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Theresa May Next British Prime Minister; New Details on Weapons of Dallas Shooter; South China Sea Ruling Expected Tuesday; Racial Profiling Suspected in Philando Castile Case; Trump Says He's Law-and- Order Candidate; Marie Colvin's Relatives Sue Syrian Government; Fears of Further Unrest in South Sudan; Life-Threatening Shortages Prompt Fears of Anarchy in Venezuela. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 12, 2016 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:11] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
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SESAY: Hello. Welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
Britain is about to embark on a new era outside the European Union and with a new leader in charge. Theresa May will take over when David Cameron officially resigns as prime minister on Wednesday.
As Max Foster reports, May's sole remaining challenger for the job bowed out abruptly Monday clearing her path to 10 Downing Street.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHEERING)
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A triumphant welcome for Britain's next prime minister. Theresa May is now heir apparent to the highest political office in the land.
THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER-ELECT: I am humbled and honored to have been chosen by the Conservative Party to become its leader.
(CHEERING)
FOSTER: Her victory speech coming earlier than expected after rival suddenly threw in the towel. Angela Leadsom telling journalists in a statement that the leadership battle was over.
ANGELA LEADSOM, BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: I have, however, included that the interest of our country are best served by the appointment of a strong and well supported prime minister. I am, therefore, withdrawing from the election and I wish Theresa May the greatest success. I assure her of my full support.
(APPLAUSE)
FOSTER: The change of heart coming amid increased scrutiny over Leadsom's campaign. She was widely criticized following concerns that she may inflated her C.V. and comments to a British newspaper suggesting being a mother gave her an edge over May. She told "The Times of London" newspaper that Theresa May, who has said that she and her husband are unable to have children, "Possibly has nieces, nephews, lots of people, but I have children who are going to have children, who will be directly part of what happens next. Genuinely, I feel that being a mom means you have a very real stake in the future of our country, a tangible stake."
(APPLAUSE)
FOSTER: Monday morning, Theresa May, meanwhile, set out her vision to leave the E.U. at a speech in Birmingham. She apparently didn't know her plan was about to be put on the fast track.
MAY: Brexit means Brexit and we're going to make a success of it. There will be no attempts to remain inside the E.U.
(APPLAUSE)
MAY: There will be no attempts to rejoin it by the back door, no second referendum. The country voted to leave the European Union and, as prime minister, I will make sure we leave the European Union.
FOSTER: The announcement on the detail of another departure on Monday as David Cameron gave the time frame for his final day.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: On Wednesday, I will attend the House of Commons for prime minister questions and after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation so we'll have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening.
FOSTER: On Wednesday, the door closes on one political career at Number 10 Downing Street as the famous black door opens for another.
Max Foster, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Sandro Monetti, managing editor for the "L.A. Business Journal," joins me now.
Sandro, good to have you once again.
It was all rather abrupt and quick considering how long it's going on here with the presidential elections.
SANDRO MONETTI, MANAGING EDITOR, L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL: Absolutely. Presidential election is in its second year now, it would seem. But things have been differently in Britain. We have the Brexit folks, shuffle, new prime minister, the moving truck is in Downing Street, thank you very much, Prime Minister David Cameron. Out goes one and in comes Theresa May. Very quick and sudden, isn't it? (CROSSTALK)
SESAY: The question is, she has the top job now, but can she reunite the party? That's a tall order.
MONETTI: That is a tall order. She has to appoint a cabinet. She has to repay a lot of favors for people who go her into this position. And hardest of all, she has to bring together a party splintered by the Brexit situation and rule with a slender majority in the House of Commons. Will she go to the country for a general election soon, will she ride this out? Nothing is certain in British politics, as we found out.
[02:05:18] SESAY: The question of her mandate, that is debatable among some. Others say this is very much a coronation and, at a time like this, ordinary Britains should be able to weigh in on who is their prime minister, who is their leader.
MONETTI: That's true. But also, she is a safe pair of hands. She has proven herself to be a capable politician. She's avoided mistakes.
How ironic it is that after the big vote to leave, it is a Remain campaigner who ends up as the prime minister. Nobody saw that coming. But she was very quiet during the whole Brexit campaign. And as a strategist, I think she was perhaps looking ahead and thinking, well, if she didn't make too many noises, maybe the chance was there for her to inherit the keys to the kingdom.
SESAY: She said Brexit means Brexit. She's been clear, no reneging, this is going through, this is going to happen. But how is she going to manage it all? How fast she will move?
MONETTI: Well, she always moves at her own pace, but she gets the job done. She's been compared a lot to Angela Merkel, a very effective politician. And so look for her to use that playbook. In every department she's been in with, it's been slow and steady wins the race has been her watch word. She hasn't broken promises in the past, so I think we can only trust what she says. And, yes, she has a difficult task. But compared with the other contenders, she seems the best capable of doing it.
SESAY: In terms of Cameron, how does she measure up?
MONETTI: She has been the longest-surviving member, apart from John Osborne, of Cameron's cabinet. She was home secretary, that's the law and order job, for six years. And she's won respect both on the national and international stage. So she compares very well, indeed, I would say.
SESAY: And the question that's going to be on the minds of Americans, American lawmakers, how is that relationship going to look with Theresa May in charge. Any clues?
MONETTI: One of her neighbors is George Clooney. She lives in the same block. (CROSSTALK)
MONETTI: Maybe America needs to appoint George as an ambassador to Britain and have them speak over the garden fence and say what about this special relationship? How is it going?
But, yeah, she is known to the American government. She's been at a high level of British government for years. It's not like there's a stranger coming in. And there's not a loose cannon. She is a safe pair of hands in a difficult transition period.
SESAY: Much to look at in the days ahead. And by Wednesday, it should be all over. She has own tea bags in 10 Downing Street.
MONETTI: She loves a cup of tea. She carries tea bags everywhere and she'll be making the first cup at 10 Downing Street with her own tea bags.
SESAY: You have the font of some useless information.
MONETTI: She's also the daughter of a victor.
SESAY: There you go.
MONETTI: And she's diabetic. Anything else?
SESAY: Amazing.
Sandro, thank you.
People across the United States are raising their voice in protests against the police shootings of two black men, Aton Sterling and Philando Castile. 16 people were arrested in Atlanta, Georgia Monday. Demonstrators blocked traffic near a busy mall. In Chicago, the Black Lives Matter group held its first official march.
U.S. President Barack Obama will be in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday to speak in the memorial services for the five officers killed. Former President George W. Bush will also speak. The Dallas Police Association held a vigil Monday night to honor their slain colleagues. More than 1000 people attended the event.
Dallas police say they found bomb-making materials in the gunman's home and it's unclear what he was going to do with them. Investigators are trying to figure out his motive. The shooter's parents say he changed after his military service, and the city's police chief is voicing his frustrations.
CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New details on the weapons the gunman carried the night he killed five Dallas officers. Law enforcement officers tell CNN investigators found a Glock pistol, another handgun and an A.K.-style semi-automatic rifle as they poured through the evidence.
DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE CHIEF: There's is over a 170 hours of body camera video to download, and that is ongoing. Detectives are also collecting all dash cam video.
[02:10:] LAH: Dallas Police Chief David Brown describing the delusional behavior of the cornered gunman, singing, laughing and writing a final cryptic message, the letters "R.B." on the walls in his own blood.
Newly released information shows he graduated near the bottom of his class and then joined the military.
His parents spoke to "The Blaze." His mother said her son wasn't the same after seven months in Afghanistan.
[02:10:23] JAMES JOHNSON, FATHER OF DALLAS SHOOTER: I didn't see it coming. I love my son with all my heart. I hate what he did.
UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER OF TEXAS SHOOTER: The military was not what Micah thought it would be, the ideal that he thought of our government, the military represented. It just didn't look up to his expectations.
LAH: His army service record would include standard low-level marksmanship training, but nothing extensive.
Bomb-making material found in his home, nothing he would learn in the military.
BROWN: There's a lot of questions and it's very complex. This personal obviously had some delusion. This person also was very committed to killing officers. To be quite honest, I'm running on fumes.
LAH: Dallas's police chief unvarnished about his own and his department's fatigue. Chief David Brown acknowledged threats against his and his feel's life via Facebook. Then candidly and openly spoke about the frustrations of policing on the eve of the president's arrival in his city.
BROWN: We're asking cops to do too much in this country. We are. We're asking us to do too much. Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve.
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BROWN: We're hiring. Get off that protest line and put an application in. And we'll the put you in your neighborhood and we will help you resolve some of the problems you're protesting about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, let's bring in entertainment journalist, Segun Oduolowu.
You heard the police chief say, get off the picket line, we're hiring.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: I love it. I love it.
SESAY: Do you think they will respond?
ODUOLOWU: I hope they do. Here is a police chief can saying, listen, our door is open. You want to make a change --
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: When you say we, who are you talking to?
ODUOLOWU: Everybody. When you look at the marches in Los Angeles, you're seeing a rainbow, you're not seeing just black people. You're seeing a lot of people come under the Black Lives Matter banner or umbrella. But there are a lot of different colors in there. But if you feel as a socially conscious individual that the police have lost the public trust or never had it, they're hiring. Come on, step you. Join the squad and maybe start rooting out those bad apples and changing the way the police are viewed in the community.
SESAY: Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, had some pretty strong words for Black Lives Matters. He's part of a group of people that are doing a lot of finger pointing right now ask saying they're more a part of the problem than the solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, (R), FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: It's inherently racist because, number one, it divides us. All lives matter. And when the presidential candidate, the governor of Maryland made the statement that all lives matter, they intimidated him to change it to Black Lives Matter. All lives matter, black lives, white lives, all lives.
Number two, Black Lives Matter never protests when every 14 hours somebody is killed in Chicago. Probably 70 percent, 80 percent of the time, a black person. Where are they then? Where are they when the young, black child is killed?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Is Black Lives Matters racist and divisive?
ODUOLOWU: No, I don't believe it's racist or divisive. If you say save the whales, it does not mean at the expense of all the other animals and I can be pro life matters recognizing that there is a problem with the way those that are serving are dealing with the community.
What I find distasteful about Giuliani, he's saying all lives matters, was he saying that when Rodney King was beaten on video, or Mike Smith, was he saying that for all of these politicians or former politicians that get on tv and basically say this is domestic terrorism and they're advocating violence. They're pointing out violence. If they don't want us to paint with the same brush, the police, who I honestly believe for the majority of them do a good job, then don't paint the Black Lives Matter movement by a few bad apples or a few bad people, maybe psychologically damaged, who run under the umbrella. You want us to weed out our garden? We're not giving guns to the whole Department of Justice. Why don't they root out some of these bad police officers? Why aren't they taken to the task?
[02:15:29] SESAY: This gets to the eyes of many than having a frank, head on conversation about race and the inequities and the society.
ODUOLOWU: With the, you know, I don't think people see it enough. Maybe we can get together, maybe we'll talk about sports or we can talk about fashion. With what I do, we talk about entertainment a lot. Race is still that hot button topic. But in all fairness, there are problems in the cub. There are issues that white people don't get and black people don't get.
SESAY: And the data is there.
ODUOLOWU: Absolutely.
SESAY: And the president used the data saying this is not anecdotal. Look at the hard and fast data.
ODUOLOWU: We always like to say -- what are we doing here? How can black men be 6 percent of the population, but 75 percent of the NBA? There's so many skewed numbers, but there are -- but within those numbers, there are things that can be done. We can start seizing the economic power, Lebron James, those talking about the way NBA players can start making a difference. There's hope within those numbers. But we have to find they exist for a reason on.
SESAY: We heard from Dr. Brian Williams, the trauma surgeon who attended to the officers -- who were involved in that ambush last Thursday. And what he said was incredibly poignant and I'd love to get your thoughts on your reality in response to what he had to say.
Let's play some what he said about what life is like for him as a black man.
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DR. BRIAN H. WILLIAMS, TRAUMA SURGEON, PARKLAND MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: I have a daughter. I make sure -- I do simple things when I'm out in public, when I see police officers in a restaurant, I pick up their tab. I even because one of the officers an ice cream when I was out with my door getting ice cream. I want my daughter to see me interacting with the police that way so she doesn't grow up with the same burden I carry when it comes to law enforcement. And I want the police to see me, a black man, but that doesn't mean, if you approach me, I will not have a reaction and start worrying for my personal safety. But I'll control that the best I can and not let that impact how I deal with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: He talked about having a visceral reaction and starring to worry for his personal safety when he comes into contact with police. This is a well to do educated surgeon. And I ask you, I mean one hears that and how does that measure up with your reality. ODUOLOWU: I get a visceral reaction for that. If I take my glasses
off, I look like that brother right there. And I'm here talking to you on TV and it's going out to millions and millions of people. But if you put a t-shirt on me or a t-shirt on that guy, does that stop us from being a journalist or a surgeon? It kind of cheeks me up. I'm 6'3", 250 pounds. Are you a former athlete? They could care less how will I write or how will I can speak. That man is a surgeon who worked on the bodies that were broken by bullets of cops that he actually fears and he did everything to save their lives. And he knows when he walks on out of that hospital and gets in his car, there's a good chance he will be stopped and treated unfairly. And it happened so often, I don't understand -- actually, I don't think white people can understand sometimes that burden and that fear, that angst, that anxiousness you get by walking in America. Privilege and racism, it doesn't change the oppressor. It changes the person being oppressed. I have to carry myself a different way. Aim using too much movement? Listen to what he said. It almost made me cry. And he has to convey this to his young daughter so she won't grow up with the same fear he has. Get a glimpse of what everyday life is like for a surgeon, for a rapper, imagine what people who don't have that education and don't have that opportunity. Imagine what they feel on an everyday basis.
[02:20:41] SESAY: Segun, thank you. Thank you for being so honest. It went out to many, many black man.
ODUOLOWU: Let's just pray that things can get better.
SESAY: Segun, thank you, as always.
ODUOLOWU: Thank you.
SESAY: Next on CNN NEWSROOM, a decision from an international arbitration panel is on the way that may well have upset Beijing and threatened its dominance over the South China Sea. What's at stake, ahead.
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SESAY: We're expecting a hearing ruling within hours from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. At issue, territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Philippines wants the court to settle its dispute with China over rights with some waterways. China has already told the court it does not accept arbitration initiated the Philippines. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have similar claims.
CNN's Matt Rivers joins us now live from Beijing.
Matt, we hear the court is more likely to decide in favor of the Philippines, which begs the question, how will China respond?
MATT RIVERS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Well, there are many analyst s who are suggesting that. What is the issue at the heart of this case? Really, it's China has said for a long time that it has historic sovereignty rights over basically the entirety of the South China Sea. And what the Philippine have argued is that that isn't the case. Now, with those sovereignty rights, China argues they have economic rights. That's the issue the Philippines has said they have. They say by building the artificial islands, by seizing atolls and areas of the South China Sea that the Philippines say belong to them, they violate international law, and so they forfeit those economic rights China claims to have.
China, it's important to note, did not participate in this case at The Hague. They said the case is illegal because what this case is really deciding is not economy but is more of a sovereignty issue, who owns what. And they say this court doesn't have jurisdiction to answer a question like that.
But in terms of how China is going to respond, I think you see three different possibilities. First, the status quo. They probably criticize whatever the court comes down with and then things move forward and China does what it's been doing for the past several years. Then secondly, maybe what happens is China decides, maybe we should engage a little more diplomatically. Perhaps specifically with the new president in the Philippines who has suggested he would be willing to speak with Beijing, so maybe they do some private diplomacy. I think the third and probably the most alarming option is China doubles down on what it's been doing. It builds more islands, it seizes more territories. Perhaps it establishes an air defense identification zone, which would require foreign ships and planes coming into that area to register with China. That could, perhaps, prompt a military build up from countries like the United States and its allies in the region and really make what is a tense situation already that much worse.
Really, Isha, what you're looking at is China going to follow international law and this rules-based order or is it going to be more a unilateral actor like it has been over the past several years. That remain to be seen, but there's a lot at stake here.
[02:25:47] SESAY: Yeah, they certainly with.
Matt Rivers joining us from Beijing.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Now more U.S. troops are headed to Iraq. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Monday in Baghdad that Washington will send 560 more troops. Most will be stationed at an airfield south of Mosul. Iraqi forces backed by U.S. air power recaptured the base from ISIS last week. It will be used as a staging ground for the assault on ISIS. Iraqi state media reporter commanders will use new strategies in that fight and will take ISIS by surprise.
Coming in up next for our viewers in Asia, it's CNN's "State of the Race" with Kate Bolduan.
And for everyone else, one of the black men killed by U.S. police was pulled over in traffic stops more than 50 times. Some say it suggests racial profiling.
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[02:29:48] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
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[02:30:44] SESAY: The attorney for the police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop in Minnesota last week tells CNN that Castile largely matched the description of an armed robbery suspect in an incident that happened a few days earlier near the stop. The lawyer says the officer had reasonable suspicion to pull Castile over and investigate further. Castile was a school nutrition services supervisor. His fiancee streamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook.
Court records show Castile had been pulled over dozens of times by law enforcement since 2002. Investigators are now trying to figure out why Castile was shot.
And as CNN's Rosa Flores reports, his record may provide a glimpse into why he was pulled over in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SHOUTING)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When this video of the final moments of Philando Castile went viral --
(SHOUTING)
FLORES: -- protests erupted, calling the killing of a black man during a traffic stop racism at the hands of police.
(SHOUTING)
FLORES: Some politicians quick to say it was racism, as well.
MARK DAYTON, MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: Would this have happened if those passengers were white? I don't think it would have.
FLORES: Now court records reveal Castile was no stranger to seeing red and blue lights in his rearview mirror.
(on camera): Before his last traffic stop at this intersection now turned memorial, Castile had been stopped 52 times since 2002, according to court records, for things like driving with a suspended license and no insurance.
(voice-over): Which raises the question, was Castile racially profiled until the day he died?
Racial profiling expert and University of Minnesota professor, Myron Orfield, has been studying law enforcement racial profiling for 15 years.
(on camera): Would you say that he was probably racially profiled?
MYRON ORFIELD, RACIAL PROFILING EXPERT & PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Looking at the record, it's consistent with the pattern of being racially profiled.
FLORES: We've been seeing this hash tag, drivingwhileblack. Is that what the data is showing?
ORFIELD: I think, you know, it certainly suggests that that's what's happening. And particularly when you look at a case like Mr. Castile's, you take a look at his driving record. He has an awful lot of stops. It suggests a pattern of very aggressive policing.
FLORES (voice-over): The attorney of the shooting officer told CNN in a statement that, "The tragic incident had nothing to do with race and everything to do with the presence of a gun."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They killed my boyfriend. He's licensed to carry. He was trying to get out his I.D. and his wallet out.
FLORES: Minnesota law enforcement tells CNN that the law prohibits them from confirming to the media if Castile had a license to carry a gun. A police commander who knows the officer that shot Castile, through the Minnesota chapter of the National Latino Peace Officers Association, said race was not a factor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, NATIONAL LATINO PEACE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION: Particularly that is was racially -- that there was a racial element, which I wholeheartedly disagree with that. He's just, all around, a pretty nice guy, to tell you the truth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: That was Rosa Flores reporting.
The Baton Rouge Police Department won't comment on a lawsuit brought by the store owner who witnessed Alton Sterling's death. He has named the city of Baton Rouge, its police chief and four officers in his suit. He claims officers confiscated his store's security system, illegally detained him, and prevented him from calling his family after the shooting.
Well, Hillary Clinton was somewhat vindicated a week ago when the FBI ended its investigation of her use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state. But the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is hardly off the hook. Republicans are trying to hang her on. On Monday, the U.S. director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, denied a request from House Speaker Paul Ryan to block her access to security briefings. Clapper says that despite any FBI criticism of Clinton, intelligence would be shared with any official nominated candidate. Still, two House Republicans have asked the Justice Department to investigate claims that she lied to Congress when she testified about her e-mails.
[02:35:10] This comes just a couple of weeks before the Democratic convention when Clinton expects to clench the party's presidential nomination. She should get a boost on Tuesday when Bernie Sanders giving his long-awaited endorsement. Sanders' advisers say that got 80 percent of what they wanted in the party's 2016 platform. That includes deals on climate change, health care, and a $15 per hour minimum wage. But Sanders lost out on some things he wanted, including a fracking ban, denouncement of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and crucially rejection of the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership.
The Republican convention in Cleveland Ohio is just a week away. Delegates have started debating the issues that will define their party's platform. On Monday, social conservatives scored a number of victories, including tough language on transgender access to restrooms and limiting apportions rights. The party will also declare Internet pornography a public health crisis. Many right-leaning members of the party are hoping to strike a balance with a more moderate approach for Trump.
And Trump is taking a tough new turn on the campaign trail, calling himself the law-and-order candidate. Hillary Clinton canvases once again using Trump's words against him.
CNN's Jim Acosta has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHEERING)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump seized on the attack of police officers in Dallas as a turning point in the campaign.
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: It's time for our hostility against our police and against all members of law enforcement to end, and end immediately, right now.
ACOSTA: Presenting voters with a critical choice.
TRUMP: I am the law-and-order candidate.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is weak, ineffective, pandering, and as proven by her recent e-mail scandal, she's either a liar or grossly. One or the other.
(CHEERING)
TRUMP: Very simple.
(APPLAUSE)
ACOSTA: After delaying his attacks on Clinton in the aftermath of the carnage in Dallas, Trump turned to bashing the former secretary of state over her use of a private e-mail server.
TRUMP: Crooked Hillary Clinton is the secretary of the status quo. And wherever Hillary Clinton goes, corruption and scandal follow.
ACOSTA: The Clinton campaign appeared ready for the attacks with a preemptive web video highlighting Trump's past comments seemingly supporting some of the world's worst actors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right. You know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: But at an event on veterans in Virginia, Trump had backup.
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: We need to stand behind the men and women in blue in this country.
(CHEERING)
ACOSTA: Just as Trump is in the final days of selecting a running mate, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was ripping into Clinton, too.
CHRISTIE: That is not a person who will stand for the rule of law. That's a person who will stand for the rule of her.
ACOSTA: Sources familiar with Trump's vice presidential search saying Chris Christie has now been fully vetted but there are other apparent finalists. Indiana Governor Mike Pence is said to be high on the short list while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is actively lobbying for the spot.
Pence will be with Trump in Indiana Tuesday.
MIKE PENCE, (R), INDIANA GOVERNOR: And I'm prepared to make that case anywhere across Indiana and anywhere in this country that Donald Trump would want me to.
ACOSTA: Just days after Trump auditioned Gingrich in Ohio.
TRUMP: Newt has been my friend for a long time. In one form or another, Newt Gingrich is going to be involved with our government.
ACOSTA: But others on the hunt may be losing their luster. Retired General Mike Flynn, who is under consideration, says he was in favor of abortion rights over the weekend.
GEN. MIKE FLYNN, TRUMP RUNNING MATE CONTENDER: I think women have to be able to choose what they -- you know, it's sort of a rite of choice.
ACOSTA: But then today, he seemed to flip, describing himself as a pro-life Democrat.
As for Trump's rally with Pence on Tuesday, there are rumblings in Indiana that the governor could be the odds-on favorite. State GOP officials are scrambling to find a replacement for Pence who was running as re-election as governor. Pence has to decide by Friday whether he wants to be Trump's vice president as state law in Indiana won't let him run for both jobs.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, relatives of a war correspondent who was killed in Syria are suing the government of Bashar al Assad. Colvin died four years ago in a rocket strike on the city of Homs. Her sister says Colvin was assassinated because she was brave enough to expose the government's atrocities to the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHLEEN COLVIN, SISTER OF KILLED WAR CORRESPONDENT: I am just appreciative that I'm in a unique position to do something. It didn't feel right to let me tell her killers go unaccountable and not have to answer for their crimes. It absolutely disgusts me that she could be targeted so ruthlessly and have nothing happen. So I'm proud to be able to do this case.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What point was it, at what point when you thought, hang on, this wasn't a terrible accidents and she wasn't just caught in the crossfire of war, that there was something more deliberate?
[02:40:20] COLVIN: Really it felt from the beginning like it had to be deliberate. The coincidence of her reporting out of Homs the night before she was killed was too much of a coincidence. But it really hit home when I spoke to Paul Conroy about his knowledge of the artillery fire and how he was absolutely certainly that pattern of fire was one of targeting, not random bombings they'd experienced in the weeks leading up to Marie's murder. So I felt from the outset that it was deliberate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Marie Colvin, just hours before her death, told Anderson Cooper about the anger and fear she felt at seeing civilians killed by artillery fire.
Still to come, severe shortages are fueling crime in Venezuela.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were on our knees and we got hit on he ground for that. And they put a gun to my head.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What were you thinking at that time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was over.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SESAY: You'll hear from a couple who survived an express kidnapping and what's become you know of the most dangerous countries in the world, next.
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SESAY: Hello, everyone. There is new hope that peace might prevail in south Sudan. The vice president is urging his forces to respect a ceasefire ordered Monday by his rival, the president. Since thursday, more than 150 people, including two Chinese U.N. peacekeepers, have been can killed in fighting between forces loyal to each man.
And as David McKenzie reports, the unrest is prompting fears it could spiral into another civil war for the fledgling country.
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(GUNFIRE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Violence is raging in the world's newest country. Hundreds are feared dead in the capital of south Sudan. Many have fled the city. Others are hankering down trying to stay safe.
It looks like it could go from bad to worse. But what exactly is going on? Here is a breakdown.
South Sudan is a nation in East Africa and turned five years old earlier in July. The country broke away from Sudan in 2011 after decades of epic and political conflict. South Sudan's president is this man and this is his long time rival and vice president.
[02:45:08] Civil war broke out in 2013 after the president accused the vice president of an attempted coup. The vice president was sacked and forces loyal to each side began fighting. The conflict also has a strong ethnic dimension. You see the president is a Denka (ph). That is the largest ethnic group in south Sudan. And traditionally, Denka (ph) and Nuoir (ph) are rivals in the country.
The war killed more than 50,000 people and displaced more than two million, about one in six people.
A peace deal signed last year meant the vice president coming back to his post, which has only been in for a few months, and forces loyal to him have been stationed in Juba. And with heavily armed troops backing the rivals, it was almost inevitable that there will be a blowup.
Now the fear is that south Sudan, the youngest country on earth, will slide back to war and chaos, and civilians offer the worst hit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: David McKenzie there with more on the turbulent times in south Sudan. Meanwhile, Venezuela's collapsing economy has caused life-threatening
shortages of food, medicine and basic supplies. But it's lead to go some horrible crimes and sparking fears of all-out anarchy.
Paula Newton has the story.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Food riots and looting, this is now the only daily diet Venezuelans can count on as food shortages fuel an already devastating level of crime.
Watch here as security cameras detail the chaos, looters swarming a bakery and deli, in the capital. Looters jumping over counters and grabbing whatever they can, even the cash register. A free for all for food in a battleground is that is almost the most dangerous in the world.
Crime has been spreading like a contagion through Venezuela. With nightfall, many self-imposed a curfew, but some have learned it's not enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were on our knees and with our heads on the ground, like that. And they put the gun like --
NEWTON (voice-over): What were you thinking at that time?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was over.
NEWTON (voice-over): Luisa and Julio explain how they survived an express kidnapping Venezuelan style. They were driving a few hours outside the city, took a wrong turn, and they say an armed gang surrounded them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't see their faces because they looked evil, evil, seriously.
NEWTON: They tried to escape, but they were hunted down in remote woods, battered and frantic, they started to negotiate for their release. The kid snappers named their price.
(on camera): $1,000 U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly. They asked that and we didn't have that. So I said no. There's no way our families have the finances.
NEWTON: You have the courage to say to him there is no --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. At that moment, we talked to them.
NEWTON (voice-over): They negotiated their lives down to a few hundred dollars. Their families put the money together in less than 24 hours after the ordeal began, they were released. But they knew all too well how it could have ended.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was will the case when a couple was kidnapped and they shoot at the car and burned it with him inside.
NEWTON: They tell me they spoke to police, but no one has ever been arrested.
Express kidnappings still flourish, they say, random, terrifying, and adding to an unnerving collapse in civil order here. Hungry and desperate Venezuelans adding to the crime of criminals and gangs as anarchy becomes a real risk.
Paula Newton, CNN, Caracas.
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SESAY: As you just saw, Venezuela is facing a severe on economic crisis and people are growing desperate. CNN is there with in-depth coverage.
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NEWTON: I'm Paula Newton, in Caracas. Imagine waking up at dawn to stand in this line for the basics to try and stave off hunger. Looking for flour, sugar, milk, what they need to feed their families. As the economy continues to unravel in Venezuela, join us for our special coverage as we bring you their stories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: And Paula Newton is reporting from Venezuela this week.
Next on CNN NEWSROOM, why many globe trotters say this is not the right time for a getaway to a once-popular destination.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
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[02:52:36] SESAY: 48th low, everyone. Turkey wants to roll out the welcome mat for visitors around the globe. Free spending holiday makers are good for business. But many travelers are now crossing Turkey off their list of dream destinations.
CNN's Will Ripley looks at why they're choose to go stay away.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first Russian tourist convoy in nearly a year, greeted with flowers, champagne, and an extra dose of Turkish hospitality.
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RIPLEY: The Russians return to the Turquoise coast, music to the ears of Turkey's tourism industry.
"The relationship will hopefully continue," he says.
Anger has passed over Turkey's downing of a war plane last year near the Syrian border. Last month, Russia got the apology it demanded and lifted a travel ban that caused Russian tourism in Turkey to collapse.
(SIRENS)
RIPLEY: Last month's deadly terror attack on Istanbul's airport, the latest in a series of deadly bombings in Turkey, crippling a tourism industry already in crisis.
(on camera): Are tourists calling you? Are they concerned and asking questions about safety?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Questions about the security measures, what we are doing about that. And I can tell that Turkey is doing its best for security. But global terror, you know, it can happen anywhere, anytime.
RIPLEY: Turkey is fighting the growing perception it's no longer safe. Rocked by spillover violence from neighboring Syria. The Turkish government is fighting on two fronts against ISIS and Kurdish rebels. Suicide bombers have targeted Turkey's urban centers, including this ISIS bombing in January that killed nearly a dozen German tourists.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 15 people involved. 15 peoples dead.
RIPLEY (voice-over): 15 people on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People to the ground.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Workers who scrambled to care for the injured have seen their business evaporate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 90 percent we lose our customers.
RIPLEY (on camera): You lost 90 percent?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 90 percent. More than 90 percent.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Heightened police patrols have done little to calm the fears of tourists who no longer flock here, leaving empty seats and empty pockets. Thousands of small business withes closed in Turkey in the last six months.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are afraid. You talk to tourists and they'll tell you, we're scared. We don't know what to do.
RIPLEY: These Canadians say they ignored friends who urged them to cancel their Turkish holiday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could walk across the street tomorrow and get hit by a war. You might as well see the world and not be afraid.
(CHANTING)
RIPLEY: But fear is keeping many away. Many Turks praying for the way things used to be.
Will Ripley, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:55:29] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
The news continues next with Rosemary Church. Stay with us.
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[03:00:08] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: New leadership for the U.K.
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