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Hala Gorani Tonight
Kushner On Russia: I Had No Improper Contacts; Trump Fires Off Angry Tweets On Russia Probe; U.S. Marines Back In Taliban Stronghold; Any Minute Now: Trump Speaks On Health Care Reform; Manhunt for Chainsaw Attacker in Switzerland; Trump Speaks on Healthcare Reform; Denmark: A Leader in Food Waste Prevention. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 24, 2017 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:00:31]
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HANNAH VAUGHAN JONES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Hannah Vaughan Jones sitting in for Hala Gorani live from London. This is THE WORLD RIGHT
NOW.
I did not collude with Russia. That was the bottom line of Jared ushner's rare remarks to reporters just a short time ago. President Donald Trump's
son-in-law and close adviser spoke outside the White House after facing some tough questions on Capitol Hill.
Kushner met behind closed doors with staffers on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He'll be back in Congress tomorrow to testify in the House.
Mr. Kushner issued a written statement earlier today detailing four meetings he had with Russians during the campaign and the transition.
He says those meetings do not constitute any crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JARED KUSHNER, SENIOR ADVISER TO U.S PRESIDENT: Since the first questions were raised in March, I have been consistent in saying that I was eager to
share any information I have with the investigating bodies, and I've done so today.
The record and documents I have voluntarily provided will show that all of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events of a
very unique campaign. Let me be very clear.
I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian
funds for my businesses. And I have been fully transparent in providing all requested information.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUGHAN JONES: Today marks a key moment in the investigation into the Trump
campaign's ties to Russia. It was the first time anyone in President Trump's inner circle has been grilled on Capitol Hill.
Let's bring in CNN's White House reporter, Kaitlan Collins for us. Kaitlan, we've had a lot of testimony today. Some written, some spoken,
some behind closed doors. What have we learned today about Jared Kushner?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, in this 11-page statement that Jared Kushner issued this morning before he spoke with Senate
investigators for nearly two hours, he details his meetings with Russian officials during the campaign, including that one at Trump Tower last June
with Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort.
Now Jared Kushner says that during this meeting that the woman, the Russian lawyer who Donald Trump Jr. thought was a Russian government attorney was
talking about adoptions. Jared Kushner says he realized the meeting was useless to him
and e-mailed his assistant on his phone and said please call me so I can get
out of this meeting.
So, we learned a lot of details about that, but you're right, we are seeing this for the first time, this investigation into Russian meddling in the
election come as close as it has to the west wing with Jared Kushner.
Now he's also scheduled to speak with the House Intelligence Committee omorrow where he'll likely say the same thing that he told Senate
investigators today. He also provided them with documents and said that he was not responsible for any collusion or coordination with anyone from the
Russian government during this campaign.
He painted this picture in this 11-page statement of someone who was overwork and underexperienced working on a political campaign for though
first time.
VAUGHAN JONES: And Kaitlan, what about Donald Trump, the president himself? We know he was on Twitter and quite active earlier on today, but
later on he's going to be trying to change the agenda and talk about health care once more, right?
COLLINS: Yes, that's right. Donald Trump has been ramping up his push for health care because I think he really senses that it could fail and they
could not repeal or replace Obamacare, which is a campaign promise that he ran on.
So we've seen a lot of tweets from the president supposed to be meeting with what the White House is billing as Obamacare victims this afternoon.
So we are likely going to see him continue to push for health care more and more this week.
VAUGHAN JONES: Kaitlan Collins, great to have you on. Thank you.
COLLINS: Thank you.
VAUGHAN JONES: Let's get some more perspective now on all of these developments. I'm joined by CNN legal analyst, Paul Callan, and CNN
political analyst, David Drucker. Gentlemen, welcome to you both.
[15:05:06] Paul, to you, I want to ask you about Jared Kushner and the statement, the written statement and also the statement outside the White
House we heard from the president's son-in-law today. His defense, does it stand up to legal examination?
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's -- he puts forward a very understandable defense. I mean, this memo that he issued was about 11
pages long outlining in detail how he got involved in the campaign.
And I'll tell you, in reading it, it sounds like, you know, a governmental novice getting involved in a big-time presidential campaign and engaging in
activities that maybe a more sophisticated person familiar with how the inside game is played in terms of politics wouldn't have made the kind of
mistakes that he made.
And clearly, he was involved in a meeting with the Russian lawyer that Donald Jr. was involved in but he claims it was the reference to prior --
that bad things about Hillary Clinton were going to be revealed by the Russians was in an e-mail chain and he didn't read the whole e-mail chain
because he gets hundreds of e-mails and he has thousands of meetings to deal with.
So that was sort of the gist of it. And you know, I think probably a Republican-dominated Congress will be willing to accept that.
VAUGHAN JONES: And David, the evidence that we don't know about yet, but the testimony that he would have given to Senate staffers. First of all,
I'm intrigued as to why wasn't it the senators themselves, it was staffers questioning him behind closed doors. Do you think these staffers would
have come up to a combined attack route to try and pin him in a corner, if you like, and get something out of
him?
DAVID DRUCKER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I don't know so much about that. I know that they did it behind closed doors because that's how you
can talk about information that's classified that they couldn't talk about an open setting.
And on these committees, especially the Senate Intelligence Committee, important committees like it it's a lot of the senior staff that does a lot
of the investigatory work and probing these matters.
And so it's appropriate that you'd have staff questioning, although it's interesting -- I'd be interested to know if any senator at any time, the
chairman or ranking Democrat popped in at all, but it's not out of the ordinary.
You know, I think the question going forward here is can the White House get a better handle on the Russian situation, such that we don't find out
there were more nefarious meetings or potentially problematic meetings with the Russian
officials not disclosed.
Part of the problem they have had is that the transition period wasn't handled well enough, such as they got all their information out there and
then you have this drip, drip of news reports of things that we didn't hear from the campaign first or the transition or the administration first.
At least with Jared Kushner's published statement today that we've been talking about, it's one of the first times we've had an expansive amount of
information from him describing what he thinks as opposed to news reports discovering what went on without him offering.
And that could help him a little bit, although I still think there's a lot more that we're going to find out in the coming months.
VAUGHAN JONES: Go ahead, Paul.
CALLAN: I just want to add, I agree with David and I think the thing you have
to remember is that when this Russia probe started, the Trump administration was essentially saying, we had no contact with the Russians.
I mean, Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, said I never had contact with the Russians. Then, of course, the drip, drip of information started. Not
only did he have contact, it was with the Russian ambassador.
And then Donald Jr. has this meeting and now we find out that Jared Kushner had meetings with the Russians. I found actually personally the most
startling thing in the 11-page disclosure was a meeting that took place in December where a Russian banker actually met with him and gave him a bag of
dirt and a work of art from a village in Russia that his grandparents had been born in.
And this banker was supposedly close to the Russian president. So, I think a lot of people will be surprised by that. He said that he registered
these gifts and did nothing illegal. But a lot of people will be surprised.
VAUGHAN JONES: And if this is a White House that is trying to move the conversation away from Russia, then the commander-in-chief isn't doing a
particularly great job at communicating that particularly with his tweets today and the person who is really at the brunt of those tweets was his own
attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
I think we can perhaps bring up the tweets in question where he describes Jeff Sessions, is attorney general as being beleaguered. David, I'm
wondering your thoughts on that. What is Donald Trump trying to say?
DRUCKER: Well, look, President Trump tends to speak his mind however and whenever it suits him. But I think you bring up a good point. One of the
reasons we're spending as much time on the Russia story as we are is because the president continues to talk about it.
And in addition to the news that is generated because of the investigation, there's news when the president talks. And we cover what the president of
the United States talks about.
And it's not just today. It was Saturday morning. It was Sunday afternoon and it was again today, Monday, where the president is focused on his
issues -- the issues he takes with the Russia investigation.
He thinks it's unfair, a witch hunt. He brings up his defeated opponent Hillary Clinton and will simply not let this thing go. Imagine what would
have happened if he had been talking about the need to pass health care reform and tax reform and going over policy arguments and all of that.
Would we have had all of this with Jared Kushner's testimony and later this week, with additional testimony coming? Sure. We'd be talking and
reporting about all of this.
But the president can drive front page news and when he contributes to this, it simply adds to the attention surrounding this, even though he
thinks it's coming from us but so much of it is coming from him simply because we're going to cover what he says.
VAUGHAN JONES: Yes, absolutely. He does seem so frustrated and obsessed if you like, by Russia, which is possibly why he's still talking about it
on Twitter so much. Gentlemen, my thanks to you both, David Drucker and Paul Callan. Thank you.
Well, President Trump is set to deliver those remarks on health care. He's going to try and change the agenda away from Russia. He'll be speaking
from the White House in just a few minutes time. Of course, we will bring that to you live as soon as it gets under way right here on CNN.
But for now, we turn to other news. It's a story you'll have sadly heard before, a bombing in the Afghan capital of Kabul, 29 people were killed.
More than 40 were injured. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.
It is the latest in a string of attacks in the last few days. The terror group ratchets up its offensive against the country. Afghanistan is a
country that has seen foreign troops on its soil in some capacity for nearly four decades now and 16 years after entering the country, U.S.
troops are still there.
Let's go live now to Nick Paton Walsh who is in Kabul for us tonight. Nick, first of all on this latest attack in the Afghan capital, what word
have we had from the government about this onset of more Taliban attacks?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Taliban have claimed they were targeting intelligence officials. The
government and many other reports suggest we were talking about civilians often in these attacks on their way to work being struck early in the
morning, specifically in the mini bus hit by this blast, it appears to be employees of the Ministry for Mining in Afghanistan.
Other people, too, simply on the way about their daily business. This used to be a city where there's a degree of comfort provided where people
thought was the ring of steel around it that NATO managed to impose.
Meaning attacks on key objectives were pretty rare, startling to some degree but it's a sad issue that occurs weekly at times causing certain
people, longtime friends to question how safe they are and it's a long-term presence here.
And I've also heard, too, the high-profile Afghan company here finding employees resigning simply out of fear about coming to work. This is a
deeply worried capital because simply the violence swelling around it and how lengthily enduring this conflict appears to be -- Hannah.
VAUGHAN JONES: And, Nick, it's been 16 long years that the U.S. has been involved in Afghanistan and now many in America, the president included,
seem to be questioning the mission and the effectiveness of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
WALSH: Well, of course, being here 16 years means your previous policies haven't worked because you haven't been able to go home. That's the sad
fact of it and the kind of sparkling new solutions that many hope may be able to President Trump haven't emerged.
America has tried pretty everything so far. We've been expecting in the days ahead some sort of announcement from the White House about their new
take on Afghan policy. That does appear to be delayed yet again for some sort of reason.
But we saw ourselves firsthand how a small contingent of U.S. Marines sent to the most volatile province in Afghanistan, Helmand, basically to stop
the whole place from falling to the Taliban, how they're seeing challenges day by day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (voice-over): Here we are again. What has 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. 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 triumphs it may face.
[15:15:06] A rocket's 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 men like Colonel Reed 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around 300. Still, those are the troops that ran the chow hall.
WALSH: Now they have to do it all over again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's discouraging, right? I mean, a lot of blood in the ground.
WALSH (on camera): You can look at extra sense of heaviness when you try to take it on again?
COLONEL MATTHEW REED, DEPUTY COMMANDER, TAKS FORCE SOUTHWEST: There is a definite feeling, a sense of obligation to get this right because of those
that have gone before us, for sure.
WALSH: How many friends did you lose?
REED: I don't think I've ever bothered to count.
WALSH: Too many?
REED: Yes.
WALSH: Between here and Iraq.
(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: But the Marines aren't meant to fight them. The Afghans are and they aren't as many here as there are 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 (on camera): You mean that actually exist?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That actually exist.
WALSH: But they have 500, but in reality, 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, 50 to 100 Afghans actually here. This Marine unit pulls back after a week.
(on camera): The Marines are leaving, but this is only supposed to be a short mission. They've 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, what has changed?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: So President Trump's options, President Obama tried a surge in troops. That didn't really work. They've always tried to talk to Taliban.
That isn't looking likely given how the Taliban seemed to be winning and are increasingly extremist.
They've tried to leave and they found themselves coming back now. So we're likely to hear a policy announcement basically more of the same by
increments, more special forces to tackle ISIS and the Taliban and more trainers to assist Afghan Security Forces.
Does that work to bring a permanent solution? Highly unlikely, more likely again more fingers plugging the leaks in the increasingly beleaguered dam
that is Afghan Security -- Hannah.
VAUGHAN JONES: Nick, thanks very much indeed. Nick Paton Walsh live for us in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
Well, across the border in Pakistan, and another horrific attack. This one happened in Lahore targeting police there. At least 26 people are dead.
Nearly 50 wounded. The Pakistani Taliban says it is responsible calling it a suicide attack.
Still to come on the program -- tonight, Donald Trump vowed first to repeal and replace Obamacare, but his own health care reform effort has stalled
somewhat so far. The president is set to speak on health care live just ahead. Stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:20:32]
VAUGHAN JONES: Welcome back. You're watching THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. With his health care reform effort on life support, U.S. President Donald Trump
is turning up the heat on fellow Republicans pressuring them to end Obamacare once and for all.
We are waiting for Mr. Trump to give a statement in the White House any minute now. As soon as he takes to the lectern there, we'll bring it to
you live.
The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote on health care tomorrow, but there's still a huge amount of uncertainty about exactly what bill they
may consider this week.
I'm joined by White House reporter, Stephen Collinson. Stephen, great to have you on. There's been a lot of flip flopping about health care over
the last couple of weeks in Congress. Where does the president stand this week as far as health care is concerned?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think the president stands in a place where he's desperate to get something passed, and he's not that
bothered, really, what's in it. We've seen that the president doesn't have a great deal of familiarity with many of the details of the health care
plan but he's six months into his presidency.
He's not passed a significant piece of legislation through the Congress. He, like many other Republicans came to power vowing to repeal and replace
Obamacare, and they have been unable to get it done.
So, I think he's just really, really keen to get something passed so he can have a signing ceremony at his desk in the oval office. The question is
whether something does get passed.
As you say, there's going to be a procedural vote to moving towards a debate on a bill. The problem is, nobody in the Senate knows exactly what
the bill is going to be as they head back to Washington tonight, whether it's a repeal bill, a repeal and replace bill, and the numbers right now,
as far as we know, just don't work out.
The Senate leadership can only lose one lawmaker now that Senator John McCain will not be in town because of his brain cancer diagnosis last week.
There seem to be three solid nos and perhaps six to ten senators uncomfortable with where the bill stands right now.
VAUGHAN JONES: It's very confused picture, isn't it? I'm sure the same for senators as it is for us looking on. Just last week or perhaps the
week (inaudible), President Trump says he's not going to own this. I'm not going to own health care.
Republicans aren't going to own it either.
But he's certainly going out on a limb if he's about to speak at the White House on health care. That's owning it to some extent, isn't it?
COLLINSON: Right. And that's one of the problems. When the president said he's not going to own it he's not going to own the failure of what he
says the Obamacare health care system is. And he's not going to be to blame if senators and
representatives don't come up with a new law to replace the system.
The problem is if you are a Republican senator, you have seen the president's
various and continual flip flops of his position, you have seen his almost capricious tone towards health care and the Republican Party in general.
You are going to take a vote and if it turns out two years down the road that health care system does indeed cause millions of Americans to lose
their health care, and you are going to pay a political price, what confidence have you then that the president won't turn around and blame you
for that vote?
So normally in these situations, senators need the cover of a popular president to make some kind of vote and some certainty he'll be there for
them if it doesn't turn out as well as they hoped.
With Donald Trump, because of the way he's positioned himself, they don't have that certainty. They're fearing for their own political future
because Republicans have -- Republican voters want this repealed.
And the question about whether this works down the line and they'll pay a political price in midterm elections next November or even in the 2020
presidential race.
VAUGHAN JONES: I think David Drucker is still with us as well. David, if you are still with us then welcome to the conversation. We're talking
about health care. I'm wondering if you think that now is maybe just time to vote.
We've heard so much about whether Republicans will get the 60 votes they need to get anything passed at all. Is it just time to just to vote on
anything and if it fails, it fails?
DRUCKER: Well, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell certainly thinks so. He's scheduled a vote for Tuesday, we think. We're not quite sure yet what
the underlying legislation is going to be.
But there's going to be a key procedural vote where they'll need at least 50 Republicans to get this thing to an open debate where they can then
decide what bill they want to vote on ultimately.
[15:25:09] I think what's notable here is that McConnell being a very keen electoral observer and political operator doesn't normally call votes that
might be wasted. If they are going to take a big risk, he's going to want a payoff.
In this case, he's told his members they'll vote on something that continues to oppose repealing and replacing Obamacare, even for valid
reasons is not good enough. They not do the job they wanted to do is simply not something he's going to let them do.
And so, he's called this vote and said if it fails, it's something you're going to own. It's part of the agenda, if it holds for Republican voters,
and also because there are so many problems with the health care system. They're going to have to do something. They can't simply take a pass.
VAUGHAN JONES: And Stephen, you touched on this just now about how Republicans feel towards their president. President Trump himself tweeted
this morning saying he doesn't really understand why so many Republicans who got into their positions off the back of his success don't want to do
more to protect their president. But I guess, the question is, would he have their back down the line if Trumpcare fails?
COLLINSON: Well, that's a very good question. And you know, he's tried cajoling, threatening. What he hasn't really tried is going out to build
support for this bill, which right now is pretty unpopular bill.
That would be the kind of thing that you'd expect the president to do, perhaps doing a national broadcast, for example, to explain it to
Americans. Going out there and doing town hall meetings, fielding lots of questions on the detail of the bill.
As I said, the president at various times of this debate has not appeared to have a really in-depth knowledge of exactly what is in the bill and what
its implications are. And that's one of the reasons that gets to your
question.
Senators right now do not feel a great deal of fear towards this president. His -- from the lowest approval ratings at this point of his presidency of
any president in the modern age.
He doesn't appear to have the skills needed to help pilot a bill through Congress. So, a lot of them are feeling quite exposed. There's also the
question that some of these senators ran ahead of Donald Trump in the areas, you know, in some of these states he won in the presidential
election.
So, the question of whether he brought them and swept them into power is a questionable one to start with. But it's clear that the ability of the
president to enact this legislation has been limited, and that's one of the reasons why he's not really bringing people along, you know, to pass this
bill.
VAUGHAN JONES: David, perhaps the devil is in the detail or the lack of detail as far as the president is concerned with health care. First, it
was a repeal and replay, and then just repeal it and let Obamacare fail.
And he seemed perfectly comfortable with just saying let it fail. It's not on my watch, but he's the president of the United States. One could argue
that the health care and the safety of the American people is very, very much on his watch.
DRUCKER: Well, he's going to own health care one way or other so are the Republicans, and that's why they are in such a bind. The bill that they've
been able to come up with that they think they can pass, the one that passed the House is extremely unpopular.
In fact, for the first time in seven, eight years, Obamacare is actually pretty popular. It's doing reasonably well. People couldn't stand it
until a few months ago. Even now at its worst, it's doing as bad as it's ever done structurally and people are all of a sudden finding something to
like about it.
VAUGHAN JONES: But Obamacare needs propping up, right?
DRUCKER: Correct, but that --
VAUGHAN JONES: It's going to fail unless it's funded.
DRUCKER: Well, that's correct. But that just shows you the pickle Republicans have gotten themselves into. Obamacare, as a structure, as a
system, is doing as poorly as it ever has. It needs help in propping up more than it ever has before and yet it's as popular as it's ever been.
And that's because voters don't like what they're hearing from the Republicans. I think one of the things that is missing and we've been
discussing is presidential leadership.
I mean, it's pretty standard for members of Congress and the House and Senate to bicker and not quite agree and be all over the place because you
have different states and different districts and a lot of competing interests.
And one of the reasons you want the presidency, if you are a political party is because you have somebody with national reach that can bring
everybody together. You provide some guidelines, let Congress work it out within those guidelines and then go out and provide political cover by
selling it to the people and creating some political pressure.
And Trump has been very adverse to doing that. He hasn't wanted to take ownership of this. In some cases, it's understandable that he never really
cared much about repealing and replacing Obamacare until late in the campaign when he realized what a potent issue it was for rallying
Republicans to his side that were suspicious of him for all sorts of reasons.
[15:30:00] And now he's in a situation where he owns it, but he's not comfortable and that is not helping get this thing done in Congress.
VAUGHAN JONES: Stephen, final word to you on this. There has been much speculation amongst Senators that they just don't know what they might be
voting on anyway. They haven't seen any legislation yet. If there is going to be a vote this week, what do you think they might vote on?
COLLINSON: It looks, just in the last few hours, that there are still efforts trying to take place in the Republican conference on a replacement
bill. That seems to be one way where I think they may be able to bring some senators across.
But, as I said earlier, the mathematics of this are so tired. It's very difficult to see how this might pass. But, you know, in the Senate,
everything looks dead until it's not. I mean, it's just the way the Senate works in terms of political brinkmanship and everything else, so I wouldn't
rule out the fact that something might get passed.
But it's -- there's -- I've never seen a bill, actually, with this much confusion surrounding it at such a critical point. I mean the fact that
people don't even know what they're going to be voting on potentially --
VAUGHAN JONES: Yes.
COLLINSON: -- in 24 hours' time is --
VAUGHAN JONES: Stephen, I'm going to have to --
COLLINSON: -- basically shows you the situation we're in.
VAUGHAN JONES: I'm going to have to stop you there. Gentlemen, thank you both. We are still waiting to hear from the President, who's running
slightly late, but we will come back after this short break with more from President Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUGHAN JONES: Welcome back to the program. If you are just joining us, we are bringing you live pictures from the White House at Washington, D.C.
This is Tom Price, Health and Human Services Secretary, who is at the lectern right now.
We are expecting to hear from President Trump very shortly, talking about healthcare. Of course, this much embattled piece of legislation, which has
so far failed to get through Congress in the Republicans' attempt to repeal ObamaCare.
We're going to bring you up to date with all of the rest of the global headlines that we're following on THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. And we will, of
course, go back to Donald Trump as soon as we hear the U.S. President.
But in the meantime, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, says he did not collude with Russia and has, quote, nothing to hide. He spoke to reporters today
after being grilled by Senate staffers over his Russia contacts. Mr. Kushner details four meetings in an earlier statement, saying he did
nothing wrong.
In other news, at least 29 people were killed in an early morning car bombing in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. Dozens more wounded. The Taliban
are claiming responsibility for it, as well as a series of other recent attacks.
[15:34:59] Swiss police are searching for a man who went on a rampage with a chainsaw in northern Switzerland, wounding five people. Authorities
identified the man as a 51-year-old Swiss national with no fixed address, who lives in a forest. Well, we understand the suspect was twice charged
in the past for having illegal weapons.
CNN's Anna Stewart joins us from Schaffhausen where the attack itself happened. Ana, bring us up to speed with the latest on this ongoing
manhunt?
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Absolutely. I mean, the initial shock and horror of the attack has dissipated, and there's a lot
less police presence in the town center where it happened. However, the suspect is still on the loose, and the police hunt has widened across the
whole canton. We've seen helicopters been flying overhead all afternoon.
We've learned more about the suspect. He is named as Franz Wrousis. He's of Swiss nationality. And as you said there, he's a 51-year-old who has no
address, and he lives in the surrounding forest on the German and Swiss border.
He is already known to police. He'd been arrested twice before, both times on illegal weapon related charges, although he has never been sentenced to
time in prison.
This afternoon, the police found the suspect's vehicle, a white V.W. van, but not the man himself. And they are warning anyone who may come across
him to stay away. He is still believed to have the chainsaw, and he's clearly very dangerous -- Hannah.
VAUGHAN JONES: He's obviously got a criminal record of some sorts, but any indication yet as to the motive or whether this was terror related or not?
STEWART (via telephone): Well, yes, the Swiss police were very quick to state that this wasn't an act of terrorism. And we are beginning to find
out more details as the investigation is processed.
We know that the target of the attack was actually a health insurance company called CSS. That is where Franz Wrousis started his rampage. Of
the five victims, two were employees at the firm. One was seriously injured and has to undergo emergency surgery today.
And as to the motive, well, Franz Wrousis was a client of CSS. He had a health insurance policy with them. We don't know whether he had a
particular complaint or an issue over a claim. The company says they simply don't know what his motive could be.
A spokesperson, however, for CSS says they all worry that he could return for one of their offices for a second attack. So until he is caught, they
are installing security at all their offices in the area and neighboring cantons. So the manhunt continues here, but it is getting dark in
Switzerland, which will make it increasingly difficult -- Hannah.
VAUGHAN JONES: And, Anna, the people who were wounded by this attack, do we have an update on their condition?
STEWART (via telephone): Well, we know that five people were wounded. Initially, two were considered to be seriously injured. Now, we know that
that was only one.
That person was an employee at CSS, the insurance firm. And they have had surgery, emergency surgery, this afternoon. They are now out of surgery
and are stable, and there's no threat to their life --
VAUGHAN JONES: Anna, I'm going to have to interrupt you. My apologies. President Trump is about to walk into this room in the White House and
speak on U.S. healthcare.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much, Vice President Pence, Secretary Price. And thank you, everyone, for being here
today.
For the past 17 (ph) years, ObamaCare has wreaked on the lives of innocent, hardworking Americans. Behind me today, we have real American families,
great families -- I just spent a lot of time with them -- who are suffering because, seven years, a small group of politicians and special interests in
Washington engineered a government takeover of healthcare.
Every pledge that Washington Democrats made to pass that bill turned out to be a lie. It was a big, fat, ugly lie. Democrats promised Americans like
Steve Finn, a former police officer in West Virginia, that they would save $2,500 a year under ObamaCare. Instead, his premiums have more than
tripled. That's pretty bad.
As a result of ObamaCare's skyrocketing costs, Stephen's family and many of his employees had no other option than going on Medicaid and giving up
their existing coverage. That's pretty bad, fellows, yes?
Pretty bad.
No choice, right? No choice.
For them, ObamaCare's promise was a nightmare.
Marjorie and Kevin Weer from South Carolina have a son, Monty, who suffers from spina bifida. Washington Democrats promised families like the Weers
that if they liked their doctor, they could keep their doctor, but now there's only one insurer left in the state exchange. And Marjorie says
that every year, she waits anxiously to learn if the doctors and hospitals which her son needs the most will remain in their network.
[15:40:09] More ObamaCare lies. And you've seen that up front, unfortunately. Up front and personal.
The Democrats promised Melissa Ackison that her son's preexisting conditions would be covered. The Ackisons quickly learned that ObamaCare's
promise of covering for preexisting conditions was meaningless, though, if the doctors you need to care for you aren't on your ObamaCare plan. So you
just have a meaningless promise. And everybody knows it, and most people on ObamaCare know it.
After an excruciating series of events and complications, Melissa and her husband found themselves just before Christmas emotionally and financially
devastated, crying in a doctor's office, faced with yet another seemingly unpayable bill.
When insurance wouldn't cover the Ackisons' care, they emptied out Melissa's 401(k) to pay their bills. They're not going to be and they
haven't been the first. There are many, many cases such as that, the 401(k)'s. The first rule of medicine is do no harm, but ObamaCare's lies
have caused this. And throughout the whole country, families like this, nothing but pain.
Aaron and Ande Whitsig are small business owners from Illinois. They have six children. Their youngest daughter, Poppy, has a rare genetic
condition. Children born with it are sometimes called butterfly children because their skin is as fragile as the wings of a butterfly.
Poppy has to wear special bandages all of the time. Unfortunately, under ObamaCare, Poppy's insurance has been repeatedly discontinued and replaced
with what Washington deems equivalent policies. But for Poppy, these plans are not equivalent, and Poppy's family has to spend precious time and
tremendous resources fighting for exceptions for Poppy.
The Washington politicians who made those promises to Steve, Marjorie, Melissa, Aaron, and their beautiful children want to ignore all the pain,
all the suffering, and all of the money, the tremendous amounts of money, that these lies have cost. They want to forget about the countless
Americans they've hurt, and the many that they are continuing to hurt every day by refusing to help us replace ObamaCare.
For the last seven years, Republicans have been united in standing up for ObamaCare's victims. Remember, repeal and replace, repeal and replace.
They kept saying it over and over again.
Every Republican running for office promised immediate relief from this disastrous law. We, as a party, must fulfill that solemn promise to the
voters of this country, to repeal and replace. What they've been saying for the last seven years.
But so far, Senate Republicans have not done their job in ending the ObamaCare nightmare. They now have a chance, however, to hopefully --
hopefully -- fix what has been so badly broken for such a long time. And that is through replacement of a horrible disaster known as ObamaCare.
The Senate is very close to the votes it needs to pass a replacement. The problem is we have zero help from the Democrats. They're obstructionists.
That's all they are. That's all they're good at, is obstruction, making things not work.
They say all the right things and then they do exactly what they're not supposed to be doing. The Democrats aren't giving us one vote, so we need
virtually every single vote from the Republicans. Not easy to do.
The Senate bill that is being considered outside of the outright repeal of ObamaCare will also provide emergency relief for the law's victims. And it
will deliver truly great health care and health care reforms that our citizens want, need, and really should be demanding.
Some are demanding. You'll see that at the voter booth. Believe me. Here are just some of these terrific reforms that we will be doing if everything
works out the way it should.
The Senate bill eliminates the painful individual mandate. It eliminates the job-killing employer mandate, repeals other burdensome taxes, and will
significantly lower Americans' premiums. It will stabilize collapsing health insurance markets and give Americans far more choice and far more
flexibility.
[15:45:06] The Senate bill protects coverage for preexisting conditions, and you don't hear this from the Democrats. They like to tell you just the
opposite, and they didn't even know the bill. They run out. They say death, death, death.
Well, ObamaCare is death. That's the one that's death. And besides that, it's failing so you won't have it anyway.
It dramatically expands popular health savings accounts. It provides tax credits so Americans can purchase a private plan that is right for them and
their families.
It devotes substantial resources to fight the opioid -- and this is a tremendous problem -- the opioid epidemic. $45 billion is being put in so
that the people of many states like New Hampshire, Ohio and so many others that have such a big problem can be helped and helped greatly. We're going
to be fighting the drug problems very, very seriously in my administration.
And it provides, among many other things, higher quality care and more flexibility for states to administer Medicaid to better serve their poorer
citizens.
Tomorrow, the Senate will vote on whether to allow this urgently needed bill to come to the Senate floor for debate. The question for every
senator, Democrat or Republican, is whether they will side with ObamaCare's architects, which have been so destructive to our country, or with its
forgotten victims.
Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling America that you are fine with the ObamaCare nightmare, which is what it is. For Democrats,
this vote is a chance to make up for the terrible harm they have inflicted on Americans like those who are with us today. ObamaCare has been, for
them, a nightmare. There is still time to do the right thing.
And for Senate Republicans, this is their chance to keep their promise. Over and over again, they said repeal and replace, repeal and replace. But
they can now keep their promise to the American people, to provide emergency relief to those in desperate need of help and to improve health
care for all Americans.
To every member of the Senate, I say this. The American people have waited long enough. There's been enough talk and no action. Now is the time for
action.
We are here to solve problems for the people. ObamaCare has broken our health care system. It's broken, it's collapsing, it's gone. And now it
is up to us to get great health care for the American people. We must repeal and replace ObamaCare now.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless of United States of America.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUGHAN JONES: If you are just joining us on THE WORLD RIGHT NOW, you have just been watching President Donald Trump speaking quite an impassioned
plea, really, to fellow Republicans and heavy criticism of the Democrats, talking, of course, about healthcare and what the President says is the
desperate need to repeal and replace, crucially, ObamaCare. Something that Republicans in Congress have been talking about for seven years now.
I want to bring in CNN's political analyst, David Drucker, who was listening to those remarks with us. And he joins me, once again, from New
York. Also White House Reporter Stephen Collinson still with us from Washington.
Gentlemen, welcome back to you.
David, to you first. He called ObamaCare a big, fat, ugly lie. Your thoughts?
DRUCKER: Well, look, for a lot of Americans, that's what they think of ObamaCare. There are a lot of people, as we've been discussing, that has
sort of rediscovered all of things about it.
It protects people from being -- it protects people from insurance companies refusing to provide them insurance based on a preexisting medical
condition and all sorts of things like that, but there are millions of Americans, at least hundreds of thousands of Americans, that received
letters telling them that they couldn't keep their doctor. They couldn't keep their plan.
And now, in counties all over America, in localities all over America, we've seen insurance companies pulling out. We've seen a loss of choice.
We've seen plans that are very expensive, deductibles that people simply can't afford. And so there is a need to fix the healthcare system. And so
for a lot of what the President was saying, there is -- many -- there are many people out there that are in agreement.
[15:49:52] I think where the President has missed an opportunity thus far, and this thing still may work out for Republicans in terms of passing the
bill, is that they haven't done enough events like these, talking about the problems with the Affordable Care Act and the fact that there are people
that it's not working for. And I think this event could have been more effective if they would have had some of those people speak and discuss
their experiences and then had the President or his surrogates been able to talk details on how exactly what is in this bill is going to solve their
problems.
It's one of the things that President Barack Obama was very effective at doing seven, eight years ago that I don't know that we all fully
appreciated because the polling for ObamaCare was never that good and Democrats never saw a reward at the ballot box for it. But every time
Democrats were wavering, every time they were bickering on Capitol Hill, the President would do an event like this, which he did all the time. He
would talk to real people with real healthcare problems.
They were worried about losing coverage because of a pre-existing condition or not gaining coverage --
VAUGHAN JONES: Yes, but --
DRUCKER: -- and the President would talk about how what was in the bill was going to solve that problem. And that had an effect on Democrats on
the Hill. It kept them going --
VAUGHAN JONES: And in fairness though --
DRUCKER: -- and it's one of the reasons the bill passed.
VAUGHAN JONES: In fairness to President Trump, though, he did come out today and for the first time, to my knowledge anyway, he gave some real
detail about this Senate bill.
I mean, the irony, of course, being, though -- Stephen, this is to you -- that he was complaining about Democrats being obstructionists and saying
that, you know, this bill is really great and that they're going to block it anyway. They haven't even seen the bill yet. The Republicans haven't
seen the bill yet. So no wonder, no one's had a chance to really comment or come up with anything particularly bipartisan.
COLLINSON: Right. And I think there's very little chance that you will get any Democrats working with Republicans. For the first reason is it's
the centerpiece of President Obama's legacy, ObamaCare. They're not going to cooperate on trying to get rid of it.
But it was very interesting to me that that was the most impassioned and engaged piece of advocacy I've seen from this President on this bill.
VAUGHAN JONES: Right.
COLLINSON: The question is, it's the day before this procedural vote. Where was this, you know, three months ago? It took the Obama
administration months and months and months to get to a position where they're going to have a vote. And as David was saying, they really engaged
the country about this, or at least that half of the country that supported this bill.
The question is, does coming out 24 hours before a vote and basically threatening Republican senators that if they vote against this, the full
power and influence of the administration will be brought to bear against them, possibly with primary challenges in the midterm elections and future
elections --
VAUGHAN JONES: Right.
COLLINSON: -- does that change anybody's mind on the substance of the bill? And that's the question.
VAUGHAN JONES: Yes. Well, at the very least, a rebranding perhaps from the White House on healthcare. Stephen Collinson, David Drucker, thanks
very much for sticking around. We appreciate it.
And thank you for sticking around as well. Plenty more coming up after this break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUGHAN JONES: Welcome back. Moving away from U.S. healthcare now, and the United Nations estimate that the amount of food that is wasted before
it is eaten can easily feed all the hungry people on this planet. In today's "Going Green," we meet Selina Juul, an activist who has pioneered a
movement against food waste.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SELINA JUUL, FOUNDER, STOP WASTING FOOD: Food waste is a global scandal.
TEXT: Globally, about one-third of the world's produced food is either lost or wasted. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, Food Losses and Waste, 2011.
JUUL: About one-third of the world's produced food is either lost or wasted. It is enough to feed 3 billion people, and today we already have 1
billion people on this planet who are starving.
[15:55:06] My name is Selena Yule, and I fight to stop wasting food.
Why do we waste food? Because we can. Because there is so much abundance.
I was born in Moscow, Russia, and I remember when communism collapsed. We had food shortages. We had to take care of our food. We didn't know if
there's going to be food in the supermarket tomorrow.
And coming here to Denmark, I've seen this huge abundance. I saw those supermarkets filled with food, I was shocked. And then I saw so much food
waste everywhere, in bakeries and supermarkets, schools.
TEXT: The food currently wasted in Europe could feed 200 million people per year. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
JUUL: And that is why, over eight years ago, I had enough. So I started a Facebook page, Stop Wasting Food, and three months later came Denmark's
largest discount retail chain, REMA 1000. And they wanted to take action, so they have removed all bulk discounts in every shop in entire Denmark.
MAX SKOV HANSEN, SHOP MANGER, REMA 1000: For example, if you look here, we sell tomatoes. We sell it by weight. And the good thing about that is
before that, we would never sell the small tomatoes, and now the customers can buy. The ones who buy a big one, they buy a big one then pay for it.
And we don't throw out the small ones.
JUUL: And that was the turning point because we were on national media, also international media, and people were starting to join the movement.
And suddenly, we start working with government. And today, it has become a huge, huge movement.
TEXT: Denmark's food waste is estimated to have fallen by 25 percent since 2006. Source: Danish Agriculture and Food Council, 2015.
JUUL: We are all food wasters. Food waste basically is lack of respect for people who produce the food, lack of respect for the animals, for the
nature, for our society. And most of all, it is the lack of respect for all the starving people on this planet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUGHAN JONES: This has been THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. Thanks so much for watching. "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Don't forget to ring the bell in all your excitement. Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. Honestly, I'm very
excited there, the Stock Exchange. The market is down some 51 points so no records for the Dow.
[16:00:04] You can stop ringing the bell now, sir. Yes, thank you. Here we go.
END
