Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Senate Receives Article of Impeachment Against Trump; Dominion Voting Systems Suing Rudy Giuliani for $1.3 Billion. White House: U.S. to Use Strategic Patience with China; Putin Slams Protests Demanding Release of Kremlin Critic; Arizona Republicans Torn After Election Losses. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired January 26, 2021 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The House charged Trump with incitement of insurrection following the attack on U.S. Capitol on January 6th. And now in less than two week argument in the trial will begin. Senators who witnessed the Capitol attack will take part in the trial. And last hour I asked CNN legal analyst Elie Honig about that unique aspect of the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's a really bizarre situation. I mean, as a prosecutor if you ever had anyone who had anything to do with the case as a potential juror they would be out. You can't be a juror and a witness. But of course, this is not a strictly legal trial process.
If I was prosecuting this case or presenting this case on behalf of the House impeachment managers, I would keep it clean and concise. They need to get this thing in quickly. Look, last year's impeachment trial took 21 days. I think if they spend any more than a week, maybe a week and a half max then they are going to lose their attention. They're going to lose the focus.
You raise a good question. Who would the witnesses we need to be? The main witness here is Donald Trump. Play the clips of him exhorting the crowd. Show his tweets. Put them on the big screen where he says things like will be wild. Show his tweets after the fact.
Remember, on the day of the attack on January 6, a couple hours after the attack was over, he tweeted positively. He said remember this day. He called them great patriots. Keep your case nice and clean and concise, you have to keep the attention of not just the Senate but the American public.
CHURCH: And let's face it. Democrats are really doing this because they want to prevent Trump from ever holding federal office again. So, if 17 Republican senators refuse to convict him as seems to be the case, how do Democrats achieve that goal of blocking Trump's run for president in the future? HONIG: Well, I think there's two goals here. I think the big picture goal is to set a marker, set a precedent for history that whatever the outcome, I think Democrats have been saying, we can't let this stand, we can't do nothing about this.
Now as a practical matter when it comes to removal, if they do not get the 67 votes needed to convict there are a couple very long shot possibilities. One is some people believe that the Senate can still vote to disqualify if they get 50 senators, even if there's not a conviction, I don't buy that. I don't think that's the way our system works. You have to have a conviction before you have punishment.
And we've had various officials who've been acquainted in impeachment trials and nobody ever tried to vote to disqualify them. There's also this issue of the 14th amendment which says very broadly that anyone who commits insurrection or sedition cannot hold office.
The problem with the 14th amendment is that it doesn't give us any process. It doesn't tell us how we get to that end point. So, I think even in the unlikely event that Democrats try to go that route, I don't think it survives legally.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH (on camera): And many thanks to CNN legal analyst Elie Honig who spoke to me earlier.
An election tech company at the heart of baseless conspiracy theories by Donald Trump and his allies is now suing Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, for defamation seeking more than a billion dollars in damages. Dominion Voting System says Giuliani has pushed a big lie about its machines being part of widespread voter fraud and that the company's reputation has suffered irreparable harm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOH POULOS, CEO, DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS: The actual calculation of the $1.3 billion is a legal calculation and we will play that out in court. But if I could trade our reputation back from November 1st and go back before these false accusations were lobbed against us and our employees, I would do that in a heartbeat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And Giuliani isn't the only one facing possible legal action. CNN's Tom Foreman has more from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUDY GIULIANI, DONALD TRUMP'S PERSONAL ATTORNEY: This Dominion company is a radical left company. One of the people there is a big supporter of Antifa.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Dominion Voting Systems, the case against Rudy Giuliani comes from his own mouth.
GIULIANI: The company counting our vote with control over our vote is owned by two Venezuelans who were allies of Chavez.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Through dozens of falsehoods on television, radio and the internet.
GIULIANI: It is not made up.
FOREMAN (voice-over): The lawsuit says former President Donald Trump's lawyer knowingly pushed blatant lies about the company.
GIULIANI: One of the experts that has examined these crooked Dominion machines has absolutely what he believes is conclusive proof that in the last 10 percent, 15 percent of the vote counted, the votes were deliberately changed.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Dominions $1.3 billion lawsuit against Giuliani follows a similar suit against attorney Sidney Powell, who also promoted Trump's false claim the vote was rigged.
THOMAS CLARE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS: People believed this lie. People believed the statements that were made by Giuliani, they were motivated to take action in the real world.
[04:35:00]
FOREMAN (voice-over): Dominion says the deception spurred deep mistrust of the voting system could cost the company a fortune and triggered threats against its employees. Giuliani says the massive suit is quite obviously intended to frighten people of faint heart. It is another act of intimidation by the hate filled left-wing to wipe out and censor the exercise of free speech.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Dominion, nobody even knows who owns it. These machines are controlling our country. So, it was a rigged election. It was really a sham and a shame.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Still, Trump and his supporters enjoyed a great deal of free speech when they were trashing Dominion. Again without a shred of proof to back their false claims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest fraud is the Dominion machines.
FOREMAN (voice-over): So, Dominion attorneys say they are looking hard at Fox News, OAN, Newsmax, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Rush Limbaugh The Epoch Times and more as the company contemplates its next legal moves.
FOREMAN: Once more Dominion is hoping to learn through the process of discovery whether these attacks on the company were coordinated and at what level. That could open up more targets for lawsuits and potentially make all that free speech a lot more costly.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Now for a developing story out of Portland, Oregon. Police say they have a driver in custody after a vehicle hit at least six people killing one of them. They're asking for the public's help as they comb a crime scene that spans the roads and sidewalks of more than 12 city blocks. After the car crashed police say witnesses corralled the suspect until police took him into custody.
Well, also in Portland the mayor reported to the city's police bureau that he pepper sprayed someone. Ted Wheeler said he feared for his safety as a man followed him out of a restaurant to his car berating him about mask mandates and filming him. The mayor's statements said he gave a verbal warning and then sprayed the man in the eyes.
Supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny are planning a new round of protests defying authorities. Why these masked demonstrations are different than the ones in the past and why the Kremlin may be worried.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: The Biden White House says the U.S. will approach China with strategic patience after the Chinese President called for increased global cooperation on Monday. The White House says Beijing has engaged in conduct that hurts American workers and the U.S. needs to hold China accountable, especially in the field of technology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: China's been willing to do whatever it takes to gain a technological advantage, stealing intellectual property, engaging in industrial espionage, enforcing technology transfer. Our view, the president's view is we need to play a better defense which must include holding China accountable for its unfair and illegal practices and making sure that American technologies aren't facilitating China's military buildup. So he's firmly committed to make sure that Chinese companies cannot misappropriate, and misuse American data and we need a comprehensive strategy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN's Steven Jiang is following this story for us from Beijing. He joins us now. So Steven, what's the latest on all of this?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well Rosemary, you know, the Chinese government has now responded to the remarks from the White House you just played. With a foreign ministry spokesman saying China hopes to see the Biden White House learn its lessons from mistakes made by the Trump administration and also urging the new U.S. government not to politicize or weaponize the issue of science and technology.
So these reactions are expecting. But if the Beijing leadership is expecting to see the Biden White House abandon or change many of Trump's China policies measures any time soon, they may be in for disappointment. Because as much as Biden team would like to have a clean start from the past four years, China may be the lone exception here.
Remember Mr. Biden himself during the campaign has said there is a need to get tough on China and now that sentiment is being echoed by the cabinet secretaries or nominees. Tony Blinken his choice for Secretary of State, last week told U.S. Senators during his confirmation hearing that he agreed with Mr. Trump's tough on China principal. What he did not agree or rejected was Mr. Trump's approach.
So increasingly you see this consensus or continuity emerging in Washington in terms of how to deal with an increasingly powerful and aggressive China and their strong leader Xi Jinping. So Mr. Biden's team is expected to really carry on Mr. Trump's policies but with finesse. And they're also expected to rally partners and allies of the U.S. around world to form this united front against China unlike Mr. Trump who preferred to go it alone -- Rosemary.
CHURCH: Indeed. Steven Jiang bringing us the latest there from Beijing. Many thanks.
Well Russia's president is condemning large weekend protests held in support of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny. Police detained nearly 4,000 people and used force to break up rallies across the country Saturday as protestors demanded Navalny be freed from jail. The U.S. and the European Union are speaking out against Navalny's detention over alleged parole violation but have yet to take any new action. President Vladimir Putin called the demonstrations illegal and counterproductive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): All people have the right to express their point of view within the framework of the law. Everything that goes beyond the framework of the law is not only counterproductive but also dangerous. All of these events about which I just spoke, no one should use them trying to reach their ambitious goals and objectives, especially in the field of politics. This is not how politics is done, at least not a responsible politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN's Matthew Chance joins me now live from Moscow. Good to see you, Matthew. So how concerned is the Kremlin and the president about these demonstrations in support of Navalny?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, I think they must be very concerned because for the first time in years there seems to have been an orchestrated series of protests that have taken place around the country. Tens of thousands of people uniting in the streets across Russia to demand the release of Alexey Navalny.
Who has, you know, emerged from this sort of alleged poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent. He survived that attack on him.
[04:45:00]
He recovered in the Berlin clinic and he returned to face arrest in Russia which has really sort of galvanized his support.
Now you heard what Vladimir Putin had to say there, slamming the protests and making an oblique reference at Alexey Navalny. Saying no one should use protest basically to push forward their own political ambitions. It's the first time he's spoken on the wave of protests that, you know, have swept Russia, as I say, throughout the weekend and promise to continue week after week until there's some concession made or until, you know, the opposition are weighed down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (voice-over): This is how Putin's Russia has suddenly changed.
Across this vast country, supporters of a jailed opposition leader have come out in their tens of thousands, some clashing with police, losing all fear.
CROWD: (Shouting)
CHANCE: Even as protest organizers were quickly detained.
There's no need to be afraid, they're scared of their own people, says this opposition campaigner before she's hauled away.
Nationwide, riot police detained more than three and-a-half thousand others.
And this is what has jolted so many Russians into action. Not just the horrific nerve agent poisoning of Alexey Navalny in Siberia last year but also the arrest of the Kremlin critic, when recovered he flew back to Moscow earlier this month.
The brave farewell to his wife at the airport seems to have struck a chord.
ALEXEI NAVALNY, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: (Speaking in Foreign Language)
CHANCE (voice-over): As does his latest anti-corruption expose detailing an extravagant palace in Southern Russia, alleged to have been built for Vladimir Putin forcing the Russian president to publicly deny it's his.
"I haven't seen the whole film," Putin admitted to these university students, "but nothing of what is listed there is my property, has ever belonged to me or my close relatives," he said.
Still more than 87 million people have now viewed the investigation online. A sign of how broad the appeal of Alexei Navalny and his anti- corruption campaigning has become. And that's a terrifying challenge to the Kremlin now frantically casting these protests as a Western plot.
Opposition activists say this protester draped in a U.S. flag was planted to reinforce the idea of a conspiracy before they ejected him. Russian officials accused the U.S. embassy in Moscow of actively encouraging the protests by listing the locations nationwide for U.S. citizens to avoid.
MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN: They even used such a term as "March on Kremlin " before the protests started. So on Friday, was that an instruction, was that a motivation, who knows? But actually, this --
CHANCE: Or was it a warning? Because the embassy put that statement out --
ZAKHAROVA: Absolutely not.
CHANCE: -- to warn --
ZAKHAROVA: Because when --
CHANCE: -- American citizens not to go.
ZAKHAROVA: No, no, no. Because those who organized that protest never mentioned the "March on Kremlin."
CHANCE (voice-over): It seems like a desperate attempt to distract from the very real crisis now unfolding on Russia's streets.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (on camera): Well, Rosemary, that unfolding will continue because within the past 24 hours the Russian opposition have announced they're planning more protests for next Sunday. And so that drama that we saw last weekend we're probably going to see played out again in the days and the weeks ahead.
CHURCH: Interesting. We will continue to watch this story of course. Matthew Chance bringing us the latest there, appreciate it.
And still to come, a party divided. While many Arizona Republicans remain firmly on the Trump train, others say they're done with the divisiveness and are leaving their party altogether. More on that after the break.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: When Joe Biden flipped Arizona from red to blue back in November, the state's Republican Party found itself at a crossroads. Many members remained firmly in Donald Trump's corner and others are jumping ship and leaving the party altogether. Saying Trump's role in inciting the Capitol riot was the last straw. CNN's Kyung Lah has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep Arizona red and to make America great again. KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Donald Trump may have lost the 2020 election, but he has not lost the Arizona Republican Party.
BARBARA WYLLIE, MEMBER, ARIZONA REPUBLICAN PARTY: However Trump rolls, is how the Republican Party is going to roll.
LAH (voice-over): This is the first gathering of the Arizona Republican Party this weekend since Trump's defeat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning Arizona patriots.
LAH (voice-over): In just four years of Trump's MAGA messaging, voters in this once reliably Republican state voted to elect two Democratic senators and a Democratic president.
But here, members punish their own for not being Trump enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon everyone --
The AZ GOP censured Republican Governor Doug Ducey, Cindy McCain the widow of the late Senator John McCain's and former Senator Jeff Flake.
Ducey's perceived Republican offense was enforcing emergency health orders as COVID cases spiked. Flake and McCain for not backing Trump.
LAH: Did you vote for John for McCain?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I voted for John McCain.
LAH (voice over): That was then, say these lifelong Arizona Republicans. This is today.
LAH: Are you concerned about the censure of Cindy McCain?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I'm sorry I voted for John McCain. We're here to increase the Republican Party by making it a MAGA party.
C.J. DIEGEL, FORMER REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: I finally had to say no. I don't want to be associated with the Arizona Republican Party.
[04:55:00]
LAH (voice over): That's it, says C.J. Diegel.
DIEGEL: That was a good show.
LAH (voice-over): The registered Republican, a married father of two, hoped that after this --
CROWD: Treason. Treason. Treason.
LAH: -- his party would move away from Donald Trump. They didn't.
DIEGEL: When you go down that path, and that's how you gain your notoriety, when you abandon decency, it's hard to go back on it. LAH (voice-over): Diegel changed his party registration, among the
more than 9,000 Republicans who the secretary of state says changed their affiliation since the insurrection at the Capitol.
DIEGEL: We've got a bankrupt party here in the state and it needs to be rebuilt.
LAH (voice-over): And remade, away from the images of Arizonians arrested at the Capitol to winning statewide elections says State Senator T.J. Shope.
T.J. SHOPE, ARIZONA SENATE REPUBLICAN: I mean obviously I wear a different hat than the guy in the horns, but you know, it's definitely time for a reset.
LAH: Is what the AZ GOP doing turning the page?
SHOPE: Absolutely not, absolutely not. I have no idea what they're doing.
LAH (voice over): But the state party seems intent to stay on the path forged by Trump, led by far-right chairwoman Kelly Ward.
KELLY WARD, AZ GOP CHAIRWOMAN: We have to stop the steal.
LAH (voice-over): Who played an audio message from Trump at the state party meeting.
TRUMP: So I give my complete and total endorsement to Kelly Ward. Thank you very much.
LAH (voice-over): And was reelected.
LAH: As far as the censures, the governor's office here in Arizona called it, quote, of no consequence. Cindy McCain said that she would wear her censure as a badge of honor. And Jeff Flake tweeted a picture of himself, Cindy McCain and Arizona's governor at Joe Biden's inauguration with the caption quote, "good company".
Kyung Lah, CNN -- Scottsdale, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. Have yourselves a wonderful day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:00:00]
