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Trump White House; Koreas Tensions; A Dangerous Precedent; Concerns on Repatriation; Myanmar Violence; Rohingya Crisis Plan; North Korea Hands over Remains of 55 U.S. Servicemen Killed In Korean War; Imran Khan Declares Victory In Pakistan Election; Facebook Struggles To Recover Public Trust; Survey: Amazon Warehouse Workers Paid 15 Percent Less. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired July 27, 2018 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:10] GEORGE HOWELL, NEWSROOM ANCHOR, CNN: A solemn ceremony 65 years late. North Korea hands over the remains of the U.S. troops killed during a civil war. In Washington, the U.S. President's former attorney Michael Cohen dropped another political bombshell, this time involving the 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
And look at what (Inaudible) rise to power, former cricket star who could ge seen (Inaudible). Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm George Howell. The CNN Newsroom starts right now. Around the world, good day to you, in a move being praised by the White House, North Korea has just handed over 55 cases of what's believed to be the remains of U.S. troops killed during the Korean War in the early 1950s.
A somber ceremony at an air base in South Korea coincided with the 65th anniversary of the Korean armistice. The U.S. President tweeted also the remains of American serviceman will soon be leaving North Korea and headed to the United States after so many years. This will be a great moment for so many families.
Thank you, Kim Jong-Un. Following the story, CNN's Alexandra Field is on the case of following the story in Osan Air Base in South Korea -- Osan Air Base. Alexandra, if you could just tell us what this certainly means. So many families have been waiting for this particular moment for decades now.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: And George, no one was certain that this would happen until it did happen 65 years after the fighting stopped (Inaudible) thousands of families back in the United States were still holding on to hope that one day the remains of their loved ones will in fact be returned. And what we've seen happened today is that 55 set to remains have been handed over by North Korea.
A cargo plane was flown out of Osan, which is a U.S. airbase here in South Korea. It is the closest airbase to the DMZ. It was loaded by U.N. officials in North Korea (Inaudible) verified that returned (Inaudible) by North Korea. And then those remains were taken here. They were met in a dignified ceremony by an honor guard, each box taken off the plane individually carefully handled.
From here, those boxes will be taken to a hangar where there will be preliminary forensic investigation. And then George, in about a week, another ceremony before these remains go on to Hawaii, and that's where a military laboratory can do the DNA testing. That will begin a process that could be months or years long of identifying who these sets of remains belong to.
So for now, there is some hope for these families. And George, certainly this is a step forward when it comes to the broader picture of North Korean and United States relations at this time.
HOWELL: Alexandra Field, thank you so much. Again, this will mean so much for so many people who have been waiting for so long for this moment. Thank you. Again, these families, they've been dealing with decades of heartbreak and uncertainty. Our Will Ripley reports on how this historic moment came about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL RIPLEY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: At the (Inaudible) the entire Korean problem and bring about world peace. Any hope for peace after the 1953 armistice gave way to a bitter cold war, 65 years later, the communist north and democratic south are still divided along the 38 parallel. Very few people cross the DMZ dead or live.
(Inaudible) or dead no exception, some three million people were killed, including tens of thousands of Americans. Thousands of those U.S. troops are believed to be buried in mass graves. Some just miles from the South but impossibly out of reach for their families. (Inaudible) came to the DMZ searching for her father, first Lieutenant Carl Sedell, the Colorado Marine died on December 7, 1950.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mother here, she had two little babies when he was killed. So it was very hard. My brother was 13 days old when my father left.
RIPLEY: Grief made harder by the fact families may never have closure. North Korea has returned the remains of just 340 U.S. service members since 1990. Pyongyang has identified another 200 sets of likely American remains. More than 7000 fallen U.S. troops may still be buried somewhere in North Korea.
[02:04:58] The search for the missing dead abruptly ended more than a decade ago. As nuclear tensions escalated, repatriation efforts stopped. But this year's Korean detente revived the hopes of military families. After the historic Singapore Summit, President Trump declared missing Korean War remains would soon be handed over possibly in days.
More than six weeks later, Ruth Hebert is still waiting for news about her father.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His bones are still here in North with so many that died there, that they weren't able to recover. But our hearts are really comforted and strengthened being here.
RIPLEY: Strength and hope for closure, hope for a final and never- ending Korean War. Will Ripley, CNN. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Will, thank you. Now to the U.S. President and the question, what did he know and when did he know it. Mr. Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, is now offering the Mueller investigation a possible political bombshell. Sources say that Cohen is prepared to testify that then-candidate Trump approved in advance the 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a group of Russians, including a lawyer with ties to the Kremlin.
Now if this is true, it would directly contradict numerous denials from the President and others within his family, his legal team, and his administration. Our Jim Sciutto has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM SCIUTTO, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Sources with knowledge to help myself and Carl Bernstein that Michael Cohen claimed that then- candidate Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower, in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton. Crucially, these sources say that Cohen is willing to make that assertion to the Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Cohen also alleges that he was present along with several others when Trump was informed of the Russians offer by Donald Trump Jr. By Cohen's account, Trump approved going ahead with the meeting with the Russians. We should note that our sources tell us that Cohen does not have evidence of these audio recordings to corroborate this claim.
And a source familiar with Cohen's house testimony said that he did not testify that Trump had advance knowledge during his appearance on the hill. Cohen's claims were also not mentioned in separate reports issued by both Republicans and Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. We reached out to lawyers representing people involved, Alan Futerfas, an attorney for Donald Trump Jr.
He tells CNN that quote, Donald Trump Jr. has been professional and responsible throughout the Mueller and congressional investigations. We are very confident of the accuracy and reliability of the information that has been provided by Mr. Trump Jr. and on his behalf, end quote. We also contacted one of Cohen's attorneys, Lanny Davis. He declined to comment.
And on CNN's ear, Rudy Giuliani, the President's attorney, he called Michael Cohen's credibility into question. Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Jim, thank you. President Trump's Twitter habit could also prove problematic for him, especially if his many rants about the Russia probe show a pattern of obstruction of justice. The New York Times reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is now looking through Mr. Trump's Twitter attacks on the U.S. Attorney General Jeff sessions, and the fired FBI Director James Comey. The Times says Mr. Trump is examining whether the actions add up to
attempts to obstruct the investigation, by both intimidating witnesses and pressuring senior law enforcement officials to tap down on the inquiry. It doesn't stop there. The Wall Street Journal reports, one of Mr. Trump's closest business associates has been subpoenaed in the criminal investigation of Michael Cohen.
Allen Weisselberg is a longtime Chief Financial Officer of the Trump organization. He is said to be the person who signed off on the Trump family's business deals, and has intimate knowledge of all of Mr. Trump's complicated finances. Let's talk more about all of this with Troy Slaten. Troy, a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor live from Los Angeles this hour.
Troy, a pleasure to have you on the show with us, let's start by talking about this new information we're getting about Michael Cohen alleging that then-candidate Trump knew about the meeting in Trump Tower. That is a direct contradiction to what the President has claimed. He didn't know it. If this is true, what are the implications for the President?
TROY SLATEN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, as far as whether or not the President knew in advance about the infamous Trump Tower meeting, where a Russian lawyer with reported ties to the Kremlin came to offer up dirt on Hillary Clinton in advance of the election really isn't a crime. It may be a political ill, because the President, the President's lawyers, the White House Press Secretary have all said that the President didn't know anything about this.
[02:10:11] The President's son, Donald Trump Jr. testified before Congress (Inaudible) to a congressional committee in private, that his dad knew nothing about it. So although this could be bad politically, making the President look to be a liar, there's really no crime as it relates to that exactly.
HOWELL: Also, Mr. Trump apparently shocked, according to his attorney, about the conversation he had with Michael Cohen. That was taped by his then attorney and it is now public. All of this, the President's current attorney says Cohen has no credibility and calls him a habitual liar. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't see how he has any credibility. I mean this is basically if you had a trial, and there won't be a trial, because if you had a trial, you'd say which party do you want to pick. Do you want to pick the first lie, the second lie, or maybe some new lie. There's nobody that I know the notion that hasn't warned me that if his back is up against the wall, he'll lie like crazy, because he's a lied all his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: All right. There is a great deal of irony for sure at the Giuliani statement, given the President has been caught numerous times twisting the facts himself. But is this a credibility issue for Cohen, or is it more of a credibility issue for Mr. Trump.
SLATEN: Well, if prosecutors want to use Michael Cohen's statements in some sort of prosecution against the President as far as obstructing justice or something like that, all of the witnesses, whether it be former FBI director Comey or Michael Cohen himself, who really does have a credibility problem.
And that he was audio taping his client. As an attorney myself, that reeks of unethical behavior on behalf of a lawyer. But also, we need to look back. And I think what Giuliani is referring to is when Michael Cohen testified before congressional committees, he didn't mention anything about this.
And so now for him to say that the President knew about this meeting and he is the only witness, and guess what, there's no recording of this statement. It really does come down to a credibility argument for Michael Cohen.
HOWELL: OK. I'm also curious, so it would be Michael Cohen's word, right? There is no real hard evidence that could be applied here. So his word, how far would that go in a case?
SLATEN: Well, it's up to a jury to decide. And or any trite fact if it becomes an impeachment proceeding, which we're way far away from something like that, but then they would be a credibility whether it's the Senators weighing an impeachment trial or its jurors in an eventual criminal trial or civil trial to judge the credibility of any witness.
And if a witness is found to be not truthful at some point in their testimony or something that they said, then the jury instructions given all across America say that you're allowed to look with doubt upon anything that that wouldn't says if you find that they've lied in the past.
HOWELL: Also want to get your thoughts on the President's former chief financial officer, the CFO of the Trump Foundation subpoenaed in the Cohen case. This is the person who presumably knows the financial inner workings of Mr. Trump's affairs. Does this put more people in Trump world in jeopardy in your opinion?
SLATEN: Well, potentially, it depends on what the evidence shows. They say that you know in any type of criminal investigation, you follow the money. And we see that with regard to the Stormy Daniels and the other payoffs, it has to do with money, where money was going, whether money was used in advance of an election in violation of the campaign finance laws in this country.
So if the finance director of the Trump organization is subpoenaed, and there is no finance director-client privilege like there is doctor-patient or lawyer-client, then there may very well be trouble. But that's really anyone's guess. It depends on whether or not there were any financial crimes.
HOWELL: All right. There is the big question of whether the President obstructed justice. What might the Special Counsel be looking for in the President's many, many tweets, and can those tweets come back to haunt him.
[02:14:55] SLATEN: Well, anything that somebody says can always be used against you. And obviously, the Internet is forever. Twitter is forever. And when prosecutors have some sort smoking gun, like if they had a recording or someone that said the President threatened me that if I testified then something bad would happen. If they don't have any kind of smoking gun like that, the prosecutors have to paint the mosaic.
They want the paint an overarching story about how the President, little by little tried to impede the federal investigation. In this case, the Special Counsel's investigation, but the critics of the Special Counsel will argue well, if there was no attempt at colluding with Russia to affect the 2016 Presidential election, the federal investigation.
In this case, the Special Counsel's investigation, but the critics of the Special Counsel argue well if there was no attempt at colluding with Russia to affect the 2016 Presidential election, then how can there be obstruction of justice over about a crime investigation into a crime that never happened.
HOWELL: Troy Slaten live for us in Los Angeles. Thank you so much for your time and perspective there.
SLATEN: Thanks, George. Have a good night.
HOWELL: Ahead this hour, devastation in Greece, what investigators are learning about a deadly set of fires there and the mayor who admits mistakes were made. Also, (Inaudible) the Trump Administration says it's done its job to hundreds of families separated from their families, the children at the U.S. border they still don't have their children back. We'll explain that story. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: In Cambodia, some 25,000 people are being evacuated after a damn collapsed in neighboring Laos. It led to several situations of severe flooding, and dozens of people have died there. Cambodian officials say in some places, the war there has risen 12 meters, and there is no sign that it's receding. Thousands of people in Laos are stranded or homeless.
And more than 130 at this point are missing. Now, also to extreme weather in Greece, making a week of deadly fires there even worse, the deputy minister says satellite images and ground inspections indicate at least one fire was probably caused by arson. More than 15 fires scorched villages in southern Greece, 81 people died.
Survivors say one reason the death toll is so high is that emergency workers were too slow to respond. Journalist (Inaudible) is following the story and on the phone with us in Athens. Tell us first of all, what more you're hearing from officials about mistakes that were made.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bodies are being still being counted. And many remain missing. And now what agreed deadliest fires in decades, and among the deadliest in Europe in a century. The Greek government made an announcement of the indications of arson, and at least one of the Greek wildfires killed over 80 people.
[02:19:58] (Inaudible), the deputy minister for citizen protection said that there are serious indications of criminal acts in at least one fire. And lots of fires appeared in a very short period of time, he said. And he also referred to suspicions (Inaudible), that's the area most affected by the wildfires. This announcement at the same time was seen by many of the (Inaudible) to minimize the political cost of a national disaster that hit greater Athens.
And one paper this morning put it -- the government's response is hubris towards the victims. So where we are now, we seem to be just getting to the beginning of what we would call possibly the blame game. We have another minister, defense minister (Inaudible). He was the first government official to visit the affected areas.
And he put the blame on illegal construction, construction in the densely forested area, and basically shortcomings of past administrations for handing out permits and for allowing this to take place. And on the other side, we have the locals, the locals who are angry about what happened, were saying the response mechanisms were not in place.
Emergency mechanisms were not in place. And that's why people were not evacuated in time. In all of this, we have the impact on public services over years of austerity in Greece. The impact is very visible in what happened. You know the forestry services have been cut down. We know that the budget in the last 10 years has subsided significantly on fire protection.
And what is certain is this is also that the weather conditions play an immense role, a combination of heat wave temperatures and very strong winds. They played a major role in the spreading of the fire. But it seems to be the case as the local authorities here are saying that some of those that could've possibly been avoided, George.
HOWELL: (Inaudible) also you know pointing out again authorities saying 81 people died in these fires. And again, we've seen so many of these images of what are typically beautiful hillsides there scorched from these fires. Is there any sort of sense at this point from what you've heard from officials, any sense of the extent of the damage across that part of the country?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we're hearing that the main --the area that have been most affected have basically been wiped off the map. Over thousands of houses are by now uninhabited, it's impossible to inhabit these houses. The damage is really extensive. We're still in the assessment process and would have some first official estimates that say that about 98 percent of the area of (Inaudible), the most affected area has been completely damaged.
It's still first day, so it will take a little bit of time for the bodies to be counted and really for the assessment to be complete, George. HOWELL: (Inaudible) live for us following the story by phone. Thank
you so much for your time and the reporting. Now, extreme temperatures tend to be baking places across the northern hemisphere. The United Kingdom is in the middle of one of the driest and the hottest summers on record. Experts warned the heat could become more common, but a nation isn't quite prepared for it. Our Erin McLaughlin reports for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Utter devastation in Greece, and wildfires in Sweden, near the Arctic Circle no less. Across Europe, temperatures so hot entire landscapes parched. Here's Denmark last month and then today. Scientists it's all been made worse by climate change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what we're saying is part of the effects of climate change, background that was the temperature rising. And then we think (Inaudible) weather variability in such a way that when we heat waves that being (Inaudible) reinforced (Inaudible) extreme temperatures have been raised due to climate change.
MCLAUGHLIN: Now, the British government is sounding the alarm. A report by the U.K.'s environmental audit committee warned that heat waves such as this one are now 10 times more likely than they were in the early 2000s, and as heat waves become more frequent, the number of deaths by heat could triple by 2050. The recent weather (Inaudible) of the tragedy in 2003, temperatures in
the U.K. reached a 500 year record 38.5 degree Celsius, the most severe heat wave Europe has ever seen with over 20,000 heat-related deaths.
The U.K. is ill-prepared to deal with these sweltering temperatures, the report warns. Hospitals, care homes, trains, roads, even the buildings people live and work in, all vulnerable to overheating. Public awareness or lack thereof of the potentially deadly risks also an issue.
[02:24:59] One member of Parliament think people are more likely to treat heat wave warnings as barbecue alerts than life-threatening events.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) because our weather is quite rubbish, (Inaudible) hot weather (Inaudible) barbecue (Inaudible) worry about (Inaudible) big fires (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) so extreme over the past two years, (Inaudible) this year and that was for so long. So I think people are just enjoying the summer.
MCLAUGHLIN: And it's that unpredictability that has scientists concerned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The climate that we had in the past that we might be used to in the past is not anymore reliable indication of what could happen in future. MCLAUGHLIN: Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: (Inaudible) there in the United Kingdom and across Europe. They are dealing with I guess a different pattern for them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's incredible. Did you see the parched landscape that Erin was standing in just a moment ago? You can see just how brown the grass was in London, and that is the case across much of the U.K. Wait till you see a startling image I can show you from space, the difference between (Inaudible) and what it looks like now.
But let me take you to Germany. This is a small village about 35 kilometers southwest of Berlin. Residents there have been warned by authorities that they need to be ready and prepared to evacuate their homes at a moments notice, because there are wildfires that are currently being battled within that region. We have dozens of firefighting personnel trying to extinguish the blazes.
Some of them still are having some hotspots to contend with. Let's get to the graphics, show you what I was alluding to just a moment ago. Here is a satellite image from May 20, 2018. There is the U.K., here is France, Germany, and look how green, and how lush it is. Now let's fast forward to yesterday (Inaudible) July 26.
Notice how baron and how brown the landscape has become now across the U.K., specifically in the England and France. That is a drop, folks, right? And we can see it from space. So very evident, so we took (Inaudible) some of the numbers, the (Inaudible) logical numbers and London have only had -- get this, .48 percent of its normal summer rainfall.
Over the past 58 days, it only received .2 millimeters of rain, very similar numbers for Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Brussels all running well below average. This has led to scenes like this. Wildfires as far north as the Arctic Circle and temperatures there are running about 10 to 15 degree Celsius above where they should be this time of year.
There is some good news. There is cooler weather in store for the U.K., parts of Belgium and to the Netherlands, as well as France. Look at the (Inaudible) the London. Wow, we're going to end off the weekend below average, believe it or not. The chances of thunderstorms today though, will bring some much-needed rainfall to the region.
It is not only the western parts of Europe dealing with extreme heat. We have broken records in Death Valley, California. Folks, when we break records there, you know it's hot. It should be 47. It was 40 or 53 degrees on Wednesday. We have 88 active large wildfires. Let me take you to the Isle of file Idlewild region.
This is the Cranston fire. I can see just how large this particular fire is right now, burning through some of the mountain landscapes there, impressive footage. Unfortunately, there was a fatality that's being reported on the wildfires in California. But that really puts it into perspective. We've got wildfires on both continents, Europe and North America.
HOWELL: Wow. It's just so different.
(CROSSTALK)
HOWELL: Accustomed to. Derek, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
HOWELL: All right. Still ahead this hour, reuniting families separated at the U.S. border until the next court ordered deadline has passed. So why are hundreds of families still (Inaudible). When we return, reaction from both sides of this conflict (Inaudible), immigration issue, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:31:30] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour. North Korea has handed over 55 cases of what's believed to be remains of U.S. troops killed during the Korean War. It is the first handover like this in more than a decade. The ceremony coincided with the 65th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice.
The Wall Street reacts to Facebook's new focus of the user privacy and reports that revenue growth is expected to slow. The social media giant stock lost nearly $120 billion Thursday as share prices plummeted 19 percent. It is the biggest single day lost for any public company ever. Sources tell CNN that former Trump Attorney Michael Cohen alleges Donald Trump knew in advance about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton.
The president and others have repeatedly denied Mr. Trump had any prior knowledge of it. But Cohen says he was present when then candidate Trump was told about the upcoming meeting by his son. The constant wave of news about Russia and Mr. Trump is affecting the president's image in Moscow. Now, you may be surprised by this. It's not all great news for him in Moscow and in Russia even after he and the president of that nation seemed to get along so well at their summit. CNN's Matthew Chance reports for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's one thing being branded pro-Russian by critics at home. But now even Kremlin- controlled media is slamming Donald Trump for not standing up to Moscow. It's really odd just can't bash your own country especially when you're its president says the host of this Russian current affair show. Trump blaming U.S. stupidity for bad U.S.-Russian relations makes him smell like a Kremlin agent. His co-anchor adds.
They were discussing the fallout of this, the first one-on-one summit between the U.S. and Russian president in Helsinki earlier this month.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.
CHANCE: Critics say President Trump was overly deferential even submissive next to Vladimir Putin something the Russian leader himself seem to pick up on at one point throwing his U.S. counterpart lifeline describing to the media how he had been held to account by the U.S. president.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (via translator): President Trump's stance on Crimea is well known and he sticks to it. He speaks about the illegal annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. We have a different point of view.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE: Looking back on the Helsinki summit, it feels like a milestone on a long path of Russian disillusionment with Donald Trump and a sign of how President Trump has now seen in Russia. Many here had high hopes that a page could be turned on the strained relations between the two countries. In reality, President Trump has been unable to deliver that. A fact blamed by both the White House and the Kremlin on the political climate in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: Still the Russian disappointment with President Trump is palpable. Where ones there was celebration that his election victory there is now only resignation at what he can really change. Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:35:14] HOWELL: Matthew, thank you. A court ordered deadline just past for the Trump administration to reunite parents and children separated at the U.S. border with Mexico. The government has reunited more than 1,400 families. But more than 700 children are still in custody and it's not clear or when or if they will be reunited with their families. The Trump administration though says it meet the deadline that the remaining families were ineligible because either background checks reveal problems preventing reunification or because they couldn't be located in time for the deadline. Our Dianne Gallagher has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dozens of demonstrators chanting, yes, we can in Spanish protesting how hundreds of families can't and won't be reunited. And now that the deadline has passed, the start reality is more than 900 other parents are going to have to keep waiting.
RUBY POWERS, ATTORNEY: A lot of them are not going to be reunited anytime soon. GALLAGHER: An attorney who works with migrant families tells CNN the
process will be difficult with some parents already deported without their children as part of President Trump's zero-tolerance policy.
POWERS: Some people don't have e-mail, phone numbers. They're in remote parts of the country and some are not even literate. I mean this is going to be a challenge.
GALLAGHER: It's not easy even for families who had been reunited. This man and his 11-year-old daughter were separated at the U.S. border for a month. They say they fled Honduras to seek asylum in the U.S. He said, I begged for her to forgive me. I said, forgive me daughter while I was crying, forgave me. And this reunification of a mother and her daughter from a video that CNN obtained from (INAUDIBLE) a legal aide service for migrants describing how her daughter was taken away saying, a person put her in a car and told her that I did not love her, that I did not want to see her, and that the girl cried and cried, and that I have signed the deportation papers.
But that I did not want to see her. And deportation papers that human rights activist, Fernando Garcia says many of the migrants probably didn't even understand. Despite hundreds of families reunited to date, to him, it's not a victory.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is today a good day then?
FERNANDO GARCIA, FOUNDING DIRECTOR, BORDER NETWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: It's not a good day. Today, it's not a good day overall because we have not seen any regrets of this administration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER: And it is important to point out that the actual reunification process is just one in a long list of the steps that now has to happen for these families. And it is all being done by a network of volunteers and organizations from getting them some temporary homes to stay in to getting them to the cities that they must go to. Sometimes thousands of miles away in as little as time as possible because many of these families will have ICE check-ins in those cities thousands of miles away in just little as a week. Dianne Gallagher, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
HOWELL: Joining now to talk more about this is David Leopold. David, the chair of immigration law at Ulmer & Berne and counsel for Department of Human Services Watch. David, thank you so much for your time today to talk about this. Again, given this deadline, what are families left to do? Those families that have not been reunited?
DAVID LEOPOLD, CHAIR, IMMIGRATION LAW, ULMER & BERNE: Well, you know, the reason a lot of these families haven't been reunited about 430- plus is because the Trump administration deported the parents (INAUDIBLE) so I think what has to happen number one is on the government. The government has to bring these people back, the parents that were deported. They can do that through the parole that's already in the law. LEOPOLD: Yes, absolutely. The courts can actually put people in
jail. They can put high administration officials in jail like the Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen or even the Attorney General of the United States Jefferson Sessions. Look, nobody is above the law in this country.
[02:40:02] They may think -- the Trump administration may think that they're above the law. They didn't follow the law and they separated these children. They didn't follow the law when they charged people who are coming here to legally apply for asylum. They can certainly be caught within the grasp of the law by a federal judge, and that's exactly what Judge Sabraw is doing in California, so sure. But they're not above the law.
HOWELL: Well, the government though points the red flags. They say that prevented reunifications or simply being unable to locate individuals in time for the deadline?
LEOPOLD: Right. That's true, George. They're making their own deadlines is what they're doing. They're trying to control the situation. They're not paying attention to what the judge wants them to do strengthening their slow walking and they're missing each deadlines, inexcusable. It's unconscionable. And when you say the fact that they separated children and some of them toddlers from their parents with no tracking mechanisms, George, no way to find these children after they were separated.
They shoved them into a bureaucratic system that's design for kids that come along without parents with no thought of how they're going to fix it in the end. So they -- the Trump administration needs to -- have to speed hell to the fire on this and I think that's what this judge is going to do. He has shown patience, but that patience is going to run out and I think they're going to -- there will be severe consequences of four administration officials that are not following the judge's order which is what we have so far.
HOWELL: How difficult though is it for attorneys on the ground to help these families, parents, children some who don't speak English, some who are unable to read, some who simply don't know where the other is in this maze, this system where so many have found themselves?
LEOPOLD: It's an impossible situation and I think, you know, we're beginning to hear talk that some of these children may never see their parents again, you know, and to think that the United States has orphaned children by -- through a despicable policy that is completely unnecessary. But how do we fix it? You know, I think that's going to be the focus. Yes. It's difficult for the attorneys and for the advocates on the ground who are trying to help these children and help these parents reunite.
But there's also a real feeling among advocates and among attorneys that I talked to and people who are out there volunteering. This is really about, you know, people believing in what this country really should be, not what we have become with these kinds of despicable policies. And this is a strong country. We've got great people here. There are going to be valued efforts by everyday Americans to reunite these young children some of them toddlers.
Many of them toddlers with their parents to right the wrong that was done to them by the Trump administration and actually the wrong that was done to us as a country, to our reputation, to our standing in the world. What country does this kind of thing after all, George?
HOWELL: Well, again, the world certainly watching as another deadline has come and gone and hundreds of children still without their parents. David Leopold, thank you so much for your time and we'll stay in touch with you.
LEOPOLD: My pleasure. Thank you.
HOWELL: Allegations of both rigging are marring a historic vote in Pakistan. A live report from Islamabad when we come back. Stay with us.
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[02:46:20] HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM, I'm George Howell. Imran Khan is declaring victory in Pakistan's hotly contested election. This despite a lack of official results and allegations of vote rigging.
Khan is a national hero for his days as a cricket star, but he's also seen as the military's pick for Prime Minister. Following this story, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is live in Islamabad. And Nick, tell us more about this -- you know, popular for sure. But with a populist message that did seem to appeal to voters.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, frankly, you couldn't do much more to undermine your position of sort of sweeping in as the new populist face of change in Pakistan than to have, or allow to have this kind of lengthy delay in official results coming out.
Imran Khan has declared victory. Yes, and it looks at this stage as though he has119 of 137 that he would need in order to clear an outright majority. So, frankly, you know, for some unforeseen extraordinary circumstance, he will be the next prime minister of Pakistan.
Hence, his declaration of a mandate yesterday, but many are asking particularly after the allegations of vote rigging which has to say have really been watered down by the opposition who said, they're not going to boycott Parliament, and talks about being a strong opposition moving forwards after that.
You'd think that at least, people will try and get their act together and get some consistent results out. But that basically is the nature of Pakistani politics. That's what in Imran Khan has had to dirty his hands in there, are many allegations that say he's too close to the military.
The military have muzzled his opponents, have even pushed some of them into changing their allegiances on not running with the fervency they could have done. And, of course, this is all part of the broader transformation he's had to make from a man, a sporting icon.
Age 39, lead Pakistan's a World Cup victory in 1992 for kind of a socialite best known for his ally insists, with wealthy members of the Western elite.
Now, to a much more conservative figure with a strong anti-American stance. He's led protests against America's drone strikes in the tribal areas. Who's spoken out in favor of the remarkably backward and draconian blasphemy laws Pakistan has. And who now comes to power with a conservative message.
One of change, one that's anti-corruption, but a platform that has an enormous number of problems before it even got underway.
Minima state, there's a lot of positivity about the mere fact he's managed to be elected. He's not from the PPP or the PML-N that have been the two parties that have basically strangle hills Pakistani politics along with the military's consent for the past decades.
His party is new, it's sort of part of this new concept of disruptors sweeping into some degree. And also, to a much more broadly, this is the second time Pakistan's independent history. But is managed to transfer power between governments through a democratic peaceful means.
It's really always been a coup or some awful violent moment this transfer of power in the past. But it comes to power, with huge crippling debts to the Pakistani economy. Growling infrastructure, some of those debts down to trying to get China to help them modernize their infrastructure here too.
A military that was going to want to have a say American government that's frozen aid to that military, and a broad sense of expectation, I think, where it's really only somebody of his kind of global celebrity could even contemplate trying to match. George?
[02:49:37] HOWELL: Nick Paton Walsh, following a story in Islamabad. Thank you very much, Nick. The status of the U.S. pastor is driving a wedge between the White House and Turkey.
The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly spoke with this Turkish counterpart on Thursday. Hours earlier, President Trump sent a threatening tweet. He wrote, quote, "The United States will impose large sanctions on Turkey for their longtime detainment of Pastor Andrew Brunson.
Turkey locked up Brunson in 2016 as part of a crackdown. He was charged with support of a terrorist organization and espionage after a failed coup attempt. He was released from prison, Wednesday but placed under house arrest.
On a record-setting day on Wall Street, we are seeing some big winners and we're seeing some big losers. One of them, Facebook, high had set a record of the worst day ever. Will explain that ahead. Plus, new reports are coming out of cyber-attacks aimed at disrupting the U.S. midterm election. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Facebook is making Wall Street history with the biggest wipeout of all time. The social media giant stock lost nearly $120 billion on Thursday, as share prices plummeted, 19 percent. It is the biggest single day loss for any public company ever.
And founder Mark Zuckerberg is about $16 billion poor. Investors aren't happy that Facebook predicts revenue growth too slow while its focus is put on more attention on resources and user privacy.
Facebook is trying to rebuild public trust after finding itself at the center of scandal. It was a platform for Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and faced criticism after the political data firm Cambridge Analytica got access to information of some 87 million Facebook users.
But some analysts say, the market drop isn't too alarming, because it probably won't be permanent. Listen.
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SCOTT PERRY, FOUNDER, L.A. TECH DIGEST: But you have to understand, this is just an aberration from the mean. Because before the scandal happened, the stock was at $180. And then, it went down to 150 up to 218 back down to $180. So, it's at the same price it was back in February.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
PERRY: It's a phenomenal loss, but the reason for its downward spiral from 180 to 150 was fear-based because of any repercussions of Cambridge Analytica and all the legislation, all the questioning to it around that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
PERRY: But when they realized that -- you know, Zuckerberg and company were in the clear, the stock shot straight up and beyond 180. So, for it to come back down to this level, it looks bad, but they're just right back where they were back in February.
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HOWELL: All right, and a completely different situation for Amazon at fortune soaring to new heights. A company -- their company reported a quarterly profit of $2.5 billion, and it's padding a pockets of the world's richest man, Amazon founder, and CEO Jeff Bezos.
But some of his employees say they'd like to see some of that wealth. Clare Sebastian has more on that for us.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was the other side of Amazon's best sales day to date, at the warehouse near Madrid, around a thousand workers walked off to job. Complaining the company should increase pay and vacation time. That were some of the scenes at six facilities in Germany.
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CEM SIBAY, VICE PRESIDENT AMAZON PRIME: I'm not sure what to make of those reports. We offered very competitive wages and benefits.
SEBASTIAN: The strikes didn't stop prime day from breaking records. A sales rolled in Amazon stock hit new highs. And CEO Jeff Bezos became the richest man in modern history. His wealth topping a $152 billion.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE: If this were not so pathetic, it really would be laughable.
[02:55:00] SEBASTIAN: Ever in the U.S., Senator Bernie Sanders, also picked Prime Day for a live Town Hall on corporate inequality.
STEPH KING, FORMER EMPLOYEE, AMAZON: The pay is not only not worth it --
SEBASTIAN: Steph King, a former Amazon employee was on the panel.
KING: You are not allowed to sit down, you're not allowed to talk to people.
SEBASTIAN: King worked at an Amazon facility in Virginia last year, where he says the end $13 an hour.
KING: I was not in a good place mentally, and the isolation of the job made it even worse, and I felt suicidal.
SEBASTIAN: After two months, he says, he had a breakdown and stopped showing up. The company fired him for tardiness and denied his accession that employees can't speak to their colleagues.
KING: People are not drones -- you know, we're not mindless bodies that are just swarming to like do this task.
SEBASTIAN: In 2016, the Institute for local self-reliance compared Amazon's warehouse pay against other warehouse jobs in 11 U.S. metro areas.
STACY MICHELL, CO-FOUNDER, INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL SELF-RELIANCE: We found it on average across these 11 metro areas. Amazon pays about 15 percent less than what workers are normally paid for warehouse jobs.
SEBASTIAN: Amazon told us, "Our number one priority is to ensure a positive and safe working environment." The company also told us it encourages employees to compare their pay and benefit to other retailers.
"The average hourly wage for a full-time associate in our fulfillment centers including cash stock and incentive bonuses is over $15 an hour." Amazon also told us they added a 130,000 new jobs last year. Still, experts say, it's all adding up to an image problem for the company. PETER SHANKMAN, FOUNDER, SHANKMINDS BUSINESS MASTERMINDS: There's someone who advises major companies, "I would tell them, hey, you know what, one of the richest companies in the world, your CEO is the richest person in the world." You can do something about this.
Think about what having the backing of all the employees would do for the company, for the stock, for the morale, for the brand itself.
SEBASTIAN: Amazon now employs more than half a million people worldwide. It seems normal when their voices heard. Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
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HOWELL: Clare, thank you. And a new skyscraper in China has a very unusual feature. Look. That's right, you see a 108-meter artificial waterfall. The hotel and office building is in the capital of Guizhou province.
The cascading water will be turned on for hour-long shows during special events. A huge tank at the base collects and stores rainwater with that effect. Thank you so much for being with us for this hour of NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell, the news continues right after the break.
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