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First Move with Julia Chatterley
U.S. Senators Swear In For The Trump Impeachment Trial, Phase 1 Of China's Trade Deal Done, But Most Tariffs Will Remain, The Unicorn That's Supercharging Our Electric Future. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired January 16, 2020 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:13]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Live from the New York Stock Exchange, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here is your need to
know.
Job begins. U.S. senators swear in for the Trump impeachment trial.
Signed and sealed. Phase 1 of China's trade deal done, but most tariffs will remain.
And a better battery. That unicorn that's supercharging our electric future.
It Thursday, let's make a move.
Welcome once again to FIRST MOVE. Great to have you with us here on Wall Street for another jam-packed show. Lots of breaking news this morning. Let
me give you a look to start with at the markets. Fresh records. That's what we're looking at when the U.S. majors kick off the session today.
As you can see, followed a pretty momentous session on Wednesday, too. The Dow closing just above 29,000 for the first time ever. In fact, took a mere
40 trading days to get from 28,000 to 29,000. So we will count how long it takes to get to 30,000. One wouldn't want to tempt fate.
So let's take a look at Europe's session, too. There, we started out strong, but we've since faded as you can see there. Asian stocks also
having a pretty mixed session. The Shanghai Composite falling some five tenths of one percent. I think globally right now investors weighing up the
details of this U.S.-China trade deal and what the future implications are.
The proof of course, will be in the pudding, very British. The future stabilization of growth, what kind of achievements can we see on that
front? And of course, perhaps more importantly, a return of confidence here.
For now, this is interesting to me. The U.S. bond market noticeably cautious on this. Ten-year bond yields still sitting around that 1.8
percent figure, so I think that's something to watch. But for now, let's get right to the drivers and we head to Washington where the impeachment
process casts a pretty long shadow over any trade deal success.
In just a few hours' time, U.S. managers will formally present the Articles of Impeachment against President Trump in the Senate. It will mark the
beginning of the third impeachment trial in U.S. history.
The House sent over the Articles to the Senate after a signing ceremony on Wednesday night. Athena Jones is on Capitol Hill. Athena, there's so much
to discuss including the prospect of further evidence in the last 24 hours, too, but first just talk us through what to expect in the coming hours.
Lots of pomp and lots of ceremony.
ATHENA JONES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure, that's exactly right. While the Senate, it will begin -- the trial will begin in earnest next
Tuesday. There are a lot of ceremonial steps that are going to be taken, including today at about noon, when you're going to have the House
Impeachment Managers. Those are the folks who will be prosecuting the case against President Trump in the senate trial.
They're going to be back over here in the Senate to read the Articles on the Senate floor, then later this afternoon, the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, John Roberts is going to be swearing in all 100 senators. They will take an oath to do impartial justice.
And then of course next week, we're going to see the senators sitting for hours on end, days on end, listening to the House Impeachment Managers make
their case against the President, followed by the President's own defense team. They will make their defense of the President.
Each side gets 24 hours to do that. That's why it's going to take several days. Then after all of that, the senators will finally be able to put some
questions to either side, both sides. That's when you're going to come to these issues of will there be new evidence? Evidence that emerged after the
House impeached the President? Will new evidence be allowed to be introduced?
And also, will senators ultimately vote to call witnesses? They're going to need 51 senators to support those sorts of moves.
And while we know who the Impeachment Managers are on the House side, we don't fully know the makeup of the President's team. That is still being
decided. They haven't yet made any announcements.
We do expect the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone and his deputies to be involved. Jay Sekulow, who is the President's personal attorney is also
expected to be part of the team.
But what's unclear is whether or not some of the President's most staunch defenders on the House side, conservatives, who you may have seen kind of
make a name for themselves in defending the President during the impeachment hearings, or just in general folks like Matt Gaetz, Mark
Meadows, Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe.
Those are the types of people that the President is considering putting on his team even though Republican senators have warned that maybe he
shouldn't want to bring kind of the circus atmosphere of the House over the Senate. It could put vulnerable Republicans in a bad position bringing
these firebrands from the House onto the team.
[09:05:00]
JONES: So we'll have to wait and see what happens there -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Now, I mentioned, Athena, and you're absolutely right. We have to wait and see in line of further evidence here, the developing story just
in the last 12 hours or so, that close associate of Rudy Giuliani, of course, the President's personal lawyer, Lev Parnas, who has openly come
out and suggested that the President is lying about their not being some kind of quid pro quo here in exchange of information and investigation into
Joe Biden and Joe Biden's son for support, for financial aid for Ukraine.
What are people in D.C. saying about this right now? Because again, this could be a piece of very pivotal evidence if it's allowed to be presented.
JONES: Well, it certainly could be and that's what people are saying. You have Democrats who say, look, this is just more proof and it gives us more
support for the case we're making against the President.
It also means this is a person who is clearly willing to testify. He has handed over a trove of documents that folks in the House are still going
through.
So, the first day it's, oh, you know, there's a handwritten letter on Ritz Carlton stationery in the hotel in Vienna where Lev Parnas writes get
President Zelensky to announce investigation into the Biden's. There's the letter that was first revealed that Rudy Giuliani sent to President-elect
Zelensky asking for a meeting with the knowledge and consent of the President.
And now you have Lev Parnas giving multiple media interviews in which he says that President Trump knew, of course, knew everything about what they
were doing and what Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas were getting up to in Ukraine.
And even at one point, quoting Ambassador Gordon Sondland, the Ambassador to the European Union, who you'll remember during the impeachment hearings,
said, look, everyone was in the loop.
The question is, will senators ultimately vote to hear from directly from someone like Lev Parnas, in which case he could be cross examined by both
sides. They are not just going to take him at his word, but also whether those kinds of documents are going to be allowed to be entered into
evidence.
Democrats saying they absolutely have to be considered in order for this to be a real trial and a fair trial -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, the Republicans hold the majority in the Senate and we have to keep bringing it back to that. Athena Jones, thank you so much for
that.
Now directly related, Ukraine has announced it is investigating the possible surveillance of the former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. Ms.
Yovanovitch was fired from her post in the country by the Trump administration.
It comes as we were just discussing, there was an associate of Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani directly implicated the President in
the Ukraine scandal. He told Anderson Cooper he helped orchestrate Giuliani's efforts to pressure Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his
son, saying it was all about keeping President Trump in power. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: That's how you personally viewed it. This is about 2020 to help him get the next four year.
LEV PARNAS, INDICTED RUDY GIULIANI ASSOCIATE: That was the way everybody viewed it. I mean, that was the most important thing is for him to stay on
for another four years.
After Rudy would speak with the President or come from the White House, I was the first person he briefed.
COOPER: So Giuliani knew everything you were doing.
PARNAS: Everything.
COOPER: You're saying Vice President Pence knew.
PARNAS: I don't know if the Vice President knew everything we were doing. I'm sure he was -- he was in the loop.
COOPER: But he knew about the quid pro quo.
PARNAS: Of course, he knew. Everybody no fault.
COOPER: Bolton?
PARNAS: Bolton.
COOPER: Mulvaney?
PARNAS: Mulvaney. Bolton, I don't think agreed with it. I think Bolton is a very important witness because I think between me and Bolton, we could fit
in all the dots, I think because I was on the ground there and he was over here. I mean --
COOPER: And you'd be willing to testify.
PARNAS: I would be very willing to testify.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Christiane Amanpour joins us now. Christiane, you just spoke exclusively with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, impeccable timing. What
more do we know?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You know, Julia, now we're at the point where all sides are accusing each other of lying and as you
know, Lev Parnas is already under investigation in New York in a criminal matter.
And, and so the Foreign Minister of Ukraine told me point blank that this was fantasy what he was saying, that certainly he had never met him. Here's
what he told me this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Lev Parnas, a crony of Rudy Giuliani, who is the President's personal lawyer has now spoken out, as you know, and he has said several
things, mostly that he did carry a very explicit message from the President via Rudy Giuliani, that there would need to be a quid pro quo if Ukraine
was going to continue getting any kind of assistance.
And furthermore, he has now said that he has spoken to key officials within President Zelensky's circle.
Since you are one of those and you were when this happened, did you get that message from Lev Parnas?
VADYM PRYSTAINKO, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: It is all on Ukrainian media as well today and yesterday, and strangely enough, my name was not
mentioned, although I am the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and frankly, I never spoke with this individual. And again, frankly, I don't -- I don't
trust any word he is now saying.
The assistance which he is referring to was reviewed each and every year, annually, at least twice and a half a year, at the end of the year.
[09:10:09]
PRYSTAINKO: So we knew that this assistance is to be reviewed, sometimes it would be cut, because of some political understanding of what is to be done
in Ukraine. Sometimes it would even be raised, which is now what we're observing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Julia, as you know, the Ukrainians are desperate not to be dragged into this American domestic political drama. And they are desperate
not to run afoul of the U.S. administration, who put so much into supporting the Government of Ukraine, whether it's with military or other
kinds of assistance.
But as we also know, because it was part of the testimony, the Ukrainian President was going to announce this quid pro quo or rather this Ukrainian
investigation into the Biden's and Burisma on CNN. You'll remember that was a key part of testimony in Congress recently that we learned about, and in
fact that never actually happened -- that interview.
But clearly there was more to it than we're being told by the Ukrainian side right now. And in addition, as you know, the U.S. Ambassador in
question, Marie Yovanovitch who was fired by President Trump, and is now very concerned about reports of Ukrainian and American surveillance
interactivities has asked for an investigation.
And you've heard that the Ukrainian government says that it is launching an investigation into that kind of surveillance on their soil, and also an
investigation into the Burisma hack that again, is attached to this story, because that's the energy company that Hunter Biden was a Board member on -
- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Absolutely. And for the Foreign Minister here as well, consistent with what we've been told by the President as well, openly in
front of the U.S. President as well that none of the sort happened. So everybody, I think being very, very careful here within the Ukrainian
administration.
AMANPOUR: Yes, indeed. And furthermore, on this particular issue of Lev Parnas, you know, as you heard, the Foreign Minister says, he never met him
and this sort didn't happen.
But also, he is saying that Lev Parnas is under all sorts of, you know, judicial investigation right now. And he's obviously "doing what he needs
to do" to burnish his credentials and make himself, you know, to defend himself.
So it is very, very complex. But what you have is these documents, and we'll see exactly where they lead. And what we know, is that, that there
was going to be some kind of Ukrainian announcement in line with what President Trump had requested and through Rudy Giuliani, that there be an
investigation into the Biden's or at least an announcement of such an investigation.
The Ukrainian government was about to do that using CNN as a vehicle. It never in the end happened.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and then it never happened. Christiane Amanpour, great job. Thank you so much for joining us and that interview.
All right, let's move on to our next driver now. A new era of unbridled harmony awaits China and the United States, or does it? Beijing has agreed
to buy more U.S. goods, protect American intellectual property rights, and open up its financial services sector.
There is a lot to cover here and who better to have it, with us to discuss is Christine Romans. Christine, great to have you with us. I mean, you've
done an opinion piece and you were pretty blunt about this.
You say, quite frankly, the trade war is still on. What's your assessment here beyond that and why?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It didn't end yesterday. I mean, it was packaged to look like a big huge election year
promise kept. But all of the really heavy lifting was pushed forward to a Phase 2.
You know, China's massive industrial subsidies left aside. Cybersecurity left aside. State-owned enterprises, left aside.
Now what was in here, though? I mean, look, there were some notable wins for the US. I'm not pooh-poohing that. I mean, a $200 billion overall
shopping list for the Chinese of everything from American drugs to food to airplanes, all kinds of oil and gas on there. I mean, that's good.
But the President of the United States at the beginning of this trade war said he wasn't going to just go there and ask for them to buy a bunch of
stuff. He wanted the fundamental reshaping of the trade agreement, and we're not quite there yet.
There is a bright spot in here for American farmers, a $32 billion in additional farm purchases. Hey, that's great for a battered soybean and
pork farmers in the Midwest where I'm from, but they have really been awfully, awfully hurt over the past couple of years.
And essentially, these fixes, what was a product of the trade war in the first place. I mean, we went into this trade war with China, not trying to
fix agriculture, trying to fix all that other stuff.
So in a weird way, it's just kind of really unfair still what has happened to American farmers. And by the way, the farm bailout, the taxpayer farm
bailout, $28 billion, twice the size of the auto bailout. So that's just to put that in perspective there.
[09:15:10]
ROMANS: Also, you made the point at the top of your show, Julia $370 billion of imports of Chinese goods, those tariffs are still on. So that is
still something -- it is leverage for the President, but it is also something that could be damaging for the economy.
CHATTERLEY: Right. Yes, I do feel like it depends where you sit here. You're either glass half full or you're glass half empty. I mean, this is
really the first of its kind with China to try and at least begin tackling some of the asymmetries in the relationship, whether it's technology access
or trade.
And to your point, and you've already said it, we shouldn't take away from the President. Do we like the idea despite the impact that they have held
on to that leverage of tariffs? And then going to it, it seems try and push for Phase 2, maybe before the 2020 elections, because there's plenty of
skepticism too out there about their ability to achieve that.
ROMANS: Yes. I think that the President had to keep some of that leverage, right? Otherwise, how do you enforce this with the Chinese? I mean, this
has been for administration after administration, these strategic economic dialogues or this half year, you know, trade talks that they have where the
Chinese promise something and they don't deliver on it.
The President now has this firepower to try to keep them at his word. Now, that does mean there could be uncertainty in the marketplace. Right? If
people think that the President is going to put on more tariffs, you know, then that starts to cause the uncertainty thing again.
But I think overall here, this is a truce. The hostilities have ended, but the trade war is still simmering out there.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Okay. It's where you can get quite frankly, trade truce, more battles to come. Christine Romans, thank you so much for that.
All right, next driver, fourth quarter earnings season is over for the major banks and it turns out, they may have saved the best for last. Morgan
Stanley reporting a stunning 46 percent profit rise in Q4 crushing expectations and beating JPMorgan Chase 21 profit rise if you remember from
earlier in the week.
Paul La Monica joins me now. I mean, there's all sorts of adjectives being used, a blowout quarter for Morgan Stanley, and I think, an ode actually to
the CEO and the progress that he has made over the last decade to shift the direction of the overall business here into wealth management and that
sector in particular.
PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, exactly, Julia, this is a superlative quarter for Morgan Stanley, and you're right that I think CEO
James Gorman has done a fantastic job of pushing Morgan Stanley into wealth management, asset management a little bit more so that is not just relying
on more traditional Wall Street businesses.
But to that end, Morgan Stanley did have a phenomenal quarter in those Wall Street businesses for the most part. I mean, M&A activity in Q4 was
lackluster and we already knew that and that's why Goldman Sachs had talked about that in its earnings report, but Morgan Stanley, much like JPMorgan
Chase, and Goldman and Citi and Bank of America, big gains in bond trading and also in IPOs, equity underwriting is as well as bond underwriting, too.
So Morgan Stanley had a very, very good quarter here and it's got to have people wondering if they might be the king of Wall Street now instead of
Goldman Sachs.
CHATTERLEY: Wow. And that says something. I mean, legal issues aside, this was a great quarter for the banks, the core businesses of the banks.
Interesting to watch to see how the stock prices perform now going forward. Paul La Monica, thank you for that.
All right. We're going to take a break here on FIRST MOVE, but coming up later on in the show, are you in need an energy boost? Well, we'll be
hearing from the co-founder of a startup unicorn working on silicon based batteries with a significantly longer lasting life. We will explain in a
minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:21:53]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE live from the New York Stock Exchange. We are looking at fresh records for the U.S. majors when we open
up in a few minutes' time. We still have got that glow it seems from the trade deal signing yesterday. Perhaps banks also helping the performance
today.
Take a look at what we're seeing for Morgan Stanley. Shares up more than six percent premarket after that whopping great earnings beat. So it looks
like it's going to be, at least for the start of this session, a positive one.
Let's bring it back though, and I want to discuss this China trade deal to recap what's been achieved here. China set to purchase another $200 billion
worth of goods over two years.
The United States to cut tariffs by half on the 15 percent rate on the $120 billion worth of goods, protection of intellectual property rights
including trademarks will be established.
The U.S. also set to gain access to Chinese markets like banking and insurance.
I'm not done yet. Both sides agreeing not to devalue currencies for competitive reasons. China also says it will end forced technology
transfers.
There's also going to be a way to resolve disputes, too. Some more talk, it seems.
Well, what does Alicia Levine feel about this? She is the Chief Strategist at BNY Mellon and joins us now. Hi.
ALICIA LEVINE, CHIEF STRATEGIST, BNY MELLON: Good morning.
CHATTERLEY: I did that recap so that you didn't have to.
LEVINE: Thank you. It was a long list, and you did a great job.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you. How do you feel?
LEVINE: So look, yesterday was a good day. It was a good day. And essentially, it was really a win for what the administration has been
talking about, which is the Ag purchases, and on top of that, the intellectual property issues, the non-tariff barriers, the kind of opening
of the markets and very immediately, for instance, financial services companies, such as credit cards will be able to function in China by April
30th. So that's actually pretty big.
It's a substantive change and the conversation has changed. And really the administration is right to take a win here. I mean, they did it, and nobody
thought they could do it.
CHATTERLEY: No, there will be a lot of people out there who are skeptical, saying yes, yes, China will say this. China will say that they'll welcome
credit card competition in China and then yes --
LEVINE: Look, I think it's clear that the benefits to this deal are going to accrue to certain sectors right away. So the $200 billion in additional
purchases, it's a very, very ambitious target. But it's going to immediately affect agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and financial
services. And you will be able to play that in the stock market, actually, because it will be an inflection to growth.
Now, it's so ambitious a target, it may not be met over two years, and therefore, the U.S. may have a right to re-impose tariffs.
CHATTERLEY: How much of the news that we got yesterday is in the price?
LEVINE: Look, we think that most of it is already in the price because once the administration announced that there was going to be a deal, the stock
market took off, like were up 10 percent pretty much from the fourth quarter into the beginning of January. That's great.
But we need the fundamentals to follow it, otherwise, we have the makings of a softer market going forward. So this is all very good. I just don't
think you're getting additional gain from here. I think the news is pretty much baked in.
[09:25:06]
CHATTERLEY: Talk to me about earnings season then because this is critical, also forward guidance from earnings season. I was just mentioning on the
show, the financials, the banks, actually take out legal costs, they've had a great week, they have had a great past quarter.
LEVINE: Well, what we've learned in this earnings season is that a firm economy is more important to bank earnings than net interest margin.
CHATTERLEY: Right. Low rates.
LEVINE: So, the banks -- right, so low rates are a problem for a bank, but it's what's more important for the banks that banks are a healthy economy,
and that's what we see.
Look, most of the banks had huge jumps in their trading -- fixed income and commodity trading -- so that was important. And we know that -- look,
they're telling us the consumer is healthy, corporates are healthy.
So we think, you know, the year is going to be pretty good. Having said that, the Boeing issue could shave up to 50 basis points off of GDP this
coming year. Maybe more than what the tariffs did over two years.
CHATTERLEY: That's such a great point to make. Alicia, very quickly here, sell it, impeachment trial, do investors care?
LEVINE: Wall Street has gone to sleep on this issue, okay. So if they cannot get, you know, 20 Republican senators to vote with the Democrats,
this is a non-issue.
CHATTERLEY: There's no one -- no investor believes that the President will be impeached in the Senate.
LEVINE: Correct. However, what is interesting is that the Democratic senators running for President will now be, you know, kept in the Senate
and they cannot go on the campaign trail in Iowa and New Hampshire. That might be interesting. It would help Joe Biden.
CHATTERLEY: Alicia Levine, always a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you so much.
LEVINE: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: The Chief Strategist at BNY Mellon, thank you for that.
All right, a quick look, once again at the futures. We are set to see fresh records when the markets open up this morning and we are three or four
minutes away from that. Stay with us because the opening bell is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:03]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE and the first move for markets this morning takes us to fresh records on Wall Street. One day after the Dow
closed above 29,000 for the first time ever, stocks are getting a boost it seems amid hopes that the U.S.-China trade deal will lift global growth.
We've also got some pretty solid economic numbers today in the United States as well. Hey, big spenders, retail sales rising an expected 0.3
percent in the all-important December shopping period.
If you exclude auto sales, they were even better, up some 0.7 percent. Tomorrow is going to be a big day, too for data as well when China releases
its fourth quarter growth numbers, too. So we will be watching that for you as well.
Let me give you a look right now at the Global Movers and far and away, the star of the show today, Morgan Stanley up six percent. Shares surging after
the company reported record 2019 profits.
What about Tesla, too? Tesla shares under a bit of pressure this session, down some 4.6 percent. Morgan Stanley cutting its rating on Tesla stock
today. It says investors should wait to buy Tesla now at a lower price. Interesting to see some divergence here among analysts.
Alcoa is also down some 3.4 percent. The aluminum giant reporting a wider than expected Q4 loss of 31 cents a share, revenues in fact also missed
estimates. Weak pricing remains a major concern here for the company and investors reacting in kind this morning.
All right, let's move on. A battery firm, Sila Nano is one charged up unicorn. Sila, which is currently valued at more than $1 billion has
developed technology that can give electric cars, smartphones and other battery powered devices, a significant energy boost.
Major firms like Daimler are some of Nano's first investors. I spoke with the head of Sila, Gene Berdichevsky about his company's game changing
innovation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GENE BERDICHEVSKY, CEO SILA NANOTECHNOLOGIES: At Sila, we are manufacturing the next generation battery technology. We've developed it, we're producing
it, we're launching it shortly, and it increases the energy density of batteries by up to 40 percent.
Every battery since Sony first launched lithium ion in 1991 uses a graphite technology and we replaced that graphite technology entirely with our
silicon technology.
CHATTERLEY: So it means that the batteries last 20 to 40 percent longer just based on a different chemical composition of the battery.
BERDICHEVSKY: That's right. We're adding a new chemical composition into the battery. They'll last longer. You can have smaller battery packs for
the same range for an electric vehicle.
And the way we're doing it is it's fully compatible with existing battery manufacturing. So there's about 50 giga factories worth of battery
production going up around the world in the next five to seven years. Our technology is fully compatible with that. It's just the one for one swap
for the graphite technology.
CHATTERLEY: So why haven't other companies also come up with this technology? Is this just something that you uniquely are doing at this
moment?
BERDICHEVSKY: We're the first to bring it to market. This has been a problem that people have worked on for about 15 years. Batteries are
incredibly hard. They just won the Nobel Prize for lithium ion last year. So these are very tough challenges.
We've built an incredible team. My co-founder is one of the most brilliant professors in the industry. We've been at this for eight years now. So it's
not an overnight success.
CHATTERLEY: It's not an overnight --
BERDICHEVSKY: Yes, it feels like that, but it's a lot of work.
CHATTERLEY: What about price? Does it adjust the price? Are you simply getting 20 to 40 percent longer lasting batteries for the same cost?
BERDICHEVSKY: Yes, so much like we had in computers, we had a Moore's -- there's a Moore's Law like effect in batteries. So, in computers as
transistor density went up, and the cost of compute went down dramatically.
In batteries, it's sort of the same thing. By storing more energy in each device, the cost on a per kilowatt hour basis actually drops. And so we're
going to see some of the same benefits. And so today, obviously the technology is new, we're not necessarily dropping the cost right away.
But at scale, we're absolutely going to lower the cost by roughly 20 to 40 percent and that'll transform how many electric vehicles get out on the
road.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: Now, Gene actually worked with battery brainiac, Elon Musk for years. In fact, three former Tesla employees are currently employed at
Sila. Their goal is to completely transform the electric vehicle market and help the world's transition to more renewable energy.
But first, the company is set to charge up consumers when it comes to personal devices. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERDICHEVSKY: What we said together broadly is that by the middle of the decade, we will be in major vehicle platforms. You might see us in smaller
platforms before that.
[09:35:01]
BERDICHEVSKY: What's also important though is before we ever get there, we will be in small consumer devices starting kind of in the next year.
So it's the same battery technology that's in your phone and that is in your car. It's just a smaller amount of it. And so we're going to start in
smartwatches, fitness trackers, wireless earbuds, and you should start to see that in the next year or so.
CHATTERLEY: So have you signed partnerships with big providers of these, like Apple, for example, is one that instantly comes to mind.
BERDICHEVSKY: Yes, we don't -- we haven't announced any of those.
CHATTERLEY: I know you haven't.
BERDICHEVSKY: But we have announced one partner, which is the biggest manufacturer of consumer device batteries in the world, a company called
ATL, so we work with them, we work with others as well.
We're not exclusive to anyone, and you'll start to see products coming soon. So we're excited. We're excited to talk about those but we're just
not right now.
CHATTERLEY: You were one of the first employees of Tesla.
BERDICHEVSKY: Yes, that's right.
CHATTERLEY: Why leave? Because you know, we have discussions on this show a lot, and actually, we just had one this week with the ARK Invest saying
that, actually Tesla is three years ahead of everyone else in terms of battery technology, would you agree with that? And what differentiates you?
BERDICHEVSKY: Yes, I think Tesla is ahead of others on battery technology, but at a different layer. They're really ahead on the battery pack and how
it integrates into the vehicle.
CHATTERLEY: Right.
BERDICHEVSKY: I think that's something -- and that's something I helped develop back in 2005. And what we do is we bring a different layer -- right
now, Tesla, and everybody else uses roughly the same chemistry within a couple percent of each other.
Our chemistry is 20 to 40 percent better. And our goal, our mission, the reason -- part of the reason to leave is I want to deploy this across all
electric vehicles worldwide, and I want to help accelerate electrification, not just for Tesla.
CHATTERLEY: What about being bought? What about being bought by a company? You said that you want to give your technology to everybody here, so I
guess, I am answering the question for you.
BERDICHEVSKY: That would defeat the purpose, yes. That's right. So our goal and our mission is to transform the entire industry. We think we're the --
the 21st Century is going to be a century of electrifying absolutely everything in our world, transportation, aviation. We're starting to see
people moving in that direction.
And of course, the grid. The grid has to get cleaner and more electrified, and the thing holding it all back is the battery. And if you go one layer
deeper, it's really the battery chemistry. So our mission is frankly too big. And so we would -- we are aiming to stay independent for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: A push towards more sustainability and sustainable investing will be one of the big themes at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg has already said she's going to go there and ask Davos participants to cut all investments and end all subsidies to
the fossil fuel industry.
Berdichevsky says Greta's goal is a good one long term, but he says much more needs to be done before we abandon oil and gas completely. It's
complicated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERDICHEVSKY: Eliminating subsidies, I think is a good thing. We let markets work. I think those kind of policies when they come to pass, you
have to have something else for the world to rely on.
So our mission at Sila is really to create that something else. The way we think about it is, let's make it a better product, more cost effective,
better for consumers, that just happens to be green. And so that's the future -- that's the world future I'd like to live in, and so that's how
we're approaching it with technology.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. So your point, there has to be something to substitute, too.
BERDICHEVSKY: That's right.
CHATTERLEY: When you're saying that you're no longer going to invest in fossil fuel.
BERDICHEVSKY: And if it's more economic, even before you're saying you're not investing in fossil fuels, then the transition happens naturally, and
it happens much faster, frankly, because you know, you're not fighting against the the tides of the market.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Market forces can be efficient, the CEO of Sila Nano there. We're going to take a break here on the FIRST MOVE, but coming up, as the
impeachment trial in the Senate looms, so do questions about the President's personal lawyer, his associates, and their relations to
Ukraine. We will explain, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:41:01]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to the show. An associate of President Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani has directly implicated the President in the
Ukraine scandal.
Speaking to CNN's Anderson Cooper, Lev Parnas said efforts to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son had nothing to do with
corruption. He claimed it was all about keeping President Trump in the White House. Here's some of that interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You love President Trump.
LEV PARNAS, INDICTED ASSOCIATE OF RUDY GIULIANI: Loved him, I mean -- he -- I mean, when the F.B.I. came to my house to raid, my wife felt embarrassed
because they said I was shrined to him. I mean, I had pictures all over. I mean, I idolized him. I mean, I thought he was the Savior.
COOPER: Did you think you were friends?
PARNAS: Absolutely. I mean, again, I went from being a top donor from being in all the events where we would just socialize to becoming a close friend
of Rudy Giuliani's, to eventually becoming his ally and his asset on the ground in Ukraine.
COOPER: The President has said, when you were arrested, the President of the United States said he didn't know you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know those gentlemen. Now, it's possible I have a picture with him because I have a
picture with everybody. I don't know them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PARNAS: The truth is out now, thank God. Yes, it was a big day for us. I thank God every day. I was worried that that day is not going to come. I
thought they were going to shut me up, make me look like the scapegoat and try and blame me for stuff that I haven't done.
But with God's help and a great legal team that I have beside me, we were able to get the information out and now it's out there. So I welcome him to
say that even more every time he says, I'll show him another picture.
COOPER: He's lying.
PARNAS: He's lying.
COOPER: Your attorney in a tweet had said that there were two times in which you gave the message of a quid pro quo to Ukrainian officials. What
were those two times?
PARNAS: I think they were probably a little bit more than two times but there was -- so the first quid pro quo again was when we met with President
Poroshenko, that was the --
COOPER: Former President.
PARNAS: Former President Poroshenko.
COOPER: So what was your message to Poroshenko?
PARNAS: Poroshenko is -- if he would make the announcement that he would -- he would get -- Trump would either invite him to the White House or make a
statement for him. But basically, we start supporting him for, you know, President.
COOPER: So that was the first quid pro quo. Poroshenko can come to the White House or get a meeting with Trump if he announces an investigation.
PARNAS: Correct.
COOPER: What was the next one?
PARNAS: You have to understand because this was a transition time. Zelensky just won. He was President-elect and the most -- the number one thing on
their agenda was not even the transition, it was to get the inauguration because it was a big thing. He was --
COOPER: To show the American backing of the new administration.
PARNAS: Of course, because he'd had no strength with Russia, I mean.
COOPER: Giuliani cancels his visit because there's a lot of bad publicity about him in the United States. He cancels his visit, you go have the
meeting with a high level official in Zelensky's circle.
PARNAS: Correct.
COOPER: And what's the message you delivered?
PARNAS: I basically told him very strict and very stern that several things. A, that he needed to make -- Zelensky to immediately make an
announcement, literally that night or tomorrow, within the next 24 hours that they were opening up an investigation on Biden.
COOPER: Within 24 hours or so.
PARNAS: I mean, I don't remember, 24 hours that same night, but I mean, literally because I mean, Rudy was really pissed off that this was going to
be a set up.
COOPER: But this hadn't happened.
PARNAS: Well, he said some very strong words. I mean, he -- on TV also, I mean, everybody in Ukraine was flipping out at that time because here, Rudy
Giuliani had come out and say that Zelensky, the President-elect that all of a sudden he is surrounded by enemies, and he named the names of the
people.
COOPER: That could be -- that could destroy the new regime in Ukraine.
PARNAS: Well, it was very near -- I mean, it was some crazy times in Ukraine at that time because it became a power struggle, you know.
COOPER: So Rudy is pissed off in your words. You go in, your message is announced the Biden investigation.
PARNAS: Announce the Biden investigation, get rid of certain individuals that are the enemies of the President in his administration.
[09:45:09]
COOPER: At that point, was there any mention of withholding of aid?
PARNAS: Yes, it was -- well, if they didn't make the announcement, basically there would be no relationship, not just -- with the now specific
military aid -- there was no aid. They weren't going to be assisted. There was going to be no inauguration. Pence wouldn't be at the inauguration. And
there would be no visit to the White House. There would be basically -- they would have no communication.
COOPER: So how -- you told the top official in the Zelensky inner circle that if they did not announce an investigation of the Biden's immediately
and get rid of some folks around Zelensky, who they believed were opposed to President Trump, that there wouldn't be any aid and Vice President Pence
would not even come to the inauguration.
PARNAS: Correct.
COOPER: And what happened? What did they say?
PARNAS: I called Rudy, told him that I think it's going to -- there's going to be an announcement and he said, okay, they'll see.
COOPER: They'll see.
PARNAS: They'll see.
COOPER: And what happened the next day?
PARNAS: I got called and said that they got a call from the -- basically that they found out that Pence was not going to be there. He got canceled.
They said that there was a scheduling problem or something.
COOPER: The day after you deliver that message?
PARNAS: Correct. On the 13th.
COOPER: The quid pro quo.
PARNAS: Right. It was a Monday, the 13th. And then after that, like I think on the 16th, or the 15th, I don't remember the exact dates, they had --
because they were flipping out what to do. They didn't want to be embarrassed. They didn't know if anybody at all was going to show up.
You know, but they knew Pence wasn't coming. Trump wasn't coming.
COOPER: How did you have the authority to say the Vice President of the United States will not attend the inauguration if you don't do what I say?
PARNAS: I mean, that's what I was told to do.
COOPER: Who told you to do that?
PARNAS: Rudy Giuliani.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And a reminder, you can watch Anderson Cooper's full interview with Lev Parnas tonight on "AC 360." That's at 8:00 p.m. here in New York,
9:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, right here on CNN.
Now several questions remain clearly including whether or not the Senate will allow fresh evidence in the impeachment trial. And of course, if they
do, whether or not they'd even believe Lev Parnas, who you were listening to there.
Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill for us and Lauren, clearly a momentous day set to take place. We are expecting to hear from the Senate Minority and
the Majority Leader, of course, Mitch McConnell. Just talk us through what we're going to see over the next few hours?
LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS U.S. CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER Well, this will visually be a ceremonial day on Capitol Hill. Don't expect to hear the
opening arguments as part of this impeachment trial, but this is really the moment that the torch is going to get passed from House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who of course, we know has a very different view of how this impeachment process has gone so far.
Here's what you're going to see today. Around noon, you'll see the House Managers walk from the House of Representatives over to the Senate where
they will be invited in to actually read the Articles of Impeachment in the Senate well. That's in the middle of the Senate chamber. So that's the
first thing you're going to see.
Then around two o'clock today, expect to see Chief Justice John Roberts come to Capitol Hill. He'll be sworn in, of course, he's going to be the
individual who will be presiding over this entire impeachment trial in the Senate. Then he'll swear in all 100 senators who will take an oath to do
"impartial justice."
After that, each of the senators, one by one, will walk to the top of the Senate chamber where they will sign a book that says they took the oath of
office, that might take a little bit of time, and then that's really going to be it.
Senators will head home for this long weekend, and you can expect to see them next Tuesday, where they're going to vote on the organizing resolution
dictating the rules of this impeachment trial, which will look very similar to the 1999 Clinton Impeachment rules that were voted on a hundred to zero
back then.
Don't expect to get many Democratic votes this time around, but that gives you a sense of where we're going. Of course, the arguments are likely to
start perhaps Tuesday, maybe even a little later next week -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, there's all sorts of permutations here, to your point, depending on what's allowed what the rules are here. But what are people
saying about perhaps how long this could last?
FOX: Well, that's the million dollar question, and I'll tell you, there are a lot of senators who are looking at the weeks ahead and noticing that
they're going to be stuck in the Senate chamber every day without electronic devices, without being able to communicate with their
colleagues. They're going to just be sitting there listening six days a week.
So I know that the message from the Majority Leader in some of their closed door lunches to his Republican colleagues has been, listen, this isn't
going to be fun for anyone and I know when I am going through something unpleasant, what I like to do is get this done sooner than later.
And so certainly, the impression I am getting from some of the rank and file Republicans is they want to speed this along. But the biggest question
is whether or not there are going to be witnesses as part of this trial.
[09:50:08]
FOX: If there are four Republicans willing to cross the aisle with Democrats to vote for people like John Bolton or Mick Mulvaney to come and
testify as part of this trial, that really drags it out for a number of weeks, in addition to just the opening arguments.
If at the end of those opening arguments, there's a vote on whether or not they want to have witnesses, there aren't enough Republican votes, that
really will submit a much shorter trial, Julia. So a lot up in the air right now, and I think we won't have a good sense of where Republicans who
are on the fence might land until we already hear those opening arguments.
CHATTERLEY: And I think we're starting to see the roll call here as the senators are brought in here, sworn in to be obviously the jury here in
this Impeachment Inquiry here, Lauren.
I guess the other key point to realize here is, to your point, many of these senators now are going to be stuck for several days, if not weeks,
communications limited while they're involved in this.
And for senators that were on the campaign trail here for the Democratic Party, these days are critical as well heading into the Iowa caucus.
FOX: Exactly. And I'll tell you that people like Elizabeth Warren, people like Bernie Sanders, who might rather be on the campaign trail in Iowa are
going to be in the United States Senate as part of this impeachment trial and the message they've gotten from their leadership is this takes
precedent over anything that you're going to be doing back in Iowa.
It's very important. This is part of your oath of office. In fact, Warren and Sanders have both made the point that this is what they signed up for
when they became senators, that this is important to them. They want to be here and be a part of it.
But certainly, it's hard to ignore what a crunch they're under in terms of the timeline for the Iowa caucuses -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Lauren, I mean, we are again, and I'll just reiterate to our viewers, we're waiting to hear ultimately from the Senate Majority Leader
here, Mitch McConnell. We'll also hear from the Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer.
What do we expect them to say? As you've said, it's a ceremonial day really to mark this occasion and the beginning of what could be several weeks of
process here in hearings. What do we expect from them this morning?
FOX: Well, today is really going to be about setting the tone. We should note that these two leaders talk almost every day at the beginning of a
Senate session.
But what we will be looking for today is, what's the message from the Majority Leader today? What is he really setting up? What does he say about
the House process? We know he thinks it's been unfair. What does he say about the timeline that they are going to be under?
We have an expectation, of course, that the trial will begin next Tuesday, in terms of arguments where a vote on that organizing resolution, does he
talked about what is going to be in that organizing resolution? The resolution that will set up the rules for this trial.
CHATTERLEY: Lauren, I am just going to interrupt there because we are looking now at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Let's listen to what
he has to say. Lauren, thank you.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): ... their impeachment of the President of the United States. After weeks of delay, the Speaker of the House decided
yesterday that a trial could finally go forward. She signed the impeachment papers.
That took place, Madam President, at a table with a political slogan stuck on to it, and posed -- and posed afterwards for smiling photos and the
Speaker distributed souvenir pens -- souvenir pens to her own colleagues emblazoned with her golden signature that literally came in on silver
platters.
The pens literally came out on silver platters. Golden pens on silver platters, a souvenir to celebrate the moment.
Now, I seem to remember Democrats falling over themselves to say they did not see impeachment as a long sought political win. House Democrat said
over and over that they recognize the gravity and the seriousness of this action and of course they had only come to it reluctantly.
Well, nothing says seriousness and sobriety like handing out souvenirs as though this were a happy bill signing, instead of the gravest process in
our Constitution.
This final display neatly distilled the House's entire partisan process into one perfect visual. It was transparently partisan performance from
beginning to end. That's why they spent through a slapdash inquiry in 12 weeks when previous presidential impeachment came after months, if not
years of investigations and hearings.
[09:55:18]
MCCONNELL: That's why the House cut short their own inquiry, declined to pursue their own subpoenas and denied the President due process.
But now -- now, they want the Senate to redo their homework and rerun the investigation. That's why our colleague, the Democratic Leader told the
press that whatever happens next, as long as he can weaponize the trial to hurt Republicans in the 2020 election, "it's a win-win" said the Democratic
leader of the Senate.
And that's why the Speaker of the House apparently saw nothing strange about celebrating the third presidential impeachment in American history
with souvenirs and posed photographs -- souvenirs and posed photographs.
Well, Madam President, that pretty well sums it up. That's what the process has been thus far. But it is not what this process will be going forward.
Now, the Founding Fathers who crafted and ratified our Constitution knew that our nation might sometimes fall prey to the kind of dangerous
factionalism and partisanship that is consumed, literally concerned the House of Representatives.
The framers set up the Senate specifically to act as a check against the short termism and the runaway passions to which the House of
Representatives might fall victim.
Alexander Hamilton worried, "The demon of faction would extend his scepter over the House majorities at certain seasons," said Alexander Hamilton. And
he feared for the viability of the government established by the Constitution, it blinded --
He feared for the viability of the government established by the Constitution blinded by factionalism, the House of Representatives would
abuse the power of impeachment to serve nakedly partisan goals, rather than the long term interests of the American people and their Republic.
But fortunately, they did something about it. They did not get both the power and the power to remove to the House. They divided the power and
placed the final decision on removal over here in the Senate.
This body, this chamber exists precisely -- precisely, Madam President, so that we can look past the daily dramas and understand how our actions will
reverberate for generations, so that we can put aside animal reflexes and animosities and coolly consider how to best serve our country in the long
run. So that we can break factional fevers before they jeopardize the core institutions of our government.
As Hamilton put it, all in the Senate with, "Confidence enough and its own situation," can preserve on odd and uninfluenced the necessary impartiality
between an individual accused and the representatives of the people, his accusers.
So Madam President, the House's hour is over. The Senate's time is at hand. It's time for this proud body to honor our founding purpose.
Now on an entirely different matter, before we turn to the trial in earnest, the Senate has one more major accomplishment to deliver to the
American people.
Yesterday, we began floor consideration of the most significant update to the North American trade policy in nearly 30 years, and in just a couple of
hours, we're going to pass the USMCA and send it to President Trump for his signature.
It was back in 2018, when the Trump administration finalized its talks with the governments of Mexico and Canada. This has been a major priority for
the President and for many of us in both Houses of Congress.
[10:00:10]
END
