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Gun Rights Rally in Virginia Today; Auschwitz-Birkenau Liberated 75 Years Ago; Puerto Rico Opens Investigation Into Misplaced Aid. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 20, 2020 - 10:30   ET

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

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, USA TODAY: -- retiring from Congress. Maybe he's got nothing to lose, but maybe he wants to maintain good relations with the Republican Party, which is now controlled by Donald Trump.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, NEWSROOM: Right.

Phil Mattingly, in about an hour and a half, there's another deadline here. We're going to get more details from the White House defense of the president. Are we going to learn something new about what their approach is to this trial?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The way it's been termed to me, from people who have been kind of working on this process, is it's going to kind of be an expansion on the six or seven pages we saw, their response to the summons earlier this weekend.

Look, I think the most interesting element here -- and I've been talking to Republican senators, Jim, about this for the better part of the last couple of weeks -- is they are fascinated to see what the White House actually rolls out in terms of the defense. Are they going to largely mimic what we saw in the House, from their House Republican brethren? Are they doing to take a different route, are they going to try and match up with what the president has said he wants to talk about on Twitter?

And I think what's going to be interesting about this filing -- or this brief is going to be how closely they hew to what their response was over the course of this weekend, and if they break any new ground in terms of what their defense is going to look like.

I think there's a lot of questions -- think about it, 24 hours and they don't have to use all 24 hours -- that's a lot of time on the Senate floor to try and rebut various specific arguments from House Democrats and from the Democratic articles of impeachment. I think it's going to be very interesting to see what this looks like, and then obviously what the president's lawyers say when they actually get to the floor later this week.

SCIUTTO: Susan Page, there's an idea on this question of witnesses that is -- you know, certainly, Republicans have posed of, OK, you want a Bolton, then let's call Hunter Biden, let's call Joe Biden, who happens to be running for president.

It was interesting to hear Sherrod Brown -- of course a Democrat -- say, well, you know, that may be OK too.

PAGE: You know, the Democrats are trying to make the point, we have to have a fair trial. And the one reason they're pressing the idea of witnesses is because it makes it look like it's not a fair trial if you stand up against (ph) witnesses.

Well, this is the Republican rejoinder. If it's a fair trial, can't we have our witnesses too? And that puts -- that has a potential to put Democrats in a real box because Democrats are not enthusiastic about calling Hunter Biden as a witness. Joe Biden is not eager to be subpoenaed to go --

SCIUTTO: Right.

PAGE: -- testify.

SCIUTTO: Phil Mattingly, it was interesting, Debbie Dingell raised this possibility just a few moments ago, saying, OK, if that comes up, let the presiding chief justice of the Supreme Court make the call there. I mean, would it be his call? I mean, or is it purely just a straight majority vote as to who's on the list?

MATTINGLY: Look, the chief justice can rule. And I think that's one of those things, we all work off what happened in 1999, where Chief Justice Rehnquist was largely passive on pretty much everything except for one question, and left it up to the Senate.

I think Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made clear his expectation is that John Roberts will largely mimic what we saw from Chief Justice Rehnquist back in 1999, but we don't really know when or if he's going to decide to weigh in.

I think the kind of -- the idea that you leave it to the Senate because it's an operating body that deals with these issues pretty regularly, probably is the one that wins out. But it's an open question in terms of what kind of posture the chief justice is going to take, guys.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, be prepared for surprises. Phil Mattingly, Susan Page, thanks very much.

A story we continue to watch this morning, tensions high in Virginia as gun rights advocates hold a rally at the state capitol. There is fear that far-right extremists, white supremacists, may cause violence there. Of course, the history in Virginia is sobering. Sara Sidner, live in Richmond.

[10:33:24]

SARA SIDNOR, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So far, peaceful, but we are here at a day that this place hasn't seen quite like that in many, many years. We're taking you live to the gun rights rally outside of the Virginia capitol in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SCIUTTO: Right now, hundreds of pro-gun advocates, many of them heavily armed, are in Richmond, Virginia, protesting proposed gun reform laws there.

On the capitol grounds, they chanted, "Northam out," referencing Virginia's Democratic governor. Ahead of today's demonstration, the governor declared a state of emergency and banned all weapons on capitol grounds.

But outside that secured area, many demonstrators were heavily armed. Look at them, they look like soldiers there, some wearing body armor. And there are fears there could be violence, particularly from white extremists.

Last week, the FBI arrested three alleged white supremacists who planned to attend today's rally -- those are them there -- CNN's Sara Sidner joins us now. So, Sara, so far, no sign of violence. What are you hearing on the ground? You're speaking to people there. How do you see the day playing out?

SIDNER: Look, before this rally began, there was certainly worry from law enforcement who, after those arrests of members of a group called The Base, who were neo-Nazis who want to basically create complete havoc and sort of disarm governments.

What you are seeing here is a scene of thousands -- not hundreds -- perhaps tens of thousands of people. So far it has been very quiet. They are all here for one single reason, and that is they do not like having their rights, when it comes to guns, in any way stopped. And they've been looking at what's happening in this legislature.

I want to give you kind of a scene here. Now, you'll remember that the Democrats took over here in Virginia, and they now have control. And they have passed three bills that restrict gun access.

[10:40:06]

One of them is you can only buy one gun a month, you have to get your guns -- you have to basically get background checks, even if you're doing a person-to-person, so a private gun sale. And they've given local governments the option to quell guns when they have something like a permitted rally or some sort of permitted event, they can restrict guns.

So those are the three laws that have passed. There's a lot of folks here that don't like what they're hearing, and they are very concerned that their Second Amendment rights are going to be infringed upon.

You will see folks here who are armed to the teeth, and you will see folks here who are just walking around, they're not armed, they are here to support, you know, the folks that are here. But you've got everyone from ex-Army members, ex-Marines to people who are currently serving, to law enforcement who are here, who are saying that they are very upset with what's happened with the governor and with this legislature. However, the people voted this group of folks in, who are now in

control, the citizens of Virginia voted this group of folks in. And they ran on some of these, you know, sort of gun control measures.

I did get a chance to speak with a gentleman named Manny Vega. He is from Richmond, and he told us what he thought about what Governor Northam and this legislature has done, and he told us why he was here as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANNY VEGA, ATTENDING GUN RIGHTS RALLY: This government, here in Richmond, has usurped the Constitution of the United States. All we want to do is be able to defend ourselves, you know? Not only from, you know, violent criminals but from a government that would usurp the Constitution as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So, you know, you hear what he says about that. And there's a lot of people that feel that way. He said he doesn't mind some measures to control guns. But he says, for the most part, that the government should stay out of that realm because of the Second Amendment.

And you do have folks here from all over the country. You have folks from Ohio, from Georgia, from Arkansas, lots of folks here. And so far, a peaceful rally -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: On his commentary (ph), he appeared to be saying the right to use guns against the government if, in his view, it's violating the Constitution. Good to have you there, Sara Sidner --

SIDNER: That's right.

SCIUTTO: -- thanks very much.

Fear of rising anti-Semitism in the U.S. and around the world comes as we near the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. An estimated 1 million Jews were murdered in just that one Nazi concentration camp.

Melissa Bell speaks to a survivor who has devoted his life to telling others about the horrors that took place there. We want to warn you that some of this report is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZIGI SHIPPER, AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU SURVIVOR: The screaming at night was just unbelievable. We still didn't understand why they didn't kill us and be finished. Why (ph) did (ph) we have to suffer so much.

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Zigi Shipper was only 14 when he arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau in the summer of 1944. Now 90, he spends most of his time speaking about what he saw. Like the moment the doors of his cattle train opened onto the camp:

Some went straight to the gas chambers. For the others, the suffering was just beginning.

SHIPPER: The guards came over to them and asked them, just put their baby down. She wouldn't do it. So they tried to rip that baby out of her arms. And if they didn't succeed, they shot the woman and sometimes the baby as well.

Why kill babies? Why don't you give them enough food? I asked the children, when I speak. I asked the grown-ups. Tell me something, have we learned? And everybody says no.

BELL (voice-over): But these pictures had shocked the world, 75 years ago. They were captured by Red Army soldiers as they liberated Poles, Russians, Romas, homosexuals, and Jews -- 90 percent of the 1.1 million people who died in the camp were Jewish.

BELL: It is both the scale and the depth of human suffering here that are really hard to fathom. However, what happened behind these fences is still within living memory, but only just. With Auschwitz marking the 75th anniversary of its liberation, and with the recent rise in anti-Semitic attacks both in the United States and in locations here in Europe, the question is whether collective memory can ever last longer than a single lifetime.

BELL (voice-over): These schoolkids are being shown around by Ginette Kolinka, a 94-year-old French survivor of Birkenau.

Isn't it difficult to come back, asks one student.

No, she replies. My feelings never made it out of here.

[10:45:00]

NOLWENN JOURDAIN, STUDENT: Hearing it from people that have lived it, that were, like, this was a living hell. They were tortured. You really have to be tolerant and accept people as they are because nobody deserves this.

BELL (voice-over): It is that message of broader tolerance that drives Zigi to speak as often as he can about what he saw.

SHIPPER: I said, whatever you do, don't hate. Hate is the worst thing you can do. Never mind what nationality they are, what religion. To me, everybody is the same. We are just human beings.

BELL (voice-over): And yet, anti-Semitism in the United States is at near-historic levels, according to the Anti-Defamation League. And worldwide, anti-Semitic attacks rose by 13 percent in 2018 according to Tel Aviv University.

SHIPPER: It's not for me that I'm worried. For my children, for my grandchildren, for my great-grandchildren. But, you know, we mustn't give up. You've got to think it'll change, you've got to. But we need the people to do something about it, and that's why we speak. We must not forget.

BELL (voice-over): Melissa Bell, CNN, Auschwitz-Birkenau.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Whatever you do, don't hate. Those are powerful words at any time. Our thanks to Melissa Bell for that important reporting, and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:36]

SCIUTTO: Residents and officials in Ponce, Puerto Rico are furious after a warehouse full of emergency supplies was discovered during a building inspection. This is the moment when the gate was forcibly opened and residents saw what was inside. It's believed that aid, which they needed, has been there since Hurricane Maria hit two years ago.

CNN's Rafael Romo is at that warehouse this morning. What are people saying there? And do we have any explanation as to how this aid ended up there and was not distributed?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes. It is not quite clear, yet, Jim, what happened and how the aid ended up being here. The reality is that the investigation is barely beginning. Governor Wanda Vazquez gave her secretary of state 48 hours to conduct an investigation and find out exactly where the aid came from and whether it was indeed left behind here for more than two years, since Hurricane Maria struck the island.

But what I can tell you right now is that members of the Puerto Rico National Guard behind me have been working very hard all morning to take this aid to about 41 shelters around the island, where there are an estimated 7,100 people who were affected, one way or another, by a series of earthquakes.

It has been shaking here, on the southern coast of Puerto Rico, for more than three weeks now. And there are people who have been telling us that those shelters, hey, I'm not getting enough food, I'm not getting enough water.

And so as you can imagine, there's a lot of indignation at the possibility that there could have been aid here and not distributed to those people who needed it. In the -- in a span of 24 hours, three members of her cabinet were dismissed -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, you wonder if that aid could have saved lives at those crucial hours and days after the hurricane. Rafael Romo, good to have you on the scene there. Thank you.

[10:52:35]

In just minutes, House impeachment managers are expected to do a walkthrough of the Senate chamber. Will we hear from them as they ramp up preparations for the Senate trial? So many questions still open here, including the question of witnesses. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: It was a night of firsts at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night. "Parasite" became the first foreign language film ever to take home the top prize, not just in the foreign language category, the top prize overall.

CNN's Stephanie Elam joins me now, live from LA. Lots of headlines from there.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot, Jim. And that just confuses everyone a little bit, that "Parasite" now won this, which means it's not really clear what's going to happen at the Oscars. They won the Best Cast Ensemble, which is the equivalent of Best Picture at the Oscars here.

So, now, we've got "1917" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" as the frontrunners for this, but still not clear. Of course, as far as "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is concerned, Brad Pitt won for his supporting role in that movie, and he probably had the speech of the night. Take a listen.

BRAD PITT, ACTOR: I've got to add this to my Tinder profile.

(LAUGHTER)

Let's be honest, it was a difficult part, a guy who gets high, takes his shirt off and doesn't get on with his wife.

(LAUGHTER)

It was a big stretch --

ELAM: You've got to love a guy who can poke fun at himself. So obviously, people loving that. An then you see, right after that, Jennifer Aniston, she went on to win as well for her role in "The Morning Show."

So obviously, the internet has lost its mind because now Brad and Jen are together and they were hugging and supporting each other, and now everyone wants them to get back together today. That's one of the big topics of discussion today -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Renee Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix also big winners last night. Is that typically a sign for Oscars?

ELAM: Yes. Well, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, this is the largest voting bloc, is the actors here. I think it's pretty much a lock now, that people expect for the Oscars, that Joaquin Phoenix will win for "Joker," Renee for her portrayal of Judy Garland, and also Laura Dern for her role in "Marriage Story." And obviously, Brad Pitt, the other one being there too as well as what they expect will be the winners there.

On the TV side, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," winning again, beating out "Fleabag," the cast going up and actually saying that they were voting for "Fleabag." So that's a bit funny one there. But Phoebe Waller-Bridge did win as well for "Fleabag." That show, just people love it so much.

[11:00:04]

SCIUTTO: yes. It's a great show. Stephanie Elam --

ELAM: Yes, it is.

SCIUTTO: -- thanks so much.

Thanks so much to you for joining me on this holiday today. I'm Jim --