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Democrats Face Off Each Other in Houston; Bad Weather Follow Dorian's Path; Boris Johnson Makes an Appeal to U.K. Supreme Court; A Dire Warning to the World. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired September 13, 2019 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: It was a fiery debate. Ten Democrats running for president tangled over healthcare, over guns and just how far to the left the party should go.
Also ahead, the crisis in the Bahamas nearly two weeks after Hurricane Corian devastated the islands, another storm is headed near.
Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM HOLMEN. INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR, NORWEGIAN POLAR INSTITUTE: We are losing the Arctic as we know it because of climate change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: The world's most northerly town is changing. Climate change is the culprit. Seeing is believing, if you don't believe.
Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers all around the world. I'm George Howell. The CNN Newsroom starts now.
For the first time the top 10 Democratic contenders for the White House faced off on the same stage. It happened just hours ago in Houston, Texas. And of three front runners Joe Biden got the most attention, not only from his closest competitors but also from the seven other candidates sharing the state. Each trying to stand out from the others. Some focusing hard on President Trump. Other just trying to look beyond the White House incumbent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Trump, you spent the last two and a half years full time trying to sell hate and division among us, and that is why we've got nothing done.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It goes without saying that we must and will defeat Trump, the most dangerous president in the history of this country.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: But we must do more.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, servicemembers are preyed upon by predatory lenders. Students are crushed by debt and families cannot afford childcare.
(APPLAUSE)
WARREN: I know what's broken. I know how to fix it and I'm going to lead the fight to get it done.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are the best equipped nation to take this on. It's no longer time to postpone. We should get moving. There's enormous, enormous opportunities once we get rid of Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: And one of the hot topics on stage was the topic of healthcare, it also gave Joe Biden a chance to do some counter punching off his own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: How are we going to pay for it? I want to hear tonight how that happened. So as far my distinguished friend, the senator on my left does not -- has not indicated how she pays for it and the senator has in fact come forward and said how he is going to pay for it but he got some way there.
WARREN: How do we pay for it? We pay for it those at the very top, the richest individuals and the biggest are going to pay more, and middle-class families are going to pay less.
SANDERS: Joe said that Medicare for all will cost $30 trillion. That's right, Joe. Status quo over 10 years will be 50 trillion.
HOWELL: So, for analysis on what happened that stage, let's bring in Zach Wolf. Zach, the digital director of CNN politics, joining this hour from Washington. Good to have you with us.
ZACHARY WOLF, CNN POLITICS DIGITAL DIRECTOR: Thanks for having me.
HOWELL: So, the question here is who came out on top from this debate, Zach? Joe Biden, the front runner, was his performance enough to keep the mantle or did someone else steal the show here in your view?
WOLF: I didn't see anything fundamentally change in this debate. What I think we saw were some kind of important policy discussions that they were having, particularly on the issue of healthcare that you saw there, and this is something that's going to continue to play out. It really splits both the Democratic candidates and the Democrats,
this issue of whether the government should be how involved in healthcare the government should be. And what we're seeing play out is this kind of very detailed policy discussion about whether, essentially Democrats shouldn't be behind getting rid of the private insurance industry, or whether they should build on Obamacare and the legacy of President Obama.
So, I think that there was no knockout blow, there was no, you know, moment where we saw, you know, somebody anointed as the air to Obama to sort of go right in and take on Trump.
But we did see this sort of incremental moves in this policy discussions and also some really interesting, you know, clashes on healthcare, a little bit on, you know -- but even back Joe Biden's record on Iraq. And we've seen how the party has moved a lot from his early days.
[03:05:05]
HOWELL: All right. So, no knockout blows from your view, but certainly there were some moments, Zach, like the moment with Biden where former HUD Secretary Julian Castro took a jab that was clearly aimed at the former V.P.'s age.
After the debate, it is important to point out that Castro said that was not the case, he said, instead, it was simply a disagreement over policy. We have the tape, let's play it. Look and listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN CASTRO (D), FORMER HUD SECRETARY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Your plan would not --
(CROSSTALK)
BIDEN: They do not have to buy in. They do not have to buy in.
(APPLAUSE)
CASTRO: You just said that, you just said that two minutes ago. You just said two minutes ago that they would have to buy in. You said they would have to buy in.
BIDEN: They would not have to buy in. If you --
CASTRO: Are you for getting what you said two minutes ago?
If you lose your job, for instance, his healthcare plan would not automatically enroll you. You would have to opt in. My healthcare plan would. That's a big difference. I'm fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama and you're not.
BIDEN: That would be a surprise to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: So, again, on that stage every candidate looking for a moment
there. In the end we know that Castro actually got it wrong. Biden did not misspeak. But what are the options for Castro in that particular moment, positive or negative?
WOLF: I think ultimately it might be negative for Castro, but potentially positive for every other Democrat who might like to bring up Joe Biden's age without actually bringing up bringing up Joe Biden's age.
And let's not forget there were three septuagenarian candidates on the stage there. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden, they're all in their 70s. So, it's a pretty old ticket and those also happened to be the people at the top of the ticket.
So, this kind of age question is something that we've seen the younger Democrats, people like Castro, like Pete Buttigieg say that there needs to be this kind of generational change among Democrats. That hasn't really resonated with voters yet.
So it will be interesting to see after this debate if stuff like that from Castro, we saw Cory Booker kind of take up that mantle after the debate in a CNN interview where he said sometimes you don't know what -- you know Joe Biden is thinking sort of, you know, picking at the same thread there.
It will be interesting to see if that starts to affect Biden because he does sometimes say stuff and you're not really sure where he is going. There is this other moment where he started talking about record players, and it was kind of a weird moment.
Is that the kind of thing that people notice? You know, maybe, probably not, but it is interesting that it is such an old ticket for Democrats so far.
HOWELL: Yes, record players, as opposed to podcasts
WOLF: Right.
HOWELL: We're just livestream, right? It was an interesting thing to notice there. Also, all of the candidates stress the need to strong -- strengthen gun control laws. Beto O'Rourke, though, far more candid in his response. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FMR. REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.
(APPLAUSE)
O'ROURKE: They're not allowed to be used against fellow Americans anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: Beto O'Rourke there from El Paso, of course the site of a
mass shooting by a deranged racist, in the same state the most recent mass shooting that happened four weeks late in midland Odessa in that area. It is an issue that's close to home for him.
WOLF: That's right. And this was I thought maybe one of the biggest moments of the debate, and here is why. Because for decades, essentially, Democrats have been, essentially warding off Republicans, you know, warnings that they would take people's guns away.
Republicans, you know, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, you know, John McCain, the NRA, they've all warned that Democrats were essentially trying to take people's guns away. And Democrats and Barack Obama and John Kerry, you know, nominees going back for a while now who said, no, no, no, we respect the Second Amendment.
And here we have a major candidate and Beto O'Rourke and a couple others who agree with him on this mandatory buyback programs, who are essentially saying, no, we are going to take certain guns away. These do not belong on U.S. streets.
So that was a huge, I think pivot in how Democrats are viewing gun control in this election compared to previous elections. This was a big moment for me.
HOWELL: Always good to get the insight from another guy named Wolf there in D.C. Good to have you with us, Zach. We appreciate it. We'll stay in touch with you.
WOLF: Thanks.
HOWELL: All right. And on stage while Democrats blasted President Trump in Houston, the president went to Baltimore. The first time he has been there since calling that city a, quote, "a rat and rodent- infested mess," end quote.
Mr. Trump blamed the Democrats for decay in the country's inner city -- inner cities, rather. He also went on to rant about the environment, he questions bans on plastic straws, he slammed the Paris climate accord, and defended his rollback of Obama era regulations for energy efficient light bulbs.
[03:10:00]
Here is the President of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You saw that? The light bulb. People said what's with the light bulb. I said here's the story. And I looked at it. The bulb that were being forced to use, number one to me, most importantly, the light is no good. I always look orange. And so do you. The light is the worst.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: Democrats in the U.S. House have taken an important step as they move forward with an impeachment inquiry. They're not calling that it exactly. The judiciary committee adopted the procedures that it will use to investigate the administration.
There is some confusion though among Democrats about exactly what to call it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY): Some call this process an impeachment inquiry, some call it an impeachment investigation. There's no legal difference between these terms. They no longer care to argue about nomenclature.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: A top Republican on the committee denies an impeachment inquiry is underway.
We continue following the situation in the Bahamas, still recovering from Hurricane Dorian almost two weeks after that storm hit. But now the islands are under a tropical storm warning as a new system is approaching in the Atlantic.
In the aftermath of the hurricane, 1,300 people are unaccounted for. The death toll stands at 50, that number expected to rise as the search continues.
Our Paula Newton has the very latest for you.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Its ferocity were so vicious. Survivors described the storm that seem to want to wipe them out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERRIE ROBERTS, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Words can't describe it. I wish to nobody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Still stunned at their own survival, the aftermath has been crippling. Nearly one in five Bahamians are now homeless, more than 2,100 are in shelters and at least hundreds more are taken in by family, friends, even strangers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The food tasted good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: The price tag already at a staggering $8 billion and counting while the winds have calmed, the sense of urgency hasn't. The need to feed, shelter and cloth so many for months, maybe years while trying to cope with finding and identifying the hundreds still missing. And many who survived are struggling with traumatic experiences.
During the storm, thousands scrambled from room to room, house to house, buildings crumbling or flooding around them with alarming speed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM DAVIS, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: The same boat (Ph) here was just as high as the roof, it started to come on to the -- on to the roof and lift me as I was holding on for their life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Hurricane Dorian was stronger than predicted, it lasted longer than predicted. It lingered and lashed out with gusts that resembled thousands of terrifying tornadoes as the storm ground to a halt grinding across the islands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sitting in the living room and all of a sudden, the roof, it just came off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Hundreds lost track of not just belongings but each other. Relief overwhelmed reunions. Others though, still days after the storm were desperate for proof of life. This woman frantic to find her cousin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WINIS LOUISDOR, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: I hope so they find him. I hope so. He just had a son. You know, (Inaudible). I hope they find him. I hope so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Others know exactly what happened to loved ones, watching wait the grim search for bodies knowing some victims were swept out to sea. The evacuations are now nearly complete. On the minds of most how do you even begin to rebuild.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TORY ALBURY, CHIEF, GREAT GUANA CAY FIRE DEPARTMENT: We can't do it alone. We need help. Lots of help. Lots of help. It's going to be monetary help, it's going to be -- I mean, just, you don't even know where to start.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Dorian shattered lives here but also expectations about how hurricanes behave and what survival looks like after they've passed.
Paula Newton, CNN, Nassau. HOWELL: Dorian certainly left its mark on those islands, and now,
another storm on the way.
Our Derek Van Dam is here. Derek?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. George, this is the last thing residents or even tourists visiting the Bahamas want to see.
This image was taken yesterday. Look at the dark, ominous clouds. This is all in advance of yet another tropical system that is still churning across the southeast Bahamas, as we speak.
Now I want to be perfectly clear to our viewing audience. We do not see any signs that this will be a significant wind threat or a significant storm surge threat like Hurricane Dorian was just two weeks ago.
[03:15:02]
But we don't want to see any tropical activity impact the region that got ravaged two weeks ago.
Now, the Atlantic tropical basin is really starting to fire up, just since the 2 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center. We've had a new tropical wave form off the west coast of Africa.
The more immediate threat though is this disorganized area of showers and thunderstorms across the southeast Bahamas. Ninety percent probability that this will develop into some sort of tropical cyclone or storm over the next five days.
In fact, we have our tropical storm warnings over the exact same locations that were impacted by Dorian. Here is the Abaco Island, there is Grand Bahama, and now we have tropical storm watches for the continental of United States, from the Space Coast southward into Jupiter Inlet along the southeast coastline of Florida.
This is the latest from the National Hurricane Center, 45 per kilometer per hour sustain winds. Notice the name here or unnamed here. Potential Tropical Cyclone Nine because it's not officially a tropical cyclone, but when it does become named it will be given the name Humberto.
That is the name going forward and you can see the projective path of the system. Lots of scenario still at play. We're starting to get a model consensus on where the storm may go over the next three to five days.
The difference in the model tracks between the European and the American models, you can see them right there in your TV screens. One thing is for sure the probability of tropical storm force winds across the northern Bahamas and into the southeast coastline of Florida continues to increase with every update from the National Hurricane Center.
We'll experience this strong gusty winds and heavy downpours through the end of the weekend and into early next week. From there, we'll see where the storm plays out. George?
HOWELL: All right. All eyes on that for sure. Derek Van Dam, thank you.
VAN DAM: All right.
HOWELL: The prime minister of the U.K. insists that he did not lie when he advised the queen to suspend parliament. We'll soon find out what that country's high court has to say.
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HOWELL: The prime minister of the United Kingdom denies that he lied to the queen when he advised her to suspend the parliament.
That comes after a Scottish high court said otherwise, ruling that Boris Johnson's counsel to the queen was unlawful. But the prime minister brushed off that verdict and has appeal to the Supreme Court.
Our Bianca Nobilo has the very latest for you.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: It's been a tough couple of weeks for the new British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
Last week, he lost a series of votes on Brexit in the U.K. parliament. His own brother resigned from his government job, and the prime minister faced widespread criticism, including from lawmakers within his own party, mainly over his decision to shut down parliament.
[03:20:01]
Now even the queen is being dragged into the latest political crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you like to the queen when you advised her to prorogue to suspend the parliament?
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely not. And that -- and indeed, as I say, the high court in England plainly agrees with us but the Supreme Court will have to decide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NOBILO: Technically, the parliament was shut down by the queen but it was on the advice of Boris Johnson. A Scottish court ruled this week that the shutdown was unlawful because it was designed to obstruct parliament.
Now, Johnson's government is appealing the decision in the U.K. Supreme Court which will hear the case next week. Either way, it's yet another distraction for the government as the clock ticks down to Brexit.
HOWELL: Hundreds of people in Hong Kong came together on a shopping mall on Thursday. Take a look at this. All singing glory to Hong Kong. The song was written less than a week ago but it's already become the
anthem of sorts, for those who continue to speak out in defiance against China's influence. The song's lyrics include chants from marches, such as liberate Hong Kong and revolution.
Pro-democracy protesters are set to sit in at various transits stations in the coming hours. And protests in the city have now forced organizers to pull the plug on an international women's tennis tournament that's set for Hong Kong.
Organizers say the Hong Kong Open set to start October 3rd will now be delayed in, quote, "light of the present situation." No decision yet on when the tournament, which attracts many top women players will happen.
Still ahead, Norway is heating up. The question though, will the world pay attention to what's happening right before your eyes. It's called climate change. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Norway's ice and snow wilderness is melting, and it's prompting scientists to offer a stark warning to the world about climate change and its causes.
Our Michael Holmes reports those dying icebergs in Norway could spell trouble, will spell trouble for the rest of the planet.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Glaciers creek in the sunshine, slowly dripping into the warming waters. Here in the northernmost town in the world, the sites are spectacular. But scientists say they could be disappearing as climate change is not only melting the ice, but eroding the very land that local people live on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMEN: We are losing the Svalbard we know. We are losing the Arctic as we know it because of climate change. And this is a forewarning of all the hardship and problems that will spread around the planet.
HOLMES: According to a Norwegian report on climate change, the temperatures of Svalbard archipelago have risen by four degrees Celsius over the past 50 years and that is creating warmer conditions with some very unusual effects in town.
[03:24:57]
Take a look at this church in Svalbard, the graveyard is eerily shifting, rocks from the landscape above have slipped down on it and occasionally wax buried in the ground below has resurfaced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVAR SMEDSROED, SUMMER VICAR, SVALBARD CHURCH: As the permafrost thaws, things that are in the ground tend to be pulled up. That is happening more or less all of the time, so we might see that the graves literally come up, the coffins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The softening of the ground has also cause landslides and avalanches in the area which have wiped away several houses and scared away some of the residents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE HUBNER, NORWEGIAN RESIDENT: This was a very nice slope towards the coast and one day 30 meters disappeared just in one, one event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Local business are also feeling the heat. The owner of this husky dog farm says the rising temperatures are impacting his livelihood, and could threaten much more if the thermometer pushes deeper into the red.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUDUN SALTE, BUSINESS OWNER: On the highway when people slow down to look at a car crash, the whole climate change is kind of like because everyone is slowing down to kind of look at the accident but not realizing that we are actually the car crash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Atlanta.
HOWELL: And now to a story about how a cup of coffee forced a transatlantic flight to make an unscheduled landing. Here's how it happened.
Just short into the flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Cancun, Mexico, the pilot was given a cup of coffee by the cabin crew, he accidentally knocked it onto some controls. That cause smoke and communication problems, it even melted a control panel button, but the plane was forced to divert to Shannon Airport in Ireland to make some system checks, of course. All beverages now on Condor flights will be served with lids after that.
Before we go, I want to tell you about the special programming note. All this week, CNN's world sport has been covering the continuing problem of racism in football. In the coming hours we will take an in- depth look into that very issue.
A 30-minute special report examining the recent flurry of abuse and looking into what can be done to stop it. It's coming up again on World Sport at 2.30 Central European Time, that's 8.30 p.m. in Hong Kong, only here on CNN.
And we thank you for watching Newsroom. I'm George Howell at the CNN center in Atlanta. African Voices changemakers is next. But first, your world headlines right after the break. [03:30:00]
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HOWELL: This is CNN News Now. I'm George Howell.
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