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Opposition Leader Returns to Venezuela Despite Arrest Threats; Democrats Demand Documents from 81 People; Trump Ordered His Aid to Pressure Department of Justice Over CNN Merger; Deadly Alabama Tornado with 170 MPH Winds; Survivor to Grandson, Tell God, Thank You; More Republicans Are Voting Against Trump's National Emergency. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired March 4, 2019 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does not seem to be anything will happen anytime soon.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Dramatic moments. Thank you so much, Patrick Oppmann. That is it for me. Erica Hill is in for Brooke Baldwin today and newsroom starts right now.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Hello and thanks for joining me in today for Brooke Baldwin. We begin this hour with a striking comprehensive list. 81 people and entities with connections to the President now being asked to provide documents to the House Judiciary Committee initiating investigations into abuses of power, public corruption and obstruction of justice. Among the names on this list, two of the President's sons. His son-in-law Jared Kushner. Alan Weisselberg, his chief financial officer for the Trump Organization. Committee chairman Jerry Nadler says these investigations would lay the groundwork for impeachment should Democrats choose to pursue it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERRY NADLER, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: It's a long way down the road. We don't have the facts yet, but we're

going to initiate proper investigations. It's our job to protect the rule of law. To do that, we are going to initiate investigations into abuse of power, into corruption and into obstruction of justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The President has just responded. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to cooperate with Mr. Nadler?

TRUMP: I cooperate all the time with everybody. And you know the beautiful thing? No collusion. All a hoax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. So, what more to we know about what the committee is seeking?

MANU RAJU, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are trying to investigate what they believe is obstruction of justice by this President. Abuse of power in their view and they are looking into all aspects of the President's financial life. Personal life. As well as his political life. Suggesting that there was nefarious activity going on all three. Now they've sent 81 letters to individuals and entities connected to the White House. Family member, kids, his chief financial officer of Trump Organization. Including the head of the "National Enquirer's" parent company, David Pecker, so silence at least one story alleging an affair with the President in the run up to the 2016 elections. So-called catch and kill scheme that was conducted by the "National Enquirer." All this is going to play out in a matter of weeks and months. The committee has given these individuals two weeks to respond asking a wide range of matters. They want answers to there could be subpoena fights and public hearings. The committee says that is something they are open to doing going forward, having public hearings a push forward on this. This is just one of several committees investigating all aspects of this President, but today, Jerry Nadler offering up a very far reaching investigation to the President's finances, his company and what he has done in office to suggest there may be an abuse of power by this President.

HILL: To your point, this isn't the only request. Also reporting about a letter sent by some other Democrats. What more do we know about that?

RAJU: Three Democratic chairman, Adam Schiff, House intelligence committee, the Foreign Affairs chairman, Eliot Engel and Elijah Cummings who chairs the House Oversight Committee, Democrats, are demanding information from the White House and State Department about communications the President had with Putin. You will recall that he has had several interactions. There have been no records of these interactions. Including concerns, notes that were taken by an American interpreter were taken by the President and not released in any way that people can understand exactly what was discussed.

In these letters that these Democratic chairman are writing today, they are asking the White House acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pompeo to detail what happened in this meeting. They are also asking whether the President destroyed any of these interpreter's notes and they want to have interviews with White House personnel and others connected to the President who may be aware of what happened. So, yet another line of inquiry by Democrats in the House. Just the third month of power. The question is whether the administration ultimately complies with any of these requests or whether there's going to be a subpoena fight or court battles going forward.

[14:05:00] HILL: All right, so a lot to digest on a Monday. Manu, thank you. Joseph Moreno is a former federal prosecutor and joins us now. I'd like to get your reaction to the letter we're going through that Manu was just talking about, specifically asking, sent to Pompeo, asking for information about translators, access to them and noting the allegations were destroyed and in their words, raised profound national security counterintelligence and foreign policy concerns. [14:05:00] JOSEPH MORENO, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Sure. So,

between the letters and 81 or so document requests, it's clear the Democrats are not going to dip their toe into the investigation pool. They are diving into the deep end. Sparing no expense. No detail here. This is two years of pent up frustration about all the information that the Democrats alleged Republicans slowed, that the Republicans when they controlled the House, didn't look into these areas, so Democrats are now aggressive and going to basically stop at nothing to get the information they want.

HILL: You mentioned they're aggressive. Diving in. That's the case when you look at this list. There are 81 different people and entities here. Some are somewhat dramatic. DOJ, FBI, the White House, at number 65. Are they -- do they risk perhaps in some instances, going too far on this?

MORENO: Always a possibility. They have to get information they need without appearing to overreach and also frankly without wasting time. There is time sensitive nature to a lot of these issues. So, I notice that, too. The request to agencies are going to be hard fought. They are not going to just turn over information from the executive branch just because Congress asks for it. So unfortunately, this is going work its way into the courts, then subpoenas, then court battles. See what comes from that. I think it's the information requests from individuals that may be more fruitful because they're going to be more compelled, more voluntarily willing to cooperate a lot faster than the government agencies will.

HILL: What's interesting, the names not on this list. Ivanka Trump, senior adviser. Her brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric are both on that list. Her husband on the list, Ivanka is not. Kellyanne Conway is not. Is there anything you would read into that?

MORENO: The list is otherwise so far reaching. There are people like Hope Hicks and Sean Spicer. Hard the say. I'd be really guessing. I think that the real take away is that for the individuals who are named on this list, unfortunately now weeks and months of pulling together information, having to retain legal counsel, having to cooperate or deciding to fight which is a tough battle. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if those names you mentioned that were not on this list show up another list coming down the road.

HILL: Stay with me for a moment. Want to bring in Michelle Kosinski with more on this letter sent to secretary Pompeo. On this translator news. Michelle, what do you know?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: These are the House Chairman of Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight. For a long time, we have heard multiple complaints from members of Congress who have requested information from the White House and State Department on different subjects related to national security or related to foreign affairs and haven't gotten responses back. They haven't gotten complete or timely responses. Now they are clearly playing hardball now that the House is controlled by Democrats. They're looking for more with conversations with Putin. They say both in person and over the phone. They're saying that they believe that during these in person encounters and phone calls, the contents of document, they want to know what the effects of these communications have been on the foreign policy. Whether the President or anyone acting on his behalf have sought to conceal those communications and whether the President or anyone he directed to have failed to create records or mishandled those records in violation of federal law. So, they've put out a release on what exactly they're looking for. And they're say that the President reportedly seized notes pertaining to President Putin and directed at least one American interpreter not to discuss the communications with Putin with other federal officials. These members of Congress asked the White House for all documents and information relating to these conversations last month. They say they have gotten no response. They believe the content of these conversations could be important to national security, to American foreign policy. And they want to know more they want the information and they want it to be known, that they're looking for it and they want the American people to know they haven't gotten a response to this. They feel this information could be concealed based on the reporting out there. That the President wanted the notes from the interpreter want the information and they want it to be known, that they're looking for it and they want the American people to know they haven't gotten a response to this.

[14:10:00] They feel this information could be concealed based on the reporting out there. That the President wanted the notes from the interpreter when he's had these meetings with put one-on-one with just the translators present.

HILL: We will watch for reaction to that letter. Michelle, thank you. We want to get you to a new report that President Trump may have tried to interfere with the media merger between time warner and AT&T. "The New Yorker" in a lengthy piece describing an Incident where the President calls John Kelly and Gary Cohen into the

oval office and said he was angry the Justice Department hadn't filed suit and he want it had the deal block. The Justice Department was unsuccessful in blocking the merger. Of course, it was our parent company. CNN White House correspondent Abby Philip joining me now. Is the President's public dislike of CNN really at the heart of this?

ABBY PHILIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It seems to be one of it have key factors here. Given that the President has been so vocal about what he calls fake news from CNN. He has called CNN the enemy of the people and dating back to the campaign, he said his administration wouldn't approve this. Time Warner is the parent company of CNN. Now this "New Yorker" article seems to imply the President went as far as to direct two of his top aides, Gary Cohn, the National Economic Adviser, and his chief of staff, John Kelly, to influence the Justice Department to move forward with a lawsuit that would block the merger.

Here's what the "The New Yorker" says: "Trump calls Cohn into the oval office along with John Kelly who had just become his chief of staff and said in exasperation to Kelly, I've been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing has happened. I've mentioned it 50 times and nothing's happened. I want that deal blocked. Now "The New Yorker" goes on to say that Cohn told Kelly after the meeting, this is not how we do business, do not call the Justice Department and the Justice Department said we do not believe they were influenced in any way by political considerations to file this lawsuit, which was unsuccessful, but that hasn't stopped the President's critics and particularly, House Democrats, House Judiciary Committee chairman, Adam Schiff, from tweeting this this afternoon that the President's dislike of CNN he implies was long feared would be instruments of state power used to carry out his vendetta on the press that he's attacked as the enemy of the people.

So Schiff is making a direct connection to the Pres.'s attacks on CNN and members of the press and this new anecdote of "The New Yorker," he cites the President repeatedly attacking Amazon, which is owned by Jeff Bezos and Jeff Bezos owns "The Washington Post" another target of the President's attacks, so it seems to be a pattern here, but of course the White House is denying it. The Justice Department is denying it, but there is evidence of the President making his opinions on this case known and frankly, this is something that past Presidents have tried to avoid. They typically avoid discussing ongoing litigation, particularly things that have to do with the Justice Department, but in this case, President Trump has publicly made clear that he really does not, did not want this merger to go through ultimately, he was unsuccessful.

HILL: Thank you.

I want to bring back Joseph Moreno. When we look at this, as she points out in the past, pp Presidents typically try to stay out of this. How he felt about the merger and what became Warner Media under AT&T. As you look at this, there is this incident that's laid out in "The New Yorker" about what the President had to say. What's the difference between ordering and asking or suggesting?

MORENO: Erica, she hit the nail right on the head. Most Presidents avoid this problem by not making these public statements and not being caught giving directives, whether explicit or implicit, to their subordinates. So here if the President has explicitly ordered someone to interfere with the Justice Department prosecution or the civil action to stop the merger, that would have been really, really improper because we have to keep apart the political from the career individuals at the Justice Department.

[14:15:00] So now, if it was more of an implicit like I want this to not go through or I want this to be blocked and that individual to the Justice Department felt pressured or felt like they had to do that to make the White House happy, that's also really problematic. This is why Presidents avoid this tension by not laying into highly charged political cases or cases at all. President Trump is as usual, his own worst enemy because his own words are now being used to scrutinize this decision.

HILL: Always appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Now that Michael Cohen has pointed fingers at the President's family, the President's children involving his business empire, one reporter says the President may have his own attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to thank. Hear why. Plus, another Republican says he plans to vote against the President's national emergency declaration on the border. What's next in the standoff over a border wall? And breaking news out of Alabama. Where the full impact of those deadly tornados is just being realized. With only five minutes of warning, some 23 lives are lost. We are live with more on what survivors need most now.

[14:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: In Alabama, tough recovery is underway following an outbreak of deadly tornados. The devastation in parts of Lee County, Alabama is massive. Emergency workers still digging through debris, hoping to find a few people who remain unaccounted for. We can tell you 23 people have been confirmed dead. The youngest victim is just 6 years old. This tornado, this is just one of at least a dozen that struck on Sunday afternoon. Just look at the size of that. Homes ripped apart, entire neighborhoods flattened. Survivors today surveying the aftermath. One survivor discovered her elderly aunt sitting in the middle of what was once her home and took a video of her aunt's face- timing with her grandson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EARNESTINE REESE, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Thank you. You hear me, boy? You hear me? Tell god thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The President taking to Twitter to direct FEMA to give the victims in Alabama the A plus treatment. Drew Griffin is in Lee County. What are you seeing?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Just the unbelievable awe of nature. The fury of the storm. This tree that is covered with insulation. It goes on to the forest behind me. Just looks like Spanish moss in pink. It all came off of this home, which wasn't destroyed, but was tumbled. The roof has come off. We're told the man inside rode it out. Didn't have a chance to get out until his whole life was turned upside down, Erica. But he did make it out. He is OK. One of the fortunate ones. And all around here what you're seeing is not just a community devastated by a storm, but immediately bouncing back. We took these pictures just about a couple of hours ago. Workers are just going at it, trying to get at the trees, get at the various pieces of metal strewn across this county. Of course, coming all the way back for those who have lost their homes is going to be a big struggle, but r for now, the community just trying to get things at least nominally back to some order where they can drive on the roads and get in and out of their Houses. Just terrible devastation though.

HILL: So tough to see those pictures and I know it's worst this person. Thank you.

Another Democratic is jumping into the 2020 race. How the former governor of Colorado plans to stand out from the rest.

Plus, more on our breaking news. Democrats demanding documents from 81 people and organizations. Plus, we're also learning they want to speak with translators and the President's mystery meetings with Putin.

[14:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Donald Trump may soon have to cast the first veto of his presidency. Rand Paul of Kentucky saying he'll support the resolution, disapproving the President's national emergency declaration for his border wall. Even if Democrats though force a Presidential veto, can they then override it? CNN politics reporter and editor at large Joins me now. Nice to see you.

CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER AND EDITOR AT LARGE: Hello, Erica. I'm going to go through it. Got a lot to cover. It's basic math that I think even my kids could figure out. Start with this. 47 Democrats or people who caucus with Democrat, Sanders and king are independents. We start there. 47 people we expect to vote for this resolution that would take away the national emergency. So, what does that mean? Well, 47 plus one, two, three, four, gets you to 51. That's trouble for Donald Trump. Now 51 on the record now. Say Joe Manchin in West Virginia decides to vote against this. Who else might be in there? These two. Actually, all three. These are all going to be major Democratic targets in 20. Gardner, I think probably in the most trouble of this group. These are all people and there's also people we don't have on this list. Mike Lee. Ted Cruz. There are constitutional conservatives who are worried about this. Resolution passes the Senate as expected. Didn't go to the President. This is for people who think the border wall funding isn't going to happen. Democrats got 245 votes in the House for this resolution. 13 Republicans. They need 43 to 45 more Republicans to get two-thirds majority. That's what you need to overturn Presidential veto. If that happen, it goes here. Democrats need 16 additional Republican votes. You need 67 votes in the Senate to overturn that veto that we expect to come. This this isn't going to happen. There's not 67 votes for national Chris Cillizza day in the Senate. Much less something that is this

fraught. It's Donald Trump's first priority. So most likely the Senate will approve. Trump vetoes. It goes back to the House and that's where it ends and Mitch McConnell in Louisville today said as much.

HILL: We've got that. Can't let you go without talking quickly about the Democratic field. Quickly, quickly, for 2020 because we have someone else jumping in today.

CILLIZZA: OK. I'm going to do this real fast. John Hickenlooper, former mayor of Denver, he was on the front end of the brewing craze. Is in. Not that surprising. Was actually a finalist to be Hillary Clinton's VP. Not a lot of people knew that in 2016. Eric Holder, friend of President Obama, out. Again, not terribly surprising.