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Justice Department Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by Clintons; Ukraine Plane Crash Investigation; Trump's Shifting Explanations for Soleimani Killing. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 10, 2020 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:03]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: We continue on, top of the hour on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

The president just revealed more details on the intelligence that he says led the U.S. to take out Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. It is just the latest explanation after last week's targeted killing. This is what the president just told FOX News last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Don't the American people have a right to know what specifically was targeted, without revealing methods and sources?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I don't think so, but we will tell you that probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad.

INGRAHAM: Did he have large-scale attacks planned for other embassies? And, if those were planned, why can't we reveal that to the American people? Wouldn't that help your case?

TRUMP: Well, I can reveal that I believe it would have been four embassies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And the president offered a slightly less specific version of that intel at this rally last night in Ohio.

And at first, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. did not know precisely when or where the threat would take place, but at a last-minute briefing today, Secretary Pompeo suddenly echoed the president's claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We had specific information on an imminent threat, and the threat stream included attacks on U.S. embassies, period, full stop. QUESTION: So you were mistaken when you said you didn't know

precisely when and you didn't know precisely where?

POMPEO: No, completely true. Those are completely consistent thoughts.

I don't know exactly which minute. We don't know exactly which day it would have been executed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Adding to this confusion, several lawmakers who were briefed on the targeted killing of Soleimani say they were never told of specific threats to any U.S. Embassy, this as a U.S. official tells CNN a second mission was carried out the night Soleimani was killed against another senior military official in Yemen.

We're told that the takedown was unsuccessful.

Michael Bender is the White House reporter for "The Wall Street Journal."

And, Mike, what are your sources telling you about this discrepancy on whether this threat was indeed imminent?

MICHAEL BENDER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, there's a real reluctance to get too far ahead of the president inside the White House.

I will tell you that there is some hand-wringing, has been some hand- wringing over the last few days over the description of Soleimani as an imminent threat. And I know that some high-ranking officials in the White House, given the chance to go back a few days, would have described this with a little bit more coordination, as -- not have used that phrase, which obviously has been a point of concern and a criticism now for the better part of a week.

BALDWIN: You also have a piece out today in "The Journal" that suggests the specific advisers the president has in place, specifically Secretaries Pompeo and Esper, had a lot to do with why this strike was carried out.

Can you tell me nor about?

BENDER: Yes, definitely.

This is the -- this is really the first test of Trump's new foreign policy national security team, and it's resulted in the most decisive military action of Trump's term so far.

So what's different here? The team, at least here at the start, is more cohesive. They're more compliant with the president, and they're less likely to consult with allies even within their own -- even within the administration or certainly foreign allies, in ways that some of their successors or predecessors would have. BALDWIN: And then what about the line in your piece that's getting a

lot of attention, and rightfully so, where the president essential essentially admits to carrying out this attack because of political pressure? What did those sources tell you?

BENDER: Well, they -- just what I put in the piece there, that Trump sort of used this as an excuse to justify his decision, at least in part, to authorize the strike on Soleimani.

I did hear this from multiple people that Trump told this directly to, but I will say it's -- I found it a little confusing myself, just because it's hard to see in what world this Republican Senate votes to impeach President Trump at all, let alone over the life and death of Qasem Soleimani.

But, again, this is a -- these are multiple sources who said, you know, in the hours after the strike, that this was part of the president's rationale.

BALDWIN: Michael Bender, thank you very much.

BENDER: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: CNN political commentator -- thank you.

CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish is here. He's host of CNN's "SMERCONISH."

And, Michael, you just heard Mike Bender's reporting there. Does this confirm that politics was a factor in the president's decision to take out Soleimani?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I thought it was an interesting report in "The Wall Street Journal," but I find it hard to believe that the president thought he needed to safeguard 20 Republican votes in order to go ahead and carry out this killing of Soleimani.

So it's curious, but it's in conflict.

BALDWIN: And then, just looking at all of this through the lens of 2020, I always love it when you relay anecdotes from your callers.

[15:05:03]

I'm just wondering, are people telling you, do they see President Trump as finally killing this really bad guy or as someone who nearly took the U.S. to war?

SMERCONISH: Well, it's complicated.

And what I hear from callers on my radio program I think is borne out in Susan Page's analysis in "USA Today" with some polling data that shows that there's a plurality of Americans who are supportive of the president having taken out Soleimani.

At the same time, people seem to be believing that they are now less safe. And you think initially, well, can those two both be compatible with one another? I think they probably can, that people think, all right, it was justified to take him out, but at the same time they acknowledge that they are now concerned about where this all might lead.

BALDWIN: Yes. Michael, stay with me.

I want to turn the page and talk impeachment. I'm going to talk to a reporter and then come back to you.

You know, in a matter of days, we are expected to see just the third impeachment trial ever of a U.S. president. That's because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has finally revealed when she will turn over the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

In one of her dear colleague letters to House Democrats, this is what she wrote today -- quoting her -- "I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to brink to the floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate."

CNN's Lauren Fox is on the Hill.

And, Lauren, the speaker was stalling amid concerns the Senate wouldn't hold a fair trial. She demanded that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unveil the resolution that details Trump's impeachment trial procedures.

Did she get anything from Leader McConnell?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, the stalemate is over, Brooke, but, of course, we know now she is not really getting anything from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

And I don't think we should have expected that she was going to get any concessions from him. He has been very clear. He is going to run this trial like the Clinton impeachment. That means there will be a presentation from the House managers, and then there will be a presentation from the White House's defense team.

Then they will get to the decision of whether or not there should be witnesses. And that's something that moderate members wanted. That's something that conservatives wanted. And I should tell you that Senate Republicans are really going into this trial united.

I talked to a number of them yesterday, and they're basically arguing, look, it took months, but McConnell behind the scenes has quietly been working to get President Trump on board and to get all of us on board, even though there are members in his conference who have very different needs.

You have Susan Collins, who's up for reelection in 2020. She has been very clear that she's had conversations with the majority leader about her desire to eventually have a vote on witnesses. But he worked very hard to make his conference comfortable with where they're going to be. And just a little bit on timing. We know that we expect that the articles of impeachment will be transmitted sometime next week from Nancy Pelosi. That's what she said in her dear colleagues letter. Then we expect that it might take a few days to get things in order for that Senate trial.

They might take their oath. Essentially, all the senators would be sworn in to do impartial justice, as the Senate rules say, but then next week, we expect that's when we might start to actually see the arguments on the floor.

Now, that timeline could always change, Brooke, but that's where we are right now.

BALDWIN: OK, Lauren, thank you.

And, Michael Smerconish, back to you on this whole question of what did Speaker Pelosi get out of holding those articles for the weeks that she has? She actually outlined a couple of reasons, she believes, things she got out of this.

And so let me just read some of these for you. She details new e-mails on how fast the White House moved to hold the Ukraine aid after that infamous July 25 call. She mentions finally John Bolton's announcement that he's willing to testify if the Senate subpoenas him, you know, things like that.

So do you feel like she got something out of this or not at all?

SMERCONISH: No, I think that maybe she spared a quick dismissal before Christmas, because I think it was entirely possible that Mitch McConnell would have had the whole matter dismissed in those three or so business days just before the Christmas holiday.

But here's what I really think. I don't think that time is on her side. I think that McConnell was happy to run out the clock. And by that, I mean, people will soon be voting in the Iowa caucus, and the juxtaposition of an impeachment trial taking place while Americans are voting, I don't think bodes well for Speaker Pelosi.

I think it bodes well for the White House and the argument they make, which is, hey, why not resolve it at the ballot box?

BALDWIN: What do you think the biggest difference between former President Clinton's impeachment trial of '99 and this upcoming trial of 2020? What's the biggest difference?

SMERCONISH: I don't sense momentum. I think that there are literally millions of people who want the president impeached because they have never been with him from the get-go, and I'm not understating the facts of Ukraine.

I just don't sense -- you know, Bush 41 used to speak of the big mo'. I don't speak -- I don't think of the big mo', that there's a feeling of momentum on the side of impeachment, especially now, when all the oxygen in the when all the oxygen in the room is being taken out with Iran and these events that we could not have forecast right before the Christmas holiday.

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BALDWIN: We will be tuned in to you tomorrow morning 9:00 a.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Michael Smerconish, thank you very much.

SMERCONISH: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, just heartbreaking stories about the 176 people who died on board that plane that crashed in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fareed Arasteh. And he was supposed to come back. His wife was supposed to join him in the spring.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And we are getting new details about the investigation and why large pieces of debris have already been removed from the scene.

Also ahead, a Justice Department review of the Clintons is basically over with no evidence of wrongdoing. We will break down how yet another Trump conspiracy theory has gone bust.

And, later, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle headed back to Canada, as they try to distance themselves from the monarchy. So, let's talk about whether race has played a role in this royal feud.

You're watching CNN on this Friday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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BALDWIN: We're back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

The 176 victims of that plane crash in Iran are being remembered as mothers, fathers, beloved members of their communities. And as families mourn, Iran says the remains have been removed. They have been sent for DNA testing; 63 Canadians were among those killed, and one young woman who lost both her parents shared her memories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIMIA POURSHABAN OSHIBI, DAUGHTER OF CRASH VICTIMS: They described my mom as a very kind and very smart person. I have been told by many people that she was their best friend.

My dad, he was very inquisitive. I always thought to myself that, if he had the opportunity to study and get an education in a First World country, he would become a very prestigious researcher, but, unfortunately, that wasn't available to him. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As far as the investigation is concerned, the U.S. believes the jet was accidentally shot down by Iran.

And this is video that CNN has gotten its hands on that allegedly shows a missile fired into the sky hitting an object on the same night that passenger jet crashed.

And large pieces of the wreckage have already been removed by Iranian officials from the crash site. There is new information coming in about its location. It's been moved to a hangar, because people were actually looting pieces of aluminum, things that seemed valuable to them.

Clarissa Ward is our CNN chief international correspondent, and she's there now in Ukraine.

And confirm this report. You just spoke with the foreign minister. What did they say?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're starting to get a little bit of a better picture of the Ukrainians' understanding of events.

They're still being very cautious. They won't say what it is that they believe actually caused the plane to crash, but they did say that they have heard a recording of the cockpit conversation between the pilot and Tehran Airport.

There were no reports of any danger, any problems with engines, anything of that nature. Apparently, the last words the pilot said to the Tehran Airport workers was, "All is peaceful, and everything is OK."

Now, as you mentioned, Brooke, they also offered -- the foreign minister also offered some clarity on why it is that the wreckage of the plane had been moved from the site of the crash.

Ukrainians saying that that's basically because there had been rampant looting going on, with locals picking through the debris, that that was very disturbing to the Ukrainians, both from a morale point of view, as well as from an investigative point of view, and so they asked for it to be moved to a sort of secure hangar, where they have resembled the wreckage.

And we also asked them about what specifically he had been learning from his conversations with the U.S. charge d'affaires from the embassy here and also with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who spoke to him earlier and offered some clues as to the data and the intelligence that they were receiving.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: Is it fair to say the evidence they presented you with, though, is compelling?

VADYM PRYSTAIKO, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The evidence which was presented to us, they're very solid.

What is missed in the picture how they're supported by the facts on the ground themselves. So, if it was the rockets, there should be the residue of the chemicals which used in the explosive part of the (INAUDIBLE) which is used in these type of rockets.

As of now, we don't have this extremely important info. Result is, all these theories is just theories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: They also said they would like to see the chairs, that the chairs of the airplane had been missing for some time. They said the Iranian authorities are starting to share those chairs with them.

It will be interesting to see why what kind of information that they are able to glean from it, but they did point out as well that this can take quite some time, days, if not weeks, and possibly even months -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Wow.

We know also just the fact that the plane crashed in Iran, Iran is taking the lead on the investigation, but they will be, NTSB from the U.S. side, will be involved. Do you know if -- how involved they are yet or whether, you know, intelligence has been shared with Ukraine? This was a Ukrainian airline.

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WARD: I think you have really hit on something very important here, Brooke, which is a broad sense of frustration with Ukrainian authorities, that, while they're being told by the U.S. and the U.K. and Canada and Sweden and other countries that there is this very compelling evidence, this very compelling intelligence that leads them to be confident that the Ukrainian flight was shot down by a missile, none of these countries have actually shared the specific intelligence with the Ukrainians, because the Ukrainians are not part of the sort of flybys and various other intelligence-sharing alliances.

And I think Ukrainians do feel quite frustrated about that. They're also having to be extremely cautious, Brooke, because, for the moment, the 50 or so Ukrainian investigators on the ground in Tehran are getting pretty good access from Iranian authorities.

And they don't want to do anything to jeopardize that. They have to be, at least on the surface of things, as neutral as possible to get the maximum cooperation from all sides and everyone who has something to contribute to this investigation, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Right.

Clarissa, excellent reporting just a few days ago in Iraq, and here she is in Kiev.

Clarissa Ward, thank you to your team. I appreciate all of what you have done this week.

Moving on, he has spent years calling Hillary Clinton crooked, but now the president's own Justice Department is saying no to "Lock her up."

Plus, mass protests on the streets of Iraq today. And, moments ago, President Trump weighed in on the idea that the U.S. may withdraw American troops from Iraq.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I mean, crooked Hillary spent three or four times more money than us, right?

(BOOING)

AUDIENCE: Lock her up!

TRUMP: So, crooked Hillary -- wait -- crooked -- you should lock her up, I'll tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was President Trump last night at a campaign rally in Ohio, as he and his supporters once again revived their Hillary Clinton taunts, the "Lock her up" chant, coming at the very same time that sources tell CNN that the Trump Justice Department is winding down its review of Clinton's business dealings.

After two years, they have found -- excuse me -- they have not found enough evidence to warrant a criminal investigation, and that includes a conspiracy theory pushed by Trump and his allies that Clinton steered a uranium deal to the Russians after a donation to the Clinton Foundation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In exchange for signing off on the deal, some of the former owners of Uranium One gave the Clinton Foundation millions and millions of dollars in donations.

We had Hillary Clinton give Russia 20 percent of the uranium in our country.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Now, tonight, I want to focus on the real scandal that is rarely covered by this alt-left propaganda destroy Trump media, and it does involve the Clintons and an enormous mining company called Uranium One. I don't know -- I don't know any other way to describe this, except

they sold out our security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Chris Cillizza is our CNN politics reporter and editor at large.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: I know, I know, I know, I know.

Remind us what this whole Uranium One allegation was all about.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, OK.

So, it's important to remember that this probe that was run out of the Department of Justice, by the way, that Jeff Sessions asked for, and it's the Trump administration's Justice Department, this was one of a series of probes.

Donald Trump kept complaining to Jeff Sessions that they weren't looking enough into Hillary Clinton. Why were they looking into him? So, this is one of the offshoots of that.

Uranium One is a Canadian company that does do 20 percent of the uranium mining in the United States. All Hillary Clinton did was not block the deal that allowed a Russian company to buy Uranium One. She didn't play any active role. It was ongoing prior.

This was always -- this was about Donald Trump wanting investigations started. And as you said in playing those clips, Brooke, I was reminded, it wasn't just as a candidate that he made these totally false and made-up allegations. It was when he was in the White House, 2017.

I think we have to stop and note these things, because it's not going to change his behavior. It's not going to change the "Lock her up" chants, but it's still important to say this wasn't true then. It isn't true now, and the reason we know it isn't true is because the Trump Justice Department has said it isn't true.

It's also not, Brooke, the first time we have seen stuff like this. OK, you will remember -- I remember it well. I was sitting at my house scrolling through my Twitter feed in early 2017, when Donald Trump said something to the effect of -- I think we have a tweet -- "Terrible. Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped'" -- again, not clear why that's in quotes -- "in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism."

OK, again, there was no evidence at the time that this was true. Subsequent, every intelligence person who was in office was asked about this. Subsequently, and in the Mueller report, we have found out that is not the case, that Donald Trump's line in Trump Tower was never tapped. The closest you get to it was Carter Page, through FISA warrants, and

that was Carter Page, not Donald Trump.

OK. Then there's this one, which is another one that's been around a long time. Remember, Donald Trump won the 2016 election. You remember that because he's currently the president.

But he complained that three to five million people voted illegally. Five days after the election

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