Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Russia Investigation; Afghanistan Conflict; Middle East Violence; Eight Found Dead in Trailer in San Antonio; Poland Protests; Senate Investigators to Meet Kushner; Trump Not Convinced of Russia Election Meddling; Emin Agalarov Won't Comment on Trump Ties; Princes Open Up About Princess Diana in New Film; 7 Cyclones in Pacific at Same Time; Jordan Spieth Makes History at British Open. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 24, 2017 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The U.S. president still not convinced that Russia interfered in the U.S. election, despite his intelligence chiefs' unanimous agreement that Russia did interfere.
Plus this: protesters in Poland are demanding the president veto a controversial bill to overhaul that country's court system.
And then later this hour:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: The Marines are leaving but this is only supposed to be a short mission. They come, they go, they come back again, each time hoping the Afghan security forces they leave behind them will be able to do their job, to hold the Taliban back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL (voice-over): CNN is in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are discouraged by setbacks in America's longest war.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOWELL: Good day to you.
The investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia focuses today on the U.S. president's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.
But here's the thing: you won't see or hear any of it. Kushner is due to answer questions from Senate investigators but will only meet behind closed doors with Senate staff. The interview, as it's being called, comes as the White House is
casting new doubt on whether President Trump believes that Russia interfered in the election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Somebody said to me yesterday -- I won't tell you who -- that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those e-mails, you would have never seen it.
You would have never had any evidence of them, meaning that they're super confident in their deception skills and hacking.
My point is, all of the information isn't on the table yet. But here's what I know about the president.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, wait, wait, wait. Anthony, Anthony, Anthony...
SCARAMUCCI: Let me finish. Let me finish.
All right, go ahead.
TAPPER: Well, you're making a lot of assertions here.
I don't know who this anonymous person is that said, if the Russians had actually done it, we wouldn't have been able to detect it, but it is the unanimous...
SCARAMUCCI: How about it was -- how about it was the president, Jake?
TAPPER: OK. It's the consensus of the intelligence community.
SCARAMUCCI: I talked to you yesterday. He called me from Air Force One.
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: And he basically said to me, hey, you know, this is -- maybe they did it. Maybe they didn't do it. And I'm going to maintain for you -- hold on a second.
TAPPER: OK. This is -- but this is exactly the issue here.
We have experts, the U.S. intelligence agencies, unanimous, both Obama appointees and Trump appointees, the Director of National Intelligence, the head of the National Security Agency, the head of the FBI -- I mean, all of these intelligence experts saying Russia hacked the intelligence -- Russia hacked the election, they tried to interfere in the election.
No votes were changed, but there was this information and misinformation campaign. President Trump is contradicting it and you're siding with President Trump.
SCARAMUCCI: Well, I didn't say that I was siding with President Trump.
He hasn't made the decision yet to sign that bill one way or the other. And so, when he makes that decision, I will 100 percent side with him, because I am his communications director. And I'm his advocate on a show like this.
Last time I checked, the way the founding fathers put the Constitution together, they made one person the commander in chief. It happens to be President Donald J. Trump. He will make that decision when he makes it.
And then you -- I will come back on the show and I will explain it to you and I will explain to you why he made the decision that way.
But what I'm -- what I'm saying to you -- and you may not want to agree with me, but -- and we can litigate this -- there's a lot of disinformation out there, Jake.
And so one of the things I'm going try to do is speak very transparently to you and the American people, get the president's message out there.
I have found, in my life experience with President Trump, when he's out there himself and he's being his fresh, authentic self, it's very appealing to the people of the United States.
And we don't need to closet him up or coach him on certain things. What we need to do is allow him to be himself, so that we can get these policies out there that would be very good for the American people.
TAPPER: But this is -- this is exactly the point, because here you have a bill, legislation that was passed 98-2 in the U.S. Senate. The House is about to pass it. It will probably also be an overwhelming vote to sanction Russia.
And President Trump told you that he still doesn't believe that Russia was trying to interfere in the election, even though the overwhelming body of the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by Republicans and his own intelligence experts are telling him the opposite.
You're saying you're going to side with the president.
Don't you owe a duty to the truth?
(CROSSTALK)
SCARAMUCCI: What about the conversation are you missing, Jake?
There are checks and balances in the system for a reason. OK? The president will make that decision when he makes a decision. You're telling me that something is true that, in fact, could in fact be true.
I don't have the information in front of me. Once -- once I have cleared my security clearances and I have looked at the stuff, if I think it's true, behind closed doors, I will turn to the president very directly and say, sir, I think this stuff is true.
But I don't have it in front of me right now.
TAPPER: My question right now is about the fact that a geopolitical foe of the United States, Russia, interfered in the U.S. election, according to every intelligence expert, both under the Obama administration and under the Trump administration.
SCARAMUCCI: OK, so...
TAPPER: The one person in the government who says it's not true is President Trump.
SCARAMUCCI: Well, I have got -- I have got -- I -- again, one of the reasons why he's upset about it is that this sort -- this sort of -- the mainstream media position on this, that they interfered in the election, it actually, in his mind, what are you guys suggesting?
You are going to delegitimize his victory?
TAPPER: No.
SCARAMUCCI: Is that going to make his victory illegitimate?
TAPPER: No.
SCARAMUCCI: Is that the point of it?
Well, you know what?
He legitimately won the presidency.
TAPPER: Yes, absolutely.
SCARAMUCCI: Right?
Do -- are -- do we both agree on that?
TAPPER: He legitimately won the presidency, absolutely.
SCARAMUCCI: OK?
And that -- OK.
[02:05:00]
SCARAMUCCI: So at the end of the day, let him make the decision. And, as I said to you, once I have got a security clearance and I meet with those people myself, if I think it's true, I'm going to turn to the president very honestly -- we have a great relationship -- and say, sir, I think this is true. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: All right there. You heard Anthony Scaramucci say that President Trump still has yet to decide if he would support tougher sanctions on Russia. But the new White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had a different take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We support where the legislation is now and will continue working with the House and Senate to put those sufficient sanctions in place on Russia until the situation in Ukraine is fully resolved. And it certainly isn't right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: There's little evidence that Mr. Trump might change his mind on this, as you look at his -- one of his most recent tweets here, "As the phony Russian witch hunt continues two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians," he says.
OK, let's talk about this with Scott Lucas to get some analysis. Scott is a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham, live with us in Birmingham, England, this hour.
It's good to have you with us, Scott. So I do want to talk just briefly on this, because, again, we're hearing President Trump, through his official spokespeople, saying that he's still not confident that Russia interfered in this election.
Is this the president keeping his mind open here?
Or what do you make of this?
SCOTT LUCAS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM: I think you know the answer to that, George. Donald Trump has long lived in a fortress of denial about Russian interference in the 2016 election, about possible contacts between his associates and Russian officials, claiming this is a media hoax.
But that fortress is getting harder to defend, with the accumulation of evidence.
Anthony Scaramucci, the new communications director, was brought in precisely because he will be a loud gatekeeper of the fortress, trying to keep all of you folks out and trying to say there's nothing really to see here. Let me check it out. You can trust me.
Well, the fact is, as Jake Tapper put it quite directly yesterday, that every official in the U.S. intelligence community, past and present, including in published reports, has said the Russian interference in the 2016 election is confirmed.
It is now confirmed by Donald Trump's own son, Donald Trump Jr., that he, Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort met with Kremlin- linked officials in June of 2016 because they believed they would get damaging material about Hillary Clinton. That is now on the record. There's no way to sweep that away.
Of course, will this lead?
We still have to wait for multiple congressional committees, including the closed door session with Jared Kushner today and, most importantly, we still have to wait for special counsel Robert Mueller to issue his report, possibly months from now.
But Trump is like King Cnut trying to keep back the tide. When the wave of evidence becomes too big, you get swept away.
HOWELL: All right. There was a question whether the White House, whether the president would sign on, whether he would support this new round of sanctions that is gaining traction against Russia.
The White House, through its press secretary, has signaled that it supports the measure; however, the president's new communications director said on CNN that the president hasn't yet made up his mind on it, as you heard a moment ago.
I suppose it goes with that old saying, what's life without a little contradiction?
But could contradiction, Scott, in fact, these mixed messages, could that actually be strategy here?
Or is it simply people in the White House just not on the same page?
LUCAS: It's a split in the White House. When the first bill passed the Senate 98-2, before that, there was a division amongst Trump staff as to whether or not to support the sanctions bill. Given the politics of what it would look like if you stood against it.
Now we are weeks ahead of this and the net has tightened on Trump further. And I suspect he'll have numerous advisers within the White House who'll be saying, Mr. President, you cannot veto this bill.
It will only increase the appearance that you are shielding or that you're working with Vladimir Putin, even as he tried to undermine American democracy.
But we know that Trump doesn't like to retreat. He doesn't like to back away. So it would not surprise me to see him defy almost every adviser in the White House and veto the legislation and tell Congress, bring it on.
HOWELL: Scott, looking ahead at this week, the Russia investigation focuses on people who've met with a Russian attorney in that meeting that was disclosed by Donald Trump Jr. One of them, Jared Kushner, is set to speak to both Intelligence Committees but it's being described as an interview.
Sources telling CNN that Kushner won't be sworn in when he talks to the committee staff about this on Monday.
And we also understand Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr., they cut a deal to hand over records and to speak --
[02:10:00]
HOWELL: -- privately with committee members rather than to have a public hearing.
What do you make of the optics of that?
LUCAS: Well, I think congressional committees are trying to avoid a showdown with all three men, in the idea that possibly they could get more cooperation, more information, if they take this step by step.
Let's take the case of Kushner. We're not just talking about the June 2016 meeting in which he was involved with three Kremlin-linked envoys. We're also talking about later meetings that Kushner had, including in December, when the head of the Kremlin-linked bank -- possibly, possibly over financial affairs.
And we're talking about the fact that Kushner repeatedly did not disclose his meetings with officials of foreign countries, including the Russians, and did not reveal loans and other financial matters for months on those records.
Now all those are sensitive topics, because the wider investigation is whether Russia put money into Trump's family or Trump's campaign in 2016. Better to try to approach that in a cooperative fashion than hitting Kushner with a big stick or, indeed, doing the same with Trump Jr. and Manafort at this point.
HOWELL: We do understand from officials that it has become a matter of follow the money, this investigation. Scott Lucas, live, thank you so much for the insight today.
Moving on now to Afghanistan. The Taliban are claiming responsibility for a suicide car bombing that took place in that nation's capital. The blast happened Monday morning in Kabul. At least 24 people were killed in the blast; 42 others wounded.
This when a Toyota Corolla exploded in the western part of the city. You see the vehicle here. The Taliban are saying that they were targeting a bus carrying Afghan intelligence staff.
Also in Afghanistan, a deadly friendly firestrike is under investigation there. A U.S. air raid on Friday that was meant to target Afghan militants in Helmand province, well, instead, it killed 16 Afghan police officers.
It's been 15 years now since the war in Afghanistan began. And U.S. Marines returning to Helmand for another tour continue to face an uphill battle.
Our Nick Paton Walsh was on the ground and has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here we are again, but it's been going on so long, these guys have left and then come back, Afghanistan's Helmand and America's Marines.
When does it end?
A year ago, the Taliban were at the gates of this key city, Lashkar Gah. Now it's not good, but it's better because the Marines, even though there's only 300 of them, have brought huge firepower with them.
Afghan troops just now retook one district. The Marines, not at the front but advising on base instead and congratulating them indoors.
Nothing lasts forever here, except maybe the war and the triumph soon fades.
A rocket has just hit, landing about 20 meters from us outside; a total of three, indiscriminate; an 8-year-old boy wounded in the attack.
President Trump is now weighing his first move in a war that, for men like Colonel Reid, whose birthday is September the 11th, is absolutely nothing new.
He was last here seven years ago but then with thousands of Marines, so fewer now.
COL. MATTHEW REID, DEPUTY COMMANDER, TASK FORCE SOUTHWEST, U.S. MARINES: We have around 300 still. Those are the troops that ran the chow hall.
WALSH (voice-over): Now they have to do it all over again.
REID: It's discouraging, right, I mean, a lot of blood on the ground.
WALSH: You feel like an extra sense of heaviness when you try and take it on again?
REID: There is a definite feeling of a sense of obligation to get this right because of those that have gone before us, for sure.
WALSH: So how many friends did you lose here?
REID: I don't think I've ever bothered to count. Too many between here and Iraq.
WALSH (voice-over): Some Marines advise near the front, where you can just make out the Taliban's white flag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all Taliban country, all of it. So there's Taliban that come through here on a daily basis.
WALSH (voice-over): But the Marines aren't meant to fight them. The Afghans are. And they aren't as many here as there's supposed to be. Listen to how these 45 Marines almost double what's meant to be a 500- strong Afghan unit here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's only about 200 that are assigned right now.
WALSH: By assigned, you mean that actually exist?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That actually exist.
(CROSSTALK)
WALSH: -- they have 500, but they have --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
WALSH: -- they have 200.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of those 200, there's about 100 of them that aren't even here.
WALSH (voice-over): Some on operations or on patrol, say 50 to 100 Afghans actually here.
This Marine unit pulls back after a week.
WALSH: The Marines are leaving, but this is only supposed to be a short mission. They come, they go, they come back again, each time, hoping the Afghan security forces they leave behind them will be able to do their job, to hold the Taliban back.
The question is, with only 300 of them here, Marines this time --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[02:15:00]
WALSH: -- what has changed? -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Helmand, Southern Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: One person has been killed in a shooting Sunday inside the Israeli embassy compound in Amman, Jordan. Officials say that he was a Jordanian national. Two people were wounded, another Jordanian and an Israeli national.
The shooting happened in a residential area of the compound. Police say the Jordanian victims were in the building to do carpentry work.
Now it's not clear who carried out that shooting in Amman or if it's tied to an outbreak of violence in Jerusalem and in the West Bank. That crisis has led the U.N. Security Council to set a meeting in the coming hours after a weekend of bloodshed. Our Oren Liebermann picks up the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Israel has installed security cameras near the entrance to one of the holiest sites in the region, especially in the Old City of Jerusalem known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The security measure is on top of metal detectors installed about 1.5 weeks ago in response to two Israeli police officers killed at that site. But Palestinians and the larger Arab region see that as an attempt by Israel to take over the holy site and to impose Israeli sovereignty on the holy site unilaterally.
And that's why this is so sensitive. It's not about metal detectors; it's not about security cameras; it's about control of a holy site. And now there are a lot of moving parts here. The Arab League has said Israel is playing with fire here and shouldn't make these unilateral moves.
Meanwhile, the U.N. has urged all sides, as well as the Middle East quartet, which also includes the E.U., the U.S. and Russia, has urged all sides to do everything possible to deescalate the tension in the region, to take measures to reduce the tension here and to bring both sides together to get out of this as quickly as possible, as that tension stands at a critical point here.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his weekly government meeting, said they're evaluating the security situation and they will make their decisions accordingly.
Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has frozen coordination and cooperation; critically, that includes security coordination with the Israelis in protest of the metal detectors and other Israeli measures at the holy site.
That is an unprecedented step that hasn't been seen in years here, the freezing of security coordination. But that's an indication of how seriously the Palestinians and the Arab world view these steps.
What happens now is critical as to how tensions go.
Do they increase and could we see the beginning of another round of violence?
It's certainly possible.
Or are steps taken by the Israelis and Palestinians, with the help of the international community to deescalate the tension and to get out of this without a continuation of violence? -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Oren Liebermann, thank you. NEWSROOM moves ahead this hour. A call for freedom in Poland as thousands of demonstrators protest a controversial judicial reform bill and the demand for a presidential veto. Stay with us. (MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
HOWELL: In the U.S. State of Texas, a terribly disturbing case of human trafficking. Nine people are dead after a truck was discovered in a parking lot in the city of San Antonio, Texas. That city held a vigil for the victims on Sunday.
More than 100 undocumented immigrants may have been crammed inside the overheated truck. The suspected driver is in custody. The case highlights the dangers that immigrants face when crossing into the United States. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more from San Antonio, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Homeland Security investigators and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say that the driver of the truck was 60-year-old James Bradley from Clearwater, Florida.
He's really the centerpiece of this investigation, as investigators try to figure out what they describe as a human smuggling operation. And the key is to figure out who else was involved, where this truck came from and where it was going.
The acting ICE director says that at some point during the journey, there could have been more than 100 people inside the back of this trailer truck. And when it was discovered here just after midnight, there was somebody from the truck that had approached a Walmart employee, asking for water.
And that is what led the employee to make the discovery and called police here to the scene. Eight people were found dead inside. A ninth person died in the hospital on Sunday. The death toll numbers could change.
There were nearly 20 people in critical condition throughout the day, receiving treatment in various hospitals around San Antonio. So a horrifying and gruesome discovery. The fire chief says that, at some point, he believes that the temperatures inside that trailer reached more than 150 degrees.
CHARLES HOOD, SAN ANTONIO FIRE CHIEF: The units arrived, found the trailer stuffed with victims in the back. And, again, very hot, kind of like being in an oven, if you could imagine. A lot of them have suffered the symptoms of heat stroke.
And so with heat stroke, a lot of times you have neurological deficits that you're never going to be able to recover from. So again, for those people that survived, they took a beating.
And with our temperatures yesterday, we had temperatures of over 100 degrees. So you can imagine the temperature in that, the back of that semi, loaded up with people, it was probably 150 degrees. And so the ones that we took out, all their pulse rates were about 130. They were hot to the touch.
LAVANDERA: A highly dangerous, volatile situation inside that truck.
And of course, all eyes really kind of focused on James Bradley, the driver of this truck, who hasn't formally faced any criminal charges filed just yet. But that could change dramatically here this Monday. Bradley's expected to make a court appearance Monday morning in San Antonio.
So the criminal charges could change here in the coming hours. So we'll continue to monitor that.
But this Walmart, where this truck was discovered, is just along Interstate 35 in Southwest San Antonio. It takes a direct shot, about a two-hour drive to the Texas-Mexico border. And in this part of South Texas, these kinds of human -- this kind of human smuggling operation is very common.
Oftentimes, undocumented migrants are moved in --
[02:25:00]
LAVANDERA: -- truckloads like this. So very dangerous situations like this have unfolded in the past and, sadly, this is just all too common in this part of the United States -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Ed, thank you.
CNN has been investigating cases of human trafficking in the United States and across the world with the CNN Freedom Project.
In the next hour, we'll start a special week of investigations to expose the use of children and laborers in Cambodia. And we'll reunite with three girls, whom we first met in 2013 after they had been trafficked for sex.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The children we met then are women now. They work alongside other survivors in a factory run by anti- trafficking nonprofit Agape International Missions or AIM.
They earn their own money by their own hands. Their lives are better and they're even stronger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOWELL (voice-over): You'll hear their incredible stories, their messages to others in just about an hour's time. And join us each day for this week for our special CNN Freedom Project series.
In just a few hours, Poland's president is supposed to meet with the head of the supreme court there. The meeting comes as the president is undergoing pressure to veto a judicial reform bill that would put the supreme court under government control.
Critics say the legislation is the latest effort by the president and his party to erode democratic freedoms. Our Muhammad Lila has this update from Warsaw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another evening, another large protest here in Warsaw, the Polish capital, protests taking place not just here in the capital but in many locations right across the country.
As you walk through this protest, you feel a sense of hope but also a sense of anger. You see a lot of Polish flags, the Polish flag, a large one there, erected just in front of the presidential palace. You also see a lot of E.U. flags as well.
The protesters say they're willing to stay here for as long as it takes. But in order for their demand to be met, they're calling on the country's president to exercise a veto over a controversial piece of legislation that would allow the country's ruling party, the Law and Justice Party, to replace all of the country's supreme court judges with judges that they themselves have handpicked.
In fact, you see a sign over here, the sign in Polish, calling on Andrzej -- that's Andrzej Duda, the president, to exercise his veto and reclaim or restore his good name among the people.
Now the E.U. has already expressed its concern about this legislation. The U.S. State Department has expressed its concern about the legislation as well. We know that the president has roughly three weeks to decide what he's going to do.
Is he going to approve the legislation?
Or is he going to listen to the will and the show of force of people on the streets and veto that legislation?
In fact, one of the loudest cheers and chants that we've heard here is a chant that's very simple and all it says is, "Chcemy weta," which means, "We want a veto" -- Muhammad Lila, CNN, Warsaw.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOWELL: Still ahead here on NEWSROOM, CNN tracks down the Russian pop star linked to the now infamous Donald Trump Jr. meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you arrange that meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come join me for the show tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we will (INAUDIBLE).
HOWELL (voice-over): Find out what else he had to say, as CNN NEWSROOM continues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:31:25] HOWELL: Welcome back to viewers around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. It's good to have you with us. I'm George Howell, with the headlines we're following for you this hour.
(HEADLINES)
HOWELL: Let's get back to our top story this hour. U.S. Senate investigators will meet with Jared Kushner in the coming days on Capitol Hill. President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser will answer questions about the campaign's alleged ties to Russia. The interview, as it's being called, will take place behind closed doors and sources tell CNN that Kushner will not be sworn in.
It comes as the White House is casting new doubt whether President Trump believes whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
CNN's Boris Sanchez has this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We saw an aggressive, combative and, oftentimes, humorous new director of communications for the White House in Anthony Scaramucci over the weekend, as he made the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows. Saying that he would be very aggressive when it comes to going after leaks coming out of this administration, and also on trying to keep the focus on the agenda and away from the Russia investigation.
Though, in one interesting exchange on "State of the Union with Jake Tapper," Anthony Scaramucci said that the president is still not convinced that Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic computers back in the 2016 election. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Somebody said to me yesterday, I won't tell you who, that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those e-mails, you would have never seen it. You would have never had any evidence of them. Meaning that they're super confident in their deception skills and hacking. My point is, all of the information isn't on the table yet. But here's --
(CROSSTALK)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, STATE OF THE UNION: Wait, wait, wait, Anthony, Anthony --
SCARAMUCCI: Let me finish.
TAPPER: You're making a lot of assertions. I don't know who this anonymous person is that said, if the Russians done it, we wouldn't have been able to detect it. But is --
(CROSSTALK)
SCARAMUCCI: How about it was the president, Jake.
TAPPER: OK, it's the --
(CROSSTALK)
SCARAMUCCI: He called me -- he called me from Air Force One.
TAPPER: Yes.
SCARAMUCCI: And he basically said to me, hey, maybe they did it, may they didn't do it. And I'm going to --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: Hold on a second. This is the issue here. We have experts. The U.S. intelligence agencies, unanimous, both Obama appointees and Trump appointees, the director of National Intelligence, the head of the National Security Agency, the head of the FBI. I mean, all of these intelligence experts saying Russia hacked the intelligence -- Russia hacked the election. They tried to interfere in the election. No votes were changed, but there was this disinformation and misinformation campaign. President Trump is contradicting it and you're siding with President Trump.
SCARAMUCCI: I didn't say I was siding with President Trump. He hasn't made the decision yet to sign that bill one way or the other. So when he makes that decision, I will 100 percent side with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:35:13] SANCHEZ: It's important to point out, just this last week, several key figures in the intelligence community reiterated the fact that there is zero doubt that Russia was behind that hacking.
Also, we should mention that, later today, Jared Kushner is set to meet with staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee to discuss that meeting at Trump Tower back in June 2016 between he, Donald Trump, Jr, and Paul Manafort, and a Russian attorney and other officials, which they promised to provide the Trump campaign with negative information about Hillary Clinton. We should also note that meeting between Jared Kushner and staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee set to take place behind closed doors.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Boris Sanchez reporting there from the White House.
The publicist for a Russian pop star arranged that meeting at Trump Tower back in June of last year. Emin Agalarov and his father had business dealings with Donald Trump for years.
CNN's Matthew Chance caught up with the entertainer to ask him about the meeting and his ties to the president of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The man on the right is Emin Agalarov. He's the Russian pop star at the center of the latest allegations about collusion between the Trump administration and the Russian government. He's very difficult to catch up with. But I did manage to speak to him earlier before this concert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE (on camera): Did you arrange that meeting between Donald Trump, Jr and the Russian lawyer?
EMIN AGALAROV, SINGER: Come join me at the show tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
CHANCE: The American public want to know --
(CROSSTALK)
ALGALAROV: Excellent. Excellent.
CHANCE: Any comment --
(CROSSTALK)
ALGALAROV: Thank you very much.
CHANCE: Did the Russian authorities give your family information to pass on to the Trump administration?
ALGALAROV: Talk to me lawyer.
CHANCE: I've already talked to him. He said you wouldn't comment.
ALGALAROV: So I wouldn't comment.
CHANCE: Come on. These are questions you're not going to be able to not comment on at some point.
ALGALAROV: Guys --
CHANCE: You're going to have to answer them
ALGALAROV: -- I'm here to perform. So enjoy the show. And I'm not going to answer any questions.
CHANCE: Why did your publicist --
(CROSSTALK)
ALGALAROV: I'm not going to answer any questions.
(CROSSTALK)
CHANCE: -- get a comment.
ALGALAROV: You're not going to get a comment. Am I clear? You're not going to get a comment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: That was Emin Agalarov, making it very clear, indeed, that he did not want to speak to us about that issue. But the fact is, the allegations of collusion surrounding the Trump administration and the Trump campaign and his role in that alleged collusion is probably not going to go away.
Matthew Chance, CNN, Latvia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Matthew, thank you for the reporting.
In a rare convergence, seven tropical cyclones are swirling around the Pacific Ocean at the same time.
Let's bring in our meteorologist. Karen Maginnis, to tell us more about this -- Karen?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is spectacular, George. We're not seeing anything in the Atlantic basin, but the Pacific basin, kaboom. Lots of systems all lined up. The eastern Pacific, three of them, Greg, Irwin, and Hillary. We have an area we're watching just to the east of the Philippines. Sanka is going to be troublemaker, at least in the short term. Take a look at this. Why are we looking at Sanka? It's moving just to the south of Hainan Island, producing heavy rainfall and winds, but it's going to be in Vietnam that we have the biggest concern. It was just about a week or 10 days ago that another tropical system moved on shore, produced mudslides, landslides. A number of fatalities. And it's very poorly organized. But that doesn't mean it's not very powerful, because it is. A broad field of wet weather expected. And because of the terrain, it is going to be prone to flash flooding and mudslides and landslides. Where you see the purple and white shaded areas between 250 and 500 millimeters of rainfall certainly possible. Varying amounts and substantial precipitation on the heels of what was our tropical cyclone, Typhoon Noru. This is a crazy dance, Fujiwara, in the proximate vicinity of each other. The waters here are relatively cooler than the waters to the south. In 24 hours, we'll see winds of 205 kilometers per hour. And here in the Philippines, the Luzon Strait, the next system could move through the Luzon Strait and head to the southeast coast of China.
Why are we seeing all this? There are a number of atmospheric reasons. But one of the real reasons is the water temperature here across the Pacific basin. Some areas around 35 degrees Celsius. Conducive atmospheric weather conditions, warm water temperatures, and you see this big explosion of tropical activity. We haven't seen anything like this, George, since the early '70s.
[02:40:28] HOWELL: Wow.
Karen Maginnis, thank you so much, at the CNN International Weather Center.
Visitors to a Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar got quite a shock. They watched helplessly as the ornate temple collapse and slide into a river. Look at that. Wow. Local officials said heavy rain in that area caused the river water to rise. They believe the water weakened the base of the pagoda, causing it to then collapse.
20 years after their mother's death, Princes Harry and William are opening up like they've never done before. Up next, the royal brothers shared touching memories of Diana, Princess of Wales. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: British Princes William and Harry say they deeply regret their last phone call with their mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales. In a new documentary, the royal brothers revealed they rushed to end the conversation so that they could go back to playing. William, who was then 15 years old, and Harry, who was just 12, they had no idea that that phone call would be the last phone call they would have with their mother. Diana died in a car crash August 31, 1997. Now the princes are opening up about her, 20 years later, after her tragic death.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:45:09] PRINCE WILLIAMS: A special picture.
(LAUGHTER)
PRINCE WILLIAMS: This is the first time that the two of us have ever spoken about her as a mother.
You and I both (INAUDIBLE).
PRINCE HARRY: Right.
(LAUGHTER)
PRINCE WILLIAM: You were in the tummy.
(CROSSTALK)
PRINCE HARRY: Arguably, a little bit too raw up until this point. It's still raw.
PRINCE WILLIAM: There's not many days that go by that I don't think of her. The 20th anniversary seems like a good time to remember all the good things about her and, hopefully, provide a different side that others haven't seen.
NARRATOR: To celebrate the life and legacy of Diana, Princess of Wales, her sons are sharing their most intimate memories of her for the first time.
PRINCE WILLIAMS: We felt, you know, incredibly loved, her and I, and I'm very grateful for that that love still feels there.
PRINCE HARRY: It was that love that, even if she was on the other side of a room, that, as a son, you could feel it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: "Diana, Our Mother, Her Life and Legacy," the documentary airs Monday night on ITV in the United Kingdom and on HBO here in the United States.
Let's now bring in CNN royal commentator, Kate Williams, live this hour from our London bureau.
Good to have you with us, Kate.
KATE WILLIAMS, CNN HISTORIAN & ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Good to see you.
HOWELL: I'm struck by what I just heard, just how raw this is for these young men, considering how young they were when this happened. This phone call, that was their last with their mother.
WILLIAMS: Yes, George. It's so moving. It's a very moving interview. William and Harry really haven't spoken very much about Diana. Harry spoke a little bit earlier this year, saying he had been very upset, devastated about her death and had gone to counseling as a way of feeling better about life.
But this is very unique. It's incredibly moving. As you say, one of the most moving parts is they say, we were in Balmoral when she in Paris, we were running around, enjoying ourselves, having fun like two small children do. And when she called up, we just wanted to get out and play again, so we had these very brief conversations. And both William and Harry say how much they regret it, that was the last of a conversation with their mother, and they say how much they think about her every day.
HOWELL: One can only imagine what it must have been like for these two young boys, when this happened.
Let's also talk about the simple fact that, as we hear more from these royals, we get a sense, more insight into the relationship that Diana had with her two sons.
WILLIAMS: We really do. And they talk about her in these incredibly moving terms, talking about her as a mother. Prince Harry saying how much he felt loved. But also, he's been saying how much he still misses her as a mother. She gave him so many hugs. He misses her being his mother every day, even though he's a grown man. And it reflects what an important relationship they had. What they say particularly is how informal she was. The royal family is a very formal institution. Diana was very informal, always cuddling them. They said she was very naughty. She used to sneak sweets into their socks at football games. Told them to be naughty. Used to drive around the roads with them with the radio on at full blast. They said how much loved they felt and how informal she was. So she had this huge impact on their lives, which made it all the more devastating that she died so young and when they were so young as well.
HOWELL: We are just starting to hear more of these brothers opening up about their mother here in this year. This certainly, this documentary will be the most we've heard from them about this very delicate subject. How might their newly revealed stories, how might they be received among royal watchers and the public at large?
WILLIAMS: This is the first time we've heard them talk about it, and William and Harry, in particular. And it's very moving to hear William say that he talks about Granny Diana when he's putting George and Charlotte to bed, because they have another grandma, whom they'll never meet. Of course, his wife, Katherine, never met her either. So it's him who is carrying it on.
They will be received with great warmth and affection. It is, as you say, George, the anniversary of Diana's death on the 31st of August this year.
But also what William and Harry have made very clear is they've said this is where we're opening up, we're talking about Diana. This is a huge year. We want to remember her positive side and remember the relationships. But after this, we want it to be private once more. So they've said, explicitly, we're not going to do it again.
So this is -- it's not the beginning of a lot of talk about Diana. This really their one moment which they'll talk about her. And then after that, they hope it to remain completely private. So it is a unique moment and so very moving.
[02:50:03] HOWELL: This documentary very important for many to watch. But Kate, put it into perspective for us. Because 20 years ago, the death of Princess Diana, what did that mean in the United Kingdom, and what did it mean around the world?
WILLIAMS: The death of Princess Diana was one of the most seismic events that Britain had during the last part of the 20th century. The effect on Britain, the whole nation was galvanized by their distress, by missing Diana, and also by their feeling that the queen and the royal family weren't really reflecting Diana's full excellence, her full contribution, that they were treating her as an outsider. It was a time when the queen's popularity was at its lowest, because it was felt that she simply didn't care. And that had a huge impact on the royal family, on Britain.
And, yes, we're 20 years on now and many people don't remember Diana at all. But still, she's had this huge effect on British society in terms of the particularly charity, emphasizing the importance of Cinderella charities, of not necessarily the most easy ones to get on with. It was AIDS victims, cancer victims, land mines. And William and Harry have continued that. And also, really showing the importance of motherhood and, most of all, what -- the role of women, that she was a princess, she was a wife, but she carved out her own role. And the changes that she instituted in the royal family and, indeed, started in society are still reverberating today.
HOWELL: A lot of people will be watching this documentary.
Kate Williams, live for us in our London bureau. Always a pleasure to have you on the show.
WILLIAMS: Thank you so much, George.
HOWELL: American golfer, Jordan Spieth, is celebrating a historic win. He claimed victory at the British Open after a dramatic turn of events and joined a very select club. We'll explain, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back. American golfer, Jordan Spieth, has made history. He won the British Open Sunday in a dramatic fashion. Spieth became the second player under the age of 24 years old to win three of four major titles.
Our Alex Thomas has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:54:30] ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT CORRESPONDENT: They say 13 is unlucky for some, but not for Jordan Spieth, after a dramatic finish to this Open golf championship. Spieth, at the age of 23, already had won the sport, having claimed the Masters and the U.S. Open two years ago, came to the 13th hole here at Royal Birkdale on the final day, having led the tournament from the opening rounds with his three-shot overnight lead having disappeared. He was level with fellow American, Matt Kuchar. Spieth then carved his drive at the 13th wildly to the right. He ended up in the bushes on a steep slope and had to declare his ball unplayable. He took a drop, so far right of that, again, that he played his next shot from the practice range. Somehow, he managed to get the ball near the green, got up and down for a bogey, only one dropped shot. And then using supreme mental strength for such a young man, went birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie, to effectively secure the claret jug for the first time in what's turning into be an illustrious career. He's the youngest Open champion for almost 40 years. And now goes to America's PGA championship at Quail Hollow next month with a chance to seal a career grand slam of all four major titles at a younger age than Tiger Woods managed it.
Alex Thomas, CNN, Royal Birkdale.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Alex, thank you.
Finally, this hour, an amazing rescue at sea. Two elephants now safely ashore after being stranded in waters off the coast of Sri Lanka. Members of their Sri Lanka Navy spotted the animals in distress while on patrol. Navy and wildlife officials then launched rescue missions. The pair of elephants were unarmed and successfully returned to land. That's good news.
Thanks for being with us. The news continues here on CNN right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
