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Turkish Forces Battling ISIS on Syrian Border; Thousands Gather to Mourn Earthquak Victims; Gun Violence Debate Dominates Campaign Trail; Trump Top Aide Under Fire for Anti-Semitism; Controversy Around "Birth of a Nation" Star. Aired 12-12:30a ET

Aired August 28, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:13] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A blow to ISIS, after seizing a town earlier this week, Turkish forces say they'll stay as long as needed to cleanse the terror group from the Syrian border.

Saying good bye, thousands gather to say farewell to victims of Wednesday's earthquake in Italy.

And the issue of gun violence on the campaign trail, U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump said the shooting death of a mother in Chicago reaffirms what he says about the African Americans needing safer communities and needing Trump to help.

These stories are all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

Turkey is ramping up its military operation in Syria. Earlier this week, its forces helped Syrian rebels liberate the city of Jarablus, near the Turkish border. That cloud of dust is coming from a Turkish tank moving in.

It's part of an operation to drive ISIS out of the border area, and keep Kurdish militias from taking the ground ISIS is losing. This war is confusing. Our Nick Paton Walsh reports.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Speaking just recently on Turkish television, the deputy prime minister, Numan Kurtulmus, was pretty clear in suggesting a fairly wide scope for this operation now. He made a reference to something called the Marea- Jarablus line, Jarablus that substantial town taken from ISIS on the border.

Marea is another town substantially to its west, which actually is located right below the major border crossing known as Bab al-Salam. Now that area has had Turkish-friendly Syrian rebels in it for quite some time, but it's been separated by Jarablus obviously because ISIS have controlled that turf.

What we're hearing today is that Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have been moving west into villages along that border area, and, according to deputy prime minister, appear to have a end goal of reaching Marea, establish this Marea-Jarablus line. Now that's a pretty big swathe. Of course the Turkish-Syrian border is over 1,000 kilometers long, but it's a pretty big swathe of territory for them to hold, and it would of course give those Syrian rebels, who've often lacked a proper foothold, quite a bit of border as their own territory.

And that would then enable them potentially to move southwest towards Al-Bab, also held by this (ph) their major last stronghold in that area, but also potentially too out east towards Manbij.

Now Manbij, after U.S. assurances, has technically been released, or given back, to the local population by the Kurds that are backed by the United Sates, known as the SDF, a force that the U.S. put together to fight ISIS because they are effective, because they were disciplined on the ground. It has some Sunni Arabs in it, but it's mostly Kurdish.

There are people left behind in control of Manbij, who the Kurds say are basically local fighters. Now we're hearing also today that there may be new clashes south of Jarablus, potentially between these forces the Kurds left behind, who are partially Kurds and Kurdish-backed, and also the Syrian rebel units that have moved into Jarablus.

That's still playing out now, but it's yet another dangerous dynamic here, but mostly importantly today, we're getting a sense really of the sheer scope of this Turkish operation, and it's about taking a pretty big part of this border.

ALLEN: Nick Paton Walsh there. Earlier, my colleague Jonathan Mann spoke with CNN military analyst, retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona about the offensive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That was very critical to ISIS because that's their import mechanism to bring foreign fighters into -- in from Turkey into Syria. Now what we're seeing is that being closed off to them. But the Turks are very wary of the Kurds, and I think that this is what prompted the Turks to move when they did, is fear of the Kurds, and them controlling that entire border.

If the Turks had not intervened, eventually the Kurdish with their Syrian democratic allies, but it's mostly Kurdish, as Nick said, would control that entire border. The Turks are very, very wary of this, so they decided to intervene. It's very ambitious (ph) --

JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, because the timing of it -- the timing of it is interesting. We have a map that shows the territory that ISIS held, and now holds, and I want to draw our viewers' attention to it, because everything you see in green is territory ISIS has lost.

The Turks have watched this war across this border, and not intervened, and now that ISIS is really on the defensive, or so it would seem, the Turks are moving in now. It really does suggest they're much more nervous about the Kurds.

FRANCONA: Exactly, and they do not want a unified Kurdish front across that entire border, so they're going to position themselves in between that, and keep a west enclave and an east enclave, and they believe that that will allow them to control that.

The Turks are not worried about what's happening right now in Syria. They're worried about what's going to happen a year from now, two years from now, when ISIS is defeated.

And I think everybody understands that at some point, ISIS is going to be defeated. You can see it happening in Iraq, in -- probably in the next year, and soon after that in Syria.

Everybody is vying for positions on what's going to happen post-ISIS, and the Kurds are also doing this as well. They're staking out as much territory as they can in both countries, because they're angling for much more territory, much more autonomy, some say even some sort of a unified Kurdish area up there across northern Syria and northern Iraq. So you look at Iran, also working with the Turks now, very concerned about this --

MANN: Well I'm going to jump in for a minute, because I want to ask you about Washington, not about Iran. I mean Washington is allied with Ankara, I mean the Turks are our NATO allies, and the Obama administration has been helping the Kurdish fighters.

Now both of Washington's allies are really preparing for a battle between themselves. They've been fighting already actually. I mean what does Washington do in this situation?

FRANCONA: Well Washington is fast being marginalized, Jonathan. You see who the power brokers are emerging in this whole situation, it's the Russians, the Iranians, and now the Turks, and each of them want to be the power broker when this is all over, and they're moving Washington out.

Unless we get in there and start representing ourselves much better than we are, the Turks, after this coup attempt, which they still blame on the United States, and their worsening relations with NATO, are pivoting towards Asia.

They're pivoting to the Iranians, pivoting to the Russians, and leaving us out. So we have got to make ourselves more relevant in this, and if that means getting more involved militarily, we need to be doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Elsewhere in Turkey, rockets were fired at Turkey's southeastern Diyarbakir Airport Saturday night. Turkey state-run news is blaming a Kurdish militant group known as the PKK. No casualties or injuries have been reported, and flights have not been disrupted.

Italy has begun to bury victims of Wednesday's massive earthquake. Hundreds of people attended a state funeral on Saturday in the town of Ascoli Piceno. Nearly 300 people died in the earthquake.

It reduced hundreds of homes to rubble, leaving thousands of people in idyllic Turkish (sic) towns homeless. But the funeral service had a note of hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (translated) The earthquake is like a plow, when the plows the land, it breaks the land, it fractures the land (inaudible), but after (inaudible) a new spring and a new birth comes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: CNN's Atika Shubert was at the funeral service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A school gymnasium turned makeshift chapel, fit for a state funeral. Three rows of coffins, 35 in all, each with a bouquet of flowers, and a photo of the person lost in Italy's devastating earthquake.

Beside them, family members, many of them survivors themselves, their broken limbs in casts, their faces bruised and bandaged, their eyes red and swollen from crying.

Italy's prime minister and president attended, offering condolences to those who lost loved ones, conveying their gratitude to the firefighters, police, and emergency medics that pulled survivors from the rubble.

Bishop Giuseppe (sic) D'Ercole led the service, mentioning victims by name, including Giulia Rinaldi, the young girl who died shielding her (inaudible) sister Giorgia as their (inaudible) collapsed around them. Giorgia survived with minor injuries. Giulia did not.

Maria Camacci (ph) lost friends and family in the earthquake. She and her husband used their bare hands to dig neighbors out of the rubble. "Community is very important", she told us. "In small villages like this, the relationship with the land, with those you love, with your family, is very, very strong. It will be even stronger. We won't give up", she says.

There will be more funerals. The death toll from the earthquake continues to climb into the hundreds, as more bodies are discovered in the rubble. This funeral is only among the first. A national day of mourning for the country to come together and begin the process of healing and rebuilding. Atika Shubert, CNN, Ascoli Piceno, Italy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Donald Trump is ramping up his push for African-American voters, but some say a (inaudible) may derail his effort. We'll tell you what he said, coming up here, plus the comble's (ph) gun violence makes it onto the presidential campaign center-stage, while many are saying enough is enough. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: The shooting death of an NBA star's cousin has drawn fresh attention to U.S. gun violence. Nykea Aldridge was shot in the head in Chicago on Friday while pushing her infant in a stroller. She was the cousin of 12-time NBA all-star Dwyane Wade.

Aldridge was an innocent victim in the wrong place at the wrong time when police say a dispute led to gunfire. Wade has been an outspoken critic of gun violence and took to Twitter to mourn. He said, "My cousin was killed today in Chicago, another act of senseless gun violence. Four kids lost their mom for no reason. Unreal."

At least 455 people have been shot to death in Chicago in the first seven-and-a-half months of this year, that's according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper which has been tracking every homicide in the city.

Nykea Aldridge's death has become a talking point in the U.S. presidential election as issues of gun violence and race take center stage. Republican Donald Trump is reaching out to minority voters now with an emphasis on economic growth, but he's also citing the violence in U.S. inner cities as a reason why African Americans should vote for him.

Saturday, he tweeted about the shooting death of the NBA star's cousin, and the possible effect on his campaign saying Dwyane Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying, African-Americans will vote Trump.

Many of Trump's opponents have criticized his response to Aldridge's death. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine told reporters in Florida a different response was needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We oughta just be thinking -- we just oughta be extending our sympathy to the family. That's the only -- that's the only reaction that's appropriate right now, and maybe a sadness about this gun violence issue, which we know it's complicated.

But that is -- you're seeing something like this, and it's just we should redouble our efforts to really adopt and promote smart strategies on that. Just the sympathy issue is the one that that oughta to be our strong, first reaction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: On top of backlash over Trump's tweets, one of his top aides is under fire for alleged antisemitism, the ex-wife of new Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon claimed that in 2007, he didn't want his daughters attending a school because of the number of Jews who attended. Dianne Gallagher has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is important to note that those charges of antisemitism do come from his now ex-wife during a child custody case back in 2007. Now she said in a court statement that Bannon did not want his daughters to attend a certain girls' school that they were considering due to the number of Jewish students.

Now the documents show her stating "he says he doesn't like Jews and that he doesn't like that they raise their kids to be whiny brats, and that he didn't want the girls going to school with Jews".

Now again, these are his now ex-wife's words from a court declaration involving a dispute over child support. CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign, we haven't heard back from them just yet, but Bannon's spokeswoman tells us that "at the time, Mr. Bannon never said anything like that, and proudly sent the girls to Archer for their middle school and high school education."

Of course all of this does come as the newly-appointed campaign CEO is already facing scrutiny about his background. We learned this week just that 20 years ago, Bannon faced multiple charges, including misdemeanor domestic violence, stemming from an incident involving his ex-wife.

Now those charges were eventually dismissed because his ex-wife didn't show up to court. She said later that it's because Bannon's attorney threatened her saying she wouldn't be able to support her children if she did. That is a charge that that attorney has denied. Of course it is just another chapter in what has been a very controversial career for Steve Bannon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Derek here now to talk about some terrifying moments for people in a Turkish highway underpass once water suddenly filled up.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You've got to see this video, Natalie, because it only took a few moments for water to fill this underground space. And you just think that you're minding your own business driving through an underpass, getting across a very busy part of the Turkish capital, Ankara, and then all of a sudden water starts to fill up underneath you.

One of the drivers actually said that when he drove into the tunnel, 5 to 10 centimeters of water on the ground, something we don't recommend doing, because you never know how deep it actually is, but within minutes, if not seconds, the water rose almost to the roofs of the cars.

Firemen had to race against time to rescue passengers who remained stranded in their vehicles, including children and some of the elderly as well. That deluge occurred very, very quickly, and dumped a considerable amount of rainfall into the Turkish capital. Scary moments as you can imagine.

Now the other big story across Europe is the excessive heat that has been boiling the western parts of the continent. Look at this in Lyons, France. The mercury in the thermometer climbing all the way to 40 degrees.

The good news is there is some relief in sight, but the heat continues to shift a little further to the east, so Berlin, yeah, a scorcher today, 34, mostly sunny, but look what's coming to you to start off the work week tomorrow, 23 degrees, and it's all thanks to a cold front that's passing through the region.

That is going to cool our temperatures for Paris as well, and we'll get a respite from the extreme heat. So that pushes to the south and east, there's a cooler weather indicated with that shading of green, and then London starts to get into the milder temperatures as we head into the first parts of the work week. Warsaw also starting to cool off, the capital of Poland.

Let me give you a quick update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. This is the western Pacific, there's Japan to the north, China to the west. Sustained winds of Typhoon Lionrock now at 205 kilometers per hour. This is equivalent to a strong category 3 nearly teetering on a weak category four Atlantic hurricane.

A very defined eye with the storm system, we are monitoring it very closely because all of our computer models still have it making that northwesterly turn towards the mainland of Japan, and look at that, Tokyo and Sendai in the middle of that path of uncertainty for about three days out, so they need to be well aware of what is potentially coming their way.

ALLEN: If they have some time to prepare.

VAN DAM: They have three days, but time is wasting very quickly.

ALLEN: OK. Derek, thank you.

Drug dealers in the U.S. are mixing heroine with a tranquilizer, creating a drug so lethal there have been 100 overdoses in Cincinnati, Ohio, in just one week. Rachel Crane spoke with one self-described addict about why this dangerous drug is so appealing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORI ERION: Terrified. It terrifies me.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A recent spike in heroine overdoses, nearly 100 in the last week alone, have Lori Erion fearing for her daughter's life.

APRIL ERION: I would love to get high, I would. I'm a drug addict, that's what I do best.

CRANE: April is 22-years-old, and she's been using heroine for the last six years. In those years, she says she's lost about a dozen friends.

APRIL ERION: I just had one of my friends die, I think yesterday morning, and she left four kids behind.

CRANE: Officials suspect a batch of heroine laced with elephant tranquilizers is to blame for the latest string of overdoses. But April says that's not enough to scare away regular users.

LORI ERION: When you are addicted to heroine, when you're using, you don't care about dying. You're just chasing the next high. And for a lot of people, hearing that there is a souped-up strain of dope on the streets, that's actually appealing.

APRIL ERION: Yes, definitely, absolutely, because you stop getting high. That's why they call it chasing it, because you stop getting high. You're just -- you're staying well, you're staying not sick.

So when you hear that somebody's overdosed, or you hear about this crazy new drug, you know, you're thinking like well, all right, it's about time, I'm trying to get high. I mean that's all you've been trying to do.

So that means that with this new strain of heroine that's cut with an elephant tranquilizer, I am very sure that there are heroine addicts that are actively looking for it, and thinking that the people that are dying are doing it wrong, they're doing too much, they're not -- you know what I mean, they're just thinking that they're going to find a way to get really high and not die. Or if they die, they don't really care. But they're definitely looking for it. I would be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son's on drugs, and I think he's overdosing, I think he's overdosed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he awake?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he's awake, but barely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's not breathing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, what's he OD-ing on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heroine, it's the -- I guess it's (inaudible).

CRANE: This firehouse in Cincinnati responded to nearly two dozen overdoses in a single day last week, more than 10 times their daily average, and they don't know when the calls will stop coming in. But April's mom is worried about a different type of call.

LORI ERION: You know, we hear an ambulance, and we always wonder if it's someone that we know, or for our child. And that's something that we live with every day, you know, we go to bed at night wondering if we're going to get that phone call.

CRANE: April and her mom know better than anyone how difficult the struggle with opioid addiction is.

APRIL ERION: I'll do any drug you put in front of me, so it's definitely a struggle, it's really hard. LORI ERION: It's difficult, because we can't like love them out of it, you know, so we love them so much, and it doesn't -- there's nothing that we can really do for them.

CRANE: April says getting sober is a daily struggle, but in her eyes, not using heroine is progress, even if other drugs are taking its place.

APRIL ERION: I'm definitely not -- I wouldn't say I'm using, but I've used twice since I've been out, and I've been out for a month.

CRANE: How has heroine changed your life?

APRIL ERION: Well I'm 22, I just did 11 months incarcerated. I'm back on probation with more time on the cell (ph), when in reality, you know, I probably should have been applying for med school this summer, you know, that was what I wanted to do. That's where I should have been.

CRANE: Rachel Crane, CNN, Cincinnati.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Terrifying addiction for sure. A film that captured attention and high praise at the Sundance Festival faces some backlash now. The controversy over the creator of The Birth of a Nation, we'll have that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: The new film, The Birth of a Nation, has received a lot of praise, but the American Film Institute has canceled a planned screening because of what's come to light about the director and star of the movie.

Nate Parker was acquitted in a university rape case that wasn't largely known about until the film gained attention. Jean Casarez reports from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATE PARKER: What you think you're doin', boy?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From the moment Nate Parker's film, Birth of a Nation, premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the picture has been met with critical acclaim. But historical accounts starring Parker as Nat Turner, who led a slavery revolt in 1831, won big honors at this year's film festival.

Fox Searchlight then invested a record $17.5 million for distribution rights. Birth of a Nation was on its way to blockbuster success. That is, until this. Parker, the writer, director and star of this film, rated R in part because of violence, was formerly accused of a violent act himself in 1999, rape.

Sexually assaulting a young woman that he knew while a student at Penn State University, Parker was arrested and charged with multiple offenses. His roommate at the time, Jean Celestin, now co-author with Parker on Birth of a Nation, was also charged with sexually assaulting the young woman at the same time.

According to legal documents, Parker harassed the accuser during the time before trial. Parker was found not guilty on all charges. In 2012, the woman who accused Parker and Celestin committed suicide.

The future of the movie is now in question, with showing being canceled or modified before the national premiere October 7th. Parker himself has taken to Facebook trying to explain what happened 17 years ago.

"Over the last several days, a part of my past, my arrest, trial, and acquittal on charges of sexual assault, has become a focal point for media coverage, social media speculation, and industry conversation. I understand why so many are concerned and rightfully have questions. While I maintain my innocence, that the encounter was unambiguously consensual, there are things more important than the law. There is morality. No one who calls himself a man of faith should even be in that situation."

CNN has reached out to Parker's representatives for comment. They have not gotten back with us. The Toronto International Film Festival has said it will be going ahead with the screening of the film, minus a press conference that had been scheduled with Nate Parker himself. Jean Casarez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: And that is CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. I'll be right back with our top stories.

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