Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump, Don Junior and Ivanka's Testimony Wanted in Fraud Probe; January 6th Panel Subpoenas Giuliani; Secretary Blinken in Ukraine; Russia Increases Forces; Biden Holds News Conference; Democrats Have Resentment for Manchin and Sinema; Airlines Suspend Some U.S. Flights. Aired 9:00-9:30a ET

Aired January 19, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:34]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody, I'm Bianna Golodryga.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

New this morning, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is now in Ukraine where he just wrapped up a crucial meeting with the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky. Blinken once again publicly reaffirming U.S. support for Ukraine, as well as genuine alarm about Russia's possible plans. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers who met with Ukrainian officials during a visit in recent days are now warning that if Russia invades, it would be the biggest mistake of Vladimir Putin's career.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): The Ukrainians are going to fight for their lives. There will be a long-term counter insurgency. It will be bloody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: And we will go live to the region in just a moment.

Plus, this morning, new details in the civil investigation of Trump Organization. New York's attorney general claiming she has uncovered significant evidence of what she called misleading and fraudulent practices and now turning up the heat on two of Trump's children, Don Junior and Ivanka Trump. This as we learn of new subpoenas for Rudy Giuliani and others in the January 6th probe.

Also this morning, several major airlines have suspended flights to the U.S. after they said signals from the new 5G cell phone service rollout could disrupt essential airplane instructions -- in instruments. More on that in just a moment.

SCIUTTO: Let begin with our top story this morning. CNN's Kara Scannell joins us now.

Kara, tell us what exactly this investigation into the Trump Organization uncovered and what happens next here? I mean does this lead to a criminal prosecution, civil prosecution?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jim and Bianna, good morning.

The new details that we learned last night came as part of Letitia James' civil investigation into the Trump Organization. And she's been looking into the accuracy of these financial statements, financial statements that have been given to lenders, insurers and that helped inform documents that were filed with the IRS.

So, in this filing last night, a very lengthy filing, she alleges that there were material misstatements and omissions, saying that -- that -- and this is all part of the reason why she wants to seek the testimony of the former president, his son Don Junior and Ivanka Trump. And that's because Donald Trump Junior was involved in some of these properties. He took over the business, signed off on some of these financial statements when his father became the president. And also for Ivanka Trump, because she was involved in a key liaison with Deutsche Bank, which has lent the Trump organization more than $300 million. And James' office is saying that there were false statements given to them.

Now, the reason why they also want this testimony is, say that some of the witnesses closest to the top of the Trump Organization invoked their Fifth Amendment rights. That includes Eric Trump and Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer. They both were brought in for testimony in 2020. And according to James' office, they asserted the Fifth Amendment and did not answer more than 500 questions each.

Now, we're getting a response from the Trump Organization to this document that was filed last night and they say that the only one misleading the public is Letitia James. She has no case. Her allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended.

Now, ultimately, Jim, this does come down to a judge who will decide if and when Trump and his children will have to testify. This is also parallel to that criminal investigation that is being run by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. That is one reason why the Trumps have tried to evade having -- given this testimony because of the potential threat of criminal prosecution.

Jim. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Kara Scannell, I know you'll continue to follow this developing story. Thank you so much. SCIUTTO: The House committee investigated January 6th is now

subpoenaing former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, a central figure in the failed efforts to overturn the 2020 election. This is one of four new subpoenas issued by the committee to continue their work, Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, the others, Jim, include two lawyers that pushed lies and conspiracy theories for the former president, that's Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, along with former Trump campaign advisor Boris Epshteyn, who worked with Giuliani at the post-election Willard Hotel, that's the command center that they were famously all congregating at.

CNN's senior justice correspondent Evan Perez joins us now.

And, Evan, given how things have played out over the course of this investigation, what information is the committee hoping to learn now?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bianna, one of the things that the committee is making clear is that they have plenty of other testimony, they have plenty of other information, documents and evidence that now informs some of the questions that they want to present to Rudy Giuliani, to Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn.

[09:05:11]

And in particular the idea that, in the case of Giuliani, he had this proposal that the Department of Homeland Security seized voting machines in the pursuit of this campaign that they had, which is that there was fraud in various states to make a difference in the election. Of course, we know that that is not true.

So, this is now what they're trying to seek, not only from Giuliani, but some of the others.

SCIUTTO: So the other progress we're hearing from the committee are subpoenas for -- and did actually obtain phone records associated with Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who, of course, is engaged to Donald Trump Junior.

PEREZ: Right.

SCIUTTO: And do we know what part this is of the investigation? How significant?

PEREZ: Well, it's significant that this is the first time they've actually reached in to the Trump family and obtained phone records.

Now, at this point, Jim, the records that they have obtained are call logs, essentially. They do not have the content of the messages. But apparently, according to the committee, they have plenty of other evidence. They've gotten testimony from others. And so one of the things that this could at least inform them is the timing of some of these communications. In the case of Kimberly Guilfoyle, she was a big fundraiser for the so-called Stop the Steal efforts. So there's plenty that they would like to be able to corroborate from some of these records. Jim.

GOLODRYGA: Evan Perez, thank you so much.

And, Jim, this is sort of leading to what many had been speculating, that the course of this investigation would go to, and that is zeroing in on it, honing in on the inner circle surrounding the president himself and, obviously, targeting his children now.

SCIUTTO: Exactly. And what were they doing, or not doing, on January 6th and the days leading up to it?

GOLODRYGA: Exactly. Well, we'll continue to follow that story.

The other breaking story this morning, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken right now in Ukraine ahead of high-stakes meetings with his Russian counterpart on Friday.

SCIUTTO: CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood, she's at the State Department. CNN's senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, he's in Moscow.

Kylie, let's start with you.

It strikes me that the words we're hearing from Blinken today and in days leading up to this visit show genuine severe concern on the part of the administration about Russia's intentions here. What happens next? And what came out of this meeting with Zelensky?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, listen, we're still waiting for the secretary's press conference, which I believe is getting underway as we speak. But out of this conversation that the secretary had with Zelensky, as far as we know right now, we heard a lot of the same messages from Secretary Blinken, that the U.S. supports Russia's -- excuse me, Ukraine's territorial sovereignty, that they are going to continue providing economic and also military support.

Now, eventually, we finally heard from the State Department, a senior official, that the Biden administration had indeed provided 200 million more in defensive assistance, military assistance, to Ukraine last month. But that comes as we have reported, Jim, there are also discussions underway in the administration, preliminary discussions, looking at how the administration can now provide additional military support to Ukraine to resist a potential Russian invasion. And that comes, of course, as that likelihood is growing more and more likely in the view of U.S. officials because they see what the Russians are doing along the border, because the Russians say they aren't going to be pulling back their forces despite the demands from the international community.

And Secretary Blinken was very blunt when he spoke with State Department officials at the U.S. embassy in Ukraine today and said that the United States has evidence that Russia has plans to increase even more it's true presence in very short order along those areas around Ukraine. So, this is an increasingly dire situation and the administration is

trying to do two things, project that diplomacy is still the way they want things to go, that they support Ukraine, but also preparing for what could be an invasion.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, and Blinken making it clear that this goes beyond just Ukraine, if an invasion does occur, that Russia would be opening pandora's box to quote Antony Blinken there. The Kremlin itself calling the situation very, very tense.

We're going to go now to Moscow, Fred Pleitgen there.

And, Fred, the stock marketed plummeted overnight in Moscow as investors are also concerned about what could come. Blinken warning this morning that Russia is planning to increase military forces on the boarder. Even more now things are getting more and more tense by the hour it looks like.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're absolutely right. They certainly are. And the stock market tanking. The ruble has also been going down over the past couple of days as well. So you can certainly see that there is a great deal of concern also here in Russia, as well as, as you guys mentioned, you're absolutely right, those troops continue to amass there near the border with Ukraine.

[09:10:05]

And a couple of minutes ago, I actually got the chance to ask the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergey Ryabkov, about all this. He, of course, led the Russian negotiation team with the United States last week there at those talks in Geneva. And I asked him just how big do the Russians think the threat of real war is? And here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY RYABKOV, RUSSIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: I do believe that there is no risk of a larger scale war to start to unfold in Europe or elsewhere. We do not want and will not take any action of aggressive character. We will not attack, strike, invade, quote/unquote, whatever Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: So, the other thing I also asked the deputy foreign minister as well is that if Russia is indeed not threatening anyone, why did they put more than 120,000 troops around the area of Ukraine? And what he said is he said he feels that the -- the Russian -- or the Russian government feels that Ukraine is more and more being drawn into NATO's orbit, as he put it. He says that the Russians feel that Ukraine is essentially becoming a de facto NATO member without actually formerly being one. And he says the Russians are going to use all means, diplomatic he says, to reverse that process as he put it, guys.

SCIUTTO: That's quite an argument. Fred Pleitgen, Kylie Atwood, thanks so much.

This afternoon, President Biden will hold his first formal news conference in months. Questions he's likely fact, everything from the Covid response, the economy, to failed efforts on voting rights. We're going to be live at the White House.

GOLODRYGA: Plus, at least five international airlines have cancelled some flights into the U.S. because of concerns about the 5G rollout. A pilot joins us to explain the potential safety risks.

And later, fiery moments in the U.K. parliament as the prime minister tries to defend his latest claim that no one told him boozy office parties weren't allowed during the height of the lockdown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now yesterday from the man who wrote the rules it was, well, nobody told me what those rules were.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the prime minister realize how ridiculous that sounds?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finally take responsibility. Resign. Go, Prime Minister.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:44]

SCIUTTO: Today, President Biden will hold his first formal news conference in months, looking -- hoping for something of a reset as several crisis have rocked his first year in office, particularly of late. Biden was inaugurated one year ago tomorrow. Seems like a long time ago. This afternoon he's expected to answer questions on a number of things, high inflation, his stalled legislative agenda, ongoing Covid testing issues.

GOLODRYGA: And despite entering his second year with one of the lowest approval ratings of a modern day president, Biden will likely also tote his accomplishments.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live from the White House this morning.

And, Jeremy, it's going to be a delicate balance for him. Obviously there have been several accomplishments this year but they've been clouded by a lot of disappointments, as Jim said, as of late.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no doubt about it. President Biden heads into this news conference today after one of the worst stretches of his presidency. When you look across the map, whether it is the record surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations across the country, the testing shortage that have hampered efforts to get beyond that, inflation at its highest levels in decades, a potential invasion of Ukraine with Russia mounting troops on the doorstep, there's no question that President Biden has faced a tough stretch and he will be looking to hit the reset button today.

White house officials have told us that President Biden is likely to look back on this last year in office as he hits that one year anniversary since his inauguration tomorrow, toting some of those accomplishments that he has been able to achieve, like the bipartisan infrastructure law and also talking about the ability to get Americans vaccinated across the country. Record job growth over the last year in office.

But those officials also tell us that he will acknowledge where he has fallen short and talk about the fact that there is still a lot more work to do. One way that Kate Bedingfield, the White House communications director, put it this morning was that President Biden has laid the foundation for progress and that he will talk about the progress that still needs to be achieved over this next year and over the next several years of his time in office.

White House officials made clear that while they have not accomplished everything they wanted to in the first year, this is a four-year term and you'll certainly expect President Biden to hit that. But, again, a lot of questions that he is expected to face today in his first news conference in several months.

SCIUTTO: Yes, a four-year term but only ten months until those midterm elections.

Jeremy Diamond, thanks very much.

Next hour, Senate Democrats will begin debating their bill to change election laws, which, let's be frank, they don't have the votes. Virtually no chance of passing. After that there will be another vote to change filibuster rules. Also, Bianna, chances for that?

GOLODRYGA: Pretty much 0.0 percent chance of that happening as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill.

And, Lauren, there is new reporting that this has all led to a great deal of resentment against two senators in particular. We know their names very well. We've been spending a lot of time focusing on them.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right. Democrats frustrated with two colleagues who have stood in the way of Biden's agenda, on just on voting rights, but on Build Back Better as well.

Remember, Senator Joe Manchin, right before Christmas, announcing on Fox News he would not support and could not get to yes on that Build Back Better plan.

[09:20:00]

But today is about voting rights. And there is going to be a lot of pump and circumstance surrounding the debate today on Capitol Hill. You can expect that this debate will open at 10:00 a.m. You may see some Democratic senators sitting in their desk. They want to make this a formal recognition of the importance of this moment.

Then, the vote tonight around 6:30 p.m. will be on that voting rights legislation. They need ten Republican senators to pass it. We, of course, know that those ten votes just aren't there. At that point, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, will move to change the Senate rules. But, once again, he would need all 50 Democrats to back that change and he just doesn't have Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

But, at the end of the day, this is about showing voters that they are trying to advance the president's agenda, that this is a top priority for most Democrats, even as Manchin and Sinema are standing in the way. But it has elicited a lot of frustration from their Democratic colleagues who, behind closed doors, have been exasperated by the fact they've been trying to change their minds and just have not gotten able to get them to yes.

Bianna and Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, what can they get in the coming months. What are they going to have to pair down and negotiate again? We'll be watching.

Lauren Fox, thanks very much.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, they still have to work together going forward, right? So we'll see what happens there.

Coming up next, Verizon and AT&T agree to delay the launch of 5G near some airports as airlines raise the alarm about safety. Hear why our next guest has called the rollout, quote, reckless.

SCIUTTO: And we are moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. Stock futures, they're up, actually, after a slew of better than expected earnings reports from companies such as Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Proctor & Gamble. Microsoft stock also on the rise after news it will buy the video game creator Activision Blizzard four nearly $70 billion. That's a lot of money. That also sent shares of its competitor, Sony, tumbling in pre-market trading.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:57]

GOLODRYGA: Right now several major international airlines have suspended some flights into the U.S. amid uncertainty surrounding 5G. This despite Verizon and AT&T delaying the rollout of the service near some airports.

SCIUTTO: CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is following all of the latest. So, Pete, this is temporary. Do we have a way out of this in the near

term?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the saga really is not over just yet, Jim. You know, even after AT&T and Verizon said they would delay this rollout of 5G because of aviation safety concerns near some airports, now the airlines are saying they've not received all the information about that and so they're essentially continuing full steam ahead, as if this rollout, this nationwide rollout, was to happen today, which is leading them to cancel some flights.

Look at this statement here from Delta Airlines. It says, while this is a positive development toward preventing widespread disruptions to flight operations, some flight restrictions may remain.

You mentioned the international carriers, they're suspending at least some of their flights coming into the U.S. And that list keeps on growing.

British Airways, Emirates, Air India, ANA, Japan Airlines have all suspended some flights coming into the U.S. What is at issue here are the 5G transmitters that operate on a similar frequency to what is called a radar altimeter. That's a sensitive piece of equipment on board commercial airlines, cargo planes, helicopters. It beams a radio wave at the ground that gets bounced back to the airplane, gives it a hyper accurate reading of altitude.

The problem is that pilots need that in low visibility at low altitude and this could be causing errors -- the 5G system could be causing errors, they say, in those radar altimeters. It powers about ten different systems on board an airplane, which is a big concern for airlines and pilots. In fact, Emirates' president said in a statement just to us today, he calls this one of the biggest bunglings by a regulatory agency he has seen in his aviation career.

I just want you to listen now to his concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM CLARK, PRESIDENT, EMIRATES: So as long as it compromises safety of operation, we will never allow our aircraft into the United States, or anywhere elsewhere (INAUDIBLE) that, where we have a compromise on radar altimeter course (ph) or flight controls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: So, AT&T and Verizon are behind this 5G push. It begs mention that AT&T owns our parent company here at CNN. And AT&T, in a statement, after they agreed to do this delay at certain airports, they said, quote, we are frustrated by the FAA's inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services and we urge it to do so in a timely manner. Clearly a big blame game being played right now, Jim and Bianna. A lot of blame to go around. We will see who accepts it here.

But as for right now, still flights being cancelled, and that's causing a big inconvenience for a lot of folks.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And causing a lot of tension internationally, as well.

[09:30:01]

Pete Muntean, thank you so much.

Well, joining us now to talk about all of this is Captain Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines 737 pilot and spokesperson