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Donald Trump's Big Foreign Policy Speech; Aleppo Under Fire As U.N. Special Envoy Urges Saving Syrian Ceasefire; The Road to Rio; Russia's Love Affair with Donald Trump; Water Levels at Record Low at Venezuelan Dam; New Wave of Killings in Bangladesh. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired April 28, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Donald Trump puts ISIS, China, and Hillary Clinton on notice in his biggest foreign policy speech so far.
Aleppo under fire. The U.N. Special Envoy on Syria urges Russia and the U.S. to save the country's fragile ceasefire.
Also ahead, the road to Rio. Brazil takes possession of the Olympic flame with 100 days to go until the summer games.
Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN NEWSROOM.
We begin with a race for the White House and the battle brewing between democrat Hillary Clinton and republican Donald Trump.
Clinton's four years as Secretary of State may give her an edge on matters of foreign policy, but now, Trump is trying to even the playing field with what was billed as major foreign policy address.
CNN's Sara Murray has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Donald Trump unleashing a blistering criticism of the Obama-Clinton foreign policy and previewing fault lines that could shape the general election.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I challenge anyone to explain the strategic foreign policy vision of Obama/Clinton. It has been a complete and total disaster.
MURRAY: In his formal speech in Washington, Trump called for an America first approach to foreign policy.
TRUMP: My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else. It has to be first.
MURRAY: Trump pledging that intervention won't be his first instinct, and saying he will seek to improve relationships with countries like Russia.
TRUMP: We desire to live peacefully. And in friendship with Russia and China.
MURRAY: Rather than delve deeply into specifics, Trump says it's time to stop broadcasting America's every move.
TRUMP: We must as a nation, be more unpredictable. We are totally predictable.
MURRAY: After his five-state sweep on Tuesday, Trump is feeling more secure than ever in his front-runner status.
TRUMP: I consider myself the presumptive nominee, absolutely.
MURRAY: To clinch the nomination, he needs roughly 49 percent of the remaining delegates to hit that magic 1,237. To date he has won about 50.2 percent of the delegates. So, if he keeps up his current pace, the nomination should be within his grasp. For Trump, it's a sign the strategy that got him this far is working.
TRUMP: If you have a football team and you're winning, and then you get to the Super Bowl, you don't change your quarterback, right? So, I'm not changing.
MURRAY: And that general election fight could be brutal as Trump tries out an even sharper tone against Clinton. Questioning whether she has any credentials beyond her gender.
TRUMP: Frankly, if Hillary Clinton were a man, I don't think she would get 5 percent of the vote. The only thing she's got going is the women's card.
MURRAY: Trump's not the only one with his eye on the general. Today, Ted Cruz making the unconventional decision to tap Carly Fiorina as his V.P., if he can win the nomination at a contested convention.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Carly is a vice presidential nominee who I believe is superbly skilled, superbly gifted at helping unite this party, bring us together so we stand united as one.
MURRAY: Now Donald Trump weighed in on the Cruz/Carly Fiorina ticket here in Indianapolis, sort of openly mocking the move, saying Ted Cruz is a guy who is mathematically eliminated from winning on the first ballot. What is he even doing announcing a V.P.?
Sara Murray, CNN, Indianapolis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And Trump also took aim at the Obama administration's relationship with China and Beijing's handling of North Korea. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: President Obama watches helplessly as North Korea increases
its aggression and expands further and further with its nuclear reach. Our president has allowed China to continue its economic assault on American jobs and wealth, refusing to enforce trade deals and apply leverage on China necessary to rein in North Korea.
We have the leverage. We have the power over China, economic power, and people don't understand it. And with that economic power, we can rein in and we can get them to do what they have to do with North Korea, which is totally out of control.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:05:04] CHURCH: And with the view from Asia, Will Ripley joins us now live from Tokyo. Good to see you again, Will. So, the Asia-Pacific region has had time to digest what Trump had to say. What has been the reaction so far in the region?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, even if the reaction is somewhat reserved publicly, there are a lot of people in this region who really have been scratching their heads for a while now in this latest Donald Trump speech only underscores their major concerns.
Saying, for example, that U.S. troops should pull out of Japan and South Korea because the two countries aren't paying their share doesn't take into account. The fact that in Japan, this country budgeted more than $47 billion last year to pay for U.S. troops being situated in this country as they are bound by treaty, a treaty that's been in place for some 70 years.
And not only that, that's three times more than what Germany is paying to have troops placed in that part of the world. South Korea pays half of the cost associated with the more than 28,000 personnel that are on the southern end of the Korean Peninsula.
And, in fact, one top U.S. official said it's less expensive to have American troops in South Korea than if those same numbers of troops were based in the United States.
So, on that angle, the math doesn't add up. And then of course Donald Trump also talks about, you know, the economic influence that the U.S. wields over China, potentially threatening a trade war.
A trade war, all the governments in this region agree that it could be really catastrophic if the U.S. started slapping huge taxes on imports, then China could slap on huge taxes of its own which could plunge the U.S. and China into recession.
It could cost millions of jobs not only in the U.S. and in China, but also in a lot of other countries, including friends and allies of the U.S. here in Asia, South Korea, Thailand. There are jobs in Vietnam that would be in danger as a result of some of Trump's proposed policies as well.
CHURCH: And will Trump also accuse President Obama of not applying the leverage needed on China to rein in North Korea and what he calls its aggression. What do the facts tell us about that?
RIPLEY: Well, the economic leverage that Donald Trump is speaking a lot of --a lot of analysts are saying that it is simply overstated. And again, it goes back to the fact that yes, the U.S. does have the power.
Donald Trump, if he became president under U.S. law, he would have the power potentially to slap a 45 percent tax on imported goods coming from China. But then China could turn around and impose a tax of its own.
And that economic view of the situation here in Asia doesn't take into account all of the other geopolitical factors at play, like the fact that China is becoming increasingly assertive in territorial disputes all over this region.
East China Sea, South China Sea, the disputed islands between Japan and China, the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, the U.S. military plays a key role in all of that. And for now at least now Donald Trump is proposing a trade war and pulling out U.S. troops.
So, of course, if all of this actually came to fruition, many officials here say the results would turn this region into the Wild West of the United States. Of course, China publicly saying that they feel whoever is elected U.S. president, the actual dynamics wouldn't really change that much.
So, it seems as if people taking all of this in context are still looking at what a lot of what Trump is saying more as rhetoric than actual policy proposals. But if he becomes the nominee and, you know, with the chance of becoming U.S. president, then all of this becomes even much more serious than it already is for people here.
CHURCH: Yes. Indeed it does. Our Will Ripley bringing us reaction there from the Asia Pacific region just after 4 o'clock in the afternoon in Tokyo. Many thanks to you, Will.
Well, Bernie Sanders is downsizing his field staff after the U.S. democratic presidential candidate suffered a severe blow in Tuesday's primaries.
His campaign manager calls the layoffs of more than 200 workers a natural progression. But it comes as rival Hillary Clinton is just 215 delegates short of the number she needs to lock up the nomination. Still, Sanders vows to fight on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I-VT) DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me also make it clear so that there is no confusion. We are in this campaign to win and become the democratic nominee.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: And for a closer look at the election results so far and who is tipped to win the White House, head over to our web site at cnn.com/politics.
There is word a field hospital has been hit in Syria. A civil defense worker says 20 people were killed in the air strike in Aleppo, including three doctors, two hospital guards, and an ambulance driver.
With the increasing violence, the U.N. Envoy for Syria is urging the U.S. and Russia to revive peace talks. This video posted online claims to show the aftermath of a barrel bomb attack. The city is divided between government forces and rebels.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:09:59] STAFFAN DE MISTURA, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA: In the last 48 hours, we have had an average of one Syrian killed every 25 minutes. One Syrian wounded every 13 minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
MISTURA: How can you have substantial talks when you have only news about bombing and shelling? It's something that even I find difficult. Can you imagine the Syrians?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: De Mistura told reporters he wants a fresh round of talks sometime in May, but he wants a truce on the ground to be revitalized.
A law enforcement source says singer Prince was found with prescription painkillers on him when authorities arrived at his Minnesota home.
Investigators believe a health scare a week before he died was likely caused by a reaction to pain medications. They're still awaiting results from Prince's autopsy. The music star was 57 years old when he died last week.
Dr. Drew Pinsky weighed in just a short while ago on the new Prince developments. Drew is the host of HLN's Dr. Drew and is an addiction medicine specialist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW PINSKY, HLN'S DR. DREW SHOW HOST: And we've been hearing rumors that he was taking the medication Percocet, which is precisely one of these opioid pain medications. It makes me wonder whether or not this is a medical misadventure.
Perhaps a doctor gave him something called a benzodiazepine, an anxiety valium-like medication or a sleeping medication. We heard these rumors he hadn't slept for 154 hours.
If someone had added a sleeping medication to a modest dose of opioid, like Percocet, whatever the name is, they're all pretty much the same, that is a potentially lethal combination. That does not mean Prince was an addict.
We don't see the typical behaviors of somebody struggling with long- term addiction, progression, all the things we're used to seeing with celebrities struggle with that. Never had a hint of Prince manifesting those sorts of behavior.
And yet, all of the sudden things at the end go bad quickly. I'm suspicious. My clinical hunch is that he has some sort of underlying medical problem. Of course we've been hearing about the hip pain, but something more, something more substantial. And that the pain medication got involved and they were on top of some problem, but may, my fear is, they are the things that really took a genius from all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Dr. Drew Pinsky there. And it could take weeks until the results from Prince's autopsy and toxicology tests are in.
Well, some Venezuelans will be getting a two-day workweek. But it's not as good as it sounds. Coming up, the reasons for the push to keep people home.
Plus, many Russians seem to have a love affair with Donald Trump. A little later, why the American presidential candidate is so popular in Russia.
Plus, the Olympic flame is now in Brazil's hands, but ticket sales for the games have been disappointing. That story next.
[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WORLD SPORTS)
CHURCH: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has a new plan to deal with the country's energy crisis. A two-day workweek. But as Rafael Romo explains there is no reason to celebrate.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: The president made the announcement during a cabinet meeting broadcast nationally. Government employees he said will now work only two days a week. The drastic measure doesn't have anything to do with festive reasons. It's a desperate decision to address a deep energy crisis.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ROMO: The president is calling the next few weeks critical and extreme. Water levels at the dam that provide 75 percent of Venezuela's electricity are at record low levels due to a drought caused by the weather pattern known as El Nino.
The president had already ordered government workers to take Fridays off, and asked all Venezuelans to limit the use of nonessential appliances like blow dryers.
He also decreed four-hour rolling blackouts for the next 40 days, a measure residents say in the Caricuao district outside Caracas, say, is making their lives miserable.
"We've had rolling blackouts since last month," Gustavo Diaz says. We used to lose two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. But now it's four hours straight."
About the only thing the Diaz family can depend on at home is the gas stove. But the food in the fridge is spoiling, and the microwave oven sits unused. The TV set is dark and the stereo system silent.
When CNN visited the home in the Caricuao district outside Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, temperature was 34 degrees Celsius, or 93 Fahrenheit. With no power, turning the air on is not an option.
The capital district in Caracas and some adjacent municipalities are exempt from the rolling blackouts because that's where the federal government headquarters are located.
Two states that heavily depend on tourism will not be affected either. Back at the Caricuao district outside Caracas, just about every business displays the same sign. "No hay luz," it says there is no power.
Rafael Romo, CNN.
CHURCH: And Derek Van Dam, our meteorologist joins us now to talk more about this. And of course the drought is the big problem. But not the only problem.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's not the only problem. Some say there is mismanagement by the government. That's one angle. But the drought is the overriding angle from what I can see. Because Venezuela really wants to reduce its use of fossil fuels so it can export as much as possible to neighboring countries.
So, their answer, hydroelectric power, which of course is run on water. But when you have a drought worsened by El Nino conditions, you can imagine how difficult that is, Rosemary.
[03:19:59] Take a look at this. I want to show you something. This is the Guri dam; I did some research on this, that's one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the world spanning 7,400 meters. I had to actually double-check that.
Get to my graphic and you'll see the problem that Venezuela is dealing with and much of northern sections of South America. A straight-on drought. We have very dry conditions from Colombia to Venezuela stretching into northern Brazil.
The lack of rain, this is what we would anticipate with a strong El Nino weather pattern that we have seen within the past few months. Of course, we're starting to phase out of that at the moment.
Zooming into this Guri reservoir region, this is one of the largest manmade lakes in the world as well. This reservoir and the hydroelectric dam provide 75 percent of Venezuela's electricity. Yes, you want to have that thing filled with water. Wouldn't you?
Well, unfortunately, with the lack of rain, exceptional drought conditions from northern Brazil into the Caracas region stretching even south and west towards Bogota. That is not going to happen.
So, when will the rain come? Well, we're starting to work our way into the rainy season. This is a climatological break down of the rainiest months. And you can see May, June and July we really with spike there with over 100 millimeters on average of rainfall.
We start to see the shift in weather patterns with the change in summer patterns. And that's when we start to get our rainfall for this region. But we're still a few weeks out.
However, some of our computer models indicating we could get some relief. Maybe 100 to 200 millimeters of rainfall. But just south of the reservoir region, which is good news. Because a lot of the rivers and tributaries actually help funnel into that particular reservoir, again, that provides so much of the hydroelectric power for the country.
There is a look at the forecast radar. Going forward, you can see it lighting up like a Christmas tree that means rainfall. And that is good news. But it is still going to take weeks to alleviate the drought. We are phasing our way out of El Nino. So we should start to see some pattern changes going forward.
But in the meantime, the short-term to medium range we still are going to have these rolling blackouts of electricity.
CHURCH: That is tough to be doing that for weeks on end.
DAM: It is. It is not easy. You can look at a two-day workweek, but not having power for those other days as well.
CHURCH: All right. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much. Talk to you soon.
DAM: All right.
CHURCH: Well, Brazil's president has told CNN in an exclusive interview that she will fight to survive efforts to remove her from office. The comments came after Brazil's Senate elected a committee that will recommend whether or not to impeach Dilma Rousseff.
She is accused of manipulating government economic figures before the 2014 election. Our Christiane Amanpour spoke with Ms. Rousseff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now I want to ask you this, and there is no easy way to say it. Madam President, you have been rated one of the worst leaders in the world, one of the worst presidents. Your popularity right now is around 10 percent. That's really, really low. You were impeached by the Congress decided to send you impeachment
case by an overwhelming majority that surprised even your supporters. You don't seem to have very many friends in Congress. Do you think you are going to survive the impeach process in the Senate?
DILMA ROUSSEFF, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (TRANSLATED): In Brazil, the presidential system just as is the case in the U.S., no one can carry out an impeachment process out of sheer and popularity of the president. And popularity is a cyclical thing.
Because if it were not so, all presidents, all prime ministers in Europe that experience 20 percent unemployment rates would inevitably have to go through an impeachment process. Because they too experience substantial drops in their popularity.
AMANPOUR: I hear what you're saying. But do you think you're going to survive? Do you think you will be president at the end of this process?
ROUSSEFF (TRANSLATED): I wish to tell you one thing more than just thinking that I will survive. I will fight to survive. Not just for my term in office, but I will fight because what I am advocating and defending is a democratic principle that governs political life in Brazil.
Who filed the impeachment process against me? All of those who filed the leaders of the impeachment procedure filed against me. I'm not talking about, say, their underlying foundation, they're leaders. All of them are being charged for corruption. Charges and allegations specially the Speaker of the House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And you can see more of CNN's exclusive interview with President Rousseff coming up later on Amanpour. It starts at 7 p.m. in London, only here on CNN.
We're now less than 100 days from the start of the Olympic Games, and the Olympic torch is now headed for Brazil. Here is our Shasta Darlington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[03:25:04] SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now it's official. The Olympic Games are in Brazil's hands. At a ceremony in Athens, the Olympic flame was handed over to the president of Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, Carlos Nuzman, who said that despite a string of really unprecedented problems from a political crisis to a pandemic of the Zika virus, these games here in Rio would be an unforgettable experience.
CARLOS ARTHUR NUZMAN, RIO 2016 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE PRESIDENT: We'll deliver the promises to take the Olympic experience to all the corners of the country. And that beautiful by nature. All the state capital.
(APPLAUSE) When you arrive in Rio, our culture will host you with shine. There will be plenty of music, poetry, love, excitement. Rio is ready to deliver history.
DARLINGTON: In fact, there are a number of bright spots. The venues are largely on schedule. Hotels are almost fully booked. But ticket sales have been disappointing. And that has a lot to do with Brazilians who have been distracted by a deep recession and this political drama, which could have President Dilma Rousseff stepping down to face an impeachment trial in just a couple weeks.
Organizers, however, say they're optimistic ticket sales will pick up.
DONOVAN FERRETI, RIO 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES TICKETING DIRECTOR: Well, of course the games in South America, we have a lot different culture to buy tickets here in Brazil.
We have already sold 60 percent of the tickets so far. So, this is really good considering our local culture. And if you keep aside football for a while, we are 77 percent of the tickets sold. So, it's a good number considering that we are 100 days to the game.
DARLINGTON: Now the crucial period begins. The torch will arrive here in Brazil next week. It's going to visit hundreds of cities and towns. And organizers are hoping it will stir up a bit of Olympic fever and get people buying the tickets as well.
Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We'll take a break here on CNN NEWSROOM. But still to come, Donald Trump unveils his vision to put America first. We will go live to Jerusalem to see what Israel thinks of his foreign policy speech.
A wave of killings in Bangladesh is fuelling a growing climate of fear. Just ahead, you will hear from people living on the edge.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A warm welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. I do want to update you now on the stories we've been following this hour.
With the truce falling apart in Aleppo, the U.N. Special Envoy to Syria is urging the U.S. and Russia to revive peace talks. Staffan de Mistura says he would like to resume talks sometime in May, but he says a truce must be restored.
Facebook is reporting strong first quarter results that beat expectations. Sales hit $5.4 billion, its big increase from the same time last year. Profits were up nearly 200 percent. And right now, more than 1.6 billion people use Facebook each month.
A law enforcement source says Prince was found with prescription opioid medication on him when authorities arrived at his Minnesota home to investigate his death.
Investigators believe a health scare a week before he died was likely caused by a reaction to pain medications. They're still awaiting results from Prince's autopsy.
Well, Donald Trump is promising to mend relations with Israel if he becomes the next U.S. president. He says the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran came at Israel's expense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Cannot be allowed. Remember that. Cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
(APPLAUSE)
And under a Trump administration, we'll never, ever be allowed to have that nuclear weapon. Israel, our great friend and the one true democracy in the Middle East has been snubbed and criticized by an administration that lacks moral clarity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: All right. For reaction from Israel, we turn to CNN's Oren Liebermann. He is live in Jerusalem. Oren, Israel of course has no love for Iran. So, what has been the reaction so far to what Trump had to say what he would do with the Iran nuclear deal?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the Iran nuclear deal is viewed as being very unpopular here. And because of that, the Obama administration is largely viewed as unpopular here.
And yet, politician, Israeli politicians who are not known for being quiet have been fairly quiet here. One politician who is the former ambassador to the U.S. says that's because Israeli politicians don't want to pick a side, democrat versus republican.
They want Israel to remain a bipartisan issue in the U.S. And yet, Trump knew he would score points by criticizing Iran deal and criticizing the Obama administration for the deal.
Yet, he offers few details about how he would improve the U.S./Israel relationship or what he would do to mend ties between the administration here and his own administration following very tense times between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Yet, again, criticizing the Iran deal and the Obama administration. It's a simple message. It doesn't need many details here is to score him points with Israelis. And yet, after his speech, I spoke with the head of republicans abroad in Israel who called Trump disingenuous here.
Not only because of Trump's missteps on Israel, saying he would be a neutral negotiator between Israelis and Palestinians, but also because he suggested he may have Israel pay back some of the $3 billion plus a year in military aid.
He also says one of Trump's leading foreign policy advisers Senator Jeff Sessions is one of only three republican senators who didn't sign a letter to President Obama urging him to increase that military aid. He says that speaks louder than Trump's words in that speech last night. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Interesting. And the politicians not saying a lot on this. But what about the newspapers? How it is playing out in media across the region?
LIEBERMANN: No surprise here that Trump's speech was front-page news in all of the Israeli newspapers, English and Hebrew. The biggest, the daily circulation here called "Trump a diplomatic cowboy."
[03:35:00] Saying he is getting a tremendous amount of attention, and yet, he remains unpredictable without clear details. But because he is so loud, he is getting that attention.
The newspapers here that are considered right leaning, that are considered more sympathetic to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they focus only partially on Trump. Instead, their headlines in the articles also focus on Trump's criticism of President Barack Obama.
So, again, no surprise here that that speech, although short on details, getting a lot of attention here.
CHURCH: Absolutely, 10.35 in the morning there in Jerusalem. Oren Lieberman joining us live. Many thanks to you for reaction there from the region. I appreciate it.
Well, Trump was harshly critical of the Obama administration's response to terror attacks, and he had a warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And then there's ISIS. I have a simple message for them. Their days are numbered. I won't tell them where, and I won't tell them how. We must...
(APPLAUSE)
We must as a nation, be more unpredictable. We are totally predictable. We tell everything. We're sending troops, we tell them. We're sending something else, we have a news conference. We have to be unpredictable. And we have to be unpredictable starting now.
But they're going to be gone. ISIS will be gone if I'm elected president. And they'll be gone quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: A bold statement there from Donald Trump. Joining us now is Peter Trubowitz, he is a professor of international relations and director of the United States Center at the London School of Economics. Thank you, sir, for talking with us. PETER TRUBOWITZ, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS DIRECTOR: Good to be
here.
CHURCH: So, let's start with your overall reaction to Donald Trump's whole foreign policy speech. What did you think?
TRUBOWITZ: Well, the speech was short on policy specifics. There were many inconsistencies in the speech. And critics I think have rightly hammered him for that. The speech won't do very much to reassure America's allies who are concerned, genuinely concerned about what's going on in the United States.
But I think from a political standpoint, I think Trump probably helped himself some. I mean, I think the target audience of this speech was not foreign policy wonks and the United States, and not foreign capitals. It's independent voters.
Trump is already beginning to look forward to the fall campaign. And I think yesterday's speech was part of an effort to pivot towards the center in an attempt to try to, you know, line independents up, or attract independent voters in the fall.
CHURCH: Now Trump also, he accused the Obama administration of having a disastrous foreign policy. What do you say to that?
TRUBOWITZ: Well, again, I think the -- I mean, I think Obama has many foreign policy achievements to point to. But I think the point of this speech was not policy, it was politics.
And I also think it's important when you read the speech -- I read through the speech. And it's what's important in that speech is as much what Donald Trump didn't say as what he did say. There were no references in that speech to building a wall to keep Mexicans out.
There were no references in the speech to keeping Muslims out of the United States. There were no references in the speech to giving America's allies, you know, allowing or encouraging America's allies in Asia, Japan, and South Korea to get nuclear weapons.
These are all things that Trump has said on the campaign trail. And he left them out of the speech. So, what's interesting in part in that speech is what he set aside in his attempt to essentially pivot away from those positions.
Of course, what you heard in that speech as well is him hammering China, him, you know, telling America's ally, especially in Europe, but Asia as well that they have to do more on defense. And really taking kind of the foreign policy establishment in Washington to task, blaming Obama and Clinton and put them together for being incompetent on foreign policy or feckless on foreign policy.
And I don't think those positions are going to hurt him in the fall if he manages to come away with the republican nomination.
CHURCH: All right. [03:39:58] TRUBOWITZ: So, I think what we really saw was Trump
attempting to use foreign policy to establish Clinton as the kind of Washington establishment candidate, and himself as the candidate of change.
CHURCH: All right. Peter Trubowitz, thank you so much for joining us from London. People of course waiting now to hear more specifics, more details. I appreciate it.
TRUBOWITZ: Good to be with you. Yes.
CHURCH: Well, Trump's popularity seems to be soaring in Russia. CNN international correspondent Fred Pleitgen takes a look at why so many Russians seem to be on team Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's no secret that Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin seem to feel a certain admiration for each other.
He is a brilliant and talented person without a doubt.
TRUMP: And I like him because he called me a genius. He said Trump is the new real leader. Trump should be the leader and he is a total genius.
PLEITGEN: And many ordinary Russians are Trump fans as well. "The key thing about him is his willingness for a breakthrough in relations with Russia," this man says. Maybe they won't get closer, but at least there will be dialogue.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
PLEITGEN: And this man adds, "First of all, Trump is a positive guy. And he spoke about Putin in a good way. He wants positive change in America."
In a recent Yuga poll conducted in the T-20 nations, those surveyed in every country said they would take Hillary Clinton over Trump, except in Russia, where the Donald leads by a landslide.
While relations between Russia and the Obama administration have soured over Moscow's policy in Ukraine and Syria, Trump in his foreign policy speech says he thinks he can work with Russia.
TRUMP: I believe an easing of tensions and improved relations with Russia from a position of strength only is possible.
PLEITGEN: Many Russians believe if Donald Trump were to become president, that the U.S. would have a more isolationist foreign policy. They think that would lead to fewer disagreements between the U.S. and Russia and ultimately, to better relations.
A recent Trump campaign video seemingly lumping Putin in with ISIS as a challenge to America did lead to some anger in the Kremlin. But Fyodor Lukyanov, the head of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy says Vladimir Putin still appreciates Trump's style.
FYODOR LUKYANOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN & DEFENSE POLICY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN: He basically likes those who are frank, open, and disregard political correctness. And this is exactly the case of Mr. Trump.
PLEITGEN: It's a style that propelled Vladimir Putin to several terms as Russian Prime Minister and President. While some believe Trump's frankness could carry him all the way into the White House, he still has a long way to go.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And we have this breaking news just in to CNN. North Korea has attempted to fire another mid-range missile. But a South Korean defense official says it seems to have failed.
That official says the military is investigating what happened. And we will, of course, will bring you more details on this breaking news as they come into us.
We'll take a short break here. We'll be right back.
[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Let's go back to our breaking news.
We're told North Korea has attempted to fire another mid-range missile. But a South Korean defense official says it seems to have failed. That official says the military is investigating what happened.
CNN's Will Ripley joins us now from Tokyo. And, Will, of course, South Korea is saying this seems to have failed. What do we know about what happened here? And how much longer will it take before we get more information do you think?
RIPLEY: Very limited information, especially whenever there is a failed missile launch, a reported failed missile launch. Because I was in North Korea just about two weeks ago on their most important holiday, the Day of the Sun, when there was another missile launch that South Korea and the United States say failed.
And that missile, just like the one that was reportedly attempted to be launched and failed today, both of those were mid-range missiles, "Musudan missiles," as they're called, launched from at least in the last case.
It was a mobile launching device. A device that would give North Korea, if this technology was successful, the ability to move around from the locations from which they launch, making it far trickier to detect from spy satellites. It would be a very dangerous development, although perhaps not as dangerous or significant as the successful submarine missile launch that happened over the weekend. Now we are one week away from a major political gathering in North Korea. The Workers Party Congress, it happens next Friday. It was just announced South Korea is very concerned that in addition to this mid- range missile launch, which they had been predicting since Tuesday when they officially announced this.
They also think there is a very good chance there could be a fifth nuclear test for North Korea at some point ahead of this Workers Party Congress. Now, again, you never know exactly what's going to happen.
We are talking about Pyongyang. But their activity, the repeated launches and tests that have been starting really since the beginning of this year indicates that the ramped up military activity will continue ahead of this major event next week. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yes, indeed. And of course, the worry about this mid-range missile is that if it does succeed, it has quite a range, Japan, Guam, right? So, whilst it's failed at this point, what a lot of people worry about is each failure, it builds on their knowledge.
RIPLEY: It does. It does. And if this missile launch had been a success we may have actually learned a bit more. Because North Korean state media will often announce these military triumphs to their own people in an effort to project power on behalf of the supreme leader Kim Jong-un and his workers party and the military which are so powerful and the whole power and the structure of the North Korean society.
But, yes, these mid-range missiles a regional concern absolutely from this mobile missile launchers which make the launches difficult to detect. And the submarine launched missile again, a lot of analysts saying that that is perhaps the most troubling development. Because submarines are even more difficult to detect.
They can get right up to the shores of enemy territory, including the mainland United States. And these missiles, Rosemary, could someday be capable of carrying those miniaturized nuclear warheads that North Korea also claims to possess.
CHURCH: Certainly very unnerving. CNN's Will Ripley joining us there live, bringing us up to date on that breaking news from North Korea. He is there in Tokyo and keeping a very close eye on that. Many thanks to you, Will.
Well, many in Bangladesh are on edge after an alarming trend of religiously motivated violence against activists and secular writers and bloggers. Even Muslim leaders are growing concerned.
CNN international Ivan Watson joins me now from Hong Kong for the latest on this. And, Ivan, of course the details are absolutely shocking. And now this climate of fear is taking hold. What are people saying and doing in the aftermath of these horrifying attacks?
[03:50:04] IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In some of the communities that have been targeted like the Atheist blogging community, and now the LGBT community, many people are going into hiding or some have simply fled the country.
Now the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh, she spoke to CNN overnight to CNN's Kristi Lu Stout and she gave us a sense of the scale of the violence which we weren't entirely clear of that there were at least 35 attacks, deadly machete-style attacks over a period of some 14 months in Bangladesh.
And some 28 of these, according to the U.S. embassy, had been claimed by a terrorist group. She went on to call on the Bangladeshi government to forcefully speak out to condemn these acts of violence.
Grief and shock after a brutal double murder. On Monday evening, a gang armed with machetes carried out a deadly home invasion in the Bangladeshi capital, killing two gay rights activists.
A local branch of Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for this savage act of homophobia. Something violent and frightening is happening in Bangladesh. A majority Muslim country and secular democracy.
Militants linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS are hunting down activists and intellectuals and killing them one by one. They've murdered at least six Atheist bloggers and secular publishers in just 14 months. And activists say they've documented thousands of cases of violence and intimidation against religious minorities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rape, abduction, gang rape, forceful conversion, destruction of temple, and also destruction of houses belonging to the minority community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: These days even some Muslim clerics don't feel safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED REZA FAROOQI, IMAM: Extremism in Islam, now it is rising. Now it is rising day by day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Ahmed Reza Farooqi is an imam at a mosque in the Bangladeshi capital who follows a mystical interpretation of Islam known as Sufism. His father, Sheikh Nurul Islam Farooqi regularly preached peace and tolerance on TV.
"For that," his son says, Farooqi received threats from hard-liners from the Wahhabi branch of Islam, which often rejects Sufism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAROOQI: My father has been threatened from left side, from Wahhabi people, from terrorist people.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WATSON: In August 2014, attackers broke into the elder Farooqi's
home, tied him up and slit his throat. Ahmed Reza has taken over leadership of his father's mosque. This Muslim cleric is calling on the government to crack down on Islamist extremists before it's too late.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAROOQI: If this sector will not be stopped, there will be massacre. Massacre with the people who love the Sufism, who love the modern Islam.
ANNISUL HUQ, LAW JUSTICE AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS MINISTER: We try hard to protect our citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Law and justice minister Annisul Huq rejects claims what the machete murders are being carried out by local members of Al Qaeda and ISIS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUQ: There is no existence of ISIS in this country. Now, ISIL-related incidents can take place. And one amateur can demand that I belong to the ISIS. That does not make him a member of ISIS.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: In this growing climate of fear in Bangladesh, some community leaders vowed to stand strong against what they describe as the forces of darkness that threaten their country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAROOQI: No, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of the terrorists. And I will not fear of the darkness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Rosemary, the Bangladeshi government says it's doing everything possible to crack down on the extremists behind these attacks. But it's clearly not enough.
This month alone, there have been three separate cases of deadly machete attacks killing an Atheist blogger, a university professor, and now two gay rights activist. Rosemary?
CHURCH: A real concern and some very brave people there. Nearly 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Ivan Watson, joining us from Hong Kong. Many thanks to you for the details.
Well, a plane load of lions getting ready for a trip halfway around the world. Find out where they're headed and why. That's next on CNN NEWSROOM.
[03:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Russia just launched its first rocket from a new cosmodrome. Thursday's successful liftoff came a day after a technical glitch.
Scientists sent an unmanned Soyuz rocket carrying three satellites into orbit from the new space port near China's border. This is Russia's first cosmodrome. It currently uses a site in Kazakhstan.
And finally, one of the biggest airlift of lions ever. Thirty three big cats will be flown to South Africa, rescued from Peruvian and Colombian circuses. Almost all of them have been declawed and many have broken teeth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN CREAMER, ANIMAL DEFENDERS INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT: This is their planet too. They have the right to live here. And the way they're treated by humans is incredibly bad. And we need to change the way we treat other animals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The lions are expected to arrive in Africa on Friday. Once there, they will be taken to a big private cat sanctuary north of Johannesburg.
And thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to catch up with me any time on Twitter @rosemarycnn. There is more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break. Stick around.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
