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January 6th Committee to Refer Multiple Alleged Crimes to DOJ Against Donald Trump; Possible Humanitarian Crisis Looms in the Southern Border; Severe Cold Weather to Impact Millions of Americans; Argentina Wins World Cup; Russia Attacks Kyiv with Drones; Putin Set To Meet With Lukashenko In Belarus; China Reports First COVID Deaths Since Easing Restrictions; Pyongyang Touts Final Stage Test For Spy Satellite. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 19, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. We are hours away from what's expected to be an unprecedented rebuke of former President Donald Trump for his role in the January 6th riot. What we expect to hear and what is likely to come next.

Fears of a humanitarian crisis at the border, cities in the U.S. are seeing a surge of migrants with thousands more waiting to cross from Mexico in the coming days. We'll explain why.

And the party hasn't stopped in Argentina after what many are calling the best World Cup final ever. We will take you to Buenos Aires, Doha, and back.

The U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riot will hold its final public meeting on Monday. And we expect to learn which criminal referrals will be sent to the U.S. Justice Department. Those referrals would be nonbinding and it's up to the department to decide whether to pursue them. But CNN has learned the committee is weighing multiple alleged crimes committed by former President Donald Trump. Here is what one member of the committee had to say.

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REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): If you look at Donald Trump's acts and you would match them up against the statute, it's a pretty good match. I realized That statute hasn't been used in a long time, but then when have we had a president essentially incite an attack on his own government?

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HARRAK: Well, the committee's final report will be released on Wednesday. Sara Murray has more from Washington. SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The House Committee

investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. capital is set to hold its final public hearing on Monday. A source tells CNN that they are expected to refer former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution on at least three charges. Those include insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the federal government.

Now, these referrals don't necessarily carry a ton of weight with the Justice Department, DOJ does not take its cue from lawmakers on who is going to bring criminal charges against on who it is going to prosecute, but lawmakers have said they think this that is important for the historical record.

Also, in talking to some of them, they believe that they found evidence of criminal wrongdoing and that it is part of their duty to lay that evidence out and to lay these referrals out to the Department of Justice. Now, all of this comes at a sort of politically and legally perilous time for former President Trump. You know, we know he's already under DOJ scrutiny for activities around January 6th, efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

We're also learning from sources familiar with the matter that a special grand jury that is investigating Donald Trump and his allies in a criminal investigation there is set to wrap up its work and (inaudible) to the district attorney there to decide whether she's going to bring charges against Donald Trump or any of his allies. Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.

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JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: It's basically the committee saying we have this evidence and we believe that this evidence rises to the level of criminal culpability. And so, we are a political body. We can't actually prosecute a former president, but you, Department of Justice, can. So based on all of the information that we have, all of the witnesses that we have interviewed, all of the documents that we have obtained, we've made the judgment that you should go forward because you can prove these criminal violations be on a reasonable doubt.

But again, it's up to the Department of Justice, and I know that there were discussions from the House Select Committee as to whether or not it would help or hurt the Department of Justice in making an independent assessment if the House Committee gave a referral.

HARRAK: Now, I mean, you partially answered this next question, these charges will be referred to the Department of Justice. Does this in and of itself carry any legal weight and why not if it doesn't?

LEVINSON: So, no in the sense that their decision to say yes, we're referring charges, I mean, does that separately carry any legal weight? What carries legal weight is the basis of their decision. So, it's the evidence that I believe they've already largely, if not, completely turned over to the Department of Justice. But the Department of Justice in making a decision as to whether or not to move forward, they won't look at whether or not, members of Congress voted in favor of a criminal referral in deciding whether or not they can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, that's a separate issue.

[02:05:02] This is really a political decision. The House Select Committee I think wants to go down in history as saying, based on what we saw we can't stay silent and we think that there should be criminal charges in this case.

HARRAK: And who ultimately makes that decision to move forward at the DOJ?

LEVINSON: So, in the first instance it's going to be the independent counsel who was appointed by Merrick Garland, and then ultimately the buck does stop with him, and he'll look at what the recommendation is. I think you'll probably go by that recommendation, but he still does have a role to play.

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HARRAK: And you can watch the full interview with Professor Jessica Levinson about the legal issues surrounding the January 6th Committee's referrals in our next hour. And you can also watch the January 6th Committee's final public hearing live today starting at 1:00 p.m. in Washington and 6:00 p.m. in London right here on CNN.

Activists and politicians alike are warning of a looming humanitarian crisis on the U.S. southern border. A Trump-era policy known as Title 42 is expected to end on Wednesday. The measure has allowed border agents to quickly turn away migrants to slow the spread of COVID-19. Well, now, it's estimated that as many as 10,000 people could be waiting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico in the coming days. CNN's Gustavo Valdes has more from the Mexican side of the border.

GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This group of Venezuelans are using the leftover clothing and trash they find on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande to stay warm and witness the people who are crossing the Rio Grande to get into the United States. Often times they tell them to wait, not to cross right now. They encourage them to wait until Title 42 expires on Wednesday, arguing that they might have a better chance to remain on the United States.

Yet, we see time and time again how people decide that once they get to Ciudad Juarez, they need to get across as soon as possible to turn themselves in to the border patrol in El Paso and try their chances that way. The flow of migrants continues. It's been constant, group of 20, 30 people are taking several times an hour.

We see the border patrol dealing with them here at the border, to be taken into El Paso where now the mayor has declared a state of emergency arguing that the number of people crossing over is more than the city can handle and he fears that come Wednesday, the number is going to be much greater and the situation could get out of control. On the Mexican side, city and state authorities in the state of

Chihuahua are telling me that the migrant situation is not different for them. Yes, they are more than in other times, but their main concern is what's going to happen if more border agents are having to be moved to deal with the surge of migrants and abandon or not do their daily duties at the crossing, at the legal crossing points, creating a longer waiting time for the people who want to go and spend their mornings, spend Christmas with their relatives in El Paso or other parts of the United States. This is high season for crossings in this area. And on the Mexican side, that is the main concern. Gustavo Valdes, CNN, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

And in another border town, McAllen, Texas, the local Democratic congressman tells CNN he would like to see more action from the Biden White House. You may recall that President Biden appointed Vice President Kamala Harris to work with Central America on the migrant issue. Well, Representative Vicente Gonzales says both parties have to go beyond just showing up.

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REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): It's great for them to visit the border. I think they should. I think a lot more can be done than what's been done. But this is not a problem from just this administration. I've been in office through both Democratic and Republican administrations. And when Republicans are in office, Democrats come down here and point fingers at them and say they're doing a horrible job on the border.

And when Democrats are in office, Republicans come and do the same thing. This is not a Democratic or Republican problem, it's an American problem. We need to solve it together. We need real proposals. I don't want to see people to come down here for photo ops.

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HARRAK: Well, Gonzalez also says he is looking for support from the White House for what he calls the Safe Zone Act. It would create a system where migrants from south of Mexico would be required to process their asylum claims at the Guatemalan border.

A Peruvian railway operator says train services to and from the ancient city of Machu Picchu are resuming on an emergency basis. They've been interrupted since Tuesday because of the ongoing political unrest in the country, which began earlier this month after the arrest and impeachment of former President Pedro Castillo.

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The protests have led to disruptions of airport and railroad services throughout Peru. As many as 300 tourists from around the world have been stranded in Machu Picchu as a result.

About 260 million Americans could feel the impact of an arctic blast just as the first day of winter arrives. Dangerously cold temperatures are forecast for the region east of the Rockies. It's expected this cold arctic air will spread across the south and east.

In the Midwest and northern and central plains, wind chills may dip down as low as minus 40 degrees, which is the same temperature in Celsius and Fahrenheit. Well, this includes portions of Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas along with Nebraska and Minnesota.

A passenger is speaking out about a nightmare flight where severe turbulence injured at least 36 people. It happened Sunday on a Hawaiian airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu. Authorities say 20 were taken to emergency rooms, 11 were in serious conditions, and a 14-month-old child is among those hospitalized.

The college student who shared this video said the turbulence felt normal at first, but escalated to the point where the plane felt like it was freefalling. Items were tossed around the plane and once it was over a crew member asked any trained medical or military personnel to help with those injured. Emergency crews met the plane once it landed in Honolulu.

Rescue efforts are underway in the Gulf of Thailand after a Royal Thai navy ship sank early this morning. Thirty-three of the ships 106 crewmembers are missing and bad weather in the area is complicating the search and rescue mission. The navy says strong winds caused the ship to tilt and water to flow into its electrical system shutting it down.

Still ahead, a clash of football heavyweights for the ages. We'll go live to Qatar where Lionel Messi took care of unfinished business and added the World Cup champion to his resume.

And later this hour, the presidents of Russia and Belarus are set to meet in Minsk. We will have a live report on what to expect from Vladimir Putin's visit.

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HARRAK: An emotional call from legendary sports commentator, Andres Cantor. It had happened when the announcer's home country, Argentina, scored a goal at the World Cup final where it defeated France in an instant classic, led by superstar Lionel Messi. Argentina wo the championship on penalties. It marked the first World Cup title for the legendary striker and the third for his country.

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LIONEL MESSI, ARGENTINA CAPTAIN (through translation): It's madness that it happened the way that it did, but it's amazing. I said at one point that God was going to give it to me. I don't know why I foresaw it. I felt like it was going to be this one.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRAK: In Buenos Aires, fans celebrated the win by waving flags and screaming for joy. They had waited 36 years for this emotional victory. As CNN's Don Riddell (inaudible) look at the moments that made Sunday's final so special.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS: Argentina are world champions for the third time. Lionel Messi has finally got his hands on the only trophy to have eluded him and heartbroken France have just been beaten in an absolute thriller. Those are the headlines here at Lusail after what has been an extraordinary evening. Our senior sports analyst Darren Lewis is here to discuss it with me. We've just seen 120 minutes down and a penalty shootout. How can you find the words to describe what we've seen?

DARREN LEWIS, CNN SENIOR SPORTS ANALYST: It's really difficult, but I'm going to try because we have seen one of the greats -- no, scrap that. We have seen the greatest World Cup final of all time. I would argue one of the greatest football matches of all time. We have seen history made in terms of Argentina, getting the World Cup back for the first time since 1986.

We have seen Lionel Messi live up to the pressure of delivering what Diego Maradona did in that year. It's only two years since the passing of the great Maradona. He is managing to honor his memory in the most fitting way possible. I cannot stress, Don, to our viewers enough the magnitude of what we have witnessed tonight.

RIDDELL: And I think it's worth stating and repeating that often, the most high games fail to deliver. The more excited you are about a match the worse it's probably going to be. It's very, very unusual to have a game like this go the way that it did. Of course, he's going to be the man that everybody talks about, what does it mean to him and his legacy that he's finally done it?

LEWIS: Well, it puts him in the Hall of -- it consolidates his position in the Hall of Fame. He's already in there. He's won four Champion's Leagues. He's won the Ballon d'Or, the award for the best player in the world, a record seven times. And he scored the kinds of goals that seduce you into falling in love with the game, and there are hundreds of them because that speaks to his consistency.

But this achievement here, what he's done in this stadium, it will stand the test of time. Generations will speak about the night that Messi lived up to the hype, delivered for his country, and brought home the World Cup.

RIDDELL: And it really, really hurts to lose a game like this. I feel so sorry for Kylian Mbappe who scored a hat trick in the World Cup final. That's not happened since 1966. And he's going home with the loser's medal. I really feel sorry for him.

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But they should all be proud. It was an incredible night and a remarkable climax to what has certainly been a memorable tournament. Darren, thanks so much. LEWIS: Thanks, Don.

RIDDELL: Back to you.

HARRAK: Well, joining me now from Qatar is Joshua Robinson, a sports reporter for the "Wall Street Journal" and co-author of "Messi Vs. Ronaldo." So good to have you with us, Joshua. Argentina, France, what a performance, Messi, Mbappe. I understand you watched this thriller in person. What was that like?

JOSHUA ROBINSON, SPORTS REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: I mean, for the first hour we thought it would be kind of a procession. Messi was ahead 2-0 and he was heading to the World Cup that seemed to always be destined for him. After that, it simply turned into the craziest World Cup final, and maybe the craziest game I've ever watched.

HARRAK: Now, Messi has his World Cup, finally. I mean, there's like a lot of debate and discussion whether he's now the greatest of all time. What's next for him?

ROBINSON: I mean, the thing is, you wouldn't blame him for retiring today, if he -- I don't think if, you know, he would surprise a lot of people if he did that, but he has completed one of the rare perfect sports careers now. It's very rare that an athlete gets the Hollywood ending like that. And that they get to check off every achievement that was expected of them.

Seven Ballon d'Or's, the multiple Champion's Leagues, and now the World Cup that he's been chasing since his Argentina debut 17 years ago. Pressure was always thought to be too much for him, but at this tournament he's played like a man completely inspired. And to go get that World Cup is really one of the most impressive sports achievements I think in history.

HARRAK: Unprecedented, as you rightly point out. Now, watching the reaction from team Argentina and especially their national coach, Scaloni, there was unbridled joy, obviously, and also a lot of tears. I mean, it just looked like a massive weight was lifted off their shoulders, a lot of relief, how much pressure was this team under?

ROBINSON: I think that's the important thing to understand about soccer in Argentina. The pressure is in enormous and there's a lot to live up to. When you already have an all-time great from your country like Diego Maradona, you're always being compared. And eight managers before Lionel Scaloni had been tasked with getting the best out of Lionel Messi, and all of them have failed.

It took Scaloni to come along and he is an unlikely character. He wasn't supposed to have this job. He's only 44 years old and he was a former journeyman player. But he took over the job in 2018, brought Messi back into feeling happy with the national team and they won the 2021 Copa America, and now the ultimate triumph and all those years later.

HARRAK: How do you look back on this final? How does it compare to previous World Cup finals? ROBINSON: This is I think far and away the craziest World Cup final

that's ever been. I don't think we've ever -- we've never seen a team take the lead twice, lose it twice, and then come back and win the game. The mental fortitude Argentina showed to come back and witness on penalties was extraordinary.

HARRAK: Absolutely extraordinary. I mean, you know, we've witnessed heartbreak during this tournament. We've seen euphoric crowds. A lot of drama during this tournament. What games will go down in history and remembered for years to come?

ROBINSON: I mean, extraordinarily this is not -- this is only one of several crazy games that Argentina played at this tournament. They lost their opening game, remember, against Saudi Arabia, inside the same stadium in a wild atmosphere. There were Saudi Arabian fans that traveled in huge numbers.

They also were 2-0 up against the Netherlands in the quarterfinal, were paid back to 2-2 and still won on penalties. I think it's worth remembering also the France-England game which turned on a late missed penalty by England's Harry Kane. We have seen some extraordinary drama here.

HARRAK: And now, I mean, everybody who was at this tournament has been incredible. Let's talk about off the pitch. How do you reflect on this World Cup? Did it go as you expected? What did you make of the role FIFA played during this tournament?

ROBINSON: I think the legacy of this tournament is extremely complicated. On the pitch, we saw some historic moments that will be indelible. Off the pitch, we know that building the stadiums relied heavily on migrant workers, and there were significant migrant worker abuses.

We know that this is much bigger than just football for Qatar, a tiny petrol state that is trying to carve out its place in -- on the international stage. There was a lot more at stake here than just sports. So, I think, you know, we know the problems with this World Cup and issues over expression -- over support for LGBT rights. So, it's a very complicated legacy going forward and I think it's going to be hard to separate the football from everything else.

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HARRAK: Final thought from you, you know, what's your verdict now, now that it's all wrapped up on how controversies were dealt with?

ROBINSON: I think we'll -- it will be important to remember that what this World Cup was about more than sports and what it was being used to achieve for the state of Qatar. And that, you know, while it went smoothly from kind of operational standpoint, that there were very big limits on what could and couldn't be said here. An it's extremely important to remember that these stadiums were built at a huge human cost.

HARRAK: Joshua Robinson, thank you so much for joining us. Up next, Russian forces keep up their attacks as Ukraine says drones

have targeted the capital once again. We will have the latest ahead.

And later, China has reported its first COVID related deaths since easing its pandemic restrictions. We will look at why some experts fear the situation could still get worse.

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HARRAK: We're following developments out of Ukraine where officials in Kyiv say at least two people were injured after Russia attacked the capital with drones early Monday. The mayor says critical infrastructure facilities were also damaged and work is now underway to help stabilize the cities power and heat supply. Officials say nine drones were shot down in the attack.

CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now live from London with more. Clare, there is no letup in Russia's relentless strikes.

In a striking development, Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is expected to visit Belarus today. Why?

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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Laila. Officially to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries, we know that Belarus remains a very loyal ally to Russia in a world where they are increasingly isolated. They have this agreement called the Union State which is designed to sort of foster integration in all different spheres between the two sides.

So, that's what they're officially talking about. But this is clearly raising alarm bells for Ukraine because of the situation that we're in. With this war, there are fears among Ukrainian officials that they have voiced publicly that the aerial campaign that we continue to see from Russia will be accompanied fairly soon by a new ground offensive. And of course, we know that Belarus was one of the sites, one of the staging areas from which they launched their initial invasion in February.

Now, we have also seen in the lead up to this meeting, significant increase in military cooperation between the two sides in October, they set up a joint grouping of forces. There are new images from state media this morning showing that grouping doing training exercises in Belarus, we saw -- we saw joint military exercises between the two sides. Earlier this month, there have been images circulating of heavy equipment on the move in Belarus.

So, Ukraine's president on Sunday saying that they are now sort of really stepping up defense of that border, really focusing on that northern border and Russia's perspective, even if they don't launch a ground offensive from Belarus, it's in their interest to keep Ukraine focused on that border because it diverts attention, and potentially also manpower from the other front lines.

But this is also significant because while the two leaders have met a lot since the start of this war, Putin has not traveled to Belarus in over three years. So, this trip will be closely watched.

HARRAK: Will be closely watched. Now recently, a freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout visited occupied Ukraine?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, this is all happening very quickly. It's less than two weeks since he set foot on Russian soil after being freed in that prisoner swap to clearly trying to repay the favor. Perhaps that the Russian government secured his release. He is now reportedly joined a political party, the LDPR, pro-Kremlin, Liberal Democrat Party. He traveled with the leader of that party to occupied Luhansk to take part in an event.

He spoke at the event. He touted the determination of the people of Luhansk. He says he's been watching their fate for the past eight years. And I think clearly, the Kremlin trying to sort of maximize the P.R., the propaganda value of this release. They have been painting this as a significant victory, their ability to sort of one up the west and particularly the U.S. of course, in this negotiation.

And also, another way to distract from the fact that their efforts in Ukraine continue to flounder, Laila.

GIOKOS: Clare Sebastian reporting in London, thank you so much, Clare.

China has reported its first COVID related deaths since easing pandemic restrictions and critics say things could get even worse after the abrupt unraveling of the zero-COVID strategy. We'll have a live report from Hong Kong with the latest.

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HARRAK: China has reported its first COVID-related deaths since easing pandemic restrictions earlier this month. Health officials announced Sunday that two patients died in Beijing, but they gave no other details on those cases. China has now reported more than 5200 deaths from COVID since the pandemic began. But experts outside of China believe that number is much higher, saying many deaths have gone unreported.

In fact, researchers in Hong Kong estimate China's COVID death toll could approach one million over the course of the country's reopening. Well so far, President Xi Jinping has mostly been silent about the unraveling of zero COVID. CNN's Ivan Watson is with us now from Hong Kong with more on all this. Ivan?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Laila. You've had such a dramatic reversal take place in mainland China from close to three years of the country and its government vowing to just maintain this kind of bubble against COVID calling it the dynamic zero-COVID strategy and locking down cities for months at a time, you know, having people stay in their apartments that led to lots of complaints.

Packing people off to quarantine camps to now suddenly the government saying in the last couple of weeks that it's going to focus on preventing severe cases of the disease, as opposed to preventing infections. So, now we're hearing and we have been hearing for some days now about cases just kind of exploding across the capital. Beijing and the city feeling very empty, as many people have stayed at home and they aren't showing up for work.

And there are now projections from epidemiologists who've been studying how COVID has kind of played out around the rest of the world, who like in this Hong Kong University report are projecting that if the virus behaves that it has in other places with the levels of vaccination and the lack of relative immunity, that the Chinese population has right now that you could have potentially close to a million dead as a result of the virus Omicron spreading across the country.

The study goes on to say that, you know, this could be improved somewhat, these terrible mortality figures if China manages to ramp up vaccination, particularly of the elderly, because the vaccination rates are quite low among those over 80 and China, only about 42 percent have the three doses of the locally-made vaccine that is supposed to provide a protection against the virus.

So, the study says hey, if you -- if you ramp up that vaccination, if you get more antiviral drugs out there, you could potentially lower the mortality projections 25 to 35 percent. You're still talking about hundreds of thousands of people who would potentially die then. So quite serious, now, this poses a bit of a challenge because the Chinese government has been somewhat mocking other governments around the world saying that they had a live flat approach to COVID that China was prioritizing its economy over people's lives with the lockdowns.

Now we're starting to hear about deaths, there are people that are getting infected. And it's quite clear that all of those cases are not being reported to the authorities. Now China's going to have to start dealing with a potential loss of life and it is trying to reframe the disease from something that needs to be eradicated completely to now downplaying its threat, with a chief epidemiologist China trying to say hey, now we should call it the coronavirus cold instead of this terrible thing that must be eradicated at all costs. Laila?

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HARRAK: Ivan Watson reporting from Hong Kong. Ivan, thank you very much.

North Korea claims it has conducted an important final stage test to develop a spy satellite. State media report the test was conducted to evaluate functions like satellite imaging and data transmission. Photos reportedly taken by the new imaging equipment apparently show black and white aerial pictures of South Korea's capital Seoul and major -- and a major port city. CNN is unable to independently verify if the images came from the test.

Time for a quick break. For our viewers in North America, I'll have more news for you in just a moment. For our international viewers, World Sport is next. Stay with us. You're watching CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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