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Queen Elizabeth Announces Prince Harry and Meghan Markle No Longer Working Members of British Royal Family; Key Impeachment Filings from U.S. House, President; Anti-Government Protests In Beirut; Libya Summit to Call for Sanctions If Ceasefire Violated. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired January 19, 2020 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome, coming to you live from Studio 7 at the CNN Center in Atlanta, I am Michael Holmes.
And ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, a blockbuster announcement out of Buckingham Palace. Meghan and Harry no longer working members of the royal family.
But what does that really mean?
Plus, two huge filings in the impeachment trial of Donald Trump has both the United States president and those seeking to remove him from office make their case.
Anti-government protests turn violent again in the streets of Beirut.
What is being done to restore calm?
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HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.
Major changes are coming to the House of Windsor. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex no longer working members of the royal family. Buckingham Palace making that announcement on Saturday, the decision coming after the couple recently said they wanted to take a step back as senior members of the royal family.
In recent months they have also spoken about the toll that public scrutiny has taken on them and their desire to move at least part-time to North America.
So what's next?
CNN's Anna Stewart reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are not just stepping back as senior members of the royal family. They are now stepping back as working members altogether in the shock announcement from Buckingham Palace.
They will no longer use HRH, His and Her Royal Highness as a title as they are no longer working members of the royal family. They're stepping back from royal duties, including official military appointments and they will receive no public funds for those duties anymore, either.
The queen released a personal statement saying, "I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a more independent life.
"It is my whole family's hope that today's agreement allows them to start building a happy and peaceful new life."
Relinquishing the title HRH will allow them to live more independently and to work toward their goal of being financially independent. The couple are cutting ties with the British taxpayer and will no longer receive money for public duties.
And they say they will repay the $3 million of refurbishment costs for Frogmore Cottage, which they want to remain a family home here in the U.K.
However, it is unclear who will pay for their security costs. currently that is covered by the British taxpayer. Those costs will increase significantly if they live between the U.K. and North America.
What the couple do with their newfound freedom remains to be seen and there's plenty of interest in what they do to become more financially independent.
Will they sign a contract with the likes of Netflix or Apple?
Could a book be in the offing?
Or perhaps speaking engagements?
While questions remain, this latest announcement brings far more clarity. It feels like a clean break for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Joining me now, journalist and royal expert Sandro Monetti.
Good to see you Sandro, let's talk about what do you think the reasons are behind this motivation for Prince Harry?
How Meghan was treated, the sometime savage British press playing into this? SIMON: Now they are independent citizens, they will be more free to
sue the British press.. Maybe that's what they mean by financial independence.
Clearly Meghan and Harry have been unhappy for sometime. Let's hope that this new life, this uncertain future proves to be a much happier one. Certainly the queen has proved a tough negotiator and she has a separation deal that I think is the best that could be worked out in the unfortunate circumstances.
HOLMES: It's interesting; Harry once said, well before all of this, that he found it hard to meet someone who could handle the pressures of being a royal.
Do you think that's what happened with Meghan?
He fell in with someone who could not handle the pressures?
Or do you think he has always felt constrained by being a royal?
MONETTI: At the palace they are talking about the curse of the American divorcee striking again. We look at history, 1936. Edward VIII gave up his royal title for the love of Wallis Simpson. They went to live in exile without their royal titles.
The HRH title was given up by Harry's mother around 25 years ago to establish more of her independence from Prince Charles and the royal family.
And now, Harry and Meghan leaving on their own terms for a new life without the titles.
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MONETTI: And paying back the money to the British taxpayer. Interesting.
HOLMES: Yes, going back on the British press, I lived and worked there for many years, it can be brutal, the press there. They did hound her and there was racial undertones alleged in many cases.
How do you think the British public is going to react?
Support?
Backlash?
Maybe a bit of both?
MONETTI: A bit of both. The British public is divided on most things as we've seen politically and also on this royal separation. It's not just the British press that is coming up with some negative stuff.
If you look at the Instagram brand that Harry and Meghan started @SussexRoyal. If you want to see some real nasty comments, you go on there, catch those before they are deleted. It's going to be very difficult for Harry and Meghan to live a quiet
life out of the spotlight. They are going to be in it for the rest of their lives. How they manage the media, the social media, will be a key part of their future, I think.
HOLMES: I have my phone out, looking up @SussexRoyal.
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HOLMES: You mentioned this and it is interesting; they did agree to pay back $3 million in home renovations for the royal residence. They are going to pay rent on the place. It's a lot of money.
Where do you think they will live most of the time?
What jobs might they end up doing if they're going to be financially independent?
MONETTI: Royals for sale. They stand to make an absolute fortune. Just think about it. Everything that Meghan wears, if she so wishes, she could be paid to wear certain brands. Speaking fees are going to be huge, $400,000 a time and up could be commanded by people of their celebrity level and status.
So it's interesting that, in this separation agreement, the queen talks about how Harry and Meghan are going to respect Her Majesty and the royal family. It's going to be one of the most interesting things to watch as we go forward if Harry and Meghan do indeed have a price tag above their heads or whether they're just going to follow all this money that will come their way towards charities.
What they do next is key to their future, their public perception and their earning potential.
HOLMES: One imagines -- there are still members of the royal family, whatever it is they do for money. She is a former actress, of course. Whatever they do for money is going to have to be, seemly, if we can put it that way.
Charles will support them for a little while from the Duchy of Cornwall but when they fend for themselves, they will need jobs that are not going to put the royals in a bad light.
MONETTI: Exactly. And there's further questions as well. We know that Meghan has -- can work in America but can Harry?
Will he have to take American citizenship, dual citizenship?
And what's the tax burden going to be?
When the queen talks about these months of negotiations and discussions, yes, we have a few answers but there are still plenty more. The earning potential is huge but so is the tax bill.
HOLMES: Good point, too. I'll say goodbye to you but the first thing is I looked it up on Instagram and the first post where they announce this has 1.5 million likes and nearly 50,000 comments. Wow. That is a reaction.
MONETTI: They're the most famous couple in the world. Ka-ching!
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. You made me look. Journalist and royal expert Sandro Monetti, thanks so much, appreciate it.
MONETTI: Thank you.
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HOLMES: When the impeachment trial of the U.S. president Donald Trump gets underway this Tuesday in the Senate, the president's attorneys will argue that the two articles against him are, quote, "constitutionally invalid." That is outlined in their response to a Senate summons.
But the legal brief filed by the U.S. House, the Democrats -- that is -- that says that Mr. Trump should be removed from office because he is a threat to national security. We have two reports coming up.
Boris Sanchez is traveling with the president in Florida where Mr. Trump is said to be distracted by the impending trial. But we begin our coverage with CNN's Joe Johns in Washington.
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JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The House managers laying out the history, the chronology, the facts and even trying to give senators a view as to what the framers of the United States Constitution might say about the president, indicating, in their view, the president's conduct is the framers' worst nightmare.
A lot of this is information we have all heard before during the hearings up here in Capitol Hill, leading to the impeachment of the president.
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JOHNS: However, there were some references, a few references, to new were information that has come out recently.
Even that report just last week from the Government Accountability Office indicating that the president, in the view of the watchdog organization, in fact, violated the law.
Democrats see the GAO report as an important rebuttal to claims by the president's legal team that no crimes were committed or laws violated -- Joe Johns, CNN, Capitol Hill.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump's legal team filing its formal response to a Senate summons on Saturday night. The president's team saying that these articles of impeachment are completely invalid and an attack on Americans. We are learning that they plan to defend the president in three ways.
First, on the substance of the accusations, saying that his call with President Zelensky of Ukraine was perfect, as the president has suggested. There was no quid pro quo between the two leaders.
Secondly, on the actual articles of impeachment themselves, suggesting that what he is accused of is not actually an impeachable act.
And thirdly, they are attacking the process the Democrats carried out in the House of Representatives, arguing that President Trump was not afforded due process.
Look at what the White House writes, quote, "President Trump categorically and unequivocally denies each and every allegation in both articles of impeachment."
They go on to write about his phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine, that it was quote, "perfectly legal, completely appropriate and taken in furtherance of our national interest."
Sources close to the president spending the weekend with him here at Mar-a-lago tell us that the president appears to be in good spirits, though he is a bit distracted by the ongoing impeachment saga.
He is apparently asking people around him, "Why are they doing this to me?" -- Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president in West Palm Beach, Florida.
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HOLMES: And here is what the Democratic impeachment managers had to say about the White House defense.
"Though the president describes this conduct as perfect, the founders had a different word for it: impeachable."
Joining me now, Michael Shear, a CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for "The New York Times."
Always good to see you, sir. You've got both the Republicans and the Democrats outlining their approaches and arguments to this impeachment trial. I'm curious whether you see anything in those arguments that would indicate you this will be anything other than partisan, despite all of those oaths to be impartial.
MICHAEL SHEAR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: No, not at all. In fact what we saw this evening from both sides was essentially a repeat of what they have been saying all along.
The House Democrats laid out their case in meticulous detail. It's essentially the case that we have all been watching for the past several months, first in depositions, then in public hearings and then, of course, in debate on the floors. The Democrats put together this these two charges against the president.
The president's response tonight was typical of the president. It was very short, six pages, it was largely filled with political rhetoric, maybe a little bit of legalisms thrown in there.
But essentially, repeating what the president has said, he's completely innocent, he done nothing wrong and that the Democrats are on a partisan witch hunt and out to get him. That is essentially the two arguments, what we will hear when the opening arguments start next week.
HOLMES: Do you still have this continued Republican insistence on why the Democrats did not take this to court?
That came up again today, too, and rushed it through the House process.
Isn't it true that the court route would have taken months, since the White House was stonewalling every request?
The legal action against former White House counsel, Don McGahn, was filed months ago and still is not resolved.
SHEAR: It still isn't resolved and likely could not be resolved until well -- either close to or even after the next election, which would potentially make the whole thing moot.
I think definitely one of the things you see in the Republican -- in the response from the White House today is a focus on process because that's one of the things that they have been railing against since the beginning of this thing.
That's in some ways what you would rail against when you don't have as many legal arguments to make on the substance of something.
HOLMES: The Republican leadership also saying that no new evidence should be brought in. But there has been a lot of evidence in recent days from Lev Parnas, of course, but also the Government Accountability Office report on illegalities in holding up the Ukraine funding.
Are the articles going to be submitted and that's that?
Or is any of this other new and seemingly relevant stuff likely to get into the trial?
SHEAR: I think it might.
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SHEAR: The House legal brief that they filed today did include mentions of both of the things you just suggested, the Lev Parnas evidence as well as the GAO report. It also tantalizingly had many references to the Mueller report, people remember is the investigation of the Russian election meddling, which is not -- none of that is officially part of the two articles of impeachment.
But I guess what the Democrats are signaling is that they fully intend to talk about all of that when they make their oral arguments. That could, of course, prompt a fight with Republicans, who, you could imagine, would try to argue, that is not officially in the record here and so does not belong as part of the trial.
As we've said all along, this is a very political process; a lot of what happens in this trial is going to be decided by votes. And of course, Republicans have the edge in the Senate. So we will have to wait to see what happens.
HOLMES: Fascinating. Michael Shear, thanks so much, always good to get your thoughts.
SHEAR: Yes, happy to do it. Talk to you later.
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HOLMES (voice-over): All right, we'll take a short break. When we come back a new migrant caravan turning into a major test for Mexico. Why it is confronting migrants and closing a major border crossing.
Also still to come, water cannon, tear gas and fireworks. Protesters turned violent in Lebanon. We will take to the streets of Beirut coming up next.
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HOLMES: Scuffles broke out on Mexico's southern border on Saturday as security forces fought to push back migrants. Mexico has closed a major border crossing with Guatemala as a new migrant caravan makes its way up from Central America.
Many of the migrants are Hondurans, trying to reach the U.S., making this a major test for Mexico. This is the first such caravan since Mexico agreed with the U.S. on stemming the flow of migrants.
President Trump has threatened to hurt Mexico economically if large migrant groups are allowed to reach the U.S. border.
Lebanon's president is deploying the military to disperse crowds in Beirut after anti-government protests turned violent once again.
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HOLMES (voice-over): The Lebanese Red Cross says at least 200 people have been injured. Protests erupted months ago over the government's failure to appoint a cabinet and, importantly, the lack of economic stability in the country. CNN's Ben Wedeman is on the ground for us in Beirut.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Beirut has seen its worst violence since the protest movement began on the 17th of October last year. The clashes began near parliament and quickly moved to here, Martyrs' Square.
According to reports, dozens of people, both members of the security forces as well as protesters, have been injured.
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WEDEMAN: We saw as the protesters threw rocks, bottles, Molotov cocktails at the security forces, who responded with, tear gas, water cannons and what appears to be shotguns as well.
By the end of evening or later in the evening, the president of the Lebanese republic, Michel Aoun, called on the army to intervene to help restore order. After several hours of these clashes, it does appear that order has been restored.
Now this was declared to be a week of rage. It does appear that Lebanon has reached the tipping point as far as the economy goes. The local currency has lost 60 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar and, of course, Lebanon imports almost everything, which means the economy has come to a halt.
Unemployment has skyrocketed and the prices of ordinary goods have also increased dramatically. Some economists are saying that this is the pitchfork moment for Lebanon, where people have simply had enough and their anger, which has been manifested by largely peaceful protests, is now spilling over into violence -- I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.
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HOLMES: In France authorities say more than 3 dozen people are in custody after violent clashes between police and protesters there on Saturday. Thousands of protesters returned to the streets, demonstrating over president Emmanuel Macron's planned pension reforms.
Those changes have also prompted the longest transport strike in decades. Critics say that reforms will force millions of people to effectively work longer for smaller pensions.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Iran seeks outside help with the black boxes from the Ukrainian passenger jet it admits to accidentally downing. Where Tehran is sending the flight recorders, what it means for the ongoing investigation. We will have that and more when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back.
Within the next hour, we expect the remains of the 11 Ukrainians, killed in the Ukrainian passenger jet downed by Iran, to be returned to their home country. The repatriation coming as the Iranian media reports the black boxes will be sent to Kiev for analysis.
Tehran will also reportedly seek additional analysis from France, Canada and the U.S. All 176 people on board were killed when the Iranian military accidentally shot the passenger plane down earlier this month.
World leaders are now meeting in Germany this weekend, their aim: a lasting cease-fire in war-torn Libya. U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo arrived on Saturday for the Berlin peace conference. Libya's U.N.-recognized prime minister might be there. His enemy, the renegade general Khalifa Haftar, is also expected to attend.
They are set to be joined by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the presidents of Russia, France and Turkey.
What is happening in Libya is often described as a civil war but there are plenty of foreign powers involved. CNN's Becky Anderson has this look at who and what are driving the conflict.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): It had been hailed a moment of hope: the fall of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. But nearly a decade on, this is what much of Libya looks like today, the strewn wreckage of a country splintered by conflict between two warring sides.
The Government of National Accord or GNA, runs the capital and much of the country's northwest.
In the east, a parallel government controlling nearly two-thirds of the country. It is led by General Khalifa Haftar and his well-armed liberal Libyan National Army or LNA.
Neither side, though, is acting in isolation and battlefield Libya has many hands at work. Haftar is generously backed by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who view political Islam as a threat and see Haftar as the country's last line of defense.
They are joined by Russia and France, while the GNA sees support from Turkey, Qatar and a handful of E.U. states such as Italy. But importantly, it has the rubber stamp of U.N. legitimacy.
Despite that, it only survives through outside friends of its own and mostly Turkey, who have gotten involved directly. President Erdogan recently receiving authorization from his parliament to deploy troops there.
RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, PRESIDENT OF TURKEY (through translator): If Haftar's attacks against the people and legitimate government of Libya continue, we will never refrain from teaching him the lesson he deserves.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Being there is crucial to President Erdogan's strategic interests beyond the Middle East, burnishing his regional reputation as a power player. Haftar, though, says, is up for the fight.
GEN. KHALIFA HAFTAR, LIBYAN NATIONAL ARMY (through translator): We hereby except the challenge. We are announcing a mass mobilization of our troops. We call for a holy fight.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Meanwhile Russia has been bolstering its presence around the Mediterranean. There has been a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries, supporting Haftar's troops on the ground in Libya.
Moscow claims that they do not represent the Russian state, as they have also claimed in Ukraine. But from Syria to Libya, president Vladimir Putin's expansionist strategy remains clear.
The United States, on the other hand, is being more capricious. It launched airstrikes, targeting ISIS and Al Qaeda in 2015 but then pulled its troops amid the surging political violence. Its position now isn't quite clear.
And in the vacuum of war, chaos: hundreds of thousands of migrants using Libya as a dangerous springboard into Europe, the continent, for the most part, calling for a political solution to the bloody conflict -- Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of thanks for spending part of your day with me, I am Michael Holmes, you have been watching CNN NEWSROOM, I will have your headlines in just a moment.
