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Kim Jong-un's Right Hand Visits U.S.; ABC Cancels "Roseanne" After Stars Racist Tweet; More Attacks On The Gaza Israel Border; Passerby and Two Policemen Killed In Terror Attack; El Salvador's Controversial Gang Crackdown; Migrant's Life Transformed After Saving Child. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired May 30, 2018 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, HOST, CNN: North Korea's former top spy heads to the United States as the planned summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong- un hangs in the balance.
A television star's racist tirade leads to a swift firing. ABC pulls the plug on Rosanne Barr's highly rated show.
And CNN goes inside an elite police squad fighting the MS-13 gang in an exclusive report from El Salvador.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.
We are less than two weeks away from a planned summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. And North Korea has sent one of its top officials to the U.S. to try to work out the logistics.
Kim Yong-chol is a former spy master considered the right hand man of the North Korean leader. He is expected to meet with the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York this week. The White House says denuclearization not only has to be on the table, it must be the focus of the meeting.
And CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul, South Korea with more on this. Paula, good to see you again. Let's talk about how significant this is. This U.S. visit by Kim Yong-chol and what all might happen as far as Pyongyang being willing to work with the denuclearization and putting it on the table and making it the focus of this summit.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Rosemary, it is significant that Kim Yong-chol is on his way to New York, the fact that he is the highest level North Korean leader to be there in some 18 years, so, certainly the fact that he is on his way would suggest that the negotiations ongoing at the DMZ at the moment between North Korean delegation and a U.S. delegation must have gone a fair way, and must have it seem as though there could be some room for improvement.
Some room for narrowing that gap of the -- what denuclearization means between the U.S.'s interpretation, which we've heard they have said it is not unilateral nuclear abandonment but denuclearization of the entire Korean peninsula without specifying that exactly that entails.
So, it is significant. The fact that he is going to be in New York, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo will be meeting him as well. He has clearly met him before having been in Pyongyang.
So we're seeing here some relationships being built. So level of trust is trying to be established between Washington and Pyongyang where very little trust was in the first place. There are no diplomatic channels officially between the two countries that has a huge amount of distrust between the two countries.
So the fact that you have someone so high up in the Kim regime heading to New York to meet the U.S. officials has to be noted. Rosemary?
CHURCH: That trip is going on, of course, we're keeping an eye on the two U.S. delegations, one in the demilitarized zone, the other in Singapore where this summit may go forward on June 12. What are you hearing about their progress so far?
HANCOCKS: Well, we do know from local media who was staking out the route to the DMZ earlier this morning that the convoy of Sung Kim, the ambassador to the Philippines, he was the ambassador here in South Korea once. He was also a previous negotiator for Washington with North Korea. His convoy did go into the DMZ.
So, we can, I would assume say that they meeting with the North Koreans. Their discussion is about the substance of the summit, they wanted to try and narrow the gap between the U.S. and the North Korean view.
They want to be, assume working on communicate or some kind of statement that the two leaders can live with at the end of the summit. And that the two leaders can walk away and go back to their own people and say, this was successful, we have a win. Because clearly that is what both of them need. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Indeed. Paula Hancocks bringing us that live report from Seoul in South Korea, just after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Many thanks.
Well, Kim Yong-chol's trip to the United States is surrounded by controversy. He has a checkered past both in North Korea and around the world.
CNN's Brian Todd reports.
BRIAN TODD, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Setting foot in the United States, a notorious enforcer for Kim Jong-un, a man believed to have overseen North Korea's only direct assault on American soil, the 2014 cyber attack on Sony Pictures.
Kim Yong-chol who's meeting this week in New York with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:05:01] This is a guy who arguably should be indicted as a war criminal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Kim Yong-chol has a political title now, vice chairman of North Korea's Worker's Party central committee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sort of like Michael Corleone moving out of the family to become more respectable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: A man who analysts say still has a top intelligence portfolio with considerable South Korean blood on his hands. A former bodyguard to Kim's father and grandfather, Kim Yong-chol once headed the reconnaissance general bureau, North Korea's most dangerous intelligence arm.
He is believed to have masterminded North Korea's 2010 sinking of a South Korean navy ship which killed 46 sailors. South Koreans calling for his execution and protested his presence at the Winter Olympics this year where he stood right behind Ivanka Trump at the closing ceremonies.
Early on, as Kim Jong-un was consolidating his power purging and executing several top officials, it was Kim Yong-chol who the young dictator counted on to build the cyber warriors into an elite hacking team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then the Sony hack and then the accompanying threats of 9/11 style attacks on any theater or theatergoer that went to the movie, "The Interview," which ridiculed Kim Jong-un.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: The same year as the Sony hack, then director of U.S. National Intelligence, James Clapper met with Kim Yong-chol in Pyongyang. Clapper later recalled his counterpart berating him about American aggression.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER UNITED STATES DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: He just got louder and louder to leaning towards me and pointed his finger at me and just saying U.S. and South Korean exercises were the provocation to war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: Kim Yong-chol had such wagger that he himself was once purged by Kim Jong-un according to a South Korean official for his, quote, "over bearing manner." Now back in favor, expert say his trip to the U.S. signifies just how important the planned summit is to Kim Jong- un.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The upside of Kim Yong-chol is that compared with the foreign ministry which basically has no authority and very few insights into the nuclear program. This is guy who is very close to Kim Jong-un and has the authority of Kim Jong-un to speak on the record to President Trump or to the senior U.S. officials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TODD: If there's a intelligence risk for the U.S. letting Kim Yong- chol into the country, analyst say it's like that U.S. officials will be careful enough not to share sensitive U.S. military or nuclear secrets with him.
But they say the visit does give the perception of legitimizing Kim Yong-chol maybe than he should be. We asked the White House about those concerns they haven't responded.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: And now to the political and social divide running through the United States, the TV network, ABC has cancelled one of its most popular shows after controversial tweets from its star Rosanne Barr.
Americans are asking, what is free speech and when does it cross the line.
Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.
TOM FOREMAN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: "Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby, equals V.J." That is the tweet that sank a TV empire. Roseanne's racist slam of former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett came into wee hours and Twitter erupted. Barr quickly took it down and tweeted, "I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans, I'm truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks."
But the damage was done. Co-star Sara Gilbert said the comments were abhorrent, and do not reflect beliefs of our cast and crew. This is incredibly sad and difficult. Produce ring Wanda Sykes, "I will not be returning to at Rosanne on ABC."
Other Obama staffers and some viewers called for a boycott and ABC called it quits. Saying the tweet was "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSEANNE BARR, ACTRESS: You can't just stand on the front porch staring at your Muslim neighbors.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOREMAN: Since its return earlier this year, Rosanne's hit show has
engaged explosive topics. Immigration, terrorism religious and racial intolerance as her character ramping as a rabid conservative and supporter of President Trump. He loved it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look at Roseanne! I called her yesterday. Look at her ratings. Look at her ratings. Over 18 million people and it was about us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: But Roseanne support for the far right were beyond the studio with attacks on gun control advocates, particularly a nasty comment about former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and a stab at former President Clinton's daughter, calling her Chelsea Soros Clinton, suggesting she has married to the son of noted liberal billionaire George Soros.
When Chelsea Clinton corrected her while still complimenting Soros, Roseanne apologized but then repeated a false claim that Soros was a Nazi, were you aware of that. But we all make mistakes, right, Chelsea?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN STELTER, SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Roseanne Barr's tweet are frequently controversial but this time it really became a wild fire, because of just how racist and bizarre the comments were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:10:00] FOREMAN: So, the network pulled the plug. Chief executive of Disney which owns ABC tweeting, "There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing."
Dealing with the aftermath of all of this may not be so simple however. And not merely because you're talking about millions of viewers and millions of dollars. Many conservatives see it as a rare example of a network TV show that talks about some of their core values about society.
And with that gone, the push back may be just as strong as the outrage that led to this cancellation.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: And late Tuesday, we got this statement from Roseanne Barr via Twitter, "Don't feel sorry for me, guys. I just want to apologize to the hundreds of people and wonderful writers, all liberal, and talented actors who lost their jobs on my show due to my stupid tweet." The target of Barr's original tweet, Valerie Jarrett says this should be a teaching moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VALERIE JARRETT, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO FORMER PRESIDENT OBAMA:
From the start at the top, then we like to look up to our president and we feel as though he reflects the values of our values of our country. But I also think every individual citizen has a responsibility too. And it's up to all of us to push back.
Our government is only going to be as good as we make it be, and as Reverend Wright has taught me, you have to be, people on the inside have to push hard and people on the outside have to listen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And later, we will hear from a guest who surprised by ABC's swift action and said the network is doing better than President Trump when it comes to race relation. We will have that in about 20 minutes from now.
We'll take a short break here, but still to come, a Trump administration policy of separating undocumented families at the border is widely condemned but the president is putting the blame on Democrats. The strategy behind the lie.
And a CNN exclusive. Inside the dangerous war on gangs in El Salvador and the controversial tactics being used by police. We're back with that in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Well, in a tweet Tuesday, President Trump said he had to start focusing on North Korea, trade deals, the economy and so muc more. But for the past several days, he has been ramping up his attacks on the Russia investigation and going after Democrats on immigration.
Jim Acosta reports, it all comes without any proof.
[03:14:58] JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Heading back on the road for more campaigning, President Trump was in no mood to take questions from reporters. But the president had plenty to stay on Twitter.
Since the end of last week he has posted more than three dozen tweets. Many venting his frustrations about the Russia investigation and spreading unproven conspiracy theories that offer a window into the mind of an angry president.
One of the more battling tweets alleges that special counsel that special counsel Robert Mueller's team will be, quote, "meddling with the midterm elections especially now that Republicans are taking the lead in the polls."
But there's no proof of that. The president appears to be making it all up. But he has pedaled this kind of paranoia before, like when he said the 2016 election that he ended up winning would be rigged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: And I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest. Folks, the system is rigged. It's rigged, OK. And remember this, it's a rigged election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: The president's top aides insist d it's his adversaries who have an unhealthy fixation on the Russia probe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: So much is happening that has nothing to do with this phony baloney, talking about the 2016 election. And may I say one thing, every time people talk about this phony Russia collusion, the word collusion doesn't even have legal significance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Democrats complain it's the White House that's tampering the investigation and that the only solution is for voters to take action in the upcoming midterms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM SCHIFF, (D) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: You need to throw the bums out. As long as there a majority in Congress that is willing to do at this president's will and as long as we have a deeply unethical president, there's only one remedy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: In another tweet the president even managed to make a Memorial Day statement about himself, saying those who die for our great country would be very happy and proud of his record on the economy and his handling of the military. Ending the message by saying, "nice."
The president also try to get away with spreading misleading information on the issue of immigration, blaming Democrats for separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents once they have crossed the border in to the U.S.
But that is not true. Both parties have shaped immigration policies for decades and it's his administration's decision to divide up immigrant families. The president has said as much himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have to break up families, the Democrats gave us that law. It's a horrible thing we have to break families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained earlier this month the separations will deter more migrant families from crossing the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF SESSIONS, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you. And that child may be separated from you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So let's take a closer look at all this with Theresa Cardinal Brown. She is the director of immigration policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. Thank you so much for being with us.
THERESA CARDINAL BROWN, DIRECTOR OF IMMIGRATION POLICY, BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER: Nice to be here, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, let's start with that point that Jim Acosta raised, the fact that President Trump is spreading misleading information on immigration and blaming Democrats for separating immigrant children from their parents when an actual fact it's his own administration's decision to do that. What's behind that blatant lie, you could say, about what's going on with these families being divided?
BROWN: Well, we know that the administration is using this tactic this policy both to deter migrants from come coming but also I think to put pressure on Congress to enact immigration legislation, and particularly to enact immigration legislation that the president wants to see.
He has talked several, several times about wanting money for his wall in exchange, for example, permanent status for the DACA recipients or DREAMers. And I believe that this is a tactic that we've seen him use. To do something that puts, that seems harsh that puts the onus on Congress to try to act. And in this case he is trying to say Democrats have blocked the pieces of legislation that he wants to get done and so somehow they are at fault for this policy.
CHURCH: But it's not the case though, is it?
BROWN: No. It's not really the case. There's not a law that requires them to separate the families. The fact is they are choosing to engage in these prosecutions. That is an option that the government has, they haven't always done it. And in fact, in most cases historically most crossers have not been prosecuted.
So, by choosing to do that exercising their discretion to prosecute the parents then the consequence of that decision is that yes, children must be separated from their parents. The children would not have to be separated if they weren't -- if they hadn't decided to prosecute the parents for crossing illegally.
CHURCH: Right now Attorney General Jeff Sessions have said that separating the children from the parents will deter more migrant families from crossing the border. Apart from the inhumanity of such a suggestion, is it even true that separations like this deter migrants from trying to get to America? Have we seen any proof of that? BROWN: Well, we don't -- we haven't seen that. We haven't frankly
tried this extreme a measure ever before. And there's a lot of reasons why.
[03:19:58] But, I think what you have to understand is that the majority of these people are coming because they are fleeing conditions in their home countries that they find intolerable.
They are fleeing crime, they're fleeing murder, they're fleeing the very gangs that the president excoriates here in the United States. And so, the idea that somehow we can make the reception for them in the United States worse than what they are coming from to deter them from coming when they know for 100 percent, if they stay where they are, they are going to be killed or die or their children will die.
The chance of coming here even if it means a term of separation and I'm not so sure it's going to have a deterrent in that the government thinks it will.
CHURCH: And what about the 1500 children who have crossed the border unaccompanied and have been handed over to sponsors, the government has admitted that they have lost track of these children but they also say it's no longer their responsibility anyway. So what does that reveal about this government and what are the legalities behind such a suggestion? Who is and who isn't responsible for those children?
BROWN: Well, legally once HHS, Health and Human Services turns the child over to the sponsor, it is the sponsor's responsibility to take care for that child. What happened was that Health and Human Services decided out of abundance of caution and because there were some instances in the past where they had given children into custody of people who turned out to be traffickers.
So HHS out of abundance of caution tried to reach out to the people that they had placed children with, to validate their whereabouts and make sure everything was OK, and they basically were not able to contact 1500 of those placements.
And that not able to contact means they made a phone call to the last sponsor (Ph) where they had and nobody answered the phone. That doesn't mean the children are missing. Most likely most of these are still in the custody of the sponsor that they were given to.
If the children are indeed not appearing, for example, in immigration court which the sponsors are required to help them do, then that becomes an issue for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Health and Human Services is no longer in charge of that child.
Now, is that a concern for the government? It might be. It might be a concern that they no longer keep track of it that they maybe something to revisit. But under the laws, that is now HHS once they turn the child over to the sponsor, the sponsor is responsible for that child.
CHURCH: All right. Theresa Cardinal Brown, thank you so much for clarifying a lot of these points. We do appreciate it.
BROWN: You're welcome.
CHURCH: To another story we are watching very closely, a prominent Russian journalist who was openly critical of Moscow's action in Ukraine and Syria has been shot and killed in Kiev.
Forty-one-year-old Arkady Babchenko was gunned down outside his apartment building in the Ukrainian capital. He had left Russia last year because of threat to his life. Police say Babchenko apparently was targeted because of his journalism work.
Ukraine and Russia are blaming each other for his killing.
Well, CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now from Moscow with more on this. Fred, a journalist critical of President Putin murdered in Kiev. What more are you learning about the circumstances surrounding his death and what he was working on at the time.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: We're not sure what he was working on but we do know that in the past since he came to Ukraine that he had been very critical of the Russian government.
In fact, his boss at the Ukrainian television network that he was working for called ATR, said that he was only working on things that were critical and investigative of Russia and of the Russian government as well.
He said there was nothing that was critical of Ukrainian. Of course, that network and its boss placing the blame on the Kremlin and on Russia as well. So it seems as though those are the main things that he was working on.
Now he left Russia in 2017 because of that political harassment campaign that he was talking about that you just mention, Rosemary, because he had made some statements and posted some things on his social media that were critical of Russia both its involvement in Ukraine but then also of Russia's Syria campaign as well.
He said that's when that a political harassment against himself started when in 2017 things became so bad that he decided that he needed to leave the country.
Now you're absolutely right, Rosemary, of course, the finger-pointing between the Ukrainians and the Russians has already started. The Ukrainians obviously placing the blame on the other Russians saying this is not the first time something like this has happened.
There was a former Russian politician who was killed in Kiev in 2017 called Denis Voronenkov was gunned down. The Ukrainian were saying that was a contract killing. The Russians for their part are saying that it's Ukrainians who can't keep people safe, the Russians are saying that the level of violence and of murders in Kiev and in Ukraine has been growing and that investigations don't leads to any sort of the results.
The Russians themselves have now launched an investigation. As you can see, Rosemary, the finger-pointing already going on as yet another Kremlin critic is killed.
[03:24:58] CHURCH: And we will see if by the side has the political will to find or at least track down the killer. Thank you so much. Our Fred Pleitgen joining us from Moscow, where it is nearly 10.30 in the morning.
We'll take a short break here, but still to come, the Israeli military says it (TECHNICAL PROBLEM).
CHURCH: -- Chol is expected to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York. The summit is planned for June 12 in Singapore.
Stocks on Wall Street tumbled after the White House said it will impose new tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. The Dow fell 391 points more than 1.5 percent. Political uncertainty in Italy also played a part as investors worry the European Union could be thrown into turmoil.
The U.S. television network ABC has canceled the popular show Roseanne after racist tweets from its star. Rosanne Barr has apologized for comparing a formal White House senior advisor to an ape. The network called the comments abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with its values.
Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic strategist and founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy, a public relations and consulting firm in South Carolina. Good to have you with us.
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: I'm so glad to be here.
CHURCH: So, how surprised were you that ABC took such swift action and cancelled Roseanne Barr show in the wake of her racist tweet, and what do you think this approach might signal in terms of perhaps a cultural shift in this country.
SEAWRIGHT: Well, I was very much surprised but I was very glad and thankful. Because I think what ABC did today sets the tone for other corporations and other entities who may experience this in the future.
And what's so sad about this is that we have a TV network who is willing to do what the president of the United States is not willing to do. And that's really call out racism, hate, and bigotry in all forms and call it what it is.
[03:29:59] And I'm just so thankful that leadership, unfortunately in this case, did not started at top but it really started in the middle with the corporations like and network like the ABC network. And I'm very thankful for the swift leadership.
CHURCH: Yes, and I wanted to talk to you about that because it is interesting that the President of this country, gets away with racist and abhorrent remarks and his Party very rarely reprimands him for it and yet this TV network, the entertainment industry is leading the way. Showing people are more important than the almighty dollar. How unusual is that? Have you witness that before? SEAWRIGHT: Well, I'm going to lean on the Republicans and borrow a
quote from them, that they used so often that we cannot depend on government to solve all of our problems. And sometimes it takes ordinary people, in this case, an ordinary network like the ABC network to step up to the plate and do what some of our leaders would not do. Just call out racism, bigotry and all form. And it is so sad, but here is what I believe about this president and even some of the Republican leaders we have in this country.
Leopards will never change their spots and zebras will never change their stripe and the tone of the President from the time he campaign up until now. I mean, even recently with the whole NFL thing, I mean, he set the tone and given this type of behavior, a vehicle to travel down many roads in this country.
So, what ABC did today hopefully will set a new tone and really put an end to giving people the thought process that this kind of behavior is OK. Because it's unacceptable. Particularly when it comes to people who have a platform that millions of people look up to and watch him on regular basis.
CHURCH: And of course, it does have to be said that the ABC did know what they were getting themselves in to with Roseanne, it is not like she suddenly started sending out this racist tweets. She has done this before. They were trying to quiet her down and then they have said enough is enough. So, Roseanne of course is a show that the U.S. President has raved about, and it's no secret that his supporters love it. But he has remained silent on these issue. Why is that? Do you think?
SEAWRIGHT: Well, because, what Roseanne said today is very popular and very, very much in common for the behavior of the president and many of his supporters? This President has a history of not calling out racism, bigotry and hate in all forms. All he had to do is look back at what happen in the Charlottesville, Virginia, when he said there were two sides and essentially he was taking sides with neo- Nazis and people who represent all the things wrong with our society.
And to your point. You are right to a point, ABC knew what they were getting in to, but her behavior actually drew a certain crowd to the network, but it was very telling today about how they feel and the direction I think, many people, I think in this country, that we can no longer sit back and let these things happen and think it is OK. Regardless of what the President of the United States says.
CHURCH: Right. And of course this all played out as Starbucks held its anti-bias training sessions across the country in response to the recent arrests of two African-American men who were simply waiting for a friend, again a private company saying enough is enough, called this signal a change in American society, led by private enterprise?
SEAWRIGHT: Oh, absolutely, I think we have seen this after Parkland, when a lot of corporations that are in the plate and say they were not selling certain firearms and you know the extreme right in this country pushed back on them a little bit, and now we have these two entities with Starbucks and now, ABC network, I commend Starbucks for their aggressive and bold leadership, because they didn't have to do this.
Although, I think this is just one step, but it's a step in the right direction. You cannot solve these problems in one day. And in one training. I think it needs to be a mandatory ongoing effort. Because the truth of the matter is, this country is becoming more brown, and I don't think that a lot of people want to wrap their arms around it, but we have to make sure a that our workforce and the people who are in our workforce understand the diversity of this country and that is what makes America so great. In fact that we are a very diverse country. Many different languages and many different personalities and many different races and different backgrounds and so, we have to make sure that our workforce, particularly those who interact on a regular basis in the public understand the diversity of our country and our community.
CHURCH: Yes, and it would be interesting to see how much social media has played a role in all of this shift, but Antoine Seawright, that is a discussion for another time, thank you so much. We do appreciate it.
SEAWRIGHT: Thank you. Thank you.
CHURCH: And if you are looking for more opinions on this, head to our website, where one journalist is argues ABC made a mistake, saying the network should keep the show, but without Roseanne Barr. And you will find that at CNN.com. Do take a look.
[03:35:04] Now to the escalating tension in the Middle East. Militants in Gaza and Israel's military have launch more strikes of one another. Siren sounded in Israeli community as militant's fired off rockets and Israeli jet carry out dozens of airstrike in Hamas, an Islamic Jihad targets. A Hamas official said the group will agree to a cease fire if Israel does the same. But that seems unlikely at this time.
Well, meantime, Wednesday's emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council is to examine the attacks from Gaza. Our Phil Black, joins us now with the latest. So, Phil, we will see what comes out of that meeting. But on these attacks, of course, we have not seen them on this scale since 2014. How did this all start? And what have been the ramifications so far?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Rosemary, earlier in the week, there were incidents along the border fence between Israel and Gaza, where at least four Palestinian men were killed by Israeli (inaudible). These are people that were trying to launch some kind of attack. And it seems that has been led to this extraordinary exchange of firepower. And in exchange that this region has not seen since 2014. The last time, Israel engaged in something like all-out warfare with Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza strip.
So, what we saw through much of yesterday was a lot of outgoing fire, from Gaza in to Israeli territory. Rocket fire and mortar rounds, by the end of the day, the Israeli military said that some 70 projectiles landed in Israeli territory and we know it continued through the night as well. Israel said defense system knock some of it out of the sky. Other stuff got through. In response, Israel has been launching air strikes. It said around 60 so far. It appears in two largely separate missions, one during the day yesterday and another last night, hitting a, what it describes as largely military and terror facilities. To ammunitions and rocket factories last night said it hit sheds where drones were kept.
And now here we are, a day later and from the Gaza strip, and it is strangely quiet now. There is essentially both sides, what we are hearing, both sides blaming each other for starting all of this. But Israel is holding not just Hamas responsible. It blames Hamas, because it has over all control of the Gaza strip and says you are responsible for making sure this stuff never happens.
But it is also pointing the finger at another militant group, Islamic Jihad which has really emphasize going out of its way that Israel believes it that it is heavily influenced by Iran. And on this occasion, over the last 24 hours or so. It says that Islamic Jihad has been firing Iranian weapons in to Israeli territory. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Many thanks to our Phil Black with the latest on the Israel Gaza conflict. We appreciate that.
Well two police women and a teacher are dead after an inmate on temporary released from a Belgian prison went on a killing rampage Tuesday.
Belgian media report Benjamin Herman took refuge in a High School where he held a woman hostage. He was killed in a gun battle with police. Herman was in prison on drug offenses and may have been radicalized while he was in there. The crime is being investigated as a terror attack. Our Nina Dos Santos is where it all happened. And joins us now with the very latest. So, Nina, why was this inmate given authorized temporary release from these Belgian prison and what more are you learning about the circumstances surrounding this deadly attack?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, those are two questions that the interior minister has been taking to the Belgian airways to try answer Rosemary. First of all that suffers the first and the interior minister says that this individual had actually had many opportunities for release, be on parole before and he always check back in in accordance to the terms of his released.
And this is always part of the system that they have here in Belgium which is design to gradually reintegrating offenders back in to the community to prepare them for life after prison, but something seems to happened over the course of the last weekend. When he have two days that did not sign in on Monday evening.
And that is when it come to the new line of investigation that we have had confirmed by the interior ministry. It seems that they believed that this individual Benjamin Herman committed a robbery with an accomplice who he served time with in jail and then seems to have been a suspect in the murder of that accomplice, they allegedly may have killed this person before moving over here for some reason this happen overnight on Monday and then committing this attack earlier in the hours of Tuesday.
[03:40:04] Also the interior ministry spokesman confirm that one lane of inquiry could be that Benjamin Herman was acting under the influence of some kind of a narcotic substance when he stabbed those two police women outside this cafe behind me. Fatally wounding them, killing another passerby, making off with the weapon and die in a police shootout.
We are expecting a press conference to take place in about an hour or so from now, where we are likely to hear more information about how all of the events played together over the course of the last 40 hours or so. Extremisms still does present a very viable line of inquiry. The Interior Minister confirmed that had this individual was known to have recently converted to Islam. Although, Belgian media reports that inside his cell, which has been searched by police, they only found a Koran and a prayer mat with no extra material that might have shown any extremist links. So, the big question is, what radicalized this individual or was he not acting under radical extremist ideology and maybe, was it something else linked to this burglary and this murder that could have caused him to commit the attack here in the hours. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yes. Still waiting for many answers on that. But also, what impact might these deadly incident have on future temporary releases from this Belgium prison, indeed other Belgium prison?
DOS SANTOS: Well, what this certainly done Rosemary, it has prompted a why do conversation about the treatment of inmates and particularly radicals inside Belgian jails. We know that Belgium has a large problem or historically had a large problem of people returning from war zones like Syria, with extremist tendencies automatically Belgian prison system takes them in for three to five years.
So they become incarcerated for three to five years, but also anecdotally, here there's very little follow-up on whether or not these individuals have shed that extremist ideology. And that causes a hot bed of a spread of extremist. I mean, this is something that we have heard both the Justice Minister and the Interior Minister, talk about overnight yesterday reigniting this debate about what to do with the population of extremists inside Belgium prison. There is about 450 people, to give you an idea of the scale of the problem in this, rather small country, 450 people who are deemed to be extremist inside Belgium jails, 237 of them Rosemary are deemed to be extremely dangerous and dangerous enough for authorities to have to follow up and so this has prompted a wider debate. We will probably hear more of that later on. As the press conferences continue to what happen in Liege. Rosemary?
CHURCH: A lot for authorities to be considering at this time. Nina Dos Santo, bringing us the latest from Liege where it is nearly 9:45 in the morning, many thanks.
We will take a short break here, but still to come, it's a CNN exclusive. We go inside the dark deadly and controversial fight against criminal gangs in El Salvador.
[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Well, now to the fight against gangs in El Salvador, particularly against MS-13. That is been called the most dangerous gang in the world. In the CNN exclusive, Nick Paton Walsh get accessed to an elite police squad, but it is a law enforcement unit with a dark history, here is his exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an undeclared war here in El Salvador. Elite police against MS-13. A gang menace that beheads, rapes and terrorizes. It's America's war too, because President Trump has declared MS-13 animals that must be eliminated and these men are fighting with U.S. money and help.
A lot of this equipment, American government supplied, part of an effort to try and tackle gang violence back in El Salvador. These men, the jaguar unit said their targets are gang leaders to cripple the gang hierarchy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATOR): The U.S. participate in training and was providing equipment. The only thing that the U.S. does not supply is lethal equipment, the weapons and the ammunition. But it does supply us with protective equipment, helmets, bullet proof vests and knee pads.
PATON WALSH: Well, there's something that U.S. taxpayers should know about how America is fighting these proxy war. This unit has a dark history. Many once in an elite unit called the special reaction forces. The FES or FES, it was disbanded after troubling allegations. FES had a very lethal track record on the street. Killing a staggering 43 people they say were gang members in just six months last year.
Some, and it's repeatedly been alleged illegal executions. That is a problem for the U.S., who are not supposed to fund units guilty of human rights abuses. Critics say, some FES police evaded this dark past by being folded in to the jaguar unit, so the U.S. had no issues funding them.
In fact the number of gang members killed each year by police have risen five times in two years. A higher body count that has say polls made people feel safer. It's a culture of impunity expose in WhatsApp's messages CNN obtained when the first police discuss executions and ask informants help identifying gang members.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATOR): Can you send us a picture of his shadow? The message says, we are going now, we had located him, sending to right now, we are going to crush that (BEEP). A local police officer rails at the sloppy cleanup of an execution of a gang member by fellow police nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATOR): There's witnesses who saw they were beating that son of (BEEP) before killing him. But our comrades portrayed it as a shootout. Here, you have bad procedures and practice, if you are going to do (BEEP) like that, you better be sure there are no witnesses.
Brutal tactics can drive people away from the police towards gangs like MS-13 into those world here, we get rare permission to enter. We are headed now to one of the scene of the more prominent killings here in deep inside gang territory carried out by what locals say was effectively a police death squad.
Nobody disputes (inaudible) as he was known was a local gang figure, but they dispute for the clips was armed when police shot him dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATOR): Neighbors say, that it was simply an execution. They came inside in a little time passed they were screaming hand in your weapons and they replied, there they are, Mr. they are surrendering and all of the sudden, we heard the first shot and after came the first, there was some silence. And after, another four shots were fire.
PATON WALSH: It's a distort mother shows us the scene in his bedroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATOR): Here he was lying down. He's hands are like this, as if he was sleeping. They killed my son.
PATON WALSH: She claims they shot him in the back. They say, the police never come around here now.
[03:50:04] This case was investigated, but charges were not filed and police rarely if ever prosecute their own, in fact, one of the officers accused in the shooting are likely now serves in the new jaguar unit. Using his photograph, a facial recognition expert who used to work for British police identified him in our footage of a new jaguar unit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These images are very, very clear, very good images. I'm felt concern at least that this is one and the same person that I'm looking at.
PATON WALSH: An officer accused of killing an old unit, but first is likely in the new one. The jaguars. The forth coming U.N. report will declare a pattern of behavior by security personnel amounting to extrajudicial executions.
El Salvador police reply they are fighting quote terrorist and often arrest them without the use of arms while keeping human rights paramount. More than 200 officer's place to court for improper arm and aggression last year by set.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATOR): There is a general belief about this unit having a dream like to kill this gang members, but that is a lie. It does not happen here, not in any other country. We stick to the legal norms of your country. We can only respond against aggression and uses the force level that applies to our police core. And as a last resort, we fire our weapons.
PATON WALSH: In a statement, the U.S. embassy said that the U.S. Government takes allegations of extra judicial killings extremely seriously and it consistently express concerns regarding allegations of security force abuses. It provides assistance to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate all types of violent crimes, including those involving suspected human rights violations. They added, the U.S. recently provide a 500 body cams and tracks alleged abuses so no corrupt officer get their help.
The U.S. has tried brute force here, and elsewhere before. But failed or gotten caught in a longer conflict as the threat of MS-13 rises and they will have to hope the gangs crumble rather than escalate the fight. Nick Payton Walsh, CNN, El Salvador.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: When President Donald Trump ended protection for immigrants from ten country, nearly 200,000 in El Salvadorians were at risk of being deported. In his next exclusive, Nick Payton Walsh speaks to those who actually live in the U.S. for more than a decade. Now they face gang violence, homelessness and a challenge of making a living in El Salvador's capital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATON WALSH: Christian Laura, live in the USA for 20 years, and was deported coming out to these Florida construction job. He had only committed immigration offenses. The best choice now, is a five dollars a day farm job. Oscar is more complicated. He is 20. He went to America age 10 and served for months for assault and bodily harm in Houston. Get back here, he trembles.
Are you scared of the gangs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
PATON WALSH: Are you scared you might end up involved and caught up in that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, when I was in the USA, I saw like 16 people killed every day.
PATON WALSH: 48 hours passed since we meet Christian and Oscar, in which there's two beheadings, over 20 murders and a policeman is killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And you can tune in Thursday to watch the rest of Nick's report from what is considered to be one of the most dangerous city on earth. Starting at 5:00 a.m. London, non in Hong Kong, only here on CNN.
Well, it took only 30 seconds for a migrant from Mali to scale an apartment building and save a child. And in saving that life, he has transformed his own. We check in with him, next.
[03:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: We have an update for you on the immigrant from Mali who has become a global hero. He fearlessly scaled four floors of an apartment building in Paris to rescue a child hanging of a balcony. He did with such agility that he is being called a real life Spiderman. And now France is thanking him for his act of heroism. Melissa Bell has more from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It took him Mamoudou Gassama 30 seconds to climb four story on Saturday. 30 seconds that saved a child's life and transformed his own. By Monday he was received by the French President that offered the Malian migrant citizenship. By Tuesday he was offered a job with Paris's fire brigade and shown around his new workplace. The emotion and the exhaustion clearly visible after the visit.
MAMOUDOU GASSAMA, SAVED CHILD IN HEROIC RESCUE: Good, really, really good. I have seen things that really interest me.
BELL: Mostly he is clearly overwhelmed, that his brother speak for him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATOR): The last two days have been Mamoudou and we have not slept for more than three hours a night. We very tired, but we are here.
BELL: It's really only from the ground in front of the building when Mamoudou Gassama scaled on Saturday, and got sense of the scale of his physical fete, a fete that has now given him those very things that he could only have dreamt of when settle from Mali on the long torturous and on certain journeys along. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: We can't just get enough of him. Thanks you so much for your company, I am Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter, love to hear from you and the news continues now with Max Foster in London. You are watching CNN. Have a great day.
