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At Least Eight Explosions Rock Thailand; Olympic Games Highlights; 2016 Presidential Race; Tensions Rising Between Ukraine and Russia; Turkey Proposes Fight Against ISIS with Russia; U.S. Government Won't Loosen Marijuana Restrictions. Aired Midnight-1a ET

Aired August 12, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:17] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm John Vause.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Isha Sesay.

Some breaking news to bring you. A situation in Thailand -- at least eight explosions in that country in the past 24 hours that have killed at least two people and wounded dozens more.

VAUSE: Two small explosions hit in Phuket just a few hours ago around the same time two explosions hit the tourist county killing one person. Two bombs also went off north of there in Hua Hin. Those explosions happened just 200 meters from where two other bombs went off Thursday night in that resort town, killing one person.

SESAY: All right. Let's bring in a CNN producer David Molko, who is covering this for us from Seoul, South Korea. David -- eight bombs -- walk us through what we know about these explosions at this stage.

DAVID MOLKO, CNN PRODUCER: Isha -- eight explosions, two dead, 15 injured across Thailand this morning. Most concerning probably, a couple this morning on the island of Phuket -- two explosions in Patong, that is the main tourist district, one of those on the beach. Police pointing out those were actually bombs that went off there.

Let's cross now from Phuket on the western coast on the Andaman Sea to the other side, Hua Hin, another tourist town. We saw two explosions late last night. They were in an area frequented by foreigners as foreigners were leaving the bars. That's what the police said.

Now this morning, two more bombs going off just a few hundred meters away from those. Police said they've locked the area down. They are now searching bags looking for signs of who may have been responsible for this.

And then again, Isha, in the south another set of explosions -- Surat Thani Province. Most concerning here, Isha, the fact that there are so many and that they seem to be hitting major tourist centers -- Isha.

SESAY: Yes. And with that the number, the geographical thread -- at this stage are authorities, are they saying anything about who they believe would be responsible for something like this who would have the capacity for something like this?

MOLKO: Isha -- it's early in the investigation here. I mean new information, as you know, coming in minute by minute with the news of those Phuket blasts coming in just a short time ago to us here.

I should mention that Southern Thailand Surat Thani Province, even further south, is known to have a Muslim insurgency. There are shadowy groups there who won a separate Muslim state. It is not unusual in the extreme south of Thailand near Malaysia to see reports of violence, reports of explosions. It is unusual to see bombs like this going off in Phuket and Hua Hin, again major tourist centers. It's summer holidays here in Asia you can imagine the people on vacation are concerned and they're family members across Asia are also very worried about them at this point.

SESAY: Yes. And what are we hearing about the emergency response to this? What are we hearing about what is happening on the ground in these locations after these explosions?

MOLKO: The details are scarce, Isha, but you can imagine that with so many going off in so many areas that everybody now is going to be taking a closer look at security. You can imagine the resort hotels in these areas, you can imagine people on the beach are going to become much more aware. Word is going to spread very quickly across the country especially in the tourist world that something may be going on.

The question for police at this point is who were the bombs targeting? Is this a concerted effort to target foreigners and tourists? Is this something that is disjointed and more random or sporadic? Those are the questions they're going to be asking and to answer in the hours and days to come -- of course, quite concerning across Thailand now.

And next week, I should mention Isha, the anniversary of the Erawan Shrine bombing in the city of Bangkok that killed 20 people. No connection proven to that at this point but again concern across Thailand this hour as these reports continue to come in.

SESAY: Yes, indeed. And we cannot overstate the importance of tourism to Thailand's economy to have these series of blasts and to have a number of them target tourist locations, very worrying indeed and could have a huge impact on their economy.

MOLKO: That's absolutely right. And you have to remember that Thailand is still actually under a military government. There was a military coup a number of years ago. This happens regularly and there was some violence then and the economy took a hit, tourism took a hit.

It has taken a while for them to rebuild and bring that back. And now, the concern again as you mentioned, what impact will this have on the economy? Is there more to come? How concerned should we be that there has been so many again in these tourist areas -- Isha.

[00:05:00] SESAY: Yes. David Molko joining us there from Seoul, South Korea. David -- very much appreciated. Thank you.

Well, he's the man of the games, isn't he?

VAUSE: Unbelievable.

SESAY: Unbelievable. American swimmer Michael Phelps proving to be unstoppable at these Rio Games. He won his fourth gold medal of the games just a short while ago in the men's 200-meter individual medley. Phelps has 26 Olympic medals, 22 of them are gold.

VAUSE: And you don't hear this very often, a tie for gold in the women's 100-meter freestyle. American Simone Manuel and Canadian Penny Oleksiak touching the wall at the exact same moment.

CNN's "WORLD SPORTS" Christina MacFarlane in Rio and joining us now live.

So for Michael Phelps four finals, four golds and there could still be more to come.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS: Isn't it incredible, John? I mean this is the fourth night I have stood up here now and led with Michael Phelps and it won't be the last. As you say, 22 gold medals and just four this week.

And you know what was really interesting to see in this one that he won tonight was the emotion that came out when he stood on top of the podium and accepted that 22nd gold medal. Not something we have actually seen from him for the past couple of Olympic Games. It really did mean something to him.

He is, of course, the first Olympian to win this -- particularly this, the men's 200-meter individual medley for four consecutive Olympic Games. And it was even more -- what was even more incredible, of course, is that 38 minutes later he came out and competed in the men's 100-meter butterfly.

Now he was actually losing this race going into the turn though at 50 meters he pushed off the wall and he ended the race in second position. And that just shows you what an incredible champion he is. He goes through to the final of that race which takes place later this week.

But his exploits did threaten to be overshadowed by what we saw next. As you mentioned the first joint gold in the pool for this Olympic Games and it came courtesy of two young swimmers, a 16-year-old Canadian Penny Oleksiak, as you say, and a 20-year-old American Simone Manuel. Simone actually becoming the first African-American woman to win a swimming medal in history of the Olympic Games and you could see what it meant to them both.

It was a bit of a disorientated moment when everyone was trying to figure out what was going on with the double gold but Simone Manuel in floods of tears. And I can tell you this hasn't happened actually since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. So -- a special night.

SESAY: Yes. And Christina, let's talk about gymnastics and, of course, all eyes on one young woman, Simone Biles who really has cemented her place as one of the greatest of all time.

MACFARLANE: Yes, that's right -- Isha. I mean, we expected the victory. But the performance was just spectacular from Simone Biles as we have become accustomed to seeing from here. She won the event -- the all around event tonight by two clear points. Now this is something that -- gymnasts usually win by tenths. And in the tumble we've seen she was reaching heights almost twice her body length which is about 4'9". And, you know, she has won ten world championship medals now since she first came to the scene in 2013.

But unbelievably, this is her first Olympic Games and she has two gold medals and, you know, we could see three more. She's looking to become the first Olympic gymnast, of course, to win five gold medals as she has still got the beam, the vault and the floor to come.

And one thing to look out for as these Olympics continue is her signature move. It's called The Biles and it includes a double layout with a twist and a blind landing. Not something to be trying at home but pretty spectacular nonetheless.

VAUSE: Very quickly what about rugby -- the first ever gold for Fiji obviously came in the rugby sevens. But they had this wrapped up by halftime.

MACFARLANE: Yes, oh my goodness, John. I'm so excited about this result because I have been following this team for the best part of two years for the CNN "WORLD RUGBY SHOW".

And as a Brit, you know, they absolutely smashed Great Britain this evening. It was 43-7 the final score. I couldn't be happier for Fiji even, you know, defying my home country because this is a country where rugby sevens is in their veins, you know, like Brazil is to football while Fiji is to rugby sevens. And they have been building to this moment for so long. Rugby sevens, of course, back in the Olympic -- well, this is the first time it has been in the Olympic Games and this is Fiji's first-ever medal. And it was gold, it was emotional. And I'm so pleased for those guys. They really deserved it.

SESAY: Great. Christina -- appreciate it. Thank you so much. We will speak to you again next hour. Christina will be back in the next hour -- I should say later this hour.

VAUSE: 45 or 35 minutes from now.

SESAY: You're not winning any medals for your math.

VAUSE: No. Not good.

SESAY: Live edition of "WORLD SPORTS from Rio de Janeiro.

And in the meantime, let's check the medal count. The U.S. is in the lead with 16 gold, China has 11, Japan has seven.

[00:10:07] VAUSE: Australia, South Korea, Hungary all tied with five gold. The U.S. still leads in the overall count -- 38 medals. Friday will bring more medals in swimming. Michael Phelps will race for the U.S. in the 100-meter butterfly and the women will compete in the long-haul 800-meter freestyle.

SESAY: The first athletics events of the games get underway with women's 10,000-meter race and shot put. And the (inaudible) world champion Australia will cycle for gold in the team pursuit against the defending Olympic champs, Great Britain.

Hillary Clinton is blasting Donald Trump's economic plans as nothing more than a huge tax break for wealthy people like himself and she Trump's approach to trade is based on fear and not strength. The comments delivered in a speech from a factory floor in Michigan, a part of a continued effort to set herself apart from the billionaire businessman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: One of the differences between Donald Trump and me is I'm telling you what I will do. I'm laying out my plans and I will stand by them and want you to hold me accountable for delivering results.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But there was not a lot of coverage of Hillary Clinton's economic speech. That's because Donald Trump has been dominating the news cycle with yet another controversy. He has been repeating comments that his Democratic rival, as well as President Obama, were actually the co-founders of the terror group, ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He's the founder of ISIS.

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HOST: Last night you said the President was the founder of ISIS. I know what you meant. You meant that he created the vacuum. He lost the peace.

TRUMP: No, I meant he's the founder of ISIS. I do. He is the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award.

Our government has unleashed ISIS. I'd call President Obama and Hillary Clinton the founders of ISIS. They're the founders.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, these are the founders of ISIS. These are the founders of ISIS because of bad judgment.

I didn't want to be there. But if he would have kept a relatively small force, he probably could have prevented ISIS from forming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Did you pick up on that? Let's bring in Dave Jacobson, Democratic strategist, co-founder of Jacobson and Ziber Strategies; and John Thomas, a Republican strategist and he's founder and president of Thomas Partners Strategies.

Ok -- guys. You know, Clinton just had that major speech today, if you heard. I mean there was not a lot of coverage because everyone is talking about Donald Trump. He keeps saying this over and over and over again. John -- you are chuckling and snickering away.

SESAY: I think he was shuffling uncomfortably.

VAUSE: We're in the Olympics right now. Let's see you backflip and try to explain this one.

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Tap dance my way out of this one.

Well, the fact is it wasn't a good choice of words but the larger point is true. Obviously they didn't -- he didn't -- they weren't the founders of ISIS. I don't think anybody believes Trump means that.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Over and over and over again.

THOMAS: Just to drive a headline. But I think the point was the fact they've allowed ISIS to grow and thrive under this current administration's watch while Hillary Clinton was part of that administration.

Look, for Hillary Clinton she shouldn't be complaining because if this election is a referendum on Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton will win. So Hillary can keep talking about the economy and doing that behind the scenes. But if we make this about bombastic Donald Trump he's not going to win this race.

SESAY: To that point, Dave, I mean how upset should the Clinton campaign be that they didn't get the coverage? Because at the end of the day, it was Trump playing fast and loose with the facts and really, some would say, digging his own hole.

DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right. At this point, the Clinton campaign just has to do no harm and they win -- right. They are putting states like Arizona and Georgia and North Carolina and Utah into play. These are traditionally Republican states so when there was all this talk months after Trump locked up the nomination that oh he was going to appeal to white working-class voters in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Now we are seeing Hillary Clinton grow with double digit leads in those states. And I think the challenge for Donald Trump is he's just continuing to sort of change the media cycle because two days ago we were talking about the Second Amendment and him suggesting that Hillary Clinton should be assassinated.

This is the guy whose campaign is in full-on meltdown mode and is imploding.

VAUSE: Is it really a meltdown John because -- or is this a tactic? This is the tactic that he did during the primaries. It was like deny anybody else any air time, any oxygen and he'll win. Is that going to work?

THOMAS: That worked in the primary because when you are running against 16 other candidates you are the only one people really recognize --

VAUSE: Well, it was until three and then there was two and then, you know --

THOMAS: Right. And the polls tightened as Donald Trump began to kind of hit his ceiling in the 40s. So the problem is, right now in the Donald Trump is like flat-lining the EKG of polls. It's not good. He needs a seismic shift and that means getting back to message. Talking about the economy and shifting.

[001509] Attacking Hillary Clinton, that's fine. In fact, that is a smart thing to do but just to attack her on the merits and getting off on these extreme statements you lose credibility of the argument.

VAUSE: Very quickly, we want to play this. Very quickly, Donald Trump back in 2007. Listen to this. You pick up the headline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: How does the United States get out of this situation? Is there a way out --

TRUMP: How do they get out? You know how they get out. They get out. That's how they get out. Declare victory and leave because I'll tell you, this country is just going to get further bogged down. They're in a civil war over there -- Wolf. There's nothing that we're going to be able to do with a civil war. They are in a major civil war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: That's interesting. Does he kind of think everyone is suffering from a case of amnesia? I mean what he's saying there sounds awfully like Obama's foreign policy that he's been bashing.

THOMAS: He has taken mixed positions on a lot of things.

JACOBSON: He is schizophrenic.

(CROSSTALK)

JACOBSON: He says one thing one day and the opposite the next day.

THOMAS: Hillary Clinton says she's for TPP now but --

(CROSSTALK)

THOMAS: Look, they're both hypocrites at a point in time. I think it's just we have to look at where the candidates are today and judge them on their statements today.

SESAY: But this is the same kind of -- he also says (inaudible) that if he doesn't win he has got a very nice life to go back to and could take a very long vacation. So I want to really question -- to John's point, what is really going on here? How vested is he -- is there a calculation here that we are missing?

THOMAS: No, I think he is vested. Look, he has never run for office before, never mind this level of office where every word you say is scrutinized, where message discipline is king. And he is just trying to the settle in. And the question is can he settle in, in time? I think the big question is, we were just talking off camera about this that if this continues until after the Olympics, it's really bad. There is still time to recover but if it continues past the Olympics he's in deep trouble.

VAUSE: Dave -- does Donald Trump think that news organizations don't have a library?

JACOBSON: Right, absolutely. I mean here's the thing. He went -- I think it was the "Washington Post" that came out with a story today during a deposition he lied 30 times or he misstated the facts 30 times. I mean this is a guy who is fast and loose with the truth and he just thinks that people aren't paying attention when the reality, you know, he was a Democrat a couple of years ago. He was pro choice a couple of years ago. He was pro-gun control a couple of years ago. We have all that information documented on footage, it's him on the record saying those things and now he is flip-flopped. And he's the complete opposite on all these positions.

THOMAS: And Hillary Clinton was against gay marriage.

VAUSE: Sure. See you both.

That's right. We are going to take a short break.

Because of all the problems within the Trump campaign, the Never Trump movement is rearing its head once again. We'll talk about that in just a moment.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[00:20:00] TRUMP: I'll just keep doing the same thing I'm doing right now and at the end it's either going to work or I'm going to, you know, I'm going to have a very, very nice long vacation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Donald Trump there contemplating life after the election should he lose.

Back with our panel here. So Dave and John with the polls going badly and Donald Trump saying it doesn't matter if I lose, we're hearing again from the Never Trump folks. They've written -- so many Republicans have written to the party chairman, Reince Priebus, urging him to stop spending any funds for Trump to help the down ballot.

This is what they wrote. "We believe that Donald Trump's divisiveness, recklessness, incompetent and record-breaking unpopularity risks throwing this election into a Democratic landslide and only immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck."

Ok. Now, this was Trump's response just a couple of hours ago on Fox News. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If it is true that's ok too because all I'll have to do is stop funding the Republican Party. I'm the one raising the money for them. In fact, right now I'm in Orlando. I'm going to a fundraiser for the Republican Party. So if they want to do that they could save me a lot of time and a lot of energy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: That's party loyalty.

VAUSE: How is that party unity working out for you?

THOMAS: Well, the fact is Donald Trump is raising the party most of its money. That's typically how it works. The nominee raises --

VAUSE: I meant the tone of the --

THOMAS: Well, but it was a disingenuous clip. I saw the clip and he said -- I've never heard it. This is the first I'm hearing of it -- he goes. But then he -- of course, that's classic Trump. But if it is true, forget them. But I don't think it is true.

The party needs Donald Trump quite frankly more than Donald Trump needs the party from a funding standpoint. Look, this is just the never Trumpians that are scared to death because they are worried about down tickets and they're saying, you know, cut all ties but there is just no way right through it.

JACOBSON: I think they're saying that Donald Trump is the cancer that is eating at the heart and soul of the Republican Party -- period. I mean this is emblematic of what we saw in 1996 where you have the Republicans peeling away from Bob Dole, the Republican nominee when he was running against Bill Clinton because everyone knew he was going to lose.

So folks shifted and they focused on those senate races and those house races to maintain some control over some of the legislature.

SESAY: Has the Clinton campaign come up with an effective strategy, in your view Dave, to kind of peel away some of these disaffected folks?

JACOBSON: Oh, precisely. I mean the day that Donald Trump rolled out his economic speech earlier this week, the Clinton campaign rolled out 50 heavyweights who are Republicans in the national security infrastructure. And I think she is continuing to sort of build and coalesce support with Republicans and that's why she's starting to peel away some of those Republican women votes which are critical to Donald Trump's coalition if he wants to have any pathway to victory.

THOMAS: To Trump's credit many of those 50 big names were part of the George W. Bush administration. Trump is running against that administration establishment. So of course, they're not going to be with him. The fact is Hillary Clinton doesn't have to get Republicans on her side -- the math in the presidential cycles favors Democrats. She just has to stay strong and steady and so far she's been doing that.

VAUSE: Ok. Let's finish on Hillary Clinton's economic speech today. There was a lot in it including on free trade -- a real popular stance by Secretary Clinton. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages, including the Trans Pacific Partnership.

I oppose it now, I'll oppose it after the election and I'll oppose it as president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: So Dave, apart from being drowned out by Donald Trump how much of a problem is it for Hillary Clinton being undermined continually though by the e-mail scandal?

JACOBSON: I mean she is still growing in the polls -- right. I mean I think the Real Clear Politics average has her about eight or nine points.

And so look, I think her objective at this point is to make the conversation about Donald Trump and to keep him on defense and to stay on offense against him. And I think she is accomplishing that objective at this point.

And look, the reality is she broke no new ground at today's economic speech. She talked about creating jobs, helping out the little guy, investing in infrastructure, expanding access to higher education. These are all the same things that she has been rolling out throughout the campaign. So it's not like she is rolling out new innovative policy she is just sort of continuing to, you know, talk about the issues that she has been campaigning on while keeping the pressure on Trump. And I think that's the right play.

SESAY: John.

THOMAS: Dave's right. Look, if this race is about Donald Trump, he loses. Donald Trump has to push back, make this a referendum on the last eight years and Hillary Clinton and litigate her policies. And she says she is against TPP now but as secretary of state she called it the gold standard of trade.

You litigate those issues -- they're not popular. And voters don't want to like her but they just dislike Trump more now. So if he doesn't get disciplined right away, it's over.

SESAY: And the chances of that?

THOMAS: Look -- there are stranger things.

VAUSE: Waiting for the pivot.

THOMAS: Right.

VAUSE: Gentlemen -- always a pleasure. We'll do it again.

THOMAS: Likewise -- thank you.

VAUSE: We'll take a short break.

When we come back, foreign policy is another issue in the election, including Ukraine.

Why some fear this low-level conflict may be about to boil over.

[00:25:08] SESAY: Plus some bad news for U.S. marijuana users, actor and activist Tommy Chung joins us for his take coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

And I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour:

VAUSE: At least eight explosions across Thailand have killed two people, wounded more than a dozen. Two bombs hit the resort island of Phuket a few hours, around the same time two explosions went off in Surat Thani killing one and another pair of bombs hit Hua Hin on Friday morning. Also two blasts went off in that resort town as well killing one Thai woman.

SESAY: In Aleppo, Syria activists and doctors these two children and their mother died of suffocation after a suspected gas attack in a rebel-held area. Activists say they believe a helicopter dropped a barrel bomb carrying choking agents, possibly chlorine gas on Wednesday. It is unclear who carried out the suspected attack.

VAUSE: Hillary Clinton delivered a major economic speech in Michigan aimed at setting herself apart from Donald Trump. But her Republican rival may have overshadowed that address in Florida Thursday with his repeated comments about Clinton and President Barack Obama calling them co-founders of ISIS.

SESAY: The most decorated athlete in Olympic history is hauling in more gold. American swimmer Michael Phelps won the men's 200-meter individual medley Thursday, his fourth gold in Rio, 22nd gold overall. He could top the podium again Friday when he swims in the 100-meter butterfly.

[00:30:01] VAUSE: Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are ratcheting up once again. Russia says it foiled a Ukrainian plot to attack infrastructure in Crimea. Ukraine says that's just a pretext for Russia or its proxies to carry out more aggression.

SESAY: The Kremlin has announced naval drills will be carried out on the Black Sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing Ukraine of embracing terror instead of peace. He was ordering his military to be on the highest level of combat readiness.

VAUSE: So here we are in the midst of the Olympic Games to the U.S. president heading towards the end of his second term. And Vladimir Putin makes accusations of a brazen attack for which there appears to be very little evidence.

Sounds familiar?

That was Putin's exact playbook in 2008 when he invaded the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. The only difference back then, the Olympics were in Beijing and the U.S. president was George W. Bush, which is another reason why many are concerned the Russian president could be gearing up for another go-round with Ukraine.

Ariel Cohen is a senior fellow at "The Atlantic Company." He joins me now from Washington.

Ariel, there is one theory out there that with the Russian economy in so much trouble because of sanctions and falling oil prices, a conflict in Ukraine would play well domestically especially ahead of parliamentary elections.

What do you think?

ARIEL COHEN, SENIOR FELLOW, THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Absolutely. But Putin also knows how to spot the weakness. And our weakness now is the election campaign.

We are paying attention to our naval mostly. It's called naval gazing. And the Europeans are eager to lift the sanctions from Russia. Because they want business, business, business with Russia.

So Putin apparently seizes an opportunity to make up some kind of an incident. They call it a terror attack and off we go. The massive military exercises called caucuses 2016, and some experts believe there will be military actions. Some experts believe there will be a lot of diplomatic pressure on Ukraine to comply with something called the Minsk Accords.

What Putin wants is to shift the balance of power in Ukraine, get people in the east, who are pro-Russian, elected to the parliament in Kiev and then basically grab Ukraine back into the Russian sphere of influence.

VAUSE: I get the feeling from you that you believe that Putin is not up for any kind of widespread military incursion into Ukraine. And one factor into that could be the fact that Putin has so much hardware already tied up inside Syria. Anything else at this point would be a stretch.

COHEN: Well, let's not forget. Putin has a lot of air assets. Not a lot, but he has some air assets in Syria. He's bombing. In Ukraine, it's ground forces. It's tanks. It's artillery. And, of course, the huge Russian army would dominate the Ukrainian army at any given day.

But, interestingly, the Russian naval assets are now tied up in Eastern Mediterranean in a big maneuver. Putin is fighting a two- front war. His economy is tanking. And I think that even if he does go to a military operation, it would be pretty limited, but it will be a very powerful punch against Ukraine if it happens.

VAUSE: Just with Syria in mind, though, just this week, Turkey's president met with Vladimir Putin from Russia. Now there is word these two countries might start joint military operations against ISIS in Syria.

Where do you see all of that heading?

COHEN: Russia and Syria will continue to be competitors. Putin and Erdogan are talking about this trifecta of Russia, Turkey and Iran. So I'm skeptical that Russia and Turkey will have a honeymoon in Syria.

Russia supports Kurds. We support the Kurds. We support the Kurds -- sorry. And the Turks are fighting the Kurds. Russia supports Assad. Iran supports Assad. And Erdogan, of course, does not like Assad at all.

So that is a really, really problematic area. Minefield for the Turkish/Russia relations. So I will remain skeptical about that.

VAUSE: There's a lot to be skeptical about it seems at the moment. A lot of uncertainty where all this could end up.

Ariel, thanks for speaking with us. We appreciate it.

COHEN: It's a pleasure.

SESAY: Very, very interesting indeed.

Time for a quick break. U.S. drug authorities respond to calls to loosen marijuana restrictions. What their decision means for pot users, coming up.

VAUSE: Comedian, actor and professor of weed, Tommy Chong is angry. He'll join us when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:37:20] VAUSE: A major setback for the supporters of legalized pot with the U.S. government deciding not to lift restrictions on marijuana. After lengthy review, officials announced the drug will remain what's known as a schedule one drugs, which is defined as having no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse and with potentially severe psychological and physical dependence. That keeps marijuana in the same category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy.

SESAY: Well, comedian, writer and marijuana advocate Tommy Chong joins us now for more.

Tommy, good to have you with us once again.

TOMMY CHONG, MARIJUANA ADVOCATE: Thank you.

SESAY: Why do you think the DEA continues to resist calls to reclassify?

CHONG: You know, you legalize marijuana, then the DEA -- we don't need the DEA. So there's really trying to hang on to their job.

VAUSE: Well, they do more than worry about marijuana. I mean, there is a lot of other drugs out there surely.

CHONG: Name them.

VAUSE: Well, there's ecstasy, there's cocaine, there's heroine --

CHONG: These sells as much as marijuana?

VAUSE: Yes. Well, not as much.

CHONG: You see, marijuana is the number one cash crop in America for years and years and years. You know what that means? Number one cash crop in the world. Billions of dollars. That's when it was illegal.

Now once it becomes legal, it's going to be the biggest cash crop in the world for beating out everything. And so we won't need police to tell us that we can't use this miraculous plant. It will be legal and will be available for everybody. And we're coming into that now.

SESAY: I mean, there was the opening today that they created allowing more marijuana growth for medical research. Many seeing that as a step forward. What do you see as the implication?

CHONG: It's a lame attempt. First of all, when the government grew medical marijuana on its own, it was a mess. It was horrible. It was terrible. That's why the black market, the people that grew it know how to grow a pot.

You know, they were supplying all the medical people with it. And now that we got medical marijuana, we can do that legally. We don't have to hide or --

VAUSE: But that's the thing. You have the federal government essentially saying this isn't legal. But you've got 25 states and D.C. saying that it's OK either for medical use or for recreational use. CHONG: Well, think about it. The DEA, first of all, they have forfeiture laws. So that if they catch you with a marijuana garden, they can take your house. They can take your car. They can take your -- whatever cash you have in the house.

If you have a weapon, a gun in the house with your pot plant, you can go to jail for five years. It's all in the law.

SESAY: You have said that the law is racist.

CHONG: Totally racist. You know, the law against marijuana is a racist law because --

VAUSE: How so?

[00:40:00] CHONG: Well, before it was called marijuana, it was called hemp. And the hemp farmers were mandated by the government to grow hemp, which is marijuana. It's the same thing. Marijuana is a slang for hemp.

And so when the government and Hearst wanted to sell his, you know, these tracts of land -- of trees for paper because marijuana makes the best paper, makes a better paper than trees, Hearst created this publicity campaign to demonize --

SESAY: And re-branding is what you're saying?

CHONG: Reefer madness came from that. And so what Hearst did and with the help of the government, they substituted marijuana for alcohol because alcohol prohibition ended and the government needed something to, you know -- and marijuana was perfect because it was a -- it could continue the racist laws that they have at the time.

Don't forget, America is very racist during that time. You know, to the point where if you look at the World Trade Centers, you know, 1903 trade centers, they had the --

VAUSE: The trade fairs -- yes.

CHONG: Trade fairs. They had blatant racist buildings made. You know, with black people that looked like black Sambo and Mexicans with sombreros and hats and that. So a racist community that started this racist law.

VAUSE: You know, it was a different time. But one of the things which is interesting about this decision by the DEA keeping marijuana at a schedule one level.

If you look at schedule two, that's drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine. It's difficult case to make that marijuana is more dangerous than those two drugs, isn't it?

CHONG: First of all if you approach like -- are we talking recreation here or are we talking medicine?

VAUSE: Well, either or both. CHONG: Well, recreation, like smoking, for instance is recreation or a habit, you know, and it's bad for you. But yet, you know, the government allows it like -- even though, it's been proven to cause cancer and causes everything, the government tells you that, but it's still legal. It's still allowed.

Whereas marijuana is the opposite. Marijuana helps people with illnesses. It's been shown.

You know, Sanjay Gupta showed that young baby, that 1-year-old baby, you know. And so -- and Montel Williams, he has M.S. to the point where that, if he didn't smoke marijuana every day, he would be in a wheelchair. He'd be dead. So for the government to have this ignorant attitude about that, it's not medical is just -- it's another lie. It's just a big lie.

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Very quickly, will it be legalized any time soon? Executive order with election coming up. What do you think?

CHONG: You know it's going to be legalized. And I hope.

SESAY: You said in your lifetime?

CHONG: I hope President Obama will make an executive order and legalize it.

VAUSE: OK. We'll see.

SESAY: Tommy, always a pleasure (INAUDIBLE) about the issue. Thank you.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. "World Sport" is up next live from Rio de Janeiro. Then we'll be back with another hour of news from all around the world. You're watching CNN.

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