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CNN International: Donald Trump Facing An Impeachment Inquiry Over Ukraine As That Country's Leader Addresses The U.N. MPs Are Back, Boris Johnson Returns To London; Altria And Philip Morris Abandoned Merger Talks Amid The Broader Vaping Crisis. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired September 25, 2019 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:18]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here is your need to know. Presidential Pressures: Donald Trump facing an Impeachment Inquiry over Ukraine as that country's leader addresses the U.N. this hour. Parliamentary Powers: MPs are back, Boris Johnson returns to London and Brexit, who knows? And stubbed out. Altria and Philip Morris abandoned merger talks amid the broader vaping crisis. It's Wednesday. Let's make a move.

It's a busy show. Welcome to FIRST MOVE this Wednesday. Two big battles taking our focus. As I mentioned there, in the U.K. Parliament now back in session and embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson is there, too. Meanwhile, here in the United States, the House begins a formal Impeachment Inquiry; central to that decision, we await the release of a transcript of that July phone call between President Trump and President Zelensky of Ukraine.

Now, the Ukrainian President is set to speak any moment at the U.N. General Assembly and we will bring that to you live the moment it begins. For now, though, wow, that's the backdrop for investors today -- complex, also uncertain.

Now U.S. stocks set to open a touch lower as you can see, following Tuesday's pullback. The NASDAQ, the tech heavy index losing some one and a half percent yesterday. It's now in fact just in the red for the third quarter. Smaller cap stocks, meanwhile, here in the United States have lost almost three percent in just the last five sessions.

Now, amid the broader noise, we always bring it back to the fundamentals, too. We keep reiterating that the U.S. consumer is key for economic growth here in the outlook, particularly in the United States. Well, I can tell you data showed yesterday that consumer confidence took a pretty steep hit in September amid the escalating trade tariff threats. Trade continues to be a key driver of border confidence, too.

And with President Trump talking pretty tough on China at the U.N. yesterday, hard to see progress being made in the trade talks next month. Now, sentiment today, I think perhaps reflecting that. The bottom line here is that domestic U.S. policy and its implications for the world remain well and truly front and center. And now we've got an impeachment inquiry to consider, too. That's

where we're going to kick off the drivers. Let's get to it. The probe in the U.S. House triggered by claims that President Trump pressured the Ukrainian President to open an investigation into the son of Democratic presidential hopeful, Joe Biden.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that investigation on Tuesday with these words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The actions of the Trump presidency revealed dishonorable fact of the President's betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.

Therefore, today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official Impeachment Inquiry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Joe John's joining us now from Washington. Joe, great to have you with us. All the concerns there that the House Speaker mentioned, I have to say, they've been for many, many months, if not years since President Trump took over, why now? What changed? And as far as the transcript released today, what more is that likely to tell us?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question, and the question is whether the transcript that has been referred to is going to be a transcript in fact. Of course, we are told here at the White House to expect something more akin to notes of a conversation between the President of the United States and the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and we're told it might not be a transcription, if you will, in the traditional sense.

So the bottom line, I think, on all of this, of course, is the question of whether the President in that telephone call from the 25th of July this year, essentially tried to leverage his control over $400 million or so of military aid for Ukraine in exchange for getting foreign help against a potential foe in the next election in 2020, that would be military aid, obviously for Ukraine that was held up for a period of time.

[09:05:04]

JOHNS: We know this White House has been very interested in the --

CHATTERLEY: John, I'm going to interrupt you there actually, because the man in question, the Ukrainian President here, actually just set to speak at the U.N., let's listen in to what he has to say.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Ladies and gentlemen, I want to congratulate you, Mr. President on the election as the President of the 74th Session of the U.N. General Assembly. Ukraine supports the implementation of all ambition, priorities and

agenda of this assembly. Allow me to be candid, all present here have different interests, views, values, and issues, but there is a thing, which unites us all.

Each and every of you, ladies and gentlemen, had that very first statement delivered from this roster. Please recall the feelings you're experienced at that very moment. Every one of you reputable and respectable today used to be starting, but I'm confident, honest politician.

Another time the cocktail of pragmatism, skepticism and tough shared political reality had not yet extinguished your eagerness, romanticism, and steadfast face in the ability to change the world for the better.

Please recall how important it was then to convey the problems and the troubles of your own country and your own nation. How important it was to then to get your message across and be listened to. I'm experiencing the same feelings today.

I'm going to tell you a story. The story of the person for whom being listened to became the sense of his life. That's because that man had divine voice. He was called the best baritone and countertenor of the world. His voice sounded at the Carnegie Hall here in New York, in Notre Dame de Paris in Covent Garden Opera and London and Grand Opera in Paris.

Every one of you could have listened to his incredible singing, but unfortunately, there is a thing which will not allow to do again. It looks like this and I will show you. That is.

12.7 millimeters, which not only ended his career, it stopped his life. By the way, it costs only $10.00 and this is unfortunately the price of a human life on our planet.

There are thousands of such stories. There are millions of such bullets welcome to the 21st Century, a century of opportunities where there is an opportunity to be killed instead of to be listened to and be heard.

Who I just told you about was Vasyl Slipak. He was Ukrainian and soloist of the Paris National Opera who was murdered in Donbas defending Ukraine against the Russian aggression. The war in Donbas has been lasting for five years. Five years has passed since Russia occupied Ukrainian Crimea. Nowadays, when there are thousands of pages of international law and hundreds of international organization tasked to protect it.

Our country with arms in hands, losing its citizens has been defendant in sovereignty and territorial integrity.

More than 13,000 dead, 30,000 wounded, one and a half million people forced to leave their homes. These numbers, awful numbers are reported here annually with the only one call direction -- a small one. They keep growing each year. [09:10:06]

ZELENSKY: And in the war, recovering all occupied Ukrainian territories and restoring peace are my primary objective, but not at the cost of the lives of our citizens, the freedom and right of Ukraine to make its own choice. That is why we need wide international support, I do realize every country present here has its own challenges to tackle and the problems of others should not worry them more than your own problems.

Well, I understand this is life, but in the modern world where we live, there is no more somebody else's war. And none of you will feel safe until Russia is waging war against Ukraine in the center of Europe, and the thought that all of these has nothing to do with you or will never touch your interests could be settled.

We cannot think globally while turning a blind eye to small things or as someone may believe, to trifles, because that is how the foundation of two World Wars was laid down, and as a result, millions of human lives have become the price for negligence, silence inaction, or villainous to relinquish own ambitious.

Two, the horrible lessons of history begin to fade away from mankind's memory. Ukraine remembers those, and Ukraine has always demonstrated to the world its readiness to ensure peace in a civilized manner. And we made particular steps towards international security.

For example, when nuclear arsenal, which at that time exceeded nuclear capacities of the United Kingdom, France and China combined, because you know, we seem to believe in a collective strive to build a new world, a world where your thoughts are heard and reckoned with, regardless whether you possess nuclear weapons or not.

A world where you are respected for your deeds and not for having nuclear warheads. At the end of the day, in this new world, my country has lost a part of its territory and keeps losing its citizens almost every single day.

That is why, as of today, Ukraine has earned the right to speak about the necessity to reconsider and review this still existent, but trampled rules. Certainly, we do not call into question the credibility of the international institutions, and in particular the United Nations, but we have to recognize that the existing system is not perfect.

It has begun to unravel, to malfunction, therefore it needs to be revised. The United Nations Organization, yes, but let's be candid. Are the nations in the united nowadays, and if they are, what makes them united? All of these disasters, calamities or wars, from the highest world rostrum, we always hear the calls for fair changes, to write as promises, new initiatives.

It is high time to ensure that those calls are backed up by deeds because in a modern world where the human lives cost just $10.00, our worth is depreciated. Let's remember what was the goal in 1945 when the United Nations were

established? It was to maintain and strengthen peace and international security, but what should we do when the very fundamentals of international security are endangered? Since each war today in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Yemen or anywhere else in the world, no matter the number of casualties is the biggest threat to the civilization as a whole.

[09:15:00]

ZELENSKY: That's because in 2019, the human beings, homo sapiens still prefer to solve conflicts by murdering their own kind --

CHATTERLEY: The Ukrainian President speaking there, a poignant speech from him, I think pushing back against broader violence in the world and the need to understand and consider the cost of life. He compared it to a 12 millimeter bullet costing just $10.00.

But he also illustrated the challenges Ukraine faces amid a broader battle with Russia here and the way he told that story was by an opera singer, a Ukrainian opera singer who came to Ukraine in 2014, made the decision to join the army and was killed in 2016. A pretty poignant story here.

I want to bring back Joe Jones who is still with us, and we're also joined by our Senior Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson here to. Nic, I want to come to you, clearly, he wasn't going to address the broader questions that we have here in the United States right now about whether the U.S. President put pressure on him by withholding aid in order to dig dirt on Joe Biden and his son here.

But I think he did underscore the need for that aid and the challenge that the country faces and continues to face.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Oh, absolutely. I mean, he talked about the United Nations and the fundamental goal of the United Nations and how the international institutions, although still in good order, do need adjusting and do need to be able to address the current concerns of not just in Ukraine, but obviously, Syria, Yemen and other countries.

And I rode the elevator this morning in my hotel with the Ukrainian President. He seemed quite pensive and apprehensive. You know, I asked him if he was enjoying New York. He told me he was, and it was very interesting that one of his entourage quipped that actually he was -- the hotel was sort of pretty much what they were enjoying.

And I got the impression that that moment, and he didn't certainly didn't want to discuss the his phone conversations with President Trump with me, I got the impression at that moment that he feels kind of sort of a bit embattled here that he is caught up in something much bigger than he expected.

Remember, this is a President who doesn't come from a deep political background. But the message that he is giving here this morning, the first speech at the U.N. G.A. today is that one that Ukraine does need that international support. They do need the help, and that the U.N. and other bodies do need to adjust themselves, if you will, for the modern era.

You know, this is a leader here, who finds himself a player embroiled in a far bigger issue, a huge domestic issue here in the United States, and I got that sense from him this morning, that he will be happy -- happier when he gets back home, and is not surrounded by the persistent questions of did President Trump pressure you? That does seem to be wearing on him at the moment.

CHATTERLEY: Absolutely. I mean, he is well and truly in the eye of the storm here, Joe, come back in here, because to Nic's point there that the big questions that are being asked of both Presidents I think, to your point, the question is when we get this transcript later on this morning of the phone call back in July between these Presidents, is it the actual transcript? Can we believe it ultimately?

And I think, perhaps, the more important question here to ask is, do we ultimately get details in the coming days of the whistleblower involved in here and the whistleblower's complaints to U.S. Congress here?

JOHNS: Well, the first thing I'd say about that is that we're being told here at the White House, to keep expectations low about how revealing this document that is expected to be released today is going to be. That would be the document that's being referred to as a transcript or notes of that July 25th conversation.

The President himself has said that everything he said on that call was appropriate. The question, of course, will be up on Capitol Hill as to whether it was in fact appropriate or also whether it was complete.

So there's a bigger push, of course, to get a hold of the whistleblower complaint that has so far been kept secret by the administration. This is something that Members of Congress on the Democratic side in the House have been pushing to get, and apparently was part of the reason why the Speaker of the House found it necessary to pursue this formal Impeachment Inquiry up there.

So a lot of moving pieces on this. And it's also important to say, I don't know if you've said it already, but just in a matter of hours, President Trump is expected to meet the Ukrainian President there at the United Nations and have a talk on the sidelines. So that too, will be quite interesting.

And the question once again, will be how much of that conversation will the public be privy to? So you're right, Zelensky has a lot on his plate right now, and surely will be looking forward to getting back to more familiar environments.

[09:20:15]

CHATTERLEY: Absolutely. The two Presidents of course meeting at the reception last night, too and of course that's exactly where the cameras were, waiting to pick up this moment. The body language of course, any glimpse of the relationship between these two men is going to be well and truly our focus today ahead of that meeting later on.

Joe John's fantastic to have you with us and Nic Robertson. Guys, thank you so much for joining us on this story.

All right, we're going to take a break, but coming up on FIRST MOVE, a new face but familiar problems. The IMF confirms it next Chief at noon today. We asked the man on his way out, the acting Managing Director, what's on the to-do list.

And later on in the show, big moves in big tobacco -- a vaping crackdown leaving a career and a merger in ashes. Stay with us. We're back in two.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. The U.S.-China standoff, just one of the challenges lying in wait for the Bulgarian economist, Kristalina Georgieva, the International Monetary Fund is expected to confirm her as its next Managing Director in a few hours' time.

Her appointment comes at a pretty testing time for the world's lender of last resort, a global economic slowdown, Brexit, fractious domestic policies all around the world -- just some of the issues in her inbox.

Joining us now David Lipton, the acting Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund. Sir, fantastic to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us.

DAVID LIPTON, ACTING MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: Good morning.

CHATTERLEY: Good morning. Let's start there. What direction -- what fresh direction or approach is going to come as a result of new leadership here?

LIPTON: Well, it's a big time for us, a time of transition with Christine Lagarde having departed and Kristalina Georgieva coming. I think the immediate challenge is to deal with the risk to global growth in the short run, and then to think about promoting growth in the longer run.

[09:25:16]

LIPTON: I expect her to be a growth-oriented Managing Director and to put your mind to those tasks. And what that will mean, is promoting growth, dealing with the risks and trying to get policymakers to address these issues.

CHATTERLEY: It makes perfect sense. Trade and trade policy front and foremost here. What does the IMF think at this stage? Because you've been warning about the risks to the global outlook here as a result of the trade tensions that we're seeing. Is it the direct impact of tariffs here that has the more damaging effect? Or is it simply the effect the noise has on confidence on investment here? LIPTON: Well, they are both, but our assessment so far is that the

tariffs themselves have not impacted growth directly. So much they've had an effect in the United States, and in China. In fact, they help some countries because there is diversion of trade when the two countries trade less with each other, they look for other places to trade with.

But as you suggested, the bigger impact is uncertainty. And there's uncertainty piled on uncertainty. There's uncertainty about the resolution of trade difficulties, discussions about technology. There's also Brexit. There are geopolitical issues.

And so we see a world in which uncertainty is retarding trade and investment. We see business sentiment suffering substantially at the time when consumer sentiment and service sector growth is very strong. So, so far, the growth of the economy continues. Our baseline is for continued growth. But the downside risks, which I think do come mainly from this set of uncertainties, is right now the thing to focus on.

CHATTERLEY: Is it too early to be talking about a global recession here?

LIPTON: Well, I think it makes sense to consider the range of possibilities. As I said, our baseline is for continued growth, although we have to say the pattern of growth over the last few years is a gradual, but steady decline in global growth.

In 2017, global growth was around four percent. And now it's closer to three percent. So there is a need to address that slow down and to attend to the risks that could tip the world into recession, to try to make sure that it doesn't happen.

I think the world is not as well armed to deal with recession, because so many policy instruments have been used so extensively since the global financial crisis. So it makes it all the more important to try to address risks, not have unforced errors, keep the economy growing.

CHATTERLEY: The U.S. President would like to see interest rates in the United States lower. He has also talked about the prospect of negative interest rates. It's not worked out so well in Europe or in other places. What would negative interest rates mean for the United States in the IMF's view here? A bad thing or a useful thing?

LIPTON: Let me address the general point. Monetary policy makers have to tailor their policies to the situation their countries face, and that means trying to achieve their goals in some cases. In Europe, the inflation rate and in the United States, the inflation rate and maintaining employment.

And if the economies are slowing, if inflation is falling low, it makes sense for Central Banks to provide some support and they've been doing that. As a consequence, we've had low interest rates and I think the markets expect a continuation of low interest rates for a long time. Getting it exactly right is not easy, and Fed watchers can critique

every move and every pronouncement. But we think in general that monetary policy makers in advanced economies are right to be providing support. And that's, you know, while low interest rates have consequences for banks, for the risk taking in, in capital markets, we think that the most important role for monetary policy makers is to try to keep the economy on an even keel.

It makes sense to address the side effects of low interest rates through other policies by trying to use macro prudential policies to make sure that risks aren't being taken or shouldn't be taken.

CHATTERLEY: I'll take that is it's a bad thing for savers. Negative interest rates aren't good things.

[09:30:05]

CHATTERLEY: Yes, let's talk Brexit. It's an ongoing battle. It's tough to see, even now, how it plays out. Has your assessment of the risks here and the economic risks changed at all?

LIPTON: You know, we've been concerned about the uncertainties coming from Brexit since this project began. I can't say we're any better at trying to figure out which of the various outcomes is likely to happen.

The people in the U.K. who follow this very closely would probably admit even today that they are not sure what the outcome will be. The only constant in this entire process has been uncertainty and that uncertainty continues and is perhaps as great as it has been. That's neither good for the U.K., in terms of business sentiment nor spending there nor for Europe and the world.

So it would make sense for this for the U.K. and Europe to work as best they can to try to come up with the best Brexit possible, and to get the issue decided and try and get beyond this uncertainty.

CHATTERLEY: Unfortunately, commonsense is in short supply, it seems on a global basis at times. It's so great to have you on. David Lipton there, the acting Managing Director at the IMF.

LIPTON: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: Coming up, the market open. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. I'm Julia Chatterley live from New York where the opening bell has rung on Wall Street. Let me give you a look at what we're seeing in terms of early price action.

Well, a turn, higher by some three tenths of one percent for the Dow, bouncing back a little here after yesterday's almost one percent pullback for the S&P 500. Not bad considering all the political noise out there at this moment. Ten-year Treasury yields firming up a little bit here as well after

falling for seven straight sessions. We also saw a bit of a pullback yesterday, too, following that disappointing consumer confidence data that I mentioned earlier on in the show, right now sitting at 1.66 percent there for the U.S. tenure.

[09:35:15]

CHATTERLEY: What about Europe? Well red across the board as you can see there. The Xetra DAX over in Germany, down nine tenths of one percent. A tough session for Asia, too. The Hang Seng, losing some 1.3 percent, too. The underperformer there over in Hong Kong.

President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Abe meeting today to discuss a trade deal at the U.N. Japanese sources say the two sides have already reached a final, but limited agreement.

The status of proposed U.S. tariffs on Japanese auto is also uncertain, and that's critical hereto, so we'll watch for that as well. But also investors keeping at least half an eye on what's going on in D.C. and where the Democrats' formal Impeachment Inquiry into President Trump will lead here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying the President betrayed his oath of office when he spoke to the Ukrainian President. Let's get more on this with Doug Heye. He is a Republican strategist and former Communications Director for the Republican National Committee. He worked in Congress during the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998. Doug, fantastic to have you with us.

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: What changed here for Nancy Pelosi? She has been resisting calls for an Impeachment Inquiry for what? Over a year here. What changed? And where does this lead ultimately, if the Senate isn't going to agree with an impeachment call here?

HEYE: Yes, what's changed, Julia is that a number of House Democrats have come out in the past week, and even as recently as yesterday and a flood of Democrats, saying that they now support impeachment -- the impeachment process, and it's not just Democrats from reliably Democratic districts. Some of these are from more moderate or more swing districts.

So this has been a bottom up process for House Democrats that have really forced the Speaker's hand, but also creates, I think, a real difficult problem for the Democrats.

They've moved this far before we've seen what's in the transcript of the call with the Ukrainian President before. We've had an opportunity for the House and Senate Intel Committees to meet with the whistleblower as they are expected to do.

A lot of this was a reaction to a presumption that Donald Trump was going to stonewall on this, and if Trump doesn't stonewall on this, it may take a bit of their ammunition away. One House Democrat yesterday, a freshman, said, Elissa Slotkin said,

if we're going to have them -- if we're going to stay on message, you have to tell us what are -- and I won't use her exact terminology, but what that message is going to be.

House Democrats are not completely unified on what their process is moving forward, and that's a challenge for them.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, you make a great point. Wait for the smoking gun before you take this approach, quite frankly, and we don't have that. And we'll have to wait and see what comes both of the whistleblower's account, but also this transcript on whether or not it is believable here.

To your point, does this just become what actually Nancy Pelosi feared, and it's just a lot of noise, and sucks all the energy when actually the Democrats should be focusing on 2020? Because ultimately, if you want to get President Trump out of the White House, you have to win 2020, and that's the only way.

HEYE: Yes, absolutely. You know, logistically for House Democrats, they have a problem. It is going to be very hard for them to pass any kind of meaningful bipartisan legislation.

By the way, they have a two-week recess coming up that presumably will be cancelled if they're going to launch into an impeachment investigation. And if they don't cancel the recess, that certainly sends the wrong message.

But if you're Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, whichever Democrat, it may be, it's going to be a lot harder for you to focus on healthcare, jobs, the economy, whatever the real issues that are driving the country right now, because impeachment is going to be the dominant topic of conversation now for not just the next few weeks, but presumably the next year, year and a half.

CHATTERLEY: What about for the Republicans here because they're not going to let this go? The President, even yesterday, at the U.N., when he was asked, he reiterated, look, he wants the questions about Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, he wants those answered.

So he was justifying whatever happened here on this call and the broader questions about what happened between the two Presidents? As look, we want information about Joe Biden, is that going to be a problem for Joe Biden at a time when Elizabeth Warren is also gaining momentum and ground against him here in the polls, at least?

HEYE: You know, it's a problem that comes with an opportunity as well. It is a problem because there are very real questions that will need to be answered and we'll get those answers. If those are bad answers, that's going to be very bad for the Biden campaign.

But also, I think, it sets up an opportunity for Joe Biden to take on Donald Trump directly as he is sagging in the polls a little bit towards Elizabeth Warren. There's no better foil for Joe Biden to have than Donald Trump.

If the information or the evidence about his son, Hunter isn't damning, then it's a real opportunity for Joe Biden to drive a message home that will resound with Democrats.

[09:40:03]

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's not me, it's you. Doug Heye, thank you for joining us on that story.

HEYE: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: And of course, we await the first step here, which is the release of that transcript, the phone call, of course in July between the two Presidents. All right, Doug, thanks again.

All right, coming up on FIRST MOVE. Ordered back to work. The U.K. Parliament reconvenes and Boris Johnson gears up to face the wrath of his colleagues and others. Stay with CNN. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. And to the U.K. now where Parliament is back in session. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also set to address lawmakers later this morning after cutting short his trip to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. It follows the U.K.'s Supreme Court ruling that his suspension of Parliament was unlawful.

Melissa Bell joins us now. Melissa, some mea culpa I think going on in Parliament earlier on this morning. The question is, how does Boris Johnson handle it now? And what does this mean for Brexit?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. How he will get out of this deadlock when he rises to speak to MPs. Now, we had a little glimpse of how the government is reacting taking that Supreme Court verdict through the exchanges that he faced earlier during urgent questions, the Attorney General was up for the government. This is what he had to say about that extraordinary verdict that brought the MPs back here today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEOFFREY COX, BRITISH ATTORNEY GENERAL: I accept we lost. We got it wrong on the judgment of the Supreme Court. But it was a respectable view on the law to take, and that view was taken by four out of the seven judges who opined up to the point of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Now so far so good, but what Geoffrey Cox went on to do in an exchange a little bit later during those urgent questions was let slip the fact that the government clearly intends to table a motion trying to call another general election.

Now, it's important to know, Julia that it has failed twice to get the majority that it needs, the two thirds majority that needs to get a general election through.

Other parties simply do not want one held now because that 31st of October deadline is looming, and the fear is that anything like an election would simply take us past that date and see the U.K. crash out of the E.U. almost inadvertently. That's why they have opposed it so far.

[09:45:27]

BELL: What we understand is that the government may try and table some kind of motion that would require a smaller majority by fixing a date, but even then, you need 25 days, Julia, between the moment when the General Election is called and when it is held and that would simply take us too close to that deadline.

So I think almost certainly you're going to see that majority of MPs not only the opposition MPs, but the rebel Tory MPs who are worried about the U.K. crashing out of the E.U., stopping that from happening and trying not to give the government the simple majority in this case that it would need; on the other hand, which are likely to from the opposition parties and we're hearing some noises about this here at Westminster.

You remember that just before Parliament was suspended, they had managed to get a bill through to create this law that essentially forces Boris Johnson to ask for an extension from the European Union on October 19th, should no deal be found with European partners. What we're hearing is that Liberal Democrats may be pushing for legislation to try and force him to seek that extension sooner than the 19th of October.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it makes the E.U. Summit on the 17th and 18th of October absolutely pivotal and there is a deal there. Of course, Theresa May still waving her wand. Wow. Melissa Bell, thank you so much for that.

All right, going to take the break here. But coming up after this, up in smoke. How a clamp down on vaping stubbed out what would have been one of the biggest merges of the year. Stay with us. We're back in two.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. Shall we take a look at some global movers this morning? Let's do that. Shares of Nike rallying. The sports apparel giant posting stronger than expected Q1 earnings and revenue. Sales in China. Wow. Soaring 27 percent. It shares are hitting record highs in early trading.

What about Netflix? They're also higher by some seven tenths of one percent. The company once high flying stock fell into red for 2019 yesterday. Shares and now down some four percent year-to-date. The competition steepening here. Wall Street continues to worry that new streaming services will eat into Netflix profits.

Shares of eBay also down just over one percent. The company's President and CEO is stepping down after around four years at the helm.

Now, in the middle of a storm of negative publicity over vaping, e- cigarette maker, Juul has announced its CEO is going to be replaced by a former Altria executive at the same time, Altria and Philip Morris International calling off talks on a possible merger. Shares in both companies are higher, which tells you something here.

[09:50:05]

CHATTERLEY: Paul La Monica joins us now. Paul, give us the details on this, and I think we also have to make the point that Altria has a huge stake in Juul, too. So there's bigger implications here than just a CEO change for the e-cigarette maker here.

PAUL LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, without question. I think that you know, Altria's CEO stepping down, perhaps you could say, being forced out by Altria, not a great sign.

There are so many concerns right now about the controversy regarding whether or not vaping is any better for people than traditional tobacco cigarettes, and Altria has made a big bet to try and diversify with the Juul investment, and now all of a sudden, you have to wonder if the value of that deal is going to go down significantly.

And there had been hopes, Julia, the Altria was going to reunite with Philip Morris and have a combined global tobacco conglomerate that would bet more on e-cigarettes and other non-traditional products because of Philip Morris owning the IQOS system for heating tobacco. Now, that deal is off.

And I think investors have to be wondering what is Altria's future going to look like? You know, they're going to try and maybe do more in vaping and have one of their own executives clean up maybe the mess at Juul. But there still are a lot of regulatory concerns.

The Trump administration is cracking down on vaping, particularly some of those products that have been geared some would say more towards teens and that's going to be I think, an issue, you know, going forward. Can Altria through diversification wind up being better than a just a slow growth, no growth business?

CHATTERLEY: Yes. It's fascinating. I mean, we talked about this before, profound uncertainty now about e-cigarettes. And to your point, do they come back perhaps to these talks, but at different price points, given the sheer uncertainty in the evolving outlook here. Paul La Monica, thank you so much for that update there.

All right. Let me bring you up to speed with today's "Boardroom Brief," too. British authorities will repatriate another 16,000 people today following the collapse of tour operator, Thomas Cook. The operation now in its third day, the Civil Aviation Authority says it is working around the clock to bring customers back home.

WeWork CEO is stepping down. It comes as the office startup struggles to go public. Adam Neumann's power, the company has been under scrutiny recently with we work making governance changes to reinsure investors ahead of a future IPO.

And finally, as we await transcripts of President Trump's phone call with Ukraine's leader, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" provided their version of events. Watch this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. This is the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, this is the President. Congratulations on Chernobyl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chernobyl is a horrible tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great ratings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can I to do for you, Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me some dirt on Sleepy Joe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think I can help with that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you like to wake up in the morning, the head --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, as a foreign power to help you is an impeachable offense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me it's a dirty word, the word impeach. It's a dirty, filthy, disgusting word.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where do you stand on grab them by the pussy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm fine with it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't you do the same thing with Russia asking them for dirt on Hillary in the 2016 election?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But that's what I'm good at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, Mr. President. Ukraine is going into a tunnel. I have to go.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: My apologies for anyone who choked over their coffee there, but I did think it was worth it to illustrate a point. Brian Stelter joins us now.

Wow, Brian. I mean, we shouldn't laugh because this is an incredibly serious matter. But for me, the big question here is can we believe what we get here when we get the release of the transcript and I use inverted commas here of the phone call between the two Presidents because this is going to be key today. BRIAN STELTER, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this

White House has lost the benefit of the doubt a long time ago. President Trump constantly contradicts himself, lies to the public. And we have seen instances where this government has been pressured to falsify information, even including transcripts because of the President's feelings and personal actions.

So we keep that in mind. We set that on the table as we await the release of these contemporaneous notes that are going to come out any minute involving the President's call with the Ukrainian leader.

We have no reason to specifically believe that in this case, the information is going to be messed with or tweaked. But we do know there's been this pattern of lying and misleading by the White House and we have to keep that in mind.

Today, this kind of feels like the day Bill Barr came out and spun the Mueller report. The White House got out there. The administration got out there with their view of Mueller report weeks before the actual report was released. We might be seeing a repeat of that today -- Julia.

[09:55:04]

CHATTERLEY: Yes. And it's why the whistleblower's account to U.S. Congress is so key, too and we need the details on that to counter this. But Brian, to that exact point, the President was ready yesterday. He tweeted out a montage of suggestions. I think making the point that the Democrats here are crazy, and it's just another witch hunt. Have the Democrats erred here and is the President going to use this inquiry to his benefit?

STELTER: Well, look, Trump knows how to communicate with his audience, with his base through his tweets, through repeating certain slogans. He knows how to get through them. Now, it's up to the Democrats to make their case to the American people. Will democrats be on TV? Will they be holding hearings? Those are all open questions right now.

When I'm looking at these extemporaneous notes, I'm interested in seeing what words Trump uses and doesn't use. Let's remember what Michael Cohen said, the President Trump speaks in code like a mob boss. We will see if that's the kind of language used on this so- called transcript.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, let's see if we can decode that later. Brian Stelter, great job. Thank you so much for that.

STELTER: Thanks.

CHATTERLEY: That's it for the show. That release coming imminently. So stick around and watch CNN for that.

For now, you've been watching FIRST MOVE, time to go make yours and don't move a muscle. More next.

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