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Donald Trump Puts Blame On Iran For Iraqi Embassy Protests; Donald Trump: Iran Will Be Held Fully Responsible" For Protests; Protestors Try To Storm U.S. Embassy Compound In Baghdad; Senator Susan Collins: "Inappropriate" For Either Side To Prejudge Outcome; Senator Doug Jones Advocates For Hearing From Senate Trial Witnesses. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 31, 2019 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

RYAN NOBLES, CNN HOST: Well, certainly would have brought a lot of attention to the Senate race of Corey Lewandowski and Bennett but he is not going to do it. So we're going to leave it there. Arlette Saenz and Doug thank you guys both for being here. We appreciate it.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Thank you.

NOBLES: And thank you joining me today. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Nia- Malika Henderson starts right now.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN HOST: Welcome to a special holiday edition of "Inside Politics." I'm Nia-Malika Henderson. John King is off.

Some live pictures from Thailand ringing in 2020 already and we'll have an update for you on what to expect from tonight's celebrations here in the U.S. plus, the U.S. military displaying a show of force after protesters attacks U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. And end of the year marks critical fund rising deadline for Presidential Candidates looking for an advantage and staying power going into 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN, ELIZABETH WARREN, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Exactly a year ago today, I got in the race for President one year into this campaign, and you've never found me behind closed doors with corporate executives or spending hours on the phone sucking up to donors to fund my campaign. One year into this campaign and I'm still listening and learning from people all across this nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: We begin the hour with fires, teargas, a show of force and a burning question. How much longer can U.S. diplomats stay in Iraq? Shocking video out of Baghdad today -- shocking video, angry crowds, tripping alarms, clouds of action chance of America out. Protesters aligned with Iran made it inside the outer perimeter of the most expensive and supposedly the most secure compound in the world the American Embassy in Iraq. The U.S. military dispatching two apache helicopters to fly over the Embassy in response the U.S. Defense Chief says reinforcements are en route to the Embassy. The Embassy right now is on lockdown.

The State Department says there is no current plan to evacuate. The Iraqi Prime Minister demanded the protesters leave. No evidence this hour that they have or those they will, and the protesters, they stormed the Embassy in response to the U.S. airstrikes targeting Iranian proxies and promised to stay until the U.S. leaves the country. The American President, Donald Trump, blaming Iran for orchestrating the attack and vowing they will be held fully responsible.

CNN'S Arwa Damon is monitoring the situation from Istanbul. Arwa, is the Iraqi government actually capable of ending this protest?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not on its own, no, Nia-Malika, and that is perhaps one of the many issues that are at the crux of all of this. Look, this group of protesters is not your ordinary protester. These are mostly members of what's known as the Popular Mobilization Force, the PMF.

This is an umbrella paramilitary unit that was established back in 2014 in response to ISIS takeover of huge chunks of Iraq that is largely made up of former members of what once were very prominent, very powerful, very tied to Iran Shia Militias.

Kataib Hezbollah, the group that U.S. targeted on Sunday, which led to all of this is one of those unites that makes up this paramilitary force. They marched straight through the checkpoints, along with other members of this paramilitary force and right up to the gates of the U.S. Embassy.

From the Iraqi government's perspective a very complicated relationship with this force, because on the one hand, ostensibly, they are an official part of the Iraqi security forces. On the other hand, they don't necessarily obey Baghdad or the Iraqi government. They demonstrators were chanting Anti-American slogans, demanding that America leave they were trying to break into the U.S. Embassy they set a lot of fires.

What is being very closely watched right now understandably and obviously is whether or not the situation escalates and what these protesters plan on doing next?

HENDERSON: Arwa, thank you so much for that report on the volatile situation there. Here with me to share their reporting and their insights, CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kimberly Dozier, Dan Lamothe with "The Washington Post" Francesca Chamber McClatchy and CNN's Phil Mattingly.

Thank you so much for being here Happy New Year to you all. A complicated situation unfolding there on the ground Kim, I want to go to you on this. This is sort of an outgrowth of the maximum pressure campaign that this administration wanted to exert on Iran. Does Trump now look to escalate this situation even further, or is there some sort of off ramp from here?

[12:05:00]

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL ANALYST: I think the Trump Administration has been counting on building friction to create some sort of change within the Iranian government and eventually bring some members of that government to the negotiating table.

At this point I don't hear from Middle East officials, anyone who thinks that's going to happen any time soon. So you see the maximum pressure campaign tension playing out on the streets of Iraq, and you see Iraqi protesters in a particular protest against Baghdad as Arwa mentioned, these Iranian aligned, but this was also a show of force. Iraqi officials had warned against the U.S. strikes, and they warned that there would be some sort of blowback from it.

They allowed this protest to happen, but it was also very controlled. Those protesters did reach the Embassy. They could have kept going, but their organizers, including at least one senior Iraqi military leader who has been sanctioned by the U.S., they called their people back.

So this was got a lot of attention. They've camped outside. But at this point it's more of rhetorical standoff.

HENDERSON: And we have action here, obviously, from politicians who are watching this. Marco Rubio out of Florida says pray for these brave young Americans who remain at their post at the Embassy in Baghdad while an Iranian directed mob attacks the Embassy. The U.S. should employ whatever it takes to secure their safety and the safety of all Americans inside the compound. The Pentagon obviously sending the apache helicopters there to observe the situation.

One other thing we've seen from this President in previous instances with Iran is to essentially not to respond, right? You think about what happened this summer when the drone was shot down. In this instance, it's very different. Is there a kind of red line that he's drawing where it comes to Americans who are killed? Is that the sort of red line that this President is going to employ going forward?

DAN LAMOTHE, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: They've been very hesitant to use that phrase for a lot of very politically charged reasons. But they have signaled pretty clearly over the last six, eight, ten, twelve weeks that the death of an American would be a problem for them and that they would respond in some sense.

Now, the response Sunday was a handful of airstrikes on specific targets that had no doubt been selected way in advance, but that you're left to wonder how else does the Iranian-backed militia respond, and then what does that leave the U.S. military to do in response to that? I mean what kind of that a potential chain reaction scenario.

HENDERSON: And lots of reaction coming in, we obviously we read from Marco Rubio, and you think about Iraqi activists how they're reacting to this "Washington Post" reporting, one, yes your Malik saying, we are very angry with Iran. They are the driving force behind the misery we are suffering. The Iran-backed militias are controlling the entire economy here. No one can get a job or contract unless he is affiliated with them Raheem Muhammad who was an Iraqi tribal leader there a complicated a domestic and economic situation for Iraqis there.

DOZIER: You could say that the maximum pressure campaign has increased Iranian-backed groups' maligned activity. The IRGC the Iranian Kurds force used to be funding them. Had to stop funding them, and they had to find a way to make payroll for all of their armed troops.

And one of the things they've done is this increased predatory behavior against Iraqi people. That helps the December protest, the October protests that continue. The problem is the Iranian officials and Iranian-backed groups are very well organized. So while the protesters aren't happy with what they're offering, they haven't been able to coalesce around a credible alternative.

HENDERSON: And Francesca you were in Iraq with Vice President Pence. What is your sense of the relationship that this administration has with Iraqi leaders there and that the big question is whether forces American forces stay on the ground there? There are 5,000 that are there now.

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, MCCLATCHYDC: Well, Kim you talked about increasing friction between the United States and Iran, but there has also been increased friction between the United States and Iraqi leaders when we went with the Vice President to Iraq just last month they weren't notified until 24 hours before he got there.

Vice President Pence did not meet with anyone in Iraqi leadership while he was in the country, and this is anecdotal, but it shows the disconnect. At one point when he was supposed to be calling the Prime Minister on the phone, he couldn't get him on the line and he had to try three different times, and reporters were brought out of the room, in and out multiple times.

But that speaks to again the broader disconnect. Even if you look at just this week, it's Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who made the call to the Iraqis.

[12:10:00]

HENDERSON: Right. And Phil you obviously cover Congress. We mentioned before this is a very expensive and well-guarded compound. You look at how much American has spent on Iraqi security forces since 2015, more than $4 billion. The 2020 budget request is $745 million. What do you expecting to hear from folks, particularly the President's Republican allies in terms of this very fraught relationship with Iraq?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think look, the money that is going to Iraq, particularly for the defense forces, underscores Secretary Mike Pompeo and his call with the Prime Minister and the President, today make clear you have an obligation to some degree to defend our Embassy and make sure that nothing happens to our people. Look, I think the lawmakers are very cognizant of how complicated this scenario is. Look, in an ideal world, that if you're giving a country $4 billion, their defense forces would pretty much line up with you in any way, shape or form that you request or at least desire to some degree.

I think what Arwa laid out is kind of the key issue here, which is that the PMF exists. The PMF does not exist just as militias. The PMF has legitimate juice inside the country. They have a dozen parliamentary seats. Obviously you are dealing with a Prime Minister that's kind of an empty chair to some degree a place holder that doesn't have even though they've tried multiple times over the course of last six months to rain in the PMF trying to fully bring them under the umbrella of the defense forces.

They haven't necessarily succeeded on that front and they haven't tried to crack down because there is recognition that the PMF is a valid and very real force inside the country. So you're dealing right now with a situation on the ground that just isn't clean.

I think lawmakers understand that, and I think when you talk to Democrats, they're frustrated because they believe this all has roots and pulling out of the Nuclear Deal and that the effort to have imposed so many restrictions on Iran has ended up causing this to some degree. And then you talk to our Caucus Senators like Marco Rubio or Tom Cotton and they say you should move faster and harder to some degree.

So I don't think that split is ever going to change, but I do think there is recognition that this just isn't clean on the ground right now.

HENDERSON: And Dan, I want to end with you on your email this region quite well 2020 coming up, the President obviously up for reelection. What do you see happening? You talked about this not being a clean situation it's been a complicated situation in the Middle East for years. What do you see happening in 2020?

LAMOTHE: I think it's important to remember that it's not just an Iraq situation. We've seen, in the last few months, attacks on shipping, we've seen the mining of ships. We've seen additional navy assets get moved into the region as a response to that. This could flare up in any number of different ways.

It's not going to be neat and clean, it's not going to be the way they necessarily expect, so they're going to have to be ready on multiple fronts.

HENDERSON: Well, thanks for that. Up next, are we really getting tea leaves from moderate Senators when it comes to impeachment? But as we go to break, we're closing in on the end of 2019 and the end of a decade. Here's the 2010s through the eyes of President Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are a lot of great things happening in the so-called tea party movement, and I'll tell you, it's got people thinking.

We are going to continue onward with "celebrity apprentice" we're going to continue making lots and lots of money for charity. I will not be running for President, as much as I'd like to.

You're fired.

We need a President that has business ability. We also need a President who has heart. Mitt Romney has a lot of heart.

Do you remember when you got fired?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do.

TRUMP: The next election is going to be tough. I really believe it's going to be Hillary. But Hillary can be beaten.

Politicians are all talk and no action. It's true. All talk its all talk and it's no action. They talk and talk and you go crazy and blah, blah, blah.

I am officially running for President of the United States.

To be really historic, we have to do a great job. And I promise you that I will not let you down. Mr. President, it was a great honor being with you, and I look forward to being with you many, many more times in the future.

This moment is your moment, it belongs to you.

North Korea best not make anymore threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.

Mia love gave me no love, and she lost too badly sorry about that Mia.

For years you watched as your politicians apologized, remember? I would like to apologize. No. We don't apologize.

Unemployment is at a position. We've never had anything like this. You're so lucky I became your President.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

HENDERSON: President Trump is spending at least part of his New Year's Eve fuming about the stalled impeachment process. The President he tweets in part that Democrats will do anything to avoid a trial in the Senate in order to protect sleepy Joe Biden. Meanwhile, one key Republican Senator Susan Collins offers this critique of both sides of public to Maine Public Radio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R-ME): It is inappropriate, in my judgment, for Senators on either side of the aisle to prejudge the evidence. I have heard Democrats like Elizabeth Warren saying that the President should be impeached, found guilty and removed from office. I've heard the Senate Majority Leaders saying that he's taking his cues from the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: And speaking of Senator Elizabeth Warren, just moments ago she had sharp words of her own for her Republican colleagues. Take a listen.

[12:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN: The idea that the Republicans would block access to important information about Donald Trump's breaking the law is just one more sign that their loyalty seems badly misplaced, and that they are more interested in protecting a President politically than they are upholding the constitution of the United States. It's fundamentally wrong and a violation of their oath of office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: Joining our conversation, we've got Julie Pace with "The Associated Press" and Molly Ball with "Time." Thank you for joining us and happy New Year to both of you. You see the back and forth there, right, with Collins and Elizabeth Warren.

Elizabeth Warren in some ways articulating a bit of a bind that some of these moderate Senators, particularly the ones who are up for reelection in a tough race like Susan Collins are in. They don't want to be in a position of seeming to rubber stamp the President's bad behavior, which I think many of them do think it was bad behavior, so they are in a tough spot. So we heard from Susan Collins as well as Lisa Murkowski on this kind of weighing their options.

JULIE PACE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ASSOCIATED PRESS: I think the question is what people like Murkowski and Collins follow up that rhetoric with. Is it simply just saying hey, we don't want to rubber stamp what the White House does but then essentially rubber stamp it, or do they push Mitch McConnell to ask for Mick Mulvaney to testify, to ask for John Bolton to testify?

And I think there is a big gap we've seen that is over and over again with Republicans between what they sometimes say and what their actual actions are when it comes to taking on the White House.

HENDERSON: Particularly Susan Collins, because she's sort of the queen on both sides, had this to say about Nancy Pelosi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: What I don't understand is why the House, having issued subpoenas to Secretary Pompeo, for example, did not seek to enforce those subpoenas in court, and instead rushed to get the articles of impeachment passed before Christmas and yet have not transmitted them to us in the Senate. So that seems an odd way to operate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENDERSON: An odd way to operate. We had Murkowski who did criticize Pelosi, essentially, for putting this timeline on when to submit the articles or vote on the articles of impeachment. Murkowski and Collins in this same boat I feel like it's sort of like waiting for go do with these two, often, Lucy and the football.

And I think to Julie's point, it does seem to be about whatever sort of - what they want to see from McConnell, right? In terms of what this trial looks like? Are there going to be witnesses? What do you make of Collins and Murkowski?

MOLLY BALL, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, TIME: Well, I think as Julie said, it's going to depend on whether they're actually - whether they're only saying this kind of thing for public consumption or if they're going to put pressure on McConnell behind the scenes and whether they have back up in the caucus, right?

The question is going to be, when the Senate gets back and the Republicans have their first lunch, is there a lot sentiment in that room, saying, yes, we kind of agree with this like, doesn't tell the President but we're uneasy with where this is going? Or are they all going to basically be on board with making this as easy as possible, which I think has been what McConnell wants to do, it is just to get through this with as little pain as possible, even if that means taking an unpopular position himself.

That's what he views as his role as the leader, right? He often takes unpopular positions to protect his Caucus. So if the Caucus is in there saying, you know, we might say we don't like what you're doing, but you have our permission to go out there and do it, rip off the band-aid and make this as easy honest as possible that I think we see this proceeding that the way Mitch McConnell wants it to happen.

HENDERSON: And we've also heard from Doug Jones, up for reelection, very tough state, Alabama. Here's what he had to say to in "The Washington Post" on Monday. The evidence we do have may be sufficient to make a judgment, but it's clearly incomplete.

There are four witnesses who could help fill those gaps. Let me be clear, I don't know what their answers would be, but I want to hear from them and so should every Senator and every American. We cannot allow the full truth to evade this trial only to be revealed in some future memoir or committee hearing.

The folks he's talking about, Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, Robert Blair and Michael Duffey, some of these folks came up in this very lengthy piece in "The New York Times," very instrumental in terms of what happened with Ukraine? This is the big question, will there be witnesses?

MATTINGLY: Absolutely. And look, the beauty of what's about to happen here is that if you have 51 votes, whether you're Chuck Schumer or Mitch McConnell, you're going to get what you want. Now we know what Mitch McConnell wants, he wants both sides to be able to present and then either vote to acquit, which they very clearly have the votes to do, or there will be votes to have witnesses and Senator can put up a resolution to have a vote.

So the votes will likely happen. I think the big question right now, it kind of gets to the basics of how are moderate Republicans going to vote? How are moderate Democrats going to vote?

[12:25:00]

MATTINGLY: Right, we all focus on moderate Republicans keep an eye on Doug Jones, keep an eye on Joe Manson, keep an eye on - may matter as well. But the reality remains the same, no matter what the first two weeks of the trial are going to be, if you have 51 votes, you can get your witnesses, whoever they maybe. And so that's the biggest question going into this, whether it's the rhetoric or whether it's what McConnell wants or what Schumer wants can you get 51 votes and that answer your question.

HENDERSON: Yes. So we'll see, yet to be determined when this thing actually starts. Those impeachment articles we'll look forward to in 2020. Up next, can Senator Bernie Sanders hold the Democratic lead in 2020 fund raising and we're all about to find out as candidates countdown to tonight's deadline.