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Britain's Big Decision; Suspect in Jo Cox Murder Remanded in Custody; Iraqi Forces Ready to Battle Beyond Fallujah; Inside Rio's Anti-Doping Lab. Aired 12-12:15a ET
Aired June 21, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:07] AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
A big decision for Britain in a few days and it's too close to call. The latest on the EU referendum campaigning.
Also beyond the battle for Fallujah. We'll take a look ahead to the next major target in Iraq's war against ISIS.
And an exclusive report on how an anti-doping lab in Rio is planning to keep cheaters out of the Olympics.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am Amara Walker and NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
Welcome, everyone.
Polls suggesting the U.K. is leaning towards staying in the European Union were welcome news for global markets. U.S. stocks rose Monday and the pound posted its strongest gain since 2008.
George Soros, the billionaire investor who made a fortune betting against the pound years ago warns that a vote to leave the EU would be more damaging than 1992's Black Wednesday.
In an op-ed in "The Guardian", Soros writes that a Brexit would cause a 15 percent to 20 percent currency crash. Nonetheless "The Telegraph" newspaper is backing the Leave campaign joining "The Sun", "The Sunday Times" and "The Sunday Telegraph".
Becky Anderson has our check of the latest mood swing.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are less than three days away from what is a once in a generation decision for British voters. They are being asked a very simple question -- in or out of the European Union?
The outcome of this referendum is far from simple. Right now, opinion polls are too close to call especially when you consider the number of undecided voters. Let's not forget, British pollsters have been wrong in the past. Most didn't foresee a resounding conservative win in last year's general election. Here in the U.K., for example, we're on the ground, I have to say the
mood has been one of somber reflection since the killing of the British MP Jo Cox. Campaign was suspended after her death on Thursday and resumed on Sunday. But the tone has been muted since.
Members of Parliament were recalled early on Monday to pay their respects in the House of Commons for the 41-year-old Labor politician. We may expect a ratcheting up of the arguments in the coming days on a vote that has polarized the nation. Both the Leave and Remain campaigns have held rival rallies in London and the topic of immigration has been very central to this debate.
Leave campaigners say the U.K. needs to limit immigration to ease pressure on housing, welfare, jobs and wages. While Remain campaigners say most EU migrants come to the U.K. to work and more than pay their own way in taxes.
The outcome of the referendum will be known on Friday. If the outcome of the vote is to leave it will take at least two years though and possibly far longer for a British exit or Brexit as it's known to take affect.
Becky Anderson, CNN, London.
WALKER: The tributes to Jo Cox from her former colleagues in parliament were some of the most poignant yet. Roses were laid in her now empty seat where Cox usually sat in the House of Commons. Both Prime Minister David Cameron and Opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke about her legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY CORBYN, BRITISH OPPOSITION LABOR PARTY LEADER: Jo's life was a demonstration against despair. And in her tragic death, we can come together to change our politics, to tolerate a little more and condemn a little less.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We pay tribute to a loving, determined, passionate and progressive politician who epitomized the best of humanity and who proved so often the power of politics to make our world a better place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: And afterwards, the same two leaders led Parliament members to a church service in her honor. St. Margaret's Church held the latest in a series of remembrances for the slain MP.
Thomas Mair, the man charged with murdering Jo Cox, will remain in custody at least until Thursday. He appeared in court Monday after telling a judge over the weekend that his name was, quote, "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain".
Phil Black has the story.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thomas' second court appearance took place via videolink from London's Belmarsh Prison where he's being held. He only spoke once to confirm his name. He did not apply for bail.
And he was remanded in custody at least until Thursday for a preliminary hearing which will determine if there's enough evidence to take the case to trial. The charges he's facing are murder, grievous bodily harm and charges related to carrying a knife and a gun.
[00:05:10] The next hearing will take place under what's known as terrorism protocols in the British legal system, which means it will be heard by a judge responsible for hearing terror cases in this country. The judge reminded the court that because this is now an active case, there are significant restrictions on the details that can be reported publicly.
Phil Black, CNN, London.
WALKER: Iraqi forces say they have regained control of the main hospital in Fallujah from ISIS militants. New video shows them outside the hospital and at one point a soldier displayed an ISIS flag removed from the building. Still there are more expected battles ahead.
CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman tells us what's next on the road to Iraq's second largest city, Mosul.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On the road north of Baghdad, Iraqi armed forces assemble for the next battle in the war against ISIS.
This massive military column, I counted more than 250 vehicles, is headed north. It's headed to the province where Mosul is located.
Now even though the battle of Fallujah is still raging, what's clear is that the Iraqi army is preparing for the next phase, the last phase of this war in Iraq, the liberation of Mosul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WEDEMAN (voice over): Two years ago, this army was in full retreat, driven out of Mosul by ISIS. It lost one city after another and was on the verge of total collapse.
Today, the tide appears to have turned. The government has taken back Tikrit and Ramadi and is fighting to drive the extremists out of Fallujah.
"With this army," says Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi, "we will wipe ISIS out. God willing, this is the beginning of the end of is in Iraq."
The convoy passed through Tikrit -- until just over a year ago, the city was under ISIS control. The brutal former masters of the city now despised.
"They are all rats and dogs", a Tikrit resident tells me. It took well over an hour for all the vehicles to rumble through Tikrit. The battle for Mosul won't be easy and it won't be brief. Perhaps the cheering is premature.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Tikrit, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Brazilian police are investigating an attack on Rio de Janeiro's largest public hospital. Authorities say a gang of heavily armed gunmen stormed the building to rescue an alleged drug trafficker. One person was killed, two wounded. The suspect had been wounded in an anti-drug operation a week before. Now, the state-run news agency reports that the gunmen succeeded in freeing the alleged trafficker.
A man who was arrested for allegedly trying to disarm a police officer and then take his gun at a Donald Trump rally has made a shocking admission. According to a criminal complaint, 19-year-old Michael Sanford told police that he intended to kill the presumptive Republican presidential nominee at the event in Las Vegas Saturday. He is charged with violating two federal laws and could face a decade in prison if he is convicted.
In the meantime Trump has fired controversial campaign manager Corey Lewandowski just weeks before the Republican convention. Sources say Trump's children were the driving force behind the decision. But Lewandowski put a positive spin on the move in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I've always had a great relationship with the family. I think I continue to do so. Look, everybody has been their own opinions. And I think what you have is a transition in the campaign from a very, very successful 37- state primary victory process, which was managed at a one-off level on the states or on a multi-state to look to a bigger picture.
And that's ok. There's nothing wrong with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: In that interview, Lewandowski also said that he doesn't know why he was dismissed but it was an honor to be a part of Trump's campaign.
The International Olympic Committee meets Tuesday to decide whether Russia's track and field athletes can compete in the 2016 games. The team was banned by the world governing body for athletics after a report uncovered widespread doping. In the meantime, a new lab in Rio plans to keep cheaters out of the Olympic Games.
Senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[00:09:55] NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the race for Rio to be ready, a few final tweaks matter more than in this one room -- Brazil's 24-hour anti-doping laboratory for the Olympics. Testing 6,000 tiny samples from athletes in the games, each able to crush a sportsman's dreams.
Where nations will be desperate for a clean slate after allegations of doping on a state-sponsored industrial scale, the Russian track and field stars banned for now. Russia's categorically denied all allegations but says it needs to regain trust. Here they are hoping to stay clear of controversy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe we are really clean in the system now.
WALSH (on camera): Doping risks overwhelming the Olympics introducing to it sheer politically rivalry, corruption and essentially cheating at the heart of sport.
(voice over): Here urine is stripped down to the core molecules, these spectograms are then identified. But it's before this stage that samples were allegedly tampered with in the 2014 Sochi games, Russia accused of staggeringly using its security services, its new KGB, to tamper with supposedly tamper-proof bottles, allegedly using this hole in the laboratory wall to switch samples. With each bottle having a special random number on its seal, how do you do that?
FRANCISCO RADLER DE AQUINO NETO, LABORATORY DIRECTOR: We have millions of different caps. You open a bottle and close it with another.
WALSH (on camera): You basically have to be the people making the bottle to be able to --
NETA: Almost that -- almost that. Or have a mirror factory of that to be able to fabricate it.
WALSH: But it's almost impossible to be sure if countries are willing to do that kind of thing -- that level of planning.
NETA: I think it's really hard to reach that point because you need to involve high ranking officials from the country, from the country anti-doping agency, from the direction of the laboratory, from the technicians. So it's -- to do that is kind of (inaudible).
WALSH (voice over): This where the cold, gray worrying of science collides with that underworld of alleged breathtaking deception.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: The summer Olympic Games are just over six weeks away. And for the first time, ticket sales are now -- tickets, rather, are now on sale at kiosks throughout Rio to try to boost those sluggish sales. Officials say more than one million tickets are still up for grabs after more than four million tickets were snapped up earlier this year.
All right. That does it for this hour. I'm Amara Walker.
Just ahead our special report on Thursday's referendum, "U.K. DECIDES: IN OR OUT" starts right after a short break. Next.
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