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Iowa Voters Weigh In After Latest Democratic Debate; How Much Will Impeachment Color Trump's Mar-A-Lago Holiday?; Satellite Images Show New York At North Korean Missile Launcher Factory; FISA Court Scrutinizing FBI's Wiretap Of Carter Page; President Trump Impeached; Economy Is Good; Putin On Impeachment; Scaramucci Speaks On Trump. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired December 21, 2019 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: New Year's Eve is right around the corner. We're planning a one-of-king party here. Ring in the 2020 new year with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. Two best friends, one epic night. New Year's Eve Live begins at 8:00 Eastern only on CNN.

Thanks for staying with me. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Washington, D.C. this weekend quieter than usual, but it is the calm before a historic storm. Most members of Congress are home for the holidays, leaving Capitol Hill under a cloud of uncertainty. This week, the House of Representatives formally impeached President Donald Trump. But what will happen next is nowhere near as clear.

The U.S. Senate will take up the president's case and decide his fate, depending on what House speaker Nancy Pelosi decides to do and when. President Trump, a short time ago, speaking to an audience of mostly young people. A student action summit in West Palm Beach, Florida. Of course, his reaction to the impeachment vote was immediate and focused on the people who led the impeachment effort.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is also in West Palm Beach. Kristen, if there was any doubt how much the events of this week were weighing on the president's mind, it became very clear today.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Ana. We talked about this. I told you, you know, he is this man who, when he is in front of his base, in front of the people who support him the most, he is the most honest. And he almost immediately dove into impeachment. He slammed the process. He slammed the leaders.

And he continued this theme, really, throughout his speech. At one point, he was even talking about Republican unity. And he brought up Texas Representative Dan Crenshaw. And they had a big showman moment in which Crenshaw handed over the actual ticket that he used to vote no on the Articles of Impeachment.

But there is one thing that President Trump said that I really want to point out here. Take a listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Crazy Nancy. She's crazy. No, no. So, now, she says, you know, she has no case. She has no case. So, let's not submit it. That's good, right? That's good.

But you know what? So unfair. It's so unfair. She has no case. Did they look bad? They got up the same thing, the Constitution. They are violating the Constitution totally. Totally. They're violating the Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: OK. So, this is not entirely true here. We need to break this down as to what exactly is going on. It is true that the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is holding onto those Articles of Impeachment but not because of any indication that there wasn't a case.

The reason is because Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi appear to be at a stand-off. And this, of course, includes Chuck Schumer there. They cannot, really, decide on what exactly this trial is supposed to look like.

Now, whether or not Nancy Pelosi can actually hold onto these Articles of Impeachment, that is a larger question. We have been asking many legal scholars about this. And The answer, right now, is unclear.

But the reason she's holding onto them is because she wants witnesses. Democrats want witnesses, particularly Bolton, Mick Mulvaney, these aides that were close to President Trump that the White House blocked from testifying. That is why she is holding on. Because, essentially, right now, Mitch McConnell is saying no witnesses. The shorter the trial, the better.

CABRERA: Kristen, how are the president's aides looking forward to the next couple weeks at Mara-a-Lago? Is that a place they want the president to be at this critical time?

HOLMES: Well, no, it's not, Ana. And here is why. We know these aides are, really, planning this strategy to move forward with the Senate trial. They are concerned that the more time he spends at Mar- a-Lago, the more access he has to outside influences. And what I mean by that is these guests, these members at Mar-a-Lago who are his friends who have unprecedented amount of access to him.

And this is not an unfounded concern. We know that President Trump has often used Mar-a-Lago as kind of a breeding ground for ideas. He talked about whether or not he's going to dismiss his DNI there. So, they want him to, really, stay on message and to stay in the direction the White House has been turning him not to go back to maybe his original instinct for a longer trial.

CABRERA: Kristen Holmes reporting for us. Thank you. Now, despite President Trump's threats the economy would tank with his impeachment, Americans say it's the best it's been in two decades. And the numbers prove it. A new CNN poll shows that 76 percent of Americans think economic conditions are good. That is the highest rating since 2001. So, almost two decades.

With us now, former White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci. He's also the founder and partner of Skybridge Capital, so the perfect guy to talk all things money. Anthony, good to have you here.

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FOUNDER AND PARTNER, SKYBRIDGE CAPITAL: It's great to be here.

CABRERA: With numbers like this, is the president beatable?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, he's certainly beatable. I mean, he's got to get through, obviously, the trial. I think the consensus is that he's going to get quickly acquitted. But I think there's a lot of things that could go wrong for the president because the facts are so bad for him.

[20:05:03]

But if you want to talk specifically about the economy, the economy is very, very strong. But if you look at the first quarter GDP numbers, they're not terrific. You know, the New York fed is posting an estimate of about a 0.8 percent.

And if you really study the U.S. stock market, you're going to head into an earnings recession, Ana. So, meaning the tax cut was great. It led to a bottom line more profit. It led to more share in purchases and dividend increases.

But you, sort of, strained that out of the fruit now, and you're going into 2021 with a slower growing economy. And so, year-over-year earnings are going to be down. That puts the market under threat.

CABRERA: So, with 76 percent of Americans saying the economy is good, you're sounding a little bit of an alarm. At least you're staying cautious it sounds like.

SCARAMUCCI: Well, that's -- because that's usually a sign. When everybody is saying that it's so good, it's usually a sign you're getting to a peak. If you go back to 2007 into the early part of 2008, people were very buoyant about the economy. And then, we slid off the cliff and had the global financial crisis.

I'm not saying we're going to have that now. The banks are very well capitalized. And you're likely not going to have a crisis like that. There's not a lot -- enough leverage in the system to cause that sort of crisis. But what there is is a lack of liquidity. You know, the Volcker Rule took about $450 billion of capital out of the trading markets, meaning the balance sheet capital for commercial banks has been removed --

CABRERA: OK.

SCARAMUCCI: -- in order to protect those banks.

CABRERA: So, you know way too much about this, well, in a good way. And I appreciate it.

SCARAMUCCI: OK. Well, I'm trying to talk very simply about it, right.

CABRERA: But that's the thing. I think what's important and the message that I get from you is that maybe the president shouldn't be necessarily banking on the economy to keep him afloat when it comes to reelection. And let me just turn to the impeachment discussion. I don't want to make this all about the economy. I do want to get your take on a few other things.

You know, Nancy Pelosi still hasn't sent those Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate. He's been impeached but here we sit. And it's on hold. Do you think there's some strategy there? Do you think she is, you know, perhaps, betting on his ego. That the president is going to be applying pressure on Mitch McConnell to do negotiations with the Democrats when it comes to the process, because he is so -- he's so motivated to be acquitted?

SCARAMUCCI: I think the president -- yes, I think the president wants to be acquitted. But, I mean, that -- Mitch McConnell has got to be very careful here, because he posts up a soviet-style kangaroo-court like trial. And the president's acquitted and there's no primary witnesses subpoenaed. And it's this, sort of, political acquittal without all of the facts being elicited for the American people. I mean, you're going against a 243-year-old constitutional system and the rule of law.

And so, what's made us so prosperous and what's given us each the American dream is the idea that none of us are above the law and that the system has great integrity to it. And that's why the capital markets like America. You know, they believe that we don't have any type of tyranny or any type of kangaroo-ism going on.

And so, if they go to do that, I think that's probably the calculation Speaker Pelosi's making. That'll have significant and incalculable damage to the Republican Party, not just in 2020 but it could be a death blow to the Republican Party. You know, Donald Trump is --

CABRERA: Why do you think Republicans in Congress in, you know, both the House --

SCARAMUCCI: They're afraid of -- they're afraid of the president.

CABRERA: and the Senate aren't saying the same thing?

SCARAMUCCI: They're afraid of the president. You know, they don't like --

CABRERA: They're just afraid of him. SCARAMUCCI: -- they don't like the tweeting. They don't like the

primering (ph). You know, Maggie Haberman posting up today, Contributor here on CNN, that there is fear that even after he's out of office, he'll be out there doing rallies or have Trump T.V. or put one of his sons or daughters up for presidency. And they don't like the idea that there's a personality cult around him that could hurt them.

And so, to me, I find it, you know -- you know, very disconcerting that you can't put your patriotism and your loyalty to the country and your loyalty to the system above the partisanship and your personal preservation.

CABRERA: The president's at Mar-a-Lago right now. You talk about they don't like the tweeting, his unpredictability. And, you know, how could that impact them? What do you see as the impact of him being at Mar-a-Lago and bouncing some ideas? You know, we know he goes there. He polls members, you know, on political decisions. He's got all this, you know, unstructured time.

SCARAMUCCI: No. Because my life experiences --

CABRERA: Do you think it'll affect his strategy?

SCARAMUCCI: -- my life experience with him, he doesn't listen to anybody. There's nobody that he listens to. If anything, he did something that which is counter-intuitive. If you tell him A, his first reaction will be to do Z to prove to you that he can get it done by doing Z. He doesn't like taking input.

CABRERA: So, should people use reverse psychology with him?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, you can't do that either because he's smart. He'll sense that you're using reverse psychology on him.

But he just has very, very low self-esteem. And so, he doesn't like anybody else getting any credit. The death nell for an aide would be that, oh, my god, you're in the paper giving him some good advice that he actually implemented. There could be no costars in his environment. I mean, he would never last in a corporate environment. I mean, their -- a board in a publicly-traded company would have fired him long ago.

If you look at the insidiousness of his tweeting, his lack of character, his lack of integrity, his lawlessness, anybody in a publicly-traded situation would say, OK, we've got to get rid of this guy.

[20:10:03]

And then, what he does is he attacks those people in those --

CABRERA: Right.

SCARAMUCCI: -- publicly-traded companies. And now, they're sitting there frozen (ph). CABRERA: We've seen it.

SCARAMUCCI: I was at the Yale CEO forum on Tuesday and he's got a group of fortune 500 CEOs. They're very strong guys, but they're intimidated by him and his tweeting.

CABRERA: Well, Ivanka says he's currently energized following impeachment. Do you think it's possible --

SCARAMUCCI: I don't believe that.

CABRERA: -- impeachment has now --

SCARAMUCCI: That's political spin.

CABRERA: -- and because it wasn't -- is it because it wasn't bipartisan, though, that it has emboldened him to do more of what they were trying to stop?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, I think, if anything, you could make him even more reckless. You know, I mean, I don't believe that he's energized. Who would want to be impeached? Let's everybody take a second and take a chill here. There are three people in American history. There's a rogue's gallery of people now that have been impeached. He's one of them. And that'll be a permanent stain on his legacy forever.

A hundred years from now, they're not going to remember the bickering or the tweeting. They're going to remember that he was a nefarious, lawless guy that got the House of Representatives, the people's House, to impeach him and seek his removal. And so, he can't be energized by that. I mean, they can say whatever they want and they can spin it politically. But he's horrified by that.

CABRERA: Democrats lost one of their own over impeachment. Congressman Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey, he left the Democratic Party. He is now a Republican. He said -- listen to what he promised the president when he met with him this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JEFF VAN DREW (R), NEW JERSEY: I believe that this is just a better fit for me. This is who I am. It's who I always was but there was more tolerance of moderate Democrats. You have my undying support.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thank you very much.

VAN DREW: And always.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And, by the way, same way.

VAN DREW: Thank you.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UINITED STATES: I'm endorsing him, OK? We're endorsing him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Undying support always, he says.

SCARAMUCCI: OK. So, I mean, I, sort of, feel bad for the guy. Because the physicality of the president, the aura of the Oval Office, he probably didn't mean to say that. And so, what ends up happening is --

CABRERA: So, what is it about that man, that room that leads people to pledge blind loyalty?

SCARAMUCCI: -- you get -- you get intimidate -- you get intimidated. And also, you know, remember, we all learned in the eighth grade, he is the successor of Abraham Lincoln. I mean, one of the biggest problems that the United States is having right now is we are hyper- normalizing somebody that is very not normal. And so, we're doing that because we have this respect for the institution of the presidency and that office.

And so, when you're in that office, you can get a little bit unnerved and you get a little bit intimidated. And so, I think that's a representation of that. But I think what we have to do is step back. Very smart, courageous people in the United States, smart, courageous Republicans need to step back and look at the lawlessness and ask themselves, do we want to destroy the American system that has led to such greatness and prosperity for one person?

CABRERA: Will you be supporting any of the Democrats in the 2020 election?

SCARAMUCCI: So, I don't like answering hypotheticals. We have to see who those Democrats are. I still think --

CABRERA: Who do you support of the current field?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, listen, I'm close to Mayor Bloomberg. He's been in my conference. I have an enormous amount of respect for him. He did an incredible job here as mayor. We'll have to see how his candidacy unfolds.

But I still think I'll be supporting a Republican. I don't think the president makes -- I still believe that there is so much going on under the surface. There's so much criminality and lawlessness and misbehavior that there's more land mines to come. I see him in a barrel heading towards Niagara Falls.

CABRERA: But how would he end up out of office, if the Republicans aren't going to break with him and aren't going to remove him?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, you don't -- you don't know what else is going to happen here. There could be things that come out. There's a Supreme Court case that's coming out, related to his finances. You don't know what could happen from the state of New York or the city. I mean, the guy is a very reckless, lawless sort of a guy. And so, that barrel is moving toward Niagara Falls. And I still don't see him making it. That's just my personal opinion. We'll have to see if I'm right.

CABRERA: OK.

SCARAMUCCI: But if he makes it and then you bring me back, you tell me who the nominee is, I'll tell you who I'm supporting.

CABRERA: We will continue that conversation. I also want you to stick around because I have more --

SCARAMUCCI: OK, good.

CABRERA: -- tonight I want to talk to you about.

Up next, are President Trump's talking points coming from the Kremlin? Vladimir Putin talks impeachment. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

[20:14:14]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: After President Trump was impeached in the House for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, it wasn't long until Russian President Vladimir Putin jumped to his defense, using talking points almost identical to Trump's. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), CALIFORNIA, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Article One is adopted.

FREDEREK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After his impeachment by the House, President Trump lashing out.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't feel like I'm being impeached because it's a hoax. It's a setup.

PLEITGEN: Vladimir Putin seems to feel the same way, speaking at his annual marathon press conference which features not only journalists but also people from all over Russia, often praising their leader. While asking questions, Putin blasted impeachment, claiming Democrats made it all up.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT, RUSSIA (translator): It still has to go through the Senate, where, as far as I know, the Republicans hold the majority. So, it's unlikely they will want to remove the representative of their party for some made up reasons.

PLEITGEN: And those aren't the only Trump and Republican talking points Putin was parroting. The similarities and the rhetoric often striking.

REP. BRAD WENSTRUP (R), OHIO: When they didn't win at the ballot box, they pursued a Russian collusion narrative that special counsel Robert Mueller had to waste time and taxpayer dollars to prove false. When the Russia collusion malicious deception didn't work, Madame Speaker, Democrats sought a new path forward to impeach President Trump. PUTIN (translator): One party that lost the elections, the Democratic

Party, is now trying to achieve its goal with new ways as it accused Trump of collusion with Russia. But then, it turned out there was no collusion and it can't be the basis for the impeachment. So now, they came up with some pressure on Ukraine.

PLEITGEN: Russia also taking a favorable view of President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani's, continued efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens in Ukraine, while Democrats, and even some Republicans, were shocked when Giuliani recently went on a so-called fact-finding mission to Ukraine, afterwards appearing on the right wing pro-Trump network OAN. On Kremlin-controlled T.V. in Russia, a very different tone. The host and most analysts often praising Giuliani and cheering him on.

[20:20:00]

KIRA SAZONOVA, POLITICAL ANALYST (translator): I think Giuliani's trip is going to be a success. Based on the fact that, even against the impeachment backdrop, Trump's electoral ratings grow little by little which is weird. We can conclude that, after this trip and scandalous interviews, the situation will also favor Trump. So, the goal has been achieved.

PLEITGEN: Russia continues to back an insurgency that's destabilizing Ukraine. And while Ukraine grapples with Moscow's pressure, unsure of the Trump administration's support, Washington is divided over impeachment, Vladimir Putin is sitting back and watching it all play out, so far in his favor.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Now, Fred's reporting comes as former White House officials tell "The Washington Post" they fear Russian President Vladimir Putin has influenced President Trump's views on Ukraine. They think this started during their very first meeting in Hamburg, Germany back in July of 2017.

And here's what's interesting. Just one day after that meeting in Hamburg, President Trump called "New York Times" reporter, David Sanger. And he said this, I quote, "Vladimir Putin told me that it couldn't have been the Russians who hacked into the Democratic National Committee, because they're so good at cyber that they wouldn't have been caught. Now, that reporter didn't reveal this call until this year, and we were able to put two and two together as to where President Trump got this idea.

I want to bring back in former White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, because just a few weeks after that call, you joined the White House. Again, this is July of 2017. And you repeated that exact talking point right here on CNN on July 23rd of 2017. You were speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper. Let's just watch for a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCARAMUCCI: Somebody said to me yesterday, I won't tell you who, that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those e-mails, you would have never seen it. You would have never had any evidence of them.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I don't know who this anonymous person is that said that if the Russians had actually done it, we wouldn't have been able to detect it. But it is the -- it is the unanimous --

SCARAMUCCI: How about -- how about it -- how about it was the president, Jake?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, the president told you that.

SCARAMUCCI: OK. So, that's all true.

CABRERA: But did you know, at the time, that you were just repeating a Russian claim?

SCARAMUCCI: I didn't know at the time that the claim came from Vladimir Putin. But the president definitely believed that. I mean, I remember the conversation that I had with the president.

And so, you have to ask yourself a number of different -- a number of different things. If there's -- because there's layers to the thing. I think the number one layer, for me at that time and even today, is that the president does not want his electoral success to be discredited.

And I think what happened to the president, he got very sensitized by the Russian collusion situation and the meddling of the Russians in the election. Because he felt that then that would queer the results of that election and, sort of, invalidate or not make him as victorious as he actually was.

And so, just being very, very objective, I do, sort of, feel like the president won the election fair and square. Did the Russians meddle in the election? Yes, they did. Everybody's got a different opinion as to why they meddled in the election. The consensus is that they wanted President Trump to win.

CABRERA: That's what the intelligence community has --

SCARAMUCCI: That's what the intelligence community -- at that time, it was unclear. I mean, many of us thought two years ago or two and a half years ago, that the Russians were just meddling in the election to bring a lot of distrust into the electoral process. And to make the American people distrust the Democratic processes in the --

CABRERA: Right.

SCARAMUCCI: -- in America. CABRERA: Which they have also been a part of --

SCARAMUCCI: And so, that could have been a part of it as well. And so, you know, what happens is you're benefiting now from tremendous amounts of hindsight, two and a half years of dereliction of the president's duty.

CABRERA: Right. But here's the thing. I mean, the president has now had two years to also listen, which I know you said in the last block that he doesn't usually listen to anybody around him, but to really soak in what the intelligence community has found. And to, you know, rely on the experts to bring him what is happening, what Russia is trying to do.

And, yet, what do you think? Do you think Putin has continued to influence him, to this day, not just on Ukraine but, perhaps, other matters? How much of a role do you think Putin has had on him?

SCARAMUCCI: See, I think it is a combination of factors. Could Putin have a role? I mean, I read the same "The Washington Post" article you read. But I think it's a combination of factors. But the main factor is people like Mayor Giuliani and President Trump feel like they're outsiders.

And there's two ways you can look at yourself when you're an outsider. You could be, like, I'm an outsider and I don't care, or I'm an outsider and something's up with that, and there's some kind of conspiratorial thing that's made me an outsider where they feel left out. And so, I think this junket to the Ukraine is a representation of that. And I think the idea that you get attracted to conspiracy theories is a representation of that as well.

But, as it relates to Vladimir Putin, I don't know the answer to that. I find it, sort of, comical that we're repeating -- I mean, he's obviously a better -- Vladimir Putin is, obviously, a better White House communications director than me, because he's got the talking points and everybody seems to be using those talking points.

But, you know, my thing with the Russians are very simple. We're adversaries with them in a lot of different ways. But I always felt this way and a lot of my Republican friends and Democratic friends will disagree with me.

[20:25:02]

We have to figure out a way to bridge the gap and have some level of peace with the Russian government and the Russian people.

CABRERA: Here's the thing. This reporting about --

SCARAMUCCI: It's just too complicated of a world not to.

CABRERA: -- there's reporting about the Russian president's influence on the president and his views about Ukraine. And these conspiracy theories that he has been spouting during this impeachment investigation process. This is all coming from people who won't put their name on the record, from former senior White House officials.

I mean, you've been out there publicly putting your name and face to the things that you're expressing. Does it concern you that --

SCARAMUCCI: I think it's cowardice.

CABRERA: - and does it bother you that they aren't saying who they are?

SCARAMUCCI: The only thing, like you didn't have the sound bite up of me talking to Jake Berman in August. I said, something is obviously wrong with the president. He's about to go through a full-blown meltdown and a lot of bad things will unfold. I would have thought, though, that the Republicans, who have a duty to the country, would look at this situation and the relative crazy of the situation combined with the lawlessness, and say, enough.

OK. I'm an entrepreneur. When you make a --

CABRERA: But why wouldn't a former White House official, not somebody who's currently in the White House, being willing to stand up?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, they could be -- they could be -- their career could be tied to the Republican Party. Their career could be tied to the lobbying circuit and the way lobbying works in Washington. They may not have their own money. They may have built themselves up from nothing. They may not have the courage. I mean, there's a whole list of reasons why.

But I would implore those people to actually tell the truth and think like an entrepreneur. I wanted to hire the president to be the president. We had two choices. There was a Democrat and a Republican. I'm an entrepreneur. I have a big private equity portfolio. I wanted to make him the CEO, given those two choices.

He has been an unmitigated disaster. When you're an entrepreneur, you have a CEO that's an unmitigated disaster, you seek their removal. And you go to replace him. You've got an unbelievable country, the United States, and you got a ridiculous CEO that needs to be removed.

And I would tell those people that need to speak up, think about it like you are a custodian or a fiduciary for a publicly-traded company. Look at the behavior. Look at the lawlessness. Look at the tweeting. And say, OK, it's enough. It's very, very bad for the world. It's hurting our hard and soft power around the world. And I've got to believe that even people like Vladimir Putin, they're saying, well, this guy is very unpredictable and a touch crazy. And it would be a lot easier for the world order if we had somebody more stable in that position.

CABRERA: Anthony Scaramucci, good to have you here.

SCARAMUCCI: I mean, is that clear enough?

CABRERA: I appreciate -- I appreciate your perspective.

SCARAMUCCI: I'm trying to talk as -- I'm trying to talk as directly as I can. Ana, is that clear enough?

CABRERA: I think you've made your point very clear.

SCARAMUCCI: Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Happy Kwanzaa and Hanukah and all those other things.

CABRERA: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you. And Hanukah as well. Back at you.

Up next. Who won this week's Democratic debate? There is one name voters keep talking about in Iowa. You're live in the CNN Newsroom.

[20:27:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:30:06]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: With just 44 days left until the Iowa caucuses, voters in that pivotal state are starting to narrow down their choices for the democratic presidential nomination.

And CNN's watched Thursday's debate with a group of voters. And they say one candidate stole the show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We've watched all the presidential debates with the same group of Iowa democrats.

Who do you think did best in the debate?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Amy Klobuchar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Klobuchar.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Klobuchar.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Klobuchar and Biden.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Klobuchar and Biden.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Klobuchar and Warren.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Klobuchar.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Klobuchar and Warren.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Klobuchar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sanders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Klobuchar.

TUCHMAN: Amy Klobuchar was picked by 10 of these 11 Johnson County, Iowa Democrats. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She just comes across as having thoughtful specific answers and not rehearsed talking points.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the other ones were, you know, bickering, she was there to defuse it and bring focus back on why they were there.

TUCHMAN: Another consensus among this group? The belief that Joe Biden had his strongest debate.

RUTHINA MALONE, IOWA VOTER: His answers were direct, he stayed focused, and just reminded me of the eight years under Obama. I mean, some -- that brought those memories back for me.

TUCHMAN: What was the most important moment of the debate for you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, this is a little bit of a macro perspective, but I've been waiting a long time for a woman president in the United States. I'll be 75 on Monday, so --

TUCHMAN: Not the oldest one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- I -- thank you. I am so excited to see two women on that debate stage who just did so well, and I am so proud of them and I think either one of them would be a magnificent president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important part of this debate was very important to me personally as a transgender person. Hearing Bernie Sanders say that his health care plan would explicitly cover trans health care.

TUCHMAN: When we first met these Democrats, all were undecided. Temple Hiatt (ph) decided on Elizabeth Warren a few debates back. Roseanne (ph) Cooke (ph) picked Amy Klobuchar before the last debate. And now, six more are no longer undecided.

TUCHMAN: OK. Janice?

JANICE WEINER, IOWA VOTER : Caucusing for Amy Klobuchar.

TUCHMAN: Lukecia (ph)?

LUKECIA (PH): I'll be caucusing for Warren.

TUCHMAN: OK. Elias (ph)?

ELIAS (PH): Bernie Sanders.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Notably, three others have chosen a candidate who did not qualify for this debate.

TUCHMAN: Ruthina?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll be caucusing for Cory Booker.

TUCHMAN: And you have a shirt with you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do.

TUCHMAN: OK, Leslie?

LESLIE CARPENTER, IOWA VOTER: Cory Booker.

TUCHMAN: Cory Booker, and you have a shirt also.

And your husband, Scott?

SCOTT CARPENTER, IOWA VOTER: Cory Booker.

TUCHMAN: Cory Booker. And why Cory Booker?

L. CARPENTER: Because he's endemically kind, intelligent, and he wants to unite the country.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Mira Bohannan Kumar, Eugene Malone, and Ed Cranston remain undecided.

TUCHMAN: Are you going to stay undecided until the last second?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to stay tuned.

(LAUGHTER)

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Iowa City, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Ivanka Trump weighs in on her father's impeachment. And she's striking an optimistic tone.

[20:35:02]

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Freshly impeached and eager for vindication, that's one analysis of President Trump's mood as he kicks back at his private compound, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida during his two-week Christmas holiday.

He'll be surrounded by his pals. He will plenty of time on his thumbs to indulge that Twitter habit. Several White House officials have quietly expressed their concerns about all the free time that lies ahead.

But Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, insists impeachment is a good thing for her father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: He's energized, as are 63 million plus voters, who elected him to office. This is historic, as you know, and in many ways, including the fact that it is the first purely partisan impeachment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Bill Clinton might dispute that but, nevertheless, here we are.

Joining us now to talk it over CNN contributor and Trump biographer, Michael D'Antonio and CNN presidential historian, Tim Naftali. Gentlemen, good to have you here.

[20:40:07]

Michael, is Ivanka right? Can Donald Trump turn this impeachment into a positive for himself?

MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think she is right to say that that's what he'll try to do. She knows him probably better than anyone on earth and she also has been playing the role of his ray of sunshine since she was a very little girl. So she knows he needs this. He needs to be encouraged.

I wouldn't say that he's energized. I would likely say he was enraged by what's going on and desirous of exerting some control over the situation and probably quite frustrated that there is this two-week break and he can't be out there functioning as usual.

You won't even have a target in Congress because they've left town. So she's right that he'll try but who knows if he can accomplish what she hopes he can?

CABRERA: Let's look at the difference in behaviors right now. Nixon on the verge of impeachment. Bill Clinton who was impeached. Both of them eventually expressed some regret for what they put the country through.

But Trump being Trump, he has stayed completely on offense. His call was perfect. Those that testified or questioned him are enemies.

Tim, that puts this country in uncharted waters, doesn't it?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Yes. And it puts a lot of pressure on Republicans. There is an argument that some of them could have made that the president did something wrong, that this approach to Ukraine was not in America's national interest.

But, yet, this misconduct is not impeachable. I'm not saying I agree with this, but that's a plausible, respectable argument. We didn't hear that argument.

CABRERA: No, we didn't hear he did anything wrong.

NAFTALI: The president has defined the box of acceptable behavior by the Congress and institutionalists, and Congress should be really angry.

Those people who believe in the power of the Congress as a co-equal branch should be very angry that their president has put such a tight box around them. And it's been interesting and dismaying for the country that Republicans have not pushed back a little.

CABRERA: Let me read you something, because the day Trump was impeached, this article from The Washington Post came out writing, "Donald J. Trump inherited a fortune, built an empire, and he spent his life grabbing for more, transforming scandal and bankruptcy into opportunity, playing on his strengths and America's weaknesses in a half century spree that won him the presidency." But on Wednesday, he could do nothing but stew and thrash and watch as the nation that gave him everything tried to take something back."

Michael, you also write that Trump brought this on himself, but he'll never see it that way, will he?

D'ANTONIO: well, I don't think he ever will. This is a person who's dedicated himself to denying reality whenever it's uncomfortable. And I think what you noted about Nixon and Clinton regretting what they put the country through, that requires a level of affection for the country, a level of care, a level of respect for the job that I think the president lacks.

He is not a person who's concerned about the turmoil that others are experiencing. He cares about the turmoil that he's experiencing. It's that blindness, that hubris, that really brought this all on.

And I think it's going to make the coming year something different than what he expects. I think there are many more mistakes that he's going to make and trouble that he's going to cause for himself.

CABRERA: You also have written; you expect his wrath will soon follow. Who's the target and what will happen?

D'ANTONIO: Well, I wouldn't want to be working in the White House right now. I think that it's a dangerous place to be if you value your job, and if you value your status. So he'll direct it at the people around him. And anyone who brings him discouraging news is going to be in trouble.

And there's a problem here because he wants vindication, but what might be best for him is something quick that doesn't feel like vindication that lacks the fireworks and the chorus line that he would prefer to make it very Trumpy.

But the Trumpy way is probably not the safe way to go here. And so whoever counsels him in that direction may be in for a rough ride.

CABRERA: Michael D'Antonio and Tim Naftali, got to leave it there, guys. Tim, I know I shorted you a question. My apologies.

NAFTALI: It's OK. Happy holidays.

CABRERA: But next time. Happy holidays to you, too. Thank you both.

D'ANTONIO: Happy holidays. CABRERA: North Korea has been taunting the U.S. about a so-called Christmas surprise for weeks. And now, there's new evidence linked to a long-range missile site. We'll have details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:45:52]

CABRERA: New tonight, signs that North Korea is expanding some infrastructure for its long-range intercontinental ballistic missile program.

Recent satellite imagery shows new work being done at a factory outside Pyongyang that used to produce trucks for the North Korean military.

So, what does this have to do with the country's missile program? CNN's David Culver joins us from Hong Kong to talk about it.

David, what is the significance here?

DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ana, this is rapid construction that we're seeing here and it is an automotive plant.

So the concern here is that this is not an ordinary car factory. This is a place where North Korean military has been known to modify some imported launchers from China, as well as retrofit some of the vehicles so that they can be used in support of intercontinental ballistic missile programs.

And within the past two weeks, we have seen enhanced testing out of North Korea, what they consider to be significant tests. They don't go into much detail as to what they were conducting.

But according to U.S. military officials and other analysts, it's believed they are testing these rocket engines that could be used for these long-range missiles.

You got to put all of this in context. We are now seeing increased tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. This war of words that's been going on.

[20:50:05]

The recent really threatening of a Christmas gift from North Korea to the U.S., unclear what exactly that might be. There are suggestions it could be an intercontinental ballistic missile launch or perhaps it could be something nuclear related. That remains to be seen.

But no question between the U.S. and North Korea things are seeming to worsen. I was talking to one former top U.S. military official who is very familiar with this region, and he suggested to me that initially this may be some posturing, this could be seen as just sharp rhetoric going back and forth.

But the issue is that can push forward a narrative that could be very dangerous going forward.

Now, Steve Biegun, who is the special envoy to North Korea from the U.S. He was just in this region, just left the area. He was in Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing, wrapping up several meetings with officials in the region trying to see if they could bring North Korea back to the table to continue discussions, the calls went unanswered.

AS far as this Christmas gift and preparations, the U.S. military, Ana, says they are ready for whatever may come.

CABRERA: That's right, we'll see. Thank you very much for that update, David Culver.

Up next, a new fallout after an FBI attorney altered documents leading to wiretapping a key Trump aide.

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[20:55:00]

CABRERA: An FBI lawyer could be in hot water after making serious mistakes on applications for a wiretap on a former Trump campaign aide. This after a Justice Department watchdog reported to what started the Russia investigation in 2016.

CNN's Evan Perez has more on this growing controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The foreign intelligence surveillance court wants to take a second look at all wiretapping applications from a former FBI lawyer who is now under criminal investigation for altering information in the case of Carter Page.

A recent inspector general report found that Kevin Clinesmith altered a key document that was used in the surveillance warrants targeting Page, a former Trump campaign advisor.

The court which largely operates in secret is asking, that the FBI and the Justice Department explained what they're doing to verify the accuracy of surveillance request that Clinesmith was involved in. A lawyer for Clinesmith did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.

The inspector general found a number of problems in the FBI's handling of the eavesdropping orders. There were 17 instances of inaccuracies or emissions in the Page wiretapping.

Attorney General Bill Barr says that he thinks that the FBI is making the appropriate changes to fix these issues. But some Republican lawmakers, including Senator Lindsey Graham, in recent days, have said that they want major changes to the surveillance process. If not, the surveillance court may have to be shut down, they say.

Barr says that the surveillance law is important to national security, and he says that he's open to making additional changes that lawmakers may want.

Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: That does for me tonight. Thank you so much for being here on this Saturday. I'm Ana Cabrera.

Still ahead, impeachment is designed to save our democracy. Join CNN's Fareed Zakaria as he looks at when and why we impeach. The CNN special report, "Presidents On Trial" an inside look at impeachment is next.

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