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Russian Paralympic Athletes Banned from Rio; New Concerns About Doping; Storm Kills Dozens in Macedonia; Rally in Turkey Draws More Than 1 Million; Japanese Emperor to Make Rare Public Address; Philippines President Accuses Over 150 Officials of Drug Trade Ties; Ohio's Kasich Still Not Endorsing Trump; What Russia Is Saying about Trump; Depression Nearly Ends Swimmer's Quest for Olympic Medal. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 08, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:56] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Another record-setting day at the Rio Olympics. But away from the competition, allegations of doping take center stage. Russian Paralympic athletes are banned and questions are asked about Brazil's Olympic team.
Plus, agony in Macedonia as massive flooding kills nearly two dozen people.
And in the Philippines, the president has a message for government officials allegedly linked to the illegal drug trade. Turn yourself in or the security forces will come for you.
Hello, and welcome. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
An eventful day at the swimming pool on day two of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Michael Phelps led Team USA to gold in the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay, winning his 23rd Olympic medal. And American swimmer Katie Ledecky smashed her own world record in the women's 400 meter freestyle.
Earlier in the day, Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten suffered a heavy concussion and other injuries after she crashed during the women's road race.
And there are more woes for Russian athletes. The International Paralympic Committee has banned Russia from competing in the next -- in next month's Paralympic Games. The head of the committee says he was disgusted that Russia placed more importance on medals than morals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIP CRAVEN, INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE: What really got me, and I have to read this to get it right because, I mean, I am incredibly tired now. It is that the situation, as I said, is not about athletes cheating a system. But about a state-run system that is cheating the athletes. So I think if we look at that, we would have had nothing to consider if this didn't happen in Russia. And I told that to our board when we first started our five and a half hour- long board meeting before the Russian delegation came. I said of course you will feel under pressure. But if something
hadn't happened in Russia, we would have had nothing to consider.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Philip Craven there. And "WORLD SPORTS'" Christina MacFarlane joins us from Rio.
So, Christina, how is news on the ban on Russia's Paralympic team being received there in Rio?
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, I think there's been some degree of surprise and a lot of admiration for Philip Craven and the IPC, the move they took today. You know, Thomas Bach, the president of the IOC, came under quite a lot of heavy criticism for being soft on Russian athletes, for allowing 271 of them to compete here in Rio.
Well, his counterpart for the paralympic movement couldn't have been any stronger. And it's interesting when you look at some of the facts around the evidence that came out of that McLaren report about state- sponsored doping. When you consider that between the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and the Sochi 2014 Olympics, Russia's paralympic athletes actually more than doubled their medal count in that time. They went from 38 medals overall up to 80 medals.
And, you know, when I was interviewing Philip Craven earlier today I was really taken aback really about the strength of his conviction over how he felt and how important it was for the IPC to come out with a blanket ban today. And he said that Russian medals -- that the Russian's medals over morals mentality had disgusted him. And he actually used that word disgusted. It's very different from the approach we saw from the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach.
I was also interested to learn that the IPC had actually consulted with Richard McLaren who is the author of that report into state- sponsored doping multiple times to seek further guidance from him. That's not something the IOC has done.
[01:05:06] However, Philip Craven was very reticent to criticize the IOC in any way or President Thomas Bach. He said that they were partners in this, but that they were quite different and they had different structures in place. And that is what allowed him to make this decision today -- Thomas Bach to make the decision he took last Thursday.
CHURCH: All right. Let's turn to brighter news now coming out of Rio. Lots of highlights from day two of the Olympic Games. What stood out?
MACFARLANE: Well, we're just -- we're just picking ourselves off the floor after a really extraordinary night of swimming in the pool here. World records being broken. Gold medals flying all over the place. The two big ones of course came for the USA today. The men's 4 x 100 meter relay. The men's team took gold. And in amongst their ranks was a certain Michael Phelps who actually swam the second leg of the event. Now he wasn't -- he doesn't normally take part in this event.
But it seems that they called in the big dogs tonight. And it's a good thing they did because Phelps actually managed to pull them into the lead during his second leg and secure the win overall. It is of course Phelps' 18th gold medal. Sorry, 19th gold medal. I really can't keep up with this tally. And 23rd overall. And it's just the first of many we expect to come here.
Just before the men's race wins out, we saw Katie Ledecky, who we all have been talking about her so much as being one of the standout stars or the potential standout stars of this Olympic Games. Well, she came back from that win four years ago in London 2012 when she was just 15 years old. Now she is 19 and she took her first gold of the games this evening in the 400-meter freestyle, breaking her own world record in the process.
Now we must mention some upsets that we've seen this evening as well. Over at the tennis arena, both world number ones suffering an early exit. Novak Djokovic going out to Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets tonight. We don't quite know what was going wrong with Novak's game this evening but he was visibly very upset when he came off the court. You know, it's the second time running in the Olympics, he's actually lost to del Potro.
And then earlier in the night we saw Williams sisters, Serena and Venus Williams, three-time defending gold medalists in the doubles out in the first round to the Czech pair of Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova, who've never actually won an international tennis doubles match together. So a quite shocking results there in the tennis. The other thing we should mention is it gets back underway tomorrow, we hope, is the rowing event.
Now we've seen some real issues down at the rowing lake with the weather conditions. It's been extremely windy. And that's led to the postponement of the event for the past two days. We actually saw winds of up to 67 kilometers an hour today. We've been looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow. It looks like it's going to be back down to 10 kilometers now.
But, you know, in order for rowing to take place, there needs to be smooth, flat conditions. There needs to be no crosswind. Certainly we don't want to be seeing any capsized boats which is what we actually saw two days ago when the Serbian pair capsized. We also have the sailing getting under way tomorrow. So fingers crossed the weather will be back with us and things can stay as planned. Otherwise there's going to be a big backlog.
CHURCH: Yes. Absolutely. And before you go, Christina, what more are we learning about that shocking cycling accident?
MACFARLANE: It really was shocking, Rosemary. I don't know if you've seen it. But when Annemiek van Vleuten was coming down off the corner edge just not far from our live position here, 10 kilometers to go. She went over the front of her handlebars and actually landed on her head. Now we've heard from the Dutch team tonight that she is in a stable condition. She was actually concussed from that fall and unconscious. But she is suffering from severe concussion. And she has three small fractures in her spine.
You know, this is the second serious incident we've seen this week. If you remember, just 24 hours ago, we saw the French gymnast fall off the vault and break his leg. And this just indicates, you know, how much these threats are taking this once in a lifetime opportunity to really go for it. They're putting it all on the line. This is their only chance for many of them of getting a medal. And unfortunately, you know, sometimes it ends up in scenes like this.
CHURCH: Yes, it is certainly not for the faint of heart for sure.
Christina MacFarlane joining us there from Rio. It is just after 2:00 in the morning. And we will chat again next hour. Many thanks.
Well, the Kenyan Olympic team has sent home one of its managers over allegations he solicited a bribe in connection with doping. Reuters reports the track and field manager Michael Rotich was filmed demanding 10,000 pounds for bringing to give a warning of impending dope tests. Olympic officials felt he should leave Rio while the allegations are being investigated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ADAMS, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE SPOKESMAN: The NOC themselves has asked that he leaves because they feel that his presence is distracting.
[01:10:05] On the allegations, they're clearly very serious allegations. We wait to see the actual evidence, evidence either of malpractice or if actually this person could actually deliver what he was claiming he could deliver.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Official says the Kenyan track and field team has been one of the most tested teams over the last two years.
Well, the alleged case against Kenya's manager is just one of the doping scandals surrounding the Olympic Games. Now the number of drug test samples from Brazil's own team is coming into question.
Nick Patton Walsh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Drugs in sport. A plague. Russian paralympians banned. Many other Russian athletes as well. One Kenyan official sent home. What next?
Well, CNN can reveal the record of the host team Brazil is now under renewed criticism as they gave only about a third as many samples to their own anti-doping agency as would be normal in the crucial month leading up to the games.
Brazil's Ministry of Sports has told CNN they gave 110 samples between the first and 24th of July. Normally they admitted they would give about 300 for their team of 477 athletes, the second biggest at the games. They say they had problems because this laboratory, the only one in Brazil accredited by the world anti-doping watchdog to test Olympic samples, was closed down for about a month in late June because anti-doping officials said it wasn't performing well enough.
While Brazilian officials admit this means testing slowed, even stopped for a bit, it is now apparent they also stopped collecting samples from their athletes at the level they normally would. That could leave a permanent hole in their record of what anti-doping officials have called, quote, "the most crucial period that just before the games."
(On camera): Doping has overshadowed these Olympics, strange as that sounds in a setting stunning like this. But what's key is this is the home team, the host. They want to avoid scandal at all costs. So it is remarkable that in the crucial month before this city opened its arms to the athletes, Brazilian officials seem to have allowed their doping testing program to have slipped this much.
(Voice-over): Brazil's Ministry of Sport denies any wrongdoing and says the reduction in samples collected was partly because the laboratory wasn't able to process them, and had its accreditation suspended. A spokesman blamed the doping watchdog for closing the laboratory and said Brazil is doing, quote, "a very good job against doping."
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, as we heard from our Christina MacFarlane, day two of the rogue competition was dominated by the elements and high winds in particular. All the action down at the Lagoa Arena was called off following concerns over boats sinking or perhaps capsizing due to choppy waters and high waves. In fact, the Serbian team actually capsized during the men's semifinal.
We want to turn to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri now who joins us with more on this.
Now we heard from Christina. I mean, the big hope, everyone is crossing their fingers. They hope the weather is going to improve. What is it looking like?
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHURCH: Yes. And of course it's difficult because if one person is performing some particular sporting event and then the next one, the wind calms down, it's not really a level playing field.
[01:15:06] JAVAHERI: Can you imagine practicing for many, many years and getting the one windy day?
CHURCH: Yes.
JAVAHERI: Yes. CHURCH: Yes. Exactly. All right. Many thanks. We'll talk to you
next hour. Appreciate it.
JAVAHERI: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well, I want to take a look now at the medal standings after the second day of Olympic competition. The United States, China, and Australia are in a three-way tie for first with three gold medals each. Italy, South Korea, and Hungary round out the top six with two gold medals for each country. And when it comes to total number of medals, the United States leads with 12.
And you can keep up with all the news out of Rio on our Web site. It has the latest on the athletes, the venue, and the competition. It's all at CNN.com/Olympics.
Well, coming up, deadly storms prompt a state of emergency in parts of Macedonia. What is next for people there? We'll take a look.
Plus, Turks turned out in force for this massive rally. What it means for Turkey's president. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
[01:20:00] CHURCH: At least 40 people are dead in southern Mexico after tropical storm Earl caused landslides in Puebla and Veracruz states. The storm hit Mexico as a hurricane and was later downgraded. The National Hurricane Center says more rain may be on the way. An additional five to 10 centimeters of rain are expected overnight in parts of southern Mexico.
Macedonia has declared Monday a day of national mourning after powerful storms slammed the capital Skopje and surrounding areas killing nearly two dozen people. Workers have also set up emergency response centers to assess the damage caused by flash floods.
CNN's Erin McLaughlin has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disaster. Disaster.
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Please call someone, why, why," a woman screams. The haunting sound of loss. Not far away, a body lies covered on a road. State media says at least 21 died in Macedonia over the weekend. Saturday night torrential rain triggered deadly flash flooding in and around Skopje. In some places, more than three times the amount of rain expected in a normal month.
As the injured made their way to the muddied waters to safety, others fled by the truckload. Sunday morning, a survey of the devastation. A section of the capitol's ring road flooded, cars pushed into nearby fields, entire homes submerged, dozens of injured treated in hospital. Some blame a lack of infrastructure for much of the devastation. One expert blogged the main cause of the flash floods in Skopje, quote, "the excessive amount of asphalt and concrete at the expense of soil and vegetation resulted in the concentration and slow leakage of water. This was compounded by the lack of capacity by the sewer system, especially in critical places."
As residents tried to clean up, authorities struggled to respond. Reports of equipment shortages and slow response times. With more bad weather in the forecast, people are bracing for what happens next.
Erin McLaughlin, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Turks turned out in force on Sunday for a massive Istanbul rally. More than a million people packed a parade ground to denounce last month's failed coup. Supporters of the ruling party and the opposition attended. It was a show of support for Turkish democracy and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Senior international correspondent Arwa Damon has more now from Istanbul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is quite the rally, to say the least. Authorities had been expecting around 3.5 million people. It is absolutely packed with individuals beginning to come as early as 9:00 in the morning. And this is also unprecedented to a certain degree when it comes to Turkey's divisive politics because this is not just a rally that is being held by the ruling party, the AKP, and by President Erdogan supporters. You also have Turkey's two main opposition groups, leaders and supporters who are here as well, the MAP and the CHP.
Not invited is the HGP that the current government views as being too close, too affiliated with the PKK that the government accuses of being a terrorist organization. Still, the messages that we have been hearing from the various leaders have been quite clear. They have been thanking the Turkish population for standing up not for an individual political party, but for the concept of democracy in and of itself.
The president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, coming out and repeatedly thanking people for heeding his call to stand in the face of tanks, of the guns. It is ultimately arguably his ability to rally the masses that allowed his government to stay in power, that preserved Turkey's democracy, because no matter what a Turk may feel towards their government and its leadership, there is consensus by and large on that one fact, that Turkey cannot return to an era of military coups, that it must maintain its democracy.
President Erdogan also coming out and pledging that if parliament approves the death penalty, he would as well. Turkey has come under quite a lot of criticism for how it has handled the post coup weeks because of these massive sweeps that have taken place. Tens of thousands of individuals detained or suspended within the military, the educational sectors, hospitals, and the media.
Turkey says it had to do this because the Gulen movement that it says was behind this failed coup had infiltrated all of these various different institutions. Then, of course, there is the issue of the movement's leader, the cleric in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, Fethullah Gulen.
[01:25:05] And Turkey wants to see the U.S. take him into custody and then eventually have him extradited. How the U.S. reacts to this will be definitive of America and Turkish friendships going forward. But at this moment in time, we are seeing this arguably unprecedented level of Turkish unity being demonstrated here, unity behind the fact that Turkey must remain a democracy.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We turn to Afghanistan now and two foreign nationals have been kidnapped in the capital city of Kabul. Australia confirmed to CNN one of its citizens was taken. And an official from the U.S. State Department tells CNN it's aware of reports a U.S. citizen is one of the victims, but declined to confirm it.
Kabul's police chief says the two were abducted in the west of the city. He tells CNN an investigation is ongoing.
We'll take a short break here. But still to come, Japan's emperor is set to deliver a rare public address very soon. The news he is expected to give to his country. That's just ahead.
And the U.S. Republican presidential candidate from the Russian media's point of view. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to you all. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rosemary Church. Time to check the headlines for you this hour.
(HEADLINES)
[01:30:28] CHURCH: Well, Japanese Emperor Akihito will make a rare public address later Monday.
Our Will Ripley joins us now with more from Tokyo.
So, Will, this is, of course, very unusual. What is the emperor expected to say?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this is only -- this will be the third time in the history of mass media that a Japanese emperor has gone on either radio or television to directly address the people. And the Emperor Akihito, who is in the imperial palace behind me, prerecorded the message we're told some time within the past couple of days. He is going to say, according to sources, that he is getting older and that he believes his advancing age makes it very difficult to fully perform his duties as emperor, including hundreds of meetings every year, dozens of trips in and out of Japan. But what is tricky, Rosemary, this speech, about 30 minutes from now, also must acknowledge that under the current Japanese law, he is not allowed to abdicate. He is not allowed to step down, which means a complicated situation could be developing here as the Japanese emperor, with a history of breaking tradition, potentially does it yet again.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHEERING)
RIPLEY (voice-over): Emperor Akihito has served as Japan's much beloved figurehead for nearly three decades. He is the 125th emperor in Japan's history, but the first to bring the role closer to the public. A modernizer who sought to heal the scars of World War II, which was presided over by his father, Emperor Hirohito, who died in 1989.
JEFFREY KINGSTON, DIRECTOR OF ASIAN STUDIES, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: Emperor Akihito carved out a different role than his father. I think he looked at the legacy of World War II and the shared history with Asia as the unaddressed, unfinished business of his father. So he has done more than all of Japan's political leaders combined to promote reconciliation with the former victims of Japanese imperial aggression.
RIPLEY: As crown prince, Akihito broke with centuries of tradition, marrying a commoner, Michiko Shoda. The couple also raised their children themselves, previously unheard of in the imperial household.
After acceding to the throne, Akihito became known as the people's emperor, often seen interacting with ordinary Japanese during his ceremonial duties.
Akihito's compassion for his people was shown most clearly after Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011. He sat on the floor to comfort the victims, something previous emperors would never have done.
KINGSTON: He is extremely popular, and he has really helped make the imperial household relevant for the 21st century.
RIPLEY: In recent years, the 82-year-old has suffered from declining health, undergoing heart surgery and treatment for cancer, which have taken their toll on his ability to carry out his duties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is. It can be quite a burden, because both the emperor and empress take their job very seriously. And they work very hard at it.
RIPLEY: When the time comes, Akihito's successor as emperor is expected to be his eldest son, 56-year-old Crown Prince Narushto, who is already performing official duties around the world, sometimes on behalf of his father. But Emperor Akihito will be a hard act to follow, a gentle man with a
human touch who tried to unite a troubled nation and, in turn, entered the hearts of the Japanese people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY: In May, the emperor and empress already announced that they would be reducing their duties because of their advancing age. The emperor himself has had surgery for cancer and also a heart condition. And his message that he is getting older and perhaps indicating, without even perhaps saying outright that he would like to step down, can certainly resonate here in Japan, which has an aging population, a society that is shrinking. There are a lot of people with the average age that continues to rise, a lot of senior citizens here, Rosemary. So we'll have to see how the public reacts, because it will be up to parliament to actually change the imperial household law that would allow the emperor to do this. Right now, they're very focused on their other agenda, which is changing Japan's pacifist constitution, a very controversial bill. This could be quite a distraction for them as this unfolds.
[01:35:13] CHURCH: It certainly could. We'll be watching and listening next hour. You'll be monitoring what Emperor Akihito has to say and we'll talk to you about that.
Many thanks to you. It is 2:35 in the afternoon in Tokyo.
Voters in Thailand have backed a new draft constitution that would give the military more power. Early results from the country's election commission show more than 60 percent of voters approved the charter. Some see the draft constitution as a way to legitimize military rule after a 2014 coup. The official results of the vote will be declared on Wednesday.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is accusing over 150 officials of ties to the drug trade. Among the accused, members of the judiciary, congressmen and police. He warned they should turn themselves in without delay.
Our Ivan Watson joins us from Hong Kong with more on this.
Ivan, President Duterte's order for public servants to turn themselves in is extraordinary. Certainly, no surprise. He did threaten to crack down even before he was elected. How is this all being received?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It was one of his campaign pledges. And he won that election soundly to become president.
But what is remarkable is what has happened in just less than two months since his inauguration. You had this really remarkable speech that he gave Sunday in which he called on at least 150 standing and former mayors and police officials and judges to turn themselves in. Take a listen to an excerpt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RODRIGO DUTERTE, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: I would like to just give you advice. Once you hear your name mentioned here, you are now relieved of your present assignment. Report to the PNP within 24 hours or I will order the entire armed forces and the police to hunt for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The PNP being the Philippines national police, Rosemary.
Now, we have spoken to the spokesman of the PNP in the last couple hours who says that since that decree was made, 18 mayors and 31 police officers have surrendered.
But there have also been some questions. Our sister network, CNN Philippines, says that one of the judges named by the president has been dead for eight years. There are other questions being raised. No evidence was offered by President Duterte. And that has led to some human rights groups, some civil liberties groups criticizing him, saying that this name-and-shame is unconstitutional. For instance, there's a separation of powers, one group says, according to the Philippines constitution, which does not give the president the right to order judges, who are part of the judiciary, and not the executive branch, does not give the president the right to order a judge to turn himself in to the Supreme Court. Also, this is forcing the people who are accused to then give up their right of being presumed innocent. They are basically being named-and-shamed with that evidence, and having to clear their names in the court of public opinion.
So real questions being raised by this remarkable move by the newly inaugurated president of the Philippines -- Rosemary?
CHURCH: Certainly a real concern.
And, Ivan, talk to us about the wider drug war and how President Duterte's order comes in the midst of his violent drugs crackdown.
WATSON: This is another big question mark here. And I'm going to point us to an iconic photo now -- and I have to warn viewers that it is graphic -- that has emerged in the last week of -- that is just symbolic of the killing that has been taking place on the streets of Philippine cities since President Duterte and his war on drugs began. This photo shows a man who was shot dead in Manila. And there was a cardboard sign left next to his body accusing him of being a drug pusher, and then him being embraced by his grieving wife.
Now according to the Philippines police, at least 420 criminals, alleged criminals, have been shot dead by police, basically, in the last month and a half. There is a surge of these killings taking place. And the Philippines President Duterte has been ordering his police to shoot if any suspected criminal resists arrest. There have also been reports of perhaps hundreds of extra judicial killings of people who are suspected of being involved in the drugs trade. So you've had a surge in deadly street violence taking place.
There are also questions about whether the judicial system has the capacity to absorb thousands of people suspected criminals who have been arrested in the last month and a half. Take a look at these photos from a Manila prison that will show just the conditions of overcrowding taking place in at least one Philippines prison. I guess we don't have those photos available right now. But really remarkable images that suggest that the Philippines may not have the capacity to deal with this crackdown on the drugs trade in the Philippines that's being led by the president himself -- Rosemary?
[01:40:46] CHURCH: Very disturbing developments there, and covered by our Ivan Watson, joining us from Hong Kong. Many thanks to you, Ivan.
Well, his latest poll numbers are not encouraging. But the news is not all bad for Donald Trump. Why he is not losing any ground in the Russian media. Plus, the pressure of the sport almost ends the career of a young
Chinese swimmer. How she defeated the odds and made it all the way to the Olympic Games. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Hillary Clinton is expanding her lead over Donald Trump, according to an ABC News/"Washington Post" poll. The Democrat leads her Republican rival by 8 percentage points. That's double the lead she had four weeks ago before the Republican and Democratic conventions.
The Republican governor of a key battleground state is still not willing to endorse Trump. Former presidential candidate, John Kasich, didn't attend the Republican convention, which was held in his home state. He spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper about the criticism he received about that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[01:45:04] JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, STATE OF THE UNION: Paul Manafort said you were embarrassing your state of Ohio when you skipped the convention in Cleveland. You talked about the pressure you felt, people telling you needed to go, you needed to endorse. Were there back-channel efforts to get you to come to the convention? And who put the --
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, not really.
TAPPER: Who put the pressure on you? Who put the pressure on you?
KASICH: People would call, who were long-time friends of mine, and say you need to do this for yourself.
(CROSSTALK)
KASICH: First, you need to support the party. And secondly, don't give the impression that you're a Clinton supporter. That's just kind of this thing, you know. Well, let me be clear. I'm not, OK. I see four years of gridlock with her, total gridlock and meltdown in economics. OK. So that's one thing.
TAPPER: What do you see now?
KASICH: Pressure -- I see gridlock there, too. All throughout this, Trump said this, you say that. Why don't you slug him over the head? Look, my actions have spoken louder than any words.
TAPPER: Your refusal to endorse him?
KASICH: And think about this. I want to know when anybody had a convention in their state when they were the governor who didn't go in the convention hall. I mean, some people are really furious with me about that. But I did what I thought I needed to do.
TAPPER: Can Trump win Ohio?
KASICH: He is going to win parts of Ohio where people are really hurting. There will be sections he will win because people are angry, frustrated and haven't heard any answers. But I still think it's difficult if you are dividing to be able to win in Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: John Kasich talking there with our Jake Tapper.
Well, Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been called into question. In a "New York Times" op-ed, a former CIA director called Trump an unwitting agent of Putin.
Matthew Chance looks at what Russia is saying about the Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Kremlin's candidate. Certainly Russian state television is loaded with positive coverage of the Donald.
UNIDENTIFIED RUSSIAN NEWS ANCHOR: Eccentric Donald Trump.
CHANCE: This TV news anchor explains that Trump's just an eccentric billionaire who wants to make America great and normalize relations with Russia.
He is often painted here as a brave political maverick, who shares Russian concerns over American foreign policy, and is willing to find common language with Russia's President Putin, whom he has praised.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Between Hillary and Trump, Trump is the only one who sounds friendly. So maybe we can hope that he will be more friendly and more positive for -- towards Russia. DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION:
And by the way, wouldn't it be nice if we actually got along with Russia? Wouldn't that be nice?
(CHEERING)
CHANCE: Much of what Trump says about Russia has left U.S. allies aghast, but finds a welcoming audience in Moscow.
(on camera): Donald Trump's own foreign policy pronouncements have won him plenty of friends here in Russia. His recent suggestion that he wouldn't necessarily defend NATO allies in the event of a Russian attack raised eyebrows both in the U.S. and here. And his has vowed to look again at looking at annexed Crimea as part of Russia must have put a smile on the faces of many Kremlin supporters.
(voice-over): Of course, not everyone in Russia thinks Trump is their best bet. Some political analyst says he is Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, would benefit the Kremlin even more. At least she is predictable, they say, in her tough Russian stance.
But it's the unpredictability of Trump that may have most endeared him to the Kremlin-controlled media.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He will either be more inclined to do a deal with the Kremlin, or he will mess up life in the White House and on Capitol Hill so much by his erratic behavior that the American political class, the American system will be in permanent crisis. That is what actually Russia wants.
TRUMP: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.
CHANCE: He may not be the Kremlin's man, in other words. But he might prove a useful distraction from what the Kremlin does.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:53:43] CHURCH: One of the swimmers we're watching in Rio is Yvette Kong, of Hong Kong. Three years ago, depression nearly ended her career. Well, now she is back and churning through the water in her quest for a medal, and she spoke to CNN candidly about her struggles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YVETTE KONG, CHINESE OLYMPIC SWIMMER: My name is Yvette Kong, and I'm 23 years old. I swim 100 meter breaststroke for Hong Kong at the Olympics. It will be my first games.
I'm recently training in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's beautiful. I feel like I'm living. I'm training about 30 hours a week. I think it's not as tough as it sounds, because swimming and working out is something I love. I think it's been a long journey to the Olympics, having missed out Beijing Olympics and London Olympics. There are ups and downs, and I haven't peaked for six years.
So I think it's got to a point in about 2013 that I was -- I was done with swimming. I thought like swimming was over. I started to feel like I was dragging myself to work out. And I was in emotional pain. I felt numb, and swimming wasn't quite a joy anymore. It felt like a burden. So I was feeling like I was stuck in a black hole because I didn't know how to overcome the huge mental blocks around qualification meets. When I was at my lowest point, I seek professional help, and then that's when I started to realize that I let a lot of people's expectations burden me, or my own expectations burden me. And I wasn't enjoying swimming as a process. I was only enjoying it because of the outcome. So I realize that swimming was a lot more than performance, you know. It's about the memories I made, the relationships that build, and the skills I learned, the life lessons and all that. The whole experience made me realize it's OK to acknowledge that I wasn't OK.
[01:56:05] You know, after taking care of my well-being, my performances kind of went up eventually. And when I went to Edinburgh, I was -- I think it was at 13 level of performance in the 100 breast. And all of the sudden, I went to 107. I qualified for the Olympics. It was beyond my expectation. It was beyond everyone's expectation. You know, success is just around the corner, and we never knew.
I can't wait to represent Hong Kong. It's the country I grew up in, a place where a bunch of people that I would be proud to represent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And what a journey for her.
Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. George Howell joins me after the break for another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Do stick around.
