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Iranian Supreme Leader Expected To Lead Friday Prayer; Heavy Rain Drench Fire-Hit States, Trigger Flooding; Five Countries Demand Answer From Iran On Downed Flight; President Trump Impeachment Trial; Ukrainian Investigation; Toll on World's Second Biggest Economy; Sweeping Trade Deal. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired January 17, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers from all around the world. You're watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Michael Holmes.
Now just ahead on the program, a nonpartisan watchdog says the Trump administration broke the law by withholding military aid to an ally on the same day the Senate opens the impeachment trial against the president. Ukraine is at the center of the scandal, of course, and it is launching two new investigations. The foreign minister talks to CNN.
Also ahead, we go to Beijing, where nearly released GDP number showed the weakest growth in decades.
A warm welcome, everyone. U.S. President Donald Trump predicts his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate should go very quickly. It formally began on Thursday and no doubt Mr. Trump is counting on Republicans there to acquit him when the actual trial really starts next Tuesday.
That is despite a new report on Thursday by the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of government that found that the Trump White House broke the law in withholding those U.S. military aid funds for Ukraine, one of the core issues of the president's impeachment.
CNN's Sara Murray with the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is not the kind of history President Trump was hoping to make.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Donald J. Trump, president the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.
MURRAY (voice-over): Today, for just the third time in American history, the Senate convened an impeachment trial of the president and prepared to decide whether Trump should be removed from office for his conduct in the Ukraine scandal. The seven House impeachment managers, who will serve as prosecutors in the trial, marched to the Senate where House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff read the two articles of impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): With the permission of the Senate, I will now read the articles of impeachment.
MURRAY (voice-over): At the heart of the trial, Trump's alleged attempts to withhold a White House meeting and security aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden.
SCHIFF: President Trump used the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the United States democratic process.
MURRAY (voice-over): The day's heavy pageantry included swearing in the chief justice of United States, John Roberts, who will preside over the president trial.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES: I am now prepared to take the oath.
MURRAY (voice-over): He then swore in senators.
ROBERTS (voice-over): Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, you will do impartial justice?
MURRAY (voice-over): Each senator signed an oath book vowed to act and partially. But the GOP-controlled Senate is almost certain to acquit the president though a trial could reveal surprises. Democrats continue to push for witnesses and new evidence to be included.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): They are afraid of the truth. They do not want to see documents. They do not want to hear from eyewitnesses. They want to ignore anything new that comes up.
MURRAY (voice-over): While most Republicans are shrugging off the new revelations emerging almost daily, insisting the president trial is no place for entering new evidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think the Senate should consider new evidence as part of the Senate trial that has come out?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because that is not our job.
MURRAY: Senators will have an opportunity to vote on whether they do want to hear from witnesses. We will have a better idea of how this all could shake out next week when the Senate trial begins. Sarah Murray, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Until a very short time ago, Lev Parnas was completely unknown to most Americans after his alleged arrest for allegedly funneling foreign money into U.S. politics. Well, we learned that he was a shadowy associate of President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. And if he is to be believed, he was a central player in the Ukraine scandal.
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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You go in. Your messages announced the Biden investigation.
LEV PARNAS, ASSOCIATE OF RUDY GIULIANI: Announce the Biden investigation and get rid of certain individuals that are enemies of the president in his administration.
COOPER: At that point, was there any mention of withholding of aid?
PARNAS: Yes. If they didn't make the announcement, basically, there will be no relationship. It was no specific military. There was no aid that would be assisted. There was going to be no inauguration. Pence wouldn't be at the inauguration. And there would be no visit to the White House. There would be basically -- they would have no communication.
COOPER: So Giuliani knew everything you are doing?
PARNAS: Everything.
COOPER: You are saying Vice President Pence knew?
PARNAS: I do not know if the vice president knew everything we were doing.
[02:05:00]
PARNAS: I'm sure he was.
COOPER: But he knew about the quid pro quo?
PARNAS: Of course, he knew. Everybody knew. Everybody that was close to Trump knew that this was a thorn in the side and this was a serious situation.
COOPER: Bolton?
PARNAS: Bolton.
COOPER: Mulvaney?
PARNAS: Mulvaney. Bolton, I don't think, agreed with it. I think there were certain people that agreed with it and didn't agree with it.
COOPER: He called it a drug deal, according to Fiona Hill.
PARNAS: I think Bolton is a very important witness because I think between me and Bolton, we could fill in all the dots, I think, because I was on the ground there and he was over here.
COOPER: And you'd be willing to testify?
PARNAS: I would be very willing to testify.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Parnas met President Trump on at least several occasions that we can find, but Mr. Trump claims not to know him except as somebody who showed up at various events.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know Parnas other than I guess I had pictures taken which I do with thousands of people, including people today that I didn't meet, but just met him. I don't know him at all, don't know what he's about, don't know where he comes from, know nothing about him. He is trying to probably make a deal for himself.
I don't even know who this man is other than I guess he attended fundraisers so I take a picture with him. I am in a room. I take pictures with people. I take thousands and thousands of pictures with people all the time, thousands during the course of the year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And for more, I'm joined by CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein, also senior editor at The Atlantic. There is a lot to talk about. Let's start with impeachment, though. What are we likely to see unfold because, you know, on the face of it, minds are made up? But other Republicans might turn and look to how history views them.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, look, I think in the end, in the final vote, it is unlikely there will be many, perhaps many Republicans voted to remove President Trump from office. In 98 with Bill Clinton, there were no Democrats from his own party who voted to remove him.
Even in 1868, Michael, with Andrew Johnson, who was a Democrat and Abraham Lincoln's vice president, no Democrat in the Senate voted to remove him. But that does not mean along the way, there cannot be defections.
We are seeing unease, I think, among some Republicans, Susan Collins today from Maine, for example, about the prospect of shutting down witnesses entirely, especially with this extremely explosive interview that Lev Parnas, the associate and kind of a leg man of Rudy Giuliani, has been giving in the last few days. He offered enormous detail about the pressure campaign, made clear that it was about Biden specifically, not about corruption in Ukraine, and implicated essentially the entire senior leadership of the administration being aware of what was going on.
HOLMES: How difficult does that make the argument against witnesses? Of course, you know, Democrats want to have first-hand witnesses like John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney and so on. As you say, you got Lev Parnas, Rudy's sidekick, pretty extraordinary and explosive allegations. Does the Republican argument against witnesses now become harder to make?
BROWNSTEIN: Look, the Republicans argument against witnesses has always been hard to make. One thing that the delay that Nancy Pelosi imposed for bringing over the articles was to force Mitch McConnell repeatedly to argue that all he wanted to do was follow the president of the Clinton trial, as you probably reported.
You know, at the beginning of the Clinton impeachment trial, they put off the question of whether to have witnesses, which is what, of course, McConnell wants here.
But in the end, in the Clinton trial, they did oppose three witnesses. They did oppose witnesses even though there was a year-long special counsel investigation that talk to all of the relevant parties, very different from now, and so many (ph) relevant voices have been essentially locked up by the president.
I think there is almost no plausible straight faced argument against hearing from some of the people we haven't heard from like John Bolton who said he wants to testify. The only reason is that for many of these Republicans, they know that at the end they are going to get to a point where they are not convicting the president and they probably do not want to be in a situation of having more damning testimony out there before the reach that conclusion.
HOLMES: I'm curious. Part of the Parnas document is this apparent surveillance of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, There are disturbing series of messages on that. You got the Ukrainians announcing an investigation, which might not favor Donald Trump. But the U.S. has not, and the top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he has been silent. How extraordinary is that?
BROWNSTEIN: It is beyond extraordinary. Look, week by week during the engagement hearing in the House, the complicity of the secretary of state in this broad campaign became more and more apparent, including not defending his own ambassador in Ukraine against this effort to force a removal.
In fact, one of the documents that Lev Parnas released was communications with Rudy Giuliani in which he indicates that Pompeo was directly aware of what they were doing in trying to push her out.
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BROWNSTEIN: It is worth noting that in Parnas interviews yesterday and today, he said he did not believe the surveillance actually occurred. There was kind of (INAUDIBLE) by this very strange character who was, you know, as often the case in this kind of (INAUDIBLE), get drawn in.
But the fact that the State Department has not publicly commented or committed to finding out exactly what happened, precisely the time when the president is being accused of fabricating a threat against the American embassies, an imminent threat by Iran, again, we are so far from normal that we cannot even really see the shore anymore.
HOLMES: Yeah. Who knows what this guy hides. Maybe they were (INAUDIBLE). We have to remember that the ambassador was told by the Ukrainians that eventually the State Department better leave.
BROWNSTEIN: Yeah.
HOLMES: So there was some malfeasance. I also want to ask you about the GAO, the Government Accountability Office. The report is pretty explosive. It says the trump administration violated the law when they withheld the Ukraine money. Of course, we know from other public documents it was the president who ordered that violation. So, he made an order to commit an illegal act. What does that go?
BROWNSTEIN: Right. Well, I mean, you know, again, it is part of the kind of the adding more straws on the back of the difficulty that the Republicans face. One of the defenses in the House was there was no law that was broken. Now, the GAO says there was a law that was broken.
To me, one of the most interesting things about the GAO report was that we got accustomed to the administration stonewalling the democratic-controlled House in an unprecedented way, refusing to provide witnesses and documentation.
The end of the GAO report, they talked at considerable length about their refusal, the State and Defense Department, to respond even to the GAO. We are talking about the complicity of Republicans in Congress at this point. The administration is not only trying to eviscerate legislative oversight, but the GAO kind of institutionalized oversight.
I remember reading GAO reports in the late 1970s and 1980s. This is what they do. They analyze the way the government spends its money. And the administration is refusing to provide documents even to them. Again, not a peep from congressional Republicans as the executive branch tries to kind of eviscerate or obliterate all institutional oversight over their actions.
HOLMES: Just a lot of denials. One other thing is the sort of going back and trying not to get in the way (ph) too much, Donald Trump defending Rudy Giuliani. In the letter that he wrote to the Ukrainian leadership at the time saying, I represent Donald Trump, I am writing to you with his knowledge and approval, on the face of it, extremely damaging because Donald Trump said, oh, I do not know anything about that letter, which seems to be what the administration does. It doesn't matter.
BROWNSTEIN: Look, Parnas in his interview have said every meeting will begin essentially with some way of communicating often with Giuliani on the speakerphone, saying he is here as my representative, and I am representing Donald Trump, the president of the United States. It is interesting that President Trump is saying, well, I do not know Lev Parnas, and we can debate that with the photos of them together.
That really is not the issue, right? The issue is whether Lev Parnas knows Rudy Giuliani. There is not much a question about that. He was clearly working with him hand and glove to effectuate this pressure campaign. The allegations that he has made, understandably, you know, understand people are, you know, he is an indicted individual and he may not be the most savouring witness.
But as our colleague, Preet Bharara, the former attorney for Southern District of New York, pointed out today, when you're talking about someone who is flipping on a criminal conspiracy, they are rarely the most upstanding of citizens.
This is something that they are used to in terms of prosecuting cases involving organized crime that you are going to have someone who has questionable activities in their background but is nonetheless providing critical first-hand testimony because those are the people who tend to be in the room when these kinds of things are being done.
HOLMES: Very good point. It has also been pointed out that Parnas might have credibility issues. Documents rarely have credibility issues, and the president has surrounded him with a lot dubious characters, including some who are now in prison. We got to leave it there. Ron Brownstein, it is always a great pleasure. Thank you, sir.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you for having me.
HOLMES: As we have just heard, Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation into whether former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, was illegally monitored, surveilled before President Trump forced her out of a job.
This comes after U.S. House Intelligence Committee released text messages between Ukrainian-American businessmen, Lev Parnas, who we were just discussing there with Ron Brownstein, and Republican congressional candidate Robert Hyde. Ukrainian officials say the documents indicate a possible violation of Ukrainian law, which protects the rights of a diplomat on its soil.
[02:15:05]
HOLMES: CNN correspondent Nina dos Santos joins me now from London. Tell us more about this investigation which could be embarrassing for the U.S. president depending on what it finds.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It could and it is also very awkward for the Ukrainians as well who really tried their best to try and be impartial throughout the course of this impeachment trial which is getting underway next week in the Senate and also the previous activities vis-a-vis the impeachment in the House earlier on.
So essentially, there is a series of text messages as you mentioned, Michael, between this gentleman called Robert Hyde who is running for officer for Congress under a Republican ticket and Lev Parnas. Essentially, if you look at them, it appears to show that Robert Hyde in particular had some method of being in contact with someone who appeared to be surveilling Marie Yovanovitch when she was actually the U.S. ambassador to Kyiv at the time.
That, the Ukrainians say, is a flagrant breach of 1961 Vienna Convention that appears to protect international diplomats on their activities when they are taking office on behalf of their government and representing them in other countries.
The Ukrainians issued a statement via their interior ministry, saying that they are going to be looking into whether or not this breach of Ukrainian law and international law are going to be appealing to the FBI to provide more information that they have on this early chain of text messages that emerged yesterday.
They are also considering, quote, whether or not this could have just been bravado and a fake conversation between two U.S. citizens. Keeping an open mind here, as I said, trying to toe that diplomatic line very, very finally, Michael.
HOLMES: You make a good point at the start there, Nina, which is that this is awkward for the Ukrainians. Here we are stuck in the middle again. How much is the whole Ukraine-Trump scandal impacted what is still a young government dealing with some very serious problems?
DOS SANTOS: You are right, Michael. President Zelensky has only been in office since May of 2019, just like the U.S. president, Donald Trump. Before 2016, he is also something of a political newbie. Zelensky's previous experience of being presidential, if you like, before taking up office was in a television series when he played the president of Ukraine before that.
He is very aware that he has to toe diplomatic line. The United States is, like it or not, Ukraine's biggest ally in the issues that it has with Russia. Remember that Ukraine still has a hot board. There are still disputed territories after Crimea was annexed four, five years ago. As such, Ukraine knows that it needs U.S. support diplomatically, internationally as well.
It is also aware that come the end of this year, it could be dealing with a different administration in the White House. For all of these reasons, Ukraine all the way through the impeachment saga has tried very, very hard, and President Zelensky himself in various press conferences has tried very, very hard to say we do not want to get involved in domestic issues in the United States.
The interior ministry yet again repeated that in the statement, announcing this investigation yesterday. But basically, the message from the Ukrainians is that this actually takes into account not just their own laws but international diplomatic laws. For that reason, they have to investigate, they say. Michael? HOLMES: We will see where that leads. Nina dos Santos there in London for us. Thanks, Nina. We will take a short break here on the program. When we come back, fighting a trade war with the U.S. has taken a toll on China. Its economic growth last year has sent to a 29-year low. We will take you through the numbers coming up next. Also, another trade win for President Trump on the heels of that deal between Washington and Beijing. We will explain when we come back.
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HOLMES: China has just reported its weakest annual growth in 29 years. The world's second biggest economy grew 6.1 percent in 2019 as it fought a trade war with the U.S. That growth is down from 2018, but is still in line with expectations. Beijing has also been dealing with rising debt and cooling domestic demand. The announcement follows a signing this week of the first phase of a new deal with the U.S.
David Culver is sifting through the numbers for us. He joins us now from Beijing. I men, the numbers would be the envy of any other country but China has typically sort of inflated. How is this news being spun?
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The reliability of the numbers is always in question. You are right about that, Michael. But it is all how you work things, right? So, the big takeaway from most in the world is that China is seeing its lowest amount of growth in nearly three decades, just as we pointed out.
State media here, Xinhua in particular, is headlining this as China expands to 6.1 percent GDP over 2019. Now, they are stressing some confidence going forward. As you mentioned, the "phase one" trade deal that has been inked, they are hoping that will bring some ability to the economy here. But they are also looking at other factors that they say will ultimately spark growth.
And even Liu He, the vice premier who led that delegation to partake in that signing on Wednesday at the White House in Washington, suggested that he is optimistic about this new year. He expects there to be a positive outcome going forward and he says that is going to be in part by relying less on some of the debt, in lessening that, as well as relying on innovation, which he anticipates will be something that will drive the economy going forward here, Michael.
HOLMES: Speaking of going forward, I mean, you know, there are plenty of promises for next year. How does the government plan to live up to that promise of a growth-filled 2020? Is there substance behind the projection?
CULVER: They have labelled several things that they are moving forward with. And while they are portraying somewhat of a positive outlook, they are also not ignorant of the troubles. There are economic roads. That is a big issue. Confidence within consumer spending is a problem. The pork crisis has no doubt gone out of control. Car sales have seen their lowest numbers in many years. In fact, it has been 18 straight months of declining car sales.
So what are the plans going forward? For one, they are pumping tens of billions into the banking system. They are hoping to open up more lending opportunities and part of that is also going to be some infrastructure building. We are seeing that already with railways, airports, highways, waterways. They are hoping that will spark some sort of stimulus within the economy.
And this was interesting as part of the "phase one" deal. A lot of folks question the substance within that and that is worth questioning. But there was an aspect to it that seem to benefit mostly U.S. companies and that was this idea of opening up the China market more.
Even in a letter sent to Washington, President Xi Jinping said that China will be opening its doors wider going forward. That would allow in theory foreign investment to then come into this market and perhaps create a little bit more of a stimulus and growth going forward.
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CULVER: All of this, of course, hinges on where things stand with the comprehensive aspect of the deal, the "phase two" sort of speak, which are more structural issues because the reality is tariffs are still in place for the most part. There was only a reduction about $120 billion worth of Chinese goods and that was just cutting the tariff right in half. But there is still another $250 billion that are at that 25 percent tariffs mark, Michael.
So, the question is going to be, what reality -- is there going to be a beneficial outcome to the "phase one" going forward in 2020?
HOLMES: And how much damage has already been done by those tariffs hurting both economies. David Culver on the spot for us, following all of this in Beijing. Good to see, Dave.
CULVER: Thanks.
HOLMES: The revised North American free trade agreement with the U.S., Mexico, and Canada is now headed for President Trump's desk. In a rare moment of unity in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, American lawmakers overwhelmingly passed the landmark trade deal. CNN's Matt Rivers with more from Mexico City.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just one day after President Trump signed "phase one" of a trade deal with the United States and China, another win in the trade arena for the Trump administration. This time on an agreement that you could argue is much more sweeping in its nature. This after the United States Senate has voted 89 to 10 in favor of ratifying the latest United States, Mexico, Canada agreement. This agreement, of course, is set to replace the older NAFTA agreement, the free trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This was no sure thing. This has been quite a long process. Remember it was more than a year ago that Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, representatives from the administration in each country, agreed to the USMCA.
But it was House Democrats that would have to ratify that deal and said, no, the deal was not good enough. They would not even bring it up for a vote, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, unless certain changes were made.
And so House Democrats, the Trump administration spent around a year negotiating changes to this deal that House Democrats wanted, things like more protection in the environmental arena, things like more protection for labor rights, making it easier for workers here in Mexico to effectively unionize.
And eventually, House Democrats got enough concessions from the Trump administration that they were satisfied enough to bring it for a vote. The U.S. House passed it in December, the U.S. Senate has now passed it, and it will go to President Trump's desk for signature where he will likely sign this agreement as early as next week.
It is not totally done yet. The Canadians still have to ratify this deal. They are expected to do so which means that the new USMCA will likely go into effect by the end of this year, a big win for the Trump administration ahead of the impeachment trial for President Trump that is set to begin.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We will take a short break. When we come back, allegations of U.S. ambassador under surveillance in Ukraine -- don't raise a peep out of the U.S. State Department. Ukraine is not silent about it. We will have more details coming up.
Also ahead, from Canada and Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and the UK, all speaking with one voice, demanding an open, honest and transparent investigation into how their citizens were killed when their flight was shot down by Iran. We will be right back.
Also with this, Australians welcoming heavy rain as bushfires scorched the earth. But the rain is also raising concern for another disaster. Flash flooding. You see some of it there. We will have more on that, too, when we come back.
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[02:30:00]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Michael Holmes. I got the headlines for you now to update you. China's economic growth slid to a 29 year low as it fought a trade war with the U.S. The world's second-biggest economy grew 6.1 percent in 2019. That is down from 2018, but still pretty much in line with expectations. The news following the signing this week of the first phase of a new trade deal with the US.
Large crowds are gathering at the Grand Mosalla Mosque in Tehran where Iran's supreme leader is expected to lead Friday prayers in the next hour. These are live pictures coming to you now from Tehran. It will be the first time in eight years that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will give the weekly sermon himself rather than handing it off to a respected cleric.
The U.S. Senate has now officially opened the impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump with the swearing-in his senators. The trial itself gets underway next Tuesday. The President continues to denounce his impeachment as a hoax and said he expects the trial to finish quickly.
Lev Parnas the indicted associated of President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has been speaking in at length and in great detail about his role in the Ukraine scandal. He alleges the campaign -- the pressure campaign on Ukraine's leaders to announce an investigation of the Biden family was solely to help Mr. Trump's reelection. The President denies knowing Parnas.
Well, Parnas has given Congress documents containing some pretty explosive allegations, including suggestions that Maria Yovanovitch was under surveillance while she was U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The U.S. State Department has been notably silent about that very disturbing allegation but not Ukraine.
It says it is investigating to find out what happened. Ukraine also says it's investigating a hack of the energy company Burisma. CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked Ukraine's Foreign Minister about it.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I want to know about Burisma and the hacking event that was discovered and reported this week. Apparently, again, the Russian GRU is being accused and labeled of hacking this very company that is at the center of all this, your energy company that Hunter Biden was a board member of. And again, this is all about allegedly finding dirt on President Trump's biggest rivals so far.
What do you make of that? And do you feel that your vital infrastructure is actually safe from any kind of interference like this, cyber interference and the like?
VADYM PRYSTAIKO, FOREIGN MINISTER OF UKRAINE: Well, I'm not surprised that the Russians hacked in the system of any company in Ukraine. As a minister of foreign affairs, I know how many times my own system been tried and how many attempts successful and non-successful to breach our security system, not just foreign affairs but all our missions abroad.
We unfortunately accumulated so much knowledge of the cyber-attacks against us. We're sharing this information within NATO, or with all our partners. We have people coming from all the parts of the globe, trying to learn from our experience. I just returned from Singapore, when most people were talking about cyber and cyber threats posed by specific nations right now around the world. And I'm not surprised at all.
I remember this first conversations of how the Burisma already spoken in the sort of stage that the President Trump was told by again by Russians, that it was something about Burisma and Biden's son. But I have to tell you, that and this particular company, so many foreign nationals, you can see through the board -- list of the directors -- the board of directors, and you'll see that this company is consists of very, very famous individuals who came as one of the biggest Ukrainian foreign company which is operating right now in Ukraine. So it's not just son of President Biden who was a part of this -- of this company.
AMANPOUR: Were you, the government aware of this hack before it was published by the New York Times
PRYSTAIKO: Not -- at least not me as a Foreign Minister. No.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:35:05]
HOLMES: Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister there speaking with our Christiane Amanpour. Heavy rain and severe thunderstorms have been sweeping across parts of Australia bringing some much-needed relief to help contain those massive bushfires. But it's also causing flash flooding in some areas. Fires have scorched vegetation that would normally soak up all that precipitation, and the land is so parched in places that rain is just running off not soaking in.
The Australian Reptile Park in Somersby, New South Wales had to be closed because of the flooding. Water was above the fence lines in some parts of the park. They say it hasn't been this bad in more than 15 years. That rain also helping to clear the smoke-filled skies across Melbourne. A well-needed break for athletes at the Australian Open. Will Ripley tells us how some tennis stars are banding together to help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A cloud of uncertainty over the Australian Open, one of this country's biggest sporting events overshadowed by a bushfire crisis, still very much out of control. In host city, Melbourne, heavy rains bring relief, lower temperatures, less smoke.
Just days earlier, the world's worst air quality. Open organizers insist they're taking every possible precaution to keep players safe, not enough for some. This British player tweeting citizens of Melbourne were warned to keep their animals indoors yet we were expected to go outside.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The show is going through a lot as you know --
RIPLEY: Some of the biggest stars in tennis all under one closed roof at the Melbourne Tennis Center. Raising more than $3 million for bushfire relief. Australian icon Mark Seymour, singing one of his biggest hits, Throw Your Arms Around Me. The decade's old romantic anthem taking on new meaning in these trying times.
MARK SEYMOUR, MUSICIAN: It's just this big sing along. You know, people just sing that melody and then it just creates a sense of community.
RIPLEY: Something see more says Australians need now more than ever.
SEYMOUR: We've been hit hard by this catastrophic event and it's going to change us. There's no question about it.
RIPLEY: He joins a growing list of celebrities putting their star power to work. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey, singer Lizzo.
CATE BLANCHETT, ACTRESS: There are a lot of Australians in the room tonight and --
RIPLEY: Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, international icon Elton John.
ELTON JOHN, MUSICIAN: That's an apocalyptic absolute disaster.
RIPLEY: Lending their voices and donating millions of dollars to bushfire relief.
PAT CASH, CO-FOUNDER, PLANET ARK AND DO SOMETHING: The celebrities getting in front and portraying a friendly message. And I still think that's really powerful.
RIPLEY: Australian tennis star, 1987 Wimbledon winner Pat Cash, co- founder of two environmental charities.
CASH: We knew this 30 years ago when we started our charity that you know, we -- that this is the way that this -- the world will be going. And now to see it happen, it's actually really scary. It's really -- it's really frightening.
RIPLEY: An environmental nightmare come to life.
CASH: Is it too late to fix these things? I hope not. But it's really -- it's got Australians thinking and it's got Australians empowered to do something about it now which -- is which is fantastic.
RIPLEY: He knows, Australia knows the world is watching. Right now, the City of Melbourne is benefiting from this Southeasterly wind which is blowing the smoke out of the city, also blowing my hair around quite a bit.
But unfortunately, we know that the weather here changes very quickly and the wind could shift which could bring the smoke right back. In fact, that's what's expected to happen over the weekend with the air quality going from what it is right now, good, back to what we saw earlier in the week, hazardous. Will Ripley, CNN, Melbourne, Australia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam for the forecast in Australia. I used to live in Melbourne. There's a saying that if you don't like the weather now, wait a couple of hours, it'll be completely different.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: I think we said that same thing in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE)
VAN DAM: You know, it's interesting that the resting lung actually absorbs about eight liters of oxygen in a minute, but an exercise in lung from a professional athlete does about eight times that so -- or 12 times actually, nearly 100 liters of O2 absorb in one minute from somebody who's playing on a tennis court, for instance. So you can imagine what particulates of air from bad quality of air can do to an athlete.
HOLMES: Absolutely.
VAN DAM: Yes, something interesting to add to that story. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about the good news about everything as we're seeing a lot of rain across parts of eastern Australia been hit by bushfires. But of course, it's the yin and the yang, right? It's the balance of opposites. It's, unfortunately, a little bit too much too quickly, and this is the result.
Of course, some of the farmlands here across the extreme northern sections of New South Wales had been flooded out. This is normally parched earth or what has been parched earth from the ongoing drought and the bush fires that have ravaged the region. Well, now it's not absorbing the rainfall like it should be and it's just kind of floating on the surface of the earth and creating these flooding scenes that you're seeing here.
You can see the radar has been very active over the past 24 hours continuing across the coast of Queensland, down the coast of New South Wales, even into Sydney, they've had some heftier thunderstorms. Victoria, you have your rain insight. I'll get to that in just a second.
Bring up the graphics. Look at how much rain has fallen. 178 millimeters in the extreme northern sections of New South Wales. That is what we want to see, folks. We need more of this, right? And that is what the forecast calls for over the next seven days. You can see the shades of yellow and orange starting to light up across the region just outside of Melbourne. That's actually some of the newest computer model data indicating that more rain is anticipated there, especially in the long term, we like to see that.
Sydney, Australia, there's the International Airport getting some rainfall as well. We also are seeing some promising signs from the rural fire service from New South Wales calling for a fire danger level one of two for New South Wales, two of six for Victoria. Compare that to a week ago when we saw levels upwards of five to six so quite an improvement there.
But there's the rainfall in Melbourne. We're expecting rain on Sunday, Monday, then a break on Tuesday, but more chances of showers as we head into the day on Wednesday. And for your information, Michael, 15 millimeters of rain helps with this prevention of fire spreads but 50 millimeters or rain or more actually helps extinguish the flames. So that's the totals that we want to see on our maps.
HOLMES: Right. And the problem you know, and I've seen this in Australia too when you don't get much rain for a while, the ground is like concrete.
VAN DAM: Exactly. It doesn't absorb. That's why we get the bad flooding.
HOLMES: Good to see you, my friend.
VAN DAM: Thanks, Mike.
HOLMES: Thanks for popping by, Derek Van Dam. OK, well, five countries are banding together to pressure Iran about the Ukrainian airliner it admitted shooting down by mistake. After a solemn moment of silence, government ministers from Canada, Sweden, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and the U.K. outline their demands. Many of the 106 -- 176 victims were from those countries as well as Iran, of course.
The ministers are calling on Tehran to take full responsibility and provide complete transparency of the investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, CANADA: I would think under the circumstances that Iran should take the path of cooperation. The international community is watching. There's a path for Iran to continue in the first step that they've done which is to admit full responsibility. And like I said, when you admit full responsibility, there are consequences that flow from them and full cooperation is part of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Earlier, CNN's Hala Gorani spoke with the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs about the downing of that passenger jet and about the Iran Nuclear Deal. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNE LINDE, FOREIGN MINISTER OF SWEDEN: We had 17 Swedish residents and Swedish citizens, and of course, everything we do is to get them the best answer they can get. Get them compensation, to get them the answer that they have the right to demand, and that is what we are trying to do. We are already sent a team of consular experts to our embassy in Tehran, and they arrived the few days ago. HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: All right. So far, what is your understanding? I know you've spoken with your counterpart in Iran, Zarif. What did he tell you? What is your understanding about why such a horrific mistake took place that killed so many innocents on that flight?
LINDE: Well, the fact is that that is the thing we want to have answer. We don't know why this terrible thing happened. And we want to prevent it from happening again. But to get the answers, we need to have full investigation, a thorough investigation with transparency, and with the possibility for the countries that are involved, the victims.
GORANI: But Iran, in the beginning, was not admitting to this. They were saying they would not hand over the black boxes. So how can you be confident today that the country will cooperate?
LINDE: Well, actually for three days, Iran denied that they have anything to do with it.
GORANI: Yes.
LINDE: But then the evidence, of course, were -- made them to take responsibility. And that is now what we are hoping for that there will be full cooperation from Iran. And we know that the world is watching Iran. Iran can choose if they want to cooperate, as they now have said they will do or not.
I have spoken with Foreign Minister Zarif. My prime minister has spoken with President Rouhani, the other countries has also have contacts. And so far, they are saying that they want to cooperate. They want to give compensation to the families. They want to get experts to be there from other countries. And that is what we keep on pushing for, of course.
[02:45:30]
GORANI: And there have been arrests in Iran of people, Iranians protesting their government's actions and the accidental shooting of the plane. Are you concerned about these arrests?
LINDE: Yes, of course, we are concerned. And I have been out to social media also condemning violence against the protesters. Because, of course, there should be the possibility for everybody in every country including Iran to demonstrate, to say the meaning, to fulfill their human rights. And when this is not happening, of course, we are protesting and that's also what I have done immediately.
GORANI: Pretty much. I have not spoken to anyone in the last few weeks who doesn't say this Iran Nuclear Deal is pretty much dead. It's on life support at best. Do you have any hope left that it can be revived? If so, why?
LINDE: Yes, I have hope. And the reason is that Iran has not fully left yet. They have not complied. They have taken five steps to not comply with the -- with the agreement, but it is the best agreement we have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We'll take a short break here on the program. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back. We're now learning that a Trump administration decision to free up more than $8 billion of aid for Puerto Rico has strings attached. The aid was already mark for 2017 hurricane disasters, but the White House is now requiring dozens of new conditions.
For instance, the islands government must get spending approval from the island's fiscal control board, which is restructuring the territory's depth. The measure also blocks money for Puerto Rico's aging energy grid, and it allows federal contractors to get paid less than the $15.00 per hour wage mandated by the islands government.
President Trump has also approved a separate disaster order after earthquakes began to hit in December. Aftershocks still rattling the island and compromising the integrity of many buildings there. CNN's Rafael Romo takes a look at the dangerous condition some residents are facing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This 12-story residential building in Puerto Rico southern coast has cracks on three sides and the government has declared it uninhabitable. Yvette Campos is taking a look at the building for the first time. She says all the residents were urgently evacuated including her aunt.
More than 400 houses and condominium buildings have sustained structural damage in Ponce, Puerto Rico's second-largest city. The director of the local emergency management office says the fear is that if there's another major earthquake, some of these structures may collapse, trapping residents or worse.
It's the result of more than two weeks of daily tremors and aftershocks, not only in Ponce but also in towns like Guanica located on Puerto Rico's southern coast. Deciding what to do with damaged buildings is a huge challenge for Puerto Rico. Repairs will be costly and demolishing houses and buildings declared uninhabitable will also cause millions of dollars.
Do you feel the Trump administration is doing enough to help Puerto Rico right now?
WANDA VAZQUEZ, GOVERNOR, PUERTO RICO: I asked for their support and the commitment of the U.S. and the President of the United States so I hope this support is coming.
ROOM: A top official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency describes the challenge in military terms. ALEX AMPARO, CARIBBEAN DIRECTOR, FEMA: We're in a constant battle. I mean, we're in a fight right now. The ground is still shaking. I think you saw earlier we've had our 5.2. And at the same time, we have people who have lost homes.
ROOM: Governor Vazquez says nearly 8,000 people remain in multiple shelters operating on Puerto Rico's southern coast. Those displaced are families whose homes are now in ruins, homes like this one in Guanica where the only thing that's left standing is a torn-up Puerto Rican flag. Rafael Romo, CNN on Puerto Rico southern coast.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, 10 days of crisis in the royal family. When we come back, a look back at the surprising announcement by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and what it means.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It has been a historic couple of weeks for Britain's ruling House of Windsor. The stunning announcement that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was stepping back as senior Royal sent Royal watches and the British tabloids into a frenzy. CNN's Nick Glass takes a look back at the Royals in crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK GLASS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've had a good 10 days of it so far, this new Royal family crisis. And frankly, we don't know that much about the detail. What for example, was set at the so-called Sandringham summit, out of being a fly on the wall inside the room. But we still have had plenty to say about it day and night, in good old English weather.
The story has been irresistibly addictive, obviously potentially another episode for the crown with some imagined regal dialogue. We've only glimpsed the Queen once on her way to church on Sunday. A very personal and supportive statement about Harry and Megan was issued after Monday's summit.
[02:55:11]
ROBERT HARDMAN, JOURNALIST, DAILY MAIL: It was a landmark statement. The Queen really doesn't speak about family matters like that very often. Reading between the lines as we always do, it was -- what came through was her sadness, but also her pragmatism. She wants to get this done and she wants to get it done quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Queen's fury as Harry and Megan say we quit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meghan flees to Canada.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Queen fight to save monarchy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Royal soap Oprah. GLASS: The media having shifted camp in sunshine to outside Buckingham
Palace would love to know more. But Prince Harry is only currently talking about sport online about his Invictus Games.
PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: In 2022, the Invictus Games will travel to a new country, a new home for respect for our armed forces.
GLASS: And in person about the Rugby League World Cup.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lebanon, Lebanon, so the Lebanon go --
GLASS: At one point, some journalists did manage to shout out the question.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harry, how are the discussions going on your future.
GLASS: Harry didn't respond, just apparently smiled and walked on. A lead editorial in the Sun Newspapers claimed that skin color has nothing to do with the Royal couple's decision. Not everyone agrees.
AFUA HIRSCH, JOURNALIST: Many, many people of color have said to me, it's unbelievable that the racism involved in the story is being ignored and denied.
HARDMAN: If you look back at the coverage the couple have received, most of it since the Royal Wedding has been very favorable, some of it has been critical. And then some people have pointed to that coverage and said, oh, well, you know, there's a racial motivation to it. I simply don't recognize that.
HIRSCH: Even when race isn't part of the overt narrative, singling someone of color out and saying, I just don't like you, something about the way you look that I don't like, which is something that -- a senior anchor on the British media said about Meghan Markle is I just don't like the look of her, it's impossible to ignore the racial undertones to that commentary.
GLASS: As for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, they've been back on duty and out and about in the northern town of Bradford, rather pointedly two leading tabloids both reached much the same judgment. The Daily Mail's headline was Kate dazzling Duchess shows how it's done. The Sun went further, the Duchess of Cambridge showed how Royal duty should be done.
It's been a long, long week for veteran Royal observers, so much hanging about having to think of something to say all right, when no one's talking. Nick Glass, CNN in London.'
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And that'll do it for this hour. Thanks for spending part of your day with us. I'm Michael Holmes. I'll be back with more news though in just a moment. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) END
