President Trump and Republicans False Claim on Ukraine Interfering on 2016 Elections
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is "CNN Tonight" I'm Don Lemon. There is a lot going on tonight and we're going to catch you up on all the headlines in the hour ahead. The impeachment investigation moving full steam ahead. The House Intel Committee putting the finishing touches on their report. They're going to vote to adopt the report and release it publicly tomorrow. "Washington Post" reporting tonight that the attorney general, William Barr, disagrees with a key finding by the Justice Department's inspector general that the FBI had enough information in 2016 to investigate the Trump campaign. The former FBI lawyer who has been targeted by President Trump for two years after sending anti-Trump texts now breaking her silence. Lisa Page is saying Trump's attacks are sickening and that she is done being quiet. And there is the state of the 2020 race. Tonight, we're going to examine how the race for the nomination will be affected if the president is impeached and the trial is held in the Senate. Plus, a Democratic candidate courting black voters. Poll show that Joe Biden enjoys big support among African-Americans. Now Pete Buttigieg is reaching out.</s>PETE BUTTIGIEG (D-IA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, it's so important to me to earn the support of Black voters.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.</s>BUTTIGIEG: Now, if you look, I mean, last poll that came out, I think there were two candidates who had double digit support among Black voters. All the rest of us were 5 percent or less, but I don't think that's permanent. I think that if we go out there and earn support, answer the questions, share who we are. Look, I'm new on the scene. I get that.</s>LEMON: Much more ahead tonight on the Democrats and Black voters. But I want to begin with the false claim by President Trump and Republicans that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 elections. Tonight, sources telling CNN that claim was debunked by the Republican controlled Senate Intelligence Committee back in 2017. Let's bring in Max Boot, Wajahat Ali and Charlie Dent. Good evening, gentlemen. I'll start with Max this time. Max, our Jake Tapper is reporting tonight the GOP-led committee, this was back in 2017, looked into all these allegations that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election they found absolutely no evidence of that. So why is the president, why are his allies pushing this debunked conspiracy theory?</s>MAX BOOT, COLUMNIST, WASHINGTON POST: Because they're desperate, Don, and they have almost literally nothing else to say. I mean, if you read the 123-page report that House Republicans released today, it's just garbage. It's a bunch of partisan talking points claiming that Trump was really worried about corruption even though he never really brought up the issue of corruption at all with President Zelensky of Ukraine and so they revert to these conspiracy theories and this is the most popular one. And what's really disturbing to me here, Don, is the fact that this is not just something that was hatched in right wing twitter. This is something that was actually hatched by the Russians. This is Russian disinformation that the Republicans are repeating, that their own members of the Senate Intelligence Committee admitted is not true, that our intelligence community has said is not true, that Fiona Hill has testified is not true. But they don't care about the truth because all they care about is saving the president's skin. If they have to repeat Russian disinformation to do it, they're going to do it.</s>LEMON: Listen, I heard every word you just said, but why, why, why? I don't -- what the hell is going on?</s>BOOT: I mean, that's a great and cosmic question, Don. You know, what has happened to the Republican Party? And for me, from my vantage point, I'm somebody who in the 1980s growing up was attracted to the Republican Party at least in part because it was the party of moral clarity, the party of absolute standards, the party of standing up to Russia. It has abandoned all of those commitments. It has become a party that embraces relativism that says there is no truth, that spins conspiracy theories, that promotes Russian disinformation. The Republican Party in order to hold onto power has basically sold its soul and it's a disgusting sight to see.</s>LEMON: I mean, it is amazing, Charlie, to sit and listen to and just watch some of the folks who, you know, whether it's in the, you know, it's congressmen or senators or it's just -- or just apologist who come on television. I mean, even tonight, Chris Cuomo had on this congressman, Randy Weber, on his show reacting to the story. Let's listen and then we'll talk about it.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Was CrowdStrike involved in the DCCC hacking?</s>REP. RANDY WEBER (R-TX): Yes.</s>CUOMO: Is CrowdStrike in part owned by a Ukrainian?</s>WEBER: No.</s>CUOMO: Really?</s>WEBER: Yes.</s>CUOMO: That's not the information -- yes really. That's not the information that we have. And the president is extremely --</s>WEBER: You have bad information. The man is American born of Russian decent. He's not Ukrainian.</s>LEMON: Charlie, even when presented with information showing Ukraine was cleared, there's still falsely pointing the finger at Ukraine. Even when presented with real facts, they still point to conspiracy theories. That's why I ask, Matt, what the hell is going on? Are these people that thick?</s>CHARLIE DENT, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: They just can't get off of Crowdstrike. You know, Don, I was in the classified briefing in January 2017. When the leaders of the intelligence community came in and briefed the members of the House about how the Russians hacked the election to harm Hillary Clinton and to help Donald Trump. They were very clear. There was no discussion of Ukraine. Okay, fast forward a few months. I visited -- I go back a few months actually, in August 2016 I was on a congressional delegation to Ukraine with Chris Coons. I happen to arrive a day or two after it was revealed that Paul Manafort had been working for Yanukovych who was obviously a Russian sympathetic leader in Ukraine. And I have to tell you, the Ukrainians reacted viscerally to that. They could not believe, and understandably so, they could not believe that a Republican presidential candidate would have a guy who's doing Putin's bidding, you know, running his campaign. There are -- and so -- I bet some of these members think, oh look, these Ukrainians were upset. And they were upset and understandably so. But they did not intervene in the elections like the Russians did. They just didn't. Yes, they were upset. Yes, they made noise about it, but they did not interfere. What's so hard to understand about this?</s>LEMON: Apparently a lot if you listen to these folks. Wajahat, then there is this from Tucker Carlson tonight.</s>TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: I should say for the record I'm opposed to the sanctions and I don't think that we should be at war with Russia and I think we should take the side of Russia if we have to choose between Russia and Ukraine.</s>LEMON: Should be on the side of Russia or Ukraine. I don't know.</s>WAJAHAT ALI, CONTRIBUTING OP-ED WRITER, NEW YORK TIMES: Yes. Did he add this time that he's joking? Mr. White Supremacy is a hoax Tucker Carlson. And let's not forget that Russia attacked our elections and Russia is attacking our ally Ukraine. Over 13,000 Ukrainians have died. But Tucker Carlson, the Republican Party has made this Faustian bargain that they will burn everything down for Trump. To the point where if Ronald Reagan was alive right now he would be like, what? We're supporting Putin and Russia and anti-Democratic and anti-Western forces that actually attack the U.S. elections that is still attacking us? He'd say, okay, I'm going to go back to the grave and roll over and become a Democrat. But to answer your question, Don, why they're doing this is very deliberate. They're not stupid. The point is to exhaust us, to exhaust us with disinformation, to leave Americans confused. Its authoritarianism 101, attack the truth. Any enemy of Trump --</s>LEMON: Wait, Wajahat, let me ask you this.</s>ALI: Yes.</s>LEMON: Do you think though -- do you think maybe the people that they're getting their talking points from are that smart and maybe they're not, they're just following the orders because when asked to answer questions, they don't seem so smart when answering the questions because it doesn't follow logical thinking. I think maybe they're just repeating talking points and they're being used by the people who are giving them the orders because these people come on television and I mean that's not smart what they're saying.</s>ALI: It doesn't matter. I think John Kennedy of Louisiana is very smart. He's an elitist. He went to Oxford. He knows something about golden milk lattes and avocado toasts. He knows he is either being a willing idiot or a useful idiot for Trump by promoting Russian disinformation. I'll give you one quick example. Trump knows that 3 million undocumented immigrants didn't vote for Clinton. Trump in 2016 said the elections are rigged. Trump has promoted the white supremacy conspiracy theory of, you know, the deep state and QAnon and the replacement theory (ph) and the invasion. They know all of this. They know the source conspiracy theory is debunked. Why do they do it? To confuse their base. And this is my prediction, and I've said this for a while, 2020 is going to happen and Trump has an out. Everyone's against me. The press is against me. Don Lemon is against me. The law enforcement is against me. The judiciary is against me. The deep state is against me. It's all a hoax. Who are you going to trust? Me or them? And if the election is close, Don, he's going to say this was invalid eelction. Everyone was against me. Maybe or maybe not I'll leave, but guess what? The Republican base come with me, I'm your leader. And that's what people aren't really preparing for. What happens if he doesn't leave and how much will the Republicans burn down for Trump? You're seeing it this week. If I'm crazy, call me out on it. I have been predicting it for a while. You're seeing it now that they are openly promoting Russian disinformation that they know will hurt U.S. democracy and they're doing it for Trump.</s>LEMON: Oh boy. Thank you all. I appreciate it.</s>ALI: Thank you.</s>LEMON: Here's our breaking news. Bill Barr may refuse to accept the conclusions of his own inspector general that the FBI was justified in investigating the Trump campaign. Is he acting more like the president's attorney than the country's attorney? That's the question for the former director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, next.