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Biden and Xi Set to Hold High-Stakes Virtual Summit; President Biden to Sign Infrastructure Bill Today; Mark Meadows May Face Charge After Defying Subpoena; Poland: Belarus Helping Migrant Plan a Push Across Border; 3 Men Arrested After Car Explosion in Liverpool. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 15, 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]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world, I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM --

We're counting down to the highly anticipated meeting between Presidents Biden and Xi Jinping. A live report from Beijing ahead.

Plus, President Biden is set to sign his historic infrastructure bill. But will it give the economy enough of a boost with inflation on the rise.

And coronavirus cases are again surging here in Europe. Now some countries are tightening restrictions but only for the unvaccinated.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.

FOSTER: It is Monday, November 15th and we're just hours away from the high stakes virtual summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. It will be the first meeting between the two men since Mr. Biden took office although they've spoken twice by phone. And it will come as tensions have flared over a number of issues including Taiwan and trade.

Mr. Biden is expected to make clear U.S. priorities and concerns Mr. Xi has hinted at a slight warming relations. Saying his country is willing to boost cooperation with the U.S. saw that recently with some energy or some climate agreements.

CNN's Steven Jiang joins us from Beijing with more on what we can expect. There's a huge amount of rebuilding to do here. But it does feel as if both sides are pretty optimistic.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, but also, you know, thorny issues are plenty, as you mentioned. Expectations are actually quite low because this relationship often described as the world's most important diplomatic relationship, has been in a nose dive for quite some time. Especially during the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Now there are some hopes that things could be picking up after Mr. Biden took office but that didn't happen. Because Mr. Biden has kept most of Mr. Trump's China policies and measures and actually promising to form this united front against an increasingly powerful and some would say aggressive Beijing with U.S. allies and partners. That approach obviously, has upset them and upset many officials here in Beijing. They consider that approach to be of posing more of a threat than Mr. Trump's going alone method.

Now that probably explains why things have been ratcheting up both in terms of the rhetoric and actions in the past few months regarding Taiwan, as you mentioned. But also, a whole range of issues from tech to trade, to cybersecurity and of course human rights. That's something very close to the heart of President Biden who has said he really wants to block the rise of authoritarianism around the world. And that trend obviously, though is led by China and its leaders Xi Jinping.

So given how far apart the two sides have remained on all of those critically important issues, few are expecting major breakthroughs on any of the disputes and disagreements. So, the point of this meeting -- according to many -- is really to put a floor on this free fall and this relationship to lower the temperature and of course, to keep communication channels open at the very top level so to avoid any strategic miscalculations that could harm not just bilateral ties but even global peace and prosperity -- Max.

FOSTER: We'll be watching, Steven, thank you.

President Biden also just hours away from signing a roughly 1 trillion infrastructure bill into law. And he's tapped former New Orleans, Louisiana Mayor Mitch Landrieu to oversee its implementations. Starting Tuesday Mr. Biden will hit the road to sell the plan to the American people. CNN's Joe Johns has the latest from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden returning to the White House after a weekend at Camp David. He is looking ahead to a week in which the administration will try to build up some momentum after the last several weeks of intrigue up on Capitol Hill as Democrats fought over the president's spending priorities.

On Monday, the president will hold a signing ceremony here at the White House to mark the passage of his infrastructure bill. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday he flies out to New Hampshire as well as Michigan to try to sell the bill to the American public. The administration continues to try to grapple with inflation including the cost of gas prices.

[04:05:00]

Several administration officials suggesting over the weekend that there might be a strategy forthcoming to deal with price gouging. Listen.

BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: At moments like this there's a real concern of price gouging or market manipulation that could put consumers more well -- that could actually harm consumers. So, we've asked the federal trade commission to take a very close look at that right now in the current market conditions. And we're also engaging internationally with our counterparts to make sure that other oil-producing nations are not taking advantage of the strength of the recovery and actually profiting at the American consumers' expense.

JOHNS: The administration hopes the coming week will end with a vote on Friday on the president's big social safety net bill.

Joe Johns, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: While the majority of Americans support both President Biden's spending plans, his overall approval rating has dropped to a new low, 41 percent. That's according to a new Washington Post/ABC news poll. They also found America's outlook is especially bleak when it comes to the president's handling of the economy. Just 39 percent viewed his performance positively. Those numbers appear to underscore large anxieties about the economy overall. The poll found 70 percent of Americans say the U.S. economy is in bad shape.

President Biden's hard fought infrastructure plan is expected to fund a sprawling list of improvements. The trillion-dollar spending package will be going to projects like roads, and bridges, and airports and even environmental cleanups. And it comes as Americans feel the pinch of rising inflation. Rising food and energy prices are big drivers of inflation hitting Americans in the wallet. Prices for American consumers are rising at the fastest rate in three decades.

Vice President Kamala Harris returned Saturday from a week-long trip to France where she shored up one of the United States oldest relationships. But exclusive reporting by CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere details what he calls dysfunction and frustration surrounding America's first female Vice President. Dovere interviewed nearly three dozen people inside and outside the Biden administration and he discussed what they told him with our Pamela Brown.

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EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This is a president who picked Harris as being the future of the party when he picked her for the ticket last year and there is a real concern that that is not the way she's being positioned now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Just to be clear, is there friction between Harris and Biden or is this like the -- you know, the staffers where you see this friction?

DOVERE: I think it's really important that you see the dynamic between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris themselves is very good. They continue to have a warm relationship. By the way, that's also true of their spouses, Joe Biden and Doug Emhoff, close relationship. But this is a frustration about how things are going that is -- some folks in the West Wing looking over the Vice President's office and saying it's really dysfunctional, it can't get it together. Also, people inside the vice president's office, and around Harris, people who have been advising her from the outside, looking at things and saying, why can't they get things more right to put her out in a better way?

The question that she's facing and the people who want her to succeed are facing, her poll numbers -- not CNN polls -- that we see are lower than Joe Biden's. And part of the reason for that may be that she is not being put out there on her own to build up the good feelings, especially with the base.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Edward-Isaac Dovere speaking earlier with our Pamela Brown.

Now Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to turn himself in in the coming hours. He's facing two charges of contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. But Bannon may not be the last member of Trump's inner circle to face charges. Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows snubbed the same committee on Friday when he failed to show up for a deposition.

CNN's Zachary Cohen has the latest from Washington.

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ZACHARY COHEN, CNN U.S. SECURITY REPORTER: Steven Bannon is expected to turn himself Monday, sources tell CNN. After he was indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress last week. A federal judge signed an arrest warrant for Bannon. He's been given the option to surrender voluntarily which should lead to an arraignment in court. If convicted, Bannon could face up to one year in prison for each count of contempt.

While conviction is far from certain indictment alone is a major win for the House Select Committee investigating January 6. But they're trying to understand exactly what took place around the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Members of the committee believe Bannon's indictment will send a message to other witnesses who've resisted cooperating, including Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Meadows failed to show up for his own scheduled deposition last week and the committee says it was thinking about moving to hold him in contempt as well. Unlike Bannon, Meadows was working in the White House in the leadup to the 6th. Making the potential case against him a little bit different than it is for Bannon.

The committee clearly has a lot of questions for Meadows, including, for instance, whether he used a personal cell phone during that time. There are also questions about a memo Meadows allegedly sent to Vice President Mike Pence in the lead up to January 6 to tried to convince him not to certify the election.

[04:10:04] That memo just now coming to light in a new book with ABC's Jon Karl. Whether any of this leads to more cooperation from Meadows leads to be seen.

Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: As Zachary just mentioned charges against Meadows may be harder to pursue, but that's not stopping some Republicans from considering it. Meanwhile, members of the House Committee are more direct. They say if Meadows doesn't cooperate, they won't hesitate to act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. FRED UPTON (R-MI): You know, one of the reasons that I voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt was he didn't cooperate at all. And in fact, at the time one of the arguments was that even Mark Meadows was having his lawyers communicate with the committee. It seemed like there was going to be some progress that was going to be made.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): But we want to be sure we have the strongest possible case to present to the Justice Department and for the Justice Department to present to a grand jury. And that means making sure we bend over backwards to reach any agreement we can with witnesses that are showing any willingness to engage.

But when ultimately witnesses decide, as Meadows has, that they're not even going to bother showing up, that they have that much contempt for the law, then it pretty much forces our hand. And we'll move quickly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Of course, CNN will keep following the story as it develops. We'll have more updates and analysis in the coming hours.

Later today jurors will hear the closing arguments in the homicide trial of Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse shot three people with a semi- automatic rifle, killing two victims in wounding another. The shooting happened last August during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Jurors will deliberate whether or not Rittenhouse is guilty of five felony counts and a misdemeanor. The prosecution faces Rittenhouse as a teenager vigilante, illegally possessing a firearm. Rittenhouse claims he acted in self-defense.

Now the 9-year-old boy who was injured in a crowd surge at Astroworld festival in Houston died on Tuesday. Ezra Blount had been in a medically induced coma after he sustained life threatening injuries -- according to family attorney Benjamin Crump.

Now the death toll from the concert held earlier this month now stands at 10.

In a statement Crump added, the Blount family tonight is grieving the incomprehensible loss of their precious young son. This should not have been the outcome of taking their son to a concert, what should have been a joyful celebration.

Houston's mayor tweeted: The city is pray for Ezra's family and classmates. Noting only support in the months and years to come.

Now there are growing concerns, fears of a confrontation with thousands of migrants stranded at the Polish Belarusian border. Details ahead on the increasing urgency.

But counter terrorism officers are investigating a deadly car blast in England. Stay with us for details.

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The U.S. is accusing Belarus of manufacturing the migrant crisis at the border of Poland to distract from Russian military activities at the Ukrainian border. NATO is keeping a close eye on these developments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: We have seen some initial moments of concentration of forces and that's the reason why we are vigilant in why we're monitoring it and of course already to address what may happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, the Polish border guard claims dozens of migrants are getting help from Belarusian forces to try to break through the border. They reported seeing tents coming down in migrants getting instructions from Belarusian officials. The Polish ministry of defense says its forces in the border area are on standby.

We have the latest from Matthew Chance from a migrant camp on the Belarusian side of the border. On the other side of the razor wire fence, Fred Pleitgen in Poland. Fred, take us through what the polls are telling you in this, you know, continued buildup of military tension.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, certainly. I mean, I think that's one of the key things is that this military tension certainly is building up. The Polish border forces and Polish military as well are saying that they do believe that some of the migrants who were in those camps and who have tried to cross the border into Poland, that they've gotten help from the Belarusian security forces and in some cases also being instigated by the Belarusian security forces.

And in fact, we ourselves have actually received text messages, voice messages and even videos from migrants also saying that Belarusian security forces were trying to get them to attack the border fence and also army men with their goods to do that as well. So certainly, some of those claims that Poland has put out there seem to be bolstered by some of the information that we are getting as well. The Poles are also saying that Belarusian security forces in some

cases are actively involved in trying to get some people to break through the border. In fact, they released a video this weekend apparently showing a Belarusian military vehicle tried to tear down some of that barbed wire fence and also using strobe lights to blind the Polish border guards in military officials that were on the other side of that border.

The Poles for their side obviously are taking -- saying they're taking this very seriously. But at the same time also saying that they are going to stand firm. They are continuously bringing assets into this area. In fact, if you drive around the area around the border you can see that there's a lot of military bases that have sprung up here. So, the Poles certainly saying they are going to remain firm.

And then you can see that the European Union has scored what might be some smaller victories in all of this with several countries in the Middle East are now saying they will not allow people from Iraq, Syria, from Yemen and also from Afghanistan to board flights to go to Belarus. And in fact, this morning we heard from the Belarusian flagship carrier that people they are also going to stop flying people of those nationalities out of the United Arab Emirates to a flight to Minsk as well.

[04:20:00]

So, you can see there's sort of a double strategy going on right now from the European Union. On the one hand they're trying to cut off people being able to fly into Belarus and they're of course saying that the border behind me, that is going to remain shut -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, Fred, thank you. And Matthew, your amongst the people caught in the middle of all of this. In what are the Belarusians telling you about the accusations being made from the Polish side?

All right, Matthew can you hear me?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: are you talking to me? I can't hear --

FOSTER: Yes.

CHANCE: Excuse me, but we're just about to come to you when everybody suddenly in this refugee camp right here on the border here between Belarus and Poland suddenly gone up, they're grabbing their things and moving they're off to a location, but we don't know where yet. Trying to establish -- where are you going to? Where?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gdansk.

CHANCE: Gdansk, to go to Poland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANCE: You're going there now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANCE: OK, all right. Well, there you heard it, Max. The refugees here -- dozens who've said there's they're picking up their things and heading towards the border gate where they say they're going to try I think as I understand it to get through. You see how close we are. Come a bit closer. They've all been camping out here. It's pretty bleak conditions, lighting fires -- as you can see there -- to keep warm. And they're just meters away from the razor wire fences that has been directed by the Poles to prevent them from going through.

And you can see the Polish police there with their riot shields and batons. They're standing guard to make sure that there isn't any breach of that fence as you are hearing from Fred Pleitgen earlier. There have been reports and allegations that the Belarusian authorities have been helping these migrants and in fact encouraging them to go through. And then of course, Belarusian officials denying any involvement.

What they say is that the Poles are not doing enough to live up to their humanitarian responsibilities and to let these people through. The Belarusians are say that when migrants get through in the Poland, they are pushed back across the border which is of course, a violation of that international law.

The truth is, is that these migrants are trapped between the Poles and the razor wire fence on one side and the Belarusian military border guards on the other. And they are sort of desperate individuals from various countries, particularly Iraqi, Kurdistan, where many of these people have come from, and also from Syria and Afghanistan and other places as well.

They're sort of trapped in this geopolitical standoff between Belarusian -- its ally Russia -- Belarus' ally Russia and Poland and it's western supporters. It's a very difficult situation.

I'm going to head up this hill now, Max, to see where these people are going to. We still don't know what they're plan to go do. I will tell you this, there's been rumors over the course of the past couple of days in this camp where we've been reporting from over the past 48 hours or so, that there will be some kind an opening up of the border fence. And it's been a rumor that's been making the rounds in this camp. There's been talk of a humanitarian corridor through Poland to Germany.

The Poles have moved to dispel that rumor. In fact, I've got a text message here that we all received in our team. Everybody with a cell phone hats been getting text messages from the Polish side. This one saying Poland won't let migrants past to Germany. It will protect its border. Don't get fooled. Don't try to take any action. That's one text message.

Another one saying this, the Polish border is sealed. Belarusian authorities told you lies. Go back to Minsk. Don't take any pills -- it says. The allegation there that Belarusian authorities have been giving the migrants some amphetamine pills to keep them going, to give them energy and to keep them warm, Max. But as I say, there seems to be some activity now. You can see over

here a lot of the migrants are making their way out of this camp so we're just going to follow them up and see where they're going.

Where are you going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Poland.

CHANCE: You're going to Poland?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to Poland.

CHANCE: What, now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANCE: Who told you to go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) be Poland.

CHANCE: You're going --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

CHANCE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

FOSTER: OK, we're going to join Matthew again but later on. There's so much happening there at the moment. The camera's freezing a bit. But there's all of these migrants heading towards what they call a gate between Belarus and Poland. And Poland making it pretty clear they're not going to be allowed through.

[04:25:00]

So, we'll follow that group of migrants over the course of the day. And Matthew is there of course for us.

We here in England have a situation -- a police situation. They're arresting three men under the terrorism act after a car explosion killed one person and injured another near a Liverpool hospital. Now the suspects are all in their 20s and police say they are keeping an open mind as to what caused Sunday's explosion involving a taxi.

For more on this let's turn to Scott McLean. I mean, it's tricky for you this, isn't it? But what is intrigue everyone is the way that the security service, the domestic security service, MI5 has gotten involved.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right. And by the way the domestic security service, MI5 they had put previous to this the security alert level or the terror alert level as substantial -- meaning an attack is likely.

And also, Max, you know, the police response to this, at least on the surface there's a lot of resemblance to terror attacks that we have seen in the past. Obviously, you have an explosion and people start thinking automatically. Where it differs though is that here we are almost 24 hours on from this actually taking place and we have so, so little information.

We know that the call to police came in just before, like a minute before 11:00 in the morning yesterday. One witness told the BBC that he heard an explosion, looked outside the window, saw this car on fire and saw a guy getting out in bad shape, obviously, and screaming. There was another person in the back of the car. We can only assume that that was the person who died who was still inside of that vehicle.

Now the Prime Minister has called this an awful incident. The mayor of Liverpool called it upsetting. But again, neither the police nor the politicians either are labeling this terrorism at this time. But the timing here obviously is interesting. 11 -- or 10:59 a.m. on remembrance Sunday, we know of course that 11 a.m. in the U.K. to honor the war dead in this country. There is a two minutes silence. There is also a parade being held at the Liverpool cathedral. That cathedral is less than a mile from Liverpool's Women's Hospital where this explosion went off. This hospital facility is massive. It takes up almost an entire city block.

And obviously as you mentioned in the hours that followed, police carried out the raids, heavily armed police one about a mile to the north. Three men arrested in their 20s. We don't know anything about them beyond that. And then there was another police activity happening about a mile to the southeast as well where several houses there were cleared out.

And so, a lot more questions than answers at this point. No confirmation as to who the gentleman in the taxi was. No confirmation as to who the fatality was. And obviously we don't know where the final destination of this taxi actually was, whether it was supposed to be the hospital or some other place.

FOSTER: We just know they're taking it seriously. So, we'll keep, of course, any updates on that throughout the day.

We're going back to Belarus now as well, the border with Poland where Matthew is with a group of migrants heading towards the border. We have some technical issues. Tried to get ahold of him earlier on. Can we get hold of him now? Matthew, just describe what these people are doing.

CHANCE: Yes, Max, if you're with me now, we were talking a few minutes ago. And yes, I accept there are some technical issues. But as we were talking, the whole camp seems to be packing up its bags and moving on up this hill towards the border checkpoint between Belarus and Poland.

We're seeing everybody, thousands of people -- a couple of thousand people, more than that that have been here for the past couple of weeks in you know increasingly -- are packing up their tents. They're picking up whatever belonging they have. And you can see these incredible scenes. As far as I can see here -- smoke (INAUDIBLE) and then you've got on the camera.

Everybody now, hundreds of people, there are 2,000 people here, everybody is moving away from where they've been sitting along that border fence over here towards the Polish border. Now is a mentioned to you earlier, there has been this rumor circulating in this camp that Poland is to open up the humanitarian corridor and allow these refugees, mainly from Iraqi Kurdistan but also from other countries as well, to go to where they want to go to in the European Union. The majority want them to go to Germany.

Now the Poles have categorically denied that. In fact, I showed you the text message that many of these refugees have gotten, we've got it on our cell phones and our team here on the border. From the Polish authorities, saying, that that's not the case. Don't be fooled. You know, Poland is not going to open its borders.

But you see, these people they've been sitting here in cold weather in desperate conditions for so long, they just don't want to believe that. If so, it seems they're now taking initiative themselves and are moving en masse towards the Polish Belarusian border themselves -- Max.