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3-Month State of Emergency Issued in Turkey; Ted Cruz Booed After Not Endorsing Trump at RNC; Award-Winning Journalist Killed in Kiev Car Bombing; Russia's 2016 Olympic Team Hangs in Balance; Rio Boosts Surveillance Ahead of Olympic Games; Ted Cruz Booed After Not Endorsing Trump at RNC; British P.M. Theresa May Meets with Hollande, Merkel on Brexit; Milo Yiannopoulos Banned on Twitter for Harassment. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 21, 2016 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:10] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour --

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Turkey's president is widening his crackdown after last week's failed coup. His council of ministers approved a three-month state of emergency. It will give the government sweeping powers and put military forces under civilian supervision. Amnesty International says the massive purge is threatening human rights. The Turkish government has detained 9,000 people, mostly from the military. About 50,000 have been fired or suspended, including teachers and university deans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (through translation): The purpose of the declaration of the state of emergency is in fact to be able to take the most efficient steps in order to remove this terror threat as soon as possible. This practice is absolutely not against democracy, the rule of law and freedoms. Quite on the contrary, it has the purpose of strengthening and protecting these values. The armed forces remain under the instructions of the government. They will act in unison with the government. The government with our soldiers will continue to fight on cleansing viruses in our Turkish army forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Ian Lee joins us from Istanbul, Turkey.

Ian, a widening crackdown and state of emergency. What is the public reaction to all of this there in Turkey? IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isha, the loud public reaction that

we've been hearing in the squares around Turkey, especially here behind me in Taksim Square, has been in support of the president. They, last night, were chanting in favor of this three-month state of emergency. But when you do get away from the squares, you do get a more nuanced answer. People have expressed concern about this. Will this trample their freedoms? Will this be taken too far? That is one of the main concerns, too, of the opposition here is will this be taken too far? Rights groups have expressed concern as well.

But by and large, Erdogan does have a popular support here in the country and we are hearing that support in the squares and so far, you know, while Turkey is divided right now, the loudest voices seem to be in favor of this.

SESAY: The question many have, those outside of Turkey, is, where will this end? What are the indications you're getting from the Turkish government?

LEE: Yeah, that is the big question. We have seen just a huge crackdown after this coup where you have over 50,000 people who have been suspended from their work. You've had thousands of people arrested and it really doesn't seem to have an end in sight and it has come under criticism from rights groups.

But we're hearing from the government, defending their actions saying, you know, after a coup like this or attempted coup you're going to have a state of emergency. They said that France after the terror attacks put in a state of emergency and they're going to weed out what they believe were the undemocratic forces involved in that.

And right now, enemy number-one for at least Erdogan, is Fethullah Gulen and his supporters. And they say that's their main goal right now is to root out the Gulen supporters who they say -- or at least Gulen, they call him a terrorist.

SESAY: Ian, the request is in for the U.S. to extradite Gulen. The Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. will need hard evidence to support claims he was behind last Friday's failed coup. Given that response from the U.S., are we heading toward a major commit political standoff between the U.S. and Turkey?

LEE: Well, so far, it does -- you could say it appears like that. It is going to be a delicate diplomatic dance between the two countries because the United States, from the very beginning, has said we need this hard evidence to move forward with any sort of extradition of Fethullah Gulen to the -- to Turkey and Secretary of State John Kerry has said the State Department has not contacted Gulen to talk about this.

[02:05:19] But we did hear also from President Obama who reiterated his support for Turkey, for democracy, and the legitimate government. But when it comes to Gulen, it is going to take a long process. One of the things they're going to be looking at is the extradition treaty between the two countries and, right now, treason, which Gulen has been accused of, is not one of the items in the extradition treaty. So they're going to have to figure out under what part of that treat does it fall under to possibly be extradited but they want to see the evidence he was behind this attempted coup -- Isha?

SESAY: Ian Lee, joining us from Istanbul, Turkey. Appreciate it. Thank you.

And now Sinan Ciddi joins me from Washington, D.C. He is the executive director of the Institute of Turkish Studies.

Sinan, thank you so much for joining us.

What does the recently declared state of emergency mean for democracy and rule of law in Turkey?

SINAN CIDDI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF TURKISH STUDIES: I'm afraid it is likely to mean quite terrible things by my best estimation. Articles 120 and 121 of the Turkish constitution unfortunately grants extensive powers to the executive at this point to curtail a significant amount of individual freedoms as well as social freedoms. This plays into Erdogan's hands to capitalize on what he seeks. And he has been seeking that for some time.

The failed coup attempt of July 15th now allows him to basically capitalize upon the state of emergency that has engulfed the country because many of the institutions such as the military or the judiciary cannot be trusted by the Erdogan regime. Therefore, he has implemented the state of emergency law that is granted to him by the constitution. And there is virtually no limit to what powers the executive can exercise to sub due opposition and very much steer the direction of the country to what he would like.

SESAY: The Turkish president is saying what he is doing is no different from what happened in the aftermath of the November attacks in France. You disagree?

CIDDI: I do disagree. You know, since the protest of 2013, the Erdogan governments have basically exercised a considerable amount of executive privilege to very much roll back individual freedoms, exercise a tremendous amount of state pressure upon individuals and associations, police brutality is at untold levels. And if anything over the last two or three days since the coup is anything to go by, we have seen the dismissal of over 50,000, probably close to 60,000 government employees, ranging from the military to the judiciary to academia. And these dismissals were carried out prior to the implementation of the state of emergency. What is to say what will take place now that the government has a state of emergency authorization? Academics, journalists and policymakers here I think as well as in Turkey are braced for the worst. This is an opportunity for Erdogan to go after the opposition, on the one hand, and, secondly, put into motion the required steps to basically promulgate an executive presidency, which he has been seeking since he was elected in August of 2014.

SESAY: Is there any outside party, principally the European Union or NATO itself is there any outside party with the leverage to rein in president Erdogan as he goes about this purge and some would say remix Turkey?

CIDDI: The short answer to that is no. What possibly leverage could these two entities have? It's not as if exactly the European Union could say unless you cooperate with us and uphold Democratic standards we will cancel Turkey's membership bid to the European Union because Erdogan probably doesn't care about that nor do his supporters.

SESAY: The outlook, as you paint it, is, indeed, grim.

We very much appreciate the insight and analysis. Thank you so much.

CIDDI: You're welcome. Thank you.

[02:10:05] SESAY: A night of triumph and tribulation at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Indiana Governor Mike Pence accepted the vice presidential nomination, offering praise and admiration for Donald Trump.

But it was Trump primary rival, Ted Cruz, who got a less than enthusiastic reaction when he did not endorse Trump during his speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Heidi and I say stand and speak and vote your conscience and vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.

(BOOING)

(SHOUTING)

(CHANTING)

CRUZ: I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation.

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: They were chanting "Endorse Trump."

Trump was waiting in the wings and he walked into the arena during Cruz's speech in an attempt to distract the crowd. He later tweeted, "Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage and didn't honor the pledge. I saw his speech two hours earlier and let him speak any way. No big deal."

We heard from Dana Bash earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I am told by a source who was in a donor suit around here in the Q, when Ted Cruz walked in after he gave his speech, that people were so angry at Ted Cruz that they were calling him a disgrace to his face. This source said a state party chair was yelling at him so angrily that he had to be restrained. That gives you a sense of just how intense the -- frankly, the animosity here now on the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: And we're also hearing that Cruz's wife, Heidi, had to be escorted off the convention floor after she was heckled by Trump supporters.

A writer working for Trump's company says she is to blame for the plagiarism scandal. Parts of Melania Trump's speech clearly was lifted from Michelle Obama's address at the 2008 Democratic convention. Speechwriter Meredith McIver apologized and said she offered her resignation. The Trumps declined to accept the resignation. This is how McIver explained what happened. She says, "Over the phone, Melania read me some passages from Mrs. Obama's speech as example. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech. I did not check Mrs. Obama's speeches. This is my mistake. And I feel terrible for the chaos I've caused Melania and the Trumps, as well as to Mrs. Obama. No harm was meant."

But tonight, it was all about what Ted Cruz did and did not say. We'll go to Cleveland later in the hour for an update on the bad blood at the Republican convention.

Plus, why Russian must wait to see whether it can send a team to next month's Olympic Games. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(RIO REPORT)

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[02:17:35] SESAY: In India, three suspects in an alleged double gang rape case appeared in court. A 21-year-old college student told police she was raped last week by five men in northern India. She said two of the three men in custody also raped her in 2013. Police have identified a fourth suspect, but he's on the run. Officials haven't identified the last suspect.

Well, a well-known award-winning journalist has been killed in an apparent car bombing right in the heart of Ukraine's capital. The Ukrainian president called it a terrible crime, one that is raising a number of troubling questions.

Michael Holmes reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A car exploded in flames in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev early Wednesday morning. Inside, a prominent journalist, Pavel Sheremet.

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) HOLMES: An eyewitness to the blast says several people tried to pull Sheremet from the car, but it appeared he was already dead.

Investigators combing through the charred wreckage say all evidence points to a car bomb. They're calling the journalist's death an assassination.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER (through translation): Everything is being done to properly collect all the evidence at the scene, to properly investigate the scene, and to conduct the investigation. All the possible scenarios will be investigated.

PAVEL SHEREMET, KILLED JOURNALIST: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

HOLMES: Sheremet reported for a radio news show in Kiev and for Ukrainska Pravda, an investigative website. The 44 year old was a Belarusian citizen who had worked for Russian state television before moving to Ukraine five years ago.

According to several reports, the car Sheremet was driving belonged to his girlfriend, a founding editor of Ukrainska Pravda, raising the possibility she might have been the intended target.

This is the most high-profile murder of a reporter in Ukraine in 16 years. Ukraine's president promising a full investigation adding, quote, "The culprits must be punished."

Tributes are now pouring in from friends, colleagues and Ukrainian leaders who say Pavel Sheremet was a talented and fearless journalist.

Michael Holmes, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:19:50] SESAY: Russia's participation at the Olympic games in Rio is uncertain right now due to allegations of widespread state sponsored doping. In the coming hours, the sports arbitration court in Switzerland will decide whether 68 Russian track and field athletes should be allowed to compete in Rio. They were banned following a damning report by the World Anti-Doping Agency. And the committee is expected to decide later this week whether any of the Russia's 387 athletes can participate. The IOC said it would be considering banning Russia after an independent investigation found evidence of a doping scheme during the 2014 winter games.

Let's turn now to CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty.

Jill, good to have you with us.

We're awaiting this response from the court of arbitration for sport. If the ban of the track and field athlete is, indeed, upheld, what will Russia's next move be?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, it's complicated because what the Russians are saying, or at least a quote that we had yesterday from the Alexander Zhukov, who heads up the Olympic Committee for Russia, is that essentially what they're saying is maybe the IOC shouldn't make the final determination. Sorry. That it should be up to international federations. And those international federations are the federations that are in charge of the individual sports. So, in other words, it could kind of make it a little broader. Some might say the Russians could participate. Others might not. And it seems as draconian as having the IOC come down.

But that said, today is crucial, Isha, because that determination by the arbitration court is a legal basis on which IOC will hang some of its decisions. And that means, do you punish everybody or do you give individual rights -- protect the individual rights of each athlete? And that is really kind of the core issue here.

SESAY: Yeah, indeed. President Putin has spoken of possible suspensions of those Russian officials named in the McLaren report pending an investigation. I guess the question is, how credible would any investigation be and what is the likelihood of someone actually being fired, someone losing their jobs over all of this?

DOUGHERTY: Well, they have five who are temporarily suspended, not including the head of the sports ministry.

Now, with the investigation be correct? The Russians say definitely, that they have investigators who would pour through the information from the McLaren report, bring in expert witnesses, et cetera.

I was just reading an interesting article, however, in TASS, which quote and expert in anti-doping. And that expert, who is Russian, goes through, point by point, the McLaren report and refutes all or many of the major points. And he also calls it a disinformation campaign. So I think you can already see preparations for some type of dismissing of the McLaren report and trying to say it's just really all propaganda against Russia. So I guess we'll just have to see if the Russian investigate, what they would find. But right now, it looks as though they would pretty much throw out the McLaren report.

SESAY: All right, an important couple of days for Russia's Olympic team.

Jill Dougherty, there in Moscow. Always appreciate it. Thank you.

SESAY: Security is an apparent concern with the Rio Olympics just over two weeks away. And authorities in Brazil have turned to an Israeli company with some amazing technology for help.

CNN's Oren Liebermann reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Half a million tourists are on their way to Rio for the Olympics, a busy city becoming even busier.

Thousands of surveillance cameras monitor the Olympic city, but how do you use that much video? DROR IRANI, CEO, BRIEFCAM TECHNOLOGY: The gap is between how much

video is recorded and how much video is being viewed. So if you look at what we are trying to do is make it much easier for someone to look at it.

LIEBERMANN: BriefCam Technology can squeeze 24 hours into one minute. It's not a time lapse. It's a search engine for video. Every day, surveillance cameras around the world record more than 500 pedibytes of video. That's nearly eight million iPhones of data, too much to watch in real time. BriefCam Technology will help Rio's security go through their video if something happens.

IRANI: What're you're seeing here is the highway.

LIEBERMANN: BriefCam CEO Dror Irani shows me the technology.

Here, we're looking at video from a highway in Portland, Oregon.

IRANI: The most typical example is to say I'm looking for a red car, and you pick the subject as red cars and what you get on the screen is only red cars.

LIEBERMANN: The technology sorts and labels the cars by time, color and more. It makes the video searchable.

And it works on people, as well. This is a busy pedestrian walkway. Irani uses BriefCam to sort of anything unusual.

IRANI: The guy was on his skateboard. Obviously, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

LIEBERMANN: The technology isolates a fast skateboarder in a slow pedestrian lane.

[02:25:13] IRANI: This is a tool that really helps investigators start to deal with things when they have to clue what to look for ask they're looking for behaviors that are different.

Let's see how quickly this technology works. Earlier in the day, I picked up a bag left in the hallway.

(on camera): So here you've spotted me in your video.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I have, in fact. Processed about two hours, pinpointed the event.

LIEBERMANN: And there I am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you are again.

LIEBERMANN: 3:25 p.m. walking through your hallway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that is the original event. That's the actual crime in action.

LIEBERMANN (voice-over): BriefCam Technology was used during the Boston Marathon bombing investigation and after the Brussels bombing, Irani says.

Increasingly, it's being used at airports and monuments, like the Statue of Liberty. This is video from inside the crowd.

Surveillance video has long been a taping of basic security. The challenge is to modernize that tool to best keep a city and its games safe.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, Modin, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Next on CNN NEWSROOM, the grudge match in Cleveland. How Ted Cruz created a stink at the Republican's big party.

Plus, Britain's new prime minister is on the road. What she had to say to the German chancellor about their relationship after Brexit. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

The headlines this hour --

(HEADLINES)

[02:30:25] SESAY: Indiana Governor Mike Pence has formerly accepted the vice president nomination for the Republican Party. He compared Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan and he denounced Hillary Clinton as secretary of the status quo.

But Ted Cruz stole the show by refusing to endorse Donald Trump. Delegates booed the Texas Senator when he advised them to vote their conscience.

Senior political reporter, Manu Raju, joins us now from Cleveland.

Manu, it was a sight to behold and to hear the ferocity of the booing that Ted Cruz encountered during that speech. I just want to remind our viewers of what it was like.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: It was very, very tense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must make the most of our moment to fight for freedom, to protect our God- given rights, even of those who we totally don't agree with

(BOOING)

CRUZ: God bless each and every one of you. And God bless the United States of America.

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The booing just got louder and louder. The cherry of to, Donald Trump's entrance as Cruz was wrapping it all up. Please, take is inside that convention hall and what it felt like to be there.

RAJU: It was very, very tense as Cruz refused to give that endorsement. The crowd wanted to hear him say I support Donald Trump. It was the first time that Ted Cruz has spoken in depth since he dropped out of the primary race, a bitter primary race in May. So folks wanted to hear how he felt about the man this convention is for, Donald Trump. He really only mentioned Trump at the top of his speech when he said I congratulate Donald Trump for winning the nomination. Then he went into a long speech about the Republican Party, the issues, conservative values, didn't really talk about Trump. So as the speech wore on, more and more supporters of Trump started chanting and shouting things like "Lyin' Ted," the nickname that Donald Trump gave Cruz during the primary fight. Chanting Trump, Trump, Trump, starting to boo him and shouting him down. And it became a very, very dense scene.

I can tell you, at the end of that speech, we were standing right next to Heidi Cruz, Ted Cruz's wife, and it got so tense that security personnel had to come up and escort Heidi Cruz out of the arena as folks were heckling her. So this was a surreal moment and probably one that could have damaged Ted Cruz going forward as he eyes a possible presidential run in the future -- Isha?

SESAY: And to that point, this is what people were saying, that the speech on this night for Ted Cruz was about him laying the foundation for a presidential bid in 2020. I mean, talk to me about the reaction since his words. Do we think this has done lasting damage to his political career?

RAJU: Potentially. I mean, he's got significant blow back from his supporters and his critics alike. One congressman, Trent Franks, of Arizona, talked to our colleague, Deidre Walsh, here in the convention hall, and he said that he -- he raised some serious concerns with Ted Cruz's lack of endorsement. Also some of his critics were also very critical. Pete King, of New York, not fan of Ted Cruz's, said it was a disgrace and that Ted Cruz's political career is over. A number of delegates who supported Cruz in the past also were very angry.

Remember, this convention hall is filled with a lot of party enthusiasts, conservative activist types who will be Ted Cruz fans, and a lot of them just were not happy. It remains to be seen how much damage was done, certainly, in the short term. We'll see how much it does in the long-term in 2020, particularly if people blame him for not helping unite this party.

SESAY: Indeed. And we have heard from the Trump campaign.

I want to play a clip from Chris Christie, how he responded. I know Donald Trump has sent out a tweet. I want to get what he's saying in that messaging. Let's play what Chris Christie told our Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: I think it was awful. And quite frankly, I think it was selfish. And he signed a pledge and it's his job to keep his word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: So Chris Christie there.

Manu, what is Donald Trump saying?

RAJU: Well, Donald Trump tweeted saying that -- acknowledging how many boos there were in the audience, and saying, "Wow, Ted Cruz was booed after my speech." But he also sort of down played it afterwards.

Now, afterwards, Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman for Donald Trump spoke to reporters, down played it, as well. But he couldn't resist taking a shot at Ted Cruz, saying this is maybe not politically smart.

But one other point to note. Ted Cruz afterwards went up to big billionaire donor, Sheldon Adelson, to sit in the suite to watch the rest of the convention proceedings. Adelson would not see him, refused to see him as punishment for Cruz's refusal to endorse Donald Trump.

[02:35:38] SESAY: Wow. This is certainly going to dominate all the shows in the coming hours. Scenes that have rarely been seen in American politics.

Manu Raju, such a pleasure. Thank you for breaking it all down for us.

RAJU: Thank you.

SESAY: One of the striking things about this year's convention is the long list of names of Republicans who didn't show up.

Jake Tapper took a walk on the convention floor to see who missing in action.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm here on the floor of the Republican National Convention and it's a very exciting moment. Donald Trump's name has been formally placed into nomination. But I have to say, having covered so many conventions, one thing is very different about this convention, there are a lot of very notable absence.

Where is Senator Lindsey Graham?

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: I don't know Mr. Graham's schedule and he wasn't elected as a delegate. I am and I'm from South Carolina. (CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Where are your Senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake? They are not here.

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: I could care less if they were here. I'm supporting Donald Trump. And I don't care what the establishment does. Without them, we can still win.

TAPPER: Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are not here right now at this exciting moment for the Florida delegation. Where are they?

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: Well, they are probably home watching the primary, this convention here. I was a Jeb Bush fan whenever it started out, but Florida spoke very loud and clear. Every single county except one voted for Jeb Bush. As a delegate --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Voted for Donald Trump, you mean?

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: Excuse me, voted Donald Trump. I'm going to be supporting the state of Florida and their request.

TAPPER: Do you think that was a Freudian slip there? Do you wish every single county voted for Jeb Bush?

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: Don't put words in my mouth.

TAPPER: Would it have been great tor Mitt Romney to be standing there passing the delegates from Massachusetts for Donald Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: I mean, right now, it's the people's movement right now. This is a grassroots movement.

TAPPER: It's not about with the elite.

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: It's not about the other politicians. It's about the grassroots movement coming together and supporting our nominee.

TAPPER: George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, neither of them are here, and it's not because they're off doing boat repairs in Kennebunkport. They're not here because they don't support Mr. Trump. Does that bother you as a Texas Republican?

UNIDENTIFIED DELEGATE: I love both of those gentlemen and I'm sorry that they're going to miss out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Jake Tapper there.

Next on CNN NEWSROOM, Theresa May is meeting other world leaders in her first international trip since becoming Britain's prime minister. How she's dealing with the impending Brexit, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:42:04] SESAY: British Prime Minister Theresa May is meeting with French President Francois Hollande on Thursday in Paris. They're expected to talk about terrorism and the U.K.'s departure from the European Union. On Wednesday, Mrs. May met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The two leaders want their countries to remain close even after the Brexit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Obviously, this is the first visit to Germany of a British prime minister since the British people took the decision to leave the European Union. I've been clear that Brexit means Brexit. But I want to be clear here today and across Europe in the weeks ahead that we are not walking away from our European friends.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translation): Our bilateral relationships, trade, et cetera, will be continued because this is our common interest. Great Britain and Germany have always worked together well within the European Union and I want this to be the same spirit in the coming years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: CNN political contributor, Robin Oakley. joins us now from London.

Robin, good to have you with us.

And the public statements made by Theresa May and Angela Merkel, they seem very much on the same page. But those private talks, what's your sense of the tone of those talks behind closed doors?

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it has to be said that British officials are very pleased with the outcome of the meeting. They say that communication channels have now been opened, and that's what the meeting was really all about. They weren't going to get down to any detailed discussion of Brexit at this stage. It was a matter of forging a working relationship and that seems to have been done. Angela Merkel very much doesn't want the European boat rocks. And she was prepared to give Theresa May time to prepare Britain's case, she said. A rather more understanding attitude than there's been from other leaders across the E.U. And of course, Theresa May was very much stressing this message that although Britain is going to detach from the institutions of the European Union, it's not going to be detaching from Europe, and still cooperating on defense, on terrorism, on a whole range of bilateral issues. So it's been a successful meeting. But, really, Angela Merkel was saying, OK, what we need is a carefully defined British position. What she was really saying was, for god's sake, tell us what exactly it is you want and then we'll see if there's any chance of meeting you -- Isha?

SESAY: Yeah, indeed. And should we take it to be that because they seem publicly on the same page when it comes to those negotiations when they get down to them, that Germany will take a softer position than we previously anticipated or is Germany's position unchanged when it comes to actual negotiating?

OAKLEY: Angela Merkel has said all along there's going to be no cherry picking. But you have to set against that the fact that Germany sells 62 billion pounds worth more goods to Britain than Britain sells to Germany. 800,000 German cars come to Britain every year. So Germany has an interest in maintaining trade links with Britain and not having tariff wars and things like that. So there's some compulsion on Angela Merkel to be cooperative. It's a question, really, of how much she can take along other European leaders who want to see Britain punished for leaving the E.U. because they want it as a warning to other countries who might be thinking about exiting if they've got particular pressure groups in their countries -- Isha?

[02:45:42] SESAY: Let's look ahead to the meeting with French President Francois Hollande. What are the expectations for that meeting given France's response to Brexit to date?

OAKLEY: That's not going be quite so comfortable at all. And Francois Hollande and his ministers have been making every effort to start detaching businesses from the city of London, banks and others, and say they'll be welcome in France and, look, you can count on doing business in France. And he is very much one of those leaders who want to see Britain punished for the Brexit because he's got Marine Le Pen, head of the Front National, the right wing group in France, who are pressing for Frexit, as it were. And he doesn't want any encouragement. He doesn't want Britain to get anything out of exiting Europe. He wants to show the French people that coming out of Europe is a really bad idea. So he's going to be less cooperative altogether when he meets Theresa May. On the other hand, Britain and France have strong cooperation on defense, and with the current wave of terrorism and so on, they have much in common on that issue, too -- Isha?

SESAY: We'll be watching it closely.

Robin Oakley, there in London for us, much appreciated. Thank you.

Later this hour, on NEWSROOM L.A., this actress says hate drove her off Twitter. Find out who is being blamed and how Twitter is handling the issue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(RIO REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:50:55] SESAY: A conservative blogger has been banned from Twitter for good after the site day he encouraged his followers to harass "Ghostbusters" Star Leslie Jones. Milo Yannaopolis is tech editor for the site "Breitbart." He is well known for his online abuse. Hundreds of Twitter users attacked Jones, pushing racist, sexist and pornographic tweets. Jones was so upset that she called on Twitter to change its policies. Here is one of her tweets about the abuse. "I feel like I'm in a personal hell. I didn't do anything to deserve this. It's just too much. It shouldn't be like this." Twitter says Yannaopolis was removed because he violated its rules. Yannaopolis says he's being silenced because he's, quote, "a gay conservative."

I'm joined by Jasmyne Cannick. She's a social and political commentator.

It's interesting, Jasmyne, that this guy hasn't gone into hiding or anything like that. He's been actually quite public since the banning. You've heard him, you've listened to him. What's he saying?

JASMYNE CANNICK, SOCIAL & POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He's basically going on a pr tour right now, trashing Leslie Jones, trashing Twitter, playing the victim as I often see people do in this situation. But I don't think a lot of people are falling for it. His followers are going to stick with him just in terms of who he is. You know, he's with "Breitbart." He says a lot of controversial things. He's known for doing that. But the rest of us realize that what he said was inappropriate and was very, very racist. It had nothing to do with the fact that he's gay. It had everything to do with it was wrong, you don't talk to people like that. And that in this sort of social media era that we're in, we understand that everyone has a platform and everyone has followers. But that doesn't give you the right to go after someone in such a way that he did. And what he did was what added, which is what opened the door for other people to continue attacking her.

SESAY: And the attacks were --

CANNICK: Vulgar.

SESAY: They were vulgar. They were truly revolting. And we can show just one example of it because that's all we're willing to do. Where they made the comparison between Leslie Jones and an ape and that was repeated over and over again. "Your 'Ghostbusters' isn't the first to have an ape in it."

What is interesting about this -- and it's something you and I were discussing earlier -- people are so emboldened in the digital space.

CANNICK: You know, it's great for some people to be able to hide behind their phones and hide behind their computers and sort of act as digital thugs and do cyber bullying. These are the kind of people who typically on the street wouldn't look you in the face, wouldn't dare say that to you. But it's interesting, then, 2016, we have a lot of cyber bullies. We do. This is a perfect example of that. And I'm so happy that Twitter did the right thing and banned him. He needed to be done do.

SESAY: Yeah. What do you make of the way Twitter handles it? It seemed to me going through Leslie Jones' feed that she was calling for help repeatedly before it came from Twitter. I mean, do they have a problem when it comes to the tools and enforcement systems for this kind of thing?

CANNICK: I think that Twitter, like a lot of other social media platforms, are grappling with how to deal with this. I mean, you know, free speech issue has come up. But also, it's just the issue of decency and what is fair and what is right. It did take them a while to respond, but they came out with the right decision.

SESAY: And the statement they put out, "People should be able to express diverse opinions and beliefs on Twitter, but no one deserves to be subjected to targeted abuse online. And our rules prohibit inciting or engaging in the targeted abuse or harassment of others."

This should have been an amazing moment for Leslie Jones, one of such joy, to be starring in a blockbuster like "Ghostbusters." Instead, it became this and now she's off Twitter. How much support has she received in all of this?

CANNICK: She's getting a lot of support from her cast mates from Hollywood, from around the world. They have several hash tags trending in support of her, you know, I love Leslie Jones and Leslie Jones appreciation day, and all of these different things. It's hopeful that she'll come back one day. I hope she comes back one day. I'll definitely follow her. And, you know, she needs to do, you know, what a lot of us do when we get tweets from people we don't like --

(CROSSTALK)

CANNICK: -- we block people. I'm the first person to block someone.

[02:55:30] SESAY: But not to trivialize what she's going through because I have received some terrible tweets, as well, in my career. And I know that, you know, it's the digital space. You don't know who they are. They're hiding behind, you know, the wall of Twitter, but it hurts. And it's very, very painful and very, very distressing. So we feel for Leslie and we're with Leslie.

CANNICK: We certainly do.

SESAY: Thank you. Thank you, Jasmyne.

CANNICK: Thank you.

SESAY: All right, thank you for watching. I'm Isha Sesay.

Up next, we're live in Cleveland for CNN's special coverage of the Republican National Convention. Stay with us.

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