Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Mother Nature Calling People's Attention; Trump Admits About 2016 Meeting with Russians; Portugal Could Face Massive Wildfires; Emotional Moment Between South and North Korean Families; World Headlines; Iran Sanctions; Guns in America; New Mexico Rescue; Trump Country; Superfast Aircraft A 'Success.' Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 06, 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] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Thousands of people are displaced after an earthquake hits Indonesia's popular tourist islands.

Plus totally legal. President Trump shares more thoughts about the 2016 Trump tower meeting with Russian officials, a meeting he says he knew nothing about.

And later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since you're a fan of the president, you think he's doing a good job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's doing a lot better than what Obama did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN heads to the largest motorcycle rally in the heart of Trump country.

Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and of course from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. This is CNN Newsroom.

Rescue crews in Indonesia are working nonstop after a deadly 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the popular island resort of Lombok. When the rattling first started people were completely blind-sided. Take a look.

Now this is the second time in a week a strong earthquake has hit this area, but this one was much deadlier killing at least 91 people and injuring hundreds of others. Some 20,000 residents now displaced. Officials say hundreds of homes were damaged, many of them completely flattened.

The hardest hit area was Lombok but the nearby island of Bali also felt shaking from the main quake and from more than a hundred aftershocks. Our Will Ripley is following the story. He joins us now from Hong

Kong. So, Will, what more are you learning about the impact of this deadly earthquake?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was a terrifying experience even for people in Indonesia who are used to earthquakes. Obviously this is one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world sitting right along the ring of fire. And they just had an earthquake last week, but this one even stronger a 6.0 or 6.9 depending on who's doing the measuring.

And deafening sound around the dinnertime hours or bit after the dinner on Sunday evening, and then shocks continuing throughout the night, more than a hundred of them including several very large aftershocks.

In addition to those 91 dead and reports of at least 209 people injured, you have some 20,000 people who are displaced from their homes right now. And there are also tourists who are trying to evacuate at this very moment from three small islands off of Lombok. These are resort islands where people can only get there by boat.

So there are some videos coming in of people crowding a beach trying to get on to the these boats to get to Lombok and then to get to the airport or get to other areas more secure areas because obviously people just don't feel secure.

They worry about tsunamis given what happened in 2004, that massive tsunami that was triggered by an earthquake that killed 220,000 people. Now tsunami warning after this quake but there was a brief scare, a tsunami alert went out. People were sprinting to get to higher ground and some have been fearful to return continuing -- you know, because of these continuing aftershocks.

I want you to listen to one tourist who described their experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC GANBUWALBA, DUTCH TOURIST: During the earthquake we were having dinner in the cliff restaurant and it's like a restaurant with a really nice view of the sea. And then I went to the toilet and when I was there it felt like a truck passing by, but then it got really heavy and also the noise was crazy.

So I thought this is bad, this is an earthquake. So I started running to the exit, but then everybody who was in the restaurant was also running to the exit. So there was like a big stampede and everyone fell. And there were like three or four people fell on top of me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to get out somewhere safe, somewhere where I know I'm not going to be at the risk of natural disasters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever it takes you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, whatever it takes me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Now there are expected to be hundreds of Red Cross teams on the ground. The Red Cross says they have an urgent need of blood donations right now to help, you know, with all the people who have been injured including that some of the tourists that you just saw in the video there complicating the whole situation. Widespread outages and cell phone outages as well. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Will Ripley, bringing us up to date on the situation in Lombok and of course surrounding islands there. We appreciate that.

Let's turn now to our meteorologist Karen Maginnis keeping a very close eye on this situation. We want to know about the weather because of course people want to scramble and make sure and look for survivors and also the fear of these aftershocks. You know, we're talking more than a hundred so far and these structures are not stable.

[03:04:57] KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No. They are unstable, exactly correct. And the picture I'm about to show you explains a couple of things. Once we thought a week ago that that 6.4 magnitude earthquake, that that was the main earthquake. As it turns out that was kind of the preliminary of what this major earthquake was, a 6.9.

And we are looking at people who are finding shelter or safety into the streets because they are so afraid that their buildings are going to collapse or perhaps their uninhabitable, and people are just very fearful about how they're going to get food, how they're going to find even other shelter across the area.

Well, this is one of the main features that you notice. This is -- this island is just to the east of Bali. Bali gets all the attention, lots of visitors. But actually now they put in a new airport on this island, lots of visitors, lots of trekkers, people going scuba diving, visiting beautiful beaches.

Well, if you remember a week ago they had to evacuate people off of that volcano. And now after the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that dozens and dozens and dozens of aftershocks are very unnerving, very disquieting.

And I showed you those people were in the streets. They're nervous about these aftershocks that are 4.0 or 5.0 and now they're out in the elements. And we're looking at partly cloudy skies, warm temperatures that of 20 percent of showers each day. Rosemary

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to you, Karen, for keeping a very close eye on this. I appreciate it.

Well, the White House may be quieter than usual this week. U.S. President Donald Trump is spending the week at his golf club in New Jersey. While he's there his former campaign manager will be back in court Monday for day five of his federal fraud trial.

Paul Manafort is accused of bank fraud and not paying taxes on millions of dollars he earned for doing work for Ukraine. Also some U.S. sanctions on sales of Iranian automobiles and precious

metals are set to resume Tuesday. This after Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal earlier this year.

Well, President Trump meanwhile is steering the story of that infamous Trump tower meeting in yet another direction. In a tweet Sunday, he admits the June 2016 meeting between his son Donald Junior and a Russian lawyer was in fact to get information on an opponent at the time Mr. Trump was facing off against democratic rival Hillary Clinton. But he ads he knew nothing about the meeting.

Also interesting, Mr. Trump writes it off as totally legal and something done all the time in politics.

Boris Sanchez lays it all out.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a Sunday morning tweet President Trump dismissing recent reporting by CNN and other outlets. But the president is growing increasingly concern that the Russia probe could ensnare some of his immediate family including his son Donald Trump, Jr. and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Sources have told CNN that the president is growing increasingly agitated and that has a direct impact on his aggressive attacks, his direct attacks against special counsel Robert Mueller.

We should point out in that tweet the president made clear the exact nature of that June 2016 meeting between his son, other campaign officials and Russian nationals promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Previously we had heard from the president's son and others that this meeting was adoptions.

In that tweet the president lays clear that it was intended to seek political dirt on his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton. We've seen a swift move from his administration. The president going from saying that to the best of his knowledge no one that he knows has anything to do with Russia. With now him and his political allies and attorneys suggesting that collusion is not illegal.

Listen to one of his attorneys, Jay Sekulow on a Sunday morning talk show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, CHIEF ANCHOR, ABC NEWS: He says the meeting is totally legal, done all the time in politics. But according to the e- mail special counsel Robert Mueller has this was a meeting to get information from the prosecutor of Russia on Hillary Clinton's campaign. How would that be legal?

JAY SEKULOW, MEMBER, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LEGAL TEAM: Well, the question is how would it be illegal? I mean, the real question here is with a meeting of that nature constitute a violation -- the meeting itself constitute a violation of the law?

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: Now, critics have pounced on this suggesting that the

president and his attorneys are moving the goal posts so to speak.

We should point out despite repeated calls from the president and his team for this investigation, this witch hunt as the president calls it to come to an end, it is moving forward.

And sources indicate that Robert Mueller intends to interview one of the key figures in that June 2016 meeting at Trump tower. Emin Agalarov, a Russian pop star whose father is an oligarch with deep old ties to Vladimir Putin.

[03:09:58] We've learned that for more than a year now Robert Mueller has been working to secure an interview with Agalarov and his legal team. Of course whether that interview happens or not is still unclear. But the information that could be gathered from that may spell trouble for Trump and his allies.

Boris Sanchez, CNN, traveling with the president outside Bedminster, New Jersey.

CHURCH: All right, so let's get some perspective on the situation. We're joined by Dan Stewart, international editor at Time magazine. Good to have you with us.

DAN STEWART, INTERNATIONAL EDITOR, TIME MAGAZINE: Good morning, Rosemary. Thank you.

CHURCH: So let's start with President Trump's Sunday tweet where he admits the June 2016 Trump tower meeting between his son Don Junior and a Russian lawyer was in fact designed to get information on his politic rival Hillary Clinton. He says it's legal and done all the time in politics. Is that the case?

STEWART: Well, I don't think it's done all the time in politics to meet with agents of a foreign country to get that kind of opposition material, if you like. I think it is done all the time in politics to try and get opposition material on your rivals but not with agents of a foreign country as he did -- as it seems that they did in this June 2016 meeting in Trump tower.

CHURCH: So, what are the legal political ramifications of the president and his lawyers changing their version of what was discussed at this Trump tower meeting?

STEWART: Well, the question really for Trump is what did he know and when did he know it, if you like. There's this famous question that has been put about presidents in the past. He said at the end of that tweet that he knew nothing about this meeting.

But instead of -- it might stretch credibility that a little bit that if his major campaign people, Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner and his own son were at that meeting. And also if he says it was totally legal, then why would it matter if he didn't know about it or not? So there's something of an inconsistency in that tweet yesterday that

I think surprised a lot of people that it sort of came out of nowhere somewhat.

CHURCH: Yes. And Mr. Trump attacked the reports suggesting his concern about the impact of this meeting of this meeting on his families specifically Don Junior, of course. He called that fake news.

But he insists again and you mentioned it there that he knew nothing about the meeting. That point has been disputed. What is the significance of all of that?

STEWART: Well, if he knew about the meeting going in it would give the impression that -- because now we seem to know from the e-mails exchange between Don Junior and British publicist Rob Goldstone that they had an idea that the question of dirt on Hillary Clinton, if you like, was going to be on that.

If the president knew about that, then that would suggest that he was aware that this was -- that this was going to be discussed. So the question of whether he knew I think is central to this and central to the legal case going forward about whether they received material support from a foreign country, which would be illegal.

CHURCH: All right. And on another topic, I do want to touch on with you. Senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway now says the media is not the enemy of the people. Let's just take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: I don't believe journalists are the enemy of the people. I think some journalists are enemy of the relevant--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

CONWAY: -- and enemy of the news you can use. And I think that most of the -- most of the sins are sins of omission not commission meaning why wouldn't more reporters, Margaret, cover the vice president receiving the remains of our fallen in North. Why less than a minute on one of the major cable stations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Now the daughter of President Trump, Ivanka Trump, she did the same thing. What is the significance of Conway now breaking from the president on this very issue?

STEWART: Well, I think the president clearly has -- he's identified the media as a good way at rallies and so on to sort of get the crowds fired up and passionate. And I think that's what you've been seeing this past week, the attacks kind of ramping up in the media because he sees that it plays well to his base somewhat.

And on a lot of these things, you know, Trump will go one direction and his administration will try and go the other way. And similarly you saw him on Thursday he mentioned the Russia hoax during a rally.

And of course John Bolton then came out and said, look, he was talking about the investigation and not the fact that Russia had tampered in the election. So, you know, often I think the administration will come out and give context, if you like, to some of the president's rhetorical flourishes that he is sometimes akin to make.

CHURCH: All right. Dan Stewart, many thanks to you for bringing us your political analysis. We do appreciate it.

STEWART: Thank you so much.

CHURCH: All right, let's take a short break, but still to come, did Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro fake an assassination attempt? That's what his critics argue. But he's promising there will be no forgiveness.

[03:15:06] Plus extreme heat in Portugal is working against hundreds of firefighters who are working around the clock to keep the Portuguese forest fires from spreading. We'll have more on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: This new video appears to show the drone that exploded near Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro in what he calls an assassination attempt. CNN has not been able to verify the authenticity of this video.

Meanwhile, activists fear President Maduro could now launch an even harsher crackdown on his critics. Six people in Venezuela have been arrested. The U.S. and Columbia deny any involvement in the allege attack. Some analysts say the Venezuelan government could have made up the incident. But real or not, President Maduro will probably use it to drum up support.

Well, it appears a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un may be in the works.

[03:20:00] A source familiar with the matter tells CNN there is a strong possibility it could happen later this year. The two leaders recently exchanged letters.

However, behind the scenes U.S. and North Korean officials continue to bicker over sanctions and other issues that could derail the nuclear talks.

Meanwhile, North and South Korea are working out the details for upcoming family reunions. About 100 people from each country will meet their relatives later this month.

Now this will be the first time since 2015 that families separated for decades now on either side of the border will be able to see each other. Even though briefly.

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul with more on. Paula, of course these reunions are understandably emotionally charged for the elderly family members involved. What more are you learning about the imminent reunions?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, these reunions are incredibly emotional for those involved. It's been 65 years since the end of the Korean War. Many of these families have heard nothing from their loved ones. Since then they have had no letters, no phone calls. In some rare cases they have been able to communicate.

But certainly for these reunions coming up starting on April 20th -- sorry -- August 20th, that there were 57,000 people who were under consideration by the South Korean authorities, they narrowed that down to 500 through a sort of a lottery system.

And also they're trying to find out who is healthy enough to be able to travel as well to Mount Kumgang Resort just in North Korea. And then beyond that they had to go to the North Koreans and check that the North Korean side of their family was still alive and was also healthy enough to make the travel to Mount Kumgang.

So at the end of that there's just 93 people from South Korea who will be meeting with their North Korean relatives, and then a couple of days later there will then be a second round of reunions and 88 members from North Korea will be meeting with their South Korean counter parts as well.

So it's an incredibly important and incredibly emotional time for these families. But of course chances of being picked for this are extremely slim. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yes. When you talk about those numbers 57,000 applicants, and only less than 200 involved in these reunions, it is devastating. Paula Hancocks, bringing us the very latest from Seoul in South Korea. Many thanks to you.

Well, across Western Europe hotter than average temperatures have been making life miserable for millions of people. More than that, in Portugal the heat is stoking forest fires which are threatening dozens of villages.

CNN's Ian Lee is covering this for us. He joins us now live. So, Ian, talk to us about the latest information you have on these fires and how the government's dealing with them.

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, these fires are still blazing. They have hundreds of firefighters battling them. They have air assets, helicopters, airplanes trying to dump water on them. But it really isn't having that much of an effect as these massive fires continue to burn.

And we're also hearing, you know, from climate scientists. They are saying that this is going to be more of the norm, that in the past these sorts of extreme weather events would happen about every decade or so. But now they say it could happen every two years where you get massive fire storms like this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: A wall of flame rages on the Spanish Portuguese border. Hundreds of firefighters battle the blaze fueled by drought and hot air from Africa. Aircraft struggle to keep the flames at bay. All the while residents keep watch ready to flee, as the inferno moves closer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We have the cars ready. We always have everything ready like extinguishers, hoses, anything to be ready to act.

LEE: Portuguese authorities already evacuated two villages seeking to prevent more deaths after two massive fires killed dozens last year. Europe is in the grips of an extreme heat wave, sparking wildfires from Greece to Sweden. The continent is experiencing near record breaking temperatures.

Some places soaring to 47 degrees Celsius, just shy of the record 48 set in Athens in 1977. The beach offers little relief to those escaping the heat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's very hot. During the trip yesterday the temperature didn't fall below 43 degrees Celsius, completely suffocating.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The more water you drink, the better. I'll try to stay in the shade and avoid the sun because if it reaches that temperature I can't imagine what it's like in alimentation.

[03:24:59] LEE: Mother Nature is set to give firefighters and beachgoers a break as forecasters predict that the temperatures will drop by Wednesday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: And Rosemary, authorities are advising people who are out here in the street to make sure they're not in the sun too long and definitely drink plenty of water. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yes. All good advice. Many thanks to our Ian Lee joining us there from Paris.

Well, the next phase of U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is about to begin. Coming up, the impact of renewed sanctions on Tehran.

Plus, 11 famished children living in filthy conditions they were being held by heavily armed men in this compound in a remote desert area of New Mexico. How police found them, that is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A very warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and of course, all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

I wanted to update you now on the main stories we've been following this hour. At least 91 people are dead and hundreds injured after Indonesia was

hit by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake. This is the second strong quake to strike the popular resort island of Lombok in a week. The neighboring island of Bali also felt significant shaking. Officials say thousands of homes were damaged.

The National Hurricane Center says hurricane Hector will cross into the Central Pacific basin as a category 4 storm. Hawaii's island on alert as Hector moves towards them with maximum sustained winds of 220 kilometers per hour, about 137 miles per hour.

[03:30:00] Twenty seven members of Zimbabwe's opposition party were in court Saturday to face public violence charges. This after post- election violence claimed six lives. Soldiers and tanks rolled through the capital Harare on Wednesday after protests erupted following the landslide win of Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Well, U.S. President Donald Trump call his son's 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer totally legal. That comes in a Sunday morning tweet from Mr. Trump. He denies reports that he's worried that Donald Jr. could get caught up in the special counsel's investigation. That meeting was to get damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the election campaign.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will respond directly to U.S. President Donald Trump in a national address later on Monday. Iran state run news agency reports he will also discuss the country's economic issues. This comes as the U.S. is set to reimpose sanctions Tuesday. President Trump announced the withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May and gave companies 90 days to wind down contracts with Tehran.

The sanctions cover Iran's purchase of U.S. dollars and trade in gold, precious metals, and automobiles. In November, sanctions on Iran's oil will take effect with the U.S. threatening financial measures against countries that import it. The sanctions come as sporadic anti- government protests were reported across Iran for the fifth straight day. Demonstrators are angry over soaring inflation and a plunge in the value of the currency.

Well, along with the initial economic concerns, Lynda Kinkade reports that a number of planned international deals with Iran are now off the table.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In cities across the country, sporadic protests against a buckling economy have often turned into anti-government demonstrations, magnifying the challenge to Iran's leaders as they face restored American sanctions.

HOLLY DAGRES, MIDDLE EAST ANALYST AND COMMENTATOR: What we're seeing is that a lot of the promises of investing in Iranian economy is now going to be pulling back, and the Iranian people are going to be feeling a lot of that withdraw.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

KINKADE: When the Trump administration pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal in May, it was months before sanctions would be reimposed. With the unilateral decision, it had an almost immediate impact on multinational business. At least a dozen major foreign companies have already stopped doing business with Iran.

DAGRES: Some of these companies are very familiar names for us including Seaman's (ph), General Electric, Pejo (ph), and France' Total (ph) and oil and gas.

KINKADE: With Europe leading the charge in number of global companies committed to invest in Iran when sanctions were first lifted in 2015, aerospace giants Boeing and Airbus struck multibillion dollar deals, selling jets to Iran Air. General Electric received millions of dollars in orders from Iran in 2017, according to company filings. Volkswagen announced that it would be selling cars in Iran for the first time in 17 years.

For now, not only will American companies be restricted from dealing with Iran, so will anyone that has business interests in the U.S., which is almost every multinational.

HEIKO MAAS, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We will not be able to compensate for everything that arises from companies pulling out of Iran, which feel their American business threatened by sanctions.

KINKADE: European leaders admit that despite their best efforts to foster other trade channels, they can't force nervous investors to stay, leaving Iran with fewer reasons to continue with the nuclear pact.

Iranians are already unhappy with slowed growth, rising unemployment and soaring inflation, in part because Iran's currency, the rial, is in free fall over U.S. sanction fears. Should the country return to what the supreme leader calls a resistance economy, it may not bode well for citizens.

JASON REZAIAN, JOURNALIST, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I've lived through a period when a lot of goods from the rest of the world were not available to Iran and so they are left to figure out how we are going to fill these needs. And, you know, they can talk all they want about filling them with domestically-produced products and that those products create jobs.

And there might be some truth to that, but there's a larger reality that, you know, their goods are not up to the standards of what the rest of the world has come to expect and what their own citizens have come to expect.

KINKADE: Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian knows what living under sanctions is like. He reported on the impact back in 2012 and was thrown in jail by Iranian authorities.

[03:35:02] He doesn't see Iran's leaders complying with new U.S. demands or escaping crippling sanctions anytime soon. There are fears that as big business leaves, Iran will become more financially isolated and those caught in the crosshairs will be the ones with the most to lose.

REZAIAN: My read on based on what I've seen in the past is that a lot of people are going to suffer unnecessarily.

KINKADE: Lynda Kinkade, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And for more on this, we are joined by Los Angeles Times reporter Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran, CNN John Defterios in London, and Oren Liebermann who joins us from Jerusalem. Welcome, gentlemen.

So, Ramin, let's go to you first. What is the Trump administration trying to achieve here by reapplying these sanctions and what will the likely impact be? Could this force Iran back to the negotiating table?

RAMIN MOSTAGHIM, REPORTER, LOS ANGELES TIMES: For the negotiation, I cannot give guarantee that it will lead to that.

CHURCH: What do you think --

MOSTAGHIM: But I think that, OK, as far as the pullout from the nuclear deal, it has been already detrimental to Iranian economy and caused a gallon -- not soaring prices -- a gallon inflation in Iran and the purchasing power of Iranians have 100 percent, I can say, reviews compared to six months ago or before pullout from the joint comprehensive plan of action.

So, I can say it has been detrimental. And I can say that from now on, they can only stop devaluation of the local currency rial against the hard currency but nothing more. The prices of raw material and consumer goods have increased 100 percent beyond -- we cannot expect reverse. That's for sure. But the only thing the Central Bank can do is to stop devaluation, stop the tragedy, stop deterioration, but nothing more in short term.

CHURCH: All right. And John, let's go to you now. What kind of approach is this by the Trump administration and how damaging are these sanctions?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN ANCHOR AND EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, Rosemary, I call it the carrot and stick approach. Mainly the stick here was the re-imposition of sanctions by the Trump administration. The carrot being dangled was the offer for talks with Tehran which was rejected immediately because of the high level of mistrust we've seen between Tehran and Washington these days.

This first wave of sanctions will in fact hit the economy quite hard. They're being underplayed. This is going to limit the dollar trade with the rial by the force of the U.S. Federal Reserve. It targets precious metals like gold and copper. Again, copper is a big export item for the Iranians. The Iranians are very strong in the steel and auto sector, again often overplayed, but this is going to target those two sectors. And finally, even at the retail level, things that we know Iran for, the Iranian carpets and pistachios.

Now, we have to watch the European companies very carefully due to the secondary sanctions. And that lead in report you had here of the major European companies had investments on the docket, they will likely pullout completely because of the threat of secondary sanctions and their exposure to the U.S. market.

I'm watching countries like China, India, and Russia very carefully as well because they all have stakes in the oil and gas sector, which will be hit hard in early November by these U.S. sanctions. I don't see those three countries pulling out right away. Many talk of the exports being cut by 800 to a million barrels a day in Iran.

That is likely because the export now, 2.5 million barrels a day, have risen a million barrels over the last two years since the lifting of the sanctions. The final thing I'll point out here, the political pressure on President Rouhani himself.

He is getting blamed here for the high youth unemployment, the inflation, and even water and power shortages. So we have to watch that right across the board, the pressure from the Trump administration on the administration in Iran and in particular President Rouhani.

CHURCH: All right. And finally, let's tend to Oren in Jerusalem. Oren, what has been there in Israel to this move?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there hasn't been a response officially yet. We'll see if there is one. But certainly we know that the Israeli government is pro-sanctions. Ever since the Iran nuclear deal was being negotiated, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu always said he wants a better deal.

And it took him a while to offer specifics there, but what he wanted was stronger sanctions if Iran violates the terms of the deal and he wanted the deal to cover more. But crucially it was the sanctions primarily and secondary that Netanyahu was pushing for and continues to push for.

[03:40:01] He has said and believes these sanctions are what can lead to either regime change or a change in the patterns and the actions of the regime. So Israel has always been very pro-sanction and has been very critical of European countries as they try to do what they can to salvage the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal.

Netanyahu has seen sanctions as a good move. He has promoted sanctions and he's backed the moves made by President Donald Trump in scrapping the Iran nuclear deal and in moving forward from that point.

CHURCH: Many thanks to Oren Liebermann, John Defterios, and Ramin Mostaghim. Thank you. Well, Donald Trump's presidential term has been a wild ride, so who better to ask about it than bikers? CNN talks politics at the world's largest biker rally. We'll have that still to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Police in Chicago blame illegal guns for a particularly violent weekend in the city. On Saturday night into Sunday in just 14 hours, 44 people were shot in both random and targeted incidents. Five of the shootings were fatal. The youngest person who was wounded is just 11 years old and the oldest 62.

Police say in at least one incident, shooters opened fire into a crowded street party. Chicago is struggling to deal with the rampant gun violence and high murder rates in some communities.

Well, now to a very disturbing discovery in a remote desert area here in the United States. Police were looking for a toddler who had been abducted and they thought he might have been in this compound in New Mexico. They didn't find him there. Instead, they discovered 11 starving children between the ages of one and 15. They were living in filthy conditions with no shoes, water or food, and under the control of two men who were heavily armed.

[03:45:05] CNN's Kaylee Hartung has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So many more questions than answers as we learn more about this story and see these truly shocking photos. One of the men arrested, Siraj Wahhaj, he is the father of the missing 3-year-old. The other, a man by the name Lucas Morten. These two were heavily armed when arrested by authorities. And when I say armed, we're talking about AR-15 rifles. They had loaded 30 round magazines, four loaded pistols, and lots of ammunition.

These two had amassed this arsenal in this makeshift compound, a small travel trailer partially buried under ground and covered in plastic. No water. No electricity inside. Those were the conditions for these two men, three women, and 11 children.

Those two men still in police custody. Wahhaj, he is being held without bond because of the Georgia warrant for the abdication of his 3-year-old son. The three women were brought in for questions. They have since been released but it doesn't sound like they answered many questions. None of the five adults could give authorities any information regarding the status of that missing 3-year-old. The children meanwhile, the 11 children are in the care of Child Protective Services.

It's one thing to see these photos. It's another to hear the first- hand account of authorities who responded to the scene. The Taos County sheriff saying it was the worst living conditions in poverty he'd ever seen.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Well, Donald Trump says he is making America great again, but folks in one town say it's already great.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a tattoo parlor up here. We've got food, pizza, anything you want at the free access crossroads.

BILL WEIR, CNN ANCHOR: Very good. Do you have your own jail?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. We don't need one.

WEIR: You don't need one, huh?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Coming up, we talk to some of the president's most passionate supporters, bikers. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello, everyone. I'm CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis. This is your weather watch across the United States. The western states still remain very hot as a consequence for the fire dangers, the huge fires that have been burning across the state of California not getting much in the way of heat relief or any relief as far as wet weather is concerned.

Warm temperatures to the south, but the risk of severe storms across the mid-western United States as the funnel system begins to push across this region. This is where we're expecting the highest risk potential for damaging winds, severe hail. Can't rule out the potential for flooding as well all the way from the lower peninsula of Michigan into Chicago and across southeastern sections of Iowa in the forecast.

[03:50:04] All right, take a look at this forecast radar coming up going into Monday. The strongest storms across the mid-west, just a few isolated areas across the deep south. And for the west, as I mentioned, not much help for firefighters out there with the deadly fires burning across the state.

San Francisco at 21 degrees. Denver, 28. Atlanta, we'll see 33 for a high. New York City is going to bake with 34 degrees, not much heat relief even going into Thursday. It will be just about normal, but still a hot sticky forecast at 29. Stays around 30 for Friday.

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, it has been nearly two years since Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, and we wanted to know if voters were still behind Mr. Trump. In this state, they carried him in 2016. CNN's Bill Weir went to the world's largest motorcycle rally in the center of Trump country to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR: They rumble in from all points on the compass. And for one week each summer, this little town of 7,000 explodes to half a million. But this is one city that looks nothing like the rest of America. You can go hours without seeing a person of color.

In Sturgis, a minority is a white guy on a foreign bike. There are no debates over gun control here or the ethics of the "Me Too" movement. And there is no doubt who is the leader of this pack.

Since you're a fan of the president, you think he's doing a good job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's doing a lot better than Obama did.

WEIR: This ghost rider reveals himself as John Sands, a postal worker who rides up from Kentucky each year. Like so many I talked to, sees proof of Trump's brilliance and the booming economy.

ROD WOODRUFF, OWNER, STURGIS BUFFALO CHIP: What they'll tell you is they'll say, you know, it's Trump, but the economy is so good. People are feeling so good.

WEIR: Rod Woodruff is the owner of the sprawling Buffalo Chip, a Disneyland for bikers and says his campers have an average income of $95,000 a year.

WOODRUFF: Seventy-seven percent are home owners in the United States.

WEIR: OK.

WOODRUFF: Lots of people, multiple motorcycles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a tattoo parlor up here. We got food, pizza, anything you want at the free access crossroads.

BILL WEIR, CNN ANCHOR: Very good. Do you have your own jail?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. We don't need one.

WEIR: You don't need one, huh?

Violence and arrests are incredibly rare for a town this size. One reason is that most folks share the same values. And those that don't keep it to themselves.

MICHAEL LICHTER, MOTORCYCLE PHOTOGRAPHER: What I see here in motorcycling is a microcosm for the whole country. And I get the feeling sometimes that people who don't believe in what's going on is right have become very quiet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there is a lot of hypocrisy going on in the country now because I just feel like everybody wants freedom and they want rights but god forbid somebody disagree with you because then you'll get your head bitten off.

WEIR: A couple months back, the president aimed his Twitter at Harley-Davidson. Even though they got a huge tax break, the company shutdown a factory in Kansas City, laid off hundreds of workers, and said because of the tariffs, they'd have to start production in a new country overseas, which begs the question, is this the ultimate loyalty test for his base? Do these folks pledge allegiance to the president or Harley- Davidson?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have to go with what's going to make America better. If Harley wants to go somewhere else, then I'll choose to buy a different bike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I personally love the man. I think he is doing a wonderful job.

WEIR: Despite the president's disdain for my profession, they could not be nicer.

Do I strike you as an enemy of the people?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not whatsoever. We're sure glad to have you here.

WEIR: But it's obvious that no amount of earnest reporting will change their minds.

Because if you look at Russia and the Mueller investigation, there's a lot of red flags and dark clouds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's usually (INAUDIBLE) politicians but one you're picking on because he's from the outside. I mean, if you look at the Clintons, how come they can do things and no one else can?

WEIR: I'm old enough to remember when the base loved Harley-Davidson and hated Russia. It seems like it has flipped a little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think there is any reason for him to call him out or make him, you know, he should try to be friendly with everyone. If they don't want to be friends, then it's a whole other story.

WEIR: Even Vladimir Putin? Even a dictator, a murderer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He met with Kim Jong-un as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another fact man (ph). We all know it.

WEIR: Touch me, touch me.

(LAUGHTER)

WEIR: Back downtown, our presence sparks a debate between some Fox News fans from Texas and Bonny (ph) from Nebraska.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't know what they're talking about.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not (ph) Americans here. You don't have a say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right. I go either way.

[03:55:00] WEIR: Which proves we now live in a media age where people can choose their own facts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a friend who is very much (INAUDIBLE), yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I agree with you. No problem. Everybody has their own opinions.

WEIR: That's true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (bleep) everybody has one.

(LAUGHTER)

WEIR: As long as they don't start shooting at each other, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

WEIR: But then the heckling is interrupted by a hero falling from the sky. Sergeant Dana Bowman, an army Golden Knight, who lost both legs in a mid-air collision. Land with all glory. And just for a moment, it feels like we are all in this together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Bill Weir reporting there. Chinese researchers say they have successfully tested a hypersonic aircraft.

The wave rider uses shock waves generated by its own flight with the air to glide at high speed. Experts say it can carry nuclear warheads and that its speed and unpredictable trajectory make it nearly impossible for anti-missile defense systems to intercept it. That's cheery news to end with, isn't it?

And thanks for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me any time on Twitter. I would love to hear from you. And "Early Start" is next for our viewers here in the United States. For everyone else, stay tuned for more news with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London. Have yourselves a great day.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)