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Trump Acquitted; Republican National Committee Blasts Romney; Coronavirus Outbreak; Romney Votes To Remove Trump From Office; Hollywood Great Kirk Douglas Dies At 103; 3 Dead After Plane Skids Off Runway In Istanbul. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 06, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
Just ahead, the Republican-led Senate acquits the president. For Democrats, he's impeached forever. For Republicans, the president has been vindicated. Mitt Romney was the only Republican who voted to convict Donald Trump of abuse of power. And he is already facing political backlash.
Plus, a cruise ship in Japan becomes a floating quarantine zone after some passengers test positive for coronavirus.
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CHURCH: Well, Donald Trump's re-election campaign is claiming total vindication after the U.S. Senate voted to acquit him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges. The president plans to talk about what he calls the victory on the impeachment hoax in the day ahead.
And he tweeted this familiar meme, which he often uses to annoy Democrats, implying he will run for re-election well beyond two terms. After Wednesday's vote, Mitch McConnell refused to say if he thought the president's conduct was inappropriate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We've completed it. We listened to the arguments. We voted. It's in the rearview mirror. What's is appropriate now is to waste where it all began, for political reasons and the political impact of it.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: There's a giant asterisk next to the president's acquittal. The asterisk says he was acquitted without facts. He was acquitted without a fair trial. And it means that his acquittal is virtually valueless. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: His acquittal sparked protests in several cities. This small crowd gathered outside of the U.S. Capitol. And in New York, police arrested at least eight people for disorderly conduct outside of the Trump International Hotel. Another group of protesters showed up near Central Park.
Mr. Trump was hoping all of the Senate Republicans would vote for his acquittal. But that didn't happen. And now, the president has a new target in his sights. Jim Acosta has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): A lone voice of dissent in the Trump Republican Party.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Romney.
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Romney, guilty.
ACOSTA: Utah Senator Mitt Romney sent shockwaves through the GOP, voting to find the president guilty of abusing the power of his office in the Ukraine scandal.
ROMNEY: The president asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival. The president withheld vital military funds from that government to press it to do so. The president delayed funds for an American ally at war with Russian
invaders. The president's purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust.
ACOSTA: Romney defended his decision as one of conscience and faith.
ROMNEY: My faith is at the heart of who I am. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential.
I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.
ACOSTA: The senator, who was his party's nominee for the presidency eight years ago, conceded his vote won't sit well with fellow Republicans.
ROMNEY: I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me.
ACOSTA: The reaction inside the GOP was swift and severe, with the president's son Don Jr. tweeting: "Mitt Romney is forever better that he will never be POTUS. He's now officially a member of the resistance and should be expelled from the GOP."
And Romney's own nice, the chair of the RNC, tweeting: "This is not the first time I have disagreed with Mitt and I imagine it will not be the last."
For years, there's been bad blood between the two men, with Mr. Trump accusing Romney of choking in 2012.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The last election should have been won, except Romney choked like a dog. He choked.
TRUMP: He went, I can't breathe. I can't breathe, he said.
[02:05:00]
ACOSTA: The atmosphere in Washington has only grown more toxic during the impeachment saga. At the State of the Union, the president snubbed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who then ripped up Mr. Trump's speech after he was finished.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Because it was a manifesto of mistruths.
ACOSTA: A move that infuriated the White House.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't see her do it. I found out just a few moments later and I think it was a new low. I wasn't sure if she was ripping up the speech or ripping up the Constitution.
ACOSTA: Romney's decision stands in stark contrast with Maine's Susan Collins and other Republicans, who conceded Mr. Trump behaved inappropriately, but not enough to be impeached.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): He was impeached. And there has been criticism by both Republican and Democratic senators of his call. I believe that he will be much more cautious in the future.
ACOSTA: Mr. Trump has been fuming over his Senate trial, barring CNN from a lunch with network news anchors, where he warned former National Security Adviser John Bolton could face criminal penalty if he publishes his book and mocked Bolton's title of ambassador.
STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In fact, the president didn't eat his lunch because they asked so many questions and he answered every single one.
ACOSTA: Now Romney said he knew his vote would not result in a conviction of Mr. Trump.
But the senator's decision deprived the president and Republicans of a key talking point, that Mr. Trump's impeachment was a partisan exercise. That's not the case anymore.
White House officials thought at least one Democrat would cross over and vote to acquit Mr. Trump and were telling reporters as much throughout the day. But, in the end, that didn't happen.
Still, the president was acquitted. He is still president, but it was Romney who demonstrated there's still room for mavericks here in Washington -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: CNN's Scott Jennings is with me now. He is also a former special assistant to President George W. Bush.
Thank you for being with us.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Glad to do it. Thank you.
CHURCH: A historic day for the Senate with Mitt Romney voting with the Democrats to convict the president and, in so doing, proved this was not the partisan exercise the president insisted it was.
What was your reaction to Romney's conscience vote?
JENNINGS: Well, I worked for Mitt Romney in his 2012 campaign. These are U.S. senators. They can do whatever they want to do. I would say his vote is largely out of step with the rest of the Republican Party.
President Trump has a 94 percent, 95 percent approval rating in his party. Every Republican in the Senate and in the House voted against this impeachment. So he's a man standing alone.
I found it amusing, having worked for his campaign in 2012, all of the people who said a lot of terrible things about Mitt Romney and his character in 2012 are now praising Mitt Romney. I find it interesting that if you are willing to call someone great moral character when it's in your best interest but you're not willing to do it in their best interest, maybe you're not doing it properly.
So I think the president would love to have had his whole party together. But it's over. He's acquitted. He moves on.
CHURCH: One of the people you refer to, Pete Buttigieg, appeared on "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night. Let's bring it up.
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PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), MAYOR OF SOUTH BEND, IND., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mitt Romney is not the only person in that chamber on the Republican side that knows what the president did was grievously wrong.
I do think he deserves credit. I think he's been on the wrong side of a lot of issues. But I think he deserves credit for doing the right thing in this case. And the fact he's the only Senate Republican to do it, I think more than anything, that says a lot about what's happening in the Senate GOP today.
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CHURCH: Is Buttigieg right, there were other senators afraid to follow their conscience for whatever reason?
Because if a former Republican presidential nominee believes that what the president did was grievously wrong, that has to carry some weight, surely.
JENNINGS: Mitt Romney is a respected person. He was nominated for president in the Republican Party. He's just out of step with the party on this. There were Republican senators who expressed varying degrees of discomfort with what the president did. Lamar Alexander said it was wrong or inappropriate.
The real question is whether it rose to the level of throwing the president out of office and off the ballot for the first time in American history. Not a single Republican in the Senate or the House, other than Romney, came to that conclusion.
CHURCH: Romney was on FOX earlier, with Chris Wallace. Let's take a listen to that.
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CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You realize this is war. Donald Trump will never forgive you for this.
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): There's a hymn that's sung in my church, it's an old Protestant hymn.
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ROMNEY: "Do what is right and let the consequence follow."
I know in my heart that I'm doing what's right. I understand there is going to be enormous consequence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Scott, we know that Donald Trump Jr. is calling for Romney to be expelled from the party.
Is that acceptable?
Does it signal a culture of intimidation that requires absolute loyalty to the president with consequences for those that fail to fall into line?
JENNINGS: No. I don't think Mitt Romney should be expelled from the Republican Party. It's a big tent party. We ought to allow people of all kinds in. I think for Mitt Romney, though, Donald Trump has a high approval rating in the state of Utah, it's up to him to explain to his constituents that approval of Donald Trump, why he thinks that the president should not only be thrown out of office but in this impeachment, would have resulted in the president being thrown off the ballot and not be a candidate for president, this November.
It's for Mitt Romney to explain to the Republicans in Utah why he thought that was the best course of action. And I'm sure some of the folks in Utah are not going to be happy with Romney. But the great thing about being a U.S. senator, it's a six-year term. Romney doesn't face the voters again for a couple of cycles.
CHURCH: Scott Jennings, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.
JENNINGS: Thank you.
CHURCH: Let's get the view now of a Democratic strategist. Chris Kofinis joins me from Houston, Texas.
Welcome.
CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thank you.
CHURCH: The Democrats weren't able to convict the president. But they were able to make it a bipartisan vote, with Republican Mitt Romney joining the Democrats.
In the end, what did the Democrats achieve?
KOFINIS: I think in terms of standing up for the Constitution and the rule of law, they sent a pretty clear message of what is acceptable and unacceptable for any president, in particular, President Trump to do.
I think there's -- that's one perspective. Constitutionally, I think, in the terms of rule of law, sending a message there, it has been a pretty significant black mark on President Trump's presidency.
Politically, we are where we started, a country that is extremely divided, politically and otherwise, when it comes to this president. And by no means did the impeachment bring the country together. It arguably reinforced those divisions.
CHURCH: We've seen that in the early part of the week. The Democrats looked incompetent Monday night. It has to be said at the Iowa caucuses, with the results still coming in.
And Nancy Pelosi lets President Trump get under her skin, ripping up his speech at the very end.
How can you prove to voters that the Democrats offer a viable alternative when they see this play out?
KOFINIS: We sometimes get astray and I think you've seen this in the various campaigns that are running for president. They talk about so many issues, it becomes difficult for voters to know where you stand or to distinguish you between the candidates.
That's why so many of the candidates are jumbled together. This race really is still -- Democratic race is really undecided. It's obviously very early. You can feel a lot of anxiety about who is the potential nominee. It's not clear.
The Iowa caucus, that didn't help. In terms of the State of the Union, I don't think you ever want to let yourself be kind of taken off message. And angering --
CHURCH: But Pelosi allowed that to happen, didn't she?
And she had specifically told others not to do that. Chris, we talked about the impact of the Iowa caucuses, the debacle of Nancy Pelosi allowing her anger to get the better of her. All this as we learn the latest Gallup poll shows President Trump's job approval rate is at 49 percent.
How concerned does that make you and the Democrats, of course?
KOFINIS: Listen, I've always believed that President Trump is going to be a far more formidable opponent than some. I believe that's going to be the case. If you go out there, as I do, and you talk to so many of the American people across the country, they have different perspectives than those who live in New York City and Los Angeles.
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CHURCH: But even more formidable with Democrats that can't get their act together.
If you can't rally behind the person that you feel can beat President Trump, what are your chances going forward?
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KOFINIS: I think the challenge that we had here is what is going to be our competing message and vision against a president that will be more formidable than we want to believe. And he is going to run a very aggressive, nasty, brutal campaign.
And when you face that kind of opponents in elections, you cannot have mistakes or setbacks. We had won one with the Iowa caucus. It will be forgotten in the coming weeks and months as we move on. But you can't have more of those going forward.
CHURCH: Chris, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
KOFINIS: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, it's been three days and counting since voters in Iowa caucused for their Democratic presidential hopefuls. And the final results are not in. Right now, with most of the precincts reporting, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are in a tight race for first place, with Buttigieg clinging to a very slim lead.
Elizabeth Warren is in third place and Joe Biden is coming in fourth. Many of the candidates are saying they've moved on, looking ahead to the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
Biden told his supporters in New Hampshire that Iowa was a gut punch. And he is focusing on what lies ahead and going after his rivals.
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JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Is he really saying the Obama-Biden administration was a failure?
Pete, just say it out loud.
I do believe it's a risk to be this straight up with you, for this party to nominate someone who has never held an office higher of mayor of a town of 100,000 people in Indiana. I do believe it's a risk.
Every Democrat will have to carry the label that Senator Sanders have chosen for himself. He calls him -- and I don't criticize him. He calls himself a Democratic socialist. We're already seeing what Donald Trump is going to do with that.
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CHURCH: Later Wednesday night, at a CNN town hall, Biden and three other Democratic presidential candidates told voters their plans to fix the economy.
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BIDEN: I know they call me middle class Joe. They think that because I'm concerned the middle class. The reason is to find an avenue to get to and stay in the middle class. When the middle class does well, everybody has a shot. People have a way up and the wealthy do very well.
First of all, no one should be working in the United States of America 40 hours a week and living in poverty. That's why we have to raise, nationally, the standard of $15 an hour for every worker in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have an America where the GDP keeps going up, corporate profits keep going up, the stock market keeps going up and where hardworking families have flat wages and rising expenses for health care, for housing, for child care, for trying to send a kid off to school.
The squeeze on working families, on middle class families, on the working poor is just getting unbearable. But those at the top just keep sucking more and more value out. We have to change that in 2020. That's why I'm in this fight.
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ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My flagship proposal is a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month for every American adult starting at age 18. This would actually make sure our economy works for young people.
Right now we are stacking the deck against our young people much, much more seriously than has ever been the case in this country. If you're born in the United States in the 1990s, you're down to a 50-50 shot of doing better than your parents and it's declining fast.
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TOM STEYER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm for a wealth tax. If we think that incomes are unequal and have gotten much worse, which they have over the last 40 years, wealth, we've redistributed the wealth from everybody to just the richest people. I'm for a wealth tax, both to raise money and address this huge inequality.
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CHURCH: CNN will hold four more town halls Thursday night, with Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Deval Patrick. It starts at 8:00 Eastern only on CNN.
Several cases of the Wuhan coronavirus are discovered on a cruise ship. Now thousands are being told not to leave.
But how long will the quarantine last?
We'll have a live report. Back in a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Some of the world's top disease experts will gather next week in Geneva, Switzerland, to brainstorm strategies to deal with the Wuhan coronavirus.
The streets of Chinese cities like Wuhan have been deserted for weeks, under a strict lockdown. On Wednesday, China's death toll surged by 73. So far, the virus has killed at least 565 people, including two fatalities outside of Mainland China.
The number of people diagnosed with the virus also skyrocketed on Wednesday, with nearly 3,700 new cases. There are more than 28,000 confirmed cases in China, plus another 255 cases globally.
About 350 Americans are back in the United States after being evacuated from Wuhan. And they will now spend 14 days in mandatory quarantine.
Right now, officials are screening two cruise ships for the virus and telling thousands on board to stay put. One ship is docked in Hong Kong. So far, no one on that voyage has tested positive for the virus.
But another ship in Japan is being quarantined for two weeks after 20 people became infected.
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CHURCH: And for more CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining me now.
So 20 people infected on that cruise ship in Japan.
What happens if more people get infected?
Do the 14 days have to start over again?
And has everyone been checked for signs of infection at this point?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That first question is a good one. It's one that we haven't been able to clarify at this point. We've spoken to many of the passengers on board. We asked them what their understanding is. And they fear it may be 14 days from when the last positive test comes through. But they simply don't know at this point.
One of them telling me, they've been contacted by the U.S. embassy, saying, after 14 days, they can leave without condition. But what they have said is they haven't been tested for the virus. It's only those showing signs of illness or who say they feel ill who are being tested.
I have just spoken to a couple here on their honeymoon, a young American couple, who have been on this cruise for three weeks now, who are desperate to get off the ship. They say they did have their temperature taken. But they have not had more checks than that. And they believe that everyone on the ship should be tested.
The infection has been passed on the ship itself. So they are, at this point, calling on the U.S. embassy and the U.S. government to do a similar thing to what they did in Wuhan, China, to send a plane in and bring passengers and citizens back to the United States.
It doesn't look like that is going to happen in this case, at this point. But there's a growing sense of fear from this particular couple and desperation. They feel that the longer they stay on the ship, the greater the chances that they may, in fact, catch this virus.
CHURCH: Absolutely. A real concern. Paula Hancocks, bringing us the latest from Yokohama, in Japan. Many thanks.
There's a new public enemy number one for Donald Trump after the Senate impeachment vote. Why Mitt Romney voted to remove the president from office, in his own words.
And mourning the loss of a Hollywood legend, remembering Kirk Douglas.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT: The Senate having tried Donald John Trump, President of the United States, upon to articles of impeachment exhibited against him by the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the senators present, not having found him guilty of the charges contained therein. It is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said Donald John Trump be, and he is hereby acquitted of the charges in said articles.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Chief Justice John Roberts there announcing the acquittal of Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial. Only one senator broke ranks and the mostly partisan vote, Republican Mitt Romney. He's the only senator in history to vote to remove a president of his own party. Here's how he explained his decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The allegations made in the Articles of Impeachment are very serious. As a senator juror, I swore an oath before God to exercise impartial justice. I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who I am. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.
The historic meaning of the words high crimes and misdemeanors, the writings of the founders, and my own reasoned judgment, convince me that a president can indeed commit acts against the public trust, that are so egregious that while they are not statutory crimes, they would demand removal from office. To maintain that the lack of a codified and comprehensive list of all the outrageous acts that a President might conceivably commit, renders Congress powerless to remove such a president defies reason
The grave question the constitution task senators to answer is whether the President committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor. Yes, he did. The president asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival. The President withheld vital military funds from that government to press it to do so. The President delayed funds for an American ally at war with Russian invaders. The President's purpose was personal and political.
Accordingly, the President is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine.
With my vote, I will tell my children and their children, that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me. I will only be one name among many, no more, no less, to future generations of Americans who look at the record of this trial. They will know merely that I was among this introduce who determined that what the President did was wrong, grievously wrong.
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CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He joins me now from Charlottesville. Always good to have you with us.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, Mitt Romney became the first senator in U.S. history to vote to convict his own party's president in an impeachment trial. How significant were his actions and would you call it bravery or political suicide?
[02:35:01]
SABATO: Well, certainly there's going to be consequences that are negative for him and probably for a long time. And I think he knows that. But I would say it was very brave because he's the only one. If you were part of a group, then at least the anger would be diffused. But he knows what's coming. He and Trump have never really gotten along well. And Romney, it's well known privately, doesn't think a great deal of President Trump and probably it's mutual.
But this was a very significant thing. And anybody who watched is a short speech, or even a piece of it understood that this was heartfelt. He was very emotional when he was giving his statement. So, I tend to think that this matters a lot, that people are going to remember it. And they know Mitt Romney. They respect Mitt Romney. This isn't just some garden variety senator that no one has ever heard of.
Here's the 2012 Republican presidential nominee condemning, in essence, the 2016 presidential nominee of the Republican Party who actually became president.
CHURCH: And I want to ask you about that because how is it possible that Senator Romney found what the President did was grievously wrong, but none of the other Republican senators agreed with him? What might that tell us?
SABATO: Well, partly, I think Romney is very secure in his seat and Utah, and he's got another five years to run on this term. So who knows what the situation will be in 2024. I doubt that impeachment of Donald Trump will be the foremost issue that far into the future. But anybody who has known Romney and worked with him over the years understands that his religion LDS Mormon really does have an impact on his day to day life.
And he mentioned his belief in God and the importance of his religion a couple of times in the speech and I think it was very sincere.
CHURCH: So, do the actions of the other Republican senators prove that votes like this are more about self-interest than a conscience vote?
SABATO: Well, as I always tell people because I've studied John F. Kennedy very well. He was the author of a book called Profiles and Courage. And it was a very thin book because there aren't that many profiles and courage. I think Romney qualifies. If we ever have a new edition of Profiles and Courage, he'll get a chapter. I can't think of another Republican senator who will.
CHURCH: Yes, and of course, Romney talked of the likely consequences of his actions. And is he hinting a presidential and party intimidation and what might this mean for his future in the party do you think?
SABATO: All I can tell you is I spent a good chunk of my day on Twitter, meaning it was wasted, but I did learn some things being on Twitter. Hundreds, if not thousands of Trump supporters took out after him and anyone who defended him on Twitter. It was intense. It was as though the hive of the Trump cult had been jostled, and the bees came roaring out. And that's just day one. This is something he's going to feel for the rest of his career.
CHURCH: And I don't want to put you on the spot. But how should this impeachment trial has ended, given what we now know from witness testimony and various documents that were presented?
SABATO: Oh, my goodness, I personally think that he was guilty on both counts. I don't even think the arguments, the factual arguments are in doubt. The House managers, as many Republican senators have admitted privately prove their case. In the old days, when we had better standards, higher standards, I think he would have been convicted.
And it's not as though a Democrat stepping into the presidency, he would have a conservative Republicans succeeding him. I guess he probably would present fewer problems for the election. But it's not to be because personal loyalty Donald Trump is everything, absolutely everything.
CHURCH: We live in interesting times, no doubt. Larry Sabato, always great to have you on the show. Thank you.
SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary. Thanks a lot.
CHURCH: One of Hollywood's legendary stars has died. Kirk Douglas was 103 years old. And in that long-celebrated life, he challenged the movie establishment creating his own production company and helping to end the notorious Hollywood blacklist. Stephanie Elam looks back at his life and career.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Before Kirk Douglas became a big star, he was Issur Danielovitch Demsky, born to Russian immigrant parents in 1916. Douglas headed to Hollywood after serving in the Navy during World War II. Caricaturists focused on the famous cleft chin, but beyond that he was distinctive for the way he tore into each part with almost animal ferocity.
After his breakthrough role in 1949's Champion, came a slew of memorable parts. The ambitious Hollywood producer in the Bad and the Beautiful, the rebellious soldier and Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory. The sailor in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Artist Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life, and perhaps his biggest one, Spartacus.
[02:40:24]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Spartacus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Spartacus.
ELAM: Douglas produced the historical epic and hire Dalton Trumbo to write it. Dalton was one of the 10 Hollywood figures who were blacklisted for 13 years for refusing to disavow communism at a congressional hearing. Douglas felt breaking the blacklist was his proudest moment.
KIRK DOUGLAS, ACTOR: Studios would not mind using a blacklisted writer as long as they didn't have to look at him, as long as he didn't come into the studio, and as long as he never used his name. And that was such hypocrisy, that it didn't raise me. And I decided the hell with it. I'm going to -- I'm producing Spartacus and I want to use Dalton Trumbo's name.
ELAM: Douglas performed in more than 80 films, produced almost 30, and directed two. His son, Michael, followed him into the business and became an A-list star himself.
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: I think that he kind of personifies the individual at the time of the big studios, the man who stood alone.
ELAM: In 1991, he survived a helicopter crash in which two people were killed. Five years later, he suffered a debilitating stroke that affected his speech and left him contemplating suicide. The three-time Academy Award nominee was finally recognized by the Academy in 1996 with an Honorary Award for his half-century of accomplishments in the motion picture industry.
In his later years, Douglas wrote a number of successful books, including his memoirs, and still did some occasional acting, appearing in a one-man stage show and starring with son Michael in the 2003 film, It Runs in The Family. Whether on-screen or off, professional accolades or personal challenges, Kirk Douglas approach life in a simple yet powerful way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:45:00]
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CHURCH: Two avalanches in eastern Turkey have killed at least 38 people. Rescue workers have been sent to find two survivors of the first avalanche, which happened late Tuesday evening. Those workers were trapped in a second snowslide around midday Wednesday. More search and rescue teams are trying to find any of the dozens of people still thought to be trapped. On to another tragic story in Turkey. Three people have died following
a plane accident in Istanbul. Video released by a Turkish news agency shows the plane skidding off a runway. Turkish officials say the plane continued some 60 meters, almost 200 feet after landing before careening into a ditch and then breaking apart.
CNN Senior International Producer Gul Tuysuz joins me now from Istanbul. So Gul, what more you learning about how these plane skidded off the runway and of course broke apart?
GUL TUYSUZ, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCER: Rosemary, just looking at that video that you described a moment ago, you can see what the Istanbul governor was talking about. He came out late last night saying that what they believe happened is that the plane was on the runway. It had made its landing safely. It was a plane from Izmir flying into Istanbul.
But after it landed in Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, that skids some 50 to 60 meters on the runway going past it, and eventually running out of space, and taking a 30 to 40 meter fall off of an embankment after going past the runway, at which point it broke into three pieces. And you can see in the videos, just how much that plane really broke apart. Seeing something like that is really quite dramatic.
And three people have lost their lives, as you mentioned, and 179 people are being treated in hospitals nearby, 18 hospitals in all were the victims of this tragic plane accident have been taken to. And we don't know at this point what caused it. There has been -- experts have come out and said that we won't know exactly what caused this plane to so dramatically fall apart. But they're saying that weather could have had something to do with it.
Yesterday in Istanbul, we were experiencing a lot of rain and quite unpredictable winds changes. So experts are going to be trying to look into whether or not that may have been the cause. The Istanbul governor's office also announced that there is an investigation that was launched. They immediately announced that the prosecutor's office will be looking into trying to determine what happened to cause this tragedy.
But at this time, we still don't know whether or not this was caused by human error, whether or not it was mechanical, or if whether in fact did play this huge role in causing those images that you're seeing. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, many thanks to our Gul Tuysuz bringing us the very latest on that accident from Istanbul. Many thanks. Time for a short break. When we come back, the growing controversy over the Medal of Freedom for talk show host Rush Limbaugh. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We're back in a moment.
[02:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PATRICK SNELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Patrick Snell with your world's food headlines. As the global impact of the coronavirus continues to take its toll, organizers of this year's Olympics in Japan have been warning the outbreak could throw cold water on preparations for Tokyo 2020 for Summer Games due to start in late July this year. A number of qualifying events including badminton and boxing have already been postponed due to the virus.
Now, the newly crowned Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, continuing to bask in the glory of their first title in half a century on Wednesday. Just look at the scenes, the triumphant homecoming in full swing here as tens of thousands took to the streets in Missouri. No surprise either that much of the focus on star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the 24-year-old with a standout performance in the latter stages of his team Super Bowl 54 come from behind triumph over the San Francisco 49ers.
And to England's FA Cup waiting Tottenham have sealed the one remaining spot in the fifth-round draw where they will next play fellow Premier League team Norwich City Spurs winning a thriller in North London on Wednesday in their fourth-round replay against Southampton.
The host were 2-1 down with just over 10 minutes to go, but hit back in style thanks to goals from the Brazilian Lucas Moura and South Korea and Star Son Heung-min from the penalty spot just three minutes from time, 3-2 Spurs winning. Those are sports headlines. I'm Patrick Snell.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A very public display of U.S. support Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido. He got a White House visit and presidential welcome on Wednesday, and both sides talked of working together to end Venezuela's political crisis.
The U.S. and at least 50 other countries recognize Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader over the embattled present Nicolas Maduro. A position President Trump notably raised during his speech of the State of the Union speech when he introduced Guaido as his guest and called Maduro a tyrant. For his part, Maduro says President Trump's obsession with Venezuela is leading to insanity.
Well, at the State of the Union, Donald Trump awarded the nation's highest civilian honor to controversial talk show host Rush Limbaugh. And the President is now facing criticism for doing that. CNN's Brian Todd has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In dramatic fashion, for the first time ever at a State of the Union address, a president awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Rush Limbaugh, thank you for your decades of tireless devotion to our country. TODD: For some members of Congress like Cedric Richmond who've worked
for years to bridge racial divides, the award of the nation's highest civilian honor to radio host Rush Limbaugh in their chamber was a gut punch.
REP. CEDRIC RICHMOND (D-LA): This would just be one bad time in America's history where we placated and pandered to racists and dividers.
TODD: For decades, Limbaugh has been accused of overt race-baiting, of appealing to the worst of Americans prejudices, often directing his most incendiary remarks toward African Americans.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.
TODD: President Obama was a frequent target. Limbaugh playing a provocative song on his show. And Limbaugh was one of the early proponents of one of the most infamous false attacks on Obama which was heavily promoted by Donald Trump.
TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Rush Limbaugh was at the center, or at least was a contributor, to the conspiracy theories about President Obama. The specious and harmful argument that President Obama had not been born in the United States and therefore was an illegitimate president --
TODD: And what riles Congressman Richmond is the company Rush Limbaugh now keeps.
[02:55:03]
RICHMOND: When you think about the people who have received this award, it is people who bring people together to fight for a cause of unity and justice, and then we just give it to somebody who is stope (ph) and is a blatant racist.
TODD: Limbaugh now shares a Medal of Freedom with civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Rosa Parks who President Clinton recognized after bestowing the award on her at a State of the Union Address in the middle of his impeachment.
Limbaugh also drew criticism for comments about women, including his remark about a female Georgetown University student who campaign for access to birth control.
LIMBAUGH: What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.
TODD: Limbaugh later apologized. President Trump does have the prerogative to give the Medal of Freedom to whoever he chooses and plenty of other recipients have been controversial. It should also be noted that Rush Limbaugh has an enormous following and just revealed he has late-stage lung cancer. But historian Tim Naftali believes at this moment in this political climate -- NAFTALI: I think the President has tarnished the award by giving it to
a very divisive figure in a reality show moment in the State of the Union, at a time when this country desperately needs healing.
TODD: I asked congressman Richmond if he'll launch a protest against the award to Rush Limbaugh or launch an effort to have it revoked. He said there are too many other important issues he has to concentrate on and says he doesn't want to give this any more attention. We asked the White House to respond to the criticism over the Limbaugh award. We never heard back from them. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And more CNN NEWSROOM in just a moment. Do stay with us.
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