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Trump's Unannounced Exam; Crucial Week of Impeachment Hearings; Buttigieg Surges in Iowa; Shooting at Football Watch Party. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired November 18, 2019 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Trying to downplay President Trump's unannounced visit to Walter Reed Medical Center this weekend. The president stopped in to, quote, a quick exam and labs on Saturday. The White House says he took advantage of some free time to knock out phase one, not clear what that means, of his annual physical.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some questions about that visit. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is unusual. What was it that needed to be done at Walter Reed that couldn't be done at the White House? Why was this done so many months earlier than he should have probably had his physical, which was -- which would be next February?
We know that he has this high cholesterol, which he's been taking medications for, and he has a form of heart disease as well, which he's been monitored for. There are certain types of tests to sort of assess the progress of how things are with his heart, for example. Those are the types of tests that could be done at a hospital, probably could not be done at the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right, our Kaitlan Collins, our White House correspondent, is back with us this morning.
What do you know? What is everything important the White House is saying about this?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Here's the reason we have so many questions. It's the way this was done because last year when the president had his physical, we knew about it in advance that he was going to be going to Walter Reed. He walked out. He took Marine One, the helicopter, there.
Saturday, this was not on the president's schedule. That's why it raised a lot of eyebrows when he showed up there and then they announced it was for portions of his physical because last year you'll recall he did it all at once. It was about a four-hour session. This, today, or this past weekend, he was only there for about two hours. So those are the questions that are being raised.
The White House has tried to downplay these concerns saying that the president is in good health, that he was simply there for portions of it to get ahead of a busy 2020 early schedule. Though that raises some questions as well as beyond what would there be. And so that's essentially what the questions stem from, is the way and about which this happened.
HARLOW: That it was done.
SCIUTTO: Right. So we know the protocol is, is that it would normally be on the schedule. So that is unusual about this.
What about getting a briefing for the physicians who treated him afterwards? I mean we see -- we've seen Ronny Jackson at the White House podium after previous -- a briefing. We've seen physicians give briefings after presidents have been shot, right?
COLLINS: Right.
SCIUTTO: I mean, you know, you -- public information has been supplied about the health of sitting presidents.
COLLINS: And typically they do that just to reassure voters about their health. If they're older, typically presidents have been, and that is essentially why they've release those details, though they're not required to do so.
But we did get a briefing and we did see the White House doctor, Shawn Conley, get into the car with the president to go to Walter Reed. He got in on the left side. The president, carrying this tan, rectangular envelope, got in on the other side. But they haven't leased any details about what it was that happened during this phase one --
SCIUTTO: So that's unusual to not release any details following.
COLLINS: Typically it takes a few days but they'll say, we're going to announce details in the coming days.
HARLOW: And they haven't.
COLLINS: Typically, maybe they would wait until after the complete physical is done.
We should also note the timing here. This is not quite a year since his last physical, which is typically when they're done. So that is why the questions have been raised about what exactly it was, why the president was there.
We are not expecting to see him in public today, though we will tomorrow based on the schedule we've gotten because he has a cabinet meeting.
HARLOW: There's an op-ed, that I'm sure you've read, in "The Washington Post" this morning by Karen Tumulty and she writes, quote, medical privacy is something that should not be granted to the most powerful person in the world.
Do we know, Kaitlan, if there is anything that explicitly says any law by which the American public needs to be kept abreast of a president's health? I mean I guess history shows us no.
COLLINS: No, but history has shown that the protocol has been to release their information because typically they just think it helps reassure voters --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
COLLINS: Especially going into an election year when this has been such a focus with what the president has said about people like Joe Biden. And Bernie Sanders recently had a heart issue. Those have been the reasons that they've done this in the past. Though with the president you saw like during that briefing with Ronny Jackson, the former White House doctor, he was quite assured about the president's health, said he was one of the healthiest presidents in history. So that is why the concerns have been about the White House and, of course, whether or not their statements in the past have been completely accurate or not.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Yes.
Different question, different health issue, not the president's. The issue of vaping. Enormous health concerns nationally about that and the president was forward leaning on this a number of weeks ago and said that he's going to ban flavored vaping cigarettes, which are particularly concerns about children, right, because they're the ones, but now he's hearing polling that this would not be good for him.
COLLINS: Yes, and he had gotten pushback almost immediately because it wasn't this well thought out announcement that the president made two months ago from the Oval Office where he said, with the first lady sitting next him to, that they were going to enact this rule for this. We still have not seen that rule been put forth. There's questions about why is it stalled? And we've heard that advisors around the president have told him they do not think this is an issue that would help him, that they think he went too far. Instead of just instituting a few rules, he went too far with it. So that's the question going forward.
And, also, a reminder, there have been people who left the White House, who have gone to work for vaping companies.
SCIUTTO: That is interesting. So maybe there's a channel.
Kaitlan Collins, thanks very much.
HARLOW: Thank you very much.
SCIUTTO: Coming up, new testimony puts Ambassador Gordon Sondland right at the center of the Ukraine controversy.
[09:35:03]
And this Wednesday he'll become the main event of the impeachment hearings when he testifies publicly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:00]
HARLOW: We are expecting to hear testimony from several key players around Ukraine and Ukraine aid and the president this week.
SCIUTTO: On Wednesday, we get to hear from the man who is now considered to be the headliner of the public hearings, U.S. ambassador to the EU, Gordon Sondland, because he may have direct knowledge of the president's involvement.
CNN national correspondent Erica Hill explains why the spotlight is on him.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Three days, eight witnesses.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This has been an intense period for the House Intelligence Committee and this coming week could be its final act.
HILL: An increasing focus on one man, Gordon Sondland.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He's the one who seemed to have an awful lot of access to the president.
HILL: Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, and a million dollar Trump donor, is scheduled to testify on Wednesday amid new questions about his role.
BILL TAYLOR, TOP U.S. DIPLOMAT IN UKRAINE: In the presence of my staff, at a restaurant, Ambassador Sondland called President Trump and told him of his meetings in Kiev.
HILL: On that call, just one day after the now infamous July 25th exchange that led to the whistleblower's complaint.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I made a perfect call. Not a good call, a perfect call.
HILL: Ambassador Sondland told President Trump, Ukrainian President Zelensky would do anything Trump asked, including launch an investigation into the Bidens.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Manu, I understand you have new information.
HILL: A bombshell confirmed late Friday in closed-door testimony by a staffer who overheard it. RAJU: The Gordon Sondland testimony is going to be highly significant
because he has already amended his testimony to now say that he told a top Ukrainian official that security assistance from the United States, roughly $400 million, was likely tied to the ask for investigations. According to multiple witnesses, the reason why he knows that is because of a conversation he had with President Trump.
HILL: Tim Morrison, a former national security council official, set to testify on Tuesday, told lawmakers last month Sondland was acting at Trump's direction when he encouraged Ukraine to announce the investigations and described the EU ambassador as a problem according to newly released transcripts.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: New details are piling up quickly in the impeachment inquiry.
HILL: Morrison listened in on the July 25th call, as did Jennifer Williams, an adviser to Vice President Pence, who will also appear Tuesday, and said the call struck her as unusual.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman immediately raised concerns after listening to the July 25th call. He, too, is slated to appear on Tuesday.
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There is no one star witness that this whole case will rise or fall on. Not that we know of right now. But I think Vindman is sort of another brick in the wall that House Democrats are trying to build.
HILL: Former special representative to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, defended the president's actions in closed-door testimony, telling lawmakers there was, quote, no leverage implied.
REP. MARK MEADOWS (R-NC): There was no linkage. And I think further testimony and depositions will confirm that multiple sometimes.
REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): We've got text messages from Volker and Sondland.
HILL: Volker's private text message the morning of the July 25th call revealed Ukrainian officials pushing for a White House meeting. Volker, writing to an aide for Zelensky, assuming President Z convinces Trump he will investigate, get to the bottom of what happened in 2016, we will nail down a date for the visit to Washington. Good luck.
On August 9th, Sondland messages Volker. I think POTUS really wants the deliverable. Going on to suggest Volker should ask for the Ukrainian president's aid in crafting a, quote, draft statement so that we can see exactly what they propose to cover.
Volker will also appear on Tuesday.
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Kurt Volker, let's remember, is a former career service officer. Kurt Volker knew what normal foreign policy looks like. HILL: The week's final witness, Fiona Hill, is expected to describe
what she saw as a nightmare scenario, private interests driving U.S. policy.
HILL (on camera): Where do you think everybody needs to be at the end of next week?
HONIG: I think Democrats need to be in a position where they can say, we are confident in this case. And I think the Republicans just need to be at a place of either there's doubt about this case, there's doubt about whether it's true, or maybe it happened but it's not serious enough to merit impeachment.
HILL (voice over): High stakes heading into a potentially explosive week of testimony.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): We're adjourned.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Well, there you have it. And this all tees up what begins tomorrow morning. Eight more witnesses this week in public.
Erica Hill, thank you so much for that.
All right, ahead, Mayor Pete surges. A new poll puts the Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg at the head of the pack in Iowa. A look at that and the challenges his candidacy faces.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:49:20]
SCIUTTO: A new CNN/"Des Moines Register"/Mediacom poll shows Democratic Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg solidly ahead of all the competitors in Iowa. In the poll of likely caucusgoers, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor climbed to 25 points, nine points ahead of Senator Elizabeth Warren. She's just a point ahead. Former Vice President Joe Biden, you see there, and Bernie Sanders as well.
HARLOW: They made a huge investment, his campaign, of money, of time in Iowa. It appears to be paying off, at least at this point. He still faces significant challenges, namely picking up support from African- American voters.
Let's talk about all of this. Abby Phillip is with us.
Good morning, Abby. How are you?
[09:50:00]
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning!
HARLOW: So what -- I mean that is a huge surge, a 16-point surge in a month. The question is, can it last and what are the challenges that he still faces? PHILLIP: Yes, we rarely see numbers like that in this race, which has
been pretty tight for a long time. But for the Buttigieg campaign, they're viewing this as sort of one of those moments where you just keep the foot on the gas pedal. There's no time now to sort of ease into Iowa because they've seen what's happened to some candidates who have risen and then fallen in the polls.
But what you're seeing, I think, there is, as you pointed out, a lot of time and investment on the ground. I was with the Buttigieg campaign on his last bus tour through Iowa --
HARLOW: Right.
PHILLIP: Where he stopped by a lot of the places where he said, you know, Barack Obama won and where Hillary Clinton did not win against Trump in '16, basically making the argument to moderate Democrats, even to some Republican-leaning independents that he is going after their vote. And I think that's the crux of the matter for him is this moderate bent to him. He's really turned up the pressure on Elizabeth Warren, talking about how he prefers Medicare for all who want it versus Medicare for all. And I think some of that is being -- is showing up in these polls in Iowa.
SCIUTTO: Poppy noted this from Karl Rove, of course, Republican strategist.
HARLOW: Of all people.
SCIUTTO: Who had something nice to say about Buttigieg. We're quoting here. He'd be a fresh face with a message of unity and a more traditional Democratic program that's not as scary to suburbanites, although Rove, of course, is, as we noticed, has weakness -- noticed his weakness among African-Americans as well.
PHILLIP: Yes.
SCIUTTO: I mean Iowa, I suppose we should under or overplay because Iowa is a uniquely un-diverse state, right, in terms of these early voting states?
PHILLIP: Yes, it's extremely white. And especially compared to some of the states that come after it. And that's a huge problem for Buttigieg. He's polling in the low single digits among African- American voters in states like South Carolina and also nationally. And it's a problem that his campaign recognizes. They've taken a lot of flak for it, especially from some of the other candidates who are people of color, like Cory Booker's campaign and Julian Castro's campaign and Senator Kamala Harris' campaign. And I think you're going to -- you should expect to hear more about that because they rightly point out that the Democratic nominee cannot win without strong support from African-American voters, particularly African-American women.
HARLOW: Right.
Abby, this struck me because you look deeper into these poll numbers and his favorability rating is like off the charts, 72 percent favorable in Iowa.
PHILLIP: Yes.
HARLOW: Only 16 percent, I believe, unfavorable. And here's how he responded to the results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can see it sometimes in people's eyes, the difference between when they're just getting to know you and sizing you up and when they're deciding what kind of president you would be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: What did you make of that?
PHILLIP: You know, I -- I am not sure what to make of that, to be honest. I mean I do think that he has really tried hard to increase his appeal, just on a very surface level. His rhetoric -- when you talk to voters, people talk about his rhetoric. They compare it to Obama's. The way that he makes people feel is what people talk about the most. They talk about how smart he seems when he talks. And so I do think that some of that is a little bit of the intangibles of campaigning, that his favorability has been higher.
But I will caution, Jim and Poppy, people don't know him. He is much less known than a lot of other people in the campaign right now. And I think a lot of the campaigns outside of his see opportunities to bring his favorability down by surfacing more information about his background than voters might know at this very moment.
SCIUTTO: All right, Abby Phillip, it's coming close, Iowa is.
PHILLIP: Absolutely.
SCIUTTO: Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
Later this hour, a football watch party turns deadly in California. Another mass shooting in America. We'll bring you the latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:58:29]
HARLOW: Well, police in Fresno, California, this morning are looking for at least one suspect after someone opened fire on a group of family and friends just watching a football game in their backyard on Sunday. Four people were murdered, six others wounded.
SCIUTTO: Yes, it's the kind of violence that's become so familiar in America.
CNN's Dan Simon, he's been covering the story, joins us now with more details.
Do we know, first of all, who we're looking for and what sparked the shooting?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do not. Here you have another absolutely senseless killing. You have 35, 40 people, as you said, including several children, watching a football game in the backyard of a Fresno home when a shooter or shooters sneaked into the backyard and just began opening fire.
At this point, we know that four people have died, three people dead on the scene, a fourth person died at the hospital. Six people also injured with nonlife-threatening wounds.
Now, what police were doing last night, they were canvassing the neighborhood, going door-to-door, trying to see if people had any surveillance video or may have seen anything. At this point, they say, they do not have a motive. No witnesses. No description of a getaway car. So, at this point, it just remains a mystery.
But, again, people just enjoying a football game. Somebody comes into a backyard and just begins firing shots.
Poppy and Jim.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: Unbelievable.
SCIUTTO: Unbelievable.
Dan Simon, thanks so much.
HARLOW: All right, it is the top of the hour. Good Monday morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow.
[10:00:01]
SCIUTTO: And I'm Jim Sciutto. It is a major week ahead on Capitol Hill for the country. Eight witnesses set to publicly testify in the ongoing impeachment investigation.
