Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump-Putin Summit To Proceed At Helsinki; Twelve Russians Are Now Indicted For Hacking; Thailand's Soccer Team Was Rescued In The Cave After 17 Days; World Cup Reaches Final Game. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 14, 2018 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[16:00:00] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: But in true heroic fashion he found a way to continue serving hungry kids in his community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my mission feeding children that are hungry. But February 4th 2017 at 4:00 in the morning I get the phone call the restaurant was on fire. You see a restaurant which you love, 30 years go in flame and ashes. No more kitchen. I cannot feed the kids anymore. But the miracle happened. How many kids love pasta.

I didn't stop feeding the kids, 15 months later we doubted the kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Wat a guy. For the full story log on to CNNheroes.com. And always while there you can nominate someone you think should be a hero.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm in Ana Cabrera in New York. Thanks for joining us.

The meeting is on. The White House not cancelling President Trump's historic face-to-face with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Even after Friday's indictment accusing 12 Russian members of the Russian military of attacking the U.S. election system.

These Russians are accused of hacking democratic emails, stealing voter data even trying to poison U.S. democracy. President Trump is blaming someone for the 12 Russian's actions but it's not Putin. Instead he is pointing the finger at his predecessor, Barack Obama.

All this comes amid growing calls from Democrats and at least one Republican to scrap Monday's summit. Such a move would not be unprecedented. President Obama cancelled the planned Moscow meeting with Putin back in 2013 after Russia gave asylum to fugitive leaker Edward Snowden.

Let's bring in Abby Philip. He is our White House correspondent traveling with the President in Scotland.

Abby, what is the administration now saying about why it not canceling the summit? ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, it's clear

that the White House and President Trump are not letting these indictments get in the way of this Helsinki summit that they have been planning for with Vladimir Putin. The White House is not even really acknowledging the link that is implicit in these indictments between Russian state actors and the hacking of the 2016 election. President Trump instead sent several tweets from his golf course not far from here in Tenbury blaming President Obama and saying it didn't happen under his watch.

He said, the Russian individuals did their work during the Obama years, why didn't Obama do something about it? Because he thought crooked Hillary Clinton would win, that's why. Had nothing to do with the Trump administration but fake news doesn't want to report the truth as usual.

But of course none of this is really about whose watch it happened under but rather about who was responsible. And especially just a couple of days before this Helsinki meeting this really seems to underscore that President Trump is hesitant to blame Vladimir Putin for this. He has said in the last couple of days that he plans to talk to Putin about election meddling. But the President says he doesn't want to belabor the point. He doesn't want it to get in the way of a summit that he thinks should be about several other issues and about building a potentially positive relationship with Russia.

On the other hand, as you pointed out, a lot of Democrats are saying that the President should go ahead and cancel the meeting that the indictments really poison the well and prohibit any sort of progress being made on the United States front.

And John McCain a Republican senator from Arizona also weighing in saying if President Trump is unwilling to stand up for the United States with Putin in this meeting he should cancel the summit.

But the -- but the White House is not really taking any of that seriously. They are saying the summit is going ahead as planned. They have also said that President Trump and Putin plan to meet the press in some kind of news conference during the summit as well. It remains to be seen how forcefully the President will bring this up in his meeting.

But we know so far that the President doesn't really want to talk about it publicly. He doesn't want to criticize Vladimir Putin publicly. What he does privately may be another matter, Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Abby Phillip, thank you.

Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein said he told President Trump about the indictment earlier this week. And here are the highlights of what the President would have seen.

Russian military officials, officials think about this, hacked the emails of Hillary Clinton campaign officials. They also hacked into computer systems at the DNC and the DCCC, that's the Democratic campaign congressional committee, where they could see every key stroke employees made and steal passwords and data like opposition research and election plans.

These hackers went after voters too trying to hack into election systems in at least 21 states and in some cases they were successful. In fact, they stole info belonging to around 500,000 voters. That's also spelled out in this indictment.

Let's discuss with CNN legal analyst Michael Zeldin. He worked closely with Robert Mueller during his time at the justice department.

Michael, does it seem that Mueller may be in the home stretch of the investigation that he is about to wrap this up?

[16:05:09] MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't think we know that, Ana. What we know is that Mueller has given us sort of a one- two punch.

Back in February, he gave us part one, which was the use of social media, Facebook and the like, to stage an interference by the Russians into the 2016 campaign. Now, we have seen part two, which is the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and DCCC computers as another effort to interview with the 2016.

So what Mueller shows us in these two indictments which really have to be read together is what the Russians did sort of unto us. Now, what we have to see is whether Mueller is going to see whether or not anyone here cooperated with that effort. . He has not yet signaled an interest in dieting anyone on that. It may be that the evidence doesn't support it. But we have yet to see what his conclusion is with respect to that cooperation. So I think that's what's still ongoing with respect to this aspect of the counterintelligence investigation.

CABRERA: I know you and others in the legal community have talked about how you start wide and kind of narrowed it down. Now, this indictment did come just three days before his meeting with Putin. Do you think Mueller purposefully timed this release?

ZELDIN: Well, Mueller reported to Rod Rosenstein when the grand jury was going to be ready to make the indictment. And I think that between the two of them they decided that we are just going to go forward on normal time schedule, which was to release it as it was released.

Rosenstein briefed the President before it was released. And the President could have said to Rosenstein you know, look this isn't going to help me in communications with Putin when we go to Helsinki. Can you hold that until after I get back? He could have done that but he didn't do that.

So presumably the President, Rosenstein and Mueller felt informs the best time to do it. And they did it. And in some sense if the President wants to address this issue with put opinion this is very empowering of him. Because he has a document from our justice department which details that which Putin has denied. So it's a good opportunity for the President if he wants to take advantage of it. CABRERA: There is an interesting tidbit in this indictment. And it

reads quote "on or about August 15th, 2016, the conspirators posing at Guccifer 2.0 received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for U.S. Congress. The conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate's opponent.

We also know the Russians gave stolen information to an American lobbyist. I mean, is this potentially illegal?

ZELDIN: It could be. Everything, Ana, is fact specific in the law. So if that candidate for Congress knew that Guccifer 2.0 had stolen information and requested that stolen information and then further transmitted it in the course of his or her campaign, that could be interstate transportation of stolen property, receiving stolen property, aiding and abetting. So, sure, those things are potentially criminal.

But as I said at the outset it's very fact specific. And we need to know what did the individuals communicating with Guccifer 2.0 know about the contents of what Guccifer had? Whether it was stolen or not.

CABRERA: All right. Michael Zeldin. Got you. Thank you very much. We always appreciate you joining us.

So now knowing what we know about Russia's election meddling, what does President Trump say when he sits down with Putin? Let's talk with over Anne Applebaum, columnist for "the Washington Post" and "Slate" magazine and Kim Dozier, CNN global affairs analyst and "daily Beast" contributor.

Anne, welcome. I appreciate you joining us this weekend. Always good to see you as well, Kim.

The official response here to this indictment from the White House and the President doesn't even mention Russia let alone condemn Russia's actions. And do you think that is strategic in some which because of the upcoming summit?

ANNE APPLEBAUM, COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Look, Trump has been denying that Russia had any responsibility or any role in the election from the very beginning. He denied it during the campaign even as he was asking Russia for help openly. We all saw him do that. It's not very surprising. I think he understands this whole case as something that undermines his presidency and his election. And so he sought to deny it from the beginning.

I would be very surprised. I hear some of your commentators speculating on what he might say to President Putin. And I would be surprised if he brought it up. And of course, if he brings it up and Putin will deny it which Putin will deny because he has been doing all along. I would be surprised if he pressed the issue. This is clearly not what Trump wants to talk about and he is going to avoid it as much as he can. CABRERA: The President has said himself he plans to bring up the

election meddling. But to your point, he was expecting sort of a non- s answer or deflection from President Putin.

But I'm wondering Kim, I mean, how do you explain the President actually moving forward with the summit let alone meeting one one-on- one with Putin, without members of his national security to me team or his intelligence operations.

[16:10:22] KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well look, the charges against Russia and Russian election meddling are things he has known some time. Things the intelligence community has briefed him on whether or not that's been reflected in his public comments.

The Mueller indictments are just one more nail in the coffin of accusing Russia of carrying this out. But look at his wider pattern. If I'm channeling Trump officials I have spoken to and some supporters, they say he does this with people he thinks are adversaries, whether it was the Chinese premiere in his first year in office or the North Korean leader. He flatters them. He wines and dines them. He has a warm conversation with them and then the tough talk comes later just like any business negotiation.

To take counterpoint, some of the NATO and European officials I have spoken to are really going to be studying this closely. Because they understand that there is a certain familiarity breeds contempt and that he treats them with a certain amount of contempt or outright open contempt. But they want to see just how much Putin can get him to agree to in public. And that's how they measure his presidency moving forward.

CABRERA: Anne, let me play for you what we were just discussing about what the President has been saying at least leading up to this meeting. This was before the indictment came out. But it was just yesterday he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know you will ask will we be talking about meddling? And I will absolutely bring that up. I don't think you will have any gee, I did it, I did it, you got me. There won't be a Perry Mason here, I don't think. But you never know what happens, right. But I will absolutely firmly ask the question. And hopefully we will have a very good relationship with Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So now we have this indictment, 29 pages. Not just Russia's efforts to influence voters through propaganda. I mean it shows how Russia went after America's actual democratic machinery. They got info on 500,000 Americans including birth dates, even partial Social Security numbers. And does this change anything?

APPLEBAUM: Look, we are talking about the President of Russia, who is a man who had troops on the ground in Ukraine and denied that they were there. And we could all see they were there. And yet he said they weren't there. So I'm not sure why anybody is expecting him to react to Robert Mueller's indictment or however specific it is, however many GRU officials, that's Russian intelligence officials he names. I'm not sure that anybody expects Putin to respond by doing anything other than laughing. That's what he does in the past when he is accused of lying.

He has lied to Angela Merkel. He has lied to Barack Obama. He has lied repeatedly to his own people. So there is no particular reason to think that he will react any differently than he ever has before.

You know, the real question it seems to me is whether this meeting gets to -- whether we learn something more fundamental, which is what is Trump's real relationship with Putin? Why does he praise him so frequently? Why has he had been talking about him as an ally and as friend for more than a decade?

You know, those are -- there is some mysteries to their relationship or at least to Trump's feelings about Putin that have never really been revealed. And I'm hoping that's what we learn from the summit that we will get some explanation, we will see a reflection in the conversation and in the description afterwards of what happened that explained that.

CABRERA: Maybe that is the Perry Mason moment we all need to watch for.

Kim, I want you to listen to what the director of national intelligence can be current DNI Dan Coats said just last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN COATS, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: It was in the months prior to September 2001 when according to then CIA director George Tenet, the system was blinking red. And here we are two decades -- nearly two decades later. And I'm here to say the warning lights are blinking red again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Kimberly, I know you have a lot of contacts in the national security community What do you know about the current threat?

DOZIER: Well, this current threat is something that is much discussed, much recognized by the intelligence community, by the Pentagon. And it is something they daily fight against. So, you are getting a bird' eye view of what President Trump is getting briefed probably nearly daily.

That said, what Trump hasn't done to our knowledge is to declare some sort of war on cyber threats by Russia, the same way there was a declaration of war on Al-Qaeda, war on terrorism. And while every day you have national security professionals battling it out in cyberspace against Moscow, what you don't have a concerted effort with extra resources like we had in the war on terror. And that's what they don't seem to be able to get across to the President in the briefings to him. And it's a -- it's a matter of frustration for a lot of people. They think maybe it's going to take a major hack before he gets that they are not just adversaries but enemies probing the U.S. defenses every single day.

[16:15:59] CABRERA: Kim Dozier and Anne Applebaum. Thank you, ladies, for being with us.

So how exactly did these 12 Russians carry out the crimes spelled out in the new Mueller indictment? We will walk you through how the hack was pulled off and exactly what kind of information was stolen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:20:19] CABRERA: We now know in detail how the Russians were able to hack into the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC. It's all laid out in special counsel Robert Mueller's latest indictment. One way they did it is by something called spear phishing.

Tom Foreman explains how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators say spear phishing was involved in the process, this hack by the Russians.

So what exactly is spear phishing? Do you ever go to the email box and you find yourself looking at an email looks like it came from someone you knew and demanding some sort of immediate action. It might be the credit card company, it might be the bank, it might be a store you shopped in saying something you used your credit card, we had a little problem, could you send us the numbers again.

That's essentially what they are saying happened in this case. Some hacker got into the systems in some cases we are talking about officials in political parties. In other cases we are talking about state election officials. And sent emails that basically just said, look we got something we need to deal with here. So say you are a political leader and you get a note late at night in the campaign saying, hey, I'm from the it department. Little problem here. Can you give me the sign in ID and your password. Don't want you to get locked out of the system. You are tired, exhausted you say sure I'll send it. When do you that in this case what was happening, investigators say it was opening up a big back door to your system to these hackers.

The other way in which this appears to have been happening and going to the hackers who in fact were tied to the Russians was through something called malware. Malware can be assigned to your computer or put on the computer just that same way through an email link or in other ways as well they can hack in. And what the malware does is in a more automated way. It's just scanning your computer constantly taking information like your context, your documents, your passwords, it can even grasp screenshots now and then. And again, transporting all of that right back to Russian agents.

Those are the two key ways electronically that this information was being hacked. And that's what the investigators are going after.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Thanks to Tom Foreman.

We are going to talk to one of the victims of that Russian spear phishing form Clinton campaign manager John Podesta is with us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:57] CABRERA: Welcome back.

We are continuing our coverage of the latest indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller, the one threatening to append the Trump-Putin summit.

Now, this indictment explains every move the Russians made to gain access to computer systems belonging to Clinton campaign employees and volunteers in the DNC. Here is how one Russian military officers hacked Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

I quote, "the Russian altered the appearance of the sender email address in order to make it look like the email was a security notification from Google, a technique known as spoofing. Instructing the user to change his password by clicking the embedded link. Those instructions were followed. On or about March 21st, 2016, so two days later, Russians stole the contents of the chairman's email account which consisted of over 50,000 emails."

John Podesta joins us now.

John, hearing it laid out in detail like that, the details of how your emails were stolen what goes through your mind?

JOHN PODESTA, FORMER CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: Well, it's good to be with you Ana. It's painful to hear. But I think that what is at the bottom of all this is something that's been known for a very long time and really is what's at the heart of the Mueller investigation which is that crimes were committed. The computer fraud and abuse act was broken. There was a conspiracy to do it. It was run by 12 senior military intelligence agencies -- agents at the direction of Vladimir Putin. There was money laundering involved. And we now know there is the -- there is enough information that the FBI has that Robert Mueller has that they can prove that in court.

CABRERA: I mean, as I was reading this 29-page indictment, I kept on coming across these details like what I just read and I was just like oh, my God, it could happen to any of us. This phishing emails are out there. When you look back, do you remember that email specifically and did it raise red flags for you?

PODESTA: You know, there is a back story to that it involved a couple of different people in the campaign. But, no, I don't remember getting it. And you know, but, the files that were obviously opened up, the Russians stole them. They delivered them to -- through WikiLeaks to do maximum damage to our campaign. And all, again, as our intelligence community has assessed helped

Donald Trump get elected President. And you know, to this day he refuses to admit it. Keeps joking around about it. And attacks Mueller and the investigators, refuses I think to stand up for America. So we will see what happens next -- on Monday when we meets with Vladimir Putin.

What he should do is insist that, first of all, that all of this activity stop. And that -- or else there will be tremendous consequences. But, as the director of national intelligence said, the red lights are blinking but I think the White House is essentially asleep at the switch.

[16:30:00] CABRERA: I mean, it is striking that the President's response and the former White House statement that they put out after this indictment had no mention of Russia. In fact, it does go on to point fingers at the past administration.

Let me quote the President here. "These Russian individuals did their work during the Obama years, why didn't Obama do something about it? Because he thought crooked Hillary Clinton would win. That's why had nothing to do with the Trump administration."

John, did U.S. officials count too much on Clinton winning? Do you wish Obama had done something more?

PODESTA: I -- look, I think that they knew more than I think the public knew. They did put pout a letter on October 7th saying the Russians were trying to interfere in the election. But, you know, obviously, again, this has been the subject of a good deal of commentary and discussion particularly at the end when Jim Comey decided to reopen and then close the email investigation of Hillary Clinton. And yet provide no information about the fact that the FBI was also looking at Russian connections to the Trump campaign. I think that definitely hurt us. And I think if -- I think if my friends in the Obama administration had to do it over again they would have done it differently.

CABRERA: Do you think any campaign is prepared for an attack like this?

PODESTA: Well, look, these are extremely sophisticated agents. They are not just Russians obviously that are -- and a flip the Chinese do it as well, the North Koreans, the Iranians. But I think that, you know, the difference between 2016 and what I think we saw going back to 2008 when the Chinese hacked into the Obama campaign and the McCain campaign was those were intelligence operations. And for the first time really in the United States context, the Russians weaponized the fruits of those intelligence gathering efforts in order to help one candidate against another. That was new. And of course it had been done in eastern Europe and in Moscow's backyard but never done at that grand scale in -- in the west and particularly the United States.

And it's - again, it's high time the President take that seriously and try to do something about it. Instead I think what we will see is more of the same from Trump, which is, you know, to try to be buddy- buddy with a guy who completely attacked our democracy and you know that's a sad commentary on the state of the presidency.

CABRERA: But does a comment like that help in terms of the politicization of this issue?

PODESTA: Comment like mine? You know, I'm just telling you what I think. I agree with Mr. Rosenstein who said yesterday that we should try to manage this matter in by putting partisanship aside, by not acting like Democrats or Republicans. I think he put it well when he said that this is an issue of vital national security, we ought to come together. But then when I watched the President's tweets this morning it's hard, you know, kind to take that seriously.

CABRERA: John Podesta, I really appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much for your time this weekend.

PODESTA: Good to be with you, Ana.

CABRERA: Seventeen days trapped underground, that was the reality for 12 boys rescued from a cave in Thailand. We walk you step by step through the extraordinary rescue next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:38:01] CABRERA: Now to an update on the 12 players and their soccer coach whose rescue this week we watched in amazement. All of them are expected to be released in the hospital in the coming days from the hospital. Doctors say they are all healthy, eating well, sitting up in their beds with their families now allowed to be by their side.

And after the dramatic rescue, how their lives were saved after more than two weeks deep underground.

CNN Nick Glass takes us through it step by step.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK GLASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Has there ever been a cave rescue quite like this one? The Thai military allied with an owe with an international team of volunteers searching until the last boys were found and daringly rescued in remote mountains in northern Thailand.

We still piece the story together in all the inspiring heroic detail. So much of the drama happened in the dark out of sight. But it begins with a haunting image in silhouette. The kids bikes chained up in a row at the cave entrance. Football boots, shin pads left behind with no sign of their owners.

The date, Saturday, June 23rd. And this was the missing party, or we can refer to as the miraculously lucky 13. The wild boars football team plus their young coach, they went missing after match practice. They had explore this particular cave before but apparently trapped by a sudden monsoon flood. Water and more water.

ARPAKORN YUUKONGKAEW, HEAD ADMIRAL, THAI NAVE SEALS (through text): The most challenging thing we have to fight is nature, rain and any obstacles in the cave. We have never done anything like this before.

GLASS: Then came the piping and the pumps and Thai Navy SEALs. As the water continued to rise, the equipment for a serious diving operation was transferred by hand and by hoist deep into the cave.

Where were the boys? Could they be reached in time? The place is known as the big cave for a reason. Almost seven miles of tunnels and recesses, nooks and crannies. Anxious distressed relatives could only wait and offer prayers.

[16:40:29] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cannot expect how long but every minute is important.

GLASS: The cave known as Tham Luang was met by French divers in the 1980s. It is among the longest in Thailand. But it's the first few miles of the cave that concern us here. The most recent survey was carried out by this man, Vern Unsworth, the British caver who has a home in the area. His immediate device was call in the British experts.

VERN UNSWORTH, DIVER EXPERT: We got the Thai authorities to understand that, you know, they needed expert divers out here. Cave diving it's specialist. You know, it's like diving with -- you can't see three inches in front of your face. And they need world class divers. And that's what we got.

GLASS: Rick Stanton on the left a retired firemen from Coventry and his diving partner (INAUDIBLE) the night he consult from Bristle.

In cave diving, they are pretty much as good as its gets. At the request of the Thai command center they were flown out from Britain.

On the ground they almost passed unnoticed two guys in dark shorts, t- shirts and wellington boots. The British divers made their first exploratory dive on Wednesday June 27th four days after the boys went missing. The challenge was immediately obvious. The water, the color of cold coffee almost no visibility, swimming against a torrent of water, the engorged stream running through the cave.

The divers were able to lay down a crucial guide rope. And on the seventh day of diving, on Monday, July the 2nd they found the boys perched on a rocky ledge and were met by an unforgettable chorus of little voices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many of you? Thirteen? Brilliant.

GLASS: What day is it the boys ask?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Monday. Monday. You have been here ten days. Ten days. You are very strong. We are happy too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So where are you come from? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: England, the UK.

GLASS: Oh, indeed. A nice surprise. England home to match to United an arsenal. Some of their fate with team (ph). The euphoria among relatives outside was immediate, the British team, some eight British divers in all who warmly embraced, hugs all around. They brought hope out of the darkness.

The boys were joined on their ledge by Navy SEALs, given food and emergency foil blankets and medicine. They sent messages to parents, wrote letters that were carried out.

Their coach helped keep their spirits up during the ordeal in the tiny refuge, less than half the size of a tennis court. The coach Ake as they call him, was sat at the back. He had been a Buddhist monk in his youth and taught them to meditate to pass the time.

On Friday, July the 6th, tragedy struck. One of the Thai divers Saman Kunan lost consciousness as he replacing oxygen tanks and died. He was 38. A retired Thai Navy seal, he volunteered to join the rescue effort just five days earlier. His death change the mood in the cave.

Now there was a growing urgency about a rescue. We know it happened over three successive days, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, July 8th, 9th and 10th. Thai Navy SEALs released footage of it. The boys carried out on so-called sked (ph) military stretchers wrapped in foil the last mile or so.

We glimpsed a face here and there. Each boy regularly checked on the way out by doctors. But the most dramatic and daring part of the rescue happened off camera in this submerged part of the cave system.

[16:45:06] UNSWORTH: These divers, you know, they went in on three consecutive days. That's tough. You know, four be, five, six hours each time. You know, in not so nice conditions. But superhuman.

GLASS: We know the boys were sedated in some way. An Australian cave diver Dr. Richard Harris was part of team. He is an anesthetist.

UNSWORTH: They have to understand that some of these kids cant swim. And thy are being put into cold water and, you know, with wet suits on full face mask. You know, alien to them. Soo it was the only way.

RICK STATON, IRISH CAVE DIVER: The most important thing was a full face mask which we acquired on sight with positive pressure to enable them to breathe and to not feel anxiety during the process.

GLASS: It seems then the boys were somehow escorted out one by one by pairs of divers before being put in stretchers. The UK, Australia, Denmark, the divers left inside the cave indicated that they came from all over the world. But there is still a general reticence about talking about what each of them did.

Another pair of British divers, Chris Jewel on the left and Jason Malencine (ph) were certainly involved in escorting the boys out but weren't prepared to reveal much more. CHRIS JEWELL, BRITISH CAVE DIVER: Myself and Jason Malencine (ph) now

up to (INAUDIBLE). And our role was to help transport the boys under water through the caves to bring them out.

GLASS: And not forgetting the anonymous quartet of Thai Navy SEALs who kept the boys company on the ledge the seven days. They were the last out after the boys.

UNSWORTH: Jus to get any of them out alive would have been a miracle. But to get 13 out of 13, will not happen again. It's the biggest miracle ever.

GLASS: After the rescue, the sense of overwhelming relief and gratitude on the streets. You could see it in their faces. Something wonderful had happened. The salute for an ambulance taking one of the boys to hospital. This woman didn't have to say anything to let us know how she felt. Her nephew had been saved.

SARISA PROMJAK, AUNT (through text): We don't know how we can ever repay you. If it was possible, I would go down on my knees and bow to each and every one of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks to all.

GLASS: From his hospital bed and still in quarantine, the youngest and apparently the last of the kids to be rescued paid his respected to parents. All had relatives kept behind glass until medical checks are complete. The boy is 11 years old but has the longest name in the team.

Here he is glimpsed in the cave. His nickname is Titun. In his letter to his parents, he urged him not to worry but get ready his favorite fried chicken. His father was simple drained by the ordeal but eternally grateful his son survived.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNSWORTH: Thirteen will not be an unlucky number anymore.

GLASS: We now keenly await to hear the boys' version of the events and coach Ake's.

Nick Glass, CNN, with the extraordinary story of how the wild boars and their coach were lost and found and safely rescued.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Incredible story. The boys and their coach, they are sending messages from hospital beds. Going on camera, one by one sending thanks to rescuers. And for the support they received from around the world.

We wish them the very best. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:53:50] CABRERA: We are a day away from the last big showdown of the world cup. A tournament full of surprises and twists coming down to a final featuring a David versus Goliath with Croatia and France facing off tomorrow. But today was the battle for third place between Belgium and England.

CNN's Amada Davies is in Moscow - Amanda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was Belgium who won the match they say no one wants to play, the third place playoff. So close yet so far from the final. The beat England 2-0. But what both sides would have given to be here in Moscow preparing for Sunday's big one.

The French fans arriving and giving opponents Croatia much hope at all. And on paper they are probably right. This is a David versus Goliath match-up that some are saying will need a miracle for Croatia to win. But that's what Russia said they needed to get out of their group. And they did. And we have seen more than a handful of upsets over the last fantastic few weeks of Russia 2018.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Amanda Davies, thank you.

Coming up, the White House dismissing calls this hour to cancel the summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. This is despite 12 new U.S. indictments against Russian officers for meddling in the 2016 election.

But first the CNN original series, the history of comedy is back with an all new season. Here the preview of tomorrow's episode.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[16:55:13] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chemistry is the main special sauce in the comedy team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is one guy who is out of control and one guy trying to say calm down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The theme of sex in comedy is like there is a huge flow chart and everything needs to sex.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sex was always at a beau and those walls have been torn down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything I need to learn about comedy I learned watching Warner Brothers cartoons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get so many chances to be funny in animation. The writing, voice talent, animation, boom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Comediennes don't have a great mortality rate. We lose a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We lose a comedienne I feel it's more person because I know them. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really one of the highest forms of comedy

when you can be totally clean as and just as funny as the comics who are dirty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sketchers are a really fun way to talk about culture with a good turnaround.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You show up on set and you just roll.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No rehearsal. No discussion. You just roll and try not to laugh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: History of Comedy starting tomorrow at 10:00 on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)