TOP NATO Diplomats Set to Meet in Brussels; Strong Support for Nunes Among Constituents
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm john Vause, here with the headlines this hour.</s>VAUSE: NATO's top diplomats are set to gather in Belgium shortly, including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He's expected to tell NATO partners they have to boost defense spending in order to fight terrorism. His trip to Brussels follows his official visit to Turkey on Thursday. All this as a battle to drive ISIS from the Syrian city of Raqqa draws near. Our international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is in Brussels for this NATO meeting and he's live with us. Nic, Tillerson's first NATO meeting. He may have some tough words for the folks at NATO, but it seems NATO has toughed questions for him regarding President Donald Trump.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They certainly do. The message we've heard from Vice President Mike Pence, we've hear from secretary of defense, James Mattis, as well, and we've heard it from Donald Trump as well that NATO needs to pay more. 28 NATO nations, only five of them pay the 2 percent GDP. They're obliged to do it. That was agreed to the Wales NATO summit a couple of years ago. The NATO countries gave themselves 10 years to make good on that commitment. But the message Rex Tillerson is bring is that time line is not good enough, you need to pay up and pay up more quickly. But the message from the Europeans is very practical. For example, the French, who aren't one of those five, they have presidential elections in a month or so, so it would be hard for them to change course. The Germans, who are half way down the list of countries that don't pay the 2 percent of GDP, they also have major elections this year. Belgium, the country hosting and the home of NATO, they are almost, if you will, one of the worst offenders of not paying the 2 percent of GDP. They're at the bottom of the list. So there's practical issues of how do you change course on a significant thing like defense spending. But also for the European allies in NATO and the E.U., there are deep concerns about where President Trump is taking the United States and its relationship with Europe at the moment. They're turning more to themselves. One of their considerations is, well, if we're going to up our spending as we agreed, what's the best way for us to do that? For example, the United States produces one type of tank and in Europe you have 17 different types of tank produced. So NATO European allies could have more effective spending their money. However, it takes time to make those changes. So all of this undoubtedly on the table, and then the issue of terrorism, Rex Tillerson saying Trump would like to see NATO doing more on terrorism. And if you look at that statement from Wales, from that summit just a couple of years ago, of over 100 points on the final statement, terrorism was number 79. So you can see there is space to move that up the agenda.</s>VAUSE: 79 places to move it up, I guess. Nic, thank you very much. Nic Robertson, covering Tillerson's visit to NATO, which almost didn't happen. He was originally going to skip it. Thanks, Nic. For the past few weeks, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has been in the spotlight under sustained attack from Democrats and some Republicans. He's accused of being a human shield for the president, Donald Trump. But back home in his district in California, support for Devin Nunes remains strong. And Kyung Lah explains why.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pressure mounting, the hits keep coming for Republican Congressman and House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes. Hammered for his mysterious conduct and close ties to the Trump White House from both sides of the aisle.</s>REP. STENY HOYER, (D), MARYLAND: Mr. Nunes simply disqualified himself.</s>SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: He's gone off on a lark by himself, sort of an Inspect Cousteau investigation here.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R), ARIZONA: Something's got to change, otherwise the whole effort in the House of Representatives will lose credibility.</s>LAH: That outrage from D.C. just noise to much of Tulare, California. Thousands of miles away from Washington, this is Congressman Nunes' home district.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know Devin personally is his integrity. If he was someone I didn't know, I would be wondering too. But knowing him personally all these years, his family, his background, he's a straight shooter.</s>LAH: His constituents believe in the congressman here. Born and raised on a central California farm, graduate of the local high school, they watched him grow from a skinny teenager to now a central figure in D.C. Last election, Nunes won a whopping 68 percent of the vote. Danny Tristo grew up with Nunes and doesn't believe his should recuse himself.</s>DANNY TRISTO, NUNES SUPPORTER: He's very direct. If he believes in something, he's going to make it right.</s>LAH: The sharpest criticism of his conduct, that he's doing the bidding of the White House instead of leading an independent investigation.</s>SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Chairman Nunes seems to be more of a partisan for the president than an impartial actor.</s>LAH: That charge empty here where many people believe Nunes' ties to the White House only helps them. The congressman brought Candidate Trump to central California, say these farmers, who saw the connection up close.</s>TRISTOS: They really hit it off and I enjoyed seeing Donald Trump putting that confidence in the Devin.</s>LAH: But not everyone believes in the embattled congressman. A resistances movement has sprung up and, as Nunes arrives home to California tonight, plans to let him hear from them directly.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We see him as obstructing justice, as not participating properly in this investigation. He should have recused himself already from that investigation. There's so many signs and signals.</s>LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Tulare, California.</s>VAUSE: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, Venezuela's Supreme Court has stripped the national assembly of its authority, a move the opposition is calling a coup.