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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Says He'll Fight Corruption Charges; Witnesses Done with Their Testimonies; Local Elections in Hong Kong Amidst Protests; Plane Landed While on Fire. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired November 22, 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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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Natalie Allen. Thank you for joining us.

Coming up next here, Israel's prime minister is charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. But Benjamin Netanyahu says he will continue to fight the corruption charges.

The final witness in the televised impeachment hearings in the U.S. makes her case against her former boss, Donald Trump.

And amid the ongoing, often violent protest, Hong Kong has issued new security plans for this Sunday's elections.

Thank you again for joining us.

For the first time in Israel's history, a sitting prime minister faces criminal indictment. Benjamin Netanyahu is charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases. He has denied any wrongdoing since the investigations became public three years ago.

But Israeli politics was already in a state of flux before this with both major parties unable to form a coalition government. Because of the deadlock the legal process surrounding these charges could be slow.

Let's talk about it with Paula Newton, she joins me now live from Jerusalem. And Paula, could it get any more complicated than this?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Complicated, and with the stakes so high, Natalie, as you were just saying. Look, these investigations have been going on for years. These charges that have been pending.

But think about it, Natalie, this is a country without a government right now and we are at the three strikes your out stage. OK, you are just saying Benjamin Netanyahu couldn't form a coalition government, his chief rival, Benny Gantz couldn't, now the parliament has about three weeks to come up with one. But the issue at hand, as you said, a sitting prime minister at this moment now criminally indicted. That position as prime minister right now is a shield for him, a shield of immunity, but so is the fact that the government here remains in flux.

Remember, there is no government, there is no parliament that actually can deal with these indictment charges. That meant that Benjamin Netanyahu had a lot of latitude yesterday to really talk about these charges and how he feels about them. He was incredibly defiant. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The time has come to investigate the investigators. It is time to investigate the prosecution that approves these contaminated investigations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: What's so interesting here, Natalie, is that he was so defiant that he, not only deny that these charges are real in any way, shape or form. He called this an attempted coup and completely politicized here. It should come as no surprise to anyone.

But remember, the attorney general here who was once his cabinet secretary said he filed these charges with, in fact, a heavy heart. And certainly, Israel right now is absolutely reeling at the implications of this, Natalie.

ALLEN: Absolutely, and as we said, this goes back three years and the question is, can he continue to govern through this process?

NEWTON: Well, right now he absolutely has to only because he is the prime minister and there is no government no way. In fact, some people believe that the next way that Israel can get out of this, the only way it's going to happen is to have yet other elections.

The key thing here, though, Natalie, is that his main rival and its party, the Blue and White and Benny Gantz are saying look, it is time for you to leave. You cannot possibly deal with charges effectively and lead a country.

They say that he is barricading himself in power, and definitely want him to do that. As you could tell, probably from that comment, Benjamin Netanyahu it will not step down of his own volition, it doesn't seem that his own party, though, Likud Party is prepared to push him out.

And more than that, legally, there is no way that anyone right now at this moment can press him to leave. There will be legal challenges to this in the coming weeks, but whether it -- the politics of the situation is, as you, say so complex.

I mean, even the president of Israel, Natalie, called this a mess as he turned over a lot of what has to happen now to the parliament for the next three weeks.

And of course, voters still here feel skeptical, likely stiff fractious and divided as they were in the last election and still trying to digest the implications.

[03:05:01]

ALLEN: Exactly, and Netanyahu also using the words witch hunt, something we've become familiar with, with President Trump here in the United States.

All right, Paula Newton for us there in Jerusalem. Paula, thank you so much.

Well, earlier, I spoke with Gil Hoffman, the chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. And we discussed the legal battle ahead for Mr. Netanyahu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GIL HOFFMAN, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT & ANALYST, THE JERUSALEM POST: It remains to be seen technically if he can remain in office while he fights those charges. On the one hand, a prime minister only has to step down if convicted which could take years. On the other hand, he is a Knesset member asking for the right to form a new government. This is going to be decided in court.

ALLEN: So, Netanyahu has gone after the process that led to his indictment. Do you expect him to remain defiant? And does he have immunity as we see this will end up in court, but what is the prevailing thought right now?

HOFFMAN: The prevailing thought is it's a big mess. Yes, he has to ask the special Knesset committee for immunity. And that Knesset committee in our parliament it has not been formed yet because we don't have a government.

In order to get a government, you need to form a government. He's the only one right now who can form a government after Benny Gantz, his rival, took a turn at it and failed. So, it's kind of a catch 22 right now. We have a constitutional crisis in a country with no Constitution. How about that?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: That was Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent and analyst for the Jerusalem Post.

Now, to the U.S. public impeachment hearings into the Ukraine scandal, wrapped up on Thursday with two final witnesses corroborating a quid pro quo, a term we've all gotten used to over here.

Unless Trump officials come forward to refute the facts, Democratic sources say articles of impeachment could be voted on by Christmas.

We get more now from CNN's Alex Marquardt. ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Scathing

testimony today, David Holmes and Dr. Fiona Hill laying out firsthand accounts of the political demands that the president was making of the Ukrainians in order for them to get a White House meeting and eventually, military aid.

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FIONA HILL, FORMER SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR EUROPE & RUSSIA, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: It became very clear that the White House meeting itself was being predicated on other issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Hill, who grew up in England and is the White House's former top Russia expert also chastising Republicans for pushing a conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine that meddled in the 2016 election.

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HILL: I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an ultimate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary and that Ukraine, not Russia, attacked us in 2016.

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MARQUARDT: Hill said that she had several testy encounters with the U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, as he pushed for Ukraine to agree to the president's investigations. Then, she said she realized there were two competing Ukraine policies.

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HILL: He was being involved in a domestic political errand and we were being involved in national security foreign policy, and those two things had just diverged.

And I did say to him, Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, I think this is all going to blow up, and here we are.

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MARQUARDT: Hill wasn't the only one. Her then boss, John Bolton, told her that the errand that Sondland was working on was a drug deal.

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HILL: And Ambassador Bolton had looked pained, basically indicated with body language that there was nothing much we could do about it, and he then in the course of that discussions said that Rudy Giuliani was a hand grenade that was going to blow everyone up.

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MARQUARDT: On July 26th at a restaurant in Kiev, Sondland called Trump on an unsecured cell phone to tell him that the Ukrainians were agreeing to investigations. Across from him at the table was David Holmes from the U.S. embassy in Kiev.

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DAVID HOLMES, STATE DEPARTMENT AIDE: I've never seen anything like this in my foreign service career, someone at a lunch in a restaurant making a call on a cell phone to the President of the United States. Being able to hear his voice, it's very distinctive personality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Holmes describe how Sondland held the phone away from his here because the president was speaking so loudly.

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HOLMES: Ambassador Sondland replied yes, he was in Ukraine, and went on to state that President Zelensky, quote, "loves your ass." I then heard President Trump ask, so, he's going to do the investigation? Ambassador Sondland replied, that he's going to do it, adding that President Zelensky will do anything he ask him to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Zelensky was being asked by Trump via Sondland to investigate the energy company Burisma which Hunter Biden had been on the board of and which had become a nickname for the investigation into the Bidens.

Throughout Sondland's testimony, he claimed he hadn't been aware that Burisma meant the Bidens. Dr. Hill said that's impossible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: It is not credible to me that he was oblivious. He did not say Bidens, however, he just said Burisma. He said 2016, and I took it to mean the elections, as well as Burisma.

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[03:10:02]

MARQUARDT: Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

ALLEN: This may sound counterintuitive, but the Trump White House is now saying it welcomes a Senate trial, even though none of the damaging facts this close so far have been challenged, the White House apparently believes a Senate trial will end up helping the president politically.

CNN's Pamela Brown has that part of the story.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Here at the White House, officials are claiming that the last two witness's testimony wasn't very damaging to the president and they are already looking ahead to the potential Senate trial.

In fact, sources here at the White House claimed that a Senate trial could be good for the president as they make their case, and as one senior White House official told me have the opportunity to take down the Democrats' weak case, as this official put it.

In fact, the White House had several Republican lawmakers come over meet with White House council and game out what a potential Senate trial might look like.

Now, I'm told through sources that White House officials have made clear they do not want a long, drawn out Senate trial but at the same time, if it does go there they want to make sure that the process is thorough enough so that it doesn't give Democrats ammunition to say the process is flawed as Republicans in the White House had been complaining about the Democrats processes on the House side.

Also, the whistleblower came up as well. There had been talk publicly about whether the whistleblower should be subpoenaed, but these Republican lawmakers sent the message to the White House that there shouldn't be focused on the whistleblower, the whistleblower should not be compelled to testify.

But I'm told by officials a lot is still under discussion. Options have not been taken off the table yet and there is still a way to go until this happens.

And of course, a wild card is the president himself, who will ultimately come up with his own defense that he hosted Republican lawmakers for lunch here at the White House as well including those who have been critical of him like Mitt Romney.

But lawmakers say that while impeachment did come up during that lunch, that the president wasn't trying to butter up these Republican lawmakers for their votes if this does go to a Senate trial.

ALLEN: Well, coming next here on CNN Newsroom, Iran's leaders keeping their people in the dark, shutting down the internet across the country, all while putting their own spin on the violent anti- government protests gripping the nation.

Also, we hear from some of the passengers who experienced a terrifying moment when the engine of their plane caught fire.

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ALLEN: In the days ahead, President Trump will have a big decision to make regarding the pro-democracy protests raging in Hong Kong.

[03:14:59]

On Thursday, Congress passed two bills supporting the movement and sent them to the president for final approval. If he signs them, however, he risks undermining ongoing trade talks with China, which has threatened to take action of its own.

For their part, U.S. lawmakers say the measures reaffirm America's commitment to democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: To President Xi, this resolution is what America thinks of you and your policies towards the people in Hong Kong, and also towards the Uyghurs in northwest China and your oppressive rule throughout.

Don't take any word of the president that everything is OK. It is not. And what you're doing in Hong Kong and elsewhere damages you're standing dramatically here in America and throughout the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: The protest, of course, started almost six months ago, and police are now concerned of potential unrest this weekend. Voters will cast their ballots Sunday in local elections, and as precaution, police will deploy riot officers to every polling station in the territory.

CNN's Will Ripley has more from Hong Kong.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A city in turmoil prepares for election day. Political banners in tatters, like Hong Kong's reputation. Nearly six months of this, and now, politics took a dark turn.

Junius Ho, a prominent lawyer and pro-Beijing lawmaker stabbed at a campaign event earlier this month. Jimmy Sham, a pro-democracy protest organizer and outspoken LGBT activist beaten with hammers by at least four men and left for dead. Not only did both survive, they are still campaigning.

Sunday's district elections are widely seen as a referendum on Hong Kong's highly-unpopular government. A government pro-Beijing lawmaker Holden Chow stands firmly behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLDEN CHOW, PRO-BEIJING LAWMAKER: We want democracy which is pragmatic and fix Hong Kong situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Chow says he and his colleagues face almost daily intimidation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: How many times has your office been bombed?

CHOW: Four times in total.

RIPLEY: Do you see that as a threat?

CHOW: Under this kind of atmosphere, you can tell that people are very much having a kind of a fear, and people have grave concerns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Undaunted, candidates carry on, putting their best face forward.

Here is the question nobody knows the answer to. What happens this weekend? Will there be more violence? Will there be a huge voter turnout? Can Hong Kong actually pull off what protesters say they've been fighting for all along? Democracy?

At least as close to democracy as Hong Kong gets, citizens only elect their local leaders. The chief executive and legislative council who actually make laws are selected by a system stacked in Beijing's favor. The establishment always has the majority.

Hong Kong's short-term stability and long-term survival greatly depends on finding a peaceful compromise says pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED HUI, DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATE: Sadly, I think this doesn't end until the government can take a few more steps. Just a very slight sorry that's not enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: He embedded with protesters for two days at the height of their standoff with police at Poly U.

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HUI: I witnessed that they are just defending themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Police said they only reacted when protesters provoke. Hui is calling for calm this weekend on all sides.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUI: For those who just want to vote peacefully and voice -- have their voice out, this is their chance to show, you know, their power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Less violence in the streets means higher voter turnout and he hopes more power for the pro-democracy movement.

Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.

ALLEN: Of course, these protests in Hong Kong have in part spark protest around the world against governments. Massive anti-government protests rocking several countries in South America right now. The latest, Columbia. On Thursday, a national strike forced the country to close its borders

as thousands marched against the policies of the president. Columbia's police described the protests as mostly peaceful and said the situation was under control, but some clashes did break out and police fired tear gas at the crowds.

And violence flared once again on the streets of Bolivia, weeks after former President Evo Morales was ousted.

[03:19:59]

His supporters marched in the capital carrying coffins of people who have died in the unrest. But police fired tear gas on the crowd here as well after some protesters paced a coffin on top of unarmed car.

At least 31 people have been killed across this country since the turmoil began in October over a disputed presidential election.

And now we look at Iran. Internet service is slow -- slowly being restored in parts of that country days after the government shut it down in an attempt to stop news of violent protests from reaching the rest of the world.

CNN's Arwa Damon reports now on the toll from a week of unrest.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "They killed him," a voice cries out, crowded around what appears to be a lifeless body. Seconds later on the same video, another group of men carry away someone else.

A snippet of the violence that has rippled across Iran in the last week as protesters rage over a sharp spike in fuel prices.

The country is in the midst of an unprecedented, near-total internet shut down. Information trickles out slowly, with a handful of videos and photographs hinting at the scale and brutality of what is taking place.

In the capital people shout, death to the dictator. Tehran University students chant for the release of their friends now in government custody.

Riot police are seen out in force across the capital. Anger mutated into violence as rioters stormed banks, torched petrol stations and government buildings.

The speaker on this clip claims that Quds city hall was on fire saying, this was a symbol of corruption, a claim CNN cannot confirm.

The echo of gunfire can be heard in other video clips. Wednesday, the United Nations said it had seen reports of a significant death toll during the recent protests but there is no way to verify the numbers, although the government on Sunday acknowledged several deaths.

The internet blackout has succeeded in stemming the flow of information, both within the country and to the outside world, and the government declared victory over its enemies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASSAN ROUHANI, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Those anarchists who came out onto the street were fewer number. However, they were organized armed anarchists with prior planning and they are based on a plot that the region's reactionary, the Zionist and Americans had hatched.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: It's a narrative consistently repeated by the Iranian government when its people take to the streets, an effort to discredit the demonstrators, as much as arguably an attempt to conceal the reasons behind their rage.

Iran is loath to admit it is feeling the strain of economic struggle brought on by U.S. sanctions, a tanking currency, food and medicine shortages, coupled with Iran pillaging its own coffers to prop up proxies across the region.

And while we don't yet have a complete understanding, we have enough pieces to know that while Iran may continue to block the flow of information through the internet, its rulers cannot control the picture that is emerging.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.

ALLEN: Next here, a passenger plane is forced to make an emergency landing after fire begins to spew from its engine shortly after takeoff. More about that next.

[03:20:00]

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ALLEN: Australia's rapidly moving bushfires are raising health concerns. I mean, look at what is happening here. They're spreading to the south after devastating New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria in recent weeks.

Now, air pollution is looming as one of the biggest issues. A dust storm turned the sky right here orange in Mildura, Victoria and a thick haze of smoke has blanketed Sydney for days, leading to more hospital visits for many people. And the hot, dry, windy conditions are only expected to get worse.

In Los Angeles, there were flames in the sky. It happened when the engine of a passenger plane caught fire after takeoff. One passenger aboard caught the whole thing on camera. Take a look.

That had to be terrifying. Alarming sounds as the flames shut out from under the jets right wing. The plane eventually was forced to return to Los Angeles, where fortunately it did land safely.

Here's how some passengers describe what happened. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard boom, boom, like backfires, and then people were panicking, smoke, fire coming out of the right engine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as it lifted off the ground, we heard four large bangs. They were explosions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Here's another look from the ground. You can see a flash of fire and a bit of smoke billowing from the wing. Officials say passengers were transferred to another flight. No one was hurt. But my goodness, they were probably little frightened.

Well, it is the electric vehicle Tesla has been teasing for years. CEO Elon Musk has unveiled the cyber truck. The pickup starts at just under $40,000 and that version can travel about 400 kilometers or 250 miles on a full charge.

A more expensive version is expected to get around 800 kilometers or 500 miles from a full charge. Musk claims the stainless-steel exterior is bulletproof, won't scratch, and the armored glass is unbreakable. But watch what happened when they put it to the test.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My God. Well, maybe that was a little too hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, that's embarrassing. That happened not once, but twice. Musk's response was that there's always room for improvement. The truck is expected to go into production in late 2021.

Thank you -- there goes again. Thanks so much for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Natalie Allen.

I'll have your headlines right after this.

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