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Trump Impeachment Inquiry; Anonymous Author With Book On Trump; Facebook's News Tab Will Include Stories from "Breitbart"; Senate Confirms 5th Trump Judicial Pick Labeled "Not Qualified"; California Utility to Shut Off Power to Nearly 1 Million People to Prevent "Catastrophic Wildfires"; Rep. Katie Hill's Attorneys Send Cease & Desist Letter over Explicit Photos Amid House Ethics Investigation; "Pro Quid Pro," The Term You Can't Escape or Pronounce. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired October 26, 2019 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. It is 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.
And we are following fast-moving developments in the impeachment scandal, including a major court ruling, more subpoenas, a raid where the feds blew the door right off a safe. And, not kidding here, Rudy Giuliani butt dialing a reporter, and leaving voicemails about Joe Biden and Giuliani's need for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
But first, a big victory for Democrats investigating the president. A federal judge ruling the impeachment inquiry is legal, despite the president and Republicans describing it as a sham.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This was the worst hoax in the history of our country. This is a hoax. It's a hoax. This phony witch hunt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: And we have action on the Hill right now. Lawmakers are hearing from Philip Reeker. He is a stop State Department official. He's expected to shine light on the smear campaign against Marie Yovanovitch, the former Ukrainian ambassador ousted, after Giuliani complained she got in the way of him digging up dirt on Joe Biden.
And speaking of Giuliani, the investigation into President Trump's personal attorney is escalating. A source telling CNN investigators had to, literally, blow the door off a safe, while conducting raids on Giuliani's associates.
And that brings us to that rather unfortunate faux pa, known as a butt dial. NBC reporting Giuliani, unknowingly, called a reporter, leaving voicemails where he said things like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: Tomorrow, I got to get you to get on Bahrain. You got to call --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)
GIULIANI: -- GOT TO CALL Robert again tomorrow. Is Robert around?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rob, he's in Turkey.
GIULIANI: The problem is we need some money. We need a few hundred thousand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Unclear exactly what he's talking about. But Giuliani, later, told CNN's Dana Bash those calls had nothing to do with Ukraine and were about other overseas projects he was involved with, all, he says, perfectly legal.
And now, some stunning new comments from former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Kelly tells "The Washington Examiner" he warned Trump that impeachment would happen if he hired a yes man in his place. Kelly saying, quote, "Someone has got to be a guide that tells the president that you either have the authority or you don't, or Mr. President, don't do it. Don't hire someone that will just nod and say, that's a great idea, Mr. President, because you will be impeached." And he adds, "I feel bad that I left."
Would you believe me if I told you there's even more? Here's Boris Sanchez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump sounding confident publicly, telling reporters he has strong support from Republicans in the Senate, despite what officials say are clashes over the White House's impeachment strategy behind closed doors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Only for one reason. I did nothing wrong. The only reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham now says he has 50 GOP senators signed on to his legislation condemning the House impeachment inquiry, leaving just three Republican holdouts. Trump says maybe they don't know about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And some of them haven't even -- don't even know about it yet. It only took place yesterday afternoon. So, they had a great response. And no I -- you have -- we have great support. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Trump also calling into question damaging testimony from his top diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, who testified that the president did want a quid pro quo with Ukraine, attempting to exchange military aid for political favors. Trump saying Taylor, who was brought into the administration by his own secretary of state, is out to get him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you calling him a liar?
TRUMP: Here's the problem. He's a never Trumper and his lawyer is a never Trumper. And the other problem is you --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you calling Pompeo a liar then?
TRUMP: Hey, everybody makes mistakes. Mike Pompeo, everybody makes mistakes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Trump again claiming he is being persecuted unfairly, while turning the focus to his potential 2020 rival, Joe Biden. Despite no evidence of wrongdoing, Trump, again, hammering the former vice president and his family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When a man walks away who has no talent, no skill, no experience with $1.5 billion out of China, when he walks away with 168,000 a month for him and his friend from Ukraine, I consider what they did to be an outrage to our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The president also defending a racially insensitive tweet sent earlier this week, claiming he was the victim of a lynching.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, it's a word that many Democrats have used. It's a word that many people have used over the years, but that's a word that has been used many times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Just a few hours later, Trump compared the impeachment inquiry to the problems black people face in the criminal justice system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[17:05:01]
TRUMP: As we make tremendous strides to deliver greater economic promise to all our citizens, we'll never let up on our efforts to ensure that our justice system is fair for every single American. And I have my own experience. You know that. You see what's going on with the witch hunt. It's a terrible thing that's going on in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Asked if he's concerned about the growing federal inquiry into his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who, sources indicate, is now searching for his own defense attorney, Trump said --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't think so because I think Rudy is a great gentleman. He's been a great crime fighter. He looks for corruption wherever he goes. Everybody understands Ukraine has big problems, in that regard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Meantime, allegations over corruption may soon lead to the sale of one of Trump's signature hotels. The Trump Organization now considering selling the lease to its D.C. hotel, a source says, in part, because of sharp criticism over conflicts of interest for the president. In a statement, Eric Trump confirms the company is exploring its options, saying, quote, "People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel, and, therefore, we may be willing to sell."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: That was Boris Sanchez reporting.
With us now, and so much to discuss, CNN Political Commentator S.E. Cupp, her show, "S.E. CUPP UNFILTERED," airs next at the top of the hour. Also with us, Democratic Strategist, and former Clinton White House aide, Keith Boykin.
Keith, let's just begin with this new revelation today from John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff. You know, that he warned President Trump that if he hired a yes man, he would be impeached. As somebody who has worked in the White House under a president who was impeached, I just wonder what is your reaction, when you hear the former chief of staff essentially saying, if left to his own devices, the president will commit an impeachable offense.
KEITH BOYKIN, CNN DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's stunning to hear not only John Kelly but several former Trump administration officials. You've heard from Rex Tillerson. You've heard from other officials. Who have also come out and said critical things about this administration, about Donald Trump in particular.
And I think what it reflects is that he has no discipline. He doesn't have the temperament to be president. We knew this from before. It was one of the questions that was asked at the debate, actually. Hillary Clinton was asked that question. Does Donald Trump have the temperament to be president? And she answered, no. And they ran a big commercial about it in the campaign.
So, the American people knew about this. His supporters, apparently, knew about this. And the White House staff currently knows about this. But they're out -- they're busy gas lighting us, pretending like there's not a problem. When everyone in the administration can see, we have whistle-blowers coming out of the woodwork to disclose this.
And, now, we have administration officials, from the State Department and other parts of the government, who are coming forward and saying, there is chaos in the White House and in the Trump administration. Let's do something about it.
CABRERA: The Republicans seem to be having a hard time trying to figure out how to fight back this impeachment inquiry. We saw that stunt, where they stormed the skiff, that secret room where they were invited in.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Where they were invited.
CABRERA: Well, and where some of them were already, right, taking part in those Congressional hearings, depositions that are happening in private. Matt Gates was the Republican Congressman who led this charge. Here's what he said afterwards about what could be next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MATT GATES (R-FL): We were, like, you know, the 300 standing in the breach to try to stop the radical left from storming over our Democracy. And I think we've made the point that President Trump deserves due process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did the president tell you guys to do this or did you do this on your own?
GATES: No, I haven't chatted with the president about it, though I suspect he may have a view he might want to share after today. But we've sent some requests to the House Democrats, with the hopes that they will change the way that they've run this process in secret. And if they don't, who knows what we'll do next.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Does the fact that a judge ruled yesterday that this impeachment inquiry is legal change anything?
CUPP: Well, I don't think it'll change the Republicans' calculus on messaging. They're still going to try to attack the process, because they can't really go after the substance. But it does change things in actuality. I mean, it does -- it does, sort of, hit at the argument that this is somehow illegal. And the president has called it a scam. He's called it, obviously, a witch hunt. And he's also called it treasonous.
This is legal. It's actually, you know, part of the constitutional design to allow, if not encourage, Congressional members, through the separation of powers, to provide checks and balances and oversight, on the Executive Branch. This is, actually, how it's supposed to work. You don't like it, Matt Gates, by the way, like every guy I knew in college.
But this is -- this is, actually, how the whole Democracy part of this country works.
CABRERA: Keith, I wonder what you thought about the president, in that clip that we showed from Boris, going, yesterday, out and talking at an HBCU. And bringing impeachment into it and, essentially, likening his treatment in the impeachment inquiry to what African- Americans may have experienced in the criminal justice system.
[17:10:05]
BOYKIN: It was really embarrassing to see Donald Trump go down to South Carolina to speak at a black college, historically black college, Benedict College, and to say that his impeachment is somehow akin to the improper and inappropriate, illegal incarceration of African-Americans and people of color or the injustices in our criminal justice process.
It shows that he continues to see himself as a victim. And this was not even in a serious attempt to try to include or reach out to black people. There are only seven students at this historically black college who were allowed to attend the event. They busted hundreds of other people from outside the school. The person who organized it and gave Donald Trump an award was a Trump supporter, who created this organization.
So, it was a big facade to create some sort of impression that Donald Trump cares about black people or cares about something about criminal justice reform. But this is a guy who still hasn't apologized for his lies about the Central Park Five. He hasn't apologized to these people who have been exonerated 30 years now, and he still refuses to accept their innocence.
So, this guy has no credibility to talk about criminal justice reform. He has no credibility, when he compares an impeachment, a legal process, to a lynching. And he has no credibility, when he talks about the Constitution and says that the emoluments clause is phony. It's a part of his irresponsible leadership and his un -- his inability to understand the way the government is supposed to work.
CABRERA: This, clearly, was not a crowd that would be part of his base per se, S.E. But Keith is right. We learned only 10 students at this college were invited to be part of this event. What do you make of that?
BOYKIN: And only seven attended.
CUPP: Yes.
CABRERA: Yes.
CUPP: Yes, I mean, that was going to be -- that was a smart decision, right? Because allowing others to come would have probably opened up to a lot of protests and a scene.
Look, a couple things. Obviously, what Donald Trump said is absurd, disgusting, but very much in line with who he is and what he does. I think we should say, and I think supporters of the First Steps Act, who have worked on criminal justice with Donald Trump, think he's actually done some good things on criminal justice. That doesn't excuse any of the things that he says or the way he often talks about people of color. It doesn't excuse it at all, and it doesn't justify the way he talks about it.
But it is good that he has been involved on this issue and good that he went to this event. And I've heard several Democrats say that. That it was good that he went and participated, as much as it was, you know, dressed up for his -- for his liking. I think -- I think we have to just -- we have to be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
BOYKIN: Well, I agree on the value of the First Step Act, but I don't agree on the value of his going to an event that was ginned up -- I mean, created purposely just so he could go and pretend like he cares about something. And he doesn't show his --
CUPP: Well, if -- but it wasn't. The Democratic candidates are there today and tomorrow as well. It was created for that as well.
BOYKIN: Yes, I get that, too. But the award for Donald Trump and everything --
CUPP: Yes.
BOYKIN: -- and his speaking about criminal justice reform. How can you talk about criminal justice reform, when you haven't done anything to -- anything to apologize for your own behavior in the past, first of all? And, suddenly, how can you do this, when the only reason you're doing this is to show you're better an Obama?
Everything he does is to try to compare himself to Obama. He's trying to prove that Obama didn't do this, so I'm going to be able to do this. So, you know what? Obama had more computations and pardons than any president in history, more than the 12 previous presidents combined. And Obama actually initiated this process. Republicans were reluctant to go along with it when he was the president.
So, it's not that Democrats haven't pushed on this. It's that the Republicans, until now, haven't been willing to go on this. So, I just think it's offensive that you can't even take an issue that should be bipartisan issue and make it into a bipartisan issue. He has to make it about himself.
CUPP: Of course, always.
CABRERA: OK. Let me just pivot to something totally different now. Rudy Giuliani butt dialing a reporter. And, S.E., this is a guy who was an adviser to Trump on cybersecurity?
CUPP: Yes, I hadn't even thought about that part. I mean, this story is amazing for lots of reasons. But, Rudy Giuliani, there are ways to actually go into the settings on your phone and butt dial proof your phone. He should seriously consider this.
BOYKIN: I didn't know that. I didn't know that.
CUPP: You can, yes. Just go online. You can -- you can butt dial proof your phone. He should. And I'm being real serious because he has a tendency to spout off about real sensitive issues.
CABRERA: And he has a tendency to pocket dial, apparently. (INAUDIBLE) a "Washington Post" reporter saying, --
CUPP: It's the second time he had --
CABRERA: -- oh, yes, it's happened to me, too.
CUPP: Well, and it's real -- it's real serious. Actually, in 2015, an appeals court -- a U.S. Appeals Court judge ruled that information obtained through a butt dial, right, information you accidently put out there, can be used against you. It is not protected by federal wiretapping laws. So, as a lawyer, you'd assume he would know that and try to remedy this.
CABRERA: And why does the president stay so loyal to Rudy Giuliani, who, we've learned, is out there seeking his own defense attorney now, Keith?
[17:15:04]
BOYKIN: It goes back to your first question. Trump values people who are loyal to him, not people who are good for him. And we see that time and time again. He picks people who he thinks are going to be loyal to him. He thought Jeff Sessions was going to be loyal to him. When he found out that Jeff Sessions recused himself, he was pissed off and he fired Jeff Sessions.
And we also see that Trump has a history of hiring the worst lawyers. He hired Michael Cohen to be his personal lawyer. Michael Cohen's in prison. He hired Ty Cobb to be one of his lawyers and sole defense team. And guess what? Ty Cobb was out there at a steakhouse disclosing information, and a reporter overheard that. So, this is not the first time that one of the Trump lawyers has been caught accidently disclosing something. He hires the worst people.
CABRERA: OK, we'll leave it there, guys. Thank you, both.
CUPP: Yes.
CABRERA: S.E. Cupp, Keith Boykin, always a pleasure. And S.E., again, will be here at 6:00 for "S.E. CUPP UNFILTERED" here on CNN.
A new book promises to reveal private conversations with President Trump, but the author's anonymous identity is coming into question. Plus, new details about what's going on behind closed doors on Capitol Hill during a rare deposition, including one Democrat inside describing the testimony as rich.
You're live in the CNN Newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: Right now on Capitol Hill, the House committees involved in the impeachment inquiry are holding a rare Saturday session, putting a stop State Department official under oath behind closed doors. CNN's Kylie Atwood is there for us. Kylie, we're talking about Ambassador Philip Reeker. What are you hearing about his testimony?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes. Well, we don't yet have any details.
[17:20:00]
His testimony is entering now its sixth hour. But what we do know is that some members are a bit surprised. They're learning more than they thought. Let me just read to you what Congressman Lynch said when he walked out for a period of time. He said it is, quote, "a much richer reservoir of information than we originally expected." Saying there they didn't have high expectations for Philip Reeker, who's the acting assistant secretary for Europe at the State Department.
And one of the reasons for that, a source familiar with his testimony explained to me that he actually didn't even know that the Trump administration was pushing for Ukraine to publicly announce that it would investigate the Bidens in 2016 until the whistle-blower complaint.
But what we do know is that Reeker is able to provide some more details on the -- specifically, the ouster of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who was ousted at the direction of President Trump. And that's because Reeker is one of the folks at the State Department who had been involved in discussions about her and what was happening to her. And wanted the State Department to come out and publicly support her, but they never did that.
That offer -- that push, actually, was rejected by top State Department officials. So, they -- that never came to fruition. But we're still waiting to learn more details of what he's telling lawmakers now -- Ana.
CABRERA: OK. We know you'll keep us posted. Kylie Atwood, thank you.
Coming up, another Trump judicial nominee gets confirmed, despite being labeled not qualified by the American Bar Association.
[17:21:36]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: A book without an author's name. A White House without some newspapers. And impeachment hearings coming to a television near you. Plenty to talk about, so let's begin with that book from an anonymous senior Trump administration official. CNN obtained the back cover of the book, "A Warning."
And it says this hopefully others will remedy the error of silence and choose to speak out. In these pages, you will not hear from me -- not just hear from me, you will hear a great deal from Donald Trump directly. For there is no better witness to his character than his own words and no better evidence of the danger he poses than his own conduct.
CNN's Senior Media Correspondent Oliver Darcy joins us now. And, Oliver, Axios is reporting that anonymous has agreed to at least one interview with a journalist and one publication to coincide with the publication of his book -- his or her book. What do we know about that? And do we believe this person plans to reveal themselves at that time?
OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't know, actually, too much about not only the book but also this interview that's supposed to take place. We don't know what format it's going to be in. We don't know who's going to be interviewed -- or interviewing this person.
But we do know that no topic, according to Axios, is going to be off limits. And, to your point about whether this person is going to reveal himself, it doesn't seem so. They're going to talk about their decision to remain anonymous, according to Axios.
So, not much known about what this per -- what this person is going to say or who's going to even do the interview, wether it's going to be on television or in a newspaper. But they're going to talk about the book, why they need to speak out, and their decision to remain anonymous.
CABRERA: And this book has been number one at least a few days this week, I understand.
DARCY: Right.
CABRERA: A big theme, during this impeachment inquiry, is messaging, right, and how the White House is messaging. How the president is messaging. We haven't had an official press conference since March 11th.
DARCY: Yes.
CABRERA: And we do get the press secretary, though, Stephanie Grisham, going on Fox News, defending President Trump, calling non- supporters human scum. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN KILMEADE, HOST, FOX NEWS: The president yesterday called the never Trumpers scum. Does he regret that? STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No. No, he
shouldn't. The people who are against him and who have been against him and working against him since the day they took office are just that. The fact that people continue to try to negate anything that he's doing and take away from the good work he's doing on behalf of the American people, they deserve strong language like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Oliver, it's not like the old days, is it?
DARCY: It's not like the old days, Ana. You know, back in the old days, we had a White House press secretary. Now, it seems like, you know, we have someone who's occupying the office of White House press secretary. We have someone who has the title, White House press secretary. But not someone is fulfilling the traditional duties of the White House press secretary, going out every single day in front of the cameras, taking questions from reporters, briefing the American public. Because it's briefing the American public that they're doing, not just reporters, about what the White House is doing on behalf of them.
Instead, what you have is someone who's going on the president's favorite shows, the friendliest corners of the world for the president and this administration, and trashing the president's critics. Stephanie Grisham might have the title White House press secretary, but she's really -- it's, really, the White House Press Secretary in name only, if you will.
CABRERA: And I have to think that, in the past, White House press secretaries would be trying to soften the president's comments, rather than just double down or triple down on them.
DARCY: Yes, but, you know, in this case, it was just, you know, the president called these people scum. That's, you know, a drop in the bucket for this White House. They have so much messaging out there from this president that it's disturbing and it's ridiculous. I can't imagine that that one comment even worried her too much. They're just going to, you know, go with it and move on to the next thing.
CABRERA: Let's move on as well. Democrats planning to hold public impeachment hearings coming to a television near you soon. We're told likely in November. We've seen it, obviously, with Bill Clinton during his presidency. What can we expect? How might it compare?
DARCY: Well, you know, this past week, we saw maybe a preview of how crazy things will get, when the Republicans stormed this secure room where private testimony was being held.
Look, impeachment's always chaos. We -- and, in the Trump administration, everything seems amplified times a hundred. So, what can we expect? We really don't know. We're going to, obviously, see people brought up on Capitol Hill and testify in front of the cameras. But what kind of a circus, you know, we have in store, I think -- I don't think any one of us can, really, predict that quite yet. CABRERA: Earlier this week, we reported that the White House is now
telling federal agencies not to renew subscriptions or to cancel their subscriptions of "The Washington Post," of "The New York Times."
[17:30:04]
CABRERA: Meantime, on the other hand, you have Facebook, the social network, now doing the opposite, trying to boost people's eyeballs on some of the reporting from those news outlets as well as others. They have this new news tab.
OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes.
CABRERA: But Facebook is already under scrutiny for what it's putting on there?
DARCY: Yes, Facebook decided that one of the sources -- I think about 200 sources initially part of this testing phase -- is "Breitbart," this far-right Web site known for publishing misleading information about Democrats, about the president's critics. This is going to be one of their sources for Facebook's news tab.
It's actually quite remarkable because, back when Mark Zuckerberg announced this news tab earlier this year, he said he wanted it to be high-quality information from trustworthy sources.
When you look at the kind of information, the kind of conspiracy theories that are pedaled by an outlet like "Breitbart," it's nothing short of stunning that Facebook thinks that this is the kind of outlet that they should be using as a source for their high-quality news tab.
CABRERA: OK. Oliver Darcy, as always, thank you.
DARCY: Thank you.
CABRERA: Got a lot in there.
You can join Erin Burnett "OUTFRONT" for a CNN special, "The White House in Crisis, The Impeachment Inquiry." That's tomorrow night, starting at 8:00 Eastern, here on CNN.
This is a story you may have missed in the fog of everything happening in Washington. The Republican-led Senate this week confirmed another one of President Trump's judicial picks, despite a lack of courtroom experience and a person who the American Bar Association says is, quote, "not qualified."
Here's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): A federal judge who, imagine this, will uphold the laws and the Constitution as they're actually written.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Another judicial confirmation, another controversy. SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Very few are called not qualified, but
he's one of them.
FOREMAN: Justin Walker, 37 years old, an assistant professor of law. He's the fifth Trump judicial nominee the American Bar Association has labeled not qualified.
UNIDENTIFIED SENATOR: The nomination is confirmed.
FOREMAN: But who this week was confirmed anyway on a party line vote. Backing the president's earlier proclamation, "The entire court system is changing at a record pace."
TRUMP: And we are going to be putting in a lot more.
FOREMAN: It's true. George W. Bush sat 152 judges, Bill Clinton, 154, Barack Obama, 94. But they were two-term presidents. Trump has already sworn in 157.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): Have you worked on any other criminal case?
FOREMAN: Democrats are howling over the sheer number and the idea that some nominees appear distinctly unprepared. Indeed, eight have earned that Bar Association label "not qualified."
But many Democrats are even more concerned that Trump is picking judges principally because they are favorable to conservative views on everything from immigration to gun control to gay rights to abortion laws.
CHRISTOPHER KANG, CHIEF COUNSEL, DEMAND JUSTICE: Conservatives for decades have understood our courts are a political body.
FOREMAN: The president's supporters deny a political agenda, but they crow about how many of his picks are in their 30s and 40s.
LEONARD LEO, TRUMP JUDICIAL ADVISER: The president has said on quite a number of occasions that he looks for people who are not only extraordinarily well qualified but who are young because judges serve for life. And it's good to have someone on the bench who's going to be there for a long time.
FOREMAN: And that is already settled. Impeachment or not, re-elected or sent away, Trump's judicial legacy will remain.
STEPHEN VLADECK, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: We'll still be talking about judges appointed by President Trump, you know, well into the 2050s and early 2060s.
FOREMAN (on camera): And don't expect this march of judges to end any time soon. In the coming weeks, we should see more of them, some whose qualifications, or lack of the same, will have Democratic alarm bells ringing.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: Breaking news on the west coast this weekend. Wildfires in northern and southern California are forcing tens of thousands of people to flee. Flames tearing through multiple communities as a million people, we're told, are preparing to be without any power. CNN is live on the scene, next.
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[17:38:17]
CABRERA: In northern California, the state's largest utility, PG&E, is shutting off power to nearly a million people to prevent catastrophic wildfires.
This, as firefighters work tirelessly to extinguish two major wildfires in northern and southern parts of that state. In Sonoma County, the Kincade Fire has burned more than 25,000 acres. More than 50,000 people now being told to get out of harm's way.
In southern California, firefighters are battling the Tick Fire, which has devastated more than 4,500 acres there.
CNN correspondent, Lucy Kafanov, joins us now from Geyserville in northern California.
Lucy, we're also learning that people had to flee an evacuation center.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People had to flee an evacuation center. There has been a new mandatory evacuation, 50,000 ordered out. One of those towns is where one of the main evacuation centers were.
We were there two days ago talking to folks. A lot of the people there had witnessed or survived themselves the devastating wildfires that spread through this area last year. They're now being re- traumatized. They have to pack up their bags. They have to move. They have to get out because firefighters are warning this blaze can spread.
It's OK right now. The wind hasn't been too bad, but they are expecting at about 8:00 p.m. local time those winds to pick up. They're going to be expecting 40-mile-an-hour sustained winds, gusting up to 80 miles an hour.
And that's a very unpredictable situation, Ana, because that means that blaze can move quickly. It could torch homes.
And firefighters have been zooming past here, this road, the entire morning trying to build protective lines in order to prevent that fire from spreading, trying to save the structures.
Too late for the one behind me. I want to talk you through what we are seeing. To my right, the bedroom. There's a bed over there. It's the burnt-out remain of a home. To my left, the kitchen. There's the remains of a stove that was there.
[17:40:10]
Very little to point out next to it because it's all been burned down. You can't even see the walls. The only thing you see in the distance is the burnt-out husk of a car.
The vineyard is still standing. This is a largely rural area. That is why you haven't seen any loss of life so far. Some structural loss but firefighters again are working very hard to prevent that.
Now, there has been a lot of concern about how the state's largest utility behaved in this crisis.
The governor issuing some very strong words. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D-CA): Years and years of greed, years and years of mismanagement, particularly with the largest investor-owned utility in the state of California, PG&E.
That greed has precipitated in a lack of intentionality and focus on hardening their grid, undergrounding their transmission lines. They simply did not do their job.
It took us decades to get here, but we will get out of this mess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAFANOV: Now, to remind our viewers, PG&E was held responsible or found responsible for the devastating and catastrophic fires that took place last November in northern California, the deadliest fires in the state's history.
Now there's some speculation that PG&E's transmission towers could have been to blame. They found a faulty power line very close to the area where the Kincade Fire erupted. Of course, that's going to be the subject of a long investigation.
Right now, the focus is on saving lives and preventing more fire -- more structures, pardon me, from burning down -- Ana?
CABRERA: Wow. Our hearts go out to the people in that area tonight.
Lucy Kafanov, thank you for that reporting.
Up next, attorneys for freshman Congresswoman Katie Hill have sent a cease-and-desist letter to "The Daily Mail" which has posted what it says are nude photos of her. This, as the lawmaker herself becomes the subject of a House ethics investigation.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:45:59]
CABRERA: She's been seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, but Congresswoman Katie Hill, of California, is now in the middle of a bizarre sex scandal involving racy photos and an alleged affair with a congressional staffer.
CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTHA JONES, VOLUNTEER FOR REP. KATIE HILL'S CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN: Disappointment. A big disappointment.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been a long week for Linda Skeverna and Martha Jones, volunteers for Katie Hill's 2018 congressional campaign.
JONES: I'm disappointed because it puts her seat at risk, I think, which is to me the most important thing.
LAH: They're talking about the crisis unfolding around Representative Hill. The House Ethics Committee announced an investigation into claims that Hill had an improper relationship with a member of her Congressional staff, a violation of House rules.
Hill calls the charge absolutely false and said she would cooperate with the inquiry.
But explicit, personal photos of the congresswoman and a campaign staffer were leaked and published online. In response, Hill admitted to that relationship. However, that relationship would not violate congressional ethics rules.
(CHANTING)
REP. KATIE HILL (D-CA): Every single vote will matter.
LAH: A turn for a rising Democratic star. Hill was a first-time candidate last year, a Millennial.
HILL: Hi, it's Katie Hill.
LAH: And outraised the Republican incumbent by millions, promising change.
(CHEERING)
LAH: She flipped California's 25th congressional district, a Los Angeles suburb dotted by quaint streets and planned communities. Republican held since the early '90s.
Hill was among the record-setting 127 women elected in the 2018 midterms, part of the response to the election of Donald Trump.
JONES: Would we lose the seat to the Republicans again? I don't know. I'm not saying we would. Hopefully not, but it just doesn't help.
LAH: Some Democrats in Hill's district say personal issues no longer matter in the Trump era.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as she's doing what we put her in office to do, that's all I care about. I'd rather have someone "F" something than rather "F" our country. I feel that's what's going on now.
(CHEERING)
LAH: But the problem for swing voters, Hill is a moderate who promised normalcy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She looks like this all-American girl, you know, and people like her. She has this appeal about her.
LAH (on camera): Do you think this district flips back to the Republicans?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope so, yes. I think so.
LAH (voice-over): Not so fast, say Hill's volunteers, who may be disappointed but not out.
LINDA SKEVERNA, VOLUNTEER FOR REP. KATIE HILL'S CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN: For myself, personally, I think that I could get past that, yes.
LAH (on camera): Would you volunteer more her again?
SKEVERNA: I think I would, yes, yes.
LAH: You just heard from the voters who know about it. We should mention there were plenty of voters who didn't know anything about what was happening. And another point, November 2020 is more than a year away.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Stevenson Ranch, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[17:49:04]
CABRERA: No quid pro quo. That's the president's primary defense. So why are some of Trump's defenders bungling the line? Jeannie Moos its next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CABRERA: We want to update you now on one of our top-10 "CNN Heroes" from 2018. Amanda Boxtel's organization, Bridging Bionics, provides free or low-cost cutting-edge therapy to people with mobility impairments.
Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper with the story of one of the many people she's helped. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Three years ago, Nate White injured his spine in a kayaking incident and was told he'd never walk again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want to try to stack it?
COOPER: But his hard work and determination, along with Amanda's incredible help, has paid off.
NATE WHITE, BENEFITED FROM AMANDA BOXTEL'S ORGANIZATION: I am a robot.
COOPER: A year ago, he did this. And now just three years after his accident, he's doing this.
WHITE: Amanda always believed that I was going to be walking again.
AMANDA BOXTEL, CNN HERO: He's living the miracle of what we all aspire for.
This is the power of technology that everybody should have access to. That's my goal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Get ready, 2019's top-10 "CNN Heroes" will be revealed next Wednesday.
Quid pro quo. These days is the term you can't escape, let alone pronounce.
CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on how everyone is saying it and some are mangling it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's enough to make you say, quid pro no!
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: A quid pro quo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no quid pro quo.
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Pu, pu, pu.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the quid and that's the pro.
MOOS: Hitting the missing quo.
TRUMP: There's no quid pro quo.
MOOS: What's with the constant bombardment?
TRUMP: It was quid pro quo. That's all you heard about. MOOS: Trump supporters even know to join in.
TRUMP: That's what you call quid pro quo.
MOOS: Though President Trump on occasion --
TRUMP: There is no pro quo.
MOOS: -- forgets the quid.
Maybe that's why he had it on a note card the other day.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC ANCHOR: Armed with a handwritten note that read, in part, "no quid pro quo."
MOOS (on camera): Quid pro quo is from Latin, meaning something for something. Think of it as you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Quid pro quo. I tell you things you tell me things.
MOOS (voice-over): But there is something about trying to say it --
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX ANCHOR: President Trump had ordered a quid po quo -- quid pro quo.
[17:55:00]
MOOS: -- that makes even a pro say quid pro uh-oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, there was no quid pro quo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't say that was quid pro quo.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: May have been a quid pro -- quid pro quo.
MOOS: Stumbling not just once.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say there's no quid pro -- quid pro quo.
MOOS: But twice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But don't require quid -- quid pro quo.
MOOS: Forget the three stooges. Rudy, President Trump and Attorney General Barr got labeled quid, pro and quo in this cartoon.
Stephen Colbert pretended he was the president's acting chief of staff.
COLBERT: My point is we're not quid amateur quos.
(LAUGHTER)
We're quid pro quos. We're ready good at it. (LAUGHTER)
MOOS: But is it possible to become allergic?
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": This guy is saying, I don't think we shall hold the money. That's a quid pro quo.
(SNEEZE)
BEHAR: Gesundheit.
MOOS (on camera): Joy may be on to something here. Maybe every time we hear quid pro quo, we should all say, gesundheit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gesundheit.
MOOS: OK, that's good.
(voice-over): And even if it's not good --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That there was a quid pro -- quid pro quo.
MOOS: Gesundheit.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never in the sense of a quid pro crow.
BEHAR: Gesundheit.
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CABRERA: I'm glad I'm not the only one that has trouble spitting out the word sometimes.
I'm Ana Cabrera, in New York. I'll see you back here in one hour.
My colleague, S.E. Cupp, continues our coverage of today's news right after a break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
