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Trump's Defense Team Goes on Offense against Democrats; Trump's Call Shows He Had No Intention of Calling Off Capitol Rioters; Food Shortages in Cuba Force People to Wait in Long Lines. Aired 12-12:30a ET
Aired February 13, 2021 - 00:00 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 to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks so much for your company.
A Senate verdict could come Saturday on whether former U.S. president Donald Trump is guilty of inciting last month's deadly violence at the U.S. Capitol. Trump's legal team put on a brief but aggressive defense on Friday, accusing Democrats of using impeachment to settle political scores.
And CNN has confirmed that attorney David Schoen, a key member of the Trump team, threatened to quit on Thursday night and the former president himself had to personally talk him into staying on board.
Now we also have new details about a heated and revealing phone call between Trump and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy during the Capitol attack. We will have more on that in a moment.
But, first, Ryan Nobles looks at the Trump team's defense strategy and what lays ahead.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, Donald Trump's legal team expecting an acquittal using just three hours of the 16 hours granted to defend him in the Senate.
BRUCE CASTOR, TRUMP DEFENSE LAWYER: This concludes the formal defense of the 45th President of the United States to the impeachment article filed by the House of Representatives.
NOBLES (voice-over): Knowing Democrats are unlikely to get the needed two thirds of the Senate to convict Trump, his defense team arguing President Trump's words were not intended to be used literally and highlighted Democrats using similar rhetoric.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will fight like hell.
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): We fight back. SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), CHAIR, SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: This
fight does not end tonight.
CASTOR: The House managers' claim is that the president of the United States was telling the audience to get -- to get each other to physically fight. But that is not what the president said.
NOBLES (voice-over): But during the question and answer period, the House impeachment managers responded. By pointing out that Trump's words were followed by physical violence and that he had been calling them to action for weeks.
STACEY PLASKETT (D), DELEGATE TO U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: President Trump had spent months calling his supporters to March on a specific day, at a specific time, for a specific purpose. What else were they're going to do to stop the certification of the election on that day but to stop you?
NOBLES (voice-over): Trump's lawyers argued the riots would have happened with or without his encouragement.
MICHAEL VAN DER VEEN, TRUMP DEFENSE ATTORNEY: A small group who came to engage in violent and menacing behavior hijacked the event for their own purposes.
NOBLES (voice-over): And claiming the point of the impeachment pursuit was just to eliminate Trump as a future political rival.
VAN DER VEEN: It's about Democrats trying to disqualify their political opposition. It is constitutional cancel culture.
NOBLES (voice-over): Both sides used the question-and-answer period to zero in on claims made by the legal teams. Democratic senators attempting to pin down when President Trump knew vice president Pence was in danger.
The Trump team claimed when he tweeted attacking Pence, he had no clue the vice president had been rushed out of the chamber.
VAN DER VEEN: At no point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger. Because the House rushed through the impeachment in 7 days with no evidence, there's nothing at all on the record at this point.
NOBLES (voice-over): But that claim runs contrary to the timing of the tweet. 2:24 pm, which was 10 minutes after the former president was told by senator Tommy Tuberville that the VP was being evacuated.
NOBLES: And this trial is going much quicker than we anticipated with the question and answer wrapping up today after the Trump legal team using only three of the 16 hours, they had available to them.
That means Saturday will be dedicated to closing arguments and then the possibility of a final vote to convict or acquit the former president by sometime Saturday evening. And based on the response from both Democrats and Republicans after today's testimony, it still seems very likely that there won't be those 17 Republican votes to cross over with Democrats to convict the former president, which means he will likely to be acquitted -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.
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HOLMES: Now CNN has obtained new bombshell details about a phone call that took place during the riot between then President Trump and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.
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HOLMES: Republican lawmakers familiar with the call described it as a shouting match. One they say shows Trump had no intention of stopping the insurrection.
They say, after McCarthy told Trump the rioters were his supporters, Trump said, quote, "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."
To which a furious McCarthy replied, quote, "Who the F do you think you are talking to?"
Now CNN will have special wall-to-wall coverage of Saturday's final proceedings in the Trump impeachment trial. You will want to tune in for that beginning at 9 am Washington time, 2 am in London.
Over in Italy, a new political era is about to begin under prime minister designate Mario Draghi. He has picked a cabinet from across Italy's political spectrum, a move designed to create a sense of unity after disagreement between parties on practically every topic. Some key ministers are expected to remain in place, such as the health and foreign ministers.
Draghi will be sworn in as prime minister in about 6 hours from now.
Thousands of people protesting in Myanmar again today, the 8th straight day of anti-coup demonstrations. Large groups of people marched in Yangon into the early morning, saying they've become afraid of the increased number of arrests taking place at night.
The U.N. human rights office says more than 350 people been arrested since the military seized power from the civilian government less than 2 weeks ago. And we have seen some increased violence in the past few days, with police firing rubber bullets, also live ammunition at some stages.
Reuters reporting several protesters were wounded by gunshots on Friday. One woman was shot in the head on Tuesday and remains in the hospital.
Now in the past few hours, flights to the Australian state of Victoria have been suspended as a 5-day hard coronavirus lockdown begins. Angus Watson is in Sydney with more.
It's interesting, when you think about the case numbers spread in a place like the U.S. and you look at the lockdown action in Victoria after literally just over a dozen cases. It does show how seriously Australia is taking this, why it's been successful.
What is the latest?
ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Absolutely Michael. Australia takes this incredibly seriously. And because it has been willing to do lockdowns like this, with a very few numbers, it's gotten itself to a position where it routinely reports new cases of community transmission each day.
However, Victoria, at the moment, has 14 cases of community transmission reported since Monday, forcing the government there into lockdown, a 5-day circuit breaker lockdown to try to get on top of the virus.
They are nervous this time because it's the U.K. variant of the coronavirus. And they are not sure how quickly it might be spreading into the community. It's all happening at a time in which the Australian Open is going ahead in Melbourne under the lockdown procedures.
They're still playing for the benefit of people watching on TV but there are no crowds at the Australian Open until at least Thursday.
HOLMES: All right, Angus, thank you so much. Angus Watson in Sydney for us.
Now in the past few weeks, Cuba has experienced its biggest spike in coronavirus cases yet. At the same time, it is getting harder to find food on the island. Cubans facing a dangerous dilemma, wait in long grocery store lines, risk getting infected or go hungry. Patrick Oppmann reports.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Before the sun comes up, hours before the store even opens up, Cubans get in line to buy food. For many, it's a daily task, a daily frustration, a daily hazard to their health.
People we've talked to say some in the lines don't seem to care about the danger. Others argue, it's impossible to socially distance when everyone wants to buy food that could run out at any moment.
"Of course, we are taking a risk because we are on top of one another. We don't understand by being so close we are going to get each other sick and that is why we do line this way."
While Cubans are not strangers to lines and shortages, the Communist- run island's economic situation hasn't been this dire in years, perhaps decades. Cuba depends on income from tourism to stop the shelves of government run supermarkets, the only kind there are here.
Despite Cuba's hundreds of miles of farmland, the island imports most of its food, the legacy of decades of U.S. sanctions and failed Soviet-style centralized planning. COVID destroyed the island's tourism market. [00:15:00]
OPPMANN (voice-over): Imports have plummeted as the government runs out of money. While there is less supply, people still need to eat.
OPPMANN: Cuba's food crisis appears to be getting worse and worse as the pandemic goes on longer and longer. The people here say they don't want to be waiting hours in these lines. But they feel the choice they have is run the risk of getting infected or going hungry.
OPPMANN (voice-over): The food shortages are at their most dire, at the same moment the rates of infection on the island are soaring. Cuba's health ministry says the country had more COVID related deaths in January than in the previous 6 months combined.
The Cuban government has closed down stores where infections broke out and sent troops to organize lines. It's not enough. The government's own experts admit.
"We have to do it better," he says, "with the correct distancing. It doesn't matter if the line goes around the block. We have to protect ourselves."
The Cuban government is developing four vaccines, but they will not be ready until April at the earliest, the government says.
Meanwhile the lines for food get longer and longer.
"Every day, there are people out here for whatever there is. Some days you don't even know what products they are going to be selling," Rachel says.
"You have to be out here if you want to have food."
It's not clear if the economy here has hit rock bottom yet. But already Cubans face an impossible choice -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
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HOLMES: Now across Europe, pandemic responses are vastly different from country to country. In Germany, the national lockdown has been extended until March 7 at least. It's also planning to enforce a ban on travelers from the Czech Republic.
And part on Austria on Sunday to try to stop variants from spreading. Now official data shows up to 60 percent of patients in the Czech Republic are now infected with the variant first discovered in the U.K. And hospitals are now struggling.
Still the parliament voted to lift some lockdown measures going against the prime minister.
France has been able to avoid a third national lockdown, now that nation's health authorities are recommending those who've already been infected with the virus only need a single dose of vaccine, saying they've already developed a level of immunity.
I want to end with a little bit of good news. Over the past month, much of the world has been on a steady slope downwards in new coronavirus cases. The world has dropped from 740,000 new cases a day at its peak to less than 400,000 a day.
The countries in green are going down more than 10 percent this week compared to last week and the numbers, of course, are still horrifyingly high.
I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. See you a bit later with more CNN NEWSROOM. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is up next.
