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Pete Buttigieg Struggling with Minority Voters; Jimmy Carter Released from Hospital Two Weeks After Brain Operation; Anonymous Trump Administration Official Pledges to Reveal Identity Soon; Kurdish Civilians Struggle to Survive After Turkish Offensive. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 27, 2019 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: -- voters particularly in South Carolina, an early state, get to know him. Part of the thing is he's a mayor of a medium sized city who was unknown before this race and he's a young guy. He's a millennial. He's still going to have to let people get to know him.

And then finally there's been this discussion about whether more conservatives, southern voters, more conservative black voters, particularly in South Carolina, will vote for an openly gay candidate. I do think he is making progress in that area. The question is, how can he close that gap between now and the South Carolina primary?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. We had the Democratic whip Clyburn refer to those questions as well.

Final question just very quickly. Of course, we should have the normal caveat here. The state-by-state polling really drives things in the early weeks in the campaign as compared with the national polling.

SWERDLICK: That's right. Yes, national polling is a measure of how well these candidates are doing among their party overall. But when we get to the general, particularly the states that I think are going to matter are those upper Midwest states, Wisconsin, Michigan, maybe Ohio, Pennsylvania, obviously a mid-Atlantic state. That's where this election is going to ultimately be fought. These candidates have to show that they can play in those states.

Can I just go back to Buttigieg for one second, Jim? I just have to clarify something I said, which is that, you know, we don't have time for it now. But I do think there is room for Buttigieg --

SCIUTTO: Right.

SWERDLICK: -- as an openly gay candidate to woo and persuade black voters. I just don't know that he has done it yet.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Understood. David Swerdlick, thanks very much, as always. SWERDLICK: Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: The anonymous senior Trump administration official behind the infamous tell-all book is now pledging to, quote, "unmask," eventually. The new warning he or she just gave the White House next.

[10:35:00]

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SCIUTTO: This just into CNN, we're getting an update on the health of the former president Jimmy Carter. He has been recovering in the hospital following a procedure to remove pressure on his brain after a fall in his home. Now we are hearing he has been released after more than two weeks there.

CNN's Nick Valencia is live in the president's hometown of Plains, Georgia.

Nick, certainly a relief. Can you tell us what we know about his condition and when he'll be home?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, some good news here for the Carters just before Thanksgiving holiday. He will be able to spend that Thanksgiving holiday at home being released from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after being there for more than two weeks, as you mentioned, Jim, for a procedure on his brain to relieve pressure on his brain. That pressure caused by a series of recent falls that the former president has suffered.

And I want to read a part of the statement released just moments ago by the Carter Center, saying, "He and Mrs. Carter look forward to enjoying Thanksgiving at home." They add that they're thankful for the prayers, card and notes they received and hope everyone will enjoy -- will join them and enjoying a special Thanksgiving.

The former president suffering a series of medical setbacks in recent years, including a bout with cancer, which he survived. If you remember, Jim, he had to have hip replacement surgery. He had another fall which required 14 stitches above his eye but that didn't stop him from participating in a home build for Habitat for Humanity.

It was earlier this morning that we spoke to the mayor of Plains, Georgia, and he's concerned that the former president will push himself when he comes back home. He is 95 years old, turned 95 earlier this year. A lot of people here in his hometown very thankful that he's finally out of the hospital and will be able to spend Thanksgiving at home -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, 95, the oldest living former U.S. president once held by George H. W. Bush.

VALENCIA: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Late 2018 turned 94. Of course the late George H. W. Bush.

Nick Valencia, Plains, Georgia, thanks very much.

Well, the anonymous senior Trump administration official who first wrote an op-ed and now a book about the inner workings of the White House and efforts to check the president is now pledging to come forward and tell more. The anonymous author telling Reddit users, "I will not keep my identity shrouded in secrecy forever. Donald Trump has not heard the last from me. There is more to come. Other people who are currently serving, and who have left, are also considering adding their voices before votes are cast in 2020."

Neither CNN nor Reddit can verify this was anonymous but the book agent confirmed to CNN's Josh Campbell that it was.

With me now Sahil Kapur, political reporter for Bloomberg, Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for McClatchy D.C.

Thanks to both of you guys for coming on here.

Sahil, tell me about the level of concern the White House should have about not just one official standing in the way of the president, criticizing the president's internal workings, decision making, but the possibility of others coming forward.

SAHIL KAPUR, POLITICAL REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Well, in a sense, Jim, what this anonymous official is doing is playing into the White House's narrative that there is some sort of a deep state, quote- unquote, "resistance" to the president. And, you know, they have called his book a work of fiction. They've called this person a coward for not standing up publicly.

The real question is who speaks out and do they do so publicly? Do they unveil information that can be corroborated independently? I mean, I think of the contrast between what anonymous is doing which is essentially stitching things together that are generally known about the president. You know, the advisers are alarmed by his tweets, that they think he's impetuous and impulsive, with what the whistleblower for instance did which is unveil a very tangible and specific case of wrongdoing that has now become a huge story. So it really depends on who comes out and what they say.

SCIUTTO: Well, we do know, do they not, though, Francesca, that there are other indications of senior officials in this administration who attempted to stand in the way of the president's decision? Gary Cohn famously saying that they took documents off the president's desk.

[10:40:05]

Jim Mattis before he stepped down in protest resisted as best he could some of the president's decisions regarding military policy here. Is there concern about there being substance to this genuine disagreement and alarm at the president's decision-making inside the administration?

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, MCCLATCHY DC: And Jim, more recently, we heard from Nikki Haley that she was approached by John Kelly and Rex Tillerson and asked to help stand against the president to keep him from doing things that they thought would be detrimental. So this repeats a pattern that we have heard from former administration officials about what was going on in the White House. And the White House has said about the anonymous book that not only was it a total work of fiction, as Sahil said, but it's also full of lies.

And the reason for that is if the person would come forward and have said these things, then they could rebut it. But by staying behind closed doors it shows that it's lies. Well, if this person comes forward as they say now that they could and put their name on it, if this person ends up being a senior -- a high level senior official it'll be much harder for the White House to make that argument. But until we know who that person is, it's a lot tougher case to make.

SCIUTTO: OK. Other issue, of course, House Judiciary now has its hearing date for one week from today. This is where the Judiciary Committee will begin possibly drawing up Articles of Impeachment.

You know the politics of this, Sahil. Republicans heard all that public testimony. It doesn't appear that a single Republican vote was moved. You go to the Judiciary Committee. Will that change the political dynamic?

KAPUR: Well, Jim, as you know, the polls are pretty constant on this. The CNN polls before and after the hearings show no real change, but they do show dangers for the president in that 50 percent of the country believes that the president should be impeached and removed. That's much more than the -- I think the low 40s support or opposition to impeachment and removal.

House Democrats believe they have an airtight case here. They believe the evidence of wrongdoing is clear and compelling. And the timeline, at this point, it's not decided yet but the timeline puts them on course to wrap up impeachment by Christmas. They believe that if this evidence does not convince Republicans then there is no amount of evidence that could come out, no more information that could come out that would.

And they believe that this is a matter of the president, you know, abusing his power, withholding aid that was passed by Congress to extort an ally into helping him politically on a domestic matter. So they'll look at the evidence. They'll look at what articles to pursue and I think decisions having been made as to whether it will be simply about Ukraine or whether they'll bring in other issues like obstruction of justice.

SCIUTTO: Yes. You know, Francesca, what you hear when I speak to Democratic lawmakers, I'm sure you as well, there is a certain amount of resignation here, is that they're not going to move Republican votes. And that their -- you know, their argument essentially is we have to hold the president to account regardless of the political outcome. But there are genuine political dangers, are there not, particularly for swing state Democrats running in 2020?

CHAMBERS: And that's what the White House is counting on is that Democrats will lose support from at least five to 10 of those Democratic lawmakers. So they're still not entirely convinced that this will go to the Senate. They're hopeful that as Democrats are in their districts this week and some of those swing states, and those moderate districts that they'll hear from constituents who do not want this impeachment to go forward. So we'll have to wait until a potential vote is held to see if the White House is right about that.

But currently they're making contingency plans for if that happens and it moves to the Senate, then that's when the president says, OK. You should haul in Hunter Biden, you should haul in Joe Biden. Let's bring in all the people that we never got a chance to bring in before when this was in the House.

SCIUTTO: Sahil, Francesca, we hope you both get a holiday. Don't let your editors call you the next couple of days.

CHAMBERS: Thank you.

KAPUR: Happy Thanksgiving, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Have a nice day.

It's a struggle for survival in Syria. CNN's Clarissa Ward went there to learn what life is like for the Kurds who say they've been betrayed and abandoned by President Trump.

[10:45:00]

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SCIUTTO: Less than two months ago, a phone call between President Trump and the Turkish President Erdogan resulted in U.S. troops being summarily withdrawn from the Syrian-Turkish border, from all of Syria, that paved the way for a Turkish military operation against Kurdish forces.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward spoke to Kurdish civilians still reeling from the devastation, the deaths that followed that withdrawal and many of those Kurds blamed the U.S. president for betraying them. Clarissa joins us now live from northern Iraq.

This created this decision, an enormous amount of outrage here in the U.S. from Democrats and Republicans, but on the ground is where they felt it most. And I imagine you've been hearing that there.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Jim. You know, we were actually there when that Turkish military incursion began as bombs started falling down on the town of Ras al-Ayn and basically we wanted to go back to get a sense nearly two months later of how people are faring, how they are faeling. What we found is a sense of betrayal, a sense of bitterness. That certainly hasn't gone away. And what continues to deteriorate is the humanitarian situation. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): Class should be in session now. But here in Hasakah, the school has become a temporary shelter for displaced people.

[10:50:06]

In one classroom, we meet Ibrahim Hassan. The Kurdish father of five tells us he was forced to flee his home in Ras al-Ayn with his children when the Turkish military operation began.

This is what remains of his house. Ibrahim says it is one of many in his Kurdish neighborhood that was deliberately ransacked by Turkish- backed forces.

IBRAHIM HASSAN, DISPLACED SYRIAN KURD (through translator): They took everything and after they took all our belongings, they set it on fire, burned it all.

WARD: Just days before the offensive began, Ibrahim's children had posed smiling with U.S. troops patrolling the area. He says America's presence gave him a false sense of security. Then suddenly they were gone.

HASSAN (through translator): Since America betrayed us, every time I look at these photos of my children with the Americans, I want to erase them.

WARD (on camera): Do you feel that you trust the Americans still? (Speaking in foreign language).

HASSAN: (Speaking in foreign language).

WARD: Definitely not.

HASSAN (through translator): Now we hear and we see on television America saying that they're only here for the oil. Why did Trump do this? You've betrayed all of the people.

WARD (voice-over): It's a sentiment we found shared by many here. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced by Turkey's offensive. Hundreds of their homes have been damaged or looted. Local authorities are now trying to move them out of the schools so that class can start again. And into hastily-built camps like this one, conditions are bleak and resources are scarce.

Because of the security situation international aid agencies have had to pull out, leaving the Kurds with no one to rely on but themselves.

(On camera): So she's saying it's really difficult here because it's very cold, especially at night. They don't have enough food. They don't have electricity and the water is not good.

(Voice-over): Camp organizers say there are 3,000 people living here now with more arriving every day.

(On camera): Almost everyone in this camp is from the town of Ras al- Ayn and Ras al-Ayn used to be around 75 percent Kurdish. Now, though, we're told there are just a handful of Kurds left and the people here believe that the ultimate goal of this Turkish offensive to essentially push the Kurds out of this area completely and change the ethnic makeup of it forever.

(Voice-over): Turkey has done little to alleviate their fears. As the Kurds have poured out of these areas, Arabs have been bussed in. Syrian refugees who Turkish authorities claim are originally from these areas.

After more than eight years of civil war, this part of Syria is full of stories of people forcibly displaced. In the Christian village of Tal Nasr we find more families from Ras al-Ayn sheltering in the ruins of a destroyed church.

Will you try to go home, I asked these women. There is no home to go to, they reply. ISIS cleansed this area of Christians when it was in control. They have yet to return. Now the village provides refuge for another people, forced from their homes with no sense of a possible return.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD: Now, the stated goal of this Turkish military operation, Jim, was to create a so-called safe zone, 20 miles deep across the Syrian- Turkish border. But I can tell you based on what we saw during our week in northern Syria, based on conversations we've been having with people on the ground, it doesn't feel very safe in that safe zone. There are regular violations of the ceasefire and very troubling, a number of car bombings just yesterday afternoon. In that town of Ras al-Ayn, 17 people killed -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Now, Clarissa, the fact is some U.S. troops are back on the ground in Syria now guarding those oil fields, even conducting counter-terror operations, I wonder if that redeployment as it were is calming some nerves among the Kurds.

WARD: I mean, there is definitely a sense, Jim, with the Kurds that they understand that they do need the U.S. and they'll take what they can get. And they're happy, yes, absolutely. That operations are resuming, anti-ISIS operations with Kurdish and U.S. forces that some forces are going to be deployed to protect the oil. But overall, I think there is a broader sense as well, that maybe this is a day late and a dollar short.

[10:55:04]

They feel that they have been betrayed, they feel disappointed. And they don't feel that they can rely on America's word in the long term -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: You hear from U.S. military as well.

Clarissa Ward, great to have you on the ground there. Thanks very much.

Coming up, new revelations about what President Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint and more importantly when he knew it.

I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me. A very Happy Thanksgiving to your families. "AT THIS HOUR" starts next.

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