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Democratic Representative: Need To Wait For Assurances Trial Won't Be A Sham; Source: President Trump Seeking Input On Impeachment Defense Team; Donald Trump's Frustration Grows Over Delay Of Senate Trial; Navy SEALs Paint Disturbing Picture Of Ex-Platoon Chief, Edward Gallagher, In Video; Iowa Voters Weigh Primary Decision 37 Days Before Caucus; Five Dead, Four Injured In Plane Crash In Louisiana; WH Developing List For Possible Pompeo Replacement; Top Nine International Stories Of 2019; Growing Global And National Threats Facing The United States. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired December 28, 2019 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN HOST: Hey there, thank you for joining me. I'm Martin Savidge in for Fredricka Whitfield. President Trump is on his holiday vacation in Florida where he continues to vent his anger over his stalled impeachment trial. He has been lashing out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the whistleblower in a series of Twitter attacks President is clearly frustrated by the uncertainty surrounding his Senate trial.

Speaker Pelosi continues to hold it off on sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate. As Democrats push for witnesses to testify and Majority Leader McConnell signals that he is really in no hurry to get the trial under way. As the President fumes over his stalled impeachment, sources tell CNN he is also asking for advice on who should be on his defense team and what the strategy ought to be.

CNN's Sarah Westwood in South Florida for us and Sarah what more are you learning about the President's state of mind on his vacation?

SARAH WESTHOOD, CNN WHITEHOUSE REPORTER: Martin, President Trump is increasing attitude about this extended the state of limbo surrounding his Senate trial. He is settling into something of a routine firing of almost daily messages against Speaker Pelosi as he spends his time with a rotating cast of aides here at Mar-a-Lago.

And sources tell CNN that President Trump has been quizzing his advisors and his friends at his resort about what the White House strategy for the Senate trial should be? There are a lot of unanswered questions about that include who will present the closing and opening arguments and just who will be a member of that team?

The only certainty at this point is that the White House Counsel Pat Cipollone is expected to present the bulk of the President's defense to the Senate, he is expected to be assisted by some of his deputies, perhaps there will be roles more limited ones for other members of the President's outside legal team. The President is also considering creating roles on that team for some of his fiercest defenders in the House. Conservatives like Congressman Jim Jordon, Congressman Mark Meadows they are expected also to play potentially a role but the President and is his team can't really make decisions about exactly what their strategy will be for the Senate trial as long as the situation remains so fluid.

And now a lot of final decisions have not been made Martin and that's because Speaker Pelosi is holding on to those articles of impeachment she is refusing to transmit them to the Senate until she has a better sense that in her eyes she is going to have a fair trial. Take a listen to what a top House Democrat from CNN yesterday about just how long the standoff could last?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAN KILDEE, (D-MI): I think we have to wait until we have some assurance that the trial is not going to be some sort of a sham or a joke.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: I mean I'm talking extremes here, like into February?

KILDEE: Well, I mean that is certainly possible, but I'm not going to get ahead of the Speaker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now Speaker Pelosi is showing no signs of budging off of her position. Democrats are mounting pressure on Republicans - some of their demands like more live witnesses, like more document collection, but even as President Trump grows more impatient for the start of his Senate trial he is eager for his symbolic day in court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seems to be remaining ambivalent about the start of the trial so Trump really caught in the standoff between Congressional Republican and Democrats right now Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right, Sarah Westwood down there in Florida for us. Thank you very much. With me now is the Lynn Sweet Washington Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times and Michael Zeldin is a Former Federal Prosecutor and CNN Legal Analyst. Welcome to you both.

MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.

LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Hi, Martin.

SAVIDE: Michael I'm going to start with you and the possibility of Speaker Pelosi with holding sending the articles of impeachment until as late as February and I'm wondering is that really a sound legal maneuver?

ZELDIN: Well, what is a sound league maneuver is to understand what the rules and procedure will be in any court that you walk into, and this is a court, and also what is the procedural set up? Will you have witnesses?

Will there be live witnesses and will there recorded depositions? I think Pelosi is well within her rights and sound legal strategy to demand from the Senate what is that were walking into because if it is going to a sham trial, then maybe she just holds these things indefensibly. If it's going to be a real trial then I think she wants to get on with it as soon as possible.

SAVIDGE: Okay. So there is the legal strategy. But Lynn, what is the possible political fallout for Democrats if you have an impeachment trial that drags into February or later?

SWEET: Well, for early February it is the first vote in the 2020 presidential contest with the Iowa Caucus and then followed by New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. So you have this becoming a distraction at the least as the Democrat slugging it out in these important early state primaries. Or I could argue at the other way that without the distraction of a trial the candidates they don't have to react everyday to something that might have happen on the Senate floor.

So maybe doing them a favor because it would also free the candidates who are running including several in the United States Senate it will let them stay on the road and beyond and about campaigning.

[12:05:00]

SWEET: Very short term gain for those candidates because at least it gives them a shot at doing their best in those primary states. Other than that I don't think a few weeks delay has a significant political impact either for the re-election of some Senators or in further Presidential politics.

SAVIDGE: Michael, sources are telling us that the President's seeking input on who should be on his legal team? And what the strategy ought to be? What do you make of the fact that the President has not yet settled on a legal team and a strategy?

ZELDIN: Well, he hasn't also know what the rules of the procedures of the court will be so like Pelosi, he is having a hard time figuring out what type of person do I need to represent me? We heard names like Allen Dershowitz who was a brilliant constitutional lawyer and he could be valuable if this thing is going to have constitutional legal implications. He has terrific lawyers in Marty Raskin who represented him in the Mueller investigation.

They would terrific cross-examiners if this is a trial with real witnesses. So the President is being hamstrung, Pelosi has been hamstrung because McConnell's and Schumer haven't reached a deal. It's on McConnell's shoulders mostly because he is the one who controls the Majority in the Senate and I think really it is incumbent up on him to make this a real trial consistent with the Senate rules and consistent with previous impeachment trials.

SAVIDGE: But Michael does it really matter on the strategy if the Senate is so stacked in the President's favor? ZELDIN: Well, you know, that is the conversation. It is a fore gone conclusion, but remembers we have not seen many of the documents that the Senate wants and the House wanted. We have not heard from many of the firsthand witnesses who the House wanted and now the Senate wants. And maybe if we actually saw documents and heard from witnesses with firsthand knowledge it would have be as foregone conclusion as to the outcome.

Right now we have the articles of impeachment which says obstruction of Congress; we have got a Senate Majority Leader who is facilitating that obstruction by not allowing real witnesses. If you get documents and if you get real witnesses maybe get a real outcome.

SAVIDGE: Okay. Then Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden says he doesn't think that Senate would really move to send him a subpoena that says he would not testify in the impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed because as he says in a tweet this impeachment is about Trump's conduct not mine. But if push came to show up do you think that Biden would really defy a subpoena in the middle of a campaign?

SWEET: This is not - this does shows the problem that this whole episode has politically for Biden. No matter what he does in this one he has a risk of political fallout. His son taking that trial, Hunter Biden taken that job on the Board of Burisma created an enormous political liability with Biden now.

So far that liability has not eroded Biden's standing in the polls. It remains to be seen whether or not that stays the case or if Trump makes Hunter, Joe Biden's middle name. So I don't see how there is good outcome either way if but he can say legitimately and argument for some - to see what the subpoena would actually say, they want him to testify too in which case he could go to, he would have the option of fighting it and take that course and suffer whatever political consequence.

Or if what the subpoena wants is so make a partisan and out of bounds, and nothing to do with the charges that Trump is facing, and there is nothing central to that, then it will expose the flaw in the strategy of going after Biden to defend Trump.

SAVIDGE: Lynn, do you think that the Republicans will actually subpoena and ask Biden to testify?

SWEET: I think they want to use him as a pawn, as a trade for something else, to use that as a threat to try and to threaten pulling him in order to see if the Democrats will back down, and the main people they want, Bolton and Mulvaney.

SAVIDGE: And Michael this is probably the last question. There is some legal disagreements over whether or not the President has been truly been impeached since the House has not sent over the articles to the Senate? Where do you stand on that legal question?

ZELDIN: Well, I think that he has been impeached. It may be as Constitutional Law Professor Noah Feldman said, it may not that the articles of impeachment haven't been perfected that is they have to go over to the Senate to sort of seal the deal, but he has been impeached and if the case ended right now the history books 20 years from now would say we had three impeached Presidents and Trump would be one of them.

SAVIDGE: Lynn Sweet and Michael Zeldin, great to have you both on the program, thank you.

SWEET: Thank you.

ZELDIN: Thank you and happy New Year.

SAVDGE: And to you. At least 79 people have been killed after a suicide bomb attack in Somalia.

[12:10:00]

SAVIDGE: Dozens of others are injured following the rush hour explosion at the key security check point in the nation's Capital City of Mogadishu. CNN International Correspondent Farai Sevenzo joins me now from neighboring Nairobi, Kenya and just what are you learning about this attack?

FARAI SEVENZO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Martin, compliments of the season. It is exactly this type of time of the year that the Al-Qaeda affiliated terror group in Somalia tends to attack. Now they haven't claimed responsibility, but the attack bears all of the hallmarks of their modest operand. We know of a certain that 79 people are dead and the Ministry of House in Somalia is saying over 100 have been injured.

And what's more Martin is that this attack happened there - University, so without being completely certain, but obvious that innocents have died, civilians, students have been killed in this attack and of course this happens in the background of many drone attacks by the United States forces and the presence of African Union troops in that country trying to stand back, the influence of Al- Shabaab and of course it is a very sad time indeed.

This time of the year when people are on their holidays, even if Somalia is a non-Christian country, it is mainly the Somalis that are suffering the effects of this relentless bombing and suicide attacks by terror groups Al-Shabaab Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes. And it would appear that the victims at least most of them in this particular attack could be young people. Farai Sevenzo, thank you so much for updating us on the story.

Still to come in the CNN NEWSROOM, newly obtained recording show members of SEAL Team 7 painting a disturbing picture of their Ex- Platoon Chief Eddie Gallagher's plus, the Iowa Caucuses remember them well; now just over a month away CNN is on the campaign trail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Toxic and evil that's how Navy SEALS are describing Platoon Leader Retired Special Operations Chief Eddie Gallagher in videos obtained by "The New York Times" And I warn you that the following report contains some disturbing images. CNN's Barbara Starr has the latest on the shocking allegations described by the SEALS themselves.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Members of SEAL Team 7 Alpha Platoon broke their own code of silence in 2018 with their opinions about Retired Special Operations Chief Eddie Gallagher and some making accusations that the elite SEAL committed murder and potential war crimes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy got crazier and crazier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:15:00]

STARR: These are portions of recorded Navy SEAL interviews published by "The New York Times" were team members tell investigators their views on the Platoon Leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy was toxic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Gallagher was acquitted of premeditated murder when a key prosecution witness changed his story and testified under immunity that he caused the prisoners death, not Gallagher.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIEF MALE: Did you suffocate him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I held my thumb over his ET tube until he stopped breathing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Scott describes the killing as an act of mercy because he was concerned the boy a prisoner of Iraqi forces would be tortured by them. Gallagher was convicted on a charge of taking a photo with a dead ISIS fighter and was then demoted in rank.

A decision that President Trump reversed allowing the SEAL to retire with honor even after Pentagon Leaders urged the President not to interfere. Speaking to his attorney, Gallagher told CNN my first reaction to seeing the videos was surprise and disgust that they would makeup blatant lies about me. But I quickly realized that they were scared the truth would come out of how cowardly they acted on deployment. His defense attorney says the tapes were "A roadmap to acquittal because they show there were conflicting stories about allegations of Gallagher killing civilians and other misconduct".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY PARLATORE, ATTORNEY FOR EDDIE GALLAGHER: We're seeing only one very small slice of the story in a way that is not reflective of what ultimate result was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: President Trump's determination to reverse the military's punishment of Gallagher against the advice of top pentagon officials was so controversial that Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was ousted. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff insists that discipline and adherence to the laws of war will not suffer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MAR MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We do maintain and we will maintain good order and discipline. We will not turn into a gang of raping, burning, and pillaging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But some say it is all led to festering bad feelings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LAPAN, FRMR PRESS SEC & DEPUTY ASST SEC FOR MEDIA OPS. DHS: It is kind of divisiveness that the President's actions introduced into the SEAL community I think that are the most damaging and will have long-term effects.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Gallagher met with Trump over the holidays at Mar-a-Lago and it's possible he will campaign for Trump a fast those who know him say. Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

SAVIDGE: And here to discuss who is Retired Rear Admiral John Kirby and CNN Military and Diplomatic Analyst and Former Pentagon Spokesman, Admiral good to see you.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY (RET), FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Thanks.

SAVIDGE: You know it is my experience having spent time with troops like this that they almost never speak out against one of their own and yet clearly they do in this case. And I'm wondering what that says to you?

KIRBY: Well, I mean the SEALS are certainly an insular tight knit group of special warfare sailors. There is no question about that. It is a very tight group. But like every other military member they have an obligation to speak out and speck up when they see something go awry. Certainly if they see crimes being committed and so I don't discount for a moment that it took moral courage for these guys to do this.

To come forward to investigators and tell their stories about Chief Gallagher but they were exactly the right thing. We talk about their code of silence Martin, but they also, these particular sailors they live by a code of honor and these guys felt like they were obliging that code.

SAVIDGE: Right, I was struck by the emotion in their voices as they spoke out they clear were doing something difficult but knew it had to be done. The President's decision to reverse Gallagher's demotion of rank was seen as obviously highly controversial. What is the impact for members of the military who are still out there actively serving?

KIRBY: Well, I certainly would not want to speak for all members of military. I can't do that but I can say that there are people in the military that support Donald Trump and his Presidency and probably support these actions, in fact and I know there are SEALS out there active duty that support Chief Gallagher and what the President did intervene in this case and they're like wise a large number that don't.

What worries me is that the President's actions do two things, one they needlessly he interfered with the military judicial system and did not let the process complete. He was involved with Gallagher's case when he was in pretrial confinement before the court Marshal even began. So he is intervening well, well in advance of what he probably should be.

And number two it sends a message to our allies and partners overseas that we may not be able to hold out troops as accountable to good order and discipline as we say we are. And that's a bad message for people that are counting on American troops on their sole to act a certain way.

SAVIDGE: Were you surprised to hear that Gallagher apparently had a meeting with President Trump over the holidays at Mar-a-Lago and even apparently they discuss the possibility of him campaigning for Trump?

[12:20:00]

KIRBY: I tell you - you know I have been thinking about this one Martin, I got mixed feelings on it. On one hand he is a retired sailor he is a private citizen. He is allowed to have his politics and he is allowed to expose them now and he is allowed to participate in fund raising. So I mean, he is certainly within his rights to do that, but what worries me about it on the other hand is that it just risks further politicizing the military.

The President can't help himself every time he is in front of a military audience. He politicizes it I mean, even at the army navy game wearing his "Make America Great Again" red ball hat which was totally inappropriate. So only when people see Gallagher campaigning with him or if they see him campaigning with him that they might take away the message that the military belongs to President Trump, and they don't they belong to the American people. They support all America. Their oath is to the constitution not to him and that concerning me.

SAVIDGE: Admiral Kirby, it's good to see you always.

KIRBY: Thank you very much.

SAVIDGE: Thank you. Coming up, Joe Biden on the campaign trial in Iowa, why he says he would not testify in the Senate impeachment trial that if he was subpoenaed?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Right now several Democratic Presidential Candidates are campaigning hard in Iowa with just over a month until the first of the nation's caucuses including Joe Biden. He is ramping up a two days swing through that battle ground state this hour. The Former Vice President is hosting a community event in town of Tipton just one of three campaigns stuff that he is making today.

[12:25:00]

SAVIDGE: The CNN National Political Reporter, Maeve Reston is on the ground in Iowa for us and Maeve Biden is tweeting this morning about some comments that he made yesterday regarding the impeachment trial, what can you tell us?

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: That is right Martin, so yesterday Joe Biden stirred some controversy in his interview with the Des Moines Register editorial board saying that he would not testify if he was subpoenaed in an impeachment trial. Of course we don't know yet what that trial would look like but he was making it clear he thinks there is no legal basis to subpoena him.

And this morning in a series of tweets he was trying to amplify that point and I just want to read you one of his tweets this morning, he said I'm just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas for my testimony in the impeachment trial. That is the point I was making yesterday and I reiterate. This impeachment is about Trump's conduct not mine so Martin very much trying to keep that impeachment spectacle away from campaigning here in Iowa.

SAVIDGE: I'm wondering, you have been speaking to voters there in Iowa and what are they telling you?

RESTON: Yes. It is so interesting, obviously many voters here are still very undecided but in this particular room this morning I spoke to a lot of voters who said they were about 90 percent of the way to Joe Biden and a lot of the reason for that is that they feel that some of the other candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders might drag the party too far to the left and so let's just take a listen to one of the voters who I talked to this morning, Terri Ford from here on Tipton who said she was worried about what might happen with those two candidates embrace of Medicare for all. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRI FORD, IOWA VOTER: I think right now the country is at a place where we're not ready for that, and that is me personally. I would not be - I would look at it at some point in the future, but I think that the country is not there and I don't think Iowans are there right now. I think they might lose the middle part of the electorate that the middle ground people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RESTON: And that is very much the point that voters are making here. Those that have settled on Biden are that they feel that he would be the acceptable choice not just the Democrats but also to some Republicans and Independents. Martin?

SAVIDGE: Maeve Reston, good to see you there in Iowa. Thank you very much for your reporting.

RESTON: Thanks so much.

SAVIDGE: Still to come, in speculation that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may run for Senate, we'll look at who could replace him as the United States top diplomat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:31:09]

SAVIDGE: We have breaking news out of Lafayette, Louisiana where five people are dead and four others injured after a small plane crashed into a field. The eight passenger plane went down around 10:22 this morning. The Lafayette Fire Department chief or fire chief says that they're still not sure how many passengers were actually on the plane. He adds there was one survivor that was transported to the hospital, three people who are on the ground were also taken to hospital.

Let's bring in our Peter Goelz. He's the former NTSP managing director and a CNN aviation analyst. And Peter, what's the first thing investigators are going to be looking for here?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, the first thing they do is they lock down the records of the plane. They check the qualifications of the pilot, they check the weather, and they check on -- you know, with this many fatalities and folks on the plane, they will immediately look at weight and balance, you know. And that is a critical thing for particularly small planes. You've got to have -- you can't be overweight, you've got to have the correct balance or else the plane is -- you know, you're putting yourself in jeopardy.

This is, you know, a real tragedy. And what happens during holidays is people tend to get anxious about getting to their destinations and they fly in more marginal weather and these accidents are usually completely -- they can be avoided.

SAVIDGE: The weight factor was actually one of the first things that went through my mind as I read just the early details on this. But, you talked about weather and the weather reports at the time of the crash say that the conditions at the Lafayette Regional Airport were listed as fog/mist with visibility about three quarters of a mile. Does it sound (INAUDIBLE) like bad or what does that tell you?

GOELZ: No, I think -- no, I mean, three quarters of a mile visibility is certainly doable if your instrument rated. I mean, if the pilot was an instrument rated aviator, three quarters of a mile with mist and fog is certainly not, you know, not even marginal. I mean, if it dropped down less than that that could have been a problem. But, no, I think they're going to look as you indicated the weight and balance. The maintenance of the plane, were there any indications from the pilot to the ground that he was having difficulty once he took off.

SAVIDGE: And Peter, lastly, would an aircraft like this have a black box or some sort of telemetry?

GOELZ: It's unlikely they would have a traditional flight data recorder. It depends on the maker of the plane and they haven't reported that yet. But usually with, you know, 10 and under aircraft, they're not required to have them and they probably don't have it, unfortunately.

SAVIDGE: All right, Peter Goelz, we'll continue to stay in touch with you as we follow the story. Thank you for your insights.

GOELZ: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Well, it looks like President Trump is actively searching for a new secretary of state. A source tells CNN that the White House is developing a list of potential replacements for Mike Pompeo. That's if he were to leave the administration. The tentative short list comes amid growing speculations that Pompeo is eyeing a possible Senate run in Kansan.

So, let's go straight now to CNN's Kevin Liptak, he's in Washington. And Kevin, what are you hearing about this possibility?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is all very preliminary for now and it's really seen as kind of a contingency plan should Mike Pompeo decide to jump into that Kansas Senate race. But with that expectation in mind, some administration officials are starting to toss about some names as potential replacements.

Among them, Steve Mnuchin, he's the Treasury secretary who's seen as very close to President Trump, he's been in the administration for the entire time. Robert O'Brien who's the current national security adviser, he replaced John Bolton, and is being seen as given more responsibility, also very close to President Trump.

[12:35:08]

And lastly, Steven Biegun, he's just been named the deputy secretary of state and has been running North Korean negotiations for the White House.

Now, the big question in all of these is still whether Mike Pompeo will actually jump into that Kansas Senate race. He's dismissed speculation that he's eyeing the race but Senate Majority Mitch -- Leader Mitch McConnell has encouraged him to think about it. He's looked at polling that shows Pompeo would win that race.

President Trump has also seen that polling, McConnell showed it to him and Trump has said that he would be in favor of Pompeo jumping in the race if it looked like Republicans were at risk of losing it.

Now speculation about all of these is ramping up because Mike Pompeo has recently started a new personal Twitter account. And that Twitter account has a vast difference from what he likes to put on his official secretary of state page, it's a much more softer tone, a more personal look at his life over Christmas, he posted pictures of himself playing cards and drinking beer and he posted a picture himself doing dishes in Adidas gym shorts.

So this is all leaning to a speculation that he may become closer to jumping in that race. Now he still has months to decide before the filing deadline. So this could all continue to play out over the next couple of months.

SAVIDGE: Yes. Interesting though that this new Twitter account would give so much insight. All right, Kevin Liptak, great to see you, thank you.

Still to come, protests both peaceful and violent gripped Hong Kong for much of the year. We'll take a look back at that and the other top international moments in 2019.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: We got just a few days left in 2019 so CNN is taking a look back at some of the biggest most interesting stories we've covered around the world this year.

[12:40:05]

Here is CNN's Clarissa Ward with the top nine international stories of 2019.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): As the decade comes to a close, so does another tumultuous year. 2019 was mark by global protests, brutal terrorist attacks, and political instability. And CNN was there as it all happened.

Number nine.

THERESA MAY, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I will shortly leave the job that has been the honor of my life to hold.

WARD (voice-over): Theresa May stepped down as British prime minister after failing to secure Brexit, the U.K's withdrawal from the European Union. She was replaced by Boris Johnson who called for an early election in December hoping to break the Brexit impasse.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: It's a major victory for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And yes, they will have an overwhelming mandate from this election to get Brexit done.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many MPs who lost their seats have blamed Jeremy Corbin as the people decided that he just wasn't the kind of leader they want.

WARD (voice-over): Boris Johnson vowing to get Brexit down by the send of January.

Number eight, China ramps up its persecution of these Uighur Muslims.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: China doesn't want you to know the secret behind these walls. Men, women, children, sometimes entire families separated from each other, cutoff from the outside world. The U.S. State Department says they leave in prison-like conditions, locked up, not for what they did, but who they are. Members of Muslim minority groups from Xinjiang province in China's far west.

WARD (voice-over): Human rights groups alleged that the two million members of the ethnic minority are being detained in sprawling secret camps. The Chinese government denies and says the Uighurs are voluntarily enrolled in, quote, vocational training centers.

Number seven, a holy day meant for rest and worship turns deadly in Sri Lanka.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An entire country shaken after hundreds of people are killed in a wave of bombings. This is Sri Lanka, more than 200 people are dead, hundreds more wounded in three separate cities.

WARD (voice-over): Ten days before the massacre, an intelligence memo warned of a possible attack raising questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the bloodshed. Two of the suicide bombers were brothers, members of a prominent wealthy Muslim family. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

Number six, power in numbers. Citizens from almost every continent flood their city centers and demand systemic change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mass protest against income inequality have gone on for two weeks. Twenty people have been killed.

WARD (voice-over): Some protestors paid the highest price but their movements force dictators out of power.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This morning, a military transitional council announced the end of Omar al-Bashir's 30-year reign. A dictatorship known for its brutality against its own citizen.

WARD (voice-over): Confronted economic inequality, fought for democracy, and reaffirmed the under estimated power of a people united.

Number five, the world's most wanted terrorist cornered and killed. JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: We are getting some major news out of the Middle East, Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to have been killed.

WARD (voice-over): President Trump announces U.S. Special Forces conducted an overnight raid in Syria. Al-Baghdad detonated a suicide vest killing himself and three children when he was cornered in a tunnel.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He died like a dog, he died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. Special Forces were in the compound for about two hours and they were able to gather what's described as highly sensitive material on ISIS before pulling out and flying back to Iraq.

WARD (voice-over): Days later, ISIS announces a new leader of the caliphate. Baghdadi's death symbolizes the destruction of the Islamic state but not the end of its violent ideology.

Number four, the deadliest terror attack in New Zealand's modern history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say these were the actions of a lone gunman whose rampage began with the attack on the Al Noor mosque and subsequently the Linwood mosque.

WARD (voice-over): The massacre claims the lives of 51 people and wounds 49.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We ended up having to lift the bodies over top of other bodies onto stretchers. There was no -- and those people were bleeding, and there was a lot of blood.

[12:45:02]

WARD (voice-over): The gunman, a 28-year-old self described white supremacist armed with military style weapons and live streaming the massacre from a helmet cam. He post an 87-page manifesto on social media just hours before the attack. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vows to take action on gun violence.

JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: Today, I'm announcing that New Zealand will ban all military style semi-automatic weapons. We will also ban all assault rifles.

WARD (voice-over): Number three, a power struggle in Venezuela ushers in an era of violence and poverty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The breaking news out of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, the country's self-declared interim president, an opposition leader urging the military today to join him to take to the streets to force out the president, Nicolas Maduro.

WARD (voice-over): After what critics described as an illegitimate inauguration of Maduro, Guaido challenged Maduro's claimed to the presidency. President Trump recognizes Guaido as the legitimate president. Maduro accuses the United States of backing an attempted coup and expels U.S. diplomats from the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world watched as a stark message was sent to protesters. Maduro's forces would not tolerate dissent. Human rights activists say they're being backed up by an unprecedented police crack down.

WARD (voice-over): The United States sanctions Venezuela's government-owned oil company, but almost a full year later, Maduro remains in power more resilient than his opponents expected. As for the Venezuelans Guaido once inspired, they continue to suffer from government corruption, inflation, and hunger losing faith that much will change.

Number two, abandoning a commitment creating a vacuum.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The invasion is underway in Northern Syria. Turkey's President Erdogan said the military offensive there has begun.

TRUMP: And our soldiers have been coming back over that period of time.

WARD (voice-over): Days earlier, President Trump makes an abrupt announcement that he is withdrawing U.S. troops from Northern Syria clearing the way for Turkey to launch an offensive. The move essentially abandons Kurdish fighters who have fought alongside American forces to defeat ISIS. Ceding power to Turkey, cementing Bashar al-Assad's grip on Syria and benefiting the regional ambitions of Russia and Iran.

At number one, a pro-democracy movement fights for autonomy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Breaking overnight from Hong Kong, protestors flooding the streets clashing with police as Hong Kong marks 22 years since it was formally returned to China.

WARD (voice-over): Frustrations were ignited with the proposal of a controversial extradition bill that would see Mainland China's authority over the semi-autonomous region grow. At its peak, organizers estimate as many as two million took to the streets. The extradition bill was suspended but as violence and property damage grew so did the protesters' demands. They wanted an independent investigation into police actions, the release of all of those arrested, conditions that proved unpalatable to authorities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no end in sight for these short political divisions and this crisis that plunged Hong Kong into economic recession. The worst crisis the city has seen in a generation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And remember, you can end your year right here. Bring in a new year, the new decade with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, New Year's Eve live begins, that'll be 8 p.m. New Year's Eve, and, of course, it's right here on CNN.

From mass shootings to cyber attacks and election security, 2019 exposed a lot of major issues to tackle in 2020. What federal and local officials are examining, that is up next.

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[12:53:00]

SAVIDGE: 2019, a year that saw a disturbing uptick in the number of mass shootings, cyber attacks, and deadly natural disasters. Federal and local officials are now taking a hard look in the numbers to help try to counter those threats in 2020.

Joining us now is Jonathan Wackrow. He's a former Secret Service agent under President Obama and a CNN law enforcement analyst. Good to see you, Jonathan.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Hey, nice to see you, Martin.

SAVIDGE: What are some of the biggest security risks, say, for 2020?

WACKROW: Well, unfortunately, Martin, what we're going to see in 2020 is a continuation of what we saw over the past year. Unfortunately, some of our biggest and most critical risk elements that we faced in this past year will carry over and compound into the New Year. And some of those things that I have been looking at are things such as mass attacks, targeted violence, you know, within our communities, cyber attacks are an ever present danger. Election security, we're coming into the presidential election year and we fail to have a national strategy on how to protect our elector rate.

And natural disasters. Listen, you can't talk about risk without actually talking about natural disasters and the impact the global climate, you know, changes has had on the impact of these types of disasters. One thing that is important to talk about, Martin, and sorry to interrupt you, is that all of these things, you know, the reason why they're compounding is because we failed to act over the last year.

Whether it's been, you know, turmoil at DHS or the failure to come up with a comprehensive definition of what is domestic terrorism, or how to address some of these natural disasters has been a challenge and it's going to remain a challenge for law enforcement, state and federal officials moving forward.

SAVIDGE: And one of those great challenges is gun violence. They're not just for this administration but for previous ones as well. But just, how many shootings were there this year in the U.S.?

WACKROW: Well, the simple answer to that, Martin, is too many. Unfortunately, we saw over 412 incidents of mass shootings that have affected our community.

[12:55:03] And, you know, these are preventable tragedies but we've -- over the past year, we have failed to, you know, enact any type of policies that will prevent these tragedies. It's a partisan politics has replaced the need to protect our society. And some of the basic things that we can do is implement universal background checks. We can, you know, focus on red flag laws, we can start closing loophole around, you know, at gun sales. We can do something, to date we have done nothing. So this is why it's a critical risk factor moving into the New Year.

SAVIDGE: And cyber attacks, you've mentioned them, this is something we saw increasing in --especially a number of metropolitan or city governments that were being attacked here and that is a great problem, it really disturbs society in general.

WACKROW: Oh my God, Martin, this is one of the broadest risk factors that I deal with because the threats that come in and the targets that, you know, a cyber attack, you know, is focused on are so broad. You know, last year, 2019 saw a 33 percent increase in reported cyber breaches.

And just put this number on there for a second, 7.9 billion records were exposed. These are personal records, social security numbers, names, dates of birth. You know, the risks are around denial of service, phishing campaigns, credential harvesting is something that we've seen as significant increase in. And to your point, Martin, ransomware.

I mean, municipalities are now being held hostage in 2019 by ransomware attacks. And we'll see that continuing into the future. The action that needs to be done, you know, whether it's a federal entity, state entity or the private sector, cyber audits, data protection policy, it comes down to governance and understanding the threats that, you know, these cyber attacks have on the entity itself.

SAVIDGE: And another threat seems to be coming from severe weather. Just how bad was that in 2019?

WACKROW: That was significant. When we look at 2019, one of the most costly years of natural disasters. We had over $10 billion in expenditures going towards natural disasters. Whether they're hurricanes, floodings, and tragic wild fires. You can't deny that climate change has a measured impact on these natural disasters. 2019 now is the fifth consecutive year we've had over $10 billion in disasters.

What we have to do is we have to stop being reactive to this and we have to start building a more proactive policy towards addressing natural disasters. This means building a new resiliency models for cities that are continuously affected by, you know, rising tides, you know, changing weather, climates that further perpetuate the impact of wild fires. So listen, 2019 was a tough year in terms of risk, 2020 is going to be significant, and we have to build proactive strategies to address it now.

SAVIDGE: Jonathan Wackrow, thank you for breaking it down by the numbers.

WACKROW: Yes, thanks a lot, Martin.

SAVIDGE: All right.

Coming up at the top of the hour, while on holiday break, President Trump ponders his impeachment trial strategy and attacks the whistleblower.

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