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Senator Lindsey Graham: I'm Trying To Pretend To Be A Fair Juror; Republicans Deny Of Basic Facts Of Ukraine Investigation; Andrew Yang Path Forward After Qualifying For Debate; Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Campaigns Across Iowa On Bus Tour; Houston Police Chief Tears Into GOP Senators Over Gun Laws. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 14, 2019 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello on this Saturday. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York and tonight as he faces impeachment in the house, President Trump left Washington behind earlier today for a much more welcoming crowd.

(APPLAUSE)

CABRERA: The President receiving thunderous applause there when he attended Army Navy game in Philadelphia sporting that hat with the slogan of his 2020 re-election campaign "Keep America Great" and next Wednesday on the same day the full House is expected to vote on articles of impeachment, Trump is planning to get out of dodge again for what his team is calling a "Merry Christmas Rally" in Michigan.

Jeremy Diamond joins us from the White House. Jeremy, the President donning that "Keep America Great" hat to this football game and he seems to be really focusing on 2020. Is he fazed by his potential impeachment?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, by the looks of it today, the President didn't seem fazed. Of course today was probably a likely break from the situation that he faces here in Washington. The President got a pretty positive reception at that army-navy game.

But again, behind the scenes the President has been agitated at the prospect of being come only the third President in U.S. history to be impeached and by prospect I'm underplaying it and it's a near certainty that the President will indeed be impeached but he has been spending a lot of his time kind of trying to direct some of the White House response behind the scenes getting frustrated at points when he feels that the White House's messaging attempts aren't quite hitting front-page headlines in the way that he would like it to be.

But certainly the President is being advised by many of his political advisers that impeachment is good for him politically and the campaign has raised a ton of money off of this impeachment situation and the President feels like his base is energized. So there certainly are silver linings for the President and still, but again behind the scenes still quite agitated by the prospect that he now faces.

CABRERA: And Jeremy, "The New York Times" is now reporting that the President could hold an event with a New Jersey Democrat who is planning to switch parties before and amid this impeachment battle. What more can you tell us?

DIAMOND: That's right. Well, we're now learning that Congressman Jeff Andrew, a Democrat of New Jersey, is expected to switch parties quite soon, actually, over this impeachment battle that he now faces. He is one of the two Congressmen who voted against opening the impeachment inquiry.

So it's not altogether surprising, but nonetheless, it is a significant moment here to see this Congressman potentially switching parties. He met with the President yesterday at the White House where the President urged him to switch parties and it appears that the President's message got across.

Now "The New York Times" is reporting that he may switch parties in kind of a public - during a public event with the President at the White House around the vote in the House this week to impeach the President. Of course we should note Ana, that there is a Republican who also switched parties or at least became an independent over his dissatisfaction with the President and that is Congressman Justin Amash who is supportive of the impeachment process. Ana?

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond at the White House for us thank you. Let's bring in our CNN Political Commentator Former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings and Republican Strategist Tara Setmayer.

Scott, everyone expects the President to be impeached by the House on Wednesday so it's really all eyes on the Senate now. Here's the message from a top Republican, Lindsay Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I am trying to give a pretty clear signal. I have made up my mind.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn't in any doubt at this point.

GRAHAM: I'm telling you right now if Mueller had found something against Trump I would have been his loudest critic and I would have told the President to his face. What I see coming, happening today is just a partisan nonsense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have voiced strong opinions about this impeachment case, but you are, along with the rest of your Senate fellows jurors. Is it appropriate to be voicing your opinion even before this gets to the Senate as a trial?

GRAHAM: Well, I must think so because I'm doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: This comes after Mitch McConnell said there was no chance Trump would be removed from office. Are they doing their duty as Senators, as Americans, Scott, to not even bother to listen to the evidence before they make a conclusion?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, they have been listening to the evidence. They have eyes and they have ears and they've been hearing what's going on in the House. I'm sure they pay attention to what's happening in the House Committees and they look at the nightly news reports about the witnesses that have come forward.

They've heard everything that the President had to say and they have opinions. Most Americans have opinions about this and it's by the way, a huge flop. We've not seen any movement in the public opinion polls toward throwing this President out of Office. The people who wanted to get rid of the president still do.

The people, who don't, still don't. So what's true for the country and the Republicans and the people who voted for Trump all over the country is true for their elected representatives in Washington.

[19:05:00]

JENNINGS: I think the biggest story here, Ana is that Democrats said they wanted to do this if and only if they could get bipartisan buy- in, there's not going to be a single Republican vote for impeachment in the House and I don't think there is going to be a single Republican vote for conviction in the Senate. They've totally failed to convince anybody, but their biggest partisans that Donald Trump ought to be thrown out of office.

CABRERA: But do you think it has anything to do with conservative media that isn't getting the facts to their viewers or their readers? In fact, they're pushing disinformation out there?

JENNI NGS: No. I think the American - look, the American people are smart. Voters are smart and people who follow American politics are smart and everybody has an opinion about this and looks, I'm not telling you that everybody Republican in the country thinks everything here is fine and there aren't people out there that have varying degrees of discomfort with what they have seen happen here.

But that's not the question, are you uncomfortable? The question is should we throw the President of the United States out of Office on the eve of another election? When we've never done that before in the history of this country and I just don't know Republican, Lindsay Graham or otherwise or Mitch McConnell or otherwise to think this rises to the level of the most grave punishment we can mete out in American politics.

CABRERA: On the flipside Tara, we did hear from Senator Mitt Romney this week say he's keeping an open mind going into the Senate trial do you buy that or do you think it's inconceivable? At the end of the day a single Republican would vote against this President? TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. I think it's conceivable. I think there could be three Republicans that vote against it. It could be Romney it could be Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski. And what's amazing to me about all of this is now the question isn't about should we throw the President out on the eve of an election?

The question before the American people is did the President of the United States abuse power? Did he obstruct Congress? And the answer is yes, and these - these offenses rise to the level of impeachment. The difference here and the reason why the Democrats said that they wanted it to be bipartisan and they were hoping for that that was before Ukraine.

Once the Ukraine happened and we saw what happened with the courageous whistleblower, that information being proven true for the most part that the 17-plus witnesses that came forward and demonstrated there was a quid pro quo and the evidence is overwhelming and that's what changed here.

So the idea that it has to be bipartisan is a different dynamic now. The problem here also is that there are no profiles encouraged. Lindsay Graham is the biggest hypocrite walking the planet right now. Lindsay graham, I remember, because I was around the '98 impeachment, he was one of the first to say, almost emotionally do not pre-judge what's going to happen.

He was a manger during the impeachment in the House back then. He was the one pleading with the Senate to have an open mind beforehand yet here he is walking in the biggest hypocritical shoes there are, talking about oh, I've already made up my mind and I'm controlling this. You know why he's done this?

He's become a Trump bootlicker because he has a re-election coming up in the Senate. He's up for re-election and he's worried about losing power and that's all this is about. There's actually a Twitter account and God bless my friends over at the - called Lindsay Graham's conscience and they post video every day, of Lindsay Graham saying complete opposite things to what he says now about Trump, about impeachment about the importance of being intellectually honest the importance of listening to fact.

It is unbelievable the transformation and he's only doing this because he's concerned about re-election and he's only up by two percentage points right now in South Carolina so I don't know how much it's working for him.

CABRERA: Scott, I have to ask you, what's the deal with Rudy Giuliani showing up at the White House Friday on the day of this historic vote to advance articles of impeachment of all people?

JENNINGS: Yes. I mean, look, I think we've talked about this on your show before, Ana. Giuliani makes me uncomfortable and I think it's one of the worst facts that administration is had going forward since the beginning of this having an unelected and un-appointed Ambassador at large running around Eastern Europe. Never struck me as a great idea and it's obviously caused the President a great deal of consternation. That having been said the President's famously loyal to people that are around him and he is obviously showing loyalty to Giuliani.

CABRERA: The President is loyal?

JENNINGS: Well, he has been to Rudy Giuliani and other people that, you know, have been around him for a--

CABRERA: Until he's not--

JENNINGS: --for quite some times. I don't personally believe--

CABRERA: Colin, until they tell the truth?

JENNINGS: --have Rudy in the middle of this, but you know, I'm not - he's not consulting me about who his friends ought to be or not ought to be in moments like this.

SETMAYER: Lindsay Graham said he would allow Rudy Giuliani to come up and testify during the, "Senate trial" This is insane. Rudy Giuliani is running around propagating Russian propaganda talking points and disinformation about things in Ukraine and now Latvia they're expanding this to and what the hell is Lindsay Graham doing allowing Rudy Giuliani a private citizen not even someone officially in a government capacity to come up here and just continue to spread Russian propaganda lies about things going on. This is insane. John McCain is spinning in his grave.

[19:10:00]

CABRERA: Tara Setmayer and Scott Jennings got to leave it there tonight guys, thank you. Coming up the disinformation war that has my next guest declaring Fox News a national security threat. Plus, imagine being alone in your home when suddenly you hear the voice of a stranger harassing you through your security camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, wait. So did your child come out plaque or light skinned? I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

(END VIDEEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And later, how the death of a Houston police officer inspired his chief to take on Republicans over the NRA and guns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ART ACEVEDO, HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Make up your minds. Whose sides are you on gun manufacturers, the gun lobby or the children getting gunned down in this country every single day?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:00]

CABRERA: This week, a long-awaited Justice Department report undercut years of con conspiracy theories by President Trump about the origins of the investigation into his 2016 campaign. CNN's Tom Foreman breaks down five big revelations from the IG report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first revelation there was no FBI mole in the Trump Campaign.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If you look at Clapper, he sort of admitted that they had spies in the campaign.

FOREMAN: The President has long claimed there was at least one implanted for political purposes, but the IG says no. The FBI did not insert any agents nor recruit any Trump staffers. Indeed, when one source was offered a campaign job, the FBI response, no, no, no absolutely not. Number two, the Ivanka connection.

IVANKA TRUMP, ADVISOR TO DONALD TRUMP: My father and our next President--

FOREMAN: Former British Agent Christopher Steele has been accused of being bias against Donald Trump and eager to dig up dirt on the billionaire, but Steele told investigators that were ridiculous. If anything, he was favorably disposed toward the Trump family because he had a personal relationship with a family member whom CNN has confirmed is Ivanka, listening her at Trump Tower and giving her a gift. She's had no public comment.

Number three, an FBI agent did attend a Trump Campaign briefing. The report says an agent sat in on an Intelligence Briefing for the Trump Campaign and he was collecting information, but the target was not Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The next President of the United States right here!

FOREMAN: Rather, it was Former General Michael Flynn who would briefly serve as Trump's National Security Adviser before pleading guilty to misleading the FBI about his contacts with Russians. Number four the Trump-friendly agent. Despite Trump's mocking of FBI agents he says were using the Russia probe to defeat him.

TRUMP: Look at that son of a bitch.

FOREMAN: The report found an agent who messaged another after Trump won the White House that he was so elated with the election it was like watching a super bowl comeback. And number five, the alleged sex tapes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know whether the current President of the United States was with prostitutes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: The IG found the FBI did look into the possibility that the Russians had potentially embarrassing videos of Trump with women in a Moscow hotel. But a primary source for that claim told inspectors they never found proof. It was unconfirmed rumor and speculation. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

CABRERA: Despite everything we just told you, one of the President's biggest defenders; Fox News Host Sean Hannity dismissed the findings and declared victory even though the IG found there were no political bias and more than enough evidence for the FBI to launch the Russia probe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, everything we said, everything we reported and everything we told you was dead-on, center-accurate and the mob and the media has missed what is the biggest abuse of power corruption scandal in the history of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining me now is CNN Contributor Garrett Graff who just wrote a piece for "Wired" in titled Fox News is now a national security threat. Garrett good to have you, to critics who say wow, this has to be some sort of dramatic overstatement you say what?

GARRETT GRAFF, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think you sort of saw this week the challenge that Fox poses to our democracy which is that Sean Hannity Show Monday night is sort of a perfect encapsulation of it as you just laid out. The fact that facts aren't even breaking through to their viewing audience, and makes it incredibly hard to have the types of conversations and the informed electorate that we actually count on in our democracy.

And that's also sort of leaving aside the larger issue which is what you're seeing is the mainstream Republican Party echoed by Fox News, advancing theories like these debunk Ukraine 2016 conspiracies that have been put forward and advanced by the Kremlin as Russian disinformation. So I mean the fact that you have U.S. broadcasters embracing Kremlin disinformation campaigns is an immense problem for the U.S.

CABRERA: But as you mentioned, it's not just Fox News. Republican lawmakers are consistently denying basic facts and they have access to all of the public information and then some. Just look at what happened yesterday. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is it ever okay for an American President to ask a foreign power to investigate a political rival? Why do you think that's okay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The President didn't do that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He didn't do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did actually, he did ask Zelensky.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He did not do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:20:00]

CABRERA: He did do that. You saw there most of them walked away but you heard Congresswoman Debbie Lesko straight-up denying what's in what the White House released in that transcript? They're straight-up denying what the President said on the White House lawn about how Ukraine and China should investigate Biden? How do you explain that?

GRAFF: Well, I think what you're seeing is just sort of the outright capture of the Republican Party and conservative media by Donald Trump. I mean, literally just about six minutes ago Donald Trump was tweeting, criticizing Fox News for even daring to host Adam Schiff and Jim Comey tomorrow on their Sunday shows saying that he can't believe that they would go so far as to have those voices on their air, and you can sort of see the pressure that the network is under to please its main audience of one during the morning shows and its evening primetime lineup.

CABRERA: "The Daily Beast" quotes Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is saying this earlier this week. If you don't think Tucker Carlson has more influence on national security policy than many guys on the National Security Council, you are wrong. Garrett, have you seen evidence to back that up?

GRAFF: I think we see evidence of that almost every single day. This is a President who conducts most of his policy by tweet. There is no robust interagency process working behind the scenes to advance many of his foreign policy goals and he is sitting there in the residence during what they call executive time, watching Fox News and tweeting out statements that upset markets that up end geopolitical alliances and this is sort of, you know, policy by whim and tweet.

CABRERA: Some people would say you're painting here with a broad brush stroke. They have Chris Wallace over at Fox. He's a highly respected journalist and interviewer and he gave a speech at the Museum in Washington this week and I want to get your reaction to something he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I believe that President Trump is engaged in the most direct, sustained assault on freedom of the press in our history. Before you applaud, listen to the rest of this because I think many of our colleagues in the news business see the President's attack as constant bashing of the media as a rationale, as an excuse to cross the line themselves to push back, and that is a big mistake. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Garrett, what did you think of that?

GRAFF: It was a fantastic speech, and you are right, Ana, that there are some good voices on Fox and good journalists trying to do good work over there. But you've seen over the course of the year that something fundamental has switched, that, you know, journalists like Shep Smith who has been a longtime fixture over there effectively walked out of the building this fall after deciding that he couldn't be part of an ecosystem that treated facts as fungibly as Fox does on a daily basis.

CABRERA: I want to read something from your piece. You wrote this, in 1984 George Orwell wrote his imagine dystopian regime told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ear, but Fox News has actually figured out a tactic even more pernicious. Fox News' own masters of Orwellian double speak, and Hannity, Carlson's and Doocy the ones who smugly declare down up and up down aren't even bothering to tell their viewers to ignore their eyes and ears because the truth never even approaches air time. Fox viewers and ardent Trump supporters aren't going to read or hear this and suddenly have an epiphany. So what needs to happen?

GRAFF: Well, it's a good question and it's a tough one, and I don't know that sort of we in the media or we in the political world have figured out how to address and tackle this? I do think that sort of the first step of tackling it in however it needs to be addressed is simply sort of naming it, and that, you know, one of the challenges that Fox has laid out is that they have sort of spent year after year attempting to de-legitimize any political opposition.

The idea that any Democrat is evil and anyone who opposes the President's policies is part of the deep state, and that's not the tradition of American democracy, the brilliant insight that our founders had was to institutionalize political parties as a legitimate means of dissent.

So that dissent was seen as part of the conversation and not as treason, and what Fox has effectively done over last couple of years is equate dissent with treason and that's incredibly dangerous for our country especially coming into an election year.

CABRERA: Garrett Graff, I appreciate the conversation. His piece is really interesting and I encourage our viewers to read and admire. Thanks again for being here.

[19:25:00]

GRAFF: Always a pleasure.

CABRERA: Coming up a frightening story of hackers accessing a family's security camera and harassing their 8-year-old daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm your best friend. I'm Santa Claus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: I want you to picture this. You're home at night. You think you're safe and then all of a sudden your 8-year-old daughter says she hears a voice coming from the security camera in her bedroom, but it's not your voice. It's the voice of a complete and total stranger.

[19:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm your best friend. I'm Santa Claus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: This terrifying ordeal is one of several incidents in which hackers have figured out a way to log into ring security cameras without users' knowledge. In fact, in Florida something similar happened. A couple was harassed by a stranger through their ring camera. They say that stranger made racist comments about their biracial family. They think he likely had been watching them for days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, wait. So did your child come out black or kind of, like, light skinned. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Yes. Joining us now is Geoffrey Fowler and he's a Technology Columnist for "The Washington Post." I mean, that is terrifying, Jeffrey and it's happening in people's homes when they think they're safe and alone. How does this happen?

GEOFFREY FOWLER, TECHNOLOGY COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Well, you install one of these devices in your House. I have them in my House because you think they're going to keep you safe, but in fact, if you don't take safety measures they're actually going to introduce hackers into your home.

So it is terrifying and you know what this it's not just the ring door bells and ring security cameras that this happens with. It also happens with nest cams. It can happen with any of these connected smart home Doodads that we put into our homes, the thermostats and the garage doors. You name it. This is a big problem that the industry has not really addressed.

CABRERA: So that's happening to - so you're talking about thermostats, lights in our homes, other security systems? You're saying hackers can easily access these devices?

FOWLER: If you don't take the necessary precautions. There's a lot of blame to go around in these situations, but it starts with the makers of these devices. It starts with Amazon who owns ring. They talk up all of the advantages and all the benefits of having, you know your door bell and be able to tell you who is there and be able to watch your kids from the other room or when you're not at home.

But they don't spend nearly enough time talking about the responsibilities that come with that, and that includes if you're going to put this in your home you have to protect it with a good password and also use some of the other security precautions that we can have in these devices, but they're not requiring it of people and they're not really emphasizing it. So they could really do a lot more here.

CABRERA: Well, we're hoping to get the word out in this segment. In a statement sent to CNN ring said the hackers did not gain access through a data breach or a compromise of ring security. Instead, the hackers likely took advantage of weak account security. So what do homeowners need to do in order to make sure they don't have a weak account security set up?

FOWLER: Yes. Translation of what Amazon was saying there is the folks who had these cameras in their homes did not use good, strong passwords on them. They didn't use a different password than they use on all of the other stuff in their life and this is one of the things that make it so complicated to live in the digital times.

We have to have passwords for all these different things all these different websites and apps and you name it. But the trick is that they all have to be different passwords because what happens is a hacker will get a password from one site and then they'll try it on a different app and they'll try it on your ring security camera, and then they're into your house.

CABRERA: But is there anything that Amazon - is there anything that Amazon or these other companies that own the technology can do?

FOWLER: So there's one additional step that we can all do, that Amazon and these other companies could be requiring of people, but they don't. It's called two-factor authentication. If you go into your ring app and if you have got one of these devices in your house, go into account setting and you will see there's something called two-factor.

If you turn that on, that means every time somebody logs into your account on a new phone or new computer they'll send a text message to your phone with a special code that you have to enter in. It's a slight annoyance for you and something extra you want to do every time you need to get into the account for the first time, but it's worth doing because it's an extra roadblock to a hacker like one of these guys. If these families that we saw earlier had done this in their home, they probably wouldn't have been hacked in this way. I think everybody should do this and I also think that Amazon, Google and all these other companies should require of everybody who is going to put one of these devices in their home.

CABRERA: Buyer beware. Geoffrey Fowler, good to have you here. Thanks.

FOWLER: You bet.

CABRERA: Coming up it started off as the most diverse field in history but now there might be only one 2020 candidate of color on the Democratic debate stage. I'll ask businessman Andrew Yang about his feelings on that and his path forward in the race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:35:00]

CABRERA: Fresh off qualifying for next week's Democratic Presidential Debate, Andrew Yang is on a bus tour across Iowa and Yang says he sympathizes with Iowans who are just absolutely getting inundated with political ads. He tweeted this I've seen half a dozen political ads on TV the past 15 minutes. I'm sorry, Iowa. Let's go live to Iowa and Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang is joining us now. Mr. Yang, good to see you. You acknowledge Iowans have been buried in political ads. How do you break through?

ANDREW YANG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we break through by coming face to face and meeting Iowans where they are. I'm here in Iowa City where we were greeted by hundreds of people who realize we have to re-write the rules of the 21st century economy to work for us. And you're right I don't think TV is the best way. You have to be here in person.

[19:40:00]

CABRERA: Congrats for qualifying for the next debate. By the way you will now be the only candidate of color on that debate stage despite a field that started out very diverse. Why do you think that is?

YANG: Well, it's a hard job the DNC has. The fact is Kamala had qualified for next week's debate and would be there on stage if she hadn't decided to drop out. So we have to do everything we can to make sure that every perspective is represented on that stage next week. I am certainly very proud to be the first Asian-American man to be running for President as a Democrat and the only candidate of color next week.

CABRERA: On this issue of diversity. You've said that you believe your race has played a role in how your campaign has been covered? Explain how you see it that way?

YANG: Well, I think that our campaign was new to many, many people for a number of reasons and I think the media is only just now catching on that I'm on the debate stage in December we've outperformed over half a dozen sitting Senators and Governors and Congress people because we're focused on the real problems that Americans see around us every day and we are proposing real solutions that Americans are getting excited about. We're going to grow and grow and peak at the right time when voting starts in February.

CABRERA: But why do you think your race has impacted the way your campaign has been covered?

YANG: Um, I'm sorry, Ana, I'm having trouble hearing you. Can you repeat that question again?

CABRERA: Yes. I read in a couple of articles this week, why do you think your race as an Asian-American man, has had something to do with how your campaign has been covered?

YANG: I think Asian-Americans are somewhat new to national politics at this level. I think that was one of the reasons why media organizations were just figuring out how to cover me in the campaign?

Certainly again, I'm very proud to be the first Asian-American man to run for President as a Democrat and I think that Asian-Americans need to become more politically involved. A lower percentage of Asian- Americans vote than other groups and I would love to help change that.

CABRERA: You spent some time talking faith on the campaign trail there in Iowa and you call your own faith journey an ongoing process but you believe there's a way to crack into the traditionally Republican voting bloc of evangelical voters?

YANG: Yes, I do. I talked to evangelical Christians around the country who are deeply concerned about the values that President Trump represents and they're concerned that their religion is being politicized that people feel that for whatever reason one party has something of a monopoly on the Christian vote and that's not the desire of the people I meet around the country.

Many communities of faith embrace our vision of a trickle-up economy that values every single person. I had the privilege of sitting with Martin Luther King's son after the last debate in Atlanta, and he said this was his vision that Martin Luther King was fighting for when he was assassinated in 1968. Many communities of faith believe we have to help the least among us and I believe that this campaign is activating more and more of those voters.

CABRERA: How do you see the issue of abortion playing a role in that?

YANG: Well, I champion women's reproductive rights as fundamental foreign rights but I actually was reached out to by someone who is pro-life and said that my policy of universal basic income for all Americans was the most pro-life policy she had ever seen. Because she said so many families struggle with the decision to bring a child into the world based up on economic deprivation, and that if we could put more money into people's hands then more families would be excited about bringing a child into this world.

CABRERA: You've talked a lot on the campaign trail and in interviews about your universal basic income policy your primary policy platform the freedom dividend. Beyond that, what else have voters there been asking you about?

YANG: Many voters are deeply concerned about the fact that our government is 25 years behind on technology and doesn't understand the fundamental transformation of our economy that the fourth industrial revolution presents. They're also concerned that our government is not up to the challenge of matching China and things like artificial intelligence.

I'm one of the only candidates that see the real challenges of the 21st century and understands technology's impact and many voters here in Iowa and around the country are excited about a new way forward that includes trying to address technologies' impact on our day to day life.

CABRERA: One thing I learned about you this week is that you considered yourself a Goth in high school a claim Hasan Minhaj quizzed you on this week on his Netflix show. Let's listen.

[19:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HASAN MINHAJ, NETFLIX HOST: Andrew - one eye. Andrew - one eye. Both eyes and at least three persons all the above.

YANG: Definitely all of the above?

MINHAJ: That's right.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: It's kind of hard to understand him because of the Goth there but I mean there's lot more to that episode and I watched it. You only got one question right. What kind of a Goth were you?

YANG: You know, I was a Goth who didn't get tattoos, and didn't know three brands of eyeliner, but I was a very angst teenager. I loved the smiths and the - and I think my fashions choices confirms that I had no intention of ever running for president.

Cabrera: I got to get your take also on a new Thanos ad that the Trump Campaign put out that depicts him as the all-powerful Thanos from Avengers. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inevitable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: What was your reaction to that? YANG: Well, to me, I think it's clear with the pro-civilization good guys are, and as a big science fiction and comic book fan myself, I think that the Democratic Party represents a constellation of patriots who want to do what's right for the country.

CABRERA: Andrew Yang, live in Iowa. Thank you for joining us.

YANG: Thank you, Ana. Iowa, the energy! Love you for it, Ana. I will see you very soon!

CABRERA: And a final reminder--

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: He's pumped up. The Presidential debate of the year is coming to CNN. The last one of the year is a critical night for the candidates still trying to break through and the PBS News hour, "POLITICAL" Presidential Debate will be live from Los Angeles this coming week and you can watch it on CNN and your local PBS station. Coverage starts at 8 eastern Thursday night. Coming up how the death of a Houston police sergeant led to this blistering rebuke of the GOP.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACEVEDO: So I don't want to see their little smug faces about how much they care about law enforcement when I'm burying a sergeant because they don't want to piss off the NRA. Make up your minds. Whose side are you on?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:00]

CABRERA: Death is not political. Death is final. Those words from the Houston Police Chief delivering a ferocious on camera rebuke of Republican lawmakers for inaction on gun laws after one of his officers was gunned down responding to a domestic violence call. CNN's Lucy Kafanov reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACEVEDO: Will be putting him to rest before Christmas because of the cowardice of the political people we put in office.

LUCY KAFANOC, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fighting words from Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and a blistering message to Republican lawmakers.

ACEVEDO: So I don't want to see their little smug faces about how much they care about law enforcement when I'm burying are a sergeant because they don't want to piss off the NRA. Make up your minds. Whose side are you on, gun manufacturers, the gun lobby or the children that are getting gunned down in this country every single day?

KAFANOV: Sergeant Chris Brewster was shot and killed Saturday while responding to a 911 call from a woman who said her boyfriend was armed and assaulting her. Arturo Salise was arrested and charged with captive of murder but Art Acevedo slammed GOP lawmakers for failing to reauthorize the violence against the women act which stalled in the Senate.

ACEVEDO: One of the biggest reasons that the Senate and Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and others are not getting into a room and having a conference committee with the House and getting the violence against women act is because the NRA doesn't like the fact that we want to take firearms out of the hands of boyfriends that abuse their girlfriends and who killed our sergeant? A boyfriend abusing his girlfriend.

KAFANOV: At issue a provision known as the boyfriend loophole which would prohibit dating partners convicted of domestic violence of having fire. Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn said Art Acevedo was mistaken because existing law should have kept a gun out of Arturo Salise's hands.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN, (R-TX): I regret he took the sad occasion of the officer murdered to try to make a political statement and was factually wrong.

KAFANOV: A sentiment echoed by Senator Ted Cruz who accused the Police Chief of trying to advance his own political ambitions.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX): To the people that say this is political, this is not political. Death is not political. You see, death is final. So the question is simple. Do you, Senator Cruz, support closing the boyfriend loophole that's in that law, yes or no. Because if you look at the response from the elected officials in the Senate not one of them addressed the loophole. You know why because they're on the wrong side of history. That's why.

KAFANOV: Brewster was the 13th police officer killed in the line of duty in Texas this year too many for Art Acevedo.

[19:55:00]

ACEVEDO: If you can't figure out why I'm pissed shame on you. A 32- year-old man should not be dead and it's not just him. It's every day in this country.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: You're live in the CNN Newsroom. Thank you for being here. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. President Trump today getting out of Washington and away from the fog of impeachment at least for a few hours. Look at this rock star reception when the President took the field at the annual army/navy game.

END