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Democrat Rep. Brenda Lawrence Supports Impeachment After Saying "I Don't See The Value"; Subpoenas Suggest Feds Looking Into Giuliani's Business; Last Night's Texts & E-mails: What It's Like To Text With Giuliani; Alert 911 Dispatcher Recognizes Call For Pizza As Call For Help. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 26, 2019 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: But certainly tinged with a little bit of very real news and real happenings and, perhaps, his way of blowing off steam before he pardoned Butter.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Yes. Yes, somehow, working in Adam Schiff and Baghdadi there in the Turkey pardon.

Kate Bennett, thank you very much, at the White House.

BENNETT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let's get back to this. A Democrat congresswoman is walking back remarks about impeachment. Michigan's Brenda Lawrence told a radio show on Sunday that she didn't see the value of removing President Trump from office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BRENDA LAWRENCE (D-MI) (voice-over): We are so close to an election. I will tell you sitting here knowing how divided this country is, I don't see the value of taking him out of office.

UNIDENTIFIED RADIO HOST: Wow.

LAWRENCE: I want him censored. I want it on the record that the House of Representatives did their job and they told this president and any president coming behind him, that this is unacceptable behavior, and under our constitution, we will not allow it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, today, Congresswoman Lawrence issued this statement about the public impeachment hearings saying, quote, "The information revealed confirmed that this president has abused the power of his office, therefore, I continue to support impeachment. However I am very concerned about Senate Republicans and the fact they would find this behavior by the president acceptable."

With me now, Hilary Rosen, a Democratic strategy.

And nice to see you, Hilary.

Who do you think got to her? Speaker Pelosi?

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think she probably -- any one of her colleagues of Michigan, all who support impeachment.

This is emblematic of the tore carry that a lot of Democrats are feeling across the House, which is that they are spending all of this time and a lot of emotional energy on this impeachment and all they hear from Republican Senators is, nope, we're not going to do anything. We don't care what the facts say.

They experienced that in the hearings from their House Republican colleagues and it's discouraging they are hearing I from their Senate Republican colleagues. So --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Might it also be emblematic how other Democrats are feeling? Not optimistic where this impeachment is heading? For their party?

ROSEN: I think what we saw when Nancy Pelosi and the House leadership decided to pursue impeachment was a huge reluctance to do this. I think we saw that from a significant portion of House members. Even the ones most aggressively in favor of impeachment didn't really want to do this.

They want to focus on everything else that matters to country but they did it because they felt they had a duty to the public, a duty to their office, uphold the constitution to not led a president abuse his office. They all come to this. Ambivalent about this, we would much rather talk about other things.

BALDWIN: New CNN polls are in showing all the public hearings didn't move the needle much on public support for impeachment. Since October, numbers the same. 50 percent in favor. 43 percent against it. Why do you think there was no change? Some of that testimony was pretty compelling.

ROSEN: The testimony was compelling, but, you know, unlike what we've seen in the past, honestly, I hate to put it this way, but Republicans had zero compunction to lie.

So what I think, too often, the American people saw was sort of a he said/she said and didn't pay enough attention to actually what the witnesses were saying.

I do think the Republican defense of, you know, obfuscate, deny, lie, actually had an impact.

And having said that, I think that the support for keeping Trump in office for a minority of the country but a significant portion of the country is baked in.

And that, you know, we laughed during the campaign when he said, laugh with horror, I could walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and no one would care who supports me, and I think we have seen that come to pass.

BALDWIN: Hilary Rosen, thank you so much. Nice to you have on.

ROSEN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: As a subpoena shows that prosecutors are looking into Rudy Giuliani's businesses, my next guest explains his surreal communication habits.

[14:34:34]

Plus, 36 years behind bars for a murder they did not commit. Hear why these three men were freed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Federal prosecutors are moving in on President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani's consulting businesses, expanding their investigation.

Giuliani says he has not heard from prosecutors and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But prosecutors reportedly are closely looking into Giuliani's firm and two indicted associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, as part of their investigation into those two men.

A grand jury seen, seen by CNN, indicates the central charges of money laundering, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, acting of unregistered federal agent, the list goes on.

Parnas and Fruman were arrested trying to leave the country and indicted on charges of abusing a shell company to funnel campaign donations to a pro-Trump super PAC. They have pleaded not guilty.

[14:40:05]

Rudy Giuliani, meantime, is seen as a central figure in the whole impeachment inquiry and made himself oddly accessible to the media throughout the process.

So when he's not butt-dialing reporters, true, or leaving accidental voicemails railing against the Bidens, which actually happened, Giuliani prefers responding directly.

Olivia Nuzzi is a Washington correspondent for "New Yorker" magazine. She's been on the receiving end of many of text and many an hour of the day according to your piece.

I mean, you write what it's like texting with Giuliani. Did you tell him you'd be writing a piece? And showing the texts?

OLIVIA NUZZI, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "THE NEW YORKER" MAGAZINE: I was inspired after a series of unusual interactions with Mayor Giuliani. And I learned that many other reporters communicate with him this way, receive all manner of colorful messages from him at all times of the day and night. I just think it's a very unusual feature of an international political

scandal to have one of these central figures so accessible to anybody seemingly who wants to talk to him.

I see on Twitter all the time people who aren't even contacting him for reporting but sometimes just contacting him to yell at him and he engages with them. I don't think we've ever really seen that before. Certainly not at the level he communicates as often as he does in this American political scandal.

BALDWIN: What is texting with him like?

NUZZI: It's an adventure. You never really know what you're going to get. Sometimes he engages.

I spoke to one reporter who said they found that you really have to try and push his buttons to get him to respond. He's much more chatty that way. I think it just depends on what your contacting him about and whether or not he feels like talking.

BALDWIN: I didn't even realize you could like your own texts. This is a thing he does often.

NUZZI: The more you know. Truly. He likes his own texts. Probably the only person I communicate with who uses that feature seemingly earnestly. And sometimes seems as if he's doing that instead of responding for efficiency. Other times, it's not really clear why he's doing it.

Many other White House reporters I spoke to deal with the same thing when it comes to how he reacts to questions that are asked of him and we're all trying to sift through this.

He's a resource, and it's an interesting way to try and get information, but it's what we have to do.

BALDWIN: And I'm sure you're grateful he has been so accessible. There's also a conversation, you point it out in your piece, there's been a lot of, what happened to Rudy Giuliani? But you quote his good friend, Bernard Kerik, assuring you he is razor sharp. How did he defend him?

NUZZI: He said he's kind of back to his old prosecutorial self. If you hang out with Giuliani, he does a couple times a week you see no difference how he behaves now and has always behaved at police commissioner who has known him a very long time. Had an up and down relationship but very close to him.

Others I spoke to who have known him a long time were less confident. Pretty concerned. Said they've noticed somewhat of a decline over the last several years.

And when you look at the people who he's been associating with now a part of this scandal, the people who were indicted, doing business in Ukraine, some people say it's been a concern among those that cared about him for a long time. He's associated with people who perhaps don't have his best interests at heart and not really vetting those around him.

It wasn't a surprise to some people who are close to him to see this play out as it has.

BALDWIN: You and your whole piece quoting one White House reporter in this, this person said to you, "Almost no point in talking to him, he is objectively newsworthy and in a position of great power."

So last question, Olivia, are you still texting with Rudy Giuliani?

NUZZI: I am still trying to. I think he got irritated with me over something I wrote about Joe Biden and sent me an angry text in the middle of the night. We haven't recovered yet but I'm hopeful. I'm an optimist.

BALDWIN: Glass-half full kind of gal. Like it.

Olivia Nuzzi, thank you.

NUZZI: Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Same to you.

[14:44:22]

A woman calls 911. She's calling to report domestic violence but tells the dispatcher she needs to order a pizza. But the man is able to crack the code and sends help. The whole story, thanks to him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now to a 911 call that could have easily been disconnected when the caller ordered a pizza. The 911 operator did not hang up. He stayed on the line, somehow recognizing she was asking for help in code. And it's amazing he did. Listen to this for yourself.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

TIM TENEYCK, 911 DISPATCHER: 911?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to order a pizza at -- dial tone.

TENEYCK: You called 911 to order a pizza?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, apartment --

TENEYCK: This is the wrong number to call for a pizza.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. No, no, no, you're not listening.

[14:50:09]

TENEYCK: I'm am getting you now.

The guy still there? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I need a large pizza.

TENEYCK: All right. How about medical. You need medical?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. With pepperoni.

TENEYCK: Turn your sirens off before you get there. Caller ordered a pizza and agreed with everything I said. There's domestic violence going on.

(END AUDIO FEED)

BALDWIN: Police arrested this man and charged him with domestic violence. He's the boyfriend of the caller's mother.

The 911 dispatcher's voice you heard belongs to Tim TenEyck, with me now.

Tim --

(APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN: -- bravo, sir. Well done. Well done.

TENEYCK: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Obviously, sounded like a wrong number or a prank call. How did you know something wasn't right?

TENEYCK: She insisted she want to stay with ordering the pizza and was not acknowledging that she was talking to a 911 operator. I knew something was wrong.

It's nothing special. It's nothing that any other dispatcher doesn't have the capability of understanding.

In our small jurisdiction, I was able to stick with the call. All it was. Nothing special. Dispatchers do it across the country.

The only difference, pepperoni pizza is not a code word. It's not universal that that's the code word for domestic violence. That's false.

BALDWIN: Let me just say it is special. I hear you and I appreciate your humility.

But the fact you picked up on that, that there was an eventual arrest. When you're on the phone and she wants this pepperoni pizza, what did you think was happening on the other end?

TENEYCK: Probably close to half if not more than our 911 calls are false calls. They're pocket dials or someone complaining of -- they think they're ordering a pizza. A lot are false calls and, of course, that was my first thought.

But we are all trained to listen and see if something else was going on. In this case, there was something else going on. And I was able to pick up on it and follow through.

We follow through on every 911 call. It's not unusual to stay on the phone and just to make sure nothing's going on. It's what we all do.

BALDWIN: You have been doing this for 14 years. You were just telling me commercial break, you're two days away from your anniversary. Have you ever gotten, in all your years, Tim, a call like this?

TENEYCK: No. This was the first one. And I've never heard of anyone else getting a code -- coded pizza, pepperoni domestic code call. Never heard of it. Plenty of other calls and they're all different. No. First one to order a pizza that wanted police assistance.

BALDWIN: And then you referred this obviously to police. How did you know to relay the message?

TENEYCK: Well, during the phone call, when she pretty much agreed with me, you can read it between the lines, she agreed there was domestic violence going on. Once she did that, I immediately notified officers and sent them going code three, which is no lights and sirens.

Knowing the suspect in the house, probably does not know she's called the police, I asked them to turn off their sirens as to not to spook him. Maybe he would escalate the situation or flee or in any way harm anybody else in the house. They could go up, knock on the door and ask or tell them, hey, your pizza's here and resolve the situation with no violence and nobody hurt.

That's the goal, to make sure everybody's safe.

BALDWIN: Incredibly astute of you.

So often 911 dispatchers don't get the praise they deserve. I hear you saying you're not special and anyone would have done this.

But what do you want people to know when they have an emergency and need to call people like you, 911?

TENEYCK: You have to know the location. If you don't know where you're at, we pretty much can't help you. If it's life-or-death, we need to know where you're at. Know your address. Know your location.

Today's cell phones, a lot of them don't give us your location. They'll just give us GPS coordinates. That takes time to look that up on the map, find out where you're at. Even if you're there, because sometimes they go a cell tower. You have to know your location.

BALDWIN: Know your location and know you are all have backs.

Tim TenEyck, bravo. Bravo. Thank you.

TENEYCK: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Let's continue on here. More on our breaking news this afternoon.

House Judiciary Democrats are announcing their first impeachment hearing for next week. Hear who has been invited.

[14:54:44]

Plus, as the backlash grows against the president's intervention in war crime prosecution, one former Navy secretary makes an extraordinary statement, saying the president and the military don't share the same values. He joins me live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We continue on. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Top of the hour.

We now know the date of he first impeachment hearing in which the White House gets a chance to participate. The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first public session. It will be Wednesday after Thanksgiving, December 4th, just three weeks before Democrats' self-imposed deadline of voting on impeachment by Christmas.

[15:00:02]

And these Judiciary members could use a new court ruling in their favor.