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Donald Trump Announces 2024 Presidential Candidacy; Investigation Underway After Deadly Missile Blast in Poland; Successful Launch of NASA's Artemis One Moon Rocket. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 16, 2022 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Bianca Nobilo.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster joining you live from London. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a feeling just watching him that the midterm is depressing him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the announcement that absolutely no one in the Republican Party wants right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff of Artemis 1. We rise together. Back to the moon and beyond.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the effort to return humans to the moon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Poles are pointing the finger of blame to a certain extent directly at Moscow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been crystal clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

FOSTER: It is Wednesday, November 16, 9 a.m. here in London, 4 a.m. on the U.S. East Coast. We are tracking 2 major stories this hour.

First, Donald Trump has officially entered the 2024 race for the White House. And the former president says crime and inflation have pushed the U.S. towards ruin under Joe Biden and the country is a laughing stock on the world stage.

NOBILO: If he wins Trump would be the first U.S. president elected to nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in 1892. And here's a bit of his announcement for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The decline of America is being forced upon us by Biden and the radical left lunatics running our government right into the grouped. This decline is not a fate we must accept. When given the choice boldly, clearly and directly I believe the American people will overwhelmingly reject the left's platform of national ruin and they will embrace our platform of national greatness and glory to America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: President Joe Biden who is at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia tweeted: Donald Trump failed America.

NOBILO: We're also following developments after a missile hit Poland and killed two people.

FOSTER: An investigation is already underway. Polish officials say the missile was Russian made.

NOBILO: But who fired it and where it was fired from is still unclear. Matthew Chance was on the scene earlier and has more on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a one- street tang essentially and that street has been sealed off all night by the Polish authorities preventing us from actually getting to the scene because they've got specialists on the ground there literally trying to piece together the fragments of the ordinance to try to work out where it's from and who fired it. The Polish authorities have come out and said it's a Russian-made missile but of course it doesn't necessarily mean it was fired by Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Poland may invoke NATO's Article 4 which would trigger talks with the alliance's decision-making body. In the coming hours NATO will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels.

NOBILO: NATO and G-7 leaders, including the U.S. President held an emergency meeting Tuesday in Indonesia and they promised Poland their full support and vowed to stay in close touch regarding the next steps.

FOSTER: Our correspondents are tracking developments around the world. Nina dos Santos in London, Melissa Bell in Brussels, White House reporter Kevin Liptak and senior international correspondent Ivan Watson are in Bali. Welcome to all of you. Kevin, first of all with you, G-7 leaders holding a midnight session, I understand it, to discuss this crisis.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right. And the urgent matter before them was trying to determine where this missile was fired from. And the implications are so high because Poland is a member of NATO and the Article 5 treaty from NATO would apply to Poland. An attack against one is an attack against all. And that is the reason that these leaders warrant to be absolutely certain where this missile came from before they come out and make any statements.

And you did hear President Biden emerge from that meeting very cautious in his remarks. He said that it was unlikely that this missile originated in Russia but he couched his remarks. He said he wanted to be definitive. He wanted to see all of the intelligence first. Now that's an important statement.

[04:05:00]

We know that the two countries that are using Russian-made missiles in this war are Russia and Ukraine. But the president certainly wants to keep his words to himself before he knows for sure what happens.

What American officials say is that they are able to track this sort of thing fairly well using their intelligence capabilities. They would for example know the trajectory of this missile. But before they have that solid, they don't necessarily want to reveal what they know beforehand because of the consequences, because of the implications.

Now President Biden a couple of hours ago did board Air Force 1. It's a 24-hour flight back to Washington and he will be joined on that plane by his senior most national security aides. Earlier today he spoke with the Polish president. He also spoke with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Of course, those ambassadors are meeting in Brussels today to discuss the Article 4 treaty. You do hear a lot about Article 5. Article 4 is the treaty of mutual conference discussing a path forward, discussing what countries know, what countries don't know and certainly President Biden will want to be in very close touch with his representatives on the ground there. But this is a very high stakes situation. And there's no question that President Biden will want this resolved fairly quickly so this isn't sort of hanging over -- the discussion isn't hanging over this conflict. He will be back in Washington later this week and certainly we expect we would hear more from him at some point on that.

NOBILO: Thank you, Kevin. Let's go next to Melissa Bell whose in Brussels, Belgium where of course the NATO HQ is there. Melissa, as Kevin was just alluding to there, we understand a NATO plane had tracked this missile. Do you know what information that NATO has, whether or not they're continuing to coordinate with allies and investigate this further? And when can we expect to know any more concrete details? I understand the secretary general may be making a press conference later today.

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Bianca. A meeting has just gotten underway. Just begun here at NATO headquarters between NATO ambassadors. And of course, the first thing they're going to be doing is looking at all the intelligence of all of the NATO alliance members to try and figure out exactly what's happened.

As you say, a NATO official has confirmed to CNN, that a NATO aircraft was able to track that missile as it landed. And of course, that intelligence has now been fed back to NATO headquarters, will be part of what NATO alliance members are going to be looking at before they consider their next move.

As Kevin was just saying, of course, it comes in the context where already Poland has raised its level of military preparedness and suggested that it could invoke Article 4. We will know more about whether or not it has invoked and started that consultation process, not the first time it's been invoked by NATO countries. Seven times since NATO was created in 1949. It is of course the first step that means NATO members gather around their country to consult with it on what they need to do next. So, it will be a measure of course of how seriously Poland takes this. It will depend on what the intelligence says and whether or not it is decided that that is necessary. We should know more once that meeting is finished. We expect it to last a couple of hours. Jens Stoltenberg is expected to speak at about mid- day local time here in Brussels.

NOBILO: And Melissa just quickly to you. What channels currently exist for deconfliction and communication between Russia and NATO?

BELL: Very little, Bianca, because of the nature of rhetoric and the way the course of the nearly nine months of this war have unfolded. What we've seen so far over the course of the last four hours are denials on the part of Moscow. Suggestions that this is a provocation. Precisely the kind of rhetoric you'd expect and it's in line with what we've been hearing these last few weeks and months.

So, the site here, the NATO alliance members very aware of that rhetoric, very aware, of course, at how quickly a rhetoric can be inflamed and passions can be ignited. And given all the implications of the invoking Article 4 and potentially Article 5, given the seriousness of what that would represent, of course they're going to be taking very measured language and considering very carefully what their next step is.

What you are likely to see is a sort of halfway house before that and certainly on the part of those member states who are close to Ukraine's border -- this has been a consistent theme. The need those safe for a no fly zone to try and prevent this sort of incident from ever happening again -- Bianca.

FOSTER: Nina, there was a very quick response, wasn't there, from Moscow. They described this missile landing as a deliberate provocation. What do you think they meant by that?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that came from the Russian ambassador to the United Nations. Remember, there's going to be a Security Council meeting taking place later on today after of course that NATO meeting which is set to wrap up in a few hours' time that Melissa was talking about. Russia of course bound to bring this to the fore. It's going to

dominate that meeting from all sides.

[04:10:00]

But the ambassador from Russia to the United Nations saying that -- and capitalizing on Joe Biden's earlier remarks on the sidelines of the G20 to reporters, saying that early intelligence appears to indicate that this missile might have originated in Ukraine, not Russia. Russia then saying that this was a deliberate attempt, quote, unquote, to provoke a military clash between NATO and Russia.

And if you thought that was alarming talk, take a look at this particular tweet coming from the former Russian president himself Dmitry Medvedev called this incident something that proves one thing, wagging a hybrid war against Russia means that the West moves closer and closer to a world war.

That's really worrying talk. And of course, you can imagine it's probably going to be discussed around the table as we speak at that NATO meeting that's taking place in Brussels right now.

Now obviously what they're going to evaluate as Melissa was talking about, is three scenarios. One, that this might be a Russian missile that either run off course and ended up in NATO territory. That now as we've heard overnight appears to be the less plausible explanation for this. But there are other explanations. One, that Ukraine may have fired one of its own missiles as a defense system to try and knock a Russian missile off course or that this could just be a Ukrainian missile that ended up in NATO territory itself. The confusion arises because both Russia and Ukraine, as post-Soviet states, use similar S- 300 defense and missile systems because they're made in this part of the world. So, that'll be what they'll be looking at.

NOBILO: Ivan, to you in Bali. We've had the communique released from the G20 countries. It can be like reading tea leaves sometimes interpreting these. But in terms of what was said about the conflict and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, what struck you?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, first, the Ukraine war is front and center not only in the enormous 1100 plus page declaration that the G20 published within the last couple of hours. But also, at the actual meetings when the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy was granted space to address the assembled leaders and Ukraine isn't a member of the G20. This as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was a no show and he sent his foreign minister here instead.

So, in this enormous document it's the third basically -- the third article in it talking -- calling it the Ukraine war. And that's important because another G20 member, China, avoids calling it a war referring to it as frequently a crisis instead of a war that has killed so many people and is destroying so much of Ukraine.

The declaration goes on to say, quote, most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy. It goes on to say, the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.

While President Biden led a camp of U.S. allies that have been very outspoken criticizing Russia's conduct of this invasion, this war, you have other countries that are more neutral, Indonesia, India, China a Russian ally, and yet the Indonesian president came out again today saying, stop this war. Back to you.

NOBILO: Ivan, Kevin, Melissa, and Nina, thank you all so much.

FOSTER: Now we're barley a week beyond the U.S. midterm elections and already one candidate has his sights set on 2024. It is Donald Trump, of course, facing a series of state and federal investigations. But he is determined to return to the White House as has Kristen Holmes reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tuesday night former President Donald Trump launching his third presidential bid despite the warnings and hesitations of many of his top advisers and aides who said that he didn't have the momentum coming out of the midterms given the lackluster Republican results. As well as concern that he would overshadow the Georgia Senate runoff and cause Republican candidate Herschel Walker did not win the race. Now Trump's speech was uncharacteristically low energy. He seemed to stay mostly on message. While aides did say it would likely 30 minutes. It was much longer. Take a listen to just some of what he had to say.

TRUMP: In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.

HOLMES: Now this is historic for a multitude of reasons. Not only because there has been one person to successfully run for a non- consecutive term and win but also given the nature of Donald Trump. This is a man who is facing several federal investigations, embroiled in multiple legal battles.

[04:15:00]

Additionally, he sought to overturn the 2020 election. Still doesn't recognize that he lost that legitimate election to Joe Biden and this is entering the 2024 race as a potential rematch for him against current President Biden.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: While many Republicans of course wanted Trump to wait before announcing his third White House bid. But as CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman says the former president thinks his run for the White House might help him deal with his legal troubles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Part of what he's trying to do

is stave off the Justice Department from a potential indictment. He is under two that we know of investigations with the Justice Department. He does believe this is going to provide him some armor. Now the Justice Department has made very clear that's not a decision that they are considering. But you can't divorce all of this from the politics and how Trump will use it and weaponize these investigations into him. And so, that's very much a part of his thinking.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: It surprised me that given the amount of time he's been thinking about this, that this was the best product he could put out. I listened to him in the campaign in Pennsylvania. He was full of energy. He was teasing the fact that he was going to announce. You could sense that he wanted to do it. Where was that person tonight? Something has happened. I have a feeling just watching him that the midterm is depressing him tremendously.

MICK MULVANEY, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ACTING CHIEF OF STAFF: If he wins in 2024, now he's a candidate. He is the likely Republican nominee. Can he be beaten head to head by Ron DeSantis or Tim Scott? Sure. But it's not going to be a head-to-head race. They'll be five or six other people in the race and he'll get the 35 percent that really support him. And under the winner take all primary system, he'll be the nominee.

But that means the 2024 race is not about Joe Biden or whatever Democrat is on the ticket. Not about inflation, not about world events, not about abortion. It'll be about Donald Trump. The same thing we saw in 2020. No one voted for Joe Biden. Everybody voted for or against Donald Trump. It was a referendum on him. And that's what we're hurtling towards in 2024 and I don't see the outcome being any different two years from now than it was two years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still ahead this hour, we'll take a closer look at some of the claims that Trump made in his special announcement and see how they square up with the reality.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3, 2, 1. Boosters ignition! And liftoff of Artemis 1. We rise together back to the moon and beyond.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: After a nail-biting series of technical glitches and delays, the Artemis 1 rocket blasted off earlier for its 26 day mission to the moon. The team had to address critical radar issues and a hydrogen fuel leak shortly before the launch.

FOSTER: It was a third attempt to launch this rocket. The most powerful one ever built. The first phase of the Artemis mission is an unmanned test flight and the ultimate goal is to return astronauts to the moon and someday send humans to Mars. NOBILO: We're joined by CNN's space and defense correspondent Kristin

Fisher who is at the Kennedy Space Center. And Kristin, the most joyful thing I think I've seen this week is your reaction which has been playing on our air to take off. Tell us what it was like and also remind our viewers about the significance of this mission.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: I just could not believe that it was finally launching after all of these delays that have plagued this rocket. And you know, Bianca and Max, the other thing that really struck me was, you know, we knew that we were going to be able to not just see and hear but really feel this rocket when it took off. The most powerful rocket ever built that's in operation today.

What I was not anticipating was how this rocket literally turned the entire sky from horizon to horizon, from night to day in just seconds. It was like a super accelerated sunrise and then this rocket performed just beautifully and is now on its way to the moon as we speak.

But let me just walk you guys through some of the nail biting final moments here. Because remember, the first and second launch attempts were plagued by, you know, technical glitches, the hydrogen leak, there was a faulty sensor. Then they rolled back for hurricane Ian. They came back out, the rocket got hit by hurricane Nicole and then five days later we get this third launch attempt. And tonight, things were looking really good. But then they ran into two issues, another hydrogen leak. Only this time all they needed to do to fix it was -- it sounds quite simple, but it's not. Bianca and Max, they really just had to tighten some nuts and bolts.

But to do that they had to send in the red team, a team of very highly skilled technicians to go do this because they're going into a blast zone. I mean, a fully fueled rocket is essentially look a big bomb. And they had to go there, tighten these nuts and bolts.

[04:20:00]

They were able to make that fix and just when NASA announced that this rocket was now ready to fly, we got another error. This time from the U.S. Space Force which operates this range saying there was a problem with, get this, an ethernet connector. Just imagine if it had been an ethernet connector that stopped this rocket from lifting off. But they were able to fix it in just the last minute, Max and Bianca. And now this rocket headed for the moon, should be there in about five or six days. And then will come back to earth and splash down into this ocean sometime in mid-December. So, the Artemis program well underway.

NOBILO: Kristin Fisher thank you very much.

FOSTER: Setting up camp on the moon. I think that's the ultimate plan.

NOBILO: I know, and I am no astronaut but you don't want to go into space with a loose bolt.

FOSTER: No, absolutely not thankfully. The excitement was understandable. This was her Super Bowl. NOBILO: Yes, it was and we've seen her there many times. Third time

lucky.

FOSTER: Absolutely.

FOSTER: Just explained these pictures. A week after the U.S. midterm elections lawmakers return to Capitol Hill to talk about what happened last Tuesday and decide who will lead the new Congress. More on that next.

NOBILO: And plus, his presidential announcement was vintage Trump. Build the wall, drain the swamp, just tell the truth. CNN's fact checkers are on the case.

FOSTER: And winter has come early for many in the U.S. Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri will update us on the snow that is causing travel disruptions in parts of the country.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Up to almost 20 inches already observed across portions of the Midwestern United States. And just the beginning for some here. Winter weather alert spanning across parts of 15 states. And yes, snowfall amounts could exceed areas of up to over a foot here in the coming days. We'll break it down in a few moments.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Despite the outcome in the Senate, we cannot lose hope and we must all work very hard for a gentleman and a great person named Herschel Walker. A fabulous human being who loves our country and will be a great United States Senator. Herschel Walker, get out and vote for Herschel and he deserves it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: That as you probably recognize was Donald Trump endorsing Republican candidate Herschel Walker in the upcoming Georgia runoff elections. Georgians head back to the polls in less than three weeks to vote for their Senate pick. And Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock is suing the state of Georgia to allow for another day of early voting.

FOSTER: Warnock and the Georgia Democratic Party filed a lawsuit challenging the move by state officials to prohibit early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The lawsuit asks for a court order blocking state officials from taking action to prevent counties from offering early voting. Did you keep up with that?

NOBILO: I tried, yes.

FOSTER: We have several new alerts in the race for the U.S. House of Representatives. CNN's projects incumbent Republican Ken Calvert will win the California 41 district defeating Democrat Will Ronan. This is a Republican hold.

NOBILO: CNN also projects incumbent Democrat Jim Costa will win the California 21st district defeating Republican Michael Mayer. And this is a Democratic hold.

FOSTER: With 11 races still outstanding these latest predictions give Republicans a total of 217 seats in the House. That means they need just one more to take control of the chamber.

NOBILO: These developments come as Congress is back on Capitol Hill for the first time since the midterms. Republicans are haggling over who will lead the party in the new Congressional term. And in the wake of last week's disappointing election results some prominent Republicans are facing unprecedented challenges to their positions. CNN's Manu Raju has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After the first time since Mitch McConnell has been the Republican leader, he is facing a challenge from within. This after Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, someone who has been battling with McConnell's allies for months over the handling of the midterm elections, plans to challenge McConnell at a closed door leadership meeting on Wednesday morning.

Now Scott is the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is in charge of all Senate Republican races. Mitch McConnell, of course, the Republican leader, someone who has an outside group that spent hundreds of millions of dollars in key Senate races in order to try to get back the Senate majority. The fact that Republicans now failed to get back the majority has led to finger pointing, and intense blame game. Even going behind closed doors for more than three hours on Tuesday as they criticized each other and questioned how their party should move ahead in the aftermath of Tuesday's debacle.

Now Mitch McConnell has the vote. He made it very clear to reporters that he has locked down the votes. But Rick Scott's candidacy is essentially a protest vote over McConnell himself. And when I asked one of Scott's allies, Josh Hawley, about the criticisms of McConnell has endured, he aligned himself with Rick Scott and also suggested the Republican leader could not get them back to the majority.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is Rick Scott going against leader McConnell for Republican leader? Will you support him?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Yes.

RAJU: What's the problem with having McConnell as a leader for another two years?

HAWLEY: Oh well, I mean, if you like the election results, I guess there is no problem. But if you want to be a majority party, clearly what we're doing hasn't been working and it hasn't been working for a long time. And I think you look at independent voters, I mean, we gave them nothing. No alternative. That was the decision by leadership. They didn't want to have an agenda. RAJU: You don't think he could get you back to a majority?

HAWLEY: No.

RAJU: Now Hawley's views are decidedly in the minority of the Senate Republican Conference. Expect McConnell to be re-elected on Wednesday. He will have -- this will make him the longest serving Senate party leader of either party in U.S. history. Now at the same time Republicans in the House dealing with their own leadership challenges. Kevin McCarthy was nominated by his party to be the next Speaker of the House. He is far short of the 218 votes he will need in January to actually get the speaker's gavel. And he acknowledged he has work to do before next January.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Now the calendar says fall but in much of the U.S. it feels more like winter. Colder than usual temperatures are sweeping the country this week with snow in the forecast from the Great Lakes to the Northeast. Pedram is keeping an eye on all of this for us. Hi, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Hey, good morning, guys. Yes, lots of wintry weather to tell you about. Across the Great Lakes as you noted and also eventually on into portions of the Northeast as well. But the elements are in place here to produce significant bouts of wintry weather ...

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