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More Outrage over Trump's Zero Tolerance Policy; U.S.-China Trade War Cause Dow to Drop More than 400 Points; Kim Jong-un Visits China for the Third Time; U.S. Leaves U.N. Human Rights Council; Hat- Trick Hero Ronaldo And Portugal Face Morocco; May's Future On The Line Over Brexit; Record Number Of Refugees; U.S. Withdraws From U.N. Human Rights Council; Help For Those Hurt By Toxic Medicine; Trump Shows His Love For The Flag; Marijuana's Legal Progress; Cohen, Willing To Give Info On Donald Trum. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired June 20, 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]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: We will not do that. We are better than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Outrage growing over President Trump's controversial policy of separating immigrant families.
Plus the U.S. walks away from the U.N. Human Rights Council, calling it a cesspool of political bias.
And choosing between deafness or death. Why some South Africans are faced with that horrible decision and what doctors are doing to change it.
Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN Newsroom.
President Trump is looking for potential legislative fixes to the immigration crisis that's plaguing his administration. Startling pictures of immigrant children separated from their parents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Some are being kept in what looks like cages. Their cries are breaking a lot of people's hearts, and many are demanding action.
But Republicans who met with the president on Tuesday described him as more concerned with optics than actual policy. They say he bragged about his popularity, didn't answer questions, and left them unsure what legislation he would support.
And Democrats from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus were there when the president left, shouting stop separating our families and they told him they would not go away. Now earlier in the day, the president was blaming Democrats for the
family separations and the media for its portrayal of the situation.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is still pointing the finger at Democrats over the crisis at the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Democrats love open borders. Let the whole world come in. Let the whole world, MS-13, gang members from all over the place. Come on in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: But it's his fellow Republicans who are giving him an earful. They're imploring his administration to overturn the zero tolerance policy of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: We ought to be doing everything in our power to bring the children together with their parents. So I'm -- I want to pause so we can really approach these things intelligently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Senator Orrin Hatch, often one of the most loyal Trump supporters, said in the case of family separations, he's wrong. But the president is showing no signs of backing down, telling Congress to fix the impasse on immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We can't let people pour in. They've got to go through the process, and maybe it's politically correct, or maybe it's not. We got to stop separation of the families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: The White House has presented conflicting, confusing, and misleading messages on what type of bill the president would sign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't want children taken away from parents. And when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: These scarring images broadcast across the country and the world, showing children being pulled away from their parents at the border. The Department of Homeland Security now saying more than 2,300 children have been detained. It's prompted a near revolt among Republicans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R) SOUTH DAKOTA, : Only Congress can change the law. I also recognize that if the president wanted to, he could make modifications.
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R), UNITED STATES SENATOR: The secretary, the attorney general, the president, they could move on this tomorrow.
SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R), TEXAS: I think they're scrambling to try to figure out how to be able to handle this. I think they're legitimately surprised at the pushback that they've had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Senator Ted Cruz facing reelection in Texas, also pushing for immediate action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: All of us who are seeing these images of children being pulled away from moms and dads in tears, we're horrified. This has to stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: The conservative editorial page of the Wall Street Journal weighing in with a scolding message. "Are Republicans trying to lose their majorities in Congress this November? We assume not, but you can't tell from the party's internal feuding over immigration. It is fast becoming an election year nightmare over separating immigrant children from their parents."
The president is blaming nearly everyone except his own administration for a policy he could instantly reverse, blasting the media today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe. They know it. They know exactly what they're doing, and it should be stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Of course there's plenty of blame to go around on this immigration impasse. Republicans blaming Democrats. Some Democrats blaming Republicans. President Trump blaming everyone. But the reality here is there is no immediate path forward.
What type of bill would President Trump sign that would immediately address these family separation issues? The White House says he wants to sign a bigger bill that would include funding for the $25 billion border wall. That, of course, unlikely to pass either the House or the Senate.
[03:05:04] So, for now, this impasse, though, images of children on the border continue.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
CHURCH: And we are learning new information about three holding centers in Texas described as tender-age shelters. The Associated Press reports the centers have been rapidly repurposed to serve the needs of children under the age of 5. A fourth center is planned for Houston.
The images of children being separated from their parents at the U.S. border are heartbreaking. Perhaps none has come to symbolize the crisis more than this picture of a 2-year-old toddler from Honduras. Now she was taken from her mother after they rafted across the Rio Grande from Mexico.
Getty photographer John Moore took the picture, and now we are hearing from the little girl's father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My heart broke. My heart broke because it's my little girl. I mean the first time I said, that's my little girl. Right when I saw the report, I said, that's my little girl. My heart broke.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you cry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Of course, it's really hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It still moves you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes, of course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it give you a lot of pain to remember the way she was crying?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I don't think so, no. She didn't deserve that situation. My little girl doesn't deserve that situation. It breaks my heart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And stories like this have Democrats and a growing number of Republicans demanding action. Listen to Congressman Elijah Cummings' impassioned plea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUMMINGS: We all should be able to agree that in the United States of America we will not intentionally separate children from their parents. We will not do that. We are better than that. We are so much better. We should be able to agree that we will not keep kids in child internment camps indefinitely and hidden away from public view. What country is that?
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: The White House has been quick to blame previous administrations for the immigration crisis. Here's Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRSTJEN NIELSEN, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: The last administration, the Obama administration, the Bush administration all separated families at -- they absolutely did. They did, their rate was less than ours, but they absolutely did do this. This is not new.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Juliette Kayyem is a former assistant secretary with the Department of Homeland Security under former President Barack Obama. She's also a CNN national security analyst, and she joins us now live from Boston. Good to see you.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: So the world has reacted in horror at the images and audio coming out of the United States showing children being separated from their mothers and fathers as a result of President Trump's zero- tolerance policy.
Now, he's blaming the Democrats for this and says it's due to past administrations, particularly President Obama's administration. And you were of course an assistant secretary with homeland security during those years. How do you react to those criticisms?
KAYYEM: Well, once again President Trump won't take responsibility for his actions and decisions. This was a policy decision made by the president in which we're seeing the consequences of it because it doesn't seem to be -- not only -- or let me say not only is it unjust, it is just being implemented in the most horrific ways as we're seeing in this video and audio that are coming out of some of these holding places for these children.
I will say, the Obama administration, we confronted a different issue when in the last part of the administration. That was the unaccompanied minor issue. That was parents sending their children up north through the border to try to reunite with an aunt or an uncle. That's a very, very different issue.
Also, you know, heartbreaking in many ways. But it's very different to have to address or deal with unaccompanied minors who you're trying to get into or to be with their families and, you know, essentially splitting parents from their children.
CHURCH: I just want to listen for a moment to what Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday. Let's just bring that up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIELSEN: Here is the bottom line. DHS is no longer ignoring the law. We are enforcing the laws as they exist on the books. As long as illegal entry remains a criminal offense, DHS will not look the other way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So, Juliette, it is a law, is it? It's a policy. Talk to us about that. Why do they keep insisting they're following the law here?
[03:09:58] KAYYEM: I don't know how else to say it any more than that they're lying. They certainly know that this is a policy decision made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions of what's called a zero tolerance. In other words, any immigrant who comes across the border in most, even if they're seeking a lawful status, can be subject to criminal prosecution.
There are laws regarding illegal entry. They tend to be misdemeanors, the lowest entry, and people are processed. They're either returned home, or they're asked to come back to a judicial proceeding. But there is not a single law, not one, and they won't quote it, that requires the breaking up and the splitting of parents from their children in the most horrific, you know, in humanitarian way conceivable.
And the oddest thing to me, you know, if you're going to do this, like why not own it? Like, I don't quite get trying to blame someone else. It's clearly their decision, and they're trying to lie their way through an explanation, and it's not going so well. They've had five or six different explanations over the course of a three-day period.
CHURCH: Did you ever see situations like this where children were taken from their parents in this manner, where men, women, and children were put in fenced cages and where children were wailing for their mothers and fathers? Anytime when you were working with homeland security?
KAYYEM: No. I mean, it wouldn't have even crossed your mind, and it's not even because I worked in a Democratic administration. It didn't even cross any other Republican presidency's minds. I mean, you know, look, the challenge of migration is really complicated. People come to the country. They leave the countries for a variety of reasons.
And so the idea that by splitting them apart, family members apart, you're going to have a sort of perfect solution to the migration problem is ridiculous. And every other administration, Democratic, Republican, knew it, and knew the cost of doing it wasn't worth it for a nation like ours.
Trump has decided that this nation, or at least his policies represent the sort of most horrific cruelty imaginable by any government, and it's inconceivable. You're seeing the reaction by a vast majority of citizens to what's going on.
I will say one thing just having to do with homeland security. I've worked a lot of crises in my time, and I have to say, you know, the most important thing that we have learned over the years is of course how important family unification is for crises and disasters. And it's just, it's so mind-boggling for even a national security
expert like me that a government's policy, my government's policy, would be to actually split up families than to do everything possible to unite them even if you're eventually going to deport them.
And the consequences of it are being seen every day by these pictures of the cages, and I have no confidence that this government, that this president knows how to reunify these kids with their families when that time comes.
CHURCH: Right. And what's happening here is with these images, it's starting to cause friction within the Republican Party, and we know that President Trump has spoken to GOP lawmakers. He apparently said that the images of crying children is not good politics. I don't know whether that indicates that he may make some sort of changes. What do you think that might signal, and why do you think the president has pushed it this far? What's he trying to get here?
KAYYEM: I think, you know, I think he feels that his base needs him to be tough on immigration. I think he miscalculated both the response of the American public, including Republicans, as well as how difficult something like this is. I mean, I think people sit in the White House and they say, well, let's just do this. And they just don't think through the consequences of what it means to have 2,000 children needing care and comfort being away from their parents.
I suspect like most of Donald Trump's decisions, it will be -- he will reverse it, and I will say all those people defending him now, including on our network, many of the commentators who defend this action will be left defending the thing that Trump has turned his back on.
He needs an out. The Republicans will probably give him an out. But it's not over because then we will need to figure out what -- how to reunify these 2,000 children with their families, and I have no confidence that the Department of Homeland Security has thought that through for a second at this stage.
CHURCH: It is a lot of children without their mothers and fathers.
KAYYEM: Yes.
CHURCH: Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
CHURCH: And the immigration debate is also intensifying in Germany. The migrant crisis was among the top agenda items as Chancellor Angela Merkel met with French President Emmanuel Macron.
[03:14:58] The issue has forced Mrs. Merkel into a power struggle with her coalition over migration law. The chancellor made her position clear after their meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We are against illegal secondary migration. Those who flee war and terror can ask for asylum in Europe, but asylum standards have to be brought on a common level, and it has to be possible to do this in all countries and not to be able to pick the country where the asylum is requested.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Ms. Merkel also addressed a swipe from President Trump. He claimed migrants caused crime in Germany despite what the German federal police say the crime level is at its lowest rate in 30 years.
Well, Italy's plan for a census of the country's Roma people is sparking outrage. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini says he wants an account of the thousands of Roma who live across Italy. The opposition and Jewish organizations compare the plan to race laws under Benito Mussolini.
Last week, Salvini refused to allow a ship full of migrants into Italy. Now he wants to expel anyone living in the country illegally.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTEO SALVINI, INTERIOR MINISTER OF ITALY (through translator): We will try to understand how we can intervene regarding doing what years ago was called a census. We can now call it the registry or a picture of the situation to understand what we are dealing with. As for the Italian Roma, unfortunately we have to keep them in Italy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Much more on the immigration issue later in the show.
Also ahead, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. didn't mince words. The accusation Nikki Haley made while withdrawing the United States from the Human Rights Council.
And a trade row between the world's two biggest economies is ratcheting up. Both China and the U.S. are doubling down on trade threats.
And the World Cup's first red card helps Japan win a surprise victory over Colombia. We'll have the highlights for you straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: For the third time in just three months, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in China. He is spending a second straight day in Beijing where he's been meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
[03:20:01] According to Chinese state media, Mr. Xi praised Kim for his handling of last week's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Chinese and North Korean leaders reportedly said they hoped to strengthen ties between their countries in the months ahead, and Tuesday night, Mr. Xi hosted a banquet in Kim's honor. Well, while Chinese lavishing praise on North Korea's leader, it has a
warning for the Trump administration in an escalating trade row. Beijing says it will strike back in the U.S. follows through on its threat to slap tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese exports.
The tension spooked U.S. investors. At one point the Dow sank more than 400 points Tuesday. It crawled back but was still down almost 300 points at the close. The Asia markets on the other hand have been in positive territory. Look at the numbers there. Japan's Nikkei up 1.25 percent, and the Seoul KOSPI up just over 1 percent.
Well, CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now from Beijing. And Nic, when you look at the Asia markets, they seem to be taking all of this quite well, don't they? As we watch this tit for tat threat of tariffs from the U.S., first the $50 billion, then the $200 billion, and China is promising to strike back in kind. So what might the impact of all of this eventually be?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the impact could be a broad trade war where both countries suffer. For example, you know, Apple, that's close to becoming sort of a trillion for what the globe's -- the first ever trillion-dollar company does a huge amount of business with China, products made in China, were they to be hit by tariffs put in place by China, that would be a double-edged sword potentially hurting the Chinese workforce who manufacture some of those products.
So, you know, how it plays out is really far from clear at the moment. The language is indicative and worrying for many analysts right now because it does seem to be on the slippery slope of getting into a trade war.
We talk about, you know, the United States importing about $505 billion worth of goods from China. China importing about $130 billion of goods from the United States. If is China is going to respond as it said it would qualitatively and quantitatively in kind to tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods, is what President Trump is talking about, then it takes it outside of the area of goods potentially into services like education, like tourism.
It takes it potentially into areas such as restrictions on the way that some companies might operate. Could there be additional safety checks, that sort of thing. And could there also be, you know, a situation where China tries to influence its population not to buy American products.
Starbucks here in China, for example, might be a potentially easy target of that sort of direction the country could go in. So from the concern right now is that how this might develop is a little bit unclear. But underlying that is the concern that it is actually headed in that direction of what seems to be a trade war.
But as we've seen today, the Asian markets responding more positively than the way markets closed in the United States yesterday. Boeing sells a significant number of aircraft to China, closed 3.8 percent down. Caterpillar, again, a huge company that sells a large number of products to the Chinese market, down 3.6 percent.
So the concerns and the costs are very real, and the concern is that could escalate if this rhetoric is matched by further actions.
CHURCH: Yes, and, Nic, I should say this is looking like they're moving towards trade war territory. But what could it take? What might it take for one or the other or perhaps both to step back from the brink because nobody benefits from a trade war?
ROBERTSON: Well, China has said that this is out with the bounds of sort of normal international business. President Trump has said that he wants to get this trade deficit balanced. He's also said -- and we've heard this from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the weekend -- that they want to address, you know, cyber espionage, sort of theft of intellectual property.
They address the issue where U.S. companies want to do business here have to offer up some of their technological know-how. There's a real desire on the United States side to redress that balance.
[03:24:59] So, at the moment the positions do seem quite firmly entrenched. It will likely be market forces that dictate one side or the other pulling back or agreeing to pull back.
But as we saw with the markets today, you were pointing out in Asia, they seem to have bounced back or not reflected the way markets closed in the United States. So those market forces may not come into play for a while.
CHURCH: All right. Our Nic Robertson joining us there from Beijing. Many thanks to you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Look at that. That was Yuya Osako scoring the decisive goal in Japan's 2 to 1 win over Colombia. It's the first time in 18 attempts that an Asian team has beaten a South American side at the World Cup. How about that?
World sports Patrick Snell joins us now to talk more about all of this. Of course Japan, that was very exciting. But everyone is talking about Russia because that has been a surprise, I think, for the team just as much as for the fans and for the president.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Absolutely. Vladimir Putin himself. He criticized the Russian national team, and boy, did they respond, winning two straight games. They hadn't had a single win in seven going into the tournament, Rosemary.
After that 3-1 victory over Egypt that we saw in Tuesday, they are now really on the brink of qualifying for the round of 16. Not yet confirmed, but they're on the brink. No wonder their fans are so joyous. Just take a listen to these guys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's unbelievable. Unbelievable for Russia. The best feeling, how I feel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Celebration all night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Celebration of all Russia people. Celebration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We go and work tomorrow, but we -- we celebration all night, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: I'm sure the celebrations will continue right through the -- right through the night. They did get a helping hand against Mo Salah's Egypt. It was a 3-1 win for the Russians. Love that video. They love clearly in the air. And certainly a great boost for them when Ahmed Fathy puts through his own goal there. Russia ahead. Then they really put this game to bed quickly. They scored twice in about three minutes.
Denis Cheryshev -- Denis Cheryshev with the thirds goal of the tournament, and then Artem Dzyuba making it 3-nil the Zenit Saint Petersburg man. The Russian fans absolutely loving it.
Too little too late by the time Mo Salah stepped up to convert a late penalty, which he dispatched. But that was 3-1, and Russia are on the brink.
And I tell you what, just look at these images now. Just look at the stats as well because there's history in the making. We make it straight through them. They've now made the best start of any host nation in a World Cup. This is incredible. Two wins and eight goals. That actually matches Italy from way back in 1934 but the Italians actually conceded twice to Russia's one.
And this is really cool as well, Rosemary. Russia have now also scored more goals than Spain did in 2010 when the (Inaudible) went on to win the tournament. Really impressive.
(CROSSTALK)
CHURCH: What happened?
SNELL: I don't know. Transformation, I tell you what. They're playing with confidence, though. They're playing with joy. I think they're feeling the love of a nation. No question.
CHURCH: Yes, absolutely. Of course the other story, Senegal beat Poland due in part to a rather controversial goal.
SNELL: Yes.
CHURCH: What happened there?
SNELL: There's a really big talker in the world pretty found social media. They're talking about a goal in particular. It's actually Senegal's second goal. They got the first one was the own goal that put them ahead. But their second goal of the game is the real talk. Controversies are bounding. If you watch carefully, the player, M'Baye
Niang he'd been off the field of play for treatment. But the ref allowed him back on. And look how he capitalizes on the attempted back pass to put his team 2-nil up. They are the first African country to win at this tournament, 2-1 Senegal there, Rosie.
CHURCH: OK. Cristiano Ronaldo.
SNELL: Who?
CHURCH: Everyone is talking about him. Could he become the planet's best player?
SNELL: He -- I mean he'll probably tell you, hey, I already am.
CHURCH: Yes.
SNELL: But, look, very quickly to Wednesday's three games we've got in group a. We've got Saudi Arabia against Uruguay. And then we've got Portugal, Morocco, and then Spain taking on Iran. But you're quite right. C.R. 7, a devastating hat trick against Spain on Friday.
As we see him in video action here, in just training, he's the oldest player ever to score a hat trick at a World Cup. Thirty-three years of age. Quite incredible. Eighty four international goals as well for Portugal, tied for second now on the all-time list of international scores.
[03:30:02] Rosemary, I have a question for you. Do you have your earmuff in there because it's going to get a bit loud now? Just take a listen.
CHURCH: OK.
SNELL: Courtesy of Portuguese radio, that moment, how it was described on Portuguese radio when Ronaldo about a stunning quickie. Take a listen against Spain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: I warned you. I warned you. That was the wonderful hat trick, the completion of the hat trick. Wonderful stuff, CR7, 33 years young.
CHURCH: Yes, yes. Where did that come from?
SNELL: I don't know.
CHURCH: Patrick Snell, always a pleasure. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Well, a disturbing report from the U.N. on the day to recognize the world's refugees. Record numbers of people are fleeing violence in their homelands.
Plus why British Prime Minister, Theresa May's political future is on the line right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you on the main stories we've been following this hour.
Beijing is promising to strike back if the U.S. slaps new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. The escalating trade row comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in Beijing for a second straight day. He is received a warm welcome from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said he was very pleased with the outcome of Kim's summit with President Trump.
In Indonesia, the number of people missing from a ferry that capsized in Lake Toba on Monday has risen to 186. Authorities have put the number of missing at 39 earlier this week. Three bodies have been recovered so far. The ferry sank during poor weather conditions.
Republicans are leaning on President Trump to end his administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border with Mexico. He met with House leaders on Tuesday, but some say they're not entirely clear what legislation the President would support.
Well, the U.S. immigration crisis is not something specific to the Trump administration. American Presidents have been struggling to find the right balance for decades. CNN's Michael Holmes explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. immigration law is very complex. However, there is no law that mandates the separation of parents and children. So how did we get here? Well, first there is a law against illegal entry into the United States, but what if an entire family crosses illegally?
[03:35:12] A 1997 court ruling called the Flores settlement limited the amount of time that migrant children be held in detention to 20 days, after which they are required to be released to a parent or guardian or licensed facility. Then in 2008, a Bush administration anti-trafficking law required unaccompanied minors to be transferred out of immigration detention within 72 hours. This law has come under scrutiny because of what's been called catch and release.
This is when undocumented immigrants are released while they wait to appear before an immigration judge. Catch and release was also followed under the Obama administration. The Trump administration saw catch and release as a loophole for illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. and stay, but under President Trump, a new zero-tolerance policy means that all adults found to have illegally crossed the border will be prosecuted. They are detained and separated from their children as they await their day in court. The children temporarily sent to other detention centers. Michael Holmes, CNN. (END VIDEO)
CHURCH: Calling it a cesspool of political bias, the United States is withdrawing from the U.N. Human Rights Council. The U.S. made the announcement one day after the U.N. slammed Washington for separating children from parents at the southern border. Richard Roth has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the U.N. Human Rights Council is not even worthy of its name, and she had a lot more to say in criticizing the Geneva based agency. Haley said having the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, and Venezuela as human rights violators sitting on the council is preposterous, but she focused her criticism and the reason for the U.S. withdrawal is the chronic focus on Israel by the Human Rights Council.
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Last year the United States made it clear that we would not accept the continued existence of agenda item 7, which singles out Israel in a way that no other country is singled out. Earlier this year, as it has in previous years, the Human Rights Council passed five resolutions against Israel. More than the number passed against North Korea, Iran, and Syria combined.
ROTH: The U.N. Secretary-General's Office said he was disappointed that the United States withdrew. Human rights and aid organizations blasted the decision. Oxfam saying, how can the U.S. try to lecture the world about the Human Rights Council while taking children away from their parents at the border? The U.N. Human Rights Council used to be called the U.N. Human Rights Commission and was allegedly reformed, but not enough for the United States to stay in the group. Richard Roth, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: British Prime Minister, Theresa May, faces another Brexit showdown in parliament. On Monday, her Brexit plans were rejected by parliament's upper chamber, and now she faces the possibility of defeat during a House of Commons vote in the coming hours. At issue, a bill that seeks to give parliament a meaningful vote on the final terms of a Brexit deal.
Mrs. May doesn't want this to happen, and Wednesday's vote could define whether she can maintain control of Brexit's direction. Our Phil Black joins us now from Westminster. And Phil, it honestly has been a struggle for Theresa May from the very start, hasn't it? How is this likely to turn out for her?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has been a contentious issue throughout, Rosemary. At its core, it is a matter of process as you've touched on. What happens in a couple of a very specific scenarios where even the Britain and the E.U. can't agree on a final Brexit deal, whether Britain's parliament rejects a final Brexit deal? Now what we know is those who are challenging the Prime Minister on
this don't want the default position to be that Britain simply tumbles out of the E.U. in one of those situations. They want parliament to be able to influence events, to be able to instruct the government what to do next.
So for example, to tell the government to go back to Brussels and to continue negotiations until a deal is done. We know that within parliament, there are members of the Prime Minister's Conservative Party who feel very strongly on this. And the key question -- and we'll find out this later today -- is whether or not they feel strongly enough, whether they have enough courage to join opposition parties and vote against the government.
And if they do, well, that will be significant. It will lay bare the bitter divisions at the heart of the Conservative Party over Brexit policy. It will be a significant blow to the Prime Minister's authority, and she has precious little to spare.
[03:40:05] She is the head of a minority government, and she is trapped between these two warring factions who disagree very strongly over what sort of Brexit this country should be seeking. We'll find out the result later today. The expectation is that it could go either way, and it's likely to be close. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Can Theresa May survive all of this?
BLACK: Well, there have been people predicting Theresa May's demise ever since she lost an election she didn't need to call last year and in the process gave up her parliamentary majority. She is been hanging on ever since. Her party has been unwilling to depose her, because primarily there is simply no other alternative. It is also likely that in the eventuality that she would be deposed, that there would have to be another election and there's no guarantee that the conservatives would win that election.
So they have been muddling on through. She is been holding on. She is been balancing these two warring factions, but this is yet another one of those times when it's really coming to a head. And the consequences if it doesn't go Theresa May's way could be very significant.
CHURCH: And we will watch to see the outcome of this. Phil Black joining us live from Westminster, many thanks.
Well it is World Refugee Day, and the latest numbers from the U.N. paint a grim picture. The report says wars, persecution, and other violence sent a record 68.5 million people fleeing from their homes. The number of refugees in 2017 grew by 2.9 million. That is the biggest increase in a single year.
The U.N. says two-thirds of the world's refugees come from these five countries -- Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia. And for more on all of this, Melissa Bell joins us now from Paris. Good to see you, Melissa. And of course, even as the U.N. publishes these latest figures, immigration is proving such a politically transformative topic on both sides of the Atlantic, isn't it?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is right, Rosemary. And here we have the explanation. The numbers have just risen. You were just hearing from Phil Black there in London. Think of the place that immigration played in the Brexit debate when the referendum happened in the United Kingdom. Think how central it was to Donald Trump's victory in the United States.
And of course here in Europe, the issue is also proving politically transformative. We've seen it in the number of elections here in Europe over the course of last year, the most recent in Italy with this difference. That the question of migration, the migration crisis, is all the more toxic in Europe, because while you have this large space with no borders through which migrants and other people can pass without having to show their documents -- or that was the case until various crackdowns began around the continent -- you have these separate administrative entity and of course these separate elections that leads to different sorts of government.
And at the moment, this is something that is threatening the European Union itself, even as Italy has elected a part populist, part far- right government and put them in power with those members of the lead party, (inaudible) the Italian Party, calling for things like the reform of the so-called Dublin rule, which means that when refugees, when migrants arrive in Italy, say, that is where they have to seek asylum, which has led to huge variations in the number of migrants the different European countries have had to take in.
Even as you have that government elected, you have Angela Merkel in Germany holding on to a very fragile coalition where to the right of her, her coalition partners are really calling for a strengthening of that Dublin rule, because they feel that they've been taking in too many migrants as well, Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. Melissa Bell, thank you so much for that, joining us live from Paris.
Let's take a very short break, but coming up --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this a crisis?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course it's a crisis. There's more than half a million people with drug-resistant tuberculosis who are diagnosed every single day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The health crisis resulting from drugs known as toxic medicine. We will explain when we come back.
[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: It is called toxic medicine. Drug therapy that can help cure illness, but creates new problem is in the process of healing. One of those illnesses is tuberculosis, called the silent killer. It's one of the top ten causes of death worldwide. In 2016, more than 10 million people became ill with T.B., and 1.7 million died from the disease, nearly all of them in developing countries. CNN's David McKenzie joins us live from Johannesburg with more on this. So David, explain to us what you found out about toxic medicine and efforts to help those who suffer from T.B.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a health crisis that many of our viewers, Rosemary, may be not even aware of. Thousands of people who are given permanent disabilities, because of toxic drugs, but now there's hope.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
MCKENZIE: An injection meant to save his life robbed Kumbalani of his hearing and was beginning to turn him blind. The medicine prescribed to fight his drug-resistant tuberculosis was toxic, shutting Kumbalani off from the world until this very moment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What I'm going to do is very carefully lift the levels of the sound. Kumbalani? Kumbalani?
MCKENZIE: His family could never afford the cochlear implant, but an anonymous donor stepped in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I can hear now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Monday.
KUMBALANI: Monday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tuesday.
KUMBALANI: Tuesday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Friday.
KUMBALANI: Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For us, I think that is an incredible outcome.
MCKENZIE: But others aren't so lucky. When forced to make a choice between potential deafness and death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three of that tablet. It will include two of this pink tablet.
MCKENZIE: The same toxic medicine prescribed to Kumbalani has been the treatment advised by the World Health Organization for the past 50 years, despite studies showing horrific side effects, including deafness in up to 60 percent of patients. Is this a crisis?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course it's a crisis. There's more than half a million people with drug-resistant tuberculosis who are diagnosed every single day.
MCKENZIE: A crisis and a choice Dr. Anya Reuter of MSF says that no one needs to make. Her organization has been campaigning to roll out newer, less toxic drugs first developed 15 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're effective and safe and that they might increase the chance of cure. And so I think we need to respond to the crisis now.
MCKENZIE: But the WHO, says drug companies haven't prioritized clinical trials for the new T.B. drugs. And without those trials, the WHO, says it won't change its own guidelines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Often tuberculosis hasn't had enough research and development in it.
[03:50:00] MCKENZIE: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a -- it's not a disease that affects the developed world. It is a lot of people who have tuberculosis maybe don't have a lot of money to spend on drugs.
MCKENZIE: The coordinator for the WHO's T.B. program says that they can only base their decisions on data and that they need to walk a fine line when approving new drugs, but the South African government says it's done waiting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Globally, this optic is ridiculously unacceptable. I think we can do better.
MCKENZIE: Starting this month, the new drugs will be given to all drug-resistant T.B. patients in South Africa even before WHO mandated clinical trials are complete. Better for those like Kumbalani.
The first thing I will do is go to school, then finish school, he says. Then look for a job and even support my family, who supported me when I was sick, but in other countries battling T.B., the toxic burden of treatment continues.
(END VIDEO)
MCKENZIE: Rosemary, this is a reaction in (inaudible) a township near Cape Town. When the doctors found out that they could give these new drugs without trying to skirt the system, certainly celebration there. And I can't emphasize enough what this means for thousands of people in South Africa who could have had that awful side effect of going deaf like Kumbalani even those these drugs have been available for a long time.
And it's a catch-22. Experts say the pharmaceutical companies that need to test these drugs don't want to do it, because frankly they won't make the money back. The WHO won't give the authorization for those drugs unless they have those tests done. It's a big gap in the world public health system, meaning that emerging diseases and diseases that affect poor people in developing countries just aren't given the support that they desperately need. Rosemary? CHURCH: Extraordinary story. Thank you so much for that. David
McKenzie joining us live from Johannesburg. Appreciate it.
We'll take a short break here, but still to come, President Trump embraces the American flag literally.
And marijuana moves closer to the mainstream. The latest changes in the law. We're back with that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: A sign of changing times on Wall Street. General Electric, an original member of the Dow when it debuted back in 1896, is being removed from the index. The industrial giant is being replaced by the pharmacy chain Walgreen's Boots Alliance. G.E. has been plagued by an underperforming stock and a cash crisis from years of bad deals.
Well, Canada is a step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana. The upper house of parliament passed a bill Tuesday and pot could be fully legal in 12 weeks. And New Yorkers smoking pot in public won't be arrested anymore. The police department says offenders will be issued a summons instead, but those without identification could still face arrest along with those who have a criminal warrant or history of violence. The NYPD has been accused of arresting a disproportionate number of people of color for marijuana offenses.
[03:55:03] New developments regarding the U.S. President's personal attorney, Michael Cohen. One of Cohen's friends says he has signaled that he is, quote, willing to give investigators information on Donald Trump if that is what they're looking for. A source also tells CNN, Cohen is planning to hire a new lawyer to handle a possible indictment from federal prosecutors.
And President Trump is known to be very fond of his former lawyer, or at least he was. He also has a warm place in his heart for something else. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For President Trump, the American flag is like a magnet. And while it attracted the president, some were repelled. You salute it, not fondle it, tweeted one critic. If he keeps that up, he will owe that flag $130,000, wrote another. Breaking, flag joins #metoo movement in protest, but to supporters, this is what a commander in chief looks like. Make that flag hugger in chief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump just groped the American flag.
MOOS: Those arms have opened wide around old glory.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And defend her still today.
MOOS: At least five times before, ranging from a quickie hug to some minor snuggling up. And even a two-flag embrace. Not to mention the time. The crowd chanted "lock her up" as the President locked his arms around the stars and stripes. His hug at a Tampa rally was even reenacted by the Trump puppet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he sees a flag, he just has to reach out and grab it by the stripes, I guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This might be the only time in history a flag burns itself.
MOOS: The hug in front of an appreciative business group Tuesday, provoked dueling tweets. Bet that flag wants a long hot shower, said one. Countered another, gee, I'm really sorry if a President that loves our flag and our country creeps you out. President Trump is taking the rap for wrapping himself around the flag. Looks like Linus from Charlie Brown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need my blanket!
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are any of you secure?
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEO)
CHURCH: And we'll leave you with that. Thanks for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter. The news continues now with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London. You're watching CNN. Have a great day.
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