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Russian Ambassador To Turkey Assassinated; Russian Hacking Investigation; Drone Seizure by China; Trump Tweets about Drone Seizure; Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 19, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And there has been a push by protesters and other groups encouraging electors to not vote for Donald Trump. It's possible that a few electors may do that, but there's no evidence that Trump's victory is in doubt.

We are also watching breaking news out of Turkey where the Russian ambassador was killed in an attack at an art exhibit in Ankara.

I must warn you, this is some very graphic video that we are about to show you. The ambassador was giving a speech when a gunman opened fire hitting the ambassador several times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

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KEILAR: I want to bring in our Senior International Correspondent Clarissa Ward. She is following the story from Moscow. And, Clarissa, we hear the gunman shouting. I believe he's shouting in Turkish. Do we know what he is saying?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that he repeatedly talks about Aleppo. Aleppo, of course, the city in Syria that has been ravaged over the past few months, and particularly in the past few weeks. He says, and we must remember Aleppo. He also says, alaka lakbahr (ph), of course that is the -- Arabic for god is the greatest.

But what we don't know exactly is who this man was affiliated with. Was he a lone Wolf attacker? Was he part of a militant group like ISIS? Was -- we simply just don't have any information.

You can hear in his voice, in that chilling video, and it is just so disturbing to watch it, that he is clearly incredibly emotional, angry. You can hear the strain in his voice.

And often, you know, it's fair to say that across the Muslim world, you have seen some very emotional and intense responses to the daily barrage of images coming out of Syria, coming out of Aleppo. Images of civilians being killed, of children being bombed, of people starving to death, having no food, no water. So, that -- those images have served as a rallying cry to jihadists and extremists across the world. But it's not year yet if the attacker, who you saw there, falls into the bracket of one of those more extremist jihadist groups that we know about or whether he may simply be sympathetic to the cause of the rebels inside Syria.

Now, what we do have coming into us, Brianna, from the Russian foreign ministry. Russia's foreign ministry has responded to the murder of its ambassador in Turkey.

And they have said this, we qualify what happened as a terror attack. We're currently in contact with Turkish authorities who are assuring us that a thorough, comprehensive investigation will be conducted. Murderers will be punished. Terrorism won't sustain. We will fight it.

So, some pretty strong words there from the Russian foreign ministry. The honours (ph) now very much on Turkish authorities to investigate who this man was. Why he was there.

This was a diplomatic party, if you will. It was an exhibition of Russian photographs in the capital of Ankara. Many of Ankara's elites will have been there. People in diplomatic circles. It raises serious security questions as to how he was able to get in there. Was it, possibly, some kind of an inside job?

And, really, I think, Brianna, as well, this starts to put the relationship between Russia and Turkey, which had just been in the last six months started to get back on course, it threatens some of the progress that that relationship had made.

One final note I want to add, Brianna. There's supposed to be here in Moscow a big summit tomorrow on Syria. Turkey's foreign minister in attendance. Iran's foreign minister in attendance as well, of course, as Russia's foreign minister and Russia's defense minister.

Unclear whether the focus of that will shift and, of course, all of this, then, having a knock-on effect, in terms of Aleppo. Russia and Turkey were working very closely together to broker this truce that was allowing the evacuations which have just started again today.

So, a lot of things being called into question by this horrible act -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And diplomatic circles across the world just shaken by this.

[13:05:02] Clarissa Ward, thank you so much for that report.

We're going to turn now to the electoral college. We're going to talk about those 538 electors that are voting today in all 50 states as well as here in Washington, D.C.

We have correspondents covering this from all over the country. CNN's Correspondent Rosa Flores is joining us now from Madison, Wisconsin where the voting has just begun. CNN Correspondent Sara Sidner is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. That's the state that put President-elect Trump past that 270 mark in the electoral college that he needed to win the presidency. And also with us, CNN Senior Washington Correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

Sara, to you first. Tell us what are you seeing, what this process is like.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's incredible. We're standing on the house of the chamber here. We're standing on the floor of the House chamber and you are hearing what has just happened, what has just occurred here in Pennsylvania in the state capitol is that all 20 electors have voted for Donald Trump as president and Pence as vice president.

Every single electoral vote went from Pennsylvania to Donald Trump, as we expected. Because we had talked to some of these electoral voters beforehand. To find out if any of the letters -- the thousands of letters or e-mails or phone calls that they received would have swayed them in any way. And they all said, no. And you're seeing that play out today.

So, All 20 of the electoral votes here, no change from the electorate. They all went to Donald Trump and we're seeing that play out.

Also, they have just certified the vote by signing it. And, then, that will be handed over and that will be taken to someone in Washington, and they will certify it further.

But their business is pretty much done here, when it comes to the election. They have, from here, elected Donald Trump as their next president.

KEILAR: All right. Sara Sidner, they're using her golf commentator voice, because this is in progress there in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Rosa, talk to us about Wisconsin. Because the president-elect won that state by a narrow margin, just under 23,000 votes. What are you hearing from the state's electors? 10 electors.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I should note that electors are going through a roll call now. So, that's what you're seeing behind me. You can see the electors are sitting.

And then, also, Brianna, I want to, kind of, hand the camera over because there is a lot of interest from the public here. You can see that there are a lot of people sitting in the audience and there are two overflow rooms filled with people who are also interested in witnessing what's going to happen here.

So, like you mentioned, I have talked to some of the electors. One particular elector telling me that he received more than 80,000 e- mails and more than 2,300 letters in the mail trying to sway his vote.

He tells me that some of his colleagues sitting behind me also received more than 2,300 -- more than 2,400 pieces of mail trying to sway them into what is going on.

And what you just looked at right there, now, a lot of these people are protesting. They are hoping to sway the votes of these electors.

And so, from talking to some of them, Brianna, I can tell you that they're trying to show their objection. I can see a many that's holding up a sign. Some rules were laid out during the beginning of this meeting and people were told that they could not be speaking during this process.

But, like you just saw, there was a protester who stood up and said something. And what you're seeing right now is a gentleman talking to the man with that sign, probably telling him not to raise the sign. There is a sign outside of this room telling people not to bring signs into the room.

So, a lot of -- a lot of angst and a lot of tension, Brianna, here in this room. I tell you from talking to a lot of the people who are sitting here. They are hoping that the electors not vote for Donald Trump. And that's probably what you're going to be seeing here shortly as the electors begin to cast their ballot -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Rosa Flores, thank you. It is pretty civil there, Jeff Zeleny. But there is also a lot of discords. So, you tell us what happens once these electors from each state vote.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, this is playing out in 50 state capitals across the country and here in the District of Columbia as well. You saw the action there in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin of what happens then, as well as other states.

But once they have these signed forms, they come here to Washington. And on Friday, January 6th, at precisely 1:00 on the floor of the House of Representatives chambers, each state is read alphabetically. A roll call of the states.

The vice president, Vice President Biden, will be presiding over this. And that is when it becomes official, when the electoral college votes are actually recorded here.

Now, for all of the hopes of so many Democrats, hopes of liberals and others that something would change today. The reality is that is almost certainly not going to happen. It is not going to happen.

[13:10:04] The -- you know, this is democracy playing out as scripted. Yes, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but that is not what is at issue today. This is the electoral college. And, of course, once this is all finished unfolding this afternoon here, again, early next year is when it becomes official, then, of course, Donald Trump will be sworn in on January the 20th.

But it is on January 6th in the House of Representatives when we always see the roll call of the states. It's actually something interesting two watch. But that is when this all becomes official -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, it's so fascinating, this key part of the process.

Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much. Also, thanks to Rosa Flores and Sara Sidner for us, watching this all happen there on the ground.

Coming up, Trump's incoming chief of staff. Not yet buying the intel over Russia's hacking of the election. Maybe signaling, though, that Donald Trump could. While several prominent senators are calling for a larger investigation. We are going to discuss with Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, right after this.

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KEILAR: We have some live pictures to show you of electors in Ohio, going through the process, casting their electoral votes. The electoral college happening right now, casting its votes in all 50 states across the country today.

Again, you're looking there at Columbus, Ohio. And we will look at different states throughout the hour as this process plays out.

And, today, we're also watching the debate over Russia's hacking of the election. Four prominent senators, including John McCain and Chuck Schumer, are not only calling for a larger investigation of Russia's actions, but they also want a new select committee to come up with tougher laws to combat cyber-attacks.

And this call comes as the incoming presidential chief of staff, Reince Priebus, is questioning the finding of the intelligence community, perhaps indicating that Donald Trump might be able to find a way to believe these assessments. The CIA and the FBI agree that Russia hacked computer systems in an effort to help Donald Trump win, but Priebus says the president-elect won't buy it until the directors of the FBI and CIA go on TV and say it.

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REINCE PRIEBUS: I think he would accept the conclusion if these intelligence professionals would get together, put out a report, show the American people that they're actually on the same page, as opposed to third parties through "The Washington Post."

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS: This -- this wasn't a third party. John Brennan issued a statement.

PRIEBUS: Right, but we haven't heard additional -- but we -- I mean we haven't -- we haven't heard from Comey. I mean we -- so, look, I think that these guys should be straight with the American people and come out and say it.

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KEILAR: And joining me now is Illinois Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton.

So you have the House Homeland Security Committee handling cyber threats right now and the question, Congressman Moulton, is, does there need to be this select committee, a different committee, as you hear Chuck Schumer and John McCain saying, but it seems like so far Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are resisting? REP. SETH MOULTON (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Absolutely. I mean this is a

major issue for the United States of America. Not just for Republicans or Democrats, but for our entire country. And it stretches across the jurisdiction of many committees. Of course it involves homeland security. It's an attack by Russia on the United States. It involves the Armed Services Committee as well, on which I serve. So this absolutely should be a select committee and that's why you've seen courageous senators like Senator Graham and Senator McCain come out and join their Democratic colleagues and call for that kind of investigation.

KEILAR: What do you think, Congressman Kinzinger?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: So, I like the idea of keeping it in the committee of jurisdiction. For instance, Intel does a really good job. It's a very bipartisan committee. However, if we see over the next few months, weeks, whatever, that there's going to be too much politics involved in the committees or, in fact, they can't do it, then I'd be open to it. I think it's early right now to call for a select committee. I'm not opposed to the idea of it. We just need to get to the bottom of what's going on.

And I think the other broad thing is, too, we need to understand, this doesn't need to be a partisan issue. There's some on the left that are questioning the election of Donald Trump because of it. There are some on the right that are denying that this even actually happened. This is where, you know, folks like Seth and I have to get together, in a bipartisan way, and say, we want to ensure this does happen again to the greatest republic in the world.

KEILAR: You both have really interesting backgrounds because you have a military background. You also bring your experience as elected officials to this. So when you hear, Congressman Kinzinger, Reince Priebus saying that if the FBI and the CIA would essentially come out publicly, get on the same page, announce their conclusions, also from your background, knowing how intel is handled, you know this isn't the kind of thing that is just always aired, what do you think about him saying that? What do you take away from that?

KINZINGER: I don't like it. And I don't like it because, you know, there's been this kind of tendency, especially over this issue, over the Russia hack issue, for people to say, well, I don't believe it until you publicly tell me what proof you have. And what we've done is gotten on this slippery slope where intelligence is something that's private and protected and we trust the intelligence agencies to give us the right answer with the best judgment they have. And it seemed to have kind of evolved into, we don't believe the intelligence unless you're willing to go on CNN or any other network and say what it is publicly.

This is a very -- you know, it's a dark art. It's something that we're very good at and we can't reveal our methods. So I think the idea that you have to see these directors come out and say publicly, because of course the next question is, well, how do you know? And then we reveal our intel gathers efforts. I don't think that's right. Let's trust the intel community. There's a lot of agreement all across the board that this happened. Let's figure out how to stop it from happening in the future to save our republic.

KEILAR: Congressman Moulton, some people look at what Priebus is saying as maybe an off ramp for Donald Trump. He, so far, has resisted these assessments that are pretty -- these are supported by all of the intelligence agencies that Russia was behind these hackings. Do you think it's good, perhaps, this signal that Donald Trump may accept this intelligence?

MOULTON: Look, this shouldn't be an issue of political speculation. I mean, frankly, you know, Reince Priebus says that Trump hasn't heard from Comey and the CIA. Well, he would hear from them if he simply got the daily intelligence briefing that's been a part of our national security for -- for time in memorial. Every president has gotten daily intelligence briefings because they're so critical to the job and yet Trump refuses them.

[13:20:09] So, look, Adam is absolutely right here, we need to put national security first, ahead of politics. We shouldn't be speculating about on ramps or off ramps or whatnot. We should just do what's necessary to protect the nation. I know that's what Adam and I try to do every single day in Congress. And, frankly, that's what our president-elect should be doing as well.

KEILAR: And I want to talk about the president-elect, and maybe his response to this in a moment. But first, Congressman Kinzinger, let's talk about President Obama, because he's saying retaliation, but what do you want to see that materialize as?

KINZINGER: That's going to be up to him. He knows more of the instruments of power that he possesses than I even know. I think there needs to be a broad understanding, though, which is, you know, cyber defense is one thing. We need to get better at cyber defense. But cyber offense is important. This is, and it's kind of a controversial thing to say, but this is almost like the cold war, the idea of mutual shared (ph) destruction.

We can have our political system hacked. It's all basically, you know, how tight are the DNC or the RNC cyber defenses. But we need to make it clear that if you get past those defenses and try to affect an election in any way, we can do the same to you. So, in essence, you mess with us, we're going to mess with you back. So the president knows the instruments of power he has.

I do question why this is, you know, now in December and now it's very aggressive. I know there's been some talk of it in the past. But more than just saying, cut it out, the president and then the president- elect needs to make it clear that this is the greatest country in the world. We're not a satellite state of the former Soviet Union. We will not be deterred. We will not be intimidated. And a country with the size of -- with an economy the size of Italy, like Russia, will not tell us what to do or control our role in the world.

KEILAR: What do you say to that, Congressman Moulton, because it seems like maybe Democrats thought that Hillary Clinton, maybe the white House thought Hillary Clinton may win. We don't want to look like we're putting the finger on the scale for her. Maybe we're not going to address this. Is this something that should have been addressed, considering we've known for months that this was going on, and at least earlier that it was likely Russia, if we didn't have that confirmed?

MOULTON: Well, I think what you -- what you said, Brianna, is exactly what happened. Clearly, you know, everyone expected Hillary to win. That's what all the pollsters were saying. And the Democrats didn't want her victory to be tainted by saying that President Obama pushed the elections one way or the other. So I think that, you know, President Obama did what -- he tried to -- he tried to make the right decision at the time, which is to make sure that our country did not think that there were outside influencers on our election or inside influencers. So he was doing the right thing.

But now, look, this is -- this is right. This -- Adam is right, the stakes here are very serious. Could this be another Cold War in cyber territory over the next 10, 20 years? Yes, it could. And that's why people like President-elect Trump and President Obama need to sit down and work together on what our response should be. And, again, the fact that Trump won't even get the intelligence briefings, won't even give the intelligence professionals, people who put their lives on the line for the defense of our country just like Adam and I did in the military, the fact that he won't even give them credibility, he's more willing to listen to Putin is frightening for our country. So we've got get past that.

KEILAR: All right, gentlemen, stick with me. We have much more ahead that we are going to discuss.

Tensions growing between President-elect Trump and China after Chinese -- the Chinese navy illegally seized a U.S. drone. We'll talk about that.

And then before we go to break, I want to show you what happened moments ago in Madison, Wisconsin. This is where protestors interrupted the Electoral College vote there. You'd seen a little of it while we were on-air live with this. But this is what unfolded in the moments after.

And then we also just got an updated vote total, 135 votes for Donald Trump, 83 for Hillary Clinton. We'll keep following this story for you. Stick around.

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[13:27:27] KEILAR: All right, the controversy over the seizure of an underwater drone in the South China Sea is highlighting rising tensions and deteriorating relations between the U.S. and China. While the Pentagon says Beijing has to return the Navy's unmanned underwater vehicle, this transfer has yet to happen.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is coving this story for us.

So what's the delay, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, apparently, Brianna, both sides are still talking how to make it happen. It looks like they're going to try and transfer it at sea, from a Chinese ship to a U.S. Navy warship, but how do you do that? How to make it all safely happen? Still seems to be topic number one of conversation.

We're also told there's been some bad weather in the area where they're trying to do this. So that's held it up a bit. It looks like it's still on. Everybody thinks it's still on. But it hasn't happened yet.

Brianna.

KEILAR: And a tweet. Tell us about this tweet, as is characteristic of the president-elect, talking about this specific issue?

STARR: Well, you know, first, he had indicated, I think very strongly, that he was quite concerned about China taking this U.S. Navy drone. And then you can see the words there. He comes back with another tweet, you know, "just let them keep it."

Now, the position of the Obama administration, the position of the U.S. Navy right now, is they want it back. It is U.S. military property. The Chinese have apparently agreed give it back. I'll tell you, it's not clear to anyone I've spoken to here at the Pentagon what President-elect Trump's goal would be in saying to China via Twitter, "just keep it." It seems to be something that is striking the U.S. Navy and the U.S. military as just a bit odd.

Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you for that report.

While many people claim that Donald Trump and those in his orbit of overly cozy with Russia, it's the opposite story with China. The president-elect has promised a hard line there.

I want to bring back Congressman Seth Moulton and Congressman Adam Kinzinger with us.

So, Congressman Kinzinger, to you. Do you believe that this capture of the underwater drone is -- I mean what do you make of this in terms of Chinese relations with the U.S. as we have an incoming president?

KINZINGER: Yes, I -- it's obviously a violation of the principle of freedom of navigation of the sea. That's what we fought our first two wars over is that idea, whether it's the Barbary Pirates or anybody else. So this violates the fact that we have made that a staple of who we are in terms of international trade, in terms of the freedom to navigate and in terms of military. So I think this needs to be pushed back against hard.

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