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CNN International: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau Announces Resignation; Elon Musk Accuses British PM Keir Starmer of Covering Up a Grooming and Sexual Abuse Scandal. Aired 2:40-3p ET

Aired January 06, 2025 - 14:40   ET

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

[14:40:00]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. Canada will have a new prime minister soon after Justin Trudeau announced he's resigning as prime minister and stepping down as head of his party. Mr. Trudeau, who was already facing a tough re-election campaign, has been under significant pressure to leave the post since his deputy prime minister resigned last month. CNN's Paula Newton explains how this all came about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Canada's Justin Trudeau announced he would step down as both Liberal Party leader and prime minister when his party chooses a new leader. Trudeau ending months of turmoil about his future with a reluctant goodbye.

One of the country's youngest ever leaders, Trudeau promised to usher in sunny ways when he was first elected in 2015. But nearly a decade later, members of his own party recently joined a growing chorus of Canadians who wanted the sun to set on his tenure. Amid plummeting opinion polls, Trudeau's Liberal Party was widely expected to lose a general election later this year if he remained as prime minister.

Still for months, he said he had no intention of resigning.

TRUDEAU: Like most families, sometimes we have fights around the holidays. But of course, like most families, we find our way through it.

NEWTON: Despite calls to resign from his own members of Parliament, Trudeau insisted that he was best placed to fight Canada's corner as President-elect Donald Trump threatens 25 percent tariffs on all goods imported from Canada, which is home to about 40 million people and one of America's largest trading partners.

But last month, even Trudeau's finance minister and longtime ally, Chrystia Freeland, resigned from his Cabinet, leaving him on even shakier ground with a blunt resignation letter accusing the prime minister of using costly political gimmicks at the expense of Canada's fiscal health. Freeland added that the government needed to start pushing back against America First economic nationalism.

A former high school teacher and the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada's most well-known prime ministers, Trudeau was elected three times. He became a poster child for the country's progressive agenda on the global stage, seen as antidote to Trump during the incoming US president's first term.

His government pursued policies on alleviating child poverty, gender equity, cutting middle class taxes and the legalization of cannabis. And while he was generally praised for his handling of the pandemic, voter sentiment has soured since. High inflation and affordable housing crisis, and an increase in legal immigration have tested Trudeau's government.

TRUDEAU: We continue to handle migration seriously.

NEWTON: And will that include taking migrants that sometimes even present themselves at the southern border, or taking migrants directly from the United States?

TRUDEAU: Canada is always willing to do more. We just need to make sure we're doing it in responsible, proper ways to continue to have our citizens positive towards immigration as Canadians always are.

NEWTON: Now that Trudeau is resigning, once a new Liberal Party leader is in place, an election will follow by summer or early fall at the latest. Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly are all considering a run for the Liberal leadership.

[14:45:08]

Pierre Poilievre's opposition Conservative Party currently holds a more than 20 percent lead over the Liberals in polling averages. Paul Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Paula is with me now. Paula, the Parliament's prorog until March, the election you say will be sort of before the summer or just after the summer, it doesn't give his successor very long to bed themselves in him or her. And that he was asked about at the news conference today and he was a rather wishy-washy answer about having confidence in something or other.

NEWTON: For sure, Richard. And, you know, you'll forgive me, this story does sound familiar to many viewers by now. They did not have a succession plan. He said himself that up until the last few weeks, he really believed that he would be the best person to take on Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, but also to be able to govern Canada through what will be a very challenging time with President- elect Trump coming into office in a mere two weeks.

He did not leave them a succession plan, so the party is a bit flat footed. This will be a very truncated leadership campaign. And remember, so many of the people in the running are closely linked to the Trudeau government itself. Given the wide margin that Pierre Poilievre right now in polls, it's not impossible, but definitely he's left a difficult task for any successor.

QUEST: And he was unpopular before, but how much did the whole business of Trump do him in? That sort of sudden dash to Mar-a-Lago, the tariffs that he -- it looked like he was going there to grovel not for time. How much can we put this on Trump?

NEWTON: I don't think you can weigh too much on Trump in terms of what happened in the days following the election, whether it was Mar-a-Lago or whether it was the tweet -- the posting about a 51st state, and Justin Trudeau being a governor. But it does change the entire dynamic and reality of what Canada is facing now that it is Donald J. Trump who will be the president of the United States.

I think Canadians did take a second look. And while Justin Trudeau arguably did a fairly good job in the first Trump term, getting that trade deal signed and really coming to some kind of OK terms with the former president and now soon to be president again, the issue is Canadians just didn't have faith that he was the right person for the job at this time. And it definitely solidified that thinking.

But again, I warn many people, Richard, I think I've warned you before as well. When you start talking about 51st state governors, that tends to stiffen the spines of Canadians. And anyone who stands up to that will likely be earning some points as well.

QUEST: Right now. Let's look at the candidates, the potential candidates. And I realize that, you know, there are also -- you've got Chrystia Freeland herself, Mark Carney is one of the names, former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England. Where is the smart money going at the moment on this?

NEWTON: So in recent polling, the smart money is on Chrystia Freeland. Now, I will say, though, these are tentative polls, they've only been in the field in the last few weeks. And get this, more people actually do not care who the Liberal leader will be than actually care that it is Chrystia Freeland. So think about that.

The point is, the country seems to have soured, according to polls, on the Liberal Party entirely. All eyes now on Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, and what he is able to pull off on the coming election.

QUEST: Paula, grateful. Thank you, Paula Newton in the capital.

In Ottawa, Donald Trump's election victory has now been certified by the US Congress. The vice president, Kamala Harris, oversaw her opponent's victory in her role as the Senate president. She spoke just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, US VICE PRESIDENT: Well, today was obviously a very important day. And it was about what should be the norm and what the American people should be able to take for granted, which is that one of the most important pillars of our democracy is that there will be a peaceful transfer of power.

And today, I did what I have done my entire career, which is take seriously the oath that I have taken many times to, support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which included today performing my constitutional duties to ensure that the people of America, the voters of America, will have their votes counted, that those votes matter, and that they will determine then the outcome of an election.

I do believe very strongly that America's democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. Every single person, their willingness to fight for it, and respect the importance of our democracy. Otherwise, it is very fragile and it will not be able to withstand moments of crisis. And today, America's democracy stood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:27]

QUEST: Vice President Kamala Harris. Back with more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Elon Musk continues to wield his influence as owner of X, the world's richest man and Donald Trump's new confidant to intervene in other countries politics. Last week, Musk accused the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of covering up a grooming and sexual abuse scandal when he was the chief prosecutor. He posted or reposted more than 50 times on X the accusations.

Today, he asked his followers if America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government. Nic Robertson is in London.

It doesn't matter where we look, Elon Musk is determined whether it's Germany with AfD, whether it's France, Macron, whether it's Norway, wherever, Greenland and Denmark. Now, of course, Keir Starmer. Why is Musk doing this? Do we have any insight into it?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Look, he is clearly pushing the far right parties in Europe. It's almost as if you look at Steve Bannon, remembering he was a Trump adviser, senior adviser during Trump's last administration, where he had this agenda to try to galvanize Europe's right, bring them together, get a common voice, basically strengthen them.

You can look at Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister in Italy right now, who just met with President-elect Donald Trump at the weekend, and say Bannon's efforts were successful there. And it appears that Musk is pushing in the same direction. Is it to weaken the European Union construct as a negotiating tool, partner divide and conquer in Europe? Is that Musk's agenda? It's not clear, but certainly there's an agenda.

QUEST: Right. But when I listen to Keir Starmer today, the British prime minister, he was very muted in the way he said it. But what he said was, we've seen this before. These people have no, in other words, I assuming he meant Musk, have no interest in doing any good. They're just interested in promoting themselves.

[14:55:02]

This is the first time I've seen another world leader, sort of an ally leader. If you say, basically tell Musk to shove off. Well, he's calling it lies and misinformation. And, you know, and I think the trap, if you will, that Starmer is trying to avoid because as a prosecutor, and he knows how traps work in the court and the court of public opinion, that if you follow the rabbit down the hole where Musk is leading him, then you just reinvigorate Musk's argument.

You re litigate something that was already litigated. What Musk is accusing Starmer of, and this is what Starmer is, in essence, saying is not the whole set of facts. He's accusing him of being on the hook for something he wasn't on the hook for.

There was actually a right wing conservative government during that period and there were inquiries. And they didn't, that government, didn't follow through on all those points. So this is where Starmer is going in defense, not down the rabbit hole. Cut it off, carry on.

QUEST: Let's see if it works. We'll talk more about it in "Quest Means Business." I'm grateful. Thank you.

Stay with the CNN, Newsroom is up next. Jim Sciutto follows.