Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Five Dead And At Least Four Injured In Plane Crash In Louisiana; Trump's Frustration Grows Over Delay Of Senate Trial; Dem Candidates Continue To Campaign As Impeachment Trial Looms; Appeals Court Rules Individual Mandate Of ACA Unconstitutional; Six Bodies Recovered After Helicopter Tour Crashes In Hawaii; Trump Retweets Suspicious Sources To Lash Out At Critics; Search Continues For Missing Siblings In Idaho; Top Nine Political Stories Of 2019; Dangerous Fog Leads To Accident Caught On Video. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired December 28, 2019 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN HOST: Hello, thank you for joining me. I'm Martin Savidge in for Fredricka Whitfield. And we begin with breaking news. At least five people are dead, four others injured after a small plane crashed in Louisiana. One passenger surviving that crash after the plane went down into a field minutes after takeoff. That occurred this morning.
The Lafayette Fire Department, the chief there says that there is still -- they aren't sure how many passengers were on this plane. He has the three people on the ground were also rushed to the hospital and federal investigators are headed to the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- limited information and we want to go to see this one time and I'm not going to repeat it again. That the (INAUDIBLE). The plane is taking off from the airport and crashed --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Let me bring it up Peter Goelz, he's the Former NTSB Managing Director and CNN Aviation Analyst. What's the first thing investigators are going to be looking at here, Peter?
PETER GOELZ, CNN AVAITION ANALYST: Well, they're going to lock down the maintenance records of the plane, they're going to take a look at the pilot's qualifications, then they're going to look at the, the wreckage. And whether that tells them anything, they're going to interview eyewitnesses.
And they're going to look at whether they were the appropriate number of passengers on board, whether there was a weigh and balanced issue. But most importantly, you know, they're going to get a picture of exactly what happened to this aircraft during its, you know, last few moments in flight.
SAVIDGE: And that we mentioned here that this, of course, having on takeoff so the flight have barely begun, and yet it suffers some sort of catastrophic problem. Does that tell you anything?
GOELZ: Well, it certainly makes you want to look and see what, what was the maintenance: were there any abnormal sounds, what did the pilot -- did he have a chance to radio the tower? I mean, this was a Piper Cheyenne, which is a very common and popular twin-engine plane.
They made about 4000 of them. It's, you know, the last one they made was in 1984. So, it's, it's, it's got some years on it. But, but if it's maintained appropriately, if it's checked out on a regular basis that there's nothing inherently unsafe about an older aircraft, you just got to maintain them.
SAVIDGE: The weather there, I'm just looking at the imagery there the live pictures that we had earlier. Gray skies, but otherwise doesn't look that bad. Although there was some weather moving through the area, I think, at the airport there was listed as fog and mist and visibility about three quarters of the mile. Is that extraordinarily bad?
GOELZ: No, it's not. I mean, I, I looked at the weather as well. There was nothing close to the minimums, apparently. And if the pilot was appropriately certified, and from the charter, I don't think, you know, weather will be a significant factor. I think we're going to look at the, at the plane and the mechanics of it very carefully.
SAVIDGE: All right, Peter Goelz, we'll continue to follow that story and we'll continue to lean upon your expertise for insight. Thank you.
GOELZ: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: Well, President Trump's on holiday vacation in Florida, where he continues to vent angrily over his sold impeachment trial. He's been lashing out in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the whistleblower in a series of Twitter attacks. The President is pretty clearly frustrated by the uncertainty surrounding his Senate trial. Speaker Pelosi continues to hold off on sending his articles of impeachment to the Senate, as Democrats push for witnesses to testify.
And Majority Leader McConnell signals that he's really apparently in no hurry to get that trial underway. As the president fumes over his stalled impeachment, sources tell CNN he's also asking for advice about who should be on his defense team and what the strategy ought to be. CNN's Kristen Holmes is in South Florida for us. And Kristen, impeachment clearly on the president's fine, what more do you know?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Martin. Well, the President might physically be here in Florida, it is clear that his mind is back in Washington, D.C., in between playing rounds of golf, which we can confirm he's doing as we speak and mingling with guests and members at Mar-a-Lago. He has been, as you said, lashing out on Twitter, hitting Democrats,
talking about impeachment, and of course, slamming Nancy Pelosi -- at one point tweeting: "So interesting to see Nancy Pelosi demanding fairness from Senate Majority Leader McConnell when she presided over the most unfair hearing in the history of the United States Congress."
[13:05:17]
Now, of course, he is referring to the fact that Speaker Pelosi holding on as you said to those articles of impeachment until she has some sort of guarantee of what she says is a fair Senate trial. But of course, as we know, this impasse between Democrats and Republicans is because neither can really agree on what a fair trial will look like.
Democrats wanting those witnesses and documents. Republicans, non- committal on that front. And we spoke to several Republicans who told me they hoped that once the house was back in session at the beginning of January that all of this would kind of resolve itself and those articles of impeachment would head over to the Senate, but they may be in for a rude awakening. Listen to Democrat Dan Kildee last night.
(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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, I'm talking extremes here like into February?
KILDEE: I mean, that's certainly possible, but I'm not going to get ahead of the speaker.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes, so you heard that right there, maybe possibly in to February. That is not something that Democrats or Republicans really want to hear. But of course, it's a waiting game right now. And as you mentioned, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell now is open to the idea of setting these parameters for the trial without any Democrats on board.
But one interesting thing to be to be watching right now is what those moderate -- those moderate Republican senators are going to do. Will they also be on board with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell setting those rules without any Democratic support?
SAVIDGE: That is a good thing to watch for. Kristen Holmes, thanks very much for the view from Florida there. With me now is Renato Mariotti, he is a former Federal Prosecutor and CNN Legal Analysts. Also, with me is Charlie Dent, Former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania and a CNN Political Commentator. Thank you both for being here. Charlie, I'll start with you.
The Democratic Congressman you heard Kildee saying that he wants assurances the Senate trial won't be a sham. And if it takes until February to get that, well, so be it. Is it smart for the Democrats to drag out impeachment, this trial at least until February or maybe even later?
CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, Martin, I really don't think it's that smart. And frankly, I don't think the speaker has a whole lot of leverage here with respect to the Senate and how they conduct the trial. I mean, Nancy Pelosi has taken a hostage here the hostage is are the Articles of Impeachment.
She will release them; you'll never take a hostage that you're not prepared to shoot. She is not going to shoot this hostage, so she might be able to delay the trial. But at the end of the day, the Senate runs the Senate, the House runs the House. I just don't see how she how she thinks she can change the dynamic of the trial.
Now, Senator Schumer, of course, has more leverage and, and certainly a swing state Republicans will be under pressure to make sure this process is as fair as possible that there will be witnesses. But right now, I don't see -- I just don't see the House leverage over the over McConnell at the moment.
SAVIDGE: That's sort of the political strategy there. Renato, what do you think of the legal strategy here? And that is, I mean, sort of saying, well, wait until we know specifically what the rules are going to be in the Senate, we're not going to send over these articles.
RENATO MARIOTTI, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, the Democrats have the ability to do that. I real -- I, I actually think it's not a very good move myself. Frankly, I don't think anyone really believes that the Republican senators are going to be taking this very seriously. I don't see why a few witnesses are going to change their mind here.
This is ultimately a political process and we know how it's going to turn out in the end. You know, if the Democrats want to hold those articles, they have the power to do so. But in the end of the day, you know, would expect McConnell to either just ignore what the Democrats are doing or to hold a vote anyway.
SAVIDGE: And speaking of witnesses, Renato, the Democratic Presidential Candidate, Joe Biden, says he doesn't think the Senate would really move to send him a subpoena, but says that he would not testify in the impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed, because he says in a tweet: "This impeachment is about Trump's conduct, not mine." Does he have a strong legal argument to not comply with an impeachment subpoena?
MARIOTTI: Well, he's right that this is about Trump's conduct, not him. He has -- he wasn't there standing over Trump's shoulder when he was speaking to the president of Ukraine or ordering people in his administration to withhold the aid, so Biden is on solid ground there.
Now, the question is, then how would he deal with that? Potentially, I think a moderate Republicans might block that subpoena to start with, but if it's issued, you know, he could certainly go to court. And I think you'd have an argument that this isn't really part of any legislative purpose by the Senate.
And he has a reasonable argument there, and but that would take a lot of time to, to resolve by courts, and I think that's exactly what Republicans want -- they want to muddy the waters. The purpose here is related to sort of create some delay or blame Biden for delay or, or distract from what Trump did.
[13:10:22]
SAVIDGE: All right. I want to bring in another member here. Bakari, you've just joined us now, I think -- there you are, good to have you with us. We knew we had a few issues.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
SAVIDGE: The President has sent out more than, I think it's 20 tweets and retweets attacking Speaker Pelosi in the last few days. What do you think the impact is going to be on this sort of aggressive attitude that the President is taking here?
SELLERS: Well, I actually don't think anything's wrong with the President's posture. When you look back at Bill Clinton's posture and in the presidential politics of it, not the legality of it, but the presidential politics of it, I think you saw something very, very similar.
I think at the end of the day, though, after Bill Clinton was actually impeached, you saw some level of contrition something that this president is incapable of doing. Also, I mean, when you're talking about witnesses, I think that one of the things you saw during the Clinton impeachment was that Bill Clinton, if people remember, I had to read this mind you, Martin, I was like eight years old.
So, this is not coming from actually experience, per se, but reading this and studying this, you realize that he actually asked for no witnesses in a short trial and his Senate actually ignored him. They listened to him, and then they ignored him, and they went ahead and did their, their diligence and do work.
And so, the President's going to have a bunch of, a bunch of fluster and bluster. But at the end of the day, this is Mitch McConnell's baby, and so we'll see what he does with it, and this all boils down to three or four independent and "moderate Republicans," and we'll see what they do.
SAVIDGE: Renato, there are some legal disagreements. I guess, you could say over whether or not the President has truly been impeached since the house hasn't sent over the articles to the Senate. From your expertise, where do you stand on that legal question?
MARIOTTI: You know, I think it's a very silly argument to make that the President hasn't been impeached. This is not a situation that the constitution spells out. This is not something that has ever happened before. But you know, anyone with two eyes can see that the House had a vote that they voted on articles of impeachment. Really, this is a game of semantics. It's a word game. At this
point, I understand Professor Feldman's argument, I know him and I respect him. But frankly, I think that this is more about law professors' clever argument than anything that practically makes it anyone.
SAVIDGE: Well, we've still got time to go on this debate. So, Renato Mariotti, thanks. Bakari Sellers, good to get you in. And Charlie Dent, always good to have you on the program as well. Thank you.
DENT: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: Up next, the countdown is on until the Iowa caucuses and two candidates are spending big -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg, that's Tom Steyer rather, they just spend more than $200 million on advertising. Is their message resonating though with voters? That's what we're going to talk about next.
Plus, another controlled tractor trailer slams into an SUV trapping a man inside. We'll hear from the news photographer who kept rolling.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:15:40]
SAVIDGE: If you are keeping track, we're just 37 days out from the Iowa caucuses. But the Democratic field is still pretty crowded with 15 candidates and if the 2016 election taught us anything, is that nothing is certain when it comes to politics.
Throwing another wrench in the process is the impeachment trial that's heading for the Senate meaning that there is the possibility of a collision in timing that would pull the five senators from running for president off the trail during one of the most crucial times for their campaigns.
Back with me to discuss all of this and CNN Political Commentators: Bakari Sellers, and Charlie Dent. Bakari, a Senate an impeachment trial during the Iowa caucuses -- first of all, I don't know if that's ever really happened and, and how should the candidates prepare for this kind of potential problem?
SELLERS: Well, at the end of the day, it's not a problem. It's their jobs. If you're in the United States Senate, if you're Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren, any number Bernie Sanders, then your number one job is to serve the people who elected you to that position, and you need to be there to do your job.
SAVIDGE: I got that was a problem for their campaign nonetheless.
SELLERS: Well, I mean, it's a problem for their campaign. But this is what happens when you run for president United States. And I'm not trying to put them in a horrible predicament, but you know, this is when you have to be able to juggle these things and be back and forth and be where you need to be. This is what Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party want. But the last thing that we need, I mean, as Democrats is something, or
as Americans is something that is this import, this great import the impeachment of the President of the United States, for you to just (INAUDIBLE), for you to not be doing your duty and not be in D.C. to handle it. I mean, I think that voters, voters in particularly, are smart enough to understand that the number one job you have is in the United States Senate, and they expect you to do that.
And I think voters will also understand whether not as Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, they will understand that if you miss a community event, if you're not in their county, if they see you on CNN, if they see that you're doing the work in Washington, D.C., they will give you a legitimate pass for this. I don't think they'll give you a pass the other way around.
SAVIDGE: Right? It makes them seem like they are doing the work that the people put them there to do. Charlie, timing though; who does it help more, Trump or the Democrats?
DENT: Well, that's a good question, Martin, because clearly those Democrats, I think many of them want to get the It's over with particularly those running for president, same time President Trump wants to get this trial over with.
And I think that's been one of the problems with impeachment up to this date; up to this time anyway, in the house. I thought they rushed the process. They had an arbitrary deadline of Christmas to get the articles over the Senate.
Now, I think Senator McConnell would like to move this thing quickly. Although, I think this is probably the right time for deliberation. So, I suspect neither side wins. Neither side wins with a delay trial.
And I think the president, most of all, does not want to be talking about impeachment, ad nauseum for an extended period of time, and it certainly hurts those Democratic candidates running for president.
SAVIDGE: Bakari, I want to move to the issue of money. Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, they just passed the $200 million mark spent on television and digital advertising. Some of the other candidates have accused them of trying to buy the nomination. And I'm wondering, do voters believe that?
SELLERS: Yes, voters absolutely believe they're trying to buy the nomination. The question is whether or not that will matter or not. I am -- I am disheartened as a Democrat to say that throughout this process and let me also say, I'm not blaming Tom Perez or the DNC of the apparatus, because they've actually done everything they could do to make this process as fair as possible.
But you have more billionaires on the Democratic debate stage than you do black people. I mean, that's a fundamental problem that we have when we're talking about the diversity of this country and the diversity that the Democratic Party wants to represent. Michael Bloomberg, for example, is just petrified of actually joining
the debate stage. I mean, he is out spending people, you know, 10, 20, 30, 100 to one, but refuses to actually debate his ideas. I mean, my question to Michael Bloomberg is What are you afraid of? Why are you afraid to defend your stance on stop and frisk?
Why are you afraid to defend many of the things that you passed in New York, which drive people politically insane, and have made lives more difficult? He refuses to do that. And yes, they're trying to buy the election. This is not out the box thinking this is circumventing the electoral process, never know though it may work.
[13:20:07]
SAVIDGE: It may. Charlie, I want to move on to this, and that's the Federal Appeals Court rule last week that the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. And I'm wondering, do you think that this helps Democrats by giving them something concrete for their messaging on health care to rally around?
DENT: Well, it may help Democrats. But remember, the, the individual mandate was more or less defunded a few years ago with the tax reform bill. That's the first point to remember. Now, if that matter of guarantee issue, that is a requirement that everybody have health insurance is somehow overturned, well, then I think that becomes a major liability for the Republicans and advantage to the Democrats.
We haven't heard that yet. Clearly, this matters under appeal. And it remains to be seen, but if the issue of guarantee issue, that people -- so people with pre-existing conditions would not be able to be guaranteed coverage, if that if they were to lose that protection, then I think Republicans would be at a real disadvantage, and I think the president would have to scramble quickly to make sure that those pre-existing conditions were protected, and Democrats would certainly exploit that politically.
SAVIDGE: Yes, that is something the Republicans would rather not face. Bakari sellers and Charlie Dent, thanks very much. Good to talk to you.
SELLERS: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: Up next, what went wrong? Investigators searching for answers after a tourist helicopter crashes of Hawaii with two families on board. We're live in Hawaii with the latest on the recovery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:25:05]
SAVIDGE: Officials in Hawaii say there are no likely survivors after a helicopter tour crash there while carrying seven people. Right now, rescue teams are still looking for the seventh victim, remains of the other six were found yesterday. The identities of the victims haven't been released yet. However, we do know that two of the passengers were children. Police say the debris from the helicopter was found in the remote area
of a state park after it failed to return from a sightseeing excursion. The FAA and NTSB are now investigating for more on this. Let's go to CNN Correspondent Josh Campbell, he's live in Kauai. And Josh, what else are you learning about this?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Martin the search for that helicopter that went down here in Hawaii; the location searches now over. Authorities tell us that they have located the wreckage in an area behind us here in the northwest section of the island of Kauai.
Now, this happened Thursday afternoon at alert went out the U.S. Coast Guard after this helicopter at tourism air craft failed to return to base at its allotted time. That launched a massive search and rescue effort by both the Coast Guard the U.S. Navy, as well as Hawaii Fire and Rescue.
Working throughout the night some 16 hours by sea, air and land. Again, the latest developments one of those search teams now identifying the location of the wreckage in the State Park behind us here in Hawaii.
Now, we're also learning as you mentioned, just sad new details about those who were on board and their condition. We're told that in addition to the pilot, there were four adults and two children. Authorities now have recovered six sets of remains, the search for the seventh person continues at this hour.
And Martin, as far as the reason for this crash that remains under investigation, we do know that officials from the NTSB and FAA are currently on route to this island here in Hawaii to launch that investigation to try to determine the root cause of this crash.
We're told by officials that right now it's looking at so inclement weather was probably at play here, especially at the time of that crash. It was very foggy, very rainy, just as you can see here, which is now also hindering the search efforts that are underway.
SAVIDGE: And that was the very thing I was going to ask, you just look at the image right behind you there and it certainly doesn't look good either for flying or for searching. Josh Campbell, thanks very much.
As part of a series of rants and conspiratorial retweets, President Trump retweets and attack that included the unsubstantiated name of the intelligence community whistleblower. More on the controversial messages coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: President Trump is continuing to lash out at his critics using Twitter. But this time, it isn't only what the President is tweeting, it's who he's retweeting that's causing concern. CNN Chief Media Correspondent, Brian Stelter joins us now with more.
[13:29:57] BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Marty, yes, as
part of a series of rants and conspiratorial posts, President Trump retweeted and attacked that included the unsubstantiated name of the intelligence community whistleblower, of all the president's posts involving the whistleblower -- he's tweeted or retweeted more than 100 times about the whistleblower since September -- this is the first time he went out there and retweeted someone who claimed to know the identity of this person who is protected, has been protected mostly for the last few months.
Nearly every public official involved in the impeachment inquiry has agreed that the identity of this complainant should be protected. His or her identity is not known by CNN or other major media outlets. And outlets have been careful not to speculate about the identity.
But some far-right-wing Web sites and media personalities claim to know who the person is and have been sharing that name in recent weeks.
Social networks have made different choices on how to handle this. Facebook, for example, has said they take down content that includes this purposed name because, hey, Facebook, doesn't know if it is true, either. And it could put the person in danger.
Twitter has taken a different position on this. Twitter says it will not remove people who are speculating or guessing about the identity of the whistleblower. They will only take down tweets that include personal private contact information or things like that.
So the president late on Friday night retweeted a somewhat anonymous account that claims to know the name. This is, again, a crossing of a line by President Trump because he had not taken this step before.
At some point early Saturday morning, someone, either Trump or someone with access to his account, untweeted, reversed the retweet from his account. It is like an undo button, but when you are the president of the United States, with tens of millions of Twitter followers, there's no real undo. Everything he posts is seen and has consequences.
The Web site, Trump Twitter Archives, says the president retweeted or tweeted 55 times on Friday. This thing about the whistleblower is just on of the 55.
The president also shared dozens of pro-Trump and anti-Democrat messages, some that are downright hateful. For example, he continues to call the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "Crazy Nancy." That's something he's now done seven times in the past five days. He also posted messages likening Democrats to brats, and so on and so on.
This is the kind of thing that some people are now used to and expect this from the president's Twitter account. But it remains shocking to see the president relying on anonymous, spammy, suspicious-looking Twitter accounts and sharing that kind of mis- and disinformation with potentially tens of millions of people.
Marty, back to you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Brian Stelter, thank you very much for that.
Coming up, new twists and turns in the search for two missing siblings in Idaho. Investigators now trying to determine if their disappearance is tied to a suspicious death.
But first, it has been more than three months since Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas. They community there still struggling to recover. And there's a shortage of manpower.
In today's "IMPACT YOUR WORLD," we look at a charity looking to bring in volunteers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA TAMO-GERKEN, VOLUNTEER, ALL HANDS AND HEARTS: We know the water line came up higher so we know for a fact that there's going to be mold behind these tiles. They had to come off.
UNIDENTIFIED ALL HANDS AND HEARTS VOLUNTEER:: We're here in Marsh Harbor on the island of Great Abaco. And it really was the epicenter of Hurricane Dorian and experienced the most extreme damage from the storm.
All Hearts and Hands has made a commitment to be here for at least two years to help the community recover.
RYAN FORBES, PASTOR, FIRST ASSEMBLY OF GOD CHURCH: We so grateful and we're so appreciative of the help you guys have given us, you know, and the sacrifices you guys are making is much needed.
UNIDENTIFIED ALL HANDS AND HEARTS VOLUNTEER:: We're going to continue to work in the response phase, doing mucking, gutting, and debris removal, sanitizing homes, and begin to accelerate the recovery and rebuild work that we do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful.
UNIDENTIFIED ALL HANDS AND HEARTS VOLUNTEER:: The goal really is to get people back into homes and get students back into schools.
The need here is for manpower. We need volunteers. We'll need thousands of volunteers over the course of the coming years.
We're going to put you guys into a team tomorrow.
TAMO-GERKEN: These people need a lot and I have the time to give it, so --
It's an incredible gift that we give and we get. (END VIDEOTAPE)
[13:34:05]
SAVIDGE: If you want more information on how to help, go to CNN.com/impact.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: Two people are dead and at least seven others injured following an apparent drive-by shooting in Houston. Police say the victims were filming a rap music video in an office parking lot when they were ambushed. It's unclear what sparked the deadly attack or if the victims fired any shots at the gunman.
The crime scene stretches several blocks of a residential neighborhood. No suspects or potential motives have been identified. Police are not ruling out the possibility of gang violence.
Right now, in Idaho, family members of two missing children are pleading for their safe return. Joshua Vallow, known as "J.J.," and Tylee Ryan haven't been seen in months. Their mother and stepfather are also missing.
CNN's Lucy Kafanov has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING)
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): This is Joshua "J.J." Vallow celebrating his seventh birthday just four months before disappearing. Authorities say the boy, who has autism, and his sister, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, were last seen in Rexburg, Idaho, on September 23rd.
"J.J.'s" grandmother is pleading for the children's return.
KAY WOODCOCK, GRANDMOTHER OF MISSING CHILDREN: I pray they are alive. There's nothing -- no indication either way, so we're trying to be positive. There's some days where we can hardly function because we're just fearing the worst.
KAFANOV: The FBI and police in multiple states are searching for the missing siblings.
Police are also asking the public for help in locating mom, Lori Vallow, and her new husband, Chad Daybell, after the pair abruptly disappeared from their home last month.
Rexburg police say the disappearance may be tied to a suspicious death investigation.
On October 19th, Chad Daybell's wife, Tammy Daybell, is found dead in her home. Authorities initially thought she died from natural causes, but police now believe her death was suspicious. Her body exhumed. The medical examiner's report is still pending. Just weeks after Tammy's death, Chad Daybell marries Lori Vallow, the
mother of the missing children.
On November 26th, police conduct a welfare check at Lori's home after a tip from concerned relatives. Police say she and Chad Daybell mislead authorities by saying "J.J." was staying with a family friend in Arizona.
When investigators returned the following day with a search warrant, Vallow and Daybell were gone.
GARY HAGAN, ASSISTANT CHIEF, REXBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are trying very hard to provide and come up with the evidence that is necessary to take care of this and, one way or the other, come to a conclusion to find somebody innocent of all of these accusations or, if guilty, then proceed accordingly.
KAFANOV (on camera): How worried are you about the safety of the kids right now?
WOODCOCK: I am my -- on a scale of one to 100, I'm at 200.
[13:40:09]
KAFANOV (voice-over): In a statement issued to their attorney, Vallow and Daybell say they look forward to addressing the allegations once they move beyond speculation and rumor.
Lori's estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by her brother in July, police say in self-defense. He was not charged.
Her previous ex-husband and Tylee's father, Joseph Anthony Ryan, died in 2018.
The pair's son, the missing kids' brother, posted this message on you tube.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED BROTHER OF "J.J.": You guys have no idea how hard this is for us. Every week or two weeks has been something, new news, that sinks your heart to stomach. Like this has been horrible.
Everybody's focus should be Tylee and "J.J." Everybody's focus should be figuring out that they're OK, where they're at, and how we can make sure that they're safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAFANOV: Idaho police they are worried time is slipping away to find the children, cut off from loved ones this holiday season.
Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SAVIDGE: So 2019 was a big year in Washington and impeachment wasn't the only big headline. Up next, the top nine political stories, including how lawmakers made history.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:45:04]
SAVIDGE: Just into CNN and a sad story update to a story that just about everyone will remember. One of the Thai Navy SEALs, who was part of that famous cave rescue mission, has died from an infection he contracted during that operation. The petty officer was a member of the rescue team that saved 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded save in June 2018.
According to the Royal Thai Navy, the petty officer was under medical supervision for an infection he contracted during that mission. He died Friday after that infection made its way into his bloodstream. You will remember another Thai Navy SEAL died during the rescue mission itself.
And 2019 was a historic year in politics, from record fundraising numbers to the impeachment of President Trump.
CNN's Dana Bash has the top nine political stories of the year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It has been quite the year in politics.
Here are the top nine political stories of 2019.
It didn't get as many headlines as other big political stories but make no mistake about it --
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- conservative judges.
(CHEERING)
BASH: -- the president's success in getting his judges on the bench will have implications for years to come.
Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was focused like a laser on this, the Senate confirmed a record 50 circuit court judges.
McConnell took to Twitter boasting that is already the most in any president's whole first term since 1980.
TRUMP: -- the Constitution of the United States.
BASH: President Trump announced his reelection campaign the day he was inaugurated, a historically early start that his team took advantage of, raising more than $165 million, nearly $100 million in this year alone. BRAD PARSCALE, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It's much more efficient two
years out to try to find a possible voter, possible donor. It's just a considerable advantage that the other side won't have, because you just can't replace time.
BASH: Control of those big coffers, not only his reelection campaign, but the Republican Party's, contributed to the president's firm grip on the GOP, which, in various ways, became even more clearly the party of Donald Trump in 2019.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): You take back our democracy.
BASH: The Democrats' 2020 presidential field took shape early in the year as the most diverse ever.
(SINGING)
BASH: More women and candidates of color running for a single party than ever before.
(MUSIC)
BASH: The first openly gay candidate a major contender.
UNIDENTIFIED DEBATE MODERATOR: The top-12 Democratic presidential candidates are at their positions --
BASH: It was also the biggest. CNN's October debate was the most crowded stage in the history of presidential primaries.
KLOBUCHAR: I want to give a reality check here to Elizabeth, because no one on this stage wants to protect billionaires. Not even the billionaire wants to protect billionaires.
(CHEERING)
KLOBUCHAR: We just have different approaches.
Your idea is not the only idea.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): I think, as Democrats, we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard, not when we dream small and quit before we get started.
BASH: That shrunk to seven in December, thanks to the party's increasing fundraising and polling thresholds.
No question defined the Democratic primary fight this year more than this: Do voters want an ideological revolution or a candidate focused on relief from Donald Trump?
At the top of the field, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are the revolutionaries, promising sweeping change, while former Vice President Joe Biden, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar say incremental change is more realistic.
Nowhere was this more on display than health care.
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Build on Obamacare. Add a public option.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Seventy-one percent of Democrats support Medicare For All.
BASH: Stay tuned for the answer in 2020.
And 2019 started with a historic new class of House Democrats -- a record number of women sworn in and many more firsts. The first Muslim-American women, the first Native American women.
And the first female House speaker in history reclaimed the gavel.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I'm particularly proud to be a woman speaker of the House of this Congress, which marks the 100th year of women having the right to vote.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: Speaking of Nancy Pelosi, going head to head with President Trump is one of the 2019 storylines, starting with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
PELOSI: Federal workers will not be receiving their paychecks. The president seems to be insensitive to that. He thinks maybe they could just ask their father for more money. But they can't.
[13:50:02]
TRUMP: The State of the Union speech has been canceled by Nancy Pelosi because she doesn't want to hear the truth.
BASH: In October, a clash over the president deciding to pull troops out of Syria ended in a Pelosi walkout.
The president tweeted a photo of Pelosi having what he called an "unhinged meltdown." She owned the image, making it her social media cover photo.
PELOSI: Article one is adopted.
BASH: The year ended with the speaker reluctantly leading the House and making Trump only the third president in history to be impeached.
PELOSI: I pray for the president all the time.
BASH: After nearly two years, Robert Mueller concluded his Russia investigation with a 448-page report.
On the key question of collusion, Mueller's probe did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in the election interference activities. It noted 10 instances where the president may have obstructed justice,
writing: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
Much to the outrage of Democrats, Attorney General William Barr tried to play it as exoneration.
WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense.
BASH: Democrats were hoping Mueller would clear it up. But his nearly-seven-hour testimony, slow-moving and drama-free, did not.
Then a whistleblower complaint that Trump urged the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in exchange for nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid.
TRUMP: That call was perfect.
BASH: Moderate vulnerable House Democrats, who had resisted impeachment before, changed their minds and called for an inquiry.
An equally reluctant House speaker announced the House would do just that.
PELOSI: The actions taken to date by the president have seriously violated the Constitution.
BASH: A day later, the White House released a rough transcript of that July conversation. In it was what Democrats would focus their impeachment inquiry on, an apparent quid pro quo.
The impeachment inquiry would make its way through the House Intelligence Committee with closed-door witness testimonies, followed by several days of notable public testimony.
GORDON SONDLAND, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION: Was there a quid pro quo? As I testified previously, with regard to the requested White House call and the White House meeting, the answer is yes.
BASH: Former Trump Russia adviser, Fiona Hill, called out some of the president's team for carrying out a, quote, "domestic political errand" and sent a warning.
FIONA HILL, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OFFICIAL: Russia's security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We're running out of time to stop them.
BASH: Republicans attacked the process, generally sidestepping the facts.
REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): You can't make your case against the president because nothing happened. BASH: Democrats drafted two articles of impeachment, abuse of power
and obstruction of Congress, which passed the committee and later the full House on party-line votes.
The year ending with Donald J. Trump, the third president in history to be impeached.
So, how does it all end? You're going to have to wait until 2020.
Dana Bash, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Up next, a woman rescued at the McDonald's drive-through. How some quick-thinking workers came to her aid.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:55:43]
SAVIDGE: It's now illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to buy tobacco products across the U.S. That changed part of the $1.4 trillion spending bill signed by President Trump on December 20th. It covers all tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars and E- cigarettes.
The new restrictions come as public health advocates and lawmakers try to figure out how to handle the youth vaping epidemic. Nineteen 19 states already have their own laws restricting tobacco sales to people 21 and older.
We've got some amazing video to show you now. With the winter storm that is sweeping across the country this week, it's been a travel nightmare for so many. And one of the more dangerous effects has been heavy fog, which led to an unforgettable seen scene on the side of a highway on Texas.
We get the story from Amanda Ruiz, of CNN affiliate, KCBD.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALEB HOLDER, PHOTOGRAPHER, KCBD: I couldn't remember if I was recording at the time or how the camera was framed. I just -- I saw that trailer coming -- and I knew I had to run away from it.
(HONKING)
AMANDA RUIZ, REPORTER, KCBD (voice-over): Caleb Holder has been a photographer for KCBD News channel for nine years.
HOLDER: Part of my job as a news photographer is to go out to breaking news and shoot video of whatever, including car crashes sometimes.
RUIZ: So he went to a crash on Highway 84.
HOLDER: I was looking that direction. That's where I was focused.
RUIZ: Little did he know another crash was about to happen right in front of him. And he was going to capture it all on camera.
HOLDER: Then that's when we could hear more tires stretching. And then just barely see headlights coming through the fog.
RUIZ: A semitruck coming straight at him.
HOLDER: That's when the semi overturned and then slid on its side, onto the shoulder and on top of that pickup.
RUIZ: But Caleb wasn't the only one there. Take a look at the video again. Watch as this trooper runs for his life away from the truck and ends up tripping.
HOLDER: As I was running away, I remember looking back and seeing the trooper running. I could see that he had fallen down and that the trailer was coming really close to him.
RUIZ: The trooper was hit by the semi.
SGT. JOHNNY BURES, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: The trooper that was struck is going to be OK. He does have some serious injuries but nothing life-threatening.
RUIZ: Also in the video, you can see a man jump into his car right before he was pinned underneath the trailer for a few hours. He was eventually saved by officials who had to use the Jaws of Life to free him from the wreckage.
HOLDER: I've never seen anything like that in person.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Thanks to our affiliate for that story. It is amazing that nobody was killed in that crash.
McDonald's employees are being hailed as heroes today after helping rescue a California woman from a man who allegedly threatened her on Christmas Eve with a firearm.
According to the local sheriff's office, the woman first entered the McDonald's about 70 miles east of San Francisco and told employees behind the counter to call 911. She gave them the license plate number of the vehicle she arrived in and asked them to hide her.
But the suspect, the man who police say had a history of abusing her, immediately ordered the woman to use the drive-thru. That's when she mouthed the words "help me" to the drive-thru employees and they took action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REGINA CAMERA, MARKETING MANAGER, GOLDEN STATE RESTAURANT GROUP: Our restaurant manager had our employees hold up the drive-thru line so we were able to stop that car from moving forward.
It was such an exciting and proud moment for us to know that what we're doing is working and our employees are comfortable handling things like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Good for them. According to officials, the suspect was arrested and is facing charges of making criminal threats, possessing stolen property, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
We're got much more just ahead in the NEWSROOM.
But first, ring in the new year, the new decade with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. "NEW YEAR'S EVE LIVE," begins 8:00 p.m., New Year's Eve, only right here on CNN.
Hello. Thanks for joining me. I'm Martin Savidge, in for Fredricka Whitfield.
[14:00:02]
President Trump is back on the golf course and back on the attack as he vents his anger over a stalled impeachment trial. He has been lashing out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the whistleblower.
