Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Speculations Swirling Around Whistleblower's Persona; Rudy Giuliani Wishes to become a Hero; President Trump Threatens the Whistleblower; Impeachment Inquiry Now Focused On Ukraine Call; Rudy Giuliani's Role In The Ukraine Controversy; Iran's Message To The West; Afghanistan Election; Royals In Africa; Abbey Road Turns 50. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired September 27, 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)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.
Ahead this hour in CNN Newsroom, classify gap, the damaging new whistleblower allegations the White House tried to cover up the president's phone call with the leader of Ukraine.
From nothing burger to haven't read it. The incremental shift in Republican support away from Donald Trump as evidence mounts of presidential wrongdoing.
And as the impeachment pressure builds Trump loyalists reportedly turn on Rudy Giuliani. The president's outside counsel hits back with a bizarre interview claiming I will be the hero.
Forty-five years after Watergate, 20 years after the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and Washington's impeachment machine is once again grinding back into life.
Today, after a summary of Donald Trump's phone call with Ukraine's leader was released came the whistleblower report with new allegations of presidential wrongdoing and attempted cover up by White House senior aides.
And here's the thing. While the accusations of extortion and abusive power are yet to be proven there really hasn't been anything close to an emphatic denial from the administration. Just the usual claim of witch hunt and fake news.
CNN's Sara Murray begins our coverage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): Were you shock at all by what you read?
JOSEPH MAGUIRE, U.S. ACTING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: None of us is above the law in this country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The complaint relied on hearsay evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A bombshell whistleblower complaint made public today reveals that President Trump not only asked the Ukrainian president to have his 2020 rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter investigated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: That call was perfect. It could have been nicer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: But White House officials were allegedly so alarmed they quickly to lock down records of the call. "This set of actions underscore to me that White House officials understood the gravity of what has transpired in the call." The whistleblower complaints states.
Officials allegedly moved the transcript of Trump's call to an electronic system typically used to store especially sensitive classified information.
"According to White House official I spoke with, this was not the first time under this administration that a presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive rather than national security sensitive information." According to the complaint.
The complaint also alleges that Trump told Vice President Mike Pence in May to cancel a planned trip to attend the Ukrainian president's inauguration. trump wanted to see how Ukrainian President Zelensky "chose to act" in office, the complaints states.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGUIRE: I believe that this matter is unprecedented.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Acting Director of national Intelligence Joseph Maguire appeared before the House intelligence committee and defended his decision to take a whistleblower complaint that names the president straight to the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGUIRE: Such calls are typically subject to executive privilege. As results, we consulted with the White House counsel's office and we're advised that once the information of the complaint was, in fact, subject to executive privilege. A privilege that I do not have the authority to waive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Maguire refused to say whether he discussed the whistleblower complaint with the president but he revealed that Trump never asked him to figure out the identity of the whistleblower.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGUIRE: I can say although I would not normally discuss my conversations with the president, I can tell you emphatically, no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: President Trump ultimately allowed the complaint to be public after an outcry from Congress, while Democrats condemned Trump's conduct outlined in the complaint.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): The President of the United States has betrayed his oath of office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Republicans mostly slammed Thursday's hearings as an effort to undermine Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEVIN NUNES (R-CA): I want to congratulate the Democrats on the roll out of their latest information warfare operation against the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: But as Trump and as GOP allies began takin aim at the unknown whistleblower's motives, Maguire said he believes the whistleblower acted in good faith.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAGUIRE: I think the whistleblower did the right thing. I think he followed the law every step of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
VAUSE: And the president's reaction to this has been predictable, ignore the accusations, attack the messenger. At a private meeting with about 50 staff at the United Nation Trump lashed out at the whistleblower, attacking that person's credibility implied they committed treason.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want to know who is the person who gave the whistleblower -- who's the person who gave the whistleblower the information because that's close to a spy. You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, right? With spies and treason. We used to handle it a little differently than we do now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:05:00]
VAUSE: Joining us now is former U.S. attorney for Los Angeles, David Katz. David, thanks for being with us. OK. David, from what the president has been saying both privately and publicly about the whistleblower, from a legal perspective, do these statements by the president rise to a level of witness intimidation.
DAVID KATZ, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: Well, I think they do, John, add up to witness intimidation. There is no reason to say those things except to communicate with the potential witnesses. This very thorough well-written about nine-page whistleblower complaint is a real road map for how the House impeachment can proceed at this point.
Because what they have here is names of witnesses, they have people who are going to be called and subpoenaed by the House to testify. It's not just Giuliani and Barr who appears to kind of dynamic duo of political fixing. But all the White House witnesses who coordinated -- the New York Times has now said that the whistleblower is a he and is a CIA analyst. And this person had interagency meetings with a lot of White House officials, they gave him a wealth of information.
And so, what's the point of the president making that remark? And it's pretty rich, isn't it because he, himself, Trump being accused of treason.
So it's pretty rich to go back into our history and talk about what the punishment for traitors and spies was, himself having been accused of treason by many responsible people and his abusive power and the other things that are shown by the tape and, John, that are also shown by the cover up. This lock down that was orchestrated by White House lawyers. A terrible day for lawyers.
VAUSE: Yes. Well, the president has also publicly and repeatedly questioned the credibility of the evidence which is presented in this whistleblower report. Again, here is some of that audio from earlier at the United Nations.
(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)
TRUMP: Basically, that person never saw the result, never saw the call, never saw the call, heard something and decided that he or she or whoever the hell it is -- they're almost a spy.
(END VOICE CLIP)
VAUSE: OK. So, this is because everything from this report came basically from second hand accounts. So, clearly, a firsthand direct account of what was said on that phone call would be good. But is there any reason why a second -- which in this case, are well corroborated and detailed are not credible.
KATZ: Wait, well, that's what is absurd about this. I mean, as to try to put on the defense, of course, the president is going to say something. It's remarkable how even the congresspersons didn't really defend him at the hearing today even though it's of his own party.
You know, they distracted, they threw a lot of mud but they didn't really defend. And in fact, one Republican congressman really attacked what the president had done in this implicit quid pro quo.
So, I think that this really doesn't -- this doesn't add up in any meaningful way to any sort of a defense, you know, by Trump. It's just to say something.
VAUSE: OK. Let's get to the cover up. Because, again, the whistleblower report notes in the days following the phone call, he write, "I learned from multiple U.S. officials that senior White House officials had intervened to lock down all records of the phone call, especially the official word-for-word transcript of the call that was produced -- as is customary -- by the White House Situation Room."
OK. The record was essentially taken out of one easy to access system within the White House, David, and place into another which was much more secure, usually used to store highly sensitive information for national security.
The whistleblower also says that shows that the White House was aware of the gravity of the phone call. But when you look at what was in that call from what we know about the summary from Wednesday, is there anything in that call which sort of talks about national security, is there any reason why it was locked into this high, secure area is because there was essentially incriminating evidence against the president?
Well, this was a cover up. This was a way to classify up. This is what the White House lawyers under Trump's direction are wanted to be done and told people to do. It was a way to hide something by giving it an over classification which itself a violation of the law.
It's very clear that to avoid embarrassment and for other non-national security reasons something cannot be given a higher classification. That's exactly what was done so that people couldn't find it.
And what's specially troubling that been brought out by Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House intelligence committee who I used to work with years ago in the Reagan administration.
What he brought out today is that there may very well be other items that are also embarrassing, there may be other conversations by Trump with other foreign leaders that have also been hidden by this same device of up classifying them so that they cannot be readily.
And they are going to subpoena that and they are going to get to the bottom of that and there will be maybe even more --
VAUSE: Yes. KATZ: -- than this conversation.
VAUSE: Very quickly. I mean, we still -- we felt a lot of that consciousness of guilt over the last couple of years. This seems like consciousness of guilt, is that right?
[03:09:59]
KATZ: Well, this is, right. This is kind of this is Ukraine-gate now. It has all the elements; it has all the lawyers that are being involved who are supposed to make sure the law is obeyed but are helping to violate the law.
You have the cover up. Why the people cover something up it's because Trump and his cronies know that criminal action has taken place. That an illicit quid pro quo was demanded, that they held this money back that had been authorized by Congress.
It's now about $400 million that this Ukrainian president needed to defend his country against aggression by our enemy, Russia. They needed the money. He held back the money, Trump did. And he only released the money when? After he knew the whistleblower was out there, after he knew that this was going to come out.
This cat was going to come out in his bag and then he finally released the money just a short time ago to Ukraine. This money Ukraine desperately needed. It's a classic obstruction of justice.
VAUSE: Right.
KATZ: It's a classic quid pro quo. It's not something the president was supposed to do for his own political benefit. Say, the country of the United States and its taxpayers will do something for you that's been authorized by Congress but only if do you something personally for me as the president. It's really unprecedented, John.
VAUSE: Yes. It's also that the denial from the Ukraine's president sitting next to Donald Trump that he felt pressured, that doesn't seem much of a denial or defense either the fact that he was sitting next to Donald Trump at that time.
David, good to have you with us. Thank you.
KATZ: Well, it's great to be with you, thanks.
VAUSE: In recent days, 75 more congressional Democrats have publicly supported impeachment. many convinced by the flood of new evidence which seems to leave little doubt the president tried to strong arm the Ukrainian leader into opening an investigation into Trump's political rival Joe Biden.
And all that brings in total now to 219 in the House along with one former Republican now independent. The overall total, 220. But as of this hour, not one congressional Republican.
The past few days though we've seen a surge in fundraising for the Trump campaign. Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump tweeted this. "A big thank you to Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats. In the last 48 hours we have raised $8.5 billion in small dollar donations. People are sick of your nonsense, but please keep it up, you are handing Donald Trump a win in 2020."
Let's go to Michael Genovese. He is president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. OK. Michael, it seems one of the differences though. When we will look at this whistleblower for Ukraine and the Russia investigation is that, here there is no awaiting. There is nothing to kick the can down the road to.
There's no special counsel to submit his findings, there's no waiting for Robert Mueller to testify. Everything is right there, and you know, 14 pages or so, not 400, and for Congress only yay or nay, isn't it? This is it.
MICHAEL GENOVESE, PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: That's right. And you'll recall in Watergate it was drip, drip, drip, drip, drip a very slow process, gave people time to process information, gave people time to think it through.
The Mueller report was wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now it's boom, boom, boom. Very quick sharp hits and those hits really have struck a blow at the president. He has been off his game; he's lost control of the narrative. He likes to do the punching, but now he's getting punched and he's becoming the victim and he's acting like the victim.
And so, I think what you're seeing is a very, very different set of circumstances. Now this is something the American people can understand. This is something you can wrap your hands around and go, yes, I get this one.
VAUSE: And with that in mind we know that House Democrats where they stand with regards to impeachment. But there's a number of new polls out there including one from NPR and PBS. It was conducted on Wednesday, saying 49 percent of Americans support opening the impeachment inquiry, 46 percent are opposed.
Given which is sort of the Saudi gone here, the process is just getting underway, are those numbers where you expected to be, are they a little higher or a little low. How do you see it?
GENOVESE: Well, I think that the American public is tired of hyper partisanship, they're tired of all this beating up back and forth name-calling. And so, I think there's a general reluctance to jump into the water on this.
But I think once the process really gets underway it becomes high drum up. I'm old enough to remember Watergate when every day you'd run home, turn on the TV you wanted to see the testimony who said what about whom, what was the questioning, did someone get stumped?
It was fascinating detail TV a compelling as anything. That's what we might see again. And if we see that the American public will tune in and be interested. And that's also the reason why I know the smart money says that Trump will probably be impeached but not convicted. VAUSE: Right.
GENOVESE: And I believe that to be the case. But I'm guessing there will be some Republicans who will think this is historic, my historical reputation is on the line, there may be a few who turn on president.
VAUSE: And with that, yes, and it seemed like that happened on Thursday. It's gone from this is nothing burger to I haven't read the whistleblower report. The House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is one who is till defending the president. And here he is.
[03:14:57]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): What in this case rises to impeachment. This is the president of the United States. They had a conversation with a leader in another country. Never before has a president had to put forth their conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I wonder how effective that line will be especially with Trump supporters. You know, it's very easy for the Donald Trump and his surrogates to just go there and, you know, don't mean to deny the crime but just play it down, you know, this is just a conversation.
You know, as much as the Mueller report was so detailed in dealing with the proof, this is obviously something which has happened, but how important will it be to this public?
GENOVESE: Well, you know, John, in movies the willing suspension of disbelief is necessary so you can enjoy the movie which is probably absurd and you is not believable.
This is now being applied by Republicans to political reality. The willing suspension of disbelief they read those words, but they don't understand the definition of those words what they mean, or they refused to do. Why don't they? They choose not to because blind partisanship, tribal loyalties are preventing them from actually admitting what they see what we all know.
There's a big, big hammer in the room. No one in the Republican Party is willing to recognize it. And consequently, they're suspending disbelief to believe the president their Pied Piper.
VAUSE: You know, it seems that the Trump circle is turning on the personal lawyer for Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani. They blamed him for plotting the story about Joe Biden and his son Hunter in the president's head and getting him, you know, involve in the first time.
The Atlantic had an interview with Rudy Giuliani. It was kind of bizarre and among the weird statements, here's one of them. "It is impossible that the whistleblower is a hero and I'm not. And I will be the hero. When these morons when this is over, I will be the hero. I'm not acting as a lawyer. I'm acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government."
He continued starting out a breath, apparently. "Anything I did should be praised."
This is a man called America's mayor after 9/11. What happened.
GENOVESE: Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.
VAUSE: Yes.
GENOVESE: Why is the president's personal attorney engage in the foreign policies process the way he is? There something very fishy about that. It should not happen. That should be done by State Department or even defense or the president's national security council.
But Trump has been watching reruns I think of the "Godfathers" who's got his conciliatory and he thinks that that's the way you operate. You don't operate that way. You operate through procedures and through processes. And you don't have your personal attorney, who maybe the president thinks that he'll be protected by a lawyer-client privilege and nothing will be revealed.
But that's a terrible, terrible way to run foreign policy and especially terrible when you have someone as volatile as Rudy.
VAUSE: Yes. Keep in mind Rudy Giuliani want to be secretary of state which will be interesting.
Michael, thank you. Good to see you.
GENOVESE: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: A whistleblower report like none other. Nine pages praise for accuracy, brevity and depth raising questions of just who wrote it. Most of intelligence are draining their head. More on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:20:00]
(WEATHER REPORT)
VAUSE: Under U.S. law, whistleblowers have the legal protection of remaining anonymous even so a few details have emerged about the person we filed the complaint over Donald Trump's phone call with Ukraine's president.
Apparently, he or she is not a supporter of Donald Trump. And according to his or her own report never heard the phone conversation firsthand. And that sent conservative media into a meltdown.
At the Federalist, for example, they declared complaint from so-called whistleblower is riled with gossip, blatant falsehoods. While at Breitbart the whistleblower was described as a partisan federal employee.
President Trump tweeted, "A whistleblower with secondhand information? Another fake news story."
Well, for more, CNN intelligence and security analyst, former CIA operative Bob Baer joins us now from Ojai in California. Good to see you, Bob.
BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: John, (Inaudible).
VAUSE: James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence he says this whistleblower report is one of the best he has ever seen. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I've seen a lot of whistleblower complaints during the time I was DNI and this had to be the best composed, best written, best documented charge complaint I've ever seen. Obviously done a seasoned, mature, capable intelligence professional written like an intelligence document.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A seasoned, capable intelligence person written as an intelligence document. What does that tell you just be on the report itself?
BAER: Well, for me, I've never seen anything like this. I mean, it's a bill of indictment. Well put together much better than the Mueller report. He gets right to the point. It cites the law. You know, this is unusual on his report. Normally what happens in the intelligence community is someone see something they don't like and they run in and they dump it orally on the I.G. the inspector general, and then may type something up but nothing this complete.
And not only that, John. It accords with the, you know, the description of the conversation was made at the National Security Council. People looking at the details are amazing and is the background. It is it deserves a prize whoever did this. It's so good. I wonder if whoever whistleblower didn't get legal help and get a lot of editing because it's truly brilliant.
VAUSE: Maybe that person had experience in gathering information or intelligence, you know, before working at the White House.
BAER: Well, of course, I think they did. I mean, they went around and they check and double checked and they found out, for instance, that the report had been moved from a normal computer that handle secret documents, the one that handles top-secret codeword. How that person the whistleblower (AUDIO GAP) that's not normal, that's handled in the Situation Room.
I've spent a lot of time in the Situation Room. And I tell you, I would never go around and ask the Navy personnel on what you do with that report or where is that kept. You just not question or you would dare ask at the White House.
So, this thing was just so thorough that I would imagine there's going to be a lot more to come in this sort of hard-right criticism is just ignorant.
[00:04:55]
VAUSE: You know, in the declassified report it clearly states "The complainant's letter acknowledges that the complainant was not a direct witness to the president's telephone call with the Ukrainian president July 25, 2019."
Just in terms of gathering information like this, obviously, firsthand experience is good, but is it essential to learn what may or may not been said?
BAER: It's absolutely essential. I mean, whoever wrote up this complaint was talking to clearly to somebody who had firsthand knowledge of it. And this is why I -- to me, you know, first glace it seems like a palace coup that several people got together and sort of laid this whole case out of Ukraine, because otherwise it would have never reached this level.
Schiff with the intelligence committee would have never, you know, gone forward with this, or neither would Nancy Pelosi unless this whistleblower could really, you know, these are not rumors.
I mean, we know from the document, the read out of that conversation that the whistleblower is absolutely right. And you know, this is just the whole, John, the whole, you know anything could -- one of the information that I'm putting into this complaint is classified.
You know, for intelligence professional a lot of care was put into this thing because the whistleblower knows that anybody aligned with the whistleblower that this president this White House is going to come after whoever it is in a big way.
I mean, he's talking about treason at this point which is outrageous. I mean, it's a violation of the law to threaten whistleblowers. It's obstruction of justice. So, I don't think this whistleblower is in a lot of trouble and I think the names that are going to come out and is going to be pilloried in the right-wing press like you wouldn't.
VAUSE: You know, we usually know that what Donald Trump did was actually threat those who give whistleblower information. You know, we used to treat them the right way in the old days. He implied that they should be executed.
BAER: Yes.
VAUSE: So, he always does that. He always has a wiggle room that took to get out of an accusation that he threatens to kill the guy, right?
BAER: Yes. Hang them from the gallows. But on the other hand, look at this. The whistleblower had a lot of sources that confirmed what he or she knew, confirmed other people's testimony in this. So, there are, you know, there are people at the White House who had turned on the president that helped to prepare this.
I don't see, you know, speculation. That's the way I see it.
VAUSE: Yes. The concerns about the phone call came from people within the White House. They were not some partisan people who (Inaudible) those were critics of the president. Those were not a big fan.
And there's also another line buried in the report. It's another disclaimer about the whistleblower. This is regarding political leanings.
"Although the ICIG's, the intelligence community's inspector general's preliminary review identified some indicia of an arguable political bias on the part of the complainant in favor of a rival political candidate. Such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern appears credible."
Was that included with the assumption that the president would go on the attack, call the whistleblower a partisan which is exactly what has happened?
BAER: Exactly. I mean they knew, I mean, whoever put this together knew that one, they had to be on the right side of the law in handling classified information and that was put into an addendum knowing that this to the point it gets leaked or come out.
So, they absolutely knew they made it as bulletproof as they could, and you know, who's not partisan in some way. But as far as that person, you know, working for another candidate, I just don't know -- that's going to be a ledge but it's not -- it's not the way it works I'm quite sure.
VAUSE: Very quickly. You've got the Mueller which is 400 something pages, you've got the whistleblower report, which is what, seven pages plus two as an addendum. It's almost (Inaudible) of each other in terms of, you know, the way you consume it.
BAER: Well, exactly. I mean, this whistleblower knew what he or she was doing and Mueller didn't.
VAUSE: Yes.
BAER: Mueller just buried us in detail, left it open to interpretation. But you read this thing. And it tells me the president broke the law and was seeking the help of a foreign government for the 2020 elections. I can't read it any other way.
VAUSE: Yes. It's hard to find another interpretation and you can read it very quickly.
Bob, good to see. Thank you.
BAER: Thanks.
VAUSE: Still to come, how did Rudy Giuliani go from America's mayor to a central character in one of the biggest White House scandals in years.
[03:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Just coming up to 3:33 here on a Friday morning in East Coast the United States. I'm John Vause. Now beneath the white dome of the U.S. Capitol, there are growing demands for articles of impeachment against the president, but for now, the demands that coming at least publicly, only from Democrats. While some Republicans may express concern in private, when the cameras are there, they seem to be scurry for cover. Here's CNN, Sunlen Serfaty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Speaker Pelosi lean out some important markers for the next phase of the impeachment inquiry, in the wake of this whistleblower complaint, Pelosi making it very clear that this complaint is going to be the new focus of the impeachment inquiry, that it will be likely led by the House Intelligence Committee. She says, the other five committees already doing investigation of President Trump. They will continue to do so, but this, under intel, is the new focus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: This is the focus of the moment, because this is the charge. All of the other worth it, relates to abuse of power, ignores subpoenas of government -- of Congress, abuse of -- contempt of Congress by him. Those things will be consider later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And as Democrats up here on Capitol Hill use this information to push forward in their impeachment inquiry, we have seen Republicans, President Trump's allies up here on Capitol Hill come to his defense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): What in this case rises to impeachment? This is a president of the United States that had a conversation with a leader in another country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And there's very, very few examples of Republicans being at all critical. Congressman Mike Turner in a hearing on Thursday, he said the conversation between President Trump and the Ukrainian president is not OK. And two Senate Republican have called these allegations troubling. But that is the farthest that Republicans have gone. Across the board, we've seen most Republicans really deflect questions or say that they have not read this whistleblower complaint, even though it has been public since Thursday morning and of course many of them had access to it Wednesday evening. (END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:35:11]
VAUSE: Sunlen Serfaty there reporting in from the Capitol Hill. Now, according to the whistleblower report, Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is emerging as a central figure, a failed attempt to have the Ukrainian investigated Joe Biden. Attempt to smear Trump's main rival ahead of the 2020 election. And now, Guiliani, the man they once called America's mayor could be facing some very real legal trouble. Here's CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The whistleblower says in stark terms, he has information that President Trump used the power of his office to try to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and Biden's son. And that quote, the president's personal lawyer Mr. Rudolf Giuliani is a central figure in that effort for Guiliani isn't just a central figure in the effort. He's a central player in the nine-page complaint.
MICHAEL WARREN, CNN REPORTER: He is all over the place, talking with Ukrainians in New York, going to places like Warsaw, even planning a trip to Ukraine that was eventually scrapped. Trying to pull together information that could really helped, he says his client.
TODD: According to the whistleblower, Rudy Giuliani met more than once with Yuri Lutsenko who was Ukraine's top prosecutor, even before the country's new president Volodymyr Zelensky took office this May. Lutesnko who was eventually pushed out had accused Joe Biden of trying to quash an investigation of a Ukrainian company that Biden's son Hunter was involved with. There were just one problem with that accusation.
WARREN: It turns out not to be true. The investigation that the Ukrainians had stopped had stopped Biden's behest had actually stop two years earlier.
TODD: the investigation stopped Ukrainian officials not because Joe Biden asked for it, but because there was no evidence. And that prosecutor Lutsenko, who made the allegation this spring and later admit as much walked back the allegation. But that didn't stop Giuliani from rapidly pursuing the conspiracy theory and talking about it on TV.
RUDY GUILIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: I found out this incredible story about Joe Biden, that he bribed the president of the Ukraine, in order to fire a prosecutor who was investigating his son. That is an astounding scandal of major proportions, which all of you have covered up for about five or six months.
TODD: Giuliani continued to push that conspiracy and to sell it to Trump. Right after President Trump's phone call with President Zelensky in July in which Trump pushed the Ukrainian to investigate Biden and told him to expect a call from Giuliani. That is when the whistleblower claims, Giuliani flew to Madrid to meet with the top aide of the Ukrainian president.
But that wasn't even the first trip the former New York City mayor had plan to quote investigate the debunked allegations. A couple of months earlier, Giuliani publicly announce he planned to travel to Ukraine to pushed for investigation that he told the New York Times quote, would be very, very helpful to my client. At the time, Guiliani said quote, we're not meddling in an election. We're meddling in an investigation which we have a right to do. Except legal experts say he really didn't, because Giuliani was a private citizen, not a government official.
SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It makes no sense, Guiliani has no official role and when you look at the circumstances, there's no reason for him to be involved in whatsoever.
TODD: As the whistleblower's report sends shock waves through the capitol, analyst say, the man who first made his name as a prosecutor, could now be prosecuted himself.
WU: There could be violations of the Logan Act which prevents private citizen from acting in behalf of United States. There could be campaign finance violations to the extent he is trying to get help on the president's campaign.
TODD: CNN reached out to Rudy Giuliani about the whistleblower complaint and its information about his dealings with Ukrainian officials. Guiliani told us he quote, has no knowledge of any of that crap and when we asked him about the concerns from U.S. officials about those dealings with the Ukrainians he called that total nonsense. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The U.S, ramping up military assistance to Saudi Arabia. When we come back. They are sending more troops, more patriot missiles and radar systems, just two weeks after a devastating airstrike on the kingdoms main production facilities.
Also ahead, denials (inaudible), and revelations, Iran's president makes headlines in a wide ranging news conference. What he said about the Saudi oil strikes and the 2015 nuclear deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The American dream was built on this country it would be a safe haven welcoming the tide of masses. The persecuted refugees, these days, but not so much. Next year, the United States will only admit up to 18,000 refugees. That is an all-time low. The number had fluctuated according to broad events. But the Trump administration has been solely chipping away at the refugee cap since 2016, when it was 85,000, it was lowered to 54,000 in 2017, then 45,000 in 2018, 30,000 this year. And 18,000 next year.
Saudi Arabia, is about to get more military support from the U.S. It's in response to Saudi attacks on Saudi oil facilities earlier this month. The Pentagons says, it will boost the kingdom's air defense with patriot missile batteries and radar systems. Both Washington and Riyadh blame Iran for those airstrikes. But Iran is still denying responsibility, challenging accusers to back up their claims with proof.
At a wide-ranging news conference President Hassan Rouhani also reiterated that Iran is willing to resume talks, that is, if the U.S. is willing to lift those economic sanctions. He also has confirmed that Tehran has started using advanced models of centrifuges to enrich uranium. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us live from Tehran. Fred, normally the situation with United States and Saudi blaming Iran for those airstrikes. We also have, now recently, Germany, U.K., and France supporting the Americans and the Saudis in those claims. So what was Rouhani response to that?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he said absolutely, that the Iranians were not behind that attack and those two oil facilities. He says, look, if anybody has sort of any evidence about all of this, they need to show that evidence and they need to prove that Iran was behind it. He says that first of all, he believes that the Houthis for their part also have cruise missiles and certainly have the capabilities to conduct such a strike. In his words, that's what he said.
But he also said, because he was asked, look, what sort of proof do you have that Iran was not behind it from a journalist. He said look, in his mind, he believes that the people who are making the accusations need to come forward with the evidence, to prove that these accusations are true or have any sort of credibility. He said, that if anybody has any information on this, he would be willing to look at it. But point-blank, he said, Iran was not behind it. He said there's nothing approve that Iran was behind and they certainly are sticking by their story. He was very, very firm on that point, if you will, John.
VAUSE: OK. Fred, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
Afghans will cast their vote for president this Saturday. And the Taliban is promising suicide bombings and rocket attacks. Nearly 80,000 troops have been deployed across the country to face the threat.
[03:45:03]
Every Afghan election for the past decade has been marked by violence. It's already been a bloody year. U.N. says close to 4,000 civilians were killed or wounded just in the first half of 2019. And the tension there is higher than ever. After the Taliban peace talks with United States fell apart earlier this month.
Prince Harry is retracing his mother's steps through a mine field in Angola. It's one of his next stops on his 10 day African tour. Princess Diana made the removal of landmines, a primary focus of the humanitarian work. She visited Angola just a few months before her death. Never got to see the full outcome of her efforts but Harry will. As CNN's royal correspondent Max Foster reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: 22 years after Princess Diana's visit, they are still finding and destroying land mines in Angola. Victoria has no memory of the princess, she doesn't even remember the brutal 27 years civil war, but it's up to her to remove its lethal remnants.
She is one of the best at it, chosen to meet Prince Harry. The pace is painstaking. They clear just 40 square meters per miner per day. Next to a village where children cross tracks of hundreds of mines were ones laid to protect, a generation that did not lift to the country's dark past, but whose lives are still shaped by it. Manuel, and his cousins were picking mangoes when they pick up a metal objects. He and his cousin lost their legs they're either cousin was killed in the blast.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The war ended a long time ago. A lot of people passed by that spot but never found it. It has to be the day when the children were there.
FOSTER: More than 1000 minefields remain across the country. A constant threat to an innocent population.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't reduce ammunitions and mines in Angola. All these kind of came from abroad. In other countries like western countries.
FOSTER: There's are plenty of progress here to, the minefield where Princess Diana walked, is now a busy street.
And throughout Angola, Fernandez and his organization Halo Trust has cleared close to 100,000 mines, in large part he says, thanks to Princess Diana.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She made the donors to, you know, to be aware that the entire communities is also part of these problem.
FOSTER: At the hospital visit by princess and now by a prince, the head surgeon is surprised by how very un-royal it all seemed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think that rarely will a child follow the mother steps, but if he is following his mother's steps, he also showed humility, because he is also feeling it in his heart, the suffering of the victims who are here.
FOSTER: A humility he hopes, will once again lead to action, so that his country can finally declare itself land mine free. Max Foster, CNN, Huambo, Angola.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A little bit of marriage news here, weighing news. Prince Harry's cousin, Princess Beatrice, she's engaged. Buckingham palace says the princess and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi are getting married in 2020. The popular tycoon proposed earlier this month during a weekend in Italy. Beatrice is the oldest child of Prince Andrew and the (inaudible).
OK, up next, Abbey road like you've never heard it before, 50 years after the Beatles released their iconic album.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:50:00]
VAUSE: Well, it's been half a century since the Beatles released their iconic album Abbey Road and to mark the occasion, a treasure trove of unheard material from the recording sessions is being released. Somehow there's still music other the Beatles made that has not been heard. CNN Neil Curry sat down with the man who remixed the album and originally he produce -- the album was produce by his own father.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get involved. You know. One, two, one, two, three, four.
NEIL CURRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Released in 1969, to mixed reviews, but now widely regarded as a classic, the critics then didn't realize that Abbey Road would be the last time the Beatles could come together in the studio to record an album.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They still respect and loved each other, they wrote songs separately.
And George became much more a strong song writer for Abbey Road, with Here comes the sun thing.
CURRY: Charles Martin has previously remixed the sergeant pepper and white albums and spent months listening to tapes of the Abbey Road recording sessions produce by his late father George Martin. It became known as the fifth Beatle after working on the bands original albums.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Beatles experts, they know way more than me, I'm pretty useless. Playing that the Beatles didn't think it was their last album. My dad always said that he felt that it was.
They knew things were changing. The band knew things were changing. They were becoming more individual. You know, people that want to create and want to do different things. Matthew always wants to do different things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He admits it's often proved to be an emotional experience.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes it's hard, listening to your father's voice on a tape machine. It's great for me to hear how much he meant to them and how much, you know, they mean to him.
CURRY: New technology allows Martin to enhance the listening experience for fans without trampling on a famous musical legacy. His work received the thumbs up from Paul, Ringo and the widows of John and George.
Paula Ringo an indeed Yuko and Olivia, they don't employ me to be safe. They don't want that, the biggest thrill I get is their reaction and pinning Paul or Ringo down and getting them to listen to the album. They will listen to come together and separately, you know, they will say, I remember this day, we were really good on this day. And if I can bring them closer to that day they recorded on, that's an achievement well done.
[03:55:10]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We live in a world with Spotify and Amazon and Google and whoever. And there's a global jukebox. The kids can listen to all the music in the world and for them, The Beatles, Duran Duran, Ed Sheeran, you know, whoever it is, are all on the same playlist. And there's no reason why the Beatles shouldn't be as relevant as everyone else.
Beyond the music, the album cover itself has become iconic. Featuring the band on this Abbey crossing outside of the Abbey Road recording studios. It's been copied, mimic, lampooned and re-created countless times. And fans of the fad four still flock to the sight to capture their own memento. Neil Curry, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Here's a tip. It turn out the best place to watch a rocket launch is from space. Astronaut Christina Cook who is on the International Space Station captured an incredible shot of Missouri 61 spacecraft on its assent. Tweeting, what it looks like from the space station when your best astronaut (inaudible), achieves her lifelong dream going into safe. NASA says the Soyuz crew made it safely onboard the space station. It's a good news. Thank you for watching CNN Newsroom, I'm John Vause. Stay with us. Early Start is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
