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At Least 8 Explosions Rock Thailand; Trump Claims Obama and Clinton Founders of ISIS; More Gold for U.S. Swim and Gymnastic Teams; Aleppo Doctors Beg for Lifeline, Slam U.S.; Deadly Fire in Southern Europe; Russia Accuses Ukraine of Turning Back on Peace; New Quiz Compares Words of Trump, Jesus. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired August 12, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:12] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, new explosions rock Thailand's tourist hot spots. Several resort areas have been hit with bombs just in the past 24 hours.
VAUSE: Donald Trump won't stop saying Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were the founders of the terror group ISIS even though it's not true.
SESAY: And Michael Phelps races to his 22nd Olympic gold and he may not be done yet.
VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
VAUSE: We have breaking news out of Thailand. At least eight explosions have hit the country over the past day including in a number of tourist spots.
SESAY: Yes The latest blasts were this morning in Phuket, Surat Thani City and Hua Hin. Two bombs also rocked that resort town Thursday night. At least two people are dead and 16 wounded.
VAUSE: Kristie Lu Stout is following developments from Hong Kong. She joins us now live.
So, Kristie, this was a series of blasts spread out across Thailand. What are the details?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: As you just said a series of explosions just rocking this country in the last 12 hours, eight bombings in total in three cities. We know that two individuals have been killed. Two Thai women. 15 people wounded in all and Thai police said that most of the wounded are foreign tourists.
Now let's break down further where all these blasts took place. Starting first in Phuket we learned a few hours ago, there were two explosions Friday morning, two bombs went off 9:00 a.m. this morning Phuket, one at a popular Patong beach and one at Phang Nga beach. One person is suffering from minor injuries as a result of the explosion.
In Hua Hin, two explosions there on Thursday evening and an additional two explosions on Friday morning. Hua Hin is a famous resort town and last night 11 people were wounded mostly foreign visitors. A Thai female vendor was killed in the aftermath of that explosion. And Thai police tell CNN that the bombs there in Hua Hin last night, they were planted on a street where most customers are foreigners. They went off -- the bombs went off and the foreigners started to leave the bars and return to their hotels there.
This morning, two more bombs went off in Hua Hin near the clock tower. It's a local landmark. And finally Surat Thani City, in Surat Thani Province, two explosions Friday morning, the fatality was a female Thai municipal worker. Surat Thani, just some background for you, is south of Bangkok. It's not a major tourist destination but it is a major seaport. At this moment, it is not known if the bombings are connected. All this taking place in Thailand as the country is meant to be celebrating a birthday, the 84th birthday of the Thai queen.
Back to you.
VAUSE: Kristie, the bomb blasts are relatively common in the southern part of the country where there is an insurgency but explosions in tourist areas are relatively rare. What are authorities saying about that? Were foreigners essentially a target here or is it too early to say?
STOUT: Yes, it's too early to say but you just look at the targets here. You look at Phuket, you look at Hua Hin, these are major tourist destinations. This is what we know right now. There is no claim of responsibility. We are monitoring a press conference right now on what is happening here. But it appears that tourists were targeted in this attack.
We've also learned that their travel advisories that have been issued by the governments of Spain and the UK telling their nationals to stay away from these public areas. So tourists from those countries -- those two at least -- have been put on high alert. Back to you.
VAUSE: OK, Kristie. Thank you. Kristie Lu Stout with the very latest there from our bureau in Hong Kong. Thank you.
SESAY: And now to the presidential race in the U.S. Hillary Clinton is promoting her economic plans and trying to convince voters her ideas will work and Donald Trump's won't.
VAUSE: But her Republican rival is getting almost all of the attention. This time with his claim that Clinton and President Barack Obama are the co-founders of ISIS and they're not.
Here's Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's fast becoming a go-to line of attack for Donald Trump. That President Obama and his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, gave birth to ISIS.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I call President Obama and Hillary Clinton the founders of ISIS. They're the founders. In fact, I think we'll give Hillary Clinton the -- you know, if you're on a sports team, most valuable player. MVP. You got the MVP award.
ACOSTA: Trump's rationale is that the president's withdrawal from the Iraq war created the conditions on the ground for the terror group's to rise to power.
HUGH HEWITT, TALK RADIO HOST: He hates them. He's trying to kill them.
TRUMP: I don't care. He was the founder. The way he got out of Iraq was the -- that was the founding of ISIS.
[01:05:01] ACOSTA: Problem is, Trump once advocated a speedy pullout from the war, too.
TRUMP: And 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.
ACOSTA: Trump first called Mr. Obama an ISIS founder at a rally last night in Florida where he also referred to the president by his full name and slamming the White House over its handling of Russia.
TRUMP: Now we'll find out. But this was taken during the administration of Barack Hussein Obama. OK.
ACOSTA: Continuing that soft on terror theme, Trump also alleged that the Clinton campaign was aware that the father of the Orlando nightclub shooter was at a rally for the Democratic nominee this week.
TRUMP: They knew. But how would you -- how did you like that picture, him sitting -- 49 people killed. And that guy is sitting back there, and of course he likes Hillary.
ACOSTA: Top Trump campaign surrogates blamed unfair media coverage. But former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani insists Trump will still take part in all three presidential debates despite his battles with the press.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: You don't buy it?
RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP SUPPORTER: He's going to do all three debates. The negotiations which the federal commission has always allowed between the candidates.
CUOMO: Absolutely.
GIULIANI: It's going to happen. ACOSTA (on camera): At a rally outside of Orlando Trump once against
referred to President Obama as the founder of ISIS. At one point, he even said the president made a mistake by not leaving behind a relatively small force in Iraq. That also runs counter to what Trump said back in 2007 when he said the U.S. should declare victory and leave.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Kissimmee, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, let's bring in Dave Jacobson, Democratic strategist and the partner with Jacobson and Zilber Strategies, and John Thomas, a Republican strategist who is the co-founder of Thomas Partners Strategies.
Gentlemen, always good to have you with us once again.
VAUSE: Great to have you with us. OK, Donald Trump, he said it again. Listen to this. In the last couple of hours.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I'd call him a founder. Look, ISIS could have been knocked out and could have been knocked out pretty swiftly. The way he got out. We shouldn't have been in Iraq but we shouldn't have got out the way we got out, where he gives the date where he said this is when approximately, and then even in detail when we're leaving. He -- look, he has been, as a president, a disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK, so, John, you run campaigns. You're a strategist.
JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Lots of them. Yes.
VAUSE: Yes. Explain -- you know, explain exactly what is going on because there is a strategy here. It may not be a conventional one but there is a strategy.
THOMAS: Well, there's one of two things going on here. The one is he's looking to shift the news cycle to make it about an important issue which is terrorism, an issue in which he's thought to be stronger on fighting terrorism. And so I can see how they sit in the strategy room and go, this is great, we're going to push and attack Hillary Clinton. But then he takes it a bridge too far and he loses credibility. But he doesn't have to call them the founder. He can just say they're weak, they've enabled. They've helped -- allowed to grow. But in classic Trump style he goes a bridge too far.
SESAY: And Dave, you are sitting in Clinton HQ at this point in time and you see your economic speech, the one you brought up, to kind of show contrast between you and Trump get overshadowed the way it has by Trump's comments, are you sad or just saying, hey, go for it?
DAVID JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I'm popping the popcorn. You know?
(LAUGHTER)
JACOBSON: It's like this guy is like the renegade candidate and the gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats. Hillary Clinton just seems to sit back and enjoy and watch the show. The reality is, I mean, this guy's campaign is imploding. He's desperate to change the news cycle. Just days ago, for 48 or 72 hours we've been talking about how Donald Trump suggested that Hillary Clinton, should she be elected, should be assassinated. So he was desperate to change the subject.
The challenge is, Donald Trump continues to sort off come off as schizophrenic and as erratic and he says these outrageous things that are really starting to turn off his base voters. He's losing voters with Republicans now, Republican women, college educated Republicans, and Republican leaders. Susan Collins, a senator from Maine, just peeled away her support and says she's not voting for him.
VAUSE: And with that in mind, there was a letter apparently which was sent to the chairman of the RNC, Reince Priebus. It comes from more than 70 Republican leaders and this is what it read in part. "We believe that Donald Trump's divisiveness, recklessness, incompetent and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning the election into a Democratic landslide and only the 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. Trump did respond to this. He basically doesn't care. Listen.
(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.
[01:10:05] So if they want to do that they can save me a lot of time and a lot of energy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, I mean, the letter was seen. I mean, Dana Bash did have a copy of the letter and a number of reporters have seen it, Politico and a number of other news organizations. So assuming that it's out there, for Trump to respond like that, John, it's almost like party unity, whatever.
THOMAS: Well, the first part of the clip that wasn't shown was where Donald Trump said, I've never heard of --
VAUSE: Sure.
THOMAS: Not about the letter but about the RNC is actually contemplating this. He said, look, I'm helping them raise all their money, why would they -- why would thye not help me, I'm helping them? So I think -- and then of course he goes back to classic Trump, if they're not with me, you know, screw them. I just don't think that this is going to be real. I think Reince Priebus will support the nominee. That's what they have to do.
Look, Donald Trump has to make it -- this election about Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton having to defend her record. If Donald Trump is defending what he's saying, he's going to lose.
SESAY: Dave, you were in the Clinton campaign as an adviser, as a strategist, would you be telling them to focus effort on trying to peel away more of these disaffected Republicans or would you just say the path to is clear, you don't need this.
JACOBSON: I'd ask the question on the Republican side, what party unity? I mean, you were in Ohio for your Republican convention and the governor, the Republican governor of that state didn't attend, and in fact was in a war of words with Donald Trump's campaign chair Paul Manafort.
I think the reality is the Clinton campaign understands that the electoral map is fundamentally transformed for this election. They are actually adding staff in states like Arizona as it was reported today. In Utah they're reaching out to folks in Georgia. I mean, these are states that have gone red for decades that are now open to a Hillary Clinton campaign.
VAUSE: One of the issues is, you know, Donald Trump at his base, his very erratic base, and one of the problems that I think we saw tonight, there was a confederate flag being flown at one of Donald Trump's rally. And this flag was actually being sold outside, not by the campaign but by someone outside the event. It's not just a confederate flag but it's confederate flag with Donald Trump's name on it. Do you see a problem there, John?
THOMAS: Yes, it is a problem. But look, just like Hillary Clinton can't -- control that when she was in Florida, the father of the -- the Orlando shooter terrorist showed up directly behind her on stage. She can't control that just like Trump can't control his supporters.
SESAY: Yes. But do you worry that, you know, having that flag there, again it wasn't the Trump campaign who had it there, it was some supporters who brought it in, do you worry that once again what we're seeing is, again, this coalition, this hardening of this campaign straying into dangerous waters?
THOMAS: Look, there's fringe supporters on either party. I think what the Trump campaign has to do is try to control that as best they can and no one is going to be perfect. Look, they've got to make sure those flags --
SESAY: Are they trying hard enough?
THOMAS: His rallies are big.
VAUSE: Yes.
THOMAS: I mean, I'd say the same with Hillary.
JACOBSON: Right.
THOMAS: The guy who wandered behind Hillary was actually placed there by a Clinton staffer. You can't get behind the candidate at a rally without being moved there so --
JACOBSON: Right. You have the advance staff doing that.
THOMAS: Yes. Campaigns aren't perfect but you're right, they have to control for this.
VAUSE: And just explain, you know, for many people around the world who may not understand the significance of seeing a confederate flag being flown at a political rally.
JACOBSON: Well, at a time, right, where you've got these controversies in states like South Carolina who up until recently like had the confederate flag on the statehouse. I mean, this is a flag, this is a symbol of racism, of a divisive environment that our country had in a toxic environment that we had for, you know, hundreds of years. And so I think we're moving away from that but I think what it really embodies is the fact that Donald Trump has run a divisive campaign that incites violence and inspires hatred and fear, and it pits one community against another community.
It's precisely the opposite of what the Clinton campaign is doing. They're bringing unity to her campaign. They're bringing people together, they're making their campaign inclusive and they're trying to bring in not just minorities but Republicans, independents, all kinds of voters.
SESAY: And to that point, John, having that flag there, again, we understand, we'll just say it again, it wasn't the campaign. But having that there and people seeing it, people at home and independents, and people who are undecided again it just speaks to the fact that it is a divisive campaign and also I mean, I know that Trump is doing badly with minorities. Let's be clear.
THOMAS: That's an understatement.
VAUSE: Yes. This doesn't help.
SESAY: I mean, it doesn't help.
THOMAS: You're right. No, it's not the optics that he should be putting forward. Again if this campaign cycle becomes about Trump and any of his fringe supporters he will lose. He has to make it about Hillary Clinton and he has to talk about bringing jobs back, fighting terrorism but in the right way to frame it.
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: OK. Hillary Clinton, we mentioned she had this very big speech on the economy. She was answering a lot of the charges that were put out by Donald Trump earlier in the week. And she did take this populist tone especially on trade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will stop any trade deal that kills jobs or holds down wages including the Trans Pacific Partnership.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
[01:15:05] CLINTON: I oppose it now. I'll oppose it after the election and I'll oppose it as president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, she's made this shift, she's moving away from the free trade, doesn't like TPP. But again, you know, this is a candidate with a lot of problems, and particularly the e-mail scandal. There's a constant drip, drip, drip, drip. How much is that undermining her even though Donald Trump is sucking up all the oxygen at the moment?
JACOBSON: I don't think it's undermining her campaign at all. I mean, had she been running -- if she was running against Marco Rubio or John Kasich perhaps we'd be in a different situation. But she's leading nationally by 10 points. She's running up the score in states that Donald Trump said he was going to make inroads with. With rustbelt states like, you know, Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania. And so, like, she's got the wind at her back at this moment. Like her objective needs to be, I'm just staying on offense and I'm going to keep him on defense, and make sure that I got this continuous sort of buffer in the polls which she's got -- you know, leading double digits nationwide at this point.
(CROSSTALK)
THOMAS: Well, Dave's right in the sense of today we're not talking about it. But it shows an underlying problem she has. She has controversy. She's not trusted by most Americans and the second if there is a shift when we start talking about her and her problems that issue can be exploited.
VAUSE: Yes. Both the scandals this week, the e-mail scandal and the -- you know, the Second Amendment people, both underscores the problems that these two candidates have.
THOMAS: And let's not forget we're 90 days -- we're more than 90 days out. Anything can still happen.
VAUSE: I thought it was 87?
THOMAS: Is it 87? Come on. Who is counting?
SESAY: Are you praying for more time?
(LAUGHTER)
THOMAS: We do need more time.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: I can understand that.
VAUSE: OK, Dave and John, thank you so much.
SESAY: Thank you.
THOMAS: I appreciate it.
VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, Michael Phelps is not running for president but perhaps he should because he just can't lose. Details from Rio in just a moment.
SESAY: Plus people in southern Europe are hoping for rain as fires tear through three countries.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
[01:20:54] VAUSE: Just another day at the office for American Michael Phelps, a gold medal in Rio. This was his fourth gold. On Thursday night he won the men's 200-meter individual medley. It is now his 26th Olympic medal. 22 of them are gold.
CNN's "WORLD SPORTS" Christina MacFarlane joins us now from Rio.
You know, Phelps actually now breaks his record which is 2,68 years Leonides of Rome apparently. He won 12 individual titles between 164 B.C. and 152 B.C.
SESAY: You're such a swat.
VAUSE: Anyway, but incredible stuff. I'm not. Incredible stuff.
CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That is a fact I have not heard yet, John. Well done.
VAUSE: Yes, yes. I go deep. Deep dive.
MACFARLANE: A deep dive. I like it, indeed. Yes, and as you were saying, 22nd gold and the fourth of the week. It feels slightly run of the mill to be talking about Phelps again, and leading on Phelps. But I'll tell you what, this victory tonight, it really seemed to mean something to him maybe even more than the other medals we've seen because when he stepped on the podium this evening he broke into tears, crying throughout the national anthem, looking up in the crowd at his baby boy and at his fiancee.
And obviously this is the fourth time in the Olympics that he's come out and he's won this event four times running. And it wasn't just that event of course in the pool. He had one 38 minutes later, he came back and he competed in the men's 100-meter butterfly. And it was quite interesting to watch because going into this race Phelps was actually losing at the turn. He was the last. He was the furthest back. When he made the turn he then managed to catch up so much ground that he finished second.
So two races within 45 minutes, that is just -- just shows you what an incredible champion he is. He's going to go on of course and compete in that final tomorrow. But his exploits may have been slightly overshadowed by the race that came up just after Phelps. That was where we saw our first double gold of the competition and it came courtesy of two young female swimmers, 16-year-old Canadian Penny Oleksiak and 20-year-old American Simone Manuel.
Manuel actually becoming the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold swimming medal. And you can see what it meant to her. Another one who burst into tears when she realized the result. But I have to say there was some confusion when everyone was figuring out who got the gold, who got the silver and the bronze. And it's the first time since the Sidney Olympics in 2000 that we've actually had a double or a joint gold. So a lot of excitement.
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: When you think about how they split the times, and what, they go down to a couple of decimal points, you know, in a second, to actually have a dead heat is amazing.
SESAY: That sounded pretty special. No confusion about U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, though. Very, very much the woman of the tournament. Another medal and more could be around the corner.
MACFARLANE: That's right, Isha. I mean, the victory wasn't a surprise but the performance as always from Simone Biles was spectacular. And you are talking about margins in swimming. Well, what about the margins in gymnastics? Because Biles won by over two points. Now this is in gymnastics an event that is usually won by tenths, not by points. And that's something that she achieved, you know, adding to her medal tally here, she's taken two gold medals now. She of course has 10 world championship titles as well since she burst on to the scene back in 2013.
But she's not done yet. She's got three more potential golds to go. And in gymnastics, you know, even the top athletes who are, you know, competing in all of these events are usually dominant in one field but Biles is so good that she can compete for gold in all five. And we've got to see her coming out now in the beam, the vault and the floor. And I'm particularly excited to watch her in the floor routine because she has a signature move that even the men can't pull off, according to Simone Biles.
But it's called the -- it's called the Biles and it's a double layout with a twist and a blind landing. You'll know it when you see it. And it's not one to try, I think, at home. We'll keep it to Simone Biles.
[01:25:04] SESAY: It sounds dizzying.
VAUSE: Yes. (LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Finally here, Rugby Sevens and boy, Great Britain, they got a thrashing at the hands of Fiji for the Fijians to take a gold.
MACFARLANE: They did. They did, John. But I tell you what, it was a really emotional scene to watch Fiji here. Of course Rugby Sevens making its debut at the Olympic Games and Fiji winning their first ever Olympic medal and it was fitting that it came in the Rugby Sevens because this is a country who live, breathe and eat Rugby Sevens. You know, they have no -- barely have Wi-Fi on the islands out there in Fiji and so all they do 24/7, and I'm not kidding, I've spoken to Ben Ryan, their coach about this, is they watch Rugby Sevens and they play Rugby Sevens. It's like football is to Brazil, well, Rugby Sevens is to Fiji.
And I've been following these guys around the world on the Sevens world series circuit and just earlier this year they suffered a bit of tragedy because a cyclone hit Fiji back in February. 44 people were killed, 40,000 homes flattened and it really meant something to these guys to come here and to try and, you know, do this for their country. It will really lift the entire mood of Fiji. And I haven't seen video yet but I'm sure back home there is quite the celebration going on right now.
VAUSE: Indeed. I actually have and there is some amazing pictures coming out of Fiji. And also New Zealand where there is a lot of Fijians as well. Big Fijian community there. They have been celebrating like there is no tomorrow and they deserve it.
We should mention the South Africans picked up the bronze and the Australians and New Zealand nowhere to be seen in the rugby. Incredibly. OK.
MACFARLANE: All right. Next time.
VAUSE: Thanks, Christina.
SESAY: Thanks, Christina.
All right. Let's check the medal county then, shall we? The U.S. is in the lead with 16 gold, China has 11, Japan has 7.
VAUSE: Australia, South Korea and Hungary all tied with five gold. The U.S. still leads in the overall count with 38 medals.
SESAY: Friday will bring more medals in swimming. Michael Phelps will race for the U.S. in a 100-meter butterfly. And the women will compete in the long haul 800-meter freestyles.
VAUSE: The first athletics events of the games will get underway with the women's 10,000-meter race and shot put. As the battle grow, world champ Australia will cycle for gold in the team pursuit against defending Olympic champ Great Britain.
SESAY: A lot to look forward to. Let's take a break now. Next on NEWSROOM L.A. the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Why it could be about (INAUDIBLE).
VAUSE: Also ahead, the few doctors remaining in the Syrian city of Aleppo say time is running out for thousands of civilians who are trapped.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:04] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Vause.
Let's check the headlines this hour.
(HEADLINES)
SESAY: We are seeing widespread destruction and unimaginable suffering in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
VAUSE: A group of doctors there says thousands of civilians are facing inescapable death.
Elise Labott has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Aleppo's last remaining doctors, just 15 who remain in the besieged city, are begging for a lifeline and slamming the U.S. for failing to stop the horrific bombing, writing in an open letter, quote, "We have seen no effort for the United States to lift the siege or even use its influence to push the parties to protect civilians."
Russian air strikes helping regime forces have devastated Aleppo. Hospitals are frequent targets.
The doctors write, "Last month there were 42 attacks on medical facilities in Syria, 15 of which are hospitals in which we work. Right now there is an attack on a medical facility every 17 hours. At this rate our medical services in Aleppo could be destroyed in a month, leaving 300,000 people to die. What pains us most as doctors is choosing who will live and who will die."
UNIDENTIFIED PHYSICIAN: You are trying to work in a hospital with no clean water, no electricity, no medical supplies and all those victims coming over.
LABOTT: The doctor's appeal comes as the U.S. is investigating another poisonous gas attack in a neighborhood in Aleppo. Chilling footage shows victims in the hospital as aid workers sift through the rubble.
This man describes smelling gas and gasping for breath. The raid, despite the Russian pledge to stop military action to allow for humanitarian aid.
Last week, President Obama acknowledged the challenges of trying to solve the conflict in Syria.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been wrestling with this thing now for a lot of years. There's not a meeting I don't end by saying is there something else we could be doing that we haven't thought of?
LABOTT: But Aleppo's doctors warn, "We don't need tears or sympathy or even prayers. We need our action."
That will come too late for this first responder, notorious for pulling a baby out of the rubble --
(SHOUTING)
LABOTT: -- and who colleagues say died.
(on camera): The White House says it is working around the clock to try to get an agreement with Russia to end the violence and allow aid into Aleppo. But the doctors on the front lines tell us, by failing to stop the violence by Russia and the regime over the last six years, the United States shares some of the burden of responsibility.
Elise Labott, CNN, the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Hassan Twiet joins us now via Skype from Irvine, California. He's the president of the Syrian-American Council, Los Angeles Chapter.
Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Twiet.
I want to read part of the letter from the Aleppo doctors to the U.S. President. Part of what they say is this: "What pains us most as doctors is choosing who will live and who will die. Young children are sometimes brought into our emergency rooms so badly injuries that we are have to prioritize those with better chances or simply don't have the equipment to help them. Two weeks ago, four newborn babies suffocated to death after a blast cut the oxygen supply to their incubators. Gasping for air, their lives ended before they had really begun." They go on to say, "The U.S. president deserves some of the blame for what is happening in Aleppo."
Is that how you see it?
[01:35:26] HASSAN TWIET, PRESIDENT, SYRIAN-AMERICAN COUNCIL, LOS ANGELES CHAPTER: Thank you for having me, Isha. It's a pleasure to be on CNN, especially international.
It's been a crisis for six years we have been talking about this date, there is going to be a day where we cannot find oxygen. The Syrian people have suffered from every type of death, from air, from ground, from water, from electricity. Every imaginable way of death they experienced it. And unfortunately, the impotency of the international community, the Europeans, the Africans, the Americans, the Obama administration, the United Nations, they all carry responsibility. Can you imagine? The United Nations request not do anything at this point, neither, like, safe corridor, no-fly zone. We asked the Obama administration in 2012 in an open letter by the -- most the American- Syrian who live in the United States, and they refused. They say this is a declaration of war. What type of war they're talking about right now? The Russians are bombarding everything, everything is living. They are using every type of mustard gas, chloride, prohibited weapons in the international area. They all are using it. Unfortunately, no one can stop them.
We don't want people to feel sorry right now. Ban Ki-moon was in L.A. yesterday and he was worried. Worried about what? I mean this United Nations, with all its power, they cannot do anything? Yes, I will blame the Obama administration for this because inaction got us to this point.
SESAY: You talk about the U.S. inaction. Obviously, there is a U.S.- led coalition fighting ISIS on the ground there. Do you want to see U.S. boots on the ground?
TWIET: No, definitely not. The Syrian people did not ask any boot or any foreign entity on the ground. They can defend their democracy. All they want is freedom, dignity and justice for all. And they will die for it.
We -- the Syrian people made up their minds and, unfortunately, we have a regime that is worthless. For 50 years, they migrated 50 million people throughout the country. They killed almost about a million people and they have actually access to every evil you can imagine in the region, such as the Iranian government, the Hezbollah government, the ISIS, the al Qaeda. When we were in Iraq, they were supporting. So I think the inactions of the Obama administration led to the ISIS to be flourishing in Syria. Syrian communities and Syrian populations and Syrian people, it's not of their nature to have an entity like ISIS or al Qaeda.
SESAY: Hassan Twiet, we are out of time. But we appreciate you coming on and just laying out things as you see it, and driving home the desperate plight of people in Aleppo and in Syria as a whole.
Thank you so much for joining me.
TWIET: Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. Thank you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And we will take a short break. When we come back, Russia accuses Ukraine of turning its back on peace. Why the Kremlin says this man is a terrorist.
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[01:41:58] VAUSE: Dry weather in southern Europe is making it tough for crews battling fires in France, Portugal and Spain.
SESAY: Flames have forced thousands of people to evacuate and destroyed homes. A fire burning in Marseille is the worst the city has seen in 20 years.
Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now with more on the fires and the forecast.
Hey, Derek.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John, Isha, fortunately, the fire just outside of Marseille is contained, but not before blazing at least 3300 hectares. You can see the satellite perspective of all the hot spots. There is Marseille and Spain and you can see the high concentration across northern Portugal. We have all the components the necessary ingredients for these fires to rage out of control. Very dry seasons fueling the flames, hot temperatures and oxygen, which is being fanned in by the windy conditions. The high pressure settles in. No release in terms of temperatures until the middle of next week as a cold front slides in by Wednesday. No rain for this forecast. And making it more difficult for firefighters battling this blaze is the fact that these fires are contained or at least found in some of the most mountainous terrains. Not only is it difficult to get to the fires, the winds can be erratic across the mountains, and make it more difficult to battle the blazes. We can point fingers on what is responsible for the fires, John and Isha, but the truth of the matter is 90 percent of wildfires are human-caused.
Back to you.
SESAY: Oh, dear.
VAUSE: OK. Derek, thank you.
SESAY: Thank you, Derek. Appreciate it.
Worries are growing in Ukraine that it could be the target of more Russian aggression. Russia says they have proof that Kiev sent terrorists to destabilize Crimea.
VAUSE: Officials in Ukraine say that is a baseless claim, nothing more than justification for military action by Russia or its proxies.
Phil Black has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Could these scattered items trigger a large-scale military conflict in Ukraine? Russia's secret security service released, the FSB, released this video which it says shows explosives and weapons intended to be used against targets in Crimea, the large peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine two years ago. The FSB says this man was one of the Ukrainian saboteurs. It stopped operations but it also resulted in the deaths of two Russian personnel.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
BLACK: Russian President Vladimir Putin says these events cannot be allowed to pass, and he accuses Ukraine's government of embracing terror instead of peace.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko described the accusations as "insane and a pretext for imminent Russian military action." He's ordered Ukrainian forces to their highest state of alert.
Once again, in Ukraine, tensions have suddenly escalated and there is a sense anything could happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It does present this idea of either something is stirring in Ukraine again, some form of potential offensive, or Russia is using this as a pretext to blame Ukraine for not being very cooperative.
(GUNFIRE)
[01:45:23] BLACK: Meanwhile in Ukraine's east, this is what a ceasefire looks like.
(GUNFIRE)
BLACK: These are Ukrainian government soldiers. There is daily fighting in this part of the country where the militants have carved out their own territory. International observers say June and July saw a big spike in violence. And the United Nations points to a dramatic increase in civilian casualties, mostly from heavy weapons.
This was all supposed to stop after the signing of the Minsk agreement in February of last year but, since then, all parties have continually accused each other of breaking the deal.
The U.S. view, Russian's violations are more frequent and more serious. America's ambassador to Ukraine, Jeffrey Piet, tweeted, "Russia has a record of frequently levying false accusations at Ukraine to deflect attention from its own illegal actions." He says new Russian weapon systems have made the situation more volatile.
Russia denies fuelling the war. Analysts say that is key to Russia's policy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Russia can always distance itself from being involved in the conflict. So the separatists in the east are not in Russia's narrative. They're not Russians. They're not supported by the Russian state. What is happening in Crimea is Ukraine's fault in their eyes.
BLACK: It's not a frozen conflict, regularly boiling over and reminding the world there is an active European war with a potential to escalate much further.
Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Germany is rethinking citizenship laws in response to the threat of more terror attacks. The interior minister says citizenship could be revoked for Germans who fight for ISIS in Iraq or Syria. SESAY: Two attacks last month have been linked to ISIS. Also under
consideration, deporting asylum seekers planning attacks and boosting cybersecurity.
VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, what would Trump do? The quiz that compares that what Donald Trump says and the words of Jesus.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
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[01:51:19] SESAY: Donald Trump famously says his book "The Art of the Deal" is his second favorite after the Bible. And taking that one step further, two Christian writers have come up with an online quiz that brings together the Biblical wisdom of Jesus and the modern phrases of Donald Trump. They ask users to guess who said it, Trump or Jesus.
Let's give it a try.
SESAY: Here is the first quote. "Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth." That is a quote from Jesus. Jesus says this in the book of Matthew. It is one of the eight beatitudes.
VAUSE: Let's try another one. "My I.Q. is one of the highest, and you all know it. If you feel stupid or insecure, it's not your fault." That is definitely Jesus.
(LAUGHTER)
No, it's Donald Trump. He tweeted that out in 2014.
Joining us are the creators of the Trump or Jesus quiz, Greg Karber and Dani Messerschmidt.
Thank you for being with us.
SESAY: And welcome. It's good to have you with us.
And 1.5 million people have taken the quiz which is amazing. But what has been the reaction to it?
DANI MESSERSCHMIDT, CO-CREATOR, JESUS/TRUMP QUIZ: It seems like overall it is really positive. One thing we were surprised about is a lot of people -- we didn't anticipate how funny people would find it. It seems like it has been --
GREG KARBER, CO-CREATOR, JESUS/TRUMP QUIZ: Yeah, people are amused by it. Over the last couple of days more Trump supporters have started to take the quiz.
VAUSE: You were a Bernie supporter and you are a Clinton supporter.
KARBER: Yes, I am.
VAUSE: And you are both Christian. I guess, what is the purpose behind this?
KARBER: Well --
(CROSSTALK)
KARBER: Well, we think over the last year people have gotten used to the things that Trump says and they have been normalized in a way they weren't a year ago. And we wanted to make this quiz to kind of give people perspective in a way. And somehow make people realize the kind of things that Trump has been saying and how much they go against people's beliefs.
SESAY: Why do you think he is appealing to a substantial number of Christians?
MESSERSCHMIDT: I mean, I think it's a lot of reasons. I think a lot of people have been very -- are very reluctant to empathize with Hillary Clinton and to support her especially in the Christian communities that have been more traditionally Republican. And I think that you know, it's hard to say exactly but it just seems that people are falling back on what they've done for a long time without really dealing with the fact that Trump is very different from the last Republican candidates and it's a different ball game.
VAUSE: There was a Pastor Robert Jeffries, who has a mega church in Texas. He says he would vote for Trump over Jesus. This is what he said. I don't know if you have heard it but here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT JEFFRIES, PASTOR (voice-over): I'm looking for somebody who is going to deal with ISIS and exterminate ISIS I don't care about that candidate's tone or vocabulary. I want the meanest, toughest son of a you-know-what I can find, and I believe that's Biblical.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And yesterday, Trump explained more about their relationship and why it works. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Donald Trump may not be perfect. But he knows how to win. And maybe he's not as good, and maybe he's not as perfect on the Bible. But I did go to Sunday School for many years, I want to tell you that. OK?
(LAUGHTER)
But he may not be perfect. But he's ours.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Is that what it comes down to for many of the conservative Christians, the right-wing Christians, they want someone who is going to win and they like someone who is strong?
KARBER: If people think their Christian faith tells them that exterminating and winning are the central virtues of their religion then that is a form of Christianity different than the one I was raised in and is foreign to me.
[01:55:21] SESAY: You are trying to stake out a space other than the Christian right talking about the Christian left.
(CROSSTALK)
KARBER: And I think a lot of the teachings of Jesus appeal mostly to the Christian left. He healed the sick and fed the poor. Like, this is the central part of Jesus' teaching, is that whatever you do for the least of the people you do for Jesus. And you know, that couldn't be more opposed to the message of Trump and to the message of the Christian right.
VAUSE: One of the problems that the right-wing Christians have is often the issue of abortion, which is embraced by Democrats. How do you deal with that?
KARBER: I mean, I think there will always be areas where you differ with any particular candidate. It's a decision that every person has to make on their own.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Good luck with it. The website was lots of fun.
SESAY: Yeah.
VAUSE: We had fun playing.
And I knew that was Trump that said that not Jesus.
SESAY: You are not even sure now when you say it.
(LAUGHTER)
Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Thanks, guys.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: And you have been watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay.
We'll be back with another hour of news right after this.
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