Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Judge Denies Trump's Attempt to Withhold Records; House Republican Gosar Posts Video "Killing" Ocasio-Cortez; Infrastructure Bill GOP Supporter Gets Threatening Voice Mails; Investigators Examining Possible Role of Illegal Drug; Murthy: European Countries Consider New Restrictions Amid Surge; Prosecution Rests in Kyle Rittenhouse Case, Defense Calls First Witness. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired November 10, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, presidents are not kings. The federal judge hands Donald Trump a big loss in his efforts to keep January 6 documents sealed.
In court, a key witness details what Kyle Rittenhouse after shooting three people during a night of unrest in Wisconsin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tell him to walk outside and turn himself in. He said, I had to, I had to shoot someone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And the role fentanyl-laced drugs may have played in the horrific stampede at the Texas concert as families struggle to cope.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just wanted everybody -- our brother, strong, handsome, beautiful person that he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: A man who died trying to save his fiancee. Just one of the heartbreaking stories emerging.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. President Donald Trump has suffered a major blow in his fight to keep records from presidency under wraps. A federal judge ruled the House Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection should have access to documents from his presidency leading up to and about the Capitol riot. Now, this could help the House as it pursues more information from those around Trump who have been subpoenaed but haven't yet spoken to the committee.
In her ruling, the judge said, quote: The court holds that the public interest lies in permitting -- not enjoining -- the combined will of the legislative and executive branches to study the events that led to and occurred on January 6 and to consider legislation to prevent such events from ever occurring again.
So, as of now, the National Archives is on track to turn over documents to the House committee on Friday. CNN Congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles explains what they could soon receive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a significant victory for the January 6 select committee. They have an interest in hundreds of documents from the Trump administration that occurred in and around the January 6 attack. That includes call logs, visitor logs, includes some of the documents that were created during the Trump administration's time in office. And also, even handwritten notes that the president himself had authored during that time frame.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Also, in a forceful rejection of Trump's attempt to withhold records, the judge wrote: Presidents are not kings and plaintiff is not president. He retains the right to assert that his records are privileged, but the incumbent president is not constitutionally obliged to honor that assertion.
CNN analyst Preet Bharara reacted to the judge's ruling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PREET BHARARA, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: When a judge speaks like that and uses language that's sort of ringing about the nature of American democracy and that presidents are not kings, she's speaking not just to the parties in the case, she speaking to the public and she's speaking to history. And that shows how strongly she felt about this matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Trump's legal team says it will appeal the ruling. A spokesman for Trump tweeted this: The balance to defend executive privilege for presidents past, present and future from its outset was destined to be decided by appellate courts. President Trump remains committed to defending the Constitution and the office of the presidency and will be seen this process through.
Meanwhile, the House committee has expanded its probe into the January 6 insurrection and issued ten more subpoenas to former Trump White House officials. Among the latest Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the former president and Kayleigh McEnany, the former White House press secretary. The ten named on Tuesday are being asked to turn over documents relevant to the Capitol riot probe later this month with lawmakers looking to hold depositions in December. Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney among the few Republicans trying
to hold Trump accountable for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot. She spoke about the extremism being fueled by the former president. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We are confronting a domestic threat that we've never faced before. A former president, who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our constitutional republic, aided by political leaders who have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man.
[04:05:00]
Political leaders who sit silent in the face of these false and dangerous claims are aiding the former president who is at war with the rule of law and the Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Arizona Republican Congressman Paul Gosar is facing intense backlash for Photoshopped video he posted on Twitter and Instagram. It depicts him killing Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a sword and then swinging two swords at President Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(PHOTOSHOPPED VIDEO)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And the Congressman later tweeted another cartoon in response. The message, it's cartoon, relax. Then he put out a statement which says in part: ... the anime depicts the symbolic nature of a battle between lawful and unlawful policies and in no way intended to be a targeted attack Against Representative Cortez or Mr. Biden.
Well, condemnation for Gosar has been swift and stern mostly from Democrats. With even the Congressman's sister spoke out against the video. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER GOSAR, PAUL GOSAR'S SISTER: And then this is something that I have to openly wonder, does he have to act on it himself before we believe that he is an absolute -- he's a sociopath? Where is the accountability?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: House Speaker Pelosi says, quote, threats of violence against members of Congress and the president of the United States must not be tolerated. Other Democrats are also condemning the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Paul Gosar creates this video glorifying violence against one of our colleagues who's already been the subject of death threats, and that's perfectly OK.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: There is no place for any type of violence or of that type of language in the political system and it should not be happening and we should be condemning it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Democrats have called on House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to take action and so far, he said nothing.
Meanwhile a Republican Congressman has been targeted with hate-filled voice mail in. They're a response to Michigan Republican Fred Upton's vote in favor of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: F***ing traitor. That's what you are. You are a f***ing piece of s**t traitor. Hope you die. Hope everybody in your f***ing family dies. You f***ing piece of shit trash mother***er. Voted for dumba** f***ing Biden? You are stupider than he is. He can't even complete a f***ing sentence, you dumb mother***r, traitor, piece of s**t, mother***, piece of trash. Hope you f***ing die. I hope your f***ing family dies. I hope everybody in your f***ing staff dies, you f***ing piece of f***ing s**t. Traitor!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to say your days are numbered. You're a dumb mother***er.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The threats follow the online postings of another member of Congress, Marjorie Taylor Greene. She tweeted out the names of Republican House members who voted for the infrastructure bill writing, quote: These are the 13 Republicans who handed over their voting cards to Nancy Pelosi to pass Joe Biden's communist takeover of America by so-called infrastructure.
In a subsequent tweet she posted their phone numbers.
Now President Biden is calling on Republicans to quit threatening retaliation against their own colleagues in a conversation with the Democratic National Committee chair. Biden thanked Democrats and Republicans for passing the infrastructure plan, noting it was something his predecessor was unable to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'm hoping we can get back to a place where there is more civility in politics. I really mean it. And I've never seen it this way, you know. The Republicans who voted in the House of Representatives for the infrastructure vote have seen in the press the reports that the other Republicans are trying to strip them of their standing in the Congress. If they're a chair of a committee, trying to strip them of that chairmanship. I've never seen it like this before. It's got to stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: President Biden will under core the benefits of the infrastructure measure in a visit to Baltimore later today. He'll explain how it will pay for upgrades for the nation's ports which in turn will strengthen the supply chain and prevent disruptions.
There are some new developments on the U.S./China relations. President Joe Biden is expected to meet virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping as early as next week. That's according to a source familiar with the planning of the meeting. But specific details haven't been released yet. Now, comes as China said in a statement that it's ready to properly manage differences with the U.S.
[04:10:00]
Investigators in Texas are now examining the role illegal drugs may have played in the deadly concert tragedy in Houston. "The Wall Street Journal" reports police are looking into whether some of the deaths and the injuries were caused by counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. Houston's Fire Chief spoke to CNN about that earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF SAMUEL PENA, HOUSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT: There is evidence that there was drugs involved. But I don't know exactly what they were. We administered lots of Narcan. And Narcan is the medication used to counter an opioid overdose.
I want to be clear that just because we administered lots of Narcan doesn't mean that overdoses were prevalent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The investigation is also looking at how the eight people died during the crowd surge. Houston's mayor says authorities are looking at everything from the very beginning, all the missteps, gaps and failures and aren't ruling anything out.
Meanwhile we are learning more about the victims, including 27-year- old Danish Baig who died trying to save his fiancee from the crowd surge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIRZA AMMAR BAIG, BROTHER DIED AT ASTROWORLD CONCERT: We're doing this for our brother Danish and to spread the word, we don't want anything like this to ever happen to anyone else. And we just want everybody to remember our brother, a strong, handsome, beautiful person that he is.
BASIL BAIG, BROTHER DIED AT ASTROWORLD CONCERT: Anything that he did, he put everyone before himself, and that's what he did till he died, till his last breath. And I want the world to know that. I want everyone to know that we're confident in my brother's life and he did not deserve to die.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The Houston Fire Department says three people injured at the festival remain hospitalized with two of them still in critical condition. That includes this 9-year-old boy who is reportedly in a medically induced coma. His family wants us to caught him E.B. He was sitting on his father's shoulders when they got caught up in the crowd. E.B. fell and his grandfather says he suffered brain trauma.
The NFL has fined the Green Bay Packers and two of the team's players, Aaron Rodgers and Allen Lazard for violating the league's COVID-19 protocols. The Packers were fined $300,000. Well, Rodgers and Lazard were fined over $14,000 each. Meanwhile, Rodger says he takes full responsibility for misleading people about his vaccination status. Back in August he said he was immunized against COVID but he was never actually vaccinated and recently tested positive for the virus. He also made misleading comments about COVID-19 vaccines and the virus. He returned to the radio show where some of his comments last week sparked a firestorm. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON RODGERS, GREEN BAY PACKERS QUARTERBACK: You know, I've some comments that people might have felt were misleading, and to anybody who felt misled by those comments, I take full responsibility for those comments. I'm an athlete. I'm not an activist, So, I'm going to get back to doing what I do best, and that's playing ball. Like I shared my opinion. It wasn't one that was come to frivolously. It involved a lot of study and what I felt like was in my best interest for my body.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Critics say Rodgers misleading comments add to the growing problems surrounding COVID misinformation. So, this alarming study from the Kaiser Family Foundation also highlights this point. 78 percent of people surveyed in their poll, who then believe or are unsure of at least one piece of COVID-19 misinformation. 24 percent either believe or unsure whether COVID vaccines contain a microchip. And 21 percent believe or are unsure the vaccines can change your DNA. Kaiser surveyed just over 1,500 Americans and the poll raises serious questions. CNN asked the U.S. Surgeon General to weigh in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: This is daunting. Right, is no question that this is a profound challenge. And it's important just to say to everyone out there who's listening that there is no vaccine that contains a microchip, you know, for COVID-19, and that the vaccines do not cause infertility. They do not cause mutations in your DNA. There's absolutely no science to back any of those claims up.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Europe's COVID surge appears to be going from bad to worse.
According to a new report from the World Health Organization, Europe is now the only region where COVID cases and deaths are trending upward. The region now accounts for about 63 percent of all new cases and more than half of all new deaths. The situation has some countries considering new restrictions.
In Denmark the government has proposed bringing back COVID health passes. And you remember just two months ago Denmark lifted the last of its restrictions. Saying COVID was no longer a critical threat.
Meanwhile Austria has now banned unvaccinated people from restaurants, hotels and large events. And officials say the new rules will likely remain in place through Christmas.
France is leaning on a tougher health pass system and booster shots to help curb cases. Starting next Monday anyone older than 65 will be required to have a COVID booster shot to remain eligible for their health pass. The government is also opening up eligibility for third shots to anyone over 50 years old.
[04:15:04]
In the U.K., England is planning to require vaccinations to for National Health Service workers starting in April. Anyone who would refuse to get vaccinate would lose their job. A similar rule takes effect for care home workers on Thursday. And for more let's bring in CNN's Scott McLean in London. Scott, vaccine mandates as you well know are extremely political here in the U.S. So, how's this new requirement being received there in the U.K.?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kim, yes, it is undoubtedly controversial here in the U.K., but governments really across Europe are increasingly feeling the pressure to do something to stem the tide of the virus which is becoming quite serious. And effect, a few days ago, the W.H.O. said that Europe was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. Germany has just hit record-high case counts, and just last night French President Emmanuel Macron said that case counts there were up 40 percent in just the past week and hospitalizations are rising quickly as well.
It seems in general, governments, the response to all this is to at the very least keep in place the restrictions that they have already. But in many cases, they are tightening them or even adding new restrictions. In France, the president as you mentioned, said that there are no plans to get rid of the health pass system which is required for people to get into restaurants and to ride public transit. Of course, that health pass shows that you are vaccinated.
There are also no plans to scrap mask mandates. Mask mandates on public transit and in schools as well. All of this with the aim of trying to get people vaccinated. President Macron gave a call of a responsibility for the 6 million French people who remain without any vaccination at all.
In Austria as you said, the government there tightening restrictions, requiring vaccination for people to get into restaurants and cafes. Unless they can prove that they have natural immunity. Again, the aim there is for the government is quite open about it to nudge people, to get people to actually get the vaccine.
You mentioned in the U.K., they are putting pressure on NHS workers, health care workers to get the vaccine if they are front-facing with patients. That'll take place by April.
Now, while there is undoubtedly a worrying trend of cases rising across the continent, there is definitely a noticeable East/West divide. Now I want to show you say couple graphics that really illustrate that point. So, this is case counts in Ukraine, Croatia, Romania and the U.K. You can see generally they are high. But as we change slides, keep an eye on that red line of the U.K. This is death rates. You can see the U.K.'s is much, much lower than Romania, than Ukraine, than Croatia. In fact, Romania and Ukraine are -- have hit record highs and Croatia seems to be on its way.
Now it's not nothing in the U.K., 250 people died yesterday, but it is a fraction of previous peaks. So, what is the difference here? Well, the difference obviously is vaccination rates as you can see in the last slide. The U.K. is far and away ahead of these other countries in getting people vaccinated. Romania in particular is dealing with some serious vaccine hesitancy. Croatia and Ukraine are both tightening restrictions. The restrictions that they have in place at the moment.
All the while western countries are sort of moving on to the booster shot as these Eastern European countries are simply trying to convince people to get the first two shots in the first place, Kim. It so, while things are looking not great across the continent, it's certainly more manageable in countries in predominantly Western Europe where vaccination rates are much, much higher.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's exactly right. Scott McLean, thanks so, much.
Still ahead here on CNN, a witness details what Kyle Rittenhouse told him the night he shot three people during protests in Wisconsin. Stay with us.
[04:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse is entering a new stage. He's the teenager charged with shooting and killing two people and injury a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last summer. On Tuesday prosecutors wrapped up their arguments and now the defense is making its case, trying to prove Rittenhouse fired in self-defense. CNN's Omar Jimenez has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With one phase of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial over the next phase moves forward as the defense begins its case starting with those who were with Rittenhouse on August 25, 2020 before and after his shootings that night following heavy protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
NICHOLAS SMITH, DEFENSE WITNESS: He repeats I just shot someone over and over and I believe at some point he did say he had to shoot someone. I tell him to walk outside and turn himself in. He had said, I had to, I had to shoot someone.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The next witness said Rittenhouse even personally reflected on what had just happened. Do you recall him saying anything?
COREY CHIRAFISI, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Do you recall him saying anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He pulling it back really hard. And just his comment was, oh my god, my life might be over.
CHIRAFISI: Did Kyle respond to anything that was said?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CHIRAFISI: What was that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was that he had to.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): He was in these moments that Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, the first of two killed that night. And it was those moments that were a large focus of the end of the prosecution's case. Rosenbaum was shot four times once in the left thigh, once in the hand, he suffered a graze wound to his head and then he was shot in the back, the lethal shot.
DR. DOUGLAS KELLEY, MILWAUKEE MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE: Gunshot wound is the one that would cause death as a result of the injuries, to the lungs in the liver with the hemorrhage and the injury to the organs themselves.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The doctor's testimony came with graphic pictures especially of the gunshot wounds to the head and back of Rosenbaum. All the while, Rittenhouse appeared to be visibly shaken at times averting his eyes. Similar to what many jurors were doing as well. Prosecutors focused on when Rittenhouse fired the four gunshots at Rosenbaum and from what position.
JAMES KNAUS, ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY, KENOSHA COUNTY, WISCONSIN: The first gunshots are while Mr. Rosenbaum is facing Mr. Rittenhouse.
KELLEY: Yes.
[04:25:00]
KNAUS: And you said that at least one of those was intermediate out to four feet away?
KELLEY: Yes.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Then came the graze wound to the head and the shot to the back. KNAUS: And is it your opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the back to front shots to the head and then the kill shot to the back would have been while he was falling or perpendicular to the ground?
KELLEY: The only way that the trajectories of the gunshot wounds to the right side of the head and the back makes sense is if he's more horizontal to the ground, and that is occurring at the time that the last two gunshot wounds are heard on the video.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The defense wanted to underscore how fast this deadly interaction occurred.
MARK RICHARDS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The fourth shot is 76 hundredths of a second after that. That is how fast the four shots were fired out of my client's gun and he's goes from the furthest four feet to touching the gun. Correct?
KELLEY: That -- yes.
KNAUS: So if I was charging like a bull and diving that would be consistent.
KELLEY: It would be.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The rifle used by Rittenhouse that day was displayed in court both by the prosecutor and the defense to give jurors a better idea of the guns positioning as this unfolded.
But prosecutors went back to the first two shots implying any diving or falling motion from the first shot to the thigh up to the hip wasn't voluntary.
KNAUS: The injuries you noted they'd also be consistent with falling after being struck in the hip?
KELLEY: Yes.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): Omar Jimenez, CNN, Kenosha, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, a deal on electric vehicles expected from COP26 climate summit when the world hopes to produce all zero emission cars and vans. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
