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CNN International: Georgia Election Worker Give Emotional Testimony Against Giuliani; U.S. House Expected to Vote on Formalizing President Joe Biden's Impeachment Inquiry; Nations Approve New Climate Agreement; Vietnam: 36 Cooperation Deals Signed During Xi's Visit to Hanoi; British Government Defends Rwanda Deportation Draft Bill; Turkish Club President Resigns After Punching Referee. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 13, 2023 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, do let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday during his third visit to Washington, but Republicans are refusing to grant more security assistance unless their demands for tougher U.S. immigration rules are met.

Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in a single incident in Northern Gaza. Overall, 115 Israeli troops have been killed in Gaza combat since October the 7th as the round offensive continues to expand.

Now a jury heard horrifying voicemails in the defamation trial against Rudy Giuliani. This is one of the two Georgia election workers suing him broke down in tears in the witness stand. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Powerful evidence in the defamation case against former Trump Attorney Rudy Giuliani, the jury hearing threatening voice mails sent to two former Georgia election workers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eat sh*t and die, you f**king racist c*nt. You are f**king done, you f**king whore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to burn your store down.

TODD (voice over): Also, powerful testimony from one former election worker, Shaye Moss, about how Giuliani's conspiracy theories devastated her life after the 2020 election.

Moss telling a federal court Giuliani's, quote, crazy lies about her and her mother spread everywhere at the time and led to threats against her family.

Quote: I am most scared of my son finding me and/or my mom hanging outside my house on a tree or having to get the news at school that his mama was killed.

Moss's testimony came hours after Giuliani inexplicably doubled down on the lies, he had spread about Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who was also an election worker.

RUDY GIULIANI, DONALD TRUMP'S FORMER ATTORNEY: Everything I said about them is true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you regret what you did to --

GIULIANI: Of course, I don't regret it. I told the truth. They were engaged in changing votes.

TODD (voice over): There is no proof of that. And the judge in the civil defamation case against Giuliani rebuked the former New York mayor.

Saying his, quote, negative quite defamatory statements about the two women could support another defamation claim.

JON AVLON, FORMER CHIEF SPEECHWRITER FOR MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI: Rudy Giuliani should know that this is not going to help his cause. It is going to deepen the hole he is in, and yet he keeps digging.

TODD (voice over): The judge has already ruled in this case that Giuliani spread false information about Moss and Freeman in the wake of the 2020 election. Giuliani has conceded that he did make defamatory statements about them, but he's argued that the statements didn't cause them any damage. Even statements like the one he made to the Georgia State legislature telling them Moss and Freeman were corrupting the vote count.

GIULIANI: They're surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin and cocaine.

TODD (voice over): Moss and Freeman are asking the jury to consider awarding them between $15.5 million and $43 million for the reputational harm they suffered from Giuliani's statements and more for the emotional distress they've endured, which they told the House January 6th Committee about.

SHAYE MOSS, FORMER GEORGIA ELECTION WORKER: I don't want anyone knowing my name. I don't go to the grocery store at all. I haven't been anywhere at all.

RENATO MARIOTTI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: These are public servants, and he's essentially put them out there and caused them to be targeted by hateful people, by people who are seeking to do them harm. And he's really upended their lives.

TODD: Rudy Giuliani already owes Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman more than $230,000 for failing to respond to parts of their lawsuit. A few months ago in a court filing, Giuliani said he's effectively broke because of all of his legal costs. So, a judgment against him in this case would put him even further into debt.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote today to formalize its impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. House Republicans are accusing Mr. Biden and his family of improperly profiting from policy decisions when he was Vice President. They also claim the Justice Department inappropriately interfered with an investigation into Mr. Biden's son, Hunter. CNN's Melanie Zanona has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, the House is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution to formalize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and his son's foreign business deals. Now, the House is expected to pass this resolution after the nearly entire House Republican conference has lined up behind it.

[04:35:00]

Now, this inquiry has been going on for several months after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally opened this probe back in September. But now Republicans are making this new push because they want to strengthen their hand in court when they try to enforce subpoenas as they try to wrap up their remaining impeachment investigation.

But just because they have the votes for the inquiry does not necessarily mean that they are going to have the votes for impeachment itself. And that is because key swing district moderate Republicans still say they have not seen any evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors. And they're casting doubt on whether House Republicans are going to come up with any evidence of impeachable offenses. Let's listen.

REP. DON BACON (R-NE): I think it's more important to have this information for the elections. Let's let the voters decide. And I don't know that you're going to see a high crime or misdemeanor, but I think the voters deserve to know what did the Bidens do with $25 million? Where did it come in from? Where did it go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a chance when you get to the end of the inquiry that there won't be articles of impeachment drafted?

BACON: Yes, I think that's probably more likely than not.

ZANONA: Now Tuesday's House vote comes the same day that Hunter Biden, the president's son, is scheduled to sit for a closed-door deposition. He was subpoenaed by House Republicans to come sit. But Hunter Biden has said he would only publicly appear for a open forum testimony. And so this is really set up a showdown. Republicans are threatening to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress if he does not show. It's unclear whether he's going to show up tomorrow. Our colleagues have reported that Hunter Biden is in Washington, D.C. But all eyes on whether Hunter Biden shows up tomorrow the same day the House Republicans are set to formalize their impeachment inquiry.

Melanie Zanona, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: An historic deal has just been announced at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. It urges nations for the first time to transition away from fossil fuels, the ones blamed for us -- blamed really for global warming. But the new deal, reached just hours ago, doesn't obligate countries to phase them out altogether. Instead, it presents a series of eight options to reduce emissions and askes countries to, quote, contribute to the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

While the agreement leaves open loopholes that will allow the continued use of coal, oil and gas, some climate experts say the mark -- the deal marks the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era.

Dave McKenzie joins us now with reaction to the agreement. And at least fossil fuels are mentioned because it would have been slammed if they weren't.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly would have been, Max. And it is historic in a sense say many that fossil fuels are explicitly noted in this climate change agreement. Saying that they need to transition away from fossil fuels within the next decade, especially aggressively. Now that obviously includes oil, gas and coal. But it does leave many loopholes, as you say, allowing countries to continue to exploit fossil fuels, but pushing for things like carbon capture, renewed push on energy transitions through the use of cleaner energy, like solar and other forms of energy.

And then here's some live pics in fact as we see the delegates talking at the end of these meetings.

Now it was a marathon session of negotiations, Max. The COP president said that it is a historic meeting and that it could turn the page on our efforts to fight the climate crisis. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SULTAN AL JABER, MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY OF THE UAE: We have delivered a comprehensive response to the global stock- take and all other mandates. Together, we have confronted realities and we have set the world in the right direction. We have given it a robust action plan to keep 1.5 within reach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Now, to get to 1.5 or to keep it within reach, as the president says there, you need to have at least a 40 percent reduction of emissions globally. That is a tall ask at this point, Max. Countries need to wean themselves of fossil fuels. There was a lot of pushback from nations like Saudi Arabia, the oil giant, but also from countries here in Africa that saw the future of not exploiting their fossil fuel reserves as punishing the countries that have little to do with the climate change crisis.

This will be seen as a compromise document. It isn't legally binding and that is worth again mentioning. But it is an important step, say scientists and activists, to ending the discussion of keeping fossil fuels as the singular way that the world powers the planet -- Max.

FOSTER: OK, David McKenzie, thank you.

Now, to give you a sense of why these talks are so important. A new report says the Arctic region experiences its hottest summer on record in 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that Arctic temperatures hit a record 43 degrees Fahrenheit, or around six degrees Celsius.

[04:40:00]

It also reports sea ice is continuing to shrink, exposing the dark surface of the ocean, which means it's absorbing more heat from the sun. Scientists previously have reported that 2023 will officially be the hottest year on record worldwide.

Still to come, dozens of new cooperation deals signed between China and Vietnam, including on maritime security in the disputed South China Sea. We'll have a live report from Beijing on Xi Jinping's state visit to Hanoi.

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FOSTER: Vietnam says 36 cooperation deals have been signed with China, during President Xi Jinping's two-day state visit to Hanoi. They reportedly include agreements on maritime security and the dispute at South China Sea. According to Chinese state media, Xi said China's relationship with Vietnam is a priority in building neighborhood diplomacy, and he praised their strategic and economic partnership. Xi's visit comes just three months after U.S. President Joe Biden was in Vietnam, looking to strengthen ties with China's neighbor.

CNN's Marc Stewart joins us now from Beijing. I wonder if that visit by Beijing really set the tone in a way for this visit from China.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Vietnam is getting a lot of attention lately, especially by President Biden, but also by a lot of the U.S. business interests. And the last time Xi Jinping was in Vietnam was six years ago. So, you know, I think it is fair to say that there was some pressure for him to make his presence known. These nations are neighbors. They are both communists, but there's also some division, especially when it comes to the South China Sea.

But as we are hearing from Chinese state media, there is this new positioning of relations, at least that's the term that's being used.

[04:45:00] And Xi Jinping was welcomed to Vietnam in grand style. There was a 21- gun salute. We saw children waving flags. There was a military band giving a serenade. So, it was certainly full of the optics that are very important in this part of the world.

Xi Jinping met with Vietnam's prime minister. He met with Vietnam's president. They did discuss some of these maritime issues, the South China Sea. In particular, there's an area called the Gulf of Tonkin, which is off the Vietnamese coast. It's a very resource-rich area. The nations agreed to join patrols in that area. They also agreed to set up a hotline if there's any kind of incidents from fishing boats, for example.

And then there were other agreements signed. Not necessarily very headline grabbing but it did show that there was an effort of cooperation between the two nations. Also, a lot of discussion between economics. But again, the timing of this likely cannot be ignored. Again, President Biden was just there in the fall. We now have President Xi who has been making his presence on the world stage much more visible lately. We saw him at the APEC Summit in San Francisco just last month.

So, he is certainly trying to produced this idea of a new world order and an alternative to the West. And so, Max, in many ways, this visit to Vietnam falls in line with President Xi Jinping's broader goals, broader expectations.

FOSTER: And this is a country with ties to both countries. It'll be interesting to see how it sustains that over time.

STEWART: Right, in fact in the case of the United States, the United States is now elevated to the highest level of diplomatic relations -- I guess you could say -- between Vietnam and the United States. It's the highest level in the eyes of Vietnam. And you know, there's certainly a lot of benefit for the United States to have that relationship especially from a business standpoint. Because if there is, you know, any kind of slowdown with supply chain issues in China, Vietnam has been seen as an alternative. So, it does make sense for these relations to move forward for both nations.

FOSTER: Marc Stewart in Beijing, thank you so much.

British lawmakers have advanced the government's controversial plan to deploy many migrants to Rwanda for processing despite widespread criticism and divisions among Conservative lawmakers. The draft bill passed its first parliamentary hurdle on Tuesday with 313 lawmakers voting for the legislation, 269 against. Dozens of right-wing Conservative MPs abstained over objections that the bill isn't tough enough. The draft legislation was revived and rewritten to override legal challenges. The Conservative government defended the bill's legality in Parliament.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLEVERLY, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: The new treaty that I signed last week with Rwanda and the bill that accompanies it are game changing. The principle of relocating people to a safe country to have their asylum claim processed there is entirely consistent with the terms of the Refugee Convention. Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal unanimously, unanimously confirmed this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The legislation is likely to face additional challenges from lawmakers on all sides as well as opposition from the upper House, the House of Lords. We'll be back in just a moment.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The world of Turkish football is in turmoil after a club's president went onto the pitch and punched a referee in the face. The president has resigned and the Turkish Football Federation has suspended matches across all leagues. CNN's Scott McLean has more from Istanbul.

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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the man who ran onto the pitch of a top tier football match in Turkey on Monday and punched a referee in the face is facing criminal charges. He has also now resigned from his job. That job by the way is as the president of one of the teams that was playing. Now in the video you can see Faruk Koca, the president of Ankaragucu, a mid-table team in the Turkish Super League, run onto the pitch and deliver a blow directly to the ref's face. Two other people kicked him while he was down.

Not long after, that ref had a very noticeable black eye. Now, Koca was arrested by police not long after announcing his resignation on Tuesday.

Saying in part, quote: In order to avoid any further harm to the Ankaragucu club, Ankaragucu fans, the community I am in, and my family, I would like to announce that I have resigned. I hope that this incident, which I've more than anyone else cannot accept, will provide a reason for purification of shortcomings and a culture of violence.

This though is a far cry from his initial statements after the match. He told Turkish state news agency Anadolu that he lashed out because of the referee's wrong decisions in the game and said his aim was to react verbally and spit in the ref's face. He said he slapped the ref, rather than punched him, and denied that his supposed slap could have caused the referee's skull to be fractured, as his doctor reported.

Now according to CNN Turk, he told another TV channel that he blacked out and didn't remember what he did.

[04:55:00]

The Turkish Football Federation announced that all matches in the top tiers had been suspended indefinitely and the Referees Association called on refs not to work any matches in protest.

The incident has received widespread condemnation across Turkey right up to the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who called the referee in his hospital room to wish him a quick recovery.

Scott McLean, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Stories in the spotlight, Hollywood mourning the loss of actor Andre Braugher who died on Monday at the age of 61 after a brief illness.

Braugher made his acting debut as a sensitive soldier in the 1989 film "Glory" about a unit of Black soldiers during the Civil War. He went on to have dozens of television and film roles throughout his career, demonstrating his range in both dramas and comedies, including his leading role in the series "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." He also won an Emmy for his portrayal of a detective in" Homicide, Life on the Street."

The head of Epic Games, maker of the popular Fortnite, says Google executives have only themselves to blame for a monumental defeat in court. On Monday, a federal jury found Google was running an illegal monopoly with its App Store, stifling competition, and violating U.S. antitrust laws. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney tells CNN Google executives left too much of a paper trail for the jury to ignore, having written down all their ideas, then contradicting themselves on the witness stand.

It's considered the first major antitrust decision against the tech giant since the U.S. government took on Microsoft in the 1990s. Google vowed to appeal.

Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. "EARLY START" with Kasie next here on CNN.