Speaker for that.
SAVIDGE: Do you think, Jeff -- in any way that the President believes that he's got the upper hand here and, hence, he could be more critical of the process?
MASON: Well, that's a good question. I think, you know, the President is not lacking in confidence about this or really anything. I think that he spends a lot of his time rallying support with his Twitter account, rallying support when he goes to rallies with his supporters. So I don't think that there's a problem there in terms of his confidence.
Also, you know, I don't need to tell you, Martin -- if we look at the numbers in the Senate it's very, very unlikely that he's going to be convicted.
SAVIDGE: True.
MASON: And so despite this process, he's going to come out of it without having to leave office.
But it is a stain on his legacy, he knows that. And that's a concern and that's upsetting to him and he blames certainly the Democrats and their leader, who is the Speaker.
SAVIDGE: Yes.
Alan -- we've got less than a minute, but could you look back on the Clinton impeachment trial and sort of compare and contrast. How different is the process now?
FRUMIN: Well, in a sense the Senate as well as the President is on trial. During the Clinton impeachment trial, Majority Leader Lott and Democratic leader Daschle would determine that the Senate would acquit itself without respect to the President -- would acquit itself well as the one institution in the federal government that's designed to see the broader view and that only operates on bipartisan consensus. And the Senate had a caucus of a hundred before the Clinton trial to lay out the ground rules.
It is my hope that this Senate with these two leaders will follow the model from the Clinton trial. As I said, the President is on trial but so is the Senate. And the Senate must bring itself together and work out meaningful, rational, defensible procedures for this trial.
SAVIDGE: Alan Frumin and Jeff Mason -- good to have you both on the program. Thank you very much.
MASON: Thank you.
FRUMIN: You're very welcome.
SAVIDGE: Danger on the side of a Texas highway. People running for their lives as an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer loses control. The stories of survival and the possible cause.
Plus, trouble for travelers headed home after the holidays. A cross- country storm affecting nearly 20 million people.
[11:28:02] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: In western Texas, a heart-stopping moment that was caught on camera. Police and medical personnel were responding to a multi-car wreck that was caused by dense fog in the area. As other cars were trying to navigate around that crash, a red SUV tried to change lanes in front of a semi leading to this terrifying moment as the truck slides towards first responders and police before it flipped over on its side and finally slid to a stop.
The video was taken by a photographer from CNN affiliate KCBD who happened to be there filming the first crash when the truck flew off the road.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALEB HOLDER, KCBD PHOTOGRAPHER: You could hear more tires screeching and then just barely see headlights coming through the fog. That's when the semi overturned and then slid on its side onto the shoulder and on top of that pickup.
I couldn't remember if I was recording at the time or how the camera was framed. I just -- I saw that trailer coming and I knew I had to run away from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Thankfully no one was killed. A trooper was hit and another person was pinned inside a pickup truck but both are expected to recover.
And while fog made driving conditions dangerous in Texas, there is a complex winter storm that's moving across the country bringing freezing rain, sleet and snow to millions of people from Arizona to Michigan.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is with me now. And Allison -- this is peak holiday travel season, so what does the forecast look like for those trying to get home?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, unfortunately you've got several cities that are likely going to have some big delays not only on the roads but also in the air.
The biggest cities likely to have some issues today -- Denver and Minneapolis. But you'll also notice some others -- Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, even stretching down towards Dallas and Houston. Tomorrow the same system just begins to push off to the east. so the big problems on Sunday are likely going to be places like Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York again, as that system continues to push off to the east.
Now, in terms of that overall storm and why it's causing problems, it's because we have a mixed bag of just about everything. You've got rain. You've got snow. You've got sleet. You've got a little bit of everything. And in some cases some dense fog as well and that's likely causing some other issues.
Here's a look at the Midwest. You can see lots of snow for places like Fargo, Rapid City and up towards Duluth. Minneapolis mostly going to get rain but you'll have a little bit of winter precipitation mixed in as well.
Places like Chicago, St. Louis, stretching down towards Memphis, mainly going to be rain. Especially the farther south you go -- Oklahoma City, Dallas, and eventually over into the southeast.
It's not only going to be rain but thunderstorms. And some of those have the potential to be strong to severe thunderstorms as well with the potential for some damaging winds and, yes, even some isolated tornados before this system finally pushes east.
And here's an overall scope of that particular storm. Now, as the main section begins to push off to the east you're still going to have a lot of the winter precipitation that lingers in the Midwest even into the day -- Sunday and early Monday.
Now again, for the northeast, the mid-Atlantic, your big problem days are going to be Sunday and going into Monday once that system finally gets out there. So again, this is going to be a multi-day event for a lot of places.
In terms of snowfall totals, some areas of the Midwest and the High Plains picking up over a foot of snow. The rain on the southern edge of this -- Martin, most areas likely picking up about two to four inches of rain.
But also remember a lot of these places could also be looking at some dense fog. We've already had numerous cities report visibility of less than a quarter of a mile. And that's likely to continue tomorrow as well.
SAVIDGE: Yes. we saw the danger of that in Texas. All right, Allison -- thanks very much.
CHINCHAR: Thanks.
SAVIDGE: Coming up, searching for safety. Nearly a quarter of a million people in northwest Syria displaced because of escalating violence. The challenges families and children are facing with their lives constantly threatened as they try to move out of harm's way.
[11:34:10]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: An investigation is under way to determine who carried out a rocket attack on a military base in northern Iraq that killed an American civilian contractor. Several U.S. and Iraqi military members were also hurt in that attack. It happened at a base near Kirkuk where U.S. service members and contractors are located.
Iraqi security forces have found the launch pad for the rockets used in the attack. They were mounted on an abandoned vehicle in a nearby village.
Constant displacement has become a terrifying reality for hundreds of thousands of Syrians as air strikes and barrel bombs harm men, women and children trying to outrun them.
President Trump warned the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies against carnage in Idlib Province adding that Turkey is working hard to stop it.
CNN's Arwa Damon has more on the growing crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Abu Usama's (ph) children don't need an explanation anymore. They have done this so many times that the notion of a home, a warm bed to feel safe and snug, that ceased to exist long ago.
"We go, we come back," Abu Usama says. "We don't know where to go or where we will end up."
It's an existence on the move, trying, praying that the bombs won't catch up to them or when they do, they will somehow survive.
But this time it feels different -- the bombings more intense, final, deliberate. Entire areas in and around Idlib Province are emptying out again. Upwards of 230,000 people are on the move.
"The children couldn't sleep through the night, they were crying every hour," Abu Usama says, holding his daughter -- so young this is all she knows. It's a cycle they all know well. One that starts with renewed intense bombings. Then the panicked packing up. The overwhelming sense of feeling lost, not knowing where to go, but having to flee, finding some sort of makeshift shelter.
"I'm taking my family and we're heading to a tent," Ibrahim Altas (ph) says. "Whether or not we can have a tent is still unknown." The province, Syria's last rebel stronghold, has never been able to meet the needs of the growing displaced population.
One of the few aid organizations, the Turkish IHH that operates in Idlib says they don't have the resources.
"The first night we came, we slept on the ground. We didn't even have blankets," this woman says, begging for a tent, a stove, anything.
Many end up just establishing themselves along the road once they think they have reached safety. But as the regime with the Russian backing closes in, that may not be far enough.
Arwa Damon, CNN -- Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:40:01] SAVIDGE: Up next, race relations in America. The stories that shaped
the discussion over the past decade and the impact of politics and social media.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: We started the last decade with our nation's first black president in office and a hopeful outlook on the state of race in America. Ten years later, nearly six in ten Americans say that race relations are bad. That according to a survey that was done by the Pew Research Center earlier this year. 56 percent of Americans say President Trump has actually made race relations worse.
Joining me now is Michael Eric Dyson who's here to discuss this. He's a sociology professor at Georgetown University. He's also written a biography on President Obama and the "New York Times" bestseller, "Jay-Z: Made in America".
And Mr. Dyson -- thank you very much for joining us today.
MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Mr. Savidge -- always great to be here, sir.
SAVIDGE: Thank you.
Here's a simple question -- it's not, of course. How did race impact America in the 2010s?
DYSON: Well, when you think about the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the first African-American president of the United States of America was sheer monument. It was an incredible event. It really galvanized various constituencies across the board.
A fair number of white voters, though never most white voters, African-Americans, Latinx, Asian -- just a wide range of American constituencies came together to elect this first extraordinary figure.
[11:44:58]
DYSON: And Obama, of course, was a remarkable man in his own right. The son of a white mother and an African black father, he represented in his very body the ideal of diversity, of multi-racialism, multi- culturalism and the American credo, "e pluribus unum" -- out of many one.
So he helped the hopes of many, the aspirations racially-speaking of a nation looking for racial progress with his election but (INAUDIBLE) a tremendous overcoming of the best, the bitter divisions that divided us looking toward a future that would bring us together.
SAVIDGE: And some did believe that the Obama presidency symbolized an end to racism in America but --
DYSON: Yes.
SAVIDGE: -- in the end, you believe that it actually eliminated pockets of prejudice around the country and it was proving that a deep racial divide still exists in our nation.
DYSON: No question about it. On the one hand it was enormous progress. On the one hand it suggested that America had a new mindset, a new outlook. But the belief in a post racial future was pretty remarkably, depressingly naive. The election of one black man could not counteract the bitter history of this culture where race continues to rule, where in many pockets of the culture, the neo- confederacy, the rise of white supremacy, resurgent the bigotocracy (ph) that rules and reigns in this country was extra ordinarily depressing.
So on the one hand there was tremendous hope that it would betoken a post-racial future but it didn't do that at all. In fact it exposed many of the, you know, the gulf, the gaps of bigotry in this country that needed to be addressed.
And unfortunately, they were not as effectively or as power fully addressed under the Obama presidency and they got ramified under the Donald Trump presidency now.
SAVIDGE: And just sort of noting some of those instances -- from the death of Michael Brown and police brutality to the rise, as you mentioned, of anti-Semitism and the Charlottesville riots.
Racial issues have moved people across the country over the last decade. And -- but I'm wondering what was the role of technology here -- The immediacy and social media at play on the rise of say the Tea Party movements to social justice movements like Black Lives Matter.
DYSON: Yes. Well, it facility and it fomented either social justice agendas or grievances that are racially expressed that had to do with the bitterness and the bigotry of American culture.
So on the one hand you had Black Lives Matter, which was able to facilitate a mass agglomeration of African-American and other progressive people to say, look, we see the videos of black people dying in the streets. We see police brutality exhibited before our very eyes. We see the heinous disregard for black life that evoked the Black Lives Matter movement.
On the other hand, that same technology allowed, you know, the dark channels of the Internet to organize the logic of white supremacy so that people came together under the rubric and under the banner of hate and resistance to American ideals at their best.
So technology on both sides played a role. On the one hand it proved that black people weren't making stuff up. Oh, you must be out of order here. You must have said something wrong to the policeperson. You must have done something to provoke a kind of outrageous response or the pulling of a gun and the lodging of a bullet in your body.
No. We often saw that police people were hyperaggressive toward African-American and Latinx people and as a result of that there was the real revelation of trauma in this country.
On the other hand when we saw Charlottesville, when we saw how the Internet was able to organize them, we see it's a both/and not an either/or.
SAVIDGE: Let me ask you this. How culturally significant has the controversy, the continuing controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick been?
DYSON: Well, it's enormously important. Colin Kaepernick is an American hero and iconic figure in so many ways. He represents the ability to tell the truth in the face of power. He represents the ability to say I as an athlete will sacrifice my future to tell the truth about black oppression and racial inequality in this nation.
And at his best, he represents and betokens a history and tradition of African-American athletes who have taken up a cause of righteous indignation against the forces of oppression that would hurt and harm lesser recognized and less fortunate brothers and sisters.
So in that way he continues to be a powerful symbol and beacon for many of those who look to him for such a role.
SAVIDGE: But there are many others, primarily whites, who look at him as just a very negative role model.
DYSON: Yes. Well, it's -- you know, they looked at Martin Luther King Jr. the same way, right. A lot of people didn't welcome Martin Luther King Jr. into their rooms, into their bedrooms and into their living rooms. It was after his death where the sweet sense of martyrdom swept away the odious, you know, bigotry and hatred of Martin Luther King Jr.
[11:49:59]
DYSON: The second in command of the FBI called Martin Luther King Jr. the most dangerous negro leader in America. So many white people saw King as a threatening figure, now he's seen of course, as a beacon of light and hope, a man who spoke about non-violence and the like. So many white people who initially look at a figure who is black, who was unretentive in their representation and unapologetic in their embodiment of African-American interests and issues, often the have a negative response before ultimately the culture catches up to them.
SAVIDGE: Michael Eric Dyson, so good to have your insights on program. Thank you.
DYSON: Thank you, sir. Great to be here.
SAVIDGE: Coming up, history in space, a NASA astronaut breaks a record at the International Space Station. We'll go there right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: In case you didn't know, it is now illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to buy tobacco products across the U.S. That change is part of the massive $1.4 trillion spending bill that was signed by President Trump on December 20th. It covers all tobacco products including cigarettes, cigars, and e-cigarettes. The new restrictions come as public health advocates and law makers
debate how to handle the youth vaping epidemic. 19 states already have their own laws restricting tobacco sales to people 21 and over.
Ten Grammys, 11 platinum albums and the first artist to simultaneously top the pop country and R&B charts, Linda Ronstadt is a musical legend in her own time. Now a new CNN film "Linda Ronstadt: the Sound of My Voice" tells the inside story of Ronstadt's meteoric rise to fame and how she explored every genre from rock to opera and amassed a devoted following of millions of fans.
Our Anderson Cooper recently sat down with Linda Ronstadt at the John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts in Washington D.C. And here is part of their conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Do you ever sing out loud?
LINDA RONSTADT, SINGER: No, I can't. I can't do repetitive motion. And I read some place that there is like over a thousand vibrations per second. For a female voice, the same. We have vocal chords that vibrate 70 times. It is a lot of repetitions.
For somebody with a movement disorder, it is just impossible.
ANDERSON: You were diagnosed with a Parkinson-like condition.
RONSTADT: It's called progressive supranuclear palsy -- Parkinsonism.
COOPER: You knew there was something was going on long before you were ever diagnosed.
RONSTADT: Oh yes. In the year 2000 I was trying to sing and I kept thinking there was something wrong with my headphones because I could not use the top end of my voice. I couldn't hear the part that I used for -- to get in tune for one thing. And the whole top end of my voice just wasn't in.
[11:55:01]
RONSTADT: I would start to sing and my throat would clutch up. It will just be like I had a cramp or something --
COOPER: Did the other people notice? Or was it something -- that effort you just notice?
RONSTADT: They didn't notice until after awhile and then they noticed. By the time they were noticing, I was retiring because I don't think it is fair to charge money to hear somebody struggle.
COOPER: You took yourself out of touring -- of singing in front of other people.
RONSTADT: yes. I remember the last show I did -- literally my entire career flashed in front of my eyes. I remembered every show I had ever done.
COOPER: You know, there's going to be people who are seeing this who are facing obstacles. They're facing Parkinson's. They're facing -- maybe some people who have just received diagnosis. What advice do you give people?
RONSTADT: Acceptance. There is nothing you can do about it.
COOPER: Acceptance.
RONSTADT: And for my form of Parkinson's there isn't even a treatment. People would regular Parkinson Disease can take L-Dopa. If I take it, it makes me worse. It made me forget everything.
COOPER: Did it take you a while to be able to get to a place of acceptance?
RONSTADT: No, my grandmother had it and I knew what it was. And I just went ok, that's what I have and I just have to learn to live with it. I find creative new ways to do things. I'm like a toddler, you know. You give (INAUDIBLE) and your brain just sort of the skills of a toddler.
So eating is hard. I have had to learn -- had to relearn how to eat. You can carve a new brain map if you're patient and willing to do that. But it's hard because the disease also brings kind of lack of will. Like I'm pretty happy to just lay down and read a book, and look out the window.
COOPER: Right.
RONSTADT: So far, joining all over the place - you know.
COOPER: I mean that's the extraordinary thing about books is you travel in your mind.
RONSTADT: Yes, I can go anywhere.
COOPER: Also my mom used to say about your health being this thing that we all take for granted until it suddenly --
RONSTADT: Yes. It's like what -- I can't do that. I can't put my pants on? I can't put my boots on? What is this here.
I remember how -- it's like I forgot how.
COOPER: When my mom found out that she was going to die in several days and that she has cancer and she had not realized, the first thing she said is well, it is like that old song -- show me the way to get out of this world because that's where everything is.
RONSTADT: We're all going to die. And I was with my brother while he was dying, and I think it's a real privilege to (INAUDIBLE) with the delaying. And they show you how it goes. You know, when you hope for (INAUDIBLE). You just hold out they're not too painful. My father when he died -- I wasn't as afraid of death after I watched him die. He was just very brave. He looked me straight in the eye. He sailed out pretty peacefully.
And you know, it's time. It's going to be time for all of us one day.
COOPER: Does that scare you?
RONSTADT: It doesn't scare me like I did. I mean I would prefer not to be hit by a bus tomorrow --
COOPER: I would prefer that as well.
RONSTADT: I don't wish for a particularly long life.
COOPER: Yes.
RONSTADT: I've had a long life already. I'm 73, anything past this is gravy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: And be sure to tune in. "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.
It will premier New Year's Day at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. And you will find it only here on CNN.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch making history today. She broke the record for the longest single space flight by a woman.
Koch has been on the International Space Station for 289 days now, exceeding the record of Peggy Whitson who spent 288 days in space.
This morning, our Christi Paul got the chance to speak to Koch after her life in space and what she thought about her new place in history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA KOCH, ASTRONAUT: To be up here for so long is truly an honor, and Peggy in particular is one of my heroines and she has been a mentor to me. So it's a great reminder to try to make her proud and then also to do mentorship when I get home to sort of pay that back.
I hope that breaking the record is both, you know, good for outreach and also inspiration.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: I know you're not coming back until February. That is such a long time to be there. Talk to me about what happens on a daily basis for you.
KOCH: You know, on board here we have similar lives to what you might have on the ground. We come to work every day and those work days consist of a lot of things that both bring benefits back to earth like the science that we do up here that benefits life on earth as well as a lot of maintenance and upgrades to keep the station running at its peak performance.
In our off time, we get to spend time with each other; time, you know, keeping in touch with our family and friends.
Celebrating the holidays up here is a lot of fun. And it's because it's so unique. So it's an opportunity to bring those traditions from our families at home, on board and share them with our crew mates. And that's exactly what we did.
We each talked about how we spend Christmas at home with our friends and family and we each kind of incorporated that up here. So it was a really unique day to be in space and a special one. And we did have a chance to sort of video chat with our friends and family on the ground.
So I felt like I was part of that Christmas celebration as well. So it's a really special time up here and again, just such a privilege to be on board for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: And our congratulations to Astronaut Koch there and her achievements.
[11:59:58]
SAVIDGE: If you want to see more of her journey in space, you can follow her Twitter page which she updates regularly @Astro_Christina.
We've got a whole lot more just ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right about now.
