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Trump Meets with Mexico's President; Trump's Immigration Policy; Trump and Pena Nieto Dispute Wall Discussion; Turkey Wants 50KM "Buffer Zone" Along Syrian Border. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 01, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:00:22] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
A big wall, no amnesty and a ban on Syrian immigrants -- Donald Trump's hard line immigration speech. Trump says Mexico will pay for and cooperate with American border security but that's not exactly what Mexico says went down behind closed doors.
Plus CNN's rare look at life inside a town liberated from ISIS.
Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump tried to put to rest any idea he was changing his stance on illegal immigration. The Republican laid out his arguably hard-line policy on Wednesday night in Arizona.
Among others things, Trump said he won't allow amnesty for undocumented immigrant but the center piece of his remarks was his proposed wall along the southern U.S. border. Just hours earlier Trump was in Mexico meeting with President Enrique Pena Nieto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That will be for a later date. This was a very preliminary meeting. I think it was an excellent meeting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, President Pena Nieto later disputed Trump's statement saying they did discuss the wall and he told Trump Mexico would not pay for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And Mexico will pay for the wall.
100 percent -- they don't know it yet but they're going to pay for the wall. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: CNN politics reporter Sara Murray has more on Trump's speech from Phoenix.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Any one who saw Donald Trump was softening on his immigration policy certainly got their answer as he campaigned Wednesday in Phoenix, Arizona. Now, earlier in the day he took a jaunt in Mexico for a cordial meeting with the Mexican president.
But by the time he got to Arizona he was ready to serve up some red meat for his Republican base. He called for adding 5,000 new border patrol agents, for tripling the number of ICE deportation officers and as for those 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. he said they are not his main priority -- that that's border security. But he said when it comes to them if they ever hope to have legal status they first would have to leave the country, return to their home country and apply through the proper channels.
Now we say many sides of Donald Trump on Wednesday. On Thursday, he is back on the campaign trail in the pivotal battleground state of Ohio. We will see if he continues to talk to his Republican base or if he aims to expand it.
Sara Murray -- CNN, Phoenix, Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, joining me now Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and California delegate for Donald Trump, Felix Viega.
Gentlemen -- thank you so much for being with us. It's good to have you with us on this important.
Felix, let me start with you. So the wall, it loomed large in the speech in Arizona. When Donald Trump was in Mexico meeting with the Mexican president he stood next to him and he said the issue of who would pay for the wall was never discussed. Then in the speech in Arizona he said Mexico will pay for the wall but they just don't know it.
Is this a case of Donald Trump playing politics, being a typical politician? I mean that is troubling to some bearing in mind the whole mark of his campaign has been I'm not a politician. I do things honestly and above board.
FELIZ VIEGA, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, he made the statement that they would pay for the wall but they don't know it yet. Donald Trump is such a sharp businessman. When -- you know if we have a $50 billion deficit with Mexico with regards to our trade deals and he renegotiates our deals and we don't have a $50 billion deficit any longer. We only have a $10 billion deficit maybe in our first year. In essence, Mexico has paid for the wall. So Donald Trump with his business acumen will restructure the way that we deal with Mexico. He will restructure our immigration policy so that in fact, bottom line when you net it out, Mexico will pay for the wall from the savings that the United States had saved.
SESAY: But I guess, the issue is when you stood next to him and had the opportunity as a tough businessman and negotiator, it wasn't brought up. And I think that's what people find a little curious about it.
VIEGA: Well, on the first meeting I think it was wise that they not bring it up. Donald Trump is trying to, you know, build a relationship.
[00:05:04] I give him a lot of credit for going over there in the first place. He is a very, very courageous man. He has taken the initiative to go there and establish a foundation to build upon.
SESAY: Dave.
DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's my understanding also that the President of Mexico tweeted out hours after the event that in fact they did have the conversation -- that he said -- the President of Mexico flat out told Donald Trump we aren't paying for wall, period, end of story.
Obviously Donald Trump is pivoting and telling a completely different story. I don't if you think voters are stupid or what but folks have access to Twitter and I think they believe a sitting president of Mexico over Donald Trump who says one thing one day and the next, you know, something different -- right.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: Was it the speech you expected -- Dave? The speech in Arizona?
JACOBSON: Frankly, I was flabbergasted. I mean this is a guy who sort of has been softening his tone and I think it was a real opportunity for him making a major pivot in this race because look, the cold hard reality is Donald Trump is losing in over eight battleground states. And if he wants to make up any ground and appeal to sort of those moderate, you know, purple state voters, women voters and minority voters the reality is he's going to have to soften the tone on the hateful sort of rhetoric particularly when it comes to Latino issues, immigration issues.
But he doubled down on that hateful rhetoric tonight. And I think, look, I think he is perhaps looking at the broader election saying I'm losing in states like Arizona where Hillary Clinton came out one point ahead in a poll just days ago. He is neck and neck in Missouri, in Utah, in North Carolina. These are traditionally red states. And I think the reality is he is saying I have to consolidate those Republican red states before I start trying to soften my tone to appeal to those purple state voters. SESAY: And some would say his statement of having zero tolerance for
undocumented immigrants was a part of that appeal to the base. Felix -- take a listen to what he said because Donald Trump tonight once again saying there will be zero tolerance for undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There are at least two million -- two million, think of it -- criminal aliens now inside of our country. Two million people criminal aliens. We will begin moving them out day one as soon as I take office -- day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: All right. We will begin moving them out day one as soon as I take office. Felix -- how realistic is this promise?
VIEGA: I think it's very realistic. I think it's something that people like myself are tired of hearing all of the promises that the Democrats have made throughout the years. Look at the results in the communities -- our jobs, our education, our safety. We're not safe any more.
Donald Trump is facing all of the problems and he's facing them head- on and he's not procrastinating. Immigration's a problem but it's not the only problem. You talk about Latinos -- Latinos want safety. They want jobs. They want education. They want security.
And so I think you're seeing a change in the race and Donald Trump is surging and so I'm just very, very proud that he went over there.
By the way, where was Hillary Clinton when Nieto asked her to go over there? Where was she? She's nowhere to be found.
SESAY: Dave. It's a legitimate question.
JACOBSON: Right -- look, the reality is, she's a former secretary of state. She has met with heads of state.
VIEGA: Where has she been in the last 270 days where she hasn't given a news conference?
JACOBSON: Well, but she has made herself open and accessible to reporters.
SESAY: All right.
JACOBSON: And she's had interviews and she's talked to reporters on shows. "Morning Joe" just the other day.
VIEGA: "Morning Joe".
SESAY: And Felix -- this was a speech, Dave, you took note was a speech full of attacks on Hillary Rodham Clinton and also on Barack Obama. Donald Trump clearly doubling down on the issue of saying that they're soft on illegal immigration. Take a listen to something else he had to say -- one of those attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: President Obama and Hillary Clinton support sanctuary cities. They support catch and release on the border. They support visa overstays. They support the release of dangerous, dangerous, dangerous criminals from detention. And they support unconstitutional executive amnesty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Dave, in some ways the speech and in particularly those moments reminded me of the Republican convention speeches which once again painted this country as being very dangerous and it's something actually Felix just said, you know, there is a sense of being unsafe.
But that messaging, such as what we heard in Arizona does that win over new voters?
JACOBSON: Right -- precisely. That's the question. I think Donald Trump's challenge is like how does he do better than Mitt Romney did with Latino voters? Mitt Romney locked 27 percent of the Latino vote. Donald Trump's polling at about 20 percent. We're actually going to have an uptick in Latinos who are going to be participating in 2016 over 2012.
[00:10:03] I think you're going to have about 30 percent of the electorate that is going to be non-white voters. That includes other minorities as well as Latinos. But the challenge is for Donald Trump like how does he peel away some of those voters when he is polling at 20 percent and Mitt Romney lost the election and locked up 27 percent?
The other question is some of these pivotal battleground states -- Florida, Colorado, Nevada have 15 percent or more Latino voters. These are key states that are must-wins for Donald Trump. If he doesn't find a way to sort of break through to those voters, peel away some of that Latino vote there is no pathway for him to get to that 270 Electoral College threshold and ultimately win the race.
SESAY: Felix?
VIEGA: I'll tell you exactly how he's going to do it. He's going to do it by telling the truth -- ok.
JACOBSON: Well, it's not working to date.
VIEGA: He's going to do it by telling the truth. You know, Donald "the truth" Trump. I can't wait to hear a state of the union address that is truthful about our economy, about unemployment, about where we are --
JACOBSON: Well, we've got 5 percent unemployment.
VIEGA: That's not true.
JACOBSON: President Obama has an over 57 percent approval rate. I think people largely think the economy is doing better than the picture that Donald Trump is painting.
SESAY: Ok. Something we could talk about too is some will say that actually this was a speech that had many things that were not true, there were many false facts, if you will.
I want to play about what he said about Syrian refugees as a case in point and get you to respond. Let's roll the sound on Syrian refugees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have no idea who these people are, where they come from. I always say, Trojan Horse. Watch what's going to happen, folks. It's not going to be pretty.
This includes her plan to bring in 620,000 new refugees from Syria and that region over a short period of time. And even yesterday when you were watching the news you saw thousands and thousands of people coming in from Syria. What is wrong with our politicians?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Felix, people are going to point to that section of speech and say that is full of untruths and false facts.
VIEGA: Ok -- where?
SESAY: People are going to say that there is an extensive vetting procedure on Syrian refugees. It takes longer than two years before they are accepted. This country has taken on a remarkably low small number of Syrian refugees compared to places like Germany that's taken over a million. They are not pouring over the border.
People will say that this is an example of demagoguery and stirring fear and divisiveness. Why are they wrong in saying that?
VIEGA: Well, first of all, Isha, you know, I don't want any immigrants to come here that are not legal anymore. I don't think it's fair.
SESAY: But the Syrians who come in are legal because they have been vetted and accepted.
VIEGA: Well, in terms of being vetted and accepted, we still need to know very, very well who they are and what documentation that they have. And I really don't want any more coming in that aren't legal. And, you know, there are so many illegals that have come in through the years and it's not fair to the people that are here in this country. It's not fair to the people that have been here, that have worked hard.
I mean, why should we suffer here at home? We need to take care of the people at home.
SESAY: David, final word to you on this issue of the speech, the tone, the imagery and that plays into what you just heard about Syrian refugees.
JACOBSON: Well, I think the Syrian refugee comment was emblematic of the Donald Trump statements where he said he saw scores of people cheering in New Jersey after the 9/11 attacks. All these Muslims who were standing -- it's just not true. They are simply not the facts.
Look, he isn't the truth teller, the reality is he is a regular, you know, politician who's willing to do or say anything to get elected even if it means lying through his teeth. That is just the cold, hard reality.
SESAY: All right. Gentlemen -- we're going to hit pause. You're coming back because the conversation continues. You will have another bite at this -- Dave Jacobson and Felix Viega. Thank you. Next hour, we'll pick this up.
VIEGA: Appreciate it.
JACOBSON: Very good.
SESAY: All right.
Well, let's bring in Peter Navarro now. He is a policy adviser to Donald Trump and an economist and business professor at the University of California Irvine. Peter -- always good to have you on the program.
PETER NAVARRO, DONALD TRUMP POLICY ADVISER: Good evening -- Isha. How are you?
SESAY: I'm very well. Thank you for asking. Very well.
So the speech, for you what was the biggest takeaway here?
NAVARRO: Well, the biggest takeaway for me today was this was the best day Donald Trump has had in the campaign since he announced.
[00:14:46] I think when you look back at this day on November 9th after he wins, this will be the day that he established himself as a diplomat, as somebody who could stand on a stage, looking and talking presidential, who could walk in to essentially a lion's den, take firm positions and come away with the people seeing and feeling that there's room for cooperation and consensus on tough issues. So this was a very, very good day for Donald Trump, presidential.
And meanwhile, it was interesting to me, I think the president of Mexico might have invited both Clinton and Trump on the assumption that Trump wouldn't dare come; and it was Clinton who wouldn't dare come and Trump did.
As for the speech, the most moving thing about that speech -- I mean you can dissect what he said. But for me it was the mothers on the stage talking about their children or their relatives who had been murdered by illegals. That is a very, very powerful message to the American people. And I think that will go a long way towards making the case for secure borders. SESAY: All right. So Peter -- let me ask you this. What was the
motivation of the speech? Who was he fundamentally speaking to? Was this a speech intended to grow his base? Was it about reaching out to new voters or was this simply about securing those die-hard Trump supporters that he's had since the beginning? I mean what was he --
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: I don't want to reveal too much strategy here. But let me say what is going on. If you look at the arc of the campaign what you're seeing now, Donald Trump do very strategically is make major policy addresses which are very well-sourced and well-documented, well-fact checked on major issues of the campaign that are salient.
He has done that with the economy and jobs. He did that today with immigration. He'll be doing that with national security.
And what's subtle about this -- what's subtle about this is the immigration issue also plays to the African-American community. He is making a very strong bid right now to convince African-Americans that they're better off with jobs and opportunity than food stamps.
And illegal immigration and legal immigration is what has been killing the African-American community. They have been disproportionately hurt. You see him rising not only in the polls but also in the polling with African-Americans which is extraordinary.
SESAY: So let me get in there.
NAVARRO: He's doubling -- go ahead. Sure -- sorry.
SESAY: Let me get in there. As you talk about, you know, the appeal to minority voters and the like, you know, I think a question that many people had going into the speech was would we hear a clear and coherent argument, explanation, policy description for what he would do with the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. Now, while he addressed what would happen to the two million to his numbers, two million undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes he said he would start moving them out on day one. What about the remaining nine million?
NAVARRO: That's a fair question. And what we're describing now is an orderly and humane process akin to the idea of triage in a medical situation. What Donald Trump says -- the first priority -- the very first priority is getting the two million violent felons and criminals out of this country. That's absolutely top priority.
The next priority is making sure that we have secure borders for both economic reasons, national security reasons and in between that, there is the issue of the guns, drugs and the violence. That's next.
And then over time as that situation is secured you deal with this issue of the illegals that are here. What he said and this is very clear. This is very different. Hillary Clinton is for open borders. Let's be very clear about that. She is for amnesty. There will be no amnesty whatsoever for illegals that are here. If they are going to find a path it's only by going back to where their country of origin is and going through proper channels.
So I think that was very clear. So you can quibble about timing but it's an orderly process. It's a humane process and that's the way it's going to be.
SESAY: Ok. Peter Navarro -- it is always good to have you on the program.
NAVARRO: Pleasure.
SESAY: Thank you so much.
NAVARRO: Thank you so much.
SESAY: Thank you.
Time for a quick break now.
Donald Trump laid out his immigration plan tonight in Arizona just hours after meeting with the Mexican president. How Mexico is responding to the different sides of Trump ahead on CNN NEWSROOM L.A.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will build a great wall along the southern border. Mexico will work with us. I absolutely believe it. And especially after meeting with their wonderful, wonderful president today I really believe they want to solve this problem along with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, that's point number one of Donald Trump's ten-point immigration plan which he laid out on Wednesday. Trump also insists Mexico will pay for the wall. He says he didn't discuss the bill with Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto. But Pena Nieto says on Twitter he told Trump at the beginning of their meeting that Mexico simply won't pay for it.
John Vause has more now from Mexico City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump following his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto his words and tone of his words remarkably different from what he said over the past 15 months.
TRUMP: A strong, prosperous and vibrant Mexico is in the best interest of the United States and will keep and help keep for a long, long period of time America together.
VAUSE: The announcement of Trump's surprise visit met with anger across Mexico and many took to one of Trump's favorite weapons -- Twitter. From top Mexican politician Miguel Barbosa (ph) "You are not welcome in Mexico, get out"; to Mexico's former first lady Margarita Zavala, "We want you to know you are not welcome. We Mexicans have dignity and we reject your hate speech."
[00:25:04] Historian Enrique Krauze challenged Trump, "Apologize for calling us rapists and killers, guarantee that you won't build a wall or deport 11 million Mexicans."
Even months before announcing his candidacy, Trump previewed what would become the cornerstone of his campaign to a group of Texas donors.
TRUMP: Everything's coming across the border. The illegals, the cars -- all things. It's like a big mess. It's like vomit.
VAUSE: Following that the now familiar string of one-liners that has fuelled Trump's base while infuriating Hispanic voters.
TRUMP: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.
We are going to build a great wall. The wall is going to be paid for by Mexico.
And who is going to pay for the wall?
VAUSE: Just two months ago, Mexico's president, Trump's host today slammed Trump with the most scathing of comparisons.
ENRIQUE PENA NIETO, PRESIDENT OF MEXICO (through translator): In the past some leaders addressed their societies in those terms. Hitler and Mussolini did that. And the outcome scared (ph) everyone.
VAUSE: Trump's occasional attempt to connect with Hispanics like his Taco Bell post on Cinco de Maya often backfired. Angry protesters took to the street and Trump became an object of ridicule. Trump Halloween masks flew off the shelves and Trump pinatas the subject of some serious beatings.
But perhaps no one is more incensed at the prospect of a Trump presidency than former Mexican president, Vicente Fox.
VICENTE FOX, FORMER PRESIDENT OF MEXICO: Democracy cannot save us from crazy people that doesn't know what is going on in the world today.
VAUSE: We are still waiting to see the reaction here in Mexico to the new, kinder, gentler Donald Trump but given the level of anger and loathing so many have here for the Republican nominee, it seems unlikely that one news conference will change many opinions.
John Vause -- CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, Miguel Tinker Salas is a professor of Latin American studies at Pomona College. He joins me now from Claremont, California. Thank you so much for joining us -- Professor.
You heard my colleague John Vause --
MIGUEL TINKER SALAS, POMONA COLLEGE: My pleasure.
SESAY: -- describe the Donald Trump that appeared on stage with the Mexican president as gentler and softer but then fast forward to Wednesday evening and that speech in Arizona and there he was on stage declaring that the wall will be built and Mexico will pay for it.
Was the invitation to Trump a miscalculation on the part of the Mexican president?
SALAS: I think it was a tremendous miscalculation. Here you have two politicians -- one a president, one a candidate; both have seen their numbers drop precipitously in the polls. Both are trying to find some way to rescue, one their legacy, one their candidacy. This was an effort on the part of Pena Nieto to appear strong; Trump to appear as if he's walking into the lion's den, instead he walks into a room full of puppies. Because the reality is that Nieto waited two hours after Trump was gone to actually tweet that he would not pay for the wall when he had an opportunity to actually confront Trump and to demand an apology and to indicate that Mexico would not pay for the wall.
Likewise Trump had an opportunity to demand that Mexico pay for the wall and didn't do it. They were there for the photo op. They were there trying to buttress both of their failing political careers.
And the reality is that Pena Nieto winds up the biggest loser particularly after Donald Trump's speech in Arizona which was full of vitriol, hate and scapegoating and insulting to many Mexicans. So I think that in this context, Pena Nieto is the biggest loser.
SESAY: Yes. And with that in mind, what do you see as the implications for Pena Nieto going forward here?
SALAS: I think his numbers will continue to drop precipitously. I think that we saw already in the Mexican congress a demand by most of the political parties for Trump not visiting Mexico. We saw that from the popular sectors. We saw that in protests. And Pena Nieto now will confront their anger, in addition to the charges of corruption that we have seen around homes appearing in Florida and elsewhere in Mexico; sweetheart contracts, the violence against teachers in Wajaca. So I think that that now adds to the burden that he faces and his political calculation misfired significantly, tremendously and now he will face the wrath of many in Mexico.
SESAY: Was there anything said in this speech in Arizona on Wednesday that would in any way broaden Donald Trump's standing among Mexican- Americans or other minority voters? Was there anything there that was actually a substantive form of outreach?
SALAS: In fact there was. His plan on deportations is very reminiscent of Mitt Romney's plan for deportation. It sounds like self-deportation.
[00:30:00] Once he deports the so-called criminals, then he is left with 9 million people, and he expects them in some math fashion to self-deport, get back in the line as he calls it and then submit to an ideological test. That's insulting. These individuals are here working. They are part of the social fabric, the cultural fabric of the U.S. They are essential elements of the economy. They contribute to the U.S. in multiple forms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: We've just lost the connection there, sadly, with the Professor Tim Cazalas (ph), giving us some insight into how the trip with the Mexican president went down and the political ramifications for the Mexican president.
Apologies for that but some technical problems there. We're going to take a quick break.
It's been a week since Syrian rebels drove ISIS out of the border town Jarabulus. CNN goes inside the city for the first look at what the terrorist left behind.
And after five years of war, Syria probably doesn't come to mind as a vacation spot, but some hope a video showing the other side of Syria will change that. That's next on CNN NEWSROOM L.A.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SESAY: Hello, everyone, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
The headlines this hour.
Donald Trump is talking tough on immigration once again after his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. In Arizona, Wednesday night, he said undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. would have to return home and apply for legal re-entry. Trump also promise to triple the number of officers assigned to deportations.
Trump and President Pena Nieto disagree about one topic of the meeting, the wall. Trump says they didn't discuss who would pay for it. But the Mexican leader tweeted it was one of the first things they talked about and he talks that Mexico will not foot the bill.
[00:35:00] Michel Temer has been sworn in as Brazil's president just hours after senators voted to impeach Dilma Rousseff. Mr. Temer will govern with an all-male, mostly white cabinet. Ms. Rousseff was Brazil's first female president. She was found guilty of breaking budgetary laws and insists she did nothing wrong.
The White House is disputing Russia's claims that one of its air strike killed ISIS' spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani. The U.S. official is calling Moscow's assertion, quote, "preposterous." The U.S. says it targeted al-Adnani in an air strike and the Pentagon is working to confirm whether the strike killed him.
Now Turkey wants to clear ISIS from a 90-kilometer stretch along the Syrian side of its border. And draws plan for buffer zone raises U.S. concerns because it could also target Kurdish militias than our American allies in the battle against ISIS. There is relative calm now after Syrian rebels backed by Turkey seized the town of Jarabulus from ISIS last week.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has this look inside Jarabulus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're headed inside yet another new chapter in Syria's endless war. Turkish officials want us to see the Syrian-rebel control of the Syrian border town of Jarabulus, but their military-enabled. They kicked ISIS out of here a week ago and we are the first western TV they let in.
ISIS had enough time here to remodel the town in their image, get into the minds of children, some of whom they try to recruit as soldiers.
"My neighbor blew himself up in a car," says this boy. Tamza (ph) says he's 13 and carries water for the rebels. He says some of his friends became suicide bombers for ISIS.
"They tortured and beat people, everything here. It was just down there," he says. He shows us the square where ISIS gruesomely filmed their murders.
(on-camera): It's a strange game for these children to play with newcomers. They're showing us exactly where it was that ISIS would display the heads of those they decapitated in punishment. But yet again another Central Square in yet another town cleansed of ISIS' dark world.
Yet there is another key building here, the recruitment center where they found a torn-up ledger of names in the basement jail.
They are showing us further inside this building, which is the first point people who crossed in from Turkey to join ISIS would have sought to register with the group.
(voice-over): No longer here can ISIS welcome outsiders of their twisted world. But other problems have risen as this men's fight isn't simply against ISIS, but is also against America's allies against ISIS, the Syrian Kurds that Turkey considers terrorists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We don't want to find all the Kurds, just the Syrian-Kurdish PKK. Just those who want to break up Syria.
WALSH: There is optimism here. Early signs of a new project Turkey has undertaken to flood this area with moderate, sympathetic rebels who will then tackle the Kurds but also create a safe zone free of ISIS.
(on-camera): Only the second half of that is what Washington has wanted. To some degree, this is what American policy has yearned for for years. Moderate Sunni-Arab rebels here have been cleaning the town out of ISIS extremist, now controlling what many have thought a kind of buffer zone for Syrians fleeing the regime. Smiles, calm, busy streets. We have seen them before in Syria's intractable war and watch them turn sour again.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Jarabulus, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: A quick break now.
Beautiful beaches and clear blue seas sound like a vacation paradise, but this part is in the middle of a war zone. An intriguing tourism campaign from an unlikely spot ahead on CNN NEWSROOM L.A.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:41:16] SESAY: Hello, everyone.
Far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is making clear her feelings about the burkini. 22 towns are still upholding a ban on a full-body swimwear despite a court ruling last week, which deemed the ban illegal.
Le Pen spoke exclusively to CNN about what she thinks the Burkini represents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARINE LE PEN, FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, Le Pen also said the burkini is like a prison and called it a fundamentalist uniform.
When you think of top vacation destinations: Paris, Rome, or London might come to mind. But you probably are not thinking of any cities in Syria. Five years of civil war, hundreds of thousands killed, don't exactly paint a welcoming picture. But the country's military of tourism has produced a slick new video to try to change your mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SYRIA TOURISM VIDEO PLAYING
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Something to think about.
Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "World Sport" is up next. You're watching CNN.
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(WORLD SPORT)
