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Impeachment Hearings, U.S. House Judiciary Panel Begins Critical Hearings; Trump And Trudeau, NATO Gathering Marked By Testy Exchanges; France's National Strike; Huawei Says It's Suing U.S. Over New Restrictions; Climate Crisis In Southern Africa; Growth Of Global Carbon Emissions Slowing; Clergy Abuse Crisis. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired December 05, 2019 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN Newsroom.
Three legal scholars make the case for impeaching Donald Trump, find out why a fourth expert disagrees. Later marks its 70th anniversary but the big story from the summit is about Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau.
From trains to teachers, French workers are staging what could be the country's biggest national strike in years over pension reforms.
Good to have you with us. So, the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump is one step closer to reality and could be wrapped up by the end of the year. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee opened its hearings on Wednesday with a public lesson on constitutional law. Where the president's actions on Ukraine impeachable. Three of the four legal scholars testified that they were. We get more now from CNN Sara Murray.
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MICHAEL GERHARDT, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If we were talking about is not impeachable nothing is impeachable, then nothing is impeachable.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Three legal scholars invited by Democrats told lawmakers today the president's conduct is worthy of impeachment.
AMB. NORM EISEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Did President Trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power based on that evidence in those findings
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Based on that evidence and those findings, the president did commit an impeachable abuse of office.
EISEN: Professor Karlan, same question. PROF. PAMELA KARLAN, PROFESSOR OF LAW AT STANFORD LAW SCHOOL: Same
answer.
EISEN: And Professor Gerhardt, did President Trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power.
GERHARDT: We three are unanimous, yes.
MURRAY: The hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on the legal foundation for impeachment kicks off the next phase of the investigation into President Trump which largely focuses on Trump's push for Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and the 2016, election in exchange for a White House meeting and military aid. While Republicans took shots at the Democrats 'witnesses--
REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): Unless you are really good on TV, watching the hearings would last a couple of weeks, you couldn't possibly actually digested the Adam Schiff report from yesterday or the Republican response in any real way.
KARLAN: Mr. Collins, I would like to say to you, sir. That I read transcripts of every one of the witnesses. So, I'm insulted by the suggestion that as a law professor, I don't care about those facts.
MURRAY: Democrats sounded the alarm ahead of the 2020 election.
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY): If we do not act to hold him in check now, President Trump will almost certainly try again to solicit interference in the election for his personal political gain.
MURRAY: The scholars expressed the importance of holding presidents to account.
PROF. NOAH FELDMAN, PROFESSOR OF LAW AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: If we cannot impeach a president who abuses his office for personal advantage, we no longer live in a democracy. We live in a monarchy or we live under a dictatorship. That's why the framers created the possibility of impeachment.
KARLAN: I'll just give you one example that shows you the difference between him and a king, which is, the constitution says there can be no titles of nobility, so while the president can name his son Barron, he can't make him a Baron.
MURRAY: Later, she apologized for her comments about the president's son. The Democratic witnesses laid out their legal reasoning for why they believe President Trump abused his power obstructing Congress and may have even committed bribery. The lone witness for Republicans argued today that Democrats were rushing the process.
JONATHAN TURLEY, GEORGE WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF LAW: I am concerned about lowering impeachment standards to fit a paucity of evidence and an abundance of anger.
MURRAY: Claiming (inaudible) institution evidence to impeach Trump from bribery or any other misdeed. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This isn't improvisational jazz. Close enough is
not good enough. If you're going to accuse a president of bribery, you need to make it stick.
MURRAY: He advocated for letting courts sort out challenges over whether witnesses must testify or the administration must hand over documents, and encouraged lawmakers to gather more evidence before moving forward.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not an impulse buy item. You are trying to remove a duly elected president of United States. And that takes time and takes work.
MURRAY: But Democrats are pressing on. Preparing for a possible impeachment vote on the House floor by the end of the year.
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NADLER: The hearing is adjourn.
MURRAY: Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: Ross Garber, teaches impeachment law on Tulane Law School and I spoke to him earlier about Wednesday's testimonies.
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ROSS GARBER, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, TULANE IMPEACHMENT LAW PROFESSOR: There was actually a number of things on which they agreed. So you have high crimes and misdemeanors and the U.S. Constitution is not defined but they all agreed that an impeachable offense doesn't actually have to be a crime under the law.
So, they all agreed on that. And they all agreed that one of the things the writers of the constitution were worried about was foreign interference. And they also agreed, I think, that another thing the framers of the constitution were worried about was abuse of power.
As you noted, ultimately, they did not all agree on whether the facts that are known right now are an impeachable offense. Three said yes, one said at least not yet, maybe at some point but not yet.
CHURCH: Right, they thought more people, more witnesses should come forward, but of course that is a problem when there are subpoenas preventing some of them. So, that cannot be sustained, can it? So Professor Michael Gerhardt even said this, if what we are talking about is not impeachable. Then nothing is impeachable. And he added that this is precisely the misconduct that the framers created on the constitution, including impeachment to protect against. So, how critical were his words at that juncture, and do you think that those words could change some people's minds?
GARBER: So, Michael is sometimes very dramatic, he is a very smart guy, but I think what even Professor Turley who is the Republicans lawyer acknowledged is if it were proven that the president engaged in a deal where he was withholding or promising foreign aid in exchange for campaign help or personal advantage. That would be impeachable, but the question is, is the evidence all there yet.
And I think, you know, that's where Professor Gerhardt said yes there is enough that is there and Professor Turley said, well, when you actually look at it all there are pieces that are missing. And it is not fair, it is not appropriate, it is not worthy of the constitutional process to just try to fill in the gaps. With inferences that are against the president.
Now, as you noted, some of the information would come directly from the administration. And that is another point that the witnesses disagreed about. Three of the witnesses said that even the administration refusing to provide information is an impeachable offense. Professor Turley, the fourth witness said, no, no, no, that is not enough. The administration asserting privileges and immunities, just like other administrations have, can't form a basis for impeachment, unless the Democrats go to court and get a court order saying that the administration has to provide the information and witnesses.
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CHURCH: And that was CNN legal analyst, Ross Garber, speaking with me a little earlier.
Well, testy talk involving Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau at the just wrapped up NATO summit. President Trump is back at the White House from the NATO meeting in London. The low light of his trip was at Buckingham Palace, where world leaders were caught on camera apparently joking about the U.S. President. CNN's Paula Newton has the details.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sipping a cold beer, Justin Trudeau was burned by a hot mic. He was seen and heard at a royal reception laughing it up with Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron and others, seemingly a Donald Trump's expense.
PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): (Inaudible).
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER, CANADA: He was late because he takes a four -- forty minute press conference off the top every time. Oh, yeah, yeah, forty minutes. He announced -- I just watched, I watched his team's jaws just drop to the floor.
NEWTON: Trudeau tried to explain, but did not apologize.
TRUDEAU: Last night I made a reference to the fact that there was an unscheduled press conference before my meeting with President Trump, and I was happy to take part of it, but it was certainly notable.
NEWTON: Trump's comeback? DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a two face.
NEWTON: And so when Canadians woke up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump fires back at Justin Trudeau.
NEWTON: They were catching up on the latest petty skirmish between the world's greatest neighbors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Prime Minister is downplaying a diplomatic gaffe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trudeau is trending right now on Twitter.
NEWTON: On the streets of Ottawa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump is going to make a, you know, a hatchet of everything and any little slight, he's going to (inaudible) him.
NEWTON: To the online conversation on the West Coast. In one tweet the U.S. President shredded the Canadian Prime Minister.
As all Canadians here are bracing themselves for the political fallout. Now, no matter what they thought of the incident, many agreed that it would have been better had Trudeau shown just a little bit more discretion.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not very Canadian, is it?
NEWTON: No it isn't.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been in the military. I served overseas with American soldiers and they have always had our back, and we always have their back. In spite of our politicians.
NEWTON: Key word, in spite of. The truth is this is an idle cocktail Party chatter, but unsettling insight into how the strongest of historical bonds are framed. Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
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CHURCH: And coming up on CNN Newsroom, France could be seeing it's worst strike in decades. Why workers are walking out of their jobs across the country. That is ahead.
Plus, once fertile farmland in Southern Africa is drying up, see how climate change has forced farmers to accept food handouts.
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CHURCH: France is waking up to massive nationwide strike that could paralyze the country for days. The transportation network is expected to take a hit as thousands of workers rally against pension reforms. Schools and hospitals could also be impacted. This may be France's biggest strikes since 1995 when the government tried to overhaul the retirement system. And CNN's Jim Bittermann joins me now from Paris, with more on this. Good to see you, Jim. So, how big will the strike likely be? And what LINSKEY: of the unions hoping to achieve here?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, it remains to be seen how big the strike will be and how long it will go on for but we are here at the (inaudible), train station which is a hub of activity. This type of morning would usually be buzzing with activity. In fact there is nobody here this morning. In fact, there are more probably railroad workers, I think than there are customers.
In any case, what's happened here is that, there's only about one train intend that is rolling this morning. And as a consequence, nobody is coming out to get on trains, because they know they are not going to be there. The strike has been called by railroad workers particularly with other unions that have joined in now.
There is something like 42 different regimes that they are called, special regimes which apply for retirement for various categories of work and types of jobs. And each one of those has a special sort of part to it that allows for early retirement.
Train drivers, for example can retire at age 52, which is something that -- is probably one of the lowest retirement ages anywhere in the world as far as train drivers are concerned. So, the government is trying to sort of rationalize all these plans to harmonize them all. Make them similar and as a consequence it's something that has brought everybody out on strike. The train drivers particularly. Rosemary.
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CHURCH: Right, so how likely is it that they will get any action in terms of leniency and may be able to retire as early as that.
BITTERMANN: Well, I think what the government is going to be watching for is how long the strike goes on. The train drivers particularly have said that they are going to continue to strike until they get what they want and that is basically the government had back off its retirement.
The government hasn't really announced exactly the details of the pension reform plans that they have in mind. But nonetheless this is a kind of a preventative strike. If it does go on for a while, it could go into the weekend, it could sort of generate enough momentum that others in the country would join in.
At the moment, it's not that (inaudible), or a number of unions on strike, school teachers and (inaudible), about half the schools in Paris are open this morning. But in any case -- for the moment, it's a limited strike. But if it goes on past the weekend it could be another thing and a real challenge for the government. Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. We will see how disruptive this is, Jim Bittermann, in joining us live from Paris. Many thanks to you. Huawei says it is suing the U.S. Government over new restrictions that
further limit its business in the United States. The Chinese company says it is unlawful for the U.S. to prohibit American carriers from using subsidies to buy Huawei equipment. Huawei is under pressure over concerns, it is a U.S. national security threat which it denies.
A bishop in New York State is stepping down. Bishop Richard Malone of the Buffalo Diocese is the latest high ranking clergyman to be forced out in the Catholic Church, sex abuse crisis, he was accused of mishandling or covering up dozens of cases. He denies the charges. Malone resigned after learning of the results of the Vatican's investigation which hasn't been made public. For more than one year thousands of Catholics in Buffalo protested and demanded Malone resign.
Well, a yearlong CNN investigation has revealed the second largest catholic order in the world has repeatedly failed to protect children from pedophile priests. Nima Elbagir, traveled to Africa, Belgium, and the Vatican to uncover this story. She joins us now live from London. Always good to see you, Nima. So, what all did you find out about this religious order and its inability to protect children from predator priests?
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in year, Rosemary, where the Catholic Church has very much attempted to get ahead of this crisis. In fact Pope Francis hosted a conference just back in March trying to figure out a way forward institutionally for the church. But what we found is that one of the key issues regarding the Catholic Church is actually probably reckoning with the crisis. It's the way that the church itself is set up.
That Religious orders like The Salesians of Don Bosco whose entire mission is to look after vulnerable children are in essence allowed to sidestep the hierarchy of the rest of the institution and self-police. And that resulted in a crisis of extraordinary proportions. We actually managed to chase down a convicted pedophile, Rosemary. Take a look at this.
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ELBAGIR: Time and time again we have seen a pattern of behavior by the Salesians to systematically move known pedophiles. And to date, those who want to protect children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's always a system, move that person to another place and we will see.
ELBAGIR: But once convicted, would the Salesians really risk giving (inaudible) access to children again.
We set out in search of (inaudible), much of what we know about his movements are from his own social media posts. Our research is zeroing in on a remote town in the Central African Republic, (inaudible). So, that is where we are heading. The only safe way for us to get to the town is on the United Nations humanitarian flight. It has taken us about two days. Three different planes to get up here
to the north of the Central African Republic. If you are trying to disappear. This would definitely be suitably remote.
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ELBAGIR: Father (inaudible), who is the priest that we were tracking down there Rosemary, has since been removed from his post and the Belgium federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into him, but really only after we highlighted where the church had moved him.
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CHURCH: Reporting as always Nima Elbagir joining us live from London. Many thanks. And you can see Nima's special report, Abuse and Scandal in the Catholic Church. The case of the predator priest, that's Thursday at 3:00 p.m. in London, 11:00 p.m. in Hong Kong.
Well, Southern Africa is literally feeling the heat from the climate crisis, hotter and drier weather has transformed the once lush farmland into miles of barren plains affecting the lives of millions. We will take you there, next.
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CHURCH: Goalball carbon dioxide emissions are expected to reach another record high this year of nearly 37 billion tons. A new report says the rate of growth is slowing, but climate scientists warned that is not nearly good enough. And the world is running out of time to make the sharp reductions needed to avert a climate catastrophe.
Experts say at current rates, the world will be unable to meet the goal of keeping global temperatures from rising by, less than 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. For that, the U.N. says co2 emissions would need to drop by 45 percent from 2010 levels.
And as politician's waiver on a plan of action for the climate crisis, Southern Africa is already feeling its perilous affects. As the region gets hotter and drier. The U.N. says about 45 million people there will face severe food shortages over the next six months. CNN's David McKenzie joins us now live from Johannesburg, to explain what exactly they are facing there. So, talk to us about just how bad this situation is, and how much worse it may get.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's bad and it's going to get worse, Rosemary. You know, a lot of our viewers probably think of climate change as a future problem, not all of them, but in certain regions that is the case. But here in Southern Africa it is a climate crisis hotspots, as the world warms, this part of the world will warm twice as fast. And that has already had catastrophic consequences.
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MCKENZIE: It's incredible, isn't it? The Victoria falls one of the natural wonders of the world. The buts and the big but, this entire stretch of rock should be churning with whitewater. Climate scientists say that the climate crisis is hammering this region. A multi-year drought has transformed Zimbabwe's rivers and farmland into miles upon miles of sand and scorched earth.
Here, they don't speculate about climate change. They are suffering because of it. Once proud, productive farmers like Felistos Mube (ph) reduced to handouts to survive, reduced to just one meal a day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nowadays, there is not a, (inaudible).
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MCKENZIE: It is a hunger gripping a U.N. estimated 45 million people, and in this part of Africa the climate crisis is only getting worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The region is projected to be warming at more or less double the global rate of warming.
MCKENZIE: Scientist Francois Engelbrecht, is a lead author on key U.N. back climate reports.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At a current rate, the Southern African region, five decades from now will be unrecognizable compared to the region we are living in today.
MCKENZIE: An in the future without aggressive emissions reductions, almost unlivable. Where day zero events, like when Cape Town almost ran out of water last year, are three times more likely. And cyclones like Idai, slamming into Mozambique in March will become more powerful and more frequent. Extreme events punishing countries that did little to cause climate change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should realize that if you look at the historical responsibility for the problem of global warming, the entire African contribution is (inaudible), 1 percent.
MCKENZIE: One percent?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One percent.
MCKENZIE: But now among the first to feel it's devastating effects.
I wish they could stop climate change, because we are the ones who are now suffering, Mube says. If the climate stays like this, we won't make it.
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MCKENZIE: Now, there has been a lot of talk of tipping points in recent days, and also at this conference in Madrid. Just to paint a picture for you, if the emissions don't get reduced drastically, this region, as the years progress will get hotter, it will get drier. It will get to a point, Rosemary, where the staple crop, (inaudible), or corn will just not be viable for even low level commercial farmers, let alone for farmers like Felistos Mube there, who are already unable to plant her crops in her case, because of rains came too late. Everything is out of whack. The hot spells are more frequent, the droughts are more frequent and
more severe, and even the cyclones as you saw there are stronger. There will also be a point in this region where even cattle is not sustainable. Countries like Zimbabwe, Botswana, parts of Namibia, where that is the key resource of people, it just won't be possible. This is a future that is bleak now, it will get that much worse unless industrial countries make an effort to cut emissions.
CHURCH: It is a huge wake up call. Hopefully people are listening. David McKenzie with that live report from Johannesburg. Many thanks.
And thank you for your company. I'm Rosemary Church, Inside Africa is up next. But first I will be back with the check at the headlines. Do stay with us here on CNN.
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