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Trump Public Opinion Holding Despite His Impeachment; Biden Campaigns in Iowa, Warren in Her High School Alma Mater in Oklahoma City; Interview with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ); Senate Trial Top of President's Mind During Holiday Break; New Records Reveal Bad Leads, Close Calls, Tips from Astrologer; Interview with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz; Sanders Campaign Holds Spanish Language Town Hall in Nevada; Newly Released Documents Revealing New Information About Timeline Of Trump Administration's Decision To Freeze Aid To Ukraine; Rep. Jim Jordan Goes Viral. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired December 22, 2019 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:08]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

President Trump, his first weekend as an impeached president, but you wouldn't think so just by looking at his job approval opinion polls. Despite being handed the strongest punishment possible by the Democrat-controlled House, President Trump's supporters are, so far anyway, standing by him. Take a look at these numbers.

According to the polling group, FiveThirtyEight, an average of polls shows the President, this week, saw his highest approval rating in more than 2-1/2 years, just shy of 45 percent. And his popularity peaked on the day he was impeached. Analysts point to the strong economy for keeping the President's opinion poll numbers steady.

As for how he stacks up against the Democratic candidates, President Trump is trailing former Vice President Joe Biden but not by as much as he did in October. Trump also gained ground against Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. How those numbers will change during or after the Senate impeachment trial, time will tell.

And this number jumped out of the newest CNN nationwide polling. It's about the soaring U.S. economy. Seventy-six percent of Americans feel the economy is good. We haven't seen that number that high in 18 years.

Let's get out to the campaign trail today. CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Iowa where Joe Biden is meeting voters, and Leyla Santiago is at an Elizabeth Warren event in Oklahoma City.

Arlette, Perry, Iowa is not a very big town, but people there are getting a lot of attention today.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, they sure are, Ana. Joe Biden is going to be attending an event here in Perry, Iowa in just a short while. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, he held an event just down the road here in Perry. These candidates coming to Iowa 43 days before the Iowa caucuses to make their mark and make their case why they should be the Democratic nominee.

Now, Joe Biden, earlier today, in Atlantic, Iowa, he talked a little bit about impeachment. He has long said that the House and Senate will focus on impeachment hearings, and his focus will be on making the case that Donald Trump needs to be defeated. Take a listen to what he had to tell voters there about impeachment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is that it's really hard for the country, impeachment. There's nothing -- there's nothing to celebrate about it.

There's nothing to celebrate about when the nation goes through an impeachment process. It really is a reflection of at least the concern of all the failure in our system, and the rest of the world looks to this and wonders what's going on.

But in this case -- and don't get me wrong, Donald Trump has brought this on himself. He indicted himself on the White House lawn with what he said. We're left no choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Joe Biden is wrapping up a two-day swing through Iowa right now. And while he was here in the Hawkeye State, his wife, Jill Biden, was down south. She went to the U.S./Mexico border and visited a migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico.

And I actually spoke with her on the phone just a little while ago about why she thought it was so important to head down there to see, first-hand, these asylum seekers who she said are just coming to the U.S. trying to find a better life and hope for their families.

She insisted to me that, under the Biden administration, the asylum seekers would be treated differently. And she told me that what the Trump administration is doing on that front is just wrong.

Now, we are 43 days out from the Iowa caucuses, and Biden is going to be spending most of his time in January here in the Hawkeye State as he is trying to get closer to potentially securing that Democratic nomination -- Ana.

CABRERA: Arlette, stand by.

Leyla, you are in Oklahoma City. That's where Senator Elizabeth Warren was born and went to high school in that very school you're standing in. Are people there giving her any points for being back in her hometown?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Listen, this is a town hall that has a bit of a different feel. Senator Warren is speaking right now, but I've got to tell you, even her introduction -- she was introduced by her nephew. And she, typically, at town halls, runs directly on stage. She didn't

do that this time. She popped up in the crowd, gave a bunch of hugs to her supporters here, and now she is speaking.

The first thing she did was introduced her family. Her brothers are here, and that's interesting because she often talks about the boys, her brothers, and points out that two of them are Republicans.

So, yes, very much a different feel for her being back home in the very high school where, by the way, there is still a trophy up with her name from her being a debate champion.

But let's talk about debates, right, because the last debate stage she was on, there was a lot of exchange with Mayor Pete Buttigieg about her fundraisers, given that in the past, when she ran for re-election in the Senate, she did take money from big donors, something that she is now staying away from.

And she's receiving a lot of scrutiny for another fundraiser in which she gave out bottles of wine to her donors, so I asked voters how they felt about that. Here's what they had to say.

[19:05:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGOT THOMAS, OKLAHOMA CITY VOTER: That's politics, you know? And I know that she had money that -- from a past campaign that she donated toward her campaign, but, you know, that's, I guess, part of politics. I don't think it's all neat and clean.

BRAD SULLIVAN, OKLAHOMA CITY VOTER: To me, what's very important right now is we need to get out of the big money in politics. There's too much influence in big money in politics, and I want the influence to be from people like myself. I want money out of this. I don't want our leaders to be chosen by big money interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTIAGO: So I've got to tell you, Ana, I've asked so many people, you know, what is that number one issue for you? And the number one thing that has come up, again and again, is health care.

Yesterday, in Iowa, in her last town hall, she was asked about social security and also her ability to compromise. Could she work across the aisle?

So far, she's kind of sticking to her -- to her bullet points here in terms of what she typically says at her town halls, but we'll have to wait and see what the voters here ask her about, Ana.

CABRERA: Leyla Santiago, Arlette Saenz, thank you, ladies.

Our next guest is still running for President, but he didn't make Thursday night's debate, leaving Andrew Yang as the only person of color on that debate stage. Here's what Yang said about that. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's both an honor and disappointment to be a lone candidate of color on the stage tonight. I miss Kamala. I miss Cory, though I think Cory will be back.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Senator Cory Booker is live now with us in the CNN NEWSROOM. Senator, what were you thinking when you heard Yang say that?

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I appreciate it. Look, I'm friends with so many people on the stage, and he is definitely a good one. And I'm glad he recognized that, and especially because of the fact that anybody who's campaigned in places like Iowa sees how strong our campaign is on the ground.

We are number two or three, I think, in that favorability in a state where people haven't made their choices, but we're very popular. We have the top of the field in endorsements. We've just got another county chairperson endorsing our campaign, and we just have one of the more talented teams on the ground. Our campaign is strong.

And remember, John Kerry, John Edwards were polling at four percent and two percent, six and seven in the field. And one month later, they went on to finish one and two in the caucuses. The polls have never been predictive of what happens in Iowa. It's the kind of things that we're thriving on, on the energy.

So we need help, continue to need help. We need people going to corybooker.com. But if they continue to do that, we'll have our best online fundraising of the campaign. If we keep seeing that, we're going to continue to build and build and build here to compete with people that have a lot more money but don't have our field operation. And that's how we're going to win.

CABRERA: I hear your optimism about where you're headed, but, you know, still, your presence or lack thereof was noticed at the debate this past week. And let's talk about the diversity factor here.

I asked journalist Adam Serwer about why, perhaps, there was that lack of diversity. Here's what he thinks is behind it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM SERWER, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: I think 2016 was kind of a traumatic election for a lot of Democrats, and they fear that they -- I think they rightly see the election of Donald Trump as a backlash to the two terms of the first Black President. And so, they are thinking we need to pick someone who is going to seem less culturally threatening to the other side.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CABRERA: Senator, I remember so visibly, on election night, Van Jones

calling President Trump's election a "Blacklash." Do you think that's what's happening here?

BOOKER: Well, I don't know who the commentator was, but I've never heard such a wrong commentary just based on the facts.

We -- for example, we lost Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania by about 77,000 votes. There was a massive diminution in African- American turnout.

In fact, in Milwaukee alone, there's about 70 -- seven -- 70,000 less African-Americans who came out. Overall, in the country, if Hillary Clinton had gotten the same Black turnout that Barack Obama did, she would be President Hillary Clinton right now.

We need, if we're going to win, the back of the Senate even, to win in -- we need to win in North Carolina, in Georgia, and South Carolina.

We need a person that can excite the fullness of our coalition. I know some people want to make it seem like it was somehow White voters who turned against Hillary Clinton, but that's just too simplistic of an analysis.

We really had a massive fall off of Black and Brown voters coming out, turning out, for the Democratic Party. And the next nominee better be someone who can excite the fullness of that Obama coalition, which involves all of our voters, from White voters and particularly African-American voters and Latino voters, Asian-American, the full coalition.

And I'm the best person in this race. We've seen this in New Jersey. When I'm on the ballot, the turnout of Black and Brown folks in the state has gone way up. So I know, as the nominee, that I can not only beat Donald Trump but provide the kind of wave we need to send Mitch McConnell to the backbenches.

[19:10:03]

CABRERA: So how do you get back on that debate stage to make sure your voice is represented, especially considering the DNC just raised the threshold again and you may be off the campaign trail soon for an impeachment trial in the Senate?

BOOKER: Well, we've seen our poll numbers already pop up. We've had -- we've now had three polls where we've gone from three percent to four percent. That means we're one percent shy of making their threshold, I hope.

The holidays, unfortunately, there's often a dearth of polls coming out, but we know these -- some of these state polls come out. We've seen it on the ground, the energy and the surge that we're having, that we know we're going to go up.

Again, we need to do -- continue to do T.V. ads like a lot of the people who have literally billions of dollars are in this race. That gins up people's poll numbers. You're seeing late entrants into this race spending millions of dollars doing that.

CABRERA: Right.

BOOKER: I rely on small-dollar contributions. And if folks want me on that stage, please go to corybooker.com so that we can do the kind of advertising necessary to meet the artificial polling thresholds so that we can further get my voice back into those debates. And frankly, a voice we need if we're going to be a Democratic Party that resurrects that Obama coalition.

CABRERA: Let's talk impeachment because some new e-mails just released through a FOIA request reveal that just 90 minutes after President Trump's July phone call with Ukraine, the one where he asks for a, quote, favor, though, a White House official e-mailed the OMB, the Office of Management and Budget and the Pentagon and asked for a hold on the military aid.

He then wrote, quote, given the sensitive nature of the request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction.

Senator, what does this new detail and the timeline mean to you, and how important is it that a Senate trial allows Democrats to call witnesses?

BOOKER: It is fundamentally critical for justice for us to have a trial that is thorough and involves witnesses with direct-hand observations about what the President did.

If the President says he did nothing wrong, then let your Chief of Staff, who was in the room, swear under oath before the United States Senate and testify to what happened. Let's have fact witnesses in this trial so that all of America can know what happened.

So we are seeing damning evidence, but the trial can be something so straightforward. I know this President has done things, whether you think it's impeachable or not, that violate the fundamental values of this country.

To hold up critical aid, our taxpayer dollars, from a country that's in crisis in order to try to get, extort, or, to use the legal term, to pressure them to do personal favors, this is unconscionable to me.

We should have a trial that is thorough, that involves fact witnesses that can speak truth to the matter of what happened. And that's what I hope happens.

CABRERA: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he already asked Mitch McConnell on Thursday if Democrats could call for witnesses and documents, and McConnell told him straight up no.

I mean, it seems as though Pelosi is going to sit on the impeachment articles until that changes. Do you think that's the right call? What's the leverage?

BOOKER: Well, first of all, Nancy Pelosi has been a lightworker in dark times in the way she's handled this whole process, pulling together the -- almost the entirety of the Democratic caucus. I just -- I have a lot of respect for her. And I think, for a lot of Americans, she's earned more and more respect.

Those articles are going to come over to the Senate. We all know that's the case. But she's doing the right thing she can. She's trying to do everything she can to make sure that the trial and the processes on the Senate side are fair and are dealt with in the -- with the gravity and the seriousness that this should -- that they should receive.

And so, I know they're coming, and we're going to deal with them, I hope, by more people expressing outrage. Republican and Democrat, everybody should believe that fact witnesses should come forward. That Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney, for example, who could give firsthand witness testimony under oath --

CABRERA: Right.

BOOKER: -- could clear up a lot of stuff for Republicans who say they don't have enough evidence yet.

CABRERA: Right. But on the timeline and the delay in sending over the articles, you know, White House official Marc Short says Pelosi's position just is untenable and here's why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC SHORT, CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: It's a really untenable position, we think, for Speaker Pelosi to say this President is such a clear and urgent danger to the world, to the globe, that we have to basically trample his constitutional rights to force a quick impeachment, and then say, well, we're going to hold up impeachment papers and articles of impeachment to send to the Senate.

How can you possibly justify the contrast to say, this is urgent, to then say, well, we'll have to wait and see?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: How do you argue, on one hand, this is so urgent, something must be done before the election, we can't wait for the courts to, you know, get those witnesses to come forward, but, on the other hand, now, Democrats can afford to wait this out?

BOOKER: I don't -- I don't really give that much credence to complaints from the White House about the process when they wouldn't even participate in it. They wouldn't release documents that are germane and urgent to what the Congress was doing and for them to withhold witnesses.

[19:15:03]

I mean, here's folks that, again, they have been undermining the ability for Congress to do its job and to provide checks and balances. And this, right now, is much ado about nothing. Those impeachment articles are coming to the Senate, and what she's doing right now is to do everything she can to ensure that when the trial happens, it's a fair trial. Which I think every American believes it should be a fair trial.

CABRERA: Senator Cory Booker, thank you very much for taking the time this evening. I know it's been a long weekend for you. Sending you a very healthy and happy holiday season.

BOOKER: Thank you. Happy Hanukkah to those who are celebrating and Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating as well.

CABRERA: Exactly. Thank you, again.

New evidence in the Ukraine scandal. Ninety minutes! That's all it took for the White House to free security funding after President Trump's phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart. So what does it mean and what impact could it have on impeachment?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: President Trump is spending the holidays in Florida, but he is not alone. His historic impeachment by the House of Representatives is right there with him, having followed him south from Washington, D.C.

And that was made very clear last night at an event where he bashed the House Democrats who impeached him. He bashed the news media, which he calls corrupt. He even accused the Speaker of the House of intentionally stalling the further impeachment process, saying it's because she, quote, has no case.

The top Democrat in the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, spoke to reporters today, and he says the impeachment trial in the Senate has got to include witness testimony and nothing kept secret.

[19:20:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER OF THE SENATE: Until we hear from the witnesses, until we get the documents, the American people will correctly assume that those blocking their testimony were aiding and abetting a cover-up, plain and simple.

So I'll close by saying this. President Trump, release the e-mails. Let the witnesses testify. What are you afraid of?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CNN's Kristen Holmes joins us from south Florida tonight with more. Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, ultimately, it's not going to be up to the President even if he would like it to be. It's going to be up to the senators what exactly does this trial looks like. And when we really break it down, it's going to be up those Republican senators.

You know, we have heard Mitch McConnell say, time and time again, that he's working in lock-step with the White House, but we also know that Mitch McConnell has a different idea of what he would like this trial to look like than the President.

President Trump had expressed, behind closed doors, that he wanted to have a big trial. He believed that this would exonerate him. He wanted to have a lot of witnesses.

And Mitch McConnell and other Republican senators have really tried to steer the President in a different direction, essentially saying that the more that -- witnesses there are, the more likelihood there could be problems for President Trump.

Now, earlier today, we did hear from Vice -- the Vice President's Chief of Staff, Marc Short, who said that the President is actually looking forward to a Senate trial. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHORT: He's frustrated in what he founds to be an -- a completely unreasonable impeachment. So, sure, he's frustrated by that, but he's also anxious to get not just acquitted but exonerated in the Senate. And so, he's looking forward to his opportunity to have a fair trial in the Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, while Short says that he is looking forward to this Senate trial, if you look at the President's Twitter feed, you may not believe that. He spent the day tweeting at Nancy Pelosi, calling her crazy, slamming Democrats, bashing the process overall.

But when it comes down to it, this is where we are. You have Senate Republicans and Democrats, and really overall Democrats and Republicans, who have really dug in their heels on this process. Democrats, again, wanting witnesses; Republicans not wanting a long trial. And now, we have a Congress that's not back in session until early January -- Ana.

CABRERA: We have to wait. Kristen Holmes, thank you.

A close call in a dramatic kidnapping. Police pass a car without realizing there's a teenager trapped in the trunk. Chilling new information tonight about the Jayme Closs abduction and the suspect's guilt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:33]

CABRERA: New tonight, startling details about the kidnapping of Jayme Closs. One year after her abduction and unbelievable escape and rescue, police are releasing documents that shed more light into her kidnapping. Closs was just 13 years old when she was abducted in October of 2018

by 21-year-old Jake Patterson. Patterson went to the Closs house. He killed Jayme's parents. He stuffed her into the trunk of his car. And for 88 days, she was held hostage before managing to escape and run to a nearby house for help.

Thousands of report pages have just been released by Wisconsin Police, and CNN's Polo Sandoval has been reading through these pages for us. Polo, what are you learning?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, good evening. The release of all of these documents also includes police dash camera video that was taken on that night on October 2018. And if you look closely, you can see officers unknowingly pass Patterson's vehicle as he sped to the scene of this double murder kidnapping back in October 2018.

Investigators are saying, at the time, then 13-year-old Jayme Closs was actually hidden in the trunk of the car. When you listen to audio of body camera footage that was also recently released, you can hear officers call it a possible suicide after discovering both of Jayme's parents were dead.

And of course, we now know the investigation took a very quick turn there when they discovered that Jayme was missing. The records also painting a picture, very disturbing one, of the time that Patterson spent with Jayme as he held her against her will in a remote cabin.

Patterson describing Jayme as being, quote, terrified and also petrified of him. But she also tells investigator that he would not physically be violent with her. Patterson admitting to investigators that though he did have sexual thoughts about Jayme, who was 13 years old at the time, he never actually acted on those feelings, saying that he felt guilty about killing her parents.

The documents also describing that day in January when Jayme was able to escape that cabin. She left it wearing men's shoes and found a neighbor nearby, telling that neighbor, he killed my parents, please help me, I want to go home.

Now that we're learning more, we can look back to May. That's actually when Patterson was not only convicted but eventually sentenced to two life sentences for the murders and also 40 years for the kidnapping of Jayme Closs -- Ana.

CABRERA: Such chilling details. Polo, thanks.

Up next, Bernie Sanders is breaking barriers with Latino voters. So what is he doing differently from the other Democratic candidates? We'll explore that ahead.

[19:29:07]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:08] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Senator Bernie Sanders is holding steady in

the polls consistently rounding out the top three with Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren. But he appears to be excelling in states with a large Latino population.

In California, for instance, he is polling 25 percent support among Latino voters there, virtually tied with Biden for first. The Sanders campaign hoping to give the senator a boost in nearby Nevada this weekend. They held a Spanish language Town Hall headlined by Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, and the Mayor joins us now.

She is the Sanders campaign co-chair. Thanks for being with us.

MAYOR CARMEN YULIN CRUZ (D), SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: Thank you for having me.

CABRERA: Why is senator Sanders resonating so much with Latino voters? What is he offering that the other candidates aren't?

CRUZ: Well, a couple of things. Senator Sanders understands that Latino families are just like any other families. But there are certain issues not only the immigration issue, which is a different look that Bernie Sanders takes to that position, but also the housing issue.

Having housing and not being subjected to gentrification is very important to the Latino population. The education issue: Having education for all and ensuring that children are able to go to school, not even only at the grammar school level, not having to pay for lunch, for example, but also a college for all and getting rid of student debt.

It's also very important, the medical aspect of it, Medicare-for-All, and even for those that do not have the necessary papers or status to be in the United States. So Senator Sanders - Tio Bernie like Alexandria started to call him and it has caught on is a person that thinks Latinos as needing the same human rights and basic needs than any other particular person and it's also a movement.

[19:35:09]

CRUZ: Bernie, you can trust Bernie Sanders. He's got a lifetime of commitment. I summarize his commitment three ways. He is committed. He is courageous. And he is consistent. And those three things are resonating with the Latino population.

CABRERA: As you know, enthusiasm among this voter group is very important for Democrats to win back the White House and according to Pew Research, the 2020 election will mark the first time Hispanics will be the largest racial and ethnic minority group in the electorate accounting for just over 13 percent of eligible voters.

In 2016. Latinos made up about 11 percent of all voters nationwide, but Clinton underperformed with Latinos compared to 2012. How do Democrats ensure Latino voters are energized behind the eventual nominee?

CRUZ: Well, a couple of things. First of all, I just came from the first campaign that has had an all-Spanish Town Hall meeting and it is important because what that says about Bernie Sanders is that language is not going to be a barrier to having people engage in the conversation and shaping the conversation.

And that's very important for Bernie Sanders. It's also important that people participate, that the grassroots movement that he has begun, not now, but many years ago, continues to grow.

And now, three things one, immigration, of course, it's a very important aspect of the Latino population, the protection of DACA, which he says often on day one, so he's not saying I'm going to wait, he is saying, I'm going to do it on day one, of course, through Executive Order. But also through understanding and engaging people and how do you do that?

When you have a track record and when your life is a blueprint for fundamental change, people know that what you see is what you get with Bernie Sanders. And they understand with our campaign and our movement more than with any other campaign and movement that what's in it for each one of us, is a society that allows us all to thrive and not only to survive.

CABRERA: And I'm not just talking about Bernie Sanders' campaign, but let's just talk about Democrats in general in the 2020 election, if we're comparing apples to apples in the last presidential election, Clinton got support from 66 percent of Latino voters, so obviously, more than the majority.

But he got 91 percent support from black voters. Why aren't Democrats seeing the same level of support from Latinos? Are they taking Hispanic voters for granted?

CRUZ: No, maybe that was in the past, but it isn't right now. One of the things is that Latinos are not being lumped into other categories and special attention is being paid that the Bernie Sanders campaign, for example, has more Latinos employed in the campaign, and having take-charge positions than any other.

Analilia Mejia is not the Political Director for the Latino portion of the Bernie Sanders campaign. She is the Political Director for all of the Bernie Sanders campaign.

For example, there's four co-chairs. Each one of us represent a particular group and the voices and the challenges of those groups. But we're not only engaged in that particular section.

So what we're looking at is a transformation of how politics is done, a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural movement that will catapult people forward.

CABRERA: But why aren't Democrats winning upwards of 80 or 90 percent support among Latino voters? CRUZ: Well, in the past, I think you're right, that the Latino

population was taken for granted. In the past also, the Latino population was a lot more engaged at community grassroots and did not see how that engagement really translated into the national politics.

But now, campaigns are seeing things differently. Certainly from the get go, the Bernie Sanders Campaign has seen that in a different way. Human rights are Latino rights, Latino rights are human rights and it is really -- we have a President right now that has demonized the Latino population, that has demonized the immigrant population, and for us in the Sanders Campaign and in the Sanders Movement, it is a lot different than that.

We are engaging people, but ensuring that the conversations that we are having, we're bringing people on board from the get go so that people understand that Sanders' agenda is their agenda.

CABRERA: Okay, Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, good to have you here. Thank you very much. Merry Christmas.

CRUZ: Thank you very much.

CABRERA: Happy Holidays.

CRUZ: Happy Holidays.

CABRERA: Thank you. President Trump is spending the Holidays at his Mar-a-Lago estate, but some are concerned about privacy and security. We'll have a closer look at the risks, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:44:01]

CABRERA: Newly released documents are revealing new information about the timeline of when the Trump administration decided to freeze aid to Ukraine. Now, according to an e-mail from an official, the efforts to freeze that aid began about 90 minutes after that infamous July 25th phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky.

Here was how the Vice President's Chief of Staff Marc Short responded to this revelation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC SHORT, CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: There's nothing new in these e-mails about the timing, truly, Chuck. There was a lot of e-mails and back and forth exchanges about timing this. The aid was released.

At best account, there was maybe 55 days and delays. We did our own review.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That brings us to your weekend presidential brief with CNN national security analyst, Samantha Vinograd. This is a segment we bring you every weekend with the most pressing national security issues President Trump will face tomorrow.

Sam, thank you for being here especially with Hanukkah. Happy Hanukkah.

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you.

CABRERA: Marc Short there seemed to imply the timing of this e-mail was just coincidental. What's your assessment of it?

[19:45:05]

VINOGRAD: Quite the coincidence, Ana, but we do have about a week unaccounted for. An O.M.B. official notified departments and agencies about this freeze on July 18th. But we've now learned is that 90 minutes after this phone call, the actual order from O.M.B. to the Pentagon was given to implement that freeze.

So again, we have a week in there, where we don't know what happened. That could be solved, of course, by having key officials testify.

Now, I will note that ahead of presidential calls, typically for President's brief-wise experts, he is updated on things like security assistance, so the actual issue of the freeze could have come up while the President was preparing for this call. Again, if he prepped with people other than Rudy Giuliani.

Now, timing is everything to an extent. But I really want to note for our viewers that the important consideration here is not just when the aid was frozen, but why. And if you actually read these documents, which I have, it's clear that agencies and departments were struggling to come up with a justification for the freeze after the fact, after the order was given. That throws cold water on any notion that this freeze was done for policy reasons, because they were trying to engineer a reason for the freeze after it had already happened.

CABRERA: Now, in part because of the President's impeachment, we're learning that North Korea's Kim Jong-un is deciding to do more of a wait and see approach when it comes to dealings with President Trump. What are the national security officials thinking about this?

VINOGRAD: Well, the more that changes, the more that it stays the same. I mean, to a large extent, Kim Jong-un has been taking a wait and see approach to Donald Trump from the get go. He had the veneer of quote-unquote, "negotiations" with President Trump for some time.

But Ana, he has never substantively engaged with President Trump in the actual issue of denuclearization. So he may now be saying that he is stepping away from the negotiating table, but any actual expert would tell you that he was never really there in the first place.

What we are waiting to see is whether and when Kim Jong-un implements another illegal test. He could test a satellite, he could test a long-range missile or he could do an underground nuclear test. Kim is walking a bit of a testing tightrope here. He wants to show

President Trump that he has capabilities, that he can really make these negotiations look completely off track, but he doesn't want to ostracize China and Russia too much. They've been carrying his diplomatic water.

And if Kim goes too far, and let's say test, a nuke that could force Russia and China to back away from backing Kim, which is not in Kim's interest.

CABRERA: Right now, the President is at Mar-a-Lago, what he likes to refer to as his winter White House, but there are new security concerns about Mar-a-Lago given, you know, just this past week, there was another woman who was arrested trying to enter, arrested for trespassing. This was the third recent security breach there. How much of a national security threat is this?

VINOGRAD: Well, Ana, insecurities abound in Mar-a-Lago, and I'm not just talking about the President's ego here. Mar-a-Lago is not a controlled presidential site like Camp David or the White House. It is a temporary site, really a private commercial entity, which means the Secret Service does not control security -- the host does.

And what we know is that two Chinese nationals, just this year alone, as you mentioned, have trespassed, but actually invited guest pose massive counterintelligence risks.

Members and the guests that they bring along with them don't go through counterintelligence screenings, yet they have direct access to President Trump and his surroundings at Mar-a-Lago. That makes him a gold mine for even the most amateur foreign intelligence services.

The Mar-a-Lago site is really just the jackpot for human or human intelligence because there are so many high value targets for foreign intelligence services to recruit and finally, an actual counterintelligence risk walked into Mar-a-Lago today. His name is Rudy Giuliani.

Rudy Giuliani is under counterintelligence investigation by Federal authorities, yet he was at Mar-a-Lago, just like he was invited to the White House by President Trump and that really boils down to President Trump inviting a known counterintelligence risk into Mar-a-Lago were President Trump is supposed to be doing official business.

CABRERA: He was seen dancing, socializing.

VINOGRAD: Tweeting.

CABRERA: Grand old time.

VINOGRAD: Yes.

CABRERA: Thank you so much, Sam, for being here.

VINOGRAD: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Again, Happy Hanukkah.

VINOGRAD: Happy Holidays.

CABRERA: See you in the New Year.

VINOGRAD: Can't wait.

CABRERA: All right, me too. Debate over fashion on Capitol Hill. We're used to seeing Congressman Jim Jordan without a jacket. But look, he got dressed up for impeachment last week. Now, he is going viral. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:53:14]

CABRERA: Boeing making history by landing the first American made space capsule designed to carry passengers on land. The Starliner touching down in the New Mexico desert after an abandoned inaugural test flight to the International Space Station.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Starliner touches down in the desert in New Mexico, a historic landing in White Sands New Mexico concludes the first flight test of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: NASA calls the Starliner test a huge success even though it failed to dock at the International Space Station to deliver holiday gifts and supplies as planned. That mission was abandoned after a timing issue, put the spacecraft in the wrong orbit following Friday's launch. The capsule could carry astronauts to space as early as next year.

What does it take for Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan to suit up? How about a historic impeachment. Here is CNN Jeanne Moos?

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You may know him as Republican Representative Jim Jordan.

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REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): And guess what.

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MOOS (voice over): But we guess many know him as the congressman who never wears a jacket.

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BILL HADER, ACTOR: I'm so angry, I couldn't even wear a jacket today. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (voice over): He carries it, but rarely wears it leading to jokes like found Jim Jordan's jacket. FLOTUS has it.

Even when he goes on TV talk shows, no jacket. "I'm going to start a telethon to get Representative Jim Jordan a blazer." He's usually ablaze about something.

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JORDAN: We've got six people having four conversations in one sentence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (voice over): But always in shirt sleeves.

This week, something truly historic happened. No, not impeachment, Jim Jordan dressed up.

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JORDAN: ... of course, the whistleblower.

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MOOS (voice over): Yes, the Ohio Congressman actually put his arms through the sleeves of a jacket. "Jim Jordan is wearing a suit jacket and he looks almost as uncomfortable as he makes all of us."

[19:55:09]

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HADER: Ooh, I'm about to pop off!

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MOOS (on camera): So, what's the deal? Does Jim Jordan have hang up about wearing jackets?

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JORDAN: I don't know why. The only time I wear the jacket is when I have to. I wear it on the House floor because you have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (voice over): The rules required him to wear one for the impeachment vote on the House floor.

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JORDAN: And I wear it around the President, whenever I'm at the White House, I wear it there. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (voice over): There are multiple Twitter accounts purporting to be Jim Jordan's jacket. "All I want is to be worn." When Jordan posed in the overly big jacket belonging to radio host, Jim Jordan's missing jacket posted, "Who the bleep rolls up a suit jacket sleeve?"

Jordan has a theory.

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JORDAN: You can't really get fired up and get into it if you have got some jacket slowing you down. So --

Mr. Morrison told Ambassador Taylor that I told Mr. Morrison that I conveyed this message to Mr. Yermak on September 21st, 2019.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS (voice over): Shirt sleeves for speed.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, what?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: New York.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chairman, I object.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll allow it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Today in Washington, the annual lighting ceremony of the National Menorah on this first day of Hanukkah.

The lighting of this 30-foot high Menorah taking place just across from the White House. The celebration in the heart of the nation's capital draws thousands of people every year and this was no different. It's an event that dates back to 1979 under President Jimmy Carter.

And something you may want to make, an Annual New Year's Eve tradition. Watch two best friends, one epic night ring in the New Year with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. New Year's Live begins at 8:00 p.m. on CNN.

Partisan politics over impeachment, a member of Mike Pence's team calling out Nancy Pelosi. Was it a fair point or a cheap shot? You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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