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Trump Impeached; Pelosi Holds News Conference; Ukraine Opens Investigation into Possible Surveillance of former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch; Giuliani Associate Implicates Trump in Ukraine Scandal; Aired 11-11:30a ET
Aired January 16, 2020 - 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): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): This hour, a stunning twist ahead of the U.S. president Donald Trump's impeachment trial.
It is 11:00 am in D.C., 6:00 pm in Kiev in Ukraine. It is 8:00 pm here in Abu Dhabi.
In just one hour, the U.S. Senate will formally hear the articles of impeachment against president Donald Trump, that event setting the stage
for just the third impeachment trial in American history against a sitting U.S. president.
And that is why today matters. Earlier the Senate Republican and Democratic leaders took to the floor, majority leader Mitch McConnell saying the
Senate is ready to assume its responsibilities for the trial as laid out in the U.S. Constitution.
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer saying it is essential that witnesses be called for the trial, something McConnell has not as of now at least agreed
to.
Well, today's events happening a day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ended her week's delay and signed off on the charges against the president. Let's
have a listen to what Nancy Pelosi is saying now as we speak.
[11:01:55]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Impeachment is a sad day for America and yesterday was one when we were given no choice but to send to
the Senate two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, the president of the United States.
(PELOSI PRESS CONFERENCE)
[11:06:20]
PELOSI: On the desk of the Grim Reaper, on the Senate side; 400 bills have we passed, 275 of them bipartisan sitting on the leader's desk. One of them
is about -- is about gun violence and that's -- passing that bill and having it signed it into law would --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: All right.
Well, that is Nancy Pelosi. This is a regularly scheduled news conference but this is not a regular day in Washington. This is the day when the
Senate takes over in this impeachment of the U.S. president, Donald Trump, for only the third time in American history.
I want to bring in the team covering this for us. Athena Jones is on Capitol Hill. Stephen Collinson is in the D.C. bureau as is CNN legal
analyst Elie Honig and CNN international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow with news about an investigation launched by Ukraine tied to the
Trump impeachment.
Athena, you are in the thick of the action. The Senate now in charge.
How's this going to work?
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky. In about an hour we will see the House managers, prosecuting the case against the president,
come back to the Senate to read the articles of impeachment on the Senate floor.
Later this afternoon the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts will be swearing in all 100 senators. They will swear an oath to do
impartial justice.
And then the actual hearing, the substance of the trial doesn't get underway until Tuesday and we expect senators to hear the House managers
make their case against the president, followed by the president's defense team making the case in defense of the president.
And each side gets 24 hours. After all of that, then senators will have an opportunity to ask questions up to 16 hours and that takes several more
days and then, of course, becomes the issue over -- or the votes -- potential votes over whether to hear -- call witnesses, whether to hear
more additional evidence in the trial, new evidence that emerged since the House voted to impeach the president nearly a month ago.
And among that evidence is the trove of documents and now interviews from Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, who was involved in helping Giuliani
and the efforts in Ukraine to pressure the government to announce an investigation into the Bidens.
It's almost as though each day another shoe drops with this cascade of information and you just heard Speaker Pelosi highlighting this latest
decision by the government, by the Government Accountability Office, saying that the Trump administration broke the law when they put a hold on that
Ukraine military aid, the $391 million, saying that they broke the Impoundment Control Act, saying that they were -- they did not hold that
money under legal means. It is illegal.
And of course, that the president directed this, so there's evidence of that, as well. New information coming out every day that Democrats feel is
bolstering their case -- Becky.
And Athena is in the halls of power there. Thank you.
We have told you that there was -- this historic moment Wednesday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi handing the pens that she used to formally sign these
charges, impeachment articles.
Senate majority leader Republican Mitch McConnell, Stephen, blasting Pelosi for this move, labeling it as a photo opportunity. Question to you, sir.
[11:10:00]
ANDERSON: Are Democrats at risk of overplaying this moment?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was certainly a jarring moment, given that the whole tone that Nancy Pelosi has tried to
spread around this impeachment, is that this is a grave moment. It's a time for prayer and something that's very serious in American history.
So it -- you know, just watching that yesterday, it did seem a bit odd. Normally what happens when a president signs a bill, you have this big
ceremony and he signs his name with, say, 12, 20 different pens. And then he gives them to people who helped sign the bill.
So this did have a sort of celebratory air and quite surprising, given the way that Nancy Pelosi conducted this impeachment inquiry. You know, in the
global scheme of things this is something that Mitch McConnell is bringing up.
I don't think it's really going to impact the -- how impeachment goes down in history, how ultimately it's judged by the American people in the 2020
election. You could say it was a little bit of an own goal and something that perhaps the Speaker might like to have back if she had to do this all
over again.
ANDERSON: Elie, CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju questioned Republican senators about new evidence. I just want our viewers
to get to listen to the response of two GOP Republican senators. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator, should the Senate consider new evidence as the part?
SEN. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-AZ): You're a liberal hack. I'm not talking to you.
RAJU: You're not going to comment?
Do you think the Senate should consider new evidence as part of the Senate trial that has come out --
SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): Absolutely not.
RAJU: Why not?
PERDUE: Because that's not our job. The job is to respond to what we've been given in the case that was built by the House. They have given us two
very weak articles of impeachment. Our job is to look at what they brought us and decide if that rises to the level of impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: To the question of whether the Senate should consider new evidence in the impeachment trial, "you're a liberal hack" was one answer.
"Absolutely not" was another. Let's be clear. Martha McSally is a Republican facing a difficult election race this year.
But look. Elie, the question, an absolutely reasonable one, isn't it?
ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It is and it is getting harder and harder for Republicans to figure out how to answer that question because as we see
more and more evidence emerge, it's getting harder and harder to say we shouldn't have any new evidence and any witnesses at the trial.
I think the American people are smart enough to understand that feels like a cover-up and the polling reflects that. There's a strong support in favor
of having witnesses testify at this trial. By the way, that's what trials are all about.
And with regard to this question of, can newly discovered evidence be admitted at this trial?
The answer is, at a normal trial, absolutely yes. When I was a prosecutor we would continue investigating up to trial, during trial, right up to the
moment when the jury took the case and a lot of times you find really important evidence.
And it doesn't matter when you found it as long as you found it before the jury took the case. It is admissible. Now this is a Senate impeachment
trial. The rules are different. There's no specific rule but Republicans are really straining to put this artificial limitation of if it didn't
exist on December 18th when the articles of impeachment were passed then no good.
But I don't think that flies with the American public.
ANDERSON: Fred, to the point of potential new evidence, Ukraine announced an investigation that ties into all of this, saying investigators are now
looking into the possible surveillance of former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
What are the details?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Ukrainians saw some of that evidence or details put forward by the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence, some of those messages relayed between Lev Parnas and others.
And they said, look, maybe there's a crime committed here against this ambassador on the soil of Ukraine. They say that they have a responsibility
to see whether or not, not only Ukrainian citizens have been put under illegal surveillance but also whether foreign dignitaries have as well.
I want to read from what the Ukrainian ministry of affairs put forward on this because it's a big investigation they seem to be launching.
They said, "Ukraine's position is not to interfere in the domestic affairs of the United States; however, the published references cited in the media
convey a possible violation of the law of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations which protects the rights of a diplomat on the
territory of a foreign country.
"Ukraine cannot ignore such illegal activities on the territory of its own state."
So they therefore say they've launched a criminal investigation into all this.
[11:15:00]
PLEITGEN: They say they want to see whether or not there really was illegal surveillance of Ambassador Yovanovitch or whether or not this was
just bravado by the people involved.
Very, very keen, the Ukrainians are also saying that they would like the U.S. to participate in this investigation and they say they hope to hear
back from the U.S. on this as fast as possible.
So the Ukrainians launching a large investigation into this, seems like a serious investigation. All the while CNN on various occasions attempted to
get in touch with the State Department and actually messaged the State Department whether or not they have any comment on this and whether or not
they want to launch an investigation considering that, of course, the top diplomat in Ukraine is very much a State Department employee and therefore
it could very well be that the State Department wants to have a statement on all this.
So far they have not gotten back to CNN on whether or not that's going to be the case. By the way, Becky, on a side note, the Ukrainians launching an
investigation into the hack of Burisma, playing a large role in the greater impeachment proceedings going on, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. Doesn't it just.
To all of you, Fred included, thank you.
Away from impeachment for just a moment. I want to get you an incredible moment now from the CNN debate. Our microphones captured a tense moment of
Senator Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both, of course, Democratic candidates for president.
Moderators pressed Warren on Sanders, on a 2018 meeting when Sanders allegedly said a woman couldn't win the presidency. Warren said she wasn't
there to, quote, "try to fight with Bernie." Sanders denied questioning whether a woman could win the presidency.
CNN audio captured their conversation, which was had right after the debate. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think you called me a liar on national TV?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What?
WARREN: I think you called me a liar on national TV?
SANDERS: Let's not do it right now. You want to have that discussion, we'll have that discussion.
WARREN: Any time.
SANDERS: You called me -- you told me -- all right, let's not do it.
TOM STEYER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't want to get in the middle. I just want to say hi, Bernie.
SANDERS: Yes, good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: A spokesman for the Sanders campaign declined to comment on the audio and a spokesperson for Warren's campaign didn't respond to a request
for comment. Neither of the campaigns rising to it.
Next, circling back to the top story, CNN's Anderson Cooper sits down with Lev Parnas, a Giuliani associate, at the center of the impeachment case. He
talked about the quid pro quos he said he directly delivered to Ukraine and, importantly, who knew about them.
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[11:20:00]
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ANDERSON: As the U.S. Senate prepares for just the third impeachment trial in American history, the indicted associate of Donald Trump's personal
lawyer reveals new details of what the president knew about the Ukraine pressure campaign. Lev Parnas told CNN's Anderson Cooper more about the
quid pro quo at the heart of these allegations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You loved President Trump.
LEV PARNAS, INDICTED ASSOCIATE OF RUDY GIULIANI: Loved him. I mean, he -- I mean, when the FBI came to my house to raid and my wife felt embarrassed
because they said I had a shrine to him. I have pictures all over. I mean, I idolized him. I thought he was the savior.
COOPER: Did you think you were friends?
PARNAS: Absolutely. I mean, again, I went from being a top donor, from being at all the events, where we would just socialize, to becoming a close
friend of Rudy Giuliani's to eventually becoming his ally and his asset on the ground in Ukraine.
COOPER: The president said, when you were arrested, he said that he didn't know you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't know those gentlemen. Now it's possible I have a picture with them because I have a picture with everybody. I don't know them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PARNAS: The truth is out now, thank God. Yes, that was a big day for us. I thank God every day. I was worried that day will not come. I thought they
were going to shut me up and make me look like the scapegoat and try to blame me for stuff wasn't done and with God's help and the great legal team
that I have beside me, we were able to get the information out and now it's out there.
So I welcome him to say that even more. Every time he says it, I'll show him another picture.
COOPER: He is lying?
PARNAS: He is lying.
COOPER: Your attorney in a tweet said there were two times in which you gave the message of a quid pro quo to Ukrainian officials.
What were those two times?
PARNAS: I think there were probably a little bit more than two times but the first quid pro quo we gave them is when we met with President
Poroshenko.
COOPER: The former president.
PARNAS: Former President Poroshenko.
COOPER: What was your message to Poroshenko?
PARNAS: Poroshenko said if he would make the announcement he would get -- Trump would either invite him to the White House or make a statement for
him but basically would start supporting him for president.
COOPER: That was the first quid pro quo, Poroshenko can come to the White House or get a meeting with Trump if he announces an investigation?
PARNAS: Correct.
COOPER: What was the next one?
PARNAS: You have to understand, because this was a transition time. He was -- Zelensky just won. He was president-elect. And he -- the most -- the
number one thing on their agenda was not even the transition. It was to get the inauguration because it was a big thing.
COOPER: To show the American backing of the new administration?
PARNAS: Of course. He had no strength with Russia.
COOPER: So Giuliani cancels his visit because of the bad publicity in the U.S. You have a meeting with a high-level official in the Zelensky circle
and what's the message you deliver?
PARNAS: I basically told him strict and stern that several things, A, that he needed to make an announcement -- Zelensky needed to immediately make an
announcement that night or tomorrow, within the next 24 hours, that they were opening up an investigation on Biden.
COOPER: Within 24 hours or so?
PARNAS: I don't remember. 24 hours that same night but literally because I mean, Rudy was really pissed off that this was going to be --
COOPER: Hadn't happened?
PARNAS: He said some very strong words. On TV also. Everybody in Ukraine was flipping out at that time because to hear Rudy Giuliani come out and
say that this -- Zelensky, the president-elect, that all of a sudden he's surrounded by enemies and he named the names of the people.
COOPER: That can destroy the new regime.
PARNAS: Well, it was very near -- it was some crazy times in Ukraine at that time because it became a power struggle.
COOPER: Rudy is pissed off, in your words. You go in. Your message is, announce the Biden investigation?
PARNAS: Get rid of certain individuals that are enemies of the president in -- in his administration.
COOPER: At that point was there any mention of withholding of aid?
PARNAS: Yes. It was -- well, if they didn't make the announcement, basically there would be no relationship, not just -- it was no specific
military aid, there was no aid there was going to be assisted. There was going to be no inauguration. Pence wouldn't be at the inauguration and
there would be no visit to the White House.
There would be basically they would have no communication.
[11:25:00]
COOPER: So how -- you told the top official in the Zelensky inner circle that if they did not announce an investigation of the Bidens immediately
and get rid of some folks around Zelensky they believed were opposed to President Trump that there wouldn't be any aid and Vice President Pence
would not even come to the inauguration?
PARNAS: Correct.
COOPER: And what happened?
What did they say?
PARNAS: I called Rudy. Told him that I don't think it's going to be an announcement. He said, OK, they'll see.
COOPER: They'll see?
PARNAS: They'll see.
COOPER: And what happened the next day?
PARNAS: I got called and said that they got a call from the -- basically they found out that Pence is not going to be there. He got canceled. They
said that there was a scheduling problem or something.
COOPER: The day after you delivered that message?
PARNAS: Correct.
COOPER: Quid pro quo.
PARNAS: Monday the 13th. And then after that, like I think on the 16th or the 15th, I don't remember the exact dates, they had -- because they were
flipping out what to do. They didn't want to be embarrassed. They didn't know if anybody at all shows up but they knew Pence wasn't coming. Trump
wasn't coming.
COOPER: How did you have the authority to say the vice president of the United States will not attend the inauguration if you don't do what I say?
PARNAS: I mean, that's what I was told to do.
COOPER: Who told you to do that?
PARNAS: Rudy Giuliani.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You can see more of Anderson's interview with Lev Parnas on "AC360" tonight. That's at 8:00 pm New York time. 5:00 am if you're an
early riser here in Abu Dhabi.
I'm Becky Anderson. That was CONNECT THE WORLD. We are moments away from the House managers presenting the articles to the Senate and then reading
them aloud. Our live special coverage continues up next.
END
