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Clock Is Ticking On Two Crucial Decisions For President Trump; Joe Biden Will Be Ticking Off His Biggest Effort Yet To Win The Crucial State Of Iowa; NFL Has Suspended Arizona Cardinal Defensive Back Josh Shaw. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired November 30, 2019 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:16] ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alex Marquardt in for Ana Cabrera here in New York.

The clock is ticking on two crucial decisions for President Trump. Tomorrow there's a 6:00 p.m. deadline for the White House to decide if they will first take part in the first House Judiciary Committee hearing which is happening on Wednesday, December 4th.

And then committee chairman Jerry Nadler has thrown down another (INAUDIBLE), by Friday at 5:00 p.m. the President has to decide whether he and his lawyers will participate in any impeachment proceedings hearings as the committee weighs its decision.

Now, this maybe a hard choice for President who has called these proceedings illegitimate, a hoax and a stunt, as well as attacking career diplomats who testified. But if he ultimately chooses not to participate, does he risk missing an opportunity to make his own case?

CNN White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond is with the President where he has been spending his thanksgiving holiday in mar-a-Lago.

Jeremy, are you getting any indication of what the White House's plans are for the President?

JEREMEY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Alex, as you mentioned, there are those two key deadlines that we are tracking. There is one of those coming tomorrow and then one later in the week. So far the White House has not made a final decision on either of those deadlines as far as whether or not they will send lawyers.

The deadline tomorrow is about this hearing on Wednesday. And so far our sources have indicated to us that the White House is leaning against sending lawyers to that first impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

The question though is really more about this bigger impeachment deadline on Friday, about whether the President or his attorneys will participate in any of the House judiciary committees impeachment hearings before they are expected to draft those articles of impeachment. And on that front an administration official has told us that they are reviewing the letter from the chairman from that committee but they have not yet made a final decision.

As you mentioned, Alex, the President has criticized this impeachment process. And he has complained about the fact he has not been able to have any lawyers participate in the impeachment proceedings thus far. Initially, those of course were in the intelligence committee.

And so now the question is, will he send an attorney and legitimize these proceedings that he has criticized as a hoax and as scam or not and then face the criticism of not following through on his own criticisms of the fact that the Democrats were not allowing him a voice in these impeachment proceedings So that is what we are watching.

Either way, Alex, the President will not be in town when the House Judiciary Committee convenes its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday. The President will be traveling in London where he is attending a NATO summit.

MARQUARDT: And Jeremy, do you get the sense any of this decision hinges on what is in the intelligence committee's report? Let's remind viewers that what's going to happen now is the intelligence committee is going to put out a report of its finding of the eight- week investigation that it carried out and then hands that off to the Judiciary Committee which will use that as a guide. We have not seen that report yet. Do you think, Jeremy, that that will affect the President's decision about these two deadlines?

DIAMOND: You know, I don't think that that's the central consideration for the White House, mainly because the White House has a sense, as does most of the public who's been following these proceedings, of what's going to be in this intelligence committee report. It's going to summarize the central allegations against the President as Jerry Nadler said. It is going to talk about the President seeking foreign interference in our election at the expense of our national interest over the course of several months.

This has all been borne out in public testimony in those depositions, hundreds of pages of transcripts that our teams in CNN have been pouring through. So we really do know what those central allegations are. And we are expecting now the intelligence committee to release that report in the next coming days.

And again, as you said, it will certainly serve as a roadmap for the members on the House Judiciary Committee. I just don't necessarily think it's going to impact the White House's thinking on whether or not they participate in these proceedings.

MARQUARDT: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thanks for breaking that all down for us.

Jeremy Diamond in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Joining me now to discuss all this and more, our senior political analyst and senior editor for "the Atlantic" Ron Brownstein and CNN political commentator and senior columnist at the "daily Beast" Matt Lewis. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me. I want to start with

this dramatic testimony that happened before the house intelligence committee. Next week they are going to take stock of that testimony in the Judiciary Committee. And what we see there, at least in terms of the theatrics and the optics is going to be quite a bit different.

At this first hearing on Wednesday, they are going to bring in legal scholars to discuss the historical and constitutional basis of impeachment. And in fac, "the Daily Beast" quoted one staffer as saying the committee is determined to keep the proceedings as dull as possible.

So Matt, to you first, how much of these proceedings if what Jeremy says is true, that we know what came out of the intelligence committee, how much of these proceedings in the Judiciary Committee, Matt, are about checking a box versus actually getting something done in this impeachment process?

[15:05:19] MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that probably the cake is baked, so to speak, right. I think that if you are kind of paying attention to the details here, it's pretty clear that the President has reached a standard where I think impeachment -- he is worthy of impeachment.

But if you are Donald Trump and Republicans, you don't really -- that's not really your game. I don't think it really benefits you to go in there and try to make a case that Donald Trump didn't do something worthy of impeachment. What they are going to do is really try to discredit everything and try to say, yes, well, but he did some bad things, but you know, aid was ultimately not withhold. And Ukraine ultimately didn't launch an investigation so no harm, no foul.

MARQUARDT: Right.

LEWIS: So I think the Democrats are going through the motions right now. They are going to do, you know, the paperwork they need to do to have this in order. And I think Donald Trump and Republicans will probably steer clear.

MARQUARDT: But Democrats really do, Matt, need or at least during the intelligence committee hearings Americans to tune in so they could see them -- they could see the Democrats making their case. Do you get the sense Democrats need American viewers to tune into these hearings and will they if they are more boring and more academic?

LEWIS: I don't think -- I think that Democrats in the last several weeks did what they needed to do. I don't know that it was Oliver North level of interest. But they had, you know, solid witnesses who testified. They made their case. I don't think there's a lot of hope of having a huge ratings blockbuster this week. I don't think they are even going to try that.

MARQUARDT: MARQUARDT: Right. Ron, speaker Nancy Pelosi sent quite a strong message when she sidelined the chairman of the judiciary committee Jerry Nadler in favor of chairman Adam Schiff of the intelligence committee. There were multiple reports that Pelosi was critical of how Nadler had handled the hearings during the Mueller probe. Those famously included congressman Steve Cohen showing up with a bucket of KFC and a chicken to mock attorney general Bill Barr for not showing up that day.

But Ron, now that the spotlight is back on him and back on his committee, what do you expect to see?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think there's a very limited but potentially important role for the Judiciary Committee here. As you say, I think most Democrats are very satisfied with the way the decision to shift the primary focus of the intelligence committee. I mean, I don't think Democrats felt the hearings could have gone any better.

But there is still an opportunity to move public opinion. And I say that because there is a consistent gap. The share of people of Americans who say that the President did something wrong until Ukraine, that he was pursuing his personal interest, not the national interest, or that he has been doing something wrong, that has always been several points higher than the share who say he should be impeach and remove from office.

I don't know how much, Alex, room there is to increase that number on impeachment or removal both because by historic standards are already quite high, roughly 50 percent with Bill Clinton, never got above a third and also because the country is so deeply divided about Trump. Nothing moves much.

But if there is an opportunity to move that number, it isn't getting more of the people who said he did something wrong to agree that it crosses the boundary of high crimes and misdemeanors and that really is the opportunity of these hearings, to kind of show Americans what the line in the sand is and then make the case this behavior crosses it.

MARQUARDT: And this is really where things get complicated for the White House. They of course as we said have until tomorrow night to tell the Judiciary Committee whether President Trump or his lawyers will show up to participate in the first hearing on Wednesday. It wouldn't be the President as Jeremy said, he will be away. It will be his lawyers. And then the other deadline on Friday whether he will take the proceeding at all. But this is what we have heard up until now from the President. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There was no due process. You can't have lawyers. We couldn't have any witnesses.

They are not allowed to ask a question because it is (INAUDIBLE). We have no lawyers. We can't question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So Matt, how does that argument hold up if they turn down these offers to participate? LEWIS: It won't hold up but it doesn't matter. It's all -- you are

going to argue whatever benefits you today. Remember, Republicans were arguing how horrible it was that they were having those, you know, behind-closed-doors secret hearings. And then once they started having public hearings they started arguing, this is horrible, this showboating, this should be behind closed doors.

So I think Trump will decide that they should not send lawyers. It will be completely hypocritical as you pointed out. But I think the move is to not lend any credence. You don't want to legitimize this. It should look like a partisan affair where zero Republicans participate. And you will just see the spin change. And it will be memory hold will forget. Everyone will forget what we heard last week. There will be a new message this week.

[15:10:21] MARQUARDT: As we move forward in these hearings, of course we are comparing them to the Nixon and Clinton impeachment hearings.

Ron, you wrote a piece for CNN.com about Trump's prospects in 2020 after possible impeachment. And you looked back at those two examples, 19756 and 2000. What did you find?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, it is interesting. Because, I mean, obviously the public reaction to those two impeachments were very different. I mean, in Nixon's case, support for impeachment grew during the process and crossed 50 percent only in the very last poll before he resigned in August' 74. But it did cross 50 percent.

In Clinton's case impeachment didn't move the numbers at all. I mean, two-thirds of Americans opposed impeachment when it started. And two- thirds imposed impeachment when the House actually to do it in December 1998.

What's interesting, though, is that despite that desperate beginning, it kind of ended up in the same place in the next election. In each election that followed, in 1976 and 2000, the party that pursue the impeachment won the White House. And they won it behind a candidate who offered himself in effect as an antidote to the underlying scandal.

I mean, Jimmy Carter in 1976 after a Watergate ran on honesty and restoring his quote "a government is as good as the American people." George W. Bush as may remember in 2000 after the Monica Lewinsky ran on restoring honor and decency to the oval office.

And that says to me is that whatever happens in this impeachment and however the public reacts to it immediately, it is going to change the backdrop for 2000. And I think it does provide an opportunity for a Democratic to kind of run on a return to normalcy argument of just less drama, less turmoil, less volatility, less confrontation in the same way that Carter ran on honesty in 1976 and Bush ran on decency in 2000.

MARQUARDT: And Matt, last question to you. This President is unique in many ways. He has defied every political norm. And he has latched on to a new message like this one. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You know some people want to change the name Thanksgiving. They don't want to use the term thanksgiving. And that was true also with Christmas. But now everybody is using Christmas again. People have different ideas why it shouldn't be called thanksgiving but everybody in this room I know loves the name and we're not changing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: There's no war on thanksgiving. No one is saying that there is a war in thanksgiving. But Matt, if he can go out on the campaign trail and invent imaginary wars like this one in thanksgiving, what does that tell us about the next year ahead of the election in November?

LEWIS: It's very powerful. Politics is down street from culture. And culture, if you look at what pops on the internet or twitter, it's not about the tax code or you know. It's about culture war issues, what's Nike doing? You know, the Betsy Ross thing? That will drive people who don't like Donald Trump but they are part of his tribe. They are coming to get us. They are coming to take away our thanksgiving, got to go vote for Trump. If he does that for the next, you know, 11 months, it will be hard to beat him. And I think it is going to be.

BROWNSTEIN: But the price of that, real quick, the price of that is that, you know, the fundamental dividing line in politics is between those who do welcome the changes remaking American and those who oppose it. The problem he has got is that all, you know, inside of metro America where you have a diverse white collar information age economy developing, Republicans are getting (INAUDIBLE). We can see the biggest divide ever between metro and non-metro America in 2020. And we will see which side is bigger.

MARQUARDT: All right. Gents, we have got to leave it there.

Thank you so much for your time Ron Brownstein and Matt s. We will have you back very soon. Thank you very much.

LEWIS: Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Alex.

MARQUARDT: All right. Well, coming up, Biden's no malarkey bus tour. A former vice president and presidential tour kicks off a major tour in Iowa, but will it be enough after polls show him trailing the competition in that state?

Plus new developments in the London attack and the heroic acts of bystanders who likely prevented more deaths.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM:

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:17:59] MARQUARDT: Moments from now Joe Biden will be ticking off his biggest effort yet to win the crucial state of Iowa. It's an eight-day blitz across the state. He is calling it the no malarkey bus tour. Biden will be trying to rally support in 18 different counties. And this is coming after the most recent CNN/Des Moines register poll which showed the former vice president with 15 percent in Iowa compared to 25 percent for mayor Pete Buttigieg.

With me now to discuss this is Symone Sanders. She is the senior adviser to the campaign.

Simone, thank you for joining me this afternoon.

SYMONE SANDERS, SENIOR ADVISER TO BIDEN CAMPAIGN: Thanks for having me, Alex.

MARQUARDT: I want to start with that Iowa poll which I imagine is causing some head scratching for your campaign. It shows Biden basically in a three-way tie for second. Is this no malarkey bus tour response to a lot of Iowans who say that there hasn't been enough outreach by your campaign in your state?

SANDERS: Well, firs of all, Alex, I reject the notion that there hasn't been a lot of outreach by our campaign in the state of Iowa. The vice president has spent a lot of time there. Obviously, we will be spending more time there in the month of December and January as we roll into caucus come February.

And so, what I think you should see the tour is, is another way for Joe Biden to reach out directly to these voters. I believe that Joe Biden is the greatest politician in America and you will be able to see that on this no malarkey bus tour. Eight days, 18 counties, going to a lot of places and spaces and places across Iowa that a lot more rural but places frankly that will matter across the board when it comes to caucus time.

MARQUARDT: To that point, who are the Iowa voters who you are reaching out to? And I don't want too dwell on this, but the no malarkey name, that might not necessarily resonate with younger voters or is that not who you're targeting?

SANDERS: Well Alex, first of all I think if anyone has ever heard Joe Biden, particularly in 2016 during the convention speech, he said this phrase, no malarkey. It's kind of a phrase he peppers in every now and then. And we have the definition of no malarkey on our bus.

And so, we are on a no malarkey bus tour because Joe Biden is speaking directly and frankly with the American people. We are going to be frank. And there is no foolish talk. No double talk it comes to health care. When it comes to Joe Biden's plan for the economy, when it comes to his plan for climate change, when it comes to his plans for farmers and hardworking folks across the heart land specifically in places like Iowa and Nebraska even.

And so, that's what the tour is really about. And so, the voters that we are targeting, frankly, some of these voters are voters that don't get a lot of looks from candidates. So we are going again, 18 counties over eight days. Some of these are very rural counties.

But Alex, I want to remind folks. We get caught up in these conversation about the horse race and the polls going up and down, but it is delegates. It is delegates that in a way that a person wins the Democratic nomination for president. And we believe that we have put together a strategy that will make sure we are successful.

But on this notion of young people, we have a very robust outreach program in Iowa. We are also reaching out to young professionals, folks that you might not find on college campuses, young people like myself who are 29 years old that, you know, go to work everyday. They have families. And so we are putting together a robust tragic to make sure we are building the broadest coalition.

[15:21:13] MARQUARDT: But there has been a slide for the vice president in the polls in Iowa. And now we are seeing in New Hampshire mayor Pete giving vice president Biden a run for his money. And those two states really do set the table. You know that better than I do. So if the former vice president doesn't perform well in those first two states, what does that mean in terms of threatening the so-called firewall in South Carolina and Nevada, the next two states where he is doing well?

SANDERS: Well, Alex, I think folks should look at the first four voting states that vote in caucus and primaries and caucuses, not as individuals but as one -- each piece of a whole, frankly. And so, it's not just Iowa, it is not just New Hampshire, and it is not just South Carolina, it is not just Nevada. The first four states tell a story.

And so, we believe that vice president Biden is going to be competitive, extremely competitive and that he can win Iowa. I would like to remind folks that New Hampshire, it's interesting what's happening in New Hampshire right now. The polls have absolutely fluctuated back-and-forth, but you have basically two home state senators in senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont and senator Warren in Massachusetts who are also running in that contest. And traditionally, those folks runaway with New Hampshire. But the fact that we are competitive I think speaks to vice President's Biden's strength in this race.

Look, voters across the country, Democratic voters, Alex, have said that they are united in one thing. That they want a candidate that can beat Donald Trump in a general election. And if you look at not just the polls, but what folks are saying in the states when you go out and speak to people, voters believe still overwhelmingly believe that vice president Joe Biden is in fact that candidate.

And so, we view these nominating contest starting in Iowa going all the way through to South Carolina that launches into super Tuesday as an opportunity to one, tell the story of our campaign but also two to demonstrate our broad coalition. No candidate should be the Democratic nominee without the ability to build a broad coalition, Alex. And right now, vice president Biden is in fact that candidate.

MARQUARDT: Symone, I want to ask you about something that is clearly very personal for the former vice president. He gave an interview really a powerful interview to the Atlantic in which he was asked about his stuttering. The author who wrote the article also shares a condition and speculated that by discussing it voters might cut him a bit of slack for some of his verbal misfires, gaffes if you will.

But when asked about stuttering these days, the former VP doesn't really have much to offer. This is -- he doesn't talk about it that much. It's not something that I don't think most voters are aware of but it is a humanizing trait so why doesn't he talk about it more?

SANDERS: Well, Alex. One, I do believe that that Atlantic story was so well done. And vice president Biden has said after reading that story that he hopes that telling his story would help other people. Oftentimes on the campaign trail, vice president Biden will spend about 45 minutes to an hour on a rope line after his events speaking to folks. And people will come up to him and tell them stories, their stories about a family member that dealt with cancer, stories about being deployed, sometimes often about dealing with disability and even people will come up to him and talk about stuttering. And he gives people his personal phone number. He comforts him. He stays in touch with folks. And I think that is a humanizing quality about him.

But I think what's great about vice president Biden and maybe some people want to be critical of this, but he is not just someone that runs out there and just toots his own horn all the time and is broadcasting all of the work he does and the conversations he has with people. He is someone that is interested in doing the work. And frankly, I think that's what the American people need right now but also desperately want. It's a very stark contrast between what we currently have in the White House and vice president Joe Biden. And that is hopefully what I think people are seeing on the campaign trail, Alex.

[15:25:00] MARQUARDT: All right. Well, Symone Sanders, thank you very much. And if you go out to Iowa, enjoy the road trip.

SANDERS: Yes. I'll be there soon. Thank you.

MARQUARDT: All right. Take care.

Now just in, one man is under arrest after a mall shooting on black Friday in Syracuse, New York. New details.

You are live in CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:14] MARQUARDT: And this just in to CNN. A suspect has been arrested after a mall shooting on black Friday in Syracuse, New York.

CNN's Athena Jones is here with me now with some new details.

Athena, what are you learning?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alex. This is a very scary story. You can imagine a black Friday, a very big mall. This is a mall with over 250 stores and restaurants. And you hear shots fired. Of course, they thought that this was an active shooter situation.

Now in the end this was an altercation, a dispute amongst a small group of people. This was not a random shooting. These were people who knew each other. Now a 21-year-old Kyree Truax has been arrested in this incident. He has been charged with second degree assault, second degree criminal possession of a weapon and first degree reckless endangerment in connection to the shooting.

Now he ended up shooting, police say, another man in the leg multiple times. But no one is dying here. But the issue is they are still looking into what caused this. But I can tell you that police were already in the scene. They actually used this mall as a training ground. So they were already on the scene able to respond immediately, able to begin evacuating folks immediately. And of course, a huge mall, lots of stores, lots of entrances and exits. They were able to get people mostly out of the within a little under an hour.

Take a listen to the police chief of Syracuse, Ken Buckner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:30:30] CHIEF KENTON BUCKNER, SYRACUSE POLICE DEPARTMENT: To the public I would say don't allow two or three knuckleheads to ruin our holiday season. An event happened. We responded to the event. There was no significant injury as a result of it. Please continue to enjoy your holiday season, but let's be responsible. Keep your eyes and ears open. If you see something that makes you uncomfortable let us know and we will certainly respond to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So luckily here no one was killed. Police were able to respond quickly. The suspect under arrest, already been arraigned. So this was in some ways a good ending I guess to a story that could have been so much worse given all of the shootings we have heard about.

MARQUARDT: It could have. They may have been knuckleheads, it ,may have been random, there may have been no desk, but it's certainly someone that a lot of Americans and a lot of shoppers could relate to.

Athena Jones, thanks very much.

JONES: Thanks.

MARQUARDT: All right.. Well, bystanders took a stand against the London bridge attacker including one man who took him down with a narwhal whale tusk. That incredible video next.

You are live in CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:35:34] MARQUARDT: Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is drawing surprising support from deep inside Trump country, support that comes in the form of comedy.

CNN's Elle Reeve reports from Whitesburg, Kentucky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's that for, Rand Paul? Rand Paul was there looking at about 4'7" after his procedure.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky a trio of leftist activists have figured out how to make people listen to them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's where the Democratic Party is.

REEVE: The Trillbilly Workers party is Tanya Turner, Tarence Ray and Tom Sexson. Their popular leftist comedy podcast is recorded in a cabin of Whitesburg, a town of 2000 in what in the popular imagination is rock solid Trump country.

TANYA TURNER, CO-HOST, THE TRILLBILLY WORKERS PARTY PODCAST: I think some Trump supporters that I know that I would consider a stereotypical Trump voters are completely dissociated and think it's funny. All of these systems that have screwed us over time and again, yes, they are like, oh, you know, what's -- what else do I have but to laugh at this maniac pushing buttons somewhere?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A for shadowing of the national election --

REEVE: But while they ridicule President Trump they have contempt for the Democratic Party which they think has made too many moral compromises to help communities like theirs.

Do you think the Democratic Party speaks to the issues facing your community?

TURNER: No, not at all. You could look at a lot of the failures of the Democratic Party both in Kentucky proper locally but also across the country to lead you to some of the support of course of conservatives and bizarre politics, like Trump, what Trump has brought about and because they have really just like abandoned communities that used to support them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These reactionary far-right conversations --

REEVE: They draw guess (ph) relevant to national politics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like Kentucky sports radio host Matt Jones.

MATT JONES, KENTUCKY SPORTS RADIO HOST: I spoke at Kentucky general commerce.

REEVE: Jones recently explored a run against senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. JONES: Beat Mitch McConnell it changes the United States of America,

it does. And in my heart of hearts I believe I'm the person that can do it.

REEVE: Their audience is growing. The Trillbilly has get nearly 100,000 downloads a month for their free weekly podcasts and nearly $9,000 in subscriptions to their premium episodes. And while they are very much draw from their own personal experiences, most of their listeners are actually from Brooklyn, Chicago and San Diego. People they think grew up in laces like Whitesburg and left for jobs. They think they have a broad audience because their message is universal.

TURNER: There is no way -- you know, no rich people work harder than my mom. And she will never be out of bed. She will never have all the things that she needs.

TARENCE RAY, CO-HOST, THE TRILLBILLY WORKERS PARTY PODCAST: Really, we wanted to just sort of describe what our lives were like here. But more than that we have an analysis sis of the country the way things are that is informed by our very specific struggles and experiences here fighting against corporations or whatever. And I think that it benefits the left at large to hear that perspective.

REEVE: The trillbilliy are examples of two trends one a podcast boom and two a generational divide between older people who are more centrist and young leftists who ridicule them. An army of the angriest ones go to war every day on Twitter and get tag as Bernie pros.

By contrast the Trillbillies use contrast to win people over. What would you sigh to people in the cities from the coast who would be surprised that there are Bernie supporting communists socialists out here in Appalachia?

TOM SEXON, CO-HOST, THE TRILLBILLY WORKERS PARTY PODCAST: We have internet. It's not good but we have it and know about things.

RAY: If you are a leftist in a big city, you know that there are other leftist put there in other places out there in places like this. Anywhere where people have a boot to the neck, they are resisting or fighting back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The democratic candidates for President of the United States.

REEVE: They Are not impressed by the candidates in 2020 except for Bernie sand who only lost the 2016 Kentucky Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton by half of a percentage point.

[15:40:04] Turner: You know what you are getting. This man has had the same vision for 40, 50 years, and has absolutely moved the dialogue about what is possible in this country.

SEXON: I could tell you this. My mother, who I wouldn't -- I love her but I wouldn't consider her necessarily a sort of an example of progressive thought, loves Bernie Sanders. She's very overzealous Bernie person, you know. She's a Pentecostal Sunday school person.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Healthcare is a human right. Medicare for all.

REEVE: The Trillbillies believe Sanders is the only candidate who truly understands the struggles in communities like theirs and trust he would work toward the fairer future they imagine.

TURNER: We are in the unhealthiest congressional district in the country. There's no one here that doesn't support health care for all people. You would have to be a criminal, an absolute billionaire class sociopath to not want the sick and dying people around you in this community and in your family to not have access to quality health care and very few people here do. That is one of the simplest nods I can give to why Bernie has support here.

REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN, Whitesburg, Kentucky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Our thanks to Elle Reeve there.

And coming up, stunning knew video of how some heroic bystanders subdued the terrorist suspect in London using a fire extinguisher and get this, a narwhal whale tusk. That story is next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:39] MARQUARDT: We now have incredible new video of the deadly London terror attack which shows the heroic acts of bystanders who confronted the attacker on the bridge. He had a knife and after he had already stabbed two people to death. If you look closely at this video you can see one man is armed with the tusk of a narwhal. That's kind of a whale. Witnesses say that he grabbed it off the wall, a historic market nearby. Another person goes after the attacker with a fire extinguisher. Moments after tackling the assailant to the ground, police arrived and shot him to death.

Police are now identifying the attacker as Usman Khan. We are learning more about his past with radical Islamist groups and clerics and of his earlier release from prison after a 2012 terror conviction.

Journalist Mark Bolton joins us from London.

Mark, you are also learning that Khan was not only released early last year I understand but without a hearing. How is that being explained?

MARK BOLTON, JOURNALIST: With great difficulty. And I think as time goes on that difficulty will intensify and as the British public rightly asks for more answers about this case, things will become rather difficult for both the judiciary and also the system by which the danger that these people pose to society is judged.

Why do we say that? Well, the backstory, 2012 a conviction at the age of 19 for the assailant of a terrorist plot here in London, a stock exchange part it was called where pipe bomb was placed under strategic high profile sites to cause maximum damage, foiled, yes. And when jailed at the time, the justice in-charge of that, the judge said that Khan was a significant threat going forward to the British public and shouldn't be released until such time as he had been assessed individually to see that it was plausible to let him out.

2003, a year later, an appeal was won by Khan. That sentence was quashed. And essentially, new one was put into place with a fixed term. That's why he was able to come out early having served less than seven years of a 16-year sentence.

Now he was put into rehabilitation just here in the Fish (INAUDIBLE) as you mentioned early. That was part of the reason he was here on Friday and was wearing an electronic tag. So yes, he was known to the intelligence services in the police. It was a matter of public record that he was a convicted terrorist. And also he was being monitored. Hence the reason the most senior of people in the country, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, suggested that the system in place is not fit for purpose.

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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This guy was out. He had served half of his sentence. He is out on automatic early release. And I have long said that this system isn't working. It does not make sense for us as a society to be putting terrorists, people convicted of terrorist offenses, serious violent offenses out on early release. And we argue they should serve the term of which they are sentenced. That's my immediate takeaway from this. And that's why we are committed to increasing the sentences for serious and violent offenders.

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BOLTON: We have heard from Neil Pursue, the assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police here London say that they still believe he is a lone Wolf. He acted alone. There was no conspiracy in this. And of course, that is the most difficult situation for the surveillance services insofar as the smaller the plot the harder it is to detect. But of course, as we say, the British public will want answers and want it quickly and it's going to be a difficult week or two for the security, the judiciary and the politicians here in the UK to justify how this happened in the streets of London.

MARQUARDT: Yes. Intense times for the people of London.

Mark Bolton on the banks of the River Thames. Thanks very much.

Now coming up, an Arizona cardinals player who hasn't played a single game this season due to injury is now suspected indefinitely because of what the NFL caught him doing in his free time, betting on league games.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:53:22] MARQUARDT: Thousands of people in Paradise, California, are still reeling from last year's historic and deadly camp fire. One of this year's top ten CNN heroes, Woody Faircloth, saw the disaster unfolding on TV and was inspired to do something to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As news of the fires broke and we saw more of what happened to people in the fire and how many people were impacted, that's when it really kind of hit home that, wow, this is a really big deal. Tens of thousands lost their homes, entire families were sleeping in their cars, in parking lots. It was total chaos.

Today the majority are still displaced. When we actually hand over the title and the keys of an RV to someone who doesn't have a home any longer, such a powerful thing to provide such a basic human need. How can we not help if we're in a position to help?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Such a powerful thing. You can go to CNNheroes.com to vote for him, for a CNN hero of the year or any of your top ten heroes. Be sure to join Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa when they name the 2019 CNN hero of the year on December 8th right here on CNN.

After thanksgiving, there is black Friday. And this year's online shopping frenzy broke records. Americans spending $7.4 billion online yesterday. The biggest online sales day ever for black Friday. And when combined with the more than $4 billion spent on thanksgiving day, that's over $11 billion in just two days.

Now the NFL has suspended an Arizona cardinals player, though at least -- through at least for next season for betting on NFL games. And it's a case that could have broad-reaching implications, not just for the league but for the sports world at large.

CNN's Coy Wire explains.

[15:55:12] COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Alex, in the same year the NFL took on an official casino sponsor for the first time and the season before they are moving one of their franchises to Vegas, one. One of their employers is disciplined for gambling for the first time in 23 years.

The NFL has suspended Arizona Cardinal defensive back Josh Shaw at least through all of next season for betting on games on multiple occasions this season. They didn't say if he bet on Cardinals game or named any games specifically. And we don't know if these bets were placed legally. But the league did say they didn't find any evidence that inside information was used or that the game was compromised. They also said none of Shaw's teammates or coaches were aware of his betting.

Shaw was drafted out of USC in 2014. He hasn't played any games this season, Alex, because he's been on injured reserve. Here's what commissioner Roger Goodell said. He said the NFL depends

directly on each of us doing everything necessary to safeguard the integrity of the game and the reputations of all who participate in the league. If you work in the NFL in any capacity, you may not bet on NFL football.

Now ALEX, the NFL says Shaw can reapply for reinstatement in the end of February of 2021, though he is able to appeal the suspension if he chooses to do so.

MARQUARDT: All right. Thanks, Coy Wire.

Now President Trump is facing a critical deadline in the impeachment inquiry tomorrow. Will he let his lawyers defend him or will he refuse to take part? That's coming up.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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