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New Day Saturday
Team Trump Makes Its Case; Recording of President Trump Demanding the Firing of Former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch; Health Officials Investigating a Possible Case of Coronavirus in Colorado. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired January 25, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:01:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, U.S. SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE: The Sergeant in Arms will make the proclamation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The eyes of the nation, the eyes of history, the eyes of the founding fathers are upon us.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The country is watching to see if we can rise to the occasion.
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY): The President went to extraordinary lengths to cheat in the next election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only conclusion will be that the President has done absolutely nothing wrong.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): If right doesn't matter, we're lost. If the truth doesn't matter, we're lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Executive privilege and utter nonsense. Mr. Nadler, it is not nonsense.
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): The call lays bare the President's willingness to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.
SCHIFF: The American people do not agree on much, but they will not forgive being deprived of the truth. I implore you, give America a fair trial. She's worth it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, early, it is so good to have you with us. VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I am Victor Blackwell here with Christi
Paul. "Give America a fair trial," the closing words of lead impeachment manager, Adam Schiff, as he implored senators to allow new witnesses and evidence in the President's impeachment trial.
Now, in just a few hours, 10 Eastern this morning, the President's legal team will begin its defense and they promised, it will be just a peak at the case they will detail next week.
PAUL: A voice appearing to be President Trump's meanwhile, is caught on a recording demanding the firing of former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
BLACKWELL: And a possible third case of the deadly coronavirus being investigated in the United States.
The third impeachment trial of a U.S. President in history begins on a new stage. Today, a three-hour session from President Trump's defense team sets the table here for a crucial vote on whether new witnesses like formal National Security adviser, John Bolton will be allowed to testify.
PAUL: A big question here at the end of the day is: did House Democrats do enough in their argument to sway four Republican senators to risk the wrath of President Trump? CNN's Sara Murray has more now on House Democrats' final day of opening arguments and their push now to appeal to the values and principles of G.O.P. senators.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): President Trump tried to cheat, he got caught and then he worked hard to cover it up.
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After three days of laying out the case against President Trump, the impeachment managers pressed stir-crazy senators for more -- more evidence, more witnesses.
REP. VAL DEMINGS (D-FL): The President abused the powers entrusted in him by the American people in a scheme to suppress evidence, escape accountability and orchestrate a massive cover up.
MURRAY (voice over): In their final day of opening arguments, Democrats condemned President Trump's efforts to block witnesses.
REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): President Trump forced those officials to choose between submitting to the demands of their boss or break the law.
MURRAY (voice over): And the Trump administration's refusal to hand over any documents to impeachment investigators.
REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D-TX): No documents, zero, goose egg, nada.
MURRAY (voice over): Impeachment managers set the stakes arguing the President abused his power when he attempted to withhold a White House meeting and security aid unless Ukraine pursued investigations into Joe Biden in 2016 and claiming everything that came after that was an attempt to cover his tracks and obstruct Congress.
They warned Senators that Trump's behavior was part of a pattern, once again, using his own words against him.
[04:05:02]
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Then I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.
MURRAY (voice over): And they cautioned of the consequences if Congress fails to intervene.
JEFFRIES: The President is not the King.
REP. JERROLD NADLER (D-NY): Is there a consequence for a President who defies our subpoenas absolutely?
SCHIFF: Do you think if we do nothing it's going to stop now. All of the evidence is to the contrary. You know it is not going to stop.
MURRAY (voice over): Senators who are supposed to listen quietly to the lengthy proceedings have taken to passing notes, whispering to their neighbors and reading books. At least one senator snuck in a cell phone.
But at points, they fell silent. Like when lead impeachment manager, Adam Schiff, revealed how Trump shrugged off the U.S. Intelligence assessments that Russia meddled in the 2016 election.
TRUMP: My people came to me, Dan Coats came to and some others; they said they think its Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia. I will say this. I don't see any reason why it would be.
SCHIFF: Whatever profile Russia did of our President, boy did they have him spot on. Flattery and propaganda -- flattery and propaganda, is all Russia needed.
MURRAY (voice over): Saturday, the President's defenders get their shot on the Senate floor.
JAY SEKULOW, OUTSIDE LEGAL COUNSEL FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP: Tomorrow, I think you'll see, I guess we'd call it a trailer -- coming attraction -- that would be the best way to say it, but obviously, we have three hours to put it out, so we will take whatever time is appropriate during that three hours, kind of lay out what the case will look like, but no, next week is when you'll see the full presentation.
MURRAY (voice over): Democrats tried to anticipate their response.
SCHIFF: Now, you'll also hear the defense, the President said there was no quid pro quo.
This is a well-known principle of criminal law that if the defendant says he didn't do it, he couldn't have done it.
That doesn't hold up in any court in the land. It shouldn't hold up here.
This would be another defense, because what they hope to achieve in the Senate trial is what they couldn't achieve through their scheme, if they couldn't get Ukraine to smear the Biden's they want to use this trial to do it instead.
So let's call Hunter Biden. Let's smear the Biden's. Let's succeed in the trial of what we couldn't do with the scheme.
MURRAY (voice over): And they urged senators to set party allegiance aside as they judge the President's conduct.
SCHIFF: What happens when our heartfelt views of right and wrong are in conflict with the popular opinion of our constituents? What happens when our devotion to our oaths, to our values, to our love of country depart from the momentary passion of a large number of people back home?
Those are the times that try our souls.
MURRAY (voice over): Sara Murray, CNN, Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLACKWELL: Let's now examine the House Managers opening arguments from a legal and political angle. With us for the law, Michael Zeldin, CNN legal analyst and former special assistant at the Department of Justice and on politics, Tom Clark, Professor of Political Science at Emory University.
Gentlemen, welcome to you both this very early this morning. Tom, I want to start with you. From the political angle, three days of arguments, what do you make of them?
TOM CLARK, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, I think the Democrats tried to lay out a case that there was misbehavior by President Trump and that that misbehavior was something that was both politically frustrating for the Congress, but also something that the public should care about when it goes about voting in November.
BLACKWELL: Michael?
ZELDIN: From a legal standpoint, I think that they made a pretty compelling argument that the President in his solicitation of the President Ukraine for an investigation of the Biden's and when it wasn't forthcoming fast enough, he withheld military aid and a White House meeting as leverage against the President and then when caught, he refused to cooperate with Congress in any way, shape or form. So I think that they laid out that case.
And I think there are some factual and legal defenses that we will hear from the Trump Campaign and we will have to see how compelling they are, but right now, unrebutted, they are I think sufficient to warrant conviction.
BLACKWELL: Michael, let's stay with the obstruction of Congress, Article 2 which was most Friday from the arguments from the House Managers. Specifically, the discussion has most commonly been about the refusal to allow witnesses to testify or to handover documents to the scores of subpoenas, but they broadened the case yesterday with Congressman Jeffries talking about holding back the whistleblower report.
What do you make of the breadth of the argument that was made yesterday calling and using the phrase "cover up" so many times?
[04:10:22]
ZELDIN: Well, I am not sure I like the word cover up, although it is a handy catch phrase, but there are aspects of this that speak to cover up specifically the whistleblower complaint, which under law says when it is determined that it is important and imperative at the moment, it shall go to Congress. It didn't go to Congress, they withheld it.
Also, when there was a call transcript between Zelensky and Trump on July 25th, it was realized that it was politically and legally problematic. It was put into a secure server and it hadn't seen the light of day since.
And so those things speak to cover up, but more broadly speaking, I think the obstruction of Congress is directed at the flat out refusal to provide any documents and to withhold witnesses making allegations of immunity and executive privilege as an obstacle to cooperation.
BLACKWELL: Tom, the President was on FOX News last night talking about the case that House Managers presented. Let's watch a bit of that discussion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's not a crime. They say, but it doesn't have to be a crime. Well, maybe it doesn't have to be a crime, but can you imagine being impeached and you didn't commit a crime?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: So, I know you told my producers that you appreciated at least the time that Democrats, the House Managers dedicated to creating the distinction between the impeachment process and criminal prosecution.
But do you think that it resonated?
CLARK: I think it did resonate. I think that they made a very powerful case that the President was using his powers in a way that benefited himself rather than the public and that the primary argument they want to present to the American voter and to the Senators by way of the American voter is that the President was using his power in a way that he wasn't supposed to be using it while in office.
That he was using it to advance his own agenda, rather than to advance the public good and the nation's interest. BLACKWELL: Michael, you've written about the role that you've
expected Chief Justice Roberts to play in this trial. We've heard from Mr. Schiff, he suggested that Justice Roberts -- the Chief Justice Roberts should rule on witnesses, should rule on documents.
Now, a senator can appeal, 51 could overrule, but detail the quandary that would put some of the senators and if you think that's the right way to go here?
ZELDIN: So, I think that Roberts should be playing a more active role in this trial than he has been. He is empowered to preside over the trial, but he is also under Senate rules allowed to rule on evidence in other matters pertinent to the prosecution of the case.
He seems to be sitting back passively while senators who are supposed to be absolutely silent and always in their seat aren't honoring that rule and he is also sort of not trying to interject himself into the process on matters such as witnesses and documents.
Now, some will argue that his constitutional role, he is willing to do stuff, if asked by the Senate, but I think in a case like this where it is so close as to what is proper and what is improper and is so partisan between the Democrats and Republicans, it would behoove the Chief Justice to be a little bit more activist to help move this toward a real trial with real evidence and real witnesses so that we get a real verdict.
And that if he is acquitted on real evidence and real verdicts, then he has exoneration behind him, if not, then he has a sham trial and nothing to record that he was actually factually innocent.
BLACKWELL: All right, Michael Zeldin and Tom Clark, thank you both.
Stay with us because we are now going to talk about the defense strategy, that's coming up in just a moment.
PAUL: President Trump isn't denying that it is his voice that was caught on tape. This is from 2018 where he appears to demand the firing of them Ambassador to the Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.
The audio was given to ABC News by the attorney for Rudy Giuliani's indicted associated, Lev Parnas. Here it is, you can listen for yourself.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LEV PARNAS, ASSOCIATE OF RUDY GIULIANI: The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we've got to get rid of the Ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration.
TRUMP: What the Ambassador to the Ukraine?
PARNAS: Yes. She's basically walking around telling everybody, wait, he's going to get impeached. Just wait. It's incredible.
TRUMP: Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out, okay? Do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Here is President on FOX News responding to that just surfaced audio.
[04:15:21]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I wouldn't have been saying that. I probably would have said it was Rudy there or somebody, but I make no bones about it. I want to have ambassadors -- I have every right. I want ambassadors that are chosen by me. I have a right to hire and fire ambassadors.
I don't know, I didn't hear this but if they had it --
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Were it be now -- yes.
TRUMP: It -- I will tell you right now I feel strongly that this is somebody that shouldn't be with us. She wasn't popular even in the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: President Trump denies knowing Lev Parnas, by the way, despite that new audio and multiple pictures and videos of the two men together.
BLACKWELL: An NPR reporter says that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo screamed and cursed at her after a heated interview.
Coming up: the question about Ukraine that the reporter says caused Pompeo to get angry.
PAUL: And the death toll still climbing in the coronavirus outbreak as the C.D.C. investigates now. A third possible case in the U.S. We have details for you next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:20:23]
BLACKWELL: An NPR reporter says that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shouted and cursed at her after an interview.
PAUL: Mary Louise Kelly, a reporter with NPR as we said, says Pompeo -- Secretary Pompeo refused to answer whether he owed an apology to former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Maria Yovanovitch. She says Pompeo was not happy with her questions. Here's what happened, she says.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MARY LOUISE KELLY, REPORTER, NPR: I was taken to the Secretary's private living room where he was waiting and where he shouted at me for about the same amount of time as the interview itself had lasted. He was not happy to have been questioned about Ukraine. He asked, "Do
you think Americans care about Ukraine?" He used the F-word in that sentence and many others.
He asked if I could find Ukraine on a map. I said yes. He called out for his aides to bring him a map of the world with no writing. No countries marked. I pointed to Ukraine. He put the map away. He said, "People will hear about this."
And then he turned and said he had things to do and I thanked him again for his time and left.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PAUL: CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment on the exchange. We haven't heard anything back yet. But Secretary Pompeo we know is traveling to Ukraine next week to meet with the country's President Vladimir Zelensky, of course.
BLACKWELL: More people are dying as a result of this coronavirus and health officials around the world are rushing to stop the spread of this disease.
Last night, Colorado's Department of Health announced it is investigating a possible case.
PAUL: So far, we do have two cases confirmed in the U.S.: a man in Seattle, a woman in Chicago. Authorities say the patient in Washington State had recently returned from travel in China.
Now, France confirmed three cases yesterday marking the first diagnosis in Europe and this morning, Australia is confirming three cases. The first patient in Nepal tested positive for the virus as well.
BLACKWELL: David Culver joins us now from Beijing. David, 41 people now have died in China so far. What are they saying? What are they doing to stop this spread?
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christi, you've got to look at the containment effort as really this massive response, okay. So you've got at least a dozen cities that are involved with these lockdowns, and that's some 30 million people.
Put it in perspective, take the State of Texas, a population near -- that's like putting the entire state under these lockdown restrictions. I do expect those numbers are going to grow and we'll have updated numbers within the next hour or so.
But overnight, my team and I have had some new reporting that we've been able to connect with folks who are within the City of Wuhan and healthcare workers in particular, four who work at various hospitals there, the situation that they are describing is desperate, a dire situation.
They say they are running low on medical supplies, including goggles, mass and hazmat suits. They are urgently trying to get those through crowdsourcing sent in. Now, the government says, they're working to send in some 14,000 hazmat suits as well as 110,000 medical gloves, but we're not quite sure when they'll get there.
Meantime, I want to walk you through some of the new images that we're seeing. They kind of show the desperation that is likewise going on there. This one out of a pharmacy, you can see the crowds that are in these pharmacies within Wuhan. They are obviously protecting themselves within those places, too.
Imagine going to your local pharmacy and seeing the staff there wearing hazmat equivalent suits. They're blocked from head to toe and trying to conceal themselves to any potential exposure.
The other images that show how the government is responding or at least attempting to help is by building a new hospital. A thousand new beds is what they anticipate this new hospital will be, state media is sharing this video with us. This is supposed to be built in six days' time, and you can see the bulldozers and front end loaders already trying to clear some of that land.
And lastly, deployments are underway for some of the military medical personnel and we know also, regular civilian medical personnel who are being sent there. About 135 members of the military medical personnel going in, another 1,200 doctors and nurses and other medical staff being sent in in six teams.
So they're being deployed in within those lockdown zones. But like I said, Christi and Victor, this number of folks who are involved in the restrictions not being able to leave, but also restrictions within, we've learned for example, in the city center of Wuhan now, you can't even drive your car. They're banning vehicles.
PAUL: Yes, oh my goodness. David Culver, thank you so much for the update. We appreciate it.
BLACKWELL: Thank you, David.
It is now the President's turn. His legal team gets 24 hours over three days -- just as the House Managers had -- to make their case, this time for acquittal. What you can expect to hear from his lawyers. We'll take a look at the White House strategy next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:29:41]
PAUL: A few hours from now President Trump's legal team is going to start presenting its full case to the Senate.
BLACKWELL: So one of his lawyers says today's arguments will be like a movie trailer, a tease of coming attractions. We've got a preview of the strategy this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAT CIPOLLONE, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: These Articles of Impeachment do not begin to approach the standard required by the Constitution.
They never subpoenaed Ambassador Bolton. They didn't try to call him in the House.
MIKE PURPURA, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: There was no quid pro quo for anything. Security assistance funds aren't even mentioned on the call.
Why are we here? Are we here because of a phone call? Or are we here before this great body because since the President was sworn into office, there was a desire to see him removed.
CIPOLLONE: They're not here to steal one election, they are here to steal two elections. It's about time we bring this power trip in for a landing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[04:30:51]
PAUL: Hear White House Counsel, Pat Cipollone there accusing the Democrats of trying to steal two elections. The question is, is that a valid argument? Michael Zeldin and Tom Clark are both back with us.
Michael, I want to toss that to you first, is that valid?
ZELDIN: No, it's not a legal or political defense. The reality is that they can claim that this is a partisan exercise to remove a President that they never wanted elected in the first place, but that's not really relevant to the Articles of Impeachment.
The Articles of Impeachment allege abuse of office and obstruction of Congress, and they can claim that their process wasn't good. They didn't like the fact that he didn't get to call his own witnesses or that he is not liked by Democrats. But none of that is really a defense, politically or legally, and it should not be convincing to Americans who will then be having to decide whether to force their congressmen and women, their senators rather, to call witnesses.
PAUL: So we know that President Trump has his own thoughts about what he wants to see from his defense team. He talked about it last night. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: What my people have to do is just be honest, just tell the truth. They've been testifying, the Democrats, they've been telling so many lies, so many fabrications, so much exaggeration and this is not impeachable.
In fact, I don't even know how to determine this, but they say it's not a crime. Everybody says that. The other side says it, it is not a crime.
They say, but it doesn't have to be a crime. Well, maybe it doesn't have to be a crime. But can you imagine being impeached and you didn't commit a crime?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Okay, so Tom, he says, "What my people have to do is be honest and tell the truth." In light of what we saw from this Parnas recording overnight, in light of the fact that President Trump is promising to exercise executive privilege so those witnesses and documents don't get in there.
What evidence does President Trump's team need to argue that this is honest, and this is truthful?
CLARK: Well, I'm not sure whether they need much evidence to make that argument. I think they can make that argument to the American voter on the grounds that they are presenting what he did to the Senate and claiming that they are giving you their version of the story.
And for the senators, the question is, who will their voters think is more credible? The Democrats or the President? And I think right now, it's a little bit of he said-she said story in the minds of many of the senators.
And so as long as they can continue that line of argumentation, that this is his version versus their version, then I think there is a case that can be made. Whether it's successful, I think, remains to be seen.
PAUL: Do you think the President has to answer to this new recording with Parnas?
CLARK: No, I don't think he does.
PAUL: Does he have to explain it? He doesn't.
CLARK: I don't think he does, and I think the reason is that this is not the kind of legal proceeding where you would see evidence presented and then refuted by the defense. I think what you're seeing is you're seeing a political debate taking place in front of the Senate.
And so if they can just talk around it, or if they can make a claim about him having the power to do what he wants to do with respect to firing and hiring ambassadors, then I think there's no need that he needs to respond to whether he did it or whether it was appropriate.
PAUL: Let's listen to Nadler here, as he was talking this week about President Trump and what he's declaring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NADLER: President Trump is the first leader of this nation to declare that nobody can investigate him for official misconduct, except on his own terms, in word and in deed, President Trump has declared himself above the law.
He has done so because he is guilty and wishes to conceal as much of the evidence from the American people and from this body as he can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: So Michael, the overriding question here, not just for senators, but even for the public, as they look at this is, if you did nothing wrong, as President Trump continues to assert, if this phone call was perfect, why would you block witnesses? Have you heard any solid explanation for that from the White House yet?
ZELDIN: So their argument is very legally nuanced and highly technical. What they claim is two things: one, that the President enjoys absolute immunity, as do his top advisers. And so, they are not going to show up because they don't have to show up according to the President.
[04:35:31]
ZELDIN: There have been two cases that have ruled on that question of absolute immunity. Both have gone against the executive, one against George Bush and the other one against Donald Trump. But that's their legal argument that they are not trying to obstruct, but they're just trying to exercise their prerogatives as the executive.
The second is that they are not obstructing Congress, but with respect to documents, but rather, the manner in which the documents are being requested that is without a full vote of the Senate to authorize an impeachment investigation, then followed by subpoenas is a violation of due process, and they do not have to subscribe to that until it is properly set up.
And so they are trying to make the legal argument there ...
PAUL: So Michael, let me ask you this --
ZELDIN: ... and I think that it's going to fall on deaf ears, but I think that's what they're going to claim with respect to obstruction.
PAUL: So when it comes to obstruction, the question is, if the President is promising, to an executive privilege here that he is not going to allow witnesses or documents, does that not give more credence to the argument of obstruction?
ZELDIN: Well, it depends. You know, so you take the individual defendant in a criminal case, who has the absolute right to remain silent. And you would say, well, an innocent person would testify that they're innocent, but in fact, a lot of innocent people don't testify and that's just the way the system is set up.
So he doesn't have to testify. It isn't to prove his innocence. He's got to be proven to be guilty. But in this sort of quasi criminal quasi political impeachment trial, I think it behooves him to say, I was not acting in my selfish personal interest. I was acting always in the United States national interest. And the reason I didn't cooperate was because I have a legal right not to cooperate. And you cannot like that, but that's my legal position and it is supported by the Justice Department, Office of Legal Counsel. So I think that's what they've got to try to say.
PAUL: All right, Michael Zeldin and Tom Clark, we're so grateful to have both to be with us. Thank you.
ZELDIN: Thank you.
CLARK: Thanks.
BLACKWELL: Still to come, why the largest and oldest war veteran service organization is demanding an apology from President Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:42:25]
BLACKWELL: The Veterans of Foreign Wars Organization is demanding an apology from the President for downplaying the injuries of U.S. Service Members who were hurt during an Iran missile strike earlier this month. Originally, the Pentagon said no one was injured during the attack. But yesterday, we learned that 34 U.S. Service Members suffered traumatic brain injuries.
And just this week, the President claimed the injuries were not very serious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things. But I would say, and I can report it is not very serious. Not very serious.
QUESTION: So you don't consider potential traumatic brain injuries serious.
TRUMP: They told me about it numerous days later. You'd have to ask the Department of Defense. No, I don't consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I've seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: CNN Pentagon reporter Brian Browne has more for us now.
RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: The Pentagon Friday revealing new details about the injuries suffered by U.S. military personnel during the recent Iranian missile attack on Al Assad Airbase in Western Iraq, and The Pentagon saying 34 military personnel were injured in an attack suffering from concussions and traumatic brain injury.
Now 17 of those service members have returned to duty. They were treated locally in Iraq and are now back doing their jobs. The remainder were evacuated first to Germany and then some were also evacuated to the United States where they can receive more specialized medical care.
Now in the immediate aftermath of the attack, President Donald Trump and The Pentagon said that no U.S. service personnel had been injured in the attack. However, in the ensuing days, we learned that some service members had suffered concussions.
Now, those are often difficult to attack. Soldiers and airmen sheltering and bunkers will receive the shockwave blast causing these concussions and sometimes the symptoms which can include headaches, take a while to manifest themselves. Once they do show, service members will seek medical attention and will be diagnosed for possible concussions or traumatic brain injury.
So it's something the U.S. military has been focusing on the effects, the secondary effects of being caught in an explosion. The U.S. hasn't been attacked by ballistic missiles since the Gulf War nearly 30 years ago. So again, U.S. responding as facts emerged.
Now President Trump downplayed the injuries during his speech in Davos, Switzerland, saying, you know, they were headaches and that they didn't consider them particularly serious. The U.S. now saying that at least 17 service members require additional medical treatment for these injuries.
PAUL: I want to get to a CNN exclusive now. Investigators say some Americans may have been paid to spread pro-Iranian propaganda online without being aware that they were doing so.
[04:45:09]
BLACKWELL: Now, some tech companies say the website "American Herald Tribune" is backed by Iran state media. CNN Business reporter Donie O'Sullivan has the story.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Americans know Russia use social media to target voters in the lead up to the 2016 election, but it's not the only country using that playbook.
The U.S. government warned after the killing of Soleimani that Iran had disinformation capabilities, too.
Now, new details suggests Iranians use a website called "American Herald Tribune" to run a covert influence campaign targeting the U.S.
"American Herald Tribune" says it is a genuinely independent media outlet that even pays Americans to write for its websites. But investigators and major American tech companies tell CNN that the site has ties to Iran, even to Iranian state media.
Now, "American Herald Tribune" has been active since 2015, and although Facebook shut down its account in 2018, one of the site's most viral stories was shared millions of times on the platform.
That story was based on unsubstantiated claims about President Trump's father and the Ku Klux Klan. That story, though, was not written by an Iranian, but by an American man living in Oregon. Now, he told me that the website paid him a couple of hundred dollars to write the story, and he says while he doesn't know who runs the website, he didn't think it was Iranian. But still, investigators from Facebook, Google and a top cybersecurity
firm FireEye tell me a very different story.
Now, why does this all matter? It shows that foreign actors are covertly using social media and seemingly independent news sites to push propaganda to Americans. And to help them to do this, they hire unwitting Americans to make their sites seem more legitimate.
It's all a good reminder to think before next time you share a story online -- Christi and Victor.
PAUL: Donie, thank you so much.
So it has been, I mean, it's been three months since that collapse of the construction site of the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans. I'm sure you remember it. Look at these pictures. There are questions now as to why they haven't recovered the bodies of two victims yet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:51:29]
BLACKWELL: It's been more than three months since that Hard Rock Hotel under construction in New Orleans collapsed.
PAUL: And part of what's so disturbing about this is that there are bodies of victims that are still trapped in that wreckage that you see there and the community is demanding the city do something about it.
CNN's Omar Jimenez has the story, and I just want to give you this heads up. Some of these details are really upsetting and we don't need to be caught off guard, but that's part of the story here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As a building under construction collapsed in New Orleans, onlookers ran for safety as what was supposed to be a 350-room hotel came crashing down. Three people were killed, 30 injured in the early October collapse, but the building remains in ruins on the edge of New Orleans' French Quarter.
And now more than three months after the collapse, there are still two bodies trapped in the rubble. Those of 63-year-old Jose Arreola and 36-year-old Quinnyon Wimberly.
TIM MCCONNELL, SUPERINTENDENT, NEW ORLEANS FIRE DEPARTMENT: It's virtually impossible right now. I mean, they are -- they are in the collapse, and we've had experts from every field that we could find to come in here, and no one has been able to present a safe plan to do it without, you know, the risk of losing -- the building shifting and collapsing.
JIMENEZ (voice over): Public outcry reignited after a tarp that was supposed to be covering one of the remaining two bodies blew away in the wind, leaving part of a decomposing body exposed to the general public. The images hit social media, leading them in part to protest over
holding those responsible accountable.
New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell specifically pointed to the building's instability as the reason for delay.
MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL (D), NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: Putting more people at risk, I just -- I cannot live with that and will not support that.
JIMENEZ (voice over): It's been a complicated cleanup from the start. At one point involving strategic explosion to topple cranes officials feared could cause more damage.
According to the city, implosion in mid-March is now the next step for what's left of the building and recovering the remains would be the next step afterward. It's a plan that according to Cantrell, was agreed to by the victim's families.
JIMENEZ (on camera): And by that March timeline, it'll be more than a third of the year that the two construction workers have been buried under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice is calling for accountability and action for the victims of the collapse. Among their demands are public hearings and new regulations.
Omar Martinez, CNN, Atlanta.
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BLACKWELL: And to hear the justification from the mayor there, but for this to go on for so long, imagine these families waiting for their loved ones to be pulled from that.
PAUL: Yes.
BLACKWELL: It's heartbreaking. We put up those logos for a reason. The new space logo -- the Space Force logo, I should say, leaves them science fiction fans with a sense of deja vu.
PAUL: What do you think?
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[04:59:03]
PAUL: So have you seen this yet? President Trump has unveiled the new logo for the U.S. Space Force, and you could say, the logo boldly goes where one logo has gone before. That's for him.
BLACKWELL: The President tweeted this out yesterday, blue and white here and kind of made Trekkies lean to one side and squint and say I think I've seen this before.
A Space Force spokesman, I mean, they say it looks like the insignia from Star Trek, but a Space Force spokesman released this statement. Let me read it for you. "The delta symbol, the central design element in the seal was first used as early as 1942 by the U.S. Army Air Forces, and it was used in early Air Force space organization emblems dating back to 1961."
Last weekend, the U.S. Space Force was mocked for using camouflage in the design of its uniforms. The government says the use of camouflage was a cost saving measure.
PAUL: Well, if you're saving money, it should make some people happy.
BLACKWELL: Okay.
PAUL: Okay.
BLACKWELL: Washington gave the late night comedians plenty to work with.
PAUL: Yes. Here's a look at this week's late night laughs in case you missed them.
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SETH MEYERS, LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST: Republicans today criticized Democrats for making repetitive arguments in the impeachment trial and compared it to the movie "Groundhog Day."
Democrats are repetitive, Trump has tweeted witch hunt so many times they're going to build his presidential library in Salem.
JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST: I heard that more than 11 million viewers have tuned in. Yes, the ratings are huge. Trump is torn. He doesn't know whether to worry about or take credit for it.
I have the biggest impeachment ratings in history. Much -- much better than Bill Clinton's ratings.
STEPHEN COLBERT, LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST: This is day two of Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial. And if Mitch McConnell -- if Mitch McConnell has his way, this trial will go just like Donald Trump's dating career.
Quick and disappointing and no questions asked.
JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST: Democrats chose the President's favorite, Adam Schiff to kick things off today.
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ROBERTS: The sergeant in arms will make the proclamation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment.
SCHUMER: The eyes of the nation, the eyes of history, the eyes of the founding fathers are upon us. MCCONNELL: The country is watching to see if we can rise to the
occasion.
NADLER: The President went to extraordinary lengths to cheat in the next election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only conclusion will be that the President has done absolutely nothing wrong.
SCHIFF: If right doesn't matter, we're lost. If the truth doesn't matter, we're lost.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Executive privilege and utter nonsense. Mr. Nadler, it is not nonsense.
JEFFRIES: The call lays bare the President's willingness to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.
SCHIFF: The American people do not agree on much, but they will not forgive being deprived of the truth. I implore you, give America a fair trial. She's worth it.
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