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Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is Interviewed about Withholding Ukraine Aid; Rep. John Lewis Diagnosed with Cancer; Louisiana Plane Crash; Climate Change Brings Drought. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired December 30, 2019 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:49]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: There are new details this morning about the Trump administration's efforts to withhold military aid from Ukraine. It started earlier than that July phone call. According to "The New York Times," acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney sent an e-mail to an aide on June 27th, a full month before, saying, quote, I'm just trying to tie up some loose ends. Did we ever find out about the money for Ukraine and whether we can hold it back, to which the aide responded, expect Congress to become unhinged. Of course that's because Congress had authorized that aid.

"The Times" also says opposition to withholding aid was greater than previously known. The report reads, quote, in late August, Defense Secretary Mark Esper joined Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, the national security adviser at the time, for a previously undisclosed Oval Office meeting with the president where they tried but failed to convince him that releasing the aid was in the interests of the United States.

Again, both those things counter to the White House defense so far.

I'm pleased to be joined now by Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.

Senator, thanks for taking the time this morning.

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Thanks, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So looking at that "New York Times" reporting there, you have Mark Esper, the defense secretary, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the then national security adviser John Bolton go to the president and saying release this aid, it's in America's interests.

Should they testify, Bolton, Mulvaney, Esper, Pompeo, before the Senate?

CASEY: Well, Jim, as you know, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has called for the testimony of at least two of those individuals, Mr. Bolton and Mr. Mulvaney. I think that is essential because they have relevant information about the key circumstances I think a lot of Americans want to know more about. One is the national security implications here and obviously the question of aid.

But what the reporting today, or yesterday, I should say, in the reporting this week about what transpired there is indicative of the concern that was raised within the administration long before it got up to the level of Pompeo and others and Esper by folks who were in the national security apparatus of our government worrying about this way back in July, even before July in some circumstances. And I would urge people to read the House Intelligence Committee report, roughly pages 67 to page 80, which outlines all the concerns they had.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And, as you know, that e-mail, it looks like Mulvaney is talking about a follow-up on a conversation. Where does it stand, these efforts to do this?

I wonder this. You have announced your support for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. This weekend in Iowa, Biden said he would obey any subpoena to the Senate. This after raising some question as to whether he would do that.

Of course the Senate is run by Republicans, so any demands Democrats have would have to be in some sort of back and forth with Republicans. Would you support calling Biden to testify if Republicans would commit to having Bolton, Mulvaney, Pompeo, Esper testify?

CASEY: Well, Jim, I think we have to start with -- with the facts here. This is an inquiry. This is an impeachment inquiry, which has now resulted in two articles of impeachment in the House, going to the Senate for a trial, which is predicated on some very basic facts that are not in dispute here.

Number one, that the president solicited the interference of a foreign government in our next election and then all the other allegations that are part of those two articles. So this is about the president's conduct.

I think the big difference between the president's conduct and the way Vice President Biden has conducted himself as a public official for decades is one engages in unlawful conduct, the other, Vice President Biden, complies with the law. So I think to -- to get into this back and forth about what -- who -- what witnesses will be subpoenaed and who will go I think is -- in some ways playing the Trump game of trying to divert attention from the real questions that Americans want to have asked.

SCIUTTO: Listen, I get that argument, but the Senate's run by Republicans.

[09:35:00]

It Democrats, like yourself, want to have these key administration officials testify, would you be willing to make that exchange? Say, OK, if we have a chance to press Bolton, to press Mulvaney on this, we will, in effect, trade and say fine to call the vice president as well, the former vice president.

CASEY: Jim, I'd start with this. Number one is, the determination about what Democrats as a caucus is -- is a -- I'm a member of that caucus will do has to be the product of debate and deliberations. So I can't begin to negotiate that here.

But I will say this, what should -- what should -- what should govern the testimony of a witness or the seeking of documentary evidence, what should govern that is relevant. What is relevant to the inquiry? And here we're trying to determine what happened when a president of the United States solicited the interference of a foreign government in our next election and what happened with regard to the aid, as you outlined earlier in your -- your first question.

So, I think it has -- they have to be relevant.

Vice President Biden's work as vice president is not relevant here to this inquiry.

SCIUTTO: Nancy Pelosi has not communicated the articles of impeachment from the House to the Senate yet. Should she do that the moment that the Senate returns from the holiday recess?

CASEY: Well, she's got some discretion about the timing. I think what she's trying to determine is, what is the scope, the basic outline of the Senate trial, the process. Majority Leader McConnell has not given much indication other than that he wants to shut it down. But I think she has a right to be able to examine how the trial will go and then pick managers. These are House members that have to, in a sense, act as lawyers or advocates in --

SCIUTTO: Right.

CASEY: In the Senate trial. So she's trying to make a determination.

But, Jim, I think there's going to be a trial and I think we're going to be doing this work in early January.

SCIUTTO: Senator Bob Casey, thanks for joining us and happy holidays to you and your family?

CASEY: Same to you, Jim. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Congressman John Lewis has spent his life and career fighting for equality and human rights. It started during the civil rights movement. He is a legend of that movement. Now he says he is battling his tough opponent yet, stage four pancreatic cancer. The 17 term congressman from Georgia says he will keep serving his constituents despite the disease and as he's treated.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here with more.

Elizabeth, stage four, typically that means the cancer has spread, pancreatic cancer, a very difficult one to respond to. What is the prognosis as far as we know?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, so let's talk a little bit more about stage four cancer. As you said, it means that it has spread or metastasized to places, often the lungs or the bones or the liver. Unfortunately, as in the congressman's case, it's relatively common for it to be caught this late because people don't have symptoms until it's too late.

And so what happens is that if you measure from the time a diagnosis out five years, five years after diagnosis, only 3 percent of these patients are still alive. So as you said, a very serious diagnosis. The congressman said in a statement he is clear-eyed about this diagnosis but he also said that by the grace of God he will be back on the front lines soon.

SCIUTTO: He mentions specifically recent medical advances that have made this kind of cancer at least more treatable and there are survivors out there, one of them sitting on the Supreme Court, of course, who survived this against the odds, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a number of years ago. Are those advances making a difference?

COHEN: Well, actually, let's talk a little bit about Justice Ginsburg because part of what helped her was that hers was found early because she was getting checked for other cancers. So that's an important distinction next to somebody like Congressman Lewis, where it was caught quite late.

So these new treatments involve a new chemotherapy cocktail. It's a different combination than doctors have used in the past. Some doctors also use immunotherapy, which is therapy to kind of get your immune system to kick up and fight the cancer. Those help. But, to be, again, clear-eyed, as the congressman said about it, the increase in survival is often measured in months, not in years. So it helps, but it is not something typically that would keep someone alive for years and years.

SCIUTTO: Understood. We'll be praying for him.

Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much.

An unimaginable tragedy, five people killed in a plane crash in Louisiana. The husband of one of those victims spoke with CNN. We're going to have his words, next.

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[09:43:40]

SCIUTTO: There were four plane crashes across the U.S. that left six people dead, at least eight others injured just over the weekend. In Maryland, one person was killed after a small plane crashed into two houses on Sunday. No one, thankfully, was inside the homes you see there during the crash.

In New York, a pilot was the only one on board as a plane went down on Long Island on Saturday. That pilot's condition has not been released.

In North Carolina, a small plane crashed during takeoff from Asheville Regional Airport. Four people there suffered minor injuries.

And in Louisiana, five people killed when a plane, on its way to the college football playoff game in Atlanta, crashed in Lafayette. One of the victims killed in that crash in Louisiana was the daughter-in-law of a coach, the offensive coordinator, in that game.

CNN's Natasha Chen, she is in Lafayette this morning.

Tell us what more we know about the crash.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, this is going to be a very challenging investigation for NTSB because there was no distress call before the plane went down and they have no flight data recorder, which is not typical for these types of planes to have them anyway, but they have a lot of work cut out for them. Investigators are standing in the field behind us right there looking at one piece of the wreckage you can see in this field.

Now the debris scatters across about a quarter mile. Witnesses tell NTSB that they saw this plane teetering, tilting, hitting transmission lines and trees before skidding into the parking lot you see in the distance.

[09:45:08]

That is a post office parking lot. And it hit several things, including a car. It -- the car burst on fire and flipped upside down. There was a woman in that car. She suffered severe burns and is in a New Orleans hospital right now.

And, of course, as you mentioned, five people in the plane were killed and there was one survivor on the plane who is in a local Lafayette hospital right now in critical condition as well.

So with all crashes, NTSB is going to be looking at three things, at the pilot, at the plane and the environment.

Then, on Saturday morning, when this plane took off from Lafayette Regional Airport, the weather was listed as foggy, with visibility about three quarters of a mile. So they're going to be looking at all of that, Jim.

SCIUTTO: You were in contact with the husband of one of the victims, Carly McCord. She is the daughter-in-law of a Louisiana -- an LSU coach. Tell us what he had to say. I can't imagine -- I can imagine what a difficult conversation that was.

CHEN: Yes, he was messaging with me over Twitter and it was just so painfully obvious that this is the most difficult time of his life at this moment and yet he took the time to tell me that his late wife, Carley, loved so fiercely, that she was very competitive and liked to joke with the family.

Here's part of the statement that he wrote to me. He said, I mean I could write a book on Carley right now, but I just can't find the words. It's so hard and it hurts too much. I just want her here with me. That's all I want. She is and will forever be my world.

SCIUTTO: Very nice.

CHEN: So Steven Ensminger Jr. said to me that, you know, he was not able to get off of work and otherwise he would have driven with Carley to Atlanta for this game and instead she boarded this flight which crashed shortly after takeoff, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Goodness. Heartbreaking for him and for her family and the other victims' families.

Natasha Chen, thanks for being on the story.

The United Nations calls climate change a clear and present danger. And that statement could not be more true for millions people in Africa who are now at risk of a hunger crisis. CNN's going to take you there for a firsthand look. These are the consequences today of climate change.

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[09:51:45]

SCIUTTO: The United Nation's secretary-general is zeroing in on climate change during his New Year's message, calling it a clear and present danger to the planet and saying, quote, we cannot afford to be the generation that fiddled while the planet burned.

And as the U.N. advocates for urgency, there are nations such as Zimbabwe which are already feeling the effects of climate change.

Here's CNN's David McKenzie.

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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): It's incredible, isn't it? The Victoria Falls. One of the natural wonders of the world. But -- and it's a big but -- this entire stretch of rock should be churning with white water. Climate scientists say that the climate crisis is hemorrhaging this region.

MCKENZIE (voice over): A multi-year drought has transformed Zimbabwe's rivers and farmland into miles upon miles of sand and scorched earth.

Here, they don't speculate about climate change, they're suffering because of it.

Once proud productive farmers like Filistus Muba (ph), reduced to handouts to survive, reduced to just one meal a day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) but nowadays (INAUDIBLE) there's no rain.

MCKENZIE: It's a hunger gripping a U.N.-estimated 45 million people. And this part of Africa, the climate crisis is only getting worse.

FRANCOIS ENGELBRECHT, GLOBAL CHANGE INSTITUTE, WITS UNIVERSITY: The region is projected to be warming at more or less double the global rate of warming.

MCKENZIE: Scientist Francois Engelbrecht is a lead author on key U.N.- backed climate reports.

ENGELBRECHT: At the current rate, the southern Africa region, five decades from now, will be unrecognizable compared to the region we are living in today.

MCKENZIE: And in a future without aggressive emissions reductions, almost unlivable.

Where day zero events like when Capetown (ph) almost ran out of water last year are three times more likely. And cyclones, like Edai (ph) slamming into Mozambique in March, will become more powerful and more frequent.

Extreme events punishing countries that did little to cause climate change.

ENGELBRECHT: We should realize that if we look at the historical responsibility for the problem of global warming, the entire African's contribution is still in the order of a percent.

MCKENZIE (on camera): One percent?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, 1 percent.

MCKENZIE (voice over): But now among the first to feel its devastating effects.

I wish they could stop climate change, because we are the ones who are now suffering, Mumbe (ph) says. If the climate stays like this, we won't make it.

David McKenzie, CNN, western Zimbabwe.

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SCIUTTO: Violent attacks on people of faith over this past weekend. Two people shot to death at a Texas church, in New York, five people stabbed at a Hanukkah party. CNN has reporters on the ground. We're going to bring you live updates.

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[09:59:04]

SCIUTTO: This next one's a happy story. A Texas man is turning donated Christmas trees into canes for his fellow disabled veterans. Jamie Willis started Canes for Veterans Central Texas in 2016 after serving in the Army himself for eight years. Willis says he realized the canes provided by veterans affairs kept collapsing and, quote, had no style. The 50-year-old has since made more than 200 canes himself. As the Christmas season comes to an end, he is asking for donations to continue his work. But for those who cannot donate a tree, Willis says he welcomes other donations, especially sandpaper and tools. It's a great mission.

A very good Monday morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto in New York. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is blaming, at least in part, a scourge

of hate in this country for recent horrific attacks on people of faith in the U.S.

[10:00:01]

First, investigators are still looking for a motive, after a man barged into a rabbi's home in New York during a Hanukkah party.