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Democrats To Release More Witness Transcripts from Impeachment Inquiry; Trump Presses British Prime Minister to Investigate President Trump's Opponents, Help Discredit Russia Probe; Iraq Protests; India's Toxic Smog Remains Hazardous. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 05, 2019 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta with your next 90 minutes of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get started.
Sworn testimony of the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine details of how Donald Trump's personal lawyer interfered in U.S. diplomacy.
New reporting on the U.S. attorney general's role in asking foreign governments for help discrediting the Mueller report.
Plus, we will get a live update from New Delhi, as the city copes with the worst pollution in years.
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CHURCH: Good to have you with us.
So House Democrats are looking to release more transcripts in the upcoming hours from witnesses in the Trump impeachment inquiry. On Monday, the disclosed testimony from former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who said Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani pushed her out and a Ukrainian official told her to watch her back.
She also talked about the role of two Giuliani associates in her ouster.
"He basically said and went into some detail that there were two individuals from Florida, Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman, who were working with Mayor Giuliani and that they were interested in having a different ambassador at post, I guess because they wanted to have business dealings in Ukraine or additional business dealings."
Parnas, Fruman and two others have been indicted on campaign finance charges and all have pleaded not guilty. An attorney for Parnas said his client is now in talks with impeachment investigators. Meantime, four Trump administration officials defied congressional subpoenas on Monday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What are the witnesses supposed to come (INAUDIBLE) government lawsuit and essentially force a ruling on whether they should testify, that is going to be delayed until December, possibly John Bolton also involve similar courts (ph).
Will you delay your proceedings to ensure you get their testimony?
Or are you ready to move forward without hearing from these key witnesses?
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): We're not going to delay our work. That would merely allow these witnesses in the White House to succeed with their goal, which is to delay, deny, obstruct.
RAJU(?): (INAUDIBLE) officials to defy congressional subpoenas (ph)?
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Look, if the process was fair, the real due process rights, I don't think you'd see it happening. I think you'd see the witnesses come but they understand what kind of rigged game this is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The White House is fighting back, not against the substance of the testimony but against the witnesses. CNN's Jim Acosta has that report.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With transcripts of damaging testimony being released in the impeachment inquiry, President Trump is taking aim at the investigation's most crucial witnesses. The president took a swipe at former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch who testified she felt threatened by Mr. Trump.
TRUMP: If you look at the transcripts, the president of Ukraine was not a fan of hers either. I mean, he did not exactly say glowing things.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But the president is saving his toughest rhetoric for the mysterious whistleblower who prompted the probe claiming without proof he is a partisan Democrat.
TRUMP: If he is the whistleblower, he has no credibility. Because he's a Brennan guy, he's a Susan Rice guy, he's an Obama guy and he hates Trump.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president wants to blow the lid off of the whistleblower's identity tweeting, "The whistleblower gave false information and dealt with corrupt politician Schiff and must be brought forward to testify."
That is not accurate. Much of the account has been confirmed by the rough White House transcript with the call with Ukraine and as well as witnesses like Lieutenant Colonel Vindman and the president will go after his character.
QUESTION: What evidence do you have that Colonel Vindman is a never Trumper?
TRUMP: We'll be showing that to you real soon.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Despite the fact that the White House is struggling to answer whether the president sought a quid pro quo.
DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Was there a time when military aid was held up because the president wanted Ukraine to look into the Bidens?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: I don't know.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president is pushing back that GOP senators are beginning to believe that his call was inappropriate, tweeting, "False stories are reported that a couple of Republican senators that President Trump may have done a quid pro quo. But it doesn't matter. There is nothing wrong with that. It is not an impeachable event."
Democrats point to the witnesses that testified there was a quid pro quo.
REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA): If all of those things are true and largely the testimony that I've heard has corroborated that, then we really do have something that is very, very serious and grave.
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ACOSTA (voice-over): The president was handed another major legal setback when a federal appeals ruled he must turn over the long secret tax returns and Jay Sekulow said in a statement the decision will be taken to the Supreme Court.
The issue raised in the case goes to the heart of our republic, the constitutional issues are significant. The president has argued repeatedly he shouldn't release the returns while he's under audit.
TRUMP: I'm always under audit it seems. But I've been under audit for many years because the numbers are big and I guess when you have a name you're audited. But until such time as I'm not under audit, I would not be inclined to do that.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The foul atmosphere in Washington may explain why the president is clinging to the World Series champions Washington nationals invited to celebrate at the White House.
TRUMP: America fell in love with the Nats baseball. They just fell in love with Nats baseball. That is all they wanted to talk about. That and impeachment. I like Nats baseball much more.
ACOSTA: The president slamming the suggestion that the whistleblower should be able to respond to written questions. The president may be forgetting something pretty important. His own legal team was fine with written questions when he was answering them in the Russia investigation -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: Let's talk more about all of this with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. He's a senior editor at "The Atlantic."
Thanks for joining us.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So two critical transcripts made public Monday by House Democrats, one from former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch saying she felt threatened by a smear campaign against her and was warned by Ukraine to watch her back and then Michael McKinley is a former senior advisor to U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo, said he resigned over diplomats being used to advance political goals.
How significant is all of this and how does it move the whole impeachment inquiry forward?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, it's the beginning -- to me, it's the beginning or likely to be several weeks of Republicans. He only like the dog who caught the bus, you know, I mean, for weeks, rather than trying to engage on the substance of the allegations and increasingly the evidence against the president. They have focused on processing forum that are currently behind close-doors, that people are not seeing the witnesses.
Now is the beginning -- today really begins the process of moving us into a public phase and I think that, you know, the kind of evidence, particularly Yovanovitch offered in her testimony. Now that is public, you know, it's hard to see how that makes Republicans any more comfortable and I think this is the beginning of a process of several weeks of this kind of drip, drip, drip for them.
CHURCH: All right, now, of course, we can expect two more transcripts coming out, Tuesday. But President Trump is again pushing to reveal the identity of the whistleblower. He's obsessing about this.
Why would he do that?
Give them details of what the whistleblower revealed initially have already been corroborated by others?
Hasn't this already gone beyond the whistleblower?
BROWNSTEIN: Clearly it has gone way beyond the whistleblower. It has also gone way beyond the individual -- the call with Zelensky, you know, what has come out of a testimony is a sustained and really unrelenting campaign of pressure from the administration to coerce the Ukrainian government t publicly declaring they would investigate Burisma and the Bidens, before they got either of the things they wanted most. Their military aid to protect them. Let us not forget, against the Russian incursion and also they are
being with the White House. And I think what you see from the president here, is a very common strategy.
I mean, he is really trying to refrain and affect the indictment. He is basically saying the issue is whether the whistleblower can be trusted. The issue is what you'd think about a call when in fact on both fronts the testimony from any witnesses that has been garnered over these past several weeks had made clear that there is a much bigger broader picture that is threatening him at this point.
CHURCH: Right and then, of course, President Trump is also hinting he'll go after the character of White House witness Alexander Vindman.
How is that acceptable to Republicans watching on and saying very little about all of this?
BROWNSTEIN: Right. I mean, you know, really in some ways, the Trump years and had been more revealing about the Republican Party and even about the Republican coalition in the concierge it has been about him.
I mean, it is a step-by-step process, the Republicans, I think find themselves accepting if not defending things they could not have imagine they would have put themselves on the line for a few years ago.
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BROWNSTEIN: You know, I just -- you just kind of deeper and deeper into the water and then one day your over your head and this is another example, I mean, the idea that Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush Republican Party would have attack, you know, kind of -- someone chain to the United States, serve the country, was wounded in combat, whose offense has been to testify what he saw and what concerns him in the White House in the year -- the host, FOX News, suggested that he's some kind of double agent.
That to me is a -- is a measure of how far the party has moved. And the Trump -- and by the way, the fact that they are -- that part of this attack is that he is an immigrant and that he can't fully be trusted, because he is an immigrant is, you know, consistent with the way Trump is refashioning that party at fundamental level. Each of one institution that is -- revolves around anxiety and resistance to demographic and cultural change.
CHURCH: And before you go, we now know, of course, an appeals court has ordered President Trump to turn over eight years of tax returns. He's lawyer is vowing to take this to the Supreme Court.
So how likely is it that we will ever see those tax returns?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, the reality in every one of these legal cases against the administration, not only personally as Trump but against their policies, that in the end of every one of those legal lines are audits are in the Supreme Court, Republican appointed justices on the Supreme Court and occasionally John Roberts might break from the administration as again in the (INAUDIBLE) case, that there had been many other incidences where they have sided with him, as on the Muslim travel ban.
I think, the court is doing their best to avoid dealing with these issues before 2020 and it is highly likely that Trump will be able to runoff the clock until 2020. I don't think they can stall it for another four years. So, if he is reelected, ultimately, I think the Supreme Court is going to have a whole series of decisions.
Because we have seen the presidents so aggressively and comprehensively trying to expand the boundaries of executive power, executive immunity, really undermine the ability of Congress and for that matter the judicial branch to perform oversight or constraint on the administration. Sooner or later, if he is reelected, John Roberts is going to have to make his call about far he is willing to go down that road.
CHURCH: Ron Brownstein, always great to have your analysis and perspective on all of these matters, appreciate it.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
CHURCH: British officials are alarmed and are sharing those concerns after the U.S. attorney general pushed for intel not on a rival adversary but on America's own intelligence services. Our Nic Robertson has more from London.
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TRUMP: Boris, it's only my opinion.
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BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: No, I'm looking -- I'm looking -- I'm looking -- you said--
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Behind the smiles, there's tension in the special relationship. President Trump wants Boris Johnson to investigate his political opponents, figure out if Mueller and others tried to smear him.
A day after his controversial call with the Ukrainian President in July and just two days after Johnson became prime minister, Trump called him. Now Parliament wants details.
BEN BRADSHAW, LABOUR MP: Did the prime minister, as today's "Times" reports, receive a request from President Trump for help in trying to discredit the Mueller report?
DOMINIC RAAB, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: The prime minister's not going to comment on the discussions with President Trump. They're held in private. But I can -- I can give him the assurance that, of course, neither the prime minister or as then was the foreign secretary, nor any member of this government would collude in the way that he's described. ROBERTSON: Both the White House and Downing Street published brief
notes on that conversation. Neither made any mention of the investigation that Trump is demanding.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Days after the Trump-Johnson call, Attorney General William Barr was in London for a meeting on intelligence cooperation and moving Trump's investigation forward.
Veteran U.K. diplomatic journalist Kim Sengupta says his British sources were shocked at the requests coming from Washington.
KIM SENGUPTA, "THE INDEPENDENT": The way that it began to emerge in their eyes was that this was the U.S. government asking for information, not about the Russians, not about the Chinese, not even about the French. You know, it's about their own intelligence services.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Barr has also been to Australia and Italy in what is now a criminal investigation into the origins of the Trump Russia investigation and intelligence it used from overseas. The Italians had nothing to offer Barr.
On his agenda likely, the role of this Maltese academic, Joseph Mifsud, who vanished two years ago. Mifsud told acquaintances that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. One of those acquaintances, George Papadopoulos, relayed Mifsud's claim to an Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer, in London.
And then there's the dossier, written by a former U.K. intelligence officer, Christopher Steele.
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ROBERTSON: Steele worked at this London address. He compiled a dossier during that 2016 elections, suggesting Trump was vulnerable to Kremlin blackmail. It was his dossier that helped initiate the Mueller inquiry.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Sengupta's sources understand the London focus, but worry about the implications.
SENGUPTA: The apprehension, the impression I got, was apprehension is that they may get drawn into all -- they are getting drawn into internal American politics.
ROBERTSON: President Trump's obsession with discrediting Mueller could cost America the trust of its allies -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
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CHURCH: The U.K. Parliament has a new Speaker of the House of Commons. Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle, who was deputy speaker for almost a decade, now assumes one of the most senior roles in British politics.
In keeping with tradition, he was dragged to the Speaker's chair by his colleagues, where he promised to be neutral and see the House change for the better. Hoyle replaces John Bercow, who stepped down last week after a somewhat controversial decade in the Speaker's chair.
Critics claim Bercow favored lawmakers who were Remainers opposed to Brexit. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn both paid tribute to Hoyle for what they see as his signature kindness.
In less than 24 hours the, prime minister and the Labour leader will be battling each other as they hit the campaign trail in earnest. Britain goes to the polls next month.
China's president is praising Hong Kong's chief executive despite months of violent protests on her watch. Xi Jinping had a surprise meeting with Carrie Lam on the sidelines at the China International Import Expo.
President Xi reportedly applauded Lam's efforts to stabilize the situation but also demanded more be done to end the violence. China recently dismissed reports it was planning to remove Lam over the pro- democracy protests, now in their fifth month.
India's government is looking for solutions as toxic smog continues to choke the capital. We will be live in New Delhi.
Plus, another deadly day of violence in Iraq as anti-government protests show no signs of slowing down. That and more coming up after this short break, stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. President Trump is finally making good on his promise to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. He announced the U.S. was leaving the landmark deal back in 2017. The U.N. was only formally put on notice Monday the, withdrawal will take a year wrapping up on November 4th, 2020, one day after the U.S. presidential election.
Critics like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have called the move disastrous. She says U.S. Democrats will push ahead with calls for climate action.
Lebanese protesters are not giving up their demands for a new cabinet and turned out in force on Monday. Massive demonstrations were held across urban areas over the weekend. The unrest was sparked nearly three weeks ago by a proposed tax on WhatsApp calls.
But it's grown into a movement against the ruling elite and alleged corruption. The prime minister resigned last week and so did his cabinet. The country now lacks a government as it faces a growing economic crisis.
Another day of protests and bloodshed in Iraq Monday. At least three people were killed and 150 wounded as demonstrators and security forces faced off in Baghdad. The protests started in October over unemployment, government corruption and lack of basic services but now the demonstrators want the government to step down. CNN's Sam Kiley has the details.
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SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At least three demonstrators killed in the Iraqi capital and over 100 wounded in the latest bout of violence that comes close on the heels of the deaths of three more at the hands of security forces, opening fire to protect the consul of the Iranian government in the city of Karbala, a predominantly Shia town.
It's very much the focus of Shia nationalism, the Shia faith. Ironic perhaps that they were killed trying to burn that institution down. But perhaps there is now a degree of frustration and rage towards even the heavy influence of Iran on that country.
The neighboring country, a massive oil rich nation that, so far, failed to be able to demonstrate in any meaningful way that it can allow the oil wells to trickle down to its population, which is now aflame, right away from the deep south in Basra, where the port access has been cut off, all the way to the capital and into predominantly Sunni areas.
People have taken to the streets, demonstrating about mismanagement, corruption, unemployment and a lack of access to basic items, such as regular supplies of power. Amidst all of this, there is the role of the government.
What will the outgoing prime minister, who was agreed to step down but has not left, do to try and draw the scenes of these demonstrations, which are growing on an almost daily basis, particularly at a time when his neighbor in Iran, the influential supreme leader, Ali Khamenei has said that this is all the result of foreign influence?
That is the line that we have come to expect from politicians in this part of the world and it's one being repeated inside of Iraq, while the leadership there is struggling to figure out what to do about these massive demonstrations and their spread -- Sam Kiley, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
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CHURCH: In another violation of the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran announced it has launched a new generation of advanced centrifuges to enrich geranium and this comes as the country marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. embassy siege in Tehran with rallies.
Iran has been scaling back its commitments to the nuclear deal after U.S. president Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions on the country. India's capital is struggling to breathe and record levels of toxic
smog are expected to hang over New Delhi for at least a week. A public health emergency has been declared and India's highest court has banned all farm fires to try to get a handle on the pollution, which is more than three times the hazardous level.
Reporter Saahil Menghani from CNN News 18 has that report.
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SAAHIL MENGHANI, CNN NEWS 18 CORRESPONDENT: Residents of Delhi today are breathing finally some fresh air. The sun is shining bright today. The sky is blue and clear.
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MENGHANI: Which wasn't the case on Saturday and even for the first half of Monday. The air quality index is gone to 80 but on Sunday particularly it reached to a staggering high of over 1,200.
The permissible limit is 0-50 and the emergency limit is 500. So you can imagine how the air quality was in the national capital of India. The reason what triggered the spike in the air quality was the fact that there was a light drizzle on Saturday which would catalyze the air to hold particulate matter.
Currently, the index is at 280 on Sunday. When you compare the capital city of India to capital cities near India, Lahore was a distant second of 163 and Taka was somewhere close to 120.
That tells you how bad the situation was in Delhi and how miserably the system failed to make sure that situation does not arrive. Even in Beijing, which clocked at just 76. Beijing has a very infamous history of having bad air but several measures have been put in to reduce it to where it is now.
Several measure taken up by both the federal government and the state government. Construction activity has been banned in the entire national capital region. A policy has been brought in called the odd- even policy. On one particular day, only even numbered plates are allowed and on another day only odd numbered plates are allowed.
That's happening in the national capital. Apart from that, burning, which is the main reason why the air quality reached this toxic level in the nearby farming dominated states have been brought down to considerable levels, to 281, where it was 1,200 on Sunday.
Even 281, in the red category, is very unhealthy, as the category's name is called. But this is also being welcomed by the residents of Delhi because clearly, red is the new green for us here. And very unhealthy is the new healthy for the residents of Delhi -- Saahil Menghani, reporting from New Delhi.
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CHURCH: Thank you so much for that. Time for a short break and when we come back, the Ukraine affair
through the eyes of a U.S. ambassador who served under both Democrats and Republicans.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a sham, OK.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's horrible. The president is doing a great job.
CHURCH (voice-over): Trump supporters in Michigan say they will vote for the president again despite the impeachment inquiry in Washington and we will have more of what voters are saying in this key battleground state. Back in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you now on the main stories we've been following this hour. Residents of India's capital is set to suffer through record levels of smog for at least a week. The country's highest court has banned all farm fires and officials in New Delhi have declared a public health emergency. All schools in Delhi remain shut because the capital's air quality is more than three times the hazardous level.
At least three people were killed and 150 wounded during protests in Iraq's capital of Baghdad on Monday. The protests across the country started in October over unemployment, government corruption, and lack of basic services. But now the demonstrators want the government to step down.
U.S. House Democrats have released the first transcripts from their impeachment depositions. The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the former State Department advisors say they were met with silence when they raised concerns about President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and the role he was playing in U.S.-Ukraine policy. And with administration officials defying Congressional subpoenas, Democrats will release more transcripts in the coming hours. CNN's Alex Marquardt reports on what we've learned so far.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, the impeachment inquiry moving into public view as transcripts of closed- door testimony are released for the first time. Explosive comments made under oath by former ambassador to Ukraine Maria Yovanovitch and Michael McKinley, a former top aide to the Secretary of State who resigned in protest.
Yovanovitch telling lawmakers that the rogue Ukraine policy led by President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, was not good policy, kind of a partisan game that cut the ground from underneath the U.S. Embassy. "Ukrainians were wondering whether I was going to be leaving," Yovanovitch said. "Whether we really represented the President."
Yovanovitch said that late last year, she learned from Ukrainian officials about a concerted campaign that Giuliani and a former prosecutor had plans and that they were going to, you know, do things, including to me. A senior Ukrainian official warning her to watch her back.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): That smear campaign orchestrated by this irregular channel was successful in removing a U.S. ambassador and tarring her reputation.
MARQUARDT: After repeated attacks from Trump allies like his son, Don Jr. and Giuliani, Yovanovitch who was a 33-year veteran of the Foreign Service went to Ambassador Gordon Sondland, a point man for the President's on Ukraine for advice. His response, "You need to go big or go home. Tweet out there that you support the President, and that all these are lies and everything else."
McKinley for his part, said he was disturbed by the implication that foreign governments were being approached to procure negative information on political opponents. And what appears to be the utilization of our ambassadors overseas to advance domestic political objectives.
McKinley says he went to his boss, Secretary Mike Pompeo, three times for a show of support for Yovanovitch, but Pompeo he didn't respond, which is directly at odds with what Pompeo told ABC News.
MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE, UNITED STATES: I never heard him say a single thing about his concerns with respect to the decisions that was made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you were never asked to put out --
POMPEO: Not once. Not once, George, did Ambassador McKinley say something to me during that entire time period.
MARQUARDT: Officials at the State Department were reluctant to show support. Yovanovitch said she was told in case the rug would be pulled out from under them by Trump. Finally, Trump pulled Yovanovitch out of Ukraine in May. She said she was called at 1:00 in the morning, and was told to get on the next flight to Washington out of concern for her security, but she was given no details.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I heard very, very bad things about it for a long period of time. Not good. MARQUARDT: There is much more to come from these depositions. So far there have been 13 hearings behind closed doors. The three committees that are leading the inquiry are releasing these transcripts bit by bit.
[02:35:08]
On Tuesday, we're expecting to see two more transcripts from two of the President's point men on Ukraine. The first is former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, and then the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: My next guest has a unique perspective on all of this. Christopher Hill is a former career diplomat who served as an American ambassador under three presidents. He joins me now. So good to have you with us.
CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ, SOUTH KOREA, MACEDONIA, AND POLAND (via Skype): (AUDIO GAP)
CHURCH: When you read the transcripts of testimony from both former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and former senior advisor Michael McKinley, what were your thoughts? And have you ever seen a situation like this, where U.S. diplomats were targeted and pressured to advance political goals?
HILL: Well, never seen anything like this. I don't think anyone's ever seen anything like it. You know, to be sure, any country that you're in, you will have some people who don't like you. And they'll go back to people in Washington and say, you know, that Ambassador out there is no good, et cetera. You have that kind of thing that happens. But what was utterly shocking as Marie Yovanovitch (INAUDIBLE) herself was to have the president talking to his foreign counterpart, suggesting that, you know, he shares the view that somehow, there's something wrong with our ambassador. Just extraordinary to see this kind of stuff going on.
CHURCH: And how surprised are you that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now contradicting what his Senior Advisor Michael McKinley said about diplomats being used to advance political goals, and about McKinley making his concerns known.
HILL: Well, I know Mike McKinley. He's a very straight shooting guy, and I have no doubt that his account of things is the accurate account. So, I think Mr. Pompeo better think this through.
CHURCH: And what part of the testimony for both of them concerned you the most, and what do you think will happen in the end, now that this is in the public domain?
HILL: Well, first of all, there was the effort to try to turn Marie Yovanovitch, a very professional Foreign Service officer into some kind of flak for President Trump. I mean, the political appointees, Sondland, you know, I've known a lot of political appointees, and many are really excellent and I would not put him in that category. And he was advising her to somehow start tweeting and start praising the President. I mean, this is not how professional operation should go. So, that was the first thing, for me, to see that this Ambassador was being kind of -- the thought was she needed to be roped into this political effort.
And as for Mike McKinley, I mean, he went to the Secretary several times, and said you've got to back your people. And I think Secretary Pompeo, unless he's planning to leave soon, should understand that if he's going to have any credibility with a career in foreign service with American diplomats, who by the way, have been around a lot longer than he has, I mean, he ought to kind of step up and support these people.
And according to McKinley, on three occasions, he declined to do that. And now, he says that he -- that McKinley never raised these things. So, there's a real credibility problem with this administration. When the President says something, you ought to be able to take it to the bank, and certainly the same goes from the Secretary of State. And certainly, there's no sense that these people can be counted on -- can be counted on to tell you the time of day.
CHURCH: And Marie Yovanovitch shared -- talks about a smear campaign against her. And a shadow U.S. policy being run by the President's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, that ran contrary to U.S. policy. If that's the case, why are Republicans remaining silent about this do you think?
HILL: Well, that is one of the great questions. And I think all Americans or many Americans are asking themselves that question. I think when this is finally all done, we will see that Giuliani had a lot of financial interests and dealings in Ukraine. And added to those, those kind of view that he was helping the President. But why this isn't clear to Republicans, especially Republicans in Congress, is kind of beyond me. I'd like to talk to a few (AUDIO GAP) about this because this is really -- yes, I've worked with Republican administrations, I've never ever encountered this kind of -- this kind of nonsense that is going on with Giuliani (AUDIO GAP)
CHURCH: Christopher Hill, thank you so very much for talking with us. We really appreciate it.
HILL: Thank you.
[02:40:03]
CHURCH: And even though Washington is consumed by the Trump impeachment inquiry, the President is still polling well among voters in battleground states like Michigan. According to a recent New York Times/Siena College Poll, Senator Bernie Sanders gets 45 percent to Mr. Trump's 43 percent. The President holds a one point lead over political rival, Joe Biden, polling at 45 percent of Biden's 44 percent, and he tops Senator Elizabeth Warren 46 percent to 39 percent. CNN's Jason Carroll asked Michigan voters who they plan to back in 2020 and why.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Picture a small town's affluent suburbs and overwhelmingly white. Michigan's 11th is a congressional district carved out of an area just northwest of Detroit.
TRUMP: Who won the state of Michigan after decades?
CARROLL: It's also a district that voted for Trump in 2016.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Haley Stevens, the democrats --
CARROLL: Then flipped and elected a Democratic Congresswoman, Haley Stevens, in last year's midterms. It's a swing district in a swing state. So no surprise voters split on the impeachment inquiry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a sham. OK. I think the President --
RITA DUNNING, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Horrible.
CARROLL: Horrible?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's horrible. Yes.
DUNNING: Just horrible what they're doing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The President is doing a great job.
CARROLL: In Plymouth, Michigan, Rita Dunning, a former auto worker, proudly shows her support for Trump on her Ford pickup truck.
DUNNING: Women in Michigan love President Trump, end of story.
CARROLL: Oh, I saw your truck. I saw -- I saw your truck.
DUNNING: Yes. Women keep -- quit saying women are not for Trump.
CARROLL: Tell that to Amy Neale, a marketing director who says the inquiry is long overdue.
AMY NEALE, SUPPORTS TRUMP IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY: I think it's heading in the right direction, finally, the impeachment. I think we're getting the evidence we need and I -- you know, I hope he gets what's coming to him.
CARROLL: UPS worker Steven Place says, it's the Democrats who deserve to have what's coming to them he says for undermining a President who has done so well on the economy.
STEVEN PLACE, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Look at the real estate. I mean, house goes on the market, it's gone in a week. I mean, the economy is booming.
CARROLL: Since Trump's election, the state's unemployment rate has dropped nearly one point. It should be noted, he narrowly won Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes after Obama won it twice.
CHRISTINE WILLIAMS, SUPPORTS TRUMP IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY: He needs to face consequences for his actions.
CARROLL: Christine Williams is a small business owner who supports the inquiry. She says it's about more than just the bottom line.
WILLIAMS: I think it's important that the inquiry be going on. I also think it's important that we not be distracted by it, and that there's actually governance going on as well, too.
CARROLL: About 30 miles northeast of Plymouth in the upscale suburb of Birmingham, former Marine Paul Kane also supports the inquiry.
PAUL KANE, FORMER MARINE: I wouldn't define myself as left or right- wing, I'm more middle of the road.
CARROLL: Kane says he's upset over how the President and his allies have criticized decorated war veteran and White House official Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman.
KANE: (INAUDIBLE) which is totally uncalled for.
CARROLL: James Malstrom, a financial advisor, could not disagree more.
JAMES MELSTROM, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think that the Democrats are really just trying to overturn the results from 2016. And I think it's going to fail miserably.
CARROLL: Melstrom also says this newly-elected Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens will pay a political price for supporting the inquiry. So much division, but that doesn't mean those who may disagree cannot be friends.
All of you, 50, you've been friends, some of you since grade school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
CARROLL: And you can all talk politics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even after we have a couple drinks.
(LAUGHTER)
CARROLL: This group celebrating their lifelong friendship and their differences.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think as a country, we've forgotten that we're all the same on some level. Political divisiveness isn't what is going to further this country. We have to act on a common ground.
CARROLL: So, folks here pretty much evenly split, but there is one point where both sides can agree, and that is a lot of people that we talked to are having a difficult time understanding how the whole impeachment process works, how long it will take, and at the end of the day, whatever the result is, if the country will end up being even more divided than ever. Jason Carroll, CNN, Plymouth, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We'll take a short break here. Still to come, Germany has struggled on how to address growing far-right extremism, but some say one city has gone too far by declaring a Nazi emergency. The latest on Dresden's controversial resolution. Plus, you usually need to speak to get Alexa or other voice assistants to do something, but researchers say they have found a silent way to command them. Back in a moment with that and more.
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[02:45:00]
CHURCH: Well, law enforcement may have stopped a massacre in the U.S. State of Colorado. The FBI says it has arrested a suspect who was plotting to bomb the Temple Emmanuel synagogue in Pueblo.
The suspect has been named as 27-year-old Richard Holzer. Authorities say he espouse white supremacist ideology online that included talk of killing Jews and calling himself a skinhead.
They say he was arrested Friday after looking at inert pipe bombs from undercover agents. Officials are calling Holzer a domestic terrorist. He's been charged with a hate crime.
Well, German officials are also worried about a rise in extremist violence. But the mayor of Dresden is among those who say his City Council has gone too far. CNN's Scott McLean has more on what's being called a Nazi emergency.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The city of Dresden, Germany is declaring the Nazi emergency, proving a controversial declaration. But the unorthodox symbolic resolution has a question mark in the title. And the party behind it is actually a satirical one, that began as a parody on a well-known T.V. show, but is now a real-life player in German politics. They have seats in the European Parliament and on the Dresden city council, too.
Richard Kaniewski is not a comedian, he's a mainstream member of the Social Democratic Party and voted for the Nazi declaration.
RICHARD KANIEWSKI, MEMBER, GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY: It's not a joke. It's a very, very important issue. And also, a satiric party can bring very, very important issues on the table. And this party did it and I'm proud that I had the chance to vote for this resolution.
MCLEAN: Kaniewski says the city has been home to right-wing extremist activity for decades. And lately, it's growing. The far-right party alternative for Germany earned 27 percent of the vote in the state election. The Anti-Islam PEGIDA Movement got its start in Dresden six years ago, bringing regular mass protests over refugee resettlement to the city center. We got a frosty reception at the latest rally. This man told us there is no Nazi emergency.
What's the emergency?
Islam is the real emergency, he says.
The rise of the far-right is not just a problem for Dresden. Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to fight right-wing extremism after politicians with a range of views received death threats. At least one of which reportedly ended with the phrase, "Heil Hitler."
[02:50:10]
Just last month, the heavily-armed man launched an unsuccessful attack on a synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur for killing two people nearby. In total, 39 of 68 city councilors voted for the declaration. At least one member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union allied with Angela Merkel, called it, an unintended provocation and voted against it, so did Dresden's Mayor Dirk Hilbert. The mayor says the growing intolerance in right-wing extremism is a big problem in Dresden. But calling it a Nazi emergency is a bridge too far?
Is there a Nazi emergency in Dresden?
DIRK HILBERT, MAYOR OF DRESDEN, GERMANY: The answer is no.
MCLEAN: No, he says. We had just recently had a proposal in the city council that had the title Nazi emergency. It shows a completely wrong picture of Dresden. Kaniewski disagrees.
KANIEWSKI: Maybe it's a dramatic term, maybe it's a dramatic title. But sometimes, you have to be very hard in your communication so that people discuss the first time about this topic.
MCLEAN: Scott McLean, CNN, Dresden, Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: OK, here's a wake-up call for you. Researchers have discovered a somewhat scary realization about voice assistance. They found that anyone can hack smart speakers by using a laser.
Someone could be standing outside your house just meters away, but as long as they have a line of sight to the gadget, they could get it to play music, open a smart garage door, and even buy stuff online.
Now, the researchers say they're not aware of anyone taking advantage of this security issue just yet. A one way to avoid it, of course, that makes sure your smart speaker cannot be seen by anyone outside your home. So don't put it near a window. Just a little bit of warning there.
All right. We'll take a short break here. Coming up next, accused Russian spy Maria Butina defends herself in an interview taped before she left the United States. We're back with that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Maria Butina, the Russian accused of spying in the United States is speaking out. She remains defiant in an interview recorded before she was deported back to Russia. CNN's Brian Todd has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Maria Butina calls it nonsense. The accusation that she tried to infiltrate the NRA as a means of getting to higher-level Republicans and influencing U.S. policy.
MARIA BUTINA, FOUNDER, RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS: If I were not Russian, that would be called social networking.
TODD: The accused Russian spy, spoke to CBS's "60 Minutes" just before she was released from a federal prison in Florida and deported back to Russia. Butina who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government previously admitted she was directed by Alexandr Torshin, a former top Russian central bank official with ties to President Vladimir Putin.
But she denied that Torshin was close to Putin. Denied that Torshin acted like her case officer.
BUTINA: Wolves have teeth, but not all animals with teeth are wolves. You cannot judge a person based on appearance.
[02:54:58]
TODD: But "60 Minutes" presented Butina no with direct Twitter messages, it says, she exchanged with Torshin as the 2016 election was approaching.
Butina writes to Torshin, "We made our bet, I am following our game." Torshin writes back. "This is the battle for the future, it cannot be lost. Patience and cold blood."
A few days later, Butina wrote to Torshin, "Only incognito! Right now everything has to be quiet and careful.
LESLEY STAHL, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CBS: Incognito, patience, cold blood, what is that?
BUTINA: Let me take you back to 2016, around the election's time. Do you remember how at that point American media treated Russia? Everything was toxic. Tell me that there is no racism here against the Russians or police. It is.
TODD: When she says, incognito, be careful. I'm following our game. Is she protecting herself from racism?
ERIC O'NEILL. NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGIST, CARBON BLACK: No, she's -- Butina is certainly working for Russian intelligence. Now, she wasn't convicted or tried for espionage, but she certainly was working for someone in Russia who is gathering intelligence against United States.
TODD: Journalist Elena Nicolaou, a one-time friend of Butinas, told CNN, Butina was fun-loving. Like when she sang Beauty and the Beast with her American boyfriend, Republican political operative Paul Erickson.
PAUL ERICKSON, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL OPERATIVE, REPUBLICAN PARTY: Beauty and the Beast.
BUTINA: Beauty and the Beast.
TODD: But Nicolaou says Butina also displayed some mysterious behavior, like missing a whole day of activities at Disney World, saying she'd chipped a tooth.
ELENA NICOLAOU, FORMER FRIEND OF MARIA BUTINA: She may have done something to her tooth or maybe she was gone for different reasons. But, I don't know.
TODD: Butina told "60 Minutes", she faced tough conditions in American jails.
BUTINA: It is a torture. It is not normal for a human being to be locked for 23, 22 hours in sell-by your own.
TODD: That could be an appeal to Putin, who former FBI counterintelligence agent Eric O'Neill, says might treat Butina harshly because she was caught, because she cooperated with prosecutors, and she was debriefed by U.S. intelligence.
O'NEILL: I think what is going to happen is that she's going to go through a period of interrogation to learn what secrets we may now know about how Russia engages in trying to recruit spies and trying to learn intelligence. And it is not a pleasant process.
TODD: But Eric O'Neill believes that Putin's government may stop short of incarcerating Maria Butina for a long period of time or punishing her more harshly. If they did that, he says, it might be too much of an acknowledgment to the United States that Butina was a valuable spy. That she got decent information from the U.S. or gave good information to the U.S.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And thanks so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter and I'll be back with more news in just a moment. You're watching CNN, do stick around.
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