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Taylor Leaving Ukraine Post; Several Killed in New Year's Shootings; Hanukkah Stabbing Victim's Family to Hold News Conference; State of Emergency in Australia. Aired 9:30-10a

Aired January 02, 2020 - 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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[09:33:28]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, is leaving his post today. Taylor was temporarily appointed by the president after Trump fired his predecessor, Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. He also was a key witness in the impeachment inquiry. In that testimony he shared concern he had about the administration's foreign policy being tied to political moves, specifically investigating Joe Biden.

Here with me now to discuss is former undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, Tara Sonenshine. Tara was also a special assistant to President Bill Clinton.

Ambassador, thanks so much for taking the time today.

TARA SONENSHINE, FORMER UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY : Happy to be with you, Jim. Happy New Year.

SCIUTTO: So Taylor is the second experienced diplomat to leave the Ukraine post. Of course, his predecessor was fired by the president. Taylor came under withering attack from the president for, it seems, speaking the truth about the effort to withhold military assistance from Ukraine.

What are the implications of constantly changing U.S. leadership on the ground in Ukraine at a time when the country remains at war with Russia?

SONENSHINE: Well, it's interesting, firstly, that Bill Taylor is very much a bridge this morning on your program. The previous guest, John Negroponte, had employed Bill Taylor during the Iraq situation and was reminding me that he begged hard to have Bill Taylor.

So these public servants become critical behind the scenes to manage foreign policy crises, be they in Iraq or Afghanistan.

And Bill Taylor is one of the best. Just to remind viewers, this is a man who goes to West Point.

[09:35:03] Then serves in Vietnam. Serves in Germany. Goes to the Department of Defense. Ends up in Baghdad. And then George Bush places Bill Taylor in the role of ambassador in Ukraine. And then this past summer, Secretary Pompeo asks Bill Taylor to return to take the place of Ambassador Yovanovitch.

So he is a man held in high regard. Of course, he ran into, let us say, a hot mess. And now ends up very unlikely media star.

SCIUTTO: Yes, jettisoned. And as you know, this is not an accident that the president has repeatedly attacked career civil servants who have served both Republicans and Democrats as sometimes disloyal, treasonous or worse when they don't line up with the president, even when the president is taking moves like he did in Ukraine.

I wonder, you served in the State Department. What does that do to these institutions and what does it do to U.S. interests abroad?

SONENSHINE: Well, yes, and you know from your experience in China, morale is a very important element of service.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SONENSHINE: Whether it's in the military or in the diplomatic corps, whether you're at an embassy in Benghazi or Baghdad, you are constantly looking to your colleagues and your leadership back in Washington for clarity, consistency and a sense of mission and importance. You are not serving a party, you are not even serving just a president, you believe and you are grown to believe that you are serving the national interest. You're serving America as a country.

So for Secretary Pompeo right now, as you know, there is a big morale problem within the State Department. And so when foreign policy events like Baghdad happen and, of course, they always the unwelcome foreign policy guests at the party, you need these public servants to feel motivated, to feel empowered, and to be out there safeguarding our interests.

SCIUTTO: Does that wound, if you want to call it that, because I agree with you, these public servants, they go abroad. They often take assignments in countries that were not their choice. Sometimes they have to serve abroad for multiple years without their families present. They take this commitment seriously.

Does that damage -- do those wounds disappear after President Trump leaves office in one or five years?

SONENSHINE: Well, what does become damaged, I now work with young people who want to go into the foreign service or want to go into civil service or parts of government. And what it does is it makes young people question, gee, could this happen to me? Could I find myself part of some impeachment probe?

So it is a disincentive. We are not -- we're down about one-third the number of people taking the foreign service test a year. So I worry about the message we send to ourselves and, of course, to our allies and, of course, a negative signal to those who don't wish us well.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And what is the price you pay for speaking the truth, right?

SONENSHINE: Exactly.

SCIUTTO: I mean we saw -- we saw that with someone like Bill Taylor.

Tara Sonenshine, so good to have you on today and we wish you a Happy New Year to you and your family.

SONENSHINE: Thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: U.S. military troop deaths in Afghanistan were the highest in 2019 that they've been in five years. According to the Pentagon, there were 17 service member deaths last year, 14 of those Army service members. In 2018, 12 of 13 of the deaths there of Americans were soldiers. And in 2015, there were only two soldier deaths. That increase, of course, disturbing.

The president is planning, we should note, to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan. Details about the timing is unclear. Trump campaign on pulling the U.S. out of wars, such as the one in Afghanistan, he's called them endless wars but agreed to increase the number of U.S. troops there in the fall of 2017.

2020 already off to a rocky start with several people killed in New Year's Day shootings across this country. Coming up, what officials are doing to try to make cities safer.

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[09:43:46]

SCIUTTO: Following a year of increasing gun violence in some cities in the country, 2020 already off to an ugly start in some places. There have already been several deadly shooting in New York, Los Angeles as well. At least five people killed in a series of shootings in St. Louis over the first 24 hours of the year. A tough start in Philadelphia where CNN affiliate KYW says three people were fatally shot in two separate New Year's Day shootings. At least seven people injured during a shooting inside a bar in West Virginia early on New Year's Day.

CNN's Omar Jimenez joins me now with more.

Omar, what are officials doing to make cities safer? There have been some cities that have seen something of a decline in violence in the last year. Chicago one of them. So what's working and what are they trying to make work?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim.

Well, first off, some places are getting better. Chicago is one of them, as you mentioned. But some of those incidents you just mentioned highlight how high the stakes are for trying to curb these violent streaks in many of these places because all the while our policies are being made and things are being worked out, people are losing their lives. Now, when you talk about Chicago, a frequent punching bag for President Trump, this is now the third year in a row that they are seeing a double-digit percentage drop in violent crime and down more than 30 percent really from a spike they saw in 2016 where they had more murders than New York and Los Angeles combined.

[09:45:09]

And they are hoping, among others, to take some of this good momentum into this new year and into this new decade.

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JIMENEZ (voice over): While mass shootings at times leave the country in disbelief, in places like Baltimore and Chicago, gun violence is a grim part of life.

CHARLIE BECK, INTERIM CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: What people think of as traditional policing has to be much smarter, has to be much more focused.

JIMENEZ: Former Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck is now the interim police superintendent in Chicago, a city that ended 2019 with a more than 10 percent drop in murders for the third year in a row and down more than 30 percent since a spike in 2016 that saw more killings that New York and L.A. combined.

JIMENEZ (on camera): What are some of the questions that you get about the city of Chicago, about crime in Chicago, and how do you answer those questions?

BECK: To be brutally honest, you know, it's still not safe enough. Five hundred homicides is -- even though that's a nice milestone, that's way too many.

JIMENEZ (voice over): But it's not just policing. Even hospitals are trying to break this deadly cycle, taking the time to sit with shooting victims and evaluate the direction of their lives.

CAROL REESE, VIOLENCE PREVENTION COORDINATOR, STROGER HOSPITAL: We use this unique opportunity to really drill down with people on not only their risk factors, but their hopes, their dreams, their emotional experience of being injured.

JIMENEZ (on camera): The goal is not to see them again?

REESE: The goal is not to see them again ever.

JIMENEZ (voice over): They're among the tactics being used in cities across the country, trying to change what has become, in some places, an unshakeable narrative. Often among the highest murder rates of big U.S. cities, New Orleans has made progress, seeing its third consecutive drop in homicides last year. But St. Louis, which had the highest murder rate of big U.S. cities in recent years, saw an increase in homicides compared to 2018. And Baltimore ended the year with the second most homicides they've had on record, just under 350. Cities like New York and Los Angeles didn't even hit that mark and they have more than five times the people.

MAYOR BERNARD C. "JACK" YOUNG, BALTIMORE: We can talk all day about what to do after someone is killed, but we must also have a hard conversation about why the perpetrators of violence have no regards for human life.

JIMENEZ: Baltimore is now one of seven cities within the Department of Justice's operation relentless pursuit. An initiative aimed at combating violent crime. And in Washington, Congress approved millions for federal research into gun violence for the first time ever over 20 years. Federal and city efforts meant to go hand in hand at the dawn of a new decade.

BECK: I know it seems difficult when you're -- when you're in the middle of this, but I have nothing but the most positive belief in the outcome of what we're doing here.

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JIMENEZ: And city leadership here tell me that they believe they now have the pieces in place to sort of set Chicago up for long-term success on that front. And that's come from a variety of places. You were hearing from the interim police superintendent, Charlie Beck, there. And one of the things he helms are these new technology centers that have popped up in various police districts throughout the city that have shot spotter technology, basically allowing them to respond to gunfire quickly, and also are able to analyze data as far as where these are occurring, the most often, down to the specific districts. So predictive qualities in that sense as well.

And then also their partnerships, they're the first ones to say it is not just police. The mayor and others saying it is their combination with community-based organizations and even street outreach sort of violence prevention or de-escalation programs that have gone in place throughout the city that they believe a combination of those is going to set things up to, as they say, make Chicago the safest big city in the country.

Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it's a big question the country has had a decades-long decline in violent crimes like this. To see a tick up in some places, is that a warning sign?

Omar Jimenez, thanks very much.

Just minutes from now, the family of one of the victims in the Hanukkah stabbing spree in New York will give an update on his recovery. Doctors are fearing that Josef Newman (ph), one of the five victims in that attack, could have permanent brain damage.

CNN's Brynn Gingras joins me now from New York.

Brynn, tell us what the latest is here. I mean this is alarming to hear that perhaps one of those victims might not make it through.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean it's just certainly a devastating outcome to this tragedy that happened over the weekend.

We're expecting to hear from the daughter of Josef Newman in about a half an hour, Jim. And already the family has released a statement kind of giving an update on his condition. As you just said, it's not a good one.

Essentially he was stabbed multiple times in this attack over the weekend. His family saying that he has not regained consciousness. He's not woken up since this attack. And they don't know if he ever will.

Not only does he have multiple stab wounds to his head, he also has a shattered arm that they say doctors can't even operate on because he is not awake.

[09:50:03]

And doctors have told the family, according to them, that if he does ever wake up, he could have serious brain damage.

So we are expecting to learn a little bit more about his condition from his daughter, but also learn from her more about what happened on that night as we believe she was also in the house at that time.

So, again, he's the most seriously injured in this attack, but this whole community is certainly having prayers out to everyone who was injured over the weekend.

SCIUTTO: I've spoken to members of the community, as I know you have, Brynn, and many of them are calling for increased security around the area, and that the statistics show this attack was not isolated. There are an increasing number in New York state. What are officials doing now to heed those calls?

GINGRAS: Yes. And, in fact, Jim, you know from probably reporting on the Hasidic (ph) community, typically they -- their -- they don't talk to the media and they're taking a different approach. They're saying, no, we need to make this visible, we need to make this obvious that there's something wrong here. And officials are responding. You know, we know Governor Cuomo is stepping up the state police patrols for Hasidic communities all across the state at synagogues, other places of worship. We know this community alone has hired, and the town has offered, private services to help with security. But also the NYPD is also making its own changes. The mayor announcing that the strategic response group is going to step up their patrols. Now, remember, the strategic response group patrols on New Year's Eve. So, I mean, this is highly trained individuals with the NYPD that are now also going to be in full force at areas all around the city.

SCIUTTO: Brynn Gingras, good to have you on the story. Thanks very much. Deadly wildfires are raging across Australia, and this morning residents there shouting at their prime minister over his response to the fires so far. We're going to have the latest. And those pictures, by the way, that's not fake color. That's what the air looks like in Australia today. Remarkable.

We'll be right back.

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[09:56:25]

SCIUTTO: Australia is officially under a state of emergency as the worst wildfires in decades there are ravaging homes and businesses. Just look at those pictures. It's apocalyptic. Seventeen people have died nationwide. Some of them while attempting to flee their homes. And in the state of New South Wales alone, more than 900 homes have been destroyed.

Residents are outraged. They shouted down the prime minister who had come to visit one of the hardest hit towns.

CNN international correspondent Anna Coren is in Nowra, New South Wales in Australia, two hours south of Sydney.

And, Anna, when we look at these pictures here -- it -- here's her story.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, a state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales with authorities bracing themselves for the return of catastrophic conditions following those devastating fires on New Year's Eve. Well, residents and holiday makers here on the south coast are being told to get out, with a fear there could be a further loss of life.

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COREN (voice over): This is what a mass evacuation looks like. Thousands and thousands fleeing the areas worst hit by the deadly bush fires that have swept across the southeastern coast of Australia. A mandatory evacuation for tourists before catastrophic conditions return on Saturday.

But some want to head the opposite way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter's stuck in (INAUDIBLE) some friends down there.

COREN: Trevor Galan's (ph) 16-year-old daughter Haley (ph) is stranded in one of the hardest hit regions with some friends. She told him she's safe, but he's not taking any chances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) to see if I can get down there to get her out. I've only been (INAUDIBLE) because it's one road in, one road out.

COREN: It's dangerous, but Trevor is not alone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the moment we're just focused on trying to get family back together.

COREN: Zanthia Walsh (ph) and her family were away when fire struck the family home in Kenjola (ph), three hours south of Sydney. They all escaped unharmed, but their house was completely destroyed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a family (INAUDIBLE) house. So it's hit a lot of people quite hard. It used to be a holiday house prior to us living in it. So all of our families stayed in there at some point or another.

COREN: Walsh and Galan are but two of the many stuck around and inside some of the areas hardest hit by bush fires across the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

Dozens of roads have been cut off and some communities remain isolated. Stranded residents dependent on the Australian military for the most basic of supplies. It's part of the Australian government's efforts to deal with the crisis, but for some it's too little, too late.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, who has been heavily criticized for his lack of leadership during this crisis, and his government's inaction on climate change, was heckled by residents during a visit to Kabaga (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

COREN: A large part of the town was destroyed during the New Year's Eve bush fires and residents say the government has not done enough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not fair. We are totally forgotten about down here.

COREN: The prime minister left without responding.

Conditions have improved slightly in the past few days, allowing the countless men and women who continue to battle the flames a temporary but very limited reprieve. And just enough time to say good-bye to one of their own.

Firefighter Jeffrey Keaton (ph) was honored for his bravery at his funeral. The medal given to his young son.

Just one of the many victims of a nightmare with no end in sight that is expected to worsen in the coming days.

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COREN: Searing temperatures and ferocious winds are expected on Saturday, whipping up fires, many of them have been burning for months.

[10:00:04] And there is no reprieve in sight.