Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Blast Rips Through Crowd at Turkish Park; British PM Outlines Plan to Fight Terrorism; Light Turnout in Burundi Election; Vatican Conference on Climate and Human Trafficking; The Fight to End Human Trafficking; Republicans React to War Hero Comments by Donald Trump; Former Chinese Presidential Aide Accused of Corruption; Infidelity Website "Ashley Madison" Hacked; Toshiba Execs Resign Over Accounting Scandal; Pro Surfer Survives Terrifying Shark Attack; Aired 3:00-4a ET
Aired July 20, 2015 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:23] PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Police and protesters clash in Turkey in the aftermath of a deadly terrorist attack.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Plus hackers threaten to expose millions of cheating spouses.
NEWTON: And a rough start to Sepp Blatter's day after the FIFA president gets covered in cash.
BARNETT: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.
NEWTON: And I'm Paula Newton. And this is CNN NEWSROOM.
We begin this hour with anger on the streets of Turkey. Police fired water cannons and tear gas at protesters in the capital city Istanbul. Now demonstrators blame their government for failing to prevent a suicide bombing earlier in the day. Thirty-one people died in the blast, more than 100 were wounded.
BARNETT: Now it happened in the town Suruc near the Syrian border. We are about to show you footage of the blast. Many of you will find this disturbing. But we're showing it to demonstrate the inhumanity and the horror of the attack.
Our Arwa Damon has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reality transforms in an instant. The suicide bomber detonates. Lives immediately lost. Screams and wails of survivors, some in shock, others crying out in pain. A resident describes how frantic individuals arrived, pulling sheets back of corpses, desperately searching for their loved ones.
This was a gathering of mostly Kurdish activists for the Kobani reconstruction efforts. Kobani, the town just across the border in Syria, where for months last fall predominantly Kurdish fights backed by coalition airstrikes, launched pitch battles against ISIS, eventually driving them out but leaving the town decimated.
The Turkish government insinuating this is the work of ISIS, revenge for the role Turkey is playing in the war on terror.
AHMET DAVUTOGLU, TURKISH PRIME MINISTER (Through Translation): Initial findings point to a suicide bomber in ISIS but it is hard to reach a judgment before investigation is concluded. ISIS does not only pose threat to Syrian people but also Turkey.
DAMON (on camera): The mood here is pretty somber and investigators are continuing with their work well into the night. Blood still staining the ground. It was only a matter of time before the violence in Syria spilled over across the border. And this is not the first attack. But this strike in particular is raising a lot of questions, especially when it comes to how the Turkish government is handling the threat posed by ISIS.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Suruc, Turkey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Now meantime British Prime Minister David Cameron has laid out a plan to keep his country's youth from joining terror groups.
BARNETT: In a speech on Monday Mr. Cameron said more needs to be done to protect Muslim youth through often easy targets for ISIS recruiters.
CNN international correspondent Atika Shubert has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The masked military known as Jihadi John has become the poster boy for all that has gone wrong in Britain's attempts to keep young Muslims from turning to terror groups like ISIS. Identified by security officials as Mohammed Emwazi, a shy London teenager before he left for Syria and became the masked murderer featured in the gruesome videos from ISIS.
Now Britain's prime minister is vowing to crack down on the extremist ideology both violent and nonviolent that enables groups like ISIS.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Here's my message to any young person here in Britain thinking of going out there. You won't be some valued member of a movement. You are cannon fodder for them. They will use you. If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up. If you are a girl, they will enslave and abuse you.
SHUBERT: Hundreds of British men and women are believed to have joined the terror group and others like it in Syria and Iraq. Cameron is now promising to crack down all creatures of hate who operate within British law and yet encourage extremist ideology. He's also bolstering Muslim groups to speak out against ISIS and other terror outfit. In his speech, he used the word kafar (ph) or disbeliever, to make his point.
CAMERON: This means confronting groups and organizations that may not advocate violence but which do promote other parts of the extremist narrative. We've got to show that if you say, yes, I condemn terror but the kafar are inferior, or violence in London isn't justified, but suicide bombers in Israel are a different, then you, too, are part of the problem.
[03:05:14] SHUBERT: But Cameron also risks alienating British Muslims many of whom already feel targeted by British security services even as they try to distance themselves from groups like ISIS.
And support for organizations like ISIS is most prevalent online where extremism is hardest to tackle. That is how so many, including these three schoolgirls from East London, were lured into joining ISIS last year. To those young men and women, Cameron had this message.
CAMERON: I know that for as long as injustice remains, be it with racism, discrimination, or sickening Islamaphobia, you may feel there's no place for you in Britain. But I want you to know there is a place for you and I will do everything I can to support you.
SHUBERT: But it may take more than a prime minister's speech to win hearts and minds and defeat extremism.
Atika Shubert, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BARNETT: A close friend of the gunman who killed five U.S. servicemen in Tennessee says it isn't likely Mohammed Abdulazeez was inspired by ISIS. The 24-year-old opened fire on two military buildings last week and then was killed in a shootout with police. His friend James Petty says Abdulazeez was very much against radicalism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES PETTY, FRIEND OF MOHAMMAD ABDULAZEEZ: That it was a stupid group and it was completely against Islam. And not to even think about going towards them. And I felt like it was kind of in the sense of I'm with their group so I don't want you to do like me, it was more like just stay away, this is not the way where you should be going towards.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: You felt that he truly believed in his heart at that moment that what ISIS is doing was wrong?
PETTY: Yes, sir.
GRIFFIN: And that any kind of radical Islamic terrorism is wrong?
PETTY: Yes, sir.
GRIFFIN: And he discussed that?
PETTY: He did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now as memorials to victims continue to grow, investigators haven't found any connection yet between Abdulazeez and terror groups. Now they are continuing to examine writings by Abdulazeez that indicated he was angry at the U.S. government.
BARNETT: Now polls in Burundi have been open for about three hours in what is a controversial presidential race there.
NEWTON: Yes. Absolutely. Incumbent Pierre Nkurunziza is running unopposed for a third term now. Turnout has been very light and there have been sounds of sporadic gunfire since voting began.
Earlier journalist Julia Steers spoke to us about the situation on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA STEERS, BURUNDI JOURNALIST: The people here are really fearful and the events overnight have really just added to that general sense of fear and concern about insecurity here in the capital, which has seen a violent crackdown over the last several weeks in response to demonstrations against the president's run for a third term. So turnout is expected to be relatively low here in the city.
The president enjoys less support here than he does in the countryside and many residents told me this week they will not vote in what opposition candidates have called a fraudulent election. Others say they will turn out just simply due to the recent turmoil and concerns about possible attacks at the polls today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: And keep in mind it was Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for this third term that sparked months of instability and violence in the Central African nation. The Organization of African Unity has called for the election to be postponed.
We'll keep you posted on any developments there as the day goes on.
Now outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter is setting up an 11-member task force to deal with corruption and bribery allegations against his organization. In his first statement since announcing his resignation, Blatter also said his replacement will be selected during a special election February 26th. He also spoke about his role in his last few months as president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEPP BLATTER, OUTGOING FIFA PRESIDENT: My duty and mission now is to defend the institution, FIFA, and not to defend myself. I can defend myself. I don't need help with that. But FIFA, and I am happy that today, the executive committee together with the confederations, they have said, yes, President, we will help you re-take also there is responsibility to go and to change FIFA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now we want to tell you this, before he could make his announcement a British prankster threw a stack of fake cash at Blatter. The FIFA president was not hurt but he left the stage for a short time.
BARNETT: Now in just over an hour, the Vatican is set to host a conference that will touch on two important but vastly different topics. Mayors from around the world will take part in the two-day event to discuss climate and modern-day slavery.
[03:10:08] NEWTON: Now to get the latest on this, we want to bring in CNN's Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher.
And Delia, as always, I'm glad to have you here, just try and put this into context for us. You know, two vastly different topics. We're talking about climate change and modern-day slavery. If we deal first with the issue of climate change, just really comes after his encyclical. It was absolutely landmark, him saying very bluntly that we must do something to save this planet. Why here? Why now? Why these mayors from around the world?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's interesting and unique about this conference, Paula, is that they are combining these two topics. Not only is it the first time that we have some 65 mayors coming to the Vatican from around the world but the Vatican itself has decided that these two topics, they've called them their interrelated emergencies, mainly for their effect on the poor.
So if you remember, you referenced it, there was a climate change conference already back in April when the Pope met with international leaders including the U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon. Then in July we had the folks in encyclical, largely devoted to the issue of climate change and also human trafficking, and the Vatican at that time admitted quite freely that they were trying to influence the international debate.
There are upcoming meetings in Paris in December on climate change and that they wanted to help influence that discussion. So this meeting now with the mayors is kind of coming at it from the other end, from the grassroots level, trying to deal with urban areas and the question of climate change and human trafficking.
What the Vatican says is that they are asking the mayors to help empower the poor. They say they want to help them reduce their exposure to extreme weather conditions which the Vatican says is caused by economic, social, and environmental instability which then lays the fertile ground, the Vatican says, for forced migration and human trafficking. So that is the connection for the Vatican and that is the reason that they are combining these two issues.
The mayors, some 65 of them from around the world, today. The conference has just gotten underway. They've got about 10 minutes each to speak today. Tomorrow they break up into workshop groups. The Pope will arrive shortly in about an hour and a half to address the conference -- Paula.
NEWTON: So, Delia, as we step back a moment here, everything the Pope says these days is followed so closely. Does the Vatican have a plan for OK, we brought together these mayors, how are we going to follow up here and see the impact on the ground from what they're doing today?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think clearly that what they want -- what the Vatican wants to do is really use their prestige to get all of the mayors together. I mean, what other place other than maybe the U.N. could you do something like this where you just bring mayors from all around the world to a place like the Vatican to work on these issues? So in terms of actually following up on policy level I don't think that's the Vatican's main concern. I think their interest is getting the whole discussion rolling between the mayors, between countries so that they can agree at a U.N., at an international level, on how to best address these issues.
The Pope and the Vatican have always been on the side of kind of proposing this sort of moral authority and the moral imperative of action on these issues but they tend not to get too detailed into how those policies need to be laid out. That's what they want the mayors to discuss and share today.
NEWTON: Yes. And so interesting, Delia, that on both issues, advocacy groups say look, this is where these projects have the most success. This kind of grassroots mobilization.
Our Delia Gallagher there following those meetings for us in Rome.
BARNETT: And we should also note that the CNN Freedom Project is dedicated to shine a light on modern-day slavery. Our latest product in fact is a documentary called "Children For Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking".
NEWTON: Now actress and activist Jada Pinkett Smith speaks with a young survivor right here in the United States who was sold for sex at the age of 15. Now she was lured in by someone she says she thought was her friend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JADA PINKETT SMITH, HOST: Sacharay was born and raised in Florida. By the time she was 14 she was constantly being teased at school.
SACHARAY, SURVIVOR: What I got picked on about being black, by really, really dark skin, I guess.
PINKETT SMITH: She felt alone at home and at school. Sasha Ray says that's why when an older classmate offered friendship, she jumped at it.
SACHARAY: I thought she was my best friend because I could like tell her anything. One day she asked if, you know, I want to skip school, want to have fun, you know. So we went to this barbershop. When I was there she introduced me to these guys. PINKETT SMITH: Sacharay's new friend had just led her to the man who
would eventually become her trafficker.
[03:15:01] SACHARAY: We talked about how we were going to make money, how it's going to be easy. We don't have to depend on nobody. And it was all fun and good and stuff, so I fell for it.
PINKETT SMITH: Was there any kind of grooming process? Like when this first started? Or is it just something that just happened and you -- he was just expecting you to learn on the way?
SACHARAY: He slowly brought it on when we got closer. When he felt like he got closer to me, he used the back of the barbershop. He even had people that worked with the post office, mailmen come in. Mailmen came in and paid their money to him, came back there to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Be sure to watch the CNN Freedom Project documentary "Children for Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking." It premiers Wednesday night at 8:00 in London, 9:00 p.m. in Berlin, only here on CNN.
BARNETT: And you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, Donald Trump has made more controversial comments, now some say he shouldn't even be allowed to run for president.
NEWTON: Plus a world champion surfer describes what went through his mind -- I can't imagine what would have went through his mind when he was fighting off a shark attack on live TV. You don't want to miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:20:19] NEWTON: Donald Trump, a Republican running for U.S. president, is defending himself over his latest controversial comments. Now this weekend he said Arizona Senator John McCain wasn't a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam.
BARNETT: Now he has not apologized for those remarks. He has tried to pivot away from them, though, Monday on FOX News. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'm going to say this. I have respect for Senator McCain. I used to like him a lot. I supported him, I raised a lot of money for his campaign against President Obama. And certainly if there was a misunderstanding I would totally take that back. But hopefully I said it correctly and certainly shortly thereafter I said it correctly.
I would like him, however, to do something with the 15,000 people that were in Phoenix about illegal, you know, immigration. They are being decimated. These people are being decimated. And I would love to see him to a much better job taking care of the veterans, Bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: The strange thing is this is the only thing both parties agree on right now. Fellow Republicans are lashing out against Trump saying his comments were offensive. Democrats, too, saying that, and praising, you know, John McCain's war record.
NEWTON: Yes. Absolutely. Most agree, look impeachable.
Now senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar has more now on this entire controversy from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump touching off a political firestorm this weekend by insulting former Republican presidential nominee, John McCain.
TRUMP: I supported him. He lost. He let us down. But, you know, he lost. So I never liked him as much after that because I don't like losers. But -- but, Frank, let me get to it. He hit me --
FRANK LUNTZ, MODERATOR: He's a war hero.
TRUMP: He's not a war hero.
LUNTZ: He's a war hero.
TRUMP: He's a war hero --
LUNTZ: Five and a half years as a POW.
TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured. OK. I hate to tell you.
TRUMP: Do you agree with that?
TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. OK? You can have -- and I believe perhaps he's a war hero. But right now, he said some very bad things about a lot of people.
KEILAR: Almost immediately Trump's remarks drew scrutiny.
TRUMP: I like the people that don't get captured. And I respect the people that do get captured.
KEILAR: McCain, a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, was shot down, held prisoner and beaten for more than five years in Hanoi, even refusing early release. Still, Trump has not backed down claiming in a "USA Today" op-ed that his comments were misconstrued by the media. Trying on the "Today" show to turn his criticism of McCain to issues like the V.A. scandal.
TRUMP: I'm not a fan of John McCain. He's done a terrible job for the vets.
KEILAR: McCain himself took the high road this morning. MIKA BRZEZINSKI, HOST, MSNBC'S MORNING JOE: Does Donald Trump owe you
an apology?
