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Democrats Working Double Time on Their Impeachment Against Trump; President Emmanuel Macron with a Blunt Message for NATO; Michael Bloomberg Says He'll Run for 2020 Elections; Jeff Sessions Trying to Tame Trump with a Warm Statement; Berliners Celebrates Their Freedom. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired November 08, 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]
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, by French President Emmanuel Macron says Europe is facing the brain death of NATO. Implying that the alliance is on life support. Is it? We'll talk with an expert.
And an anniversary of freedom. What the fall of the Berlin Wall means today to Germans and the world.
Thank you again for joining us.
Our top story. Democrats in the U.S. House signaling that they could be on track to deliver an impeachment vote against President Trump by Christmas.
White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is just the latest administration official expected to defy a subpoena to testify, but Democrats have plenty of evidence already releasing more damning testimony from their closed-door depositions on Thursday.
CNN's Alex Marquardt has our story.
ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He was the top State Department official on Ukraine, but was shut out in the just released transcript of George Kent's testimony. Kent told lawmakers that the Ukraine portfolio was taken over by others close to the president which included his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in a key role.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): He was very bothered by it and felt it the demands on the Ukrainian government to provide dirt on a prospective political opponent, what he said was undermined 28 years of U.S. efforts to persuade success of Ukrainian governments to abide by the rule of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: The president's special envoy to Ukraine to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, told Kent he would be reaching out to Giuliani because it was clear that the former mayor had influence on the president.
Giuliani was working to get the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, removed, spreading what Kent called slander in a continuation of his campaign of lies. Trump recalled Yovanovitch in May.
When Giuliani then attacks Kent, Kent was told by his boss to keep his head down and lower his profile. Another key witness appeared today on Capitol Hill to testify putting the spotlight on Vice President Mike Pence's role in the alleged quid pro quo.
Jennifer Williams, a senior national security aide on the vice president's team listened to the July 25th call between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents in which Trump asked Zelensky for a favor and to look into the Bidens and 2016 election interference.
Williams told lawmakers she found the call's political nature unusual, she made a note of the call, but did not raise it with superiors. It's unclear whether Pence read the transcript of the call, and Williams said she never heard Pence discuss the investigations that the president had asked Ukraine for.
Pence has denied there was any quid pro quo. And that he ever mentioned holding up aid for Ukraine unless the Trump administration got something.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In all of my discussions with President Zelensky, we focus exclusively on President Zelensky's efforts to end corruption in Ukraine and also enlist more European support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: Another crucial voice for Democrats is former national security advisor, John Bolton, who according to multiple witnesses called the rouge policy in Ukraine a drug deal. Bolton refused to show up today as the committees had requested and they didn't bother sending a subpoena knowing they would have to fight it in court.
An official in the inquiry said, "We have no interest in allowing the administration to play rope-a-dope with us in the courts for months."
The Democrats are now looking ahead to the open peering which are expected to begin next week and will include the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, Bill Taylor, as well as George Kent.
Republicans may also have a chance to ask their own witnesses to testify. Congressman Jim Jordan he said that they intend to subpoena the whistleblower who sparked all of this. That is incredibly unlikely because it needs to be cleared by the House intelligence committee chairman, Adam Schiff, who wants to protect the whistleblower's identity.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
ALLEN: Here's a look at upcoming key dates in the impeachment process. Public testimony scheduled next week from State Department officials Bill Taylor and George Kent, as well as former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
November 21st is the deadline for a government funding bill to pass or the U.S. could face a government shutdown one week before the Thanksgiving holiday.
An impeachment vote in the House could come the week of December 17th, that's the week before Christmas.
Joining me now from London Thomas Gift, a lecturer in political science at University College.
Good to see you and good morning.
THOMAS GIFT, POLITICAL SCIENCE LECTURER, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Great to see you, Natalie.
ALLEN: Well, let's begin with the top State Department official testifying Thursday that Mr. Trump wanted the president of Ukraine to announce an investigation that would help Trump politically.
[03:04:59]
It's more of the same Democrats have heard, this corroborates a key part of their impeachment case. How damning is yet more testimony like this for the U.S. president?
GIFT: Well, I don't think that Kent's testimony is a game-changer, but it's certainly not good news for the president or his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
It to provide more confirmation that Giuliani was operating, essentially a shadow foreign policy with Ukraine. And what struck me most about the testimony was the strength of Kent's language. Saying for example that, Giuliani was engaged in a, quote, "campaign of slander against the Ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch and that he was pursuing a classic disinformation operation."
He took the criticism a lot further than many others. Kent's testimony was also unique in that he did express questions about Hunter Biden and his role in the oil and gas company, Burisma, which of course Republicans will lodge onto.
However, it seemed to be more about the optics of him serving on the board rather than any clear evidence that he or Joe Biden did something unethical.
ALLEN: Well this official, Mr. Kent, will testify in public hearings that begin next week with a slow drip of evidence, continuing to drip, how significant might these public hearings be?
GIFT: Well, I think they are very significant, because up until this point everything has really been happening behind closed-doors. And so far, Republicans have been able to make the case that this is all problems of process, that nothing is out in the open, that this is sort of a crypto impeachment, and so on.
And so, this will really be the first time that Americans are able to see these individuals testifying in public, and I think that that probably will add to the momentum of this impeachment inquiry, certainly Democrats are hoping that it will.
ALLEN: All right. Another story that we're following, French President Emmanuel Macron has made a remarkably blunt and pessimistic assessment of NATO. Speaking to The Economist, he says the western defense alliance is experiencing quote a, "brain death," thanks to growing indifference from the United States.
The French president says, here is a quote, "You have partners together in this same part of the real -- part of the world -- excuse me -- and you have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision- making between the United States and his NATO allies. None." He said.
The French president says Europe cannot rely on the U.S. to come to its aid. Some observers say that Russia, which is invested in seeing a weakened NATO, could capitalize on the growing rift between the Trump administration and Europe.
For more on this our Brian Todd reports from Washington.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: French President Emmanuel Macron says we are experiencing quote, "the brain death of NATO," and blames it on President Trump. Macron telling The Economist Europe needs to wake up.
Macron says he doesn't trust the president to stick to NATO's founding pledge that all NATO countries should defend any NATO member that's attacked. America, Macron says, is showing signs of turning its back on us, and Trump doesn't share our idea of the European project.
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KEITH DARDEN, PROFESSOR, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: You can only tell the Europeans that you don't have their backs so many times before they actually listened and they realize that you don't have their back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: A reference to Trump's ongoing contempt for his NATO allies.
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Do you think the United States needs to rethink U.S. involvement in NATO?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yes, because it's costing us too much money.
Number one, NATO is obsolete, number two, the countries in NATO are not paying their fair share. NATO has not treated us fairly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Trump according to The New York Times even considered pulling the U.S. out of NATO several times, but the White House seems to reject Macron's assessment. A senior administration official telling CNN the U.S. looks forward to working with its NATO allies against current and future threats.
Still, analysts say Macron's latest comments and Trump's past disdain for NATO hand another victory to a certain former KGB colonel in Moscow.
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HEATHER CONLEY, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: President Macron's comments were music to the Kremlin's ears.
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TODD: For years, Vladimir Putin has laid his marker down against NATO, pounding home the message to his people that the U.S. European alliance is an existential threat to Russia, all the recent strains between Trump and NATO, analysts say, have Putin practically dancing in the halls of the Kremlin and he'll jump at the chance to exploit Macron's temper tantrum.
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CONLEY: I'm sure Russia today and Sputnik and all the other Russian propaganda outlets are going to use President Macron's statements continually pouring them into the Baltic states and saying, it's not credible anymore, and why are you holding on to NATO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: But experts warn Putin may not stop there, he could use this tension between the allies to poach some important NATO partners.
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DARDEN: The Russians could potentially pluck Turkey away, that means control of the Bosporus, right, a critical strait that Russian ships go out of the Black Sea through.
[03:10:03]
And so, as a result of, you know, fragmentation in NATO, we could lose some NATO members.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Analysts are also sounding a warning about Macron separate outreach to Vladimir Putin. The French president has recently on his own tried to strike one on one security deals for France with Putin.
Experts warn Macron he shouldn't trust the former KGB colonel with any security deals, and they say it will once again undermine NATO.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
ALLEN: Well, one of Donald Trump's biggest complaints about NATO has been that many member countries do not spend as much on defenses as they should.
After Russia's military intervention in Ukraine in 2014, NATO members agreed to increased spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2024. Well today, only these seven countries. Marked 21 countries do not.
On Thursday, Germany announced that it would reach the 2 percent goal by 2031. But last year Donald Trump suggested that the spending guidelines be increased to 4 percent. That is a number that even the United States does not reach.
Well, next year we are marking another milestone in the race for the White House as Trump, Pence get officially on the Republican ballot in the nation's first primary state.
Also, on the Democratic side, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg maybe getting back in the Democratic race. Why he's filing papers in the State of Alabama. That's ahead here.
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ALLEN: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg maybe back in the presidential race. His spokesman tells CNN he will file paperwork for the Alabama Democratic primary this week. That state has the earliest filing deadline, that's why he's doing that.
Back in March Bloomberg said he would not run for president, but a source says the billionaire is concerned about the Democratic candidates.
Donald Trump is officially on the ballot for New Hampshire's Republican primary, Vice President Mike Pence filed that paperwork in person Thursday.
Here's our Jeff Zeleny in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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PENCE: New Hampshire, we need four more years.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: And now it's official, President Trump is on a 2020 ballot, with Vice President Pence signing the ceremonial paperwork for the New Hampshire primary.
As a parade of Democrats and even a few long shot Republicans passed through the first in the nation primary state. Team Trump is taking advantage of its head start.
While the president loves his big rallies, the Trump reelection campaign is also going small. Inside living rooms, like this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're members of the women for Trump group, right? This is the official gear.
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ZELENY: They come wearing Trump hats and shirts, women both young and old with a campaign collecting names of those supporting the president.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who in here is done hearing about the impeachment madness? Anyone?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Under fire in Washington, across America the Trump campaign is focusing on things it can control through intimate organizing events.
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REGINA BARNES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Yes, we vote again in America.
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ZELENY: Regina Barnes has been a Trump fan from day one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARNES: The rallies are great but I think that when he's not in a rally we need to keep the momentum going.
ZELENY: So, for the next year what do you plan to commit to do to let reelect President Trump?
BARNES: Just talk about him all the time, get the word out. Once you start talking about it, I think it makes people feel a lot more comfortable, to be open to talk about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: For Trump, the 2020 battleground begins where the 2016 campaign ended, fighting to defend once blue states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and trying to hold Iowa, Ohio, and Florida.
The campaign is also working to expand its map, trying to flip two of its narrowest defeats, in Minnesota and here in New Hampshire where Trump lost to Hillary Clinton, by 2,736 votes or less than 1 percent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We did great in New Hampshire. We should have won New Hampshire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: So far, the Trump campaign and its outside allies are dramatically outspending most Democratic candidates, investing $33 million on Facebook and Google ads. And nearly $8 million on television spots.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's no Mr. Nice guy but sometimes it takes a Donald Trump to change Washington.
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ZELENY: Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Democrats underestimate Trump at their own peril.
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RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I think that Democrats don't understand the Trump voter in a lot of ways. It's important to understand why he connects, and why they are so engaged with him, and we'll continue to turn out and fight for him.
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ZELENY: For now, some of the campaign's most important work, maybe closer to home than its signature rallies.
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FRED DOUCETTE, NEW HAMPSHIRE CO-CHAIR, TRUMP 2020: We will deliver the state to President Donald J. Trump come November 3rd of next year.
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ZELENY: Not there is no question that many people at these events are true Trump believers, but that is indeed the point. The Trump reelection campaign is trying to reach out to those core supporters and have them start building their own networks.
They know that is going to be a tough reelection race. But Democrats of course may underestimate President Trump. Most sitting presidents do get reelected. We'll see if President Trump does that general election now less than one year away.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.
ALLEN: Well, in the State of Alabama, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is gunning for his old Senate seat. His announcement coming one year after President Trump sacked him and maligned him.
The U.S. president has a high approval rating in Alabama and Sessions is reminding voters he still has Mr. Trump's back.
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JEFF SESSIONS, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: When I left President Trump's cabinet, did I write a tell-all book? No. Did I go on CNN and attack the president? Nope. Have I said a crossword about our president? Not one time. And I'll tell you why.
First, that would be dishonorable. I was there to serve his agenda, not mine. Second, the president is doing a great job for America and Alabama, and he has my strong support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: But he might not have the support of Mr. Trump who spent months ridiculing Sessions after he recused himself from the investigation of Russian election interference.
The president tweeted, "Jeff Sessions said he wouldn't allow politics to influence him only because he doesn't understand what is happening underneath his command position." He also tweeted, "The U.S. Attorney General was scared stiff and missing in action."
Investors are bullish that a U.S.- China trade deal is near helping Wall Street close out another record day. The Dow set a record for the third time this week. The S&P 500 also hit a new high.
Asian markets were up but have since pulled back. Both the U.S. and China say rolling back tariffs could be part of phase one of any trade deal.
Well, China's commerce ministry says that could happen even before a deal is signed. New U.S. tariffs on Chinese electronics and toys are set to take effect December 15th.
Health officials in China have long struggled with internet addiction, especially among teenagers and twenty somethings. Now Beijing is taking drastic action to curb their use of online video games by imposing an overnight curfew.
[03:19:58]
Under new rules anyone under 18 is banned from playing online games between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. Also, they can play only for an hour and a half on weekdays and up to three hours per day on weekends and holidays.
And there are new age-based limits on how much money players can transfer into their gaming accounts. China's government says the rules are aimed at protecting the physical and mental health of minors. China is also setting up systems to identify gamers and ensure corporations follow the rules. One of the most potent symbols of the Cold War assigned to the death
spin of history. Now, Berlin, indeed the world, marks that historic moment of 30 years ago. We'll have that story coming up here.
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ALLEN: Firefighters in Australia are trying to contain 99 fires across New South Wales. Fourteen of them dangerous, 55 not contained. The flames are threatening properties and have prompted evacuations and road closures.
Some of the fires are creating strong winds that can send embers kilometers away.
Well, nighttime on the streets of Senegal is no place for a child. Yet, many young boys can be found each night sleeping in filth and without shelter. One activist takes CNN's Freedom Project on a night patrol to see if he can coax the boys off the streets. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I followed along Quitiza (Ph) when he and his team went for a night patrol. It was really painful and very moving and shocking experience to see children literally sleeping on the streets covered with garbage, hiding themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we find a boy sleeping on the street, we are just coming to wake him but we need to be so close to him because they need protection. We just try to get them out and bring them in (Inaudible) where they can be protected by our teams.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After that we have a question, do you want to follow us? And 99 percent it's yes, I have to follow you.
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ALLEN: This story you're seeing is the latest documentary from CNN's Freedom Project. It's called begging for change. It will be broadcast on Saturday, that's at 5.30 in the afternoon in New York, 10.30 at night in London. We hope you watch.
Well, can you believe it. This Monday marks 30 years since the Berlin Wall was torn down. For decades, it stood as the most visible symbol of the Iron Curtain between west and east. Many people died trying to escape from communist East Germany.
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen met with one man who made it across.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The line of the demarcation in the Cold War lies in Berlin. (END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:24:56]
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For 28 years the Berlin Wall symbolize the struggle between capitalism and communism, and the cruel division between the people of East and West Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: So here at CNN we actually own our own CNN Trabant. This was the epitome of communist East German automotive engineering. And for the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall what we're going to do is we're going to take this car and take a drive back into history. That is if I fit into the car.
Because it's small, and I'm big. Ready to go. The remnants of the wall our tourist attraction nowadays, but this deadly barrier with border guards, observation towers and barbed wire struck fear into the Berliners it divided.
I stop and pick up Peter Bieber who grew up in East Germany despising the communist regime and the wall it needed to keep people from fleeing into the west.
PETER BIEBER, ESCAPED EAST GERMANY: You look and saw the wall. And you know it's the end.
PLEITGEN: Yes.
BIEBER: It's the end of the world. You can't go where you want.
PLEITGEN: As a young man, Peter Bieber attempted to flee East Germany several times until he finally succeeded in 1972. He then helped others get out as well until he was betrayed and arrested by East Germany's secret police, the Stasi and spent five years in jail there.
BIEBER: It was a little --
PLEITGEN: Psychological terror. Yes.
BIEBER: I sit in a little room, not so light. And one month, two month, nobody came and said anything. PLEITGEN: The West German government eventually paid East Germany to
release Peter Bieber, but many others who tried to get away paid with their lives. More than 100 of them in Berlin.
In 1989, east Germans had had enough, after a wave of mass protests the regime opened the wall leading to mass celebrations as people from all over the world joined in to literally tear down the wall.
BIEBER: I think about the freedom, that's for me the highest point --
(CROSSTALK)
PLEITGEN: The highest good the people can have is freedom.
Thirty years later, a united Berlin is thriving, having shed the shackles of communism and dismantled the wall many thought could never be breached.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: How about that. Well, thank you for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Natalie Allen. I'll have our top stories right after this.
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