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Hong Kong Elections; Impeachment Inquiry; Pence Visits Troops, Bypasses Baghdad; Pope In Japan; R. Kelly's Girlfriend Accuses Him; Picasso's Muse. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired November 24, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): Going to the polls: Hong Kong elections seen as a referendum on months of protest. We go live to see how it's going.
Also, voters in a crucial swing state in the U.S. tell us what they think of the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump and whether it's affecting their views.
And he's one of Donald Trump's favorite targets. He's also the man at the helm of the House impeachment inquiry. We show you a side of Adam Schiff you don't normally see.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Natalie Allen and CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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ALLEN: 5:00 am in the morning here in the state of Georgia. It's 6:00 pm in Hong Kong. And the people there are taking a break from months of mass protests to cast their ballots in local elections.
So far more than 1 million people have turned out to vote for district councilors. The elections will help measure the support behind the city's pro-democracy protests. The sometimes fierce demonstrations rattled Hong Kong now for almost six months. Let's go live to Hong Kong with Paula Hancocks. She's out and about watching this vote take place.
It's very heartening that it has been such a peaceful day there and a good turnout.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Natalie, a record turnout, 52 percent of those eligible to vote had voted by 4:30. That's an hour and a half ago. In the first six hours of voting, the amount of people that had voted was more than for the entire day back in 2015, the last time these local district council elections took place.
Certainly the very fact that so many people are coming out to vote shows Hong Kong understands just how important these votes are this time around. Behind me you can see there are a couple of candidates that came out for last-minute campaigning.
We have another four and a half hours for people to vote. This is really the first time that there's been any kind of barometer as to what kind of support the pro-government stance and also the pro- protester movement actually has within Hong Kong itself.
We have heard from the government time and time again that they believe there is a silent majority fed up with the violence, the chaos, the disruption and protests which protesters deny. Of course no one has had hard, fast facts and figures before. This will be the first chance as to what kind of support there is for ongoing protests.
We did speak a little while ago to Joshua Wong, the face of the 2014 movement, pro-democracy movement here. He has been banned from standing in this election. The electoral commission called him a separatist, which he denies. But he did talk to us about how important today is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: We are seeing record turnout. What does that say to you?
JOSHUA WONG, HONG KONG PRO-DEMOCRACY LEADER: People love to vote. Even woke up 6:00 in the morning, lining up outside of the station, which proves that we are the citizen in such international city to serve democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: So from early this morning, we have been seeing lines outside a number of polling stations as people patiently wait to vote. There has been a police presence as well. At the last station we were at, there were a dozen police officers that walked past just to make sure there was no trouble, we hear, from government officials.
There's also police officers inside the polling stations as well. Although at the last station we were at, we were told that was not going to be visible to voters themselves.
ALLEN: Wait and see. The results a few more hours to go. Thank you, Paula.
Of course as we mentioned, Hong Kong has been rattled by months of street clashes. Later in our program, we will hear from one protester who was critically injured. His message to the police officer who shot him.
Well, Rudy Giuliani, U.S. president Trump's personal attorney, is disputing reports the White House helped coordinate his interactions on Ukraine with the U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo. We get the latest on this from CNN's Jeremy Diamond at the White House.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: As we are learning more information in Congress about the Ukraine scandal that is threatening President Trump's presidency, we are also now learning that the White House helped arrange a phone call between the president's personal attorney and secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
This is according to documents released by the State Department, following a Freedom of Information Act request from the nonpartisan American Oversight organization. Essentially it shows the White House coordinated with Rudy Giuliani's assistant in order to schedule a call with secretary of state Mike Pompeo back in March.
Now the timing of this is particularly interesting. The phone call that the White House helped schedule between Giuliani and Pompeo took place on March 29th. That's just a day after Giuliani actually provided documents to the State Department, outlining allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
Allegations that, of course, have not been substantiated, as well as allegations about Marie Yovanovitch, who at the time was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and was ultimately ousted from her position a couple of months later by the president of the United States.
Now Rudy Giuliani is denying any White House involvement. Here's what he said on Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)?
RUDY GIULIANI, ADVISOR TO DONALD TRUMP: Who's to say we're doing it?
QUESTION: Do you think it's appropriate for the White House to be involved?
GIULIANI: I don't know if it's appropriate or not but they weren't doing it. The first thing is, the White House wasn't coordinating anything. So the answer to that is no. And that's a false premise.
The second one is what?
QUESTION: Did the White House arrange calls with you and secretary Pompeo?
GIULIANI: No. I'm capable of making my own calls. I actually know how to use the phone. My -- well, of course I'm not going to discuss my conversations with the secretary of state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DIAMOND: Now despite Giuliani's denials, we actually have documents that show this communication, emails between Madeleine Westerhout, the president's then assistant, as well as Rudy Giuliani's assistant, Jo Ann Zafonte.
So it is very difficult for Giuliani to deny this White House involvement. This does offer more evidence, more indication of Secretary Pompeo's involvement and knowledge of these efforts to pressure the government of Ukraine to actually investigate the president's political rival, Joe Biden.
We already learned earlier this week in testimony from the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, that Secretary Pompeo was actually in the loop at key moments.
He also showed emails that included mentions of investigations. Secretary Pompeo was also on those emails -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, the White House.
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ALLEN: Also Republican congressman Devin Nunes is pushing back on allegations he traveled to Europe last year to dig up dirt on the Bidens. Lev Parnas is one of Giuliani's indicted associates.
His attorney tells CNN that Parnas is willing to testify before Congress about putting Nunes in touch with the disgraced former Ukrainian official who claimed to have negative information about the Bidens.
And Nunes allegedly traveled to Vienna last December to meet him. Nunes refused to comment to CNN but told a right-wing news outlet the story was demonstrably false.
Let's talk about these developments with Scott Lucas, who teaches international politics at the University of Birmingham in England.
Scott, thanks for being with us and good morning to you.
SCOTT LUCAS, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: Good morning, Natalie.
ALLEN: All right. Giuliani, Nunes, both scoffing at these allegations in the larger picture of the impeachment process.
Where do you place what we learned and what they're denying here?
LUCAS: Well, let's start with the documents. As your correspondent noted, there were phone calls with Mike Pompeo and Rudy Giuliani at the end of March. We don't know the content of the four-minute phone calls, two of them.
But other documents that were released show that Rudy Giuliani's team provided the State Department with records of meetings between Giuliani, now indicted business associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, with these Ukrainian officials.
The meetings in January, they were passed to the State Department at the time of the Pompeo-Giuliani phone call. Here's the key question.
Was Mike Pompeo briefed on these conversations, which included how to discredit Joe Biden, how to undermine the U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and how possibly to pursue this by the Ukrainians? (CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: If he was, what would be the implication there for Pompeo?
LUCAS: Exactly. If Pompeo was briefed on this, including a March 28th timeline, the day before his call with Giuliani, which set out all of these allegations with Yovanovitch.
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LUCAS: If Pompeo was briefed on this, as Gordon Sondland testified, Pompeo knew of the campaign on behalf of Donald Trump in March. That's even before Gordon Sondland knew about it in May. And it is four months before Donald Trump's phone call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
ALLEN: Nunes denying the allegation against him. We will see if that has legs as this pushes on.
After hours and hours of testimony by civil servants, the key question is did the president commitment an impeachable offense?
In your opinion, did the testimony conclude that?
LUCAS: Let's add Devin Nunes is being claimed to be part of the Trump-Giuliani campaign. We will see what he has to say.
But on your question, is this impeachable, the evidence shows they pursued investigations of Joe Biden and to cover up Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
Two, witnesses testified that quid pro quos, that the military assistance to Ukraine and that a White House visit by Volodymyr Zelensky was contingent on the investigations.
Three, if the claims were true they could constitute impeachable charge of bribery. In other words, Donald Trump asking for favors from Ukraine, announcing the investigations in return for releasing military aid.
So, yes, I can't tell you that Donald Trump will be convicted of this but he is quite likely to be impeached, on bribery and possibly obstruction of justice.
ALLEN: Well, we're looking at polls of where Americans stand on impeachment. And it seems kind of mixed.
If the president is impeached, could that backfire on Democrats in the campaign next year?
LUCAS: Well, Natalie, I just want to go back to the 1970s, when Richard Nixon faced impeachment but resigned before he could finally be put on trial. Most Americans actually opposed that process until very, very late in the day in 1974.
Just saying where we are right now with the polls doesn't get to the core here. As the evidence continues to mount, what does it mean for the public but the Republican senators who may have to decide whether they break from Donald Trump and convict him or ride alongside with him no matter how far this evidence goes.
ALLEN: All right. We always appreciate your insights. Scott Lucas for us. Thanks, Scott.
LUCAS: Thank you, Natalie.
ALLEN: U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is recovering in a Baltimore, Maryland, hospital. The court says the 86-year-old was admitted to Johns Hopkins after experiencing chills and a fever. This comes after she missed a day earlier this month because she was ill.
The four-time cancer survivor has a lengthy history of medical issues. Right now her symptoms have abated. She could be released within the coming hours. Always a fighter.
The secretary of the U.S. Navy is pushing back against a "New York Times" report that he threatened to resign if President Trump puts a stop to the Navy's review of Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, seen right there. Here is a reminder who Gallagher is.
The Navy demoted him after he was found guilty of posing with a dead body of a young ISIS prisoner. Gallagher was acquitted of murder. The president reversed the demotion and tweeted he wouldn't let the Navy punish Gallagher.
An administration official tells us there is extreme concern over decision-making being pulled from the Navy. But here's what Navy Secretary Richard Spencer is saying about reports that he threatened to step down.
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RICHARD SPENCER, U.S. SECRETARY OF THE NAVY: Contrary to popular belief, I'm still here. I did not threaten to resign. Let us just say we are hear to talk about external threats. And Eddie Gallagher is not one of them.
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ALLEN: The Navy Secretary says he supports the review of Gallagher.
U.S. Vice president Mike Pence made an unannounced visit on Saturday to Iraq, where he stopped at a military base in western Iraq and served a Thanksgiving meal to American troops. But he conspicuously bypassed the capital of Baghdad out of security concerns. We get more from CNN's Arwa Damon.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: His visit was unannounced, a surprise visit, seemingly at least on the surface, as an early Thanksgiving celebration for U.S. forces stationed in Iraq. Vice president Pence and his wife arriving to the Al-Asad airbase in
Anbar province to thank the troops for their service, highlighting victories in the fight against ISIS and serve troops stationed there a Thanksgiving meal.
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DAMON (voice-over): But this trip comes against a backdrop of a very turbulent Iraq and a very turbulent region, for that matter.
Iraq has been embroiled in deadly protests that have seen a fair level of criticism being leveled by the United States and others towards the government in Baghdad and Iraqi security forces for their handling of these demonstrations.
We do know that the vice president did not visit Baghdad; instead, speaking by phone to the Iraqi prime minister. We don't know the details of that conversation. The vice president and his entourage did then travel to Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, meeting with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan there, something that may be viewed as a snub to Baghdad.
But perhaps it was an attempt to try to emphasize to the Kurds, not just in Iraq but in Syria as well, that the U.S. still views them as being a key ally. Vice president Pence making a clear point to say that the Americans and the Kurds share blood ties.
But at this stage it is unclear if that sort of rhetoric is going to be successful when it comes to any sort of damage control that the U.S. does in terms of repairing its image in Iraq, Syria and across the region -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.
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ALLEN: Protests in Iraq, protests in Hong Kong and we're following protests in Colombia. The U.N. says it welcomes the Colombian president's offer of a national conversation. The goal is to end days of violent unrest in Bogota, the capital.
At least three people have been killed after tens of thousands of demonstrators started protesting on Thursday. They say they are angry over the way the government is run and angry about rising unemployment. The president now promises to fight corruption.
Suspended train service, canceled flights and flooded homes: extreme weather is causing trouble in the south of France. We'll have more on that for you coming up here.
Plus, Pope Francis is condemning nuclear weapons. We'll tell you how he is honoring those who have fallen victim.
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ALLEN: Parts of the French Riviera are facing extreme flooding after heavy rain. In some cases, vehicles are almost completely submerged. The same system that triggered this flooding could be headed to Venice, Italy. That city is still trying to recover from earlier record flooding and that's really been hurting their economy.
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ALLEN: Climate change activists stormed the field at a U.S. college football game between two well-known Ivy League schools. For nearly an hour at halftime, Harvard and Yale students joined together and demanded that both schools divest their endowments from fossil fuel holdings.
They also want to cancel holdings in Puerto Rican debt.
Police eventually escorted the protesters off the field, allowing the second half of the game to begin. Yale beat Harvard 50-43.
Pope Francis has traveled to Hiroshima, Japan. He is visiting the peace memorial honoring those killed when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ending the war.
Earlier he led a mass, where he condemned nuclear weapons, saying they offer a false sense of security and investment in the global arms race he says is a waste of resources. For more about his trip and what this means, our Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher live from Rome.
He is speaking right now, Delia.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Natalie, a very moving speech. Before he began speaking, he heard harrowing testimony from the some survivors of the August 6th, 1945, bombing. The pope said he felt it was his duty to come to Hiroshima, his duty to be a voice for the voiceless.
He's said the use of atomic weapons is a crime and immoral. He said we will be judged on this.
We heard similar remarks before he arrived; he was in Nagasaki, the second city that was bombed in 1945. He met with survivors there. He was in the ground zero of Nagasaki at a memorial park there.
He said it was a place that reminds us of the pain and horror that humans can inflict on one another. He made an appeal to the international community. He said a world without nuclear weapons is possible and necessary.
And he asked governments and countries to not continue to spend money and resources; to, instead, give that money to the world's poor and to the environment. A moving and important message from Pope Francis on this four-day trip to Japan.
Tomorrow he will meet with the new emperor and with the prime minister, Abe Shinzo, and with victims of the 2011 triple disaster, the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, that happened in March of that year.
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GALLAGHER: He returns to Rome Tuesday -- Natalie.
ALLEN: We also mentioned, Delia, this is the first visit of a pope to Japan in many decades.
Why is that?
GALLAGHER: Of course, John Paul II was there in 1981. This is something Pope Francis had hoped for a long time. When he was a priest in Argentina, he applied to be a missionary in Japan. That's what he thought his priesthood would be about. That is the place he wanted to spend his time. He wasn't allowed to do that.
Now he has had a chance to return as pope. Of course these trips take a lot of logistical organization. It just so happened he was able to make this trip. He was in Thailand before going to Japan. An important message, this one on nuclear war, for Pope Francis.
ALLEN: Delia Gallagher for us in Rome. Thanks so much.
Protests in Hong Kong, of course, resulted in many injuries and many point the finger at police. Why one man said he will never forgive an officer who caused him serious harm.
Plus, what it's like to run the impeachment investigation and be the focus of the Trump administration anger. The chair of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee speaks about that. It's coming up a little bit later. Please stay with us.
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ALLEN: And welcome back to our viewers in the U.S. and all around the world. This is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen.
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ALLEN: Many people have been injured in the Hong Kong unrest. Among them, an unarmed protester named Patrick Chow was shot and critically wounded by a police officer. Chow is now speaking with CNN's Nick Paton Walsh about his injury. We warn you, the story contains graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These wounds were felt across Hong Kong.
PATRICK CHOW, INJURED PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTER: This is the most pain area.
WALSH (voice-over): Patrick is one of a handful of protesters to be shot by police in this unrest. Yet his injuries sparked the last 10 days of extreme violence. A student, age 21, his voice is husky on the hospital breathing tubes.
WALSH: So you are missing a kidney?
CHOW: Yes, I am missing a kidney.
WALSH (voice-over): Chow is out on bail, faces possible court charges and is legally advised not to discuss how he came to be here.
In this graphic video that captures the shooting, Chow is in black.
WALSH: What did you think when you saw the pistol?
CHOW: It's ridiculous. We'd done nothing and he take out his gun and pointed, not point at me, pointed at a white guy, the white jacket guy.
And I said, why, why point at him?
He done nothing and we have done nothing. He point at me. And bang. And I fall -- and I am sit on the ground.
WALSH (voice-over): His father sits behind in support.
WALSH: Are you proud of what he did?
WALSH (voice-over): The police officer has gone on leave but been identified online by protesters, his children threatened. Police have said the officer had feared his gun would be snatched.
WALSH: What would you say to that policeman who shot you, if you saw him again?
CHOW: Why did you shoot the people with no weapons?
WALSH: Would you forgive him if he said to you he was scared?
CHOW: No, no. Never forgive. He took my kidney.
WALSH: Do you worry that the hate is here to stay now in Hong Kong?
CHOW: Hate has become more bigger in Hong Kong now but because it's the government and police. Police is -- they ignore the human rights. It makes their hate become bigger and bigger.
This generation has been chosen, so we have to keep fighting for our demands until we get what we want.
WALSH (voice-over): Demands and violence that daily drive further and further away from compromise -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Hong Kong.
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ALLEN: Next here, CNN travels to Florida to gauge reaction to the impeachment proceedings. You'll hear what the president's supporters have to say about it.
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ALLEN: The Iowa caucuses are rapidly approaching. February 3rd is the date. And contenders like Joe Biden are working the state hoping for a strong showing. Unlike his rivals, Biden has been thrust into the middle of the impeachment drama even though there is no evidence he did anything wrong regarding Ukraine.
With impeachment now likely heading to a Senate trial, a Republican senator is seeking government records on Biden and Ukraine.
Biden's response?
Do it.
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QUESTION: Lindsey Graham is asking the secretary of state for all your documents and contacts relating back to Ukraine in 2016.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, they can have all the documents. There is not a single person, not a single, solitary person in Ukraine or in Europe or in the IMF, the International Monetary Fund, or our allies, that said anything other than I carried out the policy without one single moment of hesitation of the United States government in dealing with corruption in Ukraine. And so -- but it does disappoint me.
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ALLEN: The impeachment drama in Washington has pretty much dominated the news cycle for the last couple of months. But you would never know it in the Florida Panhandle. That part of the state is solid Trump country. And many of his supporters there say they tuned out. CNN's Martin Savidge has our report.
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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Critics of President Trump may see the public impeachment hearings as damning and devastating for the president.
(on camera): But Trump supporters, not so much. This is the deeply red Panhandle in the key battleground state of Florida.
(voice-over): Trump voters we talked to say either they don't care or they aren't watching.
SAVIDGE (on camera): Have you been following the proceedings at all?
LAURA DUKES, REPUBLICAN VOTER: No, sir, I have not.
SAVIDGE (on camera): By choice?
DUKES: By choice.
ANDREW MCKAY, NEWSRADIO 92.3: Good morning, 7:18 here on NewsRadio 92.3 and AM 1620.
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SAVIDGE (voice-over): You won't find conservatives angrily vetting on local talk radio, not even a Trump firebrand, Congressman Matt Gaetz.
REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): The training helicopter issue is one of the --
SAVIDGE: He takes calls for half an hour and only gets two on impeachment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE CALLER: I want to see Congress get back to work on the people's business.
SAVIDGE: In Pensacola, pro- and anti-Trump protests draw fewer than 30 people, total.
What is history to others elsewhere is political ho-hum here.
JANE WILKINSON, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I did watch it the first day, a little bit.
SAVIDGE: She wasn't impressed. Instead, Jane Wilkinson was frustrated, calling the process biased and unfair.
WILKINSON: It's hard to watch it. In fact, I'm not watching it anymore.
DUKES: And I just think they're not going to change my mind, how I feel about him.
SAVIDGE: Whether it's an accusation of quid pro quo or bribery, no amount of witnesses or testimony, they say, will change their support for the president. CURRIN: It's just a political show. He hasn't done anything wrong. We've read all the information and we've looked at all the things that have occurred.
SAVIDGE: But, Democrat Bill Caplinger has been following the hearings closely. He's confident Trump voters will come around to what he sees as the president's crimes.
BILL CAPLINGER (ph), FLORIDA VOTER: Not all of them, but some of them.
SAVIDGE: Jane Wilkinson says Democrats shouldn't hold their breath.
WILKINSON: Well, for me, it's not going to change my opinion. But I feel like that is what they're thinking.
SAVIDGE: Stephen Ennis puts it in a nutshell why Trump supporters are so casual about impeachment. It's because they believe, for all the political sound and fury, in the end, none of it matters.
ENNIS: Democrats are obviously hell-bent to impeach the president and it's probably going to happen. It'll never go through in the Senate. The Senate will never vote that way. So it's just -- it's just a waste of time.
SAVIDGE: Instead of being angry about the impeachment hearings, Trump supporters I talked to seemed resigned to them, like the Mueller investigation. They say impeachment is something that they are forced to endure simply because they elected a president that others don't agree with -- Martin Savidge, CNN, Pensacola, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Back in Washington, the man leading the impeachment charge talked with CNN's Gloria Borger about what it is like to be the man behind the gavel.
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REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIR, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, it feels at times like being in the eye of the hurricane. You can never tell when you're going to step out of the eye into gale force winds.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is at the center of the storm leading a historic public inquiry on impeachment.
SCHIFF: I now recognize myself to give an opening statement in the impeachment inquiry into Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
It's of course much more intense now than ever before.
TRUMP: Shifty Schiff is --
BORGER: Anyone not living under a rock knows that Schiff is one of President Trump's favorite targets.
TRUMP: Little pencil neck.
BORGER: And he's not subtle about it on camera.
TRUMP: He should resign from office in disgrace. And, frankly, they should look at him for treason.
BORGER: And on Twitter.
SCHIFF: I can't even keep up with the president's Twitter attacks on me. My staff has stopped sending them to me. They're too numerous.
BORGER: You don't follow him on Twitter?
SCHIFF: I don't follow, no. I have more important things to do.
BORGER: Just months ago, Schiff was in the camp that believed impeachment was not a good idea.
FMR. REP. STEVE ISRAEL (D-NY): We've talked in depth about this.
BORGER: Steve Israel is a close Schiff friend and former Democratic colleague.
ISRAEL: Impeachment might have some consequences that would be harmful to the country, to the Democratic Party, to members of Congress.
But when the president engaged in this phone call with President Zelensky, that was a bridge too far for him.
SCHIFF: What made this a necessity for me and so many of my colleagues is that if the president believes that he can abuse his office, the power of that office, he can fail to defend our national security and there is no accountability, even if the accountability is only in the House, that's too dangerous a prospect to persist.
BORGER: Schiff came to Congress from his Los Angeles county district almost 20 years ago, a moderate Democrat who beat the Republican incumbent, a leader of the impeachment fight against Bill Clinton. How's that for irony?
SCHIFF: Mr. Rogan's priority has always been in engaging in these national partisan ideological crusades and ignoring the business at home in the district. And I don't think people value that.
BORGER: Schiff's Harvard Law classmate Karl Thurmond remembers a friend who knew where he wanted to go and how to get there.
KARL THURMOND, LAW SCHOOL CLASSMATE OF ADAM SCHIFF: I played quarterback. Adam played on the line for his team. And in one play, Adam literally ripped jersey off my back. And that's Adam.
And so, yes, he is very ambitious, he is very competitive, but not in a cut throat or a back stabbing way. He knew back then he wanted to get involved in politics.
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BORGER: Schiff served in the state Senate, but his greatest impact came as an assistant U.S. attorney when he prosecuted an FBI agent for selling secrets to the Russians.
SCHIFF: Well, it does feel at times like my life has come full circle.
BORGER: From a major role in the Republican-led 2014 Benghazi investigation to becoming chairman of the Intelligence Committee this year.
ISRAEL: What people don't understand about Adam is that he wanted to go on the Intelligence Committee for two principal reasons. Number one, it was bipartisan and number two, it was quiet.
And so I often say to him, how did that work out for you, buddy?
BORGER: Not as expected.
Just weeks ago House Republicans tried to censure him.
How did that feel? You have Republican friends or you used to.
SCHIFF: Well, I think my Republican colleagues finding they lacked the courage to stand up to this unethical president have consoled themselves by attacking those who do. And that's a sad reality, but it is where the House GOP is. Kevin McCarthy will do whatever Donald Trump asks him to do. He'll merely ask how high he wants McCarthy to jump and then McCarthy will jump.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): It's behind closed doors with a chairman who has lied three times to the American public looking them in the eye. And somehow we're supposed to trust what comes out of that.
BORGER: It's ugly and very personal. Illegitimate hearings, Republicans say, run by a partisan.
REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): It is a Soviet-style impeachment process.
REP. ELISE STEFANIK (R-NY): Chairman Schiff is unfit to chair the Intelligence Committee.
BORGER: The chairman is having none of it.
SCHIFF: For this president, they're going to destroy what America stands for in the world? They're going to countenance holding up aid or meetings or whatever to get help in the next election campaign, they're going to normalize that, rationalize that. They're going to honker down, put their heads in the sand about it. Where is people's sense of duty?
BORGER: If that sounds like a line out of a screen play, it could be. Schiff has written a few of his own and took some dramatic and controversial liberties in describing the president's phone call with the Ukrainian president.
SCHIFF: And I'm going to say this only seven times so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand lots of it.
BORGER: The performance turned into a political opening for Republicans, one in particular. TRUMP: Shifty Schiff is a double corrupt politician. He took my words on the phone call and they were so good, he totally changed them.
BORGER: Do you regret that way?
SCHIFF: No. I made it clear I was mocking the president. And just as clearly, the president doesn't like being mocked. But it was a mafia kind of organized crime shakedown. But I'm not surprised if the president wasn't attacking me about this, he'd be attacking me about something else.
BORGER: What's his mood like these days? How would you describe it?
ISRAEL: He's got some overwhelming responsibilities and they are on his shoulders. But he is excellent at relieving that burden with his humor. Look, he's got a goofy sense of humor that people don't see.
BORGER: Goofy is not a word people would use about.
ISRAEL: Well, he loves funny movies. Everybody knows that he can take you from the first word of "The Big Lebowski" to the final scene of "The Big Lebowski."
JEFF BRIDGES, ACTOR, "JEFF 'THE DUDE' LEBOWSKI": I'm The Dude, so that's what you call me, you know?
BORGER: Are there any words from The Dude that would apply to your life?
SCHIFF: I've been asked in the past. I'm not sure whether you can air this or not is another question.
What line from "The Big Lebowski" comes up most in political life and I have to say, it's the line, no, you're not wrong, you're just an (INAUDIBLE).
BORGER: Now that's a side of Adam Schiff you don't normally see.
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ALLEN: Our Jake Tapper will be talking with Schiff in just a few hours' time. "STATE OF THE UNION" starts at 9:00 am in New York, 2:00 pm in London. We hope you'll watch.
She inspired a masterpiece known as "The Weeping Woman," who was Picasso's muse. Coming up, we meet her.
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ALLEN: A girlfriend of embattled singer R. Kelly is speaking out about her relationship with the artist. In an online post, Joycelyn Savage accused R. Kelly of being controlling and manipulative. She says the singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly, would scream at her if she didn't obey his commands.
She writes, in part, "Robert likes to manipulate whoever he was in the room with, even down to his own assistant. He didn't care. Everyone was in it for a check so they didn't care, either."
Kelly faces multiple charges of sexual misconduct in state and federal court. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer responded to Savage's allegations and accused her of exploiting the relationship for profit.
Despite being a rising star in the 1930s, surrealist photographer Dora Maar was better known as Picasso's muse. Her talent was overshadowed by a brief relationship with the artist. It was during that time she inspired "The Weeping Woman." Now as Bianca Nobilo reports, a retrospective exhibit in London is giving Maar the recognition she has always longed for.
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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "I'm still too famous as Picasso's mistress to be accepted as a painter."
That's what surrealist photographer and artist Dora Maar once told a friend. Maar found success early after growing up between France and Argentina, she studied art in Paris and became a photographer.
She exhibited in major surrealist exhibitions of the '30s, alongside legendary figures like Man Ray, who captured this picture of her. But Dora Maar spent her later years rarely exhibiting and not in demand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's remembered largely for her surrealist photographs and photo montages. She's also remembered unfortunately but persistently for her brief relationship with Pablo Picasso.
NOBILO (voice-over): A muse of Picasso, "The New York Times" headline on her obituary reads. But now the most comprehensive retrospective of her art to date is challenging that narrative.
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NOBILO (voice-over): The exhibition opened this week at one of London's top art galleries before it heads to the U.S. in April.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no reason for this exhibition in the first five of them. You can see the depth of her output before she even met Picasso and the fact that she was a very accomplished professional in her own right.
NOBILO (voice-over): Her commercial work already hinted at innovation and surrealism. But her strong political convictions pushed her to document real life with street photography that captured magic in the everyday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're all seeing this exhibition as an opportunity not to completely downplay her years with Picasso but rather to use them in such a way as to investigate the way in which they influenced one another.
NOBILO (voice-over): And the two did collaborate. Picasso made his "Weeping Woman" series inspired by Dora Maar. She painted him, too, and extensively documented the making of his monumental work, "Guernica," his response to one of the worst atrocities of the Spanish civil war.
But now with work from across her six-decade career, displayed in unrivaled depth at London's Tate Modern, Dora Maar is getting the recognition she was denied in her lifetime -- Bianca Nobilo, CNN, London.
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ALLEN: Well, thank you so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. If you're joining us from the United States, "NEW DAY" is just ahead. If you're international viewer, I'll be right back with our top stories.
