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House Democrats Unveil Two Articles of Impeachment against President Trump; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Republicans' Vote in the Senate; Michael Bloomberg Cautions Dems on Impeachment; Trump and Saudi Arabia Stay Close after Pensacola Shooting; . Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired December 10, 2019 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news..
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Donald Trump will face two articles of impeachment. It is 8:00 pm here in Abu Dhabi, 11:00 in the morning in
D.C., hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson.
It is an historic day in America. As U.S. House Democrats take a momentous move forward in the impeachment inquiry of president Donald Trump,
announcing two articles of impeachment, charging him with high crimes and misdemeanors. The articles are abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The House Judiciary chairman, flanked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and four other committee chair men and women, laid out those impeachment articles.
Jerry Nadler saying very strong words that the president has used the power of his office for personal gain. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JERRY NADLER (D-NY), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: That is exactly what President Trump did when he solicited and pressured Ukraine to
interfere in our 2020 presidential election; thus, damaging our national security, undermining the integrity of the next election and violating his
oath to the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff says the impeachment articles are tied to the president's July phone call with
Ukraine's president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): President Trump abused the power of his office by conditioning two official acts to get Ukraine to help his reelection: the
release of hundreds of millions of in military aid that nation desperately needed and a White House meeting with an ally trying to fend off Russian
aggression.
In so doing, he undermined our national security and jeopardized the integrity of our next election. And he does so still.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Joe Johns is at the White House for us, where the American president is this hour.
And, Joe, the House Speaker today calling this a solemn day and speaking in hushed, almost reverential tones, history in the making for only the fourth
time in American history.
What's the atmosphere like in D.C.?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The atmosphere at the White House can be described as defiant, Becky. The White House press
secretary put out a statement given to the pool just a little while ago, in which she called all this "baseless and partisan," something that Democrats
wanted to do before the inauguration, a pathetic attempt, she says, to try to overthrow the Trump administration.
And among other things she said the president will make his statement when all of this -- before the United States Senate, as you know, the House of
Representatives is controlled by Democrats, is the place where the president is moving very rapidly toward impeachment.
But it's over on the Senate side, where Republicans say they want to try to defend the President of the United States and he says he wants to
participate in that but not in the House.
So the other thing it's important to say is that the White House is now sending signs that it would like to see that Senate trial occur as quickly
as possible, even if it means over the holidays that are upcoming.
It's not clear at all that the Senate majority leader, who is a Republican himself wants to do that. Every indication is he wants to hold the trial
after, after the holidays. Back to you.
ANDERSON: Our colleague Stephen Collinson is joining us now as well.
You wrote today that in announcing the impeachment articles, Democrats are crossing a somber point of no political return. And you speculate it's no
sure thing that voters will side with the Democrats in next year's election.
Just how could this backfire at the ballot box, Stephen?
[11:05:00]
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think one way that it could backfire is if this really lights a fire under president Donald
Trump's voting base, makes them much more determined to get to the polls.
There's a scenario the president will try to create, in which he'll say the Democrats are trying to steal their vote from 2016 and, therefore, they
should be more keen to reelect him next year.
The key here is we don't really know how this is going to play out. There's also a case that this impeachment process has so shown a light on
the president's malfeasance that it's going to hurt him with moderate voters in city areas, places like Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan;
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that he needs to win that election.
So it's very much up in the air. But I think the fact it took so long for the Democrats to move towards impeachment, they didn't want to do it on the
basis of the Mueller report and they didn't put any articles of impeachment based on the Mueller report tells you they know it's a big risk.
ANDERSON: Throughout this inquiry, Joe, Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, has said the Democrats have had no choice but to pursue impeachment.
Again, today, talking about the U.S. Constitution. She said this, have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): On a solemn day, I recall that the first order of business for members of Congress is the solemn act to take an oath to
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: That has been the Democrats' argument all along, that the president has violated his oath to protect the U.S. Constitution.
The White House line will simply be that they've always wanted to drain the swamp. That is what the president was elected to do and that the American
people will understand that is what he is doing and that people should be allowed to make their decisions at the ballot box.
Is there any real substance to what the White House and the Republican strategy is here?
JOHNS: Well, there's a lot of pushback to that because, according to the Democrats, if you believe their arguments, this whole situation is a clear
and present danger to the national security of the United States and the integrity of American elections.
The president has now twice gotten himself involved in investigations regarding the fooling around with American elections. So Democrats believe
that if they don't impeach a President of the United States on these grounds, there will be virtually nothing that a president can be held to
account for.
And as you know, there doesn't appear to be any way to file legal charges against a sitting president. Impeachment would be the only alternative,
the only recourse.
ANDERSON: Stand by for me because the Republican Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader is speaking now. He is speaking to the press. Let's just
have a listen to what he is saying.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): It has been falling in the polls. If you need any more evidence of how unpopular impeachment is, watch the two press
conferences today.
After announcing impeachment, within less than an hour, the Speaker finally relented and said she would bring USMCA up. She's held it up for more than
a year, making America weaker in our negotiations with China. Our number one and number two trader, Mexico and Canada, was being held up within our
own agreement.
Those who are vulnerable in this vote for impeachment continue to make the argument as the rest of America was, too. At no time when she would bring
the bill up was there ever a fear of it not passing.
But the only reason she would finally relent is because of the unpopularity of impeachment itself.
We watched in a hearing a Democrat constitutional scholar that did not vote for President Trump say this was the weakest, the thinnest, the fastest
impeachment in the history of America.
He then went to say if there was an abuse, it would be abuse on the Democrats to move forward.
The Speaker must not have listened to that hearing. If the Speaker had only waited 48 hours to release the transcript, America would not be put
through this nightmare. But the Speaker would pause and read the IG report, the inspector general.
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MCCARTHY: To think in a place in America we would have a law enforcement agency spy on a presidential campaign, in more than 51 instances not hold
up to the rule of law or change all the information in evidence to be able to move forward on something that they knew or should have known, was not
true is a sad day for America.
But to compound that with the idea just because you created a timeline to impeach a president that you disliked, you ignored facts. We would never
be here if they paid attention to the facts or the hearings. This is not a day that America will be proud about. It's not day that history will write
that anybody wants to repeat.
Alexander Hamilton warned us this day would come, that a majority would use their political power just for politics, even though we all raise our hands
to uphold the Constitution.
I just hope no Congress, regardless of who is in the majority will ever take us down this path again. We have such great potential in this nation
but to have wasted a majority on this, is an embarrassment to this Congress.
Questions?
Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: Does it make it harder to defend the president when his personal attorney is still --
ANDERSON: U.S. House Republicans holding their weekly news conference there after the Democrats announced articles of impeachment. That was
Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader speaking there. I've got Joe Johns with us still and Stephen Collinson. Ben Ferguson is joining us
as well.
Joe, briefly a response to what you've just heard there from McCarthy, your thoughts.
JOHNS: Well, in a nutshell, that tells you exactly where all this is going here in Washington. Democrats are arguing the merits and the facts
specific to the Ukraine situation and President Trump.
The Republicans are arguing politics and a question about the process that Democrats are taking the United States through and whether it's worth it
for the American people, given the fact that there's an election in November.
ANDERSON: Ben, I want to bring up one of your tweets from earlier today where you say, and I quote, "I want to introduce you to the committee to
reelect Donald Trump."
It seems you not only believe this won't hurt the U.S. president, you think it will help him.
How?
BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do. And I think what Nancy Pelosi is really smart, I give her credit. She knows the Democrats made a
big mistake but she couldn't walk it back. That's why within 25 minutes of announcing these articles of impeachment, the charges against the
president, they go, oh, by the way, Americans, we're going to give you a great trade deal we've been sitting on now for over a year.
She wanted to get this moving forward with some good news for the American people because she's smart enough to understand that the Democrats just did
something the American people are going to reject.
And when I watched them do this, I was honestly laughing. They rushed this, the American people could sense it. Even Steve Cohen has said, a
Democrat who has been pushing for this since 2016. He's given more than 20 reasons why Trump should be impeached.
He said last night we need to hurry and get this vote because there are Democrats who are getting worried. They don't want Democrats to go home
and get pressure to not impeach the president. They're trying to ram it through as fast as they can.
Now they're trying to announce a trade deal moments after impeachment. If this was a good decision, Nancy Pelosi would let her members talk
impeachment all day long and not try to cover it up with a trade deal. There's a very good chance they just reelected Donald Trump.
ANDERSON: A fascinating position.
We've already talked, Stephen, about why you think this could actually benefit the U.S. president. From your online newsletter today -- Stephen's
online letter is really worth a read, by the way.
You say Putin's plan for America is working better than he could hope.
"Washington feels like a fever dream. There's no agreement on common facts or assumption or goodwill between political adversaries."
You are concerned, sir?
COLLINSON: Well, I sat through that hearing yesterday, a full day hearing about the impeachment. And people are still having this raging argument
about what happened in the 2016 election, that the entire purpose of the Russian election meddling effort was to set Americans against each other,
to undermine confidence in the system and to widen the divisions.
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COLLINSON: That's what Robert Mueller, the special counsel said. It seems that because of this impeachment saga that the legitimacy of the 2020
election is already under threat. And this is going to be a story that just goes on and on and never ends.
ANDERSON: Stephen, Ben and Joe, thank you.
Up next, my interview with the powerful Democratic congressman Chris Murphy. What he told us is next.
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ANDERSON: It's just after 8:15 in the evening here in Abu Dhabi. It's after 11:15 am in Washington.
Our top story for you this hour: it's been days, weeks, months of accusations and denials. So let's remind ourselves of the two key reasons
Democrats now say we are where we are, looking to charge the American president with high crimes and misdemeanors.
They say the U.S. president abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rival while withholding millions in U.S. aid.
Second, Democrats say Mr. Trump obstructed Congress by not cooperating in the impeachment inquiry.
One of his responses on Twitter, "Witch hunt."
Democratic senator Chris Murphy has said some of his Republican colleagues are considering voting for impeachment. Senator Murphy sits on some of
Washington's most powerful committees, including the Committee on Foreign Relations. I spoke with him a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I don't know why you have an impeachment clause in the Constitution if not to protect the American people against the
president who has used the massive power of his office to try to rig an election.
That's what President Trump has tried to do here. He was using U.S. taxpayer dollars in the form of aid to Ukraine and access to the White
House in order to try to convince the president of Ukraine to investigate his political opponents as a means of trying to interfere in the 2020
election. You're not allowed to do that in a democracy.
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MURPHY: You can't use the power of the executive branch to try to rig an election or convince another country to benefit you politically. If we
don't render some consequences to President Trump for this, then there's no end to the ways in which he'll just try to turn the White House into an arm
of his reelection campaign.
I don't think we've ever seen an administration this corrupt. Arguably there's all sorts of other corruption the president has been engaged in
that might be impeachable conduct. But this is the most egregious.
I think it's perfectly appropriate for the House -- necessary, in fact -- for them be sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate as it appears
they're in the process of doing.
ANDERSON: Right. So should this get through the House, it would take a two-thirds vote for conviction in a Senate trial to remove the president.
To date, not a single Republican has actually crossed party lines.
Senator, you recently told MSNBC that you know of a few of your Republican colleagues who are considering voting for impeachment. There's a lot of
speculation out there about who they might be.
Who are they, sir?
MURPHY: These are all private conversations. I ultimately don't know how many Republican senators will vote to impeach the president, whether there
will be any. I also don't know how all of my Democratic colleagues are going to vote on this matter.
Ultimately, a lot of people are going to have to look at the articles of impeachment, which were just unveiled moments ago, and make the decision
for themselves.
I've just made my position clear on the record that I believe that the conduct that the president engaged in trying to get a foreign country to
interfere in an American election is exactly the kind of conduct that the founding fathers envisioned as being impeachable. I'm only responsible for
my own decision on how I vote.
ANDERSON: OK, but I just want to pressure you on this because you did say that you know of a few of your Republican colleagues who are considering
voting for impeachment.
Let me ask you this question, are they among the most influential leaders in the Senate?
MURPHY: Yes; certainly not going to share those private conversations with you or anyone else. You know, I am comfortable saying that I don't think
all Republicans have made up their minds. I think the idea that every Republican is going to vote to back up the president is not true.
I think there are some, admittedly a small handful, that are taking their time to take a look at the president's conduct, to take the pulse of their
constituents back home before they make a decision. And I'm glad for that.
ANDERSON: There will be people watching this and people across America who say what's the point?
If this is not going to get a conviction in the Senate, we, at that point will be 10 months away from an election, why not just wait for the American
people to take a vote on whether this president should stay or go?
MURPHY: Well, part of the answer to that question is that the activity that the president was involved in is directly relevant to the sanctity and
security of the 2020 election. What the president was attempting to do was to use taxpayer dollars to rig the 2020 election.
So Congress has to step in and at least set forward a process of consequences for that behavior to try to protect voters' ability to make a
decision without outside foreign interference in the 2020 election.
So this corruption scheme is all about the 2020 election. And so, of course, we had to step in to try to make sure that that corruption ends.
ANDERSON: Will the conservative press touting this entire process as a -- and I quote one of them here -- "a kamikaze mission for the Democrats in
2020," there are a number of very vulnerable Democrats in states which could swing.
How concerned are you for your Democratic colleagues?
MURPHY: Well, listen, ultimately this isn't about the impact on the 2020 election. That's not a consideration I certainly take into account. We're
doing our constitutional duty to try to root out corruption in this administration and draw a line when a president has badly abused his power.
I don't really, you know, care that much what the impact of this process is on the 2020 elections.
ANDERSON: But those vulnerable Democratic colleagues will care an awful lot, sir, won't they?
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MURPHY: Well, I'm not saying that people who are up for reelection don't care.
(LAUGHTER)
MURPHY: But you know, folks are charged with doing what their constituents want them to do here. So every single Democrat, whether they're up for
election or not, every single Republican, whether they're up for election or not, should be talking to their constituents about whether think this
conduct is impeachable.
More people think the president should be removed than think he should stay in office. If folks are listening to their constituents, I think they're
going to hear feedback telling them to vote to render some consequences.
ANDERSON: Mr. Trump's press secretary put out a statement earlier, saying that the U.S. president will, quote, "address these false charges in the
Senate" and expects to be fully exonerated because, she says, "he did nothing wrong." She tweeted out "five indisputable facts."
One, no evidence of wrongdoing by POTUS; two, Ukraine said there was no pressure; three, lethal aid to Ukraine wouldn't exist without Trump; four,
there's no obstruction whatsoever; five, this is an unfair and unprecedented impeachment process.
One assumes that is what the White House believes and they are sticking to that.
Sir, the question is, you know, will the American people buy that?
MURPHY: They're not buying it right now. You know, when the House was undertaking impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, the American
people, I think by over a 2:1 margin opposed those proceedings. In this case more Americans believe the inquiry should go forward and the president
should be impeached than those who don't.
So I think most Americans have made up their mind. By the way, prior to the facts surrounding the Ukraine corruption being made public, the
majority of Americans did not support impeachment by a large margin.
And so when the American people took a look at the transcript of that phone call and the testimony of all of these career diplomats, they came to a
pretty fast conclusion that this was impeachable conduct. And I think that says a lot about the gravity of these actions.
ANDERSON: So you have not let this impeachment inquiry get in the way of work that you believe is really important to you and to the American
people. A week ago, the Trump administration lifted a mysterious hold on security assistance to Lebanon, a country in the region where we are
broadcasting from today.
The money has been held up for months, even though it had been approved by Congress.
You tweeted the following, "Shouldn't have taken a trip from a U.S. senator," you, "and a public shaming campaign to unlock aid for Lebanon.
The founders gave Congress foreign policy powers as a check against an imperial presidency."
What were you inferring there, sir?
Do you think there was any legitimate reason that the funding was being held up?
MURPHY: Well, the president does not have the legal ability to withhold foreign aid that's been authorized and appropriated by Congress. The
president was acting illegally by holding this aid back.
He never, ever articulate a policy reason to Congress as to why he was withholding the aid. He did not say why he was withholding the Ukraine
aid. I don't have any evidence to suggest it was as nefarious as the reasons that ultimately we discovered were behind the Ukraine hold.
But the consequences were still serious. As you know, there are protests in the streets as we speak in Lebanon. The protesters are being protected
by the Lebanese army. And by withholding aid for the army we were almost signaling a sort of message of opposition or wavering support to the
protest movement at really, really critical time.
I'm glad the president turned back on the aid after I came back from my trip. He never should have withheld it in the first place.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: That was Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, who spoke to me last hour.
And an update: the U.S. House has just released the formal written impeachment articles against Donald Trump. Not everyone on the Democratic
Party is on the same page. Democratic presidential candidate and billionaire Michael Bloomberg spoke to my colleague, Christiane Amanpour,
in what is an exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it is very sad for this country that I can say the following.
[11:30:00]
BLOOMBERG: But unfortunately, the evidence seems to be serious enough that I would, if I was in the Senate -- the House, I would vote for impeachment.
But I don't think we should do this lightly. I think it's a great danger to influence the political process.
Fundamentally I think the electorate should decide who they're led by. And they have an opportunity to throw them out every four years.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: So your campaign manager said to me and he said to others that it looks like it's impeach, acquit, reelect, talking
about Donald Trump in the House --
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOMBERG: The first two you can be pretty sure that both of those are going to happen. Getting impeached and not getting convicted. Getting
reelected, that's what an election is all about. It's not until --
(CROSSTALK)
AMANPOUR: That's one of the reasons why you've jumped in because you think right now Trump is winning?
BLOOMBERG: I think Trump is getting stronger and I think he would just eat alive the candidates because they don't have plans that I think are
practical, that can be implemented; they don't have management experience.
And the president's job is a management job. Four million people to manage. And if you don't have a lot of managing experience -- this is not
job where you take training wheels. This the future of the world, the free world, maybe the whole world. And you need people with experience.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: The rest of that interview airing at 6:00 pm London -- sorry 10:00 pm in Abu Dhabi. We'll be right back.
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ANDERSON: It is just after half past 8:00 in Abu Dhabi. This is CONNECT THE WORLD from CNN's Middle East broadcasting hub. I'm Becky Anderson and
our breaking news this hour: the U.S. House Judiciary Committee has just released formal written articles of impeachment against president Donald
Trump, charging him with high crimes and misdemeanors.
Democrats say that the president abused power for his own personal benefit and obstructed Congress.
[11:35:00]
ANDERSON: The White House insists the president did nothing wrong and calls the impeachment process unfair. The Intelligence Committee chairman
Adam Schiff says the impeachment articles are tied to the president's July phone call with Ukraine's president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHIFF: President Trump abused the power of his office by conditioning two official acts to get Ukraine to help his reelection: the release of
hundreds of millions of in military aid that nation desperately needed and a White House meeting with an ally trying to fend off Russian aggression.
In so doing, he undermined our national security and jeopardized the integrity of our next election. And he does so still.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Meanwhile, the U.S. president isn't backing down from his support of Saudi Arabia following a deadly shooting at a Florida naval base
on Friday. Three sailors were killed when a Saudi national opened fire on a classroom in Pensacola.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of terror, a word Donald Trump has yet to use. Instead he continues to publicly stress the
kingdom's condolences and cooperation in the investigation. Nic Robertson is joining us.
A promise from Riyadh hours after it was clear a Saudi national was implicated in this attack, to do whatever it takes in this investigation.
What is being done?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, a reaffirmation on that on Sunday as well. Today that cooperation seemed to lead the Saudi
defense attache to Pensacola, Florida; precisely what form, we don't know.
We know a number of other Saudi military officers in training there have been undergoing questioning. We understand that some have wanted to leave
the base. They're confined to base. That's what it appears to be at the moment.
We know they've had lawyers to help them during the questioning. The nature of the visit by the Saudi defense attache not clear.
Some things we are learning in more detail, a Twitter account that investigators are linking to the shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, seems to
indicate that over the past six months or maybe more not just in the minutes before the shooting that he tweeted anti-American ideas and seemed
to quote Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda leaders but over that people had been tweeting people that were anti-Saudi leadership.
One Saudi author who has been in jail for several years, which raises the prospects of how did those red flags be missed?
ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is in Riyadh for you, folks. Thank you, Nic.
Still to come, dancing their way to victory. The Milwaukee Bucks keep up their streak in the National Basketball Association. That and more after
this.
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ANDERSON: They call him the Greek freak. And Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks keep dancing to a win streak in the NBA. The Orlando Magic, the
latest team to fall to Milwaukee and its MVP forward.
Now who do I know with moves like this?
Mmm, ahh, one Mr. Don Riddell.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, I was going to make the same joke. I was going to say watching that clip reminds me of the good old days when
you and I used to host the morning show together out of London at 6:00 am. It was just a non-stop party.
(LAUGHTER)
RIDDELL: All right, yes, that's coming up on "WORLD SPORT."
Plus, why it's never over until it's over and why Liverpool won't stop running tonight in the Champions League.
ANDERSON: Mr. Riddell is in the house. That's after this, folks.
(WORLD SPORT)
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