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Not Much Suspense on First Day of Hearing; School Shooting Killed Two Teens in L.A. High School; Protesters Ramp up Their Attacks on Police; Venice, Italy Reeling in Floods for Days Now; Ceasefire Between Gaza and Israel in Fragile State; EIB Changes its Policy on Lending. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired November 15, 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]

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN Newsroom. Coming to you live from studio 7 here at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta.

We are just hours away from the second impeachment hearings in the U.S. Congress. We're going to explain to you what to expect from this new round of public testimony.

A ceasefire under pressure. We're going to have a live report on the situation in Israel and Gaza.

And the future of fuel. Europe takes a huge step away from fossil fuels.

And we start in Washington where more impeachment hearings are getting underway in the coming hours. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch will testify publicly. The first public hearings kicked off on Wednesday with some dramatic moments.

Alexander Marquardt reports.

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was the bombshell revelation that depends the president's role in the Ukraine saga which is now threatening to get him impeached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: The member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what president Trump thought about Ukraine. Ambassador Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden which Giuliani was pressing for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, saying he just learned that a staff member witnessed a call in a restaurant between the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, and President Trump. Trump, according to that aide, had asked about investigations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): I take it the import of that is that he cares more about that than he does about Ukraine.

TAYLOR: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Sondland, who donated a million dollars to the president's inauguration, was the one who insisted to Taylor there was no quid pro quo. But after Sondland sworn testimony to the impeachment committees, he went back and reversed his position, admitting he told the top Ukrainian official resumption of U.S. aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided a public anti- corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks.

Sondland is now scheduled to testify in the open next week, Democrats saying he has a lot to answer for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gordon Sondland was not truthful to the committee, that's pretty obvious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Senior aide to the president, Kellyanne Conway arguing to Wolf Blitzer that what the staffer says he heard shouldn't matter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: You are telling us what somebody else said, what somebody else heard, but he'll be asked how close are you to the phone, and what do you -- have you ever heard the president's voice on the phone before, were you in a restaurant, how noisy was it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Republicans have picked up that argument that to many officials who have testified that the Trump administration demanded investigations in return for military aid and a White House meeting have only heard it second or third-hand, which Democrats scoff that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), UNITED STATES SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: That is such a fraudulent proposition, and they know it and that's why they're talking about process rather than the substance of what we have heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MARQUARDT: Some of those who have heard directly from the president

on Ukraine are refusing to answer questions. Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney who admitted to a quid pro quo before walking it back, and former national security adviser John Bolton have both projected the Democrats requests.

And there will likely be more questions for them after Friday when former Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch testifies in an open hearing. She has said that she was told by a senior Ukrainian official to watch her back after it became clear that Rudy Giuliani and his associates were targeting her in what she called a concerted campaign.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

HOLMES: CNN political analyst Nathan Gonzales joins me now from Washington. He's also the editor and publisher of Inside Elections. Good to see you, Nathan. Let's talk about the visuals from all of this.

Twitter, you know, it was interesting reading Twitter today. This iterating some media outlets for suggesting there wasn't enough pizzazz, was the word in one thing, to grab the public attention. It's a pretty shallow view of what was substantive testimony but do speak to how the Democrats need to win the public over.

NATHAN GONZALES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, on one hand I would agree that with the televised hearings it's not just about the content and what the witnesses are saying, it's about the tone and the look of things.

But I'd have to agree -- disagree with the initial reports about how it didn't capture the public's attention because candidly we don't know yet. I think it's going to take time for both people to form a public -- form their opinion and for us to get accurate survey data to analyze that opinion.

[03:04:59]

And you know, we've just, we've only finished day one of multiple days of testimony, and so I'm skeptical that we can draw any grand conclusions from just two witnesses on one day when we have a long to, a long road to go.

HOLMES: Yes, it was disappointing reading some of the coverage though, saying that it wasn't entertaining enough. I mean, it is not meant to be entertainment, it's meant to be substantive procedure, and a lot of it was.

What do you make of the GOP talking points? They seem to be falling one by one, I mean, no quid pro quo, but others even in the administration saying there was, and then Ukraine got the aid without the investigation being launched, but the aid was only unfrozen after Congress was told about the whistleblower complaint, and it opened up an investigation. I mean, the talking points seem to be dropping. How do you see the GOP responds? GONZALES: Yes, the, Republicans the defenses have been shifting for

the last few weeks, even before we got this far. You know, on the one hand, when you try to drill down be on the process arguments which were kind of blown up because they're not secret anymore, it's all on television, on seven different channels you can watch it.

But now there appears to be a difference between those Republicans who say, sure, the president may have done something inappropriate but he shouldn't be impeached for it, and then there are people such as the president himself or the White House who say it was a beautiful call and there was nothing wrong.

And to me those are two very different things, because when we go back to Bill Clinton in the 1990s, toward the end of that process, Clinton finally apologized and he said he was wrong and I think that that helped with some of the public sentiment people in the middle.

Now, in this case, voters, you know, Republicans have already made up their mind and Democrats have already made up their mind. But just some of those nuances for people in the middle I think are important.

HOLMES: I'm wondering what you think about the recalled ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch testifying tomorrow, Democrats confidential strike blow of the GOP positions.

GONZALES: Yes, you know, there are a lot of surprises. I mean, there was a little surprise in the first day with this new call that really wasn't -- that didn't surface previously, but because these witnesses have been deposed previously, I don't expect a lot of surprises in exchange. I don't -- I'm not in -- I'm not sure that it's going to change a lot of minds.

But until we get through it, and we're not going to know, again, then it comes back to that question of how does this look on TV? What are the soundbites coming out of it to the people who aren't going to watch hours of testimony because they have a job or they're taking care of their kids, you now, what are the sound bites coming out of it that they see later tomorrow night on TV?

HOLMES: A good point. I mean, we had today too, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, you know, she used the word bribery, and one imagines very deliberately so, a shift away from quid pro quo or at least a shift away from Latin. I mean, bribery is a word that is in the Constitution. Did you think that's significant?

GONZALES: Well, you -- as you said, there are no accidents when it comes to the words that come out of Speaker Pelosi's mouth. She's been doing this a long time and she is very intentional and deliberate, and so I believe it is a shift in strategy.

I -- you know, will it work? It could. I'm actually a little bit confused because even going to the quid pro quo, that -- when you look at federal law just soliciting a foreign government to be involved in our elections is, would be a crime.

And so, it didn't even take a quid pro quo, that's actually something that I think Republicans in the White House interjected into this. And that is almost a higher standard. But, you know, clearly the Democrats think that a change in message needed to be made and they are going to make that shift for now, at least.

HOLMES: That's true. That's been successful messaging by the Republicans with the quid pro quo. There does not have to be the one. That's a very good point. Nathan Gonzales, thank you so much. Always good to see you.

GONZALES: No problem. Thank you.

HOLMES: And CNN special coverage of the impeachment hearings begins at 8 a.m. Eastern Time, that's 1 p.m. if you're in London, 2 p.m. in the rest of Europe. Do be sure to tune in to CNN for extensive live coverage throughout the day.

And to California now, where a high school near Los Angeles has become the latest American campus to be struck by a mass shooting. Police say two teens were killed; three others wounded when a student opened fire on his classmates.

The 16-year-old suspect also shot himself in the head. He is now in critical condition. The attack on Thursday sent some student streaming out of buildings. Others took cover as shots rang out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard the first shot, and everyone thought it was a balloon, and it got really quiet, and then two more shots went and then everyone just started running out of the school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were waiting outside of the locker room because it wasn't open yet, and all of a sudden like we just -- we were with all of our friends we heard all the gunshots and we're just said let's, go let's run.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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HOLMES: Investigators have searched a home where they believe the suspect lived, they are trying to determine a motive for the attack.

In the Middle East, a fragile ceasefire in Gaza coming under pressure. The Israel defense forces saying it has launched fresh strikes in response to rocket attacks pleading this. Quote, "We are currently striking Islamic Jihad terror targets in Gaza. This comes after rockets were indiscriminately fired Gaza at Israeli civilians today."

Now on Thursday, a truce appeared to have been restored after more than 48 hours of cross-border fighting.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joining me now from Jerusalem. Ceasefire, tenuous, holding, no? How's the outlook?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is still a fragile ceasefire, and perhaps one of the most fragile ceasefires we've seen in what has now been some two years of these 24 to 48 hours rounds of fighting.

And yet, at this point, it is or does at least seem to be holding. There have been some violations, four times now rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. Israel has struck Gaza, specifically Islamic Jihad in response to that, and yet it's been some 10 hours now or so where the skies over Gaza have been quiet. And that is significant.

First, it indicates that Israel is interested in a ceasefire, and perhaps a longer-term arrangement. Who would that arrangement with? Hamas. And it is an indication that Israel believes Hamas is also interested in a longer-term arrangement, which what we've heard from Israeli officials before, and by the actions we see right now or the lack thereof at this moment, it seems they still believe that.

Also, crucial to note what's known as the Great March of Return of weekly protests along the Gaza border fence that always raised tensions and cause friction. Those have been canceled for today. And that is another very strong indication that Gaza wants this to continue, the ceasefire, that is.

It's interesting that the benefits of what could come from the ceasefire, whether it's more work permits for Gazans, but there is interest on both sides of the border from Israel and from Gaza, and specifically Hamas to maintain the ceasefire.

That doesn't mean, Michael, that it's guaranteed to last forever or even for a long period of time as there is friction within the factions in Gaza over how popular the ceasefire is, and that is what we are watching here to see if this holds and for how long.

HOLMES: A tragic cycle that seems to continue. Oren, thank you. Oren Liebermann there in Jerusalem for us.

Hong Kong's central district at a virtual standstill. Anti-government protesters blocking roads and causing major transportation delays. Police say demonstrators at a university armed with bows and arrows are firing into the streets.

Now this all comes a day after a 70-year-old man died after he was hit in the head with a brick during the unrest.

Paula Hancocks joining us now live from Hong Kong. And the protests continued. Tell us where you are and what you're seeing.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Michael. This is the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and this really become one of several strongholds for the anti-government protesters. You can see that the blockade that they have set up here with bricks, with nails on the road to make sure they say that police cars could not get through.

And just across the road, incidentally, on the right-hand side is a PLA installation. This is the Chinese military. Now on any given day there is several thousand Chinese military within Hong Kong itself.

But what we are seeing here is that inside this university there was effectively a self-sustained village at this point. They have enough food, enough water, medical supplies, anything they could need for several days and they say that they are getting more donations so they could be holding there for a long time.

Now, crucially, what they say they want is the transport disruption. That road over there goes across into a bridge, and underneath is the entrance to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. This is a crucial tunnel for Hong Kong. It links to Hong Kong island.

It's shut at this point because protesters have blocked it off and have dropped debris down below. Now police say that they are concerned about what's happening inside these universities, they believe that it is like a weapons manufacturing within there. Petrol bombs being made.

We've certainly seen plenty of that inside and other universities. I asked one of the front-liners, these more radical, violent protesters about that and asked whether it's the protesters that are escalating this violence. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The police use weapons to shoot us, and I don't think that our weapon is enough to defend ourselves. And I think this is OK.

HANCOCKS: How do you think this will end?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel sad, I don't think that things settle in Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: And police say that they're holding back at this point because emotions are high but they will not hold back forever. Michael?

HOLMES: All right. Paula, thanks for your reporting there. Paula Hancocks in Hong Kong for us.

[03:14:57]

Now Venice has weathered the Napoleon and the bubonic plague but now a city filled with renaissance treasures is facing the worst flooding in more than half a century. We'll ask the International Weather Center when it is expected to ease.

We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: Welcome back.

A little relief in Venice, Italy where floodwaters are expected to reach what forecasters call the exceptional height of one and a half meters in the coming hours. A state of emergency in effect for the UNESCO world heritage city and its treasures. CNN's Scott McLean with more.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On any given day Venice is flooded with tourists, but on this day, it's just flooded. The city's famous canals have overflowed, sidewalks are underwater, and so is St. Mark's Square. It's the worst flooding the city has seen in more than 50 years. It's not something some tourist envisioned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the restaurants were closed, and also the shops were closed, so our day was spent finding food yesterday. So.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was really odd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We changed our plans to go to Venice only today, we stay in Venice. That's why -- because the water is --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is high.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- is high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: The Italian prime minister said high water was a blow to the entire country which led him to declare a state of emergency on Thursday with more than $22 million being allocated to support the city and its population.

Venice has flooded before. It even has an alarm system to warn residents of rising water, but this time the city's mayor is blaming climate change for the deluge. The city could be prone to more flooding in the future as scientists predict sea level rise between two and seven feet over this century. Those levels would leave Italy's lagoon completely submerged.

A state of emergency today they hope is not the norm in the future.

Scott McLean, CNN, London.

HOLMES: And meteorologist Derek Van Dam joining us now with more. What are you seeing in the future? I mean, it's just, it's extraordinary, because I mean, this does happen but this is particularly bad.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, yes, Michael, you heard in that package just a moment ago that the mayor of Venice calling and blaming climate change for this crisis. Well, these are some ironic images to pass along to our viewers here, because this is coming from Venice's regional council and the chambers.

You can see it looks like any business that's been flooded by this terrible event, but the issue here is that lawmakers within these chambers, rejected measures, additional measures for climate change just moments before the floodwaters crept into their chambers in their decision-making offices. I mean, just kind of an ironic picture being portrayed there.

[03:20:01]

So, recapping what happened, the first flood event this week, 187 centimeters. That was Tuesday. That was the second highest recorded flood event in Venice's history, 50 to 80 percent of the city was inundated.

St. Mark's Basilica, the lowest point in Venice, was the sixth-time that they've seen flooding like this but that is in the past millennia.

By the way, the past four times occurred within the past two decades, so that gives you an indication of how more frequently this is occurring. We know what takes place here, we get the strong winds which are pushing up the Adriatic Sea into the Venice region there.

And look at the weather map on the TV screen behind me. Does that look oddly familiar? Well, Michael, that's because we have another flood event in the latest totals here, actually increase the projected rise to 1.6 meters. So, it was one and a half meters about two hours ago, now they've increased those projected flooding for today. Back to you.

HOLMES: Extraordinary. Yes, I tweeted that out earlier in the day about that count -- council that was meeting rejecting --

(CROSSTALK)

DAM: I know.

HOLMES: -- a climate change proposal and getting flooded. The irony.

Derek Van Dam, good to see you, my friend. Looking very dapper in that sweater.

DAM: I try my best.

HOLMES: Funny man. All right. Now let's stick with the climate change theory here theme, because taken by the European Union lending arm is major change on all of this. How an influx of global climate crisis, coming up after the break. We're going to have a conversation about that.

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HOLMES: And there you see a Qantas Airlines flight breaking a world record, touching down this morning in Sydney, Australia. The 50 passengers got to see not one but two sunrises as they flew directly from London, 19 hours, 19 minutes.

It was a research flight but officially the longest commercial airline passenger flight both in terms of distance and duration.

A handful of journalists were on board including our own Richard Quest. He'll be reporting on this later.

The airline plans to introduce this return flight publicly by 2022.

And a big development in the global fight against climate change, the influential European Investment Bank says it's going to end financing for fossil fuel projects by 2022 as part of a new energy lending policy.

The new focus will be on clean energy innovation. The policy unlocks one trillion euros for sustainable investment, and the bank's president says it is the most ambitious strategy of any public financial institutions saying, "The E.U. bank has been Europe's climate bank for many years. Today, it has decided to make a quantum leap in its ambition."

And Jess Phoenix joins me now from Los Angeles. She is the executive director and co-founder of Blueprint Earth. Some good news. I mean, we've seen a little bit of this in the states, you know, a few university endowment funds divested from fossil fuels, but this is really the biggest domino to fall so far. Tell us about the significance?

JESS PHOENIX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER, BLUEPRINT EARTH: Well, having the EIB actually say that it won't be funding fossil fuel projects anymore is amazing news, because it is the world's largest multilateral bank.

[03:24:57]

I mean this is tremendous, we've been working for this for years. Activists on the ground and people at different levels all throughout governments and through the private sector.

So, this is really kind of the fruits of their labor and I think what we are going to see is a chain reaction, like you, said a domino effect of other people in the financial sector, institutions in the financial sector realizing the value of moving towards green and renewable energy.

HOLMES: Yes, that's the thing too, isn't it? It's not just the ending of financing fossil fuel projects but that future financing will focus on clean energy innovation and the like which is -- which is double good news.

PHOENIX: Exactly, and hearing the incoming head of the European Commission saying that she wants to unlock over a trillion dollars in green funding, I mean, that is what we need. This is, it's a great example that's being set by Europe, and hopefully the rest of the world will see it as a challenge because if we don't meet this challenge, the stakes are truly global.

HOLMES: Yes. I mean, it was our own climate team sent out an e-mail today and said basically that ultimately this is what it will take to turn the tide on fossil fuels and that is the almighty dollar, I think was the quote in it. What could be next? PHOENIX: Well, you, know I see what will happen is that some of the

larger economies will realize that they're having to subsidize fossil fuels so heavily that they're not really getting the most effective return on their investment, that they would be getting from investing in green tech R&D.

And so, I think we are going to be seeing a shift, particularly among private sector companies towards fostering innovation in the areas that are going to see us through the climate crisis. So, I think it's going to be a lot more private innovation as well as some of the other big banks starting to follow suit.

HOLMES: Right. And the EIB vice president Andrew McDowell, he also at the same time called for more urgent action to counter increased in carbon emissions. How big of a challenge is that going to be?

PHOENIX: Well, it's a very big challenge, and that's the thing. We can't sugarcoat it. You know, I work with scientists all over the world and the main message that we have now is, look, reality is harsh, it's scary, this is a huge problem. But we are amazing creatures as humans and we can innovative and shape the world around us like no other species can.

So, I think that while this is a pretty tall order, that we are going to start see some real movement and in carbon capture technology and in m reducing emissions overall, because we need to do all hands-on deck here. No idea needs to be overlooked.

HOLMES: Yes. Earlier this year I was in London covering protest by Extinction Rebellion in central London. I'm wondering they sort of have put a lot of pressure on governments. Do you think this will be enough to satisfy environmentalists like them?

PHOENIX: Well, I would say no, but that's because there is no rest for the wicked, or in this case the good, and I think really that this is going to be seen as just one step on a long, long road. And it's something that as species, we're going to have to focus on as we continue to grow our populations. And you know, we put more of a strain on the planet's resources.

So, anyone who is an environmentalist, an activist in this space is going to see this as yes, a victory but it is not time to rest.

HOLMES: Yes. As those protesters would say there is no planet B.

Jess Phoenix, thanks so much. I appreciate it. Good to see you.

PHOENIX: Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: And thank you for being with us. I'm Michael Holmes. Do stay with me. I'll have a check of your headlines after the break and then it will be African Voices.

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