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Big Oil CEO Said to be Top Secretary of State Contender; Trump: Reports of Russia Hacking "Ridiculous"; Pres-Elect Won't Commit to "One China"; Orlando Marks Six Months Since Massacre. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired December 12, 2016 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00] CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: He actually joined in 1975 as an engineer and then he took a major role managing the Russian account in 1998. Look, his relationship with the country is one of the reasons he actually became CEO. Because the company wanted to expand there, in that role, Tillerson, like I said, orchestrated this deal with the largest, with one of the largest oil and gas players in the Russia gross net. And shortly after that, Russia awarded him, as you mentioned earlier, the country's, one of country's biggest honors. And then over the weekend, a member of parliament in Russia said Tillerson would be a sensation as Secretary of State and that, quote, unquote, Trump continues to amaze.
Again, it's this kind of reaction is sparking concern among lawmakers and the real question going back to the sanctions is, is Tillerson willing to use sanctions against adversaries including Russia given his history and friendships there, Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I couldn't have asked that question better myself. So Elise Labott what is the answer to that?
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tillerson himself has said that he doesn't think that sanctions work. You remember what he said to shareholders in 2014. The question was about Russian in general, but he said that the company doesn't think that he doesn't think, that sanctions work, unless they're going to be implemented effectively. And so the question is whether he would, you know, support the lists of sanctions.
Look, Rex Tillerson may have a good relationship with Russia Brianna but it's really Donald Trump's foreign policy that he is going to be implementing.
And so I think what lawmakers are very concerned about is, yes, with Rex Tillerson's ties to Russia, but the larger policy that Donald Trump has talked about, about closer ties to Russia ...
KEILAR: Yeah.
LABOTT: ... that fits into with all the denials of, you know, Russian involvement in the hacking. That there's going to be too cozy of a relationship and they're going to overlook not just Russia's intrusion and elections, that's meddling across Eastern Europe, its activities in Ukraine and Syria, the Russians going to get a pass across the board. And if you have a secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who's very close to Putin, there's a coziness there that makes lawmakers uncomfortable.
KEILAR: Certainly there is. We're seeing that play out. Elise Labott, Cristina Alesci, thank you to both of you.
Still to come, Russia is not our friend. Those words from senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, top Republican in the Senate, this as he now joins a chorus of our GOP lawmakers who want to investigate the CIA's conclusions over Russian hacking. We're live from Capitol Hill, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:35:51] KEILAR: President-elect Donald Trump won't take office for another five and a half weeks but he's already churning up a storm on Capitol Hill over his take on Russian meddling in the election that he just won. The "Washington Post" reported this weekend that the CIA believes Moscow worked secretly to get Donald Trump elected, though those there's no evidence any meddling affected the outcome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT USA: I think it's ridiculous. I think it's just another excuse. I don't believe it. Personally, it could be Russia. I don't really think it is, but who knows? I don't know either. They don't know and I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Nonetheless, some top senators from both parties are worried. The four seen here are calling for an investigation into Russian meddling. They released the statement saying that every American should be alarmed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressing similar concerns during a news conference a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) MAJORITY LEADER: It defies belief that somehow Republicans in the senate are reluctant to either review Russian tactics or ignore them. The Russians are not our friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CNN's Manu Raju joining us now and you just sat down with the outgoing Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid. He's blaming the FBI director for not doing more to investigate Russia's meddling. We knew this was happening four months before the election?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah, that's right. And Reid told me that he was pushing Jim Comey for months to actually act, to investigate and to say publicly that Russia was involved in this election and saying in Reid blaming the democrat's disappointing election it squarely at Jim Comey's feet. Not same the democrats are really horrible no; we're not responsible in any way for their own electoral problems. This is a very fired up Harry Reid, who I just had a chance to talk to a few minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Trump had won this race, if Russia did not get involved?
SEN. HARRY RIED, (D) OUTGOING MINORITY LEADER: All I know is that Russia helped a lot. Those are WikiLeaks coming out, drip, drip, drip, hurt her, and Comey helped Trump significantly. A week before the election, he came out and, with this, oh, he got, some found some more e-mails. And as a result of that, we lost senate seats and I think we lost the presidency.
RAJU: Do you think he is -- Comey single-handedly swayed this election the quittance and kept Republicans in control of the senate?
REID: Why am I -- so he single-handedly, that, he -- but for him were so you, I will say single-handedly, that he had not written that letter a week or so before the election, she would have won. We would have pickle up at least two more senate seats.
RAJU: Are you okay with the president taking that briefing once a week?
REID: Well, it's concerning to me. I know the people that brief president. They spend 80 hours a week getting ready to brief the president, 80 hours a week because that information is so sensitive. I don't get a briefing every day but I get one every couple of weeks that's very concerning. And I think it's unbelievable that he said, well, let Pence do it. That should be done by the chief executive of our government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now, that that's friend that Donald Trump saying that he takes that presidential daily briefing just once a week and out sources the rest to Mike Pence. But Reid also in that interview said he tried to, he along with house minority with Nancy Pelosi tried to come out with the letter earlier this summer to say that Russia was involved in this election. He said that he will suggest that Republicans resist to that effort.
And one of the thing, Brianna, he also said that Rex Tillerson, who is Donald Trump's likely pick to be secretary of state would have a hard time getting confirmed next year gain the 50 votes necessary to be confirmed. But one person will not be voting, it's Harry Reid who's retiring at the end of the year, Brianna.
KEILAR: That's right. We are going to see if there's enough pressure for Rex Tillerson to not be the pick. Manu Raju, thank you.
China sending a stern message to the President-elect, this after he called into question a long-standing diplomatic tradition between the two countries. We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:43:31] KEILAR: The U.S. intelligence community has taken some unprecedented public abuse from the soon to be President but it's not alone. Donald Trump is also still bashing China and threatening to tear up the very foundation of China American relations. That is the so-called One China Policy relegating Taiwan to the world if they renegade Chinese province.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I fully understand the One China Policy but I don't know why we have to be bound by One China Policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things including trade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Beijing is not amused as you can imagine.
CNN's Matt Rivers is there for us and I'm also joined by CNN Politics Digital Editor Eric Bradner.
So, Matt, you first, tell us what Beijing is saying today and also just why this is such a touchy subject, Taiwan?
MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Chinese Communist Party here has reacted in several different ways throughout the day. We'll take you through it chronologically.
We woke up this morning here to an editorial in a state-run newspaper that is censored by the Chinese Communist Party often used to express more, less measured their tones, if you will. And so in this editorial in the Global Times, this is a tabloid newspaper. They wrote, "He, meaning Donald Trump, is like a child and his ignorance of foreign policy. The One China Policy cannot be bought and sold. Only by going through some tough times will he come to realize that China and other international powers are not to be bullied".
[12:45:04] So a very negative editorial there that was followed up later this afternoon by a regularly scheduled press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the Spokesperson there reiterated China's staunch support of the One China Policy saying that if it is compromised, cooperation, bilateral cooperation between the U.S. and any major fields between the U. S. and China would be out of the question, so very strong words.
But to your question of why this is such a touchy subject, look at the policy itself. So under the One China Policy, Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade Chinese province, a breakaway Chinese province. Under that policy the United States only has formal diplomatic relations with Beijing and not with Taiwan.
If the incoming Trump Administration were to turn back on this policy and even go so far as to reestablish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, that could signal to the Chinese government that the Trump administration is in favor of an independent Taiwan, something Beijing certainly would not be happy with, Brianna.
KEILAR: Certainly will not. And, Eric, we're seeing China expressing displeasure just through what Matt describes and also in other ways.
ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: That's right. So China for the first time last week flew nuclear capable bombers along a disputed region in the South China Sea, a land that China has claimed but that Taiwan and other smaller countries dispute in that region. That was regarded as a provocative action.
China has also voted in recent days against the United States on the U.N. Security Council on Syria related measures where previously China had abstained. So these moves taken together appear to some in the diplomatic community to be calculated messages from China to the President elect. Sort of warning Trump and warning the United States that actions like flouting the One China Policy come with consequences. Obviously, there have been no military attacks or anything along those lines. But flying nuclear-capable bombers along this disputed region was, though, something China had not previously done before.
KEILAR: And we've heard throughout the election so many times Donald Trump bashing China over its trade practices. But then we also heard him yesterday when he was on Fox weighing in on the South China Sea dispute, the North Korean nukes. What is that going to look like? What's the concern about a potential showdown?
BRADNER: Well, it's somewhat ironic that Trump is sort of casting all of this as an effort to force China to the table to negotiate new trade bargains because Trump also is indicating that one of his first moves in office will be to withdraw the United States from the Trans- Pacific Partnership which is a trade deal involving many of China's neighbors, but not China. And that was regarded as an effort to give the United States influence over the economy of the Asia-Pacific in a way that sort of countered China and denied China the ability to set the rules in the region.
And so, it's honestly not clear right now exactly what Trump's end game is here. He's clearly showing that he's willing to anger China, to dump decades of U.S. policy, but it's not clear exactly where he wants to go, because he's not in office yet.
KEILAR: Yeah. It's very interesting. Eric Bradner, Matt Rivers, thanks to both of you.
And let's talk about a story six months later now. The Pulse Nightclub, one community is honoring the lives lost there. This is CNN Talks exclusively with the police and first responders who remember that tragic night in Orlando.
We'll hear the harrowing stories, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:52:51] KEILAR: It's been six months since 49 people died in a mass shooting in Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Tonight, the fences are on the club but not the club itself, will be opened and the names of those who lost their lives will be read. At 2:02 this morning, the exact time the shooter started his attack, survivor's staff and family members held a moment of silence.
Pulse posted this picture on its Facebook page along with this message. "This morning was very emotional to the beautiful 49 we will never forget and continue to keep your pulse beating". The massacre was something that Police Officers will never forget. Deborah Feyerick sat down with the Orlando's Police Chief who shared details never revealed, until now.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please come to the Pulse, P-U-L-S-E in Orlando. He's shooting out everybody is bleeding everywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where was the concentration of people who didn't make it?
CHIEF JOHN MINA, ORLANDO POLICE: The main dance floor was the greatest concentration of dead bodies. He did most of his killing within the first two minutes, in the video and audio that I heard, you know, multiple gunshots, multiple magazine changes all within the first minute or two.
FEYERICK: Do you have any sense of how many rounds he fired?
MINA: Hundreds of rounds, I don't know the exact count.
FEYERICK: The first to Orlando Police Officers arrived on-scene while the gunman was still shooting, Sergeants Ira Morris and his team entering through the open patio and on to the dance floor.
SGT. IRA MORRIS, ORLANDO POLICE: We're stating things like, if anyone can hear us, raise your hand. Some of the folks that were, of course, obviously deceased, but they were still trying to hold on to each other to protect each other.
FEYERICK: On the opposite side near the main door, Officer James Hyland was preparing to make entry with the second team.
JAMES HYLAND, ORLANDO POLICE: Once I was up to the south doors, a female came out and she just dropped to the ground. So, while there was gunfire still going on, I tapped one of the officers in front of me, I said, hey, give me some cover. I went and grabbed the female.
FEYERICK: Shattering a picture window, Hyland and S.W.A.T. Officer Ben Chisari moved quickly towards the back of the club.
BEN CHISARI, ORLANDO SWAT: We got five other, five or six other officers with us and made entry into the club, where the gunfire was coming from.
[12:55:02] FEYERICK: Shattering a picture window, Hyland and S.W.A.T. Officer Ben Chisari moved quickly towards the back of the club. BEN CHISARI, ORLANDO SWAT: We got five other, five or six other officers with us and made entry into the club, where the gunfire was coming from. We had an idea that the gunman was in the bathroom. We just didn't know where at the time so we held our positions.
FEYERICK: Is it fair to say that you had your firearm up and ready?
CHIARI: Absolutely.
FEYERICK: The whole time?
CHISARI: The whole time.
FEYERICK: The shooter briefly appears. Police fire but miss. The gunman is barricaded with hostages.
HYLAND: Then shooter in the bathroom, and they were holding cover on him which allowed me and a bunch of officers to go in there and start extracting the wounded that was out in there.
FEYERICK: Ambulances re blocks away from the safety perimeter.
HYLAND: I remember, use my truck. Get them out of here. And then another officer came and he actually jumped in the driver's seat of my truck, so people that we're pulling out, they would take him from behind the cars and pulled them, and then they moved then on the back on the back of the truck and then they take them down to the hospital down the street.
FEYERICK: Fifteen trips in all as frantic phone calls come steadily from inside the night nightclub.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hurry up, he's loading up, he's loading up, hurry up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Caller is advising he's reloading in the bathroom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: Thirty minutes into the attack, the self-proclaimed ISIS gunman exchanges three phone calls with police.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR MATEEN, PULSE NIGHTCLUB SHOOTER: There's some vehicles outside that have some bombs, just to let you know. Your people are going to get it, and I'm going to ignite it if they try to do anything stupid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEYERICK: A new threat as a bomb dog identifies the scent of explosives in the gunman's car. Dozens of police and deputies work quickly to rescue survivors hiding throughout the club. Some two dozen hostages remain trapped in the south bathroom and in the north. The gun man is pointing his assault riffle towards the door, ready for police. It is more than two hours into the standoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why isn't anyone coming to get us in the bathroom? There's two people in here about to die. There's four already dead. Someone needs to come in here now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MINA: If our officer's feet away had heard him start shooting, they obviously would have went right through that bathroom door and engaged him.
FEYERICK: A text comes through about 4:30 saying he's going to put suicide vests on us and blow the club up. That must have accelerated things pretty significantly.
MINA: It did. Negotiations stopped. And he wasn't answering our phone call.
CHISANI: It was relay to us while we're in there that he had explosives and that he was going to blows club up, if we didn't back out. No one backed out.
MINA: My SWAT team commander tells me what the plan is. I say, get ready for an explosive breach. He comes back and says they're ready.
ROBERT WOODYARD. ORLANDO SWAT: It went off. Hit the lights and kind of the dust settled and the wall was still there.
FEYERICK: SWAT officer Robert Woodyard, aims his armored vehicle with a battering ram at the rear wall.
WOODYARD: I change it to four-wheel drive, just in case and just drove at the hole that was supposed to be breached.
FEYERICK: But it was the hallway, the hostages are feet away. So he rams a second hole.
WOODYARD: I remember backing out and just seeing hands. Just immediately and couple of the guys on the ground grabbed a hand-held ram and they started to make the holes bigger, and once it got big enough, people started coming out.
MINA: the officers did start hearing shots coming from the north bathroom, and we learned later from the survivors that, that was the shooter actually shooting out at the officers. So that's when our officers, again, thinking I'll fly through diversionary devices, and air flash bangs, made loud noise, and some bright light and somewhere during that time period, that's when the shooter came out of the big hole that was maids in the hallway, and immediately began firing at our officers. Several officers, officers returned fire, killing him right there. FEYERICK: The standoff is over three hours and 15 minutes after it began. Forty nine people are dead, 53 injured, with 101 people rescued from inside the club by dozens of police and sheriffs's deputies.
Why not launch that rescue operation sooner?
MINA: Going in that doorway within the first few minutes basically would have been a suicide mission for the officers, but also, like I said, more importantly, I believe many hostages would have lost their lives at that moment, either from the gunman, or from friendly fire from our officers, if we had gone in right away through that bathroom.
FEYERICK: The survivors were interviewed that same day, only then that Chief Mina learned the gunman had been waiting to ambush his SWAT team.
MINA: I'm very, very proud of the way the Orlando police responded.
FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KEILAR: Thank you to Deb for that report and thank you for watching "Newsroom". "Wolf" starts right now.
