Personal journey to others. We have to rise up in huge numbers. When you have a complicated problem, sometimes solutions are simple. To see how that first beach he began cleaning looks today, go to cnnheroes. Com. Thanks for watching. Our coverage continues. And good morning to you. A good saturday morning to you. Im Richard Quest outside the Houses Of Parliament in london. And you are most welcome to our special coverage. Its called or being called Super Saturday. It is a rare weekend session of the British Parliament as they try again, one more time, to get whats known as a meaningful vote or a brexit deal approved. The difference this time over all the theresa may votes and the various votes on this, that
and the other, Boris Johnson secured a lastminute agreement in brussels only days ago. Theres a new withdraw act without the hated backstop. There is also a new protocol on Northern Ireland. Theres new rules on trade. Its a feat that no one thought he could pull off. And a few moments ago, those are the pictures you are looking at. Boris johnson left his residence at 10 Downing Street and is now heading for parliament behind me. A short while ago, of course, brussels is not london and the pm will need perhaps all and more of his powers of persuasion to get this through the Houses Of Parliament. Theres simply this. The mathematics is not in his favor. Theoretically, it is possible he can win todays vote. But there are amendments that could scuffle it and there are
those in his own party that could be obstructionists and fail him at the last moment. Nic robertson is with me to discuss and put it perspective. First of all, a glorious day. Hopefully thats not a Frost Nipping at the Prime Ministers feet right now, but yes, this is an you a specialus beginning for Boris Johnsons big day. If we break this down bit by bit, the first thing is the special nature of this saturday. Tell me why it had to be today. Why couldnt they wait until monday . Yeah. The First Time Since 1982 the British Parliament has met on a saturday. It had to be today. So he gets the deal during the week and he comes back to london and he has to have this deal signed and sealed or approved by parliament by 11 00 tonight, i think. They have been very specific in the act because they didnt want any loophole for the Prime Minister to wheel his way through. So when we look at this, the act or what are they considering today . What is being voted upon today . Well, the Prime Minister, first of all, will lay down what he thinks should be voted on. He has two possible proposals here. There is the deal and there is no deal. We will also hearing amendments today. Oliver ledwin is putting forward
an amendment that has everyone talking. It may turn it on its head today because in essence, it makes todays vote a provisional one. Well get to that amendment and the theres three thate know so far. The house is due to sit in about 25 minutes from now. There will be prayers and then it will be order, order. Well hear that many times, i suspect. But before we get into the nittygritty, there have been many monumental moments. Is this one of them . It is. Theresa may had three of these meaningful votes. This is Boris Johnsons first one. Hes been majorly unsuccessful with every vote in parliament so far. Theresa may went down historically by 230 votes in the first phase of it, 149 a few
weeks later in march and 40 or 58 again when they voted on it later in march. Boris johnson is widely expected to do much better than that. So it is historic. If it passes, this takes fwritan out of the European Union. This is a test of him and of the country. Good to see you. Thank you. Youll be with us all day. I will. Youve got the numbers. Youve got the amendments. Youve got all the details. So thank you very much. So the way the day will go, what we expect to happen, besides me keeping my voice, the parliament will sit in just 25 minutes from now. There will be prayers. The speaker will call the order. We will find out if any other amendments have been accepted over the course of the night. Essentially at the moment, we know there three of them. Boris johnson will then open the debate. Its open ended in the sense that it is a special sitting so there is nothing on the other end of it that they must get to. Throughout those five hours, well be having votes on the visit amendments. We will try to give you the big picture. We will tell you why aspects matter without leaving you too far behind. Joining me now, rashsh. You have already tweeted you will not vote. You call this a reckless deal. I think its important to understand, youre a remainder or youre a leaver . Well, im a remainder, but
im one of those 350e78 Wpeople wanted the previous Prime Minister to work cross party in order to secure a deal that would enable us to have Frictionless Trade and not damage our economic future. And the reality is that the previous Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister have succumbed to a hard brexit and the European Research group, the hard right of the Conservative Party and theyve been trapped in this with these red lines. And that is why this deal, which is even worse than the theresa may deal, because it takes protection for labor standards, environmental protections and other protections out of the deal, the legally binding agreement into the future political declaration which is not legally binding that makes it even harder for labor mps to back. And i hope my colleagues refrain
from supporting it. If It Doesnt Pass Tonight or this afternoon, then, of course, the Ben Act Kicks in for the purpose of this question. Lets assume the Prime Minister sends the letter tonight requesting the extension which is granted. What do you want to happen then . What is important is that we seek consent from the british people on a negotiated deal. When we had the 2016 referendum, there was no clarity about what kind of brexit people will be getting. And what we want, what i want and many in the country want and there will be Hundreds Of Thousands of people protesting today is a voet on a negotiated deal and the ochgz to remain. If Boris Johnson is so confident that his Transition Deal is the right thing for the country, he should be willing to put it back
to the people. So if it fails tonight or if we do go into an extension under the ben act, you want a second referendum but a confirmatory vote on which deal, the one that youve voted against . Well, look, today will determine whether a deal that Boris Johnson is proposing to parliament goes through and but im saying well see what happens. If it doesnt go through, i think he should go back and renegotiate a deal that is acceptable to parliament. The problem is our Prime Ministers have gone in without this is going to go around in circles. Would you prefer a General Election . Wouldnt a General Election sort this out . Absolutely not. A General Election is about issues that affect our country beyond brexit. We need a specific vote on brexit. Then they can look at whether the deal we have at the moment is better than the one that Boris Johnson negotiates. I believe he hasnt negotiated a good enough deal. Im having difficulty seeing how you get from tonight is voted down, and by the way, how are you going to vote on the various amendments, the revoke amendment, for example. Are you going the support that amendment . We have to see which amendments get selected so im afraid i cant tell you that until we are able to see which amendments are selected by the speaker. So youll have to wait until that happens. The one everyone is talking about is the i think its almost inconceivable the speaker wont accept that amendment. If he does, which basically shoves it all down the road, shoves final approval until the various enabling legislation is fully in place, would you
support that . My priority and my partys priority is to vote this deal down. That is the focus. There is a case for considering the letwin amendment and we will look at that in scenes as we progress through the day. We are focused on voting this deal down and thats the priority for us. Thank you. Michael, one often thinks what is happening here is so crucial and vital, but whether its beirut at the moment, the u. S. , please bring us up to date. Exactly, yes. Youre not the only one. Theres lots going on around the world. Richard quest, well check in with you in a little while. Meanwhile, u. S. Politics taking a wild turn yet again. New revelations in the Impeachment Inquiry against president trump. Putting the white house in a tough spot. When we come back, well have that and more. Good morning. A good saturday to you and a warm welcome. Its cnns Special Brexit Coverage and the Victoria Tower At Westminster where only last week we saw her majesty, the queen, with the state opening of parliament. Since then, matters have moved fast. Britain or the Uk Parliament hasnt had a saturday session in nearly 40 years. There again, britain has never exited the European Union before. So here we are with Super Saturday. This is Boris Johnsons deal. Its the deal he finalized a couple of days ago with brussels. The actual act is serve hundred pages long. The protocol on Northern Irelandis 30 some pages long. The whole thing is extremely complicated and parliament is expected to vote on it today. Key members of parliament are giving it the thumbs down. Good morning. Happy Super Saturday to you. You dont remember the last Time Parliament sat. Its never sat on a saturday in my lifetime. I do remember, i was at university, i was in college and i wasnt actually doing the business yet, 1982, second year of college. But yes, i remember listen to go margaret thatcher. Youve got the numbers. Soever, it doesnt look necessarily that good for Boris Johnson, but its looking better by the minute. There are key groups of mps that were looking at today. How many votes does he need . He needs 320. Because weve lobbed off the speaker, the deputy speakers, anybody who is yes, and actually, when we look at the actual numbers, were looking at 318 because there are four tellers, two of which will vote for the deal and two of which will vote against, they cancel each other out. We know the labor party will not vote for this. So where does he get his numbers . How many does he have on his own . On his own, i believe he could be at 309. Thats a fairley conservative estimate. 19 of whom wrote a letter this month saying they want a deal before the end of the month. It takes into account two labor mps who have come out and said they will vote for this deal. That is in the last 24 hours. And slowly but surely, some of them are coming to Boris Johnsons aid here. Hes not yet there. Hes not yet there, but i think its too close to call. How many people will be swayed by Debate Versus made up there mind . I was walking through and i heard one say they were going to listen to the debate and then decide how to vote. I find that hard to believe. I find that hard to believe, as well. The labor mps, the ones who want
to remain, who want to stop brexit, but are terrified if theyre in brexit areas. The principal upon which theyre voting is a deal several hundred pages long and theyre being asked to roar it through in 24 hours. That is certainly what the critics of this deal are saying. They want more time and they want this idea of an extension to continue up until theyve gone through the legislation. Good to see you. Michael, were going to get technical and it will get technical as the hours go on, but well do our best to explain and keep you across it all in today parliamentary knnuances. I believe we could have used subtitles with anna there. There were things going on and i
had no idea. Michael, now, as we move forward during the course of the day, please, jump in and shout long and hard when you feel that weve left you behind. Yes, all right. Exactly. Will do, my friend. Well check in with you later. Richard, anna, thank you. U. S. Politics, lets going on. Cnn learning the u. S. President s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani pushed the State Department to grant a visa to a former ukrainian official who promised dirt on the democrats. Thats according to diplomate george kents testimony to congress this week. Kent said when that didnt work, giuliani then tried to get the white house to have the decision reverse dollars. The state Department Apparently stood by its guns. The visa was not granted. But the system does reveal just how far Rudy Giuliani tried to go to get damaging data on the
president s political opponents. Now, admissions like george kents have put the white house on the defensive. Jessica snyder explains whats been going on and what it all means. A cascade of current and former Administration Officials called to capitol hill in the last week, painting a damning picture of a rogue Foreign Policy run by president trumps personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani where select Officials Say they were pressed by the president and others to pressure ukraine to investigate corruption which democrats argue was purely intended for trumps political gain. Thursday, trumps acting Chief Of StaffMick Mulvaney further fueling democrats claims of wrongdoing, admitting in a Fiery Press Conference that the administration held up the nearly 400 million in military aid to ukraine in a push to get the country to cooperate. I have news for everybody. Get over it. Theres going to be political influence in Foreign Policy. Mulvaney later trying to walk
back his own words by blaming the media for airing the admission saying once again the media has decided to miscontrue my comments to advance a biassed and political witchhunt against president trump. There was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian Military aid and any investigation into politics. I can never remember the gentleman who mckinney, the guy is that his name . Who said that . It was george kemp. Im sorry, i dont know who that is. But the four officials who divulged details for hours on end were important players on the policy front. Fioni hill served as the top adviser on russia. Sources say she recounted on monday how then National Security adviser john bolton was concerned about giulianis
shadow diplomacy, calling out giuliani as a hand grenade, hill telling lawmakers that bolton instructed her to notify the chief lawyer for the National Security council about the Rogue Effort For Giuliani and Gordon Sondland with bolton saying i am not part of whatever drug Deal Sondland and mulvaney are cooking up. It is very clear they were run ago shadow Foreign Policy. Sondland showing up thursday prepared for open testimony explaining how he had no choice but to work through Rudy Giuliani since thats what the president wanted, but sondland insisted he did not understand until much later that mr. Giulianis ideas included the idea to involve ukrainians directly or indirectly in the president s 2020 reelection campaign. George kent testified that he
was directed to lay low after he raised concerns about giulianis efforts and his dismay that pompeo would not stand up to protect ousted ambassador to ukraine maria vonovich. The July 25th Telephone Call was not some kind of one off. And while Rudy Jewgiuliani Has N at the forefront. Hes at the center of a Counter Intelligence probe where federal officials are looking into
everything jessica snyder, cnn washington. Quite the week. Hard to pick which Extraordinary Development to begin with, but lets start with perhaps the situation in northern syria. The president Again Claim Whag a great favorite he did the kurds with his deal with erdogan who at the end