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Witnesses Prepares for This Weeks' Public Testimony; Trump Administration Changes Policies in Israel; More Demonstrators Arrested by Hong Kong Police; Chinese Ambassador Furious About Reported Leaked Documents. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired November 19, 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]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around. I'm Rosemary Church.

Coming up on CNN Newsroom a day of critical public testimony in the impeachment inquiry. For the first time we will hear directly from people directly who were on that call between Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president.

Hong Kong police say they arrested 900 people amid the standoff with student protesters at the university campus.

Plus, much of the world says Israel's West Bank settlement -- settlements violate international law. The Trump administration now says they don't.

In just a few hours coming to a screen near you a very important week in the Trump impeachment hearings. In the hot seat, Jennifer Williams, senior adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's Ukraine expert, Tim Morrison, former NSC Russia and Europe advisor, and Kurt Volker, former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine.

Then on Wednesday, it's U.S. Ambassador to the E.U., Gordon Sondland. He reversed his earlier testimony admitting military aid was linked to Ukraine investigating the Biden's.

CNN's Sara Murray has the details.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lawmakers are readying for a full slate of public impeachment hearings this week and President Trump is already feeling the pressure.

Jennifer Williams, a State Department employee who has detailed to Vice President Mike Pence is set to testify Tuesday. She listened in on Trump's July 25th call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, and previously told lawmakers that she found it unusual that Trump brought investigations that were more political in nature.

Over the weekend, Trump lashed out at Williams as a never-Trumper. And the vice president's office chose not to defend her even though sources say Pence has been very selective about which officials are detailed to his staff.

Meanwhile, even some GOP lawmakers admitted they were concerned about private testimony from former National Security Council official Tim Morrison. According to a transcript relief over the weekend, Morrison say he saw U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, pressed one of President Zelensky's aides to announce an investigation into Burisma, the energy company that Joe Biden's son served on the board of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, of course, all of that is alarming and as I've sad from the beginning I think this is -- this is not OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Morrison also testified that Sondland was acting at President Trump's direction. he is also set to testify publicly Tuesday along with Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council's top Ukraine expert, and Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine.

But Sondland's testimony set for Wednesday is the most highly anticipated of the week. And lawmakers are sure to have questions about this call between Sondland and Trump just a day after Trump's call with Zelensky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: The member of my staff could hear President Trump on the phone asking Ambassador Sondland about the investigations. Mr. Sondland told President Trump the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.

Following the call with President Trump, the member of my staff asked Ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about Ukraine. Mr. Sondland responded that President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Democrats are already claiming who didn't mention the details of this calls in his closed-door testimony misled lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gordon Sondland clearly didn't tell the truth in his initial testimony.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: According to the Wall Street Journal e-mails show Sondland kept other officials in the loop about the push for investigation including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Another point of questioning for lawmakers. Both Mulvaney and Perry has refused to testify. Also coming Wednesday, testimony from Laura Cooper, the Pentagon's

deputy assistant secretary for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. And David Hale, a top State Department official.

The White House's former Russia expert, Fiona Hill rounds out the week of testimony on Thursday.

Now we're also learning that there will be another blockbuster witness who is joining Fiona Hill on Thursday and that is David Holmes, he is the U.S. official in Kiev who overheard that phone call between President Trump and Gordon Sondland. Afterwards, Holmes asked Gordon Sondland what the president really thinks of Ukraine and Sondland told him the president only cares about the big stuff like the investigation into the Bidens.

Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: And you can catch CNN's special coverage of the impeachment hearings this week starting Tuesday at 1 p.m. in London, 9 p.m. in Hong Kong.

[03:04:59]

The Trump administration is upending a decades' old policy in the Middle East. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. would soften its stance on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

This reverses a State Department legal opinion from 1978 that deemed the settlements were inconsistent with international law. Palestinian leaders are condemning the move but Pompeo says the old policy has done little to encourage diplomacy in the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law hasn't worked. It hasn't advanced the cause of peace.

The hard truth is, there will never be a judicial resolution to the conflict and arguments about who is right and wrong as a matter of international law will not bring peace.

This is a complex political problem that can only be solve by negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And for more on this we want to turn to CNN's Oren Liebermann who joins us live from Jerusalem. Good to see you, Oren. So, a major change to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Why now?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A major change but not a surprising one in that sense because what we've seen from the Trump administration over the course of the past couple of years here. First, they start referring to the occupied West Bank as occupied. They refer to it as disputed and then, perhaps, even just West Bank.

Then after that, one of the leaders of the Trump administration's peace team said he want to refer to settlements not as settlements but as cities and towns.

So, all this has been a process of essentially normalizing Israel's occupation of the West Bank and this appears to simply be a continuation of that as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last night that the U.S. would no longer view settlements as a violation of international law.

He tried to point out that this isn't a change in the U.S.' position that there should still be a negotiated solution and they shouldn't get in the way of that. But the Palestinians were furious. And their leaders lashed out the U.S., essentially saying, a, this is one more reason that the U.S. is bias towards Israel and the Trump administration is bias towards Israel.

And second, the U.S.' announcement doesn't change the fact that the settlements are illegal under international law. Predictably, Israelis celebrated this announcement, especially the right-wing and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is a critical boost for him when he is in a very perilous political situation and that may explain part of the timing here.

President Donald Trump didn't give Trump before the September elections but this is certainly a gift. It also comes one week after the European high court of justice ruled that goods from settlements and products from settlements have to be labeled as such, made in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. They can't simply say made in Israel.

So, this is a slap in the face to that. But Rosemary, who benefits the most from this? Well, that would be President Donald Trump and his religious Evangelical voter base. Israel for them is a big issue and this is easy points for Trump.

CHURCH: Right. And so, Oren, what do Palestinian leaders saying about this and what do they plan to do about it?

LIEBERMANN: Well, they've already written off for years now, the U.S., especially under the Trump administration as a mediator in a - peace process. This even now as we've been waiting for some two years for the Trump administration to put forward its peace plan, which, at this point remains held up pending the construction or formation of an Israeli government.

They've essentially severed ties a long time ago after the U.S. moved the embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights and took as series of steps that were viewed as anti- Palestinian. And for that, the Palestinians simply don't trust the Trump administration and this is one more step in that direction.

Does it change the likelihood of a peace process under the Trump administration going anywhere? Nope, probably not because that was already very low to begin with. CHURCH: Oren Liebermann bringing us that live report from Jerusalem.

Many thanks.

Well, Hong Kong's chief executive is warning if the violence across the city keeps escalating and local police can't restore order, she may turn to the Chinese army for help.

Months of pro-democracy demonstrations have grown even more violent recently, protesters have thrown bricks and petrol bombs, and police have responded with water cannon, tear gas, and rubber bullets.

A few hundred demonstrators barricaded inside Polytechnic University. And police now say 900 people were arrested as they left campus Monday and overnight into Tuesday.

Well, our Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Hong Kong with the very latest on this. Paula, you're there at the university. Give us an idea of how many students we're talking about still hold up there in the university, and what more are you learning about what they plan to do next?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it's very difficult to give an exact number because this campus is fairly large. I mean, we have seen dozens, potentially a 100. We heard from so- called front liner he believes 80 to 90 people were still here.

[03:10:04]

But you can see there are people milling around now. There are some protesters that are leaving. Those over 18 are being arrested by police as they leave the campus, and then they'll be prosecuted later.

But those under the age of 18 we understand and there are many under the age of 18 that were part of this protest, they won't arrested by police. And there's ambulance that's outside ready to treat those who need it.

Now this is what they have left behind. Not just what they have left behind but what some of those who are staying say that they may potentially use. I mean, these are boxes, crates, trolleys of petrol bombs. You can see acetone, methanol, all sorts of chemical substances which I believe to have been taken from the laboratory.

We just saw some officials from this Polytechnic University coming through and looking through looking at what we see are going up to the laboratory and see what was taken. We also just saw as well the president of the university came through to have a quick look.

He spoke to reporters just outside, saying to us that he a does believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. The fact that he believed that there had been some kind of negotiation that he was involved in where he said that if protesters weren't violent then police wouldn't be violent as well.

So, at this point it really does feel as though it is a -- I mean, it's clearly a very different situation to what we saw on Monday which was very tense. And we saw an awful lot of clashes in the surroundings around the university as well. But there have been many that have left.

Carrie Lam, the chief executive said, she believes early on there had been some 600 who had left and potentially 200 of those were under the age of 18. Just bringing home once again how young many of these people are that are protesting here.

CHURCH: And Paula, you mentioned Carrie Lam. She has said that if things don't improve then she could very well turn to China's army. How likely is that though?

HANCOCKS: Well, it's very difficult to say. I mean, we have heard many times from the chief executive, the fact that she wouldn't rule out whether or not there would be Chinese involvement. The fact that she believed though that Hong Kong police did have the situation under control so they wouldn't need to call on the Chinese military.

Now we have heard from the Hong Kong police as well they believe they have things under control. Now in over the past week you may have question that. But there is definitely a sense of -- I'm reticent to say a low because we have seen time and time that this protest and these clashes can spark very quickly and very violently particularly over the past week.

But it does when we're outside, certainly that the police cordons, keeping people out and making sure that protesters don't escape without being arrested by police, that there are few of riot police. They appear more relaxed. It is a very different situation to Monday.

But there are still some inside. We have just spoken to a 16-year-old who says that he is a so-called front liner, he wants to stay in here, he wants to fight the police. Again, he believes that there is still room to fight against the police.

But the majority of these protesters having been held up in here, some of them for up to eight days. They are exhausted, they are very somber. They are facing defeat in this particular battle in their pro- democracy movement as they see it, and are walking out to be arrested by police. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to Paula Hancocks bringing us that live report from the university there in Hong Kong. I appreciate it.

Well, coming up, a rare look inside China's controversial policy on ethnic minorities. Beijing responds after the New York Times reported on hundreds of leaked communist party documents.

Back with that in just a moment.

[03:15:00]

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CHURCH: You are looking at live pictures from the Lebanese capital where protesters are trying to block roads leading to the parliament building. Now they're trying to kick lawmakers out as they call for the formation of a salvation government.

Demonstrators say they are afraid M.P.'s will try to exploit the country's laws to protect themselves. Protests erupted more than a month ago. Part of a nationwide movement against a political establishment largely viewed as corrupt and incompetent. The prime minister stepped down late last month.

We'll continue to monitor that situation.

And after a weekend of unrest, protesters aren't backing down in Iran. A government plan to raise gas prices spark nationwide protests Friday. Security forces have clashed with crowds. And official say several protesters have died.

State television reports that the Revolutionary Guard Corps is warning of decisive action if unrest doesn't end. Iran's president is also calling for calm but with a less confrontational tone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN ROUHANI, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Protest is different from riots. The entire nation has the right to protest. They can protest, they can even criticize the government, even harshly and we welcome that. There is no problem about whatever they say but we should not let any insecurity in the society. I own a car to use it, not to block the roads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: China is angrily rejecting a New York Times report on the controversial detention centers in the western region of Xinjiang. More than 400 pages of leaked communist party documents detail the mass incarceration of mostly Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities.

And they link President Xi Jinping to the campaign through speeches he made in 2014, calling for absolutely no mercy in the crackdown.

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LIU XIAOMING, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO U.K.: About a New York Times so- called report I can categorically deny that such a document is a sheer pure fabrication. And this is not the first time the New York Times made up story. I think the story was made up with a carry (Ph) motives and it's not worth of making any substantial comment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Well, Austin Ramzy is one of the New York Times correspondents who reported the story and he joins us now from Hong Kong. Good to have you with us.

AUSTIN RAMZY, CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Now, in your article, you write about the 400-plus pages of internal Chinese documents that reveal how China organized a crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang linked directly to Xi Jinping. But China's ambassador to the U.K. is denying any human rights violation saying this. I want to bring up that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XIAOMING: I would say there's no so-called labor camps as you describe. These are what we call the vocational, educational, and training centers. They are there for the prevention of a terrorist.

What we are doing what we call it preventive measures. It's nothing to do with eradication of ethnic groups, religious. You know, in Xinjiang, religious freedom is fully respected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: So, what's your reaction to the ambassador denying any human rights violations and calling these labor camps vocational, educational training centers designed to prevent terrorism.

RAMZY: Well, I think it follows a pattern that we saw in the documents themselves where the public description of the camps is very different from how it's discussed internally among Chinese officials.

[03:19:57]

And so, the camps are described as this job training programs that help people find better work, improve their lives.

But in the documents, themselves, they show how the party acknowledges that the harm that is done to families that are separated, the difficulty children face when their parents have been taken away. And the language has also used phrases like punishment which you won't hear Chinese officials use in public.

CHURCH: Yes. And the ambassador also says this has nothing to do with ethnic cleansing. He says religious freedom is fully respected in Xinjiang. What's your response to that claim?

RAMZY: I've talked to a lot of exiled Uyghurs, exiled Cossacks, people who have been in the camps and they described a very different picture. They say that these camps are meant to eradicate their ethnic identity, their language, their religion and to turn them into loyal Chinese subjects.

CHURCH: And the Xinjiang regional government of China says your article was completely fabricated by hostile forces at home and abroad and call it total nonsense and a pack of lies with sinister motives. What do you say to that sort of attack?

RAMZY: I say that's to be expected but our goal was to tell the story as completely and accurately as we possibly could and I think we did that.

CHURCH: And can you explain to our viewers why China targets Muslim Uyghurs in particular. I mean, other minority groups as well. But why the Uyghurs?

RAMZY: I think the reason that China do targets the Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups is because their language is different, their religion is different. They look outside of China for ties to Central Asia and they don't see Beijing as the source or the direction where they should send their allegiance.

And I think that that's something that worries the communist party very deeply and something that they want to change.

CHURCH: And of course, as we mentioned, your article you use these 403 pages, I believe it is, of these leaked documents quite a brave act for the person who leaked these documents. Because there is an incredible risk that they will be discovered. Talk to us about the sort of risk that would have been taken to do this and why they would have done this.

RAMZY: Yes, it was a great risk on the part of the person who did this. This person is a member of the Chinese political establishment who wanted the leadership to be held accountable for the decisions that were made in Xinjiang.

CHURCH: Yes. Incredibly brave act. Austin Ramzy, thank you so much. Thank you for writing this article and bringing this situation to light. We appreciate it.

RAMZY: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: CNN Newsroom continues after a short break. Do stay with us.

[03:25:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

So, he's not into chess. He prefers the video game Fortnite like lots of boy's age. But there's one thing that sets this nine-year-old apart from most other kids.

He is a genius and soon a college graduate.

CNN's Isa Soares has more.

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: At first glance nine-year-old l Laurent Simons seems like any other child his age. He says he enjoys playing on his phone and with his dog Sammy at their home in Amsterdam. But unlike most nine-year-olds he is about to earn an undergraduate degree, one of the youngest people ever to graduate from university.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURENT SIMONS, GRADUATING COLLEGE NEXT MONTH: I like to study so it's like a --

ALEXANDER SIMONS, LAURENT SIMONS' FATHER: Like a big boy?

L. SIMONS: Yes. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Born in Belgium Laurent was four when he started primary school. And six when he began secondary school which he reportedly finished in two years. Now about to turn 10 he is set to graduate from Eindhoven University of Technology in December with a degree in electrical engineering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A. SIMONS: We didn't do anything special, especially in the beginning. He went to school and then the teachers said that he's really bright, really clever they gave him extra task, extra tests and the ball started to roll from then on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Born into a family of doctors Laurent also wants to study medicine. After he graduate, he plans to earn a medical degree at the same time as he works towards a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. Eventually he wants to develop artificial organs, an ambition inspired by his grandparents who he says both have heart conditions.

But before then, Laurent's parents hope their child genius can simply enjoy his childhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

A. SIMONS: What he achieves is not that he wants that. It's just who he is. And besides studying he likes traveling, gaming, so he's just a regular child enjoying life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Isa Soares, CNN.

CHURCH: Very impressive. And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Inside Africa is up next. But first, I'll be back for the check of the headlines. You're watching CNN. Stick around.

[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN news now.

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