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Democrats Unveil Two Articles of Impeachment Against Trump; Justice Department Says Russia Probe Was Justified; U.S.-Russia Relations; Deal Reached to Advance USMCA Trade Agreement; Aung San Suu Kyi to Represent Myanmar in ICC on Genocide Charges; Thick Smoke Blanketing Sydney. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 11, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause, live from Studio 7 at CNN World Headquarters.
Coming up this hour on CNN NEWSROOM. Just nine pages long, two articles of impeachment but the allegations against the president of the United States are explosive, calling him a threat to national security.
The president of Ukraine still waiting for his invitation to the White House but no such wait for Russia's foreign minister. He asked for and got a meeting with Donald Trump.
The name was once mentioned along Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi but now Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in court, defending her military against charges of genocide.
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VAUSE: Democrats have now unveiled their two articles of impeachment against U.S. president Donald Trump. bringing us one step closer to the third impeachment of a U.S. president. The announcement comes after a two month long investigation and 17 witnesses testified both publicly and behind closed doors.
They are both related to pressuring Ukraine for political favors to help the president in his 2020 reelection. One charges him with abuse of power. The other with obstructing Congress by refusing to provide documents and witnesses for the investigation.
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REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The framers of the Constitution prescribed a clear remedy for presidents who so violate their oath of office. That is the power of impeachment. Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country,
the House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment charging the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIR, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: We stand here today because the president's continuing abuse of his power has left us no choice. To do nothing would make ourselves complicit in the president's abuse of his high office, the public trust and our national security.
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VAUSE: President Trump is downplaying all this, calling it impeachment lite and weak.
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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Republicans have stuck together, there is a witch hunt, it's a terrible thing. Even the Democrats and they could not find very much because they put up new articles that are very weak and they are so weak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The House Judiciary Committee for debate, once they are approved, a full House vote is expected next week and then a likely trial in the Senate, with Mitch McConnell saying will happen early next year. Phil Mattingly begins our coverage.
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PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have the articles of impeachment now. We know there are two of them, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and that's a huge step forward, laying the groundwork for an almost certain vote to impeach President Trump.
Here's what will happen going forward, right now you have members of the Judiciary Committee, Democrats and Republicans, meeting behind closed doors to plan the process of considering those articles of impeachment. And that is where they will start.
In the committee process, they will mark up those articles, to see if Republicans can get any changes, to see if Democrats want changes. The assumption is now is no but it will be the legislative process in the committee.
It will be lengthy, will start Wednesday night and continue into Thursday, don't expect any changes, if any at all, to be made but there will be a lot of back and forth.
What this all tees up is a final House vote, we've been talking for several weeks that House Democratic leaders have been targeting next week as the week they vote to impeach President Trump, they are on target for that vote to happen at that time. We don't know the exact day or the exact process of how it's going to
be structured and played out but we do know those two articles of impeachment, obstruction of Congress, abuse of power, will get House floor votes next week, those votes to impeach President Trump, only the third president in the United States history to be impeached.
And then sending those articles of impeachment over to the Senate for a trial, a trial that will not likely start until sometimes first or second week in January. But we know for sure the House is moving quickly and legislative action in committee this week, House floor vote next week.
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VAUSE: CNN presidential historian and the former director of the Nixon Presidential Library Tim Naftali is with us from Washington.
So we have the Democrats filing two articles of impeachment, focused on Ukraine, no mention of the Mueller report or election meddling.
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VAUSE: Nothing to do with the emoluments clause, for example. It seems even the White House was expecting a bigger scope with the articles. Listen to this.
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STEPHANIE GRISHAM, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We were anticipating that they would come forth with articles of impeachment, but we thought actually it would be four or five. I think Speaker Pelosi had to make a deal with her Dems.
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VAUSE: Do you think this is part of a deal that Pelosi struck with moderate Democrats in those Trump-leaning states, to make it easier for them?
Or is it just the KISS theory at, work, keep it simple, stupid.
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: I'm not surprised at the White House didn't quite understand the Constitution. Under the Constitution, the House has the sole prerogative of impeachment.
And the members of the committee the House chooses to look this over, they are to act like jurors, so they have to study information, evidence. You would've had to have provided them with evidence from the Mueller investigation so they could pass judgment on whether there were any reasons for impeachment within that collection of data.
All the data they received was from the House Intel Committee. So they weren't going to have articles of impeachment regarding potential misconduct that other investigations have looked at but for which they have received no information. That would make no sense at all. So the pool of information from which they decided to seek to articles
of impeachment was that pool of information generated through the investigation of the House Intelligence Committee.
VAUSE: So this was the outcome on the books. Bribery is not included in the articles of impeachment. They seem to be arguing that simply because Donald Trump asked Ukraine to carry out politically motivated investigations, that amounts to high crimes and misdemeanors. There's no attempt to link him to the quid pro quo.
Many Americans may believe that is not appropriate action for a president; they also believe it does not rise to the same level as treason for removal from office.
NAFTALI: Well, again, what is really important here is for the members of the Judiciary Committee to accept or not the idea that the president's actions with regard to Ukraine represented an abuse of his responsibilities and abuse of power.
Bribery, I have read arguments made by lawyers that you could have termed this as a case of bribery. I guess in the end the lawyers associated with the Judiciary Committee decided that was a bridge too far.
But what's clear to me, having looked at the abuse of power article regarding Nixon, is that, intellectually, this is the same kind of argument. Richard Nixon used instruments of government to go after his political enemies and that was a misuse and abuse of his power.
As the evidence has shown, Donald Trump used U.S. foreign relations, the instruments of U.S. foreign relations, to acquire dirt on a political enemy, on a political adversary. So there is a real intellectual consistency between the Nixon abuse of power article and that which the House Democrats have suggested with regard to Donald Trump.
VAUSE: Donald Trump has been working Twitter into overdrive, arguing that impeachment, it's political madness, he insisted there was no pressure placed on the Ukrainian president and he also went on to refer to the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, as Shifty Schiff, accused him of being corrupt and warned him he will answer for what he has done.
At a campaign rally a few hours ago he continued with these attacks on Adam Schiff. Here he is.
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TRUMP: He said the president of Ukraine repeatedly declared that there was no pressure but he did not want to say that. We said say it, say it.
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NAFTALI: I remember learning in elementary school that people who name call usually don't have anything better to do. What Donald Trump could do to help the American people is to provide
more data; if he is convinced of his innocence, then why not allow members of his administration to respond to some of the 71 requests?
Why not allow members of the administration to testify?
If the president wishes to make a strong defense, he should cooperate with the investigation.
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NAFTALI: Up to now, he is the only president in this circumstance, in an impeachment crisis, to have issued a complete stonewall. He has the opportunity now to set the record straight but he has not done it.
VAUSE: Tim, thank you.
Despite a lengthy report, we found no political motivation behind the FBI's Russia investigation. President Trump continues to claim that they spied on the campaign and he was the target of a deep state conspiracy theory.
The inspector general's report shot down both those allegations and said the Russia probe was justified and unbiased. FBI director Christopher Wray is defending his job and his bureau and says there was no evidence of Ukrainian election interference. He also stood by the IG report's findings.
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CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: The inspector general did not find that political bias or improper motivations impacted the decision to open the Russian interference investigation or the decisions to use certain investigative tools in the investigation.
But that does not end the inquiry for me. What is important to me is I make sure and we make sure that we are doing everything by the book, bias or no bias.
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VAUSE: And for speaking out and telling the truth, it now seems that the IG and Christopher Wray may have his job on the line. The IG report did criticize the way surveillance applications were handled by the Trump campaign, in particular with Carter Page case.
The president and his allies have latched onto that, saying it does prove allegations of a spying conspiracy. Here is attorney general William Barr.
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WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: It was clearly spied on. I mean, that's what electronic surveillance is. I think wiring people up to go and then talk to people and make recordings of their conversations is spying. I think going through people's emails, which they did as a result of the FISA warrant, they went through everything.
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VAUSE: The president tweeted out earlier in the day, I don't know what report Christopher Wray is referring to as the current director but it sure wasn't one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is broken despite having some of the greatest men and women working there.
On the same day Democrats were impeaching the president, which included the offer of a White House visit in return for Ukrainian help in Trump's campaign, the senior diplomat from Russia, the country which actually did interfere bigly to help Trump win in 2016, was meeting with the president in the Oval Office.
Jill Dougherty is a CNN contributor and a global fellow for The Woodrow Wilson Center She joins us from Washington. She was CNN's Moscow bureau chief for many years.
It's good to see you.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John.
VAUSE: What do you make of the timing of this?
The president tweeted out this photo of the two men here. I'm trying to work out what the messaging is, the best I have is they actually don't care.
DOUGHERTY: That could be. I was looking at the Russian media and they're saying it's coincidental, that it was planned in advance, so there's no meaning and they're not stressing that at all. But of course they wouldn't.
But it is extraordinary because you think the last time we saw this picture, Lavrov was in the Oval Office when President Trump, this is 2.5 years ago, President Trump was talking about firing Jim Comey. He was giving classified information, some of it, to the Russian foreign minister. And it's quite extraordinary. But then every aspect of everything right now in that area is extraordinary.
VAUSE: The last meeting did not work so well, we'll see what happens in the wake of this one. But during this hour long meeting, the U.S. president and warned against any Russian attempts to interfere and urged Russia to resolve the conflict with Ukraine.
At a news conference at the Russian embassy, the foreign minister seemed to have a different recollection of what was and what was not discussed.
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SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Well you know, we haven't even actually discussed elections. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The question, now who is telling the truth?
And at this, point does it even matter?
DOUGHERTY: You know that is almost impossible to figure out at this point because we really won't know, probably. So the Russians have talked about all things in a different way from the way the president has depicted them.
We do know that the secretary of state apparently did warn the Russians about not interfering in 2020.
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DOUGHERTY: It does seem, at least to me, a bit strange or maybe unexpected that President Trump, who says he does not believe the Russians interfered at all, would then warn them unless he is following his directions, which would be warn the Russians about any future interference.
So we just have to say ostensibly it would be good if he said that. But we don't know if he said that.
VAUSE: It does seem it is unlikely given his track record.
Listen to this joint news conference earlier between Pompeo and Lavrov. Russia was warned again by Pompeo or not to interfere in next year's election.
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MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: On the question of interference in our domestic affairs, I was clear, it's unacceptable. And I made our expectations of Russia clear.
The Trump administration will always work to protect the integrity of our elections, period. Should Russia or any foreign actor take steps to undermine our Democratic processes we will take action in response.
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VAUSE: But the reply from Lavrov was almost dismissive. Again here he is.
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LAVROV (through translator): We have highlighted once again that all speculation about our alleged interference in domestic processes in the U.S. are baseless. There are no facts that would support that.
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VAUSE: So what does exchange say? DOUGHERTY: I have to say I could've written those comments for Minister Lavrov. This what has been said almost verbatim since 2016. The fact that it comes up and they say publicly you should not interfere and the Russians say we didn't do it anyway and you can't show us any proof, this is the state of the debate that has been going on forever.
So I don't know that it really accomplishes much other than to put down a marker that, yes, the administration is putting it out there to the Russians, strongly, that they should not interfere.
I don't know, behind the scenes, it would be interesting to know what the United States really would do, when they say we will retaliate, we will take steps, that would be interesting to find out, what specifically are they going to do if that does happen?
And maybe in the intelligence community are predicting precisely that, that Russia is now planning and will try to interfere in some capacity or another in 2020.
VAUSE: There is also this offer from the Russians to renew the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty known as New START. This is a significant offer by the Russians. The Americans don't seem particularly interested.
DOUGHERTY: This is extremely important. I think, of everything that happened today, that really is the most important because right now the last remaining arms control agreement between Russia and the United States, New START, as we call it, is about to expire in February of 2021.
And when that is gone, there will be no agreement whatsoever left between the United States and Russia. Both sides can do pretty much what they want. They can build up new weapons, which they are doing. They can build up nuclear weapons, conventional weapons.
And really importantly John, there will be no inspections, no transparency about what the other guy is doing and this, according to everybody who really knows the field, is a highly dangerous situation. They have the Trump administration saying, well, it has really outlived its usefulness and besides we should bring China into the equation. They should be part of the new agreement.
But there are many people who are saying now, you can walk and chew gum at the same time. You can extend that, which is part of that agreement. It was supposed to be able to extend for another five years.
Why not do that?
Why not have some stability with something in place and then work with the Chinese or any other country that has nuclear weapons?
VAUSE: It's always good to see you, appreciate it.
Still to come recovery teams are in New Zealand after a volcanic eruption.
But what is preventing them from searching for more victims?
And a rare show of bipartisanship. House Democrats and President Trump actually agree on something, a long stalled trade pact.
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VAUSE: Even as they try to impeach him, House Democrats are showing they can actually get along with the president and, actually make deals, they struck a deal on Tuesday, getting the president closer to one of the signature campaign pledges to do away with NAFTA.
The deal still needs approval from both Houses of Congress and the Senate will wait until after an impeachment trial. All now from Matt Rivers reporting from Mexico City.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today was a bit of an unusual day during the Trump administration, if only because we have not seen many things like this happen in terms of a bipartisan agreement and yet during a formal signing ceremony, that is what we saw with the latest version of the USMCA and being agreed upon, we have some video of that ceremony with here, led by U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer with Jared Kushner, they were one of the architects of this.
And you see them, along with two representatives of the Mexican and Canadian governments signing this latest version of this new trade agreement between these countries.
Of course, the first version of the USMCA was signed one year ago, between all three countries but you have to get it ratified by your respective legislatures, in Canada, the United States and Mexico, it was the United States to held this up because they would not sign on to the first version of the USMCA that was negotiated by the Trump administration.
They demanded lots of changes, not the least of which will be further enforcement mechanisms. They were concerned over certain labor practices in Mexico, that they wanted to make sure certain enforcement mechanisms that could ensure that labor laws would be followed.
But after a year of negotiating between the House Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. trade representative within the Trump administration, that both sides were able to agree on the deal, that led to the signing ceremony today, here in Mexico City between those three parties.
It's not done yet, all three sides have to get the new deal ratified by their respective legislatures. But all signs as of now point to that just being a formality, including in the United States, with Nancy Pelosi saying this is a very good deal.
We are expecting there could be a vote to ratify this latest version of the USMCA in the House of Representatives by next week at the earliest. But again a rare case of bipartisan agreement here in Mexico City.
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RIVERS: With both Republicans and Democrats looking at this new version of the USMCA and calling it a win -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
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VAUSE: Volcanic conditions on New Zealand's White Island are hindering recovery efforts. Two days after an eruption killed at least six people, it is too dangerous to deploy teams. Eight people are missing, presumed dead, scientists say another eruption is likely in the next 24 hours. Meantime a Royal Korean Cruise ship has left port, dozen of passengers were touring the volcano when it erupted.
Journalist Donna-Marie Lever is with us from New Zealand.
So what is the very latest in the recovery of these bodies, how long will it be before this can get into full swing?
DONNA-MARIE LEVER, JOURNALIST: Well, this is what everyone has been waiting for, police were hoping to start the recovery operation today but some other activity on White Island began at around 4:00 am local time here in New Zealand, that has continued throughout the day, you can see plumes of smoke coming from even when we stand here on the coastline, from the volcano itself.
And authorities say that means it is too dangerous. They will not take any risks. They've managed to put out some drones, to have a further look at the area, now that information is being fed into a multiagency approach to this.
Many people discussing and reassessing by the hour, every two hours, just what the conditions are and if they can go. The rest remains; there's a 40 percent to 60 percent chance of another volcanic eruption in the next 24 hours. Police say there has been enough loss of life and they cannot risk that.
Another development: police have announced that, very shortly, they will release the names of the eight missing on that island and we will hope to update you with that shortly.
VAUSE: Thank you, we appreciate the update, live from New Zealand.
The Chilean air force is intensifying its search for a missing military plane believed to have crashed Monday with 38 passengers and crew on board. They lost contact with the plane about an hour after takeoff. The air force admits the chance of finding survivors is difficult. The search may last up to 10 days.
Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize winner set to defend the military that once kept her locked up. In a few hours, Aung San Suu Kyi will argue against genocide charges at the U.N.'s highest court.
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VAUSE: I'm John Vause. An update on our top news this hour.
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U.S. House Democrats unveiled two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Tuesday: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. They're now going to the House Judiciary Committee for a full debate and a House vote, expected next week.
The White House says President Trump warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov against meddling in U.S. elections, a claim Lavrov denies. The meeting was closed to U.S. Media.
Last time Lavrov was in the Oval Office, President Trump reportedly revealed classified information.
The Pentagon is suspending operational training for more than 800 Saudi military students in the United States, following Friday's deadly shooting at a naval air station in Florida. A Saudi Air Force lieutenant killed three U.S. Navy soldiers before he was shot dead by police.
Saudi military students will be restricted to classroom instruction while the Pentagon reviews its screening procedures.
In a few hours, a once respected and admired Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose name was often mentioned alongside the likes of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, will stand before the International Court of Justice to defend her government, her generals and her military against charges of genocide.
The case began on Tuesday with graphic accounts of rape and murder carried out by Myanmar's military against Rohingya Muslim in Rakhine state. And through it all, Aung San Suu Kyi seemed impassive.
There has been international condemnation of Suu Kyi's decision to defend Myanmar's generals, but it has boosted her popularity at home. Thousands of her supporters rallied in Yangon on Tuesday.
The Rohingya crisis began October 2016, when Myanmar's military raided Rohingya villages. The government said it was in response to militant attacks on border posts in Rakhine state, which had killed nine police officers.
The brutality of the crackdown prompted the U.N. to release a report months later on what they called a campaign of rape and murder against the Rohingyas.
In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas fled the country, seeking safety and shelter in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi did not intervene to help the Rohingyas. She did not speak out. In September of 2017, she appeared on television but refused to denounce the atrocities by Myanmar security forces.
In 2018, the U.N. and Myanmar reached a deal to repatriate many of the refugees, but many of them have not returned, because they do not trust the government to treat them fairly.
The U.N. later released another report detailing crimes against the Rohingyas and recommending Myanmar's generals face charges of genocide.
Yanghee Lee is the U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar, and she is with us live from Seoul in South Korea.
Thank you, Yanghee, for being with us. Back in December of 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest. Her two sons, her husband accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. Here's part of the reason why the committee chose her.
"In the good fight for peace and reconciliation, we are dependent on persons who set examples, persons who can symbolize what we are seeking and mobilize the best in us. Aung San Suu Kyi is just such a person." Well, that's in 1991, because in a few hours, she publicly defends her military against genocide; defends them against well- documented accounts of systematic rape mass murder and terror, directed at the Rohingya Muslims for no other reason than that they were Rohingya. I mean, I guess you can fool -- you can't fool all the people all the time, but you came pretty close.
YANGHEE LEE, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON MYANMAR: Absolutely. We have to be aware that there is effectively two Aung San Suu Kyis in Myanmar. One Aung San Suu Kyi prior to 2015 elections and another Aung San Suu Kyi post-2015 elections. The one we're seeing in the Hague is the Aung San Suu Kyi post-2015.
VAUSE: Yes. I mean, the main line of defense coming from Myanmar and Suu Kyi is this claim the military was just responding to a threat of domestic terrorism. Even if that is true, even in this case, there's still no legal or moral or ethical justification for the response by Myanmar's military, and not just in that instance with the Rohingya. It continues to carry out, you know, genocide as a tactic.
LEE: Absolutely. And I had conveyed this to her when I met her for the last time in 2017, and she was not very eager to listen to what I had to say, or for that matter, for whatever other people had to say.
But today is a historic moment, or the past day and the next day, the next following three days will be a historic moment for the Rohingya for any possibility of accountability or justice for the atrocities that were committed in Myanmar. VAUSE: I want to get to that in a moment, but when you interact with
Aung San Suu Kyi, I'm just interested in how she deals with bad news. Because you know, there is some belief that she genuinely believes her military has done nothing wrong. There's a report in "The Washington Post" which says she's "taken to regarding factual reports about the 2016-2017 ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya as a malicious conspiracy theory targeting -- and to undermine her and the country." And perhaps her personally, I should say. "When confronted with critical accounts, she flies into a fit of anger, saying these are all fabricated allegations."
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So, you know, if she doesn't believe her military has carried out these atrocities, that has to be a conscious choice, right? Because the facts are not in doubt.
LEE: Yes, and I think it is a conscious choice, made by her. And I remember meeting her before the elections when she -- when she was just a parliamentarian, and hoping to become the leader of Myanmar.
After her election, she has, you know, been singing a different song from a different song sheet. And at the very end, she was telling me when I was pushing her for the truth about Rakhine and how she needs to go to Rakhine to see what's really happened on the ground, she repeated the phrase, like any -- that she's repeated to others, whereby she would say, if you continue this U.N. narrative, you may not get any access to the country. That's when I was really appalled.
So I really do feel that she feels that the military that her dear late father had formed can do no wrong. But this is so different from what she had said in -- you can see in her videotapes about how the military has used rape as a tool in conflict. And so this is so different. And where she denies the fact that the Tatmadaw and the other security forces would ever rape or torture women and men and children.
VAUSE: She's making this appearance before the International Court of Justice with the full blessing of the military, which is noticeable in a number of ways, but it also seems -- are they setting her up as a patsy, as a fall guy for genocide?
LEE: You know, I am really saddened to see her leading this delegation. Normally, an attorney general or a minister of defense would be in a perfect position to do this. You know, I've had enormous respect for Aung San Suu Kyi, and this way, she cannot erase the truth that she's been complicit with genocide, and she is also responsible for genocide. Now she has no opportunity of turning around and slapping the military.
VAUSE: Very quickly, there seems two reasons why this matter, because genocide is still taking place as a tactic in Myanmar. And then there's this issue of international investment and foreign aid. Aung San Suu Kyi is the face of Myanmar. That she is why investors put their money there, why the international community helps out with financial aid. They need to be aware of what they're getting. LEE: Absolutely. And I have repeatedly asked for the international
community to reconsider investing in all the activities that the military has done, and their businesses, related associates and friends of the military, whereby the conflict is escalating and where they have really abused and violated human rights of not just the Rohingyas but the Rakhine, the Kachin, the Chin and the Mon and the Kayin and the Kayin (ph) community. All of the ethnic minority states that the military has been heavily involved in extractive industries and power industries.
VAUSE: Yanghee Lee, the U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar. Thank you so much for meeting with us. We appreciate it.
LEE: Thank you.
VAUSE: Still to come here, Sydney smothered in smoke, famous landmarks barely visible as raging bush fires bring unprecedented air pollution to Australia's largest city.
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VAUSE: Smoke from bush fires burning across Australia, setting off fire alarms in people's homes in Sydney. People are finding it hard to breathe there, because in some areas, air pollution is 11 times above what's considered hazardous.
We get more now from CNN meteorologist Tom Sater.
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TOM SATER, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Sydney's iconic Harbor Bridge, shrouded in smoke, a stark reminder that deadly bush fire season has hit with unusual ferocity.
ROLFE POOLE, NSW RURAL FIRE SERVICE INSPECTOR: A lot of seasoned firefighters are actually saying, look, it's just a bit different. It's running harder. It's running faster, and it's just far more intense.
SATER: Firefighters in the state of New South Wales are battling about 80 fires, half of which are burning out of control, the smoke transforming Sydney's sparkling waterfront into a toxic haze, pushing air pollution levels well into the hazardous range, and prompting many residents to use face masks for protection.
The ashes even turning the city's beaches black. The deteriorating situation is again focusing public attention on the climate crisis gripping Australia.
But the country's prime minister, who for many weeks has not commented on the worsening air pollution, says he doesn't see any need to change the government's approach, saying Australia is already doing enough to fight climate change. The reality is he may be forced to do more. With fires bearing down on Australia's biggest city, fire-weary residents could soon lose patience with a government some argue is not doing enough to combat the underlying cause of the severe conditions.
Tom Sater, CNN, Atlanta.
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VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. WORLD SPORT is up next.
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VAUSE: Hello, welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm John Vause. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a threat to national security. Democrats reveal their charges against the president of the United States. One article of abuse of power. The second article, obstruction of Congress.
The president of Ukraine still waiting for his White House invitation, but no such wait for Russia's foreign minister. He asked for and got his meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
And her name was once mentioned alongside Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, but now Aung San Suu Kyi will speak out, defending Myanmar's military against --
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