Hong Kong Protester Shot By Police Officer; Crisis in Bolivia; President Trump Impeachment Inquiry; Spain Decides
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. We are coming to you live from CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen. This is "CNN Newsroom." Ahead here, chaos in Hong Kong. Police are defending an officer who fired live ammunition at close range amid clashes with protesters. Also, crisis in Bolivia. Allegations of election fraud forced Evo Morales to resign as president after almost 14 years in power. Also ahead here, sources say British lawmakers ignored warnings about Russian interference in U.K. politics. It is a CNN exclusive. Thank you again for joining us. Our top story, a police shooting is fuelling more outrage in Hong Kong, where protests are in their 23rd week. A warning, what you are about to see is graphic. Video shows a traffic officer with his pistol drawn wrestling with a protester. A different protester approaches and he is shot point blank in the torso. Other protesters grapple with the officer and two more shots are fired. The wounded protesters survived. Authorities say he is in hospital in critical condition. For more, let's go to CNN's Will Ripley. He is live out in the streets in Hong Kong for us. Will, this is another example of a tragedy on the streets in this ongoing crisis.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is, Natalie. The video of the shootings spread like wildfire on social media here in Hong Kong. And within hours, protesters were vowing revenge. In fact, the chant that protesters have been repeating out here on the streets has changed and now they are saying Hongkongers take revenge for what they feel is excessive and disproportionate force by Hong Kong police although, keep in mind, the protesters allegedly involved in this incident were physically trying to beat the officer who then pulled out his gun and fired live rounds of ammunition. I want to show you what is happening here, Natalie. We are on Hartford Road -- Connaught Road Central. This is one of the main thoroughfares here in Hong Kong busiest shopping district. This is a five-lane roadway that in a matter of like 10 minutes has been completely shut down by this group of protesters, predominately young people based on what I can see behind their masks, which they are wearing in violation of Hong Kong's anti-mask law that was designed to prevent precisely this kind of thing. And now what they're doing behind these umbrellas there, they are ripping up bricks from the sidewalks that they become very accustomed at doing. They set up like a little supply line and they're getting the bricks from the sidewalk across the highway to the other side of the road. These bricks are being put in place to prevent police and fire vehicles from -- you see them pulling the bricks right there -- to prevent police and fire vehicles from being able to drive in here and take control of the scene. It is extraordinary how efficient they are. You see people putting up their umbrellas to block the view of our cameras to try to protect the identities of the protesters who seem undeterred by the threat of punishment including jail time, fines, potentially years behind bars. That is not stopping these young people from doing this basically almost every day. We see scenes like this or at least every week for sure for 23 or 24 consecutive weeks now, more than five months of protests here in Hong Kong. And this is a city that stunningly seems to show no signs of coming under control. In fact, the sense I get here on the streets is that the city is losing control. People are angrier. They are more determined than ever to continue to disrupt life in the city despite the fact that the city is now in recession. The hospitality and service industries are in the tank. And then you have this, a police officer shown on camera on a motorcycle basically trying to ram the motorcycle right into a group of front line protesters dressed in black who are running away from the scene of an activity just like this. Tensions are flaring on all sides. We also have reports that a man who is voicing support for the Chinese government was doused with petroleum and set on fire. There is a video of that. We are working to get that clear to make sure that it is authentic. But it is absolutely horrifying -- the things that we are seeing play out on the streets of Hong Kong in less than 24 hours. It's only Monday, Natalie, and this is what is happening. We have our gas masks ready because inevitably the police will come.</s>RIPLEY: They are going to fire tear gas and maybe pull out the water cannon. But yet it does not seem to stop any of this from continuing week after week.</s>ALLEN: It is really amazing how these protesters are so determined. And as you say, it's been going on for five months. All right, take care, Will Ripley and your team. Thanks for bringing that to us. We will stay in touch. Right now, it is not clear who is leading Bolivia after political after political upheaval forced its president to resign. Evo Morales had been in power for nearly 14 years. After a handful of other resignations, the second vice president of Bolivia Senate says that leaves her next in line and is willing to assume the office. When Morales announced his resignation, he claimed he was forced out in a coup. Crowds cheered and waved flags as they heard the news. A big change from the past few weeks when protesters stormed into the streets accusing Mr. Morales of fraud after he claimed victory in last month's election. CNN's Patrick Oppmann has more on the developments.</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A political earthquake is rocking Bolivia after the country's longest-serving staunch leftist president Evo Morales was forced to step down. It's been weeks of violent protests and allegations that Morales had stolen an election to become president for a fourth term. Morales had denied that and said that he was facing a coup. But after report came out showing widespread fraud, Morales finally on Sunday offered to hold new elections. The offer came too late for the country's opposition for the military and the police, many of them have risen up against Morales. The head of the military said on Sunday it was time for Morales to leave office. In hours, Morales did just that, shocking Bolivia and much of Latin America. He said that it was a coup. It was forcing him from power. He recognized that if he didn't leave, there would be bloodshed, and he wanted to avoid that. Many of Morales's critics said that he become too authoritarian, that he was never planning on leaving the presidency, and that he was essentially becoming a dictator. So while Morales is out, he has received offers from other countries to seek asylum there. But Morales says while he may no longer be president of Bolivia, he is not going anywhere. Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Mexico City.</s>ALLEN: Reaction to the events unfolding in Bolivia is so far mixed. In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commended the OAS audit of the election. He says that the United States supports calls for a new election and the installation of a new electoral council. Mexico's foreign minister says 20 Bolivian officials are seeking refuge at the Mexican ambassador's residence in La Paz. He added, Mexico would grant Morales asylum if he requested it. But Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez is condemning what he called a coup against Morales. That sentiment is being echoed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. We turn now to the U.S. impeachment inquiry entering a pivotal phase this week with the launch of televised hearings. Beginning Wednesday, lawmakers will hear from witnesses about allegations President Donald Trump withheld military funding to pressure Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. Among the first to appear is the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. This man is Bill Taylor. Meantime, House Republicans want to hear from Hunter Biden and the anonymous whistleblower, who triggered this inquiry, though Democrats insist that will not happen. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham weighed in on that.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): It is impossible to bring this case forward in my view fairly without us knowing who the whistleblower is and having a chance to cross examine them about any biases they may have. So if they don't call the whistleblower in the House, this thing is dead on arrival in the Senate.</s>ALLEN: In another development, The New York Times reports the attorney for one of Rudy Giuliani's associates left Parnas, says Parnas delivered an ultimatum to Ukraine's new leadership at Rudy Giuliani's direction. For more on the hearings and the Republican strategy, Natasha Lindstaedt joins us now from Colchester, England. She is a professor of government at the University of Essex. Natasha, good morning to you. Thank you for coming in. First step here, we are getting insight into the republican playbook for this week.</s>ALLEN: They are working to divert and distract ahead of the hearings. They are floating conspiracy theory and confusion. With that, will these hearings be able to provide the clarity and openness that Republicans have requested when it was behind committee doors?</s>NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, I think they are going to be able to provide clarity. The Democrats have been trying to provide a clear narrative about has happened. The testimonies of George Kent, Bill Taylor, and Marie Yovanovitch have been actually very clear. They have all agreed with one another. They all corroborated what the whistleblower initially said. They put together a very clear story to understand that the president was basically extorting Ukraine until they would investigate his political opponent and that there was a shutout diplomacy effort taking place. And on top of that, a smear campaign led by Giuliani to undermine the credibility of Marie Yovanovitch because she was getting in the way of this attempt to get the Ukrainians to investigate the Bidens. So we have been hearing the same story over and over. I think what's gonna happen with the public hearings, one is that the Republicans can no longer say that the process is not transparent, so they can't really keep arguing that anymore. People will be able to also just see for themselves and gear for themselves these testimonies, which I think are going to be very damning and which are all going to be on the same page, corroborating the story from the original whistleblower.</s>ALLEN: Right. Also, the president is warning moderate Republicans to stick by him, claiming he did nothing wrong. What do you expect from moderates? There are some republicans not up for re-election. They're retiring.</s>LINDSTAEDT: So far, the Republicans have stuck by him. They have been pretty loyal to him. They did not necessarily publicly state that they believe there was no quid pro. In fact, they mostly stayed silent. But if you look at the way the House voted, not one Republican decided to vote alongside with the Democrat or the one independent. So we have seen that there has been a pretty tightknit group. But what is going on behind closed doors is a completely different story. We are continually hearing reports that Republicans are incredibly frustrated, particularly these moderate Republicans, that this is just a huge mess for them, that it could ruin their chances of reelection. And then for those that aren't going to be running for election, this really is a question about what kind of legacy do they want to leave. We've also seen the elections in Kentucky and in Virginia. Democrats have made huge gains possibly because of this whole impeachment inquiry and mess surrounding Trump.</s>ALLEN: That's so true. Well, we heard Lindsey Graham a moment ago talk about the fact that unless the whistleblower comes forward and is allowed to testify, that this hearing will be invalid. But the whole point is a whistleblower is allowed to remain anonymous and has offered to give written testimony. So where do you think that argument is gonna go?</s>LINDSTAEDT: Lindsey Graham is really missing the point here of what whistleblower is supposed to do. They are supposed to be able to remain anonymous. As you've already mentioned, there are even statutes to protect whistleblowers because if they don't remain anonymous, they might not come forward. They take on huge risks. They play a really important role in democracies, in checking abuses of power and other types of corruption. So this argument is just insane to me. The other issue is that the whistleblower has provided his or her account and we had testimony after testimony that has corroborated the account, most notably Alexander Vindman, who even had a first-hand account. He was on the phone call. He corroborated everything that the whistleblower has said. So there is no reason to try to out this whistleblower and post some sort of risk to this person. It doesn't make any sense, this type of argument. But again, we are seeing Republicans returning to this idea that the process is wrong and therefore we are not gonna listen to any of it.</s>ALLEN: All right. It begins this week, and we will talk again, Natasha. Natasha Lindstaedt for us. Thank you for your insights.</s>LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.</s>ALLEN: Sure thing. Spain once again finds itself in the political stalemate after socialists came out on top in the country's national elections but failed to gain a majority, this as the far-right Vox party more than doubled its seats in parliament. Acting prime minister and socialist leader Pedro Sanchez is calling on all parties to help ease the political gridlock starting Monday. Spain has struggled to form a stable government.</s>ALLEN: This was the second election in just over six months and the fourth in as many years. Well, the British government is accused of delaying a report on Russian influence in U.K. politics. Coming up, in a CNN exclusive, how sources say parliament was worried about the meddling but failed to act.