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Impeachment Inquiry Public Hearings Hours Away; Unrest in Bolivia; U.S.-Turkish Presidents to Hold News Conference during Hearings; Dozens of Homes Destroyed in Australia Fires. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 13, 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. It's 7:00 am in London, 9:00 am in Tel Aviv and Gaza. From Atlanta headquarters, I'm Rosemary Church, with your next 90 minutes of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's get started.
The public stage of the impeachment inquiry. Witnesses with firsthand information about the Ukraine scandal testify in a matter of hours.
Israel bracing for more retaliatory rocket attacks from Gaza just hours after the assassination of a militant commander.
Plus, with dozens of fires still burning on Australia's East Coast, new evacuation orders and a warning about worsening conditions in the coming days.
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CHURCH: Good to have you with us.
So a pivotal new phase in the U.S. impeachment proceedings will begin in just a few hours from now, when public hearings convene on Capitol Hill. Two career diplomats who have already testified behind closed doors will be the first witnesses.
Democrats will try to build a narrative that president Donald Trump is guilty of extortion, bribery and coercion by withholding military aid to Ukraine to pressure for investigations of his political rivals.
Now, in response, the Trump campaign argued the public hearings are a political stunt designed to sway public opinion against the president and that he has the facts on his side.
Well, the chairman of the committee conducting the hearings says if impeachment deters further presidential misconduct, it may provide some remedy, even if the Senate does not convict President Trump.
In an interview with NPR, Adam Schiff said, based on witness testimony so far, there are a number of potentially impeachable offenses, including bribery. Jackie Speier is one of the lawmakers who will question the witnesses.
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REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA), MEMBER, OVERSIGHT AND INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEES: The elements of bribery are there. You have a president using his official office, using taxpayer money to demand from a foreign government that they bribed to do an investigation, to dig up dirt on the president's opponent on the upcoming election.
The corrupt intent is there, as well in many ways. Probably the most obvious is that they put the transcript or the summary of that phone call on July 25th into a special server so that they could cover it up, not to mention the fact that there are many other evidence of corrupt intent in that the president has lied.
He said that it was a verbatim transcript when, in fact, it was a summary and there is evidence now that things were kept out of that summary.
But we have the corpus and the corpus is the summary of the telephone call, which the president corroborated himself by releasing.
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CHURCH: And Republicans are ready to mount the defense of the president which has been laid out in a detailed memo. Alex Marquardt has our report.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): With historic impeachment hearings just hours away, Republicans are now outlining four broad arguments to defend the president.
They first argue that the transcript of the July 25th call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky showed no conditionality or pressure to announce investigations into the Bidens before getting anything in return.
[02:05:00]
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): We know there was nothing wrong in the call transcript. We got the two guys on the call who said there was no pressure, no pushing, no quid pro quo.
MARQUARDT: But on the call, when the Ukrainian president asks for military aid, Trump says, "I would like you to do us a favor, though."
Trump makes it clear he wants Zelensky to investigate the Bidens and a conspiracy theory about Democrats and the 2016 election.
Zelensky responds, "I guarantee, as the president of Ukraine, that all of the investigations will be done openly and candidly."
Second, the GOP argues both presidents have said there was no pressure.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Nobody push it -- push me.
MARQUARDT: Before Zelensky took office, a source told CNN that he and his aides had a meeting in which they discussed the pressure they were already feeling to open investigations that the Trump administration wanted. And there was $400 million in aid on the line.
Third, when the president spoke on July 25th, Republicans say the Ukrainian government was not aware the aid was being held up. But it wasn't just about aid. The Ukrainians wanted a White House meeting as well and it was made clear to them in multiple conversations with the president's team before that call they would not get it unless they launched investigations.
Finally, they argue the aid was released and the Ukrainians got the meeting without Ukraine launching investigations.
REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC): When the aid was released, was there anything that was ever given to this president or the American people on behalf of any connection to releasing that aid?
And the answer is no.
MARQUARDT: The aid was released on September 11th, only after the hold had been reported and there was pressure on the White House, including from Republican senators.
And it was just two days before President Zelensky had planned to announce the investigations that Trump wanted.
Those arguments will be on full display on Wednesday, when the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, Ambassador Bill Taylor and his boss, George Kent, testify in front of the cameras alongside each other.
To prepare, Republicans held a mock hearing on Tuesday, with Republican congressman Lee Zeldin playing the part of Chairman Adam Schiff, who will start the questioning.
Taylor and Kent have both said already that, even as Rudy Giuliani conducted a shadow policy on behalf of the president in Ukraine, they were told it was the president's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who was directing Trump's envoys to tell the Ukrainians everything depended on the investigations.
"So, if they don't do this," Taylor was asked, "they're not going to get that was your understanding?"
Taylor responded "Yes, sir."
This first open hearing will be gaveled into session at 10:00 am Eastern time.
Ambassador Bill Taylor, who is the most senior diplomat in Ukraine, and his boss, George Kent, are going together, because Democrats are saying that the two men were witnesses to the full scope of the president's misconduct.
Then next, on Friday, will be Marie Yovanovitch. She, of course, is the former ambassador to Ukraine. She was recalled by Trump in May after what she called a concerted campaign against her. Democrats saying she is the first victim of the president's scheme -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Joining me now to talk about all of this is Larry Sabato. He is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
Always good to have you with us.
LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank, you Rosemary.
CHURCH: So with the impeachment hearing set to go public in just a few hours from now, starting with Bill Taylor and George Kent, we are learning how Republicans plan to defend the president.
First, they insisted the transcript of the July 25 phone call between Presidents Trump and Zelensky shows no pressure was applied on Ukraine to announce an investigation into the Bidens in exchange for military aid or a White House visit.
How strong is that argument?
SABATO: If people focus on what's actually in the transcript, it's not a very strong argument it all.
When the president of the United States is on the phone with you, the president of a much weaker country that needs U.S. aid to stave off military action by Russia, and you hear the president of the United States saying, but, first, before I give you the aid, I want you to do us a favor, you're going to pay attention.
It does not have to be in bold print. It does not have to be repeated over and over. You're going to pay attention.
So to me, it is an absurd argument. But apparently it is enough to convince Republicans that the president is not guilty of anything.
CHURCH: Right, and, of course, Republicans also argue that both presidents have said publicly that there was no pressure applied, that they actually said that to everyone.
How critical is that part of the GOP's argument?
SABATO: The one part of it that is strong is that the president of Ukraine, sitting next to President Trump in a difficult circumstance, basically backed the president up on that, no pressure. He could hardly have done otherwise.
[02:10:00] SABATO: Again, he is the supplicant. The United States president is the one who provided the aid eventually, where it was provided by the United States, having been authorized by Congress, and may well be called upon again to help Ukraine.
So I don't think what the president of Ukraine said is all that convincing.
CHURCH: Right, the GOP will also argue that, when the two presidents spoke on July 25th, the Ukrainian government was not aware that the military aid was frozen.
But according to testimony that has now been made public, that is not actually the case, is it?
So how strong would that argument be, and they're still going ahead with it, even knowing this?
SABATO: The Democrats have to be very careful to disprove that supposition because it is, in fact, false. Even if it were true, even if the Ukrainians had not known that the aid had been held up, wouldn't they have immediately recognized that one word from the president could hold it up?
So I just don't understand what that argument is even about.
CHURCH: And the fourth GOP argument is that, when military aid was eventually released on September 11th, the Ukrainians got the meetings without having to launch any investigation. So in the end, they actually got the military aid and they got the meeting.
So how strong is that argument?
Will that be convincing enough?
SABATO: It will be convincing, again, to Republican viewers as well as obviously Republican members of Congress.
But you can present an alternative universe, in which Trump simply expected the investigations to be going on or to eventually take place in time for his reelection campaign.
So I just don't know that that would convince anybody who was not inclined to be convinced. And of course, the people inclined to be convinced are the Republican members of Congress.
CHURCH: Right, so, how do you expect all of this to play out in just a matter of hours?
Because the Democrats, through all the testimony they have released, appear to have established there was indeed this quid pro quo. The Republicans now say, well, OK, there was a quid pro quo but it does not matter. It is not important. It is not impeachable.
So that is where they are standing here. And we are living in different times now, there seems to be a different measure on all of these things.
So how do you think this will play out?
SABATO: In the end, I expect Trump to be impeached by the House and not convicted by the Senate. That is the overall plan but within the House itself and particularly tomorrow, it is a critical day for Democrats to attract viewers, attract citizens, who want to hear an interesting story.
If they can start the story in a fashion that will keep viewers on the television screens or at least reading summaries in the evenings, they will have a chance to make their case and have it stick.
This is, say, the first day of a new storyline of a soap opera. If it is a good storyline and has a lot of interesting questions, viewers will continue to watch that.
But if they are uninterested and find it boring, the storyline not compelling, that probably is the last time they're going to pay attention to that soap opera. So the Democrats really have to do something dramatic tomorrow to keep people focused.
CHURCH: Right, and, of course, it would depend on whether the American people want to see this dragged out to this extent, so we will continue to watch and see what people make of this. Larry Sabato, thank you very much for breaking this all down for us. Appreciate it.
SABATO: Thank you.
CHURCH: And tune into CNN Wednesday for live coverage of the House impeachment hearings, starting at 8:00 am New York, 1:00 pm in London.
Another big story we are watching very closely, Bolivia's political crisis has taken a new twist. The second vice president of the senate is now the country's acting president. Jeanine Anez says she is presiding over a transitional government and hopes to hold elections soon.
Bolivia has been without a leader since former president Evo Morales resigned after weeks of protests over election fraud. Morales is calling Anez's move the most crafty and disastrous coup in history. He is now in Mexico where he was granted political asylum but he is vowing to stay in politics.
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EVO MORALES, FORMER BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are here safe, thanks to Mexico and its authorities but I also want to tell you, sisters and brothers, as long as I am alive, we will continue in politics.
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MORALES (through translator): As long as I am alive, the fight continues and we are sure that the people of the world can liberate themselves.
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CHURCH: Morales also thanked the president of Mexico for saving his life.
Palestinian officials say 12 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Among the dead is this man, senior Islamic Jihad leader Bahaa Abu al-Atta whose targeted killing on Tuesday triggered the cross-border fighting. This was the scene in Gaza City after his death.
Islamic Jihad vowed a response and Israel said around 200 rockets were fired out of Gaza. Israel says dozens of the projectiles were shot down, thanks to its Iron Dome aerial defense system.
CNN's Oren Liebermann is live this hour in Israel. He joins us now.
So Oren, what is the situation on the border this hour?
And what's been happening over the last 24 hours?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, after a surprisingly quiet night, there were no rockets fired for about an eight or nine hour period, overnight there was a salvo of rockets fired from Gaza right around 7:00 this morning, some of the shorter range rockets, although they didn't get as far as where we are standing here and the targeted Gaza periphery.
As of right, now the Israeli military says some 220 rockets have been fired since this eruption of fighting began early Tuesday morning and now, we wait to see how this develops.
Israel has carried out two airstrikes or right around that number, this morning in response to those rockets and that, as you, said means the number killed in Gaza according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health stands at 12, with injuries and damage, of course, on both sides of the border.
How does this develop?
Well, that depends to a great extent on who gets involved. So far, this is and remains a fight between Israel and Islamic Jihad. What we are waiting to see and I think what Israeli officials are waiting to see is that how does Hamas, the ruling power in Gaza, decide to get involved, if they decide to get involved?
That could easily escalate the situation or it could continue as it is. Or perhaps there is some way that someone here can find a way to de-escalate. There are efforts behind the scenes by the U.N. and Egypt to act as intermediaries between Israel and Gaza to see if there's potentially an off ramp to the fighting here.
But having spoken to Israeli officials last, night no one expected this would be over in 24 hours. And we are seeing that in the continued rocket, fire the continued Israeli airstrikes this morning. Rosemary, we will certainly keep an eye on how this goes from here.
CHURCH: Indeed and, Oren, just how significant was this targeted killing?
And will it be worth what will come next, of course?
This exchange and they don't know where this will go.
LIEBERMANN: It is important to note that this is the first targeted killing, the first assassination Israel has carried out in Gaza in perhaps years. Certainly the first major, one Israel decided to take out senior Islamic Jihad leader Bahaa Abu al-Atta. They said he was responsible for carrying out and planning attacks, some in the immediate, future and was responsible for some of the rocket fire we've seen from Gaza over the past few weeks and months.
What a significant here, and this is the big picture perspective, is that Israel believes it is possible to reach a sort of cease-fire understanding with Hamas, a long term arrangement between the two.
But it was Islamic Jihad and they say it was Bahaa Abu al-Atta who was working against that and that is why they decided to act and act in a decisive way against Bahaa Abu al-Atta.
Islamic Jihad promised a response late last night. They hinted that it was not over and we're seeing some of that this morning. At this point it looks like it is still Israel versus Islamic Jihad.
Israel said it is targeting in its strikes at Islamic Jihad positions and Islamic Jihad militants. If it stays on that trajectory, we will see where this goes. Hamas is a much more powerful organization, a much more powerful militant organization at. That if they get involved, this could very quickly escalate.
CHURCH: All right. We will keep a very close eye on all of this, as will, you Oren Liebermann, joining us today from Ashkelon in Israel, many thanks.
This just in to CNN, at least this just in the CNN, at least seven people were killed when a car bomb exploded near Afghanistan's interior ministry in Kabul. Officials say seven others were injured. No one has claimed responsibility yet.
Public impeachment hearings will take over Washington in the coming hours as the U.S. president holds his own event with his Turkish counterpart.
Plus, Australia's raging bush fires have already destroyed many people's homes but the fire chief of New South Wales warns the worst is still to come. We will take a look at that when we return.
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TRUMP: Democrats in Washington would rather pursue outrageous hoaxes and delusional witch hunts which are going absolutely nowhere. Don't worry about it.
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CHURCH: That was Donald Trump talking about the impeachment inquiry at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday. Public hearings, of course, in the House of Representatives are set to start in the coming hours.
But as they get underway, the U.S. president will be busy hosting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House. The two leaders are set to hold a news conference after their meeting.
And it comes as relations between the U.S. and Turkey have frayed over Turkey's increasing dominance in Syria. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is live this hour in Istanbul. She joins us now.
Good to see you, Jomana.
So what is expected to come out of President Trump's meeting with Turkey's President Erdogan and what is being said about this there in Turkey?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Rosemary, you've got two very unpredictable leaders. You know, you have to just look at the past, when they've had their conversations, phone conversations and the kinds of decisions that has led to with President Trump twice announcing U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria following these conversations.
So its anyone's guess what is going to come out of this meeting but we have heard from Turkish officials, senior government officials, saying that this is coming at a very critical time in the relations between these two NATO allies.
They've got so many unresolved issues, Turkey is hoping to resolve, them the United States is too. But I think the priorities are different for these two allies. On the one, hand you have the United States, obviously you have this mounting anger amongst Republican and Democratic lawmakers over Turkey's military operations into northern Syria.
The fallout from that and that is something that is obviously going to top the agenda. Another issue for United States, the Trump administration is under a lot of pressure to try and act when it comes to the Russian missile defense system, the S-400 that Turkey recently acquired.
Deliveries began this summer and we will have to wait and see what will be offered to Turkey when it comes to trying to find a workaround that, because the United States, the administration, President Trump is obliged to act to sanction Turkey over this missile defense system.
But these two issues, Rosemary, when it comes to the military operations, here.
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KARADSHEH: When it comes to the S-400 missile defense, system Turkey has made it clear they're not really willing to compromise on what they see as national security issues.
They've actually been quite infuriated by their NATO ally, the United States, and what they say is this lack of understanding of what Turkey is coming to in these two, issues and that is where Turkey's position today, lies, where President Erdogan is going to bring up some of the issues they have with the United States when it comes to its backing and support of the Syrian Kurdish fighting force, the YPG.
That is the main militia in the Syrian Democratic Forces, the U.S. ally, in northern Syria of course,, of course, Turkey considers that to be an extension, of the separatist, movement, the PKK, which the United States and Turkey both considered to be a terrorist organization.
And of course, you know, the situation in Syria and, so a number of different issues that are going to be on the table today that will be discussed. But one thing that Turkey experts really warn here, Rosemary, they say that when it comes to Turkey's policy to the United States, its relationship towards United States, its President Erdogan has really put all his eggs in the Trump basket and this could be a big mistake, that rather than trying to mend ties with the different U.S. lawmakers on both the Democratic and the Republican side, they have really been depending on that good relationship, working relationship, that President Erdogan has with President Trump.
And the feeling is that this could backfire, Rosemary.
CHURCH: We shall be watching very closely to see what comes of that meeting between the two leaders. Jomana Karadsheh, bringing us the very latest from Istanbul, many thanks.
The bush fires burning in eastern Australia are some of the fiercest the country has seen in decades and more are expected. There were 85 active fires in New South Wales as of Tuesday evening.
The flames made it Sydney's suburbs and police believe some of those fires may have been set deliberately. The fire chief for New South Wales says the worst is still to come, with more hot weather on the way.
In Queensland, it's all hands on deck. Authorities say crews might not be able to stop a fire heading for the North Shore, where conditions are described as very dangerous.
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CHURCH: We will take a short break here. Still to come, Israel may be opening a new campaign on Islamic Jihad. Coming, up we will look at what Bahaa Abu al-Atta's death means for the region with a journalist who's written a book on Israel's targeted killings. We are back with that in a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check the headlines for this hour. The start of public hearings in the Trump Impeachment Inquiry is just hours away with two Korea diplomats, the first to appear. Bill Taylor has said his understanding was military aid to Ukraine would not be released unless the Ukrainian leader launched investigations of President Trump's political rival, Joe Biden.
Bolivia's acting President Jeanine Anez, she is presiding over a transitional government and hopes to hold elections soon. She took the job after President Evo Morales resigned on Sunday. He is now in Mexico where he accepted an offer of political asylum.
Palestinian officials say 12 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Among the dead is senior Islamic Jihad member, Bahaa Abu al-Ata. Militants began firing rockets after news of his death on Tuesday. Israel says it's intercepted dozens of projectiles. It has also launched more airstrikes.
Well, in just a few hours, we will be watching history unfold in Washington. The public impeachment hearings that could determine the future of Donald Trump's presidency will be underway. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has been looking at how it all started.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The road to impeachment started with the summertime phone call. On the morning of July 25th, just after 9:00 a.m., President Trump spoke to the newly- elected leader of Ukraine. Only minutes into their conversation, U.S. officials on the line grew alarmed. It's that 30-minute call from the residents of the White House that sits at the heart of this week's first public congressional hearings, that could lead to the Presidents impeachment. For months, Trump has repeatedly used one word to describe that call.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The call is perfect. Well, I made a perfect call. As I said, perfect. It was perfect.
ZELENY: Insisting nothing was out of the ordinary, even as he told President Zelensky, "I would like you to do us a favor though," by investigating a conspiracy theory to undermine the original Russia probe. He also asked to investigate the Bidens.
The timing of that call is important. It came one day after Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified on Capitol Hill.
ROBERT MUELLER, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL: So, help me, God. ZELENY: The Russians interfered in the 2016 election trying to help Trump.
TRUMP: Thank you.
ZELENY: But on that call, Trump was looking ahead, seeking Zelensky's help in the 2020 election by asking him to investigate unfounded accusations against one of Trump's top re-election rivals.
It's been exactly seven weeks since speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the impeachment inquiry.
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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The President must be held accountable. No one is above the law.
ZELENY: Since then, several diplomats and government officials have come to Capitol Hill and testified behind closed doors, a process that President's loyal defenders have blasted as unfair.
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): We've had, what, three days of testimony on behind closed doors, three unique perspectives that the American people didn't get to see.
ZELENY: But starting Wednesday morning, the American people will see and hear from key government witnesses who say the controversy over Trump's Ukraine policy was actually brewing inside the administration for months before that July phone call.
More than 2600 pages of transcripts from those sessions, reviewed by CNN, reveal how the President's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was sidestepping the State Department to deal directly with Ukrainian officials.
The President signed off on Giuliani's work according to Gordon Sondland, a Trump donor who became ambassador to the European Union, who testified about an Oval Office meeting on Ukraine with the President. "He just kept saying: Talk to Rudy. Talk to Rudy."
At the center of it all was freezing $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine. One-tenth of it is defense budget for its ongoing war with Russian-backed forces.
Fiona Hill, a top Russia advisor inside the Trump White House testified, "It actually came as a direction from the Chief of Staff's office."
Now, as the impeachment battle deepens, both sides hearken back to that July morning.
TRUMP: It's a witch hunt, it's based on a single phone call of congratulations to the President of Ukraine, which they fraudulently mischaracterized to sound absolutely horrible.
ZELENY: But it's become clear, the investigation is far deeper than that single phone call. But for Hill who resigned her post this summer, that call still stands out.
"I sat in an awful lot of calls and I have not seen anything like this," she testified. "And I was there for 2-1/2. So, I was just shocked."
Now, there's also criticism about the whistleblower with the President and his Republican allies railing against these public hearings, saying Trump should be allowed to confront his accuser, but this has moved far beyond that whistleblower's report. Now, we're hearing from a series of officials inside the Trump's team and the government who are amplifying the whistleblower's complaint about that July phone call. The hearings start Wednesday. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Wednesday's public hearings of the latest in a series of highly-anticipated television events courtesy of a White House dealing with scandal after scandal.
Former FBI Director, James Comey, who was unceremoniously fired by the President, presumably, for not pledging loyalty was one of the first star witnesses to appear on Capitol Hill. He sounded the alarm about the Trump campaign's dealings with Russia.
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JAMES COMEY, FORMER DIRECTOR, FBI: The FBI, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
I was fired, in some way, to change -- or the endeavor was to change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted.
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CHURCH: Then, there was Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump's former lawyer and fixer. He told lawmakers about his role in helping the President make secret hush money payments to pay off alleged mistresses, among other things.
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REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): How many times did Mr. Trump ask you to threaten an individual or entity on his behalf?
MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER LAWYER OF DONALD TRUMP: Quite a few times.
SPEIER: 50 times?
COHEN: More.
SPEIER: 100 times.
COHEN: More.
SPEIER: 200 times. COHEN: More.
SPEIER: 500 times.
COHEN: Probably, over the -- over the 10 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And last September, one of the most polarizing hearings in recent memory, the Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford hearings. Emotional testimony of a sexual assault allegation against the President's nominee to the Supreme Court.
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CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD, BRETT KAVANAUGH ACCUSER: I am here today not because I want to be. I'm terrified. I'm here because I believe it is my civic duty. I believe he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from yelling.
BRETT KAVANAUGH, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT: This confirmation process has become a national disgrace. My family and my name had been totally and permanently destroyed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And just a few months ago, a reluctant Robert Mueller was brought to Capitol Hill to talk about his report on Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign and obstruction of justice by the President and his allies.
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REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): The report did not conclude that he did not commit obstruction of justice. Is that correct?
MUELLER: That is correct.
NADLER: And what about total exoneration? Did you actually, totally exonerate the President?
MUELLER: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Needless to say, Wednesday's impeachment hearings will be must-see-T.V. So, stay tuned to CNN for full coverage and analysis throughout the day.
Just ahead, here on CNN NEWSROOM, an up-close look at the democrat who will be leading the impeachment hearings in the House. We will look at Adam Schiff's role in the investigation so far. Do stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, we are following developments in Israel and Gaza as Palestinian officials now say the death toll has climbed to 12 from Israeli airstrikes, and that follows Israel's assassination of an Islamic Jihad leader on Tuesday.
For more, I'm joined by Ronen Bergman, who's with the New York Times in Tel Aviv. He is the author of "Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations." Thank you so much for being with us.
RONEN BERGMAN, THE NEW YORK TIMES STAFF WRITER: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, just how significant is Israel's targeted killing of senior Islamic Jihad member Baha Abu al-Ata?
BERGMAN: Oh, just the fact that immediately afterwards, Israel shut down. Most of the working places and schools and for most of the population, signaled the significance of such an act. Israel assess that it would not be just the Palestinian Islamic Jihad but also Hamas, by far a bigger Jihadist organization that is in control of the Gaza Strip that would launch an all-out attack against Israeli urban cities, and has the capability to launch rockets and missiles covering most of Israeli territory. That didn't happen yet. What we have been witnessing in the last 24 hours little bit more since the assassination yesterday morning, is a confrontation with -- or between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, while the Hamas is still standing aside.
The significant is that after years of Israel refraining from using this powerful weapon, targeted assassination, and after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad disobeying the sort of settlement, the sort of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, continuing to fire rockets at Israel under the command of the person who was killed yesterday, Israel killed him, signaling that it would not continue to, you know, accept the fact that there is an organization does not -- it does not accept this sort of ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad said, it's our turn to retaliate. We are not over yet and Israelis are going to, you know, learn the lesson of revenge.
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And so far, it seems that they are continuing to fire rockets and missiles on Israeli cities while Egyptian mediators, Egyptian intelligence is trying to calm down, trying to do whatever they can to make sure that this will not be just a round -- another round of war between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
CHURCH: And this is the problem for Israel, isn't it? Trying to weigh this up is it worth? Or what will be all of these rockets being launched into Israel? That's the difficulty here. That the killing -- the targeted killing of this Islamic Jihad leader must have been considered great enough and big enough that it was worth taking this risk.
But how far might this go? These rockets are looking much more developed than they have been in the past, aren't they?
BERGMAN: Yes, and this calls for mentioning the broader context. They are, by far, more capable, more lethal, and have a longer range. Thanks to Iranian help handed over to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
Just 10 minutes after the commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad was killed in Gaza, what was later blamed on Israel, Israeli planes killed or tried to kill another Islamic Jihad operative in Damascus.
Now, he was there in Damascus coordinating the Iranian support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Iran has a border -- Iran has a front with Israel, far away from its own borders in Gaza.
And so, it's not just Israel being, you know, able to settle down or to have a ceasefire with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Everything happening in Gaza should be seeing in the broader context of the fight, the war between Israel and Iran.
And just to remind us, Israel has been bombing Iranian forces in Iraq, in Syria, and in Lebanon. So, from the point of view of the Iranian itself, this is a score, this is an account that is not yet settled. And what we see in Gaza is also the Iranian attempt to revenge against Israel for what it did to her in other places around the Middle East.
CHURCH: Ronen Bergman, thank you so much for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. We appreciate it.
BERGMAN: Thank you, have a good thing -- goodnight.
CHURCH: Well, as business and investment booms on the African continent, one company in Kenya is helping local entrepreneurs take their ideas to the next level.
In this edition of "INNOVATE AFRICA", we take a look at Gearbox, a group providing a workspace for engineers, artists, and inventors to come together, learn, and collaborate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just outside Nairobi City Centre, a manufacturing revolution is underway.
KAMAU GACHIGI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEARBOX: Gearbox is a space that enables people who have ideas to come and actually make the amount of physical stuff. You put machines together and provide the people access through a membership module so that they can come in and share this platform for the purpose of making prototypes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 3D printing, laser cutting, metalworking. Neither just a few of the tools available here to take an idea from conception to production.
GACHIGI: We like to describe our machines as consistent with a fourth Industrial Revolution. And also to make circuitry -- electronic circuitry. And we're hoping to be able to expand more into biology as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kamau Gachigi, came up with the idea of Gearbox while teaching engineering at the University of Nairobi.
GACHIGI: E.Q. and (INAUDIBLE). The very first version I guess of Gearbox was at the University of Nairobi, where we set up what's called a Fab Lab, and it was a great success. In fact, a lot of them ended up developing products that could earn the money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, the co-working ecosystem helps companies from energy, technology, to wearables -- get their products to market faster and cheaper.
GACHIGI: The model that we apply is a little bit like a gym. So, you come and get a membership, and that allows you like $100 a month can allow you access every single day. $40 a month can allow you access two days a week for that month.
You design whatever you need to cut out of a sheet of metal on the computer. And then you send that to the machine, and the machine will exactly and precisely cut exactly what it is that you've designed.
[02:50:01]
GACHIGI: Through example and through like shared information around success of certain individuals who have had really interesting innovation, it inspires others to be able to sort of think outside of the box and be more bold.
I think of Roy Allela, who was inspired by the fact that his niece was born deaf and mute. And he developed a system that allows people who are deaf and mute to be able to use gloves and he has some sensors on the fingers. And as they sign, his system using artificial intelligence is able to interpret the signals into speech. And as a sign, a voice is speaking out everything that they're saying.
Our vision is for a mushrooming of industries in localities across the country and across the continent. That really is our goal to make industrialization a grassroots type of phenomenon on the continent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Well, just hours from now, all eyes will be on America's historic impeachment hearings. But, Adam Schiff, the man in charge says, when he joined the House Intelligence Committee, he never imagined he'd be leading an impeachment inquiry one day.
CNN's Gloria Borger has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Well, it feels times like being in the eye of the hurricane. You can never tell when you're going to step out of the eye and into gale-force winds. GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: But it's a sure bet that this week, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff will be at the center of the storm. Leading in a historic public inquiry on impeachment.
SCHIFF: This, of course, much more intense now than ever before.
TRUMP: Shifty Schiff --
BORGER: Anyone not living under a rock knows that Schiff is one of President Trump's favorite targets.
TRUMP: Little pencil-necked Adam Schiff.
BORGER: And he's not subtle about it.
TRUMP: He should resign from office in disgrace. And frankly, they should look at him for treason.
BORGER: Just months ago, Schiff was in the camp that believed impeachment was not a good idea.
STEVE ISRAEL, FORMER CONGRESSMAN OF NEW YORK: We've talked in-depth about this.
BORGER: Steve Israel is a close Schiff friend and former Democratic colleague.
ISRAEL: Impeachment might have some consequences that would be harmful to the country, to the Democratic Party, to members of Congress. But when the president engaged in this phone call with President Zelensky, that was a bridge too far for him.
SCHIFF: What made this a necessity for me and so many of my colleagues is that if the president believes that he can abuse his office, the power of that office, he can fail to defend our national security, and there is no accountability, even if the accountability is only in the House, that's too dangerous a prospect to persist.
BORGER: Schiff came to Congress from his Los Angeles County district almost 20 years ago.
SCHIFF: Ready to win an election.
AMERICAN CROWD: Yes!
BORGER: A moderate Democrat who beat the Republican incumbent, a leader of the impeachment fight against Bill Clinton. How's that for irony?
SCHIFF: Mr. Rogan's priority has always been in engaging in these national partisan ideological crusades, and ignoring the business at home in the district. And I don't think people value that.
BORGER: Schiff served in the state Senate, but his greatest impact came as an assistant U.S. attorney when he prosecuted an FBI agent for selling secrets to the Russians.
SCHIFF: Well, it does feel at times like my life has come full circle.
[02:55:01]
BORGER: From a major role in the Republican-led 2014 Benghazi investigation to becoming chairman of the Intelligence Committee this year.
ISRAEL: What people don't understand how the Adam work is that he wanted to go on the Intelligence Committee for two principal reasons: Number one, it was bipartisan and number two, it's quiet, and so, I often say to him, how'd that work out for you buddy?
BORGER: Not as expected. Just weeks ago, House Republicans tried to censure him.
How did that feel? You have Republican friends.
SCHIFF: Yes, well, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: Or you used to.
SCHIFF: I think my Republican colleagues finding they lack the courage to stand up to this unethical president, have consoled themselves by attacking those who do. And that's a sad reality, but it is where the House GOP is. Like Kevin McCarthy will do whatever Donald Trump asked him to do.
He'll merely ask how high he wants McCarthy to jump and then McCarthy will jump.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): So, behind closed doors with a chairman who has lied three times to the American public looking them in the eye, and somehow we're supposed to trust what comes out of that?
BORGER: It's ugly and very personal. Illegitimate hearings, Republicans say, run by a partisan.
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): It is a soviet-style impeachment process.
REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Chairman Schiff is unfit to chair the Intelligence Committee.
BORGER: The Chairman is having none of it.
SCHIFF: Or this precedent, they're going to destroy what America stands for in the world. They're going to countenance, holding up aid or meetings or whatever to get help in the next election campaign. They're going to normalize that, rationalize that, they're going to hunker down, and put their heads on the sand about it. Where is people's sense of duty? BORGER: If that sounds like a line out of a screenplay, it could be. Schiff has written a few of his own and took some dramatic and controversial liberties in describing the president's phone call with the Ukrainian president.
SCHIFF: And I'm going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand lots of it.
BORGER: The performance turned into a political opening for Republicans. One, in particular.
TRUMP: Shifty Schiff is a double corrupt politician. He took my words on the phone call and they were so good. He's totally change them.
BORGER: Do you regret doing it that way?
SCHIFF: No, I made it clear, I was mocking the president. And just as clearly, the president doesn't like being mocked. But it was a mafia kind of organized crime shakedown.
But I'm not surprised if the president wasn't attacking me about this, he'd be attacking me about something else.
BORGER: What's his mood like these days? How would you describe it?
ISRAEL: He's got some overwhelming responsibilities and they are on his shoulders. But he is excellent at relieving that burden with his humor. Look, he's got up a goofy sense of humor that people don't see --
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: Goofy is not a word people would use about.
ISRAEL: Yes, well, he loves funny movies, everybody knows that. He can take you from the first word of The Big Lebowski to the final scene of The Big Lebowski.
JEFF BRIDGES, AMERICAN ACTOR: I'm the dude. So, that's what you call me, you know.
BORGER: Are there any words from The Dude that would have apply to your life?
SCHIFF: I've been asked in the past. I'm not sure whether you can hear this or not is my only question. What line from The Big Lebowski comes up most in political life? And I have to say, it's the line, No, you're not wrong, you're just an --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. 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. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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